Microsoft Snoops Too | Tech Talk Today 40

chris

8 years ago

Microsoft tips off law enforcement based on contents of a users OneDrive, Docker lands some serious cash, Twitch gets down with the DMCA and then how to make the easiest, best, BBQ chicken.

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Docker closes in on funding round of over $40 million

Docker, the container management startup that’s caught a __whole lot of buzz __in the enterprise tech industry, is finalizing a significant funding round worth between $40 million to $75 million, according to two sources familiar with the situation. The company is said to be valued at roughly $400 million, these sources said, but the deal is still a few weeks away from being completed.

This past January, Docker landed $15 million in a Series B investment round, bringing the company’s then total amount of funding to $26 million.

Twitch implements YouTube-like system for blocking copyrighted audio | Polygon

In an announcement, Twitch says it has partnered with software company Audible Magic, which works with the music industry, “to scan past and future [videos-on-demand] for music owned or controlled by” its clients. If that scan identifies a recorded video that infringes upon a copyright claim, the video’s audio will be muted for a 30-minute block in which that song appears.

Here’s an example of what that looks like.

The practice only applies to pre-recorded video on demand, Twitch says. The company won’t be scanning live broadcasts, nor will it automatically take content down.

China anti-trust regulator conducts new raids on Microsoft, Accenture

A Chinese anti-trust regulator conducted new raids on Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and partner in China Accenture PLC (ACN.N), the agency said on its website on Wednesday, after saying last week Microsoft is under investigation for anti-trust violations.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) raided offices in Beijing and three other cities.

Microsoft has been suspected of violating China’s anti-monopoly law since June last year in relation to problems with compatibility, bundling and document authentication for its Windows operating system and Microsoft Office software, the SAIC said last week.

China is intensifying efforts to bring companies into compliance with an anti-monopoly law enacted in 2008, having in recent years taken aim at industries as varied as milk powder and jewelry.

Microsoft’s Windows ‘Threshold’ expected to add virtual desktops, drop charms | ZDNet

First up, as reported by Brad Sams at Neowin.net, Microsoft is moving toward adding virtual desktops to Threshold, the Windows release expected in the spring of 2015.

The other UI change coming to Threshold is the elimination of the Charms Bar, as first reported by Winbeta.org.

Existing “modern” Windows 8 apps will get title bars that include menus that have the charms components listed.

Microsoft tip leads to child porn arrest in Pennsylvania

A tip-off from Microsoft has led to the arrest of a man in Pennsylvania who has been charged with receiving and sharing child abuse images.

It flagged the matter after discovering that an image involving a young girl had been allegedly saved to the man’s OneDrive cloud storage account.

Microsoft’s terms and conditions for its US users explicitly state that it has the right to deploy “automated technologies to detect child pornography or abusive behavior that might harm the system, our customers, or others”.

Following the most recent case, Mark Lamb from the company’s Digital Crimes Unit released a statement.

“Child pornography violates the law as well as our terms of service, which makes clear that we use automated technologies to detect abusive behaviour that may harm our customers or others,” he wrote.

“In 2009, we helped develop PhotoDNA, a technology to disrupt the spread of exploitative images of children, which we report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as required by law.”

PhotoDNA creates a unique signature for each image, similar to a fingerprint, to help pictures be matched.

This is done by converting the picture into black-and-white, resizing it and breaking it into a grid. Each grid cell is then analysed to create a histogram describing how the colours change in intensity within it, and the information obtained becomes its “DNA”.

Google also uses PhotoDNA, alongside its own in-house technologies, to detect child abuse images. In addition, the software is used by Facebook and Twitter, among others.

Best Easy BBQ Chicken

The Night Before:

Combine vegetable stock, salt, water and ice in something large enough to hold your chicken, like a cooler with some room to spare (for more ice if needed for ex).
Place the thawed chicken (with innards removed) breast side down in brine.
Refrigerate or set in cool area (with ice) for 8 to 16 hours. Turn once if you can half way. No bigs.

Cookin:

Prep that bird:

Take that bird out of the brine, rinse it, and pat it down dry. With some paper towls.
Put that bird on the Beer butt holder / “poultry holder”.
Flavor that bird.
Oil that bird. I like to use Garlic oil, or butter, or bacon grease.

Prep the BBQ

Start your coals if you use those. I have a link to a great stater below.
Really don’t use lighter fluid.
Spread the coals out evenly.

Cook that bird

(length of cook time we vary depending on bird size)

Cover that bird in a foil dome. Make it legit tight, the steam trapped in there is our helper.
Do this before you put it on the BBQ, its hard and HURTS if you do it while its sitting on top of fire.
Try to hold the BBQ around 400F. Don’t stress it too much, that’s our target area.
Cook until clear juices are noticeable, and it smells cooked. If you have a probe you are shooting for 165F – 175F. Or if you can pull a leg off with little effort.