Comment Obligatory Orville Reference (Score 1) 195
"We no longer need Fear the Banana" - Ed Mercer
Submission + - Twitter sues U.S. government over national security data (cnn.com)
mpicpp writes: Twitter is suing the U.S. government in an effort to loosen restrictions on what the social media giant can say publicly about the national security-related requests it receives for user data.
The company filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department on Monday in a federal court in northern California, arguing that its First Amendment rights are being violated by restrictions that forbid the disclosure of how many national security letters and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court orders it receives — even if that number is zero.
Twitter said in a statement that it's suing in an effort to publish the full version of a "transparency report" prepared this year that includes those details. The San Francisco-based firm was unsatisfied with the Justice Department's move in January to allow technological firms to disclose the number of national security-related requests they receive in broad ranges.
"It's our belief that we are entitled under the First Amendment to respond to our users' concerns and to the statements of U.S. government officials by providing information about the scope of U.S. government surveillance — including what types of legal process have not been received," the company said. "We should be free to do this in a meaningful way, rather than in broad, inexact ranges."
The company filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department on Monday in a federal court in northern California, arguing that its First Amendment rights are being violated by restrictions that forbid the disclosure of how many national security letters and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court orders it receives — even if that number is zero.
Twitter said in a statement that it's suing in an effort to publish the full version of a "transparency report" prepared this year that includes those details. The San Francisco-based firm was unsatisfied with the Justice Department's move in January to allow technological firms to disclose the number of national security-related requests they receive in broad ranges.
"It's our belief that we are entitled under the First Amendment to respond to our users' concerns and to the statements of U.S. government officials by providing information about the scope of U.S. government surveillance — including what types of legal process have not been received," the company said. "We should be free to do this in a meaningful way, rather than in broad, inexact ranges."
Submission + - Tesla's Starting A Certified Preowned Program
cartechboy writes: Name a luxury automaker that doesn't have a Certified Previously Owned (CPO) program. Go ahead, I'll wait. That's right, you can't really name one can you. Tesla isn't like a normal luxury automakers, in fact, it's not really like any automaker out there. It doesn't have franchises and it sells its own vehicles through its network of galleries. It seems the Silicon Valley start-up sees the light, or rather, the profit potential, as it plans to create its own CPO program. It seems there's a great deal of Model S sedans out there currently under lease contracts. When those cars are ready to come back, Tesla has guaranteed that it will purchase them for a figure that falls somewhere between 43 and 50 percent of the original purchase price. This is exactly how Tesla's going to create its CPO fleet. Tesla seems to do everything in an unconventional manner, so we'll have to see if its CPO program is like every other automakers, or if it blazes its own path in this area as well.
Submission + - DOJ it's OK for DEA to impersonate woman on Facebook (buzzfeed.com)
An anonymous reader writes: An overlooked Justice Department court filing explains that a federal agent had the right to commandeer a woman's identity, set up a fake Facebook account using her details and even post provocative photographs of her found on a seized phone.
Buzzfeed reports that a Drug Enforcement Administration agent stole the identity of Sondra Arquiett, who then went by the name Sondra Prince, back in 2010...
http://gizmodo.com/doj-it-was-...
Buzzfeed reports that a Drug Enforcement Administration agent stole the identity of Sondra Arquiett, who then went by the name Sondra Prince, back in 2010...
http://gizmodo.com/doj-it-was-...
Submission + - Programmers: It's OK to Grow Up
Nemo the Magnificent writes: From the Peter-Pan-need-not-apply dept.
Everybody knows software development is a young man's game, right? Here's a guy who hires and manages programmers and he says it's not about age at all, it's about skills, period. A company that actively works to offer all employees the chance to learn and to engage with modern technologies is a company that good people are going to work for, and to stay at.
Everybody knows software development is a young man's game, right? Here's a guy who hires and manages programmers and he says it's not about age at all, it's about skills, period. A company that actively works to offer all employees the chance to learn and to engage with modern technologies is a company that good people are going to work for, and to stay at.
Comment Back to the Future (Score 1) 89
"Old School" FTW!!
Comment Re:My password: (Score 1) 372
Thank you - you have now been Pwned...
Comment A Coincidence? (Score 1) 169
Nov 8 - Asteroid passes by...
Nov 9 1400 hrs PST - U.S. tests the National Emergency Broadcast System for the first time nation-wide. Previously only local activations and system tests were done (any other former broadcasters rememebr the "Red Envelope" prominently posted in the booth?).
Coincidence? I think not....
Nov 9 1400 hrs PST - U.S. tests the National Emergency Broadcast System for the first time nation-wide. Previously only local activations and system tests were done (any other former broadcasters rememebr the "Red Envelope" prominently posted in the booth?).
Coincidence? I think not....
Comment Transitioning from Trek to.... (Score 2) 368
Mr. Shatner,
In your biography you mentioned that after Star Trek ended, you struggled to find work as an actor, even living out of your vehicle to travel to find work. Do you feel that this experience was a setback or an asset to your career?
Comment Re:The cause of the anomaly (Score 1) 140
OK - Physics lesson... Q: What happens at Mach 20+ during re-entry? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?
A: Coronal Plasma. Remenber back in the olden times when we'd lose contact with a re-entering capsule? The air friction caused a loss of radio contact. Now can you see why this is a Bad Idea for a readio-controlled craft?
North Korea Develops Anti-Aging "Super Drink" 296
__roo writes "According to North Korea's official news agency, a drink produced by North Korea's Moranbong Carbonated Fruit Juice Joint Venture Company can cure aging and all disease. 'It, with effects of both preventive and curative treatment, helps improve mental and retentive faculties by multiplying brain cells. It also protects skin from wrinkles and black spots and prevents such geriatric diseases as cerebral hemorrhage, myocardium and brain infarction by removing acid effete matters in time.' It also has no side-effects." Last month North Korea announced its fusion breakthrough, and now it has a super drink. One can only imagine what wonders may come in July — perhaps self-buttering toast.
Comment More Importantly.. (Score 1) 539
...Is there an app for that?
Comment Re:A word to the wise: (Score 1) 599
I've been married for 20 years and we still have sex a few times a week.
Please define "we".... You and your wife? Together or separately?
Quake 3 For Android 137
An anonymous reader writes "Over the last two months I ported Quake 3 to Android as a hobby project. It only took a few days to get the game working. More time was spent on tweaking the game experience. Right now the game runs at 25fps on a Motorola Milestone/Droid. 'Normally when you compile C/C++ code using the Android NDK, the compiler targets a generic ARMv5 CPU which uses software floating-point. Without any optimizations and audio Quake 3 runs at 22fps. Since Quake 3 uses a lot of floating-point calculations, I tried a better C-compiler (GCC 4.4.0 from Android GIT) which supports modern CPUs and Neon SIMD instructions. Quake 3 optimized for Cortex-A8 with Neon is about 15% faster without audio and 35% with audio compared to the generic ARMv5 build. Most likely the performance improvement compared to the ARMv5 build is not that big because the system libraries of the Milestone have been compiled with FPU support, so sin/cos/log/.. take advantage of the FPU.''
Why the First Cowboy To Draw Always Gets Shot 398
cremeglace writes "Have you ever noticed that the first cowboy to draw his gun in a Hollywood Western is invariably the one to get shot? Nobel-winning physicist Niels Bohr did, once arranging mock duels to test the validity of this cinematic curiosity. Researchers have now confirmed that people indeed move faster if they are reacting, rather than acting first."
