Author: knjohn

Don’t Blame All These Rains and Floods on El Niño | WIRED

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HEY, 2016: PACE yourself, huh? It’s raining in Los Angeles, freezing in Florida, tornado-ing in Texas. And then there’s the floods: houses in Illinois and Missouri up to their roofs in muddy Missouri River water. El Niño is finally here.

Or is it? Or wasn’t it already? No and yes, and yes and no. Scientists have had a pretty good idea since September that El Niño was going to be a monster (they even nicknamed it “Godzilla”). They knew what that meant in general—wet Southwest, warm Northeast. But picking out El Niño’s effect on any particular event is tricky.

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New York’s Old Payphones Are About To Pump Out Free Public Wi-Fi | Co.Exist

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New Yorkers, say goodbye to dirty unused pay phones and hello to super-fast, free Wi-Fi.

Today is the long-awaited unveiling of the city’s first Link stations, the kiosks that will replace the old phones with not only free one gigabit Wi-Fi, but also free domestic calling, Internet browsing, and USB charging. The first two will be located on Manhattan’s Third Avenue in the East Village.

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6 Silicon Valley Fads That Will Fade in 2016 | Inc.com

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Silicon Valley has its own unique culture that could be described as whimsical and nerdy, but also prone to excess. It’s that last feature we may see dialing back in 2016 as tech startups begin to feel the reality of shifting investing habits among venture capitalists, and more people start to accept the word “bubble” as a household term. Here are six trends that could be on their way out in the new year.

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Wikipedia Has Won | Peter Mehit

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You've made it Wikipeadia“These statistics,” I said, “Where did you get them?”  The writing was solid and everything made sense, but there was no source attribution.

It was 2005. We’ve just gotten serious staff for the first time.  The writer was a fresh faced woman from Texas, who, by the way, possessed serious brains and a dangerous wit.  She answers me confidently.

“Wikipedia.”

“The open source online encyclopedia?,” I asked.  Wikipedia was only four years old and notoriously inaccurate.  I wanted sources as close to the information as we could get.

Continue reading “Wikipedia Has Won | Peter Mehit” →

I was Trying to Spy and Hackers Stopped Me | CNN Money

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151205180346-national-security-thumbnail-780x439Chris Inglis has worked in intelligence most of his adult life. He’s tall, imposing and speaks with precision.

Debates about encryption technology — like the ones that cropped up after last month’s terror attacks in Paris — are nothing new to him. Reports that ISIS is using apps with encryption tech to hide their conversations don’t surprise him. He was the deputy director of the NSA and saw dozens of times when encryption was an obstacle in pursuing a target.

He couldn’t get into specifics but explained broadly: The agency might identify an adversary through financial transactions, or by following the chain of possession for weapons. But if the target was using some form of encrypted messaging, the NSA would lose the last piece of the puzzle.

“The worst case scenario is that we fail to see a plot that essentially is on the fly … and that we only see it when it’s in execution,” Inglis said. “At that moment in time, you’re reacting to a disaster in the making as opposed to staving one off. That’s the threat, that’s the challenge.”

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FAA Requires Drone Regulation — Whether Used for Commercial Purposes or Not | Small Biz Trends

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Whether you are using your new drone for business or any other purpose, all drones within a certain weight range must now be registered with the federal government.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced its strategic drone registration site that’s now up and running. The initiative has put into place to protect the rights of the owners as well as those of the public, the FAA claims.

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4 Pain Points of Future Flights and How to Handle Them | Entrepreneur

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Here’s the good news: Airfares are down. According to fare-prediction app Hopper, rates in September dropped a substantial 18 percent from the previous year. And all signs point to a bottoming-out this month, at an average domestic round-trip price of $204. Now, the bad: Airline consolidation and the continued softening of the European economy, among other concerns, have some analysts nervous about the future of flying. But don’t panic just yet. Although the following warning signs seem to indicate that things could get worse for fliers, there may be ways to ease at least some of the pain.

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Weekly Economic Update | LAEDC

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v.19 n. 52 – Released December 29, 2015

This Week’s Headlines:

  Top 10 Differences between Entrepreneurs and Wantrepreneurs | Getentrepreneurial

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There are important differences between entrepreneurs and wantrepreneurs that explain why some business people succeed against all odds, while most fail. It isn’t always easy to predict who will come out on top in the competitive world of business. Lenders, investors and prospective business associates considering a relationship with an entrepreneur should carefully evaluate possible liaisons based on the list below. The question to answer is whether the business owner is a committed and focused entrepreneur or a wantrepreneur destined to fail.

Entrepreneurs are passionate about their business and are willing to make it the top priority in their life, in sharp contrast to wantrepreneurs who may talk about their dream but are unable to focus on the business and give it the necessary attention required to succeed.

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Scrum and Lean for Beginners: All You Need to Know about the World’s Best Management Systems | Page19

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At some point in your life, you’ve probably had a stroke of genius, a brand-new, revolutionary idea for a company or product. Maybe it was an idea for a new micro-learning app, a navigate-your-city jacket, maybe it was an idea to colonize Mars, or to capture cow farts in methane backpacks?

But as any science fiction show knows, conceptualization is not the same as creation. So how to make your idea a reality?

And indeed, it’s a good question: inevitably there’s an unexpected thing or two (or two thousand) to take into account as you pursue your idea. As your business begins to take shape, these challenges will only grow. Because how to manage this project in the first place? How to manage time? Your team?

This is where scrum and lean come into the picture.

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