Non-IT News Thread
-
How did Iran find CIA spies? They Googled it
Yahoo News report points to exposure of CIA communications causing deaths of dozens.
A covert "transitional" channel used for communicating with sources that Central Intelligence Agency handlers couldn't reach directly was exposed and infiltrated by Iranian intelligence in 2009. The breakdown in operational security—which apparently relied heavily on security through obscurity—was the result of Iranian intelligence officials simply using Google to locate the websites used as the communications channel after a double-agent exposed the method used by the CIA, according to a report from Yahoo News' Zach Dorfman and Jenna McLaughlin.
Once a double agent presented information about a website the agent had been directed to in order to communicate with the CIA, Iranian intelligence apparently used aspects of the URL to search for other, similar websites. Iranian officials were reportedly able to rapidly identify a number of other such sites, which were set up as temporary communications systems for new, unvetted sources by the CIA. As a result, Iran's intelligence was able to quickly identify the Iranians communicating through those sites. The breach led to the roundup in 2011 of 30 people identified by Iran as CIA spies.
Further digging into these compromised sites may have exposed the identity of CIA personnel as well. During the same timeframe, Iranian intelligence officials were also directly approaching US CIA officers, trying to recruit them to be double agents.....
-
Musk: New Tesla summon feature will “follow you like a pet”
"Car will drive to your phone location" thanks to a forthcoming software update.
-
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
Musk: New Tesla summon feature will “follow you like a pet”
"Car will drive to your phone location" thanks to a forthcoming software update.
Oh great. . . So now not only my phone is stolen, but my car is missing too!!
-
New Caledonia: French Pacific territory rejects independence - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-46087053
-
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
Musk: New Tesla summon feature will “follow you like a pet”
"Car will drive to your phone location" thanks to a forthcoming software update.
Didn't Batman do this in the early 90's?
-
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
Musk: New Tesla summon feature will “follow you like a pet”
"Car will drive to your phone location" thanks to a forthcoming software update.
Didn't Batman do this in the early 90's?
And James Bond IIRC
-
@Dashrender and @coliver I thought the cars were being remotely driven in those movies.
Not magically following your GPS location around like a lost dog.
-
@DustinB3403 said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Dashrender and @coliver I thought the cars were being remotely driven in those movies.
Not magically following your GPS location around like a lost dog.
I've definitely seen movies with a "follow me" car feature.
-
@DustinB3403 said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Dashrender and @coliver I thought the cars were being remotely driven in those movies.
Not magically following your GPS location around like a lost dog.
That's true. Forgot about that.
-
@DustinB3403 said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Dashrender and @coliver I thought the cars were being remotely driven in those movies.
Not magically following your GPS location around like a lost dog.
In reality of course it was being driven, but "in the movie" the first Micheal Keaton Batman movie, batman uses a radio like handheld to call the batmobile to him, then he tells it to stop before stepping out in front of it - which today would just be stupid - but meh, tech of 1989.
-
The convenience of ride hailing might be adding congestion by replacing foot and other non-car options.
-
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
The convenience of ride hailing might be adding congestion by replacing foot and other non-car options.
I haven't read the link - but I wonder if this is true? NYC has been using cabs for decades, I doubt uber has affected it much - other than perhaps the lowering of prices enabling more people to use it than before?
-
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
The convenience of ride hailing might be adding congestion by replacing foot and other non-car options.
OH - Paywall... no thanks.
-
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
The convenience of ride hailing might be adding congestion by replacing foot and other non-car options.
I haven't read the link - but I wonder if this is true? NYC has been using cabs for decades, I doubt uber has affected it much - other than perhaps the lowering of prices enabling more people to use it than before?
Cabs are not convenient like Uber. Uber is easy, a cab is a pain. Uber is clean, a cab is gross. Uber is safe, cabs are dangerous.
There's no comparison. I can tell you, I'll walk an hour to avoid taking a cab. But an Uber is a no-brainer.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
The convenience of ride hailing might be adding congestion by replacing foot and other non-car options.
I haven't read the link - but I wonder if this is true? NYC has been using cabs for decades, I doubt uber has affected it much - other than perhaps the lowering of prices enabling more people to use it than before?
Cabs are not convenient like Uber. Uber is easy, a cab is a pain. Uber is clean, a cab is gross. Uber is safe, cabs are dangerous.
There's no comparison. I can tell you, I'll walk an hour to avoid taking a cab. But an Uber is a no-brainer.
that's only because those companies allowed it to become so. Only through social media does uber have the solution to those things.
Cab companies could easily do the same thing - people could see the cab, look it up for reviews and choose not to take that one, etc. Granted - when you're walking out of a building and simply hailing a cab - taking that extra time to confirm something - huge pain, no one is likely to engage in. -
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
The convenience of ride hailing might be adding congestion by replacing foot and other non-car options.
I haven't read the link - but I wonder if this is true? NYC has been using cabs for decades, I doubt uber has affected it much - other than perhaps the lowering of prices enabling more people to use it than before?
Cabs are not convenient like Uber. Uber is easy, a cab is a pain. Uber is clean, a cab is gross. Uber is safe, cabs are dangerous.
There's no comparison. I can tell you, I'll walk an hour to avoid taking a cab. But an Uber is a no-brainer.
that's only because those companies allowed it to become so. Only through social media does uber have the solution to those things.
Not social media. I'm not even sure what you mean. But there is no social media interaction between me and Uber. Zero.
Uber has guaranteed pricing, agree-before pricing, guaranteed credit card acceptance, a uniform review process as a trusted company (a new city isn't trusted by me), GPS tracking, ride tracking, assigned rides, etc.
It's a very different service.
-
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
Cab companies could easily do the same thing - people could see the cab, look it up for reviews and choose not to take that one, etc. Granted - when you're walking out of a building and simply hailing a cab - taking that extra time to confirm something - huge pain, no one is likely to engage in.
I don't think that this is true. Cabs work through a different mechanism that fundamentally isn't very useful or safe. Lots of things can be improved, but not the fundamentals of them being tied to a municipality and not a universal service.
Cabs are based on the horse and buggy world. Ride hailing is based on modern technology. They vary for good reason.
If a city wanted to make cabs like Uber, they'd literally have to either just use Uber or become an Uber. Basically - they'd have to switch what they are which would prove the point.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
The convenience of ride hailing might be adding congestion by replacing foot and other non-car options.
I haven't read the link - but I wonder if this is true? NYC has been using cabs for decades, I doubt uber has affected it much - other than perhaps the lowering of prices enabling more people to use it than before?
Cabs are not convenient like Uber. Uber is easy, a cab is a pain. Uber is clean, a cab is gross. Uber is safe, cabs are dangerous.
There's no comparison. I can tell you, I'll walk an hour to avoid taking a cab. But an Uber is a no-brainer.
that's only because those companies allowed it to become so. Only through social media does uber have the solution to those things.
Not social media. I'm not even sure what you mean. But there is no social media interaction between me and Uber. Zero.
Uber has guaranteed pricing, agree-before pricing, guaranteed credit card acceptance, a uniform review process as a trusted company (a new city isn't trusted by me), GPS tracking, ride tracking, assigned rides, etc.
It's a very different service.
The social aspect I'm talking about is the ability to judge your ride and driver. You can't easily do that for a cab - I'm sure in larger markets there are sites where people put up reviews about cabs and their drivers, but really, how many people that?
As for the pre-agreed-upon-pricing, yep.. gotta love that! and the other things you mentioned.
-
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
@mlnews said in Non-IT News Thread:
The convenience of ride hailing might be adding congestion by replacing foot and other non-car options.
I haven't read the link - but I wonder if this is true? NYC has been using cabs for decades, I doubt uber has affected it much - other than perhaps the lowering of prices enabling more people to use it than before?
Cabs are not convenient like Uber. Uber is easy, a cab is a pain. Uber is clean, a cab is gross. Uber is safe, cabs are dangerous.
There's no comparison. I can tell you, I'll walk an hour to avoid taking a cab. But an Uber is a no-brainer.
that's only because those companies allowed it to become so. Only through social media does uber have the solution to those things.
Not social media. I'm not even sure what you mean. But there is no social media interaction between me and Uber. Zero.
Uber has guaranteed pricing, agree-before pricing, guaranteed credit card acceptance, a uniform review process as a trusted company (a new city isn't trusted by me), GPS tracking, ride tracking, assigned rides, etc.
It's a very different service.
The social aspect I'm talking about is the ability to judge your ride and driver.
That part is fine and nice, but I don't use it nor care about it and I doubt many people do. Maybe they do, but that's not influencing the factors that I had mentioned as the deal breakers for cabs for me.
-
@Dashrender said in Non-IT News Thread:
As for the pre-agreed-upon-pricing, yep.. gotta love that! and the other things you mentioned.
That's huge, knowing that for a five minute ride I can't be hit for $100 and demanding cash when I wanted $2 and credit card is a huge deal.
