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Submission + - Google Has Quietly Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking 1

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: Google has recently quietly changed its privacy policy to allow it to associate web tracking, which is supposed to remain anonymous, with personally identifiable user data: https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.propublica.org%2Fart...

This completely reneges its promise to keep a wall between ad tracking and personally identifiable user data, further eroding one's anonymity on the internet. Google's priorities are clear. All they care about is monetizing user information to rake in the big dollars from ad revenue.

Think twice before you purchase the premium priced Google Pixel. Google is getting added value from you as its product without giving you part of the revenue it is generating through tracking through lower prices.

Submission + - 4chan Founder Chris Poole Will Try To Fix Social At Google (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google never "got" social. For all the resources thrown at it, Google+ just never quite felt human. But luckily Google just hired the guy behind 4chan — a site that epitomized the good, the bad and the ugly of humanity on the internet. Chris Poole started 4chan in his bedroom at age 15. In the 12 years since, he built it into a 20 million active user image-sharing community around topics ranging from cosplay and cute animals to anime porn and the notoriously uncensored anonymous channel /b/. While Google probably won't force him into a suit and tie, Poole now has a much more corporate job: He'll be working under Google's Bradley Horowitz, VP of streams, photos and sharing. Poole writes: "When meeting with current and former Googlers, I continually find myself drawn to their intelligence, passion, and enthusiasm — as well as a universal desire to share it with others. I'm also impressed by Google's commitment to enabling these same talented people to tackle some of the world's most interesting and important problems."

Submission + - Bill Gates Sides With FBI in Apple Spat (ft.com)

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: Bill Gates has now publicly stated that Apple should cooperate with the FBI in the San Barnandino terrorist's phone unlocking case. He states that is for this specific case, but seems to miss the point that there are other law enforcement officials waiting on the wings with their requests should this precedent be set. The war against privacy escalates.

Comment Amazing experimental achievement in physics (Score 1) 460

LIGO measures differential distortions in the length of two 4 km arms. It needs to be able to distinguish changes in length at the level of one part in 10^21 to be able to detect these gravity waves. For comparison, it is able to measure a difference of distance between say here and the nearest star system 4 light years away to within the width of a human hair!!!

Submission + - Giant Telescope Project Stalled By Hawaiian Natives (hawaiinewsnow.com)

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: Hawaiian Supreme Court throws out construction permit for the Thirty Meter Telescope project, which is going to be one of the largest ground-based, 1.5 billion dollar telescope. A vocal minority of Hawaiians for religious reasons has vehemently contested and protested the construction of the telescope at Maunakea. Now, they have been successful in contesting the construction permit. The status of the project is now unknown.
Android

Submission + - FTC Probes Android And Google Search (wsj.com)

Submitted by bonch
bonch writes: The FTC is investigating claims that Google prevented Android smartphone vendors from using competing services (covered previously), whether Google preferentially places its own services above others on the search results page, and whether Google scraped content from competitors for use in its own services. FTC lawyers are also asking how Android may be helping Google maintain its massive web search lead. Google denies all allegations and blames jealous rivals for the growing number of probes. The European Commission's own antitrust probe is ongoing.
Apple

Submission + - Which company is the largest? (arstechnica.com) 2

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: Apple and Exxon are fighting it out to be the company with the largest market cap. Yesterday, Apple pulled ahead. It is hard to believe a tech company can beat out an oil giant, but is the market cap really the measure of the size/influence of a company? It is certainly the simplest metric to consider. Ars is running an excellent article on how to measure the size of a company. They discuss different metrics such as cash balance, revenue, number of employees, etc. It is a great read. So is Exxon or Apple the biggest company? You decide.
HP

Submission + - WebOS chief: Don't fret over TouchPad reviews (cnet.com)

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: HP released their much trumpeted enterprise tablet, TouchPad, last week. This device was also the first to showcase WebOS in a tablet. The tablet received some harsh reviews with some stating that the OS showed potential. Most of the criticisms surrounded the sluggish software and the lack of apps. As reported by CNET, WebOS chief, Jon Rubenstein, rallies his troops by comparing the WebOS's debut to that of Mac OS X, which had significant teething pains. However, it is not entirely clear if the comparison is appropriate since WebOS has existed since 2009, and OS X had the ability to run most classic OS 9 apps during the transition period. Nevertheless, one can certainly argue that the situation is similar in spirit.
Cloud

Submission + - Are Google Music and Amazon Cloud Player legal? (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Fudge Factor 3000
Fudge Factor 3000 writes: Earlier this year both Google and Amazon introduced cloud music storage where users could upload their music and listen to them wherever they had an internet connection. The music industry, however, was up in arms because they believed that Google and Amazon had to pay additional licensing fees for their music storage services. Tim B. Lee at Ars has written an excellent write-up on the legal issues surrounding these services. His ultimate conclusion is that Google and Amazon would probably withstand any legal assaults, but that still remains a tough call.

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