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Comment Re: test drive? (Score 1) 245

by PReDiToR (#66277476) Attached to: BMW Blasts Its Cars' Internal Screens With Aggressive Ads
The law changed (in the UK) a few years ago to make audio and visual aids for disabled users compulsory on service buses. These screens are distracting for the driver and used for promotions when not actively displaying the next stop information. Bright screens usually face the front of the vehicle so the rear facing wheelchair user can see them. The massive curved screen the driver is trying to see through is transparent during the day, but when the outside light level drops, the rectangle of high illumination reflects, flicks through pages of ads, and makes attention to the road ahead partial. Source: the buses I drive on rail replacement regularly, and which are used for regular services by my colleagues.

Comment Re: I don't need a kill switch. (Score 1) 135

by PReDiToR (#66120626) Attached to: Ubuntu's AI Plans Have Linux Users Looking For a 'Kill Switch'
I do (I run Arch btw). I get that there's a learning curve to installing non-Buntu Linuxen, but are people so strapped for time/resources that they can't spin up a VM and see how it goes once or twice to learn a process which makes life better in most ways (WRT OS's)? SystemD is distasteful, but who am I to argue with the Arch gods? If it was that big a thing I could install SysV Init, couldn't I? All this drama over AI and the other things makes me wonder why even us educated geeks miss out on the fun of learning the alternatives.

Comment Re: Arrrrrr (Score 1) 185

by PReDiToR (#65490086) Attached to: AMC Warns Moviegoers To Expect '25-30 Minutes' of Ads and Trailers
I have disposable income, and I like (some) movies. Deadpool 3 (for instance) was so good I'd happily have paid to watch it in a cinema. I waited for a terrible CAM/TS because of the intolerable interruptions from other patrons; had I decided to go a cinema to see it I'd have gone in at least twenty minutes late to avoid the forced advertising. This industry obviously does not want my business. This industry will not listen to their customers. Unskippable copyright warnings and trailers are pushing me onto the piracy boat instead of buying DVD's. Give me a physical medium with a file on, extras and subs, nice packaging, and charge me appropriately for it. Don't rent me a copy that can be cancelled at any time after I've paid for it.

Comment Re:You will own nothing (Score 1) 59

As an Apple-hater I totally agree with your sentiment, but right now I'm posting this from Firefox on Arch Linux on a MacBook Pro.

Difficult to agree with the content of your post is with this fact to hand.

I have a couple of PinePhones, a Pixel with GrapheneOS, my daily driver is a OnePlus 7 series with LineageOS on it, just for the topic.

Comment Re: so much for brexit (Score 2) 167

The USB-C connectors wears out too fast. People at work suffers this problem and have to replace their computers prematurely since it's on the motherboard.

My solution is magnetic dongles. They work on most things, and where they don't I just use a straight cable carefully. https://a.aliexpress.com/_EuKA...
Music

Streaming Makes Up 80 Percent of the Music Industry's Revenue (theverge.com) 32

Posted by BeauHD from the dominant-force dept.
Revenue made from streaming services in the United States grew by 26 percent in the first six months of the year, according to trade group Recording Industry Association of America, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. That makes for a revenue of $4.3 billion, according to research conducted by the group, which represents approximately 80 percent of the music industry's overall revenue. The Verge reports: Although this included both paid subscriptions and ad-supported streams, the report also found that paid subscriptions grew by 31 percent, accounting for 62 percent of the industry's total revenue. Spotify has more than 100 million subscribers, and Apple Music boasts 56 million paid subscribers. The record industry in the U.S. saw an 18 percent increase in revenue -- hitting $5.4 billion -- in the first six months of 2019. It's not just streaming that's helping the industry see a boost, though: physical media sales also jumped. Both vinyl and CDs saw increases in sales, growing 5 and 13 percent, respectively. CD sales made up roughly $485 million of the industry's revenue over the first six months of the year, and vinyl sales brought in an additional $224 million.
Businesses

Uber Fined Nearly $1.2 Million By Dutch, UK Over 2016 Data Breach (cnbc.com) 30

Posted by BeauHD from the time-to-pay-up dept.
British and Dutch authorities fined Uber a combined $1.17 million for a 2016 data breach that exposed the personal details of millions of customers. "The U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) announced a $491,284 fine against the ride-sharing company for 'failing to protect customers' personal information during a cyber attack' in October and November of 2016," reports CNBC. "The Dutch Data Protection Authority imposed its own $679,257 penalty for the same incident." From the report: The 2016 cyberattack allowed hackers to access the personal details, including full names, email addresses and phone numbers, of 2.7 million Uber customers in the U.K. and 174,000 in the Netherlands, authorities said. The U.K.'s ICO said the cyberattack represented a "serious breach" of the country's Data Protection Act of 1998 by exposing customers and drivers to increased risk of fraud. The Dutch regulator said it was fining Uber because it did not report the breach within the country's mandated 72-hour window.

In September, Uber agreed to pay $148 million to settle claims related to the 2016 data breach to states across the U.S. and Washington, D.C. In a statement Tuesday, an Uber spokesperson said the company is "pleased to close this chapter on the data incident from 2016."
Transportation

Waymo To Start First Driverless Car Service Next Month (bloomberg.com) 84

Posted by BeauHD from the ready-or-not-here-they-come dept.
Alphabet's self-driving car company Waymo is planning to launch the world's first commercial driverless car service in early December. According to Bloomberg, citing a person familiar with the plans, the service "will operate under a new brand and compete directly with Uber and Lyft." From the report: Waymo is keeping the new name a closely guarded secret until the formal announcement. It's a big milestone for self-driving cars, but it won't exactly be a "flip-the-switch" moment. Waymo isn't planning a splashy media event, and the service won't be appearing in an app store anytime soon. Instead, things will start small -- perhaps dozens or hundreds of authorized riders in the suburbs around Phoenix, covering about 100 square miles.

The first wave of customers will likely draw from Waymo's Early Rider Program -- a test group of 400 volunteer families who have been riding Waymos for more than a year. The customers who move to the new service will be released from their non-disclosure agreements, which means they'll be free to talk about it, snap selfies, and take friends or even members of the media along for rides. New customers in the Phoenix area will be gradually phased in as Waymo adds more vehicles to its fleet to ensure a balance of supply and demand. The report notes that some backup drivers will be placed in the cars when the service launches, and the cars themselves will be heavily modified Chrysler Pacifica minivans.
Wikipedia

A Third of Wikipedia Discussions Are Stuck in Forever Beefs (vice.com) 162

Posted by msmash from the no-agreement-in-sight dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Wikipedia, the internet's encyclopedia, is run entirely by volunteers -- people who spend large swaths of their personal time making sure the information that hundreds of millions of people access every day stays accurate and up-to-date. Of those volunteers, 77 percent of Wikipedia articles are written by just one percent of Wikipedia editors. As such, tensions tend to get a little high, because these editors are often highly invested. They've been arguing about corn for nearly a decade, for example, and there's a long-running edit war about the meaning of neuroticism.

When editors disagree about an edit to be made on a Wikipedia article, they start by discussing it on the article's Talk page. When that doesn't result in a decision, they can open a Request for Comment (RfC). From there, any editor can choose a side or discuss the merits of whatever edit is up for discussion, and -- in theory -- come to an agreement. Or at least, some kind of decision about how to make the edit. But a new study by MIT researchers found that as many as one-third of RfC disputes go unresolved, often abandoned out of frustration or exhaustion. The most common sticking points were chalked up to inexperience, inattention from experience editors, and just plain petty bickering.
Businesses

Uber Planning Fleet of Food Delivery Drones 'As Soon As 2021' (engadget.com) 56

Posted by BeauHD from the ambitious-goals dept.
At this year's Uber Elevate Summit in May, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi discussed the possibility of a drone-based food delivery service. Now, it looks like a job posting has hinted that the company is looking to launch the service in 2021. Engadget reports: According to the Wall Street Journal, Uber is looking to hire someone with "flight standards and training" experience, who can "enable safe, legal, efficient and scalable flight operations." If the info is legit, It looks like Uber is looking to keep development of the program under wraps as the job posting is no longer listed on its website. According to the Wall Street Journal's report, the drone-based delivery service has been dubbed "UberExpress," and will exist under the umbrella of Uber Eats. The job description reportedly described a desire for an applicant that can "help make delivery drones functional as soon as next year and commercially operational in multiple markets by 2021."

Comment Re:Rootable Phones (Score 2) 46

by PReDiToR (#57521653) Attached to: UK ISP Tests SIM Card That Forces All of Your Mobile Data Through Tor
Supporting SONY is a case of "no sympathy" because of their stance on DRM, locking their hardware down even after you've bought it off them, and the other million reasons this company should FOAD.

There are very few companies to buy from in good conscience, in fairness to your purchasing decisions.
The Almighty Buck

Silicon Valley's Saudi Arabia Problem (nytimes.com) 297

Posted by msmash from the moral-dilemma dept.
An anonymous reader shares a report: Somewhere in the United States, someone is getting into an Uber en route to a WeWork co-working space. Their dog is with a walker whom they hired through the app Wag. They will eat a lunch delivered by DoorDash, while participating in several chat conversations on Slack. And, for all of it, they have an unlikely benefactor to thank: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Long before the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi vanished, the kingdom has sought influence in the West -- perhaps intended, in part, to make us forget what it is. A medieval theocracy that still beheads by sword, doubling as a modern nation with malls (including a planned mall offering indoor skiing), Saudi Arabia has been called "an ISIS that made it." Remarkably, the country has avoided pariah status in the United States thanks to our thirst for oil, Riyadh's carefully cultivated ties with Washington, its big arms purchases, and the two countries' shared interest in counterterrorism. But lately the Saudis have been growing their circle of American enablers, pouring billions into Silicon Valley technology companies.

While an earlier generation of Saudi leaders, like Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, invested billions of dollars in blue-chip companies in the United States, the kingdom's new crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has shifted Saudi Arabia's investment attention from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund has become one of Silicon Valley's biggest swinging checkbooks, working mostly through a $100 billion fund raised by SoftBank (a Japanese company), which has swashbuckled its way through the technology industry, often taking multibillion-dollar stakes in promising companies. The Public Investment Fund put $45 billion into SoftBank's first Vision Fund, and Bloomberg recently reported that the Saudi fund would invest another $45 billion into SoftBank's second Vision Fund. SoftBank, with the help of that Saudi money, is now said to be the largest shareholder in Uber. It has also put significant money into a long list of start-ups that includes Wag, DoorDash, WeWork, Plenty, Cruise, Katerra, Nvidia and Slack. As the world fills up car tanks with gas and climate change worsens, Saudi Arabia reaps enormous profits -- and some of that money shows up in the bank accounts of fast-growing companies that love to talk about "making the world a better place."

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