USG

6 years ago
The USG is a firewall for your USB ports.

Your computer automatically trusts every device you plug into it. But every USB device is actually a small embedded computer that runs software you cannot control.

USB driver exploits work by sending malformed or unexpected input to your computer's USB drivers. Your computer likely has hundreds of USB device drivers installed, and a programming error in any one of them leaves you exposed.

The USG blocks these attacks by passing data through an internal serial link with a very simple protocol. Only a limited number of safe commands are accepted by the receiving microprocessor, so no malformed or unexpected data is transmitted to your computer. This effectively blocks USB driver exploits.

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Double-Parking Uber And Lyft Drivers Scramble To Beat Bus Cameras

6 years ago
"Driver uses extremely sophisticated masking technology to avoid Muni traffic enforcement cameras:"
By employing a clever trick called "covering your license plate."

Stanley notes that "officials say commercial parking tickets are on the decline," which Muni spokesman Paul Rose interprets to the Chron as meaning that "the cameras have led to fewer cars double-parking in front of buses and fewer commercial vehicles stopping in bus paths to unload." But according to Roberts' sources inside parking enforcement circles, numerous professional drivers have taken to removing their plates and obscuring their VIN numbers to avoid tickets that range from $110 (parking in a crosswalk or a transit-only lane) to $288 (parking in a bus stop).

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Falling coloring book sales hurting bookstores

6 years ago
This article is too long, can I have an infographic instead?

Beginning in late 2015, sales of gimmicky books full of complicated illustrations skyrocketed. Publishers talked about the appeal of the "therapeutic value of coloring," and worked up ways to sell packaged bundles of products, such as CDs and colored pencils. The result was good for bookstores and the publishing industry as a whole, which saw sales of nonfiction books rise 12 percent during the first half of 2016 compared to 2015. As publishers and brick-and-mortar bookstores face increasing competition from online retailers such as Amazon, the coloring book boost was a welcome change.

Previously.

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US immigration officials force Nigerian software engineer to complete written test to prove his computer knowledge

6 years ago
It looked to him like someone with no technical background Googled something like: 'Questions to ask a software engineer'

One of the officers then presented him with a piece of paper and a pen and told to answer these two questions to prove he is actually a software engineer:

"Write a function to check if a Binary Search Tree is balanced."

"What is an abstract class, and why do you need it?" [...]

After spending about 10 minutes working on them, he handed in his answers only to be told they were wrong.

As time passed, he said that he expected to be sent home to Nigeria, only for the official to let him go.

"He said, 'Look, I am going to let you go, but you don't look convincing to me,'" Omin said. "I didn't say anything back. I just walked out."

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