Sunday, November 14, 2021

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Google faces more detailed allegations in updated US antitrust lawsuit

Posted: 14 Nov 2021 08:53 AM PST

Google is finishing the week with more antitrust headaches. Reutersreports a group of Texas-led US states has filed an amended version of its lawsuit against Google over alleged abuses of power in the online ad business. The updated complaint provides more detail about Google's purported efforts to stifle competition, including the secret "Project Bernanke" ad buying program.

The states said Google used Project Bernanke in 2015 to drop the second-highest bids from publishers' ad auctions, pool money and pour those those funds into only those bids using Google Ads. That gave Google Ads bidders an unfair advantage and helped them win auctions they likely would have lost, according to the revised lawsuit.

We've asked Google for comment. It previously confirmed the existence of Project Bernanke, but maintained there was no wrongdoing and that the states' lawsuit "misrepresents" its ad business. The refreshed lawsuit may pose additional challenges to Google, though. At the least, the amendment underscores the states' attitude toward Google — they're determined to curb its behavior.

Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K Max drops to a new low of $35

Posted: 14 Nov 2021 07:27 AM PST

Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K Max is already on sale two months after its debut. The company is selling its latest streaming adapter at a new low price of $35, a full $20 below its original sticker. That makes it a much easier choice if you were otherwise contemplating the regular Stick 4K — even with frequent sales, you're only paying a little bit more for a lot of futureproofing. The Fire TV Cube has also reached an all-time low of $80 (normally $120) if you'd prefer a hybrid smart speaker and media hub.

Buy Fire TV Stick 4K Max on Amazon - $35Buy Fire TV Cube on Amazon - $80

The regular Fire TV Stick 4K is also on sale for $25 (typically $50) if price is more important, or if you don't think you'll need the extras its Max counterpart offers.

The Fire TV Stick 4K Max may look much like its regular counterpart on the outside, but it's about 40 percent faster. That promises faster load times, a smoother interface, better gaming and headroom for new features like a live picture-in-picture view of your video doorbell. WiFi 6 support also delivers a more reliable connection for your 4K streams if you have a similarly modern router. While those aren't must-haves, the price gap is small enough ($10 as of this writing) to make them worth the money.

Fire TV's usual caveats apply regardless of the model you're buying. You'll have access to a wide range of apps and services, but there's no doubt Amazon favors its own. Likewise, these Alexa-centric devices won't be great fits if your smart home revolves around Apple HomeKit or Google Assistant. For most anyone else, though, these will be solid choices for living room streaming.

Get the latest Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers by visiting our deals homepage and following @EngadgetDeals on Twitter.

FBI email servers were hacked to target a security researcher

Posted: 13 Nov 2021 02:10 PM PST

The FBI appears to have been used as a pawn in a fight between hackers and security researchers. According to Bleeping Computer, the FBI has confirmed intruders compromised its email servers early today (November 13th) to send fake messages claiming recipients had fallen prone to data breaches. The emails tried to pin the non-existent attacks on Vinny Troia, the leader of dark web security firms NightLion and Shadowbyte.

The non-profit intelligence organization Spamhaus quickly shed light on the bogus messages. The attackers used legitimate FBI systems to conduct the attack, using email addresses scraped from a database for the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), among other sources. Over 100,000 addresses received the fake emails in at least two waves.

The FBI described the hack as an "ongoing situation" and didn't initially have more details to share. It asked email recipients to report messages like these to the bureau's Internet Crime Complaint Center or the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Troia told Bleeping Computer he believed the perpetrators might be linked to "Pompomourin," a persona that has attacked the researcher in the past.

Feuds between hackers and the security community aren't new. In March, attackers exploiting Microsoft Exchange servers tried to implicate security journalist Brian Krebs using a rogue domain. However, it's rare that they use real domains from a government agency like the FBI as part of their campaign. While that may be more effective than usual (the FBI was swamped with calls from anxious IT administrators), it might also prompt a particularly swift response — law enforcement won't take kindly to being a victim.

COP26 climate change deal falls short on coal targets

Posted: 13 Nov 2021 01:25 PM PST

The COP26 climate conference has come to an end, but it probably won't satisfy some of its more outspoken critics. Reuters and The Washington Post report that the United Nations-helmed summit has reached a final deal on efforts to accelerate emissions reduction and otherwise keep to a Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5C. There are some areas where the new arrangement (billed by the UN as the Glasgow Climate Pact) may offer significant progress, but there are also concerns it doesn't hold countries to stricter standards — including a move away from coal energy.

In negotiations that extended roughly a day past the original November 12th deadline, representatives from China and India successfully changed language in the COP26 agreement that asked countries to "phase-down" unabated coal use rather than "phase-out." While COP26 president Alok Sharma and numerous countries' delegates wanted the tougher language, Sharma said it was "vital" to protect the deal. However, there are worries this will give coal-dependent countries like China and India an excuse to avoid firmer commitments to emissions reduction.

Previous critics blasted wealthier nations for failing to act on a promise of giving poorer countries $100 billion per year until 2023 to help them deal with climate change. The Glasgow deal only committed to making a new plan in the next three years.

The final pact does include some notable measures. It asks countries "revisit and strengthen" their climate change plans before the end of 2022, as New Scientistnoted. Similarly, there's a strategy to address long-running disputes over global carbon credit markets. Numerous countries promised to reduce methane emissions and stop deforestation, and the agreement called for reduced subsidies on fossil fuels. Separately, the US and China reached a deal to limit climate change in the 2020s, including a new recognition from China that methane had a significant impact on rising temperatures.

Nonetheless, there are fears the COP26 arrangement is generally too soft. It doesn't set many binding targets. The final language only "requests" that countries rethink their plans, for instance. The pact might prompt some countries to step up their environmental initiatives, but others may face relatively few consequences if they fall short.

NHTSA will investigate Tesla collision blamed on Full Self-Driving beta

Posted: 13 Nov 2021 11:27 AM PST

Are you uncomfortable with the idea of Tesla letting owners test Full Self-Driving betas on public streets? You're not the only one. Reutersreports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating a driver's complaint that the FSD beta led to a November 3rd collision in Brea, California. The owner alleged that his Model Y entered the wrong lane, leading to impact with another car and serious damage on the left side.

The EV offered an alert partway through the turn, according to the driver. However, the FSD software supposedly wouldn't let the driver regain control, forcing the car into the wrong lane. Tesla hasn't commented on the incident and is believed to have disbanded its PR team. The automaker has usually limited the beta to volunteer drivers with high safety scores and warned that testers must be ready to take over on short notice.

The investigation won't necessarily conclude that FSD was responsible for the collision, or lead to major action against Tesla. It does, however, represent the latest in a growing number of run-ins between Tesla and regulators. The NHTSA launched a probe into Autopilot this August following a string of emergency vehicle crashes, and it expressed concern in October that Tesla was using a beta "on public roads." Officials aren't thrilled that Tesla is testing in real traffic, and the investigation might support their case.

Google fixes Pixel 6 bug that randomly dialed your contacts

Posted: 13 Nov 2021 10:37 AM PST

Google just fixed one of the Pixel 6's more irksome bugs — at least, for people in your address book. As Android Policereports, the company has issued a patch for a Google app flaw that randomly auto-dialed people in your contacts. That was more than a little irritating, particularly if your phone tried to call a family member in the wee hours of the night.

The issue stems from flawed Google Assistant hotword detection. You could clear the Google app's cache and settings to temporarily solve the issue, but the only surefire solution until now was to disable hotword recognition entirely.

This certainly isn't the only Pixel 6 hiccup. Owners of the Android 12 flagship have complained of display flickering, slow fingerprint detection and other nuisances. However, it's safe to presume a bug like this would take high priority given the potential fallout from unwanted calls.

Tesla is delivering some EVs without USB ports due to chip shortages

Posted: 13 Nov 2021 09:36 AM PST

Tesla may be thriving despite chip shortages, but those shortcomings are apparently making an impact on the cars people get. Electrek has learned numerous Model 3 and Model Y buyers are receiving their electric vehicles without USB-C ports in the center console or rear seating areas. Some customers said they were alerted in advance, but others only found out when they took their EVs home.

Delivery specialists and others at Tesla have pinned the missing USB ports on chip shortages. Some customers have heard Tesla would install the missing connectors in December, but it's not clear if this applies to every affected owner. Tesla has long stopped responding to requests for comment and is believed to have disbanded its PR team.

This isn't the first time brands have shipped cars without parts, including Tesla. BMW recently removed touchscreen features from some models, while that company and Tesla have both removed passenger lumbar support options. And there aren't many great alternatives — automakers have delayed orders, halted production and otherwise asked customers to wait longer than usual.

Even so, this could leave more than a few Tesla buyers upset. The absence of USB ports breaks not only connectivity, but wireless charging. That's a luxury, to be sure, but it's one you'd expect given Tesla's price tags. It might also sour customers worried Tesla might be sacrificing quality to meet its quarterly delivery targets.

Hitting the Books: Why we can't 'beam ourselves up' Star Trek-style

Posted: 13 Nov 2021 08:31 AM PST

Gene Roddenberry was a man ahead of his time, accurately predicting the development of fantastical gadgets like flip phones, tablet computers, Bluetooth and bionic eyes — even tractor beams. But one technology Roddenberry called for in the 1960s has yet to make it off the screen: teleportation. It's not only that "we just don't have enough power," as Scotty would say, we also lack the fundamental knowledge base to make it a reality. For now, at least. In their latest book, Frequently Asked Questions about the Universe, Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson delve into this and a host of other quandaries facing humanity — from whether there's an afterlife, why aliens haven't made contact with us yet, or if our observable existence is actually a computer simulation. 

frequently asked questions about the universe
Penguin

Excerpted from Frequently Asked Questions about the Universe by Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson. Copyright © 2021 by Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

If your dream of teleportation is to be here in one moment, and then be in a totally different place the next moment, then we are sad to tell you right off the bat that this is impossible. Unfortunately, physics has some pretty hard rules about anything happening instantaneously. Anything that happens (an effect) has to have a cause, which in turn requires the transmission of information. Think about it: in order for two things to be causally related to each other (like you disappearing here and you appearing somewhere else), they have to somehow talk to each other. And in this universe, everything, including information, has a speed limit.

Information has to travel through space just like everything else, and the fastest anything can travel in this universe is the speed of light. Really, the speed of light should have been called the "speed of information" or "the universe's speed limit." It's baked into relativity and the very idea of cause and effect, which are at the heart of physics.

Even gravity can't move faster than light. The Earth doesn't feel gravity from where the Sun is right now; it feels gravity from where the Sun was eight minutes ago. That's how long it takes information to travel the ninety-three million miles between here and there. If the Sun disappeared (teleporting off for its own vacation), the Earth would continue in its normal orbit for eight minutes before realizing that the Sun was gone.

So the idea that you can disappear in one place and reappear in another place instantly is pretty much out of the question. Something has to happen in between, and that something can't move faster than light.

Fortunately, most of us aren't such sticklers when it comes to the definition of "teleportation." Most of us will take "almost instantly" or "in the blink of an eye" or even "as fast as the laws of physics will allow" for our teleportation needs. If that's the case, then there are two options for making a teleportation machine work:

1. Your teleportation machine could transmit you to your destination at the speed of light.

2. Your teleportation machine could somehow shorten the distance between where you are and where you want to go.

Option #2 is what you might call the "portal" type of teleportation. In movies, it would be the kind of teleportation that opens up a doorway, usually through a wormhole or some kind of extradimensional subspace, that you step through to find yourself somewhere else. Wormholes are theoretical tunnels that connect points in space that are far away, and physicists have definitely proposed the existence of multiple dimensions beyond the three we are familiar with.

Sadly, both of these concepts are still very much theoretical. We haven't actually seen a wormhole, nor do we have any idea how to open one or control where it leads. And extra dimensions aren't really something you can move into. They only represent extra ways in which your particles might be able to wiggle.

Much more interesting to talk about is Option #1, which, as it turns out, might actually be something we can do in the near future.

Getting There at Light Speed

If we can't appear in other places instantly, or take shortcuts through space, can we at least get there as fast as possible? The top speed of the universe, three hundred million meters per second, is plenty fast to cut your commute down to a fraction of a second and make trips to the stars take years instead of decades or millennia. Speed-of-light teleportation would still be awesome.

To do that, you might imagine a machine that somehow takes your body and then pushes it at the speed of light to your destination. Unfortunately, there's a big problem with this idea, and it's that you're too heavy. The truth is that you're too massive to ever travel at the speed of light. First, it would take an enormous amount of time and energy just to accelerate all the particles in your body (whether assembled or broken up somehow) to speeds that are close to the speed of light. And second, you would never get to the speed of light. It doesn't matter how much you've been dieting or working on your CrossFit; nothing that has any mass can ever travel at the speed of light.

Particles like electrons and quarks, the building blocks of your atoms, have mass. That means that it takes energy to get them moving, a lot of energy to get them moving fast, and infinite energy to reach the speed of light. They can travel at very high speeds, but they can never achieve light speed.

That means that you, and the molecules and particles that make up who you are right now, would never actually be able to teleport. Not instantaneously, and not at the speed of light. Transporting your body somewhere that quickly is never going to happen. It's just not possible to move all the particles in your body fast enough.

But does that mean teleportation is impossible? Not quite!

There is one way it can still happen, and that's if we relax what "you" means. What if we didn't transport you, your molecules or your particles? What if we just transmitted the idea of you?

You Are Information

One possible way to achieve speed-of-light teleportation is to scan you and send you as a beam of photons. Photons don't have any mass, which means they can go as fast as the universe will allow. In fact, photons can only travel at the speed of light (there's no such thing as a slow-moving photon).*

Here's a basic recipe for speed-of-light teleportation:

Step #1: Scan your body and record where all your molecules and particles are.

Step #2: Transmit this information to your destination via a beam of photons.

Step #3: Receive this information and rebuild your body using new particles.

Is this possible? Humans have made incredible progress in both scanning and 3D printing technologies. These days, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can scan your body down to a resolution of 0.1 millimeters, which is about the size of a brain cell. And scientists have used 3D printers to print increasingly more complicated clusters of living cells (known as "organoids") for testing cancer drugs. We've even made machines (using scanning tunneling microscopes) that can grab and move individual atoms. So it's not hard to imagine that one day we might be able to scan and then print whole bodies.

The real limitation, though, might not be technological but philosophical. After all, if someone made a copy of you, would it actually be you?

Remember, there's nothing particularly special about the particles that make up your body right now. All particles of a given type are the same. Every electron is perfectly identical to every other electron, and the same is true for quarks. Particles don't come out of the universe factory with personalities or any sort of distinguishing features. The only difference between any two electrons or any two quarks is where each of them is and what other particles they're hanging out with.*

But how much would a copy of you still be you? Well, it depends on two things. The first is the resolution of the technology that scans and prints you. Can it read and print your cells? Your molecules? Your atoms, or even your individual particles?

The even bigger question is how much your "you-ness" depends on the tiny details. What level of detail does it take for the copy to still be considered you? It turns out that this is an open question, and the answer might depend on how quantum your sense of self is.

White House reportedly discouraged Intel from boosting chip production in China

Posted: 13 Nov 2021 08:14 AM PST

President Biden's security and domestic production efforts may have a pronounced effect on Intel's plans. Bloombergsources claim the White House "strongly discouraged" Intel from ramping up chip production in China to help address chip shortages. The improved capacity could have been available before the end of 2022, but the Biden administration was reportedly worried about security issues.

The semiconductor firm didn't completely rule out future Chinese production increases, according to the tipsters. However, Intel is believed to have "no plans" at present.

Intel didn't directly acknowledge the government objection in a statement, but welcomed "other solutions" to help meet chip demand. The company had looked at a "number of approaches" in tandem with the US, including new wafer manufacturing in the US and Europe.

An approach like this wouldn't be surprising, if accurate. Biden has continued a wary stance toward Chinese technology, going so far as to sign a law barring Huawei and ZTE from receiving FCC network licenses. While the sources didn't elaborate on the security issues with Intel, company chief Pat Gelsinger previously said a heavy dependence on Asian manufacturing represented a supply chain threat. There have also been historical concerns companies were improperly sharing sensitive technology with China.

Even if security weren't an issue, economic development might be a factor. Biden has pushed for more manufacturing in the US to address chip shortages, and Intel's reported Chinese expansion would have contradicted that policy. It also wouldn't have helped attempts to counter China's growth as an economic superpower.

Whatever the reasoning, a change of heart like this also risks prolonging chip shortages. While Intel is building US plants and asking for external manufacturing help, those efforts will take time and might not cover every shortfall. Intel may have to accept a near-term blow to production to honor the White House's goals, especially if it wants any factory-oriented funds from the stalled CHIPS Act.
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