Dream Chaser’s first ISS resupply mission launches in late 2020

After years of testing, Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser cargo spacecraft has a launch window. NASA has given the go-ahead to the vehicle’s first mission, which is now slated for late 2020. Appropriately, it’s a straightforward resupply trip for the International Space Station. The company received the all-clear after hitting a slew of key NASA-approved design milestones.

Out of the companies NASA picked to provide ISS resupply missions back in 2016, Sierra Nevada’s vessel is the only aircraft-like design of the bunch — the Orbital ATK and SpaceX offerings are capsules. That should give it an edge when it carries scientific experiments, as it can land on a runway and offload equipment immediately (crucial for time-sensitive science) instead of waiting for a recovery. There’s a pressurized cabin for human-tended experiments.

Dream Chaser might not serve its original purpose for long when the ISS isn’t poised to receive funding past 2024. Even so, it should help usher in the private spaceflight era and offer some fresh competition.

Source: Sierra Nevada

Activist and EFF co-founder John Perry Barlow has died

John Perry Barlow, a founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, died in his sleep this morning at the age of 71. EFF executive director Cindy Cohn shared the news in a blog post.

“It is no exaggeration to say that major parts of the Internet we all know and love today exist and thrive because of Barlow’s vision and leadership,” she wrote. “He always saw the Internet as a fundamental place of freedom, where voices long silenced can find an audience and people can connect with others regardless of physical distance.”

Through the EFF, Barlow championed net neutrality and an open internet, often suing the federal government over its handling of online information and privacy matters. Barlow founded the EFF in 1990 alongside Mitch Kapor and John Gilmore, in response to what they saw as the government’s overzealous, misguided and illegal attempts to police cyber crime.

Here’s how Barlow viewed his mission at the EFF, as he wrote in 1996 after the signing of the Telecommunications Reform Act:

Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.

We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.

We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.

Barlow was a writer as well as an activist, and he founded the Freedom of the Press Foundation. He was also a lyricist for The Grateful Dead.

US busts $530 million Infraud cybercrime ring

The US just took down one of the larger online crime organizations in recent memory — certainly one of the largest prosecuted by the feds. Department of Justice officials have filed charges against 36 people allegedly involved with Infraud Organization (no really, that’s the name), a global cybercrime ring with roots in the US as well as numerous other countries. Combined, the group is believed to have trafficked in stolen financial data (including up to 4 million cards), identities and contraband worth over $530 million in losses. And that’s what they actually managed to accomplish. Reportedly, they hoped to inflict a total of $2.2 billion in damage.

Law enforcement has only arrested 13 of the members so far, five of which are from the US and only one of which (Sergei Medvedev) is considered top brass. Ukraine resident Svyatoslav Bondarenko, who’s believed to have founded Infraud back in 2010, isn’t one of them. And while there are just five suspects still at large, the actual membership is considerably deeper with 10,901 registered members as of March 2017.

The Americans involved with Infraud have already appeared in court, and they could face more than 30 years in prison if they’re found guilty. This is unlikely to dissuade other groups — Infraud wasn’t the first big cybercrime ring, and probably won’t be the last. Nonetheless, the scale suggests this should put at least a temporary dent in digital fraud.

Via: CNET

Source: Department of Justice

Apple’s ‘Amazing Stories’ revival loses showrunner Bryan Fuller

Apple has yet to launch any of the original shows funded by its $1 billion war chest, but it’s already losing part of its production team. Hollywood Reporter has learned that showrunner Bryan Fuller (of Star Trek and American Gods fame) has left Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories revival for the tech giant. The departure was “amicable,” according to sources, and stemmed from creative differences. Reportedly, Fuller wanted to make a Black Mirror-style show that wasn’t what Apple intended.

Fuller wasn’t new to the Amazing Stories continuation. He’d been around since 2015, when the series was attached to NBC and Spielberg wasn’t involved. He’s had some relatively short stints lately: he was booted from American Gods after the production company wanted to reduce the per-episode fee, and left Star Trek: Discovery over cost and casting issues with CBS.

This is a significant blow, but not a dramatic one. Apple has several original shows lined up, and executive producer Hart Hanson (known for Bones) is expected to fill Fuller’s shoes. The exit does, however, illustrate the risks involved in lining up multiple high-profile shows at once: there’s a real chance that something will go awry.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

How to Use iCloud Keychain on Your iOS Devices

iCloud Keychain is a feature of your Apple account that you can use to keep your website login credentials, personal details, credit card details, and wireless network information up to date and available across all your Apple devices.

With so many usernames and passwords to remember these days, iCloud Keychain provides a convenient way of always having this information at hand. And with its AutoFill feature, iCloud Keychain can even enter your credentials for you when required.

It’s also very secure, thanks to Apple’s use of end-to-end encryption. This means that only you can access your information, and only on devices where you’re signed in to iCloud. Keep reading to learn how to enable iCloud Keychain on your iOS devices.

How to Enable iCloud Keychain on Your iPhone or iPad

Open the Settings app and tap your Apple ID banner at the top of the Settings menu.

Tap iCloud.

Scroll down the list and select Keychain.

Toggle on the iCloud Keychain switch and enter your Apple ID password if prompted.
If this is the first time you’ve enabled iCloud Keychain, you’ll be asked to create an iCloud Security Code or use your existing device passcode. You’ll also need to enter a phone number where you can receive SMS messages for authorization purposes. If you’ve already enabled iCloud Keychain in the past, you’ll be prompted to enter the passcode that was used to set it up previously.

Accessing Your Login Details in iCloud Keychain

With iCloud Keychain enabled, Apple’s Autofill feature will fill in your login credentials for you whenever you come across the relevant input fields on a website or in an app. On occasion, you may encounter a login screen that doesn’t play nice with Autofill. In such cases, you’ll need to copy and paste your username and password manually. Here’s how it’s done.
Open the Settings app on your iOS device.

Tap Accounts and Passwords.

Tap App & Website Passwords and use Touch ID if prompted.

Tap the relevant login entry in the list, or using the search field at the top of the Passwords screen, type in the name of the app or website for which you need login credentials.

Long press on the username/password and tap the Copy pop-up option.

Now navigate back to the relevant app or website, long press the username/password input field, and then tap the Paste pop-up option.
Note that you can delete login credentials by tapping Edit at the top right of the Passwords screen. You can also tap a website entry and use the Edit option to change existing username and password fields.

Adding Credit Cards and Personal Information

You can add personal information and credit card information to iCloud Keychain at any time using your iPhone or iPad, after which it will be available across all of your devices. Simply follow these steps:
Open the Settings app.

Tap Safari.

Tap AutoFill.

To add personal information, tap My Info and select your contact card from the list of contacts. To add credit card details, tap Saved Credit Cards and then tap Add Credit Card.
The last screen you see here also includes three toggles for selectively disabling/re-enabling AutoFill functions, which can come in handy if someone else is going to be using your iPhone or iPad.

Tags: iCloud, iCloud Keychain
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New Study Suggests Apple Watch Heart Rate Sensor Can Detect Early Signs of Diabetes

Cardiogram, a company that offers an app able to break down heart rate data collected by the Apple Watch, today shared the results of a new study that suggests the Apple Watch can be used to detect the signs of diabetes.

Cardiogram researchers teamed up with the University of California, San Francisco and used the Cardiogram DeepHeart neural network to determine that heart rate data collected from the Apple Watch was 85 percent accurate at distinguishing between people with diabetes and people without diabetes.

For the study, Cardiogram used more than 200 million sensor measurements from 14,011 participants using an Apple Watch or Android Wear device and the Cardiogram app, aggregating data that included heart rate, step count, and other activity.

Prediabetes is a condition that often goes unnoticed and undiagnosed because traditional methods of detection require glucose-sensing hardware. Detection via the Apple Watch and an AI-based algorithm like Cardiogram’s DeepHeart has the potential to alert users that there’s an issue so they can then follow up with a medical professional.

According to Cardiogram, its study is the first large-scale study that demonstrates how an ordinary heart rate sensor, like the one in the Apple Watch and other devices like the Fitbit, can detect early signs of diabetes. Because the pancreas is connected to the heart through the nervous system, the heart rate variability changes when a person begins experiencing diabetes symptoms.

Over the course of the last year, Cardiogram and UCSF have teamed up to do a lot of research into the potential for wrist-worn heart rate sensors to detect serious health conditions. Previous studies have shown the Apple Watch heart rate sensor’s ability to detect conditions that include hypertension, sleep apnea, and atrial fibrillation.

While there’s still a long way to go before research proves whether the Apple Watch can officially detect early health problems, Cardiogram plans to implement new features to incorporate DeepHeart directly into the Cardiogram app in the future, which will allow users to be alerted if early signs of disease are detected.

Apple has also launched its own study in partnership with Stanford to determine whether the heart rate sensor in the Apple Watch can be used to detect abnormal heart rhythms and common heart conditions.

You can sign up to participate in the Apple Heart Study by downloading and installing the Apple Heart Study app and wearing the Apple Watch on a regular basis. If the Apple Watch detects an irregular heart rhythm, you’ll be contacted by researchers and may be asked to wear an ePatch monitor.

You can also participate in Cardiogram’s studies by installing the Cardiogram app and signing up to join the mRhythm study.

Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 4Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Buy Now)
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Russians accessed US voter registration records before 2016 election

The Department of Homeland Security has revealed that Russian forces have successfully accessed voter registration rolls of several US states in the months prior to the 2016 presidential election. Jeanette Manfra, the head of cybersecurity of the Department of Homeland Security, told NBC News that of they saw a targeting of 21 states, and “an exceptionally small number of them were actually successfully penetrated.”

There was no evidence that any of the registration rolls were altered, but the DHS is still treating it seriously. “2016 was a wake-up call and now it’s incumbent upon states and the Feds to do something about it before our democracy is attacked again,” said Jeh Johnson, who was DHS secretary during the Russian intrusions. “We were able to determine that the scanning and probing of voter registration databases was coming from the Russian government.”

Developing…

Source: NBC

Tesla targets 2,500 Model 3s a week while posting largest quarterly loss

After its CEO launched one of its yet-to-be-available Roadsters into space yesterday, Tesla posted its largest quarterly loss while simultaneously posting a jump in revenue. Meanwhile, the company is still working towards its earlier goal of producing 5,000 Model 3s a week.

In the fourth quarter ending on December 31st, the company lost $675.35 million dollars. During the same quarter in 2016, the company lost $121.38 million.

But the company was able to grow revenue from $2.85 billion in Q4 2016 to $3.288 billion this past quarter. More than expected by analysts. It also announced that it expected to begin generating “positive quarterly income on a sustained basis” in 2018.

Meanwhile, on the Model 3 production front, the company hopes to hit 2,500 Model 3s per week by the end of the first quarter and plans to be producing 5,000 Model 3s by the end of the second quarter. That should be good news to anyone waiting on reservations.

During a third-quarter call with investors last year, CEO Elon Musk talked about the various levels of Dante’s hell the company was in as it tried to ramp up production.

But Tesla did note that making production volume plans can be difficult: “It is important to note that while these are the levels we are focused on hitting and we have plans in place to achieve them, our prior experience on the Model 3 ramp has demonstrated the difficulty of accurately forecasting specific production rates at specific points in time.”

On the energy front, in the fourth quarter, it deployed 143MWh of storage products an increase of 45 percent from the same time last year. Its solar panel deployment was down 20 percent from last year. These numbers do not include the batteries installed in Australia which will be recognized in the first quarter of 2018.

Developing.

Source: Tesla

Federal investigation into massive Equifax hack reportedly withers

Consumer credit reporting agency Equifax stunned the world late last year, admitting to major hacks in the spring and summer of 2017, exposing credit data on millions of consumers across multiple countries including the U.S., U.K., and Canada. Now, Reuters alleges that one major investigation into the hack is spinning its wheels.

Sources say the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a federal agency that oversees consumer protection in the financial arena, has allowed its investigation to wither. The CFPB, then lead by Richard Cordray, began its investigation in September 2017. Cordray resigned in November, however. Mick Mulvaney, appointed as Cordray’s replacement by President Donald Trump, may not be pursuing the investigation with vigor.

Specifically, Mulvaney hasn’t ordered subpoenas or sought testimony from company executives. Sources also claim the CFPB decided not to pursue a plan to test Equifax’s data protection. Finally, the agency is said to be uncooperative with regulators from the Federal Reserve, among others.

The CFPB isn’t the only organization investigating the Equifax hack. The Federal Trade Commission has its own investigation and has issued subpoenas. Every state attorney has its own open investigation, and hundreds of class-action lawsuits have been filed.

Even so, a pullback in the CFPB investigation would be significant. Its stated purpose most directly intersects with Equifax’s services, and the agency is known to slap credit agencies with significant fines. It levied $17.6 million in fines against TransUnion and Equifax in January 2017 over deceptive pricing of credit reports. While the FTC has also hit companies with major fines, it doesn’t have an extensive history of pursuing credit agencies for fines of that magnitude.

That could change. A bill called the Data Breach Prevention and Compensation Act was introduced in January, and part of it would grant the FTC more oversight over credit agencies. It’s estimated that the bill, if made law, would let the FTC hit Equifax with a $1.5 billion fine. Congress has yet to vote on the bill.

The CFPB hasn’t commented on the story by Reuters. Transunion, however, told Reuters in a statement that, “We believe that it is clear that the CFPB was not given legal authority to supervise any financial institutions with respect to cybersecurity.” Equifax also has not provided a statement on the matter.

This development is just the latest twist in the saga of the Equifax and, if correct, suggests the federal government’s response will be meager. Still, as noted, there are hundreds of lawsuits pending, from states and class-action suits. It will no doubt be years before the legal fallout settles.

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Safer Internet Day wants to make the world a better place for online youth

The internet can be a dangerous place, or at least that is the idea behind Safer Internet Day, a day created by the European Commission to make “a better [internet] for everyone, in particular, the youngest users out there.” Celebrated around the globe, stakeholders registered for Safer Internet Day are holding events this Tuesday, February 6, to raise awareness of the safety issues hindering our online culture.

In the United States, according to the official Safer Internet Day map, that level of participation is unfortunately limited to but two events, both of which are located in Austin, Texas. However, there are other ways to get involved. For instance, you can use Facebook and Twitter to use the hashtags #SID2018 and #SaferInternetDay interchangeably.

If that is not enough, you can do so bearing in mind the theme for this year’s campaign, namely, “Create, connect and share respect: A better internet starts with you,” the goal of which is to open up a dialogue.

As divulged in a press release issued by European Schoolnet, Safer Internet Day is “an invitation for everyone to join in and engage with others in a respectful way in order to ensure a better digital experience.”

An example of the events taking place includes a kick-off live-stream for 250 middle and high school students in the United States. In the U.K., resources are simply being providing to educational administrators to reach students and families on their own.

BetterInternetForKids.eu has its own resource gallery as well, complete with everything from educational games to videos about how to stay safe online. Better yet, they are available in a wide range of languages, making it clear that internet security truly is for everyone.

A Thunderclap for Safer Internet Day was launched this morning, having reached more than 9 million people at the time of this writing. What’s more, it achieved 190 percent of its supporter goal in the process.

Safer Internet Day appears to take on different meanings for different individuals, but the clear consensus is that parents should take this time to talk to their children about the importance of what they say and do online. If the firing of the Subnautica sound designer was anything to go by earlier today, it’s that there are severe consequences to hateful behavior on the web.

In other words, there are ways to do good online.

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