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Anthony Levandowski

Anthony Levandowski Admits to Having Stolen from Google

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Former Google employee and a pioneer of the self-driving car concept, Anthony Levandowski, yesterday pled guilty to stealing trade secrets from Google. He had left the tech giant in 2016, with dreams to start his self-driving truck manufacturing company, which Uber went on to acquire for $680 million. This led to Google’s division for self-driving automobiles, Waymo to sue Uber for using its technology. The lawsuit was finally settled in February, with Uber having to pay Waymo $245 million. Here’s a look at how the saga unfolded and what impact it can have on the industry, and both companies involved.

Indictment and Trial

The prosecutors chose to indict Levandowski last year, in August for 33 counts involving theft, theft of trade secrets and attempted theft from Google. All these allegations are said to have happened when he decided to leave the tech giant way back in 2015. While he had denied these allegations for a long time, Levandowski finally pleaded guilty to the charge that accuses him of trade secret theft. The Federal deal, as per reports, will lead to the other charges against being dropped, thanks to his confession. As per the US District Court of California, this plea carries a sentence that could lead up to 10 years in prison with a fine of $250,000.

Trial till Now

Levandowski said in his plea that he had downloaded the files in question intending to use them personal benefit, knowing fully well that he had no right to do so. However, no date has been set for sentencing him yet. At the beginning of March, the court had ordered him to pay Google $179 million for unlawfully terminating his contract with them. A couple of hours after this sentence was finalized on Wednesday, he filed for bankruptcy protection, under Chapter 11. Once the arbitration panel ruled that he owed Google $179 million, he filed for bankruptcy while in September, a lawyer had said he owned assets worth $72 million.

The case Waymo filed against Uber focused on lidar, which is a laser scanning technology that helps vehicles maintain their autonomy. However, Levandowski pleaded guilty to stealing a weekly update regarding the project. This document is said to have contained information regarding quarterly goals, metrics, technical challenges and recommendations on how to overcome challenges. Him pleading guilty has prevented him from now seeking a trial to appeal for conviction. He has also admitted that he downloaded around 14,000 files from the Google server to his laptop.

In 2018, Levandowski had announced that he had founded a new company called Pronto to focus on computer vision rather than lidar. However, when he was indicted on several criminal charges by the prosecutors, he had no choice but to leave this company.

Fall from Grace

Levandowski was once a heavily lauded engineer who had headed Google’s self-driving automobile division, earning it a lot of praise and recognition. Levandowski had been a significant player in the field of AVs since his early 20s, by entering the 2004 Darpa Grand Challenge. He then helped Google set up their AV team in 2009, growing within that team and even heading it at one point. However, by 2015, he had been removed from his position of ultimate power, due to power struggles with teammate Chris Urmson, which led to him quitting.

Shortly before leaving the giant, he stole highly confidential documents which contained crucial information regarding the project. Most prosecutors agree that the plea will warrant a sentence which will put him behind bars for around 24 to 30 months. The charges were levelled against him because right after he left Google, he founded his own company Otto which focused on self-driving trucks. It was this company that Uber acquired for $680 million. Waymo sued Uber in 2017, alleging that Uber bought Otto to gain access to their confidential records which Levandowski had stolen. In the 2018 settlement, Uber agreed to pay Waymo $245 million. However, while handling the case, the judge advised the prosecutors to file a criminal lawsuit against Levandowski for theft, leading to his indictment in August last year. The trial for these was to happen in January 2021, with Levandowski planning to plead innocent. Yesterday evening, he stated that while he was planning of fighting against the case, he decided it wasn’t worth it. He also said that he hopes to put all this behind him and move on.

twitter

Twitter Updates Its Safety Policy Amid The Coronavirus Outbreak

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In this era of the internet and the fastest growing social platforms, it is very easy to reach people and communities. But at the same time, it has also become easy to spread false news and rumors. Currently, novel coronavirus is spreading in a very fast manner and so are the rumors and false news. This fake news may turn lethal for those who believe them.  To control the spread of any misinformation and the ongoing pandemic COVID-19 outbreak, twitter has taken extra precautions to wipe out tweets from twitter which are false and may cause chaos among people. It is mostly using auto flagging and machine learning for the same.

On March 18, Twitter updated its safety policy which allows them to restrict the tweets which may put people at higher risk of spreading COVID-19. The new safety policy bans tweets related to fake and nonsense corona treatments, various prevention techniques that are not given by any health authorities. Also, Twitter is banning the misinformation by the people who have fake accounts and pretending to health experts on this microblogging site. Twitter has twitted from its official account that its new safety policy requires people to delete tweets related to all the above-mentioned points.

Misleading tweets will stay hidden

If a user tries to violate this policy, he/she will be notified via email to remove that tweet or put an appeal. In this entire notice period for the user, the misinforming tweet will stay in hidden mode to keep people away from any kind of a half-truth. Twitter has specifically outlined that if any tweet says that social distancing is ineffective, that will be removed immediately. This platform is going to require users to remove misinforming tweets claiming to follow dangerous things like intaking bleach, cow-urine or visiting any temple to stay away from corona, (even if it is as a meme) as it may prove harmful if people take this into another context.

If twitter observes any activity on twitter that asks people to do against what health authorities like WHO has suggested, such tweets will be banned. If someone tweets saying that “Go out and have fun at the local bar”, it will be debarred immediately. A few politicians and public figures already faced a lot of criticism by netizens for giving wrong messages to their fan base and followers.

Panic tweets also restricted

Another kind of tweet that is not allowed is, which cause panic amongst people. For example, a few people pretending to doctors tweeted that “A wet cough is definitely Cancelled out chances of having corona but if you have a dry cough, you are corona positive”. Another example is “One sneeze means coronavirus”, etc. Such tweets may lead to panic attacks.

Twitter is also banning tweets that attack a particular race, nationality, and community. For example, “Eating at Chinese restaurant causes coronavirus outbreak” or “Black people cannot be affected by coronavirus” or “Coronavirus outbreak cannot affect Hindus” etc. Such tweets will not fly on this platform.

Twitter to delete misleading tweets automatically

Though Twitter has prepared a set of stringent rules for its platform, it will be difficult to enforce where people have less awareness about this pandemic. To overcome this, Twitter has put a content severity triage system to automatically delete content with the highest damage and risk. Using this, the tweets will be flagged by themselves. Previously, Twitter announced that it will rely mostly on the automation and machine learning part for sensitive content removal, but later it admitted that it can cause mistakes in a few cases such as relevant hashtags and images.

People need to support to fight against coronavirus outbreak

Usually, we never see such an aggressive approach by social media platforms, but right now the world is in the need of care. It’s a global health emergency where the economy, people and their physical, as well as mental health, is at risk. Any misinformation may lead to the spread of this virus which can cause another emergency of lack of resources. It is all over the news that, keeping the spread of coronavirus in mind, it is observed that the number of doctors, nurses, and specialists are being transferred to affected areas to facilitate the care. So, one lethal misinformation can cause a lot of trouble. So, stay rightly informed and follow authentic sources for all the precaution adversaries.

Jio is combining its digital capabilities with Microsoft Teams, the unified communication and collaboration hub for teamwork in Office 365, to enable individuals, students, educational and healthcare institutions to continue their professional lives while still practicing social distancing,” the statement said.

The company said it will use the Jio platform for healthcare and learning from home. Jio will provide basic JioFiber broadband connectivity, wherever it is geographically feasible, without any service charges, for this period. For all existing JioFiber subscribers, Jio will provide double data across all plans.

Nintendo

Nintendo Faces a Worldwide Shutdown in Services

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Fans were left surprised and saddened by the fact that the Nintendo Switch’s online services are temporarily down. It seems that both the multiplayer services, as well as the Nintendo eShop facilities are not working for the time being. Here’s a look at why this has happened and what Nintendo plans to do regarding the same. multiplayer services are not working.

Officially Down

The company’s official Twitter account, which is in Japanese, has confirmed the news, by tweeting that the incident is true. The Twitter account also confirms that they have taken all the necessary steps to make sure that the site will be up in no time. The company has confirmed that repair work is underway regarding the website and portal. Furthermore, the company’s updated status confirms they are not able to connect to their services over their network. The message also urges users to try again later. The news also shows that the outage is worldwide and not specific to a certain area or nation. Also, the outage has affected various Nintendo services such as the Switch, 3DS, and Wii U. However, certain users have confirmed that while they are unable to access the eShop, many are being able to play the Rocket League online without any issues.

Aftereffects of COVID-19

Some experts believe that the Xbox Live and PlayStation services have suffered as a result of an increase in user base. The hard-hitting effects of the COVID-19 have left many people without work or school, meaning more people than ever before are turning towards entertainment facilities to stay occupied. This has put undue network strain on such services, leading to discrepancies and inefficiencies within the system. For instance, the gaming platform Steam, recorded a new all-time record for the number of users with 20 million people signing in last weekend. It is unfortunate that such an outage has occurred now when it is most needed with most people staying indoors to prevent the spread of the virus.

As more and more people choose to stay at home and avoid social gatherings, they are turning to online streaming services and video games to fill their time. However, it has not been confirmed whether or not this is the reason for the break-in service by Nintendo. But, most online multiplayer service portals are facing a severe network strain due to the excessive number of users. Both IGN and Downdetector have both stated that both the Switch Online and eShop are inaccessible to them. March 15 had also witnessed Microsoft’s Xbox Live network going down. However, this news comes at a bad time for Nintendo, who is coming out with their new release, Animal Crossing: New Horizons very soon. Fans are eagerly awaiting the services to start normal operation, and are hoping this does not delay the release of the new game. The outage seems to have occurred somewhere between 4:56 AM and 1:45 PM ET. The outage was experienced both in the UK, Japan, and the US, with Nintendo Mario Kart’s online facility being affected severely.

Other Failings

However, Nintendo isn’t the only tech company having problems keeping their services online. Last week, Microsoft was in the same position when the Xbox Live went down for almost 2 hours. Similarly, the gaming chat application Discord has been facing difficulties in recent times as well. This definitely comes as bad news for all the people who are self-quarantining themselves in the wake of the COVID-19. While nothing has been officially stated, certain players tweeted today morning that they were able to open the eShop. This suggests that at least some of the services were back on track, much to the delight of fans from all over the world. However, if you are still unable to access the eShop or any other online facility, do not worry, because Nintendo is doing all it can to fix the issue.

Coronavirs

Corona Prompts Israel to Use Anti-Terrorism Technology in the Fight Against It

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The Novel Coronavirus is on every major headline around the world as it continues to spread aggressively all across the world. With the epicenter, Wuhan, doing a lot better, Europe and Western Asia seem to be the areas reeling in the aftermath of this global pandemic. As countries rush to put in place reforms, rules and bans in order to protect their people from this deadly disease, almost all spheres of our lives have taken a hit. While most countries are implementing travel bans, closing schools and colleges and administering work from home initiatives to employees, Israel seems to be opting for a stricter course of action. Here’s a look at how recent reports from Israel state that they will be turning to their anti-terrorism technology to counter the Coronavirus, and how this affects people in the country.

Drastic Measures in Tough Times

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has released a public statement that the country plans to utilize its anti-terrorism tracking technology in its fight against the Coronavirus. Furthermore, the PM has also called for a partial shutdown of the Israeli economy as a means to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. This could mean that the people of Israel will now be under cyber monitoring.

This technology has been previously put to use to locate, identify and punish extremist groups and terrorist cells within the country. Netanyahu in his press conference held in Jerusalem on Saturday mentioned that this tracking and monitoring technology will now be used to identify and track people exposed to the virus. However, this still remains a plan, and to turn it into a viable strategy the PM still required approval from his cabinet. Also, Netanyahu has said that he has asked for clearance from the Justice Ministry approval as these measures could lead to the infringement of privacy of the nation’s people. The PM also drew flak for not mentioning how Israel would help fight the disease in the Palestinian territories under its control.

Further Steps to Prevent Spread

In a bid to escalate precautionary measures, the Israeli government has asked all malls, hotels, theaters, and restaurants to shut down from Sunday. They have also issued orders asking employees not to go to their workplaces unless it is absolutely necessary. However, the government has not placed any such bans on pharmacies, banks, and supermarkets as they provide vital services to its citizens. Health officials from Israel are also requesting people to maintain distance, not to attend social gatherings and to stay at home. Netanyahu mentioned that while using such technology might feel unfair to some, he had to make the hard choice as the invisible enemy was one that needs to be located.

The military had issued a statement on Saturday which said that it was ordering all troops to return by Sunday, with soldiers having to prepare for tough times. The military also specified that the soldiers would have to prepare for long periods of stay, with no leaves in question in the next one month. Furthermore, since last week, anyone entering Israel after a foreign visit will have to quarantine themselves for two weeks. Over ten thousand Israelis have put themselves in self-quarantine and all schools have been shut till the end of March.

Invasive Technology

Israeli domestic security outlet Shin Bet confirmed that they were working on ways to utilize technology to fight the virus, as per the request of the government. However, they did say that the government has not mentioned anything regarding the enforcement of quarantine. A member of the Association for Civil Rights, Avner Pinchuk, says that such technology could help with the real-time tracking of mobile phones to pinpoint the location of infected people.

This could also help them collect the data required to backtrack their steps and gain insight into where all they went and who all they had contact with. However, he feels that while the situation is bad, using such invasive technology might have serious repercussions on privacy and human rights. The government is, in fact, putting into motion the same steps followed in Taiwan. These actions have been made due to the Health Ministry confirming that over 193 people in Israel have tested positive to the coronavirus. As a result, over 40,000 people have been self-quarantined to prevent the further spread of the disease.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s Biggest Event Goes Virtual as Conferences Become Coronavirus Newest Hits

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The World Health Organization recently declared the Coronavirus, called COVID-19 as a global pandemic, due to its extremely aggressive transmission rate. The world is still reeling from the effects of this novel virus on public health, tourism and transportation, and the world economy. By now, the virus has found a place for itself in over 120 countries, with John Hopkins’ data showing that there are over 127,000 confirmed cases around the world, which has resulted in more than 4,700 deaths. In the US alone, there have been 32 deaths so far, with over 1000 reported cases. This has led to 15 states in the US declaring an emergency, including heavyweights such as New York, Washington, California, and Florida. However, the newest casualty of the Coronavirus has been conferences, as most major companies have decided to cancel their conferences in the wake of this crisis. Here’s a look at everything you need to know about Microsoft’s events and how this will impact the tech world.

Impact on Industry Events

Travel bans, laws against gatherings and overtly cautious people have resulted in some of the biggest tech conferences of the year being cancelled due to the COVID-19. Some of these conferences have gotten downright cancelled, whereas others have been indefinitely postponed. Moreover, some of the companies have turned their physical conferences virtual, with both attendees and organizers confident that the conference will have the same impact on a digital platform. For instance, both Google and Facebook have cancelled their developer events, whereas Microsoft announced that the Build conference would switch to a virtual platform. Earlier this week, it was announced that one of the biggest gaming events of the year, Electronic Entertainment Expo would not happen this year due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Microsoft Build

The annual event that introduces new developers, tools, gives updates regarding development on projects and defines future objectives is one of the largest events hosted by Microsoft. Recent Build conferences have shifted focus from the Windows OS to newer technologies such as IoT, Azure, cloud computing and holographic development. The 2020 Build conference was citied to center around dual-screen app development, the new Windows 10X-powered Surface Neo PC and recently updated SDKs and emulators.

The Microsoft Build conference was to take place between May 19 and 21 in Seattle, but the tech-giant decided against having the event after listening to government recommendations. Microsoft released a statement saying that their top priority remains the safety of their community, and that they expect the digital event to bring together as many people as their in-person event normally does. Furthermore, the company has also instructed its workers in Seattle and California to work from home up until March 25 as a precautionary measure.

Silent May

While the month of May traditionally boasts several large developer conferences, including the likes of Microsoft Build, Facebook F8 and Google I/O, all of which take place around the same two-week period, this year will be different. F8 and I/O had already switched to online events, and it seems like Microsoft is following suit, too, amid the coronavirus outbreak. This comes as no surprise as Washington counties recently banned the organizing of events comprising of over 250 people. However, though the ban would have expired before the Build conference was set to take place, Microsoft has opted to go for a safer alternative. But, Microsoft has not updated their official website regarding the same, and tickets for Build can still be bought online. However, it would be best to not do so, as the update should come up officially within a day or two since their spokesperson has already made an official statement.

Digital is the New Way Forward

Rather than relying on in-person events, major tech companies all around the world are looking forward to hosting digital events in the wake of the Coronavirus scare. Both Microsoft MVP and E3 will take place digitally in June, right after the Build conference. Also, the COVID-19 has affected the performance of the company, as most employees have been working from home for the past week, and will continue to do so till the end of March. Therefore, the release date for the Windows 10 OS update, has been pushed back by several weeks.

With a major portion of the American population restricted to their homes, going digital sure looks like the best way to handle large events right now. While the lack of engagement and one-to-one interaction may hamper the success of such events, the safety it provides is what the time calls for right now. Though Microsoft and other large tech companies may have to struggle with their new releases now, such steps will go a long way in ensuring that the Coronavirus does not spread any further.

COVID-19 Imapct on AT&T

AT&T Waives Data Cap Amid COVID-19 Pandemic

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The COVID-19 seems to be the most covered news item of the week, as it continues its rampant spread all over the world. With the aggressive transmission tendencies of the viral pandemic, forcing major countries to shut down their borders and operations, the world is witnessing a different kind of social shutdown. As most schools and colleges across North America and Europe stay shut, data providers have decided to do their part to help people get used to the situation they are in. This has inspired, AT&T, one of the major ISPs in North America to suspend its existing data usage caps. Here’s a look at everything you need to know regarding the situation, and why this news will delight consumer groups across America.

Bunkered Down Due to COVID-19

Millions of Americans have put themselves in self-quarantine and are refusing to step outside in a bid to avoid catching the dangerous COVID-19, which is spreading across the globe. This move by AT&T is a welcome scheme for consumer groups as they will now have the liberty to enjoy broadband services as they like. This move has also led Senators to call out other ISPs and ask them to follow suit. As per a report by Motherboard, broadband caps do not have a true technical purpose, but rather serve as a form of the market price hike. Hence, in the wake of the COVID-19, AT&T has decided to do away with their broadband usage caps. However, the company has not mentioned to what date this waiver will stay valid, and so users will have to watch the news closely in order to stay updated.

Waiving Broadband Usage Caps

The company’s spokesperson said that most American users rely on AT&T’s unlimited internet connection, and that to make things easier for the rest of their customers, they have decided to waive the caps. Their official website states that the caps used to stand anywhere between 150 GB to 1 TB of data per month. Also, the penalty for bypassing the limit stood at $10 for each extra 50 GB consumed. Since the COVID-19 has forced a majority of Americans to work from home, learn from home, and in a general stay at home, this will come as a huge blessing. With most Americans having to rely on online classes for their education and video conferencing for their work-related, the cap would have placed a severe financial burden on them. In the wake of an already shaken economy, such a burden would have been a nightmare for most users, and hence, this news comes as a sigh of relief for most internet users in the US.

Need for Caps

Several industry experts and executives, including leaked Comcast data show that such broadband usage caps do little to help manage ISP congestions. Therefore, in essence, they serve as a way for ISPs to gather more revenue from their user base, by hiking the prices of their services. Rather than serving as a technical method to overcome congestion, broadband caps exist to help ISPs to boost their service cost above advertised rates.

Such reports, when published in Motherboard, have prompted 18 American Senators, including Mark Warner, the sitting Senator of Virginia to issue a letter prompting other ISPs to waive off their caps as well. The letter states that almost every industry in the US is figuring out how to battle the dangers posed by COVID-19, and that during such a time, every company must try to accommodate the efforts of the masses. It then requests the ISPs to temporarily waive off their usual broadband caps and penalties to help people enjoy free broadband options during such hard times. Similarly, consumer groups such as Free Press also issued statements asking ISPs to suspend their broadband usage caps owing to the pandemic.

AT&T has however remained silent when asked about what they plan to do regarding caps on cellular data. The biggest internet provider for homes in the US, Comcast also refused to comment on the issue. This means that Comcast’s standing cap will be enforced, and hence, users will be charged extra if they exceed their existing plan’s cap.

However, they did release a statement saying that they were going to improve their upload speed from 15Mbps /2Mbps to 25Mbps/3Mbps. Furthermore, Comcast also plans on giving its new low-income group customers 60 days of free Internet service. Also, Mediacom is offering its customers an additional 50GB worth of data up till March 31. With so many Americans being forced to work from home, as a result of the mass shutting of schools, colleges, and offices, it comes as no surprise that the largest ISPs in the US are beginning to react to the situation.