Month: October 2018

Enlarge / Parking assist in action in a BMW 640i GT. (credit: Eric Bangeman)

You know all that safety stuff on new cars? Lane-keep assist? Adaptive cruise control? It has a downside... if you get in an accident.

Cars with advanced driver-assistance technology are more expensive to repair than their less-autonomous counterparts, according to a study by AAA. What would have been relatively inexpensive bodywork due to a fender bender may end up costing two-and-a-half times as much to repair, due to the location of cameras along with ultrasonic and radar sensors.

"Advanced safety systems are much more common today, with many coming as standard equipment, even on base models,” said John Nielsen, AAA’s managing director of Automotive Engineering and Repair. “It’s critical that drivers understand what technology their vehicle has, how it performs and how much it could cost to repair should something happen."

Enlarge / An Apple iPhone lock screen is seen in this photo illustration on September 24, 2018. (credit: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Chinese and Russian spies routinely eavesdrop on personal phone calls President Trump makes on his iPhones, one of which is no different from the smartphone millions of other people use. The US president’s casual approach to electronic security has several current and former officials so frustrated they leaked the details to The New York Times, which reported on the phone interceptions Wednesday evening.

Trump, Wednesday’s article reported, has two official iPhones that have been altered by the National Security Agency to limit the types of hacks they’re susceptible to. The president has a third iPhone with no modifications that he uses as personal device, because unlike the official iPhones, he can store personal contacts on it. What’s more, while Trump is supposed to swap out his two official phones every 30 days for new ones, he rarely does. Trump did agree to give up his Android phone, which most security experts believe is more vulnerable than Apple’s iOS, and Trump has also agreed to the more cumbersome arrangement of having the two official iPhones. One is for Twitter and other apps, while the other handles calls.

Still, when Trump uses the cell phones to call friends, Chinese spies often listen in hopes of gaining insights about how to influence him on the long-simmering issue of trade. Russian spies also routinely eavesdrop on Trump’s calls, although the Russian spies don’t appear to be running as sophisticated an influence campaign as their Chinese counterparts. Aides have repeatedly warned the president that cell phone calls are especially susceptible to monitoring by adversaries. The aides have pressured him to use landlines instead, but he has refused to give up his devices.

Enlarge / Tesla's new Model 3 car on display is seen on Friday, January 26, 2018, at the Tesla store in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images)

Tesla finally turned a profit, posting net income attributable to shareholders of approximately $311.5 million. The Q3 results come after many quarters of losses, and Tesla shares are up 12 percent in after-hours trading as of this writing.

The company's results are also closely tied to the success of the Tesla Model 3. Tesla struggled to achieve production goals early in the year, but it has largely made the production strides it has promised since Q1. In Q3, Tesla produced 4,300 Model 3 vehicles per week, producing a total of 83,500 vehicles throughout the whole quarter, with 56,065 being Model 3s, according to the company's shareholder letter.

The company also disclosed free cash flow of $881 million, dispelling fears that the company might struggle to pay the roughly $900 million in debt that's slated to come due for Tesla early next year.

Enlarge / Tesla's new Model 3 car on display is seen on Friday, January 26, 2018, at the Tesla store in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images)

Tesla finally turned a profit, posting net income attributable to shareholders of approximately $311.5 million. The Q3 results come after many quarters of losses, and Tesla shares are up 12 percent in after-hours trading as of this writing.

The company's results are also closely tied to the success of the Tesla Model 3. Tesla struggled to achieve production goals early in the year, but it has largely made the production strides it has promised since Q1. In Q3, Tesla produced 4,300 Model 3 vehicles per week, producing a total of 83,500 vehicles throughout the whole quarter, with 56,065 being Model 3s, according to the company's shareholder letter.

The company also disclosed free cash flow of $881 million, dispelling fears that the company might struggle to pay the roughly $900 million in debt that's slated to come due for Tesla early next year.

(credit: Julien GONG Min / Flickr)

Microsoft has posted the results of the first quarter of its 2019 financial year, which runs up until September 30, 2018. Revenue was $29.1 billion, up 19 percent year on year, to set a new record for the company's first quarter. Operating income rose 29 percent to $10.0 billion, and net income was up 34 percent to $8.8 billion. Earnings per share were up 36 percent at $1.14.

Microsoft currently has three reporting segments: Productivity and Business Processes (covering Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype, Dynamics, and LinkedIn), Intelligent Cloud (including Azure, Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, and Enterprise Services), and More Personal Computing (covering Windows, hardware, and Xbox, as well as search and advertising).

Productivity group revenue was up 19 percent to $9.8 billion, with operating income up 29 percent to $3.9 billion. Both commercial and consumer Office sales were up by 17 and 16 percent respectively, and Office 365 continues to grow; commercial seats were up 29 percent year on year, and it now has more than 155 million monthly active users. There are also now 32.5 million consumer subscribers. This ongoing switch to the cloud meant that perpetually licensed Office revenue was down 12 percent. Dynamics revenue is up 20 percent, and LinkedIn revenue has grown 33 percent.

(credit: Julien GONG Min / Flickr)

Microsoft has posted the results of the first quarter of its 2019 financial year, which runs up until September 30, 2018. Revenue was $29.1 billion, up 19 percent year on year, to set a new record for the company's first quarter. Operating income rose 29 percent to $10.0 billion, and net income was up 34 percent to $8.8 billion. Earnings per share were up 36 percent at $1.14.

Microsoft currently has three reporting segments: Productivity and Business Processes (covering Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Skype, Dynamics, and LinkedIn), Intelligent Cloud (including Azure, Windows Server, SQL Server, Visual Studio, and Enterprise Services), and More Personal Computing (covering Windows, hardware, and Xbox, as well as search and advertising).

Productivity group revenue was up 19 percent to $9.8 billion, with operating income up 29 percent to $3.9 billion. Both commercial and consumer Office sales were up by 17 and 16 percent respectively, and Office 365 continues to grow; commercial seats were up 29 percent year on year, and it now has more than 155 million monthly active users. There are also now 32.5 million consumer subscribers. This ongoing switch to the cloud meant that perpetually licensed Office revenue was down 12 percent. Dynamics revenue is up 20 percent, and LinkedIn revenue has grown 33 percent.

Enlarge / SpaceX flew the Block 5 variant of its Falcon 9 rocket for the first time on May 11, 2018. (credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX has re-used its Falcon 9 rocket 16 times, but the company has never flown a single first stage more than twice. However, in May of this year the company debuted a newer version of its Falcon 9 rocket, dubbed Block 5, that is specifically optimized for reusability across multiple flights.

SpaceX has since flown a handful of Block 5 rockets twice, but it has not taken the step of flying one of these rockets for the third time. However, that may happen quite soon, according to Lars Hoffman, senior director of government sales for the California-based rocket company.

"We've launched Falcon 9 over 60 times," Hoffman said at the Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium on Wednesday afternoon. "We've landed our first stage booster 30 times now. And relaunched 16 times. We're about to relaunch a booster for the third time. So we're turning this into routine access to space. High-reliability, higher-performance, lower-cost access to space; that opens it up to everybody."

Enlarge / San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon speaks with the media regarding the shooting that occurred at the Inland Regional Center on December 2, 2015 in San Bernardino, California.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has sued the San Bernardino County sheriff over what the advocacy group says is a failure of the law enforcement agency to adequately release public records relating to its use of cell-site simulators, or "stingrays."

The lawsuit, Electronic Frontier Foundation v. County of San Bernardino et al., which was filed in county court on Tuesday, explains how a 2015 state law requires that law enforcement agencies in most cases seek a warrant to use the surveillance devices. Prior to the law's passage, Ars reported that since the San Bernardino Sheriff's Department (SBSD) acquired a stingray in late 2012, the agency has used it 303 times between January 1, 2014 and May 7, 2015, all without seeking a warrant.

The SBSD is the law enforcement agency for the entire county, the twelfth-most populous county in the United States, and the fifth-most populous in California.