This Guy Built a Toll Road Just To Avoid Construction Delays

When life hands you landslides, make your own private toll road detour. (Haven’t you heard the saying?) Since February, a landslide has closed the A431 highway between Bristol and Bath in England, adding an extra hour to the commute. So one enterprising local guy built a road through a private field—the UK’s private first toll road to open in more than a century . Read more…

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This Guy Built a Toll Road Just To Avoid Construction Delays

A Comprehensive Guide to TextExpander

Text expansion apps are a great way to save time when you find yourself typing the same information repeatedly, but they can do much more than that. One our favorites is TextExpander on Mac, and it’s a powerful tool once you learn how to use it. Read more…

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A Comprehensive Guide to TextExpander

For months, 911 callers got automated message that said “hang up and dial 911”

No one suffering from an emergency expects to be greeted by a recording when they dial 911. Yet 911 callers in Caddo County, Oklahoma were unable to reach a human operator for months in 2013. Instead, they were routed to an automated message that “instructed callers to ‘hang up and dial 911’ if their call is an emergency,” the Federal Communications Commission said yesterday . The FCC issued a proposed fine of $100,000 to the Hinton Telephone Company, saying the telco “betrayed its customers.” Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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For months, 911 callers got automated message that said “hang up and dial 911”

Synolocker 0-Day Ransomware Puts NAS Files At Risk

Deathlizard (115856) writes “Have a Synology NAS? Is it accessible to the internet? If it is, You might want to take it offline for a while. Synolocker is a 0-day ransomware that once installed, will encrypt all of the NAS’s files and hold them for ransom just like Cryptolocker does for windows PC’s. The Virus is currently exploiting an unknown vulnerability to spread. Synology is investagating the issue.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Synolocker 0-Day Ransomware Puts NAS Files At Risk

This is why Facebook bought WhatsApp for $16 billion: because its throughput of shared photographs i

This is why Facebook bought WhatsApp for $16 billion : because its throughput of shared photographs is astronomical, and rising at an insane rate. (See also, the purchase of Instagram and the crazy offer for Snapchat .) [ KPCB ] Read more…

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This is why Facebook bought WhatsApp for $16 billion: because its throughput of shared photographs i

Can Atoms Ever Touch?

There’s a very commonly held view that atoms can never touch: bring them together slowly, and you reach a point where they begin to repel. But in this video, Professor Philip Moriarty explains that really isn’t the case. Read more…

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Can Atoms Ever Touch?

Inside the Facebook Algorithm Most Users Don’t Even Know Exists

First time accepted submitter catparty (3600549) writes An examination of what we can know about Facebook’s new machine learning News Feed algorithm. From the article: “Facebook’s current News Feed algorithm might be smarter, but some of its core considerations don’t stray too far from the groundwork laid by EdgeRank, though thanks to machine learning, Facebook’s current algorithm has a better ear for ‘signals from you.’ Facebook confirmed to us that the new News Feed ranking algorithm does indeed take 100, 000 weighted variables into account to determine what we see. These factors help Facebook display an average 300 posts culled from roughly 1, 500 possible posts per day, per user.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Inside the Facebook Algorithm Most Users Don’t Even Know Exists

Re/code: Apple’s next iPhone event happens on September 9

This iPhone 5S is likely to be superseded in September. Andrew Cunningham After a summer full of rumors and part leaks, Re/code reports that Apple is planning to hold its next iPhone event on Tuesday, September 9. Re/code co-founder Walt Mossberg has a long history with Apple and his prior publication AllThingsD correctly predicted the dates Apple’s iPhone and iPad events last year, so there’s a good chance this is the real thing. This year Apple is widely expected to release a redesigned “iPhone 6” with a larger screen. Reports have varied, but anonymous sources have told multiple publications that the company is planning a 4.7-inch phone to rival “normal” handsets from competitors, as well as a 5.5-inch version intended to compete with so-called “phablet” phones like Samsung’s Galaxy Note series. Last year’s top-end iPhone 5S and midrange iPhone 5C were both refinements of the iPhone 5 design introduced in 2012 . Apple also uses its iPhone events to announce final release dates for new iOS versions, which have for the past two years have come out on the second Wednesday after the iPhone unveiling. This means a final release of iOS 8 is likely on or near September 17, assuming Apple doesn’t change its plans. iOS 8 will refine the new design introduced in iOS 7 , allow iOS devices to work more closely with Macs running OS X Yosemite, and introduce a number of under-the-hood improvements including Extensions. Third-generation Apple TVs will receive an updated UI, as well. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Re/code: Apple’s next iPhone event happens on September 9