Use Your Old Amazon Boxes to Ship Donations to Goodwill For Free

By now the Amazon boxes are piling up in your house before the holidays. Before you toss them in the recycling, Give Back Box wants them. The service, in partnership with Amazon, will give you free shipping labels to send donations to Goodwill. Read more…

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Use Your Old Amazon Boxes to Ship Donations to Goodwill For Free

IT Service Providers Fined $10 Million for Malware Claims, Sales Tactics

Inbound Call Experts (aka Advanced Tech Support) & other defendants will pay a $10 million fine to settle charges related to fraudulent sales tactics. The post IT Service Providers Fined $10 Million for Malware Claims, Sales Tactics appeared first on ChannelE2E .

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IT Service Providers Fined $10 Million for Malware Claims, Sales Tactics

A star will graze our solar system in a million years

In just over a million years, Earth inhabitants will get a closer look at a star than they might want. Gliese 710 is currently a safe 64 light years away, but scientists discovered in 1999 that the sun-like star was barreling directly toward us at around 32, 000 mph. We’ve known for awhile that it would closely pass by our solar system, but Polish astronomers have calculated that it could end up a mere 77 light days away. That would easily be close enough to deflect the orbit of asteroids or comets in our solar system’s Oort Cloud , potentially toward Earth. That’s about five times closer than previously thought, astronomers from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland say. To arrive at that figure, they used measurements from ESA’s Gaia space observatory that are ten times more accurate than before. There’s still an error of around 50 percent, however, so the star could actually come as close as 7, 250 astronomical units (AUs) or around 0.11 light years (40 light days). The Oort cloud ranges from 0.8 to 3.16 light years from the sun, opening up potentially billions of asteroids, comets and other cosmic detritus that Gliese 710 could feasibly deflect. The researchers believe the star could actually pull about 0.1 percent, or 100 million Oort objects out of the cloud. It could deflect a bunch more toward the inner solar system, causing enormous meteor showers and the appearance of ten new comets per year for several million years. Some researchers think that a similar close pass by a star around 65 million years ago is responsible for the meteor shower that wiped out the dinosaurs. However, that could be minor compared to the Gliese 710 event. At its closest distance, it will be the brightest and fastest moving object in the sky, and will be the “strongest disrupting encounter in the future and history of the solar system, ” the paper states. As mentioned, that’s over a million years out, and there are thousands of other things that could wipe us out before then. Nevertheless, your great grandchildren, 40, 000 times removed, might be grateful if we get a start on that asteroid deflection scheme as soon as possible. Via: Gizmodo Source: Astronomy & Astrophysics

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A star will graze our solar system in a million years

A Record High of 455 Scripted TV Shows Aired in 2016

In case you wanted to ground your abstract TV FOMO in hard numbers, FX has data on the fact that, yes, there really is too much TV. An anonymous reader shares a report: The network, whose CEO John Landgraf coined the idea of “peak TV, ” has released its unofficial tally of the number of shows on TV, finding that 455 different scripted television series from broadcast, cable, and streaming sources aired in the last year. That’s an 8 percent increase from last year, when 421 shows aired on TV; a 71 percent increase from 2011, when a mere 266 shows were on TV; and a 137 percent increase from 2006, when there were 192 shows on TV. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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A Record High of 455 Scripted TV Shows Aired in 2016

Bitcoin Circulation Hits Record High Of $14 Billion

Bitcoin, the digital currency that most people have never actually used, has hit a record value of $14 billion after jumping 5 percent on Thursday. From a report on The Guardian: The price of one bitcoin reached $875 on the Europe-based Bitstamp exchange, its strongest level since January 2014, putting the cryptocurrency on track for its best daily performance in six months. That compared with levels around $435 at the start of the year, with many experts linking bitcoin’s rise with the steady depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has slid almost 7% in 2016. Data shows the majority of bitcoin trading is done in China, so any increase in demand from there tends to have a significant impact on the price. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Bitcoin Circulation Hits Record High Of $14 Billion

What Do Luxury Sleeper Cabs for Long-Haul Truck Drivers Look Like?

The life of a long-haul trucker can be tough, even when they’re not behind the wheel. When it’s time to get some shuteye in the truck’s cab, some of them have a scant 36″ behind the seats in which to stuff a twin mattress, and there’s barely enough room to turn around back there, let alone get dressed and undressed. And for the trucker who brings their spouse on the road—yes, husband-and-wife trucker teams exist—it’s simply not enough space for two people to live out of. For those that can pony up for a larger cab, an Indiana-based company called ARI Legacy Sleepers specializes in tricking them out with custom packages suited to the customer’s tastes. Let’s take a look at some of their work. First off, if you see a cab that’s this size, you can bet there’s more behind the rear seats than just a twin mattress. And you’d be right. When you look back between the seats, here’s what you see: And here’s the view looking fore: Overhead is a small, subtle lighting trick that provides the illusion of more space: Using a mirror and one-way mirror to provide “infinity lighting, ” making the LEDS look like they stretch off forever overhead. Close the curtains to the “cockpit” and enjoy your flatscreen in peace. There’s plenty of storage both above and below the kitchen counter, which features an electric stovetop and a sink. When not in use, both have covers that conceal them, providing uninterrupted counter space. This photo below is not the exact same interior, but you get the idea. Also note the mirror above the sink, so the driver can shave. Opposite the counter is a sofa and a little nook to the right of it. You’ll notice a cable management port at back right; one can place a computer, laptop or gaming system here. To the right of that is a door, and the toilet paper holder on the inside of it has probably clued you in… …yep, they’ve got a bathroom in here. A wall-mounted dispenser obviates the need for shelving. Moving back inside the cabin, we see the sofa, which of course has storage beneath it. You might think, “Is that where the driver sleeps?” Not exactly; note the dual tracks in the wall. An elevator bed motors down at the touch of a button. For cabs where there is no rear door, the sofa and bed arrangement can be placed across the rear wall. And as you can see here, the choice of lighting strongly impacts your perception of the space. The lighting scheme in this one here reminds me of The Peach Pit from the original Beverly Hills 90210. And this one below is like The Peach Pit but with hardwood floors. With spaces this small, the materials choice also makes a profound visual impact. This one here is owned by a married couple who both go on the road together, and I imagine it must recall what their actual home looks like, aesthetically: Another customer has opted to have his look like more of a bachelor pad: And for drivers who plan to do some open-air sightseeing during downtime, there’s an option to haul your Harley. Yep, if you’ve got the space you can have a motorcycle “garage” with side-loading ramp installed: You can check out more of ARI’s custom designs here , and they also have a good amount of photos on their Facebook page .

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What Do Luxury Sleeper Cabs for Long-Haul Truck Drivers Look Like?

Russians Used Malware On Android Devices To Track and Target Ukraine Artillery, Says Report

schwit1 quotes a report from Reuters: A hacking group linked to the Russian government and high-profile cyber attacks against Democrats during the U.S. presidential election likely used a malware implant on Android devices to track and target Ukrainian artillery units from late 2014 through 2016, according to a new report released Thursday. The malware was able to retrieve communications and some locational data from infected devices, intelligence that would have likely been used to strike against the artillery in support of pro-Russian separatists fighting in eastern Ukraine, the report from cyber security firm CrowdStrike found. The hacking group, known commonly as Fancy Bear or APT 28, is believed by U.S. intelligence officials to work primarily on behalf of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency. The implant leveraged a legitimate Android application developed by a Ukrainian artillery officer to process targeting data more quickly, CrowdStrike said. Its deployment “extends Russian cyber capabilities to the front lines of the battlefield, ” the report said, and “could have facilitated anticipatory awareness of Ukrainian artillery force troop movement, thus providing Russian forces with useful strategic planning information.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Russians Used Malware On Android Devices To Track and Target Ukraine Artillery, Says Report

2016 MacBook Pro Fails To Receive a Recommendation From Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports has released its evaluation of the new MacBook Pro laptops, and it’s not good. The 2016 MacBook Pro is the first MacBook to fail to receive a recommendation from the nonprofit organization dedicated to unbiased product testing. 9to5Mac reports: In a post breaking down the decision not to recommend the new MacBook Pros, Consumer Reports explains that while the new models held up well in terms of display quality and performance, the battery life issues were too big of an issue to overlook. The organization tested three MacBook Pro variants: a 13-inch Touch Bar model, a 15-inch Touch Bar model, and a 13-inch model without the Touch Bar. The general consensus was that “MacBook Pro battery life results were highly inconsistent from one trial to the next.” Consumer Reports explains that the 13-inch Touch Bar model saw battery life of 16 hours in one test and 3.75 hours in another, while the non-Touch Bar model maxed out at 19.5 hours, but also lasted just 4.5 hours in another test. The 15-inch model ranged from 18.5 hours to 8 hours. Generally, according to the report, it’s expected for battery life to vary from one trial to another by less than 5 percent, meaning that the battery life variances with the new MacBook Pro are very abnormal. Once that was completed, Consumer Reports experimented by conducting the same test using Chrome and “found battery life to be consistently high on all six runs.” While the organization can’t let that affect its final decision due to its protocol to only use the first-party browser, it’s something users may want to try. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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2016 MacBook Pro Fails To Receive a Recommendation From Consumer Reports

World’s First ‘Solar Panel Road’ Opens In France

The world’s first solar road has officially opened in the small village of Tourouvre-au-Perche in Normandy, France. The road is 1 kilometer long and can generate enough electricity to power the street lights. The Verge reports: That might not sound very impressive for 30, 000 square feet of solar panels — and it kind of isn’t, especially for its $5.2 million price tag. The panels have been covered in a silicon-based resin that allows them to withstand the weight of passing big rigs, and if the road performs as expected, Royal wants to see solar panels installed across 1, 000 kilometers of French highway. There are numerous issues, however. For one, flat solar panels are less effective than the angled panels that are installed on roofs, and they’re also massively more expensive than traditional panels. Colas, the company that installed the road, hopes to reduce the cost of the panels going forward and it has around 100 solar panel road projects in progress around the world. Earlier this year, Solar Roadways partnered with the Missouri Department of Transportation to upgrade a small stretch of the historic Route 66 roadway with solar-powered panels. They too are facing the same seemingly insurmountable cost problems as Colas and the French. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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World’s First ‘Solar Panel Road’ Opens In France

Huge Fire Torches 140 Buildings in Japanese City

A large fire has engulfed scores of houses, shops, and other buildings in the Japanese coastal city of Itoigawa. The blaze, which started mid-morning local time, shows no sign of slowing, and fire crews are frantically working to put out the flames. Read more…

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Huge Fire Torches 140 Buildings in Japanese City