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takyon writes:

Facebook engineer and 'professional stalker' reportedly fired over creepy Tinder messages

There's no shortage of Facebook news this week on account of F8, but this creepy Facebook-adjacent event with a good outcome seems worth noting. An engineer accused of abusing his access to data at the company in Tinder messages has been fired, Facebook confirmed to TechCrunch today.

The issue arose over the weekend: Jackie Stokes, founder of Spyglass Security, explained on Twitter that someone she knew had received some rather creepy messages from someone she personally confirmed was a Facebook engineer.

The engineer described themselves as a "professional stalker," which however accurate it may be (they attempt to unmask hackers) is probably not the best way to introduce yourself to a potential partner. They then implied that they had been employing their professional acumen in pursuit of identifying their new quarry.

Also at Motherboard.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/finance/technology/hello-kitty-malware-targets-drupal-to-mine-for-cryptocurrency/ar-AAwGn4C

According to researchers from Imperva's Incapsula, Kitty is the latest malware to attack the Drupal content management system (CMS) for the purpose of cryptojacking.

It has been just over a month since the Drupalgeddon 2.0 (CVE-2018-7600) exploit was published. The vulnerability, deemed "highly critical," is a remote code execution bug present in Drupal versions 7.x and 8.x.

What makes Kitty different is that it is not only the internal network, server, and website itself which may be compromised to mine cryptocurrency, but the malware also targets visitors to compromised domains.

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takyon writes:

Indian officials lament inaction of cities with world's worst air

Only a handful of India's 100 most polluted cities have drawn up plans to combat air pollution despite being asked to do so three years ago, senior government officials said on Wednesday after a damning report by the World Health Organisation.

India is home to the world's 14 most polluted cities, the WHO said, based on the amount of particulate matter under 2.5 micrograms found in every cubic metre of air.

Environment ministry officials said the WHO's findings were embarrassing but not surprising. "It hurts India's image, hurts the India story, hurts tourism, hurts medical tourism," said one official, ruing that fewer than 30 cities had an action plan ready to fight air pollution. "India will eventually overcome the problem, but my frustration is with the timeline."

The ministry could spend about 7 billion rupees ($105 million) this fiscal year to help cities set up air-quality monitoring systems and buy equipment like water-sprinklers to settle dust, said the officials, who declined to be identified, citing government policy.

Kanpur is the world's most polluted city. #15 is Kuwait.

China breathes a sigh of relief, and then chokes.

WHO Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database (update 2016)

Also at Conde Nast Traveller.

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

Sprint yesterday announced "the best profitability in company history" thanks to growth in its customer base, just days after saying it needed to merge with T-Mobile USA in order to improve its network.

If Sprint was doing worse, the merger might not have happened. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said that the company's successful turnaround "positioned Sprint for strategic opportunities which led to our proposed merger with T-Mobile." Sprint's profitability and free cash flow was key in giving Sprint the chance to combine with T-Mobile, he said.

In the just-ended fiscal year, Sprint said it had "its highest annual retail phone net additions in five years and the best profitability in company history with its highest annual operating income at $2.7 billion and annual net income for the first time in 11 years, even when excluding the one-time favorable impact from tax reform."

Source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/05/sprint-announces-highest-profit-ever-after-saying-it-needs-t-mobile-merger/

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takyon writes:

US warns China after lasers injure American pilots in Africa

The United States has issued a formal warning to China after personnel at the Asian country's military base in Djibouti used lasers to interfere with U.S. military aircraft, minorly injuring two pilots, according to the Pentagon.

Top Defense Department spokeswoman Dana White told reporters Thursday that the U.S. is confident the Chinese are behind the "very serious incidents," which have increased in the past few weeks.

"There have been two minor injuries. This activity poses a true threat to our airmen. We have formally demarched the Chinese government. And we've requested that that Chinese investigate these incidents," White said during a Pentagon briefing.

The U.S. government, meanwhile, has warned airmen to be cautious when flying in certain areas in Djibouti, in Africa, due to the recent incidents.

Also at CNN.

Related: A Small Secret Airstrip in Africa is the Future of America's Way of War
China Sends Troops to Djibouti Ahead of Establishment of its First Overseas Military Base

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takyon writes:

JWST suffers new problem during spacecraft testing

In a presentation at a meeting of the National Academies' Space Studies Board here May 3, Greg Robinson, the JWST program director at NASA Headquarters, said some "screws and washers" appear to have come off the spacecraft during recent environmental testing at a Northrop Grumman facility in Southern California. Technicians found the items after the spacecraft element of JWST, which includes the bus and sunshield but not its optics and instruments, was moved last weekend from one chamber for acoustics tests to another to prepare for vibration testing.

"Right now we believe that all of this hardware — we're talking screws and washers here — come from the sunshield cover," he said. "We're looking at what this really means and what is the recovery plan." The problem, he said, was only a couple of days old, and he had few additional details about the problem. "It's not terrible news, but it's not good news, either," he said. The incident, Robinson argued, showed the importance of the wide range of tests the spacecraft is put through prior to launch. "That's why we do the testing," he said. "We do it now, we find it now, we fix it and we launch a good spacecraft."

This latest incident comes as an independent review board, chartered by NASA in late March after announcing a one-year delay in JWST's launch because of other technical issues, is in the midst of its analysis of the mission and its launch readiness. That review, led by retired aerospace executive and former NASA Goddard director Tom Young, is scheduled to be completed at the end of the month.

NASA is expected to brief Congress on the status of the James Webb Space Telescope in late June.

Also at Popular Mechanics.

Previously: James Webb Space Telescope Vibration Testing Completed
Launch of James Webb Space Telescope Delayed to Spring 2019
JWST: Too Big to Fail?
GAO: James Webb Space Telescope Launch Date Likely Will be Delayed (Again)
Launch of James Webb Space Telescope Delayed to May 2020, Could Exceed Budget Cap
NASA Announces JWST Independent Review Board Members

Related: Northrop Grumman's Faulty Payload Adapter Reportedly Responsible for "Zuma" Failure

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow4408

Senate Democrats plan to force vote on net neutrality May 9th

Democrats in Congress have been against the FCC's repeal of net neutrality rules from the beginning. They've had the signatures in favor of restoring the rules since January, along with a companion House bill (with 80 co-sponsors). Senator Edward J. Markey also introduced a formal Congressional Review Act "resolution of disapproval" in February. Now, Markey tweeted that Democrats will force a floor vote restore the rules on May 9th.

Also at The Verge and Tom's Hardware.

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takyon writes:

Astronomers have made the first-ever detection of helium in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. Infrared light from the host star was observed passing through the upper atmosphere, rather than optical or ultraviolet light as most atmospheric studies have used:

In a new study [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0067-5] [DX] published May 2 in the journal Nature, an international team of researchers used a novel technique to probe the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-107b, resulting in the first-ever detection of helium in the air of an alien world.

"Helium is the second-most common element in the universe after hydrogen. It is also one of the main constituents of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system," said lead author Jessica Spake of the University of Exeter, in a press release. "However, up until now, helium had not been detected on exoplanets — despite searches for it."

Furthermore, the helium signal the researchers discovered was so strong that they think the planet's upper atmosphere may stretch many thousands of miles into space, making it susceptible to erosion through intense stellar winds. According to the study, this wind-induced erosion is also likely creating an extended, comet-like tail of gas around the exoplanet, which causes the planet to shed up to 4 percent of its total mass every billion years.

WASP-107b, a hot gas giant, contains 0.12 Jupiter masses in a volume of about 0.94 Jupiter radii, making it one of the least dense planets known.

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aristarchus writes:

As related at Fast Company

Sartorially-championed white nationalist Richard Spencer just got punched in the face–this time, in the figurative sense.

The web provider GoDaddy has taken down the alt-right figurehead’s web domain, the appropriately named altright.com.

“It is our determination that altright.com crossed the line and encouraged and promoted violence in a direct and threatening manner,” a GoDaddy spokesperson told BuzzFeed.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Rafael Avila de Espindola, one of the top contributors to the LLVM compiler toolset, has cut ties with the open source project over what he perceives as code of conduct hypocrisy and support for ethnic favoritism. In a message posted to the LLVM mailing list, de Espindola said he was leaving immediately and cited changes in the community.

LLVM project founder, Chris Lattner responded; "I applaud Rafael for standing by his personal principles, this must have been a hard decision." Lattner also insisted that "it is critical to the long term health of the project that we preserve an inclusive community."

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takyon writes:

David Goodall: Scientist, 104, begins trip to end his life

On Wednesday, 104-year-old scientist David Goodall bid farewell to his home in Australia to fly across the world to end his life. The lauded ecologist and botanist is not suffering from a serious illness but wishes to bring forward his death. Key to his decision, he says, has been his diminishing independence.

"I greatly regret having reached that age," Dr Goodall said on his birthday last month, in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "I'm not happy. I want to die. It's not sad particularly. What is sad is if one is prevented."

Assisted dying was legalised by one Australian state last year following a divisive debate, but eligibility requires a person be terminally ill. It is illegal in other states. Dr Goodall says he will travel to a clinic in Switzerland to voluntarily end his life. However, he says he resents having to leave Australia to do so.

David Goodall.

Also at USA Today, CNN, and The Local.

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takyon writes:

Supposedly extinct kangaroo rat resurfaces after 30 years

The last time anyone saw the San Quintin kangaroo rat was more than 30 years ago, in the arid scrublands of Baja California in Mexico. Mexican authorities declared the small mammal critically endangered, and possibly extinct, in 1994. So biologists couldn't believe their eyes when not one, but four San Quintin kangaroo rats (Dipodomys gravipes) hopped into their survey traps in 2017.

[...] The researchers attribute the kangaroo rat's comeback to a dramatic decrease in farming over the past decade, thanks to drought-related water shortages. Although the researchers are concerned that farmers may eventually make their own comeback, they are optimistic that the San Quintin kangaroo rat will persist, as it has also shown up in a nearby nature reserve. They say it also offers hope for other "extinct" small mammals, which may be findable if only researchers take the time and effort to track them down.

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takyon writes:

Pocket Casts acquired by NPR, other public radio stations, and This American Life

Pocket Casts, widely considered to be one of the best mobile apps for podcast listening, has been acquired by a collective group that includes NPR, WNYC Studios, WBEZ Chicago, and This American Life. "This unprecedented collaboration furthers public radio's leading role as an innovator in audio discovery and distribution, while ensuring the continued support and growth of one of the most popular listening platforms on the market," the companies said in a press release announcing the news. That team of stations and podcast producers are responsible for some of the format's biggest hits like This American Life (duh), Serial, Radiolab, and Planet Money.

Moving forward, Pocket Casts will operate as a joint venture between the new owners. Philip Simpson and Russell Ivanovic, who formed Shifty Jelly (Pocket Cast's developer) in 2008, will have unspecified "leadership roles." The existing staff and development team is staying put. Owen Grover, a veteran of iHeartRadio / Clear Channel, has been named as Pocket Cast's CEO. NPR's apps including NPR One will remain in development.

Also at TechCrunch.

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takyon writes:

Scientists have created blastocyst-like structures (embryo precursors) from mouse stem cells. They were capable of growth, but are not considered to be capable of producing viable embryos:

Dutch scientists have built "synthetic" embryos in their laboratory using mouse cells other than sperm and eggs.

The stem cell breakthrough, described in [the] Nature journal [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0051-0] [DX], is not for cloning people or animals, but about understanding why many pregnancies fail at an early stage - implantation. The embryos, made in a dish, attached to the womb lining of live female mice and grew for a few days.

Studying the process could help human fertility, experts say.

realDonaldTrump submitted a story which became:

Under intense fire and criticism from lawmakers, the media and its users for how it has handled the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg are letting users start from zero.

Ahead of the company's F8 developer conference, Zuckerberg announced a new "Clear History" feature built into Facebook.

"In your web browser, you have a simple way to clear your cookies and history. The idea is a lot of sites need cookies to work, but you should still be able to flush your history whenever you want," Zuckerberg wrote. "We're building a version of this for Facebook too. It will be a simple control to clear your browsing history on Facebook -- what you've clicked on, websites you've visited, and so on."

[...] Zuckerberg, who was recently grilled on Capitol Hill about everything from data privacy, whether the company collects data on non-users (it does) and his old sexist website FaceMash, cautioned that by clearing your Facebook history , the feature will not be as effective until it relearns a user's preferences.

[...] A survey conducted by the Ponemon Institute, a U.S.-based think tank, found that just 27 percent of 3,000 respondents believe Facebook will protect their privacy and user data, down from 79 percent in 2017. The survey's results were first reported by The Financial Times.

Source: foxnews.com/tech/2018/05/01/mark-zuckerberg-announces-clear-history-privacy-tool-ahead-facebooks-f8-conference.html

Also at CNN, Threatpost & TechSpot.

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