Monthly Archives: October 2023

Rocket Report: NASA to test new RS-25 engines; Russia’s phantom rockets

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Stoke Space's Hopper 2 takes to the skies in September in Moses Lake, Washington.

Enlarge / Stoke Space’s Hopper 2 takes to the skies in September in Moses Lake, Washington. (credit: Stoke Space)

Welcome to Edition 6.14 of the Rocket Report! The big news this week is that Stoke Space, which is seeking to build a fully reusable rocket, has secured a significant amount of funding that should help it get closer to a debut launch within a couple of years. I also like the name they’ve chosen for their rocket—Nova.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Stoke Space raises $100 million, names rocket. On Thursday afternoon, the small launch company announced it had secured $100 million in new funding, bringing the total amount raised to $175 million. The new Series B investment is being led by Industrious Ventures with participation from the University of Michigan, Sparta Group, Long Journey, and others. Stoke intends to use the funding to finance the development of its first-stage rocket engine and structure, the orbital version of its reusable second stage, and new construction at the historic Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

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Source: Ars Technica – Rocket Report: NASA to test new RS-25 engines; Russia’s phantom rockets

Telltale Games confirms layoffs after former developer says 'most of' its team are gone

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It appears Telltale Games, known for its popular The Wolf Among Us and excellent The Walking Dead episodic games, hasn’t been able to escape the financial pressures hitting video game studios as of late. In a post on X, Former Telltale Games employee Jonah Huang, shared that he and most of his colleagues were let go in September. The news follows a slew of recent layoffs in the gaming industry from companies such as Naughty Dog, Blizzard, Epic Games and Twitch. 

A statement from Telltale Games followed mere hours later, blaming “current market conditions” on the layoffs and that its “projects currently in development are still in production.” The layoffs come after a March announcement from Telltale Games that it was pushing the much-anticipated release of The Wolf Among Us 2 to 2024. Huang added that he was unable to comment on the status of The Wolf Among Us 2 due to an NDA. The Wolf Among Us sequel was first announced at The Game Awards back in 2019, with a release date scheduled for 2023. Telltale CEO Jamie Ottilie blamed the delay on needing additional time to shift from Unreal Engine 4 to 5. 

Telltale Games also claimed it is making efforts to support those laid off, though it didn’t elaborate further as to what those were. Notably, Telltale Games purchased UK-based studio Flavourworks only weeks before the layoffs. Huang included a call for the game industry to unionize in his initial tweet and subsequently called for gaming industry employees to complete a survey about their rates and conditions.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/telltale-games-confirms-layoffs-after-former-developer-says-most-of-its-team-are-gone-102043511.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Telltale Games confirms layoffs after former developer says ‘most of’ its team are gone

Rebuilt Microsoft Teams App Promises Twice the Speed, Half the RAM Usage

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Andrew Cunningham writes via Ars Technica: If you or your employer uses Microsoft Teams for communication, good news: Microsoft is releasing a fully rewritten version today for Windows PCs and Macs that promises to run faster while using fewer system resources. A preview of this app was originally released for Windows in March, but the final release covers all types of Teams instances, re-adds support for features like breakout rooms and third-party app support, and supports macOS. The new Teams app is notable for improved performance and reduced disk space usage, especially when running on Windows PCs. Microsoft says that the reformulated version of Teams is “up to two times faster while using 50 percent less memory” on Windows systems. That sound you hear is old and underspecced work PCs in offices around the world breathing a sigh of relief.

Microsoft credits its Edge WebView2 backend with helping improve performance and reduce disk usage on Windows. That’s possible partly because WebView2 can use many of the same system files and the same runtime as the Edge browser built into Windows 10 and Windows 11. The older Teams app used the Electron framework, also used by communication apps like Slack and Discord. Though Electron and WebView2 are based on the Chromium browser engine, each Electron app includes its own self-contained version of the browser files, which all must be stored and updated separately.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Rebuilt Microsoft Teams App Promises Twice the Speed, Half the RAM Usage

Call of Duty: Warzone won't come to mobile until spring 2024

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When Activision announced Call of Duty: Warzone Mobile in 2022, the developer said it was planning to release the game sometime this year, shortly after Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II became available. Now, Activision has published a trailer for the mobile title, with the revelation that it’s coming out sometime in the spring of 2024 instead. It has no specific launch date yet, but those interested can already pre-order from Google Play or the App Store. 

Warzone Mobile is a battle royale experience, which will put up to 120 players on a single map. The matches’ operators, weapons, locations and combat are supposed to be familiar to current Warzone fans. It will also share a Battle Pass, as well as feature cross-progression, with Modern Warfare II and Warzone 2.0. While the game won’t be widely available until 2024, fans in Australia, Chile, Norway and Sweden have been able to play it since earlier this year. This “limited release” version gives Activision a way to test the game with a wider audience than it can with its Closed Alpha, so it can find and fix more bugs, stress test matches and collect as much feedback as possible on gameplay and different elements of the title. 

In addition to announcing a new release date window for Warzone Mobile, Activision has also revealed that the game will come with access to Rebirth Island from day one. The fan favorite Resurgence mode map will be making its debut on mobile and has apparently been “painstakingly and specially built” for this game. 

As for those waiting for Modern Warfare III, Raven Software has confirmed at the COD Next event that players will be able to slide cancel in the game — a mechanic that was notably absent from Modern Warfare II. Take note, though, that while the mechanic is coming back, it will no longer reset Tactical Sprint.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/call-of-duty-warzone-wont-come-to-mobile-until-spring-2024-092513290.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Call of Duty: Warzone won’t come to mobile until spring 2024

Sony confirms data breach affecting nearly 7,000 employees

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Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has warned around 6,800 current and former employees that their personal data was accessed via a data breach, according to a letter seen by Bleeping Computer. The nature of the personal information stolen by hackers was redacted, but the company stated that a file transfer app called MOVEit was the source of the breach. It’s the second report of an attack on Sony’s operations within the last two weeks.

A ransomware group called CL0P claimed credit for the attack on May 28th, and MOVEit’s vendor Progress Software notified Sony about the vulnerability on May 31st “On June 2, 2023, [we] discovered the unauthorized downloads, immediately took the platform offline, and remediated the vulnerability,” Sony states in the letter to employees. “An investigation was then launched with assistance from external cybersecurity experts. We also notified law enforcement.”

The hackers reportedly gained access to personally identifiable information about US employees, so Sony is providing credit monitoring services to those affected. 

Sony was victim of another breach first reported last week. In that case, the hackers accessed servers in Japan used for internal testing for its Entertainment, Technology and Services business, pilfering 3.14GB of data. A threat actor called Ransomed.vc took credit for the attack, but that was denied by another group calling itself MajorNelson, which posted a sampling of files as proof. Sony said it was investigating the attack, adding “there has been no adverse impact on Sony’s operations.” 

The company’s PlayStation network was attacked in 2011, and Sony Pictures was famously hacked in 2014, resulting in a massive leak of documents and content — including entire films. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-confirms-data-breach-affecting-nearly-7000-employees-075945888.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Sony confirms data breach affecting nearly 7,000 employees

Prada To Design NASA's New Moon Suit

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Jonathan Josephs & Antoinette Radford reporting via the BBC: Nasa astronauts will be flying in style, with luxury fashion designer Prada helping design space suits for the 2025 moon mission. The Italian fashion house will work to design the suits alongside another private company, Axiom Space. In a press release, Axiom said Prada would bring expertise with materials and manufacturing to the project. One astronaut told the BBC he thought Prada was up to the challenge due to their design experience. That experience has been built not only on the catwalks of Milan but also through Prada’s involvement in the America’s Cup sailing competition.

“Prada has considerable experience with various types of composite fabrics and may actually be able to make some real technical contributions to the outer layers of the new space suit,” according to Professor Jeffrey Hoffman, who flew five Nasa missions and has carried out four spacewalks. But, he said people should not expect to see astronauts in “paisley spacesuits or any fancy patterns like that. Maintaining a good thermal environment is really the critical thing”. “A spacesuit is really like a miniature spacecraft. It has to provide pressure, oxygen, keep you at a reasonable temperature,” he added.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Prada To Design NASA’s New Moon Suit

Instagram is testing multiple audience lists for Stories

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Instagram might let you share Stories only with specific groups of friends in the future. During a broadcast on his page, Instagram head Adam Mosseri has revealed that the social media app has started testing the ability to share Stories to multiple audience lists. The app already has a “Close Friends” feature, which gives you the ability to add certain friends to a list and to share Stories to that group of people only. It gives you a bit of privacy on the social network, especially if you have a public profile. 

But sometimes, you may have things to share with people outside your closest group of friends. Having the option to create and maintain multiple lists means you don’t have to add people to your Close Friends list if they don’t fit the description and can share relevant updates with different groups of people and subsets of followers. “This allows you to share stories to smaller groups and gives you more control over who can see your stories,” Mosseri said. “As someone who uses Close Friends often, I’m pretty excited about being able to create additional lists for the people in my life.”

As you can see in the example below, you can create separate groups for your siblings, for instance, or for local acquaintances who also love food. While Mosseri seemed to be excited about being able to create multiple lists, it’s still an experimental feature, and there’s no guarantee that it’ll be released more widely. 

Instagram screenshots showing a hand holding a sushi and multiple lists of friends below it.
Instagram

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/instagram-is-testing-multiple-audience-lists-for-stories-050150933.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Instagram is testing multiple audience lists for Stories

Alibaba Accused of 'Possible Espionage' At European Hub

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Times: Belgium’s intelligence service has been monitoring Alibaba’s main logistics hub in Europe for espionage following suspicions Beijing has been exploiting its growing economic presence in the west. European governments have been increasing scrutiny of the alleged security and economic risks posed by Chinese companies, which has been part of a wider reassessment of the EU’s traditional openness to trade with China. In specific reference to Alibaba’s logistics arm at the cargo airport in Liege, Belgium’s security services told the Financial Times they were working to detect “possible espionage and/or interference activities” carried out by Chinese entities “including Alibaba”.

Alibaba, which denies any wrongdoing, signed an agreement with Belgium in 2018 to open the hub in Liege, Europe’s fifth-largest cargo airport, ploughing 100 million euros of investment into the ailing economy of the French-speaking Walloon region. But almost two years on from the site being opened, the Belgian State Security Service (VSSE) has continued monitoring Alibaba’s operations following intelligence assessments, said people familiar with the matter. One area of scrutiny includes the introduction of software systems that collate sensitive economic information. The security service said the presence of Alibaba “constitutes a point of attention for the VSSE” because of legislation forcing Chinese companies to share their data with Chinese authorities and intelligence services. “China has the intent and capacity to use this data for non-commercial purposes,” the agency said.

Concerns about potential espionage at the site were first raised before the hub was built, including in the Belgian parliament. At the time China strongly denied the “unprovoked insinuations” over exaggerated “so-called security risks of Chinese companies.” The VSSE’s statement to the FT indicate its concerns over espionage still remain after the opening of the hub. […] The main concern is that this platform, alongside a couple of other logistical platforms that the Chinese have been proposing to European countries, is giving them a lot of insights into supply chains and into eventual vulnerabilities,” said Jonathan Holslag, a professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. According to a person familiar with Alibaba’s relations to China’s government, the logistics centers are expected to pass on information about local sentiment and report data about European trade and logistics to Beijing’s authorities. “The site in Liege is the only European logistics center run by Alibaba’s logistics spin-off Cainiao,” reports the FT. The company is reportedly able to access data about merchants, products, transport details and flows. It may also be able to access information about final customers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Alibaba Accused of ‘Possible Espionage’ At European Hub

2013: Remembering the First ‘All Things Open’

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A look at the very first All Things Open, which brought a world class open-source event to downtown Raliegh, which was the back yard for Red Hat, at the time the most successful independent open-source company in the world.

The post 2013: Remembering the First ‘All Things Open’ appeared first on FOSS Force.



Source: FOSS Force – 2013: Remembering the First ‘All Things Open’

ICE, CBP, Secret Service All Illegally Used Smartphone Location Data

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Slash_Account_Dot shares a report from 404 Media, written by Joseph Cox: In a bombshell report, an oversight body for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Enforcement (CBP), and the Secret Service all broke the law while using location data harvested from ordinary apps installed on smartphones. In one instance, a CBP official also inappropriately used the technology to track the location of coworkers with no investigative purpose. For years U.S. government agencies have been buying access to location data through commercial vendors, a practice which critics say skirts the Fourth Amendment requirement of a warrant. During that time, the agencies have typically refused to publicly explain the legal basis on which they based their purchase and use of the data. Now, the report shows that three of the main customers of commercial location data broke the law while doing so, and didn’t have any supervisory review to ensure proper use of the technology. The report also recommends that ICE stop all use of such data until it obtains the necessary approvals, a request that ICE has refused.

The report, titled “CBP, ICE, and Secret Service Did Not Adhere to Privacy Policies or Develop Sufficient Policies Before Procuring and Using Commercial Telemetry Data,” is dated September 28, 2023, and comes from Joseph V. Cuffari, the Inspector General for DHS. The report was originally marked as “law enforcement sensitive,” but the Inspector General has now released it publicly.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – ICE, CBP, Secret Service All Illegally Used Smartphone Location Data

Displace Came Up With a Landing Gear Safety System For Its Totally Wireless TV

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At CES 2023, a startup called Displace introduced their “truly wireless” TV with swappable batteries and a vacuum suction system that can keep the display adhered to walls without traditional mounting. To address concerns about what would happen when those batteries become depleted or when the wall/surface the TV is mounted to cracks, Displace says it has designed a built-in landing gear safety system to protect the $3,000 wireless TV. The Verge reports: Here, friends, is where Displace’s “self-lowering landing gear technology” comes in. And I’m just going to quote directly from the press release so you can get the full rundown on how it supposedly works: “Sensors within the Displace TV constantly measure the battery level and pressure in the vacuum suction system, analyze the wall’s surface, and check leakage on the vacuum pumps. If the vacuum pumps are in danger of not maintaining a seal or the wall’s integrity falters, the Displace TV automatically deploys four quick adhesives for stability and initiates a self-lowering landing gear system. The adhesives work as anchor points, as the Displace TV begins to lower itself gently on a zipline (from as high as 10 feet) and deploys a reusable foam at the bottom to protect the TV screen.”

When a problem is detected, the Displace attaches an adhesive frame onto the wall and begins lowering the display to the floor (with rope) from that frame. As all of this is happening, the TV generates a lot of sound and even flashing lights in an attempt to keep the area clear of children or animals. Once it’s safely on the ground, you can pull the frame off the wall and reinsert it into the back of the TV. […] The self-landing technology works at heights of up to 10 feet. When you’re ready to put the TV back in its place, you just push the foam feet back into the TV, replace the adhesive tapes, and that’s it. You can watch a demo of the safety system on YouTube.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Displace Came Up With a Landing Gear Safety System For Its Totally Wireless TV