Computer News

Firefox 59.0.1
Firefox 32-bit | Firefox 64-bit | All downloads | Release Notes

Intel Will Release New CPUs
“These changes will begin with our next-generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors (code-named Cascade Lake) as well as 8th Generation Intel® Core™ processors expected to ship in the second half of 2018.”
and
“First, we have now released microcode updates for 100 percent of Intel products launched in the past five years that require protection against the side-channel method vulnerabilities discovered by Google.”

Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places
“At CuriosityStream, we will always be grateful that Professor Hawking passionately shared his enthusiasm for the wonders of the Universe with his fellow humans. In tribute, please enjoy the complete series of Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places through Friday, March 23rd.”

“Widespread contamination”
“Researchers tested 250 bottles of water in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand and the United States.
Plastic was identified in 93 percent of the samples, which included major name brands such as Aqua, Aquafina, Dasani, Evian, Nestle Pure Life and San Pellegrino.”

The Retail Big Brother
“Major retailers, including Best Buy, JCPenny, Victoria’s Secret and a variety of others, have been tracking the return habits of shoppers and secretly punishing those who are suspected it be abusing return policies.”

Chinese Social Credit System
I saw this article: China will ban people with poor ‘social credit’ from planes and trains
Huh. WTF is “social credit?”
Read the link to this article: Big data meets Big Brother as China moves to rate its citizens
Coming to a college campus near you.

UVA Basketball Makes History
Virginia Ends Historic Season by Suffering Biggest Upset in College Basketball History
“This was a sports version of David and Goliath in a true sense. Virginia entered the game as 20.5-point favorites and would lose by 20. David felled Goliath with a rock to the forehead, but he also cut off the giant’s head.”
My bracket is a disaster and I don’t care. I love that UVA got taken down. Way to go UMBC!

Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 65.0.3325.162 for Windows, Mac and Linux.”
Download
This does NOT have the flash update. From the comments:
“to download the updated Flash Player, go to chrome://components , and under the entry for Adobe Flash Player click on “Check for update”. ”

Sacrificial Lamb?
An executive at Equifax has been charged with insider trading. It isn’t the big guy.
Thanks Chris!

Big Little Brother
Mobile license pilot study to allow police to ‘ping’ cellphone for a license
Why don’t you just mandate we all have a chip implanted in us?

The Not-So-Friendly Skies
Puppy dies after flight attendant insists it be stored in an overhead bin
United Airlines Just Admitted It’s Now Charging $9 for Overhead Bin Space (It Could Cost More)
United Airlines mistakenly flies family’s Kansas-bound dog to Japan
I hate flying. Cramped seats, rude staff, dirty environment, TSA, the waiting…

Lots of Windows and other software updates today. Full roundup later once they are all out. Until then…

More Win10 Forced Upgrades
Woody is on the case again:
“For the third time in the past four months, Microsoft ‘accidentally’ upgraded Win10 1703 machines to version 1709 in spite of explicit, correctly applied, deferral settings.”
The constant Win10 shenanigans from GWX until now almost gets me nostalgic for Windows Vista. Almost…

[H]ard On Nvdia
Klye at [H]ardOCP takes Nvidia to task for, let us call it anti-competitive behavior:
“I think it [GPP] is going to greatly, and negatively, impact consumer choice in the AIB and OEM computer market. Consumer choice is going to be decimated. Looking at the program guidelines, I truly think that is what will happen and is where my concern lies.”

TSA Illegal Searches?
The ACLU of Northern California is suing the TSA to get access to info as to why the TSA is searching domestic passengers electronic devices:
“TSA is searching the electronic devices of domestic passengers, but without offering any reason for the search,” Talla added. “We don’t know why the government is singling out some passengers, and we don’t know what exactly TSA is searching on the devices. Our phones and laptops contain very personal information, and the federal government should not be digging through our digital data without a warrant.”
I applaud the ACLU here. Perhaps next they could defend the Oakland Police against the discrimination happening across the bay.

ETC. Other stuff I’ve bookmarked this week.
The ability to feel empathy—or not—is shaped by your genes
Bono’s anti-poverty campaign faces claims of harassment
Mom has nearly all her limbs cut off after docs failed to spot deadly disease

I’m a tad under the weather so I hope my semi-coherent ramblings aren’t worse than usual.

Windows 10 S Mode
Years ago I advocated dual booting the same OS with a “daily driver” version and a game only version. Operating systems have changed quite a bit since then, especially memory management. Once you get an operating system system setup properly with a few performance tweaks here and there you are good to go. The old tweaks that had such a dramatic change in performance either make little change or don’t work at all. But this Windows 10 S Mode has me thinking about the possibilities…

That Name S*%#+
People are whining about the next Win10 version maybe being called “Spring Creators Update“.
In the words of my millennial friends, “DGAF.” My generation would say, “Get a life.”
Whatever it is called, I would not be in a hurry to update. The next version of a bloated OS isn’t gonna change your life. Let someone else beta test it.
On a personal level I would appreciate MS going to a once yearly update cycle. We all have enough to do without worrying about our PCs being hosed twice a year.

Speaking Of Millenials
They are beginning to understand social media sucks:
– > 50% are “seeking relief from social media”
– 34% say they have deleted social-media accounts entirely.
– The most popular apps to quit permanently are Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, as well as the dating app Tinder. Snapchat, on the other hand, escaped most teens’ wrath.(didn’t know 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 are teens)
(FYI – The survey looks at 18-24 year olds. The creators of the term define millennials as being born between 1982 and 2002 which would make them 16-36. The Pew Research center has recently defined them as “Anyone born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 22-37 in 2018)”)

Reader Emails
Q – The motive from my contact is that lately I’m having a few troubles with Bit Defender 2018, I searched in TH about AV’s but I only found a 2013 article, which helped me a lot btw, but I was wondering if you can bring an fresh update about that matter. An AV recommendation, maybe what AV do you use, etc…
A – I don’t have an AV recommendation. I use Windows Defender + Virtual Machines + Common Sense + Backups.
I should have added: I have dabbled with Norton in the last couple of years. Dunno, I guess it is OK. I will not even consider AV from companies in countries that are openly hostile to my own.

ETC. Other stuff I’ve bookmarked this week.
Lawmakers Continue Fighting For Net Neutrality in the US Senate, Courts, and States
China’s Long Arm Reaches Into American Campuses
DC Veterans Affairs hit by scathing report citing ‘failed leadership at multiple levels’
Galveston teen receives sweet surprise after helping elderly customer at Waffle House
Harry Potter: A History of Magic – Explore the wonders of the British Library exhibition

Chrome 65
“This update includes 45 security fixes.”
Download

New AMD Drivers
Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.3.1 Optional
Support for Final Fantasy XV, Warhammer, Vermintide II, DOTA2

“We know all about you”
MoviePass CEO, “We get an enormous amount of information…We watch how you drive from home to the movies. We watch where you go afterwards.”

Peek Squad At It Again
“EFF filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit last year to learn more about how the FBI uses Geek Squad employees to flag illegal material when people pay Best Buy to repair their computers. The relationship potentially circumvents computer owners’ Fourth Amendment rights.”

Uh…Shouldn’t you start with humans?
Paul Allen Wants to Teach Machines Common Sense. Good luck with that. Most people I come across lack it.

American Made Jeans?
Reading about talk of trade war and one of the things the EU said they were gonna target was bluejeans. I thought, “We still make bluejeans here?” I’ve always worn Levi’s because they’re cheap, they fit, I’m simple, and I have no fashion sense (don’t want any either). Levi’s haven’t been made in the U.S.A. in a long time. A Google search turned up this:
American Made Denim: The Ultimate Source List
The EU also said they were gonna target bourbon. Good, more for me!

No Sh** Sherlock
Another “study” that didn’t need to be done: Uptempo music helps people to keep exercising for longer
Is there someone out there that didn’t know this to be true?

Other tech related stuff I bookmarked this week:
The WIRED Guide to Net Neutrality
An FOI request has revealed ‘anonymous’ browser Tor is funded by US government agencies
New Spectre attack variant can pry secrets from Intel’s SGX protected enclaves
Ex-Google recruiter: I was fired because I resisted “illegal” diversity efforts
News Corp. CEO Slams Facebook, Google for Not Sharing Enough Ad Revenue
Twitter’s CEO just admitted the platform has problems, and he’s asking for help to fix them
Top web browsers 2018: Microsoft walks the road to browser irrelevance

Other off topic stuff I bookmarked this week:
Stephen Hawking on What Happened Before the Big Bang
Justin Verlander on Twitter: “Been sitting on this… Exit velo and launch angle and it’s correlation to % chance of becoming a homer. 2014 vs. 2017…”
New study links changes to the baseball to the record number of home runs in MLB
MIT study shows how much driving for Uber or Lyft sucks
The Mahindra Roxor Is A Tiny Offroad Jeep That You Can Totally Buy In America

Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 64.0.3282.186 for Mac, Linux, and Windows”
Download
Really digging the update log:
“This reverts commit 26c173d76d8286b872b54c9374e9639039b8a822.
Reason for revert: Reverting the revert. Original revert meant to be on TOT, but was instead done on a M64 branch. This was not intended.”

Other Software Updates
Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.2.3 Optional
Audacity 2.2.2
FileZilla Client 3.31.0

Latest Intel Security News: Updated Firmware Available for 6th, 7th and 8th Generation Intel Core Processors, Intel Xeon Scalable Processors and More
“The new microcode will be made available in most cases through OEM firmware updates.”

AMD Being Sued Now
“At least four separate lawsuits have now been filed against the California-based processor slinger, alleging violations ranging from securities fraud to breach of warranty, unfair competition, and negligence. ”

Anti-bacterial Wipes Pointless?
“Anti-bacterial wipes only eradicate bacteria from kitchen surfaces for 20 minutes and using them to keep germs at bay is “an absolutely redundant” exercise, a scientist has said. ”

Reap The Whirlwind Intel
Intel facing 32 lawsuits over Meltdown and Spectre CPU security flaws. Shareholders also allege insider trading.
FYI, I’m part of one lawsuit.

Speaking Of Meltdown And Spectre
You’ll be happy to know more attack vectors have been found.

Next Win10 Upgrade Date
Early April opines one reporter. Win10 updates are just plain getting tiresome.

Google Chrome Ad Blocking
Some folks are complaining about the fact that Chrome is going to start blocking ads. Cry me a river.

Greatest U.S. Cyber Security Risk?
It is the people in this country and government ignoring the risk from “what U.S. intelligence agencies call the “big four”: Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran.” Yet we still have people calling those who can see the threats “xenophobic”.

Government Contractors A Big Security Risk
“Nearly 50 percent of contractors have a BitSight grade below C for the Protective Technology subcategory of the NIST Cybersecurity Framework.”
You know… There are thousands of military veterans out there like me who have proven themselves security wise. But, if you’ve been out of the service for more than a year (I think?) you need a sponsor (a company) to get a security clearance. No clearance no job.

New Intel Graphics Driver
v15.65 for Win10 has a new gaming settings tweaker. Yeah, I don’t know anyone who games with the Intel GPU either.

Google Chrome Updated
“The stable channel has been updated to 64.0.3282.167 for Mac & Linux, and 64.0.3282.167/168 for Windows…This update includes 1 security fix.”
Download

Autoruns v13.82 & Process Monitor v3.50
Autoruns: “This Autoruns release shows Onenote addins and fixes several bugs”
Process Monitor: “Process Monitor now includes a /runtime switch…and includes numerous minor improvements and bug fixes”

Other Software
CCleaner 5.40
EMDB 3.11

One [H]ard Mini Motherboard
“If a smaller footprint is a consideration in your next build, you would be foolish not to put the ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-I Gaming motherboard of your short list. The fact that you get this many features and impressive stable overclocking ability for only $189.50, is only tempered by the fact that you have to give up all but one of your PCIe x 16 slots.”

ChiComs In The News
“The heads of six major US intelligence agencies have warned that American citizens shouldn’t use products and services made by Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE.”
&
“Speaking before the Senate Intelligence Committee alongside the heads of other US intelligence agencies, Wray told Senators that China is using a host of methods to undermine American military, economic, cultural, and informational power across the globe that rely on more than just China’s state institutions.”

Sorry for the lack of updates. Worked 6 days a week for the last 4 weeks 🙁

VLC Updated
Version 3.0 is out. Lots of new features.
Downloads: 32-bit or 64-bit

Meltdown/Spectre Patches, Part 2
Intel release a new patch after they botched the patch. Head to AskWoody for the full scoop.

Official Emoji List
Yeah, I didn’t know there was such a thing either but it makes sense.
Apparently there were a bunch of new emojis released because someone somewhere gets their panties in a wad if they don’t look like them.

Criminy
That Equifax hack. Yup, the news just keeps getting worse. Nobody is gonna get blamed for it though.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Off Topic

Best Interviews Ever
Quincy Jones is a recording industry legend. He is 84 and seen-it-all. He knows the music legends, he knows where the bodies are buried. He even says he knows who killed Kennedy.
Anyone who has an older loved one knows that as the years advance the filters drop. Mr. Jones has done 2 recent interviews that are completely fascinating.
GQ – Quincy Jones Has a Story About That
Frank Sinatra. Michael Jackson. Ray Charles. Malcolm X. Elon Musk. Truman Capote. Buzz Aldrin. Prince. Tupac. Even Leni Riefenstahl. Quincy Jones has run with them all.
Vulture – In Conversation: Quincy Jones
In both music and manner, Quincy Jones has always registered — from afar, anyway — as smooth, sophisticated, and impeccably well-connected. (That’s what earning 28 Grammy awards and co-producing Michael Jackson’s biggest-selling albums will do.) But in person, the 84-year-old music-industry macher is far spikier and more complicated. “All I’ve ever done is tell the truth,” says Jones, seated on a couch in his palatial Bel Air home, and about to dish some outrageous gossip. “I’ve got nothing to be scared of, man.”

Solo
Ron Howard: A Star Wars Story — Why the Oscar-winner joined Solo in its time of upheaval
“And I really have enjoyed it,” Howard says. “It’s a fun tone. And of course, with the Kasdans writing it and it being a young Han Solo movie, there’s this swagger, and there’s this sense of humor and this kind of youthful emotion and intensity.”