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Government Announces New Auto Cybersecurity Recommendations

Business

October 24, 2016

Government Announces New Auto Cybersecurity Recommendations

U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announce for new cybersecurity recommendations to protect cars from hackers.

On Monday, U.S. regulators said automakers should provide some sort of electronic cybersecurity protection against malicious hackers. The cybersecurity guidelines were released by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and, at the moment, are only recommendations and not rules. However, this is the first step towards establishing guidelines that car manufacturers should follow in order to protect car owners from hackers.

Some of the cybersecurity recommendations from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration include conducting tests of vehicle systems in order to see if hackers can penetrate the layers of security. Their test results should then be analyzed and documented.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which includes General Motors, Ford Motor Company and several other auto manufacturers, support the new recommendations by the NHTSA.

However, Democratic U.S. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said the new cyber security regulations fall short of protecting U.S. citizens.

“If modern day cars are computers on wheels, we need mandatory standards, not voluntary guidance, to ensure that our vehicles cannot be hacked and lives and information put in danger,” the lawmakers said in a statement Monday.

This news comes after a Jeep Grand Cherokee was hacked by a cybersecurity researchers, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek. The two hackers were able to remotely manipulate the air-conditioning, radio and even shut down the car’s transmission.

Last March, the FBI and the Department of Transportation issued a joint public service announcement warning car owners about the susceptibility of newer cars and how consumers can protect themselves. The announcement asserted that anyone who believes their car may have been hacked should immediately contact the car manufacturer, National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration and the FBI. In addition, new legislation called the Security and Privacy in Your Car Act of 2015 (SPY CAR ACT) would ensure cars sold in the U.S. meet a certain level of protection against hackers and protect the data stored by the vehicles.

In addition, the SPY CAR ACT would enforce automakers to place a “cyber dashboard” informing consumers about the amount of protection the automobile has against hackers.

“NHTSA must also conduct a rulemaking to require the fuel economy labeling that manufacturers attach to motor vehicles to display a “cyber dashboard” with a standardized graphic to inform consumers about the extent to which the vehicle protects individuals’ cybersecurity and privacy beyond the minimum requirements.”

Despite being introduced to the Senate in 2015, the SPY CAR ACT is currently being reviewed by the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Doctors Suggest New Screen Time Limits for Kids

Business

Brent Edward

October 23, 2016

Doctors Suggest New Screen Time Limits for Kids

American Academy of Pediatrics announced this week that parents should limit the amount of TV children are watching.

Researchers are concerned over the amount of time spent using digital media, also known as screen time. In San Francisco, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) discussed new health recommendations for 2017. Among their health recommendations including a new initiative to limit the amount of screen time. Previously, two hours a day for children under the age of two was the recommended limit. Now, researchers argue that a “blanket statement” of two hours is no longer a good idea.

Dr. Yolanda Reid Chassiakos, lead author of the “Children and Adolescents and Digital Media Technical Report” argued that, “It doesn’t make sense to make a blanket statement [of two hours] of screen time anymore.” She added, “For some children, two hours may be too much.”

The AAP suggests that infants aged 18 months and younger should not be given any screen time. Chassiakos argues that eliminating screen time for infants can have a huge impact on brain development and will help foster healthy relationships between children and their parents. “The noise and activity of a screen are distracting for a child,” she explained.

Chassiakos also argued that the distractions caused by screen time eliminate the personal interactions between a mother and her children, which could affect brain development social skills including making eye-contact with others. Children could later develop behavioral issues, Chassiakos argued. “It’s much better to talk to a child or read from a book.”

The AAP asserts kids, ages 2 to 5 years old, should be limited to only one hour per day. But the type of screen time should include interacting with others such as Facetime. Chassiakos argues that having screen time conversations with others or including children in video conversations can promote healthy development in kids. It can also serve as an educational tool by asking kids to reiterate what was said in the video conversation.

However, parents can determine their own limits and restrictions for kids over the age of 6 but, more attention should be spent on monitoring the types of content children are watching.

Overall, the academy argues that screen time should never replace social or healthy activities such as sleep, exercise or social interactions. In a statement Dr. Jenny Radesky explained, “What’s most important is that parents be their child’s ‘media mentor.’ That means teaching them how to use it as a tool to create, connect and learn.”

Hexagonal Clouds May Solve Mystery Behind the Bermuda Triangle

Business

Jonathan Antonio

October 23, 2016

Hexagonal Clouds May Solve Mystery Behind the Bermuda Triangle

Satellite meteorologists say they may have solved the mystery behind the Bermuda Triangle.

Vincent Gaddis first called the area the Bermuda Triangle in a magazine article in 1964. The area between Miami, Puerto Rico and Bermuda has been riddled with disappearing ships and planes. In fact, the Bermuda Triangle is responsible for at least 1,000 lives over the past 100 years. Many of those disappearances remain unexplained or dismissed as a coincidence.

Some conspiracy theorists and UFO believers argue that aliens, the devil and the city of Atlantis are to blame for the plane crashes and missing ships.

Now researchers, using satellite images of cloud patterns, argue that high powered winds of up to 170 mph are the cause of the Bermuda Triangle disappearances. Dr. Steve Miller, a satellite meterologist at Colorado State University, explained hexgonal clouds create “air bombs” forcing planes to go down and ships to flip.

“They are formed by what are called microbursts and they’re blasts of air that come down out of the bottom of a cloud and then hit the ocean,” he explained.

Miller continued by saying, these hexagonal clouds “create waves that can sometimes be massive in size as they start to interact with each other.”

Miller is not the first scientist to solve the mystery behind the Bermuda Triangle. Last March, researchers at the Arctic University of Norway discovered underwater craters releasing giant bubbles of methane gas in Norway. Researchers explained that these large bubbles of methane gas could possibly sink a ship when they reached the surface and could help explain why so many people disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.

While both explanations seem convincing, however, it is important to highlight the fact that the Bermuda Triangle is one of the most traveled shipping routes in the world. Boats travel through the area in order to reach ports in North and South America along with the Caribbean islands. In addition, researcher Lawrence David kusche argued that the number of ships and aircraft reported missing in that area was not significantly greater than in any other part of the ocean. Ultimately, many researchers and historians argue that there is nothing mysterious about the Bermuda Triangle anyway.

Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Discuss Private Foundations During Final Debate

Business

Reginald Edward

October 20, 2016

Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Discuss Private Foundations During Final Debate

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump openly discussed each other’s charitable foundations during the final U.S. Presidential debate.

Controversy has surrounded both the Clinton Foundation and the Trump foundation and it reached a tipping point during the final debate in Las Vegas, Nevada. Both candidates exchanged jabs at each others charitable organizations.

Trump called the Clinton Foundation a “criminal enterprise” and Hillary Clinton mocked Donald Trump’s Foundation for buying a giant portrait of himself with charity funds.

Hillary Clinton praised the group’s work with making HIV treatment available to millions of people around the world.

However, Donald Trump argued that the Clinton Foundation has received charitable donations from countries that do not support gay or women’s rights.

“It’s a criminal enterprise,” Donald Trump said. “You talk about women and women’s rights. These are people that push gays off buildings. These are people that kill women and treat women horribly and yet you take their money.”

Clinton responded by saying that her Clinton Foundation spends 90% of their donations on charitable programs. In addition, Clinton asserted that the Trump Foundation took charitable donations and “bought a six foot portrait of Donald. I mean, who does that? It just is astonishing,” she said.

Clinton added, that Trump cannot prove he has given money to charity because he has not released his tax returns. “There’s no way we can know if any of that is true,” she said.

The Trump Foundation has been ordered to stop raising money in New York because the organization was not properly registered. However, while Hillary Clinton served as the secretary of state, there were possible conflicts of interests with Clinton Foundation’s charitable donors.

It is important to note that before the United States was formed charitable giving was typically done by churches and the aristocrats in Europe. However, there were no rules or laws that insisted they do any giving, whatsoever. But as the United States instituted Federal taxes to support a growing military, charitable giving became a standard deduction on federal taxes that U.S. citizens file every year.

Charitable donations is a deduction that is is unique to the United States. Tax codes now layout in detail the different ways individuals can give and get a write-off. However, according to the IRS and tax laws, there are rules and regulations that private foundations should adhere to. These rules include limits on their holdings in private businesses, provisions that investments must not jeopardize their exemption status, and restrictions on self-dealing between private foundations and their contributors. Ultimately, the arguments between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump highlight the issues surrounding private foundations.

Facebook’s New Feature Allows Users to Endorse Politicians

Business

Jonathan Antonio

October 20, 2016

Facebook’s New Feature Allows Users to Endorse Politicians

Facebook has announced a new feature that allows for their billion users to endorse a political candidate.

Hours before the last Presidential Debate between Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Presidential nominee Donald J. Trump, Facebook has allowed their users endorse a certain politician.

Any politician with a Facebook page can now enable an “Endorse” button. The new feature extends not only to men and women running for president of the United States but, also U.S. senators, representatives, state representatives, and city council members.

The new “Endorse” button allows for politicians to use your endorsement and promote your message on Facebook for anyone to see. If you keep it visible to only your Facebook friends, it will show up as a post on your Facebook page and will become visible on your friends’ news feeds. In addition, your friends will be able to see your endorsements on your Facebook page.

This is the latest move by Facebook to add new features to the social media platform. The company has worked with the Ad Council to encourage people to vote. But, most importantly the new feature can allow for the politicians to use Facebook endorsements as a way to reach undecided voters.

This news comes after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defend Peter Theil’s place on the company’s board. Peter Thiel is a venture capitalist and hedge fund manager. Thiel founded PayPal alongside Max Levchin and Elon Musk. In addition, Thiel was one of the first outside investors in Facebook, with 10.2% stake in 2004 and now sits in the company’s board of directors. In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg wrote that keeping Theil, a known supporter of Donald Trump, helps increase the company’s diversity.

“I want to quickly address the questions and concerns about Peter Thiel as a board member and Trump supporter,” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook. “We can’t create a culture that says it cares about diversity and then excludes almost half the country because they back a political candidate. There are many reasons a person might support Trump that does not involve racism, sexism, xenophobia or accepting sexual assault.”

NYSE Suspends Trading of MGT Capital Investments

Business

Reginald Edward

October 20, 2016

NYSE Suspends Trading of MGT Capital Investments

The NYSE suspends all trading of MGT Capital Investments.

The NYSE announced on Wednesday that the NYSE Regulation committee has decided to delist the common stock of MGT Capital Investments and all trading will be immediately suspended. The NYSE Regulation committee has determined that the company is no longer suitable for listing and the pursuant to the Section 1002(c) of the NYSE MKT Company Guide, which applies to a company which has sold or otherwise removed of its principal operating assets, or has ceased to work as an operating company.

MGT initially began as a gaming company that developed and monetized online and mobile gaming applications. The company had a portfolio including a social casino platform called Slot Champ and other minority stakes in skill-based gaming platforms such as MGT Play and DraftDay Gaming Group, Inc.

The company suffered record losses and zero revenue for several quarters. But, the company announced a plan to bring on the John McAffee, creator of McAffee Anti-Virus that was later sold to Intel, as the chief executive officer and change it from a video game company to a cybersecurity company.

mcafee — HANNOVER, GERMANY – MARCH 10: stand of McAfee on March 10, 2012 in CEBIT computer expo, Hannover, Germany. (A.Penkov / Shutterstock.com)

“MGT Capital Investments, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MGT) is in the process of acquiring a diverse portfolio of cyber security technologies,” MGT announces on their website. “With cyber security industry pioneer, John McAfee, at its helm, MGT Capital is positioned to address various cyber threats through advanced protection technologies for mobile and personal tech devices, including tablets and smart phones. The Company is currently in the process of acquiring D-Vasive, a provider of leading edge anti-spy software, and Demonsaw, a provider of a secure and anonymous file sharing software platform. “

The announcement to delist MGT came as company announced to release their first product, Sentinel. MGT announced on Wednesday the commercial release of its security product to defend businesses and companies from getting hacked.”

“Simply put, Sentinel is the first user-friendly security device to provide actionable intelligence before companies are hacked.

Prices for the new Sentinel package start at $4,995 per unit and require a renewable contract. But, assembly requires “no set or user configuration.”

“The user merely plugs it in and it instantly begins communicating anomalous packets to a secure MGT server, where they are analyzed and appropriate alerts are instantaneously transmitted to the IT administrator.”

Starbucks is the Most-Tweeted Fast-Food Restaurant in America

Business

Jonathan Antonio

October 17, 2016

Starbucks is the Most-Tweeted Fast-Food Restaurant in America

A new study examined 80 million tweets and found the most tweeted-about foods in the United States.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research Public Health and Surveillance, found Starbucks was the most-tweeted fast-food restaurant and coffee was the most talked about consumable on Twitter. The purpose of the study was to gain insight into the health of people across the United States.

Assistant professor at the University of Utah College of Health, Quynh Nguyen, and the lead author of the study explained the mission of this study was to examine health beyond diseases and traditional traits.

“Increasingly we’re seeing more and more studies looking at health beyond just disease, incorporating indicators of wellbeing,” says Quynh Nguyen, lead author of the study and an assistant professor at the University of Utah College of Health.

Her team of researchers analyzed tweets about food, physical activity and happiness and then compared the information to previous health surveys. The results of the study not only found Starbucks was the most popular fast-food restaurant on Twitter, but the most-tweeted about foods included coffee, beer, pizza, wine, chicken, ice cream and tacos. However, only 16% of food related tweets were considered healthy. In addition, 9% of tweets analyzed in the study were about fast-food.

Researchers also examined tweets by locations across the United States and found people in poorer neighborhoods were less likely to mention healthy foods. Areas with healthy-food related tweets had fewer rates of chronic diseases such as obesity and fewer deaths.

twitter-food-study — A new study examined 80 million tweets and found the most tweeted-about foods in the United States. (1000 Words / Shutterstock.com)

Outside of food, researchers also analyzed exercise tweets and found walking, dancing, running, hiking, swimming, and golf as the most tweeted kinds of physical activity. However, just like healthy tweets analyzed in the study, in poorer neighborhoods were less likely to tweet about engaging in any kind of physical activity.

“What was kind of nice, from a health and emotion perspective, was that tweets that mentioned food were actually happier than tweets that did not mention food, and tweets that mention healthy foods were the happiest,” Nguyen says. “Healthy food and physical activity were the happiest kind of tweets.”

Nguyen argues that this is just the start and social media platforms like Twitter can provide information about our health that is not traditionally studied or analyzed in other major studies. “So far, we are finding that they do predict area-level health outcomes at various levels: zip code, census tract, county and state,” she says. “Our next set of analyses examine whether these social environment variables predict individual-level health outcomes.”

St. Jude Medical Announces New Treatment for Chronic Pain

Business

Megan Diane

October 15, 2016

St. Jude Medical Announces New Treatment for Chronic Pain

St. Jude Medical announced a new therapy designed to effectively reduce chronic pain. The therapy is a type of spinal cord stimulation (SCS), called BurstDR stimulation. BurstDR therapy is an FDA approved SCS therapy, exclusive to St. Jude Medical. SCS therapy allows physicians to place a small device underneath the skin; the device sends mild electric current to the nerve fibers of the patient’s spinal cord, therefore alleviating chronic pain.

BurstDR is aimed to provide physical relief to individuals, as well as, any additional pain associated with chronic pain. St Jude Medical mission is to provide and create treatments at a reduced cost. Treatment at reduced cost allows more individuals to reduce or eliminate the pain many individuals experience on daily basis.

Chronic pain is defined as persistent pain that lasts for weeks and even years. More than 3 million people are diagnosed with chronic pain every year in the United States and at the moment there is no cure. Many people experience pain in their joints, back, neck and muscles. In addition, studies have shown chronic pain also causes psychological harm leading to anxiety, fatigue and depression. The current treatment for chronic pain can range from physical exercise to medications.

One of the most common medications to treat chronic pain includes Fentanyl, Tramadol, Hydromorphone, and Hydrocodone. It is important to note that Fentanyl, a prescription opioid, is actually more powerful than heroin. It is sometimes used to treat chronic pain patients who are physically tolerant to traditional pain relievers.

However, in the United States more than 28,000 people have died from an opioid overdose, prompting the U.S Department of Health & Human Services, HHS, to declare the opioid addiction an epidemic in America. Not only have more people died from prescription drugs, according to the HHS, heroin-related deaths have tripled since 2010. According to a study by the HHS, more than 650,000 opioid prescriptions are dispensed and 580 people start using heroin for the first time every day. In addition, nearly 80 people die from an opioid-related overdose a day causing $55 billion in health and social costs and $20 billion in emergency department and inpatient care for opioid poisonings.

HHS suggests prevention and treatment are critical to fighting the growing opioid epidemic. But, the lack of funding has made it difficult to stop this growing problem. In a statement, HHS says “Our ability to do more to turn the tide of the opioid epidemic is significantly limited without adequate funding to support expanding access for individuals with opioid use disorder to seek and complete treatment, and sustain recovery.”

Snapchat is the Most Popular Social Network Among Teens

Business

Jonathan Antonio

October 15, 2016

Snapchat is the Most Popular Social Network Among Teens

According to a new survey by investment bank Piper Jaffray, millennials are spending more of their time on Snapchat than Facebook.

Piper Jaffray surveyed 10,000 teenagers across the United States and found that Snapchat was the most popular social media app among teenagers.

The results of the survey showed that 80 percent of teenagers said they checked Snapchat at least once per month. Meanwhile, only 52 percent of teens said they checked Facebook once per month, which is a 15 percent drop from last Spring’s survey on teen social media use.

Ultimately, Snapchat is growing year after year. In 2015, 18 percent of teens said Snapchat is their favorite social network. Now, 35 percent of teens say Snapchat is their favorite social network.

Despite the drop in Facebook usage, Instagram is still a popular social media app among teens. 79 percent of teens said they check Instagram at least once per month. This news comes after Instagram released Instagram Stories two months ago and now has over 100 million daily active users are now using the new feature. That is more than two thirds of the daily active user population for Snapchat.

Meanwhile, teens’ usage of Twitter, Pinterest and Google has either dropped or remained relatively low. 56 percent of teens report using Twitter once per month, while Pinterest’s growth among teens has remained at 25 percent.

Three years ago, Facebook offered to buy Snapchat for $3 billion. But, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel turned down the Facebook offer. Now, Snapchat’s company Snap Inc. is currently working on a potential initial public offering that could value the social media company at $25 billion.

Snapchat is a social network that is a video and photo messaging application. However, in comparison to Instagram and Facebook, photos and videos shared on the mobile app are short-lived and are automatically deleted after 48 hours. The temporary nature of the photos and videos are reported to encourage more usage and natural interactions among followers and users.

Financially, Snapchat launched their first advertisement in 2014, and in a statement the company said they were interested in providing a different kind of advertising experience, “if we can deliver an experience that’s fun and informative, the way ads used to be, before they got creepy and targeted.”

Study: 37 Percent of Teens Watch Netflix Everyday

Business

Jonathan Antonio

October 15, 2016

Study: 37 Percent of Teens Watch Netflix Everyday

According to a new survey by investment bank Piper Jaffray, Netflix is the most popular streaming service among teenagers.

Piper Jaffray released their semi-annual survey of 10,000 American teenagers and the results of their study showed 37 percent of teens watch Netflix everyday. In comparison, only 3 percent of teenagers watched Amazon Prime Video or Hulu. In terms of daily use, Netflix is over 1,200 percent more popular than its big competitors among teens.

This news comes after Netflix content has only 31 movies from IMDB’s top 250 movies list, after the streaming service cut nearly 50 percent of their streaming library since 2012 in order to produce more original content. Two years ago, Netflix had 49 movies from IMDB’s top 250 movies list. Fast forward to 2016, Netflix dropped to 31 of the the most popular movies among fans and critics. But, Netflix original series such as Stranger Things, Orange is the New Black and Marvel’s Luke Cage have shown to be extremely popular among the service’s audience, which would explain why so many teenagers are watching the streaming service everyday.

Following Netflix, YouTube came in second with 26 percent and cable TV with 25 percent. The data from the Piper Jaffray study show there is an upward trend for more teenagers watching more content on YouTube and less television everyday.

A recently released study by Google shows the growing influence YouTubers have on consumers. Among Australians who watch or subscribe to YouTube, 77 percent said YouTubers are more like “one of us” than traditional celebrities. In addition, 34 percent said their favorite YouTuber understands them better than their friends.

The difference between YouTube and other types of content is the fact that YouTube is built on a social network, which fosters a community between content creators and their fans. As Google points out, “Because creators foster strong ties with fans, they have more engaged audiences.” The research also showed that videos created by YouTubers had three times as many views and 12 times as many comments in comparison to traditional celebrities. In addition, 48 percent of Australians who watch or subscribe to YouTubers will watch new videos within 24 hours.

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