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Thought that Apple iPod was groundbreaking or new? MPman beat them at mp3. But here's the 1974 version of "iPod": Retro-Tech: The 1972 Desktop 'iPod'

The mechanics, inventiveness, control without computer etc. Fascinating.

(year of manufacture can be seen at 9:11 on the motor)

London attack at London Bridge using vehicle-ramming and at Borough Market using stabbing. 7 dead, 20 injured. Started 3 June 2017 21:08 UTC.

I somehow managed to get the PIC programming method described here to work, and now I have incorporated a PIC16F1455 into my random number generator circuit. I added a header to enable programming of the PIC from within the main circuit, and the setup looks like this. Schematic here. Now I need to figure out how to write the firmware for that PIC so that it will look like some kind of USB device when I plug it into a PC, and it can feed all of that random bit data coming in through RC3 (Pin 7) over the USB interface. Github project here. Looks like this is going to be a much more complicated business than designing and building the circuit in the first place!

I found a few resources on the USB programming aspects here, here, here, here, and here. I would like to avoid using the XC8 compiler or any of Microchip's proprietary libraries as far as possible, and build the project entirely using SDCC and Free Software libraries only.

".youtube.com" has added a new cookie "GPS" with the value of '1'. Is this some kind of location marker scheme?

A company in Canada called Lyrebird has a new technology that can imitate any voice using a 60 second sound sample

The Montreal based startup in AI has presented a voice imitation algorithm that the team says can mimic the speech and also shift its emotional cadence — and all this with just a tiny snippet of real world audio.

So if you think fake news online is bad now, wait until there’s a tech that lets anyone generate a ‘recording’ of a person apparently incriminating themselves, trivially easily.

The company will release a online API later so that people can try the technology for themselves. Likely under some freemium model. The team has been working for more than a year on the technology at the MILA lab of the University in Montréal, and is being advised by the AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio.

CRISPR gene-editing tool causes unintended genetic mutations

CRISPR from 1987 which is a efficient and widely used DNA modification technique has been found to modify more than desired. The next mishap may very well be the one that create a superbug. Be it something like flue pandemic of 1918 etc.

In examining the entire genome from the CRISPR-treated mice, they found that the tool had successfully corrected the specific gene they were targeting, but it also potentially caused a great deal of other genetic changes. In two CRISPR-treated animals, more than 100 large gene deletions or insertions and over 1,500 single-nucleotide mutations were identified.

A recent investigative study by the Citizen Lab connects Russian actors to the practice of stealing, negatively altering and then releasing documents in an effort to damage the personal reputation of government officials, candidates and journalists in dozens of countries.

—SC Magazine

New evidence of a global espionage campaign involving email phishing attacks and leaked falsified documents emerged on Thursday, with clues suggesting the Russian government might have been involved.

[...]

In the incident Citizen Lab examined, documents obtained through a phishing operation in October 2016 that targeted the email account of U.S. journalist David Satter were selectively modified in an apparent attempt to discredit Satter and his work and then posted online. Satter has reported on Russia for decades and was expelled from the country in December 2013.

—CBC

On October 7, Satter received a phishing email designed to look like it was coming from Google, claiming someone had stolen his password and that he should change it right away.

As with seen with other phishing attacks targeting people affiliated with the Hillary Clinton campaign that led to the DNC leaks of last year, the email, however, didn't come from Google. It was actually from a group of hackers known as Fancy Bear, or APT28, whom many believe work for Russia's military intelligence, the GRU.

—Motherboard

The operation against the journalist led us to the discovery of a larger phishing operation, with over 200 unique targets spanning 39 countries (including members of 28 governments). The list includes a former Russian Prime Minister, members of cabinets from Europe and Eurasia, ambassadors, high ranking military officers, CEOs of energy companies, and members of civil society.

[...] we considered the Tiny.cc shortcodes found in the October 5 and 7 phishing emails sent to David Satter. Using these as a starting point, we enumerated approximately 4000 adjacent shortcodes for each, and then examined the target web addresses to which these short links redirected. From this large list, we extracted all of the associated destination links [...] which redirected to the malicious phishing domain [...]

—the report

additional coverage:

• Citizen Lab blog
• Hack Read
• Just Security
• Wired
• Valley News

related stories:
Bellingcat: Russian Military Involved in Downing of Flight MH17
A One-Man Intelligence Agency

Researchers at U.C. Berkeley has found a birth control that is hormone free, fully natural, resulted in no known side effects so far, is harmless to eggs and sperm, could be used both in the long and short-term, and it can be used either before or after conception, from ancient Chinese folk medicine... "Because these two plant compounds block fertilization at very, very low concentrations -- about 10 times lower than levels of levonorgestrel in Plan B -- they could be a new generation of emergency contraceptive we nicknamed 'molecular condoms,'" team leader Polina Lishko.

The active compounds are pregnenolone sulfate — and the two plant-derived inhibitors pristimerin and lupeol. According to the publication.

And they work by blocking ABHD2 that signals to sperms to move faster. However these compounds hit a target that is important for many cell types in the body. So these compounds are no "magic bullet" and a better comparison is that of carpet bombing.

The chemicals they studied is supposedly extracted from mangoes and dandelion roots.

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1700367114
(useful for those scientific hubs..)

I'm no longer homeless - I've been in a subsidized apartment for a year.

The program is called "Permanent Assistive Housing". That means I could live here for the rest of my life without paying a dime. Ultimately the cost is borne by the American Taxpayer through the Federal Housing And Urban Development Administration.

However I have a really good consulting client. I cancelled my food stamps a couple months ago. I no longer have Medicare - last month was my first month of paying for Obamacare.

Because my income is very uneven, the agency which got me the housing - Community Services Northwest is waiting until August before I'm responsible for paying the rent.

Should I be out of work again, the American Taxpayer will pick up the tab.

I presently have five grand in the bank. I figured I'd spread the love by subscribing here. I'm also going to subscribe to Radio Paradise.

I expect to donate some to the Portland homeless shelters that kept me out of the rain and snow, but haven't decided yet how much to give them.

Unfortunately I've got to find a new shrink. Molina's health insurance won't pay for CSNW's Program for Assertive Community Treatment. My understanding is that the PACT Team is for the extra-special crazies. I've always wanted that feeling of belonging to something.

I expect Molina will cover a once per month visit to a psychiatrist. I'm doing well these days; once per month for a medication adjustment should be just fine.

BBC:
British Airways (BA) computer systems that handles tickets and vacation of gates is not working. BA has cancelled all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick until 17:00 UTC because of computer problems.

A "major IT system failure that is causing very severe disruption to our flight operations worldwide", BA said. They apologized for the "global system outage" and said it was "working to resolve the the problem".

Heathrow Airport said it was "working closely" with BA to solve the issue. The problems mean parts of BA's website are unavailable and some travellers claimed they could not check in on the mobile app.

BA aircraft landing at Heathrow are unable to park up as outbound aircraft cannot vacate the gates, which has resulted in passengers being stuck on aircraft. Heathrow advised passengers to check the status of their flight before travelling to the airport.

BA staff in Heathrow's Terminal 5 were resorting to using white boards, according to passenger Gareth Wharton.

Delays have also been reported in Rome, Prague, Milan, Stockholm and Malaga due to the system failure. Philip Bloom said he had been waiting on board a Heathrow-bound flight at Belfast for two hours and added: "We haven't been told very much just that there is a worldwide computer system failure. "We were told that we couldn't even get on other flights because they are unable to see what flights we can be moved to."

The BBC's Phillip Norton is at Rome International airport, where he has been waiting to fly to London. He said BA staff were unable to say how long delays would be, telling him "all flights are grounded around the world". Alma Saffari is in Marseille waiting to get her flight back to Heathrow and said: "When we finally boarded the captain came out and told us their computer systems were down worldwide. "Eventually after sitting on the tarmac for 1 and a half hours we disembarked the plane. /../ Now we are sitting in the departure area outside the gate."

Ms Saffari, who is with her 13-month-old baby, said she had been given a voucher for food and drink.

The Sun:
There were reports of BA staff telling disgruntled passengers trying to get away for the Bank Holiday weekend that the company was under cyber attack but this has been denied by the airline. Passenger Jo Josson said: "Officials are telling us there has been a cyber attack against BA's systems. Even the tannoy is affected."

"It appears it is a cyber attack" said @British_Airways captain @Gatwick_Airport.

Londoner Terry Page, 28, was booked on a flight to Texas but was left stuck in a queue at Terminal 5 in Heathrow Airport for two hours and said "I tried to use their website to get a screenshot of my boarding pass - but the website isn't working either.

britishairways.com seems to work now at 17:01 UTC.

Anybody knows what OS and software they really run for this system?