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Welcome! Follow our cyber reporter, Maggie Miller (@ magmill95), and the technical team, Chris Mills Rodrigo (@chrisismills) and Rebecca Klar (@rebeccaklar_), for more coverage.
QHAOS: Some QAnon supporters are losing hope on the conspiracy because another of his predictions – that Donald Trump will remain president and arrest top Democrats for their participation in rings with child trafficking – could not succeed.
Users in various forums and chat rooms spent the morning coming up with new theories about how Wednesday, called the “Great Awakening,” would still turn out to be as the theory predicted.
But as President Biden’s inauguration continued, reality began to set in for some of QAnon’s most ardent supporters.
This does not mean, however, that the theory loses any significant steam – deviations and new explanations quickly emerged after Biden was sworn in.
Read more.
DRIVE away with it: In one of his last appearances in office, old President Trump
Lil Wayne gets 11th hour of Trump forgiveness Trump gives mercy to more than 100 people, including Bannon Trump who is expected to forgive Bannon: reports MORE poisoned former Google and Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski, who was sentenced last year to 18 months in prison for stealing trade secrets related to self-driving cars.
Levandowski pleaded guilty a year after being charged with 33 charges for downloading more than 14,000 Google’s engineering, manufacturing and business files in the months leading up to its departure in early 2016.
“Mr Levandowski has pleaded guilty to a single criminal case arising out of civil litigation,” the White House said in a statement announcing the apology. “Mr Levandowski paid a significant price for his actions and plans to use his talents to promote public benefit.”
Read more about the waiver here.
AMAZON offers to lend a hand: The e-commerce giant Amazon sent a letter to President Biden on Wednesday offering to contribute to the spread of coronavirus vaccines, as the newly sworn president aims to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in the White House.
Dave Clark, Amazon’s CEO of Consumer Business, said the company is willing to help by leveraging Amazon’s “operating, information technology and communications capabilities”.
“Our scale enables us to immediately make a significant impact in the fight against COVID-19, and we are ready to assist you in this endeavor,” Clark wrote.
He also again insisted on the 800,000 essential workers of Amazon in its facilities to give preference to the roll-out of vaccines.
Read more here.
TWITTER TURNOVER: The platform was officially handed over to the Biden administration over the institutional White House account on Wednesday.
President Biden now has access to the @POTUS account and Vice President Harris will have @ VP. Accounts for the White House, press secretary and spouses of the new leaders are also transferred.
Read more.
CRACK THE CODE: President Biden’s government apparently wants to set up tech experts for a federal agency through a hidden message on the White House’s new official website.
The site contains a message hidden in the HTML code, inviting those who found it to join the US digital service, Reuters reported Wednesday when Biden took office and the website was updated.
“As you read this, we need your help to build better,” the news service said.
Read more here.
Light clicks: If the meeting lasts longer than 30 minutes
An op-ed to chew on: The Biden team needs quick tips on technology policy
NOTICES LINKS FROM THE WEB:
Meet the new technical bureaucracy (Minutes / Emily Birnbaum and Issie Lapowsky)
Technologists use Face recognition on Parler Videos (Joseph Cox / Motherboard)
Right-wing extremists and their supporters use Christian website to raise funds (CNN / Majlie de Puy Kamp and Scott Glover)
A visit to the Zune Group (The Verge / Luke Winkie)