Nintendo has almost doubled the number of user accounts compromised by hackers in the past few months. From a report: The Japanese gaming giant originally said that 160,000 Nintendo accounts were compromised, exposing personal information like the account owner's name, email address, date-of-birth and their country of residence. In an updated statement, the company said another 140,000 Nintendo accounts had been compromised. Nintendo said the number increased as a result of its continuing investigation. The company said it reset those passwords and contacted customers. The statement reiterated that fewer than 1% of all accounts were impacted by the breach. News of account compromises came as early as March when users complained that their accounts were charged for digital items without their permission. Nintendo said in a tweet in April that users should enable two-factor authentication on their accounts but without saying why.

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Beijing dismissed as "ridiculous" a Harvard Medical School study of hospital traffic and search engine data that suggested the new coronavirus may already have been spreading in China last August, and scientists said it offered no convincing evidence of when the outbreak began. From a report: The research, which has not been peer-reviewed by other scientists, used satellite imagery of hospital parking lots in Wuhan -- where the disease was first identified in late 2019 -- and data for symptom-related queries on search engines for things such as "cough" and "diarrhea." The study's authors said increased hospital traffic and symptom search data in Wuhan preceded the documented start of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in December 2019. "While we cannot confirm if the increased volume was directly related to the new virus, our evidence supports other recent work showing that emergence happened before identification at the Huanan Seafood market (in Wuhan)," they said. Paul Digard, an expert in virology at the University of Edinburgh, said that using search engine data and satellite imagery of hospital traffic to detect disease outbreaks "is an interesting idea with some validity." But he said the data were only correlative and -- as the Harvard scientists noted -- cannot identify cause.

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The U.S. Federal Communications Commission voted on Tuesday to adopt auction procedures to provide up to $16 billion to areas that lack broadband service, including nearly 6 million unserved rural homes and businesses. From a report: The FCC voted to commence the auction on Oct. 29. Auction applicants will be required to offer voice and broadband services in unserved locations in exchange for receiving monthly payments over 10 years. The three FCC Republican commissioners approved the proposal, while the two Democrats dissented in part. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican, said Americans without access to high-speed internet "deserve access as soon as possible. They cannot afford to wait ... while we work to develop new, more granular broadband coverage maps" that will be used to award a subsequent $4 billion.

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A top expert at the World Health Organization on Tuesday walked back her earlier assertion that transmission of the coronavirus by people who do not have symptoms is "very rare." From a report: Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, who made the original comment at a W.H.O. briefing on Monday, said that it was based on just two or three studies and that it was a "misunderstanding" to say asymptomatic transmission is rare globally. "I was just responding to a question, I wasn't stating a policy of W.H.O. or anything like that," she said. Dr. Van Kerkhove said that the estimates of transmission from people without symptoms come primarily from models, which may not provide an accurate representation. "That's a big open question, and that remains an open question," she said. Scientists had sharply criticized the W.H.O. for creating confusion on the issue, given the far-ranging public policy implications. Governments around the world have recommended face masks and social distancing measures because of the risk of asymptomatic transmission. A range of scientists said Dr. Van Kerkhove's comments did not reflect the current scientific research. "All of the best evidence suggests that people without symptoms can and do readily spread SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19," scientists at the Harvard Global Health Institute said in a statement on Tuesday.

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Tuesday voted unanimously to propose a record-setting $225 million fine against Texas-based health insurance telemarketers for allegedly making approximately 1 billion illegally spoofed robocalls. From a report: The order names two individuals using business names including Rising Eagle and JSquared Telecom. The FCC said robocalls falsely claimed to offer health insurance plans from major health insurance companies such as Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, and UnitedHealth Group.

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There is a risk that tonnes of diesel oil could drift from the lake to the Arctic Ocean.

Senate investigators said Tuesday that government officials had "exercised minimal oversight" of the risks posed by three Chinese telecom companies that operate on American communications networks. From a report: Federal agencies failed to properly follow up on some agreements meant to protect national security, did not provide adequate workers to vet the Chinese companies and operated through a "disorganized" process, according to a report from the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The report looked into a group of officials from the Homeland Security, Justice and Defense Departments, known as Team Telecom, that has historically advised the Federal Communications Commission on the possible national security risks of foreign involvement in American networks. The findings could put pressure on officials at those agencies and embolden politicians from both parties who argue that the United States must move quickly to sever any links between its communications networks and Chinese companies.

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The word isn't "defund" -- it's reboot.

Trump, if he had any competence could have easily made himself indispensable. The virus was the perfect storm. Not only did he blow the initial response, he refused to do anything beyond that. Any other president would have an approval of 99% just for having a pulse.

The biggest problem in police in America are the unions. You want to reboot the police? Knock out the unions. Redefine them. Limit their power. Then the voters can pass new laws about police. Until then, anything Congress passes is powerless. Reagan, when he took office, outlawed the Flight Controllers union. So you can do it. No more police unions. Police, you don't like it? You're fired.

The Chinese behemoth that makes electric-car batteries for Tesla and Volkswagen developed a power pack that lasts more than a million miles -- an industry landmark and a potential boon for automakers trying to sway drivers to their EV models. From a report: Contemporary Amperex Technology is ready to produce a battery that lasts 16 years and 2 million kilometers (1.24 million miles), Chairman Zeng Yuqun said in an interview at company headquarters in Ningde, southeastern China. Warranties on batteries currently used in electric cars cover about 150,000 miles or eight years, according to BloombergNEF. Extending that lifespan is viewed as a key advance because the pack could be reused in a second vehicle. That would lower the expense of owning an electric vehicle, a positive for an industry that's seeking to recover sales momentum lost to the coronavirus outbreak and the slumping oil prices that made gas guzzlers more competitive.

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Are liberals capable of rage?

Heard a bit this morning on NPR about Defund The Police. I heard it said if Joe Biden doesn't embrace it his election could be in doubt. That's fucked up. It doesn't mean what it says. It's a really bad slogan, and if he were to say he agrees, it would lose us a lot of votes.

Defund is not a good word. Whoever came up with the slogan, it may work in City Council meetings, but it isn't a slogan for the presidential election. This needs to be driven by the people, and that's what's happening. The Dems now have all the support needed to make change. Now let's see if they are independent enough to do it. Or are their strings to money too rigid?