Month: January 2017

Enlarge / FBI Director James Comey testifies Tuesday before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill. (credit: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

It's been a head-scratching few months for FBI Director James Comey. It all started last July, when Comey said Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton should not be prosecuted in connection to her use of a private e-mail server during her tenure as secretary of state. He next spoke about the situation on October 28—less than two weeks before the election—saying that the bureau discovered more e-mails relevant to the criminal inquiry that needed to be examined. Days later, on November 6—just two days before the election—Comey announced that everything was hunky dory and the newly discovered e-mail was unrelated to the Clinton investigation from July.

The whole situation prompted many after the election to conclude that Comey's actions helped thwart Clinton's chances of winning the presidency. Now, the entire Comey saga will be investigated by the Department of Justice's inspector general, and his investigation will conclude well after Donald Trump assumes the presidency on January 20.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz said the main purpose of his examination is to investigate "[a]llegations that Department or FBI policies or procedures were not followed in connection with, or in actions leading up to or related to, the FBI Director’s public announcement on July 5, 2016, and the Director’s letters to Congress on October 28 and November 6, 2016, and that certain underlying investigative decisions were based on improper considerations."

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Enlarge / The Switch's HD screen is reportedly a little smaller than that on an iPad Mini.

Nearly 22 months after it was offhandedly announced as Project NX (the "dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept") and nearly three months after it was first unveiled in a short trailer, Nintendo will publicly finalize the details of its upcoming Switch console in worldwide events tonight and tomorrow.

The news starts Thursday, with a livestreamed event out of Japan (with an English language option) at 11pm Eastern time (8pm Pacific). That will be followed by a short presentation from New York City at 9am Eastern time Friday morning and hands-on events in New York, Japan, and England where members of the press and invited guests will get a chance to play the system. Members of the public will then be able to try out the Switch through a promotional tour running over the next few weeks and at conventions like PAX.

Ars will be on hand to bring you the news as it happens, and we'll provide hands-on impressions, photos, and video of the hardware itself. But before it all goes down, here's what we know and what we're expecting from Nintendo's new console.

Rudy Giuliani explains the cyber. (credit: Fox & Friends, Fox News)

On Fox News' morning show Fox & Friends, former mayor (and frequent proxy for Donald Trump) Rudy Giuliani announced that he would be coordinating a cybersecurity advisory group for the Trump administration.

Giuliani's bona fides for this role apparently spring from his time as chair of the "Cybersecurity, Privacy and Crisis Management Practice" at the New York law firm Greenberg Traurig, a position he assumed a year ago. However, it's not clear that Giuliani has ever had any direct experience in cybersecurity law or policy. Giuliani previously was a partner in a Houston-based international law firm Bracewell (formerly Bracewell & Giuliani) for over 10 years, and he ran his own security consulting firm based on his mayoral experience and credibility from New York City's measures taken after the September 11, 2001 terror attack. But Giuliani is really counting on private industry to provide all the answers.

"The President-elect decided that he wanted to bring in on a regular basis the private sector—the corporate leaders in particular and thought leaders in particular for cyber, because we're so far behind," said Giuliani. "And it's his belief which I share, that a lot of the solutions are out there, we're just not sharing them. IT's like cancer—there's cancer research going on all over the place. You'd almost wish they'd all get together in one room, and maybe they'd find a cure."

Google Maps is providing a big update for ride sharers: direct booking integration. In a post on the official blog today, Google announced you'll now be able to search, browse, request, and pay for an Uber directly from Google Maps. You don't even need the Uber app installed; Google says you merely need to sign into your Uber account for it to work.

Booking a ride is easy. After picking a destination in Google Maps, next to the "car" and "mass transit" tabs is a ride sharing tab. Tap on it, and you'll see the fees and arrival times from Uber. From there, pick a credit card through your Uber account and hit "request." All the usual Uber features seem to be here, including arrival times, driver ratings, and a driver call button.

Oddly, there is a "Lyft" tab in the video along with screenshots, but Google doesn't mention anything about direct Lyft booking in its post. This is mostly likely just the old Google Maps interface, which let you browse rides and see the cost without the ability to book a ride directly.

Enlarge / "Apple TV" may be more than the name for a streaming box if its efforts come to fruition. (credit: Apple)

Apple is thinking about getting into the scripted TV business, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Ever-mysterious "people familiar with the matter" tell the Journal the shows would be offered to Apple Music subscribers and the company is talking to both "veteran producers" and "experienced marketing executives" to create and promote those shows. These shows could be released by the end of this year.

The report also says Apple is looking into making movies, but it describes those efforts as "more preliminary."

Apple is already dabbling in some unscripted TV, including an app developer competition series called Planet of the Apps and a half-hour version of Carpool Karaoke. Another previously announced project, a scripted "dark semi-autobiographical drama featuring at least one orgy scene," stars Dr. Dre, the rapper and producer whose name just happens to be attached to the Beats headphones Apple sells.