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Geek-themed Meme of the Week: NSA/Obamacare Edition

It’s a natural enough question
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Mon, 11/25/13 - 8:00pm.

No. 23 in our Geek-Themed Meme of the Week series features Skeptical Third World Kid asking a question that has occurred to many an American in recent months.

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Retailer demands $3,500 from author of bad review

Fine print in KlearGear sales agreement leads to firestorm of criticism
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Thu, 11/21/13 - 9:48am.

It's difficult to fathom how a legitimate business could act this way: A Utah woman, Jen Palmer, several years ago wrote a negative online review about trinket retailer KlearGear and the company responded by attempting to enforce against her what just might be the most despicable terms of service ever imagined.

From an Electronic Frontier Foundation blog post:

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Open disdain toward .gifs proves unforgivable on Twitter

Follower becomes a former follower in a flash
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Wed, 11/20/13 - 11:37am.

An intolerance of my liberal politics I could understand. And the fact that unabashedly in support of Boston's generally loathed sports franchises? No telling how many Twitter followers that habit has cost me.

But never would I have imagined losing a tweep just because I had the temerity to diss the .gif. Yet take a look:

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Police set poor example by paying $750 CryptoLocker ransom

They should be the ones saying crime doesn't pay
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Tue, 11/19/13 - 2:06pm.

Law enforcement authorities and computer security experts are in general agreement that paying off the criminals who distribute CryptoLocker ransomware is ill-advised, yet that's exactly the path chosen by a Massachusetts police department when it was recently victimized.

From a local newspaper report:

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Geek-themed Meme of the Week: Vertical Video Edition

Don’t you hate it when …
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Mon, 11/18/13 - 12:01pm.

No. 22 in our Geek-Themed Meme of the Week series addresses a common issue that has plagued many a cell-phone videographer.

Want more? Check out the "Geek-themed Meme of the Week Archive":

And if you'd like me to consider one that you've found - or created - please feel free to send it to me at .

 

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LivingSocial appears back online after two-day nightmare

Daily-deal site had been out of business since Tuesday afternoon
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Thu, 11/14/13 - 9:25am.

After a 40-hour technological meltdown that left the company "ashamed and embarrassed," Amazon-backed daily-deal site LivingSocial is back in business this morning, at least if my ability to open a new account is any indication.

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LivingSocial has been Web dead for more than a day now

Amazon-backed daily-deal site hasn’t offered any since early yesterday
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Wed, 11/13/13 - 2:24pm.

LivingSocial, a struggling daily-deal company heavily funded by Amazon.com, has been down for more than 24 hours now, making a mockery of this sign on its website promising a speedy return.

From a company blog post published not long ago:

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Wikileaks releases draft of long-secret trade proposal

Consumer watchdog Public Citizen excoriates U.S. positions on Internet, health
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Wed, 11/13/13 - 9:08am.

Wikileaks this morning has released what they say is a complete draft of the portion of the ultra-secret Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty that covers intellectual property. A consumer watchdog group, Public Citizen, which says it has analyzed the documents, is slamming the Obama Administration for what it calls a complete capitulation to American corporate interests that is being summarily rejected by many of its would-be treaty partners.

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Geek-themed Meme of the Week: YouTube/Google+ Edition

There’s always the love-it-or-leave-it option
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Mon, 11/11/13 - 2:05pm.

No. 21 in our Geek-Themed Meme of the Week series represents the nascent backlash to the overwhelming backlash against Google's decision to require YouTube commenters to sign in using Google+ accounts.

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What has happened to the word nerd?

NFL quarterback Andrew Luck may be one but …
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Mon, 11/11/13 - 6:20am.

Dan Patrick's "Just My Type" column in Sports Illustrated features a Q&A with a prominent sports personality each week and his latest interview subject, Stanford football coach David Shaw, fielded the following question regarding his former star quarterback, Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts: "Is Luck a nerd?"

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Snowden used sys admin role to collect passwords: Reuters

Reportedly convinced two dozen colleagues to give up their passwords
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Fri, 11/08/13 - 12:24pm.

Reuters is reporting this morning that former NSA contractor Edward Snowden "persuaded" some two dozen colleagues at a Hawaii government facility to give him their login credentials by claiming it was necessary for him to do his job as systems administrator.

From that Reuters report:

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Internet Archive seeking donations after fire

Blaze in scanning center causes $600,000 worth of equipment damage
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Thu, 11/07/13 - 11:32am.

A fire early yesterday morning did $600,000 damage to digitization equipment at the Internet Archive's scanning center in San Francisco ... and the organization is seeking donations to help it replace what was lost.

The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 1996 to build an Internet library and is perhaps most famous for the Wayback Machine.

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As IPO nears: Do Twitter’s active user claims add up?

One expert’s analysis of 1 million accounts says not even close
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Tue, 11/05/13 - 1:44pm.

With one of the most highly hyped Internet IPOs only days away, an independent developer who is intimately familiar with the makeup and behavior of Twitter users says his analysis of 1 million random accounts does not support the company's claims of 215 million active monthly users and 100 million active daily users.

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Geek-themed Meme of the Week: Silence is Golden Edition

This never applies to the network, though
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Mon, 11/04/13 - 8:55am.

No. 20 in our Geek-Themed Meme of the Week series, plucked from Reddit, expresses a thought that I have shared on more than one occasion.

Want more? Check out the "Geek-themed Meme of the Week Archive":

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Eye-opening ‘Morris worm’ turns 25 tomorrow

Here’s how a Boston PBS station covered the story at the time
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Fri, 11/01/13 - 7:00am.

On Nov. 2, 1988, mainstream America learned for the first time that computers get viruses, too, as what would become known as the Morris worm - named for its author, Cornell University student Robert Tappan Morris - made front-page headlines after first making life miserable for IT professionals.

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Halloween Google Doodle stirs up witch’s brew

There are a few tricks embedded in this year’s treat
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Thu, 10/31/13 - 8:18am.

There doesn't appear to be any scorekeeping involved, so Google's Halloween Doodle today shouldn't present the same time-wasting potential as some have, but there's still plenty of interaction to here if you're so inclined.

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Prosecutor in Aaron Swartz case targeted by ‘swatting’

Man convicted in different ‘swatting’ case reportedly helping with investigation
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Wed, 10/30/13 - 2:06pm.

It was revealed in a Massachusetts courtroom on Monday that a federal prosecutor involved in the highly controversial Aaron Swartz case was targeted by a "swatting," which is the dangerous and increasingly common practice of reporting hoax emergencies in order to mobilize police SWAT teams and terrorize victims.   

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‘Joe the IT Guy’ video exceeds not-so-lofty expectations

‘Turn It Off and On Again’ has a good beat but you can’t dance to it
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Tue, 10/29/13 - 3:28pm.

I so expected to hate this video from SysAid's "Joe the IT Guy" that it was all I could do to click the start button. But since I did - and watched all two minutes and 56 seconds, smiling more than once - I figure it's only fair to give you the opportunity to make your own judgment.

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Geek-themed Meme of the Week: Not Impressed Edition

You say the operating system is free?
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Mon, 10/28/13 - 3:22pm.

No. 19 in our Geek-Themed Meme of the Week series shows that not everyone was wowed by Apple's decision to offer its Mavericks upgrade to OS X for free.

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Really, IRS? A two-week delay of the 2014 tax season?

IRS says government shutdown may mean later refund checks for some
Submitted by Paul McNamara on Thu, 10/24/13 - 10:08am.

Being a last-minute filer of the first order, this news from the IRS will matter little to me, yet I'm having trouble buying that a 16-day government shutdown in October can create an unavoidable need to delay the scheduled Jan. 21 start of the 2014 tax season ... by as much as two weeks.

The IRS announced the delay yesterday and here's how they explained it in a press release:

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