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Submission + - No Question: Snowden was 2013's Most Influential Tech Figure (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: Lots of CEOs, entrepreneurs, and developers made headlines in 2013—but in hindsight, Edward Snowden will likely stand as this year’s most influential figure in technology. In June, Snowden began feeding top-secret documents detailing the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs to The Guardian and other newspapers. Much of that information, downloaded by Snowden while he served as a system administrator at an NSA outpost in Hawaii, suggested that the U.S. government swept up massive amounts of information on ordinary Americans as part of its broader operations. Whatever one’s feelings on the debate over privacy and security, it’s undeniable that Snowden’s documents have increased general awareness of online vulnerability; but whether that’s sparked an increased use of countermeasures—including encryption tools—is another matter entirely. On the developer side of things, when you consider the sheer amount of money, time, and code that’ll be invested over the next few years in encryption and encryption-breaking, it’s clear that Snowden’s influence will be felt for quite some time to come—even if the man himself is trapped in Russian exile.

Submission + - The 47 dumbest moments of 2013 (time.com)

Submitted by harrymcc
harrymcc writes: Over at TIME.com, I rounded up the year's dumbest moments in technology. Yes, the launch of Healthcare.gov is included, as are Edward Snowden's revelations. But so are a bunch of people embarrassing themselves on Twitter, both BlackBerry and Lenovo hiring celebrities to (supposedly) design products, the release of glitchy products ranging from OS X 10.9 Mavericks to the new Yahoo Mail, and much more.

Submission + - Should John Seek Overtime Pay or Insist on Maintaining His Current Arrangement? 1

Submitted by BronsCon
BronsCon writes: A friend of mine recently came to me for advice regarding how to handle a situation with his employer. I advised him to contact an attorney, because any advice I could provide would likely be poor. But, his situation has made me curious; so I'd like to describe it here and pose the same question to the Slashdot community.

My friend, we'll call him John, has been working for a California-based company for several years in a position covered by IWC Article 4 (PDF warning, sorry) under the assumption that he was exempt from sections 3-12 (which includes the section relating to overtime pay); he recently decided to read over the law, as well as the exemption that could possibly apply to him, the Professional Exemption and the Employee in the Computer Software Field exemption, and discovered that given the current terms of his employment, he is in fact not exempt from any provision of Article 4. He also believes that his employer sincerely mistook his position as exempt and does not wish to punish them for what he believes to be an honest mistake.

For the duration of his employ, John has more or less been allowed to come and go as he pleases and has received frequent commendation for the level of work he puts out, so it would appear that his loose schedule has been beneficial for all involved, up to now. What prompted him to review the IWC documents was a sudden insistence from his boss that he was not working reasonable hours because "every other salaried position requires 50-60hr workweeks".

Here's the rub; he does not want to pursue the unpaid overtime, because this would bankrupt the company and put him out of a job, and he is worried that suing his employer may well make him unemployable. He simply either wants things to continue on as they have been, foregoing overtime pay in exchange for a high degree of freedom in his working schedule (which typically equates to coming in between 8:00 and 8:20 rather than at 8:00 sharp, taking 20-30min breaks rather than 10min, taking an occasional long lunch, and typically staying 30-90min later than most of his coworkers to make up for all of it, as well as working weekends to get things done that didn't get done during the week), or adjusting the working relationship into full compliance with IWC Article 4.

John's development work is largely done solo, he is always present for meetings, which are not held regularly, and his work is frequently completed ahead of schedule and under budget. There are no team members twiddling their thumbs while John is out getting coffee or walking off a heavy lunch before returning to the office.

I'm curious to see how Slashdot's advice will align with John's lawyer's advice, as well as what John will actually do in his situation. So, Slashdot, what would you do?

Submission + - Legal backlash against KlearGear.com bad review "fine"

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: An update on a Slashdot story about KlearGear.com "fining" a couple for a bad review 4 years earlier on RipoffReport: Not only did KlearGear report this as a bad debt to credit reporting agencies, but KlearGear is hiding behind a DomainsByProxy domain name to making finding their real identities harder. Now Public Citizen is representing the couple and is going after KlearGear for $75,000. The TV station that broke this story, KUTV, now reports: It looks like RipoffReport will be on the couple's side also, the BBB and TRUSTe say their logos were used by KlearGear.com without permission, and credit reporting agency Experian is also investigating. (Submitting anonymously for obvious reasons.)

Submission + - Rivals can legally create copycat software says UK Court (out-law.com)

Submitted by eionmac
eionmac writes: Decision byy UK Appeal Court. Businesses can replicate the way a rivals' computer program operates by interpreting how it functions from reading user manuals or other accompanying documents their rivals produce without infringing copyright, the Court of Appeal has ruled

Submission + - U. S. Military Settles for Software Piracy (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by Rambo Tribble
Rambo Tribble writes: The BBC reports that the U. S. government has agreed to pay software maker Apptricity $50 million to settle claims that the U. S. Army pirated thousands of copies of the firm's provisioning software. The report indicates 500 licensed copies were sold, but it came to light an army official had mentioned that "thousands" of devices were running the software.

Submission + - SSD Manufacturer OCZ Preparing for Bankruptcy

Submitted by JDG1980
JDG1980 writes: OCZ, a manufacturer of solid-state drives, has filed for bankruptcy. This move was forced by Hercules Technology Growth Capital, which had lent $30 million to OCZ under terms that were later breached. The most likely outcome of this bankruptcy is that OCZ's assets (including the Indilinx controller IP) will be purchased by Toshiba. If this deal falls through, the company will be liquidated. No word yet on what a Toshiba purchase would mean in terms of warranty support for OCZ's notoriously unreliable drives.

Submission + - Whistle blowing in action (nature.com)

Submitted by bmahersciwriter
bmahersciwriter writes: Helene Hill thought she was close to retirement when, on a whim one day, she decided to check on a junior colleague's cell cultures. They were empty, she says, yet he produced data from them soon after. Blowing the whistle on what she thinks was research misconduct cost her 14 years and $200,000. See how she and other whistleblowers fared in this story from Nature.

Submission + - Top Black Thursday/Friday Tech Picks?

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Take a gander at the 2013 Black Friday ads, and your head will be spinning with deals that seem too good to be true. And while the WSJ will try to slap you back to reality with a story on The Dirty Secret of Black Friday 'Discounts', it's still hard not to get jazzed over the prospect of picking up an iPad Mini w/$100 gift card for $299 (Walmart), a 16GB Nexus 7 for $199 (Staples), or a 32GB Microsoft Surface for $199.99 (Best Buy). So, if you're playing the game this year — either online or in-person (hey, what could go wrong?), — what are your top tech picks for Black Friday? Any strategy for improving your odds of getting them?

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Why are tech job requirements so specific?

Submitted by hurwak-feg
hurwak-feg writes: I am in the market for a new IT (software development or systems administration) job for the first time and several years and noticed that many postings have very specific requirements (i.e. specific models of hardware, specific software versions). I don't understand this. I like working with people that have experience with technologies that I don't because what they are familiar with might be a better solution for a problem than what I am familiar with. Am I missing something or are employers making it more difficult for themselves and job seekers by rejecting otherwise qualified candidates that don't meet a very specific mold. Is there a good reason for being extremely specific in job requirements that I am just not seeing?

Submission + - Hackers Break Currency Validator to Pass Any Paper as Valid Euro

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: If espionage is the world’s second-oldest profession, counterfeiting may be in the running to be third on that list. People have been trying to forge currency for just about as long as currency has been circulating, and anti-counterfeiting methods have tried to keep pace with the state of the art. The anti-counterfeiting technology in use today of course relies on computers and software, and like all software, it has bugs, as researchers at IOActive discovered when they reverse-engineered the firmware in a popular Euro currency verifier and found that they could insert their own firmware and force the machine to verify any piece of paper as a valid Euro note.

“The impact is obvious. An attacker with temporary physical access to the device could install customized firmware and cause the device to accept counterfeit money. Taking into account the types of places where these devices are usually deployed (shops, mall, offices, etc.) this scenario is more than feasible.”

Submission + - Security hole found in Obamacare website (cnn.com)

Submitted by RoccamOccam
RoccamOccam writes: The Obamacare website has more than annoying bugs. A cybersecurity expert found a way to access users' accounts.

Until the Department of Health fixed the security hole last week, anyone could easily reset a user's Healthcare.gov password without their knowledge and potentially hijack the account.

The glitch was discovered last week by Ben Simo, a software tester in Arizona. Simo found that gaining access to people's accounts was frighteningly simple.

Submission + - Do you need headphones while working? (headyo.com) 1

Submitted by headyo
headyo writes: I recently joined a multinational company as a software developer and there is no cubicle system. Constant buzzing is always there.I bought a noise cancelling headphones for myself and guys, believe me, I am so relieved that I can concentrate on my work. Is use of headphones OK while working? What do yo all think?

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