Beware What You Share: Cops Say Facebook Posts About Inheritance Inspired Robbery

(Pixteca | Len & Pix【ツ】)

When you’re posting on social media, you never really know who out there is reading your posts, watching and waiting for the perfect time to take advantage of your willingness to share the details of your life. So if you’ve suddenly come into a bunch of money, be careful where you go talking about that exciting news.

Police in Philadelphia say that after someone got braggy on Facebook and Instagram about a jewelry inheritance, robbers decided to just head over to that person’s house and relieve them of their windfall, reports the Associated Press.

Three men in ski masks armed with pistols kicked in the door of a home around 2:30 a.m. yesterday morning and ordered the 19-year-old resident to hand over the jewelry and other valuables. Cops say the suspects mentioned they’d targeted the guy after reading his posts online about the inheritance.

Here is where we all learn a valuable lesson: Want to keep your expensive stuff? Don’t tell the world you have it, even if you think your security settings are as tight as can be. Someone could always take a screengrab and pass that information around freely.

The suspects fled through a rear window with a Rolex, two gold chains and cellphones. None of the five people in the home during the incident were hurt.

Cops: Facebook posts about inheriting jewelry led to robbery [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Former Home Depot Worker Gets 30 Years For Planting Pipe Bomb In Store

(Maulleigh)

If you want more money from your employer, we don’t recommend threatening to blow up multiple stores, let alone actually planting a bomb to show that you mean business. Not only are your odds of success small, it could also result in a 30-year jail sentence.

That’s what a Long Island man is learning after being sentenced to three decades behind bars for using a pipe bomb in his attempt to extort $2 million out of Home Depot.

Back in 2012, the man sent Home Depot an anonymous letter claiming he could plant bombs in the retailer’s stores without being detected. As a demonstration of his stealthy bomb-planting abilities, he actually stowed a pipe bomb in a Huntington, NY.

Police located the device — which the convicted felon claims did not have a trigger — and safely detonated it.

When his demands for $2 million were not met, the man sent a follow-up letter asking for a mere $1 million. What he got instead was convicted of multiple charges.

The man was finally sentenced last Friday, with the federal judge remarking that “This is a frightening type of crime.”

And though the man didn’t succeed in squeezing Home Depot for $2 million, the retailer says it did end up spending around $1.5 million to beef up store security in response to the threats.

Former Home Depot employee gets 30 years for bomb scare [AP]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Start Your Week With This Video Of Fired McDonald’s Employee Trashing Kitchen

Are you unhappy to be back at work after the weekend? Do you dream of running amok in your office and maybe going hog-wild on the printer? We don’t advise that you actually do that, but you can maybe get some vicarious release by watching a fired McDonald’s employee wreak havoc on the eatery that dismissed him.

The following video was uploaded over the weekend and claims to have been shot in a McDonald’s in St. Paul, MN. Between the ranting employee and the astounded onlookers, there is a lot of NSFW language to be heard, so put on some earphones if you’re watching this at a job you don’t want to be fired from.

[via Daily Mail]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

What You Say To Your Samsung Smart TV Is ‘Transmitted To A Third Party’

It is not known at this time whether meows are uploaded to the voice recognition server. (JKehoe_Photos)

It was almost three years ago that we started to wonder whether it was possible for smart TVs to watch and listen to anyone in the immediate area of the television. It’s possible, but could it really happen? Over the weekend, the Daily Beast pointed out a single incredibly creepy sentence in the privacy policy for Samsung’s smart TVs, and we all began to wonder what our TV sets are really up to.

Here’s the sentence that caught the eye of Shane Harris:

Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.

With a camera and an always-on microphone listening for commands, it’s theoretically possible that your television could be uploading your conversations to a mysterious third party.

In a statement, Samsung clarified that it is not eavesdropping on you and uploading your conversations to a secret server in South Korea. What is “captured and transmitted to a third party” is are the commands that you use, which are uploaded to a server to turn your speech into text, and therefore into usable commands for your smart TV. In a statement to CNET, Samsung explained it like this:

Samsung does not retain voice data or sell it to third parties. If a consumer consents and uses the voice recognition feature, voice data is provided to a third party during a requested voice command search. At that time, the voice data is sent to a server, which searches for the requested content then returns the desired content to the TV

If you said, for example, “TV, change channel to 131 my bank account PIN is 1875,” the erroneous information might be uploaded to the server and turned into text.

If these features unnerve you or you don’t trust Samsung to not always leave the camera and microphone on, you have a simple option: don’t turn on the smart TV features, or don’t connect the set to your wi-fi network. If your set has an Ethernet port, you can plug it in with an old-school cord when you want to stream something, and unplug it when you don’t.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Land Rover, Jaguar Recall 104,000 Vehicles For Brake, Light Issues

( pbm.)

Jaguar Land Rover North America issued three recalls affecting nearly 104,000 vehicles over the weekend for myriad issues, ranging from problems with brake lines to lights.

The largest recall of nearly 75,000 model year 2006 to 2012 Range Rovers comes five years after the car manufacturer initially opened and closed an investigation into a brake hose issue, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notice [PDF].

The issue, which could lead to the vehicle needed a longer distance to stop, thus increasing the risk of a crash, was first investigated by the company in November 2010.

At that time, dealers identified a bulge on the front brake hoses and the company received a small number of reports of brake fluid leads from the brake flex hoses.

According to a chronology [PDF] submitted by Jaguar Land Rover, the company opened a Critical Concerns Review investigation and completed extensive engineering testing.

“Brake hoses returned from vehicles that had exhibited the bulge condition were pressure tested at the component supplier to destruction,” the company says in its notice. “All parts exceeded the pressure specified requirements. Following these supplier pressure tests the parts were then analyzed and the evidence indicated that there was no deterioration of the hose in the bulge area and in most cases the hose burst in a different location to the bulged area.”

Because the company determined there was no loss of integrity to the brake hose, it closed the inquiry without issuing a recall.

That decision was challenged last November when the company received a report of a vehicle accident, caused by a ruptured brake hose.

The issue was reviewed by Jaguar Land Rover in January and the company determined that the issue presented an unreasonable risk to safety and initiated the recall.

According to NHTSA notices [PDF], the company also issued the recall of 24,679 model year 2013 and 2014 Range Rover Sport and Rang Rover SUVs because the brake vacuum hose might have been routed improperly. If this occurred, the wear could create a hole and a loss of braking power.

Finally, the company issued [PDF] a recall of 4,787 model year 2012 to 2015 Jaguar XK vehicles because side parking lights could turn off after about five minutes.

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Iggy Izalea Not So Pleased To Hear From Papa John’s Delivery Guy’s Family After Placing Order For Pizza

(@IggyAzalea)

Everyone needs pizza, even if you’re a Grammy-nominated rap artist. And it’s understandable that to successfully have said pizza delivered, you’d have to give out your phone number. Which is fine by Iggy Azalea, but she’s none too pleased that her Papa John’s delivery guy apparently then handed out her digits to his admiring family members.

The Australian rapper behind that catchy “Fancy” song was hungry for retribution before last night’s Grammy Awards, tweeting at the pizza chain that while she used to enjoy Papa John’s pizza, she was pretty ticked to find that the driver who brought her pizza shared her phone number:

. @PapaJohns was my favorite pizza but the drivers they use give out your personal phone number to their family members.

— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 8, 2015

She added a photo to another tweet saying she was getting texts and phone calls from fans claiming they’d gotten her digits from the delivery guy:

@PapaJohns I ordered a cheese pizza but instead I got tons of calls and messages like this one. http://ift.tt/1IxJjof

— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 8, 2015

The response she received after complaining to a supervisor wasn’t acceptable either, tweeting, “and this is all your supervisor has to say about it”:

@PapaJohns and this is all your supervisor has to say about it #ProfessionalAsFuck http://ift.tt/190j5ee

— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 8, 2015

She also tweeted that she’d asked for a photo of the delivery guy so she could identify him, but had been denied, saying, “Too bad they don’t value the privacy of their customers also. #DamnShame.”

Papa John’s replied with a sort of apology, including a nod to one of her songs in an apparent attempt to placate through flattery:

@iggyazalea #We should have known better. Customer and employee privacy is important to us. Please don’t #bounce us!

— Papa John's Pizza (@PapaJohns) February 9, 2015

Azalea is instead threatening to sue for breach of privacy:

@PapaJohns I don't think data breach is funny. I expect you to contact me to explain how you are going to rectify your breach

— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 9, 2015

@PapaJohns of my personal information in a satisfactory and professional way or lawsuit will be filed.

— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 9, 2015

Meanwhile, whoever handles social media for Digiornio deserves kudos for paying attention as the whole thing unfolded:

.@IGGYAZALEA delivery. smh

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) February 9, 2015

The rapper may now be cooking her own pizza in the future, as she replied:

@DiGiornoPizza I know right!

— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 9, 2015

If getting pizza is this complicated as a celebrity, I for one am extremely grateful to be very unfamous, as I get to eat my pizza undisturbed. Totally undisturbed, just me and the pizza.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

5 Things To Consider Before Spending $20/Month On Sling TV

While Sling TV does give you live access to ESPN and ESPN 2, users can not pause, record, or rewind the feeds for both of those channels.

This morning, Dish’s Sling TV streaming service ended its invite-only period and opened the floodgates to anyone who wants to sign up for $20/month access. We’ve been messing around with Sling for a few days and have come across some issues you should take into account before deciding to sign up.

1. DVR Lovers Beware

While all of the channels currently available on Sling look like you can pause and rewind the stream, the majority of them — including the biggest ticket networks (ESPN, Disney, TBS, TNT) — do not allow any sort of rewinding or pausing of the stream.

2. Don’t Expect To Stream At Work

While Sling is available on Windows and Mac PCs, the service isn’t done through your web browser. Instead, it’s done through an app which has to be installed on each computer. While the one plus of this is that you can easily have the Sling window off to the side while you’re doing other things online, it also means you can’t just access the service anywhere. So if you were expecting to watch ESPN on your work computer, you’ll either need to make friends with the IT folks or use the Sling app on your phone.

3. Skimpy On-Demand Selection

Since there is no rewinding of most Sling content and since there is no recording of any Sling shows, you’re left to rely on the service’s anemic slate of on-demand programming, which is really just shows from the few networks — like HGTV and Food Network — that allow rewinding. This is convenient when you just want to go back and watch some episode you missed from the day before, but it’s no Netflix.

4. No Sharing Your Account

Unlike Netflix and other services that can be accessed simultaneously by multiple accounts, Sling will immediately stop the current feed if it detects another device accessing the same account.

While that may be an effective way to keep people from handing out their login info to all their cheapskate friends, it also means that a family can’t share one account across multiple users. So if mom is on the road for work and wants to watch SportsCenter on her iPad, that means dad can’t also be watching Chopped back at home.

5. Not Ready For Most TV Screens Yet

When Sling was announced, Dish said users could stream the service to their TV screens through gaming consoles, Amazon Fire streaming devices, and through Roku boxes and streaming sticks. But as of now, only the Roku products work to bring Sling directly to your TV.

The company says that access for Xbox One and the Amazon devices, along with the Google Nexus player (but not the Chromecast) are in the offing but currently offers no timeline.

So just know that if you lack the specific Roku devices (Roku 1, 2, 3, LT, Roku Streaming Sticks, HS, XS and XD; or the recently released Roku TV sets), you’re either going to be watching Sling on your computer/tablet/phone screen or plugging one of them into your TV.

And since Sling is only available on PC via an app, Chromecast users can use Google Cast to push the video from their computer to the TV screen wirelessly.

In the end, none of these may be dealbreakers for you. But they are all things you should keep in mind before signing up for Sling.

The service is offering a 7-day free trial, but you do need to enter a valid credit card before signing up.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

D.C. City Council Holds Hearing To Discuss Legalizing Recreational Marijuana Sales

(DEARTH !)

While voters in Washington D.C. managed to decriminalize possession of marijuana with a ballot initiative last fall, the city is considering taking it a step further and making it legal to sell the stuff as well. The City Council is holding a hearing today to mull whether it should join Colorado and Washington State to allow the sale of pot for recreational use by adults.

The finance, business and judiciary committees will hear testimony on a proposed bill that would let legalize the possession and sales of small amounts of marijuana for adults, as well as allowing people to grow up to six plants at home, reports Reuters.

Dubbed Marijuana Legalization and Regulation Act of 2015, the bill outlines rules for regulating the sale of marijuana and pot-infused products like candies, cakes and other edibles. The D.C. liquor board would carry the burden of regulation, with tax revenues going into a dedicated fund.

Congress has oversight of D.C., and as such is up against a congressional review period deadline of the end of February to decide the future of ballot Initiative 71, which made pot legal for recreational use. Lawmakers already included language in a spending bill last year that prohibits the city from using any funds to legalize pot.

If Initiative 71 goes forward, by March the city would begin to treat it as law, giving people the right to have pot but no way to buy it legally. Congress has only used the review process three times in 40 years to overturn a D.C. law.

District of Columbia holds hearing on marijuana sales [Reuters]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Here’s The Profane Goodbye Ad RadioShack Should Air To Everyone Laughing At Its Doom

As you’re no doubt aware, increasingly irrelevant retailer RadioShack — whose image was so mired in the 1980s that it included Hulk Hogan and Cliff Clavin in a 2014 Super Bowl ad — declared bankruptcy last week and plans to close thousands of stores across the country. The news has been received by many, including myself, with a shrug, but is that any way to treat a company that’s been around for nearly a century?

Not according to John Oliver, who last night tut-tutted the media for its response to the death of RadioShack.

“The death of RadioShack in itself is not surprising. What is surprising is the glib, jokey tone with which its demise has been discussed over the past year,” Oliver explained on his HBO show Last Week Tonight. “This is a dying, 94-year-old business. At this point, it’s like you’re sitting across from your grandfather at Thanksgiving dinner, saying, ‘Ya know, I don’t really see the point of Grandpa Fred in 2015. Frankly I’m sorta surprised he still exists.’”

And so, Oliver and his staff put together the following profanity-filled F-U of a commercial that RadioShack can run to say goodbye to all those people having a chuckle at its darkest days:

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Recopilatorio de apps educativas para IOS (ipad) y Android

via Educación tecnológica http://ift.tt/1A4NlAE www.bscformacion.com