“Viktor Prokopenya started Viaden Media in 2006. After selling the company in 2011, Prokopenya founded an investment company called VP Capital. He is now an investor in the two of the best-performing companies in High Tech Park. Prokopenya played a key role in developing the new law on Digital Economy.”
“The government succeeded in suffocating the flare-up in part by shutting off key social media and messaging apps, but the lesson was clear: The same oxygen that can resuscitate commerce can also give breath to potential revolt. Authorities’ solution has been to create a so-called ‘halal net,’ Iran’s own locally controlled version of the internet aimed at restricting what the public can see. As Iran approaches the 40th anniversary of the revolution that brought its cleric-led rule to power, how it handles the power of cyberspace will be crucial to its future, determining whether it moves to greater openness or seals itself off from the world.”
“The 2018 NPR eschews traditional nuclear disarmament pathways in favor of a more aggressive posture that seeks to make nuclear weapons more accessible to American policymakers when formulating deterrence. The possibility of a tit-for-tat exchange of cyberattacks that escalates into a nuclear conflict would previously have been dismissed out of hand; today, thanks to the 2018 NPR, it has entered the realm of the possible.”
Read more: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/trump-nuke-plan-resets-the-doomsday-clock/
“This has led to disclosures of the supposed locations of numerous low-profile U.S. military outposts, forward operating sites, and bases. It has raised fears about how such information might be linked to individual troops and imperil U.S. forces, while shining a light on the poor operational security habits of many U.S. military personnel based overseas.”
Read more: https://theintercept.com/2018/01/29/strava-heat-map-fitness-tracker-us-military-base/
“It was funded by ‘black money,’ the term used for classified Pentagon programs. This explains why the project wasn’t public until this year, because a public debate on the Senate floor wasn’t required in order to fund it. This story sounds less like reality and more like an episode of The X-Files – the iconic 90s series which is currently airing its 11th and final season.”
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/the-pentagon-is-hunting-for-ufos-guess-how-much-it-costs/
“Earlier this week, an amateur radio astronomer named Scott Tilley decided to have a look for the presence of secret military satellites. Instead, he found an undead NASA mission. Given the relative costs of launching vs. maintaining contact with a satellite, if IMAGE can still provide useful data, Tilley just may have given NASA scientists a bargain.”
“Health apps are providing much-needed access and services to millions of patients on a global scale. Efforts to curtail their use, despite the best intentions, only work to deny access to those who may need it most. It would be folly to ask patients to wait in long lines or for federal regulators to verify quality when so many are receiving help every day.”
Read more: http://blog.independent.org/2018/01/11/medical-apps-improving-healthcare-on-a-global-scale/
“The three companies unveiled an as yet unnamed company to give their U.S. workers and families a better option on health insurance. The statement said the new company will be ‘free from profit-making incentives and constraints.'”
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/30/news/companies/amazon-berkshire-jpmorgan-health-insurance/index.html
“The robot cop — but not RoboCop — can determine when a violation has occurred on the road, and it can take various actions. It can refer the case to a local speed camera or another connected sensor for corroborating evidence. It could also begin a pursuit of the vehicle in question, or if it’s something simple like a warning or a speeding ticket, it can just wirelessly communicate the violation directly to the offending vehicle, which can respond with an image of the driver’s license to ensure the ticket reaches the right person.”
Read more: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ford-patents-an-autonomous-police-car-that-can-ticket-you/
Following last year’s San Francisco ban on flame retardants in furniture, a California Democrat now aims to ban Elon Musk’s new and hugely popular flamethrower from the market.
Flame retardants banned for more than a decade continue to bioaccumulate in humans.
Induced perspiration is the best known method of excreting persistent environmental pollutants such as dioxins, PCBs, BPA, and flame retardants known as PBDEs.