Brad Parscale, Trump's campaign manager for his 2020 re-election campaign, is out. Trump announced Parscale's firing after a series of sparsely-attended rallies and a dire national poll that puts him 15 points behind Democratic rival Joe Biden.Parscale, Trump's longtime "website guy", will be replaced by Bill Stepien. Stepien managed Chris Christie's gubernatorial campaigns and was his chief of staff before being fired for poor "judgment."The president reportedly lashed out at Parscale in late April after he was presented with flagging poll numbers, even threatening to sue his campaign manager, according to a New York Times report. The Trump administration has grappled with both the economic fallout caused by the ongoing coronavirus, which brought his campaign rallies to a halt in March, and nationwide protests and unrest over the death of George Floyd.Parcale will stay on as a "senior advisor", according to The Hill:Making matters worse, Oklahoma health officials blamed the indoor rally for a subsequent spike in coronavirus cases in the area.Much of the scrutiny after the rally fell on Parscale. Those close to the campaign and the president questioned if Parscale was cut out to manage a reelection bid and suggested he may be better off returning to a role where he could better use his digital expertise. Read the rest

A trio of lawsuits filed Tuesday against Microsoft, Google owner Alphabet, and Amazon accuses the tech companies of training their facial recognition tools on photos of people that have not given their consent, which is a violation of Illinois law.From CNET:The photos in question were part of IBM's Diversity in Faces database, which is designed to advance the study of fairness and accuracy in facial recognition by looking at more than just skin tone, age and gender. The data includes 1 million images of human faces, annotated with tags such as face symmetry, nose length and forehead height.The two Illinois residents who brought the lawsuits, Steven Vance and Tim Janecyk, say their images were included in that data set without their permission, despite clearly identifying themselves as residents of Illinois. Collection, storage and use of biometric information is illegal in the state without written consent under the Biometric Information Privacy Act, passed by the Illinois legislature in 2008.Read more:Amazon, Google, Microsoft sued over photos in facial recognition database Read the rest

This is quite a major hack.Now is a good time to change your Twitter password, if you are a user.Hackers pumping a cryptocurrency giveaway scam appear to have compromised the Twitter accounts of leading exchanges, prominent individuals, major corporations, and at least one news organization. The Twitter accounts of former President Barack Obama and VP and current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden were compromised amid the ongoing event, and at the time of this blog post, hours after the attack began, both accounts with the malicious urls are still active.Twitter is doing a bad job handling this security event. Very bad.Hackers gained access to the official verified Twitter accounts of some of America’s most famous, wealthy, and powereful people and best-known brands, including:- Barack Obama– Joe Biden—Jeff Bezos—Bill Gates—Kanye West—Mike Bloomberg—Elon Musk—Apple- Uber...and many other verified accounts with smaller followings were hacked to promote the scam, which amassed many gullible victims.Rumors suggesting a Twitter employee with access to the user management panel was targeted. That would explain why none of the tweets appear to be coming from a 3rd party app and even affected accounts with 2FA.— Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) July 15, 2020 Read the rest

Now that we’re past July 4th, we’re truly turning smack into the sharpened teeth of the summer heatwave season. As temperatures and humidity spike, it just makes all the rest of the nation’s current problems that just tiniest bit more irritating, doesn’t it?Hey, we’re all in this together. So if we can help chill you out just a little with one of these 11 deals on fans or personal air conditioners, featuring savings of up to nearly $100 off, we’ll score that as a win.Bladeless Personal Fan - $19.99; originally $59.99With three speeds and a sleek, portable design, this super convenient mini fan can be a full-sized lifesaver. Portable enough to fit in a pocket or backpack, the unique bladeless design churns the air, while the rechargeable built-in battery can even sync up and recharge your phone while you cool down.Beat The Heat Double Cool Cordless Mini Collar Fan - $29.99; originally $39.95This fan gets right to the heart of where you need the cooling most — right on your face. Slip this mini collar around your neck, cycle through three adjustable speeds, and let the seven-leaf fan design put a pleasant breeze right on you. You can even add a few drops of your favorite scent so you can enjoy a nice fragrance at the same time.Cooling Neckband Fan - $79.95; originally $89.99Here’s another cooler that slips right around your neck. Using semiconductor cooling technology, it creates a temperature difference and instant cooling in just two seconds, dropping your personal space temp by up to 9 degrees. Read the rest

Twitter user @olenskae shared this email from AirBNB:Airbnb has lost its fucking head. Why would I donate to my host? I can't even afford one house. pic.twitter.com/JZspJqyoPB— Rosaleen (@olenskae) July 14, 2020Business Insider reported on the cringeworthy request, and even got a comment from AirBNB:The new tool [Kindness Cards] appears to be another effort to assuage hosts' financial concerns, this time by soliciting contributions from former guests. An Airbnb spokesperson told Business Insider that 100% of the proceeds from the kindness cards would go to the hosts."In the spirit of rekindling connections, we developed a new feature that allows guests to send virtual cards with messages of support and encouragement to hosts who provided excellent hospitality. If they wish, guests have the option to add a voluntary financial contribution," the spokesperson said.At press time, it wasn't clear if these lazy slumlords could pull themselves up by their bootstraps and find something new, so they can stop begging for handouts.Airbnb is getting ripped apart for asking guests to donate money to hosts [Aaron Holmes / Business Insider]Image: Public Domain via NeedPix Read the rest

Tomorrow the final hammer goes down on an archive of original Nikola Tesla patents, lightbulb design drawings by Thomas Edison, a World War II Enigma Machine, Stephen Hawking’s personal Simpsons figure, and many other science-related curiosities in Christie's "Eureka!" auction. Read the rest

A stenciled rat sneezing green spew is just one part of Banksy's latest work, "If You Don't Mask, You Don't Get." This video, put out by the artist Tuesday morning, shows a man, disguised as a professional cleaner, creating the pro-mask piece in a London Underground train. Of course, it's already been removed. BBC: Transport for London (TfL) said the art was removed "some days ago" in line with its "strict anti-graffiti policy"...The statement from TfL said it appreciated "the sentiment of encouraging people to wear face coverings"."We'd like to offer Banksy the chance to do a new version of his message for our customers in a suitable location," it added.I bet they would!screengrab via Banksy/Instagram Read the rest

Every year, hundreds of thousands of horseshoe crabs, a threatened species, are "milked" for up to 30% of their blood that's used to test new medical drugs, including possible COVID-19 vaccines, for bacterial contamination. The animals are eventually released but, surprise, a large percentage of them die. Revive & Restore, the wildlife conservation organization most famous for their efforts to resurrect the Woolly Mammoth and Passenger Pigeon, is pushing the adoption of a synthetic test alternative to the unsustainable horseshoe crab blood method. In the video above, Revive & Restore co-founders Ryan Phelan and Stuart Brand explain how "Biotech Can Save This Threatened Keystone Species & Keep Covid-19 Vaccines Safe." (Bonus: the video's original score is by Revive & Restore's longtime friend Brian Eno! Double bonus: My sister-in-law Heather Sparks is Revive & Restore's communications and outreach manager!) Read the rest

This Saturday, some San Francisco families will be bringing a four-mile long hopscotch course to their neighborhood. With their day-long "Hopscotch Your Block" event, the North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association (NOPNA) hopes to chalk the playground game over a 30-block area.NOPNA thinks this will be really fun and a way to help build community, support our local merchants, and improve morale...all while keeping a safe social distance from each other! And… we could potentially even break the Guiness World Record for the longest hopscotch course (currently 3.8 miles)! Let’s make history together by breaking this record!The four mile course runs East-West (Turk, Golden Gate, McAllister, Fulton, Grove, Hayes and Fell) and connects north-south along Divisadero and Masonic. We'll be "chalking up the blocks" and connecting them all together; please only chalk the north side of sidewalk (if on an east-west street) or east side of sidewalk (if on a north-south street).photo by Fiona Moore/Flickr Read the rest

Kanye West announced that he was running for president, but it quickly transpired that he had not filed any paperwork. So he paid some people to figure out how to get him on the ballot. Then he gave up.It may not happen this year, but certainly West could run for president in the future. Donald Trump flirted multiple times with a presidential bid before his now infamous descent down the golden escalator in 2015. West’s ambitions to be a presidential candidate should probably be taken more seriously than his ambitions to be Willy Wonka.Ballot shmallot. Time for Kanye to lead a military coup! That said, it is interesting how expensive and complicated it is to run for President. Read the rest

Exploding Head Syndrome (EHS) is an actual medical condition in which an individual sometimes experiences an explosive sound inside their head when drifting off to sleep or just waking up. The big boom may also be accompanied by a flash of light. Also called "episodic cranial sensory shock," cases have been reported in the medical literature since the 19th century although the phenomenon is not well studied. In 2017, the BBC's Science Focus magazine and academic collaborators launched a survey about EHS and the results have just been published in the scientific journal Sleep Medicine:Those with EHS had shorter sleep durations, longer sleep onset latencies, poorer sleep quality, and less sleep efficiency, but effect sizes for these differences were small. Females were slightly more likely than males to endorse EHS. 44.4% of individuals with EHS experienced significant fear during episodes, but fewer reported clinically significant distress (25.0%) or interference (10.1%) as a result of EHS. Most sufferers believed it to be a brain-based phenomenon, but a small minority endorsed anomalous causes. Five prevention strategies with 50% reported effectiveness were identified.From Science Focus:“Exploding Head Syndrome (EHS) is not discussed very much in the media or elsewhere. Consequently, people having this experience may have very little information about what is going on,” said [Goldsmiths psychology professor Alice] Gregory.“In our study, we found that those who had experienced EHS reported poorer sleep quality and less sleep than others. In future, we would like to understand more about these associations. Read the rest

Viral footage shows a McDonald's clerk being attacked and beaten by a customer in a Hong Kong suburb. According to reports, the man was refused service unless he put on a mask. Video of the assault was uploaded to Facebook and shows a man who entered a McDonald’s in Tuen Mun without wearing a mask, according to the English-language news outlet Coconuts Hong Kong. The man gets into a verbal altercation with one of the McDonald’s workers before he steps behind the cashier’s area and begins punching the worker repeatedly. The worker falls to the ground and the assailant then starts kicking him.More details from Apple Daily, via Coconuts:According to Apple Daily, neither the man nor the woman he was with were wearing masks as they walked into the restaurant. The McDonald’s worker asked them to put one on and when they ignored him, refused to take their order. It was at this moment that the man got physical.In a video filmed after the incident, another restaurant worker is seen standing between the man and the employee who was attacked. As he tries to mediate the situation, the man continues trying to punch the employee.Apple Daily reported that the man then fled in a truck. The employee was taken to Tuen Mun Hospital to be treated for his injuries.Police arrested a 27-year-old man with the last name Cheung on Tuesday night in connection with the attack. Read the rest

I've long been a fan of Warren Ellis's writing in comics, prose, essays, and on the internet in general; in particular, his work has taught me a lot about the values and strengths of subcultures, and the ugly behaviors of powerful men. Unfortunately, as we learned earlier this week, it turned out that Ellis was more familiar with those behaviors than he let on.“Based on the account of these women, it appears [Ellis] was maintaining at least 19 relationships simultaneously at one point in 2009.” I learned a lot about abuse of power through the work of Warren Ellis. I'm disappointed to finally understand why.https://t.co/MaLhnC0Av0— Cancel Couture (@thomdunn) July 13, 2020A group of over sixty women and non-binary individuals came together to share his stories of the coercive and manipulative behaviors. And the work they have done here — not just the emotional labor, but that, too — makes them so much of a god damn superhero team. To be clear, none of them have accused of rape, or sexual assault, or anything illegal; but they all had similar experiences of sexual relationships built on power imbalances, of Ellis using his influence to charm them and boost their careers in exchange for sexual favors, before ultimately gaslighting them. For many of them, he was a tremendous aid in their professional careers before he hurt them — although the fact that he was boosting the careers of these women and artists was certainly not bad for his career, either. Read the rest

We all know vital information about ourselves and our private digital accounts can be compromised by cybercriminals. However, many would be frightened to know just how compromised they and their vital data are right this moment. Security researchers Digital Shadows say usernames and passwords for more than 15 billion accounts are currently up for purchase on the dark web, including everything from administrator access information, bank account details, and more. What might be even more shocking is that there are so many compromised accounts that many are just given away for free on hacker forums or even just posted to the open web.Considering how much your life can be turned upside-down if a personal or professional account is seized or funds are drained from your bank, the need for an efficient, aggressive password management system isn’t just recommended, it’s downright critical.Dashlane Password Manager has established itself as one of the web’s most trusted password protection systems by adhering to the simple philosophy that you’re the only person who should ever control your data.With Dashlane, you can generate strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts with a single click, store them for future use, and change them in seconds. Of course, Dashlane also goes beyond simple passwords, storing and automatically filling in all your password, payment, and personal details wherever you need to enter them across the web, on any device.Safely stashed in Dashlane’s military-grade encrypted vault, all of your passwords and other data are only accessible to you through your single master password. Read the rest

Shortly after Trump was finally seen in public wearing a mask, the White House has begun provided a new document to media outlets listing all the times that Dr. Fauci has been wrong. From ABC News:The document, obtained by ABC News from sources who confirmed the effort to discredit Fauci, says in part that "several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things."The document goes on to list examples of what the White House views as Fauci contradicting himself.One example in the short document is a comment made by Fauci on NBC's Today Show in late February that "at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you're doing on a day-by-day basis."However, that was not the full statement Fauci made during the interview."Right now the risk is still low, but this could change," Fauci also told the Today Show at the time. "When you start to see community spread, this could change and force you to become much more attentive to doing things that would protect you from spread."To be fair, Dr. Fauci is a human, and thus, prone to flaws; his reticence to commit to facemask recommendations was certainly not a good look in hindsight. But Fauci's bipartisan track record also paints a clear portrait of someone who learns and adapts their perspectives, based on new information, and is conscientious of how to convey information to the public — an important task, given his government position. Read the rest

Example no. 3,225 why the real world isn’t like The Brady Bunch: your home office. Mike Brady was able to turn his den into a truly groovy cool home office for his architectural work. Mike had a wife, six kids and a live-in maid, yet still had a spare room he could devote to his business, which is a lot luckier than most of us. In fact, we bet since many of your home offices are only 3 or 4 months old, they may just consist of a laptop perched on the corner of the dining room table during non-dinner hours.That won’t do. It’s time to devote a room and remake your space into a real home office — and we’ve got 20 ideas to help make it happen. Even if you just want the space more ready for your after-hours play, we think you’ll approve.DesksLaptop Stand with USB Ports - $29.99; originally $49.99Maybe you can’t devote space to a big, bulky new desk, but this laptop stand will help make your trusty computer feel more like a proper business tool. In addition to a sleek, sturdy profile that looks great and an adjustable angle to help reduce screen glare, this stand also has four built-in USB ports, so you can keep your phone and all your other important devices charged at your desk without a tangle of outlets and connectors.Portable Lazy Laptop Desk - $134.95; originally $199Ok, if a full desk isn’t your speed, at least make the laptop perched in your lap a more comfortable experience with this Lazy Lap Desk. Read the rest

"Scores of women are publishing details of their relationships with the Transmetropolitan writer, who they say offered mentorship in exchange for sexual contact," writes Sam Thielman in The Guardian. "But they don’t want him cancelled – they want a conversation."Many of the women were in their late teens and early 20s when their contact with Ellis began. Sometimes they initiated the conversation, sometimes he did. Some of these relationships were conducted entirely online, while others were physical. Some of the women work in the comic-book industry, while others are artists, writers, photographers and alternative models. Many of them say Ellis gave them career boosts, using his newsletters, blogs and influential forums to draw attention to their work. But as they hear their own stories coming from other women, many say they feel used in what they consistently describe as a pattern of friendship, then escalating sexual contact, then exclusively sexual contact – and silence if they refused, or stopped.60 of the women posted an open letter to a website created for the purpose, So Many Of Us.We are telling our stories so that three things happen:1. No one else is added to our group. We now know of nearly 100 people who were targeted by Warren Ellis over two decades of misconduct. We want to stop this pattern of behavior and protect others from going through what we have experienced.2.For anyone affected by Warren Ellis to know that we are here and waiting for them. Read the rest

The man who writes what Tucker Carlson says was exposed this weekend as a psuedonymous online troll notorious for racist remarks and sexist harassment. CNN business sleuthed him out.Just this week, the writer, Blake Neff, responded to a thread started by another user in 2018 with the subject line, "Would u let a JET BLACK congo n****er do lasik eye surgery on u for 50% off?" Neff wrote, "I wouldn't get LASIK from an Asian for free, so no." (The subject line was not censored on the forum.) On June 5, Neff wrote, "Black doods staying inside playing Call of Duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down." On June 24, Neff commented, "Honestly given how tired black people always claim to be, maybe the real crisis is their lack of sleep." On June 26, Neff wrote that the only people who care about changing the name of the NFL's Washington Redskins are "white libs and their university-'educated' pets."And over the course of five years, Neff has maintained a lengthy thread in which he has derided a woman and posted information about her dating life that has invited other users to mock her and invade her privacy. There has at times also been overlap between some material he posted or saw on the forum and Carlson's show.Even in the extremism of his white nationalist sentiments, Tucker is relatively cautious and measured. In his bow-tied days he was more openly bigoted. Though cut from the same cloth in terms of their feelings about women and minorities, these two men are worlds apart in one respect: Neff is a fungible content drone with no charisma, whereas Carlson is a powerful and increasingly orange cable TV star. Read the rest

It’s almost shocking to say...but there’s actually an incredible amount of manhood wrapped up in how well you cook a steak.Of course, no one would argue your grilling abilities are THAT important. Or that how well you sear a prime slab of beef should have any bearing on your social standing or feeling of self-worth. However, there is something primal about hunching over an open flame and preparing your fresh kill perfectly. And when your BBQ game isn’t really on point, you’re aware.But this is about solutions, not finger-pointing. So with half a summer season still to come, we pulled together 14 items that can elevate your grill prowess. Whether it’s your accessories, your grill hygiene or your ultimate BBQ weapon of choice, there are always steps you can take to put yourself atop that meat master mountain.The AccessoriesReusable Heat Resistant Non-Stick BBQ Grilling Pads - $8.95; originally $9.95Those grill grates can be tricky little suckers — so this cooking mat makes sure your food never falls through the cracks or sticks to the grill. Made of premium heat resistant PTFE-fiberglass to withstand temperatures up to 500°F, these pads fit any type of grill and can be cut to size or space. It even doubles as a baking mat.Heat Resistant BBQ Gloves - $19.99; originally $49.99Made of silicone, ultra high strength Dayan aramid fiber and cotton, these gloves can resist heat up to nearly 1,500°F and are still flexible enough to hold small utensils. Read the rest

For all their amazing growth over the past 25 years, the most impressive thing about the monumental rise of Amazon might be the speed and sophistication of their lightning-fast delivery network. Sometimes it doesn’t even take 24 hours for the idea you ordered to be perched right on your front porch, ready for use.The only thing better than the click-to-door speed of an Amazon purchase is when hungry storeowners can also take advantage of Amazon’s well-oiled system. With a Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) business, you take orders, but Amazon does most of the work, storing all your product, then shipping to happy customers through their stellar system.The guidebook to starting up a successful FBA business isn’t rocket science — and the training in The Ultimate Amazon FBA and Dropship Master Class Bundle not only lays out the basics for the first-time entrepreneur, but it also examines the methods for dropshipping and its role as a major modern-day selling method that has revolutionized the standard supply chain.This bundle features eight courses with more than 40 hours of training that works, offering every detail you need to know about starting up a business in the Amazon eco-system. From assembling a business plan to set up an eCommerce website to marketing and promotion, these courses offer detailed instructions and step-by-step guides to ramp up and grow an Amazon FBA outlet.After a complete A-to-Z course in all the basic ins and outs of being an Amazon FBA retailer, two other courses expand your knowledge: Product Sourcing: 33 Ways to Source Products for Amazon FBA and eBay to help find the most profitable goods for sale; and Launch a Successful Amazon FBA Brand in 2020, with detailed steps for creating, sourcing, stocking and marketing your own unique boutique FBA brand. Read the rest

Unsealed court documents reveal the identity of Fxmsp, a hacker from Kazakhstan who is blamed for information theft from more than 300 companies and governments, in 44 different countries around the world.Patrick O'Neill at MIT Technology Review reports on the hacker identified as a 37-year-old man from Kazakhstan. Known as Fxmsp, the hacker became famous in 2019 when that he advertised access and source code for leading cybersecurity companies, amid claims he could make an individual “the invisible god of networks.” His identity and techniques remained largely not known, however.But today an American court unsealed criminal charges that named a single Kazakh national, Andrey Turchin, as the man behind the attacks, and detailed five felony charges against him. The charges date back again to 2018, when American investigators say they uncovered Turchin’s real identity, but had remained sealed—which is typical in cases involving foreign hackers. But a judge in the Western District of Washington ruled to unseal the charges in large part because a cybersecurity company, Group-IB, had publicly revealed Turchin’s identity in a report last month. Fxmsp first emerged in 2016 as a hacker with plenty of technical capabilities and a string of data breaches under his belt, but little business expertise, based on Group-IB. Within a year, that he was advertising access to the corporate networks of banks and hotels around the world, an indication of rapid success and a growing criminal business.Read more at MIT Tech Review:Criminal charges reveal the identity of the “invisible god” hacker[via techmeme] Read the rest

“#BreakingNews an SUV just plowed through protesters on 42nd street in #manhattan Still assessing injuries if any. More on ⁦@NY1⁩ #blacklivesmatter #nycprotest more on ⁦@NY1⁩,” tweeted NY1 news reporter Ruschell Boone [@RuschellBoone] at 10:19pm New York Time.#BreakingNews an SUV just plowed through protesters on 42nd street in #manhattan Still assessing injuries if any. More on ⁦@NY1⁩ #blacklivesmatter #nycprotest more on ⁦@NY1⁩ pic.twitter.com/RMs1tsc2zT— Ruschell Boone (@RuschellBoone) July 8, 2020Another eyewitness account from NYC Times Square - allegedly showing a uniformed city worker on the passenger side of the SUV that plowed over bicyclists. @CBS46 https://t.co/Vm2jnbWN0i— shon gables cbs46 (@shongables) July 8, 2020The tactic was used in Charlottesville, and resulted in the death of a protester. SUVs driving into Black Lives Matter protesters is a thing that has been happening in mid-2020 throughout the United States. This is a domestic terrorism meme of sorts, and copycats seem to be copying one another.While we don’t know who was driving this SUV, we do know there’s a clear pattern of extremist vehicle attacks targeting BLM protesters. As I told @NPR the other week, this is increasingly a deliberate tactic (as we saw in Charlottesville, Richmond, etc): https://t.co/ajiRh9LVS6— Amy Spitalnick (@amyspitalnick) July 8, 2020It happened in Bloomington, Indiana, this week, at an anti-racism protest. This is 29-year-old Chaz Mottinger. She is seen on the hood of the red SUV that drove through a crowd of protesters last night in Bloomington. She is now at home recovering after being knocked unconscious and taken to the hospital. Read the rest

The J.M. Smucker Company issued a voluntarily recall for a single lot of the company's 'Natural Balance' canned cat food, citing potentially deadly health side effects for cats.On July 3, the FDA said the recall was issued “Due to elevated levels of choline chloride.”From FDA.gov:The J. M. Smucker Company today announced a voluntary recall of one lot of Natural Balance® Ultra Premium Chicken & Liver Paté Formula canned cat food due to health concerns likely associated with elevated levels of choline chloride.Ingesting impacted product may cause nausea with excessive salivation, constricted pupils and poor vision, diarrhea or vomiting to more severe symptoms including difficulty walking, muscle shaking, tremors, irregular heartbeat, difficulty breathing, possible cardiac or respiratory failure and, in extreme situations, death. Pet parents are encouraged to contact their cat’s veterinarian immediately if their cat is displaying any of these symptoms.If pet parents have any product matching the following description in their possession, they should stop feeding it to their cats and dispose of the product. This information can be found on the bottom of each can.Product Name Retail UPC Code Lot Code Best If Used By DateNatural Balance® Ultra Premium Chicken & Liver Paté Formula canned cat food5.5 oz can 2363353227 9217803 08 04 2021These products are most commonly sold in pet specialty retailers and online throughout the United States and Canada. No other Natural Balance® products are impacted by this recall.Read more:The J. M. Smucker Company Issues Voluntary Recall of One Lot of Natural Balance® Ultra Premium Chicken & Liver Paté Formula Canned Cat FoodAnd related reporting at Newsweek. Read the rest

The FTC and the Justice Department are investigating claims that TikTok, the popular social media app with close ties to China, violated a 2019 agreement to protect children's privacy.Reports Diane Bartz at Reuters,The Center for Digital Democracy, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and others in May asked the FTC look into their allegations TikTok failed to delete videos and personal information about users age 13 and younger as it had agreed to do, among other violations.Reuters could not determine whether any action would be taken against TikTok by either of the two agencies.A TikTok spokesman said they take “safety seriously for all our users,” adding that in the United States they “accommodate users under 13 in a limited app experience that introduces additional safety and privacy protections designed specifically for a younger audience.”Officials from both the FTC, which reached the original consent agreement with TikTok, and Justice Department, which often files court documents for the FTC, met via video with representatives of the groups to discuss the matter, said David Monahan, a campaign manager with the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.“I got the sense from our conversation that they are looking into the assertions that we raised in our complaint,” Monahan said.Read the rest:Exclusive: U.S. probing allegations TikTok violated children's privacy - sourcesExclusive: U.S. probing allegations TikTok violated children's privacy - sources by ⁦@dibartz⁩ https://t.co/nExYBSyLMY— Kenneth Li (@kenli729) July 7, 2020 Read the rest

“We appeal to the medical community and to the relevant national and international bodies to recognize the potential for airborne spread of COVID-19,” 239 researchers in 32 countries wrote to WHO.

Other Side with Zabrecky is my favorite web series. I do not think Andy Rooney appreciates it much. Read the rest

I'm looking forward to interviewing Yuko Kaifu, president of JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles, for a live streaming event on July 17 about virtual meetings and how the rest of the world can learn from Japanese-style business culture. It's free and open to all, but you need to reserve a seat online in advance.Join us for a live, online Q&A discussion on “How Japanese-Style Business Culture Applies to Today’s New ‘Business Normal’.” The pandemic has changed the way people conduct business. And even as cities open up, there still remains a new “business normal” whether working from home or in the office. Attendees will not only receive insights into Japanese culture through the lens of business communications and how Japanese etiquette practices can benefit today’s increasingly prevalent virtual meetings, but they can also interact with the hosts and ask their own questions.The discussion will feature Yuko Kaifu, president of JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles and a former foreign services officer, who honed her Japanese etiquette skills and knowledge through her work as an official interpreter for the Japanese Imperial Family, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister for their meetings with foreign dignitaries, including President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush. Event moderator Mark Frauenfelder, prolific writer and Wired.com founding editor, has extensive experience working with and for Japanese companies.Discussion topics include how Japanese-style ways of doing business might apply to today’s virtual meetings – especially international meetings – including the best ways to convey controversial information, the importance of verbal agreements, and how to bow during an in-person meeting as well as a video conference call. Read the rest

In 1987 I subscribed CBS Video Library's Twilight Zone episodes on VHS cassettes. Once a month, I'd get a cassette with four-half episodes on it. It cost $29.95 for each cassette. I used this inflation calculator and found out $29.95 a month is equivalent to $67.50 today! So after about three years, I'd spent $2,433.49 on the cassettes. I don't regret it, because it's a great show. Carla and I were excited every time a VHS sized cardboard box appeared in our mailbox.Today I found out that you can buy 156 episodes on a 25 DVD set of the Twilight Zone for about the same price as one of the VHS tapes (even less than when adjusted for inflation). What a world! Read the rest

You could actually watch a Tyrannosaurus Rex walk down your street right now. And no, this isn’t the latest Jurassic Park sequel.Of course, it isn’t real either, just a Google recreation of some pretty realistic looking dinosaurs transplanted right into any environment around you courtesy of augmented reality. Yet it’s just another example of how cool artists and entrepreneurs are expanding the universe of AR, from prehistoric creatures to deciding if that Amazon chair fits in with your living room decor or not.But since seeing AR on a tiny handheld smartphone screen can only be so awe-inspiring, the folks behind MagiMask have taken the AR headset idea to the next level with their current MagiMask and MagiTools collection. Just slip your smartphone inside, put it on and the MagiMask becomes an immersive, high resolution augmented reality headset with some definite edge over previous AR and VR headwear.Unlike old-school versions that used a split-screen stereotopic technology that produced generally low-fi images, the Kickstarter-backed MagiMask uses a new lens technology that offers up the first full screen, high definition AR experience that’s up to four times sharper than the old method.In addition to viewing literally hundreds of amazing VR displays from apps like Sketchfab, Augment, Kubity, IKEA, Alone, Holo and more, you can also just use it to sink into any regular video in an immersive wraparound way from everyone from Netflix and Disney to Amazon Prime and YouTube.On top of that core upgrade in AR presentation, MagiMask is also offering their set of MagiTools, capable of stabilizing the tracking to make virtual objects that you can walk around, explore or even hold in your hand. Read the rest

Devon Zuegel, the former editor in chief of The Stanford Review, outlines her technique for dealing with Twitter trolls. Usually, the maxim "don't feed the trolls" is a good rule to follow, but on those rare occasions when you feel you must engage, here's Zuegel advice:In the last few years, I've DMed at least a dozen people who were being unreasonable or mean on Twitter. In all cases but one, it resulted in a constructive conversation between me and that person. In most cases, that in turn led to a retraction of their original tweet, a clarification of their position, or a marked improvement in subsequent discourse.Four things I've found that make this approach more likely to succeed:You must show the person that you're not trying to attack them but to make them more effective. You're giving them feedback on process, not a moral lecture.Bringing it into a private space like DMs is crucial, because it credibly shows that you're not trying to get brownie points from your in-group by bashing them in public.This works better if the conversation at hand is in a thread you yourself started. It's a bit like giving feedback to someone at a party you're hosting—they're more likely to respect your boundaries in a social space you created. This is not a requirement, but it helps.Make sure you're not dealing with a grifter. A grifter is someone who benefits from perpetuating the problem and has no actual desire to solve it (despite their rhetoric that may say otherwise). Read the rest

Products can often earn themselves a second life — and maybe even a far greater life — just by being super versatile. In 1943, naval engineer Richard James was working on building a meter to monitor power needs on a battleship. But when one of his springs fell, then “walked” across his desk, he was both amused and inspired — and the Slinky was born.The CompressMax Air Face Mask and Filter started life as a cycling covering for riders trying to block out harmful particulates as they pedaled. But now, the CompressMax is enjoying a second life as a well-constructed, efficient face mask in the age of COVID-19 and other airborne pathogens.This mask is engineered for both comfort and function, covering both with flying colors. The CompressMax features dual respiration valves which allow users to breathe comfortably, reducing heat and moisture that can build up inside any mask. The valves actually close on every inhale, then open as you exhale, assuring air only enters through the five-layer filtration system. And in addition to each PM2.5 activated carbon filter blocking out any particles over 2.5 microns in diameter, it’s also removable, so it can be washed and reused over and over. The creators also took pains to make sure wearing the CompressMax was never a hassle, including ear straps that hold the mask in place without slippage and constant readjustment, even while running, skiing, working out, or yes, even biking.The CompressMax also has an adjustable nose clip, which helps the mask actually shape itself to the individual contours of your face. Read the rest

New ad: "Has Your Party Left You?" pic.twitter.com/AQl8wgzfWA— Republican Voters Against Trump (@RVAT2020) July 7, 2020As the name of their group suggests, Republican Voters Against Trump is a group of Republican voters against Trump. Today, they put out an anti-Trump advertisement that shows footage of Trump and his henchmen cozying up with dictators, gassing peaceful protesters, and engaging in other forms of Trumpian behavior that has almost been normalized by the Overton Window effect but is brought into stark contrast by a comparatively stirring and uniting speech by former President Ronald Reagan.Image: Republican Voters Against Trump Twitter Read the rest

California hospitals saw a surge in coronavirus admissions over the 4th of July weekend, reports Reuters. California Governor Gavin Newsom said the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients increased by 50% compared to two weeks ago. The number now stands at 5,800. Younger people make up 25% of the hospital patients. The coronavirus death count in California is about 6,300.At San Quentin State Prison in California, 1,400 inmates have tested positive for the virus, which has put a strain on hospitals in Marin County, said Newsom.Newsom is facing criticism for reopening businesses and other public spaces too quickly. From Yahoo News:"Newsom’s leadership has fallen woefully short," the Mercury News said in an editorial. "In the weeks ahead, we will see how short as the rising number of cases in California are followed by commensurate increases in hospitalizations and then deaths."State Sen. Steven Glazer (D-Orinda) said Newsom reopened the state too quickly, squandering the gains made in slowing the virus with Newsom's first-in-the-nation stay-at-home order issued in mid-March."The heart of this problem was Newsom’s decision on May 8 to allow counties to accelerate the reopening by meeting certain benchmarks," Glazer said in an opinion article in the Sacramento Bee. "That decision came when the state’s infection rate was not declining and we had little information about how people were getting infected, despite being sheltered in place for 60 days."Image: Jumpstory / CC0 Read the rest

Brazilian premier Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive for coronavirus after falling ill with symptoms typical of Covid-19.Bolsonaro regularly downplayed the risks of the virus, comparing it to the common cold, and Brazil soon became an infection hotspot with the world's highest tally of reported cases outside the U.S. A new surge of infections was reported two weeks ago, but officials continued to claim it was under control. Though his illness was reported yesterday and described by a regional CNN affiliate as Covid, official confirmation came only this morning after he took an antibody test, reportedly his fourth."Because we have a more tropical climate we've almost reached the end or it's already over," Bolsonaro said in March, of the pandemic. "The virus doesn't spread as fast in warm climates like ours."Recent people in close contact with Bolsonaro include the U.S. ambassador, reports the BBC, who will now also undergo testing. Read the rest

This footage was not recorded in a Costco, is not of a furious unmasked meathead berating and threatening other shoppers, is not the subject of an investigation or likely to lead to disciplinary action and/or charges, but it does feature oppossums chomping on bananas. Read the rest

Code Parade (also on itch.io) is developing a "hyperbolic" 3D game engine (download) where a line is not necessarily the shortest path between two places. I was impressed by the tunnels that are longer inside than outside, but the three-roomed house blew my mind. Can't wait for the unsettling haunted-house games to come.See if you notice anything suspicious as I walk through it.Did you catch it?This four-room house actually only has three rooms, red, green, and blue.This demo surprised me a lot because I originally thought it would be super jarringbut actually everyone I show this to doesn't notice it at all unless I tell them that something is off.I guess our brains just aren't used to thinking this way. Read the rest

A string of articles posted at conservative media outlets were exposed last night as the work of an influence network of fake personas, reports Adam Rawnsley at The Daily Beast. Some 90 items under 17 fictional bylines, some using photos of real peoples, were placed at sites including the Washington Examiner, Newsmax, RealClearPolitics and elsewhere. On Monday, Twitter suspended Badani’s account along with 15 others after The Daily Beast shared the results of its investigation into the network for violating the company’s “policies on platform manipulation and spam.”... “This vast influence operation highlights the ease with which malicious actors can exploit the identity of real people, dupe international news outlets, and have propaganda of unknown provenance legitimized through reputable media,” Marc Owen Jones, an assistant professor at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar who first noticed suspicious posts by members of the network, told The Daily Beast. “It’s not just fake news we need to be wary of, but fake journalists.”Excellent work by the Beast. It uncovered a sprawling influence network of fake personas, fake social media accounts and even fake foreign news sites all crafted to sucker U.S. right wing media into publishing it. None of them, or their readers, would be any the wiser were it not for this expose.The best part is the use of AI-generated avatars, though the network appears to have unraveled in part because one of the personas used the photo of San Diego startup founder. A high-resolution profile photo of the Joseph Labba persona, posted for an article at The Post Millennial, shows some of the telltale glitches commonly found in AI-generated faces. Read the rest

My father introduced me to the "Cross the Network" puzzle when I was a kid. Here it is, as described by Martin Gardner in one of his early Mathematical Recreations columns, which ran in Scientific American from the 1930s to the 1080s.One of the oldest of topological puzzles, familiar to many a schoolboy, consists of drawing a continuous line across the closed network shown in Figure 51 so that the line crosses each of the 16 segments of the network only once. The curved line shown here does not solve the puzzle because it leaves one segment uncrossed. No "trick" solutions are allowed, such as passing the line through a vertex or along one of the segments.It turns out there is a solution. Is it a "trick?" That's up for you to decide.This puzzle, and many others, are in Gardner's Hexaflexagons and Other Mathematical Diversions: The First Scientific American Book of Puzzles and Games. Used copies available cheap! Read the rest

Rarely is there a convertible I do not want to drive; the 1985 Buick Riviera is one of them.I can only assume the addition of the turbocharger was a hail Mary?Bring a Trailer:Buick produced 400 Riviera convertibles for 1985, after which the model was discontinued. This example’s exterior is finished in white with red pinstriping, inlaid Riviera trim on the taillights, and a luggage rack. The seller notes that paintwork appears to have been performed on the passenger-side door. The white convertible top is shown in the photo gallery below along with a black boot cover. Read the rest

Jerry Seinfeld once quipped "There's no such thing as fun for the whole family." He probably wouldn't have changed his mind after seeing Ed Emberley's series of simple step-by-step instructional drawing books, but I happen to think they are fun for the whole family. I've owned his books for years, and they are a constant source of enjoyment and inspiration for me and for my daughters. You can apply Emberly's technique of taking simple shapes and building on them, not only in the step-by-step instructions in his books, but in your own creations as well. The more you study his work, the more you can use it in your own style. Read the rest

This is truly a golden age for fans of a big ginormous TV screen. Not too long ago, to buy a television over 40 inches usually meant wheeling one of those massive Mitsubishi or Toshiba projection monoliths into your home, consuming a vast portion of any room at a cost of potentially $7,000 to $8,000.It’s not often that technology advances actually make it cheaper for consumers, but the advent of thin high-performance LED screens has slashed thousands off the prices of top-end TVs, offering any household the opportunity to up their tech game at a relatively modest cost.Case in point, a generous display like this Philips Momentum 43-inch LED 4K UHD Monitor would have been a $3K-$5K proposition in 1999. But now, Philips is offering one of their certified refurbished models for an eye-catching $519.99, a nearly $500 savings.As a living room television or a tricked-out computer monitor, the Momentum display with HDR and immersive Ambiglow lighting serves up a truly immersive entertainment experience. The UltraClear 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) display offers extremely detailed images and the DisplayHDR 1000 specs along with the on-board Quantum Dot technology assures brilliant brightness, contrast, and colors to better reproduce the dynamic natural palette of colors in the picture. Blues are bluer, greens are greener and reds are redder than ever before.This monitor also comes with Philips’ Ambiglow feature, which analyzes the incoming image content and continuously adapts the color and brightness of the emitted light to match the image. Read the rest

Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old EMT who was killed by 3 plainclothes police officers who wrongly delivered a no-knock warrant (which is already constitutionally questionable) at her home in the middle of the night on March 13, 2020. The whole situation is tragic and frustrating and after 4 months, there's still been very little recourse against the officers responsible.Aa new report from the Louisville Courier-Journal alleges an even more frustrating, bizarre, labyrinthine, and depressingly plausible scenario to explain how everything went so wrong on that fateful evening. The claims, which come from court filings by the lawyers representing Breonna Taylor's family, are not confirmed, nor do they even necessarily constitute legal evidence of any kind that would hold up in court; the Mayor's office in Louisville has called them "outrageous" and "without foundation or supporting facts." But they are, however, now a matter of record in the case. And while I agree that the whole thing sounds outrageous, it's also entirely believable, because shit like this does actually happen.The court filings allege that Breonna Taylor's murder was an accidental result of other shady behaviors around the proposed Vision Russell Development Plan meant to revitalize the neighborhood (read: gentrification). The project had previously stagnated, but was finally starting to make some progress earlier this year when eight homes were demolished on Elliott Avenue over the course of a few weeks. One of homes on that street that was purchased by the city, but not destroyed, had been occupied by a man named Jamarcus Glover, an ex-boyfriend of Breonna Taylor's who also had a few small drug offenses on his record. Read the rest

Nearly 30 years after it started its run as the most dominant productivity software ever created, the Microsoft Office suite of programs are now virtually synonymous with personal computing. From its days bundled with Windows to its current life as Office 365 cloud-based apps, there’s no reason to think perennial hits like Word, Excel and Outlook won’t still be helping your grandkids be more productive.Of course, if you’re still going to be assembling PowerPoint presentations in 2040, you should probably understand everything there is to know about it and all of its Office brother and sister apps with the training in The Complete 2020 Microsoft Office Mastery Bundle.The package includes nine courses covering six of Office’s most vital programs, offering students almost 60 hours of content on all the basic operating knowledge of each app as well as the hidden tricks and tips that only expert-level Office practitioners ever learn.While your experience with putting together Word docs probably started in grade school, this Word 2019 training goes much deeper, taking students inside all the hidden features and rich customization options that make Word the world’s top writing productivity tool.With spreadsheets and data analysis so hot these days, the three Excel courses (Excel Beginner 2019, Excel Advanced 2019 and Excel Beginner 2019 for Mac) offer all the nuanced data manipulation tools where Excel truly excels, from automating data entry to simplifying complex formulas to data visualizations. Next, PowerPoint 2019 will help you create multimedia presentations that are clean, visually engaging and packed with important information, while Outlook 2019 will have you composing and sending emails that create the right impression while organizing the chaos that can plague your email inbox. Read the rest

Kanye West announced this weekend that he's running for president, winning the immediate endorsement of billionaire socialite Elon Musk. It turns out, however, that West has filed none of the paperwork required to do so. So as of now, it's just a dream—or a stunt.it's unclear whether West is really running.He does not appear to have registered his name with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for November's election. The closest name the FEC database shows is a candidate called "Kanye Deez Nutz West", who filed their papers with the Green Party in 2015 under the address "1977 Golddigger Avenue, Suite Yeezus" and appears to have raised no money. Read the rest

Spoken Word with Electronics is an audio series delivering to you a two side recording of unusual stories paired with vintage modular electronic soundsHi, everyone - Welcome to back to the show. This week is all about noise. Noise in a home can be a disruption, like when an air conditioner cranks on suddenly; that's a common disruptive noise source. But noise in a sculpted sense can add a second layer to your home and help transport a space. Two of my favorite examples of this are the inventions of sound design found in Eraserhead and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both of these films use noise as an core part to the world they present. So for this week's episode, I thought it'd be nice to use only the technology available to Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch at the time of their films to recreate those sonic atmospheres.So this week you'll learn how to use noise to modify your home, including a tutorial on how to make your kitchen sound like a room from Eraserhead or turn your attic into a control center from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It turns out limiting the techniques and tools to those eras is not very restrictive. Both Kubrick and Lynch had some of the finest gear in history to work with. It's my guess that they both used noise generators along with a 907 or 914 Moog Fixed Filter Bank. We'll use an inductor based 907A FFB to replicate the steps involved in The Lady in the Radiator scene and get a nice space sound aboard Discover One on your trip to Jupiter. Read the rest

An absolute favorite piece of music to cranku-up while driving around in my Volkswagen Vanagon... for some unknown reason. Not nearly as good in other, less dopey and pokey cars. Read the rest

As long as statues of historical figures (and what to do with them) is at the forefront of our cultural conversation, there's this from Smithsonian Magazine:The busts are all that remains of Virginia’s Presidents Park, a now-defunct open-air museum where visitors could once walk among the presidential heads. Presidents Park first opened in nearby Williamsburg in 2004, the brainchild of local landowner Everette “Haley” Newman and Houston sculptor David Adickes, who was inspired to create the giant busts after driving past Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.But their presidential visions soon (literally) went bust. The park, which cost about $10 million to create, went belly-up due to a lack of visitors in 2010. Doomed in part by location—it was hidden behind a motel and slightly too far away from colonial Williamsburg’s tourist attractions, the park went into foreclosure.But something had to happens to all those heads when the park closed down. And what follows is a fascinating look at preservation, in a cemetery-like field that's both sweetly patriotic and incredibly creepy.How 43 Giant, Crumbling Presidential Heads Ended Up in a Virginia Field [Jennifer Billock / Smithsonian Magazine]Image: Mobilius in Mobili / Flickr (CC 2.0) Read the rest

Most of you being American, I hope you celebrate July 4 with all the radical joy you can muster. Read the rest

In another controversial decision, President Trump is celebrating the fourth of July with a fiery display atop South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore. The decision may seem troublesome to anyone worried about things such as the uncontained coronavirus or shooting explosives off the top of a forest. But it is most certainly troublesome for the native Lakota people, who’s sacred Black Hills were desecrated for the purpose of the monument. On a cross country road trip, I recently drove through South Dakota and spent a day exploring the Black Hills. The drive from Mount Rushmore to the Lakota’s Crazy Horse memorial was a discouraging perpetuation of the white supremacy this country was built off of. During the 17-mile ride, I saw Trump 2020 lawn signs spread throughout the hills. At the base of the road that leads to the Crazy Horse memorial is a wild west themed tourist stop for food and souvenirs. On a street corner nearby, a man dedicated his makeshift booth to selling Trump 2020 t-shirts in every color. From a non-native perspective, it struck me as an unsettling display of ignorance towards true American history. I can only imagine how upsetting it might be for an Oglala Lakota Native living in a place that does not seem to acknowledge you or your history. The Oglala speakers I heard from at the memorial said nothing about the president and his impact. However, they did speak about the bloody history of the Black Hills and how it affects them to this day. Read the rest

Eric Trump posted a photo of Chelsea Clinton's wedding in which suspected pedophile Ghislaine Maxwell can be seen in attendance. “Birds of a feather,” he wrote. Almost immediately, people responded to the tweet with the many photos of Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein cozying up to Donald and Melania Trump. Soon after that, young Eric deleted the tweet without explanation.Seriously, why would he tweet this? https://t.co/ibSDUkPKNP pic.twitter.com/b4S3SvApP1— George Conway (@gtconway3d) July 3, 2020This is a great example of why I think so little of Eric Trump (and the other one). https://t.co/vuq41FQtPQ— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahDispatch) July 3, 2020Eric thinks he is on to something. pic.twitter.com/ew7wBci8tF— KD (@Fly_Sistah) July 3, 2020 Read the rest