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DJI sues the US Department of Defense for labeling it a ‘Chinese Military Company’

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DJI sues the US Department of Defense for labeling it a ‘Chinese Military Company’

DJI, the world’s largest drone company, is suing to avoid being seen as a tool of the Chinese government. On Friday, it sued the US Department of Defense to delete its name from a list of “Chinese Military Companies,” claiming it has no such relationship to Chinese authorities and has suffered unfairly as a result of that designation.

Since DJI was added to that list in 2022, the company claims, it has “lost business deals, been stigmatized as a national security threat, and been banned from contracting with multiple federal government agencies,” and that its employees “now suffer frequent and pervasive stigmatization” and are “repeatedly harassed and insulted in public places.”

It also alleges that the DoD would not offer the company any explanation for its designation as a “Chinese Military Company” until DJI threatened a lawsuit this September, and claims that when the DoD finally offered up its reasoning, it was filled with errors.

The US Department of Defense didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. You can read DJI’s full argument that it’s not owned or controlled by the Chinese military in the complaint below:

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Regardless of whether the DoD has enough evidence to label DJI this way, it’s far from the only US government entity that’s been inclined to restrict and scrutinize the company over possible ties to the Chinese government. The US Army asked units to stop using DJI drones as early as 2017. In 2019, the US Interior Department grounded its fleet of DJI drones over spying risks.

In 2020, the US Department of Commerce added DJI to its Entity List, banning US companies from exporting technology to DJI after it “enabled wide-scale human rights abuses within China through abusive genetic collection and analysis or high-technology surveillance.”

In 2021, the US Treasury added DJI to its list of Non-SDN Chinese Military Industrial Complex Companies, writing that it had provided drones to the Chinese government so it could conduct surveillance of Uyghurs, and suggesting that DJI was complicit in serious human rights abuse as a result.

Some US government entities were restricted from buying new DJI drones following these various actions. And this past week, DJI reported that some of its drones have been blocked by US customs using the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act as justification.

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In its defense, DJI has repeatedly claimed it isn’t owned or controlled by the Chinese government, that it’s had “nothing to do with treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang,” that it’s simply selling drones that may be used for various purposes that are out of its control afterwards, that many of those purposes have helped entities (including first responders) in the United States, and that independent audits by consulting firms and US government agencies (including the DoD) have found no security threats.

While DJI does admit in the complaint that two Chinese state-owned investment funds did make minority investments in the company, it claims the Shanghai Free Trade Zone Equity Fund has “less than 1% of DJI’s shares and less than 0.1% of DJI’s voting rights,” and that the Chengtong Fund ended its investment in June 2023.

(DJI says just four people control 99 percent of DJI and own 87 percent of its shares — DJI founder and early employees Frank Wang, Henry Lu, Swift Xie, and Li Zexiang.)

Congress is currently considering a complete import ban of new DJI drones and other equipment in the United States by suggesting they pose a natural security risk — though that ban is currently on ice. While the House of Representatives did approve it after it was tacked onto the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, the Senate’s version of the bill doesn’t currently contain the ban (though it might still add it back).

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But until the US customs hold-up, which DJI is suggesting is just a misunderstanding, the US government hadn’t taken any actions that would keep stores from importing drones, consumers from buying them, or individual pilots from flying them in the United States. Even should Congress ban new DJI drones from being sold, the proposed text of those bills suggests existing owners could keep flying the ones they own.

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Spider-Man 2 is latest PlayStation exclusive coming to PC

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Spider-Man 2 is latest PlayStation exclusive coming to PC

The PC port will include the base game and all of its subsequent DLC, like New Game Plus mode and extra spider suits, along with PC-specific features like “keyboard and mouse controls, ultra widescreen support, and numerous graphical options,” according to Mike Fitzgerald, Core Technology Director at developer Insomniac. That will include “enhanced ray-tracing options.”

As part of the announcement, Sony also revealed that “we have no additional story content planned for Marvel’s Spider-Man 2” on either platform.

Spider-Man 2 is just the latest in a big PC push from Sony, which also includes a PC overlay that launched in June alongside Ghost of Tsushima’s PC port. Spider-Man 2 is also the fastest a major PS5 game has been ported so far, with the PC version coming less than two years after its original launch.

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Crazy or wicked? Someone stuck half a touchscreen monitor on a mechanical keyboard and added a M.2 SSD slot, four USB ports, two speakers and one microSD card reader

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Crazy or wicked? Someone stuck half a touchscreen monitor on a mechanical keyboard and added a M.2 SSD slot, four USB ports, two speakers and one microSD card reader

The Maxfree K3 is a compact 82-key mechanical keyboard (83 keys for the UK version) with a intriguing twist – it has a integrated 13-inch touch screen attached.

The IPS display offers a 1920x720P resolution, 60Hz refresh rate, up to 300 nits brightness, and 60% NTSC color gamut, plus it has 10-point touch capability.

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Netflix’s most popular movie right now is this obscure Russell Crowe revenge flick

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Netflix's most popular movie right now is this obscure Russell Crowe revenge flick
A man lights a match in his car in Unhinged.
Solstice

Among the many mysteries of the world, few are more profound or significant than the question of why a particular movie or TV show is at the top of the Netflix chart on any given day. Some of the movies that get to that spot make sense, but others can be head-scratchers, at least at first blush.

Unhinged is one such title that has been dominant on the Netflix charts recently, and while it may seem like a pretty random movie, there are some important reasons for its appeal. The movie tells the simple story of a woman who honks at another car in rush hour traffic, only to discover that the man behind the wheel of the other car is now tailing her, and has hatched a plan for revenge. Here are three reasons you should check it out.

We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Maxand the best movies on Disney+.

It gives Russell Crowe a chance to go full villain mode

Russell Crowe in Unhinged.
Solstice Studios

For most of his career, Russell Crowe has played some variation of the leading man. As lead actors age, though, they often slip into other kinds of roles, and those roles often give them a chance to show off skills that they didn’t get to display during their leading-man days.

That’s exactly the case for Crowe here as he plays a villain who lives up to the name of the movie he’s in. Crowe displays some true menace here that isn’t part of his normal body of work, and by the end of the movie, it’s easy to forget that we rooted for this guy in Gladiator.

It’s delightfully pulpy

Unhinged Trailer #1 (2020) | Movieclips Trailers

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Part of the reason Unhinged might be so popular is that it has a remarkably simple, easy-to-engage premise. It’s a story of road rage gone horribly awry, taking a circumstance that many people have encountered and pushing it to its extreme.

The result is a film that’s full of propulsive energy, and one that will keep you watching in part because of the danger it puts its central character in. Unhinged feels like a B movie, and it doesn’t have any aspirations to be anything more than that.

It’s indebted to an early Spielberg masterwork

Duel (1971) Official Trailer – Dennis Weaver, Steven Spielberg Thriller Movie HD

Unhinged has a lot of obvious similarities with Duel, one of Steven Spielberg’s very first movies. The film tells the story of a man who inadvertently makes a truck driver very angry, and then is pursued across the country by that very same truck. The difference with Duel is that we never see the other driver.

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While Unhinged lacks some of the technical wizardry that a young Spielberg was able to bring to the project, both movies are worth watching, if only to remember how the legacy of older films gets passed down to newer titles.

Unhinged is streaming on Netflix.



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Crypto’s $130 million election binge has boosted Utah’s John Curtis

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Crypto's $130 million election binge has boosted Utah's John Curtis


U.S. Rep. John Curtis speaks during the Utah Senate primary debate for Republican contenders battling to win the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, June 10, 2024, in Salt Lake City.

Rick Bowmer | AP

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SALT LAKE CITY — John Curtis, a Republican congressman from Utah, has become a favorite of the crypto industry in his bid to win the Senate seat held by the departing Mitt Romney. He took a somewhat oblong route through the telecommunications sector to get there.

At an event in Salt Lake City last week, Curtis told a few dozen crypto enthusiasts that he had a conversation a few years ago with some fellow House members about internet service providers and how to incentivize them to boost their offerings. The various lawmakers were throwing around different connection speeds — 50 megabits, 100 megabits — but when Curtis asked whether they’d ever run a speed test, he got puzzling responses.

“They looked at me like I was from another planet,” Curtis told the crowd at the Permissionless conference.

Curtis, 64, said he realized then that lawmakers needed to be smarter about regulations and actually understand the user experience. That’s particularly true in crypto, he said.

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“This is so important to get government involved, because if they don’t understand what you’re doing, they’ll make really bad decisions,” the Provo-based congressman said, as the attendees nodded their head in unison. “The worst part of regulation is its unpredictability.”

Curtis’ attitude toward crypto is a big reason why digital coin enthusiasts have filled his coffers in his campaign against Democratic candidate Caroline Gleich, setting him up for what appears to be a landslide victory next month.

The Defend American Jobs PAC, a single-issue committee focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain policy, has contributed more than $1.9 million to Curtis’ campaign, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by crypto market and blockchain analyst James Delmore and verified by CNBC. Additionally, the PAC spent more than $1.5 million to oppose Curtis’ Republican primary challenger, Trent Staggs.

Crypto PAC money backs Utah Senate candidate and others across U.S.

Ben Lucas, Curtis’ campaign spokesman, declined an interview on behalf of the congressman. He sent a statement from Corey Newman, the chief of staff, saying that, “John has always been a strong supporter of the crypto industry as it will help Utah’s economy continue to grow and be a great place to create jobs.” 

The sprawling and decentralized digital asset industry is backing Curtis and others who are publicly adopting a pro-crypto policy within their campaigns. The crypto industry accounts for nearly half of all donations made by corporations this election cycle as the sector outpaces both the big banks and oil. Of the 42 primary candidates that crypto-backed super PACs supported, they were successful in 36.

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In total, crypto groups have spent over $130 million in congressional races for this year’s election, including the primaries, according to FEC data.

Crypto picks its targets

Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz found in its recent State of Crypto report that more than 40 million Americans hold crypto, a group that’s young and bipartisan. The report said 51% of them indicated they’re likely to throw their weight behind crypto-friendly candidates.

Curtis says the best thing the industry can do is police itself, and then come to lawmakers with the right kind of guardrails, striking a balance of safety and security without excessive regulation.

Three crypto PACs, which are primarily backed by Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreessen Horowitz, have been targeting competitive Senate and House races across the U.S.

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Protect Progress has given more than $10 million apiece to Senate candidates in Arizona and Michigan. In Arizona, the group favors Democrat Ruben Gallego, who is vying for the seat being vacated by Kyrsten Sinema. In Michigan, the preferred choice is Elissa Slotkin, who is currently a Democratic House member.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) becomes emotional as the crowd cheers on Day 4 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 22, 2024. 

Kevin Wurm | Reuters

The Republican candidates in Indiana and West Virginia have each received more than $3 million from Defend American Jobs. In Massachusetts, a super PAC for Republican John Deaton has pulled in $2.6 million from the crypto industry. Deaton, however, is polling way behind Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is one of the crypto sector’s top antagonists in Washington.

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“Elizabeth Warren is not going to lose her election in Massachusetts, so the industry can’t get rid of Warren,” said Delmore. “But they can at least help to vote out candidates who are allied with her against the crypto industry.”

One big target is Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, the chair of the banking committee. Some $40 million of crypto money has been directed at defeating Brown, and one PAC has paid for five ads designed to boost awareness of his Republican rival, Bernie Moreno, a blockchain entrepreneur. The race is currently very close and is crucial in determining which party will control the Senate.

In House races, around $3.6 million in crypto PAC money has gone to candidates in Arizona, $5.4 million in New York, more than $4.8 million in Virginia, and $5.7 million in California, with half of that spend going to Republican Michelle Park Steel.

Crypto PAC money has been party agnostic and not just focused on battleground districts. The focus is on supporting lawmakers who embrace regulation that favors the technology rather than getting in its way.

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“When we talk about digital assets, when we talk about crypto, that is not about Republicans and Democrats,” said House Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), at Permissionless. “That’s about Americans, that’s about decentralization of a system that has been, literally, consolidated at the top.”

WATCH: Trump family given $337.5 million token stake in new crypto project

Trump family given $337.5 million token stake in new crypto project, document reveals



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Songs from Instagram can now be quickly added to Spotify playlist

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Instagram and Spotify are now collaborating to ensure users have quick and seamless access to songs. Instagram users will now be able to quickly add what they like to their Spotify library with just a few taps.

Short-form videos make song discovery easy but listening to them was difficult.

Nearly every social media platform app is now offering short and ultra-short videos. These videos have a wide variety of content. However, one of the most included elements is songs or audio tracks from popular albums and even movies.

It is quite common to discover new songs and artists from apps like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts. Despite knowing the names of the songs, it has been cumbersome to add them to a Spotify playlist. The process involved multiple steps, which the two platforms have now reduced.

Instagram and Spotify have reportedly ensured that users can quickly add songs they like to their Spotify playlists. Specifically speaking, Spotify indicated it is working with Instagram for a seamless experience.

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“We know that music is all around you and sometimes that means right on your social media feed. That’s why beginning today, Spotify is excited to unveil a new integration with Instagram that makes it even easier to capture and instantly add songs to Spotify from Instagram with just one simple tap.”

How to add songs from Instagram to Spotify playlists?

Instagram users will reportedly have a simple and quick way to add songs they like on Instagram and Reels to their Spotify library with just a few taps.

Previously, Instagram and Reel users were able to get more information about the song they listened to in one of the videos. However, moving forward, users would be able to the song to Spotify without leaving the app.

Instagram has essentially added a new button that appears right next to the player for listening to a preview of the song. The button says “Add” with the Spotify logo right next to the audio scrubber.

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When users tap that Add button, the song will get added to the “Liked Songs” in their Spotify library. Instagram has indicated that the new Add button will be available all around the world. As expected, the feature would be rolled out gradually.

It goes without saying, Instagram users will have to link their Spotify account with their Instagram account. However, after the linking process, it is a one-tap process to add songs from Instagram to Spotify playlists. Incidentally, TikTok has been offering this future for quite some time.

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The US Treasury is using AI (a vehicle for fraud) to detect fraud

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The US Treasury is using AI (a vehicle for fraud) to detect fraud

AI has been used to defraud people through everything from calling voters to faking celebrity giveaways. Now, the US Treasury Department claims machine learning AI has played a critical part in its enhanced fraud detection processes over the past year — if a broken clock can be right twice a day, maybe AI can do something good one time?

In a new release, the Treasury states it prevented and recovered “fraud and improper payments” worth over $4 billion over the last fiscal year (October 2023 to September 2024). This number represents a tremendous increase from the previous year, which reached just $652.7 million. One-fourth of the $4 billion apparently comes from recovery by “expediting the identification of Treasury check fraud with machine learning AI.” Again, does it feel a bit like making a deal with the devil? Yes. But, such is 2024.

The $1 billion comes alongside $2.5 billion in prevention from “identifying and prioritizing high-risk transactions” and another $680 million toward additional prevention techniques.

The Treasury plans to share the technology with other federal agencies, though some have already implemented their own. The IRS, for example, has taken steps to use AI to find tax evaders, automate services and conduct audits.

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