What You Should Known Before Leaking a Zoom Meeting

The Intercept’s Nikita Mazurov warns that Zoom has digital watermarks that could expose sources working with journalists or government officials. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report: Many users may not realize it, but Zoom has the capability to insert both video and audio watermarks into a meeting. The video watermarks are readily perceptible to meeting participants. When enabled,…

Smartwatches Can Help Detect COVID-19 Days Before Symptoms Appear

Smartwatches and other wearable devices that continuously measure users’ heart rates, skin temperature and other physiological markers can help spot coronavirus infections days before an individual is diagnosed. From a report: Devices like the Apple Watch, Garmin and Fitbit watches can predict whether an individual is positive for COVID-19 even before they are symptomatic or the virus is detectable by tests,…

Ask Slashdot: How Should User-Generated Content Be Moderated?

“I increasingly suspect that the days of large-scale public distribution of unmoderated user generated content on the Internet may shortly begin drawing to a close in significant ways…” writes long-time Slashdot reader Lauren Weinstein. And then he shares “a bit of history”:
Back in 1985 when I launched my “Stargate” experiment to broadcast Usenet Netnews over the broadcast television vertical blanking interval…

EFF, Cory Doctorow Warn About the Dangers of De-Platforming and Censorship

Last week Cory Doctorow shared his own answer for what Apple and Google should’ve done about Parler:
They should remove it, and tell users, “We removed Parler because we think it is a politically odious attempt to foment violence. Our judgment is subjective and may be wielded against others in future. If you don’t like our judgment, you shouldn’t use our app…

How Will America’s Investigators Identify Capitol Hill Protesters?

“Both local police and the FBI are seeking information about individuals who were ‘actively instigating violence’ in Washington, DC, on January 6,” writes Ars Technica. Then they speculate on which tools will be used to find them:
While media organizations took thousands of photos police can use, they also have more advanced technologies at their disposal to identify participants, following what several…

Identical Twins Are Not So Identical, Study Suggests

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Genetic differences between identical twins can begin very early in embryonic development, according to a study that researchers say has implications for examining the effects of nature versus nurture. Identical — or monozygotic — twins come from a single fertilized egg that splits in two. They are important research subjects because they…

How chaos and tendency to reach thermal equilibrium arise from fundamental laws of physics

Normally the word “chaos” evokes a lack of order: a hectic day, a teenager’s bedroom, tax season. And the physical understanding of chaos is not far off. It’s something that is extremely difficult to predict, like the weather. Chaos allows a small blip (the flutter of a butterfly wing) to grow into a big consequence (a typhoon halfway across the world),…

Top 4 keys to understanding moon phases

How can you understand what causes the various phases of the moon? Four tips, here. [video src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Orbit_of_the_Moon_in_2013.ogv" poster="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Orbit_of_the_Moon_in_2013.ogv"]Source: https://earthsky.org/moon-phases/understandingmoonphases…

Ten-Year Long Study Confirms No Link Between Playing Violent Video Games as Early as Ten Years Old and Aggressive Behavior Later in Life

An anonymous reader shares a report: A ten-year longitudinal study published in the Journal of Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking on a group in early adolescence from as young as ten years old, investigated how playing violent video games at an early age would translate into adulthood behavior (23 years of age). Titled “Growing Up with Grand Theft Auto: A 10-Year…

Spotify’s Podcasting Problem: Loophole Allows Remixes and Unreleased Songs To Hide in Plain Sight

Spotify has joined the ranks of streaming services like SoundCloud and YouTube as a hub for bootlegs of popular songs. From a report: With obscured titles like “Jocelyn Flores but you’re in the bathroom at a party” by eraylandin, a new take on XXXTentacion’s popular “Jocelyn Flores,” and “Dead To Me — Kali Uchis (slowed + bass boosted)” by user Unreal…