John Gordon Ross

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.

Slashdot » Massive Mirai Botnet Hides Its Control Servers On Tor

Saturday 17 December 23:34:00 UTC 2016

"Following a failed takedown attempt, changes made to the Mirai malware variant responsible for building one of today's biggest botnets of IoT devices will make it incredibly harder for authorities and security firms to shut it down," reports Bleeping Computer. An anonymous reader writes: Level3 and others" have been very close to taking down one of the biggest Mirai botnets … [Link]

Mashable » Best kisses of 2016

Saturday 17 December 23:05:48 UTC 2016

Michael Phelps kisses his son Boomer after the swimmer won the Men's 200m Butterfly during the swimming event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 9.Martin Bureau/Getty A couple kisses as they take a selfie in a field of cosmos flowers at Olympic Park in Seoul, South Korea on Sept. 21Ahn Young-joon/APRepublican presidential candidate Donald Trump, … [Link]

Mashable » National Geographic makes history with young trans cover star

Saturday 17 December 22:43:46 UTC 2016

National Geographic is featuring a transgender person on its cover for the first time in the magazine's storied history.  Avery Jackson, a nine-year-old trans girl from Missouri, will grace a forthcoming special issue of the publication devoted entirely to gender identity and rights. Jackson made a name for herself with a series of YouTube videos called "Avery Chats," in which she … [Link]

Slashdot » McAfee Takes Six Months To Patch Remote Code Exploit In Linux VirusScan Enterprise

Saturday 17 December 22:34:00 UTC 2016

mask.of.sanity writes: A researcher has reported 10 vulnerabilities in McAfee's VirusScan Enterprise for Linux that when chained together result in root remote code execution. McAfee took six months to fix the bugs issuing a patch December 9th. Citing the security note, CSO adds that "one of the issues affects Virus Scan Enterprise for Windows version 8.7i through at least 8.8." … [Link]

Mashable » Waiter-less, cashier-less restaurant is the stuff of the future

Saturday 17 December 22:29:59 UTC 2016

We’ve seen the future of fast food and it's full of secretive cooking, utensils popping out of walls and a whole lot of quinoa. Eatsa, an innovative, vegetarian automated restaurant chain, which just opened its first East Coast location (in New York) on Wednesday, is looking to revolutionize the food industry by offering customers a one-of-a-kind food experience. SEE ALSO: Amazon … [Link]

Mashable » Watch Metallica rock out to 'Enter Sandman' at the supermarket

Saturday 17 December 22:06:29 UTC 2016

Metallica is a rock band that is always rockin' — even if it's not on stage and no one is playing any instruments. A new video from TMZ shows the band jamming to "Enter Sandman" in a Gelson's supermarket. Also present: Billy Eichner and a very enthusiastic deli counter employee who takes the mic for a delightful vocal solo midway … [Link]

Mashable » 'Elf' remake turns Buddy into an 8-bit, cotton-headed ninny muggins

Saturday 17 December 22:00:00 UTC 2016

Grab your candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup and join us for 8-bit Cinema's retelling of the Christmas classic, Elf.  Subscribe to CineFix for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/c/cinefix&#~ Read more…More about Mashable Video, Elf, 8 Bit Cinema, Cinefix, and Entertainment [Link]

Slashdot » Londoners Tests A Self-Driving Beer Tap And An AI-Assisted Brewery

Saturday 17 December 21:34:00 UTC 2016

At a bar in London, they're now testing the prototype for a self-driving beer tap, according to drunkdrone. Gizmodo UK reports: All you need to do is select your pint of choice on the touchscreen, pay with a tap of your contactless card and stick your pint glass at its base. The pump contains an electronic valve, which opens to … [Link]

Mashable » 7 can't miss apps: 'Dots & Co.,' Facetune 2, Triller and more

Saturday 17 December 21:27:57 UTC 2016

With the news of Groups coming to Snapchat, and Tinder coming to Apple TV, you may have missed some of this week's best new apps. Each weekend, we round up a few of our favorite new and updated apps. This week's list includes a darkroom-inspired photo app, an app that lets you download high resolution full-screen images for your phone's wallpaper … [Link]

Slashdot » RIP Dr. Henry Heimlich, Inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver

Saturday 17 December 21:04:00 UTC 2016

tomhath quotes the BBC: Dr Heimlich died at the age of 96. He invented the lifesaving technique, which uses abdominal thrusts to clear a person's airway, in 1974. In May he used the technique himself to save a woman at his retirement home. He dislodged a piece of meat with a bone in it from the airway of an 87-year-old … [Link]

Slashdot » U.S. Proposes Car-To-Car Data Sharing Standards

Saturday 17 December 20:34:00 UTC 2016

Calling it "the next revolution in roadway safety," the U.S. Department of Transportation hopes to standardize "vehicle communications" technology. Slashdot reader coondoggie writes: The idea is to enable a multitude of new crash-avoidance applications that could save lives by preventing "hundreds of thousands of crashes every year by helping vehicles 'talk' to each other," the DOT stated… [D]evices would use … [Link]

Mashable » Company behind the EpiPen is caught up in another drug price scandal

Saturday 17 December 20:32:25 UTC 2016

You’d think one scandal would be enough.  Mylan, the company that came under fire this summer for systematically raising the price of the EpiPen, is caught up in another drug price scheme.  The pharmaceutical player is one of six companies accused of inflating prices of a diabetes drug and an antibiotic, according to the New York Times. The complaint centers on … [Link]

Mashable » Elon Musk seems serious about creating a boring company to solve traffic

Saturday 17 December 20:04:37 UTC 2016

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has a pretty good sense of humor, but sometimes we can't tell when he's just joking or mulling his next big idea.  For example, on Saturday Musk took to Twitter to say out loud what every traffic-plagued Los Angeles resident is silently screaming inside: The city is a gridlocked hellscape.   SEE ALSO: Elon Musk … [Link]

Slashdot » Scientific American Column: 'It's Not Cold Fusion…But It's Something'

Saturday 17 December 19:34:00 UTC 2016

An anonymous reader writes: Scientific American magazine has published a guest column on low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR) [putting] into context the history of what was mistakenly referred to as cold fusion and what happened. The bottom line is that there is compelling cumulative evidence for nuclear reactions taking place, including shifts in the abundance of isotopes, element transmutations, and localized … [Link]

Mashable » Luckiest Redditor ever got Bill Gates as her Secret Santa

Saturday 17 December 19:28:32 UTC 2016

Each year, Microsoft founder Bill Gates puts his name in the hat for Reddit's annual Secret Santa event. And every year, one lucky Redditor gets the Gates-made gift box of their dreams. This year, it was user Aerrix, who came home from the post office one morning to a truly gargantuan delivery. SEE ALSO: Weed lovers will find this Reddit gift … [Link]

Mashable » 'It burns': Holiday artichoke dip segment goes horribly awry on air

Saturday 17 December 19:09:50 UTC 2016

Pro tip: do not subject your coworkers to your ill-fated cooking attempts. In honor of the holidays, Leslie Horton of Global News Calgary made a thick artichoke dip to taste test on air. Unfortunately, she appears to have used pickled artichoke hearts instead of regular artichokes — a big, vinegary error. The result is a dip that … burns. Horton's … [Link]

ProgrammableWeb.com » Daily API RoundUp: Google Awareness, MarkLogic, SportsEngine, Everysk

Saturday 17 December 19:03:22 UTC 2016

Every day, the ProgrammableWeb team is busy, updating its three primary directories for APIs, clients (language-specific libraries or SDKs for consuming or providing APIs), and source code samples. [Link]

Mashable » Twitter mocks Donald Trump for 'unpresidented' spelling mistake

Saturday 17 December 19:01:49 UTC 2016

In the heat of posting a provocative tweet early Saturday morning, Donald Trump's spell checker apparently failed him. The president-elect called China's seizure of a U.S. Navy drone on Friday an "unpresidented [sic] act" before deleting the typo and replacing it with a correctly spelled statement. SEE ALSO: Trump didn't invite Twitter's CEO to Trump Tower tech summit Yet the intervening … [Link]

Mashable » Michael Sheen quits acting to fight the far-right

Saturday 17 December 18:51:09 UTC 2016

Michael Sheen is leaving acting for activism.  The Passengers actor is quitting his profession to fight far-right populism in the Trump era.  “In the same way as the Nazis had to be stopped in Germany in the Thirties, this thing that is on the rise has to be stopped,” Sheen told British newspaper The Times.  Sheen will move to his hometown … [Link]

Slashdot » GoboLinux 016 Released With Its Own Filesystem Virtualization Tool

Saturday 17 December 18:34:00 UTC 2016

Long-time Slashdot reader paranoidd writes: GoboLinux announced Thursday the availability of a new major release. What's special about it is that it comes together with a container-free filesystem virtualization that's kind of unique thanks to the way that installed programs are arranged by the distro. Rather than having to create full-fledged containers simply to get around conflicting libraries, a lightweight … [Link]

Mashable » Apple design chief Jony Ive 'really' wants you to buy that damn book

Saturday 17 December 18:30:56 UTC 2016

When Apple's head of design speaks, Apple fans and design pros alike listen closely. Which is why a video promoting Apple's new book and starring Jony Ive is getting more attention than a normal product spot.  SEE ALSO: An Apple fan just saved you $300 (Apple Book not included) Since the announcement of the $300 book, "Designed by Apple in California," … [Link]

Mashable » Bond villain or tech billionaire?

Saturday 17 December 18:00:00 UTC 2016

Keegan Michael Key guesses which quotes were either said by a Bond villain or by a tech billionaire. Read more…More about Mashable Video, Elon Musk, Guess, Quotes, and James Bond [Link]

Slashdot » China Says It Will Return the Underwater Drone It Seized From the US

Saturday 17 December 17:34:00 UTC 2016

An anonymous reader quotes The Hill: China said Saturday it will return the unmanned U.S. drone it seized in the South China Sea, calling the issue "hyped up" by the U.S. "Upon confirming that the device was a U.S. underwater drone, the Chinese side decided to transfer it to the U.S. side in an appropriate manner," said the spokesman for … [Link]

Mashable » 'Westworld' gets the best '80s retro opening credits ever

Saturday 17 December 17:32:06 UTC 2016

HBO's hit robot apocalypse show Westworld is, sadly, gone until 2018. But there's still a bit of Westworld content out there, thanks to one talented YouTuber who came up with an '80s style retro version of the show's opening credits. And we're not just talking synth music and wireframes. This designer paid attention to the little details (the maze! the … [Link]

Mashable » Woman rescues her attacked pup with a tip she learned on Reddit

Saturday 17 December 17:14:40 UTC 2016

Useless knowledge can become lifesaving in the blink of an eye. Paige Perfect saved her young British Timber dog, Kenai, from a two-on-one dog attack with information she read years earlier on Reddit. SEE ALSO: Watch a firefighter save a dog's life by giving it CPR "It was just one of those weird moments of clarity where you think 'Oh, I … [Link]

Mashable » Banished to Siberia: The exiles and convicts of Tsarist Russia

Saturday 17 December 17:00:00 UTC 2016

A group of convicts sentenced to hard labor.Image: Library of CongressAfter surveying a route for a telegraph line through Siberia for the Russian-American Telegraph Company in 1864, American George Kennan found success in selling articles, lectures and a book about his travels through the region and his encounters with its diverse native cultures.He soon made another trip through the northern Caucasus, … [Link]

Slashdot » President Obama Threatens Retaliatory Actions Against Russia Over Hacks

Saturday 17 December 16:34:00 UTC 2016

An anonymous reader quotes the New York Times: [President Obama] said he was weighing a mix of public and covert actions against the Russians in his last 34 days in office, actions that would increase "the costs for them." Mr. Obama said he was committed to sending the Kremlin a message that "we can do stuff to you," but without … [Link]

Mashable » Quintessentially Canadian video shows peckish moose licking salt off car

Saturday 17 December 16:33:40 UTC 2016

To this moose, a car is but a delicious lollipop. Days after the government in Alberta, Canada warned residents about car-licking moose, Theresa and Gerhard Malan spotted one slurping away at a parked car in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park. Curious, the Malans decided to pull over, staying very still as the moose made its way over to them. SEE ALSO: This … [Link]

Mashable » Adult toy store employees fight off armed robber by throwing dildos at him

Saturday 17 December 16:11:57 UTC 2016

Here’s something you don't see everyday. When a man came to rob adult toy store Lotions & Lace in San Bernadino, California, two female employees thwarted his attempted attack by hitting him with a bunch of dildos. (You read that correctly). SEE ALSO: Service station employee defends himself from robbers with candy The man, with his face covered, walked into the … [Link]

Mashable » YouTuber Jake Paul fooled the TSA with a giant teddy bear

Saturday 17 December 16:10:21 UTC 2016

A YouTube star and a stuffed bear caused quite a social media stir this week after Transportation Security Administration officials found out they were being pranked.  The buzz began after TSA posted an Instagram photo of a sad looking bear at the airport.  "He was abandoned by his owners at LAX after the airline and TSA determined that he was … [Link]

Mashable » Watch Cruz Beckham's gleeful music video for 'If Everyday Was Christmas'

Saturday 17 December 15:58:07 UTC 2016

Of course, it was only a matter of time before Cruz Beckham launched his singing career. The 11-year-old son of David and Victoria Beckham released his debut single, "If Everyday Was Christmas," earlier this month on Capital FM. On Friday, he released a festive music video to go along with it. There's snow, there are glitter angels, there's  his brother … [Link]

Slashdot » Netgear Releases 'Beta' Patches For Additional Routers Found With Root Vulnerability

Saturday 17 December 15:34:00 UTC 2016

The Department of Homeland Security's CERT issued a warning last week that users should "strongly consider" not using some models of NetGear routers, and the list expanded this week to include 11 different models. Netgear's now updated their web page, announcing eight "beta" fixes, along with three more "production" fixes. chicksdaddy writes: The company said the new [beta] firmware has … [Link]

Mashable » The best tech of 2016

Saturday 17 December 15:27:00 UTC 2016

As always, a crazy amount — and we really mean a ton — of devices landed on our desks this year.Looking back, there weren't many unexpected surprises, which is kind of a bummer. In a way, most of the gadgets of 2016 were kind of boring.But not boring in the sense that they were all lame. Quite the opposite, actually. As … [Link]

Mashable » Basically, every tech billionaire is an evil Bond villain

Saturday 17 December 15:05:00 UTC 2016

Keegan Michael Key, one of the stars of the new movie 'Why Him?', guesses which quotes were either said by a Bond villain or by a tech billionaire. Subscribe for more like this: http://on.mash.to/SubscribeWatercoo~ Watch Cruz Beckham's gleeful music video for 'If Everyday Was Christmas' ‘Homeland’ Season 6 trailer definitely hits a little too close to home Martin Sheen, Moby plead with Republican … [Link]

Mashable » Artist constructs massive playground using only sticky tape and scaffolding

Saturday 17 December 15:00:00 UTC 2016

“TapeScape” is an art installation from Eric Lennartson featuring tunnels and slides made of scaffolding and over 18,000 feet of tape. Read more…More about Mashable Video, Sticky Tape, Scaffolding, Real Time Video, and Sculpture [Link]

Mashable » Apple's software has been anything but 'magical' lately

Saturday 17 December 14:39:00 UTC 2016

There was a time when I could blindly update my Apple devices and trust that the update wouldn't break it, remove a core function, or make me feel stupid for not knowing how to use a simple feature. But that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Lately I feel like Apple's not giving its software the close attention it needs. … [Link]

Mashable » Gorgeous portraits capture the people of old Ireland in magnificent detail

Saturday 17 December 14:00:00 UTC 2016

c. 1890"Mother and son."Image: National library of irelandThe last decades of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th were a period of epochal change and disruption in Ireland.The death and diaspora of the Great Hunger was followed by the agrarian unrest and evictions of the Land War and an intensifying campaign for Irish Home Rule.Much of this history … [Link]

Slashdot » Tesla Introduces Fee For Owners Who Leave Their Cars At Supercharger Stations

Saturday 17 December 13:00:00 UTC 2016

Tesla announced today that it will start charging owners a fee of $0.40 per minute if they fail to move their vehicles at a Supercharger station. If drivers don't move their cars within 5 minutes of the car hitting 100 percent, the fee will begin to assess. TechCrunch reports: "One would never leave a car parked at a gas station … [Link]

Slashdot » Germany Threatens To Fine Facebook Over Hate Speech

Saturday 17 December 10:00:00 UTC 2016

An anonymous reader quotes a report from ABC News: German officials are stepping up their criticism of Facebook, saying the social network is doing too little to stop hate speech and could face stiff fines unless it deletes illegal content faster. In an interview published Friday, Justice Minister Heiko Maas said his ministry was checking whether it would be possible … [Link]

Mashable » 15 times Carpool Karaoke was the perfect antidote to 2016

Saturday 17 December 9:30:00 UTC 2016

LONDON — 2016 has been a very bumpy, often fairly awful ride, but one thing that's remained a constant source of joy — aside from J.K. Rowling's Twitter feed — is Carpool Karaoke. SEE ALSO: Tom Cruise recreates Tom Cruise's entire film career in 9 minutes Over the course of 14 episodes, a Christmas special and hundreds of millions of YouTube … [Link]

Slashdot » Apollo 11 Moon Rock Bag Belongs To Buyer, Not NASA, Judge Rules

Saturday 17 December 7:00:00 UTC 2016

schwit1 quotes a report from Behind The Black: A federal judge has ruled that NASA has no right to confiscate an Apollo 11 lunar rock sample bag that had been purchased legally, even though the sale itself had been in error. CollectSPACE.com reports: "Judge J. Thomas Marten ruled in the U.S. District Court for Kansas that Nancy Carlson of Inverness, … [Link]

Mashable » Hundreds of people protest-rolling down a hill is delightfully mesmerizing

Saturday 17 December 3:42:28 UTC 2016

Australians know how to protest.  Hundreds of people gathered Saturday local time at Parliament House in Canberra to make their way down a hill in a mass protest roll.  SEE ALSO: Airline skewers vlogger over stowaway video they say is 100% fake The government plans to build a security fence to block access to the hill and other capital grounds. Protesters … [Link]

Slashdot » Researchers Find Roads Shatter the Earth's Surface Into 600,000 Fragments

Saturday 17 December 3:30:00 UTC 2016

An international team of conservation scientists have released a new global map of roadless areas that shows that the Earth's surface is shattered by roads into more than 600,000 fragments. While roads allow humans to travel to nearly every region in the world, they severely reduce the ability of ecosystems to function effectively. Phys.Org reports: Recent research carried out by … [Link]

Mashable » Can Facebook fix its fake news problem?

Saturday 17 December 2:58:44 UTC 2016

Facebook's finally coming around to its fake news problem. The world's largest social network rolled out a tool to help curb all the fake news circulating on its platform. Mashable Tech Editor Pete Pachal and Chief Correspondent Lance Ulanoff and I discussed whether it's too little too late on this week's MashTalk. SEE ALSO: Netflix now lets you download and … [Link]

Mashable » Watch YouTubers give classic holiday songs a festive twist

Saturday 17 December 2:54:05 UTC 2016

YouTube artists are singing for Sing. Mike Tompkins, Karmin, UsTheDuo, Chloe x Halle, KRNFX, Peter Hollens, Harper Still, Kina Grannis and Leroy Sanchez on Friday performed a special concert called "A Holiday Remix: Live on YouTube" to celebrate the upcoming Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment animated film. The event, hosted by The Try Guys' Keith Habersberger and Tiffany Smith, was … [Link]

Mashable » Evernote reverses controversial privacy policy but damage is already done

Saturday 17 December 2:31:51 UTC 2016

Evernote has decided to "revisit" its controversial privacy policy following a swift backlash from its users.  In a statement on the company's blog, Evernote said it would no longer be implementing the privacy policy it had previously announced and that its machine learning updates, which necessitated some employees read portions of user notes, would be solely opt-in. SEE ALSO: Evernote won't … [Link]

Mashable » Wild Siberian survival reality show sounds a lot like 'Hunger Games'

Saturday 17 December 1:44:48 UTC 2016

Move over Survivor, a Russian entrepreneur is developing Game2: Winter, a reality show throwing 30 people in the Siberian wilderness and seeing if they can survive for nine months all to earn a $1.6 million prize. The show promises to feature "2000 cameras, 900 hectares and 30 lives," according to its website, with the competition starting July 1, 2017 and continuing … [Link]

Mashable » Twitter has a new plan for Vine

Saturday 17 December 1:44:26 UTC 2016

It turns out that some parts of Vine may live on after all. More than a month after announcing the app would eventually be shut down, Twitter now says it will keep a version of its app alive after the planned shutdown.  SEE ALSO: Vine is dead, but these legendary Vines will live on forever Though it won't be the full … [Link]

Slashdot » Rogue Lawyers Made $6 Million Shaking Down Porn Pirates, Feds Say

Saturday 17 December 1:25:00 UTC 2016

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: The copyright violation notice is every pirate's worst nightmare, a clear legal sign that a major copyright holder knows what you've been torrenting and is ready to make you pay for your crimes. But according to an indictment filed today in Minnesota federal court, that system has also opened the door … [Link]

Mashable » These beautiful sea smoke images are one silver lining of the polar vortex

Saturday 17 December 1:20:27 UTC 2016

Mystical clouds of sea smoke arose over bodies of water across the East Coast, from Lake Michigan to the Atlantic, this week as the polar vortex took hold. Their dreamy look is the result of water and air temperatures intermingling, as cool air blows over comparatively warm water and then formulates the clouds of "smoke." SEE ALSO: Trump falsely claims that … [Link]

Mashable » Morgan Freeman really sells this college basketball cameo

Saturday 17 December 0:58:03 UTC 2016

Ole Miss basketball has something called the "Snowball Fight Cam," apparently. It consists of — well, you'll see in a second. Also, apparently, Morgan Freeman was at the latest Ole Miss game.  Magic ensued, because this is Morgan Freeman we're dealing with here, folks.  Here's Freeman taking the "Snowball Fight Cam" to new dramatic heights on Thursday night.  Morgan Freeman didn't … [Link]

Slashdot » Dropbox Kills Public Folders, Users Rebel

Saturday 17 December 0:45:00 UTC 2016

New submitter rkagerer writes: Dropbox unleashed a tidal wave of user backlash yesterday when it announced plans to eradicate its Public folder feature in 2017. Criticism from users whose links will break surfaced on Reddit, HackerNews and its own forums. Overnight, customers up-voted a feature request to reverse the decision, skyrocketing it to a "Top 10" position on the company's … [Link]

Slashdot » Google Joins the Open Source Cloud Foundry Foundation

Saturday 17 December 0:05:00 UTC 2016

BrianFagioli quotes a report from BetaNews: Today, Google announces that it has joined the Cloud Foundry Foundation as a gold member. This is yet another example of the search giant's open source focus. Google joins some other respected companies at this membership level, such as Verizon, GE Digital, and Huawei to name a few. For whatever reason, the search giant … [Link]

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