Tag: corporations

Pokémon Go — The Largest Mapped Data Collection Ploy in History

When Pokémon Go was released, it appeared to be a harmless game encouraging people to go outside and explore, yet beneath that surface was a far more sophisticated system that directed human movement into very specific locations where data was needed most, turning millions of users into mobile data collectors. The placement of Pokémon, Gyms, and PokéStops was not random, but concentrated around landmarks, businesses, and dense urban corridors, meaning players were repeatedly funneled into high-value mapping zones, often returning to the same locations over and over again, capturing them from multiple angles, at different times of day, and under varying conditions, which is exactly how high-quality spatial datasets are built.

For many reading this, particularly those who never played the game, it is important to understand what this actually looked like in practice, because this was not some passive background process, it required people to physically walk through neighborhoods, parks, shopping districts, and even residential areas while holding up their phones, actively scanning their surroundings to “catch” virtual creatures that did not exist. The game encouraged users to point their cameras at real-world objects, move around them, and interact with the environment. The system was capturing detailed imagery not just of public landmarks but also of surrounding areas, including streets, entryways, and private homes, all embedded in what appeared to be a simple entertainment experience.

Keep reading

‘Insulting’: AES sent victims’ family $50 gift card, T-shirt in wake of deadly TN explosion, attorney says

Attorneys for the families of two victims in last year’s deadly munitions plant explosion are condemning Accurate Energetic Systems’ “reckless” behavior before the tragedy and the company’s “insulting” response.

In a Thursday press conference, the legal team representing the families of victims Steven Wright and Reyna Gillahan said Accurate Energetic Systems rejected their $150 million pre-litigation demand. Their rejection came 45 minutes before the attorney’s deadline of Monday afternoon.

“We got an announcement of their defense, which their position is that workers’ compensation in Tennessee is the exclusive remedy for any injury in the workplace,” said attorney Darren Richie.

He said that the $150 million demand on a tight deadline may have seemed “outrageous,” but that was intentional.

“I wanted AES to tell me I was being outrageous. So I could turn around to them and tell them, no, your conduct and behavior, AES, is outrageous,” he said.

The press conference offered new insights into AES’s communication with families in the wake of the deadly explosion and how the victims’ loved ones grieve.

WSMV4 has reached out to AES representatives for comment on these accusations.

AES offers victims’ families ‘insulting’ gift card, shirt

So far, AES has done three things for the victims of the people killed after thousands of pounds of explosives detonated at their Hickman County plant: hosted a barbecue food truck event and sent them a $50 Walmart gift card and a T-shirt with a picture of their deceased loved one, according to Richie.

“Needless to say, that’s insulting,” he said on Thursday.

The lawyer also expressed shock that AES has declined to give families the contact information for their insurance.

“That is a professional courtesy that gets exchanged all the time to facilitate resolution of claims. But they denied it. That shows us how they really feel about their employees,” he said.

He said the team plans to file a lawsuit to demand more from AES.

“And besides saying, oh, I’m sorry, providing some barbecue, gift card, and a t-shirt, they’re acting as if nothing happened. And they’re acting as if they don’t bear any responsibility,” he said. “Well, there’s more than a hundred ways that they bear responsibility here. I want them to step up and take responsibility.”

Keep reading

USA Rare Earth to Acquire Brazil’s Serra Verde in $2.8 Billion Deal

USA Rare Earth said on April 20 that it has agreed to acquire Brazil-based Serra Verde Group in a deal valued at approximately $2.8 billion, a significant move to expand production of rare-earth elements outside Asia.

The company said it will purchase 100 percent of Serra Verde through a combination of $300 million in cash and 126.849 million shares of newly issued stock.

Based on USA Rare Earth’s closing share price of $19.95 on April 17, the transaction implies an equity value of about $2.8 billion for Serra Verde.

The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.

Barbara Humpton, CEO of USA Rare Earth, which is based in Stillwater, Oklahoma, described the acquisition as a step toward a global rare earth platform.

She said that Serra Verde’s Pela Ema mine is “a one-of-a-kind asset and the only producer outside Asia capable of supplying all four magnetic rare earths at scale.”

Humpton also pointed to Serra Verde’s existing agreements, noting that its importance is underscored by a 15-year offtake agreement backed by U.S. government-linked financing and private capital, covering all of its Phase 1 production of key materials such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium.

Rare earths are minerals critical for modern technologies, including electric vehicles, wind turbines, semiconductors, and defense systems. In particular, so-called heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium are essential for producing high-performance magnets used in advanced equipment.

Currently, much of the world’s supply and processing capacity is in China, according to the International Energy Agency.

“Rare earths represent a strategic nexus where national and energy security, and technological supremacy, converge,” Serra Verde CEO Thras Moraitis said in the April 20 statement. “The Western rare earth sector stands at a critical inflection point, as governments and strategic industries urgently seek reliable sources of critical rare earths—particularly scarce heavy rare earths.”

By combining Serra Verde’s mining operations with USA Rare Earth’s processing and magnet-making capabilities, Humpton said, the company aims to create “a fully integrated platform” to support global supply security.

Keep reading

Pentagon Turns to World War II-Era Tactic in Bid to Ramp Up Weapons Production: Report

The Trump administration wants automakers to put the pedal to the metal to help rebuild America’s weapons stockpiles, according to a new report.

As wars in the Middle East and Ukraine have consumed missiles and other weapons, the Trump administration is turning to a tactic from World War II in order to resupply as fast as possible, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Top executives at General Motors and Ford have been approached, the outlet reported, citing sources it did not name. GE Aerospace and machinery producer Oshkosh have also been approached.

The War Department “is committed to rapidly expanding the defense industrial base by leveraging all available commercial solutions and technologies to ensure our warfighters maintain a decisive advantage,” a Pentagon official said.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has called for American manufacturing to be on a “wartime footing.”

Talks with manufacturers began before the war against Iran, with the goal of strengthening national security by increasing the military’s ability to quickly increase production of weapons and technology to meet emerging needs.

Defense officials sought input from companies that do not perform extensive defense work about barriers that need to be addressed by the government, such as the process for bidding and contracting.

Keep reading

Your Old Kindle Still Works Perfectly. Amazon Is Killing It Anyway

A record player from 1972 still plays records. A paperback from 1985 still opens. A Kindle from 2011, the one that works perfectly, the one with no cracked screen or dead battery, will stop functioning as an e-reader on May 20, 2026, because Amazon decided it should.

Amazon sent emails this week to owners of Kindle devices manufactured in 2012 or earlier, informing them that support for their hardware would end in six weeks.

After May 20, those devices will no longer be able to buy, borrow, or download books. The only content available will be whatever is already sitting on the device. And if you factory reset your Kindle, or deregister it from your Amazon account for any reason, you will not be able to re-register it. At that point, the device becomes a plastic rectangle.

The affected models include the original Kindle, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle 4, Kindle 5, Kindle Touch, and the first-generation Kindle Paperwhite. Some of these devices have been in continuous use for 14 years. They work. The screens display text. The batteries hold a charge. The page-turn buttons click. None of that matters.

Amazon spokesperson Jesse Carr said that, “These models have been supported for at least 14 years — some as long as 18 years — but technology has come a long way in that time, and these devices will no longer be supported moving forward.” He added that Amazon is “notifying those still actively using them and offering promotions to help with the transition to newer devices.”

The promotion is a 20 percent discount on a new Kindle and a $20 eBook credit. Amazon is offering customers a coupon to buy something they didn’t want to buy, to replace something that already works. The offer expires June 20, 2026, which gives affected users exactly one month to decide whether to spend money solving a problem Amazon created for them.

The deregistration clause is where this gets ugly. The email Amazon sent includes a specific warning: if you deregister or factory reset your device after May 20, you cannot re-register it. The device becomes permanently unusable as a Kindle.

Keep reading

Shoppers face surge in ‘dynamic pricing’ as supermarkets adopt digital technology to change grocery prices based on demand

Shoppers may face higher prices as retailers look set to use digital labels that could change the cost of products based on demand.

The Bank of England warned that these ‘market-responsive pricing tools’ will be adopted by one in three companies in the coming year, up from one in five in the year before.

These ‘dynamic prices’ will change based on algorithms and AI, with the labels adjusting to ‘demand, capacity or competitors’ prices’, according to a business survey commissioned by the Bank.

Factors that could affect these prices may take into account the weather, the time of day, and how busy the shop is. For example, if it is a hot day, then the price of sunglasses may be increased.

This is something that online retailers, like Amazon, have already adopted. Hospitality and travel businesses do much the same, with prices changing based on popularity or times of the year. 

The study then suggests that electronic labels in supermarkets could be the next frontier – something which is ‘already widespread in Europe’.

UK retail food prices are already 38 per cent higher than pre-Covid levels and experts fear further significant increases if disruption caused by the war in Iran continues.

Keep reading

Fears spread about businesses implanting microchips in workers

Never mind microchipping your dog. Some companies are giving employees microchip implants that give them access to facilities, company accounts and vending machines with the wave of a hand.

The new technology sounds convenient and cool, but it alarms privacy rights advocates and some states have moved to ban the practice.

In March, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed House Bill 2303 into law. It prohibits employers from requiring, coercing or even requesting employees to get a microchip implanted for any reason.

“Microchips may seem like science fiction, but the technology is here,” said state Rep. Brianna Thomas, a Democrat and sponsor of the bill. “It creates an opportunity for employers to track employees during work hours and at home. That is scary.”

At least 13 additional states have banned employer-mandated human microchips, and some have imposed stricter regulations as concerns grow over technology’s increasing encroachment on privacy rights.

Nevada banned microchip programs, even for voluntary recipients, in 2019.

In addition to concerns about bosses tracking employees, the new technology could be vulnerable to hacking, which would leave microchip wearers’ personal, health and work information exposed.

Some medical studies found that the rice-sized chips can injure tissues and tendons in the human hand and have been associated with tumors in laboratory mice.

“From my point of view, there is nothing beneficial that can come from this,” Nevada Assemblyman Skip Daly, who sponsored the bill banning the practice. “We have insurance companies, credit reporting, monitoring locations, tracking transactions, and employers having access to personal information, et cetera, which some of you may see as having potentially beneficial applications, all of which are overshadowed by, in my opinion, the negative applications and potential for abuse and infringement upon our freedoms.”

States moved to set limits on microchipping in response to the Wisconsin-based software company Three Square Market, which in 2017 made headlines by offering employees the option of having a grain-sized microchip implanted under the skin, between the thumb and forefinger.

Dozens of employees signed up for the program, and according to company officials, more than 80 people got the implant. The chips opened doors, unlocked computers, made payments on proprietary self-checkout software and more.

Company officials also acknowledged facing “serious backlash from groups citing privacy and religious concerns,” and said they had “zero interest in tracking anyone,” and turned down requests to develop tracking technology.

Three Square Market was purchased by Cantaloupe in 2022. The Washington Times reached out to the Cantaloupe to see if the microchipping program is still up and running.

Since Three Square Market made a splash with its microchipping program, no major U.S. company has announced plans to offer or require employees to wear similar implants.

Two companies in Sweden offer employee microchipping, and thousands have signed up for the implants that not only unlock doors, access computers and pay for things, but also carry health data, including vaccine records.

In the U.S., biohacking technology is here to stay and advancing in new ways.

Keep reading

This company used to make weapons for the Nazis. Now it will do the same for Israel

One of Germany’s biggest and most iconic car manufacturers, Volkswagen (VW) and one of Israel’s most well-known arms manufacturers, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, part of the global Rafael Group, are planning to collaborate. If the project is realized, VW will convert one of its German factories in the historic city of Osnabrueck from making automobiles to producing components of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

There are good reasons why this has raised eyebrows. For one thing, it reflects not only VW’s growing problems, but those of Germany’s vital automobile sector and the German economy as a whole. As the Financial Times has noted, the VW-Rafael project would mark “the highest-profile example yet of the German car industry, where profits have plunged,” trying to save itself by entering the “booming defense sector.”

These plunging profits are due to many factors: Chinese competition; Germany’s failure to keep up with cutting-edge technology, communication infrastructure, and business practices; American sabotage by tariff warfare and filching German companies via subsidies; and last but not least, the horrendous energy costs that the entire EU has inflicted on itself by going to war – by Ukrainian proxy and sanctions – against Russia.

The shift to making things for the military, meanwhile, is just a small part of Germany’s breathtakingly misguided response: Namely, a policy of going into massive public debt – under a so-called conservative – to finance a bizarre form of military Keynesianism that is based on illusions (no, Russia is not about to attack), produces self-reinforcing Russophobia (which makes a return to normality even harder), and won’t work as an economic boost, as even the usually government-aligned Spiegel has admitted.

In short, like a prism, the Osnabrueck plan bundles together many of Germany’s worst – and self-inflicted – problems, and the single silliest idea of how to tackle them.

Keep reading

Kentucky Legislature Forces Through Bill Giving Pesticide Makers Immunity After Governor’s Veto

Kentucky lawmakers have approved a bill that grants pesticide manufacturers immunity, overriding a veto from Gov. Andy Beshear.

The Kentucky Senate, in a 24–12 vote on March 31, overrode Beshear’s veto on Senate Bill 199, following an earlier House of Representatives override. All override votes came from Republicans.

The bill says that pesticides approved by federal officials and displaying approved labeling from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) containing health assessments “shall be deemed a sufficient warning label” under state law.

Plaintiffs across the country have been suing Monsanto, which makes the pesticide glyphosate, for failing to warn of cancer risks. Juries have ruled for the plaintiffs in some of the cases.

With backing from the Trump administration, Bayer—Monsanto’s parent company—has asked the Supreme Court to rule that labeling with federally approved language is sufficient.

The Kentucky Medical Freedom Coalition, some other organizations, and certain state lawmakers opposed Senate Bill 199 because of the protection it would grant.

Keep reading

HUNDREDS of companies provide BIRTH TOURISM for foreign moms who want US citizen babies

During oral arguments before the Supreme Court regarding birthright citizenship, the Trump administration noted the prevalence of “birth tourism,” or the action of an expecting foreign national traveling to the United States with the intention of giving birth to their child on American soil, granting them US citizenship. 

Kayleigh McEnany said on Fox News as the Supreme Court was in session, “There are more than 500 firms in China that facilitate people coming from the Chinese Communist Party to give birth here in the United States. Obama enabled this through loopholes dating back to 2009, and what that could mean is 1 million new voters by 2030. Imagine that, Communist Party voters.”

Over the years, a number of companies across the US and its territories have catered to mothers from countries such as Russia and China. Recent reports have revealed companies operating in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific. 

Analysts have estimated that around 1,000 companies offer birth tourism services to US territories and the mainland. They claim that in China alone, 1.5 million American-born babies are being raised by Chinese parents who have participated in such services. 

Among such companies is the Shanghai-based GlobalBaby8, which advertises “economy” packages for expecting mothers starting at $14,000, and a “Supreme Type” package that starts at $45,000 and includes features such as a luxury villa, shopping and leisure trips, dedicated postpartum nanny service, and a one-month birthday party for the child. 

Another company, China Mifubaby Group, has offices in California and multiple Chinese cities, and caters to Korean and Japanese moms-to-be, advertising “expedited visas,” “American citizenship,” and “short direct flight distance.” 

Keep reading