Month: September 2017

(credit: Manuel Caballero)

There's a bug in the latest version of Internet Explorer that leaks the addresses, search terms, or any other text typed into the address bar.

The bug allows any currently visited website to view any text entered into the address bar as soon as the user hits enter. The technique can expose sensitive information a user didn't intend to be viewed by remote websites, including the Web address the user is about to visit. The hack can also expose search queries, since IE allows them to be typed into the address bar and then retrieved from Bing or other search services.

The flaw was disclosed Tuesday by security researcher Manuel Caballero. This proof-of-concept site shows the exploit works as described on the latest version of IE.

Enlarge / The Dynegy Inc. E.D. Edwards Power Station in Bartonville, Illinois, in 2014. (credit: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The owner of eight coal-fired power plants in central and southern Illinois lobbied the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to propose rules that would loosen pollution regulations, according to the Chicago Tribune. Instead of limiting the rate of pollution from the coal plants, the state would set an annual cap on how much sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxide (NO_x) those eight plants could emit collectively—and those caps are higher than what the coal plants have collectively emitted annually for several years.

The proposed amendments to state rules come just months after the state of Illinois approved subsidies for the continued operation of Excelon nuclear energy plants in December 2016. According to the Tribune, Dynegy saw its opportunity to open discussions with lawmakers after its competition received a boost. Although Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner denied Dynegy’s request for comparable subsidies, e-mails seen by the Tribune suggest the state’s EPA had been talking with the Dynegy’s lobbyist about changes to emissions rules “since at least November.”

The Tribune wrote that the Illinois agency is working “to keep the financially struggling coal plants open by giving Houston-based Dynegy more flexibility to operate individual generating units, several of which are not equipped with modern pollution controls.”

Enlarge / Why kill thousands of bad guys when you can explore the world of Assassin's Creed: Origins as a combat-free museum? (credit: Ubisoft)

Back in 2005, Penny Arcade identified two main types of gamers: those that "play games to enter a trance state and experience other lives," and those who "play them to defeat the designer of the game by proxy."

The former group is getting some specific attention from Ubisoft today, as the company just announced a combat-free "Discovery Tour" mode that will allow players to explore and learn about Assassin's Creed: Origins' Egyptian landscapes risk-free.

As Ubisoft describes it, the Discovery Tour mode turns the game into a "combat-free living museum, with guided tours that let players delve into its history firsthand." While there's an educational focus to the mode's annotated tours, which are "curated by historians and Egyptologists," the mode also "lets players roam the entire game world without constraints or threats, exploring a sprawling landscape that includes Memphis, Alexandria, the Sand Sea, and the Giza Plateau at their own pace."

Enlarge (credit: Shaweesh)

Saudi Arabia's under-secretary for curricula has been fired and exiled to Dagobah after an official Saudi social studies textbook included a photo of Jedi Master Yoda. In the photo, Yoda can be seen sitting next to Saudi Arabia's King Faisal at the 1945 ceremony that created the United Nations. The textbook page began circulating on social media last week.

The photograph was created by Saudi artist Abdullah Al Shehri, who goes by the nickname Shaweesh. He told the BBC that he hadn't meant any disrespect to King Faisal.

"The 2013 artwork, entitled United Nations (Yoda), is part of a series in which symbols of American pop culture—ranging from Captain America to Darth Vader—are superimposed onto archive photos of historical events," the BBC reports.

Enlarge (credit: Reddit)

Freedom of speech has traditionally been an issue of government and human rights. But more and more companies are providing platforms where anyone can potentially contribute some sort of speech, typically text. And those companies are finding that they face many of the same issues governments have: how to balance giving users the ability to express themselves freely against the possibility that they'll post problematic content.

"Problematic" has various definitions. In some cases, it's truly dangerous, like incitements to violence or false medical advice. And companies may find that they don't want to be associated with expressions of racism, sexism, or other forms of prejudice. But can companies do anything if people use their service for broadcasting content that the companies don't approve of?

A new study answers that question with a clear "yes." Researchers looked at Reddit's fight against hate speech, which saw it ban a variety of subreddits in 2015. The analysis suggests that the regular users of these subreddits toned down their language as they moved to other areas on the site. And a number of users who wanted to continue to share offensive opinions simply went to other services, making them someone else's problem.

Enlarge / Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) speaks during a town hall at Evergreen High School on July 8, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. (credit: Getty Images | Stephen Brashear)

The Democratic opposition to Ajit Pai's re-confirmation was launched today by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), who accused the Federal Communications Commission chairman of abandoning the public interest. Cantwell criticized Pai's in-progress attempt to eliminate net neutrality rules and said he has taken other actions that hurt Americans.

"Since taking over the FCC leadership in January, Chairman Pai has wasted no time in moving the agency away from its key mission to promote the use and deployment of communications in the public interest," Cantwell said in a speech on the Senate floor today, according to a transcript provided by her office. "I'm not going to vote for someone who is going to slow down and clog the Internet," she said later in the speech.

A Senate vote to give Pai another five-year term on the FCC is scheduled for Monday. Republicans hold the Senate majority and support Pai's agenda of deregulating the broadband industry, so he is almost certain to be re-confirmed. President Donald Trump submitted the re-nomination in March.

Jeff VanderMeer's novel Annihilation, the first in his acclaimed Southern Reach trilogy, seems like it could never be filmed. It's the dark psychological story of scientists exploring a region of Florida dubbed Area X, which abruptly started defying the laws of physics and biology. Maybe it's been visited by aliens or become the portal to another dimension. Maybe toxic waste has finally gone sentient. The unnamed biologist who is our hero has no idea; she just wants to see this new ecosystem for herself.

A mysterious organization called the Southern Reach sends her into the region with a highly trained team, and what they see... defies description. In the novel, we see the world through the biologist's eyes: morphed animals, sentient fungus, terrifying lights, and weird architecture in the creepy inverted "tower" that extends deep into the ground. The team psychologist is constantly hypnotizing everyone—previous explorers have been unable to survive without hypnosis—and that adds to our sense of the surreal.

Somehow, director Alex Garland (Ex Machina) has evoked that same sense of dreamy, horrifying awe in the first trailer for the film, which comes out in February 2018. Natalie Portman plays the biologist, and we see the bizarre features of Area X seething around her as if the entire ecosystem is somehow haunted. Garland is probably the perfect director for this feature. His Ex Machina was a mesmerizing blend of action and philosophy. My suspicion is that this movie will work its way deep under your skin.