Linked List: December 9, 2016

Friday, 9 December 2016

Washington Post: ‘Secret CIA Assessment Says Russia Was Trying to Help Trump Win White House’ ★

Adam Entous, Ellen Nakashima, and Greg Miller, reporting for The Washington Post:

The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.

Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances.

“It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on an intelligence presentation made to U.S. senators. “That’s the consensus view.”

No surprise to anyone who’s had their eyes open, but chilling nonetheless.

Good thread from Marc Ambinder on what this means:

I’m in favor of doing everything to get to the bottom of what they did. But can’t say more than their actions “may have helped” Trump win.

Also related: Trump’s purported leading candidate for Secretary of State, Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, has close ties to Vladimir Putin:

Friends and associates said few U.S. citizens are closer to Mr. Putin than Mr. Tillerson, who has known Mr. Putin since he represented Exxon’s interests in Russia during the regime of Boris Yeltsin.

“He has had more interactive time with Vladimir Putin than probably any other American with the exception of Henry Kissinger,” said John Hamre, a former deputy defense secretary during the Clinton administration and president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank where Mr. Tillerson is a board member.

In 2011, Mr. Tillerson struck a deal giving Exxon access to prized Arctic resources in Russia as well as allowing Russia’s state oil company, OAO Rosneft, to invest in Exxon concessions all over the world. The following year, the Kremlin bestowed the country’s Order of Friendship decoration on Mr. Tillerson.

I’m so old I remember when the Republicans were the hardline party against Russia.

Only One Candidate in Louisiana’s Senate Runoff Embraces Climate Change Facts ★

Megan Geuss, writing for Ars Technica:

On Saturday December 10, Louisiana residents will cast their final ballots for the last unclaimed Senate seat of the 2016 elections. […] Foster Campbell, the top remaining Democratic candidate, has been vocal about the fact that climate change could cause “irreversible damage” to Louisiana’s ample coastline. John Kennedy, the Republican candidate and current polling favorite, has largely avoided the subject. Kennedy told Louisiana-based paper The Advocate this fall that although he accepts the fact that global temperatures are rising, he does not think there is evidence to explain why this is happening.

As Ars has noted before, this is false. There is more than sufficient evidence to show that human activity is the dominant cause of global warming.

What’s surprising about Kennedy’s statement is that he’s running for a Senate position in Louisiana, one of the states most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Looks like a long shot for Campbell in the polls, but as we saw a month ago, long shots in the polls sometimes win. If you’re in Louisiana, vote. If you know someone in Louisiana, send them a reminder to vote.

Super Mario Run Needs a Constant Internet Connection to Run ★

Brian Heater, writing for TechCrunch:

It a bit of news that will surely shift the value proposition of Mario’s long-awaited iPhone debut for legions of underground commuters, Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed this week that Super Mario Run will only work on a device with a constant internet connection.

The legendary game creator chalked up the decision to security concerns, fears that an offline mode would make the game unstable and open it up to piracy. Those worries are likely due in no small part to the fact that Nintendo simply isn’t accustomed to developing games for platforms it doesn’t have on lock-down.

“Unlike our dedicated game devices, the game is not releasing in a limited number of countries,” Miyamoto explained. “We’re launching in 150 countries and each of those countries has different network environments and things like that. So it was important for us to be able to have it secure for all users.”

Other than when I’m on a plane or riding a subway, my phone does have network access most of the time. But people on planes and subways do play games on their phone.

Update: Another big problem: kids with iPod Touches and old SIM-less iPhones. They’re often not on Wi-Fi.

WSJ Report on Apple’s Mysterious AirPods Delay ★

Tripp Mickle, reporting for the WSJ:

The AirPod delay marks the first time Apple has postponed release of a product since its white iPhone 4 in 2010, Mr. Moorhead said. Then, Apple cited manufacturing challenges.

In the case of AirPods, the cause remains unclear. The earbuds contain a new chip that Apple developed. But the same chip is included in two models of headphones, which are available for sale, from Apple’s Beats unit.

A person familiar with the development of the AirPod said the trouble appears to stem from Apple’s effort to chart a new path for wireless headphones. In most other wireless headphones, only one earpiece receives a signal from the phone via wireless Bluetooth technology; it then transmits the signal to the other earpiece.

Apple has said AirPod earpieces each receive independent signals from an iPhone, Mac or other Apple device. But Apple must ensure that both earpieces receive audio at the same time to avoid distortion, the person familiar with their development said. That person said Apple also must resolve what happens when a user loses one of the earpieces or the battery dies.

The rest of the article is useless speculation. I’m not even sure that this one source — the “person familiar with the development of the AirPod” — is correct. My prototype AirPods have no trouble staying in sync. They’ve never once been out of sync, in fact. There have been a small handful of times when one of the two buds turns off, and audio only plays through one of them. But I’ve only seen that three or four times, tops, and in each case it was fixed by putting the AirPods back in the case for a second or two.

If Apple could mass produce AirPods that worked exactly like my review unit pair does, it would be great. Not perfect, but totally great. These AirPods are my favorite new Apple product in years — exactly as they are. It makes more sense to me that Apple has run into a manufacturing problem, not that they discovered a design defect after they were announced.

“More difficult to manufacture at scale than expected” is also what I’ve heard through the grapevine, from a little birdie who knows someone on the AirPods engineering team. Things like what happens when you lose one or the battery dies — Apple solved those problems during development.

Update: After publishing this, I’ve heard from another little birdie who heard the same thing: unexpected manufacturing problem at scale.

John Markoff Retires From The New York Times ★

John Markoff:

Yes, I’m retiring from the New York Times. This is obviously bittersweet, but it’s also very weird. Whenever I tell someone I’m leaving the paper they immediately say “congratulations.”

What the hell? Congratulate me for bailing on one of the best jobs in the world?

The simple fact is that I lasted longer than a lot of my friends. But until I changed my mind last summer and took the buyout, I was sure I was going to go out like those guys at the Examiner — the copy editors who worked at night in their t-shirts. And then keeled over on their CRTs and were taken out feet first.

But what the heck.

Nice introduction from Steven Levy, too.

Unsurprisingly, I’ve linked to Markoff quite a few times over the years.

Samsung Will Render the Note 7 Useless With Imminent Update ★

Jacob Kastrenakes, writing for The Verge:

Samsung will render remaining Galaxy Note 7s in the United States useless and inoperable with its next and final update for the recalled smartphone. Today the company confirmed that it plans to release an update on December 19th — to be distributed across all major carriers within 30 days — that will “prevent US Galaxy Note 7 devices from charging and will eliminate their ability to work as mobile devices.”

Verizon, however, doesn’t agree with the timing:

Today, Samsung announced an update to the Galaxy Note7 that would stop the smartphone from charging, rendering it useless unless attached to a power charger. Verizon will not be taking part in this update because of the added risk this could pose to Galaxy Note7 users that do not have another device to switch to. We will not push a software upgrade that will eliminate the ability for the Note7 to work as a mobile device in the heart of the holiday travel season. We do not want to make it impossible to contact family, first responders or medical professionals in an emergency situation.

Why didn’t Verizon push Samsung to do this sooner?

Apple Analyst Gene Munster Leaving Piper to Start VC Firm ★

Mark Gurman and Arie Shapira, reporting for Bloomberg;

Gene Munster, a 21-year veteran analyst at Piper Jaffray Cos., is leaving the firm to co-found a venture capital firm focusing on virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

Perfect time for Apple to release a TV set.

A Chat With Shigeru Miyamoto on the Eve of Super Mario Run ★

Andrew Webster, writing for The Verge:

The experience of creating Super Mario Run hasn’t been exactly like the old days, however. As games have progressed from the NES to modern devices, the teams required to make them have similarly grown larger and more complex. Mobile, on the other hand, offers the potential for a small team to make a modest-sized game — though that wasn’t the case with Super Mario Run. In addition to its main “tour” mode, which closely resembles a typical Mario title, the game also features a competitive “toad rush” mode and a city-building mode that lets you build your own version of the Mushroom Kingdom. Each of these modes was developed by a separate team. “I was hoping that by developing for mobile things would get simpler,” Miyamoto says, “but they actually didn’t.”

Nintendo made a great commercial for Super Mario Run, too.