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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

J&J COVID vaccine use paused due to one-in-a-million complication;:

On Tuesday morning, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a release acknowledging that an extremely rare clotting disorder was associated with the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine. The problem is actually less than a one-in-a-million issue; in data from the US, where 6.8 million doses of this vaccine have been used, there have only been six instances of the clotting problem detected.

Because the clots call for an unusual treatment, however, the organizations are calling for a pause in administering the shot. This will provide them with time to ensure the medical community is aware of the appropriate treatment.

[...] The leading hypothesis to explain the phenomenon is that, in very rare cases, the adenovirus triggers an immune response to factors found on the surface of platelets, which are an essential part of the clotting process. This activates platelets, causing clots, and at the same time reduces the total platelet count.

These seemingly contradictory changes make treating the issue through the normal approach to excessive clotting dangerous. Typically, the appearance of clots would call for using a treatment that would reduce the probability of clots forming. But due to the low platelet counts in these individuals, those treatments can make it much less likely that clots form when they're needed.

It's this difference between apparent patient needs and appropriate treatment that has caused the CDC and FDA to call for a pause in the use of the J&J vaccine.

[...] So far, all six cases have occurred among women below the age of 50 and appeared between one and two weeks after vaccination.

To put that in a different perspective, imagine giving a shot of vaccine every single second of every minute of every hour of every day.

takyon writes:

Astrobotic selects Falcon Heavy to launch NASA's VIPER lunar rover

Astrobotic has signed a contract with SpaceX for the launch of its Griffin lunar lander, carrying a NASA lunar rover, on a Falcon Heavy in 2023.

Astrobotic announced April 13 that it selected SpaceX's Falcon Heavy for its Griffin Mission 1 lunar lander mission, which will deliver the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) spacecraft to the south pole of the moon in late 2023. Astrobotic won a NASA competition through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program last year to transport VIPER on its Griffin lunar lander.

[...] VIPER is a NASA mission to investigate permanently shadowed regions of craters at the lunar south pole that may contain deposits of water ice that could serve as resources for future crewed missions. It is designed to operate for 100 days after landing.

NASA originally planned to launch VIPER in 2022, with a mission cost of $250 million. However, NASA postponed the launch to late 2023 to provide more time for work to increase VIPER's mission life from 14 to 100 days. That, in turn, drove up the cost of VIPER to $433.5 million, NASA disclosed in March.

Previously: Astrobotic to Use "CubeRover" to Explore the Moon
NASA Selects Three Companies to Land Science Payloads on the Moon
MoonRanger Robotic Rover Will Seek out Water on the Moon

Original Submission

takyon writes:

AMD has announced "Cezanne" desktop APUs with Zen 3 cores and Vega integrated graphics:

AMD has officially launched its next-generation Ryzen 5000G APUs codenamed Cezanne which features the brand new Zen 3 core architecture. The AMD Ryzen 5000G APUs are aimed at the consumer segment with an initial supply coming to OEM PCs first and later heading out to the gaming & mainstream DIY segment.

The AMD Ryzen 7 5700G will be the flagship offering within the lineup. It will feature 8 cores and 16 threads. The clock speeds are reported at a 3.8 GHz base and a 4.6 GHz boost. The CPU will carry a total of 16 MB L3 and 4 MB L2 cache with the TDP being set at 65W. The APU will also carry a Vega integrated GPU with 8 CUs or 512 stream processors running at clock speeds around 2.0 GHz. The 35W Ryzen 7 5700GE will feature the same specs but reduced core clocks of 3.2 GHz base and 4.6 GHz boost. The CPU should retail at around $350-$400 US.

Unlike the previous-generation "Renoir" desktop APUs, these processors should eventually see a retail release, but will only be offered by OEMs for now.

AMD has also launched OEM-only Ryzen 9 5900 and Ryzen 7 5800 CPUs with lower TDPs and clock speeds than their X counterparts.

Also at AnandTech.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

FCC asks public to help test broadband speeds across the US:

The Federal Communications Commission is asking more Americans to use its speed test app to help improve the accuracy of its  broadband speeds throughout the US. The tool is being used as part of a larger effort at the agency to improve its maps to get a clearer picture of broadband in America.

The Android and iOS FCC Speed Test App is similar to other online speed-testing apps from companies like Ookla. The test automatically generates results once you press the button to start the test. The data that's collected will be used to help the FCC improve its broadband maps.

[...] In a separate effort, the FCC is also asking the public to verify ISP-reported data regarding individual addresses. The agency wants people to type in their home addresses to double-check whether the information the agency has about their broadband service matches what providers like AT&T, Comcast or Verizon have reported to the agency. If the information doesn't match, the FCC is asking people to submit a form to dispute the information in the database.

The issue around inaccurate maps has gained the attention of both Republicans and Democrats on the FCC and in Congress. Both sides agree that data for mapping needs to be more granular in order to get an accurate picture of where broadband exists and where it doesn't.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

MEP Patrick Breyer, representing Germany via the Pirate Party, has written that there is a short time left to provide input to the public consultation on the proposal to eliminate encrypted services in Europe. The deadline is April 15^th. He goes over the key survey questions to pay particular attention to, the gist of the draft legislation is as follows:

• The EU Commission is drafting permanent legislation on the automatic searching of all online activities, including personal electronic mail and messages of each citizen, for suspicious content in the search for child pornography. Suspected cases would be notified to the police. An online consultation is underway until 15 April. It includes questions on whether private communications should be covered and whether backdoors to end-to-end encrypted communications services should be required to enable this monitoring.
• Such privatised mass surveillance is unprecedented in western democracies and would have unacceptable consequences for our freedom of communications and expression. According to police reports, in the vast majority of cases, innocent citizens come under suspicion of having committed an offence due to unreliable processes.
• Therefore, please participate in the ongoing consultation. The responses will be taken into account by the Commission when deciding on the content of the planned legislation. So far, almost only child protection organizations and industry stakeholders have participated.
• The public consultation on chat control legislation is open until 15 April: https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/12726-Child-sexual-abuse-online-detection-removal-and-reporting-/public-consultation

To participate, you need to create an account as well as be able to vote in the EU.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

No password required: Mobile carrier exposes data for millions of accounts:

Q Link Wireless, a provider of low-cost mobile phone and data services to 2 million US-based customers, has been making sensitive account data available to anyone who knows a valid phone number on the carrier's network, an analysis of the company's account management app shows.

Dania, Florida-based Q Link Wireless is what's known as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator, meaning it doesn't operate its own wireless network but rather buys services in bulk from other carriers and resells them. It provides government-subsidized phones and service to low-income consumers through the FCC's Lifeline Program. It also offers a range of low-cost service plans through its Hello Mobile brand. In 2019, Q Link Wireless said it had 2 million customers.

The carrier offers an app called My Mobile Account (for both iOS and Android) that customers can use to monitor text and minutes histories, data and minute usage, or to buy additional minutes or data. The app also displays the customer's:

• First and last name
• Home address
• Phone call history (from/to)
• Text message history (from/to)
• Phone carrier account number needed for porting
• Email address
• Last four digits of the associated payment card

[...] No password required . . . what?

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Court rules grocery store's inaccessible website isn't an ADA violation:

A federal appeals court struck a significant blow against disability rights this week when it ruled that a Florida grocery store's inaccessible website did not violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ruling contradicts a 2019 decision by a different appeals court holding that Domino's did violate the ADA when it failed to make its app accessible to blind people.

[...] Winn-Dixie is a grocery store chain with locations across the American South. Juan Carlos Gil is a blind Florida man who patronized Winn-Dixie stores in the Miami area for about 15 years.

A few years ago, Gil learned that the store offered customers the ability to fill prescriptions online. Ordering online saves customers time because prescriptions are ready when the customer arrives. Gill also preferred to order prescriptions online because it offered greater privacy. In court, he testified that ordering in person as a blind man made him "uncomfortable because he did not know who else was nearby listening" as he told the pharmacist his order.

Unfortunately, the Winn-Dixie website was incompatible with the screen-reading software Gil used to surf the web, rendering it effectively useless to him. Incensed, Gil stopped patronizing Winn-Dixie and filed a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Gil argued that the inaccessible design of the Winn-Dixie website discriminated against blind customers like him because it forced them to order prescriptions in person, a process that is slower and offers less privacy.

In his lawsuit, Gil also said he couldn't access two other features of the Winn-Dixie website: a store locator function and the ability to clip digital coupons and automatically apply them at the register with his loyalty card.

Freeman writes:

Microsoft acquires Nuance—makers of Dragon speech rec—for $16 billion:

Earlier today, Microsoft announced its plans to purchase Nuance for $56 per share—23 percent above Nuance's closing price last Friday. The deal adds up to a $16 billion cash outlay and a total valuation for Nuance of about $19.7 billion, including that company's assumed debt.

Nuance is a well-known player in the field of natural language recognition. The company's technology is the core of Apple's Siri personal assistant. Nuance also sells well-known personal speech-recognition software Dragon NaturallySpeaking, which is invaluable to many people with a wide range of physical disabilities.

[...] Acquiring Nuance gives Microsoft direct access to the company's entire health care customer list. It also gives Microsoft the opportunity to push Nuance technology—currently, mostly used in the US—to Microsoft's own large international market. Nuance chief executive Mark Benjamin—who will continue to run Nuance as a Microsoft division after the acquisition—describes it as an opportunity to "superscale how we change an industry."

[...] The acquisition has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both Nuance and Microsoft, and it is expected to close by the end of 2021.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Developer Tim Bray, of XML fame, has written an ode to The Sacred "Back" Button.

Younger readers will find it hard to conceive of a time in which every application screen didn't have a way to "Go Back". This universal affordance was there, a new thing, in the first Web browser that anyone saw, and pretty soon after that, more or less everything had it. It's a crucial part of the user experience and, unfortunately, a lot of popular software is doing it imperfectly. Let's demand perfection.

Why it matters · Nobody anywhere is smart enough to build an application that won't, in some situations, confuse its users. The Back option removes fear and makes people more willing to explore features, because they know they can always back out. It was one of the reasons why the nascent browsers were so much better than the Visual Basic, X11, and character-based interface dinosaurs that then stomped the earth.

Thus I was delighted, at the advent of Android, that the early phones had physical "back" buttons.

[...] Nowadays Android phones don't have the button, but do offer a universal "Back" gesture and, as an Android developer, you don't have to do anything special to get sane, user-friendly behavior. I notice that when I use iOS apps, they always provide a back arrow somewhere up in the top left corner; don't know if that costs developers extra work.

[...] People using your software generally have a well-developed expectation of what Back should do at any point in time, and any time you don't meet that expectation you've committed a grievous sin, one should remedy right now.

The undo function has been around since the beginning, though invented and reinvented several times. Some systems got it much later than others, but now its presence is universally expected.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Chinese government fines Alibaba $3.7 billion for anti-competitive behaviour - ABC News:

Chinese regulators have fined Alibaba Group, the world's biggest e-commerce company, 18.3 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) for anti-competitive tactics.

The State Administration for Market Regulation on Saturday announced Alibaba was fined for "abusing its dominant position" to limit competition by retailers that use its platforms and hindering "free circulation" of goods.

It said the fine was equal to 4 per cent of Alibaba's total 2019 revenue.

It promised to "operate in accordance with the law with utmost diligence".

China's ruling Communist Party is concerned about the dominance of the country's biggest internet companies, which are expanding into finance, health services and other sensitive areas.

The party says anti-monopoly enforcement, especially in tech, is a priority this year.

[...] Mr Ma, one of China's richest and most prominent entrepreneurs, disappeared temporarily from public view after criticising regulators in a November speech.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Google starts rolling out "Heads Up" in Digital Wellbeing to stop distracted walking

In November last year, XDA's Mishaal Rahman spotted an upcoming feature, called Heads Up, in a teardown of the Digital Wellbeing app. At the time, we'd learned that the feature would alert users to keep their heads up while walking to avoid any accidents. The feature has now started rolling out to Google Pixel users with the latest Digital Wellbeing beta update.

[...] The setup screen shows the same description: "Watch your step with Heads Up...If you're walking while using your phone, get a reminder to focus on what's around you. Use with caution. Heads Up doesn't replace paying attention." Tapping on the 'Next' button at the bottom of this screen begins the setup process, after which the feature shows a pushes a reminder every time you use your phone while walking.

Also at 9to5Google, Android Police, and The Verge.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Critical Zoom Vulnerability Triggers Remote Code Execution Without User Input:

A zero-day vulnerability in Zoom which can be used to launch remote code execution (RCE) attacks has been disclosed by researchers.

Pwn2Own, organized by the Zero Day Initiative, is a contest for white-hat cybersecurity professionals and teams to compete in the discovery of bugs in popular software and services.

[...] For successful entrants, the financial rewards can be high -- and in this case, Daan Keuper and Thijs Alkemade earned themselves $200,000 for their Zoom discovery.

The researchers from Computest demonstrated a three-bug attack chain that caused an RCE on a target machine, and all without any form of user interaction.

[...] As noted by Malwarebytes, the attack works on both Windows and Mac versions of Zoom, but it has not -- yet -- been tested on iOS or Android. The browser version of the videoconferencing software is not impacted.

In a statement to Tom's Guide, Zoom thanked the Computest researchers and said the company was "working to mitigate this issue with respect to Zoom Chat." In-session Zoom Meetings and Zoom Video Webinars are not affected.

"The attack must also originate from an accepted external contact or be a part of the target's same organizational account," Zoom added. "As a best practice, Zoom recommends that all users only accept contact requests from individuals they know and trust."

[...] End-users just need to wait for a patch to be issued -- but if worried, they can use the browser version in the meantime.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Amazon's Twitch will punish users for certain harmful offline behavior like engaging in deadly violence:

Twitch, the Amazon-owned video streaming platform primarily used by gamers to livestream their games, announced a new policy Wednesday empowering the company to take action against users who display certain harmful behaviors entirely offline.

The policy represents a unique approach among social media peers at a time when the industry has been under escalating pressure to institute strong and consistent content-moderation policies. As lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have threatened to strip online platforms of their liability protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, many platforms have taken steps to place stronger guardrails on what users can post.

Under the new policy, Twitch can suspend users for up to an indefinite period of time after a third-party investigator determines there is strong evidence the person has engaged in certain offline behaviors. These actions include engaging in deadly violence, terrorist activities, grooming children for sexual exploitation, committing sexual assault or even "acting as an accomplice to non-consensual sexual activities." It will also continue to consider offline harassment in cases where a user alleges abuse online.

Twitch said it will work with "an experienced investigations law firm" to determine the validity of claims, which will rely at times on accessing evidence from law enforcement. The company said it would not take action on a user's account until it concludes its investigation and confirms evidence of wrongdoing.

The harmful offline behaviors do not need to involve another Twitch user to be considered a violation, a spokesperson confirmed. That's based on the notion that people who engage in these types of behaviors are more likely to create safety risks for the Twitch community, the spokesperson added.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Here's Why Our Brains Solve Problems by Adding Things, Not Removing:

Have you ever noticed how we usually try and solve problems by adding more, rather than taking away? More meetings, more forms, more buttons, more shelves, more systems, more code, and so on. Now scientists think they might know the reason why.

A study of 1,585 people across 8 different experiments showed that our brains tend to default to addition rather than subtraction when it comes to finding solutions – in many cases, it seems we just don't consider the strategy of taking something away at all.

The researchers found that this preference for adding was noticeable in three scenarios in particular: when people were under higher cognitive load, when there was less time to consider the other options, and when volunteers didn't get a specific reminder that subtracting was an option.

"It happens in engineering design, which is my main interest," says engineer Leidy Klotz, from the University of Virginia. "But it also happens in writing, cooking, and everything else – just think about your own work and you will see it."

"The first thing that comes to our minds is, what can we add to make it better? Our paper shows we do this to our detriment, even when the only right answer is to subtract. Even with financial incentive, we still don't think to take away."

[...] "The more often people rely on additive strategies, the more cognitively accessible they become," says psychologist Gabrielle Adams, from the University of Virginia.

"Over time, the habit of looking for additive ideas may get stronger and stronger, and in the long run, we end up missing out on many opportunities to improve the world by subtraction."

The research has been published in Nature.

Journal Reference:
Gabrielle S. Adams, Benjamin A. Converse, Andrew H. Hales, et al. People systematically overlook subtractive changes, Nature (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03380-y)

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

US colleges will require students to be vaccinated, despite state policies:

A growing number of US colleges have said all students must be fully vaccinated before returning to campus, in a move likely to anger some state governors. At least 14 colleges have said vaccination will be required so far, according to a CNN tally, and that number is expected to grow.

In late March Rutgers University became one of the first institutions to declare that having all students vaccinated will allow for an "expedited return to pre-pandemic normal."

Cornell, Brown, Notre Dame, Northeastern, Syracuse, Ithaca and Fort Lewis have made similar announcements, though all will make exceptions for medical or religious reasons. Cornell has also created an online registration tool so students and staff can register their vaccination status.

Two colleges, St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, and Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Broward, Florida, have gone a step further, requiring students and all campus employees to be vaccinated.

NSU's policy puts it on a collision course with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. After NSU's announcement on April 1 DeSantis signed an executive order stating that vaccines are available but not mandated. Crucially the order prohibits any government entity or business from requiring a vaccine passport. NSU said Thursday that it is reviewing the executive order.

Original Submission