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A new supersonic jet, and more in the week that was
Tesla currently makes the world's best electric vehicles, but Jaguar's first EV could give the automaker a run for its money. Meet the I-Pace: a svelte, stylish electric SUV that's faster than most sports cars and can drive 220 miles on a single charge. In other auto news, a new law requires all electric vehicles to make noise by the year 2019, and VW's new e-Golf can drive further than the Nissan Leaf at 124 miles per charge. Long-haul flights are the worst, but a new supersonic jet called the Boom could cut them in half. And Noordung launched a stylish vintage-inspired e-bike with a built-in sound system.
Recommended Reading: Fake news writer takes blame for Trump's win
Facebook Fake-news Writer: 'I Think Donald Trump Is in the White House Because of Me' Caitlin Dewey, The Washington Post Facebook's struggle with fake news has been widely reported and the issue is still a hot topic in the days following the US presidential election. The Washington Post caught up with Paul Horner, a man who has made a living off of news hoaxes over the last few years, some of which got picked up by the media and the Trump campaign as legit stories. "His followers don't fact-check anything -- they'll post everything, believe anything," Horner said. "His campaign manager posted my story about a protester getting paid $3,500 as fact. Like, I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist."
Earthquake science explains why election polls were so wrong
Polls are not predictors. This is the message that American University history professor Allan Lichtman has been screaming at the world since 1981: It's not that the polling system itself is broken -- instead, polls behave exactly as they're designed. The problem is they aren't designed to predict the outcome of elections. "Polls are snapshots," Lichtman says. "They are not predictors. They are abused and misused as predictors because they're so easy. If you're a journalist, you don't even have to get out of bed in the morning to write a story about the polls and tell where the so-called 'horse race' stands." Lichtman has accurately predicted the winner of the nine US presidential elections since 1984, relying on his 13-point Keys to the White House model. He even got it right this year, when most pundits and polls were wildly, disastrously incorrect. But Lichtman didn't just get it right; he predicted in September that Donald Trump would win the presidency, more than a month before Election Day. That was also before a swathe of potentially game-changing October surprises rocked the news cycle, including a tape of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women and FBI director James Comey reigniting conspiracies about Hillary Clinton's use of a private server as Secretary of State.
Can we put the fake news genie back in the bottle?
The 2016 presidential campaign has definitively shown us that you shouldn't rely on Facebook for all of your news. Even at its best, you're likely to be exposed primarily to viewpoints and stories you already agree with. Being ensconced in a internet belief bubble takes away a lot of the nuance that exists in the real world -- while that lack of nuance likely helped Donald Trump become the next President of the United States. But beyond the narrow viewpoint that comes from getting news through Facebook is a bigger problem: Fake news has been proliferating on the site at a rapid pace. In August, Facebook made some changes to its "trending news" section, removing human editors and replacing them with an algorithm. Ironically, the move seemed like a response to reports that those human editors were biased against conservative news. Without those editors patrolling the trending section, it became much easier for false stories to slip through. Indeed, a false report about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly being fired spread like wildfire just days after the change was announced.
Trump advisor takes issue with Silicon Valley's Asian CEOs
Before President-elect Donald Trump's chief strategist Stephen Bannon was headed to the White House, he was running "platform for the alt-right" website Breitbart News. Aside from overseeing the publication of anti-Semitic and misogynistic articles, Bannon also hosted the site's Sirius XM radio show. A segment from November 5th, 2015 that featured an interview with Trump has resurfaced thanks to The Washington Post. Mostly, it covers stuff like campaign financing, but at around the 16:23 mark, talk goes to H-1B visas for skilled workers to help keep them in the country after graduating from college.
Trump's Facebook focus helped him win the election
Despite Facebook's arguments to the contrary, its social network helped Donald Trump win the US election... if not for the reasons you'd suspect. Wired has learned that the Trump campaign focused very heavily on its Facebook strategy, eclipsing a Clinton campaign that (while definitely digital-savvy) still devoted a lot of its attention to TV. Most of Trump's $250 million in fundraising came from supporters on Facebook, and it was extremely aggressive in running and refining ads. Trump's digital team ran between 40,000 to 50,000 variants of its promos per day, endlessly figuring out which strategies worked best. They knew if subtitles would help, or if a video was more effective than a still image.
Google search for 'final election numbers' offers up fake news
Search engine technology has evolved rapidly over the past few years, but it's far from perfect. One week after the US presidential election, the top Google result for "final election numbers" is a WordPress blog called 70News that's packed with inaccurate information.
Secret's anonymous sharing is coming back as a response to Trump
Secret's air-your-dirty-laundry service collapsed about as quickly as it rose to prominence, but it looks like it's poised for a comeback thanks to the new political climate. Co-creator David Byttow has vowed that "Secret V2" is on the way as an explicit answer to Donald Trump winning the US election -- "it's too important not to exist," he says. In a chat with our friends at TechCrunch, he paints it as a way to both encourage authenticity and bridge political divides. The US can't "heal and work together" if people aren't comfortable being themselves and aren't self-aware, Byttow argues. This wouldn't be a simple matter of turning the servers back on and re-releasing the apps, though.
Donald Trump's environmental plan and more in the week that was
The Hyperloop keeps getting realer by the day. This week, architects unveiled detailed plans for a next-gen transportation system that will travel from Dubai to Abu Dhabi in just 12 minutes. Meanwhile, Elon Musk announced big plans to build a second Gigafactory in Europe that will produce lithium-ion batteries and electric cars. Gogoro rolled out a faster, more powerful version of its battery-swapping electric Smartscooter, while Vespa delighted fans with plans to launch an all-electric model next year. And MIT teamed up with NASA to develop a new "morphing" airplane wing that could revolutionize aviation.
Recommended Reading: Trump's own polling models prove accurate
Trump's Big Data Mind Explains How He Knew Trump Could Win Izzie Lapowsky, Wired While it could take some time to uncover the finer points of why the polls were so far off in the 2016 presidential election, the head of President-elect Donald Trump's data team knew the candidate had a good chance of pulling out a stunning upset. Wired talked with Cambridge Analytica's Matt Oczkowski to get some details on their internal polling models which correctly predicted how most of the states would vote.
The consequences of the Trump presidency on cybersecurity
Hacking and cybersecurity played a huge role in the presidential election. So much so that Donald Trump, America's new president-elect, was helped greatly by the acts of criminal hackers in his journey to the White House, and is now an outspoken WikiLeaks fan.
Peter Thiel named to Trump's presidential transition team
Avid Trump supporter Peter Thiel, he of the infamous Gawker lawsuit, is being rewarded in the Donald's new empire. In a press release, Trump announced that Vice President-Elect Mike Pence will lead Trump's transition team; assisting Pence is a host of other notables including the sycophantic trio of Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich. Also included in the list is Thiel; he'll be on the transition team's executive committee.
The Engadget Podcast Ep 14: Welcome to the Terrordome
Trigger warning: This episode in a solid hour of Donald Trump talk. If you're still with us, strap in. Dana Wollman, Nathan Ingraham and Devindra Hardawar join host Terrence O'Brien to talk about how social media traps us in echo chambers. The they'll envision what the world of tech and science looks like under a President Donald Trump. Hint: Things are a little bleak.
Donald Trump's 'Transition Team' launches GreatAgain.gov
Now that the election is complete, the business of transitioning into a Donald Trump presidency is upon us. The president-elect's Transition Team launched its Twitter account and the GreatAgain.gov website, inviting citizens to connect with the incoming administration directly. Its descriptions of policy (including building a "great" wall) and Help Wanted sign for presidential appointees arrive just as thousands are marching in cities across the country protesting the election's result. If you just can't wait to follow the new/old POTUS account on Twitter, this is where things start.
Edward Snowden will discuss Trump and privacy on November 10th
American technology policies could change significantly under Donald Trump, and that includes its stance on privacy. How will the new leader alter government surveillance, for example? Edward Snowden might have an answer. The whistleblower and Dutch search engine StartPage are hosting a live event on November 10th at 4:30PM Eastern to address what happens to privacy in the Trump era, among other questions. Snowden speaking engagements are nothing new, but this is special -- he's more than a little familiar with government spying activities, and this is his first chance to opine on how things might be different under a new administration.
Planet Earth might be the biggest loser under President Trump
Deny it all he wants, Donald Trump did in fact tweet that global warming is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese to damage American manufacturing. But, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say that since 2012 his opinion on the matter has evolved. Even if he no longer considers the concept of climate change to be a conspiracy cooked up by China, he still clearly doubts the science, and that will have significant consequences.
Putin congratulates Trump with a telegram
Who said that classic telegrams were dead? Certainly not Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader congratulated Donald Trump on his presidential election victory by sending him a telegram -- yes, of the old-school variety and not the secure messaging app. The message expressed a desire to deescalate tensions between Russia and the US and find "effective responses" to international security issues.
Under Trump the future of Net Neutrality and broadband is uncertain
On January 20th, Donald Trump will be sworn in as president of the United States. With a Republican-controlled House and Senate behind him, things in this country are going to change... a lot. One of the things that might be on the chopping block early in his administration is Net Neutrality.
You can stream songs from Wu-Tang Clan's ultra-rare album
Whatever you think of the outcome of the US election, it's providing a surprise for music fans. You see, Martin Shkreli (the infamous pharma exec who jacked up prices on an HIV/AIDS pill) bought the Wu-Tang Clan's one-copy album Once Upon a Time in Shaolin and said he'd release it if Donald Trump won the presidency. Well, he honored that promise... sort of. After word of Trump's win got out, Shkreli livestreamed both the intro to Wu-Tang's album and one of its tracks. These weren't intended as permanent copies, but this is the internet -- listeners ripped the video feed and put the tunes on other sites. They're not album-quality recordings, of course, but this might be the only chance you get at listening to this exceptionally rare composition.
Engadget's Election Day liveblog
Engadget's editors will be watching the election results roll in all night. If you want to know what they're reading, where they're tracking the vote and what is capturing their attention on social media tune in here to the Engadget election liveblog. And, if you've got questions not answered by our guide to the candidates hit us up on Twitter and we'll do our best to answer them.
