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"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The wireless Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of devices in which each device can directly send information to another over wireless channels of communication, without human intervention. With the number of IoT devices increasing every day, the amount of information on the wireless channels is also increasing. This is causing congestion over the network, leading to loss of information due to interference and the failure of information delivery. Research to solve this problem of congestion is ongoing, and the most widely accepted and applied solution is the "multi-channel" technology. In this technology, information transmission is distributed among various parallel channels based on the traffic in a particular channel at a given time.

But, at present, optimal information transmission channels are selected using algorithms that cannot be supported by most existing IoT devices because these are resource-constrained; i.e., they have low storage capacity and low processing power, and must be power-saving while remaining in operation for long periods of time. In a recent study published in Applied Sciences, a group of scientists from the Tokyo University of Science and Keio University, Japan, propose the use of a machine-learning algorithm, based on the tug-of-war model (which is a fundamental model, earlier proposed by Professor Song-Ju Kim from Keio University, that is used to solve such problems as that of how to distribute information across channels), to select channels. "We realized that this algorithm could be applied to IoT devices, and we decided to implement it and experiment with it," Professor Mikio Hasegawa, the lead scientist from the Tokyo University of Science, says.

-- submitted from IRC

Jing Ma, So Hasegawa, Song-Ju Kim, Mikio Hasegawa. A Reinforcement-Learning-Based Distributed Resource Selection Algorithm for Massive IoT. Applied Sciences, 2019; 9 (18): 3730 DOI: 10.3390/app9183730

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

Great apes pass a false-belief test, hinting at a theory of mind

Theory of mind is the recognition that others have mental states, just as you do. It is the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes, to acknowledge that their mental state—their beliefs, their perspectives, how their experiences have shaped them—differs from your own. And therefore that, when people act a certain way, they are responding not to an objective reality but to their own particular perceptions of that reality, which are likely not the same as yours.

False-belief understanding lies at the crux of this concept. It involves understanding when another person has a mistaken belief, and a prerequisite for that understanding is figuring out what the other person believes. And now there's some evidence that we're not the only species with it.

Humans possess this theory of mind, along with its all-important false-belief understanding. But it is still an open question whether humans alone possess it. Our closest relatives, the great apes—bonobos, chimpanzees, and orangutans—have exhibited theory of mind in some experiments.

But it is possible that these other primates achieved this result by reading others' behaviors instead of their minds. Now, Josep Call, who studies great apes as a means to determine how cognition evolves, gave the animals something called "the goggles test" and concluded that yes, they do have false-belief understanding.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

Empathy Is Tearing Us Apart

There are people who believe that the political polarization now afflicting the United States might finally start to subside if Americans of both parties could somehow become more empathetic. If you're one of these people, the American Political Science Review has sobering news for you.

Last week APSR—one of the alpha journals in political science—published a study^[$] which found that "empathic concern does not reduce partisan animosity in the electorate and in some respects even exacerbates it."

The study had two parts. In the first part, Americans who scored high on an empathy scale showed higher levels of "affective polarization"—defined as the difference between the favorability rating they gave their political party and the rating they gave the opposing party. In the second part, undergraduates were shown a news story about a controversial speaker from the opposing party visiting a college campus. Students who had scored higher on the empathy scale were more likely to applaud efforts to deny the speaker a platform.

It gets worse. These high-empathy students were also more likely to be amused by reports that students protesting the speech had injured a bystander sympathetic to the speaker. That's right: According to this study, people prone to empathy are prone to schadenfreude.

This study is urgently important—though not because it's a paradigm shifter, shedding radically new light on our predicament. As the authors note, their findings are in many ways consistent with conclusions reached by other scholars in recent years. But the view of empathy that's emerging from this growing body of work hasn't much trickled down to the public. And public understanding of it may be critical to shifting America's political polarization into reverse somewhere between here and the abyss.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

Apple will fix macOS flaw exposing portions of encrypted emails

Apple is touting its claimed privacy advantage more than ever, but that's not entirely true for Mac users at the moment. The company tells Engadget it will fix a macOS flaw that leaves portions of encrypted Mail messages unprotected. Bob Gentler has discovered that a database file used by Siri (snippets.db) was storing text from emails that were otherwise supposed to be protected -- even if you remove the private key that prevents you from reading the app in Mail. While it's not the full message, it could still pose problems if a hacker has access to your system and is trawling for sensitive info.

The vulnerability exists in at least the last four versions of macOS, ranging from Sierra to Catalina.

This isn't as glaring a flaw as it sounds. To be vulnerable, you'd have to use Mail, send encrypted messages from Mail and leave FileVault's whole-drive encryption turned off. If you rely on a third-party email client or use FileVault, you're not affected. You can also remove Mail from snippets.db by going to System Preferences > Siri > Siri Suggestions & Privacy > Mail and switching off the "learn from this app" option. It's not clear when the patch will be ready, but you won't have to stay exposed in the meantime.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for chromas

DarkUniverse APT Uses Just-in-Time Malware Creation

A threat actor that has been active for at least eight years has been creating new malware samples just before delivering them to victims, Kaspersky Lab reports. 

Dubbed DarkUniverse, the adversary is described as the 27th function of a ShadowBrokers script that was included in the 2017 'Lost in Translation' leak and which was designed to check for traces of other APTs on the victim machine.

Code overlaps suggest that the hackers are likely part of the ItaDuke set of activities initially detailed in 2013, Kaspersky's security researchers say. 

The group appears to have been active between 2009 and 2017, and the employed malware samples reveal a variety of changes, with the most recent samples being totally different from the older ones. 

The malware was being disseminated using spear phishing emails. The messages were carefully tailored for each victim, to entice them into opening an attached malicious Microsoft Office document. An executable file embedded in the document would then begin the malicious routine, which started with dropping two files onto the system. 

The first is the updater.mod module, which is implemented as a dynamic-link library with only one exported function, and which ensures communication with the command and control (C&C) server. The second file is glue30.dll, a module that provides keylogging functionality. 

Persistence was achieved through a link file placed in the startup folder. 

Also at BleepingComputer

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1337

James Dean, who died in 1955, just landed a new movie role, thanks to CGI

James Dean is making his return to the big screen more than 60 years after dying in a car crash, thanks to two VFX companies.

Finding Jack is a movie set within the Vietnam-era that is "based on the existence and abandonment of more than 10,000 military dogs at the end of the Vietnam War," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Dean isn't the leading role, but his performance as "Rogan" is "considered a secondary lead role," according to the Reporter. Finding Jack marks the first movie that Dean will star in since Giant in 1956, just one year after his iconic role as Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause.

Magic City Films, the company producing the movie, obtained the rights to Dean's image from his family. The goal is to re-create "a realistic version of James Dean," the film's directors told the Reporter. To do so, they're working with Canadian VFX studio Imagine Engine and South African VFX company MOI Worldwide. Dean's body will be fully re-created using CGI technology, and another actor will voice his lines.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for soylent_aqua

QNAP Warns Users to Secure Devices Against QSnatch Malware

Network-attached storage (NAS) maker QNAP urges customers to secure their NAS devices against an ongoing malicious campaign that infects them with QSnatch malware capable of stealing user credentials.

QNAP advises users to install the latest version of the Malware Remover app for the QTS operating system running on the company's NAS devices as soon as possible.

Malware Remover 3.5.4.0 and 4.5.4.0 versions are now capable of removing QSnatch after new rules were added by the company updated it on November 1.

"Users are urged to install the latest version of the Malware Remover app from QTS App Center or by manual downloading from the QNAP website," says QNAP.

"Users are advised to take actions listed in the security advisory or, alternatively, contact QNAP for technical assistance. Instructions for creating a support request can be found here."

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

Little-known aspect of US copyright law means creators can reclaim their work

The Hollywood Reporter recently ran an article by Eriq Gardner entitled "Real-Life 'Terminator': Major Studios Face Sweeping Loss of Iconic '80s Film Franchise Rights," which is certainly an attention-demanding headline. Some of the franchise properties referred to in Gardner's piece are worth – without exaggeration – billions of dollars to the studios.

Money, in copyright-land, has the attribute of making things happen. Long story short, the creators of the original works underlying these now-classic films are making use of a relatively little-known (and little understood) aspect of US copyright law, known as "termination of transfers." Through this, creators can reclaim their rights from the studios to whom they sold them long ago (and perhaps sell them again, either to the same studios or to someone else).

Before we dive deeper into those particular film instances, we should back up a bit and look at the larger context of the two termination sections of Title 17 of the U.S. Code (comprising the US copyright statute) and what Congress had in mind when they inserted them.

There's no way, in a brief blog post, to substitute for a full study of this topic, but I'll provide a few helpful links along the way for readers who may wish to wade into the deeper end of this pool.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

The Hidden Cost of Gold: Birth Defects and Brain Damage

CIDAHU, Indonesia — Thousands of children with crippling birth defects. Half a million people poisoned. A toxic chemical found in the food supply. Accusations of a government cover-up and police officers on the take.

This is the legacy of Indonesia's mercury trade, a business intertwined with the lucrative and illegal production of gold.

More than a hundred nations have joined a global campaign to reduce the international trade in mercury, an element so toxic there is "no known safe level of exposure," according to health experts.

But that effort has backfired in Indonesia, where illicit backyard manufacturers have sprung up to supply wildcat miners and replace mercury that was previously imported from abroad. Now, Indonesia produces so much black-market mercury that it has become a major global supplier, surreptitiously shipping thousands of tons to other parts of the world.

Much of the mercury is destined for use in gold mining in Africa and Asia, passing through hubs such as Dubai and Singapore, according to court records — and the trade has deadly consequences.

"It is a public health crisis," said Yuyun Ismawati, a co-founder of an Indonesian environmental group, Nexus3 Foundation, and a recipient of the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize. She has called for a worldwide ban on using mercury in gold mining.

Mercury can be highly dangerous as it accumulates up the food chain, causing a wide range of disorders, including birth defects, neurological problems and even death.

Today, despite the risks, small-scale miners using mercury operate in about 80 countries in Asia, Africa and the Americas. They produce up to 25 percent of all gold sold.

Original Submission

Gaaark writes:

Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the water, you find that birds in Australia have learned to use fire to set fires; all in the name of the circle of life.

"FOR THOUSANDS of years Australia's indigenous people have spoken about 'firehawk' raptors that intentionally spread bushfires in order to corner their prey.

Now, a new study has documented and confirmed the bizarre ritual of these firehawks, finding that at least three raptor species "act as propagators" of wild fire."

The birds will "pick up smoldering grass and sticks from raging bushfires and transport them up to a kilometre away". They use these 'tools' to set fires in non-burning areas to start a frenzy of small animals running for safety; or, out of the fire and into the frying pan.

Time for small animals everywhere to unite and form their own fire departments... Volunteers only, please.

https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2018/01/this-is-why-aussie-firehawk-raptors-are-spreading-bushfires/

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for carny

This Ubuntu 19.10 Bug Shares Your Media Folders Without Warning

A major bug in Ubuntu 19.10 could be automatically sharing the contents of your Pictures, Video and Music folders with other users on the same network.

The problem is caused by Ubuntu’s new media sharing feature (powered [by] the Rygel media server) which is supposed to [be] disabled by default.

But scores of users running Ubuntu 19.10 in a non-GNOME Shell/Ubuntu session report that rygel autostarts on log in, with no warning or indication provided that it is running in the background.

As a result, the full contents of ~/Photos, ~/Videos and ~/Music folders are accessible on local area network, (LAN), i.e, available to anyone and anything else connected to the same Wi-Fi point.

And that’s not good if you live in a house with others, especially with a content discovery device like a smart tv or games console active at the same time you are.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

First, I debated whether to put this on stack exchange or here, but it seems like it is a tech question that suits this site fine.

Background
I have a room with a 115 V, 6000 BTU window AC unit plugged into one outlet. Then a bunch of electronics (~800 W measured) plugged into a 1500 VA, 900 W UPS plugged in to a second outlet across the room. Finally, I have two 50 W strands of Christmas lights in series (100 W total) I tried to plug into various outlets around the room.

Problem
The first problem is that whenever the room gets too hot, the compressor for the AC unit turns on and the Christmas lights will all flicker. This is not just an annoyance, because the first strand of lights I had in the room actually got burned out one by one, starting at the light closest to the wall outlet.

So I got another strand and was surprised to see the flickering happens even if they are plugged into the UPS (which does have an internal automatic voltage regulator). This made me concerned for the electronics plugged into the UPS, which includes a PC and monitors. However, I do not notice any flicker on the monitor when the compressor turns on. On the other hand, I have been getting some strange pc crashes lately (which would make some sense because only recently did it cool enough for the AC to not be running constantly) that may be related. This could also be due to installing a second gpu recently, etc though.

Questions
I have two main questions:

1) What is the best way to stop the flickering?
2) If the lights are flickering even when plugged into the UPS, should I also be concerned about the other electronics that are obviously also experiencing a momentary power reduction?

Some secondary questions:

3) Does it make sense to put another AVR between the UPS and the wall, eg something like this?

4) Is there something I can put between the AC unit and the wall to help?

5) This is a rental so I would prefer not to do any maintenance on the AC unit, but is this an issue you would report to the landlord?

Any ideas?

Original Submission

takyon writes:

White House warns Congress about Artemis funding

The White House warned Congress in a recent letter that without funding increases for its exploration programs, NASA won't be able to achieve the goal of landing humans on the moon in 2024.

The Oct. 23 letter from Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, addressed overall issues with appropriations bills that Shelby's committee had approved in recent weeks, including the Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) bill that funds NASA.

"The Administration appreciates the Committee's continued support for space exploration, reflected in the $22.8 billion provided in the bill for NASA," Vought wrote in the letter, first reported by Ars Technica.

He took issue, though, with the funding provided for exploration research and development, which includes work on lunar landers and the lunar Gateway. "However, the $1.6 billion provided for exploration research and development (R&D) is insufficient to fully fund the lander system that astronauts would use to return to the Moon in 2024," he wrote. "Funding exploration R&D at the $2.3 billion level requested in the FY 2020 Budget is needed to support the Administration's goal of returning to the Moon by 2024."

From the Ars Technica article:

Congress has mandated that NASA use the more costly SLS[*] booster to launch the ambitious Europa Clipper mission to Jupiter in the early 2020s, while the White House prefers the agency to fly on a much-less-expensive commercial rocket. In a section discussing the Clipper mission, Vought's letter includes a cost estimate to build and fly a single SLS rocket in a given year—more than $2 billion—which NASA has not previously specified.

[*] SLS: Space Launch System.

At the U.S. Air Force Space Pitch Day on November 5, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk put a much smaller number on the cost of launching a fully reusable Starship:

"A single Starship will expend about $900,000 worth of fuel and oxygen for pressurization to send "at least 100 tons, probably 150 tons to orbit," Musk said. SpaceX's cost to operate Starship will be around $2 million per flight, which is "much less than even a tiny rocket," he added.

Original Submission

RandomFactor writes:

This past weekend, archaeologists uncovered a pair of 15,000 year old artificial Mammoth Traps near Mexico City.

Early settlers of the Mexico Basin subdued giant mammoths by digging out deep, wide trenches and then driving the animals into the pits, according to a press release issued by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Scientists with INAH worked at these pits for the past 10 months, pulling out over 800 mammoth bones, some of which exhibited signs of hunting and possibly ritualistic rearrangement.

Two mammoth pits, and possibly a third, were found at the Tultepec II site, which is around 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Mexico City.

According to INAH archaeologist and team leader Córdoba Barradas,

This is the first recorded use of pitfalls to capture mammoths—a strategy known to have been employed by African hunters to trap elephants, as described in a 2018 paper published in the science journal Quaternary

Barradas and his colleagues state that there is evidence the paleolithic site was in use for over 500 years and there is likely more to be uncovered in the area.

There is a particular mystery, he said, over why the haul only includes shoulder blades from the right side. "The left shoulder blades are missing – why?" he asked.

Bones from a camel and horse were also found at the site (these species later became extinct in the Americas.)

Also at The Guardian

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Brian Krebs summarizes a report about increased deaths due to Microsoft products, which have been implicated in several service outages at various hospitals. These outages have resulted in a measurable increase in fatality.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management took the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) list of healthcare data breaches and used it to drill down on data about patient mortality rates at more than 3,000 Medicare-certified hospitals, about 10 percent of which had experienced a data breach.

As PBS noted in its coverage of the Vanderbilt study, after data breaches as many as 36 additional deaths per 10,000 heart attacks occurred annually at the hundreds of hospitals examined.

The researchers found that for care centers that experienced a breach, it took an additional 2.7 minutes for suspected heart attack patients to receive an electrocardiogram.

Original Submission