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As AWS points out, a 2020 HackerEarth developer survey found it was preferred by 66% of professional developers, making it more widely used than Windows (61%). “Starting today, you can also provision Ubuntu desktops for your developers, engineers, or data scientists. This allows virtual desktop users to have more choices and to embrace new categories of workloads. It also gives virtual desktop administrators a consistent experience whether you are managing Windows or Linux-based desktops for your workforce....

Each of these services provides some set of channels over broadband for a fixed monthly fee. Some offer DVR capabilities, so you can time-shift shows you like to watch. Steven (and presumably a lot of other folks) like the live TV offerings. I am not a fan. I am a former YouTube TV and Sling TV customer because during election years, I like watching live channels to binge watch election returns....

The Log4j flaw (also now known as “Log4Shell”) is a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2021-44228) that first came to light on December 9, with warnings that it can allow unauthenticated remote code execution and access to servers. Log4j is used in many forms of enterprise and open-source software, including cloud platforms, web applications and email services, meaning that there’s a wide range of software that could be at risk from attempts to exploit the vulnerability....

Steve Povolny, head of advanced threat research for McAfee Enterprise and FireEye, said Log4Shell “now firmly belongs in the same conversation as Shellshock, Heartbleed, and EternalBlue.” “Attackers began by almost immediately leveraging the bug for illegal crypto mining, or using legitimate computing resources on the Internet to generate cryptocurrency for financial profit… Further exploitation appears to have pivoted towards theft of private information,” Povolny told ZDNet. “We fully expect to see an evolution of attacks....

OpenInfra executive director Jonathan Bryce says that just as the “LAMP [Linux, Apache, MySQL, Python/Perl/PHP] stack became the standard for deploying web applications, LOKI helps operators identify successful patterns and combinations of technologies to build production infrastructure.” But don’t OpenStack and Kubernetes do the same job? Not really, Bryce explains: This makes OpenStack as big as the top public clouds, and it isn’t idle boasting. Major companies such as AT&T, LINE, Workday, Verizon, and Yahoo have all adopted LOKI and run it in production today....

“In general, most of the citizen-developed applications we see today are single-process focused with limited to no integrations,” says David Beaudreau, VP of the US Cloud Practice at Sogeti, a part of Capgemini. “There are a few instances where citizen developers are creating multi-functional process and workflow applications, as well as complex business intelligence dashboards, but this is mostly the exception.” Not everyone in the industry agrees that sophisticated applications are off-limits to low and no-code developers, however....

PDFs are the file type of choice for contracts, proposals, and a host of other common documents. So why aren’t they easier to work with? The fact is, the protections that keep these files secure are the same ones that keep you from doing simple things like correcting a line of text or adding annotations. Small wonder, then, that PDF editing tools are everywhere these days, but few pack as much functionality as PDF Agile....

The new Media Player app is meant to reflect the look and feel of Windows 11, which got a visual revamp despite overall being a minor update. Media Player will let Windows 11 users browse, manage, and watch their local video collection. SEE: Managers aren’t worried about keeping their IT workers happy. That’s bad for everyone “All your content in the music and video folders on your PC will appear automatically in your library, but you can also tell Media Player where to look for additional content in app settings,” says Dave Grochocki, principal program manager lead for Microsoft Windows Inbox Apps....

Ransomware is a major cybersecurity problem facing organisations around the world, as cyber criminals break into networks, encrypt files and servers, and then demand a ransom payment that can amount to millions of dollars in exchange for the decryption key. This is often combined with stealing data and threatening to release it if a ransom isn’t paid. According to Microsoft, the rise of ransomware-as-a-service (Raas) – kits developed and sold on dark web forums that allow people with minimal technical knowledge to launch ransomware attacks – is lowering the barrier for entry and causing challenges for network defenders....

Microsoft is trying to grow Teams beyond its established business base by adding consumer features to the product. Microsoft integrated a Teams Chat button into the Windows 11 taskbar in the hopes of getting more people to try Teams’ consumer capabilities. It also introduced a new standalone Teams Essentials SKU for small-and-midsize businesses. Because only some Windows PCs are able to run Windows 11, due to Microsoft upping the base requirements for its newest OS release, officials need to get a bit creative about how they disclose Windows numbers....

I purchased, and then later returned, the original Surface Duo primarily due to the fact that Microsoft used year-old internal specifications, had a single poor camera, did not include NFC to support Google Pay, and left too much on the table. We then saw prices plummet with the Duo available for less than $500 over the past couple of months. Also: Microsoft Surface Duo review: Buy it for dual screen use, not for its old specs Despite the shortcomings of the original Microsoft Surface Duo, it offered a form factor for optimal productivity with two big screens designed to get work done....

Miburo is based in New York City. According to its LinkedIn profile, the company specializes in social media investigations and countering disinformation. Miburo and founder Clint Watts will become part of Microsoft’s Customer Security and Trust organization. Miburo will work with the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center, its Threat Context Analysis team and others at the company to help Microsoft expand its threat detection and analysis capabilities. Specifically, according to a blog post announcing the acquisition by Tom Burt, Corporate Vice President of Customer Security and Trust, Miburo also will “shed light on the ways in which foreign actors use information operations in conjunction with other cyber-attacks to achieve their objectives....

Microsoft has offered insights into how to spot and remove malicious IIS extensions, which aren’t as popular as web shells as a payload for Exchange servers, but are useful to an attacker as they “mostly reside in the same directories as legitimate modules used by target applications, and they follow the same code structure as clean modules,” Microsoft notes. As such, they might not be seen as malicious and identifying the source of an infection can be difficult....

The $92 million financing was led by FTX Venture and Three Arrows Capital, with the help of hedge fund Brevan Howard (and its co-founder and billionaire Alan Howard), Amber Group, Blockchain.com, Circle Ventures, Finality Capital Partners, Pantera, and five unnamed Mina backers. The proceeds from the credit raise will help finance grants to attract developers and drive Mina’s adoption as the leading zero-knowledge platform within Web3, the company said. “Our main goal right now is to give out grants to people who are doing effective work for Mina; this will help us do that much more effectively,” Mina Foundation CEO Evan Shapiro told ZDNet....

The use of multi-factor authentication, which needs the user to enter a code or sign in to an additional app in order to log in to their account, has grown in recent years, as it’s commonly seen as one of the simplest tools that organisations and individuals can deploy across accounts in order to help keep them secure. But while this has made conducting attacks harder for cyber criminals, that isn’t putting them off – and cybersecurity researchers at Proofpoint have detailed how there’s been a rise in phishing kits designed to bypass MFA....

Must read: iOS 13: Security and privacy settings you need to tweak and check 1. ZenMate VPN A VPN that integrates directly into your browser, with over 30 server locations scattered across the globe. 2. Click&Clean Scan for malware and erase all traces of your browsing with just a few clicks. 3. Blur A password manager that also helps protect your payments, and offers you better privacy by preventing you from being tracked as you browse the web....

Also: How to keep track of your mouse pointer with this free tool While I wouldn’t place myself on the extreme end of the multitasking spectrum (my tab names are still legible and aren’t just icons), I still find myself misclicking a tab every so often, hitting that small X button, and accidentally closing it. Fortunately, all hope is not lost, because the greatest keyboard shortcut of all time does exist....

The DART spacecraft is targeting Dimorphos, a moon orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Didymos – an object that does NOT pose any threat to Earth. Once the spacecraft reaches its 530-foot (160 meters) diameter target, the goal is to change the asteroid’s speed and path. The spacecraft will carry a sophisticated guidance, navigation, and control system, called Small-body Maneuvering Autonomous Real Time Navigation (SMART Nav), which will enable it to identify and distinguish between the two asteroids, according to NASA....

Artemis is NASA’s ongoing attempt to revive the idea of humans physically going to the Moon. The goals are for “scientific discovery, economic benefits, and inspiration for a new generation of explorers.” The US space agency plans to spend about $100 billion on the Artemis project. Earlier this month, it brought the massive Orion spacecraft to the Kennedy Space Center launch pad in preparation for take off. SEE: Employers are desperate for data scientists as demand booms Artemis is named after Apollo’s twin sister....

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – the 30-nation military alliance between North America and Europe – issued a new communique at this week’s Brussels summit outlining how it should respond to national security threats. One of them is cyberattacks, as spotted by The Register. The new policy stance follows high-profile attacks on US fuel distribution network Colonial Pipeline – which paid $4 million to ransomware attackers, half of which was later seized by the FBI – and US meat packer JBS, which paid $11 million to ransomware attackers....