Our connected world comes with countless risks. Viruses, worms, spyware, ransomware, backdoors, trojans: The language of cybersecurity is relatively new, but we have quickly become fluent. The misuse of technology has become the darkest danger of the digital age. Bad actors, emboldened by our inability to properly secure crucial systems and networks, are launching increasingly sophisticated attacks. No system is safe. But in the beginning — the very, very beginning — computers inspired utopian visions of a better future, a world in which we were all digitally connected to one another and living in harmony. Then came the Morris Worm.
Robert Ballard’s expedition to Nikumaroro to search for evidence of Amelia Earhart’s final resting place has ended without locating the Lockheed Electra. The search isn’t heading back entirely empty-handed — a land-based search party is still working on the island, and National Geographic pointed to a silver sheet of metal with what appear to be rivet holes as potentially being an artifact connected to the lost Earhart aircraft — but no firm or final artifact was found to mark the spot where Earhart landed. Ballard in the northwest corner of the island, near the lagoon. There were multiple reasons to focus on this location.
The top deal for today is a large 70-inch 4K smart TV from LG that was designed to support voice commands and integrate with Google’s Home Mini and Amazon’s Echo Dot speakers. LG is taking the term “smart TV” to the next level with this 70-inch model by fully incorporating Google’s Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa AI programs into the TV itself. Whereas some of the above-mentioned TVs are listed as working with Google’s Assistant and Alexa, they require a separate device such as a Google Home speaker or Echo Dot to use this functionality. LG’s TV does not, and it can readily accept voice commands using either voice assistant.
NASA has to rethink some tried-and-true approaches to spacecraft navigation as it eyes more distant targets. Spacecraft need extremely accurate location measurements to plan maneuvers, but the way we’ve been doing that can be painfully slow. That’s why NASA launched a new prototype atomic clock into orbit recently. This device could revolutionize space exploration, and the team just . The so-called Deep Space Atomic Clock on a Falcon Heavy rocket earlier this year along with two dozen other payloads. Like ground-based atomic clocks, this device measures the passage of time with extraordinary accuracy, and that’s a must-have for space travel.
Decorated US astronaut Anne McClain had been accused of committing the first crimes in space. McClain is going through an acrimonious divorce and her spouse, Summer Worden, has alleged that McClain committed financial improprieties by accessing financial records while serving aboard the ISS (International Space Station) and has filed a complaint with the FTC and NASA’s Office of Inspector General, accusing McClain of identity theft and improperly accessing records. The claims of financial harm are now being investigated by NASA, but McClain is strongly denying any intent or wrongdoing: There’s unequivocally no truth to these claims. We’ve been going through a painful, personal separation that’s now unfortunately in the media.
The cost of consumer drones has come down considerably in the past few years, and some owners have fancied the idea of outfitting their unmanned vehicles with weapons. Some recent videos have surfaced showing people doing just that. Well, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is here to remind everyone that, no, you . It’s highly illegal, and the FAA is authorized to slap people with hefty fines. For several years, the proliferation of drone aircraft proceeded with very little regulation. The federal government slammed on the brakes when businesses started using drones at a time when there were no rules in place to ensure unmanned vehicles didn’t interfere with air traffic.
Today you can get a versatile high-end laptop from Dell that’s marked nearly 50 percent off and is well suited for travel, office work, and gaming. Dell’s Vostro laptops are typically targeted as home and business solutions. But this system, with its powerful Core i5-9300H processor and midrange Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics chip, is able to run modern games as well. Dell also built this system with a brushed aluminum exterior that makes it durable and relatively lightweight. Right now you can get it from Dell marked down from $1,427.14 to $799.00. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A comes equipped with an octa-core SoC and 128GB of storage space.
On Tuesday, August 27, Blizzard’s long-awaited World of Warcraft Classic will finally debut. Excitement has been running high for the new launch — so much so, that Blizzard actually warned players last week that they were staring at a login queue of up to 10,000 people on one server. The number of people planning to come back for the Classic game is huge. To combat this, Blizzard is opening additional realms. Character name reservations opened last week, but the restriction on how many characters you can roll will be lifted on Monday, allowing up to 10 characters per Classic Realm, up from the current three.
IBM has taken new steps to open the Power architecture further and expand access to its capabilities. Back in 2013, IBM launched the OpenPower Foundation to allow would-be customers to license IBM designs and collaborate with each other. Now, the company has open-sourced the entire Power ISA and contributed a softcore design to the effort, suitable for running on an FPGA. The OpenPower Foundation, which was founded back in 2013, will now become part of the Linux Foundation and the entire project will be overseen by that organization. IBM has been turning towards open source as a method for reinvigorating its hardware business and stoking interest in its own ecosystem.
