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Submission + - Google's insistence on forcing all sites to HTTPS is misguided (this.how)

Submitted by saccade.com
saccade.com writes: Dave Winer makes an interesting point on how Google's insistence on forcing all sites to use the HTTPS instead of HTTP (flagging them in search results if they don't) is misguided. He writes:

A lot of the web consists of archives. Files put in places that no one maintains. They just work. There's no one there to do the work that Google wants all sites to do. And some people have large numbers of domains and sub-domains hosted on all kinds of software Google never thought about. Places where the work required to convert wouldn't be justified by the possible benefit. The reason there's so much diversity is that the web is an open thing, it was never owned.

Many of these sites don't collect user data or provide user interaction, so the "risks" of not using HTTPS are irrelevant.

Submission + - Intellivision lives! Everything 80s is coming back. (venturebeat.com)

Submitted by craters
craters writes: A wave of nostalgia has hit gamers, with Nintendo and Atari taking advantage with launches, both recent and pending, of older game consoles. Now they’ll have a new competitor with Intellivision Entertainment. Originally released in 1980, the Intellivision console and its successors sold millions of units over three decades. The new Intellivision system (name TBA) will carry on the company tradition of “firsts” with its new concept, design and approach to gaming. The original Intellivision system generated many “firsts” in the video game industry including the first 16-bit gaming machine, the first gaming console to offer digital distribution, the first to bring speech/voice to games, the first to license professional sports leagues and organizations and the first to be a dedicated game console and home computer.

Submission + - TRS-80 released 40 years ago today (smithsonianmag.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It was with minimal expectations that, on August 3, 1977, Tandy Corporation teamed up with Radio Shack to release the TRS-80, one of the first personal computers available to consumer markets. While Don French—a buyer for the Tandy Radio Shack consumer electronic chain—had convinced some Tandy executives of the need to release a personal computer, most felt it was unlikely to gross substantial profits. This bulky item with complex operating procedures would never sell, they thought, more than 1,000 units in its first month.
But as soon as it hit the shelves, the $600 TRS-80, a hefty price for Radio Shack customers who were used to spending much less on their electronic needs, sold like hot cakes. There was something about these new computers that ignited fascination on the part of the American public.

Submission + - Microsoft won't fix the most frustrating thing about Windows (cnet.com) 3

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Maybe you're delivering a presentation to a huge audience. Maybe you're taking an online test. Maybe you just need to get some work done on a tight deadline.

Windows doesn't care.

Windows will take control of your computer, force-feed it updates, and flip the reset switch automatically — and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, once it gets started.

If you haven't saved your work, it's gone. Your browser tabs are toast. And don't expect to use your computer again soon; depending on the speed of your drive and the size of the update, it could be anywhere from 10 minutes to well over an hour before your PC is ready for work.

As far as I'm concerned, it's the single worst thing about Windows. It's only gotten worse in Windows 10. And when I poked around Microsoft, the overarching message I received was that Microsoft has no interest in fixing it.

Submission + - SPAM: Pennsylvania May Be the Most Vulnerable to Voting Hacks

Submitted by rmurph04
rmurph04 writes: As reported by CBS News, the battleground state of Pennsylvania might as well have a target on its back as Election Day nears, the cybersecurity company Carbon Black warned in a new report released Thursday.

Across the state, most Pennsylvania counties use particularly high-risk electronic voting machines that leave behind zero paper trails, which could be useful to audit the integrity of votes cast. In addition, many of these machines — called “direct-recording electronic” machines — are running on severely outdated operating systems like Windows XP, which has not been patched by Microsoft since 2014
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Multiple Linux Distributions Affected by Crippling Bug in systemd (agwa.name) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: System administrator Andrew Ayer has discovered a potentially critical bug in systemd which can bring a vulnerable Linux server to its knees with one command. "After running this command, PID 1 is hung in the pause system call. You can no longer start and stop daemons. inetd-style services no longer accept connections. You cannot cleanly reboot the system." According to the bug report, Debian, Ubuntu, and CentOS are among the distros susceptible to various levels of resource exhaustion. The bug, which has existed for more than two years, does not require root access to exploit.

Submission + - Senate advances secret plan forcing Internet services to report terror activity (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Advocatus Diaboli
Advocatus Diaboli writes: The Senate Intelligence Committee secretly voted on June 24 in favor of legislation requiring e-mail providers and social media sites to report suspected terrorist activities. The legislation, approved 15-0 in a closed-door hearing, remains "classified." The relevant text is contained in the 2016 intelligence authorization, a committee aide told Ars by telephone early Monday. Its veil of secrecy would be lifted in the coming days as the package heads to the Senate floor, the aide added.

The legislation is modeled after a 2008 law, the Protect Our Children Act. That measure requires Internet companies to report images of child porn, and information identifying who trades it, to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. That quasi-government agency then alerts either the FBI or local law enforcement about the identities of online child pornographers. The bill, which does not demand that online companies remove content, requires Internet firms that obtain actual knowledge of any terrorist activity to "provide to the appropriate authorities the facts or circumstances of the alleged terrorist activity," wrote The Washington Post, which was able to obtain a few lines of the bill text. The terrorist activity could be a tweet, a YouTube video, an account, or a communication.

Also see this link (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/lawmakers-want-internet-sites-to-flag-terrorist-activity-to-law-enforcement/2015/07/04/534a0bca-20e9-11e5-84d5-eb37ee8eaa61_story.html)

Submission + - Restaurateur settles after being extorted by BMI (nypost.com) 1

Submitted by Frosty Piss
Frosty Piss writes: BMI claims Amici III in Linden, New York didn't have a license when it played four tunes in its eatery one night last year, including the beloved “Bennie and the Jets” and “Brown Sugar,” winning a $24,000 judgment earlier this year, as well as more than $8,200 in attorney’s fees. Giovanni Lavorato, who has been in business for 25 years, says the disc jockey DJ brought into the eatery paid a fee to play tunes. 'It’s ridiculous for me to pay somebody also,' he said. 'This is not a nightclub. This is not a disco joint . . . How many times do they want to get paid for the stupid music?'

Submission + - FAA pushed to review ban on E-readers during takeoff/landing (nytimes.com)

Submitted by sfm
sfm writes: Ever tangle with a grumpy flight attendent over turning off your Kindle Fire before takeoff? This may change if the FAA actually reviews thier policy for these devices. The NYT article http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/disruptions-f-a-a-may-loosen-curbs-on-fliers-use-of-electronics indicates the FAA is under extremem pressure to either change the rules or give a good reason to keep them in place.

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