Posts by dssf

Feds BANNED from DEF CON by founder (who is Obama's cyber-expert)

No easy way to weed them out since it is plausible that all the major

Investigative and enforcement agencies likely have safehouses as well as multiple shell companies complete with legit ADP accounts and tax reporting cycles and legit employees who have no idea whatsoever that their "employer" is a front organization set up purely to be implantable into just about any convention tangential to their "core competency".

I would not be surprised if many of the startups of the past 10 years were set up by well-groomed students bgoght into "the Organization", tipped by well-placed VCs who were "encouraged" by various intel to "promote" investment in a new, fledgeling group of Stanford, Yale, Harvard, MIT, Columbia, whatever students. Probably 1 out of every 29 new startups has an "operative" in it or on the board and may be insulated well enough to not be kicked off the board no matter what unliked decisions he or she makes. This would make it easy to bring in new, support team members without arousing suspicion of existing employees, other than those perpetually paranoid that an auditor, vendor, or relative of a co-worker is their near-time/near-term replacement.

Well, at least in a movie or actioner or thriller this might be something to posit...

Snowden leak: Microsoft added Outlook.com backdoor for Feds

Ever since outlook came out, i would warn

"lookouttttt"

Yet, another reason to call "Outlook" "LOOKOUTTTTT"!

Microsoft: Still using Office installed on a PC? Gosh, you squares

Re: You're not fit to blow me, Microsoft Not FIT or,

Not SAFE?

They may be tidying up their reputation (vis avis?/WRT/along the lines of Open Source and Linux, etc.), but even a fully articulated Real Doll with pirhanna teeth would be a risky prop position, hehehe.

What ALL data-generating and data-crunching companies need to learn is that they need an emergency slide chute, whether it's is MS, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc., and need to learn (some by a virtual hammer across the back of the head) to structure their data so it is exportable at the drop of a hat.

As mentioned above, dicking around with the UI/GUI will be the hard part to contend with. So, these companies afraid to fly in the clouds need to make their own sharable/distributable GUIs and keep them and their rolling update clones fresh.

Keep the terrestrial, wirey analogs on hot standby.

Samsung Galaxy S3 explodes, turns young woman into 'burnt pig'

A Super..

Super No Va

Event of cosmic pro portions...

Modern-day Frankenstein invents CURE for BEHEADING

Re: I'll make the obvious comment.

LOL... Reminds me of what I used to hear Marines say to us Sailors way back when, during PT:

"No pain, no gain."

But, someone replied, to dissuade excessive incurred pain:

"No brain, no pain."

Sailors late on return to the ship (UA, Unauthorized Absentee) would be admonished to "think with their other head, the one on the top of their shoulders"...

SO, that has me thinking: For a below-the-neck pentapalegic male (yes, that 5th limb), getting a new body means being able to use his head (the one on his shoulder) to possible new dimensions, but, hopefully not to new dementias...

I wonder whether the team doing the first procedure will, in unison, hail, "EEEETSSS SAA LYYYVE! EEEETSSS SAAA LYYYYVVVVEEEE!"

Rest your head against a train window, hear VOICES in your SKULL

Re: I forsee a news blurb

Boneheaded Idea Leads to Forced Trains of Thought Leading to Bones of Contention

If you REALLY want to be annoyed, insert some good, rubbery earplug, sitting yourself upright, and then lean your neck forward, or if on a bed, lie randomly. After a while, you may hear the muscles in your neck or the bubbles in the skull/spine connection vibrating. Annoys the living hell out of me. Doesn't happen often, but does take a bit of readjusting.

If, however, advertisers tried forcing this onto the masses, maybe suitably-padded motorcycle helmets, lined with rubber, tin foil, water jackets, and some lead might lead to some heavy solutions. But, heavy metal music might work better than heavy metal helmets. Would prevent loads of damage to posture, too, hehehe....

PRISM leaks: WTF, you don't spy on your friends, splutters EU

Re: Paranoid... haven't we all heard...

"Misery likes company".

Crabs in a boiling pot tend to claw back on those almost able to escape.

Reading that South Korea was also bugged makes me think that this is how the USA promoted its interests in its own defense contractors. The NSA probably funneled negotiation info to Boeing, et al, so they could more conveniently strong arm SK into paying more for US-made/licensed weapons and communications systems. Probably even leaked info on the shortcomings of European systems.

Still, SK may have equally adeptly snooped in on the US defense contractors, and reinforced their own bargaining positions.

There may have been an emotionally-charged collision at some point, and hence on one of these recent deals, the Euro team won, to the possible apoplexy of the US team.

Facebook slurped phone numbers says Norton

Re: No new, Maybe not...

I think all you needed to do was just have an Android phone, if you didn't use Apple, Blackberry, etc.

See, one day, in or around 2010, I bought an HTC Evo 3G, from BBuy. I updated my info to the phone. Then, on my way out of the store, and at the bust stop, realized the phone was acting up. Then, the screen would stay black for a long time or very dimmed whether or not shooting pics.

Immediately, I returned to the store rep who sold me the device. He got authorization to remove another from stock, then did some keystrok magic, then handed me a new handset. I logged in, and just as with the first, that handset had all my google info, book marks, and phone contacts.

Even "do not be evil" apparently had not had and still has no systems to allow the device owners to be presented a list to exclude from update to the new device.

I sometimes put personal notes on the contacts for whom I do not have phone numbers because, evil or not, none of my android phones had native note takers/apps. Hence, hundreds of millions of us are FORCED (if we opt not to use pencil and paper) to download some third-party app. Hell, i still wonder whether any of the note applications slurp data without permission.

This is why for the past two or so years I been bitching up a storm that google should/must provide users with tools to know who is sucking on our phones and what data is being slurped. Governments should obtain their data theft of the public at some demarc, not via some dodgy, surreptitious, clandestine app plopped into the Play Store or AppStore or whatever.

At what point does this become baiting or entrapment, when intel and police agencies litter the stores with apps having the sole purpose of building a global dragnet. I would not be surprised if that is the next thing to pop up in this NSA scandal: "CIA, DIA, DIS, NIS, NSA, et al, develop, deliver, and defensively hide data-slurping tools globally. Probably Hauwei, LG, Samsung, Sony, Blackberry, etc all do it for testing purposes, as they'll claim, but then all that complexity enables governments and criminals alike to with impunity suck from our devices and sometimes damage them in the process.

I wonder what will happen people in the hundreds of millions start trying to sanitize their phones, and if they just spuriously and randomly change their behavior. Not that it will severely affect law enforcement agents who stick to monitoring baddies. But, it will royally screw over marketing companies and maybe only slightly annoy some criminals. Enough dumb people will keep crims in business, but marketing slurpers under performance and due-diligence/data integrity contracts would go apoplectic if forced to repay hundreds of millions of dollars due to sloppy or questionable data transfer.

Kakaotalk

Kakao and others do or did this, too. It REALLLLLLLLLY fracking pissed me off that they slurped my contact info withou any clear warning and no option to flag certain contacts as off limits.

What is so fucked in the head about these companies and their self assignment of slurping rights is that they could be endangering relatives who have restraining orders against one or more people in my contact list., since early in the post slur phase they begin recommending contacts to be contacted.

What is worse is that do not be evil should have anticipated this and created a tickbox system like a phone lust firewall to prevent these asinine and greedy purloiners of free software from slurping our data, marketing us, and riskng the safety and lives of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people.

Play the Snowden flights boardgame: Avoid going directly to Jail

Re: How long to recover from plastic surgery?

No... Just throw simultaneous regional sci fi or ComiCon conventions. He could then with prosthetics and no real surgery be any one or more of around 200 alien species roaming the halls, using public transit, and maybe even get to getaway vvehicles.

I am pretty sure that sci fi conventions occur in Japan, given all the manga, anime, and stuff between (whatever's left going on in) Akihabara, Harajuku, and Tokyo Big Sight. Dunno about Korea or Hong Kong. But, ninjas (Asian and white) would be in abundance if someone threw a show in a week or two.

This could be a NEW type of "Fugitive" dramasode...

Re: John Deeb Anal Leakage MOTU?,

MOTU?

Unless the CIA and NSA have officially become or attained status of Masters Of The Uniwerse", Title 18 means f*ck all to the space-faring occupants of any of the Gliese planets (if any exist).

It would be an interesting exercise to (if it were true, and playing out) see the US or any country try to apply the laws of espionage to beings that are superior to us umm, I mean YOU...

(Wait, where's my quantum escape transporter.... This world is nuttier by the hour...Dammit, the pattern buffer is malfunctioning again.... What an ass of an assignment... Earth...)

Re: in transit A zone, by any other name

A zone, by any other name

You forgot the ROM-u-LAN (u- union) new trawl (not troll) zone. Plenty of face-snapping in them.

Re: in transit SomeTIMES you FEEHEEEL Like a NUT,WAOOWW WAOOW SOME

SomeTIMES you FEEHEEEL Like a NUT,WAOOWW WAOOW SOME

Times you don't...

Just put your peter and pawl into an ahhh mound of joy, you'll part with the money if stuck in a trans sit lounge, hjehehehe

Re: Private , he going to have to go private

Not if he, Russia, and China planned it all from months ago. If so, then they would have prepared fake documents for him in advance, and he'd be able to freely pay his own way so long as he can deflect or confuse facial recognition cameras. Not terribly difficult if he is either embedded in soupy crowds, or if he is plastered in elderly-man makeup like that is humourously (after the fact, since he was apparently not a tearoarwrist)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1326885/Man-boards-plane-disguised-old-man-arrested-arrival-Canada.html

. If he avoided gait-analyzing software (assume that ALL NSA types of employees pass through biometrics and gait-analysis entry/exit points (I saw as much on the HK movie side in a Jet Li movie from around 1992, Hitman, which was edited OUT OF the USA market version (also edited out were quick scenes of Jet Li donning new attire to disguise his hitman status, capped of with a faux gay/gayish/flamy wrist action, hehehe), but I had a Hong Kong version, fortunately), then it would be easy to avoid any possible NSA-grafted-on gate gait grabbing software. IIRC, USA-based mystery/spy movies did not begin screen-possiting such software until after 2005. Maybe a reader can correct the year, if I am mistaken.

Re: Why not go high...? (Up I mean)

If they are on YOUR tail, then maybe they'll be on mine, too. I am just self-annoyed that i did not two week or so ago think of what I say below:

Suppose he never left Hong Kong. Suppose everything since his arrival was a feint, and that he's on a junket/junk bobbing around in the Hong Kong harbor. As busy as it is there, it's entirely possible he was stuffed in a counterfeit duffel bag, absconded to a minisub or other sub, then taken out that way. Suppose this is the one occasion where Xi an Putin spoke privately, in agreement, to SHAFT (Snowden Has A Fine Tool/Snowden Has Allowed Fuc*ing Them; Snowden, Have A Fun Trip) the USA.

I it is possible that to prove his rejection to the USA, snowden left a finger in Hong Kong, and left a finger in the passenger terminal in one of those magic door-facing rooms. Plausibly, then, "he" (a piece of him, anyway) "is still in the airport" applies. Just, well, a piece that is definitely in "arrested development', maybe a pinkey here, and a pinkey there, so he can still type in the per-file passwords.

Or, maybe he had a special "extraction", also involving "loyalty root canals".

It may be that from the very beginning, his departure from the State, umm, state of Hawaii was very well coordinated, orchestrated, and set into motion, with China and Russia pulling the strings. This would be an interesting combination of Russian Rue-Let!, and Chinese Art of War.

If so, then, so far, masterfully played.

I concede that I possibly give both antagonists too much credit.

But, considering how masterfully and openly Soviets/Russians can "award metals" (polonium infused treats) without much opposition, interdiction, or resistance, maybe they can pull off just about ANYthing if they want to.

Apple dives through iRon curtain, launches Russian online store

If Apple opens 10 stores in an airport physically in Russia

Apple can avoid paying taxes to the USA, since "technically", they will be in a transit area.

Oh, wait, they might have to set up kiosks that they can remove and fly away every 23 hours, 59 minutes, and rotate in others, to remove the specific kiosks from a daily, persistent presence counted toward tax liability. (Is Snowden still in the "waiting area?"

Apple (and any other mfr/seller) could just keep disappearing behind magic doors and emerge from worm hole-like tunnels, from say, the whipping-ends emanating from the Delta Quadrant. Maybe Putin can play the role of Gul Dukat, and Clinton can play "Adami/Kai Winn". They can battle over the Mosst Akojin, summon the Rwah Paiths, all the while swapping red eyes, palm-throwing lightning/fire bolts, and arguing over the finer points of international/state borders, (consulting their PADDs) hahaha.

Meanwhile, Apple and others can make beelyons of dollars.... Might fund setting up Section 31....

Hell, why not even open up a bank/slush fund in the International/Stateless transit zone? Even set up orbital/orbiting flights to legitimately re-launch/re-land interesting people every 18 hours, flying out of Russian airspace with an e-ticket to the North Pole, then wire-transferring to another plane (like in Executive Decision), then landing back at the terminal, or even gliding down into a magic funnel into another worm hole. Then, the USA might resurrect Star Wars, with precision lasers to burn the chutes and glider wings from high orbit.

Wait, I think I see a Section 31 agent pretending to be an 87-years-old vagabond... her dense duffel looks to be a little to easy to carry... Oh, shi*)E&)#)@

Chinese 'nauts return to Earth after vigorous space coupling

Plenty More...

Reminds me of Uncle Benny, in one of the Lethal Weapon movies: "SO WHAT!? There's a BILLION MORE where they came from." when chastised for killing ship-delivered forced-immigrants...

Snowden dodges US agents in Moscow, skips out on flight

Re: Just a supposition on my part... The name changes to...

UESPA's/Star Fleet Command's "Section 31"

NSA hacked China's top carriers in hunt for SMS data - report

Re: Matt Bryant says: "I really don't think the meek will inherit the Earth."

And, then I did a Spoonerism or two on that:

"The CHIC shall inherit the MITT"

"The Sheik shall inherit the mitt"

Re: Matt Bryant says: "I really don't think the meek will inherit the Earth."

"The meek shall inherit the Earth"?

Reminds me of an office visit repair job I did, decades ago, when I saw on a wall somwhere:

"The MEEK shall inherit the SHIT!"

Using encryption? That means the US spooks have you on file

Re: I don't bother with encryption

No, pulling a book would be too simple to be so simple.

You'll gain access by opening a specific book, removing a certain isolinear chip, plugging it into a certain biomemetic gel pack, putting it through a phase variance first of 22 giga Cochranes, then reversing the polarity at a particular ODN junction access control panel, followed by performing a specially-sequenced baryon sweep alternated with a nuanced blast of chroniton particles, only to have to use a nadion stream emitter to cause a spectral shift of a secret, daily-changing amount.

Then, when you think you've entered the Inner Sanctum, you have to cope with dancing, nutating, uulating laser beams and holo lasers, and the real fryer is indistinguishable from the holo emitter.

In all seriousness, IIRC, either I or someone else years ago, when FISA stuff came up, off-handedly said the USA would route domestic traffic via the UK, and the UK would route its domestic traffice through the USA. Alternatively, they could just tap, split, and route abroad the streams they want to copy "legally". Wait, maybe I ws daydreaming...

'Smart ring' revealed by upstart Chinese mobe-maker

Unmentioned, obvious utility use?

Unmentioned, obvious utility use?

Now, instead of relying on just screen locks and 2-factor authentication, how about:

Program the ring to recognize bio-factor authentication:

-- recognizers user's/owner's pulse and capillary peculiarities

-- receive activation/shutdown sequence by user's secret grunt, breath-holding, and fist-clench action

Also, the ring could contain the vitals and sensitive stuff, so that if the phone is stolen, then at least it has no valuable info on it, yet it still is automatically factory-wiped when out of proximity for more than x-number of minutes, and reporrts itself as stolen, then self-destructs in 30 minutes if left on and the owner does not re-set it. Otherwise, on the restart after a forced or battery-run-down shutdown, the phone could self-destruct (internally).

So, even if a thief cold-cocks the owner and steals the phone AND the magic decoder ring (MDR), the thief has to be able to mimic or coerce an owner.

I now declare this to "Prior Art" by the time it is read by anyone else. Feel free to reproduce and dissiminate widely to prevent the idea from being patented or surreptitiously re-copyrighted.

DHS warns of vulns in hospital medical equipment

Scary if so...

Talk about creating "sleeper cells". Van Winkle would be REALLY RIPPED by such a gassly scheme...

US Supreme Court says Human DNA May Not be Patented

US Supreme Court says Human DNA May Not be Patented

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-rules-human-genes-may-not-be-patented/2013/06/13/9e5c55d2-d43d-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story.html

"The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that human genes cannot be patented, a decision that could shape the future of medical and genetic research and have profound effects on pharmaceuticals and agriculture.

The ruling was a split decision for Myriad Genetics Inc., which holds patents on genes that have been linked to breast and ovarian cancer.

Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the court, said merely isolating those specific genes -- called BRCA1 and BRCA2 — was not worthy of a patent.

“Myriad found the location of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, but that discovery, by itself, does not render the BRCA genes . . . patent eligible,” Thomas wrote.

On the other hand, Thomas wrote, Myriad’s creation of a synthetic form of DNA — called cDNA -- based on its discovery does deserve patent protection.

“The lab technician creates something new when cDNA is made,” Thomas wrote. "

More is written at the URL.

Crusading lawmen want more details on Apple's iOS 7 'Activation Lock'

Kill Switch in Lanyard, Cards, and Camera; Devices as ID

LEGAL/POLITICAL TAKE (My killswitch ideas are below):

Let's make what I write below a matter of instant prior art so that the phone manufacturers do not need to worry about patent infringement. I hope this idea is not encumbered by patents. I have not searched, nor am I intentionally trying to step on an existing patent. But, something such as the below needs to happen, and FAST, since the phone makers and carriers have a duty to reduce the risk of their customers' being mugged or killed over a phone.

However, since these phones, phablets, tablets, and laptops contain vast amounts of personal and proprietary data, I hope the SF and NY DAs take the next step: coerce Congress and the Senate and others to declare our legally-owned data-holding electronics to be a form of ID -- virtual and physical, with the full force of law regarding it as criminal as taking a physical ID card. We connect by our devices, and we gain or lose access by cookies, embedded pixels, and more based on what is on our devices. Once stolen by perps, the full force of law, locally and nationally, should regard the theft as an ID theft matter. This should trigger the FBI to be involved because many of these electronics -- the phones in particular end up in Asia and Africa. Some percentage may not be properly wiped, and some are stolen specifically for ID theft purposes. Thus, the FBI should be involved as this becomes an interstate and international crime.

MY IDEAS:

There are three ways I've thought of in under 10 minutes:

1. Lanyard

2. Detachable SD/MicroSD or SIM card as 2-factor authentication

3. Soft-lock with photo/biometrics and random reset code entry per owner set-up

1. Lanyard:

I think there should be an option to have a wired tether/lanyard attached to the USB or other port on the phone. If the perp knocks the owner out, then the owner cannot be coerced to enter a detach code. If the user drops or disconnects the phone, there can be an audible warble or other tone alerting the owner to enter the self-destruct reset code.

If the perp cuts the cable, the phone could self-destruct in 4 seconds, with no recognition of firmware-writing cables and software.

2. Two-Factor-Identification-Capable SD or MicroSD card or Sim Card

Also, if the phone is SD/MicroSD card-capable, then the contents could be automatically encrypted, and the card itself can act as the lanyard/tether/2-factor authentication trigger. This could make it unnecessary to plug the phone into a neck lanyard or subjet the user owner to predatory pricing of 1st or 3rd-party accessories.

3. Soft-lock with photo/biometrics and random reset code entry per owner set-up

If the perp manages to enter the code or coerce the victim to enter the code, then the phone can 5 minutes later and at random intervals prompt the phone holder to point the camera at him/herself and then enter the primary and backup timer reset code. On fail, the phone would self destruct.

Microsoft waves white flag: We'll put Outlook on Windows RT slabs

Re: Getting really tried of MS marketing...

Well, here is another bit of possible MS marketing...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2013/06/05/microsoft-reorganizes-itself-crafty-or-confusing/

New Tosh 'droid slabs include Newton-like scrawl-pad: We try it out

Is that a pen/sylus, or is it a power pin?

If that is a power pin, it is a HORRIBLE design. It should be a stubby, right-angle affair that is less obtrusive, and to make the tablet less unwieldy when mounted on after-market/3rd-party rotating/tiltingg stands. I hope it is just an oddly-placed writing stylus for photo opportunty reasons, and not the power pin and attendant wiring.

Google gives vendors seven-day bug disclosure deadline

I would like

A data vault to protect my notes, phone contacts, and data fields. If google wants to impress people, stip letting line, kakao, and other apps from plundering personal info. This is a bug or a feature, depending on who is speaking.

Apps that send and receive data should need a tick box case by case permission to eve SEE user-created or input info. This could help make some.poor code less threatening to users.

UN to call for 'pre-emptive' ban on soulless robot bomber assassins

Distinctions

Distinctions, Disminctions

I listened to a story about it on Public Radio last night.

Some distinctions, I munge together from listening to other shows not directly related:

-- Pilots can suffer PTSD, disorientation, and have to reconcile being in multiple time zones, attacking and destroying targets and sometimes people (if not on simple recon flights), then leave their hangars/chairs in some Nevada control center, then go to dinner with family or friends

-- Humans in the decision loop can use morals, ethics, and surrender body language to decide to cease fire or take a chance on the surrender being a ruse, but a robot with strict survival and victor protocols/coding may be more ruthless, less forgiving, more thorough, and cause much more carnage if the program behaves in some rampage mode

-- Generals/troops (humans, if caught) can be summoned to war crimes trials/tribunals and be fined, imprisoned, or executed whereas the robots open of a whole new ethics/morality bag of worms to hash out

Also, my take on the audio report was that the concern is not robotic AUVs and missiles, but field-deployed autonomous, patrolling, searching/destroying/"engagement" machines. Not quite terminator, but more lethal than and not as benign-looking as Captain Pike/R2D2/Dalek machines.

Once gyros, accelerometers, balancers, limb controls, and running algorithms are more greatly enhanced, there will be no need for the apparatuses to help troops and marines to carry 2x or 4x the typical combat loads into the the field. These machines will be desert-capable, water-resistant, never thirsty or tired, and probably not even tracked, but maybe bipedal or some clunky-but-still-efficient multi-legged gun mounts, intel cams, and map-making netted bots.

Or, they may simply be the little bug imitators launched to spew toxic gas, release fleschette needles, or otherwise "sting" specific targets or columps of troops and perimeter guards just to grind down the morale and fighting spirit. So, my take on it is these robots might be fitted with LTL (less than lethal) but highly incapacitating and demoralizing tools. This way, even if the machines go rogue, the only likely deaths might result from the exposed who have or are:

-- adverse allergic reaction to shots, or falls from great heights

-- those who pass out near cliffs, balconies, along heavily trafficked roadways, or

-- those trying to swim in deep or forde rough water while under heavy combat loads they cannot shed, and who do not have floatation gear activated.

So, unless the bots learn to make custom ammo and deceive their (human) makers, or gain the ability to destroy aircraft, buildings, infrastructure, and ground vehicles, these robots do not all necessarily have to be totally feared as unstoppable killing machines.

Motorola to kick off comeback with US-made Moto X

Auto-bricking, Self-Reporting, Authentication Pill

A year or two ago, I was telling people that having a wrist or ingested token of sorts would be useful for auto-killing and auto-reporting one's phone as being lost or stolen. It would be really nice to have the ability to brick my phone should it be taken by force by assholes who don't care about the turmoil caused to victims.

One way it could work is by customizing the incremental and auto-reset, and auto reporting timing. Every few minutes, initiate a reset on a schedule or randomly in a number of clicks, taps, or screen sequence strokes. If the proximity of the device violates a preset value, have it screen-lock even if a conversation is in progress, then have it auto dial 911, broadcast it's last position, and try to snap a photo of the perp or surroundings.

If possible, and if legal, embed a self-immolation feature if such can be safely triggered based on certain handling features. Well, no, that could be dangerous. But, having an authentication, proximity, and telco-based solution means it should be possible for Motorola to PISS OFF ALL the other manufacturers, or, is that mfrs (if you know what I mean) by FORCING them to follow suit.

I declare my idea open source, and herewith prior art as of this writing, based on my prior disclosures in voice and now, by the time people read this, though it is a plan, it is free to be used by any and all. Just one condition: NOONE owns it with any right or power of depriving anyone else of using this. IOW: no asshole cockblockers, m-kay?

Facebook bows to pressure, vows to rid itself of sexist hate speech

Re: If we don't protect the speech we hate...

I'd like to stop getting dating site "sponsored for you" shit on my wall. I don't want dating suggestions from fb or its tributary affilliates. I don't want boob or ass (clothed or otherwise) hittting me in the face every f*cking day and every partial day when I tab back to the site to check on things. It seems they took away the "x" button to suppress the shit, or I've gotten so annoyed by it that I cannot SEE the "x" anymore.

I wish there were a way to tell those sites that they offend me and that they are paying fb for nothing, getting nothing valuable back from me, and that I share with my friends that such "sponsored pages/sites" offend me.

Most things I can just ignore, but I don't want to "just ignore" sultry-positioned women. It, to me, is a demeaning activity, the activity of blitzing me with them.

First 'adult' app for Google Glass planned 'within days'

hook in some servos so the

RealDolls can prance around in full animatronix glory before the your-ass-is-glass google glasses.

RealDolls can be made more fun by manufacturing them with "hidden" birthmarks, scars, pimples, and other "easter eggs" so that wearers of Google Glasses can "hunt" for the marks.

OTOH, Google Glasses might come in handy for certain types of surgeons and even for obstetricians. The plumbing, wiring, and entertainment circuits can all be one.

Irish deputy PM: You want more tax from Apple? Your problem, not ours

Possible new update: Cook calling for single-digit tax; reveals secret 2% Ireland tax

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/may/21/apple-wants-single-digit-corporate-tax

"Apple has called for US corporate tax rates be reduced to "single digits" after it admitted sheltering at least $30bn (£20bn) of international profits in Irish subsidiaries that pay no tax at all.

In a dramatic display of how threats from multinational corporations are driving down taxes across the world, chief executive Tim Cook warned Congress that he would refuse to repatriate a total of $100bn stashed offshore unless it acted to slash the 35% US rate.

He also revealed that Apple had struck a secret deal with the Irish government in 1980 to limit its domestic taxes there to 2%."

If Apple pulls this off, I might have to eat crow and consider being more open to Apple, as much as I'd hate to be sucked into iTunes. An iTunes-untethered/unfettered MacBook Pro (if I ever accumulate the cash) would seem pretty sexy (as long as I get to run (even if in an emulator) PCLOS and run win 7 (for my apps having no suitable alternative in Mac).

Two per cent, secret tax level since ***1980***? Impressive that a secret such as that lasted all these decades.

Nice to see (and hope to see) Apple for once do some SERIOUS, SEARous, and serous ass-kicking on the congretards. OTOH, it would be scary to see the fallout being the IRS, DOJ, and other lettered agencies staging legal retribution againstt corporate offices (Cook, et all) in Apple and on other officers, bookkeepers, accountants, attorneys, etc., of other companies.

Congress asks Google to explain Glass privacy policies

Now, Vegas casinos intend to ban GG.

http://www.latinospost.com/articles/19447/20130518/google-glass-privacy-concerns-raised-congress-questions-asked-larry-page.htm

I bed Disney will be next, since GG might capture ride crash incidents more readily than ordinary cameras and camcorders might.

You know that this is a Google Trojan, right?

You know that this is a Google Trojan, right? It stands a good chance of raking in BILLONS for Google

On several fronts, this is Google shafting ms, Apple, and a slew of other companies and map makers and vacation/tour/travel agencies/sites.

-- With these glasses, now Google can SUPER enhance Google Maps. Now, instead of talking to Google Maps and asking about nearby sites to see, GG can overlay the most highly rated or most underrated nearby sites an even use arrows to guide the turn-by-turn-on-foot navigation

-- Users visiting World Heritage Sites/Treasures can get live, customized tour guides for an extra fee

-- Museums and libraries might be able to piggy back on the service and pick up some extra foot traffic and even funding

-- Law Enforcement agencies can have stylish tactical and beat/patrol tools, with the glasses offering instant facial recognition to find stool pigeions, ummm, CIs (Confidential Informants), and even overlay the visuals of what nearby officers see. If cops are in a firefight, their own POV can be overlaid to offer subsequent responders (copos, fire fighters, paramedics, FBI, etc) a better picture of which officers are down, which are low on ammo, what innocent by-standers need extraction, etc.. Cops on warrants service can be live-fed legal cues, and watch commanders and agency attorneys can collectively ensure that servers knock on and knock down the correct doors, not the wrong ones

-- The military can do the above and more

-- Reactor and fracking plants and power plant employees can use them to facilitate inspection and live feeds of plant conditions

-- Families and travelers can take periodic snapshots of what is going on around them, for posterity

-- Parole boards, probation courts, and even insurance companies can use these to lower premiums and to watch over people/insured

So long as the public do not abuse place such as Costco, Whole Foods, museums, government benefits issuance buildings, secured federal buildings, etc, Congress may not need to lay down reiterated, draconian rules/restrictions/laws.

Apple chief Cook: You - senators. Get in here and redo this tax law

Tax Repatriation Idea...

Tax repatriation scheme 2013-05-17 idea 2, expansion of my idea 1

Reduce the nominal 35% tax to this scheme:

-- All US corporations having substatial money abroad but wishing to repatriate it must, collectively:

-- Pay a 15% income repatriation tax for 2014-2018

-- pay a 10% income repatriation tax for 2019-2040

-- pay off all the college debt incurred but not paid off by USA citizens graduating and failing students who enrolled between 1984-2014, program to end by 2019

-- subsidize by corporate division of student pool the college or continuing education costs of students enrolling in 2013-2060

-- IRS/Uncle Sam DO NOT get to tax the students on any of the subsidy or tuition paid for by the corporations

-- The IRS/USA do NOT get to "offset downward" the obligated support to school districts

-- The corporations DO NOT get to write off the subsidies on the tuitions/grants/etc., since they are getting the right to repatriate income at a very reduced tax rate and because they will benefit from having a US education population treated the way high school students are accorded in some European countries

-- The US Dept of Education gets a number of years to fund the increase in wages/salaries to deserving and continually-educating teachers. Unions would be stripped of rights/powers to protect laggard teachers, helping to further divert funds to increase the salaries of remaining teachers.

Corporations and billionaires could just create some sort of lobby for "participatory tax application" and just tell Congress EFFYOO.

Something HAS GOT to be done about the US education system. It's broken, disproportionately funded, weak, and in need of updating.

Bing uncloaks Klingon translator

Kam-chehh chimeechek!

Earther: KAM-CHEHH ChimeeCHEK!

Gowron: You swear WELL in Klingon, Picard.

(I think he offered him Klingon Blood Wine, or maybe the scene cut to a commercial break/ad insertion, hehehe).......

Google abruptly shuts down search-by-SMS portal

No Google phone without data plan

No Google phone without data plan...

Since Google is already has my contacts, I wish that Google provided a phone client/tool/app that did not try to verify my phone by phone number, since I do not have a live phone number and do not have a data plan.

I tried installing (what is it? Talk?), but it wanted to verify me by my phone number. I entered my old, expired number on a lark, and of course it failed.

I once wanted to use Kakao, back in late 2011 or early 2012, but the damned app tore through my contact list, without giving me a chance to cherry-pick what contacts Kakao would be able to see. Then, in 2012, when I went to Korea and met up with a friend who either interns in Kakao or knows some one reasonably well-placed in Kakao, I told him how infuriated I was that Kakao combed my contact list, and probably scooped up all sorts of non-phone contacts whom I entered and to which I appended personal notes. Nothing ever became of it, to my awareness.

Just days ago, I was going to try another phone app, but it wanted permission to review and modify my contacts and other things.

WTF is google so goddamned reticent about giving users a private, maximum security vault so as to deny apps from going through our phone lists?

Suppose one keeps several friends or contacts in the phone, one of whom has a permanent restraining order to stay away from another contact in my list. Now, if one of these apps, including google and facebook, start meta analyzing these people and determines we have not listed either on our friends list, but one or both of them has a fb or g+ account but has not told the other, and both set themselves up to be diffficult for the other to be found, then one of these frackin' phoning or chatting apps might one day say, "So and so is a friend of soo an soo.... Why not connect?

This is fu*king dangerous, and there needs to be a powerful lobby to once and for all put an end to this, no matter what the telcos, fb, google, or anyone else thinks or says.

What Kakao and these other apps are doing is akin to peering over the shoulder of someone opening his or her wheelbook (flip-open paper contact/note pad/tablet), and then being quasi-vulnerable to being an agent of a snoop who wants to scan that book of contacts.

Just infuriating.

Feds use Instagram pic of delicious steak dinner to nab ID thieves

In the words of Morrisssey...

"Meat is Murder"...

Microsoft honcho pleads with media: 'Stop picking on us!'

These URLs might interest some: "5 CEOs that truly deserve being fired"

These URLs might interest some: "5 CEOs that truly deserve being fired":

http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/05/12/oops-5-ceos-that-should-have-already-been-fired-cisco-ge-walmart-sears-microsoft/

"On Steve Ballmere's Gravestone"

http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-230468/

Not taking sides one way or the other... Just sharing the URLs since one is in a Sunday paper I am reading now.

Penguins in spa-a-a-ce! ISS dumps Windows for Linux on laptops

They wanted to exceed 99

Bottles of Beer on the Wall...

Hahahaha

Unlocking Technology Act plans to let freedom ring for devices

WTF is writing these Govt drafts? Interns? UNIMAGINATIVE Interns?

WTF is writing these Govt drafts? Interns? UNIMAGINATIVE Interns?

"If enacted, the Unlocking Technology Act of 2013 would ensure that any software and firmware that comes with a device can be modified legally by its owner, so long as they have the device physically (or via an agent) under their control, and have a legitimate contract to use a wireless provider's network – and that it isn't used for piracy."

And,

"The need for such legislation stems from a curious decision in October last year to amend the terms of the DMCA to effectively block the unlocking of devices and jailbreaking tablets, which had been legal since 2010. Unlocking's fine if your network provider says so – but so far their attitude is that they'll agree when your contract's up."

I take extremely prejudicial exceptioin to the first para because it forgets to allow for those whose contracts 1) lapsed properly, and 2) also continued month-to-month with no required contractual re-signing (which mine did).

I take exception to the second para because it assumes we have to WAIT for the carrier to ACKNOWLEDGE that our contracts expired, when their damned database should automatically do that without fail, without hesitation, without prejudice, without us having to do a GOD-damned further step to be legally in the clear.

I don't have the connections to ram home, bleedingly so, my terse position, so I hope someone is reading this and has the ability to coerce an emergency re-write of the draft, and who has the connections to tell the wireless telco providers/carrriers that they'll hang by the loins if they obstruct our implicit, no-explanation-needed RIGHT to have our contract-expired phones be in a safe harbor for owner-unlocking and rooting, etc. If the user breaks the law with an unlocked phone, it should not matter whether the phone was legally unlocked, illegally unlocked, or used once or regularly in the commisssion of a crime. Those should be separate events, and the unlocking bit should -- if carried out during the existence of a contract --- an ORIGINAL contract, not a renewed one --- cause only a cancellation of the phone's access to THAT carrier's network.

Dunkin' Donuts temps S Korea with ultrasonic tags

Severe Competition

DD is probably just doing this because their asses are being kicked by, singly or collectively:

- Krispy Kreme

- Tom-n-Tom's (Tom-Toms, colloquially locally)

- Holly's

- Homestead Coffee

- Caffeine Gurunaru

- Angel in Us

- Angel in You (maybe it is only in Wangshimni, where I drank a few times after it became AiY, probably a location bought out after AiU's lease expired or was bought out)

- Nestle's

- Starbucks

- etc, etc.

I have seen only a few Starbucks in my 6 months there, and only drank at 2 of them only because one of my Korean friends who used to work at one in his early college days thinks fondly of Starbucks.

Other than that, I used the ones I mentioned (Tom-Tom's the most), except Nestles and DD. I used KK once, but found the donuts lacking compared to the US version. Maybe they are healthier -- umm, less unhealthy due to the smaller sizes and lighter ingredients, I dunno.

Mostly, I think the DD and KK use smaller stores (as does one of the Korean shops I mentioned above) because the land costs are so prohibitively pricey. But, most of them are corporate owned, and since Koreans take their coffee SERIOUSLY, having dumped or recently shunned tea), the Ferengi ROA stating "Expand or Die" seems to have gripped the corporates.

DD probably is using this as an intense gimmick. But, too many Koreans eating fattening donuts are going to get fat and have "endtense" experiences. One of my Korean friends in Wangshimni laughed when I lamented, while staring at a woman carting off 3 or 4 boxes of western donuts, around 4PM or so on a Saturday, IIRC), "There are going to be a LOT of FFFFAT Korean pretty soon...."

But, it is funny (and correspondingly sad) to see a young, skinny Korean carrying a strap-banded stack of 3 or 4 boxes....

Hotel marketplace Airbnb: Show us your privates if you want to book a bed

Booking hotels and hostels in China, Japan, S Korea. etc

Require foreigners to surrender (temporarily, for immigration and law enforcement reasons) one's passport during the on-site registration/room assignment process.

In all three of those locations, even in Vietnam, I had to.

I am not stating this to defend AirBnB, as they've got other issues, such as not prominently or at all stating on their site that the renter or owner of the rental property must pay local taxes (in SF, the Hotel Tax is 14%, which would savage AirBnB if locally compelled to pay the tax all the other legit hotels must pay, even in SROs, I think), and currently, AirBnB is not being made to pay those required taxes locally. IIRC, New York has outright banned AirBnB from operating in NY until they make reparations and until they collect and remit taxes moving forward.

But, there is another thought: I think that (given the number of spammings of AirBnB on my fb wall about "your friend (name) likes AirBnB", as if i really give a flying frack) fb and airbnb are entering the top-bottom ritual dance to join at the hip. I suspect that one approached the other for courtship, but that fb probably said, "Bend OVER if you want to be on our platform.

Move space junk with laser shots

I bet the competitors are...

Burning with envy....

New Google Play terms ban non-store app updates

Instead of retro-rules that *seem* well-intentioned for the users

How about giving us VAULTS to keep voice apps from raiding our contact lists? If we only want a voice app so we can try to compensate for no longer having a phone plan, then, why the hell does a phone app need one-time approval to plunder our contact list? Sometimes, those names in the contact list are not people we talk to but people about whom we make flags/tags/personal notes, and we DAMNED SURE do NOT want 3rd party types being privvy to that stuff.

How about giving us the ability to install and tweak firewalls without having to be root or without having to deal with restrictions imposed by the carrier?

How about making carrier-locked phones become non-carrier-locked when our contracts formally expire? If we do not remain with the carrier, WHY the HELL should their custom ROM impositions remain in force on our phones? For instance, I am no longer with my carrier, but when I installed Google Talk, Google told me it was installing a version customized just for my phone by my carrier, which has not been my carrier for over 11 months. I have not had a phone account in all that time, and yet, Android does not know how to unenslave itself.

I a phone contract expires, and the user does not reactivate it before the number is recycled, and if a Google phone number verification fails, then obviously, the phone contract lapsed and the carrier should no long impose upon the phone, especially if the phone has been month-to-month for a 6 months or a year prior to any other reason the phone is not part of the carrier any more.

Gods, google. You guys and girls need to be more creative and more user-considerate.

US Senate vote to add internet sales tax this week

Not takings sides one way or the other, but

For all sales involving credit cards or processed via a Visa/MC-like infrastructure, those two companies already KNOW the local tax rates. All they have to do is implement a "VPOS" or "Virtual Point-of-Sale", and assign to the recipient's address the tax the state is after.

If the shipper is required to collec information about the ultimate recipient and use, say:

Business -- Personal Property of Business/Depreciated on a Schedule

Person/Individual/Non-Business -- Personal Property/Gift/Donation

Non-Profit/School/Trust Account -- blah blah blah

then the local jurisdiction would get the money or get the stats/metadata about the taxes they are exempting.

I imagine that that bill will have some clause (and, "claws") about keeping tabs on the flow of money.

As a shipper, shippers might want to collect the info just as a hedge against governments demanding they pay or collect more taxes from the declared (under threat of perjury) destination so that the businesses can say, "THAT tax is NOT ours -- you allowed the below-cutoff-line businesses and individuals to not pay this/that tax...."

Just some thoughts...

Feds urged to probe four US cell big boys over Android holes

Left Hand-Right Hand Probably in Play, to the Benefit of the

Telcos.

With their lobbyists - in a closed session with the Senate/et al), they'll just claim that too-frequent updates (ROMs, Cyanogen, etc.) will disrupt the ability to collect timely info that (they'll claim) helped to avert numerous terrorist acts otherwise likely to occur.

Of course, this assumes the Senate is lame enough to believe the the most hardened terrorists are not smart enough to mod their phones or use evasive, elusive intermediaries.

Applicants sought for one-way trip to Martian Big Brother house

Yeh, as with ......

Capricorn One

Dinosaur embryos FOUND: Resurrection 'out of the question'* - boffin

Of Apes and Men? Dinosaurs?

http://www.necn.com/04/11/13/Ancient-creature-mixed-human-apelike-tra/landing_scitech.html?&apID=ad866428c3ce44239b62189d1761851d

"NEW YORK (AP) — Scientists have gained new insights into an extinct South African creature with an intriguing mix of human and apelike traits, and apparently an unusual way of walking. But they still haven't pinned down where it fits on our evolutionary family tree.

It will take more fossil discoveries to sort that out.

The human branch of the evolutionary tree, called Homo, is thought to have arisen from a group of ancient species called australopithecines. The newly studied species is a member of this group, and so its similarities to humans are enticing for tackling the riddle of how Homo appeared.

It's called Australopithecus sediba (aw-STRAL-oh-PITH-uh-kus se-DEE-bah), which means "southern ape, wellspring." It lived some 2 million years ago, and it both climbed in trees and walked upright. Its remains were discovered in 2008 when the 9-year-old son of a paleoanthropologist accidently came across a bone in South Africa.

A 2011 analysis of some of A. sediba's bones showed a combination of human and more apelike traits, like a snapshot of evolution in action. That theme continues in six papers published online Thursday by the journal Science, which complete the initial examination of two partial skeletons and an isolated shinbone."