SoylentNews

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Samsung Electronics, Mastercard and Samsung Card develop fingerprint biometric payment card - Help Net Security:

Through this strategic collaboration, the companies aim to provide faster and more secure payment experiences. The biometric authentication capability allows safer interactions with reduced physical contact points by eliminating the need to enter a PIN on a keypad.

It also adds an extra layer of security to currently available credit cards by verifying the cardholder's identity via a unique fingerprint.

The biometric cards will adopt a new security chipset from Samsung's System LSI Business that integrates several key discrete chips, streamlining the overall component design and enabling more efficient development. These cards can be used at any Mastercard chip terminal or point of sale (POS) terminal.

[...] Samsung Card will lead the roll out in South Korea, with plans to introduce the biometric card later this year. The adoption of the solution will be a gradual process, starting from corporate credit cards that have more frequent international transactions.

Also at Engadget, Businesswire, and hypebeast.

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Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

The 40-Year-Old Version: ZX81's sleek plastic case shows no sign of middle-aged spread:

It has been 40 years since the launch of Sinclair's ZX81, a device that welcomed countless Brits to the delights of home computing at the dawn of the 1980s.

Released on 5 March 1981, the ZX81 was the successor to 1980's ZX80 and, like its predecessor, was based around a Z80 CPU. Both machines also featured 1KB of memory and required a UHF television to display the monochrome output.

The ZX81 was, however, a far sleeker affair than its white plastic-encased stablemate. A Rick Dickinson-designed case made for a more consumer-friendly computer, even if the pressure sensitive membrane of the keyboard was somewhat less easy to use.

[...] The BBC Micro would launch toward the end of 1981, and the rivalry between Acorn and Sinclair has been well documented over the years, including a dramatization in the form of the BBC's Micro Men.

[...] You can't beat the real thing, however. Fitzpatrick pointed out that the Centre for Computing History had a number of the devices, including some featuring creative modifications to overcome limitations like that keyboard. "There's always one on display," he said, "there's never a display without a ZX81."

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Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

FCC approves $50 monthly internet subsidies for low-income households during pandemic:

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday approved final rules for a new broadband subsidy program that could help struggling families pay for internet service during the pandemic.

The agency's $3.2 billion Emergency Broadband Benefit Program provides eligible low-income households with up to a $50 per month credit on their internet bills through their provider until the end of the pandemic. In tribal areas, eligible households may receive up to $75 per month. The program also provides eligible households up to $100 off of one computer or tablet.

The congressionally created program is aimed at closing the digital divide, which has become painfully apparent over the past year as millions of Americans have been forced to work and learn remotely. Some have also raised concerns that the digital divide could affect access to the vaccine as signups typically happen online.

[...] Last year, Congress passed a coronavirus relief package that contained provisions for the FCC's new program. And the FCC has established a fresh task force this year to improve the data it collects on broadband availability, which could ultimately help the agency better target its efforts to close the gap.

[...] "This is a program that will help those at risk of digital disconnection," Rosenworcel said in a statement. "It will help those sitting in cars in parking lots just to catch a Wi-Fi signal to go online for work. It will help those lingering outside the library with a laptop just to get a wireless signal for remote learning. It will help those who worry about choosing between paying a broadband bill and paying rent or buying groceries."

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Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

Torvalds warns the world: Don't use the Linux 5.12-rc1 kernel:

In a message to the Linux Kernel Mailing List yesterday, founding developer Linus Torvalds warned the world not to use the 5.12-rc1 kernel in his public git tree.

Hey peeps - some of you may have already noticed that in my public git tree, the "v5.12-rc1" tag has magically been renamed to "v5.12-rc1-dontuse". It's still the same object, it still says "v5.12-rc1" internally and it is still is signed by me, but the user-visible name of the tag has changed.

As it turns out, when Linus Torvalds flags some code dontuse, he really means it—the problem with this 5.12 release candidate broke swapfile handling in a very unpleasant way. Specifically, the updated code would lose the proper offset pointing to the beginning of the swapfile. Again, in Torvalds' own words, "swapping still happened, but it happened to the wrong part of the filesystem, with the obvious catastrophic end results."

[...] Torvalds' warning matters above and beyond what individual users might do with a release candidate kernel, however. It's even more important that kernel developers not base their own work around that release and potentially carry a very nasty bug forward further down the line.

I want to make sure that nobody starts new topic branches using that 5.12-rc1 tag. I know a few developers tend to go "Ok, rc1 is out, I got all my development work into this merge window, I will now fast-forward to rc1 and  use that as a base for the next release". Don't do it this time. It may work perfectly well for you because you have the common partition setup, but it can end up being a horrible base for anybody else that might end up bisecting into that area.

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Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Klara Systems has an article with a deep dive into the origins of FreeBSD jails. These ideas have been around for many decades and taken form in several stages and finally became part of FreeBSD over 20 years ago. FreeBSD jails share the main system's kernel and are therefore a relatively light weight means for userspace isolation, compared to "containers". Within the jail, the environment appears as a normal system and processes within the jail can not see upward into the host or laterally into other jails.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Someone Is Hacking the Hackers:

In the latest in a string of "hits" on Russian dark web forums, the prominent crime site Maza appears to have been breached by a hacker earlier this week.

This is kind of big news since Maza (previously called "Mazafaka") has long been a destination for all assortment of criminal activity, including malware distribution, money laundering, carding (i.e., the selling of stolen credit card information), and lots of other bad behavior. The forum is considered "elite" and hard to join, and in the past, it has been a cesspool for some of the world's most prolific cybercriminals.

[...] KrebsOnSecurity reports that the intruder subsequently dumped the stolen data on the dark web, spurring fears among criminals that their identities might be exposed (oh, the irony). The validity of the data has been verified by threat intelligence firm Intel 471.

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Original Submission

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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Original Submission

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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Original Submission

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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Original Submission

[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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Original Submission

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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Original Submission

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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Original Submission

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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Original Submission