SoylentNews

Fnord666 writes:

Satori—the malware family that wrangles routers, security cameras, and other Internet-connected devices into potent botnets—is crashing the cryptocurrency party with a new variant that surreptitiously infects computers dedicated to the mining of digital coins.

A version of Satori that appeared on January 8 exploits one or more weaknesses in the Claymore Miner, researchers from China-based Netlab 360 said in a report published Wednesday. After gaining control of the coin-mining software, the malware replaces the wallet address the computer owner uses to collect newly minted currency with an address controlled by the attacker. From then on, the attacker receives all coins generated, and owners are none the wiser unless they take time to manually inspect their software configuration.

Records show that the attacker-controlled wallet has already cashed out slightly more than 1 Etherium coin. The coin was valued at as much as $1,300 when the transaction was made. At the time this post was being prepared, the records also showed that the attacker had a current balance of slightly more than 1 Etherium coin and was actively mining more, with a calculation power of about 2,100 million hashes per second.

Story at ArsTechnica

Original Submission

I'm putting this under security because i'd like to keep this a private server for family:

that said, I'm wondering if you fine people can help me with the best way to set up a web server in my house to host the files on my external hard drives for family members in other cities/countries while, again, keeping it private and secure over the internet.

I'm looking into ngrok for url handling, but am not sure exactly if this is the best way to go.

Can anyone save me time and possible heartache and failure and provide me (and possibly others) with a walk-through of which software to use. Would love to do something like free, but may have to get a paid unique domain from, say, ngrok, to make it easier for family members to connect up.

Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi... you're my only hope!

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

He made graphs and compared the knots on the khipu to an old Spanish census document from the region when something clicked.

"Something looked out of the ordinary in that moment," Medrano said. "It seemed there was a coincidence that was too strong to be random."

He realized that, like a kind of textile abacus, the number of unique colors on the strings nearly matched with the number of first names on the Spanish census.

Source: Harvard student helps crack mystery of Inca code

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The Fall of Travis Kalanick Was a Lot Weirder and Darker Than You Thought

A year ago, before the investor lawsuits and the federal investigations, before the mass resignations, and before the connotation of the word "Uber" shifted from "world's most valuable startup" to "world's most dysfunctional," Uber's executives sat around a hotel conference room table in San Francisco, trying to convince their chief executive officer, Travis Kalanick, that the company had a major problem: him.

[...] [A] top executive excused herself to answer a phone call. A minute later, she reappeared and asked Kalanick to step into the hallway. Another executive joined them. They hunched over a laptop to watch a video that had just been posted online by Bloomberg News: grainy, black-and-white dashcam footage of Kalanick in the back seat of an UberBlack on Super Bowl weekend, heatedly arguing over fares with a driver named Fawzi Kamel. "Some people don't like to take responsibility for their own shit!" Kalanick can be heard yelling at Kamel. "They blame everything in their life on somebody else!"

As the clip ended, the three stood in stunned silence. Kalanick seemed to understand that his behavior required some form of contrition. According to a person who was there, he literally got down on his hands and knees and began squirming on the floor. "This is bad," he muttered. "I'm terrible." Then, contrition period over, he got up, called a board member, demanded a new PR strategy, and embarked on a yearlong starring role as the villain who gets his comeuppance in the most gripping startup drama since the dot-com bubble. It's a story that, until now, has never been fully told.

The article discusses a number of Uber and Kalanick scandals/events, including:

• The #DeleteUber movement following Uber being accused of breaking up an airport taxi strike (which was in protest of President Trump's executive order restricting travel from Muslim countries), as well as Kalanick's decision to join President Trump's business advisory council (and later leave it).
• Susan Fowler's blog post recounting sexual harassment at Uber, and the hiring of former U.S. attorney general Eric Holder to investigate the claims.
• The revelation of Uber's Greyball system, which was used to avoid picking up law enforcement and taxi inspectors.
• Uber's purchase of self-driving truck startup Otto, which eventually led key Uber investor Google (Waymo) to sue Uber, seeking billions in damages.
• Kalanick's "inexplicable" support of Anthony Levandowski, who he called his "brother from another mother", even after Levandowski stopped defending Uber in the Waymo v. Uber case.
• Kalanick's apology to the taxi driver Fawzi Kamel, which amounted to a $200,000 payoff.
• A visit to a Seoul escort-karaoke bar that resulted in an HR complaint and a report in The Information.
• Uber's president for Asia-Pacific Eric Alexander obtaining a confidential medical record of passenger who was raped by an Uber driver in Delhi, India. Alexander, Kalanick, and others discussed a theory that their Indian competitor Ola faked/orchestrated the rape.
• Kalanick making his presence known during a "leave of absence" by trying to maintain control over the company and its board.
• Arianna Huffington promoting her wellness company's products while acting as Kalanick's apparent proxy on the board.
• The new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's response to the city of London revoking Uber's operating license.

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

The mechanism for reading DNA and decoding it to build proteins for their needs is common to all animals and plants, and is often hijacked by cancer.

Researchers used an advanced form of electron microscopy called Cryo-EM, for which the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded in 2017, to zoom in and capture images of the reading mechanism in unprecedented detail.

The discovery of exactly how the molecular mechanism works -- published in the journal Nature -- could open up new approaches to cancer treatment.

Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, captured images of molecular machinery called RNA Polymerase III in the act of transcribing a gene in exquisite and unprecedented detail.

[...] Cryo-EM is so powerful that it can take pictures of tiny molecules -- approximately 5 nanometers or 20000th of the width of a human hair -- at almost an atomic level.

It allowed researchers to see for the first time how components of the RNA polymerase III complex and accessory molecules interact and communicate with each other, suggesting how drugs might be employed to split the complex up.

The new study captured the molecular machinery in the act of binding to DNA, separating the two strands and getting ready to transcribe the DNA code.

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180117131147.htm

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

After a false alert about an inbound missile, Hawaii's Emergency Management Agency has said a worker clicked the wrong item in a drop-down menu and sent it, and that its system was not hacked. But Hawaii News Now is reporting an AP photo from July has resurfaced, showing the agency's operations officer in front of monitors, attached to one of them is a Post-it note with a password on it.

Just.... wow. I'm nearly at a loss for words on how big of a screw up this is. And from the response of the spokesman sounds like this was a shared password, therefore no way to link it to a specific careless employee.

Richard Rapoza, emergency management agency spokesman, confirmed that the password is authentic and was actually used for an "internal application." He said he didn't believe that application is any longer in use, but declined to say what application the password was for.

Source: https://www.hardocp.com/news/2018/01/17/hawaii_emergency_management_password_found_in_press_photo/

Original Submission

martyb writes:

SoylentNews first reported the vulnerabilities on January 3. Since then, we have had a few stories addressing different reports about these vulnerabilities. Now that it is over two weeks later and we are *still* dealing with reboots, I am curious as to what our community's experience has been.

What steps have you taken, if any, to deal with these reports? Be utterly proactive and install every next thing that comes along? Do a constrained roll out to test a system or two before pushing out to other systems? Wait for the dust to settle before taking any steps?

What providers (system/os/motherboard/chip) have been especially helpful... or non-helpful? How has their response affected your view of that company?

What resources have you been using to check on the status of fixes for your systems? Have you found a site that stands above the others in timeliness and accuracy?

How has this affected your purchasing plans... and your expectations on what you could get for selling your old system? Are you now holding off on purchasing something new?

Original Submission

Bobs writes:

Found this interesting, you may too.

A new research paper that may help unlock the mystery of why Americans can't seem to get a decent raise. Economists have struggled over that question for years now, as wage growth has stagnated and more of the nation's income has shifted from the pockets of workers into the bank accounts of business owners. Since 1979, inflation-adjusted hourly pay is up just 3.41 percent for the middle 20 percent of Americans while labor's overall share of national income has declined sharply since the early 2000s. There are lots of possible explanations for why this is, from long-term factors like the rise of automation and decline of organized labor, to short-term ones, such as the lingering weakness in the job market left over from the great recession. But a recent study by a group of labor economists introduces an interesting theory into the mix: Workers' pay may be lagging because the U.S. is suffering from a shortage of employers.

[...] argues that, across different cities and different fields, hiring is concentrated among a relatively small number of businesses, which may have given managers the ability to keep wages lower than if there were more companies vying for talent. This is not the same as saying there are simply too many job hunters chasing too few openings—the paper, which is still in an early draft form, is designed to rule out that possibility. Instead, its authors argue that the labor market may be plagued by what economists call a monopsony problem, where a lack of competition among employers gives businesses outsize power over workers, including the ability to tamp down on pay. If the researchers are right, it could have important implications for how we think about antitrust, unions, and the minimum wage.

Fnord666 writes:

Although VR is still in its infancy, "traditional" methods of capturing and transforming footage have emerged. Typically, to shoot 360-degree VR content, a cameraperson employs several cameras rigged in a spherical formation to capture the scene. According to Alicia Millane's blog entry on The Primacy, "Each camera is mounted at a specific angle so the camera's field of view will overlap portions of the surrounding cameras' field of view." With the overlap, editors should be able to get more seamless footage, without any gaps.

[...] Enter volumetric photogrammetry. A mouthful, for sure, but this method of creating virtual environments could possibly hold the key to the future of VR. Unlike the method mentioned above, there are no takes or shots in volumetric VR that are later edited in post-production. This allows for a much more fluid experience, as the consumer frames the scene and chooses his or her own perspective. Using the volumetric capture method, footage of a real person is recorded from various viewpoints, after which software analyzes, compresses and recreates all the viewpoints of a fully volumetric 3D human.

With volumetric VR explained, photogrammetry's defining characteristic is the principle of triangulation. As explained in a blog post on Viar360, triangulation involves taking photographs from at least two locations to form lines of sight. "These lines of sight are then mathematically intersected to produce the 3-dimensional coordinates of the points of interest."

[...] Immersive experiences utilizing volumetric photogrammetry may convey a much more authentic and realistic environment to the end user. Per VRt Ventures founder, Jacob Koo, "If virtual reality has the chance to reach its full potential, then consumers must feel like they are actually somewhere they cannot be physically. That perception takes VR technology out of the novelty category and makes it something actually useful."

Source: TechCrunch

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating whether chipmaker Broadcom Ltd engaged in anticompetitive tactics in negotiations with customers, the company said on Wednesday.

The investigation comes as Broadcom pursues a hostile takeover of Qualcomm in a $103 billion deal. Since the FTC would likely review any merger for anticompetitive practices, the current probe could make regulatory approval more challenging.

Broadcom was recently issued subpoenas that seek an extensive amount of information, according to The Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report the probe on Wednesday.

The focus of the concern has been that Broadcom has changed some contracts to require customers to buy a percentage of its production of items rather than a certain number, the paper reported.

"This FTC review is immaterial to our business, does not relate to wireless and has no impact on our proposal to acquire Qualcomm," Broadcom said in a statement.

Source: Reuters

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

There's a new bug floating around called "chaiOS" that appears to be a basic GitHub link. However, when you text it to a person via the iMessage app (whether on iOS or MacOS), it will crash the app and possibly cause the device to freeze and restart. In other words: Be aware that this exists, but don't send it to anyone.

It was Twitter user Abraham Masri who first uncovered the bug. The people over at 9to5Mac tested it out, and it certainly messed up their devices. They reported crashes and severe lags as a result of the bugs that persisted until the thread containing the link was deleted from the iMessage app. If you did send or receive it, and your device is a mess, there's also a fix in the replies to Masri's original tweet. We've reached out to Apple to confirm that their team is aware of the bug, and to see if there are any fixes in the works.

Source: EnGadget

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Walmart offers way to turn leftover opioids into useless gel

Walmart is helping customers get rid of leftover opioids by giving them packets that turn the addictive painkillers into a useless gel. The retail giant announced Wednesday that it will provide the packets free with opioid prescriptions filled at its 4,700 U.S. pharmacies.

The small packets, made by DisposeRX, contain a powder that is poured into prescription bottles. When mixed with warm water, the powder turns the pills into a biodegradable gel that can be thrown in the trash. It works on other prescription drugs and for pills, tablets, capsules, liquids or patches, according to DisposeRx.

[...] Some drugstore chains like CVS and Walgreens also collect unused medications at many of their stores. People can also take leftovers to hospital pharmacies or police stations. Unused prescriptions also can be thrown in the trash. But the Food and Drug Administration recommends mixing them first with something unpalatable like kitty litter or used coffee grounds and sealing the mixture in a plastic bag.

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

Although neuroscientists have a general idea of what parts of the brain do what, catching them in the act is a difficult proposition. But UC Berkeley researchers have managed to do it, visualizing based on direct measurement the path of a single thought (or at least thread) through the brain.

Normal scalp-based electroencephalography (EEG) is easy to do, but it really can only get a very blurry picture of brain activity near the surface, because it has to detect all that through your hair, skin, skull, etc.

What if you could take all that stuff out of the way and put the electrodes right on the brain? That'd be great, except who would volunteer for such an invasive procedure? Turns out, a handful of folks who were already getting open-brain surgery did.

[...] We are trying to look at that little window of time between when things happen in the environment and us behaving in response to it," explained lead author Avgusta Shestyuk in the Berkeley news release. "This is the first step in looking at how people think and how people come up with different decisions; how people basically behave."

Source: TechCrunch

Original Submission

Apple invests $350 billion (with a "B") in USA over next 5 years

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2018/01/apple-accelerates-us-investment-and-job-creation/:

Apple today announced a new set of investments to build on its commitment to support the American economy and its workforce, concentrated in three areas where Apple has had the greatest impact on job creation: direct employment by Apple, spending and investment with Apple's domestic suppliers and manufacturers, and fueling the fast-growing app economy which Apple created with iPhone and the App Store. Apple is already responsible for creating and supporting over 2 million jobs across the United States and expects to generate even more jobs as a result of the initiatives being announced today.

Combining new investments and Apple's current pace of spending with domestic suppliers and manufacturers — an estimated $55 billion for 2018 — Apple's direct contribution to the US economy will be more than $350 billion over the next five years, not including Apple's ongoing tax payments, the tax revenues generated from employees' wages and the sale of Apple products.

[...] "Apple, already the largest US taxpayer, anticipates repatriation tax payments of approximately $38 billion as required by recent changes to the tax law. A payment of that size would likely be the largest of its kind ever made."

takyon writes:

Samsung has announced the mass production of 16 Gb GDDR6 SDRAM chips with a higher-than-expected pin speed. The chips could see use in upcoming graphics cards that are not equipped with High Bandwidth Memory:

Samsung has beaten SK Hynix and Micron to be the first to mass produce GDDR6 memory chips. Samsung's 16Gb (2GB) chips are fabricated on a 10nm process and run at 1.35V. The new chips have a whopping 18Gb/s pin speed and will be able to reach a transfer rate of 72GB/s. Samsung's current 8Gb (1GB) GDDR5 memory chips, besides having half the density, work at 1.55V with up to 9Gb/s pin speeds. In a pre-CES 2018 press release, Samsung briefly mentioned the impending release of these chips. However, the speed on release is significantly faster than the earlier stated 16Gb/s pin speed and 64GB/s transfer rate.

18 Gbps exceeds what the JEDEC standard calls for.

Also at Engadget and Wccftech.

Related: GDDR5X Standard Finalized by JEDEC
DDR5 Standard to be Finalized by JEDEC in 2018
SK Hynix to Begin Shipping GDDR6 Memory in Early 2018
Samsung's Second Generation 10nm-Class DRAM in Production

Original Submission