sex – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Over one million people swiped right for premium Tinder

According to Match Group, more than one million people have ponied up the $9.99 per month (or more, if you’re over 30 ) for Tinder’s premium service level in the first quarter of 2016. That figure is a relatively small portion of Tinder’s 50 million global users, but there are still more than a million people out there whose app-based dating experience includes unlimited swipes, extra Super Likes and the ability to change their location to swipe from afar. If you want a robotic meat-swiper , however, you’ll have to build one yourself. Like the ups and downs of dating life, Tinder has been on a bit of a rollercoaster ride in the past six months. Earlier this year, police in the UK said reports of crime related to dating apps like Tinder and Grindr rose 700 percent since 2014. In November, Tinder CEO Sean Rad also gave an ill-advised interview in which he drastically misunderstood the word “sodomy” and simultaneously ran afoul of SEC rules right before parent company Match Group filed for IPO . And yet, Rad’s comments don’t seem to have hurt the business at all. In total, Match Group now claims around 5.1 million monthly paid members across all its dating sites, which include Tinder, Match.com, OkCupid and the recently acquired PlentyOfFish.

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Over one million people swiped right for premium Tinder

Archaeologists have new tools that make it easy to scan artifacts

A European Union-funded project called ” Presious ” could make a modern Indiana Jones’ tasks easier even if they’re operating with tiny budgets. See, the initiative is currently developing a number of software tools they can use to scan artifacts. The first one can be used to scan stone objects and estimate their erosion patterns, while the second one treats scanned fragments like 3D puzzles and pieces them together. Finally, the third tool can fill in gaps in symmetrical objects if some of their pieces couldn’t be found. According to the European Union , these tools’ capabilities are made possible by the development of predictive scanning. That technique taps into existing repositories of digitized archaeological finds to predict erosion patterns, missing pieces’ shapes and broken fragments’ fits. The best thing about these tools is that archaeologists will be able to download them for free once development is done this January 2016. Via: Popsci Source: Presious

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Archaeologists have new tools that make it easy to scan artifacts

T-Mobile’s CEO does damage control, apologizes to the EFF

T-Mobile CEO John Legere has published an open letter on the company’s website, and it smells like an attempt at damage control after getting some real backlash. As you might know, he’s been making good use of his colorful vocabulary to defend his company over accusations that it’s throttling YouTube videos these past few weeks. In the process, he lambasted Google and accused the Electronic Frontier Foundation of being a paid mouthpiece. In the surprisingly expletive-free missive, he claims that Binge On is a “VERY ‘pro’ net neutrality capability, ” because you can switch it on or off whenever you want. The T-Mobile uncarrier feature allows you to stream 480p videos without eating up your data, but it can only do so for specific services like Netflix. That doesn’t sit well with net neutrality advocates who believe that it makes certain apps more appealing than others. The FCC cited that as one of its reasons when it summoned the company to talk about its data exemption scheme in December. Legere also apologizes to the EFF for posting a video asking “who the fuck” the organization is and who’s paying it. His response was triggered by the non-profit digital rights group’s question on Twitter, asking if Binge On alters the video stream in any way or limits its bandwidth: Look, by now you know that I am a vocal, animated and sometimes foul mouthed CEO. I don’t filter myself and you know that no one at T-Mobile filters me either (no, they don’t even try). That means I will sometimes incite a bit of a ‘social media riot’, but I’m not going to apologize for that. I will however apologize for offending EFF and its supporters. Just because we don’t completely agree on all aspects of Binge On doesn’t mean I don’t see how they fight for consumers. We both agree that it is important to protect consumers’ rights and to give consumers value. We have that in common, so more power to them. As I mentioned last week, we look forward to sitting down and talking with the EFF and that is a step we will definitely take. While we may never know why the CEO suddenly decided to publish this letter, he said he decided to write it up for the sake of the data exemption feature: Unfortunately, my color commentary from last week is now drowning out the real value of Binge On – so hopefully this letter will help make that clear again. . @EFF pic.twitter.com/pv6V4oOJwS — John Legere (@JohnLegere) January 7, 2016 T-Mobile’s CEO is dying to know who EFF is. Friends, please tweet at @JohnLegere with the hashtag #WeAreEFF to enlighten him. — EFF (@EFF) January 7, 2016 [Image credit: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images] Source: T-Mobile

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T-Mobile’s CEO does damage control, apologizes to the EFF

Police claim to have cracked extra-secure BlackBerry phones

BlackBerry smartphones have secure messaging as a matter of course, but for some that isn’t enough: there are custom models that are even more secure thanks to PGP-encrypted mail. However, it seems that these locked down models aren’t quite as safe as you’d think. The Netherlands Forensic Institute has confirmed a recent report that it’s capable of scooping up encrypted data from PGP-equipped BlackBerry devices. It’s not discussing the exact techniques involved, but it’s relying on a tool from CelleBrite to get the job done. One possibility is that investigators are guessing the password based on a memory dump, although that normally requires yanking a memory chip off the phone’s motherboard. If it’s any consolation, police need physical access to crack these BlackBerrys. Their methods also aren’t completely reliable (a small batch couldn’t be cracked), and it’s uncertain that this will work with every single PGP implementation. GhostPGP, for instance, claims that it’s unaffected. All the same, this isn’t very comforting if you bought a customized BlackBerry with the promise of airtight security. And there’s no certainty that only Dutch cops have access — it’s entirely possible that other law enforcement and surveillance agencies know these tricks. [Image credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images] Source: Misdaadnieuws (translated) , Motherboard

Android 5.0 Devices Aren’t Encrypted By Default—Despite Google Promises

When Android 5.0 Lollipop launched, Google proudly claimed that full-disk encryption was a standard feature , enabled by default. But now phones with the OS are starting to appear in the wild, that appears not to be the case. Read more…

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Android 5.0 Devices Aren’t Encrypted By Default—Despite Google Promises

How Engineers Are Moving An Entire Town Two Miles Away

The city of Kiruna, Sweden, is sinking—the iron mines beneath it are making the ground collapse. So, over the next two decades, its 20, 000 residents will be relocated, along with their homes, offices, stores, and schools, to another, brand-new city about two miles to the east. Read more…

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How Engineers Are Moving An Entire Town Two Miles Away

A Sneak Peek At the Mind-Boggling Future of Computer Graphics

Computer graphics have come a long way since a T-Rex ate that lawyer in Jurassic Park . But if these glimpses of what the next generation of CG has in store, we ain’t seen nothing yet. Cloth simulations with hyper-realistic wrinkling, modelling complex human hair using thermal imaging, and new approaches to smoke rendering will make our future blockbusters even more blockbustery. More »

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A Sneak Peek At the Mind-Boggling Future of Computer Graphics

Copyright troll tries to use TorrentFreak to intimidate victims, TorrentFreak changes the site to empower them to resist trolling

Prena Law, a notorious porno copyright troll sent out a blackmail letter to victims that included the URL of a TorrentFreak article describing one of the rare cases in which someone stood up to a troll and lost. TorrentFreak felt that this was misleading, and resented being used as part of a sleazy scheme, so they replaced the article with a page explaining how copyright trolls work, and how to defend yourself against them. Porno copyright trolls are companies that sends out legal threats to people, claiming they were downloading porn with embarrassing titles and demanding money not to permanently associate their names with porn by naming them in lawsuits. Thousands and thousands of people have been victimized by them. We redirected the URL referenced by Prenda to a page with information about these mass-BitTorrent lawsuits. So, instead of being scared by an article about a $1.5 million judgment, Internet bill payers can inform themselves about the steps they can take to respond to the settlement letter. The page in question explains that increasingly judges are condemning the practices of copyright trolls, and that many mass lawsuits have been thrown out. Just recently a judge designated Prenda’s ways as a “bad faith effort,” and dismissed one of their mass-BitTorrent lawsuits. In addition to some much-needed balance we also included links to attorneys who are familiar with these lawsuits, plus links to other useful resources. Hopefully, this will enable a few of the victims to respond properly and resolve the matter without having to pay up. TorrentFreak Trolls a Copyright Troll