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Submission + - Its time to have a talk about Slashdot technology 3

Submitted by hackwrench
hackwrench writes: On top of not fixing the problems that Slashdot has. the new owners have added an annoying ad that persistently blocks actual usage on every load.
Slashdot also frequently launches users some distance into comments for no explicable reason.
It doesn't do Unicode.
The new interface is horrendous. Fortunately it can be switched off.
Features that used to be free are now subscription-only items.
Let's all hash it out. Not just technological issues but editorial grievances as well. And how many of us are on a moderation ban list for some long forgotten stupid reason?

Submission + - Abrupt product termination consequences for Google?

Submitted by managerialslime
managerialslime writes: I wonder how many good Google products never get adopted because IT executives (like me) are now too anxious about application abandonment?

When I was the CIO at a mid-size company, I rejected adoption of Google Voice, Google Wave, and Google Hangouts after seeing them abandon Google Desktop Search.

I reasoned that if Google could not give multi-year sunsetting like Microsoft, then they were not a partner I could rely on.

At what point will Google's advantage due to the flexibility of abrupt terminations be outweighed by resistance to adopting their products?

Hmm....

Submission + - 2016 was the year solar panels finally became cheaper than fossil fuels. (qz.com)

Submitted by managerialslime
managerialslime writes: The renewable energy future will arrive when installing a new solar panels is cheaper than a comparable investment in coal, natural gas or other options. If you ask the World Economic Forum (WEF), the day has arrived.

Solar and wind is now the same price or cheaper than fossil fuels in more than 30 countries, the WEF reported in December (pdf). As prices for solar and wind power continue their precipitous fall, two-thirds of all nations will reach the point known as “grid parity” within a few years, even without subsidies. “Renewable energy has reached a tipping point,” Michael Drexler, who leads infrastructure and development investing at the WEF, said in a statement. “It is not only a commercially viable option, but an outright compelling investment opportunity with long-term, stable, inflation-protected returns.”

Submission + - Red Hat Container Platform OpenShift Dedicated Launches On Google Cloud

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Red Hat has announced the general availability of OpenShift Dedicated across Google Cloud Platform, bringing the open source container platform as a managed service to customers using Google’s cloud infrastructure. Google product manager Martin Buhr said that the move will help accelerate the adoption of Kubernetes, containers and cloud-native application patterns. Users will be able to access Google’s platform which is already optimised for container technologies. There will also be the added benefit of tapping into Google’s portfolio of products, including data analytics tools, machine learning, compute, network and storage services.

Submission + - researchers develop artificial leaf that turns CO2 into fuel (chicagotribune.com)

Submitted by managerialslime
managerialslime writes: University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have developed a way to mimic plants’ ability to convert carbon dioxide into fuel, a way to decrease the amounts of harmful gas in the atmosphere and produce clean energy. The artificial leaf essentially recycles carbon dioxide. And it’s powered entirely by the sun, mimicking the real photosynthesis process.

Submission + - And This, Friends, Is How Russia Built a Sovereign Internet (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by pacopico
pacopico writes: Only a handful of countries have their very own Internet with their own e-mail systems, search engines and social networks. Russia has such an Internet, and it's wonderfully weird, creepy and innovative. Bloomberg Businessweek sent a reporter to Moscow and Siberia to produce a documentary on the rise of the Russian Internet and the current state of the country's technology industry. The show turns up some odd technology like FindFace, which lets anyone snap a picture of a stranger and then find them instantly on social networks, and Group-IB, which is the leading hunter of Russian-speaking hackers. There's also a visit to Akademgorodok, which is sort of like a Russian version of Silicon Valley only in Siberia. Given that Russia's technical influence is in the news, this documentary is timely if nothing else.

Submission + - Who funds the Tor network and why? (exsociety.com) 1

Submitted by jimjasongo
jimjasongo writes: Why does the Tor network get funded by sources like US government? TOR enables the users to use dark web, which is the major source of crime on the internet, so why does so many sources fund tor, when it poses a threat to people

Submission + - Backdoor encryption sneaks into UK law (theregister.co.uk)

Submitted by Coisiche
Coisiche writes: Seems that all the US companies that said any encryption backdoors would undermine global competitiveness, when such a thing was recently mooted there, can now find out if they were correct or not by watching the UK. Meanwhile various TLA agencies will be wondering if it could be as easily slipped into law in their jurisdiction.

Submission + - More Than 1 Million Android Devices Rooted by Gooligan Malware

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: A new version of an existing piece of malware has emerged in some third-party Android app stores and researchers say it has infected more than a million devices around the world, giving the attackers full access to victims’ Google accounts in the process.

The malware campaign is known as Gooligan, and it’s a variant of older malware called Ghost Push that has been found in many malicious apps. Researchers at Check Point recently discovered several dozen apps, mainly in third-party app stores, that contain the malware, which is designed to download and install other apps and generate income for the attackers through click fraud. The malware uses phantom clicks on ads to generate revenue for the attackers through pay-per-install schemes, but that’s not the main concern for victims.

The Gooligan malware also employs exploits that take advantage of several known vulnerabilities in older versions of Android, including Kit Kat and Lollipop to install a rootlet that is capable of stealing users’ Google credentials.Although the malware has full remote access to infected devices, it doesn’t appear to be stealing user data, but rather is content to go the click-fraud route. Most users are being infected through the installation of apps that appear to be legitimate but contain the Gooligan code, a familiar infection routine for mobile devices.

Submission + - Which is the best-managed U.S. bank?

Submitted by Futurepower(R)
Futurepower(R) writes: I see plenty of evidence that banks don't manage their web sites well.

When I check my balance at Ally Bank, the NoScript and Ghostery Firefox add-ons tell me that 11 other sites* would be contacted if I didn't have protection. See the sites below.

The Barclays U.S. Bank web site terms of use say that Barclays U.S. Bank has no legal responsibility or liability for anything it says on its web site. Quoting: "... THE BANK DOES NOT WARRANT THAT: (i) THE SITE OR THE SITE CONTENT IS CORRECT, ACCURATE, RELIABLE OR COMPLETE..." If you can't depend on what the web site says, how can you feel comfortable that you know enough about the bank to want to be a customer?

I talked with a representative at CapitalOne 360 Bank when I discovered that now there is no way to send a secure message to the bank. (My wife has an account.) The secure messaging only allows receiving messages from the bank. If you have a question, you have to call and talk with someone, and you have no way of proving what you were told. The CapitalOne 360 Bank representative said that there were too many incoming messages for the staff to answer, so incoming messages were recently deactivated. Customers are not allowed to keep the incoming messages from the bank; they are deleted after 90 days.

I have plenty of other stories like that. In my experience, top managers often have little knowledge of technology, and often seem not to want any knowledge.

So, which is the best-managed U.S. bank? What are your stories about banks?

*Here are the web sites linked when I check my balance at Ally Bank. Advertising: Adobe Audience Manager, Advertising.com, DoubleClick Floodlight, DoubleClick Spotlight, Google Dynamic Remarketing, MediaMath, and RUN. Site Analytics: Omniture (Adobe Analytics) and Qualtrics. Other web sites: Demdex.net and Omtrdc.net. When I tried to visit the Omtrdc.net web site, I got a Firefox message: "Your connection is not secure. The owner of omtrdc.net has configured their website improperly. To protect your information from being stolen, Firefox has not connected to this website."

Submission + - New Netflix UI Forgets Where You Were In a Video Intentionally (thestack.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Netflix opts all customers into its UI beta-testing program by default (though you can opt out at any time). One iteration the company is experimenting with at the moment features a number of innovations, including a revised and more informative playback environment, a 10-second 'wind-back' feature similar to functionality in Amazon Prime — and an intentional inability to remember where you paused playback, with one operative explaining ‘[This] UI makes you go back to the start of the show so this way in case you missed any part of the movie/show you can watch it again with no troubles.’

Submission + - New study shows marijuana users have low blood flow to the brain (eurekalert.org)

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: State level marijuana legalization efforts across the US have been gaining traction driven by the folk wisdom that marijuana is both a harmless recreational drug and a useful medical treatment for many aliments. However some cracks have appeared in that story with indications that marijuana use is associated with the development of mental disorders and the long term blunting of the brain's reward system of dopamine levels. A new study has found that marijuana appears to have a widespread effect on blood flow in the brain: "Published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, researchers using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), a sophisticated imaging study that evaluates blood flow and activity patterns, demonstrated abnormally low blood flow in virtually every area of the brain studies in nearly 1,000 marijuana users compared to healthy controls, including areas known to be affected by Alzheimer's pathology such as the hippocampus. . . . According to Daniel Amen, M.D., ... "Our research demonstrates that marijuana can have significant negative effects on brain function. The media has given the general impression that marijuana is a safe recreational drug, this research directly challenges that notion. In another new study just released, researchers showed that marijuana use tripled the risk of psychosis. Caution is clearly in order.""

Submission + - San Francisco's 58-Story Millennium Tower Seen Sinking From Space (sfgate.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Engineers in San Francisco have tunneled underground to try and understand the sinking of the 58-story Millennium Tower. Now comes an analysis from space. The European Space Agency has released detailed data from satellite imagery that shows the skyscraper in San Francisco's financial district is continuing to sink at a steady rate — and perhaps faster than previously known. The luxury high-rise that opened its doors in 2009 has been dubbed the Leaning Tower of San Francisco. It has sunk about 16 inches into landfill and is tilting several inches to the northwest. Engineers have estimated the building is sinking at a rate of about 1-inch per year. The Sentinel-1 twin satellites show almost double that rate based on data collected from April 2015 to September 2016. The satellite data shows the Millennium Tower sunk 40 to 45 millimeters — or 1.6 to 1.8 inches — over a recent one-year period and almost double that amount — 70 to 75 mm (2.6 to 2.9 inches) — over its 17-month observation period, said Petar Marinkovic, founder and chief scientist of PPO Labs which analyzed the satellite's radar imagery for the ESA along with Norway-based research institute Norut. The Sentinel-1 study is not focused on the Millennium Tower but is part of a larger mission by the European Space Agency tracking urban ground movement around the world, and particularly subsidence "hotspots" in Europe, said Pierre Potin, Sentinel-1 mission manager for the ESA. The ESA decided to conduct regular observations of the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Hayward Fault, since it is prone to tectonic movement and earthquakes, said Potin, who is based in Italy. Data from the satellite, which is orbiting about 400 miles (700 kilometers) from the earth's surface, was recorded every 24 days. The building's developer, Millennium Partners, insists the building is safe for occupancy and could withstand an earthquake.

Submission + - Was the speed of light infinite at the birth of the universe? (theguardian.com) 1

Submitted by mspohr
mspohr writes: The Guardian has a news article about a recently published article proposing a way to test the theory that the speed of light was infinite at the birth of the universe:
"The newborn universe may have glowed with light beams moving much faster than they do today, according to a theory that overturns Einstein’s century-old claim that the speed of light is a constant.

João Magueijo, of Imperial College London, and Niayesh Afshordi, of the University of Waterloo in Canada, propose that light tore along at infinite speed at the birth of the universe when the temperature of the cosmos was a staggering ten thousand trillion trillion celsius."
"Magueijo and Afshordi came up with their theory to explain why the cosmos looks much the same over vast distances. To be so uniform, light rays must have reached every corner of the cosmos, otherwise some regions would be cooler and more dense than others. But even moving at 1bn km/h, light was not travelling fast enough to spread so far and even out the universe’s temperature differences."

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