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Submission + - Distilleries charged large fees for making hand sanitizer (dailywire.com) 6

Submitted by sinij
sinij writes: “Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration unveiled a new set of fees for organizations operating as ‘monograph drug facilities’ producing over-the-counter drugs,” the outlet reported on Wednesday. “Hand sanitizer is one of those over-the-counter drugs qualifying for fee assessments by its producers – including makeshift sanitizer producers like distillers.”

Submission + - Hospitals are overloaded - how Twitter is being used to hide it analysed. (twitter.com) 4

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Caroline Mansfield no longer exists, deleted almost instantly. Her tweets trying to hide the crisis in the UK's Barnet Hospital are echoing around the web, however. Dr Dominic Pimenta explains: "I came across this tweet from "Caroline Mansfield" about my local hospital being "empty". So let's take a look: First up, some warning signs:
  1. A generic username, and another real Twitter account (I've emailed)
  2. No registration with GCRN"
  3. Only recently joined Twitter

Dr Pimenta goes on to explain how he identified the fake account and opens up the truth about the current covid case overload at Barnet then goes on to explain how lack of ICU beds is blocking other services in hospitals. "This kind of COVID denialism is not just Internet rubbish, it's dangerous and real and led us in part to the disaster we are in right now. "

Submission + - Apple loses copyright battle against Corellium (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by krakman
krakman writes: Corellium virtualized ios.. and let others have access to the virtualized ios for 'security research purposes'.
Apple supposedly tried to buy the predecessor company and failed.. then they did what apple does best... Sued...for violations of copyright law.

Then .. it happened.. apple lost.. a florida judge threw out apple's case... more on this in (paywalled) article: https://www.washingtonpost.com...

and lost...

Submission + - Flash is about to die, but classic Flash games will live on (fastcompany.com)

Submitted by harrymcc
harrymcc writes: After years of growing technical irrelevance and security concerns, the Flash browser plug-in will reach the end of the road on January 12 when Adobe blocks its ability to display content. The web will survive just fine. But there’s a huge library of old Flash games—some of them quirky, interesting, and worth preserving. Over at Fast Company, Jared Newman wrote about several grassroots initiatives that will allow us to continue to enjoy these artifacts of the Flash era even after Flash is history.

Submission + - Fantasy and Sci-fi author Debra Doyle, 1952-2020 (locusmag.com)

Submitted by serviscope_minor
serviscope_minor writes: SF writer Debra Doyle, 67, died October 31 of a sudden cardiac event at home in Colebrook NH. She was best known for work written in collaboration with her husband, James D. Macdonald, including Mythopoeic Award winner Knightâ(TM)s Wyrd (1992) and the Mageworlds space opera series.

Doyleâ(TM)s first work of genre interest was story âoeBad Bloodâ (1988, with Macdonald). All her novels were written with Macdonald, beginning with Night of Ghosts and Lightning (1989, as by Robyn Tallis). School of Wizardry (1990) launched the Circle of Magic series and had sequels Tournament and Tower (1990), City by the Sea (1990), The Princeâ(TM)s Players (1990), The Prisoners of Bell Castle (1990), and The High Kingâ(TM)s Daughter (1990). The Mageworlds series began with The Price of Stars (1992) and continued with Starpilotâ(TM)s Grave (1993), By Honor Betrayâ(TM)d (1994), The Gathering Flame (1995), The Long Hunt (1996), The Stars Asunder (1999), and A Working of Stars (2002). Their Bad Blood (1993) was followed by sequels Huntersâ(TM) Moon (1994) and Judgment Night (1995). Groogleman (1996) was a standalone. They wrote Civil War-era fantasy Land of Mist and Snow (2006) and Lincolnâ(TM)s Sword (2010). They also wrote various works of tie-in fiction under their own names and assorted pseudonyms.

Submission + - Four German Healthcare Workers Hospitalized Following COVID Vaccine Overdose (newsweek.com) 1

Submitted by PolygamousRanchKid
PolygamousRanchKid writes: Cheech: "Yes, I do drugs.

Chong: "But sometimes, drugs do you!

Four German healthcare workers were hospitalized on Sunday after receiving five times the recommended dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. Officials from the Vorpommern-Ruegen district said the doses were administered to eight employees, ranging from age 66 to 82, in a nursing home in the Hanseatic city of Stralsund on December 27. When the mistake was discovered, officials sent half of the employees home. However, the other half was sent to the hospital for observation after developing flu-like symptoms.

The district officials cited an earlier statement from BioNTech that pointed out that large doses were used in the vaccine's first phase of clinical trials without any serious consequences.

Getting high on a COVID vaccine . . . definitely 2020's gone wild.

Submission + - Nasal Spray Could Prevent Coronavirus Transmission (columbia.edu)

Submitted by Snard
Snard writes: A nasal antiviral created by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons blocked transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in ferrets, suggesting the nasal spray also may prevent infection in people exposed to the new coronavirus.

The compound in the spray—a lipopeptide developed by Anne Moscona, MD, and Matteo Porotto, PhD, professors in the Department of Pediatrics and directors of the Center for Host-Pathogen Interaction—is designed to prevent the new coronavirus from entering host cells.

The antiviral lipopeptide is inexpensive to produce, has a long shelf life, and does not require refrigeration. These features make it stand out from other antiviral approaches under development, including monoclonal antibodies. The new nasal lipopeptide could be ideal for halting the spread of COVID in the United States and globally; the transportable and stable compound could be especially key in rural, low-income, and hard-to-reach populations.

Submission + - Facebook Can't Seem to do Anything About 'Stop the Steal' Groups (vice.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: On Thursday night, Facebook announced it had activated “break glass” measures to try to quell the spread of disinformation, which has been supercharged by the lies being spread by President Donald Trump and his allies. The unprecedented move may have been triggered by Facebook’s decision hours earlier to shut down a viral group called “Stop the Steal” that had racked up 360,000 in the space of 24 hours. The group was spreading disinformation, advocating for gun violence, and organizing real-world protests. But the impact of Facebook’s moves has been negligible.

A VICE News investigation, using the Facebook-owned analytics tool CrowdTangle, found at least three active groups on Facebook using variations of the Stop the Steal name, all of which have tens of thousands of followers and all of which are sharing the same disinformation as the original group. The biggest group identified is called “StoptheSteal” which has almost 70,000 members. The next biggest is called “Stop the Steal 2.0” with 40,000 followers. Finally, a group with an identical name — “Stop the Steal” — has 25,800 members. By allowing the original group to grow so quickly, and to such a scale before removing it, Facebook could have inadvertently made the situation even worse, Ciaran O’Connor, an analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told VICE News. “The challenge in managing copycat groups is that there is additional potential for voter fraud disinformation and threats of violence among communities who may be motivated for further action given the removal of the original group, particularly around possible mobilization at election centers.”

Submission + - Democrats Will Introduce Bill To Bring Back Net Neutrality (thehill.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced Monday that Democrats will introduce a net neutrality bill to replace the open internet rules that were repealed in 2017. In a letter to her Democratic colleagues, Pelosi said a bill called the Save the Internet Act will be unveiled Wednesday and will be introduced in the Senate as well. The text of the legislation has not been released, and it’s unclear what will be included in the bill. Democrats have railed against the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) vote to repeal the net neutrality rules, which happened more than a year ago. The 2015 regulations prohibited internet service providers from blocking or throttling websites or creating internet fast lanes.

Submission + - These 120 Data Brokers Just Registered In Vermont Under a Landmark Law (fastcompany.com)

Submitted by tedlistens
tedlistens writes: Vermont's newly enacted data broker law is the only law of its kind in the US so far, and it's forced any company collecting data on its citizens to register with the state. Fast Company wrote about the limitations of the law and compiled a list of the companies, what they do, and tips for opting-out if possible.

The Vermont law only covers third-party data firms--those trafficking in the data of people with whom they have no relationship--as opposed to "first-party" data holders like Amazon, Facebook, or Google, which collect their own enormous piles of detailed personal data directly from users. It doesn't require data brokers to disclose who's in their databases, what data they collect, or who buys it. Nor does it require brokers to give consumers access to their own data or opt out of data collection. Brokers are, however required to provide some information about their opt-out systems under the law--assuming they provide one.

Submission + - Oxford extends Math exam time to help women (dailymail.co.uk)

Submitted by mi
mi writes: Only seven female finalists achieved "firsts" in the Math exams at Oxford University last year, compared to 45 men. In an attempt to address the discrepancy, the school is extending the allotted time from 90 to 105 minutes — so as to reduce the stress, which is suspected to affect women disproportionally. An internal document states, the faculty believes, the changes could

"mitigate the... gender gap that has arisen in recent years, and in any case the exam should be a demonstration of mathematical understanding and not a time trial."

Critics are pointing out, that this shows women to be the "weaker sex"...

Submission + - SPAM: Google Has An Actual Secret Speech Police 1

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: More than 100 nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and government agencies around the world help police YouTube for extremist content, ranging from so-called hate speech to terrorist recruiting videos.

All of them have confidentiality agreements barring Google, YouTube’s parent company, from revealing their participation to the public, a Google representative told The Daily Caller on Thursday.

A handful of groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and No Hate Speech, a European organization focused on combatting intolerance, have chosen to go public with their participation in the program, but the vast majority have stayed hidden behind the confidentiality agreements. Most groups in the program don’t want to be publicly associated with it, according to the Google spokesperson, who spoke only on background.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - SPAM: Teen hacker posed as CIA boss to access secret military files...

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Kane Gamble, 18, hacked into intelligence head John Brennan's email account, made hoax calls to his family home and even took control of his wife's iPad, judges were told.

The hacks were carried out as part of a campaign of harassment against top US officials motivated by his political views, a court heard.

Gamble was just 15 when he posed as a telecoms worker and Brennan himself to gain information including passwords, contacts lists and sensitive documents about operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Apple, Microsoft: Give Us Tax, Immigration Reform and We'll Teach Kids to Code

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: In the press release explaining how it's going to spend some of the billions in offshore profits it's repatriating, Apple indicated that one way it'll be thanking Americans for its tax break windfall is by teaching less-than-tech-savvy U.S. kids how to code Swift programs (Apple CEO Tim Cook believes "coding should be a requirement in every public school" for children aged 9-and-up). Claiming "that by 2020 there will be 1.4 million more software development jobs than applicants qualified to fill them" and citing tech-bankrolled Code.org's estimate that "there are currently 503,338 open computing jobs nationwide" (interestingly, a Code.org infographic suggests Apple's 1.4M job applicant shortfall forecast is overstated), Apple announced it will be taking on the task of 'Preparing Students for the App Economy': "To address the coding skills gap and help prepare more people for jobs in software development, Apple created a powerful yet easy-to-learn coding language called Swift, the free Swift Playgrounds app and a free curriculum, App Development with Swift, which are available to anyone and are already being used by millions of students at K-12 schools, summer camps and leading community colleges across the country. Over 100,000 students and teachers have also attended coding classes at Apple retail stores. Apple will expand these initiatives and add new programs to support teachers and teacher training." You're welcome. Also eager to teach America's youngsters to code — but in exchange for immigration reform — is Microsoft. "While there are many issues to solve, we believe the country can and should take effective steps that will accelerate much-needed changes," explained Microsoft President Brad Smith in a recent Microsoft on the Issues blog post. "One such step would be implementing new fees on green cards to fund more STEM education programs for Americans — an idea we have been supporting and first proposed in 2012 with our call for A National Talent Strategy. We believe steps like this are in the nation’s interest, and we’ve engaged with the administration, leaders on Capitol Hill and regulators to share our ideas. We will continue pressing for these types of reforms and the introduction of new legislative fixes." For students of history, Mother Jones reported in 2013 on a similar immigration-reform-for-K12-STEM-education Microsoft deal that over-promised and under-delivered.

Submission + - Red Hat Will Revert Spectre Patches After Receiving Reports of Boot Issues (bleepingcomputer.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Red Hat is releasing updates for reverting previous patches for the Spectre vulnerability (Variant 2, aka CVE-2017-5715) after customers complained that some systems were failing to boot.

"Red Hat is no longer providing microcode to address Spectre, variant 2, due to instabilities introduced that are causing customer systems to not boot," the company said yesterday. "The latest microcode_ctl and linux-firmware packages are reverting these unstable microprocessor firmware changes to versions that were known to be stable and well tested, released prior to the Spectre/Meltdown embargo lift date on Jan 3rd," Red Had added.

Instead, Red Hat is recommending that each customer contact their OEM hardware provider and inquire about mitigations for CVE-2017-5715 on a per-system basis. Besides Red Hat Enterprise Linux, other RHEL-based distros like CentOS and Scientific Linux are also expected to be affected by Red Hat's decision to revert previous Spectre Variant 2 updates, so these users will also have to contact CPU/OEM vendors.

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