Techflier

Kyle Vogt, who co-founded Cruise and ran the startup for years following GM’s acquisition in 2016, is back in charge. Vogt made the announcement Monday via a tweet. Some fun news: I have formally accepted the CEO job at @Cruise once again. — Kyle Vogt (@kvogt) February 28, 2022   The formal announcement comes more than three months after Cruise CEO Dan Ammann, a longtime executive at GM who had been tapped as CEO in 2018, suddenly left the company . Vogt, who had been president and CTO, took over as interim CEO after Ammann left. Vogt will keep his CTO title, the company confirmed. GM and Cruise have never provided details about why Ammann left, however his departure was unexpected and came as a surprise to Cruise employees. When Ammann was first named CEO in 2018, the move was pitched as a natural progression for a company aiming to commercialize. Ammann was at the center of GM’s initial investment and acquisition of Cruise. He oversaw GM’s relationship with ...

Ukrainians have turned to offline mapping and encrypted communication apps in the wake of the Russian invasion of their country, which is displacing millions who have left their homes to either fight back or flee to neighboring countries. According to data from app store intelligence firm Apptopia , over the past several days Ukrainians have been downloading various communication apps, offline maps, and others where they can keep up with the latest news and information, like Twitter and streaming radio apps. Currently, the top five apps in the country’s iOS App Store include the private messenger Signal, messaging app Telegram, Twitter, and offline messengers Zello and Bridgefy. Elsewhere in the top 10 is WhatsApp; Maps.Me, an offline maps app that’s now ranking a half dozen spots higher than Google Maps, which has now just pulled its live traffic info dubbed a security risk ); and Starlink’s app from Space X — the latter which jumped up 39 spots after Elon Musk announced the satel...

For its first launch of 2022, Rocket Lab is sending to orbit a StriX satellite for Japanese company Synspective via an Electron rocket this afternoon, and you can watch it take off right here. The mission, named “The Owl’s Night Continues,” will also be the first launch from the company’s newly-built Pad B at its New Zealand complex. The mission marks Rocket Lab’s second for Synspective; the first, “The Owl’s Night Begins,” successfully deployed a StriX satellite in December of 2020 . These satellites, named after the Strix genus of owl, are part of Synspective’s planned constellation of 30-plus synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites that will observe minute changes on the Earth’s surface for urban development, infrastructure monitoring, and disaster response. Following today’s mission, Rocket Lab will launch two more StriX satellites for Synspective, one more in 2022 and another in 2023. “The Owl’s Night Continues” will launch from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s r...

The yacht 'Graceful' of Russian President Vladimir Putin is moored at the port of Sochi, Russia, 13 July 2015. Marcus Brandt/picture alliance via Getty Images The UK has asked port operators to not allow ships connected with Russia to dock. The broad request covers both commercial and private vessels. Transportation secretary Grant Shapps said stiffer "prohibiting legislation" is in the works. The UK government has asked all port operators under its jurisdiction to block all Russian ships from docking as sanctions escalate in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine . "In these circumstances the Department for Transport does not consider it appropriate for Russian vessels to continue to enter UK ports," Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps wrote in a memo released on Monday. —Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) February 28, 2022 The broad request covers both commercial vessels, such as oil tankers, as well as the private yachts o...

CFPB head Rohit Chopra. Getty/Tom Williams The Education Department recently reformed the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. The CFPB is stepping up scrutiny over the information some student-loan companies provide on the reforms. The agency reported companies' misleading behavior that can block borrowers from debt relief. President Joe Biden's top consumer watchdog says he's cracking down on student loan companies' bad behavior that's jeopardizing some borrowers' chances of forgiveness. Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), led by Rohit Chopra, released a bulletin detailing how it will monitor student-loan companies' actions when it comes to debt forgiveness. Particularly, the agency is overseeing how companies are informing borrowers of recent reforms to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which forgives student debt for public servants after ten years of qualifying payments.  Leading up to Biden'...

A trader rested his head on his hands while working during afternoon trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Andrew Burton/Getty Images The Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange halted trading in Russian stocks on Monday. The halt came after the US and other European countries imposed harsh sanctions on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine. Russia's central bank is also grappling with whether it should reopen its stock market on Tuesday. The Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange halted trading in US-listed Russian stocks on Monday following the invasion of Ukraine and harsh sanctions from Western countries imposed against Moscow. Shares of Yandex , which traded down more than 20% in pre-market trades on Monday before being halted, were among the Russian stocks that could not be traded, along with Ozon Holdings , Mobile TeleSystems , and Mechel . The halts by the NYSE were due to "regulatory concern," according to its website.  The halts are temporary ...

This combination of file pictures created on January 11, 2022 shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Valery Sharifulin, Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty Images RIA Novosti, a Russian state-run news outlet, published an article saying Ukraine lost to Russia. "Ukraine has returned to Russia," said the article, which has since been removed. Ukraine and Russia are still in conflict. A Russian state-run news agency prematurely published an article that said Russia has taken back Ukraine. "Ukraine has returned to Russia," said the article, which ran on RIA Novosti and has since been taken down. "The West sees the return of Russia to its historical borders in Europe." —Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) February 28, 2022   Ukraine is still in conflict with Russia. The US State Department on Monday accused Russia of "widespread" human rights abuses in Ukraine as its troops reportedly fired missiles at civi...

Kevin Costner in "Yellowstone." Paramount Network "Yellowstone" season four will be available to stream on Peacock on March 28. New episodes of the hit cable series originally air on Paramount Network. Paramount is still taking advantage of the show's popularity, even without the streaming rights. The most recent season of the hit series "Yellowstone" will be available to stream soon. Peacock announced on Monday that the fourth season will come to the service on March 28. The NBCUniversal streamer holds exclusive streaming rights to the show, which airs new episodes on Paramount Network. The season-four finale was watched by 9.3 million viewers, making it the biggest cable telecast since 2017.  Paramount Network announced earlier this month that it had renewed the series for a fifth season . NBCUniversal nabbed the streaming rights to the series in 2020, before ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global) launched Paramount+ in 2021.  But Paramount is...

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images Utah Sen. Mitt Romney on Sunday criticized members of his own party. He implied GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar were "morons" for attending an event associated with white nationalists. "I have to think anybody that would sit down with white nationalists and speak at their conference was certainly missing a few IQ points," he said. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney on Sunday implied that members of his own party were "morons" after they attended a Florida event associated with white nationalists.  "Look, there's no place in either political party for this white nationalism or racism. It's simply wrong," the Republican lawmaker told CNN's Dana Bash during a Sunday appearance on "State of the Union."  GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona attended the third-annual America First Political Action Conference in Orlando, which was...

Reface , an a16z-backed synthetic media app that’s developed out of Ukraine, has added push notifications informing its ~200 million-strong global user-base about Russia’s invasion of the country — urging people to #StandWithUkraine, including by watermarking face-swapped videos created with the app. All videos created in the app are now being watermarked with the Ukrainian flag and the #StandWithUkraine hashtag. On first opening the app after this update, it also displays an image of civilians sheltering in Kyiv, with a caption that describes the picture as “evidence” of Russia attacking Ukraine. The message also calls for Russia to be excluded from the SWIFT international banking payment system — in order to “stop the war”. Reface said another incoming update to the app will urge all users to “Make a statement against war in Ukraine”. It is also pointing users towards resources where they can help Ukraine. [gallery ids="2277190,2277232"] The startup began the anti...

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla., on February 26, 2022. AP Photo/John Raoux Former President Trump told Fox News Digital the Russia-Ukraine conflict could spark a "world war." When asked by Fox, Trump was unable to offer a public message for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The former president blames Russia's aggression on President Biden's withdrawal from Afghanistan. Former President Donald Trump in an exclusive interview on Saturday said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine could potentially escalate to a "world war" and stressed that President Joe Biden's administration would have to put more pressure on Moscow than by simply issuing sanctions. During the conversation with Fox News Digital at the site of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida, the former president said that the invasion "never should have happened." "It is a horrible th...