Month: November 2017

Enlarge (credit: Money)

Tezos, a blockchain technology project that made headlines in July by raising $232 million, has been hit with its second class-action lawsuit in less than a month. It's the latest blow for the project's founders, husband-and-wife team Arthur and Kathleen Breitman.

The Breitmans promised to build a blockchain with a revolutionary new governance model that would avoid the kind of strife that has plagued the Bitcoin world over the last few years. Instead, Tezos itself has been engulfed in controversy since its fundraiser ended. The couple is locked in a bitter conflict with Johann Gevers, the man they picked to lead the Tezos Foundation.

The big question hanging over the Tezos project is whether its so-called initial coin offering violated US securities laws. Those laws require companies to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before they can offer securities to the public. The lawsuits argue that, legally speaking, the Tezos crowdfunding campaign was a sale of securities, and so the Breitmans broke the law by ignoring SEC rules.

At last, Deadpool has given us the answer to the age-old question of how you tell fans everything about a new movie without actually telling them anything that happens in the movie. That's right—this is a completely spoiler-free trailer for Deadpool 2, in which all you'll do is watch Deadpool painting some happy trees and mighty mountains. Oh, and also? He'll be "beating off" his paintbrush. Because Deadpool.

This is actually an extended parody of the old Bob Ross TV segments in which the famed hippie dude with a floof of hair taught people to paint "happy trees." Just in case you think the teaser's too over-the-top, check out the real Bob Ross in the video below. It's hard to beat this guy in the stoner goofball department.

The first Deadpool movie was a surprise hit, and it starred Ryan Reynolds as the hideously disfigured, superpowered "merc with a mouth." Reynolds is a longtime fan of the Marvel comics antihero Deadpool, and the role seems made for him. What's going to happen in this sequel, coming June 1, 2018? You know, stuff. Guns. Explosions. Snark. Don't worry about it. Just enjoy the view of those happy trees.

Enlarge / This never goes fast enough. (credit: Getty Images | Yuri_Arcurs)

Poor people may find it more difficult to purchase subsidized broadband plans, and many of them could even be forced to find new carriers. That's thanks to changes pushed through today by the Federal Communications Commission's Republican majority.

The FCC voted 3-2 to scale back the federal Lifeline program that lets poor people use a $9.25 monthly household subsidy to buy Internet or phone service. The FCC proposed a new spending cap that potentially prevents people who qualify for the subsidies from actually receiving them. The FCC is also taking steps to prevent resellers—telecom providers that don't operate their own network infrastructure—from offering Lifeline-subsidized plans.

Some of the changes go into effect immediately. For others, the FCC is taking public comment before making the changes final. A potential ban on resellers participating in the program is going out for public comment.

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. We're in a bit of a "calm before the storm" mode with Black Friday a week away, but today's list still has a few discounts worth noting, including a number of deals on Dell laptops and early Black Friday savings on Bose's QuietComfort 25 noise-cancelling headphones and iRobot's Roomba 690.

You can check out the full list below.

Note: Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Enlarge / It's a federal style. (credit: Ron Cogswell)

A US Senator trying to eradicate the Internet scourge known as malvertising is proposing that all federal agencies block ads delivered to worker computers unless advertisers can ensure their networks are free of content that contains malicious code.

In a letter sent today, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden asked White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Rob Joyce to begin discussions with advertising industry officials to ensure ads displayed on websites can't be used to infect US government computers. If, after 180 days, Joyce isn't "completely confident" the industry has curbed the problem, Wyden asked that Joyce direct the US Department of Homeland Security to issue a directive "requiring federal agencies to block the delivery to employees' computers of all Internet ads containing executable code."

"Malware is increasingly delivered through code embedded in seemingly innocuous advertisements online," Wyden wrote. "Individuals do not even need to click on ads to get infected: this malicious software, including ransomware, is delivered without any interaction by the user."

Enlarge / The 15-inch Surface Book 2. (credit: Peter Bright)

Introduced a little over two years ago, Microsoft's Surface Book was the hybrid laptop that I had long hoped the company would build. Like the Surface Pro, it worked as a true standalone tablet, but it had the all-important stiff hinge, making it suitable for use on your lap in a way that the Surface Pro's kickstand and Type Covers never really supported.

The Surface Book was not just a useful form factor; it was also something of a technological showcase. Other hybrid designs I've used, such as the ThinkPad Helix, had clunky mechanical linkages between the tablet portion and the base. The Surface Book boasted a clever software-controlled system. The fulcrum hinge design, which helped keep the device balanced when the screen was open, is elegant and visually striking.

And to top it all off, the Surface Book came with an optional discrete GPU, with the GPU housed not in the tablet part but in the base. While we've seen many systems with switchable graphics—using the low-power integrated GPU unless you're playing a game or similar and need the full power of the discrete chip—having the discrete GPU be in a separate component was an exciting twist.

Enlarge / It's watching. (credit: Amazon)

Security research firm Rhino Security Labs found a vulnerability in the Amazon Key in-home delivery service's security procedures that could allow either the courier or even a savvy and malicious bystander to enter your home undetected after the delivery is completed. Amazon has promised to change how Key works in order to make it easier for you to tell when something unusual is happening in this event, but the changes proposed by Amazon don't necessarily resolve the vulnerability.

Amazon Key is available to Amazon customers who have bought and installed Amazon's own Cloud Cam security camera and installed it at their front door. If you're one of those customers, you can select "in-home delivery" as a delivery method when purchasing something on Amazon. Amazon couriers can then authenticate themselves with your Cloud Cam to unlock the door and enter your home to leave the package. However, they can only do this at a home to which they're assigned to make a delivery and only at the scheduled time. They are recorded by your security camera as they make the delivery, and they must lock the door when they leave. Amazon also tracks which courier is assigned to the delivery, and only that courier has access.

Rhino Labs discovered that a courier equipped with a simple program can use their laptop to fake a command from your Wi-Fi router to disconnect the Cloud Cam from your network. This causes the camera to stop functioning by freezing the image at the last frame. At that point, the courier could re-enter your home, do whatever it is that they want there, and then exit, reactivate the camera, and lock the door as usual. This re-entry would be undetectable by the resident, and it would appear like a normal delivery in Amazon's data.