Russian president challenges US to provide specifics while denying the suspects acted on behalf of Russia.
The 13 Russians indicted by the US on charges of tampering with the 2016 election will "never" be extradited, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, while denying they acted on behalf of himself or Russia.
"Never. Never. Russia does not extradite its citizens to anyone," Putin said during an interview with NBC News.
Putin's comments underscore the challenges the US faces in prosecuting 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups accused of using social media to sow seeds of discord among Americans during the election. The 37-page indictment detailed how Russians used stolen identities to pose as Americans on Facebook and Instagram, creating Facebook groups, buying divisive ads and posting inflammatory images.
"I know that they do not represent the Russian state, the Russian authorities," Putin said. "What they did specifically, I have no idea."
He challenged the US to provide "some materials, specifics and data," which Russia would then be "prepared to look at them and talk about it."
In an indictment released in February, US special counsel Robert Mueller and the Justice Department called out the Internet Research Agency, a group linked to Russian propaganda efforts across social media. Employees for the IRA created troll accounts and used bots to stage arguments and fuel political unrest during the 2016 campaign.
According to the indictment, the organization included hundreds of staffers dedicated to trolling online and had an annual budget into the millions.
The group allegedly controlled the Facebook accounts "Clinton FRAUDation," and "Trumpsters United," and the Twitter account "March for Trump." The agency also set up fake rallies at the same location for both sides of the political divide.
The US has no extradition treaty with Russia, and Putin's comments on extradition are in line with Russian law prohibiting Russian citizens from being handed over to foreign countries.
US regulators have begun a broad investigation into initial coin offerings of cryptocurrencies, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The SEC is reportedly tightening the screws on cryptocurrency offerings. Securities and Exchange Commission
US regulators apparently are pushing harder to squeeze the snake oil out of the new cryptocurrency technology.
Digital currency and its underlying technology, blockchain, has the potential to refashion financial transactions and data sharing. But there are plenty of shenanigans, particularly through the money-raising process called initial coin offerings (ICOs), through which people can invest in new cryptocurrencies.
Now the Securities and Exchange Commission is cracking down more aggressively and has sent cryptocurrency companies dozens of subpoenas and information requests, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. The SEC's requests seek information on investors, marketing materials, details on people involved and their locations, and more, according to lawyers who've seen the requests, reports cryptocurrency news site CoinDesk. One request was 25 pages long and "hyper-detailed," according to an unnamed lawyer CoinDesk heard from.
Plenty of people have gotten rich off cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether as valuations surged along with investor interest in 2017. The frenzy has slowed down for now. But startups, big businesses and cryptocurrency enthusiasts are still actively pushing the technology, and its long-term future is uncertain.
The SEC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But there's growing evidence it's taking a stand against shady ICOs. SEC Chairman Jay Clayton in January warned lawyers and accounts that they were falling short in their duties when it came to ICOs. "I have instructed the SEC staff to be on high alert for approaches to ICOs that may be contrary to the spirit of our securities laws and the professional obligations of the US securities bar," Clayton said.
The SEC has taken enforcement actions, too. In December, the agency froze assets of a cryptocurrency firm it alleged was a fraud, halted an ICO in January for another it called "an outright scam" and suspended trading in February in three companies that claimed cryptocurrency or blockchain dealings.
Today's initial coin offerings make the cryptocurrency realm very much like the wild west, Marina Niessner, an assistant professor of finance at Yale School of Management, said in an earlier interview. But eventually, the lawless phase will end, she predicted.
"My guess is a lot of the cryptocurrency stuff is probably going to go away," she said. Blockchain, though, which can be applied more broadly to business transactions and data-handling technology, "is probably here to say. It'll streamline a lot of finance."
The company, one of the first of the Silicon Valley unicorns, says it has 11 million paying subscribers out of 500 million total registered users.
With its SEC filing, the unicorn lets its user and revenue numbers out of the box. Dropbox
Dropbox hopes to upload 500 million files to its account. Little green files, with pictures of presidents on them.
The cloud-based file-storing and -sharing company submitted paperwork Friday to raise up to $500 million in an initial public offering.
Apple's Steve Jobs once famously wrote off the Dropbox service as a "feature, not a product," but that didn't stop the company from becoming one the first and largest Silicon Valley unicorns, or businesses valued at more than $1 billion.
Dropbox lets you easily upload computer files to a storage drive in the cloud. From there, you can access them on other computers or share them with friends and co-workers. There's a free version, as well as a "premium" subscription offering.
In its IPO filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Dropbox said it has 11 million paying subscribers out of 500 million total registered users in 180 countries. Its average revenue per paying user is $111.91. The service brought in $1.1 billion in revenue last year, the company said. That's up from $845 million in 2016 and $604 million in 2015.
Dropbox isn't profitable yet, though: It lost almost $112 million in 2017. That's less than the $210 million loss the year before and 2015's deficit of $326 million.
And it's not the only player in the market. In its filing, the company name-checks Amazon, Apple, Google and Microsoft as rivals in the cloud storage space. It further names Atlassian, Google and Microsoft as competitors when it comes to content collaboration. It also says it competes with Box in cloud storage used by large enterprises.
Other tidbits from the filing: Founder Drew Houston owns 25.3 percent of the company; the board includes former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former HP CEO and onetime California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman; and the company will trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol DBX.
In a Suburb, Sunny Palo Alto, more than 2000 local businesses and earns up to $400,000 a year but they still describe themselves as "middle class".
You are correct. This is Silicon Valley where people earning several times the national average.
According to a survey by the local press Palo Alto Weekly, inhabitants of this suburb, who is at least seven times richer than the average "middle class" in America, when it comes to living Palo Alto, they can’t consider themselves “privileged class.”
In the survey conducted by Palo Alto Weekly with more than 250 participants between December 2017 and January 2018, about a third of participants ranging from $10,000 to $399,999 identifying as "middle class."
Less than 10 percent of participants identified as "lower middle class,” but the annual income of this group included people who earns about $350,000 a year.
In this suburb, home to technology giants such as HP, Tesla, Google and Facebook. And with that comes wealth can not be regarded as modest.
Another one said “While hundreds of millionaires live in Palo Alto, how can we define ourselves as superior class?”
The proposed hyperloop track is designed to reduce travel time between the cities of Mumbai and Pune down to just 25 minutes.
The western-central Indian state of Maharashta plans to build a Virgin Hyperloop track between Pune and Mumbai, British entrepreneur and Virgin boss Richard Branson announced on Monday in a blog post.
Virgin Hyperloop One will start by building a demo track, with the aim of eventually supporting 150 million passenger trips per year. It should reduce the 2.5-hour car journey or 3-hour train journey between the two cities to just 25 minutes, and will also stop off at Mumbai airport.
Virgin Hyperloop One is one of two main companies currently trying to bring Elon Musk's vision for the future of intercity transport to life. Previously known just as Hyperloop One, it received significant investment from transportation giant Virgin in October 2017, leading to a rebrand. Branson was announced as chairman of the company in December.
"Virgin Hyperloop One could have the same impact on India in the 21st century as trains did in the 20th century," said Branson. The proposed route is "an ideal first corridor as part of a national hyperloop network," he added.
The hype is starting to give way to reality as the wireless industry irons out the kinks in the new wireless technology. What better place to do it than a trade show in Barcelona?
5G will bring higher speeds to our phones than ever before, and it's ready and raring to go…
Well, almost.
The advent of 5G, the next generation of cellular technology, comes loaded with promises. It will enable smart cities, wireless streaming video in virtual reality, driverless cars and a huge leap in speed and reliability. The good news is we've seen demos proving it works.
But here's the bad news: We won't see the first 5G device until later this year -- and it'll likely come in the form of a wireless hotspot "puck." Phones aren't showing up until early next year at the earliest. So why should you care about 5G now?
Before 5G gets out into the wild, carriers, governments, infrastucture manufacturers, chip makers and organizations designed to bring them all together need to do some negotiating about when and how they are going to make it happen. Mobile World Congress, happening next week in Barcelona, is where many of these conversations will take place. It's not sexy, but it's necessary.
"The dull stuff is engineers in labs, testing, testing, testing, finding something that doesn't work, fixing it," said Ben Timmons, senior director of marketing and business development for Qualcomm in Europe.
Not that people won't be shouting from the rooftops about 5G. In fact, we expect it to be on the lips of most of the attendees. "Last year's MWC was a 5G hype-fest, CES last month was a 5G hypeapolooza and 5G hype at this year's MWC will be even bigger,"T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said in an email.
But the real opportunity of the show is a chance to see what the next generation of networks and phones will be capable of. Think integrated augmented and virtual-reality applications that work without wires, or low-power sensors that can run for years on a single battery charge.
Ben Wood, an analyst for CCS Insight, predicts that there could be announcements from Google and its partners about its ARCore platform, its 3D-sensing camera technology. Sophisticated areas like ARCore and VR tax not only our phones, but also the networks, something that 5G will solve.
Last year at MWC, Qualcomm, Intel, Huawei and other industry leaders got together and agreed to accelerate efforts to create the first network standard, which they formalized in December. At CES in January, Qualcomm CEO Stephen Mollenkopf said 5G will be the biggest thing since electricity.
This year, Ray expects the conversation to be geared around deciding what 5G services will look like in the future, which will mean "more than just speed," encompassing talks around spectrum and applications for the internet of things. He's looking forward to having "a grown-up conversation about what 5G needs and the best path to get to real, mobile, standards based, nationwide 5G," he said.
Key players from the US and Asia are likely to have substantive plans to discuss, said Ian Fogg, senior director for mobile and telecoms at IHS Markits. Korea and Japan are at the forefront of rolling out 5G, while Verizon is testing 5G as a broadband replacement service this year. The others are all vowing to have mobile 5G networks up shortly after.
Meanwhile, Europe has to play catch-up after taking a more cautious approach.
"Despite the EU's lofty ambitions for the region to be among the 5G pace setters, most providers remain focussed on making the most of their significant investments in 4G/LTE," said CCS Insight analyst Kester Mann. "I'd say Western Europe is probably one to two years adrift of trailblazing markets like the US and South Korea."
Perhaps a meeting or two in Barcelona will jumpstart their ambitions.
Social network singled out in indictment charging 13 Russians with interfering with the US election.
Facebook is the world's largest social network so perhaps it's only natural it would also prove popular with Russians trying to sow discord during the 2016 US election.
The social networking giant was singled out in an indictment unsealed Friday that charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups with interfering with the 2016 presidential election. The 37-page indictment detailed how Russians used stolen identities to pose as Americans on Facebook and Instagram, creating Facebook groups, buying divisive ads and posting inflammatory images.
While not accusing Facebook of any wrongdoing, the indictment detailed how critical the social media platform was to Russian efforts to disrupt the election. Facebook and its photo-sharing app Instagram were mentioned 41 times in the indictment, while Twitter was referred to nine times and YouTube only once.
The world's largest social network, along with Twitter and Google, have been scrutinized in recent months by Congress after US intelligence agencies determined that the Russian government had used these platforms to disseminate false news and advertisements in an attempt to influence US elections in 2016.
It was considered a major security concern during the Senate Intelligence Committee's annual "Worldwide Threats" hearing on Tuesday. The trolls would work both sides of the same issue, with the primary goal to misinform and create political divide.
In an indictment released Friday (PDF), US special counsel Robert Mueller and the Justice Department called out the Internet Research Agency, a group linked to Russian propaganda efforts across social media. Employees for the IRA created troll accounts and used bots to stage arguments and sow political chaos during the 2016 campaign.
The group allegedly controlled the Facebook accounts "Clinton FRAUDation," and "Trumpsters United," and the Twitter account "March for Trump." Many of their tweets would include the hashtags "#Trump2016,""#TrumpTrain,""#MAGA,""#IWontProtectHillary" and "Hillary4Prison," the indictment said.
The agency also set up fake rallies at the same location for both sides of the political divide. On Nov. 12, 2016, the agency organized two events on Facebook, one called "show your support for President-Elect Donald Trump" and one called "Trump is NOT my President." It was at the same time and both in New York.
According to the indictment, the organization included hundreds of staffers dedicated to trolling online and had an annual budget into the millions.
Facebook told the Senate Judiciary Committee in October that about 126 million Americans, or roughly one-third of the nation's population, were exposed to Russian-backed content on Facebook during the 2016 presidential election.
The social-networking giant also said in September it had identified about 500 "inauthentic accounts" that bought $100,000 worth of ads that targeted highly politicized social issues such as immigration, guns and LGBT rights.
Joel Kaplan, Facebook's vice president of global policy, said in a statement that the social network is "grateful" the US government is taking action against the IRA for abusing their services.
Source:CNet
The US National Labor Relations Board says Google fired the author of a controversial diversity memo not to silence a dissenter, but over "unprotected discriminatory statements."
Ex-Googler James Damore. The National Labor Relations Board says the tech giant didn't break the law when it fired him. The issue has made Damore a poster child for conservatives in the debate over identity politics. Dhillon Law Group
Google didn't break the law when it fired James Damore over a memo that criticized the company's diversity policies and claimed tech's gender gap may be due to biological differences between men and women.
That's the word this week from a lawyer with the US National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency that oversees employment practices.
Before his firing, Damore had filed a complaint with the NLRB that charged Google with "misrepresenting and shaming me in order to silence my complaints."
But in an agency memorandum made public Thursday, an NLRB lawyer said Google fired the computer engineer not for expressing dissenting views or criticism, but over "unprotected discriminatory statements" in his memo, which he'd posted to internal discussion forums at the tech giant.
"Employers have a strong interest in promoting diversity and encouraging employees across diverse demographic groups to thrive in their workplaces," attorney Jayme Sophir wrote in the memorandum (PDF), originally penned in January. "Employers must be permitted to 'nip in the bud' the kinds of employee conduct that could lead to a 'hostile workplace.'"
Damore withdrew the NLRB complaint last month to focus on a lawsuit against Google.
The company fired Damore last August for a memo in which he criticized Google's inclusion and diversity policies and accused the tech giant of having a left-leaning "monoculture" that led to an "ideological echo chamber." Damore has since become a poster child for conservatives in the debate over identity politics.
Damore's memo also said tech's male-skewed employment ranks may be due to biological differences between the sexes. Among other things, it said women can't handle stress as well, which may account for the lower number of them in high-pressure jobs.
Damore's memo made headlines before his firing when it was obtained by the press after it had reportedly gone viral within Google and caused outragethere. The continuing debate over the memo and Damore's sacking exemplifies a larger argument in which some critics attack Silicon Valley for a sexist, "brogrammer" culture, while others accuse the Valley of being a "one-party state" that's intolerant of conservative viewpoints.
The day Damore was dismissed, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in his own memo, to employees, that parts of Damore's missive "violate our Code of Conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes in our workplace. To suggest a group of our colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to that work is offensive and not OK."
Propaganda-tracking sites report uptick in shooting-related terms following deadly spree in Florida.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
A day after the deadliest school shooting in the US in five years, Russian bots on Thursday began inundating Twitter with gun-related tweets.
Shooting-related terms dominated the trending hashtags and trending topics at Hamilton 68, a website created by the bipartisan security organization Securing Democracy to track activity from Twitter accounts it's identified as linked to Russian influence campaigns. Popular terms included guncontrol, gunreformnow, floridaschoolshooting and nikolascruz, which refers to the suspect in the shooting.
At Botcheck.me, a website that tracks 1,500 political propaganda bots, the dashboard for most-popular hashtags in the past 24 hours was dominated by terms such as guncontrol, parkland and gunreformnow. Ash Bhat, one of the project's creators, wouldn't speculate on who was behind the bots his site tracks but told Wired the bots amplify the hashtags until they're eventually adopted by human users.
The figures from the bot-tracking sites illustrate how Russian meddlers continue to manipulate the platform following efforts to use social networks to sow discontent during the 2016 US election. Those efforts targeted highly politicized social issues such as immigration, guns and LGBT rights.
Twitter has said it detects about 450,000 "suspicious" logins a day that may be bots or computer programs created to automatically post and respond to things on Twitter. It's also said it's identified 3,814 accounts linked to the Internet Research Agency, which was the seat of the Russian propaganda effort during the election.
Prosecutors on Thursday charged Cruz, a 19-year-old former student at the school, with 17 counts of premeditated murder after the rampage Wednesday at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Fifteen other students were wounded.
Twitter didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Social network leaves up harassing fake tweets despite complaints, journalist tells BuzzFeed.
Joe Raedle / Getty Images
Twitter users tried to hamper a newspaper reporter's efforts to cover the deadly high school shooting in Florida on Wednesday by harassing her and doctoring her tweets.
As the shooter began a rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that would claim at least 17 lives, many students at the school began posting to social media about their experience during the ordeal. The Miami Herald's Alex Harris reached out to some students at the school in Parkland, Florida, for more information and soon discovered Twitter users sending fake screenshots of her tweets.
One doctored tweet requested "pictures or video of dead bodies," while another made it look like she was asking whether the shooter was white, she said in a tweet in which she denied asking for details about race.
"That one went nuts, that one picked up tremendous steam," Harris told BuzzFeed, noting it was picked up by Reddit and a white nationalist forum.
She said one person in particular seemed to follow her every move, trying to put up obstacles to her
"He would follow my tweets and every time I tweeted at someone, he would reply, 'Don't talk to her, she's been harassing students,'" she said. "People kept saying, 'Don't talk to her, she's racist,' and it just kept getting worse."
She told the news outlet she began reporting the tweets almost immediately, but Twitter didn't take them down.
The behavior impeded a local reporter's ability to gather breaking news, but it's nothing new to Twitter. Harassment and bullying have been a public blight on the social network for years. Some particularly ugly episodes occurred in 2016, including a hate mob attacking Leslie Jones, a star of last summer's "Ghostbusters" movie.
In response to a high-profile protest against Twitter, CEO Jack Dorsey said last year the company would take a "more aggressive stance" to policing harassing tweets.
Twitter didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about its policies regarding impersonating the verified account of a journalist on its platform. A Twitter representative directed BuzzFeed to a blog post from June about misinformation spread on its site.
"We, as a company, should not be the arbiter of truth. Journalists, experts and engaged citizens Tweet side-by-side correcting and challenging public discourse in seconds," the post says. "These vital interactions happen on Twitter every day, and we're working to ensure we are surfacing the highest quality and most relevant content and context first."
You may not impersonate individuals, groups, or organizations in a manner that is intended to or does mislead, confuse, or deceive others. While you may maintain parody, fan, commentary, or newsfeed accounts, you may not do so if the intent of the account is to engage in spamming or abusive behavior.
After being alerted to the situation Thursday evening, Dorsey said simply that he was "investigating."
The investor who made a massive bet on Facebook thought about exiting over national politics, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Stephen Shankland/CNET
Peter Thiel, the venture capitalist renowned for his early investments and his conservative views, considered resigning from Facebook's board of directors because of political tensions between him and another Facebook director, according to a Wall Street Journal report Thursday. Thiel has served on Facebook's board since 2005, the year after it was founded.
Thiel is reducing his involvement in the tech industry and moving to Los Angeles from Silicon Valley because of what he sees as the industry's "intolerant, left-leaning politics" the Journal reported, citing people familiar with Thiel's thinking. The billionaire investor will move Thiel Capital and Thiel Foundation into new LA headquarters this year, the paper said.
Thiel has had a strained relationship with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who also serves with him on the social network's board, over Thiel's support for President Donald Trump, according to the article. Thiel donated $1.5 million to Trump's presidential campaign.
"Silicon Valley is a one-party state," Thiel said last month in a debate with Hastings at Stanford University. "That's when you get in trouble politically in our society, when you're all in one side."
In a leaked email obtained by the New York Times, Hastings wrote to Thiel in August 2016, "I'm so mystified by your endorsement of Trump for our President, that for me it moves from 'different judgment' to 'bad judgment.'" Hastings called Thiel's support "catastrophically bad judgment" and "not what anyone wants in a fellow board member" in the email.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confronted both Hastings and Thiel, concerned that one of them had leaked the email, the Journal reported. In a phone call, Zuckerberg and Thiel discussed whether the investor remain on the board. Facebook's CEO didn't ask for Thiel to quit and Thiel said he wouldn't leave voluntarily, the WSJ reporting, citing a person familiar with the discussion.
Thiel has decided to stay with the board, at least for now, because he feels he can still help the company, the paper reported.
Facebook declined CNET's request for comment.
Thiel's name entered broader public consciousness two years when word broke that he had financially backed wrestler Hulk Hogan's successful lawsuit against Gawker Media, which eventually forced the online publisher out of business.
Thiel invested $500,000 in the social network in 2004 as it was starting. November, he sold 73 percent, or almost $30 million, of his remaining shares, according to securities filings.
He started PayPal in 1998, launched data analysis company Palantir Technologies, and is a partner at Founders Fund, which invested in SpaceX and Airbnb. He also started the Thiel Fellowship, which encourages young people to start companies instead of attending college.
Over the past two years, he has has resigned from the boards of HR software company Zenefits and Asana, which helps work teams collaborate. He has also cut ties with startup incubator Y Combinator and sold most of his shares in Twilio Inc.
This week’s episode is all about the future. Thanks to technology, the highest capacity rocket platform ever, the Falcon Heavy, blasted into space.
Meanwhile, down here on Earth, Uber is working to make urban air travel a thing, and companies are developing products and conducting studies that can detect diabetes, just by wearing the Apple Watch. This is the world we live in.
On this week’s episode, we chat with Uber Head of Policy of Autonomous Vehicles and Urban Aviation Justin Erlich.
London cabbies have to memorize every street in the city before they can get behind the wheel of a taxi. To them, it brings a critical advantage that GPS-wielding Uber could never provide.
London's black cabs are a crucial part of the city's character, on par with a double-decker bus or a "Mind the Gap" sign.
Hop in a taxi and your experience will typically feature the following: a chatty driver with opinions on almost everything, a route that takes what feels like a hundred turns, and no dashboard GPS device to guide the cabbie through the city's labyrinthine streets.
For all that, you can thank the Knowledge, a 153-year-old system for memorizing every street and landmark in a six-mile area of central London. The Knowledge requires all cabbies to navigate between any two points in the city entirely from memory. Hopeful drivers study for three to fours years, traverse London on a motor scooter to learn the shortest routes across town and are required to pass a series of intense oral exams -- all before they can get behind the wheel of a taxi. It's a process unmatched anywhere in the world.
Before you can drive one of these, you have to learn every street in London. Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Created in 1865 for horse-drawn carriages, the Knowledge has survived the automobile and London's explosive growth into a global city. These days, though, technology is presenting the Knowledge with new challenges. Anyone can access a GPS device to get around, and though they also ply London streets performing a similar job, Uber drivers don't have to learn the Knowledge to earn a license (they only have to pass a less stringent map reading test). Cabbies complain that makes for an unequal playing field, but the drivers I spoke with aren't fazed. They proudly defend the Knowledge and insist they couldn't do their job as well without it.
But that doesn't mean they're not adapting.
A student at the Wizann Knowledge school studies runs through London. Kent German/CNET
Back to school
To better understand how cabbies learn the Knowledge, I visited Wizann, a Knowledge school near London City Airport where hopeful cab drivers can get extra help. Dean Warrington, the school's founder and a former cabbie, let me attend an hour-long evening class. With its fluorescent lights and dull-patterned carpet, the classroom looks like any other. Except, that is, for the large maps of London on two walls, and, on top of each student's desk, another map covered in plastic film.
The purpose of the class is to review a few runs, or the routes through London that cabbies have to learn. Each student has a list of runs that were asked about during the previous day in appearances, or the one-on-one oral exams with the London transit authority that are part of the Knowledge process. Warrington calls out the first one: Willesden Junction to Angel Underground station. The 13 students (12 men and one woman) lean over their maps to trace the run with dry-erase markers.
As a fellow student traces his directions on a map, hopeful driver Jake Whincup calls out a run across southern London from memory. Kent German/CNET
Next to me is Jake Whincup, a physical education teacher by day and Knowledge student by night. He talks for a few minutes with the student sharing his table about the best way to go, but when he settles on a route, he closes his eyes and slowly calls out the turns from memory. His focus is so powerful, I'm sure that if I could peer into his brain, I'd see synapses firing. It's mesmerizing to watch.
As Whincup works, Warrington stops to talk to another student, Hussein (he declined to give his surname). As they talk about whether it's best to always go over or under Regent's Park (always go under), Warrington gently corrects Hussein's first set of turns.
Wizann student Hussein draws a run that was called at an appearance the previous day. Kent German/CNET
"Every run you take, the beginning and end are most important," Warrington says, drawing on Hussein's map. "You can't muck up the beginning."
Warrington then calls on a few students to plot their runs. When no one gets it exactly correct, he spills out the directions as casually as if he were a waiter rattling off salad dressing choices. A debate breaks out over whether you can turn left on a certain road (remember, you're driving on the left). Whinchup uses Google Streetview on his phone to check for sure.
At the Sherbet Knowledge school, Joe Pearson shows how students use a fabric cord to draw a straight line between two points. Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Later, as he tracks a different run (Wandsworth County Court to Belsize Park Underground station), Whincup uses a fabric cord to draw a straight line between the two points. Warrington says the idea is to use that line as a guide when planning your run and try to keep as close to it as possible.
"The shortest distance matters," he says. "You can go further from the straight line as long as it's the shortest route."
Wizann founder Dean Warrington (left) urges his students to always take the shortest route between two points, even if it's not the fastest route. Kent German/CNET
The Knowledge at work
Hop in a black cab (they're officially called "Hackney Carriages") to see The Knowledge in action. Name your destination and you'll typically get a nod in response. True story: In the three years I've lived in London, I can count on one hand the times when the driver didn't immediately recognize where I wanted to go.
Even when you don't get an instant nod, the Knowledge quickly takes over. Rather than admitting outright that they don't know your address, London cabbies will ask questions to clarify. It's a common trick to narrow down the mass of the city to a specific area. A nearby major road is usually enough.
Any taxi ride in London involves many turns, but the goal is not to travel too far from a straight line between the origin and destination. Kent German/CNET
"I'll guarantee that with all my drivers, if I ask them to take you to any road in London, they will ask you one question: 'Where is that off?,"' says Asher Moses, a cabbie for 28 years and the CEO of Sherbet, a company that rents taxis and runs a Knowledge school. "That's all we need to identify that road instantly."
Mick Smith, a driver for 28 years, says that even for the tiniest lane, he needs to go there only once to remember it later. "When you're out on the road all the time, it sort of slots in. Getting there is never the problem, but the more information a taxi driver has, the better."
Taxi driver Asher Moses says that London without the Knowledge would be like London without the red bus. Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The Knowledge really kicks into gear once your ride starts. London cabbies can't go a few blocks without making a turn -- then another and another till you think you're going in a circle. They'll use the narrowest alleys, rail station approach roads and pretty much anywhere that the cab can fit to get to your destination.
If variables like road works or the ever-present traffic suddenly get in the way, they'll compute a new direction without having to ask a GPS screen. Sometimes, they'll tell you where they're going or ask if you prefer a specific route. As a passenger, it can be a challenge to relax and remember that a seemingly circuitous route doesn't mean that you're lost or getting ripped off. Sure, that can happen -- I had a ride recently where even I knew a shorter way -- but it's rare.
Though cabbies and Knowledge students occasionally use GPS and paper maps as a reference tool, their minds become their ultimate guides. Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Keeping calm on a twisting ride is an understandable challenge for tourists, but the proliferation of mapping apps has caused even longtime Londoners to ask questions.
"Now with technology, you got people sitting in the back of the cab using Google Maps," Smith says. "And because you're not driving what it says on their thing, people say, 'Why are we going this way?'"
Cabbie Mick Smith says he needs to go somewhere in London only once to remember it later. Kent German/CNET
Technology as a tool
Even if it can make a passenger restless, GPS has emerged as a tool for some cabbies. Tony Norris, a cabbie for 31 years and a teacher at the Sherbet Knowledge school, will sometimes use it to initially locate an unfamiliar address before letting the Knowledge take over.
"I don't know every point in London and I don't know every street in London," he says. "But if [a GPS device] tells me a street that I don't know is near Fulham Broadway, I'll get you there. That's the difference for me -- I haven't got to sit there and drive with one hand looking at a map."
Joe Pearson stands in a classroom of Sherbet London's Knowledge school. Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Joe Pearson, a hopeful cabbie currently studying the Knowledge at Sherbet, says that even though it isn't reliable all the time, he uses Google Maps to help learn new runs. "If I'm desperate and I need it, I'll take a quick look."
That's fine, Moses says, but replacing the Knowledge with a GPS device would change fundamentally London's character. "Taking away the Knowledge would be like taking away the black cab, the red bus and the telephone boxes," he says. "Eventually, yes, [taxis] might become electric vehicles without drivers, but until then I don't see a time without the Knowledge."
Smith says Transport for London, the city agency which administers the Knowledge, could change its scope to a smaller area of London, but it will always be relevant since it gives him a grounding that technology can't replace. "There's not a doctor or an attorney that doesn't use a reference book," he says. "People always talk about using GPS over the Knowledge, but if your phone doesn't work, you still have to have the basics."
Norris has a slightly different take: Taxis would survive without the Knowledge, but killing it would be a terrible thing. The Knowledge lets cabbies deliver a level of service unmatched anywhere in the world, he says, both because they always know where to go and because the appearances teach them how to interact with passengers.
"Over the years there was talk about technology and computerizing [the Knowledge], but what they lose by doing that is they don't have the one-to-one scenario," Norris says. "It's how you deal with the public. If they want to call you a rotten old so-and-so, well, then you have to say to them, 'Well, my mother loves me, and that's all I worry about.'"
London's taxi drivers send Uber a message
Sit back and relax
Until driverless taxis really arrive, it's difficult to imagine London without the black cabs just as they are. It was a cold, rainy night when I attended Wizann, and I opted for a taxi over a longer Underground ride home. As I approached a taxi rank, the driver of the front cab rolled down her window. "Hop in, love," she said. "It's not a night for a walk, but it's warm inside."
I gave my Bermondsey address, but it was clear that my street, a two-block long lane not far from the River Thames, didn't immediately register. She asked a question to narrow down the location and then another. Still no go. But when I gave her the name of an adjacent major road, it's as if I could hear the gears of the Knowledge lock into place in her head.
"Of course," she said, "I know right where that is."
Minutes later we were on our way past Canary Wharf without a wrong turn. I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.
A day after Google said it's bringing the smart home company back under its control, the Nest co-founder says he's departing.
Nest co-founder Matt Rogers says he's leaving the maker of smart home gadgets.
The move comes a day after Google's parent Alphabet said it was reuniting Nest with Google. The search giant said the move was aimed at infusing more of Google's machine learning and artificial intelligence technology into Nest's product line, which includes a smart thermostat and smoke detector.
Rogers will stay on the through the transition, but after that, he'll depart to devote more time to Incite.org, a venture firm and lab he co-founded.
Here's his statement:
After almost nine incredible, intense years working to build Nest, I've decided to begin my transition to dedicate more of my time to Incite.org, as well as to start thinking about the next adventure. In the coming months, I'll be working closely with Google's Hardware leads to define the 2019 roadmap and to ensure a smooth integration of Nest into Google's Hardware group.
Nest has been an amazing journey and the honor of my career to build. Together with the Nest team and our partners, we've helped save over 19 billion kWh of energy, helped save a number of lives -- both human and pets -- with Nest Protect, and helped families feel more safe at home with Nest Secure and Nest Cam. And along the way, we managed to build the leading brand in the connected home space. I could not be more proud of what we have accomplished and can't wait to see what's next for Nest.
Rogers, Nest's chief product officer, co-founded the company in 2011 with former CEO Tony Fadell, after leaving Apple the year before. The two played key roles in the development of the iPod. Rogers was also one of the first engineers of the original iPhone and iPad.
The departure of Rogers, Nest's last remaining co-founder, marks the close of a chapter for the company. Google bought the buzzy startup in 2014 for $3 billion, in an effort to bring more hardware chops to the search giant. But Nest's tenure there has been rocky. Fadell left the company in 2016 after much turmoil and public drama. For example, he feuded with Greg Duffy, CEO of Dropcam, the smart camera company Nest bought later that year. After Duffy left Nest, he called his decision to sell the company a "mistake."
Fadell was replaced with Marwan Fawaz, a former Motorola executive. On Wednesday, Alphabet said it was reuniting Nest with Google, after three years of Nest being a semi-independent unit. As part of the change, Fawaz will now report to Rick Osterloh, the head of Google's hardware division, responsible for all the company's consumer devices, including the Google Home smart speaker and Pixel smartphones.
Rogers on Thursday said he'll be focusing on Incite, an investing organization that has three arms, each of which focuses on a different area. Incite Ventures is a fund that backs "mission-driven enterprises;" Incite Labs is a nonprofit that extends grants for charitable, educational and scientific purposes; and Incite Politics organizes and supports "initiatives to pass legislation and elect candidates who approach our country's issues from a fresh perspective."
The second day on the stand for Uber ex-CEO Travis Kalanick gets off to a riveting start as Waymo lawyers grill him about what he knew and when he knew it.
It's been a tough morning for Uber's former CEO, Travis Kalanick, who faced a second day of grilling Wednesday from Waymo's lawyers about his efforts to compete against Google's self-driving car program.
That included being shown the minutes of a meeting held April 28 that read: "Top priorities from [Travis Kalanick] ... cheat codes, find them, use them."
Waymo attorney Charles Verhoeven: "You said this in a meeting, didn't you?"
Kalanick: "It's quite possible."
Verhoeven: "The golden time is over. It's war time?"
Kalanick: "It sounds like something I would say."
Kalanick is the highest-profile executive to speak so far in the Waymo v. Uber trial at San Francisco's federal courthouse. The case revolves around allegations from Waymo, the self-driving car spinoff of Google parent Alphabet, that Uber stole trade secrets to use for its own self-driving program. If Uber loses, it may be forced to pay nearly $2 billion in damages and halt its self-driving program.
Travis Kalanick leaves the San Francisco federal courthouse Tuesday with his father, Donald Kalanick. James Martin/CNET
After being grilled by Waymo's attorneys Tuesday and early Wednesday, Kalanick got his chance to give Uber's side of the story. That included being shown a text exchange between Kalanick and Anthony Levandowski -- whom Kalanick had hired to run Uber's self-driving program -- in which both agreed that "second place is first loser" in the race to win the autonomous vehicle market.
Under Kalanick's leadership, Uber became known for an overly aggressive culture rife with gender bias, unprofessional business practices and even a secret tool, called Greyball, that it used to identify authorities trying to crack down on the ride-hailing service. After months of scandals, Uber's top investors forced Kalancick to resign in June.
Throughout the first few days of the trial, Verhoeven has painted a picture of Uberas a company that would do anything to win. He's presented emails, interview transcripts and meeting minutes showing Uber's efforts to "leapfrog" over Google.
Center to the case is Waymo's allegations that its former engineer, Levandowski, pilfered about 14,000 files from it before quitting in 2016 to form his own self-driving truck startup, Otto, which Uber later acquired. Uber says it never received these files from Levandowski.
Levandowski is expected to take the stand during the trial, but so far he's pleaded the Fifth Amendment. So it's unclear if he'll answer questions about Waymo's allegations.
Before acquiring Otto, Uber had commissioned forensics firm Stroz Friedberg to conduct due diligence on Levandowski and his startup. The firm reported that Levandowski possessed Google information, encouraged Google employees to join Otto, met with Uber executives while still working at Google, and had destroyed proprietary information -- "including source code, files, and software pertaining to self-driving cars" -- he had stored on five disks.
Kalanick testified Wednesday that he never read the Uber-commissioned report. But he did say that Uber agreed to indemnify Levandowski if Google ever sued.
Levandowski has a long history of working on self-driving cars. He joined Google as a software engineer in 2007 and helped pioneer the tech giant's self-driving-car project. Much of his work dealt with lidar, formally known as "light detection and ranging." Lidar is one of the main technologies used in both Waymo and Uber's self-driving cars and lets vehicles "see" their surroundings and detect traffic, pedestrians, bicyclists and other obstacles.
Explaining 'cheat codes'
Finally, after more than an hour Wednesday under Waymo's glare, Kalanick got a chance to explain why he wanted to compete against Google, under questioning from Uber lawyer Karen Dunn.
Uber's former CEO said he originally wanted to partner with Google, "kind of like little brother with the big brother," but got worried after hearing rumors of Google getting into ride sharing. He said he tried to meet with Alphabet CEO Larry Page, but Page was angry at Uber for acquiring 40 researchers from Carnegie Mellon's robotics lab.
"Generally, Google was super not happy, unpumped, about us doing this," Kalanick told the court.
Dunn also asked Kalanick to explain the meaning of "cheat codes."
"Cheat codes are like elegant solutions to problems that haven't yet been thought of," he said.
Waymo's Verhoeven challenged that definition, asking Kalanick about gaming. "I think I read in the news you've been playing a lot of video games," he said.
Kalanick: "When I'm between gigs I play iPhone games sometimes."
Verhoeven: "You know what a cheat code is. You don't have the game but you can cheat and get to the next level."
Kalanick: "No."
And with that, the judge allowed Kalanick to leave the court.
On day one of Silicon Valley's highly anticipated trial, lawyers make claims of theft and conspiracy.
The first day of the Waymo v. Uber trial over self-driving car trade secrets had it all: a packed courtroom, comical technical glitches and the creation of a fake Twitter account in the judge's name.
And that's aside from the testimony.
The high-profile Silicon Valley case pits Waymo -- the self-driving car unit of Google's parent company, Alphabet -- against Uber, the world's most highly valued startup. Waymo claims Uber's former star engineer stole 14,000 "highly confidential" files to develop its own technology. Uber calls the claim "baseless."
Monday was the first day of the trial, which is expected to last at least three weeks. Lawyers for the two companies presented their opening statements, aiming to toss barbs into each other's cases.
"It's unconscionable that there are this many lawyers in the room," said Judge William Alsup, who is presiding over the case in San Francisco's District Court for the Northern District of California. "Nine lawyers per side is a world record, for my courtroom anyway."
It's on Waymo's lawyers to prove that not only did Uber get its hands on the 14,000 files, but also that it actually used the documents to develop its self-driving cars. If Uber is found to have pilfered the files, it may be forced to halt its autonomous-vehicle program and hand nearly $2 billion over to Waymo.
Waymo laid out its side of the case, painting Uber as a cut-throat company that would do anything to win, including stealing, taking shortcuts and breaking the law.
"This case is about a company making a decision that it had to develop this technology in order for its business model to survive," said Waymo's lawyer Charles Verhoeven. "It made a decision that winning is more important than obeying the law."
He outlined the history of Waymo, which started in 2009 as Google's self-driving car project formerly known as "Project Chauffeur." He talked about the work of the company's star engineer, Anthony Levandowski, who allegedly stole the 14,000 files before forming his own self-driving truck startup Ottomotto that was then acquired by Uber.
Verhoeven showed slides detailing secretive text messages and coded language that people at Uber used to talk about getting Levandowski on the team -- even though he was still working at Google.
"Plan is to pull Anthony and team into Uber instead of working with them as a separate company," one email sent to former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick read. "Laser is the sauce (AL laser ends up being critical to AV success - no clear substitute)."
Verhoeven explained that what that email meant is Levandowski's self-driving car laser is what was necessary for Uber to achieve autonomous vehicle success.
Uber: Waymo has it all wrong
When it came time for Uber to recount its story for the jury, it called Waymo's rendition pure fiction.
"That was quite a story we just heard," said Uber lawyer Bill Carmody. "I want to tell you right up front it didn't happen. There's no conspiracy, there's no cheating. Period. End of story,"
Uber said it never got the 14,000 files that Levandowski allegedly stole and its motive in getting him on the team was to acquire one of the world's top self-driving car engineers. The development of autonomous vehicles is a competitive space, Carmody said, and all companies involved vie for the best talent.
"What they're looking for, what Google is looking for, what Uber is looking for is the most talented engineers," Carmody said. Levandowski is "a pioneer in the autonomous vehicle business."
Uber's lawyer presented slides with a 2015 email from Chauffeur's head, Chris Urmson, to Google's co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. The emails illustrated the company's fear of losing to Uber.
"Uber is acquiring the people I suggested we hire 1.5 years ago but was denied the opportunity to do so," Urmson wrote. "We have a choice between being the headline or the footnote in history's book on the next revolution in transportation. Let's make the right choice."
The day wrapped up with Waymo calling its first two witnesses -- its CEO John Krafcik and Vice President of Engineering Dmitri Dolgov. Both men talked about the work Waymo has done to develop its self-driving car program and aimed to show the central reason the company is suing Uber is because of the allegedly stolen trade secrets.
"We believe in competition, we believe in fair competition," Krafcik said. "What we came to find was that aspects of our technology were taken from us in an unfair fashion."
Dolgov's testimony will continue on Tuesday. Several other witnesses who will be called to the stand include Google security engineer Gary Brown, Waymo's self-driving systems architect abd William Grossman. Uber's Kalanick is also expected to testify as early as Tuesday. Others, including Levandowski and Page, have been listed as potential witnesses as well.
The Facebook chief executive says he's made "almost every mistake you can imagine" as the social network puts 14 candles on its cake.
Mark Zuckerberg used Facebook's 14th birthday to chronicle the social network's growth from dorm room project to globe-spanning communication platform. Sounds like making mistakes is a crucial element of success.
Almost half of the 245-word post on Sunday is about missteps Zuckerberg has made as Facebook's chief executive. The post doesn't offer specific examples, but describes relatively common problems at all organizations, such as "technical errors." However, Zuckerberg also said he's made "bad deals,""trusted the wrong people" and "missed important trends."
"Over the years I've made almost every mistake you can imagine. I've made dozens of technical errors and bad deals. I've trusted the wrong people and I've put talented people in the wrong roles," Zuckerberg said in the candid post. "I've missed important trends and I've been slow to others. I've launched product after product that failed."
Somehow in spite of all that, Facebook has managed to become the dominant social network on the planet, with more than 2 billion users who stop by at least once a month. It pulled in nearly $13 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2017.
Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the issues Zuckerberg mentioned.
The acknowledgment comes as Facebook, as well as peers Google and Twitter, faces scrutiny about its influence and reach after the service was abused by Russian agents. Facebook has recently said it will prioritize posts from family and friends over posts from brands and media outlets. It will also push local stories in user news feeds.
Last month, Zuckerberg laid out his personal challenge for 2018, pledging to fix Facebook's assortment of problems over the course of "a serious year of self-improvement."
If you want to leave a generous tip for your Uber driver, you may have to use cash because the ride-hailing app has a ceiling. Lyft has tipping limits, too.
Denise can't exactly remember the number of stops she made driving an Uber passenger who needed to run a bunch of errands -- fast.
"He needed to go from A to B, then B to C, then C back to A again," says Denise, who doesn't want to use her last name. He told me, 'Oh my God, I'm so glad you're doing this. You're making my day so much easier.'
She drove him around Los Angeles for more than 90 minutes, yet traveled only 35 miles or so in that time. And since Uber primarily uses mileage to calculate its fares, the ride didn't cost much. The grateful passenger said he wanted to give her a big tip: $20.
He tapped the tip into the app -- and paused, "You gotta be kidding me," he told her. "It's saying it's over the limit."
Uber's app refused to let Denise's passenger tip $20 (or more), and he didn't have any cash on him. He ended up giving her the most the app would allow: $14.80.
Denise has been a full-time Uber driver for six years and never saw a tip limit before. But then, it's only been possible to tip Uber drivers from the app for the past six months.
Drivers had asked the company for years to include tipping, but Uber insisted passengers appreciated the convenience of a tip-free ride. Finally, after months of scandals, executive shakeups and strained driver relations, Uber launched in-app tipping in June.
"You told us what you want and it's time we step up and give you the driving experience you deserve," the company wrote on its website at the time. "Because simply put, Uber wouldn't exist without you,"
It was a move meant to showcase a new Uber, an Uber that appreciates its drivers. But the company didn't say anything about a ceiling for those tips. For some, the omission is a sign that Uber still doesn't "get" drivers. Others see it as classic tone deafness in a company that's working to move beyond lip service. No matter how you look at it, though, it's clear Uber needs to address this issue, which could push drivers to defect.
Uber limits
A glance through driver forums, blogs and social media groups shows that the tip limit has caught many Uber drivers by surprise. Dozens of drivers posted stories similar to Denise's, asking what gives.
"I figured it was just an early-on glitch. It seemed like a bunch of drivers kept emailing us about this," says Harry Campbell, who drives for both Uber and Lyft and runs the popular Rideshare Guy blog. "They never said anything about there being a limit."
Uber confirmed to CNET it does have a limit to safeguard against "fat fingers." You know the problem: You want to tip $10 but accidently type $100 or $1,000. This way, you won't have to go through the pain and hassle of getting your money back.
Uber's tipping limit is "200 percent of the total, up to $100," a company spokesman says. That lets a passenger, say, tip $50 on a $25 fare. "Of course, riders are free to tip additional amounts in cash if they'd like."
Uber's limit for tips is 200 percent of the fare or $100. This ride's fare was $13.40 -- the tip maxed out at $26.80. Dara Kerr/CNET
Campbell thinks other reasons may have factored into the tip limit, such as avoiding scams and the 3 percent fee Uber pays credit card companies. Uber declined to confirm this.
The ride-hailing service, founded in 2009, has experienced issues with scams in the past. For example, there have been instances when riders and drivers arrange fake trips, so that Uber pays the driver but the passenger has no intention of handing over the fare.
As for the incident with Denise, Uber says it shouldn't have happened. The $20 tip was well below that ride's 200 percent limit. The company says passengers and drivers should contact customer support if they run into that problem.
Tipping can be tricky
Lyft has offered in-app tipping for more than five years, but limits gratuities to $50 or 200 percent of the cost of the ride, whichever is lower. Like Uber, it says it aims to protect riders from fat-finger typos.
But even with that $50 limit, many drivers say they make better tips with Lyft than with Uber. Driver Will Preston even did some data crunching on hundreds of past rides and wrote a blog post for the Rideshare Guy about his findings in November. Turns out he made double the tips with Lyft.
One reason may be how each app is designed. With Lyft, the app displays a picture of your driver when you reach your destination and presents the option to tip. After that, you'll be taken to another screen where you can rate your driver.
Uber's app works a little differently.
Until a couple of months ago, tipping a driver involved reopening the app once you got out of the car and clicking on the question, "How was your trip?" You'd see the option to tip only after you rated your driver.
In other words, it was kind of a pain.
In November, Uber modified its app, which the company says accounts for 15 million rides worldwide per day. Now it says it sends riders a reminder to rate their drivers when they leave the car. But customers still have to go through that rating process before they see the tip option.
"Less than one-eighth of the customers ever rate a driver, and then never see the tipping option as it is hidden beneath the rating system that they rarely use," James Worley, a Los Angeles-based driver says. "They added it, sure, but do they really want the drivers to have it better or not?"
Uber's new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says everyone should give big tips -- so they can get good ratings from drivers. "I am a very aggressive tipper right now. I pick the highest tip every time," Khosrowshahi told an audience at the World Economic Forum last week. "Everybody, tip aggressively."
But with a limit, that's not always possible.
"I don't think about it too often, because, you know, my blood pressure," Denise says. "Generosity should be something that you have no limit on."
Social network singled out in indictment charging 13 Russians with interfering with the US election.
