How Understanding Probability Could Save Your Life

The laws of probability seems simple at first thought, but scratch the surface and their inner truth can be rather more counterintuitive. This video describes one of those situations—and the answer might prove more useful than you think. Read more…

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How Understanding Probability Could Save Your Life

Linux Kernel Switching To Linux v4.0, Coming With Many New Addons

An anonymous reader writes Following polling on Linus Torvald’s Google+ page, he’s decided to make the next kernel version Linux 4.0 rather than Linux 3.20. Linux 4.0 is going to bring many big improvements besides the version bump with there being live kernel patching, pNFS block server support, VirtIO 1.0, IBM z13 mainframe support, new ARM SoC support, and many new hardware drivers and general improvements. Linux 4.0 is codenamed “Hurr durr I’ma sheep.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Linux Kernel Switching To Linux v4.0, Coming With Many New Addons

Cuba’s Illegal Underground Internet Is Thriving

In Old Havana’s last remaining internet cafe, an hour online costs about almost a quarter of an average monthly salary. But armed with some piecemeal networking equipment and rebellious sensibilities, some Cuban youths have taken connectivity into their own hands . Read more…

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Cuba’s Illegal Underground Internet Is Thriving

Dish Network Violated Do-Not-Call 57 Million Times

lightbox32 writes Dish Network has been found guilty of violating the Do Not Call list on 57 million separate occasions. They were also found liable for abandoning or causing telemarketers to abandon nearly 50 million outbound telephone calls, in violation of the abandoned-call provision of the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule. Penalties for infringing on the Do Not Call list can be up to a whopping $16, 000 for each outbound call. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Dish Network Violated Do-Not-Call 57 Million Times

Know Your Type: Five Mechanical Keyboards Compared

MojoKid writes As a power user, you notice certain things that the average person might not. One of those is the difference between typing on a sweet mechanical keyboard with luxurious key action, versus pounding away on a run-of-the-mill squishy plank that relies on membrane switches to register your keystrokes. The difference may seem subtle to the uninitiated, though even casual typists can recognize that there’s something inherently superior about a mechanical keyboard. Of course, it’s the mechanical key switches that are responsible for elevating the typing experience. These are better than the rubber domes found in membrane keyboards in a number of ways, including feel, responsiveness, and durability. Mechanical keyboards are growing in popularity, as word is spreading about how good they are. In turn, keyboard manufacturers have responded by feeding more mechanical models into what was once a niche market. If you go out in search of a mechanical keyboard, you’ll now find a mountain of options. This roundup further reinforced something we’ve known for a long time, which is that mechanical keyboards are the superior choice for both gaming and daily typing chores. That doesn’t mean they’re all created equal — there are different key switches to choose from, and features vary from one plank to the next. The choice of key switch type is highly subjective but we can say that Cherry MX key switches are indeed of higher quality than knock-offs like the Kailh switch. That’s not to say Kailh switches are bad, just that you can discern a difference when going from one to the other. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Know Your Type: Five Mechanical Keyboards Compared

Human Eye’s Oscillation Rate Determines Smooth Frame Rate

jones_supa writes: It should be safe to conclude that humans can see frame rates greater than 24 fps. The next question is: why do movies at 48 fps look “video-y, ” and why do movies at 24 fps look “dreamy” and “cinematic.” Why are games more realistic at 60 fps than 30 fps? Simon Cooke from Microsoft (Xbox) Advanced Technology Group has an interesting theory to explain this all. Your eyes oscillate a tiny amount, ranging from 70 to 103 Hz (on average 83.68 Hz). So here’s the hypothesis: The ocular microtremors wiggle the retina, allowing it to sample at approximately 2x the resolution of the sensors. Showing someone pictures that vary at less than half the rate of the oscillation means we’re no longer receiving a signal that changes fast enough to allow the supersampling operation to happen. So we’re throwing away a lot of perceived-motion data, and a lot of detail as well. Some of the detail can be restored with temporal antialiasing and simulating real noise, but ideally Cooke suggests going with a high enough frame rate (over 43 fps) and if possible, a high resolution. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Human Eye’s Oscillation Rate Determines Smooth Frame Rate

New Destover Malware Signed By Stolen Sony Certificate

Trailrunner7 writes: Researchers have discovered a new version of the Destover malware that was used in the recent Sony Pictures Entertainment breaches, and in an ironic twist, the sample is signed by a legitimate certificate stolen from Sony. The new sample is essentially identical to an earlier version of Destover that was not signed. Destover has been used in a variety of attacks in recent years and it’s representative of the genre of malware that doesn’t just compromise machines and steal data, but can destroy information as well. The attackers who have claimed credit for the attack on Sony have spent the last couple of weeks gradually releasing large amounts of information stolen in the breach, including unreleased movies, personal data of Sony employees and sensitive security information such as digital certificates and passwords. The new, signed version of Destover appears to have been compiled in July and was signed on Dec. 5, the day after Kaspersky Lab published an analysis of the known samples of the malware. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New Destover Malware Signed By Stolen Sony Certificate

Windows 10 Gets a Package Manager For the Command Line

aojensen writes: ExtremeTech reports that the most recent build of Windows 10 Technical Preview shows that Windows is finally getting a package manager. The package manager is built for the PowerShell command line based on OneGet. OneGet is a command line utility for PowerShell very similar to classic Linux utilities such as apt-get and yum, which enable administrators and power users comfortable with the command line to install software packages without the need for a graphical installer. ExtremeTech emphasizes that “you can open up PowerShell and use OneGet to install thousands of applications with commands such as Find-Package VLC and Install-Package Firefox.” It’s a missing feature Linux advocates have long used to argue against Windows in terms of automation and scale. The package manage is open to any software repository and is based on the Chocolatey format for defining package repositories.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Windows 10 Gets a Package Manager For the Command Line

CHP Officers Steal, Forward Nude Pictures From Arrestee Smartphones

sabri writes: Following the initial suspension of a California Highway Patrol officer earlier this week, news has come out that the CHP has an entire ring of officers who steal and subsequently share nude pictures. The nudes are stolen from women who are arrested or stopped. Officer Sean Harrington of Martinez reportedly confessed to stealing explicit photos from the suspect’s phone, and said he forwarded those images to at least two other CHP officers. Where is the ACLU when you need them the most? Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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CHP Officers Steal, Forward Nude Pictures From Arrestee Smartphones

Kindle Voyage Review: The Best E-Reader Lots of Money Can Buy

For the last week, I’ve been reading off of a Kindle e-reader that somehow costs twice as much as a brand new Kindle Fire HD tablet. What a world! And while I still don’t know if the Kindle Voyage is worth $200 (or $290 for the 3G model) I do know that it’s the best e-reader ever built. Read more…

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Kindle Voyage Review: The Best E-Reader Lots of Money Can Buy