Investment/Trends

Baidu AI helps parents find their abducted son 27 years later

"Tens of thousands of kids are abducted in China every year and are either sold to foster parents or to more sinister individuals who'd use them for prostitution or child slavery. Baobeihuijia was created to reunite families torn apart by those abductions. For years, its volunteers would painstakingly compare images uploaded by parents against those uploaded by people looking for their families or by concerned citizens one by one. This March, though, Baidu offered the group its cross-age facial recognition technology, which it's been testing since November last year." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBaidu AI helps parents find their abducted son 27 years later

Some consumer PCs also appear to have dangerous Intel exploit

"If you think you're immune from a scary exploit found in Intel's Active Management Technology just because you're a consumer, think again. The problem is, plenty of consumers use business-class hardware—and not just the fringe who'll buy or inherit commercial-class laptops and workstations. Many budget PCs use chipsets, firmware, and motherboards that were designed for small business machines. These machines may be exposed to the exploit through Intel's Small Business Advantage technology, which is is a scaled-down version of AMT." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSome consumer PCs also appear to have dangerous Intel exploit

Trump’s Medical Marijuana Threat Contradicts the Law and His Own Position

"Trump is not only trying to usurp the congressional power to decide how taxpayers' money will be spent; he is threatening to interfere with the autonomy that states are supposed to have under the 10th Amendment. He is also contradicting his own position both before and after his election." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTrump’s Medical Marijuana Threat Contradicts the Law and His Own Position

Peter Schiff, Trumpcare: Different Plan, Same Problems

"A new form of insurance that this law may create: A policy that would pay for health insurance premiums if the user ever got sick enough to need them. Such insurance would be very cheap, as the maximum exposure to the insurance company is only 130% of the premium for a standard health insurance policy. In the end, the only people buying health insurance would be those who can buy it for free using their tax credits and really sick people for whom insurance premiums are cheaper than their medical bills. But as insurance companies lose money on the latter group, they will be forced to raise their premiums on the former. This puts us right back in the box we are stuck in with Obamacare." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPeter Schiff, Trumpcare: Different Plan, Same Problems

Thieves drain 2FA-protected bank accounts by abusing mobile networks

"The unidentified attackers exploited weaknesses in Signalling System No. 7, a telephony signaling language that more than 800 telecommunications companies around the world use to ensure their networks interoperate. SS7, as the protocol is known, makes it possible for a person in one country to send text messages to someone in another country. It also allows phone calls to go uninterrupted when the caller is traveling on a train. The same functionality can be used to eavesdrop on conversations, track geographic whereabouts, or intercept text messages." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThieves drain 2FA-protected bank accounts by abusing mobile networks

I never knew how screwed up global banking was until I started my own bank

"You can imagine my surprise when I found out that SWIFT runs on Windows Vista - an obsolete operating system that Microsoft no longer supports. When my bank received its SWIFT code, we were told that we had to have a computer running Vista in the office in order to connect to SWIFT. It was such an absurd exercise to find an obsolete computer running an obsolete operating system to connect to the supposedly most advanced and important international payment network in the world. Unsurprisingly, SWIFT has been hacked numerous times, both by the NSA as well as private hackers who have stolen a great deal of money from their victims." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingI never knew how screwed up global banking was until I started my own bank

Trump administration is looking at 50- and 100-year bonds

"The Treasury disclosed that it is studying the possibility of ultra-long bonds, with maturities greater than 30 years, currently the bond with the longest maturity. It also said it is preparing for the time when the Fed begins to reduce its giant $4.5 trillion balance sheet — by buying fewer Treasurys and mortgage securities, and perhaps ultimately even unloading the ones it holds." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTrump administration is looking at 50- and 100-year bonds

As Inventor of Subprime Car Loans Exits, Critics Smell a Lemon

"In January [Foss] stepped down as chairman of Credit Acceptance Corp., the company he started in 1972 that pioneered extending auto loans to customers with rock-bottom credit scores or none at all. A month after he left, he sold a big chunk of his Credit Acceptance shares for $128 million. The company didn’t say why Foss sold his shares and declined to comment. Foss didn’t respond to requests for comment." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAs Inventor of Subprime Car Loans Exits, Critics Smell a Lemon