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Tesla knew some of its parts had high failure rates but reportedly blamed drivers anyway
An explosive investigative report chronicles patterns of blame-shifting and deliberate neglect at Tesla. A damning exposé details the Elon Musk-led company’s long-running tendency to blame vehicle owners for “driver abuse,” charging them for repairs over failures caused by parts the company secretly knew were flawed.
Twitter partners with Reuters and AP to boost curation efforts
Twitter is partnering with The Associated Press and Reuters to help its curation team put credible information in front of users.
Reuters joins Facebook's fact-checking program
Reuters, one of the world's biggest news agencies, is joining Facebook's third-party fact-checking program. First launched in 2016, the program has tried to curb the spread of disinformation on the social network with help from organizations like the Associated Press, PolitiFact and Factcheck.org. As part of the partnership, Reuters has created a new team dedicated to verifying content that people share through Facebook, with the social media giant paying Reuters for the service.
Facebook helped Reuters create an online course on identifying deepfakes
Reuters has released a new 45-minute online course designed to help give journalists the tools they need to spot and avoid sharing manipulated pictures, videos and audio clips. While deepfakes are obviously a major component of the material, there's also advice on how to approach real media that's been co-opted so that it presents an entirely different story than it did originally. Even if you're not a journalist, you can check out the course for free.
The Senate is considering extending EV tax credits
As US senate majority leader Mitch McConnell debates making cuts to social security and medicare, Senator Dean Heller (R) of Nevada is hoping to keep electric car sales zipping forward with a new bill that would extend tax credits until 2022.
Symantec refuses Russia request for source code access
Security firm Symantec will no longer allow Russian authorities to inspect its source code, according to Reuters. "It poses a risk to the integrity of our products that we are not willing to accept," the company's Kristen Batch said. The worry is that by allowing the supposedly independent Federal Security Service (FSB) to examine source code, it would give Russia an inside view of potential software vulnerabilities and exploits.
Lawmaker: Chile and Texas don't share a flag, y'all
The current roster of emojis includes many national flags, but not state-specific ones. So, left with few other options, people have taken to using the Chilean flag emoji (🇨🇱) to signify Texas pride. This makes sense considering how much the two flags look alike, but one Texas lawmaker has had enough.
US investigating Friday's internet blackout as 'criminal act'
This morning, several sites were shut down due to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on Dyn, a large domain name server. Sites affected include Twitter, Spotify, the New York Times, Reddit, Yelp, Box, Pinterest, Paypal and potentially a lot more. It seems as if this attack was focused on the east coast. Now Reuters is reporting that the US government is investigating it to see if it was a "criminal act." The news outlet reports that it's not clear yet on who's responsible and the Department of Homeland Security has said that it's "investigating all potential causes." According to Dyn, it resolved one attack earlier this morning, but there was a second attack a few hours later. As of this writing, some sites like Twitter and Spotify appear to be back up, but there are still sporadic outages that result in broken images and links. Update: According to Krebs, security firm Flashpoint is now reporting that a Mirai-based botnet is involved in the attack on Dyn. Mirai is a malware that specifically targets IoT devices like routers, DVRs and cameras, turning them into bots that then report to a central server that could then send out mass DDoS attacks like we saw today.
How to watch tonight's US presidential debate
So you're determined to watch the first of 2016's US presidential debates, but you don't subscribe to TV... or you live in a country that won't have a live broadcast. What to do? Relax. This year, there are more choices than ever for watching online, and not just in the US. We've rounded up the main internet viewing sources for Clinton versus Trump, including the kind of commentary you'll get. Whichever option you choose, you'll probably want to keep our guide to the candidates on hand when things kick off at 9PM Eastern -- the odds are that the grand speeches and spirited arguments won't answer all your technology policy questions.
Google's Project Ara modular phone is reportedly suspended
Google's big plans for Project Ara might never pan out. According to Reuters, the big G has decided to shelve its modular phone initiative. Earlier this year, the company said it will be releasing a developer phone with interchangeable components in the fourth quarter of 2016 ahead of a consumer version scheduled for 2017. Alas, that might no longer happen.
BMW wants to build 'the most intelligent car'
BMW is looking to the future. For the German automaker, that means a research and development team that's as well versed in artificial intelligence as it is wind-tunnel testing. It's a future where the competition isn't Cadillac or Audi, but Uber and car-price comparison site TrueCar, according to Reuters. "Our task is to preserve or business model without surrendering it to an internet player," BMW's Klaus Froehlich says. "Otherwise we will end up as the Foxconn for a company like Apple, delivering only the metal bodies for them." Meaning, a background player for a bigger organization that gets the glory.
Report: France wants Google to pay $1.76 billion in back taxes
France is reportedly demanding that Google pay 1.6 billion Euros ($1.76 billion) in back taxes. Reuters cited an anonymous official at the finance ministry who said, "As far as our country is concerned, back taxes concerning this company amount to 1.6 billion euros." The ministry has not, however, officially commented on the matter. Google similarly declined to comment.
China could be Apple Pay's 'largest' market
One of China's biggest banks might've spoiled Cupertino's surprise about Apple Pay launching in the region, but, well, now its Thursday debut is official. "We think China could be our largest Apple Pay market," vice president of the service Jennifer Bailey told Reuters. Of course, the hard part will be convincing the Chinese populace that a hardware specific feature is better than apps offered by the likes of WeChat Payment and Alipay. But if any entity has the optimism for such a feat, then maybe it's Apple -- the company hoping you'll buy a $99 Pencil.
Samsung may launch its own phone upgrade program
If Apple and Samsung were humans rather than multi-billion dollar multinational corporations, the best way to describe them would probably be "frenemies." Time and again one looks to the other for inspiration, money, or as a source of parts, and today's no different. The latest? Reuters reports (sourcing Korea's Electronic Times) that the Korean tech giant is going to launch a phone upgrade program like Cupertino did last fall with the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Basically, you'll be able to upgrade every year so long as you're on a contract.
Report: DOJ opens criminal investigation of Uber data breach
The US Department of Justice is conducting a criminal investigation of a breach that exposed the personal data of 50,000 Uber drivers in May 2014, Reuters reports, citing "sources familiar with the situation." Uber discovered the hack in September 2014 and went public with the news in February. Reuters says the DOJ will investigate whether Chris Lambert, technology chief for rival ride-sharing company Lyft, had anything to do with the breach.
Reuters bans RAW photos in questionable bid for authenticity
News agency Reuters will no longer accept photos shot in the RAW format, saying its freelancers are now required to submit JPEG photos shot in-camera. It told PetaPixel that it made the unusual move partly to speed up workflow, but also because RAW allows photographers to do too much image manipulation, and "our goal is not to artistically interpret the news," according to a spokesman. It said it would only permit images made from the original JPEGs, provided they had just "minimal processing," including cropping and level correction.
Journalist found guilty of assisting Anonymous hacks
Former Reuters journalist Matthew Keys was arrested back in 2013 over claims that he'd helped the activist group Anonymous compromise and deface the LA Times by handing over login information. He has denied the allegations (he was supposedly trying to get a story about Anonymous), but that didn't hold water in court: a jury has found Keys guilty of hacking-related charges. The conviction could theoretically put Keys in prison for up to 25 years when sentencing takes place in January, although officials say that they'll likely seek less than 5 years given that this wasn't the "crime of the century."
Reuters: BlackBerry is planning on making an Android device
Reuters has just reported that BlackBerry could come out with a phone loaded with -- wait for it -- the Android operating system later this year. Sources told the news outlet that this doesn't mean the end of BlackBerry 10, but it is a big move that signifies the Waterloo company's dwindling sales. Reuters also reports that one of the reasons for the move is that BlackBerry CEO John Chen is putting its bets on a device management system called BES12, which gives companies the ability to manage not just BlackBerry phones but also Android, iOS and Windows devices on their internal networks. Apparently BlackBerry might implement Google's mobile OS in the slider device that was teased at Mobile World Congress a few months ago, which means that this Android phone could launch this coming August. We're reaching out to both Google and BlackBerry for comment and will update this post if we get a response.
North Korea's must-have gadget is a $50 media player
In North Korea, the gadget you'd probably want is a Notel. Or a Notetel, a word that attempts to shoehorn notebook and television together, describing a pretty unassuming, very popular, Chinese-made media player. According to estimates from Reuters, up to half of all urban-based North Koreans have a Notel stashed somewhere in the house. Now, until recently, the device was only found on black markets, but the device has now been legalized and is apparently available in state-run shops and markets for just fifty bucks. Image credit: Reuters, Kim Hong-Ji
Reuters TV crams streaming news into your iPhone
Reuters is getting in on the streaming news game, too. With Reuters TV, the outfit's targeting commuters that want to keep up on current events with personalized, on-demand and live content that's downloadable for offline viewing. Reuters promises real-time coverage as well, giving examples like streaming protests in Egypt or presidential speeches from our nation's capitol. Video content will range from 5 - 30 minutes in length and is produced exclusively for the iOS app, drawing from the news organization's some 2,500 journalists on the ground in over 160 countries. Sounds a bit like what the BBC recently did for its app, and this could be great for folks where underground WiFi and cell data isn't available just yet, we'd imagine.
