Category: News and Views

New laws force police to put guns back on the street | CNN Money

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Every year, police officers seize tens of thousands of rifles, shotguns, machine guns and other firearms from criminals across the country. While many agencies destroy these weapons, a growing number of police departments are selling them instead. And it’s not always by choice.

Since 2009, at least 11 states have passed laws that either encourage or require police departments to sell seized or recovered guns — with some banning police from destroying guns altogether, according to an exclusive CNNMoney analysis of state laws.

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Toys R Us is closing its flagship store | Business Insider

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Toys R Us is closing its iconic flagship store in New York City’s Times Square at the end of this month.

The retailer is not renewing its lease on the 110,000-square-foot store, which features a giant indoor Ferris wheel, a life-size Barbie dollhouse, and a 20-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex dinosaur, CNN Money reports.

“It is certainly bittersweet,” Toys “R” Us CEO Dave Brandon told CNN Money, referring to the rush of shoppers in the store for the final Black Friday at the Times Square location.

We reached out to Toys “R” Us and will update when we hear back.

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Children’s Photos Among Data Stolen in Hack of Toy Maker VTech | Entrepreneur

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It’s a parent’s worst nightmare: Photos of their kids’ smiling faces stolen by a stranger online, along with identifying information including their names, genders, birth dates, mailing addresses and the contents of their private chats.

Thanks to a security breach at toy maker VTech, that nightmare just became a reality for thousands of parents.Yesterday, the children’s toymaker admitted that it’s on the hook for exposing all of the above private data, plus additional personal information.

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Tax Scams are Once Again on the Rise | Small Biz Trends

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Tax scammers are again at work and your small businesses could be vulnerable just like other consumers. Authorities insist calls from scammers claiming to be with the Internal Revenue Service are on the rise around the country.

Just in case you are not aware of this tax scam, it works on fear and intimidation by the criminals. They call their victims and leave a menacing message on voice mail stating you have a warrant for your arrest because of a tax violation. When you call the number to find out what it is all about, the ruse continues to play out until they talk you into sending them money.

Here’s what you need to protect your business and yourself.

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Not one Paris attacker has been identified as a Syrian refugee | Mashable

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In the wake of the Paris attacks, politicians in the United States and Europe are claiming that the movement of refugees and migrants across Europe’s borders made it possible for Islamic State (ISIS) militants to infiltrate the continent.

In response, Europe is tightening its borders, and the refugee crisis has become an unlikely subject in next year’s U.S. election. So far, Donald Trump has questioned whether Syrian refugees seeking asylum in America were part of a “Trojan Horse” plot and Gov. Chris Christie has suggested that even 5-year-old Syrian orphans should be kept out of the U.S. There have also been calls to discriminate among refugees according to religion.

But while investigators are still unravelling the plot, one fact is clear at this point: Not one Paris attacker has been identified as a refugee.

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Messaging App Telegram Shuts Down 78 ISIS Propaganda Channels | Forbes

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It’s been less than two months since the messaging app Telegram launched a new feature called Channels that allowed anyone to broadcast messages to thousands of people in a similar fashion to Twitter. Within that short time frame, it appears that dozens of Channels were created by supporters of ISIS to spread the group’s propaganda to thousands of users.

Supporters of ISIS have used Telegram to publish official statements, claiming responsibility for the Paris attacks for instance, and to communicate with one another. Founder Pavel Durov created Telegram in 2013 so that he could communicate with friends and colleagues without interference from the Kremlin; the app prides itself on a heavily encrypted network that keeps all communication private.  The company says on its FAQ page that its network is more secure than mass market messaging apps like WhatsApp and LINE.

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NASA Wants to Make a C-3PO to Help Colonize Mars, But That May Not Be a Super Idea | WIRED

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WHAT IS YOUR favorite space robot? How about stalwart Opportunity, still doing Martian science 11 years after its mission was supposed to end? Canadarm2 is another strong candidate: The 58-foot-long, seven-jointed robot put the International Space Station together, grappling from module to module like a slo-mo ninja warrior. Or maybe you’re more of a humanoid C-3PO fan. In that case, there’s the R5, a bipedal droid from NASA that can do all the repetitive and dangerous things that humans are too busy, bored, or susceptible to radiation to perform. Well, in theory.

Fact is, humanoid robots aren’t quite there yet. Not on Earth (witness the follies from the last DARPA Robotics Challenge), not in space. The world’s best bipedal robots have trouble doing things like opening doors, climbing out of jeeps, and walking in straight lines. That’s something NASA would like to fix, so it’s given a pair of R5s—along with $500,000 each—to two US universities with awesome robotics teams.

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