Comment Not "metamatons?" (Score 1) 208
I think "metamatons" is both more accurate and cooler.
Comment Why not Richard Hofstadter instead? (Score 1) 208
Richard Hofstadter was the author of such timeless classics as Anti-intellectualism in American Life and The Paranoid Style in American Politics .
Submission + - Otter.ai transcription service, widely used by journalists, has security concens (politico.com)
FriendlySolipsist writes: After using the Otter.ai automated transcription service for a recorded interview with an Uyghur human rights activist, Politico journalist Phelim Kine received a disturbing survey from the company asking the purpose of the interview. This was cause for alarm, as the Chinese government is known to aggressively persecute members of the oppressed ethnic and religious minority. Had Chinese intelligence somehow gained access to the recording? Otter eventually provided assurance they do not share uploaded data except pursuant to a valid US subpoena, but journalists need to consider the risk of compromise. Otter does not even allow two-factor authentication except for upper-tier business accounts.
Comment Re:Run alternative firmware to extend handset life (Score 1) 285
Personally, I've never found any value in Google Pay. Google already has access to my address book and schedule. Do I really want to concentrate all of my financial transaction records into their hands, too?
One of the main reasons I use alternative firmware on an Android handset is for better privacy and security control of information. I don't install apps for every restaurant and other service provider that wants me to do that. I mostly use a web browser and an e-mail client.
My goal is to have a "smart" phone that does not think it is smarter than I am.
Comment Re:Run alternative firmware to extend handset life (Score 1) 285
Personally, I've had no problems running banking apps on LineageOS. I suppose it depends upon the particular banks.
Comment Run alternative firmware to extend handset life (Score 5, Informative) 285
You can keep an older handset such as the Google Pixel 3 running for a very long time using alternative firmware, such as LineageOS 18.1 (based on AOSP Android 11), which is fully supported.
https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwiki.lineageos.org%2Fdevices%2Fblueline%2F
Submission + - Florida journalist raided, computer seized, in unauthorized access investigation (miamiherald.com) 1
FriendlySolipsist writes: Independent journalist Rebekah Jones, a scientist fired by the Florida state government because, she said, of her refusal to manipulate official COVID-19 data releases to coincide with political considerations and who now operates web site floridacovidaction.com, had her home raided by the FL state police who seized computers and cell phones, the Miami Herald reported. The FDLE affidavit in support of the raid was published by the Herald — https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.miamiherald.com%2Fla... — and asserts that an unauthorized internal message was sent to the "ReadyOps" system within the state Department of Health from an IPv6 address associated with the Comcast account at Jones residence.
Submission + - Sued freelancer allegedly turns over contractee source code in settlement
FriendlySolipsist writes: Blizzard Entertainment has been fighting World of Warcraft bots for years, but TorrentFreak reports Bossland, a German company that operates "buddy" bots, alleges Blizzard sued one of its freelancers and forced a settlement where he turned over Bossland's source code to Blizzard. In Bossland's view, their code was "stolen" by Blizzard because it was not the freelancer's to disclose. This is a dangerous precedent for freelance developers in the face of legal threats: damed if you do, damned if you don't.
Comment I just want to play Pong (Score 1) 214
80x24
Comment Credibility is subtle (Score 1) 290
Credibility of the source article is harmed by being dated "December 30, 2015." I realize it must be a typo, but if they can't get that right it makes me wonder.
Submission + - Judge Shoots Down "Bitcoin Isn't Money" Argument in Silk Road Trial
An anonymous reader writes: The government and legal community may still be arguing over whether bitcoin can be defined as “money.” But the judge presiding over the landmark Silk Road drug case has declared that it’s at least close enough to get you locked up for money laundering. In a ruling released Wednesday, Judge Katherine Forrest denied a motion by Ross Ulbricht, the 30-year-old alleged creator of the Silk Road billion-dollar online drug bazaar, to dismiss all criminal charges against him. Those charges include narcotics trafficking conspiracy, money laundering, and hacking conspiracy charges, as well as a “continuing criminal enterprise” charge that’s better known as the “kingpin” statute used to prosecute criminal gang and cartel leaders.
Submission + - Police Recording Confirms NYPD Flew At a Drone and Never Feared Crashing 1
Jason Koebler writes: An air traffic control recording confirms that a New York Police Department helicopter flew at a drone hovering near the George Washington Bridge earlier this week—not the other way around. What's more, police had no idea what to charge the drone pilots with, and never appeared to fear a crash with the drone.
Two men were arrested Monday on felony reckless endangerment charges after the NYPD said the two flew their drone "very close" to a law enforcement chopper, causing the police helicopter to take evasive maneuvers. Air traffic control recordings suggest that only happened after the chopper pilot decided to chase the drone.
Two men were arrested Monday on felony reckless endangerment charges after the NYPD said the two flew their drone "very close" to a law enforcement chopper, causing the police helicopter to take evasive maneuvers. Air traffic control recordings suggest that only happened after the chopper pilot decided to chase the drone.
Submission + - Solved: why the Moon's far side looks so different 2
StartsWithABang writes: 55 years ago, the Soviet probe Luna 3 imaged the side of the Moon that faces away from us for the first time. Surprisingly, there were only two very small maria (dark regions) and large amounts of mountainous terrain, in stark contrast to the side that faces us. This remained a mystery for a very long time, even after we developed the giant impact hypothesis to explain the origin of the Moon. But a new study finally appears to solve the mystery, crediting the heat generated on the near side from a hot, young Earth with creating the differences between the two hemispheres.
Submission + - Can dogs sniff out computer memory like drugs? (providencejournal.com) 1
FriendlySolipsist writes: A dog can be trained to detect computer memory, say the Rhode Island State Police in taking delivery of the second such dog in the nation from the Connecticut State Police. Being able to find hidden computer flash memory cards hidden in drawers and over ceiling tiles will aid their fight against child porn, the police say.
But is there any scientific evidence that such a thing is even possible? Computer parts are made from plastic and metal like almost everything else in a home or office, and computer parts unlike organic plants give off no odor. Without any plausible scientific explanation for how a dog can detect computer parts, is this all just a legal sham to bypass Fourth Amendment probable cause warrant requirements, allowing the human handler to signal the dog based on exactly the kind of "police intuition" that violates constitutional rights?
But is there any scientific evidence that such a thing is even possible? Computer parts are made from plastic and metal like almost everything else in a home or office, and computer parts unlike organic plants give off no odor. Without any plausible scientific explanation for how a dog can detect computer parts, is this all just a legal sham to bypass Fourth Amendment probable cause warrant requirements, allowing the human handler to signal the dog based on exactly the kind of "police intuition" that violates constitutional rights?
Comment Re:C does not assume ASCII machine platforms (Score 1) 434
What I meant is that C-friendly processors have machine (assembly language) instructions that reference the stack. How the stack is implemented by the processor at the microcode level is not quite what I was talking about, although it is an interesting point.
One of the design philosophies driving C, but not Java, was to keep the language close to the machine implementaiton, which is why C has lots of non-orthogonal but really efficient features such as "increment" and "decrement" operators. Most machines do have stacks accessible with machine instructions.
Taken to its logical conclusion, your point eventually reduces to the observation that it is all just ones and zeroes!
One of the design philosophies driving C, but not Java, was to keep the language close to the machine implementaiton, which is why C has lots of non-orthogonal but really efficient features such as "increment" and "decrement" operators. Most machines do have stacks accessible with machine instructions.
Taken to its logical conclusion, your point eventually reduces to the observation that it is all just ones and zeroes!
