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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

Facebook has consistently denied allegations that it listens to its users' conversations through their phone's microphone, but a new document suggests the tech giant has not ruled out doing so in the future.

Facebook users have been sharing circumstantial evidence for several years that suggests Facebook snoops on their private conversations in order to deliver more personalised ads. In April, US lawmakers finally brought the concerns to CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a hearing about data misuse on the firm's platform.

The social media firm released a 454-page document this week to follow up with questions posed to Mr Zuckerberg, after he was criticised for evading some of the most important ones.

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-listening-conversations-phone-microphones-ads-app-mark-zuckerberg-a8398291.html

Documents can be found here:
Zuckerberg Testimony
Responses to Commerce Committee
Responses to Judiciary Committee

[Editor's Note: the two response documents are 229 and 225 pages, respectively for a total of 454 pages.]

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found a way to predict whether someone exposed to the flu virus is likely to become ill.

Purvesh Khatri, PhD, associate professor of medicine and of biomedical data science, and his team used a computational approach to pinpoint a blood-based genetic biomarker to determine an individual's susceptibility to the disease.

"We've been after this for about four years," Khatri said. "To our knowledge, it's the first biomarker that shows susceptibility to influenza, across multiple strains."

The biomarker is a gene called KLRD1, and it essentially acts as a proxy for the presence of a special type of immune cell that may be a key to stamping out nascent flu infection. Put simply: the more of this cell type found in a person's blood, the lower their flu susceptibility. The research even hints at new avenues for pursuing a broadly applicable flu vaccine.

A paper describing the work will be published online June 14 in Genome Medicine. Khatri is the senior author. Graduate student Erika Bongen is the lead author.

[...] Khatri said his findings could help health professionals understand who's at the highest risk for flu infection. "If, for example, there's a flu epidemic going on, and Tamiflu supplies are limited, this data could help identify who should be prophylactically treated first," Khatri said.

Khatri emphasizes that for now, the link between KLRD1 levels and influenza susceptibility is only an association. The next step, he said, is to find the mechanism.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Mozilla may be working on a voice-controlled browser

Mozilla may be working on a voice-controlled platform of its own. A listing for an all-hands internal meeting appeared about what seems like a new project: Scout. "With the Scout app, we start to explore browsing and consuming content with voice," it read. It's very unclear what the platform may or may not end up doing, as the meeting is focused on technical requirements for a "voice browser" that would, as a stated example, be able to read users an article about polar bears.

[...] CNET interpreted Scout to be a new voice-controlled web browser. With Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft falling over themselves refining their voice assistant technology (with Facebook not far behind), it's unsurprising that Mozilla would join the fray. Given the company's decades of web platform experience, a browser is surely simpler to implement than a new proprietary speaker. Plus, vocal navigation through a browser setup is probably easier for the average person to grasp.

So that's why they needed Common Voice.

Related: Mozilla's Common Voice Collecting French, German, and Welsh Samples, Prepping 40 More Languages

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Trump's targeting of a New York Times journalist, explained by experts

The Trump administration took its war with the media to the next level this week when federal authorities seized years of phone records from New York Times reporter Ali Watkins as part of a federal investigation into leaks of classified information.

Watkins, who previously worked for BuzzFeed News and Politico, had a three-year relationship with James Wolfe, a former Senate Intelligence Committee aide who was arrested on Thursday and charged with lying to federal agents investigating the classified leaks.

The seizure set off alarm bells about the relationship between the administration and the media. The Department of Justice under Obama took phone records from Associated Press reporters and editors, named a Fox News reporter an unindicted "co-conspirator" in a leak case, and prosecuted multiple cases involving whistleblowers and leakers. So is what Trump doing more of the same? Or is a president who routinely bashes the media and threatens to jail leakers finally turning his rhetoric into reality?

"It's deeply alarming that the Trump administration has decided to build off of the worst of the Obama legacy on leak investigations and reporter-source protection," said Alexandra Ellerbeck, the North America program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists.

See also: The Justice Department Deleted Language About Press Freedom And Racial Gerrymandering From Its Internal Manual

Also at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Emptywheel, and Fox News.

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canopic jug writes:

In a short article, the US Naval Institute reports that the Navy will bring back the Warrant Officer-1 rank for certain specialists:

After a 44-year absence, the rank of warrant officer-1 will return to the Navy in 2019 for cyber specialists, a move signifying the great lengths the service must take to retain talent and fill leadership roles in an increasingly tight labor market.

The return of warrant officer-1 (W-1) — discontinued by the Navy in 1975 — is both a Navy bid to keep highly sought-after computer technicians and is indicative of the greater challenge facing the service as it seeks to meet growing recruiting and retention targets.

[...] Only a small number of enlisted personnel will qualify for W-1, the pay still will not match what the private sector offers, and the Navy will still face tough recruiting and retention challenges. However, those sailors who do qualify for W-1 will be the ones the Navy hopes will consider remaining in the service longer because [the] rank offers something the private sector can't as easily match — a quicker path to management positions.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Three authors at the Harvard Business Review briefly discuss the Peter Principle by dealing with a quantifiable data set. That principle is the one which states that people are promoted to rise to their particular level of their incompetence. At the end they propose several possible solutions or work-arounds.

The Peter Principle problem arises when the skills that make someone successful at one job level don’t translate to success in the next level. In these cases, organizations must choose whether to reward the top performer with a promotion or to instead promote the worker that has the best skill match with a managerial position. When organizations reward success in one role with a promotion to another, the usual grumbles ensue; the best engineer doesn’t make the best engineering manager, and the best professor doesn’t make the best dean. The same problem may apply to scientists, physicians, lawyers, or in any other profession where technical aptitude doesn’t necessarily translate into managerial skill.

[...] While the Peter Principle may sound intuitively plausible, it has never been empirically tested using data from many firms. To test whether firms really are passing over the best potential managers by promoting the top performers in their old roles, we examined data on the performance of salespeople and their managers at 214 firms. Sales is an ideal setting to test for the Peter Principle because, unlike other professional settings, it’s easy to identify high performing salespeople and managers — for salespeople, we know their sales records, and for the sales managers, we can measure their managerial ability as the extent to which they help improve the performance of their subordinates. The data, which come from a company that administers sales performance management software over the cloud, allow us to track the sales performance of a large number of salespeople and managers in a large number of firms. Armed with these data, we asked: Do organizations really pass over the best potential managers by promoting the best individual contributors? And if so, how do organizations manage around the Peter Principle?

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

A hi-tech padlock secured with a fingerprint can be opened by anyone with a smartphone, security researchers have found.

On its website, Tapplock is described as the "world's first smart fingerprint padlock".

But researchers said it took just 45 minutes to find a way to unlock any Tapplock.

[...] The "major flaw" in its design is that the unlock key for the device is easily discovered because it is generated from the Bluetooth Low Energy ID that is broadcast by the lock.

Anyone with a smartphone would be able to pick up this key if they scanned for Bluetooth devices when close to a Tapplock.

Using this key in conjunction with commands broadcast by the Tapplock would let attackers successfully open any one they found, said Mr Tierney.

In response, Tapplock said in a statement that it was issuing a software update.

-- submitted from IRC

Original Submission

takyon writes:

University of Chicago eliminates SAT/ACT requirement

The University of Chicago will no longer require ACT or SAT scores from U.S. students, sending a jolt through elite institutions of higher education as it becomes the first top-10 research university to join the test-optional movement.

Numerous schools, including well-known liberal arts colleges, have dropped or pared back testing mandates in recent years to bolster recruiting in a crowded market. But the announcement Thursday by the university was a watershed, cracking what had been a solid and enduring wall of support for the primary admission tests among the two dozen most prestigious research universities.

[...] U-Chicago is also expanding financial aid and scrapping in-person admission interviews, which had been optional. Instead, it will allow applicants to send in two-minute video pitches, in an effort to connect with a generation skilled at communicating via cellphone clips.

Also at USA Today and Inside Higher Ed.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

El Reg reports

Microsoft had to emit a hasty update for its R Open analysis tool after developers found the open-source package was not playing nice with some Linux systems.

The issue was brought to light earlier this week by developer Norbert Preining, who found[1] that the Debian GNU/Linux version of Open R[2]--Microsoft's open-source implementation of the R statistics and data science tool--was causing headaches when it was installed on some systems.

In particular, Preining noted that the shell instructions Microsoft used to install the software would fail on a computer where another version of R is already installed. Worse, the script would delete whatever is at /bin/sh and override it with Bash, changing the system's command interpreter.

[...] Additionally, Preining found, the script Microsoft used to uninstall R Open would cause further problems, one being that it would delete files without checking where they actually pointed

[...] Fortunately, it looks as though Redmond was listening, and Microsoft's dev team was quick to act. Within two days of Preining's blog post going up, he reported that R Open had been patched by the Windows giant to resolve the issues and properly install and remove itself on Debian systems.

"Thanks Microsoft for the quick fix, it is good news that those playing with Open R will not be left with a hosed system", Preining noted.

[1] Text highlighting and scrollwheel scrolling on the page work now. Mouse actions were broken June 13. (Scrolling was mentioned down in the comments there.)
[2] Content is behind scripts.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The Gates Foundation rolls outs details of its new biotech, one without a profit motive

There's a new biotech in town. And it doesn't care about making money. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spun out a nonprofit biotech offspring, the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute. With funding of $273 million for its first four years, the organization is in an enviable position.

"We don't have to worry about revenue, return on investment. Our bottom line is lives saved. So it's a pretty exciting place to be," Dr. Penny Heaton, the institute's CEO, explained in an interview with STAT this week. Though the institute opened its doors — in temporary space in Cambridge, Mass. — in early January, Heaton introduced it to the biotech world on Thursday at the BIO International Convention in Boston.

The institute's focus is on diseases that disproportionately affect the poor: malaria, tuberculosis, and enteric diseases. The latter are diseases — caused by viruses, bacteria, or parasites — that attack the digestive system. They can cause life-threatening, even fatal bouts of diarrhea, disrupt nutrient absorption, and stunt development.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Leaked documents have provided details about Microsoft's upcoming Surface tablets, the next-generation Xbox, a two-screen handheld device, and the next HoloLens:

Andromeda, Microsoft's mythical pocketable, two-screen, hand-held device that's supposed to carve out a whole new market for itself, is due for release in 2018. The documents also say that, after Andromeda, Microsoft OEMs will produce their own comparable products, just as they've done with Surface Pro.

The big question for Andromeda is the same as it has always been: why? To define a new hardware form factor, as appears to be the intent, its design needs to be particularly suitable for something. Surface Pro, for example, has appealed particularly to groups such as students (taking notes with OneNote) and artists, thanks to its form factor and multimodal input support. To succeed, Andromeda needs to offer similar appeal—it needs to enable something that's widely useful and ill-suited to existing hardware. But presently, there are few ideas of just what that role might be.

Next up, in 2019, is a new version of HoloLens, codenamed Sydney. The documents say it is due to hit the market in some capacity (for developers or perhaps full commercial availability) in the first quarter of 2019. It will be much cheaper than the current HoloLens (though how much cheaper isn't known at this time), as well as lighter, more comfortable, and with a much better display. It will probably use a new sensor package derived from the Project Kinect for Azure announced at the Build developer conference last month and will also probably incorporate Microsoft's second-generation holographic processing unit custom processor.

Original Submission

c0lo writes:

Tesla to fire 9% (almost one in ten) of its workforce:

El Reg has a compelling between-the-lines reading

Tesla is cutting nine per cent of its workforce in a "comprehensive organizational restructuring", according to an internal email sent by its CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday.

While that email was sent only to employees, Musk then tweeted the full text immediately afterwards and it is clear that the missive was designed to be read by external critics and worried investors.

[...] It goes on: "As part of his effort, and the need to reduce costs and become profitable, we have made the difficult decision to let go of approximately 9 per cent of our colleagues across the company."

The email then shifted in tone and notes that the cuts will not impact the company's delayed production schedule for its latest car model: "These cuts were almost entirely made from our salaried population and no production associates were included, so this will not affect our ability to reach Model 3 production targets in the coming months."

[...] Musk addresses that very real issue of running out of money and finding it hard to find people to put in more cash in the last paragraph of his email. But, of course, he can't stop himself from doing so in typical arrogant fashion, even employing the royal "we" in his apparent recognition of reality.

"Given that Tesla has never made an annual profit in the almost 15 year since we have existed, profit is obviously not what motivates us. What drives us is our mission to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable, clean energy, but we will never achieve that mission unless we eventually demonstrate that we can be sustainably profitable. That is a valid and fair criticism of Tesla's history to date."

The news is the first sign that Musk has had little choice but to respond to his investors' concerns, no doubt because he realizes he will need to go to them again soon for more cash.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Intel expects to lose some server/data center market share to AMD's Epyc line of chips:

The pitched battle between Intel and AMD has spread to the data center, and while Intel has been forthcoming that it expects to lose some market share in the coming months to AMD, Brian Krzanich's recent comments to Instinet analyst Roman Shah give us some insight into the surprising scope of AMD's threat. Shah recently sat down with Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and Barron's reported on his findings:

Shah relates that Krzanich "was very matter-of-fact in saying that Intel would lose server share to AMD in the second half of the year," which is not news, but he thought it significant that "Mr. Krzanich did not draw a firm line in the sand as it relates to AMD's potential gains in servers; he only indicated that it was Intel's job to not let AMD capture 15-20% market share." (emphasis added).

Furthermore, Intel's problems with the "10nm" node could allow AMD to pick up market share with "7nm" (although it may be similar in performance to Intel's "10nm"):

Nomura Instinet is less bullish on further stock gains for Intel after talking to the chipmaker's CEO, Brian Krzanich. [...] The analyst said Intel's problems in moving to its next-generation chip manufacturing technology may be a factor in its potential market share losses. The chipmaker revealed on its April 26 earnings conference call that it delayed volume production under its 10-nanometer chip manufacturing process to next year. Conversely, AMD said on its call that it plans to start next-generation 7-nanometer chip production in late 2018.

[...] "We see Mr. Krzanich's posture here reflecting the company's inability thus far to sufficiently yield 10nm for volume production while AMD's partner TSMC is currently making good progress on 7nm; thus, setting Intel up for stiff competition again in 2019," the analyst said.

Here are a couple of post-mortem articles on Intel's misleading 28-core CPU demo and more:

• AMD's 32-Core Threadripper 2 Is Making Intel Sweat
• Intel 'forgets' a lot at their Computex Keynote

Rather than 28 cores, Intel may introduce 20 and 22 core CPUs to compete with AMD's Threadripper 2, along with 8-core Coffee Lake refresh CPUs to compete with Ryzen.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

The Intel® FPU speculation vulnerability has been confirmed. Theo guessed right last week.

Using information disclosed in Theo's talk, Colin Percival developed a proof-of-concept exploit in around 5 hours. This seems to have prompted an early end to an embargo (in which OpenBSD was not involved), and the official announcement of the vulnerability.

Also at The Register, Hot Hardware, and BetaNews.

An update to the article appearing in The Register adds:

A security flaw within Intel Core and Xeon processors can be potentially exploited to swipe sensitive data from the chips' math processing units.

Malware or malicious logged-in users can attempt to leverage this design blunder to steal the inputs and results of computations performed in private by other software.

These numbers, held in FPU registers, could potentially be used to discern parts of cryptographic keys being used to secure data in the system. For example, Intel's AES encryption and decryption instructions use FPU registers to hold keys.

In short, the security hole could be used to extract or guess at secret encryption keys within other programs, in certain circumstances, according to people familiar with the engineering mishap.

Modern versions of Linux – from kernel version 4.9, released in 2016, and later – and modern Windows, including Server 2016, as well as the latest spins of OpenBSD and DragonflyBSD are not affected by this flaw (CVE-2018-3665).

Windows Server 2008 is among the operating systems that will need to be patched, we understand, and fixes for affected Microsoft and non-Microsoft kernels are on their way. The Linux kernel team is back-porting mitigations to pre-4.9 kernels.

Essentially, hold tight, and wait for patches to land for your Intel-powered machines, if they are vulnerable. CVE-2018-3665 isn't the end of the world: malicious software has to be already running on your system to attempt to exploit it, and even then, it can only lift out crumbs at a time.

[...] Red Hat has more technical details, here. RHEL 5, 6, and 7, and Enterprise MRG 2 not running kernel-alt are vulnerable. In a statement to The Register, the Linux vendor clarified that this a potential task-to-task theft of information:

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Apple closes law enforcement loophole for the iPhone

Apple is about to make it much harder for law enforcement agencies to gain access to information on iPhones.

The company will include a new feature, called USB Restricted Mode, in a future update of its iOS software, which runs on iPhones and iPads.

The feature disables data transfer through the Lightning port one hour after a phone was last locked, preventing popular third-party hacking tools used by law enforcement from accessing the device. The port can still be used for charging.

[...] Reuters and The New York Times first reported that Apple (AAPL) had confirmed the new feature. Vice's Motherboard previously reported that Apple was testing the change.

Law enforcement officers have already been quoted opposing the security upgrade:

"If we go back to the situation where we again don't have access, now we know directly all the evidence we've lost and all the kids we can't put into a position of safety," said Chuck Cohen, who leads an Indiana State Police task force on internet crimes against children. The Indiana State Police said it unlocked 96 iPhones for various cases this year, each time with a warrant, using a $15,000 device it bought in March from a company called Grayshift.

[...] Hillar Moore, the district attorney in Baton Rouge, La., said his office had paid Cellebrite thousands of dollars to unlock iPhones in five cases since 2017, including an investigation into the hazing-related death of a fraternity pledge at Louisiana State University. He said the phones had yielded crucial information, and he was upset that Apple planned to close such a useful investigative avenue. "They are blatantly protecting criminal activity, and only under the guise of privacy for their clients," he said.

Original Submission