Geek Stuff category archive
No Place To Hide 0
Read those permissions carefully, folks. If they think they can get away with it, they will try to get away with it.
The suit [PDF], filed with the Northern California District Court this week, alleges that the Android and iOS versions of the Golden State Warriors App can track and record audio from the handset’s microphone without user notification or permission.
According to the complaint, the app, developed by Signal360, can potentially wirelessly detect so-called beacons in stores to work where you’ve been shopping, and can potentially use the handset’s microphone to pick up signals within the audio of TV adverts, music and broadcasts that are inaudible to the human ear in order to serve them targeting advertisements.
The Snaring Economy 0
Gypsy cabs.
(snip)
“We do not take lightly the fact that the civil penalty imposed in this case is the largest in this Commission’s history,” the chairman and vice chairman of the PUC said in a joint statement. “However, the reason the penalty is so large is because we were faced with an unprecedented number of violations committed by Uber.”
Make TWUUG Your LUG 0
Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Use computers to do what you want, not what someone else wants you to do.
It’s not hard; it’s just different.
What: Monthly TWUUG Meeting.
Who: Everyone in TideWater/Hampton Roads with interest in any/all flavors of Unix/Linux. There are no dues or signup requirements. All are welcome.
Where: Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital in Norfolk Training Room. See directions below. (Wireless and wired internet connection available.) Turn right upon entering, then left at the last corridor and look for the open meeting room.
When: 7:30 PM till whenever (usually 9:30ish) on Thursday, September 1.
Directions:
Lake Taylor Hospital
1309 Kempsville Road
Norfolk, Va. 23502 (Map)
Pre-Meeting Dinner at 6:00 PM (separate checks)
Uno Chicago Grill
Virginia Beach Blvd. & Military Highway (JANAF Shopping Center). (Map)
Join the forums.
A. Workers in China 0
Q. Who polishes the Apple?
El Reg reports
(snip)
“Currently, Apple’s profits are declining, and the effects of this decline have been passed on to suppliers. To mitigate the impact, Pegatron has taken some covert measures to exploit workers.”
Follow the link for the complete story.
No Place To Hide 0
If you use Windows, you should read what the Electronic Freedom Foundation has to say about Windows 10 and privacy (more accurately, perhaps, Windows 10 or privacy). Here’s a tidbit:
(snip)
Microsoft has tried to explain this lack of choice by saying that Windows Update won’t function properly on copies of the operating system with telemetry reporting turned to its lowest level. In other words, Microsoft is claiming that giving ordinary users more privacy by letting them turn telemetry reporting down to its lowest level would risk their security since they would no longer get security updates1. (Notably, this is not something many articles about Windows 10 have touched on.)
But this is a false choice that is entirely of Microsoft’s own creation.
Follow the link for the complete article. Click the EFF link on the sidebar to learn more about the EFF.
Snared by the Snaring Economy 0
She pulled over to check that she had not forgotten her prescription and she got shared.
. . . she heard the car door behind her open.
A young woman was already seating herself in the back of Sue Ellen’s sedan and a young man was about to open the rear door on the passenger side.
“I think you have the wrong car,” she said – pleasantly, I’m sure. That’s the kind of person Sue Ellen is.
“Oh, then you’re not our Uber driver?” the young woman asked.
We are a society of stupid.
Geeking Out, Bit Bucket Dept. 0
/dev/null is your friend.
This screenshot captures part of my .procmailrc file showing how I send spam and other unwanted email to the bit bucket. The .procmailrc file is in the right pane of the Terminator window; the left pane is my Mutt inbox. (The music player is qmmp, currently streaming KCEA.)
All the “From” addresses listed in the right pane go to /dev/null, and that’s a small portion of those so designated. Since I refined my .procmailrc file to filter the junk before it lands in Maildir, Mutt has been ever so much more responsive.
Peeking out from the back is Ktorrent, which is seeding downloads for the recently-released Slackware 14.2 so as to take some of the load off other Slackware mirrors.
The window manager is, natch, Fluxbox.
Oh, yeah. You can’t do this on Windows.
Once More into the Breach 0
If you want a sane discussion of the DNC email leaks and similar hacks by persons who
- know how email and networks work,
- are not grinding political axes, and
- can explain stuff good,
listen to the latest episode of The Sunday Morning Linux Review.
German Engineering 0
Aside:
In the rush to market shiny new computerized things, marketing trumps computer security every day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Pokemon Go and the Pixels of Power 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Liraz Margalit explores the fascination of a fantasy world.
She left out the part about the stupid.
Facebook Frolics 0
Alas, poor troll.
I knew him, Horatio. But I unfriended him all the same.
I do not miss the Zuckerborg. It makes the Slough of Despond look like a resort town.
