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martyb writes:

Zoom Acquires Keybase to Bring End-to-End Encryption to Video Platform:

Popular communications platform provider Zoom Video announced on Thursday that it has acquired secure messaging and file-sharing service Keybase for an undisclosed sum. The move is the latest by the company as it attempts to bolster the security of its offerings and build in end-to-end encryption that can scale to the company's massive user base.

"There are en-to-end encrypted communications platforms. There are communications platforms with easily deployable security. There are enterprise-scale communications platforms. We believe that no current platform offers all of these. This is what Zoom plans to build, giving our users security, ease of use, and scale, all at once," Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom, said in a statement.

Zoom said it would offer an end-to-end encrypted meeting mode to all paid accounts.

[...] "This acquisition marks a key step for Zoom as we attempt to accomplish the creation of a truly private video communications platform that can scale to hundreds of millions of participants, while also having the flexibility to support Zoom's wide variety of uses," Yuan wrote in a blog post. "Our goal is to provide the most privacy possible for every use case, while also balancing the needs of our users and our commitment to preventing harmful behavior on our platform. Keybase's experienced team will be a critical part of this mission."

Details on Zoom's encryption roadmap are available on the Zoom blog.

Previously:
(2020-04-21) This Open-Source Program Deepfakes You During Zoom Meetings, in Real Time
(2020-04-20) Every Security Issue Uncovered so far in the Zoom Video Chat App
(2020-04-17) Looking for Alternative, Self-Hosted Audio (or Video) Chat Services
(2020-04-15) Over 500,000 Zoom Accounts Sold on Hacker Forums, the Dark Web
(2020-04-13) Zoom Admits Data Got Routed Through China

Also at TechCrunch and The Verge.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

These last few weeks we've all been reminded about the importance of washing our hands. It's not complicated: you just need soap, water, and about 30 seconds worth of effort. In a pinch you can even use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. But what if there was an even better way of killing bacteria and germs on our hands? One that's easy, fast, and doesn't even require you to touch anything. There might be, if you've got a high voltage generator laying around.

In his latest video, [Jay Bowles] proposes a novel concept: using the ozone generated by high-voltage corona discharge for rapid and complete hand sterilization. He explains that there's plenty of research demonstrating the effectiveness of ozone gas [as] a decontamination agent, and since it's produced in abundance by coronal discharge, the high-voltage generators of the sort he experiments with could double as visually striking hand sanitizers.

[...] Despite what appears to be the nearly complete eradication of bacteria on his hands after exposing them to the ozone generator, [Jay] is quick to point out that he's not trying to give out any medical advice with this video. This simple experiment doesn't cover all forms of bacteria, and he doesn't have the facilities to test the method against viruses. The safest thing you can do right now is follow the guidelines from agencies like the CDC and just wash your hands the old fashioned way; but the concept outlined here certainly looks worthy of further discussion and experimentation.

Source: https://hackaday.com/2020/04/28/washing-your-hands-with-20000-volts/

[Ed Note - A lot of the comments in the hackaday article express concern about exposure to ozone at the levels that are generated here. Don't try this at home kids!]

Original Submission

Uber will lay off 3,700 people from its customer support and recruiting teams, the company announced in a Wednesday regulatory filing. That figure represents 14 percent of Uber's 26,900 employees, CNBC reports.

Uber has already frozen hiring, and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will forego his salary for the remainder of the year, the company says.

The Information reported last week that Uber's ride bookings have fallen 80 percent from the same period a year earlier. Uber has tried to compensate by expanding its delivery business, launching two new services called Uber Connect and Uber Direct. But rides have historically been the largest part of Uber's business, making an 80 percent drop difficult to stomach.

Last week, Uber's main US rival, Lyft, announced 1,000 layoffs—a 17-percent reduction of the company's workforce.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The British team used the XMaS (X-ray Materials Science) beamline at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, to examine the surface chemistry of the links. Synchrotron radiation is a thin beam of very high-intensity X-rays generated within a particle accelerator. Electrons are fired into a linear accelerator to boost their speeds and then injected into a storage ring. They zoom through the ring at near-light speed, as a series of magnets bend and focus the electrons. In the process, they give off X-rays, which can then be focused down beamlines.

This is useful for analyzing structure, because in general, the shorter the wavelength used (and the higher the energy of the light), the finer the details one can image and/or analyze. The team found that the links were made from an alloy that was 73-percent copper and 27-percent zinc. According to co-author Mark Dowsett, emeritus professor at the University of Warwick, this is "quite a modern alloy composition," but what was surprising was the level of control.

"We had three completely different samples, and the analysis was the same," he told Ars. One sample had been thoroughly cleaned, but the others had not, and thus still had a corrosive layer. Yet all three showed the same composition ratios. This suggests that Tudor England was fairly advanced in brass production and techniques like wire drawing.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:

European Authorities Ban Dirty Cookie Practices in GDPR Update:

When GDPR rolled out across the European Union back in 2018, the sweeping legal framework pledged to bring consumer privacy and protection to the forefront. In the years since then, we've seen the adtech industry at large do its collective darnedest to undermine these laws at every turn, and largely get away with it, thanks in part to the squishy phrasing of some of the legislation's most critical clauses.

Now, European authorities are stepping in to cut that squishiness a bit. On Monday, the European Data Protection Board—the Union's oversight committee for GDPR-related issues—released a 31-page manual (pdf) calling out some of the slimier practices used by adtech companies to fudge consent on an internet browser's behalf.

These new guidelines specifically call out the sites that assume a user's agreement to be tracked and targeted based on say, the way they scroll down a webpage, rather than relying on their explicit agreement to that deal. Also called out in the memo are "cookie walls"—a cute name for the not-so-cute tactic where sites bar internet browsers from accessing their content unless they agree to allowing cookies and trackers on the site.

These are both tactics that directly step on the concept of user consent. [...] GDPR was written to require that websites garner a visitor's consent before they handle that visitor's data, and before they pass that data down the garbled supply chain of third parties in the adtech ecosystem. As you might imagine, the GDPR painstakingly lays out exactly what does and doesn't qualify as consent, requiring that, in short, these websites explain the tech used to track the visitors in a clear and upfront way. It also requires that they offer these visitors an easy way to opt in or out of this sort of on-page tech.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:

Murder hornet munchies: The horrifying insect makes a tasty treat:

News of insects nicknamed murder hornets invading the US might feel like the plot to a horror film, but maybe you'll feel better knowing the pests make for a tasty snack.

The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) is described as 1.5 inches to 2 inches long with an orange-yellow head and black stripes on its abdomen. The stinger is long enough to poke through protective beekeeper suits, and kills up to 50 people a year in Japan alone.

Yes, the large hornets have been spotted in the Pacific Northwest, most notably Washington State, but that doesn't mean residents of the area are doomed. The Asian giant hornet is apparently considered a delicacy in its native Japan.

[...] While foodies in Japan might enjoy seeking out murder hornet nests for snacks and cocktails, it's worth noting that the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) doesn't advocate approaching these deadly pests, which were officially spotted in Washington in December.

The WSDA warns to "use extreme caution near Asian giant hornets. The stinger of the Asian giant hornet is longer than that of a honeybee and the venom is more toxic than any local bee or wasp. If you find a colony, do not attempt to remove or eradicate it. Report it to WSDA (or your local state's department of agriculture) immediately."

Previously:
Tracking the "Murder Hornet": a Deadly Pest Has Reached North America

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Last year NASA said it would allow two private astronaut missions a year. Now NASA apparently said it is working with Tom Cruise about filming a movie on the ISS.

Unless they want to go for that Blair Witch cinematography effect, given the limited volume to move around in the ISS — and the need for a small film crew — I wonder if this would be a case where you'd actually prefer a green screen instead.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:

US Space Force debuts first recruitment ad and previously secret spacecraft:

"Maybe your purpose on this planet isn't on this planet."

That is the tagline accompanying the US Space Force's recruiting ad that appeared on Twitter on Wednesday.

The 30-second commercial is a montage of young people looking to the stars, intercut with images of rockets rising from monolith-like hangars, all colour graded the familiar teal and orange of blockbuster action movies.

[...] In addition to the expected military recruitment fare included in the video [...] the ad also includes the first official glimpse of the X37-B reusable space vehicle.

Previously:
US Space Force has its First Launch Today; Delayed but Successful Launch [Updated]
Star Trek Fans are Not Pleased about the New US Space Force Logo
Space Force Offers First Peek at Camouflage Uniform
U.S. Space Force is Official

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for guy_

During winter in the Southern Hemisphere, a blue point of light in the constellation Telescopium gleams overhead. The brilliant pinprick on the sky, which looks like a bright star, is actually two stars in close orbit—accompanied by the closest known black hole to Earth.

The newly discovered black hole is about 1,011 light-years from our solar system in the star system HR 6819. Unveiled today in Astronomy & Astrophysics, the invisible object is locked in an orbit with two visible stars. It's estimated to be about four times the mass of the sun and roughly 2,500 light-years closer than the next black hole.

"It seems like it's been hiding in plain sight," says astronomer Kareem El-Badry, a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, who specializes in binary star systems but wasn't involved with the study. "It's a bright enough star [system] that people have been studying it since the 80s, but it seems like it's had some surprises."

[...] On a human scale, a thousand light-years is an immense distance. If a model of the Milky Way were scaled so that Earth and the sun were only a hair's width apart, HR 6819 would be about four miles away. But in the grand scheme of the galaxy, which is more than 100,000 light-years across, HR 6819 is quite close, and it suggests the Milky Way is littered with black holes.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

For the first-time, a full-scale prototype of SpaceX's Starship vehicle lit its engine on Tuesday evening. After ignition, it appeared that the Raptor rocket engine burned for about 4 seconds. At the end of this test at the South Texas Launch Site, the vehicle still stood. About 90 minutes after the test, SpaceX founder and chief engineer Elon Musk confirmed the test firing was good, saying, "Starship SN4 passed static fire."

Tuesday night's test, which took place at 8:57pm CT local time in Texas (01:57 UTC Wednesday), occurred eight days after a successful pressurization test of this Starship prototype, known as SN4. Engineers will now review the data before possibly performing another static fire test, or a small hop. Ultimately, if this vehicle survives additional testing, it may make a 150-meter hop above the scrubby Texas lowlands.

This test also took place less than a week after NASA awarded SpaceX a $135 million contract to develop Starship as a Lunar Lander—a vehicle for carrying cargo and crew from lunar orbit down to the surface, and back. Although Starship is the most ambitious of three landers NASA is considering as part of its Artemis Program, it is also the only one actively testing full-scale prototypes.

[...] As part of its fast, iterative design process, SpaceX has already stacked SN5, the next Starship prototype. It could very well fly higher than SN4, providing SpaceX engineers ever more data as they seek to understand their new, powerful rocketship.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for TurkeyWaddle:

Hacker buys old Tesla parts on eBay, finds them full of user data:

Tesla infotainment systems are a marvel to behold. Among other things, they display Netflix or YouTube videos, run Spotify, connect to Wi-Fi, and of course store phone numbers of contacts. But those benefits require storing heaps of personal information that an amateur researcher found can reveal owners' most sensitive data.

The researcher, who described himself as a "Tesla tinkerer that's curious about how things work," recently gained access to 13 Tesla MCUs—short for media control units—that were removed from electric vehicles during repairs and refurbishments. Each one of the devices stored a trove of sensitive information despite being retired. Examples included phone books from connected cell phones, call logs containing hundreds of entries, recent calendar entries, Spotify and W-Fi passwords stored in plaintext, locations for home, work, and all places navigated to, and session cookies that allowed access to Netflix and YouTube (and attached Gmail accounts).

[...] The researcher, who goes by the handle greentheonly, told me he obtained 12 of the units off of eBay from pages like this one. He got the other one from a friend. Based on conversations he's had, he believes Tesla official procedure calls for removed MCUs to be sent intact back to Tesla and for damaged units to be hammered down to ensure that connectors are sufficiently damaged and then thrown into the trash.

[...] The moral of these stories is that it's up to individuals to perform factory resets when selling a car, returning a rental vehicle, or having an infotainment system serviced. Even then, there's no guarantee that previously stored data can't be recovered. The researcher said the Tesla MCUs keep information in a SQLite database that isn't deleted until the hard drive blocks that store it are overwritten by new data. While a factory reset may not be foolproof, it's likely to make the recovery process difficult and time-consuming enough to provide a meaningful, if imperfect, defense. When possible, the truly security conscious should destroy the units.

Original Submission

Florian Schneider, Kraftwerk Co-Founder, Dies Aged 73

An Anonymous Coward writes:

As well as being forefathers of the synthpop that would dominate the 1980s and beyond, the title track of Trans-Europe Express was sampled in 1982 by Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force for one of the earliest hip-hop hits, Planet Rock, while Computer World was hugely influential on the house and techno music that emerged from Chicago and Detroit that decade.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/06/florian-schneider-kraftwerk-co-founder-dies-aged-73

The German band he helped found toyed with ideas about technology and society, leaving a profound mark on rock, dance music and hip-hop.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/06/arts/music/florian-schneider-kraftwerk-dead.html

Kraftwerk won a lifetime achievement Grammy award in 2014 and the Grammy for best electronic/dance album (for live album "3-D The Catalogue") in 2018. Last fall, the band was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/05/06/reports-kraftwerk-co-founder-florian-schneider-dies-73/5175586002/

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

An Anonymous Coward writes:

"Tails 4.6 is out. This release fixes many security vulnerabilities. You should upgrade as soon as possible. Changes and updates: update Tor Browser to 9.0.10; add support for Universal 2nd Factor USB security keys; update the list of applications in the Favorites applications submenu; to make it easier for new users to discover some of the core features of Tails, we added Configure persistent volume, Tails documentation, WhisperBack Error Reporting and Tails Installer, and removed Terminal; change the input method for Japanese from Anthy to Mozc. Known issues: none specific to this release. Tails 4.7 is scheduled for June 2."

- Changelog
- Release Announcement
- Security fixes

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The state of California is suing Uber and Lyft. Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a lawsuit against the two ride-hailing companies on Tuesday alleging they've "exploited hundreds of thousands of California workers" by classifying their drivers as independent contractors rather than employees.

[...] The lawsuit alleges Uber and Lyft violated a California state law called AB 5, which aims to ensure workers have adequate labor protections by classifying them as employees. The suit was filed in San Francisco County Superior Court by the Attorney General's Office in conjunction with the city attorneys from San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.

[...] Gig workers are considered essential workers, meaning they can continue to work as the virus spreads. Because they're still out there, delivering food to people in quarantine and transporting medical workers to and from hospitals, they can be more at risk of contracting COVID-19. Thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers have been infected with or exposed to the coronavirus, according to the companies, and at least five drivers have died from the disease.

Phoenix666 writes:

Ancient river systems on Mars seen in unparalleled detail:

A high-resolution satellite has captured detailed images of a rocky Martian cliff face revealing that it was formed by rivers more than 3.7 billion years ago. That is roughly the same time that life was starting to begin on Earth.

[...] The team examined images [...] taken by NASA's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. The images were taken inside the enormous Hellas impact crater in the southern Martian hemisphere, one of the largest impact craters in the solar system.

A 200-metre-thick stack of layered rocks are visible within the cliff walls, shown in enough detail that Joel and his colleagues could be sure they are sedimentary rocks, formed by running water. The rivers would have continuously shifted their gullies, creating sandbanks.

Journal Reference:
Francesco Salese et al. "Sustained fluvial deposition recorded in Mars' Noachian stratigraphic record", Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-15622-0

The presence of sedimentary rock indicates the long-term presence of water and boosts the chances that life evolved there.

Original Submission