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 » Ask Slashdot: Could We Build A Global Wireless Mesh Network?

Saturday 29 April 23:19:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader wants to start a grassroots effort to build a self-organizing global radio mesh network where every device can communicate with every other device — and without any central authority. There is nothing in the rules of mathematics or laws of physics that prevents such a system. But how would you break the problem up so it could … [Link]

Mashable » Leonardo DiCaprio used a standard, office file folder for his climate march sign, lol

Saturday 29 April 22:43:08 UTC 2017

Look, let me start by saying Leonardo DiCaprio has done a lot to combat climate change.  He produced a climate change documentary titled Before the Flood that dropped in 2016. He has a foundation "dedicated to the long-term health and wellbeing of all Earth’s inhabitants." The foundation has given $61 million to causes that align with that mission statement. He talks … [Link]

Slashdot » Developer Shares A Recoverable Container Format That's File System Agnostic

Saturday 29 April 22:40:00 UTC 2017

Long-time Slashdot reader MarcoPon writes: I created a thing: SeqBox. It's an archive/container format (and corresponding suite of tools) with some interesting and unique features. Basically an SBX file is composed of a series of sector-sized blocks with a small header with a recognizable signature, integrity check, info about the file they belong to, and a sequence number. The results … [Link]

Mashable » Conan O'Brien's theory on VR: Even if it's not about sex, it needs to be about sex, sex, sex

Saturday 29 April 22:31:58 UTC 2017

"I assume I'll be having sex today." Those are the first words out of Conan O'Brien's mouth upon being presented with an opportunity to try the new virtual reality game Wilson's Heart on Oculus Rift.  Of course, the game has nothing to do with sex, but O'Brien's theory is that VR is headed in one direction: sex. Therefore, the entire … [Link]

Slashdot » NASA Launches Super Balloon To Detect Cosmic Particles From Near Space

Saturday 29 April 22:09:00 UTC 2017

"After seven unsuccessful attempts NASA has launched a stadium-sized balloon in Wanaka," reports the New Zealand Herald, adding that the super-pressure balloon will collect data from "near space" over the next 100 days. Reuters reports: The balloon, designed by NASA to detect ultra-high energy cosmic particles from beyond the galaxy as they penetrate the earth's atmosphere, is expected to circle … [Link]

Mashable » Merriam-Webster thinks Apple lovers are sheeple

Saturday 29 April 22:05:21 UTC 2017

Merriam-Webster defines its new word, "sheeple," as those who are "easily influenced."  I'm sure plenty of groups of people qualify as said "sheeple." I, for example, am easily influenced by any shop selling doughnuts, and I'm sure many people are like me. But the dictionary chose Apple fans as its mental image.   SEE ALSO: Wake up, sheeple: Your favorite political … [Link]

Mashable » Here's Mark Zuckerberg totally 'not' campaigning in Indiana

Saturday 29 April 21:50:48 UTC 2017

In our latest installment of "No, really, Zuck is honest-to-god not running for political office," we find Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg taking a ride around South Bend, Indiana, with Mayor Pete Buttigieg.  SEE ALSO: Harvard dropout to give Harvard commencement speech Zuckerberg is calling this yet another stop in his 2017 personal challenge to "get out and talk to more people about … [Link]

Mashable » Food and fashion enthusiasts alike will dig these sushi shoes

Saturday 29 April 21:18:04 UTC 2017

Never thought we'd see Nike slides that look good enough to eat. But we have, and it's all thanks to Milan-based artist and chef Yujia Hu, whose obsessively detailed sushi and onigiri shoes are truly the stuff of tiny art and tiny food lovers' dreams. Please behold, for example, these extremely slick Air Jordans. SEE ALSO: Cakes that look like succulents … [Link]

Mashable » ESPN killed something else with its layoffs, its best hope to reach millennials: TrueHoop podcasts

Saturday 29 April 21:08:14 UTC 2017

“Stop hitting yourself… Stop hitting yourself…"  That's the sound of ESPN bullying itself into irrelevance as we've now learned that the self-described "worldwide leader in sports" has killed the best thing to come out of its Bristol, Connecticut headquarters in recent years: the TrueHoop network of podcasts.  The news that the podcasts will shut down comes along with the massive layoffs … [Link]

Slashdot » Microsoft's Surface Revenue Drops By $285M (26%)

Saturday 29 April 21:04:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader quotes Computerworld: Revenue generated by Microsoft's Surface hardware during the March quarter was down 26% from the same period the year before, the company said yesterday as it briefed Wall Street. For the quarter, Surface produced $831 million, some $285 million less than the March quarter of 2016, for the largest year-over-year dollar decline ever… The revenue … [Link]

Mashable » United Airlines CEO will testify in front of Congress

Saturday 29 April 21:01:04 UTC 2017

After his company dragged a man off an airplane, United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz lost out on a seat as chairman of United's board.  Now, he has to go to Congress. Munoz will testify in front of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Tuesday, the committee announced Friday.  Munoz will have to answer questions about the incident, which left doctor … [Link]

Slashdot » Russian-Controlled Telecom Hijacks Traffic For Mastercard, Visa, And 22 Other Services

Saturday 29 April 19:59:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader quotes the security editor at Ars Technica: On Wednesday, large chunks of network traffic belonging to MasterCard, Visa, and more than two dozen other financial services companies were briefly routed through a Russian government-controlled telecom under unexplained circumstances that renew lingering questions about the trust and reliability of some of the most sensitive Internet communications. Anomalies in … [Link]

Mashable » Seth Rogen and The Lonely Island tease a film about a 'music festival that goes horribly wrong'

Saturday 29 April 19:47:08 UTC 2017

In addition to its many other failures, it looks like Fyre Fest is also an unintentional copycat. According to some Friday tweets from Seth Rogen and The Lonely Island, the two are combining comedic forces for a film about a "music festival that goes horribly wrong." Interesting! That sounds familiar. SEE ALSO: Here's the official postmortem statement from Fyre Festival … [Link]

Mashable » Tom Hanks bought reporters an espresso machine because 'those poor bastards need coffee'

Saturday 29 April 19:42:31 UTC 2017

If there's anyone who needs coffee, Tom Hanks believes it's a White House press corps' reporter.  He bought an espresso machine for the entire stable of White House reporters because "those poor bastards" need it, the actor said Friday on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.  SEE ALSO: Watch 'The Circle' cast awkwardly roast Twitter's CEO on his own site Here's … [Link]

Mashable » It's the end of the line for Yik Yak

Saturday 29 April 19:14:10 UTC 2017

Yik Yak has been on its last legs for a while, and now the end is officially here.  The anonymous, location-based messaging app that rose to popularity in 2014 will "begin winding down" over the next week, Yik Yak co-founders Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington wrote in a blog post Friday. Square — yup, the Jack Dorsey-led payments company — acquired some … [Link]

Slashdot » Some Of The Pentagon's Critical Infrastructure Still Runs Windows 95 And 98

Saturday 29 April 18:55:00 UTC 2017

SmartAboutThings writes: The Pentagon is set to complete its Windows 10 transition by the end of this year, but nearly 75% of its control system devices still run Windows XP or other older versions, including Windows 95 and 98. A Pentagon official now wants the bug bounty program of the top U.S. defense agency expanded to scan for vulnerabilities in … [Link]

Mashable » "Switch On" is a dream space for fans of synthesizers and vintage electronics

Saturday 29 April 18:00:00 UTC 2017

In Austin, Texas a small shop called "Switched On" sells and repairs a wide range of synthesizers. Michael Stein, composer of the Stranger Things theme, used to fix synthesizers at this shop. Read more…More about Mashable Video, Texas, Austin, Instruments, and Instrument [Link]

Mashable » The internet is deeply inspired by this man who brought 30 gallons of frosting on the bus

Saturday 29 April 17:58:31 UTC 2017

We don't know who he is. We don't know what his secrets are. But we do know that he is a hero among men. Very lucky person Craig Calhoun spotted this particular hero on a Toronto bus Friday, calmly transporting his 30-gallon barrel of Taco Bell Cinnabon frosting. (Probably for those delicious Cinnabon bites.) SEE ALSO: Cool dog rides a skateboard … [Link]

Mashable » Snowden takes a bow for whistleblowing after NSA pulls back surveillance

Saturday 29 April 17:49:58 UTC 2017

Edward Snowden felt a little bit of vindication Friday.  People said speaking up isn't worth the risk. Today, we can see they were wrong. Blow the whistle, change the worldhttps://t.co/GfwPn2ICYX — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) April 28, 2017 Before Friday, the NSA had a policy of sucking up texts and emails exchanged between Americans and people outside the U.S., with impunity, if … [Link]

Slashdot » Startups Struggle For Survival As Investors Turn 'Picky'

Saturday 29 April 17:49:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader quotes The Wall Street Journal: Eighteen months ago, Beepi Inc. was rapidly expanding its online used-car business to 16 U.S. cities where people could buy cut-rate vehicles adorned with giant shiny bows. Beepi doesn't exist anymore. After burning through more than $120 million in capital, the startup failed to raise more cash and shut down in February. … [Link]

ProgrammableWeb.com » Daily API RoundUp: Twilio, Google Fit, Springer, Yext

Saturday 29 April 17:04:19 UTC 2017

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 » Why did Turkey just block Wikipedia?

Saturday 29 April 16:49:42 UTC 2017

Wikipedia is now blocked in Turkey, according to news reports.  Turkish authorities blocked all versions of Wikipedia in any language in the country through an "administrative measure" and did not give a reason, BBC reported.  Turkish media reported that authorities had asked Wikipedia to remove content that linked Turkey to terrorist groups, BBC said. Wikipedia didn't remove that content, and was … [Link]

Slashdot » Encrypted WhatsApp Message Recovered From Westminster Terrorist's Phone

Saturday 29 April 16:44:00 UTC 2017

Bruce66423 brings word that a terrorist's WhatsApp message has been decrypted "using techniques that 'cannot be disclosed for security reasons', though 'sources said they now have the technical expertise to repeat the process in future.'" The Economic Times reports: U.K. security services have managed to decode the last message sent out by Khalid Masood before he rammed his high-speed car … [Link]

Mashable » Here's the official postmortem statement from Fyre Festival organizers

Saturday 29 April 16:12:52 UTC 2017

In the wake of Ja Rule's disastrous Fyre Festival, Fyre has finally released an official statement addressing guests', uh, less-than-Instagrammable experience. Co-owners Billy McFarland and Ja Rule are now promising guests full refunds and VIP passes to next year's festival, which will reportedly be held on a beach in the United States. The festival also plans to donate a small … [Link]

Mashable » Prepare to worship the deities of 'American Gods'

Saturday 29 April 16:01:33 UTC 2017

Belief is power in the world of American Gods. In Neil Gaiman's beloved novel — and the lavish new Starz adaptation from Bryan Fuller and Michael Green — gods exist because people believe in them, and as soon as we stop believing… well, you remember what Peter Pan told us about fairies. Unfortunately for the Old Gods — mythological deities like … [Link]

Slashdot » Wikipedia Is Being Blocked In Turkey

Saturday 29 April 15:46:00 UTC 2017

Nine hours ago, Ilgaz wrote: The Turkey Blocks monitoring network has verified restrictions affecting the Wikipedia online encyclopedia in Turkey. A block affecting all language editions of the website [was] detected at 8:00AM local time Saturday 29 April. The loss of availability is consistent with internet filters used to censor content in the country. stikves added Access to Wikipedia has … [Link]

Mashable » Dog learns to turn off home robot, and it's serious about it

Saturday 29 April 15:26:28 UTC 2017

In the emerging war of pets versus home robots, things have now ratcheted up from furry-faced consternation over mechanical invaders to fighting back using paw and snout.  That's the scene in this latest video featuring Shasta the dog foiling her owner's attempt to clean the living room by using dog wits to repeatedly turn off a Roomba vacuum cleaner. Aside … [Link]

Mashable » Hacker demands ransom from Netflix or else they'll release Season 5 of 'Orange Is the New Black'

Saturday 29 April 15:17:53 UTC 2017

Pay up or the show gets plastered.  The next season of Orange Is the New Black may soon be floating around the internet after a hacker claiming to have pilfered the first 10 episodes of the new season threatened to release it unless Netflix forks over cash.  A hacker reportedly released the first episode of Season 5 of Orange Is the … [Link]

Mashable » The song that rocked your prom, based on the year you graduated

Saturday 29 April 15:00:00 UTC 2017

Prom in 2017 hardly resembles prom in 1997— the promposals alone have reached impossible heights. There are, however, common threads tying the youth of today to the youth of yesteryear, namely the prom song. SEE ALSO: High schooler asks his girlfriend to prom using one of our favorite 'Office' moments You know the one— the single du jour that united your … [Link]

Mashable » This week in apps: Instagram hits 700 million, Apple's new music deal, and more

Saturday 29 April 14:36:04 UTC 2017

With the fallout from the ill-fated Fyre Festival still unfolding and Amazon's slightly creepy new Echo, you may have missed some of this week's best new apps.  SEE ALSO: Inside the exclusive, stealthy club where future tech moguls are born Each week, we round up the latest app news, along with a few of our favorite new and updated apps, to … [Link]

Slashdot » Computer Pioneer Harry Huskey Dies At Age 101

Saturday 29 April 14:34:00 UTC 2017

Big Hairy Ian quotes the BBC: Engineer Harry Huskey, who helped build many of the first ever computers, has died aged 101. Dr. Huskey was a key member of the team that built the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) which first ran in February 1946. ENIAC is widely considered to be one of the first electronic, general purpose, programmable … [Link]

Mashable » All the best signs from Climate Marches around the world

Saturday 29 April 14:23:35 UTC 2017

In Trump's America, marching has become a weekly activity.  One week after the massive March for Science, people across the country and around the world, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Richard Branson, took to the streets on Saturday for the People's Climate March. At least 200,000 people marched in D.C., the march's organizers said Saturday afternoon.  Time-lapse, bird's-eye video shows thousands of … [Link]

Mashable » John Boyega got dumped because of a 'Star Wars' billboard

Saturday 29 April 14:13:23 UTC 2017

Take it from John Boyega: starring in one of the world's most beloved movie franchises does not make your love life a walk on Naboo. On this week's Graham Norton Show, Boyega spilled about a first date he had in New York before The Force Awakens was released. The two were cruising through Times Square when the woman asked what … [Link]

Mashable » The most memorable protest signs from Trump's first 100 days

Saturday 29 April 14:00:00 UTC 2017

A resurgence in activism has defined President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office, with protests becoming the number one way to resist the new administration.  No protest, however, is complete without a piece of cardboard on a stick. The art of the protest sign has become truly vital to the resistance. SEE ALSO: The unforgettable moments of resistance that defined … [Link]

Mashable » An Army grunt's astonishing 1970 photos capture a hellish Vietnam firefight

Saturday 29 April 14:00:00 UTC 2017

Image: James Speed HensingerIn April 1970, 22-year-old James Speed Hensinger, an enlisted man in the U.S. Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade, was stationed at a compound in Phu Tai, west of the coastal city of Qui Nhon, Vietnam.Over the course of several nights, a lone Viet Cong fighter had repeatedly crept in among the rocks on a mountain overlooking the base and sprayed … [Link]

Mashable » 'Game of Thrones' actor shares more on why Jaime could kill Cersei

Saturday 29 April 13:04:21 UTC 2017

A theory building momentum among Game of Thrones fans is that Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) may in fact kill his twin sister and lover, Cersei (Lena Headey). Coster-Waldau weighed in on the theory earlier this week while doing press for his upcoming Netflix film Small Crimes, and while he can’t confirm or deny it, he does seem to have thought it … [Link]

Slashdot » Italian Police Say Amazon Has Evaded $142 Million of Taxes

Saturday 29 April 13:00:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Milan tax police have told Amazon they believe the world's largest online retailer has evaded around 130 million euros ($142 million) of taxes in Italy, a source close to the matter said on Friday. The allegedly unpaid taxes refer to the period between 2011 and 2015, when Amazon made revenues of around … [Link]

Mashable » The unforgettable moments of resistance that defined Trump's first 100 days

Saturday 29 April 13:00:00 UTC 2017

Whether President Donald Trump likes it or not — and he definitely doesn't — his first 100 days as commander-in-chief have been defined by The Resistance. The mass activist movement has brought together those who oppose Trump's leadership, and marginalized communities most impacted by the president's policies are at the helm.Since Trump's inauguration, protesting has become a regular weekend activity. Young … [Link]

Mashable » 3 shower speakers to upgrade your shower time

Saturday 29 April 13:00:00 UTC 2017

Which shower speaker should you buy? We put three to the test to find the best one out there. Up for review: the Memorex Bluetooth Splash-proof Speaker, the UE Roll 2, and the Altec Lansing H2O. Read more…More about Mashable Video, Music, Urban Ears, Altec Lansing, and Memorex [Link]

Mashable » The parody accounts that make Twitter bearable in the era of Trump

Saturday 29 April 12:00:00 UTC 2017

Over the course of his first months in the White House, President Trump notoriously turned Twitter into his personal outlet for unhinged political venting. That of course inspired the creation of dozens of parody accounts that became tools of resistance, coping mechanisms, and light-hearted distractions from the political chaos.  A simple Twitter search for "Donald Trump Parody" reveals a collection of … [Link]

Mashable » How the first 100 days have gone for the rest of Trump's team

Saturday 29 April 11:00:00 UTC 2017

Donald Trump will have his 100th day in office on Saturday, April 29. The day is used historically as a big indicator of what's to come in an administration. The public will be exposed to loads of information comparing Trump to past presidents, and data about his actions in office thus far. But, the administration is more than the POTUS. How … [Link]

Slashdot » Stray WiFi Signals Could Let Spies See Inside Closed Rooms

Saturday 29 April 10:00:00 UTC 2017

sciencehabit quotes a report from Science Magazine: Your wireless router may be giving you away in a manner you never dreamed of. For the first time, physicists have used radio waves from a Wi-Fi transmitter to encode a 3D image of a real object in a hologram similar to the image of Princess Leia projected by R2D2 in the movie … [Link]

Mashable » 19 photos that prove the 'Game of Thrones' cast love each other despite it all

Saturday 29 April 8:30:00 UTC 2017

Everyone on Game of Thrones is so desperate to kill each other the whole time that it's sometimes easy to forget that they don't really hate each other. From the looks of Instagram and Twitter, in fact, they get on pretty well. SEE ALSO: King Joffrey hugging a pug gets the Photoshop battle it so badly needed We trawled through the … [Link]

Slashdot » EPA Website Removes Climate Science Site From Public View After Two Decades

Saturday 29 April 7:20:00 UTC 2017

Last week there were reports that the EPA climate change website was set to be taken down, though later the EPA denied that. On Friday evening, however, the Environmental Protection Agency announced its website would be "undergoing changes" to better represent the new direction the agency is taking, triggering the removal of several agency websites containing detailed climate data and … [Link]

Slashdot » Surgeon Plans To 'Reawaken' Cryogenically Frozen Brains, Transplant Them Into Someone Else's Skull

Saturday 29 April 7:00:00 UTC 2017

Sergio Canavero, the Italian surgeon who plans to perform the world's first human head transplant within the next year, says he is preparing to reawaken cryogenically frozen brains and transplant them into someone else's skull. "In an interview with a German-language magazine, Canavero says he will attempt to bring the first brains frozen in liquid nitrogen at an Arizona-based cryogenics … [Link]

Slashdot » Trump Order Helps Offshore Drilling, Stops Marine Sanctuary Expansion

Saturday 29 April 3:30:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In an executive order signed on Friday, President Trump directed his secretary of the interior to review current rules on offshore drilling and exploration. This review is likely to result in a relaxation of the strict protections the previous administration put on offshore oil drilling in the Atlantic and in the … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Marvel at the images from Cassini’s first Grand Finale orbit

Saturday 29 April 2:59:38 UTC 2017

The Cassini spacecraft is beginning its final set of daring orbits with breathtaking images of the Saturn system and rings [Link]

Mashable » Trump's big EPA website change should make you furious

Saturday 29 April 2:23:32 UTC 2017

Yet another fear among scientists and climate activists has become reality in the era of Trump. Decades of research and data about carbon emissions, other greenhouse gases, and more was hidden from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website by the Trump administration late Friday as the sprawling climate change webpage goes under "review."  Adding insult to injury, this comes on … [Link]

Slashdot » MIT Creates 3D-Printing Robot That Can Construct a Home Off-Grid In 14 Hours

Saturday 29 April 2:05:00 UTC 2017

Kristine Lofgren writes: Home building hasn't changed much over the years, but leave it to MIT to take things to the next level. A new technology built at MIT can construct a simple dome structure in 14 hours and it's powered by solar panels, so you can take it to remote areas. MIT's 3D-printing robot can construct the entire basic … [Link]

Slashdot » Open Ports Create Backdoors In Millions of Smartphones

Saturday 29 April 1:25:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader writes: "Mobile applications that open ports on Android smartphones are opening those devices to remote hacking, claims a team of researchers from the University of Michigan," reports Bleeping Computer. Researchers say they've identified 410 popular mobile apps that open ports on people's smartphones. They claim that an attacker could connect to these ports, which in turn grant … [Link]

Slashdot » Airbnb Gives In To Regulator's Demand To Test For Racial Discrimination By Hosts

Saturday 29 April 0:45:00 UTC 2017

As part of an agreement with California regulators, Airbnb will allow the government to test for racial discrimination by hosts. The Guardian reports: The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) announced Thursday that it had resolved a complaint it filed against Airbnb with an agreement that forces the company to permit the state to conduct "fair housing testing" … [Link]

Mashable » The NSA's massive surveillance operation is now just a little less massive

Saturday 29 April 0:28:50 UTC 2017

The NSA's spying program is still vast, but it's now a touch more restricted. The agency has long collected texts and emails sent to and by Americans if those electronic communications contained the names of folks whom the NSA was conducting surveillance on, but that's no longer the case.  SEE ALSO: Get creeped out by this tense trailer for the new … [Link]

Slashdot » Washington State Orchard Owners Look To Robots As Labor Shortage Worsens

Saturday 29 April 0:05:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Seattle Times: Harvesting Washington state's vast fruit orchards each year requires thousands of farmworkers, and many of them work illegally in the United States. That system eventually could change dramatically as at least two companies are rushing to get robotic fruit-picking machines to market. The robotic pickers don't get tired and can work … [Link]

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