LarsonsWorld -- just another persons /dev/null

Court revives NSA dragnet surveillance case -- Ars Technica

A federal appeals court on Thursday reinstated a closely watched lawsuit accusing the federal government of working with the nation’s largest telecommunication companies to illegally funnel Americans’ electronic communications to the National Security Agency without court warrants.

While the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals revived the long-running case brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the three-judge panel unanimously refused to rule on the merits of the case, or whether it was true the United States breached the public’s Fourth Amendment rights by undertaking an ongoing dragnet surveillance program the EFF said commenced under the Bush administration following 9/11.

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Digital Holdout Ray Bradbury Brings Fahrenheit 451 To E-Readers -- Wired

Very few new e-book editions warrant their own press releases. But just one novel about the end of printed books has sold 10 million copies in print alone.

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Paul Zanetti - 06 October 2011

It is sad that this very talented man died at such a young age, but I did have to chuckle a bit when I saw this.

~ update ~

Came across this interesting read on Wired.com - Steve Jobs as Frank Lloyd Wright By Dave Winer

Google Adds Offline Access to Gmail in Chrome -- IDG News/PC World

Chrome browser users will be able to access Gmail when they're not connected to the Internet starting Wednesday and will gain similar offline capabilities for Docs and Calendar in the coming week, the company announced on Wednesday.

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It's about time Google got around to offering this again. Having moved to Linux a few years ago, this is one of the things I didn't like about having a gmail account. Yes, I know, you can have a separate email application to do this. I do, I run Thunderbird. But there are features in Gmail that don't fly with Thunderbird. I am psyched!

Will the Future TSA Track All Your 'Daily Travels to Work, Grocery Stores, and Social Events'? -- PC World

While the TSA can't explain why invasive patdowns without probable cause are legal, that isn't stopping TSA from future plans to track all your daily travels, anywhere you go, from work, to stores, or even when you go out to play.

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Hey, at least this way, say you're an alcoholic and have a black out, the TSA can let you know where you went!

Biggest Hack in History: U.N. and 70 More Organizations and States Attacked Over Five Years -- Popular Science

The biggest hack ever discovered has been exposed by McAfee, and the breadth and depth would be impressive it wasn’t so disconcerting: five years, at least 72 different governments, NGOs, and other organizations (including the United Nations and the International Olympic Committee) and reams and reams of secret data. Of course, McAfee believes there is a single “state actor” behind the attacks, but the company has declined to name it. Care to venture a guess?

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A wicked wreck in the TDF yesterday when a car swerved into the breakaway to miss a tree. Riders went flying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-2KIUYk5l0

After Tour De France Crash Carnage, A Day Of Rest -- AP/NPR

U.S. Government Regularly Asks Google for Users' Data -- PCWorld

Not only does the U.S. government regularly request users' private data from Google, it does so more often than any other government, the search engine reported Monday. Google announced these details as part of its Transparency Report, a bi-annual disclosure of what governments worldwide are asking for.

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Has the Internet "hamsterized" journalism? -- Ars Technica

Hey there newspaper reporter -- has your broadband-powered job got you filing not only conventional stories, but blogging, video blogging, Facebooking, podcasting, picture posting, and Tweeting? If so, you'll be happy to know that the Federal Communications Commission earned its keep this week by coming up with a term for this ever growing set of digital duties: the "hamsterization" of American journalism.

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Majority of Kids Would Rather Lose Their Sense of Smell Than Lose Facebook -- PCWorld

Do you value your Facebook profile? Do you value it enough that you'd give up one of your senses to secure access to the site? A new study reveals that 53 percent of young people (ages 16-22) would rather sacrifice their sense of smell than give up their social networks.

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