"Google has confirmed that personal data of US employees hired prior to 2006 has been stolen in a recent burglary. Records kept at Colt Express Outsourcing Services, an external company, were stolen in a burglary on 26 May. It is understood that Colt did not employ encryption to protect the information." - Simon via Bookmarklet
"No credit-card numbers were in the stolen data, just names, addresses, [social-security numbers]; all the info needed for a thief to open new accounts using your identity," Ouch, that hurts! - Nenad Nikolic via Alert Thingy
Argh, it kills me how frequently this sort of thing happens and yet there's no legal requirement (or enforcement teeth) to force use of encryption, nor to limit SSN data to a need-to-know basis. Victims can really be hosed in these situations while the org gets at most a brief wristslap and reputation hit for that newscycle. - Casey
Btw, for those of you exposed by this incident, you can go a step stronger than a credit alert and put a credit freeze in place. You will need to file a police report, but the credit freeze can stay in place (at your discretion) for up to 7 years and would require a call to you verifying any application for credit before it can be granted. Slight nuisance factor possible in terms of you might not be able to stroll into mobile/Apple store and get instant gratification signing up for new account, but - Casey
at least it's stronger protection and peace of mind. There's a helpful privacy rights clearinghouse / advocacy group that has advice here: http://www.privacyrights.org/f... My old links for the FTC guide 404. Good luck, I've been in your shoes and it's a pain in the arse. - Casey
If this affected you then you should have been contacted by Google already about taking steps to protect yourself. - Adewale Oshineye
Google did not contact me. Have any former employees been contacted? - Chris White
Be much cooler if whole table was molded out of bright colored plastic with lego block bumps on it. - Mark Forman
Wow, Legos are everywhere lately - who is their CMO? (Finlay Robb?) - what I've seen is genius. - Vince DeGeorge
These are almost the right size to build homes from... of course, then we'd need to fashion claw hands for people, but that is a mere detail... - Karim
Friggin' agreed. I just thought Twitter was bad. Now that I'm finally sucked in here, it's over. There is so much to check out that flows through this thing. - Lee Adkins
FF is absolutely addictive. There's so much - but it's not random tweets about going to Subway for lunch, or Vampire requests but instead really interesting stuff and great conversations - hence ... the addiction. - AJ Kohn
Twitter is more addictive for me still... but FF has greater time-suck potential as I'm more inclined to get sucked into comment threads. - Lucretia Pruitt
Yes I can get why FriendFeed, and the FriendFeed/Twitter hybrid that twhirl provides is extremely addictive. Now that the UI doesn't freak me out any longer, I can get comfortable here. I think the big thing is the reduction of friction in moving around among our social presences and those we follow. It could be better, but it is already tantalizing. - Dennis E. Hamilton
FF is more additive b/c it is twitter plus everything else so it seems clear as to why it would be. It is also seriously cutting into my RSS reading - Lou Paglia
You know, once upon a time I'd go out and be constantly checking Twitter on my phone, now it's FF, but I check FF more than I ever did Twitter - Duncan Riley
It's definitely addictive, I am with you Duncan I check it on the go regularly as well! - Joe Dawson
I go thru phases with FriendFeed. It gest real interesting for me when there's a wave of new users. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
friendfeed.com scroll scroll comment comment friends like read-blog like comment edit-comment like read-article unlike refresh comment like like favorite Everyone super-fast-scroll like scroll scroll scroll me scroll refresh friends scroll like - Mitchell Tsai
It's time for a 12-step program...who's with me????? - Anna Haro
Anna: waiting for an intervention. i.am.not.addicted. - Mona N
amen... I'm only following 5 or 6 people and It's still addicting.... - c010depunkk via twhirl
if I'm not on the desktop reading FF - I'm on the iPhone doing the same. Falling way behind on direct feed reading but do use Feedly quite a bit with its FF integration - David W
I've seen a lot worse. This doesn't (actually in NC) actually seem so bad; you scan the sign for the road you're looking to get on and the direction it's going, and follow the corresponding arrow. But it would be an interesting design exercise to come up with a new, unified sign that would present the same information. (Interstate highway signs generally do a really awesome job of that.) - ⓞnor
This, for example, is clearly somebody's attempt to make a single coherent display for a very similar situation, but I think it is actually much worse: http://www.driveandstayalive.c... Unlike the "fail" sign, it doesn't immediately tell you what to do, instead you have to decode the map and translate it into actual driving on the fly. - ⓞnor
They definitely paid a visit to my neighbors. Go Texas! - Carla Thompson
Wow, Colorado is significantly lower than all the others. Any ideas why? - Jim Norris
This was posted separately and there was quite a bit of discussion about it. The Coloradans basically said that outdoor physical activity is a major part of the culture there. - ⓞnor
I say the thin air squeezes the fat out of them. - Steve Craft
Mean elevation: CO 6800ft, UT 6100ft, NM 5692ft, MT 3396ft, MS 300ft... - ⓞnor
This is obese - I don't even want to see "overweight." Colorado is the only state where it's not a granted that 1 out of 5 is obese (though by the looks of things, the average is 1 out of 4). Does this include children? Pre-edit: clicked on the article - the overweight numbers are amazing. I'm certainly in these categories - I must disclose. - Vince DeGeorge
cool chart - looks like our primary home (ct) is #3 & secondary (vt) is #5 :) - mike "glemak" dunn
Like we always said back in Arkansas, thank god for Mississippi and Louisiana or we'd always finish last! - Jesse Hattabaugh
I loved visiting Japan, where people seem to be healthily thin. It's very sad the changes since I was in high school. At a pediatric obesity presentation at Stanford, they showed a slideshow of obesity/state over the past 25 years, and it was really sad to see the whole country become fatter & fatter. An Economist issue from the past year shows that it's a worldwide trend - poor & rich countries... People were so much thinner when I was in high school. :-( - Mitchell Tsai
am i the only one who finds a kitten about to be fork stabbed disturbing? not. cute. imho... - Mona N
Like when we were in North Vietnam, and my wife (who is Vietnamese and loves dogs) says to the taxi driver, "Oh, look at all the dogs on the porches of this town.", and he says, "They are food." - Chris White
btw I'm Japanese, not Chinese.. we'd eat your pets too but goldfish sushi? do.not.want! - Mona N
Chopsticks would clearly be the more appropriate utensil here. - Chris White
Reality check-many pets are food or pets then food in other cultures. Disturbing maybe. People that eat animals for food are kind of fascinated on how pet lovers spend so much money on an an animal. Not saying either side right or wrong just different. - Mark Forman
Mark: The live fuzzy kitten about to be forked stabbed is disturbing.... not the choice of delicacy <-for lack of a better word =\ - Mona N
I had a friend who speaks Farsi translate the comments. 1) The pink, bloody bear is called Gloomy Bear. He's a 2m tall, violent, pink bear that eats humans and is supposed to be the antithesis to cute, cuddly characters like Hello Kitty. 2) I work at Polyvore, not FriendFeed. - Jess Lee
You mean the cute cuddly bear isn't supposed to be? - Jim Norris
Why is this a good idea? "SomethingStore is a fun new website that operates simply: We will send you *something*, an item selected randomly among many things from our inventory, for $10 (free shipping in the US) and you will find out what your something is when you receive it." - Jess Lee via Bookmarklet
exactly match one of friends wanted to do sometime last year. - Samuel Wu
This sounds like exactly the opposite of what I want. I want to get rid of random stuff from my house. :) - Chris White
Winner: Hebrew National Reduced Fat Beef Franks. Oscar Mayer Cheese Dogs got #6. - Jess Lee via Bookmarklet
Hard to find the entire Hebrew National line in Honolulu. We have some national brands, and there's Redondo's - they are dyed bright RED. Yuck. - Bill Sodeman via fftogo
"Early last month, webmasters here at The Reg noticed an unexpected spike in our site traffic. Suddenly, we had far more readers than ever before, and they were reading at a record clip. Visits actually doubled on certain landing pages, and more than a few ho-hum stories attracted an audience worthy of a Pulitzer Prize winner. Or so it seemed. As it turns out, much of this traffic was driven by the new malware scanner from AVG Technologies." - Jess Lee via Bookmarklet
Hmm... is AVG forging user-agents then? Or will everyone just end up blocking them? - ƃuɐʞ
hmm, why do all the image sets have starbucks beverages in them? - j1m
our users are putting starbucks beverages in their sets of their own accord. i guess it's part of their look/image. it'd be cool if starbucks could pay us for helping to promote them : ) - Jess Lee
I did it.... I dunno why now that I think about it - Roshan Vyas
Blizzard has been changing its splash screen every day, posting images that are clues to whatever they're planning to announce at this weekend's Worldwide Invitational games. Speculation is that they're announcing Diablo 3. - Jess Lee via Bookmarklet
Brazillian press is all a twitter about Kurkova's recent runway appearance in Sao Paolo. Apparently she looked "chubby". If she's chubby, I'm... uh, morbidly obese. Parading about in half a yard of fabric is thankless work. - Jennie Lin via Bookmarklet
Thankless indeed. Agh. She looks beautiful. More real. But the fashion industry isn't about real -- it's all about fantasy and aspirational ideals. - Ginger Makela
Ugh. The modeling industry is so unhealthy, not just for the models but for everyone. - Jess Lee
I'm not really amused, but I am impressed that the writer was able to put nearly 1,500 words against this subject. - AJ Kohn
"As with many dubious fashion choices (see: leggings as pants), much of the blame can be placed on American Apparel." True. - Erica Baker
"At Urban Outfitters, there are eight different options for guys, including the "Super V," which boasts a 27-inch neckline from shoulder to hem. A 27-inch neckline." - David Vasileff
I want a "Like" button for all these hilarious comments : ) - Jess Lee
that story is classic - I must admit I find the shirts repulsive and strangely hard not to look at the same time.. are you gay? - ben rogers via twhirl
Ugh, I physically shuddered the first time I saw one of those American Apparel ads. Was hoping that this trend was going to stay firmly ensconced in the fern bars of Three's Company on TVLand reruns. Some trends should *never* be resurrected. And to the men reading this: ixnay on any thought of the gold medallions. - Casey
Slow news day, although I agree "Women demand men look a certain way". Or else we cannot enter the fern bars of our choice. - Russellreno
"It's, like, another three inches and that's a vest, motherfucker." LOL - Jeanette Martinez
Nubbles: a puppy who was born with only her two hind legs and nubs for front legs. A prosthesis was made for her, using model airplane wheels and shoulder joints, natch. - Jess Lee via Bookmarklet
Says Mark Millar, creator of the Wanted comic: "We’ll see what box office [for Wanted] is like at the weekend, but everyone knows this is going to make a LOT of dough. Wall-E permitting. Fucking bastard of a wee robot.” - Jess Lee via Bookmarklet
Congratulations April & Paul! Just two days ago you told me you currently have 1.9 children. I assumed April still had something like three more weeks to go :) All the best for your growing family! - Mustafa K. Isik
Yes, at the time it was supposed to be another couple of weeks, but our kids tend to arrive extra early (The first was born at 25.7 weeks, and this one at 34 -- full term is 40). - Paul Buchheit
Wow, UPS tracking has gotten much better. Where is the baby now? Make sure you're home during the delivery, though. Whenever I'm not, they just leave it at the front door. (Congrats, by the way ;) ) - Vince DeGeorge
What is this? Baby on Friendfeed week :) Between you and Louis...hehe. So does this make Friendfeed an aunt or an uncle? or maybe a cousin? Congrats Paul! - Brian Daniel Eisenberg
@Erhan, actually I would like to see the true babies pic and then the a render pic from http://makemebabies.com/. It would be awsome to see how closely the two would match up :)- - Peter Dawson
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