Category: links

This is the second popular revolt in Europe. The first was the Scotland vote. It failed due to massive propaganda and outright lies by the UK government. In Greece the people have now defied the money-men. It’s going to be an interesting few years. The anti-austerity far left party Syriza has won the Greek election by a decisive margin, but just short of an outright majority. With more than three-quarters of the results in Syriza is projected to win 149 seats in the 300 seat parliament.

Some media are reporting that the Asian H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza has now entered the United States. This is incorrect. The avian flu that was recently found in a green-winged teal in Washington state is a different strain and is not known to harm humans nor has it been found in domestic poultry. This Washington state strain incorporates genes from North American waterfowl-associated viruses. Unlike the Asian H5N1 strain that has been found in Asia, Europe, and Africa, this Washington state strain has only been found in wild waterfowl and has not been associated with human illness, nor has this new Washington state strain been found in domestic poultry.

In the past two days, Project Zero has disclosed OS X vulnerabilities here, here, and here. At first glance, none of them appear to be highly critical, since all three appear to require the attacker to already have some access to a targeted machine. § When Google’s Project Zero starts dropping exploits on its own doorstep, I’ll be more impressed. Also, the OS X 10.10.2 update—which is currently in developer testing—fixes the disclosed exploits.

The red area above adds up to the approximately $25 billion total paid to developers. This view of the payments to ecosystem contributors shows how apps are now a bigger digital content business than music and TV programs and Movie rentals and purchases put together. This is quite a story. Put another way, in 2014 iOS app developers earned more than Hollywood did from box office in the US. § I boggle at how much money flows through the Apple App Store.

After setting up a rouge access point, Betsy managed to eavesdrop on the willing participants (victim’s) internet traffic. § Where to start? At least the little girl is being recognized for her computer skills. I’m sad the recognition comes from a let’s scare the stupid people article. But the article mentions hardened cyber criminals! /facepalm This is simply reading unencrypted web traffic. IT IS NOT “HACKING”. Do people do stupid things without encryption?

The U.S. Senate has voted overwhelmingly, 98 to 1, to approve an amendment affirming that climate change is real and "not a hoax." The vote came on an amendment to legislation that aims to force approval of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from the Canadian oil sands to the United States. § So this. But then the excuse was made by the Republicans, “climate changes all the time!

Here’s the cover for Sandman Slim 7, KILLING PRETTY. I hope you like it. I do. § I really like how he’s gone with the movie poster look. I’m totally expecting Hollywood to screw up (i.e. tone down) Stark. If there aren’t movies in the pipe already, I’ll be surprised.

INTERVIEWER Now, that old chestnut: Do you have any advice for young writers? BALLARD A lifetime’s experience urges me to utter a warning cry: do anything else, take someone’s golden retriever for a walk, run away with a saxophone player. Perhaps what’s wrong with being a writer is that one can’t even say “good luck”—luck plays no part in the writing of a novel. No happy accidents as with the paint pot or chisel.

Amazon Studios, known for television series such as multi-Golden Globe winner Transparent, Annie-nominated Tumble Leaf, and Mozart in the Jungle, today announced that it will begin to produce and acquire original movies for theatrical release and early window distribution on Amazon Prime Instant Video. § Amazon just said to Hollywood, “oh, your precious movies, we can undercut you there too.” The usual way of doing films & TV has needed disrupting for decades now.

And the connection economy depends on that simple truth. If you care about something, you must not wait for someone in charge to organize everyone else who cares about it. § The next iteration of “just do it ”