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

"Meat Of The Future" - KFC Is 3D-Printing Chicken Nuggets  by  Tyler Durden Thu, 07/23/2020 - 23:30 Fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)  debuted  the "restaurant of the future" last month in Moscow. The US fast-food chain unveiled a storefront dominated by automation and food lockers, a move that would allow for a contactless environment to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.  Besides reinventing the frontend of the store with robots and artificial intelligence, the backend is getting revamped as well. According to a recent company press release, 3D printing technology will be used to produce chicken nuggets.  KFC  partnered  with 3D Bioprinting Solutions to create cell-based "chicken meat" in labs that will be as "close as possible in both taste and appearance to the original KFC product," with product testing expected this fall.  3D Bioprinting Solutions is developing addi...

Exclusive: Apple faces multi-state consumer protection probe Margaret Harding McGill July 23, 2020 Multiple states are investigating Apple for potentially deceiving consumers, according to a March  document  uncovered by a tech watchdog group. The big picture: Apple is already facing antitrust investigations from U.S. House lawmakers and the  European Union . Meanwhile, states have stepped up their scrutiny of Big Tech, including through multi-state antitrust probes of Facebook and Google. Details: The Texas attorney general may sue Apple for violating the state’s deceptive trade practices law in connection with a multi-state investigation, according to the document, obtained by the Tech Transparency Project through a public records request and shared with Axios Thursday. The Texas AG’s Consumer Protection Division “initiated this investigation for enforcement purposes. If violations are uncovered, CPD will initiate enforcement proceedings. Accordin...

MIT releases deepfake video of 'Nixon' announcing NASA Apollo 11 disaster MIT and Modzilla want people to better understand the disturbing power of deepfake videos in a new project called In Event of Moon Disaster. Bonnie Burton   July 20, 2020 8:28 p.m. PT Watch President Richard Nixon deliver some very bad news about the Apollo 11 moon landing in this deepfake video made by MIT.  Video………… https://youtu.be/LWLadJFI8Pk The  Apollo 11 moon landing  on July 20, 1969 was a landmark moment in space history. But what if the astronauts died during their mission to the moon, and  President Richard Nixon had to deliver tragic news  on TV to the American viewing public? In this disturbingly-real  deepfake  video, President Nixon breaks the news that  NASA  failed and astronauts died on the moon.  Deepfakes  are video forgeries that make people appear to be doing or saying things they aren't.  Deepfake software ...

Cellular aging ‘master circuit’ discovered: Extended human lifespan to follow? by John Anderer July 19, 2020 SAN DIEGO — The average American lives to be around 75 or 80 years old; but if you had an opportunity to slow down the aging process and live an  extra couple of decades  would you take it? It’s a loaded question, strife with philosophical, religious, and societal considerations. Humans have pondered the possibilities of extended, or even immortal, life for as long as we’ve inhabited this planet. But at the end of the day it’s all just a daydream, right? Not necessarily, according to new research out of the University of California, San Diego. The study, led by UCSD molecular biologists and bioengineers, produced a groundbreaking discovery regarding the intricacies of cellular aging. In light of their findings, researchers say the notion of “dramatically”  extending human life  isn’t so farfetched after all. Yeast cells with the same DNA under ...

One Telecommute Employee Can Subject a Business to Corporate Income Tax in More States The sudden shift to remote work for many corporations in response to Covid-19 may lead to costly compliance burdens as 36 state tax departments indicate that having just one employee telecommuting from their state will create nexus for ... Jul 16th, 2020 The sudden shift to remote work for many corporations in response to Covid-19 may lead to costly compliance burdens as 36 state tax departments indicate that having just one employee telecommuting from their state will create nexus for corporate income tax. This is just one of the key findings from the 20th annual Bloomberg Tax & Accounting Survey of State Tax Departments, which incorporates input on income and sales tax issues that matter most to corporations from senior state tax department officials from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and New York City. An executive summary of the survey is available at  http://onb-tax.com...

EU court cancels US data-sharing pact over snooping concerns By CARLO PIOVANO July 16, 2020 The European Union’s top court ruled Thursday that an agreement that allows thousands of companies — from tech giants to small financial firms — to transfer data to the United States is invalid because the American government can snoop on people’s data. The ruling to invalidate  Privacy Shield  will likely complicate business for around 5,000 companies, and it could require regulators to vet any new data transfers to make sure Europeans’ personal information remains protected according to the EU’s stringent standards. It will no longer simply be assumed that tech companies like Facebook will adequately protect the privacy of its European users’ data when it sends it to the U.S. Rather, the EU and U.S. will likely have to find a new agreement that guarantees that Europeans’ data is afforded the same privacy protection in the U.S. as it is in the EU. Privacy activists hailed t...

Rock Star and Web Founder Teaming Up on Technology Thomas Seal  July 18, 2020 (Bloomberg) -- A rock star, a vegan financier and a pioneer of the internet are backing a  project  to find ways for humans to communicate with animals using machine learning and artificial intelligence. The  Interspecies I/O  forum on Friday announced the Coller Prize for Interspecies Conversation, a $1 million research award, according to a statement. The effort kicks off this weekend with a video  conference  on subjects running from the language of bonobo apes to the music of elephants. Interspecies I/O’s leading figures include musician Peter Gabriel, Vint Cerf -- who helped to design the TCP/IP architecture that underpins the internet -- and private equity veteran Jeremy Coller, a backer of “shoot-for-the-moon” philanthropic projects and part of a network of investors, who has personally said he would like to end factory farming. “Now that machine learn...