This Week in Tech – 10/29/2017
Nazi Forums Closed as Reddit Purges ‘Violent Content’
Reddit has closed down several extremist forums after updating its policy regarding violent content. The newly banned and removed pages include r/NationalSocialism, r/Nazi, r/whitesarecriminals and r/far_right. Reddit’s new policy says: “Do not post content that encourages, glorifies, incites, or calls for violence or physical harm against an individual or a group of people.”…
Android Getting “DNS Over TLS” Support to Stop ISPs From Knowing What Websites You Visit
A DNS (Domain Name Server) is what translates a website address from a URL that you enter to an IP address which your computer actually connects to. For example, when you type “www.xda-developers.com” into your browser, your computer queries a DNS which looks up and returns the IP address “209.58.128.90” to the client. This process is hidden from the user, but every website you visit (so long as it has a human-readable URL) will go through this same process. The problem for those security conscious out there is that these requests are done in plain text through UDP or TCP protocols which are readable by anyone that can see your connection, including your ISP. This is where DNS over TLS comes in…
China Invents Rice That Can Grow in Salt Water, Can Feed Over 200 Million People
Scientists in China succeeded in growing the yield of a strain of saltwater-tolerant rice nearly three times their expectation. In the spring months, over 200 types of rice were planted at the Saline-Alkali Tolerant Rice Research and Development Center in Qingdao, a coastal city in eastern China’s Shandong Province. Seawater from the Yellow Sea was pumped, diluted and channeled into the rice paddies…
The FCC Will Soon Vote to Kill Net Neutrality. but Congress Can Stop Them if They Hear From Constituents Now
Yesterday afternoon the House subcommittee that provides Congressional oversight for the FCC held an important hearing about the agency’s current plans, including current Chairman (and former Verizon lawyer) Ajit Pai’s move to gut Title II net neutrality protections that prevent ISPs from controlling what we do online with throttling, censorship, and extra fees…
Congress Votes to Disallow Consumers From Suing Equifax and Other Companies With Arbitration Agreements
The Senate voted late Tuesday night to strike a federal rule that would have allowed consumers affected by the Equifax hack to sue the company. Without it, the millions affected by the historic security breach may be disallowed from related joining class action lawsuits. This specific rule, and only this rule, would be nullified if the joint resolution is signed by the President…
Tesla Makes Quick Work of Puerto Rico Hospital Solar Power Relief Project
Tesla CEO Elon Musk noted on Twitter that Tesla’s solar team could indeed outfit Puerto Rico with power facilities that could be used to generate and store power reserves when the existing grid isn’t available, as it has been after the U.S. territory faced the devastation of hurricane Maria. Now, Tesla is showing that it’s making good on its promise of help, with significant progress being made on one solar generation/storage facility on the island…
iPhone X Screen Repair Will Cost $279
The iPhone X went on sale today, and with it, Apple released some information about the phone’s repair pricing — and like the phone itself, it gets expensive. If you don’t have the extended warranty, a screen replacement will cost $279. That’s more than twice the price of an iPhone 6 screen replacement ($129) and about 65 percent higher than a new iPhone 8 screen ($169). The pricing was first spotted by MacRumors…