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Submission + - Google To Disable Fallback To SSL 3.0 In Chrome 39, Remove SSL 3.0 In Chrome 40

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google today announced plans to disable fallback to version 3 of the SSL protocol in Chrome 39, and remove SSL 3.0 completely in Chrome 40. The decision follows the company’s disclosure of a serious security vulnerability in SSL 3.0 on October 14, the attack for which it dubbed Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption (POODLE). Following Mozilla’s decision on the same day to disable SSL 3.0 by default in Firefox 34, which will be released on November 25, Google has laid out its plans for Chrome. This was expected, given that Google Security Team’s Bodo Möller stated at the time: “In the coming months, we hope to remove support for SSL 3.0 completely from our client products.”

Submission + - First Detailed Data Analysis Shows Exactly How Comcast Jammed Netflix

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: John Oliver calls it "cable company fuckery" and we've all suspected it happens. Now on Steven Levy's new Backchannel publication on Medium, Susan Crawford delivers decisive proof, expertly dissecting the Comcast-Netflix network congestion controversy. Her source material is a detailed traffic measurement report (.pdf) released this week by Google-backed M-Lab — the first of its kind — showing severe degradation of service at interconnection points between Comcast, Verizon and other monopoly "eyeball networks" and "transit networks" such as Cogent, which was contracted by Netflix to deliver its bits. The report shows that interconnection points give monopoly ISPs all the leverage they need to discriminate against companies like Netflix, which compete with them in video services, simply by refusing to relieve network congestion caused by external traffic requested by their very own ISP customers. And the effects victimize not only companies targeted but ALL incoming traffic from the affected transit network. The report proves the problem is not technical, but rather a result of business decisions. This is not technically a Net neutrality problem, but it creates the very same headaches for consumers, and unfair business advantages for ISPs. In an accompanying article, Crawford makes a compelling case for FCC intervention.

Submission + - 20 More Cities Want to Join the Fight Against Big Telecom's Broadband Monopolies

Submitted by Jason Koebler
Jason Koebler writes: At least 20 additional American cities have expressed a formal interest in joining a coalition that's dedicated to bringing gigabit internet speeds to their residents by any means necessary—even if it means building the infrastructure themselves.
The Next Centuries Cities coalition launched last week with an impressive list of 32 cities in 19 states who recognize that fast internet speeds unencumbered by fast lanes or other tiered systems are necessary to keep residents and businesses happy. That launch was so successful that 20 other cities have expressed formal interest in joining, according to the group's executive director.

Submission + - We talked to 4 major banks about the future of Apple Pay (dailydot.com)

Submitted by Molly McHugh
Molly McHugh writes: We spoke with Navy Federal Credit Union, USAA, Chase, and PNC—banks who are working with Apple to incorporate Apple Pay—to find out just how secure Apple Pay will be when the "October" release date finally arrives. (USAA tells us that Apple Pay will be available for its Visa and MasterCard carrying customers starting Nov. 7.)

Submission + - Multitasking Damages Your Brain And Career (forbes.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: You’ve likely heard that multitasking is problematic, but new studies show that it kills your performance and may even damage your brain.

Research conducted at Stanford University found that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. The researchers also found that people who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information, or switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time.

A Special Skill?

But what if some people have a special gift for multitasking? The Stanford researchers compared groups of people based on their tendency to multitask and their belief that it helps their performance. They found that heavy multitaskers—those who multitask a lot and feel that it boosts their performance—were actually worse at multitasking than those who like to do a single thing at a time. The frequent multitaskers performed worse because they had more trouble organizing their thoughts and filtering out irrelevant information, and they were slower at switching from one task to another. Ouch.

Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully.

Submission + - Surprise! TSA lied!

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Does this make you feel safer? The TSA has now admitted that it had allowed illegal immigrants to fly without valid identification, something it had strongly denied when news sources revealed it last month.

[A newly discovered TSA] letter confirms that illegal aliens are being allowed to board planes using a Notice to Appear form (also known as I-862), as [union border patrol official] Darby revealed in July. Hector Garza, a spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) told Darby that Notice to Appear forms can “easily be reproduced or manipulated on any home computer. The Notice to Appear form has no photo, anyone can make one and manipulate one. They do not have any security features, no watermark, nothing. They are simply printed on standard copy paper based on the information the illegal alien says is the truth.”

So, while the TSA routinely sexually abuses American citizens while demanding they provide photo id, the agency has had policies that would allow an illegal immigrant, with unknown background and who has come from outside the country, to board planes using a simple form that anyone can photocopy.

Does anyone but me see something significantly wrong with this picture? Didn’t Congress originally create the TSA to prevent foreign nationals from boarding planes to hijack them?

The TSA is a joke imposed on us by our elected officials and approved of by too many Americans because it allows them to make believe we are doing something about terrorism. Other elected officials and TSA managers and employees than use the agency as a weapon to obtain power and crush the freedom of Americans. In that context, these actions by the TSA, including lying about their policies, make complete sense.

Submission + - New Understanding of Lizard Tails Could Allow Humans to Regrow Body Parts (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Zothecula
Zothecula writes: If you ever had a pet lizard as a child, it was quite likely a green anole. As is the case with other lizards, they have the ability to break off their own tail when attacked by a predator, and then regrow it. Scientists from Arizona State University recently announced that they have cracked the code regarding that tail regrowth process, and are now hoping that it could be applied to the field of regenerative medicine.

Submission + - Impenetrable' encryption arrives to lock down Internet of Things (thirdcertainty.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: LAS VEGAS – Robert Coleridge, CTO of startup Secure Channels, has rented time in a shark cage to get up close and personal with a great white shark. For kicks.

That’s a mild thrill compared to wrestling with math concepts to invent what Coleridge contends is a revolutionary, impenetrable new method to encrypt data.

Coleridge recently secured a U.S. patent for his invention. Now, Secure Channels is busy pursuing commercial uses for this new level of encryption, addressing gaping security holes to fulfill the promise of the Internet of Things.

Submission + - Microsoft Lets You Reminisce the 90s (gizmobeast.com)

Submitted by J.R.C.L.
J.R.C.L. writes: For those of you who grew up in the 90s could still remember playing with Tamagotchi and Einstein trolls. And of course we had discman, SNES cartridges and floppy disks. Wow! so much had changed since then.

In 20th anniversary celebration of Microsoft‘s website, it put up its first homepage. Talk about reliving the time where Windows 95 operating systems was still at the forefront of innovation.

In 1994, Microsoft.com was one of the first thousand websites to ever exist compared to almost a billion now. Using the slow dial-up connection, the site would usually take about 3 minutes to fully load. Yeah, we totally experienced that.

Feed Google News Sci Tech: America's hot and cold spots for broadband revealed in new map - Register (google.com)

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CIO Today
America's hot and cold spots for broadband revealed in new map
Register
Pic A new map of broadband speeds shows which Americans enjoy the fastest and slowest internet connections. The map, assembled by IT service firm OfficeSuite from data in Akamai's State of the Internet report, shows the top speeds are in Virginia, though...
This is where you should live if you want the fastest Internet speed in the countryScience Recorder
State with the fastest average Internet speed revealedDaily Digest
US States with Fastest Internet Speed; And the Winner isRealty Today
News Tonight Africa-Digital Trends-Angle Chronicle
all 63 news articles

Submission + - Amazon coerces KDP authors, in irony bypass (readersunited.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As author of several (averagely successful) books, I decided to self-publish through Amazon's KDP initiative. Today I get an email (more like a novel) urging me to spam Hachette CEO, Michael Pietsch, to complain about the price of their eBooks. They've given me his email, what I should say (quotes like "We have noted your illegal collusion. Please stop working so hard to overcharge for ebooks.", and "They can and should be less expensive.
Lowering e-book prices will help — not hurt — the reading culture, just like paperbacks did." and "Stop using your authors as leverage and accept one of Amazon's offers to take them out of the middle.") ... this is despite the fact none of the KDP books I've published are (by definition) published through Hachette. i.e. they've used an email exclusive for KDP, for propaganda against an unrelated company.

They also complain that Hachette are 'part of a $10 billion media conglomerate' when Amazon market cap is $146 billion.

They complain that ebooks should be cheaper because there's no printing etc... ignoring the fact that authors, editors, and _people_ need to get paid. (While Amazon invest in drones, and pay peanuts for their staff.)

And they continually reference George Orwell as being 'the other guy' ignoring their own practises of tracking ('who also bought...') and patent abuse.

When I found they've setup a web site claiming about 'readers united'.. when realizing it was their corporate shill site, I screamed and posted this.

Am I being too angry about this? Are they abusing their position?

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