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Freeman writes:

DOTA is Defence of the Ancients for any non-gamers (like me!) in our community. It is often used as a word.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/02/valve-used-secret-memory-access-honeypot-to-detect-40k-dota-2-cheaters/

The cat-and-mouse battle between game makers and cheat makers has seen plenty of inventive twists and turns over the years. Even amid that backdrop, though, Dota 2 stands out for a recently revealed "honeypot" trap hidden inside the game's memory buffer.

In a blog post this week, Valve revealed the existence of this trap, which was released as part of an earlier update to the game. Valve says that update included "a section of data inside the game client that would never be read during normal gameplay." But that memory could be read by third-party cheat tools that used exploits to sniff out (and share) internal data normally invisible to players.

To activate its honeypot trap, all Valve had to do was watch for any accounts that tried to read from that "secret" memory area, an event that would lead to "extremely high confidence that every ban was well-deserved," according to Valve.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Soylent acquired by Starco Brands as nutrition company shifts into its 'natural next stage'

Soylent Nutrition is joining public company Starco Brands as part of an acquisition that will keep the plant-based food technology company operating as a separate unit under its current CEO Demir Vangelov.

As part of the transaction, Vangelov told TechCrunch that he will join Starco's board and is getting shares in the new company, while himself and Soylent's shareholders will become the largest single voting block in Starco. Other financial details were not disclosed.

Bloomberg first reported last May that Soylent was exploring a possible sale, which isn't unusual, but financially speaking, the company was doing well: Vangelov said Soylent was profitable and had been growing over the past few years, including nearly achieving its projected goal of $100 million in run rate for 2022. Getting to profitability, however, was a complicated journey.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Meanwhile, an astronaut and two cosmonauts wait for a return ride to Earth:

[...] The disposal follows a depressurization alert onboard the spacecraft on Feb. 11, making it the second Russian spacecraft to spring a leak at the space station over the past two months. A Soyuz capsule for carrying humans also suffered a similar coolant leak in December 2022, leaving three crew members without a lifeboat.

Following Roscosmos' in-space inspection of the cargo ship and before it broke up over the ocean, the agency said external damage — not a manufacturing defect — caused the leak. The Russian space agency plans to launch a new empty passenger spaceship Thursday, Feb. 24, giving the three marooned crew a fresh return ride home. The new Soyuz MS-23 is expected to dock at the space station this weekend. But because of the shuffle in spacecraft, the astronaut and two cosmonauts won't come home until September, extending their time in space by six months. NASA officials said they are reviewing photos and data related to the leaks "in parallel" with their Russian counterparts.

After an investigation into the first leak, Russian and U.S. space officials believed a micrometeoroid smaller than a sharpened pencil tip had caused the puncture. The coolant seeping into space then, caught on live video, was intended to keep the cabin at a comfortable temperature.

upstart writes:

US Supreme Court declines to hear NSA spying complaint:

America's Supreme Court has declined to hear Wikimedia Foundation's challenge of the NSA's "upstream" surveillance program, effectively exempting the agency's data collection from review as a state secret.

In 2015, two years after Edward Snowden's public disclosures about the NSA's network surveillance, Wikimedia Foundation, with eight other organizations and the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, sued the NSA and the US Justice Department alleging the bulk gathering of internet traffic violated Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

The NSA program is alleged to involve capturing all data entering and leaving the US via internet backbones. Captured packets get reassembled into transactions that get filtered for the presence of "selectors" (e.g., email addresses) associated with surveillance targets and those transactions then get ingested into a system for review.

The Wikimedia Foundation et al. argued that the NSA's warrantless surveillance program, which the government contends is authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, is unlawful because it permits surveillance of US persons' international communications without a warrant or the approval of a public court, provided targeted individuals are located outside the US, but the kicker is that they can backtrace calls to associates who may have committed no crime.

Shortly after reports based on Snowden's leaked documents revived interest in network data security, the US Director of National Intelligence published a letter [PDF] that asserts NSA surveillance operates lawfully. "Collection of intelligence information under Section 702 is subject to an extensive oversight regime, incorporating reviews by the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches," the DNI letter said.

US courts, however, have declined to hear challenges to that claim.

Amazon Employees Ask Boss Not to Make Them Come Back to the Office

upstart writes:

Amazon Employees Ask Boss not to Make Them Come Back to the Office:

A draft of a petition by workers stated that employees' trust in Amazon's leaders had been "shattered" by the mandate to come in.

Amazon employees are petitioning CEO Andy Jassy to cancel his return-to-office (RTO) mandate and calling out his about-face on remote work. In a petition to Jassy sent late Tuesday, Amazon workers decried that their trust in the company's leaders had been "shattered."

After Jassy told workers in a memo last Friday that workers would be expected to return to the office for at least three days a week beginning May 1, employees began to mobilize in an effort to get him to change his mind. Since October 2021, Amazon had allowed managers to determine how often employees needed to be in the office. [...]

"Many employees trusted these statements and planned for a life where their employer wouldn't force them to return to the office," the employees wrote in the draft, which was obtained by Insider. "The RTO mandate shattered their trust in Amazon's leaders."

A draft of the petition asks Jassy and Amazon's executive team to cancel the company's return-to-office plans and institute a new policy "that allows employees to work remotely or more flexibly, if they choose to do so, as their team and job role permits."

Snotnose writes:

It may sound like an insensitive statement, but the cold hard truth is that there are a lot of stupid people in the world, and their stupidity presents a constant danger to others. Some of these people are in positions of power, and some of them have been elected to run our country. A far greater number of them do not have positions of power, but they still have the power to vote, and the power to spread their ideas. We may have heard of "collective intelligence," but there is also "collective stupidity," and it is a force with equal influence on the world. It would not be a stretch to say that at this point in time, stupidity presents an existential threat to America because, in some circles, it is being celebrated.

Although the term "stupidity" may seem derogatory or insulting, it is actually a scientific concept that refers to a specific type of cognitive failure. It is important to realize that stupidity is not simply a lack of intelligence or knowledge, but rather a failure to use one's cognitive abilities effectively. This means that you can be "smart" while having a low IQ, or no expertise in anything. It is often said that "you can't fix stupid," but that is not exactly true. By becoming aware of the limitations of our natural intelligence or our ignorance, we can adjust our reasoning, behavior, and decision-making to account for our intellectual shortcomings.

To demonstrate that stupidity does not mean having a low IQ, consider the case of Richard Branson, the billionaire CEO of Virgin Airlines, who is one of the world's most successful businessmen. Branson has said that he was seen as the dumbest person in school, and has admitted to having dyslexia, a learning disability that affects one's ability to read and correctly interpret written language. But it wasn't just reading comprehension that was the problem — "Math just didn't make sense to me," Branson has said. "I would certainly have failed an IQ test."

[...] We are all victims of the Dunning-Kruger effect to some degree. An inability to accurately assess our own competency and wisdom is something we see in both liberals and conservatives. While being more educated typically decreases our Dunning-Kruger tendencies, it does not eliminate them entirely. That takes constant cognitive effort in the form of self-awareness, continual curiosity, and a healthy amount of skepticism. By cultivating this type of awareness in ourselves, and making an effort to spread it to others, we can fight back against the stupidity crisis that threatens our nation.

Interesting stuff from cognitive neuroscientist

Original Submission

owl writes:

http://www.righto.com/2023/02/8086-interrupt.html

Interrupts have been an important part of computers since the mid-1950s,1 providing a mechanism to interrupt a program's execution. Interrupts allows the computer to handle time-critical tasks such as I/O device operations. In this blog post, I look at the interrupt features in the Intel 8086 (1978) and how they are implemented in silicon, a combination of interesting circuitry and microcode.

[...] The idea behind an interrupt is to stop the current flow of execution, run an interrupt handler to perform a task, and then continue execution where it left off. An interrupt is like a subroutine call in some ways; it pushes the current segment register and program counter on the stack and continues at a new address. However, there are a few important differences. First, the address of the interrupt handler is obtained indirectly, through an interrupt vector table. Interrupts are numbered 0 through 255, and each interrupt has an entry in the vector table that gives the address of the code to handle the interrupt. Second, an interrupt pushes the processor flags to the stack, so they can be restored after the interrupt. Finally, an interrupt clears the interrupt and trap flags, blocking more interrupts while handling the interrupt.

The 8086 provides several types of interrupts, some generated by hardware and some generated by software. For hardware interrupts, the INTR pin on the chip generates a maskable interrupt when activated, while the NMI pin on the chip generates a higher-priority non-maskable interrupt.2 Typically, most interrupts use the INTR pin, signaling things such as a timer, keyboard request, real-time clock, or a disk needing service. The NMI interrupt is designed for things such as parity error or an impending power failure, which are so critical they can't be delayed. The 8086 also has a RESET pin that resets the CPU. Although not technically an interrupt, the RESET action has many features in common with interrupts, so I'll discuss it here.

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Get more exercise. Eat right. Make new friends.

Funded by the American Cancer Society, the first-ever, randomized, controlled trial of community gardening found that those who started gardening ate more fiber and got more physical activity—two known ways to reduce risk of cancer and chronic diseases. They also saw their levels of stress and anxiety significantly decrease.

[...] "These findings provide concrete evidence that community gardening could play an important role in preventing cancer, chronic diseases and mental health disorders," said senior author Jill Litt, a professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at CU Boulder.

[...] "No matter where you go, people say there's just something about gardening that makes them feel better," said Litt, who is also a researcher with the Barcelona Institute for Global Health.

But solid science on its benefits is hard to come by. Without evidence, it's hard to get support for new programs, she said.

Intel Reportedly Delays TSMC 3nm Orders for 15th Gen Arrow Lake CPUs

upstart writes:

Intel Reportedly Delays TSMC 3nm Orders for 15th Gen Arrow Lake CPUs:

In late January, we reported that Intel secured a leading "cloud, edge, and data center solutions provider" that will use its Intel 3 node. Intel is bolstering its efforts to sign lucrative contracts for its Intel Foundry Services arm, a lynchpin in CEO Pat Gelsinger's efforts to increase revenue.

But while Intel produces most of its chips (and produces chips for other vendors), it also has contracts with competitors like Taiwan Semiconductor Corporation (TSMC) to produce chips for its Arc discrete GPU family. To that end, DigiTimes reports that Intel's collaboration with TSMC on products using the latter's 3nm node has hit a slight snag.

Previous reports indicated that Intel's 15th generation disaggregated multi-tile/multi-chiplet Arrow Lake processors, which will purportedly use TSMC 3nm for the GPU tile, would launch in Q3 2024. Now, it's reported that Intel is delaying orders with TSMC until Q4 2024. So if this report is accurate, the first Arrow Lake processor will trickle in late Q4 2024 into Q1 2025.

However, Arrow Lake is roughly two years away, so we're quibbling about a couple of months for a product two generations out. Leading up to Arrow Lake, Intel will allegedly launch Raptor Lake-S desktop processors later this year with enhanced performance for enthusiasts and workstation markets. Raptor Lake-S will be followed by the 14th generation Meteor Lake family later this year. "On Intel 4, we are ready today for manufacturing and we look forward to the MTL (Meteor Lake) ramp in the second half of the year," said Gelsinger during Intel's Q4 2022 earnings call.

upstart writes:

Webb uses galactic megacluster as enormous magnifying lens:

Modern space telescopes are tremendously powerful instruments, able to look deep into space without being limited by the blurring effects of Earth's atmosphere. But even this is not enough to allow them to see the most distant galaxies, which are so far away that looking at them is like looking back in time to the early stages of the universe.

To look even further out, astronomers take advantage of a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. This happens when an object like a galaxy or a galaxy cluster has so much mass that it bends space-time, acting like a magnifying glass and brightening the extremely distant objects behind it.

This is how the James Webb Space Telescope was recently able to see thousands of extremely distant objects by looking at a region of space called Pandora's Cluster, or Abell 2744.

[...] If you look closely at the image, you'll see that many of the galaxies appear to be stretched out or elongated. That's because of the lensing effect, as the gravity of the megacluster warps the light coming from them. But even with this distortion, astronomers can learn a lot about these galaxies from images like this one.

[...] "Pandora's Cluster, as imaged by Webb, shows us a stronger, wider, deeper, better lens than we have ever seen before," said another of the researchers, Ivo Labbe. "My first reaction to the image was that it was so beautiful, it looked like a galaxy formation simulation. We had to remind ourselves that this was real data, and we are working in a new era of astronomy now."

JWST's Pandora's Cluster image

Original Submission

upstart writes:

The code found in the malicious packages closely resembled legit offerings:

More than 400 malicious packages were recently uploaded to PyPI (Python Package Index), the official code repository for the Python programming language, in the latest indication that the targeting of software developers using this form of attack isn't a passing fad.

All 451 packages found recently by security firm Phylum contained almost identical malicious payloads and were uploaded in bursts that came in quick succession. Once installed, the packages create a malicious JavaScript extension that loads each time a browser is opened on the infected device, a trick that gives the malware persistence over reboots.

The JavaScript monitors the infected developer's clipboard for any cryptocurrency addresses that may be copied to it. When an address is found, the malware replaces it with an address belonging to the attacker. The objective: intercept payments the developer intended to make to a different party.

Besides vastly increasing the number of malicious packages uploaded, the latest campaign also uses a significantly different way to cover its tracks. Whereas the packages disclosed in November used encoding to conceal the behavior of the JavaScript, the new packages write function and variable identifiers in what appear to be random 16-bit combinations of Chinese language ideographs [...]

[...] The names of all 451 malicious packages the Phylum researchers found are included in the blog post. It's not a bad idea for anyone who intended to download one of the legitimate packages targeted to double-check that they didn't inadvertently obtain a malicious doppelganger.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

2,200-Year-Old Flush Toilet Found at Chinese Ruins:

We often consider flushing toilets a modern marvel, rivaled only by other essential comforts such as electricity and on-demand hot water. But while we may have perfected the flushing toilet, it's anything but new technology. Archaeologists in China have uncovered a 2,200-year-old toilet that once flushed, suggesting that the plumbing we often take for granted has existed far longer than originally thought.

A team at the China Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Archaeology uncovered the toilet at palace ruins in Yueyang City. Yueyang is a common tourist destination thanks to its 2,500 years of history, which visitors enjoy through its ancient pavilions and towers. Now Yueyang has one more claim to fame: the oldest-known flush toilet.

[...] The archaeologists reconstructed the toilet. According to ancient tools expert Fan Mingyang, the system was "deceptively advanced," possessing a flush water drainage system not terribly unlike today's toilets. Given the toilet is estimated to be between 2,200 and 2,400 years old, its mechanics challenge commonly held notions about historical plumbing, especially in regard to sewage management. To use the toilet, someone would have sat on or squatted over the seat (the rest of which is still outstanding). After doing their business, someone would have had to pour buckets of water into the toilet to flush away waste.

[...] The team also found four large and intricate tiles in the building where the toilet was found. One tile was found in each corner. So far, no particular meaning has been attached to the tiles' appearance or placement.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Game maker Rovio is so annoyed that it may be missing out on profits to be made with newer games that it will remove Angry Birds from the Android store. Rovio believes that people are downloading the older free version of its game which is detracting from players downloading their newer games with in-app purchases. In a statement Rovio said: "Rovio Classics: Angry Bird will remain playable on devices on which the game has been downloaded, even after it has been unlisted".

Rovio isn't the only developer pulling mobile games from storefronts. Recently, EA cancelled two mobile games, an in-development Battlefield game and the already-released Apex Legends Mobile.

If you ever wondered why you can't get the APK to install programs on Android: This is why

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

Clarkesworld wrestles with flood of machine-made submissions—over 500 in Feb. alone:

One side effect of unlimited content-creation machines—generative AI—is unlimited content. On Monday, the editor of the renowned sci-fi publication Clarkesworld Magazine announced that he had temporarily closed story submissions due to a massive increase in machine-generated stories sent to the publication.

In a graph shared on Twitter, Clarkesworld editor Neil Clarke tallied the number of banned writers submitting plagiarized or machine-generated stories. The numbers totaled 500 in February, up from just over 100 in January and a low baseline of around 25 in October 2022. The rise in banned submissions roughly coincides with the release of ChatGPT on November 30, 2022.

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Smallpox has plagued humans since ancient Egyptian times, new evidence confirms:

Smallpox was once one of humanity's most devastating diseases, but its origin is shrouded in mystery. For years, scientific estimates of when the smallpox virus first emerged have been at odds with historical records. Now, a new study reveals that the virus dates back 2,000 years further than scientists have previously shown, verifying historical sources and confirming for the first time that the disease has plagued human societies since ancient times.

[...] Until relatively recently, the earliest genetic evidence for smallpox was only from the 1600s. Then in 2020, a study that sampled skeletal and dental remains of Viking-age skeletons recovered multiple strains of variola and confirmed the virus' existence at least another 1,000 years earlier.

However, some historians believe that smallpox has been around since long before the Vikings. Suspicious scarring on ancient Egyptian mummies (including the Pharoah Ramses V who died in 1157 BC) leads some to believe that the history of smallpox stretches back at least 3,000 years. So far, the missing piece of scientific evidence to support this theory has remained hidden.

By comparing the genomes of modern and historic strains of variola virus, researchers at the Scientific Institute Eugenio Medea and University of Milan in Italy have traced the evolution of the virus back in time. They found that different strains of smallpox all descended from a single common ancestor and that a small fraction of the genetic components found in Viking-age genomes had persisted until the 18th century.