Computers & Linux News

This writer had success reducing his reflux symptoms on a low-acid diet. Here's how it works.

"A rash of supply chain attacks hitting open source software over the past year shows few signs of abating, following the discovery this week of two separate backdoors slipped into a dozen libraries downloaded by hundreds of thousands of server administrators," reports Ars Technica: The compromises of Webmin and the RubyGems libraries are only the latest supply chain attacks to hit open source software. Most people don't think twice about installing software or updates from the official site of a known developer. As developers continue to make software and websites harder to exploit, black hats over the past few years have increasingly exploited this trust to spread malicious wares by poisoning code at its source... To be fair, closed-source software also falls prey to supply-side attacks -- as evidenced by those that hit computer maker ASUS on two occasions, the malicious update to tax-accounting software M.E.Doc that seeded the NotPetya outbreak of 2017, and another backdoor that infected users of the CCleaner hard drive utility that same year. But the low-hanging fruit for supply chain attacks seems to be open source projects, in part because many don't make multi-factor authentication and code signing mandatory among its large base of contributors. "The recent discoveries make it clear that these issues are becoming more frequent and that the security ecosystem around package publication and management isn't improving fast enough," Atredis Partners Vice President of Research and Development HD Moore told Ars. "The scary part is that each of these instances likely resulted in even more developer accounts being compromised (through captured passwords, authorization tokens, API keys, and SSH keys). The attackers likely have enough credentials at hand to do this again, repeatedly, until all credentials are reset and appropriate MFA and signing is put in place."

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Online or in-person, here’s where to get quick medical attention for less money.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: Shabir Barzanjeh at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria and a few colleagues have used entangled microwaves to create the world's first quantum radar. Their device, which can detect objects at a distance using only a few photons, raises the prospect of stealthy radar systems that emit little detectable electromagnetic radiation. The device is simple in essence. The researchers create pairs of entangled microwave photons using a superconducting device called a Josephson parametric converter. They beam the first photon, called the signal photon, toward the object of interest and listen for the reflection. In the meantime, they store the second photon, called the idler photon. When the reflection arrives, it interferes with this idler photon, creating a signature that reveals how far the signal photon has traveled. Voila -- quantum radar! The researchers go on to compare their quantum radar with conventional systems operating with similarly low numbers of photons and say it significantly outperforms them, albeit only over relatively short distances. That's interesting work revealing the significant potential of quantum radar and a first application of microwave-based entanglement. But it also shows the potential application of quantum illumination more generally. A big advantage is the low levels of electromagnetic radiation required. Then there is the obvious application as a stealthy radar that is difficult for adversaries to detect over background noise. The researchers say it could be useful for short-range low-power radar for security applications in closed and populated environments. The researchers detail their findings in a paper on arXiv.org.

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Thanks to a pair of movies recently released about his life, the world is once again abuzz over John Z. DeLorean. But these films don’t tell the whole, weird story.

How memes help you cope with depression, using drones to monitor the health of cattle, and why the man who discovered Tetris is now focused on saving Earth.

Here's a look at our most important stories for the week ending Aug. 24, 2019.

Instead of a brand new Series 5, Apple could launch a new version of an old Apple Watch at its September launch event.

Earlier today, it was reported that Tesla is working to resolve the lawsuit Walmart filed against the company earlier this week over defective solar panels. However, this story is far from over as Amazon has chimed in by saying it too has seen its Tesla solar panels catch fire. Bloomberg reports: On Friday, Amazon.com Inc. said a June 2018 blaze on the roof of one of its warehouses in Redlands, California, involved a solar panel system that Tesla's SolarCity division had installed. The Seattle-based retail giant said by email that it has since taken steps to protect its facilities and has no plans to install more Tesla systems. Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment, but said earlier on Friday that it had discovered flaws in a part that the company had used in some of its systems. The part known as a "connector," manufactured by Amphenol Corp., led to "failures and disconnections at a higher rate than our standards allow," Tesla said in an emailed statement. The company has worked to replace it.

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Netflix is testing an all-new recommendation system called "Collections" that relies on humans instead of neural networks. TechCrunch reports: While Netflix today already offers thematic suggestions of things to watch, based on your Netflix viewing history, Collections aren't only based on themes. According to Netflix, the titles are curated by experts on the company's creative teams, and are organized into these collections based on similar factors -- like genre, tone, story line and character traits. This human-led curation is different from how Netflix typically makes its recommendations. The streaming service is famous for its advanced categorization system, where there are hundreds of niche categories that go beyond broad groupings like "Action," "Drama," "Sci-Fi," "Romance" and the like. These narrower subcategories allow the streamer to make more specific and targeted recommendations. Netflix also tracks titles that are popular and trending across its service, so you can check in on what everyone else is watching, as well. The feature is currently in testing on iOS devices and can be found at the top right of the app's homepage, if you've been opted in to the test.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: Researchers from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Vienna have experimentally demonstrated what was previously only a theoretical possibility. Together with quantum physicists from the University of Science and Technology of China, they have succeeded in teleporting complex high-dimensional quantum states. The research teams report this international first in the journal Physical Review Letters. In their study, the researchers teleported the quantum state of one photon (light particle) to another distant one. Previously, only two-level states ("qubits") had been transmitted, i.e., information with values "0" or "1". However, the scientists succeeded in teleporting a three-level state, a so-called "qutrit." In quantum physics, unlike in classical computer science, "0" and "1" are not an 'either/or' -- both simultaneously, or anything in between, is also possible. The Austrian-Chinese team has now demonstrated this in practice with a third possibility "2". The quantum state to be teleported is encoded in the possible paths a photon can take. One can picture these paths as three optical fibers. Most interestingly, in quantum physics a single photon can also be located in all three optical fibers at the same time. To teleport this three-dimensional quantum state, the researchers used a new experimental method. The core of quantum teleportation is the so-called Bell measurement. It is based on a multiport beam splitter, which directs photons through several inputs and outputs and connects all optical fibers together. In addition, the scientists used auxiliary photons -- these are also sent into the multiple beam splitter and can interfere with the other photons. Through clever selection of certain interference patterns, the quantum information can be transferred to another photon far from the input photon, without the two ever physically interacting. The experimental concept is not limited to three dimensions, but can in principle be extended to any number of dimensions, as Erhard emphasizes.

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Epic decided to change their mind on the mech.

Nicholas Kristof writes in an opinion piece for The New York Times about Seattle's "bold approach to narcotics that should be a model for America." Instead of being prosecuted for being caught with small amounts of drugs, that person is steered toward social services to get help. "In effect, Seattle is decriminalizing the use of hard drugs," writes Kristof. "It is relying less on the criminal justice toolbox to deal with hard drugs and more on the public health toolbox." From the report: This model is becoming the consensus preference among public health experts in the U.S. and abroad. Still, it shocks many Americans to see no criminal penalty for using drugs illegally, so it takes courage and vision to adopt this approach: a partial retreat in the war on drugs coupled with a stepped-up campaign against addiction. The number of opioid users has surged, and more Americans now die each year from overdoses than perished in the Vietnam, Afghan and Iraq wars combined. And that doesn't account for the way drug addiction has ripped apart families and stunted children's futures. More than two million children in America live with a parent suffering from an illicit-drug dependency. So Seattle is undertaking what feels like the beginning of a historic course correction, with other cities discussing how to follow. This could be far more consequential than the legalization of pot: By some estimates, nearly half of Americans have a family member or close friend enmeshed in addiction, and if the experiment in Seattle succeeds, we'll have a chance to rescue America from our own failed policies. Decriminalization is unfolding here in part because of Dan Satterberg, the prosecuting attorney for King County, which includes Seattle. It's also arguably underway because of what happened to his little sister, Shelley Kay Satterberg. At the age of 14, Shelley ran away from home because her parents wouldn't let her go to a concert on a school night. It was a rebellion that proved devastating. She was away for several months, was gang-raped by two men, was introduced to hard drugs and began to self-medicate with those drugs to deal with the trauma of rape. Dan told me that he was angry at Shelley -- angry that she had made terrible choices, angry that she had hurt their parents. But over time he also concluded that his own approach of prosecuting drug users accomplished little, except that it isolated them from the family and friends who offered the best support system to escape addiction. The report mentions a program called Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) that appears to be working. It was started in 2011 by Satterberg and others and has spread across the country, with 59 localities now offering LEAD initiatives or rolling them out. "The idea is that instead of simply arresting drug users for narcotics or prostitution, police officers watch for those who are nonviolent and want help, and divert them to social service programs and intensive case management," writes Kristof. One 2017 peer-reviewed study found that drug users assigned to the program "were 58 percent less likely to be rearrested, compared with a control group." It also found that "participants were almost twice as likely to have housing as they had been before entering LEAD, and 46 percent more likely to be employed or getting job training." And while it costs about $350 per month per participant to provide case managers, it is still cheaper than jail, courts and costs associated with homelessness.

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YouTube announced it is changing its policy in regard to how it treats videos targeted toward minors and young children. "The video platform says it will now remove all content that contains 'violent' or 'mature' themes if it is targeted toward kids, either through the title of the video, its description, or the accompanying tags," reports The Verge. From the report: Going forward, YouTube says this type of content "will no longer be allowed on the platform." Prior to this change, YouTube was age-restricting such videos, but now it's going a step further to help clean up the platform and make it a safer place for children amid intense regulatory scrutiny and nonstop criticism of its executive leadership. The policy change was announced two days ago, but it was done so on a YouTube Help community forum and appears to have gone largely unnoticed, with the post amassing only 20 replies and little news coverage. YouTube says it will begin ramping up enforcement of this new policy over the next 30 days, to give creators a chance to become familiar with the new rules. As part of that process, YouTube says it will remove videos that violate the policy, but it won't be giving strikes to channels until the 30-day period is up. YouTube says it won't be handing out strikes to videos uploaded prior to the policy change, but it still reserves the right to remove those videos. YouTube advises creators check the YouTube Kids guidelines if they want to specifically reach children with their videos, and it also advises creators to make sure their descriptions and tags are targeting the right audience to avoid getting caught up in the ban. YouTube also says it will be age-restricting more content that could be confusingly viewed as kid-friendly, like adult cartoons.

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It's official. Ewan McGregor is back as Obi-Wan and the scripts are good to go.

Game of Thrones director Matt Shakman on board to direct. Plus Teyonah Parris, Kat Dennings, Randall Park and Kathryn Hahn join the cast.

The first Disney Plus original lands Nov. 12.

Advisers aren't told about the company's policy or product changes in advance, according to a Wired report.

Last month, FairTube -- a collaboration between a group that calls itself the "YouTubers Union" and Europe's largest trade union, IG Metall -- sent Google a list of demands to achieve better working conditions. The letter gave YouTube with a deadline of August 23 to respond or else it would face "a shitstorm," according to Jorg Sprave, the founder of the YouTubers Union. On the last day, hours before the deadline, Google Germany sent a formal letter back to FairTube that said it had "a strong interest in the success and satisfaction of Youtube Creators" and "for this reason, we appreciate the recently expressed interest of the trade unions in supporting YouTube Creators." Motherboard reports: Sprave told Motherboard that Google wanted to "'discuss some fundamental questions about the future of work and won't negotiate our demands. Well, those demands will certainly play an important role anyway as they are designed to make sure that this 'future of work' will be transparent and fair for the workers." Christiane Benner, IG Metall's chairwoman, said in a statement "the pressure we have made together with the YouTubers Union on Google and YouTube, has paid off. We have succeeded to bring Google to the table." FairTube's attempt to improve working conditions for YouTubers hinges on the GDPR, using the European Union regulation that ensures a person's right to access their personal data. With the GDPR, FairTube hopes to shine a light on how YouTube chooses which videos to prioritize or demonetize, and change YouTube's support system from an automated one to one staffed by humans. A Youtube spokesperson told Motherboard that "we explained to the union in great detail what YouTube is doing in terms of transparency and support for YouTubers. But we have also made clear that we are not going to negotiate their demands."

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According to The Verge, citing a report from the Irish Examiner, Apple used human contractors to listen to an arduous 1,000 Siri recordings every day to help make the digital assistant better at giving you what you want. Some of those recordings included personal data and snippets of conversations, one contractor says. An anonymous reader shares the report: Apple's Siri assistant currently records and sends snippets of your voice requests back to Apple to be studied so that Apple can try to make Siri better at giving you what you want. In July, The Guardian reported that contractors also hear some rather personal things, like "confidential medical information, drug deals, and recordings of couples having sex." A contractor that spoke with the Irish Examiner said his job involved noting when Siri could actually help or if Siri was triggered accidentally. The Guardian said contractors "regularly" hear confidential information, but the contractor speaking with the Irish Examiner said the recordings "occasionally" had "personal data or snippets of conversations." There's a reason why we're likely learning more details about the contractors' work now: they may be out of a job. Apple has temporarily stopped using contractors to listen to Siri conversations, and the Irish Examiner reports that Apple no longer needed the services of Cork, Ireland-based contracting company GlobeTech, which employed the contractor who spoke to the Irish Examiner. Neither Apple nor GlobeTech is denying that there may have been layoffs: GlobeTech merely referred the Irish Examiner to a statement that said it ended a "client project" early. Apple said in a statement to the paper that it is "working closely with our partners" as it reviews its processes around grading Siri conversations. Apple has not replied to a request for comment from The Verge. The work Siri contractors reportedly did sounds similar to how Microsoft contractors transcribe Cortana recordings to help train Microsoft's voice assistant. One of the Cortana contractors told Motherboard that contractors are expected to transcribe and classify roughly three "tasks" every minute. For the Siri contractors, transcribing 1,000 voice commands means they likely had to do about two per minute, assuming they were working an eight-hour day.

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