Now an oldie but goodie, this Fiona Apple ditty. The subtle undertow of irony seems fitting today.
Speaking of guidance…
Google’s self-driving car went boom
Oops. Autonomous vehicles still not a thing when they can’t avoid something the size of a bus. Thank goodness nobody was hurt. Granted, until now Google’s self-driving test cars were not the cause of accidents — human drivers have been at fault far more often. In this particular accident, both the car and the human test driver may have been at fault.
VW’s CEO Mueller spins the (PR) wheels on agreement with U.S.
This is now a habit: before every major international automotive show, VW’s Matthias Mueller grants an interview to offer upbeat commentary on the emissions standards cheating scandal, this time ahead of the 2016 Geneva International Auto Show. Not certain if this is helping at all; there’s not much PR can do when no truly effective technical fix exists while potential liability to the U.S. alone may approach $46 billion. Probably a better use of my time to skip Mueller’s spin and spend my time slobbering over the Bugatti Chiron. ~fanning self~
Apple all the time
- Court rules against government in Brooklyn Apple iPhone case (Ars Technica)
Not to be confused with the San Bernardino Apple iPhone case; this case involved a different iPhone model. (Link to Judge Orenstein’s order here.) - List of For/Against/On The Fence in Apple’s pushback against the government (The Guardian)
More obvious separation of Microsoft’s current management from its progenitor. - Law prof Neil Richards says an Apple win against government on First Amendment grounds would be a bad move (MIT Technology Review)
This will surely generate some rebuttals. Worth a read.
#YearInSpace ends this evening for astronaut Scott Kelly
Undocking begins at 7:45 p.m. EST with landing expected at 11:25 p.m. EST, barring any unforeseen wrinkles like negative weather conditions. NASA-TV will cover the event live. Can’t wait to hear results of comparison testing between Scott and his earth-bound twin Mark after Scott’s year in space.
Department of No
- Amazon partners with Brita to create WiFi-enabled water filters (CNET) — Just, no.
- Doing work or conducting personal business over airline WiFi: bad idea (Ars Technica) — Come on. You know this. Work offline or read a damned book.
- Even before the disastrous Aliso Canyon methane leak, U.S. methane emissions greatly underestimated (MIT Technology Review) — Not good. Not at all. We badly need more aggressive effort toward better measurements and remediation.
That’s enough for now. I’m off to be a bad, bad girl. Stay safe.