Author: kenmay

Bitcoin fees are skyrocketing

Enlarge / Rising demand has caused Bitcoin’s transaction fees to skyrocket. (credit: Timothy B. Lee, using data from Blockchain.info) The cost to complete a Bitcoin transaction has skyrocketed in recent days. A week ago, it cost around $6 on average to get a transaction accepted by the Bitcoin network. The average fee soared to $26 on Friday and was still almost $20 on Sunday. The reason is simple: until recently, the Bitcoin network had a hard-coded 1 megabyte limit on the size of blocks on the blockchain, Bitcoin’s shared transaction ledger. With a typical transaction size of around 500 bytes, the average block had fewer than 2,000 transactions. And with a block being generated once every 10 minutes, that works out to around 3.3 transactions per second. A September upgrade called segregated witness allowed the cryptographic signatures associated with each transaction to be stored separately from the rest of the transaction. Under this scheme, the signatures no longer counted against the 1 megabyte blocksize limit, which should have roughly doubled the network’s capacity. But only a small minority of transactions have taken advantage of this option so far, so the network’s average throughput has stayed below 2,500 transactions per block—around four transactions per second. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Bitcoin fees are skyrocketing

AI-Assisted Fake Porn Is Here and We’re All Screwed

New submitter samleecole shares a report from Motherboard: There’s a video of Gal Gadot having sex with her stepbrother on the internet. But it’s not really Gadot’s body, and it’s barely her own face. It’s an approximation, face-swapped to look like she’s performing in an existing incest-themed porn video. The video was created with a machine learning algorithm, using easily accessible materials and open-source code that anyone with a working knowledge of deep learning algorithms could put together. It’s not going to fool anyone who looks closely. Sometimes the face doesn’t track correctly and there’s an uncanny valley effect at play, but at a glance it seems believable. It’s especially striking considering that it’s allegedly the work of one person — a Redditor who goes by the name ‘deepfakes’ — not a big special effects studio that can digitally recreate a young Princess Leia in Rouge One using CGI. Instead, deepfakes uses open-source machine learning tools like TensorFlow, which Google makes freely available to researchers, graduate students, and anyone with an interest in machine learning. Anyone could do it, and that should make everyone nervous. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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AI-Assisted Fake Porn Is Here and We’re All Screwed

Facebook’s ‘ticker,’ aka creeper feed, is no more

Facebook has killed one of its oldest features, the “ticker, ” that let you see at a glance what your friends were doing or sharing. First launched in 2011 , it used to appear to the right of your news feed (on the web app) showing likes, comments and other friend activities. As TechCrunch noticed, Facebook’s help community had been posting about the ticker’s disappearance, when a verified employee chimed in to see that “this feature is no longer available.” Facebook hasn’t explained exactly why it chopped the ticker, though we’ve reached out for comment. The social network is generally ruthless with features that don’t increase user engagement, and by extension, ad revenue. It’s hard to remember now, but Facebook’s feeds used to display posts in chronological order, much like Twitter ( mostly ) still does. The algorithmic feed, launched in 2011 eliminated date-ordered posts, surfacing what it thinks is more relevant information, instead. Facebook-owned Instagram made the same change early last year. The ticker was introduced along with the algorithmic feed, so that you could still monitor your friends’ activities in real time. Though often called the “creeper” feed, it didn’t really do anything that the news feed didn’t before. The algorithmic feed is ostensibly good for users, but like any algorithm, it can be gamed. That has become especially apparent with Facebook over the 18 months, when Russian operators bought ads in an attempt to influence US election results. They correctly surmised that discord increases engagement, and paid for posts that played social factions off against each other. As a result, at least 126 million Americans were exposed to articles that likely influenced election results to some degree. Via: TechCrunch Source: Facebook

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Facebook’s ‘ticker,’ aka creeper feed, is no more

Russian hackers steal $10 million from ATMs through bank networks

The recent rash of bank system hacks goes deeper than you might have thought — it also includes stealing cash directly from ATMs. Researchers at Group-iB have published details of MoneyTaker, a group of Russian hackers that has stolen close to $10 million from American and Russian ATMs over the past 18 months. The attacks, which targeted 18 banks (15 of which were American), compromised interbank transfer systems to hijack payment orders — “money mules” would then withdraw the funds at machines. The first known attack was in the spring of 2016, when MoneyTaker hit First Data’s STAR network (the largest transfer messaging system for ATMs in the US). They also compromised Russia’s AW CRB network, and swiped documents for OceanSystems’ Fed Link system used by roughly 200 banks across the Americas. And in some cases, the group stuck around after the initial heist — at least one US bank’s documents were stolen twice, while the perpetrators kept spying on Russian bank networks. While it’s not clear who’s behind MoneyTaker, you’re only hearing about them now because they’re particularly clever. They’ve repeatedly switched their tools and methods to bypass software, and have taken care to erase their tracks. For instance, they’ve ‘borrowed’ security certificates from the US federal government, Bank of America, Microsoft and Yahoo. One Russian bank did manage to spot an attack and return some of the ill-gotten gains. This particular hack didn’t directly affect users, since it was more about intercepting bank-to-bank transfers than emptying personal accounts. However, it illustrates both the sophistication of modern bank hacks and the vulnerability of the banks themselves. While it would be difficult to completely prevent hacks, it’s clear that attackers are having a relatively easy time making off with funds and sensitive data. Via: Reuters Source: Group-iB (reg. required)

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Russian hackers steal $10 million from ATMs through bank networks

North Korea makes the best counterfeit $100 bills

The kindly North Korean government is doing its part to contribute to quantitative easing by printing US$100 bills that are nearly indistinguishable from the ones printed by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Let’s hope this eases tensions between the two countries! From The Telegraph : “It seems that whoever printed these supernotes has the facilities and high level of technology matching that of a government”, Lee Ho-jung, a bank spokesman said. “They are made with special ink that changes colour depending on the angle, patterned paper and Intaglio printing that gives texture to the surface of a note”. Another bank source told The Hankyoreh newspaper, “To print supernote-level forgeries, you need a minting corporation-level production line in place, which costs hundreds of billions of won. “This makes if difficult for ordinary criminal organisations to produce them”. Earlier versions of supernotes have been around for at least 15 years, with US government officials estimating in 2006 that as much as $250 million worth of fake $100 bills could be in circulation worldwide. … In the past, North Korea was believed to distribute the bills overseas through criminal groups and by transporting them abroad through the diplomatic pouch to embassies from where they could be slipped into circulation.

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North Korea makes the best counterfeit $100 bills

New standard sets baseline for HDR on PC displays

As video enthusiasts will tell you, just saying a display is capable of high dynamic range doesn’t say much — you need to know how well it handles HDR. And that’s crucial for PC monitors , where the accuracy and intensity of the picture can make all the difference when you’re playing a game or editing video. The team at VESA wants to do something about it. They’ve unveiled an open standard, DisplayHDR, that sets the baseline levels for HDR quality on PC screens. There are three tiers, each determined by the maximum brightness. DisplayHDR 400 is aimed more at laptops, where power and size tend to limit what’s possible. A monitor meeting this spec has to reach a brightness of 400 nits, offer true 8-bit color (at 95 percent of the BT.709 gamut), provide global display dimming and support the HDR10 format. That may not sound like much, but it’s 50 percent brighter than typical laptops, many of which ‘cheat’ to get 8-bit color through dithering. DisplayHDR 600 ramps up the brightness to 600 nits while requiring improved black levels and 99 percent BT.709 color accuracy (plus 90 percent of DCI-P3). The most advanced monitors can aim for DisplayHDR 1000, which supplies at least 1, 000 nits and even deeper blacks. The spec is limited to LCD monitors for now, although there are hopes to adapt it to OLED displays and other technology. And you won’t have to wait long to see it in use — VESA is promising DisplayHDR-rated products at CES in January. This doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be blown away by a Netflix movie or an HDR-enabled game, but it should discourage companies from pulling a fast one by slapping an HDR label on a display that doesn’t do the technology justice. Also, it could improve the adoption of HDR among your preferred hardware makers. If they know what to shoot for, they may be more likely to add HDR support instead of holding back out of uncertainty. Source: VESA

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New standard sets baseline for HDR on PC displays

Top-selling handgun safe can be remotely opened in seconds—no PIN needed

Enlarge (credit: Two Sixes Labs ) One of Amazon’s top-selling electronic gun safes contains a critical vulnerability that allows it to be opened by virtually anyone, even when they don’t know the password. The Vaultek VT20i handgun safe, ranked fourth in Amazon’s gun safes and cabinets category , allows owners to electronically open the door using a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone app. The remote unlock feature is supposed to work only when someone knows the four- to eight-digit personal identification number used to lock the device. But it turns out that this PIN safeguard can be bypassed using a standard computer and a small amount of programming know-how. As the video demonstration below shows, researchers with security firm Two Six Labs were able to open a VT20i safe in a matter of seconds by using their MacBook Pro to send specially designed Bluetooth data while it was in range. The feat required no knowledge of the unlock PIN or any advanced scanning of the vulnerable safe. The hack works reliably even when the PIN is changed. All that’s required to make it work is that the safe have Bluetooth connectivity turned on. Read 11 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Top-selling handgun safe can be remotely opened in seconds—no PIN needed

Toys R Us is bankrupt, but top execs are cleared to receive $16 million in bonuses

A Justice department attorney representing the people owed money by Toys R Us doesn’t believe the bankrupt corporation should pay lavish bonuses to the same executives who drove the toy store chain into the ground. From Judy Robbins filing: “It defies logic and wisdom, not to mention the Bankruptcy Code, that a bankrupt company would now propose further multi-million dollar bonuses for the senior leadership of a company that began the year with employee layoffs and concludes it in the midst of the holiday season in bankruptcy. Apparently, this Christmas, Toys “R” Us intends to deliver not only ‘children their biggest smiles of the year’ but the insiders, too.” Nevertheless U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Keith Phillips approved the payouts. From CW39 : Because Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy in September, it must now must get court approval for many of its basic business decisions. These new bonuses will be in addition to another $8.2 million in retention bonuses paid to some of these same executives before Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy. They would be required to return the retention payments should they quit the company within a year of receiving them.

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Toys R Us is bankrupt, but top execs are cleared to receive $16 million in bonuses

Steam no longer accepts bitcoin for game purchases

Have you been stockpiling bitcoin to go on a Steam shopping spree ? You’ll need to change your plans. Valve has stopped accepting bitcoin due to a combination of high transaction costs (up from 20 cents in the beginning to $20) and “volatility” in the cryptocurrency’s value. While the virtual cash has never been especially stable, its worth has taken a roller coaster ride over the past few months. Its value has been skyrocketing lately (one bitcoin is worth $13, 300 US as of this writing), but it has also crashed hard — Valve cited a 25 percent drop “over a period of days” as an example. That fluctuation creates a huge problem if you make a purchase and it doesn’t complete before the usual bitcoin price guarantee elapses, as you may have to pay an outstanding balance and a second transaction fee. Valve isn’t completely ruling out a return to bitcoin in the future, although it’s clear that won’t happen unless bitcoin settles down. There’s no mention of opening the door to Ethereum and other digital currencies, either. And no matter what, this underscores a very real problem for cryptocurrency no matter the format. Retailers need predictable costs and payments to run their businesses, and they may be loathe to support technology like bitcoin if it leads to unpaid debts and unhappy customers. Via: Polygon Source: Steam Blog

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Steam no longer accepts bitcoin for game purchases

AMD Quietly Made Some Radeon RX 560 Graphics Cards Worse

Brad Chacos: When the Radeon RX 560 launched in April it was the only RX 500-series card with a meaningful under-the-hood tech boost compared to the RX 400-series. The graphics processor in the older RX 460 cards packed 14 compute units and 896 stream processors; the upgraded Radeon RX 560 bumped that to 16 CUs and 1, 024 SPs. Now, some — but not all — of the Radeon RX 560s you’ll find online have specs that match the older 460 cards, and sometimes run at lower clock speeds to boot. AMD’s Radeon RX 560 page was also quietly altered to include the new configurations at some point, Heise.de discovered. The last snapshot of the page by the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine occurred on July 7 and only lists the full-fat 16 CU version of the card, so the introduction of the nerfed 896 SP model likely occurred some time after that. Sifting through all of the available Radeon RX 560s on Newegg this morning reveals a fairly even split between the two configurations, all of which are being sold under the same RX 560 name. In a statement, AMD acknowledged the existence of 14 Compute Unit (896 stream processors) and 16 Compute Unit (1024 stream processor) versions of the Radeon RX 560. “We introduced the 14CU version this summer to provide AIBs and the market with more RX 500 series options. It’s come to our attention that on certain AIB and etail websites there’s no clear delineation between the two variants. We’re taking immediate steps to remedy this: we’re working with all AIB and channel partners to make sure the product descriptions and names clarify the CU count, so that gamers and consumers know exactly what they’re buying. We apologize for the confusion this may have caused.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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AMD Quietly Made Some Radeon RX 560 Graphics Cards Worse