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New York City Raids Condo Building in Crackdown on Airbnb Rentals

NYPD raided a condo building to find that there were many people staying there illegally. The apartments were being used by tourists and the landlords were all over the world in places including Spain and Argentina. AirBnB setups are hurting the hotel industry.

Alexa Can Do Many Things But Won’t Call 911

There are many smart devices out there that can do a lot of basic things like tell you the weather, add to your grocery list, or play music on command. But many of these "smart" devices aren't  smart enough to call 911. There are multiple reasons why: they don't give accurate location information because they don't provide real-time GPS, they can only be used to make outgoing calls, etc. There is also a 911 surcharge included in phone plans to enable them to call emergency services.

Studio On Fire

Attention Shoppers: The Background Music You Hear May Not Be Licensed

Odds are, the majority of music you hear in business settings is being played "illegally." About 88% of businesses that play music for background noise are playing it using their personal accounts that are not authorized for commercial use. These personal accounts, such as Spotify, cost around $9.99/month, whereas to play this music with the correct licensing, it costs around $35/month. "Businesses that play music from consumer streaming services like Spotify are underpaying by as much as $2.65 billion, a new study estimates." This total takes into account the royalties that should be paid to the artists/composers as well as the music streaming companies such as Spotify and Apple Music. In most cases, businesses are violating the terms and conditions unintentionally, as most people don't know about this special licensing.

Deepfake Videos Are getting Real and That's a Problem

Deepfake videos can wreak havoc. This video covers the topic of videos that have been manipulated in order to make anyone look like they are saying or doing whatever the makers want them to. Many of these videos that are made are powered by malicious intentions. It seems the majority of them have no positive intentions at all. Who is developing this technology? Many times, its well known, even Ivy League schools. This topic honestly is scary. In the video they talk about how if someone manipulates a video of Donald Trump to make it look like he says "I've just launched nuclear weapons headed for North Korea," it would go viral in a matter of seconds to minutes. Then, North Korea could see it, and within another minute, they could be launching nuclear weapons "back at us."

Dessein

The QWERTY Days Are Almost Over

Tap-Systems is coming up with a new way of typing that could replace the keyboard someday. It's a wearable device that looks like brass knuckles. The device will allow you to type using one hand and a combination of finger taps. For example, if you tap your thumb on a surface, you get an "A" and if you tap your index finger, you get a "T." This is not an easy system to learn. Creators say it would take about 3 weeks to fully learn all of the motions. I personally don't think I would have the patience to learn this system and don't see anything wrong with the QWERTY keyboard.

A Glut of Used Hogs Is a Drag on Harley Davidson

Harley Davidson rules the roads when it comes to motorcycles in the United States. It's only major competitor isn't who you'd think. It's themselves. Harley Davidson's sales on new bikes are decreasing because most people prefer to purchase a well-taken-care-of bike for a much cheaper price. Most people who own a Harley typically take really good care of them, making them easier to sell and more desirable for someone who is in the market for a motorcycle. New motorcycle sales in the U.S. are down by half from a 2006 peak, while used sales are up 13%.

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