Mozilla, the group behind Firefox, are exploring a voice-activated browser

Mozilla, the free software group behind the browser Firefox is envisioning an entirely different browser that would be activated and operate by voice rather than keyboard, touch pad, mouse, or screen taps.

Scout

The non-profit organization revealed its plans as an agenda item at a meeting of employees. The project will be called Scout. A notice for the meeting said: "Hey Scout, read me the article about polar bears. With the Scout app, we start to explore browsing and consuming content with voice. This talk will discuss the architecture and key components needed for a voice platform, the required capabilities of those components and the challenges of working with the limitations and confines of existing platforms."

The first sentence was said by Mozilla to be an example of a sample command given to the browser. Mozilla also said that with the new browser the company was exploring browsing and consuming content with voice. The key to using voice in this fashion is Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Services such as Amazon's Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple's Siri are all sounding more human. The new Google Duplex sounds exactly like a human — so much so that it will identify itself as a robot when making calls, as reported in a recent Digital Journal article.

The new voice browser may help Mozilla compete with Chrome

Mozilla's Firefox browser has been losing ground to the leader Chrome. Chrome now accounts for 58 percent of web usage compared to just five percent for Firefox, according to StatsCounter. A new voice browser would very well put Mozilla again in contention in the browser market.

The voice browser would be a boon for the blind or those with vision problems. Mozilla would not comment on Scout as it is an early stage project, but did say that its aim is to foster "an internet that includes all the peoples of the earth — where a person's demographic characteristics do not determine their online access, opportunities or quality of experience."

Mozilla did say: "We use our internal All Hands conference to come together so we can plan and build for the future. We look forward to discussing these efforts publicly when they are further developed."

Mozilla

Mozilla, now stylized as moz://a, is a free software group. It was founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports its products. It promotes free software and open standards but with some minor exceptions. Mozilla is funded by the non-profit Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary Mozilla Corporation.

Mozilla is best known for its Firefox browser. It also has the e-mail client Thunderbird. There is also a Firefox mobile operating system, the Bugzilla bug tracking system, a layout engine and other products.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Official story of Skripal poisoning has little credibility

The Skripal poisoning narrative began over 3 months ago. Both Yulia Skripal a Russian citizen and her father Sergei Skripal a former Russian double agent were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury UK and admitted to Salisbury Hospital on March 4.

The whole case has fallen off the media radar screen. What appears now from time to time are various politicians or officials simply asserting or alluding to the official narrative usually as part of larger narratives showing how evil Russia is. Just reporting what authorities say and making no comment is regarded as objective journalism in the sense you are not expressing opinions.

Recently some sources have provided useful timelines of events and also analyses. One of these these sources is the blog "Disobedient Media" that provides a detailed extensive report of events from before the poisoning up to now. Another source with numerous articles on particular aspects can be found at "the saker". Both sources have numerous links to other articles such as those by blog Moon of Alabama and Craig Murray. The appended video shows an interview with a former BBC reporter who discusses a few of the problems with the official narrative and the pitiful mainstream media response.

Earlier Digital Journal articles on the Skripal poisoning

Digital Journal has earlier published several of my articles dealing with earlier events. The first on March 31st argued that the case against Russia was not even plausible. On April 10th an article showed how everything was kept under wraps when Yulia was released from the hospital.

On May 18 there was an article on Sergei Skripal's release from the hospital but there was no news conference and thus no questions as to what the Skripalès version of events was.

A more recent article on May 25th shows how a supposed interview with Yulia also keeps most everything under wraps as well. It was not actually an interview but a video of Yulia reading off a text in Russian but showed also an English translation. The text probably resulted from negotiation. Surprisingly, she was allowed to say that she hoped eventually to return to Russia. This is an amazing statement from someone who according to the official story has just been subject to an attempt to kill her by Russia. However, she has never been allowed to meet the press and her handlers have kept her away from any communication with relatives, and of course from Russian officials. Yulia conveniently says that she does not want consular help at this time.

What have the Skripals had to say about what happened?

Given that both Skripals have been released from hospital authorities must have interrogated them about what happened on the day of their poisoning. If what the Skripals testified supported the official narrative it would have been immediately broadcast far and wide and offered up as confirming the official version of events.

This has not happened. Instead both Skripals are kept away from the press, relatives, and any communication they have is no doubt monitored and even negotiated. To mimic the official story, the only plausible explanation of events is that the Skripal's testimony does not support the official narrative blaming the Russians.

The official narrative is as full of holes as Swiss cheese

The official narrative is often so meandering and inconsistent as to be risible. The various statements about where the Skripals came into contact with the poison is a good example. Independent journalist, Caitlin Johnstone, sums up the story: “The poison was placed in Yulia Skripal’s suitcase. Actually no, they got that wrong, it was the air vents in their car. Wait, no, that doesn’t work either. Maybe it was administered via weaponized miniature drone! Wait, no, it was the family’s car door handle. Actually, scratch that, it was the front door of the house. Definitely the front door of the house. We’re absolutely sure. Either that or Sergei Skripal’s favorite Russian cereal. They were given 100 grams of Novichok. Wait, no, that’s ridiculous, we retract that. Okay, maybe we have no idea what happened. Oh hey, their pets were completely unaffected by the poison. Let’s incinerate them.”

This is just a brief sampling of objections to the official narrative. Much more in great detail can be found in the two recent sources cited earlier and the many links to relevant articles.

The Skripal case is a prime example of how unsubstantiated accusations can have extremely negative consequences such as the tit-for-tat removal of diplomats from various countries as a result of holding Russia responsible for the poisoning. Yet the mainstream press has voiced little criticism of the official account and helped ensure that criticism is below mainstream media radar. The official narrative is now simply used as given in much political discourse in the mainstream press. What should be fake news has become legitimized.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Ford Motor Co. testing self-driving vans in Miami Florida

Ford has been using the city of Miami as a site to test its self-driving vehicles since earlier this year. Recently the company joined forces with Postmates to research how people will react and interact with deliveries by autonomous delivery vans.

 

How the delivery works

As things are now, the delivery driver knocks on your door and delivers your order and you pay.

In an autonomous delivery you are given an access code that you use to open a tiny locker in the delivery van to get your order.

The lockers vary in size to accommodate different size orders. There are audio prompts and light displays to ensure that you are guided to the locker where you order is located.

Many businesses involved

The pilot project is underway both in Miami and Miami Beach. Over 70 businesses are involved with both restaurants and hardware stores taking part. For now, the autonomous vehicles are not actually operating autonomously but are manually operated by human drivers. The vans are just testing different methods of food delivery. However, Ford plans a fully autonomous delivery service by 2021. Ford said: “Ultimately, we are testing how businesses and consumers interact with a self-driving vehicle."

Tests were made earlier in Ann Arbor Michigan

Last year, in late August, Ford teamed up with Domino's Pizza to equip delivery cars with a Heatwave Compartment to keep pizzas warm. Customers who use the service are given a unique code by phone matching the last four digits of their phone number that can be used to unlock the compartment when the delivery car arrives. Customers can track their order through a Domino's app. Information is displayed through screens and speakers on the exterior of the cars. These cars were all driven manually but Ford said that it hoped eventually to have thousands of the self-driving cars in the city.

Ford is currently building a completely autonomous vehicle that will not even have traditional controls. It plans to release the vehicle by 2021.

Food delivery workers, as with truck drivers and taxi drivers, may in time see their jobs disappear as they are replaced by self-driving vehicles which will take over their duties.

The two pilot projects are shown on the appended videos.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Ford Motor Co. buys historic Michigan Central Station in Detroit

The Michigan Central Station has been for some time a symbol of Detroit's decline but now will be part of Ford's aim to change the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit into the automotive company's automotive technology group's campus.

Deal completed

Matthew Moroun, whose family owned the building since 1995 said at the announcement:“The deal is complete.. The future of the depot is assured. The next steward of the building is the right one for its future. The depot will become a shiny symbol of Detroit’s progress and its success."

The supposedly secret deal has been known about for months. It should help revitalize the desolate Corktown area next door to the thriving downtown area.

The deal should help Detroit as neighborhoods surrounding the revived downtown area have been unable to keep up. There is plenty of room in the Corktown area for new housing and businesses. A redevelopment of the Michigan Central Station could help generate the investment and rebuilding needed in the neighborhood.

This is not the first Ford development in the area. At the start of 2018, Ford announced that it would put 200 employees in The Factory which is less than half a mile from the Central Station. The redeveloped Michigan Central Station could house up to 1,000 Ford employees. Most employees now are located in the suburb of Dearborn.

Station has long been unused by railroads

The Michigan Central Station is over 100 years old having been completed in 1913 and was a bustling rail hub for decades. However, as people began to travel more by car and plane, the demand for rail service went into decline. In 1986, for example, the 3-story depot handled approximately 64,000 passengers down from 82,400 the year before. Two years later it closed. It was vandalized by scavengers who took everything of value including wiring and plumbing. The Moroun family installed new windows and working lights a few years ago.

The station was last used by Amtrak in 1988 with the final train leaving 30 years ago now.. It has been vacant since but is still a must see destination for urban explorers.

The announcement of the sale was made in front of the 500,000 square foot building. Owner "Matty" Moroun said that an announcement of the Ford company's plans for the building will be made next week. The redevelopment plans have been spearheaded by Ford board member Edsel B. Ford II. After the building with its massive columns has served as a symbol of Detroit's decline it may now become a symbol of its return to being a thriving city.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Google ceases running some political ads in Washington State after new rules issued

Google has stopped running any ads in Washington state that are related to ballot measures or state and local elections. The company said it will notify any advertisers affected and update its political content policy to reflect this change.

New state advertising rules caused Google's move

The new rules require companies to keep detailed records of who is paying for the ads. Digital advertisers must hold information on the targeted areas and reach of each ad. Google said the ad shutdown would just be temporary.

A Google spokesperson said: “We take transparency and disclosure of political ads very seriously which is why we have decided to pause state and local election ads in Washington, starting June 7, while we assess the amended campaign disclosure law and ensure that our systems are built to comply with the new requirements."

Washington State has filed a lawsuit against both Google and Facebook

Washington State, just before the Google decision, filed a lawsuit against Google as well as Facebook. The attorney general claims that the two companies have already failed to comply with the rules for transparency and record keeping for political ads.

Facebook has been trying to strengthen rules of political ads after Russian propaganda ads were run on the site during the election of Trump. However, the new rules are causing plenty of problems as outlined in a recent Digital Journal article. Some who are running ads about politics that are just news or publicizing books are having to go through the process of verification that they are political advertisers, otherwise their ads are pulled or not even run.

Rob Leathern, Facebook director of product management said: “The tools we are introducing set a new standard for transparency in digital advertising. We are eager to hear people’s feedback as they use these features and will continue to explore how to build upon them to ensure people know who is behind the political ads they see on Facebook. Attorney General Ferguson has raised important questions and we look forward to resolving this matter with his office quickly.”

Google support lists the rules for election ads: "We support responsible political advertising and expect all political ads and destinations to comply with local campaign and election laws for any areas they target. This policy includes legally mandated election “silence periods.”" With some restrictions political ads are allowed for political organizations, parties, political issue advocacy or fund-raising, and individual candidates and politicians.

Google

Google LLC is an American multinational technology company. It specializes in online ad technology, a search engine, cloud computing, software and hardware. In 2018 it had 85,050 employees. In August of 2015 Google consolidated its different interests in a conglomerate called Alphabet. Google LLC is now a subsidiary of Alphabet. It is headquartered in Menlo Park California.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Facebook hires two employees to filter out fake news

Facebook is looking for one English and one Spanish speaker who were originally described as a "news credibility specialist" but this was changed to "news publisher specialist". Whatever they are called they are to filter out fake news from Facebook.

After the news media, including the Guardian, discovered the postings and wrote about them it appears that they were edited.

The original postings

Originally according to the Guardian the postings said that Facebook was looking to hire two people with "a passion for journalism, who believe in Facebook's mission to make the world more connected" Applicants were informed that their job would be "developing "a deep expertise in Facebook News Credibility Program" and would also be "conducting investigations against predefined policies". The description appears to have been changed to not give away the fact that the job will be in effect a form of filtering out "fake news" which to some will no doubt appear as a form of censorship.

Filtering news has been problematic for Facebook

Earlier Facebook had an editorial team that filtered news that was supposed to be neutral. However, some conservatives claimed there was a bias against conservative views. Some leftists made a similar claim about their views. Facebook eventually fired the team and hired Poynter International Fact-Checking Network members Snopes and Politifact to both identify hoaxes and discourage people from sharing them.

It would seem that Facebook may be attempting to at least in part bring the job of fact-checking back in-house even though this will leave them open to charges of bias and blame for making errors whereas the independent checkers would otherwise be subject to the same criticisms. However, some of the independent fact-checkers may not like to be bound by Facebook procedures creating tensions between them and Facebook. There are some questions as to how reliable some fact-checkers are.

Snopes

WIkipedia's description of Snopes is almost all positive: "Snopes.com /snoʊps/, formally known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is one of the first online fact-checking websites. It has been termed a "well-regarded source for sorting out myths and rumors" on the internet.. It has also been seen as a source for validating and debunking urban legends and similar stories in American popular culture."

An article in the Daily Mail paints an entirely different picture in its usual sensational style. After the messy divorce of the two founders David and Barbara Mikkelson, he married a former escort and porn actress and she is now one of the company's staff members. Both David and Barbara accuse each other of financial impropriety.

Kalev Leetaru wrote an article in Forbes about his attempt to get Snopes to refute the claims made in the Daily Mail. He noticed that none of the mainstream press picked up on the piece and he took this as a sign that the article was another example of sensational fake news. He was surprised when he contacted Snopes by email. He expected to get a reply that showed point by point how each of the claims made by the Mail were false. However, no such reply ever came. When he asked again he was told that many of the points could not be answered because of David's divorce settlement. In another words, the truth had to remain secret. Leetaru was unable to get much information as to how workers were hired or about the processes used to determine if news were fake.

Leetaru concludes: Regardless of whether the Daily Mail article is correct in its claims about Snopes, at the least what does emerge from my exchanges with Snopes’ founder is the image of the ultimate black box presenting a gleaming veneer of ultimate arbitration of truth, yet with absolutely no insight into its inner workings. While technology pundits decry the black boxes of the algorithms that increasingly power companies like Facebook, they have forgotten that even the human-powered sites offer us little visibility into how they function."

Algorithms too are often biased. As an article written some time ago notes biased algorithms are everywhere.

UPDATE: Fred Walton pointed out that I left out an important recent development. The Atlantic Council is partnering with Facebook to help them weed out fake news especially during elections.

Facebook teams up with the Atlantic Council

Katie Harbath, the global politics and government outreach director for Facebook said: “Experts from their Digital Forensic Research Lab will work closely with our security, policy, and product teams to get Facebook real-time insights and updates on emerging threats and disinformation campaigns from around the world. This will help increase the number of ‘eyes and ears’ we have working to spot potential abuse on our service — enabling us to more effectively identify gaps in our systems, preempt obstacles, and ensure that Facebook plays a positive role during elections all around the world.”

This all sounds fine but for Sputnik News it just means filtering out news that contradicts the anti-Russian ideology of most western countries and NATO. However the New York Times, hardly a purveyor of Russian propaganda is also critical: "The Atlantic Council, which has seen its annual revenue grow to $21 million from $2 million in the last decade, offers access to United States and foreign government officials in exchange for contributions. Individual donors, like FedEx, have also helped fund specific reports that align with their agendas." The Atlantic Council is anything but neutral in spite of all its "expertise".

Previously published in Digital Journal

New BlackBerry Key 2 phone released on June 7th

Multinational Chinese electronics company TCL will release the new BlackBerry Key 2 this Thursday, June 7th in New York. The new phone appears to be a refined version of the earlier BlackBerry KeyOne.

Leaked images of the phone show it with a subdued gray and black appearance with perhaps a slightly more spacious keyboard layout. The phones standout according to a recent review only by having a keyboard and additional security features, but otherwise are like generic Android phones.

BlackBerry phones now made by TCL

TCL stands for Telephone Communication Limited. TLC is a global electronic firm with headquarters in Huizhou, Guandong province. It designs, develops, and makes numerous electronic and other products including television sets, mobile phones, air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, and small electrical appliances. It was rated as the 25th largest consumer electronics company in the world in 2010. In 2013 it was the third largest producer of televisions.

In 2016, TCL reached an agreement with BlackBerry Limited, formerly Research in Motion, to manufacture smartphones using the BlackBerry mobile brand name. In December of that year TCL was licensed to manufacture, distribute and design devices for the global market using the BlackBerry brand name.

Features of the Key 2

A key feature of the Key series is the physical keyboards. While many may prefer to use the touch keyboard at least you are provided the option to use even though the physical keyboards have rather small keys. There are also dual cameras on the phone.

The Key One had a 4.5 inch screen and a Snapdragon 625 processor. The key 2 is rumoured to have the same size screen but an upgraded Snapdragon 660 processor described here. Verge has a review of the Key One. A short review of the Key 2 is on the appended video.

BlackBerry launches two new stores in China

TCL has scheduled a separate launch of the phone in China on June 8th. It has also begun a new retail strategy by opening stores both in Shanghai and Nanjing. The Chinese market is hard to crack and the company faces competition from Chinese firms such as Oppo, Huawei, and Xiaomi. Apple also has strength in the upper end of the market. Sales are also cooling in China as it and some other countries face markets that are saturated already.

Published earlier in Digital Journal

Some young bright minds leaving financial establishment firms to work in crypto area

Some bright young minds in financial establishment firms are moving to the cryptocurrency area after already making enough money in the crypto market in their spare time to leave their present jobs.

Many in the Wall Street establishment debate whether cryptocurrencies will become a profit center or a legal liability but meanwhile some of their employees have grown wealthy by investing in the area in their spare time. For them the argument is over as they turn down promising jobs at top firms to move over to the growing cryptocurrency market. They are leaving high and rising monthly salaries for the risky crypto area where they have already amassed enough to abandon their jobs. They are ardent believers in the new blockchain technology behind coins such as bitcoin and are starting their own businesses.

Asim Ahmad

Asim Ahmad worked at BlackRock advising pension funds on investments in alternative assets and hedge funds. He invested in cryptocurrencies in his spare time. BlackRock is an American global management company with headquarters in New York. The company is the world's largest asset manager. It has a whopping $6.3 trillion under management as of December 2017. The company operates globally with 70 offices in 30 countries but with clients in 100 countries. BlackRock has been called the world's largest shadow bank.

Ahmad said: “I’m in a position where it doesn’t make sense to work at BlackRock anymore. The one-day volatility of my portfolio is higher than my salary, so if I get a few investments right then I’ll have made the same as my yearly wage and everything else on top is a bonus.”

Ahmad now helps run a fund that invests in blockchain ventures that have a positive social or environmental impact.

Adrian Xinli Zhang

Zhang was rising up in the ranks of Deutsche Bank AG in New York but after he discovered bitcoin the 29-year old made enough trading in digital currencies that he decided to leave the bank a month after he had just been promoted as a director. Zhang was formerly a trader at the centralized risk desk at the bank. Zhang is said to have traded more than $1 million in crypto assets.

Deutsche Bank AG is a Germany-based investment bank that also provides investment services. It is has headquarters in Frankfurt Germany but has offices elsewhere including New York. It is present in 58 countries. As of December last year Deutsche Bank was the 17th largest bank in the world by assets. It is a component of Euro Stoxx 50 and DAX stock market indices.

Goldman Sachs also has seen at least three front office employees leave the company including Jonathan Cheesman 36 and Justin Saslaw 29 after making profits from cryptocurrencies.

Wall Street opinion on cryptocurrencies is mixed

Adam Grimsley, a former Blackrock fixed-income specialist who has co-founded a crypto hedge fund in London, said: “You’ve seen a bifurcation internally at many larger houses where senior managers are very skeptical about crypto, while graduates and younger team members are very positive. The youngsters may have less intellectual baggage and may be more open-minded, but they also have less responsibility for managing risk and working out the practicalities of bolting on crypto to the existing business.”

Many who support the block chain technology are at the same time skeptical of the value of the associated cryptocurrencies.

Chris Matta, just 28, said that the crypto market was definitely taking talent away from financial services. Matta left Goldman Sachs' money management unit in 2017 to co-found an invest firm for digital currencies.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Facebook's new rules for placing political ads causing difficulties

Facebook's new rules requiring verification for ads regarded as political are causing serious problems for advertisers as their ads are taken down until the accounts are verified as political advertisers a process that takes several days.

The aim of the new rules

The new rules have been in force since last week. They are aimed at preventing political interference by Russian trolls and other foreign groups. A Verge articlecomments about the new verification process: "That verification typically requires a government-issued ID to trigger a verification code sent to a US mailing address, a process that takes several days and significant coordination. The system is meant to be a minor inconvenience for a political campaign, but those same rules also apply to neutral news content, and they seem to have taken many publications by surprise. A limited search by The Verge found 85 news posts that had fallen afoul of the rules in the first week of enforcement, including seemingly innocuous stories on graduation speeches or the British royal family. "

Showtime trailers

Showtime is a premium cable and satellite TV network. It is a subsidiary of CBS Corporation. The company's programming mostly consists of movies as well as original television.

Last Thursday, Showtime released a series of trailers for its documentary series The Fourth Estate. The series follows a group of New York Times reporters as they cover the White House. The company paid $1,000 to promote the trailers. Facebook did not run the ads but sent the money back. Facebook claimed the ads were too political without further verification.

On Facebook's political ads database the Showtime trailers are listed as inactive. A notice says: “After the ad started running, we determined that the ad had political content and required the label. The ad was taken down.” The political ad archive can be found here.

New Media Alliance's critique of Facebook's rules

The Alliance represents nearly 2,000 new organizations. When Facebook first proposed its guidelines the group wrote in an open letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg:“Your plan to group quality publishers alongside political advocacy, which the ad archive will do, dangerously blurs the lines between real reporting and propaganda. It is a fundamental mischaracterization of journalism that threatens to undermine its ability to play its critical role in society as the fourth estate.”

Local news aggregator targeted

News Break of Santa Clara California aggregates local news to an app. News Break has two million followers.

News Break has had 37 of its ads blocked for political content. The posts include one on a New Jersey school bus accident as well as another a high school bomb threat in Texas. None of the posts mention political candidates or parties.

Publishing company cannot promote a new book

Some ads are blocked before being published. Dennis Johnson, Melville House publisher says that the new rules have prevented him from promoting its new Trump/Russia book on Facebook, The words Trump and Russia appear to trigger filters so that the ads are automatically considered political. The company has decided it will just verify itself as a political advertiser. Johnson said: “We’re not finding any ways around it, nothing that makes it possible for us to talk about this book in an ad.. Everything we’ve tried to do in the past couple days has just been shut down.”

Rules define "political" too broadly'

Included in what counts as political are national issues of public importance, the economy, immigration, and even health. The idea is probably to flag non-campaign ads that are nevertheless designed to influence public discourse as apparently some Russian-financed ads did. The list also includes crime. Much news coverage of such events are neutral and not designed to promote some political agenda.

A Hawaiian fusion restaurant ran afoul of rules because it asked fans to vote in a local paper's "Best of Maui" poll. Facebook needs to do a lot of work before it can determine the difference between a restaurant trying to promote itself or a publisher pushing a new book and a Russian troll.

Previously published in Digital Journal

First nations with others buys railway to Churchill and port

A tentative deal has been reached to bring both the port of Churchill and the rail line from the port on Hudson's Bay south to the Pas back under Canadian ownership after the US company Omnitrax refused to repair flooded and damaged tracks.

Indigenous groups and others involved in the deal

The Canadian federal government announced that a number of First Nations many of whom depend on the rail line and also groups representing northern communities, One North and Missinippi LP, have joined up with Fairfax Financial Holdings to purchase the port and railway from Omnitrax. Fairfax, an investment company based in Toronto had announced back in November 2017 their intent to try along with others to purchase the railroad There are 30 First Nations and 11 communities in northern Manitoba as well as others participating in the project.

Specifics of the deal have such as financing, and a timeline have not been announced.

Omnitrax owner Pat Broe and Fairfax president Paul Rivett negotiated the agreement but a number of legal issues need to be completed before the deal is finalized.

Churchill Mayor Mike Spence calls the agreement historic

Spence said: "This is an historic partnership involving Indigenous and northern communities with industry leaders that now positions the Port of Churchill as an Arctic gateway for future prosperity...Priority No. 1 will be rail line repairs in the very near future and to finalize the acquisition." Spence is also co-chair of One North. Spence has been lobbying to purchase the port and rail system from Omnitrax since the US company began cutting service to his community almost two years ago.

Jim Carr Manitoba Natural Resources Minister said: "The people of northern Manitoba have long understood the value of the rail line. This agreement in principle allows those most affected to have a direct stake in the future and long-term interests of their communities."

Christian Sinclair, Chief of "Bold investments into much needed infrastructure will create long-term socioeconomic growth for the North. We see immediate opportunities to support the success and growth of the business, creating opportunities for OCN and for all of our partners in northern Manitoba."

Lack of a rail line isolates Churchill

The lack of a rail line has created great hardships for the eight to nine hundred inhabitants of Churchill. Omnitrax shut down both the port and major railroad operations in August of 2016. It continued to bring goods and passengers until the damaging floods in May of 2017. The company has not repaired the line and insists it has not the money to repair it.

The only way out of the town is by air which is very expensive. A return flight to the Manitoba capital city Winnipeg is about $1,200. The town attracts some tourists in winter to see polar bears which are common in the area- as shown in the appended video- and also to see fantastic displays of northern lights. However, tourist numbers have dwindled drastically since the rail link to the south has been closed. There are no roads into the town connecting them to the south. The costs of basic foodstuffs has also skyrocketed. Many are leaving the town.

Omnitrax taken to court by federal government

After Omnitrax refused to repair the tracks last year, the Canadian government took Omnitrax to court. Omnitrax says it simply cannot pay up to $60 million to repair the line. However, a consultant puts the cost at more like $43.5 million. The federal government has offered subsidies to northern residents to help with rising costs to those affected by the rail closure.

At least now, the railway and port will be owned by those in communities served by the railway and are interested in seeing that it does not shut down as it did before because it was no longer profitable for a large US corporation Omnitrax.

Publishes previously in Digital Journal

Canada buys Trans Mountain pipeline system for $4.5 billion Canadian

(May 29) Fnance minister Bill Morneau announced that the Canadian government has bought the Trans Mountain pipeline system and expansion project (TMEP) for $4.5 billion CAD ($3.46 US), but could end up spending billions more to complete the project.

 

Announcement sparks a rise in the price of Kinder Morgan shares

Morneau's announcement sent the shares of Kinder Morgan Inc. up 2.9 percent in premarket trade today. The deal is expected to close late in the third quarter or early in the fourth. The company claims that despite losing any earnings from the system, the company hopes to meet or exceed its 2018 outlook for distributable cash flow per share.

The company said its approximately 70 percent share of proceeds after taxes will be about $2.0 billion US. The stock dropped 12.1 percent this year up to last Friday as there have been protests against the project by environmentalists and indigenous groups.

Kinder Morgan

Kinder Morgan is one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America. It owns and controls oil and gas pipelines and terminals. The company owns or operates about 85,000 miles of pipelines plus 152 terminals. They have pipelines that transport natural gas, crude oil, carbon dioxide. refined petroleum products and much more. They also store at the terminals a number of products and materials including jet fuel, gasoline, ethanol, and even coal, petroleum coke, and steel.

The company moves about 78 percent of the natural gas consumed in the U.S. It is the largest independent terminal operator and the largest independent transporter of petroleum products in North America. The company has headquarters in Houston Texas. As of 2017 the company had 10,897 employees.

Trans Mountain Pipeline system

The original Trans Mountain pipeline has been in use since 1953. It carries crude and refined oil from Alberta to the west coast of British Columbia. However, in 2013 Kinder Morgan filed an application with the Canadian National Energy Board to build a second pipeline the Trans Mountain expansion project. It was to run roughly parallel to the existing pipeline between Edmonton Alberta and Burnaby BC, and would be used to transport dilute bitumen. The extension requires 10 new pumping stations. It would increase the capacity of the system from 300,000 barrels a day to 890,000. It will take an investment of $7.4 billion to finish the project from Strathcona, Alberta to Burnaby BC.

The Trans Mountain project causes friction between Alberta and BC

Ironically, both the Alberta and British Columbia governments are New Democratic, the only two in Canada at present governed by the left-leaning NDP. However, Rachel Notley, the NDP leader in Alberta, seems quite conservative in comparison to the views of the federal party. The BC government is more in line with federal policy. On the two appended videos the radically different reactions of the BC government and that of Alberta to the Liberal purchase of the Trans Mountain system are shown.

On January 30, 2018, the B.C. government proposed a restriction on increases to the amount of diluted bitumen that can be imported into the province from Alberta. The restriction would stay in place until the completion of studies on whether potential spillage could be mitigated. John Horgan's government also announced that it intended to consult with local communities and First Nations among others before the restriction would be lifted.

Trudeau sheds his progressive image to support big corporate interests

The purchase of Trans Mountain also creates problems for Trudeau, who often represents himself as very much an environmentalist. He was somewhat of a star at the Paris climate change meetings in 2015. However, Trudeau's rhetoric is often not accompanied by action. He has yet to raise Canada's target for reducing emissions even though urged to do so by the UN.

Trudeau often claims to support the rights of indigenous people and environmentalists, but on this matter he appears to be pandering to the interests of a company dependent on big oil and gas producers.

The government intends to sell the project back to the private sector

Finance Minister Bill Morneau claimed the agreement was financially sound and necessary. Of course it is necessary because the private sector project was having troubles and investors were worried. Now they are being bailed out and the rise in shares shows how helpful it was in their opinion. Morneau said that it will preserve jobs, reassure investors and get resources to world markets.

Morneau said that the government does not intend to be a long-term owner, but at the appropriate time will work with investors to transfer the project and related assets to new owners. In effect, the Canadian taxpayer after investing billions to make the project profitable then privatizes it. Think of how much value the taxpayer dollars added to the company only to have this stake sold off no doubt at a low price to benefit the private sector. The Canadian taxpayer is in effect subsidizing the private sector.

The government had offered to, in effect, subsidize Kinder Morgan earlier by covering losses if the project was delayed as reported in a recent Digital Journal article. The purchase of Trans Mountain was not done because the government wants to create a profitable pipeline to provide revenue to pay for services for Canadians. Quite the opposite. It forces Canadian taxpayers to take all the risk of finishing the project with many costly delays perhaps, due to the opposition. Once the project is up and running and making money all that investment is turned back to the likes of Kinder Morgan.

The argument that pipelines are cheaper and safer than rail transportation of oil

This is a common argument in favor of pipeline projects. It could possibly be true. However, it could very well be argued that the oil we have left is becoming more expensive to produce, such as that in the oil sands, and the production process itself is a key contributor to environmental degradation. The preferable trend is towards developing energy in greener forms. Making more petroleum products available may not only be counter to good environmental policy, it may be unprofitable as it is serving an industry that soon will be in decline. As a recent article in Digital Journal points out revenue from oil and gas production is in decline in Canada.

Previously published in Digital Journal

Kiwi robots deliver pizzas to hungry students in Berkeley California

Kiwi robots that deliver food are quite common on the University of California Berkeley campus. The co-founder of Kiwi robots and CEO, Felipe Chavez Cortes was anxious to have his robots tested in real world conditions.

Cortes claims that the company has already delivered more than 10,000 orders using its Kiwi bots. Unlike San Francisco that has banned delivery bots from city streets for fear they would takeover sidewalks, the robots can still operate on the Berkeley campus.

The campus also provides what seems to be an endless resource of hungry students. The smaller size of the robots compared to some of the competition means that they are not likely to be seen as monopolizing sidewalks.

Cortes said: “I believe that sidewalks are sacred, and we need to create technology that interacts with people the best way possible. That’s why we’re using several kinds of robots. This size works for 80 percent of the orders.”

The KiwiBot uses binocular computer vision to navigate around the campus. However, it is also aided by humans who take control if the robot needs help crossing the street or navigating through busy areas.

Cortes thought that Berkeley would be a good place to launch Kiwi because the people were diverse and were friendly to new technology such as the robots.

Delivery system is modular

The delivery system is modular with the little four-wheeled robot just used in the last 300 meters of a delivery.Cortes points out: “We started with one robot going from the restaurant to the customer’s house and found out pretty easily that that was inefficient. So we created a multi-modal system. We have three robots: one inside the restaurant, a semi-autonomous tricycle that goes in the streets and we have the last-mile robots. We have robots deployed in the city, and then, with the trikes, we can pick up dozens of meals at once and then we load the robots. The robot makes the last 300 meters. It works. Right now it’s cheaper than using human couriers, and the companies have control of the delivery.”

Kiwi still has a lot of issues to grapple with including making the delivery fully autonomous and ensuring that the robots are not stolen. However they have made a promising start. The company has its own website.

Delivery by robots will be cheaper according to Cortes

Cortes thought of the Kiwi robots after he had ordered a pizza online and found that the delivery cost was almost as much as the pizza. He claimed that the robot delivery could save up to 80 percent. Cortes said: “I think that it is really important that we help things in the city become smarter and cheaper for everyone"

Previously published in Digital Journal

Users of Google Pay can now use PayPal to pay their bills and purchases

Google Pay users who add their PayPal details to their Google Pay accounts will now be able to pay their bills and purchases using PayPal. The integration will cover any app such such as Gmail, YouTube, or Google Store.

Peer-to-peer transfers will also be possible. The integration is a continuation of a process that reaches back as far as 2014 when payment by PayPal was an option in Google Play. Google has also partnered with other payment companies such as Braintree, Stripe, and even Visa and Mastercard.

PayPal

PayPal Holdings Inc. is an US-based company with headquarters in San Jose California. It operates a worldwide online payment system. It supports online money transfers and serves as an alternative to traditional checks and money orders.

PayPal's corporate headquarters in San Jose, California. The company serves to make payments for vendors, auction sites such as eBay and other commercial outlets. It charges a small fee for its services.

PayPal was once owned by eBay which announced plans to spin it off and it became an independent company on July 15th 2015. PayPal can still be used to make payments for eBay transactions.

Google Pay

Now Google Pay, but formerly called Pay with Google and Android Pay, is a digital wallet platform as well as an online payment system. It powers in-app and tap-to-pay purchases made on mobile devices. Payments can be made with Android phones, tablets, or watches. Android Pay and Google Wallet were unified into a single system creating the present Google Pay.

Google Pay has a new application programming interface (API) that allows merchants to add the Google Pay service to websites, apps, Stripe, and other. Any cards on file at Google Play can also be used. There are also new supports for boarding passes and ticket events as of this month.

Both Google and PayPal benefit from the new relationship

Given that PayPal can be used to pay on Google sites Paypal users are likely to stay on the site. It gives users one more option for users to pay. Paypal users will also be able to use Paypal on many more sites. This will translate into more revenue for PayPal.

Users are now comfortable with paying online

Not too long ago the challenge for those offering online payments was to convince customers that it was safe to pay online. However, now most people are used to making online payments. As a recent Techcrunch article puts it: "The problem is one of trying to capture and keep users’ attention: there are potentially now too many payment options, and too many places for us to visit too easily. The struggle for app publishers, platform owners, and others now is to keep people engaged in your product, rather than migrating elsewhere, which could lead to people abandoning their purchases and also leaving your service for another one."

Amazon is successful in the emerging battle for customers in that it provides a very seamless and rapid way to browse and buy things. If you are a Prime subscriber things are even better. Google and PayPal along with others are knitting their services together to attract the attention of users and provide services that users are demanding.

The process of integrating things together is not always that easy. Bill Ready of Paypal said: “We are always looking for ways to improve the experience and to make payments even more seamless and secure for our customers wherever they want to pay. After the successful launch with Android Pay last year, which built on our existing integration with Google Play, our teams came together to enable this new experience, which will allow customers in the U.S. who add PayPal to any one of Google’s services to be able to pay across the Google ecosystem, anywhere that PayPal is offered as a payment method, with only minimal setup.”

Previously published in Digital Journal

The interview with Yulia Skripal that was not an interview

(May 25) Yulia Skripal, the daughter of Sergei Skripal an ex-double agent, says that both were lucky to have survived an assassination attack on March 4th in Salisbury in the United Kingdom. She said that she hopes to eventually return home to Russia.

 

Both were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury and spent weeks in the hospital in critical condition. The attack was said to have been carried out using a Novichok type nerve agent that it was claimed was developed only in Russia. Actually it could have been developed other places as well. A nerve agent of the same type was developed in Czechoslovakia. Russia was blamed for the incident resulting in expulsion of Russian diplomats from several countries and a tit-for-tat response from Russia.

Yulia was released from the hospital over a month ago and her father was released just last week. This is the first time that Yulia has appeared on camera although she did make a statement through the police when she was released from the hospital. The release was discussed in a Digital Journal article at the time.

The interview that was not an interview

Reuters was granted what was called an "exclusive interview" but it was simply a video of Yulia reading from a script in Russian. There was a companion script in English that was shown as subtitles during the speech. She signed the text of both. In an interview the person interviewed is asked questions but there were no questions addressed to Yulia either before or after the video taping. This may not be fake news but it is certainly staged news designed to support the official position on the Skripal case without allowing any questions of Yulia.

Yulia's statement's difference from the official narrative

The one part of the interview that indirectly could be regarded as conflicting with the official narrative is that she hoped to eventually return to Russia. This is a bit strange if she believed the official narrative that it was Russia that tried to poison herself and her father.

She did not in her statement blame Russia for the attack as the official narrative does. Perhaps she was asked to do so but refused. Unlike the official account she does not name the nerve agent Novichok.

She does help preserve the official narrative by saying that at this time she did not want to avail herself of the assistance of the Russian embassy. This helps the authorities to continue to refuse Russian authorities any access to her. They have not allowed access to Sergei either but so far he has made no statement even though he has also been released from the hospital.

The Independent's interpretation and critique

An article in the Independent is quite critical of the "interview" with Yulia. It claims several purposes of the video. First it was to restate the UK authorities' version of what happened at a time when the story began to fray. For example it has never been explained how the deadly nerve agent could have been contacted on their door knob but did not render them unconscious for several hours later. It is supposed to act almost immediately.

Secondly, her appearance in the video struck down some of the more extreme speculation such as that she and her father were dead or that there had been no nerve agent attack. There was also speculation that the two would never be seen again. Note we have yet to see Sergei although it has been announced he was released from the hospital.

Thirdly, the video was meant to show the Russians that the UK authorities had not kidnapped Yulia one of its citizens and was unlawfully refusing consular access. Yulia said she did not want the help of the Russian authorities at least for now. One wonders if saying this was one of the conditions under which she was allowed to make her statement.

The Independent concludes:What we have here, it seems to me, is an attempt by the UK to limit the damage to its own reputation – damage perhaps it never envisaged, because it assumed everyone would “buy” the “wicked Russia” story. And the reason this had to be done, now, or at all, was that the UK’s silence – media blackout? – about the Skripals had become embarrassing; it invited unwelcome questions, and perhaps it also risked the UK’s “triumph” in orchestrating a collective Western expulsion of Russian diplomats.

The Independent notes that there are myriad unanswered questions about the official version. It has already been determined that the nerve agent could have come from other countries and that even the UKs Porton Down could have samples. There are questions too, as to where and when the Skripals were poisoned. Many different stories have come and gone including that it was in their car, in a package of cereal, in a restaurant and last on the door knob of their house. The article lists a host of other questions. Note that after all the ruckus and three months on the authorities do not even have a single suspect let alone made an arrest.

Other critiques

Craig Murray has written many critical articles on the Skripal poisoning and has a blog post on the Reuters interview with Yulia. Among other things he notes that there is now plenty of evidence that other countries have made Novichok type nerve agents and he points out that when it was suggested to a Porton Down authority that the agent may have come from their lab, the response was that security was so tight that it was impossible. There was no outright denial they had samples.

An important additional point that Murray makes is that neither Yulia nor Sergei have been able to make any contact with relatives since the phone call to her cousin Victoria when she was in the hospital. This is a sign they are being held under duress:I remain extremely suspicious that, at the very first chance she got in hospital, Yulia managed to get hold of a telephone (we don’t know how, it was not her own and she has not had access to one since) and phone her cousin Viktoria, yet since then the Skripals have made no attempt to contact their family in Russia. That includes no contact to Sergei’s aged mum, Yulia’s grandmother, who Viktoria cares for. Sergei normally calls his mother – who is 89 – regularly. This lack of contact is a worrying sign that the Skripals may be prevented from free communication to the outside world. Yulia’s controlled and scripted performance makes that more rather than less likely. It is to me particularly concerning that Yulia does not seem to have social media access. The security services have the ability to give her internet risk free through impenetrable VPN. But they appear not to have done that.

The Moon of Alabama blog has an even more critical account of the interview. The blog post points out that the two texts which Yulia signed are different in that the English text has no corrections whereas the Russian text has several. It would seem that the text was written by an English speaker and then translated into Russian.

The blog says of the interview: "In the new Reuters video Yulia Skripal gives a memorized and pressed monologue which declares that she does not want to be contacted by her cousin, grandmother, the Russian government or anyone else. The statement was pre-written in stilted, bureaucratic English language. On camera Yulia Skripal used a Russian version of the English text which she likely had not translated herself."

A Sun article notes that Russian government spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said he thought that Yulia was speaking under duress.

Peskov said: "We have not seen her or heard from her. The handwritten letters signed by Yulia in Russian and English confirm this impression. With all respect for Yulia’s privacy and security, this video does not discharge the UK authorities from their obligations under Consular Conventions. The UK is obliged to give us the opportunity to speak to Yulia directly in order to make sure that she is not held against her own will and is not speaking under pressure." I expect there is zero chance of that happening.

The official narrative is unraveled for everyone to see but the authorities hope that people will be too busy with other news items to notice, and it is unlikely that the mainstream press will press the issue. They have been mostly silent while the silence of the Skripals has been noticed only by a handful of marginal commentators. The present video seems to have had the effect of stirring at least some interest among larger papers.

Previously published in Digital Journal