Anyone who works as a freelancer these days has to be at least a bit familiar with techie things. But it isn’t just that. When I was a kid and those vaguely SF puppet shows were on the television and all the other kids wanted to be Greg Gogetem or Steve Savetheuniverse, I wanted to be the guy in a white coat and glasses called Doc or Brains. Here are some technology-related feeds I find useful and/or entertaining.
Mashable » Microsoft app delivers colorful window to the world for the colorblind
A simple piece of software promises to help some of us regain something many take for granted: the ability to see the full spectrum of colors around us. SEE ALSO: 5 Ways to Ensure Your Site Is Accessible to the Visually Impaired Although there are already lenses that help colorblind people to see more color, a team at Microsoft Garage … [Link]
Slashdot » More Code In Movies: Nmap Meets Snowden
After Saturday's story about the code samples in the new movie Arrival, an anonymous reader reminded us of this classic essay at Nmap.org: For reasons unknown, Hollywood has decided that Nmap is the tool to show whenever hacking scenes are needed… While Nmap had been used in some previous obscure movies, it was The Matrix Reloaded which really turned Nmap … [Link]
Mashable » People are not OK with Oprah's comments about Donald Trump
To give you an idea of just how divided the nation has been in the wake of Donald Trump's election as the 45th president of the United States, people are now turning on Oprah. SEE ALSO: Oprah has a strong message for undecided voters It all started on Thursday, Nov. 10, when a subdued President-elect Donald Trump visited President Barack Obama … [Link]
Mashable » Men of the people Donald Trump and Nigel Farage pose in golden elevator
In general, populist politicians avoid taking pictures in rooms made of gold. But President-elect Donald Trump and Brexit leader Nigel Farage are not your average politicians. SEE ALSO: You won, Donald Trump, you can stop tweeting now Here are the two men smiling in a perfectly normal elevator at Trump Tower, New York City, over the weekend. It was a great … [Link]
Slashdot » Are Tesla Crashes Balanced Out By The Lives That They Save?
Friday EE Times shared the story of a Tesla crash that occurred during a test drive. "The salesperson suggested that my friend not brake, letting the system do the work. It didn't…" One Oregon news site even argues autopiloted Tesla's may actually have a higher crash rate. But there's also been stories about Teslas that have saved lives — like … [Link]
ProgrammableWeb.com » Why Emburse Opened Its vCard Solution to Developers
Emburse, an expense management company, specializes in offering virtual and physical prepaid cards to help clients keep track of employee spending. After a year of being in business, the company took a left turn and decided to focus on building out an API to let developers integrate their card-generation capabilities into their own platforms.
[Link]
Mashable » Kate McKinnon's Ruth Bader Ginsburg swears she's going to stay healthy on 'SNL'
After opening the latest episode of Saturday Night Live as Hillary Clinton performing the late Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," Kate McKinnon got a little more light-hearted with her portrayal of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg swearing to stay healthy. SEE ALSO: Here's Dave Chappelle singing 'Creep' at the SNL after-party Exclaiming, "Now I gotta stay alive and healthy, dammit," McKinnon-as-Ginsburg downed … [Link]
Mashable » ‘Iron Man 3’ trailer with a dude in a homemade cardboard suit
Like most superhero movies, Iron Man 3 was a big-budget blockbuster. But you don't need to be a "genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist" to live your dream of being Iron Man. You just need to dig some cardboard out of the recycling bin. Our CineFix series, Homemade Movies, serves up DIY reimaginings of your favorite trailers and movie scenes. All videos are … [Link]
Slashdot » Hack Exposes 412 Million Accounts on AdultFriendFinder Sites
"Almost every account password was cracked, thanks to the company's poor security practices," reports ZDNet — even for "deleted" accounts. An anonymous reader quotes their article: The hack includes 339 million accounts from AdultFriendFinder.com, which the company describes as the "world's largest sex and swinger community [and] also includes over 15 million "deleted" accounts that weren't purged from the databases. … [Link]
Mashable » At least we have this video of a cat stacked on top of another cat
Things are hard, but consider the positives: We still have this video of two cats leaping for the same ledge before landing in a perfect cat stack. How did they land this way? And why do they seem so OK with the outcome? Have they remained friends in the time since? These are all questions to ponder in the brief … [Link]
The Joy of Tech » JoT #2351: Fake Facebook!
Zuck thinks it's a little bit funny… [Link]
Mashable » Trump says he'll deport 2-3 million immigrants on '60 Minutes'
Donald Trump and Paul Ryan have two very different messages for millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States. President-elect Trump says he plans to immediately deport 2 million to 3 million people once he's in the White House, according to an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes. House Speaker Ryan says lawmakers aren't planning a "deportation force" and will spend their … [Link]
Mashable » One year later, Paris remembers horrific terror attacks
A damp, dreary day echoed the somber mood as thousands gathers in Paris to mark the one year anniversary of the deadly terror attacks of Nov. 13, 2016, that killed 130 people and injured scores more. SEE ALSO: Paris concert venue attacked by terrorists reopens, one year later French President Francois Hollande and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took part in the … [Link]
Mashable » Joe Biden plotting against Trump is the meme America needs
Soon there will be a new president in the White House and his name is Donald Trump. That doesn't mean President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have to like it. SEE ALSO: The internet takes a fond look back at the Obama presidency Instead of a graceful exit, the internet imagined Biden plotting pranks against Trump and Mike Pence … [Link]
Slashdot » Red Hat Announces Fedora Will Support MP3 Playback
Long-time Slashdot reader jrincayc shares news from Red Hat's Fedora Engineering Manager, Tom Callaway. On the Fedora-legal mailing list, Callaway announced: Red Hat has determined that it is now acceptable for Fedora to include MP3 decoding functionality (not specific to any implementation, or binding by any unseen agreement). Encoding functionality is not permitted at this time. And the same day … [Link]
Mashable » Bruce Springsteen rescued by veterans after motorcycle breaks down on Veterans Day
After a motorcycle breakdown left Bruce Springsteen stranded by the side of a New Jersey road, a group of bike-riding veterans aided the musician in finding his way home. SEE ALSO: 'Harry Potter' movies rejected an original song from Bruce Springsteen According to a Facebook post from the Freehold American Legion Post 54, Dan Barkalow, Bob Grigs — both of them … [Link]
Slashdot » US Drought Brings A Surprise Benefit: No Tornados
Slashdot reader turkeydance tipped us off to news that America hasn't had a single tornado in November, even though last year it experienced 99, and averages 58 every November. CNN reports: Drought is overwhelming Southeastern states this fall, and temperatures have soared, depleting ground moisture. Storms need moist air to develop, and the lack of moisture this fall has inhibited … [Link]
Mashable » Sorry Trump, the 'New York Times' is actually adding subscribers
President-elect Donald Trump isn't letting his new job get in the way of blasting people on Twitter. On Sunday morning, he directed his ire at the New York Times. SEE ALSO: Anti-Trump protests spread across nation Wow, the @nytimes is losing thousands of subscribers because of their very poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the "Trump phenomena" — Donald J. Trump … [Link]
Slashdot » Java's Open Sourcing Still Controversial Ten Years Later
An anonymous reader quotes InfoWorld: Sun Microsystems officially open-sourced Java on November 13, 2006… "The source code for Java was available to all from the first day it was released in 1995," says [Java creator James] Gosling, who is now chief architect at Liquid Robotics. "What we wanted out of that was for the community to help with security analysis, … [Link]
Mashable » Amy Adams' alien 'Arrival' can't top 'Doctor Strange' at the box office
Marvel has another November hit on its hands. For the second weekend in a row, the trippy Doctor Strange is #1 at the domestic box office, with an estimated $43 million. It's a #2-peat as well for Trolls, which hangs on in second place with an estimated $35.1 million. SEE ALSO: What would aliens think of present day Earth? In both … [Link]
Mashable » Here's Dave Chappelle singing 'Creep' at the SNL after-party
After gifting the country with a hosting gig on Saturday Night Live, Dave Chappelle gifted lucky after-party attendees to a top-notch karaoke performance of Radiohead's "Creep." Questlove shared a piece of the performance on Instagram early Sunday morning. SEE ALSO: Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock get real about the U.S. election on 'SNL' In a life full of highlights? I'm glad … [Link]
Mashable » Hillary's weak economic messaging is to blame for President Trump
In the aftermath of Donald Trump's electoral college victory, many on the left and around the world are looking for someone to blame, but it might have been the messaging. Fingers have pointed in many directions. Some have blamed the Democratic National Committee for conspiring to side with Hillary Clinton against Bernie Sanders. Some have blamed women voters for not turning … [Link]
Slashdot » President Obama Gives Up On The Trans-Pacific Partnership
An anonymous reader quotes The Guardian: White House officials conceded on Friday that the president's hard-fought-for Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal would not pass Congress, as lawmakers there prepared for the anti-global trade policies of President-elect Donald Trump. Earlier this week, congressional leaders in both parties said they would not bring the trade deal forward during a lame-duck session of Congress, … [Link]
Mashable » Pack of mongooses turns game of golf into a soothing nature special
Mongooses don't usually evoke feelings of warmth and affection. But when TheEuropeanTour tweeted a clip of a group of mongooses interrupting a golf event last week, it appeared that these small creatures are much cuter than you might have expected. SEE ALSO: Adorable dog sees her favorite toy come to life and it's everything Soon the commentators began narrating the incident, … [Link]
Mashable » Leslie Jones finds virgin love on 'Saturday Night Live'
Leslie Jones got real about love on Saturday Night Live this week. No, not really. But when the world is an angry, confusing hellscape and nothing makes sense anymore, poking fun at grown-ass adult virgins is always a safe, comforting fallback. It's not a coincidence that The 40-Year-Old Virgin was a huge hit during the George W. Bush administration. So … [Link]
Mashable » New Zealanders flee tsunami after powerful earthquake
Residents on New Zealand's eastern coastline fled their homes early Monday morning after powerful earthquakes triggered a tsunami. Officials urged residents in Wellington, Christchurch, the Chatham Islands and other coastal areas to move inland or seek higher ground after a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck shortly after midnight local time. A magnitude-6.5 temblor hit shortly after about halfway between Wellington and Christchurch, the … [Link]
Slashdot » Smartphone WiFi Signals Can Leak Your Keystrokes, Passwords, and PINs
Bleeping Computer warns that "The way users move fingers across a phone's touchscreen alters the WiFi signals transmitted by a mobile phone, causing interruptions that an attacker can intercept, analyze, and reverse engineer to accurately guess what the user has typed…when the attacker controls a rogue WiFi access point." The new WindTalker attack leverages the "channel state information" in WiFi … [Link]
Mashable » Monday's supermoon will be the biggest and brightest until 2034
A full moon the likes of which we haven't seen for almost 70 years will grace skies around the world on Monday night. The "supermoon — so named because the moon will be both in its full phase and at its closest point to Earth during its orbit at the same time — will be the closest of its kind since … [Link]
Slashdot » Microsoft Survey Shows Negative Online Interactions Affect People In Real Life
"Preliminary results of a new Microsoft survey show nearly two-thirds of people surveyed had at least one negative online experience that had an impact on them in the real world, ranging from a loss of trust in others, increased stress or sleep deprivation," reports Computerworld. Microsoft's chief online safety officer writes: Both adults and teens said they became less trusting … [Link]
Mashable » 7 smoky beers to challenge your taste buds
Smoked beer — Rauchbier in German —traditionally acquires its particular flavor from heating malted barley over an open fire, though craft brewers these days are finding many ways of imparting a smokiness in their brews. Often evocative of bacon, bonfires, and/or whisky, it’s one of the more divisive genres of beer out there. SEE ALSO: A staggering 1860s photo series illustrates … [Link]
Mashable » Dave Chappelle and Kate McKinnon had a 'derotic' make out session on 'SNL'
Kenan Thompson tried so hard to play his bartender straight in this Saturday Night Live sketch. But in the end, he broke — and broke hard. In Thompson's defense, it's tough to keep a straight face when Dave Chappelle and Kate McKinnon are sitting a few feet away, drunkenly smashing their tongues together. The short-lived lust story of Sheila Sovage … [Link]
Mashable » Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock get real about the U.S. election on 'SNL'
Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock seem to have this whole "U.S. presidential election upset" pretty well figured out. Rock made a surprise appearance on this week's Chappelle-hosted Saturday Night Live to participate in a gentle-yet-firm skewering of Super Tuesday. Their target? Liberals that gripped tightly to misplaced certainty that Hillary Clinton had the election buttoned up. In other words: white … [Link]
Slashdot » Will Trump's Presidency Bring More Surveillance To The US?
An anonymous reader reports that Donald Trump's upcoming presidency raises a few concerns for the security industry: "Some of his statements that industry professionals find troubling are his calls for 'closing parts of the Internet', his support for mass surveillance, and demands that Apple should have helped the FBI break the encrypted communications of the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone," writes … [Link]
Mashable » When Native American activists took control of Alcatraz for 18 months
1969John Trudell, a Sioux activist, looks out across San Francisco Bay from a teepee on Alcatraz Island.Image: APOn March 8, 1964, a small group of Sioux made landfall on Alcatraz Island, which had been abandoned as a prison the previous year. They invoked the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie in reclaiming the surplus federal property as Native land, and spent a … [Link]
Mashable » Scarlett Johansson kicks ass in the first 'Ghost in the Shell' trailer
From manga to anime to star-powered Hollywood blockbuster, the first look at director Rupert Sanders' Ghost in the Shell is here. The adaptation controversially stars Scarlett Johansson as The Major, a human-cyborg construct that fights the worst of the criminal underworld as the head of an elite task force, Section 9. Even in a post-Doctor Strange world, this one looks … [Link]
Mashable » So your state legalized marijuana: 6 things to know
Recreational marijuana won big at the polls on Tuesday, with California, Massachusetts, and Nevada approving those laws and Maine’s measure leaning toward yes, tripling the U.S. population living in pot-friendly states. The laws allow adults to grow, consume, and give away marijuana — but the patchwork of laws and marijuana’s federal status mean that it can be tricky to stay on … [Link]
New Scientist – News » First home brain implant lets ‘locked-in’ woman communicate
After training on whack-a-mole and Pong, a woman paralysed by ALS has become the first person to use a brain implant at home, communicating by thought alone [Link]
Mashable » 37 hidden clues I only spotted when I reread 'Harry Potter' in my 20s
LONDON — It's really no big shock that J.K. Rowling went on to write crime fiction. Some people — including me — were a bit surprised at first with the route she took after finishing the Harry Potter series, but in hindsight it makes beautiful sense. Each and every Harry Potter book has a mystery at its core. Despite the fantasy … [Link]
Slashdot » How Stephen Wolfram Devised Interstellar Travel (And Code Samples) For 'Arrival'
The new movie "Arrival" depicts first contact with aliens, and its producers faced the question of how interstellar spacecraft would actually work. They turned to futurist Stephen Wolfram, who came up with an answer overnight, and also tasked his son with writing much of the computer code seen on displays in the movie. Slashdot reader mirandakatz brings us Wolfram's story: … [Link]
Mashable » 'SNL' just gave us the 'Walking Dead'-'Chappelle's Show' crossover of our dreams
At first, Dave Chappelle wasn't planning on reviving any of his Chappelle's Show characters on Saturday Night Live, but then The Walking Dead went and killed Glenn, and all bets were off. SEE ALSO: Dave Chappelle tackles Donald Trump in hilarious and heartfelt 'SNL' monologue Ten years after the iconic comedy series left the air, Chappelle dusted off some of … [Link]
Mashable » Dave Chappelle tackles Donald Trump in hilarious and heartfelt 'SNL' monologue
Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump was conspicuously absent from this week's Saturday Night Live, with the show's cold open instead focusing on Kate McKinnon's Hillary Clinton, who performed a poignant rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." The show left the political jabs to host Dave Chappelle, who opened his monologue by noting, "I didn't know that Donald Trump was gonna win the … [Link]
Mashable » Mark Zuckerberg still won't admit that fake news on Facebook influenced the election
More people get their news on Facebook than ever before, but Mark Zuckerberg is still convinced fake news on Facebook was not that big a deal during the presidential election. Writing on Facebook Saturday, the CEO again responded to critics who have lambasted the social network for not doing more to combat the spread of misinformation. Instead, he wrote it was … [Link]
Mashable » 'Saturday Night Live' takes it easy on us with powerful Hillary Clinton opener
All eyes were on Saturday Night Live following Tuesday's election, with viewers curious how the show would handle Donald Trump's win. Many wondered whether Alec Baldwin would make another appearance as the president-elect in full-on gloat mode, or whether the show would find a new Trump surrogate now that he's poised to assume the mantle of commander in chief. SEE … [Link]
Mashable » 'Fantastic Beasts' reviews are in: What critics think of J.K. Rowling's first screenplay
LOS ANGELES — Magic is finicky, isn't it? According to all our modern wizarding lore, be it Harry Potter, Doctor Strange or otherwise, you have to nail the incantations, swirl your hands just right and land the flourish perfectly to make the spell work. Does Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them do the trick? Ehhhhhh, yes and no. The sight … [Link]
Mashable » Acer's ultra-light Swift 7 is a formidable foe to Apple's MacBook
The push to make the thinnest, lightest, most portable laptop is proving fruitful. Case in point: the Acer Swift 7. According to Acer, the Swift 7 is the thinnest notebook PC in the world. When closed, it wouldn't be impossible to mistake it for a tablet with a keyboard attached, only thinner. At least, that's the case with my tried-and-true iPad … [Link]
Slashdot » Children Can Now Sue The US Government Over Climate Change
"America's children have officially won the right to sue their government over global warming," reports Motherboard. An anonymous reader quotes their article: Thursday, a lawsuit filed by 21 youth plaintiffs was ruled valid by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Oregon. A group of citizens, whose ages range from nine to twenty, charged President Obama, the fossil fuel industry, … [Link]
Mashable » 'Silicon Valley' stars say they were harassed by Trump supporters
Like coming face to face with a living comment section, Silicon Valley stars Kumail Nanjiani and Thomas Middleditch had an ugly encounter with a couple of Trump supporters Friday. The comedians were at a bar in Los Angeles when two 20-something white men approached them, Nanjiani recounted on Twitter SEE ALSO: Bernie Sanders is prepared to be Trump's 'worst nightmare' The … [Link]
Slashdot » 1 Billion Mobile Apps Exposed To Account Hijacking Through OAuth 2.0 Flaw
Threatpost, the security news service of Kaspersky Lab, is reporting a new exploit which allows hijacking of third-party apps that support single sign-on from Google or Facebook (and support the OAuth 2.0 protocol). msm1267 quotes their article: Three Chinese University of Hong Kong researchers presented at Black Hat EU last week a paper called "Signing into One Billion Mobile LApp … [Link]
Mashable » Australia to send its own refugees to Trump's America
Although its president-elect has strongly denounced refugees and Muslims, Australia will send asylum seekers to the U.S as part of a one-off resettlement deal. On Sunday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that asylum seekers interned in Australia's regional processing centres would be eligible for the new program, with women, children and families to be prioritised. SEE ALSO: Um, why am I … [Link]
Slashdot » German Police Mock 'Not Very Clever' ATM Robbers
An anonymous reader quotes Bleeping Computer: German police mocked a group of bungling crooks that tried to rob an ATM, but instead of malware they chose explosives, which they unwittingly placed near a device that issued bank statements, and not the actual money-dispensing ATM… The crooks placed small explosive charges next to a machine they thought to be an ATM, … [Link]
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