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Comment BitCoin: A Pyramid Scam System (Score 1) 255

In my understanding, Bitcoin is nothing more, nothing less than a Pyramid Scam system, and a self-limited and volatile one. Also, to make things even worse, the Bitcoin is a closed system, meaning that only exists a total amount of possible money that can be generated, and the only way to make it gain more value is to try to do nasty things like "market speculation"... things that will only help to create an "I-will-explode-soon" kind of market bubble, and (if you think it cannot be worse) inside a "glass ceiling". Also, from the start of its creation, all the big slots already had an owner, leaving only the little ones to "the rest of us" to try mining...

But the worst part is the amount of people encouraging this "system". The ones participating are already trapped in this scam and cannot leave without loosing everything invested (or try to sell to other people and helps perpetuate this insanity).

But, some day, when all this abomination "magically" disappears in thin air, everyone in it will loose all their "money" and (eventually) will cry a lot... but it will be too late :(

Submission + - Eggdrop, IRC's oldest actively-developed bot, releases v1.8.0 (eggheads.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Eggdrop, IRC's oldest actively-developed bot, just culminated an extended period of development with the release of Eggdrop version 1.8.0. Eggdrop version 1.8.0 adds several major new features, most notably IPv6 support and SSL support to both IRC servers and its own bot-to-bot networks. A full overview of all the major changes can be found by browsing the current NEWS file.

For those of you not familiar with Eggdrop, it is a C program that was originally designed as an IRC channel administration bot in 1993, notably before the advent of modern channel services. The true utility of Eggdrop, however, is that the core functionality can be easily expanded on by adding Tcl scripts to the bot allowing a far-ranging feature set, ranging from displaying current weather stats via backend HTML requests, running triva games, advanced IRC bot administration, or relaying text between jabber and IRC channels- or whatever else you can think to script!

Eggdrop also has an official docker image in the docker library for download via Docker Hub.

The source for Eggdrop is maintained on GitHub. For more information on this and other Eggdrop-related news, you can check out the Eggheads website.

Submission + - How Windows 10's data collection trades your privacy for Microsoft's security (pcworld.com)

Submitted by jader3rd
jader3rd writes: PCworld has an article on how Microsoft uses Windows 10 telemetry to improve the security of the end user:



But the telemetry data is used for more than how to improve or evolve Windows. There is an actual security impact, too. Knowledge is power, and in the case of Windows 10, that usage data lets Microsoft beef up threat protection, says Rob Lefferts, Microsoft’s director of program management for Windows Enterprise and Security.

The information collected is used to improve various components in Windows Defender, such as Application Guard and Advanced Threat Detection (these two features are available only to customers with Windows 10 Enterprise with Anniversary Update and Enterprise E5 subscriptions). As Windows 10’s built-in security tool, Windows Defender uses real-time protection to scan everything downloaded or run on the PC. The information from these scans is sent back to Microsoft and used to improve protection for everyone else.

Submission + - History About Hubble Telescope (blogspot.com)

Submitted by kabir13139
kabir13139 writes: The Hubble space telescope launch was April 24 1990. The Hubble operated by NASA. Since its dispatch in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has given an astonishing exhibit of pictures that have awed and roused general society. More than simply pretty pictures, the more than 45 terabytes of information gathered has given knowledge into the universe, from articles as close as the moon to the most remote worlds, with unbelievable photographs of supernovas and clouds in the middle. Beneath we investigate the historical backdrop of the telescope and its disclosures, in addition to Hubble actualities and connections to a portion of the circling observatory's best pictures. To start with, we investigate a famous photograph. No Hubble picture is more generally perceived than the perspective of the alleged Pillars of Creation inside the Eagle Nebula.

This 1995 Hubble Space Telescope picture of the 'Mainstays of Creation' is likely the most popular cosmic picture of the twentieth Century. Taken in obvious light utilizing a mix of SII/H-alpha and OIII channels, it demonstrates a part of the Eagle Nebula where new stars are framing. The tallest column is around 4 light-years high.

At the point when Galileo initially turned a spyglass to the sky in 1610, he experienced difficulty making out the rings of Saturn that are unmistakable in modest telescopes today. Propels in optics enhanced researchers' perspectives of the planets, stars, and removed systems, yet Earth's environment still blocked a great part of the light for spectators on the ground. Bigger telescopes were (and still are) set on high mountains, where more slender climates permit clearer pictures.

Submission + - Sysadmin Gets Two Years in Prison for Sabotaging ISP (bleepingcomputer.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Dariusz J. Prugar, 32, of Syracuse, New York, will have to spend 2 years in prison for hacking his former employee, Pa Online, an internet service provider (ISP) formerly located in Enola, Pennsylvania. According to authorities, Prugar had used his old credentials to log into the ISP's network and "take back" some of the scripts and software he wrote while as an employee there, after being fired in June 2010.

Seeking to hide his tracks, Prugar used an automated script that deleted various logs. As a side effect of removing some of these files, the ISP's systems crashed, affecting over 500 businesses and over 5,000 residential customers. When the former ISP couldn't fix the issue, they asked Prugar to help. During negotiations, instead of requesting money as payment, Prugar insisted that he'd be paid using the rights to the software and scripts he wrote while at the company, software which was now malfunctioning, a week after he left. This tipped off the company, who detected foul play, contacted the FBI and rebuilt its entire network. The ISP shut down operations in 2015.

Submission + - Chinese Scientist Found Breakthrough Vaccine/Cures for All Viral Infections (scmp.com)

Submitted by hackingbear
hackingbear writes: Chinese scientists may have found the key to creating effective vaccines for the world’s deadly viruses including bird flu, SARS, Ebola, and HIV. An experiment by a research team at Beijing University was hailed as “revolutionary” in the field in a paper published in the latest issue of Science magazine on Friday. The live virus used in the vaccine used by the researchers had its genetic code tweaked to disable the viral strains’ self-replication mechanism. But it was kept fully infectious to allow the host animal cells to generate immunity. Using live viruses in their fully infectious form was considered taboo, as viruses spread rapidly. Vaccines sold and used widely today generally contain either dead or weakened forms of viruses. The animals infected with virus were cured after receiving the injection, according to the paper. This breakthrough promises to simplify the process of producing vaccines, which may help scientists develop effective vaccines or even cures for various viruses – such bird flu, SARS, Ebola and HIV – within weeks of an outbreak.

Submission + - An Emacs Lisp JIT Compiler Released (github.com)

Submitted by kruhft
kruhft writes: An Emacs Lisp JIT compiler has been released showing a 25% speedup improvement with the benchmarked raytracer. Using libjit, it 'compiles down the spine' of the bytecode vectors, moving the overhead of the interpreter loop into the hardware execution unit. Work in progress, but a good start on speeding up emacs overall. Thoughts?

Comment Re:FPGA (Score 1) 101

by ramorim (#53367669) Attached to: Own An Open Source RISC-V Microcontroller

Still, we need more than what the Open Hardware movement can offer to us in FOSH (Free and Open Source Hardware) products. We also need to be able to DIY them, and therefore we need to have access to the right tools so we can create (or, as an option, order) the chips by ourselves ;) Also, we need a tool to (that is easy to) design the chips too, so we can build them later :D

But, at a start, this action is a very good one...

Submission + - A new algorithm for measuring code security (theintercept.com)

Submitted by mspohr
mspohr writes: A new venture from a cybersecurity legend, Peiter Zatko, known more commonly by his hacker handle “Mudge” and his wife, Sarah, a former NSA mathematician, have developed a first-of-its-kind method for testing and scoring the security of software.
"Called the Cyber Independent Testing Lab, the Zatkos’ operation won’t tell you if your software is literally incendiary, but it will give you a way to comparison-shop browsers, applications, and antivirus products according to how hardened they are against attack. It may also push software makers to improve their code to avoid a low score and remain competitive."
The Zatkos’ system is not comprehensive, and although it will provide one indicator of security risk, it’s not a conclusive indicator. Vendors are going to hate it.
"The technique involves, in part, analyzing binary software files using algorithms created by Sarah to measure the security hygiene of code. During this sort of examination, known as “static analysis” because it involves looking at code without executing it, the lab is not looking for specific vulnerabilities, but rather for signs that developers employed defensive coding methods to build armor into their code."
There will be a presentation at the Black Hat conference next week:
https://www.blackhat.com/us-16...

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