Tag: polls

With a Single Wiretap Order, US Authorities Listened In on 3.3 Million Phone Calls

US authorities intercepted and recorded millions of phone calls last year under a single wiretap order, authorized as part of a narcotics investigation, ZDNet’s Zack Whittaker reports. From the article: The wiretap order authorized an unknown government agency to carry out real-time intercepts of 3.29 million cell phone conversations over a two-month period at some point during 2016, after the order was applied for in late 2015. The order was signed to help authorities track 26 individuals suspected of involvement with illegal drug and narcotic-related activities in Pennsylvania. The wiretap cost the authorities $335, 000 to conduct and led to a dozen arrests. But the authorities noted that the surveillance effort led to no incriminating intercepts, and none of the handful of those arrested have been brought to trial or convicted. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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With a Single Wiretap Order, US Authorities Listened In on 3.3 Million Phone Calls

Vulnerability Discovered In Latest Ubuntu Distributions, Users Advised To Update

Celarent Darii writes: There is a vulnerability in the latest ubuntu distributions due to the DNS resolver included in systemd. The inclusion of the dns resolver was lamented by many on the mailing list, not without cause. All are advised to update their distribution. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Vulnerability Discovered In Latest Ubuntu Distributions, Users Advised To Update

Netflix Has More American Subscribers Than Cable TV

According to Leichtman Research estimates from the first quarter of 2017, there are more Netflix subscribers in the U.S. (50.85 million) than there are customers for major cable TV networks (48.61 million). While it doesn’t mean Netflix is bigger than TV because it doesn’t account for the 33.19 million satellite viewers, it represents a huge milestone for a streaming service that had half as many users just 5 years ago. Engadget reports: The shift in power comes in part through Netflix’s ever-greater reliance on originals. There’s enough high-quality material that it can compete with more established networks. However, it’s also getting a boost from the decline of conventional TV. Those traditional sources lost 760, 000 subscribers in the first quarter of the year versus 120, 000 a year earlier. Leichtman believes a combination of cord cutters and reduced marketing toward cost-conscious viewers is to blame. Cable giants might not be in dire straits, but they’re clearly focusing on their most lucrative customers as others jump ship for the internet. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Netflix Has More American Subscribers Than Cable TV

Cook Says Apple Is Focusing on Making an Autonomous Car System

An anonymous reader shares a Bloomberg report: After years toiling away in secret on its car project, Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has for the first time laid out exactly what the company is up to in the automotive market: It’s concentrating on self-driving technology. “We’re focusing on autonomous systems, ” Cook said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “It’s a core technology that we view as very important. We sort of see it as the mother of all AI projects, ” Cook said in his most detailed comments to date on Apple’s plans in the car space. “It’s probably one of the most difficult A.I. projects actually to work on.” “There is a major disruption looming there, ” Cook said on Bloomberg Television, citing self-driving technology, electric vehicles and ride-hailing. “You’ve got kind of three vectors of change happening generally in the same time frame.” Cook was also bullish about the prospects for electric vehicles, a market which last week helped Tesla become the world’s fourth-biggest carmaker by market capitalization, even as it ranks well outside the top 10 by unit sales.”It’s a marvelous experience not to stop at the filling station or the gas station, ” Cook said. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Cook Says Apple Is Focusing on Making an Autonomous Car System

Airbnb Announces Its Plan To House 100,000 People In Need

New submitter mirandakatz writes: Airbnb has just unveiled its Open Homes Platform, a home-sharing site for hosts motivated by goodwill instead of profits — and for guests motivated by need rather than wanderlust. Specifically, Airbnb is going to begin by connecting refugees with hosts in Canada, France, Greece, and the United States. Ultimately, refugees will be just one group that the site aims to help: Site visitors can also nominate other groups of people for temporary placements, and the platform will expand to include them eventually. At Backchannel, Jessi Hempel dives into the home-sharing platform’s latest effort, and places it in the context of the company’s broader business strategy. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Airbnb Announces Its Plan To House 100,000 People In Need

Verizon Expected To Cut Up To 1,000 Yahoo, AOL Jobs After Acquisition

Verizon’s acquisition and merger of AOL and Yahoo will result in many job cuts. According to Recode, up to 1, 000 AOL and Yahoo jobs are expected to take place across the two companies as the merger is completed. From the report: This action is not unexpected, given that both companies have a lot of redundancies, including in human resources, finance, marketing and general administration. The merger between the two companies — after Verizon bought both in succession to add tech and content to its mobile services — is expected to be completed in the next week. The shareholder meeting to approve the deal takes place tomorrow. Plans to combine both companies have been in the works for a while, as the pair attempt to make a cohesive unit out of two entities that have multiple assets and also multiple problems. It will be headed by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong, who will become the CEO of Oath, the new name for the Verizon subsidiary. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Verizon Expected To Cut Up To 1,000 Yahoo, AOL Jobs After Acquisition

New Solar Plane Plans Non-Stop Flight Around The World

An anonymous reader quotes Bloomberg: [A] Russian tycoon and his Renova Group plan a record-breaking effort to send a plane around the world nonstop using only the power of the sun. If all goes well, a single pilot will fly for five days straight at altitudes of up to 10 miles, about a third higher than commercial airliners. The project isn’t just a stunt. The glider-style airplane with a 36-meter (120-foot) wingspan will be a test of technologies that are set to be used to build new generations of autonomous craft for the military and business, say aerospace experts. They will fly continuously, have far greater reach and control than satellites and expand broadcast, communication and spying capabilities around the globe… “Our flight should prove that it’s possible to make long-distance flights using solar energy, ” said Mikhail Lifshitz, Renova’s director of high-tech asset development and a qualified pilot-instructor. A “flying laboratory” test-plane will be ready by year-end, Lifshitz said in an interview. The plane will conserve power by slowly gliding down from the high altitudes at night — without ever touching the ground. In comparison a solar plane (partially funded by Google) already circled the earth last year — but it took 22 days, and made 17 different stops. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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New Solar Plane Plans Non-Stop Flight Around The World

1.9 Million Bell Customer Email Addresses Stolen By ‘Anonymous Hacker’

Bell, Canada’s largest telecommunications company, said a hacker had accessed customer information containing about 1.9 million active email addresses and about 1, 700 names and active phone numbers. The breach was not connected to the recent global WannaCry malware attacks, the company added. From a report: The information appears to have been posted online, but the company could not confirm the leaked data was one and the same. “There is no indication that any financial, password or other sensitive personal information was accessed, ” the company wrote in a statement. Bell said the incident was unrelated to the massive spike in ransomware infections that affected an estimated 200, 000 computers in more than 150 countries late last week. It is not clear when the breach occurred, how the data was accessed, or how long the attacker had access to Bell’s systems. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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1.9 Million Bell Customer Email Addresses Stolen By ‘Anonymous Hacker’

Researchers Find New Version Of WanaDecrypt0r Ransomware Without A Kill Switch

Remember that “kill switch” which shut down the WannCry ransomware? An anonymous reader quotes Motherboard: Over Friday and Saturday, samples of the malware emerged without that debilitating feature, meaning that attackers may be able to resume spreading ransomware even though a security researcher cut off the original wave. “I can confirm we’ve had versions without the kill switch domain connect since yesterday, ” Costin Raiu, director of global research and analysis team at Kaspersky Lab told Motherboard on Saturday… Another researcher confirmed they have seen samples of the malware without the killswitch. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Researchers Find New Version Of WanaDecrypt0r Ransomware Without A Kill Switch

Researchers Find New Version Of WanaDecrypt0r Ransomware Without A Kill Switch

Remember that “kill switch” which shut down the WannCry ransomware? An anonymous reader quotes Motherboard: Over Friday and Saturday, samples of the malware emerged without that debilitating feature, meaning that attackers may be able to resume spreading ransomware even though a security researcher cut off the original wave. “I can confirm we’ve had versions without the kill switch domain connect since yesterday, ” Costin Raiu, director of global research and analysis team at Kaspersky Lab told Motherboard on Saturday… Another researcher confirmed they have seen samples of the malware without the killswitch. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Researchers Find New Version Of WanaDecrypt0r Ransomware Without A Kill Switch