Nikola founder bought truck designs from third party

Enlarge / A Nikola Badger pickup truck. (credit: Nikola Motors)

The original design for Nikola’s flagship truck was purchased by founder Trevor Milton from a designer in Croatia, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, despite company claims in a 2018 lawsuit that the vehicle was initially designed by Mr. Milton “in his basement..”

The truck, the Nikola One, is at the centre of a $2 billion lawsuit with Tesla, in which Nikola alleges its rival infringed on its patents. Nikola claims in that lawsuit that Mr. Milton began designing the model in 2013, with other company staff later working on it.

In a rebuttal to the lawsuit filed last week, Tesla alleged that Nikola could not protect the designs because they did not originate from the company itself, but from Adriano Mudri, a designer based in Croatia.

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AP Ward Sachivalayam 2020 – Village Surveyor, VRO & Other Initial Answer Key Released

AP Grama Sachivalayam has released Initial Answer key for the post of Village Surveyor, VRO & Other (Advt No. 01/2020).

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AP Grama Sachivalayam Key 2020 – Village Surveyor, VRO & Other Initial Answer Key Released

AP Grama Sachivalayam has released Initial Answer key for the post of Village Surveyor, VRO & Other (Advt No. 01/2020).

Read More

Judge will rule by midnight tonight if TikTok can stay in app stores

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

TikTok will be gone from app stores tomorrow morning unless a federal judge acts to block the Trump administration's ban on the app before midnight tonight.

Judge Carl Nichols of the US District Court for DC said today that he will determine whether to grant or reject TikTok's request for an injunction on the ban before the deadline hits at the stroke of 12.

In a hearing on Thursday, Nichols gave the administration until Friday afternoon either to delay or defend the ban. The administration chose to file a response defending the ban but did so under seal, so the filings are not available to the public.

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Feels Good Man, a film that truly gets how things are passed across the Internet

Trailer for Feels Good Man

There’s no shortage of documentaries about our current political climate or the fact that the Internet might be bad, but Feels Good Man focuses on the craziest intersection of these two modern realities: Pepe, the cartoon frog.

If you’re aware of Pepe already, chances are it’s because the character has become synonymous with the alt-right, that extreme online demographic tied to modern white supremacists and Nazi movements. Or perhaps you heard of Pepe before that, during the time this frog had become the meme du jour of 4chan, the anonymous message board associated with all sorts of nefarious real world behavior. Though Pepe's most high profile 15 minutes of fame were inarguably an infamous cameo on then candidate Donald Trump’s Twitter feed, leading to the character’s adoption by some of his most extreme supporters like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Feels Good Man will get to all that, of course, but this documentary starts with the now toxic toad’s tadpole days. By doing so, the film will likely show viewers something they didn’t know or hadn’t previously considered regardless of prior familiarity with Pepe and the insanity swirling around him. And through tracing Pepe’s evolution, Feels Good Man manages to remind everyone of a fundamental truth of communication, particularly in the Internet age. Once you click send on something, things like original intent and context might become as ephemeral as a single tweet.

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FedEx CEO says the company is working with Reliable Robotics to pilot the use of an unmanned single-engine aircraft for cargo delivery (Matt Leonard/Supply Chain Dive)

Matt Leonard / Supply Chain Dive:
FedEx CEO says the company is working with Reliable Robotics to pilot the use of an unmanned single-engine aircraft for cargo delivery  —  Dive Brief:  — FedEx is working with Reliable Robotics to pilot the use of an unmanned single-engine aircraft for cargo delivery …

This is how police request customer data from Amazon

Anyone can access portions of a web portal, used by law enforcement to request customer data from Amazon, even though the portal is supposed to require a verified email address and password.

Amazon’s law enforcement request portal allows police and federal agents to submit formal requests for customer data along with a legal order, like a subpoena, a search warrant, or a court order. The portal is publicly accessible from the internet, but law enforcement must register an account with the site in order to allow Amazon to “authenticate” the requesting officer’s credentials before they can make requests.

Only time sensitive emergency requests can be submitted without an account, but this requires the user to “declare and acknowledge” that they are an authorized law enforcement officer before they can submit a request.

The portal does not display customer data or allow access to existing law enforcement requests. But parts of the website still load without needing to log in, including its dashboard and the “standard” request form used by law enforcement to request customer data.

The portal provides a rare glimpse into how Amazon handles law enforcement requests.

This form allows law enforcement to request customer data using a wide variety of data points, including Amazon order numbers, serial numbers of Amazon Echo and Fire devices, credit cards details and bank account numbers, gift cards, delivery and shipping numbers, and even the Social Security number of delivery drivers.

It also allows law enforcement to obtain records related to Amazon Web Services accounts by submitting domain names or IP addresses related to the request.

Assuming this was a bug, we sent Amazon several emails prior to publication but did not hear back.

Amazon is not the only tech company with a portal for law enforcement requests. Many of the bigger tech companies with millions or even billions of users around the world, like Google and Twitter, have built portals to allow law enforcement to request customer and user data.

Motherboard reported a similar issue earlier this month that allowed anyone with an email address to access law enforcement portals set up by Facebook and WhatsApp.

Many smart home device makers still won’t say if they give your data to the government

Battle of the $350 laptops: Acer Swift 1 vs. Gateway Ryzen 3 3200U

Enlarge / Acer's Swift 1 looks a little more professional than Gateway's GWTN141-2—but looks aren't everything, as our testing conclusively demonstrates. (credit: Jim Salter)

We've been on the lookout for good but seriously cheap laptops for a while now. Acer's $650 Swift 3 is an excellent choice for budget laptops in the under-$700 range, but we've been really itching to find one in the almost nonexistent sub-$400 category. To that end, today we're looking at two of Walmart's finest—a $378 Acer Swift 1 and a $350 Gateway GWTN141-2.

Both of these are serviceable if cheap laptops, but the Gateway, despite being the less expensive model, will be the clear winner for most people. It's more powerful, more repairable, more upgrade-able, and in our testing, a bit more reliable as well.

Specs at a glance: as reviewed
	Acer Swift 1 SF114-32	Gateway GWTN141-2
OS	Windows 10 Home (S mode)	Windows 10 Home (S mode)
Screen	14 inch IPS FHD (1920×1080, 250nits)	14.1 inch IPS FHD (1920×1080, 190nits)
CPU	Pentium Silver N5000	Ryzen 3 3200U
GPU	Intel UHD 605	AMD Vega 3
RAM	4GiB DDR4 (soldered, non expandable)	4GiB DDR4 (soldered, with one empty DIMM slot)
HDD	64GB eMMC (SanDisk DF4064)	128GB NVMe M.2 (Netac S539N)
Networking	Intel 9560 2x2 Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0	Realtek 8821CE 1x1 Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 4.2
Ports	1x USB-C (data only) 2x USB-A 3.0 1x USB-A 2.0 1x HDMI 1x SD card 1x 3.5mm audio combo jack 1x DC barrel jack 1x Kensington lock slot	1x USB-C (data only) 2x USB-A 3.0 1x HDMI 1x SD card 1x 3.5mm audio combo jack 1x DC barrel jack 1x Kensington lock slot
Size	12.7" x 9" x 0.6" (323 x 229 x 15mm)	13.1" x 8.9" x 0.8" (333 x 226 x 21mm)
Weight	2.9 pounds (1.3kg)	3.5 pounds (1.6kg)
Warranty	1 year limited	1 year limited
Extras	Fingerprint reader, 720P camera	Fingerprint reader (in touchpad), 720P camera
Price as tested	$378 at Amazon and Walmart	$350 at Walmart

Acer Swift 1 SF114-32

• 

  Thankfully, the off-putting dingy yellow POST logo isn't in your face for long—the Swift 1 cold boots to the desktop in about 11 seconds. [credit: Jim Salter ]

We didn't actually intend to test or review the Swift 1—we ordered a Walmart Motile 14, with a Ryzen 5 processor for only $350. But Walmart has an unfortunate tendency to just throw in any similar product when it runs low on stock, and the Swift 1 is what got sent in its place—with no notification, either by email or in our account at Walmart.com, and no paperwork in the box either.

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Amazon, which had struggled to gain a foothold in Italy, benefited from a shift to online shopping during pandemic lockdown as 75% of Italians shopped online (New York Times)

New York Times:
Amazon, which had struggled to gain a foothold in Italy, benefited from a shift to online shopping during pandemic lockdown as 75% of Italians shopped online  —  The e-commerce giant had struggled to gain a foothold in a society that prefers to shop in person, with cash, but now Italians are hooked on online shopping.

US Tightens Exports to China's Chipmaker SMIC, Citing Risk of Military Use

The United States has imposed restrictions on exports to China's biggest chip maker SMIC after concluding there is an "unacceptable risk" equipment supplied to it could be used for military purposes. https://ift.tt/3ic21VL

Judge Set to Rule on Trump TikTok Download Ban Today

A judge was set to rule Sunday on whether to allow a Trump administration ban on downloads of popular video-sharing app TikTok, which is seeking an injunction to prevent what it said could be a... https://ift.tt/3i2WZLf

Epic Games Battles to Get Fortnite Back in App Store

Epic Games will strive anew Monday to convince a judge that its hit title Fortnite should be restored to Apple's App Store, despite sidestepping the tech titan's standard commission on transactions. https://ift.tt/2S0bxAX

High Tech Meets Jugaad in the Jungle to Study Agumbe's Flying Dragons

Famously referred to as the flying dragons of the animal kingdom, these magnificent, yet cryptic creatures are not your conventional gliders. The goal of this research was to understand the mystery... https://ift.tt/30bAIES

Interviews with Michael Abrash and Andrew Bosworth on the tech behind Facebook's AR glasses, how Facebook will use the personal data from the glasses, more (Mark Sullivan/Fast Company)

Mark Sullivan / Fast Company:
Interviews with Michael Abrash and Andrew Bosworth on the tech behind Facebook's AR glasses, how Facebook will use the personal data from the glasses, more  —  Imagine your smartphone morphing to wrap around your eyes.  But instead of a dark black screen, now it's see-through.

Pastebin adds two new features, Burn After Read and Password Protected Pastes, that experts say will make it easier to disguise malware operations (Catalin Cimpanu/ZDNet)

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Pastebin adds two new features, Burn After Read and Password Protected Pastes, that experts say will make it easier to disguise malware operations  —  The two new features will make it easier to disguise malware operations.  —  Pastebin, the most popular website where users can share small snippets …