SoylentNews

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

AdGuard names 6,000+ web trackers that use CNAME chicanery: Feel free to feed them into your browser's filter:

AdGuard on Thursday published a list of more than 6,000 CNAME-based trackers so they can be incorporated into content-blocking filters.

CNAME tracking is a way to configure DNS records to erase the distinction between code and assets from a publisher's (first-party) domain and tracking scripts on that site that call a server on an advertiser's (third-party) domain. Such domain cloaking – obscuring who controls a domain – undoes privacy defenses, like the blocking of third-party cookies, by making third-party assets look like they're associated with the first-party domain.

[...] The most commonly detected CNAME trackers, according to the researchers, come from the following companies, in order of prevalence: Pardot, Adobe Experience Cloud, Act-On Software, Oracle Eloqua, Eulerian, Webtrekk, Ingenious Technologies, TraceDock, LiveIntent, AT Internet, Criteo, Keyade, and Wizaly.

[...] "In order to prevent it you'll need to use a content blocker that can access DNS queries," Andrey Meshkov, CEO of AdGuard, told The Register.

"The whole problem is that the majority of users don't use them and just stick to Chrome or Safari browsers with extensions. These users can only 'react' to the problem, they can only start blocking a new disguised tracker as soon as we detect it on AdGuard DNS and update the list."

Meshkov acknowledged that this is not a proactive approach, but it works within the existing system for applying filtering lists to content blockers.

[Ed Note: I use and can recommend Pi-hole for your home network. That doesn't help though when you're on the road unless you VPN back to your home network first. - Fnord]

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

Google-free /e/ OS is now selling preloaded phones in the US, starting at $380:

/e/ OS, the "open-source, pro-privacy, and fully degoogled" fork of Android, is coming to Canada and the USA. Of course, you've always been able to download the software in any region, but now (as first spotted by It's Foss News) the e Foundation will start selling preloaded phones in North America. Previously, /e/ only did business in Europe.

Like normal, the e Foundation's smartphone strategy is to sell refurbished Samsung devices with /e/ preloaded. In the US, there are only two phones right now: the Galaxy S9 for $379.99 or a Galaxy S9+ for $429.99. North Americans still have reason to be jealous of Europe, where you can get /e/ preloaded on a Fairphone, which is also Europe-exclusive.

[...] Actually getting regular Android apps to run on a forked version of Android is a challenge. Google Play Services is built into many apps for things like push notifications, and there's a good chance that functionality won't work on /e/ OS. These apps will at least run on /e/ OS instead of exiting outright, thanks to the inclusion of MicroG, an open source project that hijacks Google API calls.

[...] There's a chance you don't have to actually buy a phone to run /e/ OS. Just like with Lineage, you can install the OS at home, for free, if you have a compatible device. There are 138 devices officially supported by /e/ OS (oddly no up-to-date builds for Pixel phones, which are probably the most popular unlocked devices), although only about 60 are on the latest version. There is even an "Easy Installer" for some Samsung Exynos devices.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/natural-histories/black-death-new-culprit

When it comes to the Black Death, rats are usually cast as the villains of the piece – and with good reason. After all, it was most likely thanks to them that the plague (Yersinia pestis) was reintroduced to Europe. Though there has been some debate about how and where the original infection occurred, there is little doubt that Italian traders caught the disease from rat fleas in Black Sea ports before taking it back to Messina aboard Genoese galleys in October 1347. Granted, rats were probably not solely responsible for the speed with which the pestilence spread in the weeks that followed. In 2018, researchers from the universities of Ferrara and Oslo demonstrated that human fleas and lice played at least as important a role in transmission between people. But because rats can tolerate higher concentrations of the bacillus in their blood, and tend to live in close proximity to humans, they greatly amplified its virulence. Exactly how many people died is difficult to establish, but it is estimated that, in the period 1347-53, the plague killed 30-50 per cent of the European population. Understandably, rats have borne most of the blame.

But is this really fair? A recent study suggests marmots might have been just as guilty.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/china-makes-anal-swab-covid-tests-compulsory-for-foreign-arrivals-mvthjq8c7

China has made anal swab tests for the coronavirus mandatory for almost all international arrivals, deepening a row with other countries over a practice many have described as humiliating.

The Japanese government has already raised concern about its citizens being subjected to the "undignified" procedure while American diplomats have also complained. Katsunobu Kato, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, said it would ask China to alter its testing regimen after some Japanese travellers reported suffering "psychological pain" from the invasive procedure.

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[2021-03-07 02:48:19 UTC; UPDATE 2: Windows 10 is finally installed! Well, that is sans product key ATM, but that is manageable. Thanks so very much to everyone who helped out here and on IRC! I still don't know why Windows did not recognize my Samsung 1 TB 860 EVO SATA SSD during the install, so I'm making do with a 750 MB 5400 RPM Western Digital hard disk. That'll have to wait. Next up is to install Turbo Tax and then complete my taxes. I shudder to think of how much longer it would have taken without all of your help! --martyb]

martyb writes:

Background:
A couple years or so ago, I purchased three (used) Dell Latitude E6410 laptop computers for a song ($25 each). They came with no hard drive, but that was not a problem. I got 1 TB Samsung SSD drives for them and that seems to be fine.

No hard drive also meant no OS was installed. But, they each DID come with their own Microsoft sticker (with a hologram) stating:

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

Windows(R) 7 Pro for Refurb PCs CIT
for Refurbished PCs
[barcode]   XXX-NNNNN
do not tamper with or remove this label
[barcode]  XNN-NNNNN
NNNNN-NNN-NNN-NNN
"For use on Refurbished PC - No Commercial Value - For Authentication Only"

Where:
   X  represents a single letter
   N  represents a single decimal digit

(Also says, vertically, on the edges:)

Certificate of Authenticity
Microsoft

and
ww.microsoft.com/howtotell

Situation:
I'd previously downloaded an ISO (and verified the SHA1 and SHA256), but got stuck when trying to do an install; the format of the codes I have do not match the format of what Microsoft was expecting.

The location where I bought the laptops no longer offers computers for sale (it's a Goodwill store). Also, there are no tech-savvy workers at the location.

My primary problem is it is time to prepare my state and federal income taxes. I've used TurboTax for the past 5 years. (Yes, I could probably use their free on-line version today. But! I am not at all interested in having like 20-30 other domains active while I provide extremely personal and private information to fill out my taxes.) So, plan B is to get Windows up and running so I can fill out my taxes locally.

What now?
So, I have 3 never-been-used "codes" for installing Win 7 pro. There was a time when one had to fight to keep Microsoft from trying to upgrade to Windows 10, so I'd like to think there's some way for me to get to Win 10 from here.

So, I turn to my fellow Soylentils. How can I enter these codes? Is it still worthwhile to get 7 installed in hopes I can still upgrade to Windows 10?

Maybe some other approach? What can I do?

[2021-03-05 15:11:27 UTC; UPDATE 1: Currently downloading "Win10_20H2_v2_English_x64.iso" from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO -- looks like I have 2-2.5 hours left for the download to complete. (Currently at 920 MB of 5.8 GB completed)

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AnonTechie writes:

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN:

Researchers have built the fastest random-number generator ever made, using a simple laser. It exploits fluctuations in the intensity of light to generate randomness — a coveted resource in applications such as data encryption and scientific simulations — and could lead to devices that are small enough to fit on a single computer chip.

True randomness is surprisingly difficult to come by. Algorithms in conventional computers can produce sequences of numbers that seem random at first, but over time these tend to display patterns. This makes them at least partially predictable, and therefore vulnerable to being decoded.

To make encryption safer, researchers have turned to quantum mechanics, where the laws of physics guarantee that the results of certain measurements — such as when a radioactive atom decays — are genuinely random.

Nature

See also: ZDNet

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aristarchus writes:

Source of hazardous high-energy particles located in the Sun:

The source of potentially hazardous solar particles, released from the Sun at high speed during storms in its outer atmosphere, has been located for the first time by researchers at UCL and George Mason University, Virginia, U.S.

These particles are highly charged and, if they reach Earth's atmosphere, can potentially disrupt satellites and electronic infrastructure, as well as pose a radiation risk to astronauts and people in airplanes. In 1859, during what's known as the Carrington Event, a large solar storm caused telegraphic systems across Europe and America to fail. With the modern world so reliant on electronic infrastructure, the potential for harm is much greater.

To minimize the danger, scientists are seeking to understand how these streams of particles are produced so they can better predict when they might affect Earth.

Improved space weather forecasting?

takyon writes:

Alphabet's moonshot lab is working on a device to give people superhuman hearing

Alphabet has attempted to take on some wild projects over the years, like a crop-sniffing plant buggy and fish-tracking cameras. But now, its X lab is working on a device that could give people superhuman hearing. As Insider first reported, the project, codenamed "Wolverine," is exploring the future of hearing through sensor-packed hardware. The team, members of which spoke to Insider anonymously, say they're currently trying to figure out how to isolate people's voices in a crowded room or make it easier to focus on one person when overlapping conversations are happening around you.

They've already iterated on the device multiple times, including devices that covered the whole ear and others that protruded from above the ear. These iterations have been large because the team incorporates lots of microphones into the build, but newer versions are smaller, Insider says. Multiple people from hearing technology companies have joined the team, including talent from Starkey Hearing Technologies and Eargo.

Also at 9to5Google.

Related: Google Announces "Tidal": An Underwater Camera System for Fish Farmers

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AnonTechie writes:

Book Announcement:

A Thousand Brains: A New Theory of Intelligence (Basic Books), a book released this week by Numenta co-founder Jeff Hawkins, introduces a theory that will revolutionize our understanding of the brain and AI.

A Thousand Brains is divided into three parts. In Part 1, Hawkins describes the new theory and the neuroscience behind it. In Part 2, he explains how this theory will lead to truly intelligent machines. Finally, in Part 3, Hawkins describes how a deep understanding of intelligence and AI will affect the future of humanity.

Core to the theory is the surprising notion that the brain does not contain one model of the world; it contains thousands of complementary models for everything we know. The models vote together to produce our singular perception.

Richard Dawkins, who wrote the foreword, describes this idea as follows: "Hawkins is, I think, the first to give eloquent space to the idea that there is not one such model but thousands, one in each of the many neatly stacked columns that constitute the brain's cortex. Not the least fascinating of his ideas...is that cortical columns, in their world-modeling activities, work semi-autonomously. What we perceive is a kind of democratic consensus from among them. Democracy in the brain? Consensus, and even dispute? What an amazing idea."

EurekAlert !

Also at: Business Wire

Do you think this theory is as revolutionary as the author thinks it is?

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slinches writes:

SpaceX Mars prototype rocket nails landing for the first time, but explodes on pad:

A SpaceX rocket prototype, known as SN10, soared over South Texas during test flight Wednesday before swooping down to a pinpoint landing near its launch site. Approximately three minutes after landing, however, multiple independent video feeds showed the rocket exploding on its landing pad.

SpaceX's SN10, an early prototype of the company's Starship Mars rocket, took off around 5:15 pm CT and climbed about six miles over the coastal landscape, mimicking two previous test flights SpaceX has conducted that ended in an explosive crash. Wednesday marked the first successful landing for a Starship prototype.

"We've had a successful soft touch down on the landing pad," SpaceX engineer John Insprucker said during a livestream of the event. "That's capping a beautiful test flight of Starship 10."

It was unclear what caused the rocket to explode after landing, and the SpaceX livestream cut out before the conflagration.

He added that SpaceX has several other prototypes already in production and the next, SN11, will be ready to roll out for another test flight 'in the near future."

SpaceX's first launch attempt on Wednesday, around 3 pm CT, was aborted at the last tenth of a second. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet that the abort was triggered by pre-set standards around the rocket's thrust, which Musk described as "slightly conservative." He added that the company would increase the rocket's thrust limit, giving the rocket more wiggle room for getting a go-ahead for liftoff. The company then recycled the SN10's fuel ahead of the second, successful attempt.

Also at: c|net and Al Jazeera.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:

Most brain activity is "background noise" — and that's upending our understanding of consciousness:

What are you thinking about right now?

Have you ever wondered why it's so hard to answer this simple question when someone asks? There is a reason. 95 percent of your brain's activity is entirely unconscious. Of the remaining 5 percent of brain activity, only around half is intentionally directed. The vast majority of what goes on in our heads is unknown and unintentional. Neuroscientists call these activities "spontaneous fluctuations," because they are unpredictable and seemingly unconnected to any specific behavior. No wonder it's so hard to say what we are thinking or feeling and why. We like to think of ourselves as CEOs of our own minds, but we are much more like ships tossed at sea.

What does this reveal about the nature of consciousness? Why is our brain, a mere 2 percent of our body mass, using 20 percent of our energy to produce what many scientists still call "background noise?" Neuroscientists have known about these "random" fluctuations in electrical brain activity since the 1930s, but have not known what to make of them until relatively recently. Many brain studies of consciousness still look only at brain activity that responds to external stimuli and triggers a mental state. The rest of the "noise" is "averaged out" of the data.

This is still the prevailing approach in most contemporary neuroscience, and yields a "computational" input-output model of consciousness. In this neuroscientific model, so-called "information" transfers from our senses to our brains.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956 and for Teckla:

Cuttlefish show self-control, pass 'marshmallow test':

"Self-control is thought to be the cornerstone of intelligence, as it is an important prerequisite for complex decision-making and planning for the future," said lead author Alex Schnell, a research associate in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge. Not all animals share this trait, and it was previously thought that the ones that do, such as great apes, corvids and parrots, have long and social lives.

To see if a cephalopod should join the ranks, Schnell and her team adapted the famous "marshmallow test" so that it appealed to cuttlefish.

[...] They then set up a two-chamber apparatus with transparent sliding drawers. Behind one drawer, they placed a preferred meal (such as live grass shrimp) and behind the other, they placed a less preferred meal (such as Asian shore crab). The doors had symbols on them that indicated whether it would open with a delay (a triangle) or open immediately (a circle), which the cuttlefish learned to recognize.

The drawer with the less preferred meal always opened to the cuttlefish immediately, but the other drawer opened after a delay. In the control condition, the door with the preferred snack didn't open at all (a square). When the cuttlefish approached one chamber, the researchers immediately removed the snack in the other.

Booga1 writes:

Cybernews is reporting a trove of data for millions of VPN users being offered for sale.

A user on a popular hacker forum is selling three databases that purportedly contain user credentials and device data stolen from three different Android VPN services – SuperVPN, GeckoVPN, and ChatVPN – with 21 million user records being sold in total.
data of a VPn service being sold on a forum

The VPN services whose data has been allegedly exfiltrated by the hacker are SuperVPN, which is considered as one of the most popular (and dangerous) VPNs on Google Play with 100,000,000+ installs on the Play store, as well as GeckoVPN (1,000,000+ installs) and ChatVPN (50,000+ installs).

The forum user is selling deeply sensitive device data and login credentials – email addresses and randomly generated strings used as passwords – of more than 21 million VPN users for an undisclosed sum.

We reached out to SuperVPN, GeckoVPN, and ChatVPN and asked the providers if they could confirm that the leak was genuine but we have received no responses at the time of writing this report

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Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

'Deep Nostalgia' Can Turn Old Photos of Your Relatives Into Moving Videos:

It's hard to feel connected to someone who's gone through a static photo. So a company called MyHeritage who provides automatic AI-powered photo enhancements is now offering a new service that can animate people in old photos creating a short video that looks like it was recorded while they posed and prepped for the portrait.

Called Deep Nostalgia, the resulting videos are reminiscent of the Live Photos feature in iOS and iPadOS where several seconds of video are recorded and saved before and after the camera app's shutter is pressed. But where Live Photos is intended to be used to find the perfect shot and framing that may have been missed the exact second the shutter was pressed, Deep Nostalgia is instead meant to bring still shots, even those not captured on a modern smartphone, to life.

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Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

How battery swapping could reduce EV charge time to just 10 minutes:

The fastest electric vehicle charging stations currently get an empty battery to 80 percent full in about 30 minutes. But a new company is working on swapping out empty battery packs for fully charged ones. That would get an electric vehicle to 100 percent full in about 10 minutes.

Ample, which officially launched this week at two sites in San Francisco and another Oakland, builds and operates battery-swapping stations that use a robot to pluck out dead battery packs from under the car and replace them with packs fully charged and ready to go.

The Ample stations can be set up anywhere close to a power source so that the robot machine can get under the belly of the car and also charge a waiting supply of replacement batteries. The stations are completely autonomous and you don't even have to get out of the car while the batteries are switched. You communicate with the station through a smartphone app.

[...] Ample's station can be more energy efficient than a plug-in station, especially fast ones. The Ample station can charge those battery packs during low peak times, when energy is in low demand. It can also be programmed to charge the empty batteries when the grid is using more renewable energy, like wind and solar.

During the holidays and other peak times, fast charging stations have become known for long lines along major travel roads. With battery swapping, Ample is hoping to get those lines moving and cars loaded with efficiently charged energy.

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Original Submission