Newly leaked NSA program sees 'nearly everything' you do

Newly leaked NSA program sees 'nearly everything' you do: The X-Keyscore program, which has been revealed by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, may be the "widest-reaching" intelligence system yet uncovered.

A few nice word from my friend Gordon

prompted me to write this post.

A Bizarro Drone That Would Deliver Peace and Oxycontin Instead of Missles

A Bizarro Drone That Would Deliver Peace and Oxycontin Instead of Missles: The Peace Drone hones in on enemy combatants to administer a dose of calming, violence-abating Oxycontin.

Google Takes Aim at Apple with New Nexus 7, Google Play Games and Chromecast

Google Takes Aim at Apple with New Nexus 7, Google Play Games and Chromecast: Chromecast, another feature Google introduced today, is an HDMI accessory that functions similarly to AirPlay, allowing users to mirror content from a tablet, smartphone, or computer. Chromecast works with video, music, and apps like Netflix, and can be used with a number of devices, including iPhones and iPads. Chromecast, which will retail for $35, will be available later today through Best Buy, Amazon, and the Google Play Store.

Mikhail Bulgakov's 'The Master and Margarita' at Bard College | By John Castellucci - WSJ.com

Mikhail Bulgakov's 'The Master and Margarita' at Bard College | By John Castellucci - WSJ.com: When the Devil visits Moscow and discovers the majority of Russians don't believe in him, there is hell to pay. An editor who boasts that Soviet society is atheist slips beneath the wheels of a trolley and is decapitated. A poet who doubts the Devil's existence goes insane. The tenant of an apartment the Devil needs for Walpurgis Night is whisked away to Yalta. The audience at a performance of black magic erupts in a riot.

Zeta Woof: The Master

Zeta Woof: The Master: Dave saved me from that. Dave had spent some time at the university and in addition to the thousands of comic books he purchased, studied, and saved — some are worth a fortune now if you can get him to part with them — he also developed the habit of reading serious science fiction and literature. Every time I would visit him he would hand me a handfull of books.

"Here. Read this."

How could I refuse? Michael Moorcock, John Brunner, Samuel R. Delaney, Philip K. Dick, Kilgore Trout, Thomas Pynchon, Lawrence Durrell, and Mikhail Bulgakov... there were others, too. I can't remember them all. Dave Handy got me started reading again.

Some I borrowed and never gave back. Dave was not particular about that. The important thing to him was that I read them. I did, and I bought more, and I kept reading, and I've never stopped.

SIM card flaw said to allow hijacking of millions of phones

SIM card flaw said to allow hijacking of millions of phones: Vulnerability in the security key that protects the card could allow eavesdropping on phone conversations, fraudulent purchases, or impersonation of the handset's owner, a security researcher warns.

Hands-on: VLC, the prodigal media player, returns to iOS

Hands-on: VLC, the prodigal media player, returns to iOS: VLC is a popular media-playback app on the desktop—an open-source project, it runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. And, once upon a time, it was even available on the iOS App Store. Just a few months later, however, it was forced out, thanks to a licensing dispute.

That issue has now apparently been resolved, and VLC is back in the App Store as version 2.0. The goal of the free app remains the same: Play any video files you throw at it. While the app itself could reasonably substitute for iOS’s built-in Videos app, it offers a number of additional features beyond just greater codec compatibility.

SDCC: "The Simpsons" Will Cross Over with "Family Guy" Next Year

SDCC: "The Simpsons" Will Cross Over with "Family Guy" Next Year: It's finally happening. "The Simpsons" will appear in a fall 2014 episode of "Family Guy in which the Griffin family goes on a road trip and ends up in Springfield where the two FOX families collide.

Apple ‘iPhone 5S’ specs leak: 4-inch IGZO Retina display, NFC, 12MP camera, 2GB RAM, quad-core GPU, fingerprint reader, sources claim

Apple ‘iPhone 5S’ specs leak: 4-inch IGZO Retina display, NFC, 12MP camera, 2GB RAM, quad-core GPU, fingerprint reader, sources claim: Photos and hardware specifications of the iPhone 5S have leaked from the Chinese supply chain

Man, that is a lot of technology.

Hulu's sellers cry "cut"; scrap sale

Hulu's sellers cry "cut"; scrap sale: Co-owners 21st Century Fox, NBCUniversal, and The Walt Disney Company say they'll pump $750 million into the video-streaming service to "continue to empower the Hulu team." [Read more]

5 years on, Apple’s App Store has forever changed the face of software; a defining moment in personal computing history

5 years on, Apple’s App Store has forever changed the face of software; a defining moment in personal computing history: On July 10, 2008, Apple launched the App Store, an online hub...

Apple's Court Loss Could End the Book as We Know It

Apple's Court Loss Could End the Book as We Know It: More than anything, Apple's defeat in court reinforces the key fact of bookselling in the 21st century: Amazon gets to dictate what Americans pay for books.

REVIEW: "The Lone Ranger"

REVIEW: "The Lone Ranger": Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer star in "The Lone Ranger," a misguided and over-funded reimagining of the eponymous hero directed with bombast but no creativity by "Pirates of the Caribbean's" Gore Verbinski.

China opens world's largest building, three times size of Pentagon | Crave - CNET

China opens world's largest building, three times size of Pentagon | Crave - CNET: Almost the size of Monaco, its 420 acres of floor space could fit nearly three Pentagons, four Vatican Cities, or 20 Sydney Opera Houses.

Our top five Dropbox tricks

Our top five Dropbox tricks: If you asked Macworld editors to name the technologies they can't live without, you’d inevitably hear about Dropbox. This file-synchronization service lets you access your files from anywhere—not just your Mac, iPad, and iPhone, but also any Web browser. It provides easy cloud-based backup, too. But all that’s just the beginning. Here are five of our favorite ways to use it:

How to rip a DVD with HandBrake

How to rip a DVD with HandBrake: To rip a DVD with HandBrake, you need to download the free software. The latest version works on 64-bit Macs running OS X 10.6 or later. But HandBrake doesn’t include the software needed to decrypt commercial DVDs, so you also need to install libdvdcss, an open-source library that can circumvent the Content Scramble System (CSS) used on DVDs. (You should, of course, only rip DVDs that you’ve purchased.)

Mac Gems: iFlicks tags and converts video files for iTunes with finesse

Mac Gems: iFlicks tags and converts video files for iTunes with finesse: There are plenty of apps that can transcode video from one format to another, and there are a number of nifty apps that let you tag media files with useful metadata. But Jendrik Bertram’s $20 iFlicks (Mac App Store link) does both, and I’ve found none better at combining the two tasks. iFlicks does its job with a clean, responsive, and very Mac-like interface that makes working with the software intuitive and fun.

Book review of My Lunches with Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles | Open Letters Monthly - an Arts and Literature Review

Book review of My Lunches with Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles | Open Letters Monthly - an Arts and Literature Review: Welles had a genius for the dramatic; he was a master of shock and awe long before they turned to other, considerably less noble ends, but at the same time he was a skilled miniaturist who worked just as easily on a small canvas with lightness and subtlety. Above all, it was his wizardry with time, space, and light, along with the exquisite tension between his furious, operatic imagination and the elegant, meticulous design and execution of the film – the deep focus, extreme camera angles, striking dissolves, ingenious transition – that make it crackle with electricity. After Kane, movies were never the same. When asked to describe Welles’s influence, Jean-Luc Godard remarked, simply, ‘Everyone will always owe him everything.’

Shock: Research says pot makes you lazy (but not psychotic)

Shock: Research says pot makes you lazy (but not psychotic): Scientists in London conclude that smoking your favored leaf cools down your dopamine-synthesis skills. Their initial hypothesis was that pot contributed to psychosis, which they now doubt. [Read more]

The Quartz complete guide to being interviewed on TV - Quartz

The Quartz complete guide to being interviewed on TV - Quartz: Remember to breathe when you’re talking