Sunday, July 21, 2013

What's going on? Does North Korea want to put a backdoor on every Apple device? Yes, they do and so would every other intelligence service in the world.
Amid Apple developer site outage, users report unauthorized password resets
Reports on social-networking and microblogging sites may signal security trouble for Apple.
Apple's Dev Center, the member's only area for paid developers, has been down for about two days, for no given reason. Stating, "we'll be back soon," Apple said Thursday that the site was "undergoing maintenance for an extended period."
… Rumblings across social networks and developer forums point to concern that Apple may have suffered a security breach, similar to an attack on Dropbox last year, which led to a spam attack on many of its users. The logic is that any scheduled maintenance would likely not come at a time during beta testing.
Emergency maintenance, such as to patch or fix a security flaw or lapse, could happen at any time and without warning.
Twitter has also been abuzz with reports that users have received password reset e-mails, including some repeated attempts, as reports from Neowin and Hacker News noted.


To a politician, parody means “I hadn't thought of that!”
From a Joe Cadillic parody on Massachusetts’ Registry of Motor Vehicles Spying Agency (RMVSA)
The RMVSA has a professionally-trained staff of dedicated public servants who could care less about your rights. Please remember that since 9/ll we’ve taken away more of your rights under the Patriot Act and given your pictures and drivers license information to the DHS, NSA, FBI and countless private corporations like ELSAG, MVTRAC, DRN and Vigilant Soultions.
We’re happy to announce to MA. resident’s that E-Verify Biometric ID cards will soon be issued in lieu of state issued drivers licenses to better spy on citizens. The mandatory E-Verify system will require Americans to carry a “tamper-proof” social security card. The Records and Information from DMVs for E-Verify (RIDE) initiative automates motor vehicle document verification between Motor Vehicle Agencies (MVAs) and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
While this may piss off a few Constitutionalists you needn’t worry, trust us it will keep you safer.
Read more on MassPrivateI


What does the Comics world know that the RIAA and MPAA can't figure out?
Digital comics successful sidekick to print, say publishers
… In a recession-defying feat, the comics business rebounded from a catastrophic downward sales spiral when DC Entertainment, the home of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, rebooted its superhero universe in 2011. A key component of the reboot was to begin publishing all its titles "day-and-date" digitally, meaning that they would be sold online at the same time and for the same price as they were in retail stores.
Two years on, print comics are celebrating their best industry-wide sales in a decade, and digital comics have established themselves as a small but complementary force.
… Comics sales in print through June 2013 are up 13 percent over last year at this point, according to one site that tracks the industry. Digital comics 2012 sales for the North American market were estimated at around $70 million, nearly triple the $25 million from the previous year.


Bill Gates reads, do my students? (Not their textbooks!)
What Bill Gates is reading this summer
If you’re in the market for a light, sunshine-friendly novel—something with an up tempo narrative and relatable characters—then Bill Gates’s summer reading list is not for you. But if you’re a non-fiction buff with a wide range of interests, then it might be the perfect place to look for a new book.
The list, which the Microsoft chairman posted on his blog Gates Notes, is his own personal reading agenda for the season—not a collection of books that he’s already read and feels inspired to promote (with the exception of one of them). It includes eight titles in all, and seven are non-fiction.
… On the blog where he posted his summer reads, Gates also lists a catalogue of nearly 150 books, each of which contains a link to either a summary or a review by Gates himself, like the one he wrote of The World Until Yesterday. He categorizes them into five separate groups: education, energy, development, health, and personal.


Something to motivate (I say “kick start”) my studnets.
If you want to inspire people with insightful thoughts or words of wisdom or be inspired by others, there is now a place where you can do just that called Project Awesome. It is a community of people who define what they want in life and then share relevant inspirational posts called “visions” with others on the website. Once you sign up on the website, you can create and collect your own visions and post them on the website, comment on visions or repost visions created by others.
[I like this one: "If you're going to tell people the truth, you'd better make them laugh...Or they'll kill you." - George Bernard Shaw

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