Topic: WEB - on June 3, 2016 at 2:39:00 PM CEST
Lies, damned lies and ad blocking statistics
Spoiler alert: Ad blocking is a serious problem; it’s just a little unclear exactly how big of one. Take Britain. If you look at the IAB’s figures, which it conducted with YouGov, 22 percent of U.K. adults are blocking ads. Wait a minute, market research company GlobalWebIndex says the figure is 37 percent. According to Pagefair and Adobe’s 2015 report, it was already at 20 percent in the second quarter last year. U.S. ad blocking firm Optimal puts U.K. ad-block rates at 16 percent.
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Topic: logisch - on June 3, 2016 at 2:38:00 PM CEST
How a good night's sleep became the ultimate status symbol
Arianna Huffington espouses the virtues of eight hours and luxury products promise rejuvenating rest, but who can really afford to sleep safe and sound?
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Topic: COMPUTER - on June 3, 2016 at 2:33:00 PM CEST
The ECHO IV Home Computer: 50 Years Later
This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of a home computer built and operated more than a decade before ‘official’ home computers arrived on the scene. Yes, before the ‘trinity’ of the Apple II, the Commodore PET and the Radio Shack TRS-80–all introduced in 1977—Jim Sutherland, a quiet engineer and family man in Pittsburgh, was building a computer system on his own for his family. Sutherland configured this new computer system to control many aspects of his home with his wife and children as active users. It truly was a home computer—that is, the house itself was part of the computer and its use was integrated into the family’s daily routines.
The System
Sutherland’s computer was called the ECHO IV – the Electronic Computing Home Operator. ECHO IV comprised four large (6’ x 2’ x 6’) cabinets weighing approximately 800 lbs and included a central processing unit (CPU) constructed from surplus circuit modules from a Westinghouse Prodac-IV industrial process control computer; magnetic core memory, I/O circuitry and power supplies. With the permission of his employer, Westinghouse, Sutherland took these modules home and designed and built the ECHO IV in less than a year.
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Topic: MUSIK - on May 31, 2016 at 10:59:00 AM CEST
Deutsches Gericht urteilt über „Sampling“ im Hip-Hop
Vor dem Urteil des deutschen Bundesverfassungsgerichts zum Urheberschutz in Hip-Hop und Rap warnt der deutsche Bundesverband Musikindustrie vor einer Aufweichung branchenüblicher Standards. "Sollte durch die Entscheidung der Eindruck entstehen, „Kunstfreiheit sticht immer", könnte das Folgen haben, die über den konkreten Streit weit hinausreichen“, sagte Geschäftsführer Florian Drücke gegenüber der dpa in Karlsruhe. „Das wäre Wasser auf die Mühlen derer, die sagen, im Internet soll alles erlaubt sein.“
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Topic: AUSTRIA - on May 31, 2016 at 10:56:00 AM CEST
Der Experte für „Sandler und Sennerinnen“ Soziologe der Randgruppen: Roland Girtler wird 75
Wilderer, Prostituierte, Landärzte oder der Adel - seine vielseitigen Studien zu den unterschiedlichsten Gesellschaftskulturen machten den Wiener Soziologen Roland Girtler bekannt. Heute, am 31. Mai, wird er 75 Jahre alt.
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Topic: SECURITY - on May 29, 2016 at 12:15:00 PM CEST
Tor Browser and Tails Version Fingerprint
Tor Browser and Tails version fingerprinting in Javascript (and some CSS). The PoC can also detect if Tor Browser is running on a Mac OS X. Works up to medium-high privacy settings.
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Topic: SECURITY - on May 29, 2016 at 12:12:00 PM CEST
How the Internet works: Submarine fiber, brains in jars, and coaxial cables
Ah, there you are. That didn't take too long, surely? Just a click or a tap and, if you’ve some 21st century connectivity, you landed on this page in a trice.
But how does it work? Have you ever thought about how that cat picture actually gets from a server in Oregon to your PC in London? We’re not simply talking about the wonders of TCP/IP or pervasive Wi-Fi hotspots, though those are vitally important as well. No, we’re talking about the big infrastructure: the huge submarine cables, the vast landing sites and data centres with their massively redundant power systems, and the elephantine, labyrinthine last-mile networks that actually hook billions of us to the Internet.
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Topic: SCIENCE - on May 29, 2016 at 12:04:00 PM CEST
List of organisms named after famous people
In biological nomenclature, organisms often receive scientific names that honor a person. A taxon (e.g. species or genus; plural: taxa) named in honor of another entity is an eponymous taxon, and names specifically honoring a person or persons are known as patronyms. Scientific names are generally formally published in peer-reviewed journal articles or larger monographs along with descriptions of the named taxa and ways to distinguish them from other taxa. Following rules of Latin grammar, species or subspecies names derived from a man's name often end in -i or -ii if named for an individual, and -orum if named for a group of men or mixed-sex group, such as a family. Similarly, those named for a woman often end in -ae, or -arum for two or more women.
Anomphalus jaggerius Snail Mick Jagger Bumba lennoni Spider John Lennon Funkotriplogynium iagobadius Mite James Brown Montypythonoides riversleighensis Extinct reptile Monty Python Psephophorus terrypratchetti Turtle Terry Pratchett Tetramorium adamsi Ant Douglas Adams
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Topic: AUSTRIA - on May 29, 2016 at 12:01:00 PM CEST
Privacy whiz Max Schrems set to challenge other big firms
Tech industry be warned. Privacy campaigner Max Schrems plans on setting up an NGO to enforce people's rights. The Austrian, whose case against Facebook Ireland helped unravel a data-sharing pact between the EU and the US known as Safe Harbour, now has his eyes set on taking on others who flaunt the rules. Edward Snowden, the former NSA agent who blew the lid off US-led mass surveillance, said last year Schrems had "changed the world for the better" when Safe Harbour ended up on the scrap heap of bad EU legislation. Today, Schrems, whose crowdfunded legal campaign against Facebook started when he was only a 24-year old student, is mulling a new master-plan.
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Topic: TV - on May 28, 2016 at 12:09:00 PM CEST
TTIP, CETA und Freihandel - Die Anstalt
... wirklich, was diese größenwahnsinnigen Besetzer da in der Anstalt verzapfen? Das fragen immer wieder viele verunsicherte Zuschauer. Müssen wir womöglich unser Weltbild nachbessern, und wie sollen wir uns das eigentlich leisten? Die Anstaltsleitung teilt Ihnen mit: Zur Beruhigung besteht keinerlei Anlass, es ist alles genau so gemeint, wie es nicht gesagt wurde. Wenn Sie das nicht glauben können, überzeugen Sie sich selbst bei folgenden anderen Quellen, von denen wir uns alle gleichermaßen distanzieren. Wir sind ja schließlich nicht wahnsinnig ...
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Topic: NEWS - on May 28, 2016 at 11:37:00 AM CEST
Presserat: Abdruck des Erdogan- "Schmähgedichts" kein Ethikverstoß
UETD-Beschwerde gegen "Österreich" zurückgewiesen: Kein Verstoß gegen Menschenwürde oder den Persönlichkeitsschutz – Einbettung des Gedichtes in Artikel entscheidend
Wien – Der Presserat sieht in der Veröffentlichung des Böhmermann-Schmähgedichtes über den türkischen Präsidenten Recep Tayyip Erdogan in der Tageszeitung "Österreich" keinen medienethischen Verstoß. Die Union Europäisch-Türkischer Demokraten Österreich (UETD) hatte sich an den Presserat gewandt und den Artikel "Erdogan will jetzt Komiker einsperren" kritisiert.
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Topic: POLITIK - on May 28, 2016 at 11:35:00 AM CEST
Secret New Internet Rules in the Trade in Services Agreement
This week new materials from the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) were released by Wikileaks, revealing that negotiators from around the world have been continuing to craft new rules that will affect all Internet users, without public scrutiny or consultation. One of the biggest surprises that dropped is a document containing new proposals, mostly from the United States, that will apply to all services. Some of these new provisions are relevant to the Internet and digital rights: Article X.3 would prohibit a country from giving preferential treatment to Internet content based on its origin or the nationality of those who created it. This is directed at policies such as the recent European proposal to require Netflix in Europe to carry a certain proportion of European-produced content, mirroring similar existing rules for television broadcasters. We tend to agree that any policy that erects artificial national or regional walls around Internet services is against users' interests. However, seeking to force new international rules on this topic in a closed trade agreement is both quixotic and exclusionary. There is very little likelihood that the other TiSA parties will accept this without exceptions broad enough to swallow the rule. This particularly applies to Europe, where the protection of local cultural diversity, including through film and television quotas, is unwavering. More importantly, any new rules on Internet content quotas would impact the interests of many stakeholders who are excluded from the TISA discussions, including those of creators, consumers, and platforms.
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