Author: kenmay

Talos Secure Workstation Is Free-Software Centric — and $3100 [Updated]

jones_supa writes: These days, the motivation to use open source software for many people is to avoid backdoors placed by intelligence organizations and to avoid software that has hidden privacy-intruding characteristics. For the operating system and userspace software, open choices are already available. The last remaining island has been the firmware included in various ROM chips in a computer. Libreboot has introduced an open BIOS, but it is not available for newer systems featuring the Intel ME or AMD PSP management features. Talos’ Secure Workstation fills this need, providing a modern system with 8-core POWER8 CPU, 132 GB RAM, and open firmware. The product is currently in a pre-release phase where Raptor Engineering is trying to understand if it’s possible to do a production run of the machine. If you are interested, it’s worth visiting the official website. Adds an anonymous reader about the new system, which rings in at a steep $3100: “While the engineers found solace in the POWER8 architecture with being more open than AMD/Intel CPUs, they still are searching for a graphics card that is open enough to receive the FSF Respect Your Freedom certification.” Update: 02/08 18:44 GMT by T : See also Linux hacker and IBM employee Stewart Smith’s talk from the just-completed linux.conf.au on, in which he walks through “all of the firmware components and what they do, including the boot sequence from power being applied up to booting an operating system.” Update: 02/08 23:30 GMT by T :FSF Licensing & Compliance Manager Joshua Gay wrote to correct the headline originally appeared with this story, which said that the Talos workstation described was “FSF Certified”; that claim was an error I introduced. “The FSF has not certified this hardware, ” says Gay, “nor is it currently reviewing the hardware for FSF certification.” Sorry for the confusion. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Talos Secure Workstation Is Free-Software Centric — and $3100 [Updated]

Carbon Dioxide From the Air Converted Into Methanol

Zothecula writes: The danger posed by rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide has seen many schemes proposed to remove a proportion it from the air. Rather than simply capture this greenhouse gas and bury it in the ground, though, many experiments have managed to transform CO2 into useful things like carbon nanofibers or even fuels, such as diesel. Unfortunately, the over-arching problem with many of these conversions is the particularly high operating temperatures that require counterproductive amounts of energy to produce relatively low yields of fuel. Now researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) claim to have devised a way to take CO2 directly from the air and convert it into methanol using much lower temperatures and in a correspondingly simpler way. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Carbon Dioxide From the Air Converted Into Methanol

Metel Hackers Roll Back ATM Transactions, Steal Millions

msm1267 writes: Researchers from Kaspersky Lab’s Global Research & Analysis Team today unveiled details on two new criminal operations that have borrowed heavily from targeted nation-state attacks, and also shared an update on a resurgent Carbanak gang, which last year, it was reported, had allegedly stolen upwards of $1 billion from more than 100 financial companies. The heaviest hitter among the newly discovered gangs is an ongoing campaign, mostly confined to Russia, known as Metel. This gang targets machines that have access to money transactions, such as call center and support machines, and once they are compromised, the attackers use that access to automate the rollback of ATM transactions. As the attackers empty ATM after ATM—Metel was found inside 30 organizations—the balances on the stolen accounts remained untouched. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Metel Hackers Roll Back ATM Transactions, Steal Millions

World’s fastest mobility scooter hits record 107.6 mph

It must’ve been a slow week at an Isle of Man bodyshop when mechanics David Anderson and Mathew Hine decided to “tweak” a mobility scooter for a bit more speed . The garden-variety Days Strider model was designed to go 8 mph, so naturally the pair added an 80-horsepower, four-cylinder, liquid-cooled Suzuki motorcycle engine. That made the chassis and tires woefully inadequate, so they also redesigned the frame and added go-cart wheels. “But that’s not really a mobility scooter anymore, ” you may say. Well, the Guinness folks specify that “from the outside the vehicle must appear like a traditional motorscooter. … [but} the engine may be modified or replaced in a way that seems suitable to gain a higher speed.” With Hine at the wheel, the run actually happened in August 2014, but it took Guinness quite a while to certify the feat. The official world record of 107.6 mph was measured as an average over a quarter-mile stretch of the test track, and handily beat the previous mark of 71.59 mph. Judging by the wheelie bars, it could take any comers in a drag race, too. Chest Cam footage of one of the runs this run was 107.6 mph we did that speed on a regular basis too just didnt manage to get over it …..yet! there is still tomorrow Posted by Andersons Bodyshop on Saturday, August 30, 2014 Via: The Verge Source: Guinnness Book of World Records

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World’s fastest mobility scooter hits record 107.6 mph

McDonald’s kale salad has more fat and calories than a double Big Mac

(credit: Tim Deering/Flickr ) In an effort to offer healthier menu items, McDonald’s has unveiled a new salad with a “nutrient-rich lettuce blend with baby kale,” shaved parmesan, and chicken (grilled or fried). Like many fast-food salads, it may seem like a healthy option at first, but it’s not. The salad, when paired with the restaurant’s Asiago Caesar Dressing, packs more fat, calories, and salt than a double Big Mac—that’s a sandwich with four beef patties. (credit: McDonald’s ) While the nutrition check on a McDonald’s item may not come as a shock, the unhealthy salad option falls into a bigger trend of restaurant meals—fast food or not, eating out is hard on your waistline and health. (credit: McDonald’s ) In one recent study, researchers found that 92 percent of large-chain, local-chain, and mom-and-pop restaurants served meals that exceeded the calorie intake for a healthy meal . The study included 364 meals from restaurants in three cities: Boston, San Francisco, and Little Rock, Arkansas. The meals covered American, Chinese, Greek, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Thai, and Vietnamese-style cuisine. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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McDonald’s kale salad has more fat and calories than a double Big Mac

Teen sues TV station for $1M over unauthorized broadcast of his genitals

(credit: NURV.com ) A South Carolina teenager has sued a Colorado television station over allegations the station broadcasted a picture of his erect penis taken from a cell phone video uploaded to YouTube. The case, known as Holden v. KOAA , asks for $1 million in damages and accuses the station, its reporter, its parent companies (NBC and Comcast), and other defendants of violating federal child pornography laws, invasion of privacy and negligence, and other allegations. According to the lawsuit , the teen was 14 years old and living in Colorado at the time of the incident. (The incident occurred two years ago, but Ars will not name the individual as he is still a minor.) The cell phone video had been taken of the teen and put online as a way to blackmail him. His father’s girlfriend, Heather Richardson, soon contacted the KOAA TV station to let them know about the situation. KOAA sent a local reporter, Matthew Prichard, to the family’s home in Pueblo, Colorado, where Prichard interviewed the boy and filmed the offending material. The suit claims that the boy’s father specifically told Prichard to keep his son’s name out of the report. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Teen sues TV station for $1M over unauthorized broadcast of his genitals

One Of The World’s Biggest PC Piracy Groups Is Quitting The Game

The last time we heard from Chinese cracking forum 3DM—responsible for illegal cracks of pirated video games— they were being frustrated by Just Cause 3’s “Denovo” copy protection . Now they’re walking away from the game entirely. Read more…

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One Of The World’s Biggest PC Piracy Groups Is Quitting The Game

Tinder bans users for sending pro-Bernie Sanders messages

Campaigning for Bernie Sanders, and presumably any other politician, can get you banned from Tinder. According to a report from Reuters , two users of the dating app learned that the hard way recently, after their accounts were locked for sending private messages about the 2016 presidential candidate . One woman, for example, told the publication she sent 60 messages per day to other people on Tinder, as she hoped to convince them to support Senator Sanders. Those read as “Do you feel the Bern?” and “Please text WORK to 82623 for me. Thanks, ” which would then prompt the recipients to get updates from the Sanders campaign . It also sent a link with a sign-up page for volunteering. Tinder has yet to issue an official statement, but we reached out to the service and will update the story if we hear back. It’s worth noting that Tinder’s Terms of Use are pretty clear. The document’s Section 9, which you can read in full here , states users “may not post, upload, display or otherwise make available Content that … involves the transmission of ‘junk mail, ‘ ‘chain letters, ‘ or unsolicited mass mailing or ‘spamming’ (or ‘spimming, ‘ ‘phishing, ‘ ‘trolling’ or similar activities).” If a user doesn’t follow the rules, Tinder says it has the right to “investigate, suspend and/or terminate” an account. Via: The Hill Source: Reuters

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Tinder bans users for sending pro-Bernie Sanders messages

The first Ultra HD Blu-ray players are already on sale

I wasn’t expecting to see Samsung’s UBD-K8500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player on sale until the end of the month , but it’s already available at a few stores. USA Today points out that Video and Audio Center in Santa Monica is kicking off sales today, and the store’s Facebook page indicates that there are already movies available as well. If that’s not close and you feel the need for 4K discs, AVS Forum posters have also found the players in stock at San Diego-area Fry’s Electronics stores. Sure, not everyone is feeling the Ultra HD Blu-ray hype , but if you want to be among the first to see that extra resolution and HDR, then it’s time to get moving. SAMSUNG’S STREAMING UBD-K8500 4K BLU-RAY PLAYER & 4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY DISKS DEBUTS TODAY AT VIDEO & AUDIO CENTER!You… Posted by Video & Audio Center on Friday, February 5, 2016 Source: USA Today , Video and Audio Center (Facebook) , AVS Forum

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The first Ultra HD Blu-ray players are already on sale