76390121
submission
jfruh writes:
Harm de Vries, a post-doctoral researcher at the Université de Montréal, is trying to build an algorithm that will sort through pictures on Tinder and OKCupid and pick out women he'll find attractive. His program, built using deep learning techniques, has about a 68 percent success rate, which isn't that bad. (A human friend to whom de Vries described his preferences managed 76 percent.)
76323195
submission
jfruh writes:
Facebook's focus on mobile is helping it rack up user gains in Africa, where its user base has grown by 20 percent in the last year alone, almost entirely due to people accessing the service on their phones. The company still has a long way to go, though: only about 12 percent of Africans have Facebook accounts, and they're concentrated in the relatively prosperous countries of South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria.
76323105
submission
jfruh writes:
One of the aspects of the space age that sci-fi writers of the '50s couldn't predict was how much of our space activities are conducted by unmanned satellites rather than human beings. Now, DARPA wants to take that one step further, by building a robot satellite to fix other satellites. The inititative is being headed by former Space Shuttle commander Pamela Meloy.
76211895
submission
jfruh writes:
The latest attack vector hackers are taking advantage of: Google's Webmaster tools, which allow domain owners to index new pages for searching and react quickly to Google-detected malware. It's that last capability that hackers are after, tweaking things to keep infected sites under their control longer.
76109849
submission
jfruh writes:
Microsoft became an OS and PC beheamoth in part by relentless focus on business sales, and is partnering with old friend Dell to try to recreate that success, trying to woo companies into buying Surface Pros loaded with Windows 10. It may seem topsy-turvey that Dell would be selling someone else's hardware, but Dell is offering ancillary services, including warranties, on the Microsoft hardware.
76109689
submission
jfruh writes:
Despite having lost two lower court decisions, Microsoft is continuing to fight a U.S. Department of Justice search warrant that seeks access to a criminal suspect's data, which is stored on a server in Ireland. If the DOJ insists its search warrants extend to overseas data, the agency will expose U.S. citizens' data to searches by other governments, Microsoft has argued.
75970661
submission
jfruh writes:
As Nokia's smartphone division becomes more fully absorbed into Microsoft, the company is cleaning house and ending some apps and services that Nokia had developed specifically for Windows Phone. Lumia Storyteller, Lumia Beamer, Photobeamer, and Lumia Refocus are photo and video apps that integrate with online services, and those services will be shutting down on October 30. Microsoft says its to better commit resources to work on the mobile version of Windows 10, which is coming soon, but not all the features of the canceled services will appear in the new OS.
75944723
submission
jfruh writes:
Most people know that there are dark corners of the Internet where you can find weapons or drugs, but there are even spookier things you'll encounter: betrayal, lies, and maybe even yourself.
75938213
submission
jfruh writes:
Many wearable computing devices communicate with each other via Bluetooth, but there's a problem with that: the human body actually absorbs much of the signal, meaning that wearables have to crank up the power (and burn through their battery). Researchers at UC San Diego are exploring a different option: using magnetic signals sent through the body itself rather than the air around it to communicate.
75915335
submission
jfruh writes:
The Machinima gaming video network took money from a marketing agency hired by Microsoft to pay "influencers" up to $45,000 to promote the Xbox One. Crucially, the video endorsers did not disclose that they'd been paid, which has caused trouble with the FTC. For its part, Machinima notes that this happened in 2013, when the current management was not in charge.
75844457
submission
jfruh writes:
I'm a Mac guy — have been ever since the '80s. When Windows 95 was released 20 years ago, I was among those who sneered that "Windows 95 is Macintosh 87." But now, as I type these words on a shiny new iMac, I can admit that my UI — and indeed the computing landscape in general — owes a lot to Windows 95, the most influential operating system that ever got no respect.
75709457
submission
jfruh writes:
Do your interactions with non-tech staff at your company end in tears and acrimony? It may be that the skills you've developed to good effect to communicate with your peers aren't applying across department boundries. We talked to various tech staff and communications pros for some tips and talking to normals.
75639603
submission
jfruh writes:
The Congressial act that created the Federal Trade Commission gave that agency broad powers to punish companies engaged in "unfair and deceptive practices." Today, a U.S. appeals court affirmed that sloppy cybersecurity falls under that umbrella. The case involves data breaches at Wyndham Worldwide, which stored customer payment card information in clear, readable text, and used easily guessed passwords to access its important systems.
75551449
submission
jfruh writes:
Linus Torvalds was a surprise speaker at this year's LinuxCon, and in a typically provocative speech, he declared that chasing after perfect security will always fail. Instead, he touted the open source model, which he said led to bugs and security holes in production environments being fixed as quickly as possible.
75487907
submission
jfruh writes:
In order to meet its goal of bringing Android to five billion users, Google needs to get smartphones into the hands of people in the developing world. The company's Android One program aims to do just that. Already active in India, the program is now bringing an $88 smartphone to West Africa.
