After 5 Years Hacker Who Hacked Official Linux Kernel Website Arrested While Breaking Traffic Rules

Around five years after unknown hackers gained unauthorized access to multiple kernel.org servers used to maintain and distribute the Linux operating system kernel, police have arrested police have arrested a South Florida computer programmer.

Donald Ryan Austin, a 27-year-old programmer from of El Portal, Florida, was charged Thursday with hacking servers belonging to the Linux Kernel Organization (kernel.org) and the Linux Foundation in 2011, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday. 

Austin managed to steal login credentials of one of the Linux Kernel Organization system administrators in 2011 and used them to install a hard-to-detect malware backdoor, dubbed Phalanx, on servers belonging to the organization.

Using the Phalanx malware, Austin allegedly installed Ebury – a Trojan designed for Linux, FreeBSD or Solaris hacking – on a number of servers run by the Linux groups, which helped him gain access to the login credentials of people using the servers.

Austin allegedly infected Linux servers, including "Odin1," "Zeus1," and "Pub3," which were leased by the Linux Foundation for operating kernel.org. He also hacked the personal email server of Linux Kernel Organization’s founder Peter Anvin.

Austin is also accused of allegedly using his unauthorized admin privileges to insert messages into the system that would display when the servers restarted.

According to prosecutors, Austin's motive for the intrusion was to gain early access to Linux software builds distributed through the www.kernel.org website.

This security breach forced the Linux Foundation to shut down kernel.org completely while a malware infection was cleared up, and rebuild several of its servers. Miami Shores Police stopped Austin while breaking traffic rules on August 28 and then arrested after identified as a suspect in 2011 case.

Austin is charged with 4 counts of "intentional transmission causing damage to a protected computer." He was released from jail on a bond of $50,000 provided by the family of his girlfriend.

Judge has ordered Austin to stay away from the Internet, computers, and every type of social media or e-mail services, due to his "substance abuse history."

Austin is scheduled to appear in San Francisco federal court on September 21 before the Honorable Sallie Kim United States Magistrate Judge.

An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of ten years of imprisonment, and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution, for each violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A).  However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

source: Justice.gov

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Offensive Security has finally released updated Kali Linux 2016.2 Live ISO

From the Black Hat and DEF CON Vegas conferences and as promised Offensive Security has finally released the much awaited Kali Linux 2016.2.

Kali Linux is an open-source Debian-based Linux distribution designed to help ethical hackers and security professionals with a wide range of tools for penetration testing, forensics, hacking and reverse engineering together into a single package. (Earlier the Kali Linux distribution was known as BackTrack)

Kali Linux 2016.2 is an updated Live ISO image of the popular GNU/Linux distribution that includes the latest software versions and enhancements for those who want to deploy the operating system on new systems. 

The updated Live ISOs of Kali Linux, the Kali Linux team brings multiple variants of the GNU/Linux distribution with various Desktop Environments, specifically KDE, Xfce, MATE, LXDE, and Enlightenment – all available only for 64-bit platforms.
What's even more exciting is that, from Kali Linux 2016.2 onwards, the team promises to release updated Live ISO images of Kali with new software versions and the latest security patches every week.

Kali Linux has been the most advanced and widely used distro for penetration testing and forensics, this weekly update has come up as exciting news for those involved in various hacking and security-related projects. Kali has been featured on the hit USA network series Mr Robot and the Official Kali Linux Twitter account becoming a verified account.

It's been several months since the last update to the official Kali Linux Live ISOs, and there are a few hundred new or updated packages pushed to the Kali repositories.
This means that the packages incorporated in the previous Kali Linux ISOs need bug fixes and OS improvements, which are implemented in the most recent versions of the Linux distro.

Anyone downloading an ISO even 3 months old has somewhat of a long 'apt-get dist-upgrade' ahead of them.

You can download the latest Kali Linux 2016.2 ISOs from its official website now. 

source: Kali.org

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Samsung explains how recall works on US Device Galaxy Note 7 as early as next week

It's been less than 24 hours since Samsung announced its worldwide recall of the Galaxy Note 7, and owners are probably wondering exactly what's next. 

The major US carriers have already provided information on what they will do for customers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon), and now Samsung is laying out its plans for direct support. If owners want to exchange for another Galaxy Note 7, they can do that as early as next week. Their other option is to exchange the device for a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge, plus replacement of any Note accessories and a refund of the price difference.

For their trouble, Samsung says it's offering a $25 gift card or bill credit from "select carriers" when swapping for a new device through the replacement program. Owners should contact the retailer where they purchased the device, or call 1-800-SAMSUNG for more information. Continuing its message from earlier this morning, the company says it has identified "the affected inventory" but it's still voluntarily replacing devices for all interested owners.

It seems like a lot of trouble and not much payback for owners who have already picked up the phone. 

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Harvard’s Octobot is the first autonomous machine made of soft robotics materials

This Octobot from Harvard is the first that not only contains no hard parts but is also entirely autonomous.

Robert Wood and Jennifer Lewis, both at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, describe the Octobot in a paper published today in Nature. The creation won’t be winning any awards for agility, but given that autonomy is generally created by a computer governing a robot’s movements, this is a significant milestone.

The robot is mostly 3D printed, and afterwards its body is inlaid with channels that both power and govern its movement. That movement is pneumatic, powered by gas derived from hydrogen peroxide, the robot’s fuel. It pushes fluid through the limbs, inflating them — and if it were only that, it would still be impressive.

“The struggle has always been in replacing rigid components like batteries and electronic controls with analogous soft systems and then putting it all together,” explained Wood in the Harvard news release. “This research demonstrates that we can easily manufacture the key components of a simple, entirely soft robot, which lays the foundation for more complex designs.”


The key bit here is that the microfluidic network is cleverly designed to feed back on itself, shutting down the inflation of one limb and starting the inflation of another in a predetermined sequence. It does its thing (such as it is) on its own, without any need for the researchers or environment to provide power or guidance.

The microfluidic network, it should be mentioned, builds on the work of chemist and co-author George Whitesides, also from the Wyss Institute.




Admittedly, it’s a vastly simpler machine than any other autonomous robot, but it’s also the first of its kind. Soft robotic materials are promising in many fields, but especially in those where the bot has to operate around — or inside — humans.

The plan is to double down on the octopus design — a logical idea, considering the power and versatility of “the boneless one,” as Hesiod called it. The next version of Octobot, the researchers suggested, will be able to swim and interact with objects around it.

source: Harvard

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Windows 10 on LG's Refrigerator Door

LG put a fully functioning Windows 10 tablet on the door of a fancy new icebox.

And it’s a massive tablet, at that – measuring 29-inches, powered by an Intel Atom processor located up top. It actually seems to work pretty well, in the demo we got on the show room floor. It’s surprisingly responsive – a lot more than many of the sorts of displays companies jam onto their appliances in the name of smartness.

The coolest bit here (what pun?) is that the fact that the big touchscreen surface turns translucent, revealing the fridge’s contents behind it. That means that you can virtually pin things like purchase dates to the surface, directly in front of a perishable. Of course, the demo refrigerator had like four things in it. As large as 27 inches is, it can get pretty crowded, pretty fast.

You can also do all of the standard smart fridge door stuff, a la Samsung’s Tizen offerings, like finding and displaying recipes, watching YouTube videos, or, in the case on the demo on the floor, looking at a big picture of Vladimir Putin’s head in the news.

source: TC

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43 million user accounts hacked in Last.fm breach

Advice is that you change your password immediately if you have an account on Last.fm. The most popular password pulled from the Last.fm database was 123456. Seriously, it’s 2016 people — use a platform like LastPass to generate randomized, complex passwords that are unique to every service for which you sign up.

43,570,999 user accounts were breached in a hack of Last.fm that occurred in March of 2012, according to a report from LeakedSource. Three months after the breach, in June of 2012, Last.fm issued the following statement:

“We are currently investigating the leak of some Last.fm user passwords. This follows recent password leaks on other sites, as well as information posted online. As a precautionary measure, we’re asking all our users to change their passwords immediately.”

The number of passwords and the severity of the hack were not uncovered until today. The passwords were stored using unsalted MD5 hashing. Rather than storing passwords in plaintext, nearly every site that stores critical user information utilizes some form of hashing. Hashing is a method for encrypting data, but some methods are far superior to others.

MD5 is seriously out of style, in part because it is not mathematically intensive enough to resist modern methods of brute-force cracking. Moreover, Last.fm didn’t use salt in its hashing process. Salting is the practice of adding a random string of numbers to the hash for each individual password, making them more secure and decreasing the likelihood that they will be cracked if the passwords are ever leaked online. Unfortunately, Last.fm did not take that step, and LeakedSource reports that most of the passwords were easily cracked.

source: LeakedSource

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German company unveils a $725 'Augmented Paper' and smart pen set

Like smart watches, it was only a matter of time before smart pens went from being novel gadgets to high-end luxury items.

For $725, the set includes a modified version of a Montblanc StarWalker pen plus a "black Italian leather" notebook made in Florence that you'll need to actually transfer your notes into digital form. The notebook and pen use electromagnetic resonance to digitize your handwriting, similar to how a Wacom tablet works. The set lasts about 8 hours on a charge and can store up to 100 pages in internal memory if you're writing away from your smartphone. Once the notes are uploaded to the Montblanc Hub app, which is available on both iOS and Android. You can share or store them however you like and the company also claims "best-in-class handwriting recognition" available for 12 languages.

It also comes with three ink refills and a USB charging cable. Appropriately enough for a luxury device, it goes on sale in the UK first, as an exclusive item at Harrods in London. In October, it becomes available in the United States, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea, with availability in China, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico and the UAE to follow in November.

Montblanc Augmented Paper – the best of both worlds. pic.twitter.com/byHdeNWzbP

— Montblanc (@montblanc_world) September 1, 2016

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Alphabet Inc’s Google Project Ara modular phone is reportedly suspended

Earlier this year, the company said it will be releasing a developer phone with interchangeable components in the fourth quarter of 2016 ahead of a consumer version scheduled for 2017. Alas, that might no longer happen.

Mountain View is reportedly suspending Ara "as part of a broader push to streamline the company's hardware efforts." It'll be tough releasing a consumer version of a phone with interchangeable components, after all, even though the latest prototype isn't as customizable as Motorola originally envisioned. (To note, Google chose to keep Project Ara when it sold Motorola to Lenovo.) The company will have to manufacture not just the units themselves, but also the modular speakers and cameras that people can swap out.

Those same sources said Google's modular phone dream might not be completely dead, though. The company could still license out Project Ara's technology to other phonemakers, which could eventually and finally release a version we can buy.

Source: Reuters

 

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Samsung has issued a recall of the Galaxy Note 7 amid battery risk

A small number of explosions still represents a big risk, , Samsung has issued a recall of the device.

The problem occurs when faulty devices are being charged, and is down to an issue within the batteries themselves, rather than chargers or circuitry. Apparently, it affects only a small percentage of devices, but when shipments are in the millions, that still amounts to a very big problem. At a press conference to announce the recall, Samsung said that 35 cases of the fault have been reported to date, and it estimates the problem affects only 24 in a million of devices, which equates to roughly one per 42,000.

Samsung has halted the sales of the device worldwide, and is preparing replacements. It says it'll take around two weeks to get the pieces in place, and it'll exchange devices like-for-like. Most carriers around the world had already halted sales, and any that hadn't, will now, to ensure the faulty devices don't spread any further. The precise details of how the recall will work are likely to be announced by regional offices. 



By all accounts, this will be the highest-profile consumer tech recall in history, but it's by no means the first. Apple has had its fair share of issues, from the Beats Pill XL recall last year to the iPhone 4 Antennagate (which resulted in free bumper cases being handed out). Fitbit had huge problems with skin irritation on the Force fitness tracker, and ended up recalling all of them. The largest recall of all, however, surrounds Takata airbags -- to date, well over 50 million have been recalled

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Finland ISP set a new world record a whopping 1.9 Gbps Internet Speed over 4G Mobile Connection

Elisa, one of the biggest Finnish Internet Service Providers (ISP), claims to have achieved a new world record for 4G network with 1.9 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) data download speed using Huawei technology.

Currently, Sweden and the United Kingdom have been crowned as the top countries across the world when it comes to fastest mobile 3G and 4G speeds, but now Finland is also working hard to give them a tough competition.

Elisa set this record-breaking benchmark with the help of technology provided by Chinese telecom giant Huawei that could allow real-world mobile 4G users to download a Blu-ray film in just 40-45 seconds.
But currently, the fastest available mobile 4G broadband subscription provides a speed of up to 300Mbps, while the maximum possible speed on a real-world Elisa's live network is 450Mbps.

"The speeds that the 4G network offers are continuously increasing and, possibly in the next few years, we will even be able to offer mobile data connections of several gigabits per second to our customers," says Sami Komulainen, Vice President at Elisa.

“A speed of almost two gigabits may seem unheard-of, and many people are wondering if such speeds are even needed in everyday use. However, there will be more and more demand for high-speed connections in the future as, for example, 360-degree videos and virtual reality applications become more popular,” Komulainen says.

However, Elisa is not the first telecommunication company planning to offer at least 1 Gbps on 4G network within the next "two to three years," as VodaFone Germany has also prepared to provide 1 Gbps on its 4G network by the end of 2016.

Source: ELISA 

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Sony Made A Gold-plated Walkman

The new Walkman has a copper body that’s been plated in gold, which is meant to reduce contact resistance and magnetic interference. Internally, the Walkman’s analog circuitry is supposed to be separated from its primarily digital circuitry to reduce noise even further. It also has a “dual clock circuit with low phase noise quartz oscillator,” which is an obscure part of the digital-to-analog conversion chain that's probably important to get right and difficult to measure the results of, but will theoretically lead to improvements in sound quality.

This is a super-high-end revision of the already-high-end Walkman that Sony introduced for playing lossless audio files last year. It basically takes that and modifies the hardware to prevent subtle interference that could harm sound quality. To be clear, these are likely to be minor sound quality improvements that only serious audiophiles with equally high-end headphones will notice. But for that niche audience, this may be a solution


The Walkman’s design has been tweaked very slightly from last year’s model, too. Its headphone jack is now at the top , and the physical controls along its side look like they’re less recessed and perhaps easier to press. The player’s interface is supposed to have been changed up as well, although Sony hasn’t shown what it looks like yet.

If you want it, the insanely high-end Walkman will be available “early next year” for $3,199.99. A standard version of the Walkman will also be available for $1,199.99, which will presumably have the new design but none of the fancy circuitry and coatings of the gold-plated model. It’ll likely replace the 2015 Walkman, which currently sells for that price.

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Sgnl a smart strap that enables you to answer phone calls through your fingertip

A new gadget on Kickstarter is basically designed to make you feel like a secret agent. It's called Sgnl, you can keep your cell phone alone in the bag and simply raise your hand to answer a phone call with out carrying any extra headset or earphone.

There's no speaker on the device — instead, audio is directed into your ear through vibrations that are sent through your body, into your wrist and up to the fingers touching your ear; a mic is built into the band. Not only transmits the sound but it also blocks out background noise. So you can hear very clear voice in a loud places without worrying about other people listening in. It's not a new concept, but it's a neat twist on the not-very-cool Bluetooth headset.

There's one other interesting twist to Sgnl. While you can wear it as a standalone wristband, it's meant to be used as a watch strap, either for an analog watch or a smartwatch. It definitely looks a bit clunkier than a normal wristband, but integrating it straight into another gadget that you're already wearing is a nice idea, as it's one less gadget to keep track of.




Replace your existing watch strap with Sgnl and you’re done, whether you wear a classic watch or an Apple Watch, Samsung Gear, or Pebble Time. 

The project comes from Innomdle Lab, a startup that's been spun out of Samsung. This is its first project, and it's launching with a Kickstarter campaign looking for $50,000, which it's very nearly reached at the time of this writing. Sgnl units are selling for around $139.

 Source: Kickstarter,

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BitTorrent app was linked to Mac ransomware

BitTorrent app was linked to the first known instance of Mac ransomware, security researchers at ESET have pinpointed another form of malware taking advantage of Transmission to infect Mac users. Keydnap, as it's called, takes advantage of a modified version of Transmission (planted on the developer's site without its knowledge) to attack your computer. It's similar to the ransomware's approach in more ways than just its choice of host app -- it even uses a signing key to trick Apple's Gatekeeper safeguard into letting it through.
 
The malware's effect may be limited. Transmission only had the affected version available for about a day before they pulled it, and ESET has already told Apple about Keydnap about the relevant key. It's just a matter of blocking that key to prevent the malware from running. Nonetheless, this is a reminder that even stringent system-level protections won't always catch rogue code.

Literally minutes after being notified by ESET, the Transmission team removed the malicious file from their web server and launched an investigation to identify how this happened. At the time of writing, it was impossible to tell exactly when the malicious file was made available for download. According to the signature, the application bundle was signed on August 28th, 2016, but it seems to have been distributed only the next day. Thus, we advise anyone who downloaded Transmission v2.92 between August 28th and August 29th, 2016, inclusively, to verify if their system is compromised by testing the presence of any of the following file or directory:

• /Applications/Transmission.app/Contents/Resources/License.rtf
• /Volumes/Transmission/Transmission.app/Contents/Resources/License.rtf
• $HOME/Library/Application Support/com.apple.iCloud.sync.daemon/icloudsyncd
• $HOME/Library/Application Support/com.apple.iCloud.sync.daemon/process.id
• $HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.iCloud.sync.daemon.plist
• /Library/Application Support/com.apple.iCloud.sync.daemon/
• $HOME/Library/LaunchAgents/com.geticloud.icloud.photo.plist

Source: ESET

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Microsoft OneNote new intelligent math coach that can help solve your math homework

Microsoft building on the beta launch of Windows Ink, OneNote has added new ink effects, a replay feature and a new intelligent math coach that can help you solve handwritten equations. While OneNote already comes with shape and handwriting recognition, the new math assistant takes inking one step further by converting a longhand equation into text and then highlighting the steps you need to solve it. Simply write out an equation in OneNote, circle it with the lasso and select which variable to solve for. From there, OneNote can walk you through the steps. Voila: suddenly all those FOIL method and PEMDAS mnemonics are obsolete.

On the other hand, if a class requires a more old-school teaching approach, OneNote now allows you to rewind and play back inked notes -- useful for following the pencil strokes in a sketch or reviewing step-by-step instructions. Rounding out the ink updates are a couple splashy new effects like rainbow, galaxy, gold and silver ink options that are great for artwork, but will likely drive a calculus professor up the wall.

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Parrot's new Parrot Swing and Parrot Mambo Minidrones

Parrot announced its new Parrot Swing and Parrot Mambo Minidrones. The Minidrone line serves as a good entry point for people looking to get into the hobby, with their smaller, cheaper, and more toy-like designs versus larger and more expensive models.

The Parrot Swing is definitely the more unique of the two, with an almost X-wing-like design that looks like it flew straight out of a Star Wars movie. The Swing is actually a hybrid quadcopter / plane drone, capable of vertical takeoff and landing. Once it's in the air, though, it can shift from quadcopter flight to a faster, more maneuverable horizontal flight mode more similar to a remote-control plane, at speeds that Parrot claims can reach up to 18 mph.



The Parrot Mambo, on the other hand, looks at first glance like a more traditional quadcopter. But the Mambo stands out with its modular attachment system, which allows for various controllable hardware attachments to be mounted on the drone. The Mambo ships with the Cannon and Grabber modules, which allow you to annoy friends, family members, and / or pets by pelting them with small plastic balls and pick up and carry small objects, respectively, while a third Illuminator attachment with LED spotlights will be sold separately at launch for $15. It’s easy to imagine that Parrot might have more modular pieces on its way for the Mambo in the future.


Both drones can be controlled by a connected smartphone using Parrot’s FreeFlight Mini app, or with the optional $39.99 Parrot Flypad controller, which offers physical control sticks and an increased range. One of the downsides of the smaller drones is the limited flight time, with Parrot claiming that both Minidrones get around eight minutes in the air off a 30-minute charge.

Price-wise, the Parrot Swing will cost $139.99 in a bundle that includes the Flypad controller, while the Mambo will run for $119.99 with the Cannon and Grabber attachments. They'll both be available in September.

source: Parrot, TheVerge
 

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Google Launch #LovePhilippines Social Media Campaign

Google launch #LovePhilippines, a year-long social media campaign where we will share with you interesting tidbits about our country, culture and people. Let's celebrate the Philippines everyday! Please spread the #Love for our mother land with pride and honor so others will know more about us too!

Starting August 29, Google will post about the things that make our culture, people and nation truly #LOVEble. 

Google start the week with #MustTryMonday with things that can range from recipes to adventures unique to the Philippines. 
Then, we'll give you #TriviaTuesday with not-so-well-known information about our country to give your curiosity a little tickle. 
Mid-week will be #WanderlustWednesday where we'll give you a quick tour of our beautiful islands using Street View. 
#ThrowbackThursday will be dedicated to blasts from our past that contribute to who we are today. 
And we shall cap every week with #FilipinoFriday with things that make us truly PINOY. So, spread the #LOVE for the Philippines with us as we begin this exciting journey tomorrow!

Source: GooglePH+

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Megaupload founder wants a livestream of his entire hearing

Megaupload creator Kim Dotcom is in the fight of his life as he appeals his possible extradition to the US, and he wants everyone to know it. He's requesting that the Auckland, New Zealand court hearing his case should let him livestream the hearing on YouTube. Dotcom and his lawyer Ira Rothken argue that this is the definition of a "public interest" case. Megaupload's abrupt shutdown over allegedly facilitating piracy, and the resulting criminal action, supposedly had a far-reaching effect on the internet.

The hearing judge is seriously considering allowing the stream despite the late notice, and you may learn about the decision within a matter of hours. Whether or not it happens is another matter. The US is reportedly opposed to a livestream, possibly because it could reveal sensitive information. Dotcom's defense has offered to delay the stream by 10 minutes to prevent any details from getting out, though, so arguments for secrecy might not hold much water.

source: Kim Dotcom (Twitter)

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A YEAR IN THE LIFE ON SIMULATED MARS

On August 28, six scientists emerged from a 1000 square foot dome where they have spent the past year simulating the first human habitat on Mars.

The crew members - with backgrounds ranging from astrobiology to medicine and even space architecture - have not breathed fresh air in a year. They were only able to go outside a few times a month, in full space suits, and they could shower for six minutes every week. All of their communications were on a 20-minute delay, making email the only viable means to communicate with the rest of the world.

Throughout the yearlong mission, the six crew members have captured their daily experiences on camera for the documentary “Red Heaven”. The film will tell the story of the challenges and changes they’ve endured living life on simulated Mars, and it strives to ask deeper questions about humanity’s future and what it means to become a multi-planetary species.

 (HI-SEAS, Dome)

Directors Katherine Gorringe and Lauren DeFilippo are running a Kickstarter to fund editing this footage. They need to reach $40,000 by September 18. The rewards for pledges include the “Bill Nye Digital Bundle” - one of the rewards from The Bill Nye Film, the most backed documentary ever on Kickstarter - as well as a Skype call with one of the ‘hab-inauts’ and tickets to the film's premiere. The film is co-produced by Structure Film’s David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg, the award-winning directors behind the documentary about Bill Nye The Science Guy - the most-backed documentary of all time on Kickstarter, currently in post-production.

Gorringe and DeFilippo, who met as graduate film students at Stanford University, became fascinated with the futuristic and technology-driven way of life in Silicon Valley. “We realized the worlds of our favorite science fiction films were becoming closer to our reality, and we kept wondering, why do we dream of going to Mars? More importantly, what will that future be like for human beings?”

This mission is the longest study of its kind ever conducted on U.S. soil. The NASA-funded Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) project places would-be astronauts in a simulated Mars habitat for long durations and collects data on the crew to study the social effects of isolation. Their findings will be used at NASA to determine the conditions for future manned Mars missions.

(EVAs or Extravehicular Activities Mars-like environment)

Spending twelve months in a confined space with five other people certainly has its challenges, and the six crew members found solace in EVAs or Extravehicular Activities, where they could explore volcanic caverns and perform geological research. They also released stress by cooking creatively with the freeze-dried options available to them, and exercising - two crew members ran a marathon while inside the dome.

 (Carmen, running)

The directors have two clear goals for their project: first and foremost, they want to give viewers a raw and intimate look into what life on Mars might really be like; secondly, they hope to inspire conversation about the stories we tell about the future, and how these tales shape what future becomes a reality.

“Red Heaven” is slated to premiere in 2018. To donate to the “Red Heaven” Kickstarter, go to:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1049661970/red-heaven?ref=recommended

You can watch "Red Heaven" trailer video here:


RED HEAVEN -- Official Trailer from Katherine Gorringe on Vimeo.

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Russia's search giant Yandex is making a self-driving shuttle bus

Internet search giants Google is making self-driving cars, and now Russia's Yandex wants it too.

Google’s big competitor in Russia, Yandex, has services to rival its U.S. counterpart’s efforts in search, mobile, and much more.

It's partnering with Daimler, truck maker Kamaz and government-backed researchers at NAMI on an autonomous shuttle bus that could carry up to 12 people and travel about 124 miles on a charge. Yandex is contributing its experiences with artificial intelligence, computer vision and voice recognition, and it'll even be central to the interface -- you'll use a Yandex-linked mobile app to pinpoint your destination.

NAMI will start testing the self-driving bus on closed circuits in 2017, and it's bound to be a while after that before you can see one (or something like it) cruising the streets. There's no guarantee that you'll ever get to ride this bus beyond Russian borders, but it wouldn't be surprising if Yandex's technology finds its way into more vehicles. If nothing else, this is further evidence that driverless transportation is quickly becoming a worldwide phenomenon.



Uber company  been making very rapid progress on its plan to replace its one million-plus drivers with computers. The company will deploy around 100 modified Volvo XC90s outfitted with self-driving equipment.

Yandex already has deals with Toyota and Honda to see its navigation and web-browsing tools embedded in the car-makers’ vehicles in the Russian market. A spokesman said the firm was also talking to manufacturers in other countries.


Source: Fortune,

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US Defense Department Science board worries it will lose the AI war

A new Defense Department report says that the country needs to take "immediate action" to speed up its development of AI war technology. Academic and private research on AI and autonomous tech is well ahead of American forces, the study says. There's a real chance that we could see a repeat of what happened in cyberwarfare, where the US was focused so heavily on launching attacks that it left itself off-guard.

The US DDS board has some advice. It recommends that the Pentagon gather more intelligence on other nations' AI capabilities, and develop "counter-autonomy" solutions. The military could deceive or overwhelm autonomous war machines, for example. Also, the writers suggest that the US pour many more resources into developing and testing learning AI, such as weapons that adapt to battlefield conditions.

The MAARS is one of three robotic, unmanned vehicles demonstrated to Soldiers from the 519th

The board cautions that rivals (such as China and Russia) have "less restrictive" policies on lethal autonomous hardware, such as killer robots. That doesn't mean that the US should follow their lead, but it may need technology that can thwart deadly AI systems before it's too late.

Army of the Future: Russian combat Robots



Source: Defense One, Secretary of Defense (PDF)

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Simulated Mars mission ends its year-long experiment HI-SEAS

A NASA 365 days simulation of living on Mars has finally come to a close. The six people in the HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) experiment have left their geodesic dome set in a Mars-like environment at approximately 8,200 feet above sea level on Mauna Loa to rejoin the rest of society. The test shows that a team can maintain performance, resource gathering and social graces while spending long periods in the relative isolation necessary for a Mars mission, whether it's a temporary stay or a full-fledged colony. For example, the crew demonstrated that you can extract water from ground that appears to be dry -- important when astronauts would likely have to ration water carefully.

The conditions weren't nearly as harsh as they would be on Mars, of course, but there were strict limitations. Participants could only leave the dome if they had a spacesuit on, for instance, and they had to survive on simple food (usually canned or powdered). Entering the dome was, psychologically, much like leaving Earth -- they were cut off from the luxuries of home for much longer than your average camping trip.

This isn't the last HI-SEAS mission. NASA has offered grants that will keep the experiment going through 2019, and recruiting is already underway for the next two stays. Even so, this extra-long test (there were previous 4- and 8-month stays) is already a big confidence booster. Its data will help NASA tweak its strategies for supporting long-endurance space missions, whether it's the mix of supplies they need to bring or a choice of personalities that mesh well together.


Source: University of Hawaii

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Opera Browser Cloud Sync Service Compromised

Opera Software reported a security breach last night, which affects all users of the sync feature of its web browser. Opera has reset passwords of all users for one of its services after hackers were able to gain access to one of its Cloud servers this week.
 
Opera’s Cloud Sync service, which allows users to synchronize their browser data and settings across multiple platforms, you may have hacked your passwords, login names, and other sensitive data.

Opera has around 350 Million users across its range products, but around 1.7 Million users using its Sync service had both their synchronized passwords as well as their authentication passwords leaked in the hack.

Since the company has already reset passwords of all of its registered Opera Sync users and emailed them with details, you need not worry about your account.

Opera confirmed its server breach on Friday, saying the "attack was quickly blocked" but that it "believe some data, including some of [their] sync users’ passwords and account information, such as login names, may have been compromised."

"Although we only store encrypted (for synchronized passwords) or hashed and salted (for authentication) passwords in this system, we have reset all the Opera sync account passwords as a precaution," Opera Software explained in a blog post.

Additionally, the company has also informed all Opera Sync users about the security breach and recommended them to change passwords for their Opera Sync accounts as soon as possible. You can obtain a new password for Opera sync using the password resetting page.


source: Opera

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