Month: January 2020

Enlarge / Travelers in China are often wearing protective masks in response to the spread of 2019nCoV (credit: Feature China / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

On Tuesday afternoon, the US Centers for Disease Control announced that the coronavirus that's been spreading within China had made it to the United States. A patient in Washington state is the first confirmed case in the US, although indications are that the disease has already spread to other countries in Asia.

A single patient in Washington had been traveling in Wuhan, the area of China hardest hit by the newly described virus, before returning to the US last week. Shortly after their return, the patient was hospitalized with pneumonia-like symptoms. The hospital staff, based on the travel history and symptoms, suspected that the new virus, called 2019-nCoV, might be at fault, and sent samples in to the CDC for testing. Those tests confirmed the virus' identity.

While the initial cases were confined to people who had been in contact with live animals at a seafood market, suggesting that it should be possible to contain the virus. But since then, the news has gotten worse. In addition to spreading to other countries—Thailand and Japan had confirmed cases prior to the US—the virus is now confirmed to be spreading through human contact, which has helped increase the number of cases and enabled its spread to other cities within China. There have also been a number of reported fatalities, although these remain a small percentage of the confirmed infections.

Enlarge / Glenn Greenwald speaks during a hearing at the Lower House's Human Rights Commission in Brasilia, Brazil, on June 25, 2019. (credit: Getty Images | Evaristo Sa)

Brazilian prosecutors today charged journalist Glenn Greenwald with cybercrimes related to the publication of articles based on leaked "cellphone messages that have embarrassed prosecutors and tarnished the image of an anti-corruption task force," The New York Times reported.

Greenwald, a resident of Brazil who was born in the United States, is a co-founding editor of The Intercept. The Intercept called the charges politically motivated, saying that Brazil's prosecutors are trying to criminalize a wide range of journalism. The charges stem from an Intercept series published in June 2019, which the news organization said was "based on a massive archive of previously undisclosed materials—including private chats, audio recordings, videos, photos, court proceedings, and other documentation—provided to us by an anonymous source."

The prosecution of Greenwald is "apparent retaliation for The Intercept's critical reporting on abuses committed by Justice Minister [Sérgio] Moro and several federal prosecutors," the news organization also said in a statement provided to Ars and other media.

Enlarge / Completely free... for now. (credit: Valve / Sam Machkovech)

As Valve gears up for the launch of its first official Half-Life game in 13 years, the developer has given fans a big freebie to tide them over while they wait for March 2020: every previous official Half-Life game for free.

On Tuesday, Valve announced that both Half-Life and Half-Life 2, and each expansion pack and episode published directly by the game maker, would be free for all Steam users for a limited time. As of press time, this offer appears to be a temporary unlock of the games until the VR-only adventure game Half-Life Alyx launches in roughly two months; their free availability will likely expire after HL:A launches. Click the announcement link to check out the eligible game selection (though it doesn't link to the eligible HL1 expansion packs, which you can find here).

Fans may very well want to connect the plot dots between the biggest Half-Life adventures ahead of HL:A's launch. Valve has announced that the new VR-only game is a "prequel" that takes place between the events of Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2, while its developers have suggested in interviews that the new game is "the next part" of the series. Hence, you may want to brush up on every tidbit, should the new game contain any continuation of what was left unfinished in Half-Life 2: Episode 2. (Reminder: HL:A is not free as part of this promotion. The new game does come for free with the purchase of any part of the Valve Index VR system.)

Enlarge (credit: advancedtomato.com)

Internet routers running the Tomato alternative firmware are under active attack by a self-propagating exploit that searches for devices using default credentials. When credentials are found and remote administration has been turned on, the exploit then makes the routers part of a botnet that’s used in a host of online attacks, researchers said on Tuesday.

The Muhstik botnet came to light about two years ago when it started unleashed a string of exploits that attacked Linux servers and Internet-of-things devices. It opportunistically exploited a host of vulnerabilities, including the so-called critical Drupalgeddon2 vulnerability disclosed in early 2018 in the Drupal content management system. Muhstik has also been caught using vulnerabilities in routers that use Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) or DD-WRT software. The botnet has also exploited previously patched vulnerabilities in other server applications, including the Webdav, WebLogic, Webuzo, and WordPress.

On Tuesday, researchers from Palo Alto Networks said they recently detected Muhstik targeting Internet routers running Tomato, an open-source package that serves as an alternative to firmware that ships by default with routers running Broadcom chips. The ability to work with virtual private networks and provide advanced quality of service control make Tomato popular with end users and in some cases router sellers.

The UA Scale. (credit: Under Armour)

Any smart device comes with its own set of benefits and trade-offs, but there's one huge shoe waiting to drop with every single one of them: anything you connect can be disconnected at the other end, and there's absolutely nothing you the consumer can do about it. Today's example of smart stuff going dumb comes courtesy of Under Armour, which is effectively rendering its fitness hardware line very expensive paperweights.

The company quietly pulled its UA Record app from both Google Play and Apple's App Store on New Year's Eve. In an announcement dated sometime around January 8, Under Armour said that not only has the app been removed from all app stores, but the company is no longer providing customer support or bug fixes for the software, which will completely stop working as of March 31.

Under Armour launched its lineup of connected fitness devices in 2016. The trio of trackers included a wrist-worn activity monitor, a smart scale, and a chest-strap-style heart rate monitor. The scale and wristband retailed at $180 each, with the heart monitor going for $80. Shoppers could buy all three together in a $400 bundle called the UA HealthBox.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Headlining today's Dealmaster is a wide-ranging sale on Amazon's Fire tablets, with many of the iPad alternatives back down to the prices we saw on Black Friday. The offers include the Fire 7 for $35, the Fire HD 8 for $50, the Fire HD 10 for $100, and $40-50 off the more child-friendly Kids Edition variants of those slates.

We'd say the Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10 are your best bets here, as both come with actual HD screens and are generally faster than the ultra-cheap Fire 7. The latter now charges via USB-C, too.

That said, the usual caveats with Fire tablets still apply here: the so-so performance and plastic builds of these devices are decidedly inferior to anything you'd get with a modern iPad, you still have to deal with advertisements on the lock screen, and no Fire device comes with access to the Google Play Store by default (though it's still possible to install Google-made apps with a little extra work). The main reason to buy a Fire tablet is price: these are for people who only need a tablet for basic media consumption (or keeping their kids amused) and want to spend as little as possible on something competent. Viewed through that lens, the Fire lineup remains a good value.

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  The Nokia 2.3. For $130, this looks pretty good! [credit: HMD ]

HMD's Nokia 2.3 has been announced for sale in the US. This low-end phone is just $129 but still manages to look like a respectable device.

HMD is basically the only company selling viable low-end devices in the US. Despite only asking a bit more than a Benjamin, this phone still comes with three years of monthly security updates and two years of major OS updates, which is more than some flagship smartphones. Also better than many flagship smartphones: it runs stock Android with no crapware. It also looks pretty good for a cheap phone, with a big 6.2-inch 1520×720 IPS LCD dominating the front of the device.

The SoC is a Mediatek Helio A22—a 12nm chip with four Cortex-A53 CPU cores running at 2GHz, with a PowerVR GPU. There's 2GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, and a 4000mAh battery. For cameras, you get a 5MP front camera, and, new for this year, a dual camera setup in the back, with a 13MP main camera and a 2MP depth camera. There are some nice extras here, too, like a micro SD slot, a headphone jack, FM Radio support, and a dedicated Google Assistant button on the side.