Month: March 2022

Biden FCC pick advances in Senate by 14-14 vote amid Republican opposition

Tie vote sends Gigi Sohn nomination to full Senate for another contentious battle.

Gigi Sohn sits in front of a microphone and holds a pen in her hand at a Senate nomination hearing.

Enlarge / Gigi Sohn testifies during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing examining her nomination to the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. (credit: Getty Images | Pool)

The Senate Commerce Committee today approved President Biden's nomination of consumer advocate Gigi Sohn to the Federal Communications Commission. Sohn's nomination was advanced with a 14-14 tie vote due to Republican opposition and still needs approval in the full Senate.

The FCC has been stuck with a 2-2 partisan deadlock for Biden's entire term, but Sohn's confirmation would allow Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel to proceed with items opposed by Republicans. That includes the restoration of net neutrality rules and Title II common-carrier regulation of broadband providers.

There were also tie votes in two other nominations advanced today by the Senate Commerce Committee. Those were for Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya and Consumer Product Safety Commission nominee Mary Boyle.

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Microsoft is trying to lower carbon emissions via Windows Update, of all things

Windows updates: Still annoying but now more environmentally conscious.

Windows Update will try to do its thing when your local power grid is being powered with green energy sources.

Enlarge / Windows Update will try to do its thing when your local power grid is being powered with green energy sources. (credit: Microsoft)

A future Windows 11 update might make your PC more environmentally conscious. In the latest Windows Insider preview build released to the Dev channel, Microsoft is testing out a new feature that it says might help reduce carbon emissions. Using "regional carbon intensity data" from electricityMap and Watttime, Windows will keep tabs on what kinds of power your electrical grid is currently using and will attempt to install updates "when greater amounts of clean energy sources (like wind, solar, and hydro) are available.

Prior to this, Windows Update's dynamic scheduling would mainly try to install updates at times when you weren't likely to be using your computer. The feature won't work if those carbon-intensive data sources aren't available in your area, and they also only apply to PCs that are plugged in, not those running on battery power. Users can still opt to install updates manually whenever they please.

Elsewhere, the new developer build continues the rapid rate of changes we've seen since Microsoft got its big Windows 11 update out the door to the public last month. The "open with" dialogue box that pops up sometimes after you install new apps has been changed from a square-cornered Windows 8- and 10-era design to a new Mica-infused Windows 11 look. More Microsoft account settings are manageable from within the Settings app. The animations that accompany some touch gestures have been refined. Searching for things in the Settings app should be more accurate, and the Settings app has been tweaked "for a consistent look and feel across the app."

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Samsung caught throttling 10,000 phone apps—and its own home screen

Samsung’s “Game Optimizing Service” throttles just about every app you can think of.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra. It has a pen.

Enlarge / The Galaxy S22 Ultra. It has a pen. (credit: Samsung)

Samsung is once again in hot water over how it treats benchmark apps. This time, the company is accused of throttling 10,000 Android apps—but not benchmark apps. It sounds like the scheme OnePlus was caught running last year. Instead of boosting the SoC speeds when a benchmark app is running, Android OEMs are now turning down phone performance any time a benchmark app isn't running. It's like benchmark cheating but in reverse.

Samsung's throttling app is called the "Game Optimizing Service." Users of the Korean message board Clen.net found wildly different benchmark scores depending on whether benchmark apps had their original names or not. By changing the package names of popular benchmark apps—thereby making the "Game Optimizing Service" treat a benchmark app like a normal app—scores dropped anywhere from 13 to 45 percent on the Galaxy S10, S20, S21, and the new S22. Normally, the throttling behavior is not user-controllable, but the users are tricking the service by modifying apps.

John Poole, the lead developer of Geekbench, was able to reproduce the wild performance changes based on whether the S22 thought it was running a benchmark or a game. Poole changed Geekbench's package name to that of Genshin Impact, a popular game, and saw benchmark scores plummet. The Snapdragon Galaxy S22 dropped its single-core score 46 percent, while the multi-core score was down 35 percent. Poole confirmed that this behavior exists on the Exynos S10 as well.

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OSOM OV1 smartphone coming in Q4, 2022 with ceramic and metal body, Snapdragon 8 series processor

The OSOM OV1 will be the first phone from OSOM products. But in a lot of ways it will be the sequel to an older phone that had a bit of a cult following: the Essential PH-1. OSOM is a startup founded by former Essential employees after that company went belly up. And the OV1 […]

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The OSOM OV1 will be the first phone from OSOM products. But in a lot of ways it will be the sequel to an older phone that had a bit of a cult following: the Essential PH-1.

OSOM is a startup founded by former Essential employees after that company went belly up. And the OV1 picks up where the PH-1 left off in a lot of ways. After teasing the phone last year, OSOM is now starting to reveal more details about its design, materials and specs.

The new phone has a stainless steel frame, titanium buttons and a titanium camera section, and a Gorilla Glass Victus-covered display. The back of the phone is ceramic, made from a material called zirconia. That’s the same material used for the Essential PH-1, and it did give the phone a striking look.

The OSOM OV1 will be able in three color options: matte black, glossy white, and a third color that the company will reveal at a later date.

What really made the Essential PH-1 stand out, though, was its software support. The company, which was founded by Android co-founder Andy Rubin, earned a reputation for releasing major Android OS updates and monthly security updates as soon as they were available. In fact, sometimes updates would roll out to the Essential PH-1 before they were available for Google’s own Pixel devices.

Rubin is not affiliated with OSOM. The startup’s founder and CEO is Jason Keats, and he provided some new images and details about the phone to Android Police, 9to5Google, and other tech news sites this week.

The new phone is expected to take a lot of the good stuff from the PH-1 and build on it. The Essential PH-1 had a lousy camera, for example. The OSOM V1 should take better photos thanks to a new 48MP + 12MP dual camera system as well as a 16MP front-facing camera.

The OSOM V1 is also a bigger phone, and the company makes use of the extra size for a larger battery and improved antenna performance. There will also be an Ultra wideband (UWB) antenna and dual SIM card slots. There’s support for sub-6GHz 5G networks and NFC connectivity.

OSOM has also indicated that it expects privacy to be a stand-out feature of the phone. It’s expected to ship with Android-based software, but it’s unclear what version of the software it will run, what additional privacy features will be built in, or if that will have an impact on how quickly the company rolls out OS updates.

One feature OSOM is ready to talk about is a new “Secure Data Cable” with a switch that lets you disable data transfer so the cable can only be used for charging. This disconnects the pins used for transferring data, allowing you to safely plug your phone into a laptop or other gadget without worrying that you’re getting more than power from the connected device.

The phone will be powered by an unspecified Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 series processor. The company had originally planned to ship the OV1 with a Snapdragon 888 processor, but decided to delay the launch date a bit to upgrade the processor, which is why the OSOM OV1 is now expected to arrive in the fourth quarter of 2022 rather than this summer, as previously expected.

 

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Why the Steam Deck might be too “open” for Fortnite and Destiny 2

Linux-based OS doesn’t easily allow for “kernel-level” anti-cheat protections.

The Steam Deck.

Enlarge / The Steam Deck. (credit: Valve)

In our recent review of the Steam Deck portable console from Valve, we noted that continued updates to the company's Proton compatibility layer would help many games designed for Windows run well on the system's Linux-based SteamOS. For a handful of popular online multiplayer games, though, inherent limitations to anti-cheat support on Linux may prevent compatibility with SteamOS (and the vanilla Steam Deck) indefinitely.

That certainly seems to be the case for Destiny 2. In a recent update to the game's help page, developer Bungie notes that "Destiny 2 is not supported for play on the Steam Deck or on any system utilizing Steam Play's Proton unless Windows is installed and running." Since Windows installation is currently not an option on the Steam Deck (due to some lingering driver issues), Destiny 2 players are simply left out of the Steam Deck party for the time being.

More than that, though, Bungie also takes the extreme position that "players who attempt to bypass Destiny 2 incompatibility [on the Steam Deck] will be met with a game ban." That suggests there's more than simple Proton functionality issues at play here.

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FBI Gains Access to Sci-Hub Founder’s Google Account Data

Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakyan says that following a legal process, the Federal Bureau of Investigations has gained access to data in her Google account. Google itself informed her of the data release this week noting that due to a court order, the company wasn’t allowed to inform her sooner.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Sci-HubAs the world’s leading free distributor of millions of oftentimes ‘paywalled’ research papers, Sci-Hub is often described as “The Pirate Bay of Science”.

While this status warms the hearts of many researchers, academics and students around the world, especially those with limited resources available to access education, Sci-Hub has also accrued many high-powered enemies.

These are not limited to major publishing houses angry at their content being distributed for free. Founder Alexandra Elbakyan is also a person of interest to elements of the US government’s intelligence and security services, which appear to be conducting an investigation into the computer security expert.

Elbakyan’s Apple Account Compromised

In May 2021, Elbakyan received an email from Apple (via her Gmail account) advising her that in 2019, Apple had received a request from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) that requested “information” from her Apple account.

Quite what information the FBI requested wasn’t made clear but Apple did advise the Sci-Hub founder that due to the nature of the request, Apple was only allowed to provide “delayed notice” to Elbakyan.

Sci-Hub Apple email

Now, 10 months later, it appears that the FBI also made another request, this time to tech giant Google.

Google Now Confirms It Too Handed Over Data to the FBI

In January 2021, Twitter suspended the official Sci-Hub account so when site updates are published, they now tend to appear on Elbakyan’s personal account. A new tweet this week reveals that Google was also required to hand over her account data.

In an email to Elbakyan dated March 2, 2022, Google advises that following a legal process issued by the FBI, Google was required to hand over data associated with Elbakyan’s account. Exactly what data was targeted isn’t made clear but according to Google, a court order required the company to keep the request a secret.

“Google received and responded to legal process issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation compelling the release of information related to your Google account,” the email reads.

“A court order previously prohibited Google from notifying you of the legal process. We are now permitted to disclose the receipt of the legal process to you.”

Google notes that since it is “not in a position” to provide Elbakyan with legal advice or to discuss the substance of the legal process, the Sci-Hub founder may wish to contact an attorney.

google-legal-sci-hub

The big question remains – what exactly is the investigation about?

Usual Piracy Allegations or Something More?

Given the scale of Sci-Hub and its notoriety around the world, it’s certainly possibile that a criminal copyright infringement investigation is underway in the United States that could feasibly lead to an indictment for Elbakyan and any cohorts involved in the operation. However, more serious allegations have been made in the past.

Back in December 2019, The Washington Post reported that Elbakyan was being investigated by the US Justice Department on suspicion that she “may” be working with Russian intelligence to “steal U.S. military secrets from defense contractors.”

No solid evidence was published to back up those allegations but the publication did note that Elbakyan may have collected log-in credentials from journal subscribers in order to access academic literature, presumably so that it can be offered on Sci-Hub.

For her part, Elbakyan denied the more sinister allegations of being connected to Russia in any official capacity.

“I know there are some reasons to suspect me: after all, I have education in computer security and was a hobby hacker in teenage years. But hacking is not my occupation, and I do not have any job within any intelligence, either Russian or some another,” Elbakyan said at the time.

“I think that whether I can be a Russian spy is being investigated by U.S. government since they learned about Sci-Hub, because that is very logical: a Russian project, that uses university accounts to access some information, of course that is suspicious. But in fact Sci-Hub has always been my personal enterprise.”

The case number relating to the data release from Google: 18-2; 18gj3650; 18-3532

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.