Month: December 2016

Millions of Websites Vulnerable Due To Security Bug In Popular PHP Script

An anonymous reader writes from a report via BleepingComputer: A security flaw discovered in a common PHP class allows knowledgeable attackers to execute code on a website that uses a vulnerable version of the script, which in turn can allow an attacker to take control over the underlying server. The vulnerable library is PHPMailer, a PHP script that allows developers to automate the task of sending emails using PHP code, also included with WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and more. The vulnerability was fixed on Christmas with the release of PHPMailer version 5.2.18. Nevertheless, despite the presence of a patched version, it will take some time for the security update to propagate. Judging by past incidents, millions of sites will never be updated, leaving a large chunk of the Internet open to attacks. Even though the security researcher who discovered the flaw didn’t publish any in-depth details about his findings, someone reverse-engineered the PHPMailer patch and published their own exploit code online, allowing others to automate attacks using this flaw, which is largely still unpatched due to the holiday season. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Millions of Websites Vulnerable Due To Security Bug In Popular PHP Script

An Amazon Echo may be the key to solving a murder case

 Internet-connected devices are starting to become tools to help in criminal cases. As first reported in The Information, police in Bentonville, Arkansas have issued a warrant to Amazon, asking the company to hand over data from an Echo device to help prosecute a suspected murderer. James Andrew Bates, the suspect in the case, was charged with first-degree murder in November of 2015 after… Read More

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An Amazon Echo may be the key to solving a murder case

Uber Launches ‘Uber Freight’ Website To Prepare the World For Autonomous Delivery Trucks

Uber has launched a website for a service called Uber Freight. While there are little details about the company’s expansion from ride-hailing, Uber Freight is meant to prepare the world for autonomous delivery trucks, according to Inverse. From the report: Uber acquired a startup called Otto, which planned to bring the first self-driving trucks to market, in August. Since then the company has used its trucks to deliver 50, 000 cans of beer and hundreds of Christmas trees in San Francisco. This new service won’t use those trucks, at least not at the beginning. Instead it will function much like Uber’s existing platform: Some people will sign up to drive items across the country, and others will join so they can send packages without having to sign a contract with established shipping companies. The service will likely bring “surge pricing” to trucking, too. Uber Freight could also help Otto’s trucks by using data gathered from drivers on the platform. This would allow the self-driving vehicles to learn from experienced people while regulators figure out how to govern autonomous trucks and the technology catches up to all of the promises made by its creators. Uber Freight’s launch coincides with growing interest in trucking from many tech companies. Nikola Motor Company wants to use tech to make trucking more environmentally friendly and appealing to millennials; Tesla’s working on self-driving trucks; the list could go on. Uber told Inverse it’s going to wait until the new year to elaborate on how the system works. “We don’t have any new information to share at the moment, ” a spokesperson said, “but hope to in the new year so please do stay in touch.” It looks like the future of trucking — or at least one potential future — is going to take a little while longer to make its debut. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Uber Launches ‘Uber Freight’ Website To Prepare the World For Autonomous Delivery Trucks

Conan the Barbarian: The Complete Collection – free Kindle edition

Here’s a free 853-page Kindle edition of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian Stories . I got it and the formatting looks good, which is not often the case for free/supercheap ebooks. I read the reviews and people complained about missing chapters, but it looks like the publisher made corrections.

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Conan the Barbarian: The Complete Collection – free Kindle edition

Dizzying designs by Peter Kogler seem to warp space

Peter Kogler projects or applies patterns to the surfaces of rooms that can be quite disorienting for anyone who enters. Most of his work uses warped black and white lines to distort the size and shape of floors, walls, and ceilings. He also makes a lot of cool creations involving images of mice and ants. • Peter Kogler site (via Colossal )

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Dizzying designs by Peter Kogler seem to warp space

Tesla’s next-generation Superchargers should be much faster

Tesla’s Superchargers are certainly faster than most public EV stations, but they’re still far slower than you might hope for. When it can take about 40 minutes to get an 80 percent charge, you can’t exactly grab and go like you would at a gas pump. Relief is in sight, however: Elon Musk has teased third-generation Superchargers that could supply much, much more power than the maximum 150kW per car you see today. Even the 350kW floated as a guess by Electrek ‘s Fred Lambert is like a “children’s toy, ” according to Musk. Musk isn’t diving into specifics, to no one’s surprise, so it’s not clear just how quickly the new system would charge, when it arrives or whether it will be compatible with existing Tesla cars. As our Autoblog compatriots point out , though, Geneva is planning to deploy buses that use 600kW “flash-charging” to keep running without significantly interrupting their schedules. Even a longer recharge at the end of the line should take 4-5 minutes. If Tesla can approach that level of power delivery, it could speed up charging to the point where you can visit a Supercharger when you’re pressed for time (say, on the way to work). Any dramatic improvement would go a long way toward making EVs more acceptable to a public used to refilling their cars almost on impulse, instead of planning their trips around it. However, it could also make financial sense for Musk and company. The shorter your charging stop, the sooner you free up a given space for the next driver. Whatever Tesla spends to upgrade stations could be offset by taking more customers (many of whom will be paying ) and reducing the need for additional stations to keep up with demand. Also, Musk notes that both these “V3” stations and Powerwall 2 will be key to a wide rollout of solar-powered Superchargers that are kinder to both Tesla’s energy costs and the environment. @FredericLambert There are some installed already, but full rollout really needs Supercharger V3 and Powerpack V2, plus SolarCity. Pieces now in place. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2016 @FredericLambert A mere 350 kW … what are you referring to, a children’s toy? — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2016 Via: Autoblog Source: Elon Musk (Twitter 1) , (2)

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Tesla’s next-generation Superchargers should be much faster

HandBrake 1.0.0 Released After 13 Years Of Development

HandBrake, popular open source video transcoder, has finally hit version 1.0.0 affter spending roughly more than 13 years in development. HandBrake 1.0.0 brings tons of new presets and support for more devices and file types. From a report: HandBrake 1.0.0 comes with new web and MKV presets. The official presets from HandBrake 0.10.x can be found under ‘Legacy.’ New Jason-based preset system, including command line support, has been added. The additional features of HandBrake are title/chapter selection, queuing up multiple encodes, chapter markers, subtitles, different video filters, and video preview. Just in case you have a compatible Skylake or later CPU, Intel QuickSync Video H.265/HEVC encoder support brings performance improvements. HandBrake 1.0.0 also brings along new online documentation beta. It’s written in a simple and easy-to-understand language.You can download it here. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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HandBrake 1.0.0 Released After 13 Years Of Development

Windows 10 For PCs Build 14997 Leaks Online

An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft had last week said that it wouldn’t be releasing a new Windows 10 build for insiders on Fast ring this year. But the supposed build has leaked online. The build 14997 contains a few new features, such as a refreshed Settings app, theme support from the Store (you might recall that with 14986, you could download them from the Store, but had to install them manually), a number of Edge improvements such as tab expansion, blue light reduction features, and more. Since it’s a leaked build, we would suggest treading carefully before downloading it. You might just want to avoid it until it’s available from the official channel. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Windows 10 For PCs Build 14997 Leaks Online

Solar cells with a dark side may be in your future

Enlarge (credit: Dr. Sebastian Schulz, KIT) Modern solar panel technology is pretty damned awesome. I say this from personal experience, since my roof is pretty much maxed out. I may even move the inverter into the lounge to replace the television as my visual entertainment of choice. Most people don’t view solar panels as a source of entertainment, though. They want power, and the big thing that everyone talks about when it comes to power is the panels’ efficiency: how many photons that hit them liberate electrons. The usual answer is… not many. There is a fundamental limitation , called detailed balance, that helps limit the efficiency. Essentially, absorption of a photon and emission of a photon are the same thing (you just reverse the direction of time). So, if something is good at absorbing photons, it’s also good at emitting photons. When your solar panel absorbs a lot of photons, there are lots of excited electrons around, and many of them will lose their energy by emitting other photons. In the end, where these two processes balance out helps set the maximum possible efficiency of a standard solar cell. Read 21 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Solar cells with a dark side may be in your future

You’re An Adult, But Your Brain Might Not Be, Researchers Say

“The human brain reaches its adult volume by age 10, but the neurons that make it up continue to change for years after that, ” reports the New York Times, citing a new paper by neuroscience researchers that questions when “adulthood” really begins. An anonymous reader writes: One of the paper’s authors — an associate psychology professor at Harvard — tells CNN that “There is no agreed-on benchmark that, when reached, would allow a neuroscientist to say ‘Aha! This brain is fully developed’. However, it is safe to say that by almost any metric, the brain is continuing to develop actively well past the age of 18…” “Some children, researchers have found, have neural networks that look as if they belong to an adult…” adds the Times, noting that adolescents also “do about as well as adults on cognition tests, for instance. But if they’re feeling strong emotions, those scores can plummet. The problem seems to be that teenagers have not yet developed a strong brain system that keeps emotions under control.” And this cuts both ways, according to a psychologist at Temple University who wants the voting age lowered to 16. (“Sixteen-year-olds are just as good at logical reasoning as older people are, ” he tells the Times) But he also believes judges should consider the lack of emotional control when sentencing defendants — even if they’re in their early 20s. “Most crime situations that young people are involved in are emotionally arousing situations — they’re scared, or they’re angry, intoxicated or whatever.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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You’re An Adult, But Your Brain Might Not Be, Researchers Say