NEWS
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11.12.2024
Phantom Vibrations Of A Lost Smartphone

David, an American Cyborg, has lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the past month. As a cyborg - a human-machine hybrid - he can work from anywhere as long as his body remains reliably connected to the internet.

Prior to traveling to Brazil, local friends warned him about techno-bandits who roam the streets of Rio, stealing pocket-sized cybernetic prosthetics from unsuspecting tourists to sell on the black market. So, when he first arrived in the city, David exercised extreme caution. He moved through the streets with vigilant eyes and a guarded stance, keeping his prosthetic concealed most of the time.

But tonight is different. After a month in Rio, David’s grown accustomed to the city’s hustle and bustle. The initial apprehension that once gripped him has faded into the background, replaced by bold confidence - and a touch of cockiness.

10.12.2024
One Killed A Homeless Man, Another Is Suspected Of Killing A Healthcare CEO

On Monday, 26-year-old Daniel Penny was acquitted after killing Jordan Neely, a desperate Black homeless man on the subway, on the grounds that he was trying to protect others. On the same day, police detained 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, who is suspected of killing the CEO of a company that has denied thousands of life-saving healthcare claims.

Penny walks free after killing a man victim to the system. What will be the verdict for Mangione, who is suspected of killing a man symbolic of it?

As many have remarked, Brian Thompson’s tenure as CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare was grisly. Thompson (alongside other higher-ups) allegedly conducted insider trading, selling millions of dollars of stock upon learning that the Department of Justice re-opened an antitrust investigation into UnitedHealth. While the company was on an upward profit swing, it has been awash in allegations and revelations of limiting mental health care coverage via algorithm, denying healthcare services needed after hospitalization at drastic rates via artificial intelligence, and denying insurance claims at a starkly high rate.

A gun killed Thompson. Paperwork has killed thousands.

09.12.2024
A Hacker Shares His Biggest Fears

A white hat hacker, with over 30 years of experience as a cybersecurity analyst at a major Silicon Valley company, talks about why he turned his back on black hat hacking for the greater good.

He talks about the reality of just how vulnerable our systems really are - from the very real threat of hackers taking the American power grid or medical facilities offline, to how easily accessible our private information is to anyone with WiFi and some time on their hands.

08.12.2024
The History Of Motorola

Paul V. Galvin was born in Harvard, Illinois in June of 1895. Not being particularly wealthy, the young Galvin worked at a railroad roundhouse (a building for the storage and service of locomotives) with intention of saving for a university education. He was somewhat successful, and he was able to attend the University of Illinois for two years. At that point, he needed more money, so he went back to the roundhouse. With the outbreak of WWI, Galvin enrolled in officer training, got his commission, and served in France as an artillery officer. In 1919, home from the war, he and his friend Edward Stewart started a battery company. That company ended in 1923 on account of unpaid taxes. Galvin, now with a wife and a son, moved to Chicago.

Galvin and Stewart, ostensibly having learned from their first attempt, started a second company in 1926. Radios were the new hotness, but most of these were battery powered as they required direct current. The two saw a market opportunity in offering a “battery eliminator,” which was a rectifier (converts AC to DC) not unlike the switching power supplies for PCs. With this battery eliminator, a family could simply place their radio in their living room, forget about changing batteries, and listen to their favorite programs. This company went bankrupt, but Galvin knew the product was good. When the company went up for auction, he bought the battery eliminator for $750 and the rest was bought by Sears Roebuck and Co.

With the rectifier in his possession, Galvin and his brother Joseph founded the Galvin Manufacturing Corporation on the 25th of September in 1928 at 847 West Harrison Street in Chicago.

07.12.2024
Edward Snowden - The Next Threat To Speech

In a keynote speech at Token 2049 Singapore, Whistleblower Edward Snowden gives a colorful explanation of what’s really going on with governments. Snowden is famous for blowing the whistle on the American government, but Snowden believes now, the effort to spy on its citizens has become a global occurrence. Snowden referenced Telegram Founder Pavel Durov, who was recently arrested in France. According to Snowden, Durov didn’t follow orders regarding giving up private information to the government, which led to his arrest. Snowden believes this is now the new way of surveillance for governments, a tactic that investigative journalist Whitney Webb has been suggesting, governments having backroom deals with private companies to surveillance the population. Snowden believes that crypto is one of our only ways out of this Orwellian surveillance state, which he believes is only going to amplify in the near future with the advancement of technology.

06.12.2024
Amnesty International Finds Israel Committing Genocide In Bombshell Report

One of the world’s most prominent human rights groups concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza in a bombshell report released Thursday.

In a 296-page investigation, Amnesty International found that the breadth of Israel’s military assault on Gaza - including mass civilian killings, forced displacement, the blocking of humanitarian aid, and many other alleged violations of the Genocide Convention - combined with Israeli officials’ clear intent to destroy Gaza means that their campaign amounts to genocide.

Amnesty is the first major international human rights organization to formally label Israel’s assault a genocide. Numerous UN agencies and groups have also found evidence that Israel is committing genocide.

05.12.2024
Children ‘Incinerated’ In Israeli Attack On ‘Safe Zone’ In Gaza

Women and children were “incinerated” in an Israeli attack on tents in a so-called ‘safe zone’ in Gaza according to health officials, killing more than 20 people and injuring dozens.

04.12.2024
How Secure Is Calyx Operating System

Calyx OS is an open-source operating system designed to secure mobile devices. It is an operating system based on Android that was created with privacy and security in mind. It serves as a substitute for Android, which has drawn criticism for its lack of privacy and security measures.

Calyx OS gives consumers the resources to safeguard their private information and keep their devices safe. It has several capabilities not found in the Android operating system by default, including integrated encryption, a firewall, ad filtering, and others.

One of Calyx OS's key objectives is offering users a private and secure mobile experience without sacrificing usability. Thanks to the designers ' extensive efforts, customers may keep using their favorite apps and services while maintaining security and privacy.

Anyone can download and use Calyx OS because it is open-source and free. It has received plaudits for its cutting-edge approach to mobile security from privacy activists and security professionals. We will go into more detail about the features and advantages of Calyx OS in this review and why it has recently become one of the most talked-about mobile operating systems.

03.12.2024
How To Quit Google

Some companies are easy to quit. If I decide I don't like Coca-Cola anymore I can simply stop drinking Coke. Sure, the company makes more than just Coke, so I would need to do some research to figure out which products they do and don't make, but it's theoretically possible.

Quitting Google isn't like that. It makes many products, many of which you depend on to live your digital life. Leaving a company like that is like a divorce, according to an expert I talked to. "It's not easy, but you feel so much better at the other side," said Janet Vertesi, a sociology professor at Princeton who publishes work on human computer interaction. "Think of a friend who gets a divorce and is so happy to be out. That could be you. That's how it feels to leave Google."
 

02.12.2024
Israelism - Documentary

When two young American Jews raised to unconditionally love Israel witness the brutal way Israel treats Palestinians, their lives take sharp left turns.

They join a movement of young American Jews battling the old guard to redefine Judaism’s relationship with Israel, revealing a deepening generational divide over modern Jewish identity.
 

01.12.2024
How America Got Mean

Over the past eight years or so, I’ve been obsessed with two questions. The first is: Why have Americans become so sad? The rising rates of depression have been well publicized, as have the rising deaths of despair from drugs, alcohol, and suicide. But other statistics are similarly troubling. The percentage of people who say they don’t have close friends has increased fourfold since 1990. The share of Americans ages 25 to 54 who weren’t married or living with a romantic partner went up to 38 percent in 2019, from 29 percent in 1990. A record-high 25 percent of 40-year-old Americans have never married. More than half of all Americans say that no one knows them well. The percentage of high-school students who report “persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” shot up from 26 percent in 2009 to 44 percent in 2021.

My second, related question is: Why have Americans become so mean? I was recently talking with a restaurant owner who said that he has to eject a customer from his restaurant for rude or cruel behavior once a week - something that never used to happen. A head nurse at a hospital told me that many on her staff are leaving the profession because patients have become so abusive. At the far extreme of meanness, hate crimes rose in 2020 to their highest level in 12 years. Murder rates have been surging, at least until recently. Same with gun sales. Social trust is plummeting. In 2000, two-thirds of American households gave to charity; in 2018, fewer than half did. The words that define our age reek of menace: conspiracy, polarization, mass shootings, trauma, safe spaces.

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