Windows 10 Installation Settings Violate Local Laws, Say Brazil Prosecutors

Reporting by Brad Brooks and Aluísio Alves in Sao Paulo; Editing by Peter Cooney

© Thomson Reuters 2018

Federal prosecutors in Brazil asked a court on Wednesday to force Microsoft to change its default installation process for Windows 10, which they said violated several local laws by collecting user data without their "express consent."

Microsoft has faced criticism in the European Union and elsewhere about the installation settings of Windows 10 and users' apparent lack of control over the company's processing of their data.

Microsoft's press office in Brazil said in an emailed statement it was not officially notified about the prosecutors' lawsuit, so it could not comment on it. The company underscored that the protection of users' data was a top priority and said it was ready to clarify any questions prosecutors may have.

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How to install Ubuntu-restricted-extras Package in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Ubuntu-restricted-media codecs or Ubuntu-restricted-addons are required to play multimedia files on 18.04 LTS Desktop. 

You may have missed this and didn’t check “Enable Restricted Formats” while installing Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. If not, it will not install the required multimedia codecs and you will have to install it manually.

Install Ubuntu Restricted Codecs

Run the following commands to install Ubuntu-restricted-extras package in Ubuntu Ubuntu 18.04 LTS: sudo apt-get update 

then 

sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras

In addition, in order to play DVDs, you need to install libdvdcss by entering the following in a terminal: sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

Microsoft wants to stuff Linux, not Windows 10, into Internet of Things devices

Story by Kevin Parrish

Microsoft introduced Azure Sphere during the RSA security conference in San Francisco. It’s essentially a platform connecting microcontroller units (MCU) within Internet of Thing devices to the cloud. What’s notable about this announcement is that the operating system installed on the MCUs aren’t based on Windows 10 as you would expect, but rather a custom build of the open-source Linux operating system. That’s a first for Microsoft.

At the foundation of Microsoft’s new Azure Sphere platform is a new microcontroller unit from Microsoft that promises five times the performance of standard MCUs. The chip includes the company’s Pluton security subsystem, built-in network connectivity, a real-time processor, an application processor, memory, flash, and more. It’s a “crossover” chip that combines the benefits of ARM-based Cortex-A and Cortex-M processor cores.

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CD-ripping application for Linux

Sound Juicer

Sound Juicer is a CD-ripping application, and also has the ability to play your CDs and download track data from the Internet. It may also be l listed as "Audio CD Extractor."

To rip a CD using Sound Juicer, simply insert an audio CD.  Sound Juicer should start automatically. Alternatively, you can select Sound Juicer from Applications and Sound and Video and Audio CD Extractor.

By default, the CD will be encoded into the Ogg Vorbis format, a Free Format.  If you wish to rip a CD to a non-free format such as MP3 or AAC, you will need to install some additional software

The real world of cryptocurrency

Note: I am not a hardcore PC gamer. I am not an expert on Crypto mining. I know just enough to be dangerous, so I make no predictions on how  Cryptocurrencies can be part of a retirement plan.

The idea of Cryptocurrencies is much older than many think. While the idea of a decentralized digital currency first came about in 1998, it wasn’t until January 9, 2009, when the first cryptocurrency was created known as Bitcoin.The lead developer has never come forward to this day. Fast forward to 2018, more than 1,600 cryptocurrencies now exist. Each one has a different origin and characteristics, but all are alike in that they are open-source, digital and attempt to ensure anonymity in transactions.

Confirmation is a very important concept in the world of cryptocurrencies. One can even say that cryptocurrencies are all about confirmation. As long as a transaction is unconfirmed, it is pending and can be faked. So when a transaction is confirmed, it is set in stone. It is no longer forgeable, it can‘t be reversed, it is part of an unchangeable record of historical transactions in the blockchain. Blockchain was invented by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 for use with the cryptocurrency bitcoin, as its public transaction ledger.A blockchain consists of a distributed database, and by design, blockchains are completely tamper-proof. Cryptocurrencies use what is known as trusted timestamping, which proves the exact time that data existed along the chain. Any altering or tampering of the timestamp would break the integrity of the digital currency and devalue it to zero.

Only the miners can confirm transactions. That is their role on a cryptocurrency-network. They take transactions, stamp them as legit and spread them in the network. After a transaction is confirmed by a miner, every node has to add it to its database. It has become part of the blockchain. For this job, the miners get rewarded with a piece of the cryptocurrency, for example with Bitcoins. So the miner‘s activity is the single most important part of cryptocurrency-system.

Before cryptocurrency mining. Graphics cards were like any other piece of computer gear. You'd go to the store, pick one up off the shelf, and pay an around the manufacturer's suggested retail price. Even sometimes under MSRP. For those who don't know. The graphics card shortage started happening because high-end graphics cards were the best way to mine Ethereum and other non-bitcoin cryptocurrencies.

Case in point...The NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition, is priced around $699 currently. That's still about $150 over MSRP. The GTX 1080  peaked at $1,200 for a short while in January of this year, we're going for as much as $950 last month. While graphics cards are still selling for above MSRP, prices are trending downward, and in many cases are lower than just a few months ago.

Crypto mining seems to be no longer as profitable on consumer graphics cards because companies like Bitmain Technologies Ltd have built sophisticated custom ASIC-based mining equipment that's way-way more power-efficient. However, Ethereum has a memory-hungry mining algorithm that's resistant to ASIC optimization. That means like it or not mining Ethereum is still practicing with a consumer graphics card if it has more than two gigabytes of memory. Entry-level graphics cards don't have enough memory, but more advanced ones do. Now Bitmain has made a bold claim to have a mining chip designed specifically to process ethereum transactions and claim the protocol's rewards.There are doubts in the ethereum community that Bitmain's mining chip is capable of significant performance increases.The price tag for Bitmain Technologies Ltd killer tech is $800. The E3 miner is about as expensive as just one pair of RX 580 graphics cards, or three GTX 1060s. In theory getting anywhere near the same sort of hash rate for that sort of money with consumer graphics cards would not be possible. Regardless, of ethereum technical roadmap the E3 miner is likely to be popular.For those who don't know, the ethereum technical roadmap includes a planned shift away from proof-of-work, to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm. Last week Monero tweaked its mining algorithm to slow any potential threat of ASICs and preserve ASIC resistance. Later Ethereum core developers met to discuss whether they should change Ethereum’s algorithm. But anyway it’s too early to know if whether Ethereum will choose to do the same as Siacoin or Monero. Monero alters its version of the Cryptonight PoW algorithm every six months to inhibit the development of XMR-compatible miners.

Many who might read this believe that cryptocurrencies are for only cyber thugs. Much like handguns are only for bank robbers.The anonymity of cryptocurrencies is one of the greatest aspects for cybercriminals. Let's face it, a digital currency that assures transparency and an easy transaction would seem to be a perfect method of payment for bad actors. Right now pretty much all ransomware attacks ask for payment through Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. Just keep in mind there are increasingly more businesses and countries using digital currencies to exchange services or influence the economy in a secure way. Just remember ownership of a handgun and ski mask does not make one a stick-up man.

PC Gamers might be happier

The graphics card market has been crazy. While sales for Nvidia and AMD cards are up, it also means that the best graphics cards are in high demand and nearly impossible to buy at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP), due to cryptocurrency mining.For those who don't a lot of people are buying GPUs in bulk to try to make easy money by mining Bitcoin, Ethereum or even Dogecoin. But if you've shopped for a gaming card in the last few months you already noticed the high cost. Prices have swung wildly on a daily basis, driven by the mining demand and memory shortages. 

I randomly went over to Newegg to check on prices lately and noticed a few eye-catching drops. In fact, a few midrange and high-end Radeon and GeForce cards are at a 40-day low. Are they back at MSRP? No, they're not. Bitmain has already developed an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit for mining Ethereum, and three other companies working on Ethereum ASICs, all at various stages of development. Ethereum ASIC miner should stop the demand for graphics cards. The new products are expected to hit the supply chain in the next few months. If they prove to be winners at Etherum and other POW cryptos, then we may finally see video card prices deflate to pre-2017 levels. Anyone remember a PNY GeForce GTX 1060 6GB  at $250? 

I will say that I am not a PC gamer. I game on the console about 80 to 90% of the time. The most powerful card I own is a GTX 1050. The type of game you play is always relevant. For Deus Ex: Mankind Divided 40 frames per second should be your minimum. You'll need a graphics card at the level of Nvidia GTX 970/1060 or an AMD R9 390/RX 470 or better to consistently break 60fps at 1080p low. For 1080p ultra, those same cards would ok too, but if you want to stay at 60fps, you'll need a RX Vega 56/R9 Fury or GTX 1070/980 Ti. And if your aim is to break 60fps at 4k ultra you need to run two GPUs in SLI or CrossFire. You would also need a 144Hz monitor and powerful CPUs like a Ryzen 7 2700x or an Intel Core i7-8700K.

Lots of PC gamers are waiting for the bubble to burst, but considering cryptocurrencies have been around since 2009, that crash is not going to come any time soon. Many see consoles, as game boxes with very limited functionality.  A PC can always be updated with the latest and greatest hardware, but that is not the case with a console. However at this time a PNY GeForce GTX 1060/1070 cost more than an Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo.