Flexport is hiring employees all over the world
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Kim Jong-un: fragile and under pressure but he won’t give up
The Observer The North Korean leader’s surprise freeze of his nuclear programme is less a genuine move than a diplomatic manoeuvre,...
Friday, 7 August 2020
Trump's golf club press conference was a social distancing disaster — until the tweet-shaming began
The president held a surprise press conference at one of his golf clubs late Friday evening, and very few of the attendees wore masks — until Twitter shamed them about it.
During Friday's conference at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump spoke about a strange selection of topics, but did address the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which he repeatedly referred to as the "ChinaVirus."
I will be doing a news conference on the ChinaVirus, the just announced very good economic numbers, and the improving economy, at 7pm from Bedminster, New Jersey. Also, the subject of the Beirut, Lebanon catastrophe will be discussed.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2020 Read more...
from Mashable https://mashable.com/article/trump-press-conference-no-masks-new-jersey/
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Thursday, 6 August 2020
Replace your business tools with lifetime access to this app suite
TL;DR: A lifetime subscription to Zuitte Tools for Entrepreneurs is on sale for £151.11 as of August 7, saving you 97% on list price.
If you run an online business, you'll know how annoying it is to work with lots of apps, none of which do everything well and half of which can't even communicate with each other.
That's why the idea of ditching them for an all-in-one app suite is so appealing. Built for the modern entrepreneur, Zuitte features more marketing, project management, and customer support tools than you can shake a stick at — over 50 to be exact-ish. And right now they're offering a special on lifetime subscriptions for 97% off. Read more...
More about Entrepreneurship, Online Classes, Mashable Shopping, Shopping Uk, and Uk Dealsfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/uk/shopping/aug-7-zuitte-entrepreneurs-lifetime-access/
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6 of the best TVs for under £300
A TV is one of the most important and expensive bits of technology you will purchase for your home, so it's vital that you get it right. You could spend hours trawling through online reviews and technical details to make sure you pick the best model, or you could let someone else do all of that for you.
We have done all of the hard work so you can focus on the more important details, like where the TV is going to live in your room and what you're going to sit on. You know, all the fun stuff.
We have tried to cover all bases when it comes to finding you the perfect TV, and you can find information on the best 4K TVs, TVs for gaming, and TVs for under £500. That's all well and good, but what if your budget is really tight? We wouldn't want you to feel left out, so we've tried to help out here as well. Read more...
More about Tv, Mashable Shopping, Consumer Tech, Shopping Uk, and Uk Deals
BEST FOR PICTURE QUALITY
LG FHD LM630BThis TV has four cores of processing power to support the advanced picture quality.
BEST FOR APPS
Sharp 2T-C40BG3KG2FBAccess a wide range of apps, including Netflix, YouTube, and BBC iPlayer.
BEST FOR SOUND
Blaupunkt 138O-GB-11B4-EGDPA compact unit with plenty of impressive features such as JBL speakers, Freeview HD, and PVR recording.
BEST FOR DESIGN
TCL 32ES568Slim frame is designed to fit neatly into smaller spaces.
BEST FOR CONNECTIVITY
Philips 32PHT4504/05Connect more devices to your TV to check out photos, music, and videos.
BEST FOR BEGINNERS
Hisense 32A5600FTUKSmart TV with quad core processor is super easy to install and use.
from Mashable https://mashable.com/uk/roundup/best-tv-under-300-uk/
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Want to know how SEO actually works? Check out these online classes.
TL;DR: The Pro Google SEO and SERP Certification bundle is on sale for £22.02 as of August 7, saving you 98% on list price.
Whether you work for the man or you're building a personal brand, you want to make sure your company/wellness vlog/Etsy account ranks somewhere near the very top of the page when people search for you on Google.
But what if you only appear on the second page of results, like some sort of dormant Twitter account or obscure Urban Dictionary entry? Should you pack in your influencer dreams? Or tell the CEO to liquify company assets and declare bankruptcy? The answer is no. Read more...
More about Seo, Mashable Shopping, Online Courses, Shopping Uk, and Uk Dealsfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/uk/shopping/aug-7-seo-and-serp-certification/
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New top story on Hacker News: Programming with RISC-V Vector Instructions
Programming with RISC-V Vector Instructions
3 by pantalaimon | 0 comments on Hacker News.
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Trump issues sweeping executive order against TikTok's parent company ByteDance
In another escalation of the White House's vendetta against popular video sharing app TikTok, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order against its parent company ByteDance. This means that, starting 45 days from today, everyone in the U.S. will be banned from doing any business with ByteDance or any of its subsidiaries — including TikTok.
The U.S. government has been making a lot of noise over the past few weeks about TikTok potentially sharing user data with the Chinese government, claiming that the app is a threat to national security.
Of course, both Facebook and Twitter already provide foreign governments with user data, but the fact that ByteDance is a Chinese company has been a real sticking point for Trump. The president also signed an executive order against WeChat and its parent company, Chinese media conglomerate Tencent, which owns League of Legends developer Riot Games and has a significant stake in Fortnite developer Epic Games. Read more...
More about Donald Trump, Ban, Executive Orders, Tiktok, and Bytedancefrom Mashable https://mashable.com/article/tiktok-bytedance-trump-executive-order-ban/
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New top story on Hacker News: Why shaving dulls even the sharpest of razors
Why shaving dulls even the sharpest of razors
22 by WalterSobchak | 5 comments on Hacker News.
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22 by WalterSobchak | 5 comments on Hacker News.
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Trump issued an executive order effectively banning TikTok if it doesn’t sell in the next 45 days
President Donald Trump is reportedly expected to issue an order compelling social media app TikTok to sell its US operations. | Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The new order is the latest in Trump’s escalating crackdown on the Chinese-owned app over alleged national security concerns.
President Trump issued an executive order on Thursday night that will effectively ban any US company or individual from making transactions with ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the TikTok app, after 45 days.
While this conditional ban on TikTok’s US business operations will likely face serious legal challenges, and it’s unclear how immediately enforceable it is, the order creates a serious challenge for TikTok, a wildly popular video streaming app with some 100 million US users.
For months, Trump and other bipartisan politicians have periodically raised concerns about TikTok as a potential national security threat, worrying that the app’s Chinese parent company could censor content in the US or access American users’ sensitive data at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party.
The executive order states that TikTok “automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users,” and that this “threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”
The company has vehemently denied these accusations, saying repeatedly that it does not share user data with the Chinese government. But reports last year showed a lack of TikTok content about subjects controversial with the Chinese government — such as videos of the Hong Kong protests. These reports have fueled US government suspicions that the company is influenced by the Chinese government, particularly as China has been expanding its surveillance state in recent years and US-China diplomatic relations have become more strained.
Trump has gone back and forth about how he planned to take action on TikTok. As recently as last Friday, he warned of an eminent executive ban on TikTok. On Monday though, Trump seemed to reverse his stance and said in a White House press briefing that instead of banning it, he would allow a US-based company to purchase the app.
“I don’t mind if — whether it is Microsoft or someone else — a big company, a secure company, a very American company, buys it,” said Trump about TikTok. Trump also warned that TikTok will be “out of business in the United States” by September 15 if the company doesn’t reach a deal to sell by then. Now, the executive order has established timeline of 45 days from Thursday (which would be September 20) for the sale to happen before TikTok will no longer be able to conduct business as usual in the US.
Though TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, is best known as a place where teens share short, often lighthearted musical videos, it has become the center of geopolitical controversy between the US and China over technological power.
But getting rid of an app used by some 100 million Americans isn’t easy, even if you’re the president. According to a New York Times report on Sunday, after Trump’s advisers convinced him that an executive action to ban TikTok would face severe legal and political consequences, Trump decided he would allow the tech giant Microsoft to continue its previous talks to buy the app, which had reportedly been in the works for weeks. Since Microsoft is a US-based company, the idea is that if Microsoft took control, it would ensure all of TikTok’s user data is stored in the US, secure from the potentially prying eyes of the Chinese government. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talked to Trump about it over the weekend, according to a Microsoft blog post published on Saturday evening, and has agreed to work out a deal — or not — by September 15.
Here’s a rundown of the recent controversy surrounding TikTok and what’s expected to happen next:
TikTok’s political troubles
TikTok has faced intense political scrutiny for months leading up to Trump’s executive order.
Republicans escalated their attacks on TikTok this summer, with some bipartisan support from Democrats as well. Last Thursday, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) sent a letter to the Justice Department demanding that the agency open an investigation into TikTok and Zoom over reported violations of “Americans’ civil liberties” and national security concerns about relationships between these companies and China. This followed statements in July from Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who both said the Trump administration was considering banning TikTok altogether.
For the past year, it’s been thought that the app has been under government review for national security reasons. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed this last week, and said he’s expecting the review to conclude soon. The government committee in charge of this review, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), has the power to recommend the president force TikTok to sell to a US company.
Even if Trump can’t enforce a full-on ban, a government decision that forces TikTok’s parent company to sell it off would be a game changer for the social media industry, and would threaten to disrupt the app’s extraordinary popularity. And for established social media giants Facebook and Google, the decision could significantly weaken their fiercest new competitor.
A forced sale of TikTok could have negative consequences beyond the people running TikTok, too. The move threatens to jeopardize the success of an app that’s had a meteoric rise from a relative underdog to one of the most downloaded apps in the world. And since TikTok is one of the only recent social media startups to compete with tech giants like Facebook, weakening TikTok could further concentrate power among a few tech giants in the US.
“While we do not comment on rumors or speculation, we are confident in the long-term success of TikTok,” a spokesperson for TikTok told Recode on Friday, adding the company is “committed to protecting their privacy and safety as we continue working to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform.”
How a sale would work
You may be asking how Trump can force a company as popular as TikTok to sell itself, or go so far as to try to ban it. The answer is complicated and bureaucratic.
To force a sale, Trump could issue an order for ByteDance to divest from TikTok through CFIUS, an interagency committee that reviews foreign acquisitions and investments in US businesses that can threaten national security. The committee, chaired by Mnuchin, has the power to block or reverse mergers and acquisitions involving US and foreign companies.
Increasingly, the agency has been exercising its authority over foreign-owned tech companies operating in the US. Last year, CFIUS helped block one of the biggest deals in tech history, after Trump followed its recommendations to stop Singapore-based Broadcom from acquiring the US semiconductor company Qualcomm. The committee also forced Chinese owners to divest from the dating app Grindr and the health startup PatientsLikeMe.
But as Brookings Institution fellow Geoffrey Gertz has written, tech companies weren’t always the target of CFIUS. In the past, the committee “tended to focus on companies with military or intelligence connections,” but more recently, personal data and high-tech intellectual property have become a bigger focus for the committee.
Last year, CFIUS started investigating ByteDance, which had purchased the Chinese-owned lip-sync video platform Musical.ly in 2017 and then rebranded and launched a similar app in the US under the name TikTok. When that investigation comes to a close, the committee’s recommendations will reportedly lead to Trump’s order for ByteDance to sell TikTok or divest its US operations.
It’s unclear how CFIUS would enforce a potential unwinding of ByteDance and TikTok, but last year, the committee issued a $1 million fine to an undisclosed company for not following through on a mitigation agreement, its first penalty of that kind. It could also fine TikTok — or Trump could just continue to dangle the threat of banning TikTok altogether, no matter how legally or politically contentious that would be.
In a press briefing on Monday, Trump said that whoever ends up owning TikTok should pay the Treasury department of the US government a “substantial amount of money” as part of the deal. As some have pointed out, including Axios’s Dan Primack, Trump’s comments could be “skating very close to announcing extortion.” It’s not immediately clear how Trump would try to ensure the US government gets a cut of the sale or whether it’s even legal to do that.
What comes next
If Microsoft or another major US company does purchase TikTok, it’s likely that TikTok as we know it would remain largely unchanged.
TikTok is a valuable brand in a lucrative industry with a massive, devoted user base — so for Microsoft, buying TikTok would be an opportunity to seriously compete with other major tech companies like Facebook and Google in the social media space.
Microsoft also has experience when it comes to purchasing already successful companies and allowing them to retain their independence — as it did when it acquired the platform for software developers, GitHub, in 2018, and the video game Minecraft in 2014.
Depending on how Microsoft chooses to run TikTok — if it acquires it — the app could continue to grow, and with the backing of a major US tech company, it might more seriously take on other social media companies, including Facebook. Microsoft isn’t the only potential buyer — other firms could try to buy TikTok or share ownership. Reportedly, Microsoft may invite outside investors to join them in the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal.
It’s too soon to say what impact a sale would have on the app’s popularity and growth. But in the meantime, there are plenty of Clippy jokes to make.
On Monday, a spokesperson for TikTok told Recode in a statement that the company is “committed to continuing to bring joy to families and meaningful careers to those who create on our platform as we build TikTok for the long term. TikTok will be here for many years to come.”
Update, August 6, 9:54 pm ET: This article has been updated to include news of Trump’s executive order against TikTok.
Update, August 3, 3:05 pm ET: This article has been updated to include new comments from President Trump and new reporting about ongoing negotiations between Microsoft and TikTok.
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from Vox - All https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/7/31/21350072/trump-tiktok-executive-order-ban-microsoft-sale-bytedance-china-security-concerns
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'Judas and the Black Messiah' trailer is intense and incredibly relevant
The official trailer for Judas and the Black Messiah is here, and it looks like an intense, gripping story made all the more upsetting by the fact that it's true.
Produced by Ryan Coogler and directed by Shaka King, the biopic tells the story of prominent Black Panther Party activist Fred Hampton (Get Out's Daniel Kaluuya) and William O'Neal (Sorry to Bother You's Lakeith Stanfield) — the FBI informant who was coerced into spying on him.
Judas and the Black Messiah feels particularly pertinent now, with widespread protests having drawn the world's attention to how police brutality and racism has shaped our society. It's been over 50 years since Hampton and O'Neal's story came to its head, but U.S. law enforcement still continues to surveil civil rights protesters even today. Read more...
More about Black Panther Party, Civil Rights Movement, Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, and Judas And The Black Messiahfrom Mashable https://mashable.com/video/judas-and-the-black-messiah-trailer/
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New top story on Hacker News: Immunology Is Where Intuition Goes to Die
Immunology Is Where Intuition Goes to Die
14 by pseudolus | 0 comments on Hacker News.
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Wednesday, 5 August 2020
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