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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Tor Browser 7.0.2 is now available from the Tor Browser Project page and also from our distribution directory.

This release features an important security update to Tor.

We are updating Tor to version 0.3.0.9, fixing a path selection bug that would allow a client to use a guard that was in the same network family as a chosen exit relay. This release also updates HTTPS-Everywhere to 5.2.19.

Here is the full changelog since 7.0.1:

        All Platforms

                Update Tor to 0.3.0.9, fixing bug #22753
                Update HTTPS-Everywhere to 5.2.19

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

Don't get your hopes up too high about becoming a space marine quite yet. But if the House of Representatives' version of the 2018 defense budget goes through, you may soon be able to enlist in the US Space Corps.

Back in January of 2001, days before the inauguration of President George W. Bush, a commission headed by future Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned of a "space Pearl Harbor" and urged a reorganization of the military to put a greater emphasis on warfare in the space domain—defending US communications and intelligence satellites, and if necessary taking out the satellites of adversaries. In their report, the Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organizations told Congress, "The US is more dependent on space than any other nation... Yet the threat to the US and its allies in and from space does not command the attention it merits."

A few things happened that derailed efforts to change that perceived neglect. But now the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) has breathed new life into those old plans by including a provision in the House version of the 2018 US defense budget that would create a separate military service dedicated to the cause of space as a warfare domain: the US Space Corps. It would also create a separate joint command, the US Space Command, breaking the role out of the US Strategic Command much in the way that was done with the US Cyber Command.

Source: Ars Technica

Previously: The United States Space Corps Wants You...

Original Submission

takyon writes:

While QLC NAND is predicted to have as low as 100 program/erase cycles (endurance), Toshiba has "targeted" 1000 cycles for its upcoming 3D QLC NAND products:

Toshiba last week announced its first 3D NAND flash memory chips featuring [the] QLC (quadruple level cell) BiCS architecture. The new components feature 64 layers and developers of SSDs and SSD [controllers] have already received samples of the devices, which Toshiba plans to use for various types of storage solutions.

[...] Besides [its] intention to produce 768 Gb 3D QLC NAND flash for the aforementioned devices, the most interesting part of Toshiba's announcement is [the] endurance specification for the upcoming components. According to the company, its 3D QLC NAND is targeted for ~1000 program/erase cycles, which is close to TLC NAND flash. This is considerably higher than the amount of P/E cycles (100 – 150) expected for QLC by the industry over the years. At first thought, it comes across [as] a typo - didn't they mean 100?. But the email we received was quite clear:

- What's the number of P/E cycles supported by Toshiba's QLC NAND?
- QLC P/E is targeted for 1K cycles.

Endurance miracle putting QLC on par with TLC, or idle talk about a product that won't be out for 1-2 years?

[Ed. note: If you're wondering what QLC NAND is, here's a quick primer.]

Additional Coverage: The guru of 3D

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

The World Socialist Web Site reports

Three US states--New Jersey, Maine, and Illinois--with a combined population of 23 million people entered a new fiscal year [July 1] without a state budget, forcing widespread shutdowns of public services, state offices, and schools, as well as the closure of state parks on the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

In a fourth state, Connecticut, Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy ordered across-the-board spending cuts totaling $2.1 billion after the legislature failed to pass a balanced budget. Malloy's cuts include the elimination of summer youth employment programs and rental assistance for low-income families, as well as a reduction in education funding.

Six more states entered the new fiscal year without a final budget, but without, as yet, any significant shutdown of state services: Delaware, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. Cuts are to be expected in all of these states if new budgets are not enacted by July 5, the first workday after the holiday.

[...] In a display of elitist arrogance, [Republican Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey] spent the weekend with his family at an official residence in a state park that had otherwise been closed to the public by his own executive order.

[...] In Maine, Republican Governor Paul LePage ordered the first statewide shutdown of government services since 1991 after the legislature failed to bow to his demand that it adopt a new, two-year, $7 billion budget without any tax increases.

In a brazenly antidemocratic action, LePage and Democratic and Republican state legislators had already agreed that the new budget would repeal a measure approved last November by the votes of more than 357,000 people in a statewide referendum. The referendum imposed an additional three percent income tax on the wealthiest state residents--those who make more than $200,000 a year--to increase funding for public education.

Additional Coverage: ABCNews

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Vinzenz Vietzke of TUXEDO Computers announced today that the German electronics manufacturer, which is known for selling laptops and desktop computers that ship pre-loaded with Linux, created their own distro.

The news comes just a week after System76 computer reseller announced Pop!_OS as their own GNU/Linux distribution based on Ubuntu and the GNOME desktop environment, and it now looks like TUXEDO Computers follow suit and announce TUXEDO Xubuntu, their own Xubuntu-based distro, which will power all of their computers in the near future.

"We have been working on this project for several months. We have been thinking about the usability of the desktop, have included user feedback in our considerations and made some surveys on desktop usage," says Vinzenz Vietzke. "The result of our research, surveys and countless tests is now that we have chosen Xfce based on Ubuntu."

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/tuxedo-computers-to-develop-own-ubuntu-based-linux-distro-using-xfce-desktop-516821.shtml

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Police in Ukraine have seized the servers of one of the largest accounting software firms in the country, after it was suspected that a malware virus which hit dozens of global enterprises last week had spread via its malicious update.

As part of an investigation into one of the largest recent cyber attacks, the servers of Ukraine's most popular accounting software, M.E.Doc were seized by Ukrainian police Tuesday, Reuters reported, citing the head of Ukraine's Cyber Police, Sergey Demedyuk.

Cyber Police spokeswoman Yulia Kvitko confirmed an ongoing investigation into M.E.Doc's offices.

Ukrainian intelligence officials and security firms experts believe initial infections, which affected thousands of computers worldwide, might have been spread via the accounting firm's updates, Reuters reports.

While it is still unclear who inserted a vulnerability into the M.E.Doc program, the Kiev-based firm whose software is used by around 80 percent of companies in Ukraine is under investigation itself and will face criminal charges, AP reported citing Demedyuk.

M.E.Doc's employees had dismissed repeated warnings about the security of their information technology infrastructure, Demedyuk said in an interview with the news agency.

Source: https://www.rt.com/news/395305-ukrainian-firm-servers-seized-cyber-attack/

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

A source with knowledge of the planned downsizing told TechCrunch that [Microsoft] would lay off "thousands" of staff across the world. The restructuring is set to include an organizational merger that involves its enterprise customer unit and one or more of its SME-focused divisions. The changes are set to be announced this coming week, we understand.

Microsoft declined to comment.

[...] Bloomberg said the redundancies would be "some of the most significant in the sales force in years."

[...] Last year, Microsoft announced that it would cut 2,850 jobs — including at least 900 from its sales group, according to The Seattle Times — having two months earlier said it would let go of 1,850 staff related to its smartphone business. In July 2015, it made 7,800 job cuts and wrote down $7.6 billion of its Nokia acquisition.

Source: TechCrunch

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Police in Beijing have arrested 32 people for illegal fundraising linked to a scrapped project to create a "straddling bus" to beat traffic jams.

The futuristic idea to lift commuters above congestion quickly attracted international attention when it was launched last year - but was finally scrapped last month.

There had been growing speculation that it was no more than an investment scam.

In a statement, police said they were working to recover investors' assets.

Source: BBC News

Transit Elevated Bus (Wikipedia)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Researchers have unlocked the chemistry of Roman concrete which has resisted the elements for thousands of years.

Ancient sea walls built by the Romans used a concrete made from lime and volcanic ash to bind with rocks.

Now scientists have discovered that elements within the volcanic material reacted with sea water to strengthen the construction.

[...] This new study says the scientists found significant amounts of tobermorite growing through the fabric of the concrete, with a related, porous mineral called phillipsite.

The researchers say that the long-term exposure to sea water helped these crystals to keep on growing over time, reinforcing the concrete and preventing cracks from developing.

Source: BBC News

American Mineralogist DOI: 10.2138/am-2017-5993CCBY

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Their stories came out slowly, even hesitantly, at first. Then in a rush.

One female entrepreneur recounted how she had been propositioned by a Silicon Valley venture capitalist while seeking a job with him, which she did not land after rebuffing him. Another showed the increasingly suggestive messages she had received from a start-up investor. And one chief executive described how she had faced numerous sexist comments from an investor while raising money for her online community website.

What happened afterward was often just as disturbing, the women told The New York Times. Many times, the investor's firms and colleagues ignored or played down what had happened when the situations were brought to their attention. Saying anything, the women were warned, might lead to ostracism.

Now some of these female entrepreneurs have decided to take that risk. More than two dozen women in the technology start-up industry spoke to The Times in recent days about being sexually harassed. Ten of them named the investors involved, often providing corroborating messages and emails, and pointed to high-profile venture capitalists such as Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital and Dave McClure of 500 Startups, who did not dispute the accounts.

The disclosures came after the tech news site The Information reported that female entrepreneurs had been preyed upon by a venture capitalist, Justin Caldbeck of Binary Capital. The new accounts underscore how sexual harassment in the tech start-up ecosystem goes beyond one firm and is pervasive and ingrained. Now their speaking out suggests a cultural shift in Silicon Valley, where such predatory behavior had often been murmured about but rarely exposed.

-- submitted from IRC

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

As Japan becomes the latest country or private entity planning to send a person to the moon, RT.com takes a look at some of the most ambitious plans for a future manned lunar mission.

Whichever country or corporation returns a human to our celestial neighbor will be the first to do so since NASA's Apollo missions concluded in the early 70s. In fact, whoever ventures to the moon will be the first to go beyond low-Earth orbit since 1972.

Space exploration has generally been the preserve of nation states and their taxpayer-funded space agencies. More recently though, private companies, most notably Elon Musk's SpaceX, have been leading the way in the aerospace sector.

Billionaire Musk recently laid out his plans to colonize Mars. For some, however, a return to the moon would provide good preparation for the months-long trek to the Red Planet.

Here, RT.com takes a look at some of the frontrunners in lunar mission planning.

Source: RT

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new law that will enable pirate mirror, proxy and other derivative sites to be blocked quickly by ISPs. Sites will be approved for blocking by the government and the local telecoms watchdog, and ISPs will be given 24 hours to block all access. Search engines will also be compelled to remove all variants from results.

Source: TorrentFreak

Original Submission

takyon writes:

North Korean state media claims that it can hit anywhere in the world with its new missile. Others say that it is capable of reaching Alaska:

North Korea said on Tuesday it successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time, which flew a trajectory that experts said could allow a weapon to hit the U.S. state of Alaska. The launch came days before leaders from the Group of 20 nations were due to discuss steps to rein in North Korea's weapons program, which it has pursued in defiance of U.N. Security Council sanctions.

The launch, which North Korea's state media said was ordered and supervised by leader Kim Jong Un, sent the rocket 933 km (580 miles) reaching an altitude of 2,802 km over a flight time of 39 minutes.

North Korea has said it wants to develop a missile mounted with a nuclear warhead capable of striking the U.S. mainland. To do that it would need an ICBM with a range of 8,000 km (4,800 miles) or more, a warhead small enough to be mounted on it and technology to ensure its stable re-entry into the atmosphere. Some analysts said the flight details on Tuesday suggested the new missile had a range of more than 8,000 km, underscoring major advances in its program. Other analysts said they believed its range was not so far.

Also at BBC and NYT.

Original Submission

bradley13 writes:

One of the big Swiss banks, Credit Suiss, has just informed 58 of it's IT specialists that they are now employed by an Indian company. If they don't want to work for HCL Technologies, then they no longer have jobs. This takes effect at the end of this month.

I'm not even sure this is legal - Switzerland normally requires a minimum of 3 months notice. Probably the CS lawyers have found some loophole or other, like "selling" a whole department or something.

The bank has stated that the employees will receive HCL contracts for "at least 12 months". Which probably also means "at most" 12 months, because no Indian company wants expensive Westerners on its books any longer than necessary.

Of course, CS is a really good bank if you're in top management. Top management rakes in the bonuses, no matter how poorly the bank performs.

[ Originally reported by TagesAnzeiger (German), which stated the number of employees impacted as 100. -Ed.]

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

The United States has lifted a ban on laptops in cabins on flights from Abu Dhabi to the United States, saying Etihad Airways had put in place required tighter security measures.

Etihad welcomed the decision on Sunday and credited a facility at Abu Dhabi International Airport where passengers clear U.S. immigration before they land in the United States for "superior security advantages" that had allowed it to satisfy U.S. requirements.

Transportation Security Administration officials have checked that the measures had been implemented correctly, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

U.S. officials assessed the airport on Saturday night, Abdul Majeed al-Khoori, acting chief executive of operator Abu Dhabi Airports told Reuters on Monday.

The disruption to passengers from the new measures will be "very minimal" with the processing time for those traveling to the United States unchanged, he said by phone.

Etihad is the only airline that operates direct flights from Abu Dhabi to the United States.

Source: Reuters

Original Submission