Amid the daily cacophony of news and announcements about self-driving cars — Have you heard? They’re coming! — it’s easy to lose sight of a fundamental truth: most people still don’t know what to think about this new technology. What they do feel, however, is that Congress and the federal government should impose minimum safety requirements on these vehicles before they hit the road in mass numbers. But lawmakers and regulators in Washington appear poised to do just the opposite, and that has safety advocates up in arms. A new poll was released today basically repeats data that we’ve seen in previous surveys: Americans still don’t trust self-driving cars, and are nervous about the coming onslaught. Asked how concerned they’d be to share the road with a driverless car, 31 percent said they’d be “very concerned,” while 33 percent said “somewhat concerned,” according to the poll which was just released by … [Read more...] about Americans still deeply skeptical about driverless cars: poll
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Mueller flips American who unwittingly sold bank info to Russian trolls
announced the indictment of 13 Russians accused of being involved in a multi-year effort to spread false information online surrounding the 2016 presidential campaign, the DOJ also announced the guilty plea of a California man, Richard "Ricky" Pinedo. The Californian, who did not respond to Ars’ attempts to contact him, admitted selling bank information to the Russians accused of being part of the criminal conspiracy. Pinedo—28, of Santa Paula, California northwest of Los Angeles—ran a website called Auction Essistance. That site appears to have been in operation for at least a few years, and it offered "services that will enable you to get back onto eBay or Amazon ranging from pre-made eBay & Paypal accounts or verification tools." Pinedo also operates a related website, SEO Distortion, where he describes himself as: ...not your typical person who has a love for technology or is computer crazed. With certifications and years of experience with technology, web … [Read more...] about Mueller flips American who unwittingly sold bank info to Russian trolls
American Horror Story creator to call Netflix home in multimillion-dollar deal
Netflix's latest content grab ushers the mind behind Nip/Tuck, Glee, and American Horror Story into the company. The streaming giant announced that it has penned an exclusive five-year film and series deal with writer-director-producer Ryan Murphy. According to some reports, the deal is worth as much as $300 million. Murphy will officially start at Netflix on July 1, 2018. While most of the ideas Murphy will bring to Netflix users' screens are as yet unannounced, the company has already scored the rights to two of his forthcoming series: Ratched, a drama series about the notorious nurse from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and The Politician, a comedy series that could star Barbra Streisand and Gwyneth Paltrow. Despite the move to Netflix, Murphy will continue to oversee his shows currently in production on Fox and FX, as well as an upcoming FX drama series called Pose, which focuses on the transgender community in 1980s New York. Murphy is no stranger to Netflix, as some of … [Read more...] about American Horror Story creator to call Netflix home in multimillion-dollar deal
Why Aren’t There More Smart Americans?
As research for his latest novel, The Quantum Spy, Washington Post reporter David Ignatius spoke with some of the world’s leading experts on quantum computing, which led him to believe that we may see a working quantum computer in the next five years. “Initially what I would hear back from technologists was, ‘it’s fascinating if it works,’ and I hear more now ‘fascinating when it works,'” Ignatius says in Episode 291 of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast. “There’s a sense that these problems probably can be solved.” The downside is that a quantum computer would be the cyber warfare equivalent of a nuclear bomb, which means the US government is often reluctant to let foreign scientists work on the most promising research. It’s a system that can slow down progress due the lack of ‘smart Americans,’ as one character in the book puts it. “The number of American citizens who can do very high-end … [Read more...] about Why Aren’t There More Smart Americans?
North American semiconductor equipment industry posts December 2017 billings
North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $2.39 billion in billings worldwide in December 2017 (three-month average basis), according to the November Equipment Market Data Subscription (EMDS) Billings Report published today by SEMI. The billings figure is 16.3 percent higher than the final November 2017 level of $2.05 billion, and is 27.7 percent higher than the December 2016 billings level of $1.87 billion.“December 2017 monthly billings for North American equipment manufacturers ended the year at the highest levels in this record-breaking year,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI. “For 2017, total billings for North American equipment companies soared over 40 percent compared to 2016.”The SEMI Billings report uses three-month moving averages of worldwide billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars. Source: SEMI ( … [Read more...] about North American semiconductor equipment industry posts December 2017 billings