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FBI recovers just $8M after scam crashes Heartland Tri-State Bank

The FBI has recovered $8 million in funds from a cryptocurrency scam that netted $47 million and devastated the Kansas city of Elkhart.…

The European Space Agency has given the go-ahead for initial work on a mission to visit an asteroid called Apophis. If approved at a key meeting next year, the robotic spacecraft, known as the Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (Ramses), will rendezvous with the asteroid in February 2029.

Apophis is 340 meters wide, about the same as the height of the Empire State Building. If it were to hit Earth, it would cause wholesale destruction hundreds of miles from its impact site. The energy released would equal that from tens or hundreds of nuclear weapons, depending on the yield of the device.

Luckily, Apophis won’t hit Earth in 2029. Instead, it will pass by Earth safely at a distance of 19,794 miles (31,860 kilometers), about one-twelfth the distance from the Earth to the Moon. Nevertheless, this is a very close pass by such a big object, and Apophis will be visible with the naked eye.

NASA and the European Space Agency have seized this rare opportunity to send separate robotic spacecraft to rendezvous with Apophis and learn more about it. Their missions could help inform efforts to deflect an asteroid that threatens Earth, should we need to in the future.

The Threat From Asteroids

Some 66 million years ago, an asteroid the size of a small city hit Earth. The impact of this asteroid brought about a global extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs.

Earth is in constant danger of being hit by asteroids, leftover debris from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago. Located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, asteroids come in many shapes and sizes. Most are small, only 10 meters across, but the largest are hundreds of kilometers across, larger than the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

Artist’s impression of Apophis. Image Credit: NASA

The asteroid belt contains one to two million asteroids larger than a kilometer across and millions of smaller bodies. These space rocks feel each other’s gravitational pull, as well as the gravitational tug of Jupiter on one side and the inner planets on the other.

Because of this gravitational tug-of-war, every once in a while an asteroid is thrown out of its orbit and hurtles towards the inner solar system. There are 35,000 such “near-Earth objects” (NEOs). Of these, 2,300 “potentially hazardous objects” (PHOs) have orbits that intersect Earth’s and are large enough that they pose a real threat to our survival.

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

During the 20th century, astronomers set up several surveys, such as Atlas, in order to detect and study hazardous asteroids. But detection is not enough; we have to find a way to defend Earth against an incoming asteroid.

Blowing up an asteroid, as depicted in the movie Armageddon, is no use. The asteroid would be broken into smaller fragments, which would keep moving in much the same direction. Instead of being hit by one large asteroid, Earth would be hit by a swarm of smaller objects.

The preferred solution is to deflect the incoming asteroid away from Earth so that it passes by harmlessly. To do so, we would need to apply an external force to the asteroid to nudge it away. A popular idea is to fire a projectile at the asteroid. NASA did this in 2022, when a spacecraft called DART collided with an asteroid. Before we do this out of necessity, we have to understand how different types of asteroids would react to such an impact.

Apophis, Ramses, and Osiris-Apex

Apophis was discovered in 2004. The asteroid passed by Earth on December 21, 2004 at a distance of 14 million kilometers. It returned in 2021 and will swing by Earth again in 2029, 2036, and 2068.

Until recently, there was a small chance that Apophis could collide with Earth in 2068. However, during Apophis’ approach in 2021, astronomers used radar observations to refine their knowledge of the asteroid’s orbit. These showed that Apophis would not hit our planet for the next 100 years.

The Ramses mission will rendezvous with Apophis in February 2029, two months before its closest approach to Earth on Friday, April 13. It will then accompany the asteroid as it approaches Earth. The goal is to learn how Apophis’s orbit, rotation, and shape will change as it passes so close to Earth’s gravitational field.

In 2016, NASA launched the “Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security–Regolith Explorer” (Osiris-Rex) mission to study the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. It intercepted Bennu in 2020 to collect samples of rock and soil from its surface and dispatched the rocks in a capsule, which arrived on Earth in 2023.

The spacecraft is still out there, so NASA renamed it the “Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security–Apophis Explorer” (Osiris-Apex) and assigned it to study Apophis. Osiris-Apex will reach the asteroid just after its 2029 close encounter. It will then fly low over Apophis’s surface and fire its engines, disturbing the rocks and dust that cover the asteroid to reveal the layer underneath.

A close flyby of an asteroid as large as Apophis happens only once every 5,000 to 10,000 years. Apophis’s arrival in 2029 presents a rare opportunity to study such an asteroid up close, and seeing how it is affected by Earth’s gravitational pull. The information gleaned will shape the way we choose to protect Earth in the future from a real killer asteroid.

Ancient Egyptian Mythology

When Ramses and Osiris-Apex meet up with Apophis in 2029 they will inadvertently reenact a core component of ancient Egyptian cosmology. To the ancient Egyptians, the sun was personified by several powerful gods, chief among them Re. The sun’s setting in the evening was interpreted as Re dying and entering the netherworld.

During his nighttime journey through the netherworld, Re was menaced by the great snake Apophis, who embodied the powers of darkness and dissolution. Only after Apophis had been defeated could Re be revitalized by Osiris, the king of the netherworld. Re could then once again be reborn in the east, rising in the sky once more.

Tomb murals, coffins, and funerary papyri depict Apophis as a large, coiled snake threatening Re as he sails in his solar barque (sailing ship). But Apophis is always defeated, his body pierced by a spear or riven by knives.

Though the asteroid Apophis poses no danger in the near future, Ramses (named after the pharaohs of the same name, which meant “born of Re”) and Osiris-Apex will study it so that one day we will know how to defeat it—or any of its distant brethren.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Google has announced that multi-factor authentication (MFA) will be mandatory on all Cloud accounts by the end of 2025 to enhance security. [...]

Interpol announced it arrested 41 individuals and taken down 1,037 servers and infrastructure running on 22,000 IP addresses facilitating cybercrime in an international law enforcement action titled Operation Synergia II. [...]

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Why? Because that's where the money is

Business email compromise scammers are trying to up their success rate by using a DocuSign API.…

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has sought assistance from the public in connection with an investigation involving the breach of edge devices and computer networks belonging to companies and government entities. "An Advanced Persistent Threat group allegedly created and deployed malware (CVE-2020-12271) as part of a widespread series of indiscriminate computer intrusions designed

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has sought assistance from the public in connection with an investigation involving the breach of edge devices and computer networks belonging to companies and government entities. "An Advanced Persistent Threat group allegedly created and deployed malware (CVE-2020-12271) as part of a widespread series of indiscriminate computer intrusions designedRavie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Smartphone deliveries worldwide increased by 5% during the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same period a year ago, according to a new survey from analysis firm Canalys. That equates to about 310 million units and is the best performing third quarter for the smartphone market since 2021.

Canalys traces the growth to increased demand and an aggressive launch of several new products, including Samsung’s latest smartphone series and Apple’s iPhone 16 series.

During the quarter, Samsung maintained its lead in the market, taking 19% of sales, followed closely by Apple with 18% and Xiaomi with 14%. In fourth and fifth place were Oppo and Vivo, with 9% of the market each.

Canalys expects continued growth for the market through the end of the year.

Apple Intelligence has been available for a couple of weeks now, but the work continues. Apple recently pushed out the second iOS 18.2 developer beta, which reveals more about how ChatGPT integration will work with iPhones running Apple Intelligence.

As we’ve discussed, Apple has a three-strand approach to generative AI (genAI): The first strand consists of its own Apple Intelligence LLM models working on the device itself; the second is when it runs the same self-made models using secure servers in data centers; the third element is to offload to ChatGPT any requests Apple’s own technologies cannot handle. 

For users, the approach is quite seamless, though they can expect some kind of warning in the event an Apple Intelligence request must be handed to ChatGPT for completion. If they’re uncomfortable sharing the request with a third party — as some users in some industries should be — they can terminate the query before it’s passed along. The basic idea is that Siri will use ChatGPT to handle queries it lacks the ability or information to handle, particularly what Apple calls “world knowledge, such as recipes or information about locations. Siri handles the personal stuff.

But this much we already knew, so what’s new in iOS 18.2?

Free, but with limits

The arrangement Apple has made for using OpenAI means users can access ChatGPT for free, though if they already pay for the service, they can login with their own account.

There are, however, some limits to that free usage, as revealed in iOS 18.2 beta 2. The beta shows you can enable or disable the service completely if you choose. You’ll also find a new Advanced Capabilities section where you’ll be able to monitor use and check whether you are within the daily limit for access to its advanced tools. You might need to do so, as Siri could use ChatGPT when composing text or creating images. If you need more access, you can subscribe to ChatGPT’s premium service from the Advanced Capabilities item.

We don’t know if Apple takes a cut of that sale, but I imagine it must; if not, others selling services on the company’s platform would want the same deal. ChatGPT Plus ($19.99/month) benefits include access to more advanced LLM models and higher limits for photo and file uploads, image generation, web browsing, and more.

Also coming with iOS 18.2

The update will also see additional Apple Intelligence features, including Genmoji and Image Playground. The latter is visible in different parts of the system; when you highlight text in the Notes app, a new Create Image option appears that lets you use Image Playground to generate an image based on that text. Mail now categorizes incoming messages for you into different sections, including important “Primary” messages, a Transactions section, and Updates for newsletters and similar things. The Promotions category will capture all the special offer emails you just can’t get rid of.

You will be able to share Find My Location information with others. This could be useful if you are tracking down lost luggage, for example, or in the event you need to share the location of your stolen Apple device with law enforcement. The update also enables use of iPhone Mirroring when your device is connected to a shared hotspot with a Mac and an improvement to Camera Control which adds new auto-exposure and focus lock options for that button. But for many iPhone users, the big news will be support for use of the service in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Canada and the U.K.

If you are using an iPhone 16 you’ll gain a new Visual Intelligence tool, so that the iPhone can get information about whatever you point the camera at. The big AI highlight on Apple’s platforms for next year is currently the addition of contextual intelligence and on-screen awareness to Siri. Intimations of how this could work are visible in the current developer beta which lets Siri react to spoken commands that relate to in-app contents.

When will iPhones gain ChatGPT access?

Apple expects to enable ChatGPT integration via Siri in early December (Dec. 2?) when iOS 18.2 is expected to ship. Apple Intelligence is not expected to reach Europe until next year. But users in the EU will be able to console themselves with another new feature in iOS 18.2, which will allow them to select a different default browser on iPads and iPhones. EU users will also be able to define third-party default apps in a new section in Settings.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

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**Microsoft potichu uvedl nové informace k ukončení životnosti Pošty **Starší e-mailový klient nebude od nového roku dostupný **Nad rámec toho Pošta hned ztratí schopnost přijmu a odesílání e-mailů

Puppeteer or Pupeter? One of them will snoop around on your machine and steal your credentials

An ongoing typosquatting campaign is targeting developers via hundreds of popular JavaScript libraries, whose weekly downloads number in the tens of millions, to infect systems with info-stealing and snooping malware.…

The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency is warning about last-minute influence operations conducted by Iranian and Russian actors to undermine the public trust in the integrity and fairness of the upcoming presidential election. [...]

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Canadian authorities have arrested a man suspected of having stolen the data of hundreds of millions after targeting over 165 organizations, all of them customers of cloud storage company Snowflake. [...]

Google fixed two actively exploited Android zero-day flaws as part of its November security updates, addressing a total of 51 vulnerabilities. [...]

Justice still being served, but many systems are down

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