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Submission + - A massive lake of molten carbon the size of Mexico is discovered under the US (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Situated under western US, 217 miles (350km) beneath the Earth's surface. Scientists used world's largest array of seismic sensors to map area. Melting carbon covers an area of 700,000 sq miles (1.8 million sq km). Upper mantle could contain up to 100 trillion metric tonnes of melted carbon. Its discovery challenges what researchers have assumed about how much carbon is trapped inside the planet.

Submission + - RSA conference attendees get hacked (esecurityplanet.com)

Submitted by storagedude
storagedude writes: Security testing company Pwnie Express scanned Wi-Fi access at the RSA conference and found multiple EvilAP attacks. What's worse, several attendees fell for these dummy Wi-Fi services that spoof well-known brands like Starbucks. The company also found a number of access points using outdated WEP encryption. So much for security pros...

Submission + - At the End, Obama Administration Gave NSA Broad New Powers (pjmedia.com) 1

Submitted by Tulsa_Time
Tulsa_Time writes: This story, from the Jan. 12, 2017, edition of the New York Times, was little-remarked upon at the time, but suddenly has taken on far greater significance in light of current events:

In its final days, the Obama administration has expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the government’s 16 other intelligence agencies before applying privacy protections.

Submission + - Nokia 3310 to be re-launched at MWC 2017 (independent.co.uk)

Submitted by walterbyrd
walterbyrd writes: Nokia will re-launch the 3310, perhaps the best-loved and most resilient phone in history.

The phone, originally released in 2000 and in many ways beginning the modern age of mobiles, will be sold as a way of getting lots of battery life in a nearly indestructible body.

Submission + - JavaScript Attack Breaks ASLR on 22 CPU Architectures (bleepingcomputer.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Five researchers from the Vrije University in the Netherlands have put together an attack that can be carried out via JavaScript code and break ASLR protection on at least 22 microprocessor architectures from vendors such as Intel, AMD, ARM, Allwinner, Nvidia, and others. The attack, christened ASLRCache, or AnC, focuses on the memory management unit (MMU), a lesser known component of many CPU architectures, which is tasked with improving performance for cache management operations.

What researchers discovered was that this component shares some of its cache with untrusted applications, including browsers. This meant that researchers could send malicious JavaScript that specifically targeted this shared memory space and attempted to read its content. In layman's terms, this means an AnC attack can break ASLR and allow the attacker to read portions of the computer's memory, which he could then use to launch more complex exploits and escalate access to the entire OS.

Researchers have published two papers [1, 2] detailing the AnC attack, along with two videos[1, 2] showing the attack in action.

Submission + - Samsung Battery Manufacturer's Warehouse Catches Fire (reuters.com)

Submitted by retroworks
retroworks writes: Reuters News reports that Samsung's SDI facility in Wuqing, Tianjin, China — the takeback facility responsible for recycling, among other things, the recalled Samsung Note 7 smartphones — has itself burst into flames. Nineteen fire trucks and 110 firefighters reportedly showed up to put out the blaze. The fire burst out in the area dedicated to managing scrap batteries and phones.

The same SDI subcontractor is set to start supplying lithium batteries for Samsung's upcoming flagship smartphone Galaxy S8 in the first quarter of this year. The S8 replaces the Galaxy Note 7 mode, which suffered a global recall last year due to battery defects. Electronics recycling factories are generally suffering increasing incidents of fire, as lithium batteries become exposed to oxygen during the recycling process.

Submission + - Microsoft won't fix the most frustrating thing about Windows (cnet.com) 3

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Maybe you're delivering a presentation to a huge audience. Maybe you're taking an online test. Maybe you just need to get some work done on a tight deadline.

Windows doesn't care.

Windows will take control of your computer, force-feed it updates, and flip the reset switch automatically — and there's not a damn thing you can do about it, once it gets started.

If you haven't saved your work, it's gone. Your browser tabs are toast. And don't expect to use your computer again soon; depending on the speed of your drive and the size of the update, it could be anywhere from 10 minutes to well over an hour before your PC is ready for work.

As far as I'm concerned, it's the single worst thing about Windows. It's only gotten worse in Windows 10. And when I poked around Microsoft, the overarching message I received was that Microsoft has no interest in fixing it.

Submission + - Over a third of Android VPN apps available on Google Play found to be malicious (ibtimes.co.uk)

Submitted by drunkdrone
drunkdrone writes: In a study of 283 Android VPN apps by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), alongside researchers from the University of South Wales and UC Berkeley in the US, more than a third (38%) contained malware or malvertising designed to harm users' smartphones or track their activity. At the same time, approximately one in five apps did not even encrypt internet traffic – the basic function of a VPN – while over eight in 10 were found be leaking user data.

The researchers were able to analyse the security – or lack thereof – of each VPN by downloading tools that enabled them to reverse-engineer Android application package (APK) used in each app. This allowed them to analyse each app's source code and Android Manifest file, which identifies core information about an app including the access permissions they require from users.

Each VPN was then given an anti-virus (AV) rank based on the findings, with a lower number being better. While some of the security flaws were identified as being caused by lack of support from Android or poor design, a number of apps "deliberately sought to collect personal user information that could then be sold on to external partners", according to CSIRO.

Submission + - Peter Thiel becomes New Zealand citizen (thespinoff.co.nz)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Controversial Trump endorser and Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel is reportedly now a New Zealander. But how did that happen, and who the hell is he?

Submission + - George Orwell's '1984' Hits Bestseller List Again (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Sales of George Orwell’s dystopian drama 1984 have soared after Kellyanne Conway, adviser to the reality-TV-star-turned-president, Donald Trump, used the phrase “alternative facts” in an interview. As of Tuesday, the book was the sixth best-selling book on Amazon. Comparisons were made with the term “newspeak” used in the 1949 novel, which was used to signal a fictional language that aims at eliminating personal thought and also “doublethink." In the book Orwell writes that it “means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." The connection was initially made on CNN’s Reliable Sources. “Alternative facts is a George Orwell phrase,” said Washington Post reporter Karen Tumulty. Conway’s use of the term was in reference to White House press secretary Sean Spicer’s comments about last week’s inauguration attracting “the largest audience ever”. Her interview was widely criticized and she was sub-tweeted by Merriam-Webster dictionary with a definition of the word fact. In 1984, a superstate wields extreme control over the people and persecutes any form of independent thought.

Submission + - Wine 2.0 Released (softpedia.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: It's finally here! After so many months of development and hard work, during which over 6,600 bugs have been patched, the Wine project is happy to announce today, January 24, 2017, the general availability of Wine 2.0. Wine 2.0 is the biggest and most complete version of the open-source software project that allows Linux and macOS users to run applications and games designed only for Microsoft Windows operating systems. As expected, it's a massive release that includes dozens of improvements and new features, starting with support for Microsoft Office 2013 and 64-bit application support on macOS. Highlights of Wine 2.0 include the implementation of more DirectWrite features, such as drawing of underlines, font fallback support, and improvements to font metrics resolution, font embedding in PDF files, Unicode 9.0.0 support, Retina rendering mode for the macOS graphics driver, and support for gradients in GDI enhanced metafiles. Additional Shader Model 4 and 5 shader instructions have been added to Direct3D 10 and Direct3D 11 implementation, along with support for more graphics cards, support for Direct3D 11 feature levels, full support for the D3DX (Direct3D Extension) 9 effect framework, as well as support for the GStreamer 1.0 multimedia framework. The Gecko engine was updated to Firefox 47, IDN name resolutions are now supported out-of-the-box, and Wine can correctly handle long URLs. The included Mono engine now offers 64-bit support, as well as the debug registers. Other than that, the winebrowser, winhlp32, wineconsole, and reg components received improvements. You can read the full list of features and download Wine 2.0 from WineHQ's websiteS.

Submission + - Update to Amazon Alexa/Echo Lets You Address It as "Computer"

Submitted by ewhac
ewhac writes: "Computer, what is the time, please?" is now a spoken command that will actually work with Amazon's release of an update that adds a new wake word for the Alexa/Echo. Previously, your options were "Alexa," "Echo," and "Amazon." Now you can also choose, "Computer." In practice, it's a bit clunkier than you might hope, depending on how often you speak the word "computer" on a day-to-day basis; and "computer" is harder for machine speech recognition to pick out than "Alexa," so it may not hear you as reliably. But for those who've been yearning for a Star Trek-like future, this small bit of silliness gets you one step closer.

Submission + - Backers Accuse 3D Printer Kickstarter of Faking Prints 3

Submitted by PrintBetter
PrintBetter writes: With just 3 days to go, backers are pulling out of Next Dynamics' NexD1 Kickstarter amidst fears the creator exaggerated progress on their prototype and tried to pass off prints purchased from Shapeways as their own.

Billed as the "first Multimaterial & Electronics 3D Printer" the Berlin company's campaign was a darling of Kickstarter, carrying their "Projects We Love" endorsement and receiving praise from publications like TechCrunch, 3DPrint.com and Make magazine for its purported ability to mix up to six plastic and conductive resins in a single print.

But as pledges grew to over half a million euros, backers started to sense things didn't add up. Kevin Holmes comments "Wow, I'm stunned — I cancelled my pledge already ... Did they really buy parts from Shapeways and pass them off as their own?" while Anthony Webb remarks "I've backed over 100 projects on Kickstarter ... but this one takes the cake for a complete scam."

The company was a no-show at events it scheduled this week, including a demonstration yesterday and a live stream today.

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