news.buyenne.com

Days ago, we reported on the Uber driver who said that he killed six people and tried to kill two others in Michigan because a "devil figure" in the Uber app made him do it.

Jason Dalton.

Then it appeared that 45-year-old defendant Jason Dalton was singing a different tune, instead blaming the murder spree on Uber management. At least that's what a federal lawsuit lodged under his name would have us believe. But on Thursday, Michigan authorities said the lawsuit—which touched on key complaints from Uber drivers who don't get overtime, sick pay, or health benefits—was a cruel hoax.

The suit, lodged in Michigan federal court, was handwritten, named Dalton as the plaintiff, and listed the Kalamazoo County Jail as the return address. But what tipped off the authorities was that the suit, mailed to the Eastern District Of Michigan court in Detroit, was postmarked in Philadelphia.

Sen. McCain asks questions at a Senate Armed Services Committee in 2014. (credit: Department of Defense)

On Wednesday, a senior executive with United Launch Alliance said the US military "bent over backwards" to favor the Colorado-based rocket company in the bidding process for national security payload launches. On Thursday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Committee on Armed Services, asked Secretary of Defense Ash Carter to investigate these comments.

"Let me just say that yesterday disturbing statements made by a senior executive of the United Launch Alliance were reported in the media," McCain said at the onset of a committee hearing Thursday morning. "These statements raise troubling questions about the nature of the relationship between the Department of Defense and ULA. This committee treats with the utmost seriousness and implication that the department showed favoritism to a major defense contractor or that efforts have been made to silence members of congress. Mr. Secretary, I expect that you will make a full investigation into these statements and take action wherever appropriate."

McCain was referring to comments made by Brett Tobey, a vice president of engineering for United Launch Alliance, during a seminar with students at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Tobey has since resigned, effective immediately, and ULA chief executive Tory Bruno has said Tobey's comments were "inaccurate."

(credit: Paul Miller)

While beer connoisseurs have mixed and heated opinions about the trend of ever-more hoppy beers, some researchers just can’t get enough of the bitter buds.

Their keen interest stems from the potentially untapped medicinal properties of the flowers. Traditional medicine has long used hops for everything from sedation to combatting infections. And researchers have noted that the plant’s chemical constituents appear to have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and anti-cancer activities. Yet chemists are still working out all the chemicals responsible for the potentially therapeutic effects and how to use them to brew up new medicines.

Now, with two new studies, researchers report that they’re getting closer to pinning down and optimizing hop-based medicines.

President Obama places a call from his secure BlackBerry 8900 from the presidential limo while in Indonesia in 2010. Secretary of State Clinton wanted similar phones for her staff, but they were told to "shut up and go color" by NSA. (credit: White House Photo by Pete Souza, November 10, 2010))

Judicial Watch, the conservative political action group that has largely driven the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's e-mails, has obtained documents through a Freedom of Information Act request indicating that Clinton tried and failed to get the National Security Agency to give her the same secure BlackBerry that President Obama used. Donald Reid, the State Department's coordinator for security infrastructure, reported in a 2009 e-mail, "Each time we asked the question 'What was the solution for POTUS,' we were politely asked to shut up and color."

Reid was trying to solve a problem for Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security Eric J. Boswell—the problem being that the new secretary of state was a certifiable BlackBerry addict but wasn't much of a computer user. Clinton became hooked on the BlackBerry in much the same way that President Obama did during the 2008 presidential campaign but found her preferred method of checking e-mail was banned from the secure office space at State's "Mahogany Row," the 7^th floor at the State Department's Foggy Bottom headquarters in Washington. Use of wireless devices was banned in the space, which is designated as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF).

But Reid found that using the desktop computer within the SCIF for e-mail was not in Clinton's comfort zone:

(credit: T-Mobile US)

T-Mobile USA and YouTube have reached a compromise that will bring YouTube into T-Mobile's Binge On program, which reduces streaming quality but exempts videos from data caps.

The Google-owned YouTube was the most notable absence from Binge On when T-Mobile launched the program in November. YouTube later said that while reducing data charges can be good for customers, "it doesn’t justify throttling all video services, especially without explicit user consent."

But today, T-Mobile announced that YouTube, Google Play Movies, and a few other services have joined Binge On, bringing the total to more than 50 (including its own T-Mobile TV).