Apple says iPhone 7 Plus can make you absurdly popular

Found on CNet News on Sunday, 08 January 2017
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In an charming new ad, Cupertino wants you to use Portrait Mode on your iPhone 7 Plus. It's a sure way to make people admire you.

The young woman is clearly a success. She has an iPhone 7 Plus. Because she's a millennial, she immediately whips it out.

Maybe in a very little bubble filled with hipster fanbois. If you actually believe that a mere tool makes you popular, not even pity will save you.

FM now stands for 'fleeting mortality' in Norway

Found on The Register on Saturday, 07 January 2017
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The Scandinavian nation has begun a gradual shutdown that will see FM broadcasts start to be phased out later this month, and concluding entirely by the end of the year. Nationwide broadcasts will instead be offered through digital radio channels.

Reuters notes that there is still opposition to the DAB migration from both the public and members of the government, who estimate that while more than half of the population has moved to digital radio, millions of cars and homes that do not yet have a DAB receiver will be cut off from radio broadcasts – including emergency notifications

To save some money, the government simply turns a huge number of working devices essentially into bricks, forcing people to buy new hardware and produce more garbage. That's not very economical or resource-friendly.

France begins opt-out organ donation

Found on The Outline on Monday, 02 January 2017
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This means that any adult who dies will now donate their organs by default, regardless of their survivors' wishes, unless they have signed a refusal registry in advance.

The law, which was passed last year, creates a national refusal registry, where about 150,000 of France's 66 million had signed up already. In France, there were about 19,000 people on organ donation waiting lists as of April of last year when the law was signed.

After you died, you can't use your body for anything useful anymore. So it might not be the worst idea to help someone else.

Russian hackers strike at US electrical grid, report says

Found on CNet News on Saturday, 31 December 2016
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The code, which is associated with Grizzly Steppe, the Department of Homeland Security's name for a Russian hacking operation, was detected on a laptop associated with the utility but not attached to the grid, the utility said Friday.

"This is beyond hackers having electronic joy rides - this is now about trying to access utilities to potentially manipulate the grid and shut it down in the middle of winter," the Democratic senator said in a statement.

It is somewhat strange that suddenly Russia should go all nuclear on the US when Putin and Trump seem to be buddies. It's even more strange that there is no real proof, just a report that does not even deliver anything substantial.

Revealed: British councils used Ripa to secretly spy on public

Found on The Guardian on Thursday, 29 December 2016
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Councils were given permission to carry out more than 55,000 days of covert surveillance over five years, including spying on people walking dogs, feeding pigeons and fly-tipping, the Guardian can reveal.

Among the detailed examples provided were Midlothian council using the powers to monitor dog barking and Allerdale borough council gathering evidence about who was guilty of feeding pigeons.

Once the surveillance network is established, it will be abused; no matter what politicians promised before.

Ariana Grande felt 'sick and objectified' after fan encounter

Found on Fox News on Wednesday, 28 December 2016
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Ariana Grande took to Twitter on Tuesday to speak out against the pervasiveness of female objectification in society after an insulting run-in with a misogynistic fan left her feel degraded.

"I am not a piece of meat that a men gets to utilize for his pleasure," she wrote. "I'm an adult human being in a relationship with a man who treats me with love and respect."

"We need to share and be vocal when something makes up feel uncomfortable because if we don't, it will just continue. We are not objects or prizes. We are QUEENS."

Yes, she is a human being just like everybody else and should be treated with respect; but she is in no way a queen. She tries to place herself above those she wants to be equal with, showing off a really bad attitude. Sorry, you are not a special snowflake because of some short lived fame; if you want to be treated like a human, don't place yourself above them.

Congressional Report Backs Strong Encryption, Police Decryption Rights

Found on eWEEK on Monday, 26 December 2016
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The report released by a bi-partisan study group underscores law enforcement’s need to decrypt data while highlighting the importance of supporting strong encryption.

While finding that “any measure that weakens encryption works against the national interest,” the report also concluded that Congress needs to consider legislation that could help law enforcement gain access to digital information during investigations and work with technology companies to find solutions.

It just does not work this way. Either the encryption is strong, secure, and assures that only you have access to your data, or there is no encryption. Any sort of backdoor will inevitably destroy the security and reliability of an encryption process.

Company Bricks User's Software After He Posts A Negative Review

Found on Techdirt on Friday, 23 December 2016
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A user of Ham Radio Deluxe wasn't too happy with its apparent incompatibility with Windows 10. He posted a negative review of the software at eHam.net, calling out the company for its seeming unwillingness to fix the underlying issue.

HRD Software reserves the "right" to "disable a customer's key at any time for any reason." Then it told him the blacklisting would be revoked if he removed his negative review.

Someone needs a few lessons in public relation management.

Uber's self-driving tests in SF end after the DMV steps in

Found on Endadget on Thursday, 22 December 2016
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The self-driving Uber pilot in San Francisco has ended, now that the DMV revoked registrations for the vehicles. Last week, the company faced off with government officials both state and local in an attempt to insist its cars did not need a permit or autonomous testing. Regulators disagreed, and things quickly escalated.

So much for "we don't need a stupid license".

Street Fighter V ragequitters to be publicly shamed with profile icon

Found on Ars Technica on Friday, 16 December 2016
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This is just Capcom's latest tactic in a battle against ragequitters that has been going on for months. After Street Fighter V launched in February with absolutely no penalty for quitting in the middle of a match, Capcom began manually penalizing frequent quitters by docking their League Points and overall ranking in weekly sweeps starting in March. By August, the company had also implemented a stronger automatic "ragequitting penalty" that locked players out of matchmaking for 24 hours after three disconnects in a two-hour period.

A quit should be a loss, just like in real. Simple as that.