Samsung Says It Will Release An Update To Address App Throttling Issues

In a statement to TechCrunch, a Samsung spokesperson said the company will release a software update to allow users to have more control over throttling. “Samsung has not provided details about when the update will roll out to users,” notes the report. From the report: “Our priority is to deliver the best mobile experience for consumers. We value the feedback we receive about our products and after careful consideration, we plan to roll out a software update soon so users can control the performance while running game apps,” a spokesperson from Samsung said in an email.

Samsung’s promise follows reports that the tech giant’s phones are throttling the performance of around 10,000 apps, as first reported by Android Authority, and via Twitter complaints, plus Samsung’s Korean community forums. The company’s Game Optimizing Service (GOS) software, which optimizes the performance of CPU and GPU to prevent excessive heating when playing a game for a long time, appeared to be at the core of the issue, but the list of affected apps wasn’t limited to games. However, Samsung has disputed claims that Game Optimizing Service was throttling non-gaming apps. “The Game Optimizing Service (GOS) has been designed to help game apps achieve a great performance while managing device temperature effectively. GOS does not manage the performance of non-gaming apps,” the spokesperson said.

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California Issues Permits To Cruise, Waymo For Autonomous Vehicle Service

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Monday issued permits to self-driving units of General Motors and Alphabet to allow for passenger service in autonomous vehicles with safety drivers present. Reuters reports: CPUC said the GM unit Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo are under Drivered Deployment permits authorized to collect fares from passengers and may offer shared rides. Prior to the announcement Cruise and Waymo had been permitted to provide passenger service only on a testing basis with no fare collection permitted.

Starting Monday, Cruise is allowed to provide the “Drivered Deployment” service on some public roads in San Francisco between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour, while Waymo can offer service in parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour, CPUC said. Neither company is allowed to operate during heavy fog or heavy rain. […] Waymo said it has tens of thousands of riders on a waitlst in California after it launched a tester program in August. “We’ll begin offering paid trips through the program in the coming weeks,” the company said.

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Europe’s Largest Nuclear Power Plant On Fire After Russian Shelling

Russian forces shelled Europe’s largest nuclear plant early Friday in the battle for control of a crucial energy-producing city, and the power station was on fire. The Associated Press reports: Plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells were falling directly on the Zaporizhzhia plant and had set fire to one of the facility’s six reactors. That reactor is under renovation and not operating, but there is nuclear fuel inside, he said. Firefighters cannot get near the fire because they are being shot at, Tuz said. A government official told The Associated Press that elevated levels of radiation were detected near the site of the plant, which provides about 25% of Ukraine’s power generation. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not yet been publicly released. Tuz said it is urgent to stop the fighting to put out the flames.

Mayor Dmytro Orlov and the Ukrainian state atomic energy company reported that a Russian military column was heading toward the nuclear plant. Loud shots and rocket fire were heard late Thursday. […] Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called on the West to close the skies over the country’s nuclear plants as fighting intensified. “It is a question of the security of the whole world!” he said in a statement. The U.S. and NATO allies have ruled out creating a no-fly zone since the move would pit Russian and Western military forces against each other.

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Rivian CEO Apologizes, Walks Back Preorder Price Hikes After Customer Backlash

cartechboy writes: Rivian’s CEO, RJ Scaringe, admitted the company messed up. In a lengthy apology, the executive said the company broke people’s trust. Rivian’s walking back the large, in some cases 20%, price increases introduced earlier in the week for any preorder holder prior to March 1. [However, the price increases stay in effect for anyone who ordered after March 1.] “We wrongly decided to make these changes apply to all future deliveries, including pre-existing configured preorders,” Scaringe said, noting that the company “failed to to appreciate” how customers viewed their configurations and pricing.

Scaringe also acknowledged the company “wrongly assumed” the newly announced dual-motor models and standard battery pack would provide satisfactory price points similar to the original configurations.

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Malware Campaign Impersonates VC Firm Looking To Buy Sites

BleepingComputer was recently contacted by an alleged “venture capitalist” firm that wanted to invest or purchase our site. However, as we later discovered, this was a malicious campaign designed to install malware that provides remote access to our devices. Lawrence Abrams from BleepingComputer writes: Last week, BleepingComputer received an email to our contact form from an IP address belonging to a United Kingdom virtual server company. Writing about cybersecurity for so long, I am paranoid regarding email, messaging, and visiting unknown websites. So, I immediately grew suspicious of the email, fired up a virtual machine and VPN, and did a search for Vuxner. Google showed only a few results for ‘Vuxner,’ with one being for a well-designed and legitimate-looking vuxner[.]com, a site promoting “Vuxner Chat — Next level of privacy with free instant messaging.” As this appeared to be the “Vuxner chat” the threat actors referenced in their email, BleepingComputer attempted to download it and run it on a virtual machine.

BleepingComputer found that the VuxnerChat.exe download [VirusTotal] actually installs the “Trillian” messaging app and then downloads further malware onto the computer after Trillian finishes installing. As this type of campaign looked similar to other campaigns that have pushed remote access and password-stealing trojans in the past, BleepingComputer reached out to cybersecurity firm Cluster25 who has previously helped BleepingComputer diagnose similar malware attacks in the past. Cluster25 researchers explain in a report coordinated with BleepingComputer that the Vuxner[.]com is hosted behind Cloudflare, however they could still determine hosting server’s actual address at 86.104.15[.]123.

The researchers state that the Vuxner Chat program is being used as a decoy for installing a remote desktop software known as RuRAT, which is used as a remote access trojan. Once a user installs the Vuxner Trillian client and exits the installer, it will download and execute a Setup.exe executable [VirusTotal] from https://vuxner[.]com/setup.exe. When done, the victim will be left with a C:swrbldin folder filled with a variety of batch files, VBS scripts, and other files used to install RuRAT on the device. Cluster25 told BleepingComputer that the threat actors are using this attack to gain initial access to a device and then take control over the host. Once they control the host, they can search for credentials and sensitive data or use the device as a launchpad to spread laterally in a network.

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YouTuber DIY Project Shrinks M1 Mac Mini By 78%, Without Sacrificing Performance

In a 15-minute-long video, YouTuber Quinn Nelson from Snazzy Labs explains how he managed to shrink the current M1 Mac Mini by 78% without harming performance. 9to5Mac reports: In conclusion, by rearranging the internals and swapping out the power supply, Nelson was able to reduce the size of the Mac mini enclosure by 78%. He organized all the parts inside a 3D-printed body with a mini Mac Pro motif.

The reason that theoretical space savings are so huge is because when Apple released the first round of Apple Silicon computers, they did not change the hardware industrial design at all. So the current Mac Mini enclosure is designed to fit an Intel CPU and circuit board, including having to accommodate the large fans and heat sinks the Intel chip required.

But with the power efficiency of the M1, Apple has the headroom to do something much more drastic. Indeed, a lot of the M1 Mac mini internals is just empty space. The Snazzy Labs video gives a glimpse at what is possible if Apple is more ambitious with the next-generation Mac mini design, and tries to create something truly mini. The CAD files and schematics can be viewed here.

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Ukraine Might Have Leaked Data On 120,000 Russian Soldiers

BrendaEM shares a report from The Register: Ukrainian news website Ukrainska Pravda says the nation’s Centre for Defense Strategies think tank has obtained the personal details of 120,000 Russian servicemen fighting in Ukraine. The publication has now shared this data freely on its website. The Register and others have been unable to fully verify the accuracy of the data from the leak. The records include what appears to be names, addresses, passport numbers, unit names, and phone numbers. Some open source intelligence researchers on Twitter said they found positive matches, as did sources who spoke confidentially to El Reg; others said they couldn’t verify dip-sampled data. Rumors swirled on the internet that activists were behind the disclosure. The Ukrainian news agency said the personnel records were obtained from “reliable sources.” Whether or not the database’s contents is real, the impact on Russian military morale — knowing that your country’s enemies have your personal details and can contact your family if you’re captured, killed, or even still alive — won’t be insignificant.

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Hackers Demand NVIDIA Open Source Their Drivers Or They Leak More Data

New submitter briaguya shares a report from VideoCardz: Hackers that infiltrated NVIDIA systems are now threatening to release more confidential information unless the company commits to open sourcing their drivers. It is unclear what the stolen data contains, but the group confirmed that there are 250GB of hardware related data in their possession. Furthermore, the group confirmed they have evaluated NVIDIA position, which means that NVIDIA is might trying to communicate with the group to prevent future leaks. The group has already published information on NVIDIA DLSS technology and upcoming architectures. Yesterday, Nvidia reportedly retaliated against the hacker group known as “Lapsus$” by sneaking back into the hacker’s system and encrypting the stolen data. The group claimed that it had a backup of the data, though.

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Burnt-Out Ship Carrying 4,000 Vehicles Sinks, Costing VW At Least $155 Million

McGruber shares a report from AutoNews: The cargo ship that caught fire in the Atlantic while transporting roughly 4,000 Volkswagen Group vehicles to the U.S. has sunk despite efforts to tow it to safety. The Felicity Ace sank 220 nautical miles off the coast of Portugal’s Azores Islands around 9 a.m. local time on Tuesday after being battered by waves and leaning 45 degrees to its starboard side, the ship’s operator said. Joao Mendes Cabecas, the captain of the nearest port on the island of Faial, told Reuters the Panama-flagged Felicity Ace had sunk as efforts to tow it began due to structural problems caused by the fire and rough seas.

Volkswagen had VW, Porsche, Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini-branded models on the vessel, which was on its way to Rhode Island from Germany’s Emden port when the fire broke out on Feb. 16. […] In a projection assuming all vehicles would be lost, the risk-modeling company Russell Group last week estimated that the incident could cost the automaker at least $155 million. About $438 million worth of goods were aboard the ship, $401 million of which were cars.

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