A project by a group of schoolgirls has turned into their mission to have microbeads, small pieces of plastic that are found in exfoliants and household cleaners, banned in the UAE as a matter of urgency. ABU DHABI // A UAE school project raising awareness of the impact of microbeads might pale into insignificance in comparison to a US government ban and an impending one in the […]
If you work from home, then noise, from both inside and outside your house, can be a major distraction. But there are easy, affordable ways to soundproof your space. You will find that your door lets in the most amount of noise from within the home. As interior doors tend to be hollow, try replacing your current door with a solid-core version. Make sure that you apply […]
By Jonathan Stempel Shmaltz Brewing Co says some of its beer names, including several with Jewish themes, “can be a bit unorthodox.” Now a large California winery wants one of those names to be reformed. Sutter Home Winery Inc sued Shmaltz late on Monday, accusing the brewery of infringing its “Menage a Trois” trademark by selling a 12-pack of its beers with the “MANNAge a Trois” name. […]
“Nobody would fight harder for free speech than me,” wrote last year. The president-elect, though, made clear Tuesday his view that the freedom of speech shouldn’t encompass the right to burn the American flag. If he called the shots, he would consider locking up flag burners or even revoking their citizenship. Not too long ago, […] (via WSJ)
5836 25 by Shannon K. O’Neil November 11, 2016 A man displays a new 2000 Indian rupee banknote after withdrawing from a bank (Reuters/Mukesh Gupta). France’s Anticorruption ReformsAfter years of criticism for failing to prosecute foreign bribery, France adopted a new anticorruption law that will force companies doing business on its soil to take more aggressive preventative measures, and also gives the government stronger tools to fight […]
In the wake of Donald Trump’s surreal ascension to POTUS, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly defended his company’s culpability in Trump’s win. Critics have pointed to Facebook’s propagation of fake news via the site’s algorithmically curated “Trending Topics” module and—perhaps even most dastardly—within users’ News Feed as directly responsible for the rise of America’s first potentially authoritarian-ish leader. Zuck’s public refutation exists within a larger […]
Wrapped up warmly with layers of clothing, gloves, hats and goggles, the runners await the blasting siren marking the start of the race before heading off onto the barren track. Ahead of them, snow, ice and freezing temperatures for one of the most unique runs in the world – the Antarctic Ice Marathon. Some 50 runners from around the world took part in the event last week, […]
Iran and Iraq are resisting pressure from Saudi Arabia to curtail oil production, making it hard for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to reach a global output-limiting deal when it meets on Wednesday. OPEC sources told Reuters a meeting of experts in Vienna on Monday failed to bridge differences between OPEC’s de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, and the group’s second- and third-largest producers over the […]
Government Communications Headquarters, the UK signals intelligence agency, in Cheltenham, United Kingdom. (UK Ministry of Defence). Alex Grigsby is the assistant director for the Digital and Cyberspace Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations. Two weeks ago, with much fanfare, the United Kingdom released a new strategy that sets out UK government’s approach to improving the country’s cybersecurity over the next five years. It follows the UK’s previous […]
4224 28 by Adam Segal November 18, 2016 A man is silhouetted against a video screen with an Facebook logo as he poses with an Samsung S4 smartphone in this photo illustration taken in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, August 14, 2013. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters) Here is a quick round-up of this week’s technology headlines and related stories you may have missed: 1. Disinformation. Disinformation everywhere. Since Donald Trump’s […]
People have a general idea of how much a rocket-propelled grenade costs. What about a cyber weapon? (Baz Ratner/Reuters), Max Smeets is a D.Phil candidate and research affiliate of the Cyber Studies Programme at the University of Oxford. His work analyzes the proliferation of cyber weapons. Can a non-state actor take down critical infrastructure with a cyberattack? If it is not possible today, will it be possible […]
4237 28 by Adam Segal November 29, 2016 New York City skyline is seen at sunrise during a power outage August 15, 2003. (Reuters) The Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program has launched a new Cyber Brief. This one is authored by CFR Senior Fellow and Net Politics contributor Rob Knake. The U.S. federal government has long debated using insurance as a tool to create incentives for better cybersecurity in […]
November 29, 2016 The UAE Banks Federation, the professional body representing 49 banks in the UAE, hosted today (Tuesday, November 29, 2016) its 4th CEOs Advisory Council Meeting in Dubai. The meeting provided an engaging platform to assess UBF’s progress in developing a unified approach to customer complaints, discussed the industry’s preparedness in cyber-security domain and reviewed latest developments in the sector. Speaking on the sidelines of […]
Techies would probably recall Kevo Convert for its notable debut at CES this year with its smart lock solution that features electronic keys. Now its maker has made the device available for preorder. Smart Lock Kit Once installed, the Kevo Convert can automatically lock your door after 30 seconds. It can also be locked and unlocked via Bluetooth. To extend the range for users to control their door […]
VERBANIA, Italy Emma Morano, thought to be the world’s oldest person and the last to be born in the 1800s, celebrated her 117th birthday on Tuesday, still swearing by her diet of two raw eggs a day. Morano was born in November 1899, four years before the Wright brothers first took to the air. Her life has spanned three centuries, two World Wars and over 90 Italian […]
But the changes were not enough. Alexandrians dug deeper into provincialism and their faith. In a city once famed for its European-style liberalism, the Muslim Brotherhood became a powerful force. The ultraconservative Salafi movement built its base. And on New Year’s Day in 2011, the city became the scene of some of Egypt’s worst sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians in modern history. The seeds of the […]
By Alexander Winning | MOSCOW MOSCOW Russia’s former Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev privately argued to colleagues in government that the state should give up control over oil giant Rosneft, before he was arrested two weeks ago in a sting inside the company’s offices, according to two sources. A source familiar with Ulyukayev’s thinking, speaking before Ulyukayev was arrested on bribery charges on Nov. 15, told Reuters that […]
In The Edge of Seventeen, Hailee Steinfeld plays Nadine, an awkward high-school pupil who carries the woes of the world on her young shoulders. Her main childhood memory is the death of her beloved father, her mother is overprotective, her brother is a goody two-shoes and her best friend, her only friend in fact, turns out to be a disappointing traitor. This is the world according to […]
In late 2000, rumors about about a new personal transportation device that could change the way people got around started making the rounds. Steve Jobs initially said it could be “as big as the PC,” while John Doerr speculated that it would be more important than the Internet. So when the Segway was actually introduced in December 2001, anticipation was very high. But while it […]
I never thought it could happen. I never thought that Donald Trump would become President of the United States. I just couldn’t conceive of a world in which a celebrity competition reality star, oft-failed businessman, former Comedy Central Roastee, and friend of Grimace would be tapped to lead the greatest economy and military the planet has ever known. And I wasn’t the only one. […]
The sub-$100 Pinebook runs on an ARM CPU and Linux. Image: Pine The makers of a popular Raspberry Pi challenger, the $20 Pine A64, have returned with two sub-$100 Linux laptops, called Pinebooks. The Pine A64 stood out among developer boards because it was cheap and relatively powerful, helping its maker raise $1.7m on Kickstarter last year with just a $30,000 target. With an Allwinner quad-core ARM […]
The smart home is gaining ground, but it’s still a muddle of confusing standards, competing platforms, and gadgets that don’t do what you might expect. But the promise of products that can make your life a little easier is hard to resist, so I’m here to answer the inevitable questions that arise. Whether it’s figuring out the best connected door lock to assembling the right […]
Malwarebytes Ransomware continues to evolve and it is becoming more and more of a challenge for the general public to stay shielded from such threats and security experts to stay on top of the evolving strains of ransomware being found in the wild. It is not just the malicious code itself, however, which is a problem. Now, support scammers are taking tips from ransomware developers to make […]
Although women comprise a small fraction of tech professionals—just one in four, according to the National Center for Women & Information Technology—several nonprofits and startups are working to jumpstart women’s participation in computer science. In a previous column, I considered Grace Hopper Academy, a New York City coding bootcamp designed explicitly for women. GHA’s sister school, Fullstack Academy, takes that program online with a Remote […]
