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Comment: The More the Merrier (Score 1) 357

by Vengance Daemon (#43087663) Attached to: Don't Want a Phonebook? Give Up Your Privacy
I have no problem receiving these phone books and I also am not bothered by junk mail. I think of all the jobs that they generate, from data collectors to layout artists to printers to delivery people. Particularly with the trouble the USPO is in, the junk mail is helpful; the postage prepaid envelopes in credit card ads even serve the USPO better. I find no real strain in putting such items in the recycle bin thus supporting even more jobs.
Security

+ - South Carolina Taxpayer Security Breach->

Submitted by Vengance Daemon
Vengance Daemon writes "As many as 3.6 million Social Security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers may have been exposed to a foreign hacker in the security breach at the South Carolina Department of Revenue. Said Governor Nikki Haley, "This wasn't an issue where anyone in state government could have done something to avoid it. This is a situation where a sophisticated, intelligent individual got into a database and is unbelievably creative in how he did it, and now we're having to deal with it." She said she wanted the hacker "slammed against the wall," and announced the code number at a news conference in the state capital of Columbia and told people they could sign up directly online. She gave out a code number to use to enroll online for theft protection; apparently the number is the same for everyone. I wonder if just anyone can use the number to sign up for credit theft protection?"
Link to Original Source
The Military

Mechanic's Mistake Trashes $244 Million Aircraft 428

Posted by Unknown Lamer
from the total-tool-awareness dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "An accident report is finally out for the Air Force E-8C Joint Surveillance Targeting and Attack Radar System that had started refueling with a KC-135 on on March 13, 2009 when the crew heard a 'loud bang throughout the midsection of the aircraft.' Vapor and fuel started pouring out of the JSTARS from 'at least two holes in the left wing just inboard of the number two engine.' The pilot immediately brought the jet back to its base in Qatar where mechanics found the number two main fuel tank had been ruptured, 'causing extensive damage to the wing of the aircraft.' How extensive? 25 million dollars worth of extensive. What caused this potentially fatal and incredibly expensive accident to one of the United States' biggest spy planes? According to the USAF accident report, a contractor accidentally left a plug in one of the fuel tank's relief vents (PDF) during routine maintenance. 'The PDM subcontractor employed ineffective tool control measures,' reads the report. Tool control measures? 'You know, the absolutely basic practice of accounting for the exact location of every tool that is used to work on an airplane once that work is finished.' Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz just told Congress, 'there is a JSTARS platform that was damaged beyond economical repair that we will not repair.' So, if this is the one Schwartz is talking about, then one mechanic's mistake has damaged a $244 million aircraft beyond repair."
Piracy

US Government Seeks Extradition of UK Student For File-Sharing 409

Posted by Soulskill
from the if-you-can't-stand-the-heat-don't-link-to-the-kitchen dept.
Gimble writes "The BBC reports that UK student Richard O'Dwyer has lost a legal battle to block his extradition to the U.S., where he faces copyright infringement charges for running a file sharing site (ruling). O'Dwyer operated the site 'TV-Shack' from 2007 until 2010, which didn't offer any files itself, but posted links to streams and files hosted elsewhere. O'Dwyer was first arrested in June last year by British police acting on information from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The domestic investigation was subsequently dropped, but Mr. O'Dwyer was re-arrested in May on an extradition warrant to face charges in America."
Handhelds

Businesses Now Driving "Bring Your Own Device" Trend 232

Posted by samzenpus
from the taking-care-of-things-personally dept.
snydeq writes "Companies are no longer waiting for users to bring in their own smartphones and tablets into business environments, they're encouraging it, InfoWorld reports. 'Two of the most highly regulated industries — financial services and health care (including life sciences) — are most likely to support BYOD. So are professional services and consulting, which are "well" regulated. ... The reason is devilishly simple, Herrema says: These businesses are very much based on using information, both as the service itself and to facilitate the delivery of their products and services. Mobile devices make it easier to work with information during more hours and at more locations. That means employees are more productive, which helps the company's bottom line.' Even those companies who haven't yet embraced bring your own device policies yet already have one in place, but don't know it, according to recent surveys."
Opera

Opera Proposes Switching Browser Scrolling For 'Pages' 320

Posted by Soulskill
from the what-is-this dept.
Barence writes "Opera has proposed a new browsing system that swaps scrolling on websites for flippable pages. The Norwegian browser maker is looking to remove the side scroll bar for documents or articles in favor of 'pages' of a set-size, similar to an ebook. Text can be reflowed into a column layout, and ads will be moved into the right spot in the text, with different ones displayed depending on the orientation of the device. Pages are flipped with gestures on tablets or with mouse clicks on the desktop. It's an 'opportunity to rethink the ads on the web and the user interface,' said Hakon Wium Lie, Opera's CTO." Their main focus for this is browsing on tablets.
Businesses

Netflix Creates Qwikster For DVD Only Business 481

Posted by samzenpus
from the judgement-of-solomon dept.
Frankie70 writes "Netflix CEO Reed Hastings just dropped a bombshell. In the wake of a rapid decline in Netflix's stock price last week, Hastings is taking a bold step by separating the DVD and video streaming services. The DVD-by-mail service will now be called Qwikster, and the streaming service will maintain the Netflix brand."
Advertising

NYT Working On 'Magic Mirror' For Bathroom Surfing 138

Posted by Soulskill
from the in-case-you-didn't-have-enough-webcams-by-your-toilet dept.
MrSeb writes "If the New York Times Research & Development Lab has its wicked way, you will soon be able to stop taking your mobile computer of choice into the bathroom — and use a 'magic mirror' instead. On average we spend an hour in the bathroom every day, and the magic mirror — which is built from a 'data-bearing' mirror, Microsoft Kinect, and a healthy dollop of ingenuity — is designed to capitalize on that time by letting you surf the web and increase the New York Times' advertising revenue."
Censorship

8 Ways To Circumvent the PROTECT-IP Act 284

Posted by timothy
from the reserve-army-of-unemployed-pigeons dept.
Dangerous_Minds writes "One of the things that the PROTECT-IP act is said to do is make DNS servers censor websites that have been accused of copyright infringement. Drew Wilson of ZeroPaid decided to look in to how many ways he could come up with that would circumvent such censorship. He found 8 ways to circumvent such censorship. The article includes pros and cons and links to guides on how to carry out these methods. The methods are: using a VPN service, using your HOSTs file, using TOR, using freely available DNS lookup tools, changing your DNS server to a non-US server, using command prompt, using Foxy Proxy, and using MAFIAAFire. If anything, the list raises serious doubts that the PROTECT IP Act will even put a dent on copyright infringement online."
Cloud

Office 365: Suffer 18 Days' Outage, Still Pay Half Price 137

Posted by timothy
from the you-ungrateful-whelps dept.
rtfa-troll writes "Microsoft is preparing its customers for plenty of outage time according to the Register, with a scheme for Office 365 which will give customers some money back. The offer seems to be Microsoft's answer to Google offering a '100% uptime guarantee' (they even pay for maintenance time) The most interesting thing about the scheme is that you can have a one and a half day outage every month (or is that 18 solid days a year?) and still expect to pay half price. I wonder Microsoft have put the Sidekick management in charge of their customer's data. Looking forward my expense forms have getting eaten by the cloud so I have to fill them in again."
Operating Systems

Oracle Shuts Older Servers Out of Solaris 11 203

Posted by Soulskill
from the hope-you're-done-with-them-'cause-we-sure-are dept.
PCM2 writes "The Register is reporting that Oracle has decided not to allow Solaris 11 to install on older Sparc hardware, including UltraSparc-I, UltraSparc-II, UltraSparc-IIe, UltraSparc-III, UltraSparc-III+, UltraSparc-IIIi, UltraSparc-IV, and UltraSparc-IV+ processors. The Solaris 11 Express development version released in November did not have this restriction, which suggests that the OS would likely run on these models. Unfortunately, the installer won't. All generations of Sparc T series processors and Sparc Enterprise M machines will be able to install and run Solaris 11, however."

+ - Wyoming Goes Google->

Submitted by Vengance Daemon
Vengance Daemon writes "All of Wyoming state government's 10,000 employees use Google Apps for Government, a platform that provides extra security to Google's business app suite: Gmail, Docs, Sites, Video, and Calendar."
Link to Original Source
Cloud

Best Buy Releases Their Own Music Cloud 187

Posted by Soulskill
from the johnny-come-lately dept.
thewebblogger writes "In a move that more resembles 'me too' behavior rather than a well planned release, Best Buy has announced their own music cloud service, called simply Best Buy Music Cloud. The functionality is not complete yet; iOS / Android applications are not available at this point, and the only part that works is the Web Player. The premium version will cost $3.99/month and you'll have to upload your own music. iTunes is mandatory."

"The way of the world is to praise dead saints and prosecute live ones." -- Nathaniel Howe

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