Quote:A Wall Street Journal journalist who owns an electric vehicle (EV) was dismayed to find that about 40 percent of the chargers she tried throughout LA county were out of service. A troubling data point for car companies and government officials claiming that the entire country will soon go electric.

A test of 30 non-Tesla fast-charging stations in LA County, the EV capital of America, revealed that at least 40 percent of them had some type of issue, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

“From the beach in Santa Monica to parking garages under Rodeo Drive, my video producer Adam Falk and I visited 30 different non-Tesla DC fast-charger stations in a Rivian R1T pickup. I ran into problems at 13 of them — that’s over 40%. Oof is right,” WSJ columnist and EV owner Joanna Stern wrote.

The WSJ columnist added that she had deliberately limited the experiment to Level 3 chargers, noting, “I ignored the more common chargers known as Level 2 because they’re just too slow for quick fill-ups.”

Stern explained that she came across “three problem categories” during her testing expedition: first, the charging station was broken, second, there was a problem with payment, such as it being rejected, and third, there was a software error between the charger and the vehicle.

Quote:“Content promoting this letter clearly violates our rules on supporting any form of terrorism,” TikTok said in the statement. “We are proactively and aggressively removing this content and investigating how it got onto our platform.”

“The number of videos on TikTok is small and reports of it trending on our platform are inaccurate,” the Chinese app added. “This is not unique to TikTok and has appeared across multiple platforms and the media.”

TikTok was responding to a post by reporter Yashar Ali, who pointed out that “Over the past 24 hours, thousands of TikToks (at least) have been posted where people share how they just read Bin Laden’s infamous ‘Letter to America,’ in which he explained why he attacked the United States.”

As Breitbart News reported, young Americans have been going viral on TikTok, an app owned by a hostile foreign country, for posting videos sympathizing with Osama bin Laden and recirculating his 2002 letter in which he tries to justify the mass murder of Americans on September 11, 2001.

“I’m not about to sit here act like [bin Laden]’s just the worst person in the world when America has literally been terrorizing people since the beginning of history,” one TikTok user said in a video. “Put yourself in their shoes, 3,000 people died on 9/11, compared to the millions that Americans have killed in Palestine.”

Quote:Parton said AI duplicates a person and that even some of the technology’s inventors have issued warnings about it.

“I don’t think, or, at least, I hope nobody can ever replicate me or what I do. AI is a scary thing. I’m sure it’s a good thing for scientists or medical things. But when it comes to trying to duplicate a human being and every little thing they are, it don’t seem right to me,” she said. “It’s too much. Even the people coming up with AI are scared by it.”

Parton said she will continue watching the issue carefully.

“So I’m watching this carefully. I’m sure they’ll be able to do certain things with me and other artists. It’s one of the reasons why we’re having the big strikes here with the Actors’ Guild and Writers’ Guild. Nobody wants to be duplicated. Everybody wants to feel the talent they have is theirs. I’m keeping my eye on AI,” she said.

Quote:The e-commerce giant will launch vehicle sales in the U.S. next year and allow local car dealers to sell directly to customers on its site.

In a joint announcement with car manufacturer Hyundai on Thursday, the two companies said Amazon will begin by offering Hyundai vehicles. In turn, Hyundai will name Amazon’s cloud computing unit AWS as its preferred cloud provider and integrate its next-generation vehicles with Alexa, Amazon’s popular voice assistant.

The idea, according to Amazon, is to have customers purchase a new car online and pick it up – or have it delivered – from their local dealer.

Amazon did not say how many dealers would be participating in the program or if customers across the U.S. would be able to make purchases. An Amazon spokesperson said the company would release more details as it builds the program, which is expected to begin with Hyundai franchised dealers and launch during the later part of next year.

Currently, Amazon sells vehicle equipment online and offers a showroom for consumers who want to research different types of cars they may want to buy. But consumers can not directly purchase a vehicle on its platform.

Quote:Financial services businesses are especially vulnerable and experience up to 300 times more cyber-attacks per year than other firms. Due to the heightened risk, banks and financial firms have invested considerable sums in data security.

Yet all of this is at stake thanks to a new bill being considered in Washington, DC. The “Credit Card Competition Act” introduced by Sen. Durbin (D-IL) this past summer aims to give the Federal Reserve the power to control how payments on credit cards are routed. These new routing mandates on credit cards will shift billions in consumer spending to higher-risk payment networks. Doing so will weaken America’s payment system and put everyday consumers like you at significant risk of fraud. This is because your personal and financial data will be run over foreign, less secure networks.

Big-box stores are pushing for this bill heavily. The likes of Walmart, Target, and Amazon stand to gain hundreds of millions of dollars if they can cut their processing costs by using cheap overseas networks. Unfortunately, they will do this at your expense. Cheaper networks offer little or no credit card rewards and have not invested in 21st century fraud prevention. But big-box stores know they won’t be on the hook if fraud occurs. Your bank or credit union has guaranteed payment to the retailer, and it’s these financial institutions that will be hurt when fraud skyrockets further.

This will especially hurt small credit unions who don’t have the deeper pockets of multinational corporations. Not only will they have to cover the cost of fraudulent purchases, they will also lose revenue as they see the interchange fees they normal get during purchases plummet. Interchange fees are a critical component of America’s current payment infrastructure. By effectively capping them, Congress would put big retailers’ profits before Americans’ financial security.

Quote:Hochul announced that the state is “very focused on the data we’re collecting from surveillance efforts [and] what’s being said on social media platforms,” admitting to government surveillance. What is more, Hochul said they have “launched an effort to be able to counter some of the negativity and reach out to people” when they see what they deem to be “hate speech being spoken about on online platforms.”

That remains a danger, as individuals tend to have very different definitions of what constitutes “hate speech” based on their political ideology. For instance, many conservatives have been accused of “hate speech” for simply voicing concerns about biological men using women’s changing rooms or rest rooms.

Nevertheless, Hochul said the state’s social media analysis unit “has ramped up its monitoring of sites to catch incitement to violence [and] direct threats to others.”

“And all of this is in response to our desire, our strong commitment, to ensure that not only do New Yorkers be [sic] safe, but they also feel safe,” she said, adding that “personal security is about everything for them.”

“As I said, no one walking down the street or in a subway can feel they have to hide any indications of what their religious beliefs are. We expect to see people celebrating their lives, walking out freely, and that is no longer the case because people are living in fear. They have a right to do whatever they want here in the state of New York,” she added.

Quote:According to a report by Lee Fang in Real Clear Wire, NewsGuard pitched Twitter (pre-Musk purchase) on integrating its blacklist into the social media platform’s content moderation system. NewsGuard co-founder L. Gordon Crovitz told Twitter his company had developed an AI tool that could screen hashtags and search terms for blacklisted content.

According to the report, NewsGuard promised that its product would help direct users to official government sources on topics like coronavirus, and boasted of the organization’s ties to “intelligence and national security officials” as well as “government agencies.”

...Other content-moderation allies, Crovitz’s pitch noted, include “intelligence and national security officials,” “reputation management providers,” and “government agencies,” which contract with the firm to identify misinformation trends. Instead of only fact-checking individual forms of incorrect information, NewsGuard, in its proposal, touted the ability to rate the “overall reliability of websites” and “’prebunk’ COVID-19 misinformation from hundreds of popular websites.”

Twitter ultimately declined to use NewsGuard’s services, but the pitch — and its heavy emphasis on government involvement — is significant, given that the company is currently facing a lawsuit alleging that the company is acting as a surrogate of the U.S. government to shut down First Amendment protected online speech.

The lawsuit was filed by Consortium News, a news website founded by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, which has been branded a purveyor of disinformation and false content by NewsGuard.

Consortium’s lawsuit points to NewsGuard’s $750,000 contract from the Pentagon to “known hoaxes, falsehoods and misinformation narratives that are spreading online” as evidence of its status as a government-funded entity. NewsGuard’s inclusion of its ties to national security officials and federal agencies in its pitch to Twitter may be seen as further evidence of its ties to the government.

Quote:AP News reports that IBM and the EUrecently made the decision to withdraw their advertising from X/Twitter owned by billionaire Elon Musk. This significant move comes in response to growing concerns about the presence of pro-Nazi content and other forms of hate speech on the platform, which have been highlighted by Musk’s own controversial tweets that the organizations view as endorsing antisemitic conspiracy theories.
...
An X/Twitter user appeared to push the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, claiming that Jewish communities “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”
...
Musk responded to this post writing, “You have said the actual truth.”

IBM’s decision was triggered by a report revealing that its advertisements were being displayed alongside material praising Nazis. This marks a significant setback for the platform as it attempts to regain the trust of major brands and secure crucial advertising revenue. In a statement, IBM said: “IBM has zero tolerance for hate speech and discrimination and we have immediately suspended all advertising on X while we investigate this entirely unacceptable situation.”
...
In contrast, X/Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has emphasized the platform’s commitment to combating antisemitism and discrimination, stating there is no place for such content in the world.

Quote:Sam Altman, the chief executive and co-founder of OpenAI, has been ousted from his own company after its board accused him of “being not consistently candid in his communications”.

Altman’s dismissal is a major shakeup in Silicon Valley. Following the launch of ChatGPT, the wildly popular chatbot developed by OpenAI, Altman became one of the world’s most visible tech executives and a sought-after expert on artificial intelligence.

In a statement on Friday, Open AI’s board “no longer has confidence in his ability to lead” and said new leadership is “necessary” as the company moves forward, said a statement posted on its website. He is likewise leaving the company’s board.

OpenAI offers to pay for ChatGPT customers’ copyright lawsuits
Read more
“Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities,” the board’s statement said. What Altman had allegedly hidden from his company’s board was not clear.
...
Mira Murati, OpenAI’s CTO, will become interim CEO in his place, according to the statement. Murati has been a part of the San Francisco-based company’s leadership for five years. Greg Brockman will step down from his role as the chair of the board but will retain his other position as OpenAI president, according to the statement.
...
OpenAI scheduled an emergency all-hands meeting on Friday afternoon to discuss the news with employees, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Altman has been regarded as the leading voice in the AI field since his company released ChatGPT in November 2022. The generative AI chatbot accrued more than 100 million users in less than a year.

The 38-year-old has led efforts to create “artificial general intelligence”, or AGI, an AI system capable of completing any task a human can achieve.

Quote:According to one industry insider interviewed by CNBC, the worldwide market for “trust & safety”  (Silicon Valley shorthand for “censorship”) services now stands at $11 billion.

Via CNBC:

Manu Aggarwal, a partner at research firm Everest Group, said trust and safety is among the fastest-growing segments of a part of the market called business process services, which includes the outsourcing of various IT-related tasks and call centers.

By 2024, Everest Group projects the overall business process services market to be about $300 billion, with trust and safety representing about $11 billion of that figure. Companies such as Accenture and Genpact, which offer outsourced trust and safety services and contract workers, currently capture the bulk of spending, primarily because Big Tech companies have been “building their own” tools, Aggarwal said.

Like any other industry, the censorship racket even has its own annual conference:

For the TrustCon conference in July, tech policy wonks and other industry experts headed to San Francisco to discuss the latest hot topics in online trust and safety, including their concerns about the potential societal effects of layoffs across the industry.

Several startups showcased their products in the exhibition hall, promoting their services, talking to potential clients and recruiting talent. ActiveFence, which describes itself as a “leader in providing Trust & Safety solutions to protect online platforms and their users from malicious behavior and content,” had a booth at the conference. So did Checkstep, a content moderation platform.

CNBC notes that third party “trust & safety” companies are booming as Google, Facebook, X/Twitter and other major companies have cut back on their internal departments. Many of the companies that have been at the heart of recent censorship scandals, such as NewsGuard, are private companies that offer third party services to augment censorship on social media companies.

Quote:Japanese food maker Ajinomoto has said it will enter the gene therapy business by acquiring a US startup, aiming to strengthen its healthcare business as a high-growth area.

Ajinomoto announced the deal with Forge Biologics Holdings on Monday. It said that it will purchase all shares of the gene therapy firm for about 550 million dollars. The acquisition is scheduled to be completed as early as in December.

Forge Biologics develops and manufactures drugs to treat hereditary diseases. According to Ajinomoto, the US firm has one of the world's top production capacities in the gene therapy field.

All About Lawsuits

Google Antitrust Trial 2.0: Internet Giant Pays Samsung $8 Billion to Secure Default App Status

Quote:The Hill reports that Google’s constant quest to cement its dominance in the smartphone market has come with a hefty price tag: a staggering $8 billion paid to Samsung. This deal, spanning four years, was disclosed in the ongoing antitrust case involving Epic Games, developer of massively popular video game Fortnite. The Samsung deal is a clear indicator of the tech giant’s strategy to maintain its stranglehold over the fiercely competitive app market.

The details of this agreement emerged during the antitrust trial as part of the testimony of James Kolotouros, Google vice president for partnerships. The deal entails a revenue-sharing arrangement, ensuring that Samsung’s Android devices come preinstalled with Google Play. Epic Games claims this move isn’t just about brand presence; it’s a strategic effort to dominate the app marketplace.

In 2020, Epic sued Google, alleging that the company’s practices in its app marketplace were in violation of antitrust laws. The focus of this lawsuit is Google’s alleged creation of an illegal monopoly on Android apps, enabling it to earn substantial profits through commissions ranging between 15 to 30 percent on in-app purchases.

Google’s defense revolves around competition with Apple and its App Store. However, Epic’s attorneys, including Lauren Moskowitz, have criticized this argument, suggesting that Google’s actions go beyond healthy competition. The lawsuit also draws attention to the interconnectedness of big tech firms, highlighting the other ongoing antitrust case involving Google, focused on Google’s payments to Apple to maintain its search engine’s dominance on iPhones.

The case, unfolding in the Northern District of California, is expected to continue until the end of the year. It’s a critical examination of the practices of tech giants in a market where they wield considerable influence. As Epic’s attorney Gary Bornstein puts it, Google’s approach can be seen as one of “bullying and bribing” to stifle competition.

Tokyo doctor to sue Google over 'harmful' Maps app reviews

Quote:NHK has learned that a doctor in Tokyo is preparing to sue Google. The physician says the US IT giant has refused to delete harmful reviews of their clinic from its Maps application.

Google Maps allows users to post reviews about facilities and locations and rate them. It is said to be the most popular map application in Japan.

The doctor says some of the reviews of the clinic are unfounded, with one person claiming to have been turned away at the door. The doctor apparently asked Google to delete the posts, but it said a court order is needed to do so.

The lawyer for the clinic aims to explain in court that Google's inadequate response is hurting its interests, and that clearer standards for deleting harmful reviews are needed.

A class-action suit with other doctors with similar problems may also be in the works.

Lawsuit: Popular ‘Roblox’ Video Game Exposes Children to Sexual Content and Grooming

Quote:PC Gamer reports that Roblox, a global online platform known for its gaming experiences targeted towards children, has recently come under intense scrutiny. The company is now facing a class-action lawsuit filed in California, brought forth by parents accusing Roblox of exposing their children to inappropriate sexual content and grooming. This lawsuit highlights a growing concern among parents about the safety of online environments for children, particularly on platforms like Roblox, which boasts a significant young audience.

The lawsuit alleges that The Roblox Corporation engaged in “intentional and negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and State Consumer Protection Acts.” These accusations stem from the platform’s alleged failure to effectively shield its predominantly young users, with over 60 percent under 16 years old, from harmful content and potential predators.

Parents have expressed deep concerns over the platform’s safety measures, or lack thereof. Alexandra Walsh of Walsh Law, representing the parents, stated, “There’s a misperception that Roblox is safe–the brand has a bit of a halo around it due to the company falsely advertising itself that way to parents.” The lawsuit details disturbing incidents, including children encountering avatars engaged in explicit activities and being subjected to inappropriate messages and grooming tactics.

One case involved a seven-year-old child whose mother, identified as K.M., spent around $4,000 on the game, only to discover her child receiving abusive messages, including requests for virtual sexual acts. Another plaintiff, Damien Uhl, shared a harrowing account of his 12-year-old daughter being groomed by an adult posing as a young girl on Roblox, leading to the exchange of inappropriate emails and photos.

Elon Musk Backs Down on Threat to Sue Tesla Customers Who Sell Their Cybertruck

Quote:Chron.com reports that Tesla found itself under fire this past weekend as it introduced a new clause in the Cybertruck purchase agreement. The clause stipulated that anyone reselling the electric pickup within the first year of ownership could face a lawsuit demanding $50,000 or more. This decision, however, was short-lived as Tesla rapidly removed the clause in the wake of public criticism.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has previously stated that the automaker “dug our own grave with the Cybertruck,” and the continued drama around the vehicle seems to be adding to this sentiment. Electrek, an EV news publication that is often optimistic about Tesla, even criticized the initial clause, with Electrek’s Jameson Dow writing: “Nobody likes a scalper, but also nobody likes being told what they can’t do with their car.”

The now-deleted clause was seen by many as an unprecedented move in the auto industry, primarily since the Cybertruck is a mass-produced vehicle. Its inclusion raised significant concerns about owner rights and the extent of Tesla’s attempt to regulate the resale market.

The primary purpose of the clause, according to industry experts, was to deter scalpers, individuals who buy high-demand products solely to resell them at inflated prices. With the Cybertruck drawing considerable attention and amassing around 1.9 million potential orders, the likelihood of scalping is high. However, the swift backlash against the clause from Tesla buyers seems to have quickly led to its removal.

For somebody that claims that defends free speech, that controversial clause truly sounded like a total oxymoron that had to be ditched ASAP for the company's own good.  I mean, if they had learned about the Unity mess, they would have thought that it was the automaker industry's version of Unity's pricing policy update crisis.

Quote:Studios that have halted or paused advertising on X include: the Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and NBC Universal, according to multiple reports. In addition, Lionsgate, the studio behind The Hunger Games movies, has also yanked it ads.

Tech giants are also headed for the exits, with Apple and Amazon joining the boycott.

Elon Musk recently expressed agreement with a recent post that promoted the so-called  “great replacement” theory, claiming that Jewish communities “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”

Musk replied: “You have said the actual truth.”

The growing advertiser boycott is due in large part to a media offensive from the left-wing , pro-censorship group Media Matters for America, which has launched one of its familiar pressure campaigns designed to intimidate advertisers into acquiescing to its agenda.

Musk announced Saturday that he intends to file a “thermonuclear” lawsuit against Media Matters as early as next week.

Quote:In a social media post, SpaceX shared video footage of the launch with a caption that read, “Liftoff of Starship!”

During the countdown, people were heard cheering in the background as the rocket barreled toward space.

“The uncrewed Starship made it into space after a successful launch from SpaceX’s private Starbase site in Boca Chica, Texas, at about 8 a.m. Eastern time,” the Today article said.

When flight controllers lost contact with it and were unable to maintain the craft’s course a few minutes later, the order went out to have the rocket self-destruct.

“While the two stages separated as planned, the first-stage booster soon began to tumble and exploded in mid-air instead of falling into the Gulf of Mexico as planned,” the outlet noted.

Despite the craft self-destructing, SpaceX later congratulated its team on the second integrated flight test.

“Starship successfully lifted off under the power of all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster and made it through stage separation,” the manufacturer said.

Quote:Amazon’s Vice President of Alexa and Fire TV Daniel Rausch said the job cuts are because the company is not moving forward with certain initiatives, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

“As we continue to invent, we’re shifting some of our efforts to better align with our business priorities, and what we know matters most to customers — which includes maximizing our resources and efforts focused on generative AI,” he said.

The job cuts will affect workers in America, Canada, and India, the AP article noted.

The announcement comes as Amazon is reportedly building its own AI system called Olympus, Breitbart News reported November 8, noting it will compete with other AI platforms.
...
The Olympus model is reportedly designed to have two trillion parameters, making it twice as large as OpenAI’s GPT-4 model. An increase in parameter size is hoped to produce a more accurate AI model, leading to AI companies to engage in an arms race of offering larger and faster executing systems.

Quote:Earlier this year, a federal workplace climate survey showed that the office, known as the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO), ranked the lowest of all the offices in the Pentagon on “leadership” — scoring -17 on a scale of -100 to 100.

At a Pentagon briefing this month, Breitbart News asked Dr. Craig Martell, the leader of the CDAO, what steps have been taken since the survey to improve things. Martell responded, “We hired an organization called Gapingvoid. They’re helping us think through and work through our department, and they’re doing surveys throughout the whole department.”

He added, “Gapingvoid is going through all of our leadership and all of the teams and figuring out where they feel things are frustrating, where they feel things are working, and then they work with us and the leadership teams to figure out the kinds of changes we can make to address those issues.”

However, five sources who wished to remain anonymous told Breitbart News that things are still as bad as ever since the survey.

“There is still a gaping void and nothing’s changed,” one source quipped.

Sources recently told Breitbart News that Martell admitted on a Zoom call with staff last week that he is actively looking for a new job.

The sources said Martell began the call by insisting he was not looking for a new job, but then later talked about his transition plan, and then during a Q and A admitted he was already in serious enough talks with private companies that he had to consult the Pentagon’s ethics office to see if it created conflicts of interest with his current job. According to the sources, he reassured staff that it would take a year before anything became a reality.

Quote:CNBC reports that OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, has announced the reinstatement of Sam Altman as CEO, a mere five days after his unexpected firing.

Sam Altman, who became the CEO of OpenAI in 2019, was abruptly fired from his position last week. However, the decision was rapidly overturned following immense pressure from employees and investors. Hundreds of OpenAI staff, including co-founder and board member Ilya Sutskever, vocally demanded the resignation of the remaining board members, threatening to leave if their demands were not met.

Sutskever’s involvement in the employee revolt is particularly interesting given his pivotal role in ousting Altman, which he claims he immediately “regretted.”

The situation took another turn when Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Altman, along with others from OpenAI, would be joining Microsoft to start a new advanced AI research team. This move suggested a shift in Altman’s career trajectory, aligning him with one of the biggest tech giants globally. However, the recent reinstatement at OpenAI indicates a change in these plans.

OpenAI’s board is experiencing significant changes following Altman’s return. Former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers have joined the board, with Taylor assuming the chair position. Helen Toner, Tasha McCauley, and Ilya Sutskever were removed from the board, each having played a role in Altman’s initial removal.

...the quick reappointment of Altman highlights the influence of internal and external stakeholders including prominent investors like Microsoft, Tiger Global, Thrive Capital, and Sequoia Capital, who reportedly worked behind the scenes to reverse the board’s decision.

Quote:In a case filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, X/Twitter accuses Media Matters of distorting the likelihood of ads appearing next to alleged hate speech on the platform.

“Media Matters knowingly and maliciously manufactured side-by-side images depicting advertisers’ posts on X Corp.’s social media platform beside Neo-Nazi and white-nationalist fringe content and then portrayed these manufactured images as if they were what typical X users experience on the platform,” says X in its complaint.

“Media Matters designed both these images and its resulting media strategy to drive advertisers from the platform and destroy X Corp.”

In a post on X/Twitter, CEO Linda Yaccarino said that “not a single authentic user” saw ads from IBM, Comcast, or Oracle next to the content identified by Media Matters, and only two users saw Apple’s ads next to the content, “at least one of which was Media Matters.”

“Data wins over manipulation or allegations,” said Yaccarino. “Don’t be manipulated. Stand with X.”

...the attorney general of Texas, Ken Paxton, launched an investigation into the far-left nonprofit over potential fraudulent activity.

Quote:The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched a probe Monday into the recalls of 6.4 million Hyundai and Kia vehicles due to brake fluid leaks that could cause fires.

The investigation will look into eight recalls made by each company over issues with their antilock braking systems (ABS) and Hydraulic Electronic Control Units (HECU), both of which were manufactured by the South Korean parts supplier Mando, Automotive News reported.

The 16 individual recalls from Hyundai and Kia covered approximately 6.4 million vehicles, according to Fox Business.

Hyundai Motor America and Kia America issued “park outside” recalls for more than 3.3 million vehicles in September due to the risk of fire, with the NHTSA saying at the time that “the safest place to park them is outside and away from homes and other structures.”

The fires were traced back to internal brake fluid leaks that could sometimes cause electrical shorts, leading to flames.

Quote:The company recently announced a significant pause in its operations following a pedestrian collision on October 2, which led to the company’s driverless vehicle permit in California being revoked. While the suspension was originally of just the operation of its autonomous robotaxis, it has extended to robotaxis who have a human safety supervisor in the car.

Reports have also surfaced about Cruise’s robotaxis struggling to detect children and lacking data on child-specific scenarios, raising significant concerns about the technology’s readiness for real-world situations, especially in urban environments where children are common.

TechCrunch reports that Kyle Vogt, the co-founder and CEO of Cruise, has resigned from his leadership role. Vogt’s resignation was announced in an internal email sent to employees, which TechCrunch obtained and reported on.

Vogt’s journey with Cruise began as a startup in a garage, evolving through its acquisition by General Motors. Under his leadership, Cruise has delivered over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities. Dan Kan, who co-founded Cruise alongside Vogt and held a less public-facing role, has also resigned, as confirmed by TechCrunch.

In the wake of these departures, Mo Elshenawy, currently the executive vice president of engineering at Cruise, will take over as president and CTO. Additionally, Jon McNeill, a member of GM’s board, has been appointed vice chairman of the Cruise board, serving alongside Board Chair Mary Barra.

Quote:On Wednesday, the Justice Department confirmed a major investigation of the scheme has been in progress for some time.

There was an element of dark comedy to the Reuters report, which made it sound fairly easy for dictator Kim Jong-un’s serfs to bamboozle Western human resources departments into thinking they were legitimate job applicants from free countries.

For example, reporters got their hands on a canned interview script that told North Koreans to say things like “People are free to express ideas and opinions!” to interviewers, telling them exactly what they wanted to hear about healthy “corporate culture.” The scripts included a variety of prepared excuses for why the disguised North Korean applicant needed to work remotely.

Combined with convincing fake resumes and doctored social media profiles, such tactics were good enough to defeat the vetting process at countless information technology companies.

The interview scripts were uncovered by an American cybersecurity firm called Palo Alto Networks, which was investigating a scheme by hackers to trick software companies into installing malware on their systems by posing as job applicants. Palo Alto’s researchers dubbed this tactic “Contagious Interview.”

Contagious Interview attacks typically begin with phony job applicants persuading employers to interview them online, using a video conferencing platform of the hacker’s choice, usually the popular collaboration platform GitHub. Employers who accepted the offer found themselves downloading malware packages disguised as “click here to connect” software.

Some of the Contagious Interview hackers were also reportedly able to persuade prospective employers to download and install software they had written, to evaluate the quality of their coding work. In both scenarios, the unwitting employee allowed the hackers to open back doors into their systems for further mischief.

Quote:The insurance program, which Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed would provide “vastly better” service than traditional competitors, has instead been plagued with issues. Customers have reported significant delays in payments, difficulties in reaching claims adjusters, and frustrations with the repair process.

A noteworthy incident involves Mark Bova, a former Green Beret who suffered a traumatic experience while using Tesla’s Autopilot feature. The car suddenly started beeping and swerved left, hitting a median and overturning. Bova had to escape through a window as the car filled with smoke and was immediately taken to the hospital via ambulance, later undergoing surgery for his back injuries.

After his Tesla Model S crashed, Bova struggled to get a timely response from Tesla Insurance. He waited seven months for payment on his totaled vehicle and has yet to be compensated for his substantial medical expenses. His ordeal reflects a broader pattern of customer service issues within Tesla’s insurance arm.

Tesla Insurance was launched as a solution to high insurance rates for electric vehicles, which often carry higher repair costs. The company aimed to simplify the process for Tesla owners and provide more affordable rates. However, customers like Bova have encountered a reality far from these initial promises.

Quote:As part of what the company described as a routine review of customer information, Stellantis determined that eight of the hybrid Wranglers had caught fire while they were turned off and parked. Six of the vehicles were being charged when the fires started. The company said it doesn’t believe anyone was hurt in the fires.

The recall covers 2021-2024 models of the Jeep Wrangler 4xe SUVs. All other Wrangler models have been deemed safe by Stellantis, which maintains its U.S. headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

The SUVs affected by the recall can still be driven until they are fixed, but Stellantis is recommending they be parked away from buildings and not be charged until they can be repaired.

Quote:Sweeney’s testimony highlighted Google’s alleged attempts to stifle competition. He recounted how Google tried to entice him with substantial financial incentives to release Fortnite on the Play Store, incentives that he rejected. He described these proposals as “crooked arrangements,” claiming they were designed to prevent Epic from competing against Google. Furthermore, Epic’s lawyers revealed that Google had offered a $360 million package to video game maker Activision Blizzard to discourage competition against the Play Store.

Google’s defense strategy, led by attorney Jonathan Kravis, aimed to reframe the narrative. Kravis attempted to portray Sweeney as primarily motivated by profit, seeking to bypass the commission system to increase his company’s earnings. The defense also pointed out that Epic willingly pays similar commissions to console makers like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo without objections.

The trial took an intriguing twist when Sweeney introduced “Project Liberty,” a secret plan to circumvent the commission system. This involved discreetly integrating an alternative payment option in Fortnite’s app, a move that led to both Apple and Google blocking the game from their stores, triggering the current legal battles.

Quote:The Verge reports that the Android app economy is buzzing with the revelation of a secret agreement between Google and Spotify. This deal, unveiled during the antitrust trial brought against Google by Fortnite developer Epic Games, has spotlighted Spotify’s unique ability to completely sidestep Android’s app store fees, a privilege not commonly extended to other app developers.

Spotify, a leading music streaming service, has been leveraging a payment arrangement that effectively nullifies Google’s commission. When users subscribe through Spotify’s own payment system, the company pays zero commission to Google. Even more striking, if users opt for Google’s payment processor, Spotify incurs a mere four percent fee, a stark contrast to the standard 15 to 30 percent charged by Google to most app developers.

This exclusive arrangement has broader implications, especially when viewed in the context of Google’s ongoing antitrust battles. The internet giant, in its legal war with Epic Games, fought hard to keep these specific details under wraps, fearing potential backlash and more demanding negotiations with other app developers seeking similar deals.
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The uniqueness of Spotify’s deal with Google is further highlighted by Google’s refusal to offer similar terms to other major players like Netflix. This selective approach in offering discounted rates reveals a strategic dimension to Google’s partnerships, potentially influenced by the commercial clout and market influence of Spotify.

Interestingly, Spotify has been a vocal critic of the high commission fees charged by major app stores.

Quote:A Wired investigation has revealed a secret White House surveillance program that permits federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to access an extensive array of U.S. phone records. Known as Data Analytical Services (DAS), this program functions in partnership with telecom giant AT&T, offering a comprehensive analysis of American call records to law enforcement agencies at all levels of government. This deal not only involves direct phone contacts of criminal suspects but extends to their social networks as well, snooping on individuals who have not been suspected of any criminal activity at all.

For over a decade, DAS has been tracking more than a trillion domestic phone records annually. The program, previously referred to as Hemisphere, has evolved to use a technique called chain analysis. This method doesn’t limit itself to direct contacts of suspects; it also scrutinizes connections of those individuals, expanding its reach to a broader network of people, including innocent bystanders.

The program’s methodology significantly differs from traditional wiretapping, which requires a warrant based on probable cause. DAS instead relies on AT&T’s records, which include details like the names of callers and recipients, phone numbers, and the dates and times of calls. Interestingly, AT&T is not mandated by law to store these records for extended periods, yet it does so, highlighting a voluntary cooperation that benefits law enforcement.

The scale of DAS is enormous, encompassing records that crisscross the entire United States through AT&T’s infrastructure. Despite the vastness of its operation, the program has largely flown under the radar, with minimal public awareness until recently. This secrecy is compounded by the fact that the White House, exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, oversees the program, further reducing public visibility into its workings.

Quote:The Iranian group loaded the water station’s computer screens with messages saying “Down with Israel!” and “Every equipment ‘Made in Israel’ Is Cyber Av3ngers legal target.”

The station attacked by the Iranian hackers is part of the water pressure system for Raccoon and Potter Townships in Pennsylvania.

According to Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa board chairman Matthew Mottes, alarms were triggered as soon as the system was compromised, and the water quality of the two townships was never in serious danger.

Mottes said the water booster station uses equipment made by Unitronics, an automation company headquartered in Israel. The compromised system was disabled for safety as soon as the hack was detected.

Security Week said footage broadcast by a local news station suggests the target of the hack was a Unitronics Vision system, “a programmable logic controller (PLC) with an integrated human-machine interface (HMI).”

“Unitronics Vision products have been known to be affected by critical vulnerabilities that could expose devices to attacks,” Security Week said. “On the other hand, HMIs are often left exposed to the Internet and are accessible without authentication, making them an easy target even for low-skilled threat actors.”

Quote:Business Insider reports that in a recent episode of the podcast What Now? With Trevor Noah, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, delved into the potential of artificial intelligence. Gates emphasized that the evolution of AI could lead to a drastic reduction in the traditional work week, possibly limiting it to merely three days. His views reflect a growing recognition of AI’s capacity to reshape not just the workplace but also the very fabric of our daily lives.
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“If you zoom out, the purpose of life is not just to do jobs,” he remarked, suggesting a future where machines take on more tasks, allowing humans more leisure time and possibly redefining our societal values and goals.

This concept aligns with Gates’ broader perspective on technology’s role in society. Earlier this year, he underscored the vast potential of AI in enhancing productivity, healthcare, and education. He also spoke about AI-powered personal assistants, or “agents,” capable of assisting in virtually any life aspect. The vision Gates lays out is one where AI acts as a catalyst for a more efficient, health-focused, and educated society.

Gates has already given the public into his potential nightmare future where AI does all the thinking for people. In October, Gates unveiled AI “agents” that will pick movies, shows, and podcasts for their users.

However, Gates is aware of the challenges and disruptions that accompany technological shifts. He acknowledges that job displacement is a natural outcome of new technologies, citing the decrease in the number of farmers in recent generations as an example. Yet, he remains optimistic, stating, “If [changes] proceed at a reasonable pace and the government helps those who need to learn new things, then it’s all good.”

Quote:Google has recently issued an update for Chrome across Mac, Linux, and Windows platforms to address a critical zero-day security vulnerability, marking the sixth such flaw in the popular browser this year.

Android Central reports that significant security concern has surfaced for users of Google Chrome. Researchers from Google’s Threat Analysis Group discovered a zero-day vulnerability in Google Chrome on November 24. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-6345, has been identified as a high-severity flaw within Google’s Skia graphics library, potentially allowing remote hackers to execute arbitrary code and take over their target’s system without using phishing or other hacking techniques.

Google has initiated a patch rollout aiming to secure millions of Chrome users worldwide. The update versions are 119.0.6045.199 for macOS and Linux, and versions 119.0.6045.199 or 119.0.6045.200 for Windows. This update is extremely important as the security vulnerability is known to be actively exploited in the wild.

Some users will have automatically downloaded the update, but the browser must be relaunched for the update to apply.

Quote:Engadget reports that a recent lawsuit, filed on November 30, 2023, by Meta (formerly Facebook) marks a pivotal moment in the ongoing tension between big tech companies and regulatory authorities. Meta’s legal action seeks to prevent the FTC from revisiting a landmark $5 billion privacy settlement from 2020, which was a consequence of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This move comes after a federal judge’s decision enabling the FTC to propose stringent new rules on Meta’s operations.

Meta’s stance, as outlined in the lawsuit, deems the FTC’s proceedings as an unconstitutional overreach, challenging the agency’s authority to impose such restrictions. The company’s representatives have criticized the FTC for, in Zuckerberg’s eyes, assuming the roles of prosecutor, judge, and jury simultaneously. This lawsuit represents Meta’s second attempt to legally contest these sanctions.

On the other side, the FTC maintains that Meta has persistently breached the terms of the 2020 settlement, specifically concerning user privacy and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
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The FTC’s proposed restrictions include not only limitations on data monetization but also the implementation of new rules governing the use of facial recognition technology and a freeze on new products and services until compliance with privacy obligations is independently verified.

Quote:Bloomberg reports that Walmart is discontinuing its advertisements on Elon Musk’s X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter. This decision positions Walmart on the growing list of major companies that have recently chosen to withdraw advertising from the platform.

A Walmart spokeswoman informed Bloomberg News that the company is shifting its advertising strategy to other platforms which it believes will more effectively reach their customer base. “We aren’t advertising on X as we’ve found other platforms to better reach our customers,” a Walmart spokeswoman stated.

The platform’s head of business operations, Joe Benarroch, responded to Walmart’s departure by highlighting the retailer’s substantial following of over one million users on the platform. He emphasized that a majority of the site’s users are online shoppers, suggesting that Walmart’s decision might be a missed opportunity for the company.
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This has created a rift between the platform and its primary revenue source, with several key advertisers and at least half a dozen major marketing agencies openly stating their clients’ reluctance to return to the platform. The concerns are not just financial but also relate to the reputational risks associated with being featured on a platform governed by Musk. Lou Paskalis, the founder and chief executive of the marketing consultancy firm AJL Advisory, commented: “There is no advertising value that would offset the reputational risk of going back on the platform.”

Quote:Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) took to X/Twitter on Friday to reveal that internal emails show the Government Affairs teams at Google and its YouTube subsidiary had acknowledged that they were “seeking to work closely with the Biden administration on multiple policy fronts.”

“To appease the Biden White House, Big Tech gave into the federal government’s relentless pressure campaign to censor Americans’ speech, including true information,” Rep. Jordan said at the beginning of a thread posted to X/Twitter on Friday.

Jordan went on to explain that the House Judiciary and Weaponization Committee “obtained internal Google & Facebook docs revealing which Big Tech companies buckled first under pressure from the Biden White House to censor Americans’ posts, including true statements, jokes, memes, and opinions.”

“And once YouTube (Google) relented to censoring more content, the Biden White House used that as leverage to further increase the pressure on Facebook to do the same,” he added.

Quote:Jacob confessed to “intentionally crashing his single-engine airplane in a California national forest to gain views for a sponsorship deal, resulting in potentially serious legal trouble.”

“Jacob’s admission came as part of a plea agreement filed in federal court in Los Angeles, where he pleaded guilty to the charge of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation,” it reported at the time.

The offense carried a potential of 20 years in prison. Jacob received only six months. KTLA 5 provided some history of the event:

Prosecutors say Jacob waited two days to report the crash to the National Transportation Safety Board which told him to preserve the wreckage. He stalled the investigation by telling NTSB officials that he didn’t know where the plane went down, according to the DOJ.

More than two weeks after the crash, he and a friend flew a helicopter to the crash site and airlifted the wreckage to Rancho Sisquoc in Santa Barbara County, where it was loaded onto a trailer attached to Jacob’s pickup truck.

The U.S. Department of Justice accused Jacob of cutting up and destroying “the airplane wreckage and, over several days, deposited the detached parts of the wrecked airplane into trash bins at the airport and elsewhere.”

The FAA also revoked Jacob’s pilot’s license.

Quote:Wikipedia, which presents itself as “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit,” has faced heavy criticism for the left-leaning bias of its editors. The website has, among other actions, blacklisted Breitbart in 2018, engaged in censorship, and modified its contents to favor the Biden administration.

Wikipedia drew the ire of Maduro during the latest episode of the dictator’s television show Con Maduro Más (“With Maduro Plus”). Maduro described the website as “incorrigible” for its “manipulated” content regarding the sham referendum on Sunday, in which the socialist regime claimed that over 95 percent of Venezuela voted to create a state out of a plot of land that represents about two-thirds of the territory of Guyana.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Center (CNE), the nation’s top electoral authority completely under the control of the socialist regime, claimed that more than 10 million votes were cast in favor of creating a new state for Venezuela by annexing the Essequibo region.
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The head of CNE, Elvis Amoroso, also announced two contradicting results over the past two days, which has further raised questions about the veracity of the regime’s claims. On Sunday evening, Amoroso announced that some 10.5 million votes were registered, while on Monday afternoon, he announced that 10.4 million votes had been logged without giving any explanation that justifies the over 100,000 vote reduction in CNE’s “official” results.

Maduro accused Wikipedia of collaborating with the “enemies” of Venezuela by reflecting the lack of confidence Venezuelans have in the CNE’s claims.

At press time, Wikipedia’s Spanish-language page on the Maduro regime’s sham referendum shows a disclaimer that reads, “There are doubts or disagreements about the accuracy of the information in this article or section.”

“I was sent this by a lot of people on WhatsApp, an incredible thing that they put in Wikipedia; they are incorrigible, they had already put other things that are incredible as how they manipulate in social networks, in the same internet lying,” Maduro rambled, “then they say the two things that are the two big lies that have said the enemies of Venezuela, internal and external enemies.”
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Maduro then accused Wikipedia of claiming that only 2 million people voted in Sunday’s referendum, trying to pass the number as “official.”

Quote:The Verge reports that McDonald’s recently announced a collaboration with Google to deploy generative AI in thousands of its stores. This technological integration involves both hardware and software upgrades, including enhancements to McDonald’s ordering kiosks and mobile app. The primary goal of this partnership is to leverage AI for analyzing vast amounts of operational data, leading to tangible improvements in service quality. A key expected outcome, as highlighted by McDonald’s, is the delivery of “hotter, fresher food” to customers.

The details of how AI will specifically improve food service are not entirely clear, but the partnership indicates a significant step towards more AI-driven automation in the fast-food industry. This AI integration will function both in-store through hardware and software upgrades and via services provided through Google Cloud. Managers will benefit from this system, which is designed to promptly identify and resolve business disruptions.

While McDonald’s has not detailed the extent of AI’s role in potentially replacing human workers, they emphasize its utility in simplifying operations for store crews and enhancing customer and crew experiences. This move is similar to initiatives by other fast-food chains, like Wendy’s, who have also started experimenting with AI, albeit on a smaller scale.
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Inevitably, as with every product involving Google, data collected and analyzed by the system will likely be used by the company to generate profits in different ways.

Quote:Bloomberg reports that SpaceX Starlink has emerged as a valuable asset in the realm of military communications following its successful completion of extensive U.S. Air Force tests in the Arctic. This achievement  paves the way for potential Pentagon contracts, potentially enhancing the strategic communications infrastructure in the increasingly competitive Arctic region.

The series of tests, which concluded in June, were focused on evaluating Starlink’s effectiveness in meeting the Pentagon’s operational needs in harsh Arctic conditions. Brian Beal, a principal engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory, confirmed that Starlink provided “reliable and high-performance communication,” particularly in on-the-move scenarios, despite challenging environmental conditions including high winds and extreme cold.

Starlink’s success in these tests is critical given the strategic importance of the Arctic, a region where the U.S. is keen to expand its influence in the face of growing competition from Russia and China. The Arctic’s challenging climate and remoteness have historically limited communications capabilities, a gap that Starlink’s portable terminals are well-positioned to fill.

Additionally, the Air Force is also evaluating London-based Eutelsat OneWeb for similar capabilities in the Arctic, with its testing phase set to conclude in the coming months. The success of these tests represents a significant advancement in military satellite communications, offering faster and more reliable options for strategic operations.

Quote:Wikipedia editors have been actively trying to minimize mention of plagiarism allegations raised against embattled Harvard President Claudine Gay. This has included removing mention of the allegations from the intro of her article and removing detailed descriptions of the alleged plagiarism. Some editors have also tried to minimize mention of Gay’s handling of campus antisemitism in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks against Israel.

Wikipedia editors have also removed all mention of the campus antisemitism controversy from the online encyclopedia’s article on Harvard University itself.

In Congressional testimony last week about a rise in antisemitism on college campuses following the Hamas terror attacks against Israel and the subsequent military response by the Jewish state, Harvard President Claudine Gay failed to unequivocally state that calls for genocide against Jews would violate Harvard conduct policies. Gay had previously issued a statement shortly after the Hamas invasion where she expressed “heartbreak” over the resulting death and destruction, but failed to condemn Hamas or even the terrorism committed against Israeli citizens.

Quote:Another incident used as the basis for the suspension, according to Beeblebrox, involved him confirming information the Committee possessed that an editor’s ban from all Wikipedia-affiliated sites was due to false suspicions the editor was involved with a news report criticizing the site. The report noted the editor was banned from the Italian Wikipedia by a NATO agency employee over a dispute about a NATO critic’s negatively-slanted encyclopedia article.

News of Beeblebrox’s suspension was posted to the Arbitration Committee’s noticeboard last month. In the post announcing the suspension, the Committee stated he had “repeatedly failed to [p]reserve in appropriate confidence the contents of private correspondence sent to the Committee and the Committee’s internal discussions and deliberations by making disclosures on off-wiki forums.” The mention of “off-wiki forums” refers to Wikipedia criticism site Wikipediocracy, where Beeblebrox is a member (Disclosure: this author is also a member of the site). A private warning was previously issued in September 2021 by the Committee over his conduct in disputes outside the English Wikipedia, including Wikipediocracy.

Quote:Amazon won’t have to pay about 250 million euros ($273 million) in back taxes after European Union judges ruled in favor of the U.S. e-commerce giant Thursday, dealing a defeat to the 27-nation bloc in its efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance.

The ruling by the EU’s top court is final, ending the long-running legal battle over tax arrangements between Amazon and Luxembourg’s government and marking a further setback for a crackdown by antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager.

The Court of Justice backed a 2021 decision by judges in a lower court who sided with Amazon, saying the European Commission, the EU´s executive branch, had not proved its case that Amazon received illegal state support.

“The Court of Justice confirms that the Commission has not established that the tax ruling given to Amazon by Luxembourg was a State aid that was incompatible with the internal market” of the EU, the court said in a press release.

Amazon welcomed the ruling, saying it confirms that the company “followed all applicable laws and received no special treatment.”

Quote:NewsGuard, a for-profit company that rates news websites and works closely with government agencies and major corporate advertisers, demands news websites follow government narratives, according to investigative reporter Lee Fang.

While there is no official ban on talking about, for example, the efficacy of coronavirus vaccines, editors and journalists understand that writing about such issues can result in consequences, such as demonetization and shadow-banning, due to the Orwellian existence of a network of government agencies and groups claiming to combat so-called “misinformation” repressing online speech, according to independent journalist Lee Fang in the New York Post.

NewsGuard’s business model is based on being a so-called misinformation meter. It rates news websites on a scale of 0 to 100 on an array of factors, such as headline choice and whether the website publishes “false or egregiously misleading content.”

According to Fang, while this may appear to some as an objective public service, these ratings are a way to coerce conformity, as they give NewsGuard the power to smear an entire website as untrustworthy if it strays from the government narrative.

In one example, the libertarian-leaning British website, the Daily Sceptic, received a 74.5 rating from NewsGuard. The Daily Sceptic editor Toby Young reportedly reached out to NewsGuard in a series of emails over the last two years trying to improve the site’s rating, only to be downgraded further after adding postscripts to articles, rather than retracting the articles completely.

NewsGuard had taken issue with the Daily Sceptic’s criticism of lockdowns, in which the site called them “unnecessary, ineffective and harmful” and cited academic literature on the topic, Fang reported.