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Submission + - Washington Post set to lose $77 million this year even before boycott (archive.is)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A report from New York Magazine's Intelligencer shed light on a recent meeting at The Post newsroom where the top brass revealed that the paper was on pace to lose a whopping $77 million this year, a figure that does not even include the staggering 250,000 subscribers it lost over its last-minute decision by billionaire owner Jeff Bezos to not endorse Vice President Kamala Harris in the final days of the presidential race.

"[It's] not a surprise at all," one Post staffer told Fox News Digital in reaction to the report. "It means ‘buckle up.’"

Notably, the $77 million in reported losses mirrors the exact figure Washington Post publisher Will Lewis said in May the paper lost over the prior year.

The Intelligencer cited other staffers, one saying "The level of anger is through the roof, and fear is also through the roof."

Comment Re:ObjC to Swift, 4 years in (Score 1) 262

This.

HUGE fan of Objective-C, back from the NeXT days. Been writing iOS apps since ARC was optional and I never used it, because *I* knew how to alloc and free memory. Yeah, that meant it was a pain in the ass when Apple made ARC a requirement.

I miss introspection, sure. But optionals, tuples, native unicode support, default parameters, conditional generics, and a consistent calling syntax just makes my life easier. Add to that first-class immutable structs, better functional programming support, and stronger exception handling, and I just enjoy programming Swift more than Objective-C.

It's not like dynamic dispatch went away -- it just got shuffled to object extensions.

That said, there are some things I don't like about Swift: lack of introspection (as I admitted), and especially still using ARC for memory management. While it may be fast, resolving retention cycles can be difficult, especially if one half of the retention is in some Cocoa library.

Swift doesn't lock you into Apple products. It's an open-source language, for cryin' out loud. What locks you into Apple products are the libraries you use to target a specific platform. Just like MFC locks you into Microsoft products.

I can see why some people might prefer Objective-C. I still look on it fondly as the best of the C-based OO languages. Hell, I still love programming in straight-up C.

I'm just glad I made the jump to Swift.

Oh, I'm also moving to Kotlin for my Android projects for many of the same reasons.

Submission + - Stealthy, tricky to remove rootkit targets Linux systems on ARM and x86 (pcworld.com)

Submitted by Kinwolf
Kinwolf writes: Security researchers have identified a new family of Linux rootkits that, despite running from user mode, can be hard to detect and remove. Called Umbreon, after a Pokémon character that hides in the darkness, the rootkit has been in development since early 2015, runs from user mode but hijacks libc system calls. According to malware researchers from antivirus firm Trend Micro, Umbreon is a so-called ring 3 rootkit, meaning that it runs from user mode and doesn't need kernel privileges. Despite this apparent limitation, it is quite capable of hiding itself and persisting on the system.

Submission + - Publishers must let online readers pay for news anonymously (theguardian.com)

Submitted by mspohr
mspohr writes: The Guardian has an opinion piece by Richard Stallman which argues that we should be able to pay for news anonymously.
From the article:
"Online newspapers and magazines have come to depend, for their income, on a system of advertising and surveillance, which is both annoying and unjust.
Readers are rebelling by installing ad blockers, which cut into the publisher’s surveillance-based income. And in response, some sites are cutting off access to readers unless they accept being surveilled. What they ought to do instead is give us a truly anonymous way to pay."
He also (probably not coincidentally) has developed a method to do just that.
"For the GNU operating system, which was created by the free software movement and is typically used with the kernel Linux, we are developing a suitable payment system called GNU Taler that will allow publishers to accept anonymous payments from readers for individual articles. "

Comment Re:Suicide by politician (Score 1) 1010

A key point here is it was wildly inappropriate for Comey to recommend no prosecution in this case on TV. It is totally not his decision. The prosecutors in the DOJ are the ones who get to decide if prosecution is warranted. The FBI's job was to investigate and generate a report to the DOJ. They do get to make a recommendation regarding prosecution but it is only a recommendation. Comey absolutely should not have announced the recommendation at a press conference before the DOJ has even started reviewing the final FBI report. It reeks of prejudicing the entire case since it places inappropriate pressure on the prosecutor in the DOJ to not prosecute when they may well be inclined to prosecute when they see all the evidence.

Comey s assertion that Clinton and her people had no intent to do harm by mishandling top secret compartmentalized information so they should not be prosecuted is also way over the line. The fact is they did mishandle top secret information, and it is unknowable if that mishandling resulted in the information being accessed by foreign powers or others who were not authorized to see it. You knowingly mishandle classified information in violation of the oath you signed there have to be consequences otherwise why should anyone bother to protect classified information. If Clinton is elected President how can she expect the millions of Federal employees working for her to protect classified information when she knowingly didn't and got away with it.

Thirdly mishandling email is only part of the case against the Clinton. A key reason Clinton may have been using this private server is there may have been email between her, foreign governments and affluent individuals who were donating large sums of money to the Clinton Foundation while she was Secretary of State creating the appearance that she was soliciting bribes in return for favorable decisions from the State department on things like arms deals. Clinton is claiming these are personal emails so she withheld them from the FBI but they may be a trail pointing to public corruption.

It smacks of whitewash to suddenly short circuit these investigations so Clinton will have a clean path to the nomination at the convention which is just a few days away now.

Submission + - How stingray is zapping the fourth amendment

Submitted by Presto Vivace
Presto Vivace writes: How Militarized Cops Use the Intrusive Technology Stingray, and Much More, to Intrude on Our Rights — Police nationwide are secretly exploiting intrusive technologies with the feds' complicity.

Thanks to this call-and-response process, the Stingray knows both what cell phones are in the area and where they are. In other words, it gathers information not only about a specific suspect, but any bystanders in the area as well. While the police may indeed use this technology to pinpoint a suspect’s location, by casting such a wide net there is also the potential for many kinds of constitutional abuses—for instance, sweeping up the identities of every person attending a demonstration or a political meeting. Some Stingrays are capable of collecting not only cell phone ID numbers but also numbers those phones have dialed and even phone conversations. In other words, the Stingray is a technology that potentially opens the door for law enforcement to sweep up information that not so long ago wouldn’t have been available to them.

This is why it matters who wins the mayor and city council races. Localities do not have to accept this technology.

Power

Scientists: Electric Vehicles Produce As Many Toxins As Dirty Diesels (dailymail.co.uk) 555

Posted by BeauHD from the contrary-to-popular-belief dept.
An anonymous reader writes: Thanks to ongoing efforts to reduce engine emissions, nowadays only 10% to 15% of particulate emissions from traffic are coming from vehicles' tailpipes. The remainder originates in tire, road surface and brake wear. A study by Victor Timmers and Peter Achten published in Atmospheric Environment has now found that the extra weight of electric vehicles causes non-tailpipe emissions to increase by about as much as the omission of the internal combustion engine saves. Atmospheric particulates have been shown to cause cancer, cardiovascular disease and respiratory diseases and are widely considered as the most harmful form of air pollution. Achten said, "We found that non-exhaust emissions, from brakes, tires and the road, are far larger than exhaust emissions in all modern cars. These are more toxic than emissions from modern engines so they are likely to be key factors in the extra heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks seen when air pollution levels surge." The study shows that non-exhaust emissions a vehicle produces is directly related to its weight. Scientists found that electric and eco-friendly vehicles weighed around 24 percent more than conventional vehicles, which in turn contributes to more wear on the tires.

Submission + - Sci-hub domain been shut down by Elsevier (torrentfreak.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: Several ‘backup’ domain names are still in play, including Sci-Hub.bz and Sci-Hub.cc

In addition to the alternative domain names users can access the site directly through the IP-address 31.184.194.81

Its TOR domain is also still working — http://scihub22266oqcxt.onion/

Authorized or not, there is definitely plenty of interest in Sci-Hub’s service. The site currently hosts more than 51 million academic papers and receives millions of visitors per month

Many visits come from countries where access to academic journals is limited, such as Iran, Russia or China. But even in countries where access is more common, many researchers visit the site, an analysis from Science magazine revealed last week

Comment Re:the real reason... (Score 1) 266

I wish I'd known about these servers. I would play WoW again if it was the 2006 vintage instead of the crap its become. To answer your criticism, if Blizzard wants to keep WoW going forever, roll back to 2006 vintage, and focus entirely on new and interest dungeons and gear. Also put the level cap back to 60 and keep it there. New and interesting PVE dungeons was the only thing that made WoW great. Making the game "easy" for casual players was another tragic mistake.

2006 vintage WoW would be right before Burning Crusade came out and BC would be just about the time WoW started to suck and I quit playing. In 2006 there were 64 player raids, no constantly shifting level caps that constantly trashed all your gear, you lived to get to get to level 60 and collect PVE gear.

Every good guild on the server I was on, including my own, blew apart about that time, people wandered off to PvP to get the gear Blizz was handing out like candy to distract from the fact all their hard won level 60 PVE gear was being trashed and running Molten Core and BWL was officially pointless. It had become a waste of time doing PVE raids entirely which was the whole point of WoW.

In those days you only ran dungeons with people on your server, yea it sucked waiting to get groups sometimes but you actually made friends and learned to trust or not trust the people you played with on your server. When they started jumbling together pick up runs from all servers you didn't know and couldn't trust ANYONE you were raiding with. Dungeons just became a whirlwind you ran through as quickly as possible and half the time someone in the group would be a total ass and get away with it.
NASA

New NASA Launch Control Software Late, Millions Over Budget (go.com) 205

Posted by BeauHD from the three-two-one-delayed dept.
schwit1 writes: The launch control software NASA is writing from scratch for its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is way behind schedule and way over budget. According to ABC News, "Development of this new launch control software is now projected to exceed $207 million, 77 percent above 2012 projections. The software won't be ready until fall 2017, instead of this summer as planned, and important capabilities like automatic failure detection, are being deferred, the audit noted. The system is vital, needed to control pumps, motors, valves and other ground equipment during countdowns and launches, and to monitor data before and during liftoff. NASA decided to write its own computer code to "glue together" existing software products a decade ago -- while space shuttles still were flying and commercial shippers had yet to service the space station. Both delivery companies, SpaceX and Orbital ATK, rely on commercial software, the audit noted."

In other words, even though NASA could have simply purchased already available software that other launch companies were using successfully, the agency decided to write its own. And that decision really didn't come before the arrival of these commercial companies, because when it was made a decade ago that was exactly the time that SpaceX was beginning to build its rocket. This is simply more proof that SLS is nothing more than a pork-laden waste of money designed not to explore space but to generate non-productive jobs in congressional districts.

Submission + - Mass surveillance silences minority opinions, according to study

Submitted by sittingnut
sittingnut writes: According to a study(pdf) by Elizabeth Stoycheff, from Wayne State University, published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, and referred to in Washington Post, "knowing one is subject to surveillance and accepting such surveillance as necessary, act as moderating agents in the relationship between one’s perceived climate of opinion and willingness to voice opinions online." In other words, "knowledge of government surveillance causes people to self-censor their dissenting opinions online". This study adds to the well-researched phenomenon, known as “spiral of silence”, of people suppressing unpopular opinions to fit in, by explicitly examining how government surveillance affects self-censorship. Participants who claimed, they don't break any laws and don't have anything to hide, and tended to support mass surveillance as necessary for national security, were the most likely to silence their minority opinions.

Comment Re:Seems silly. (Score 1) 66

by demachina (#50214385) Attached to: US Navy Tests 3D Printing Custom Drones On Its Ships

The cooler thing would be if you have enough high speed printing capacity that you could manufacture and assemble a 1000 drone swarm in a very short period of time and overwhelm an adversaries defenses without requiring a ship big enough to carry a 1000 completed drones. And then another one, and another one. You would need a tanker full of plastic and a freighter full of batteries, electronics and propellers.

âoeKill decisionâ baby.

Comment Re:You just described SoylentNews. (Score 2) 552

by demachina (#50200109) Attached to: DHI Group Inc. Announces Plans to Sell Slashdot Media

I would mostly agree with parent. Soylent is fine execpt the community isnt big enough so the comments are barely there or worth reading, the name is kind of bad and the stories are routinely just old enough to be yesterdays news on Slashdot or Hacker news.

Their Twitter feed, which is where I get my news feeds, also puts these really annoying lame "from the deptâ attempts at humor in the tweets instead of just the title of the story and the link:

Razer Acquires Ouya Software Assets, Ditches Hardware from the kicked-down dept

They will even thorten the title to make room for the utterly stupid âoefrom theâ.

The best solution to replace Slashdot would probably be if Hacker news grafted the classic Slashdot look, commenting and moderation system on to their generally good stories and great community.

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