Everyone loves our new desktop web search design so much – the one with ads that look like links

Found on The Register on Saturday, 25 January 2020
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Google is under fire this week for rolling out a new design for its desktop web search results in which advertisements and normal links look almost the same.

At a glance, the ads do not look distinct from the organic results, causing many observers, such as The Graun's technology editor Alex Hern, to note “there is now no visual distinction between ads and results … it’s hard to escape the conclusion that it is supposed to be difficult to spot at a glance where the adverts end.”

Google results are not as good as they used to be. It's trying to be too smart for its own good.

LastPass stores passwords so securely, not even its users can access them

Found on The Register on Friday, 24 January 2020
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Social media is awash with customers unable to connect to the service either via the company's website or through its various apps. For some, the problem has been going on for days.

Customers have been asked to clear caches, reinstall apps, everything bar the immortal "turn it off and turn it on again" to no avail.

Store your passwords in the cloud they say. You will always have access they say. Yeah, right.

Smart scale goes dumb as Under Armour pulls the plug on connected tech

Found on Ars Technica on Thursday, 23 January 2020
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In an announcement dated sometime around January 8, Under Armour said that not only has the app been removed from all app stores, but the company is no longer providing customer support or bug fixes for the software, which will completely stop working as of March 31.

The company would instead go back to its roots as a clothing line and focus on actual wearables, such as connected running shoes, along with doubling down on the MyFitnessPal app, which it acquired in 2015.

Current device owners also can't export all their data. While workout data can be exported and transferred to some other tracking app, Record users cannot capture weight or other historical data to carry forward with them.

That's one way to kick your customers in the butt. Pretty sure the majority of them (and many who read about this) will think twice before buying their next stupid/smart products. On the other hand, there's not really that much reason to feel sorry for those who are gullible enough to buy such crap.

Terry Jones death: Monty Python star and Life of Brian director dies, aged 77

Found on Independent on Wednesday, 22 January 2020
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He stepped behind the camera alongside Gilliam in 1975 as co-director of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. He took on sole directing responsibilities for the subsequent big-screen productions Life of Brian (1979) and The Meaning of Life (1983).

His former co-star, writing partner and friend Michael Palin recently revealed that Jones was “not doing terribly well”.

Those are really sad news. Terry, along with the rest of the Monty Python crew, made so many people laugh so very hard.

Watch SpaceX Blow Up a Falcon 9 Rocket to Prove It's Safe for People

Found on Wired on Wednesday, 22 January 2020
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Just a minute and a half after launch, the Falcon 9 will kill its engines and the Crew Dragon will fire its SuperDraco engines to separate from the rocket. At this point, the rocket and the capsule will both be traveling around 1,000 miles per hour. After separation, they will continue coasting through the stratosphere before they begin their return to Earth. The Falcon 9 will get torn to shreds over the Atlantic Ocean during its descent, but the Crew Dragon will gently land in the ocean under parachute.

It would have been more of a PR on New Years Eve.

Girlsdoporn offline after losing legal battle

Found on BBC News on Tuesday, 21 January 2020
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On 3 January, a judge in San Diego ruled the firm had lied to the women about how the videos would be shared and whether they would be identifiable.

The women who brought the lawsuit were told their videos would not appear online and were intended for private investors or overseas DVDs.

However, they were uploaded to the subscription platform and clips were also circulated to other, free-to-view, sites.

Here's your reminder to think about the results of your actions. If it is so risky to do, better don't do it at all, because these days the videos will never stay private. "Overseas DVDs" will get ripped, well, overseas and uploaded anyway. If you want to do this sort of business, be prepared for a full disclosure and never trust any promises coming from the producers.

This Secretive Surveillance Company Is Selling Cops Cameras Hidden in Gravestones

Found on Vice on Monday, 20 January 2020
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A surveillance vendor that works with U.S. government agencies, such as the FBI, DEA, and ICE, is marketing spying capabilities to local police departments, including cameras that are hidden inside a tombstone, a baby car seat, and a vacuum cleaner.

When Motherboard asked Special Services Group for comment, the company did not respond. Shortly later though, a lawyer representing the company wrote a strongly worded legal email, demanding Motherboard not report on the brochure. The lawyer claimed that the brochure was protected under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), a set of rules that regulates the export of munitions, as well as copyright.

Well hello Streisand.

Every Place Is the Same Now

Found on The Atlantic on Sunday, 19 January 2020
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Anywhere has become as good as anywhere else. The office is a suitable place for tapping out emails, but so is the bed, or the toilet. You can watch television in the den—but also in the car, or at the coffee shop, turning those spaces into impromptu theaters.

Nowhere feels especially remarkable, and every place adopts the pleasures and burdens of every other.

Thus all places become dull, boring and lifeless. Put your smartphone away and raise your eyes to actually see how different places can be.

The Navy Has Secret Classified Video of an Infamous UFO Incident

Found on Vice on Saturday, 18 January 2020
Browse Astronomy

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request sent by researcher Christian Lambright seeking more information on the incident, the Navy said it had “discovered certain briefing slides that are classified TOP SECRET. A review of these materials indicates that are currently and appropriate Marked and Classified TOP SECRET under Executive Order 13526, and the Original Classification Authority has determined that the release of these materials would cause exceptionally grave damage to the National Security of the United States.”

“The Pentagon has a long history of sometimes providing inaccurate information to the American people,” Elizondo said. “This is true as recently as this week regarding the draft memo involving Iran, and two weeks ago when the press finally received the truth about Afghanistan despite 18 years of statements to the contrary.”

No weather ballons to see, move on. As long as nothing is released, all these press statements are pointless.

FBI seizes WeLeakInfo, a website that sold access to breached data

Found on ZD Net on Friday, 17 January 2020
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The website provided access to people's cleartext passwords, allowing hackers to purchase a subscription on the site and gain access to billions of user credentials.

The website was dirt cheap, which made it highly accessible even to low-skilled hackers with liddle funds. For as little as $2 per day, hackers could perform unlimited searches for a user's data on the site.

Currently, there are at least three other websites that operate similar to LeakedSource and WeLeakInfo -- selling access to hacked data, including cleartext passwords. They are Dehashed, Snusbase, and Leak-Lookup. All three are still up, at the time of writing.

As long as big leaks happen, sites such as these will exist. To reduce leaks, companies must get into really big financial troubles for messing up; but as seen with Equifax, this does not seem to happen at all.