Brian Gongol
July 31, 2015
Tit-for-tat hack-for-hack
The United States is clearly in a cyberwar with China. The question is whether it's predominantly one-sided (from an offensive perspective, that appears to be the case), and what kind of defense and/or retaliation are justified. What achieves the objective? What really is the objective? The longer the government delays in framing the rules of the game (which, astonishingly, it has failed to do already), the longer the United States suffers both national-security and economic harm.
Iowa DCI says crooks are trying to extort people by phone in their name
It's good to live in a culture where we can generally assume that police authorities aren't going to call and demand a bribe
The New York City subway system can't find parts anymore
Many of the components that keep the trains running are so far obsolete that they have to keep open a shop just to fabricate their own replacements
NHTSA wants to know if Fiat Chrysler was the only manufacturer making hacking-vulnerable cars
Considering the supply chains involved, it's likely to be a broader issue than just a few Jeeps
A Facebook drone the width of a 737
They're going to launch the drones to hover at 90,000 feet and deliver Internet access to places that are generally off the broadband grid right now. That's because Facebook needs user growth, and they view the world's 1/3 or so who aren't already Internet-connected as a leading source of opportunity
July 30, 2015
Archiving those old emails for posterity
Stanford teams are coming up with software to try to reconstruct the contexts and relationships that make e-mail make sense so that digital archivists can have something to use in the future when they get big dumps of inbox records
An early review of Windows 10
Consumer reporter busts his own identity thief
(Video) Dallas TV reporter shows up when the cops move in to arrest woman using his stolen credit-card number
Social Security trustee report is out
Trust fund reserves start drawing down in 2019. Depletion happens in 2034. The disability insurance trust fund goes broke next year. Overhead is 0.7%, or not that different from many mutual funds.
Man ends up dead after trying to rob another
The woeful part? He had spent 17 years in prison, wrongly accused of murder, and was freed in 2012. This may serve to illustrate the importance of a rehabilitation-first approach to incarceration. Imagine spending 17 years in prison for something you didn't do, and then trying to assemble a life on the outside. We're doing something wrong.
July 29, 2015
Some helpful insight on getting real computer security
Though be cautious about password managers
Apple promises OS X "El Capitan" update
They hint it's coming this fall
The border crisis
...for England. Refugees are piling up at Calais and trying to rush the Chunnel.
Twitter stock tanks after CEO downplays performance
They need a mass audience, and their audience isn't mass enough yet
Windows 10 is here