Some of the most popular mobile games have player bases far exceeding those of big-name, AAA console titles. And where simple but addictive puzzlers like Candy Crush Saga used to be the pinnacle, we now have much more elaborate and engaging games lik…
Source: Engadget – The Black Shark looks like a gaming phone, runs like any other
Monthly Archives: November 2018
Ask Dr. NerdLove: I Fell In Love With My Best Friend And Now Everything’s Ruined
Hello all you thought criminals of the Internet, and welcome to Ask Dr. NerdLove, the only dating advice column to help you speedrun to the Good Ending of your love life.
Source: Kotaku – Ask Dr. NerdLove: I Fell In Love With My Best Friend And Now Everything’s Ruined
What to Do If You're Affected by Marriott's Data Breach
Marriott International announced Friday that personal information for up to 500 million of its guests may have been accessed as part of a breach to its Starwood guest reservation database. If you’ve stayed at a Marriott hotel in the past few years, this probably means you.
Source: LifeHacker – What to Do If You’re Affected by Marriott’s Data Breach
Mir 1.1 Is Releasing Soon With Experimental X11 Support & NVIDIA Binary Blob Handling
Ubuntu’s Mir team will soon be releasing their Mir 1.1 display server release in the days ahead with this first post-1.0 stable update of this re-shifted project that has morphed into offering Wayland client support…
Source: Phoronix – Mir 1.1 Is Releasing Soon With Experimental X11 Support & NVIDIA Binary Blob Handling
Could electric cars help kill the duck?
Fermata Energy and Nissan introduce bi-directional charging for the LEAF. This has interesting implications.
Source: TreeHugger – Could electric cars help kill the duck?
Major Earthquake Shakes Anchorage, Raising Tsunami Alert
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake shook Anchorage and the surrounding area on Friday morning. The shaking also triggered a wave of tsunami warnings along the Alaska coast with more likely around the Pacific.
Source: Gizmodo – Major Earthquake Shakes Anchorage, Raising Tsunami Alert
Facebook Quietly Hired Republican Strategy Firm Targeted Victory
Facebook is still reeling from the revelation that it hired an opposition research firm with close ties to the Republican party, but its relationship with Definers Public Affairs isn’t the company’s only recent contract work with deeply GOP-linked strategy firms. TechCrunch reports: According to sources familiar with the project, Facebook also contracted with Targeted Victory, described as “the GOP’s go-to technology consultant firm.” Targeted Victory worked with Facebook on the company’s Community Boost roadshow, a tour of U.S. cities meant to stimulate small business interest in Facebook as a business and ad platform. The ongoing Community Boost initiative, announced in late 2017, kicked off earlier this year with stops in cities like and Topeka, Kansas and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Facebook also worked with Targeted Victory on the company’s ad transparency efforts. Over the last year, Facebook has attempted to ward off regulation from Congress over ad disclosure, even putting forth some self-regulatory efforts to appease legislators.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Facebook Quietly Hired Republican Strategy Firm Targeted Victory
E Ink display lets you write on it as if it were paper
You can already get e-paper notepads that come close to replicating the feel of writing on dead trees, but E Ink thinks it can do better. The company has unveiled a new film, JustWrite, that promises more natural scribbling. It doesn’t require a ba…
Source: Engadget – E Ink display lets you write on it as if it were paper
Coworking-inspired school gets kids to learn through interactive play
Created by BIG and WeWork, this open-plan school in NYC offers another model for education.
Source: TreeHugger – Coworking-inspired school gets kids to learn through interactive play
Marriott breach leaves 500 million exposed with passport, card numbers stolen
Enlarge / Marriott Hotel brands like the W hotel were breached between 2014 and 2018. (credit: Craig Warga/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
On Friday, Marriott International announced a system breach that has affected approximately 500 million customers, with stolen information including names, credit card numbers, mailing addresses, email addresses, and passport numbers. The breach is one of the largest in history, after recent Yahoo breaches that compromised the accounts of nearly three billion customers.
The breach appears to have originated at Starwood hotels in 2014—two years before Marriott acquired the hotel chain, according to The Washington Post. “When Marriott acquired Starwood in 2016, the existing breach went undetected during the merger and for years afterward,” the Post noted.
Marriott says it confirmed unauthorized access to the Starwood guest reservation database on November 19, which contained guest information dating back to September 10, 2018. The hackers had allegedly copied encrypted information from the Starwood reservation database. When Marriott was able to decrypt the information, the company found that of the approximately 500 million guests that had their name and contact information stolen, a subset of 327 million had “some combination of name, mailing address, phone number, email address, passport number, Starwood Preferred Guest (“SPG”) account information, date of birth, gender, arrival and departure information, reservation date, and communication preferences.”
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Source: Ars Technica – Marriott breach leaves 500 million exposed with passport, card numbers stolen
The Officially Licensed Pickle Rick Christmas Tree Ornament (And Plumbus)
This is the officially licensed Rick And Morty Pickle Rick Christmas tree ornament available from ThinkGeek ($10). The plumbus seen beside it is also available for $15. Did you know hanging a pickle Christmas tree ornament is actually a US tradition dating all the way back to the late 1800’s because this country is basically an infant? Let me Wikipedia that for you:
The Christmas pickle is a Christmas tradition for some people in the United States. A decoration in the shape of a pickle is hidden on a Christmas tree, with the finder receiving either a reward or good fortune for the following year. There are a number of different origin stories attributed to the tradition, including an origination in Germany. This theory has since been discounted, and it is now thought to be an American tradition created in the late 19th century.
Fascinating — absolutely fascinating. I assume the tradition actually began when people who were too poor to afford ornaments just hung food on the tree. Which, fun fact — is actually the origin of the original shiny red ball ornaments — turnips! “I find that hard to believe.” You calling me a liar? I’m practically the spirit of Christmas.
Keep going for a couple more shots.
Source: Geekologie – The Officially Licensed Pickle Rick Christmas Tree Ornament (And Plumbus)
You (and Your Kids) Can Now Watch the First 6 Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures Shorts
They’re heeere! The first six Galaxy of Adventures shorts—which use original dialogue and sound effects to help transform Star Wars films into kid-friendly animated shorts—are now available on the brand-new Star Wars Kids YouTube channel. And you can watch them all here!
Source: io9 – You (and Your Kids) Can Now Watch the First 6 Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures Shorts
Inside Chronicle, Alphabet’s cybersecurity moonshot
Fifteen years ago, cybersecurity could be boiled down to a simple strategy: Secure the perimeter. Experts fought against malware and other nefarious code by implementing firewalls and other point-of-entry defenses. Since then, however, companies have…
Source: Engadget – Inside Chronicle, Alphabet’s cybersecurity moonshot
Plex And Tidal Team Up To Provide Discounted Streaming Music Service
Music lovers rejoice! Plex Music and TIDAL have teamed up to bring users a wide variety of high quality content. Users will be able more easily discover new content, listen to personalized playlists, and enjoy better sound quality with the TIDAL on Plex subscription.
TIDAL is a music streaming-service that is partly owned by Jay-Z and other
Source: Hot Hardware – Plex And Tidal Team Up To Provide Discounted Streaming Music Service
To No Surprise, Intel's Discrete GPU Efforts Will Support Linux Gaming
It should come as virtually no surprise to any regular Phoronix reader given the significant investment Intel makes to Linux via their Open-Source Technology Center with working on Mesa for their Vulkan/OpenGL drivers and related components, but their discrete GPU undertaking will support Linux gaming alongside Windows…
Source: Phoronix – To No Surprise, Intel’s Discrete GPU Efforts Will Support Linux Gaming
The best LED desk lamp
By Anna Perling
This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full LED desk lamp guide here.
After co…
Source: Engadget – The best LED desk lamp
Mount a Phone, a Tablet, or a Switch in the Backseat With This $8 Headrest Cradle
A car headrest mount for your phone, tablet, and Nintendo Switch is just as useful as a gooseneck mount, and a lot less absurd. If you have kids and a car, it’s the best $8 you’ll spend today (with promo code XYISTWNY).
Source: Kotaku – Mount a Phone, a Tablet, or a Switch in the Backseat With This Headrest Cradle
Tesla has a problem with racism in its factory—so do many of its rivals
Enlarge / Robotics arms install the front seats to a Model 3 at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California. (credit: Mason Trinca for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
At least six black former Tesla employees have told The New York Times that they suffered from racial harassment while working at the company. Three racial discrimination lawsuits have been filed against Tesla since early last year.
One man, DeWitt Lambert, shared a video in which an unidentified man walks around Tesla’s factory floor and—addressing Lambert—threatens to “cut you up … so everybody can have a piece of you, n*****.”
In a lengthy statement to Ars Technica, Tesla faulted the Times for extrapolating from “a very small number of claims” to paint Tesla in an unflattering light.
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Source: Ars Technica – Tesla has a problem with racism in its factory—so do many of its rivals
Companies 'Can Sack Workers For Refusing To Use Fingerprint Scanners'
Businesses using fingerprint scanners to monitor their workforce can legally sack employees who refuse to hand over biometric information on privacy grounds, the Fair Work Commission has ruled. From a report: The ruling, which will be appealed, was made in the case of Jeremy Lee, a Queensland sawmill worker who refused to comply with a new fingerprint scanning policy introduced at his work in Imbil, north of the Sunshine Coast, late last year. Fingerprint scanning was used to monitor the clock-on and clock-off times of about 150 sawmill workers at two sites and was preferred to swipe cards because it prevented workers from fraudulently signing in on behalf of their colleagues to mask absences.
The company, Superior Woods, had no privacy policy covering workers and failed to comply with a requirement to properly notify individuals about how and why their data was being collected and used. The biometric data was stored on servers located off-site, in space leased from a third party. Lee argued the business had never sought its workers’ consent to use fingerprint scanning, and feared his biometric data would be accessed by unknown groups and individuals.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Companies ‘Can Sack Workers For Refusing To Use Fingerprint Scanners’
Google Pixel Slate review: The burden of bad software
Google’s Pixel Slate is a maddening device to review. It’s the latest in a line of premium, expensive Chrome OS devices from Google — but the first that’s a tablet, meant to compete with the iPad Pro and Surface Pro. Based purely on its hardwa…
Source: Engadget – Google Pixel Slate review: The burden of bad software