Windows has a heart of trash

I did a bad thing. I opened a bad file and it borked my PC. So now, in concordance with the grand tradition of frustrated tech bloggers calling on enormous companies to conform to their wishes, here is my rant on how terrible computers are — Windows ones, this time anyway — and how they ought to be.

Now, I’m no PC spring chicken. I build my desktops, I seat the CPU, I fiddle with the registry and fiddle with the BIOS (even though it isn’t really a BIOS any more). Most importantly, I use Winamp. I’ve cleared out more than a few malware infections, worms, trojans and the like on my own computer and others — it’s just part of the whole cool lifestyle I lead.

This time was different. For one thing, it was the first time I’d dealt with this stuff on Windows 10. Normally I’m pretty careful, but I was just lazy this time. And the malware itself — WinVMX as far as I can place it — was perhaps more sophisticated, as well. (I don’t recommend you try your luck.)

But as I was methodically eliminating the various sub-services and adware the original attack had installed, I found myself grappling with a second adversary: the immense ball of trash that exists at the heart of every Windows install.

Party like it’s 98SE

I don’t mean to slander Microsoft’s engineers here. Windows is perhaps the most complex piece of software ever built. It’s just that it’s like a rubber-band ball of versions, updates, patches, aborted toolsets and standards, and so on. They’ve never stopped adding to it, and while some of the examples of consistency and reliability are beyond compare — running the same version of DOOM on 25 years of OSes is great, and hints at why Windows is so hard to leave behind for so many — it’s really gotten to the point where the cart is going before the horse. And also the cart is full of trash.

Related Articles

The latest Windows 10 Creators Update preview gets a blue light mode and browser upgrades Apple releases iOS 10.3 as well as macOS, watchOS and tvOS updates Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on how AI will transform his company

In going through the various systems and recovery methods I found so many things broken or misleading, so many critical system items compromised, hidden, or neglected, so many dead ends built in, so many workarounds from the ’90s that still worked and present-day tools that failed utterly, so many contradictions and redundancies — that I finally have flipped over to the side that believes Microsoft needs to cut this trash cart loose.

I’m not suggesting they abandon Windows or anything absurd like that. But for the love of God, I shouldn’t have to be using DOS commands I learned on my friend’s 386 to get the computer to boot normally. I shouldn’t be told that Windows can reinstall itself, then watch as it fails to even launch the tool that does so (it had been deleted [!]). I should be told when it tries again and formats the wrong drive without prompting. (Yes, I do back up my files, thanks for the suggestions.)

Why do I have to search through “legacy” control panels to find disk management? Why are there two sets of control panels in the first place? Why is the first thing I’m told when reinstalling Windows, that if I am reinstalling it, to say I don’t have a product key? Why does the installation process employ terminology and interfaces that are actively hidden from users in the OS itself?

Lipstick on a pig (that’s eating trash)

In a lot of ways, Windows 10 is great. I plan to continue using it. It was rightly lauded for striking a happy medium between the exposed nuts and bolts of XP or 7 with the modern conveniences and interface of 8. (I still think they should have called 10 Windows One, à la Xbox and OneDrive). I think keeping this compromise alive is important, especially as their rival Apple continues their practice of circling every square and removing every vestige of meaningful user choice.

But the company isn’t half done. They made the sensible decision to work from the outside in, because you don’t leave something like Windows 8 alive for long, and they made the surface layer of the OS more than palatable. But beneath that surface is decades of cruft, features and code that, while once necessary or even innovative, have been compacted with time and great pressure to create… yes, a hot ball of molten trash.

Of course, Microsoft is stuck between a rock (a small one, me) and a hard place (millions of customers who rely on legacy systems in one form or another). So much depends on little nuggets buried deep in the garbage fire that they can’t throw it all out at once. But who are they going to detail to audit a hundred million lines of code to find them and save them? Then, on the other side, how long can they keep shipping a product that’s deeply compromised by carrying this burden, which wrecks user experience and increases the hackable surface area by orders of magnitude?

I realize I’m not the first one to say this, and I’m pretty sure I won’t be the last, but it’s worth saying nevertheless (plus, I’m angry because my desktop is still dead). Many people smarter and better informed than me work at Microsoft, and they have certainly been contemplating this problem for longer than I have. I hope that part of Microsoft’s new direction is freeing Windows from the fetters of its previous iterations, but with the knowledge that hidden among the links of those chains are jewels worth salvaging.

Featured Image: ronstik/Shutterstock

Apple releases iOS 10.3 as well as macOS, watchOS and tvOS updates

It’s patch day at Apple. The company just released four new versions of its four operating systems for all its devices — iOS 10.3, macOS 10.12.4, watchOS 3.2 and tvOS 10.2. Some of those updates are more important than others.

Let’s start with iOS 10.3. The new version adds Find My AirPods, and we already covered what you can expect from the new feature. You can see them on a map if they’re connected to an iOS device or you can play an alarm if you have an AirPod hidden below a stack of magazines. And if they’re not around, you can see the last location when your phone was connected to your AirPods.

With iOS 10.3, Apple is rethinking ratings in the App Store with native review prompts and the ability to reply for developers. iOS 10.3 also adds a couple of new Siri features, such as cricket sports scores. There also are various improvements, such as a thread view in Mail and dynamic app icons.

Finally, Apple is secretly updating all iOS devices to APFS, a new file system. This should be completely transparent for the user, but it’s a major change as this new file system has been designed from the ground up to work with mobile, always-on devices with flash storage.

In watchOS 3.2, Apple is finally updating Siri to let you use Siri with third-party apps, just like on your phone. For instance, you could order a Lyft or call someone using WhatsApp from your Apple Watch. There’s also a new Theater Mode button so that the screen remains dark in a movie theater.

On macOS, Apple is bringing Night Shift. Just like f.lux, it favors warmer colors at night. This should allegedly improve your sleep. Real-time collaboration in iWork on macOS and iOS is out of beta.

tvOS 10.2 doesn’t add much except the ability to rent a movie on an Apple device and watch it on another, such as your Apple TV. This is a long-overdue feature.

As always, you should backup your device to iCloud or your computer before updating. This is particularly true for your iOS device, as the new file system is a big change.

Head over to the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad to update. Open the Mac App Store for the macOS update. Open the Watch app on your iPhone for the Apple Watch update.

Wanna hack your car? Macchina is a plug-and-vroom solution

You can hack your IKEA furniture to be more awesome. You can hack video games to make your fellow gamers hate your guts. And with the help of Macchina — now on Kickstarter — you can teach your car a few new tricks, too. What could possibly go wrong?

Banana for scale

Macchina is a little device that plugs into your car. Nothing revolutionary so far; Automatic has been offering that for years. What is new, however, is that Macchina’s little wonderchild can read and write to your car’s ECU. Which means it can be used not just to figure out what is happening in the dark, mysterious crevasses of your car’s intestines… It also can be used to change things. Suffice to say; it’s probably a good idea to know what you’re doing before you start changing numbers.

Macchina is based on the Arduino Due platform, which means there are a ton of code examples there.

Related Articles

Laying a trap for self-driving cars Leaked internal Uber documents show rocky self-driving car progress BMW's self-driving car will aim for full Level 5 autonomy by 2021 Intel buys Mobileye in $15.3B deal, moves its automotive unit to Israel Toyota's new autonomous test car 2.0 is a tricked out Lexus

“This is a fantastic development platform built for newcomers and professionals alike,” the team says, although, as hinted at before, it would probably take a particularly steady fingered novice to want to take the risk of changing too much right off the bat. The team is also committed to making both hardware and software open source.

The device is designed to be a comprehensive platform, and can be connected to a number of peripherals, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and cellular networks via break-out boards.

Overall, it’s one of those tremendously exciting projects that could completely turn the car peripherals world inside out, at a price-point that makes a lot of sense, too. The campaign has raised almost 5x its $25,000 goal, so it’s looking pretty good for now. Of course, it’s still a Kickstarter campaign, so caveat emptor, but damn if this isn’t a mighty tasty project…

New iPad models being tested around Cupertino, logs show

Several new iPad models have been spotted being tested in Cupertino and nearby locations, according to mobile marketing firm Fiksu — potentially confirming earlier rumors of a planned iPad refresh arriving this spring. According to reports, a leaked investor note from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo indicated that Apple is expected to update its 12.9-inch iPad Pro model, as well as introduce a new 10-inch or 10.5-inch model with a narrower bezel along with a budget-friendly 9.7-inch option.

According to Kuo, the two larger models will sport an A10X chip — a version of A10 chip found in the iPhone 7 — while the low-cost device will use the A9 chip found in the iPhone 6s. The A10X will be manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., and the A9 by Samsung, he also said. Not mentioned in his note is the Apple iPad mini.

Rumors this week point to a possible iPad event in April.

Fiksu’s raw data is showing four different iPad models, but that doesn’t necessarily mean four new devices will arrive. The company says it saw the same number of devices tested before the release of the last two iPad Pros, which means we could potentially see anywhere from two to four new iPads soon hitting the market, it estimates.

The data comes from Fiksu’s tracking and attribution SDK, which is used by thousands of mobile __apps today. As part of Apple’s testing process, it installs a variety of __apps — from popular ones to the more obscure — which inevitably ends up including some apps that has Fiksu’s tracking in them.

Each type of iOS device has a different model name, explains Fiksu. These are generally sequential, the firm says. About a month ahead of the most recent iPad Pro launches, it saw internal model names “6,3/6,4” and “6,7/6,8” being tested around Cupertino. This time around it’s seeing “7,1” “7,2,” “7,3,” and “7,4.”

There are only a handful of these devices appearing in its logs, Fiksu found. (See chart below)

Device | Count

iPad 7,3 | 5
iPad 7,4 | 10
iPad 7,2 | 11
iPad 7,1 | 17

All the usage is from the greater San Francisco Bay area, including Cupertino and nearby locations. The usage was also spread across a range of generally popular apps, like games, music, real estate and weather applications. Another indication that these could be the new iPads is the fact that they’re all running a mix of the latest beta of iOS (iOS 10.3) and the unreleased version iOS 11.

The testing began in September, but it wasn’t until recently that the number of devices reached a point where Fiksu became confident that a release date is imminent.

The launch of new iPads is important to Apple, given the current year-over-year decline in iPad sales. As Recode noted in January, Apple sold 13.3 million iPads, according to its recent quarterly earnings report, generating $5.5 billion in revenue. That represented around a 19 percent drop in units sold, and a 22 percent drop in revenue from the year prior.

As Fiksu explains, part of the problem is that people don’t upgrade their iPads as often as they upgrade their iPhones. In fact, the first four full-size iPad generations and the original iPad mini — all of which launched between 2010 and 2012 — still account for over 45 percent of iPad usage, its trackers show.

With the release of new models, Apple could encourage users to abandon their old devices for those with newer technology or new features. Kuo’s earlier note about the devices suggested that the budget model could move more units — potentially between 50 and 60 percent of sales, he said.

Of course, until Apple makes a formal announcement, nothing is for certain.

Miner Finds Enormous 706-Carat Diamond, Promptly Hands it Over to the Government

science Image Credit

Continue reading

Image: AP

A pastor and independent miner in Sierra Leone has unearthed an uncut 706-carat diamond estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars. The pastor turned the diamond over to the government in hopes that the proceeds from its sale will help the impoverished nation. But given the history of this former "blood-diamond" nation, what happens from here is anyone's guess.

Discovered by artisanal miner Leone Emmanuel Momoh in the diamond-rich Kono region, it's the largest uncut diamond found in Sierra Leone in more than four decades, and the second largest diamond ever found in the country, according to a report by the Associated Press. In 1972, a 968.9-carat diamond was found in Sierra Leone that eventually sold for $2.5 million. The value of the new alluvial diamond, rated at 706-carats, has not yet been determined, but it will likely fetch tens of millions of dollars at auction.

Sierra Leone's Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources Alhaji Minkailu Mansaray holds the diamond during a meeting with delegates of Kono district, where the gem was found. (Image: AP)

Momoh, who is one of thousands of workers who pan for gems, handed the diamond over to a local chief, who in turn gave it to President Bai Koroma on Momoh's behalf. The pastor said he gave the diamond to the government in hopes the proceeds will be used to fund ongoing infrastructure improvements in the impoverished Kono District. The government plans to auction the diamond, and take a four percent cut. Momoh himself is entitled to the lion's share of the proceeds, but it's not clear what he plans to do with the money.

President Koroma thanked the chief for his actions, and for not smuggling the diamond out of the country. He described the diamond as "a gift from God," saying "it will be a terrible thing if anyone tries to do something criminal with it."

The precious gem is now in Freetown's central bank vault awaiting valuation under the Kimberley Process , which certifies diamonds as being "conflict-free." This initiative, introduced by the World Diamond Congress at Antwerp in 2000, is an effort to stem the flow of conflict diamonds used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments. In Sierra Leone, these so-called " blood diamonds " fueled a decade-long civil war in which rebels forced civilians to mine the precious stones, and purchased weapons with the proceeds.

Unfortunately, the Kimberly Process doesn't appear to be working , or at least not as well as hoped. There's no guarantee that diamonds certified by the Kimberley Process are actually conflict-free, due to the ongoing presence of corrupt government officials in many of the countries involved. In some cases, officials accept bribes in exchange for the Kimberley Process certification.

Even if the new diamond gets the Kimberley Process stamp of approval, the citizens of Sierra Leone are already skeptical they'll benefit from the sale. "Previous diamonds have not benefited the people and I wonder how this new diamond will make a difference," noted Jeneba Kallon, a civil servant, in Deutsche Welle .

It's easy to be cynical about the situation, and the fate of the proceeds gleaned from the diamond, but there may be reason for optimism. President Koroma, who is now serving his second democratically elected term, isn't the worst leader in the world. He has led an anti-corruption campaign, opened the country to foreign investors, and has worked to rebuild the nation's infrastructure following the civil war that ended in 2002. As for the country's many government officials and bureaucrats, their potential actions are less clear. According to a 2013 report by Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer, Sierra Leone has the highest incidence of bribery in sub-Saharan Africa .

As to what happens now, President Koroma has given instructions to the Ministry of Mines stating that "the evaluation, sale, and distribution of the proceeds must be done in the most transparent manner." We'll just have to wait and see.

As for other notable diamond discoveries, the Cullinan Diamond is the largest ever found, clocking in at a whopping 3,106-carats-about 1.4 pounds. This rock, found in South Africa in 1905, was eventually cut into several large gems, two of which appear in the British Crown Jewels. In 2015, a 1,111-carat diamond called the Lesedi La Rona was found in north-central Botswana, making it the second largest ever found.

[ Associated Press , Deutsche Welle ]

Understand Microprocessors By Looking at This Beautiful Blinking 'Megaprocessor'

sploid Image Credit

Continue reading

GIF: Centre for Computing History

Pretty much everything that's great about technology today is thanks to the microprocessor . Billions of them are manufactured every year and they are one of the many reasons you can read this fine website. But few people understand what's going on inside that little integrated circuit. Here's a crash course.

The fine folks at the Centre for Computing History in Cambridge have a half-ton machine that blows up all of the little details happening in a microprocessor to a size that's more easily inspected. It has been dubbed "The Megaprocessor " and its creator, James Newman, walks us through how it works in the video below.

Newman's creation is cool enough to just admire it on its own. Using about 40,000 transistors and 10,ooo LEDs, it diagrams all of the various communications and number crunching going on inside a microprocessor in order to ultimately __play a big ass game of Tetris.

To really grok the fine details, you'll have to pay a visit to the museum itself and spend some time with The Megaprocessor. But I assure you, in a little less than seven minutes you can understand the basics of what goes on in a microprocessor well enough to fake it at a really nerdy party.

Since many of us can't visit, I highly recommend the CCH's Twitter account . It always has great old school gear and graphics to check out.

[ Centre for Computing History ]

Amazon Alexa arrives on the iPhone

Amazon Alexa Image Credit

Continue reading

Amazon Alexa is one cool AI assistant, and it is sad to see that the bot is locked to Amazon Alexa speakers like Alexa Echo and Echo Dot, however that might change pretty soon.

Starting today, iPhone users can interact with Alexa on the Amazon app for iOS. All you need to do is update your Amazon store app and you’re good to go.

The Assistant is being brought to the e-commerce app for helping people place their orders using their voice. Alexa will be able to search for products, place orders, or request cancellations.

However, along with this, the AI Assistant will also do a few cool things like telling you a joke, informing you about the weather, and answering your other intriguing questions, or at least try to!

Surprisingly, Alexa on the Amazon app can also __play music, as well can control IoT or Internet of Thing devices. This means you can ask Alexa to change the room temperature, or control the lighting, right from your iPhone. However, this doesn’t include locking and unlocking smart locks, as the Door Lock API isn’t coming to Alexa in the Amazon app.

Roomba- the robot vacuum cleaner is also expected to receive the Alexa skill where users can control the robot using Alexa.

Now even though Alexa might be better than Siri, the Cupertino giant’s AI assistant still gets an upper hand due to its closer integration with the operating system.

However, it surely is commendable that Alexa still adds a lot of practicality, while being a part of the Amazon store app. I guess it’s time for Apple to step up its game with Siri in iOS 11.

The update is currently available only for the US markets.

Twitter to allow media firms to directly live stream

Twitter Image Credit

Continue reading

Micro-blogging site Twitter will soon allow media firms to post live streaming videos directly into the service, media reports said.

According to a report in the Information on Thursday, Twitter will allow media firms to plug directly into Twitter's software to go live by opening its streaming application programming interface (API) to them.

"Twitter is opening up its live API to media firms. It will also reveal partnerships with firms that provide back-end services for live-video streaming," the report said.

Though media organisations have already been hosting live streams on Twitter, it required partnerships and extensive planning between the two. With the upcoming announcement, Twitter's API will let these organisations go live without using Periscope.

Twitter in partnership with PBS NewsHour on Fenruary 28 live-streamed US President Donald Trump's address to a joint session of Congress.

It also witnesses over 2 million viewers for Thursday Night Football last year live-streamed a boxing match for the first time in partnership with Showtime.

This $150 Console Game Me Every Nintendo Game I've Ever Owned in 4K

reviews Image Credit

Continue reading

Image: Alex Cranz/Gizmodo

I can't remember a time when I wasn't obsessed with retro video games. That's one of the reasons I was so excited about the NES Classic Edition ; it's also why I spent my Thanksgiving documenting how to put together a Raspberry Pi-based mini SNES instead of brining turkeys. But building an emulation console from scratch takes time, and I've was curious if there was a more streamlined, turnkey solution. That's when I happened across a Kickstarter for the Allcade 64-bit , a Raspberry Pi 3-based system in a housing that looked just like a classic Nintendo 64 cartridge. It promises all the cool hackery Pi-vibe with none of the command line or soldering.

I ponied up $162 for the "console" and two Nintendo 64-style controllers (the system with one controller is $150 .) That's about twice what it cost for me to buy the parts for my mini SNES, but I was curious to see if the expense would be worth the time of doing it yourself. So far...it has been.

The Allcade 64-bit looks and feels exactly like a Nintendo 64 cartridge (maybe a little lighter), only with a Raspberry Pi stuffed inside instead of ROM chips. On the bottom of the "cartridge" are two USB ports, a power port, and an HDMI port. Allcade also sells a 4-player "adaptor" for the Allcade 64-bit, which was included with my Kickstarter package. This is basically just a USB-extender, since Allcade got rid of two of the USB ports that ship on a stock Raspberry Pi 3.

Hey, that's not a real N64 cartridge! (Image: Alex Cranz/Gizmodo)

The system boots in seconds to an "Allcade" home screen which shows whatever games available to play. The Allcade 64-bit is running on a customized version of Lakka , a video game emulation system built on top of Linux, but with some settings hidden from user view. The controllers are mapped to work out of the box-a major time saver versus my mini SNES build.

The Allcade comes with one homegrown game to show how it works (a Minesweeper-like platformer), but the real point of this thing is to use it with game ROMs. (This is the part where I point out game ROMs are a legal grey area and you should download games you own physical copies of or that are in the public domain. Be sure to follow the laws in your region etc. etc.)

To get ROMs on the system, I was instructed to put them on a USB thumb drive and then plug that drive into the system. The system is then supposed to be smart enough to recognize compatible file types and load them into the system memory automatically.

Games installed on my Allcade (Image: Christina Warren/Gizmodo)

This worked better in theory than in practice. My Nintendo 64 ROMs had the extension *.Z64 and the Allcade 64-bit would only auto-recognize those with the extension *.N64. My games played just fine on the system, but only from the USB thumb drive; if I removed the drive, the games stopped working. Changing the extension on the files fixed the problem, but that was an unanticipated extra step, and one Allcade can hopefully fix with a future software update.

Diddy Kong Racing on a 4K TV is weird (Image: Christina Warren/Gizmodo)

When it comes to actually playing games, the Allcade 64-bit was tops. It's a little weird to __play 1080° Snowboarding on a 4K TV, and the upscaled resolution definitely doesn't do those 64-bit graphics any favors-making poor Diddy Kong into a monstrous mess of pixels-but I was also playing Diddy Kong Racing in under ten minutes. A feat I never could have managed building my own emulation console. I spent the better part of my afternoon blasting enemies in Star Fox 64 and laughing at Peppy's hijinx before I remembered I actually needed to review the thing.

The performance for most of my Nintendo 64 games was great. Playing Super Mario 64 brought me back to being 13 again and I managed plenty of barrel rolls in Star Fox 64 . Yet it's not perfect. Like any other Raspberry Pi setup, some N64 titles, like Conker's Bad Fur Day , have playback issues. Though playing games from older consoles, such as the Super Nintendo, was near perfect.

And I didn't have to break out a single bit of command line. The beauty-aside from the looks-of the Allcade 64-bit is that it is a total plug-and-play experience crammed into a old game cartridge. This is designed for people that don't want to spend their time configuring their own emulation box. And on that count, it totally delivers. If $150 sounds like a deal for something you could build yourself in a day for half the price than the Allcade 64-bit should be on your shopping list.

README

• The price is high compared to building it yourself, but it still wound up being cheaper than what I paid for a Raspberry Pi 3 and a poorly-made 3D-printed SNES case.
• I wish the system would show title information about your games. Lakka supports this, but it doesn't seem to be enabled on this setup.
• I had to install a software update on my system. The process was a little convoluted, but the instructions were very well documented.
• The team has tried to de-geek the system as much as possible; this is great for people who want something easy to setup, but can be frustrating if you're a power emulator user.
• The fact that this Kickstarter arrived on time and as promised makes me hopeful that bigger product runs will be successful.
• After playing this, I miss my actual Nintendo 64 at my parent's house more than ever.

Why the Hell Does the James Webb Space Telescope Look Haunted?

science Image Credit

Continue reading

Image: NASA/Chris Gunn

One of the most powerful telescopes ever built-NASA's James Webb Space Telescope-is set to make its big debut in 2018. But before it starts scouring distant galaxies, or searching for life around at TRAPPIST-1 , the telescope must undergo quite a bit of testing. Apparently, during "lights out inspections," James Webb gets a little creepy.

On March 15th, NASA posted a spooktacular image of the telescope in the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. While the figures in the picture are pretty ghoulish, they're actually just technicians performing vibration and acoustic testing, which is used by engineers to ensure that everything stays where it should during the turbulent rocket ride up into space. According to NASA , the contamination control engineer used an ultraviolet flashlight to look for contamination after the vibration test, which set the mood lighting for the spooky shot.

"The people have a ghostly appearance because it's a long exposure," NASA photographer Chris Gunn said. Since the camera's shutter was open for a long period of time, it captured the technicians' movements, making them look like ghosts .

Still, pretty spooky, right?

Image: NASA/Chris Gunn

This spring, NASA will ship the James Webb from Goddard to the Johnson Space Center in California, where it'll undergo further testing. Eventually, the assembled telescope will be shipped to French Guiana, where it's scheduled to launch next October aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. Considering that October is the spookiest month of the year, this is hardly a coincidence.

[ NASA ]

Indie Art Week Carnival: Soul-stirring indie music with a dash of comedy

Image Credit

Continue reading

Indie Art Week’s carnival is in full swing. And while it’s far away from the usual corporate, commercial, over-the-top music festival , certain things are happening there that will soon be adopted by the mainstream. Take the Sonic Drone showcase for example. While most festivals of arts have stuck to the same old, Indie Art Week is experimenting with fusing music with visuals and shooting it in 360 degrees to experience it later in virtual reality. That is spacey, mind-altering music dished out in an all-encompassing visual treat where you can immerse and surround yourself in. That’s a whole different way of experiencing music. Yet, the more traditional forms of performance were not compromised either.

Festival curator Rohan Kulshreshtha said, “We’re not cutting any corners in production. The stage will have everything these artists need.” And on Day 1, it was significantly obvious the moment Denver-based The Bluegrass Journeymen went up for sound check at the Grey Area. Indie Art Week may lack in the nifty bits of perfection and may look quite minimalist and bare-bones, but it has its soul at its right place- that of giving these prodigal minds space where they can flutter and take a flight to their fancies.

Take the Spotlight stage for example. There is nothing but a spotlight aimed straight at the performer. There’s no artwork on the walls behind other than tattered wallpapers coming loose. Chairs were strewn around inside the old warehouse. But there’s crystal clear sound and an eager (although negligible) audience ready to appreciate their work. On Day 1, the Spotlight stage hosted a stand-up variety show featuring a bunch of known faces like Pratyush Chaubey who was recently featured on BBC, Aman Deep who was featured in a NDTV documentary about rising standup comedians, Srijan Kaushik who derives his humour from his dysfunctional family, Rajnish Kumar who quipped along with his dramatic childhood stories and more. While these talents do perform all over the country in comedy clubs and elsewhere, IAW is commendable for bringing all of them together to unleash a laugh riot.

Also Read: Magnetic Fields festival 2016 review: A magical tango between music and sand

Day 1 also saw the Grey Area buzzing with good vibes and of course, good music. Antione Reddon kicked off the proceedings with his A Capella-dipped golden voice. A French man in India since 2006, he has absorbed the sounds of the country and fused it with his reggae origins creating a sound drenched with vocal richness and maddening guitar strums. His performance was followed up by Goa-based Ranjit Arapurakal whose ballads carry the smell of the ocean. He weaves fluid acoustic melody, something that you might hear from gushing out from a Spanish pub. Yet his words are closer home. He sang about his ‘underground’ indie brethren, of a lover in New Delhi, and even did a cover of Radiohead’s Karma Police. As his performance was coming to an end, he took the microphone to speak what was on our minds all through. “Indie Art Week is for all those who are tired of all these corporate, bolly music festival.”

What’s so special about IAW, you may ask? Wait till you soak up Mathias Durand’s sounds of nature. Singer-songwriter trained extensively in both Hindustani and Western classical presented a soundscape that transported the listener to a breezy open field where we sat drenching our souls to his French mumblings layered with frantic guitar strummings and spacey percussions by his Iranian and Zimbabwean friends.

The final act of the day had come all the way from Denver, California. Bluegrass Journeymen. A group of four intensely dedicated bluegrass musicians fronting an acoustic guitar, a mandolin, a cello and a banjo respectively, the Bluegrass Journeymen was all about movement and fluidity, of music that carried stories from the past. Their music was literally a journey down the Colorado river, floating downstream filled with vibes only the woody and velvety sounds of traditional Bluegrass can exude.

Also Read: Go: Madras 8 Was One Of The Best Festivals We’ve Been To and This Is What We Remember

I can go on about the music and what it did to us, but then it will only be an exercise gone vain. As avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson once said, writing about music is like dancing about architecture. So instead of reading about these gifted minds wreaking havoc in our senses, why don’t you come along and witness them on your own?


(Photo Credits: Avinash SN)

Idea Cellular to allow 2G, 3G, 4G data recharge for same price

Idea Image Credit

Continue reading

Idea Cellular on Friday said it will allow data recharges for the same price across 2G, 3G and 4G connectivity.

"Idea ... will allow open market data recharges of 1GB and above to work on Idea 's 2G, 3G or 4G network without any differential prices and this will be rolled out nationally by March 31, 2017," a company statement said here.

At present, a customer buys separate recharges for 2G, 3G or 4G technology at different price points.

"Idea's simplified data pricing will ensure data recharges across all technologies are available at the same price point. A customer can choose the recharge price basis usage and volume available in pack, without having to worry about the platform the customer's device is logged in," said Sashi Shankar , Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular.

Product categories like sachets, freedom packs would also move subsequently to unified pricing and would be rolled out nationally in phases by May 31, 2017, the statement added.

This Double Star System Puts 'Double Rainbow' to Shame

science Image Credit

Continue reading

Image: ESO/ALMA/Hyosun Kim

When the world was young and unsullied, we did wholesome things, like laugh at Cheezburger memes and other cat-related pleasantries . One treasure we all adored was the Double Rainbow video , in which a man-ostensibly on peyote and beaver tranquilizers-nearly orgasms at the site of two rainbows in the sky. Those halcyon days may be over, but now, we have a double star system to enjoy instead.

On March 6th, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) posted a mesmerizing image of a binary star system, captured by the agency's Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The swirling, false color radio emissions image shows LL Pegasi-a star located 3,000 light-years from the Sun-getting along nicely with its binary companion. As the old red giant LL Pegasi orbits its companion, it loses material, and as a result of its highly elliptical path, it leaves behind a spiral shape. Each "layer" in the spiral is thought to represent about 800 years, which is the estimated orbital period of the binary system, according to Hubble . The new observations have been published in the March issue of Nature Astronomy .

"Because of the orbital motion of the mass-losing red giant, the cold molecular gas constituting the wind from that star is being spun out like the sprays of water from a rotating garden sprinkler, forming the outflowing pattern of spiral shells," UCLA astronomer and study co-author Mark Morris explained in a statement.

At some point in this cosmic love affair, LL Pegasi will become a nebula. Until then, we'll have many more years of this freakishly beautiful swirl.

[ Nature Astronomy via ESO ]

Why Progressive Web Apps could be a threat to mobile apps

Image Credit

Continue reading

Google is all set to do to mobile apps what Steve Jobs did to WAP-based browsers. Make them obsolete. In the latest beta update to Chrome, Google said it will be integrating progressive web apps into the Android operating system in a more deeper way, down to the system level. So much so that they will almost be indistinguishable from the native apps stored on your phone.

If you have ever used Flipkart’s mobile website or even Freecharge’s for that matter, you are already familiar with progressive web apps or PWAs. They load instantly, even when there’s little to no network, respond seamlessly to your flicks and swishes and feel just like using a native app. In essence, these are very much like mobile apps but doesn’t come with the baggage of taking up precious storage on your phone.

“In the next few weeks, we’ll be rolling out a new version of this experience in Chrome beta. With this new version, once a user adds a Progressive Web App to their Home screen, Chrome will integrate it into Android in a much deeper way than before,” said the Chromium blog.

The web app could previously be pinned on the home screen through Chrome shortcuts, but now these PWAs will be more integrated deep enough for them to appear on the app drawer as well as on the Settings app and allow them to interact with other apps installed in the system. A long press on them will surface notifications.

A move like this could potentially disrupt the mobile apps-space. If you have the option of getting the same experience of a native app from a mobile website, why take the pains of downloading it?

In fact, with app downloads slowing down globally, PWAs could be the final nail in the coffin. Opera’s VP for South and South East Asia, Sunil Kamath pointed out to Gizmodo India that such a move could be beneficial especially in a market like India.

“PWA could be an interesting trade-off for a market like India and 2017 could be a year it takes off. The dynamics are quite suitable for this market. If you go beyond tier 1 cities, the inertia to download an app over a data network is still an issue and the network itself is a bit questionable in India,” said Kamath in a conversation which happened a couple of weeks before Google announced the integration of PWAs in the Android app drawer.

Both Google and Microsoft have been hard at work trying to scale down the web to work more like an app. Apps have the advantage of minimal load times while pulling info from the web and displaying it on attractive splash screens. PWAs also do essentially the same, minus the need to install them on your local storage. With Progressive Web Apps and Hosted Web Apps, both Google and Microsoft have been pushing for this paradigm for quite a while.

Flipkart already uses Google’s platform for its Flipkart Lite web app with an enhanced mobile experience that completely does away with the need to install the native app.

"We know that everyone needs to build mobile-first experiences. With Flipkart Lite, we've developed a powerful, technically-advanced web app that performs as well as our native app. We now feel we have the best of both worlds,” said Amar Nagaram, an Engineering Director at Flipkart at the time told Gizmodo India.

Opera too have been at the thick of web apps for quite some time. Former CEO and co-founder Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner said, “ the idea behind progressive web apps has been around for many years and this is yet another effort to push it forward. We believe in this direction and hope to see even wider adoption.”

Opera launched the Opera Platform way back in 2003 for exactly this reason. It was a web-based UI for phones. To leverage elements like web widgets, web OSes, smart TVs, etc.

“This was all way ahead of its time and it is surprising that it has taken so long for Google to implement it. So for me, the time where Web applications were at the level of native applications was 14 years ago,” he claimed.

The slow uptake in the adoption of web-apps may be attributed to higher development costs as compared to a standard mobile website.

Tetzchner’s new company, Vivaldi which is coming out with a new browser that is due to hit smartphones sometime this year may also not come with support for PWAs from the beginning, pointing towards the incremental resources needed to enable support for PWAs.

Mozilla’s Firefox OS which was largely a cloud-based OS leveraging web apps wasn’t quite successful for this very reason.

However, considering the might of Google and Microsoft, along with innovators like Opera pushing hard for the adoption of PWAs, 2017 might just be the year web-apps finally breach the mainstream and become the status quo.

Google’s Motion Stills update on iOS improves Live Photos

Motion Stills Image Credit

Continue reading

Google's Motion Stills app for iOS has received a noteworthy upgrade. The Live Photo-GIF maker has gotten better, along with a few additional features to get the users happy.

The update improves the colour depth, stability, and the option to export the GIFs in Apple’s traditional format.

The app has adopted a new way of fixing the images by retaining the primary frame in 12-megapixel, while the remaining frames will be saved as a lower-resolution video. This would definitely result in a bit of a quality loss, but it is hardly noticeable as the content is mostly viewed on the smartphone.

The app also fixes the abrupt moments of capturing the Live Photos , mostly at the end of capturing the image, which usually ends in awkward shakes while the smartphone is being slid into the pocket. While fixing this, it also fixes the uneven colour depth and contrasts, making the image look perfect.

The update now also allows users to pick a specific still from the GIF, which can be exported as a standard image. Moreover, the app now also allows you to share the GIF in the 3D touch format, which would come in handy for avid iMessage users.

Motion Stills was launched in December last year. With the new updates the app not only becomes more practical and fun but when paired with Google Photos, it also adds to the entire Google ecosystem on iOS.

Report: Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 might lose its convertible nature

Surface Book 2 Image Credit

Continue reading

Microsoft’s Surface Book is definitely one of the most unique looking Windows machine out there in the market. It disguises its 2-in-1 nature very well with its fulcrum hinge, giving a notebook-like look and feel, along witht the flexibility of a convertible.

However, the next generation of Surface Book might not retain this 2-in-1 nature.

According to a report by Digitimes, Surface Book 2 has entered into mass production, and the sources state that Microsoft is losing the convertible nature of the machine, making it a regular notebook without being detachable or sporting the fulcrum hinge.

This surely feels like a bummer, however, what the report also hints at, is the fact that the machine could be priced considerably less, than the original Surface Book, starting at $1000 which is approximately Rs 64,999. The current generation Surface Book starts at a price point of $1499 (approximately Rs 98,000), going all the way up to $3,199 (approximately Rs 2,00,000).

The reason behind the price cut is the poor performance of the Surface Book in 2016. The brand has sold just 500,000 units of the Surface book in 2016, and the hefty price tag is one to blame for.

The report tells that according to its sources, the drop down in pricing will result in the sale numbers to reach 1.2 to 1.5 million units in 2017, which is a considerable bump up.

Leaks suggest that the Surface Book 2 will continue to sport a 13.5-inch display, with the body made entirely out of magnesium-aluminium alloy. Under the hood, we can expect Intel’s latest Kaby Lake processors to do the honours for the hardware. We could also expect Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050Ti GPU on the higher variant.

The updated Surface Book 2 is expected to hit the markets by March end or April 2017.

White House Cites Satire Story to Support Trump's Nightmare Budget

donald trump Image Credit

Continue reading

Image: White House logo

1600 Daily is an official newsletter of the White House. It includes important information about the goings-on of the president, including his meeting schedule for the day and upcoming policy initiatives. And, at the very bottom, it includes positive coverage from the media.

Under President Trump, previous issues of 1600 Daily have included predictable write-ups from Fox, Breitbart, Townhall, and the New York Post . But today, one of the links in the "News Reports" header also includes a satirical article of Trumps' ludicrous budget from Washington Post humorist Alexandra Petri titled "Trump's budget makes perfect sense and will fix America, and I will tell you why."

Oops! (Image: Daily 1600)

Trump's long-standing war on the press and habit of decrying any critical coverage as fake news is that much more embarrassing and hollow now that it's clear that his own newsletter is completely incapable of discerning real reportage from an obvious joke.

How obvious? Setting aside that the first four words of Petri's Wikipedia entry are "is an American humorist," the second paragraph of her article reads:

This budget will make America a lean, mean fighting machine with bulging, rippling muscles and not an ounce of fat. America has been weak and soft for too long. BUT HOW WILL I SURVIVE ON THIS BUDGET? you may be wondering. I AM A HUMAN CHILD, NOT A COSTLY FIGHTER JET. You may not survive, but that is because you are SOFT and WEAK, something this budget is designed to eliminate.

If the words themselves doesn't ring alarm bells that perhaps, just maybe, this is intended as satire, then one assumes the use of ALL CAPS might have.

The only other news link in today's 1600 Daily was a lukewarm Politico write-up of Trump's terse remarks about the Irish, pegged to St. Patrick's Day. Presumably these days it's so difficult to find favorable coverage of this colossally awful administration, parody its only refuge.

We've reached out to the White House to see if 1600 Daily is in the habit of aggregating satire links into official newsletters and will update if we hear back.

[h/t Rebecca Ballhaus ]

The UK Just Granted the First License to Commercialize Controversial 'Three-Parent' Babies

science Image Credit

Continue reading

Image: Shutterstock

A fertility clinic in Newcastle was just granted permission to start performing what's known as the 'three-parent baby' technique, a controversial in vitro fertilization procedure that prevents genetic diseases from being passed on to children by giving them three genetic 'parents.'

The technique relies on DNA from a mother, father, and a female donor in order to keep a mom from passing on mitochondrial diseases. Mitochondrial DNA is made up of just 37 genes and can only be passed on to a child by its mother. So by replacing that tiny bit of genetic code via in vitro fertilization, it's possible to save a child from a deadly disorder they would otherwise definitely inherit.

In December, the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority approved the technique as safe for clinical use . On Thursday, it issued the first license for the procedure to the Newcastle Fertility Centre. The clinic's first three-parent babies could be born early next year.

In the US, lawmakers have blocked the technology . But it's actually not a new approach to weeding out problematic genes from future children. In the 1990s, several babies were born with genetic material from three 'parents' using a different technique. Some of them, though, developed unexpected genetic disorders, and the technology was never approved. Those children have caused critics to object to three parent babies for safety reasons, arguing that scientists should not be experimenting on what they view as a potential human life.

The technology has also led to fears that tinkering with the genetic makeup of embryos will, down the line, lead to designer babies .

When the UK gave the green light to the technique, the independent watchdog Human Genetics Alert claimed it was "the first step in a well mapped-out process leading to [genetically modified] babies, and a future of consumer eugenics."

Last year, US scientists made headlines after a patient gave birth to a three-parent baby (in Mexico, of course). In that case, the boy's mother carried the genes for a fatal nervous system disorder called Leigh syndrome . The technique works by swapping the nucleus of a fertilized mother's egg, which contains the bulk of the baby's genetic material, into a donor egg that contains mitochondria but has had its nucleus removed. In the 90s, instead the technique involved simply injecting donor mitochondria into a mother's egg, meaning fetuses could wind up with mitochondria from two sources.

In this more recent case, doctors are hopeful that the boy will not suffer from any genetic issues. The scientists who performed the procedure selected a male embryo on purpose, to ensure that if he does wind up with problematic mitochondrial mutations, he can't pass them along to his offspring. Unknowns like this are why the National Institutes of Health has made it clear that it "will not fund any use of gene-editing technologies in human embryos." Even in the UK, regulatory authorities have ensured that any gene editing in human embryos will take place under very strict oversight .

For now, though, these technologies are marching along. Time and more births are the only things that will really tell how safe the technique is.

[ The Guardian ]

Planning to cut the cord this summer? 10 reasons why you shouldn't bother

Image Credit

Continue reading

Watching television programs without having a television has always been a distant dream, a futuristic utopia devoid of the shackles of television schedules, of the compulsive need to return home just in time to catch the primetime show, of the compromise of having to let go of one favourite for another just because they are airing at the same time. Television is a sort of a dictator and if you happen to have a dusty old TV set lying in your drawing room, chances are you are bound by the diktats of program schedules and of course the adverts. But just like the Allied Powers to Hitler's Axis Power, like Waterloo to Napoleon, the stalwarts of video streaming entered the country to change the game.

Services like Netflix , Amazon Prime and Hotstar (Premier subscription service to be precise) all stormed into mobile and computer screens in 2016 (HotStar was admittedly there before), with libraries full of varying content. From blockbuster Bollywood to documentaries to obscure foreign titles to the most-watched television series to live sports. Everything and almost anything. Making the act of cutting the cord a real possibility. But not really.

India is a dichotomy of a whole other level. While it offers everything on paper, the real-world scenario will beg on its knees to differ. And for reasons galore, it is next to impossible in this present state of things to truly cut the cord and escape the clutches of television programming schedules. I enlist 10 reasons why switching to streaming services for your daily content fix is still a distant dream in the country.


Horrendous state of internet connectivity

To stream your content, first, you need internet. And not just internet, you need uninterrupted, fast internet. And according to the Q3 2016 State of Internet Connectivity Report by Akamai, India has the lowest internet speeds in the whole of Asia Pacific. Only 30 per cent of all internet users enjoys speeds over 4mbps while just 6.6 per cent of the entire internet-savvy population have access to speeds above 10mbps. And even if you do manage to have fast connectivity, an unfair fair usage policy means you have to be a miser in spending the data allotted. This metric is reason enough to understand why no one is ready to sell their TV. Services may all be there, but the basic infrastructure is missing.


Steep subscription costs of streaming services


One good thing about television is you pay for one package and you don't have to worry about any other hidden costs. To get the same amount content on streaming services, you cannot rely on just one service. You need the whole suite. And that has a steep asking price. The top three streaming services combined comes for a price higher than cable. Netflix's HD content comes for Rs 650 per month, Amazon Prime Video for Rs 500 a year and Hotstar for Rs 199 for a month. And they still don't cover the entire spectrum of what's airing on TV. And mind you, these are just introductory prices which are bound to rise in the near future. In contrast, cable prices have remained constant and some have even become cheaper. As a result, you need to have deeper pockets to attempt and afford to cut the cord. Additionally, when you take into account the price of the internet connection itself — then you’re talking about a whole new numbers game which isn't feasible in a country like India.


Buffering Blues


Buffering is a pain. Be it in the middle of a cliffhanger in a movie, or just when Ibrahimovic gets the ball outside the D-box or when Dhoni hurls at the ball. Television doesn't leave you hanging high and dry like that. But the same can't be said about streaming services. Chances are, with so many users on a platform streaming the blockbuster cricket match, the servers get really stressed and even if you have a decently fast internet connection, you end up getting frustrated by the loading icon. Perhaps for platform companies like Amazon and Netflix that isn't the problem, however, the bigger issue is that live streaming is never live — it is for some reason or the other always a few minutes behind TV. So then why’d one bother with online when your neighbour next door is already screaming when a ‘6er’ is hit by Yuvraj Singh and you’re yet to witness it?


But then, cable is still so cheap!


Say what you may, once you have invested in a television, the cable connection doesn't really burn a hole in your pocket. On an average, an HD connection with all the usually-watched channels will come for not more than Rs 1,700. And that is all you need to pay. For streaming content on a big screen, however, you will need to buy a television or a monitor, a Chromecast dongle, or an Apple TV and fast internet. That's a whole lotta money to spend for leisure.


Hey, where's Game of Thrones?


So you shelled out Rs 650 for a Netflix connection and just when you are about to tune into the season premiere of your favourite show, you find it doesn't exist on Netflix. So you go to Amazon Prime. Not there as well. So finally, you land on Hotstar and the whole HBO catalogue awaits you. By the time you figure out where to watch it, you have already lost much of your hard-earned leisure time. Content is very haphazardly spread around services and you will have to use a lot of brainpower to figure which is where. On TV, though, you just need to know which channel it is airing and of course the time, and you are set!


Sometimes, choice is a problem


So you come back dog-tired from work and all you want to do is put something on to watch and chill. On TV, you just need to tune into a channel and let things be. On a streaming service however, with the plethora of content available, you will end up spending the whole time just choosing what to watch. It is the classic curse of choice. Spoilt is an understatement. Confusing is the working definition here. Is People vs O.J. Simpson a better choice or Orange is the New Black? Maybe another episode of Black Mirror? How about that Edward Snowden documentary? Nah. Might just rewatch old Breaking Bad episodes, but wait, isn't The Crown rated to be an intensely engaging show? You get my point, don't you? Sometimes choice is a problem — cable TV doesn’t give you with a choice and that’s is its beauty.


We are Indians. Where are our Saas-bahu soaps?


One reason why I can't ever imagine my mother cutting the cord is the aggressive push towards content alien to most viewers in the country. In your group of friends, Game of Thrones may be a rave, but if your mum decides to watch it, she will be scarred for life. But get out of the bubble and you will realise, 'Naagin' on Colors TV is the second most watched television show in the country (the first being the recently concluded India vs England ODI series on Doordarshan) while Sun TV is the most watched television channel this week (according to BARC data). Where will this majority find their daily soap fix? Not on Netflix. Definitely not on Amazon Prime Video. Maybe on Hotstar, but not all. And that's part of the reason why television will never go out of trend. There is no universal solution — on cable you have many providers but they more or less have the same content — the differentiator being the service and the plans. Online — the differentiator is the content and the way things stand there is no one place to get everything.


Old habits die hard


Despite the youth in the country adopting technology like bacteria to antibiotics, certain pet peeves and habits are not going to go anytime soon. In conversation with a friend on social media, I learnt how despite Hotstar offering live coverage of sports content, from cricket to football to tennis, he would call himself old-fashioned and stick to television when watching a match live (buffering is a bitch remember?). The willpower to choose and zero in on something to watch is also high, deterring many to ditch the remote and take the laptop on the lap. Basically, it will take a mountainous effort to move the TV-addicted Indian population to streaming services, even if every other roadblock is removed from the way.


Where the hell is the pause button?

It took ages for people to get used to TV remotes and even more to figure out the set-top box menus. The content classification and the UI in general on the streaming portals are on a whole other level. Some have television shows and movies in separate sections, some just show them on a perpetual scroll. Some don’t even have options to classify content by language But discovery is one thing. Playback is even more complicated. Video quality, subtitles, captions, trivia, offline downloading, volume. More the options, more the choice and more the time spent fiddling around. From discovering content to watching them, streaming services have a short but steep learning curve. In contrast, for television, you just to point your remote (which many painstakingly learnt to use) and go to the channel you want to watch. Nothing more. Nothing less.


But there are torrents, dah! Why pay for Netflix?

Here’s the deal. As long as there are free alternatives to subscription-based streaming services, Netflix and co. will have a hard time becoming the status quo. The recent crackdown on P2P torrent websites may have been favourable towards them but alternatives are still there in plenty. And more often than not, a simple Google search will take you straight to them. Never mind the malware-love people get in return, at least it’s free. And with the terrible connectivity in the country, torrenting content have always been the most obvious choice. You take your time downloading it and no qualms of buffering after that. No wonder Netflix and the rest are rushing to introduce offline streaming in a market like India.

Twitter User Accused of Sending Journalist Seizure-Inducing GIF: 'Let's See If He Dies'

kurt eichenwald Image Credit

Continue reading

Image: AP

Friday evening, disturbing new details emerged in the case of a Maryland man accused of sending a seizure-inducing GIF to Newsweek journalist Kurt Eichenwald , including private Twitter messages where the suspect allegedly wrote "I hope this sends him into a seizure" and "let's see if he dies."

According to the Department of Justice, 29-year-old John Rayne Rivello of Salisbury, Maryland, was arrested for cyberstalking on Friday. Prosecutors say Rivello's Twitter account sent Eichenwald an "animated strobe image" attached to the message "You deserve a seizure for your post." Rivello's account allegedly sent private messages saying "Spammed this at [Eichenwald] let's see if he dies," and "I know he has epilepsy." From the Justice Department:

Additional evidence received pursuant to a search warrant showed Rivello's iCloud account contained a screenshot of a Wikipedia page for the victim, which had been altered to show a fake obituary with the date of death listed as Dec. 16, 2016. Rivello's iCloud account also contained screen shots from epilepsy.com with a list of commonly reported epilepsy seizure triggers and from dallasobserver.com discussing the victim's report to the Dallas Police Department and his attempt to identify the Twitter user.

Previously, Eichenwald and his lawyers moved to order Twitter in court to reveal the identity of the user who allegedly sent the image. Later, Eichenwald retracted the order, claiming the man had been identified through other, unexplained means.

Eichenwald announced the man's arrest on Twitter Friday morning:

While Eichenwald was able to get the FBI to swoop in on this case, online threats against women continue to go unanswered.

Russian Bank Says Hackers are Trying to Make It Look Like Its Servers are Contacting Trump

donald trump Image Credit

Continue reading

Photo: Getty

The saga of Russian cyber-ties to Trump just gets more complicated. Reports of contact between an Alfa Bank server and one belonging to the Trump organization have been circulating for months. Now, the bank says that US-based hackers have been attempting to make it appear that its servers are communicating with Trump since mid-February.

First reported back in October by the New York Times , FBI agents allegedly looked into an odd pattern of DNS requests coming from an Alfa Bank server trying to communicate with one belonging to Donald Trump . Reportedly , 2,820 requests occurred, accounting for 80 percent of the lookups on the Trump system. At the time, it was said that the FBI had concluded that it could easily be part of a spam campaign.

But last week, new reports emerged that claim the FBI was still investigating the activity. This caused some to speculate that the investigation prompted Trump's tweets about having his "wires tapped" by President Obama during the course of the election.

Alfa Bank has denied any attempted communication with Trump but yesterday , it released a statement saying that it had been targeted by hackers who had made DNS requests to the Trump Organization that were designed to appear as if they came from Alfa Bank's servers. "The cyberattacks are an attempt by unknown parties to manufacture the illusion of contact between Alfa Bank's DNS servers and 'Trump servers,'" the statements reads. "We have gone to the U.S. Justice Department and offered our complete cooperation to get to the bottom of this sham and fraud."

The bank has also enlisted a private cyber forensics firm, Stroz Friedberg , to look into the matter. In November, a separate firm, Mandiant, was hired to investigate the allegations against Alfa Bank. They told Bloomberg , "The list presented does not contain enough information to show there has been any actual activity opposed to simple DNS look-ups, which can come from a variety of sources, including anti-spam and other security software."

The DNS requests don't mean that any sort of communication actually occurred. Experts compare the activity to looking up a phone number. It shows intent to make contact but provides no evidence that a connection was established. Computer researcher, Richard Clayton of Cambridge University looked has looked over the data and told CNN, "It's not so much a smoking gun as a faint whiff of smoke a long way away. Maybe there's something else going on. It's hard to tell." 

It's hard to tell much of anything in this never-ending, absurdly weird chapter of U.S. politics.

[ Bloomberg , CNN , New York Times ]