Peter Thiel named to Trump’s presidential transition team
Avid Trump supporter Peter Thiel, he of the infamous Gawker lawsuit, is being rewarded in the Donald’s new empire. In a press release, Trump announced that Vice President-Elect Mike Pence will lead Trump’s transition team; assisting Pence is a host of other notables including the sycophantic trio of Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich. Also included in the list is Thiel; he’ll be on the transition team’s executive committee.
JUST IN: Trump names 3 of his children, son-in-law, Bannon & Peter Thiel to transition team lead by Pence & Christie pic.twitter.com/hPMjRN8MWx
— Jackson Proskow (@JProskowGlobal) November 11, 2016
Thiel was just about the only member of the Silicon Valley elite to come out in favor of Trump’s presidency; he donated $1.25 million to the campaign in mid-October. So his placement in a position of prominence isn’t exactly surprising, and it’s also reasonable to guess that Thiel could have a prominent place in Trump’s administration once the transition is complete. As someone who has already demonstrated a lust for revenge and a contempt for the free press, Thiel will fit right in.
Pence takes over for Christie, who had previously lead the transition efforts. As to what this team actually does, it’ll prepare the Trump administration to take over on January 20th, specifically focusing its efforts on building out the President-Elect’s cabinet and senior staff. The Wall Street Journal notes that Trump has 15 cabinet positions as well as about 1,000 staffers who need to be approved by the Republican-led Senate. Plenty of names for the cabinet have already been floated, including many already on the transition team. It likely won’t be long before we find out who’s getting a promotion.
Via: The Verge
A Facebook bug killed off people before they were dead
Well, this is awkward. Facebook incorrectly flagged some people’s profile pages with a message saying that the person was deceased. And it looks like the glitch was pretty widespread: even founder Mark Zuckerberg had apparently ceased to be. A banner at the top of his profile page read, “We hope people who love Mark will find comfort in the thing others share to remember and celebrate his life.” A number of Engadget staffers had passed on as well; we weren’t just pining.
But it seemed to be on whoever was viewing the page, and not individual accounts — a few of us didn’t see any issues when scrolling through the social network’s pages. We’ve reached out to Facebook for more information and will update this post should it arrive.
AT&T will downgrade mobile video streams by default next year
We have officially entered a world in which carriers think they’re doing us a favor by throttling video streams. AT&T today announced a new “feature” called Stream Saver that’ll automatically downgrade whatever video you’re streaming to standard definition 480p, or “DVD quality.” In early 2017, AT&T will turn Stream Saver on for all customers by default, though you’ll be able to opt-out of it through your account settings.
AT&T is correct in noting that your limited data plan will technically go further with this new setting, but it’s also easy to see it as a way for the company to ease congestion on its network without many of its less-informed customers even knowing what it is doing. AT&T also says that it’ll at least be notifying customers when this goes into effect and will include directions on how to disable it, but that’s still an annoyance for those that don’t want AT&T throttling their video streams.
In a lot of ways, Stream Saver bears similarities to what T-Mobile has been doing for some time — first with its controversial “Binge On” plan that automatically downgraded your video streams but didn’t count video data against your caps. More recently, T-Mobile did away with data caps entirely, but downgraded all video; to get back to HD quality you’d have to pay extra. At the very least it seems like AT&T’s service isn’t violating any net neutrality principles just yet, unlike T-Mobile’s Binge On. Here’s hoping AT&T makes it crystal clear what it is doing with its customer’s video when it rolls out.
Source: AT&T
MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Prize Pack From Satechi With a Laptop Stand, SD Card Reader, Keypad and More
For this week’s giveaway, we’ve teamed up with Satechi to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a desktop prize package that includes Satechi’s Aluminum Portable Laptop Stand, a Rechargeable Slim Aluminum Wireless Keypad, an Aluminum Mouse Pad, and a USB Type-C SD Card Reader.
Satechi’s Laptop Stand, priced at $35, is designed work with Apple’s line of MacBooks and iPads. It has a collapsible design so it can be transported anywhere, and it props a MacBook or iPad up at an ideal working angle.
It has a rubberized base so it stays secure on most surfaces, and there are also rubber inserts to protect your device. It’s available in a range of colors to match Apple’s MacBook and MacBook Pro lineup.
Satechi’s $40 Keypad connects wirelessly to a MacBook or iMac using Bluetooth and was created to expand an existing keyboard with easy-access numerical keys. With its slim design, it can fit easily into a backpack or purse.
Accompanying the Keypad and the Stand is Satechi’s matching $20 aluminum mousepad and $20 USB Type-C SD and Micro SD card reader, both of which are ideal for MacBook or MacBook Pro owners. The mousepad features an ultra-smooth surface that works well with an Apple Mouse, and the SD card reader works with any USB-C device.
Satechi is offering three prize packages for MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and send the prize. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.
Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.
a Rafflecopter giveawayThe contest will run from today (November 11) at 11:45 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:45 a.m. Pacific Time on November 18. The winners will be chosen randomly on November 18 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.
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