Submission + - Ask Slashdot; Inexpensive SOHO crime detterence, monitoring, and alerting. (facebook.com)
My sister and brother-in-law are self employed, and run a small business with a storefront. It was broken into about a year ago, and since then they have reinforced physical security; bars on the doors and windows, better locks, etc. Unfortunately, their store was broken into, and vandalized again last week in spite of the added security measures. Being technically savvy, I'm trying to come up with inexpensive ways to add deterrence, monitoring, and alerting to their business. They run an extremely lean lifestyle and profit margin, so the solution needs to be almost free. They do have an internet connection at the store, so motion detection, web cameras, arduino devices, and the like are certainly an option. Ideally I would like a rock solid alerting method. Something like an email or text to a laptop at home, or a dedicated prepaid phone, but without the pitfalls of such a solution(ie random wrong numbers, solicitors, email spam, etc). I'd also prefer not to poke holes in their firewall at the shop if at all possible. I was considering an email with some sort of long code or hash in the body, and then could white list that on the receiving end to key off of. The goal is to never have a false alarm based on the transmission/reception method. I know the physical triggers will have to be fine tuned, but I don't ever want them woken up at night due to some random male enhancement email.
Submission + - The Apple Shop forced to change its name (cnet.com)
Submission + - The US Redrawn As 50 Equally Populated States (vice.com) 3
"The algorithm was seeded with the fifty largest cities. After that, manual changes took into account compact shapes, equal populations, metro areas divided by state lines, and drainage basins. In certain areas, divisions are based on census tract lines... The suggested names of the new states are taken mainly from geographical features."
The new 50 states would be equally potent in terms of voting, but how many would be red? I made this layered GIF of Romney vs. Obama by county to try and figure things out."
Submission + - NetBSD To Support Kernel Development In Lua Scripting (phoronix.com)
Submission + - SSH Password Gropers Are Now Trying High Ports (blogspot.ca)
Submission + - The IIPA Copyright Demands for Canada and Spain (freezenet.ca)
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What Does The Free/Open Source Community Currently Need?
Submission + - Amazon Sells Out Predator Drone Toy After Mocking Reviews
While Facebook and Twitter have always been more prominent forums for political satire, consumers have flocked to Amazon’s review section before. In October, the user comment section of an Avery Dennison Corp. binder listed on the e- commerce site became the subject of a similar outbreak. Reviewers used Amazon to make light of a comment made by then- Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney during a debate. Amazon’s conditions of use posted on its website say that the Seattle-based company reserves the right to remove or edit reviews, which it doesn’t regularly examine. So far the reviews have not been removed.
Submission + - Mega Accepts Bitcoin; Email, Chat, Voice, Video, Mobile Coming Soon
Submission + - Facebook paid no taxes despite record profits (msn.com) 2
Submission + - Tin Foil Chic (wired.com)
"Harvey: Stealth Wear started as an experiment using the fabrics I was researching for the OFF Pocket. I did research on thermal surveillance and was very interested in where it was going and at some point realized that metalised fabrics work as a shield against thermal imagining cameras. I was able to get access to a thermal camera and started testing swatches of fabric. When I realized that it worked well enough, I got in touch with my friend Johanna Bloomfield and she came up with the hoodie design. Everything was pretty much still an experiment at this point. Then we showed the hoodie to Andrew Green from PRIMITIVE. He loved it and decided to include it and make it a major part of this upcoming show. Originally this show was to be based on work from CV Dazzle and a few other counter surveillance art projects. This whole idea of stealth wear line was very emergent.
Submission + - Microsoft Changes Email Policy Making Spammers' Life Easier (microsoft.com)
Submission + - Dell and HP Struggle to Reinvent As PC Industry Migrates To Asia (hothardware.com)
Submission + - If You Are Buying Into Ubuntu Phone Claims, You're Being Duped: Aaron Seigo (muktware.com)
He then concludes, "If you're a Free software developer, user and/or supporter and buying into these claims, I don't know how else to put it other than this: you're being duped. Consider what supporting those who employ such tactics means for Free software."
Our own Bruce Perens said that on Slashdot — "Working for free to make Mark Shuttleworth richer just isn’t very smart."