Author: mdbincbi

US Government Climate Report: Climate Change Is Real And Our Fault | Ars Technica

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Information about the science and consequences of climate change has been removed from a number of federal agency websites since the Trump administration took over. But some agencies like NASA seem to have continued their work unhindered. And today saw the release of the fourth National Climate Assessment—an official summary of the current state of knowledge about climate change. The heavily peer-reviewed report, following the last edition in 2014, is coordinated by NOAA, NASA, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the US Global Change Research Program. A…

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‘We’re Designing Minds’: Industry Insider Reveals Secrets Of Addictive App Trade – Technology & Science – CBC News

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The average Canadian teenager is on track to spend nearly a decade of their life staring at a smartphone, and that’s no accident, according to an industry insider who shared some time-sucking secrets of the app design trade. CBC Marketplace travelled to Dopamine Labs, a startup in Venice, Calif., that uses artificial intelligence and neuroscience to help companies hook people with their apps. Named after the brain molecule that gives us pleasure, Dopamine Labs uses computer coding to influence behaviour — most importantly, to compel people to spend more time with an app and…

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Shell Preps For The Future With Acquisition Of EV Charging Network – Engadget

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Royal Dutch Shell (or just Shell, if you’re into the whole brevity thing) has already committed a billion dollars toward alternative fuels, and now it’s showing us where some of that money is going. The gas station corporation has agreed to buy NewMotion, a Netherlands-based company that owns some 30,000 electric-vehicle charging points across Western Europe according to Reuters. Shell says that these will complement the company’s existing roll-out of charging stations. “One is fast charging on the go on the forecourt and the other is a slightly lower rate…

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Canada Aligning With U.K. To Fight Global Growth In Coal-Fired Electricity – Politics – CBC News

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Canada is joining forces with the United Kingdom to push for a global crackdown on unabated coal-fired electricity. Eliminating, or at least reducing, the world’s reliance on coal is a critical step in the Paris climate change accord’s efforts to prevent the planet from warming more than two degrees Celsius over with pre-industrial times. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna is on a two-day trip to the U.K. and Ireland this week, pushing Canada as a global leader on climate change action. On Thursday she will be in Ireland to be a panelist…

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Electric Car Takeoff Just Waiting For Inevitable Price War: Don Pittis – Business – CBC News

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A range of hundreds of kilometers and the proliferation of high speed charging stations are making electrics a rational consumer choice. Except for the price. (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters) After driving a couple of electric cars, I find it easy to see why General Motors and Ford have both announced this week that they are joining the race to make battery-powered vehicles mainstream. The cars I tested weren’t fancy Tesla’s. They were working horse models, namely the Chevy Bolt and the Nissan Leaf, and it was clear that both cars are ready for…

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White House Wants To End Social Security Numbers As A National ID | Ars Technica

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Rob Joyce, the White House cybersecurity czar, said on Tuesday that the government should end using the Social Security number as a national identification method. “I believe the Social Security number has outlived its usefulness,” said Joyce, while speaking at The Washington Post’s Cybersecurity Summit. “Every time we use the Social Security number, you put it at risk.” One problem with the Social Security number, he said, is that a victim of identity theft cannot get it changed after it has been stolen. Joyce’s comments come a month after the Equifax hack,…

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Federal government failing to put climate plan into action, environmental watchdog finds – Politics – CBC News

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The federal government must put its plan to cut greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change into concrete action to mitigate the catastrophic effects of wildfires, floods and extreme weather events, Canada’s environment watchdog warns. In a blunt fall audit report tabled in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Julie Gelfand said the government has failed to implement successive emissions-reduction plans, and is not prepared to adapt to the life-threatening, economically devastating impacts of a changing climate. It is “crucial” that the government…

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Canada’s NAFTA Negotiators Must Do More To Protect Canadians’ Data From U.S.: Privacy Experts – National | Globalnews.ca

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OTTAWA – Concern is growing that federal negotiators aren’t doing enough to protect the personal information of Canadians from prying U.S. interests at the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations. Information technology companies and other digital economy insiders say federal negotiators appeared unprepared during this week’s third round of talks to counter an American proposal that would forbid the storage of sensitive data in computing facilities on Canadian soil. Some warned that Canada appeared soft on the issue and might concede to the American demands in the interest of horse-trading…

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Canada’s Border Agency To Start Tracking The Number Of Cellphone Searches – Technology & Science – CBC News

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The Canada Border Services Agency will begin tracking the number of cellphones its officers search at the border, and will provide Canadians their first glimpse into the frequency of those searches after six months. “Right now we’re not tracking separately how many cellphone searches we have done,” said Martin Bolduc, vice-president of the agency’s programs branch, in a meeting before the House of Commons standing committee on access to information, privacy and ethics on Wednesday. But a few weeks ago, he told his team to start. CBSA has long maintained that it…

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Gasoline Analyst Questions N.S.’s Regulated System After Price Swings – Nova Scotia – CBC News

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Nova Scotians have had gas prices spike three times in the last two weeks, with the Utility and Review Board invoking the interrupter clause on Sept. 2 to raise the price. (The Associated Press) A petroleum analyst is questioning Nova Scotia’s practice of setting weekly gas prices after large recent swings in the cost of filling up. Dan McTeague with gasbuddy.com said the price of gasoline on global markets has been steadily going down since Hurricane Harvey caused it to spike, and dropped “dramatically so as early as late last week.” He’s criticizing the Nova…

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