A seventh former eBay employee is now facing federal charges in connection with a cyberstalking campaign that allegedly targeted a Natick couple who wrote critical content about the company in its newsletter. From a report: Philip Cooke, 55, of San Jose, Calif. is charged with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses. Cooke, who was a former Santa Clara police captain and was supervisor of security operations at eBay's European and Asian offices, is expected to be appear in Boston federal court at a later date. James Baugh, 45, of San Jose, California, eBay's former director of safety and security and former eBay director of global resiliency David Harville, 48, of New York City, was among the first six charged.

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The US Environmental Protection Agency has approved two Lysol products as effective against the novel coronavirus when used on hard, non-porous surfaces. From a report: Lysol Disinfectant Spray and Lysol Disinfectant Max Cover Mist meet the EPA's criteria for use against the SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the ongoing pandemic, based on laboratory testing that found both products kill the virus two minutes after contact, the agency announced in a statement. While there are more than 420 products on the list of disinfectants that the EPA says are strong enough to ward off "harder-to-kill" viruses than the novel coronavirus, the two Lysol products are the first to have been tested directly against the virus and proved effective. [...] The news comes one month after a CDC survey found that people said they were cleaning more frequently because of the pandemic, but only about half said that they really knew how to clean and disinfect their home safely. Of those people who were surveyed that acknowledged that they used high-risk cleaning practices to prevent the spread of Covid-19, more were likely to report health problems related to cleaning.

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Microsoft seems to be getting a kick out seeing users struggle to find Windows 10 features these days. After moving the Fresh Start feature in the latest version, 2004, and reducing the number of days Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education users can manually delay updates, the company is now experimenting with moving key Control Panel features, including System information, to Settings, Windows Latest blog spotted. From a report: It's a change that some long-time Windows users might not take to easily. If you're like me and have been using the Control Panel for decades, getting accustomed to this feature will be as arduous as unlearning a bad habit. To be fair, it's a bit redundant to have information on your system's specs located in three different places, not to mention all three don't show the exact same information. Currently, Windows 10 users can access hardware information about their PC in several places, but the main ways are: Control Panel > System and Security > System, and Settings > System > About, or by typing 'system information' into the search bar. System and About show nearly the same info, what processor you have and how much RAM you have installed, for instance, except About will show you what version of Windows you have. System Information shows more detailed information about your PC, including your motherboard, GPU, and other hardware. Microsoft is trying to centralize this information, and moving forward, it seems likely that Control Panel will be killed off entirely.

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Amazon may have a 15-year head start, but Walmart is close to finally unveiling its own membership program that it hopes will eventually become an alternative to Amazon Prime. From a report: Walmart plans to launch a new subscription service later this month called Walmart+ that will cost $98 a year. It will include perks like same-day delivery of groceries and general merchandise, discounts on fuel at Walmart gas stations, and early access to product deals, multiple sources told Recode. Walmart originally planned to unveil Walmart+ in late March or April, Recode reported in February, but the retailer pushed back the launch date after the Covid-19 pandemic began sweeping across the US in March. It's unclear whether the program will launch nationally, or first on a regional level, later this month.

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Some days seem to pass very slowly while some weeks, and even months, fly by. A set of simple perception tests illustrate some factors that can distort our sense of time.

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I'm reading Lies My Teacher Told Me. Chapter 2 is a real eye-opener. How the story of Columbus is told, how it's designed to serve a purpose, all from the perspective of Europeans. You might think, of course it is, this is the US, but a lot of the people who are taught that history are not descended primarily from Europeans. So it isn't their history.

theodp writes: Code.org's $10+ million "Diamond" supporters include Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, and Infosys. Its $3+ million "Platinum" supporters include Google, the Gates Foundation, and the Ballmer Group. And its $1+ million "Gold" supporters include Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, the world's two richest men. So, it was somewhat surprising to see the nonprofit -- which is dedicated to pushing CS into K-12 classrooms -- pop up on the list of Seattle-area tech companies that received a PPP loan from the federal government. According to Paycheck Protection Program data released by the SBA and Treasury, Code.org was approved on April 15th for a loan between $1-2 million to retain 81 jobs due to the pandemic. Khan Academy, another pet nonprofit of Gates and other billionaires, received approval for a $2-5 million PPP loan to retain 185 jobs.

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Last night on MSNBC they just now started talking about how Puerto Rico was the canary in the coalmine. That should have been topic #1 as it was happening. Moderator, ask your pundit, geez if he'll leave Puerto Rico to die, do you think he'll care whether we live or die? And then wonder what if we get hit by a calamity that isn't local, that affects the whole world. Why do they leave the tough questions on the table until it's too late. The point of the canary is to pay attention when the canary dies, when you're about to die, it's too late. It's so repetitious, they say the same things over and over, for weeks and months. Yet all the important questions, the obvious ones, go unasked.

The U.S. is "looking at" banning TikTok and other Chinese social media apps, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News. From a report: His comments come amid rising tensions between the U.S. and China and as scrutiny on TikTok and Chinese technology firms continues to grow. When asked in a Fox News interview if the U.S. should be looking at banning TikTok and other Chinese social media apps, Pompeo said: "We are taking this very seriously. We are certainly looking at it. We have worked on this very issue for a long time," he said. "Whether it was the problems of having Huawei technology in your infrastructure we've gone all over the world and we're making real progress getting that out. We declared ZTE a danger to American national security," Pompeo added, citing the two Chinese teleommunications networking companies. The remark comes days after India banned TikTok and 58 other apps and services developed by Chinese firms citing cybersecurity concerns.

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Meanwhile I'm doing some interesting work, and have a nice roadmap of projects each of which should take about a week. Summer is good in the mountains. Eating well, exercising, breathing clean air.

Trump is our enemy. I've been tweeting this the last few hours, attached to evidence. We're all in thrall with him, not just his base. We're in Jonestown. Covid is the Kook Aid.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has tested positive for Covid-19, following months of downplaying the virus. From a report: Bolsonaro himself announced the result, speaking on Brazilian TV channels Tuesday. "Everyone knew that it would reach a considerable part of the population sooner or later. It was positive for me," he said, referring to the Covid-19 test he took Monday. "On Sunday, I wasn't feeling very well. On Monday, it got worse when I started feeling tired and some muscle pain. I also had a 38-degree [Celsius] fever. Given those symptoms, the presidential doctor said there was suspicion of Covid-19," Bolsonaro said, adding that he then went to hospital where scans of his lungs "came back clean." Earlier on Tuesday, Bolsonaro told CNN affiliate CNN Brasil that he had been treated with hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin as he awaited the result of his fourth Covid-19 test in four months. Hydroxychloroquine, though enthusiastically boosted by both Bolsonaro and US President Donald Trump, has not been proven as an effective treatment for Covid-19. Bolsonaro nevertheless credited the controversial antimalarial drug for his well-being on Tuesday. "I am feeling very well. I believe that the way they administered the hydroxychloroquine on, the effect was immediate," he said.

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Aligning polar satellites will enable the first ever reliable maps of Antarctic sea-ice thickness.

Microsoft has obtained a court order this month allowing the company to seize control of six domains that were used in phishing operations against Office 365 customers, including in campaigns that leveraged COVID-19 lures. From a report: According to court documents obtained by ZDNet, Microsoft has targeted a two-person phishing operation that has been targeting the company's customers since December 2019. The duo operated by sending emails to companies that hosted email servers and enterprise infrastructure on Microsoft's Office 365 cloud service. The emails were spoofed to look like they came from fellow employees or a trusted business partner. This particular phishing operation was unique because attackers didn't redirect users to phishing sites that mimicked the Office 365 login page. Instead, hackers touted an Office document. When users tried to open the file, they were redirected to install a malicious third-party Office 365 app created by the hackers.

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Microsoft executive Peggy Johnson will join Magic Leap as CEO in August, the startup announced Tuesday. From a report: Johnson joins the augmented reality start-up after leading Microsoft's M&A strategy and launching its venture fund as executive vice president of business development. She was hired by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in 2014 after a 24-year career at Qualcomm, where she worked in several roles, including running the internet services unit. At Microsoft, Johnson was a member of the company's senior leadership team and navigated Microsoft through major partnership deals and acquisitions, including its $26.2 billion purchase of LinkedIn in 2016. Magic Leap's announcement comes weeks after founder Rony Abovitz announced in May he would step down as CEO, saying "it became clear to us that a change in my role was a natural next step." Founded in 2011, Magic Leap was the subject of extensive hype in its early days, and managed to raise about $3 billion from Alphabet's Google and other investors. But the company's first product, released in 2018 for over $2,000, showed lowered ambitions since the company's early demonstrations and did not sell well.

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