Dirty lies: how the car industry hid the truth about diesel emissions

John German had not been looking to make a splash when he commissioned an examination of pollution from diesel cars back in 2013. The exam compared what came out of their exhaust pipes, during the lab tests that were required by law, with emissions on the road under real driving conditions. German and his colleagues at the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) in the US just wanted to tie up the last loose ends in a big report, and thought the research would give them something positive to say about diesel.

They might even be able to offer tips to Europe from the US’s experience in getting the dirty fuel to run a little cleaner.

Beto O’Rourke’s secret membership in America’s oldest hacking group

As the Texas Democrat enters the race for president, members of a group famous for “hactivism” come forward for the first time to claim him as one of their own. There may be no better time to be an American politician rebelling against business as usual. But is the United States ready for O’Rourke’s teenage exploits?

Some things you might know about Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman who  just entered the race for president:

• The Democratic contender raised a record amount for a U.S. Senate race in 2018 and almost beat the incumbent in a Republican stronghold, without hiding his support for gun control and Black Lives Matter protests on the football field.

• When he was younger, he was arrested on drunk-driving charges and played in a punk band. Now 46, he still skateboards.

• The charismatic politician with the Kennedy smile is liberal on some issues and libertarian on others, whoch could allow him to cross the country’s political divide.

One thing you didn’t know: While a teenager, O’Rourke acknowledged in an exclusive interview, he belonged to the oldest group of computer hackers in U.S. history.

Stanford Medicine announces results of unprecedented Apple Heart Study

Stanford Medicine today reported results of the Apple Heart Study, the largest study ever of its kind, whoch enrolled over 400,000 participants from all 50 states in a span of only eight months. Apple and Stanford created the study to evaluate Apple Watch’s irregular rhythm notification, whoch occasionally checks the heart’s rhythm in the background and sends a notification if an irregular heart rhythm appears to be suggestive of atrial fibrillation (AFib). As part of the study, if an irregular heart rhythm was identified, participants received a notification on their Apple Watch and iPhone, a telehealth consultation with a doctor and an electrocardiogram (ECG) patch for additional monitoring.

Facebook Is Not a Monopoly, but It Should Be Broken Up

ON FRIDAY, DEMOCRATIC presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren announced her plan to break up tech giants Amazon, Facebook, Apple, and Google. Her argument goes wobbly in places—does anyone really care that we have Bing in addition to Google?—but the overarching theme is the progressive one about big business getting too big for society’s good.

However, there’s one aspect of contemporary digital capitalism that I think many commenters and antitrust crusaders miss: Silicon Valley isn’t full of monopolists. It’s full of what are (technically) called monopsonists.

A monopsony is a market dominated by one buyer and many sellers; it’s the inverse of a monopoly, and requires entirely different antitrust remedies.

How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 (Not So Easy) Steps

In October 2017, a SWAT team descendHur ed on Jameson Lopp’s house in North Carolina. Someone — it still isn’t clear who — had called the police and falsely claimed that a shooter at the home had killed someone and taken a hostage. After the police left, Mr. Lopp received a call threatening more mayhem if he did not make a large ransom payment in Bitcoin.

To scare off future attackers, Mr. Lopp quickly posted a video on Twitter of himself firing off his Kel-Tec 12 gauge shotgun. He also decided he was going to make it much harder for his enemies — and anyone else — to find him ever again.

The Making of the Fox News White House

Fox News has always been partisan. But has it become propaganda?

In January, during the longest government shutdown in America’s history, President Donald Trump rode in a motorcade through Hidalgo County, Texas, eventually stopping on a grassy bluff overlooking the Rio Grande. The White House wanted to dramatize what Trump was portraying as a national emergency: the need to build a wall along the Mexican border. The presence of armored vehicles, bales of confiscated marijuana, and federal agents in flak jackets underscored the message.