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Some Of Our Open-Access Journals Are Missing
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

“Open-Access” scientific journals make research papers available online for free. They have become popular as awareness has spread of the practices of traditional publishers like Elsevier, which charge research groups to publish their papers in journals, and then charge hefty subscription fees to those same groups, and all the rest of their customers, for copies of those journals. And then claiming copyright on those papers, on top of it. (And what about the parties the providing the most expensive part of the publication service, namely the fellow researchers doing the peer review? Nope, they don’t get any payment for this at all.) However, this does make the financial model of these Open-Access journals a bit precarious. And perhaps it’s not too surprising that several of them have disappeared since their founding. Operations like the Internet Archive do have the resources to grab copies of their content before they do, but it helps to be aware that these sorts of sites are particularly vulnerable to vanishing. <https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/10/open_access_journal/>

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System76’s Lemur Pro: A powerful, ultralight OEM Linux laptop
by Peter Reutemann 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

'System76's Lemur Pro is a 14.1-inch, lightweight powerhouse of an OEM Linux laptop, with an attractive black-finished magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis. If you're looking for a laptop that gets the occasional jealous look at coffee shops (or technical conferences), the Lemur Pro will not disappoint. As configured at $1,563, the Lemur Pro is not a cheap laptop—but it doesn't look, feel, or perform like one, either. The Intel Comet Lake CPU wouldn't be our first choice if we designed a laptop from scratch, but as an entire system, it's hard to find much fault with the Lemur Pro—particularly when limiting the field to OEM Linux laptops alone.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/09/system76s-lemur-pro-a-powerful-ultr… 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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Android 11 Go Could Make Cheap Phones Up To 20% Faster
by Peter Reutemann 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

'Following the official release of Android 11 earlier this week, Google also has some updates in store for the stripped-down version of Android designed for phones with lower specs. From a report: For Android 11 (Go Edition), the most important upgrade is just generally speedier performance, with Google claiming that apps will launch 20% faster in Android 11 Go compared to Android 10 Go. Meanwhile, when it comes to messaging, Android 11 Go is also getting a dedicated section for conversations in the notification tray, so you can see all your ongoing texts in one place, regardless of the specific app. On top of that, Android 11 Go is also getting Google's gesture-based navigation just like vanilla Android 11. Instead of a row of buttons along the bottom of the screen, you can swipe up to go home, swipe in from either side to go back, or swipe up and hold to see your recently used apps. Also, with digital privacy becoming increasingly important, Google is giving Android 11 Go more granular security settings including the ability to grant apps access to hardware like cameras, microphones, or GPS on a one-time basis. And when it comes to apps you haven't used in a long time, Android 11 Go will automatically reset app permissions to prevent old settings that you've probably forgotten about from comprising your security. But perhaps the biggest change for Android 11 Go is that previously, Go Editions of Android were limited to phones with 1GB of RAM. However, with smartphone memory becoming cheaper and more accessible, Android 11 Go has been updated to support phones with up to 2GB of RAM. ' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/09/10/1650235 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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Ransomware Accounted For 41% of All Cyber Insurance Claims in H1 2020
by Peter Reutemann 11 Sep '20

11 Sep '20

'Ransomware incidents accounted for 41% of cyber insurance claims filed in the first half of 2020, according to a report published today by Coalition, one of the largest providers of cyber insurance services in North America. From a report: The high number of claims comes to confirm previous reports from multiple cyber-security firms that ransomware is one of today's most prevalent and destructive threats. "Ransomware doesn't discriminate by industry. We've seen an increase in ransom attacks across almost every industry we serve," Coalition added. "In the first half of 2020 alone, we observed a 260% increase in the frequency of ransomware attacks amongst our policyholders, with the average ransom demand increasing 47%," the company added. Among the most aggressive gangs, the cyber insurer listed Maze and DoppelPaymer, which have recently begun exfiltrating data from hacked networks, and threatening to release data on specialized leak sites, as part of double extortion schemes. Based on cyber insurance claims filed by customers who faced a ransomware attack in the first half of 2020, Coalition said the Maze ransomware gang was the most greedy, with the group requesting ransom demands six times larger than the overall average.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/20/09/10/1829253 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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Vivaldi Browser Adds a Pause Button For the Internet
by Peter Reutemann 10 Sep '20

10 Sep '20

'It can be hard to tear yourself away from the never-ending stream of content provided by the internet, so Vivaldi decided to make taking a break easier by introducing a pause button. PCMag reports: Version 3.3 of the Vivaldi browser introduces a new feature called "Break Mode." Rather than having to close your browser, Break Mode allows you to effectively pause your access to the internet with a button press. Once installed, Vivaldi 3.3 displays a pause button on the status bar. When pressed, Break Mode is engaged, which "mutes and stops HTML5 audio and videos, hides all tabs, panels, and other content leaving the screen clean." It's also possible to trigger Break Mode with the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + "." and to activate it via the browser's Quick Commands. The Vivaldi team sees it as a way of allowing you to "interact with the physical world" while at the same time not having to remember which tabs you had open or what you were viewing when you're ready to return. Pressing the pause button again resumes access just as you left it. Break Mode also acts as a very simple and quick way to hide what you were doing on the internet, which could come in very handy seeing as we're spending so much more time at home together. Other new features include more options for customizing themes as well as adding a new "Private" theme, highlighting base domains to help identify malicious web pages, easier cropping of URLs in the address bar making it easier to visit different parts of a website, and enhancements to the built-in tracker and ad blocker allowing whole pages to be easily blocked.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/09/09/1933207 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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Windows 10 Themes Can Be Abused To Steal Windows Passwords
by Peter Reutemann 09 Sep '20

09 Sep '20

'Specially crafted Windows 10 themes and theme packs can be used in 'Pass-the-Hash' attacks to steal Windows account credentials from unsuspecting users. Windows allows users to create custom themes that contain customized colors, sounds, mouse cursors, and the wallpaper that the operating system will use. Windows users can then switch between different themes as desired to change the appearance of the operating system. A theme's settings are saved under the %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes folder as a file with a .theme extension, such as 'Custom Dark.theme.' Windows themes can then be shared with other users by right-clicking on an active theme and selecting 'Save theme for sharing,' which will package the theme into a '.deskthemepack' file. These desktop theme packs can then be shared via email or as downloads on websites, and installed by double-clicking them. This weekend security researcher Jimmy Bayne (@bohops) revealed that specially crafted Windows themes could be used to perform Pass-the-Hash attacks. Pass-the-Hash attacks are used to steal Windows login names and password hashes by tricking a user into accessing a remote SMB share that requires authentication. When trying to access the remote resource, Windows will automatically try to login to the remote system by sending the Windows user's login name and an NTLM hash of their password. In a Pass-the-Hash attack, the sent credentials are harvested by the attackers, who then attempt to dehash the password to access the visitors' login name and password.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/09/08/2017228 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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Amiga Fast File System Makes Minor Comeback In New Linux Kernel
by Peter Reutemann 09 Sep '20

09 Sep '20

'The Amiga Fast File System (AFFS) is making a minor comeback in the new version of the Linux kernel. The Register reports: As noted by chief penguin Linus Torvalds in his weekly state-of-the-kernel report, a change to AFFS popped up among what he described as a collection of "the usual suspects" in new submissions to the kernel over the last week. The Amiga was ahead of its time, but is now largely a curiosity. However Suse developer David Sterba has noticed that "The basic permission bits (protection bits in AmigaOS) have been broken in Linux' AFFS - it would only set bits, but never delete them. Also, contrary to the documentation, the Archived bit was not handled." "Let's fix this for good, and set the bits such that Linux and classic AmigaOS can coexist in the most peaceful manner," he added. Torvalds appears to have agreed inasmuch as Sterba's code has made it into rc4 of version 5.9 of the Linux kernel. Torvalds said that while rc4 is a big release -- he rated it as "larger than usual" -- it's still "well within the normal range, and not something I'll lose any sleep over."' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/20/09/08/203224 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 Begins Rolling Out Android 11
by Peter Reutemann 09 Sep '20

09 Sep '20

'Google today launched Android 11, the latest version of its mobile OS, and pushed the source code to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). From a report: Unlike previous major versions, Android 11 is not only arriving as an over-the-air update to Pixel phones first, but also on OnePlus, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Realme phones "with more partners launching and upgrading devices over the coming months." That's a major departure for Android, updates for which take months to arrive thanks to carriers and device makers dragging their feet. It doesn't help that Android is the dominant mobile operating system available on thousands of different device configurations, powering over 2.5 billion monthly active devices. [...] Android 11 brings a long list of new features. Google originally split them into three themes: People, Controls, and Privacy. But there is also support for 5G, new screen types, and call screening. There's even a frame rate API for helping apps and games adopt variable refresh rates, which will be a big focus over the next few years as phones and TVs adopt the feature from computer monitors. Google also expanded the Neural Networks API for running computationally intensive machine learning operations.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/20/09/08/1710224 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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Western Digital is trying to redefine the word “RPM”
by Peter Reutemann 08 Sep '20

08 Sep '20

'Last week, the fine Redditors of /r/DataHoarder got upset with Western Digital again—this time, for misrepresenting the rotational speed of their WD Red Network Attached Storage hard drives. (Although the linked post brings things to a head, members of the German-language forum hardwareluxx.de began investigating the issue more than year ago.) We found this controversy reminiscent of earlier complaints that Western Digital was not properly disclosing use of Shingled Magnetic Recording technology in their NAS drives. But the new complaint is that Western Digital calls 7200RPM drives "5400 RPM Class"—and the drives' own firmware report 5400 RPM via the SMART interface. Recently, redditor /u/Amaroko set out to prove or disprove earlier netizens' findings. For each of several drive models, Amoroko placed a sample of that drive on an empty cardboard box, with a Blue Yeti mic held directly above it, then powered the drive on. Spectral analysis of the recorded audio using Adobe Audition showed a baseline frequency of 120Hz for two models of WD 8TB "5400 RPM class" drive. 120 cycles/sec multiplied to 60 secs/min comes to 7,200 cycles/min. So in other words, these "5400 RPM class" drives really were spinning at 7,200rpm.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/09/western-digital-is-trying-to-redefi… 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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Arm's New Linux-Capable Cortex-R82 Processor Will Enable Drives That Both Store and Process Data
by Peter Reutemann 07 Sep '20

07 Sep '20

'"Arm has announced its first 64 bit, Linux-capable Cortex-R processor, designed for computational storage solutions," reports Electronics Weekly. SiliconAngle calls it "a chip designed to enable a new generation of storage devices that will not only hold data but also help process it." Such devices are part of an emerging hardware category known as computational storage. The technology promises to provide a speed boost for latency-sensitive workloads such as machine learning and real-time analytics applications. Normally, the task of storing data and processing it is relegated to separate components inside a system. The disk or flash drive holds onto the information while a separate processor does the processing. Data has to travel from the storage drive to the processor and back every time an operation is carried out, which creates delays that can slow down performance. The emerging computational storage devices Arm targets attempt to do away with these delays to speed up applications. Instead of sending information to a separate chip for processing, the storage drive processes it locally using its built-in controller. A controller is a tiny computing module inside flash and disk drives that normally performs only low-level tasks such as writing and reading data. Arm's new Cortex-R82 is designed to serve as the controller for computational storage devices. It's available as a chip design that hardware makers can license and customize based on their needs. "The extra computing power allows the chip to run a full Linux distribution as well as applications, all directly inside a storage drive."' -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/20/09/06/0110227 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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