An increase in armed muggings have caused a spike in sales of dummy smartphones that on first glance look real. (You can buy one from Amazon for around $ 20.) Apparently they were first sold as display items to electronic stores wanting to protect their real inventory from smash-and-grabs. From the G2Reader / kenmay /
Tag: city
Drug Firms Shipped 20.8 Million Pain Pills To West Virginia Town of 2,900
A congressional committee investigating the opioid crisis has discovered out-of-state drug companies shipped 20.8 million prescription painkillers over a decade to two pharmacies in a Southern West Virginia town with 2, 900 people. From a report: Between 2006 and 2016, two drug wholesalers shipped 10.2 million hydrocodone pills and 10.6 million oxycodone pills to Tug Valley Pharmacy and Hurley Drug in the town of Williamson, in Mingo County, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported. “These numbers are outrageous, and we will get to the bottom of how this destruction was able to be unleashed across West Virginia, ” the House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore. and ranking member Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J. said in a joint statement. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Drug Firms Shipped 20.8 Million Pain Pills To West Virginia Town of 2,900
China Builds ‘World’s Biggest Air Purifier’ That Actually Works
The South China Morning Post shares an update on the status of an experimental tower in northern China, dubbed the world’s biggest air purifier by its operators. According to the scientist leading the project, the tower — which stands over 328 feet (100 meters) tall — has brought a noticeable improvement in air quality. From the report: The head of the research, Cao Junji, said improvements in air quality had been observed over an area of 10 square kilometers (3.86 square miles) in the city over the past few months and the tower has managed to produce more than 10 million cubic meters (353 million cubic feet) of clean air a day since its launch. Cao added that on severely polluted days the tower was able to reduce smog close to moderate levels. The system works through greenhouses covering about half the size of a soccer field around the base of the tower. Polluted air is sucked into the glasshouses and heated up by solar energy. The hot air then rises through the tower and passes through multiple layers of cleaning filters. The average reduction in PM2.5 — the fine particles in smog deemed most harmful to health — fell 15 per cent during heavy pollution. Cao said the results were preliminary because the experiment is still ongoing. The team plans to release more detailed data in March with a full scientific assessment of the facility’s overall performance. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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China Builds ‘World’s Biggest Air Purifier’ That Actually Works
65% of Washington DC’s Outdoor Surveillance Cameras Infiltrated by Romanian Hackers
An anonymous reader quotes The Hill: Two Romanian hackers stand accused of hacking more than 100 outdoor police security cameras in the D.C. area during the days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration, according to a court document obtained by CNN. According to an affidavit from Secret Service agent James Graham, Mihai Alexandru Isvanca and Eveline Cismaru are accused of hacking and disabling 123 out of 187 of the city’s cameras between Jan. 12 and Jan. 15… Isvanca and Cismaru are also accused in the affidavit of spreading ransomware. In a possibly-related story, the Washington Post reports: Five Romanian hackers were arrested over the past week as part of an international investigation into computer ransomware, officials in the United States and Europe said Wednesday. In six houses across Romania, law enforcement operatives from Romania, Britain, the United States and the Netherlands seized hard drives, laptops, external storage devices and documents related to malicious software called CTB-Locker or Critroini. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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65% of Washington DC’s Outdoor Surveillance Cameras Infiltrated by Romanian Hackers
Chicago seeks a high-speed O’Hare link, Boring Company to propose 125mph “Loop”
Enlarge / An artist’s rendering of an electric skate. (credit: The Boring Company ) On Wednesday, the city of Chicago opened a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for an express train that would take passengers from the city’s O’Hare airport to downtown. The system would have to be completely privately funded—Chicago says no taxpayer money would be used for it. Elon Musk’s Boring Company—a tunneling company that the SpaceX and Tesla CEO started last year—will respond to the request. Musk hopes to get to the second round when bidding will take place. On Wednesday evening, he tweeted that his company “will compete to fund, build & operate a high-speed Loop connecting Chicago O’Hare Airport to downtown.” Musk’s reference to a “Loop” is explained more clearly on The Boring Company’s FAQ page : “Loop is a high-speed underground public transportation system in which passengers are transported on autonomous electric skates traveling at 125-150 miles per hour. Electric skates will carry between 8 and 16 passengers (mass transit), or a single passenger vehicle.” Unlike Musk’s idea for a Hyperloop, a Loop won’t draw a vacuum. “For shorter routes, there is no technical need to eliminate air friction,” The Boring Company states. Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Chicago seeks a high-speed O’Hare link, Boring Company to propose 125mph “Loop”
Delhi becomes “gas chamber” as air pollution reaches ludicrous levels
Enlarge / Indian visitors walk through the courtyard of Jama Masjid amid heavy smog in the old quarters of New Delhi on November 8, 2017. SAJJAD HUSSAIN/ AFP/ Getty Images) With calm winds, seasonal crop burns, and the usual vehicle and industrial emissions, an extremely thick, toxic fog of pollution has settled on Delhi, choking and sickening residents. Pollution measurements and indexes have exceeded charted ranges, blowing past the highest categorized levels dubbed “severe” and hazardous to health. In some areas of the gigantic metropolitan area, measurements of certain pollutants were around 30 times the levels considered safe by the World Health Organization. Local journalists reported that the smog is causing throat irritation, wheezing, nausea, vomiting, and extreme fatigue. Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, took to Twitter to call the city a “ gas chamber .” Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Delhi becomes “gas chamber” as air pollution reaches ludicrous levels
Nestle Makes Billions Bottling Water It Pays Nearly Nothing For
Nestle, the world’s largest food and beverage company, has been bottling water since 1843 and has grown into the largest seller of bottled water. But a detailed report on Bloomberg uncovers the company’s operation in Michigan, revealing that Nestle has come to dominate in the industry in part by going into economically depressed areas with lax water laws. It makes billions selling a product for which it pays close to nothing. Find the Bloomberg Businessweek article here (it might be paywalled, here’s an alternative source). Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Nestle Makes Billions Bottling Water It Pays Nearly Nothing For
Uber just lost its London taxi license
In a surprise announcement today, Transport for London has confirmed that it will not reissue Uber’s private hire operating licence within the city. In a statement, the regulator said that the company operations were not “fit and proper” and noted that it will be allowed to accept new rides in London up until September 30th. Uber can appeal the decision, which will allow its cars to stay on the road until a final ruling is passed. According to Transport for London, Uber’s policies regarding the reporting of serious criminal offences, how it obtains medical certificates and performs driver checks did not meet its standards. It also noted Uber’s use of its “Greyball” software in the capital , which allowed the company to evade authorities all over the world by tagging known officials and serving up dummy versions of the app that were populated with ghost cars. This is a developing story, please refresh for updates.
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Uber just lost its London taxi license
Android 8.0 Oreo is official, starts rollout to devices
Enlarge (credit: Google ) NEW YORK CITY—Happy Eclipse Day! As the Moon slowly crept its way across the Sun, Google took the opportunity to host an Eclipse-themed Android 8.0 launch event in New York City. Along with eclipse glasses and a simulcast of NASA’s eclipse livestream, Android “O” finally got its full name: “Android 8.0, Oreo.” Like KitKat before it, Android’s alphabetical snack-themed codenames have gone commercial and partnered with an actual snack producer, adopting Nabisco’s trademarked “Oreo” as the name for this release. The event also came with the traditional statue unveiling: a superhero Android Oreo. With today’s event, Android 8.0 Oreo is shipping out across all the usual distribution methods. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is getting the 8.0 code drop. OTAs will begin to roll out “soon” to the Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, and Pixel C, and system images should be up on developers.google.com soon. Any device enrolled in the Android Beta Program will also be upgraded to these final builds. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Android 8.0 Oreo is official, starts rollout to devices
India’s first solar-powered train makes its debut
India’s diesel-powered train network has a new kid on the block. The gas-guzzling Indian Railway system has just debuted its first solar-powered train, called the Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU). It will operate in the city of New Delhi. Placement of the solar panels on the train car was challenging. Sandeep Gupta, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Jakson Engineers Limited (the company that produced and installed the solar panels) told Business Standard , “It is not an easy task to fit solar panels on the roof of train coaches that run at a speed of 80 km per hour.” The panels feed into an onboard battery that can store surplus power. The train will still be pulled by a diesel locomotive; the solar panels will only power passenger comfort systems, such as lights, information displays and fans. Even so, Indian Railways estimates that just one train with six solar-panel equipped cars will save 21, 000 liters (5, 547 gallons) of diesel fuel per year, at a cost savings around Rs12 lakh (almost $20, 000). Indian Railways is the largest rail network in Asia , running around 11, 000 trains daily. The service moves roughly 13 million passengers every day. That translates to incredibly large fuel bills; in 2015, the service spent Rs16, 395 crore ($2.5 billion) on diesel . They’ve been trying to reduce their fuel consumption, in part by more reliance on solar energy; the hope is that it will save them Rs41, 000 crore ($6.31 billion) over the next 10 years. Via: Quartz Source: Business Standard
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India’s first solar-powered train makes its debut