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Apple, Microsoft and Uber help staff stranded by Trump ban (update: Airbnb)
President Trump's restrictions on immigration from Muslim-majority countries is affecting many, many more tech companies besides Google. Apple, Microsoft, Uber and others are rushing to accommodate employees who suddenly find themselves isolated by the new ban -- and in some cases, pressing for change at the highest levels. Apple, for instance, is both providing staff with support and "reaching out" to the White House to discuss the "negative effect" of the ban. Microsoft, meanwhile, says it's offering "legal advice and assistance" to workers. Uber, meanwhile, is discussing a very specific solution.
Google reacts to Trump immigration order by recalling staff
The President's latest executive order could spell bad news for the tech industry that's known for hiring overseas talents under a working visa. In fact, Google chief Sundar Pichai has just issued a memo to employees overseas, urging them to fly back to the US ASAP or risk not being able to get into the country at all. "It's painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues," he wrote in the memo. According to Bloomberg, the employees in question work in the US but are abroad either on business or for a vacation. A lot of them tried to get back into the country before the President signed on the dotted line, but not everyone made it back in time.
Scientists prepare their own march against Trump
The Women's March on Washington might not be the only big protest against Donald Trump's policies in the near future. Coordination is underway for a Scientists' March on Washington that, as the name implies, would rally support from anyone who believes that scientific facts should play a role in government policy, regardless of their political leanings. Don't like that Trump wants to censor climate change data or otherwise attempt to prevent scientific knowledge from reaching the public? This might be your chance to make your voice heard.
Trump administration freezes grants and contracts at the EPA (updated)
Donald Trump's administration has frozen all grants and contract operations at the Environmental Protection Agency, ProPublica reports. The freeze could disrupt critical, ongoing projects such as toxic cleanups and water quality testing, and it may impact the EPA's budget allocations. The EPA currently has $6.4 billion worth of federal contracts, which it uses to organize clean-up and testing services across the country. It's unclear how long the freeze will be in place or whether it will impact only new grants.
The White House's Spanish-language website is gone, for now
Under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, the White House maintained a Spanish-language version of its official website, while the Obama administration also updated its companion Twitter account, @LaCasaBlanca. Since noon on Friday, just after President Donald Trump took the oath of office, the White House's Spanish-language website has been down and the associated Twitter account empty.
Shia LaBeouf starts a 4-year livestream to protest Trump
If you were determined to make a political protest through art, and had the luxuries of both fame and modern technology, what would you do? For Shia LaBeouf, it's simple: start an ambitious livestreaming project. The actor (along with Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner) just launched He Will Not Divide Us, a project outside New York City's Museum of the Moving Image that will protest Donald Trump by livestreaming public voices for the next 4 years. (Clearly, Shia's not banking on Trump getting a second term.) You're encouraged to recite the project's namesake phrase in a show of solidarity and resistance. It's getting an extra celebrity endorsement thanks to Jaden Smith, who has participated in some of the early streaming.
Trump at 2AM: The new Oval Office in virtual reality
Donald Trump stands before me with a grim look on his face, lightly leaning against the Oval Office's Resolute desk. Moonlight pours in through the office's rear windows as a phone quietly rings. It's 2am, and something has happened -- and a new President holds the weight of the world on his shoulders. I'm looking at this surreal, frozen scene through the lens of an HTC Vive. It's a free virtual reality experience called "Wide Awake," and it tells a simple, concise story: no matter who Donald Trump was before or what you may have thought of him, he's now the guy who answers the phone when shit hits the fan.
President Obama's final bill is aimed at bringing tech to DC
The last bill President Barack Obama signed before leaving the Oval Office for good establishes a permanent pathway for technology innovators and entrepreneurs to work with the federal government across a variety of industries. The Presidential Innovation Fellows program was introduced as part of a bipartisan effort in 2012, and Obama's final signature makes it permanent.
Twitter to stream PBS live coverage of Inauguration Day
Just like it did with the conventions, Presidential debates and election night, Twitter will livestream President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20th. The social network is teaming up with PBS for six hours worth of coverage hosted by NewsHour managing editor Judy Woodruff. PBS will also have reporters stationed at the US Capitol and the National Mall in addition to a panel of guests to discuss all of the proceedings.
Rudy Giuliani will advise Trump on cybersecurity
During an appearance on Thursday's Fox & Friends talk show, former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani announced that he would be forming a cybersecurity team for President-elect Trump. According to the Trump Transition's official announcement, the team would advise the President-elect on issues "concerning private sector cyber security problems and emerging solutions developing in the private sector." Presumably, this will entail more than simply writing things down on paper and having them delivered by courier.
Snowden document suggests NSA could have proof of Russian hack
The FBI, CIA and President Barack Obama all agree that Russia hacked the DNC and asserted its will on the US presidential election -- but the winner of that contest isn't so sure. "It could be somebody else." Donald Trump told reporters over New Years. "Hacking is a hard thing to prove." Except, as it turns out, US intelligence has a pretty good track record of tracing security breaches back to the Kremlin. According to a new document leaked by Edward Snowden, the NSA has successfully traced a hack back to Russian intelligence at least once before.
Facebook briefly bans journalist's post slamming Trump supporters
Journalist Kevin Sessums, known for celebrity profiles and memoirs, called Trump supporters "a nasty, fascistic lot" in a Facebook post yesterday. Shortly thereafter, it was removed for violating the network's "community standards" and Sessums was blocked from posting for 24 hours. Only after being contacted by The Guardian did Facebook reinstate it and issue a mea culpa, stating the post was removed in error, but it's the latest in a year of questionable actions in which the social network temporarily locked out journalists or briefly banned content in alleged error.
Trump is prepared to start a nuclear arms race
Yesterday president-elect Donald Trump tweeted, "the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes." This is direct conflict with the policies of former presidents both republican and democrat. Both sides of the aisle have worked to dismantle the world's nuclear stockpile. In the 1980s president Reagan made it his mission to have a "world free of nuclear weapons." Today, Trump double downed on his tweet.
Obama dismantles registry used to track Muslims and Arabs
The Obama administration is formally tearing apart a national registry which was used to keep tabs on visitors from countries with terrorist groups, the Department of Homeland Security announced today. The National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) was developed after 9/11 and was widely criticized as a way to unjustly track of Muslims and Arabs in the US. It was, in many ways, a relic of the former Bush administration's "War on Terror." The DHS stopped using the NSEERS registry in 2011 because it was "redundant, inefficient and provided no increase in security," DHS spokesperson Neema Hakin told the New York Times.
After Math: Come undone
It's been a hell of a week, folks. American intelligence confirmed that Russia conspired to hack of our election, Uber unleashed a pack of poorly trained autonomous automobiles upon the streets of San Francisco, Snapchat's Spectacles went all medicinal and Super Mario Run debuted on iOS. Numbers, because how else are you going to know how many fingers are feeding you magic?
Recommended Reading: How Russia hacked the US
The Perfect Weapon: How Russian Cyberpower Invaded the US Eric Lipton, David E. Sanger and Scott Shane, The New York Times Within the last week, the CIA, Obama administration and FBI have all agreed that Russian intervened in the presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump. The White House went so far as to say that the cyberattacks were directed by president Vladimir Putin himself. The New York Times offers a detailed look at the Russian hack of the DNC which led to emails and other documents making it into the hands of WikiLeaks and other websites.
Obama administration says Putin orchestrated US election hacks
Russian president Vladimir Putin personally oversaw the cyber attacks on the United States' political infrastructure this year, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said today in a press conference attended by the AP. This follows yesterday's report from NBC News claiming US intelligence officials had evidence that Putin was involved in the hacks. The White House has not offered evidence for its claims, though intelligence officials first revealed Russia's involvement in the cyber attacks in October.
FCC chairman Tom Wheeler will step down next month
Next month, net neutrality will lose one of its stronger advocates -- FCC chairman Tom Wheeler has just announced his plans to step down on January 20th, 2017. Not coincidentally, that's the same day that President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office. With a new administration taking over, it's tradition for the FCC's chairman to step aside and let the incoming president present his own pick for the job.
Trump adds CEOs of Tesla, Uber to his presidential policy forum
US President-elect Donald Trump has been crafting a Strategic and Policy Forum to ask business leaders for advice on economic decisions, but it has mostly drawn from conventional corporate heavyweights like General Motors, JPMorgan Chase and IBM. However, he's shaking things up a bit today: the future leader has announced that Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will join the Forum. Trump sees them as broadening the reach of his advisor group, adding "innovative and vibrant" companies that will help create jobs "from Silicon Valley to the heartland."
Wall Street wants algorithms that trade based on Trump's tweets
President elect Donald Trump's ability to move the stock market with a tweet became readily apparent yesterday after an early morning tweet about Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jet program caused the company to lose $4 billion in market value. While that's a major loss for the company, it actually presents an opportunity for traders on Wall Street, some of whom have already started looking for ways to easily cash in on the volatility Trump brings to the market.
