user: IN: Google Doodle Celebrates Leo Tolstoy's 186th Birthday
Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 186th birthday of legendary Russian author Leo Tolstoy.

“Guest Doodler” Roman Muradov illustrated a click-through animation depicting the thousand-plus page masterpieces the author wrote by candlelight.

Featured work includes War and Peace:

and The Death of Ivan Ilyich:

“I hardly need to say that making a tribute to Leo Tolstoy was a daunting task,” Muradov writes in an explainer post for Google. “No set of images can sum up a body of work so astonishing in scope, complexity, and vigor–its memorable scenes come to life with seeming effortlessness, fully realized in the immortal lines and between them.”
What is a short summary of the above article?

OUT: The guest doodler describes the undertaking as "a daunting task"


IN: Lawyers question how witness knew case details at Adnan Syed hearing
The hearing to determine whether Adnan Syed will receive a new trial continued inconclusively Thursday, with the cross-examination of Asia Chapman and testimony from an expert in cellular phone forensics and historical cell site analysis.

The cross-examination of Chapman, which began Wednesday, sought to discredit her testimony on several points. “Is it possible that you wrote this letter much later?” assistant attorney general Thiru Vignarajah asked of a typed letter from Chapman to Syed dated 2 March 1999, shortly after he was arrested.

Related: Serial delves back into Adnan Syed case as his hearing begins

“Is it possible someone was giving you messages from Adnan?” he asked.

Vignarajah belabored the points, asking how she knew specific details of the case – such as the fact that Hae Min Lee was buried in a shallow grave in Leakin Park – which Justin Brown, Syed’s attorney, showed had already been published in newspaper accounts prior to 2 March.

Syed, the subject of the blockbuster podcast Serial, filed a petition to vacate his conviction and bring a new trial on the argument that McClain had never been contacted by Syed’s previous defense counsel, Christina Gutierrez, who Brown alleges provided Syed with ineffective counsel.

In petitioning for post-conviction relief Brown also alleged that a crucial cover letter providing instructions about how to interpret cellphone data was ignored. The document in question says that incoming calls did not provide accurate location information. Two incoming calls were essential in the state’s ability to show that Syed was at Leakin Park at the time Lee was being buried. The 2000 case was one of the first to use cell phone records to locate a person.

Brown called Gerald Grant, an expert in cellular phone forensics and historical cell site analysis, who also testified in the Boston bombing case. “They were instructions. They should have been followed,” he said of the cover sheet. Grant testified that he had never seen Syed’s lawyer use a defense based on such instructions, saying that he began to work in the field after 1999 and the technology has greatly improved.

The defense offered an affidavit from the state’s expert witness at Syed’s original trial, which said: “If I had been made aware of this disclaimer, it would have affected my testimony. I would not have affirmed the interpretation of a phone’s possible geographical location until I could ascertain the reasons and details of this disclaimer.”

In cross examination, Vignarajah suggested that Grant misinterpreted the evidence and promised his own expert witness.
What is a short summary of the above article?

OUT: The hearing to determine whether Syed will receive a new trial continued Thursday with the cross-examination of Asia Chapman


IN: Stringer knocks de Blasio's NYC computer science education plans
City Controller Scott Stringer took another shot at Mayor de Blasio Sunday, calling it “ridiculous” that his “lackadaisical” plan for computer science education will take 10 years to complete.

De Blasio has promised computer science classes in all city schools by 2025, a decade after the plan was announced last year.

Stringer, who has declined to rule out challenging de Blasio for mayor next year, said on the John Catsimatidis AM 970 radio show that the plan should be sped up.

“I want to do this now. We cannot have a lackadaisical approach to computer science,” he said.

NYC Controller Stringer refuses to rule out 2017 mayoral run

Stringer and de Blasio have been trading sharp jabs since last week, when Stringer gave a speech critical of several of de Blasio’s policy initiatives. The mayor said Friday his rival is just “grandstanding” and doesn’t understand the issues.

But Stringer said he believes it’s realistic to launch computer science classes more quickly because Chicago and San Francisco have done so.

“They want to educate everyone in this field 10 years from now. We don’t have that luxury,” Stringer said, noting more than half of the jobs created in the city in recent years have been tech-related.

“Our kids will be working in the tech economy. So they deserve and need a real foundation in computer science,” he said. “Ten years after it was announced, we’re going to have a computer science for all plan? That is ridiculous.”

NYC's computer science program to teach coding in 207 schools

"Like usual, he doesn't know what he's talking about. And like usual, we're ignoring him," said de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips.

Asked directly by Catsimatidis if he’s going to run for mayor, Stringer again declined to answer, saying he has put a “moratorium” on discussing his plans until after this November’s election.

He went on to ask Catsimatidis, a billionaire grocery mogul who himself ran as a Republican in the 2013 mayoral race, if he would run.

“I won’t decide 'til five minutes before,” the host said.
What is a short summary of the above article?

OUT: City Controller Scott Stringer said it's "ridiculous" that de Blasio's plan for computer science education will take 10 years to complete.


IN: Bitcoin Black Friday Goes Live and Other News You Need to Know
Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world.

Today, we're looking at three particularly interesting stories. Starting today, more than 400 retailers are coming together to open Bitcoin Black Friday, a web marketplace that only accepts Bitcoin as payment. If your shopping plans are more traditional, though, Apple’s seasonal deals are now live on its website. And finally, some Microsoft news: insiders tell Bloomberg the company’s board is narrowing down its search for its next CEO.

Check out the video above for more on these stories.
What is a short summary of the above article?

OUT:

assistant: Bitcoin Black Friday, a web marketplace that only accepts bitcoin as payment, opens today.