> Who validates the new data that comes in?

I'm basically wondering if anyone can create junk identities and junk providers and can associate any type of data to them, or if there are some kind of central authority around that. Nothing in the blockchain technology enforces the ledger to be fully public or the quorum to be fully open, and that any type of entry becomes valid. I find the article scarce on the topic.

As for my other questions, they are rhetorical and express my concerns.

From TFA: "Microsoft reckons the technology holds promise as a superior alternative to people granting consent to dozens of apps [...]"

I believe the intend is more related to authorization (knowing the user has given or been granted access to X resource) than authentication (identifying the user) in this case. Instead of querying some local database or black box API, a public ledger is shared and can be queried by anyone.

Storing identity information in a blockchain seems to be the hype in many sectors ... I find it kind of scary. Who validates the new data that comes in? Does past records every get erased? If entries prove to be erroneous after a few weeks after being added to the chain, how easily can you fix the mistake? How fast and reliably can you update data (revoke access for instance)?

Also, I think most implementation of such blockhain protocols do not store data directly in the public ledger but simply store hashes to external data entries, for which it's not clear who has the ownership and if they are publicly available or not.

Needed all that endorphin to sleep tight tonight.

| OMG! If Snowden wiped his ass then it makes it REAL!

I think there are enough evidences to make this a real event. Now I didn't bring Snowden to give any ethical bias, just to highlight it is in fact very current and news-worthy.

The debate seems twofold: first of all why the chief of police gave orders to hunt on police sources / leaks in the media (on this topic it seems the mayor was putting a lot of pressure on the head of police), and then why municipal judges don't challenge such requests (on this it seems such judges are mostly municipal stamp pushers and underpaid 50% relative to their colleagues, and may have work-history related bias towards law enforcement).

The fact that a well-known journalist backed by its journal is involved makes it maybe a little more sensational than it seems. But for example, the first thing LaPresse did when learning about it was request a court order to censor all phone numbers in any documents from this operation, because if any of this is used in any kind of process, it could unintentionally unveil other hidden journalistic sources non-related to the affair.

We can be pretty much sure this guy won't have any more exclusive news for a while as confidential sources will no longer trust contacting him.

I am not sure if your comment is aimed at minimizing the impact of police spying over journalists (business as usual?), but you should note that this snippet from the article is completely unrelated to the main case with the Montreal police.

About the main case with the Montreal police, it is currently considered a big enough thing that it is monopolizing the news in Quebec and all government levels are actively seeking answers and solutions to this unprecedented abuse of power against freedom of press.

It now appears that Montreal police has started mass spying over journalists last spring in order to find whistle-blowers inside their organization (http://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/montreal/201611/01/01-5036642-le-spvm-avait-lance-une-chasse-aux-sources-journalistiques-au-printemps.php).

Edward Snowden even twitted on the topic yesterday: https://twitter.com/Snowden/st...

> outside of some really non-professional home stuff

Who do you think Paint target audience is?

I think paint is quite effective for most Windows "household tasks" (converting images, cropping, resizing, writing annotations, combining, saving screenshots etc.)

I've used GIMP and Photoshop enough to know my way around but I've never been an expert. And opening GIMP for most of the tasks listed above is just troublesome (very long load time, bloated UI).

> MS Paint falls way, way, way short for illustration

Of course! That I will not deny.

Combination of The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis + Charlie Catches a Leprechaun: Gas Delivery 2.0!

I would expect that the rest of the year they keep updated with research and systems, code their tools, search for vulnerabilities, find targets etc.

It's probably comparable to other fields where you spend 80% of your time finding clients and pitching projects to fill the 20% of the time you are actually getting paid.

Of course, at least they don't have to worry about PR, branding, cocktails and such :)

Well every time you type a key it must send it online for anonymous data collection, match it against a dictionary for instant grammar correction, save a copy of your modified file to your OneDrive online free storage space, run a few ticks into Clippy's neural network, send your typing statistics to Cortana, pass through 10 layers of automation & scripting support interfaces & abstractions ...

Ah and yes, eventually also update the output buffer with actual letter symbol to be displayed on the screen!

I imagine that actors will be talking a lot to the camera like in the British sitcom Peep Show so it looks they are talking to us.
No more need for slopes in movies theaters.
No more annoying tall people in the front row or bright cellphone lights.
With binaural/HRTF audio and headphones, you no longer hear peoples making comments from the row behind you.
Looks a lot like a scene I remember from the Matrix ...

Only 75$ for the 2 hours experience.
(we promise not to harvest extra energy from your body without your consent, but if you want to we will provide complimentary popcorn!)

TV edit is done directly from the director's head.

Ashley Madison rebrands itself as "Cheating Liar" dot com, reality show on the way.

Prioritize the patient queue based on similar symptoms.

I would be nice to have more insights as to the content of the test and the medium used.

If it is a complex algorithm (for instance I don't know, writing a compression method, an digital filter etc.) these kind of questions are better suited for pen&paper where the candidate will mostly spill out pseudo code, ideas and comments. As others said, in such a test I would not expect the candidate to write flawless code, but it will give me an idea as to whether he knows basic concepts of programming, possibly of a particular language, and most importantly if he knows how to think.

On the other hand, if you are given 45 minutes in front of a computer, I would expect it to be a very very simple task. This could be for instance writing a form where the user inputs some values that get serialized on disk. I would more be interested to know if the candidate is as fluent as he says with the tools provided. I would expect him to finish on time and evaluate the real quality of the code. Or if he had problems this would be a base of discussion as to what happened. Of course, in such a context I don't see why this test would not be "open books" with access to the Internet and any reference documentation needed.

Both tests are valid enough I think. But mixing them (doing a pen&paper test for code that is meant to compile flawlessly or doing a seated test with a complex algorithm) is just malicious! Maybe that is what your friend encountered.

Please show me some hardcore 18+ Star Wars with Nathalie Por ... heu, Chewbacca kinky X-mas explosions and stuff.

German children probably listen to Kraftwerk to learn all about radioactivity, vitamins, telephones, computers, autobahn, neon lights and such. In fact, in the summary's picture I believe they are dancing to The Robots. Seems fair for the band to receive some kind of royalties.