Uber’s Driverless Truck Unit Is Under Government Investigation Following Unapproved Tests | Forbes

May 31, 2017May 31, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

California regulators are preparing to conduct a site inspection of the San Francisco headquarters of Uber’s autonomous truck unit, formerly known as Otto, to determine whether the company broke state law when it tested driverless trucks on public highways without permission.

The unscheduled visit, which officials from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles are coordinating with the California Highway Patrol, is to “see the capabilities of Otto’s trucks in person,” a DMV spokeswoman said. The inspection comes months after the publication of an internal Otto document from 2016 detailing the company’s testing procedures for its self-driving semi-trucks.

Volvo Wagon Fanatics Prepare for the New V90 Station Wagon | Bloomberg

May 26, 2017May 26, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Picture a Volvo.

You’re imagining a boxy, full-size station wagon, right? Well, that classic shape has long been gone, but it’s about to make a modern comeback.

Back in the 1980s and ’90s, Volvo was America’s top-selling European import brand—and the first to surpass the milestone 100,000 annual sales figure. At a time when domestic manufacturers were beginning to abandon the traditional wagon market, wagons routinely made up one-third of Volvo’s sales, more so in such top markets as the Northeast or the coastal West.

Global retirement ‘timebomb’: Why you’ll have to work past 70 | CNN Money

May 26, 2017May 26, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Hoping to retire before you turn 70? Too bad.

The world’s richest countries need to drastically hike their retirement ages in order to prevent pension systems from collapsing, according to the World Economic Forum.

Working until at least 70 should become the norm by 2050, the group recommends in a new report. The average retirement age is currently 65 for men in advanced economies and 63 for women.

Here’s the problem: People are living longer than ever, but the average retirement age has remained static. Pension funds have been unable to keep pace.

Hackers are hiding malware in subtitle files | TechCrunch

May 25, 2017May 25, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

An impressive new exploit gives hackers the ability to control your desktop through malware spread by fake movie subtitles. The exploit, which essentially dumps the malware onto your desktop and then notifies the attacker, affects users of video players like Popcorn Time and VLC.

Checkpoint found that malformed subtitle files can give hackers the ability to embed code into subtitle files popular with pirated movies and TV. Because these subtitles are usually trusted by video players and users alike they were an oft-overlooked vector for hack attacks.

It’s not just Bitcoin anymore… | BBC News

May 25, 2017May 25, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The price of Bitcoin, a digital currency once located at the fringe of finance, has been rising to new records in recent months as digital assets move into the mainstream.

On Tuesday, it shot past $2,200 (£1,700), more than doubling from just two months ago. And a newer currency, Ethereum, has climbed even faster.

Industry members say uncertainty surrounding the value of global currencies, including the pound, is driving demand for alternative currencies.

Yelp is having a truly brutal day | Mashable

May 24, 2017May 23, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

“Yelp needs help” was the joke of finance Twitter Tuesday, as the company’s stock plummeted down by more than 28 percent in after-hours trading.

That’s an extreme dip and a bad look for a company that has been desperately attempting to climb back to its heights of 2014. Yelp’s stock was ripped to shreds after the company reported sales under analysts’ forecasts and also slashed its own revenue estimates for the year.

In other words, we didn’t do as well as people had expected, and the future isn’t looking great either.

Why Western brands are taking a chance on the UK | Fast Casual

May 22, 2017May 21, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

While dining out seems to have lost some of its appeal to US consumers, it’s becoming a more popular option for people in the United Kingdom.

“It is a solid fact that the demand for eating out among UK consumers are growing,” said Elif Polat, Research Analyst at Euromonitor International.

“Consumer foodservice grew by 3 percent in value terms in 2016, an important achievement for the industry considering the fact that UK is a quite mature market,” she said in an interview with FastCasual

Cannes Film Festival: Netflix ‘Ojka’ Screening Sparks Debate | Fortune.com

May 22, 2017May 21, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Even an inexperienced movie director would have said the symbolism was too heavy-handed. When the screening of a Netflix-backed movie started on Thursday night at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, the aspect ratio was wrong, so large parts of the film couldn’t be seen.

The problem was quickly corrected, and the Festival said it was just a simple projection error. But that small mistake took on much greater significance because it involved Netflix.

San Francisco Tries to Ban Delivery Robots Before They Flatten Someone’s Toes | WIRED

May 19, 2017May 18, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A LITTLE MORE than a month after a startup announced it was unleashing robots to deliver food to San Franciscans, a city lawmaker wants them curbed.

Marble’s robot is technically semi-autonomous, as a human operator monitors each robot in case it gets in any trouble. But that’s not good enough for San Francisco Supervisor Norman Yee, who just proposed legislation to ban delivery robots of all types, saying they’re a public safety hazard. While he isn’t aware of robots tangling with humans on the sidewalks of San Francisco yet, that’s not the point. “For me to wait for something to happen is silly,” Yee says, “because I think it’s going to happen.”

Don’t touch the tap in eastern Kentucky’s Martin County | Business Insider

May 19, 2017May 18, 2017 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

MAY 18, 2017 INEZ AND TOMAHAWK, KY.—T.J. Fannin, sitting on his porch as the sun sets, speaks fondly of the 27 years he spent working in nearby coal mines.

But despite the hard labor that fueled a coal boom and sent millions of dollars into Kentucky’s coffers, he says he and his neighbors lack a basic amenity: clean tap water.

“[O]n the TV you see someone go to the faucet and get a drink of water, and it just makes me mad cause, you know, we can’t do that,” says Mr. Fannin, who buys two or three 24-packs of bottled water a month for drinking and cooking. “There’s an odor to the water…. It’s just like stagnant water [that] comes out of the bottom of a pool.”