There's a fresh Intel CPU vulnerability - Downfall - a variation of the Meltdown and Fallout vulnerabilities from the last few years. Downfall (aka CVE-2022-40982) "is a transient execution side-channel issue and impacts all processors based on Intel microarchitectures Skylake through Ice Lake" and allows an attacker to "extract sensitive information that is protected by Software Guard eXtensions (SGX)" like "passwords, encryption keys, and private data such as banking details, personal emails, and messages". This is a big deal for cloud computing setups where multiple people have access to other people's stuff floating around on the same CPU. Intel's got a microcode update to patch against it and according to Red Hat, software that "realistic applications" using AVX2/AVX512 (not benchmarks) "only low single-digit percentage slowdowns".
Apple Music has a new feature called "Discovery Station" that "appears to play songs of a similar style to songs that are in your personal library and that you have listened to and liked in the past, but it chooses songs you don't have in playlists or your library". I wanted to try it out but I get a "not in your country" error. Lame. Over on Spotify, the AI-powered DJ feature is now available in Australia. It's "a curated music selection that includes spoken-word commentary powered by a synthetic voice. The commentary includes light-hearted banter and contextual information that references specific songs and artists the user has previously listened to". I'm listening now and it's cute, but Zane Lowe's job is safe (for now).
Free TV, the lobby group for free to air TV broadcasters, are apparently in Canberra today to ask/blackmail the government for some new laws to keep their businesses viable. They argue it's unfair companies like Amazon and Netflix are paying TV makers to get dedicated buttons on remotes and their apps on the front of TV home screens, while Australian apps (7plus, 10 Play, etc) are left to languish as virtual second class citizens. To resolve this, Free TV wants a law that'll force TV makers to "include access to all TV channels provided by our free local networks, install all local TV apps in the first positions on home screens, and to offer free local TV content first in search results and recommendations". I bet it will happen too. Interesting to see if they'll force it not just on the built-in smart TV interfaces, but on set top boxes like Apple TV, Chromecast and so on.
David Hamp-Gonsalves turned an old Samsung Galaxy S7 sitting in a drawer into a music streaming server. First they tried running a really handy Android app called Termux that exposes a Linux terminal to the user and installing Navidrome - a lightweight music stream server - but that shat itself every few days, running out of RAM. Ultimately they ended up rooting the phone, installing LineageOS, removing everything non-essential to free up RAM and trying termux and Navidrome again. Works fine, uses fuck all electricity and repurposes a device that would have otherwise ended up as e-waste. You love to see it. Might try this out on a cracked screen Samsung S10 I've got sitting in my junk drawer.
In 2009 cells were taken from Billy Apple's blood, then altered using a virus to keep them alive in perpetuity. These immortalised cells have been stored at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. Working with biochemist/artist Dr Craig Hilton, they created The Immortalisation of Billy Apple. This project explores the implications of the use and ownership of body tissue and genetic information, while challenging the constraints on the development and use of biotechnology. (Stuff / Tahatai / Wikimedia Commons)
📻 Drugs - Ammonia
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