The gas giant could hold clues to the formation of our solar system.
Source: Wired
There’s magic in an LP’s grooves, and the ModWright PH 9.0 phono preamp lets you hear more of it.
Source: CNET
Did you get a smart plug as a gift and don’t have a clue what do with it? Here’s what you need to know.
Source: CNET
The latest from James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein looks at the scientist’s work through the eyes of a 12-year-old girl.
Source: Wired
Amazon sends Echo recordings to the wrong person, Russians tried to get US Treasury dirt on Clinton donors, and more of the week’s top security news.
Source: Wired
Slack has apologized after it shut down the accounts of users who have visited Iran following a poorly executed effort at complying with U.S. sanctions against the country.
The company, which has eight million users of its productivity tool, has scrapped that first go at the policy. But it did confirm it will now block all activity in Iran and other sanctioned countries, although user accounts won’t be closed.
As one of the world’s largest community services, that botched first implementation will have impacted significant numbers of users — both in terms of enterprise teams and free accounts which use Slack for membership of interest groups and communities.
The victims affected included Amir Abdi, a machine learning scientist at the University of British Columbia (UBC) who is also the recipient of the Vanier scholarship for PhD talent. Abdi told Motherboard that his account was shut down without prior warning, and the same appeared to apply to a number of other individuals who had visited Iran and used Slack from there.
Slack told us on Thursday, when we first reported the issue, that it had implemented the ban based on IP addresses. The general gist was that anyone who had logged on from Iran was blocked and the company admitted in a statement on Friday that it had made “a series of mistakes” by taking that approach.
“We recognize the disruption and inconvenience this caused and we sincerely apologize to the people affected by our actions,” the company said in a blog post.
Going forward, Slack said it will suspend user accounts while they are in Iran — and logged in from Iran-based IP address — but they once they return to a non-sanctioned market, full access will be restored. That policy will also apply to users who visit, or are based in, Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Ukraine’s Crimea region per OFAC sanctions.
Users who travel to a sanctioned country may not be able to access Slack while they remain in that country. However, we will not deactivate their account and they will be able to access Slack when they return to countries or regions for which no blocking is required.
The issue is perhaps the most serious screw up to date from Slack, which is reportedly planning an IPO next year. The company admitted that its policy had been both poorly communicated and badly implemented and it pledged to learn from the experience.
“We’ll take the failures here as lessons we can use to improve our service and avoid similar mistakes in the future,” the company said.
Source: TechCrunch
From ‘The Incredibles 2’ to indie breakouts like ‘Eighth Grade,’ Hollywood is finally starting to understand how completely technology shapes our lives.
Source: Wired
With discounts of up to 55 percent off on desktop PCs, laptops, PC accessories, printers, monitors, and more, the 2018 HP Red Tag Sale is the perfect chance to score a deal on a gift for yourself or for someone you won’t be seeing until after Christmas.
The post Save on HP Spectre laptops, and more during the HP Red Tag Sale appeared first on Digital Trends.
Source: Digital trends
From our favorite phone to the best smart-home innovation, this is all of 2018’s best gear.
Source: Wired
As employees and researchers push back, companies including Google and Microsoft are pledging not to use powerful AI technology in certain ways.
Source: Wired