Google experiments in local news, MoviePass pulls out of AMC theaters and the Kalanick-Benchmark lawsuit has officially been dismissed. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
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Crunch Report | CNN shuts down Casey Neistat’s Beme
Robinhood is going to let you buy and sell crypto soon, CNN shuts down Casey Neistat’s Beme and Sotheby’s acquires Thread Genius. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Crunch Report | Google and Tencent ink patent agreement
Google inks a patent deal with Tencent, Tile lays off 30 people and Apple hires the tech team from Silicon Valley Data Science (SVDS). All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Crunch Report | GoPro Cuts 200-300 Jobs
App revenue reached $60 billion in 2017, Travis Kalanick is selling 29 percent of his Uber shares and GoPro cuts 200-300 jobs. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Crunch Report | Ethereum Hits $1,000 a Coin
Ethereum hits $1,000 a coin, Eero lays off 20% of staff and Mark Zuckerberg issues his 2018 challenge. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Crunch Report | Ethereum Hits $1,000 a Coin
Ethereum hits $1,000 a coin, Eero lays off 20% of staff and Mark Zuckerberg issues his 2018 challenge. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Crunch Report | MoneyGram’s Sale to Alibaba Blocked by U.S. Government
Spotify files to go public, BloomThat gets acquired and MoneyGram’s sale to Alibaba got blocked by the U.S. government. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Crunch Report | Telegram and Instagram Are Being Restricted in Iran
Amazon Prime shipped 5 billion Items in 2017, SuperMeat gets $3 million in funding and Telegram and Instagram are being restricted in Iran. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Crunch Report | Apple Apologizes for Slowing Down iPhones
Apple apologizes for slowing down iPhones, humans spent $200 million on apps this Christmas and Google retires the Pixel C tablet. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Crunch Report | South Korea Announces New Cryptocurrency Regulations
South Korea announces new cryptocurrency regulations coinciding with the drop in bitcoin prices, YouTube gets pulled from Fire TV and SoftBank will now own about 15 percent of Uber. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
HQ Trivia Is Coming to Android | Crunch Report
HQ Trivia is coming to Android, Amazon Echo is the No. 1 best seller on the site and the founder of LeEco is ordered to return to China. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
Crunch Report | Twitter tests a new tweetstorm feature and Tesla unveils a semi truck
Today’s Stories Apple pushes back on the release of the Homepod Twitter tests a new tweetstorm feature Tesla unveils a new semi truck Walmart will pilot the new Tesla Semis Credits Written by: Sarah Buhr Hosted by: Sarah Buhr Filmed by: Chris Gates Edited by: John Murillo Notes: Tito continues his journey in the Outback this week so you’re with me til Friday. Let’s… Read More
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Crunch Report | Hey Dillon Francis, iPhone X Is Now Available For Pre-Order
Today we’re hanging out with EDM artist Dillon Francis, Apple opens for iPhone X pre-orders and releases a sleeve for MacBooks, Walmart starts using robots in stores and Russia condemns Twitter for banning two of its media companies from advertising on the platform. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
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Crunch Report | SoftBank Vision Fund Sequels
Crunch Report | Steve Wozniak Launches Education Platform
Crunch Report | AOL Instant Messenger Is Shutting Down
Crunch Report | Patreon is raising a Series C at $450M
Crunch Report | China’s Central Bank Puts a Ban on ICOs
Crunch Report | Benchmark vs Kalanick Goes Sour
Bannon back at Breitbart after Trump White House ouster: 'I've got my hands back on my weapons'
Hold on to your butts, America. Steve Bannon is, as an ally told one reporter, “unchained” after being relieved of his White House duties as Trump’s strategic advisor
In an interview this evening, Bannon tells the Weekly Standard he’s returning to run Breitbart.com, as he was before becoming Trump’s campaign manager exactly one year and one day ago today.
Bannon will become Executive Chairman of the white supremacist “alt-right” publishing firm. “I built a f***ing machine at Breitbart,” Bannon said, “And now I’m about to go back…and we’re about to rev that machine up.”
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Trump hotel in D.C. made $2 million profit in 4 months, now charges highest rates in town
President Trump and his family own, operate, and profit bigly from the most expensive hotel in the nation’s capital. Driving the inflated rates at the Trump International Hotel in Washington: favor-seekers from around the world know to stay there when they hope to curry favor with Trump’s government.
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Crunch Report | David Letterman Is Coming to Netflix
U.S. court tosses murder conviction of Blackwater guard Nicholas Slatten in massacre of 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians
A U.S. Federal appeals court today threw out the murder conviction of former Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten, who had been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 2007 massacre of 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad.
Slatten and other former staff of military security contractor Blackwater (renamed Xe Services, now Academi, run by Erik Prince, brother of Trump DOE chief Betsy DeVos) were the focus of a high-profile legal case that has stretched on for a full decade.
Dozens of people from Iraq traveled to the United States for the trial, as we reported ten years ago here on Boing Boing. And the judge who sentenced Slatten to life in prison decided he was a nice guy who deserved a break (from the death penalty).
From Reuters:
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered a new trial after tossing out the murder conviction of former security contractor Nicholas Slatten.
The three-judge panel said Slatten should have had a separate trial instead of being tried alongside his former colleagues. At a new trial, Slatten would be able to introduce evidence that one of his co-defendants had fired the first shot.
Separately, the court said Paul Slough, Dustin Heard and Evan Liberty, who were all convicted of manslaughter and other offenses over their respective roles in the incident, should be re-sentenced because their 30-year prison terms were too long. The court also threw out one of Liberty’s convictions for attempted manslaughter.
No word from the Justice Department, or lawyers for the defendants.
The mass killing at a traffic circle in Iraq’s capital city on Sept. 16, 2007 was notable for its sheer brutality, and brought into focus concerns over the growing number of private military contractors working alongside U.S. military forces in Iraq and other mideast war zones.
Erik Prince, the founder and chief of the many-times-renamed firm at the center of this story, is now advising President Donald Trump’s regime on how to further privatize American military operations overseas.
We’ll always have the Seychelles.
In the Reuters photo above from September 20, 2007, one of the people who was wounded the Blackwater shooting attack is helped by his relatives in a hospital in Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki at the time said the U.S. embassy should stop using American security firm Blackwater after the deadly shooting, saying he would not allow Iraqis to be killed in “cold blood”.
PHOTO, TOP: Blackwater Worldwide security guard Nick Slatten (C) and attorneys leave the federal courthouse after being arraigned with 4 fellow Blackwater guards on manslaughter charges for killing unarmed civilians in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad, in Washington in this January 6, 2009 file photo. (Reuters)
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Crunch Report | SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch Planned for November
Senate fails to pass 'Skinny Repeal' of Obamacare; McCain cast crucial 'No' vote
After 7 years of grandstanding, the GOP failed to pass its utterly indefensible ‘skinny repeal’ bill to destabilize American healthcare. The Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, lost on a 51-49 vote that included some surprise yesses and nos.
What a weird night this has been in America. GOP Senators wrote a health care bill over sandwiches at lunch, released the text at night, wouldn’t answer reporter’s questions about the content of the bill, then held a vote at 1am. And they failed.
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Trump gave a weird speech to thousands of Boy Scouts in which he relitigated election & crowd sizes (again)
Trump relitigated the 2016 election, boasted about his inauguration crowds, and told other inappropriate fabulisms to a crowd of children at the 2017 Boy Scout Jamboree today, because nothing matters anymore.
“The hottest people in New York were at this party. A lot of successful people were there. And I was invited to the party,
I was very young…”
As you watch, and read the transcript, remember. The audience is primarily children. Could have been me mis-hearing, but I could swear he mis-speaks, “their road to American sex.”
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Trump lawyers are exploring his pardoning powers, and how to monkeywrench Mueller's Russia investigation
Lawyers for President Donald Trump are working on a conflict of interest case against special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, reports the Washington Post, and Trump has asked advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members, and himself, for any possible crimes linked to Mueller’s probe.
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Ding, Dong, Trumpcare's Dead: GOP Health Care Bill Collapses With 2 Senators' Dissent
Trump meets with military drone makers and VCs
President Donald Trump today “offered support for emerging technologies including unmanned aerial vehicles and next-generation wireless networks in a meeting on Thursday with the chiefs of AT&T Inc and General Electric Co and other business leaders,” reports Reuters.
At the White House today, Trump met with venture capitalists, and with telcom and drone executives, and they talked about how the federal government can speed technologies to market.
U.S. President Donald Trump (C) holds an event highlighting emerging technologies, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 22, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
The meeting, which lasted more than three hours including breakout sessions, is part of Trump’s effort to tap industry experts on how to boost U.S. competitiveness in various fields and create jobs.
On Monday, Trump met with the heads of 18 U.S. technology companies including Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp, seeking their help to make the government’s computing systems more efficient.He will meet with energy industry leaders next week.
“We want them to create new companies and lots of jobs,” Trump told the executives on Thursday. “We’re going to give you the competitive advantage that you need.”
In attendance were chief executives of several drone companies including Kespry Inc, AirMap, Airspace Inc, Measure UAS Inc, Trumbull Unmanned, and PrecisionHawk Inc.
Drone makers argued that the administration should move faster to approve broader commercial use of drones and noted that the Transportation Department does not require automakers to win pre-approval of self-driving vehicle technologies.
Senior executives at Xcel Energy Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and CenturyLink Inc also took part. Venture capital firms included Revolution LLC, headed by AOL co-founder Steve Case, 500 Startups, Cayuga Ventures, Epic Ventures and Lightspeed Ventures.
Obama administration rules opened the skies to low-level small drones for education, research and routine commercial use. The Trump administration is considering whether to expand drone use for deliveries beyond the view of an operator. Security issues would need to be addressed.
PHOTO, TOP: U.S. President Donald Trump (L) looks at a drone with Kespry CEO George Mathew (R) during an event highlighting emerging technologies, in the East Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 22, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
And in the department of interesting timing:
U.S. set to approve India’s purchase of drones before Modi visit
The United States is expected to approve India’s purchase of a naval variant of the Predator drone, a source familiar with the situation said, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi tries to revitalize relations with Washington when he meets President Donald Trump for the first time.
Securing agreement on the purchase of 22 unarmed drones is seen in New Delhi as a key test of defense ties that flourished under former President Barack Obama but have drifted under Trump, who has courted Asian rival China as he seeks Beijing’s help to contain North Korea’s nuclear program.
The deal would still require approval by Congress. California-based General Atomics, the maker of the Guardian drone sought by India, declined to comment.
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) meets with technology and telecommunications executives, including Dyan Gibbens from Trumbull Unmanned and Darius Adamczyk (R) from Honeywell, at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 22, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a gathering after he inaugurated Kochi Metro at a stadium in Kochi, India, June 17, 2017. REUTERS/Sivaram V/File Photo
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America knows the GOP's health care plan would harm Americans, new poll reveals
A Reuters/Ipsos poll June 9-13 shows “a majority of the country thinks the American Health Care Act would be harmful for low-income Americans, people with pre-existing health conditions and Medicaid recipients.”
41 percent of American adults polled are opposed to the House plan. 30% support it. Another 29% said they “don’t know.”
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Crunch Report | Amazon Bids to Buy Whole Foods for $13.7 Billion
China suddenly approves 9 Trump trademarks it previously rejected, what, no reason, why?
Multiple attacks in London described as ‘Potential Act of Terrorism’
Multiple attacks in London tonight are being described as a coordinated ‘potential act of terrorism’ by British Prime Minister Theresa May. London police confirm that more than one person was killed as a van plowed into a crowd of people at the London Bridge. One man was seen leaving the van, then running toward Borough Market, carrying a large knife. Reports of stabbings followed soon after.
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Crunch Report | The World Is Melting
Macron rewrites Trump campaign slogan as “Make Our Planet Great Again”
Emmanuel Macron, the President of France, rewrote U.S. President Donald Trump’s ‘MAGA’ campaign slogan today in protest of the administration’s absurd withdrawal from the Paris climate accords. “Make Our Planet Great Again,” says Macron. We’re in alignment with Nicaragua and Syria, says Trump.
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Crunch Report | Sprig Is Shutting Down
Crunch Report | Rumors: Amazon’s New Echo Device
Crunch Report | Elon Musk’s Tunnel Vision Gets Rendered
Crunch Report | ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Trailer…Woooah
Crunch Report | YouTube now blocking ads on low-view channels
New principal resigns after high school student newspaper challenges credentials
Amy Robertson was set to be the $93,000-a-year principal of Pittsburg High School in Kansas. But she quit before her first day after the student newspaper found that her Masters’ degree and Ph. D. were from a diploma mill.
“She was going to be the head of our school, and we wanted be assured that she was qualified and had the proper credentials,” said Trina Paul, a senior and an editor of the Booster Redux, the school newspaper. “We stumbled on some things that most might not consider legitimate credentials.” …
Pittsburg journalism adviser Emily Smith said she is “very proud” of her students. “They were not out to get anyone to resign or to get anyone fired. They worked very hard to uncover the truth.”
Students journalists published a story Friday questioning the legitimacy of the private college — Corllins University — where Robertson got her master’s and doctorate degrees years ago. U.S. Department of Education officials, contacted by The Star, confirmed student reports; the federal agency could not find evidence of Corllins in operation. The school wasn’t included among the agency’s list of schools closed since 1986. Robertson earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Tulsa.
Robertson insisted “all three of my degrees have been authenticated by the US government,” whatever that means, and that she would not respond to students’ questions about he credentials “because their concerns are not based on facts.”
You’d think “look them up on Google” would be part of the hiring process, but no!
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