Month: February 2025

Scientists found a faster way to brew sour beer—with peas

The yeast cannot metabolize sugars derived from peas, thus promoting the growth of essential bacteria.

Do you long for that tart fruity flavor of a sour beer but wish the complicated brewing process were faster? Norwegian scientists might have the answer: field peas, as well as beans and lentils. According to a new paper published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, experimental beers made with the sugars found in these foods had similar flavor profiles to your average Belgian-style sour beer, yet the brewing process was shorter with simpler steps.

“Sour beer is the beer enthusiast’s alternative to champagne," said co-author Bjørge Westereng of the Norwegian University of Life Science. "By using sugars derived from peas that yeast cannot metabolize, we promote the growth of bacteria essential for producing sour beer.”

As previously reported, sour beer has been around for centuries and has become a favorite with craft brewers in recent years, although the brewing process can be both unpredictable and time-consuming. Brewers of standard beer carefully control the strains of yeast they use, taking care to ensure other microbes don't sneak into the mix, lest they alter the flavor during fermentation.

Read full article

Comments

(g+) Talos: Schlanke Linux-Distribution für Kubernetes

In der Containervirtualisierung können die Betriebssysteme von Compute-Knoten wenig mehr als Container starten und stoppen. Talos Linux treibt das auf die Spitze. Ein Ratgebertext von Martin Loschwitz (Software, API)

In der Containervirtualisierung können die Betriebssysteme von Compute-Knoten wenig mehr als Container starten und stoppen. Talos Linux treibt das auf die Spitze. Ein Ratgebertext von Martin Loschwitz (Software, API)

Go Module Mirror served backdoor to devs for 3+ years

Supply chain attack targets developers using the Go programming language.

A mirror proxy Google runs on behalf of developers of the Go programming language pushed a backdoored package for more than three years until Monday, after researchers who spotted the malicious code petitioned for it to be taken down twice.

The service, known as the Go Module Mirror, caches open source packages available on GitHub and elsewhere so that downloads are faster and to ensure they are compatible with the rest of the Go ecosystem. By default, when someone uses command-line tools built into Go to download or install packages, requests are routed through the service. A description on the site says the proxy is provided by the Go team and “run by Google.”

Caching in

Since November 2021, the Go Module Mirror has been hosting a backdoored version of a widely used module, security firm Socket said Monday. The file uses “typosquatting,” a technique that gives malicious files names similar to widely used legitimate ones and plants them in popular repositories. In the event someone makes a typo or even a minor variation from the correct name when fetching a file with the command line, they land on the malicious file instead of the one they wanted. (A similar typosquatting scheme is common with domain names, too.)

Read full article

Comments

As Internet enshittification marches on, here are some of the worst offenders

Ars staffers take aim at some of the web’s worst predatory practices.

Two years ago, a Canadian writer named Cory Doctorow coined the phrase "enshittification" to describe the decay of online platforms. The word immediately set the Internet ablaze, as it captured the growing malaise regarding how almost everything about the web seemed to be getting worse.

"It’s my theory explaining how the Internet was colonized by platforms, why all those platforms are degrading so quickly and thoroughly, why it matters, and what we can do about it," Doctorow explained in a follow-up article. "We’re all living through a great enshittening, in which the services that matter to us, that we rely on, are turning into giant piles of shit. It’s frustrating. It’s demoralizing. It’s even terrifying."

Doctorow believes there are four basic forces that might constrain companies from getting worse: competition, regulation, self-help, and tech workers. One by one, he says, these constraints have been eroded as large corporations squeeze the Internet and its denizens for dollars.

Read full article

Comments