According to a Pew Research survey, a majority of both Democrats and Republicans recognize they cannot agree on basic facts, as well as plans and policies.
Why it matters: In the era of "Fake News" — and Rudy Giuliani's "truth isn't truth" remark (which he later explained) — Americans across party lines are unable to agree on basic truths. As Pew notes, each side can agree that "partisan disagreements extend to the basic facts of issues." These results mirror pre-2016 election Pew survey answers that showed Trump and Clinton supporters could not agree over basic facts.
The increase in popularity and decrease in prices from Amazon may be to blame for the rise in inflation over the last few years, reports Reuters.
What's happening: A research paper presented by economist Alberto Cavallo at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's annual symposium theorizes that competition from Amazon is leading to frequent price changes at brick and mortar retailer locations. Cavallo's research found that the price fluctuation influenced movement in the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar.
With public transportation ridership declining across the board and labor costs remaining high, cities such as Las Vegas, Jacksonville and Austin, are exploring how autonomous vehicles can fill in key gaps, whether by taking over routes with lower ridership or providing first- and last-mile trips to transit centers.
What to watch: Bus travel presents a prime opportunity to capitalize on autonomy, but will passengers feel comfortable boarding a bus with no driver? So far, a number of cities have piloted the use of autonomous shuttles for tourists (as Las Vegas has on Fremont Street), on closed corporate campuses and on divided roads. A permanent, fixed, open-road bus route has yet to launch in the U.S., but the town of Neuhausen, Switzerland, is pioneering one.
The Democratic National Committee has been conducting spearphishing email training to help its staff learn to avoid malicious emails that could compromise security, a Democratic source tells Axios.
Why it matters: The DNC knows how badly it was hurt by the hacking attack that compromised it (as well as the Clinton campaign) in 2016, leading to a data dump of internal emails, and is trying to avoid a repeat.
Our thought bubble, from Axios' Kaveh Waddell:Expect to see more headlines like these as CBP facial recognition systems pop up at more airports. They are being tested to screen travelers arriving in the US, and as a replacement for boarding passes. But since the systems involve both public agencies and private companies, it’s not always clear how widely face data is shared, and how long it’s stored, after a scan.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee September 5 on "the company's algorithms and content monitoring," the committee's chairman, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), announced Friday.
Why it matters: Twitter is much smaller than Facebook, but it's President Trump's favorite social-media channel, and it faces criticism not only for its role in spreading Russian-promoted misinformation but also, from conservatives, for what they see as bias against them.
Instagram is testing a new feature that lets college students using the app join their school's community and access a directory of their classmates, aimed at helping them connect with each other, according to CNBC.
Why it matters: Facebook, which owns Instagram, has been packing the photo-sharing app with features to appeal to young users and compete with Snapchat. So it's no surprise to see it experiment with some of Facebook's original features — college student directories — in Instagram. Go deeper:College chat app pulls a page from Facebook
FireEye, a California-based cybersecurity firm, has been credited twice just this week with helping two of the biggest tech companies uncover midterm election threats — and got a stock bump as a result.
Why it matters: While companies like Google and Facebook have the in-house expertise to uncover some malicious activity, third-parties like FireEye are sometimes better equipped to spot malicious activity through their own monitoring.
Amazon has removed downloadable plans for 3D-printed guns from its site, explaining the material violates its content guidelines, CNN reports.
The details: The Seattle-based e-commerce company said it removed the $20 book, "The Liberator Code Book: An Exercise in the Freedom of Speech," which appeared on its website earlier this month. But the author, CJ Awelow, is fighting back claiming that "code is speech," and and explains "proceeds will be used to fight for free speech and the right to bear arms."
