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03 Jun 16:00

iCloud users take note: Apple two-step protection won’t protect your data

by Dan Goodin
A diagram showing how Apple's two-step verification works.

If you think your pictures, contacts, and other data are protected by the two-step verification protection Apple added to its iCloud service in March, think again. According to security researchers in Moscow, the measure helps prevent fraudulent purchases made with your Apple ID but does nothing to augment the security of files you store.

To be clear, iCloud data is still secure so long as the password locking it down is strong and remains secret. But in the event that your account credentials are compromised—which is precisely the eventuality Apple's two-factor verification is intended to protect against—there's nothing stopping an adversary from accessing data stored in your iCloud account. Researchers at ElcomSoft—a developer of sophisticated software for cracking passwords—made this assessment in a blog post published Thursday.

"In its current implementation, Apple’s two-factor authentication does not prevent anyone from restoring an iOS backup onto a new (not trusted) device," ElcomSoft CEO Vladimir Katalov wrote. "In addition, and this is much more of an issue, Apple’s implementation does not apply to iCloud backups, allowing anyone and everyone knowing the user’s Apple ID and password to download and access information stored in the iCloud. This is easy to verify; simply log in to your iCloud account, and you’ll have full information to everything stored there without being requested any additional logon information."

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22 May 13:27

Lars von Trier's 'Nymphomaniac' digitally stitches actors' faces to naked body doubles

by Amar Toor
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New details have emerged about the notoriously graphic sex scenes in Nymphomaniac — the upcoming double feature from Danish director Lars von Trier. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter this week, film producer Louise Vesth said Nymphomaniac's most explicit scenes will be shot using a technique that digitally combines its stars' faces with body doubles. According to Vesth, actors Shia LaBoeuf, Uma Thurman, and Charlotte Gainsbourg mimed the sex scenes onset, and then had their performances seamlessly stitched together with the doubles' pornographic shoots.

"We shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles, who really did have sex, and in [post-production] we will digital impose the two," Vesth said. "So...

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21 May 20:51

Courts are increasingly turning to Urban Dictionary to clarify modern slang language

by Nathan Ingraham
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Sure, the Oxford English Dictionary tries to stay on top of current trends by adding new words every year (GIF was its word of the year for 2012), but there's still a vast vocabulary of strange internet slang — that's where Urban Dictionary comes in. The site, which has been around since 1999, has long served as a place for internet denizens to submit all kinds of obscure, vulgar, and ridiculous terminology — and according to The New York Times, Urban Dictionary is frequently cited in court to help "discern meaning and intent in the modern lexicon." The site's been used in cases ranging from a sexual harrassment lawsuit in Tennesse to a financial restitution case in Wisconsin, and it's a trend that some legal minds don't see...

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21 May 20:48

Flickr, Vimeo could see deep integration with iOS 7, claims report

by Dan Seifert
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Apple's iOS mobile operating system gained integration with Twitter and Facebook in recent years, and a new report from 9to5Mac claims that the next version of the platform will likely add similar integration with Flickr and Vimeo. Citing unnamed sources familiar with Apple's plans, 9to5Mac claims that users will be able to sign into their Flickr and Vimeo accounts through iOS 7's settings menus — much in the way you can integrate Facebook and Twitter accounts right now. Additionally, it is likely that third-party apps will be able to access Flickr and Vimeo services using the native integration with iOS. Earlier reports have claimed that Apple and Yahoo (owner of Flickr) have been in talks to develop a deeper partnership for iOS 7.

U...

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17 May 20:31

An Awful Lot of Purported Wine Experts Are Full of Shit

by John Gruber

Robert T. Gonzalez:

In 2001, researcher Frédéric Brochet invited 54 wine experts to give their opinions on what were ostensibly two glasses of different wine: one red, and one white. In actuality, the two wines were identical, with one exception: the “red” wine had been dyed with food coloring.

The experts described the “red” wine in language typically reserved for characterizing reds. They called it “jammy,” for example, and noted the flavors imparted by its “crushed red fruit.” Not one of the 54 experts surveyed noticed that it was, in fact a white wine.

17 May 19:39

Australia’s water curtain stop signs are a great idea

by Shawn King

Jalopnik:

Sydney has been having a big problem with oversized trucks driving into tunnels that are too low. So Sydney needed a stop sign that is absolutely impossible to miss. Here it is and it’s amazing.P

It’s a curtain of water with a stop sign projected onto it.

I don’t know – it seems like they might scare the daylights out of the driver and cause even more

∞ Read this on The Loop

16 May 13:55

Disney abandons sexualization of 'Brave' heroine after public backlash

by Aaron Souppouris
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The Oscar-winning animated movie Brave is a tale of a young princess refusing to obey stereotypes by rebelling against an arranged marriage. When Disney decided to give the movie's heroine, Merida, a makeover that brings her in line with Disney princesses of the past, the masses rebelled. As Jezebel reports, a Change.org petition against the attempt to sexualize the character reached more than 200,000 signatures, leading Disney to quietly remove the new image from its Disney Princess website.

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13 May 17:58

Dear Movie Theater Owners: Please Don’t Do This

by Chris Morran

"There's really no good that can come of this," said a local police captain of the publicity stunt.

“There’s really no good that can come of this,” said a local police captain of the publicity stunt.

Before last summer’s horrific fatal shootings at The Dark Knight Rises screening in Colorado, hiring costumed “gunmen” to walk into a crowded movie theater as a marketing stunt would have merely been a bad idea that might have made the local news. Post-Aurora, it’s the kind of idiotically ill-advised idea that results in multiple 9-1-1 calls and the theater having to apologize to outraged customers. [Reddit via Gawker]
13 May 17:32

‘Gravity’ Teaser Trailer: Alfonso Cuarón Strands Sandra Bullock and George Clooney In Space

by Germain Lussier

Gravity teaser poster header

Among film fans, few directors are as revered as Alfonso Cuarón. Children of Men, Y Tu Mamá También, A Little Princess, these are new classics that never found the mainstream audience they deserved.

For the casual movie goer, few stars are more likable than Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. Oscar-winners both, each has proved time and again they’re major box-office stars. So what happens when you combine their mainstream Hollywood clout with a true auteur aesthetic? You’re about to find out.

The first trailer for their collaboration, Gravity, has just been released. Co-written and directed by Cuarón, it stars Clooney and Bullock as two astronauts who go into space but are detached from their ship, forced to survive all alone in the infinite darkness. The potential Oscar-contender is set for release October 19 in 2D, 3D and 3D IMAX and finally, after years of delays and anticipation, you can see footage from it now.

Thanks to Warner Bros. Pictures for the trailer.

And if you missed the poster yesterday, here it is:

Gravity teaser poster

Seriously – how chilling is this trailer, especially that final shot?

I’ve heard from sources who’ve seen test screening of Gravity that the film lives up to its considerable hype. But, despite its high-concept plot, it might be a bit too small and introverted for general audiences. More or less, it’s a one-woman showcase for Bullock and fans who expect a huge sci-fi epic will be sorely disappointed. Thankfully, that means almost nothing to use except that first part: “Gravity…lives up to its considerable hype.”

How excited are you for this one? Does the trailer meet those expectations?

10 May 17:23

Strongest Evidence of Animal Culture Seen in Monkeys and Whales

by Michael Balter, ScienceNOW
Strongest Evidence of Animal Culture Seen in Monkeys and Whales
Until fairly recently, many scientists thought that only humans had culture, but that idea is now being crushed by an avalanche of recent research with animals. Two new studies in monkeys and whales take the work further, showing how new ...
10 May 17:21

Ancient DNA Found Hidden Below Sea Floor

by Traci Watson, ScienceNOW
Ancient DNA Found Hidden Below Sea Floor
In the middle of the South Atlantic, there's a patch of sea almost devoid of life. There are no birds, few fish, not even much plankton. But researchers report that they've found buried treasure under the empty waters: ancient DNA ...
09 May 13:17

Garbage Truck Full Of Educational Scratch-N-Sniff Natural Gas Cards Freaks Town Out

by Mary Beth Quirk

Responsible thing: An energy company sending out scratch-and-sniff cards that smell like natural gas so customers can learn to identify the smell in case of a leak. Unfortunate thing: An entire box of said cards compressed in a garbage truck that then travels through town and makes residents think there’s a widespread gas leak.

Several reports of a natural gas smell in a Montana town this morning led to the evacuation of several buildings in the downtown area, reports the Great Falls Tribune. But all that worry was for naught, said a general manager at the local energy company. He says workers came across extra boxes of cards while cleaning out a storage area, and chucked them in the trash.

“They were expired, and they were old,” he said. “They threw them into the Dumpsters.”

From there, sanitation trucks picked up the cards and crushed them, in effect, turning the compressor into a giant finger that scratched all those smelly cards. Cue freaked out townspeople calling the energy company to report gassy smells around the town.

Just to be safe, workers checked things out downtown for possible gas leaks, in case of a freak coincidence.

The company has apologized for the problem, with the manager noting that hey, at least people know what gas smells like.

“In a sense, it worked the way it was supposed to,” he said of all those calling in to report the gas smell.

Energy West official: Scratch-and-sniff cards to blame for gas smell in downtown Great Falls [Great Falls Tribune]


08 May 12:45

EA will no longer pay gun makers for the right to depict weapons in games

by Amar Toor
Handgun-pistol-sig-pro-wikimedia_large

Electronic Arts this week said it will no longer pay gun manufacturers for the right to use branded weapons in video games, following a controversial decision to promote assault weapons dealers in one of its flagship products. EA confirmed the decision to Reuters Tuesday, while claiming that it retains the right to depict guns without a license.

The game company came under fire last year, after it included links to certain gun sellers on the website for Medal of Honor: Warfighter. At the time, EA said the promotion was part of an effort to raise money for military veterans, though it soon removed the links due to sharp public outcry.

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07 May 14:42

Adobe Photoshop and Creative Suite will be subscription-only products

by Jacob Kastrenakes
Cs6_1020_large

Adobe is making a major move into the cloud. The company is on stage announcing the next big upgrade to its flagship digital editing tools, the Creative Suite, and The Next Web has just revealed that the new version only be available through its online subscription service. Adobe previously offered standalone editions of each product, which users could choose to keep or upgrade as new editions were released, but now the only way to both receive updates and continue to use the product series will be to remain subscribed to the $49.99 per month service.

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03 May 14:03

Learn to love your gun with 'Receiver'

by Andrew Webster
Ss_c0986d3dc3e5e4bb0781e14a6d1da504ea20f4aa

When you shoot a gun in BioShock or Far Cry, you don't have to think much about how that gun works — you press a button to fire, a button to reload, and that's about it. Receiver, on the other hand, is a first person shooter that's almost entirely about mastering your weapon. And it all started with The X-Files. When David Rosen from developer Wolfire Games picked up a replica SIG Sauer P226 as part of a Fox Mulder halloween costume, he says he "had a lot of fun just playing around with the slide and ejecting and inserting the magazine. It seemed crazy that there were so many games about guns, but none that let you actually play around with them and see how they work."

Receiver was originally developed over the course of nine days as...

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03 May 14:01

Accused Chinese spy charged with downloading porn, not NASA secrets

by Amar Toor
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Bo Jiang, the Chinese national accused of spying on NASA, was formally charged in a Virginia court this week — not for conducting espionage, but for downloading porn and pirated movies to his computer. A former research contractor at NASA's Langely Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Jiang was originally indicted on March 20th, when federal investigators arrested him just before he departed on a one-way ticket from Washington, DC to Beijing. At the time, authorities accused Jiang of sharing sensitive information with the Chinese government — he had a NASA-issued laptop with him at the time of his in-flight arrest — but as Bloomberg Businessweek reports, it now appears that their fears were unfounded.

On Thursday, Jiang plead...

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03 May 14:01

'Things Come Apart' catalogs beautiful teardowns of everyday objects

by Matt Brian
Comeapart_large

Canadian photographer Todd Mclellan leads an interesting life. For work, he snaps photos of some of the world's most innovative cars, but as an artist he takes pleasure in ripping things apart and finding out how they work — cataloging the teardowns of cameras, clocks, typewriters and other iconic items as part of his Disassembly Series project. His fascination has culminated in the release of his new book Things Come Apart: A Teardown Manual for Modern Living, which "explores retro to modern daily items that have, are, or will be in our everyday lives." Objects include the iPad, a bicycle, and even a grand piano. Mclellan hopes that the disassembled objects will help people appreciate the intricate and efficient designs of modern...

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03 May 14:00

Chinese researchers branded 'appallingly irresponsible' over creation of new lethal flu strains

by Matt Brian
Shutterstock_111241166_large

Researchers at the China National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory have come under fire for creating new deadly and highly contagious strains of the influenza virus. According to The Independent, Professor Hualan Chen and her team deliberately mixed the 2009 strain of H5N1 bird-flu virus — which is incredibly lethal but is not easily transmitted between people — with a 2009 strain of H1N1 flu virus, which is known to be very infectious. The tests have been branded "appallingly irresponsible" by a former UK government chief scientist over worries that the new strains could escape laboratory environments and cause a global pandemic.

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02 May 18:22

Adobe shows off Lightroom-style photo editing on iPad

by Peter Cohen

Adobe showed off a prototype software app on the iPad capable of doing some pretty high-level tasks that pro photographers would love to have.

∞ Read this on The Loop

02 May 12:44

IMAX Private Theatre

Just like the gargantuan screens at the local cineplex, an IMAX Private Theatre is far bigger, louder, and better than a traditional home theater setup. Modeled after IMAX's private screening...

Visit Uncrate for the full post.
01 May 20:50

Prisoners Have Opinions Too, Turn To Yelp To Review Jail Conditions

by Chris Morran

yelpprisonJust because you’re locked up for dealing blue meth cooked up by a mysterious chemist in a pork-pie hat doesn’t mean you don’t have an opinion on the quality of your current accommodations. And where else better to share these sentiments than on Yelp?

Following a recent Buzzfeed round-up of prison reviews from around the country, the Washington Post took a look at the phenomenon of prisoners — and family, lawyers, and others who regularly visit jails — turning to Yelp to post feedback on various houses of detention.

“I started reviewing because I needed something to kill time while I waited to see clients,” explains one defense attorney who has written reviews of a handful of prisons housing his clients. “But I think the reviews are actually helpful for bail bondsmen, attorneys, family members — a lot of people, actually.”

Yelp says that any business with a physical address can be reviewed on the site, so long as reviewers follow the guidelines, so prisons, jails, detention centers, halfway houses and the like are apparently fair game.

Without much in the way of legal remedies, some prisoners have taken to Yelp to complain about abuse and conditions. A 2012 review of the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles accused five guards of beating the reviewer for no reason and laughing about it afterward. For its part, the L.A. County Sheriff says his office investigates all allegations.

Making it harder to suss out fact from fiction is the fact that, as one might expect, not all the reviews are legitimate, and some are obvious fakes.

“Wow man, this is one nice prison!” reads one apparently “funny” review of the Riverfront State Prison in Camden, NJ. “I visited because my friend Jamiroquai’s staying for a few years. I love what the governor, Chris Crispycreme done on the place. Wow! I mean, when I was there for grand theft in the 80s it was drab, but now they got the cable tv and you can watch the game of crowns and Broadway empire all day and they got a KFC. They even got Play Stations and Computers in every cell and you can practice what you gonna do when you get out so you can get right back in there playing Grand Theft Auto. Nice view of the river too.”

The Post found a questionable review of the Arlington County Detention Facility in Virginia.

“At no time did the officer violate any of my constitutional privileges and even gave me a juice box after I said I was thirsty,” it reads. “Yes, you heard right, they have juice boxes! . . . So if you’re going to get arrested, do it in Arlington County.”

But the Arlington County Sheriff says that the center does not actually provide juice boxes for detainees.

As the Post’s Caitlin Dewey points out, since prisoners rarely have a say in where they are incarcerated and it’s the state — and not the prisoner — who is the real “customer” of a prison, negative Yelp reviews “won’t necessarily prompt systemic change — it’s not like a detention center relies on good Yelp reviews for business the way some restaurants and small businesses do.”

With few other outlets, inmates review prisons on Yelp [Washington Post]


01 May 19:32

I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet

by Paul Miller
Paul_lede_large

I was wrong.

One year ago I left the internet. I thought it was making me unproductive. I thought it lacked meaning. I thought it was "corrupting my soul."

It's a been a year now since I "surfed the web" or "checked my email" or "liked" anything with a figurative rather than literal thumbs up. I've managed to stay disconnected, just like I planned. I'm internet free.

And now I'm supposed to tell you how it solved all my problems. I'm supposed to be enlightened. I'm supposed to be more "real," now. More perfect.

But instead it's 8PM and I just woke up. I slept all day, woke with eight voicemails on my phone from friends and coworkers. I went to my coffee shop to consume dinner, the Knicks game, my two newspapers, and a copy of...

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01 May 13:20

CBS CEO Moonves says he could take network cable-only in 'a few days' if Aereo prevails

by Jeff Blagdon
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CBS CEO Les Moonves has said before that he’s talked with New York cable operators about taking his network cable-only if Aereo is allowed to keep streaming what it broadcasts on the internet, but now he’s saying that he could make the switch in as little as a few days "if we are forced to." By taking free CBS broadcasts off the airwaves, Moonves says, "about 10 percent of America will not get our signal and I don’t think they will like that." Aereo sells people access to individual TV antennas on its premises, letting paying subscribers watch the free broadcasts they capture online.

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01 May 13:18

This unlikely trio broke into a high-security US nuclear weapons facility

by Aaron Souppouris
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Last summer, a drifter, a house painter, and an octogenarian nun broke into one of America's most-secure nuclear weapons facilities. Their aim, fortunately, wasn't to steal nuclear secrets or enriched uranium, but rather to peacefully protest. The event was seen as a major security breach and caused the facility to go into a lockdown not seen since the aftermath of 9 / 11. Almost a year on, The Washington Post has immortalized the trio's story in an extensive feature titled The Prophets of Oak Ridge.

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01 May 13:17

Beards keep you young, healthy and handsome

by Jim Dalrymple

I am living goddamn proof of this people.

∞ Read this on The Loop

30 Apr 20:06

Construction to Begin This Summer on Hollywood ‘Wizarding World of Harry Potter’

by Angie Han

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Harry Potter is making his way to sunny Southern California. In a unanimous vote, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has given the go-ahead to NBCUniversal’s plans to build a Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios Hollywood.

The attraction is part of a $500 million plan from the company which also includes upgrades to the studio backlot’s office space, TV production facilities, and other infrastructure. Hit the jump for more info.

The board’s decision came this week after a seven-year public hearing and environmental approval process. Universal officially announced plans to build a Wizarding World in Hollywood in late 2011, about a year and a half after the first Wizarding World in Orlando debuted in Orlando. The Hollywood park will go where the 6,000-set Gibson Ampitheater once stood.

Details on exactly which attractions will make it into the new Wizarding World are scarce, but we’ve previously heard that Orlando’s Hogwarts Castle and the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride would be replicated in Hollywood. Hogsmeade is also likely to make its way to California.

Construction will begin this summer on both the Hollywood park and the studio upgrades. NBCUniversal estimates that its overall 25-year “Evolution Plan,” of which the Harry Potter park is a part, will create over 30,000 jobs and generate $2 billion in economic activity for the area. No opening date for the Harry Potter park has been announced, though early reports indicated it wouldn’t be until 2016 or later.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando proved a massive success, increasing attendance by 68% at Universal Orlando. Plans are already underway to expand the original attraction. Another Wizarding World, at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, was announced last year.

UNIVERSAL CITY, California, April 23, 2013 – NBCUniversal announced today plans to begin construction of the first projects of its 25-year Evolution Plan. The Evolution Plan represents a $1.6 billion investment in tourism and production. This long-term investment in two industries that are vital to Los Angeles will create more than 30,000 jobs and generate $2 billion of economic activity during operations for the region.

“After nearly a decade of work on the Evolution Plan, today’s vote sets the stage for our next 100 years in Los Angeles,” said Ron Meyer, president and COO of Universal Studios. “We are thankful for the support and leadership we have received from both the County and City of Los Angeles and are ready to get started investing in these important tourism and production projects in the next few months.”

Starting in late summer, NBCUniversal will begin construction of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter themed land at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park, as well as new and upgraded television production facilities, office space and infrastructure on the Universal Studios lot. These projects represent a nearly $500 million investment in the Los Angeles economy and the creation of more than 2,000 construction jobs alone.

“We thank Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, the entire Board of Supervisors, and County staff for providing us the path to bring much needed jobs and investment to Los Angeles,” said Corinne Verdery, Chief Real Estate Development and Planning Officer, NBCUniversal. “The working relationship we have built with the community was invaluable in developing our future plan and we are grateful to our nearly 7,500 supporters and union partners who have been with us every step of the way. We look forward to bringing The Wizarding World of Harry Potter to Hollywood, forever changing the face of tourism in Los Angeles.”

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood will be a fully immersive experience for the entire family designed to bring the Harry Potter fiction and films to life with impeccable detail and authenticity. Similar to the dynamic Universal Orlando Resort themed land that opened in 2010, the Hollywood experience will be faithful to the visual landscape of the fiction and films, including Hogwarts castle that will serve as the centerpiece of the impressively themed environment. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a collaboration between Warner Bros. Entertainment and Universal Parks and Resorts.

On the Universal Studios lot, NBCUniversal will upgrade existing production facilities and add new capabilities to better respond to the needs of television production. In addition, NBCUniversal is looking to create modern offices that will house everything from post-production services to traditional office space.

[Source: Deadline]

30 Apr 19:53

IRS Issued $11 Billion In Improper Refund Payments, Is Totally In Trouble With Mom

by Mary Beth Quirk
(arsheffield)

(arsheffield)

Someone’s got some explaining to do: the Internal Revenue Service sent out about $11.6 billion in payments it shouldn’t have, through the Earned Income Tax Credit program last year, according to a report by the inspector general. This isn’t going over well with its parents at the White House because that is way more than its allowance.

Not only did it muck up last year, but the report from the Treasury Department deputy inspector general shows that the IRS failed to comply for two years in a row with President Barack Obama’s Improper Payments Elimination Act, reports the Washington Post. That bit of legislation was put in place in 2010 and limits federal agencies to an improper payment rate of less than 10%.

The agency “has made little improvement in reducing EITC improper payments,” the report said. We know that tone of voice.

So how did it happen? There are plenty of reasons, with the one big one being pretty simple: taxes are tricky. The law is complex, and the population of people who can get the EITC is always changing. You might be eligible for it one year but not the next, and sometimes that can slip by tax preparers.

The IRS promises it won’t disappoint mom and dad in the future, however.

“The reduction of improper payments is a top priority for the IRS, and we are making progress in this area,” the agency said in a statement. “We will continue to work hard to get the credit to those who are eligible while protecting against improper payments.”

IRS issued billions in improper refunds, report says [Washington Post]


30 Apr 15:23

Microsoft Includes Free Disposable Wifi Router In Forbes Magazine

by Laura Northrup

“I still like print magazines, but I wish that they functioned as a portable wifi hotspot,” said no one ever. This wish came true for some people last week when they received a special edition of Forbes magazine in the mail that serves as a disposable wifi hotspot as well as a disposable news delivery device.

modemguts

The four-page ad promoting cloud-based Office 365 is an exciting innovation in both advertising and e-waste. It’s a fully-working T-Mobile hotspot. Naturally, people tore it open immediately to see what was really inside.

wifi

The real low point in digital advertising/e-waste history probably came when the CW TV network included a working smartphone in an advertisement in a few issues of Entertainment Weekly.

usb


29 Apr 19:13

Noteness: A Multiple Sclerosis diary App for iPhone

by Jim Dalrymple

Notness is a modern, fast and easy to use Multiple Sclerosis diary App for iPhone and iPod Touch. Noteness is tailored to the requirements of a MS-Diary and goes without unnecessary gimmicks.

The app was written by Martin Hartl, a 21-year-old from Germany, who suffers from MS.

∞ Read this on The Loop

29 Apr 15:23

Man accused of placing GPS device on victim’s car before burglarizing her home

by Cyrus Farivar

A burglary suspect currently on trial in Johnson County, Kansas allegedly put a GPS tracking device on a victim's car to determine whether anyone was home. The victim, an unnamed Overland Park woman, told her story to the Kansas City Star on Friday. Overland Park police, Leawood police, and Johnson County prosecutors declined to comment on the GPS allegation to the newspaper.

According to the Star, the suspect, Steven Alva Glaze, allegedly burglarized the woman's home on March 25. The victim owns a jewelry business in the Kansas City suburb. Glaze is now on trial for 14 counts of criminal damage to property, theft, attempted burglary, and burglary for the alleged crimes.

The use of GPS tracking devices surreptitiously installed on cars recalls the famous Jones v. United States case, in which the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 2012 that law enforcement does not have the authority to warrantlessly place a device on a criminal suspect's vehicle. However, the use of GPS by criminal suspects to track victims still seems to be quite rare.

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