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"upstart" writes:

Submitted via IRC for FatPhil

Year in Review: Digital Events in 2019

What happened in the world of IT? Who deserves notoriety for their behavior? It is time to review 2019, and, while we are at it, make a mockery of the most noteworthy.  After all, the world is already messed up, so at least let’s have a bit of fun.

Reminder: The awards generate no money, no distinction, and only a fleeting mention on the Google search engine. There is no appeal process or double-checking of the votes by certified public accountants. As with prior years, three criteria determine an award. The event must occur in 2019. It must have something to do with digital technology. The event must deserve at least one sassy and snarky comment.

This year the awards are nicknamed "The IMP" to honor the fifty-year anniversary of the first internet message in October of 1969.  Those pioneers used Interface Message Processors (IMPs) to achieve their login. Just trying to be, well, impish.

Enough said. Time for the awards!

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Saccharin received a bad rap after studies in the 1970s linked consumption of large amounts of the artificial sweetener to bladder cancer in laboratory rats. Later, research revealed that these findings were not relevant to people. And in a complete turnabout, recent studies indicate that saccharin can actually kill human cancer cells. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Journal of Medicinal Chemistry have made artificial sweetener derivatives that show improved activity against two tumor-associated enzymes.

Journal Reference:

Silvia Bua, et. al.“A Sweet Combination”: Developing Saccharin and Acesulfame K Structures for Selectively Targeting the Tumor-Associated Carbonic Anhydrases IX and XII. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2019; DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.9b01669

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for chromas:

'Grow and prune' AI mimics brain development, slashes energy use:

It may come as a shock to parents facing the daily chaos of toddler life, but the brain's complexity peaks around age three.

The number of connections between neurons virtually explodes in our first few years. After that the brain starts pruning away unused portions of this vast electrical network, slimming to roughly half the number by the time we reach adulthood. The over-provisioning of the toddler brain allows us to acquire language and develop fine motor skills. But what we don't use, we lose.

Now this ebb and flow of biological complexity has inspired a team of researchers at Princeton to create a new model for artificial intelligence, creating programs that meet or surpass industry standards for accuracy using only a fraction of the energy. In a pair of papers published earlier this year, the researchers showed how to start with a simple design for an AI network, grow the network by adding artificial neurons and connections, then prune away unused portions leaving a lean but highly effective final product.

Original Submission

einar writes:

The Inquirer is shutting down. After nearly two decades of witty technology news, the inq comes to an end. This is a pity. Many enjoyed the website for their refreshingly honest look at technology. In a time when far too many technology sites bent over backwards to get access to samples and early access, the inq felt different. Critical journalism, not just blogging. Armed with an utter lack of respect for anyone. Never condescending but often hilariously mocking. The inquirer was fun to read. The website will be missed. https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3084741/the-inquirer-reaches-end-of-life

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

When Andreas Gal, CEO of Silk Labs and a US citizen, returned to the US from a business trip in Europe last year, he was detained by US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) for secondary screening. He claims he was threatened with unwarranted charges, denied access to an attorney, and told he had to unlock his electronic devices before he would be allowed to leave.

[...] Despite being told he had no right to an attorney, he says he refused to answer questions and was eventually allowed to go without unlocking his devices, though his Global Entry card – a subscription-based biometric border entry program to facilitate travel – was taken from him.

On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued CBP claiming that the agency maintains secretive units to "detain, search, question, and/or deny entry to people with valid travel documents who present no security risk."

The ACLU complaint, filed in the Eastern District of New York, seeks CBP documents under the Freedom of Information Act that the agency has refused to produce.

It contends that these Tactical Terrorism Response Teams (TTRTs) have operated for the past few years and target individuals, including US citizens, "who do not present a security risk but may hold information or have a connection to individuals of interest to the US government."

"The public has a right to know how these teams operate, how their officers are trained, and whether the guidelines that govern their activities contain civil liberties and privacy safeguards," the ACLU said in a statement announcing its lawsuit.

The complaint says TTRTs target people without valid cause, based on hunches and instinct, raising the likelihood that travelers are subject to profiling based on race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, or proxies for those attributes. As such, TTRTs may be violating protections guaranteed by the US Constitution.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for chromas:

[Ed note: TRACED Act == Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence Act.]

Robocall-crushing TRACED act passes Senate and heads to Oval Office – TechCrunch:

Somehow during all the partisan furor of the last few days, the Senate found a moment to vote some bipartisan legislation into law — presuming, of course, it survives the president’s desk. The TRACED act pushes carriers to kill robocalls before they ring, and gives the FCC some extra juice to pursue the wicked ones perpetrating them.

[...] Unlike many things called bipartisan, this one really is. Two different versions of the bill originated in the House and Senate and were passed individually with overwhelming majorities. The pertinent committees put their heads together and created a unified version of the bill they could both live with. Amazingly, that was just last month, and now the bill is off to the White House for the Executive signature.

You can read a summary of what the bill does here...

The version of the bill approved by the US Senate is available on-line.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for chromas:

Lyft's algorithm is trying to block people with names like 'Dick,' 'Finger,' and 'Cummings':

'My last name really is 'Cocks'. How would you like me to proceed?'

Lyft is flagging people with names its algorithm thinks are inappropriate, like "Dick," "Finger," and "Cummings." The ride-hail company is sending messages to these users telling them their names don't align with its community guidelines, and are being directed to change their name or get booted from the service.

Naturally, this is creating some consternation among people with, shall we say, delicate-sounding names.

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

In the world of physics, nothing gets the blood flowing like the thought that a new particle has been discovered.

[...]This result has been cooking for quite some time. The first experimental results date back to 2015, with publication in 2016.

[...]The paper really got the juices flowing. Theorists jumped on the result so fast they inadvertently broke special relativity.

[...]The theory situation is even more of a mess. It is always possible to extend our models of the Universe to include new particles, including new bosons and new forces. But, it isn't good enough to match a single experimental result. You have to match all of them.

[...]So, why did this story flare back up again? A new paper, by the same scientists that published the beryllium results. This time, they measured electron-positron emissions from excited helium. Same experiment, different atom, but the same 17MeV boson was found.

The new result is pretty strong evidence.

[...]If they find the boson, then, great, they've won plaudits for someone else. But, if that gun doesn't smoke, there will be a long and painful search for what makes the original experiment different from the rest.

ArXiv.org, 2019, ID: 1910.10459

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/12/new-boson-hidden-in-beryllium-decay-check-new-physics-maybe/

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

US convenience store Wawa said on Thursday that it recently discovered malware that skimmed customers' payment card data at just about all of its 850 stores.

[...]The malware collected payment card numbers, expiration dates, and cardholder names from payment cards used at "potentially all Wawa in-store payment terminals and fuel dispensers." The advisory didn't say how many customers or cards were affected. The malware didn't access debit card PINs, credit card CVV2 numbers, or driver license data used to verify age-restricted purchases. Information processed by in-store ATMs was also not affected. The company has hired an outside forensics firm to investigate the infection.

[...]People who have used payment cards at a Wawa location should pay close attention to billing statements over the past eight months. It's always a good idea to regularly review credit reports as well. Wawa said it will provide one year of identity-theft protection and credit monitoring from credit-reporting service Experian at no charge. Thursday's disclosure lists other steps card holders can take.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/12/pos-malware-skimmed-convenience-store-customers-card-data-for-8-months/

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Researchers of the UT[*] found a new way to protect data from attacks with quantum computers. As they published today in New Journal of Physics. With quantum computers on the rise, we can no longer exclude the possibility that a quantum computer will become so powerful it can break existing cryptography. Single particles of light are already being used to protect data but the transmission of one bit per photon is slow. Pepijn Pinkse led the experiment to increase the transmission speed up to seven bits per photon.

[...] Standard QKD [(Quantum Key Distribution)] systems use single particles of light—photons—that are in one of two possible states, for instance horizontally or vertically polarized. This limits the transmission to one bit per photon. In a sense, the photons are encoded in an alphabet of just two letters: a and b.

Researchers from the UT now increased this number with more than a thousand letters. This increases the resistance against noise and potentially increases the data rate. They achieved this by encoding the quantum information in 10²⁴ possible locations of the used photons. To make it hard for an attacker to see what was sent, they randomly switch the encoding between two different alphabets.

[...] Employing this technique together with very weak light, a video projector chip and modern single-photon detecting camera, the researchers demonstrated that they could transmit up to seven secure bits per quantum key distribution using spatially encoded light."

[*] UT - University of Twente, The Netherlands. More information: T B H Tentrup et al. Large-alphabet quantum key distribution using spatially encoded light, New Journal of Physics (2019). DOI: 10.1088/1367-2630/ab5cbe

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

Not so IDLE hands: FBI program offers companies data protection via deception

The Federal Bureau of Investigations is in many ways on the front lines of the fight against both cybercrime and cyber-espionage in the US. These days, the organization responds to everything from ransomware attacks to data thefts by foreign government-sponsored hackers. But the FBI has begun to play a role in the defense of networks before attacks have been carried out as well, forming partnerships with some companies to help prevent the loss of critical data.

Sometimes, that involves field agents proactively contacting companies when they have information of a threat—as two FBI agents did when they caught wind of researchers trying to alert casinos of vulnerabilities they said they had found in casino kiosk systems. "We have agents in every field office spending a large amount of time going out to companies in their area of responsibility establishing relationships," Long T. Chu, acting assistant section chief for the FBI's Cyber Engagement and Intelligence Section, told Ars. "And this is really key right now—before there's a problem, providing information to help these companies prepare their defenses. And we try to provide as specific information as we can."

But the FBI is not stopping its consultative role at simply alerting companies to threats. An FBI flyer shown to Ars by a source broadly outlined a new program aimed at helping companies fight data theft "caused by an insider with illicit access (or systems administrator), or by a remote cyber actor." The program, called IDLE (Illicit Data Loss Exploitation), does this by creating "decoy data that is used to confuse illicit... collection and end use of stolen data." It's a form of defensive deception—or as officials would prefer to refer to it, obfuscation—that the FBI hopes will derail all types of attackers, particularly advanced threats from outside and inside the network.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org reports:

Our research focuses on the structure and incentives of various customer service centers to explain why consumers perpetually experience hassles when seeking refunds.

What we found is not encouraging.

Many complaint processes are actually designed to help companies retain profits by limiting the number of customers who can successfully resolve their complaints.

The best strategy to resolve your complaint is to instantly go hyper-nuclear.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for chromas:

Facebook is developing its own OS to reduce dependence on Android:

Despite the recent privacy scandals, mishandling of user data, and a potential federal injunction looming in the distance, Facebook seems to be going full steam ahead with its ambitions. According to a recent report by The Information, the company is now developing its own operating system to reduce dependency on Google’s Android. The development, as per The Verge, is being led by Mark Lucovsky — an ex-Microsoft official who co-authored the Windows NT operating system.

While the report provides a limited amount of information about how Facebook plans to use the new operating system, it does point out that currently Facebook’s Oculus and Portal devices run on a modified version of Android. This leads us to believe that with its new operating system the company plans to replace Android on its VR and smart devices. And one of Facebook’s AR and VR heads, Ficus Kirkpatrick, mirrors this sentiment. According to Kirkpatrick, “it’s possible” that Facebook’s future hardware won’t need to rely on Google’s software which could possibly remove Google’s control over the company’s hardware.

Andrew Bosworth, Facebook’s head of hardware, also told The Information that the company “want(s) to make sure the next generation has space for us. We don’t think we can trust the marketplace or competitors to ensure that’s the case. And so we’re going to do it ourselves.” Along with the aforementioned Oculus and Portal devices, Facebook is also working on AR glasses. Bosworth reveals that these glasses, codenamed “Orion”, could arrive as early as 2023. Interestingly, Apple is also expected to come out with its own pair of AR glasses around the same time. Facebook is reportedly also working on a brain control interface for its glasses, which could allow users to control them with their thoughts.

Original Submission

PiMuNu writes:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-50855395

The Boeing company is going to have to cut short the uncrewed demonstration flight of its new astronaut capsule.

The Starliner launched successfully on its Atlas rocket from Florida, but then suffered technical problems that prevented it from taking the correct path to the International Space Station.

It appears the capsule burnt too much fuel as it operated its engines, leaving an insufficient supply to complete its mission.

Starliner will now come back to Earth. A landing is planned in the New Mexico desert in about 48 hours.

See also:

• https://spacenews.com/starliner-suffers-off-nominal-orbital-insertion-after-launch/

• https://spacenews.com/starliner-anomaly-to-prevent-iss-docking/

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for chromas:

Ethiopia celebrates launch of first satellite:

Ethiopia launched its first satellite on Friday, a landmark achievement for the country's space programme that caps a banner year for the African space industry.

The launch of the Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite (ETRSS) took place at a space station in China, though scores of Ethiopian and Chinese officials and scientists gathered at the Entoto Observatory and Research Centre outside the capital, Addis Ababa, early Friday to watch a live broadcast.

"This will be a foundation for our historic journey to prosperity," Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonnen said in a speech. "This technological infrastructure is important even if it's delayed."

It is the eighth launch of an African satellite this year, topping the previous record of seven in 2017, according to Temidayo Oniosun, managing director of Space in Africa, a Nigeria-based firm that tracks African space programmes.

"We can say that 2019 is pretty much the best year in the history of the African space industry," Oniosun told AFP.

The launch makes Ethiopia the eleventh African country to put a satellite into space. Egypt was the first in 1998.

All told, 41 African satellites have now been launched—38 from individual countries and three more that were multilateral efforts, Oniosun said.

Original Submission