Apple has picked “Code Switch” as the best audio show of the year, marking the first time the company has recognized a single podcast in this way. Engadget reports: Code Switch is NPR’s weekly discussion on race. While the series has been on the air for the better part of seven years, it became significantly more popular over the summer as…
Tag: Washington Post
Report Claims America’s CIA Also Controlled a Second Swiss Encryption Firm
Long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike brings this report from AFP:
Swiss politicians have voiced outrage and demanded an investigation after revelations that a second Swiss encryption company was allegedly used by the CIA and its German counterpart to spy on governments worldwide. “How can such a thing happen in a country that claims to be neutral like Switzerland?” co-head of Switzerland’s Socialist Party,…
What Hunting Bigfoot Taught a Republican Congressman about Misinformation, Political Extremists, and Grift
Republican congressman Denver Riggleman was once a defense contractor for America’s National Security Agency. But in 2004, he paid more than $5,000 to join an amateur expedition searching for Bigfoot. Not because he believed in the mythical ape-like creature said to live in the woods, according to the Washington Post, but “to indulge a lifelong fascination: Why do people — what…
Experimental Antibody Treatment for Covid-19 Patients Wins ‘Emergency Approval’ in America
America’s Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization Saturday to an experimental antibody treatment (for people already experiencing Covid-19), reports the Washington Post: The drug, made by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, is designed to prevent infected people from developing severe illness. Instead of waiting for the body to develop its own protective immune response, the drug imitates the body’s natural defenses. It is…
Masks are Effective, Despite One Flawed Study From Denmark
“I think the overwhelming body of evidence suggests that masks are effective,” the lead author of a study recently cited by America’s Center for Disease Control told the Washington Post. They were responding to another (very controversial) outlier study whose findings “conflict with those from a number of other studies,” according to the New York Times, citing numerous experts. “Critics were…
Apple is Lobbying Against a Bill Aimed at Stopping Forced Labor in China
Apple lobbyists are trying to weaken a new law aimed at preventing forced labor in China, the Washington Post reported Friday, citing two congressional staffers familiar with the matter, highlighting the clash between its business imperatives and its official stance on human rights. From the report: The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act would require U.S. companies to guarantee they do not…
Facebook Antitrust Probes Will Target Acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram
A group of state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, is on track to file antitrust charges against Facebook in early December, according to a report Thursday from the Washington Post. CNET: The move comes as the US Federal Trade Commission is also reportedly finalizing its antitrust probe into the social media giant. State and federal investigators…
Cheating-Detection Software Provokes ‘School-Surveillance Revolt’
New webcam-based anti-cheating monitoring is so stressful, it’s made some students cry, the Washington Post reports: “Online proctoring” companies saw in coronavirus shutdowns a chance to capitalize on a major reshaping of education, selling schools a high-tech blend of webcam-watching workers and eye-tracking software designed to catch students cheating on their exams. They’ve taken in millions of dollars, some of it…
Elon Musk Confirms Saturday He ‘Most Likely’ Has Covid-19
Slashdot reader DevNull127 writes: SpaceX founder Elon Musk now says, in a new tweet on Saturday, “that he ‘most likely’ has a moderate case of Covid-19,” according to Bloomberg. Though their article then also reports that Musk characteristically “continued to cast doubt on the accuracy of the tests, citing the ‘wildly different results from different labs.'” By late Thursday Musk had…
Showing Cold Symptoms, Elon Musk Tests Positive – and Negative – for Covid-19
“Elon Musk predicted in March, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, that there would be ‘probably close to zero new cases’ in the United States by the end of April,” reports the Washington Post. “Now, the Tesla chief executive is trying to figure out whether he has a virus that has killed at least 242,000 Americans.” The billionaire said early…