Los Angeles International Airport shut down all incoming traffic Sunday night while officers investigated a possible active shooter situation, KTLA reports. According to NBC reporter Andrew Blankstein, police received multiple 911 calls but found no immediate evidence of shots being fired.
Source: Gizmodo – Police Search LAX After Unconfirmed Reports of Shots Fired
In my last post in this series I noted that I had successfully installed my PURCHASED front basket, however this led to a big problem for someone who often commutes in the dark – handlebar mounted headlights are rendered ineffective when placing contents in the basket. But thanks to inspiration from previous posts on this blog, I had a relatively easily solution. I proceeded through what one might call a Goldilocks and the Three Bears progression.
I thought about this solution, which I had spotted on a bike on the mean streets of NYC back in the day – nice, but reaching the light while riding would not be natural or easy . . .
I then thought about this bikecommuters.com inspired idea – two lights is a concept I liked very much . . . but when using a bungee net to secure contents in the basket, the straps and lights might not get along due to the lights being close to the “loading/strap zone” . . .
So I settled for the best of both – keeping the lights under the basket means they stay out of the way of strapping things in, and keeping the lights off to the sides means I can reach them easily while riding. I chose plumping clamps as the means to secure the PVC pipe to the basket.
I love this solution as well due to the fact that you never know when your batteries are going to give up on you. Yes, you can carry extra batteries with you, but then you have to stop and put them in. Now, if one light goes out I have the other. Also, I can use a combination of modes if I like – I can have one set to constant and the other set to blink. Or if it’s really dark or the surface is really challenging, I can set both to the high constant setting.
To get the fit of the light mounts just right, I used some gaffer tape – not matching of course as I want my bike to be as offensive to the eyes as possible.
You might think the story is over, but after cutting the PVC pipe to the desired length I had some left over. This got me to thinking, “What might I use the extra pipe for?” I did come up with something and guesses in comments based upon this previous picture of my bike are welcome . . .
. . . and those who leave a comment will be considered for a bikehacks.com sticker giveaway.
Series Links
Source: Bike Hacks – Theft or Liberation? – Post #5
While Amtrak is a perfectly fine way to travel, especially on the Eastern seaboard, the country’s publicly owned rail company doesn’t exactly have a high-tech reputation. That will change in the next few years, thanks to a massive $2.45 billion loan…
Source: Engadget – Amtrak’s next-generation high-speed trains arrive in 2021
Today the San Jose Mercury News asked several prominent security experts which security products they were actually using for their own data. An anonymous Slashdot reader writes:
The EFF’s chief technologist revealed that he doesn’t run an anti-virus program, partly because he’s using Linux, and partly because he feels anti-virus software creates a false sense of security. (“I don’t like to get complacent and rely on it in any way…”) He does regularly encrypt his e-mail, “but he doesn’t recommend that average users scramble their email, because he thinks the encryption software is just too difficult to use.”
The newspaper also interviewed security expert Eugene Spafford, who rarely updates the operating system on one of his computers — because it’s not connected to the internet — and sometimes even accesses his files with a virtual machine, which he then deletes when he’s done. His home router is equipped with a firewall device, and “he’s developed some tools in his research center that he uses to try to detect security problems,” according to the article. “There are some additional things I do,” Spafford added, telling the reporter that “I’m not going to give details of all of them, because that doesn’t help me.”
Bruce Schneier had a similar answer. When the reporter asked how he protected his data, Schneier wouldn’t tell them, adding “I’m kind of a target…”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – How Security Experts Are Protecting Their Own Data
In the internet age, the answer to most questions is just a web search away. Some queries, however, are too ponderous or inane to even be Bing-worthy. When all else fails, The Internet Asks responds.
Source: Gizmodo – The Internet Asks: Why Is It Called ‘Grapefruit’ When There Are No Grapes?
A NASA-backed, year-long simulation of living on Mars has finally come to a close. The six people in the HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) experiment have left their dome on Mauna Loa to rejoin the rest of society. The test s…
Source: Engadget – Simulated Mars mission ends its year-long experiment
Slashdot reader theodp writes: Aside from it being hosted in a town without a movie theater, the 2016 Bentonville Film Festival was also unusual in that it required all entrants to submit “film scripts and downloadable versions of the film” for judgment by “the team at Google and USC”, apparently part of a larger Google-funded research project with USC Engineering “to develop a computer science tool that could quickly and efficiently assess how women are represented in films”…
Fest reports noted that representatives of Google and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy appeared in a “Reel vs. Real Diversity” panel presentation at the fest, where the importance of diversity and science to President Obama were discussed, and the lack of qualified people to fill 500,000 U.S. tech jobs was blamed in part on how STEM careers have been presented in film and television… In a 2015 report on a Google-sponsored USC Viterbi School of Engineering MacGyver-themed event to promote women in engineering, USC reported that President Obama was kept briefed on efforts to challenge media’s stereotypical portrayals of women. As for its own track record, Google recently updated its Diversity page, boasting that “21% of new hires in 2015 were women in tech, compared to 19% of our current population”….
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Google Tests A Software That Judges Hollywood’s Portrayal of Women
Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: Bleach at the End/Beginning • Necessary Sequel: Def Jam Fight for NY • The Wasted Potential And Disappointing Realities Of No Man’s Sky • Hot Take: Pocket Card Jockey (3DS eShop)
Source: Kotaku – Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: Bleach at the End/Beginning • Nece
As alluded to earlier and on Twitter, the past few days I have been working on a fresh Windows 10 vs. Ubuntu Linux graphics/gaming performance comparison. This time it’s looking at the latest Radeon performance using an R9 Fury and RX 480. Tests on Windows were obviously done with Radeon Software Crimson Edition while under Linux were the two latest AMD/RTG Linux driver options: the hybrid AMDGPU-PRO driver and the fully open-source driver via Linux 4.8 and Mesa 12.1-dev.
Source: Phoronix – Windows 10 vs. Linux Radeon Software Performance, Including AMDGPU-PRO & RadeonSI
What is art? According to Plato, art is an imitation of an imitation, a mere illusion twice removed from the reality of the eternal Forms. According to me, art is something I like looking at.
Source: Gizmodo – If This Robot Spinning a Serbian Man Isn’t Art, I Don’t Know What Is
Editor’s Note:
Partnering with Tokyo and Osaka-based DJ, commentator, video maker, AkihabaraNews collaborator, and broadly gregarious socialite Kamasami Kong, DIGITALHUB.JP‘s recently shot, produced and distributed a full-on production in 7 hours. Great cultural content – have a watch below!
Source: Akihabara News – Japanese Summer Festivals: Azabujuban Noryo Matsuri (VIDEO)
Premier League soccer started a couple of weeks ago, but this weekend NBC Sports debuted a new feature for fans in the US: Goal Rush. Each week when there a multiple matches going on at the same time, the network will select one match for Goal Rush o…
Source: Engadget – NBC Sports ‘Goal Rush’ helps you follow Premier League scoring
Now this is a treat. The Witcher 3 has easily been my favourite game of 2015 [Update: and now 2016 as well], so it’s a pleasure to showcase a big collection of artwork that went into the game’s development and promotion.
Source: Kotaku – The Art Of The Witcher 3
UpIsNotJump took Fallout 4, made his own custom animation and dubbed a Bob Ross episode over the top. It is making me reconsider how desolate and depressing that game was.
Source: Kotaku – Only Bob Ross Can Soothe Fallout 4’s Savage Wastelands
A few days back we saw some video footage of PS4Slim direct communication with DualShock 4, and now…
PlayStation 4 Slim Manual / Images May Reveal 5 GHz Wi-Fi Support
Source: PS4 News – PlayStation 4 Slim Manual / Images May Reveal 5 GHz Wi-Fi Support
Data breaches happen all too often, but it’s rare that they target your browser’s sync service… and unfortunately, Opera just became one of those exceptions. The company is warning users that it detected a hack in its sync system that may have giv…
Source: Engadget – Opera warns that its web sync service was hacked
Slashdot reader mspohr shares an article about “General Electric ‘re-inventing’ itself as a software start-up.” Jeffrey R. Immelt, the CEO of America’s largest manufacturer, describes how he realized that data collected from their machines — like turbines, engines, and medical-imaging equipment — could be as valuable as the machines themselves. Now G.E. is hiring software engineers and data scientists from Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google to try to transform the company into a “124-year-old startup” to take advantage of the Internet of Things and offer futuristic new services like predictive maintenance.
The Times calls it “the next battlefield as companies fight to develop the dominant software layer that connects the machines,” adding that by 2020 there will be 100 times as much data flowing from G.E.’s machines. Now G.E. Digital is using the open source PaaS, Cloud Foundry, to develop Predix, a cloud-based operating system for industrial applications like monitoring and adjusting equipment in the field, whether it’s an oil-field rig or a wind-farm turbine. To help transform the company into a digital powerhouse, they’re building a 1,400-employee complex in San Ramon, California “designed to suit the free-range working ways of software developers: open-plan floors, bench seating, whiteboards, couches for impromptu meetings, balconies overlooking the grounds and kitchen areas with snacks.” And they’ve also launched the Industrial Dojo program “to accelerate the ability for developers to contribute code that enables the Industrial Internet”.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – How G.E. Is Transforming Into An IoT Start-Up
If you need to simmer some milk for homemade yogurt, a creamy sauce, or even some hot cocoa, you can keep the milk from scorching and sticking to the pan with this simple trick.
Source: LifeHacker – Keep Milk From Scorching With An Ice Cube or a Little Water
Erasmus Brosdau, an art director at Crysis developers Crytek, has been working on a Warhammer 40K short film (in his spare time!) for the past six years. It’s now done, kind of, and it’s been well and truly worth the wait.
Source: Kotaku – Warhammer 40K Gets The (Short) Movie It Deserves
Continuing his Sunday tradition, Linus Torvalds released a few minutes ago the Linux 4.8-rc4 kernel…
Source: Phoronix – Linux 4.8-rc4 Kernel Released