Category: reader

FTC fines online dating service $616,000 for using “virtual cupids”

More and more people are becoming familiar with the joys—and frustrations—of online dating. A recent Pew study found that 10 percent of the US public is using online dating services, and a full 38 percent of those people say they are “single and looking.” There’s enough money to be made as an Internet matchmaker that it’s apparently sparking some companies to push the boundaries of what’s legal. Yesterday, the Federal Trade Commission disclosed that  it reached a settlement with JDI Dating Ltd. , a UK company that runs 18 dating sites that it claims have over 12 million members. The sites include CupidsWand.com, FlirtCrowd.com, and FindMeLove.com. JDI will have to pay $616,165 in redress, and it must stop business practices that were said to violate both the FTC Act and a newer law that regulates recurring billing online. JDI’s dating sites would make fake profiles, which the company called “virtual cupids,” and have them send computer-generated messages to new users who had created profiles but hadn’t yet paid. On JDI’s websites, users received an e-mail notifying them that another user sent them a “wink” within minutes of joining. Then they got additional winks, messages, and photo requests, supposedly from other members in their geographic area. Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Continued here:
FTC fines online dating service $616,000 for using “virtual cupids”

Signed-In Maps Mean More Location Data For Google

mikejuk writes The announcement on the Google Geo Developers blog has the catchy title No map is an island. It points out that while there are now around 2 million active sites that have Google Maps embedded, they store data independently, The new feature, called attributed save, aims to overcome this problem by creating an integrated experience between the apps you use that have map content and Google Maps, and all it requires is that users sign in. So if you use a map in a specific app you will be able to see locations you entered in other apps.This all sounds great and it makes sense to allow users to take all of the locations that have previously been stored in app silos and put them all together into one big map data pool. The only down side is that the pool is owned by Google and some users might not like the idea of letting Google have access to so much personal geo information. It seems you can have convenience or you can have privacy.It might just be that many users prefer their maps to be islands. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read More:
Signed-In Maps Mean More Location Data For Google

This Calculator Shows How Long It Will Take to Save a Million Dollars

With consistent savings and (hopefully) a decent interest rate on those savings, you might be able to become a millionaire. When and what will it take? This interactive calculator will show you. Read more…

View article:
This Calculator Shows How Long It Will Take to Save a Million Dollars

Nottingham’s National Videogame Arcade could be the best museum ever

Nottingham’s probably best known for its infamous sheriff, but next year it’ll have another claim to fame when a museum dedicated to gaming opens in the city. The National Videogame Arcade, said to be “the world’s first cultural centre for gaming, ” will become the new permanent home to over 12, 000 pieces from the National Videogame Archive — a collection of hardware, software and all manner of other gaming paraphernalia established by the Science Museum and Nottingham Trent University in 2007. Spread over five floors, the museum is being set up to “promote the cultural, economic, educational and social benefits of gaming” by GameCity, an organisation that runs an annual festival and other events that celebrate video games. And when it opens in March 2015, it won’t simply be another glass-walled storeroom . Temporary exhibitions will complement permanent galleries, and one floor will be devoted to an interactive space that teaches visitors about the game creation process. Best of all, you’ll actually be able to play some of the greatest games ever made, instead of just reading about their history and impact. It is an “arcade, ” after all. Filed under: Gaming Comments Source: GameCity

Original post:
Nottingham’s National Videogame Arcade could be the best museum ever

Sitpack and Relax on This Pocketable, Pop-Out Chair-in-a-Tube

Hot on the heel-plate-attachment-points of Noonee’s “Chairless Chair, ” the team at Mono+Mono has launched the ” Sitpack ” on Kickstarter. The Copenhagen-based design consultancy has developed what they’re calling “the world’s most compact, foldable resting device, ” and they’re looking to bring the pocketable monopod to market via a crowdfunding campaign. Designed in keeping with the seven universal design principles, the form factor looks like something made by, say, Beats, but the device itself is actually entirely mechanical: The canister splits laterally into wings (which serve as the seat), revealing a telescoping leg that extends to up to 85cm (33in). We know it’s that time of year, but don’t try this with your kid’s lightsaber toy: Originally known as “Rest”—hence the references in the video—the “Sitpack” is essentially a further reduced version of portable camp stools or those canes with a built-in tripod-stool (both of which I came across in the USPTO archive, after a commenter tipped me off about the original ‘wearable chair’ ), as they indicate in a tabulated side-by-side comparison on their Kickstarter page. They’re available for the discounted price of kr175 DKK (about $30 USD); retail will be in the kr270 DKK ($46 USD) range—not bad, considering that they’re looking to manufacture it in Denmark; see more here . Process sketches & renders The Team (more…)

See the original post:
Sitpack and Relax on This Pocketable, Pop-Out Chair-in-a-Tube

Brazil Is Keeping Its Promise to Disconnect from the U.S. Internet

Brazil was not bluffing last year, when it said that it would disconnect from the United States-controlled internet due to the NSA obscenely invasive surveillance tactics . The country is about to stretch a cable from the northern city of Fortaleza all the way to Portugal. This is a big deal. Read more…

View article:
Brazil Is Keeping Its Promise to Disconnect from the U.S. Internet

The Worst Bugs in OS X Yosemite and How to Fix Them

There’s a lot to like about OS X Yosemite , Apple’s brand-new, super-powerful operating system of the future, but a quick glance around the software’s official support forums shows that not all users are having a trouble-free experience. If you’re struggling with strange bugs and quirks in Yosemite then these are the fixes you can try. Read more…

Read more here:
The Worst Bugs in OS X Yosemite and How to Fix Them

Security Companies Team Up, Take Down Chinese Hacking Group

daten writes A coalition of security companies has hit a sophisticated hacking group in China with a heavy blow. The effort is detailed in a report released today by Novetta. The coalition, which calls itself Operation SMN, detected and cleaned up malicious code on 43, 000 computers worldwide that were targeted by Axiom, an incredibly sophisticated organization that has been stealing intellectual property for more than six years. The group united as part of Microsoft’s Coordinated Malware Eradication (CME) campaign against Hikit (a.k.a. Hikiti), the custom malware often used by Axiom to burrow into organizations, exfiltrate data, and evade detection, sometimes for years. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Continue Reading:
Security Companies Team Up, Take Down Chinese Hacking Group

"Ambulance Drone" Prototype Unveiled In Holland

schwit1 writes with news about a flying defibrillator designed by a Dutch student. A Dutch-based student on Tuesday unveiled a prototype of an “ambulance drone”, a flying defibrillator able to reach heart attack victims within precious life-saving minutes. Developed by Belgian engineering graduate Alec Momont, it can fly at speeds of up to 100 kilometres per hour (60 miles per hour). “Around 800, 000 people suffer a cardiac arrest in the European Union every year and only 8.0 percent survive, the main reason for this is the relatively long response time of emergency services of around 10 minutes, while brain death and fatalities occur with four to six minutes, ” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

View article:
"Ambulance Drone" Prototype Unveiled In Holland

Labor Department To Destroy H-1B Records

Presto Vivace writes H-1B records that are critical to research and take up a small amount of storage are set for deletion. “In a notice posted last week, the U.S. Department of Labor said that records used for labor certification, whether in paper or electronic, ‘are temporary records and subject to destruction’ after five years, under a new policy. There was no explanation for the change, and it is perplexing to researchers. The records under threat are called Labor Condition Applications (LCA), which identify the H-1B employer, worksite, the prevailing wage, and the wage paid to the worker. The cost of storage can’t be an issue for the government’s $80 billion IT budget: A full year’s worth of LCA data is less than 1GB.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Read the original post:
Labor Department To Destroy H-1B Records