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Submission + - Code.org Taps Microsoft Minecraft Hour of Code Designer to Teach Kids CS

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: In September, Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi dissed Stephen Wolfram's ambitious plan to teach computational thinking in schools in an EdSurge op-ed, arguing that "the Wolfram Language has serious shortcomings for broad educational use" (an assertion some challenge). So, it's probably no surprise that you won't find the Wolfram Language among this year's Hour of Code tutorials. Like last year, Code.org on Tuesday announced it has partnered again with Microsoft on a Minecraft-themed signature tutorial for the 2016 Hour of Code. "The new tutorial," Code.org explains, "begins in a Minecraft world where sheep don’t move, the chickens don’t cluck, and nothing attacks: it’s a blank slate without movement or defined action. Over the course of an hour, students will bring this world to life using computer science. At the final level, they get to define the rules of Minecraft however they wish. If they want, the cows can lay eggs, sheep can explode, and zombies can run away from players." In an accompanying press release, Microsoft — a Code.org Platinum supporter (Microsoft President Brad Smith sits on Code.org's Board — boasted that 31 million schoolchildren sat through last year's Minecraft-themed Hour of Code tutorial. “We are partnering with Code.org again this year to make computer science more accessible to millions of youth around the world with 'Minecraft' and Hour of Code,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “I am inspired by the 'Minecraft' generation who view themselves not as players of a game, but as creators of the new worlds they dream up. This is the generation that will imagine, build and create our future, and together we can equip them with the computational thinking and problem-solving skills to seize the opportunities ahead." The press release ends with a plug for (non-free) Minecraft: Education Edition, "a fully featured title that brings the magic of 'Minecraft' to the classroom for more immersive, long- term lesson plans."

Submission + - Facebook admits that it miscalculated advertising metrics (wsj.com)

Submitted by McGruber
McGruber writes: Facebook disclosed on Wednesday that a comprehensive internal metrics audit found that discrepancies, or “bugs,” led to the undercounting or overcounting of four measurements, including the weekly and monthly reach of marketers’ posts, the number of full video views and time spent with publishers’ Instant Articles. None of the metrics in question impact Facebook’s billing, said Mark Rabkin, vice president of Facebook’s core ads team.

The unveiling of the additional errors may trouble some advertisers and web publishers that rely on Facebook for distribution and monetization. Several had already called for additional third-party validation of Facebook’s data.

Submission + - Another Samsung smartphone explodes.

Submitted by ctrl-alt-canc
ctrl-alt-canc writes: According to a CTV news agency report, a man from Winnipeg (Canada) was badly injuried while driving by the explosion of a Samsung Galaxy 7. The man suffered some second degree burns to his hands. Samsung Canada said that "Customer safety remains our highest priority and we remain committed to working with any customer who has experienced an issue with a Samsung product". The Samsung Galaxy 7 is one of the smartphones that were offered as a replacement for defective Samsung Galaxy Notes 7.

Submission + - Could alt-right account bans spell the end of Twitter? (betanews.com)

Submitted by Mark Wilson
Mark Wilson writes: Abuse and trolling has been a serious problem for Twitter for some time and continues to be so. Various measures have been introduced to help with the issues, but now the site is going down a more drastic route, banning prominent alt-right accounts.

This is not something that is entirely new; earlier in the year Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos (also known as @Nero) was permanently banned from Twitter. In the wake of Donald Trump's astonishing rise to presidency, the alt-right movement has enjoyed a major boost. The question is, does Twitter risk cutting off too many of its users if it continues its alt-right cull?

Submission + - Google on the Trump Transition Team

Submitted by Presto Vivace
Presto Vivace writes: Google is among the many major corporations whose surrogates are getting key roles on Donald Trump’s transition team.

Joshua Wright has been put in charge of transition efforts at the influential Federal Trade Commission after pulling off the rare revolving-door quadruple-play, moving from Google-supported academic work to government – as an FTC commissioner – back to the Google gravy train and now back to the government. ... The Intercept has documented how Wright, as a law professor at George Mason University, received Google funding for at least four academic papers, all of which supported Google’s position that it did not violate antitrust laws when it favored its own sites in search engine requests and restricted advertisers from running ads on competitors. George Mason received $762,000 in funding from Google from 2011 to 2013.

Submission + - Solution To Dark Matter Proposes That Gravity Is An Illusion (forbes.com)

Submitted by turkeydance
turkeydance writes: well, yes, the article is from Forbes:

As dark matter continues to vex astronomers, new solutions to the dark matter question are proposed. Most focus on pinning down the form of dark matter, while others propose modifying gravity to account for the effect. But a third proposal is simply to remove gravity from the equation. What if the effects of gravity aren’t due to some fundamental force, but are rather an emergent effect due to other fundamental interactions? A new paper proposes just that, and if correct it could also explain the effects of dark matter.

Submission + - Meet the "Other" Mark Zuckerberg (backchannel.com)

Submitted by mirandakatz
mirandakatz writes: What's it like sharing a name with the most famous man in tech? For the "other" Mark Zuckerberg, a lawyer in Indiana, it has some perks—prime tables at restaurants, for example—but for the most part, it's a major hassle. People try to hack his Facebook six times a day; he's had his account deactivated because Facebook thought he was trying to impersonate the "real" Mark; and his law office is constantly besieged by people calling and hoping to talk to the Mark in Menlo Park. At Backchannel, Jessi Hempel sat down with the "other" MZ to find out how living with a case of constantly mistaken identity affects his life.

Submission + - An Interview With An Actual Expert on Voting Machine Security

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: The news has been full of headlines for weeks about election fraud, voting machine hacking, and all kinds of other scary sounding stuff. Much of the coverage has been hyperbolic to say the least, so we decided to get some clear-headed, rational thoughts on the topic from Avi Rubin. Avi is a professor at Johns Hopkins University and did some of the pioneering work on voting machine security in the early 2000s. We talked with Avi about the problems with electronic voting machines, the potential for tampering with them, whether the machines can be attacked remotely, and what other avenues attackers might have to disrupt the election.

Submission + - CEO's message jolts IT workers facing layoffs (computerworld.com)

Submitted by dcblogs
dcblogs writes: IT workers in the infrastructure team at Health Care Service Corporation (HCSC) were notified recently of their layoff. They expect to be training replacements from India-based contractor HCL. The layoff affects more than 500 IT workers. But this familiar IT story begins a little differently. A few days before employees were notified in mid-October of their layoff, HCSC CEO Paula Steiner talked about future goals in an internal, company-wide video. Steiner's comments weren't IT-department-specific, but the takeaway quote by one IT employee was this: "As full-time retiring baby boomers move on to their next chapter, the makeup of our organization will consist more of young and non-traditional workers, such as part-time workers or contractors," said Steiner in the video. What Steiner didn't say in the employee broadcast is that some of the baby boomers moving "on to the next chapter" are being pushed out the door. "Obviously not all of us are 'retiring' — a bunch of us are being thrown under the bus," said one older employee.

Submission + - There's an 80% chance another team will have the Chicago Cub's same bad luck (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Last night, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series, defeating the Cleveland Indians in the series’ seventh game and securing their first championship of Major League Baseball since 1908. The Cubs’ streak of 107 seasons without a championship was unparalleled in the four major North American sports: baseball, American football, basketball, and ice hockey. But as sports leagues continue to expand, the probability that some team or another team will suffer an equally long championship drought is growing right along with them. With 30 teams in the league, the probability that some team or another will fail to win the championship for 107 seasons in a row is a whopping 79.7%. In fact, the Cleveland Indians have a decent chance of matching the Cubs’ feat. Cleveland hasn’t won in the 68 seasons since 1948. Assuming all teams have equal chances of winning, then the probability that the Indians will continue to not win for another 39 years is 26.7%.

Submission + - Google To Untrust WoSign and StartCom Certificates (csoonline.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Following similar decisions by Mozilla and Apple, Google plans to reject new digital certificates issued by certificate authorities WoSign and StartCom because they violated industry rules and best practices. The ban will go into effect in Chrome version 56, which is currently in the dev release channel, and will apply to all certificates issued by the two authorities after October 21.

Submission + - NSA Front Equation Group May In Fact Be Russian (blogspot.com)

Submitted by badger.foo
badger.foo writes: The well-known NSA front or hackers-for-hire The Equation Group may in fact be Russian, or at least operating out of a 'forward base' close to Russian networks, if Peter Hansteen reads subtle hints in the recent Shadow Brokers data dump correctly. The clue: Several Russian hosts identified by RFC1918 local net addresses. You can read the whole story, with links to the data, here.

Submission + - Firefox purging functionality citing privacy concerns (theguardian.com)

Submitted by xogg
xogg writes: Battery Status API allows web sites to read the battery level of user's system. The API was found to bring privacy risks and abuse potential and a number of implementation bugs. Now with apparent no legitimate use cases, Mozilla is taking the unprecedented decision to vaporize a browser API due to privacy concerns. And apparently, WebKit, powering Apple's Safari follows. Is that the first time a browser reduces functionality following research reports warning of privacy risks?

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