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Submission + - DHS Cybersecurity Director Who Corrected Trump's Election Fraud Claims Is Fired (npr.org) 1

Submitted by phalse phace
phalse phace writes: Christopher Krebs, the Department of Homeland Security director who had spearheaded a campaign to counter rumors about voter fraud, has been fired, President Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

Trump, in two misleading tweets about the security of the U.S. election, said Krebs' termination was "effective immediately."

Trump Tweeted:

'The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud — including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, “glitches” in the voting machines which changed votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more. Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.'

Submission + - The RIAA says 1500 streams = 1 album sale (riaa.com)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: The RIAA is modernizing its gold and platinum album certifications to include streaming. An album must reach 500,000 sales to go gold, 1,000,000 for platinum and 2,000,000 for multi-platinum. The RIAA set the new Album Award formula of 1,500 on-demand audio and/or video song streams = 10 track sales = 1 album sale. Also effective today, RIAA’s Digital Single Award ratio will be updated from 100 on-demand streams = 1 download to 150 on-demand streams = 1 to "reflect the enormous growth of streaming consumption".

Submission + - New Dell Tech Support Scams Have Customers Worried Company Was Hacked

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: A new twist on the fake tech support scam has arisen that has victims wondering whether Dell has been hacked.There has been a recent rash of calls to Dell customers in which the caller says he is from Dell itself and is able to identify the victim’s PC by model number and provide details of previous warranty and support interactions with the company.

These are details that, it would seem, only Dell or perhaps its contractors would know. One person who was contacted by the scammers wrote a detailed description of the call, and said the caller had personal details that could not have been found online.

“He claimed to be from the Dell ‘R and D Department’. He claimed that my computer had detected a problem and notified Dell automatically. He knew that Dell recently replaced a battery for me, which was true, so that’s why I believed he was really from Dell. (This means they also hacked Dell!) He had me run come commands on the PC and he told me all devices on my IP address were compromised," one post on a Dell forum says.

Dell officials say they're looking into it.

Submission + - Chemical evolution of self-replicating molecules observed in a lab (nature.com)

Submitted by n0w4k
n0w4k writes: Researchers at the University of Groningen have developed a self-replicating system, able to not only pass hereditary information from one generation to another but also mutate (non-paywalled link to the paper). It is a crucial step towards Darwinian evolution of abiotic species and artificial life. According to the authors and perhaps somewhat counterintuitively, in order to fully reach this goal a death mechanism needs to be implemented in the system. Otherwise new species can only form but not disappear.

Self-replicating chemical systems have been widely studied before; some were even able to mutate. However, this discovery provides the first example of mutating replicators which are fully artificial.

Full disclosure: I am one of the co-authors; you can ask me if you have some specific questions or give suggestions — maybe they can be implemented in the lab!

Submission + - Derby the Dog's Upgraded 3D-Printed Prostheses Has Him Walking Tall (gizmag.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: You might remember Derby, a dog who was born with a congenital deformity but last year received a 3D-printed prostheses that enabled him to run for the first time. Well, it's onward and upward for Derby and his carers, who have now crafted an upgraded set of custom prostheses allowing him to walk proudly with a straight back and even sit like a healthy dog.

Submission + - Auroral show to dazzle just before the new year; best view from the ISS

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: When the Sun emits a flare or a mass ejection in the direction of Earth, these fast moving particles are when Earth's magnetosphere and atmosphere are of the utmost importance for shielding us. The magnetic field bends these ions harmlessly away from our planet, only funneling a small fraction down into a ring surrounding the poles. The atmosphere absorbs the impact, shielding all living creatures below from this radiation, while simultaneously putting on a show. Thanks to a coronal mass ejection on the 28th, the northern and southern lights will put on quite a display on the night of the 30th for all skywatchers at or above 50 degrees latitude, with chances that observers further towards the equator might have something to see, too. But the best views of all will belong to the unshielded astronauts aboard the ISS, who will pass around the Earth a full 7 times during our "night," and at the peak of the storm.

Submission + - NASA is Creating a Virtual Reality mission to Mars (roadtovr.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: 'The Mars 2030 Experience' is part of NASA's ongoing efforts to build public support in a real manned mission to the Red Planet. Partnering with FUSION to produce the experience, NASA wants the mission to simulate life as one of the first astronauts on Mars. Incorporating research directly from NASA and MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics PhD candidate Sydney Do, the VR experience will take users on an ‘extravehicular activity’ and put them in the Z-2 spacesuit, a real prototype currently in development at NASA. There are also plans to add multiplayer functionality to the game and launch with support for the Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard in 2016.

Submission + - Vivendi Takes Over Radionomy, Winamp Relaunch now Possible

Submitted by SmartAboutThings
SmartAboutThings writes: Winamp could once again be brought back to life after Vivendi Group took over the majority stake in Radionomy, the previous owner of the app who purchased it from AOL in early 2014. AOL originally planned to discontinue both Winamp and Shoutcast, but instead the company decided to sell the software to Belgian online radio service, Radionomy. The new owners initially promised that they’ll keep Winamp alive, but no updates have been released since the takeover, which made most people think that Winamp era has ended for good.

Vivendi Group, which owns or is involved in famous companies such as Dailymotion, Ubisoft, and Deezer, could help relaunch Winamp, although the press release announcing the acquisition offers no suggestion in this regard. The company, however, does mention Winamp and Shoutcast as two of the most important assets that will join its portfolio following the takeover.

Submission + - Steam Escrow System Drives Impatient Users To Fake Trading Sites Serving Malware

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: On Wednesday, Valve introduced a new "trade hold" system that should prevent scammers from stealing items from Steam users' hijacked account, or at least minimize the occurrence of such incidents. Anyone using the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator to confirm trades is able to continue trading as always. Users who haven't enabled it, or can't, can still trade, but they'll have to wait up to 3 days for the trade to go through. The system was, understandably, not welcome by some users, and it didn't take long for scammers to take advantage of this discontent.

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