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Showing posts from June, 2018

New top story on Hacker News: I'm Scott Aaronson, quantum computing/computational complexity researcher. AMA

I'm Scott Aaronson, quantum computing/computational complexity researcher. AMA 543 by ScottAaronson | 281 comments on Hacker News. Hey HN, We recently recorded a podcast (http://bit.ly/2tOwRNf) where I discussed my research, AI, and advice for nerds in general or people who want careers in science. We covered many but not all of the questions submitted over the internet so AMA!
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New top story on Hacker News: Ask HN: What's the best way to handle internal tech support?

Ask HN: What's the best way to handle internal tech support? 3 by underyx | 3 comments on Hacker News. My company has around 1000 CS reps and 200 engineers. The CS reps very often need to ask the engineers questions, report bugs heard about from customers, etc. Us engineers also get bug reports about the internal tools we've developed for CS. Currently, all this is handled via a simple Slack channel. This is actually great, since there's no bureaucratic cost to getting in touch, unlike with a proper ticketing system, and having actual public conversations is the fastest way to resolve issues. But of course, we started seeing inefficiencies in other aspects. The same questions keep being asked over and over again. There's an FAQ linked in the channel topic and it's automatically posted in the channel every 12 hours, but it's still not enough, we still get tons of questions that could be self-solved without engineers' intervention. So, that made me curious,...
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How huge contributions from tech titans, a STEM curriculum, and gadgets everywhere failed to overhaul systemic problems in a San Francisco public middle school (Daniel Duane/Wired)

Daniel Duane / Wired : How huge contributions from tech titans, a STEM curriculum, and gadgets everywhere failed to overhaul systemic problems in a San Francisco public middle school   —  Huge contributions from tech titans, a STEM-packed curriculum, gadgets everywhere: Willie Brown Middle School was supposed to set the bar. from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2NaQSX2
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The UK's NHS says it will anonymize data given to Google's DeepMind that is used to analyze blood test results and detect risk of serious medical problems (Timothy J. Seppala/Engadget)

Timothy J. Seppala / Engadget : The UK's NHS says it will anonymize data given to Google's DeepMind that is used to analyze blood test results and detect risk of serious medical problems   —  If you were miffed about Britain's National Health Service (NHS) giving your sensitive data away to Google's DeepMind, how you respond to today's news is probably a crapshoot. from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2tQL1gU
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Google stops taking local and state election ads in Maryland due to new law requiring disclosure of who paid for ads within 48 hours; Facebook says it'll comply (Michael Dresser/Baltimore Sun)

Michael Dresser / Baltimore Sun : Google stops taking local and state election ads in Maryland due to new law requiring disclosure of who paid for ads within 48 hours; Facebook says it'll comply   —  Google stopped accepting state and local election ads in Maryland on Friday as a result of a new law passed by the General Assembly … from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2tEWb96
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WhatsApp launches a new group setting that allows only administrators to send messages to a group (Khari Johnson/VentureBeat)

Khari Johnson / VentureBeat : WhatsApp launches a new group setting that allows only administrators to send messages to a group   —  WhatsApp today announced a new control for group administrators to limit activity so that they are the only member of the group who can send messages.  WhatsApp groups can include up to 256 participants. from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2tRwH7X
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NSA says it is deleting all phone records acquired since 2015 under FISA because of a technical glitch that resulted in some unauthorized data collection (Charlie Savage/New York Times)

Charlie Savage / New York Times : NSA says it is deleting all phone records acquired since 2015 under FISA because of a technical glitch that resulted in some unauthorized data collection   —  WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency has purged hundreds of millions of records logging phone calls and texts that it had gathered … from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2tHuwnT
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Data analytics firm Domo closes up 30% on its first day of trading, raising $193M in its IPO at a $524M post-money valuation; Domo was valued at $2.1B in 2017 (Richard Waters/Financial Times)

Richard Waters / Financial Times : Data analytics firm Domo closes up 30% on its first day of trading, raising $193M in its IPO at a $524M post-money valuation; Domo was valued at $2.1B in 2017   —  The parade of successful software companies making their way to Wall Street was interrupted on Friday by the arrival of a less familiar beast … from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2tRJpDE
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Match says all Tinder swipe data is now the same size and images sent between Tinder's app and servers are now encrypted, addressing flaws disclosed in January (Alfred Ng/CNET)

Alfred Ng / CNET : Match says all Tinder swipe data is now the same size and images sent between Tinder's app and servers are now encrypted, addressing flaws disclosed in January   —  Your digital dating life is a lot less vulnerable to hackers as a result of security updates from Tinder. from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2tJkt1G
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Research: flaws in LTE let attackers redirect users to malicious sites and fingerprint sites users visit with $4000 worth of equipment within one mile of target (Dan Goodin/Ars Technica)

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica : Research: flaws in LTE let attackers redirect users to malicious sites and fingerprint sites users visit with $4000 worth of equipment within one mile of target   —  The Long Term Evolution mobile device standard used by billions of people was designed to fix many of the security shortcomings … from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2tSNB5V
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Unofficial Samsung Galaxy Note 9 hands-on confirms Note8-like design, horizontal dual cameras, long rumored specs like a 4000 mAh battery, and more (Gordon Kelly/Forbes)

Gordon Kelly / Forbes : Unofficial Samsung Galaxy Note 9 hands-on confirms Note8-like design, horizontal dual cameras, long rumored specs like a 4000 mAh battery, and more   —  accidentally confirmed the Galaxy Note 9 earlier this week, but this pales in comparison to company's the latest security gaffe...   from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2NcBLN2
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Dataminr, a NY-based startup that analyzes public data in real time, raises $392M at a valuation of $1.6B, more than the double the $680M valuation from 2015 (Kia Kokalitcheva/Axios)

Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios : Dataminr, a NY-based startup that analyzes public data in real time, raises $392M at a valuation of $1.6B, more than the double the $680M valuation from 2015   —  Dataminr, a New York City-based startup that analyzes public data about events in real time, has closed a $392 million funding round … from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2yWuNbN
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Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman takes controlling interest in SimpliSafe, a home security hardware and services startup, sources say at a ~$1B valuation (Frederic Lardinois/TechCrunch)

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch : Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman takes controlling interest in SimpliSafe, a home security hardware and services startup, sources say at a ~$1B valuation   —  SimpliSafe, the company behind the well-received SimpliSafe home security service, today announced that Hellman & Friedman … from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2tCysGH
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Comcast confirms national outages, says fiber cable cuts at internet backbone service providers CenturyLink and Zayo were partially responsible for the outage (Lori Grunin/CNET)

Lori Grunin / CNET : Comcast confirms national outages, says fiber cable cuts at internet backbone service providers CenturyLink and Zayo were partially responsible for the outage   —  If you couldn't reach your favorite web sites today at about 12:30 p.m. ET, it wasn't just you. from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2tRJuaq
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Hands-on with the Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition: connection with FreeTime feels disjointed, there's a steep learning curve, regular Echo offers more flexibility (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch : Hands-on with the Amazon Echo Dot Kids Edition: connection with FreeTime feels disjointed, there's a steep learning curve, regular Echo offers more flexibility   —  Is the Echo Dot Kids Edition right for you?  —  @ / 10 hours  —  Earlier this year, Amazon introduced an Echo Dot for kids … from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2tEaRWe
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EFF files lawsuit asking court to invalidate FOSTA arguing that it amounts to unconstitutional censorship of the Internet violating First and Fifth Amendments (Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica)

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica : EFF files lawsuit asking court to invalidate FOSTA arguing that it amounts to unconstitutional censorship of the Internet violating First and Fifth Amendments   —  Sex work law prohibits speech that's protected by First Amendment, lawsuit says.  —  The Electronic Frontier Foundation has asked … from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2yYjjEG
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Sources: Microsoft is working on a pocketable Surface device, codenamed Andromeda, with a wraparound display that bridges the gap of the hinge when fully opened (Tom Warren/The Verge)

Tom Warren / The Verge : Sources: Microsoft is working on a pocketable Surface device, codenamed Andromeda, with a wraparound display that bridges the gap of the hinge when fully opened   —  A new and disruptive dual-screen device to blur the lines between mobile and PC  —  Microsoft has been working on a new mysterious Surface device for at least two years. from Techmeme http://bit.ly/2tCysqb
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Benchmark’s Mitch Lasky will reportedly step down from Snap’s board of directors

Benchmark partner Mitch Lasky, who has served on Snap’s board of directors since December 2012, is not expected to stand for re-election to Snap’s board of directors and will thus be stepping down, according to a report by The Information . Early investors stepping down from the board of directors — or at least not seeking re-election — isn’t that uncommon as once-private companies grow into larger public ones. Benchmark partner Peter Fenton did not seek re-election for Twitter’s board of directors in April last year . As Snap continues to navigate its future, especially as it has declined precipitously since going public and now sits at a valuation of around $16.5 billion. Partners with an expertise in the early-stage and later-stage startup life cycle may end up seeing themselves more useful taking a back seat and focusing on other investments. The voting process for board member re-election happens during the company’s annual meeting, so we’ll get more information when an a...
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WhatsApp copies Telegram to add one-way ‘broadcast’ mode to group chats

“Good artists borrow great artists steal” is a phrase that Facebook seems acutely aware of. It’s common to speak of Instagram, the Facebook-owned photo-app-now-social-network, borrowing from Snapchat, but now Facebook’s WhatsApp chat app is increasingly drawing its innovation from others such as Telegram. This week, WhatsApp outed a new feature for its groups that is essentially a replica of Telegram’s channels — that is, a one-way broadcast communication stream. Telegram channels are popular for setting up a broadcast news feed that allows people to sign up to get alerts from channel admins, who might be news agencies, companies, schools, public interest groups or more. Now WhatsApp is adding the feature to gives its message app new use cases. Actually, as is often the case for WhatsApp, users have unofficially adopted channel-like behavior for some time. Last year, for example, there were reports of a rural journalist using the messaging app to report and broadcast local news ...
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California man arrested for sending death threats to FCC’s Ajit Pai over net neutrality

While many people in this country are angry with current chairman of the FCC Ajit Pai, arguably with good reason, it’s unfortunate that at least one has descended to the level of sending credible death threats and, unsurprisingly, has subsequently been arrested. Shortly after the FCC voted in December to nullify the agency’s 2015 net neutrality rules, Norwalk resident named Markara Man contacted Pai several times threatening him and his family. According to a Justice Department press release , Man first told Pai that he was responsible for the death of a kid who had killed herself because of the loss of net neutrality. Next he sent a list of locations around Arlington, where the chairman lives, and threatening to kill members of his family. The third apparently was just an image of a framed photo of Pai’s family. This clearly rises above the low-level — yet also deeply inappropriate — casual slurs against the chairman one sees in practically every discussion of FCC issues, includin...
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