PS4's revamped video section focuses on shows over apps

If you have a PlayStation 4, there’s a good chance you use it as a video viewer. However, you’ll also know that it isn’t ideal for that role — you have to hop between apps just to see what shows are worth watching. Sony is aiming to fix that. Ame…

Source: Engadget – PS4’s revamped video section focuses on shows over apps

Ask Slashdot: Are 'Full Stack' Developers a Thing?

“It seems that nearly every job posting for a software developer these days requires someone who can do it all,” complains Slashdot reader datavirtue, noting a main focus on finding someone to do “front end work and back end work and database work and message queue work….”

I have been in a relatively small shop that for years that has always had a few guys focused on the UI. The rest of us might have to do something on the front-end but are mostly engaged in more complex “back-end” development or MQ and database architecture. I have been keeping my eye on the market, and the laser focus on full stack developers is a real turn-off.

When was the last time you had an outage because the UI didn’t work right? I can’t count the number of outages resulting from inexperienced developers introducing a bug in the business logic or middle tier. Am I correct in assuming that the shops that are always looking for full stack developers just aren’t grown up yet?

sjames (Slashdot reader #1,099) responded that “They are a thing, but in order to have comprehensive experience in everything involved, the developer will almost certainly be older than HR departments in ‘the valley’ like to hire.”
And Dave Ostrander argues that “In the last 10 years front end software development has gotten really complex. Gulp, Grunt, Sass, 35+ different mobile device screen sizes and 15 major browsers to code for, has made the front end skillset very valuable.” The original submitter argues that front-end development “is a much simpler domain,” leading to its own discussion.
Share your own thoughts in the comments. Are “full-stack” developers a thing?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Ask Slashdot: Are ‘Full Stack’ Developers a Thing?

The next big 'Destiny 2' update involves a revamped mobile app

Bungie only just released Destiny 2’s “Go Fast” update, but it’s already set to talk about its next releases — and this time, the most important moves are outside the game itself. The studio is readying updates to both the Companion mobile app and…

Source: Engadget – The next big ‘Destiny 2’ update involves a revamped mobile app

Linux 4.16, Ubuntu 18.04 & Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Have Been Definitely Exciting

This month on Phoronix has been more than 320 original news stories and 22 featured Linux hardware reviews. Here’s a look at what has been exciting readers the most this month, which includes the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ launch, Linux 4.16 maturing and Linux 4.17 being around the corner, Windows vs. Linux benchmarks, and much more…

Source: Phoronix – Linux 4.16, Ubuntu 18.04 & Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Have Been Definitely Exciting

'Thousands of Companies Are Spying On You'

Security guru Bruce Schneier warns that “thousands of companies” are spying on us and manipulating us for profit. An anonymous reader quotes his article on CNN:
Harvard Business School professor Shoshana Zuboff calls it “surveillance capitalism.” And as creepy as Facebook is turning out to be, the entire industry is far creepier. It has existed in secret far too long, and it’s up to lawmakers to force these companies into the public spotlight, where we can all decide if this is how we want society to operate and — if not — what to do about it…
Surveillance capitalism drives much of the internet. It’s behind most of the “free” services, and many of the paid ones as well. Its goal is psychological manipulation, in the form of personalized advertising to persuade you to buy something or do something, like vote for a candidate. And while the individualized profile-driven manipulation exposed by Cambridge Analytica feels abhorrent, it’s really no different from what every company wants in the end… Surveillance capitalism is deeply embedded in our increasingly computerized society, and if the extent of it came to light there would be broad demands for limits and regulation. But because this industry can largely operate in secret, only occasionally exposed after a data breach or investigative report, we remain mostly ignorant of its reach…
Regulation is the only answer.The first step to any regulation is transparency. Who has our data? Is it accurate? What are they doing with it? Who are they selling it to? How are they securing it? Can we delete it…? The market can put pressure on these companies to reduce their spying on us, but it can only do that if we force the industry out of its secret shadows.

The article also insists that “None of this is new,” pointing out that companies like Facebook and Google offer their free services in exchange for your data.

But he also notes that there are now already 2,500 to 4,000 data brokers just in the U.S., including Equifax.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – ‘Thousands of Companies Are Spying On You’

Should We Revive Extinct Species?

An anonymous reader writes:
The last male northern white rhinoceros died just last week, and a total of just 29,000 rhinoceroses now remain on earth. But National Geographic reports that “the genetic material of several northern white rhinos has been stored away,” and scientists hope to give birth to another using in vitro fertilization — or to breed a hybrid using a genetically similar southern white rhino.

Meanwhile, a postdoctoral fellow in ecology and evolutionary biology reports that scientists are seriously considering the possibility of “de-extincting” the Carolina parakeet, America’s only native parrot, which became extinct 100 years ago.
Thanks to the data I compiled as well as cutting-edge machine learning approaches to analyze those data, my colleagues and I were able to reconstruct the Carolina parakeets’ likely range and climate niche, [which] turned out to be much smaller than previously believed… While this may seem rather minor, some scientists consider the Carolina parakeet one of the top candidates for ‘de-extinction’, a process in which DNA is harvested from specimens and used to “resurrect” extinct species… If someone were to spend millions of dollars doing all of the genetic and breeding work to bring back this species, or any other, how will they figure out where to release these birds…? Whether or not de-extinction is a worthwhile use of conservation effort and money is another question, best answered by someone other than me. But this is just an example of one potential use of this type of research. ”
It seems like all kinds of havoc could ensue if we released a resurrected species back into the modern ecosystem. And yet Harvard researchers are already working to breed a new creature that’s half-elephant, half Wooly Mammoth. What do Slashdot’s readers think? Should we revive extinct species?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Should We Revive Extinct Species?

Amazon turns 'A League of Their Own' into a TV series

Amazon still isn’t done turning classic movies into Prime Video productions. Hollywood Reporter has learned that the internet is turning the legendary baseball movie A League of Their Own into a half-hour comedy series. It’s too soon to learn about t…

Source: Engadget – Amazon turns ‘A League of Their Own’ into a TV series

Uber Is Shutting Down Its Little-Used UberRush Delivery Service

Not long ago, on-demand package pickup Shyp closed its doors, saying it had failed to achieve critical mass for its explosive growth strategy and a last-minute pivot to business customers was too little, too late. Now UberRush, Uber’s delivery service for merchants in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, is following…

Read more…



Source: Gizmodo – Uber Is Shutting Down Its Little-Used UberRush Delivery Service

This Video Series Asks, What Sort of Hero is Batman, Anyway?

The tradition of the hero in fiction is long and complicated. The first type of “hero” we find in literature, the Classical Hero of old epics, weren’t good, exactly: they were just big. They did great deeds, but they were also fatally flawed, and sometimes monstrous. Only later, during the Middle Ages and the Romantic…

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Source: Gizmodo – This Video Series Asks, What Sort of Hero is Batman, Anyway?

MailChimp Bans Emails Promoting Cryptocurrency

“MailChimp to Cryptocurrency Promoters: Your Fake Money’s No Good Here,” jokes the headline at Gizmodo. The mass emailing service — which sends over a billion emails a day — just updated its Acceptable Use Policy to warn users that MailChimp “does not allow businesses involved in any aspect of the sale, transaction, exchange, storage, marketing, or production of cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, and any digital assets related to an Initial Coin Offering, to use MailChimp to facilitate or support any of those activities.”
An anonymous reader quotes Gizmodo:
The ban on cryptocurrency promotion isn’t out of the blue so much as a clarification of existing use policies… In a statement to Gizmodo, MailChimp further clarified: “We recognize that blockchain technology is in its infancy and has tremendous potential. Nonetheless, the promotion and exchange of cryptocurrencies is too frequently associated with scams, fraud, phishing, and potentially misleading business practices at this time…” MailChimp previously held policies prohibiting multi-level marketing, “make money online” businesses, and “industries hav[ing] higher-than-average abuse complaints,” and earmarked “online trading, day trading tips, or stock market related content” for “additional scrutiny…” This follows similar, though less restrictive bans by Facebook (and Instagram by extension), Google, Linkedin, Twitter, and Snapchat on ICO ads, and country-wide bans in China and South Korea.

Futurism reports that the first victims are “responding in kind by attempting to read the riot act to a Twitter account whose avatar is a monkey with a hat,” strongly informing that monkey that “Centralized capricious power is exactly why we need blockchains.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – MailChimp Bans Emails Promoting Cryptocurrency

Tiangong-1 Is Now Predicted to Hit Earth at 7:30pm ET Sunday, Give or Take Up to Seven Hours

Forecasts from the European Space Agency’s Space Debris Office and the US-based Aerospace Corp. predict that China’s falling space station, the Tiangong-1, will most likely plummet to Earth on Sunday night at around 730pm ET.

Read more…



Source: Gizmodo – Tiangong-1 Is Now Predicted to Hit Earth at 7:30pm ET Sunday, Give or Take Up to Seven Hours

The EFF Hosts a 'John Perry Barlow Symposium' Next Saturday

An anonymous reader writes:
The EFF is announcing “a celebration of the life and leadership of the recently departed founder of EFF, John Perry Barlow,” to be held next Saturday at the Internet Archive in San Francisco from 2:00 to 6:00. The event will also be streamed live on the Internet Archive’s YouTube channel.
Confirmed speakers include Edward Snowden, Cory Doctorow, EFF co-founders John Gilmore and Mitch Kapor, and Shari Steele, the executive director of the Tor Project (and a former EFF executive director).

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – The EFF Hosts a ‘John Perry Barlow Symposium’ Next Saturday

Kansas Passes "Anti-Swatting" Bill in Wake of Andrew Finch Shooting

The Andrew T. Finch anti-swatting bill is on the way to Governor Jeff Colyer’s desk for final approval after it passed the Kansas Senate this week. The legislation makes any false alarm or swatting call that results in death or extreme injury a level one felony, which carries a prison sentence between 10 and 41 years.



The new bill was drawn up after the tragic death Andrew Finch in December 2017. Finch, 28, was shot dead by a police officer outside his home after a fraudulent call was made regarding a supposed hostage situation at his residence. 25-year-old Los Angeles resident Tyler Barriss was later identified as the individual who made the call and was charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Kansas Passes “Anti-Swatting” Bill in Wake of Andrew Finch Shooting

Huawei's P20 Pro rivals the best smartphone cameras out there

We’re a skeptical bunch at Engadget, and when Huawei briefed us on its P20 Pro smartphone, listing an endless torrent of specifications and dubbing its Leica Triple Camera system “the most advanced camera on a phone yet,” we collectively rolled our e…

Source: Engadget – Huawei’s P20 Pro rivals the best smartphone cameras out there

Netflix is reportedly close to buying Luc Besson's movie studio

Netflix may get a lot more from filmmaker Luc Besson than that rumored multi-movie deal. Sources speaking to France’s Capital have claimed that Netflix is in “advanced talks” to acquire EuropaCorp, the studio co-founded by Besson back in 2000. Whil…

Source: Engadget – Netflix is reportedly close to buying Luc Besson’s movie studio

'Nature' Explores Why So Many Postgrads Have Bad Mental Health

An anonymous reader writes:
This week Nature tweeted that the rates of depression and anxiety reported by postgraduate students were six times higher than in the general population — and received more than 1,200 retweets and received 170 replies. “This is not a one dimensional problem. Financial burden, hostile academia, red tape, tough job market, no proper career guidance. Take your pick,” read one response. “Maybe being told day in, day out that the work you spend 10+ hrs a day, 6-7 days a week on isn’t good enough,” said another.
The science magazine takes this as more proof that “there is a problem among young scientists. Too many have mental-health difficulties, and too many say that the demands of the role are partly to blame. Neither issue gets the attention it deserves.” They’re now gathering stories from postgraduates about mental-health issues, and vowing to give the issue more coverage. “There is a problem with the culture in science, and it is one that loads an increasing burden on the shoulders of younger generations. The evidence suggests that they are feeling the effects. (Among the tweets, one proposed solution to improving the PhD is to ‘treat it like professional training instead of indentured servitude with no hope of a career at the end?’.)”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – ‘Nature’ Explores Why So Many Postgrads Have Bad Mental Health