TomV - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Wait... (Score 1) 42

by Wolfrider on Tuesday July 28, 2015 @11:54PM (#50201865) Attached to: LinkedIn (Temporarily) Backs Down After Uproar At Contact Export Removal

> I have yet to meet ANYONE that has found linked in to be useful in any way

--I re-initiated contact with an old friend a few years ago after finding her on LinkedIn. Other than that, an old recruiter got me into it. Admittedly, I don't use it much anymore these days - but it has come in handy.

Submission + - Windows 10 downloads trying to bend the world wide web (windows10update.com)

Submitted by Ammalgam on Tuesday July 28, 2015 @07:13PM

Ammalgam writes: Microsoft has started rolling Windows 10 out in advance of the July 29th launch. With each new geographical region that slips into July 29th, the world wide web strains just a little more. Experts are saying that Microsoft has reserved up to 40 Tbps with all of the key CDNs. This is an INSANE amount of bandwidth. What’s even crazier is that Microsoft may already have consumed over 10 Tbps and they are just getting started. Are you guys seeing the download on your PC yet?

Submission + - Facebook told to allow the use of fake names (betanews.com)

Submitted by Mark Wilson on Tuesday July 28, 2015 @05:31PM

Mark Wilson writes: Facebook comes in for a lot of criticism, but one things that managed to rub a lot of people up the wrong way is its real names policy. For some time the social network has required its users to reveal their real name rather than allowing for the adoption of pseudonyms. This has upset many, including musicians and the drag community.

Now a German watchdog has told Facebook that its ban on fake names is not permitted. The Hamburg Data Protection Authority said that the social network could not force users to replace pseudonyms with real names, nor could it ask to see official identification.

The watchdog's order follows a complaint from a German woman who had her Facebook account closed because she used a fake name. She had opted to use a pseudonym to avoided unwanted contact from business associates, but Facebook demanded to see ID and changed her username accordingly. Hamburg Data Protection Authority said this and similar cases were privacy violations.

Submission + - Wired and wireless LANs in Cuba

Submitted by lpress on Tuesday July 28, 2015 @05:10PM

lpress writes: Cuba has developed a hacker/maker culture out of necessity and neighborhood local area networks are one manifestation of that culture. The networks are used for file sharing, game playing, and discussion of sports, culture, technology, etc., but not politics. We all stand to benefit from Cuban innovation.

DHI Group Inc. Announces Plans to Sell Slashdot Media 552

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday July 28, 2015 @02:55PM from the payment-in-star-wars-action-figures-is-acceptable dept.

An anonymous reader writes: DHI Group Inc. (formerly known as Dice Holdings Inc.) announced plans to sell Slashdot Media (slashdot.org & sourceforge.net) in their Q2 financial report. This is being reported by multiple sources. Editor's note: Yep, looks like we're being sold again. We'll keep you folks updated, but for now I don't have any more information than is contained in the press release. Business as usual until we find a buyer (and hopefully after). The company prepared a statement for our blog as well — feel free to discuss the news here, there, or in both places.

Google Is Dropping Its Google+ Requirement Across All Products Including YouTube 172

Posted by samzenpus on Monday July 27, 2015 @02:35PM from the what's-in-a-name? dept.

An anonymous reader writes: After years of plugging Google+ into all of its services, today Google announced that your Google+ profile will no longer be your identity in all its products. The company says it will take a few months for all the changes to happen, but the first product to be uncoupled will be YouTube. Bradley Horowitz, Google's vice president of streams, photos, and sharing, says the changes are a response to user feedback: "We've also heard that it doesn't make sense for your Google+ profile to be your identity in all the other Google products you use."

'Stagefright' Flaw: Compromise Android With Just a Text 203

Posted by Soulskill on Monday July 27, 2015 @11:47AM from the much-more-convenient dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Up to 950 million Android phones may be vulnerable to a new exploit involving the Stagefright component of Android, which lets attackers compromise a device through a simple multimedia text — even before the recipient sees it. Researchers from Zimperium zLabs reported the related bugs to Google in April. Google quickly accepted a patch and distributed it to manufacturers, but the researchers say they don't think the manufacturers have yet passed it on to most consumers.

"The weaknesses reside in Stagefright, a media playback tool in Android. They are all "remote code execution" bugs, allowing malicious hackers to infiltrate devices and exfiltrate private data. All attackers would need to send out exploits would be mobile phone numbers, Drake noted. From there, they could send an exploit packaged in a Stagefright multimedia message (MMS), which would let them write code to the device and steal data from sections of the phone that can be reached with Stagefright's permissions. That would allow for recording of audio and video, and snooping on photos stored in SD cards. Bluetooth would also be hackable via Stagefright."

LinkedIn (Temporarily) Backs Down After Uproar At Contact Export Removal 42

Posted by samzenpus on Monday July 27, 2015 @07:27AM from the on-second-thought dept.

Mark Wilson writes: LinkedIn caused a storm a couple of days ago when it removed the option to instantly download contacts. Many users of the professional social network were more than a little irked to discover that while contact exporting was still available, a wait of up to three days had been put in place. Unsurprisingly, users revolted, having been particularly upset by the fact the change was implemented with no warning or announcement. But the company has managed to turn things around by quickly backtracking on its decision after listening to a stream of complaints on Twitter.

Comment Called it (Score 1) 70

by Wolfrider on Sunday July 26, 2015 @11:31PM (#50187507) Attached to: The Lone Gunmen Are Not Dead

--I KNEW IT!!!

--Totally felt like they weren't really dead all this time. Granted I haven't watched the entire original series run, but just felt like they were still around somewhere/somehow.

Gmail Messages Can Now Self-Destruct 204

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday July 26, 2015 @07:09PM from the in-10-seconds dept.

New submitter Amarjeet Singh writes: Dmail is a Chrome extension developed by the people behind Delicious, the social bookmarking app/extension. This extension allows you to set a self-destruct timer on your emails. You can use Dmail to send emails from Gmail as usual, but you will now have a button which can set an self destruct timer of an hour, a day or a week. Dmail claims it will also unlock a feature that won't allow forwarding, meaning only the person you sent your message to will be able to see it.

Submission + - Metal Foam: radiation shielding that's lighter and twice as effective as Alumin (kurzweilai.net)

Submitted by schwit1 on Sunday July 26, 2015 @05:14PM

schwit1 writes: North Carolina State University researchers have found that lightweight composite metal foams they had developed are effective at blocking X-rays, gamma rays, and neutron radiation, and are capable of absorbing the energy of high-impact collisions. The finding holds promise for use in nuclear power plants, space exploration, and CT-scanner shielding.

This work means there's an opportunity to use composite metal foam to develop safer systems for transporting nuclear waste, more efficient designs for spacecraft and nuclear structures, and new shielding for use in CT scanners

Plan To Run Anti-Google Smear Campaign Revealed In MPAA Emails 256

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday July 26, 2015 @11:15AM from the put-everything-down-in-writing dept.

vivaoporto writes: Techdirt reports on a plan to run an anti-Google smear campaign via the Today Show and the WSJ discovered in MPAA emails. Despite the resistance of the Hollywood studios to comply with the subpoenas obtained by Google concerning their relationship with Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood (whose investigation of the company appeared to actually be run by the MPAA and the studios themselves) one of the few emails that Google have been able to get access to so far was revealed this Thursday in a filling. It's an email between the MPAA and two of Jim Hood's top lawyers in the Mississippi AG's office, discussing the big plan to "hurt" Google.

The lawyers from Hood's office flat out admit that they're expecting the MPAA and the major studios to have its media arms run a coordinated propaganda campaign of bogus anti-Google stories. One email reads: "Media: We want to make sure that the media is at the NAAG meeting. We propose working with MPAA (Vans), Comcast, and NewsCorp (Bill Guidera) to see about working with a PR firm to create an attack on Google (and others who are resisting AG efforts to address online piracy). This PR firm can be funded through a nonprofit dedicated to IP issues. The "live buys" should be available for the media to see, followed by a segment the next day on the Today Show (David green can help with this). After the Today Show segment, you want to have a large investor of Google (George can help us determine that) come forward and say that Google needs to change its behavior/demand reform. Next, you want NewsCorp to develop and place an editorial in the WSJ emphasizing that Google's stock will lose value in the face of a sustained attack by AGs and noting some of the possible causes of action we have developed."

As Google notes in its legal filing about this email, the "plan" states that if this effort fails, then the next step will be to file the subpoena (technically a CID or "civil investigatory demand") on Google, written by the MPAA but signed by Hood. This makes it pretty clear that the MPAA, studios and Hood were working hand in hand in all of this and that the subpoena had no legitimate purpose behind it, but rather was the final step in a coordinated media campaign to pressure Google to change the way its search engine works.

Olympic Organizer Wants To Feed Athletes Fukushima Produce 149

Posted by timothy on Saturday July 25, 2015 @01:41PM from the for-that-warm-healthy-glow dept.

New submitter Grady Martin writes: Toshiaki Endo, Japan's government-appointed parliament member in charge of planning for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, has expressed hopes of supplying the Olympic/Paralympic village with foods grown in Fukushima [Google's autotranslation], stating, 'Using foods from Fukushima in the village is another possibility. I wish to strengthen ties with ground zero in numerous ways.' Would you eat it?

US Court: 'Pocket-Dialed' Calls Are Not Private 179

Posted by timothy on Thursday July 23, 2015 @10:19AM from the just-what-the-nsa-wants-to-hear dept.

itwbennett writes: In a case of a pocket-dialed call, a conscientious secretary, and sensitive personnel issues, a federal appeals court in Ohio has ruled pocket-dialers shouldn't have any expectation of privacy. 'Under the plain-view doctrine, if a homeowner neglects to cover a window with drapes, he would lose his reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to a viewer looking into the window from outside of his property,' the court said. The same applies to pocket-dialed calls, according to the court. If a person doesn't take reasonable steps to keep their call private, their communications are not protected by the Wiretap Act.

Experiment: Installing Windows 10 On a 7-Year-Old Acer Aspire One 405

Posted by timothy on Thursday July 23, 2015 @08:55AM from the backwards-looking dept.

jones_supa writes: Windows 10 will launch in less than a week and it is supposed to work flawlessly on devices already powered by Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, as Microsoft struggled to keep system requirements unchanged to make sure that everything runs smoothly. Device drivers all the way back to Windows Vista platform (WDDM 1.0) are supported. Softpedia performed a practical test to see how Windows 10 can run on a 7-year-old Acer Aspire One netbook powered by Intel Atom N450 processor clocked at 1.66 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, and a 320 GB mechanical hard disk. The result is surprising to say the least, as installation not only went impressively fast, but the operating system itself also works fast.

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