Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Just curious, but does the FBI have jurisdiction here? It used to be the Secret Service (theft of an access device), were they overwhelmed?
6ABC News reports:
The University of Delaware says the employee records of 72,000 people, which includes social security numbers, were breached by criminal hacking.
In a letter dated Monday, the university officials said it experienced a cyber attack which targeted the personal records of both current and former employees, including student workers.
The hack exploited a vulnerability in software acquired by a vendor, university officials said.
Read more on 6ABC News.
[From the article:
"The University took immediate corrective actions and is working closely with Federal Bureau of Investigation officials and Mandiant, a leading private computer security firm, on the issue," the letter reads.


Do self-driving cars use GPS? Imagine taking (remote) control of a super tanker or a 747.
Researchers' $2,000 project tricks $80 million superyacht's GPS
A small team of researchers from the University of Texas at Austin recently tricked a 213-foot superyacht off its course using a custom-made GPS device, rendering the $80 million vessel's electronic maps and charts useless.


“Allow me to point to our Privacy Law, which proves we are at least as considerate of human rights as you are. And our's is done while you are just holding hearings.”
Peter Fleischer writes:
Modern privacy law was invented over a century ago in the United States, was re-discovered in post-war-Europe, and is now spreading around the world. Privacy laws have historically been built on three foundations: 1) democracy, 2) rule of law, and 3) respect for fundamental human rights.
So, what should we make of the fact that a rogue’s gallery of autocratic countries, with neither rule of law, nor respect for fundamental human rights, are starting to pass privacy laws?
Take the example of Russia. Last month, at the same time that Putin’s regime ratified an international framework of privacy law, known as Convention of Europe 108, it also launched its war on gays.

(Related)
You will be able to watch this online via the “webcast link” at http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=0d93f03188977d0d41065d3fa041decd
Strengthening Privacy Rights and National Security: Oversight of FISA Surveillance Programs”
Wednesday, July 31, 2013 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 226 9:00 a.m.
Panel I
The Honorable James Cole Deputy Attorney General Department of Justice Washington, DC
John C. Inglis Deputy Director National Security Agency Washington, DC
Robert S. Litt General Counsel Office of the Director of National Intelligence Washington, DC
Sean M. Joyce Deputy Director Federal Bureau of Investigation Washington, DC
Panel II
The Honorable James G. Carr Senior Judge U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Toledo, OH
Jameel Jaffer Deputy Legal Director American Civil Liberties Union New York, NY
Stewart Baker Partner Steptoe & Johnson LLP Washington, DC


Is this surprising? Would it be different than getting the video for investigation of the Boston bombing?
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has issued its opinion in IN RE: APPLICATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FOR HISTORICAL CELL SITE DATA. The court split 2-1 on the issue of whether court orders issued under the Stored Communications Act compelling providers to produce customers’ historical cell site information are unconstitutional. The court held that such orders were not unconstitutional per se.
I’ll update this entry to add links to discussion of the ruling later today and tomorrow. For now, here’s the opinion.


My initial reaction was that if the books weren't very popular, perhaps they should quietly fade away. But then I thought again. Was this what the Authors had hoped for? Was this the most profitable model for the publishers? Who wins here?
The Hole in Our Collective Memory: How Copyright Made Mid-Century Books Vanish
A book published during the presidency of Chester A. Arthur has a greater chance of being in print today than one published during the time of Reagan.
Last year I wrote about some very interesting research being done by Paul J. Heald at the University of Illinois, based on software that crawled Amazon for a random selection of books. At the time, his results were only preliminary, but they were nevertheless startling: There were as many books available from the 1910s as there were from the 2000s. The number of books from the 1850s was double the number available from the 1950s. Why? Copyright protections (which cover titles published in 1923 and after) had squashed the market for books from the middle of the 20th century, keeping those titles off shelves and out of the hands of the reading public.


Given detailed plans, anything is possible.
Man building 3D-printed Aston Martin


It is likely that someone has already done what you are trying to do.
The Open source movement is playing a remarkable role in pushing technology and making it available to all. The success of Linux is also an example how open source can translate into a successful business model. Open source is pretty much mainstream now and in the coming years, it could have a major footprint across cutting edge educational technology and aerospace (think DIY drones).
… While reusing code is a much debated topic in higher circles, they could be of help to beginner programmers and those trying to work their way through a coding logjam by cross-referencing their code. Here are six:


For the people I'm trying to talk into Blogging...
While WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr dominate the blogging scene, there are a few minimalist platforms that strip down the blogging experience to focus entirely on simply sharing your writing. Medium, launched by Twitter’s founders, is a slick, minimalist blogging platform that is doing a slow and gradual roll out for its users, so you’ll have to wait before you get the chance to try it hands on. Ghost is another platform that looks promising, but has yet to launch, while we also recently introduced you to the Evernote-powered blogging solution – Postach.io.
Another great and easy-to-use blogging platform is Roon.
Get started by signing up for a free account. All you have to do is choose your username and password:
To see Roon in action, be sure to check out their own blog.


You never know when you might need to map things out...
Lucid Chart Now Works Offline - Create Mind Maps Offline
Lucidchart is a nice tool for creating flowcharts, mindmaps, and graphic organizers. Lucidchart offers a simple drag and drop interface for creating flow charts, organizational charts, mind maps, and other types of diagrams. Google Chrome users can now use Lucidchart offline through the Lucidchart Chrome app.
Applications for Education
Lucidchart charges business customers, but makes all of their tools free for teachers and students. Watch the video below for an example of Lucidchart educational templates.


For those, “If I've told you once, I've told you 50 times!” moments.
Narrable Launches New Education Plans - Create Unlimited Audio Slideshows
I have just received an exciting email from the folks at Narrable. They have launched a new plan for educators. The new plan includes free unlimited Narrables. Now to be clear, I'm not sure if this has been rolled-out to everyone yet, their email message didn't specify.
Narrable is a neat service for creating short narrated slideshows. Narrable is kind of like VoiceThread mashed with Animoto. To create an audio slideshow on Narrable start by uploading some pictures that you either want to talk about or have music played behind. After the pictures are uploaded you can record a narration for each picture through your computer's microphone or by calling into your Narrable's access phone number. You can also upload an audio recording that is stored on your computer.
How To Upgrade your account for FREE:
  1. Since you're logged in, click on your name in the upper right-hand corner to reveal an account overview window.
  2. Click on the blue "Upgrade" button to see the Plans and Pricing page.
  3. Find the "Teacher" account and click on the associated blue "Select Plan" button.
  4. Please enter the name of your school, the subject(s) you teach, and the grade(s) that you teach and click on the blue "Submit" button.
  5. Congratulations! Your plan is successfully changed. Click on the "Okay" button and know how grateful we are to have you as a part of the Narrable EDU Community.
You now have FREE UNLIMITED narrables!


For my students who claim they can't type...
DictaNote - Speak to Create Documents
A couple of years ago I tried out a Chrome extension called Speech Recognizer. Speech Recognizer allowed users to speak to create text. Speech Recognizer has been updated and is now called DictaNote. Along with the new name came a some new features of note.
DictaNote can be used as a Chrome extension or as a stand-alone tool in your Chrome browser. As a stand-alone service DictaNote allows you to create new documents by speaking into your computer's microphone. You can edit your DictaNote documents much like you would edit them in any other word processing program. DictaNote allows you to insert images and hyperlinks too.

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