May 12, 2016 | General
Amazon’s stock went up $23 a share two days ago. Some may ask, “Why is this news?” It’s big news for Amazon’s founder and CEO.
This increase in stock made Jeff Bezos the fourth richest person in the world today, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire List. If you want to invest in Amazon, you better be ready to empty your bank account. As of this writing, Amazon stock is approximately $712 per share. As of this week, his net work is over $61 billion. That’s not far from Warren Buffet, who is the second richest person in the world with almost $68 billion to his name. What’s even more astonishing than that is how much Bezos accumulates in a short time. The day he became the fourth richest person in the world, he made over $2 billion. That’s just in one day! And two billions is pocket change compared to the $6 billion he made in one day when Amazon reported spectacular Q1 2016 earnings. That was just two weeks earlier. Some experts say Bezos can surpass Buffet at this rate within months.
Maybe it’s because Bezos is having the best 2015-2016 ever, so far. In a year, Amazon stock has more than doubled. His company Blue Origin launched and landed their first rocket. Of course, Amazon has had their fair share of setbacks. Remember when Walmart left them in the dust last summer in that sales race? But what matters is they bounced back and are better than ever. Perhaps what’s fueling Bezos’ billionaire year is his social media feuds with other tech giants like Elon Musk. Musk is also serious about space pioneering. I only expect Jeff Bezos to have a better second half of 2016 because so many people are interested in space technology. Some are even paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to go there. By the end of 2016, could Bezos be the 3rd richest man of Earth, or even higher?
May 11, 2016 | News, scam, Security
Quite some time ago, I wrote a story of a predator who manipulated hundreds of underage girls to take inappropriate photos of themselves. He threatened to blast the photos online to the world if they didn’t send him more inappropriate photos. I wish I could tell you this was an isolated incident.
But I can’t. According to the Justice Department, sextortion is the biggest growing threat to children and underage teens today. Sextortion is enticing someone to commit inappropriate sexual acts online, then threatening to expose the act if the victim doesn’t give in to the culprit’s financial or perverted demands. But victims can be of any age. At George Mason University, two college students are lured into trusting people online. They got the students to broadcast sexual acts on a webcam. The suspects threatened to put the videos on the Internet if the victims didn’t pay $5,000. As early as 2010, a 13-year-old named Amanda Todd was talked into exposing herself, and the online predators demanded more. When she didn’t cooperate, they posted the girl’s pictures to social media. She made a powerful You Tube video addressing her ordeal two years later. Then, she committed suicide. Sadly it’s gotten worse. Between 2010-2013, sextortion complaints have increased 32%. Even President Obama addressed this epidemic in April 2015, calling April to be “National Child Abuse Prevention Month”.
Think about what victims are driven to. Often, victims feel shame, guilt, and isolation. In 2015 alone, two sextortion victims committed suicide and 12 attempted suicide. The victims are often bullied, can’t get friends, a job, housing, hindered from obtaining meaningful relationships. If you’re a perpetrator of such crimes, do you want that on your conscious for the rest of your life? And if you’re a perpetrator of these crimes, you will eventually be found out. Law enforcement on every level is cracking down on this atrocity. Communities are coming together to combat this epidemic. And when you do get caught, it won’t be a speeding ticket. You’ll probably be in prison for decades, if not life. Just ask Lucus Michael Chansler. Is it worth it? I’m sure Chansler doesn’t think so. Everyone failed 13-year-old Amanda Todd: her perpetrators, her peers, her school, her teachers, her parents, the justice system, her community, her town, county, state and nation. Todd ought to be alive and thriving right now. Will we let this precious child’s death be in vain?
May 11, 2016 | Uncategorized
In Kalamazoo, Michigan, a small city of approximately 75,000, an Uber driver is arrested on multiple murder counts. The Saturday night rampage of violence and terror left six people dead and two injured, allegedly at the hands of an Uber driver named Jason Dalton.
Now witnesses say Dalton picked up Uber customers and collected fares in between shootings. Customers claiming they rode with Dalton say it was a ride from a nightmare. One woman posted on Facebook Dalton drove 80 MPH on a city street and constantly swerved through traffic. That was posted 30 minutes before a woman was shot outside her own apartment complex. ?That was around 6pm. Another customer was so scarred of Dalton’s driving that he told news outlets he jumped out of the car and ran away. At 8pm, a Kalamazoo man tweeted he rode with Dalton for 10 minutes. At 10pm, a father and son were shot to death outside a car dealership. Around 10:15pm, gunfire was opened at a local Cracker Barrel. At midnight, two couples were picked up, and Dalton jokingly said, “No, I’m not the shooter. I’m just really tired.” They were dropped off at a Radisson hotel without incident. At 12:40am, Dalton was arrested in downtown Kalamazoo. The police found a semi-auto gun in the car.
Dalton’s friends and neighbors are in shock. They affirm Dalton as a nice guy and family man, who didn’t see any of this coming. Neither did Uber. Dalton passed Uber background checks with flying colors. But there has been concerns of Uber’s background policy being too relaxed. I’m sure that issue will come up in the wake of this tragedy. Uber is cooperating with the investigation and offers condolences to the families affected by these devastating shootings. Is that going to be enough? Should it be enough? Does Uber need to do more to keep customers safe?
May 10, 2016 | internet
Facebook has been the place where people keep up with family members and friends. It’s the place people reach out to classmates from yesteryear. It’s also the place where many get their news. But revelations leave many asking: Is Facebook bias against conservatives?
According to a former Facebook worker, employees are often instructed to suppress conservative based articles from the ‘trending’ news section. It’s been said they were told to inject other stories in trending mode, even those that weren’t popular with Facebook users. They would use an injection tool promote articles. Before too long, the injected article would be the most popular thing trending because it got readers’s attention. This would often block conservative based stories. One former Facebook employee says if one news story is making front page with mainstream news sites like CNN or Fox News, they could inject it. But left-leaning groups, like Black Lives Matter, says their stories have been suppressed by the ‘trending’ section of Facebook too. Facebook released a statement denying any bias based on political sides. They emphasized their strict guidelines to achieve neutrality. They are taking these allegations so seriously they’re even reviewing their Trending Topics guidelines. According to various news media, Facebook will lend support to both Republican and Democrats conventions this summer.
If what this former Facebook worker is saying, it’s really no different than what mainstream news sites do. They choose from the many news stories that come across their desks, and choose what they think they will see. But we’re heading into the most brutal and contentious election of our lifetime, if not all time. Facebook needs to have conservatives stories trend. There are a lot of conservative Facebook users who are going to demand it. Now, more than ever, we need fair and balanced reporting and neutrality. The people deserve nothing less. Do you think Facebook is deliberately bias against conservatives?
May 9, 2016 | networking, News
You may not have heard much about the Apple vs FBI case in recent weeks. Just because you haven’t heard about it doesn’t mean conflicts between government and tech entities are resolved. In fact, they’re intensifying.
Twitter bars US intelligence from accessing a service that digs through posts of random tweets. It’s believed this method is useful to fight terrorism. News agencies and intelligence leaders suspect Twitter doesn’t want to seem too cozy with the Federal Government. That seems to be a trend in the tech community these days. Then there is the?Dataminr effect. Dataminr is an organization that uses tools to reveal patterns in various tweets. Twitter owns five percent of Dataminr. In fact, they’re the only ones allowed by Twitter to access streaming of public tweets. And it’s Damaminr’s access the intelligence community has been barred from. And Dataminr is doing it’s part to fight terrorism. They’re the ones who alerted Federal authorities about the Paris attacks of November 2015…as they were happening. They’ve gathered critical information on ISIS as well. They’ve even gathered information about Brazil’s many crises on the eve of the Olympic games. Twitter says it’s barring intelligence like this because the company is concerned with digital security and privacy.
I think this part of the beef between tech and government entities. There’s still a lot of mistrust between the two. Tech industries are all too worried about the Feds exploiting data if they get their hands on it. Tech companies know privacy and civil liberties are very important to their customers. What I’d like to see is tech and government entities do is pull their strengths and resources together to fight our real enemies. I’m tired of seeing them turn on each other. If US intelligence and Dataminr work together to fight the real monsters of the world, how would that look?
May 8, 2016 | News
In the recent past, ride sharing apps Uber and Lyft have had their share of tragedies. They vow to regulate themselves by putting stricter rules on drivers, using fingerprint background checks and emblems on cars. For at least one US city, that’s not enough.
Voters in Austin, Texas rejected their plans. The vote was 56% against Uber and Lyft’s self-regulation, 44% for it. As a result, Uber and Lyft threaten to cut off all service in the Austin/Travis County area. Major Steve Adler wants the companies to remain in Austin and has invited them to the negotiation table. The problem is there are different rules for ride sharing drivers and local cabbies. At first, the city government allowed Uber to perform their own background checks. But in December 2015, the City Council insisted on stricter checks, and Uber and Lyft threatened to leave Austin. In fact, Lyft and Uber stated they will discontinue services for Austin effective Monday, May 9, 2016. Uber and Lyft leaders say the city’s background checks are unnecessary and troublesome. Local leaders say such background checks add an extra layer of security in an insecure world. ?Uber and Lyft spent $8 million dollars on a campaign urging voters to see things their way.
This is a tough call. Yes, you need as much security as you can get in 2016 America. But on the other hand, you want to give businesses room to govern themselves, as long as it’s within reasonable limits. And other major markets, like Los Angeles and Miami, are paying close attention to this Austin situation. I hope mayor Adler can bring both sides to the negotiation table and come to a conclusion. I wouldn’t want Uber or Lyft to pull out one of the fastest-growing cities in the US. What message would that send to other US cities, who are watching this case like hawks? Can Uber and Austin work it out?
May 7, 2016 | Computer technology, Entertainment, Smartphone
Are you anticipating the Kentucky Derby today? But you can’t make it to Louisville, and you sure can’t make it to Churchill Downs. Thanks to virtual reality, you can be closer to this historic horse race than ever.
Virtual reality company NextVR will be streaming the Kentucky Derby starting at 4pm. You can only get this through the NextVR app and Samsung Galaxy Headset. They will have VR cameras around the track, around owners’ suites, and in the paddock. In the paddock, horses prepare for the ‘fastest two minutes in sports history’. All one has to do is connect a Samsung Galaxy smartphone to a Gear VR headset, download the VR app, and turn to NBC, the network that’s broadcasting the Kentucky Derby this year. NBC has broadcast the Derby since 2001, and is expected to do so through 2025. Recently, sports and virtual reality have intertwined. NextVR has live streamed NBA and NHL games. It’s just too bad NextVR, nor Samsung Galaxy, can help you best pick who is going to win. They can’t help you make that perfect bet, either. You better rely on the odds and your own expertise for that. There are just some things virtual reality can’t do.
But with this Samsung Galaxy Headset hookup, you can be even closer to the action than even some people at Churchill downs will be. Sure, you won’t be mingling with the millionaires and celebrities, but you will be really up close and personal with the real stars: the 3-year-old horses. You’ll have to make your own mint julep and find your own fancy hats (you can find one at a thrift shop for under $10). But please don’t get too carried away. Just know that you’re still in your own home, in your own surroundings, not toasting mint juleps with an A-list star. Who is your money on this year?
May 6, 2016 | Uncategorized
For those that have followed this blog, you know I’m a huge advocate for free speech and First Amendment rights. One reason I’m so passionate about this is because in other countries, blogging can likely get you in prison.
In Stavropool, Russia, a nurse turned blogger named Viktor Krasnov?wrote a scathing pro-atheist article. In the US, it would cause controversy at worse. In Russia, he debated online with a fellow blogger. The opposing blogger filed a criminal complaint and had Krasnov arrested, claiming that, “…he offended the sentiments of Orthodox believers.” They even made him undergo a psychiatric evaluation at a mental hospital, then put him on trial. After months in the facility, he’s declared sane. Krasnov’s trial is still pending. If convicted, Krasnov could spend a year in prison. And from what I hear, Russian prisons are no joke! According to Russian prosecutors, Krasnov violated “hooliganism” laws, which is defied as a “…gross violation of public order, clearly expressing contempt for society.” Even in Scotland, British police arrested someone for criticizing their government’s stance of accepting Syrian refugees. Police cited, ‘offensive Facebook comments’. Don’t even get me started on nations like Saudi Arabia.
You thought getting fired for Facebook posts and blogs was tough? The fact that assaults?on freedom of speech is happening in Great Britain is scary. And what happened to Russia? I thought the communist era ended a quarter century ago. This isn’t the first time the Russian government has done such a thing. This goes way beyond being careful of what you post and what you put on the Internet. These incidents are blatant attacks on freedoms we in the USA have taken for granted for so long. This is why I’ve been so worried over the last several years over NSA revelations?and tighter surveillance. We have to take a stand for our Constitutional rights before all end up like Viktor Krasnov. Can this kind of censorship happened to the United States of America?
May 6, 2016 | Software
Can self-driving cars lead to risky behavior? By now, we know they’re the next step in auto technology. We know there’s a race to be the first to sale them to consumers. But what about after such cars are sold in droves?
The promise of a drive free car could lead to less crashes. But it could also lead to risky behaviors such as texting, reading, even having sex behind the wheel. This worries people like Barrie Kirk, head of Canadian Automated Vehicles Centre of Excellence (CAVCOE). Kirk worries drivers will put themselves in emergency situations they may not be able to get out of. Kirk, and other safety experts, believe self-driving vehicles will make distracted driving far worse than it already is. They’ve even proven it. There was an experiment conducted between Tesla Model S and their owners. They used the Tesla Autopilot function, which lets cars do the driving with little human assistance or interference. But despite all this, when drivers took their hands off the steering wheel, accidents almost occurred. The test showed the computer can’t control everything, like lane changing. And if lane marks are worn out or nearly invisible, then drivers had better be paying attention.
So just because a self-driving car can do many things for you on the road doesn’t give drivers the license to act like a fool. You still have to apply common sense and the lessons we learned in driver’s education. Keep your hands on the wheel. Keep your eyes on the road. Keep your smartphones out of reach. Keep your hormones in check. Like in other aspects of life, technology can make it easier. But you still need to put some human effort behind it. Yes, we have access to lots of knowledge, but I have to do the research before I obtain the knowledge. It’s the same thing with a self-driving car. So I ask you, will your self-driving car lead to your risky behavior?
May 5, 2016 | email, Security
In today’s tech world, hacking and ID theft are on the increase. Not only that, they’re getting bolder and bolder. Some even brag about what they’re doing.
A young Russian hacker stole over 232 million email accounts and passwords. The emails come from various places. Over 57 million of them come from Mail.ru accounts. Mail.ru is a major Russian email service. Around 40 million came from Yahoo, 33 million came from Microsoft Hotmail, 24 million came from Gmail. According to Alex Holder, founder of Hold Security, this is the biggest security data breach by one single individual of all-time. But the sickest thing of all is what the hacker wanted and got out of the breach. He calls himself ‘The Collector’. He didn’t want millions of dollars for this data. He didn’t want thousands, or even hundreds. The Collector only wanted 50 Russian Rubles. That’s less than one US Dollar! That’s not per email; that’s for the whole batch! When he didn’t get that, he settled for likes and praises on social media hacker forums! Google and Yahoo declined to comment about the attacks. Mail.ru says they will warn users that may have been affected. Microsoft talks about the rise of security breaches and their ability to spot compromised accounts.
There is so much wrong here. First off, all email providers can, or will do, is talk. ?I don’t know how young The Collector is but if he is old enough to steal 232+ million emails, then he is old enough to know right from wrong. The fact he wanted so little for the compromised data shows you the new lows ID thieves are stooping. To them, your privacy, your security, your civil liberties and civil rights, and your family’s securities are only worth one dollar, or some popularity points. There’s something sick and perverse about that. Why aren’t email companies doing more to stop people like this? Why isn’t mainstream media covering this better? What can we do to prevent this, and why isn’t more being done?
