Not
all downtimes are due to enemy action.
Twitter
Back Up After Strange Downtime
Twitter
is recovering from a prolonged
period of downtime which affected Android and desktop users. For
around five hours on Sunday (Dec 28), anyone trying to log in via the
official apps was hit with an error message. The iOS Twitter
apps remained unaffected by the issue throughout.
Tweetdeck
users were hit with a different issue whereby all tweets were dated
one year into the future. This could explain the problem, with
the premature date change leading to session tokens instantaneously
expiring. Either way, Twitter has now fixed the issue… at least
until the
real 2015 rolls around.
For
my Ethical Hackers. For your toolkit.
German
Defense Minister von der Leyen's fingerprint copied by Chaos Computer
Club
A
speaker at the yearly conference of the Chaos Computer Club has shown
how fingerprints can be faked using only a few photographs. To
demonstrate, he copied the thumbprint of the German defense minister.
…
Krissler explained that he didn't even need an object that von der
Leyen had touched to create the copy. Using several close-range
photos in order to capture every angle, Krissler used a commercially
available software called VeriFinger to create an image of the
minister's fingerprint.
Along
with fellow hacker Tobias Fiebig, Krissler has been working at the
Technical University of Berlin on research into weaknesses of
biometric security systems. Krissler pulled a similar stunt in 2008
with a fingerprint of then interior minister and current Finance
Minister Wolfgang Schäuble.
Krissler
intends to show how systems which use these prints or iris scans to
verify identity, which are becoming more prevalent and popular, can
be outsmarted. He gave the example of facial recognition software
that can be fooled by a person's photograph, as well as showing how
his fake fingerprint can trick the iPhone fingerprint sensor.
Perhaps
a project for my Ethical Hackers. How to safeguard victims of amuse.
(How to make anyone less surveilable?)
Exclusive:
Abusers using spyware apps to monitor partners reaches 'epidemic
proportions'
The
use of surveillance software by abusive spouses to monitor the phones
and computers of their partners secretly has reached “epidemic
proportions” and police are ill-equipped to tackle it, domestic
violence campaigners have warned.
…
A survey by Women’s Aid, the domestic violence charity, found that
41 per cent of domestic violence victims it helped had been tracked
or harassed using electronic devices. A second study this year by
the Digital Trust, which helps victims of online stalking, found that
more than 50 per cent of abusive partners used spyware or some other
form of electronic surveillance to stalk their victims.
…
“However, in many cases the police are not trained to recognise
and understand the impact of online abuse, including tracking, and
action is rarely taken against abusers.”
Will
this spur new laws?
The
spat between retailers and banks over who foots the bill and bears
the responsibility following a data breach is ramping up heading into
2015.
A
group of retail trade groups on Monday fought back against what they
call a misleading survey from the Independent Community Bankers of
America (ICBA), which alleged banks are shelling out millions of
dollars because retailers can’t secure their networks.
…
The ICBA survey, released Dec. 18, said community banks had
to reissue nearly 7.5 million credit and debit cards at a cost of
$90 million in the wake of the massive Home Depot data breach, which
exposed 56 million customers’ payment card information.
“We
continue to advocate that the costs associated with data breaches be
borne by the party that experiences the breach,” ICBA Chairman John
Buhrmaster said at the time. “Communities and customers should not
suffer for the faults of retailers.”
…
Retailers bear equal or greater costs after a data breach, they
argued, pointing to a 2013
Federal Reserve study of debit card fraud.
Banks
are also disingenuous about their switch to chip-enabled cards, the
retailers said.
“While
ICBA supports the movement to embedded-chip technology for credit and
debit cards, the organization appears to only do so grudgingly,
questioning its efficacy against data breaches,” they said.
Does
this report tell us anything we did not already know?
Competition
Among U.S. Broadband Service Providers
“More
than one quarter of American homes have not adopted Internet service,
many citing cost as their primary reason.
…
Looking at Internet service options available to households in
December 2013, using data from the Census Bureau and National
Telecommunications and Information Administration, we
find that more service providers offer lower-speed than higher-speed
service. [Duh!
Bob] At download speeds of 3 megabits per second (Mbps),
which is the Federal Communications Commission’s current
approximate standard for basic broadband service, 98 percent of the
population had a choice of at least two mobile ISPs and 88 percent
had two or more fixed ISPs available to them. However, as multiple
household members increasingly consume video streaming services music
streaming, and online games, the adequate broadband speed bar has
been raised.
To
understand just how slow 3 Mbps is, it takes about 2.25 hours to
download a 6 gigabyte movie. The same movie would only take 16
minutes to download at 25 Mbps.
…
only 37 percent of the population had a choice of two or more
providers at speeds of 25 Mbps or greater; only 9 percent had three
or more choices. Moreover, four out of ten Americans did not live
where very-high-speed broadband service – 100 Mbps or greater –
is available.
…
The report examines both fixed and mobile ISPs. We separate our
analysis of these two types of Internet access because some groups
consider them to be imperfect
substitutes, especially for higher-bandwidth applications.
Mobile
ISPs typically charge high fees if consumers exceed data usage
limits. Furthermore, the
service is less reliable, companies have not
fully deployed newer generation technologies with higher
download speeds and reduced latency, and mobile
service is virtually non-existent at download speeds of 25 Mbps or
greater.
In
sum, the report finds that the number of ISPs from which consumers
can choose varies by speed; there are multiple providers of lower
speed broadband but this number dwindles at higher speeds. All else
equal, having fewer competitors at a given speed is likely to drive
up prices. As a result, some consumers will decide not to adopt
Internet access at all, some will choose a slower speed that
otherwise, and some will economize in other ways.”
I
want to develop a “Math in the 21st Century” course,
using tools like this. These tools are already available to my
students, why not teach them the proper way to use them? No. it
doesn't do everything for you, any more than power tools will build a
house for you. These Apps are available for iPhones, Droid, etc.
http://blog.wolfram.com/2014/12/18/wolframalpha-apps-and-math-course-apps-for-windows-just-released/
Wolfram|Alpha
Apps and Math Course Apps for Windows—Just Released
…
We’re also happy to announce the release of several of our Course
Assistant Apps on Windows 8.1 devices:
- Algebra: Windows Phone Store or Windows Store
- Calculus: Windows Phone Store or Windows Store
- Multivariable Calculus: Windows Phone Store or Windows Store
- Linear Algebra: Windows Phone Store or Windows Store
- Pre-Algebra: Windows Phone Store or Windows Store
- Precalculus: Windows Phone Store or Windows Store
- Statistics: Windows Phone Store or Windows Store
These
apps also feature our custom keyboards for the quick entry of your
homework problems. View Step-by-step solutions to learn how to solve
complex math queries, plot 2D or 3D functions, explore topics
applicable to your high school and college math courses, and much
more.
For
my students. Get in the habit now. (Why only paper planners?)
How
To Create A Custom Planner To Meet Your Goals In 2015
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