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Australian Prime Minister Doesn’t Think Kids Should Learn About Computers

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Australian Prime Minister Doesn’t Think Kids Should Learn About Computers

Ultra conservative Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott doesn’t think kids should learn computers. In an embarrassing blunder he even ridiculed his own government’s investment in technology education, showing yet again how the people who make laws are not at all in touch with modern technology.

This disconnect, which we’ve covered before, results in laws that don’t properly consider technology that we must then live with for decades. By not understanding technology lawmakers are unable to create laws and policies that work in the modern age.

The embarrassing gaffe happened late Wednesday, when opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten asked the Prime Minister whether he supported coding being taught in every primary and secondary school.

“Let’s just understand exactly what the Leader of the Opposition has asked,” the Prime Minister proudly proclaimed. “He said that he wants primary school kids to be taught coding so they can get the jobs of the future. Does he want to send them all out to work at the age of 11? Is that what he wants to do? Seriously?”

Yet his own government has already invested $3.5 million in coding across the curriculum. The program does not make coding compulsory, but will instead develop a suite of resources that support and promote best teaching practices across different year levels, even primary schools. Science and business leaders have been calling for coding to be taught formally in schools for many years now.

Abbott’s misinformed remarks not only highlight how out of touch politicians are with modern technology but underscore America’s need to teach computer skills from a very young age in order to stay competitive. By learning how to write code students form the foundations of computer language which enables them to tell programs how to operate. It also breeds the next generation of computer science engineers, an increasingly large part of the modern workforce.

Russian Billboard Changes Ads If Approached By Police

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Russian Billboard Changes Ads If Approached By Police

In what is either an incredibly interesting or incredibly terrifying development, an ad agency in Russia has designed an outdoor billboard that automatically hides when it spots the police approaching it.

The reason for the invention is because of Russia’s ban on food imported from the European Union and the United States. It began last summer and has hit Russian grocery store Don Giulio Salumeria particularly hard since, as its main business was selling authentic Italian food.

As this is Russia, where the rule of law is weak and few bribes changes everything, it wasn’t hard for the grocery store to continue to import and sell its fine Italian imports. But advertising this to consumers was more difficult so it hired ad agency The 23 to create the high tech billboard.

The computer driven billboard uses a camera and facial recognition software, tweaked to recognize the logos on the uniforms worn by Russian police. If they get too close to the billboard it switches to an ad for Russian nesting dolls instead of imported Italian pasts.

While this is mostly a publicity stunt than actual illicit advertising, given police can clearly see the original advert before the ads switch, it does point to a new future for out of home advertising.

Billboards of the future will recognize passersby and switch ads depending on if you’re male or female, wearing a sports team logo or have a beard. Such advertising could be effective or could very well be super creepy.

Counterfeit Coupon Kingpin Busted By Feds

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The dark corners of the internet offers lots of illicit things for sale: drugs, weapons, malwar and even counterfeit coupons. The web’s most notorious coupon counterfeiter, known as ThePurpleLotus, is now behind bars after the FBI raided his house on Thursday.

Indicted in the scheme is 30-year old Beauregard Wattigney, of Louisiana, on charges of wire fraud and trademark counterfeiting. He operated on now-busted Dark Web marketplaces Silk Road and Silk Road 2.

Wattigney sold packages of coupons for almost every consumer product imaginable including beauty products, alcohol, cigarettes, video games, cleaning supplies, and consumer electronics. The knock-off coupons offered discounts just as effective as the real thing and were sold in packages that cost customers around $25. Like most underground items on the web, payment was to be made in bitcoin. The $25 packages contained hundreds of dollars in savings.

The FBI said that Wattigney did just shy of $1 million in total damage to the affected companies, who are big name corporations like Proctor and Gamble, Pepsi and Kraft. While scaremonger Jane Beauchamp, president of the fraud consultancy Brand Technologies (who obviously have a vested interest in inflating the total to get more business for themselves), says the damages are “significantly” higher, given the small size of the total possible damage this was more a hobby industry than big business.

For comparison, if the total damage was $1 million in counterfeit coupons, that means sales would have been something close to $100,000. Silk Road’s drug sellers are estimated to have conducted over $2.3 billion in sales during the life of the marketplace.

A big fish this is not.

What it does demonstrate is that coupon fraud remains easy.

“We have the best, most consistent, most precise, most scannable, most accepted, most diverse collection of coupons anywhere. They are not on anyone’s ban list. They are not blacklisted anywhere,” states PurpleLotus’s advertisement on Agora, the largest currently active black market on the Dark Net. “They will save you a ton of money…If you use the coupons for the everyday things that you normally buy, the golden goose will continue to lay golden eggs.”

“Every day new codes get added to the blacklist,” said Beauchamp. But new fake coupons are being made at a faster pace than ever, she says. “The problem is that it’s a blacklist, not a whitelist. And that affects the whole industry.”

The Coupon Information Corporation, which maintains one list of known fraudulent coupons on behalf of the retail industry, counters that other security measures beyond a blacklist exist to combat coupon fraud. But Bud Miller, the president of the CIC, said “if you make a high quality counterfeit coupon, from time to time it can be passed at the cash register. The industry is working on a number of solutions, from better identification, to what we’ve done, to prosecutions.”

Wattigney wouldn’t be the first to be caught faking coupons at large scale. Two years ago, 25-year-old Lucas Henderson was given three years of supervised release and forced to pay $900,000 in restitution for his own coupon fraud scheme. Henderson, a Lubbock, Texas student distributed his self-made coupons through Web forums such as 4Chan.

For American consumers who frequent coupon clipping sites, its important to know the source of the coupon. Trust big, reputable sites and shy away from small, crude looking ones that promise discounts seemingly too good to be true. Also stay away from people offering coupons in private messages or mass emails – these are often fakes and could land you in trouble at the register.

America Is Going Back To Space! NASA Sets Date For First Manned Space Flight Since 2011

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America Is Going Back To Space! NASA Sets Date For First Manned Space Flight Since 2011

NASA is getting closer to “returning America’s ability to launch crew missions to the International Space Station from the United States” as it awarded a contract yesterday to aerospace giant Boeing for commercial crew rotation missions to the International Space Station.

The first mission is slated for early 2017.

The contract is part of the Commercial Crew Program, designed to get Americans back into space on American rockets but not have it be a government program.

While the transition from strictly government funding to commercial contract will have taken over six years, during which the United States has relied on Russia for transport to the ISS, it marks the first time in human history that manned spaceflight is available for sale on the commercial market.

It won’t just be Boeing doing launches, either. SpaceX, the Californian rocket startup that’s launched unmanned missions the ISS, is expected to receive its first order later this year.

Boeing and SpaceX will then duke it out to see who can most cheaply and reliably shuttle passengers to and from the space station.

Just because Boeing has won the first contract does not mean it will get the honors of being the world’s first commercial human spaceflight provider. NASA will decide who goes first “at a later time”.

SpaceX has been making waves in the long-stagnant rocket market, recently managing to force its way on to the contractors list for the US Air Force, and successfully testing its capsule for manned missions.

SpaceX being able to launch military satellites doubles the number of groups who could provide commercial surveillance satellite launch services, placing America solidly in the lead for global commercial satellite launches. France and Russia both offer such services on older and more expensive rockets, while China and India have the ability to launch satellites thanks to a government funded space program.

The first crewed mission launched from American soil in American rockets is planned for late 2017, provided that the contractors meet NASA’s “readiness conditions”.

NASA stated that missions to the ISS on Boeing’s Crew Space Transportation CST-100 and SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft will “restore America’s human spaceflight capabilities and increase the amount of scientific research that can be conducted aboard the orbiting laboratory”.

“Final development and certification are top priority for NASA and our commercial providers, but having an eye on the future is equally important to the commercial crew and station programs,” said Kathy Lueders, who is the manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. “Our strategy will result in safe, reliable and cost-effective crew missions.”

“We’re on track to fly in 2017, and this critical milestone moves us another step closer in fully maturing the CST-100 design,” said John Mulholland, Boeing’s VP of commercial programs. “Our integrated and measured approach to spacecraft design ensures quality performance, technical excellence and early risk mitigation.”

The crewed missions to the ISS will carry four crew members and approximately 220 pounds of cargo. The capsules will remain at the station for up to 210 days and serve as an emergency lifeboat during that time, should the astronauts need to flee the station for some reason.

Each contract that NASA awards is for a minimum of two and a maximum of six missions.

“Commercial Crew launches are critical to the International Space Station program because it ensures multiple ways of getting crews to orbit,” said Julie Robinson, NASA’s International Space Station chief scientist. “It also will give us crew return capability, so we can increase the crew to seven, letting us complete a backlog of hands-on critical research that has been building up due to heavy demand for the National Laboratory.”

Indictment Of Former House Speaker Exposes Deep Rot In D.C.

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Indictment Of Former House Speaker Exposes Deep Rot In D.C.

Robert Menendez isn’t the only prominent politician engaged in corruption as word broke last night that former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has been indicted by Federal officials for lying to the FBI about a $3.5 million payment to an undisclosed subject in order to “cover up past misconduct.”

The allegations were unsealed in the District Court of Northern Illinois late Thursday.

AS ever in D.C. there is already a cover-up, as the indictment does not explain what the “past misconduct” is or what actually happened, other than saying that Hastert made large withdrawals after agreeing to pay the money.

From what we can tell it seems like it is a case of bribery, pure and simple.

The indictment paints a murky picture of money flowing back and forth between the former Speaker and the unidentified subject, with payments to the Speaker’s benefit totaling about $1.7 million beginning in 2010 and ending in 2014.

That’s more money than the average American will see in a lifetime and speaks to the flagrant attitude in Washington towards bribery, influence peddling and the outright selling of votes.

Hastert, 73, isn’t just some low level first-term politician – he served as House speaker from 1999 until 2007, when Democrats retook the House!

His misconduct shows just how deeply the culture of graft and corruption permeates our nation’s political system. After all, if its rotten at the top its more than likely rotten to the core – top to bottom.

Politicians, predictably, feigned shock at the allegations, with Sen. Ben Cardin saying “I think we’re all surprised by this.”

It’s saddening to think just how much damage the corruption of Hastert, and most of our politicians in office, does to our country. Hastert served in the Illinois House of Representatives until 1986, was then elected to Illinois’ 14th congressional district and in 1999 was elected speaker of the House. He was the longest serving Republican speaker in history.

So imagine what kind of dirty dealings he did during that long tenure. The FBI reports are likely just the tip of the iceberg and were business as usual for the highly-influential official.

But it gets better – in 2008 he joined the Washington lobbying firm Dickstein Shapiro as a senior adviser.

I short, Hastert has made a career out of selling our democracy to the highest bidder. How many others like him lurk in D.C.? Our guess – it’d be easier to count those not on the take.

Tesla’s Solar Revolution Will Require Houses To Be Completely Re-Wired

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Tesla’s newly announced batteries promise to revolutionize the solar industry by allowing homeowners to store power from one part of the day, when it is plentiful, and use it in another part, when it is needed.

This solar revolution is already in full swing all across the nation and consumers are enamored with “going off the grid.” In order to meet the objective homeowners are counting on home batteries to be the next, very key, phase of their off-the-grid plans. It isn’t just high profile Tesla that’s leading the way, either. RoseWater Energy Group and a host of other companies are rapidly developing these new power storage devices for homes.

But according to industry expert Paul Self of Buildz.com, if the battery power trend really takes off, it will require that homes be equipped with more low voltage wiring than line voltage electrical, the standard in all homes presently.

Why? Because

An underlying issue with solar power and the Tesla battery is the fact that they run on DC while the power infrastructure in buildings is AC. Stepping power up and down from AC to DC and vice-versa wastes energy, about 20 percent is lost in the conversion. Some converters do a better job than others, but resolving this 20 percent loss is very important when working on a battery stored energy supply.

The inefficiency, a pure science limitations of AC/DC conversion, will eventually force a gigantic sea change from builders, electricians and the National Electric Code itself in the way homes are constructed and wired. Absent such a change battery tech will remain nothing more than a ‘nice to have’ and not a replacement for grid delivered power.

It’s not far-fetched to think this could happen, as many devices, such as almost all non-incandescent light bulbs, computers, TVs, cable boxes, and cell phone chargers all can run on DC and actually currently require a transformer to step the 110 VAC down to a DC signal.

Appliances like electric water heaters, electric ovens, and air conditioners will still require 110VAC, but most of the house can move to DC without much fuss and with a ton of energy savings. Every device that runs with a converter is wasting power switching from one signal to the other. In a solar powered house this is happening twice, making it a very inefficient process.

But the change needed to convert America’s homes will not happen overnight. It won’t be easy to phase out all the legacy devices requiring 110V.

But until that happens consumers won’t be fully taking advantage of the Tesla battery and solar power.

Google Launches Stealth Attack On Facebook With Free Unlimited High Res Photo Storage App

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Google Launches Stealth Attack On Facebook With Free Unlimited High Res Photo Storage App

In a clever attack on privacy invading Facebook, Google announced on Thursday a new dedicated Photos app for Android, iOS and the web. It had hinted at this repeatedly over the past month but its launch today is a sneaky effort to undermine Facebook.

Facebook only exists because of the ability to share photos. Strip photos from the social network and there is no Facebook. As Instagram began to become the preferred method with teens to share pictures, Facebook had no choice but to snap it up in order to maintain its monopoly on photo sharing.

Yet Google’s attempts to get it the game have been clumsy. Google+, its own social network, is widely regarded as a failure. Nobody uses it and social isn’t really in the search company’s DNA.

Google’s newly released Photos plays to this culture, while also filling a gap in the market – people are increasingly distrusting Facebook for its invasion of privacy. They also don’t particularly want world+dog to see all their life moments.

The new Photos app addresses this, allowing you to both back up your photos and also share them with select friends as you see fit. No bulk privacy settings needed, you can control exactly who has access to what. It also connects with the company’s excellent machine learning algorithms, allowing users to search for content based on activity, person and place. This is something Facebook is extremely poor at, as it lacks the intellectual capital to pull off such ambitious and technical projects.

Best of all, the update attacks what Facebook has always been: a free repository for you photos. The updated app will allow for free, unlimited storage of high-resolution photos up to 16MP, and videos up to 1080p.

This is one of the more clever products Google has released on the consumer software front – it’s both useful and also deeply disruptive to Facebook.

Iran Recently Showed North Koreans Nuclear Facility Three Times Despite U.S. Nuke Deal Talks

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Iran Recently Showed North Koreans Nuclear Facility Three Times Despite U.S. Nuke Deal Talks

Fresh reports have emerged that Iran is not just looking to develop nuclear weapons but that its interested in selling them to other rogue nations, including highly provocative and increasingly unstable North Korea.

According to reports released Thursday a team of North Korean nuclear warhead and ballistic missile specialist visited a military base in Iran at the end of April, not even three weeks after President Barack Obama’s announcement of a framework agreement with Iran over its nuclear program. The report was released by an Iranian dissident group with sources inside the Islamic nation.

The group, named The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), detailed that a seven member delegation from North Korea’s army visited Iran during the last week of April, the third time they visited Iran this year alone.

“The delegates included nuclear experts, nuclear warhead experts and experts in various elements of ballistic missiles including guidance systems,” the NCRI said.

The NCRI has sources in Iran, even inside the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

“Tehran has shown no interest in giving up its drive to nuclear weapons,” NCRI spokesman Shahin Gobadi warned.

The NCRI sources indicated that the North Korean delegation was taken in secret to the Imam Khomenei complex, a site controlled by the Defense Ministry, east of Tehran. The group provided detailed accounts of locations and who the officials met in order to substantiate their claims.

The units the delegation visited are under United States sanctions. The facility researches and manufactures interior parts of nuclear warheads, sophisticated technology the Koreans may not be able to currently produce.

The NCRI is a credible source, having exposed Iran’s once clandestine uranium enrichment facility at Natanz as well as the heavy water plant at Arak.

While Iran helps the North Koreans acquire weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. and allies are hurrying to meet a June 30th deadline to reach a comprehensive agrement over Iran’s nuclear program.

Secretary of State John Kerry is will meet Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on Saturday and it seems likely the North Koreans will be on the agenda.

Fifteen Chinese Nationals Charged In Huge College Entrance Exam Fraud Scheme

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Fifteen Chinese Nationals Charged In Huge College Entrance Exam Fraud Scheme

The U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday that it has charged fifteen Chinese nationals with paying impostors to take college entrance exams, including the SAT. The illegal test takers gained acceptance to elite American colleges and universities as a result of the scheme.

Genius students were paid up to $600 each time they used counterfeit Chinese passports to trick testing facilities into thinking they were the student who would apply to college with the test score, according to a federal grand jury indictment.

The scheme was perpetrated during 2011 and 2015, mainly in western Pennsylvania.

Authorities are charging both the test takers and the people they claimed to be.

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania David Hickton said students snuck into what are “among our finest educational institutions.”

Hickton would not name the specific schools, but said that they are located across the United States.

A more serious concern is that the counterfeit Chinese passports were used to cheat student visa requirements. Expired student visas allowed the 9/11 hijackers to remain in the country and learn to fly the ill-fated planes that hit the twin towers.

“These students were not only cheating their way into the university, they were also cheating their way through our nation’s immigration system,” said John Kelleghan, Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations of Philadelphia.

The students face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both for each count of wire and mail fraud. Conspiracy charges carry an additional five-year maximum sentence.

Armed Bikers To Hold Muhammad Cartoon Contest Outside Phoenix Mosque Today

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The battle with radical Islam, which seeks to degrade society into a medieval theocracy, heated up on Thursday after a group of bikers announced they will hold a Muhammad cartoon-drawing contest outside a Phoenix-area mosque on Friday.

As a result of the last cartoon drawing contest in Texas they’re going to come armed in case of a “much-anticipated attack.”

Jon Ritzheimer, the contest organizer who is a Marine turned anti-Islam activist, has invited thousands of bikers to join him outside the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix for a “peaceful protest” and Muhammad cartoon contest, timed specifically to take place on the Muslim day of prayer.

Over 200 people have RSVP’d, although locals and Muslim civil liberties groups are concerned there may be violence.

The rally has been dubbed “round 2” according to its Facebook event page. Ritzheimer says the contest “is in response to the recent attack in Texas where 2 armed terrorist, with ties to ISIS, attempted Jihad.”

Ritzheimer wants attendees to bring American flags and to “utilize there [sic] second amendment right at this event just in case our first amendment comes under the much anticipated attack.” The event will occur when the mosque “normally hosts a large prayer.”

“Round 2” is in reference to the May 3rd attack on activist Pamela Geller’s “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest” in Garland, Texas, where a police officer was shot and two armed assailants killed as they attempted to shoot up the event. The attack was claimed by ISIS although the perpetrators were likely radical Muslims influenced by the group yet not assisted or directed by the terror organization.

The men responsible for the Texas attack were from the Phoenix area. One of the men studied at the Islamic Center for years, causing speculation there could be a radical element that is tolerated inside the organization.

The protests show America is losing patience with radical religious groups, who are trying to force their radical view on America’s hard won democracy and its associated rights and freedoms.

Google Is Now A Major Player In Television

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At Google’s annual developer conference yesterday, Google I/O, Sundar Pichai, the most senior Google executive to actually speak with the public, revealed a stunning fact.
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Google has sold 17 million Chromecast devices to customers around the world. Pichai added that Chromecast’s cast button has been pressed more than 1.5 billion times by users.

This may not seem like much but it lays the foundation for something big.

Chromecast is a very small USB stick that plugs into connected television sets. Most flat panel TVs out there support it. It’s cheap and easy to use.

Its original purpose was to allow people to easily connect their laptops and smartphones to their TVs in order to watch Youtube videos. A cute and sometimes handy use case, but hardly anything that will shake up the pecking order of TV.

But Chromecast is a foot in the door for Big G. Android, Google’s phone operating system, dominates the industry. And if you have an Android phone its easy for it talk to Chromecast.

This means Google is just one app away from launching an all out assault on the TV industry. Download the app and watch whatever content Google has arranged on your big screen TV.

This is likely the future. Phones are becoming so powerful developers and users are having trouble figuring out what to do with them. Running TV app is easy for most modern smartphones and provides a better user experience than a big box, such as Apple’s Apple TV.

You bring your shows, movies and Youtube channels with you and Chromecast them to whatever TV you happen to be around. You also, conveniently, have them all on your phone for when you’re taking the bus and sitting on the train.

Expect Google to keep promoting Chromecast while it arranges the content for a game changing TV service, which will likely launch sometime in 2016. In the meantime, it will continue to quietly lay the groundwork for this disruptive technology with the innocuous looking Chromecast.

SEC Hires Goldman Banker To Regulate His Former Employer. Again.

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The SEC proudly announced on Thursday what is perhaps the first ever double revolving door in SEC history: It has had hired a former Goldman worker as its new chief of staff, who before Goldman had previously worked at… the SEC. We literally can’t make this stuff up.

According to the SEC:

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Andrew J. “Buddy” Donohue has been named the agency’s chief of staff. Mr. Donohue will replace Lona Nallengara who will leave the agency in June.

As chief of staff, Mr. Donohue will be a senior adviser to the Chair on all policy, management, and regulatory issues.

SEC Chair Mary Jo White, in the usual scripted announcement, said “I am thrilled that Buddy will be returning to the SEC to provide his extensive knowledge and expertise to the agency,”

“Buddy is a seasoned professional whose previous SEC and private sector experience will be invaluable in advancing all aspects of the agency’s mission. His deep knowledge of asset management will be especially useful as the Commission advances its rulemaking agenda for addressing potential risks in asset management and considers a uniform fiduciary standard.”

But what’s troubling is that Mr. Donohue has been managing director, associate general counsel, and investment company general counsel at Goldman, Sachs & Co, a bank with a deep criminal history that has, through massive political connection, avoided prosecution despite stealing billions from American taxpayers through a variety of sophisticated criminal schemes.

Donohue is the latest in a long line of Goldmanites to leave the firm in order to advance its agenda.

His appointment raises a serious question: Can he possibly regulate his former employer with his blatantly obvious conflict of interest? Can he even avoid leaking SEC secrets to powerful old friends who made him filthy rich?

We doubt very much he can.

YouTube Is Going To Support Virtual Reality Videos By End Of Summer

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As we covered previously, 2016 is poised to be the year of virtual reality. Big players, like Facebook, Conde Nast, Sony and Samsung are all lining to jump head first into the virtual reality arena.

Conde Nast will begin publishing 3d content, from magazines to documentaries while Sony will launch a headset for its Playstation video game console to improve the immersiveness of it games. Facebook, through is $2 billion acquisition of Occulus, is even rumored to be working on 3d living rooms, where rather than chat with friends you sit around in a virtual living room and watch the game.

Google, evidently, isn’t going to be left in the cold.

At it’s I/O developer conference today the company announce Jump, a program to help publishers create 3d content. Jump provides software and tools to allow video publishers to create 3d versions of their content to be viewed with devices made by Occulus, Sony or Samsung.

It’s even partnered with GoPro, the action sports camera maker, to create a 3d video rig for self filmed content.

Jump will be supported by Google’s YouTube, which will allow publishers to not only create 3d videos but also host them somewhere for the world to see.

Jump is expected to launch in the fall, just in time for all the virtual reality headset rigs to be hitting the market.

In typical Google style it will be free.

Researcher Tricks World Into Believing Eating Chocolate Makes You Lose Weight

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Researcher Tricks World Into Believing Eating Chocolate Makes You Lose Weight

Be careful about what you read on the internet – even supposed studies in supposedly peer reviewed journals can be manipulated, according to, well, new research.

Case in point in the viral diet that claims chocolate helps you lose weight. There’s just one problem: Despite the cited study being in scientific journals, it’s based on terrible science. On purpose.

The craze hit the internet with a press release on March 29th stating “Can you indulge your sweet tooth and lose weight at the same time? If it’s chocolate you crave, then the answer seems to be: yes.” claimed lead author ‘Johannes Bohannon’, with the title of research director of the nonprofit Institute of Diet and Health. “Just lowering the proportion of carbohydrates is not a reliable weight loss intervention because it has different physiological effects depending on the bioactive compounds in your diet.”

While losing weight due to increased chocolate consumption seemed too good to be true, it was, after all based on science.

But despite seemingly rigorous scientific protocol the whole exercise was a sham, designed to raise awareness about for-profit scientific journals accepting and publishing junk science.

The reality is that Johannes Bohannon was actually John Bohannon, a journalist, while the study was commissioned by German TV producers making a show about the junk-science used in the diet industry. The Institute of Diet and Health was a website but nothing more.

Yet the study, which had only 15 participants, 18 different measurements, and examined weight, cholesterol, sodium, blood protein levels “was, in fact, a fairly typical study for the field of diet research,” said Bohannon “Which is to say: It was terrible science. The results are meaningless.”

“Other than those fibs, the study was 100% authentic,” he writes of his exposé.

The junk science and with an appealing conclusion got headlines in the Daily Mail, Huffington Post, Business Insider, Daily Express and was even on the front page of the German tabloid Bild, known for its reliable reporting.

The outcome of the stunt highlights two key issues.

The first is that many industries use junk science to sell products or advance agendas. From weed killer to tobacco to diet to exercise, new marketing methods often include junk science to back up sales pitches or pushes for regulatory changes. We must be critical, then, of claims which seem too good to be true or which clearly advance a specific agenda.

The second, and more troublesome, is the move towards pay-to-play scientific journals. Such journals are well funded and attracting record readership yet they simply do not properly vet the research that appears in them.

Traditional scientific journals specifically do not charge money for submissions and subject them to a barrage of scrutiny from researchers in particular fields. Such journals truly advance science and control the quality of scientific work that makes it to press. Paid journals do not, which highlights a stunning flaw in our academic system.

The Dutch Have Had Enough, Ban Muslim Veils In Public Places

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The Dutch Have Had Enough, Ban Muslim Veils In Public Places

As radical Islam taints the entire religion with terror, rape and violence, citizens of civilized countries are starting to push back, realizing that excessive religious tolerance is amounting to regression back towards middle ages social policies and customs.

The latest country to push back is the Netherlands, where the Dutch cabinet approved a proposal to ban face-covering Islamic veils on public transportation and in public areas such as schools and hospitals.

Dutch interior minister, Ronald Plasterk, said in a statement on Friday that: “Face-covering clothing will in future not be accepted in education and healthcare institutions, government buildings and on public transport.”

The ban would not apply to wearing veils, know as the burqa or the niqab, on streets. It would only apply for security reasons or “in specific situations where it is essential for people to be seen”, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, told reports.

While claiming that “the bill does not have any religious background,” it represents increasing frustration with a religion that is intent on pulling all countries of the world back into the middle ages, where clerics rule and personal rights are foregone on religious grounds.

The government said it “tried to find a balance between people’s freedom to wear the clothes they want and the importance of mutual and recognizable communication”. It further stated that the cabinet “sees no reason for a general ban that would apply to all public places”.

A previous bill sought to ban face-covering veils on the street, but that will now be withdrawn.

The new bill was drawn up by a coalition of parties across the political spectrum in the country.

Those villating the ban could be fined up to €405 or about $450.

TV Network CBS Says Its Open To Broadcasting On Apple TV

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TV Network CBS Says Its Open To Broadcasting On Apple TV

An interesting development in the decline of the traditional television industry emerged on Thursday as powerful broadcast network CBS said that it was open to putting the network’s programming on Apple’s TV boxes, so long as it got the right price.

Apple TV has thus far been without live broadcasting from major TV studios, who stick to lucrative cable networks where they get far more money than their content is actually worth, thanks to longstanding agreements with the cable monopolies.

But like the recording industry, which Apple cracked years ago with iTunes, it seems the winds of change are blowing and television networks are now feeling the heat to get with the times and reach the large audiences of internet TV devices like Apple’s.

CBS CEO Les Moonves, whose network produces such shows as CSI and The Big Bang Theory, rightly pointed out that Apple’s entry into internet television will need a television network to create the entertainment and said he was open to that network being CBS, so long as he was paid ‘fairly’.

“The good news for us, is any one of those groups will need CBS,” he said, seemingly a bit over-confident that the allure of his network could command cable-like rates, which do not correlate to popularity but instead pre-negotiated agreements.

While CBS shows are on the unpopular Hulu a service, Apple would be looking for actual live TV and not just re-runs.

Whether this happens or not will be interesting as Moonves said the Cupertino-based giant was particularly stubborn, stating that “Apple TV is trying to change the universe.”

He may not be far off. iTunes changed the music landscape and there is little reason to believe Apple would set its sights lower for television.

Moonves’ comments show a deeply held belief that expensive television network programming will still be essential for web TV services. Yet providers, such as Netflix, Amazon and Yahoo have all opted to produce their own content when faced with unreasonable fees to license traditional TV shows.

The programming has been wildly popular and there is little reason to believe such online services won’t push forward into the long-coveted live sports markets. It’s not a stretch to believe that the NFL could end up on Netflix, for instance.

As U.S. cable providers have quickly move away from the lucrative bundle packages, which give networks like CBS is disproportionate share of revenues, to a-la-carte programming packages it will be interesting to see just how much networks like CBS can extract from giants like Apple.

If they wait too long they may well be coming cap in hand to Cupertino.

Defense Secretary Carter Issues Sharp Warning To China: U.S. Will Continue To Be Number One In The Pacific

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Defense Secretary Carter Issues Sharp Warning To China: U.S. Will Continue To Be Number One In The Pacific

The war of word between China and the Untied States continued to escalate on Thursday as U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter delivered the strongest warning yet against China’s belligerent actions in the South China Sea.

Secretary Carter demanded a halt to land reclamation projects in international waters and vowed that the U.S. will remain Asia’s leading power “for decades to come”.

The Pentagon chief warned that China’s actions are only “increasing demand for American engagement in the Asia-Pacific.”, especially by neighbors such as Thailand, Vietnam, The Philippines and Taiwan.

“We’re going to meet [that demand]. We will remain the principal security power in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come.

There should be no mistake about this: The United States will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, as we do all around the world,” Mr Carter said.

The strongly worded remarks come before this weekend’s Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security conference in Singapore.

While China’s Foreign Ministry blasted the comment’s and various recent actions, including overflights of China’s illegal land reclamation project, as “very irresponsible and also dangerous” the Secretary’s comments illustrate that both the United States and regional peers are losing patience with China, who appears stuck in a cold-war style mindset despite times having changed.

Carter’s comments come after Beijing released a military strategy white paper on Tuesday that vaguely warned about “meddling” by other nations in the South China Sea.

They also followed a Chinese state-owned newspaper, the de-facto mouthpiece for the communist government, which said that “war was inevitable” between the two countries unless Washington stopped demanding Beijing cease construction in the disputed waterway.

The defense secretary made clear that the U.S. will not back down in the face of such threats. Yet the Secretary is not war minded and instead acting in the interests of China;s neighbors, the international community and the United States.

“We want a peaceful resolution of all disputes, and an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation by any claimant,” he said in a speech to military personel stationed in Pearl Harbor. “We also oppose any further militarisation of disputed features.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister Says Nuclear Deal Possible Before Fast Approaching Deadline

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Iran’s Foreign Minister Says Nuclear Deal Possible Before Fast Approaching Deadline

Iran’s foreign minister believes that a “sustainable, mutually respectful” deal on the country’s nuclear program can be struck with world powers before the current deadline of June 30th.

Mohammad Javad Zarif said that an agreement with diplomats from the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany so long as “people have their foot in reality, not in illusions.”

He tempered his remarks by cautioning that “excessive demands” would make an agreement nearly, regardless of whether a deadline is imposed or not. Zarif issued the remarks after talks in Athens, Greece, on Thursday with Greek foreign minister Nikos Kotzias.

The current deal that’s on the table would halt Iran’s nuclear program for a decade but in return lift sanctions that have devastated the country.

The deal, in addition to helping Iran’s people and re-integrating it into the world community, could also be beneficial for American nuclear companies who would be well positioned to offer the type of nuclear support the country could purchase under the deal.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, while the West, along with its middle eastern neighbors, fear it would enable it to build nuclear weapons.

Shadowy Israeli Website Doxing Activitists To Stop Them From Getting Jobs

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Shadowy Israeli Website Doxing Activitists To Stop Them From Getting Jobs

A shady new website has begun ‘doxing’ or publishing the identities of pro-Palestinian American student activists in the hopes of stopping them from getting jobs after they graduate from university.

Yet the website is keeping its owner’s identity a secret.

“It is your duty to ensure that today’s radicals are not tomorrow’s employees,” a female narrator says in a professional quality video posted to the site’s YouTube channel.

The site, dubbed Canary Mission, has thus far posted the personal information of dozens of students and recent graduates, as well as those of prominent activists like Omar Barghouti, founding member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (DBS) movement.

Organizations that are having their members doxed include Students for Justice in Palestine and students who were involved in recent pro-BDS student measures at campuses in California.

Many of the students, however, are not hardcore activists but just concerned students, drawing attention to Israeli genocide, human rights abuses and the massacre of civilians.

“The focus on young people and students is an effort to try to tell people that there will be a price for you taking a political position,” said Ali Abunimah, who founded the pro-Palestinian website The Electronic Intifada. “It’s an effort to punish and deter people from standing up for what they believe.”

The website is also attacks a fundamentally American concept: The right to free speech. Political activism is a rich American tradition and those who engage in it should be celebrated not harassed.

Harassment, such as by doxing, leads to chilling effects, stifling free speech and reducing the level of political dialog in our country.

The Canary Mission website, despite playing fast and loose with the identities of others has gone to great lengths to obscure the identities of its own members and supporters.

The website does not list the names of its staff volunteers, members, donors or allies on the site. No identity information can be found from the site’s domain name registration, mailchimp email account or its hosting provider.

The individual dossiers on the Canary Mission’s site are lengthy, detailed and creepy.

The files include videos and photographs of the activists, lists their majors, links to Facebook pages, Twitter pages and LinkedIn profiles, as well as lengthy descriptions of pro-Palestinian student groups and movements to which these students are allegedly linked.

“I think it’s creepy and I think it’s McCarthyist,” said Max Geller, an SJP member who is profiled on the site. “This is not a badge of honor. This is scary.”

Geller went on to say that some of what is written about him on the site is not true, and that he has contacted an attorney.

We encourage all readers to get in touch with Canary Mission and tell them how un-American their behavior is. We, as a country, encourage political debate, we don’t stifle it, regardless of your views on hot-button political issues.

U.S. Sent Live Anthrax To South Korea Resulting In Injuries

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Revelations about the United States military’s sloppy handling of live Anthrax continued to get worse on Thursday, as it was revealed that in addition to accidentally sending live samples to nine U.S. based laboratories, the deadly bacteria was also sent to a U.S. military base in Korea.

Despite the Pentagon saying on Wednesday that there was no risk to the public, which we were highly skeptical of, four U.S. civilians have been started on preventive measures called post-exposure prophylaxis, which means they have taken the anthrax vaccine and antibiotics.

A further twenty two personnel at the base in South Korea were also given precautionary medical treatment although the military insists they are not at risk.

Anthrax can become extremely deadly when it becomes airborne, killing within a matter of hours if it is inhaled by humans. This can be especially dangerous in a highly populated area or inside a building. Five federal workers were killed in recent years due to mailed Anthrax samples that were stolen from military labs.

EPA To Temporarily Ban Pesticide Use In Bee Feeding Areas

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Responding to a critical drop in United States honeybee populations, which are vital to crop production, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will begin issuing temporary pesticide restrictions in areas where bees are feeding.

The federal rule would create temporary pesticide restricted zones when certain plants are in bloom in areas where bees are maintained by professional beekeepers. The majority of honeybees in the U.S are raised by professionals.

The pesticide ban would only be in place during the time the plant is in bloom and the bees are there, and would only apply to the property where the bees are working, not neighboring farms.

The ban would apply to almost all insecticides, which would cover more than 1,000 products and 76 different chemical compounds, according to Jim Jones, the EPA’s assistant administrator for chemical safety and pollution prevention.

The ban comes on the heels of research into bee colony collapse that suggests the nicotine-like pesticide neonicotinoid is responsible for many bee deaths. The chemical would be included in the proposed ban.

The purpose of the plan is “to create greater space between chemicals that are toxic to bees and the bees,” Jones told reporters.

The plan is the latest part of a multi-part push by the Obama administration to help decimated bee populations.

The damage to bee colonies has been devastating, with a new federal survey finding that beekeepers lost more than 40 percent of their colonies last year.

Putin Sees Nothing Wrong With Bribes, Calls FIFA Probe Plot To Take World Cup Away From Russia

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It should come as no surprise, in light of the rampant corruption and bribery associated with the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, that Russian President Vladimir Putin sees nothing wrong with FIFA’s selection process.

And why would he? His cronies were the ones that benefited from billions of dollars of over-inflated contracts to construct the facilities for the Sochi games.

On Thursday at an advisory council of the Moscow State University at the Kremlin, Putin thought it was “odd” that the probe was launched at the request of U.S. officials.

He went on to accuse the United States of meddling in FIFA’s business and alluded to the entire probe being part of an attempt to take the 2018 World Cup away from Russia.

Corruption charges in the United States were announced on Wednesday, with 14 people being charged. Two of them holding American citizenship. The probe was conducted with the help of Swiss authorities who arrested seven of the 14 in Zurich, ahead of Friday’s FIFA meeting and presidential election. Sepp Blatter, the un-indicted president is expected to win a fifth term despite the scandal occurring under his watch.

In addition to the U.S probe, Swiss prosecutors began criminal proceedings into FIFA’s selection of the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar.

Commenting on the probes, Putin stated that if “someone has done something wrong,” Russia “has nothing to do with it.” This all despite the fact that ample evidence shows the Sochi Olympics amounted to a transfer of Russian state wealth to his cronies.

“Our American counterparts, unfortunately, are using the same methods to reach their goals and illegally persecute people. I don’t rule out that this is the case in relation to FIFA,” Putin said. “I have no doubt that this is yet another evident attempt to derail Mr. Blatter’s re-election as FIFA president. We are aware of the pressure that he was subjected to in relation to Russia holding the 2018 World Cup.”

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko is a FIFA executive committee member, illustrating the country’s deep connection to the troubled organization.

Czech General Says Russia Ready To Invade The Baltic Countries Within 48 Hours

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Alarming reports emerged out of Czechoslovakia that, according to Czech general Petr Pavel, Russia could easily occupy the Baltic states in two days. The reason for the swift timing is not only the amount of Russian forces in the region but that during such a swift attack NATO would not be capable of reacting adequately. The general made the comments during a Prague conference on security matters Wednesday.

The reason for the delay, Pavel warned, is that NATO´s political structure make it incapable of reacting to a changed situation fast enough.

The general, who will head the NATO Military Committee in June, said the measures Europe has taken to combat Russian and Islamic State threats are “embarrassingly ineffective.”

“On the one hand, one of [NATO´s] disadvantages is its complex process of decision making. It is because NATO has 28 members who have to reach consensus on all conclusions,” Pavel told Czech media outlet CTK.

The compares unfavorably with Russia, which is controlled by dictator Vladimir Putin, and can make decision very quickly.

For NATO, the length of time needed for approval procedures is vastly longer than the time it takes its rapid reaction forces to deploy, Pavel said.

While the rapid reaction forces are able to intervene in a conflict within two days, the political process to authorize such movements could take weeks, owing to the agreements necessary at both the alliance and individual member country levels.

Because Russia would be able to occupy the Baltic states within forty eight hours, a time in which NATO would be scrambling to form a reaction plan to the situation, the alliance would then be faced with the question of whether to start war, perhaps nuclear, against Russia over the occupied territory. If it could react sooner, such escalation wouldn’t be needed and instead regular ground combat would ensue.

“From the technical point of view, if I consider how many forces Russia is able to deploy in the Baltics, the size of the Baltic countries and the density of forces on their territories, the Baltics could really be occupied in a couple of days,” Pavel told CTK later today.

“A different question is how effective the deterrence element, represented by NATO´s Article 5 and its nuclear component, would be in relation to Russia,” Pavel stated.

The Baltic States are in north-central Europe, on the eastern edge of the Baltic Sea, bordering Russia and Belarus.

Members are Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which all gained their independence from the former U.S.S.R. in 1991.

Apple Readies Big Push Into Automotive Infotainment Systems

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Apple looks to be intensifying efforts to own the automotive market, with chief operating officer Jeff Williams describing vehicles as “the ultimate mobile device”. The news comes on the back of an announcement yesterday from General Motors that its cars would work with Apple’s CarPlay system.

The California smartphone maker has signed up BMW, Mercedes Benz, Jaguar, Land Rover, Ferrari, Toyota and slew of other manufacturers in an effort to control the next connected frontier: the car.

Speaking at the Code Conference 2015, Williams told an audience that “The car is the ultimate mobile device,” adding, “We’re exploring a lot of different markets.”

While the comment is typical tight lipped Apple, its clear from the string of announcements that Apple is making a huge push into vehicles. Specifically, like rival Google, its looking to control the in car computer system to make sure it plays well with its high end smartphones.

The comments and product announcements fit with reports which surfaced in February that the company has been aggressively recruiting experts from the automotive industry.

While the rumors are that the company is looking to take on electric car maker Tesla, it appears Apple likely has more pragmatic aims: make sure iPhones, iPads and iWatches play nicely with cars.

‘Play nicely’ in Applespeak is ‘do everything we want it to do in the way we want to do it’. Apple is a notorious control freak over how its product look and feel, so it makes sense that it is supporting the automotive industry with engineering talent to make sure that the in-car look and feel of a connected iDevice is up to the lofty standards of the company.

This may include features such as using the Apple Watch to unlock car doors, playing Apple’s new premium music streaming service over the car stereo and remotely starting your car using your iPhone.

Google, owner of rival smartphone platform Android, is also said to be pursuing similar levels of integration, as well as autonomous driving systems and even whole self driving cars.

“Open Administration” Obama Pushes To Keep The NSA Spying On Innocent Americans

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The Patriot Act expires next week but President Obama, who was once for transparency and openness in government, is pushing hard to keep the secret spying programs made possible by the Patriot Act alive.

Congressional leaders have been in talks about either reforming or reauthorizing the controversial bill before its June 1st expiration date, but the U. S. Senate was unable to resolve the matter before the recess. President Obama is urging them to continue considerations during the break, stressing the important details.

“I strongly urge the Senate to work through this recess and make sure that they identify a way to get this done,” Obama said.

“You have a whole range of authorities that are also embodied in the Patriot Act that are non-controversial, that everybody agrees are necessary to keep us safe and secure,” Obama said. “Those also are at risk of lapsing. So this [has to be] done.”

Are they really the important details? One of the bill’s stipulations is to continue to allow the retention of phone records, storing information at phone companies for a desired number of years. This situation gives officials the right to search the information with a court order. The fact that the federal government currently retains this information pushed Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul to take the senate floor for an 11-hour stretch last week, tying up proceedings and preventing the final vote.

It was also admitted by the FBI that the unconstitutional spying provisions of the Patriot Act have failed to prevent even one single terror attack.

Clearly there’s another motive for all this mass data collection.

Russia Caught Using Mobile Crematoriums To Hide Their War Dead In Ukraine

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Russia Caught Using Mobile Crematoriums To Hide Their War Dead In Ukraine

U.S. lawmakers who traveled to the Ukraine this spring have noted Russia’s desperate attempts to hide the fact it has invaded Ukraine. The communist country has even resorted to using mobile crematoriums, which have been transported into the war-torn country in an attempt to hide any evidence of Russian military involvement as they burn their fatalities from the war.

Speculation by the United States and NATO have long suggested that Russian troops were, in fact, fighting the war in eastern Ukraine territory. It was assumed that the Russians were paired with the separatists but obscured their presence as well as any evidence, including the dead soldiers.

In March, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow told a conference, “Russian leaders are less and less able to conceal the fact that Russian soldiers are fighting, and dying, in large numbers in eastern Ukraine.” The lawmakers’ visit confirmed the speculation.

The U.S. and NATO have long maintained that thousands of Russian troops are fighting alongside separatists inside eastern Ukraine, and that the Russian government is obscuring not only the presence but also the deaths of its soldiers there. In March, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow told a conference, “Russian leaders are less and less able to conceal the fact that Russian soldiers are fighting — and dying — in large numbers in eastern Ukraine.”

Basically, Russian officials are lying not only to their own people, but to the entire world. One lawmaker refused to expose his sources but insisted that the information came with enough authority to gain his confidence. Russian officials are burning their dead soldiers an attempt to cover their deceptions. Putin and his men are beginning to feel the domestic heat as the real truth leaks out.

“Russia is clearly having a problem with their home front and the casualties they are taking from the war,” Representative Seth Moulton, a former Marine Corps officer and a Democrat on the Armed Services Committee said. “The fact that they would resort to burning the bodies of their own soldiers is horrific and shameful.” Moulton was with the U.S. lawmakers during the springtime visit.

Ukrainian officials concur with the reports of both Russian soldiers in their wars and the mobile crematoriums ushered in by Putin’s forces. The head of the security service in the Ukraine has confirmed that as many as 7 mobile crematoriums have crossed the country’s borders, each burning up to 10 bodies a day. Additionally, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko produced the identifications of Russian soldiers who had fallen to the war with the Ukraine borders.

With this injury to Russian forces, Ukraine supporters in Washington have the opportunity to act on supplying the Ukraine with military weapons. Many top lawmakers agree with this assertion, including the top U.S. military commander in Europe, General Philip Breedlove and Secretary of State Kerry. Moulton believes that we have a moral obligation to help the vulnerable country, which is obviously unprepared for Russia’s aggressions. President Obama said in March that he was considering arming the Ukraine military, but two months later, he has yet to make a decision. His main concern, of course, is Russian retaliation, but lawmakers hope for a quick decision from the Commander-in-Chief. They believe that Putin should be confronted as soon as possible before his aggression becomes too much to bear.

Nike May Face Criminal Charges In The FIFA Bribery Scandal

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Nike May Face Criminal Charges In The FIFA Bribery Scandal

Athletic apparel giant Nike is heavily entangled in the massive FIFA bribery scandal according to analysis on the indictment released on Wednesday. Within the release by the Department of Justice there is an unidentified sportswear company that bribed a Brazilian soccer official to obtain a lucrative sponsorship agreement. That company is believed to be Nike.

The deal detailed in the indictment of FIFA officials tightly mirrors the one obtained by Nike when it signed a partnership with the Brazilian federation in 1996.

The company released a statement saying that it is cooperating with authorities. It also went on to say that:

“Nike believes in ethical and fair play in both business and sport and strongly opposes any form of manipulation or bribery. We have been cooperating, and will continue to cooperate, with the authorities.”

The Brazilian sponsorship agreement was vital to Nike and put it on the global soccer radar. From 1994 to present day the company saw soccer revenue climb from $40 million to over $2 billion today.

Nike shares were down .6 percent upon news of the revelations but the ball probably has not dropped given the full extent of Nike’s involvement is yet to be determined.

Charges could still be pending against the company and its executives, as the DOJ confirmed that the investigation into the scandal is ongoing.

GM To Offer Apple, Google Tech For In Car Nav Systems

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GM To Offer Apple, Google Tech For In Car Nav Systems

Your car and phone are not going to be all the different in the near future – at least in terms of the computer systems that power them. Hot on the heels of Hyundai announcing the availability of Google’s Android on the 2015 Sonata (albeit side-loaded), GM has announced it will offer both Google’s Android and Apple’s CarPlay on all 2016 models.

“For most of us, our smartphones are essential,” said GM CEO Mary Barra in a statement. “Partnering with Apple and Google to offer CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility across the widest range of models in the industry is a great example of how Chevrolet continues to democratize technology that’s important to our customers.”

14 Chevrolet models will support the new software. Those include the 2016 Cruze compact sedan, which debuts on June 24th. The Cruze is Chevy’s best-selling passenger vehicle, with over three million sold since its inception.

Compatibility with the new systems is driven, for the moment, by screen size. GM’s Malibu, Camaro and Silverado use a seven inch display and will be compatible with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The rest of the vehicles, which use an eight inch display will only be compatible with Apple CarPlay from the start of the year, with future compatibility possibly in the works.

Unlike Hyundai, which requires users to side-load the system via a multi-step process, GM’s vehicles have a simple the use interface that works with either system. An icon on its ‘MyLink’ screen appears when a phone isn’t connected, then changes status to indicate that either CarPlay or Android Auto is connected via USB. In both GM models it appears a USB connection is required while on the Hyundai, once the first setup process is completed, Bluetooth will suffice.

Android Auto requires the connected phone to run Android Lollipop 5.0 while Apple’s CarPlay requires an iPhone 5 or above.

Ford is also in the fray, having announced plans for including Android and Apple compatibility via its proprietary SYNC infotainment system. No timeline has been released however.

Ford’s SYNC system uses Blackberry’s QNX operating system, replacing the previous Microsoft platform.

While early research indicates that Apple’s CarPlay API for iPhone will dominate the car industry, with more than 24 million vehicle installs over the coming four years, the actual outcome remains to be seen.

Android is by far the most popular phone operating system and that trend looks to continue, so most manufacturers will need to support both Apple and Android.

Ford and Hyundai also show that just because vehicles will work with phones doesn’t mean Google or Apple will control the actual in-car entertainment systems. Should this happen, vehicle companies would become like Android smartphone manufacturers, where low margin hardware competes aggressively while running the same software, controlled by Google.

All manufacturers are deathly afraid to be relegated to this scenario and so will use a number of different approaches to control the in-car software, similar to Samsung using its own Tizen operating system on its TVs which is fully compatible with Apple and Google phones yet is controlled totally by the TV manufacturer.

IRS Hack Attack Traced Directly To Russia

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IRS Hack Attack Traced Directly To Russia

Reports surfaced late Wednesday that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service believes the theft of over 100,000 taxpayers’ personal data from its computer system originated in Russia.

The IRS’ criminal unit is leading an investigation into the cyber attack, which saw criminals steal information through an online IRS application over a period of four months. The Treasury Department’s inspector general and the Department of Homeland Security are all examining the breach.

It’s also probable that the U.S. secret agencies such as the NSA and CIA are also involved given the international nature of the attack and the fact it was against a government system.

The IRS did not publicly comment on the hackers’ identities during a news conference on Tuesday when it told the public of the breach.

The Senate Finance Committee, which oversees the IRS, announced on Wednesday that it will hold a hearing next Tuesday on the data theft.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen will testify, along with J. Russell George, the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration.

How Much Does It Cost To Host A World Cup? $10 Million In Bribes

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How Much Does It Cost To Host A World Cup? $10 Million In Bribes

International soccer is forever tainted as sordid revelations emerge about the politics behind hosting a formerly-prestigious World Cup event. Tournaments were awarded on nothing but bribes, which in the case of South Africa’s 2010 cup meant more than $10 million in bribes.

The money was handed over in a briefcase stuffed with $10 000 stacks of banknotes in Paris, a U.S. indictment detailed on Wednesday.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said executives from soccer’s governing body FIFA required bribes to vote for South Africa to become the first African nation to host the tournament.

Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner, 72, took a “substantial portion” of those funds for his personal use.

The document details a lengthy courtship in which Warner and his family cultivated ties with South African soccer officials in the early 2000s and strengthened them during the nation’s failed bid to host the World Cup in 2006.

“At one point,” the indictment stated, Warner ordered an associate to fly to Paris and “accept a briefcase containing bundles of US currency in $10 000 stacks in a hotel room” from a high-ranking South African bid committee member.

The associate, identified in the indictment as co-conspirator 14, boarded a return flight within hours, carrying the briefcase with him back to Trinidad and Tobago and handed it to Warner.

The host countries were unable to make the payment from government funds so $10 million was sent from FIFA using funds that would otherwise have gone from FIFA to South Africa.

A FIFA executive wired payments totaling $10 million in January and March 2008 from a FIFA account in Switzerland through New York to accounts controlled by Warner, the indictment alleges.

“Soon after receiving these wire transfers, the defendant Jack Warner caused a substantial portion of the funds to be diverted for his personal use,” the indictment details.

Warner, a Trinidad and Tobago citizen, left FIFA in 2011 after being suspended by an ethics committee.

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