Monthly Archives: August 2016

The most absurd Internet privacy class-action settlement ever

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(credit: Neon Tommy)

In 2013, Yahoo announced that it would begin scanning its users’ e-mail for targeted advertising purposes—just as Google does. As is par for the course, class-action lawsuits were filed. The Silicon Valley media giant, according to one of the lawsuits, was violating the “personal liberties” of non-Yahoo Mail users. That’s because non-Yahoo Mail users, who have sent mail to Yahoo mail users, were having their e-mail scanned without their permission.

“Plaintiff and the Class are among the multitude of U.S. residents who have sent electronic communications or emails to a Yahoo Mail user or users, and whose personal liberties have been, and continue to be, intruded upon when these private communications are read or, in the alternative, eavesdropped upon by Yahoo,” the lawsuit read. (PDF) The suit said that Yahoo’s new scanning policies adopted under Yahoo chief Marissa Mayer violated federal and state privacy laws, and that Yahoo’s e-mail scanning regime “seriously threatens the free exercise of personal liberties, and is of the type of behavior that the U.S. Congress and the California Legislature has declared should not be tolerated in a free and civilized society.”

The suit, which was one of six that were co-mingled as a single class action, demanded that a judge halt the scanning and award each victim “$5,000 or three times actual damages” in addition to “reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.”

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Source: Ars Technica – The most absurd Internet privacy class-action settlement ever

The PS4 Slim Hasn’t Even Been Announced, But Someone Already Reviewed It

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Last week, the existence of what appeared to be a smaller, redesigned PlayStation 4 console leaked out into the world
. Despite no comments from Sony and the disappearance of video documentation, people know it’s out there. Thanks to this totally unauthorized advance review, they know how it performs.

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Source: Gizmodo – The PS4 Slim Hasn’t Even Been Announced, But Someone Already Reviewed It

Europe's Net Neutrality Doesn't Ban BitTorrent Throttling

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Millions of Europeans will have to do with throttling on BitTorrent. The Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communication (BEREC) published its guidelines for Europe’s net neutrality rules on Tuesday in which it hasn’t challenged the BitTorrent throttling practices by many ISPs. TorrentFreak reports:Today, BEREC presented its final guidelines on the implementation of Europe’s net neutrality rules. Compared to earlier drafts it includes several positive changes for those who value net neutrality. For example, while zero-rating isn’t banned outright, internet providers are not allowed to offer a “sub Internet” service, where access to only part of the Internet is offered for ‘free.’ However, not all traffic is necessarily “neutral.” ISPs are still allowed to throttle specific categories for “reasonable” network management purposes.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Europe’s Net Neutrality Doesn’t Ban BitTorrent Throttling

Majestic 22-Pound Lobster Dies After Being Released Into the Wild by Clueless Humans

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First, death came for Larry, the 15-pound, 100-year-old lobster who died
on his way to freedom. Now it’s come for Big Lobi, a 22-pound monster who died shortly after he was released into the wild in Chatham, Massachusetts.

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Source: Gizmodo – Majestic 22-Pound Lobster Dies After Being Released Into the Wild by Clueless Humans

Impressive: Spray Coating Protects Watermelon From 150-Foot Drop

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This is a video from the Australian guys of Youtube channel How Ridiculous dropping watermelons from a 45-meter (~148-feet) tower and watching them explode. As a bonus they drop a watermelon that’s been covered with Line-X (a protective polyurethane elastomer spray most commonly used as a spray-in bed liner for trucks) AND IT BOUNCES. How about that! So, if I spray my roommate with this stuff then push him off the balcony is it still a murder charge or is it involuntary manslaughter because I thought he would bounce? I need to know because I’ve got the feeling that Sherlock Holmes is going to come around asking questions and I need my alibi to be as airtight as an airplane’s butthole.

Keep going for the video. They saw the watermelon open at the end so you can see inside.

Source: Geekologie – Impressive: Spray Coating Protects Watermelon From 150-Foot Drop

Please Add Spartacus to the Long List of 'Classics Getting Movies Set in the Future'

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Take any popular movie narrative, put it in the future, and odds are it’s either already been made, currently in production, or will be eventually be made (Robin Hood and The Great Escape
for just two examples). Now the tale of Spartacus has joined this esteemed group, thanks to an upcoming film titled The Champion.

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Source: io9 – Please Add Spartacus to the Long List of ‘Classics Getting Movies Set in the Future’

How to Dry Out Gloves

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When cleaning my bike I like to use gloves. One issue I have is that the gloves I use, and like to reuse, are not well ventilated and if I clean my bike for a long time, the insides of the gloves can become damp, and they don’t dry well without a bit of help. Musty glove smell is kind of nasty and one method to promote drying dawned on me recently. I have a couple of different hammers and . . . 

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Placing the gloves on the hammer handles in this fashion helps to air them out and avoid musty conditions. Readers who have thoughts on how to dry out gloves are welcome to leave solutions via the comments section.  



Source: Bike Hacks – How to Dry Out Gloves

Mitsubishi Overstated Mileage For More Vehicle Models, Japan Ministry Says

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Earlier this year Mitsubishi admitted to using some less-than-correct tactics when calculating the fuel economy of four of its Japanese market vehicles. But that wasn’t the end of the scandal. The Japanese transport ministry has announced that its investigation into Mitsubishi’s practices has revealed eight additional vehicles with misreported fuel economy numbers. Reuters reports: Earlier in the day, Japan’s transport ministry said its investigation had shown the automaker had overstated the fuel economy for eight vehicles including the RVR, Pajero and Outlander SUV models, in addition to four minivehicles initially confirmed in April. The latest announcement deals another reputational blow to Japan’s sixth-largest automaker, which has been struggling to recover from the mileage scandal, which affected two minivehicle models produced for Nissan Motor Co Ltd. The company’s market value has tumbled since the scandal broke, and the ordeal prompted the company to seek financial assistance from Nissan, which agreed to buy a controlling one-third stake for $2.2 billion.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Mitsubishi Overstated Mileage For More Vehicle Models, Japan Ministry Says

Mitsubishi Says Overstated Mileage For More Vehicle Models

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Earlier this year Mitsubishi admitted to using some less-than-correct tactics when calculating the fuel economy of four of its Japanese market vehicles. But that wasn’t the end of the scandal. The Japanese transport ministry has announced that its investigation into Mitsubishi’s practices has revealed eight additional vehicles with misreported fuel economy numbers. Reuters reports: Earlier in the day, Japan’s transport ministry said its investigation had shown the automaker had overstated the fuel economy for eight vehicles including the RVR, Pajero and Outlander SUV models, in addition to four minivehicles initially confirmed in April. The latest announcement deals another reputational blow to Japan’s sixth-largest automaker, which has been struggling to recover from the mileage scandal, which affected two minivehicle models produced for Nissan Motor Co Ltd. The company’s market value has tumbled since the scandal broke, and the ordeal prompted the company to seek financial assistance from Nissan, which agreed to buy a controlling one-third stake for $2.2 billion.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Mitsubishi Says Overstated Mileage For More Vehicle Models

Kingston Digital Releases New Entry-level Data Center SSD

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Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced Data Center 400 (DC400) SSD, the latest solid-state drive to its family of enterprise solutions. DC400 SSD is an entry-level enterprise drive designed for server use in data centers especially for customers who deploy a rip-and-replace strategy. It is ideal for read-intensive applications such as boot, web servers and lower data rate operational databases and analytics – especially in data center mixed workload environments where endurance and reliability are important.

DC400 SSD offers superior quality of service for data center customers whose workload environment calls for sustained IOPS and consistent low latency. An expanded on-board DRAM acceleration cache enables high, sustained IOPS to increase performance over a wide range of read/write workloads. Standard as well as user-adjustable over-provisioning improves random IOPS performance and endurance while enterprise firmware improves latency and delivers consistently low data access times under steady-state workloads. Additionally, DC400 SSD features enterprise-class reliability with end-to-end data path protection and firmware-implemented power-loss protection (“pFAIL”).

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Source: [H]ardOCP – Kingston Digital Releases New Entry-level Data Center SSD

Stranger Things Fans Have a New Reason to Tune into CW Archie Drama Riverdale

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Actress Shannon Purser is having a killer summer. She played fan-favorite character Barb on Stranger Things, and now she’s just been cast as an updated (but probably still adorably nerdy) version of Ethel Muggs on the CW’s upcoming Archie show, Riverdale.

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Source: io9 – Stranger Things Fans Have a New Reason to Tune into CW Archie Drama Riverdale

Super Paper Mario Is A Role-Playing Game About Nintendo

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Super Paper Mario has the typical hallmarks of a 2D Mario platformer—stomp on enemies, jump over pits, and avoid obstacles—but failing carries minuscule stakes. If you fall into a pit, you only lose a single health point. The enemies are weak, by and large, and powerups and Shroom Shakes are plentiful. That it’s nearly impossible to die in the game garnered a lot of criticism in 2007, with players claiming Super Paper Mario made too many concessions to young children and was ‘dumbed down’ for the masses. But this criticism misses the point: Super Paper Mario is not a platformer so much as a role-playing game, a meta-commentary about acknowledging gaming’s past alongside its present.

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Source: Kotaku – Super Paper Mario Is A Role-Playing Game About Nintendo