It means Japan’s newly named head of Cybersecurity has never used a computer. Ever.
Okay, just kidding, that is not what it means, we’ll get the that next, but not kidding about Japan’s new head of Cybersecurity. That really is a thing and I figured it was too good not to share.
Gizmodo reported last Thursday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointed Yoshitaka Sakurada head of Japan’s cyber security last month after he [Abe] was re-elected.
One of Sakurada’s roles will be to oversee computer security when the Olympics go to Tokyo in 2020.
Who needs real world experience? Yoshitaka Sakurada says that “since he was 25 years old” he “instructed his staff and secretaries.”
When an astonished lawmaker expressed surprise how Sakurada could be in the job, Sakurada was reported to have said, “”The matter concerning cyber security is not to be decided by me alone, but I will do comprehensively with my office, nation, total power, I am confident that there is no fault.”
When asked whether “Japan’s nuclear power stations would use USB drives,” Sakurada said “specialists” would have to answer that question.
What Thanksgiving means for us, however, is it is that time of year again for Black Friday shopping and the official countdown to Christmas begins.
And what Black Friday would be complete without Walmart Deals. They already put out their Black Friday mailer for their hot upcoming deals.
If you want to avoid the following you don’t have to wait until Black Friday, Walmart is running a few of their deals on-line now, and will officially kick off all their Black Friday on-line deals Wednesday night 10 pm EST.
But if you are someone who loves the sport of Black Friday shopping in person, up close and hands on, then this might be the app for you to check out first if it is available in your area. Good luck with all that!
Forbes reports, “When you’re really desperate for parking, you might pull the Los Angeles classic: getting a friend to stand in that sweet parking spot you just saw until you can circle back to it, even if someone else is closer and ought to have first dibs. Don’t do that. It’s not nice and besides, in some areas, a robot will do it for you.”
Now MyPark’s major mall relationship is with Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group, the largest mall operator in the United States. Mayendia and Blanco got their contracts with old-school persistence. “We literally started showing up at malls,” Mayendia recalled. Mall managers rang the pitch up the corporate flagpole until the partnerships were developed.
MyPark is also in other nationally recognized properties outside the Simon portfolio, such as the Mall of America. In total, it’s in five states within the contiguous U.S., plus Puerto Rico. Parking space rental rates typically range between $1 and $3 for the first two hours with additional charges per hour thereafter.
Forbes; Nov 18 2018
A good book about space can feed a kid’s obsession or inspire a brand new interest in exploring the wonders of the universe. If you’re hoping for a holiday gift, you’re in the right place: Here are Space.com writers’ and editors’ suggestions of great books about space exploration and space science for kids.
Space.com
Heavy’s 101 Hottest Christmas Toys for 2018 list has been updated. “Discover the coolest new toys of the year” in Heavy’s “mega list” for this year’s toy ideas.
And in case you missed TNB’s story about a “Real Life Powerpuff Girlz,” check out the STEMS CoderBunnyz board game designed and developed by the 7-year-old Samaira Mehta, for ages 4-104.
“Most Comprehensive STEM Coding Board Game Ever! Learn ALL the concepts you ever need in Computer Programming in a fun adventure.”
Samaira bills her game as a “Play and Learn Coding Concepts board game, which includes: Strategic Thinking; Problem Solving; Sequencing; Conditional; Branches; Loops; Functions; Debugging; Inheritance; Parallelism; List; Stack; Queue; and Algorithm Writing.”
Now that Samaira is 10 she had expanded her business and created a new CoderBunnyz game called CoderMindz – “the first ever AI board game,” that teaches “concepts like training an AI model, inference and adaptive learning,” with the goal to “eventually use those skills to build robots.” It went on sell at Amazon Nov 2.
Once the turkey and sales are gobbled up, you know what that means…
Time to break out those Christmas decorations! Whether you are traditionally or intermittently someone who decorates a real tree, or even if you would like to have one, but have no way to transport one back home, Amazon has that covered for you, delivered to your front door.
Speaking of Amazon, Yahoo ran an article worth checking out on upcoming Amazon deals for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Toys R Amazon?
Amazon is looking to fill the void left by the demise of the last remaining toy-centric big-box retailer, Toys R Us. In a press release, the company revealed that customers could save as much as 40% off some top names in the toy industry, including Mattel brands Barbie, Hot Wheels, and Fisher-Price. Amazon is also offering 30% discounts on a selection of strategy board games and adult party games. Tapping into the hottest movie of the year, the company is offering 30% off the littleBits Avengers Hero Inventor Kit.
Yahoo
And something else to consider, if you are not typically an Amazon shopper, they are running a free shipping promotion which started on Nov 5 and have now extended that “for a limited time” for all their customers, not just for those with Prime, and there is no limit on the amount of your purchase to receive the free shipping. Although pay attention to the details. While this is something that extends to a large majority of their items, just like with the Prime membership, this may not apply to “every” item on Amazon.
How about a pocket camera drone for under $100? The next evolution for selfies is the DRONEX Pro. Better yet, Amazon is selling it right now for $76.99.
Video is a little slow to start, begins at :20 second mark.
I’ll trying to keep an eye out for other cool things that may pop up on our countdown to Christmas shopping, and if you know of any good gift ideas, places to shops, post them in the comment section.