More Than 40 ISPs Across the Country Tell Chairman Pai to Not Repeal Network Neutrality

An anonymous reader shares a report: One excuse FCC Chairman Ajit Pai regularly offers to explain his effort to gut net neutrality protections is the claim that open Internet rules have harmed ISPs, especially small ones. During a speech earlier this year, he stressed that 22 small ISPs told him that the 2015 Open Internet Order hurt their ability to invest and deploy. In reality, though, many more ISPs feel very differently. Today, more than 40 ISPs told the FCC that they have had no problem with the Open Internet Order (PDF) and that it hasn’t hurt their ability to develop and expand their networks. What is more, that they want the FCC to do its job and address the problem Congress created when it repealed the broadband privacy rules in March.

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Source: Slashdot – More Than 40 ISPs Across the Country Tell Chairman Pai to Not Repeal Network Neutrality

Incredible New Observation Shows Supermassive Black Holes Orbiting Each Other

You think our galaxy is special? Ha. Our boring pinwheel of gas and dark matter might be a nice hangout for humans. But 750 or so million light years away, there’s an elliptical galaxy, Galaxy 0402+379, whose two supermassive black holes are orbiting each other from a distance of only 24 or so light years. Their…

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Source: Gizmodo – Incredible New Observation Shows Supermassive Black Holes Orbiting Each Other

The digital tools that designed the Tesla Model 3 and crash-tested your Honda minivan

Enlarge (credit: Tesla)

Understandably, the focus of a lot of our car coverage here at Ars has been on things like hybrid and electric powertrains, autonomous vehicles, and the rise of the connected car. But there are other interesting technology stories in the auto industry that are a little more hidden from the average driver. Take Gordon Murray’s iStream idea, for example. From the same brain that created some of the world’s best racing cars—and the almighty McLaren F1 road car—iStream is meant to be a low-impact way of building new vehicles, which will hopefully reach fruition with the reborn TVR brand. There’s also 3D printing, as demonstrated by companies like Local Motors and 3D Divergent.

And then there’s the way that modern IT solutions can—hopefully—make the auto industry more efficient and faster to respond to new design trends or challenges. A while back, we looked at Toyota’s use of virtual production lines to streamline how the company builds trucks at its plant in Texas. Obviously, Toyota isn’t the only OEM to head off into the virtual world to do this kind of work. And many OEMs have opted for Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE as their platform of choice.

Users of 3DEXPERIENCE span the automotive ecosystem. Ford and GM power their commercials and marketing with the Dassault platform. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has been touting 3DEXPERIENCE as its tool of choice for early design and styling. And even the Internet’s favorite EV maker is a client: the Tesla Model 3 was conceived and designed using it.

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Source: Ars Technica – The digital tools that designed the Tesla Model 3 and crash-tested your Honda minivan

Leaked Manual Reveals How CIA Can Track Windows Users by Gauging Wi-Fi Signal 

On Wednesday, WikiLeaks released the latest issue in its ongoing Vault 7 series—a trove of secret or otherwise classified US Central Intelligence Agency files from 2013 to 2016 describing previously undisclosed malware and viruses.

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Source: Gizmodo – Leaked Manual Reveals How CIA Can Track Windows Users by Gauging Wi-Fi Signal 

Google Must Delete Search Results Worldwide, Supreme Court of Canada Rules

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Google on Wednesday in a closely-watched intellectual property case over whether judges can apply their own country’s laws to all of the internet. From a report: In a 7-2 decision, the court agreed a British Columbia judge had the power to issue an injunction forcing Google to scrub search results about pirated products not just in Canada, but everywhere else in the world too. Those siding with Google, including civil liberties groups, had warned that allowing the injunction would harm free speech, setting a precedent to let any judge anywhere order a global ban on what appears on search engines. The Canadian Supreme Court, however, downplayed this objection and called Google’s fears “theoretical.” “This is not an order to remove speech that, on its face, engages freedom of expression values, it is an order to de-index websites that are in violation of several court orders. We have not, to date, accepted that freedom of expression requires the facilitation of the unlawful sale of goods,” wrote Judge Rosalie Abella.

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Source: Slashdot – Google Must Delete Search Results Worldwide, Supreme Court of Canada Rules

Leaked Facebook Rules Reveal Why It Won't Protect Black Children From Hate Speech

On Wednesday, ProPublica published dozens of startling training documents reportedly used by Facebook to train moderators on hate speech. As the trove of slides and quizzes reveals, Facebook uses a warped, one-sided reasoning to balance policing hate speech against users’ freedom of expression on the platform. This is…

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Source: Gizmodo – Leaked Facebook Rules Reveal Why It Won’t Protect Black Children From Hate Speech

I Must Have It: Amazing 1/6 Scale Jack Burton Action Figure From Big Trouble In Little China

big-trouble-in-little-china-jack-burton-figure-12.jpg

This is the absolutely stunning Jack Burton collectible action figure available exclusively from Sideshow Toys. The 1/6 scale figure stands 12-inches tall, comes with David Lopan’s eyeball guardian (golden dragon dogs not included), plus four differently molded hands and a knife. Jack Burton is limited to 1,500 pieces, will ship early next year, and costs, dammit, $240. Why does everything so cool have to be so expensive? Thankfully, they also offer a payment plan for as little as $54/month, which is still a little steep for me. I did just add one to my birthday list though with the hopes a rich relative I’ve never heard of before hooks me up. You know I’ve actually wanted to be Jack Burton on Halloween for several years now, I just don’t have the– “Muscular build or rugged good looks?” What? No — I was going to say that tank top, but thanks.

Keep going for a bunch of worthwhile closeups while I pray for a Porkchop Express playset.

Source: Geekologie – I Must Have It: Amazing 1/6 Scale Jack Burton Action Figure From Big Trouble In Little China

6 Things the US Government Is Doing That Supervillains Have Also Done

Supervillains have seized power many times over the past several decades. Sometimes they simply want domination, or they employ military might to eliminate those they hate or fear. Sometimes, it’s even worse. Our current government may not be hunting the X-Men (at least not yet) but it shouldn’t surprise you to learn…

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Source: Gizmodo – 6 Things the US Government Is Doing That Supervillains Have Also Done

This Web App Maps Out North America's Indigenous History

Ask any person to name a Native American tribe and you’ll probably come up with the same handful of names (or a blank stare). But visualization tool Native Land can help you identify hundreds of tribes, even ones in your current town. It’s a colorful and informative visualization and gateway to a history of which you…

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Source: LifeHacker – This Web App Maps Out North America’s Indigenous History

A New Kind of Tech Job Emphasizes Skills, Not a College Degree

Steve Lohr, writing for the New York Times: A few years ago, Sean Bridges lived with his mother, Linda, in Wiley Ford, W.Va. Their only income was her monthly Social Security disability check. He applied for work at Walmart and Burger King, but they were not hiring. Yet while Mr. Bridges had no work history, he had certain skills. He had built and sold some stripped-down personal computers, and he had studied information technology at a community college. When Mr. Bridges heard IBM was hiring at a nearby operations center in 2013, he applied and demonstrated those skills. Now Mr. Bridges, 25, is a computer security analyst, making $45,000 a year. In a struggling Appalachian economy, that is enough to provide him with his own apartment, a car, spending money — and career ambitions. “I got one big break,” he said. “That’s what I needed.” Mr. Bridges represents a new but promising category in the American labor market: people working in so-called new-collar or middle-skill jobs. As the United States struggles with how to match good jobs to the two-thirds of adults who do not have a four-year college degree, his experience shows how a worker’s skills can be emphasized over traditional hiring filters like college degrees, work history and personal references. […] On Wednesday, the approach received a strong corporate endorsement from Microsoft, which announced a grant of more than $25 million to help Skillful, a program to foster skills-oriented hiring, training and education. The initiative, led by the Markle Foundation, began last year in Colorado, and Microsoft’s grant will be used to expand it there and move it into other states. “We need new approaches, or we’re going to leave more and more people behind in our economy,” said Brad Smith, president of Microsoft.

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Source: Slashdot – A New Kind of Tech Job Emphasizes Skills, Not a College Degree