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A Virginia Beach company is working on a GPS tracker that can be shot at and stuck to a car fleeing the police from a gun mounted behind the grill of the police cruiser. The idea is to render high-speed chases superfluous.

Respess, who led instruction for police vehicle pursuits, now works for StarChase, a Virginia Beach company that wants to put the brakes on high-speed, high-adrenaline pursuits.

The StarChase system fires a GPS “bullet” that sticks to a suspect’s vehicle and transmits its location. Respess shows clients how the system works in a demonstration vehicle.

The story says that the prototype is the size of a soup can and accurate up to two car-lengths away, which doesn’t seem like much, but it’s just a start.

Google moves closer to being the kinder, gentler Facebook, by changing its TOS to allow it to use user information in targeted advertisements. From Wednesday’s Inky:

The terms of service update allows Google to automatically attach info from your profile—like photos, your name, and endorsements—to advertisements aggregated by their system. The result, of course, is your face, name, and other personal info popping up randomly on your network.

So, basically, the internet privacy apocalypse. And, what’s more, Google announced the change via a blog post that insisted that “you’re in control of what you share.” Now, to be fair, at this point that doesn’t seem technically true, given that they’re about to start plastering our average mugs all over our beloved internets.

If you have a Google account, follow the link to find out how to not be used as a mannequin in the Google storefront. (I did that last night. To Google’s credit, the announcement with the “opt-out” checkbox displayed immediately after I logged in. As I said, “kinder, gentler.”)

I will say this for Google–when they do stuff like this, they do explain it in plain language, unlike almost everybody else in Terms-of-Service World.

. . . the Zuckerborg has developed a new tactic for sucking–your personal information, that is. The “Donate” button:

Though Facebook does not earn any money from donations you make with the button — 100% goes directly to the organization you choose — the social network does reap some benefits, particularly collecting credit card numbers and other billing information that could bolster its e-commerce initiatives.

Don’t believe those “Likes.”

They are more of what George Smith calls the “Culture of Lickspittle.”

. . . an Associated Press examination has found a growing global marketplace for fake clicks, which tech companies struggle to police. Online records, industry studies and interviews show companies are capitalizing on the opportunity to make millions of dollars by duping social media.

For as little as a half cent each click, websites hawk everything from LinkedIn connections to make members appear more employable to Soundcloud plays to influence record label interest.

Follow the link for more on how “social” media sites are fighting back, as well as the click-fakers’ justifications for fake clicks.

Addendum, Later That Evening:

Words fail me. (Not that I’m all that surprised, but, really, now.)

Here’s an excerpt from an email that appeared in my inbox.

Here’s a glimpse of where spam comes from.

America 175 Million Email Address $599 US
Europe 156 Million Email Address $599 US
Asia 168 Million Email Address $599 US
China(PRC) 80 Million Email Address $499 US
HongKong 3.25 Million Email Address $300 US
TaiWan 2.25 Million Email Address $300 US
Japan 27 Million Email Address $300 US
Australia 6 Million Email Address $250 US
Canda 10 Million Email Address $350 US
Russia 38 Million Email Address $399 US
England 3.2 Million Email Address $300 US
German 20 Million Email Address $300 US
France 38 Million Email Address $399 US
India 12 Million Email Address $350 US
CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICAN AREA 40 Million Email Address $399 US
MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA 45 million Email Address $399 US
SOUTH EAST AREA 32 million Email Address $399 US

These people are scum.

Details at the link.

Facebook Inc. was sued over allegations it systematically intercepts its users private messages on the social network and profits by sharing the data with advertisers and marketers.

When users compose messages that include links to a third-party website, Facebook scans the content of the message, follows the link and searches for information to profile the message-sender’s Web activity, violating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California privacy and unfair competition laws, according to the suit.

Three words.

Terms. of. Service.

I find the Zuckerborg to be as skeevy as the Republican preoccupation with the sex lives of others, but, once you agree to the TOS, you have given away your privacy. You’ve given them permission to watch you run naked through the innerwebs.

(In case you wonder, that’s why you seldom see me on Facebook–if I didn’t use it to pimp this blog, I’d have deleted all my data and left there long ago. That’s also why my FB page is mostly blog posts and photographs and why I visit there only in a “private” tab that, when I close it, deletes all the Facebook tracking cookies.)

Today I said good-bye to Alan Collins’s “My Local Weather” plugin. I have been using it since I started blogging eight years ago (long before “widgets,” back when you actually needed to know how to edit code onto your sidebar, which I used to do with KDE’s kedit, now deprecated, since I was self-hosting back in those days). When I first started this thing, it was the first item I added to the sidebar; I was reluctant to let it go, but its time has passed.

I replaced it with the NOAA Weather plugin, which is more detailed and versatile, and pointed it towards Norfolk International Airport, which is about three miles away in a straight line (12 by car–something about a lake).

I tidied up the Blogroll, eliminating sites that seem to have gone dormant and adding some others, as well as added “Southern Beale” to the RSS feads; I also rearranged and edited several items on the sidebar hoping to make them more noticeable and accessible.

I’m hoping to find a way to move the “Categories” from the bottom of the sidebar to the Navigation Bar under the banner picture (I could just code them in a “page,” but I’m looking to automate the process if I can because they would be updated automatically if I changed them, plus I’m lazy).

Feedback is welcome.

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Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Learn how to 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, January 2.

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)

From time to time, George Smith blogs about the lunacy of bitcoin mania and the type of glibertarian geek who buys into it at his place. I know what bitcoins are and how they purportedly work because I move in geeky circles, which can make one dizzy at times.

Last night, at LQ, one of the regulars there delivered a masterful takedown of bitcoins. A nugget:

But someone’s already out there offering “Bitcoin mining computers,” which cost several thousand dollars apiece. (Notice that you can’t buy one with bitcoin … heh.) They’re selling you the dream of a “magical money-machine.” There’s a sucker born every minute, and that sucker … his “mark” … is you. Be aware. (One unit sells for $14,500.00 and “ooh, hurry up hurry up and buy one before they all get sold-out!”) You should know better. But they’re counting on you having gold-fever.

There is no delete key on the Zuckerborg.

. . . your television may be watching you.

I think we’ll be keeping our “dumb” TV a little longer.

Afterthought:

The NSA are pikers compared to marketeers.

No good can come from this.

Researchers at Microsoft are developing a “smart bra” embedded with physiological sensors that would monitor a woman’s heart activity to track her emotional moods and combat overeating. The sensors would signal the wearer’s smartphone, which would flash a warning message to help her step away from the fridge and make better diet decisions.

er, yeah.

More at the link.

One thing is certain: the boys at the NSA will find a way to listen in.

This did not affect my Linux world, but you might want to change a bunchload of passwords.

Hackers have stolen usernames and passwords for nearly two million accounts at Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo and others, according to a report released this week.

The massive data breach was a result of keylogging software maliciously installed on an untold number of computers around the world, researchers at cybersecurity firm Trustwave said. . . .

On Nov. 24, Trustwave researchers tracked that server, located in the Netherlands. They discovered compromised credentials for 93,000 websites, including:

• 318,000 Facebook accounts
• 70,000 Gmail, Google+ and YouTube accounts
• 60,000 Yahoo accounts
• 22,000 Twitter accounts
• 9,000 Odnoklassniki accounts (a Russian social network)
• 8,000 ADP. accounts
• 8,000 LinkedIn accounts

. . .

Facebook and Twitter told CNNMoney they have since reset passwords for all of its compromised users. Google, Yahoo, ADP and LinkedIn did not provide immediate responses for comment.

None of my passwords have been reset, and I did actually log into Facebook and Twitter yesterday because I maintain feeds for a group of which I’m a member. Windows viruses and Trojans don’t work here, just as automobiles don’t float and speedboats don’t run at Indy–two different worlds.

One of the nice things about using Linux is not worrying about viruses.

Oh, I do take precautions–I run an AV, though many experienced Linux users don’t think it’s necessary, and my firewall is locked down tight. I also don’t have to defrag, as Linux file systems handle fragmentation on their own, and I don’t have to “clean” the registry, as there is no registry–that is an affliction peculiar to Windows.

Perhaps you should join me.

Linux is not hard (it used to be, when it was young, but that was then), it’s just different.

Learn about the wonderful world of free and open source. Learn how to 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, December 5.

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)

I pay attention to terms of service and licensing agreements (not that I read all of them all the way through). I read the “What This App Wants” when I look for software for my cell phone (and have chosen to forgo some apps as a result). I follow tech news.

I know that the internet is a public place and try to govern myself accordingly. Anything I say here in my little backwater of the inner webs is something I would say among friends on a sidewalk without caring that I could be overheard.

I know that most stuff on the internet that calls itself “free,” at least outside of FLOSS world, isn’t. Especially in smartphone “app” world, a “free” app may want access to your contact list or browsing history, so it can sell your information to spammers marketeers, or to your GPS location (I keep my GPS turned off most of the time) so it can send you ads when you enter a store, and so on.

So, when I saw this story, I couldn’t help wondering what exactly the authors of those apps want.

Whatever it is, I suspect that Miss Grundy would not approve.

Late this afternoon, one of my friends called me for tech support. She is not a computer expert by any means, and would never claim to be.

Ultimately, I asked, “Would you like me to come over?”

“I am so glad you asked me! Yes!”

I won’t go into all the gory details, but what an ordeal! Windows fought me every step of the way. But, in the end, I out-maneuvered it and the mission was accomplished.

I left there thanking my stars that I use Linux, because

Linux

just

works.

The more I use my Zareason tablet, the more I like it.

I’m using it primarily with FBReader to plough through ebooks from Project Gutenberg at a record pace, and, when necessary, to jump to my browser or to Google maps to investigate references and explore the contexts of mentions in what I am reading.

It also beats hell out of a smartphone for email and browsing. Something to do with 2GB RAMs, I expect.

This device is a nice job of work.

Something–I forget what–interested me in learning more about Japan, not the distorted Japan that we westerners know, but actual Japan, if you will pardon the laborious construction. At some later time, I will post some links to free ebooks that I have accumulated in my quest.

Also, for you mystery buffs out there, I’ve got a bunch of Victorian mysteries for you.

In which I talk about my new Zareason Zatab ZT2 wireless Android tablet, with which I am quite satisfied, thank you very much.

Download the handout (PDF) here.

Click the image for a larger view.

Zareason specializes in Linux-based computers.

Not at all what it seemed–from Der Spiegel:

The Belgacom employees probably thought nothing was amiss when they pulled up their profiles on LinkedIn, the professional networking site. The pages looked the way they always did, and they didn’t take any longer than usual to load.

The victims didn’t notice that what they were looking at wasn’t the original site but a fake profile with one invisible added feature: a small piece of malware that turned their computers into tools for Britain’s GCHQ intelligence service.

This, by the way, is an example of a “man-in-the middle” attack.

Details at the link. And take care social networking–it is becoming anti-social.