Author: kenmay

New Privacy Concerns About US Program That Can Track Snail Mail

Lashdots writes: A lawyers’ group has called for greater oversight of a government program that gives state and federal law enforcement officials access to metadata from private communications for criminal investigations and national security purposes. But it’s not digital: this warrantless surveillance is conducted on regular mail. “The mail cover has been in use, in some form, since the 1800s, ” Chief Postal Inspector Guy J. Cottrell told Congress in November. The program targets a range of criminal activity including fraud, pornography, and terrorism, but, he said, “today, the most common use of this tool is related to investigations to rid the mail of illegal drugs and illegal drug proceeds.” Recent revelations that the U.S. Postal Service photographs the front and back of all mail sent through the U.S., ostensibly for sorting purposes, has, Fast Company reports, brought new scrutiny—and new legal responses—to this obscure program. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

View article:
New Privacy Concerns About US Program That Can Track Snail Mail

170-year-old champagne provides clues to past winemaking

Divers discovered bottles in a shipwreck off the Finnish Aland archipelago in the Baltic Sea in 2010. After tasting the bottles on site, the divers realized they were likely drinking century-old champagne. Soon after, 168 unlabeled bottles were retrieved and were identified as champagnes from the Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin (VCP), Heidsieck, and Juglar (known as Jacquesson since 1832) champagne houses. A few of the recovered bottles had been lying horizontal in close-to-perfect slow aging conditions. Discovery of these wines, likely the oldest ever tasted, unleashed a flood of questions. When were these wines produced? What winemaking processes were in use at the time? Where was the wine going when the shipwreck occurred? An analytic approach A team of scientists gathered to search for the answers through the application of current analytical techniques, an approach called archaeochemistry. Using a combination of targeted and nontargeted modern chemical analytic approaches, the researchers aimed to uncover aspects of the winemaking practices. Read 14 remaining paragraphs | Comments

See more here:
170-year-old champagne provides clues to past winemaking

Music Industry Argues Works Entering Public Domain Are Not In Public Interest

An anonymous reader writes: With news that Canada intends to extend the term of copyright for sound recordings and performers, the recording industry is now pushing the change by arguing that works entering the public domain is not in the public interest. It is hard to see how anyone can credibly claim that works are “lost” to the public domain and that the public interest in not served by increased public access, but if anyone would make the claim, it would be the recording industry. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Continue Reading:
Music Industry Argues Works Entering Public Domain Are Not In Public Interest

Marissa Mayer makes 1,100 Yahooers jobless, calls it a "remix"

Why would a CEO be so tone-deaf as to call a mass-firing a “remix?” Because the only audience that matters today are shareholders, not the public. Read the rest

Read the original post:
Marissa Mayer makes 1,100 Yahooers jobless, calls it a "remix"

Downton Wars: Cast of ‘Downton Abbey’ creates parody video with lightsabers

Every time I read an interview with a Downton Abbey cast member, they seem to be discussing how much downtime they have on set Read the rest

See more here:
Downton Wars: Cast of ‘Downton Abbey’ creates parody video with lightsabers

The Gloriously Inane First YouTube Video Was Uploaded 10 Years Ago Today

On April 23rd, 2005, YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim uploaded a masterpiece of mundanity to YouTube, his newly launched video portal. Behold. Read more…

Visit site:
The Gloriously Inane First YouTube Video Was Uploaded 10 Years Ago Today

Amazon’s Web Services is a $5 billion business, but it’s still losing money

Even though Amazon Web Services has taken off in recent years to become the cloud computing solution of choice for businesses, not much was known about how much money it was bringing in. Now, however, we do. In its first quarterly earnings report today, Amazon has reported the financials for its AWS division for the first time, stating that it is a “$5 billion business and growing fast.” In Q1 alone, AWS brought in $1.57 billion in revenue, which is up from $1.1 billion this time last year (in previous Amazon reports, this info was simply filed under a mysterious “Other” column). On the whole, AWS seems to be one of a few operations within Amazon that is profitable. Despite that, however, the online retail giant still reported a net loss of $57 million for the quarter. Filed under: Amazon Comments Source: Amazon

See the original article here:
Amazon’s Web Services is a $5 billion business, but it’s still losing money

Acer’s building an Android gaming tablet to go with its Predator PCs

It’s safe to say that Acer’s gone a little batty this morning – the company crammed announcement after announcement into a press conference overlooking the New York City skyline, but some of the most interesting stuff didn’t get much detail. Case in point: The company’s working on an Android-powered Predator tablet to go along with its series of angular, red and black gaming PCs and it’s going to launch by the end of 2015. At this point though, there are far more questions hanging in the air than answers. All the company spokespeople I’ve cornered have been able to confirm is that the tablet is slated for a launch during the fourth quarter of the year, and that the pointy, vaguely futuristic design you see above should stay the same right through launch in Q4. Yeah, we’re not huge fans of the look either, but an Acer spokesperson gleefully pointed out how the tablet’s triangular accents and crimson flair appeared throughout company’s updated gaming lineup. An Acer exec also briefly talked up a haptic feedback feature while on-stage, so the tablet should rumble in your hand while you’re taking hard corners in Asphalt 8 (or, you know, what supported title the company will soon play up). In addition to an 8-inch screen (no one on-site was sure of its resolution), Acer seems particularly proud of a quartet of front-facing speakers nestled into the tablet’s corners that’ll blast the dulcet groans of dismembered zombies in Dead Trigger 2 . The rest of the particulars are sadly shrouded in mystery, but it’s really no surprise why — with a launch so far off, Acer itself probably isn’t sure what’s going to wind up inside it. Of course, the bigger question is whether this thing even stands a chance. The market for gaming tablets is a pretty underserved one as it stands — you’ve got the generally wonderful NVIDIA Shield tablet with its Tegra K1, and a bunch of off-brand options that make great fodder for YouTube videos. Acer’s attempt may well be the right product at the right time… or it could serve as proof positive that people don’t actually want or need dedicated gaming tablets. It’s always the generalist tablets that seem to sell the best (probably because they don’t actively alienate anyone), but hey: We won’t turn this thing away should one land on our desks for review. Comments

Read More:
Acer’s building an Android gaming tablet to go with its Predator PCs

An Absolutely Massive Volcano Is Exploding In Chile Right Now

Calbuco , a stratovolcano in southern Chile, began erupting yesterday at 7pm local time. First spewing massive ash clouds then, at 10pm, erupting explosively as its fragile structure collapsed inwards. Here’s all the stunning imagery and video; we’ll keep it updated as this develops. You can see it from space! Read more…

Read the article:
An Absolutely Massive Volcano Is Exploding In Chile Right Now