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Professional Russian Trolling Exposed 276

Posted by timothy from the in-ex-soviet-russia dept.
An anonymous reader writes: Today the New York Times published a stunning exposé revealing the strategies used by one of the Web's greatest enemies: professional, government-backed "internet trolls." These well-paid agent provocateurs are dedicated to destroying the value of the Internet as an organizing and political tool. The trolling attacks described within are mind-boggling -- they sound like the basis of a Neal Stephenson novel as much as they do real life -- but they all rely on the usual, inevitable suspects of imperfect security and human credulity.

Comment Re:Weird niche products (Score 1) 106

Devices like these don't utilize wireless HDMI, it's just wireless control of the HDMI device. I like my Chromecast because it does the simple things I want and I don't have to fund a new PC and deal with the cables (TV mounted on the wall). Control is also easy from my phone or tablet, without ever needing a physical keyboard for typing.

Comment Re:Not Listed (Score 2) 203

None of my accounts are listed, and I've had two of them since it was invite-only as well. I also used the same simple password for both of them and dozens of other sites for many years because, honestly, I just don't care that much. Whether you're on the list or not doesn't seem to be related to your password.

Comment Too Many Concerns (Score 1) 78

Even if it continued to work for years despite changed CC companies make to their cards, I'd be worried that it would break in my wallet or that regular use would eventually degrade it. My normal credit cards always look pretty haggard after a few years, and I don't have to pay almost $100 for those. This is a nice idea, but just seems to have too many problems.

Submission + - Small World Discovered Far Beyond Pluto (discovery.com)

Submitted by astroengine
astroengine writes: After a decade of searching, astronomers have found a second dwarf-like planet far beyond Pluto and its Kuiper Belt cousins, a presumed no-man’s land that may turn out to be anything but. How Sedna, which was discovered in 2003, and its newly found neighbor, designated 2012 VP 2113 by the Minor Planet Center, came to settle in orbits so far from the sun is a mystery. Sedna comes no closer than about 76 times as far from the sun as Earth, or 76 astronomical units. The most distant leg of its 11,400-year orbit is about 1,000 astronomical units. Newly found VP 2113’s closest approach to the sun is about 80 astronomical units and its greatest distance is 452 astronomical units. The small world is roughly 280 miles (450 kilometers) wide, less than half the estimated diameter of Sedna.
Science

Why Birds Fly In a V Formation 207

Posted by samzenpus from the heading-south dept.
sciencehabit writes "Anyone watching the autumn sky knows that migrating birds fly in a V formation, but scientists have long debated why. A new study of ibises — where researchers took to microlight planes and recorded birds strapped with GPS in-flight — finds that these big-winged birds carefully position their wingtips and sync their flapping, presumably to catch the preceding bird's updraft and save energy during flight."

Submission + - Forget Apple: Samsung Could Be Google's Next Big Rival (slashdot.org)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: The idea of Samsung as a Google rival isn’t unprecedented. For the past several quarters, Samsung has progressively molded Android to its own vision: layered with TouchWiz and sprinkled with all sorts of Samsung-centric apps, the software interface on Samsung devices is deviating rapidly away from the “stock” Android that runs on other manufacturers’ devices. During this year’s unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S4 at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall, Samsung executives onstage barely mentioned the word “Android,” and played up features designed specifically for the device. Establishing its own brand identity by moving away from “stock” Android has done Samsung a lot of good: its smartphones and tablets not only stand out from the flood of Android devices on the market, but it’s given the company an opportunity to position itself as the one true rival to iOS. While other Android manufacturers struggle, Samsung has profited. If Samsung continues to gain strength, it could become a huge issue for Google, which has its own eye on the hardware segment. Although Google purchased Motorola in 2011 for $12.5 billion, it hasn’t yet remolded the brand in its own image, claiming that the subsidiary’s existing pipeline of products first needs to be flushed into the ecosystem. But that reluctance could be coming to an end: reports suggest that Google will pump $500 million into marketing the Moto X, an upcoming “hero” smartphone meant to reestablish Motorola’s dominance of the Android space. If the Moto X succeeds, and Google decides to push aggressively into the branded hardware space, it could drive Samsung even further away from core Android. Never mind issuing TouchWiz updates until the original Android interface is virtually unrecognizable—with its industry heft, Samsung could potentially boot Google Play from the home-screen and substitute it with an apps-and-content hub of its own design. That would take a lot of work, of course: first, Samsung would need to build a substantial developer ecosystem, and then it would need to score great deals with movie studios and other content providers. But as Amazon and Apple have shown, such things aren’t impossible. The only questions are whether (a) Samsung has the will to devote the necessary time and resources to such a project, and (b) if it’s willing to transform its symbiotic relationship with Google into an antagonistic one.

Comment Re:Could Someone Explain to me... (Score 1) 591

by Halifax Samuels (#36242136) Attached to: Mozilla Labs: the URL Bar Has To Go
Why not just fullscreen your browser? I believe F11 is generally the hotkey for most browsers. I do that from time to time to get the most out of my screen. You've still got access to everything, it's just auto-hidden must like the Windows taskbar can be.

I really don't appreciate the thought by Mozilla that I don't understand URL bars or don't know how to use them. It's insulting to think that by now the vast majority of computer users don't understand almost everything about them. It shows where you are; if you type something and hit enter it tries to go there; some URL bars act as search bars as well; it's not that difficult to wrap your mind around. Besides, I would much rather spare those 50 pixels or so for easier access to it.

I'm not fond of Ubiquity so far, either. It's all personal preference, and I'll prefer using a more traditional-looking browser if I can't eventually undo all these design changes Mozilla wants to implement. The moment I have to use a third-party add-on to restore the look and feel I want is the moment I change browsers. I'm only sticking with Firefox now because of Ad-Block and one or two other plugins.

Comment Re:Random free soda (Score 1) 80

by Halifax Samuels (#35968640) Attached to: Pepsi Creates a Social Network Vending Machine
I was thinking more along the lines of the function of sending a soda to a random stranger, though. The friend-to-friend one would be glaringly obvious. From TFA:

If a consumer is feeling particularly generous, it can even buy a soda for a complete stranger through its "Random Acts of Refreshment" service. This sends a Pepsi to any other social vending system.

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