From my perspective, it looks as though the government is getting serious about reining in Facebook. It’s too early to foretell how this will all end, but I have strong feeling that this fight is still in its early stages.
FireEye Faces Powerful Cyberattack
One of the industry’s leading cybersecurity firms has been attacked and apparently compromised, according to reports.
“The cybersecurity firm FireEye (FEYE) said Tuesday that it had come under cyberattack by “highly sophisticated” actors likely sponsored by a nation-state, in a rare and extremely serious instance of a mainstream security vendor being compromised. The hack could even give the perpetrators the means to launch attacks against other targets,” writes Brian Fung of CNN Business. “In an investor disclosure, FireEye said the attack was highly customized to target FireEye’s systems and is unlike any the company has responded to in the past.”
Unsuccessful Rocket Test Will Provide Valuable Lessons
Tests are designed to explore the limits of new technologies. In aerospace, they call it “pushing the envelope.” An examples of this occurred Wednesday during the test of a new SpaceX vehicle.
“Elon Musk’s Starship SN8 prototype, reminiscent of something Buck Rogers might have piloted, fell serenely and silently through the Texas sky for almost two minutes on Wednesday. Then its Raptor engines roared to life, righting the rocket into a vertical orientation in preparation for landing, but it was too little or too late — or maybe some of both,” write Eric Mack and Jackson Ryan of CNET. “A few seconds and one spectacular explosion later, SpaceX’s latest next-generation rocket prototype followed its first successful high-altitude flight with a hard landing that’s sure to be an instant member of the GIF and meme halls of fame.”
The short video is definitely worth watching. And as we all know, not every test succeeds – that’s the nature of technology progress.
Uber Exits Flying Car Project
Uber has decided to abandon its goal of building flying cars.
“A day after Uber handed its autonomous car project to a Silicon Valley start-up, the company is doing the same with an ambitious and money-intensive effort to build flying cars,” writes Cade Metz of The New York Times. “Uber is handing its flying car project, Uber Elevate, to the air taxi start-up Joby Aviation, the two companies said on Tuesday. Uber will also invest $75 million in Joby’s effort to build a flying taxi, while agreeing to become partners with the start-up when the flying car reaches the market.”
Frankly, this seems like a good business decision that will enable Uber to focus on its core offerings.
