Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Twitter

The Text-Your-Parents-Your-Drug-Deal Experiment 267

Posted by Soulskill from the gets-interesting-when-they-say-you're-charging-too-much dept.
theodp writes "Having fooled major news outlets with a heartwarming-but-entirely-faked video of a pig rescuing a drowning goat, Nathan Fielder turned his attention to texting. CNET reports on the great Twitter 'text-your-parents-you're-a-drug-dealer' experiment, in which the Fielder called on his Twitter followers to text their moms and dads and (accidentally) reveal a drug deal. Fielder's tweet read: 'Experiment: text your parents "got 2 grams for $40" then right after "Sorry ignore that txt. Not for you." Then tweet pic of their response.' The reactions are various and, sometimes, hilarious."
Businesses

What EMC Looks For When It's Hiring 223

Posted by Slashdot Staff from the pulse-strongly-recommended dept.
Yvonne Lee, Community Manager at Dice.com, writes "Because EMC has expanded through more than 70 acquisitions in eight years — it was hiring even during the recession — and because many of the acquired companies were startups, it is trying to leverage the more dynamic cultures it's inherited and make itself more nimble and innovative. People it hired 'need to be able to move fast and run,' Thus, a key to getting the company's attention is to prove you can do what you say you can. In other words, when Murray asks if you can work fast, you can't just say yes. You'll have to use your previous achievements to prove that you can."
Security

Apple Support Allowed Hackers Access To User's iCloud Account 266

Posted by samzenpus from the let-me-in dept.
Robadob writes "Yesterday a hacker gained access to Mat Honan's (An editor at Gizmodo) Apple iCloud account allowing the attacker to reset his iPhone, iPad, and Macbook. The attacker was also able to gain access to Google and Twitter accounts by sending password recovery emails. At the time this was believed to be down to a brute-force attack, however today it has come out that the hacker used social engineering to convince Apple customer support to allow him to bypass the security questions on the account."

Comment Re:Rise of the discount carriers (Score 1) 331

by jim9000 (#40024491) Attached to: Verizon To Kill All Unlimited Data Plans

Dude... Sprint roams onto Verizon's network (with both voice and data) when you're out of a Sprint service area. Hence, Sprint's coverage area is no less than Verizon's.

Unfortunately, a lot of this roaming is at 1xRTT speeds which is a little slow. Sprint also has 3G speed issues in some markets but Network Vision is helping with this, along with bringing LTE which will be a big improvement over Clear's spotty 2500MHz WiMAX network.

The only other issue with roaming is that the phone will desperately hold on to a weak Sprint signal over a stronger Verizon (or US Cellular, or local provider) signal which can still cause missed calls and poor call quality. This is usually only a problem in some buildings, and is partly due to 1900MHz not penetrating buildings as well as 800MHz. Thankfully, it isn't a common issue and they can often be talked into providing a free femtocell (unlike Verizon)

Despite these issues, Sprint is still a very good carrier in a lot of ways. Their customer service has improved a lot and they are working on their network.

Comment Before everyone gets upset about this... (Score 1) 331

by jim9000 (#40024391) Attached to: Verizon To Kill All Unlimited Data Plans

It should not surprise anyone that Verizon is going to eventually push people off the unlimited plans. However, if you have unlimited data now, you should not worry until you upgrade your device (or your contract expires). They do retain the rights to change plans and pricing at any time, but they would have to let everyone out of their contract. They will just wait out the current contracts rather than let everyone out since the "issue" of unlimited will work itself out in less than 2 years from the date they stop allowing contract renewals on the old unlimited plans. If they want to boot the users who burn through ridiculous amounts of data such as 1TB a month now, they can deal with those on a case by case basis.

Right now, the only un-throttled unlimited service in the US is with Sprint, who isn't known for fast 3G speeds, and is just getting ready to launch LTE in a handful of markets. Rural customers will be waiting quite some time for Sprint LTE and some may never see it. Also, Sprint may decide to drop unlimited someday. AT&T has caps and overages (and places still stuck on EDGE), and T-Mobile has caps + throttling, and limited coverage in rural areas (also has places stuck on EDGE). The value oriented prepaid carriers all cap or throttle as far as I know. Leaving Verizon just to prove a point isn't likely to accomplish any more than leaving AT&T.

To the carriers defense, there's only so much capacity to go around. LTE will help, but usage continues to grow. More spectrum helps (but this complicates device design and roaming). More cell sites would help too, but they are becoming next to impossible to build in urban and suburban areas, where they are needed most, due to ridiculous health concerns, aesthetic / property value concerns (which is silly since most people want their mobile phones to work at home), and general local government roadblocks for permits.

Verizon users used to pay around $40 for unlimited data on a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device. This was before the iPhone, and before streaming video and music was common over wireless networks. In fact, I seem to recall that streaming was blocked in the terms of service. Typical usage was low - mine was less than 100MB. The browsers on most devices were terrible and couldn't load a full site without crashing or rendering it in an unreadable mess, so it was hard to use a lot without tethering which was also not allowed. Now, 2 GB for $30 seems a little high, but it is more value for the money than what was available just a few years ago.

I don't want to give up my unlimited plan any more than anyone else, but I never expected it to last forever either. At the end of the day, the carriers are seeing a shift away from voice usage and towards data usage. That's why you can now get an unlimited voice plan for about the same cost as 1,000 minutes a few years ago. Voice isn't the money maker anymore. The wireless carriers are in business to make money, and will make sure that continues to happen. And before anyone suggests having the government run the networks, think of the last time you dealt with the DMV, IRS, or any other government oriented operation. Then look at just about any politician to see the very definition of greed.

Government

House Passes Massive Medical Insurance Bill, 219-212 2424

Posted by timothy from the house-of-representin'-in-effect dept.
The votes are in: yesterday evening, after a last-minute compromise over abortion payments, the US House of Representatives narrowly passed a bill effecting major changes in American medical finance. From the BBC's coverage: "The president is expected to sign the House-passed Senate bill as early as Tuesday, after which it will be officially enacted into law. However, it will contain some very unpopular measures that Democratic senators have agreed to amend. The Senate will be able to make the required changes in a separate bill using a procedure known as reconciliation, which allows budget provisions to be approved with 51 votes - rather than the 60 needed to overcome blocking tactics." No Republican voted in favor of the bill; 34 Democrats voted against. As law, the system set forth would extend insurance coverage to an estimated 32 million Americans, impose new taxes on high-income earners as well as provide some tax breaks and subsidies for others, and considerably toughen the regulatory regime under which insurance companies operate. The anticipated insurance regime phases in (starting with children, and expanding to adults in 2014) a requirement that insurance providers accept those with preexisting conditions, and creates a system of fines, expected to be administered by the IRS, for those who fail or refuse to obtain health insurance.
Bug

Microsoft Says Windows 7 Not Killing Batteries 272

Posted by kdawson from the epidemic-of-noticing dept.
VindictivePantz sends word that the Windows 7 team has posted a new blog entry discussing their conclusions about the reported Windows 7 battery failures. "To the very best of the collective ecosystem knowledge, Windows 7 is correctly warning batteries that are in fact failing and Windows 7 is neither incorrectly reporting on battery status nor in any way whatsoever causing batteries to reach this state. In every case we have been able to identify the battery being reported on was in fact in need of recommended replacement. ...every single indication we have regarding the reports we've seen are simply Windows 7 reporting the state of the battery using this new feature and we're simply seeing batteries that are not performing above the designated threshold. ... We are as certain as we can be that we have addressed the root cause and concerns of this report, but we will continue to monitor the situation."
Businesses

Best Buy Abandoning "Optimization" Service? 156

Posted by Soulskill from the lipstick-on-a-pig dept.
ddillman writes "According to The Consumerist, Best Buy is apparently dropping some of its 'optimization' services, and will instead provide the 'Best Buy Software Installer,' a new tool that the company says will 'radically simplify how you set up and customize your new PC or upgrade an existing one.' Translation: instead of you paying Best Buy to delete trialware from your new PC, Best Buy will get paid by software makers to try to get you to install it. A page on the Best Buy web site states that the new installation tool will be available January 17th, and 'gives you choices and options to configure your computer, and saves you time by making it easy to discover new software, then download and install with a single click.' According to an alleged internal Best Buy document obtained by a technology blog, Best Buy stands to make an extra $5 per PC just by including BBSI."
Cellphones

Apple Wants Patents For Crippling Cellphones 371

Posted by kdawson from the say-it-ain't-so-steve dept.
theodp writes "Evil is in the eye of the beholder, but there's certainly not much to like in the newly-disclosed Apple patent applications for Systems and Methods for Provisioning Computing Devices. Provisioning, says Apple, allows carriers to 'specify access limitations to certain device resources which may otherwise be available to users of the device.' So what problem are we trying to solve here? 'Mobile devices often have capabilities that the carriers do not want utilized on their networks,' explains Apple. 'Various applications on these devices may also need to be restricted.'"
Education

Obama Makes a Push To Add Time To the School Year 1073

Posted by kdawson from the ok-ok-fix-healthcare-but-leave-me-my-summer dept.
N!NJA sends in a proposal that is sure to cause some discussion, especially among students and teachers. Obama and his education secretary say that American kids spend too little time in school, putting them at a disadvantage in comparison to other students around the globe. "'Now, I know longer school days and school years are not wildly popular ideas,' the president said earlier this year. 'Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom.' 'Our school calendar is based upon the agrarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today,' Education Secretary Arne Duncan said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. ... 'Young people in other countries are going to school 25, 30 percent longer than our students here,' Duncan told the AP. 'I want to just level the playing field.' ... Kids in the US spend more hours in school (1,146 instructional hours per year) than do kids in the Asian countries that persistently outscore the US on math and science tests — Singapore (903), Taiwan (1,050), Japan (1,005) and Hong Kong (1,013). That is despite the fact that Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong have longer school years (190 to 201 days) than does the U.S. (180 days)."
Android

Google Serves a Cease-and-Desist On Android Modder 336

Posted by kdawson from the doubleplus-ungoogly dept.
Several readers sent in word that Google has served a Cease and Desist order to Cyanogen, one of the most prolific Android modders: his CyanogenMod is enjoyed by 30,000 users. The move is puzzling. Gizmodo wonders what Google's game is, and Lauren Weinstein calls the move "not of the high 'Googley' caliber" that one would expect of the company.
Programming

Python Converted To JavaScript, Executed In-Browser 176

Posted by Soulskill from the hey-why-not dept.
lkcl writes "Two independent projects, Skulpt and Pyjamas, are working to bring Python to the web browser (and the JavaScript command-line) the hard way: as JavaScript. Skulpt already has a cool Python prompt demo on its homepage; Pyjamas has a gwtcanvas demo port and a GChart 2.6 demo port. Using the 64-bit version of Google v8 and PyV8, Pyjamas has just recently and successfully run its Python regression tests, converted to JavaScript, at the command-line. (Note: don't try any of the above SVG demos with FF2 or IE6; they will suck.)"
Space

Hubble Photographs Jupiter's New "Scar" 60

Posted by Soulskill from the too-bad-cassini's-at-the-wrong-planet dept.
BearRanger writes "Calibration of new systems in the Hubble Space Telescope (installed in May by Shuttle Atlantis astronauts) were interrupted to take pictures of the new 'scar' near the south pole of Jupiter. The scar is believed to have been caused by the impact of an asteroid or small comet with the gas giant, which we discussed last Sunday. Hubble's return to service will be delayed by this interruption, but NASA says that rare events such as this warrant the delay. This is only the second recorded impact of an object with Jupiter."
NASA

NASA Has the Lost Tapes 256

Posted by kdawson from the we-know-what-you-did-on-that-satellite dept.
The Shuttle launch may have been delayed by two days, but NASA has better news to report. caffiend666 writes "As speculated a few weeks ago, NASA has found and is starting to restore the lost Apollo 11 tapes. A Briefing will be held July 16th at the Newseum in Washington to 'release greatly improved video imagery from the July 1969 live broadcast of the Apollo 11 moonwalk... The original signals were recorded on high quality slow-scan TV (SSTV) tapes. What was released to the TV networks was reduced to lower quality commercial TV standards.'"

Comment Tax & Kill (Score 2, Informative) 874

by jim9000 (#28481755) Attached to: US House May Pass "Cap & Trade" Bill
Cap & Trade won't swap smokestacks for windmills. Instead, it will just push energy costs through the roof and push most manufacturing jobs that are left overseas where there are no pollution controls at all. For anyone who is left here, all of these costs will be pushed right on to the consumer, as no business can afford to absorb this massive tax increase, nor should they be expected to absorb it even if they could.

It won't push people into smaller cars. Americans spend too much time in our cars to drive around in a micro car. Not all of us live in big cities with public transportation and easy access to stores. The Smart Fortwo couldn't even fit a one week load of groceries for the average American family. We have states that are larger than entire countries in other parts of the world - what works for them doesn't work for us.

All of this for reducing Carbon Dioxide - which is not proven to be a pollutant, and for reducing global warming - even when there is no proof that human activities are impacting climate.

Slashdot Top Deals

Someday your prints will come. -- Kodak

Close