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aristarchus writes:

The Journal of Controversial Ideas is already, well, controversial. Here's a founder's defense.

News broke last week that philosophers Jeff McMahan, Peter Singer, and Francesca Minerva are planning to start a publication called the Journal of Controversial Ideas, an interdisciplinary academic outlet where scholars will be allowed to present arguments and findings pseudonymously, without fear of damaging their reputation.

Almost immediately, the journal was cast as another volley in the wars over free speech and political correctness on college campuses. Critics mocked it as an attempt by white, privileged academics (while Minerva is a postdoc, Singer and McMahan are both among the most prominent applied ethicists in philosophy) to smuggle reactionary and bigoted views that academics would not feel comfortable airing under their own names. Not helping matters was McMahan's declaration to a reporter that he would be open to publishing an article defending eugenics, if its arguments were of sufficient quality.

"Essentially, it is a safe space, one where authors do not have to deal with feedback or criticism from those at the sharp end of their 'controversial' ideas," Nesrine Malik warned of the journal in a Guardian column. "It is publishing without the responsibility that comes along with that."

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Potentially disastrous Rowhammer bitflips can bypass ECC protections

In early 2015, researchers unveiled Rowhammer, a cutting-edge hack that exploits unfixable physical weaknesses in the silicon of certain types of memory chips to transform data they stored. In the 42 months that have passed since then, an enhancement known as error-correcting code (or ECC) available in higher-end chips was believed to be an absolute defense against potentially disastrous bitflips that changed 0s to 1s and vice versa.

Research published Wednesday has now shattered that assumption.

Dubbed ECCploit, the new Rowhammer attack bypasses ECC protections built into several widely used models of DDR3 chips. The exploit is the product of more than a year of painstaking research that used syringe needles to inject faults into chips and supercooled chips to observe how they responded when bits flipped. The resulting insights, along with some advanced math, allowed researchers in Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam's VUSec group to demonstrate that one of the key defenses against Rowhammer isn't sufficient.

Importantly, the researchers haven't demonstrated that ECCploit works against ECC in DDR4 chips, a newer type of memory chip favored by higher-end cloud services. They also haven't shown that ECCploit can penetrate hypervisors or secondary Rowhammer defenses. Nonetheless, the bypass of ECC is a major milestone that suggests that the threat of Rowhammer continues to evolve and can't easily be discounted.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Cloudflare Sued for Failing to Terminate Repeat Infringers

In a new complaint filed at a California federal court, Cloudflare stands accused of contributing to, aiding, and abetting copyright infringements. The company fails to terminate customers who are repeatedly called out and is therefore liable, the argument goes. The case in question was not filed by Hollywood or the major record labels, but by two manufacturers of wedding dresses.

[...] In 2016 Cloudflare was sued for contributory copyright infringement by adult publisher ALS Scan. This case ended in a confidential settlement this summer, but now there's more trouble on the horizon for the company.

The new threat doesn't come from any of the major entertainment industry players, but from two manufacturers and wholesalers of wedding dresses. Not a typical "piracy" lawsuit, but it's a copyright case that could have broad effects. In a complaint filed at a federal court in California, Mon Cheri Bridals and Maggie Sottero Designs argue that Cloudflare fails to terminate sites of counterfeit vendors after multiple warnings. This makes Cloudflare liable for the associated copyright infringements, they add.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Free press isn't free under White House's onerous rules (Editorial)

Muzzling the press is chapter one in the authoritarian ruler's playbook. By the Founders' design, the president of the United States is not a king or dictator. He doesn't control the media, or get to decide which reporters are assigned to cover him.

A free press isn't free if the government imposes rules on what reporters can ask and how they must ask it. That violates the First Amendment. Period.

Banning reporters from asking follow-up questions or challenging the president's statements, under threat of taking away their access to the White House, hobbles the watchdog function of the media. White House reporters will be looking over their shoulders, calibrating the consequences, every time they ask tough questions. Meanwhile, the president will be able to dodge accountability and lie to the American people with even more impunity.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Apple inks deal with Ex Machina-maker A24 studio to create original films

Apple has lined up another partnership to boost its video-content offerings. According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Apple signed a deal with A24 studio, a New York-based production company responsible for movies, including the 2017 Oscar winner for Best Picture, Moonlight.Sex, violence, drugs get the axe in Apple’s upcoming original content

Details of forthcoming projects haven't been disclosed, but Apple reportedly signed a "multi-year partnership" to make "independent, feature-length films" with A24. Apple has numerous production partnerships and deals in the works already, but most are for serialized shows and other video content.

For the past year, Apple has focused on gleaning talent for its original content offerings. It began with the Carpool Karaoke and Planet of the Apps series, both of which are exclusively available on Apple Music.

[...] But A24's recent popular films—including but not limited to Moonlight, Lady Bird, Hereditary, Ex Machina, and The Disaster Artist, don't seem to fit in with Apple's current content visions. Reports suggest that the iPhone maker wants to avoid content with "gratuitous sex, profanity, or violence," all of which are elements explored in many of today's award-winning and popular films.

How and where Apple will distribute this original content is still unknown. Most of its exclusives live on Apple Music right now, so it could dump everything into its music subscription service or on iTunes. However, reports suggest Apple's rumored TV streaming service—which will be in direct competition with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Hulu—will launch in early 2019.

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martyb writes:

The US CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) are warning of a serious multi-state E. Coli O157:H7 outbreak that has sickened 32 people, caused 11 hospitalizations, and caused a case of hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure.

CDC is advising consumers, restaurants, and retailers not to eat, serve, or sell any romaine lettuce as it investigates an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections linked to romaine.  Read the investigation announcement: https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-11-18/index.html.

[...] Advice to Consumers, Retailers, and Restaurants:

• CDC is advising that U.S. consumers not eat any romaine lettuce, and retailers and restaurants not serve or sell any, until we learn more about the outbreak. This investigation is ongoing and the advice will be updated as more information is available.
• Consumers who have any type of romaine lettuce in their home should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick.
  • This advice includes all types or uses of romaine lettuce, such as whole heads of romaine, hearts of romaine, and bags and boxes of precut lettuce and salad mixes that contain romaine, including baby romaine, spring mix, and Caesar salad.
  • If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine or whether a salad mix contains romaine, do not eat it and throw it away.
• Restaurants and retailers should not serve or sell any romaine lettuce, including salads and salad mixes containing romaine.
• People with symptoms of an E. coli infection, such as severe stomach cramps, diarrhea (often bloody), and vomiting, and think you might have gotten sick from eating romaine lettuce, should talk to their doctor and report their illness to the health department.
• This investigation is ongoing and CDC will provide more information as it becomes available.

As a precautionary measure, they also advise that if you had any Romaine lettuce, to clean your refrigerator and any surfaces with soapy water and then disinfect with a bleach solution.

They emphasize that it is not possible to sufficiently clean any Romaine lettuce you may have as the bacteria can lodge in micro crevices in the lettuce.

Yes, there are more risky things in one's life to worry about. On the other hand, giving up some salad and avoiding a few days of bleeding diarrhea seems a fair trade-off to me.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

ArsTechnica:

We're just one month away from the release of Director James Wan's Aquaman, the first full-length feature film centered around Jason Momoa's Justice League superhero. Now the final trailer has dropped, with all the magical tridents, warrior princesses, and epic CGI battles you'd expect from a superhero movie about averting a mythological war between two very different worlds.

Aquaman first entered the DC Comics universe in a 1941 anthology and later turned into a solo comic book series. He was a founding member of the Justice League during the "Silver Age" of the 1950s and 1960s. But he was never among the most compelling superheroes in the DC stable, often serving as the butt of jokes because of his supposedly inferior super powers. Hey, telepathically communicating with fish is cool, right?

Prediction: Scenes full of pathos over dolphins caught in fishing nets, and outrage over the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. What other important lessons will Aquaman have to teach us?

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

The Trojan horse of Staphylococcus aureus: The infectious bacterium diverts to its advantage a structure set up by human cells, in order to destroy them and invade the organism

Staphylococcus aureus causes different types of infections in humans, some of which are lethal. One of its most powerful weapons is α-toxin, which destroys host cells by forming pores in their membranes. Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, have identified the mechanism that allows these pores to be particularly harmful, by being anchored to contacts sites between cells. The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, uncovers how different proteins of human cells assemble into a complex to which pores are docked, and then molecularly "locked" to stabilize them. The biologists also demonstrate that blocking the assembly of the complex by removing one or the other of its elements allows pores to be removed from the membrane and cells to survive. Identifying the host's cellular mechanisms that contribute to the virulence of toxins is essential to develop therapeutic approaches against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Original Submission

"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have resumed efforts to fight a major Ebola outbreak in eastern Beni region after a brief suspension following clashes.

"Despite deadly attacks .. Ebola response activities are continuing," the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday. 

[...] "Since their arrival in the region, the response teams have faced threats, physical assaults, repeated destruction of their equipment and kidnapping," Oly Ilunga.

On Saturday, a ceremony was held for the peacekeepers who were killed in the previous night's attack.
 
  Fifteen other peacekeepers were killed in an ADF assault on a MONUSCO base in Beni in December 2017.

-- submitted from IRC

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takyon writes:

Researchers defy 19th-century law of physics in 21st century boost for energy efficiency

Research led by a University of Sussex scientist has turned a 156-year-old law of physics on its head in a development which could lead to more efficient recharging of batteries in cars and mobile phones.

Dr Jordi Prat-Camps, a research fellow at the University of Sussex, has for the first time demonstrated that the coupling between two magnetic elements can be made extremely asymmetrical. Working with colleagues from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Innsbruck, Dr Prat-Camps' research rips up the physics rule book by showing it is possible to make one magnet connect to another without the connection happening in the opposite direction.

The findings run contrary to long-established beliefs of magnetic coupling, which emerge from the four Maxwell equations dating back to the seminal works of Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell in the 19th century.

Dr Prat-Camps said: "We have created the first device that behaves like a diode for magnetic fields. Electric diodes are so crucial that none of the existing electronic technologies such as microchips, computers or mobile phones would be possible without them. If our result for magnetic fields would have one millionth of the same impact as the developments in electric diodes, it would be a hugely impactful success. The creation of such a diode opens up a lot of new possibilities for other scientists and technicians to explore. Thanks to our discovery we think it might be possible to improve and the performance of wireless power transfer technologies to improve the efficiency of recharging phones, laptops and even cars."

Circumventing Magnetostatic Reciprocity: A Diode for Magnetic Fields (DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.213903) (DX)

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Dell melts in face of investor dissent, ups offer for Class V stock

Dell Technologies has upped the buy price for Class V stock to win support from shareholders that threatened to block the proposed transaction and hinder the company’s return to the US stock market.

The final per share offer is for $120 in cash, subject to an aggregate $14bn cap, or to swap each unit for between 1.5043 and 1.8130 shares of Class C stock in Dell when it lists again.

The previous $109 per share offer – on the table from July – was dismissed by some investors including corporate raider Carl Icahn, who has since vowed to stop the buy saying it low-balled their value and involved the lawyers.

[...] Class V stock, also known by its stock market ticker DVMT, was created in 2016 to help Dell fund its $67bn buy of EMC. It tracks Dell’s stake in VMware but, as the FT pointed out, the share swap alternative means it can be viewed as a proxy for the value of Dell.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Revisiting the Dystopian L.A. of Sci-Fi Classic They Live, 30 Years Later:

In November of 1988, four days before George H.W. Bush was elected president of the United States, Universal Pictures released They Live, the story of covert alien suppression over the masses. The movie is, arguably, the most topical film of Carpenter’s four-decade career, which includes box-office hits and cult classics like Halloween (1978), Escape from New York (1981), The Thing (1982), and Big Trouble in Little China (1986). Thirty years later, They Live is particularly significant in America’s current social and political climates.

The sci-fi action film is based on Ray Nelson’s short story, “Eight O’Clock in the Morning” (1963), and Bill Wray’s subsequent comic adaption, “Nada” (1986). In Nelson’s story, George Nada awakes from being hypnotized and can suddenly see people transform into alien beings that are unsuspectingly controlling the human race.

John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’ Was Supposed to Be a Warning. We Didn’t Heed It. We Didn’t Even Understand It.:

In 1978, John Carpenter wrote and directed a movie about a mysterious, hulking loner who comes to town and slays innocent victims. Ten years later, he made another movie about a mysterious, hulking loner who comes to town, only this guy waited to kick ass until he was all out of bubblegum.

There are other obvious differences between Halloween and They Live,two of the most beloved films by one of the all-time great genre auteurs. But here’s the one that matters most: Halloween became a popular horror franchise that now includes 11 films released over the course of 40 years, including the forthcoming reboot due October 19.

They Live, meanwhile, sort of became reality.

Drones in the sky, conspiracies in our heads, militarized police in the streets, economic inequality in every corner of society, media that seeks to control our minds: The terror of They Live is more tangible and primal in 2018 than a slasher movie could ever be. Is that an overly grandiose way of describing a cheesy, semi-self-aware ’80s action flick? Am I projecting outsize cultural importance onto a cult classic starring a professional wrestler who utters awesome one-liners like, “Brother, life’s a bitch ... and she’s back in heat”? Have I been wearing these magical sunglasses for too long?

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

For some Northeast cities, high temperatures on Thanksgiving could be close to the coldest on record no matter what day of the month the holiday was celebrated (e.g. Nov. 22, Nov. 24, Nov. 26, etc.).

New York City has only had three Thanksgivings dating to 1870 when the high temperature failed to rise out of the 20s, according to National Weather Service statistics. The coldest was a high of 26 degrees on Nov. 28, 1901.

While this year may not touch that record in the Big Apple, it could still be just the fourth time when the high on Thanksgiving is only in the 20s.

In southern New England, Boston could come within a couple of degrees of its coldest Thanksgiving high of 24 degrees, also set Nov. 28, 1901.

https://weather.com/forecast/regional/news/2018-11-18-thanksgiving-day-record-cold-northeast

Possibly related:

Solar Minimum is Coming

Noone has seen a sunspot since October 21: http://www.sidc.be/silso/datafiles#total

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Database leak exposes millions of two-factor codes and reset links sent by SMS

Millions of SMS text messages—many containing one-time passcodes, password reset links, and plaintext passwords—were exposed in an Internet-accessible database that could be read or monitored by anyone who knew where to look, TechCrunch has reported.Password breach teaches Reddit that, yes, phone-based 2FA is that bad

The discovery comes after years of rebukes from security practitioners that text messages are a woefully unsuitable medium for transmitting two-factor authentication (2FA) data. Despite those rebukes, SMS-based 2FA continues to be offered by banks such as Bank of America, cellular carriers such as T-Mobile, and a host of other businesses.

The leaky database belonged to Voxox, a service that claims to process billions of calls and text messages monthly. TechCrunch said that Berlin-based researcher Sébastien Kaul used the Shodan search engine for publicly available devices and databases to find the messages. The database stored texts that were sent through a gateway Voxox provided to businesses that wanted an automated way to send data for password resets and other types of account management by SMS. The database provided a portal that showed two-factor codes and resent links being sent in near real-time, making it potentially possible for attackers who accessed the server to obtain data that would help them hijack other people's accounts.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Amazon exposed customer names and emails in a 'technical error'

Amazon exposed some customers' names and emails due to a "technical error," according to emails the company sent to affected customers. Several people shared screenshots of the emails online Wednesday morning. BetaNews first reported the incident.

In a statement, Amazon said, "We have fixed the issue and informed customers who may have been impacted."

Despite the exposure, Amazon told the affected customers they did not need to change their passwords. But even with just their names and emails exposed, people could attempt to reset their accounts or target their emails for phishing attacks.

Also at The Register.

US Christmas sales predicted to surpass $1 trillion for the first time this year

Christmas holiday retail sales in the U.S. are expected to climb above the $1 trillion mark for the first time this year, on the back of low unemployment, solid income growth and higher consumer confidence, according to a study released Tuesday.

Total retail sales in the U.S. will hit $1.002 trillion during the holiday period — which it defines as spanning November 1 and December 31 this year — an increase of almost 6 percent from the previous year, marking the "strongest growth since 2011," data from market research firm eMarketer showed.

[...] The research said the sector would see a 4.4 percent gain year-on-year in in-store sales, rising to $878.38 billion, and that brick-and-mortar would be a "bright spot" for the retail industry as a whole for the 2018 Christmas holiday period. [...] E-commerce continues to grow in market share, however, and will capture 12.3 percent of the total sales figure this year, according to eMarketer. Online retail sales are predicted to rise 16.6 percent from the previous year, to $123.73 billion, the study said.

See also: Amazon reverses decision to block international sites in Australia

Original Submission