hidden

Laptop Thief Caught Thanks To Spy Program, Twitter, And Eventually, The Oakland PD

Laptop Thief Caught Thanks To Spy Program, Twitter, And Eventually, The Oakland PD

After Joshua Kaufman’s Macbook was stolen from his apartment in Oakland, he notified the police. Due to budget cutbacks, Oakland PD don’t respond to many non-violent crimes anymore like burglary, grand theft, and car wrecks, so initially they couldn’t help him. Then Josh activated a tracking program on it called Hidden. Like other similar programs, it gave him real-time remote access to his computer, letting him take pictures using its webcam and capture screenshots. He set up a Tumblr to post them, his story went viral, he gave the tracking info to the police, and they ended up trapping the thief and getting the laptop back to Josh. [More]

UPS Has Strange Concept Of "Out Of Sight"

UPS Has Strange Concept Of "Out Of Sight"

Chris sent us this picture of a package that UPS delivered to his apartment. Instead of leaving it at the complex’s office, the delivery person left the box in a “secure, out of sight” location.

Amazon Tries To Clarify Download Limits For Kindle Books, Doesn't Quite Succeed

Amazon Tries To Clarify Download Limits For Kindle Books, Doesn't Quite Succeed

Dan, the Kindle owner who last week found that some of the books he’d purchased were no longer available to download due to unspecified limitations set by the publisher, spoke to more Amazon reps on Sunday. They clarified the DRM policy. Well, sort of.

Amazon Kindle Books Can Only Be Downloaded A Limited Number Of Times, And No You Cannot Find Out That Limit Before You Hit It

Amazon Kindle Books Can Only Be Downloaded A Limited Number Of Times, And No You Cannot Find Out That Limit Before You Hit It

[The CSR said] that there is always a limit to the number of times you can download a given book. Sometimes, he said, it’s five or six times but at other times it may only be once or twice. And, here’s the kicker folks, once you reach the cap you need to repurchase the book if you want to download it again.

Supermarket Chain Adds 10% At Register, But Only In Some Stores

Supermarket Chain Adds 10% At Register, But Only In Some Stores

The Nash Finch stores Avanza, Food Bonanza and Wholesale Food Outlets add the 10 percent charge to food at the register and specialize in serving Hispanics, according to store workers.

Best Buy Charges Woman $35 For Free Repairs

Best Buy Charges Woman $35 For Free Repairs

Did you know that if you request a repair under warranty for an appliance you bought at Best Buy, and the repair isn’t made, then Best Buy will charge you a fee?

One Third Of Antidepressant Studies Never Published

One Third Of Antidepressant Studies Never Published

A new study—”the most thorough to date,” writes the New York Times—shows that about a third of the studies for some of the market’s most successful antidepressants (Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, Effexor) were never published because they didn’t have favorable results. “While 94 percent of the positive studies found their way into print, just 14 percent of those with disappointing or uncertain results did.” The implication is that the makers of these drugs intentionally misled consumers and the federal government on their effectiveness.