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If social media and influencer culture have been good for any industry, it would have to be cameras. Platforms like Instagram and TikTok beg users to capture the world for all to see, whether it's through ridiculous stunts, random acts of kindness, scripted skits, or outlandish adventures. At the center of every parkour video and trending challenge post, a camera is there to absorb the moment so it can be replayed for all the world to witness. That sounds like a pretty hefty undertaking, which is why you may tend to see the same camera brands being trusted. Among the more common is Insta360, a relatively new entry in the camera scene behind the revered 8K recordings of the Insta360 X4 . Introduced in 2015, nine years after GoPro came onto the market with a 35mm GoPro Hero, Insta360 rapidly expanded to eventually establish a product base of more than a dozen handheld, miniature, or action cameras. According to the Insta360 website, the goal of the brand was to develop a 360-degree camera that could capture panoramic videos to pull viewers into the action. Today, it continues to improve upon the concept in offices based in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Berlin, Shenzhen, and Tokyo. Though Insta360 expanded into those territories, none of them are where the company was established. Nor are they where the cameras are manufactured. For those locations, we'll need to look across the Atlantic. Unlike the known practice of some American companies, Insta360 isn't an American-made brand outsourcing its manufacturing to another country. While you'll find local corporations like Apple moving the assembly of products like the iPhone to China, that isn't quite the case for the camera manufacturer. That's because Insta360 is already a Chinese company doing business under the name Arashi Vision, Inc. out of Shenzhen. Before becoming as big as it is today, though, Insta360 was a concept that took shape in a dorm room on the Nanjing University campus. When JK Liu conceived of the idea for the 360-degree camera, panoramic video wasn't common among casual videographers, as the tools were still big and cumbersome. In 2015, after his graduation from Nanjing, Liu went to work on a user-friendly panoramic camera. The result was Insta360, which immediately found a home in Shenzhen, a district known for its thriving tech industry and access to components. Despite its growth after the Insta360 Nano premiered at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2017, the company kept its roots in Shenzen. As of December 2024, JK Liu was still noted as the CEO of Arashi Vision and even earned a spot on Forbes 30 Under 30. Considering all the production it takes on for the United States, it can be reasoned fairly simply that a China-based company would handle its own manufacturing. While not explicitly stated anywhere on the Insta360 website, the country of origin is mentioned on the Amazon listings of some of its cameras, like the tiny but serviceable Insta Go 3 . Per the listing, Insta360 cameras are manufactured out of the company's parent country, China. While Amazon requires all companies to list the country of origin for products, it's not something that is necessarily verified. However, there's no real benefit for Insta360 to lie about China being the originating country. As for the satellite offices outside of Shenzhen and China, they may not manufacture products, but they do serve a consumer-facing purpose. When searching for an Insta360 service center on the official website, most countries are directed to contact service centers in Hong Kong, Germany, California, and Japan. A select few, like the Philippines, are directed to contact a local company that seems unaffiliated with Insta360. For the Philippines, it's Agile Technologies' TekMage, an authorized repair service center located in Manila.
Trump won about 2.5M more votes this year than he did in 2020. This is where he did itDid you know with an ad-lite subscription to Burnley Express, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you. Margaret ‘Maggie’ Hackney received an exchange blood transfusion as a newborn to treat Rhesus disease, and starred in a 1966 blood donation film ‘The Givers’ as a 17-year-old - but she had never seen the film! Watch the video above (click to play) as NHS Blood and Transplant show her the footage for the first time since it aired 60 years ago - in a fresh Christmas appeal for blood donations. Maggie, now aged 76, from Hitchin in Hertfordshire, said: “Watching the Look at Life film after nearly 60 years was amazing, including seeing my mum. I watched it with my family and we had a giggle!” Advertisement Advertisement She remembers filming the campaign, which can be seen within the above video, at a local swimming pool and feeling ‘nervous’, and also recalls watching herself on screen at the cinema afterwards. When she was born, Maggie had been so ill hospital nurses urgently baptised her because they thought she wouldn’t survive. Her mother’s blood had passed through the placenta and was destroying her own blood. “After the blood exchange, I was monitored regularly until I was five years old, at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Children in Hackney,” said Maggie. Advertisement Advertisement “I was told I was one of the first recipients of an exchange blood transfusion. I was told it was revolutionary at the time. Even today, you can still see the scars on my wrists and ankles.” Maggie was born and treated in the 1948, the year the NHS was created. She went on to work as a dental surgery assistant for 14 years then as a fitness instructor for 40 years. She promoted blood donation throughout her life, attending donor recognition events and giving talks in schools and colleges as a voluntary ambassador for the National Blood Service. She was awarded an MBE for Services to Health and Families in Hertfordshire. Maggie is now supporting the call for people to donate blood this Christmas - in a campaign video, which can be seen above. Advertisement Advertisement She said: “I will never be able to thank the NHS blood service enough for giving me a chance of survival as a newborn baby. I’d like to give a huge thank you to all the blood donors past and present. “I know that this winter will be difficult for blood stocks so please give blood if you can. People take it for granted that there will always be a supply of blood if any of their loved ones might need it. But it’s only there if people choose to give.” Dr Lise Estcourt, NHSBT’s medical director for blood transfusion, said: “It was an honour to show Maggie this film again after nearly 60 years. While many things have changed, two things haven’t – the generosity of people who donate blood and the fact that it saves lives. You could even help someone young grow up to live a full life, just like Maggie.” NHSBT has warned it remains in an Amber Alert on blood stocks. Donor centres in towns and cities have many unfilled appointments between now and the new year. To register or book an appointment to give blood, please visit our website, use the GiveBlood app or call 0300 123 23 23.
LAS VEGAS — If Texas coach Steve Sarkisian holds aloft the College Football Playoff trophy next month, that will be bad news for BetMGM Sportsbook. It would be similarly disappointing if any of the coaches at Boise State, Indiana or Arizona State end up celebrating a title with confetti falling all around them inside Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Wait, what? Texas has attracted a lot of money all season to go all the way, but those other schools provide the hope of a big payoff. The fifth-seeded Longhorns are the co-favorite at BetMGM with No. 1 and unbeaten Oregon at 7-2 odds; the other three are least 40-1, while Georgia is right behind Oregon and Texas as the next favorite. "These teams get hot and people just want to have a flyer on them," BetMGM trading manager Seamus Magee said. "They don't want to be standing there and not have a ticket on some of these long-shot teams." People are also reading... Expanding the playoff field from four to 12 teams this year meant more betting in general on college football and more varieties of wagering on the postseason. There were meaningful games played in the final month by not only Arizona State, Boise State and Indiana, but also SMU, Army and UNLV — a number of teams not always in the national title conversation. "It's one of the highest handles we've ever had on our national-championship market," Magee said. "We're in more states, for one, but the activity and the betting patterns we're seeing, it definitely feels a lot more than it has in years past." Riding with the Mustangs Magee said BetMGM has received action on both sides of the first-round game between 11th-seeded SMU and sixth-seeded Penn State, but the Mustangs have drawn notable action at DraftKings and Caesars Sportsbook. Money on SMU dropped Penn State from a 9-point favorite at DraftKings to 8 1/2. "Any time they've played a real good team, they've had trouble," Johnny Avello, DraftKings race and sports operations director, said of the Nittany Lions. "SMU shows that they're pretty good on both sides of the football and pretty resilient as a team. Always in the game. Always finds ways to fight back." Joey Feazel, who oversees football trading for Caesars, said much of the early betting in general was on underdogs. "Usually, you see the dog money for these teams come late, especially on the sharps' (professional bettors) side," Feazel said. Little love for the Broncos Boise State, which as the third seed has a first-round bye, will be the underdog in its quarterfinal matchup with Penn State or SMU. The Broncos got into the field as the highest-ranked Group of Five champion, but Avello said that doesn't mean they are one of the nation's top 12 teams (they are ranked No. 8 by AP and No. 9 by CFP). Avello said BYU, Colorado and Miami — none of which made the playoff — all would be favored over them. "There are a lot of teams that aren't in the playoffs that would be favored," Avello said. "That's just not the way these playoffs work." Feazel said Boise State not being able to play at home on its blue carpet will be a notable disadvantage. Boise State's quarterfinal game will be at the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona. "It will be all neutral," Feazel said. "It's a big step up in class for Boise." How's the weather up there? Instead of all the games being played in climate-controlled domes or warm-weather locales — as has been in the case in past postseasons — three of the four first-round matchups will take place in the Northeast and Midwest. While that might not make a difference when Notre Dame hosts in-state foe Indiana, Ohio State will be at home against Tennessee and SMU visits Penn State. BetMGM favors all four home teams by more than a touchdown. "You have to take the weather into account for some of these games," Magee said. "It's going to be really cool to see a team like Tennessee that will have to go up to Columbus, where it can get really cold. SMU has to go from Dallas to Happy Valley. That's definitely going to be one of the coldest games a lot of those kids have played in their lives." Hypothetical matchup SMU was the last team in the field, getting the benefit of the doubt over Alabama. The Mustangs had one fewer defeat than the three-loss Crimson Tide, who did not appear in the SEC title game. SMU lost on a 56-yard field goal to Clemson in the ACC championship. The sportsbook operators said the Tide would be favored by 5-10 points if they met SMU on a neutral field. Be the first to knowFILE - Anne Neuberger, Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging Technology, speaks during a press briefing at the White House,March 21, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File) Patrick Semansky/The Associated Press A ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said Friday. Biden administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon. But deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger told reporters Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks. The update from Neuberger is the latest development in a massive hacking operation that has alarmed national security officials, exposed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the private sector and laid bare China’s hacking sophistication. The hackers compromised the networks of telecommunications companies to obtain customer call records and gain access to the private communications of what officials have said is a a limited number of individuals. Though the FBI has not publicly identified any of the victims, officials believe senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures are among those whose whose communications were accessed. Neuberger said Friday that officials did not yet have a precise sense how many Americans overall were affected by Salt Typhoon, in part because the Chinese were careful about their techniques, but that a “large number” were in the Washington-Virginia area. Officials believe the goal of the hackers was to identify who owned the phones and, if they were “government targets of interest,” spy on their texts and phone calls, she said. The FBI said most of the people targeted by the hackers are “primarily involved in government or political activity.” Neuberger said the episode highlighted the need for required cybersecurity practices in the telecommunications industry, something the Federal Communications Commission is to take up at a meeting next month. In addition, she said, the government was planning additional actions in coming weeks in response to the hacking campaign, though she did not say what they were. “We know that voluntary cyber security practices are inadequate to protect against China, Russia and Iran hacking of our critical infrastructure,” she said. The Chinese government has denied responsibility for the hacking.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he wants real estate developer Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he wants real estate developer Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he wants real estate developer Charles Kushner, father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France. Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post, calling Charles Kushner “a tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker.” Kushner is the founder of Kushner Companies, a real estate firm. Jared Kushner is a former senior Trump adviser who is married to Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka. The elder Kushner was pardoned by Trump in December 2020 after pleading guilty years earlier to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations. Prosecutors alleged that after Charles Kushner discovered his brother-in-law was cooperating with federal authorities in an investigation, he hatched a scheme for revenge and intimidation. Kushner hired a prostitute to lure his brother-in-law, then arranged to have the encounter in a New Jersey motel room recorded with a hidden camera and the recording sent to his own sister, the man’s wife, prosecutors said. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Kushner eventually pleaded guilty to 18 counts including tax evasion and witness tampering. He was sentenced in 2005 to two years in prison — the most he could receive under a plea deal, but less than what Chris Christie, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey at the time and later governor and Republican presidential candidate, had sought. Christie has blamed Jared Kushner for his firing from Trump’s transition team in 2016, and has called Charles Kushner’s offenses “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted when I was U.S. attorney.” Trump and the elder Kushner knew each other from real estate circles and their children were married in 2009. ___ Tucker reported from Newtown, Pennsylvania. Advertisement AdvertisementSkyrocketing Stocks! Is NVIDIA the Best Bet for 2024?Bashar al-Assad's government has been accused of carrying out torture, rape, summary executions and other abuses since since Syria's civil war started in 2011. UN investigators have said that accountability must be taken at the highest level after the downfall of the hardline ruler on Sunday. Here is what we know about the extent of the abuses committed: In 2013 a former Syrian army photographer known by the codename "Caesar" fled the country, taking with him some 55,000 graphic images taken between 2011 and 2013. The photos, authenticated by experts, show corpses tortured and starved to death in Syrian prisons. Some people had their eyes gouged out. The photos showed emaciated bodies, people with wounds on the back or stomach, and also a picture of hundreds of corpses in a shed surrounded by plastic bags used for burials. Assad's Syrian government said only that the pictures were "political". But Caesar testified to a US Congress committee and his photographs inspired a 2020 US law which imposed economic sanctions on Syria and judicial proceedings in Europe against Assad's entourage. In Germany and Sweden eight people suspected of crime against humanity were arrested in July in an operation codenamed "Caesar". Germany, the Netherlands and France have since 2022 convicted several top officials from the Syrian intelligence service and militias. UN investigators say they have lists with the names of 4,000 government officials and operatives responsible for abuses. Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2012 spoke of a "torture archipelago" in which the "use of electricity, burning with car battery acid, sexual assault and humiliation, the pulling of fingernails, and mock execution" were practised in government prisons. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in 2022 more than 100,000 people had died in the prisons since 2011. In 2023, the UN's top court, the International Court of Justice, ordered Syria to stop "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". In 2020, seven Syrian refugees filed a complaint in Germany saying that they had been victims of torture and sexual violence, including rape, electric shocks on the genitals, forced nudity or forced abortion between 2011 and 2013. The UN said in 2018 there had been systmatic rape and sexual violence against civilians by soldiers or pro-Assad militias. It said an investigation had found rebels had committed similar crimes, but fewer. On November 25, 2024, the Syrian Human Rights Network (SNHR) said there had been at least 11,553 incidents of sexual violence against women, including girls aged under 18, by the warring parties since March 2011. Some 8,024 could be blamed on the Assad government and the others mainly on the jihadist Islamic State. In 2016 UN investigators said Syrian authorities were responsible for acts which came down to "extermination" and could be compared to "crimes against humanity". It pointed to the Saydnaya prison outside Damascus, which was described in 2017 by Amnesty International as a human slaughter house carrying out a "policy of extermination". The United States said there was a "crematorium" at the prison which was used to dispose of the bodies of thousands of inmates. In 2022 the Syrian Observatory for Human Righs said around 30,000 people had been killed at Saydnaya, some of them after being tortured. In April 2020, the chemical weapons watchdog OPCW accused the Syrian army of chemical weapons attacks in Latamne in northern Syria in 2017. In November 2023 France issued international arrest warrants against Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher and two generals on suspicion of complicity in the chemical attacks in August 2013 near Damascus, which according to US intelligence left 1,000 dead. Assad's forces have also been accused of using sarin gas on the rebel town of Khan Sheikhun in April 2017, and also of chlorine gas attacks. Assad's government denied using chemical weapons. Israel says it has staged strikes on some chemical weapons sites this week to stop supplies falling into the hands of extremists. acm-lc/jmy/twNew AI Technology Reveals the Secrets of Aluminum-Tolerant Microorganisms - SciTechDaily
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Article content A terrorism trial in Windsor to determine whether a local man sought to join and support a banned neo-Nazi group is shining a disturbing spotlight on far-right extremism in Canada. Seth Bertrand is on trial before Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia for “participation in the activity of a terrorist group.” Arrested in May 2022 following an RCMP-led undercover operation, Bertrand, now 21, is accused of seeking to join the Atomwaffen Division, listed in Canada and other countries as a “terror group” that has called for acts of violence. The “goal and ambition” of such fascist-leaning groups, an expert witness testified at the trial this week, is to use violence, including murder, to trigger “a war that will ultimately be won by whites.” What motivates these “virulent far-right extremist groups” is their belief that “the white west is under attack and needs to defend itself,” said Garth Davies, an expert on ideologically motivated violent extremism. Adherents believe “what’s needed is a race war to re-establish whites as the rightfully dominant group in society,” said Davies, an associate professor who teaches at Simon Fraser University’s school of criminology in B.C. The trial has heard that, in his application to join Atomwaffen Division (AWD) — also known as National Socialist Order — Bertrand is alleged to have stated he wanted to be part of a group “actually doing things to help save/protect the white race.” The Crown alleges Bertrand also described hate-motived acts of vandalism he’d already committed in Windsor, for which he was later convicted, and expressed interest in getting military training and a firearms certificate. The Crown is not alleging Bertrand engaged in any actual terrorist activity. Davies, brought in by the prosecution to also help interpret symbology and terms used by such extremist groups, said much of their communication is hidden in private chat groups and using encrypted technology. But a treasure trove of information on AWD and other far-right extremist groups was revealed after the hacking of Iron March, a now-defunct web forum with a Russia connection that acted as a hub for neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups around the world. AWD is described as being among the most radicalized groups within that movement, those which believe political or other lesser “piecemeal” efforts are insufficient towards creating a “white ethnostate.” To get there, “what is needed is to force a race war,” said Davies, by way of “direct confrontation” with what they view as “outgroups” — including Muslims, Jews, Blacks and gay people — as well as governments that don’t agree. Once that war is underway, Davies told the court, the extremists believe enough whites will join the fight to “ultimately win.” The bulk of Davies’s two days of testifying was spent under cross-examination by defence lawyer Bobby Russon, who sought to discredit information in the expert’s 40-page report compiled earlier this year for the prosecution. Davies agreed that much of that information was sourced from newspaper and other media reporting. Russon also questioned how much of it related specifically to Atomwaffen Division. Davies conceded more than once to having “overstated” his conclusions directly linking Atomwaffen Division to reported murders connected to the aims of far-right extremists. “You can’t say AWD was responsible for many of the violent incidents (cited in the report)?” Russon asked. “Agreed,” Davies replied. The defence also questioned the timing of the charge laid against Bertrand, with the young man’s alleged criminal activity only being around the same time as AWD was added to . Much of the trial that began earlier this fall has been consumed by voir dire deliberations — trials within a trial to determine the admissibility of prosecution evidence. After Davies’s two days of testimony concluded on Thursday, the next step is Justice Carroccia’s rulings expected on Dec. 20 on the admissibility of key Crown evidence, including whether the accused was properly instructed of his Charter rights during police interrogation, as well as on secretly recorded statements Bertrand gave two undercover RCMP officers during the preceding three-month Project Sueno.AP Business SummaryBrief at 1:45 p.m. EST
Trump asks Supreme Court to delay TikTok ban