The article doesn't provide many details on what these exploits actually were, but in case anyone else is curious like I was they appear to be published on the ZDI site:

Broad strokes for new discoveries

Details for older exploits

Yes, and their about page, which the OP clearly didn't bother checking, says:

"Code.org is a registered public 501c3 nonprofit, with support from the general public."

Yeah, the .org by its self doesn't mean anything, but it does mean you should probably check for obvious answers to questions like "what is their business model?" before jumping straight to the conspiracy theories.

THANK YOU.

I am absolutely disgusted by the number of people on this thread who seem to be threatened by the idea of encouraging an early interest in CS. I've been volunteering with Hour of Code this week, meaning that, unlike everyone else I've seen on this thread, I actually have some first-hand knowledge about it. I've done the exercises myself, and have seen kids using them start to "get it". How many of them will keep with it? Idunno. But if more kids get into coding because they were given the right tool or had access to a CS curriculum earlier, and they keep exploring it, and that leads to more developers on the market, if they have half as much fun getting there as I did, then that's awesome. I'm not a big enough asshole to value my own special snowflakeness over exposing kids to as many opportunities as possible, and I'm ashamed of how many people around here seem to be.

As for those who scoff and turn up their noses at drag and drop interfaces like Scratch, oh man... where to start? First, it's an INTRODUCTORY tool. Nobody is pretending that this is what professional developers do. Second, it's an excellent way to provide that introduction! Your first language is often the hardest to learn, right? Why? Because you're not just learning the language, you're learning how to think like a developer, how to break down problems and structure solutions in a particular way. Language is an implementation detail. Thus, tools like Scratch abstract it away so you're dealing with the most essential presentation possible of concepts like variables, control structures, and so on. You get that down first, then you start writing "proper" code. IMO it's a brilliant approach.

...you do know what ".org" means, right?

...ah, I think I see what you mean ("aggregating public information" == addresses of stores and whatnot, and assuming "nearby" to be relative to some arbitrary address), whereas the way I always use "search nearby" is on my phone, with "nearby" being relative to my current GPS coordinates. ...which kinda makes this whole conversation moot for me, since I've never been happy with Google's interface for that, and generally just use Yelp instead. *shrug*

How does "search nearby" work without knowing your location (aka "tracking you")?

...oh, and while I haven't tried it, a while back I polled friends for good two-player games and a surprising number recommended cribbage, which I bet there are ways to play online.

First, I'm really sorry you've had to deal with all the dickish responses to your post. You know that doing the long-distance thing will be hard, so you're making plans for ways to stay bonded during that time. Kudos to you and all the best.

As far as games are concerned, one thing I haven't seen suggested much are (virtual) board and card games. Especially if you both have iPads (though there's also varying levels of support for Android, PC, etc versions, depending on the game), there are a ton of good co-op and vs 2-player games that can be played remotely. My girlfriend is actually way more into these than I am, but here are a few off the top of my head:

- Hive (I love this one. It's chess-like but novel, and free on iOS and Android (the physical set is also a great travel game))
- Forbidden Island (here's a video of Wil Wheaton playing it with John Scalzi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxG_ahmF1uM)
- Ticket to Ride (pretty sure this one's also available for PC/Mac)
- Ascension (iOS only, afaik)
- Dominion (also iOS only, I think)
- Magic (available on everything except Android, including consoles)

The nice thing about these games is, if you find one you like, you can hit up a site like boardgamegeek.com to find more like it.

Have fun!

It sounds like you might actually be female, but "You know what girls like to play? [the Sims and Facebook, basically]" was some varsity level mansplaining, regardless. How do you even get from there to the actually reasonable "frankly speaking, it all depends on the girl as to what will and won't work"? It's like you responded to your own comment.

(btw, my gf was /obsessed/ with Draw Something for months, as were a bunch of her friends across the nerdiness spectrum; but I'll be sure and let them know they were all doing it wrong)

>> "They HAVE an ID, Pass and IP"
> Which of those are "UUIDs, software versions"?

Regarding part of your question, the answer to "which of those is a UUID?" is.... "ID". That was a fun game! But surely if you're informed enough to be willing to just dismiss the previous commenter as an idiot, you would know that a UUID is just a randomly-generated ID number, which is much more practical than distinguishing users by username.

You would also, of course, be able to infer that storing software version information might make more sense in the context of a software provider managing updates and support than in the context of a secret plot to reveal to the government who hasn't upgraded to the latest version yet.

Someone please explain how a VOIP service is supposed to work /without/ a table associating numbers with UUIDs, software versions, etc? *eyeroll*

"Blame the people who are actually responsible for the insecurity. Not the ones who are taking advantage of it."

Skip the false dichotomy and embrace the power of 'and'. Just because somebody sold me a crappy lock doesn't absolve a person who breaks into my house of responsibility for his or her choice to do so. We don't have to pick just one to hold accountable.

I would recommend that anyone, before reaching conclusions about what occurred, read Haught's open letter to Coyne (which really should have been linked from TFA) and, of course, watch the video.

I love that I'm not the only one who knew exactly which office was being referred to. :)