Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 18 Issue 09
Volume 18, Issue 09 Atari Online News, Etc. March 4, 2016
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2016
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Fred Horvat
To subscribe to A-ONE, change e-mail addresses, or unsubscribe,
log on to our website at: www.atarinews.org
and click on "Subscriptions".
OR subscribe to A-ONE by sending a message to: dpj@atarinews.org
and your address will be added to the distribution list.
To unsubscribe from A-ONE, send the following: Unsubscribe A-ONE
Please make sure that you include the same address that you used to
subscribe from.
To download A-ONE, set your browser bookmarks to one of the
following sites:
http://people.delphiforums.com/dpj/a-one.htm
Now available:
http://www.atarinews.org
Visit the Atari Advantage Forum on Delphi!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/atari/
=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1809 03/04/16
~ Snapchat Gets Phished! ~ People Are Talking! ~ Firebee News Update!
~ Civilization: 25 Years ~ The New Raspberry Pi 3 ~ Clean Up Your Gmail!
~ Right To Be Forgotten! ~ Kirby: Planet Robobot! ~ Resident Evil 4,5,6!
~ Are PC, Mac Wars Back? ~ Next Mac OS Gets Siri? ~ Uncharted 4 Delayed!
-* "Hack The Pentagon" Bounty! *-
-* Did The Dark Web Get A Lot Bigger? *-
-* Brazil Releases Jailed Facebook Executive! *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
I wonder how the rest of the world is seeing our presidential race;
and, what their opinions on it are! If I had to take a guess, I'd
say "amazement" was near the top of the list of words to describe
what we're all seeing! While it seems that "The Donald" and
"Hillary" will top the leaderboard, who knows how it's all going to
end?! This is something that, I'm sure, that all eyes of the world
are watching!
How's the weather out your way? We had a number of snow squalls
in my area for most of the day today, but nothing left behind as a
reminder. It's been downright cold again, but next week bodes
some summer-like temperatures. Here's hoping that the cold doesn't
return after that; I'm ready for Spring!
You've probably noticed that over the past couple of weeks that
there have been some problems with getting A-ONE online by some
of our usual means. There were some problems with the A-ONE
server, which, I've been told, have been resolved. I guess we'll
find out one way or another with this week's mailing to subscribers!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
FireBee Update News
By Fred Horvat
Not much to report on this week as I did not have much time to use
the FireBee. The couple of times I did boot it up the system
booted up and worked fine. Also the Date and Time is correct every
time I boot the machine. So flashing the original BaS (which came
originally on the FireBee) fixed the common Date and Time drifting
issue that many FireBees seem to have. I'm glad mine no long has
that issue.
I did notice something this week that Netsurf Web Browser is now up
to version 3.5 http://www.netsurf-browser.org/ I haven't
downloaded a Nightly Build of Netsurf in a couple of months but it
appears that sometime in January Netsurf went to version 3.5. I did
not read the changelog to see what the changes are besides the
version number. I found out when I downloaded a Nightly Build for
Aranym. The browser worked fine but for me under Aranym pages when
they rendered jumped around until fully rendered. Once rendered
they looked great. This may be due to my Aranym setup or FreeMiNT
build I am running. I did not test outside of that single Aranym
setup. Also I did not download and test a new Nightly Build on the
FireBee yet. So far I have not been able to get any of the newer
builds of Netsurf to run on my FireBee. I will have to give that a
try again shortly. To download an up-to-date Nightly Build of
Netsurf for the Atari go to
http://ci.netsurf-browser.org/builds/atari/
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Another Delay for "Uncharted 4"!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Resident Evil 4,5,6 Coming to PS4!
Civilization: 25 Years Later!
And much more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
'Uncharted 4' Release Hit With Yet Another Delay
Nathan Drake's last dance will have to wait another two weeks.
As of Wednesday, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End won't be out until
May 10, 2016 ó a two-week shift from its former Apr. 27 launch.
Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Shawn Layden blames high
demand for the delay, with the extra time going toward printing
more copies of the game.
"As you know, Naughty Dog is wrapping up production on
Uncharted 4: A Thiefís End with the game on track to go gold and
into production later this month," Layden writes on PlayStation
Blog.
"In an effort to meet the considerable worldwide demand, and to
ensure that all gamers worldwide have the opportunity to play the
game on day one, we have chosen to postpone the launch of the
game by two weeks to allow for extra manufacturing time."
This isn't the first time Uncharted 4 is slipping out of a
previously planned release. The game was once set to launch for
Christmas 2015, but a need for more development pushed it back to
Mar. 2016.
Another delay followed, with Naughty Dog citing a similar need for
more time to polish the game off. That second release shift is
what brought Uncharted 4 to the Apr. 27 launch it's leaving today.
The new delay comes just a day after the developer revealed that
the coming weekend ó Mar. 4-6 ó would play host to a multiplayer
stress test for the game. Anyone that owns a PlayStation 4 ó even
those without a PlayStation Plus subscription ó can sample the
game's competitive multiplayer mode for free.
The good news is the game appears to be almost finished, and ó
according to Sony, at least ó the delays have everything to do
with meeting demand and nothing to do with development shortfalls.
Uncharted is a big series for Sony, and it's no surprise that
Naughty Dog wants to make sure A Thief's End ó supposedly star
Nathan Drake's final adventure ó turns out right.
Resident Evil 4,5,6 Coming to PS4 and Xbox One
Capcom is rereleasing Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 5, and
Resident Evil 6 on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The company
announced that all three games are coming to the new consoles,
beginning with Resident Evil 6 on March. Each game will cost
$20/Ä20/£16.
Resident Evil 6's re-release will come with all previously
released add-on content, including costumes and more. Resident
Evil 5's release is slated for summer 2016, with Resident
Evil 4 coming this fall.
Capcom also announced that physical disc versions will be
available in the Americas, though no further details were
provided. The publisher did not say if the new versions of any
of the games will be updated with better graphics or if they
will be standard ports.
2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the Resident Evil franchise,
as the first game debuted in 1996 in Japan. The Pokemon
franchise also celebrates its 20th birthday this year.
Capcom is making a habit of rereleasing classic Resident Evil
games. The publisher has already released new versions of
Resident Evil and Resident Evil 0, while a Resident Evil 2
remake is also on the way.
In May 2015, Capcom said it was encouraged by the success of
Resident Evil HD remastered version so much so that HD remasters
and rereleases would become a key area of growth for the company.
'Kirby: Planet Robobot' Hits Nintendo 3DS On June 10:
Team Kirby Clash, Amiibo And Everything You Need To Know
A Nintendo Direct presentation revealed that the newest Kirby
title, "Kirby: Planet Robobot," will be launched for the
Nintendo 3DS on June 10. The video also unveiled the new Team
Kirby Clash game mode, as well as new amiibo from the "Kirby"
universe.
Through a Nintendo Direct presentation, the video game company
announced that the next installment of the popular Kirby
franchise, Kirby: Planet Robobot, will be launched on the
Nintendo 3DS on June 10.
As with most Kirby games, it will be a platformer wherein the
titular pink character can copy the abilities of his opponents.
Players will be able to move between the foreground and the
background as they go through various colorful levels.
What sets this version apart from other Kirby games is the
Robobot armor, which allows Kirby to smash obstacles. The armor,
which also has the ability to copy the abilities of opponents,
is used by Kirby to repel the invaders that have come to turn
Dreamland into a mechanized world.
Copying what the opponents can do remains a vital aspect of the
game, with Kirby able to mimic 25 abilities and the Robobot
armor able to go into 10 modes based on what enemies wear.
The Nintendo Direct video also reveals that Kirby: Planet Robobot
will feature a new mode named Team Kirby Clash.
In the new game mode, four players will be able to join together
to complete co-op missions for experience points, with all
players carrying a different role. As their experience
accumulates, players will be able to tackle more difficult
quests, including taking on the biggest bosses of the game and
earning trophies along the way.
Gamers can access Team Kirby Clash through Download Play, with
only one player among the team of four required to actually own
Kirby: Planet Robobot.
The new Kirby title will also be supporting all amiibo figures,
with many of them giving the pink puffball copy abilities within
the game. Some of the figures can even pass on character-specific
traits to Kirby, examples of which include the Mario amiibo
giving Kirby the "fire" ability and the Link amiibo giving Kirby
the "sword" ability.
Lastly, Nintendo announced that it will be launching four new
amiibo figures from the Kirby universe alongside the release of
the new game. Namely, the four figures are Kirby, King Dedede,
Waddle Dee and Meta Knight.
No Man's Sky: Becoming An Intergalactic Indiana Jones Sounds Good to Us
No Man's Sky is a game unlike any we've seen before: As a starship
pilot, you'll explore a universe so vast, its developers think
explorers won't set foot on 99 percent of its planets. That seems
ridiculous, but Hello Games estimates No Man's Sky has 18
quintillion planets. It has to estimate, because of course it
didn't craft them by hand - they're all the result of algorithms,
procedurally generating each one as it's discovered.
The idea that any one player could be the first - and last - to
ever set foot on an alien world? It's incredibly exciting stuff.
And on June 21, 2016, you'll be able to jump into No Man's Sky on
PlayStation 4 and PC, and start exploring. (It'll cost $60 or
£50, with Australian prices yet to be announced. An "Explorer's
Edition" version that includes a scale model of your ship is
available for preorder for $150.)
Hello Games, a tiny British company which until now has been
reticent to share much about its hotly anticipated game, is ready
to give us more of an idea of what to expect. There are alien
civilizations in this universe, and we don't mean simple animals,
minerals or vegetables. We're talking worlds occupied by
intelligent beings. And they might want to meet you - that is, if
you can find them.
A procedurally generated, living universe is a fascinating
prospect for gamers. But since its official announcement almost
two years ago, we've had to survive on tidbits revealed in
developer demos. We haven't seen what a regular player might
experience as they explore and discover planets in the No Man's
Sky universe.
Earlier this week, I had the chance to play the game for about
30 minutes in a solar system with a more advanced ecosystem -
planets farther from the sun might be less developed, but have
elements players might want for crafting. As I zipped around in
my spacecraft, taking off and setting down on various planets in
the system, the transition between space, atmosphere and land
were impressively seamless. No loading screens here.
monolith.png
Ominous, to be sure. Let's play dumb and pretend we need its
help, just in case it's an angry monolith.
While on one planet, I discovered various animal species
(shout-outs to Bailey and Jenkins, small lizard-like creatures
now officially named after my dogs), gathered resources from the
planet, protected myself from the elements, and died to a large
nocturnal predator; all mechanics we're familiar with in video
games. But then, I arrived at a large monolith covered in
unintelligible inscriptions.
In my own personal "2001: A Space Odyssey" moment, it turns out
these monoliths are relics left by alien races, and you can
interact with them. Hello Games' Sean Murray says there are
"thousands" of potential options - watch our interview with him
below. I told the slab I was a pitiful, lower intelligence being
and asked for mystical learning, which it then bestowed upon me
via an alien word. Learning a particular alien race's words help
you decipher what a member of that race has to say to you, which
could be the difference between life, death and sweet loot.
I found an occupied station with a strange parrot-like being
inside, and after trading niceties with him, I was gifted an
upgraded gun, and went on my way. Murray explained that each
race has its own lore, and some are focused on a particular
pursuit, like military strength or science.
The addition of these alien characters made the game feel much
more immersive than previous demos I've seen. After hearing
previously that you might never run into another player in No
Man's Sky because of the vastness of the universe, I had concerns
the game would be a terrifyingly lonely experience. The addition
of alien races made me feel like I was truly exploring living
planets, almost like an astro-archaeologist. Yes, I just called
myself the Indiana Jones of outer space.
There's still that nagging question though, the one that's been
out there since we learned about No Man's Sky: What's the balance
between lush, advanced worlds like the ones we explored earlier
this week, and barren planets devoid of life? The inherent problem
with demoing the game is that there isn't really a way to figure
that out - because the universe is so large, and its developers
don't even know what's on most planets (they had to spend days
playing around in this particular system before we sat down for
our demo, so they could help show us around if we needed help),
it's almost impossible to gauge how interesting most planets might
be.
After playing the game for a half hour, all I wanted was more
time. No matter if you want to catalog one single planet's life,
see as much of the universe as you can, or something in between,
No Man's Sky seems to welcome you with open arms. If Hello Games
can pull off a launch relatively free of bugs and glitches,
gamers who love open sandboxes will be in for a treat that's well
worth the price of admission.
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE Gaming Online - Online Users Growl & Purr!
"""""""""""""""""""
PSP Losing PlayStation Store Access on March 31 in North America
On March 31, Sony will be closing the PlayStation Store on
PlayStation Portable in North America.
As explained on PlayStation.com, youíll still have access to your
Download List on PSP and content can still be purchased from the
online PlayStation Store:
Closure Of PlayStation Store On PSP
On March 31, 2016, the PlayStation Store for PlayStation
Portable (PSP) system in the SCEA region will be closed. PSP
system users will be able to purchase PSP content from the
web-based PlayStation Store at store.playstation.com, and also
access past purchases from the Download list on their PSP system.
Users will continue to have the ability to make in-game purchases
from their PSP system.
Select PSP games are also available for purchase on the
PlayStation Store for PlayStation Vita system users.
Japanese PSPs will also lose access to the PlayStation Store on
March 31.
European PSPs lost access to the PS Store back in September 2014.
Civilization: 25 Years, 33 Million Copies Sold,
1 Billion Hours Played, and 66 Versions
Civilization is one of the gods of strategy games, where you
oversee the creation of a whole society in competition with other
civilizations. It debuted in 1991, and now at 25, it has become
one of the cultural touchstones of the game industry, something
that everyone recognizes or has played in the past.
Few game franchises live to see a 25th anniversary, but Civ, as
most gamers and industry folk call it, is thriving. It has 33
million copies in sales to date, including 8 million for its
latest, 2010ís Civilization V and its expansions. Meierís teams
at MicroProse and Firaxis have created 66 versions of the game
across all platforms, and based on extrapolations from sales on
the Steam digital distribution and community platform, the Civ
series has been played for more than a billion hours.
Civ game designers from across those 25 years ó Bruce Shelley,
Sid Meier, Brian Reynolds, and Soren Johnson ó got together in a
panel at the DICE Summit, the game event in Las Vegas, to talk
about the design and impact of Civ throughout the years.
At the time the game came out, Sim City and Populous had already
debuted in the ìgod gamesî genre. But Civ was still unique in how
it tried to simulate all of human history.
ìWe felt the game was fun,î Meier said. ìThere was no game like
this. We could break new ground and make it work.î
Meier said the game had its started in a ìgolden period of
MicroProse,î after the company had shipped hit games like Railroad
Tycoon, Covert Action, Pirates!, and various flight simulators.
ìThere was a hint that strategy might be something cool,î Meier
said. ìBeyond railroads, what was an epic topic for simulation?
We wanted to end up with something big. What about the history
of Civilization? We were inspired by SimCity with god games. The
core was a number of simple systems: economic, combat, growth.
Everything was understandable on its own. Once it all interacted,
the decisions for the player became very interesting.î
Players talk about their obsession with playing Civ, and Reynolds
brought up the promo for the game, of playing ìjust one more
turn,î as one of its hallmarks. Civ had great gameplay, great
topic, and accessibility, Johnson said. And players could feel
like they controlled the game, as the designers werenít
heavy-handed about the direction the game could flow.
ìIt followed that pattern for 25 years,î Johnson.
Each game came with its own creative pressures, and Meier gladly
handed over the design to others who had ideas to push the series
forward. The ability to simulate the societies in the game, based
on the improvements in computing power, made it possible to create
more and more realistic Civ worlds. A look at the art of the early
Civ games and the latest give you a full view of the arc of
technological improvement in graphics.
But the designers still had to come up with new features, beyond
better graphics, in each new game.
ìI didnít want to go down in history as the guy who broke
Civilization,î Reynolds said.
The original Civilization was made with a 16-color palette. With
Civ II, Windows came along and made PC gaming more palatable for
larger audiences. Now the game can take advantage of millions of
colors.
ìBrian disappeared for a year, went to England, and came back
with Civilization II,î Meier said.
Reynolds said the game was projected to sell about 38,000 copies.
It beat that projection many times over.
On Civ III and IV, the game kept adding new things to do, such as
adding special characters called known as great people and
religion.
ìWe wanted to bring old ideas forward and still start from
scratch,î Johnson said.
For Civ IV, Johnson operated on the ideas of ìone-third old,
one-third improved, and one-third new,î so new fans could embrace
the game and old fans could enjoy familiar features.
Meier said, ìSome franchises go into overly large, overly complex
ideas and crashed and burned.î
Meier took a stab in 2008 at packing Civ into mobile with
Civilization Revolution, or an introductory version of the game
with more bite-sized gameplay.
Meier said the franchise has likely remained popular for 25
years, and kept its magic, because of the community support.
ìSo many of their ideas and energy has gone into the game,î Meier
said. ìBrian introduced the idea of modding into Civ II, and the
game took off.
ìSomething about Civ seems to bring out the game designer in
people. We would get letters, with fans saying ëThis is what i
would change about it.'î
A recent Firaxis Con event featured a multi-generational crowd,
where parents were bring their kids to introduce the game to the
new generation, Meier said.
ìThe whole arc of human history and you get to be the ruler. We
would sneak in actual history, and play on the things people
already knew about history. It goes to a common history we all
have and the core desire to rule it all,î Reynolds said.
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Hack the Pentagon ó US Government Challenges Hackers To Break Its Security
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) has the plan to boost
their internal and network security by announcing what it calls
"the first cyber Bug Bounty Program in the history of the federal
government," officially inviting hackers to take up the challenge.
Dubbed "Hack the Pentagon," the bug bounty program invites the
hackers and security researchers only from the United States to
target its networks as well as the public faced websites which are
registered under DoD.
The bug bounty program will begin in April 2016, and the
participants could win money (cash rewards) as well as recognition
for their work, DoD says.
While announcing 'Hack the Pentagon' initiative during a
conference, DoD said only "Vetted Hackers" can participate in the
Bug Bounty program, which means the candidates need to undergo a
Background Check after registration and before finding
vulnerabilities in its systems.
Moreover, candidates would be given a Predetermined Department
Systems (might be real system alike) for a specific time period
of the competition to access it.
So, donít be confuse that the DoD will serve a critical piece of
its infrastructure to hackers for disruption, rather the hackers
will be allowed to target a predetermined system that is not part
of its critical operations.
However, the Department of Defense has not yet confirmed what
bounty would be provided to hackers upon a successful penetration
of its network or web pages.
Why DoD launches a Bug Bounty program?
Department of Defence currently manages 488 websites related to
everything from the 111th Attack Wing, several military units to
Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program.
According to Chris Lynch, Director of Defense Digital Service
thatís actually behind the "Hack the Pentagon" initiative:
"Bringing in the best talent, technology and processes from
the private sector not only helps us deliver comprehensive, more
secure solutions to the DoD, but it also helps us better protect
our country."
But, Here's the Actual Reason You Need to Know:
The hackers, foreign and internal criminals, are actively
targeting government departments and critical infrastructure that
could reveal national secrets.
Last yearís massive security breach in the United States Office
of Personnel Management (OPM) revealed the private information of
over 21.5 Million US government employees.
Just last month, an unknown hacker released personal details of
at least 20,000 Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and
9,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers.
Almost three years ago, the Pentagon said the Chinese government
had conducted cyber attacks on the several United States
diplomatic, economic as well as defense industry networks.
Therefore, the real purpose of launching dedicated bug bounty
program for hackers could be a government initiative to identify
vulnerabilities in its infrastructure that may expose any
endangered state secrets.
Just like Bug Bounty programs offered by several Frontliners in
the technology industry, Hack The Pentagon would also be an
exercise for the federal authorities to boost up the security
measures and counter the cyber attacks.
Instead of usual self-conducting Security Audit by the DoD
internals itself, the new initiative would provide an opportunity
for the fresh brains outside the Pentagon to challenge DoD
infrastructure and enhance the security measures.
Brazil Releases Jailed Facebook Executive
Facebookís vice president of Latin America, Diego Dzodan, was
released on Wednesday, the worldís largest social network
confirmed to Fortune. A judge in the Brazilian state of Sergipe
overturned an order on Tuesday that prompted his detention,
saying that Dzodan could not be arrested because heís not
currently under a criminal investigation.
ìDiegoís detention was an extreme, disproportionate measure, and
we are pleased to see the court in Sergipe issue an injunction
ordering his release,î a Facebook spokesman told Fortune.
ìArresting people with no connection to a pending law enforcement
investigation is a capricious step and we are concerned about the
effects for people of Brazil and innovation in the country.î
Dzodan was detained on Tuesday following a court order that
allowed local police to hold him for questioning. He was forced
to stay in the jail overnight until his release on Wednesday
morning.
The detention is part of a broader case between Facebook-owned
messaging service WhatsApp and an investigation into alleged
drug-trafficking ring. Although many of the caseís details are
unclear, as part of their investigation, Brazilian officials have
sought communications over WhatsApp between people allegedly
involved in drug trafficking.
According to a Reuters report on Tuesday, officials requested
from Facebook last year WhatsApp messages that may relate to the
case. Because the messaging platform uses end-to-end encryption,
it effectively hides messages from the outside world, including
investigators. Not even WhatsApp has access to those
communications, frustrating law enforcement and prompting courts
to up the ante. In December, after repeated requests on Facebook,
WhatsApp was temporarily shut down across Brazil. Facebook CEO
Mark Zuckerberg called the temporary shut down ìa sad day for
Brazil.î He added in a statement at the time that his company is
dedicated to user privacy.
After that effort failed, a judge recently fined Facebook
1 million reais ($250,000) to compel Facebook to provide
WhatsApp messages to law enforcement. After the fine didnít
work, Dzodan was detained.
For its part, Facebook has said that WhatsApp and its own
operation have been actively working with law enforcement in
Brazil as part of the ongoing investigation. Still, the company
has said it does not have the key to decrypt the messages and
provide them to law enforcement.
The issue is part of a broader battle between technology
companies and law enforcement agencies over the proper balance
between privacy and justice. Appleís recent row with the FBI over
whether or not it should be forced to help the agency unlock the
iPhone owned by San Bernardino attacker Syed Farook has shone a
bright light on the issue. Apple has said that its chief priority
is user privacy and fears that helping law enforcement open a
single iPhone could prompt similar requests in the future.
The FBI, along with other prominent law enforcement agencies
around the world, have argued that the idea of privacy, while
justified in some respects, can hinder opportunities for bringing
justice to cases. Services like WhatsApp and Appleís AAPL -0.51%
Messages, authorities argue, create an issue of ìgoing dark,î a
term coined by the FBI and Justice Department over the last
couple of years to describe how terrorists and criminals could
hide from law enforcement by using encrypted technologies.
ìThe ëgoing darkí problem is a very real threat to law
enforcementís mission to protect public safety and ensure that
criminals are caught and held accountable,íí said U.S. Attorney
General Loretta Lynch at the RSA cybersecurity conference in San
Francisco on Tuesday. îWe owe it to the victims and to the
public, whose safety we must protect, to ensure we have done
everything under the law to fully investigate terrorist attacks
and criminal activity on American soil.íí
However, Lynch added that ultimately, a resolution to the issue,
which FBI Director James Comey has called the ìhardest questionî
heís ever witnessed in government, is for companies and law
enforcement to work together.
Despite Dzodanís detention, Facebook seems willing to do just
that and work with Brazil.
ìWe remain willing to address questions Brazilian authorities
may have,î the Facebook spokesman said.
Did The Dark Web Just Get A Whole Lot Bigger?
The term dark web refers to a largely secret and anonymous part
of the internet where, in two words, anything goes.
Almost all of this dark web is accessed via Tor, a freely
available anonymising service that lets you browse without being
easily tracked.
The word dark, by the way, refers to ìlack of light,î meaning
content that isnít illuminated and indexed via regular search
engines, rather than to ìbroodingly evil,î the sort of content you
might expect to find in an online world where anything goes and
itís tricky for law enforcement to follow.
Nevertheless, some of the dark web really is evil, by any
definition youíd like to bring to the table, and a lot of it is
illegal.
In fact, researchers at Kingís College London recently made an
effort to measure how much of the dark web is being used for
illegal services ñ a tricky task, given that itís supposed to be
unilluminated ñ and ended up with a figure of 57%.
The accuracy of that research, and how to intepret that
simple-looking number 57%, has been the subject of much
discussion, as you can see from the comments on our write-up of
it.
But Professor Alan Woodward, a security researcher at the
University of Surrey in England, recently dug into the Kingís
College data and presented a well-reasoned discussion of its
validity.
Now, Woodward has written that the number of dark websites inside
the Tor network, having shown a slow but steady increase over the
past three months, suddenly shot up by about 50%, from around
40,000 to just over 60,000:
This, of course, raises the question, ìWhy?î
Who set up more than 20,000 new dark sites in a few days? Whatís
going on?
The mystery is deepened by Woodwardís suggestion that the amount
of dark web traffic on Tor actually went down very slightly at the
same time:
Woodwardís preferred explanation is that there has been a sudden
and explosive growth in the use of a recently-released, Tor-based
anonymous messaging service called Ricochet, which works, simply
put, by creating a dark website for every user.
Ricochet isnít entirely new: itís the pet project of Australian
IT journalist Patrick Gray, who first wrote about it at length
back in 2014.
Ricochetís main purpose, says Gray, is to help whistleblowers to
contact the media without leaving metadata traces ñ in other
words, data that shows the contact took place.
Metadata is the sort of information that says, ìYou emailed Paul
Ducklin at 13:37 yesterday,î but without any content from the
email itself. Because it doesnít contain actual content, metadata
is treated as ìmostly harmlessî in many countries and can be
requested without a warrant, despite the obvious threat to
privacy posed by its widespread collection and use.
And Ricochet recently made minor headlines in the security
community after receiving a positive code review from a security
assessment company called NCC.
That was on 15 February 2016; perhaps, speculates Professor
Woodward, this news prompted a sudden surge in Ricochet use, and
thus accounts for 20,000 new sites in the dark web?
Gray himself, however, has tweeted that he ìwould be surprisedî
if that were the explanation:
So that leaves us with the question, ìWhatís going on?î
Update. The mystery deepens! In the few days since Woodwardís
article was published, the number of dark websites has fallen
again, down to just over 50,000.
Google Agrees To Complicated Worldwide
ìRight To Be Forgottenî Censorship Plan
Google has said it will begin next week to censor content
worldwide that it removes under the European Unionís Right To Be
Forgotten mandate. But ìworldwideî censorship will only apply to
those searching from a particular EU country where the request
was originally made.
Does that make your head hurt? This might help. Assume that
someone in Germany files a Right To Be Forgotten request to have
some listing removed for their name. If granted, the censorship
will work like this for searches on that personís name:
Listing censored for those in Germany, using ANY version of
Google.
Listing censored for those in the EU, using a European version
of Google.
Listing NOT censored for those outside Germany but within the
EU, using non-European versions of Google.
Listing NOT censored for those outside the EU, using ANY
version of Google.
As you can see, itís worldwide censorship for those within the
country where the request was granted, in the sense that no matter
what edition of Google they use, the removed listings will not
show for the terms involved.
For a deeper explanation of how all this works, including why
listing even within the EU will continue to show for other types
of searches, see my previous article: Google To Remove
Right-To-Be-Forgotten Links Worldwide, For Searchers In European
Countries.
Outside the EU, none of the censorship will be in place ó so itís
not worldwide when considered that way. This will also be the case
for anyone within the EU who manages to disguise their location,
such as someone using a VPN.
Google Feared Worse
The move is in response to EU concerns that Googleís previous
censorship didnít fully uphold the Right To Be Forgotten. If
someone was within the EU, they could go to Google.com or another
non-EU version of Google and still find material that Google was
ordered to remove.
This change closes that backdoor ó which wasnít likely used much
anyway ó on a country-by-country basis. Itís a much better outcome
than if Google had been ordered to censor for all people
worldwide, as that potentially would have caused it to censor
globally for political reasons, such as with China.
Of course, thereís one country that Google does continue to censor
globally for: the United States, such as with copyright
infringement removals.
Snapchat Worker Falls for Email Phishing Scam
A Snapchat employee inadvertently spilled sensitive company
information after falling for an email trick.
On Friday, an unidentified worker for the maker of the popular
photo and video sharing app received an email asking for payroll
information, Snapchat revealed in a blog post published Sunday.
The email, which claimed to be from Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel,
apparently seemed legitimate enough to the person, who complied
with the request.
Oops. The email was actually a phishing scam, and it resulted in
pay and personal data for some employees being divulged to an
outsider.
Snapchat stressed that none of its internal systems were breached
and that no user information was compromised. The company's app,
which has been around since 2011, has more than 100 million daily
active users, many of them teens and millennials, and boasts more
than 7 billion video views every day. It's become enough of a
contemporary institution that even the White House now has an account.
Unlike other security threats that involve the spread of
malicious software or hackers gaining access to computers, email
phishing relies on simple social engineering - that is, one
person fooling another person. It takes advantage of people who
may not think before responding to an email that seems authentic.
In many cases, it's done with a phone call rather than an email
message. Either way, the fact that a worker at a tech-savvy firm
like Snapchat got taken in shows how easy it can be to fall for
such scams.
With email phishing, messages can look genuine, often appearing
to come from a real company or other trusted source. And because
the messages appear legitimate, they don't necessarily get
blocked by spam filtering software.
Snapchat said the scam was isolated and was reported to the FBI.
Employees affected by the scam have been contacted and will be
offered two years of free identity theft insurance and
monitoring, the company added.
The company declined to provide more details because the
incident is under investigation.
"When something like this happens," Snapchat said, "all you can
do is own up to your mistake, take care of the people affected,
and learn from what went wrong."
Drupal 6 Hits The End of The Line
Today, Wednesday 24 February 2016, is the end of the line for
Drupal 6.
The venerable website Content Management System (CMS) thatís been
around since 2008 and is still running over 110,000 sites wonít
stop working but, like Windows XP after April 2014, itís now a
0-day waiting to happen.
If you have a Drupal 6 website then you wonít be receiving any
more official security advisories or patches; from today your
site is vulnerable to any new security issues discovered in
Drupal 6 core or its modules, forever.
Drupal is the worldís second favourite CMS behind WordPress and
about one in ten of the Drupal sites on the web are still running version 6.
Itís popularity makes it a massive and easily probed target for
criminals.
Keeping enormous technology monocultures like the WordPress and
Drupal installed bases secure relies on good quality code and
quality assurance, vigilant security teams and the ability to
produce and disseminate patches quickly.
Automated attacks can begin within hours of vulnerabilities being
announced and if your site is on the public internet it will be
put to the test routinely by criminals.
If youíre still running version 6 then there is one branch line
you can continue to travel, for now at least.
In January, the Drupal community announced three vendors had
qualified to provide paid Long Term Support for Drupal 6. Those
vendors will themselves receive assistance from the Drupal
Security team and are in turn obliged to abide by the same
disclosure policy and release patches on drupal.orgís Long Term
Support page.
You do have to pay for that support though and it remains to be
seen if these organisations can match the Drupal Security team or
how long it will be commercially viable for them to provide
support.
Site owners would still be well advised to make upgrading an
urgent priority.
Those who want to stick with Drupal have two newer versions to
choose from:
Drupal 8 core also provides a Migration path directly from
Drupal 6 as an experimental feature, so sites can update directly
to Drupal 8 using either a user interface or with Drush. See
Executing a Drupal 6/7 to Drupal 8 upgrade for more details. The
Migrate feature will be fully supported in a later minor release
of Drupal 8.
Drupal 7 remains fully supported, so Drupal 6 sites can also
update to Drupal 7 using the core update feature when that is a
better fit. Drupal 7 is estimated to be supported until Drupal 9
is released, or later. For more information follow: [policy, no
patch] Drupal 7 (and 8) EOL timing.
Switching lines entirely is also an option ñ the popular open
source CMSes tend to make importing and exporting data easy and
thereís a wealth of tools to help you migrate to alternative
platforms like WordPress and Joomla.
The more complex and customised your site is the more difficult
the migration is likely to be though, no matter how you travel.
New major versions of Drupal tend to appear every few years and
because the community only supports the two most recent versions
of the software, the third oldest version normally goes out of
support as soon as the new version is released.
New Drupal versions are released when theyíre ready (rather than
to a schedule) and are incompatible with each other and existing
3rd party plugins. This forces site owners in to running
migration projects and makes planning the resources for those
projects more difficult.
Mindful of this, and the number of users whoíd immediately fall
foul of the lack of support, the Drupal Community gave version 6
users a three month stay of execution after the release of
Drupal 8 on 9 November 2015.
Drupal site owners have now had five years to upgrade to
version 7 and yet one in ten still hasnít.
There are very good reasons why the Drupal Community releases
software in the way it does but it stands in contrast to the
general trend towards smaller, more compatible, more frequent and
automatically deployed software releases.
The number of sites left behind in this release cycle should be a
concern to both the Drupal Community and everyone else because
compromised sites donít just affect the owner, they affect all of
us.
Use Gmailís Unsubscribe and Block Buttons To Clean Up Your Inbox
Trying to keep your head above water in an email inbox ó it can
be a pain in the neck.
For the gobs of people using Googleís wildly popular Gmail
service, however, the handy Unsubscribe and Block buttons can be
used to help manage onslaughts of unwanted email, whether theyíre
from subscriptions youíve grown tired of or plain old unsolicited
spammers.
Most emails youíve signed up to receive have a tiny-text
unsubscribe link somewhere at the bottom. What Gmail has done is
put a simple Unsubscribe button at the top of those emails that
will take you off of the email list without you having to visit
a site to do it.
And, of course, the Block button on Gmail will, pretty
straightforwardly, prevent any emails from annoying chain-letter
senders ó or whomever ó from reaching your inbox in the future.
Just click over to the More arrow, then select ìBlock,î and youíll
never hear from them again.
So there you are. Go forth and take back control of your inbox!
Raspberry Pi 3 Has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth And A Faster Processor
Four years after launching the original Raspberry Pi, an
ultra-cheap, barebones and tiny but surprisingly versatile PC,
the Raspberry Pi Foundation launched the third major iteration
of the same product.
The Raspberry Pi 3 has a new, 1.2GHz, 64-bit, quad-core ARM
Cortex-A53 processor, offering roughly ten times the performance
of the Raspberry Pi 1, according to the foundation. It also comes
with integrated 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1, and is fully
compatible with both Raspberry Pi 1 and 2.
The rest of the specs are roughly the same as those of the Pi 2
ó 1GB of RAM, a 400MHz VideoCore IV graphics chip, 4 USB ports,
a full-sized HDMI port, an ethernet port, a combined 3.5mm audio
and composite video jack, and a microSD card slot ó and of all
that fits into a very similar form factor.
Perhaps most importantly, the Pi 3 is currently priced the same
as the Pi 2: $35.
According to a blog post by the foundation, the old models will
not be discontinued; thereís still a sizable demand for both the
Pi 1 and 2, and they will coexist with the new model, priced $25
and $35, respectively.
The new model comes a few months after the introduction of
Raspberry Pi Zero, an even smaller computer that costs only $5.
That device, however, has a weaker processor, less memory and
less connectivity than the full-sized Pi 3.
Apple's Next Mac Operating System Might
Include a Crucial Windows 10 Feature
Apple will soon integrate its digital personal assistant, Siri,
into its Mac operating system, according to a recent report from
9to5Mac's Mark Gurman. The update seems logical, and Gurman has
an impeccable track record.
It should allow Apple's desktop platform to keep pace with its
major competitors as, in recent months, both Microsoft and
Alphabet's Google have integrated their own personal assistants
into their respective desktop operating systems. It should also
help Apple strengthen the bonds between its devices, and further
enhance its hardware ecosystem.
Siri made her debut in 2011, launching with the iPhone 4s. Over
the past four years, Apple has expanded Siri's reach to most of
its device portfolio - all current-generation iPads, iPhones, and
iPod Touches include Siri, as does the Apple Watch and the
fourth-generation Apple TV. Apple's Macs stand out as a notable
exception.
Apple will allegedly include Siri in the next version of OS X,
likely to be released in the fall. Siri will be integrated into
the Mac Menu Bar, and will be accessed by clicking on an icon or,
if connected to power, using the handsfree "Hey Siri" command.
Newly released Macs should ship with the feature, while older
devices could receive it through a free operating system update.
Siri on the Mac could be just as useful as she is on the iPhone,
answering questions, conducting searches, and tweaking settings.
Most Mac owners own iPhones, but most iPhone owners do not own
Macs. In a study conducted between July 2012 and March 2014,
Consumer Intelligence Research Partners found that, while 59% of
Mac buyers owned iPhones, only 28% of iPhone buyers owned Macs.
Convincing more iPhone owners to purchase Macs could help boost
demand for Apple's computers.
The addition of Siri could play a key role, as she would further
strengthen the bonds between Apple's products. Since 2014, the
company has made a concentrated effort at enhancing the synergies
between its various devices. 2014's OS X Yosemite, for example,
gave iPhone owners the ability to place and receive phone calls
through their Mac. With the addition of Siri, they'll be able to
call a contact completely hands-free.
Microsoft's Cortana arrived almost three years after Siri's debut,
but the company was quick to add Cortana to its desktop PCs. Its
latest operating system, Windows 10, includes deep integration
with Cortana, as does its web browser, Microsoft Edge. During
Microsoft's October earnings call, CEO Satya Nadella noted that
Windows 10 users had already asked Cortana more than 1 billion
questions.
Cortana benefits Microsoft's search business, as it's powered by
the Redmond tech giant's search engine, Bing. Last year, for the
first time, Bing achieved profitability, fueled in part by
Cortana's Windows 10 integration. But Microsoft has also used
Cortana as selling point for Windows-powered computers. A recent
Windows 10 ad emphasizes Cortana and notes that "even on the new
Macs, they don't have that."
Google's Chromebooks aren't as popular as Windows 10 devices, or
Apple's Macs, but the search giant brought its personal assistant,
Google Now, to the Chrome OS platform last year. Like Cortana,
Chromebook users can access Google Now through the desktop, and
conduct searches with their voice by saying "OK, Google."
Apple's Macs, then, are the only major personal computing
platform missing a native assistant. The addition of Siri won't
fundamentally change the Mac, but it should make it just a bit
more enticing.
Microsoft's New Ads Say PCs 'Do More' Than Macs
Is the ad war back on?
The Microsoft-Apple commercial wars may be back on.
While Apple has yet to take a swipe, Microsoft launched a series
of ads on Sunday attacking Macs and arguing that Windows 10-based
PCs ìdo moreî than Appleís computers.
The new series highlights the so-called ìBug Chicksî who promote
the advantages of using a Windows 10 PC instead of a Mac. The
first ad introduces viewers to the self-proclaimed Bug Chicks,
who study insects for a living. The ad shows the women using a
Windows 10 notebook and sketching on the screen.
ìI donít have a touchscreen on my Mac,î one of the Bug Chicks
says. ìIím jealous of that.î
The ad ends with a simple tagline: ìWindows 10 PCs do more. Just
like you.î
The ads call back to a time when Microsoft and Apple were at odds
over which company had the better operating system and PC
experience.
Apple won that commercial battle after airing the iconic ìGet a
Macî campaign between 2006 and 2009. The ads, which were shown
worldwide, showed two men ó one dressed in casual clothes
representing a Mac and another wearing a suit representing
Windows. The ads were aimed at making the Mac seem cool and fun
and Windows machines old-fashioned and obsessed with work. While
they always took a comedic tone, they were effective in
conveying Microsoft and Windows as the boring alternative to
Macs.
Appleís Mac sales soared during the ad campaign, though itís
impossible to know how much those commercials attributed to that
success.
Feeling the pressure, Microsoft responded with the ìIím a PCî ad
campaign in 2008. The ads attempted to poke fun at Appleís
campaign and enlisted the help of comedian Jerry Seinfeld and
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates to counter ìGet a Macî claims.
The campaign was ultimately criticized for the ads reportedly
being produced on a Mac. They also failed to catch the same fire
as Appleís commercials.
Since then, Microsoft and Apple have, in some ways, been growing
apart. Microsoft has been undergoing a transition under CEO Satya
Nadella to focus on the cloud and mobile devices, rather than
solely its software, including Windows and Office. Apple,
meanwhile, has grown its business on the back of its iPhones and
has largely ignored Microsoft.
Appleís defenders count the errors in Microsoftís anti-iPad ads
Indeed, Microsoft and Apple recently found common ground over
the iPhone makerís battle with the FBI. Last week, Microsoft
president and chief legal officer Brad Smith said at a
congressional hearing that his company ìwholeheartedlyî supports
Appleís refusal to work with the FBI to unlock the iPhone owned
by San Bernardino attacker Syed Farook. The company will this
week file an amicus brief with the court in support of Apple.
Now armed with an operating system that it believes is notably
better than its predecessor, Windows 8, Microsoft is opening a
new front in its war with Apple. In addition to taking aim at
the Macís lack of a touchscreen, the company also touted
Windows 10ís personal virtual assistant, Cortana.
ìEven on the new Macs, they donít have that,î one of the Bug
Chicks said.
=~=~=~=
Atari Online News, Etc. is a weekly publication covering the entire
Atari community. Reprint permission is granted, unless otherwise noted
at the beginning of any article, to Atari user groups and not for
profit publications only under the following terms: articles must
remain unedited and include the issue number and author at the top of
each article reprinted. Other reprints granted upon approval of
request. Send requests to: dpj@atarinews.org
No issue of Atari Online News, Etc. may be included on any commercial
media, nor uploaded or transmitted to any commercial online service or
internet site, in whole or in part, by any agent or means, without
the expressed consent or permission from the Publisher or Editor of
Atari Online News, Etc.
Opinions presented herein are those of the individual authors and do
not necessarily reflect those of the staff, or of the publishers. All
material herein is believed to be accurate at the time of publishing.
