+1 to this. The spread of good/bad/awful passwords (according to the authors' somewhat ad-hoc classification) is not too surprising on its own, but this data also has a strong selection bias toward users with lax security practices in general: this dataset consists exclusively of users with an active malware infestation.

Nah, they're totally using the car's ECU to mine bitcoin.

This is neat, although (as others have pointed out) not exactly a new idea. In a world where all cell phones have a speaker and microphone under software control (and in most cases, an accelerometer, supporting a "clink to sync" mechanism for short-term pairing), how did the concept of NFC, i.e. a separate antenna*, receiver chip and extremely application-specific software stack, ever get off the ground?

The typical adult human cannot hear frequencies above about 15KHz (a child can - anyone remember that flyback whine from CRT televisions? - but only if the amplitude is high enough), whereas the phone mic samples at typically 22KHz or 44KHz. The antialiasing filters on them are invariably shit, so ultrasonics on the 22KHz device will just alias into the passband and make your decoding job almost easier.

* (And if we are going to put a big, low-frequency RFID antenna in the phone anyway, where, oh where, is my builtin induction charging support?)

It really depends on the company you work for. I know that at many larger companies, there is all sorts of lawyer-inspired "wisdom" on how firing/layoffs and employee notices are handled. You know, layoffs happen on a Friday afternoon; immediately escort an employee giving notice out of the building so they don't bug your system, etc.

But, it does not always have to be that way.

A tiny datapoint: I work at a small company (~30 employees) in an at-will state. In nearly 10 years' employment, I have never seen an employee laid off with less than 4-6 weeks notice. Likewise, I have never in that time seen an employee leave with less than 2 weeks' notice, despite the fact that anyone legally could. The vast majority have likewise given 4-6 weeks' notice. I don't think it is coincidence :-)

I know it is not representative of all companies, but at this particular one, a security guard with a box does not materialize at your desk the moment you announce that you are leaving. There are many reasons an employee leaves; most of them are not "fuck you". In recent memory, some reasons were that an employee had to return to their hometown to care for aging parents, were going off to get their masters/PhD, or their spouse couldn't find work in the area or couldn't stand the climate, or of course the usual "better offer" / change of pace. In each case, the employee gave several weeks' notice and it was greatly appreciated. It allowed time for some knowledge transfer, cleaning up any loose ends and transitioning projects to someone else. I suspect that if the company did escort on-the-spot, or the boss/owner didn't work so hard to avoid layoffs and give ample notice when they did happen, employees would give a lot less notice too. It's really a two-way street, and depends a lot on your company culture.

There's one in-the-wild I've heard of where the thief busts off one of the motorized side mirrors - a quick kick takes it right out - plugs a hackytool into its wire harness and unlocks the doors via CANbus command.

Sounds suspiciously like what a < font > tag does. (The claim does not distinguish between the "predetermined location" being a local or network resource, as if such a distinction would be meaningful. And, considering that the "reference to a location" is via a resouce-indentifier string in both cases [the 'RI' in URI], it sounds pretty similar to me.)

The phenomenon is real, at least for the ability to see and be annoyed by "relatively" (below a a kHz or two) low frequency PWM. I'm one of "those people" who see the DLP rainbow effect and PWM-dimming car taillights and backlights (they don't make me sick or anything, but it's a bit distracting). That said, I have never, ever seen detectable flicker from a CFL bulb. (Most likely they are usually running at ultrasonic frequencies so that the tiny magnetics inside don't emit audible buzzing. Phosphor glow probably doesn't hurt either.)

"Voodoo dick, get back in your box"

Hi, anyone want to talk about something OTHER than the 'hemp' thing?

The science itself is pretty cool, if maybe a bit late. Like previous work with graphene, it works by puffing up ("exfoliating") laminar carbon stock so that it has an insane surface area - like activated carbon, but much moreso. This surface area is what allows for such high capacity in electric double layer ("super") capacitors.

"But graphene is still quite expensive to make", says the article. There's the rub - while this research is pitched as a way to avoid the expense of graphene, it was recently discovered you can make graphene in your kitchen.

It's not only a DMCA request; there is also a traditional cease-and-desist lawyer letter tacked onto the end, ordering StackExchange to ban a particular user and remove the actual (user-written) text of specific posts, via the usual bluster ("false and misleading", "defamation", "lanham act",...).

Obligatory: "You are aware this motion picture is shown in Feel-a-Round..."

This. The latest crop of MEMS pressure sensors actually have enough resolution to estimate your altitude to within a foot or so, and are sold for exactly this purpose. Combine this pressure reading with local weather (available from your data connection) to cancel out day-to-day barometric fluctuations, and the phone can hit you up with ads targeted to not only what shop you're in, but which floor you're on (GPS has horrible vertical accuracy).

Yes, that is perfectly acceptable in trademark law - "extra large t-shirt" (or any other t-shirt) would not be descriptive of beer. If the examiner was paying attention, they probably made you disclaim the size qualifiers as part of the mark, as these ARE descriptive for beverages.
Magic Hat Brewing can sell Magic Hat (Beer) and own that name in their market ("beverages", more or less). It would likely be considered "merely descriptive" of a top hat sold by a magic-trick shop, though.

Damnit, there goes my sig.