Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Sounds like just another minor breach, but this one has clear political overtones. Does the DoL ever release data like this for non-political purposes?
AP reports:
A Bluefield auto dealership owned by Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Cole has asked Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s office to investigate a state agency’s recent release of the names, salaries and social security numbers of more than 200 employees who work for Cole.
[From the article:
The Charlotte Gazette-Mail reports that the state Division of Labor’s released the employees’ confidential information last month, in response to a request from the newspaper for a story about wage complaints filed against businesses owned by candidates for governor in West Virginia.




Reacting to TalkTalk, not Paris. (Because TalkTalk users vote in UK elections.)
UK to Double Funding to Fight Cyber Attacks
Britain on Tuesday said it will double its investment in cyber-security to counter threats including from the Islamic State group, in the wake of the Paris attacks claimed by IS.
Speaking at the headquarters of Britain's electronic spy agency GCHQ in southwest England, finance minister George Osborne said the money would be used against criminals, rogue states and terror factions.
Osborne said that, while IS jihadists did not yet have the capability for attacking Britain's infrastructure through the web, "we know they want it, and are doing their best to build it".




Encrypted communications leave law enforcement no choice?
Vice’s Motherboard is puzzling over a massive leap in the number of Title III wiretap orders served on Facebook during the first half of 2015: A whopping 201 (targeting 259 users) over the course of just six months, according to the social networking giant’s latest transparency report, compared with a mere nine such orders (targeting 16 users) for the whole of 2014. The experts Motherboard interviewed were at a loss to explain the jump, but one quite simple and plausible explanation leaps out at me: WhatsApp, the instant messaging client whose acquisition was finalized by Facebook at the very end of last year — and which law enforcement officials routinely say is favored by bad actors looking to communicate securely.




Analyzing Zuckerberg? The photo looks so lifelike!
Inside Mark Zuckerberg's Bold Plan For The Future Of Facebook




Another instance where the scammers are ahead of the government.
You don’t need to pay someone to register your drone
You wouldn’t pay a private company to get your car registered, and you don’t need to hire one to get your drone registered either, the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday.
At least one private firm has begun offering to handle drone registration for a fee, helping drone owners to comply with an FAA mandate that requires registration, the federal agency said. But the FAA still hasn’t sorted out how registration will be handled and cautions against paying money prematurely for assistance.




The illogic of politics. No doubt we will see a lots of statements like this one.
After Paris, Encryption Will Be a Key Issue in the 2016 Race
… Just yesterday, CIA director John Brennan said that he hoped the Paris attacks would serve as “a wakeup call” to those who oppose government surveillance in favor of personal privacy.


(Related) Never let the facts enter the debate.
Encrypted Messaging Apps Face New Scrutiny Over Possible Role in Paris Attacks
American and French officials say there is still no definitive evidence to back up their presumption that the terrorists who massacred 129 people in Paris used new, difficult-to-crack encryption technologies to organize the plot.




It's the future, but is it wise, or even legal? For example, leaving a running car unattended (a “puffer car”) is illegal in Denver and Aurora, perhaps state wide?
Ford Borrows A Play From Tesla, Launches App With Remote Start, Unlocking And More
Ford just announced a service that allows owners to control their car from a smartphone app. Called Sync Connect, the service brings a lot of functionality not traditionally found in gas automobiles — let alone, inexpensive gas-powered cars. The functions rival that found on Tesla’s app and will first be available on the 2017 Ford Escape small SUV.
This app allows owners to lock and unlock their vehicle from afar as well as remotely start the engine. It even allows owners to schedule remote starts, so, say if the owner leaves the house everyday at 7:00 AM, this app can start the car on designated days at 6:55 so it’s nice and toasty warm by 7:00.




This sounds very “politically incorrect” but what the author says is that communicating using a global language makes it easier to see global connections.
… When we think of innovation, we tend to think of smart, technically trained people sitting in a room coming up with game-changing ideas. But innovation is just as much a function of connections—of a person’s or team’s ability to access global information networks and work alongside others with relevant skills.
In a global economy, English facilitates those connections. When a country has strong English abilities, its innovation sector can better pull from the global pool of talent and ideas. And we now have data that illustrates the close relationship between innovation and English proficiency worldwide.




Ha! Take that you posture weenies. I've been doing it right all along!
Sitting Up Straight Is Bad: The Right Way to Sit at a Desk
The proper angle is somewhere between 120 and 135 degrees, which looks like this:
















Tools & Techniques. Useful USB tips.
Are USB Flash Drives Still Worth It In 2015?




Look at it this way. A Masters degree will cost you a bachelors degree and then some. (Infographic)
Is A Bachelor’s Degree A Financially Viable Choice?




Perspective. Does Seattle really not see the potential income stream here? I would really like to see their analysis.
Seattle city council votes down municipal broadband pilot project
The Seattle City Council voted against a $5 million municipal broadband pilot program on Monday, delivering a major blow to groups that want to see the Internet treated like a public utility akin to electricity.
… The mayor’s office has opposed the larger municipal broadband initiative, saying the $480 million to $665 million project simply isn’t possible without some type of outside funding.




Cute, but where do they fall in the alphabet?
For first time ever, an emoji is crowned Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year
… Oxford Dictionaries has recognized the influential and complex function of emoji by giving one of the symbols its highest honor. For the first time in Oxford’s history, the Word of the Year is a pictograph.
Officially, 2015’s linguistic champion is known as the “Face with Tears of Joy” emoji. Oxford Dictionaries announced in a statement Monday: “There were other strong contenders from a range of fields…but [Face with Tears of Joy] was chosen as the ‘word’ that best reflected the ethos, mood and preoccupations of 2015.”




I wish more of my students would read.
How These College Kids Got 150 Top CEOs to Give Them Book Recommendations
There are millions of books that can help you navigate the business world, but which are the best of the best?
That's what Julia Wittrock and Grant Hensel wanted to know as they prepared to graduate from Wheaton College this past May. Like many students, the two were about to start their first jobs: Wittrock as a strategic sourcing analyst at 3M in Minneapolis and Hensel as an analyst at Slalom Consulting in Chicago.
Three weeks before graduation, the two friends sent short letters to all of the CEOs on the Fortune 500 list, asking them for their favorite business book recommendations.




For the listening generation. Also, How to make your own podcast.
5 Places to Discover New Podcasts That You’ll Love




Yeah they're cartoons. You gotta problem wid dat?




Toll & Techniques. Worth knowing about. (A couple of categories)
10 iPhone and iPad Apps That Take Accessibility To The Next Level
Apps for People with Hearing Impairments
Apps for People with Vision Loss


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