Why Are Toronto Residents Suspicious About City’s Smart Project | Digital Trends

December 7, 2018December 6, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It is touted as a unique opportunity to build a smart city within a major city, literally from the ground up. Environmental remediation, new infrastructure, digital electrification plans, new-age mobility options — the whole shebang.

If only people would stop complaining about privacy issues.

Up in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, there’s been much ado about what will happen to all the data that the future Sidewalk Toronto project will generate. The focus of the debate has been, predictably, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) whose Sidewalk Labs is the primary partner in the project. And yet, for all the sturm und drang about personal information, not a single spade-full of dirt has been spilled yet.

Why it’s difficult for Netflix and ‘Friends’ to go on a break | CNN

December 6, 2018December 5, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

New York (CNN Business)”Friends” will be there for you on Netflix through 2019, but the minor internet meltdown over a rumor that the show was leaving goes to the heart of the biggest question about Netflix’s short-term future: What happens if and when its competitors pull their most popular content from Netflix to make it exclusive to their own streaming services?

One show might not make a difference, but Disney and WarnerMedia, both of which are launching streaming services next year, hold the key to a huge trove of content that lives on Netflix. WarnerMedia’s “Gilmore Girls” and “The West Wing” and Disney’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” for instance, all had big fanbases when they lived on their respective networks and are now big draws for Netflix.

The World’s Largest Ocean Cleanup Has Officially Begun | Forbes

December 3, 2018December 2, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Ambitious dreams have now become a reality as the Ocean Cleanup deploys its $20 million system designed to clean up the 1.8 trillion pieces of trash floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Check out another Forbes piece on how Ocean Cleanup aims to reuse and recycle the ocean plastic.

The floating boom system was deployed on Saturday from San Francisco Bay and will undergo several weeks of testing before being hauled into action. The system was designed by the nonprofit Ocean Cleanup, which was founded in 2013 by 18-year-old Dutch inventor Boyan Slat. Their mission is to develop “advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.”

Restaurant and cafe chains giving out ‘dangerous’ allergy advice | BBC News

November 28, 2018November 27, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Leading restaurant and coffee shop chains are giving out incorrect allergy advice, BBC Watchdog Live has found.

Posing as customers with food allergies, journalists secretly filmed staff at Frankie & Benny’s, Pizza Hut, Nandos, Pizza Express, Starbucks and Costa.

The journalists asked staff whether dishes contained any of the 14 major allergens.

Five out of the 30 outlets visited gave the reporters incorrect information.

The unclear and incorrect advice could have caused anyone with a genuine allergy to have a potentially life-threatening reaction.

Secretive Electric Car Startup Rivian Emerges From Stealth Mode With 600 Employees and Half a Billion in Funding | Inc.com

November 28, 2018November 27, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

After nine years of secrecy, an electric car startup with a whole lot of funding is revealing its vehicles to the public.

On Monday, San Jose-based Rivian unveiled its pickup truck at an event in Los Angeles, the first of two gas-free cars the company is revealing this week. Founded by MIT grad R.J. Scaringe in 2009, the company has racked up more than $500 million in funding while keeping a tight lid on its futuristic-looking designs.

On Tuesday, the startup will pull the lid off its SUV. Rivian says neither car will be available until 2020.

Amazon opens its internal machine learning courses to all for free | TechCrunch

November 27, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s Cyber Monday and Amazon has one deal for its customers that’s a little unexpected. The company just announced that it has made available, for free, the same machine learning courses that it uses to train its own engineers.

It’s a lot of information to digest — from a programming standpoint. According to a newly released statement by Matt Wood, an eight-year veteran of Amazon and a general manager of deep learning and AI at the company, there are more than 45 hours across 30 different courses that developers, data scientists, data platform engineers and business professionals can take gratis.

Teen girl in South Sudan auctioned off for marriage on Facebook | Mashable

November 21, 2018November 20, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A 16-year-old South Sudanese girl was sold for marriage via Facebook in a disturbing case that’s been described as “reminiscent of latter-day slave markets.”

The winning bid in the auction was for 500 cows, three cars and $10,000, and the girl was married off at a ceremony on Nov. 3 in the country’s Eastern Lakes State, according to Plan International, a humanitarian organisation focused on children’s rights.

Bitcoin keeps plunging — when will it hit bottom? | CNN

November 21, 2018November 20, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The recent plunge in the stock market is a cakewalk compared to what’s going on with cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin prices are down more than 15% in just the past week and have plummeted nearly 70% so far this year.

Bitcoin hit a peak above $19,000 in December 2017. Its is now trading at around $4,600.

Shares of companies with ties to the crypto market have plunged lately too, including chipmakers Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD), which make graphics cards used by bitcoin miners. Online retailer turned blockchain investor Overstock (OSTK) and digital payments firm Square (SQ) are also sharply lower. Each stock is down between 15% and 35% in just the past month.

So it seems safe to say that the bitcoin bubble has burst. Should investors start to dip their toe back in to bitcoin and other crypyto-related assets?

David’s Bridal files for bankruptcy | CNN

November 20, 2018November 19, 2018 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

David’s Bridal has been buried under a mountain of debt. It hasn’t helped that fewer people are tying the knot lately.

The nation’s largest bridal retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. It owes between $500 million and $1 billion to creditors, according to court records.

As part of the bankruptcy, David’s Bridal reached a deal with lenders to reduce the company’s debt by more than $400 million. The agreement will allow David’s Bridal to continue to operate its more than 300 stores.