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Comment It is not a bank or brokerage account. (Score 2) 230

It is one of those mail-in-rebate houses. I am surprised there are people who still use them. The whole idea is a scam. To help them advertise a low low price, but small print reveals mail-in rebate to get the advertised price. I stopped using them long ago. They rely on consumers not bothering to send in the rebate coupons. Looks like now they allow the mail-in rebate to be claimed over the net, and the proof of purchase could be credit card statements.

It is a security hole and all the dire warnings by others are true. Most of these companies are run by people with no IT or computer expertise. The top man is going to haul the IT dept on the carpet and demand an explanation. You think the IT chief is going to admit that he/she was running a moronic system? No, she/he is going to shift blame and find some convenient scape goat. Given the top honchos don't know much about anything other than their bonus calculation, IT chief is going to claim, "It is a hack! That guys hacked into my super secure site". Then the PHBs running the company would call in the lawyers and make a mess out of the situation.

One thing the anonymous guy can do is to call the company that issued the mail-in-rebate and tell them, the outfit they had out sourced their rebate processing has holes in the system. Now it is the very big company that issued the rebate coupons run by PHBs fighting a smaller company that got the rebate processing contract run by PHBs. And quietly withdraw without drawing too much attention.

Comment Re:Follow the herd or vanish (Score 1) 375

by Bill Dog (#49161449) Attached to: Google Wants To Rank Websites Based On Facts Not Links

Suppression of unpopular truths will be far more effective if people aren't even made aware that there is a dispute.

That's part of the idea behind the "the debate is over" thing; to make people believe that there is no more disagreement. If Google makes it so that arguments for one side of an issue are never seen, as being non-facts, then it'll be conveniently as if another side never existed. Goodbye nuance. Life will be so much simpler. Governments will be jealous.
Space

20-Year-Old Military Weather Satellite Explodes In Orbit 253

Posted by samzenpus from the go-boom dept.
schwit1 writes A 20-year-old U.S. military weather satellite apparently exploded for no obvious reason. The incident has put several dozen pieces of space junk into orbit. From the article: "A 20-year-old military weather satellite apparently exploded in orbit Feb. 3 following what the U.S. Air Force described as a sudden temperature spike. The “catastrophic event” produced 43 pieces of space debris, according to Air Force Space Command, which disclosed the loss of the satellite Feb. 27 in response to questions from SpaceNews. The satellite, Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 13, was the oldest continuously operational satellite in the DMSP weather constellation."
Technology

Physicists May Be One Step Closer To Explaining High-Temp Superconductivity 58

Posted by samzenpus from the it's-getting-hot-in-here dept.
sciencehabit writes For years some physicists have been hoping to crack the mystery of high-temperature superconductivity—the ability of some complex materials to carry electricity without resistance at temperatures high above absolute zero—by simulating crystals with patterns of laser light and individual atoms. Now, a team has taken—almost—the next-to-last step in such 'optical lattice' simulation by reproducing the pattern of magnetism seen in high-temperature superconductors from which the resistance-free flow of electricity emerges.
Security

Pharming Attack Targets Home Router DNS Settings 39

Posted by samzenpus from the protect-ya-neck dept.
msm1267 (2804139) writes Pharming attacks are generally network-based intrusions where the ultimate goal is to redirect a victim's web traffic to a hacker-controlled webserver, usually through a malicious modification of DNS settings. Some of these attacks, however, are starting to move to the web and have their beginnings with a spam or phishing email. Proofpoint reported on the latest iteration of this attack, based in Brazil. The campaign was carried out during a five-week period starting in December when Proofpoint spotted phishing messages, fewer than 100, sent to customers of one of the country's largest telecommunications companies.
Medicine

Research Suggests That Saunas Help You Live Longer 208

Posted by samzenpus from the sweat-it-out dept.
jones_supa writes A study of Finnish men suggests that frequent sauna baths may help you live longer. Previous research has suggested that saunas might improve blood vessel function and exercise capacity, or even lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension. The new study links long, hot sauna baths with more benefits, including fewer deaths from heart attacks, strokes, various heart-related conditions and other causes. The study tracked 2315 Finnish men for nearly 20 years on average. Most participants used saunas at least once weekly. Those who used them four to seven times weekly received the greatest benefits. The study published in JAMA Internal Medicine wraps up by saying that further studies are warranted to establish the potential mechanism that links sauna bathing and the aforementioned cardiovascular benefits.
AI

42 Artificial Intelligences Are Going Head To Head In "Civilization V" 52

Posted by samzenpus from the race-to-build-Himeji-Castle dept.
rossgneumann writes The r/Civ subreddit is currently hosting a fascinating "Battle Royale" in the strategy game Civilization V, pitting 42 of the game's built-in, computer-controlled players against each other for world domination. The match is being played on the largest Earth-shaped map the game is capable of, with both civilizations that were included in the retail version of the game and custom, player-created civilizations that were modded into it after release.
GUI

Xfce 4.12 Released 91

Posted by Soulskill from the onward-and-upward dept.
motang writes: After two years of hard work (and much to the dismay of naysayers who worried the project has been abandoned), the Xfce team has announced the release of Xfce 4.12. Highlights include improvements to the window switcher dialog, intelligent hiding of the panel, new wallpaper settings, better multi-monitor support, improved power settings, additions to the file manager, and a revamped task manager. Here is a quick tour, the full changelog, and the download page. I have been running it since Xubuntu 15.04 beta 1 was released two days ago. It is much improved over 4.10, and the new additions are great.

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