Day: September 28, 2020

If Patents Are So Important To Innovation, Why Do Innovative Companies Keep Opening Up Their Patents Rather Than Enforcing Them?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

To hear many politicians (and, tragically, many academics) tell the story, patents and patent policy are keys to innovation. Indeed, many studies trying to measure innovation use the number of patents as a proxy. For years, we’ve argued that there is little evidence that patents are in any way correlated with innovation. Indeed, in practice, Read more about If Patents Are So Important To Innovation, Why Do Innovative Companies Keep Opening Up Their Patents Rather Than Enforcing Them?[…]

Report: Financial records appear to show Ivanka Trump got ‘consulting fees’ to reduce father’s tax bill

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Tax records obtained by The New York Times appear to show that President Trump reduced his taxable income by treating his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, as a consultant, then deducting this as a business expense. The Times reports that Trump Organization tax records show between 2010 and 2018, President Trump wrote off as business expenses Read more about Report: Financial records appear to show Ivanka Trump got ‘consulting fees’ to reduce father’s tax bill[…]

Blowback Time: China Says TikTok Deal Is A Model For How It Should Deal With US Companies In China

Posted on by Robin Edgar

We’ve already covered what a ridiculous, pathetic grift the Oracle/TikTok deal was. Despite it being premised on a “national security threat” from China, because the app might share some data (all of which is easily buyable from data brokers) with Chinese officials, the final deal cured none of that, left the Chinese firm ByteDance with Read more about Blowback Time: China Says TikTok Deal Is A Model For How It Should Deal With US Companies In China[…]

Kukooin Crypto exchange cracked, $130m in Bitcoin burgled

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A cryptocurrency exchange called KuCoin says it has been cracked, with over $100m of assets misappropriated. The Register last covered KuCoin when it was mentioned by the Bitcoin-burgling cybercrooks who hacked a bunch of prominent Twitter users. The Seychelles-based outfit, founded in 2017, proudly boasts of its venture capital backers who clearly admire its services Read more about Kukooin Crypto exchange cracked, $130m in Bitcoin burgled[…]

Metal wires of carbon complete toolbox for carbon-based computers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Transistors based on carbon rather than silicon could potentially boost computers’ speed and cut their power consumption more than a thousandfold — think of a mobile phone that holds its charge for months — but the set of tools needed to build working carbon circuits has remained incomplete until now. A team of chemists and Read more about Metal wires of carbon complete toolbox for carbon-based computers[…]

US judge temporarily blocks Trump shakedown order banning TikTok app store downloads

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A judge in Washington has temporarily blocked a Trump administration order banning Apple and Google from offering Chinese-owned app TikTok for download that was set to take effect at 11:59pm on Sunday. US district judge Carl Nichols granted a preliminary injunction sought by TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, to allow the app to remain available at US Read more about US judge temporarily blocks Trump shakedown order banning TikTok app store downloads[…]

Google App Engine feature abused to create unlimited phishing pages

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A newly discovered technique by a researcher shows how Google’s App Engine domains can be abused to deliver phishing and malware while remaining undetected by leading enterprise security products. Google App Engine is a cloud-based service platform for developing and hosting web apps on Google’s servers. While reports of phishing campaigns leveraging enterprise cloud domains are nothing Read more about Google App Engine feature abused to create unlimited phishing pages[…]