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Google Selling A New Pixel Phone, But Not The Pixel 2
With the Google Senior VP of hardware, Rick Osterloh confirming not long ago that a Google Pixel 2 is definitely coming this year and will stay in the premium realm, tech enthusiast are looking at every detail in search for possible leads of the said device. Now, a new lead has been identified, but it isn't about the Pixel 2. Instead, it's about a newly "manufactured" Pixel and Pixel XL phone.
The 'Less Flawed' Google Pixel Phones
A recent Pixel buyer discovered a "Rev. B" note printed on the Pixel's retail packaging which led many to believe that the company may have done some revisions to the device's hardware. However, according to an article at 9to5Google, Google commented about this issue and assured that they have not made any revisions to the Pixel or Pixel XL's hardware, but admitted of making some minor improvements in the manufacturing process to further reduce any likelihood of an audio codec failure.
In fact, last month, Brian Rakowski, a Google employee, replied to a post on the support forums regarding the severe microphone issues of the Pixel phones. Rakowski said that the company has been taking additional steps to reinforce the connection at the time of manufacture on phones built since January and assured that the phones will not have that issue at all.
Specs And Features Of The Google Pixel
The Pixel runs on Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box and is packed with a Snapdragon 821 chipset and Adreno 530 GPU. It features two varying internal memory specs, 32 and 128 GB, both featuring 4 GB of RAM with no external memory option available.
It features a 5-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 1080 x 1920 pixels and protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It has a 12.3 MP rear camera with f/2.0 aperture capable of recording videos 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps and 720p@240fps, and a 8 MP front camera. It's powered by a 2770 mAh battery that has a standby time of up to 456 hours (3G), a talk time of 26 hours (3G) and music play of 110 hours.
Your Android Phone May Be Infected With Malware
A study identified severe malware infection in 38 Android devices that are said to have been pre-installed.
Will Google Pixel 2 Ditch The Headphone Jack?
An internal Google document suggests that the Google Pixel 2 will not have a headphone jack.
Is Google Working On A Non-Pixel Budget Smartphone?
Following the statement given by the Google Senior VP of Hardware, Rick Osterloh, a tipster is insisting that Google is working on a budget phone that will not carry the Pixel name.
3 Best Phones For A Teenager: How to Choose The Right One?
A smartphone is something of an essential item for teenagers since teenagers will feel pressured by their peers to get one with the best features. Here are the best smartphones for teens you can buy on Amazon right now.
[Review] Smartphone Sanitizers Work: Here are the Best (2020)
Smartphone sanitizers decrease the risk of infection. Here are a few that don't hurt your wallet.
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Analyzing the Biggest Security Threats in the World of Technology
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Are You A Fan Of Elon Musk's Rocket Company? Check These SpaceX Launch Memorabilia Out!
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Trademark Leak Shows That Rumors Stating A Fable Sequel Is In The Works Could Be True After All
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From flouting Covid rules to fraud to racism to underpaying employees, US figures reveal a rogues’ gallery
We all know that our small business owners are the lifeblood of the US economy. There are approximately 30 million of us and we provide more than half of the jobs in this country. Everyone seems to love us. Politicians court us. Big brands tip their hats to us. Each year we celebrate our small business community with Small Business Week, Small Business Saturday, National Entrepreneurship Month and many other days honoring independent workers and minority business owners.
Yay for us! But you know what? As much as I’m an advocate and a voice for my fellow small business brethren, even I have to admit that not all small business owners are worthy of such praise. Some, in fact, are not worthy at all.
There are the restaurant owners – like these in California, Michigan and Oregon to name just a few – who blatantly and recklessly defied local Covid
regulations and put their customers and employees at risk of dying from something other than the E coli in their food. Or the dentist in Wisconsin who broke his patients’ teeth in order to submit false insurance claims (wow!).
And let’s not forget the seemingly incalculable number of small business owners – like the operators of a tech company and a baking business in Massachusetts, the genius who ran a real estate firm in Pennsylvania, the serial fraudster from Delaware and the twin brothers who oversaw multiple businesses in California – who all defrauded the federal government by submitting fake claims for Covid
relief funds because, hey, why should that money go to people who actually needed it, right?
Or how about the manufacturer in Georgia who was ordered to pay $250,000 after firing a disabled employee? Who does that? Or the regional water services company in Minnesota that was told to cough up $45,000 to an employee who was unfairly terminated due to the color of her skin? Who does that too?
Turns out a lot of business owners do that. And other bad things too.
If you don’t believe me then check out the tallies the government keeps. For example, less than a month ago the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released detailed breakdowns of more than 67,448 charges of workplace discrimination claims the agency received in just its past fiscal year. The agency said it secured $439.2m for the victims of discrimination in the private sector and state and local government workplaces through voluntary resolutions and litigation. The Department of Labor recently reported thousands of cases from 2021 where businesses in industries ranging from auto repairs to landscaping services underpaid or mistreated employees.
And it’s not just employees getting defrauded. For example, there are the independent entrepreneurs that make their money being social media influencers but who then dupe unwitting people into giving them free stuff in return for fake promises of a mention. Or the fraudulent freelancers operating on well-known online platforms that take money in return for doing no work at all. Or the independent contractors – like this one in Philadelphia – who allegedly collected payments for jobs such as bathroom renovations and home reconstruction in return for … spoiler alert: not doing the work. The Federal Trade Commission this year received more than 2.8m reports of consumer fraud against businesses ranging from deceptive credit repair services to those monsters that are robo-calling my mobile phone in the middle of the night.
So what have I learned from all this research? It’s that even though it rankles me when people accuse small businesses of seeking profits over their employees’ welfare, or paying too little, or acting offensively or defrauding their customers, I have to admit that in some cases ... these people may have a point. It’s sad. But I can’t deny it.
Of course, the vast majority of small business owners are good people who run good businesses and who care about their employees. But there are still more than just a few that, frankly, are not. So now when someone does accuse a business owner of doing something unseemly my kneejerk reaction isn’t to automatically dispute that person’s claim. Because maybe, just maybe, there’s some truth to that story.

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Mercedes has launched a special edition of the GLC to celebrate 70 years of India's Independence. Called as the GLC Celebration Edition you have a new Designo hyacinth red colour, LED logo projector, gloss black mirror housing, sports pedal, garmin navigation, chrome trim at the front and rear. The GLC 220d Celebration Edition is priced at Rs 50.86 lakh while the GLC 300 Celebration Ediiton is priced at Rs 51.25 lakh (ex-showroom).
Roland Folger, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India said: We are glad to launch the GLC Celebration Edition to commemorate Indias 70th Independence day and also celebrate the SUV———s overwhelming success in the Indian market since its debut, a year ago. The GLC underscores our philosophy of introducing world-class products from our global portfolio, for our discerning Indian customers. The sporty exterior and interior accessories offered in the ———Celebration Edition enhances the cars striking appearance. We are positive that the Celebration Edition will delight the customers who desire to make the best of every ground. With the launch of GLC Celebration Edition, Mercedes-Benz celebrates its long-standing relationship with the Indian customers.


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The Wine Spectator Auction Index, which tracks sales at fine wine auctions in the United States, fell from 341.27 points in the third quarter of 2011 to 333.50 in the fourth quarter, a decrease of 2.28 percent. This was the index’s third quarterly decline for the year, indicating that auction fever has been subsiding somewhat. The index now stands at the same level as it was in the second half of 2010.
Prices for lots have fallen from last year. In the fourth quarter of 2011, 16,000 lots went on the block domestically, for an aggregate value of $47 million. That equates to an average price per lot of $2,964, down from $3,516 in the same period last year. Average percent-sold rates, however, of a healthy 95 percent remained constant, indicating that demand for fine and rare wine remains strong.
Hong Kong wine sales amounted to $59 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, down from $72 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. The average price per lot in 2011 was still a hefty $7,964—more than double the U.S. average—yet well below the $10,796 price per lot Hong Kong achieved in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Jeff Zacharia, president of Zachys auctions, was unperturbed by the shifting numbers. “While we have seen some softening of prices in the fourth quarter, it has been an incredible year for auctions filled with record high prices and record high sales. There is still so much worldwide demand for fine wines that while I do not expect to see the bullish markets of 2010 and early 2011 [to return] anytime soon, I don’t see this softening to be any more than a minor correction.”
One reason for the auction index’s fourth-quarter drop was the decline in price of first-growth Bordeaux, which had previously enjoyed a dramatic growth rate. The iconic Château Lafite Rothschild 1982, which had climbed to a high of $65,550 per dozen at Zachys New York last fall, fell to $41,140 a case in December 2011. Asian collectors, who had been the impetus behind Lafite and its peers’ meteoric rise, began to shift their focus to rare Burgundies instead. They also became more price sensitive in their bidding strategies.
Classified Bordeaux from the 1982 vintage were down 7.2 percent. The 2000 vintage fell 9.7 percent, and 1995 lost 5.3 percent. Other major wine-producing regions also weakened. As a category, premium California blue-chips and cult wines were both down 2 percent. Vintage Port fell 1.5 percent, and Italian estate bottlings dropped 2.6 percent. In contrast, prices for Rhône reds rose 7 percent, spurred in part by the sale of a case of Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage La Chapelle 1961 at Sotheby’s New York on November 11 for a record $102,850.
Overall, premium red Burgundies gained 4 percent in the fourth quarter, and select labels like Domaine Leroy Romanée St.-Vivant 1999 and Armand Rousseau Chambertin-Clos de Bèze 1985 rose 65 and 64 percent respectively to average $1,573 and $1,920 per bottle.
Given Burgundy’s newfound popularity, it’s no surprise that the most expensive lot in the quarter was a 55-bottle offering of DRC containing every vintage of Romanée-Conti from 1952 to 2007. It fetched a whopping $813,333 against an estimate of $200,000 to $300,000 at Acker Merrall & Condit’s December 2011 sale in Hong Kong. Acker Merrall also held the record for highest total of any auction in the quarter: US$14,280,219 realized in Hong Kong last November. Zachys scored the highest domestic sales total, of $5,531,830.
Prices may have softened in the fourth quarter of 2011, but that doesn’t mean the auction market was afloat with bargains. Yet there were some buying opportunities at the high end of the buying spectrum. J.-F. Coche-Dury Meursault Les Perrières 1989 averaged $1,210 per bottle at Zachys, 60 percent below its auction index average. Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet 1996 averaged $196 per bottle at NewYorkWinesChristies, down 54 percent, and Château L'Église Clinet 1995 averaged $269 per magnum at Hart Davis Hart, down 49 percent.
Given his firm’s favorable performance, Acker’s CEO, John Kapon, was in a good position to sum up the fourth quarter’s activity. He said that history tends to skate past the short-term noise of price declines in the world’s top and most collectible wines, a small list of names. “The market is strengthening by diversifying,” he added, “and more people around the world are discovering fine wine every day.”


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More funding than ever for computer games and Innovative Audiovisual Content as well as record repayments from the industry: The funding volume for Innovative Audiovisual Content reaches an all-time high for 2020. For the first time, over 3 million euros in funding was awarded - for 44 games, multiplatform, virtual and augmented reality projects. This is over €1 million more than the previous year, an increase of around 50%. 8 games paid back their funding, which meant a total of half a million euros more for the funding pot.
Creative Sector: Industry news & Market trends
Also a good read
In this exceptional year, the Berlin-Brandenburg Cinema Program Award honors the incredible stamina, tireless commitment and immense creativity that the cinema makers have demonstrated in ...


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We have all heard the phrase “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Zillow, the most-trafficked real estate listing website, decided to buy ‘em instead. The online real estate company plans to acquire its biggest competitor Trulia for $3.5 billion, which resulted in an initial 15.3 percent spike in Zillow’s own stock price.
Once Zillow takes over Trulia, the companies will dominate the real estate listings market, accounting for 48 percent of web traffic for listings (not including local websites).
A little bit on Zillow and Trulia
Seattle-based Zillow was founded in 2005 to revolutionize real estate by providing deep data and changing the traditional process of buying a home. Zillow is also known for its famous “Zestimate,” which determines an estimate for a home based on a range of publicly available information, including sales of comparable houses in a neighborhood. The company generates revenue by selling ads and by providing subscriptions to real estate professionals.
Similarly, Trulia was also founded in 2005 to simplify the overwhelming process of finding a home with the help of technology. They market their website as having the “inside scoop” and they are also very user-friendly, which of course appeals to many users. The company offers several paid advertising products for real estate agents, which is said to yield a high return on investment.
The growth of companies like Zillow and Trulia underlines a not-so-subtle disruption that the Internet has caused in the real estate brokerage market. That said, this disruption is somewhat different than what the Internet did in other industries. For instance, in the travel industry, the Internet and online companies eliminated brokers and other middlemen like travel agents. In this case, what Zillow and Trulia did was open their services not only to agents, but also to buyers, effectively making themselves a sort of information broker.
Before Zillow and Trulia came into the picture, agents and brokers listed their homes on an exclusive collection of MLS listing sites. When they wanted to share findings with consumers, they would either meet with clients or email them properties for them to look. The agents had power. Zillow and Trulia changed the game by transferring that power to buyers to do a lot of the initial research themselves. There were other internet sites that allowed this, but none really drove in both the buyers and sellers.
What does the acquisition mean for both companies?
When the companies eventually combine, a press release from Zillow states that each brand will remain its own identity to continue to offer buyers, sellers, and renters access to vital information about homes for free. They will provide advertising and a software solution that helps real estate professionals grow their business.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to combine our resources and achieve even more impressive innovation that will benefit consumers and the real estate industry,”said Spencer Rascoff, Zillow CEO.
Trulia CEO Pete Flint will maintain his position and report to Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff.Flint will also join the Board of Directors of the joint company.
“By working together, we will be able to create even more value for homebuyers, sellers, and renters, as well as create a robust marketing platform that will help our industry partners connect with potential clients and grow their businesses even more efficiently,“ said Flint.
Okay, so what exactly does the merger means for these companies? It’s plain and simple: Both companies get to dominate the marketplace. Zillow and Trulia will generate even more revenue by maximizing the number of agents, brokers and other real estate industry professionals who purchase ads.The innovation that this powerhouse could bring to the real estate market could be huge, although some argue innovation could stall with no dominant competitive threat.
What does this mean for other competitors in the market?
Tougher competition, if they even stand a chance.
Right now, Zillow-Trulia is by far, the biggest online listing portal in the market. Together, these companies can act as a monopoly limiting real competition within the online consumer real estate space.
The reality is that with Zillow acquiring Trulia, there are fewer direct competitors for them to worry about. The competitor to watch is Move Inc., which is affiliated with National Association of Realtors (NAR), a large and powerful industry association. They have half of Zillow’s traffic and three-fourths of Trulia’s traffic.
Another business affected by the deal is Realtor.com, which used to lead the market in real estate listing data. Realtor.com is also partnered with NAR, yet not even the association has been able to stop these two companies from taking over the market. Realtor.com focused heavility on brokerages, allowing them to miss the opportunity to create a site for direct buyers. But is it too late for Realtor.com to innovate?
A spokesman for Realogy Inc., which owns real estates sites Century 21, Coldwell Banker and Sotheby’s, had no comments on the Zillow-Trulia deal. In a statement, the California Association of Realtors said it has concerns “…that this merger will lead to fewer choices and higher advertising costs for our members and their clients.”
A company with too much market share is concerning to the brokerage industry. Less competition most likely means more advertising dollars for Zillow-Trulia, potentially leading to higher advertising rates and lower ROI for agents.
For the rest of players in this industry, Zillow-Trulia could become the Facebook of online real estate leaving the rest of the competition to face the same fate as MySpace.
What does this mean for real estate agents and consumers?
These sites are taking traffic away from the agent and brokerage websites.
Although WSJ states that Zillow users can list their homes for sale, for free, most consumers still prefer to buy or sell a home through an agent. Thousands of agents throughout the country rely on websites like Zillow and Trulia today for market data, listings and leads.
The bottom line is that this seems to be a mutually beneficial relationship for the combined entity, with a yet-to-be seen impact on the consumer. Zillow-Trulia needs real estate agents and brokers to pay for ads, while real estate agents and brokers need Zillow-Trulia to advertise and get listings. Buyers need both.
What are your thoughts about Trulia and Zillow merging?


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The Linux Standards Base (LSB) now offers improved support for C++, meaning that software compiled using the latest versions of the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) can be run on any distribution that supports the standard.
"Embedded Linux is emerging as a dominant platform for building high- availability network infrastructure products, and we are committed to offering our telecom equipment OEM customers the finest carrier grade Linux solutions," said Todd Wynia, vice president of marketing at Artesyn. "Soon, Network Equipment Providers (NEPs) will be able to purchase MontaVista's carrier grade Linux directly from Artesyn, certified by MontaVista, and pre-installed in flash on our telecom blades and modules."
Ha Noi (VNA) - Specialists will speak extensively on the technical and economical aspects of open-source solutions for eGovernance at an international conference in Ha Noi from September 28-30, said the Viet Nam Institute of Information Technology (IOIT Viet Nam). The conference aims to draw attention to the growing importance of open-source solutions in this field by presenting the political and economical incentives, business models and market opportunities that will arise from eGovernance.
Since the OpenDocument standard for office files covers spreadsheets, the productivity suites based on it, such as OpenOffice.org (OOo) and KOffice, can share spreadsheets between applications -- theoretically, that is. In practice, there are still a couple of obstacles for this kind of interoperability among OpenDocument spreadsheet processors, regardless of their origin and license. One is the issue of macros, as I discussed earlier. A bigger one is that, while formatting of spreadsheets is covered by OpenDocument, the actual formulas that make them useful aren't.
Bundled Software Package Automates the Data, System and Application Settings Migration from Windows to Linux Allowing Windows Applications to Run on Linux
Red Hat Inc., a provider of open source solutions to the enterprise, yesterday announced that it has won recognition from the Swedish Computer Society for its high level of customer care in a gala ceremony in Stockholm's City Hall.
Spam Assassin, the popular open source spam filter has been updated to version 3.1.0 which is a major update and is now available for download...
Norwegian group Opera Software said Tuesday that it would offer its web browser Opera free and without advertising banners, in a bid to outdo rival Firefox and become the world's second most used browser.
Your system's security depends on you, even if you're not a security guru. Here's some basic steps you can take to keep out prying eyes.
Mozilla has reacted to a Symantec report issued on Monday which said serious vulnerabilities were being found in Mozilla's browsers faster than in Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The study was conducted over the first six months of 2005. Tristan Nitot, president of Mozilla Europe, hit back by claiming on Monday that when a vulnerability is found Mozilla's "ability to react, find a solution and put it into the user's hands is better than Microsoft."
cyLogistics, Inc. today announced they have chosen Grandstream's full line of broadband IP Network products to meet the growing demand for high quality VoIP products in the LINUX Networking channel. This new relationship allows Grandstream ready access to Resellers and System Integrators throughout North America.
European business analysis firm Quocirca recently released a report on "Migrating to Linux on the Desktop." Overall, the report is well-balanced and presents a positive approach to migration from Windows to Linux.
Venerable Slackware already has inspired the Minislack, GoblinX, VectorLinux 5, and Zenwalk distros. Now there's another offspring: Ultima 4, which has been described as Slackware pre-configured into a more usable desktop, according to reviewer Andrew Fries, writing at DistroReviews.com.
You've made the preliminary decision to migrate from Windows to Linux. That's a fine first step, but here are hundreds of distributions from which to choose -- which will be right for you? Bryan Hoff, a newcomer ro Linux, offers suggestions for selecting a Linux distro and making the transition, in an article at Informit.com. "I'll be honest with you; I'm not a full-fledged Linux Geek," admits Hoff. "I'm one of those poor suckers who cut his teeth on the Windows OS, learning bad habits and working within the limitations of the sandbox set up for me by Microsoft. This is a good thing for you, since I'm better-equipped to tell you how the different Linux distributions compare to Windows, in addition to how they compare to each other."
Despite the the passage of the CAN-SPAM Act, email users are still subjected to vast quantities of spam and virus-laden messages. Roaring Penguin's CanIt-PRO is a Sendmail-based application that helps block spam, viruses, phishing attempts, and other nastiness. I found it to be one of the better commercial Linux email filtering packages.
Analysts who deny Linux's place in the enterprise as a desktop have either failed to interrogate the system thoroughly or have a bias.
A run of 100 Linux-powered humanoid robots goes on sale in Japan Friday, priced at 1.5M Yen (about $14,000), not including 10,000 Yen (~$90) monthly service fees. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries conceived of Wakamuru as a pleasant companion offering a range of electronic-age valet services, it says.
What's with Ubuntu's naming convention? With Knoppix at least they named the distros differently. With KDE and Gnome, taking the first letter of the names was good enough. But Ubuntu and those using it have developed a silly idea and are trying desperately to make it 'cool'.
Independent software vendors (ISVs) supporting the adoption of Linux and open standards were given another boost from IBM this week as the company teamed up with Red Hat Inc. to promote adoption of the open source operating system.
Following is an email received by a commercial software company offering products for (among others) the Linux platform.


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Plenty of local fashion-philes have been overheard lamenting their West Coast tethers in recent days, thanks to that special time of year in New York, but we’re happy to report that style salve for runway-deprived San Franciscans is on its way.
The 27th annual Macy’s Passport benefit and fashion show takes place this week and, unlike the shows we’ve been drooling over in the Big Apple, this one is open to the public.
One of the largest and longest-running HIV/AIDS fundraising events of its kind, the benefit is joining forces with Macy’s Come Together campaign against domestic hunger this year to support not only HIV/AIDS services, prevention and research, but also to raise much-needed funds for beneficiaries such as San Francisco’s Glide Memorial, Project Open Hand and Huckleberry Youth Programs.
The festivities begin tomorrow night with an invitation-only evening of fashion fun and HIV prevention education for 2,000 Bay Area youth.
On Thursday, the main event treats guests to a reception featuring live bluegrass and edibles from Taste, a performance by Gwen Stefani backup dancers the Harajuku Girls and a runway fashion show presenting fall looks by Rachel Roy, Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, American Rag, Levi’s, Tallia, Papi and b.tempt’d by Wacoal.
Additionally, through Saturday, an in-store Passport sale at Macy’s Union Square location will offer shoppers 10 to 20 percent off most Macy’s merchandise when they purchase a $10 ticket.
Macy's Passport reception and fashion show begins tomorrow night at 5:30 p.m. in the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason Center. Tickets ($125 and up).


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Undated - While gasoline prices have been trending lower, diesel prices have started increasing the past few weeks. But the Sheetz convenience store chain is going to offer some relief to truckers and other diesel customers through the month of September. Sheetz President and CEO Travis Sheetz... Read More.
(WASHINGTON) -- The U.S. Border Patrol arrested migrants more times in the past year than in any other fiscal year in recorded history, according to Customs and Border Protection data released Friday. Authorities encountered unauthorized migrants along the southwest border more than 1.73 million times... Read More.
Unfortunately, when a Hollywood legend of a certain age trends on Twitter, fans assume the worst -- but thankfully that's not the case with 91-year-old Gene Hackman. The two-time Oscar winner's name began trending on the social media service thanks to a tweet from film historian James... Read More.


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DSV inaugurates logistics centre in South Africa
DSV has consolidated its Gauteng operations in South Africa into a new, centralised facility which is the largest of its kind in Africa. It is situated near O.R. Tambo International Airport between Johannesburg and Pretoria and with easy access to the East and West Rand.
DSV announces the inauguration of the new Gauteng HQ in South Africa, DSV Park Gauteng, which is said to be Africa’s largest integrated logistics centre. With this centralised facility DSV will be able to provide more seamless service to customers which are an integral part of creating a strengthened and more efficient logistics network in South Africa.
DSV has consolidated its Gauteng operations in South Africa into a new, centralised facility which is the largest of its kind in Africa. It is situated near O.R. Tambo International Airport between Johannesburg and Pretoria and with easy access to the East and West Rand. The logistics centre consists of approx. 130,000 m2 of buildings and covers supply chain solutions from first to last mile controlled and managed under one roof, by DSV.
The investment in DSV Park Gauteng is testament to DSV’s commitment to South Africa and to continuing to strengthen the logistics infrastructure in the country to the benefit of DSV customers and the South African society.
The new DSV logistics centre is officially being inaugurated at a virtual ceremony today, and the ceremony host and CEO of DSV Africa, Keith Pienaar, says:
“The inauguration of DSV Park Gauteng once again underlines DSV's strong commitment to South Africa and our will to grow the business in the region. DSV Park Gauteng consolidates several smaller offices and warehouses around Johannesburg into one large, modern logistics centre.
The foundation of our values and culture is to promote an inclusive workforce and sustainable business practices. One consolidated facility will enhance collaboration and offer truly integrated supply chain solutions for our clients and customers.”
“With DSV Park Gauteng, DSV has developed a large-scale modern logistics centre which captures the essence of our consolidation strategy to create larger and more efficient facilities, enabling us to have many of our business units together under one single roof.”
“We have packed the new DSV facility with solutions such as an innovative sorter that can handle 13,000 packages every single hour. Throughout the whole building process, we have also utilised our global experience to construct buildings where sustainability and resource optimisation have been fundamental in all processes,” says Brian Almind Winther, EVP and Head of Group Property, DSV.


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JAY KESAN MEDIA
TRANSCRIPTS OF JAY KESAN PODCAST
As the fall semester begins, students of Saint Louis University will soon find a new amenity, the Amazon Echo Dot, in each of their dorm rooms. Echo Dot is a voice assistant device developed by Amazon and enabled by the artificial intelligent service, Alexa. The university has decided to deploy over 2,300 of these devices in all student residences on campus to provide students with easier access to campus-related information. For example, students can ask the voice assistant about library hours and building locations. It is the first time that a university has put these voice assistant devices in student living spaces. Not surprisingly, despite the conveniences they provide, there are privacy concerns with these devices.
So, let us look at how the Amazon Echo Dot works. The device responds to a wake word chosen by its user, such as Alexa, by default. After hearing the wake word, the device records the user’s voice, sends it to the virtual assistant, Alexa, and performs a corresponding action. For example, a student may ask the Echo Dot in his dorm room to create a reminder for a personal event, which may be private information. The device will then send the voice recording to Alexa to create the reminder, as instructed. But, voice recordings like this will not be deleted upon the completion of requests. Instead, they are stored on Amazon’s server. Saint Louis University states that the Alexa-for-business platform, which is a workspace solution, is used to manage the Echo devices provided to students and no personal information will be collected. According to Amazon, devices enabled by Alexa-for-business are not associated with personal accounts. It means that any data sent to the server, including voice recordings, is anonymous, and not attributable to individual students. Alexa-for-business does not give the university any access to these audio files except the ability to delete them. Thus, students’ voice recordings are anonymous and inaccessible to the school. Amazon has also been implementing controls in compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, the GDPR, to secure customer data.
However, even though the university does not seem to pose a threat to students’ privacy, and Amazon says protecting customer data is its top priority, it is difficult to guarantee that all the conversations near Echo devices will be safe, because sometimes things do not work as intended, especially when it comes to technology. A few months ago, an Oregon family discovered that a private conversation was recorded by their Echo device and sent to a random person on their contact list because the device misheard the wake word and the following command. This incident tells us that voice recognition is not always reliable. Under the GDPR, data accuracy is an essential requirement, and users are given the right to correct any false information. But voice assistants like Amazon Echo usually do not give users enough time to correct the misinterpreted commands before these commands are executed and an impact is made, and there is not enough visual confirmation to help users understand how their data will be processed either.
Another source of risk is the vulnerabilities in these devices. Security experts had successfully exploited Echo devices and turned them into wiretaps that could continuously listen and record by either modifying the hardware or running malicious software. Although these exploits are already fixed, new vulnerabilities may be discovered and utilized by attackers.
Other than these intrinsic risks residing in voice assistant devices, Saint Louis University is considerate about students’ privacy, and students can either mute the microphone or just unplug it and put it in a drawer for the rest of the school year.
I’m Jay Kesan.
Cellular service providers store information about which cell towers transmit signals to a customer’s phone, thus revealing the geographic area where you are located when the transmission occurs. When cell phones were first getting popular, this information would be limited to when a phone call or text message was initiated or received by an individual, and the information only provided a general vicinity of where the cell phone was located. Modern apps often give users the option to receive “push” notifications that allow services to send updates directly to your phone instead of waiting for you to manually check for updates. The frequent “checking in” from apps makes cell site location data increasingly detailed, and service providers might store this information for years. Because people carry their phones with them, historical cell site location data creates the new possibility of retroactive surveillance as a boon to law enforcement.
On June 22, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in the case of Carpenter v. United States. Carpenter concerned this type of cell site location information and involved a string of robberies in Michigan and Ohio. The defendant’s physical nearness to the robberies, as shown by historical cell site data, was used as circumstantial evidence to support convicting him. To obtain this information, the investigators had used an order under the Stored Communications Act. This order is an enhanced subpoena process to allow investigators to compel certain categories of data from cellular service providers without having to show the full “probable cause” that is required for a warrant under the Fourth Amendment. In Timothy Carpenter’s case, investigators used this enhanced subpoena to obtain 127 days of information about Carpenter’s physical movements, consisting of 12,898 individual data points. The question before the Supreme Court was whether investigators needed to show “probable cause” to obtain a court order to conduct this kind of retroactive surveillance.
A 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court noted that the Carpenter case exists at a crossroad in Fourth Amendment law. On one hand, in the recent GPS-related case of United States v. Jones, the Supreme Court recognized an expectation of privacy in physical location and movements. But there is also the third-party doctrine, which says there is not an expectation of privacy in information that you voluntarily give to third parties. The third party doctrine is often discussed in the context of business records, like financial records held by a bank.
In the Carpenter decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the third party doctrine does not apply to historical cell site location data. The Court reasoned that even in third party doctrine cases, Fourth Amendment protection may still exist for information of a particular nature. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Roberts noted that “[t]here is a world of difference between the limited types of personal information addressed in [third party doctrine cases] and the exhaustive chronicle of location information casually collected by wireless carriers today.”
The Carpenter decision, while potentially ground breaking for privacy rights, is fairly narrow and is very much tied to the presence of physical objects. Under Carpenter, there is Fourth Amendment protection for this kind of automatically generated information that tracks locations for a particular communications device. Previous cases about location privacy under the Fourth Amendment have concerned beepers in barrels and GPS devices in cars. Cell site data is more far-reaching because cell phones are practically an extension of the body.
This action by the Supreme Court recognizes the societal developments that come with living in a highly connected technological age. If you want a device to be able to connect to services wirelessly, some form of location tracking will occur. Carpenter clarifies that that kind of information is to be afforded Fourth Amendment protections.
I’m Jay Kesan.
Humans and computers are alike in at least one sense – both could malfunction or be compromised. On Feb. 28th, the U.S. Marine Forces Reserve announced a data breach affecting thousands of marines, sailors and civilians, putting their identities at risk, as sensitive personal information like truncated social security numbers was leaked. The investigation showed that there was no malicious intent involved and the data breach was indeed a result of human error. An email containing the unencrypted confidential information had accidentally been sent to a wrong e-mail distribution list. But data breaches are not always accidental. Besides being duped into making unintentional disclosures, people are often tricked into giving up valuable information by scammers, and these hustles are referred to as “social engineering” or “phishing” in the cybersecurity world.
The 2013 Target data breach case was one such example. The case was finally settled last year, and the retail company ended up paying $18.5 million in fines for the breach of 43 million records of payment card information. The Target incident started from a phishing email sent to a third-party vendor of Target. Through that vendor, the attackers gained the login credentials of Target, and subsequently obtained unrestricted access to the confidential information of Target’s customers.
Activities like phishing are not entirely new to the law. We had them before the Internet era, and they fit the criteria for common law fraud. Fraud occurs when there is a false representation which is intended to deceive another and which causes that person to act resulting in an injury.
Phishing can possibly fit into this legal definition of fraud. But phishing and fraud potentially differ when it comes to the injury. If someone deceives you into giving them your car, you have been injured by the loss of physical property. You have no car. But there is no exclusivity for information. If you receive a phishing email that links you to a fake website designed to capture your login information, and you enter your login information, have you been injured? You can still use your login information. It’s just that now they can use it too. So when does the injury occur? Is the act of deception the injury? Does the injury occur when the perpetrator actually uses the password? Or is the injury the act of using the password plus an action that brings the perpetrator some sort of illicit personal benefit, such as stolen credit card information?
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is the main federal cybercrime law. One of the crimes created by the CFAA requires acting with the intent to defraud and obtaining something of value from a computer that the perpetrator lacked the authority to access. The federal court of appeals in the Ninth Circuit has said that if a person’s authorization to access a computer is taken away, they cannot circumvent that access by using someone else’s password. Presumably this reasoning would also apply to phishing, where the perpetrator had no authorization to begin with. Covering phishing under the CFAA has the same problem as viewing phishing as regular fraud, though the CFAA does state that the injury occurs when the fraudulent behavior results in the access of a protected computer without authorization or in excess of authorization.
Still, one of the major uncertainties about cybercrime is that it is unclear when the injury occurs. A data breach victim may feel uneasy upon learning that their information was stolen. Administrative staff may get nervous about keeping their job if they accidentally fall for a phishing scam. The nature of cybercrime is one reason why the CFAA needs to be amended to take modern concerns and injuries into account.
I’m Jay Kesan.
In April, the CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, testified in Congress about the alleged user privacy violations that occurred at Facebook. Several weeks later, Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm that misused the personal information of millions of Facebook users, is shutting down due to the loss of customers. The Federal Trade Commission is progressing with its investigation of Facebook, and we will find out whether and how Facebook will be held responsible for these privacy violations.
That said, these privacy concerns are not going to end anytime soon. It is not just Facebook. Companies in multiple industries are becoming heavily dependent on customers’ personal data so that they can provide tailored products and services to their customers at lower cost. Ideally, both the companies and their customers should benefit from this data collector-data contributor relationship. In reality, all of us who are data contributors often feel uncomfortable about it. From Zuckerberg’s testimony in Congress, we may find answers to why we feel this way, and how meaningful regulation can improve this situation.
One reason why data contributors may not trust data collectors is that there is an informational asymmetry between the two. Many users have little knowledge about how companies like Facebook are collecting their personal information and what kinds of information are being collected. People get suspicious about whether their voices are being recorded secretly through the microphones on their laptops or through smart home devices like Amazon Echo.
It is often unclear to users who has access to their personal information. For example, people unfamiliar with Facebook’s business model may think that it sells users’ information to advertisers. During his Congressional testimony, Zuckerberg explained that Facebook acted as an intermediary that connected users with relevant ads. In order to provide greater clarity to users, regulation is needed to require that data collectors disclose, in an understandable and comprehensive manner, the sources being used to collect information, the types of information being collected, and the parties who have the access to that information.
Sometimes the collected information may be such that we are hesitant to share it. For example, many car insurance companies have been promoting telematics devices, which track drivers’ driving habits, and good drivers will be rewarded with lower premiums. But even for a good driver, the chance of her getting into an accident varies depending on many other factors, for example, the road conditions. Imagine if insurance companies start to gather information about the routes that a driver takes and change premium rates accordingly, in real time. Drivers will spend less on car insurance if safer routes are taken, and insurers will be able to monitor their risk exposures more closely. But even in such a mutually beneficial scenario, not everyone is willing to share his every footprint with others.
In short, people balance different considerations when it comes to the sensitivity of personal information. Some may be happy about giving up personal information in exchange for lower price or convenience, while others may not. Therefore, data contributors – meaning you and me — should be given the right to not share the information they consider sensitive, unless they want to do so.
In the EU, the General Data Protection Regulation – GDPR – goes into effect on May 25, 2018, and it provides data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union. It also deals with the export of personal data outside the EU, and hence, it will have a global impact.
Given the increased focus on cyber privacy, it is likely that some Congressional legislation regulation emerge. Will this regulation be adequate and will there be adequate enforcement of those regulations?
I’m Jay Kesan.
The 4th generation of the Apple Watch was released last week with exciting new features including fall detection and advanced heart monitoring capabilities. Two of these health-related features, heart rhythm detection and personal electrocardiogram, have received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), making the new Apple watch a Class II medical device, in the same category as a powered wheelchair. Hence, many more people will be wearing medical devices on a daily basis and rely on them to keep track of their health.
Despite their convenience, cybersecurity issues have always been a threat facing these networked medical devices and their users. When medical equipment, such an infected CT scanner in a hospital has to be taken offline in order to be patched, patients in the hospital suffer and other patients may have to travel longer to another hospital to get treatment. In August 2017, the FDA recalled almost half a million networked pacemakers, because these implantable devices were found to have vulnerabilities that might allow hackers to remotely alter a patient’s heartbeat. Unlike pacemakers, smart watches are less likely to cause direct physical harm to the users, but because these wearable accessories constantly collect data about your personal health, there may be serious privacy violations associated with a security breach of these devices. Also, attackers may be able to influence user’s behaviors indirectly by providing false health information.
In response to the increasing concern about the cybersecurity of medical devices, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) recommended that the FDA take additional measures to address this issue.
Currently, before a manufacturer can market its product as a medical device, it has to go through a 3-phase procedure with the FDA to get clearance or approval. First, there is a pre-submission program that allows the manufacturer to better understand FDA requirements. Then, the manufacturer needs to submit a set of documents based on the FDA’s “refuse-to-accept” checklists, which simply means that the FDA does not accept submissions with missing documents. Lastly, the FDA uses a template, called a “SMART template,” to guide its reviews of submissions.
Corresponding to these three phases, the recommendations given by the HHS are threefold, including promoting the use of pre-submission meetings to address cybersecurity-related questions, adding cybersecurity documentation to the FDA’s refuse-to-accept checklists, and creating a dedicated section for cybersecurity in the SMART template.
These recommended measures will certainly raise the awareness of cybersecurity among medical device manufacturers. From now on, submissions without cybersecurity documentation will not be accepted in the first place, and manufacturers have to prioritize addressing the cybersecurity issues residing in their products.
Nonetheless, these recommendations are limited in scope, leaving many important cybersecurity issues unresolved. Aside from checking cybersecurity with the SMART template, which the FDA has already started doing, the other two new measures suggested by the HHS seem to be more about procedure and documentation, rather than actually incentivizing manufacturers to improve the cybersecurity capabilities in their products. Manufacturers can come up with perfect cyber risk mitigation plans in order to pass FDA review but never effectively implement those plans.
In addition, although the FDA has a post-market surveillance program, which monitors the performance of drugs and medical devices on the market after they receive clearance or approval, it often takes several years for cybersecurity vulnerabilities associated with these medical devices to be exposed, and the discovery of these vulnerabilities are usually due to third-party researchers who are not involved in the surveillance program. In short, improvements can be made by the FDA to make vulnerability detection quicker and more effective and thereby improve the cybersecurity of networked medical devices.
I’m Jay Kesan.
GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation. It was adopted by the European Union in April 2016 to protect the data security and privacy of people in the Union, or “data subject”, which is the term used in this regulation. Companies collecting or processing the personal information of data subjects had two years to get ready and be compliant. The focus of the regulation is to restrain companies from abusing user data and to make the process of data collecting and handling more transparent to data subjects. In addition, under the GDPR, data subjects have the right to control the data collected by companies, such as correcting wrong personal information, requesting a copy of collected data and erasing personal information, also known as the “right to be forgotten,” under certain circumstances.
The GDPR applies to not only EU companies, but also to businesses outside the EU handling personal information of data subjects located in the European Union. The scope of this regulation can be interpreted expansively because the data subjects to be protected are not necessarily EU citizens. The specific wording of the regulation refers to data subjects “in the Union”, so by its language, it could conceivably apply to protect the personal data of Americans on vacation in Europe.
Besides its broad scope, the GDPR imposes heavy fines on companies that are found to not be compliant. Under the GDPR, there are two tiers of administrative fines. The lower tier—up to 10 million Euros or 2% of the company’s global annual revenue—is for violations like failing to report data breach incidents in a timely manner. The higher tier—up to 20 million Euros or 4% of global annual revenue, whichever is higher, is for violations of data subjects’ rights and unlawful data processing practices. To many companies, a fine as large as 4% of annual revenue is a significant percentage of their profit for a whole year. Some analysts believe that a fine this big is unlikely as the regulation says fines must be “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”.
How the fines are set up suggests that the regulation is going to have a bigger impact on small businesses than on the large ones, because for small businesses a 10-million-Euro, minimum fine for the lower tier might be greater than 2% of their annual revenue, and so they may end up paying relatively more than large companies do. In addition, large companies like Google or Facebook have more technical resources to implement data protection measures as required by GDPR and more legal resources to be compliant. According to a survey conducted by a security research firm, Crowd Research Partners, about the challenges of being GDPR-compliant, 43% of the interviewed firms suggest that they do not have expert staff, and 40% of the firms say that they are lacking the budget to comply. In short, many firms may have to decide to be fined or try to be compliant at greater cost.
The GDPR has been in force for only a couple of weeks. There are still a lot of uncertainties about how firms should comply with it, and how it will be enforced. But it is a good starting point of improving data protection, and perhaps in the future, we may see fewer incidents like Facebook Cambridge Analytica scandal.
I’m Jay Kesan.
In recent news, President Trump has accused Google of rigging search results. The President claims that the search engine giant has purposefully suppressed positive stories about his administration, and could be opened to prosecution as a result.
While the President’s specific claims of political censoring are unsubstantiated, the President has touched on an underlying issue; how do we know what we search and what we see on the internet represents the objective truth? How do websites rank and show information in a fair way?
In the case of Google, Google searches makes up 92 percent of all internet searches. Despite their popularity, the search engine has never published how its search algorithm works. What is the “it” factor that pushes a Wikipedia page or a New York Times article near the top of a search, while keeping a quote “untrustworthy” source near the bottom? These “secret algorithms” are prevalent throughout search engines and social media; popular sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter all rely on these algorithms to determine what content to show users.
For example, in July of this year, Twitter algorithms limited the visibility of some Republicans in profile searches. Testifying before Congress, Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey said the site tried to enforce policies against “threats, hate, harassment or other forms of abusive speech”, and that the tweaking of their algorithm unintentionally excluded republican profiles. Twitter has since fixed their search algorithm.
What we know about these secret algorithms isn’t much. For sure the algorithm looks for sites that use the same kind of words that people are searching for. But they also try and ensure that the pages writing those words are legitimate, by looking at information such as whether the site is trustworthy and if it is using the latest and most secure technology. There’s also an element of personalization affecting site rankings, where users will see more stories from publishers that they’ve visited frequently in the past,.
For Google, their decision to keep the algorithm secret is partly an attempt to ensure that it still works. If the nuts and bolts behind Google’s rankings were revealed, companies would try to alter their content in order to maximize their rank.
Regardless, because of the entire industry’s lack of transparency, it is easy to think that the search results we receive every day could be inherently biased. If Google or Facebook ever went rogue and decided to throw an election to a favored candidate, it would only have to alter a small fraction of search results to do so. And that is a very scary proposition.
So how do we fix such an issue?
Frank Pasquale, a professor at the University of Maryland Law School, has suggested that the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission should gain access to search data and investigate claims of manipulation. His hope is that a nonpartisan body could investigate accusations of bias and put the issue to rest.
Conversely, Facebook has sketched out a plan that involves giving academic researchers access to its search data, and allowing these academic researchers to study whether bias exists. Under Facebook’s proposed solution, the tech company would keep a tighter lid on its secret algorithm, while still allowing some review to come out to the public.
However, recently it was revealed that the Trump administration is considering instructing federal antitrust and law enforcement agencies to open investigations into the practices of sites like Google and Facebook. While the preliminary document is still in the early stages of drafting, and could change significantly in the coming months, the threat of federal antitrust enforcement from the Trump administration could spur tech companies to introduce more transparent policies regarding their search algorithms.
It’s still an open question how these tech companies will deal with these developments. It will take months for the Trump Administration’s proposal to take shape, if it does at all, and other proposals are only still preliminary thoughts. Stay tuned for more developments on this front, and let’s hope that these developments aren’t blocked.
I’m Jay Kesan.
Net neutrality means that your Internet service provider should not be able to treat some type of content on the Internet different from others. In other words, all websites and their content would be considered to be equal.
Net neutrality is about competition and profit in the Internet access market. The Federal Communications Commission – the FCC — is the government agency that has been most involved in net neutrality issues. Its authority to regulate high speed Internet services has been hotly debated over the years. The FCC has the most authority to regulate common carriers like telephone companies.
In 2005, the Supreme Court decided the Brand X case. Cable Internet, according to the Supreme Court, was an information service, not a telecommunications service, and so the common carrier rules did not apply.
After the Brand X case, the FCC re-classified DSL service as an information service, even though as a service provided by phone companies, DSL was originally thought to be a common carrier service. The FCC also tried a variety of tactics, including a non-binding Internet policy statement, to curb abuses using their existing authority.
Finally, in 2015, under pressure to preserve net neutrality, the FCC re-classified broadband as a common carrier. Now, in December 2017, by a partisan 3-2 vote, the FCC, under President Trump, repealed that 2015 re-classification of high speed Internet service. The FCC argues that its repeal is needed to encourage broadband innovation and investment, especially with the rapid deployment of 5G wireless technology.
This decision to overturn net neutrality has been praised by telecom companies, but it is criticized by technology companies such as Facebook, Google, and Amazon and by consumer groups.
So where do we go from here?
Without net neutrality, paid prioritization enters the picture. Internet service providers can charge based on the type of content served, for example, charging more for multimedia content, and they can also prioritize certain traffic over others. This means that, in the future, we may see tiers of Internet service causing your Internet bill to look like your cable subscription, perhaps with different payments for access to various websites. Today, there are differences in price based on your speed of Internet access or the reliability of your connection. But, in the future, they may also be based on the type of content being accessed.
In addition, smaller websites may also not be able to afford the payments to ISPs to deliver their content rapidly compared to large, popular websites.
The FCCs’ decision brings another agency, the Federal Trade Commission – the FTC — into the picture. The FTC is the primary agency that handles consumer protection issues and it can apply its competition law expertise to provide some protections against deceptive and anticompetitive consumer practices. Unlike the FCC, the FTC lacks the technological expertise regarding Internet communications, and it remains to be seen how successful they will be at enforcing consumer protections or making rules regarding broadband access. In its recent repeal, the FCC has included certain transparency requirements to make it easier for the government to oversee broadband providers’ conduct.
Before this repeal really takes hold, there are legal hurdles ahead. The attorneys general of several states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Minnesota, have announced their intention to challenge the FCC’s repeal in court.
In another approach, lawmakers in states like California, New York, Washington and Massachusetts have proposed state bills to establish net neutrality protections. But does the FCC’s deregulatory federal approach preempt state and local action regarding net neutrality? In the past, courts have upheld the FCC’s ability to preempt state regulations in the telecommunications market.
Finally, it will take months for the FCC’s net neutrality repeal to be approved by the Office of Management and Budget. So stayed tuned for more developments regarding your Internet service.
I’m Jay Kesan.
On Friday, July 13th, Robert Mueller’s special prosecution team announced an indictment of twelve Russian agents in connection with cyberattacks against us.
The indictment discusses two computer intrusion units in the Russian military. One of these units is associated with actions to publicize private data, and the other unit is associated with attempts to disrupt our election infrastructure. Both of these sets of crimes include violations of federal law – the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act—the CFAA. The defendants in the indictment are charged with two violations of the CFAA: accessing a computer without authorization and obtaining information, and transmitting something that causes damage to a computer.
Information gathering was one focus of the Russian cyber intrusions. According to the indictment, Russian intelligence agencies have been deploying hackers against a variety of systems in the U.S. Arguably the most visible victim is the DNC, which experienced multiple intrusions resulting in the theft of emails and other digital information. Then, posting under names like DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0, they staged releases of these documents. An unnamed organization – generally assumed to be Wikileaks – is described as working directly with Guccifer 2.0 to release the documents.
When someone wants to break into a computer system, they must find a security vulnerability. In many cases, that security vulnerability is situated right between the chair and the computer keyboard. The indictment alleges that units of the Russian military used spearphishing tactics to obtain passwords or other methods of access. Spearphishing involves sending emails by personalizing them so they appear to be from a trusted source thereby inducing the targeted individuals to reveal confidential information. Once they had access, they installed malware on the computers, including keyloggers. That way, the hackers were able to record every keystroke that the user made.
When there is evidence that someone committed a crime, you want to know everyone who interacts with that evidence in the so-called chain of custody. You want the evidence to be in the same shape in court as it was when the crime was committed. An unknown hacker is hardly a reliable link in any chain of custody. When the documents were posted to Wikileaks, journalists immediately started reading them and identifying significant things. But there is no way of ensuring that the hacker didn’t plant dozens or hundreds of little lies throughout the stolen documents.
Another part of the indictment concerns interference with election infrastructure. The indictment refers to an unnamed state board of elections that was the target of a cyberattack by the defendants resulting in the theft of the personal information of about 500,000 voters. In the months following that data breach, some of the defendants also hacked into an American company that makes software to help state and local election boards verify voter registration information. The company is referred to as “Vendor 1.” Some journalists have suggested that this company might be VR Systems.
The indictment also alleges that the defendants used email addresses that resembled Vendor 1 as part of spearphishing campaigns against election officials across the country in November 2016. They used the company’s logo to make the emails seem more legitimate as coming from a company that election officials trust, but the attached Word documents contained malware. It is unknown how many of these spearphishing attempts were successful or what the hackers did when they got access. It’s possible that some of those problems were part of a hacking operation aimed at causing confusion and long lines and lowering voter turnout on election day.
But perhaps the strongest effect that we are experiencing is psychological, as the entire country is concerned about the legitimacy of our political system.
I’m Jay Kesan.
The Internet is being used to recruit terrorists, to spread disturbing and abusive content, and fake news, and many of us want to stop this. Facebook allegedly sold ads to Russian operatives whose goal was to sow discord within the American electorate in advance of the 2016 election. One source of this activity was the Internet Research Agency, which has been described as a Russian troll farm. The anonymity of the Internet combined with the technology to automate a lot of social media accounts allows for the creation of echo chambers of bots. In December 2017, Facebook rolled out a tool to allow users to see if they had “Liked” or “Followed” content created by the Internet Research Agency. Facebook and Google represent about 60% of the market share for online advertising revenue. Hence, Facebook and Google likely profit the most from the marketing-style outreach of Internet troll farms.
Into this picture comes companies like Unilever, a large consumer goods multinational, which is concerned that Facebook and Google are not behaving responsibly with their power. Unilever brands include household names like Lipton tea, Dove, and Ben and Jerry’s, so their advertising choices matter. And Unilever has threatened to boycott Facebook and Google, if they do not get better at screening out extremist and illegal content.
Unilever’s approach relies on the power of private market forces. And this may be the only viable approach to combat toxic online content. The law could create barriers on Internet content based on the identity of the sender, but that would probably violate the First Amendment. As a country, the right to free speech is one of our most sacred values. Several other democracies, including France and Germany, have laws against hate speech. We do not. The Supreme Court has instead said that such speech cannot be restricted unless the speech is aimed at “inciting imminent lawless action.” Hate speech is tolerated up until the point that it involves a present threat.
Some courts have pointed out that it is patronizing to assume that people should be shielded from others’ speech. We believe that ideas should rise and fall on their merits in the so-called marketplace of ideas. If something is false or has no logical support, the law trusts the reasonable person to come to the right conclusion about that.
However, the First Amendment is also being used as a shield by people who want to divide us from each other. Some argue in favor of requiring people to reveal their real identities online, but a legal requirement like that would interfere with the right to anonymous speech under the First Amendment.
Private market forces do not compel in the same way that the government does, and a private company’s actions, as opposed to the government, cannot violate the First Amendment, except in very limited circumstances. Hence, Unilever’s threatened boycott is a potentially powerful tool against hate and disinformation. Facebook and Google could develop their own rules and contracts with their users, filter out content on their networks, and develop industry standards and metrics for advertising.
The Russian information operations are one focus of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s criminal investigation, so it is likely that additional indictments and insights into these activities will continue to emerge. For now, private companies and consumers like you and me are entrusted with the responsibility of consuming information responsibly. Organizations like the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) are also helping us identify fake online content. In short, we have to hold ourselves responsible for evaluating the information that is in front of us, and it is up to us to hold companies responsible for profits earned from another’s dishonesty or hate filled content.
I’m Jay Kesan.


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Ford has decided not to bring the Raptor variant of the new Ranger pickup to the United States.
Hermann Salenbauch, who is the new vehicle line director for Ford Performance, spoke to journalists about Ford Performance today in Las Vegas. Among the topics that came up was the Ford Ranger Raptor, and he had bad news for American fans of the off road Ranger: despite America’s love of Raptor pickups, Ford has no plans to bring it to the United States.
The reasoning behind the decision is that prepping the Raptor version up to U.S. requirement standards would apparently wouldn’t make enough financial sense for Ford to bring it over to the United States.
Salenbauch also eluded to the fact that potential US pricing for the Ranger Raptor may run too closely with the MSRP of the F-150 Raptor, and may even exceed the price of some of the higher trim levels in the F-150.
We are still hopeful for a change of heart from Ford, but until then we have the Colorado ZR2 to keep us busy.


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|Grapegrower & Winemaker||Wine & Viticulture Journal||Wine Industry Directory||
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An exclusive report from Today's Key Report (TKR) announced at a meeting of South Australian grape growers representatives last week, discussion focused on grower representation at the State level in industry, government and other forums.
Currently the South Australian Wine Industry Association represents SA grapegrowers. It was determined at the meeting that this is now inappropriate and a new body be established — the South Australian Winegrape Growers Council (SAWGC). It's understood Paul Clancy has agreed to be Chairman.
A source told TKR "This is a long overdue development for growers in SA. The grower leaders who attended Tuesday's meeting all agreed that it was past time that growers in this State shook off their apathy and united to speak and act as one in what will be a very tough few years ahead."


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West Des Moines, Iowa – September 8, 2020– The Iowa Agriculture Literacy Foundation has opened registrations for a cross-curricular program for elementary, middle, and high school students. The experiential learning contest allows students to creatively develop a marketing strategy for a turkey product of their choice, while learning about the multitude of agricultural careers and skills it takes to develop and sell a product.
Students in grades 3 through 12 are eligible to participate. Students will learn about the turkey production industry and turkey nutrition as a result of participation.
Elementary students who participate in the contest will select a turkey product and then work together in teams of three or more, or as a classroom, to submit a poster that advertises the product and showcases the health benefits associated with eating turkey. Middle school and high school students who participate will work together to submit a marketing plan of their selected turkey-focused product. Their marketing plans included an introduction, product details, marketing tactics, a market analysis, and nutrition information. The program is funded in part by the Iowa Turkey Marketing Council.
“Iowa is an important turkey producing state,” said Morgan Minnehan of the Iowa Turkey Federation. “This contest helps students understand about the industry and how turkey can be a nutritious part of a balanced diet.”
Registration is due October 25. Contest submissions are due November 1. Submissions will be judged by a panel of industry experts, turkey producers, and educators. Prizes include up to $200, a personalized virtual tour (FarmChat®) of a turkey farm, and first place classrooms will have a turkey brought to their school and supported by the Iowa Turkey Federation.
For the full rules, resources, and registration for this contest, please visit https://www.iowaagliteracy.org/tools-resources/general/for-students.


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Yesterday, Guitar World checked out the Eventide booth at the 2012 Winter NAMM show in Anaheim and learned about the all-new updates to the critically acclaimed Space reverb (and beyond) pedal, which was recently featured in the pages of GW.
Guitar World stopped by the Loar Guitars booth at this week's Winter NAMM show in Anaheim. Here's Travis from The Loar catching us up on all the new acoustic models for this year, including a new super-charged version of a true turn-of-the-century classic. Also shown is the new LH-309 guitar (pictured), which features a hand-carved spruce top.
Yesterday, we stopped by the Recording King booth at Winter NAMM 2012 for a look at their new acoustic guitars. Recording King is debuting several new models this year, including the RD-310 and RP-1372, and you can check them out in the video below.


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- Ford Motor company Stock is down around $5 a share since 2011. Many investors are underwater and will sell once their investments come back into the black.
- Record earnings both this year and last plus the initiation of a "special dividend" haven't been able to move the stock price.
- Imagine what would happen to the stock if the company reported a couple of earnings misses or poor guidance?
Ford Motor Company's (NYSE:F) sales bounced back in April (SAAR of 17.4 million) and what stood out to me was the 3% hike in retail sales which was the best performance in this division since 2006. The F-series truck lineup continued to perform very strongly and the explorer crossover brand grew a whopping 22% which resulted in April being a record month for many models. Nevertheless, the stock gave back all of its earnings gains (where it announced a bottom line of $2.45 billion for the first quarter) when it announced it would be recalling 200,000 trucks and SUV's in order to repair technical problems. Therefore, Ford stock is trading basically flat for the month of May which is nothing new for Ford stock. In fact, I doubt if the stock would still be trading 3% higher than current levels if the recall announcement had not been announced. Ford stock just hasn't been able to gain any traction with the market since 2010 and I can't see an inflection point in the near term.
This little exercise will give you an idea of the returns an investor would have made if he or she invested capital back in January 2011. Now Ford's current quarterly dividend is $0.15 per share plus the company initiated a special dividend of $0.4 in January of this year. Now if $20,000 was invested back in January of 2011, this capital would have turned into (assuming all dividends were re-invested) $18.425. Even with Ford's current 4.45% yield along with its new special dividend (which brings the yield to well over 6%), the investor in question would have lost money.
Investors will be aware that oil prices have risen sharply since February and if this continues, it could trigger the top of this auto cycle. Strong dividends are only attractive when the company's or sector's fundamentals are sound. I believe the market is sniffing out a cycle top here which is why Ford is finding it so difficult in getting upward movement in its stock. Remember most investors who invested over the last five years are currently holding a paper loss which leads me to believe that if they get a chance to sell, a lot of them will take it with both hands.
Furthermore, if you are an investor waiting for recent "record earnings" to move the stock, just have a look at past numbers. At the end of 2011, Ford stock was trading at almost $11 and the company reported earnings per share of $4.94 which equated to net income of $20.23 billion. Furthermore, although restructuring was involved, debt levels were lower than present levels and operating margins were a full 2 basis points higher. My point here is that although Ford may look cheap from a valuation perspective, it has traded at these earnings multiples before for a considerable period of time before the stock began to move up. The same could easily happen again despite earnings growth estimates of $2.09 per share in 2016.
Nevertheless, what definitely has the potential to move the stock going forward would be a clear statement that the company intends to go after Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) with a long range (200 miles) electric car of its own. In fact, Ford CEO Mark Fields stated that up to $4.5 billion would be invested in this area right up to 2020 and that 40% of all models would be electrified by that date.
However, the CEO fell short in stating that his company would have a 200 mile model in the near term which would compete head on against Tesla's model 3 and General Motors (NYSE:GM) bolt models. Electric cars definitely could become a growth trigger for the stock but Ford needs to act quickly here. First movers always hold the advantage in bull markets and even if Ford delivers a long range electric model by 2020, it will still be way down the pecking order of long range electrified vehicles. Investors should watch this space because as things stand, Ford even if it launches its Model E within 3 years, it will probably be the fourth automaker to launch a 200 mile model. I will be looking at its competitors to see how their stock reacts when their new long range electric models go live.
To sum up, Ford stock is still struggling despite another bumper quarter. I still maintain it is risky to just invest in this stock for the dividend. Many investors that have been holding Ford over the last 5 years are still underwater on their investments which leads me to believe that selling would be elevated if the stock caught a bid. Electric and China remain key despite earnings over $400 million in Europe this quarter. The market still isn't buying into Ford's growth story which is why investors should be cautious in the event of poor guidance being announced for some upcoming quarters.


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NEW YORK -- Worries about job prospects sent consumer confidence to a seven-month low in October and its third consecutive monthly decline. The steeper-than-expected drop raised questions about whether consumers will be in the mood to spend during the critical holiday shopping season.
The Consumer Confidence Index dropped 3.9 points to 92.8, down from a revised 96.7 in September, according to a report Tuesday from The Conference Board, a private research group.
Airline files bankruptcy
INDIANAPOLIS -- ATA Airlines Inc., the nation's 10th-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, becoming the latest U.S. airline tripped up by rising fuel costs and fare wars.
ATA sold off airport slots and other assets to AirTran Airways Inc. for $87.6 million but said it plans to honor tickets and maintain its full flight schedule.
AirTran Holdings Inc. will assume ATA's flight operations, gate leases and routes at Chicago Midway Airport and arrival and departure slots at New York's LaGuardia Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
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* BMW to invest $1 bln in Spartanburg by 2016
* BMW to add X7 SUV to product line
* Spartanburg expansion to add 800 jobs
* Spartanburg to become BMW’s largest factory
* BMW says has no plans for German style works council (Adds CEO comments, details about BMW’s investment and expansion plan)
By Harriet McLeod and Edward Taylor
SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA, March 28 (Reuters) - BMW will expand production capacity in the United States by 50 percent and introduce another new offroad model, the German luxury carmaker said on Friday, in what amounts to a $1 billion bet on sport utility vehicles (SUVs).
BMW said that as well as the new X4 SUV, its U.S. factory would make a new X7 SUV. Ramping up production capacity at Spartanburg, South Carolina to 450,000 cars by 2016 will make it BMW’s largest factory, the company said.
The red X7, which was rolled out from a cloud of white smoke before a crowd of workers and dignitaries including U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, is part of a strategy to help the German automaker cut it’s dependence on fragile European markets, which accounted for 44 percent of group sales in 2013.
Raising U.S. production with new models and greater manufacturing capacity increases BMW’s bet on the U.S., a market which is fast recovering to levels seen before the 2007 financial crisis, helped by the popularity of SUVs.
“With the BMW X7, we are developing another, larger X model, which we will produce at our U.S. plant,” Chief Executive Norbert Reithofer said, explaining that customers had demanded such a vehicle from BMW.
Reuters last week reported BMW planned to build the X7 in South Carolina.
“We think it will be a success in the U.S. and China, we cannot just ignore the market,” Reithofer said. During the financial crisis, BMW mothballed a previous generation X7 on the grounds that there was little demand for it and that it may not sit well with BMW’s image as a maker of low-emission cars.
But SUVs have grown more popular in recent years, accounting for 32 percent of total U.S. vehicle sales last year, up from around 19 percent in 1999, statistics supplied by LMC Automotive show.
Spartanburg started out making BMW’s 3-series sedans but today makes mainly offroaders, producing 300,000 X3, X5 and X6 offroader vehicles in 2013 of which 70 percent were exported.
Gas-guzzling offroaders have proved particularly popular in the United States, thanks in part to the low fuel prices that have resulted from its booming shale oil and gas industry, a trend that is expected to continue.
In 2019, U.S. domestic production of crude oil will account for 63 percent of total supplies, according to the Energy Information Administration, a significant increase from 2011 when it barely covered 38 percent of the country’s needs.
By contrast the International Energy Agency has warned that Europe’s high energy prices risk driving away a big share of its energy-intensive industries.
With sales of its BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce branded cars climbing to 375,000 units in 2013, the United States has become the second-largest market for the company, accounting for 19 percent of its global sales.
China accounted for 20 percent of its sales while Germany, BMW’s home market, accounted for only 13 percent.
BMW said the U.S. will be a key driver of group sales in 2014, expecting overall market to grow to 16 million cars, almost rebounding back to pre-crisis levels last seen in 2007.
By contrast it sees only a slight uptick in Europe.
This year BMW aims to achieve a significant rise in sales volume to 2 million or more, after it delivered a record 1.96 million cars in 2013.
The latest investment will see the number of people employed at the Spartanburg plant rise by about 800 to 8,800, BMW said, adding there were no plans to create a German-style works council.
BMW’s investment was welcomed by local dignitaries who were full of praise for Reithofer’s bet on America.
“He was on the ground floor of the decision making. If this plant had failed, he wouldn’t be chairman,” South Carolina Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham said on Friday. (Additional reporting by Ben Klayman; Writing by Edward Taylor; Editing by Chris Steitz, Maria Sheahan and Mark Potter)


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Industry marketing services and platform provider Income Access extends its product coverage within the African sports betting market by announcing an affiliate programme partnership with NairaBET.
Montreal-based Income Access will fully service Nairabet’s affiliate marketing programme and online player acquisition provisions.
Regulated by Lagos State Lotteries Board (Nigeria) and operating a tailored OPTIMA powered product, NairaBET has become one of Africa’s fastest growing online sports betting brands.
Detailing its decision to partner with Income Access, NairaBET governance noted that the company needed a ‘more robust’ affiliate technology to sustain its ongoing growth in emerging African markets.
“We believe strongly in the importance of affiliate marketing when it comes to driving traffic to our website, but that is only if it is well managed,” said Akinola Alabi, CEO of NairaBET.
“We are delighted to partner with NairaBet and expand into one of the industry’s exciting and emerging markets,” said Nicky Senyard, founder and CEO of Income Access. “We look forward to playing an integral role in supporting NairaBet’s growth and expansion in the African iGaming market”.


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In this instance it’s been pointed out that Google’s CFO and Senior VP – Patrick Pichette may never have heard of the Osborne Effect as he revealed his company’s thoughts on their ownership over Motorola Mobility and some of the less impressive the assets it came with.
During an interview with Pichette at the recent Morgan Stanley Technology Conference, he admitted that following the procurement of Motorola, the 18 months worth of devices which were left in their existing pipeline didn’t have what it takes to “wow” Google who have already shown their own ideals for mobile devices in the form of the Nexus product line. Indeed before one company owned the other, they’d partnered on one such device; using Motorola’s Xoom tablet to debut Android 3.0 Honeycomb, but does that mean that even then, deep down, they thought they were launching their tablet OS on an under-developed product?
Such criticism is unusual and as The Verge points out, some of the company’s more recent handsets such as the RAZR HD have proven to win over consumers in many instances rather than fall at the first hurdle. Whatever the case was at the time of acquirement, Google have been, in Pichette’s words, ‘draining’ that legacy product pipeline to make way for new devices which better fit the shared vision of Google and Motorola.
Listen to the quote here:
The first handsets of this new era in Motorola’s product history looks to be the Motorola X Phone, which is anticipated to arrive later this year debuting Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie.


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Salesforce creates $125m fund to give European cloud start-ups a boost
Europe Trailblazer Fund comes off the back of existing investment in 50 startups across the region
Salesforce is making $125 million available to cloud start-ups across Europe, in a move it hopes will have a knock-on effect on organisations' digital transformation initiatives in the region.
The launch of the new Trailblazer Fund by the cloud giant's investment arm, Salesforce Ventures, follows historic $100 million-plus in funding already awarded to 50 start-ups spanning 13 European countries.
"Europe is a clear leader in cloud technology today, and we are excited to deepen our investment in the region," said John Somorjai, executive vice president of corporate development and Salesforce Ventures.
"Our commitment to European startups reflects the growth of innovation, our belief in the local entrepreneurs and our focus on creating the world's largest ecosystem of enterprise cloud companies to drive customer success."
A whopping €28 billion was invested in European and Israeli startups in 2018 - three times growth that of the investments made in 2013, according to Dealroom. SaaS firms were the main beneficiaries of this funding, receiving more than one-third of the cash.
This funding growth shows the growing appetite for cloud-based solutions and services. Indeed, analyst firm IDC predicts that the public cloud services market in EMEA will surpass $105.3 billion come 2023 - more than doubling between in the five years post 2018.
"We see tremendous opportunity to invest in companies across Europe as this market continues to grow at scale," added Miguel Milano, president of international at Salesforce.
"At Salesforce, we focus on backing ambitious entrepreneurs who are building the most innovative solutions to support our customers’ digital transformation."
Entrepreneurs the company has previously invested in include GoCardless, Onfido and Privitar in the UK specifically.
"As we scale our business internationally, making the right funding choices is critical for the team at GoCardless. It’s even more important to choose the right investment partners: not just for the funds, but for the deeper value those partners bring, through their expertise and ecosystem," said Hiroki Takeuchi, CEO of GoCardless.
"Salesforce Ventures is a great investment partner for GoCardless. [It is] hugely supportive of our team, connecting us to the right people and proactively sharing best practices."
Salesforce Ventures claims it was the most active corporate venture capitalist in Europe in 2018.
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Medieval fighting game For Honor is finally adjusting its ambitious and controversial online system and adding dedicated servers. The move, announced today, follows months of player complaints that the online-only fighting game’s connectivity issues made it too frustrating to play.
Still in head start access until tomorrow, Black Desert Online’s North American launch has already encountered enough serious issues to fill a chart. The devs are calling it the “Shitstorm Matrix.”
When it comes to lag, League of Legends developer Riot has been talking a real big game lately—saying they’re building a huge lag-killing network, and improving North American players’ experience by relocating League’s servers. They made good on the latter promise this week, and holy cow has it made the game better.
Do you play League of Legends on the North America servers? Have you played since they moved to Chicago? If the game is running well—or better than it was before—let us know. If you’re having any connection issues, let us know that, too! We want to get a sense of how League is running post-move. Thanks!
Late last week, Riot revealed plans to relocate the North American servers for its popular online multiplayer game League of Legends from Portland to Chicago. The plan is to centralize the location of the servers, and thereby reduce lag for the greatest number of players possible. What could be the problem, you ask?
Intended to launch yesterday on the PS4, the highly anticipated beta for Street Fighter V suffered an inauspicious debut last night. Now it looks like it’ll be a while before the beta gets fully up and running again. Or ever get up and running, really.
League of Legends took a big hit last night thanks to a bug affecting a standard teleporting move that every playable character regularly uses. While Riot still hasn’t gotten its hugely popular multiplayer game back up to full speed quite yet, the developer said that it’s now found a fix.
Are you playing Far Cry 4? Are you playing online co-op, and doing so on a console? If it's running well for you, let us know. If you're running into bugs, let us know that, too! We want to get a sense of how the game is running these days. Thanks.
After a little bit of overnight maintenance, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is back, with reduced load on its Duty Finder and three fresh servers, with Square Enix poised to add more as the need arises. Our connection nightmares should soon be over.
Strangers can be jerks. Granted, they can be cool, too, but if you're competing in an online shooter, chances are that they're jerks. And sometimes you have to play with them.
Own a piece of World of Warcraft history and help a good cause, as Blizzard prepares to auction off more than 2,000 original server blades for St. Jude's Childrens' Research Hospital.
Response to Trion World's MMO Rift has been overwhelming, with the 17 servers allocated to North America for last week's head start blossoming into 39 to combat long login queues. The game launches tomorrow, with more servers on the way.
Imagine turning on your computer from a powerless state and instantly seeing your desktop without having to wait through a lengthy loading process. NC State researchers have developed a device that could make that happen.
Once Halo Reach hits, bringing with it a brand new multiplayer experience and separate servers, does that mean Halo 3's multiplayer servers will be shut down?
Zipper Interactive has launched the promised open beta test for the PlayStation 3's MAG, but early server issues are causing frustration for players unable to connect.
Aion general chat has one less thing to complain about this morning, as NCsoft takes steps to prevent folks from abusing the personal shop system in order to remain online during peak hours.
Players are none too pleased with the massive, multi-hour queues affecting most of the newly-launched MMO Aion's servers every evening. We spoke with NCsoft about plans to sooth the teeming masses.
Now that Sierra has been swallowed by the maw of Actiblizzard, the great behemoth has spat out a few bones. On November 1st, Sierra will be closing 21 of its game servers, cutting off supports to games such as AvP2, Homeworld and Vampire. None of the games affected are hugely popular, but doubtless someone out there…


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Card payment business Square is teaming up with UK bank TSB.
TSB will offer Square’s card readers for free to its business account customers.
It’s hoped that the card readers will make it easier for small businesses to manage their finances.
TSB’s SME customers will be able to track performance through Square’s realtime analytics and digital receipts.
What does this mean?
Square has done the research on this one, finding that 3mn SMEs in the UK aren’t equipped to take card payments; and those that start accepting them see their profits increase by up to 25% on average.