Kodi boxes are commercial video-streaming gadgets that implement XBMC, a longstanding media-server free/open source project, in pre-packaged form, ready to accept third party plugins, including ones that access infringing streaming… Read the rest of the article: Kodi: set-top streaming boxes that take the complexity out of building your own media server
The New York Times is now available as an "Onion Service" on the Tor network, at the address https://www.nytimes3xbfgragh.onion/ — meaning that anyone with Tor access can securely and privately… Read the rest of the article: The New York Times is now a Tor onion service
The total wealth controlled by the world's billionaires has reached $6,000,000,000,000, up nearly 20% from last year. There are now 1,542 dollar-denominated billionaires on earth.
American households throw away a lot of food: sometimes it's spoiled, sometimes it's past its "sell-by" date (but still good), sometimes it's blemished, and sometimes it's just an unappetizing leftover.
Juice Media is a company whose "Honest Government Adverts" Youtube series lampoon both the Australian government's decisions and the way it promotes them. Juice's videos are very funny, and very,… Read the rest of the article: Australian government proposes jail terms for satire
Days after the Spanish central government announced its plan to impose direct rule on Catalonia, deposing the elected regional government, the Catalonian government has declared independence, citing the outcome of… Read the rest of the article: Catalonian parliament declares independence from Spain
The global epidemic of Wannacry ransomware infections was the result of petty criminals fusing an old ransomware strain with a leaked NSA cyberweapon that was released by The Shadow Brokers,… Read the rest of the article: A new, virulent ransomware epidemic is fuelled by yet another leaked NSA cyberweapon
Georgia's voting machines are among the worst, most hackable in the nation, and that's why a "diverse group of election reform advocates" including the Coalition for Good Governance sued the… Read the rest of the article: Someone wiped a key server in Georgia right after voters filed a lawsuit over insecure voting-machines
An anonymous security researcher has shown Motherboard evidence that they warned Equifax in December 2016, six months before its catastrophic breach, disclosing numerous elementary deficiencies in Equifax security that left… Read the rest of the article: Six months before the breach, a researcher warned Equifax that all its data was unprotected
The average donation to first-time socialist candidate for Minneapolis City Council Ginger Jentzen is $25, and she accepts no corporate money. She's running on a platform of citizen oversight of… Read the rest of the article: A socialist candidate for Minneapolis city council has broken all fundraising records through individual $25 donations
An audit of Inmarsat's AmosConnect 8 (originally sold by Stratos Global, now an Inmarsat division) reveals that the ship-to-satellite internet product has a deliberate hidden backdoor — and an accidental… Read the rest of the article: A common satellite comms package for ships and oil rigs has a backdoor that won't be patched
Donald Trump is the least popular president to serve in US history, so it's no surprise that the call for mass, "J20 demonstrations" at his inauguration would be answered by… Read the rest of the article: 200 Trump inauguration protesters face 70 years in prison each over 6 broken windows
When mainland US cities like Houston and Miami get hit by hurricanes, they rely on mutual aid deals with out-of-state and Canadian power authorities to rebuild, as hundreds of skilled… Read the rest of the article: Trump Cabinet Secretary's hometown, 2-person company wins $300m power-rebuilding contract in Puerto Rico
Epson has taken a page from HP's dirty-tricks playbook to ensure that no one can compete with them by selling ink at affordable prices.
We Want You in NYC is a group of civic hackers who believe in using technology to improve people's lives; they've launched a provocative campaign aimed at disillusioned Silicon Valley… Read the rest of the article: NYC civic hackers invite frustrated Silicon Valleyites to do good in New York
Senators Bob Corker, Jeff Flake and John McCain talk a big game about not letting the GOP be the handmaiden of trumpist corruption, but when the chips were down last… Read the rest of the article: Those "heroic rogue GOP senators" just helped Trump shield Equifax and Wells Fargo from lawsuits
Respected security researcher Dan Wallach from Rice University has published a short (18 page) guide to securing small organizations against three kinds of cyberattack: Untargeted, remote (spammers, phishers, ransomware griefers,… Read the rest of the article: Simple steps your small organization can take to defend itself against cyberattacks
Kaspersky — a respected Russia-based security company — has been under a cloud since they were accused of stealing NSA cyberweapons on behalf of the Russian government. But the company… Read the rest of the article: Kaspersky's explanation for possessing secret NSA cyberweapons is a doozy
American cities have some of the slowest, most expensive internet access in the world, and the biggest, wealthiest cities are some of the worst-provisioned, including San Francisco, ground zero for… Read the rest of the article: San Francisco may finally get decent internet access, thanks to municipal fiber
Writing in IEEE Spectrum, iFixit's superhero founder Kyle Wiens and Repair.org exective director Gay Gordon-Byrne bring the case for the right to repair (previously) to the engineering community, describing the… Read the rest of the article: Why electrical engineers should support the right to repair
