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Stephen Hawking passes away at age 76
Late Tuesday night the family of Stephen Hawking announced that the physicist has passed away at the age of 76. Awarded more than a dozen honorary degrees, Hawking theorized that black holes emitted a form of thermal radiation, and contributed to work trying to unify Einstein's theory of relativity with quantum physics. In 1988 he wrote "A Brief History of Time," serving as an overview of astronomy and modern physics, which went on to sell more than 10 million copies, spurring a biographical documentary directed by Errol Morris and produced by Steven Spielberg. In 2014, Eddie Redmayne won a best actor Oscar for his portrayal of Hawking in The Theory of Everything, based on accounts of his early life by his first wife Jane Hawking.
Larry Page's autonomous air taxi 'Cora' flies in New Zealand
Reports surfaced in 2016 that Google co-founder (and now Alphabet CEO) Larry Page had two "flying car" projects in the works, and while we saw the Flyer recreational vehicle unveiled last year, today it's time to meet Cora. An "air taxi" developed by Page's Kitty Hawk company, the electric aircraft is intended for use as part of a transportation service instead of sale to individual users. It's built to use self-flying software, and uses 12 lift fans for vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) like a helicopter, so there's no need for a runway.
Sophisticated malware attacks through routers
Security researchers at Kaspersky Lab have discovered what's likely to be another state-sponsored malware strain, and this one is more advanced than most. Nicknamed Slingshot, the code spies on PCs through a multi-layer attack that targets MikroTik routers. It first replaces a library file with a malicious version that downloads other malicious components, and then launches a clever two-pronged attack on the computers themselves. One, Canhadr, runs low-level kernel code that effectively gives the intruder free rein, including deep access to storage and memory; the other, GollumApp, focuses on the user level and includes code to coordinate efforts, manage the file system and keep the malware alive.
Jon Favreau will write a ‘Star Wars’ live-action TV series
Disney has made it clear how important Star Wars is to its new streaming service; the company is producing a long-awaited live-action TV show set in a galaxy far far away as an exclusive. Today, Lucasfilm announced who's going to be at the show's helm. Jon Favreau, most recently known as Happy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will executive produce and write the series. We don't have any information on what the series will be about, when it will take place or a release date.
Microsoft confirms ‘S Mode’ will replace Windows 10 S
This week, Microsoft VP Joe Belfiore confirmed the rumor that Windows 10 S would no longer be standalone software. Instead, users will be able to access the platform as a "mode" within existing full Windows 10 installations.
Porsche unveils its insanely fast Tesla Model X rival
Porsche continues to target Tesla. After taking a swipe at the Model S, X and 3 maker last week, the German automaker just surprised us in Geneva with the Mission E Cross Turismo SUV (even though Porsche calls it a CUV, a cross utility vehicle). Watch out Model X.
Netflix wins an Oscar for sports doping documentary 'Icarus'
Netflix didn't take home any Oscars for its critically beloved film, Mudbound, but it did get a win for Icarus, an explosive documentary about the Russian sports doping scandal. The doc, directed by Bryan Fogel, premiered at Sundance last year, after which Netflix snapped up global distribution rights. Mudbound, meanwhile, was notably nominated four categories: Best Supporting Actress for Mary J. Blige; Best Adapted Screenplay; Best Original Song; and Best Achievement in Cinematography. The latter awards also marked the first time a woman (Rachel Morrison) was nominated in the cinematography category.
Netflix nabs Hasan Minhaj from ‘Daily Show’ for new talk show
Today, Netflix announced that Hasan Minhaj, a correspondent with The Daily Show, will host a weekly talk show on the streaming network. The company has already ordered 32 episodes of the new show. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix describes the upcoming series as an "opportunity for the comedian to explore the modern cultural and political landscapes with depth and sincerity."
Equifax finds another 2.4 million people affected by its data breach
Last month, reports surfaced that more information than previously thought may have been exposed in Equifax's massive data breach and today, Reuters reports, the has company confirmed it. Along with the 145.5 million individuals already reported to have been affected by the breach, Equifax says another 2.4 million were as well. However, their exposed data was limited to names and partial driver's license information. The company said that in most cases, home addresses as well as driver's license states, issue dates and expiration dates weren't included in the stolen data.
Energy storage breakthrough could boost EV range and slash charge time
Electric cars could soon have as much range as petrol and diesel cars -- and recharge in a matter of minutes -- thanks to what researchers are calling a "breakthrough" in energy storage technology. Teams from Bristol University and Surrey University have created a new material for supercapacitors, which store electric charge, that could see EVs recharge in as little as 10 minutes compared to the eight hours it can take for EVs with lithium-ion batteries. And according to the researchers, it boasts enough energy density to see EVs surpass even the top range of current leading models, such as Teslas. Elon Musk himself has previously said a breakthrough in EV technology would likely come from supercapacitors, rather than batteries.
Russia hacked the Olympics and tried to pin it on North Korea
Now that the 2018 Winter Olympics are over, we're now learning who was responsible for hacking the games' systems... and the culprit won't surprise you at all. US intelligence officials speaking anonymously to the Washington Post claimed that spies at Russia's GRU agency had compromised up to 300 Olympics-related PCs as of early February, hacked South Korean routers in January and launched new malware on February 9th, the day the Olympics began. They even tried to make it look like North Korea was responsible by using North Korean internet addresses and "other tactics," according to the American sources.
Net neutrality repeal goes into effect on April 23rd
Two months from now, net neutrality will officially be dead. Today, the Federal Communication Commission's revocation order was published in the Federal Register. The effective date is April 23rd.
AT&T will launch mobile 5G in Atlanta, Dallas and Waco
AT&T is finally willing to say exactly where you'll see mobile 5G in 2018. The carrier has confirmed that "parts" of Atlanta, Waco and its home turf of Dallas will adopt the standards-based service when it goes live before the end of the year. It'll name the remaining nine cities "in the coming months." There's no mention of the first devices (many of those will have to wait until 2019), but it's clear that this will be a cautious first step into the future rather than a full-on leap.
Samsung has the world's largest SSD, again, at 30TB
Nearly two years ago Samsung released a 15.36TB drive that it said had the most capacity of any SSD. Now, it has topped that with a new effort that it claims features twice the capacity and performance. Inside its 2.5-inch frame, the PM1643 has 30.72 TB ready for whatever enterprise storage needs you have, with sequential read/write speeds of 2,100MB/s and 1,700 MB/s.
Elon Musk gets Hyperloop digging permit in Washington, DC
Last year, the internet needled Elon Musk for tweeting he had verbal approval to dig a Hyperloop tunnel in Washington, DC, because officials said they granted no such thing. Now, however, The Boring Company does have an honest-to-gosh written permit, albeit only for some preliminary site preparation and excavation, the Washington Post reports.
India inches ahead in the race to build a Hyperloop
Plenty of places have committed to exploring the economic viability of building a Hyperloop, but nobody has been brave enough to say they'll actually construct one. It's why the news coming out of India's latest announcement is such a big deal, because it includes a pledge to build a working test track.
Windows 10 is adding an Ultimate Performance mode for pros
When you're creating 3D models or otherwise running intensive tasks, you want to wring every ounce of performance out of your PC as possible. It's a good thing, then, that Microsoft has released a Windows 10 preview build in the Fast ring that includes a new Ultimate Performance mode if you're running Pro for Workstations. As the name implies, this is a step up for people for whom even the High Performance mode isn't enough -- it throws power management out the window to eliminate "micro-latencies" and boost raw speed. You can set it yourself, but PC makers will have the option of shipping systems with the feature turned on.
A major bug is forcing Microsoft to rebuild Skype for Windows
Skype has fallen afoul of a security flaw that can allow attackers to gain system-level privileges to vulnerable computers, Microsoft has confirmed. However, the company won't immediately fix the issue because doing so would require a complete code overhaul. The bug was discovered by security researcher Stefan Kanthak, who says the Skype update can be tricked into loading malicious code instead of the right library. An attacker would simply need to put a fake DLL into a user-accessible temporary folder, with the name of an existing DLL that could be modified by anyone without system privileges. Anyone trying to hijack your PC would need access to your file system obviously, but according to Kanthak, once system access is granted, an attacker "can do anything". However, the hacker would require physical access to the computer to do this.
Cryptocurrency mining site hijacked millions of Android phones
Smartphone users are just as vulnerable to cryptocurrency mining hijacks as their PC counterparts, and sometimes on a dramatic scale. Malwarebytes has detailed a "drive-by" mining campaign that redirected millions of Android users to a website that hijacked their phone processors for mining Monero. While the exact trigger wasn't clear, researchers believed that infected apps with malicious ads would steer people toward the pages. And it wasn't subtle -- the site would claim that you were showing "suspicious" web activity and tell you that it was mining until you entered a captcha code to make it stop.
Netflix preps late-night series with 'Daily Show' vet Michelle Wolf
Netflix is determined to cement its place in the talk show landscape. The streaming service has unveiled plans for a weekly late-night show hosted by Michelle Wolf, a contributor to the Daily Show and a veteran comedienne. While the half-hour program doesn't even have a title yet, it won't be limited to politics and will include the risqué humor "we couldn't do on TV," according to Wolf. The series will debut sometime later in 2018.
