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Submission + - Netflix Stealthy Reduces Service, Keeps Prices the Same

Submitted by Nom du Keyboard
Nom du Keyboard writes: After seeing a drop in my DVD service from Netflix I got a customer service representative tonight to confirm that Netflix has ceased processing DVD returns on Saturdays nationwide. And that they did this without either notifying their customers, nor reducing prices to compensate for the reduced service. Given that the DVD selection still far outstrips their streaming selection, this may be news to others like myself who don't find streaming an adequate replacement for plastic discs. My experience up until recently, unlike Netflix's promise of a 1-3 day turnaround at their end which gives them lots of wiggle room to degrade service even further, had been of mailing in a DVD on day one, having them receive it and mail out my next selection on day two, and receiving it on day three. Now with them only working 5 days and many US Post Office holidays, they're still getting the same money for significantly less. Is Netflix still the good guy here?

Submission + - Russia shows proof of warplanes In MH17 vicinity,demands answers from US/Kiev (zerohedge.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Ukraine hasn’t said how it immediately knew rebels downed Malaysian plane, notes the Russian Foreign Ministry, as it unveils 10 awkward questions for Ukraine (and perhaps the US 'snap judgment') to answer about the MH17 disaster. However, what is perhaps more concerning for the hordes of finger-pointers is that:
[1] Russia has images of Ukraine deploying BUK rockets in east
[2] Ukraine moved BUK near rebels in Donetsk on July 17th
[3] Russia detected Ukrainian fighter jet pick up speed toward MH17

Aside from the fake YouTube clips, these would deal another unpleasant blow to US foreign policy.

Submission + - Members of previously uncontacted tribe infected with flu (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Brazil’s Indian affairs department has announced an event that many anthropologists and medical researchers had feared. In the remote Brazilian state of Acre, members of a long-isolated Amazon tribe have contracted influenza after making voluntary contact with the outside world a few weeks ago. Some researchers now fear that the contacted individuals will spread the potentially fatal virus to other nonimmunized members of their tribe.

Submission + - "Canvas Fingerprinting" Online Tracking Difficult To Block (propublica.org)

Submitted by globaljustin
globaljustin writes: First documented in a forthcoming paper by researchers at Princeton University and KU Leuven University in Belgium, this type of tracking, called canvas fingerprinting, works by instructing the visitor’s Web browser to draw a hidden image. Because each computer draws the image slightly differently, the images can be used to assign each user’s device a number that uniquely identifies it.

[The] fingerprints are unusually hard to block: They can’t be prevented by using standard Web browser privacy settings or using anti-tracking tools such as AdBlock Plus.

The researchers found canvas fingerprinting computer code, primarily written by a company called AddThis, on 5 percent of the top 100,000 websites.

Comment Re:Why are Zorro cards worth anything at all? (Score 1) 192

by drinkypoo (#47504233) Attached to: The Almost Forgotten Story of the Amiga 2000

Nice try, and I'm sure you can impress a few kids who never experienced the Amiga era, but to me you only look like a fool. You know what was really cool at the time?

Yeah. Having an Emplant board. I've owned several Amigas, and hung out with several other Amiga owners. Blow it out your arse sideways.

Comment Re:Huge Caveat! (Score 4, Informative) 98

by 93 Escort Wagon (#47502677) Attached to: Researcher Finds Hidden Data-Dumping Services In iOS

That only happens if you enter your passcode then see the "Trust this Computer" prompt on a computer that has iTunes installed and you click "Trust" at the prompt. That creates a set of sync keys that the iOS device will then accept to access the various services.

The article made that very clear. But it's not clear to me where these keys are stored - is it on the disk, unprotected, or is it in your encrypted keychain? If the former, it seems to me that - unless you encrypt your computer's hard disk - this means anyone with unfettered access to your computer could get at these keys and thereby get at everything on your iOS device. If the latter, it would be much more difficult to do, even if they otherwise got access to your account.

The guy said he uses this to monitor his kids (which, depending on their age, might be a bit jerky in my opinion). However since he seems like an overzealous parent, I'm wondering if he has his kids' passwords etc., which would be necessary if these keys are in the keychain.

Comment Re:10.10 per hour (Score 1) 778

by drinkypoo (#47502069) Attached to: States That Raised Minimum Wage See No Slow-Down In Job Growth

would you then agree that its important to help folks both with fish _and_ fish poles?

Yes. That is in fact precisely how I feel about it. Teaching 'em how to use the pole is right in there as well. It's woeful what the education system in this country has become. It's awful how entitlement programs are designed to self-perpetuate by cutting off recipients when they just begin to get their shit together. And it's awful how we don't actually permit people to be self-sufficient in this country; grow your own food in your own backyard and you just might get a visit from the cops.

Ranty McRanterson, I know. But seriously, at the rate at which we shit upon the disadvantaged in this country, it's a wonder we ever even hear from them, let alone see or smell them.

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