China Suspends Tencent From Updating Existing Apps or Launching New Apps

China has suspended Tencent Holdings from updating its existing apps or launching any new apps as part of a “temporary administrative guidance” against the tech giant, Chinese media outlets including Shanghai-based Chinastarmarket.cn reported. From a report: According to the report, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has told app stores and platforms to implement the order against Tencent apps from Wednesday in a harsh administrative punishment against the tech giant, which runs dozens of apps including the super app WeChat that has 1.2 billion users. Tencent said in a statement that it is cooperating with the authorities on inspecting its apps, indirectly confirming the report.

There are more than 70 apps published by Tencent that are active and there are more than 100 games published by Tencent Mobile Games, according to app tracking firm Qimai.
It is not known how long the suspension will last and the Chinese ministry has not published any information about the ban. “We are continuously working to enhance user protection features within our apps, and also have regular cooperation with relevant government agencies to ensure regulatory compliance. Our apps remain functional and available for download,” Tencent said in its statement.

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Mozilla Is Ending Support For Its Firefox Password Manager Sync App

Mozilla announced last week via a support article that its Firefox Lockwise password manager app will reach end-of-life on December 13th. The final release versions are 1.8.1 (iOS) and 4.0.3 (Android) and will no longer be available to download or reinstall after that date. The Verge reports: What started in 2018 as a small experimental mobile app called Lockbox ended up bringing a way to access saved passwords and perform autofills on iOS, Android, and desktop devices to a small but enthusiastic following of Firefox fans. The app was also later adapted as a Firefox extension. It seemed like it was apt to stick around for the long run.

The support article recommends that users continue accessing passwords using the native Firefox browsers on desktop and mobile. In an added note on the support site, Mozilla suggests that later in December, the Firefox iOS app will gain the ability to manage Firefox passwords systemwide. The note alludes to Mozilla adopting the features of Lockwise and eventually integrating them into the Firefox browser apps natively on all platforms.

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California Moves To Recommend Delaying Algebra To 9th Grade Statewide

California is in the process of approving new guidelines for math education in public schools that “pushes Algebra 1 back to 9th grade, de-emphasizes calculus, and applies social justice principles to math lessons,” writes Joe Hong via the San Francisco Standard. The new approach would have been approved earlier this month but has been delayed due to the attention and controversy it has received. Here’s an excerpt from the report: When Rebecca Pariso agreed to join a team of educators tasked in late 2019 with California’s new mathematics framework, she said she expected some controversy. But she didn’t expect her work would be in the national spotlight. […] Every eight years (PDF), a group of educators comes together to update the state’s math curriculum framework. This particular update has attracted extra attention, and controversy, because of perceived changes it makes to how “gifted” students progress — and because it pushes Algebra 1 back to 9th grade, de-emphasizes calculus, and applies social justice principles to math lessons. San Francisco pioneered key aspects of the new approach, opting in 2014 to delay algebra instruction until 9th grade and to push advanced mathematics courses until at least after 10th grade as a means of promoting equity.

San Francisco Unified School District touted the effort as a success, asserting that algebra failure rates fell and the number of students taking advanced math rose as a result of the change. The California Department of Education cited those results in drafting the statewide framework. But critics have accused the district of using cherry-picked and misleading assertions to bolster the case for the changes. The intent of the state mathematics framework, its designers say, is to maintain rigor while also helping remedy California’s achievement gaps for Black, Latino and low-income students, which remain some of the largest in the nation. At the heart of the wrangling lies a broad agreement about at least one thing: The way California public schools teach math isn’t working. On national standardized tests, California ranks in the bottom quartile among all states and U.S. territories for 8th grade math scores.

Yet for all the sound and fury, the proposed framework, about 800-pages long, is little more than a set of suggestions. Its designers are revising it now and will subject it to 60 more days of public review. Once it’s approved in July, districts may adopt as much or as little of the framework as they choose — and can disregard it completely without any penalty. “It’s not mandated that you use the framework,” said framework team member Dianne Wilson, a program specialist at Elk Grove Unified. “There’s a concern that it will be implemented unequally.”

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New Windows Zero-Day With Public Exploit Lets You Become An Admin

A security researcher has publicly disclosed an exploit for a new Windows zero-day local privilege elevation vulnerability that gives admin privileges in Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server. BleepingComputer reports: As part of the November 2021 Patch Tuesday, Microsoft fixed a ‘Windows Installer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability’ vulnerability tracked as CVE-2021-41379. This vulnerability was discovered by security researcher Abdelhamid Naceri, who found a bypass to the patch and a more powerful new zero-day privilege elevation vulnerability after examining Microsoft’s fix. Yesterday, Naceri published a working proof-of-concept exploit for the new zero-day on GitHub, explaining that it works on all supported versions of Windows.

“This variant was discovered during the analysis of CVE-2021-41379 patch. the bug was not fixed correctly, however, instead of dropping the bypass,” explains Naceri in his writeup. “I have chosen to actually drop this variant as it is more powerful than the original one.” Furthermore, Naceri explained that while it is possible to configure group policies to prevent ‘Standard’ users from performing MSI installer operations, his zero-day bypasses this policy and will work anyway. BleepingComputer tested Naceri’s ‘InstallerFileTakeOver’ exploit, and it only took a few seconds to gain SYSTEM privileges from a test account with ‘Standard’ privileges, as demonstrated in [this video]. When BleepingComputer asked Naceri why he publicly disclosed the zero-day vulnerability, we were told he did it out of frustration over Microsoft’s decreasing payouts in their bug bounty program. A Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement: “We are aware of the disclosure and will do what is necessary to keep our customers safe and protected. An attacker using the methods described must already have access and the ability to run code on a target victim’s machine.”

Naceri recommends users wait for Microsoft to release a security patch, as attempting to patch the binary will likely break the installer.

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Rare Einstein Manuscript Set To Fetch Millions

A rare manuscript by theoretical physicist Albert Einstein goes under the hammer in Paris on Tuesday, with auctioneers aiming for a stratospheric price tag. Phys.Org reports: The manuscript, containing preparatory work for Einstein’s key achievement the theory of relativity, is estimated at between two and three million euros (2.3-3.4 million), according to Christie’s which is hosting the sale on behalf of the Aguttes auction house. “This is without a doubt the most valuable Einstein manuscript ever to come to auction,” Christie’s said in a statement.

The 54-page document was handwritten in 1913 and 1914 in Zurich, Switzerland, by Einstein and his colleague and confidant, Swiss engineer Michele Besso. Christie’s said it was thanks to Besso that the manuscript was preserved for posterity. This was “almost like a miracle” since the German-born genius himself would have been unlikely to hold on to what he considered to be a simple working document, Christie’s said. Today, the paper offers “a fascinating plunge into the the mind of the 20th century’s greatest scientist,” it said.

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Rooftop Solar Helps Send South Australia Grid To Zero Demand In World’s First

South Australia on Sunday became the first gigawatt scale grid in the world to reach zero demand when the combined output of rooftop solar and other small non-scheduled generators exceeded all the local customer load requirements. Renew Economy reports: The landmark event was observed by several energy analysts, including at Watt Clarity and NEMLog, where Geoff Eldridge noted that a number of measures for South Australia demand notched up record minimums for system normal conditions. It was later confirmed by the Australian Energy Market Operator, which noted that “scheduled” demand — local demand minus the output of rooftop solar and small unscheduled generators such as small solar farms and bio-energy — fell to minus 38MW in a five minute period at 1235pm (grid time, or AEST).

Minimum demand is now possibly the biggest challenge for market operators like AEMO, because under current market settings it needs to have a certain amount of synchronous generation to maintain system strength and grid stability. It does this by running a minimum amount of gas generation, and through the recent commissioning of spinning machines called synchronous condensers that do not burn fuel. It also needs a link to a neighboring grid, in this case Victoria, so it can export surplus production.

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Rolls-Royce’s All-Electric Airplane Reached a Record 387.4 MPH Top Speed

Rolls-Royce has announced that its all-electric plane, dubbed the “Spirit of Innovation,” is the fastest of its kind in the world after it reached a maximum speed of 387.4 mph (623 k/h) in recent flight tests. Gizmodo reports: In a recent news release, the company, not to be mistaken for the car company owned by BMW, claimed that the Spirit of Innovation set three new world records earlier this week. On flight tests carried out on Nov. 16, Rolls-Royce said its aircraft reached a top speed of 345.4 mph (555.9 km/h) over 1.8 miles (3 kilometers), exceeding the current record by 132 mph (213 k/h). It broke another record in a subsequent 9.3-mile (15 kilometer) flight, during which it reached 330 mph (532.1 km/h), surpassing the current record by 182 mph (292.8 km/h).

The Spirit of Innovation didn’t stop there, though. Rolls-Royce affirms that it smashed another record when it reached 9,842.5 feet (3,000 meters) in 202 seconds, beating the current record by 60 seconds. In the company’s view, it also took the title of the world’s fastest all-electric vehicle when it reached a maximum speed of 387.4 mph (623 km/h) during its flight tests. The company’s aircraft is powered by a 400kW electric powertrain and “the most power-dense propulsion battery pack ever assembled in aerospace.” “Following the world’s focus on the need for action at COP26, this is another milestone that will help make ‘jet zero’ a reality and supports our ambitions to deliver the technology breakthroughs society needs to decarbonize transport across air, land and sea,” CEO Warren East said in the news release.

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‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Trailer Remade With Footage From the 1990’s Cartoon

Long-time Slashdot reader destinyland writes: This week Marvel released an epic three-minute trailer hyping December’s releases of Spider-Man: No Way Home. “It comes after the initial trailer, which focused on the movie’s multiversal villains, broke YouTube records over the summer,” CNET reported Tuesday (racking up 355.5 million views in its first 24 hours).

But then one more universe collided…

Basically, some internet wise guys re-edited the trailer, splicing its audio over clips from the Fox Kids’ 1994 cartoon series Spider-Man. (Opening credits here.) “This has no right being this good,” argues CNET — especially since the actual movie’s trailer arrived “amidst a ludicrous amount of fanfare and hype.”

But it’s all oddly appropriate, since CNET notes the upcoming movie features five sinister villains from nearly 20 years of Spider-Man movies, reaching back to the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield era (“likely spurred on by the events of the Disney Plus Loki series.”)
So maybe it’s fitting that it was also invaded by the television cartoon universe…

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Intel’s Expensive New Plan to Upgrade Its Chip Technology – and US Manufacturing

America’s push to manufacturer more products domestically gets an in-depth look from CNET — including a new Intel chip factory outside of Phoenix.

CNET calls it a fork in the road “after squandering its lead because of a half decade of problems modernizing its manufacturing…”

With “a decade of bad decisions, this doesn’t get fixed overnight,” says Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s new chief executive, in an interview. “But the bottom is behind us and the slope is starting to feel increasingly strong….” More fabs are on the way, too. In an enormous empty patch of dirt at its existing Arizona site, Intel has just begun building fabs 52 and 62 at a total cost of $20 billion, set to make Intel’s most advanced chips, starting in 2024. Later this year, it hopes to announce the U.S. location for its third major manufacturing complex, a 1,000-acre site costing about $100 billion. The spending commitment makes this year’s $3.5 billion upgrade to its New Mexico fab look cheap. The goal is to restore the U.S. share of chip manufacturing, which has slid from 37% in 1990 to 12% today. “Over the decade in front of us, we should be striving to bring the U.S. to 30% of worldwide semiconductor manufacturing,” Gelsinger says…

But returning Intel to its glory days — and anchoring a resurgent U.S. electronics business in the process — is much easier said than done. Making chips profitably means running fabs at maximum capacity to pay off the gargantuan investments required to stay at the leading edge. A company that can’t keep pace gets squeezed out, like IBM in 2014 or Global Foundries in 2018. To catch up after its delays, Intel now plans to upgrade its manufacturing five times in the next four years, a breakneck pace by industry standards. “This new roadmap that they announced is really aggressive,” says Linley Group analyst Linley Gwennap. “I don’t have any idea how they are going to accomplish all of that….”

Gelsinger has a tech-first recovery plan. He’s pledged to accelerate manufacturing upgrades to match the technology of TSMC and Samsung by 2024 and surpass them in 2025. He’s opening Intel’s fabs to other companies that need chips built through its new Intel Foundry Services (IFS). And he’s relying on other foundries, including TSMC, for about a quarter of Intel’s near-term chipmaking needs to keep its chips more competitive during the upgrades. This three-pronged strategy is called IDM (integrated design and manufacturing) 2.0. That’s a new take on Intel’s philosophy of both designing and making chips. It’s more ambitious than the future some had expected, in which Intel would sell its factories and join the ranks of “fabless” chip designers like Nvidia, AMD and Qualcomm that rely on others for manufacturing…

Shareholders may not like Gelsinger’s spending-heavy strategy, but one community really does: Intel’s engineers… Gelsigner told the board that Intel is done with stock buybacks, a financial move in which a company uses its cash to buy stock and thereby increase its price. “We’re investing in factories,” he told me. “That’s going to be the use of our cash….”

“We cannot recall the last time Intel put so many stakes in the ground,” said BMO Capital Markets analyst Ambrish Srivastava in a July research report after Intel announced its schedule.

Intel will even outpace Moore’s law, Gelsinger tells CNET — more than doubling the transistor count on processors every two years. “I believe that you’re going to see from 2025 to 2035 a very healthy period for Moore’s Law-like behavior.”

Although that still brings some risk to Intel’s investments if they have to pass the costs on to customer, a Linley Group analyst points out to CNET. “Moore’s Law is not going to end when we can’t build smaller transistors. It’s going to end when somebody says I don’t want to pay for smaller transistors.”

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Cryptographers Aren’t Happy With How You’re Using the Word ‘Crypto’

Cryptographers are upset that “crypto” sometimes now refers to cryptocurrency, reports the Guardian:

This lexical shift has weighed heavily on cryptographers, who, over the past few years, have repeated the rallying cry “Crypto means cryptography” on social media. T-shirts and hoodies trumpet the phrase and variations on it; there’s a website dedicated solely to clarifying the issue. “‘Crypto’ for decades has been used as shorthand and as a prefix for things related to cryptography,” said Amie Stepanovich, executive director of Silicon Flatirons Center at the University of Colorado Law School and creator of the pro-cryptography T-shirts, which have become a hit at conferences. “In fact, in the term cryptocurrency, the prefix crypto refers back to cryptography….”

[T]here remains an internecine feud among the tech savvy about the word. As Parker Higgins of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, who has spent years involved in cryptography activism, pointed out, the cryptography crowd is by nature deeply invested in precision — after all, designing and cracking codes is an endeavor in which, if you get things “a little wrong, it can blow the whole thing up….”

“Strong cryptography is a cornerstone of the way that people talk about privacy and security, and it has been under attack for decades” by governments, law enforcement, and “all sorts of bad actors”, Higgins said. For its defenders, confusion over terminology creates yet another challenge.

Stepanovich acknowledged the challenge of opposing the trend, but said the weight of history is on her side. “The study of crypto has been around for ever,” she said. “The most famous code is known as the Caesar cipher, referring to Julius Caesar. This is not new.” Cryptocurrency, on the other hand, is a relatively recent development, and she is not ready to concede to “a concept that may or may not survive government regulation”.

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