November 2017 - wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

The McLaren Formula 1 Team Just Hired The World’s Fastest Gamer
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 22 Nov '17

22 Nov '17

Hiring an eSports champion to do simulation testing, even before you build a real racecar: ... make no mistake, simulator driver is a proper job in the modern F1 team. For the last few years the sport has heavily restricted real in-season testing of the cars, so there has been greater and greater emphasis put on driver-in-the-loop virtual testing. <https://arstechnica.com/cars/2017/11/the-mclaren-formula-1-team-just-hired-…>

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PC vendors scramble as Intel announces vulnerability in firmware
by Peter Reutemann 22 Nov '17

22 Nov '17

'Intel has issued a security alert that management firmware on a number of recent PC, server, and Internet-of-Things processor platforms is vulnerable to remote attack. Using the vulnerabilities, the most severe of which was uncovered by Mark Ermolov and Maxim Goryachy of Positive Technologies Research, remote attackers could launch commands on a host of Intel-based computers, including laptops and desktops shipped with Intel Core processors since 2015. They could gain access to privileged system information, and millions of computers could essentially be taken over as a result of the bug.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/intel-warns-of-wides… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Google collects Android users’ locations even when location services are disabled
by Peter Reutemann 21 Nov '17

21 Nov '17

'Many people realize that smartphones track their locations. But what if you actively turn off location services, haven’t used any apps, and haven’t even inserted a carrier SIM card? Even if you take all of those precautions, phones running Android software gather data about your location and send it back to Google when they’re connected to the internet, a Quartz investigation has revealed. Since the beginning of 2017, Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby cellular towers—even when location services are disabled—and sending that data back to Google. The result is that Google, the unit of Alphabet behind Android, has access to data about individuals’ locations and their movements that go far beyond a reasonable consumer expectation of privacy.' -- source: https://qz.com/1131515/google-collects-android-users-locations-even-when-lo… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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No, you’re not being paranoid. Sites really are watching your every move
by Peter Reutemann 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

'If you have the uncomfortable sense someone is looking over your shoulder as you surf the Web, you're not being paranoid. A new study finds hundreds of sites—including microsoft.com, adobe.com, and godaddy.com—employ scripts that record visitors' keystrokes, mouse movements, and scrolling behavior in real time, even before the input is submitted or is later deleted. Session replay scripts are provided by third-party analytics services that are designed to help site operators better understand how visitors interact with their Web properties and identify specific pages that are confusing or broken. As their name implies, the scripts allow the operators to re-enact individual browsing sessions. Each click, input, and scroll can be recorded and later played back. A study published last week reported that 482 of the 50,000 most trafficked websites employ such scripts, usually with no clear disclosure. It's not always easy to detect sites that employ such scripts. The actual number is almost certainly much higher, particularly among sites outside the top 50,000 that were studied.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/11/an-alarming-number-of-sites-emp… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Technology groups and dealing with predators
by Bryce Utting 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

The Verge has a detailed (read: graphic) report of predatory behaviour from ex-Auckland security expert Morgan Marquis-Boire, late of Google and the Citizen Lab of the University of Toronto, with connections to the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the EFF, and presumably others. Content warning for sexual assault issues: https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/19/16675704/morgan-marquis-boire-hacker-se… I can only commend those who have come forward, and also Ron Deibert of Citizen Lab for his well-aimed response. Without opening old wounds, I'd suggest that the Citizen Lab code of conduct might be useful food for thought where public WLUG events are involved. (unless a code of conduct already exists and I missed it?) A separate incorporated society I'm involved in has had to deal with complaints of a predator at an event, and a similar document could have done wonders for laying out how to appropriately evaluate and respond in the absence of a police complaint.The Harvey Weinstein disclosures are making clear how endemic this behaviour is, and how rare appropriate responses are. butting

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Intel Planning To End Legacy BIOS Support By 2020, Report Says
by Peter Reutemann 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

'Intel is planning to end "legacy BIOS" support in their new platforms by 2020 in requiring UEFI Class 3 or higher. Making rounds this weekend is a slide deck from the recent UEFI Plugfest. Brian Richardson of Intel talked about the "last mile" barriers to removing legacy BIOS support from systems. By 2020, they will be supporting no less than UEFI Class 3, which means only UEFI support and no more legacy BIOS or CSM compatibility support mode. But that's not going to force on UEFI Secure Boot unconditionally: Secure Boot enabled is considered UEFI Class 3+. Intel hasn't removed legacy BIOS / CSM support yet due to many customers' software packages still relying upon legacy BIOS, among other reasons. Removing the legacy BIOS support will mitigate some security risks, needs less validation by vendors, allows for supporting more modern technologies, etc.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/17/11/20/1251249 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Another Tor Browser Feature Makes It Into Firefox: First-Party Isolation
by Peter Reutemann 20 Nov '17

20 Nov '17

'Unbeknown to most users, Mozilla added a privacy-enhancing feature to the Firefox browser over the summer that can help users block online advertisers from tracking them across the Internet. The feature is named First-Party Isolation (FPI) and was silently added to the Firefox browser in August, with the release of Firefox 55. FPI works by separating cookies on a per-domain basis. This is important because most online advertisers drop a cookie on the user's computer for each site the user visits and the advertisers loads an ad. With FPI enabled, the ad tracker won't be able to see all the cookies it dropped on that user's PC, but only the cookie created for the domain the user is currently viewing. This will force the ad tracker to create a new user profile for each site the user visits and the advertiser won't be able to aggregate these cookies and the user's browsing history into one big fat profile. This feature was first implemented in the Tor Browser, a privacy-focused fork of the Firefox browser managed by the Tor Project, where it is known as Cross-Origin Identifier Unlinkability. FPI was added to Firefox as part of the Tor Uplift project, an initiative to bolster the Firefox codebase with some of the Tor Browser's unique privacy-focused features. The feature is not enabled by default. Information on how to enable it is in the linked article.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/11/20/1713235 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Bluetooth Hack Affects 20 Million Amazon Echo, Google Home Devices
by Peter Reutemann 17 Nov '17

17 Nov '17

'In September, security researchers discovered eight vulnerabilities -- codenamed collectively as BlueBorne -- in the Bluetooth implementations used by over 5.3 billion devices. We have now learned that an estimated 20 million Amazon Echo and Google Home devices are also vulnerable to attacks leveraging the BlueBorne vulnerabilities. The Hacker News reports: Amazon Echo is affected by the following two vulnerabilities: a remote code execution vulnerability in the Linux kernel (CVE-2017-1000251); and an information disclosure flaw in the SDP server (CVE-2017-1000250). Since different Echo's variants use different operating systems, other Echo devices are affected by either the vulnerabilities found in Linux or Android. Whereas, Google Home devices are affected by one vulnerability: information disclosure vulnerability in Android's Bluetooth stack (CVE-2017-0785). This Android flaw can also be exploited to cause a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. Since Bluetooth cannot be disabled on either of the voice-activated personal assistants, attackers within the range of the affected device can easily launch an attack. The security firm [Armis, who disclosed the issue] notified both Amazon and Google about its findings, and both companies have released patches and issued automatic updates for the Amazon Echo and Google Home that fixes the BlueBorne attacks. ' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/17/11/17/0037251 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Online Banking Security
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Nov '17

17 Nov '17

Here <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/03/uk_bank_security_audit/> are the results of an audit on UK banks to check their adherence to various established security practices: * HTTP Strict Transport Security <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_Strict_Transport_Security> * Security Headers <https://securityheaders.io/> * Content Security Policy <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/CSP> * avoidance of weak and obsolete encryption (e.g. RC4) The result: a real mixed bag. Has anyone done a similar thing for our banks?

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Belgium: Skype Is Officially A Telco, Must Comply With Interception Warrants
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Nov '17

17 Nov '17

Skype has failed in its appeal against a 2016 fine in Belgium for failing to help authorities tap calls in a criminal investigation, with the court saying it must comply with the country's telecommunications laws. <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/16/skypes_belgian_appeal_fails/>

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Re: [wlug] Scam -- A Service To Scam The Scammers
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 16 Nov '17

16 Nov '17

When you get a scam e-mail, how about forwarding it to the Re:Scam service <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20171113/02094138603/great-use-artificial…>. This activates an AI that will engage in long, fruitless conversations with the scammers--basically waste their time. And it’s run by Netsafe, here in New Zealand.

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Will Propaganda Eat Itself?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 15 Nov '17

15 Nov '17

Just the latest <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/russian-military-cites-game-screensh…> in an ever-growing line of incidents where various Governments and Press agencies mistakenly cite video-game footage as “proof” of nefarious activities by their opponents, and end up with egg on their faces as a result. Part of the trouble seems to be that such images tend to rank very highly in Google searches. But that shouldn’t be much of an obstacle for *proper* researchers, right? ;)

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oldest usable Android version -- any opinions?
by Ian Young 15 Nov '17

15 Nov '17

Apologies for straying off topic. I need to get an Android phone to replace an ancient Sony-E, but hanker somewhat for the days of removable batteries, and like a stylus. This points afaict to an older Samsung Note model but then comes the problem of obsolete versions of Android. Can anyone suggest what is the oldest Android that can still be used on the web of today? Or perhaps there is a current phone with removable battery? ~ Ian Y

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OnePlus Phones Come Preinstalled With a Factory App That Can Root Devices
by Peter Reutemann 14 Nov '17

14 Nov '17

'Some OnePlus devices, if not all, come preinstalled with an application named EngineerMode that can be used to root the device and may be converted into a fully-fledged backdoor by clever attackers. The app was discovered by a mobile security researcher who goes online by the pseudonym of Elliot Alderson -- the name of the main character in the Mr. Robot TV series. Speaking to Bleeping Computer, the researcher said he started investigating OnePlus devices after a story he saw online last month detailing a hidden stream of telemetry data sent by OnePlus devices to the company's servers.' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/11/14/140250 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Fedora 27 Released
by Peter Reutemann 14 Nov '17

14 Nov '17

'The Fedora Project has announced the general availability of Fedora 27 Workstation and Fedora 27 Atomic editions. Fedora 27 brings with it "thousands of improvements" from both the Fedora Community and various upstream software projects, the team said on Tuesday. From a post on Fedora Magazine: The Workstation edition of Fedora 27 features GNOME 3.26. In the new release, both the Display and Network configuration panels have been updated, along with the overall Settings panel appearance improvement. The system search now shows more results at once, including the system actions. GNOME 3.26 also features color emoji support, folder sharing in Boxes, and numerous improvements in the Builder IDE tool. The new release also features LibreOffice ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/11/14/1552228 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Consumer Advice Magazine Considers Device Security
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Nov '17

14 Nov '17

Nice to see that considerations about the (in)security of these IoT devices have penetrated at least some way into the popular consciousness <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/14/bluetooth_toys_easily_hackable_says…>. Though the vendor responses are looking pretty predictable: it would be really hard to take advantage of such weaknesses in a realistic situation bla bla bla.

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A History Of The Amiga, Part 11
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 14 Nov '17

14 Nov '17

<https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/a-history-of-the-amiga-part-11-betwe…>: Then came an announcement that caused an uproar in the Amiga community; some even saw it as a betrayal. Jim Collas’ team revealed that it was switching the OS kernel for Amiga OE from QNX to Linux. ... In retrospect, this was probably the correct choice. Linux, then and now, supported a much more diverse array of hardware and was already gaining significant momentum in the tech industry. But Amiga fans didn’t see it that way at the time. They saw Linux as bloated, clunky, and slow, the exact opposite of their beloved Amiga. QNX Neutrino was seen as fast, small, and elegant, and the community had rallied behind it. This takes place in 1999. I did spend some time with Amiga fans about a decade earlier. Being a Mac fan at the time, I saw it as a bad move to tie to OS architecture so closely to particular quirks of the hardware. And sure enough, that did cause compatibility problems for Amiga software on later hardware.

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Linux 4.14 Has Been Released
by Peter Reutemann 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

'Linux 4.14 has been released. This release adds support for bigger memory limits in x86 hardware (128PiB of virtual address space, 4PiB of physical address space); support for AMD Secure Memory Encryption; a new unwinder that provides better kernel traces and a smaller kernel size; support for the zstd compression algorithm has been added to Btrfs and Squashfs; support for zero-copy of data from user memory to sockets; support for Heterogeneous Memory Management that will be needed in future GPUs; better cpufreq behaviour in some corner cases; faster TBL flushing by using the PCID instruction; asynchronous non-blocking buffered reads; and many new drivers and other improvements. Phoronix has more on the changes in Linux 4.14 -- and notes that its codename is still "Fearless Coyote."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/17/11/12/219238 Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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How to Install Firefox Quantum in Ubuntu Right Now
by Peter Reutemann 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

'The upcoming version of Mozilla’s web browser Firefox is called Quantum because it’s blazing fast. It has been coded in Rust instead of the usual C++ and it is the first web browser to utilize the power of a multi-core processor. There has been lots of buzz around Quantum release. It is touted as a game-changing release that will help Firefox gain its lost userbase to Google Chrome. Ideally, Firefox Quantum should be released this month. But since I wanted to test it, I thought of installing it before its official release.' -- source: https://itsfoss.com/firefox-quantum-ubuntu/ Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Private Browsing Google Trouble
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

Just tried to open a few Private Browsing sessions to do searches in Google in Firefox. Previously this has worked fine. But currently the connections are taking forever to complete. Explicitly connecting to google.com (instead of typing directly in the search box) has the same problem. Doing one of the same searches in a non-private tab worked fine. To compare, I connected to bing.com in a private tab, and did another of the searches there. Again, it worked fine.

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Saw This In An Ad Frame On The Herald Site (Long Traceback!)
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

A little bit earlier this afternoon, while browsing nzherald.co.nz, The following popped up in a frame headed “Advertisement”: (Warning: long traceback ahead). I thought I would post it all, because it has some interesting info in it, such as all the method names beginning with “AdTrek”. And references to a particular user’s “Telepathy Client Repos”? ---- Server Error in '/' Application. The wait operation timed out Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code. Exception Details: System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The wait operation timed out Source Error: An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below. Stack Trace: [Win32Exception (0x80004005): The wait operation timed out] [SqlException (0x80131904): Timeout expired. The timeout period elapsed prior to completion of the operation or the server is not responding.] System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action`1 wrapCloseInAction) +3279580 System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean callerHasConnectionLock, Boolean asyncClose) +791 System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.TryRun(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean& dataReady) +4927 System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.FinishExecuteReader(SqlDataReader ds, RunBehavior runBehavior, String resetOptionsString) +442 System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReaderTds(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, Boolean async, Int32 timeout, Task& task, Boolean asyncWrite, SqlDataReader ds, Boolean describeParameterEncryptionRequest) +3114 System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteReader(CommandBehavior cmdBehavior, RunBehavior runBehavior, Boolean returnStream, String method, TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, Int32 timeout, Task& task, Boolean asyncWrite) +554 System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.InternalExecuteNonQuery(TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, String methodName, Boolean sendToPipe, Int32 timeout, Boolean asyncWrite) +475 System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteNonQuery() +386 System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlProvider.Execute(Expression query, QueryInfo queryInfo, IObjectReaderFactory factory, Object[] parentArgs, Object[] userArgs, ICompiledSubQuery[] subQueries, Object lastResult) +457 System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlProvider.ExecuteAll(Expression query, QueryInfo[] queryInfos, IObjectReaderFactory factory, Object[] userArguments, ICompiledSubQuery[] subQueries) +213 System.Data.Linq.SqlClient.SqlProvider.System.Data.Linq.Provider.IProvider.Execute(Expression query) +421 System.Data.Linq.StandardChangeDirector.DynamicInsert(TrackedObject item) +101 System.Data.Linq.ChangeProcessor.SubmitChanges(ConflictMode failureMode) +435 System.Data.Linq.DataContext.SubmitChanges(ConflictMode failureMode) +666 AdTrek.Models.AdServerRepository.saveAdEvent(AdEvent adEvent) in C:\Users\Scott\Documents\Telepathy Client Repos\ElectricArt\AdTrek\AdTrek\Models\Data\Repositories\AdServerRepository.cs:743 AdTrek.Controllers.AdServerController.fillModel(AdViewModel model, Boolean loadScriptSrc) in C:\Users\Scott\Documents\Telepathy Client Repos\ElectricArt\AdTrek\AdTrek\Controllers\AdServerController.cs:148 AdTrek.Controllers.AdServerController.Frame(AdViewModel model) in C:\Users\Scott\Documents\Telepathy Client Repos\ElectricArt\AdTrek\AdTrek\Controllers\AdServerController.cs:18 lambda_method(Closure , ControllerBase , Object[] ) +139 System.Web.Mvc.ReflectedActionDescriptor.Execute(ControllerContext controllerContext, IDictionary`2 parameters) +229 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionMethod(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor, IDictionary`2 parameters) +35 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.<BeginInvokeSynchronousActionMethod>b__39(IAsyncResult asyncResult, ActionInvocation innerInvokeState) +39 System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`2.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +67 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.EndInvokeActionMethod(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +42 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncInvocationWithFilters.<InvokeActionMethodFilterAsynchronouslyRecursive>b__3d() +72 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass46.<InvokeActionMethodFilterAsynchronouslyRecursive>b__3f() +386 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.EndInvokeActionMethodWithFilters(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +42 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass2b.<BeginInvokeAction>b__1c() +38 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass21.<BeginInvokeAction>b__1e(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +186 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncControllerActionInvoker.EndInvokeAction(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +38 System.Web.Mvc.Controller.<BeginExecuteCore>b__1d(IAsyncResult asyncResult, ExecuteCoreState innerState) +29 System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +65 System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecuteCore(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +53 System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +36 System.Web.Mvc.Controller.EndExecute(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +38 System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.<BeginProcessRequest>b__5(IAsyncResult asyncResult, ProcessRequestState innerState) +44 System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncVoid`1.CallEndDelegate(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +65 System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +38 System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +399 System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +137 Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.6.1069.1

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New To Me: Game Asset Rippers
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Nov '17

12 Nov '17

While browsing around DeviantArt (as you do), I discovered this group <https://xnalaramodelandtuts.deviantart.com/>. The name “XNALara” comes from an open-source Windows program that let you create your own scenes and poses with assets (characters, props, scenery) from the “Tomb Raider: Underworld” game. (I think it has broadened its reach beyond that one game by now.) All very well, but how do you extract those assets from these games? Turns out there are these tools called “rippers”, which capture the OpenGL/DirectX drawing calls that the game makes and save all the geometry and textures and so on that are passed to those calls. (Did somebody say “copyright violation”?) Well, there are folders in that group that are absolutely full of these extracted assets. Some have been taken down on demand from the copyright owners, but the remarkable thing is that most of them are still available, and have been so for some years. And that the accounts of those uploading these collections have not been suspended. I tried loading one or two of them into Blender. There’s a range of formats, but one common combination is .obj+.mtl for the geometry and material definitions, and .dds for the texture images. The latter can be converted to PNG with ImageMagick and, after making corresponding edits to the references in the .mtl file, I was able to import the results and see something resembling the preview images. There have been artists on DeviantArt who have used these in their renders (and mentioned as much--that’s how I found out about them). I may try messing around with them a bit more, but I don’t think I’ll be publishing any such work...

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The Power Of Non-Mainstream Media
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Nov '17

11 Nov '17

<https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/unusual-experiment-reveals-the-powe…>: Pundits and activists have long blamed the "mainstream media" for having an outsized effect on public perceptions. ... But a new long-term study reveals that small media outlets have a far greater effect on public discussions than anyone realized. To be more precise, it only takes three or more stories from small news outlets covering the same topic to make discussions of that topic go up by 62.7 percent on Twitter.

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3D Metal Printing At 100 Times The Speed And A Twentieth Of The Cost
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 Nov '17

10 Nov '17

3D printing has mainly been confined to parts made out of various kinds of plastics up till now. Metal has been hard to deal with, because at some point you have to melt it, and that requires temperatures higher than any printing-type device could cope with. Now a company called “Desktop Metal” <http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/10/metal_3d_printing_at_desktop_metal/> has come up with a scheme involving binding layers of metal powder, laid down in the right shape, using a temporary compound which is then removed when the part is melted in a furnace so it becomes a proper solid piece. Obviously this has to be done without losing its shape. The process can also do clever things like make a hinge, where there is no metal between the parts, so once the binding compound is removed, you have two solid parts that can freely rotate without falling apart.

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How Antivirus Can Open You To Attacks That Otherwise Wouldn’t Be Possible
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 Nov '17

10 Nov '17

From <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/how-av-can-open-you-…>: Antivirus programs, in many cases, make us safer on the Internet. Other times, they open us to attacks that otherwise wouldn't be possible. On Friday, a researcher documented an example of the latter—a vulnerability he found in about a dozen name-brand AV programs that allows attackers who already have a toehold on a targeted computer to gain complete system control.

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