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Comment Falling prices (Score 1) 334

It's good to see and a definite short term benefit will be realized. Lord knows it cuts down on our commute cost. I think one thing that would need to be addressed is the absolute need for most families in rural areas to have more than 1 vehicle.

I live in small-town Minnesota and I don't know any family that only has 1 vehicle. I think the only way we could do this is to really push a paradigm shift to where companies push more for moving their work-force home where possible. This has been done somewhat, but, we see many companies moving their workforce back to the office too. Frankly, I feel office-work is economically a bad choice, ecologically irresponsible, & doesn't foster work-life balance.

Granted, this won't be a home-run as far as reduction... but, every bit helps!

Comment Re:Personal online information (Score 2) 193

I did, but, I guess I didn't feel that I needed to lay everything out. :) Folks aren't allowed to sign-up unless they're 13 or over, but, all you would need to do is have a weekly, or even a daily process that would synch those online flags with the actual offline birthday.

Comment Personal online information (Score 4, Insightful) 193

Just one more company giving one more reason why corporations should not be allowed to store personal information beyond what is absolutely necessary. Birthday would not necessarily need to be stored anyplace directly accessible, unless it was legally required but could instead be replaced by a flag for "above 13", "above 18", "above 21". If they absolutely needed to have the birthday for representation or audit purposes it could be stored in an offline version that could be brought online as needed.

In the end, efficiency was prioritized over the need to secure personally identifiable information (PII). eBay should not have stored so much PII in the same database, it should have been stored separately and linked on retrieval.

Sadly, security requirements being ignored or missed during design is a commonplace occurrence and they don't get fixed until something like this brings them to light.

Comment Constructive Criticism (Score 1) 2219

The technical prowess of the crowd that contributes to this site is far above most other sites. The site looks like it was made with Wordpress, this is /. it should be better than that. Granted the old site was too, but, at least the story previews were more compact so you could more easily scan the articles. Also, it's hard to tell the subject line from the comment area, they should be more easily distinguished.

Comment Re:4 years too old (Score 1) 81

Why do I never have moderator points when I need them! Well said... and in regards to the investment reply. I understand what you're saying, but, the greatest investment a country can make is an investment that raises the standards of human life.

If they can reduce the fraud which will in turn allow them to place that money into much needed hands or re-appropriate that money into making lives better... Well, I don't think it matters how many people it actually gets off of welfare, it's stitching the gash vs. cleaning the scrape.

Submission + - How Gamers Could Save the (Real) World (slashdot.org)

Nerval's Lobster writes: Three years ago, game designer and author Jane McGonigal argued that saving the human race is going to require a major time investment—in playing video games. “If we want to solve problems like hunger, poverty, climate change, global conflict, obesity, I believe that we need to aspire to play games online for at least 21 billion hours a week [up from 3 billion today], by the end of the next decade,” she said in a TED talk. Her message was not ignored—and it has indirectly contributed to the formation of something called the Internet Response League (IRL). The small group has a big goal: to harness gamers’ time and use it to save lives after disasters, natural or otherwise. The idea is to insert micro-tasks into games, specifically asking gamers to tag photos of disaster areas. With the IRL plugin, each image would be shown to at least three people, who tag the photo as showing no damage, mild damage, or severe damage. The Internet Response League has been in talks with a couple of indie developers, including one that’s developing a new MMO. Mosur said they’ve tried to get in touch with World of Warcraft maker Blizzard, but haven’t had any luck yet. Blizzard did not return a request for comment from Slashdot.

Submission + - August Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Takes Out 23 Bugs in Windows, IE, Exchange

SmartAboutThings writes: It’s that time of the month when Microsoft released its Patch Tuesday aimed at fixing vulnerabilities. Last month’s Patch Tuesday posed some issues for users as they were still causing bugs, being “half-baked”. This is the eighth Patch Tuesday of the year and it comes with eight new security bulletins (coincidence?) with only three being rated as “Critical” and five as “Important”. The eight security bulletins released by Microsoft address 23 vulnerabilities from Windows, Internet Explorer and Exchange. The most important patches, as per Microsoft’s recommendation, are MS13-059 (Internet Explorer) and MS13-060 (Windows XP and Server 2003.). After applying those first priority patches, you should patch every other software from Microsoft that you are using to make sure you have a top-notch security

Submission + - The world's craziest contraband (networkworld.com)

coondoggie writes: As the Transportation Security Administration documents every week, people will bring the weirdest stuff on airplanes. But the nutty stuff isn't confined to airplanes or to travelers in the U.S. Here we take a look at a collection of crazy stuff people have tried to get into other countries – as well as the U.S. in some cases – via airplane or other means.

Submission + - DIY IDS Identifies Hacked Smartphones 1

An anonymous reader writes: A group of researchers from LGM Security has leveraged a Verizon Samsung femtocell — a small cellular station for extending cell phone coverage range indoors or at the cell edge — to create a relatively cheap cellular intrusion detection system that enables enterprises and private individuals to test their or their employees' smartphones for malware. Their solution involves the femtocell and a Linux-based Snort server through which the traffic to and from the phone is redirected. All in all, they spent less than $300 to set the system up. They have also helpfully shared the source code that allowed them to do all that.

Submission + - NRA Launches Pro-Lead Website

ideonexus writes: The National Rifle Association has launched a website defending the use of lead ammunition against scientists and environmental organizations who argue that lead bullets are poisoning the environment and tainting game meat with a known neurotoxin. The rise and fall of lead levels from gasoline and lead-based paint are strongly correlated to the rise and fall of crime rates in communities around the world.

Submission + - The Big Def Con Question: Would You Work for the NSA? (vice.com)

Daniel_Stuckey writes: Premier hacker conference Def Con, which just wrapped up its 21st year, played host to security professionals who all had very different opinions on what the NSA is up to. In fact, the only thing everyone could agree on is that the PRISM revelations came as no surprise.

Even if it isn't news to this crowd, it is still a significant development in the general climate of government surveillance and national security. And at Def Con, where government recruitment was hampered this year by conference founder Jeff Moss's requesting that feds stay away, it seemed like a good idea to walk around asking people if they would still want to work for the NSA.

Submission + - Solar Magnetic Field About To Flip (nasa.gov)

Freddybear writes: According to measurements from NASA solar observatories, the sun's magnetic field is about to reverse polarity. The event is predicted to occur within the next three to four months and will have effects throughout the solar system. These magnetic reversals happen regularly about every eleven years as part of the solar cycle.

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