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Submission + - Coronavirus Contains "HIV Insertions", Stoking Fears Over ManMade Bioweapon (zerohedge.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Over the past few days, the mainstream press has vigorously pushed back against a theory about the origins of the coronavirus that has now infected as many as 70,000+ people in Wuhan alone (depending on whom you believe). The theory is that China obtained the coronavirus via a Canadian research program, and started molding it into a bioweapon at the Institute of Virology in Wuhan. Politifact pointed the finger at Zero Hedge, in particular, though the story was widely shared across independent-leaning media.

The theory is that the virus, which was developed by infectious disease experts to function as a bio-weapon, originated in the Wuhan-based lab of Dr. Peng Zhou, China's preeminent researcher of bat immune systems, specifically in how their immune systems adapt to the presence of viruses like coronavirus and other destructive viruses. Somehow, the virus escaped from the lab, and the Hunan fish market where the virus supposedly originated is merely a ruse.

Now, a respected epidemiologist who recently caught flack for claiming in a twitter threat that the virus appeared to be much more contagious than initially believed is pointing out irregularities in the virus's genome that suggests it might have been genetically engineered for the purposes of a weapon, and not just any weapon but the deadliest one of all.

In "Uncanny similarity of unique inserts in the 2019-nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag", Indian researchers are baffled by segments of the virus's RNA that have no relation to other coronaviruses like SARS, and instead appear to be closer to HIV. The virus even responds to treatment by HIV medications.

Submission + - Coronavirus confirmed in Silicon Valley.

Ungrounded Lightning writes: The seventh confirmed US case of 2019-nCoV coronavirus has been in Silicon Valley for a week.

The traveller from Wuhan China arrived at Mineta San Jose International Airport on Jan 24 and first showed symptoms after arriving at home.

He "fortunately" was not sick enough to require hospitalization and "self-isolated" at home (with an unreported number of family members), "leaving only to seek outpatient medical treatment on two occasions".

Submission + - 7.7 Earthquake Rocks Grand Cayman (caymancompass.com) 1

schwit1 writes: Earthquake Rocks Grand Cayman. One of my friends there reports that the ground was shaking so hard they could barely stay upright to get out of the house, and pool water went everywhere. Not hearing of anybody hurt yet, but it just happened. I wonder if there's any connection with all the seismic activity in Puerto Rico? They're not all that close together, but . . .

UPDATE: I see where Cayman Hazard Management is telling people to get away from the shore in case of a tsunami. No word yet on anything from the Brac or Little Cayman, which look to be closer to the epicenter. Cuba is likely also at tsunami risk. The Seven Mile Beach webcam still shows a lot of folks on the beach or in the water.

Submission + - VPN Breaking Zero Day Effective Against Many *nix Systems Discovered

An anonymous reader writes: A vulnerability that affects many VPN implementations across a variety of *nix systems had been documented. Linux, Android, OSX/iOS, and OpenBSD are all affected while the vulnerability affects even hardened VPN implementations like WireGuard and IKEv2/IPSec. Mitigating the vulnerability appears especially difficult on IPv6 and mobile data connections.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Will P2P Video Sites Like BitChute Someday Replace YouTube?

dryriver writes: BitChute ( https://www.bitchute.com/ ) is a video hosting website like YouTube, except that it states its mission as being "anti-censorship" and is Peer-To-Peer, WebTorrent based. From Wikipedia: "It is based on the peer-to-peer WebTorrent system, a JavaScript torrenting program that can run in a web browser. Users who watch a video also seed it. BitChute does not rely on advertising, and users can send payments to video creators directly. In November 2018 BitChute was banned from PayPal." So it seems that you don't need huge datacenters to build something like Youtube — Bitchute effectively relies on its users to act as a distributed P2P datacenter. Is this the future of internet video? Will more and more people flock to P2P video hosting sites as/when more mainstream services like Youtube fall prey to various forms of censorship?

Submission + - Libre-RISC-V 3D CPU/GPU applying for EUR 400,000 worth of NLNet Grants (google.com)

lkcl writes: The Libre RISC-V Hybrid CPU/GPU, previously reported on /., is applying for eight additional grants from the NLNet Foundation, totalling EUR 400,000. Details on each Grant Application are on the newly-opened RISC-V Community Forum.

The general idea is to kick RISC-V into a commercially-viable mass-volume high gear by putting forward funding proposals for NEON/SSE-style Video Acceleration to be upstreamed for use by ffmpeg, vlc, mplayer and gstreamer; hardware-assisted Mesa 3D (a port of the RADV Vulkan Driver to RISC-V), and a hardware-accelerated OpenCL port to RISC-V. This all in a "Hybrid" fashion (a la NEON/SSE) as opposed to the "usual" way that 3D and Video is done, which hugely complicate both software drivers and applications debugging.

In addition, the Libre RISC-V SoC itself is applying for grants to do a gcc port supporting its Vectorisation Engine including auto-vectorisation, and, crucially, to do an entirely Libre-licensed ASIC Layout using LIP6.fr coriolis2, working in tandem with Chips4Makers to create a 180nm commercially-viable single-core dual-issue test ASIC.

The process takes approximately 2-3 months for approval. Once accepted, anyone may be the direct (tax-deductible) recipient of NLNet donations, for sub-tasks completed. Worth noting: Puri.sm is sponsoring the project, and, given NLNet's Charitable Status, donations from Corporations (or individuals) are 100% tax-deductible.

Submission + - Chinese Probe Catches Former Communist Party Secretary With 38+Billion Fortune

An anonymous reader writes: Zhang Qi, former Communist Party Secretary and Mayor of Danzhou, has been busted in one of the country's ongoing anti-corruption probes with 13.5 tons of gold and 268 Billion renminbi in cash tucked away in a secret basement. At current market values Qi's fortune carries a USD value of 38 billion dwarfing those of Alibaba's Jack Ma and Tencent's Ma Huateng, easily placing Qi 19th on Forbes Rich list.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: Where Do You Begin When You Want To Write AI / ML Algorithms? 1

dryriver writes: So everyone and their mother touts Artifical Intelligence, Machine Learning as the wave of the future, and as a reasonably competent coder you want to see what this is all about and to experiment with writing your first AI/ML algorithms. You want to see how difficult AI / ML is, and what it can do for solving problems in your corner of the programming profession. Where do you begin with learning the underlying mathematical techniques, methods and mechanisms of AI and Machine Learning? Are there good tutorial websites with example code for this? Are there must-read books or must-read papers on the subject? Are there forums, groups or email lists that you want to subscribe to? Where would you begin if your objective is "I want to start writing my first AI / ML algorithms to see what AI / ML can do in my field, and to understand through firsthand experience what this trend is all about"?

Submission + - Unfixable iOS Device Exploit Is the Latest Apple Security Upheaval (wired.com)

meriksen writes: For the last several years, so-called jailbreaks of iPhones—cracking iOS to let any software run on the device—have been exceedingly rare. When one appeared in August for iOS 12, it was surprising to even the most dedicated Apple hackers. But today a security researcher published an exploit that lays the foundation to jailbreak almost every single iOS device released between 2011 and 2017, including most models of iPad, Apple Watch, iPod Touch, and Apple TV. The implications are staggering.

Security researcher Axi0mX published the exploit, called "checkm8," Friday on Github. It affects every Apple device with an A5 through A11 chipset, meaning every iPhone model from 4S to X. Though it isn't an all-in-one jailbreak on its own, the exploit provides an extensive foundation for researchers to build off of in customizing jailbreaks for every vulnerable model of device that would allow them to totally take over the unit, run software far beyond what Apple normally allows, and program apps to interact and share data in ways that Apple's protections usually preclude.

"It's a big day," Axi0mX told WIRED. "The best days for iOS jailbreaking were years ago, when jailbreaks were common, easy to use, and available often. That changed over time and since iOS 9 jailbreaks became less frequent, much less convenient, and not something easily accessible to everyone."

Submission + - How Torrent Throttling Injures Honest Torrent Use (mytruemedia.com)

Thomasen21Thomasen writes: Some ISPs have actually determined that instead of going after piracy or going after individuals that utilize an unjust amount of data transfer, that they will certainly simply throttle all torrents. This means that rather than having a rapid link like one would generally, when on gushes the rates are reduced considerably and even shut down totally with interruptions to the link. The issue with this is that it does not address the actual trouble and just targets ethical individuals of torrents unjustly.Several say that Internet service providers require to strangle torrents because some usage

Submission + - New Federal Rules Limit Police Searches of Family Tree DNA Databases (sciencemag.org)

An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released new rules yesterday governing when police can use genetic genealogy to track down suspects in serious crimes—the first-ever policy covering how these databases, popular among amateur genealogists, should be used in law enforcement attempts to balance public safety and privacy concerns. The DOJ interim policy, which takes effect on 1 November, is intended to “balance the Department’s relentless commitment to solving violent crime and protecting public safety against equally important public interests,” such as privacy and civil liberties, a press release states. The policy says “forensic genetic genealogy” should generally be used only for violent crimes such as murder and rape, as well as to identify human remains. (The policy permits broader use if the ancestry database’s policy allows such searches.) Police should first exhaust traditional crime solving methods, including searching their own criminal DNA databases.

Under the new policy, police can’t quietly upload a fake profile to a genealogy website, as some have done in hopes of finding a suspect’s distant relatives, without first identifying themselves. And the site itself must have informed its users that law enforcement agencies may search their data. The policy also bars police from using a suspect’s DNA profile to look for genes related to disease risks or psychological traits. Another provision attempts to limit situations in which police secretly take a DNA sample from a suspect’s relative—from a discarded cup or tissue, for example—to help home in on a suspect. The policy says the person must give their informed consent unless police have obtained a search warrant.

Submission + - Interview with the guy who tried to frame me for heroin possession

An anonymous reader writes: krebsonsecurity.com: “In April 2013, I received via U.S. mail more than a gram of pure heroin as part of a scheme to get me arrested for drug possession. But the plan failed and the Ukrainian mastermind behind it soon after was imprisoned for unrelated cybercrime offenses.”

Submission + - Three Years Later, the French Solar Road Is a Total Flop (popularmechanics.com)

schwit1 writes: It was a solar experiment that seemed ingenious in its simplicity: fill a road with photovoltaic panels and let them passively soak up the rays as cars drive harmlessly above. The idea has been tried a few times, notably in rural France in 2016 with what was christened the "Wattway."

Three years later, even the most optimistic supporters have deemed the Wattway a failure.

The Wattway consists of 2,800 photovoltaic panels lining one kilometer (0.62 miles) on the way to the small northern town of Tourouvre-au-Perch in Normandy. At the time of its opening its builder, the construction group Colas, part of telecoms group Bouygues, said that the solar panels were covered with a resin containing silicon, strong enough to fend off traffic even from 18-wheelers.

Normandy is not historically known as a sunny area. At the time, the region's capital city of Caen only got 44 days of strong sunshine a year, and not much has changed since. Storms have wrecked havoc with the systems, blowing circuits. But even if the weather was in order, it appears the panels weren't built to capture them efficiently.

Other solar roads across the globe have faced a variety of challenges. In 2018, a week after a solar road opened in China, its solar panels were stolen.

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