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SomeGuy writes:

PCMag reports Russia's invasion of Ukraine has destroyed the Club 8-Bit retro computer museum in Mariupol.

The Club 8-Bit museum in Mariupol housed over a 120 retro computing devices, including some old-school Apple and Atari hardware, along with Soviet-era computers.

Earlier this week, the owner of the Club 8-Bit museum in Mariupol, Ukraine, reported the tragic news on Facebook page. "That's it, the Mariupol computer museum is no longer there," wrote Dmitry Cherepanov.

All that is left from my collection that I have been collecting for 15 years is just fragments of memories on the FB page, website and radio station of the museum, he added.

Founded in 2003, the Club 8-Bit museum contained a collection of over 120 retro computers [...]

The museum also had an Apple IIc computer, Compaq Portable III, Atari 400, and many Soviet-era computers from the 1980s and 1990s. In total, more than 500 exhibits of the IT sphere from the 1950s to the early 2000s were located at the museum, according to Club 8-Bit's website.

The destruction of the museum occurred as Mariupol is facing an intense siege from Russian military forces, which have been shelling residential buildings across the city. In his Facebook post, Cherepanov added: "There is neither my museum nor my house. And it hurts, but I will definitely survive it and find a new home."

Original Submission

upstart writes:

U.S. charges 4 Russian government workers with hacking energy sector:

The U.S. Justice Department fired another legal salvo against Russia on Thursday, announcing indictments against four Russian government employees for an alleged hacking campaign targeting the energy sector that lasted for years and targeted computers in 135 countries.

An indictment in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charges that Evgeny Viktorovich Gladkikh, who worked at a Russian Ministry of Defense research institute, conspired with others to damage critical infrastructure outside the United States, causing emergency shutdowns at one foreign facility. Thosecharged in the indictment, under seal since June 2021, also allegedly tried to hack the computers of a U.S. firm that managed similar facilities in the United States.

A separate indictment filed in Kansas alleges that a hacking campaign launched by Russian's federal security service, or FSB, targeted computers at hundreds of energy-related entities around the world. That indictment was also filed under seal last summer.

upstart writes:

Carbon-coated nickel enables fuel cell free of precious metals:

The new discovery could accelerate the widespread use of hydrogen fuel cells, which hold great promise as efficient, clean energy sources for vehicles and other applications.

[...] "This finding makes progress toward using efficient, clean hydrogen fuel cells in place of fossil fuels," said Abruña, professor in the department of chemistry and chemical biology at Cornell University.

[...] Expensive precious metals, such as platinum, are currently required in hydrogen fuel cells to efficiently catalyze the reactions they employ to produce electricity. Although alkaline polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (APEMFCs) enable the use nonprecious metal electrocatalysts, they lack the necessary performance and durability to replace precious metal-based systems.

A fuel cell produces electricity through the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and an oxygen reduction reaction (OOR). Platinum, in particular, is a model catalyst for both reactions because it catalyzes them efficiently, and is durable in the acidic environment of a PEM fuel cell, Abruña said.

Recent experiments with nonprecious-metal HOR electrocatalysts needed to overcome two major challenges, the researchers wrote: low intrinsic activity from too strong a hydrogen binding energy, and poor durability due to rapid passivation from metal oxide formation.

[...] In February, Abruña and colleagues found that a cobalt nitride catalyst is nearly as efficient as platinum in catalyzing the oxygen reduction reaction.

Funding for this research was provided by the Center for Alkaline-Based Energy Solutions, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, and the Zhuang research group at Wuhan University, China, supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Journal Reference:"A Completely Precious-Metal-Free Alkaline Fuel Cell With Enhanced Performance Using a Carbon-Coated Nickel Anode," in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
(DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2119883119)

Original Submission

Thank you SO much! I had no idea that my work on SoylentNews had such a wide-ranging impact on so many people! Reading the comments to my resignation — This is Difficult in So Many Ways; I Must Resign from SoylentNews — brought me alternately to tears of joy and roars of laughter.

That said, the reality is that others have arguably played a larger role in making SoylentNews into the success that it is today. A few names that readily come to mind: NCommander (UID 2!), paulej72, TheMightyBuzzard, and LaminatorX (our first Editor-in-Chief). There are so many more!

As much as I appreciate the kind words, it would mean so much more to me to see these well-wishes turned into subscriptions to SoylentNews! This idea came to me when I received a gift subscription to the site. (Thanks drussell!) It costs roughly $7,000 per year to run this site — primarily web hosting fees. (Nobody has ever been paid anything for their work on this site!)

We have raised about $1,100 so far this year. Our goal for June 30th is only about $2,400 away (and for the year is only about $5,900 away). That is net to us after processing fees. It's a BIG stretch, but I have faith... let's see what this community can do!

[Update: Revised paulj72 to paulej72. - Fnord]

upstart writes:

Vidar spyware is now hidden in Microsoft help files:

A new cybercrime campaign has been discovered that abuses Microsoft HTML help files to distribute the Vidar malware.

Cybersecurity researchers from Trustwave reported of a threat actor distributing Vidar through an email spam campaign. In it, the attackers would send a relatively generic-looking email, with the attachment file "request.doc".

That file is not a .doc file, but instead, an .iso disk image, carrying two separate files: a Microsoft Compiled HTML Help file (CHM), often titled pss10r.chm, and an executable file, titled app.exe.

upstart writes:

Team Opens the Door for a New Class of Polymers That Can Improve Nanopatterning:

The microscopic components that make up computer chips must be made at staggering scales. With billions of transistors in a single processor, each made of multiple materials carefully arranged in patterns as thin as a strand of DNA, their manufacturing tools must also operate at a molecular level.

Typically, these tools involve using stencils to selectively pattern or remove materials with high fidelity, layer after layer, to form nanoscale electronic devices. But as chips must fit more and more components to keep up with the digital world's growing computational demands, these nanopatterning stencils must also become smaller and more precise.

Now, a team of Penn Engineers has demonstrated how a new class of polymers could do just that. In a new study, the researchers demonstrated how "multiblock" copolymers can produce exceptionally ordered patterns in thin films, achieving spacings smaller than three nanometers.

upstart writes:

Russia considers accepting Bitcoin for oil and gas:

Russia is considering accepting Bitcoin as payment for its oil and gas exports, according to a high-ranking lawmaker.> Pavel Zavalny says "friendly" countries could be allowed to pay in the crypto-currency or in their local currencies.

Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he wanted "unfriendly" countries to buy its gas with roubles.

The move is understood to be aimed at boosting the Russian currency, which has lost over 20% in value this year.

[...] However, Russia is still the world's biggest exporter of natural gas and the second largest supplier of oil.

upstart writes:

São Paulo subway ordered to suspend use of facial recognition:

The company responsible for running the São Paulo metro system was ordered to suspend the use of facial recognition technology.

According to the decision issued on Tuesday by judge Cynthia Thome at the São Paulo State Court, Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo (METRO) must immediately suspend the process to capture and processing of biometric data for facial recognition in the context of the implementation of an electronic surveillance system.

Moreover, the company has been ordered to immediately suspend the roll-out of new equipment that promotes data capture and biometrics processing for facial recognition. The decision also sets a daily fine in the event of non-compliance.

The decision follows a civil lawsuit initiated by several civil rights organizations calling for a ban on the use of facial recognition technology amid discrimination concerns. According to the latest sentence, the entities argued that despite the fact this was not explicit in the public notice for the system, one of its objectives is implementing a facial recognition system of all subway users, with capacity for data storage and sharing.

The claimants argued that the electronic monitoring system would involve facial recognition, with images of all 4 million daily metro users captured by a system called SecurOS. The goal is to store data, and there is a possibility that SecurOS will be integrated with other electronic monitoring systems based on facial recognition.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Nvidia shows off AI model that turns a few dozen snapshots into a 3D-rendered scene

Nvidia's latest AI demo is pretty impressive: a tool that quickly turns a "few dozen" 2D snapshots into a 3D-rendered scene. In the video below you can see the method in action, with a model dressed like Andy Warhol holding an old-fashioned Polaroid camera. (Don't overthink the Warhol connection: it's just a bit of PR scene dressing.)

The tool is called Instant NeRF, referring to "neural radiance fields" — a technique developed by researchers from UC Berkeley, Google Research, and UC San Diego in 2020. If you want a detailed explainer of neural radiance fields, you can read one here, but in short, the method maps the color and light intensity of different 2D shots, then generates data to connect these images from different vantage points and render a finished 3D scene. In addition to images, the system requires data about the position of the camera.

Researchers have been improving this sort of 2D-to-3D model for a couple of years now, adding more detail to finished renders and increasing rendering speed. Nvidia says its new Instant NeRF model is one of the fastest yet developed and reduces rendering time from a few minutes to a process that is finished "almost instantly."

Also at Tom's Hardware and PetaPixel.

Previously: Breakthrough AI Technique Enables Real-Time Rendering of Scenes in 3D From 2D Images

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

"Former" Microsoft employee, Yasser Elabd, has called out his former employer accusing it of widespread bribery and corruption in its activities against the Middle East and Africa. He claims he was dismissed for calling them out on it and alleges further that reports to the DOJ and SEC have fallen on deaf ears. After starting to scratch the surface, it appears to be a question of at least hundreds of millions of dollars.

Examining an audit of several partners conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, I discovered that when agreeing to terms of sale for a product or contract, a Microsoft executive or salesperson would propose a side agreement with the partner and the decision maker at the entity making the purchase. This decision maker on the customer side would send an email to Microsoft requesting a discount, which would be granted, but the end customer would pay the full fee anyway. The amount of the discount would then be distributed among the parties in cahoots: the Microsoft employee(s) involved in the scheme, the partner, and the decision maker at the purchasing entity—often a government official.

For instance: In three of the seven sampled transactions, discounts worth more than $5.5 million were not passed through to the end customers—in this case, two government-controlled entities. Another audit report showed a deal with the Saudi Ministry of the Interior in which a $13.6 million discount did not pass through. Further audits of deals in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia found a total of $20 million unaccounted for—and this involved only two partners out of hundreds across the region. Were an audit conducted for all of the partners using these practices, I believe the sums of money found to be stolen would be enormous. Where did these millions of dollars go?

owl writes:

http://lulabs.net/machining/ss-cube/

I wasn't entirely satisfied with the aluminum cube, so after thinking about the design for a while, I decided to make another one out of stainless steel. Just for fun, I thought I would make all the pieces using only manual machines. How hard could it be?

As it turns out, it was quite a bit of type 2 fun. It sure was slow and repetitive work, but I'm pleased with the result. I was motivated to think about ways to be more efficient, like machining multiple pieces at once and using looser tolerances where allowable. The slow pace also allowed me to consider details of the design while making parts. I have never been a fan of taking things slowly, but this could be a good argument for it.

[...] The final result is one incredibly heavy solid stainless Rubik's cube. Although it may be neat to look at, it weighs a massive three pounds (~1.4 kg) and is very tiring to manipulate. Solving this is more a test of the wrists than of the mind!

Between the relief grooves, the contours under the face centers, and the closer tolerances, this cube is much neater and smoother than the aluminum one. All the corner and edge pieces fit snugly without significant play. That does mean the faces must be better aligned to turn, but nobody would try speed cubing with this anyway.

Are any of our community into this kind of heavy metal construction at home? If you are, please tell us about it.

Original Submission

Microplastics Found in Human Blood for First Time

upstart writes:

Microplastics found in human blood for first time:

Microplastic pollution has been detected in human blood for the first time, with scientists finding the tiny particles in almost 80% of the people tested.

The discovery shows the particles can travel around the body and may lodge in organs. The impact on health is as yet unknown. But researchers are concerned as microplastics cause damage to human cells in the laboratory and air pollution particles are already known to enter the body and cause millions of early deaths a year.

[...] The scientists analysed blood samples from 22 anonymous donors, all healthy adults and found plastic particles in 17. Half the samples contained PET plastic, which is commonly used in drinks bottles, while a third contained polystyrene, used for packaging food and other products. A quarter of the blood samples contained polyethylene, from which plastic carrier bags are made.

"Our study is the first indication that we have polymer particles in our blood – ​it's a breakthrough result," said Prof Dick Vethaak, an ecotoxicologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. "But we have to extend the research and increase the sample sizes, the number of polymers assessed, etc." Further studies by a number of groups are already under way, he said.

Europe Agrees New Law to Curb Big Tech Dominance

upstart writes:

Europe agrees new law to curb Big Tech dominance:

European lawmakers have agreed on new rules which they hope will curb the dominance of Big Tech companies.

Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), giants such as Google and Apple will be forced to open up their services and platforms to other businesses.

[...] The announcement is the biggest regulatory move yet from the EU to act against what it defines as "anti-trust" or anti-competitive behaviour from mainly US technology businesses.

"The agreement ushers in a new era of tech regulation worldwide," said German MEP Andreas Schwab, who led the negotiations for the European Parliament.

[...] The targets of the law include WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, iMessage, the App Store, Google Play and many other services belonging to large tech firms.

The EU wants to give users more choice over how people send messages. The new rules would require that technology make their messaging services interoperable with smaller competitors.

However, Apple said it was "concerned that some provisions of the DMA will create unnecessary privacy and security vulnerabilities for our users".

Meanwhile, Google said: "While we support many of the DMA's ambitions around consumer choice and interoperability, we're worried that some of these rules could reduce innovation and the choice available to Europeans."

The law will only affect companies with a value of more than €75bn (£63bn), annual sales of €7.5bn and at least 45 million monthly users.

upstart writes:

Bacteria-shredding insect wings inspire new antibacterial packaging:

Inspired by the bacteria-killing wings of insects like cicadas, scientists have developed a natural antibacterial texture for use on food packaging to improve shelf life and reduce waste. The lab-made nanotexture from an Australian-Japanese team of scientists kills up to 70% of bacteria and retains its effectiveness when transferred to plastic.

More than 30% of food produced for human consumption becomes waste, with entire shipments rejected if bacterial growth is detected. The research sets the scene for significantly reducing waste, particularly in meat and dairy exports, as well as extending the shelf life and improving the quality, safety and integrity of packaged food on an industrial scale.

Distinguished Professor Elena Ivanova of RMIT University said the research team had successfully applied a natural phenomenon to a synthetic material—plastic. "Eliminating bacterial contamination is a huge step in extending the shelf life of food," she said.

"We knew the wings of cicadas and dragonflies were highly-efficient bacteria killers and could help inspire a solution, but replicating nature is always a challenge. We have now created a nanotexturing that mimics the bacteria-destroying effect of insect wings and retains its antibacterial power when printed on plastic. This is a big step towards a natural, non-chemical, antibacterial packaging solution for the food and manufacturing industry."

The research, published in ACS Applied Nano Materials, is a collaboration between RMIT, Tokyo Metropolitan University and Mitsubishi Chemical's The KAITEKI Institute. In 2015, Australia exported $US 3.1 billion of food and agricultural exports to Japan, making it the 5th largest exporter of such products to the country.

Journal Reference:
Denver P. Linklater, Soichiro Saita, Takaaki Murata, et al. Nanopillar Polymer Films as Antibacterial Packaging Materials, ACS Applied Nano Materials (DOI: 10.1021/acsanm.1c04251)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Half of Americans accept all cookies despite the security risk:

Although cookies have become a normal and necessary part of using the internet, new research from NordVPN has revealed that half of American users 'accept all cookies' on every website they visit.

[...] While most cookies are safe and used by companies to offer more personalization on their sites, some can be used to track you without your consent. At the same time, cookies can even be spied upon or used to fake the identity of a user so that an attacker can gain access to their online accounts.

Digital privacy expert at NordVPN, Daniel Markuson provided further insight on the dangers posed by cookies in a press release, saying:

"People need to be aware that cookies follow you online. Even if you hide your IP address with a VPN, cookies can track what you do online and form a partial ID of who you are. Moreover, third parties can sell your cookies. Some sites earn revenue by serving third-party cookies. These aren't functional – their purpose is to turn a profit from your data. Also, cookies are a vulnerability. With the wrong browser settings or when visiting the wrong website, cookies can introduce security vulnerabilities to your browsing experience,"

[...] Cookies have long been an important part of the internet but that could soon change as Google has been working on its Privacy Sandbox with the aim of replacing cookies for good. Until then though, you should continue to think twice before accepting all cookies on every site you visit.

Original Submission