Ken Garen, CPA, Co-Founder and President, UBCC

Amazon’s drone delivery fleet hits milestone with FAA clearance Retail behemoth Amazon.com Inc. took a big leap toward delivering goods from the sky by becoming one of only a handful of companies certified by the U.S. government to operate as a drone airline. Alan Levin . Bloomberg August 31, 2020 Amazon.com Inc. has unveiled a revolutionary new drone -- part helicopter and part science-fiction aircraft -- that the company expects to use for test deliveries of toothpaste and other household goods starting within months. The Federal Aviation Administration designated Amazon Prime Air an “air carrier,” the company said Monday. That allows Amazon to begin its first commercial deliveries in the U.S. under a trial program, using the high-tech devices it unveiled for that purpose last year. Amazon and its competitors must still clear some imposing regulatory and technical hurdles before small packages holding the likes of cat food or toothpaste can routinely be dropped at people’s homes. B...

Apple Revokes Epic Games Developer Credentials As Anti-Trust Battle Heats Up by Tyler Durden Fri, 08/28/2020 - 19:20 It's on. In an unexpectedly brash move from the staid Cupertino tech behemoth, Apple has revoked the developer credentials for Epic Games after it refused to stop directing its users to circumvent Apple's fee-collecting payment channels for its popular Fortnite game. "We are disappointed that we have had to terminate the Epic Games account on the App Store," Apple said in a statement. "We have worked with the team at Epic Games for many years on their launches and releases. The court recommended that Epic comply with the App Store guidelines while their case moves forward, guidelines they’ve followed for the past decade until they created this situation. Epic has refused." A court order last week denied Epic’s motion to force Apple to reinstate Fortnite on the App Store. However, the judge ruled that Apple couldn't terminate the develope...

Bill Gates Next Project: Building Nuclear Power Plants Across The Pacific Northwest by Tyler Durden Fri, 08/28/2020 - 19:40 Here comes the next Bill Gates project which, like his others, aims to solve climate change and save the planet. However, this time, some of the critics of Gates & Co.'s approach have warned that the advanced nuclear power plants he's now trying to build (which would "supplement" the northwest's power grid) might be vulnerable to terror attacks due to high levels of enriched uranium. In a report published Thursday, Reuters revealed, for the first time, a new campaign by the Gates-controlled TerraPower LLC (Gates is chairman of the company's board) to build commercial advanced nuclear energy plants called "Natrium" in the US later in the decade. The project will focus on the Pacific Northwest, where Gates has won the backing of three major utilities in the region, including Berkshire Hathaway-owned PacifiCorp (of course Gat...

After Buying DirecTV For $50 Billion In 2015, AT&T Now Seeks To Sell It For Under $20 Billion by Tyler Durden Fri, 08/28/2020 - 17:40 How do you destroy $30 billion in value in just five years? If you are AT&T, you buy DirecTV in 2015 for $50 billion and five years later you try to sell it - now renamed to AT&TTV - for less than $20 billion, a loss of 60% on the deal. That, according to the Wall Street Journal is what AT&T hopes to do as it takes "a fresh look its DirecTV business" exploring a deal for a service wounded by cord-cutting. And by fresh look, the journal means sell. When AT&T announced plans to acquire DirecTV in May 2014, the vision was to control some 26 million TV subscribers. However, the resulting slump in cable and satellite viewership due to the relentless encroachment of streaming services, the value of DirecTV has seen a sharp drop in recent years and the result is yet another catastrophic media deal. And since the pay-TV unit has s...

'Big Cable' Lost Over $55 Million In Q2 Despite Lockdown-Driven Couch-Surfing by  Tyler Durden Fri, 08/28/2020 - 21:40 One would imagine, with tens of millions of Americans quarantined at home during the second quarter, that years of  cord-cutting  would not just subside but reverse. However, according to the website  Kill The Cable Bill ,  people canceling their pay-TV subscriptions during the lockdown period accelerated.  Kill The Cable Bill cited a report from Leichtman Research, revealing major cable companies lost 501,400 subscribers in the three months ending on June 30.  Here's a breakdown of the exodus:  ·         Comcast:                 -478,000 ·         Charter:                  ...

Elon Musk Hints At Electric Jet Battery by Tyler Durden Fri, 08/28/2020 - 20:40 Authored by Julianne Geiger via OilPrice.com, It has been the bane of the electric vehicle revolution’s hopes—insufficient battery life. But now, Elon Musk has hinted that he might just have a solution to the thing that has dogged EVs for years. Elon Musk, a name that is synonymous with EV manufacturer Tesla, hinted on Monday that the company might just be able to mass-produce EV batteries that have 50% more energy density within three to four years. And although Musk’s track record for bold statements has been suspect, with some proclamations bearing fruit and others fizzling, the market is all abuzz. The battery, Musk suggests, might be used to power an electric airplane. “Probably 3 to 4 years,” Musk tweeted on Monday, in response to someone asking why Musk keeps dropping hints about an electric jet. “400 Wh/kg *with*high cycle life, produced in volume (not just in a lab) is not far,” Musk said on Twi...

California's Renewable Energy Conundrum by Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2020 - 10:20 Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova va OilPrice.com, Amid a heatwave in the West, the largest U.S. solar state, California, is grappling with power issues and with keeping its electricity grid stable as demand exceeds supply. And in a looming renewable future, those power disruptions just might be a sign of things to come. California energy consumers were warned of rolling outages as there is insufficient energy to meet the high demand during the heatwave, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) said over the weekend. The warning to Californians about the outages and strained grid should serve as a warning for policymakers and system operators across the United States and elsewhere: a rush to boost renewable energy power generation should be coupled with – and even preceded by – more careful planning on how to ensure the reliability and stability of the power grid. California’s Struggles With...

Orwell's nightmare? Facial recognition for animals promises a farmyard revolution Anna Fifield, The Washington Post Published 8:56 am EDT, Monday, August 24, 2020 YECHANG, China - There are many challenges to applying facial recognition technology to animals: Pigs don't have distinguishing features and cows often want to lick the cameras. But there is an advantage: Farmyard inhabitants tend not to complain about impingements on their civil liberties. Having mastered facial recognition for humans to an alarmingly precise degree, even picking out wanted criminals from huge crowds, Chinese tech whizzes are turning their attention to furrier faces. "We've been using it for sheep, pigs and cows," said Zhao Jinshi, who studied at Cornell University and founded Beijing Unitrace Tech, a company developing software for the agriculture industry. "For pigs, it's more difficult because pigs all look the same, but dairy cows are a bit special because they ...

Tech firm releases pay-by-face system in California city By James Leggate August 24, 2020 With the coronavirus changing the way many companies do businesses, PopID pointed to the system as a way for customers to make purchases without needing contact with employees. (PopID) PASADENA, CA - Whether or not you have a million-dollar smile, your face might be able to help you spend some cash. Tech company  PopID says that it has helped dozens of retailers and  restaurants  in Pasadena,  Calif ., establish “the nation’s first dense ‘face-pay’ network.” The company’s PopPay facial recognition devices can allow contactless, hands-free payment at a kiosk, a drive-thru, a screen at a counter or tableside with a hand-held device. Once PopID’s system recognizes the customer’s face, it draws funds from their account and sends a text message to confirm payment. With the coronavirus changing the way many companies do businesses, PopID pointed to th...

Scientists achieve fastest-ever internet speed that could download entire Netflix library in 1 second By  Kelly Taylor Hayes Published   3 days ago Technology has changed our lives dramatically over the past decade, forcing consumers to look at products in a way they never have before. LONDON - Engineers from University College London have achieved the fastest-ever internet speed, a fifth faster than the previous record and one that is double the capacity of any data transmission system currently deployed in the world. Researchers said the connection is so fast that it would be possible to download the entire Netflix library in less than a second. The research team, led by Dr. Lidia Galdino with UCL Electronic & Electrical Engineering, created a data transmission rate of 178 terabits per second. This was achieved by transmitting data through a much wider range of colors of light, or wavelengths, than is typically used in optical fiber, the team said...

At Oklahoma State University, students' steps are tracked to stop the coronavirus The school president says students shouldn't be worried about privacy issues and the "Orwellian effect" because the data is collected for internal use only. By Joe Enoch Aug. 23, 2020 3:01 AM PDT STILLWATER, Okla. — Newfound freedom is part of the allure of going off to college, but COVID-19 changes things. At Oklahoma State University, the school tracks where students are at all times on campus to slow the spread of the disease. Oklahoma State tracks the location data of students and staff who are signed on to campus Wi-Fi routers. The school also uses student card swipes, campus purchases and course attendance to complete contact tracing. Students have tested positive at multiple universities that have decided to open their campuses in August. At the  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  this week, an outbreak prompted administrators to return to distance learning. ...

Hackers can now clone your keys just by listening to them with a smartphone BY  JACK MORSE August 20, 2020 Every time you unlock your front door, your key whispers a small, but audible, secret. Hackers finally learned how to listen.  Researchers at the National University of Singapore  published a paper  earlier this year detailing how, using only a smartphone microphone and a program they designed, a hacker can clone your key. What's more, if a thief was able to install malware on your smartphone, smartwatch, or smart doorbell to record the audio from afar, they wouldn't even need to be physically nearby to pull off the attack.  The key (ahem) to the attack, dubbed SpiKey, is the sound made by the lock pins as they move over a typical key's ridges. "When a victim inserts a key into the door lock, an attacker walking by records the sound with a smartphone microphone," describes the paper written by Soundarya Ramesh, Harini Ramprasad, and Jun Han. ...

How to Turn Off Autoplay Videos Whether you want to avoid disturbing content or preserve bandwidth, here's how to turn off autoplay videos on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Video. By  Chandra Steele Updated June 8, 2020 Autoplay is maybe not as grating as auto tune, but it sure is annoying. Social networks have been quick to add the so-called feature to their offerings but it’s not always a welcome addition. On mobile, the constant looping can eat into your data and drain your battery. Not to mention the embarrassment of an ill-timed video that springs to life on your phone. And then there are videos that have disturbing content that you might not want to see without a warning. The good news is you can turn it off on major services. Here's how. Twitter You can turn off autoplay videos on Twitter.com or on mobile. On Twitter.com, click the three-dot More menu and select Settings and privacy. Under General, click Data Usage ...