Miscellaneous Tech News
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Google partially backtracks on Chrome changes that would break ad blockers
Benchmarks showed that most ad blockers don't make network requests much slower.
Google has said that it will revise the proposed changes to Chrome's extension API that would have broken or reduced the functionality of a wide range of ad-blocking extensions, to ensure that the current variety of content-blocking extensions is preserved. The initial plans generated a wide backlash from both the developers and users of those extensions, but Google maintains that "It is not, nor has it ever been, our goal to prevent or break content blocking" [emphasis Google's] and says that it will work to update its proposal to address the capability gaps and pain points.
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Inside the DNSpionage hacks that hijack domains at an unprecedented scale
KrebsOnSecurity details how attackers took control of sensitive domains around the world.
Since the beginning of the year, the US government and private security companies have been warning of a sophisticated wave of attacks that’s hijacking domains belonging to multiple governments and private companies at an unprecedented scale. On Monday, a detailed report provided new details that helped explain how and why the widespread DNS hijackings allowed the attackers to siphon huge numbers of email and other login credentials.
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Researchers, scared by their own work, hold back “deepfakes for text” AI
OpenAI's GPT-2 algorithm shows machine learning could ruin online content for everyone.
OpenAI, a non-profit research company investigating "the path to safe artificial intelligence," has developed a machine learning system called Generative Pre-trained Transformer-2 (GPT-2 ), capable of generating text based on brief writing prompts. The result comes so close to mimicking human writing that it could potentially be used for "deepfake" content. Built based on 40 gigabytes of text retrieved from sources on the Internet (including "all outbound links from Reddit, a social media platform, which received at least 3 karma"), GPT-2 generates plausible "news" stories and other text that match the style and content of a brief text prompt.
The performance of the system was so disconcerting, now the researchers are only releasing a reduced version of GPT-2 based on a much smaller text corpus.
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Researchers, scared by their own work, hold back “deepfakes for text” AI
OpenAI's GPT-2 algorithm shows machine learning could ruin online content for everyone.
OpenAI, a non-profit research company investigating "the path to safe artificial intelligence," has developed a machine learning system called Generative Pre-trained Transformer-2 (GPT-2 ), capable of generating text based on brief writing prompts. The result comes so close to mimicking human writing that it could potentially be used for "deepfake" content. Built based on 40 gigabytes of text retrieved from sources on the Internet (including "all outbound links from Reddit, a social media platform, which received at least 3 karma"), GPT-2 generates plausible "news" stories and other text that match the style and content of a brief text prompt.
The performance of the system was so disconcerting, now the researchers are only releasing a reduced version of GPT-2 based on a much smaller text corpus.
So... Instead of J R. R. Tolkien, we get Spongebob?
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Retina resolution headset puts the “reality” into “virtual reality”
Clever dual-display tech means you really can't see the pixels.
Current virtual reality headsets are pretty good at the "virtual" bit but tend to fall down on the "reality" side of things. It's all too obvious that you're looking at a screen, albeit a screen held very close to your face, and a lot of screens just aren't meant to be looked at that close. The "screen door" effect that breaks the display up into a grid of individual pixels is distracting, and resolutions are low enough that curved lines are noticeably jagged, and fine detail gets lost. Second-generation headsets like the Vive Pro certainly do better than their first-generation counterparts, but they haven't eliminated these shortcomings. Even with eyes as appalling as mine, the human optical systems are clearly higher quality than the VR headsets can satisfy.
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Mandatory update coming to Windows 7, 2008 to kill off weak update hashes
Microsoft is phasing out SHA-1 hashes on its patches.
Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 users will imminently have to deploy a mandatory patch if they want to continue updating their systems, as spotted by Mary Jo Foley.
Currently, Microsoft's Windows updates use two different hashing algorithms to enable Windows to detect tampering or modification of the update files: SHA-1 and SHA-2. Windows 7 and Server 2008 verify the SHA-1 patches; Windows 8 and newer use the SHA-2 hashes instead. March's Patch Tuesday will include a standalone update for Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and WSUS to provide support for patches hashed with SHA-2. April's Patch Tuesday will include an equivalent update for Windows Server 2008.
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Apple reportedly planning to combine iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps by 2021
Project Marzipan and a new Mac Pro could be talking points at WWDC in June.
A new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman suggests that Apple is serious about combining apps across the iOS and macOS App Stores. The iPhone make is reportedly planning on expanding Project Marzipan, a multistep initiative that will allow developers to create an app only once and have it work across iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. Apple may reveal the first steps of this program as early as June 2019 at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference.
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@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2019/02/access-linux-files-from-windows-explorer-wsl
Windows, late to the game as usual!
Should be their tagline.
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Users alarmed by undisclosed microphone in Nest Security System
"The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret," Google says.
Google's Nest smart home brand is in hot water this week after news surfaced (via Daring Fireball) that its home security system, Nest Secure, shipped with an undisclosed microphone. Google activated the microphone earlier this month for Google Assistant functionality, but that meant the device sat in users' homes for up to a year as an unknown potential listening device.
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Set up two-factor authentication for SSH on Fedora
Every day there seems to be a security breach reported in the news where our data is at risk. Despite the fact that SSH is a secure way to connect remotely to a system, you can still make it even more secure. This article will show you how.
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@NerdyDad said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Set up two-factor authentication for SSH on Fedora
Every day there seems to be a security breach reported in the news where our data is at risk. Despite the fact that SSH is a secure way to connect remotely to a system, you can still make it even more secure. This article will show you how.
Nice, I wasn't aware of this.
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2019/02/access-linux-files-from-windows-explorer-wsl
Windows, late to the game as usual!
Should be their tagline.
I whether have Linux filesystem support from Windows. Especially back in the days when I was dual booting.
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@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I whether have Linux filesystem support from Windows. Especially back in the days when I was dual booting.
What?
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I whether have Linux filesystem support from Windows. Especially back in the days when I was dual booting.
What?
I was talking about Windows should have been able access disk drives that are ext4, xfs, etc...
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@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I whether have Linux filesystem support from Windows. Especially back in the days when I was dual booting.
What?
I was talking about Windows should have been able access disk drives that are ext4, xfs, etc...
But what were you trying to say?
@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I whether have Linux filesystem support from Windows.
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@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I whether have Linux filesystem support from Windows. Especially back in the days when I was dual booting.
What?
I was talking about Windows should have been able access disk drives that are ext4, xfs, etc...
But what were you trying to say?
@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I whether have Linux filesystem support from Windows.
He just told you...
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@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Users alarmed by undisclosed microphone in Nest Security System
"The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret," Google says.
Google's Nest smart home brand is in hot water this week after news surfaced (via Daring Fireball) that its home security system, Nest Secure, shipped with an undisclosed microphone. Google activated the microphone earlier this month for Google Assistant functionality, but that meant the device sat in users' homes for up to a year as an unknown potential listening device.
Holy cow, that's a huge deal.
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@Obsolesce said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@DustinB3403 said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I whether have Linux filesystem support from Windows. Especially back in the days when I was dual booting.
What?
I was talking about Windows should have been able access disk drives that are ext4, xfs, etc...
But what were you trying to say?
@black3dynamite said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
I whether have Linux filesystem support from Windows.
He just told you...
No, he didn't. He attempted to explain what he was trying to say and I still think he was experiencing a stroke while typing both of his most recent replies.
Now get off my lawn!
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@scottalanmiller said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
@mlnews said in Miscellaneous Tech News:
Users alarmed by undisclosed microphone in Nest Security System
"The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret," Google says.
Google's Nest smart home brand is in hot water this week after news surfaced (via Daring Fireball) that its home security system, Nest Secure, shipped with an undisclosed microphone. Google activated the microphone earlier this month for Google Assistant functionality, but that meant the device sat in users' homes for up to a year as an unknown potential listening device.
Holy cow, that's a huge deal.
That’s scary.
