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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

A couple of German boffins have taken a good look at AMD's Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV), and don't like what they see.

As AMD's Brijesh Singh explained to the Linux driver project mailing list in April, SEV extends the AMD-V architecture when multiple VMs are running under a hypervisor: "SEV hardware tags all code and data with its VM ASID which indicates which VM the data originated from or is intended for. This tag is kept with the data at all times when inside the SOC, and prevents that data from being used by anyone other than the owner".

In this paper at Arxiv, Felicitas Hetzelt and Robert Buhren of the Technical University of Berlin identify shortcomings in the architecture, including possible encryption bypass, information leakage, and memory replay attacks.

[...] "The key idea of SEV is that guest memory is encrypted and the corresponding key is only accessed by the memory controller that handles the encryption and decryption transparently, thereby protecting against both a malicious hypervisor and physical attacks," they write. "This key will never be exposed to the hypervisor. Additionally AMD added a coprocessor to SEV-enabled CPUs ... This coprocessor handles key management and is responsible for the initial encryption of the guest."

[...] The good news is that all of the attacks need a malicious hypervisor – meaning customers can trust AMD SEV if they trust their cloud operator. Although they consider the design issues to be serious, the researchers note that "the technology is promising" if mitigations are possible.

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aristarchus writes:

According to our dear friends over at Wired, we are losing the war on science. This interview with Shawn Otto, author of The War on Science [no-script hostile] ranges from the American presidential election to Albert Einstein:

His new book The War on Science explores ways that citizens can fight back against a creeping tide of anti-science nonsense promulgated by everyone from postmodern academics to greedy oil companies to nature-loving hippies. An important step is to make journalists understand that science and opinion should not be given equal weight.

"The purpose of a free press in a democracy is to hold the powerful accountable to the evidence," Otto says. "Journalists have really lost sight of that purpose, of their entire reason for being."

Fair enough. But things have gotten worse?

He fears that the war on science will only intensify once Donald Trump takes office in January. "I'm very concerned, as is the rest of the global scientific community," Otto says.

As a personal aside, I find it unlikely that the public, those who executed Socrates, burned the Library of Alexandria, and imprisoned Antoinio Gramsci, could fall for such a diaphanous fraud as the Republican attack on science! People back then were truly and profoundly stupid. But people today have the internet, and facebook, and a total misunderstanding of science, politics, ethics, and math. So, this will not end well? Help me, Soylentils, give me hope.

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takyon writes:

AMD shares rose to a nearly six-year high [autoplaying video] ahead of its December 13th preview of the company's Zen chips, and amid rumors that AMD will license its integrated graphics technology to Intel:

Nvidia and Intel began suing each other in 2009 over Nvidia's nForce chipsets for Intel CPUs. The suits were eventually settled in 2011: Nvidia agreed not to build chipsets for Intel's Core i7 CPUs, and Intel was free to build graphics cores without getting sued by Nvidia. The price of Intel's freedom was high, though: The chip giant agreed to pay Nvidia licensing fees over the next six years totalling $1.5 billion.

After writing the last $200 million check in January 2016, the licensing deal is winding down, which means Intel has to go shopping for patent protection for its graphics cores. As AMD and Nvidia essentially own the lion's share of graphics patents in the world, developing graphics cores is nigh impossible without licensing deals.

[...] Such a deal wouldn't come cheap, but Intel was already cutting checks of $200 million to $300 million to Nvidia every year. "Intel would have to pony up some significant money to make this deal work," Krewell told PCWorld. "The amount of extra cash AMD could make on royalties would be very appealing to the shareholders."

Fans may be concerned that such a deal would all but give up the last advantage AMD's upcoming Zen-based APUs would have over Intel chips. AMD's Zen core could equal Intel's newest cores in x86 performance. Combine that with AMD's much more powerful graphics cores and you'd have an instant winner. Financial realities, however, overshadow any moral victories. "Is it better to make a royalty on 80 percent to 90 percent of the PC processor shipments or fight it out for the remaining 10 percent or 20 percent?" Krewell said. AMD can make a lot more money partnering with Intel rather than competing.

Also at Nasdaq. Rumor source.

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takyon writes:

The new Bluetooth specification will supposedly allow devices to double the speed and quadruple the range compared to Bluetooth 4:

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) announced that the next version of its nigh-ubiquitous wireless technology is now available.

Bluetooth 5 boasts many improvements over its predecessor. It's said to offer twice the speed, four times the range, and eight times the broadcasting message capacity of Bluetooth 4. This new version is also supposed to work better while other wireless signals like Wi-Fi are active. All of these improvements combine to allow Internet of Things (IoT) devices and other connected products to be far more reliable than they were in the past.

Also at CNET, The Verge, and Engadget.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

David Swanson, author of "War is a Lie", writes via CounterPunch:

The facts [of the Pearl Harbor story] do not support the mythology. The United States government did not need to make Japan a junior partner in imperialism, did not need to fuel an arms race, did not need to support Nazism and fascism (as some of the biggest U.S. corporations did right through the war), did not need to provoke Japan, did not need to join the war in Asia or Europe, and was not surprised by the attack on Pearl Harbor. For support of each of these statements, keep reading.

[...] Churchill's fervent hope for years before the U.S. entry into the war was that Japan would attack the United States. This would permit the United States (not legally, but politically) to fully enter World War II in Europe, as its president wanted to do, as opposed to merely providing weaponry and assisting in the targeting of submarines as it had been doing. On December 7, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt drew up a declaration of war on both Japan and Germany, but decided it wouldn't work and went with Japan alone. Germany quickly declared war on the United States, possibly in hopes that Japan would declare war on the Soviet Union.

Getting into the war was not a new idea in the Roosevelt White House. FDR had tried lying to the U.S. public about U.S. ships including the Greer and the Kerny, which had been helping British planes track German submarines, but which Roosevelt pretended had been innocently attacked. Roosevelt also lied that he had in his possession a secret Nazi map planning the conquest of South America, as well as a secret Nazi plan for replacing all religions with Nazism. The map was of the quality of Karl Rove's "proof" that Iraq was buying uranium in Niger.

And yet, the people of the United States didn't buy the idea of going into another war until Pearl Harbor, by which point Roosevelt had already instituted the draft, activated the National Guard, created a huge Navy in two oceans, traded old destroyers to England in exchange for the lease of its bases in the Caribbean and Bermuda, and--just 11 days before the "unexpected" attack, and five days before FDR expected it--he had secretly ordered the creation (by Henry Field) of a list of every Japanese and Japanese-American person in the United States.

takyon writes:

SpaceX says:

We are finalizing the investigation into our September 1 anomaly and are working to complete the final steps necessary to safely and reliably return to flight, now in early January with the launch of Iridium-1. This allows for additional time to close-out vehicle preparations and complete extended testing to help ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance prior to launch.

This may be optimistic:

"They have not completed their investigation and therefore they do not have an (FAA launch) license," said an FAA spokesperson. The FAA said the time it would take to grant a license to SpaceX depends on how big a fix they propose to address the cause of the fire; SpaceX has previously said they believe the problem lies with helium in the liquid oxygen propellant tank. The accident occurred two days before the flight's scheduled liftoff.

Also at Reuters and Space.com.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

AT&T and Time Warner were called before Congress today to defend their upcoming $85 billion merger and they played all of the antitrust bingo words in the book. We heard a lot about "investment," "competition," and "innovation" in the two-hour session — but no reasons to believe that this merger is a necessary path to producing any of those things. And bizarrely, AT&T and Time Warner seem to have unwittingly argued against their need to merge.

The testimony was an unexpected vote for the value of an open internet and higher-quality services from ISPs across the board. Their arguments hinged on the idea that offering more innovative services over the internet is a way to better compete with cable companies. But that has nothing to do with a content company becoming part of the network company, and everything to do with the fundamental nature of the internet as an open platform.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/7/13874118/att-time-warner-merger

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has warned that giraffe populations are declining:

A dramatic drop in giraffe populations over the past 30 years has seen the world's tallest land mammal classified as vulnerable to extinction. Numbers have gone from around 155,000 in 1985 to 97,000 in 2015 according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The iconic animal has declined because of habitat loss, poaching and civil unrest in many parts of Africa. Some populations are growing, mainly in southern parts of the continent. Until now, the conservation status of giraffes was considered of "least concern" by the IUCN. However in their latest global Red List of threatened species, the ungainly animal is now said to be "vulnerable", meaning that over three generations, the population has declined by more than 30%.

[...] While researchers believe that some local populations may not survive, there is optimism that that the long term future of these tall creatures can be secured. The success in keeping giraffe numbers high in Southern Africa has much to do with the management of game parks for tourists say experts, who believe that the extra attention that the IUCN listing will now attract will benefit the species. "South Africa is a good example of how you can manage wildlife, there is a lot of moving of animals between different conservation areas, it is a very different scenario than in most of the rest of Africa." said Chris Ransom from the Zoological Society of London.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

California gray wolves will now retain their protected status even if the population rises to 50 or more:

The California gray wolves will keep their endangered species protections even once the rebounding animal hits a population of at least 50, state wildlife officials said Wednesday.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife published its plan for managing wolves late Tuesday, setting its policy for the species that is making a comeback to the state after it was killed off in the 1920s.

"Wolves returning to the state was inevitable," said Charlton Bonham, director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in a statement. "It's an exciting ecological story, and this plan represents the path forward to manage wolves."

The plan marks a shift in course, dropping language from an earlier draft that directed officials to remove wolves from the list of animals protected once they reached the critical mass.

Wolves in California were hunted to extinction nearly a century ago, but a lone wolf called OR-7 crossed the northern border from Oregon in 2011. OR-7 and his mate have had a litter for each of the last three years, and cameras caught another family pack in Northern California, but it hasn't been spotted in several months, wildlife advocates say. Officials say it's hard to say how many wolves roam the state today, but their numbers remain small.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Night vision goggles do a great job of countering the human eye's poor ability to see in the dark, but the devices are usually bulky, requiring several layers of lenses and plenty of power. But thanks to research from the Australian National University (ANU), a new type of nanocrystal could grant night vision powers to a standard pair of specs, without adding any weight.

Darkness, as we perceive it, is the absence of light on the visible spectrum that our eyes can detect, but there's still plenty of light at other frequencies that we can't use. Night vision goggles make use of the near-infrared spectrum, and convert the photons from that light into electrons that light up a phosphor screen inside the device to create the image. But all that makes for a chunky, power-hungry device.

The ANU team's nanocrystal can be used to create night vision devices that forgo electricity completely, by converting incoming photons from infrared light into other photons on the visible spectrum, to allow the human eye to see in the dark.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

NASA will spend up to $127 million on the development of Restore-L, a robotic spacecraft intended to repair and refuel satellites in orbit. The contract could help Space Systems Loral launch a satellite servicing business:

A new contract from NASA to build the agency's Restore-L satellite servicing spacecraft could bring Space Systems Loral that much closer to launching its own satellite servicing business.

NASA awarded the contract to SSL Dec. 5, tasking the company with supplying a chassis, hardware and services for the mission. The Palo Alto, California-based satellite builder is responsible for supporting integration, test, launch and operations.

The purpose of Restore-L is to demonstrate the ability to refuel a satellite in orbit, including those not designed to have their fuel tanks opened in space. In-orbit refueling has the potential to extend the lives of otherwise healthy spacecraft that have exhausted their propellants.

SSL, with parent company MDA of Canada, has been actively entertaining the notion of launching a commercial in-orbit servicing business, one that would combine MDA's past experience from the almost-launched Space Infrastructure Services system in the early 2010s with SSL's knowledge of satellite manufacturing. Steve Oldham, the former president of MDA's Space Infrastructure Services division who currently leads strategic business development at SSL, said the company has interest from prospective customers in using an SSL-built servicer, and that the MDA board of directors expects to make a decision on relaunching such a business through SSL in the very near future.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

As indicated by the name, video games are a very visual medium. But that hasn't stopped participants in a study at the University of Washington (UW) successfully playing through a game without ever actually looking at it, hearing it or using any of the standard five senses. Instead, they were guided through virtual mazes via direct brain stimulation, in a demonstration of technology that could one day form the basis of sensory prosthetics to help visually-impaired people navigate the real world, or provide a new way for anyone to interact with virtual ones.

The five players taking part in the UW study interacted with the game through a process known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, where a magnetic coil is placed on the back of the skull to directly stimulate certain parts of the brain safely and painlessly. This technique has shown the potential to treat migraines, aid learning, improve memory and allow direct brain-to-brain communication.

[...] "The way virtual reality is done these days is through displays, headsets and goggles, but ultimately your brain is what creates your reality," says Rajesh Rao, senior author of the study. "The fundamental question we wanted to answer was: can the brain make use of artificial information that it's never seen before that is delivered directly to the brain to navigate a virtual world or do useful tasks without other sensory input? And the answer is yes."

At last we know how Luke was able to counter the drone with the blast shield down: direct brain stimulation.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

The Denver Post reports

At first glance, Littleton, [Colorado,] looks like ground zero for Halloween pranksters this year--toilet paper is strewn across street after street and block after block.

The messy look prompted a few irritated inquiries from residents on the city's Facebook page this week, like this one from Madison Lucas: "This is UGLY!! All over Littleton!!" Or from Stephanie Gregory : "My kids and I thought it was vandalism."

But the TP'ing scheme is actually the work of the city itself. Littleton is using bathroom tissue as part of an effort to seal the myriad cracks that plague road surfaces in this city. It is tackling 120 streets with this bottoms-up tactic.

[...] The TP, applied with a paint roller, absorbs the oil from freshly laid tar as it dries, keeping it from sticking to people's shoes or car and bike tires. With the paper's protective abilities, asphalt isn't tracked all over the city or splattered on wheel wells. And the biodegradable paper breaks down and disappears in a matter of days.

[...] Kelli Narde, a spokeswoman for Littleton, said the real benefit of using toilet paper is that it allows traffic to retake the road right after a crack is filled.

Original Submission

sbgen writes:

It looks like video patent licensing agency MPEG LA is targeting the highly promising genome editing techniques of using CRISPR-Cas9. They are proposing to bundle all the relevant patents so that interested parties can rest assured they have all the necessary patents while developing their products. CRISPR-Cas9 is a set of enzymes and RNA guides that enable precise targeting of genomic regions which is quite handy in research and medicine. Note that there already is a litigation in this matter between Broad-Harvard and Berkeley.

From the press release:

"CRISPR's wide range of potential applications in medicine and agriculture, and the steadily increasing volume of intellectual property in the field, point to the need for a one-stop licensing platform to reduce litigation risk and provide efficiency, transparency and predictability to scientists and businesses worldwide," said MPEG LA President and CEO Larry Horn. "Our worldwide licensing infrastructure, trusted reputation for independence, experience, impartiality and results with patent pools, and relationships with industry and academia, including life sciences, position MPEG LA to deliver a licensing solution for the life sciences market as it did with digital video for the consumer electronics market."

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Dave Smith at Business Insider argues that the transformation of Google into Alphabet Inc. has been a public relations boon for the company:

Last August, Google announced it would change its name to Alphabet, which would effectively be a holding company for Google and its various businesses — YouTube, Android, etc. — as well as Google's more outlandish experiments, like its moonshots factory, "X"; its investment arms; and more.

The reasons Google provided mainly had to do with clarity for investors. By creating two specific segments of Google, investors and shareholders could separate the strengths of Google — namely, search and ads — from its riskier endeavors, like self-driving cars. Another reason: Larry Page, then Google's CEO, wanted to take a backseat in operations in order to focus on his bigger dreams, like the company's moonshots in health and energy. That's all well and good for Page, Sergey Brin, and the various executives at Google and Alphabet. But one year later, if you ask a random person on the street if they know what Alphabet is, they likely wouldn't know.

[...] While changing the name from Google to Alphabet and reorganizing Google's various properties under Alphabet doesn't change the past, it does help prevent [...] public relations debacles from happening in the future. Since it's technically Google's parent company currently working on all of its projects that might be considered "creepy" — like drones, self-driving cars, genetic engineering, machine intelligence, or its project to extend the human life span — the name Google is kept out of people's mouths and out of the media, to some degree.

Do modular evil!

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Pebble has announced that the company will shut down and cease the production of its smartwatches. Many of the developers will join Fitbit, and Fitbit has acquired Pebble's "technology, software, and other intellectual property".

Pebble previously rejected offers of $740 million and later $70 million for the company. Fitbit is paying around $40 million for parts of Pebble without assuming its debts (which are around the same amount).

"A Look Back at Pebble's Rise and Fall" at PC Magazine.

Original Submission