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Facebook is like North Korea, says ex-Facebooker Technically Incorrect: In his new book, former Facebook product manager Antonio García Martinez says Facebook management got upset if women's skirts were too short. Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives. Many younger types imagine Facebook as a nirvana where you skateboard down corridors, code all night long and wait for the money to start rolling in. Antonio García Martinez thinks it's a little more like North Korea. The former (and fired) Facebook product manager today released a book called "Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and...

Buried in the System32 folder of build 14376, alongside 590 other .exe files, is a file whose name is guaranteed to raise eyebrows: UpgradeSubscription.exe. That file has been part of other recent preview builds, but has managed to remain under the radar until now. In the file's properties, it's described as the Windows Upgrade to Subscription Tool, and its date and time stamp corresponds to other administrative tools in the same build.

Microsoft officials said late on June 27 that the new update experience -- with clearer "upgrade now, schedule a time, or decline the free offer" -- will start rolling out this week. Microsoft will also revert to making clicking on the Red X at the corner of the Windows 10 update box dismiss the update, rather than initiate it, as it has done for the past several weeks. Microsoft officials said they are making the change "in response to customer feedback". Update: Here's the full, updated statement from Microsoft about the coming change, attributable to Executive Vice President of Windows...

Hackers are stealing credit card information in Europe with malware that can spoof the user interfaces of Uber, WhatsApp and Google Play. The malware, which has struck Android users in Denmark, Italy and Germany, has been spreading through a phishing campaign over SMS (short message service), security vendor FireEye said on Tuesday. Once downloaded, the malware will create fake user interfaces on the phone as an “overlay” on top of real apps. These interfaces ask for credit card information and then send the entered data to the hacker.

Apple started selling the Apple iPhone nine years ago today. Here is what Apple's press release had to say: iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a revolutionary multi-touch display and pioneering new software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers. iPhone combines three products into one small and lightweight handheld device - a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and the Internet in your pocket with best-ever applications on a mobile phone for email, web browsing and maps. iPhone ushers in an era of software power and sophistication...

The Wi-Fi Alliance standards body has added new features to its 802.11ac specification that promise up to three times the speed of existing wi-fi devices and the potential to move data faster than wired, gigabit ethernet local area networks. Named Wi-Fi Certified ac, the new specification add-ons include multi-user multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) radio aerial technology. This allows more devices to connect to the wi-fi access point and send and receive simultaneously for better throughput and responsiveness, an important consideration in enterprise and events settings. Older wi-fi access points manage connections in a round-robin fashion, with only one device...

Although Mark Zuckerberg disputes that Faceook slants their trending topics sidebar against Conservatives/Republicans, there is another story that proves the fact.

Norton and Symantec users should take "immediate action" to update. Products from Symantec that are supposed to protect users have made them much more open to attack, according to Google. Researcher Tavis Ormandy has spotted numerous vulnerabilities in 25 Norton and Symantec products that are "as bad as it gets," he says. "Just emailing a file to a victim or sending them a link to an exploit is enough to trigger it -- the victim does not need to open the file or interact with it in any way." Symantec has already published fixes for the exploits, so users would...

What appears to be a tongue-in-cheek social media movement to mark June 29 as a day to celebrate heterosexual pride has become one of the day’s top online trends. Hundreds of thousands of tweets have been sent Wednesday with the hashtag #HeterosexualPrideDay. The idea of such a day has outraged many. One of the top responses comes from British comedian Dapper Laughs, who rhetorically asked on Twitter, “What’s next, #BreathingAirDay?” Others have flooded the hashtag with gay pride memes and other mentions of support. …

Microsoft has released a protocol that allows developers to easily add new programming language support for coding tools, in partnership with developer workspaces provider Codenvy and enterprise Linux distributor Red Hat. Whereas traditional coding tools tend to support a single programming language, the Microsoft-led protocol aims to make sure the tools can handle whichever language developers work in. The language server protocol lets developers code in different languages without having to switch editors or development environments. Microsoft engineer Erich Gamma said the protocol came into existence after the company intergrated OmniSharp for C# and TypeScript servvers for its Visual Studio...

Microsoft has been forced to change the red "x" notification on its Windows 10 upgrade prompts after users reacted angrily to the misleading button. Microsoft dispensed with the historical function of the red "x" in the upgrade prompts to instead use it as authorisation for the upgrade process; clicking the button meant users gave their consent for the upgrade to take place. But backlash from users over the perceived trickery has pushed Microsoft to pledge to modify the button back to its original function. Now, clicking the "x" will dismiss the upgrade prompt and won't initiate the Windows 10 download,...

A new study from technology firm Blancco Technology Group found that 78%— more than three quarters—of used, resold, or refurbished hard disk drives still contained personal or confidential information, despite supposedly being “wiped.” In the first quarter of 2016, the group purchased a total of 200 used hard disk drives and solid state drives sold in the United States from eBay and Craigslist. Out of the 200, the Blancco’s digital forensics team was able to recover left-over data from 78% of the drives, according to the study. 5% of the residual data were spreadsheets, which included sales projections and inventories...

Florida resident Thomas S. Ross has filed a lawsuit against Apple this week, claiming that the iPhone, iPad, and iPod infringe upon his 1992 invention of a hand-drawn "Electronic Reading Device" (ERD). The court filing claims the plaintiff was "first to file a device so designed and aggregated," nearly 15 years before the first iPhone. ​ Between May 23, 1992 and September 10, 1992, Ross designed three hand-drawn technical drawings of the device, primarily consisting of flat rectangular panels with rounded corners that "embodied a fusion of design and function in a way that never existed prior to 1992." Quote...

Does anybody here know what ever happened to the Coach Is Right website/blog?

Microsoft has been forced to pay £7,500 ($10,000) in compensation to a woman after its new Windows 10 operating system automatically installed on her computer. Teri Goldstein’s computer – which previously ran on Windows 7 - became unusable after the software tried to download without her approval. Relying on her device to run her travel agency in Sausalito, California, she went to the Microsoft's support team seeking answers, The Seattle Times reports.But after having no success and her computer still being unresponsive, she sued the company for the price of a new computer and the loss of earnings. the report...

A same-sex couple say they were victims of discrimination by an Uber driver during SF Pride weekend. Matt Tongi and Sumeet Chadha said they called Uber on Saturday night to go the Castro district in San Francisco for a Pride event. Tongi said after they got into the car, he kissed his boyfriend on the cheek. The Uber driver then told them he couldn't drive them anymore because he was out of gas. But Tongi said he could see the fuel gauge on the dash, and it indicated the vehicle had plenty of gas. The conversation then got heated, and...

The Mill has created The Mill BLACKBIRD, the first fully adjustable car rig that creates photoreal CG cars – it’s a car rig that can be shot at any time, in any location, without the need to rely on a physical car. Created in collaboration with JemFX, Performance Filmworks and Keslow, Mill Blackbird inspires and expands creative opportunities, offering a truly flexible production tool without sacrificing any quality or direction. Learn more: themill.com/portfolio/3002/the-blackbird%C2%AE

A few days after Microsoft released Windows 10 to the public last year, Teri Goldstein's computer started trying to download and install the new operating system. The update, which she says she didn't authorize, failed. Instead, the computer she uses to run her Sausalito, California, travel-agency business slowed to a crawl. It would crash, she says, and be unusable for days at a time. "I had never heard of Windows 10," Goldstein said. "Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to update." When outreach to Microsoft's customer support didn't fix the issue, Goldstein took the software giant to court, seeking...

Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed the bio-ink, created by scientists at the University of Bristol, from stem cells. It is expected to pave the way for the production of complex tissues to replace diseased or damaged areas of the body such as knees and hips and eventually the creation of vital organs. Lead researcher Dr Adam Perriman, an expert in cellular medicine at the University of Bristol, said: “This is a very exciting development which we believe could lead to a revolution in the treatment of diseases like osteoarthritis and other causes of tissue damage. “This approach...

If you're in the market for a Surface 3, now is the time to buy one. Microsoft says that production of the Surface 3 will come to an end in December this year, and warns that stocks are already starting to run low. It's not yet clear whether the end of production for the cheapest Surface device signals the end of Microsoft's Atom-based devices. But it certainly seems as though the company is keen to focus its attention on the Pro range as well as the Surface Book. Microsoft confirmed the end of Surface 3 production to ZDNet. Mary Jo...