We're not done with Target.

http://bringmethenews.com/2014/05/29/most-target-board-members-should-go-adviser-says/

Most Target board members should go, adviser says

Most of Target Corp.’s board members are being targeted for ouster by a prominent firm that advises shareholders, alleging they failed to protect the company against a massive data breach that began just as last year’s holiday shopping season was getting underway.

The firm, Institutional Shareholder Services, recommends that at their upcoming annual meeting, Target shareholders vote out seven of the 10 board members — those who serve on the company’s audit and corporate responsibility committees, the Star Tribune reports. That list includes Roxanne Austin, the interim board chair.

… In its report released Wednesday, ISS said the breach shows the company is not prepared for the “significant risks of doing business in today’s electronic commerce environment.” It added that the two committees “should have been aware of, and more closely monitoring, the possibilities of theft of sensitive information” given Target’s significant exposure to customer credit card information and e-commerce, according to the Star Tribune.

… It’s unusual for ISS to recommend voting against the majority of members on a company’s board, according to the Wall Street Journal. It says it’s an indication that corporate boards everywhere should take the risks of cyberattacks more seriously, particularly retailers which store vast amounts of credit card numbers and other customer data.

A day for interesting reports.

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/mary-meekers-2014-internet-trends-report-is-a-must-read-20140529-zrrdf.html

Mary Meeker's 2014 Internet Trends report is a must read

Renowned tech analyst Mary Meeker has delivered her influential annual Internet Trends report, emphasising the rise of mobile interfaces in transforming the way we communicate and interact.

Among the more startling statistics she revealed was that more than 1.8 billion photos are shared every day and the dating app Tinder, which allows conversation only after both people have "liked" each other, now registers 800 million swipes per day and 11 million matches.

Ms Meeker, who is now a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, delivered her observations and predictions at the Code conference in California. Her seminar is hugely influential in the technology industry, as well as for media buyers, strategists and the markets.

… Among Ms Meeker's other key observations:

• Data mining: We're only meaningfully analysing a tiny fraction (1 per cent) of available data. Tech start-ups are leading the way in both expanding and understanding data.

• Single-purpose apps: Applications are moving away from being catch-all toward stand-alone, such as Facebook's Messenger and Twitter's Vine.

• Selectivity: We are sharing more content with a narrower group of people, rather than broadcasting a little bit of information to all. Think Snapchat, which now accounts for 700 million daily photo shares.

• China: Ms Meeker lauds China as a leader in mobile commerce development. Through its messenger application WeChat, which has 400 million active mobile users, you can bank and invest, book restaurants and buy groceries. Didi Taxis generates 5 million daily rides by integration with WeChat.

• Cryptocurrencies: Ms Seeker keeps faith in Bitcoin despite its crash in value, arguing the 5 million Bitcoin wallets worldwide (an eight-fold increase year-on-year) shows "extraordinary interest".

• Declining costs: Computing, storage, bandwidth and handsets are all decreasing, though data costs can remain high. The average global smartphone price is now $US335 ($363), though we typically pay more in Australia.

• Mobile growth: Mobile usage now accounts for 25 per cent of all web traffic in 2014, up from 14 per cent a year ago. Asia and Africa represent a significant portion of that – developing nations "leap-frogged" the PC and laptop era, moving straight to smartphones.

• Videos: Mobile's share of online video plays is rising, and now accounts for 22 per cent. Consumers expect to watch TV on demand and on their own terms.

• Tablets: Unit shipments are growing faster than desktops or laptops ever did, but still have more room to grow at 6 per cent market penetration.

• Dual-screening: 84 per cent of American mobile users use their device while watching TV. We are seeing more content than ever, but it allows us to avoid commercials.

• Advertising: Global internet advertising grew 16 per cent this year, and mobile advertising grew by 47 per cent. The average revenue per user for Google, Facebook and Twitter remained stable.

[Slides: http://www.slideshare.net/kleinerperkins/internet-trends-2014-05-28-14-pdf

[Also: http://www.kpcb.com/internet-trends

[Slides as PDF: http://s3.amazonaws.com/kpcbweb/files/85/Internet_Trends_2014_vFINAL_-_05_28_14-_PDF.pdf?1401286773

Apparently a good Internet attracts crooks. Amazing.

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/7739/20140529/state-of-cybercrime-in-the-u-s-good-guys-losing-criminals-winning.htm

State of cybercrime in the U.S.: Good guys, losing. Criminals, winning.

The 2014 U.S. State of Cybercrime Survey revealed that hackers trying to break into computers are more technologically advanced than the teams that are trying to prevent them from doing so.

The survey, which was co-sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the CERT division of Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute, CSO magazine and the United States Secret Service, involved 500 executives from U.S. companies, law enforcement services and government agencies.

[The Report: http://www.pwc.com/en_US/us/increasing-it-effectiveness/publications/assets/2014-us-state-of-cybercrime.pdf

(Related)

http://www.securityweek.com/cybersecurity-healthcare-retail-sectors-lags-behind-utility-and-financial-industries-report

Cybersecurity of Healthcare, Retail Sectors Lags Behind Utility and Financial Industries: Report

… "Based on our analysis, it is clear that organizations that treat cyber security as a strategic issue perform better than those that view it as a tactical one," said Stephen Boyer, BitSight co-founder and CTO. "This partially explains the superior Security Ratings of financial institutions and electric utilities in the S&P 500 compared to retailers and healthcare companies."

[The report: http://www.bitsighttech.com/sites/default/files/downloads/BitSight%20Insights%20Industry%20Security%20Ratings%20Vol4.pdf

(Related)

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/27/us/cyberattacks-are-up-national-security-chief-says.html?_r=0

Rise Is Seen in Cyberattacks Targeting U.S. Infrastructure

ASPEN, Colo. — The top American military official responsible for defending the United States against cyberattacks said Thursday that there had been a 17-fold increase in computer attacks on American infrastructure between 2009 and 2011, initiated by criminal gangs, hackers and other nations.

The assessment by Gen. Keith B. Alexander, who heads the National Security Agency and also the newly created United States Cyber Command, appears to be the government’s first official acknowledgment of the pace at which America’s electricity grids, water supplies, computer and cellphone networks and other infrastructure are coming under attack. Those attacks are considered potentially far more serious than computer espionage or financial crimes.

I think the question was rhetorical.

Answering Justice Alito’s question: What makes an expectation of privacy ‘reasonable’?

Orin Kerr writes:

During the recent oral argument in United States v. Wurie, the pending cell phone search case, Justice Alito asked an important question about the nature of the “reasonable expectation of privacy” test:

In determining whether the examination of information on a cell phone . . . constitutes a search, what do you think we . . . we are doing? . .. Are we answering an empirical question, what is the reasonable expectation of privacy of a of a person in 2014 who has a cell phone on his or her person? Or are we legislating what we think is a good privacy rule?

I once wrote an article on this question, so I thought I would try to answer Justice Alito.

Read more on WaPo The Volokh Conspiracy.

If you want to sell globally, you have to speak every language. (Video)

http://theweek.com/speedreads/index/262312/speedreads-microsofts-real-time-skype-language-translator-could-be-its-first-real-breakthrough-in-a-decade

Microsoft's real-time Skype language translator could be its first real breakthrough in a decade

On Tuesday night, at a tech conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, Microsoft showed off a new tool that will turn Skype into your own personal translator. In Microsoft's demonstration, executive Gurdeep Singh Pall speaks English with a German-speaking colleague, and Skype acts as real-time voice and text translator. Even in today's wonderland of technological innovations, this looks like science fiction come to life:

Microsoft will release Skype Translator later this year, as a Windows 8 beta app, before eventually rolling it out for all Skype users.

An alternative to monopoly?

http://www.bespacific.com/community-fiber-washington-d-c-seattle-san-francisco/

Community Fiber in Washington, D.C., Seattle, and San Francisco

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on May 28, 2014

Fiber by cities: Washington DC, San Francisco, Seattle May 28, 2014 by susan crawford

Developments and Lessons Learned - “This report provides detailed accounts of planning carried out in connection with community fiber networks in Washington, D.C., San Francisco, CA, and Seattle, WA. It includes information about existing fiber assets that the cities identified, funding mechanisms that were considered, and roadblocks that were encountered. Our hope is that this report will be helpful to other cities that are considering launching fiber optic networks. Key Findings

• The cities profiled in this report have each approached the question of community fiber differently.
• Washington, D.C. made concessions and arrangements that allowed it to build a robust public-safety-quality fiber network, but limitations on the use of that network have made it unavailable to residents and businesses. Additionally, prices charged non-profits for use of the network are currently too high to be competitive with incumbent products.
• San Francisco has been highly innovative in expanding fiber to public housing, aggressively leasing dark fiber to community anchor institutions such as libraries and schools, and ensuring free public Wi-Fi, but has not yet cracked the nut of alternative community residential or business fiber access.
• Seattle has had an extensive city fiber loop in place since 1986, but regulations limiting use of poles and approvals for cabinets have slowed the rollout of competitive last-mile service. Seattle’s recent negative experience with Gigabit Squared (which was unable to execute on its last-mile promises and subsequently vanished from the scene) casts a shadow. Seattle’s current mayor appears to be determined to ameliorate both the regulatory burdens and the information asymmetries that have dogged the city.”

Now all I need is the template for a Ferrari.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us/cheapest-3d-printer-indiegogo,news-18847.html

World's Cheapest 3D Printer On IndieGogo for $149

The prices of consumer 3D printers continue to drop, and the New Matter MOD-t is the cheapest one yet — though you'll have to wait a year to get it. The "Early Bird Special" version of this 3D printer from Pasadena, California-based startup New Matter was selling for $149 USD on crowdfunding website Indiegogo, but within hours of the campaign going live today (May 28) all 500 available units had been sold.

The MOD-t is still available for $199 on the Indiegogo campaign, and will retail for $249 when it hits the market in April 2015.

Cute idea, new word. (The video is optional.)

To Catch a Thief, Take a "Theftie"

Personal Technology columnist Geoffrey A. Fowler asked a colleague to steal his phone, and used new software from Lookout to track down the thief, including taking a photo of the suspect.

Cuter idea?

Marco Polo

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/marco-polo-find-your-phone/id866937080

– If you’ve ever lost or misplaced your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch somewhere nearby but can’t quite remember where, stop flipping pillows and frantically patting your pockets. The Marco Polo app will help you quickly find your device in just one shout. Just shout out loud “MARCO!” and your hidden device will ring back POLO! so that you can find it.

Local and probably impacting my student Vets.

http://www.denverpost.com/News/ci_25844884/Two-laptops-stolen-from-Denvers-VA

Two laptops stolen from Denver's VA hospital

Two laptop computers containing information on 239 veterans have been reported stolen from the Denver VA Medical Center.

The laptops, used for mobile pulmonary tests, were discovered missing from a laboratory May 20, said Daniel Warvi , spokesman for the VA Eastern Colorado Health System.

"This was a crime," Warvi said. "Somebody broke into a locked lab and stole laptops. They weren't left in a coffee shop."

There's nothing wrong with our security, except of course it didn't work. And we're going to make some changes to improve our perfect security.

Spotify takes security ‘precautions’ after breach

Clara O’Brien reports:

Streaming music service Spotify has become the latest company to be hit by a security breach as it admitted that it had uncovered “unauthorised access” to its systems.

However, the firm said its investigation had shown only one user’s data had been accessed, and said it was not aware of any increased risk to users as a result of the breach, and said no password, financial or payment information had been accessed.

Read more on Irish Times.

An “Internet of Things” creates a “target rich environment.” Why would we not hack the low lying fruit – they create more every day!

http://www.securityweek.com/botnet-pos-systems-uncovered-intelcrawler

Botnet of PoS Systems Uncovered: IntelCrawler

Researchers at IntelCrawler have pulled the covers away from a cybercrime operation that has compromised nearly 1,500 point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and other systems around the world.

The firm calls the botnet 'Nemanja'. Composed of PoS terminals, accounting systems and grocery management platforms, the researchers said they discovered it earlier this year.

"The assigned name is related to potential roots of bad actors with similar nicknames from Serbia," according to a blog post by the firm.

Since the cost is really nominal, why wouldn't everyone do this?

Los Angeles County moves to require computer encryption after medical data breach

Abby Sewell reports:

Following a break-in at a county health contractor’s office that led to the theft of computers containing personal information about more than 342,000 patients, Los Angeles County supervisors moved to tighten protocols for protecting data.

The county already requires that workers’ laptops be encrypted. The supervisors voted Tuesday to extend that policy to also encrypt all county departments’ computer workstation hard drives.

Read more on Los Angeles Times.

Is this “Pile on eBay” week, or are they really this screwed up?

http://www.techienews.co.uk/9712548/ebay-stumbles-multiple-vulnerabilities-yet-fixed/

eBay riddled with XSS flaws

eBay seems to be going through a rough road since it admitted the breach last week, as yet some more flaws are discovered that haven’t been fixed and can be exploited to hijack user accounts.

Jordan Jones, the security researcher who reported the major vulnerability in eBay’s website last week, has published details of a second vulnerability that hadn’t been fixed as of Monday.

… German security researcher Michael E has spotted another persistent cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability that allows the hacker to inject arbitrary HTML and JavaScript code into the eBay website to create auction pages with unauthorized JavaScript code. The malicious code in turn can steal the visitors’ account cookies, allowing attackers to hijack the users’ accounts.

The Hacker News reported that eBay “accepts the same login cookies again and again, even if the victims have logged out or reset their passwords.”

Ah, you finally noticed that, did you. Report should be worth reading!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/brokers-use-billions-of-data-points-to-profile-americans/2014/05/27/b4207b96-e5b2-11e3-a86b-362fd5443d19_story.html

Brokers use ‘billions’ of data points to profile Americans

Are you a financially strapped working mother who smokes? A Jewish retiree with a fondness for Caribbean cruises? Or a Spanish-speaking professional with allergies, a dog and a collection of Elvis memorabilia? All this information and much, much more is being quietly collected, analyzed and distributed by the nation’s burgeoning data-broker industry, which uses billions of individual data points to produce detailed portraits of virtually every American consumer, the Federal Trade Commission reported Tuesday.

The FTC report provided an unusually detailed account of the system of commercial surveillance that draws on government records, shopping habits and social-media postings to help marketers hone their advertising pitches. Officials said the intimacy of these profiles would unnerve some consumers who have little ability to track what’s being collected or how it’s used — or even to correct false information. The FTC called for legislation to bring transparency to the multibillion-dollar industry and give consumers some control over how their data is used.

Data brokers’ portraits feature traditional demographics such as age, race and income, as well as political leanings, religious affiliations, Social Security numbers, gun-ownership records, favored movie genres and gambling preferences (casino or state lottery?). Interest in health issues — such as diabetes, HIV infection and depression — can be tracked as well.

This is interesting.

NZ: $10,000 fines for identity theft

Andrea Vance reports some changes in New Zealand:

Identity theft is to be outlawed with a fine of up to $10,000 under an overhaul of privacy laws.

The Government is to beef up the watchdog powers of the privacy commissioner. Organisations will also be required to report data breaches to the commissioner, and notify those affected in serious cases.

Penalty fines are to be increased and two new offences created.

Failing to notify the commissioner of a privacy breach or impersonating someone to obtain their personal information will be illegal and carry a fine of up to $10,000.

It will also be against the law to destroy documents containing personal information that a person has sought access to. [I don't recall seeing that one before. Bob]

Read more on Stuff.

You know Facebook's Privacy Policy is questionable when Iran wants the US to extradite Mark Zuckerberg.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/27/us-iran-internet-idUSKBN0E71EU20140527

Iranian judge summons Facebook CEO for breach of privacy

A conservative Iranian court opened a case against instant messaging services WhatsApp and Instagram while also summoning Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over complaints of privacy violation, state news agency ISNA reported on Tuesday.

Perhaps one day I'll get an email from Google that says, “Bob, we've noticed you are going bald. Kick here for a list of products to keep you looking 'Mavalous.'”

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/28/drone-satellite-google-facebook/?ncid=rss_truncated

After drones, Google and Facebook eye satellites to expand internet access

Google and Facebook already compete on PCs, mobile devices and recently their rivalry has moved to the skies, but a new report from The Information suggests it could move even further from land. Over the last year or so, both looked at drone maker Titan Aerospace before Google acquired it, adding to a portfolio that includes its Project Loon experiments. Not to be outdone, Facebook is said to have acquired a drone maker from the UK called Ascenta. The only thing left? Space. The Information follows up on claims that Google is looking at a satellite company called Skybox Imaging by noting recent hires and investments in companies that deal with satellite-delivered internet. Craig Barratt is named as leading several teams at Google developing wireless internet technology to connect the rest of the world (white spaces, municipal WiFi, community routers for businesses etc.) while Google X teams work on the drones and balloons. Facebook's interests in (the) space are not as well-documented, but we can only guess that the race will reach low-orbit soon, and collect a few more startups and giants as competitors. Maybe DirecTV made its deal with AT&T too soon?

Interesting contrast.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/22/technology/amazon-robots/

Army of robots to invade Amazon warehouses

CEO Jeff Bezos told investors at a shareholder meeting Wednesday that he expects to significantly increase the number of robots used to fulfill customer orders.

There are currently about 1,000 robot workers on Amazon floors. The increase won't change the number of actual people employed, an Amazon spokeswoman said.

The robots are made by Kiva Systems, a company Amazon bought for $775 million two years ago.

(Related) This might be because fast-food workers want $15 per hour.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/22/technology/innovation/fast-food-robot/

Robots will replace fast-food workers

Questions. Not just self-driving but “completely human free!” What happens when the systems crash? You can't take control and putter on home, you are dead in the water (dead in the fast lane?)

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2458612,00.asp

Google's Self-Driving Car Prototype Ditches the Steering Wheel

… The small, Volkswagen Bug-esque vehicle does not have a steering wheel, accelerator pedal, or brake pedal, "because they don't need them," Google said in a blog post. Just get in, and Google's car will take you to your destination with the push of a button.

Interesting. If it was oil or even coal they would already be exploiting it. Probably not worth shipping to Europe to replace Russian gas.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27492949

Colossal peat bog discovered in Congo

The bog covers an area the size of England and is thought to contain billions of tonnes of peat.

Scientists say investigating the carbon-rich material could shed light on 10,000 years of environmental change in this little-studied region.

Dr Simon Lewis, from the University of Leeds, said: "It's remarkable that there are parts of the planet that are still uncharted territory."

For my “early adopter” students. Worth $170?

http://venturebeat.com/2014/05/27/mozillas-new-firefox-os-flame-smartphone-is-now-available-for-preorder/

Mozilla’s new Firefox OS Flame smartphone is now available for preorder

After years of talking about a Firefox OS and a few different phone models, Mozilla is finally making its heralded Flame available.

The company announced today that it has opened preoders for the new Firefox OS Flame phone. Mozilla partnered with independent design house and manufacturer T2Mobile to manufacture the phone, and you can now preorder it through everbuying.com, according to a company blog post.

For my students who think the textbooks are written in a foreign language.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/google-buys-visual-translation-app-word-lens-gives-away-free/

Google Buys Visual Translation App Word Lens – Then Gives It Away For Free

Google has always put a lot of work into their translation app, so much so that it has become a very effective and powerful app for getting yourself out of linguistic tangles. But now Google has gone one better by buying Word Lens, the visual translation app, and then giving it away for free for a limited time.

What makes Word Lens special? Simply this. If you see something written in a foreign language (such as a sign), you just point the iOS or Android app at it. It then translates the language into your chosen language, all in real time, using your phone’s built-in camera – no Internet connection required.

… As I said, everything is free for the moment – the app, and all of the language packs which must be downloaded and installed separately. But when the limited offer ends, whenever that may be, the app itself will be free but the language packs will have to be bought.

… Since Google hasn’t indicated when the limited offer will end, it’s best to grab this right now. The app is fantastic and should be on every phone, along with Google Translate and other great translation apps for travelling.

I was afraid this would happen.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2159460/apple-devices-held-hostage-using-find-my-iphone.html

Apple devices held hostage using Find My iPhone

Hackers appear to be exploiting Apple’s “Find My iPhone” service to lock up phones and tablets and send ransom demands to their owners.

A number of reports on Apple’s support forum tell of devices displaying messages that they have been hacked by “Oleg Pliss” and demanding payment of a US$100 ransom via PayPal to unlock them. Most of the reports were from Australians but there were also reports from a Briton and a Canadian.

The hackers seem to have used the “Find My iPhone” feature or its equivalent for other Apple gadgets to lock the devices and send the message, according to the forum posts that were first highlighted by Australian newspaper The Age.

Wrong strategy or poor management?

http://www.securityweek.com/cyber-failures-spark-search-new-security-approach

Cyber Failures Spark Search for New Security Approach

With cybersecurity's most glaring failures in the limelight, many experts say it's time for a new approach.

In recent weeks, the security community has been rocked by news of a massive breach at online giant eBay affecting as many as 145 million customers, following another that hit as many as 110 million at retailer Target.

A US indictment earlier this month accused members of a shadowy Chinese military unit for allegedly hacking US companies for trade secrets, a charge denied by Beijing.

The incidents highlight huge gaps in cybersecurity, or the ease in which malicious actors can break into a single computer and subsequently penetrate a network or cloud.

… One of the dilemmas is that when people have a choice between security and utility, they often choose utility."

A survey released Wednesday by the security firm Trustwave said it identified 691 breaches across 24 countries last year, with the number of incidents up 53.6 percent over 2012.

… A report by security firm Symantec found a 91 percent increase in targeted "spearphishing" attacks in 2013 and said more than 552 million identities were exposed via breaches.

IBM recently unveiled a new cyber defense system aimed at thwarting attacks before they happen, with predictive analytics.

I have been teasing my lawyer friends – telling them I was working on an App to replace lawyers. That may be something to seriously consider if they change law schools like this paper suggests.

http://www.bespacific.com/legal-academy-erasure/

The Legal Academy Under Erasure

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on May 26, 2014

Redding, Richard E., The Legal Academy Under Erasure (2014). Catholic University Law Review, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2433266

“We hear much about the crisis in legal education: high tuition costs, steep declines in law school enrollment, and graduates unprepared for practice who cannot find jobs. Proposals to address the crisis appear to enjoy wide support and may be poised to dramatically change the landscape of legal education. Such reforms will harm law students and the legal profession, placing the legal academy “under erasure,” by:

(1) reorienting it from an academically-grounded education towards vocational training,

(2) requiring just two years of study for the J.D. degree,

(3) allowing graduates of non-ABA accredited law schools to sit for the bar examination, thereby rendering accreditation a toothless mechanism for ensuring academic quality, and

(4) gutting faculty scholarship.

Instead, we must make the value of legal education worth its cost by doing a better job of educating and training our students. Legal education is broken because it fails to prepare students for the demands of modern law practice, which is more complex and interdisciplinary than ever before. We need a three-year program that is more robust, one that teaches the core first-year subjects as well as applications of other disciplines (e.g., accounting, economics, psychology) to everyday law practice, exposes students to a reasonable range of specialty areas, and integrates skills training (e.g., client counseling, advocacy, drafting) throughout the curriculum. To accomplish these goals, we should adapt the medical school model to legal education. This would entail a curriculum that provides a comprehensive foundation in basic legal subjects and legally relevant other disciplines, culminating in a series of clinical rotations where the basic doctrinal and interdisciplinary knowledge is applied in practice. I also explain why we should not gut support for faculty scholarship in the hopes that doing so will cut costs and encourage professors to focus on teaching. Contrary to popular claims, engaged scholars are better teachers, and legal scholarship can contribute meaningfully and substantially (though often in ways not readily apparent) to law practice and legal reform efforts. Finally, I suggest that we address the employment problem and improve educational quality by having fewer but better law schools, producing fewer attorneys.”

(Related)

http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/05/business-school-professors-should-be-like-movie-directors/

Business School Professors Should Be Like Movie Directors

As business school professors, we always ask ourselves why we are needed. Because we train future leaders and shape how organizations create value for societies. But will students need us in the same capacity in the future? Not if we don’t change to meet shifting educational needs.

A January Economist article on the Future of Jobs quoted experts saying that 47% of all job categories, including high-skill professions in medicine and law, will be automated within two decades. Among the professions that were said to be safe from automation (for the moment) are those that require human interaction and emotive and social competencies, such as management; those that rely on craft mastery, such as recreational therapists and actors; and those that involve understanding complex systems of human and institutional interaction, such as economists.

It apparently pays Microsoft to keep updating businesses that won’t pay to keep their software up to date.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/26/german_tinkerer_gets_around_xpocalypse/

Windows XP fixes flaws for free if you turn PCs into CASH REGISTERS

A German web noticeboard has published instructions on how to keep getting the free Windows XP updates that enterprises are having to pay for.

According to this thread at Sebjik.com, all that's needed for 32-bit Windows XP installs is to edit the registry so that it tells Microsoft you're using POSReady 2009.

As Betanews notes, with the registry edit in place, you should receive updates for “Windows Embedded Industry (formerly known as Windows Embedded POSReady). This is based on Windows XP Service Pack 3”.

Roll your own Apps!

AppGyver Composer

http://www.appgyver.com/composer

– is the fastest way to bootstrap high-quality mobile apps. Drag and drop elements, lightning fast data integration and visual logic editing are just part of what makes Composer the fastest way to bootstrap your ideas. Direct access to the phone’s hardware features and native UI give you power to create beautiful apps without compromising in features, or quality.

Some of the unanswered questions resulting from some very poorly managed breach announcements. Perhaps Congress will ask these questions for us?

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ebay-data-breach-need-know/

The eBay Data Breach: What You Need To Know

In what is one of the biggest breaches of user data yet, eBay has revealed that in March 2014 its servers were compromised. Other than confirming that staff accounts were co-opted and advising eBay account holders to change their passwords, it is revealing nothing else.

How do I surveil thee?

Let me count the ways...

http://www.bespacific.com/transparency-reports-database-government-requests-users-data/

The Transparency Reports Database – Government Requests for Users Data

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on May 25, 2014

Silk Transparency Project - “An increasing number of Internet and telecommunication companies are publishing reports detailing the number of government requests for user interaction data the companies have received in a given period of time. Technology and telecommunications companies store data on all user interactions. This includes “non-content data” (also called metadata). Metadata consists of login times, user location and IP addresses of users involved in the communication. Technology and telecom companies sometimes store actual content – recordings or copies of emails, chats, video chats, and voice calls. Governments file requests for this data for anti-terrorism surveillance but also for drug investigations and other law enforcement purposes. Called “Transparency Reports”, these reports also state how often the company complies with the government request. Silk collected all Transparency Reports from major service providers and normalized them into a comprehensive data resource for investigating government requests for users’ data. You can Explore the different Country / Company / Reporting Period pages to research specific queries or click here for our findings on:

• Governments of the World Requesting Data: USA Leads in Total Requests
• Governments Requests at Peak Levels: More Companies Respond by Publishing Transparency Reports
• The Most Compliant Service Providers
• World’s Most Inquisitive Governments, Most Compliant Companies.“

I wonder if my Criminal Justice students would find this interesting? Should be no Privacy implications, since all the data is public – right?

http://www.bespacific.com/searching-social-media-googling-facebook-searching-twitter/

Searching Social Media – Googling Facebook, Searching Twitter

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on May 25, 2014

Stosh Jonjak, Part 1, | Part 2 “Have you experienced an increase in social media search requests? As attorneys become more likely to turn to social media during their informal discovery processes, I have found an uptick in questions like: “could you please do a social media background check on this person?” This is a growing information need I believe law librarians are excellently suited to fill, and really the next generation of public records search requests. Through conducting these searches and by leaning on the expertise of others I have put together my own toolkit on tricks to use. [Here] I list methods incorporating Google advanced search terms to conduct searches on Facebook [and Twitter] quickly and with high relevancy.”

Should be simple to check the “best source” for revisions. Are there enough to support a “Corrections and Revisions Blog?”

http://www.bespacific.com/new-paper-non-finality-supreme-court-opinions/

New Paper – The (Non) Finality of Supreme Court Opinions

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on May 25, 2014

Adam Liptak, New York Times: “The Supreme Court has been quietly revising its decisions years after they were issued, altering the law of the land without public notice. The revisions include “truly substantive changes in factual statements and legal reasoning,” said Richard J. Lazarus, a law professor at Harvard and the author of a new study examining the phenomenon. The court can act quickly, as when Justice Antonin Scalia last month corrected an embarrassing error in a dissent in a case involving the Environmental Protection Agency. But most changes are neither prompt nor publicized, and the court’s secretive editing process has led judges and law professors astray, causing them to rely on passages that were later scrubbed from the official record. The widening public access to online versions of the court’s decisions, some of which do not reflect the final wording, has made the longstanding problem more pronounced. Unannounced changes have not reversed decisions outright, but they have withdrawn conclusions on significant points of law. They have also retreated from descriptions of common ground with other justices, as Justice Sandra Day O’Connor did in a major gay rights case.”

After Outsourcing and Off-shoring raised wages in other countries, this makes sense. (Video interview)

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/reshoring-wave-taking-america-storm-2/

The Reshoring Wave: It’s Taking America by Storm

… There are many factors fueling this move, including labor costs, transportation, quality issues and patriotism, among others. Hal Sirkin, a senior partner at Boston Consulting Group, has been examining this trend for years and admits that the recent surge in reshoring has shocked even experts and researchers. Knowledge@Wharton sat down with Sirkin to discuss the different elements contributing to the reshoring trend and how it affects global business dynamics, the labor market and even the U.S.-Mexico relationship.

This is an interesting idea. I read this as the potential for an almost real time survey on any question you can properly format. Perhaps my statistics students could try it. (Okay, probably not but I can dream.)

http://www.bespacific.com/online-social-media-data-flawed-continuous-panel-survey-microsoft/

Online and social media data as a flawed continuous panel survey – Microsoft

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on May 25, 2014

“There is a large body of research on utilizing online activity to predict various real world outcomes, ranging from outbreaks of influenza to outcomes of elections. There is considerably less work, however, on using this data to understand topic-specific interest and opinion amongst the general population and specific demographic subgroups, as currently measured by relatively expensive surveys. Here we investigate this possibility by studying a full census of all Twitter activity during the 2012 election cycle along with comprehensive search history of a large panel of internet users during the same period, highlighting the challenges in interpreting online and social media activity as the results of a survey. As noted in existing work, the online population is a non-representative sample of the offline world (e.g., the U.S. voting population). We extend this work to show how demographic skew and user participation is non-stationary and unpredictable over time. In addition, the nature of user contributions varies wildly around important events. Finally, we note subtle problems in mapping what people are sharing or consuming online to specific sentiment or opinion measures around a particular topic. These issues must be addressed before meaningful insight about public interest and opinion can be reliably extracted from online and social media data.” Latest version (May 15, 2014)

(Related) If you don't know why you should be doing something like the survey described in the previous post. Read these.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-free-social-media-guides-business-owners-read/

6 Free Social Media Guides All Business Owners Should Read

Another reason for Google to improve its translation tool.

http://www.bespacific.com/chinese-agencies-announce-open-access-policies-nature/

Chinese agencies announce open-access policies – Nature

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on May 25, 2014

“China has officially joined the international push to make research papers free to read. On 15 May, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), one of the country’s major basic-science funding agencies, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which funds and conducts research at more than 100 institutions, announced that researchers they support should deposit their papers into online repositories and make them publicly accessible within 12 months of publication. The policies, which went into effect the same day they were announced, are similar to the mandate set by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Xiaolin Zhang, director of the National Science Library at the CAS in Beijing, says that another major research-funding agency, the national ministry of science and technology, is also researching open-access policies. He expects that its policy will take a similar line. (The ministry had not provided comment by the time this article was published.) Richard Van Nordeen, 19 May 2014, corrected May 20 2014.

• Major international associations join together to underscore their support for immediate open access to research articles
• Development of open access in China: strategies, practices, challenges

For my student Vets. Because we remember.

http://www.bespacific.com/va-national-gravesite-locator-tool/

VA National Gravesite Locator Tool

by Sabrina I. Pacifici on May 25, 2014

“The database of burial information is updated each day. Search for burial locations of veterans and their family members in VA National Cemeteries, state veterans cemeteries, various other military and Department of Interior cemeteries, and for veterans buried in private cemeteries when the grave is marked with a government grave marker. The Nationwide Gravesite Locator includes burial records from many sources. These sources provide varied data; some searches may contain less information than others. Information on veterans buried in private cemeteries was collected for the purpose of furnishing government grave markers, and we do not have information available for burials prior to 1997. Erroneous information can be corrected, but we are unable to add to the information contained in the existing record. If your search returns incorrect information about a veteran or family member buried in a national cemetery, please contact the cemetery directly to discuss your findings. To report incorrect information about a veteran buried in a private cemetery, click on “Contact Us” at the top of this page. Names cannot be added to the listing if a government grave marker was not furnished for the grave, or if the existing government grave marker was furnished prior to 1997. For more complete information concerning individual records, we suggest you contact the cemetery or local officials.”

“We're here. We have the tools and we know how to use them.” The problem is they are still thinking like pre-internet strategists – “What's nearby so I can begin my conquest of the world?” In the Internet Age, everything is nearby.

Colleges Remain Big-Game Targets for Hackers

D. Frank Smith reports:

Colleges have consistently been a prime target for hackers. In 2013, the University of Wisconsin sustained up to 100,000 hacking attempts each day, according to The New York Times. And research released May 20 by the EDUCAUSE Higher Education Information Security Council shows that the education sector topped the charts in a survey of security breaches across seven industries.

The survey analyzed digital security breaches in which records were illegally obtained. In the education sector, 73 percent of breaches resulted in stolen records.

Read more on EdTech.

Another risk from the Internet of (Hackable) Things!

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/smart-tvs-are-a-growing-security-risk-how-do-you-deal-with-this/

Smart TVs Are A Growing Security Risk: How Do You Deal With This?

… If you have a Smart TV, then yes, it can be hacked.

The good news is that it isn’t a rampant phenomenon… yet. The day is soon coming, however, when you may need to install anti-virus and anti-malware software onto your TV to keep it safe.

… What is a Smart TV? James was pretty thorough with his Smart TV overview which also explains whether or not you should even purchase one. Long story short, a Smart TV is the hybrid child of the television and the computer. It can browse the web, install and run apps, respond to voice commands, and more.

Again, let me restate: Smart TVs are not inherently compromised in terms of security. You only need to worry if you have a Smart TV that actively uses the Internet.

Californians are about to collide with the Internet of Things! I've been thinking that this is the electronic equivalent of having a chauffeur. Have we skipped over the electronic butler and maid because cleaning a house is more complicated than driving on California highways? How about e-Gardeners and all those other Downton Abbey characters?

http://www.complex.com/rides/2014/05/california-will-allow-self-driving-cars-on-road-this-fall

California Will Allow Self-Driving Cars on the Road This Fall

Be prepared to see driverless cars on California roads after Sept. 16. That's when the DMV will allow self-driving cars to begin testing on public roads. The move comes two months after California held public hearings on the technology.

In order to test self-driving cars companies must apply for a permit and purchase a $5 million insurance bond. If any of the cars get in an accident, it has to be reported within 10 days. Additionally, researchers have to report if the car's self-driving functions are turned off for safety reasons.

This article nicely summarizes my concerns. Now we can pay into another fund that will never get spent for its intended purpose.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/24/fcc-connect-america-fund-approval/?ncid=rss_truncated

FCC gets approval for plan to subsidize fast rural internet access

At long last, the FCC can move forward with reforming its rural connection subsidies for the broadband era. A federal appeals court has upheld the agency's Connect America Fund after challenges from smaller carriers, which were worried that the shift from subsidizing phone calls to fast internet access would hurt their bottom line. Their arguments were either "unpersuasive" or were blocked from legal consideration in the first place, the court says.

The fund still faces criticism from those worried that the $4.5 billion in subsidies will hike phone bills through growing fees; there's also concerns that the occasional fraud seen in existing programs might carry over to Connect America.

Coming soon to a state near me.

https://news.vice.com/article/kentucky-wins-hemp-seed-release-from-federal-government

Kentucky Wins Hemp Seed Release from Federal Government

Something to amuse my students?

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/learn-new-words-collins-twictionary-weird-wonderful-web/

Learn New Words With The Collins Twictionary [Weird & Wonderful Web]

New words are being invented all the time, both online and offline. The Internet is responsible for a host of new words and phrases, many of which end up making it into dictionaries.

Having previously looked at 10 Internet phrases we would like to see die in a fire, it’s high time we balanced things out with a look at a collection of new words currently vying for inclusion in the next Collins English Dictionary.

… The Twictionary is Collins’ attempt to utilize the power of Twitter to decide which Internet-originated words should make it into the twelfth edition of the Collins English Dictionary.

[My Favorite: Adorkable – Dorky in an adorable way.

Once again Dilbert connects on many levels.

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2014-05-25/