With 4K slowly but surely making its way to the mainstream, it was only a matter of time before the Ultra HD format hit Roku—perhaps the most promising streaming device on the market . Now, not only will Roku be hooking up with Netflix to start streaming in 4K, but it’ll be teaming up with Best Buy’s Insignia and Haier to offer Roku-powered TVs for all your content-streaming needs. Read more…
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Future Roku Devices Will Stream Netflix in 4K
An anonymous reader sends word that the U.S. Army may adjust some of its training practices and rules in order to attract the best “cyber warriors” available. “New U.S. Army cyber warriors could be spared the rigors of combat training to help the Pentagon attract badly needed recruits from the ponytail wearing Google generation, a top American general has suggested. Lt Gen Brown, commander of the US Army Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, said: ‘We need to give serious consideration to how the US Army could combine the technical expertise of the “Google” generation with its more traditional military skills. In order to gain an intellectual advantage over adversaries in cyberspace, we will need to tap into a talent pool that may not fit the stereotypical soldier profile. Our goal is to recruit the best talent possible.'” This is not the first time there has been talk about loosening requirements to fill these roles. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Christmas lights are a uniquely American tradition. That’s not just because the first electric Christmas lights appeared in America. The tradition embodies a certain American-ness, an ingenuity and hunger for innovation, that’s easily overlooked. America doesn’t just make things. America makes things spectacular. Read more…
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The Very American History of Christmas Lights
At this point in time, you’ve already hung your tinsel and decorated your tree with blinking lights. Maybe there’s even a glowing Santa statue on your lawn. But did you ever step back and think about where all of these holiday decorations come from? A factory in China is the easy answer. An entire town of factories specializing in Christmas cheer is the correct answer . Read more…
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A Single Chinese Town Makes Most of the World’s Christmas Decorations
According to Bloomberg , the source of the huge Sony Pictures leak has been traced to a five-star hotel in Thailand’s capital . Leaching off of the St. Regis hotel’s high-speed wi-fi, the hackers, currently believed the work of the North Korea-linked group DarkSeoul, carried out their devastating and embarrassing attack, leaking 47, 000 SSNs and other sensitive information. Read more…
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Report: Sony Leak Traced to a Bangkok Hotel
New submitter FarnsworthG writes A news story about the capture of a kidnapper mentioned that he was caught because a car dealer had secretly installed a GPS device on his car. Apparently this is becoming common for “buy-here-pay-here” dealers. The devices are sold by Spireon, among many others. Raises interesting privacy questions. FarnsworthG also points to this Jalopnik article condemning the practice, when it’s done without disclosure. The kidnapping itself, of Philadelphia nursing assistant Carlesha Freeland-Gaither, was captured by a surveillance camera. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Dealer-Installed GPS Tracker Leads To Kidnapper’s Arrest in Maryland
Lasrick (2629253) writes The blossoming of online Internet-trading platforms has at least one downside: insufficient inspectors and product controls when it comes to goods relevant to nuclear proliferation. “On Alibaba (and other platforms), one can purchase many of the specialized items needed for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. A short list of items advertised for sale on the site include metals suitable for centrifuge manufacturing, gauges and pumps for centrifuge cascades for uranium enrichment, metallurgical casting equipment suitable for making nuclear weapon ‘pits, ‘ and high-speed cameras suitable for use in nuclear weapon diagnostic tests. A company on an Alibaba-owned Chinese Internet-trading platform even posted an ad for the sale of the rare metal gallium, which the seller trumpeted could be used to stabilize plutonium.” Although many companies have strict compliance procedures in place to help avoid proliferation, many do not. There are several procedures these platforms can put into place to minimize risk, and both national (and international) regulators have a role to play, as well as shareholders. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Buying Goods To Make Nuclear Weapons On eBay, Alibaba, and Other Platforms
An anonymous reader writes: John Romero helped bring us Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein, but he’s also known for Daikatana — an immensely-hyped followup that flopped hard. After remaining on the periphery of game development since then, Romero announced last month that he’s coming back to the FPS genre with a new game in development. Today, he spoke with Develop Magazine about his thoughts on the future of shooters. Many players worry that the genre is stagnant, but Romero disagrees that this has to be the case. “Shooters have so many places to go, but people just copy the same thing over and over because they’re afraid to try something new. We’ve barely scratched the surface.” He also thinks the technology underpinning games matters less than ever. Romero says high poly counts and new shaders are a distraction from what’s important: good game design. “Look at Minecraft – it’s unbelievable that it was made by one person, right? And it shows there’s plenty of room for something that will innovate and change the whole industry. If some brilliant designers take the lessons of Minecraft, take the idea of creation and playing with an environment, and try to work out what the next version of that is, and then if other people start refining that, it’ll take Minecraft to an area where it will become a real genre, the creation game genre.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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John Romero On Reinventing the Shooter
If you’ve ever brewed beer commercially in the United States, chances are you’re familiar with a one Kent “Battle” Martin. Because as far as brewers are concerned, he is the Alpha and the Omega of beer labels— without his approval, you’re effectively screwed . Read more…
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Every Beer Label In the Country Is Cleared By Just One Guy
An anonymous reader writes Google has announced it is backing plans to build and operate a new high-speed internet Trans-Pacific cable system called “FASTER.” In addition to Google, the $300 million project will be jointly managed by China Mobile International, China Telecom Global, Global Transit, KDDI, and SingTel, with NEC as the system supplier. FASTER will feature the latest high-quality 6-fiber-pair cable and optical transmission technologies. The initial design capacity is expected to be 60Tb/s (100Gb/s x 100 wavelengths x 6 fiber-pairs), connecting the US with two locations in Japan. Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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Google Is Backing a New $300 Million High-Speed Internet Trans-Pacific Cable