Category Archives: News

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DHS Announces Extension of Real ID Full Enforcement Deadline

Posted on 2022-12-05 by pappp

Source: Hacker News

Article note: _again_. At current trajectory, it's likely going to be unimplemented 20 years after it was theoretically instituted. I gave up and got a RealID last time I renewed, even though I think the whole system is a bad idea, partly because I thought it might actually happen, and mostly because they don't have to be renewed as often.
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Emergency declared and curfew imposed following North Carolina power grid attack

Posted on 2022-12-04 by pappp

Source: Hacker News

Article note: Oh shit, that's scary. "Pump a couple rifle rounds into several big oil-filled substation transformers in an area" is always my pick for the highest disruption/effort act.
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Eufy’s “local storage” cameras can be streamed from anywhere, unencrypted

Posted on 2022-12-01 by pappp

Source: Ars Technica

Article note: I have a whole meme-media library in my head that goes off when I read about IoT bullshit being bullshit. The "You plugged it in to the phone didn't you, if you screw up again you won't get into college" bit from the beginning of Hackers, the explaining no networked computers bit from the new/rdj/2004/good Galactica, and James Mickens' "Not Even Close: The State of Computer Security" NDC talk from NDC 2015, specifically "all the membranes beast" from the "YOUR HOUSE ON INTERNET OF THINGS" slide. All playing at once. Every time I read about another piece of garbage that shouldn't have an external network connection, but does because fuck you.
Eufy security camera

Enlarge / Eufy's camera footage is stored locally, but with the right URL, you can also watch it from anywhere, unencrypted. It's complicated.

When security researchers found that Eufy's supposedly cloud-free cameras were uploading thumbnails with facial data to cloud servers, Eufy's response was that it was a misunderstanding, a failure to disclose an aspect of its mobile notification system to customers.

It seems there's more understanding now, and it's not good.

Eufy didn't respond to other claims from security researcher Paul Moore and others, including that one could stream the feed from a Eufy camera in VLC Media Player, if you had the right URL. Last night, The Verge, working with the security researcher "Wasabi" who first tweeted the problem, confirmed it could access Eufy camera streams, encryption-free, through a Eufy server URL.

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Blevins to step down as Fayette County Clerk after 13 years in office

Posted on 2022-12-01 by pappp

Source: Latest News

Article note: Oh, bummer, he's done really good things for the clerk's office communicating in media people actually use. I hope his counter-obligations aren't grim.

Don Blevins Jr., candidate for Fayette County Clerk, poses for a portrait at the Lexington Herald-Leader on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022.

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Maersk/IBM to discontinue TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled global trade platform

Posted on 2022-11-30 by pappp

Source: Hacker News

Article note: Oh look, the flagship "real application for blockchains" turned out to be another solution looking for a problem.
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Rereading: The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder (2017)

Posted on 2022-11-29 by pappp

Source: Hacker News

Article note: Oh neat, modern notes for Soul of a New Machine. It's a little weird in modern times, but a delightful read of the history of the culture.
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Comic for November 27, 2022

Posted on 2022-11-27 by pappp

Source: Dilbert Daily Strip

Article note: It's not even parody. This is a well-known problem at major tech companies, especially Google.

Dilbert readers - Please visit Dilbert.com to read this feature. Due to changes with our feeds, we are now making this RSS feed a link to Dilbert.com.

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Mac OS 9 on an unmodified Wii

Posted on 2022-11-24 by pappp

Source: OSNews

Article note: That's a delightful dumb hack. It's properly "MacOnLinux on Linux on a hacked Wii" which isn't exactly native, but since it's a PPC750 it's native-ish.

Via Hackaday:

We’re used to the so-called “Hackintoshes”, non-Apple hardware running MacOS. One we featured recently was even built into the case of a Nintendo Wii. But Dandu has gone one better than that, by running MacOS on an unmodified Wii, original Nintendo hardware (French, Google Translate link).

How has this seemingly impossible task been achieved? Seasoned Mac enthusiasts will remember the days when Apple machines used PowerPC processors, and the Wii uses a PowerPC chip that’s a close cousin of those used in the Mac G3 series of computers. Since the Wii can run a Linux-based OS, it can therefore run Mac-on-Linux, providing in theory an environment in which it can host one of the PowerPC versions of MacOS.

So it’s not really running MacOS 9.2.2 directly on the hardware, but it’s close enough. Impressive work.

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Rclone is 10 years old today

Posted on 2022-11-24 by pappp

Source: Hacker News

Article note: Rclone is the FOSS magic that makes all the absurd proprietary storage services usable.
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Intel on Demand

Posted on 2022-11-23 by pappp

Source: Hacker News

Article note: I'm kind of excited to see how people are going to hack the unlock scheme for CPU features. Both because the hack will be technically interesting, and because it might bring about an era like the Celeron 300A in the late 90s where the hobbyists buy a chip from "the wrong market segment" because it has _potential_.
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