The Worst Hacks of 2020, a Surreal Pandemic Year | WIRED

December 29, 2020December 27, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

WHAT A WAY to kick off a new decade. 2020 showcased all of the digital risks and cybersecurity woes you’ve come to expect in the modern era, but this year was unique in the ways Covid-19 radically and tragically transformed life around the world. The pandemic also created unprecedented conditions in cyberspace, reshaping networks by pushing people to work from home en masse, creating a scramble to access vaccine research by any means, generating new fodder for criminals to launch extortion attempts and scams, and producing novel opportunities for nation-state espionage.

Here’s WIRED’s look back at this strange year and the breaches, data exposures, ransomware attacks, state-sponsored campaigns, and digital madness that shaped it. Stay safe out there in 2021.

The Rise Of Disney Streaming | Getentrepreneurial.com

December 28, 2020December 27, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In 2021, the biggest US beneficiary of the streaming bonanza will be Disney. After a plethora of streaming competitors launched in 2020, Netflix still added a substantial number of subscribers. As impressive as Netflix’s sustained dominance was Disney+’s ability to quickly gain viewers. These developments show there’s room for multiple services to thrive in this fast-growing market.

But no other new US streaming service had a debut like Disney+ did—we estimate that it will reach 72.4 million US monthly viewers in 2020, its first full year in service. We forecast that more than one-fifth of the US population will use Disney+ this year, and in 2024, more than one-third will. So far, other streaming entrants suffered from distribution limitations, confusing branding, or a lack of quality programming. None of these problems have hampered Disney+, which will become the third most popular US streaming service by the end of 2024.

Full self-driving is coming for all Tesla owners with a subscription | Mashable

December 21, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you want your Tesla to drive itself down some streets and on the highway (with you still at the wheel, paying attention, of course) you need to put down some serious cash for the Full Self-Driving (FSD) mode. But in 2021, there might be more options.

Instead of paying $10,000 to add FSD mode to the Tesla advanced driving system, called Autopilot, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted Sunday about subscription access. That means anyone with a Tesla could pay month-to-month for the driving mode. It’s currently in beta with a select group of Tesla users and that’s it.

It’ll open up to more people at some point in 2021. Even though Musk had previously mentioned a rollout by the end of 2020.

Walmart one-ups Amazon: You don’t need to leave home to return packages for free | CNN

December 21, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Walmart is attempting to solve one of the biggest pain-points of online shopping — the dreaded return — with a new service.

The retailer announced Monday that it will pick up items shipped and sold by Walmart.com from customers’ homes through a new partnership with FedEx (FDX). Walmart said the “incredibly convenient” option is free and will remain in place beyond the busy holiday shopping season.

To use the new service, called “Carrier Pickup by FedEx,” customers have the initiate return process on Walmart’s website or app, schedule a date for pickup and print a label. Then it will be picked up by a FedEx employee.

A (Very) Quick $120 Million: Supersonic Flight Takes A Bold Step Closer To Reality | Forbes

December 16, 2020December 15, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Nearly every aviation nabob out there will tell you that the next time we see supersonic air travel, it will more likely be aboard a business jet than aboard a commercial airliner. Aerion Corporation, a leader in supersonic jet development, caused a stir in the private jet world with a bold announcement back in 2004 seeking to create a joint venture to design and build a new supersonic business jet. After a great deal of interest, the original aircraft was revisited and upgraded to the current Aerion AS2 proposed project in 2014: An 8-10 passenger, natural laminar-flow winged aircraft that will be designed to blaze a trail in the skies at 1.4 Mach (um, that’s over 1,000 mph) over a minimum planned range of 4,750 NM (about 5,466 statute miles, besting the range of a subsonic Gulfstream G500).

Covid: Who will have the Pfizer vaccine first and when can I get it? | BBC News

December 11, 2020December 10, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The vaccine trains the immune system to fight coronavirus.

It is a new type of jab called an RNA vaccine and uses a tiny fragment of the virus’s genetic code. This starts making part of the virus inside the body, which the immune system recognises as foreign and starts to attack.

The genetic material is encased in a tiny protective bubble of fat to get it into cells.

The exact ingredients of the vaccine have not been made public, but other vaccines can contain other ingredients, like aluminium, to make them stable or more effective.

The vaccine is given in two doses – three weeks apart – and offers up to 95% protection against Covid-19.

Stimulus Talks Brighten With a New White House-Approved $916 Billion Aid Package | Inc.com

December 11, 2020December 10, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The chances for a badly needed stimulus bill getting passed as early as next week have improved for the first time since the election.

On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin unveiled a $916 billion stimulus plan that would reauthorize the Paycheck Protection Program, the crisis-era small-business refundable-loan program, and issue $600 stimulus payments to individuals. It also offers increased liability protections for businesses and funding for state and local governments–yet it fails to offer any support for supplemental unemployment benefits.

Mnuchin announced the plan, which was approved by both the White House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in a telephone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). She quickly decried the plan for its absence of unemployment funding but cheered the offer as a cause for optimism.

Facebook hit with massive antitrust lawsuit from 46 states | TechCrunch

December 10, 2020December 9, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A huge collection of states filed an antitrust lawsuit Wednesday accusing Facebook of suppressing its competition through monopolistic business practices. Forty-eight attorneys general across 46 states, the territory of Guam and the District of Columbia are behind the lawsuit, with only South Dakota, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia declining to join.

The lawsuit, which looks at Facebook’s actions throughout the company’s history, alleges that the company bought competitors “illegally” and in a “predatory manner” in order to grow and preserve its market power. The suit cites Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp as prominent examples.

Uber Gives Up on the Self-Driving Dream | WIRED

December 10, 2020December 9, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

IN 2015, THEN Uber CEO Travis Kalanick pulled off a bold talent raid when he poached some 40 roboticists from the National Robotics Engineering Center at Carnegie Mellon. The move reportedly left the world-class engineering university reeling, and it seemed to signal that the world’s hottest startup was on the cusp of making self-driving cars a reality.

Now, that self-driving unit is no more, and the estimated timeline for robotaxi domination has extended well into this decade. Uber said Monday it would sell off the self-driving unit that was the result of that raid, the Pittsburgh-based Advanced Technologies Group. The 1,200-person unit will be acquired by the self-driving-tech developer Aurora. Uber will invest $400 million in Aurora as part of the deal, bringing Aurora’s valuation to $10 billion and tripling its workforce. Uber’s current CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, will also take a seat on Aurora’s board.