Key Volkswagen Exec Admits Full Self-Driving Cars ‘May Never Happen’
January 19th, 2020Via: The Drive:
After years of sunny optimism and big promises, automakers are beginning to realize just how difficult it is to make a market-ready, full self-driving car. The CEO of Volkswagen’s autonomous driving division recently admitted that Level 5 autonomy—that’s full computer control of the vehicle with zero limitations—might actually never happen.
Related: Automakers Are Rethinking the Timetable for Fully Autonomous Cars
Amazon Wants Shoppers to Pay With a Wave of the Hand
January 18th, 2020Via: Bloomberg:
Amazon.com Inc. is planning to create terminals which would allow customers to make payments in-store with a wave of the hand, Dow Jones reports citing people familiar with the matter.
The company plans to pitch the terminals to coffee shops, fast-food restaurants and other merchants and has recently began working with Visa Inc., according to the report. Amazon is also in discussions with Mastercard Inc., and several card issuers have expressed interest in the project, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co.
Georgia Election Server Showed Signs of Tampering, Expert Says
January 17th, 2020Via: AP:
A computer security expert says he found that a forensic image of the election server central to a legal battle over the integrity of Georgia elections showed signs that the original server was hacked.
The server was left exposed to the open internet for at least six months, a problem the same expert discovered in August 2016. It was subsequently wiped clean in mid-2017 with no notice, just days after election integrity activists filed a lawsuit seeking an overhaul of what they called the state’s unreliable and negligently run election system.
The Display of the Future Might Be in Your Contact Lens
January 16th, 2020
Via: Wired:
Mojo Vision’s prototypes can enhance your vision or show you your schedule—right from the surface of your eyes.
A glance to the left. A flick to the right. As my eyes flitted around the room, I moved through a virtual interface only visible to me—scrolling through a calendar, looking up commute times home, and even controlling music playback. It’s all I theoretically need to do to use Mojo Lens, a smart contact lens coming from a company called Mojo Vision.
The California-based company, which has been quiet about what it’s been working on for five years, has finally shared its plan for the world’s “first true smart contact lens.” But let’s be clear: This is not a product you’ll see on store shelves next autumn. It’s in the research and development phase—a few years away from becoming a real product. In fact, the demos I tried did not even involve me plopping on a contact lens—they used virtual reality headsets and held up bulky prototypes to my eye, as though I was Sherlock Holmes with a magnifying glass.
Photos Show Bill Clinton, Ghislaine Maxwell on Epstein’s ‘Lolita Express’ Jet
January 16th, 2020In other news: Epstein Connection to CIA and DynCorp
Via: New York Post:
It was the president and the pedo.
Photos obtained by The Post on Thursday show former President Bill Clinton posing aboard Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet — dubbed the “Lolita Express” — with the sex fiend’s alleged procuress Ghislaine Maxwell and one of his rape accusers.
The slew of images reveal the former commander in chief’s 2002 trip to Africa with Epstein and a host of celebrities, including accused perv Kevin Spacey and comedian Chris Tucker.
In one photo, Clinton and Maxwell smile at the top of the plane’s stairs, with the ex-president resting his arms on the alleged madame’s shoulder.
Another image shows Clinton with his arm slung around Chauntae Davies, then 22, who has accused Epstein of raping her when she worked as his personal masseuse.
Virginia Governor Declares State Of Emergency Ahead Of Gun Rights Rally
January 16th, 2020Via: NPR:
Fearing potential violence, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is declaring a state of emergency and is banning firearms and other weapons on the Capitol grounds in Richmond ahead of a gun rights demonstration planned for next week.
“We have received credible intelligence from our law enforcement agencies that there are groups with malicious plans for the rally that is planned for Monday,” Northam said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Gun rights supporters are preparing to converge on Richmond for a lobbying day and a rally Monday morning. They’re opposed to efforts by Virginia Democrats — who’ve just taken over control of the Virginia legislature following the November 2019 elections — to pass a slate of gun control bills backed by Northam.
The event, hosted by Virginia Citizens Defense League, is expected to draw thousands of armed demonstrators, some from out of state. Organizers have said they hope to hold a peaceful event.
But Northam said officials have heard reports of “out-of-state militia groups and hate groups planning to travel from across the country to disrupt our democratic process with acts of violence.” He said they “are coming to intimidate and to cause harm.”
Windows 10: NSA Reveals Major Flaw in Microsoft’s Code
January 15th, 2020
Via: BBC:
The US National Security Agency (NSA) has discovered a major flaw in Windows 10 that could have been used by hackers to create malicious software that looked legitimate.
Microsoft has issued a patch and said it had seen no evidence of the bug being exploited by hackers.
The issue was revealed during an NSA press conference.
It was not clear how long it had known about it before revealing it to Microsoft.
Brian Krebs, the security expert who first reported the revelation, said the software giant had sent the patch to branches of the US military and other high-level users ahead of its wider release. It was, he wrote, “extraordinarily scary”.
The problem exists in a core component of Windows known as crypt32.dll, a program that allows software developers to access various functions, such as digital certificates which are used to sign software.
It could, in theory, have allowed a hacker to pass off a piece of malicious software as being entirely legitimate.
The NSA’s director of cyber-security Anne Neuberger told reporters that the bug “makes trust vulnerable”.
She added that the agency had decided to make its involvement in the discovery public at Microsoft’s request.
The flaw is also an issue in Windows Server 2016 and 2019, but does not appear to affect older versions of the operating system.
IBM Partnering with Mercedes and Others to Bring Cobalt and Nickel Free Battery Design to Market
January 15th, 2020Definitely don’t hold your breath while waiting for this one, but it’s an interesting read.
Via: IBM:
Today, IBM Research is building on a long history of materials science innovation to unveil a new battery discovery. This new research could help eliminate the need for heavy metals in battery production and transform the long-term sustainability of many elements of our energy infrastructure.
As battery-powered alternatives for everything from vehicles to smart energy grids are explored, there remain significant concerns around the sustainability of available battery technologies.
Many battery materials, including heavy metals such as nickel and cobalt, pose tremendous environmental and humanitarian risks. Cobalt in particular, which is largely available in central Africa, has come under fire for careless and exploitative extraction practices.1
Using three new and different proprietary materials, which have never before been recorded as being combined in a battery, our team at IBM Research has discovered a chemistry for a new battery which does not use heavy metals or other substances with sourcing concerns.
The materials for this battery are able to be extracted from seawater, laying the groundwork for less invasive sourcing techniques than current material mining methods.
Just as promising as this new battery’s composition is its performance potential. In initial tests, it proved it can be optimized to surpass the capabilities of lithium-ion batteries in a number of individual categories including lower costs, faster charging time, higher power and energy density, strong energy efficiency and low flammability.
…
To move this new battery from early stage exploratory research into commercial development, IBM Research has joined with Mercedes-Benz Research and Development North America, Central Glass, one of the top battery electrolyte suppliers in the world, and Sidus, a battery manufacturer, to create a new next-generation battery development ecosystem. While plans for the larger development of this battery are still in the exploratory phase, our hope is that this budding ecosystem will help to bring these batteries into reality.
Windows 7 End of Life: Many Businesses Still Haven’t Finished Move to Windows 10; Zombie Systems Flourish
January 15th, 2020I run IT for a small business here in NZ and I only had three Windows 7 systems to upgrade to Windows 10 before the deadline. Everything else was already on Windows 10 or macOS.
Out of those three Win 7 to Win 10 upgrades that I had to do, zero out of three were successful, meaning they upgraded AND users were able to continue using the systems without intervention from a technician (me). Those interventions ranged from me having to reset one user’s password, which somehow got nuked during the upgrade, to having to do clean OS and app installs and then manually moving over the user’s data from backup.
So, if you’re reading the piece below and wondering, why haven’t these companies upgraded yet??? Instead of having to do three systems, imagine having to do 300 or 3,000 or 30,000, etc. They have probably tested it and already know the upgrade itself will fail and/or their cludged together custom apps, written in Visual Basic in the 1990s, etc. won’t work anymore, even in compatibility mode.
One user asked me, “What will people do when they try to upgrade and it winds up failing like this?”
“Well, Microsoft’s advice (no joke) is to buy a new computer with Windows 10 already on it. Maybe that’s what they’ll do. Others might give up and try to use their phones or tablets. Maybe some will buy Macs or even switch to Linux.”
Via: Ars Technica:
Today is the day that Microsoft’s extended support for the Windows 7 operating system ends. Microsoft stopped selling Windows 7, which was first released in 2009, on October 13, 2013. Sales of systems with Windows 7 pre-installed ended three years to the day later in 2016. It lived a long life and is survived by Windows 10 and maybe a few remaining instances of Windows 8.
But it seems most organizations are in no hurry to cast off the now-unsupported Microsoft operating system, based on a survey from the enterprise content delivery company Kollective. A survey of 100 US- and UK-based companies found that overall, 53 percent of companies had not completed or had not started migration off of Windows 7 to Windows 10.
Bernie 2020 Field Organizer Calls for Violence, Mass Murder of Opposition, and “Reign of Terror”
January 14th, 2020Via: Project Veritas:
