SoylentNews

Gentoo Linux GitHub Mirror Compromised, Taken Offline

DarkMorph writes:

From https://www.gentoo.org/news/2018/06/28/Github-gentoo-org-hacked.html

Today 28 June at approximately 20:20 UTC unknown individuals have gained control of the Github Gentoo organization, and modified the content of repositories as well as pages there. We are still working to determine the exact extent and to regain control of the organization and its repositories. All Gentoo code hosted on github should for the moment be considered compromised.

This does NOT affect any code hosted on the Gentoo infrastructure. Since the master Gentoo ebuild repository is hosted on our own infrastructure and since Github is only a mirror for it, you are fine as long as you are using rsync or webrsync from gentoo.org.

Also, the gentoo-mirror repositories including metadata are hosted under a separate Github organization and likely not affected as well.

All Gentoo commits are signed, and you should verify the integrity of the signatures when using git.

File-Wiping Malware Placed Inside Gentoo Linux Code After GitHub Account Hack

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for BoyceMagooglyMonkey

An unknown hacker has temporarily taken control over the GitHub account of the Gentoo Linux organization and embedded malicious code inside the operating system's distributions that would delete user files.

Source: File-Wiping Malware Placed Inside Gentoo Linux Code After GitHub Account Hack

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

cubancigar11 writes:

Bitcoin Bloodbath Nears Dot-Com Levels as Many Tokens Go to Zero

Bitcoin's meteoric rise last year had many observers calling it one of the biggest speculative manias in history. The cryptocurrency's 2018 crash may help cement its place in the bubble record books.

Down 70 percent from its December high after sliding for a fourth straight day on Friday, Bitcoin is getting ever-closer to matching the Nasdaq Composite Index's 78 percent peak-to-trough plunge after the U.S. dot-com bubble burst. Hundreds of other virtual coins have all but gone to zero -- following the same path as Pets.com and other red-hot initial public offerings that flamed out in the early 2000s.

While Bitcoin has bounced back from bigger losses before, it's far from clear that it can repeat the feat now that much of the world knows about cryptocurrencies and has made up their mind on whether to invest. Bulls point to the Nasdaq's eventual recovery and say institutional investors represent a massive pool of potential cryptocurrency buyers, but regulatory and security concerns have so far kept most big money managers on the sidelines.

The story sounds alarming but I would like to know the take of Soylentils.

Also at Quartz, CNBC, Fortune, and Cointelegraph.

See also: El-Erian calls bitcoin a buy if its price falls below $5,000
Bitcoin Hasn't Lost Its Way – It's Just Getting Started
All the Ways You Can Lose Your Bitcoin
Op-Ed: Challenge of Mining Centralization Unveils Bitcoin's Elegant Design

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44604280

Harley-Davidson plans to shift some motorcycle production away from the US to avoid the "substantial" burden of European Union tariffs.

Last week, the EU imposed retaliatory tariffs on US goods, including bourbon, orange juice and motorcycles.

The measures are a response to new US duties on steel and aluminium imports.

Wisconsin-based Harley-Davidson said the increased cost from the tariffs threaten its international sales, which it has been trying to expand.

The company has assembly plants in Australia, Brazil, India and Thailand as well as in the US.

It said it would raise investment in its international plants, though it did not say which ones.

"To address the substantial cost of this tariff burden long-term, Harley-Davidson will be implementing a plan to shift production of motorcycles for EU destinations from the US to its international facilities to avoid the tariff burden," the company said.

Harley-Davidson said it expected the ramp-up in production to take nine to 18 months.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Sulla

Kroger announced plans Thursday to partner with driverless car company Nuro to deliver groceries using its autonomous vehicles.

The partnership comes as the largest U.S. grocery players continue to tackle the expensive challenge of "last mile delivery" — the final step in getting a product to a shopper's home. It is a feat that is particularly perilous when dealing with fragile products like fresh food. It is further complicated by populations that vary wildly across the U.S., with some far less dense that others.

[...] Earlier this month, [Kroger] said that digital sales for the past quarter had grown 66 percent.

"We cannot just rely on physical stores to reach all of our customers for delivery and and pick-up," said Yael Cosset, Kroger's chief digital officer, in an interview with CNBC.

Kroger has more than 2,800 stores across the U.S., under banners like Fred Meyer, Ralph's and Harris Teeter.

[...] Kroger and Nuro will begin their partnership this fall. Cosset did not detail a timeline, but did say it would be "aggressive." It will experiment with the technology in areas that both overlap with and are separate from where it plans to build out its Ocado warehouses.

[...] In its earlier days, shoppers will need to schedule windows of delivery in advance, but Dave Ferguson, Nuro's co-founder, said he envisions a longer-term model through which shoppers order more on-demand. Nuro also plans partnerships with other retailers beyond Kroger, which it may build by sharing a cut of the revenue.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/27/kroger-to-soon-begin-driverless-grocery-delivery.html

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for BoyceMagooglyMonkey

The personal details and payment card data of guests from hundreds of hotels, if not more, have been stolen this month by an unknown attacker, Bleeping Computer has learned. The data was taken from FastBooking, a Paris-based company that sells hotel booking software to more than 4,000 hotels in 100 countries —as it claims on its website.

In emails the company sent out to affected hotels today, FastBooking revealed the breach took place on June 14, when an attacker used a vulnerability in an application hosted on its server to install a malicious tool (malware). This tool allowed the intruder remote access to the server, which he used to exfiltrate data. The incident came to light when FastBooking employees discovered this malicious tool on its server.

According to FastBooking, the intruder stole information such as a hotel guests' first and last names, nationality, postal addresses, email addresses, and hotel booking-related information (hotel name, check-in, and check-out details). In some cases, but not all, the intruder also obtained payment card details were also stolen, such as the name printed on the payment card, the card's number, and its expiration date. Not all of FastBooking's customers were impacted the same. The attacker stole just guest details from some hotels, payment card details from others, or both in other cases.

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hundreds-of-hotels-affected-by-data-breach-at-hotel-booking-software-provider/

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Access Now's partners have confirmed that the Tor network — a widely used tool allowing users to browse the internet anonymously — was blocked in Venezuela last week over the government-owned internet service provider CANTV, by far the largest ISP in the country.

Direct access traffic on the Tor network steadily increased in Venezuela over the past two months, and even more sharply this month via Tor bridges — alongside a new wave of online censorship from the Maduro government. These most recent blocks have affected several major Venezuelan news outlets, including El Nacional and La Patilla, among others.

While previous online censorship in Venezuela could often be avoided by switching DNS settings from a local Venezuelan server to an international service (like Google's public DNS), this has not been possible for the most recent blocks. Instead, people have needed to rely on using virtual private networks (VPNs) and Tor to circumvent government censorship. This increased use of Tor to access blocked content is likely what triggered these new restrictions to the tool.

"It seems that the government of Venezuela has found out how to do a very sophisticated block for the Tor network. It's not only on the direct access channels, but also the bridges Tor provides to bypass that blocking," said Melanio Escobar, Venezuelan technologist and journalist, and founder of Redes Ayuda. "The government is moving forward to be as closed as China or Iran."

"This is the latest escalation in Venezuela's internet censorship efforts, as it blocks higher-profile sites with more sophisticated methods. This is one of their boldest internet censorship actions yet," said Andrés Azpúrua, Director of Venezuela Inteligente, an organization documenting technical evidence of the Tor block and other censorship events in Venezuela through its project VE sin Filtro. Reports further analyzing the technical details of the Tor network block are forthcoming.

Source: https://www.accessnow.org/venezuela-blocks-tor/

Original Submission

takyon writes:

JAXA's Hayabusa2 spacecraft has begun orbiting asteroid 162173 Ryugu at a distance of about 20 kilometers:

JAXA confirmed Hayabusa2, JAXA's asteroid explorer rendezvoused with Ryugu, the target asteroid.

On June 27, 2018, JAXA operated Hayabusa2 chemical propulsion thrusters for the spacecraft's orbit control.*

The confirmation of the Hayabusa2 rendezvous made at 9:35 a.m. (Japan Standard Time, JST) is based on the following data analyses;

·The thruster operation of Hayabusa2 occurred nominally
·The distance between Hayabusa2 and Ryugu is approximately 20 kilometers
·Hayabusa2 is able to maintain a constant distance to asteroid Ryugu
·The status of Hayabusa2 is normal

Also at Spaceflight Now.

Previously: Hayabusa2 Approaches Asteroid Ryugu

Original Submission

"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

In a corner of SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, California, a small, secretive group called Ad Astra is hard at work. These are not the company's usual rocket scientists. At the direction of Elon Musk, they are tackling ambitious projects involving flamethrowers, robots, nuclear politics, and defeating evil AIs.

Those at Ad Astra still find time for a quick game of dodgeball at lunch, however, because the average age within this group is just 10 years old.

Ad Astra encompasses students, not employees. For the past four years, this experimental non-profit school has been quietly educating Musk's sons, the children of select SpaceX employees, and a few high-achievers from nearby Los Angeles. It started back in 2014, when Musk pulled his five young sons out of one of Los Angeles' most prestigious private schools for gifted children. Hiring one of his sons' teachers, the CEO founded Ad Astra to "exceed traditional school metrics on all relevant subject matter through unique project-based learning experiences," according to a previously unreported document filed with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

"I just didn't see that the regular schools were doing the things that I thought should be done," he told a Chinese TV station in 2015. "So I thought, well let's see what we can do. Maybe creating a school will be better."

In an atmosphere closer to a venture capital incubator than a traditional school, today's Ad Astra students undertake challenging technical projects, trade using their own currency, and can opt out of subjects they don't enjoy. Children from 7 to 14 years old work together in teams, with few formal assessments and no grades handed out.

Ad Astra's principal hopes that the school will revolutionize education in the same way Tesla has disrupted transportation, and SpaceX the rocket industry. But as Musk's sons near graduation age, the future of Ad Astra is unclear. Will Musk maintain interest in the school once his children move on? And even if he does, can a school of fewer than 40 students ever be anything more than a high-tech crèche for already-privileged children?

-- submitted from IRC

Original Submission

"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Windows 98 turns 20 today. However, rose-tinted spectacles still don't make a hybrid 16 and 32 bit OS tottering on top of MS-DOS any more appealing.

While Windows NT 4.0 pointed to a future free from MS-DOS, the majority of the Windows user base simply did not have the hardware to run much more than a jumped-up version of Windows 95. Thus Windows 98 appeared to bridge the gap.

Codenamed Memphis, the first beta of Windows 98 arrived in 1996 with the final Release To Manufacturing (RTM – remember those?) version appearing two years later. USB support came as standard (and memorably exploded live on stage) along with a range of functions intended as a nod to that World Wide Web thing. Applications such as Outlook Express, FrontPage Express and a personal web server appeared as part of the installation.

Windows 98 customers were also treated to the joy that was Internet Explorer 4.01, along with the Active Desktop, which allowed HTML content (such as news headlines) to be shown on the user's desktop at the cost of prodigious amounts of CPU and RAM. This integration of Internet Explorer with the operating system would come to haunt Microsoft in later years as anti-trust litigation kicked off in earnest the month before the OS launched.

Microsoft also quietly introduced the Windows Driver Model (WDM) in Windows 98 as a way to create drivers that would work over the software giant's disparate operating systems. Unlike the previous VxD model, which allowed a driver to stomp all over kernel memory, WDMs were somewhat better behaved and lived on to see the release of Windows Vista.

Windows 98 is regarded as the pinnacle of the Windows 9x era, with an update shipping the following year in the form of Windows 98 SE (Second Edition) including a number of minor enhancements such as the inclusion of Internet Explorer 5. The final iteration, the much derided Windows ME, arrived in 2000.

The Windows 98 era also serves as a timely reminder that Microsoft was not always the caring, sharing behemoth it purports to be today. At the time, Microsoft trumpeted its Java implementation as being the fastest for Windows. However, a failure to implement the Java 1.1 standard to the satisfaction of Sun Microsystems, the creator of Java, led to a sueball being lobbed in 1997.

-- submitted from IRC

Original Submission

[Update (06:00 EDT / 10:00 UTC): Launch was a success. Dragon module separated cleanly and is on route to the ISS.]

CRS-15 Mission Overview (PDF)

SpaceX is targeting Friday, June 29 for an instantaneous launch of its fifteenth Commercial Resupply Services mission (CRS-15) at 5:42 a.m. EDT, or 9:42 UTC, from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Dragon will separate from Falcon 9's second stage about nine minutes and thirty seconds after liftoff and attach to the space station on Monday, July 2. An instantaneous backup launch opportunity is available on Sunday, July 1 at 4:54 a.m. EDT, or 8:54 UTC.

Both Falcon 9 and the Dragon spacecraft for the CRS-15 mission are flight-proven. Falcon 9's first stage previously supported the TESS mission in April 2018, and Dragon previously supported the CRS-9 mission in July 2016. SpaceX will not attempt to recover Falcon 9's first stage after launch.

Follow along on the YouTube Live Stream.

takyon writes:

The interstellar space rock that mystified astronomers is actually a comet

A mysterious space rock, first spotted in 2017, bewildered astronomers — was it an icy comet, a rocky asteroid, or something entirely new? As the object, called 'Oumuamua, hurtles away from us, the mystery may be solved: it's accelerating like a comet.

Researchers tracked the space rock's trajectory on its way out of this solar system, using telescopes on the ground and the powerful Hubble Space Telescope to keep watch even as the interstellar visitor faded out of [sight]. They discovered that 'Oumuamua's speed couldn't just be the result of gravity. It was accelerating — which could be explained by gas puffing out of the sun-warmed end of a comet, the team reports today in the journal Nature [DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0254-4] [DX].

'Oumuamua.

Also at ESA and ESA/Hubble.

Previously: Interstellar Asteroid Named: Oumuamua
ESO Observations Show First Interstellar Asteroid is Like Nothing Seen Before
Oumuamua Likely Originated in the Local Association (Pleiades Moving Group)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Belize praised for 'visionary' steps to save coral reef

World heritage body Unesco has removed the Belize Barrier Reef from its list of endangered World Heritage Sites after nine years. It said the government of the Central American country had taken "visionary" steps to preserve it.

The reef is the second largest in the world after Australia's Great Barrier Reef. It is home to many threatened species including marine turtles, manatees and the American marine crocodile.

Unesco added the reef to its list of world heritage sites in 1996 but said it was in danger in 2009 following plans by the Belize government to allow oil exploration in nearby waters. [...] In December 2017, lawmakers passed a landmark moratorium on oil exploration in Belizean waters, which makes it one of only a handful of countries in the world with such legislation.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Google Duplex really works and testing begins this summer

In a restaurant in Mountain View, California yesterday, Google gave several small groups of journalists a chance to demo Duplex. If you don't recall, Duplex is the AI system designed to make human-sounding voice calls on your behalf so as to automate things like booking restaurant tables and hair appointments. In the demo, we saw what it would be like for a restaurant to receive a phone call — and in fact each of us in turn took a call from Duplex as it tried to book a reservation.

The briefings were in service of the news that Google is about to begin limited testing "in the coming weeks." If you're hoping that means you'll be able to try it yourself, sorry: Google is starting with "a set of trusted tester users," according to Nick Fox, VP of product and design for the Google Assistant. It will also be limited to businesses that Google has partnered with rather than any old restaurant.

The rollout will be phased, in other words. First up will be calls about holiday hours, then restaurant reservations will come later this summer, and then finally hair cut appointments will be last. Those are the only three domains that Google has trained Duplex on.

The demos we saw had many of the same elements that made the original demonstration at Google IO so impressive: the voice sounded much more human than normal, complete with ums and ahhs. It also featured something we didn't hear last May: each call started with an explicit statement that the call was being recorded. There were a few variations on the disclosure, but they all included some indication that you were talking to a machine and the call was being recorded. For example, one call began with "Hi, I'm calling to make a reservation. I'm Google's automated booking service, so I'll record the call. Uh, can I book a table for Sunday the first?"

Also at Ars Technica.

Previously: Google Duplex: an AI that Can Make Phone Calls on Your Behalf

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Google invests $22 million in the OS powering Nokia feature phones

Google is investing $22 million into KaiOS, the feature phone operating system that has risen from the ashes of Mozilla's Firefox OS. While Google rules the smartphone world with Android, KaiOS is slowly emerging as a popular choice for feature phones, particularly in emerging markets. KaiOS started last year as a forked version of Firefox OS, and the operating system ships on some Nokia-branded feature phones like the Nokia 8110. Devices from TCL and Micromax are also powered by KaiOS.

Google's investment might seem odd given its Android dominance, and its efforts with Android Go, but it's clearly strategic. "Google and KaiOS have also agreed to work together to make the Google Assistant, Google Maps, YouTube, and Google Search available to KaiOS users," says KaiOS CEO Sebastien Codeville.

I always liked the ideas behind Firefox OS, but the promised $10 to $25 smartphone never materialized. Would you use a KaiOS phone?

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666

Research finds four keys to piercing skin without hurting

Researchers at The Ohio State University believe we can learn from nature's design of the mosquito to create a painless microneedle for medical purposes.

"Mosquitoes must be doing something right if they can pierce our skin and draw blood without causing pain," said Bharat Bhushan, Ohio Eminent Scholar and Howard D. Winbigler Professor of mechanical engineering at Ohio State.

"We can use what we have learned from mosquitoes as a starting point to create a better microneedle."

In a recently published paper, Bhushan and his colleagues reported on their detailed analysis of the mosquito's proboscis -- the part that feeds on us. They identified four keys to how the insects pierce us without pain: use of a numbing agent; a serrated design to the "needle"; vibration during the piercing; and a combination of soft and hard parts on the proboscis.

Lessons from mosquitoes' painless piercing (DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2018.05.025) (DX)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Flight attendants get more uterine, thyroid and other cancers, study finds

A flight attendant's life may look glamorous, but the job comes with health hazards that go beyond managing surly passengers. As a group, they get certain cancers more than the general population, according to a new study.

Scientists have long found that flight attendants get more breast cancer and melanoma. The new study, published Monday in the journal Environmental Health [open, DOI: 10.1186/s12940-018-0396-8], saw the same trend and detected a higher prevalence of every other cancer the researchers examined: Non-melanoma skin cancer, uterine, gastrointestinal, cervical and thyroid cancers were all seen at a higher rate in flight attendants.

"Something that somewhat surprised us, to some extent, was that we also saw a higher instance of breast cancer in women with three or more children," said study co-author Irina Mordukhovich, a research associate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Typically, the more children a woman has, the lower her risk of breast cancer. A previous study showed a result similar to the new breast cancer finding [open, DOI: 10.1093/jtm/taw055] [DX], she said, but Mordukhovich didn't expect those findings would be replicated. "Women with three or more children are already probably not getting enough sleep," Mordukhovich said. "Combine that with this disruption from the job, especially for those who fly internationally, this may be an indication that the circadian rhythm disruption is having an impact."

Original Submission