-
The Supreme Court, big data and 1984 — Cloud Computing News
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in a case that could decide how connected the concept of big data is to constitutional expectations of privacy. The case, United States v. Jones, is specifically about whether police needed a search warrant to place a GPS device on a suspect’s car and monitor his movements for 28 days, but the Court’s holding could have a much broader effect. Several justices seized upon a very important question: How much data is too much before allowable surveillance crosses the line into an invasion of privacy?
-
I ran across an interesting Web page today: Agile @ 10: Ten Authors of The Agile Manifesto Celebrate its Tenth Anniversary. The editors at The Pragmatic Bookshelf contacted the 17 signers of the original Agile Manifesto and asked them to contribute their thoughts about developments in the Agile world over the succeeding 10 years. Ten of the 17 signers contributed publishable responses, which are collected in the article. The contributors – Andy Hunt, Kent Beck, Ron Jeffries, Jon Kern, Ken Schwaber, James Grenning, Arie van Bennekum, Stephen J. Mellor, Ward Cunningham, and Dave Thomas – shared reflections on the extent to which their bold statement changed the development world.
-
Apple, America and a Squeezed Middle Class - NYTimes.com
When Barack Obama joined Silicon Valley’s top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president.
The iEconomy
An Empire Built Abroad
Articles in this series are examining challenges posed by increasingly globalized high-tech industries.
Multimedia
Interactive Feature
The iPhone Economy
Related
Times Topic: Apple Incorporated
Add to Portfolio
Apple Incorporated
Go to your Portfolio »
Enlarge This Image
Thomas Lee/Bloomberg News
A production line in Foxconn City in Shenzhen, China. The iPhone is assembled in this vast facility, which has 230,000 employees, many at the plant up to 12 hours a day, six days a week.
Enlarge This Image
Thomas Lee for The New York Times
In China, Lina Lin is a project manager at PCH International, which contracts with Apple. “There are lots of jobs,” she said. “Especially in Shenzhen.”
Readers’ Comments
Share your thoughts.
Post a Comment »
Read All Comments (274) »
But as Steven P. Jobs of Apple spoke, President Obama interrupted with an inquiry of his own: what would it take to make iPhones in the United States? -
Fried Calamari Recipe : Giada De Laurentiis : Food Network
Pour enough oil into a heavy large saucepan to reach the depth of 3 inches. Heat over medium heat to 350 degrees F. Mix the flour, parsley, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Working in small batches, toss the squid into the flour mixture to coat. Carefully add the squid to the oil and fry until crisp and very pale golden, about 1 minute per batch. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the fried calamari to a paper-towel lined plate to drain.
-
The Secret Document That Transformed China : Planet Money : NPR
In 1978, the farmers in a small Chinese village called Xiaogang gathered in a mud hut to sign a secret contract. They thought it might get them executed. Instead, it wound up transforming China's economy in ways that are still reverberating today.
The contract was so risky — and such a big deal — because it was created at the height of communism in China. Everyone worked on the village's collective farm; there was no personal property. -
Bird Flu Scientists Agree to Pause H5N1 Research - NYTimes.com
The scientists who altered a deadly flu virus to make it more contagious have agreed to suspend their research for 60 days to give other international experts time to discuss the work and determine how it can proceed without putting the world at risk of a potentially catastrophic pandemic.
Enlarge This Image
Ron Fouchier
The small black bodies are H5N1 viruses produced by an infected human cell, at left. H5N1 is a contagious strain of bird flu.
RSS Feed
Get Science News From The New York Times »
Enlarge This Image
Dirk-Jan Visser for The New York Times
Ron Fouchier, of the Netherlands research team.
Readers’ Comments
Readers shared their thoughts on this article.
Read All Comments (76) »
Suspensions of biomedical research are almost unheard of; the only other one in the United States was a moratorium from 1974 to 1976 on some types of recombinant DNA research, because of safety concerns.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
load01 01/22/2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
load01 01/21/2012
-
Waffle House Terrorists - Waffle House Terrorist Plot - Esquire
On November 1, 2011, four codgers who gathered at this Waffle House in Toccoa, Georgia, as well as at the Shoney's and in the home of Fred Thomas, were arrested by the FBI for plotting acts of mass murder.
Published in the February 2012 "Things We Can All Agree On" issue, on sale soon
The guys were coming over. That's what Fred and Charlotte Thomas both called them — "the guys," as though they were Fred's poker buddies. Fred and Charlotte were both in their early seventies. They were retired. They were living in a place that was still new to them, and in some ways still foreign. They weren't in the best health — Charlotte had pain in her legs, and Fred, just a month before, had endured having half a lung removed by doctors who had misdiagnosed him. They thought he had cancer, when in fact the growth was a fungus. Fred had lost half a lung by mistake, and now both Fred and Charlotte had trouble climbing the stairs in their tall, narrow house. It had been a tough year, and when Fred told her that the guys were coming over, she was just happy he had friends. -
An overzealous bill that claims to be about stopping child pornography turns every Web user into a person to monitor
-
Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory | This American Life
Mike Daisey was a self-described "worshipper in the cult of Mac." Then he saw some photos from a new iPhone, taken by workers at the factory where it was made. Mike wondered: Who makes all my crap? He traveled to China to find out.
-
Europe can exhale following good week | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
FRANKFURT, Germany -- Europe has taken a step back from the brink.
Three weeks into the year, borrowing rates for debt-saddled countries have fallen to more manageable levels.
Auctions of government debt have gone better, a sign of increased investor confidence. -
Obama, crooner in chief, sings some Al Green at N.Y. fundraiser - latimes.com
It cost $200 a ticket to hear President Obama speak at a fundraiser Thursday in New York. Obama singing? That was just a bonus.
The president thrilled the crowd of about 1,400 at the landmark Apollo Theater when he briefly launched into song, crooning a few lines of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" to the surprise of, well, just about everyone. -
BBC News - Syrian activists call for release of detainees
Anti-government protesters have taken to the streets of Syria in support of thousands of people detained by the government in the 10-month uprising.
The UN said last month that more than 14,000 people were in detention, but human rights activists believe as many as 40,000 people are being held.
Friday, January 20, 2012
load01 01/20/2012
-
http://guru.bafta.org/sites/learning/files/guru_sws_ck_transcript_final.pdf
Charlie Kaufman: Thank you very much. I’m actually
really happy to be here; at least that’s what I’m
telling myself. I’ve never delivered a speech before,
which is why I decided to do this tonight. I wanted
to do something that I don’t know how to do, and
offer you the experience of watching someone
fumble, because I think maybe that’s what art
should offer. An opportunity to recognise our
common humanity and vulnerability.
So rather than being up here pretending I’m an
expert in anything, or presenting myself in a way
that will reinforce the odd, ritualised lecturerlecturee model, I’m just telling you off the bat that I
don’t know anything. And if there’s one thing that
characterises my writing it’s that I always start from
that realisation and I do what I can to keep
reminding myself of that during the process. I think
we try to be experts because we’re scared; we
don’t want to feel foolish or worthless; we want
power because power is a great disguise. -
Facebook's New Actions Go Beyond 'Like' - The BrainYard - InformationWeek
As Facebook broadens its Open Graph API by adding 60 new frictionless sharing apps, look for new action verbs in your feed. Here's what it all means.
"Like" will be a lot less lonely on Facebook, with the addition of new Open Graph application verbs such as cook, eat, travel, run, or review movies. -
Megaupload.com Charged With Piracy Violations, Shut Down By Feds
McLEAN, Virginia (AP) — One of the world's largest file-sharing sites was shut down Thursday, and its founder and several company executives were charged with violating piracy laws, federal prosecutors said.
-
The rise and fall of personal computing | MetaFilter
The rise and fall of personal computing
January 18, 2012 9:45 AM Subscribe -
If someone asks me what I do all day at work, I show them this helpful infographic. (i.imgur.com)
submitted 6 hours ago by _chendo_ to funny
325 commentssharesavehidereport -
I put the original text here below since its blocked in most countries (and also since it's under (K)-License...).
Original
INTERNETS, 18th of January 2012. PRESS RELEASE, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.
Over a century ago Thomas Edison got the patent for a device which would "do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear". He called it the Kinetoscope. He was not only amongst the first to record video, he was also the first person to own the copyright to a motion picture. -
Because that's exactly what we need to wake up from this slumbering, do-nothing, "occupy everything," stagnant, non-action slump we Americans are in.
-
Opinion - Hallelujah! Canadians agree it's time to legalize marijuana
A new poll suggests Canada may have reached the tipping point and a 66-per-cent majority favours legalizing marijuana.
Hallelujah! Finally we might get a sensible public policy discussion in this country about what to do about a relatively benign substance that has been demonized and outlawed for a century yet is as readily available in schoolyards as cigarettes. -
Pot meets kettle - none more black. | MetaFilter
Chris Dodd responds to the SOPA/PIPA protest and blackout on the official MPAA blog calling it an "abuse of power".
posted by loquacious (161 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite -
100 Best Companies to Work For 2012: Full list - from FORTUNE
1 Google 33% 18,500
2 Boston Consulting Group 10% 1,958
3 SAS Institute 8% 6,046
4 Wegmans Food Markets 5% 41,717
Thursday, January 19, 2012
load01 01/19/2012
-
PIPA support collapses, with 13 new Senators opposed
Members of the Senate are rushing for the exits in the wake of the Internet's unprecedented protest of the Protect IP Act (PIPA). At least 13 members of the upper chamber announced their opposition on Wednesday. In a particularly severe blow for Hollywood, at least five of the newly-opposed Senators were previously co-sponsors of the Protect IP Act. (Update: since we ran this story, the tally is up to 18 Senators, of which seven are former co-sponsors. See below.)
-
No one would mistake the average shell script for principled software.
Yet, if we look at how scripts are used, patterns emerge.
Unix is a bestiary of ad hoc databases: comma-, colon-, tab- and space-separated tables. Think of /etc/* or /var/log/*, or of columnar commands. -
while true blog » Visual Studio Achievements, now a reality!
A year ago we posted a humorous blog post What if Visual Studio had Achievements?. It received great response which spurred a lot of new discussion about various funny and informative gaming-like achievements.
Guys from Microsoft’s Channel 9 took this idea seriously and developed it into a quite real Visual Studio Extension. They’ve launched the beta today, be sure to check it out. Here’s also an introduction from Microsoft’s Karsten Januszewski. -
UPDATE 3-Kodak files for bankruptcy, secures $950 mln lifeline | Reuters
* Liabilities exceed assets by about $1.65 billion
* Kodak holds 1,100 digital patents
* Obtains $950 mln credit line from Citigroup
* Chairman/CEO says bankruptcy filing a "necessary step"
* Non U.S. subsidiaries not part of filing
Jan 19 (Reuters) - Eastman Kodak Co, which invented the hand-held camera and helped bring the world the first pictures from the moon, has filed for bankruptcy protection, capping a prolonged plunge for one of America's best-known companies. -
U.S. Lawmakers Abandon Anti-Piracy Bills as Google Protests - Businessweek
Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Eight U.S. lawmakers dropped their support for Hollywood-backed anti-piracy legislation as Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and other websites protested the measures.
-
Microsoft System Center 2012 Takes Shot at VMware | Sci-Tech Today
Microsoft is swatting at VMware with its latest cloud initiative. The new private cloud solution aims to help businesses move faster, save money and compete better.
Dubbed Microsoft System Center 2012, the solution lets companies build and operate private clouds to deliver business applications across both private and public cloud platforms. The software is available in Release Candidate form. -
Andrew Sullivan: How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics - The Daily Beast
The right calls him a socialist, the left says he sucks up to Wall Street, and independents think he's a wimp. Andrew Sullivan on how the president may just end up outsmarting them all.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
load01 01/18/2012
-
blog.reddit -- what's new on reddit: A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP
- As you have probably heard, there are two pieces of legislation currently pending that we, and others like us, believe seriously threaten the internet. I wanted to take some time to delve into the text of both of these bills, and outline their potential consequences as I am able to understand them. As you can imagine, this is a complex issue, and as a result this is going to be a complex post. I highly encourage you to set some time aside to read this thoroughly. Grab some caffeine, we are going to be here for a while.
-
-
Fundamental Oracle flaw revealed
Over the past two months, InfoWorld has been researching a flaw in Oracle's flagship database software that could have serious repercussions for Oracle database customers, potentially compromising the security and stability of Oracle database systems.
Typically, when a bug results in a database outage, affected systems can simply be recovered from backups. But as InfoWorld has learned, this particular collection of Oracle issues could incur database outages that take considerable time and effort to correct.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
load01 01/17/2012
-
Inside the Fight Against SOPA | Inc.com
It's a battle made for the big screen: Silicon Valley tech stars versus Hollywood heavyweights.
The fight is over a piece of legislation called the Stop Online Piracy Act, which aims to expand the ability of government agencies to police websites for copyright and intellectual property violations. Introduced in the House of Representatives in late October, Congress plans to resume the debate this month after the winter recess. -
Dog Surprises Officer - YouTube
If you save a dog’s life, you are responsible for it. (youtube.com)
submitted 6 hours ago by shadowwork
297 commentssharesavehidereport -
"Maybe I should finally mention WOOL..." | MetaFilter
Hugh Howey was a self-published novelist of no real success. Until WOOL, that is - a 15,000 word "little throwaway story" he uploaded to Amazon's Kindle Marketplace one day and promptly forget about. The story he didn't blog, didn't tweet, and didn't even sell on his site hit #2 on the Kindle SciFi Bestseller list and "changed the course of e-books."
Monday, January 16, 2012
load01 01/16/2012
-
prog21: On Being Sufficiently Smart
I'm proud to have created the wiki page for the phrase sufficiently smart compiler back in 2003 or 2004. Not because it's a particularly good page, mind you; it has been endlessly rewritten in standard wiki fashion. It's one of the few cases where I recognized a meme and documented it. I'd been seeing the term over and over in various discussions, and it started to dawn on me that it was more than just a term, but a myth, a fictional entity used to support arguments.
-
Robotic Technology to Help Understand and Treat Strokes - NYTimes.com
Consider the 1,001 little movements we take for granted, like reaching a few inches for a salt shaker or trying on new shoes.
Most involve simple reflexes and signaling from the brain to our arms, hands and fingers. But for many people — 750,000 have strokes each year in this country, and an estimated 60 percent of them suffer injuries that could include a partly paralyzed arm — those acts are nearly impossible. -
The end of the world, in 14 days, according to Reddit. [more inside]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 1:30 AM - 90 comments -
Audioboo / Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica
posted by Jofus at 12:50 PM on January 4 [157 favorites]