On Thursday, the U.S. government released 2,891 documents on the assassination of John F. Kennedy and let’s be real: you’re probably not going to read them. So here are the juicy bits according to the people who already have.
Source: LifeHacker – Here Are the Most Interesting Details in the JFK Documents
By Courtney Schley
This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter, reviews for the real world. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full ar…
Source: Engadget – The best learning apps
Enlarge / Web browsing in portrait mode gives you more text on the screen at once than previous iPhones.
Some of us are phone-case people and some of us aren’t. Those in the latter group who preordered the iPhone X may want to consider some kind of protection for their new smartphone, though, because the iPhone X will be quite expensive to repair. According to Apple’s service pricing support page, it will cost $279 to repair the iPhone X’s screen for customers who don’t have AppleCare+, the company’s extended warranty. All other damages to the iPhone X that need repairing will cost a whopping $549, over half the price of the new phone’s base model.
These prices apply to three circumstances: if the iPhone X’s screen needs replacing due to “accidental damage or mishandling;” if the screen breaks due to an accident or mishandling and the device is only covered by Apple’s one-year limited warranty; and if the screen breaks and is not covered in any way, including original warranty, consumer law, or AppleCare+.
The iPhone X’s service prices are significantly higher than those of other iPhone models, all of which are subject to the same three rules. For example: an iPhone 8 Plus carries a $169 screen-repair fee and a $399 fee for all other damages, and the older iPhone 6S has a $149 screen-repair fee and a $299 fee for all other damages.
Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Don’t drop that iPhone X—a screen repair will cost you 9
In a BBC radio interview on Friday, British Security Minister Ben Wallace attributed this year’s WannaCry outbreak to the government of North Korea. The ransomware attack crippled roughly a third of Britain’s National Health Care trusts, as well as nearly 300 local doctor’s offices, in May.
Source: Gizmodo – Britain Publicly Names North Korea as Source of WannaCry Attack
In this opinion piece over at InformationWeek, the author proposes that quantum computing poses both great promise and potential threats. Without a doubt the promises of quantum computing are immense. Things that conventional computers do slowly the quantum computer can do many times faster. Some areas I see for quantum computing are medical research where quantum computers have potential to identify possible cures, in other fields of chemistry to develop new substances, and without a doubt can be used in materials science to develop stronger/lighter metals. However, one key area that quantum computing can impact in a bad way is encryption. There is a debate about whether or not current encryption methods will be made obsolete by quantum computing. Regardless, quantum computing is the future whether we like it or not.
It’s probably safe to say that none of us will have a quantum computer sitting on our desks anytime soon, but just about anyone with a browser can get access to IBM’s 5 and 16 quantum bit (qubit) computers via the cloud. Earlier this year, the company announced IBM Q, an initiative intended to result in commercially available quantum computing systems. IBM also announced that it had built and tested two quantum computing processors including the 16 qubit open processor for use by the public and the 17-qubit commercial processor for customers.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Quantum Computing Brings Promise and Threats
In the first study of its kind, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown that people who use pot have sex about 20 percent more often than those who do not. It’s an eye-opening finding, but a classic case where correlation doesn’t necessarily imply causation.
Source: Gizmodo – Pot Users Have More Sex, But It’s a Lot More Complicated Than That
Believe it or not, the Affordable Care Act is still in effect. Most people who don’t have coverage through work can buy a plan off the Marketplace (the so-called “Obamacare plans”) for $100/month or less, starting November 1. Signing up is trickier this year, though, so we’ve put together a guide with the most…
Source: LifeHacker – How to Sign Up for Health Insurance This Year
It’s a fascinating picture of robots and dancing women, all performing for a movie. The photo is supposedly from around 1927. And while I love old movies and I love robots, I can’t for the life of me figure out what this photo is from. I need your help.
Source: Gizmodo – What Movie Is This Robot Chorus Line From?
A reader shares a BleepingComputer report: LG Electronics has avoided a security disaster this summer after it worked with security researchers to patch a vulnerability in the mobile app that customers are using to control a breadth of LG smart home devices. The vulnerability affects the LG SmartThinQ app used to control all of LG’s “smart” home appliances, a list that includes devices such as smart ovens, vacuums, dishwashers, refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners, and more. The flaw was discovered by security researchers from Israeli firm Check Point, who reported the problem to LG technicians. According to researchers, an attacker would have been able to hijack the authentication process that occurs between the SmartThinQ app and LG’s servers. The attacker could have been able to take over a user’s account and control devices in the user’s home, and paired with the user’s profile. For example, attackers could have overheated ovens, altered a home’s temperature via AC units in a Mr.Robot-style hack, or spied on users via camera-enabled devices.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Bug in Mobile App Lets Hackers Take Control of LG Smart Devices
Two years after its birth, the device that inspired dozens of copycat smart speakers and spawned thousands of integrations is getting a makeover. Amazon’s “all-new” Echo is smaller, cheaper and promises better sound. But, with a pile of new competito…
Source: Engadget – Amazon Echo review (2017): Good price, bad sound
Happy weekend, everyone, and welcome back to 3-Ingredient Happy Hour, the weekly drink column featuring super simple yet delicious libations. This week I want to talk to you about a deceptively simply, though very worthwhile cocktail: the Scotch highball.
Source: LifeHacker – 3-Ingredient Happy Hour: The Very Simple and Good Scotch Highball
Enlarge / After a brief fan revival, online Battlefield Heroes is once again dead.
Since 2014, a group of volunteers going by the name Revive Network have been working to keep online game servers running for Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, and Battlefield Heroes. As of this week, the team is shutting down that effort thanks to a legal request from publisher Electronic Arts.
“We will get right to the point: Electronic Arts Inc.’ legal team has contacted us and nicely asked us to stop distributing and using their intellectual property,” the Revive Network team writes in a note on their site. “As diehard fans of the franchise, we will respect these stipulations.”
EA’s older Battlefield titles were a victim of the 2014 GameSpy shutdown, which disabled the online infrastructure for plenty of classic PC and console games. To get around that, Revive was distributing modified versions of the older Battlefield titles along with a launcher that allowed access to its own, rewritten server infrastructure. The process started with Battlefield 2 in 2014 and expanded to Battlefield 2142 last year, and Battlefield Heroes a few month ago.
Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – EA shuts down fan-run servers for older Battlefield games
While F1 2016 didn’t make it to Linux, Feral Interactive just announced F1 2017 will be coming to Linux and it’s arriving next week…
Source: Phoronix – F1 2017 Being Released For Linux Next Week
Breakaway, a competitive battle game under development Double Helix and published by Amazon Game Studios, is going on a bit of a break. Following a report from Kotaku claiming that the game was being put on “indefinite hiatus,” the team working on th…
Source: Engadget – Amazon’s ‘Breakaway’ game is on hold while developers make changes
Ahead of the weekend, the beta of Chrome 63 is now available for all supported platforms…
Source: Phoronix – Chrome 63 Beta Rolls Out With Dynamic Module Imports, Device Memory API
You might think that the massive number of security breaches that have happened in recent years would push corporate giants and medical facilities out there to take a look at their own security and ensure that their networks are protected. We are only a few months removed from the massive attack that breached Equifax and leaked the information
Source: Hot Hardware – WannaCry Ransomware Attack That Crippled UK Hospitals Could Have Been Avoided With ‘Basic IT Security
On Wednesday night I read a very, very, very early (and very, very, very explicit) excerpt from my book at the Brillobox as a part of their monthly Bridge Series. I wanted to get a workout and a sweat in before the reading (which started at 8:15 p.m.), so I went to LA Fitness at 6 to hoop for an hour or so. Both the…
Source: LifeHacker – Do You Shower at the Gym After Working Out, or Do You Wait Until You Get Home?
This is a short video from the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. of a guy learning to not tap on the glass of even fake animal exhibits. The motion-activated ‘virtual shark tank’ has actually existed at the museum for several years as part of a James Bond exhibit, next to a tribute to Jaws (the henchman, not the shark), and jump-scares anybody who touches it. Me? I don’t touch things. Especially not myself. “It’ll make you go blind,” God once told me, despite the fact I’d only reached out to ask for tomorrow’s winning lottery numbers.
Keep going for the video, as well as another with a GROUP SCARE, but there are a bunch more on Youtube.
Source: Geekologie – Classics: The Ol’ Shark Breaking The Aquarium Glass Prank
WhatsApp users with fingers moving faster than their brain will be happy to know the company’s rolling out a new feature that lets you retract that last message, and wipe it from the conversation. Right now the feature is rolling out to certain users, according to The Next Web.
Source: LifeHacker – How to Unsend a Message on WhatsApp
Fans of Mass Effect who have been waiting for the conclusion of the Quarian ark storyline in Andromeda, we have a good news/bad news situation for you. The good news is that we’ll finally find out what happened aboard the ark, called the Keelah Si’ya…
Source: Engadget – ‘Mass Effect: Andromeda’ fans will have to read a book for closure
