A live-action ‘Star Wars’ show is headed to Disney’s streaming service

After years of rumors of a live-action Star Wars TV series, it’s finally happening. The only catch? It’ll be exclusive to Disney’s upcoming streaming service, Polygon reports . CEO Bob Iger didn’t have any details to share about the new series, but the fact that it’s coming is still a bombshell for the Star Wars universe. And, of course, it’s also a smart way to sell Disney’s streaming service, which is set to launch in 2019 . Additionally, Disney will be producing three other original series from its Marvel, Monster’s Inc. and High School Musical franchises. Disney revealed a few months ago that it’ll remove its content from Netflix, which includes existing Star Wars films, and move it over to the company’s streaming service in 2019. Via: Polygon

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A live-action ‘Star Wars’ show is headed to Disney’s streaming service

Linux Has a USB Driver Security Problem

Catalin Cimpanu, reporting for BleepingComputer: USB drivers included in the Linux kernel are rife with security flaws that in some cases can be exploited to run untrusted code and take over users’ computers. The vast majority of these vulnerabilities came to light on Monday, when Google security expert Andrey Konovalov informed the Linux community of 14 vulnerabilities he found in the Linux kernel USB subsystem. “All of them can be triggered with a crafted malicious USB device in case an attacker has physical access to the machine, ” Konovalov said. The 14 flaws are actually part of a larger list of 79 flaws Konovalov found in Linux kernel USB drivers during the past months. Not all of these 79 vulnerabilities have been reported, let alone patched. Most are simple DoS (Denial of Service) bugs that freeze or restart the OS, but some allow attackers to elevate privileges and execute malicious code. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Linux Has a USB Driver Security Problem

Scientists on new supernova: WTF have we been looking at?

Enlarge / A more typical Type-IIp supernova. (credit: NASA SWIFT ) A supernova may be one of the most extraordinary events in the Universe, but the Universe is a very big place, and the extraordinary happens with great regularity. We’ve now observed a huge number of these events and have managed to break them down into categories based on patterns in the light they produce. Astrophysicists have built models of exploding stars that explain these properties, matching them to the mass of the original star and the process by which it exploded. We’re at the point where, after just a few observations, we can understand exactly what we’re looking at. Except when we can’t. Today in Nature , a team of researchers is announcing observations of a supernova that it simply can’t explain. In some ways, the event looks like a prosaic stellar explosion. Except it’s stayed bright over six times longer than it should and experienced five periods of enhanced brightness that we can’t explain. Different features of the supernova appear to be arising from physically distinct locations in space. And even the best model for what triggered this—something that involves a type of explosion we haven’t definitively observed previously—doesn’t account for all the observations. Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Scientists on new supernova: WTF have we been looking at?

Windows 10’s Version ofd AirDrop Lets You Quickly Share Files Between PCs

Microsoft is testing its “Near Share” feature of Windows 10 in the latest Insider build (17035) today, which will let Windows 10 PCs share documents or photos to PCs nearby via Bluetooth. The Verge reports: A new Near Share option will be available in the notification center, and the feature can be accessed through the main share function in Windows 10. Files will be shared wirelessly, and recipients will receive a notification when someone is trying to send a file. Microsoft’s addition comes just a day after Google unveiled its own AirDrop-like app for Android. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Windows 10’s Version ofd AirDrop Lets You Quickly Share Files Between PCs

Ford will build EVs with Chinese automaker in $765 million deal

Over the last few months, China has been making plans and deals to wean its country’s cars off fossil fuels. In July, Daimler agreed to pair up with Chinese automaker BAIC to invest $735 million in EV infrastructure. Ford just entered its own venture, a 50-50 partnership with manufacturer Zotye Auto for a combined investment of $756 million to produce electric cars. Once the Chinese government approves the deal, the enterprise will build a manufacturing facility in the Zhejiang province to produce EVs under its new brand, Zotye Ford. As CNET points out, both parent companies signed an agreement back in August that paved the way for this partnership. “Zotye Ford will introduce a new brand family of small all-electric vehicles, ” Ford group VP Peter Fleet said in the statement . “We will be exploring innovative vehicle connectivity and mobility service solutions for a new generation of young city-dwelling Chinese customers.” While China hasn’t set a specific deadline to ban fossil fueled cars, as France and UK expect to phase out by 2040, the clock is ticking. Foreign automakers have two choices: Pay a hefty 25 percent import tax on vehicles or partner with a local company to produce cars in the country. This gives manufacturers like Zotye experience (though that company in particular already produces electric and battery-powered vehicles) while granting outside conglomerates access to Chinese markets. Companies are making deals to get a slice of the country’s EV pie ahead of time because, while its ratio of car owners is low (one in five people), China’s 1.4 billion-person population means nearly 300 million vehicles currently on its roads. Source: CNET

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Ford will build EVs with Chinese automaker in $765 million deal

Cryptojacking craze that drains your CPU now done by 2,500 sites

Enlarge / A music streaming site that participated in Coinhive crypto mining maxes out the visitor’s CPU. (credit: Malwarebytes ) A researcher has documented almost 2,500 sites that are actively running cryptocurrency mining code in the browsers of unsuspecting visitors, a finding that suggests the unethical and possibly illegal practice has only picked up steam since it came to light a few weeks ago. Willem de Groot, an independent security researcher who reported the findings Tuesday, told Ars that he believes all of the 2,496 sites he tracked are running out-of-date software with known security vulnerabilities that have been exploited to give attackers control. Attackers, he said, then used their access to add code that surreptitiously harnesses the CPUs and electricity of visitors to generate the digital currency known as Monero. About 80 percent of those sites, he added, also contain other types of malware that can steal visitors’ payment card details. “Apparently, cyberthieves are squeezing every penny out of their confiscated assets,” he said. Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Cryptojacking craze that drains your CPU now done by 2,500 sites

Code mistake freezes up to $280 million in digital currency

Imagine if one person’s code error deprived you of a pile of money, and there was no guarantee you’d get your funds back. Wouldn’t you be hopping mad? That’s how many cryptocurrency owners are feeling right now. The digital wallet company Parity is warning users that a large volume of Ethereum funds have effectively been frozen after code contributor devops199 claims to have accidentally deleted the library needed to use multi-signature wallets (those that require more than one signature to move funds) created after July 20th. Devops triggered a long-unpatched bug that turned Parity’s wallet contract into a standard multi-signature wallet, making every wallet “suicide” and erase the guiding library code. Whether or not you believe that it was a mistake, it could have very serious consequences. Observers estimate that there could be more than 1 million in ether locked away, which would amount to roughly $280 million. A lower estimate still pegs the damage at over $150 million. Parity describes these figures as “speculative” and suggests you should take them with a grain of salt, but there’s no question that some Ethereum holders are suddenly without a lot of cash. This doesn’t mean that the currency is permanently off-limits, but unfreezing it and compensating users could involve a bailout. And whatever happens, the incident highlights a simple problem: digital wallets and cryptocurrency in general are only as reliable as the code that guides them. The software needs to be airtight if you’re going to tie your livelihood to non-traditional income. Via: Comae (Medium) , Business Insider Source: Parity , Twitter , GitHub

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Code mistake freezes up to $280 million in digital currency

What’s under the yellowed crust of varnish on renaissance paintings

https://twitter.com/philipmould/status/927542755500359680 Art dealer and BBC presenter Philip Mould posted this video showing restoration work on a centuries-old painting . It’s more vigorous than you might expect: a solvent tailored to the varnish but safe for the paint, and the resulting slimy mix simply wiped off to reveal surprisingly clear, vibrant color. Mould hasn’t shared the secrets of what method is being used. Turpentine is sometimes used with another solvent, but that doesn’t appear to be what’s happening here. No matter what method is employed, it takes a good deal of skill to remove the varnish and not have any impact on the actual painting underneath. Details about the featured painting aren’t abundant. Mould later clarified that the “woman in red” is 36 years-old and was painted in 1618, according to an inscription. Below is a digital restoration of the Mona Lisa . The varnish and paint are reportedly too chemically similar to attempt the job with current techniques.

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What’s under the yellowed crust of varnish on renaissance paintings