54679925
submission
theodp writes:
Describing How Netflix Reinvented HR for the Harvard Business Review, ex-Chief Talent Officer Patty McCord describes 'the most basic element of Netflix’s talent philosophy: The best thing you can do for employees-a perk better than foosball or free sushi-is hire only “A” players to work alongside them.' Continuing her Scrooge-worthy tale, McCord adds that firing a once-valuable employee instead of finding another way for her to contribute yielded another aha! moment for Netflix: "If we wanted only 'A' players on our team, we had to be willing to let go of people whose skills no longer fit, no matter how valuable their contributions had once been. Out of fairness to such people—and, frankly, to help us overcome our discomfort with discharging them—we learned to offer rich severance packages." It's a sometimes-praised-sometimes-criticized strategy that's straight out of Steve Jobs' early '80s playbook. But, even if you assume your execs are capable of identifying 'A' players, how do you find enough employees if 90% of the country's population are deemed unworthy of jobs? Well, Netflix CEO Reed Hasting's support of Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.us PAC suggests one possible answer — you get lobbyists to convince Congress you need to hire as many people as you want from outside the country. An article commenter points out that Netflix's 'Culture of Fear' has earned it a 3.2/5.0 rating on Glassdoor.
54617573
submission
ConstantineM writes:
I don’t want web designers redesigning the “experience” of using the web. The unification of the user experience of using computers is a positive thing. If you use old software from the early days of computing, everything had a different user experience. If you use Windows or OS X, you’ll know of software that behaves differently from the norm. If you are a reasonably perceptive user, you’ll see it, and then you’ll be annoyed by it.
54610371
submission
badger.foo writes:
It fell to the UK Tories to actually implement the Nanny State. Too bad Nanny Tory does not want kinds to read up on tech web sites such as slashdot.org, or civil liberties ones such as the EFF or Amnesty International. Read on for a small sample of what the filter blocks, from a blocked-by-default tech writer.
54549951
submission
Antipater writes:
According to a member of the White House panel that recently called for the NSA's metadata-collection program to be curtailed, that program has not stopped any terrorist actions at all. This runs counter to the stories we've heard for months, which claimed as many as fifty prevented attacks.
"Stone declined to comment on the accuracy of public statements by U.S. intelligence officials about the telephone collection program, but said that when they referred to successes they seemed to be mixing the results of domestic metadata collection with the intelligence derived from the separate, and less controversial, NSA program, known as 702, to intercept communications overseas."
54523247
submission
wallydallas writes:
I'm close to a solution, but I wonder how other people block their many devices and operating systems from updating in working hours?
For example:
I'm the IT guy who blocks ipads from updating when school is in session because we are in a rural location. 3mbps is the best WAN we can buy. Devices can update after hours just fine. We do this with our router (DDWRT) by blocking MESU.APPLE.COM
Many guests bring in Windows 7 laptops, and I want to welcome them, but not their updates.
How can I block updates on Android Phones and Linux Laptops?
I have a 4G device at home, and I'd like to apply the same tricks 24 hours a day so that I don't use up the bandwith from my vendor. And my many home visitors should have their updates blocked.
Thanks, Wally
54521533
submission
minty3 writes:
A team of scientists have successfully found a way to communicate between two points using alcohol molecules evaporated into the air.
The first message was 10101100111000101011110110, or “O Canada,” from the country’s national anthem. It was sent over several feet in an open space where it was decoded by a receiver – similar to a police Breathalyzer,
54520785
submission
alphadogg writes:
Kill-switch technology that can render a lost or stolen smartphone useless would become mandatory in California under a new bill that will be proposed to the state legislature in January. The bill will be introduced by Senator Mark Leno, a Democrat representing San Francisco and neighboring towns, and George GascA3n, the district attorney for San Francisco. GascA3n has been spearheading a push by major law-enforcement agencies across the U.S. for more to be done to prevent smartphone theft. The proposed law could reach well beyond the borders of California. Because of the difficulty and added cost of producing handsets solely for sale in California, it could serve to make kill-switch technology a standard feature on phones sold across the U.S.
54517553
submission
ConstantineM writes:
Microsoft has all significant exploit mitigation techniques fully integrated and enabled, says Theo de Raadt at Yandex ruBSD, whilst giving a 10-year summary of the methods employed by OpenBSD. In year 2000, OpenBSD started a development initiative to intentionally make the memory environment of a process less predictable and less robust, without impacting the well-behaved programs. Concepts like the random stack gap, W^X, ASLR and PIE are explained. Some of them, like the random stack gap, are implemented with a 3-line change to the kernel, yet it appears that FreeBSD is still shipping without it. Theo de Raadt also identifies that although Linux has the code for all of these techniques, most vendors enable them very sparingly, and, in general, support is disabled; Apple does have ASLR, but other methods appear missing.
54515181
submission
An anonymous reader writes:
Cyanogen Inc., makers of CyanogenMod, has raised $22 million in Series B funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz, and plans to expand considerably in the coming months. http://gigaom.com/2013/12/19/cyanogen-inc-raises-22m-series-b-funding-plans-to-double-in-size/
54512081
submission
DavidGilbert99 writes:
Apple is staring down the barrel of conformity. It has long railed against the calls to follow the microUSB sheep and change the charging and data transfer port of its iPhone and iPad. But, based on draft EU legislation passed on Thursday, Apple could have no choice but to change and follow everyone else, as the EU adopts a common battery charger standard for all mobile phones.
54487901
submission
BUL2294 writes:
Public Citizen has followed through on their threat to sue KlearGear.com over their decision to "fine" Utah resident John Palmer $3500 over a negative review posted by his wife, Jennifer Palmer. The review, posted to RipoffReport.com in 2009 when the $20 order was not received & the couple had difficulties in getting a refund, was made 3 years before a "non-disparagement" clause was added to KlearGear's Terms of Sale and Use, to which all customers agree to before purchasing from them. In 2012, KlearGear informed credit reporting agencies of the $3500 "debt", sent a debt collection agency against the Palmers, and validated the "debt" to credit reporting agencies (adding a $50 dispute charge) when John Palmer attempted to dispute it. Since then, the Palmers have had difficulties obtaining credit, which included going 3 weeks without heat while trying to obtain a new furnace. KlearGear has publicly stated on KUTV and CNN that the fine was valid and would stand. Now, on behalf of the Palmers, Public Citizen is suing KlearGear 'after KlearGear.com ignored a Nov. 25 demand letter sent by Public Citizen on behalf of the Palmers requesting that KlearGear.com contact the relevant credit agencies immediately and inform them that the debt it had reported concerning John was in error. The letter also asked for compensation of $75,000 and permanent removal of the “non-disparagement clause” from its website’s terms of use. // Today’s complaint seeks punitive damages as well as damages for the economic, emotional and other harms that the Palmers suffered as a result of KlearGear.com’s actions.'
54475285
submission
jfruh writes:
In the '00s, the idea of municipal-run city-wide Wi-Fi nets were all the rage, but the dream faded in technical difficulties as many vendors pulled out. San Francisco, America's tech capital, had plans for building one in conjunction with Google and Earthlink, but they were mothballed with the latter company got out of the business in 2007. Now the city has unveiled a much more modest effort: a Wi-Fi network along the length of Market Street, the city's main downtown boulevard. The network is free and doesn't require a login, but is only for outdoor users. The question is, in a world where the huge majority of people who want Internet connectivity badly have smartphones, is the idea of public Wi-Fi still relevant or appealing?
54457083
submission
cold fjord writes:
Science Recorder reports, "By measuring seismic waves, scientists have been able to map the magma under a supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park. The results were surprising; the amount of magma under the surface is two and a half times larger than scientists had previously believed. They now believe that the magma chamber is 55 miles long, The Associated Press reports. It is 18 miles wide and runs from three to nine miles beneath the surface. As a result, the super volcano could potentially explode with an eruption as powerful as its largest eruption on record. It would be 2,000 times the size of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. “We’ve been working there for a long time, and we’ve always thought it would be bigger but this finding is astounding,” Professor Bob Smith, from the University of Utah, told BBC News. The last major eruption of the volcano covered all of North America with ash, seriously affecting the region’s climate. That was 640,ooo years ago. The researchers are now using their findings to try to assess the threat that the volcano poses to the park."
54456547
submission
mspohr writes:
Each year, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) publishes a set of interesting articles which are, while scientifically correct, do not meet the usual criteria for publication (untraditional papers).
This highlight of this year's edition is one which found that 0.8% of US females reported virgin births. That is, they reported that they had never had intercourse and that they had been pregnant. It should be noted that they did not claim immaculate conception, they just reported (on regular surveys) that they had been pregnant and (in a separate section of the survey) had never had intercourse.
"The authors of "Like a virgin (mother)" — whose prose is devoid of irony — say such scientifically impossible claims show researchers must use care in interpreting self-reported behavior. Fallible memory, beliefs and wishes can cause people to err in what they tell scientists."
These results are from a large, well regarded, longitudinal study of women in the USA.
Some insight into these findings:
"Of those who said they became pregnant as virgins, 31 percent also said they had signed chastity pledges; 15 percent of nonvirgins who became pregnant said they had signed such pledges, in which a girl vows not to have sex until she marries."
Also:
"The ostensibly chaste mothers were also less likely to know how to use condoms, according to the report. " (duh... this could be a big clue here!)
Finally the authors also report (again, without irony) that: "The researchers found that although the mothers in question were more likely to have boys than girls, and to be pregnant during the weeks leading up to Christmas, neither similarity to the Virgin Mary was statistically significant."
Merry Christmas to Jesus and all the gang.
54454119
submission
Meshach writes:
The FBI has caught the student who called in a bomb threat on December 16. The student used a temporary anonymous email account routed through Tor but the FBI were able to trace it because it originated in the Harvard wireless network. He could face as long as five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
