People often hurt the ones they love, and people who work with and around food are no exception. What other possible explanation could there be for cooks, bloggers, and content creators repeatedly subjecting the avocado to all sorts of heat-based tortures? Avocados need nothing more than a sprinkling of salt to be …
Source: LifeHacker – Stop Cooking Avocados
Enlarge / Huawei Mate 10 Pro, one of the phones that won’t be sold by US carriers. (credit: Valentina Palladino)
Huawei is the world’s third biggest smartphone company—behind Samsung and Apple—and sells phones across the globe. But the Chinese company is virtually unknown in the US. Allegations of stolen intellectual property and spying have dogged Huawei, impeding its efforts to expand its US reach.
Earlier this month, “political pressure” was reported to have derailed an agreement between Huawei and AT&T that would have seen the carrier selling the smartphone company’s hardware. Bloomberg is now reporting that Verizon, too, has dropped its plans to sell Huawei phones, including the new Mate 10 Pro. Huawei will still sell phones directly to consumers, and they’ll work on US networks. But without the promotion and subsidy that carrier partnerships offer, significant sales volumes are unlikely.
Huawei’s difficulties in the US started in 2003, when Cisco accused it of stealing code for router software. More trouble followed in 2008, when Huawei’s bid to buy 3Com was blocked. In 2011, the US Department of Defense reported to Congress that it was concerned about the company’s close ties to the Chinese military, and a 2012 House Intelligence report echoed these concerns.
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Source: Ars Technica – Huawei loses another carrier deal as spying fears impede its US growth
The future of driverless driving looks like a giant toaster with a funny hat. From a report: That’s an approximation of a new autonomous vehicle unveiled Tuesday by Nuro, a Silicon Valley startup that’s been cryptic about its business plan since it launched about 18 months ago. Nuro’s shiny, minimalist appliance on wheels doesn’t have doors or windows to speak of, because it will be carrying packages — not people. As every major automaker and dozens of tech companies race to replace drivers in Uber cars and taxi fleets, Nuro is ignoring humans altogether and steering for Amazon.com, United Parcel Service and any retailer looking to build its e-commerce business.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Robot Delivery Vans Are Arriving Before Self-Driving Cars
iPhone users will a get a handful of new capabilities when Apple releases iOS 11.3 this spring, one of which is sure to be welcomed by parents with an iPhone X. With the introduction of Face ID, some processes got a little easier for iPhone users, bu…
Source: Engadget – iOS 11.3 will let iPhone X users approve family purchases with Face ID
Two weeks ago, residents of Hawaii kissed their loved ones goodbye or huddled in confusion after emergency warnings of an incoming ballistic missile threat were sent out in error. Forty minutes later, they were told it was all a mistake, and that an employee clicked the wrong button. But an FCC investigation has…
Source: Gizmodo – FCC Explains How That Nuke Alert Happened In Hawaii
Over the weekend, we learned that hackers were using YouTube ads to take over computers and force them to mine cryptocurrency. These types of attacks (known as cryptojacking) are only becoming more common, but a closer look at the practice reveals that it’s usually tied to one particular currency: Monero.
Source: LifeHacker – What to Know About Monero, the Black Market Cryptocurrency That’s Going Mainstream
With a top speed of around four or five miles per hour, most ride-on toys don’t provide much of a thrill—unless you throw safety out the window. The irresponsible chaps from YouTube’s The Real Life Guys channel upgraded a simple ride-on toy with a 15 horsepower engine that can accelerate it to over 40 mph in less than…
Source: Gizmodo – Hacking a Child’s Ride-On Toy to Hit 40 MPH Trades Safety for Fun
An appeals court in the United Kingdom ruled Tuesday that key portions of the government’s immense surveillance powers are unlawful, putting greater pressure on authorities to quickly add greater protections for citizen’s privacy and civil liberties. But privacy advocates say changes the government plans to impose…
Source: Gizmodo – Creepy UK Surveillance Law Ruled Illegal, But Privacy Advocates Still Call Bullshit
If you are not aware of Hunt: Showdown, it is a Crytek powered and developed game. The sneak peaks we have seen in the past have looked fairly compelling. It is currently in closed alpha (will be available on Steam), but apparently a few are being allowed to stream on Twitch as seen below currently. The gist is that you are on a team of bounty hunters looking for monsters to cash in on, the thorn in your side however may be the other bounty hunting teams that all have the same objective. Thanks cageymaru. FYI, content and language may be NSFW.
Watch live video from Grimmmz on www.twitch.tv
Savage, nightmarish monsters roam the Louisiana swamps, and you are part of a group of rugged bounty hunters bound to rid the world of their ghastly presence. Banish these creatures from our world, and you will be paid generously-and given the chance to buy more gruesome and powerful weapons. Fail, and death will strip you of both character and gear. Your experience, however, remains in your pool of hunters-called your Bloodline.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – Hunt: Showdown Streaming on Twitch
Last year, a Windows exploit developed by the NSA was leaked called EternalBlue. That exploit was then used to initiate the WannaCry and NotPetya cyberattacks. Now it seems the same EternalBlue exploit is being used to infect computers with a new strain “WannaMine.” After infection, the script uses Powershell and Windows Management Instrumentation. It first uses a tool called “Mimikatz” to pull logins and passwords from system memory, and if that fails, WannaMine uses EternalBlue to force it’s way in.
This is starting to get a little ridiculous. Crowdstrike goes into how it detected and defeated WannaMine on client’s systems, but also states that WannaMine is fileless, and since it uses legitimate system software to run, makes it nearly impossible for organizations to block it without “some form of next-generation antivirus.”
CrowdStrike expects to see much more cryptomining activity in 2018, resulting in business disruptions and downtime that can impact the bottom line. As organizations and companies come to understand how these traditionally unsophisticated actors are using increasingly sophisticated tactics, they can take a vital step toward promoting a stronger security posture and avoiding unnecessary interruptions that can affect critical business processes.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – WannaMine – Crypto Currency Mining Malware On The Rise
Enlarge (credit: lenovo.com)
Lenovo has fixed a high-severity vulnerability in a wide range of laptop models that allowed hackers with physical access to log in and then obtain users’ Windows login credentials and other sensitive data.
The vulnerability resides in the Lenovo Fingerprint Manager Pro, which is typically installed on ThinkPad, ThinkCentre, and ThinkStation models. A weak encryption algorithm makes it possible for someone with local non-administrative access to read Windows logon credentials and fingerprint data. From there, the person can log into the computer or use the extracted credentials for other purposes. The vulnerability affects only Fingerprint Manager Pro for Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. Fingerprint-enabled Laptops running Windows 10 aren’t affected because they use Microsoft’s native support.
“A vulnerability has been identified in Lenovo Fingerprint Manager Pro,” Lenovo officials wrote in an advisory published late last week. “Sensitive data stored by Lenovo Fingerprint Manager Pro, including users’ Windows logon credentials and fingerprint data, is encrypted using a weak algorithm, contains a hard-coded password, and is accessible to all users with local non-administrative access to the system it is installed in.”
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Source: Ars Technica – High-severity vulnerability in Lenovo laptops let hackers access passwords
Source: Engadget – Missouri wants to bring Hyperloop to the midwest
The State of the Union seems like an unnecessary relic of a past era, when there was some distance between the American public and their representatives, when people didn’t know, for example, that the president paid off a porn star he had an affair with, or that we could figure out his policy priorities by switching…
Source: LifeHacker – Here’s Your State of the Union Drinking Game
A few days ago we found out that at the end of 2017 AMD quietly released their AOCC 1.1 C/C++ compiler. AOCC is AMD’s compiler succeeding AMD Open64 that existed years ago as their optimized Fortran/C/C++ compiler for past CPU microarchitectures while the “AMD Optimizing C/C++ Compiler” is designed for current-generation Zen processors. Here are benchmarks of the new AMD AOCC 1.1 release compared to GCC 7, GCC 8, Clang 5.0, Clang 6.0, and Clang 7.0 SVN.
Source: Phoronix – AMD AOCC 1.1 Shows Compiler Improvements vs. GCC vs. Clang
Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. Today’s list brings us a decent deal on Microsoft’s relatively new Xbox One X, as Dell is offering the 4K- and HDR-compatible console straight up with a $100 gift card to its online store.
Now, there’s a few caveats here: Dell says the gift card will arrive over email “within 20 days,” the credit expires within 90 days, and you have to really want to play certain Xbox One games in 4K for the One X to be worth it. If you do, though, and you want to use that extra $100 toward, let’s say, a monitor or various PC accessories, give it a look. For those who don’t need the absolute strongest Xbox console, Dell is running a similar deal on the $280 Xbox One S as well.
And if you don’t care about any of this, the rest of the rundown includes nice price cuts on the Essential Phone, Amazon’s latest 4K-capable Fire TV, a variety of Logitech mice and keyboards, a few TVs for those overhauling their living rooms for the Super Bowl, and plenty other goodies. Have a look for yourself below.
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Source: Ars Technica – Dealmaster: Buy an Xbox One X and get a 0 Dell gift card
Most of Facebook’s recent advertising changes have tried to curb the danger of, you know, a foreign government using the social network to influence elections. But Facebook believes other kinds of harmful ads prey on less-than-savvy users with get-ri…
Source: Engadget – Facebook bans ads promoting cryptocurrencies
Enlarge / Sequence on a stick. (credit: Oxford Nanopore)
A few years back, a company called Oxford Nanopore announced it was developing a radically different way of sequencing DNA. Its approach involved taking single strands of the double helix and stuffing them through a protein pore. With a small bit of current flowing across the pore, the four bases of DNA each created a distinct (if tiny) change in the voltage as it passed through. These could be used to read the DNA one base at a time as it wiggled through the pore.
After several years of slow progress, Oxford Nanopore announced that its sequencing hardware would be as distinctive as its wetware: a USB device that could fit comfortably in a person’s hand. As the first devices went out to users, it became clear that the device had some pros and cons. On the plus side, the device was quick and could be used without requiring a large facility to support it. It could also read very long stretches of DNA at once. But the downside was significant: it made lots of mistakes.
With a few years of experience, people are now starting to learn to make the most of the devices, as demonstrated by a new paper in which researchers use it to help sequence a human genome. By using the machine’s long reads—in one case, nearly 900,000 bases from one DNA molecule—the authors were able to get data out of areas of the human genome that resisted characterization before. And they were able to distinguish between the two sets of chromosomes (one from mom, one from dad) and locate areas of epigenetic control in many areas of the genome.
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Source: Ars Technica – Pocket-sized DNA reader used to scan entire human genome sequence
When citizens are unable to stay healthy, cash-strapped governments are forced to consider drastic measures.
Source: TreeHugger – Can taxing ‘bad’ foods improve public health?
There are a bunch of shots of the multicolored replica of the 2007 Millennium Falcon Ultimate Collector’s Edition LEGO set that Mike Marrocco built after not being able to justify the rising cost of the original set to himself. Me? I can justify just about anything to myself. Drinking before noon on a Tuesday? I’m having a bad day. “You just woke up.” That’s the problem.
The process went something like this,”….”First I found the parts list online and counted up how many of each piece I’d need. Then I went on bricklink.com and bought everything while trying to select the brightest colors I could (cost permitting). I needed to buy from five or six sellers to get everything. Then I sorted all the pieces into containers and started building based off of the official instructions.”
Mike estimates he spent about $500 on all the pieces, or about the same price as the original cost back in 2007 (for reference, the lowest price I found for the original set online was around $1,100). Plus Mike’s build has EXTRA PERSONALITY. Honestly, this is pretty much how all my LEGO builds look because I don’t actually own any real sets anymore, just Rubbermaid bins full of random pieces. “I’m pretty sure that’s everyone.” We’re so cool.
Keep going for a bunch more shots, including Doc Brown and Marty McFly in the cockpit, and Harry Potter manning the guns.
Source: Geekologie – Man Builds His Own Millennium Falcon LEGO Set With All The Colors
We’re in a golden age of arguably unnecessary health gadgets, including several new entries to the market that aim to optimize our sleep, or at least give us lots of data describing it. We asked a few sleep experts what’s useful and what isn’t. Here are the features they liked:
Source: LifeHacker – The Sleep Tech That Actually Matters
