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The Register's Simon Sharwood reports: Japan's National Consumer Affairs Center on Wednesday suggested citizens start "digital end of life planning" and offered tips on how to do it. The Center's somewhat maudlin advice is motivated by recent incidents in which citizens struggled to cancel subscriptions their loved ones signed up for before their demise, because they didn't know their usernames or passwords. The resulting "digital legacy" can be unpleasant to resolve, the agency warns, so suggested four steps to simplify ensure our digital legacies aren't complicated: - Ensuring family members can unlock your smartphone or computer in case of emergency; - Maintain a list of your subscriptions, user IDs and passwords; - Consider putting those details in a document intended to be made available when your life ends; - Use a service that allows you to designate someone to have access to your smartphone and other accounts once your time on Earth ends. The Center suggests now is the time for it to make this suggestion because it is aware of struggles to discover and resolve ongoing expenses after death. With smartphones ubiquitous, the org fears more people will find themselves unable to resolve their loved ones' digital affairs -- and powerless to stop their credit cards being charged for services the departed cannot consume.

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Discover is offering a new $15 promotion simply for setting your Discover card as the *default* payment method. You should see the promo immediately after activating. I recommend to keep Discover as your default method for that next purchase using the $15 promo credit; you’ll get 5% back as well during this quarter.

If you don’t already have your Discover card linked, try this link for a different $15 bonus for adding your Discover Card to Amazon as a payment method.

This is separate from the Discover Shop with Points promo, where you actually redeem your Discover cash back rewards on an Amazon purchase.

Finally, try this link to see all your Discover + Amazon offers.

This is a recurring perk for existing Discover cardholders, which is why I never cancel a card with no annual fee. Check out my Discover it credit card review, one of my keeper 5% cash back cards. From now until December 31, 2024, Amazon is one of their 5% categories.

Check offer link again to see if eligible for this new round. If you have a Discover card with cash back rewards, you can redeem them to buy eligible items at Amazon.com. The redemption rate is $1 in Cash Back Bonus = $1 to spend at Amazon, which is the same rate as their statement credit redemptions. Check if you have a targeted promotion and activate for an additional discount for redeeming a single penny’s worth of points. (To see the link, you may need to visit this page on the internet if viewing this via e-mail or RSS.)

• Get $10 off $50/$75 or 30%/40% Off (max cap applies), valid on items shipped and sold by Amazon. Must redeem at least $0.01 in Discover cash back.

Here are some additional tips:

• If you haven’t linked your Discover yet, first check if you can get a bonus here. If not, you can link your Discover Cashback points balance to your Amazon account here. Check again, possibly waiting a day or two.
• If you have already linked your Discover card previously and aren’t targeted, consider removing your Discover card from your account completely, and then linking it again after a day. Try again in a day or two.
• Items must be marked as both sold AND shipped by Amazon.com.
• Be sure to select your Discover Card as your payment method and redeem at least 1 point or $0.01 in value of Discover points.
• You should see the promo credit on final order checkout page, right before final purchase.

This is a recurring perk for existing Discover cardholders, which is why I never cancel a card with no annual fee. Check out my Discover it credit card review, one of my keeper 5% cash back cards. From now until December 31, 2024, Amazon is one of their 5% categories.

(Updates 11/22: Pepper has an extended sale lasting through 11:59pm ET on 11/24. The rates aren’t as good as the flash sales (may they keep popping up), but they are more predictable and thus easier to catch. Amazon 8X, Sam’s 5X, Lowe’s 8X. Stack with referral offer and AmEx offer, if possible.

– Pepper points will now expire if 60 days pass without a purchase. If you made a purchase prior to 11/15/24, you’ll enjoy a grace period; this policy change will not take effect until February 1, 2025. Keep in mind you can buy a $1 Amazon gift card.

– Pepper has changed their referral offer to a fixed $20 bonus after spending $200 in your first 15 days. Stack with AmEx offer and a flash sale, if possible.)

I don’t know about you, but these days I check the Pepper app first thing every morning to see the limited-time Flash Sales and to redeem all my available points that arrived from past purchases. I literally bought a new Sam’s Club membership because I can’t give up 14% off + 2% credit card cash back + Cashback portal + 2% with Plus membership. Sorry Costco, but Sam’s Club even has free Drive Up. I am always looking to stock up on 14% off Amazon and 14% off Walmart/Sam’s Club gift cards. 🚚 Look to stack it with this $15 off $50 AmEx Offer. Search for “Pepper” in your AmEx app:

(10/29 Only Flash Sales (for reference): Sam’s Club 14X/142% Off (Works at Walmart too). Amazon Fresh 14X/14% Off (Works at Amazon too).

10/14 Only Flash Sales: Sam’s Club 12X/12% Off (Works at Walmart too!), Kohl’s 18X, Airbnb 14X, Stubhub 20X, IKEA 18X.). 2,000 points = $1.

10/13 Only Flash Sales: Amazon Fresh 10X/10% Off (Works at Amazon too!). Cabela’s 20X, Uber 10X, Columbia 18X, XBOX 20X. )

See new offers daily in-app with the Inbox 📩 envelope icon. Confirm the Boosts on screen before you click “Buy gift card”, as quantities may be limited. 2,000 points = $1.

Original post, updated:

Pepper continues to offer up “flash sales” that offer big discounts on gift cards from Amazon, REI, Sam’s Club, and so on. Plus you still get whatever credit card rewards from the Pepper purchase. Examples are Amazon at 12X/12% back (Amazon Fresh = Amazon), Sam’s Club (= Walmart) at 10% back, IKEA 18% back, Airbnb 14% back in the form of points. Stock up quickly when you see the sale in the app. Redeem instantly into your respective store accounts, if you wish. (Tip: The math will work out. Every 2,000 points is worth $1 in future gift cards. 10,000 points = $5, and so on. Must redeem in increments of $5.)

Here’s the current offer for new Pepper users:

• Download the Pepper Rewards app and be sure to enter a referral code 588494 on the first screen when joining. Thanks if you use it!
• Get $20 after spending $200 in your first 15 days. This bonus has changed from the previous offer, but still not bad astheir old double offer only applied on their standard 4X rates, while their daily flash rates are 12X to 14X.
• You’ll also earn rewards from using your credit card for purchase. Use a 2% or better cash back rewards card, or use it to satisfy a credit card bonus spending requirement that is even better than 2%.

Pepper is an iOS and Android app that sells discounted, new gift cards in exact amounts that are delivered instantly on your phone. This lets you to wait until the moment before purchase when you already have the final purchase price (in-person or online), and then go buy a discounted gift card via the app down to the penny. The main problem with gift cards is when you don’t use up the entire balance. This helps to avoid the waste. I load my Amazon/Amazon Fresh cards into my app the moment after purchase.

Grind Coffee is partnering with Google to explore the impact that habit formation could have on AI upskilling and adoption. The partnership is part of the Google AI Work…Grind Coffee is partnering with Google to explore the impact that habit formation could have on AI upskilling and adoption. The partnership is part of the Google AI Works pilot which seeks to uncover the most effective ways to rapidly and radically accelerate nationwide AI adoption.

China has overtaken Germany and Japan in terms of robot density, according to an annual report by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). Reuters reports: South Korea is the world leader with 1,012 robots per 10,000 employees, up 5% since 2018, said the IFR. Singapore comes next, followed by China with 470 robots per 10,000 workers - more than double the density it had in 2019. That compares with 429 per 10,000 employees in Germany, which has had an annual growth rate of 5% since 2018, said IFR.

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Anti-Cheat: A Thorny Problem For Linux Gamers  It's FOSS News

Multiple Linux Kernel Vulnerabilities In Defer Partition Scanning Patched  CybersecurityNews

Multiple Linux Kernel Vulnerabilities In Defer Partition Scanning Patched  CybersecurityNews

Unmasking WolfsBane: Gelsemium’s New Linux Weapon  Information Security Buzz

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A federal court yesterday ruled against parents who sued a Massachusetts school district for punishing their son who used an artificial intelligence tool to complete an assignment. Dale and Jennifer Harris sued Hingham High School officials and the School Committee and sought a preliminary injunction requiring the school to change their son's grade and expunge the incident from his disciplinary record before he needs to submit college applications. The parents argued that there was no rule against using AI in the student handbook, but school officials said the student violated multiple policies. The Harris' motion for an injunction was rejected in an order (PDF) issued yesterday from US District Court for the District of Massachusetts. US Magistrate Judge Paul Levenson found that school officials "have the better of the argument on both the facts and the law." "On the facts, there is nothing in the preliminary factual record to suggest that HHS officials were hasty in concluding that RNH [the Harris' son, referred to by his initials] had cheated," Levenson wrote. "Nor were the consequences Defendants imposed so heavy-handed as to exceed Defendants' considerable discretion in such matters." "On the evidence currently before the Court, I detect no wrongdoing by Defendants," Levenson also wrote. "The manner in which RNH used Grammarly -- wholesale copying and pasting of language directly into the draft script that he submitted -- powerfully supports Defendants' conclusion that RNH knew that he was using AI in an impermissible fashion," Levenson wrote. While "the emergence of generative AI may present some nuanced challenges for educators, the issue here is not particularly nuanced, as there is no discernible pedagogical purpose in prompting Grammarly (or any other AI tool) to generate a script, regurgitating the output without citation, and claiming it as one's own work," the order said. Levenson concluded with a quote from a 1988 Supreme Court ruling that said the education of youth "is primarily the responsibility of parents, teachers, and state and local school officials, and not of federal judges." According to Levenson, "This case well illustrates the good sense in that division of labor. The public interest here weighs in favor of Defendants."

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Google is introducing "Restore Credentials," a feature that simplifies transferring app credentials when switching Android devices to keep you logged into your apps. The Verge reports: While some apps already did this, Google is making it easier for developers to include this experience by implementing a "restore key" that automatically transfers to the new phone and logs you back into the app. [...] Restore Credentials requires less work than the previous approach on Android, and can automatically check if a restore key is available and log you back in at the first app launch. A restore key is a public key that uses existing passkey infrastructure to move about your credentials. Restore keys can also be backed up to the cloud, although developers can opt out. For that reason, transferring directly from device to device will still likely be more thorough than restoring from the cloud, as is the case with Apple devices today. Notably, Google says restore keys do not transfer if you delete an app and reinstall it.

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According to Business Insider (paywalled), Microsoft's Copilot tool inadvertently let customers access sensitive information, such as CEO emails and HR documents. Now, Microsoft is working to fix the situation, deploying new tools and a guide to address the privacy concerns. The story was highlighted by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. From the report: These updates are designed "to identify and mitigate oversharing and ongoing governance concerns," the company said in a blueprint for Microsoft's 365 productivity software suite. [...] Copilot's magic -- its ability to create a 10-slide road-mapping presentation, or to summon a list of your company's most profitable products -- works by browsing and indexing all your company's internal information, like the web crawlers used by search engines. IT departments at some companies have set up lax permissions for who can access internal documents -- selecting "allow all" for the company's HR software, say, rather than going through the trouble of selecting specific users. That didn't create much of a problem because there wasn't a tool that an average employee could use to identify and retrieve sensitive company documents -- until Copilot. As a result, some customers have deployed Copilot only to discover that it can let employees read an executive's inbox or access sensitive HR documents. "Now when Joe Blow logs into an account and kicks off Copilot, they can see everything," a Microsoft employee familiar with customer complaints said. "All of a sudden Joe Blow can see the CEO's emails."

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According to Bloomberg (paywalled), Apple is developing a new version of Siri powered by large language models (LLMs). TechCrunch reports: The new assistant reportedly will fully replace the Siri interface that users rely on today, and Apple is planning to release the feature in the spring of 2026. The feature seems like it will be similar to OpenAI's Advanced Voice Mode but with all the same access to personal information and apps that Siri has today. Until then, Apple is relying on third parties to power the iPhone's advanced AI features.

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How RHEL and Fedora Shape Red Hat’s Linux Offerings  LinuxInsider

An anonymous reader quotes a report from KrebsOnSecurity: The financial technology firm Finastra is investigating the alleged large-scale theft of information from its internal file transfer platform, KrebsOnSecurity has learned. Finastra, which provides software and services to 45 of the world's top 50 banks, notified customers of the security incident after a cybercriminal began selling more than 400 gigabytes of data purportedly stolen from the company. London-based Finastra has offices in 42 countries and reported $1.9 billion in revenues last year. The company employs more than 7,000 people and serves approximately 8,100 financial institutions around the world. A major part of Finastra's day-to-day business involves processing huge volumes of digital files containing instructions for wire and bank transfers on behalf of its clients. On November 8, 2024, Finastra notified financial institution customers that on Nov. 7 its security team detected suspicious activity on Finastra's internally hosted file transfer platform. Finastra also told customers that someone had begun selling large volumes of files allegedly stolen from its systems. "On November 8, a threat actor communicated on the dark web claiming to have data exfiltrated from this platform," reads Finastra's disclosure, a copy of which was shared by a source at one of the customer firms. "There is no direct impact on customer operations, our customers' systems, or Finastra's ability to serve our customers currently," the notice continued. "We have implemented an alternative secure file sharing platform to ensure continuity, and investigations are ongoing." But its notice to customers does indicate the intruder managed to extract or "exfiltrate" an unspecified volume of customer data.

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Using MAXQDA for Qualitative Data Analysis on Linux  Linux Journal

The Trade Desk, one of the largest publicly traded advertising technology companies in the world, is building a connected television operating system. Axios reports: Existing OS providers, like Roku, Amazon's Fire TV and Google's Android TV, have a conflict of interest because they own content, [CEO and founder Jeff Green] said. Green believes that conflict of interest has muddled the advertising ecosystem for everyone. "We're looking at a concentration around a handful of players that lack objectivity," Green said. "We think we're in a unique position to make the ecosystem better." [...] Ventura, a nod to the company's headquarters in Ventura, California, will be rolled out to the market in the second half of 2025, Green said. The company has been working to build the system quietly for three years. While some OS developers, such as Google, Amazon and Roku, have also developed their own hardware devices to service their operating systems, Green said The Trade Desk has "no intention of getting into the hardware business." Rather, it will partner with other hardware companies, such as smart TV manufacturers, as well as various television distributors, such as airlines, hotel chains, and gaming companies, to bring its OS to their devices. Green believes hardware companies will be excited about the opportunity to partner because, in a competitive streaming environment, more hardware companies will need to build advertising businesses to scale. [...] Because The Trade Desk's goal is ultimately to improve a murky marketplace, Green said he isn't looking to make money from the OS directly. Ventura will be successful if it drives more pricing transparency and stronger measurement for the CTV advertising ecosystem writ large, he said. "Ultimately, the measure of success will be, do we have an ad auction that is so transparent that we can predict outcomes?" The Trade Desk will benefit financially from a more transparent ecosystem because it lacks a conflict of interest, Green said.

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Longtime Slashdot reader Zarhan writes: On Sunday and Monday, two undersea cables in Baltic sea were cut. There is talk of a hybrid operation by Russia against Europe, and a Chinese ship has been detained by Danish Navy. However, the interesting part is did the cuts really have any effect, or does the internet actually route around damage? RIPE Atlas tests seem to indicate so. RIPE Atlas probes did not observe any noticeable increase of packet loss and only a minimal and perfectly expected increase of latency as traffic automatically switched itself to other available paths. While 20-30% of paths experienced latency increases, the effects were modest and no packet loss was detected. That said, questions remain about the consequences of further cable disruptions. "We are blind on what would happen if another link would be severed, or worse, if many are severed," reports RIPE Labs.

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Red Hat Enterprise Linux is coming to Windows Subsystem for Linux  BetaNews