Dec72017 by DmediaNo Comments

7 Years in Prison for Former Top Volkswagen Manager  

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A federal judge in Michigan has sentenced a former high-level Volkswagen manager to seven years in prison for his part in the scheme to cheat emissions tests and defraud consumers. Oliver Schmidt has also been fined $400,000. He pleaded guilty in August to charges that included defrauding the United States and violating the Clean Air Act. “This sentence reflects how seriously we take environmental crime,” Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel Lemisch said Wednesday. “Protecting national resources is a priority of this office. Corporations and individuals acting on behalf of corporations will be brought to justice for harming our environment.” Schmidt was the general manager of Volkswagen’s U.S. Environment and Engineering office. He admitted knowing about and agreeing with engineers to carry out a scheme to install a device on certain VW…


Dec72017 by DmediaNo Comments

China’s Ofo Joins Crowded Paris Bike-share Market

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China's Ofo launched its dockless bicycles in Paris on Wednesday, becoming the fourth bike-sharing plan operator in a city set to banish all combustion-engine cars by 2030. Ofo France general manager Laurent Kennel told Reuters the firm, one of two bike-sharing giants in China, had put just over 100 of its bright yellow bicycles on Paris roads on Wednesday and plans to ramp that up to 1,000 bikes by year-end. Ofo comes hot on the wheels of Hong Kong-owned Gobee.bike, which launched in October and whose bright green bikes, estimated at a few thousand, can be seen on every Paris street. A third Asian player, Singapore-owned oBike, has a few hundred bikes on Paris streets, and will also compete with the city's long-established Velib plan. Unlike the dockless Asian bikes,…


Dec72017 by DmediaNo Comments

Climate ‘Refugees,’ Sidelined From Global Deal, Ask: ‘Where Is the Justice?’

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Vulnerable communities uprooted by climate change are being left out of a voluntary pact to deal with migration, campaigners said, after the United States pulled out of the global deal. Although people within low-lying states are being forced to relocate because of worsening storms and rising seas, they will not be recognized in U.N. migration pact talks next year, putting lives at risk, campaigners said. "Many of the situations we find ourselves in, here in the Pacific, are not caused by us. We continue to ask, 'Where is the justice?' Those of us who are least responsible, continue to bear the brunt," said Emele Duituturaga, head of the Pacific Islands Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (PIANGO). Hoping for acceptance "We hope that there will be an openness and an acceptance that climate-induced…


Dec62017 by DmediaNo Comments

Driverless Buses Take to Some Roads in California

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Imagine the day you board a bus and it starts moving. It obeys all traffic signs and stops at signal lights. All without a driver. That’s the future, happening right now at a business park in Northern California. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti takes us on what’s probably your first ride on a driverless shuttle bus. ...


Dec62017 by DmediaNo Comments

Apple CEO Hopeful Banned Apps Will Return to China Store

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Apple's chief executive said Wednesday he's optimistic some apps that fell afoul of China's tight internet laws will eventually be restored after being removed earlier this year. Speaking at a business forum in southern China, CEO Tim Cook also dismissed criticism of his appearance days earlier at an internet conference promoting Beijing's vison of a censored internet. Cook's high-profile appearance Sunday at the government-organized World Internet Conference drew comments from activists and U.S. politicians who say Apple should do more to push back against Chinese internet restrictions. He said he believed strongly in freedoms but also thought that foreign companies need to play by local rules where they operate. When asked about Chinese government policies requiring removal of apps, including ones from operators of virtual private networks that can get…


Dec62017 by DmediaNo Comments

Flourishing Esports Eye Olympic Games Link for Extra Boost

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Booming esports do not need the Olympics to maintain their explosive growth, but a link with the world's biggest multisports event would validate gaming worldwide and give the Games a much-needed younger audience, industry leaders say. Esports, the competitive side of electronic gaming, have an estimated 250 million players, more than several of the traditional Olympic sports federations combined. The market is also worth about $1 billion dollars a year and growing, with lucrative tournaments springing up across the world and professional teams competing for huge prize money in front of millions of mainly young viewers online. "This will be the biggest sport in the world within 20 years," said Logitech CEO Bracken Darrell, whose company has been making computer and gaming equipment for decades and is now riding the…


Dec62017 by DmediaNo Comments

France’s War on Waste Makes It Most Food Sustainable Country

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A war on food waste in France, where supermarkets are banned from throwing away unsold food and restaurants must provide doggy bags when asked, has helped it secure the top spot in a ranking of countries by their food sustainability. Japan, Germany, Spain and Sweden rounded out the top five in an index published the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), which graded 34 nations based on food waste, environment-friendly agriculture and quality nutrition. It is "unethical and immoral" to waste resources when hundreds of millions go hungry across the world, Vytenis Andriukaitis, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said at the launch of the Food Sustainability Index 2017 on Tuesday. "We are all responsible, every person and every country," he said in the Italian city of Milan, according to a…


Dec62017 by DmediaNo Comments

Analysts: Maduro’s Cryptocurrency to Fare No Better Than Venezuela Itself

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Venezuela's plan to create an oil-backed cryptocurrency faces the same credibility problems that dog the ruling Socialist Party in financial markets and is unlikely to fare any better than the struggling OPEC member itself, investors and technical experts say. President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday floated a plan to create the "petro" that would be backed by the world's largest crude reserves, amid a crippling economic crisis worsened by U.S. sanctions that limit Venezuela's capacity to borrow money. Cryptocurrencies rely on confidence in clear rules and equal treatment of all involved, three experts said, adding that Venezuela is widely seen as flouting basic property rights and mismanaging its existing bolivar currency. Without such confidence, the "petro" would neither help Venezuela raise funds nor help it avoid sanctions levied by the government…


Dec52017 by DmediaNo Comments

White House Denies Reports Trump Financial Records Subpoenaed

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The White House on Tuesday strongly denied that the special prosecutor looking into alleged Russian interference in last year’s election has asked a German bank for records relating to accounts held by Donald Trump and his family members. “We’ve confirmed this with the bank and other sources” that it is not true, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters during the daily briefing. “I think this is another example of the media going too far, too fast and we don’t see it going in that direction.” A member of the president’s legal team, Jay Sekulow, issued a statement that “no subpoena has been issued or received.” Deutsche Bank However, Deutsche Bank appears to be acknowledging there has been a related request, saying it “takes its legal obligations seriously…


Dec52017 by DmediaNo Comments

‘Smart Bags’ May Not Fly If Battery Cannot Be Removed

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"Smart suitcases" may be able to charge mobile phones or be easily found if misplaced, but unless their battery can be removed they risk being sent packing by the world's airlines. Global airlines body IATA said it could issue industry-wide standards on the new luggage soon, after some U.S. airlines issued their own restrictions on smart bags, whose manufacturers include companies such as BlueSmart, Raden or Away. These contain GPS tracking and can charge devices, weigh themselves or be locked remotely using mobile phones, but they are powered by lithium ion batteries, which the aviation industry regards as a fire risk, especially in the cargo hold. "We expect guidance to be issued potentially this week," Nick Careen, IATA senior vice president of airport, passenger, cargo and security, told a media…


Dec52017 by DmediaNo Comments

YouTube Says Over 10,000 Workers Will Help Curb Shady Videos

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YouTube says it's hiring more people to help curb videos that violate its policies. YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki says "some bad actors are exploiting" the Google-owned service to "mislead, manipulate, harass or even harm." She says Google will have more than 10,000 workers address the problem by next year, though her blog post Monday doesn't say how many the company already has. Wojcicki says YouTube will also use technology to flag "problematic" videos or comments that show hate speech or harm to children. It's already used to remove violent extremist videos. YouTube is also taking steps to try to reassure advertisers that their ads won't run next to gross videos. There have been reports of creepy videos aimed at children and pedophiles posting comments on children's videos in recent weeks.…


Dec32016 by DmediaNo Comments

Digital media

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Digital media is any media that is encoded in a machine-readable format. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified and preserved on digital electronics devices. Computer programs and software; digital imagery, digital video; video games; web pages and websites, including social media; data and databases; digital audio, such as mp3s; and e-books are examples of digital media. Digital media are frequently contrasted with print media, such as printed books, newspapers and magazines, and other traditional or analog media, such as pictures, film or audio tape. Combined with the Internet and personal computing, digital media has caused disruption in publishing, journalism, entertainment, education, commerce and politics. Digital media has also posed new challenges to copyright and intellectual property laws, fostering an open content movement in which content creators voluntarily give…