Your Facebook “Privacy Notice” Is Unenforceable Nonsense

Posted on June 5, 2012 by StevenTorresRamos

If you have a Facebook account, you’ve likely seen your dull friends post some version of a “privacy notice” there recently. The idea is that posting it as your status will somehow prevent Facebook from, well, doing the things Facebook does with your information. It’s nonsense. Don’t be that person.

Here’s the dumb block of text that’s spreading like a bad rash on Facebook, typically accompanied by a plea to repost because the rules are different now that Facebook is publicly traded.

PRIVACY NOTICE: Warning – any person and/or institution and/or Agent and/or Agency of any governmental structure including but not limited to the United States Federal Government also using or monitoring/using this website or any of its associated websites, you do NOT have my permission to utilize any of my profile information nor any of the content contained herein including, but not limited to my photos, and/or the comments made about my photos or any other “picture” art posted on my profile.

You are hereby notified that you are strictly prohibited from disclosing, copying, distributing, disseminating, or taking any other action against me with regard to this profile and the contents herein. The foregoing prohibitions also apply to your employee , agent , student or any personnel under your direction or control.

The contents of this profile are private and legally privileged and confidential information, and the violation of my personal privacy is punishable by law. UCC 1-103 1-308 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED WITHOUT PREJUDICE

WITHOUT PREJUDICE, LOL!

via Your Facebook “Privacy Notice” Is Unenforceable Nonsense.

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What Happens When You Set Off Every Car Alarm in a Parking Lot at Once?

Posted on June 4, 2012 by StevenTorresRamos

What would you do if you were in some random parking lot—Lowe’s, let’s say—and all of a sudden dozens of car alarms started going off at once? Would you shrug it off like the dead-to-everything city dweller you are? Maybe duck and run and wet yourself because Galactus is obviously coming to devour our planet? Improv Everywhere found out when it pulled the prank for the Guggenheimthis past week. The verdict? Fun! But harder to turn off than you’d think.

You can see the full rundown of what happened and how, along with the little mishap with the keyless remotes, at the official Improv Everywhere site. [YouTube]

via What Happens When You Set Off Every Car Alarm in a Parking Lot at Once?.

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Secret American Space Agency Gives NASA Two Spy Telescopes More Powerful Than the Hubble

Posted on June 4, 2012 by StevenTorresRamos

What do you know about the National Reconnaissance Office? Did you know that the shadowy space agency has two spy telescopes more powerful than the Hubble that they’re simply not using anymore? And did you know that it gifted them to NASA for studying the secrets of the universe? Yep, that’s exactly what happened.

The NRO-1 and NRO-2 telescopes are currently sitting dismantled in an upstate New York warehouse, waiting to be retrieved. According to the Washington Post, the mirrors of the telescopes measure 7.9-feet in diameter, just like the Hubble. But unlike the creaky telescope currently in orbit, the NRO hardware has a secondary mirror enabling 100 times the resolving power.

via Secret American Space Agency Gives NASA Two Spy Telescopes More Powerful Than the Hubble.

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New X-Ray Vision-Style Video Can Show a Pulse Beating Through Skin

Posted on June 4, 2012 by StevenTorresRamos

Researchers at MIT have developed a crazy process called Eulerian Video Magnification that seems like it was pulled straight from a science fiction movie. It reveals the “subtle changes in the world” that are otherwise imperceptible to the human eye, like an artery pumping in a wrist. Spoiler: kinda gross!

So how does it work? It picks up on the very slight nuances in a video that you can’t detect, such as the way a face reddens as blood is pumped through the body. It grabs these visualizations from a video sequence, and applies spatial decomposition then temporal filtering to the frames. Then it amplifies the color so these nuances become amazingly dynamic and easy to see.

via New X-Ray Vision-Style Video Can Show a Pulse Beating Through Skin.

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What Is Xbox SmartGlass?

Posted on June 4, 2012 by StevenTorresRamos

As expected, Microsoft just announced something called SmartGlass at E3. Less expected? Just how awesome SmartGlass turned out to be. What could have been just an Apple AirPlay imitation, is something more ambitious. Something that could change television forever. But what is it, exactly?

It’s the lifeline that’ll make your dumb TV smart.

SmartGlass is an app…

SmartGlass is a new app that turns your phone or tablet into another screen for your TV, another controller for a game, a companion feature for a show, a remote control for the Internet and more. More importantly, it’ll work with iOS, Android and Windows, so you won’t need to buy new hardware to fit into its ecosystem.

via What Is Xbox SmartGlass?.

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This Video Will Remind You Why We Need Space Exploration—Badly

Posted on June 4, 2012 by StevenTorresRamos

“We went to the Moon, and we discovered Earth.” So true. Listen to Neil deGrasse Tyson talking about the simple fact that “you cant put a price on space exploration.” It will really give you chills.Listen carefully as he talks about the defining effects that watching Earth from the Moon had on humans. Especially if you werent around when it happened.

via This Video Will Remind You Why We Need Space Exploration—Badly.

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Science May Have Just Beaten Prostate Cancer

Posted on June 4, 2012 by StevenTorresRamos

How do you know when your new cancer drug is working better than expected? When they shut down the clinical trial so that every participating patient can receive it.Johnson & Johnsons Zytiga is kind of a big deal. The FDA approved its use last year for advanced prostate cancer patients who had already received chemo but whose cancer had still metastasized. Prostate cancer is typically treatable for the 200,000 American men who contract it annually, as long as it is caught before it spreads. Once it does, the cancer typically goes to bones where it becomes resistant to normal testosterone-blocking hormonal therapies. Zytiga, however, is a unique cancer-fighting compound that penetrates cancerous cells and shuts down its testosterone production—quickly killing off the damaged cells and preventing their spread. Whats more, Zytiga remains effective after the cancer metastasizes and other drugs lose their punch.

via Science May Have Just Beaten Prostate Cancer.

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Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?

Posted on June 1, 2012 by StevenTorresRamos

Today, SpaceX recovered its Dragon spacecraft after a successful journey to the International Space Station — thus proving that a private company can transport supplies, or maybe even crew, to the ISS. Everybody’s saying this is the real beginning of the era of private space travel.

But how much further could private companies like SpaceX take us? In particular, could they take us all the way to Mars? With NASA’s budget constantly under fire, is there some way that a private corporation could fulfill our common dream of putting human beings on another planet? We decided to ask some experts and find out.

Top image: Painting by Ren Wicks for NASA.

via Could SpaceX land the first humans on Mars?.

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Here’s a Closer Look at the Ikea TV That Shows It’s Even More Awesome

Posted on June 1, 2012 by StevenTorresRamos

The nice thing about the upcoming Ikea TV, other than being smart and cheap, is that it blends the television into your furniture to completely banish unsightly cables from your living room. Here’s how it would look like in a “real life” setting.

via Here’s a Closer Look at the Ikea TV That Shows It’s Even More Awesome.

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Obama Ordered Devastating Cyberattacks Against Iran

Posted on June 1, 2012 by StevenTorresRamos

In June of 2010, a security firm in Belarus called VirusBlokAda reported the first known citing of what we know now as Stuxnet. It was, simply put, the most advanced malware of all time. Its target? Iran. Its origin? Unknown. Until now.The New York Times is reporting today that the source of the worm so advanced some thought it was alien weapon was us. And it wasnt the first.

via Obama Ordered Devastating Cyberattacks Against Iran.

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