John Gordon Ross

A Man for All Reasons

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Geekish

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 » Sedentary Lifestyle Study Called 'A Raging Dumpster Fire'

Saturday 16 September 23:36:00 UTC 2017

Ars Technica's health reporter argues that a new study suggesting sitting will kill you "is kind of a raging dumpster fire. It's funded by Big Soda and riddled with weaknesses — including not measuring sitting." An anonymous reader quotes this report: Let's start with the money: It was funded in part by Coca-Cola… [I]t's hard to look past the fact … [Link]

Slashdot » Scientists Explore A Light Bulb-Based Based 10Gbps Li-Fi/5G Home Network

Saturday 16 September 22:54:20 UTC 2017

Mark.JUK writes: Researchers at Brunel University in London have begun to develop a new 10 Gbps home wireless network using both Li-Fi (light fidelity) and 5G based mmWave technology, which will fit inside LED (light-emitting diode) light bulbs on your ceiling. In simple terms, the Visible Light Communication (VLC) based Li-Fi technology works by flicking a LED light off and … [Link]

Slashdot » NSA Launches 'Codebreaker Challenge' For Students: Stopping an Infrastructure Attack

Saturday 16 September 22:02:00 UTC 2017

Slashdot reader eatvegetables writes: The U.S. National Security Agency launched Codebreaker Challenge 2017 Friday night (Sept 15) at 9 p.m. EST. It started off as a reverse-engineering challenge a few years ago but has grown in scope to include network analysis, reverse-engineering, and vulnerability discovery/exploitation. This year's challenge story centers around hackers attacking critical "supervisory control and data acquisition" (SCADA) … [Link]

Mashable » Insane Clown Posse's Juggalo March takes to the D.C. National Mall, and the photos are epic

Saturday 16 September 22:01:52 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookWhen the FBI published its 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment, the report drew ire for an unusual new addition: Juggalos, the fanbase of Detroit hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse. Now, 6 years later and still classified by the FBI as a gang, ICP fans descended on Washington D.C. for the Juggalo March, a coming-together of music fans looking to peacefully protest … [Link]

Mashable » Meanwhile, President Obama is hanging out with Diddy

Saturday 16 September 21:56:29 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookLet’s play the only good game of 2017: What's Obama up to?  This week, the former president was spotted hanging out with Diddy.  This week was a great week. Shout out to the king @barackobama!!! #blackexcellence A post shared by Diddy (@diddy) on Sep 15, 2017 at 6:04pm PDT "This week was a great week," Diddy wrote on Instagram. "Shout out … [Link]

Slashdot » WordPress Ditches ReactJS Over Facebook's Patent Clause

Saturday 16 September 20:58:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader quote TechCrunch: Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of the popular open source web publishing software WordPress, has said the community will be pulling away from using Facebook's React JavaScript library over concerns about a patent clause in Facebook's open source license. In a blog post explaining the decision yesterday, Mullenweg said he had hoped to officially adopt React … [Link]

Mashable » Facebook handed over info on those Russia-linked ads under a search warrant

Saturday 16 September 20:56:29 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookThere’s more to the $100,000 in ads that Facebook sold to a Russian propaganda company.  Special counsel and former FBI Director Robert Mueller obtained a search warrant that forced Facebook to hand over the ads it sold to a company known for pro-Kremlin propaganda, as well as information about them. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Facebook gave up the … [Link]

Mashable » Finally, a clock that can track all your family and friend's locations

Saturday 16 September 20:00:00 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookThe Eta Clock is a community location device that allows you to track your loved ones' location. Instantly know if someone you care about is safe, even when they don't answer their phone. Read more…More about Location, Clock, Tracking, Real Time, and Real Time Video [Link]

Slashdot » Facebook Shares Details Of Russia-Bought Ads With US Investigators

Saturday 16 September 19:54:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader quotes CNN: Special counsel Robert Mueller and his team are now in possession of Russian-linked ads run on Facebook during the presidential election, after they obtained a search warrant for the information. Facebook gave Mueller and his team copies of ads and related information it discovered on its site linked to a Russian troll farm, as well … [Link]

Mashable » Colin Kaepernick, shunned by the NFL, named Week 1 MVP by the player's union

Saturday 16 September 19:36:52 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookProfessional NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick can't find a team to call home in the National Football League, but that didn't stop the NFL Player's Association from celebrating his charity work this week. The official player's union of the NFL named Kap as the organization's Week 1 "Community MVP" on Friday. He received the honor "for his commitment to empowering underserved communities … [Link]

Mashable » Miley Cyrus performs a grown-up cover of her Disney hit, 'See You Again'

Saturday 16 September 19:24:54 UTC 2017

Twitter Facebook A lot's happened since Miley Cyrus released her 2007 bubblegum pop single "See You Again" off the album tied to her Disney Channel series, Hannah Montana. And though the last 10 years have included a series of highs ("Party in the U.S.A.", a true banger) and lows (shameless cultural appropriation, a true disappointment), Cyrus seems to be settling back into … [Link]

Slashdot » 2017 'Ig Nobel' Prizes Recognize Funny Research On Cats, Crocodiles, and Cheese

Saturday 16 September 18:50:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader writes: "The 27th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony" happened Thursday at Harvard's Sanders theatre, recognizing real (but unusual) research papers from all over the world "that make people laugh, then think." This year's prize in the physics category went to Marc-Antoine Fardin, who used fluid dynamics to probe the question "Can a cat be both a … [Link]

Mashable » Download this: the new anonymous app that's going viral with teens

Saturday 16 September 18:31:34 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookAnother anonymous app is at the top of the App Store and it might be because it's figured out anonymous apps' biggest problem: bullying. Called "tbh," short for "to be honest," the app takes an unconventional approach to anonymity. While it allows friends to anonymously communicate, it only allows users to exchange compliments, which are sent via in-app quizzes.  SEE ALSO: … [Link]

Mashable » It’s Lit: How one LA DJ uses smart lighting to enhance his life

Saturday 16 September 18:24:35 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookPaid Content By: Philips HueBrian Henry’s life is lit. For the last few years, Henry’s pursued and perfected an occupation that many try — and fail — to make their own: Brian Henry is a DJ. Known professionally as DJ B-Hen, the 33-year old Los Angeles native built momentum over the years and has emerged as one of the nation’s most … [Link]

Mashable » U2 cancels St. Louis show amid protests over Jason Stockley acquittal

Saturday 16 September 18:15:21 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookU2 canceled a show in St. Louis scheduled for Saturday night amid citywide protests over the Friday acquittal of police officer Jason Stockley, who shot a black driver five times after a car chase and was charged with first-degree murder.   "We have been informed by the St. Louis Police Department that they are not in a position to provide the … [Link]

Slashdot » Security.txt Standard Proposed, Similar To Robots.txt

Saturday 16 September 17:46:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader writes: Ed Foudil, a web developer and security researcher, has submitted a draft to the IETF — Internet Engineering Task Force — seeking the standardization of security.txt, a file that webmasters can host on their domain root and describe the site's security policies. The file is akin to robots.txt, a standard used by websites to communicate and … [Link]

Mashable » Beware of fake forecasts for Hurricane Jose

Saturday 16 September 17:17:12 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookHurricane Jose is headed toward the northeast United States next week—but don't let fake forecasts freak you out.  A story and map by Philly Mag said that the storm would hit the Jersey Shore. But, as of right now, forecasts don't have the storm directly hitting the Jersey shoreline.  SEE ALSO: Before and after photos show Hurricane Irma's devastation in the … [Link]

Mashable » This supercut video describes Europe's tourist spots in a nutshell: 'Whoa'

Saturday 16 September 17:02:40 UTC 2017

Twitter Facebook Should you take a well-deserved trip to one (or multiple) of Europe's historic cities, don't waste precious time (and iPhone storage space) taking photos and video of buildings and monuments you could just Google photos of later.  Instead, when your mom inevitably asks for photos of your trip, just email her this video from YouTube user Nathan Nannenga.  Read more… … [Link]

Popular Science » When time seems to stop, blame your over-prepared brains

Saturday 16 September 17:00:00 UTC 2017

clock stoppers Head Trip The perceived clock-stoppers. Not every second is made the same—at least as far as our noggins are concerned. [Link]

Mashable » 91-year-old former congressman shows millennials how to tweet about Trump

Saturday 16 September 17:00:00 UTC 2017

Twitter Facebook91-year-old former congressman John Dingell has been quick, witty, and on fire with his 140 characters for years. Despite his age, he knows how to use the tweet machine the way it was intended: biting commentary, playful retweets, and insightful and smart reactions. Time and again he's shown he's mastered Twitter. After tweeter-in-chief Donald Trump was elected, Dingell's Twitter game has … [Link]

Mashable » How the tech elite's addiction to fancy coffee turned Blue Bottle into a tech startup

Saturday 16 September 16:47:27 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookBlue Bottle's fancy coffee shops have long been a favorite haunt of Silicon Valley's movers and shakers. So at some point, a who's who of prominent venture capitalists decided that since they were pouring money into everything else, they might as well fund their preferred baristas too. Never mind that they had little experience in the coffee business. That act of … [Link]

Slashdot » Can The Pirate Bay Replace Ads With A Bitcoin Miner?

Saturday 16 September 16:42:00 UTC 2017

Mark Wilson writes: When it comes to the Pirate Bay, it's usually movie studios, music producers and software creators that get annoyed with the site — you know, copyright and all that. But in an interesting twist it is now users who find themselves irked by and disappointed in the most famous torrent site in the world. So what's happened? … [Link]

Mashable » 'mother!' gets a rare F grade from CinemaScore, but what does that really mean?

Saturday 16 September 16:07:44 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookMoviegoers aren't happy with mother!, but not necessarily because they think it's bad. Writer/director Darren Aronofsky's latest earned an F from CinemaScore. It's rare to see such a low grade from the Las Vegas-based audience polling firm, but when it does happen it's usually because of a marketing fail rather than a creative fail (though sometimes it is just because a … [Link]

Slashdot » More Millennials Would Give Up Voting Than Texting

Saturday 16 September 15:38:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader quotes the New York Post: As the staggering national student loan debt tally sits at an all-time high of $1.33 trillion, according to the Department of Education, many millennials say they would go to extreme lengths to wipe their slate clean. According to a new survey from Credible, a personal finance website, 50 percent of all respondents … [Link]

Mashable » Doting boxer cares for eight needy piglets as her own

Saturday 16 September 15:16:37 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookA litter of rescue piglets is motherless no more, thanks to a boxer named Treasure who's taken the group under her care. Per Australia's 9News, the unlikely family resides at Spectrum Plants in Wongawallan, Queensland, a plant nursery and petting zoo owned by Wes Trevor.  SEE ALSO: Dog and kitten are the epitome of friendship goals As Trevor tells 9News, Treasure … [Link]

Mashable » Whiskey, Alexa, and me: A night alone in the woods with digital assistants

Saturday 16 September 15:00:00 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookI thought it would be fun. A night in the woods with two of the most recognizable AI in the world. There were no distractions: no TV screens, books, laptops, or other human beings. My phone was in airplane mode.  It was just me, a bottle of moderately priced whiskey, a tiny cabin filled with tchotchkes, and my robot friends Google … [Link]

Mashable » Intrepid koala hangs on for dear life to a car axle for 10 miles

Saturday 16 September 14:50:05 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookIf you ever get trapped in a sticky situation, just think of this koala.  Kelli the Koala found a new home up against the axle of a parked car in Adelaide, Australia last weekend. Then, the car started moving and Kelli was stuck.  The koala held on for 10 miles until the driver noticed her "traumatized cries," BBC reported. One rescuer … [Link]

Slashdot » Equifax CSO 'Retires'. Known Bug Was Left Unpatched For Nearly Five Months

Saturday 16 September 14:34:00 UTC 2017

phalse phace quotes MarketWatch: Following on the heels of a story that revealed that Equifax hired a music major with no education related to technology or security as its Chief Security Officer, Equifax announced on Friday afternoon that Chief Security Officer Susan Mauldin has quit the company along with Chief Information Officer David Webb. Chief Information Officer David Webb and … [Link]

Mashable » Inside Les Halles, the bygone marketplace known as 'The Belly of Paris'

Saturday 16 September 14:00:00 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookImage: REPORTERS ASSOCIES/Gamma-Rapho via Getty ImagesFrom the Middle Ages to modernity, the central market of Paris was one of the city’s liveliest locales, as farmers, fishermen, butchers, and customers commingled among tons upon tons of fresh produce, meat, fish, and other goods.In 1870, 12 arching glass and iron pavilions designed by architect Victor Baltard were erected to encapsulate the market — … [Link]

Mashable » Sticker photos that come to life might just be cooler than instant film

Saturday 16 September 14:00:00 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookThe 'Prynt Pocket' takes instant print photos to a whole new level. They use augmented reality to playback video right from your photo. Read more…More about Iphone, Photography, Mashable Video, Iphone 7, and Camera [Link]

Mashable » Blocking hate speech from ads isn't hard — tech companies just need to care more

Saturday 16 September 13:51:01 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookFacebook, Google, and Twitter are facing a lot of difficult questions over their ad policies after it came to light this week that all three companies allowed advertisers to run targeted ads based on hate speech. Though the circumstances around each case were slightly different, each one was the result of a mostly-automated system that allowed advertisers to buy ads targeted … [Link]

Mashable » 'American Vandal' is the fake true-crime series we never knew we needed

Saturday 16 September 13:16:59 UTC 2017

Twitter Facebook On paper, Netflix's American Vandal sounds like a Funny or Die skit that would be amusing for about seven minutes before the joke wore out its welcome. Full disclosure: I almost dismissed it for precisely that reason, before sitting down to watch the season when Netflix made it available for review. The show is described by the streaming service as … [Link]

Mashable » Cats, ranked

Saturday 16 September 13:00:00 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookWhich cat is the top cat? You're about to find out. Using the same complex (kind of) algorithm we used for our dog ranking, we have ranked 30 of the world's most popular cat breeds from thirtieth-best to first-best.  And the absolute best part? Zero cats will care that we did this — or that we are alive at all. SEE … [Link]

Slashdot » Poor Diet Is a Factor In One In Five Deaths, Global Disease Study Reveals

Saturday 16 September 13:00:00 UTC 2017

schwit1 shares a report from The Guardian: Millions of people are eating the wrong sorts of food for good health. Eating a diet that is low in whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds and fish oils and high in salt raises the risk of an early death, according to the huge and ongoing study Global Burden of Disease. The study, … [Link]

Popular Science » How to choose the best tablet for you

Saturday 16 September 12:00:00 UTC 2017

Tablet DIY Your ideal device is out there. Stumped about which tablet to buy? This complete guide will make sense of software, specs, form factors, and more to help you choose the best device for you. [Link]

Mashable » You can make astronomy a bona fide hobby with this telescope—for under $60

Saturday 16 September 12:00:00 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookJust to let you know, if you buy something featured here, Mashable might earn an affiliate commission. If the recent solar eclipse piqued your interest in stargazing, here’s some good news: the wonders of the solar system are on display on nearly any given night, and most of these wonders do not come with a risk of permanent eye damage. SEE … [Link]

Mashable » These old-school rubber band guns are here to help you dominate your office prank war

Saturday 16 September 12:00:00 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookJust to let you know, if you buy something featured here, Mashable might earn an affiliate commission. There were few things more satisfying to your childhood self than hearing that sharp thwack as a flung rubber band hit its target, the latest victory in your rubber band battle against an older sibling. You might be too old for that sort of horseplay now … [Link]

Slashdot » There Will Be 22 Million Cord Cutters By 2018, Says Report

Saturday 16 September 10:00:00 UTC 2017

A new report by eMarketer predicts that 22.2 million U.S. adults will have cut the cord on cable, satellite or telco TV service by the end of 2017, which is up 33% over 2016. It also notes that ad investment will expand just 0.5% to $71.65 billion this year, down from the $72.72 billion predicted in the company's original first … [Link]

ProgrammableWeb.com » Daily API RoundUp: Alexa, Kitsu, GeoDB, LivePerson

Saturday 16 September 8:30:14 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]

Slashdot » Elon Musk Releases Supercut of SpaceX Rocket Explosions

Saturday 16 September 7:00:00 UTC 2017

Eloking shares a report from HardOCP: Elon Musk is demonstrating how one should not land an orbital rocket booster: the video, currently trending on YouTube, is essentially a blooper reel of SpaceX rocket tests that went explosive. While the company has more or less perfected launching Falcon 9 rockets, it is still working hard on recovering as much of the … [Link]

Slashdot » Mystery of Sonic Weapon Attacks At US Embassy In Cuba Deepens

Saturday 16 September 3:30:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The blaring, grinding noise jolted the American diplomat from his bed in a Havana hotel. He moved just a few feet, and there was silence. He climbed back into bed. Inexplicably, the agonizing sound hit him again. It was as if he'd walked through some invisible wall cutting straight through his … [Link]

Slashdot » Mind-Altering Cat Parasite Linked To a Whole Lot of Neurological Disorders

Saturday 16 September 2:05:00 UTC 2017

schwit1 shares a report from ScienceAlert: The brain-dwelling parasite Toxoplasma gondii is estimated to be hosted by at least 2 billion people around the world, and new evidence suggests the lodger could be more dangerous than we think. While the protozoan invader poses the greatest risk to developing fetuses infected in the womb, new research suggests the parasite could alter … [Link]

Mashable » World's oldest person dies, giving title to Japanese supercentenarian

Saturday 16 September 1:59:39 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookSome sad news out of Jamaica: the world's oldest person has died.  Violet Mosse-Brown was 117 years old, born on March 10, 1900, in Jamaica. The prime minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness, posted about Mosse-Brown's death Friday evening. SEE ALSO: New study shows that researchers probably won't create 'designer babies' anytime soon With her death, Japanese 117-year-old Nabi Tajima is now … [Link]

Popular Science » Mysterious sea monsters that wash ashore are rarely mysterious (and never monsters)

Saturday 16 September 1:42:10 UTC 2017

purple sea cucumber Animals The real weirdos never even make it to land. We can’t seem to shake this idea that the sea is a writhing, unfathomable mass filled with peculiar creatures never before seen. [Link]

Mashable » Facebook tests 'Snooze' feature to temporarily hide annoying friends

Saturday 16 September 1:40:38 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookYou know that guy in your News Feed who just got a car and won't stop posting pictures?  Facebook finally has a solution for you. It's testing a "Snooze" button that allows users to temporarily unfollow individuals, pages, and groups for periods of 24 hours, a week, or 30 days.  SEE ALSO: Download this: Why Facebook's app looks so different We … [Link]

Slashdot » Google Chrome Will No Longer Autoplay Content With Sound In January 2018

Saturday 16 September 1:25:00 UTC 2017

Starting next year, Google Chrome will only autoplay a given piece of content when the media won't play sound or the user has indicated an interest in the media. The company was experimenting with such an option last month, but now it looks to be part of the browser's roadmap. VentureBeat reports: Chrome 63 will add a new user option … [Link]

New Scientist – News » Watching Cassini’s last moments from inside NASA mission control

Saturday 16 September 1:10:33 UTC 2017

The Cassini team was at once somber and excited as they watched the spacecraft’s radio heartbeat flicker out. Mika McKinnon joined them to say goodbye [Link]

New Scientist – News » Brown dwarfs have strong magnetic fields just like real stars

Saturday 16 September 1:10:32 UTC 2017

Failed stars called brown dwarfs straddle the line between big planets and small stars. An observation of a magnetic field puts another tick in the star column [Link]

Mashable » There's a sexy 'Fake News' costume and Halloween isn't even real anymore

Saturday 16 September 1:00:24 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookLet the onslaught of terrible Halloween costumes begin. Each year, there's a new wave of Halloween costumes, you know, to keep up with the times. Sometimes they're really great, mostly they're terrible. In celebration of the rise of the term "Fake News" thanks to Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump, Yandy.com has released a sexy fake news costume. Apparently NOTHING gets to escape being … [Link]

Slashdot » Credit Karma To Launch Free ID Monitoring Following Equifax Hack

Saturday 16 September 0:45:00 UTC 2017

Credit Karma is launching a new free service that will alert customers if their identity data has been compromised in hacks, the San Francisco-based fintech company said on Friday in the wake of massive breach at credit monitoring agency Equifax. From a report: The new ID monitoring service is being tested and will be available in October, the company said … [Link]

Mashable » Harry Dean Stanton, 'Godfather II' and 'Alien' actor, dead at 91

Saturday 16 September 0:08:34 UTC 2017

Twitter FacebookHarry Dean Stanton, a prolific actor with memorable roles in The Godfather: Part II, Alien, and Pretty in Pink, has died at age 91. Stanton most recently starred as Carl Rodd in the 2017 mystery drama series Twin Peaks. He is also known for his television role as an evil polygamist patriarch in Big Love. SEE ALSO: Len Wein, Wolverine co-creator, … [Link]

Slashdot » PewDiePie Is Inexcusable But DMCA Takedowns Are Not the Way To Fight Him

Saturday 16 September 0:05:00 UTC 2017

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Felix Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, is the most popular YouTuber in the world. He's gotten himself into another controversy, this time for shouting the n-word while livestreaming a video game. The 27-year-old Swede has repeatedly been criticized for hate speech, and just last month said he would no longer make Nazi … [Link]

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