14:21 The future of AT&T is an ad-tracking nightmare hellworld

Show 23 Thu 14:21 The-Verge-Mobile [1]

There's a long, excellent profile of the new AT&T and its CEO Randall Stephenson in Fortune today, which you should read. AT&T has transformed itself into a media colossus by buying Time Warner, and understanding how the company plans to use its incredible array of content from HBO, CNN, TNT, and others in combination with its huge distribution networks across mobile broadband, DirecTV, and U-verse is important for anyone who cares about tech, media, or both. Seriously, go read it.

Here's the part I want you to pay attention to: two quick paragraphs describing how AT&T sees the future of advertising across those media properties and networks. It's the same plan AT&T has laid out before, but it's more specific now, and that specificity...

14:21 Google is updating its mobile search design to highlight a website's name and favicon

Show 23 Thu 14:21 The-Verge-Android [6]

Google is introducing some noticeable changes to how it displays mobile search results, meant to better highlight the source behind each link. Mobile search results will soon display a website's icon and name above the title of the specific page being surfaced. Until now, Google has somewhat downplayed the source of search results, displaying a website's name in a smaller font beneath each link.

The design will begin rolling out in the �next few days.� Google says the design is �coming first to mobile,� which a spokesperson clarified includes both web searches and the Google app.

With the updated design, Google's mobile search starts to look a lot more like a news...

14:21 Google is facing its first GDPR probe from Irish privacy regulators

Google is the subject of its first GDPR probe from Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DCP), Reuters is reporting. It's the first major standoff between the company and its lead privacy regulator in Europe, raising difficult questions about how the ad giant handles personal data across the internet.

The probe will investigate how Google treats personal data at each stage of its ad-tracking system. Those questions originate in part from a complaint filed by the browser company Brave in September, which alleged that Google's ad auction system constituted a data breach under GDPR rules.

�Every time a person visits a website and is shown a �behavioural' ad on a website, intimate personal data that describes each visitor, and what they...

14:21 Smart assistants have totally slept on sleep timers and I'm tired of it

Smart home assistants need smarter timers. Today, you can use Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri to set timers. You can use all three smart assistants to control your smart home gadgets. But frustratingly, you cannot use the two features together: setting your lights to arbitrarily turn off in 30 minutes is impossible with today's most sophisticated, cutting-edge smart home technology.

Now, you could use a pre-programmed routine, but that's not the same thing. You can set your lights to go on when a motion detector goes off, have your motorized shades close at sunset, or have your air conditioner turn on at exactly 12:53PM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. But with all three smart home platforms, you need to set up those routines in...

14:21 A quarter of Google Duplex calls are actually placed by humans

Earlier this month, I shadowed several restaurants throughout New York and talked to restaurant employees across the US to see how they've received Google Duplex, the AI that makes life-like calls for reservations on your behalf. Most if not all agreed that those calls sounded unmistakably human � and according to Google's response to reporting by The New York Times, there's a 25 percent chance that they were.

Google says that a quarter of Duplex calls start with human callers, and 15 percent start with the AI and are later intervened by a person from the Duplex call center. The company told The New York Times that it uses a variety of signals to decide whether a call should be placed by a human or a robot, �like if the company is unsure...

14:21 Google Assistant can now tell you when your next NYC subway train will arrive

Ahead of the launch of Google Pay and Apple Pay on New York City's MTA transit system on May 31st, Google is integrating new public transport information into Google Assistant in the city. Starting today, Google will be able to tell you when your next train is arriving, and it will also give you walking directions to reach the station. You can either ask for the next train overall, or specify a particular line. The functionality will work on Android phones, smart speakers, and smart displays.

The MTA transit system's new Google Pay functionality is coming thanks to OMNY, a contactless payment system that will also support Apple Pay and contactless NFC cards when it launches next week. At launch it will be available to use on Staten...

14:21 Huawei's Android and Windows alternatives are destined for failure

Competing with Google and Microsoft's dominant operating systems is a fruitless effort

Show 23 Thu 14:21 Bruce-Schneier [1]

14:21 Visiting the NSA

Yesterday, I visited the NSA. It was Cyber Command's birthday, but that's not why I was there. I visited as part of the Berklett Cybersecurity Project, run out of the Berkman Klein Center and funded by the Hewlett Foundation. (BERKman hewLETT -- get it? We have a web page, but it's badly out of date.)

It was a full day of meetings, all unclassified but under the Chatham House Rule. Gen. Nakasone welcomed us and took questions at the start. Various senior officials spoke with us on a variety of topics, but mostly focused on three areas:

Russian influence operations, both what the NSA and US Cyber Command did during the 2018 election and what they can do in the future;
China and the threats to critical infrastructure from untrusted computer hardware, both the 5G network and more broadly;
Machine learning, both how to ensure a ML system is compliant with all laws, and how ML can help with other compliance tasks.

It was all interesting. Those first two topics are ones that I am thinking and writing about, and it was good to hear their perspective. I find that I am much more closely aligned with the NSA about cybersecurity than I am about privacy, which made the meeting much less fraught than it would have been if we were discussing Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act, Section 215 the USA Freedom Act (up for renewal next year), or any 4th Amendment violations. I don't think we're past those issues by any means, but they make up less of what I am working on.
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Show 23 Thu 14:10 Slashdot [2]

14:10 Veteran Software Developer Panic Unveils Playdate Handheld Game Player
Veteran software developer firm Panic, which has made its name through high-end Mac software as well as titles such as Firewatch, is expanding its work in games and moving in a very unexpected direction. This week, Panic unveiled Playdate, a tiny, yellow Game Boy-like device with a black-and-white screen, a few chunky buttons, and... a hand crank for controlling quirky games. From a report: Playdate is adorable and exciting and fun and technically impressive. They're making their own hardware (in conjunction with Swedish device makers Teenage Engineering). They wrote their own OS (there's no Linux). It has a high resolution 400 x 240 black and white display with no backlighting. It has a crank. It's going to cost only $149 -- $149! -- and that includes a "season" of 12 games from an amazing roster of beloved video game creators, delivered every Monday for 12 weeks. The idea of a new upstart, a company the size of Panic -- with only software experience at that -- jumping into the hardware game with a brand new platform harkens back to the '80s and '90s. But even back then, a company like, say, General Magic or Palm, was VC-backed and aspired to be a titan. To be the next Atari or Commodore or Apple. In today's world all the new computing devices and platforms come from huge companies. Apple of course. All the well-known Android handset makers building off an OS provided by Google. Sony. Nintendo. Panic is almost cheating in a way because they're tiny. The Playdate platform isn't competing with the state of the art. It's not a retro platform, per se, but while it has an obviously nostalgic charm it is competing only on its own terms. Its only goal is to be fun. And aspects of Playdate are utterly modern: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, apps and software updates delivered over-the-air. They're taking advantage of an aspect of today's world that is brand new -- the Asian supply chain, the cheapness of Asian manufacturing, the cheapness of CPU and GPU cycles that allows things like Raspberry Pi to cost just $35.

14:10 Senators Propose Bill Requiring Warrants To Search Devices at the Border
An anonymous reader shares a report: If you're taking a trip in to or out of the US, border agents currently have free rein to search through your digital devices. Unlike police, agents don't need a warrant to look through your phones, laptops and other electronics. Two US senators are hoping to change that with a bipartisan bill. Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, and Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, on Wednesday introduced the Protecting Data at the Border Act, which would require agents to obtain a warrant before they can search Americans' devices at the border. The number of electronic searches at the border has spiked in the last four years. In 2018, the Department of Homeland Security conducted more than 33,000 searches on devices, compared with 4,764 searches in 2015. Customs and Border Protection declined to comment. "The border is quickly becoming a rights-free zone for Americans who travel. The government shouldn't be able to review your whole digital life simply because you went on vacation, or had to travel for work," Wyden said in a statement.

Show 23 Thu 13:26 DailyWTF [1]

13:26 Powerful Trouble

Many years ago, Chris B. worked for a company that made CompactPCI circuit boards. When the spec for hot-swappable boards (i.e., boards that could be added and removed without powering down the system) came out, the company began to make some. Chris became the designated software hot-swap expert.

The company bought several expensive racks with redundant everything for testing purposes. In particular, the racks had three power supply units even though they only required two to run. The idea was that if one power supply were to fail, it could be replaced while the system was still up and running. The company also recommended those same racks to its customers.

As part of a much-lauded business deal, the company's biggest-spending customer set up a lab with many of these racks. A short while later, though, they reported a serious problem: whenever they inserted a board with the power on, it wouldn't come up properly. However, the same board would initialize without issue if it were in place when the system was first started.

Several weeks slipped by as Chris struggled to troubleshoot remotely and/or reproduce the problem locally, all to no avail. The customer, Sales, and upper management all chipped in to provide additional pressure. The deal was in jeopardy. Ben, the customer's panicked Sales representative, finally suggested a week-long business trip in hopes of seeing the problem in situ and saving ~~his commission~~ the company's reputation. And that was how Chris found himself on an airplane with Ben, flying out to the customer site.

Bright and early Monday morning, Chris and Ben arrived at the customer's fancy lab. They met up with their designated contact�an engineer�and asked him to demonstrate the problem.

The engineer powered up an almost empty rack, then inserted a test board. Sure enough, it didn't initialize.

Chris spent a moment looking at the system. What could possibly be different here compared to our setup back home? he asked himself. Then, he spotted something that no one on the customer side had ever mentioned to him previously.

"I see you only have one of the three power supplies for the chassis in place." He pointed to the component in question. "Why is that?"

"Well, they're really loud," the engineer replied.

Chris bit back an unkind word. "Could you humor me and try again with two power supplies in place?"

The engineer hooked up a second power supply obligingly, then repeated the test. This time, the board mounted properly.

"Aha!" Ben looked to Chris with a huge grin on his face.

"So, what was the issue?" the engineer asked.

"I'm not a hardware expert," Chris prefaced, "but as I understand it, the board draws the most power whenever it's first inserted. Your single power supply wasn't sufficient, but with two in there, the board can get what it needs."

It was almost as if the rack had been designed with this power requirement in mind�but Chris kept the sarcasm bottled. He was so happy and relieved to have finally solved the puzzle that he had no room in his mind for ill will.

"You're a miracle-worker!" Ben declared. "This is fantastic!"

In the end, functionality won out over ambiance; the fix proved successful on the customers' other racks as well. Ben was so pleased, he treated Chris to a fancy dinner that evening. The pair spent the rest of the week hanging around the customer's lab, hoping to be of some use before their flight home.

[Advertisement] Utilize BuildMaster to release your software with confidence, at the pace your business demands. Download today!

Show 23 Thu 12:40 Slashdot [1]

12:40 China Surveillance Tycoons Lose Billions From Threat of US Sanctions
schwit1 shares a report from Bloomberg: The billionaires behind Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. and Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co. have watched their combined fortunes sink by more than $8 billion since March 2018 as shares of both companies sank on speculation of potential U.S. sanctions. The losses deepened on Wednesday after reports that Donald Trumps administration is considering blacklisting the surveillance giants, in part because of their alleged role in human rights violations. Hikvision Vice Chairman Gong Hongjia, whose fortune peaked at $13 billion in November 2017, is now worth about $6 billion after the stock fell as much as 10% on Wednesday, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Dahua Chairman Fu Liquans net worth has dropped to $1.9 billion from $4.3 billion in March 2018. Hopefully the same happens to U.S. surveillance tycoons.

Show 23 Thu 12:06 Engadget [4]

12:06 The Morning After: The black-and-white portable console of the future
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. The new game system everyone is talking about can't do 4K, 8K or even 1K, but we're still excited about Panic's surprise Playdate portable console. On the other hand, it's time to say goodbye to Ouya and Consume...

12:06 LG brings Alexa to its 2019 ThinQ TVs
At CES, LG announced that its 2019 ThinQ AI TVs would support Amazon Alexa, and now the voice assistant has arrived in 14 countries. On top of Google's Assistant, you'll be able to use it on any of the ThinQ AI 4K models including NanoCell and OLED m...

12:06 Apple pledges to notify users of potential iPhone slowdowns
Apple became more upfront with iPhone users after it was compelled to admit that it deliberately slowed down iPhones in older devices to balance out performance and battery life. Now, the tech giant has promised UK watchdog Competition and Markets Au...

12:06 A warranty fraudster tricked Apple into replacing 1,500 fake iPhones
Apparently, some counterfeit iPhones are good enough to fool Apple itself -- especially if they can't be switched on. Quan Jiang, a Chinese national living in Oregon, allegedly took advantage of that by running an elaborate warranty scam that ultimat...
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Show 23 Thu 10:52 HackerNews [10]

Show 23 Thu 09:40 Slashdot [1]

09:40 Significantly Large New Emissions From Banned CFCs Traced To China, Say Scientists
Solandri writes: In 2014, scientists began detecting plumes of CFC-11 in the atmosphere. The compound had been banned in the 1987 Montreal Protocol after it was discovered that it was contributing to the destruction of the ozone layer that protects life on Earth from ultraviolet radiation. Unfortunately, the releases were detected using global monitoring equipment, so the origin could not be determined. Using data from measuring stations in Korea and Japan, and computer modeling of atmospheric patterns, researchers have now pinned down the source of the emissions to eastern China. They also determined that the emissions were too large to be releases from foam which had been produced before the ban (CFCs were a common aerosol and foaming agent). And that the amounts most likely indicate new illegal production. The paper is published in the latest issue of Nature. dryriver shares an excerpt from the BBC: CFC-11 was primarily used for home insulation but global production was due to be phased out in 2010 [to allow the Ozone layer to heal]. CFC-11 was the second most abundant CFCs and was initially seen to be declining as expected. However in 2018 a team of researchers monitoring the atmosphere found that the rate of decline had slowed by about 50% after 2012. That team reasoned that they were seeing new production of the gas, coming from East Asia. The authors of that paper argued that if the sources of new production weren't shut down, it could delay the healing of the ozone layer by a decade. Further detective work in China by the Environmental Investigation Agency in 2018 seemed to indicate that the country was indeed the source. They found that the illegal chemical was used in the majority of the polyurethane insulation produced by firms they contacted. One seller of CFC-11 estimated that 70% of China's domestic sales used the illegal gas. The reason was quite simple -- CFC-11 is better quality and much cheaper than the alternatives. This new paper seems to confirm beyond any reasonable doubt that some 40-60% of the increase in emissions is coming from provinces in north eastern China. The authors also say that these CFCs are also very potent greenhouse gases. One ton of CFC-11 is equivalent to around 5,000 tons of CO2. "If we look at these extra emissions that we've identified from eastern China, it equates to about 35 million tons of CO2 being emitted into the atmosphere every year, that's equivalent to about 10% of UK emissions, or similar to the whole of London."

Show 23 Thu 09:06 Engadget [3]

09:06 DJI drones will detect and warn of airplanes and helicopters
DJI has announced that all its consumer drones over 250 grams will use "AirSense" tech to help operators see and avoid airplanes and helicopters. They'll be equipped with so-called ADS-B sensors already installed in many aircraft and air traffic cont...

09:06 AMC Stubs A-List is now the top movie ticket plan in the US
AMC's movie ticket subscription service has now hit the 800,000 subscriber mark, the company announced this week. AMC Stubs A-List, which just launched last June, has secured its spot as the number one movie subscription service in North America at a...

09:06 The Boring Company gets the go-ahead to build Las Vegas transport tunnel
Elon Musk's Boring Company has officially landed its first commercial contract: A $48.7 million project to build an underground transportation system around the Las Vegas Convention Center. The initiative has been dubbed the Campus Wide People Mover...
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Show 23 Thu 06:52 HackerNews [6]

Show 23 Thu 06:40 Slashdot [1]

06:40 How 'The Big Bang Theory' Normalized Nerd Culture
Last week, the last episode of the final season of "The Big Bang Theory" was broadcasted on CBS. Say what you will about the show, but one thing is clear: it was popular. While the average episode in Season 11 received over 18.6 million views, the season finale ended its run with an audience of 23.44 million viewers. The New Yorker's Neima Jahromi reflects on the show and how it "normalized nerd culture": On Thursday night, "The Big Bang Theory" closed out its run with an audience of eighteen million viewers. Despite all the cast changes, Sheldon remained emphatically misanthropic, self-centered, and alienated. In the end, the reason he became a kind of dweeby Fonz has to do with the structural tendencies of the oft-dismissed multi-camera sitcom. Such shows extract empathy in real time. With a live audience, silence is not an option: if a joke or a scene doesn't land, if real people aren't feeling it, then the writers storm the soundstage and change it. Alienated characters, who are the least likely to garner empathy, require extra attention from writers, and therefore often gravitate toward the center of a show. As a result, viewers come halfway, too. It's unlikely that a curmudgeonly Archie Bunker on "All in the Family" or an uptight Alex P. Keaton on "Family Ties" will remain detestable for long, even if their creators did set them up to be antagonists. Eventually, audiences saw that Sheldon was as befuddled by the world as they were uncomprehending of his intellectual pursuits. They also learned that he hated change as much as they did. In this way, an outmoded form of television cushioned the anxiety of the brave new tech culture for a generation. How do you feel about the ending of The Big Bang Theory?

Show 23 Thu 06:31 lwn.net-comments [8]

06:31 Asynchronous fsync()

*cough* AIO_FSYNC *cough*

The fsync2() API is essentially identical to the existing AIO_FSYNC/AIO_FDSYNC API, except it's synchronous and that is what applications want to avoid.

The only argument I've been presented with against AIO_FSYNC is that "the implementation is just a workqueue", which is largely non-sensical because it is filesystem implementation independent but allows automatic kernel side parallelisation of all the fsync operations issued. This allows the filesystem(s) to then automatically optimise away unnecessary journal writes when completing concurrent fsync operations - XFS, ext4, etc already do this when user applications run fsync() concurrently from lots of processes/threads.....

This simple implementation allows a simple "untar with aio fsync" workload (i.e."write many 4kB files and aio_fsync() in batches as we go, retiring completed fsync()s before we dispatch a new batch") workload on XFS to go from about 2000 files/s (synchronous write IO latency bound) to over 40,000 files/s (write iops bound on the back end storage).

IOWs, we've already got efficient asynchronous fsync functionality in the kernel that does most of what is being asked for....

-Dave.

06:31 Common needs for Samba and NFS

> And while we're at it, how would you design "POSIX" ACLs differently?

I would say that the whole idea of per-file permissions is fundamentally broken and not what people really want, and I wouldn't let "POSIX" ACLs get past "draft" stage - I would nip it in the bud and "just say no".

There are two classes of permissions that cover most files: 0600 and 0644.
(Having "execute" as a permission bit is a cheap-hack and should be deprecated. Your $PATH defines which files are to be treated as executable, not the permission bits).
Files that today have mode 0600 should appear in /home *only* for the owner. Other users shouldn't be able to see them.
Files that today have mode 0644 can appear in global namespace in a read-only part of the tree, and appear writable in /home/shared for the owner.

The next most common scenario is a group that wants shared access to files. People in group "foo" would see "/group/foo" as a read-write mount point. People not in group "foo" wouldn't see this mount point.

Note that this removes the current awkwardness with user and group quotas. The quota doesn't apply to a "user" or a "group", but to a fileset, which might be /home or might be /group/foo.

If you want any permissions more subtle than that, you have a daemon that mediates all accesses. In some cases this might be a database server with it's own arbitrarily complex permission scheme (which might have field granularity within records). In other cases it might be a more generic file server which uses access controls similar to those that Apache supports in .htaccess files, and which only allows whole-file reads and writes.

ACLs? Just Say NO!

06:31 Mourning Martin Schwidefsky

This is sad. I met him just a few times but remember he was always friendly and welcoming.

06:31 Common needs for Samba and NFS

> the presence of more complex ACLs with deny entries (one of the key differences between RichACL and the draft POSIX ACLs that Linux implements) is going to be hard to avoid, especially for systems accessed over the network.

Please NO NO NO.

Deny ACLs are something I've never understood. Less complexity == better security.

Just don't mix and match user and group ACLs. If the user ACL over-rides the group ACL, why do you need a deny? If someone has permissions via one group, and denies via another, surely there's something wrong somewhere? And, looked at logically, why should deny over-ride permit?

Cheers,
Wol

06:31 Testing in the Yocto Project
Please come to the Automated Testing Summit in Lyon, France, in October. It's a new event, where I hope we can talk about (and listen to testing experts on) exactly the issues you raise. The CFP should be available shortly, and personally I'd love to hear from you and other testers about your experiences. I'll announce the CFP on the automated testing e-mail list when it's ready (which should be within a few weeks).

06:31 Asynchronous fsync()

Good point. I should have said that it doesn't diminish the goodness of classic fsync.

06:31 Testing in the Yocto Project

Indeed. A group started to get together last year, and made some progress at least articulating some of the issues involved.
See https://elinux.org/Automated_Testing_Summit_2018 and https://lwn.net/Articles/771782/

I'm aware of 3 different get-togethers to continue working on pushing stuff forward: A testing microconference at Plumbers, a kernel testing summit immediately after Plumbers, and the 2019 Automated Testing Summit after OSSEU/ELCE in France. Some of these have not gotten much visibility yet, but hopefully that will change shortly.

06:31 Filesystems and crash resistance

You have several correct observations:
1. People keep mixing persistence/durability with crash consistency
2. In the absence of fsync(), ext4/xfs exhibit entirely different *behavior* in practice
3. In the absence of fsync(), ext4/xfs provide no guaranties about consistency of file data
ext4 has some heuristics in place to reduce the number of support calls from people that did not issue fsync() as documented,
but those are NOT to be confused with guaranties.

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Show 23 Thu 06:06 Engadget [1]

06:06 Fujifilm launches the groundbreaking 102-megapixel mirrorless GFX100
While there are four full-frame mirrorless cameras battling it out for supremacy, Fujifilm is content to stick with APS-C and medium-format. Now, it has announced that its impressive flagship medium-format camera, the 102-megapixel GFX100, will soon...
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Show 23 Thu 03:40 Slashdot [1]

03:40 New Paper Confirms Near-Room-Temperature Superconductivity In Wild, Hydrogen-Rich Material
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: A team of physicists has published peer-reviewed results documenting near-room-temperature superconductivity in the hydrogen-rich compound lanthanum hydride. The team, led by physicist Mikhail Eremets from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, kicked off the most recent race for a high-temperature superconducting hydride in 2015, when they published a paper announcing the discovery of superconductivity at -70 Celsius (-94 Fahrenheit). In this most recent paper, the researchers placed a piece of lanthanum into an insulating ring, then placed it into a box full of pressurized hydrogen gas. They clamped the gasket between a pair of diamonds, and continued squeezing the diamonds until they hit the desired pressures, nearly 2 million times the pressure on the surface of Earth. Then, they hit the sample with a laser to form the lanthanum hydride. Finally, they take measurements to confirm they really created the material and that it's really a superconductor. The researchers detail two measurements in the paper: In one, they measure the resistance drop to zero at the -23 Celsius or -9.67 Fahrenheit temperature. In another, they notice that this temperature decreases in the presence of a magnetic field -- a clue that they were actually measuring the sample rather than something being wrong with their experimental setup.

Show 23 Thu 03:06 Engadget [4]

03:06 Beatport's streaming service for DJs sends music directly to decks
DJs are used to lugging their music around on vinyl and less back-breaking external drives, but they soon might not need to bring much of anything for their next gig. Beatport recently introduced its $15 per month Link service that streams tracks dir...

03:06 Focals smart glasses put Google Fit data on your face
North's Focals smart glasses can put important data in your eyeline from the gym to the board room. The glasses can sync with Google Fit and Google Slides as a part of recent software updates announced by the company.

03:06 'Fortnite' player Tfue presses his esports team to #ReleaseTheContract
Just a couple of days after pro Fortnite player Turner "Tfue" Tenney filed a lawsuit against his esports team FaZe Clan, the gamer himself is speaking out in a new video. As we explained yesterday, Tenney's lawsuit seeks to sever ties with FaZe Clan,...

03:06 Acer's Nitro 5 and Swift 3 laptops pack the latest AMD Ryzen processors
Acer isn't just sticking to Intel for chips in its latest laptops. The company has rolled out versions of its Nitro 5 gaming laptop and Swift 3 thin-and-light that pack second-generation Ryzen Mobile processors. The 15.6-inch Nitro 5 (above) carries...
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Show 23 Thu 02:52 HackerNews [13]

Show 23 Thu 02:29 AndroidAuthority [9]

02:29 10 really good hidden gem apps for Android!
We all know about the best and most popular Android apps. However, there are a ton of hidden gem apps out there as well.

02:29 Huawei shows staggering growth in Europe � But will it last?
What effect will the Huawei ban have on the company's stunning growth in Europe?

02:29 Deal: The $100 Bluetooth 5 AirTaps Earbuds are just $32 today
The stylish Bluetooth 5.0 AirTaps and charging case are just $31.99 right now.

02:29 What we know about Huawei's plan B for mobile (Update: More info)
The U.S. has blacklisted Huawei and Google has pulled its Android license, but the company has a backup plan years in the making.

02:29 That Ouya console game service is shutting down, if anyone still plays it
The beleaguered gaming console will (mostly) cease to work in June.

02:29 Comcast wants to monitor your health. Yes, that Comcast.
If there's any company you want eyeing your health, it's likely not Comcast.

02:29 The Huawei ban isn't just bad for the company, it's bad for Android in general
If this Huawei ban sticks, it won't just be hurting the company. We will all feel the pain.

02:29 Mario Kart Tour has the makings of a great game, but be ready to deal with micro-transactions
Racing game and gacha fans will find plenty to like, but Mario Kart fans might want to wait.

02:29 US startup claims Huawei exec stole trade secrets
A small California company claims a Huawei executive played a role in attempting to steal trade secrets.
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Show 23 Thu 00:40 Slashdot [3]

00:40 Phones Can Now Tell Who Is Carrying Them From Their Users' Gaits
PolygamousRanchKid shares an excerpt from a report via The Economist: Most online fraud involves identity theft, which is why businesses that operate on the web have a keen interest in distinguishing impersonators from genuine customers. Passwords help. But many can be guessed or are jotted down imprudently. Newer phones, tablets, and laptop and desktop computers often have beefed-up security with fingerprint and facial recognition. But these can be spoofed. To overcome these shortcomings the next level of security is likely to identify people using things which are harder to copy, such as the way they walk. Many online security services already use a system called device fingerprinting. This employs software to note things like the model type of a gadget employed by a particular user; its hardware configuration; its operating system; the apps which have been downloaded onto it; and other features, including sometimes the Wi-Fi networks it regularly connects through and devices like headsets it plugs into. LexisNexis Risk Solutions, an American analytics firm, has catalogued more than 4 billion phones, tablets and other computers in this way for banks and other clients. Roughly 7% of them have been used for shenanigans of some sort. But device fingerprinting is becoming less useful. Apple, Google and other makers of equipment and operating systems have been steadily restricting the range of attributes that can be observed remotely. That is why a new approach, behavioral biometrics, is gaining ground. It relies on the wealth of measurements made by today's devices. These include data from accelerometers and gyroscopic sensors, that reveal how people hold their phones when using them, how they carry them and even the way they walk. Touchscreens, keyboards and mice can be monitored to show the distinctive ways in which someone's fingers and hands move. Sensors can detect whether a phone has been set down on a hard surface such as a table or dropped lightly on a soft one such as a bed. If the hour is appropriate, this action could be used to assume when a user has retired for the night. These traits can then be used to determine whether someone attempting to make a transaction is likely to be the device's habitual user. If used wisely, the report says behavioral biometrics could be used to authenticate account-holders without badgering them for additional passwords or security questions; it could even be used for unlocking the doors of a vehicle once the gait of the driver, as measured by his phone, is recognized, for example. "Used unwisely, however, the system could become yet another electronic spy, permitting complete strangers to monitor your actions, from the moment you reach for your phone in the morning, to when you fling it on the floor at night," the report adds.

00:40 Apple Agrees To Notify iPhone Users If iOS Updates Will Affect Performance, UK Watchdog Says
A UK watchdog group said on Wednesday that Apple has agreed to clearly notify consumers if future iOS software updates slow down or change the performance of an iPhone. CNBC reports: The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority investigated the issue after Apple said in early 2018 that it had deliberately slowed down processor speeds through a software update on some iPhones to extend battery life. Public pressure stemming from the revelation forced Apple to provide discounted $29 battery replacements that were cited by the company as one reason iPhone sales last holiday quarter were slower than expected. That program has ended. "To ensure compliance with consumer law Apple has formally agreed to improve the information it provides to people about the battery health of their phones and the impact performance management software may have on their phones," the U.K. government said on its website. The CMA said that Apple is legally required to tell consumers about the software and battery health, something the company was already doing through software on the iPhone as well as a letter on its website.

00:40 Huawei Executive Accused of Helping Steal Trade Secrets
CNEX Labs, a Silicon Valley startup backed by Microsoft and Dell, is accusing high-level Huawei executive Eric Xu of participating in a conspiracy to steal its trade secrets (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), reports The Wall Street Journal. From a report: The Journal quotes a newly released hearing transcript that offers some details in a largely locked-down trial. According to its write-up, CNEX claims that Xu -- one of Huawei's rotating chairmen -- "directed a Huawei engineer to analyze Cnex's technical information." The engineer then allegedly posed as a potential CNEX customer to obtain details about its operations. CNEX also says that Xu was briefed on a plot to surreptitiously gather information from Xiamen University, which had obtained a computer memory board from CNEX. According to the Journal, Huawei lawyers admitted that Xu had been "in the chain of command that had requested" information about CNEX, but they denied that any trade secrets had been stolen. Huawei originally filed a lawsuit against CNEX co-founder Yiren "Ronnie" Huang in 2017, claiming Huang -- who left Huawei in 2013 -- had poached employees and used its patents to build CNEX's solid-state drive technology. CNEX counter-sued, claiming that Huawei had misappropriated its tech and was trying to gather even more information through the lawsuit.

Show 23 Thu 00:27 ArsTechnica [4]

00:27 Amazon made video games for its workers to reduce tedium of warehouse jobs
The games are voluntary and have been deployed at five Amazon warehouses.

00:27 Anti-abortion clinics that try to trick women face new Google ad policy
The move could steer women away from misinformation and abortion "science fiction."

00:27 Billion-year-old fossils may be early fungus
Shrooms' relatives beat us to multicellularity by a healthy margin.

00:27 Serial publisher of Windows 0-days drops exploits for 3 more unfixed flaws
SandboxEscaper has published 7 such exploits to date, 3 in the past 24 hours.
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Show 23 Thu 00:06 Engadget [2]

00:06 'Firewatch' publisher's Playdate gaming handheld has a crank
Now here's an entrant in the game console wars that you didn't see coming. Veteran software developer Panic (best known for writing Transmit and publishing Firewatch) has unveiled a handheld game system, Playdate, that aims to break the rules of gam...

00:06 Many Google Duplex calls are from real people instead of AI
Google's Duplex reservations might be more widely available, but that doesn't mean the AI is ready to handle every call. The company has confirmed to the New York Times that about 25 percent of the Assistant-based calls start with a human in a call...
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Show 22 Wed 23:10 Slashdot [2]

23:10 Millions of Golfers Land In Privacy Hazard After Cloud Misconfig
Millions of golfer records from the Game Golf app, including GPS details from courses played, usernames and passwords, and even Facebook login data, were all exposed for anyone with an internet browser to see -- a veritable hole-in-one for a cyberattacker looking to build profiles for potential victims, to be used in follow-on social-engineering attacks. Threatpost reports: Security Discovery researcher Bob Diachenko recently ran across an Elastic database that was not password-protected and thus visible in any browser. Further inspection showed that it belongs to Game Golf, which is a family of apps developed by San Francisco-based Game Your Game Inc. Game Golf comes as a free app, as a paid pro version with coaching tools and also bundled with a wearable. It's a straightforward analyzer for those that like to hit the links -- tracking courses played, GPS data for specific shots, various player stats and so on -- plus there's a messaging and community function, and an optional "caddy" feature. It's popular, too: It has 50,000+ installs on Google Play. Unfortunately, Game Golf landed its users in a sand trap of privacy concerns by not securing the database: Security Discovery senior security researcher Jeremiah Fowler said that the bucket included all of the aforementioned analyzer information, plus profile data like usernames and hashed passwords, emails, gender, and Facebook IDs and authorization tokens. In all, the exposure consisted of millions of records, including details on "134 million rounds of golf, 4.9 million user notifications and 19.2 million records in a folder called 'activity feed,'" Fowler said. The database also contained network information for the company: IP addresses, ports, pathways and storage info that "cybercriminals could exploit to access deeper into the network," according to Fowler, writing in a post on Tuesday. No word on whether malicious players took a swing at the data, as it were, but the sheer breadth of the information that the app gathers is concerning, Fowler noted.

23:10 Consumer Reports: Latest Autopilot 'Far Less Competent Than a Human'
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In recent weeks, Tesla has been pushing out a new version of Autopilot with automatic lane-change capabilities to Model 3s -- including one owned by Consumer Reports. So the group dispatched several drivers to highways around the group's car-testing center in Connecticut to test the feature. The results weren't good. The "latest version of Tesla's automatic lane-changing feature is far less competent than a human driver," Consumer Reports declares. CR found that the Model 3's rear cameras didn't seem able to see very far behind the vehicle. Autopilot has forward-facing radar to help detect vehicles ahead of the car and measure their speed, but it lacks rear-facing radar that would give the car advance warning of vehicles approaching quickly from the rear. The result: CR found that the Model 3 tended to cut off cars that were approaching rapidly from behind. The vehicle also violated some Connecticut driving laws, the testers found. "Several CR testers observed Navigate on Autopilot initiate a pass on the right on a two-lane divided highway," writes CR's Keith Barry. "We checked with a law enforcement official who confirmed this is considered an 'improper pass' in Connecticut and could result in a ticket." The vehicle also failed to move back over to the right lane after completing a pass as required by state law, CR reports. Ultimately, driving with Autopilot's automatic lane-changing feature is "much harder than just changing lanes yourself," writes CR's Jake Fisher said. "Using the system is like monitoring a kid behind the wheel for the very first time. As any parent knows, it's far more convenient and less stressful to simply drive yourself."

Show 22 Wed 22:52 HackerNews [20]

Show 22 Wed 21:40 Slashdot [2]

21:40 Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian Speaks Out Against 'Always-On' Work Culture
At The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything Festival on Tuesday, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian spoke out against the toxicity of "hustle porn" and how always-on work culture creates "broken" people. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report: I've spoken out quite a bit about things like 'hustle porn,' and this ceremony of showing off on social [media] about how hard you're working," said Mr. Ohanian, who previously co-founded online discussion forum Reddit. "Y'all see it on Instagram and you certainly see it in the startup community, and it becomes really toxic." Business men in his position are rarely asked about juggling the requirements of their roles outside of work, like in their family, he said, and that contributes to unrealistic expectations that a job can reflect the entirety of anyone's identity as a human being. "All of us who decide to start a company, we're kind of broken as people," because founders are often singularly-focused on the success of their venture, said Mr. Ohanian. Even with great mentors and investors supporting their vision, entrepreneurs tend to put a great deal of pressure on themselves to work harder than anyone else to achieve success and profitability. That psychological pressure is compounded by what he and others refer to as "hustle culture." "You have this culture of posturing, and this culture that glorifies the most absurd things and ignores things like self-care, and ignores things like therapy, and ignores things like actually taking care of yourself as a physical being for the sake of work at all costs. It's a toxic problem," said Mr. Ohanian. This issue isn't limited to technology companies, he added, noting that his acquaintances in finance and other industries also promote an unhealthy attitude that encourages 12-hour work days and few breaks. "Social media has made it possible to weaponize it to the point where, if [bragging about your difficult workweek] gets hearts, you're incentivized to keep pushing" the limits.

21:40 Crowdfunded Android Console Ouya Will Be Shut Down On June 25th
Razer, the gaming hardware manufacturing company that purchased Ouya's software assets in mid-2015, announced today that the crowdfunded Android console will cease functioning on June 25th. "That date will mark the unremarkable end of what began as a runaway Kickstarter success story: the inexpensive Ouya mini-console was powered by Android and introduced games such as TowerFall," reports The Verge. "But despite being positioned as the indie console, Ouya never quite took off after its $8.5 million crowdfunding campaign. The goal was to move Android's indie gaming scene to TV screens -- with exclusive Ouya-only titles mixed in -- but the execution didn't pan out." From the report: The hardware has been discontinued ever since Razer acquired Ouya's software assets in 2015. So it's somewhat surprising that the platform has continued to plod along for nearly four additional years. But that all ends next month. Accounts will be deactivated on June 25th. After that, Razer says "access to the Discover section will no longer be available. Games downloaded that appear in Play may still function if they do not require a purchase validation upon launch." But by and large, games on the Ouya platform will stop working after the cutoff date. Razer notes that some developers might choose to help their Ouya customers by activating the same game on some other platform (i.e., Google Play) where available following the shutdown. Razer's own Forge TV device will continue functioning as an Android TV set-top box, but the Forge TV games store is also going offline come the 25th. Part of Razer's thinking behind the Ouya acquisition was to propel its long-term Android TV gaming ambitions. The company has clearly shifted its priorities over the last few years, as indicated by the decision to finally shut down Ouya once and for all.

20:30 Bluetooth's Complexity Has Become a Security Risk (Wired)

Show 22 Wed 21:06 Engadget [5]

21:06 NASA wants you to get your boarding pass to Mars
You probably won't visit Mars for a long time, if ever. You might have a way to go in spirit, though. NASA has introduced a "Send Your Name" campaign that will put your name on the Mars 2020 rover, leaving a long-term record of your name on the Red...

21:06 Lawmakers call for regulation of facial recognition tech
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is calling for regulations to restrict the use of facial recognition technology before "it gets out of control," according to the Washington Post. Members of the Congressional House Oversight and Reform Committee held...

21:06 AR porn lenses live on in Snapchat despite ban
Snapchat has deleted Naughty America's account and taken down the X-rated AR lenses it debuted this week. However, the porn studio isn't backing down quietly, as it's distributing the source files and directions for the lenses, and encouraging fans t...

21:06 Airbus shares a glimpse of its flying taxi cockpit
Airbus has been working on its Vahana project for years. It's an attempt to create an autonomous passenger drone network that could operate like a flying version of the Waymo's self-driving cars. In January, the company's flying taxi took to the skie...

21:06 SpaceX sues over 'wrongly awarded' Air Force rocket contracts
To say that SpaceX was unhappy with losing out on the US Air Force's rocket development contracts would be an understatement. The company has sued the US government under claims that the Air Force "wrongly awarded" contracts to Blue Origin, Northrop...
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Show 22 Wed 20:30 lwn.net-comments [18]

Even if you ignore the fact that it's prohibitively expensive to do "bugfree" software development (which even then typically turns out to have bugs; see Boeing) and no customer would ever be willing to pay for such products, the issue is that to have a stable product,
the feature set needs to be frozen.

Which instead would create even faster obsolescence; it'd be far too risky to do backporting of new features. Things would move back to the "good" old days of Nokia "feature" phones (and trust me, as someone who's done a lot of TRUE-testing on Nokia phones, those too had an embarrassing abundance of bugs that keep resurfacing in every new product).

It's indeed not the consumer's fault that the product doesn't work as it should, but it's definitely the consumer's fault to expect the impossible; good, fast, cheap. Pick two (or, more realistically, one). Reliable software, fast time to market, an acceptable price for the customers is a triplet that you just cannot achieve.

20:30 Filesystems and crash resistance

Thanks, Jake. Much clearer now.

Do people actually want a sync, or just a barrier call for ordering purposes?

20:30 Firefox 67 released

It looks list-based using a new category in the Disconnect list: https://github.com/mozilla-services/shavar-prod-lists/blo...

20:30 Filesystems and crash resistance
This text is ten years old and entirely generic. Additionally, the conclusion

This is because it is very difficult to map backward from a given file to the dirty file system blocks needing to be written to disk in order to create a consistent file system containing those changes. For example, the block containing the bitmap for newly allocated file data blocks may also have been changed by a later allocation for a different file, which then requires that we also write out the indirect blocks pointing to the data for that second file

is just plain wrong. Nobody asked for "a consistent filesystem containing those changes" aka "for a sync" (ultimatively). The request was that changes to a specific file are to be made persistent. Obviously, the 'easiest' way to implement that is to ignore this and write everything. Which filesystems did this back then? Which filesystems didn't? And what's the situation today? This could be useful information for choosing a particular filesystem.

20:30 Firefox 67 released

The prefers-color-scheme: dark works on macOS but not
on KDE on fedora.

Haven't we spent decades teaching people that fsync() is the only thing that ensures writes are safely delivered to stable storage? And yes, while that's only mostly true (hard drive caching, etc) let's not ruin that simple marketing win because we wanted a convenience API.

20:30 Common needs for Samba and NFS

"The implementation is probably painful to do in an efficient fashion."

If Cyberax is thinking about the automatic inheritance stuff, that's described here: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5661#section-6.4.3.2.

It's not really "automatic". It just provides a few extra flags that userspace could use to do a sort of inherited-ACL equivalent to chmod -R.

Basically the problem is that somebody creates a new directory, sets an inheritable ACL on the root, populates it, then realizes a month later, oops, we should have given the "sales" group read access. And they'd like to not only fix the inheritable ACL on the root, but also have the change propagate to the whole tree. And, yes, people that implement filesystems tend to run away screaming from that problem.

The easier solution is to teach user utilities to do the recursive traversal and fix up the tree. Stuff like "chmod -R" already does that.

But, one annoyance is that in the intervening month further ACLs may have been set on subtrees, and you may not want to clobber all those.

So all the "automatic inheritance" stuff does is add flags that userspace can use to determine which ACEs in a given ACL were inherited from somewhere else, so they can (if they want) use that information to decide how to modify the ACL while doing a recursive traversal.

20:30 Filesystems for zoned block devices

Yeah, it has to read the entire drive surface of all the other drives, and if they're similar ages and especially from the same batch...

(This is why RAID-5 for large arrays is almost certainly a bad idea. One extra failure of a degraded array and you're lost.)

It depends who you are, what you are trying to do, and what sorts of guarantees you are looking to have.

For "regular application development," what you (probably) want is something along the lines of "atomically replace the contents of file foo with data bar, but I don't care about ordering or durability." This is traditionally expressed by writing it to a temp file and doing a rename() over the existing file. Technically, you are required to fsync() or fdatasync() the temp file* to prevent the write from being ordered after the rename, but many applications skip this step. In practice it is desirable that the filesystem detect this case and handle it automatically. Then you don't use any sync primitives, don't get durability, do get ordering, and end up with reasonable performance. Best of all, this provides transparent support for apps that only care "a little bit" about doing things correctly, which is probably most of them. You'll still have pain from open(..., O_WRONLY|O_TRUNC) on an existing file, of course, but that's your own fault and you should fix your ways.

For databases, you definitely want durability in addition to sequencing, so that you know when you can mark the transaction as committed. However, databases have a lot of other, more complicated needs, and they tend to drive new filesystem features to an accordingly greater degree than "regular applications." I therefore am hesitant to make an across-the-board pronouncement about what they need, but in general, fsync() is a significant part of what they need.

The tricky part comes from the rare "in between" cases, where you might have multiple files and want to mutate them all transactionally (e.g. because you are writing a package manager and want to transactionally install a package). Surprisingly, NTFS actually has support for this, but MSDN** says it's a Bad Thing that you should avoid using. To the best of my knowledge, this is completely unsupported on (most mainstream) Linux filesystems.

* Or open with O_SYNC, but to a first approximation, nobody does that.
** https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/fileio/d...

20:30 Filesystems for zoned block devices

I would say that by the time you have multiple drive failures in a week or so in a single chassis you're well past any hope of the uninterrupted service availability RAID gives you, and it's time to tear the system down, replace all the *other* drives as well (since they're clearly cursed, or faulty, or all subjected to horrible power spikes or something, and are all suspect, even those that are still outwardly working), and restore from backup. Because of course you have a backup because RAID is not a backup and we don't regularly see people on the linux-raid list who have no backups at all oh wait we do all the time :(

This is basically true even if you have a pile of hot spares: if they were connected to the system in question with any kind of electrical path, even if they weren't spinning, they are quite likely damaged :(

(I have two onsite backups and one hot-swapped offsite backup, as well as distributed storage of what really matters. None of them use RAID or any new flashy filesystem features because the more new stuff you use, the more you are risking bugs in *that*...)

> let's not ruin that

But it sacrifices nothing to provide an async alternative for those whom it benefits.

> The tricky part comes from the rare "in between" cases, where you might have multiple files and want to mutate
> them all transactionally (e.g. because you are writing a package manager and want to transactionally install a
> package). Surprisingly, NTFS actually has support for this, but MSDN** says it's a Bad Thing that you should avoid using.

If that's really necessary for some application, it can be accomplished by collecting a set of related files in a directory and selecting one of several such directories by using a symlink with a well-known name (which can be updated atomically via rename).

Because additional complexity and features in the kernel have zero externalities?

20:30 Common needs for Samba and NFS

Exactly that. Inherited ACLs are basically a bad idea, they are impossible to implement efficiently.

And a formerly fast atomic rename operations can take many minutes, and a crash in the middle of a re-ACL-ing can leave them in an indeterminate state.

20:30 Common needs for Samba and NFS

POSIX ACLS have inheritance on directory ACLS already. bfields is correct, "automatic" inheritance only means propagating some bits to a child object, which is never changed by the kernel after creation, via rename or otherwise.

Only userspace tools change "automatic" inheritance bits on modification, not the kernel. So the comment about filesystems being left in an inconsistent state on rename makes no sense whatsoever.

I'm starting to understand that the objections here are coming from the fact the objectors don't actually understand RichACLs *at all*, or understand what is required.

20:30 Filesystems and crash resistance

I'm surprised that crash resistance is linked to persistence here. I would argue that in an event of a crash what is much more important is consistency - I don't mind if I lose the latest changes to the file I'm editing, but I would be very upset if a file is left filled with all zeroes afterwards. If I lose just the latest changes, I can just redo the last several seconds of the work, but if the file is left in an inconsistent state, or worse it, wiped clean, *all* the work is lost. I've seen this happen many times with xfs, and never with ext4, for example. To me, those two filesystems seem to provide entirely different guarantees in practice, even though in theory maybe none of those are supposed to be guaranteed in the first place, as no fsync() may be called at all.

20:30 Filesystems and crash resistance

How would this interact with mmap?

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Show 22 Wed 20:10 Slashdot [3]

20:10 Google's Ad System Under EU Probe For How It Spreads Your Private Data
Ireland's data protection watchdog has launched an investigation into Google's collection of personal data for the purpose of online advertising. From a report: "A statutory inquiry pursuant to section 110 of the Data Protection Act 2018 has been commenced in respect of Google Ireland Limited's processing of personal data in the context of its online Ad Exchange," the Data Protection Commission said in a statement Wednesday. The DPC, one of the lead authorities over Google in the European Union, wants to know whether the search giant's "processing of personal data carried out at each stage of an advertising transaction" is in compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. The GDPR is a sweeping law that gives residents of the European Union more control over their personal data and seeks to clarify rules for online services. The DPC inquiry follows a complaint filed in Europe in September by privacy-focused browser maker Brave that says Google violates GDPR by broadcasting personal information to companies bidding to show targeted ads. At the time, Google denied any wrongdoing. On Wednesday, Johnny Ryan, Brave's chief policy and industry relations officer, said the DPC inquiry signals a change is coming that goes beyond just Google. "We need to reform online advertising to protect privacy, and to protect advertisers and publishers from legal risk under the GDPR," Ryan said in a blog post.

20:10 How the World's First Digital Circuit Breaker Could Completely Change Our Powered World
This week the world's first and only digital circuit breaker was certified for commercial use. The technology, invented by Atom Power, has been listed by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), the global standard for consumer safety. This new breaker makes power easier to manage and 3000 times faster than the fastest mechanical breaker, marking the most radical advancement in power distribution since Thomas Edison. From a report: Picture the fuse box in your basement, each switch assigned to different electrical components of your home. These switches are designed to break a circuit during an electrical overload to protect your lights and appliances. When this happens, you plod down to your mechanical room and flick the switches on again. Now multiply that simple system in your home to city high rises and industrial buildings, which might have 250 circuit breakers on any given floor, each one ranging from 15 to 4000 amps at higher voltages. At this scale, the limitations and dangers of a manually controlled power system become much more evident -- and costly. Ryan Kennedy, CEO of Atom Power, has been working to build a better electrical system since he began his career 25 years ago, first as an electrician and then as an engineer and project manager on large, high profile commercial electrical projects. His experienced based inquiry has revolved around a central assertion that analog infrastructure doesn't allow us to control our power the way we should be able to. That idea has led to some pretty critical questions: "What would it take to make power systems controllable?" and "Why shouldn't that control be built in to the circuit breaker itself?"

20:10 Hackers Are Holding Baltimore's Government Computers Hostage
On May 7, hackers infected about 10,000 of Baltimore city government's computers with an aggressive form of ransomware called RobbinHood, and insisted the city pay 13 bitcoin (then $76,280, today $102,310) to cut the computers loose. The hackers claimed the price would go up every day after four days, and after the tenth day, the affected files would be lost forever. From a report: "We won't talk more, all we know is MONEY!" the ransom note read. "Hurry up! Tik Tak, Tik Tak, Tik Tak!" But the city has not paid. In the two weeks since, Baltimore citizens have not had access to many city services. The city payment services and email systems are still offline. A May 7 Baltimore Sun report stated the Robbinhood ransomware used in this attack encrypts files with a "file-locking" virus so the hackers can hold the files hostage. Among the departments that have had issues with their email and phone systems are the Department of Public Works, the Department of Transportation, and the Baltimore Police Department. According to the Wall Street Journal, Baltimore Health Department's epidemiologists aren't able to use the network that allows them to alert citizens of certain which types of drugs are causing recent overdoses. Many services have resumed through phone, and vital emergency systems like 911 and 311 reportedly continued to function. The ransomware froze the system the city uses for executing home sales, which reportedly hurt the local market, but the city began implementing a manual workaround earlier this week.

Show 22 Wed 19:37 ArsTechnica [6]

19:37 Consumer Reports: Latest Autopilot �far less competent than a human�
Automatic lane-change feature cuts drivers off, breaks Connecticut law, CR finds.

19:37 ARM is the latest partner to shun Huawei, so how will it design chips?
UK chip designer cites �US origin technology" as a reason to cut ties with Huawei.

19:37 Superconductivity reported at the temperature of a good freezer
The catch? You need about a million atmospheres of pressure.

19:37 Seattle makes history with electric garbage truck
Recology has taken delivery of its first BYD 8R rear-loading class 8 garbage truck.

19:37 Mario Kart Tour beta hands-on: Microtransactions land like a nasty blue shell
The actual gameplay has some polish. Everything else in this Android beta stinks.

19:37 Apple's WWDC 2019 keynote will detail iOS 13, macOS 10.15, and more on June 3
The event usually focuses on software, but Mac Pro rumors abound.
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Show 22 Wed 18:52 HackerNews [13]

Show 22 Wed 18:40 Slashdot [3]

18:40 Shareholder Efforts To Curb Amazon Facial Recognition Tech Fall Short
Two Amazon shareholder proposals about the company's controversial facial recognition technology failed to pass Wednesday, following a concerted push by civil rights groups and activist investors. From a report: One proposal would have banned Amazon from selling its Rekognition technology to government agencies unless it first determines the software doesn't infringe on civil liberties. The other proposal called for an independent study of the potential privacy and human rights violations caused by Rekognition. Both proposals were presented at Amazon's annual shareholder meeting in Seattle on Wednesday. The company said it isn't disclosing the vote tallies until this Friday. "The fact that there needed to be a vote on this is an embarrassment for Amazon's leadership team. It demonstrates shareholders do not have confidence that company executives are properly understanding or addressing the civil and human rights impacts of its role in facilitating pervasive government surveillance," Shankar Narayan, the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington's Technology and Liberty Project director, said in a statement. "While we have yet to see the exact breakdown of the vote, this shareholder intervention should serve as a wake-up call for the company to reckon with the real harms of face surveillance and to change course." Both proposals, which were non-binding, were long shots to pass, since Amazon's board said it was against the proposals. Major shareholders typically follow such positions to show support for the board. Also, CEO Jeff Bezos, Amazon's board chairman, is the company's biggest shareholder, controlling about 16% of its stock, and wasn't expected to vote for either proposal.

18:40 Android and iOS Devices Impacted By New Sensor Calibration Attack
A new device fingerprinting technique can track Android and iOS devices across the Internet by using factory-set sensor calibration details that any app or website can obtain without special permissions. From a report: This new technique -- called a calibration fingerprinting attack, or SensorID -- works by using calibration details from gyroscope and magnetometer sensors on iOS; and calibration details from accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer sensors on Android devices. According to a team of academics from the University of Cambridge in the UK, SensorID impacts iOS devices more than Android smartphones. The reason is that Apple likes to calibrate iPhone and iPad sensors on its factory line, a process that only a few Android vendors are using to improve the accuracy of their smartphones' sensors. "Our approach works by carefully analysing the data from sensors which are accessible without any special permissions to both websites and apps," the research team said in a research paper published yesterday. "Our analysis infers the per-device factory calibration data which manufacturers embed into the firmware of the smartphone to compensate for systematic manufacturing errors [in their devices' sensors]," researchers said. This calibration data can then be used as a fingerprint, producing a unique identifier that advertising or analytics firms can use to track a user as they navigate across the internet.

18:40 EE To Switch on UK's First 5G Network on May 30
UK mobile carrier EE announced its plans to launch 5G in the UK on Wednesday. The network will be switched on on May 30, with the first 5G phones available to preorder from today. From a report: EE's initial 5G rollout will focus on six cities (London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Belfast, Birmingham and Manchester), with promises to expand to 19 cities by the end of the year. EE CEO Marc Allera promised EE 5G customers would experience average download speeds of 156 Mbps. It will be "like having a lane of the motorway all to yourself," he said, speaking at an event in London. The first devices EE will offer on its 5G plans include the OnePlus 7 Pro, the Samsung Galaxy S10, the Oppo Reno 5G, the LG V50 ThinQ, a 5G home router and an HTC Wi-Fi device. Plans start from $68 per month (for 10GB of data) and extend up to $94 per month (for 120GB of data). Earlier this month, EE announced it would offer the Huawei Mate 20 X as one of the first 5G phones it offered to customers, but due to the developments earlier this week calling into question the future of Android on Huawei phones, the network has pulled them from its initial 5G device lineup. "We've put the Huawei devices on pause until we've got a bit more information on that," said Allera.

Show 22 Wed 18:06 Engadget [9]

18:06 Consumer Reports: Tesla's automatic lane changes pose safety concerns
We found that Tesla's Navigate on Autopilot has its quirks, but Consumer Reports is... slightly more concerned. The publication has claimed that the latest version of the semi-autonomous driving feature poses "serious safety concerns," making automa...

18:06 �Just Cause' movie is coming from �John Wick' creator
German studio Constantin Film has acquired the film rights to open-world action game Just Cause, and hope to start shooting in 2020, reports Deadline. Derek Kolstad, the creator and writer of the John Wick trilogy, has been tapped to write the script...

18:06 One of these models doesn't exist
Virtual humans are gradually scaling the uncanny valley, and like artificial intelligence, they're coming for our jobs. A case in point is Imma, a digital Instagram model who has garnered over 50,000 followers thanks to her (its?) trendy, street-styl...

18:06 What's coming to Netflix in June: �Black Mirror' and the final 'Jessica Jones'
Netflix packed May with new movies like Wine Country, the animated series Tuca and Bertie, a Ted Bundy biopic and more. Now, it's bringing just as much new content and star power to June. In just the first half of the month, Netflix will release seas...

18:06 Windows 10's Xbox bar helps you find and share games
Windows 10's May 2019 Update includes one more notable feature: an overlay made just for gamers. Microsoft has detailed an Xbox Game Bar that provides quick access to controls and social features while you're playing. Invoke the Win-G keyboard shortc...

18:06 Crowdfunded gaming console Ouya will shut down for good on June 25th
Seven years ago, Ouya was going to change the face of gaming. Now it's dead. Razer, the company that bought Ouya back in 2015, announced today that it will be discontinuing support for the gaming console. Owners of Ouya will have until June 25th to c...

18:06 Why putting googly eyes on robots makes them inherently less threatening
At the start of 2019, supermarket chain Giant Food Stores announced it would begin operating customer assisting robots -- collectively dubbed Marty -- in 172 locations across the East Coast. These autonomous machines may navigate their respective sto...

18:06 Amazon investors reject call to limit facial recognition system sales
Amazon shareholders have voted against a proposal to limit the company from selling its facial recognition technology to law enforcement and government agencies. The proposal, which highlighted concerns over the Rekognition system related to "civil a...

18:06 Atari shows off joystick and controller for its retro VCS console
When the Atari VCS team decided to remake the retro console, it knew the controllers would be just as important as the box itself. After all, there's no gaming accessory quite as iconic as the Atari CX40 joystick. Earlier this spring, we got a glimps...
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Show 22 Wed 15:41 Slashdot [3]

15:41 EPA Plans To Get Thousands of Pollution Deaths Off the Books by Changing Its Math
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to change the way it calculates the health risks of air pollution, a shift that would make it easier to roll back a key climate change rule because it would result in far fewer predicted deaths from pollution, New York Times reported this week, citing five people with knowledge of the agency's plans. From the report: The E.P.A. had originally forecast that eliminating the Obama-era rule, the Clean Power Plan, and replacing it with a new measure would have resulted in an additional 1,400 premature deaths per year. The new analytical model would significantly reduce that number and would most likely be used by the Trump administration to defend further rollbacks of air pollution rules if it is formally adopted. The proposed shift is the latest example of the Trump administration downgrading the estimates of environmental harm from pollution in regulations. In this case, the proposed methodology would assume there is little or no health benefit to making the air any cleaner than what the law requires. Many experts said that approach was not scientifically sound and that, in the real world, there are no safe levels of the fine particulate pollution associated with the burning of fossil fuels.

15:41 Indonesia Restricts WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram Usage Following Deadly Riots
Indonesia is the latest nation to hit the hammer on social media after the government restricted the use of WhatsApp and Instagram following deadly riots yesterday. From a report: Numerous Indonesia-based users are today reporting difficulties sending multimedia messages via WhatsApp, which is one of the country's most popular chat apps, and posting content to Facebook, while the hashtag #instagramdown is trending among the country's Twitter users due to problems accessing the Facebook-owned photo app. Wiranto, a coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, confirmed in a press conference that the government is limiting access to social media and "deactivating certain features" to maintain calm, according to a report from Coconuts. Rudiantara, the communications minister of Indonesia and a critic of Facebook, explained that users "will experience lag on Whatsapp if you upload videos and photos." Facebook -- which operates both WhatsApp and Instagram -- didn't explicitly confirm the blockages , but said it has been in communication with the Indonesian government.

15:41 Facial Recognition is Making Its Way To Cruise Ships
On May 14, San Francisco became the first US city to ban police and government agencies from using facial recognition. On May 22, Amazon shareholders will vote on whether to restrict the company's sale of its own facial recognition software. But at cruise operator Royal Caribbean, facial recognition still has plenty of potential. From a report: Like some airlines, Royal Caribbean has started to roll out facial recognition and other technologies to streamline its boarding process. The company's SVP of digital, Jay Schneider, tells Quartz that the typical wait time to board is 10 minutes with a mobile boarding pass; less if the passenger opts into facial recognition by uploading a "security selfie." Before those additions, he says the typical wait time was around 90 minutes. "We wanted it to be a welcoming experience, such that the agent knows who you are when you're getting there," Schneider says, adding that the company wants to turn facial recognition "not into a stop and frisk moment, but into a way to welcome you on vacation, answer any questions, and let me just get you on your way." As people churn through the line faster with mobile boarding passes and facial recognition, the rest of the line benefits as well -- that 90-minute wait will average more like 20 minutes for even those passengers boarding the old-fashioned way. Schneider says Royal Caribbean deletes security selfies at the end of each trip, to avoid storing data any longer than necessary. Royal Caribbean has also rolled out mobile boarding to board its crew members; Schneider says the technology saves the company 50,000 crew hours each year.

14:23 A New Approach To Updates: Windows 10 May 2019 Update Available Today

Show 22 Wed 15:06 Engadget [13]

15:06 Master & Dynamic MW65 review: Almost the perfect headphones
Master & Dynamic has been making some of the world's best-looking headphones since 2014. The company uses premium materials like leather and anodized aluminum for its high-end products, while the competition settles for cheaper plastic even on fl...

15:06 Valve is making its own version of 'Dota Auto Chess'
Dota 2's hugely popular custom game mode Dota Auto Chess is set to get not one but two standalone spin-offs. Dota 2's publisher Valve made the announcement on its blog this week, noting that its developers loved the mod so much the company invited cr...

15:06 MIT's 'RoboRaise' helps you lift things by studying your muscles
It's all well and good having a virtual assistant like Alexa or Siri in your lounge, but they make for a pretty useless robotic companion when it comes to shifting a sofa or getting a heavy box from a cupboard. MIT CSAIL has a solution in its sights...

15:06 Federal judge rules Qualcomm violated antitrust rules
Roughly five months after the Federal Trade Commission and Qualcomm entered the courtroom over charges that Qualcomm engaged in anti-competitive behavior, a federal judge has sided with the FTC. In a decision shared Tuesday night, US District Judge L...

15:06 The refreshed Audi A7 hits all the right luxury marks
Driving fatigue can set in after just a few hours behind the wheel. Even when you're behind the wheel of some of the most luxurious vehicles in the world, you're going to want to pull over, stretch your legs and give your backside a rest. The sam...

15:06 Amazon made social mini-games to make warehouse work less bland
Amazon has turned to video games to make warehouse work a bit less tedious while boosting worker productivity in the process, according to The Washington Post. The e-commerce giant has "gamified" warehouse workers' tasks by reflecting their progress...

15:06 'Vader Immortal' is the Star Wars VR game I've been waiting for
Star Wars and virtual reality always seemed like the perfect mix. Long before the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive were released a few years ago, I was eager to slip on a VR headset, hop in a rusty smuggler ship and wield a light saber of my own. While we've...

15:06 Apple is trying to make web ads truly private
Apple's privacy push is extending to an area where you might not expect it: web ad tracking. The company's John Wilander has outlined a new system, Privacy Preserving Ad Click Attribution, that would help marketers track the success of ads without t...

15:06 'League of Legends' might be coming to smartphones
League of Legends might eventually take up residence on fans' iOS and Android homescreens. Developer Riot is said to be working with parent company Tencent on a mobile version of the ultra-popular MOBA.

15:06 Google Search redesign adds website names and logos to results page
Google is bringing a new Search layout to mobile, and it's rolling out the changes beginning today. Now, when you search on your mobile device, you'll see a website name and logo at the top of each results card. If Google has a "useful ad" to show yo...

15:06 The best lenses for Canon RF mount
Many photographers keep a cheap compact 50mm lens in their bags, but that is not what Canon has made here. The Canon RF 50mm F/1.2 is over 2 pounds and costs more than $2,000, but what you're getting for that is an incredible sharp lens with an ultra...

15:06 Mozilla is helping to make web-based VR available to everyone
Even though virtual reality has been in the mainstream for several years now, it's still not very accessible. It often takes trained engineers to create, release and distribute VR content. That could soon change, however, thanks to a new project call...

15:06 London Underground will track everyone's Tube trip via WiFi
Transport for London, the UK capital's transit authority, will start collecting data on how people move around the Underground system by tracking phones and other connected devices using its extensive WiFi network. The agency's systems will depersona...
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Show 22 Wed 14:52 HackerNews [12]

Show 22 Wed 14:47 ArsTechnica [5]

14:47 An exhaustive look at Oculus Quest's first day of great, wireless VR software
Or, how an incredible launch slate turned Quest into my daily VR system of choice.

14:47 Android at I/O 2019: The Project Mainline update system and other highlights
Get ready for a dual-booting, even more modularized Android system.

14:47 Democratic Party's network security still lags behind GOP, researchers find
Personal data leaks, poor protection of logins, and other gaps still leave major parties vulnerable.

14:47 Belgian loot box decision takes down some of Nintendo's mobile games
Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem will be removed from the country in August.

14:47 T-Mobile/Sprint merger faces big trouble at DOJ, despite FCC approval
DOJ staff recommend filing lawsuit to block merger, Reuters reports.
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Show 22 Wed 14:29 AndroidAuthority [9]

14:29 PowerVR GPUs primer: What you need to know
PowerVR is an alternative to the Adreno and Mali GPUs. imagination's range, which was once found in the iPhone, is still used today in Android devices.

14:29 Here's why losing Arm is a far bigger deal for Huawei than losing Google
Thought Huawei losing Google would be a death blow for the Chinese giant? That pales in comparison to losing Arm.

14:29 11 things you need to know in tech today
Huawei suffers further, while Apple has beefed up its Macs but there's a butterfly-shaped problem still ongoing.

14:29 Get all your CompTIA certification training in one place for under $28
You can get expertly prepared to cruise 12 CompTIA exams for $27.60 with this promo code.

14:29 Qualcomm violated antitrust laws with patent licensing practices, US judge rules
A U.S. court has ruled that Qualcomm is guilty of anti-trust violations and must strike new patent licensing deals.

14:29 Android 9 Pie rolling out to the OnePlus 3 and 3T around the globe
OnePlus 3 and 3T owners: Hit that "check for update" button!

14:29 New Pokémon Rumble Rush game now available globally (Updated)
If you've been itching to get your hands on the new Pokémon game, now's your chance!

14:29 Huawei's OS is apparently codenamed Project Z, and it's reportedly far from ready
Huawei has a backup OS in case it's cut off from Android, but that OS is believed to be nowhere near finished.

14:29 Report: DOJ antitrust staff will recommend blocking T-Mobile-Sprint merger
The decision isn't final, but sources say things are looking shaky for the T-Mobile-Sprint merger.
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Show 22 Wed 14:23 lwn.net [9]

14:23 [$] openSUSE considers governance options
The relationship between SUSE and the openSUSE community is currently under discussion as the community considers different options for how it wants to be organized and governed in the future. Among the options under consideration is the possibility of openSUSE setting up an entirely independent foundation, as it seeks greater autonomy and control over its own future and operations.

14:23 Mourning Martin Schwidefsky
The kernel mailing lists carry the sad news that longtime kernel contributor and subsystem maintainer Martin Schwidefsky has been killed in an accident. "Martin was the most significant contributor to the initial s390 port of the Linux Kernel and later the maintainer of the s390 architecture backend. His technical expertise as well as his mentoring skills were outstanding. Martin was well known for his positive mindset and his willingness to help. He will be greatly missed."

14:23 [$] Filesystems and crash resistance

The "guarantees" that existing filesystems make with regard to persistence in the face of a system crash was the subject of a session led by Amir Goldstein at the 2019 Linux Storage, Filesystem, and Memory-Management Summit (LSFMM). The problem is that filesystem developers are not willing to make much in the way of guarantees unless applications call fsync()�something that is not popular with application developers, who want a cheaper option.

14:23 Firefox 67 released
The Mozilla blog takes a look at the Firefox 67 release. "Today's new Firefox release continues to bring fast and private together right at the crossroads of performance and security. It includes improvements that continue to keep Firefox fast while giving you more control and assurance through new features that your personal information is safe while you're online with us." See the release notes for more information.

14:23 [$] Asynchronous fsync()

The cost of fsync() is well known to filesystem developers, which is why there are efforts to provide cheaper alternatives. Ric Wheeler wanted to discuss the longstanding idea of adding an asynchronous version of fsync() in a filesystem session at the 2019 Linux Storage, Filesystem, and Memory-Management Summit (LSFMM). It turns out that what he wants may already be available via the new io_uring interface.

14:23 Tor Browser 8.5 released
Version 8.5 of the Tor Browser is out. "Tor Browser 8.5 is the first stable release for Android. Since we released the first alpha version in September, we've been hard at work making sure we can provide the protections users are already enjoying on desktop to the Android platform. Mobile browsing is increasing around the world, and in some parts, it is commonly the only way people access the internet. In these same areas, there is often heavy surveillance and censorship online, so we made it a priority to reach these users."

14:23 Security updates for Wednesday
Security updates have been issued by CentOS (ruby and wget), Debian (proftpd-dfsg), Fedora (firefox, mupdf, nss, and wavpack), openSUSE (evolution, GraphicsMagick, graphviz, libxslt, openssl-1_0_0, ovmf, and sqlite3), Red Hat (dotnet, python27-python and python27-python-jinja2, and rh-mariadb102-mariadb and rh-mariadb102-galera), Slackware (mozilla), SUSE (gnutls, java-1_7_1-ibm, and java-1_8_0-ibm), and Ubuntu (curl, firefox, php5, and webkit2gtk).

14:23 Stable kernel updates
Stable kernels 5.1.4, 5.0.18, 4.19.45, 4.14.121, and 4.9.178 have been released. They all contain important fixes and users should upgrade.

14:23 openSUSE Leap 15.1 released
The openSUSE project has announced the release of openSUSE Leap 15.1. "Leap releases are scalable and both the desktop and server are equally important for professional's workloads, which is reflected in the installation menu as well as the amount of packages Leap offers and hardware it supports. Leap is well suited and prepared for usage as a Virtual Machine (VM) or container guest, allowing professional users to efficiently run network services no matter whether it's a single server or a data center."
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Show 22 Wed 14:23 Anandtech [4]

For those eager to get the latest and greatest production build of Windows 10; good news. For those who would rather watch from the sidelines until the kinks are worked out; good news. Today Microsoft has officially launched the spring 2019 update for Windows 10, affectionately called the Windows 10 May 2019 Update. There’s a few new features under the hood, but the biggest change to Windows 10 this time is not a new feature you may or may not use, but instead a new approach to updates. And, after almost four years of users not being in control, Microsoft has put the control back in the hands of the people using their OS. Finally.

I’m not going to pine on about days gone past, but one of the biggest changes to Windows 10 when it launched was that the update system was going to be better. Improved. More reliable. Except it wasn’t. Some changes, such as the cumulative updates, have been a huge relief for people setting up new machines, since they no longer needed to update their computer for several days. An update comes every month which should have everything you need to get you to current in one batch. This was a win for end users. However, Windows 10 also brought about a new idea called feature updates, where occasionally, a new version of Windows would come down the same pipe as a normal update. Assuming everything was well tested, the update should install with little fanfare, but as we know that’s not been the case. Windows is on far too many machines to make any update easy, and Microsoft’s feedback mechanism for update issues was not being monitored as it needed to, which lead to multiple feature updates with enough major problems that even the last update from October is only now being pushed out to some machines.

So today we get Windows 10 1903, or the May 2019 Update, and home users will finally get an option to pause updates even if they are using Windows 10 Home. It’s a small step, but coupled with a very measured rollout, hopefully this will be the smooth update Microsoft has been craving for the last couple of years. For those looking for further transparency, Microsoft has a Windows release health dashboard, which shows the status of current known issues, letting you know ahead of time if you may have an incompatible piece of software or hardware.

There are of course new features as well, since this is in fact a feature update for Windows 10. There’s a new light theme, providing a refreshing look for Windows 10 which pairs nicely with the dark mode that arrived a couple of versions ago. Cortana is no longer part of the search bar, and now lives on its own app icon on the task bar. More default applications can now be removed.

There’s more complex features as well, such as Windows Sandbox, which allows you to run an application in a virtualized container for testing without it having access to the system files. Think of it like Hyper-V, but without the complexity. It’s not as powerful as Hyper-V, but it’s also much easier to set up and use.

There’s a few other features as well that we’ll go through in a more comprehensive article after we’ve had time to dig through some of the new abilities. That being said, updates are now offering fewer and fewer big changes, which makes sense due to the maturity of Windows 10 now. Plus, with the lack of stability, it makes sense to offer less user-facing features that are more stable, rather than continue to offer a multitude of new things that may or may not get used.

For those looking to get a jump-start on the upgrade process, Windows 10 May 2019 Update is currently rollout out via Windows Update where you can just check for updates, and you’ll receive it if your computer doesn’t have any blocking hardware or software. Microsoft is taking a very measured and cautious approach here, which is the right thing to do. For those that don’t want to wait for Windows Update, you can always check out the Windows 10 Download page to get the update right now.

Source: Windows Blog

14:23 Report: Arm Suspends Business with Huawei - Future Chip Development In Jeopardy

In the latest event in the quickly moving saga that is Huawei’s technology export blacklisting by the United States Government, the BBC has published a report this morning claiming that IP vendor Arm has “suspend business” with Huawei and its subsidiaries. If this is correct, then it would represent a massive setback for Huawei’s hardware development efforts, as the company and its HiSilicon chip design subsidiary rely heavily on Arm’s IP for its products.

According to the BBC News report, Arm has almost entirely severed ties with Huawei, with the company instructing employees that they are not to “provide support, delivery technology (whether software, code, or other updates), engage in technical discussions, or otherwise discuss technical matters with Huawei, HiSilicon or any of the other named entities”.

Huawei, for its part, is one of Arm’s top customers and a close ecosystem partner, shipping countless numbers of chips and devices with Arm IP in it every year. The company is a leading-edge implementer of new Arm CPU and GPU IP, and in the last few years has been the first vendor to ship chips using Arm’s latest Cortex-A series CPUs. Furthermore, via HiSilicon, Huawei is also an ARMv8 CPU architectural licensee. As a result of their close workings with Arm, Huawei has built up a significant amount of their product portfolio around Arm technologies, including their Kirin consumer SoCs and Kunpeng server SoCs. So being cut off from Arm would touch virtually every aspect of Huawei’s hardware business, from smartphones to networking gear.

Meanwhile Arm, for its part, is headquartered in the UK and not the US. However as a multi-national company, Arm develops its technology around the world, including its major design centers in San Jose and Austin. As a result, according to the report, Arm has deemed that its designs contain “US origin technology”, and as a result make it subject to the US technology blacklist.

What’s less clear, however, is just how much Huawei will be impacted by Arm’s suspension and how soon. The BBC’s report indicates that Arm’s suspension only involves further technology transfers and development, and that the company can continue to manufacture chips based on technology they already have - including chips that have finished development and are coming on the market later this year. In which case Huawei wouldn’t immediately feel the impact of the suspension, as the long lead time on chip design means it would be a bit until that development pipeline runs dry. However it’s not as clear what this means for HiSilicon’s Arm architecture license as a whole, and if and how that could be rescinded.

For now, the full ramifications for Huawei are going to depend heavily on whether they remain on the US technology blacklist, or if at some point they are removed or otherwise granted a waiver. If Huawei is reinstated, then the company can continue development of their current product pipeline - though the company would want to take a hard look at moving away from US-sourced IP anyhow to prevent a repeat of this event. Otherwise if they remain cut-off from Arm, then Huawei is without a doubt going to be left in a tough spot and will be forced to go it alone. This is where the nuances of their Arm architecture license come into play - if the company can legally develop their own hardware using the Arm ISA - but either way Huawei would need to increasingly develop its own IP and license other parts from non-US sources.

Ultimately it’s been clear from the start that the US technology blacklisting would have severe repercussions for Huawei. However of all of Huawei’s US-bound technology partners, there is arguably none more important than Arm. So losing access to Arm’s IP could very well cripple the company.

In the meantime, we’ve reached out to Huawei and Arm for further comment.

14:23 Zoom Zoom: Testing 10x Hybrid Zoom in Dublin with the Huawei P30 Pro and Oppo Reno 10x Zoom

One of the main issues facing the smartphone industry is stagnation. From generation to generation, we see the main smartphone manufacturers gunning for differentiation, and we’ve seen features such as multiple cameras, all-screen displays, and in-screen fingerprint readers become widespread among the high-end devices in the past couple of years. One of the most recent features available on a couple of new smartphones is a strong zoom, up to 5x/6x optical zoom paired with software to offer a 10x ‘lossless hybrid’ zoom and up to a 50x digital zoom. We recently got hold of the Huawei P30 Pro and the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom for a quick showdown, given that these are the first devices to both offer this new feature.

14:23 ZOTAC Launches Zbox Q-Series Mini Creator PCs: Intel Xeon & NVIDIA Quadro Inside

ZOTAC this week formally introduced its Zbox Q-series compact PCs that are powered by Intel’s Xeon processors and NVIDIA’s Quadro P-series graphics cards. The manufacturer officially calls its Zbox Q-series workstations as the ‘Mini Creator PCs’ and the machines are naturally aimed at people who use professional applications and are looking for extended reliability in a small form-factor.

14:21 AI voice assistants reinforce harmful gender stereotypes, new UN report says

Show 22 Wed 14:21 The-Verge-Mobile [6]

Artificial intelligence-powered voice assistants, many of which default to female-sounding voices, are reinforcing harmful gender stereotypes, according to a new study published by the United Nations.

Titled �I'd blush if I could,� after a response Siri utters when receiving certain sexually explicit commands, the paper explores the effects of bias in AI research and product development and the potential long-term negative implications of conditioning society, particularly children, to treat these digital voice assistants as unquestioning helpers who exist only to serve owners unconditionally. It was authored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, otherwise known as UNESCO.

The paper argues that by...

14:21 T-Mobile's merger promises are meaningless

For the last year, T-Mobile and Sprint have been telling anyone who'll listen that their planned $26 billion merger will bring some incredible benefits to American consumers. To hear the companies tell it, the industry's latest super-union will result in faster speeds, broader broadband deployment, and a dramatic boost in well-paying American jobs.

But if you've seen telecom mergers go through this process before, there's plenty of reason to be skeptical. Consolidation tends to make prices higher, connectivity worse, and customer service even more terrible. Pre-merger promises to do better are usually hollow, as consumer advocates, unions, and many antitrust experts all agree. For Sprint and T-Mobile, the biggest new wrinkle is the...

14:21 TikTok's parent company ByteDance reportedly set to launch a music streaming service

Additional sources are confirming that ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, is in the process of developing a paid music streaming service, according to Bloomberg. There was talk of ByteDance developing such a music streaming app back in early April. At the time, sources told the South China Morning Post that the company planned to launch the service �soon� and that over 100 people were working on it.

ByteDance's service is rumored to launch this fall with a focus on emerging markets. Exact territories aren't named, but Bloomberg says the company will target �mostly poorer countries where paid music services have yet to garner large audiences.�

There isn't much information about the app yet, except that it will offer a catalog of...

14:21 EE will beat Vodafone with launch of UK's first 5G network on May 30th

EE's 5G network will launch in the UK next week on May 30th, a month before Vodafone launches its rival service on July 3rd. EE's service will be available in six cities at launch � London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast, Birmingham, and Manchester � and the operator says it plans to add ten more cities in 2020.

Although EE's network is launching first, Vodafone's network is due to be available in more cities initially. Vodafone's network will be available in seven cities at launch � Bristol, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Birmingham, and London. Along with EE's launch, this means that residents of Cardiff, Birmingham, and London will soon have two 5G networks to choose from.

Say hello to #5GEE.

Next week you'll be able to...

14:21 EE and Vodafone drop Huawei phones from 5G launch in the UK

UK mobile carriers EE and Vodafone have dropped Huawei devices from the launch of their respective 5G networks. It's the latest example of carriers distancing themselves from the Chinese tech giant after Google pulled the company's Android license in response to a US government ban.

Both the carriers were set to include Huawei Mate 20 X 5G, one of the world's first 5G-capable smartphones, as part of their 5G networks. A spokesperson for Vodafone told The Verge it was �pausing� pre-orders for the device, adding that it was a �temporary measure while uncertainty exists regarding new Huawei 5G devices.�

EE, which is owned by the BT Group, one of Europe's largest telecommunications companies, said it wouldn't launch the phone until it could...

14:21 Justice Department recommends blocking T-Mobile-Sprint merger

On Wednesday, the Antitrust Division at the United States Justice Department recommended that the law enforcement agency block the proposed merger of T-Mobile and Sprint, according to Reuters.

The $26 billion merger deal was greenlit by Republican commissioners for approval by the Federal Communications Commission earlier this week after T-Mobile agreed to new terms that would reportedly encourage a faster 5G rollout and provide greater in-home broadband access to rural America.

Reuters reported that the decision is expected to be made in about a month, likely sinking the deal that has been waiting for approval for over a year.

14:21 Google is trying to eliminate misleading ads from anti-abortion clinics

Show 22 Wed 14:21 The-Verge-Android [6]

Google will now require organizations running ads about abortion to certify whether they actually offer abortions. Starting next month, those certifications will appear inside the ads, letting viewers know whether the organization �provides abortions� or �does not provide abortions,� to prevent viewers from being misled. The disclosures will only be required in the US, UK, and Ireland.

The change comes following last week's report in the Guardian saying that Google has provided grants to a group of pregnancy clinics that indicated they offered abortions, but were actually part of an anti-abortion group. Anti-abortion groups have commonly tried to mislead pregnant women by pretending to offer abortions or abortion resources, while in...

14:21 FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks talks Huawei and net neutrality on The Vergecast

On this week's interview episode, Nilay is joined by Federal Communications Commissioner Geoffrey Starks and Verge policy reporter Makena Kelly, on the heels of the agency's recent announcement that it would likely approve the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. Commissioner Starks couldn't say much about the proposed merger deal, but he had plenty to say regarding a host of other issues the FCC has the jurisdiction to chase.

Starks was officially confirmed by the United States Senate at the beginning of the year to serve as an FCC commissioner in the Democratic minority. Starks has only been a commissioner for a few months, but he's already faced tough policy questions. Should Chinese telecommunications companies be allowed to operate in US...

14:21 Google stored some passwords in plain text for fourteen years

In a blog post today, Google disclosed that it recently discovered a bug that caused some portion of G Suite users to have their passwords stored in plain text. The bug has been around since 2005, though Google says that it can't find any evidence that anybody's password was improperly accessed. It's resetting any passwords that might be affected and letting G Suite administrators know about the issue.

G Suite is the corporate version of Gmail and Google's other apps, and apparently the bug came about in this product because of a feature designed specifically for companies. Early on, it was possible for your company administrator for G Suite apps to set user passwords manually � say, before a new employee came on board � and if they did,...

14:21 That tiny Google alarm clock from Lenovo ships next month

Lenovo's Smart Clock, the small Google Assistant-equipped smart display that it announced at CES, will be released next month on June 2nd. 9to5Google notes that the device is available to pre-order now at Walmart, Home Depot, and Lenovo's own online store, and will cost $79 in the US, in line with what Lenovo announced back in January.

The Smart Clock is a smaller version of Lenovo's existing Smart Display that's meant more for a bedside table than a kitchen countertop. It's got a four-inch display that's mostly going to be useful for checking the time, but you can also use the Smart Clock to charge your devices and play music. It also supports Google Assistant Routines, allowing you to use a single voice command to complete multiple...

14:21 Sony CEO defends smartphone business but will focus on just four markets

Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has reaffirmed the company's commitment to its loss-making Xperia smartphone business, positioning it as a central part of Sony's entertainment-focused identity.

�We see smartphones as hardware for entertainment and a component necessary to make our hardware brand sustainable,� Yoshida said in comments reported by Reuters. �And younger generations no longer watch TV. Their first touch point is [the] smartphone.�

Despite this, Sony is far from a major player in the smartphone industry, shipping just 6.5 million units over the past financial year and making an operating loss of 97.1 billion yen ($879.4 million). This week the company said at its investor day that it was �defocused� on all but four markets: Japan,...

14:21 How to wipe your Android phone before selling or trading it in

About to buy the latest Samsung phone or save a bit of money on a Google PIxel 3A? Whether you plan to trade in your old Android phone for a discount on your new phone, sell it on eBay, give it away to a friend, or drop it off for recycling, you're going to want to wipe it of all your data first by resetting it to factory conditions. Luckily, that's pretty easy to do.

Before you start, be aware that these instructions are for a Pixel 3 XL running Android 9, but the process for most current Android phones should be pretty much the same. Needless to say, first make sure that all of your data is transferred to your new phone, backed up, or both. Once your old phone has reset, there's no going back.

Go to Settings
Select System > Advanced...

Show 22 Wed 14:11 Slashdot [3]

14:11 ARM Memo Tells Staff To Stop Working With Huawei
UK-based chip designer ARM has told staff it must suspend business with Huawei, according to internal documents obtained by the BBC. ARM instructed employees to halt "all active contracts, support entitlements, and any pending engagementsâ with Huawei and its subsidiaries to comply with a recent US trade clampdown. From a report: ARM's designs form the basis of most mobile device processors worldwide. In a company memo, it said its designs contained "US origin technology." As a consequence, it believes it is affected by the Trump administration's ban. One analyst described the move, if it became long-term, as an "insurmountable" blow to Huawei's business. He said it would greatly affect the firm's ability to develop its own chips, many of which are currently built with ARM's underlying technology, for which it pays a licence.

14:11 US Judge Says Qualcomm Violated Antitrust Law
Qualcomm illegally suppressed competition in the market for smartphone chips by threatening to cut off supplies and extracting excessive licensing fees, a U.S. judge ruled, a decision that could force the company to overhaul its business practices. From a report: The decision issued late Tuesday night by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, caused Qualcomm shares to plunge 9.5 percent in early trading on Wednesday. "Qualcomm's licensing practices have strangled competition" in parts of the chip market for years, harming rivals, smartphone makers, and consumers, Koh wrote in a 233-page decision. She ordered the San Diego-based company to renegotiate licensing agreements at reasonable prices, without threatening to cut off supplies, and ordered that it be monitored for seven years to ensure its compliance. Qualcomm said it will immediately ask Koh to put her decision on hold, and also seek a quick appeal to the federal appeals court in California. "We strongly disagree with the judge's conclusions, her interpretation of the facts and her application of the law," general counsel Don Rosenberg said in a statement.

12:41 Trump Administration Considers Banning Another Major Chinese Firm
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: The U.S. administration is considering limits to Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision's ability to buy U.S. technology, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, in a move that deepens worries about trade frictions between the world's two top economies. The move would effectively place Hikvision on a U.S. blacklist and U.S. companies may have to obtain government approval to supply components to Hikvision, the paper said. The U.S. Commerce Department blocked Huawei Technologies from buying U.S. goods last week, effectively banning U.S. companies from doing business with the Chinese firm, a major escalation in the trade war, saying Huawei was involved in activities contrary to national security. Hikvision and Dahua Technology which produce audio-visual equipment that can be used for surveillance were specifically cited in a letter to Trump's top advisers last month, signed by more than 40 lawmakers. The lawmakers said China's actions in its western region of Xinjiang "may constitute crimes against humanity" and urged tighter U.S. export controls to ensure that U.S. companies are not assisting the Chinese government's crackdown there. The issue stems around the facilities in China that "U.N. experts describe as mass detention centers holding more than 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims," reports CNBC. "Beijing has said its measures in Xinjiang, which are also reported to include widespread surveillance of the population, are aimed at stemming the threat of Islamist militancy. The facilities or camps that have opened are vocational training centers, the government has said."

Show 22 Wed 12:06 Engadget [10]

12:06 The Morning After: Apple fixed the 'butterfly' MacBook Pro keyboard
Hey, good morning! You look fabulous. If you've been waiting to upgrade to a new MacBook Pro, then today's news could be just what you need to hear. Otherwise, we've got a detailed breakdown of PS5 info straight from Sony, an esports lawsuit worth p...

12:06 'Overwatch' Anniversary event brings custom Workshop games to all
Three years after its launch, Blizzard's team-based shooter Overwatch is still rolling along, and the latest Anniversary event has begun. A celebration of the game's history so far, it's rotating through many of the special minigames that come and go...

12:06 Ford wants this creepy robot to bring its autonomous deliveries to your door
Autonomous deliveries and self-driving vehicles may be the future, but there are still a few gaps that need to be addressed -- namely that it's not always possible for people to leave their homes to retrieve deliveries from the roadside (and if you'r...

12:06 Uber Eats may soon offer an unlimited delivery subscription
Paying for delivery is so passé, and Uber Eats knows it. Like Postmates, DoorDash and the UK's Deliveroo, which all offer unlimited food delivery subscriptions, Uber is set to offer a monthly $9.99 pass that includes free delivery from any res...

12:06 Tesla brings back free Supercharging for some Model S and X owners
When Tesla got rid of free Supercharging as a referral reward, it said the perk was "adding too much cost to cars." Even so, the automaker clearly knows it's something potential customers would appreciate, because it's sorta, kinda bringing free Supe...

12:06 'Observation' is a gripping space puzzler with an AI hero
Many video games are set in space. Most cast you as a human super-soldier or plucky science-type trying to untangle a truly terrible situation. Not Observation. The latest game from No Code, the Scottish studio behind Stories Untold, makes you play a...

12:06 Sony will keep making smartphones, whatever the cost
Sony's new CEO has confirmed that the company will keep faith in its mobile division, despite its numerous struggles. Kenichiro Yoshida (pictured), who replaced Kaz Hirai as head of the Japanese giant, told journalists that he wouldn't walk away from...

12:06 'Beat Saber' VR finally gets a full release on PC
When Beat Saber became available for the Oculus Quest on Day 1, it also left early access and entered stable release. For some of you, that might not mean anything at all: Its creator, Beat Games, says it's just a formality and that it released the f...

12:06 What to expect at Computex 2019
Computex offers us a chance to check in on the health of the PC market in an era when it was expected to wither on the vine. At last year's show, the PC industry, either through desperation or a newfound confidence, started to innovate once mor...

12:06 ARM reportedly tells employees to suspend all business with Huawei
UK-based chip designer ARM told its employees to stop all their dealings with Huawei, according to the BBC. It reportedly notified its personnel in a memo to suspend "all active contracts, support entitlements and any pending engagements" with the Ch...
Hide

Show 22 Wed 11:26 DailyWTF [1]

11:26 CodeSOD: Do Fiasco

Consuela works with a senior developer who has been with the company since its founding, has the CEO's ear, and basically can do anything they want.

These days, what they want to do is code entirely locally on their machine, hand the .NET DLL off to Consuela for deployment, and then complain that their fancy code is being starved for hardware resources.

Recently, they started to complain that the webserver was using 100% of the CPU resources, so obviously the solution was to upgrade the webserver. Consuela popped open ILSpy and decompiled the DLL. For those unfamiliar with .NET, it's a supremely decompilable language, as it �compiles� into an Intermediate Language (IL) which is JIT-ed at runtime.

The code, now with symbols reinserted, looked like this:

private static void startLuck()
{
 luck._timer = new Timer(30000.0);
 luck._timer.Elapsed += delegate
 {
 try
 {
 luck.doFiasco().ConfigureAwait(true);
 }
 catch (Exception)
 {
 }
 };
 luck._timer.Enabled = true;
 luck._timer.Start();
 Console.WriteLine(&#34;fabricating...&#34;);
 Console.WriteLine(DateTime.UtcNow);
 while (true)
 {
 bool flag = true;
 }
}

The .NET Timer class invokes its Elapsed delegate every interval- in this case, it will invoke the delegate block every 30,000 milliseconds. This is not an uncommon way to launch a thread which periodically does something, but the way in which they ensured that this new thread never died is... interesting.

The while (true) loop not only pegs the CPU, but it also ensures that calls to startLuck are blocking calls, which more or less defeats the purpose of using a Timer in the first place.

Consuela pointed out the reason this code was using 100% of the CPU. First, the senior developer demanded to know how she had gotten the code, as it was only stored on their machine. After explaining decompilation, the developer submitted a new DLL, this time run through an obfuscator before handing it off. Even with obfuscation, it was easy to spot the while (true) loop in the IL. hljs.initHighlightingOnLoad();

[Advertisement] Continuously monitor your servers for configuration changes, and report when there's configuration drift. Get started with Otter today!

https://lore.kernel.org/patchwork/patch/920344

Show 22 Wed 10:52 HackerNews [11]

Show 22 Wed 10:30 lwn.net-comments [18]

10:30 Filesystems and crash resistance

> The official answer is that you must use fsync(), but it is a "terrible answer" because it has impacts all over the system.

Could someone please clarify what is meant by this? It's implied it's more than just slowness, but the article is never explicit about what the problems with fsync are. I can only assume it's obvious to people in the know, but it's not obvious to me. I'm more a user of software than a programmer of software.

10:30 Supporting the UFS turbo-write mode

I'm not sure that Linux has a filesystem suitable for MLC or QLC flash.
As I understand it ubifs has given up supporting MLC and one presumes QLC would have even more problems.

This patch causes ubifs to refuse to handle MLC flash rather than allow people to build systems that would be unreliable (i.e. using UBIFS on top of MLC).

This mailing list item talks about ubihealthd (never merged into mtd-utils) which was a proposal for handling less reliable NAND.

https://linux-mtd.infradead.narkive.com/8ho9BqEp/ubi-bitr...

Happy to be updated/proven wrong :-)

10:30 Filesystems and crash resistance

> It's implied it's more than just slowness, but the article is never explicit about what the problems with fsync are.

My apologies. I should have linked this in somewhere, perhaps even in the first sentence:

https://lwn.net/Articles/322823/

This also gives some useful background:

https://lwn.net/Articles/351422/

From that article:

> At the same time, fsync() is often more expensive than it absolutely needs to be. The easiest way to implement fsync() is to force out every outstanding write to the file system, regardless of whether it is a journaling file system, a COW file system, or a file system with no crash recovery mechanism whatsoever. This is because it is very difficult to map backward from a given file to the dirty file system blocks needing to be written to disk in order to create a consistent file system containing those changes. For example, the block containing the bitmap for newly allocated file data blocks may also have been changed by a later allocation for a different file, which then requires that we also write out the indirect blocks pointing to the data for that second file, which changes another bitmap block... When you solve the problem of tracing specific dependencies of any particular write, you end up with the complexity of soft updates. No surprise then, that most file systems take the brute force approach, with the result that fsync() commonly takes time proportional to all outstanding writes to the file system.

jake

10:30 Control groups, part 7: To unity and beyond

Neil's articles all have a high theoretical level.
It's always hard to understand ,but there's a lot to gain.

10:30 Asynchronous fsync()

I haven't actually looked into this, but I'd guess that the earlier written files are more likely to have been synced by writeback already (so nothing needs to be done for them). Writeback often provides better throughput than individually syncing files.

10:30 Asynchronous fsync()

This would be super useful for things that use the usual pattern of writing into a temporary file and renaming on top of the original (rsync, dpkg, etc). Many of these used to not do fsync (since on ext3 with data=ordered it was extremely slow, and had no practical effect on data safety), but then came along filesystems that have delayed allocation (XFS, ext4) making this unsafe and the fsync calls needed to be added. This would allow for example dpkg to write all the temp files of a package, wait for them to be written as a group and then rename them, instead of doing this one by one (which tends to be very slow since there is no benefit from writeback).

10:30 Mourning Martin Schwidefsky

Martin was one of the most brilliant engineers I've ever had the pleasure to work with. Joining his team as greenhorn from university, he taught me everything about software engineering. His can do attitude, and his deep technical knowledge that he loved to share, were invaluable.
But he was much more than that. He was the kind of team captain that would take his team to the beergarden once that bug is fixed and when the sun goes down. He took us on motorbike tours around black forest, and he even went on motorbike-and-a-tent summer vacations in the alps with us. He was the most perfect captain, any team could dream of. And he was a good friend.

He will be missed, and he will always be remembered.

10:30 Why are people fascinated by kernel threads?

On a few recent occasions, I've seen people propose interfaces that let userspace signal the kernel that it should do some work on a kernel thread somewhere. Why do people like this sort of interface? If you want to have a thread do some work, make a thread and do the work. Anything a kernel thread can do, a user thread can do too. and better: you can control the affinity, priority, and other characteristics of user threads much better than you can kernel threads. If you're tempted to make an "asynchronous" API that queues work for some kernel thread, you should instead just provide a blocking system call and let user space decide the context to do whatever it is that you want to do.

10:30 Asynchronous fsync()

There's no reason that the atomic rename pattern has to be slow. The system is free to interpret the rename as a write barrier, and if it does so, it provides exactly the guarantee user space programs want, and without having to add any new facilities.

Besides, an asynchronous fsync doesn't actually address the other benefit of the rename pattern: atomicity. That's just as important as durability. If you want to replace atomic rename, what you really want is a general transactional filesystem API.

10:30 Devuan, April Fools, and self-destruction
Devuan servers were compromised.

No.

You have long been aware of this claim being flat-out incorrect, but keep repeating it. We were both there. (I'm not a Devuan Project insider, but am a longtime sympathetic participant with no horse in this race otherwise, as you probably recall.) As you are fully aware, exactly zero Devuan servers were compromised. One of the caretaker pretended, as the substance of a meticulously implemented, hilarious, and deeply unwise prank that they had been, and then revealed the prank within the customary one-day period, and then apologised for the unwise choice of prank framing (inside a supposed security breach).

The biggest damage was then done by, to be blunt, you and a few other people who flew off the handle and did the Internet-maximal-noise dance at great length and to stupefying effect. If you were hoping to be thanked for that, I fear you will be a long time waiting.

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

10:30 Bluetooth's Complexity Has Become a Security Risk (Wired)

Spot on. Subscription services will eventually take over for anything internet connected, because it's the only financially sustainable way.

10:30 Mourning Martin Schwidefsky

Martin was an extraordinary guy, in all those years I've rarely seen him not being positive.
He was always willing to help and was very gifted in explaining things. His passion and genuine love
for coding was an inspiration to me.

I will not only miss him as a former colleague but also as a friend with a shared passion for climbing.

Jan

10:30 Bluetooth's Complexity Has Become a Security Risk (Wired)

From the consumer's point of view, why should they have to pay for fixes for defaults in the product they bought? It's not their fault that the product doesn't work as it should.

The real problem that needs to be solved, but it's an even much harder one, is the sorry state of bug-ridden software today.

10:30 Firefox 67 released

I want to highlight also block fingerprinting:

https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/how-to-block-fingerprint...

10:30 Filesystems for zoned block devices

> 3TB drives happened to be especially awful, for reasons that are unclear

3TB drives was the largest commonly available drive in late 2011 to late 2013, when HDD quality control went down the drain after the Thailand drive crisis...

10:30 Supporting the UFS turbo-write mode

That sounds a bit like open-channel SSDs:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-channel_SSD https://openchannelssd.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

10:30 Filesystems and crash resistance

rename_barrier() would be extremely situational. A much better solution has been proposed as fsbarrier(fdA, fdB) -- once the call returns, any writes to fdA completed before the call are no less durable than any writes to fdB started after the call. Useful cases include fdA==fdB; fdB being the directory holding fdA; fdB being dpkg's status file; etc...

Such a call would provide consistency and ordering but no immediate persistency (until a later fsync() or natural writeout). Even when immediate persistency is desired, many filesystems can optimize ordering much better than a pair of fsyncs. Example: you're on the orbit of Pluto, writing to a filesystem mounted over nbd on a server on Earth (half-ping: 9 hours). A typical operation requires two fsyncs: this takes 36 hours before your thread can continue. With fsbarrier(), you can report success before the packets even leave the network card -- then the final persist of any number of operations takes 18 hours.

10:30 Firefox 67 released

Is this antivirus heuristic or signature based? Is there a remediation process for false positives?

I'm suspicious of any �opt-in security fairy dust� button like this, since that's basically how Google advertises its entire browser.

Hide

Show 22 Wed 09:57 ArsTechnica [1]

09:57 �Quacks� blamed for HIV outbreak that infected hundreds of kids
Local health officials say cheap charlatans are likely using contaminated equipment.
Hide

Show 22 Wed 09:41 Slashdot [1]

09:41 SpaceX's Starhopper Moves Closer To Its First Flight
SpaceX is planning to launch test flights of its Starhopper test vehicle to a height of up to 16,400 feet. "The short tests, which will take place out of SpaceX's launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, will send the rocket to just under 1,640 feet (500 meters) high for its low-altitude flights and up to 16,400 feet (5,000 meters) high for its high-altitude flights," reports The Verge, citing a modified application filed with the FCC. The heights match those that the company indicated in a similar filing last year. From the report: The Starhopper is a very basic version of Starship, the massive passenger rocket that SpaceX wants to build to send people to the Moon and Mars. In order to prepare for the first Starship's flight to space, SpaceX has been tinkering with the test Starhopper in Boca Chica. The vehicle boasts a similar structure to the final rocket, though it's slightly smaller in size. Starhopper's most important task is to test out the new, powerful Raptor engines that SpaceX has developed for the future deep-space rocket. SpaceX fired up a Raptor engine on the bottom of the Starhopper for the first time in April. It only lifted a few inches since the vehicle was tethered to the ground. But now, SpaceX plans to perform what are known as "hop" tests with the vehicle (hence the nickname Starhopper), which will send the rocket to a low altitude above the Earth. The company will then attempt to touch the Starhopper back down on the ground with the vehicle's three landing legs. The idea is to test out the landing capabilities the rocket's going to use to touch down on Earth and other worlds. SpaceX performed similar tests with a vehicle known as Grasshopper back in 2012 and 2013 to try out the landing technique its Falcon 9 rockets now use.