Category: Story

Government Legal Story

Wiki Weapon Project takes aim at gun control proposals with 3D printed ‘high-capacity’ magazine

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As reported on The Verge. By Adi Robertson Defense Distributed, a group dedicated to making viable 3D printed firearms, has enjoyed increasing publicity during the recent debates over gun control. Now, it’s directly addressing efforts to ban one of the most frequently criticized components: rifle magazines holding over ten rounds, often referred to as “high-capacity” magazines, like those used at the attack in Newtown, CT. In a video posted yesterday, the groupdemonstrated shooting from a 30-round AR-15 magazine…

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Story

Swartz suicide puts the focus on over-aggressive prosecutor

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As reported on The Verge. By Bryan Bishop The family of Aaron Swartz pulled no punches in their comments after the 26-year-old’s suicide, blaming a “criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach.” Assistant United States Attorney Stephen Heymann is one of the individuals that’s been named in particular — and it turns out Swartz isn’t the first subject of a Heymann investigation that’s taken his own life. Buzzfeed reports that in 2008 Jonathan James also committed suicide two weeks…

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Hacking Internet Story Tech

‘Red October’ malware has been stealing government and industrial secrets for 5 years

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As reported on The Verge. By Jeff Blagdon Kaspersky Labs reports that over the past five years, a co-ordinated malware campaign called “Rocra” (short for “Red October”) has been funneling classified information and geopolitical intelligence from diplomatic, governmental, and scientific research systems all over the world. It uses known exploits in Microsoft Word and Excel documents to gain access to users’ systems, relying on a targeted social engineering or “spear phishing” element in order to trick users…

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Space Story

Astronomers have found the largest structure in the universe

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As reported on The Verge. By Ben Kersey An international team of astronomers led by the University of Central Lancashire in the UK has discovered “the largest known structure in the universe.” The team says that the recently observed large quasar group — comprised of dozens of highly energetic star-like objects — has a typical size of 500 Megaparsecs, but the size of the cluster is closer to 1200 Mpc at its widest point. To put…

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Education Story Tech

How California’s Online Education Pilot Will End College As We Know It

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As reported on TechCrunch. by GREGORY FERENSTEIN Today, the largest university system in the world, the California State University system, announced a pilot for $150 lower-division online courses at one of its campuses — a move that spells the end of higher education as we know it. Lower-division courses are the financial backbone of many part-time faculty and departments (especially the humanities). As someone who has taught large courses at a University of California, I can assure readers that…

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Culture Internet Story

China adds 51 million internet users in one year, mobile numbers increase by 18.1 percent

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As reported on Engadget. By Mat Smith China’s internet dealt with 564 million users during 2012, increasing its user base by 10 percent. Despite continued efforts to monitor residents and restrict access to subversive content, these substantial gains were apparently driven by mobile internet access, with the number of Chinese users tapping into the web from phones and tablets rising by 18.1 percent, now totaling 420 million. That’s 75 percent of all internet users.

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Story Travel Trends

Plan Some Travel on the Cheap This Weekend

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As reported on LifeHacker. by Adam Dachis It’s a new year for making new travel plans, but preferably without spending an arm and a leg. We’ve looked at numerous ways to save on travel costs. Set aside some time this weekend, review a few tips, and put together a great trip on the cheap. Save on Airfare and Lodging   Full size There are many ways to save on traveling,organizing a travel group to volunteering to sibuying your ticket…

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Entertainment Random Story

How a 40-Year-Old Skater Is Bringing the Punk Credo to Digital Music

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As reported on Wired. BY BRIAN RAFTERY Forty-year-old skater Ian Rogers has a message for the record labels: Get the fuck out of the way. Photo: Eric Ray Davidson It’s a cool, early spring night in Santa Monica, California, and Ian Rogers is sitting cross-legged on the floor of his house, a glass of red wine at his side, a Minor Threat record on the stereo. The lean-framed Rogers, a few months shy of 40, is dressed…

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Application Mobile Story Tech

In the Coming Age of the Connected Home, Your Phone Will Be a Magic Wand

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As reported on Wired. BY CHRISTINA BONNINGTON Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired   LAS VEGAS — Your smartphone is going domestic. In the age of the connected home, your mobile devices are becoming the central command, the brains, if you will, of the entire smarthome experience. It makes sense. Rather than remote controls with menus to memorize and knobs, dials and switches to manipulate, your smartphone or tablet becomes one remote to rule them all. You’ve always got…

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Microsoft Story Tablet Tech

Microsoft’s partners fly the Windows 8 flag, but the future is Surface

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As reported on The Verge. By Tom Warren How long can the old guard shoulder the weight? Microsoft might not have been at CES this year, but its partners and OEMs were out in full force. A quiet showing from Redmond at a time when the company is trying to push Windows 8 to the world could be seen as an unusual move, but looking around the show this week it made a lot of sense.…

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