Oracle’s Java magazine is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the programming language with a list of the 25 greatest Java apps ever written:
From space exploration to genomics, from reverse compilers to robotic controllers, Java is at the heart of today’s world. Here are a few of the countless Java apps that stand out from the crowd.

The story of Java began in 1991, at a time when Sun Microsystems sought to extend their lead in the computer workstation market into the burgeoning personal electronics market. Little did anyone know that the programming language Sun was about to create would democratize computing, inspire a worldwide community, and become the platform for an enduring software development ecosystem of languages, runtime platforms, SDKs, open source projects, and lots and lots of tools. After a few years of secret development led by James Gosling, Sun released the landmark “write once, run anywhere” Java platform in 1995, refocusing it beyond its original design for interactive television to applications for the burgeoning World Wide Web. By the turn of the century, Java was animating everything from smartcards to space vehicles.

Today, millions of developers program in Java. Although Java continues to evolve at an ever-faster pace, on the occasion of the platform’s 25th anniversary, Java Magazine decided to take a look back at how Java molded our planet. What follows is a list of the 25 most ingenious and influential Java apps ever written, from Wikipedia Search to the US National Security Agency’s Ghidra. The scope of these applications runs the gamut: space exploration, video games, machine learning, genomics, automotive, cybersecurity, and more.

The list includes Eclipse, Minecraft, the Maestro Mars Rover controller, and “VisibleTesla,” the open source app created by an automobile enthusiast to monitor and control his Tesla Model S.

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Source: Slashdot – Oracle Celebrates ‘The 25 Greatest Java Apps Ever Written’

An anonymous reader quotes Engadget:
The U.S. fight against Chinese technology appears to be extending to another category: the security screening you normally see at the airport or border. Wall Street Journal sources understand the National Security Council and other U.S. agencies are pushing European governments (including Germany, Greece and Italy) to avoid using baggage, cargo and passenger screening systems from Nuctech, a Chinese state-run company that already has a foothold in the continent. American officials are reportedly worried any connected devices could pass sensitive data like passenger info and shipping manifests to Chinese spies.

Much like the claims against Huawei, there’s no publicly available evidence of Nuctech forwarding data to Chinese surveillance systems. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration barred Nuctech from many U.S. airports in 2014 following a review, although the report is classified… The U.S. is supposedly asking European nations to replace Nuctech equipment with American equivalents — it stands to benefit if the Chinese company gets kicked out. That’s a strong incentive to keep up the campaign, even if the surveillance claims are unwarranted.

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Source: Slashdot – America Pushes Europe to Reject Chinese Baggage Screening Tech

A Chinese bank required at least two western companies to install malware-laced tax software, according to a new report from the cyber-security firm Trustwave.

“The two companies are a UK-based technology/software vendor and a major financial institution, both of which had recently opened offices in China,” reports ZDNet:
“Discussions with our client revealed that [the malware] was part of their bank’s required tax software,” Trustwave said Thursday… Trustwave, who was providing cyber-security services for the UK software vendor, said it identified the malware after observing suspicious network requests originating from its customer’s network… Trustwave said the software worked as advertised, allowing its customer to pay local taxes, but that it also installed a hidden backdoor. The security firm says this backdoor, which Trustwave codenamed GoldenSpy and said it ran with SYSTEM-level access, allowed a remote attacker to connect to the infected system and run Windows commands, or upload and install other software…

GoldenSpy installs two identical versions of itself, both as persistent autostart services. If either stops running, it will respawn its counterpart… The Intelligent Tax software’s uninstall feature will not uninstall GoldenSpy. It leaves GoldenSpy running as an open backdoor into the environment, even after the tax software is fully removed. GoldenSpy is not downloaded and installed until a full two hours after the tax software installation process is completed. When it finally downloads and installs, it does so silently, with no notification on the system.

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Source: Slashdot – Chinese Bank Required Two Western Companies to Use Tax Software With a Hidden Backdoor

“Anyone familiar with how Windows and other operating systems work might know that files aren’t actually deleted, they’re marked to allow other data to overwrite them in the future,” points out Hot Hardware, noting it’s now led to the “quiet” launch of a new free Microsoft tool.

Slashdot reader Mark Wilson writes that the tool even recovers files from drives that were formatted or became corrupt:
The command line tool can be used to retrieve data from local hard drives as well as removable media such as USB drives and memory cards… [F]or those who don’t mind rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty, it provides a means of getting back files from NTFS, FAT, exFAT and ReFS formatted drives.

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Source: Slashdot – Microsoft’s New ‘Windows File Recovery’ Tool Restores Deleted Data

Some of America’s biggest brands — Coca-Cola, The Hershey Company and the Levi Strauss & Co. — “are among the latest in pledging to halt advertising on Facebook as part of a growing boycott,” reports USA Today:

Despite Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlining several steps the social network will take to combat hate speech ahead of the 2020 presidential election Friday, the companies joined Unilever, Honda, Verizon and others in the protest… Jen Sey, chief marketing officer of Levi’s, said in a statement late Friday the company was pausing all paid Facebook and Instagram advertising globally at least through the end of July across all of its brands. “When we re-engage will depend on Facebook’s response,” Sey said. The ad boycott on Facebook focuses on advertising for the month of July and also includes Eddie Bauer and Ben & Jerry’s… Patagonia, REI, Mozilla and Upwork in addition to about 100 smaller companies also have said they are committed.
Nearly all of the social media company’s revenue comes from advertising on Facebook and Instagram. Shares of Facebook dropped more than 8% on Friday.

Business Insider notes that the 8% drop in Facebook’s stock price meant that Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune dropped $7.21 billion in a single day.
And then Sunday Starbucks announced they were also taking action, suspending advertising on all social media because “we believe both business leaders and policy makers need to come together to affect real change.”
UPDATE: It’s also now being reported that even Pepsi is joining the boycott.

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Source: Slashdot – Coca-Cola, Hershey’s, Starbucks: More Major Advertisers Are Now Boycotting Facebook