Friday, November 21, 2014

Depressing, but useful in my case.
Have I been pwned?” – now with RSS!
As feature releases go, this is not exactly a killer, but to my surprise it was one that was requested quite frequently. It turns out that people really wanted to be able to keep abreast of new breaches and pastes in Have I been pwned? (HIBP) via RSS. Not only is that a perfectly reasonable request, but it was also an easy one to get on top of so here it is!
There are two RSS feeds both linked in from various places on the site including in the navigation. For your RSS’ing convenience, they are both available as direct links here:
I choose these numbers because pastes appear very frequently – sometimes dozens per day – whilst breaches being a highly manual process means I do maybe only a couple a month on average. Both feeds have their own attractions, breaches because it’s always a serious volume of data from a verified event and pastes because if you’re like me, I’m kinda curious to see the sort of data that’s continuously being dumped onto Pastebin.


I might print this infographic for my Computer Security class.
Who Is Tracking You Via Your Smartphone?
… how much does your smartphone know about you? Specifically, who is actually tracking your smartphone? What methods are they using to track you? This infographic has the answers you seek!


Something to consider.
3 Compelling Reasons Why Firefox’s Stance On Privacy Is Worth Paying Attention To
Internet privacy is on the minds of many people including those who normally don’t pay much attention to technology. No one wants to think they’re being watched without consent or being boiled down to numbers in a database. Yet two of the main companies offering popular web browsers, Google and Microsoft, sit on the wrong side of the privacy issue. Both have an interest in what you do online and Google in particular is often unapologetic about its collection of data.
Fortunately there’s a browser that does care about your privacy; Firefox.


Would it be legal for me to use this technology as an individual? If so, I know where I can buy a few thousand “recorders” for next to nothing.
After Raising $100 Million To Blow Up The TV Industry, Aereo Files For Bankruptcy
Aereo, a startup that raised ~$100 million in venture funding, has filed for bankruptcy.
The company's plan was to change the way we watch TV. It was delivering broadcast TV through the internet. To do this without permission from TV companies, it thought it found a legal loophole that involved using antennas.
It turns out, Aereo had no legal loophole. The Supreme Court said the company was operating illegally.


Another example of Big Data for my analysts to ponder.
IMF announces all online data free of charge effective January 1, 2015
Christine Lagarde, Managing Director, IMF “…Finally, let me turn to another very important aspect of the IMF’s statistical work—data publication. We very much recognize the importance of data as a public good. In this context, we are upgrading our data platforms and improving the way we distribute data and statistics to our membership throughout the world. Think of the One African Data Hub that the IMF has recently launched in collaboration with the African Development Bank. This is a “cloud-based” data reporting tool that makes it less onerous for reporters to provide economic data, and much easier for users to share data. Much of our data is already freely available. This is especially true of the data that supports our main forecasts for the global economy in the World Economic Outlook. And I have an important announcement to makestarting January 1, 2015 we will provide all our online data free-of-charge to everyone. This will help all those who draw on our data make better use of this vital statistical resource—from budget numbers to balance of payments data, debt statistics to critical global indicators. The IMF will continue to be a vital source of public information that is needed to underpin sound policy decisions.”


An article for all my students and the faculty. Tips and tools for learning.
How To Set Up YouTube For Better Learning
… Want to learn a musical instrument? How about learning how to draw? For the handyman there are tutorials on DIY basics and for the code-minded there are computer programming lessons. If you feel like building your skills and knowledge, YouTube will always have some great starter videos.


I use this in my Statistics class (probability) so I'll keep the link to this article.
Understanding the Monty Hall Problem
Suppose you’re on a game show, and you’re given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what’s behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, “Do you want to pick door No. 2?” Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?


I can rest easy. According to this article, I do everything bass-ackwards!
5 Secrets To Small Business Blogging Success
… You don’t need a professional copywriter to bring your posts up to scratch: these tips will help make your blog the best it can possibly be.

No comments: