Odd Stuff (Part 1)

Aussie immunology legend consults Twitter for his local off-licence opening hours

Now, if Doherty – who alongside Rolf Martin Zinkernagel was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Medicine for “discoveries concerning the specificity of the cell mediated immune defence” – needs a drink, you know we’re in deep.

2 Likes

Do they make these for people?

4 Likes

Florida man might just stick it to HP for injecting sneaky DRM update into his printers that rejected non-HP ink

One man’s effort to sue HP Inc for preventing his printers from working and forcing him to use its own branded, and more expensive, ink cartridges can move forward in California.

8 Likes

Academics demand answers from NHS over potential data timebomb ticking inside new UK contact-tracing app

A group of nearly 175 UK academics has criticised the NHS’s planned COVID-19 contact-tracing app for a design choice they say could endanger users by creating a centralised store of sensitive health and travel data about them.

Also, Palantir is involved.

6 Likes

Yeah. Fucking hell.

They had an opportunity to follow the EU model and create a decentralized system that maybe, just maybe, protects privacy as far as it goes but nope… let’s throw our lot in with tech-bro assholes that have links to the far right. Why not bring in banjo, clearview and whatever name cambridge analytica are now trading as to complete the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

3 Likes

3 posts were split to a new topic: This Meme Does Not Exist

7 Likes
7 Likes

Lars Ulrich makes veiled threats of another Metallica album during web chat with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff

4 Likes

You can get a mechanical keyboard for £45. But should you? We pulled an Aukey KM-G6 out of the bargain bin

1 Like

Lyft dumps 17% of staff, furloughs 5%, cuts pay as people stay home, avoid rides in possibly virus-ridden cars

1 Like

Prank warning: You do know your smart speaker’s paired with Spotify over the internet, don’t you?


If you let your mates pair their Spotify accounts with your smart speakers, beware – the connection persists across the internet, not just across your home Wi-Fi network, as some assumed.

4 Likes

Jeff Bezos tells shareholders to buckle up: Amazon to blow this quarter’s profits and more on coronavirus costs

Amazon today reported $75.5bn in revenue for the first quarter of 2020, higher than expected though eroded by exceptional expenses. And it told investors to get used to its free spending ways during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Providing for customers and protecting employees as this crisis continues for more months is going to take skill, humility, invention, and money,” said CEO Jeff Bezos in a statement [PDF] accompanying the web giant’s latest financial figures.

1 Like
1 Like

Uber trials fixed-price hourly rentals for visits to the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker

Uber has started a pilot of pre-paid hourly rentals.
The service is called “Hourly Driver” and is currently being offered in half a dozen large Australian cities.

This kind of news coverage fits right in with covering elections like sporting events. Generate controversy where there is none, turn points of fact into matters of opinion.

2 Likes

As Brit cyber-spies drop ‘whitelist’ and ‘blacklist’, tech boss says: If you’re thinking about getting in touch saying this is political correctness gone mad, don’t bother

The NCSC noted the policy change was only a small gesture in a much larger effort to drive prejudice from technology and cyber-security industries, but noted that every small step helps.
“You may not see why this matters. If you’re not adversely affected by racial stereotyping yourself, then please count yourself lucky,” Emma said. “For some of your colleagues (and potential future colleagues), this really is a change worth making.”

The centre also shared an additional statement from technical director Ian Levy and the board of directors in anticipation of a knee-jerk internet backlash:
“If you’re thinking about getting in touch saying this is political correctness gone mad, don’t bother.”

5 Likes

Oh great.

2 Likes

Unusual weather forecast for Chicago. What kind of front?

Seems it’s a real thing, not a typo

6 Likes