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takyon writes:

China will ban all software and hardware that blocks Internet advertisements:

In a document published by China's Commerce Bureau [in Chinese], the People's Republic of China laid out the framework for a new Internet policy advertising law that will take effect September 1. This new Internet policy contains some radical changes to China's existing Internet guidelines, such as a blanket ban on ad-blocking. The new policy also pushes significantly stricter advertising guidelines, however, which could make it more beneficial to both users and companies.

Under China's new Internet Policy article XVI, all software and hardware that intercepts, filters, covers, fast-forwards or in any way prevents an advertisement from being viewed is prohibited. The policy explicitly points out that ad-block capability in email clients is also prohibited, as is network-level hardware that that may contain ad-block features. In our reading of the document, it would appear China is doing this to encourage what it would consider fair economic development of the Internet.

The new advertising laws do make some attempts to protect individual users from certain types of advertisements. For example, advertisements for prescription drugs and tobacco products are banned, and any products designed for pharmaceutical purposes must be reviewed by China's advertising agency before they can be put online. Advertisements are also required to be clearly marked, and they cannot be disguised as other content in an attempt to trick users into clicking them. Pop-up ads will be restricted to clearly display their location, and they must contain a clearly marked close button so as not to trick users.

This is good news for anybody seeking to hack Chinese Internet users.

Original Submission

arslan writes:

So we've been blasting lasers at the poor rock-tizens of Mars from the Curiosity Rover for a while now. This is on the humans, as we decide remotely what to blast. However, according to Space.com, the Rover have now been trained to blast rocks all on its own volition. There's a reason for this as stated in the article, however one can't help but wonder if there would eventually be an "Ooops" moment where is would blast something significant by mistake when its herders aren't around.

Original Submission

fleg writes:

The Guardian is reporting on an iOS bug ...

A flaw in the way Apple software handles images allows hackers to take over an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Mac or Apple TV with a simple iMessage or email.

The vulnerability in Apple's picture-handling Image I/O API means that a malicious Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) file can force a so-called buffer overflow, which allows a hacker to break through Apple's security and run their own code on a device.

Lots of apps use this API such as Messages, MMS, Safari, Mail.

Should the image be viewed automatically or manually, the attacker could then gain full control of the device, steal passwords and other information, all potentially without the user knowing.

Apple has released iOS 9.3.3, OS X 10.11.6, tvOS 9.2.2 and watchOS 2.2.2 to fix the bug.

Finally...

There are 1bn iOS devices around the globe, all of which will be affected by this security hole unless updated.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

Bosses do not need consent for temps to unionize in mixed bargaining units

Working In These Times reports

[In a 3-1 decision,] the National Labor Relations Board on [June 11] overturned a Bush-era standard that said a union could only organize a bargaining unit of jointly employed and regular employees if both employers consented--even if those employees worked together closely. "Jointly employed" includes temps who are hired through staffing agencies.

The new decision allows jointly employed temps to bargain collectively in the same unit with the solely employed workers they work alongside, ruling that bosses need not consent so long as workers share a "community of interest".

[...] In this new ruling from Miller & Anderson, Inc., the Board returns to a standard set in 2000, during the Clinton administration, in a case called M.B. Sturgis, Inc., which was overruled in Oakwood [Care Center].

[...] In a statement announcing the ruling, the NLRB said, "requiring employer consent to an otherwise appropriate bargaining unit desired by employees, Oakwood has ... allowed employers to shape their ideal bargaining unit, which is precisely the opposite of what Congress intended".

The ruling represents a blow to corporations that have moved forcefully, sometimes overwhelmingly, toward using temporary workers in an effort to block worker benefits and collective bargaining.

Original Submission

fork(2) writes:

Nature is reporting that a Chinese team will attempt to treat lung cancer with CRISPR-modified cells in August. From the article:

A team led by Lu You, an oncologist at Sichuan University's West China Hospital in Chengdu, plans to start testing such cells in people with lung cancer next month. The clinical trial received ethical approval from the hospital's review board on 6 July.

"It's an exciting step forward," says Carl June, a clinical researcher in immunotherapy at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

There have been a number of human clinical trials using an alternative gene-editing technique, including one led by June, that have helped patients combat HIV. June is also a scientific adviser on a planned US trial that would also use CRISPR-Cas9-modified cells for the treatment of cancer.

Last month, an advisory panel of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) approved that project. But the trial also requires a green light from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a university review board. The US researchers have said they could start their clinical trial by the end of this year.

[Continues...]

n1 writes:

In Amazon's latest attempt to entice shoppers into its premium Prime program, Wells Fargo will cut half a percentage point from its interest rate on student loans to Amazon customers who pay for a "Prime Student" subscription, which provides the traditional Prime benefits such as free two-day shipping and access to movies, television shows and photo storage. The subscription-based service will cost $49 a year, half the regular Amazon Prime fee.

Wells Fargo, Buffet's favorite US bank, will benefit by expanding the size of its student loan portfolio. The third largest U.S. bank by assets and the second-largest private student lender by origination volume, is interested in "meeting our customers where they are – and increasingly that is in the digital space," John Rasmussen, head of Wells Fargo's Personal Lending Group, said in a news release. The bank had $12.2 billion in student loans outstanding at the end of 2015, compared with $11.9 billion at the end of 2014.

[...] According to the details of the agreement, the companies aren't compensating each other for what Wells Fargo describes as a multiyear agreement that will reach millions of potential borrowers. The Amazon spokeswoman said Wells Fargo is currently the only student lender that will provide loan offers to Prime Student members.

Source: ZeroHedge

Original Submission

Scruffy Beard 2 writes:

From the EFF press release:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the U.S. government today on behalf of technology creators and researchers to overturn onerous provisions of copyright law that violate the First Amendment.
...
Ostensibly enacted to fight music and movie piracy, Section 1201 has long served to restrict people's ability to access, use, and even speak out about copyrighted materials—including the software that is increasingly embedded in everyday things. The law imposes a legal cloud over our rights to tinker with or repair the devices we own, to convert videos so that they can play on multiple platforms, remix a video, or conduct independent security research that would reveal dangerous security flaws in our computers, cars, and medical devices. It criminalizes the creation of tools to let people access and use those materials.

Copyright law is supposed to exist in harmony with the First Amendment. But the prospect of costly legal battles or criminal prosecution stymies creators, academics, inventors, and researchers. In the complaint filed today in U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., EFF argues that this violates their First Amendment right to freedom of expression.

Section 1201 of the US Copyright act restricts the Circumvention of Technological Measures: more commonly known as Digital Restrictions Management.

I have always hated how DRM allows copyright holders to restrict what I do with my personal property: while being backed by the force of law.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

North Miami Police say they responded on July 20 to the area of Northeast 14th Avenue and Northeast 127th Street for a report of an armed man threatening suicide.

The "armed man" was a 23-year-old autistic patient who had wandered away from a nearby mental health center. He was sitting on the ground, playing with a toy truck.

47 year old behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey, a black man, was attending to the patient.

Multiple cops, armed with rifles, responded to the scene.

Kinsey was hit in the leg by one bullet. A photo shows Kinsey lying on his back with both hands in the air.

Speaking from his hospital bed Wednesday July 20 to a reporter for WSVN TV, Kinsey said "when it hit me I had my hands in the air, and I'm thinking I just got shot! And I'm saying, 'Sir, why did you shoot me?' and his words to me were, 'I don't know'."

The police administered no first aid. "They flipped me over, and I'm faced down in the ground, with cuffs on, waiting on the rescue squad to come", Kinsey said. "I'd say about 20, about 20 minutes it took the rescue squad to get there. And I was like, bleeding."

No gun was found at the scene.

At a Thursday July 21 press conference, the Miami-Dade Police Benevolent Association said the officer was a member of the SWAT team. The head of the PBA told reporters the officer was too far away to hear what Kinsey was saying before he fired.

Heavy.com Heavy.com with video

wirelessduck writes:

https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-deux

So, in short, Master Plan, Part Deux is:

Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage
Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments
Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning
Enable your car to make money for you when you aren't using it

Previously: Elon Musk's "Top Secret Tesla Masterplan, Part 2"

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

A bizarre case comes out of the Texas court system -- landing squarely in the middle of a legal Bermuda Triangle where illegal searches meet civil asset forfeiture... and everything is still somehow perfectly legal. (via FourthAmendment.com)

[...] The Supreme Court of Texas examines the facts of the case, along with the applicable statutes, and -- after discarding a US Supreme Court decision that would have found in Herrera's favor -- decides there's nothing he can do to challenge the seizure. He can't even move to suppress the evidence uncovered following the illegal stop -- the same search that led to the state seizing his vehicle under civil forfeiture statutes.

[...] First, the court decides that the deterrent effect of suppressing the evidence is outweighed by the cost to society.

[...] The court moves on to dismiss the Supreme Court's 1965 decision (One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania), suggesting not only that things have changed too much over the past 50 years to consider it relevant, but also -- unbelievably -- that the seizure of a person's assets via civil forfeiture is not a form of punishment.

[...] By finding no remedy workable or worthwhile in the face of societal cost, the Texas Supreme Court has given law enforcement another way to salvage evidence obtained by illegal searches: simply seize the "container" (house, car, boat, etc.) the evidence was discovered in.

As defense attorney John Wesley Hall notes in his post on the case, this decision will also encourage more questionable asset forfeitures because the court here has declared it's unwilling to entertain notions of deterrence when dealing with "non-punitive" civil seizures.

Source: TechDirt

Original Submission

"exec" writes:

Original URL: http://www.computerworld.com/article/3096950/mobile-wireless/ztes-99-zmax-pro-smartphone-packs-in-top-line-features.html

ZTE's $99 ZMax Pro packs in some of the latest smartphone technologies, something you wouldn't expect in a low-priced handset.

The smartphone has a 6-in. screen and is available only through MetroPCS in the U.S. It weighs about 175 grams and is 8.9 millimeters thick.

It has some top-line features found in the latest smartphones, like a USB Type-C port. It also runs on the latest Android OS 6.0 code-named Marshmallow.

The Gorilla Glass 3 screen shows images at a full HD resolution. The handset has 32GB of internal storage and a micro-SD card for expandable storage. That's a lot of storage for a handset under $100.

The handset is comparable to the new fourth-generation Moto G handset, which is now available unlocked on Amazon.com for $199.99 for a 16GB model. The Zmax Pro has a 13-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front camera, along with an eight-core Snapdragon 617 processor, all of which are also packaged in the Moto G.

[...] However, the smartphone lacks some other features. It includes 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, not the latest 802.11ac, which offers a wider range and faster speeds.

-- submitted from IRC

Also covered at: cnet.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

By all accounts, it was the most popular gala the Lady Taverners had ever held. Over 1,000 people packed the Park Lane Hilton in London on Oct. 30, 2009, with the crowd overflowing into the hallways, to listen to President Bill Clinton speak on the power of giving.

While Clinton’s speech helped raise a substantial sum for the prominent cricket charity, his staggering $290,000 speaking fee was not covered by the group, according to organizers. The fee also was not covered by “World Management Limited,” the marketing company Hillary Clinton listed as the payment source in her federal financial filings.

It was bankrolled by a wealthy British businessman named Robert Whitton—a name you won’t find included in the Clintons’ public disclosure forms.

A review by the Washington Free Beacon found that Hillary Clinton often listed small foreign speaking firms as the sources of her husband’s lecture payments in her Senate and State Department disclosures, even though the actual paychecks came from undisclosed third parties.

In certain cases, these funders had interests that intersected with the U.S. State Department. Whitton, a real estate mogul, had business pending before UNESCO, an international agency that received a quarter of its funding from the State Department.

Source: The Washington Free Beacon

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The upfront market for broadcast and cable networks has taken an unexpected U-turn from last year's dip, seeing an increase in advertising sales of $800m to $18.6bn in the most recent completion.

According to research firm Media Dynamics, this 4.5 per cent increase in TV ad revenue is a blow to OTT video platforms on PCs and mobile devices, as advertisers grow increasingly wary of the rise of ad blockers and choose to spend their precious ad dollars elsewhere.

Faultline has pointed out on several occasions how companies with vested interests produce reports with wild figures on how much money ad blockers will apparently drain from the industry. While it's true that ad blocking software has become increasingly prevalent, this is still just a drop in the ocean. For example, figures from Adobe and PageFair published at the end of 2015 stated there were 198 million monthly active users for major ad block browser extensions — but this is only around 6 per cent of global internet users.

Media Dynamics adds that other issues plaguing digital media platforms include the limited quality content available for sponsorships, questions about commercial 'visibility', and generally low usage levels. We would argue that the declining pay TV subscriber figures speak for themselves.

21st Century Fox broadcast networks are reportedly reaping the rewards of this year's upfront ad sales increase, a source familiar with the matter told Variety. It notes that Fox Broadcasting, FX Networks, and National Geographic all saw volume gains up around 5 per cent.

Plus, approximately 75 per cent to 80 per cent of the inventory was sold across the unit. Variety also estimates that the five broadcast networks secured $8.02bn and $8.69 billion for their primetime entertainment schedules in 2015, with Fox Broadcasting getting an estimated $1.43bn and $1.56bn last year.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Some 70 dead whales have been found in southern Chile less than a year after more than 330 whales washed up in a remote Patagonian inlet.

The animals are not of the same species discovered in last December's die-off, the biggest single event of its kind known to science, the Chilean fisheries service said.

"They are smaller than those we saw last time," national fisheries director Jose Miguel Burgos said.

Teams will inspect the relatively accessible site in the coming days, focusing on whether humans played a role in the whales' deaths, he added.

The animals died more than two months ago, the authorities said, adding that autopsies will probably still be possible as the cadavers remain intact.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

40 years after the first VHS video cassette recorder rolled off the production line, the last known company making the devices is ceasing production. According to Japanese newspaper Nikkei , Funai Electric, a Japanese consumer electronics company, will give up on the format by the end of the July after 30 years of production.

[...] While the Funai brand might not be well-known in the west, the company sold VCRs under the more familiar Sanyo brand in China and North America.

[...] At its peak, Funai Electric sold as many as 15 million VCRs per year, but last year only sold 750,000 units.

[...] Betamax players, which were the chief competitor of VCRs back in the 1980s, were discontinued back in 2002. However, tapes were made up until November 2015, when Sony finally announced that Betamax tapes would stop being produced in Japan. While losing the home-recording war, Betamax kind of lives on: Betamax was the basis for Betacam, which is still used in broadcasting.

Do any Soylentils still have a VCR? If so, how long has it been since you last used it? What did you watch?

Original Submission