No
doubt this will result in a push to legalize other drugs.
Denver
Murder Rate Cut in Half After Marijuana Legalization. Coincidence?
According
to statistics recently released by the government in Denver, the
amount of robberies and violent crimes significantly decreased since
marijuana legalization went into effect. It is important to mention
that this strong correlation is not definitive proof that
legalization is the cause of this drop in crime, but it does strongly
suggest that this is the case.
These
statistics are especially convincing considering the short amount of
time that this drastic reduction in crime has taken place. In just
one short year the number of homicides dropped by 52.9%. Sexual
assaults were reduced by 13.6%. Robberies were down by 4.8% and
assaults were down by 3.7%.
The
statistics measured the first few months of the year for both 2013
and 2014, and then compared those numbers with one another to
determine whether they were higher or lower after legalization went
into effect.
Oops!
Heads up!
TrueCrypt
Encryption Software Shut Down, May Be Compromised
Independent
encryption software TrueCrypt is apparently not as secure as many
thought. Yesterday (May 28), the TrueCrypt homepage was suddenly
replaced with a notification that read "WARNING: Using TrueCrypt
is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues."
TrueCrypt
is used by many security-minded people, including NSA whistleblower
Edward Snowden, to turn a storage device, such as a flash drive or
hard drive or a partition of such a device, into an encrypted volume,
protecting the documents stored in that volume from prying eyes.
But
TrueCrypt's creators never
revealed their true identity, which caused others to be
skeptical of its integrity.
Lawyers.
No matter how often I tease them about this, they still insist that
encryption is too complicated for their clients – even when their
clients are the firms that create encryption Apps.
LexisNexis – Study tells a
Story about Law Firm File Sharing
by
Sabrina I.
Pacifici on May 29, 2014
LexisNexis
Survey of Law Firm File Sharing in 2014 – “This
study found that file sharing is increasingly important in law firm
collaboration and while those firms are keenly aware of the
consequences of IT security risks, unencrypted
email – reinforced with a statement of confidentiality – remains
the primary mechanism for sharing files.
- See also this related infographic - http://www.slideshare.net/BusinessofLaw/lexisnexis-2014-survey-of-lfile-sharing-survey-report-final
If
it's not something you immediately recognize as part of the Internet
of Things, we can “thingify” it for you! (We will know
everything you do, everything you are, everything you think. Then
we'll sell that information to people who want to sell you things to
help you do more, be healthier and think Republican!)
Samsung
wants to 'thingify' your BODY with Simband
…
As Samsung says,
it's a reference design for a platform, rather than
yet-another-Fitbits-knockoff: “Devices based on the Simband
platform will be able to gather vital diagnostic information - from
your heart rate to your skin’s electrical conductivity, 24 hours
a day, seven days a week.”
Would
you call this “Self-Surveillance?” Perhaps “Auto-Surveillance?”
–
is an easy way to keep a record of your things. Keep an always
up-to-date record of what you own, with easy access to receipts,
manuals and warranty information. After connecting with Gmail,
Unioncy pulls information
from Amazon receipts in your inbox to create a collection
of your things. They then match manuals & warranty information
with important information from manufacturers and other reliable
sources.
Perspective
Tablet
Slump Predicted as More People Buy Phablets
…
"First, consumers are keeping their tablets, especially
higher-cost models from major vendors, far longer than originally
anticipated. And when they do buy a new one they are often passing
their existing tablet off to another member of the family,"
Mainelli said in a statement. "Second, the rise of phablets —
smartphones with 5.5-inch and larger screens — are causing many
people to second-guess tablet purchases as the larger screens on
these phones are often adequate for tasks once reserved for tablets."
Perspective.
Is it just me or are “valuations” like this one a bit excessive?
Uber's
new potential valuation? $17B
Uber’s
plans to raise more venture capital could push its value up to $17
billion.
“This
one could be record-breaking,” CEO Travis
Kalanick said at Re/code's Code Conference Wednesday.
The
San Francisco car-sharing company has raised more than $300 million
thus far. Its service connects people needing a ride with drivers in
115 cities around the world and employs 900 people.
For
my Computer Security students.
Google
Launches Game to Teach XSS Bug Discovery Skills
Google
has launched a new game to teach Web application developers how to
spot cross-site scripting (XSS) bugs in their code.
XSS
vulnerabilities are highly common in websites, but can be quite
dangerous. In fact, Google pays up to $7,500 for XSS bugs discovered
in important products.
The
XSS
Game,
which requires a modern web browser with JavaScript and cookies
enabled, is mainly addressed to Web application developers who don’t
specialize in security. However, Google believes that while security
experts might find the first levels easy, they could also learn a few
things.
…
“Cross-site
attacks are dangerous because of what they do, but also because the
three distinct types of each strike from different angles,” Chris
Hinkley, a Senior Security Engineer at FireHost, explained
in a late 2012 SecurityWeek column.
Cross-site
scripting (CSS) can either be persistent
or reflected,
and cross-site request forgery (CSRF), where attackers use an
authenticated session on one Website to perform unauthorized actions
on another site, are also especially dangerous.
(Ditto)
Most
Mobile Breaches Will be Tied to App Misconfiguration by 2017: Gartner
Analyst
firm Gartner is
predicting that by 2017, the focus of endpoint security breaches
will shift to mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.
With nearly 2.2 billion
smartphones and tablets expected to be sold in 2014, Gartner believes
attackers will continue to pay more attention to mobile devices. By
2017, 75 percent of mobile security breaches will be the result of
mobile application misconfigurations, analysts said.
For
my students.
The
Condition of Education 2014
by
Sabrina I.
Pacifici on May 29, 2014
“The
Congress has mandated that the National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES) produce an annual Condition
of Education report to help inform policymakers about the
progress of education in the United States. This year’s report
presents 42 indicators on important topics and trends in U.S.
education. These indicators focus on population characteristics,
participation in education, elementary and secondary education, and
postsecondary education. This year’s Condition shows that
about 90 percent of young adults ages 25 to 29 had a high school
diploma or its equivalent in 2013, and that 34 percent had a
bachelor’s or higher degree. As in previous years, in 2012, median
earnings were higher for those with higher levels of education—for
example, 25- to
34-year-olds with a bachelor’s degree earned more than twice as
much as high school dropouts. Also, the unemployment
rate was lower for bachelor’s degree holders in this age
range than for their peers with lower levels of education.
…
Postsecondary enrollment was at 21 million students in 2012,
including 18 million undergraduate and 3 million graduate, or
postbaccalaureate, students.
For
my “You had better be researching” students. Watch the
video.
Listango
- A Quick and Easy Bookmarking Tool
The
Internet is not lacking for bookmarking tools. Some are complex and
robust while others are clean and simple. Listango
falls into the clean and simple category. Bookmarking websites with
Listango is a simple matter of clicking the Listango bookmarklet in
your browser then choosing the list to which you want to add your
bookmark.
To
get started with Listango
you register for an account then drag the Listango browser
bookmarklet into your browser's bookmarks bar. With the Listango
bookmarklet installed whenever you're viewing a site that you want to
bookmark you can just click
the Listango button to save the site to one of your bookmark lists.
In your Listango account you can create
as many categorized bookmarks lists as you like.
It's
that time again. (Time for me to laugh)
…
New
Orleans becomes the first all-charter school district
in the US. [What's in
a name? Bob]
…
“Nevada
education officials this month told a local man it would cost more
than $10,000 to access the data the department has collected on his
four children.” More via
Education Week.
…
COSN
and the EducationSuperHighway
organization estimate that it’ll cost $3.2 billion in E-rate
subsidies to connect all the schools and libraries in the US at a
level sufficient to support “1:1 digital learning.” Their full
report is here.
[I'll wager they spend 10
times that amount and never get close to 100% connections. Bob]
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