SoylentNews

Fnord666 writes:

Contestants at this year's Pwn2Own hacking competition in Vancouver just pulled off an unusually impressive feat: they compromised Microsoft's heavily fortified Edge browser in a way that escapes a VMware Workstation virtual machine it runs in. The hack fetched a prize of $105,000, the highest awarded so far over the past three days.

[...] "We used a JavaScript engine bug within Microsoft Edge to achieve the code execution inside the Edge sandbox, and we used a Windows 10 kernel bug to escape from it and fully compromise the guest machine," Qihoo 360 Executive Director Zheng Zheng wrote in an e-mail. "Then we exploited a hardware simulation bug within VMware to escape from the guest operating system to the host one. All started from and only by a controlled a website."

[...] Any hack that can break out of a widely used virtual machine is generally considered significant. The one described Friday is made all the more impressive because it works by exploiting Edge, which is regarded among security professionals as one of most challenging browsers to exploit. Typically, such remote-code exploits require two or more vulnerabilities to be exploited in unison. The requirement appears to be why the Qihoo team combined the heap overflow exploit with the Windows kernel hack. The description sets up a scenario in which malicious websites can not only compromise a visitor's virtual machine, but also the much more valuable host machine the VM runs on. At last year's Pwn2Own, contestants didn't attempt to target VMWare, an indication reliable exploits were probably worth more than the $75,000 prize that was offered at the time.

Friday's success underscores the central theme of Pwn2Own, that no operating system or application is immune to hacks that thoroughly compromise its security.

Source: ArsTechnica

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

For over a year, I worked as a beauty editor, writing and researching about the products, trends, and people that make us want to look a certain way. And as research for many of the stories I wrote, I consulted with dermatologists, plastic surgeons, makeup artists, aestheticians, and more trying to answer a simple question—how can I make myself more conventionally attractive?

"Beauty is confidence," they'd always say, prefacing the real answer. Inevitably, these experts would eventually tell me that you feel more confident, and thus more beautiful, when you look blemish- and wrinkle-free. (Pending on the product they were promoting, this could also incorporate being tanner, or more contoured, or thinner, or paler, or less made up, or curvier, etc.) Regardless of respondents' different aesthetic tastes, everyone seemed to agree—younger is more beautiful. Beauty was about anti-aging.

Naturally, the problem here is the premise. What is beauty beyond someone else defining it? For as long as humanity's obsession with the term has existed, we've equally known about its subjective nature. After all, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is merely a cliché that posits that exact subjectivity of attractiveness.

But what if the beholder can eliminate subjectivity—what if the beholder wasn't a person, but an algorithm? Using machine learning to define beauty could, theoretically, make beauty pageants and rankings like People's annual Most Beautiful in the World list more objective and less prone to human error. Of course, teaching an algorithm to do anything may involve some bias from whoever does the programming, but that hasn't stopped this automated approach from defining equally subjective things like listening preferences or news value (we see you, Facebook et al).

Source:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/when-beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-robobeholder/

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

Security vendor Trend Micro Friday has warned of a new type of point-of-sale (PoS) malware that is being used to attack PoS systems belonging to businesses in the US and Canada.

The malware, which Trend Micro has dubbed MajikPOS, was first spotted infecting PoS systems the last week of January and has been used to steal data on at least 23,400 credit cards, Trend Micro said in an alert.

Trend Micro researchers describe MajikPOS as malware that is similar in purpose to other recent POS data stealing tools, such as FastPOS and ModPOS, but different from them in the manner in which it deploys.

"The attackers are mapping out victims with relatively generic tools ahead of time," says Jon Clay, Trend Micro's global threat communications manager.

[...] Once potential victims are identified, the attackers use a pair of executables to run the attack — an implant and a scraper for getting the card numbers. The approach ensures that if the initial stage of an attack fails, the core malware itself is not compromised, Clay says.

The method of attack indicates that the operators of MajikPOS have taken active precautions to mitigate the possibility of their malware being screened for and detected. This suggests that the operators of MajikPOS are also the authors the malware, Clay says.

Source: http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/new-magikpos-malware-targets-point-of-sale-systems-in-us-and-canada-/d/d-id/1328434?

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

As reported at Recode:

Jeff Jones, the president of Uber, is quitting the car-hailing company after less than a year. The move by the No. 2 exec, said sources, is directly related to the multiple controversies there, including explosive charges of sexism and sexual harassment.

Jones, said sources, determined that this was not the situation he signed on for, especially after Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced a search for a new COO to help him right the very troubled ship.

That was not the reason for Jones' departure, sources said, even though it meant that Kalanick was bringing in a new exec who could outrank him. Instead, these sources said, Jones determined that the situation at the company was more problematic than he realized.

[...] (UPDATE: Jones also confirmed the departure with a blistering assessment of the company. "It is now clear, however, that the beliefs and approach to leadership that have guided my career are inconsistent with what I saw and experienced at Uber, and I can no longer continue as president of the ride sharing business," he said in a statement to Recode.)

Also at Bloomberg and The New York Times.

Third exec gone in one month.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A review has reiterated that oral contraception is safe and effective for adolescent females, and found that negative side effects are rarer among teens than adult users. The review also found no evidence linking the use of oral contraceptives to increased or riskier sex:

Nearly five years ago, the nation's leading group of obstetricians and gynecologists issued a policy statement saying the time had come for oral contraception to be available without a prescription. We wrote about it and everything.

In the intervening years, some states have changed their laws. California authorized pharmacists to distribute most types of hormonal birth control. Oregon passed a similar law covering both pills and patches. But neither law changed the status of birth control pills from prescription to over-the-counter. Only the Food and Drug Administration can do that. And in Oregon's case, the law does not apply to people of all ages. People under 18 are still required to get their first contraceptive prescription from a doctor.

But researchers say there is no evidence that adolescents are at greater risk from birth control pills than adult women. A review of oral contraceptive research [DOI: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.12.024] [DX] presents the most comprehensive evidence yet that, as the authors state, "There is no scientific rationale for limiting access to a future over-the-counter oral contraceptive product by age."

"There is a growing body of evidence that the safety risks are low and benefits are large," says Krishna Upadhya, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the lead author of the review, which was published this week in the Journal of Adolescent Health. In fact, she says, some of the potential negative side effects of oral contraception are less likely in younger people. For example, birth control pills that contain both estrogen and progestin come with an increased risk of a type of blood clot called a venous thromboembolism, but that risk is lower in teenagers than in older women. As a result, the pill is "potentially safer the younger you are," says Upadhya.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A third-party SoC developer has introduced an octo-core smartphone SoC using 14nm x86 Airmont (Atom) cores from Intel:

To date, the Spreadtrum SC9861G-IA is the most powerful (and presumably energy-efficient) x86-based SoC for smartphones. It has more cores, better graphics, and a faster modem than Intel's own code-named Moorefield SoCs introduced in 2014, made using its 22 nm fabrication process, or the SoFIA chips (designed by Rockchip) launched in 2015 made using TSMC's 28 nm technologies. Using Intel's 14 nm manufacturing technology for this new SoC helps to reduce minimum power requirements and die size (which still remain unknown).

The SC9861G-IA is the first x86-based SoC by Spreadtrum, and the development was enabled by an agreement signed in late 2014 after Intel acquired a $1.5-billion worth stake in Tsinghua Unigroup, the owner of Spreadtrum. The chip will not carry the Intel Atom brand, and thus Intel will not help makers of devices to integrate it or make any other incentives to popularize the platform. It will also not invest in its advertising. What is interesting is that the SC9861G-IA will not be Spreadtrum's last x86-based SoC, according to the CEO of Intel.

Original Submission

DeathMonkey writes:

When he was in office, former President Barack Obama earned the ire of anti-war activists for his expansion of Bush's drone wars. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning head of state ordered ten times more drone strikes than the previous president, and estimates late in Obama's presidency showed 49 out of 50 victims were civilians. In 2015, it was reported that up to 90% of drone casualties were not the intended targets.

Current President Donald Trump campaigned on a less interventionist foreign policy, claiming to be opposed to nation-building and misguided invasions. But less than two months into his presidency, Trump has expanded the drone strikes that plagued Obama's "peaceful" presidency.​

"During President Obama's two terms in office, he approved 542 such targeted strikes in 2,920 days—one every 5.4 days. From his inauguration through today, President Trump had approved at least 36 drone strikes or raids in 45 days—one every 1.25 days."

That's an increase of 432 [sic] percent.

Source: http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/us-drone-strikes-have-gone-up-432-since-trump-took-office

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

[...] the first quantum computer to start paying its way with useful work in the real world looks likely to do so by helping chemists trying to do things like improve batteries or electronics. So far, simulating molecules and reactions is the use case for early, small quantum computers sketched out in most detail by researchers developing the new kind of algorithms needed for such machines.

Quantum computers, which represent data using quantum-mechanical effects apparent at tiny scales, should be able to perform computations impossible for any conventional computer. Recent advances on hardware that might be used to build them has led to a flurry of investment from companies including Microsoft, Intel, Google, and IBM (see "10 Breakthrough Technologies 2017: Practical Quantum Computers").

"From the point of view of what is theoretically proven, chemistry is ahead," says Scott Crowder, chief technology officer for the IBM division that today sells hardware including supercomputers and hopes to add cloud-hosted quantum computers to its product line-up in the next few years. "We have more confidence in the smaller systems for chemistry."

Researchers have long used simulations of molecules and chemical reactions to aid research into things like new materials, drugs, or industrial catalysts. The tactic can reduce time spent on physical experiments and scientific dead ends, and it accounts for a significant proportion of the workload of the world's supercomputers.

Nah, the first use of quantum computers ought to be to really bring clean coal to market.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Researchers have created a protein that breaks into two pieces when exposed to light:

Researchers at the University of Alberta have developed a new method of controlling biology at the cellular level using light. The tool -- called a photocleavable protein -- breaks into two pieces when exposed to light, allowing scientists to study and manipulate activity inside cells in new and different ways.

First, scientists use the photocleavable protein to link cellular proteins to inhibitors, preventing the cellular proteins from performing their usual function. This process is known as caging. "By shining light into the cell, we can cause the photocleavable protein to break, removing the inhibitor and uncaging the protein within the cell," said lead author Robert Campbell, professor in the Department of Chemistry. Once the protein is uncaged, it can start to perform its normal function inside the cell. The tool is relatively easy to use and widely applicable for other research that involves controlling processes inside a cell.

Optogenetic control with a photocleavable protein, PhoCl (DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.4222) (DX)

Related: With a Better Optogenetic Light Switch, Scientists Can Flip Neurons On and Off
Gene Therapy Human Trial Will Inject Virus Into the Retinas of the Legally Blind
Nerve Stimulation May Recover Memories in Alzheimer's Patients (Mice)
Scientists Test a Way to Erase Scary Memories
Mice Turned Violent by Photoactivation of Amygdala Neurons

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

As video games get better and job prospects worse, more young men are dropping out of the job market to spend their time in an alternate reality. Ryan Avent suspects this is the beginning of something big

[...] Over the last 15 years there has been a steady and disconcerting leak of young people away from the labour force in America. Between 2000 and 2015, the employment rate for men in their 20s without a college education dropped ten percentage points, from 82% to 72%. In 2015, remarkably, 22% of men in this group – a cohort of people in the most consequential years of their working lives – reported to surveyors that they had not worked at all in the prior 12 months. That was in 2015: when the unemployment rate nationwide fell to 5%, and the American economy added 2.7m new jobs. Back in 2000, less than 10% of such men were in similar circumstances.

What these individuals are not doing is clear enough, says Erik Hurst, an economist at the University of Chicago, who has been studying the phenomenon. They are not leaving home; in 2015 more than 50% lived with a parent or close relative. Neither are they getting married. What they are doing, Hurst reckons, is playing video games. As the hours young men spent in work dropped in the 2000s, hours spent in leisure activities rose nearly one-for-one. Of the rise in leisure time, 75% was accounted for by video games. It looks as though some small but meaningful share of the young-adult population is delaying employment or cutting back hours in order to spend more time with their video game of choice.

TFA is worth reading in full. Much more deliberative than usual.

Previously on SoylentNews: Why Ever Stop Playing Video Games?

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

If you're trying to sell something to the European Space Agency, today could be the day to move in and close the deal because there should be smiles all round after two missions achieved important milestones.

[...] Sentinel-B only went aloft last week and is the second of two birds in the Copernicus Earth-observation mission. Publication of the first snap it's sent home is is lovely proof of concept for the satellite's ten-metres-per-pixel resolution and an important step in its three-month commissioning process. The ESA's announcement says the word "Brindisi" translates to English as "toast", as in to toast an occasion with a drink. Your correspondent's ancient history lessons taught that the town was the port from which countless Roman soldiers set out to conquer points East, perhaps also an appropriate evocation for the first photo.

But we digress from the second piece of good news, which comes from Mars where the agency's ExoMars craft has been in orbit since October 19th, 2016. The agency says that in the first week of March the orbiter successfully tested its various instruments and they all checked out.

That's important because for the next year ExoMars is going to be busy lowering its orbit so it can get a really good sniff of Mars' atmosphere. To do so it will conduct a few burns to get closer to Mars' atmosphere and "repeatedly surf in and out of the atmosphere at closest approach, pulling down its furthest point over the course of the year."

In my book moments like this, when humanity's brightest minds come together and achieve something incredibly complex, far outshine every other field of endeavor.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Rejoice, lazy Soylentils. Whole-body vibration may be somewhat as effective as actual exercise:

A less strenuous form of exercise known as whole-body vibration (WBV) can mimic the muscle and bone health benefits of regular exercise in mice, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's journal Endocrinology. WBV consists of a person sitting, standing or lying on a machine with a vibrating platform. When the machine vibrates, it transmits energy to the body, and muscles contract and relax multiple times during each second.

[...] "Our study is the first to show that whole-body vibration may be just as effective as exercise at combating some of the negative consequences of obesity and diabetes," said the study's first author, Meghan E. McGee-Lawrence, Ph.D., of Augusta University in Augusta, Ga. "While WBV did not fully address the defects in bone mass of the obese mice in our study, it did increase global bone formation, suggesting longer-term treatments could hold promise for preventing bone loss as well."

[...] The genetically obese and diabetic mice showed similar metabolic benefits from both WBV and exercising on the treadmill. Obese mice gained less weight after exercise or WBV than obese mice in the sedentary group, although they remained heavier than normal mice. Exercise and WBV also enhanced muscle mass and insulin sensitivity in the genetically obese mice. Although there were no significant effects in the young healthy mice, the low-intensity exercise and WBV protocols were designed for successful completion by obese mice. These findings suggest that WBV may be a useful supplemental therapy to combat metabolic dysfunction in individuals with morbid obesity. "These results are encouraging," McGee-Lawrence said. "However, because our study was conducted in mice, this idea needs to be rigorously tested in humans to see if the results would be applicable to people."

Whole-body Vibration Mimics the Metabolic Effects of Exercise in Male Leptin Receptor Deficient Mice

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Three months after a journalist reported being attacked by a troll who posted a seizure-inducing image on Twitter, a suspect has been arrested:

A man accused of triggering an epileptic seizure of senior Newsweek writer Kurt Eichenwald through a tweet was arrested by the FBI on Friday morning. An FBI spokesman said the name of the suspect has not been released but confirmed that an arrest was made, Dallas News reported.

The arrest comes three months after Eichenwald said he suffered a seizure after someone sent him a video clip of a flashing strobe light in an intentional effort to trigger his epilepsy. A Twitter account called @jew_goldstein — which has since been suspended — responded to Eichenwald with a gif of flashing strobe lights and a message: "You deserve a seizure for that post." Shortly after, Eichenwald's account tweeted: "This is his wife, you caused a seizure. I have your information and have called the police to report the assault."

From the Dallas News article:

The agency announced that John Rayne Rivello, 29, of Salisbury, Md., was arrested Friday morning in Maryland on a cyberstalking charge.

[...] Eichenwald's attorney, Steven Liberman, told Newsweek that "What Mr. Rivello did with his Twitter message was no different from someone sending a bomb in the mail or sending an envelope filled with anthrax spores."

[...] According to a criminal complaint, messages sent from Rivello's Twitter account mentioned Eichenwald, saying "I know he has epilepsy," "I hope this sends him into a seizure" and "let's see if he dies."

Authorities also found an screenshot of Eichenwald's Wikipedia page on Rivello's iCloud account, the criminal complaint said, altered to list his date of death as Dec. 16, 2016. Other files on the iCloud account include a list of things that trigger epileptic seizures and a screenshot of a Dallas Observer article about Eichenwald's attempts to find the person who tweeted at him.

[...] On Friday, Eichenwald said that more than 40 people sent him strobes once they found out that they could trigger seizures.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

CNET reports

The showdown between ride-hailing service Lyft and its California drivers appears to have come to an end.

US District Judge Vince Chhabria gave final approval on [March 16] to a $27 million settlement agreement for a class-action lawsuit between Lyft and more than 200,000 of its former and current California drivers, according to court filings.[PDF]

This settlement seems to conclude the battle over how the ride-hailing company classifies its drivers. Under the agreement, the drivers will remain independent contractors, rather than be converted to employees.

[...] While Lyft's settlement seems to close the debate over driver classification, things could still change.

"The agreement is not perfect," Chhabria wrote in his order on Thursday. "And the status of Lyft drivers under California law remains uncertain going forward."

[Ed note - This story vandalized by Fnord666]

Phoenix666 writes:

One of Microsoft's most hated operating systems (Windows ME is difficult to beat on that front) is destined to die in less than a month.

Windows Vista, launched to a less-than-stellar reception on January 30, 2007, saw most of its support stopped back in 2012. On April 11 this year the hammer finally falls. Microsoft warned Vista users that their systems could be compromised by an attacker in the future, especially as Security Essentials support has also now ended for the operating system.

"Windows Vista customers will no longer receive new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free or paid assisted support options, or online technical content updates from Microsoft," Redmond said.

"Microsoft has provided support for Windows Vista for the past 10 years, but the time has come for us, along with our hardware and software partners, to invest our resources towards more recent technologies so that we can continue to deliver great new experiences."

My heart does ache for our brethren, the poor, huddled Windows masses.

Original Submission