pennsylvania – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Meteor lights up southern Michigan

Enlarge / That’s no moon! Early last night local time, a meteor rocketed through the skies of Southern Michigan, giving local residents a dramatic (if brief) light show. it also generated an imperceptible thump, as the UG Geological Survey confirmed that there was a coincident magnitude 2.0 earthquake. The American Meteor Society has collected over 350 eyewitness accounts , which ranged from western Pennsylvania out to Illinois and Wisconsin. They were heavily concentrated over southern Michigan, notably around the Detroit area. A number of people have also posted videos of the fireball online; one of the better compilations is below. A compilation of several videos from Syracuse.com. The American Meteor Society estimates that the rock was relatively slow-moving at a sedate 45,000km an hour. Combined with its production of a large fireball, the researchers conclude it was probably a big rock. NASA’s meteorwatch Facebook page largely agrees and suggests that this probably means that pieces of the rock made it to Earth. If you were on the flight path, you might want to check your yard. Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Meteor lights up southern Michigan

Devs Working To Stop Go Math Error Bugging Crypto Software

Richard Chirgwin, writing for The Register: Consider this an item for the watch-list, rather than a reason to hit the panic button: a math error in the Go language could potentially affect cryptographic libraries. Security researcher Guido Vranken (who earlier this year fuzzed up some bugs in OpenVPN) found an exponentiation error in the Go math/big package. Big numbers — particularly big primes — are the foundation of cryptography. Vranken posted to the oss-sec mailing list that he found the potential issue during testing of a fuzzer he wrote that “compares the results of mathematical operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, …) across multiple bignum libraries.” Vranken and Go developer Russ Cox agreed that the bug needs specific conditions to be manifest: “it only affects the case e = 1 with m != nil and a pre-allocated non-zero receiver.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Devs Working To Stop Go Math Error Bugging Crypto Software

Budweiser offers 150,000 free Lyft round trips

If you’re on the lookout for a designated driver this holiday season, a brewery can save the day. Starting today, Budweiser is offering up to 150, 000 free round-trip Lyft rides (worth up to $10 each way) with its “Give a Damn” program until the end of the year. Every Thursday at 2 PM ET, Budweiser will share a code on its Facebook and Instagram channel that you can use Thursday, Friday and Saturday night (in the US only). The program, which Budweiser piloted in New York, Colorado, Illinois and Florida last year , will also be available in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Texas, Georgia and Washington, D.C. this year. When you claim the code, the funds will be transferred to your Lyft account, but only for the three-day period. This year’s program offers round-trips instead of the one-way trips offered during the pilot, which makes a lot more sense. Obviously, Budweiser is offering the rides to gain some feel-good PR and let customers freely consume its product without fear of repercussions. There’s no reason you can’t, say, drink whiskey and still use the codes, though. Budweiser plays no favorites in the ride-sharing game. Working with Uber’s Otto trucking division, it transported 8, 000 cases of Bud over a 120-mile distance, the first such delivery for an autonomous semi-truck. Somehow it makes sense that Uber is delivering the beer, and Lyft is bringing the drunk customers home safely.

Verizon is forced to fix 15,000 “double poles” and other network problems

Enlarge / Dangling bits of old poles hanging off new poles, from a union complaint against Verizon in October 2015. (credit: CWA ) Verizon and a union representing its workers have reached a settlement requiring the company to fix thousands of problems in areas of Pennsylvania where it hasn’t upgraded its copper network to fiber. The settlement of the union’s complaint “will require the company to repair and replace bad cable, defective equipment, faulty back-up batteries, and to take down 15,000 double telephone poles,” the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said Friday . Double poles occur when “Verizon has failed to move its equipment from an old pole that was replaced with a new one by another utility (e.g., the electric company),” the CWA said. “In many cases, these are dangerous conditions—poles are falling, leaning, rotting, partially cut off, etc.” Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Verizon is forced to fix 15,000 “double poles” and other network problems

Thieves find an even more insidious way to swipe your PIN

The secret service has issued a warning to banks and ATM companies about a new way that thieves can steal your credit card information . A report from Krebs on Security explains that “periscope” skimmers have been found inside teller machines in Connecticut and Pennsylvania in the last two months. Of course, since the devices attach to the internal mechanism, there’s absolutely no way for an end user to tell if they’re at risk. The report explains that ATMs with openable lids are the most at risk, since nefarious types can easily gain access inside. The “periscope” probe is installed in a pre-existing hole in the card reader to skim the magnetic stripe, while the other end contains a battery and storage unit. It’s believed that the device can store up to 32, 000 numbers and will last 14 days on a charge. What the gear can’t do, however, is harvest PINs, so it’s theorized that these devices were tests in preparation for a bigger heist. Krebs goes on to add that putting your hand over the cash dispenser’s number pad will defeat a large proportion of scammers with skimmers. Thieves who use pin-pad overlays — fake buttons over the real thing — are relatively rare because the hardware is expensive to reproduce. Krebs also advises users to avoid, wherever possible, standalone ATMs where the lid is easily accessible. Instead, people should favor cashpoints that are mounted in the wall, like those outside banks, and in well-lit areas. Source: Krebs on Security

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Thieves find an even more insidious way to swipe your PIN

CRISPR gene-editing approved for first human trials

A federal ethics and biosafety panel has approved the first ever human trials of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania aim to modify the immune system “T cells” in patients, helping them better fight off several kinds of cancer. The work will be funded by the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, founded earlier this year by tech billionaire Sean Parker. While the federal ethics panel nod was a big hurdle, researchers still need approval from the FDA and the hospitals conducting the studies before they can start. CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing has never been tried on humans, so early studies will focus on the safety and efficacy of the tech. Scientists will remove T cells from up to 15 patients with three types of cancer: multiple melanoma, melanoma and sarcoma. The cells will be modified with CRISPR so that they can fight the malignant cells normally, then reinserted back into the patient. The trial will take place at MD Anderson Cance Center in Texas, USC San Francisco and Penn. Sean Parker with human genome pioneer Craig Venter The technology holds a vast amount of promise in medicine — if a patient lacks a gene that makes them more susceptible to cancer or other diseases, it can simply be edited back in. Scientists also believe that it could be used to permanently eliminate diseases like Down syndrome or Sickle-Cell Anemia . If embryonic cells are “repaired, ” the recipient can never pass on a genetic disease to his offspring. However, the technique is controversial, and scientists fear it could cause unintended side effects. Scientists in China used CRISPR on human embryos to repair a gene that causes a fatal blood disorder. The technique worked on half the embryos, but failed on the other half. As a result, the team called off the study, calling it “too immature.” Nevertheless, scientists on the federal panel that gave the go-ahead for the Penn State trials were enthused, calling the study “exciting.” The decision means that CRISPR-Cas9 tech will be used even earlier on humans than expected — a company called Editas Medicine said it would hold the first trials to treat blindness in 2017. Via: Techcrunch Source: Stat News

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CRISPR gene-editing approved for first human trials

Just add water and this squid-inspired plastic heals itself

While you’ve been busy scarfing down fried calamari rings, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have been doing something else with squid . Namely? Studying the cephalopod’s ring teeth for a way to create a material that heals when water’s present , much in the way that those tentacle-bound choppers do. The way the report spotted by Popular Science tells it, the researchers were able to reproduce the type of proteins found in the self-healing squid teeth and trigger bacteria to make it in a lab environment. To test just how strong the new material was, the scientists formed the protein into the shape of a dog bone and cut it in two with a razor blade. After pressing the two segments back together, dousing them with a bit of water and applying pressure, the pieces fused and were still as strong compared to before they were cut. Like PopSci notes, this type of material could be used to coat things deep-sea internet cables or perhaps help biomedical devices have a longer lifespan, but is still a ways off from primetime. That and it still needs to be tested against shark bites , of course. [Image credits: Getty/Jeff Rotman (lead), Demirel Lab/Penn State (lab photo)] Filed under: Science , Alt Comments Via: Popular Science Source: Penn State University , Nature Tags: bacteria, nature, protein, science, SelfHealing, squid, squidteeth, UniversityOfPennsylvania, upenn

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Just add water and this squid-inspired plastic heals itself

MacKeeper May Have To Pay Millions In Class-Action Suit

jfruh writes: If you use a Mac, you probably recognize MacKeeper from the omnipresent popup ads designed to look vaguely like system warnings urging you to download the product and use it to keep your computer safe. Now the Ukranian company behind the software and the ads may have to pay millions in a class action suit that accuses them of exaggerating security problems in order to convince customers to download the software. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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MacKeeper May Have To Pay Millions In Class-Action Suit

FBI Offers $3 Million Reward For Russian Hacker

mpicpp sends word that the FBI and the U.S. State Department have announced the largest-ever reward for a computer hacking case. They’re offering up to $3 million for information leading to the arrest of Evgeniy Bogachev, a 31-year-old Russian national. Bogachev is the alleged administrator of the GameOver Zeus botnet, estimated to have affected over a million computers, causing roughly $100 million in damages. “Bogachev has been charged by federal authorities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with conspiracy, computer hacking, wire fraud, bank fraud and money laundering… He also faces federal bank fraud conspiracy charges in Omaha, Nebraska related to his alleged involvement in an earlier variant of Zeus malware known as ‘Jabber Zeus.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A Brief History of the Rubber Band

Cheap, reliable, and strong, the rubber band is one of the world’s most ubiquitous products. It holds papers together, prevents long hair from falling in a face, acts as a reminder around a wrist, is a playful weapon in a pinch, and provides a way to easily castrating baby male livestock … While rubber itself has been around for centuries, rubber bands were only officially patented less than two centuries ago. Here now is a brief history of the humble, yet incredibly useful, rubber band. Read more…

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A Brief History of the Rubber Band