« First...102030...1,4831,4841,4851,4861,487...1,4901,5001,510...Last »

Bitcoin Languishes at 3-Week Lows, Ethereum Erases Yearly Gains amid Mind-Boggling Crypto Correction – CCN.com

Posted on by

Bitcoins price printed fresh three-week lows on Tuesday, as fear and uncertainty continued to dictate the trend for the number one cryptocurrency. Now, bitcoin is veering towards a re-test of long-term psychological support, threatening to undermine almost a year of progress.

The bitcoin price plunged by nearly $200 in the span of a few minutes on Tuesday. The loss of the $7,000 support triggered a deeper fall all the way down to $6,584, the lowest in over three weeks. The nearly 4% loss puts bitcoin closer to the upper band of a key psychological range that tracks between $6,000 and $6,500.

At current values, bitcoin has a total market capitalization of $122.3 billion. Spot turnover was valued at just over $735 million, according to Bitwise tracking data. Volumes are well below levels seen through the spring and early summer when bitcoin was recovering from its previous low.

Accounting for 67.3% of the overall cryptocurrency market, bitcoin exerted a strong gravitational pull on other assets. The Tuesday selloff prompted a similar reaction across altcoins and tokens, sending the overall cryptocurrency market to its lowest level in over six months.

Digital asset values bottomed near $181.8 billion, the lowest since May, according to CoinMarketCap. Remarkably, the asset class has shed more than $180 billion from its June high.

With the exception of Tether (USDT), a stablecoin partially backed by U.S. dollars, all of the top cryptocurrencies reported declines on Tuesday. Ethereum (ETH) shed 6.5%, XRP plunged 10.% and bitcoin cash was down 9.4%.

Ethereums fall from grace is especially notable. The developers cryptocurrency touched an intraday low of $135.01, wiping out its gains for the year.

Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market are languishing due to adoption constraints, regulatory uncertainty and an extremely bearish outlook among traders. Bitcoins Fear & Greed Index, a multi-factor sentiment analysis, is registering extreme fear on Tuesday.

Strategists warn that a perfect storm could be brewing for bitcoin as dismal trade volumes and a lack of institutional interest keep digital assets from reaching critical mass. Although Bakkt bitcoin futures have picked up in recent months, the highly-anticipated launch of the custody platform has failed to deliver as expected.

Economist and crypto analyst Alex Kruger has warned that Bakkt traders have very little interest in storing bitcoin. His research unveiled that the futures exchange is being used solely for speculative purposes. Even then, volumes remain razor thin.

Despite the recent correction, bitcoin remains the best-performing major asset of 2019. The digital currency is up more than 76% since Jan. 1 and is well on its way to setting a higher low for the year. Bitcoin has printed a higher yearly low in six of its last seven years.

This article was edited by Josiah Wilmoth.

Last modified: December 18, 2019 03:54 UTC

Excerpt from:
Bitcoin Languishes at 3-Week Lows, Ethereum Erases Yearly Gains amid Mind-Boggling Crypto Correction - CCN.com

Cryptocurrency analytics has improved; so have the manipulators – AMBCrypto

Posted on by

Youve probably heard of the Pareto principle, or the 80/20 rule. To put it briefly, it suggests that 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes. For cryptocurrency trading, the principle should be redefined as the 95/5 rule, or the Bitwise principle.

The crypto-asset management fund made headlines in the crypto-world and in mainstream-finance through its March 2019 report. Presented before the US Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC] the report stated that over 95 percent of the volume reported by cryptocurrency exchanges was fake or non-economic in nature.

For the most part, this wasnt a surprise to veterans of the field. However, for it to be put down in print, presented to a regulator, and have the number stare back at them, was a reality check.

While Bitwises report brought exchanges to a standstill, that wasnt its primary intention. The firm wanted to detail, to the regulators, the market was significantly smaller, more orderly and more regulated, which would build their case for a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund [ETF].

Despite their ETF application being shot down six months later, its report made major headway in the perception of exchange-volume. While exchanges are still running-around with flawed volume data, most investors are not looking at exchange order books to determine coin volume, price. Rather, their bookmarks are data-aggregator websites.

How volume is recorded on these websites is as important, if not more, than how an exchange determines it. Aggregators that consolidate the price and volume should act as data-integrity gatekeepers, rather than engage in a mere copy-paste work. In this regard, there has been an evolution in crypto-analytics, with companies taking a whole new approach to assessing an exchanges performance.

It should be noted that when Bitwise stated that 95 percent of the volume is fake, it was specifically referring to the data presented on CoinMarketCap [CMC], the premier crypto-data aggregator. The report highlighted the citation of CMCs data in a number of premier financial journals, and outrightly stated that CoinMarketCap.com data is wrong.

Skepticism around Bitwises claims was visibly absent, with many in the industry acknowledging CMCs failure to provide appropriate metrics to judge performance. Less than a week after the release of the report, CMCs then Global Head of Marketing, Carylyne Chan, told Bloomberg that new metrics would be introduced. Going with the principle of the more data the better, Chan stated,

We want to state that our philosophy is to provide as much information as possible to our users, so that they can form their own conclusions and interpretations.

CMC also rolled out an alliance Data Accountability & Transparency Alliance [DATA] consisting of top-cryptocurrency exchanges to provide suggestions combating fake volumes. The aggregator also mandated the provision of live trading and order book data, with a failure to report the same, within 45 days, resulting in its elimination from the calculation of adjusted volume.

Other market aggregators looked at this as a red-light and made amends. Messari launched Real 10 volumes on its OnChain FX dashboard, which recorded the volume of cryptos from the Real 10 exchanges, listed by Bitwise, which were Binance, Kraken, Bitfinex, Gemini, Coinbase, Poloneix, Bittrex, bitFlyer, Bitstamp, and itBit.

While data-market aggregators collectively tipped their hat to Bitwise and vowed to change, exchanges amplified their manipulation. This is the equivalent of dressing up a corpse; you cant hide the dead, even in a suit, or airbrushed charts for that matter.

In a later report, Bitwise stated that despite media coverage, the response from exchanges was bleak. Only 3 of the 73 exchanges named in the report responded to Bitwises queries. In the quarter following the publication of the March report, 9 exchanges saw a 90 percent drop in volume. Some exchanges even tweaked their volume to match the trade-histograms of real exchanges. Given below are changes to the volume of a little-known exchange, Coinsuper, with their periodic-volume-change,

While Bitwise admitted thatfake volume in reported Bitcoin trading data, was understood, the emphasis of this to many investors, especially the uninitiated, was absent. With exchanges not living up to the change in their name, the onus shifted to the avenues bridging the gap between investors and the exchanges.

While many criticized CMC for not doing enough to combat exchanges faking their volume, others stated, the incentives for reporting inflated numbers were too high. Gerald Chee, Head of Research at CoinMarketCap, told AMBCrypto that exchanges used a process called transaction mining to benefit from inflated volumes. CMC noticed this as it was rising and attributed it to exchanges rewarding users with tokens, incentivizing the number of trades from a single user.

The problem started there and soon, other exchanges realized that by having higher volumes, they would rank higher on CoinMarketCap, which was probably the biggest marketing tool available to them.

One way to combat this, as CMC stated after the publication of the report, was to introduce liquidity rankings. On 11 November, six months after Chans conversation with Bloomberg, she unveiled the liquidity metrics which would be difficult to game, as adding an order will be weighted based on their proximity to current market prices.

Liquidity stemming from a single exchange is the root cause of the usage of volume as a metric and hence, CMC decided to design and adopt a Liquidity metric instead, said Chee. Since market players decided to look at volume emanating from real exchanges, Chee clarified that if CMC would adopt this, it would give an impression of bias. Dividing the playing field between regulations and de-regulated exchanges, he stated that CMC does not want to single-handedly decide which exchanges lie in which category. He stated,

Having a Real 10 would essentially require us to make a judgment call as to only accept regulated exchanges within the index. This will inadvertently give the impression that CoinMarketCap favours the regulated exchanges, while thetruth is that some deregulated exchanges also play a major role in the cryptocurrency industry.

Rather than poking the process of price discovery, the motivation behind this metric was to point out the origin of liquidity. Furthermore, Chee stated that several cryptocurrencies listed on CMC do not trade on these exchanges and hence, it is moot for the website to have such a metric.

While liquidity is a key factor in assessing performance, other key metrics can add to the perception of an exchanges health and the safety of investor funds. Two metrics mentioned by Chan, in the immediate aftermath of the report, were web-traffic data and wallet reserves.

Two months after CMC was called out by Bitwise, aggregator-rival CoinGecko released Trust Score, a rating algorithm to combat fake trading volume. CoinGeckos Co-founder Bobby Ong told AMBCrypto that the aim with Trust Score was to determine the exchange with the best real liquidity for users to best trade at, looking at the order book and web-traffic data.

In September, CoinGecko upgraded Trust Score with a few additions. The aim of this upgrade was for the rankings to be much more independent of an exchanges reported volume.

Breaking it down, Liquidity will hold 50 percent weightage, looking at Normalized-Reported Volume Ratio [calculated using web-traffic data and real 10 exchanges volume as median], bid-ask spread, and trading pair ratio. An exchanges scale of operations will account for 30 percent weightage based on volume and order-book depth. API Technical Coverage holding 20 percent weightage will account for tickers data, historical trade data, candlestick OHLC, etc.

Two key stats will not feature in rank-determination, but will be used in future Trust Score algorithm updates exchanges reserves, using Bitfurys Crystal Blockchain to conduct on-chain analysis reserves, and Coinfirms AMLT Network to ascertain an exchanges regulatory compliance, including licenses, KYC measures, and negative news received.

While platforms are veering towards incorporating a slew of metrics to better analyze exchanges, CMC is sticking with liquidity. Chee stated that the premiere data aggregator does not want to discount volumes. In his words,

We felt that the use of our Liquidity metric substitutes the biggest use-case for Volumes perfectly, using other secondary metrics to discount volumes is unnecessary.

On the necessity or lack thereof of web-traffic data, Chee is unconvinced of a strong correlation between the two. He added that most volumes come from professional users, while web-traffic is only inflated by retail traders. The latter might bring in the traffic, but not volume and hence is erroneous from a statistical perspective.

An audit of wallet reserves, rather than merely stating coins-held-on-address, will prove beneficial as an exchange-metric. This system would not compromise exchange security, and would not result in a whos richer contest.

Liquidity is quite clearly the most important metric to judge an exchanges performance and health, but surrounding metrics help build the case. CMC, while admitting this is an uphill battle, said that it is one they want to solve, but by focusing on the end of the information cycle, the consumption by customers.

Chee stated that the platform is in the midst of creating infographics to understand this message, which presumably, will look at liquidity above everything else. He added,

At the end of the day, we firmly believe that liquidity is the single most important variable for any financial market, crypto or otherwise.The job is to get everyone to understand this, not just the sophisticated traders and investors.

Speaking on the notion of sophistication, it does matter if the consumer of said information is an average Joe diversifying his portfolio, or a pre-2017 veteran trader. Furthermore, the notion of the more data the better for investors will serve insofar as their ability to understand it.

Chee pointed out that the investor-mindset-shift from volume to liquidity will take time, and according to Mati Greenspan, Founder of Quantum Economics, it will take 3 months to be exact and it will cost 10,000. In his 11 December newsletter, Greenspan questioned if the liquidity metric could be gamed.

This would result in a cat and mouse problem, with CMC focusing on educating investors on the new metric, while exchanges figure out a way around it. Greenspan took the hard-line stance, but a sensible one according to many.

The only real way to solve the issue is to fix it at the root. Make sure the exchanges are reporting honestly. This can be done in a number of ways and would no doubt be hastened if CMC were to take a hard line stance and delist exchanges who are caught in the act of false reporting.

Highlighting no specific metric in particular, Greenspan told AMBCrypto that the simple principle of the more data the better always works, and this greater transparency would result in the survival of the industry. A few tips laid out by the veteran trader were do your own research [DYOR], verify immediate results on search-engines/SimilarWeb and check leverage any site that offers too much leverage is probably not a great place as youre more than likely to lose your money.

Whether its liquidity, order book data, or web-traffic, data-aggregators are simply running pillar-to-post to vet exchanges. Given the incentives of faking volume to attract gullible investors and receive free-marketing on websites like CMC and CoinGecko, exchanges will continue to game the system.

Delisting exchanges, or coins for that matter, was a heated debate back in April following Bitcoin SVs ousting on Binance and Kraken, given the de-centrality ethos of the market. In this matter, delisting exchanges that continually purport fake volume and misrepresent facts to mislead investors seems to be the only option. CMC is no stranger to this method; in 2018, the website delisted several South Korean exchanges due to extreme divergence in prices and even removed Bitfinex from the calculation of BTCs price during its legal trouble with the NYAG.

Aggregators can continue to craft efficient metrics to provide a clear picture of an exchanges health, but until the root cause is not done away with, its one step forward, two steps back.

Here is the original post:
Cryptocurrency analytics has improved; so have the manipulators - AMBCrypto

If Devin Nunes wants to call the FBI ‘dirty cops’, he better be ready to propose a solution – The Independent

Posted on by

The Justice Department Inspector General's report is now out, and it details some wrongdoing on the part of the FBI. Whether that wrongdoing was done deliberately or due to just overall sloppiness and carelessness is left to be seen. So now what?

The IG "identified at least 17 significant errors or omissions in the Carter Page FISA applications" and found a Justice Department attorney altered documents. In other words, it revealed a mess that requires serious cleanup and not from within the department.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

If Rep. Devin Nunes wants to refer to the FBI and other members of the Justice Department as "dirty cops" who are creating "spy rings" from within to help take down a president he'd better be prepared to start looking at how the House can begin to take back its oversight role particularly since he's the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee.

The same goes for Democrats, long considered the party that abhors the surveillance state. They shed a lot of credibility during the Obama administration when they refused to rise and condemn the administration's drone war and NSA spying, as well as government-sanctioned spying on the Associated Press and the surveillance of then-Fox News reporter, James Rosen.

The Foreign Intelligence Services Act (FISA) still has some value. Unfortunately, it was another example of Congress relinquishing its power and putting it in the hands of the judiciary. That presents a situation in which it becomes easier for law enforcement agencies to make mistakes and abuse their authority.

After all, if it's a judiciary decision, it becomes easy to excuse wrongdoing by saying, "Well, a court gave us the OK to do it, so it's fine." People who defend the current structure argue, "Shouldn't someone be checking to make sure the process isn't getting abused?" No one is claiming it should not; however, the proper venue for that oversight is not in courts who settle legal disputes but in Congress, which has the power of oversight for the bills it passes and the president signs into law.

Republican Devin Nunes lists off conspiracy theories in opening remarks of Trump impeachment hearing

Neither party is willing to make that jump without a push, and why should they? After all, Congress is happy to abdicate its oversight role when the party in the White House matches the party in control of the legislative chamber. Republicans who tore their hair out over Obama flexing executive muscle found themselves laughably defending President Trump's power-grab for funding for his border wall.

Where national security is concerned, a willingness to defer such matters to the law enforcement agencies and the courts makes it easier for them to sound righteously angry during Congressional testimony while studiously avoiding offering any solutions at all

Two Republicans, Reps. Chris Stewart of Utah, and Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, recently introduced the FISA Improvements Act. The purpose of the bill is to restore power to Congress where FISA is concerned. Whether the proposal aims for real reform, or is more a partisan political tool, remains to be seen.

There's no doubt the actions by a small group of FBI agents and other Justice Department officials did a lot of harm to the agencies involved through their conduct during the Russia investigation. Just as the public wants a fair but dutiful action to take place in the wake of police department scandals, the same should go for the federal government.

Accused of abusing his office by pressing the Ukrainian president in a July phone call to help dig up dirt on Joe Biden, who may be his Democratic rival in the 2020 election. He also believes that Hillary Clintons deleted emails - a key factor in the 2016 election - may be in Ukraine, although it is not clear why.

EPA

Believed to be a CIA agent who spent time at the White House, his complaint was largely based on second and third-hand accounts from worried White House staff. Although this is not unusual for such complaints, Trump and his supporters have seized on it to imply that his information is not reliable.Expected to give evidence to Congress voluntarily and in secret.

Getty

The lawyer for the first intelligence whistleblower is also representing a second whistleblower regarding the President's actions. Attorney Mark Zaid said that he and other lawyers on his team are now representing the second person, who is said to work in the intelligence community and has first-hand knowledge that supports claims made by the first whistleblower and has spoken to the intelligence community's inspector general. The second whistleblower has not yet filed their own complaint, but does not need to to be considered an official whistleblower.

Getty

Former mayor of New York, whose management of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001 won him worldwide praise. As Trumps personal attorney he has been trying to find compromising material about the presidents enemies in Ukraine in what some have termed a shadow foreign policy.In a series of eccentric TV appearances he has claimed that the US state department asked him to get involved. Giuliani insists that he is fighting corruption on Trumps behalf and has called himself a hero.

AP

The newly elected Ukrainian president - a former comic actor best known for playing a man who becomes president by accident - is seen frantically agreeing with Trump in the partial transcript of their July phone call released by the White House.With a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of his country, and the Crimea region seized by Vladimir Putin in 2014, Zelensky will have been eager to please his American counterpart, who had suspended vital military aid before their phone conversation.He says there was no pressure on him from Trump to do him the favour he was asked for.Zelensky appeared at an awkward press conference with Trump in New York during the United Nations general assembly, looking particularly uncomfortable when the American suggested he take part in talks with Putin.

AFP/Getty

The vice-president was not on the controversial July call to the Ukrainian president but did get a read-out later.However, Trump announced that Pence had had one or two phone conversations of a similar nature, dragging him into the crisis. Pence himself denies any knowledge of any wrongdoing and has insisted that there is no issue with Trumps actions.It has been speculated that Trump involved Pence as an insurance policy - if both are removed from power the presidency would go to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, something no Republican would allow.

AP

Trump reportedly told a meeting of Republicans that he made the controversial call to the Ukrainian president at the urging of his own energy secretary, Rick Perry, and that he didnt even want to.The president apparently said that Perry wanted him to talk about liquefied natural gas - although there is no mention of it in the partial transcript of the phone call released by the White House. It is thought that Perry will step down from his role at the end of the year.

Getty

The former vice-president is one of the frontrunners to win the Democratic nomination, which would make him Trumps opponent in the 2020 election.Trump says that Biden pressured Ukraine to sack a prosecutor who was investigating an energy company that Bidens son Hunter was on the board of, refusing to release US aid until this was done.However, pressure to fire the prosecutor came on a wide front from western countries. It is also believed that the investigation into the company, Burisma, had long been dormant.

Reuters

Joe Bidens son has been accused of corruption by the president because of his business dealings in Ukraine and China. However, Trump has yet to produce any evidence of corruption and Bidens lawyer insists he has done nothing wrong.

AP

The attorney-general, who proved his loyalty to Trump with his handling of the Mueller report, was mentioned in the Ukraine call as someone president Volodymyr Zelensky should talk to about following up Trumps preoccupations with the Bidens and the Clinton emails.Nancy Pelosi has accused Barr of being part of a cover-up of a cover-up.

AP

The secretary of state initially implied he knew little about the Ukraine phone call - but it later emerged that he was listening in at the time. He has since suggested that asking foreign leaders for favours is simply how international politics works.Gordon Sondland testified that Pompeo was "in the loop" and knew what was happening in Ukraine. Pompeo has been criticised for not standing up for diplomats under his command when they were publicly criticised by the president.

AFP via Getty

The Democratic Speaker of the House had long resisted calls from within her own party to back a formal impeachment process against the president, apparently fearing a backlash from voters. On September 24, amid reports of the Ukraine call and the day before the White House released a partial transcript of it, she relented and announced an inquiry, saying: The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.

Getty

Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, one of the three committees leading the inquiry.He was criticized by Republicans for giving what he called a parody of the Ukraine phone call during a hearing, with Trump and others saying he had been pretending that his damning characterisation was a verbatim reading of the phone call.He has also been criticised for claiming that his committee had had no contact with the whistleblower, only for it to emerge that the intelligence agent had contacted a staff member on the committee for guidance before filing the complaint.The Washington Post awarded Schiff a four Pinocchios rating, its worst rating for a dishonest statement.

Reuters

Florida-based businessmen and Republican donors Lev Parnas (pictured with Rudy Giuliani) and Igor Fruman were arrested on suspicion of campaign finance violations at Dulles International Airport near Washington DC on 9 October.Separately the Associated Press has reported that they were both involved in efforts to replace the management of Ukraine's gas company, Naftogaz, with new bosses who would steer lucrative contracts towards companies controlled by Trump allies. There is no suggestion of any criminal activity in these efforts.

Reuters

The most senior US diplomat in Ukraine and the former ambassador there. As one of the first two witnesses in the public impeachment hearings, Taylor dropped an early bombshell by revealing that one of his staff later identified as diplomat David Holmes overheard a phone conversation in which Donald Trump could be heard asking about investigations the very day after asking the Ukrainian president to investigate his political enemies. Taylor expressed his concern at reported plans to withhold US aid in return for political smears against Trumps opponents, saying: It's one thing to try to leverage a meeting in the White House. It's another thing, I thought, to leverage security assistance -- security assistance to a country at war, dependent on both the security assistance and the demonstration of support."

Getty Images

A state department official who appeared alongside William Taylor wearing a bow tie that was later mocked by the president. He accused Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trumps personal lawyer, of leading a campaign of lies against Marie Yovanovitch, who was forced out of her job as US ambassador to Ukraine for apparently standing in the way of efforts to smear Democrats.

Getty Images

One of the most striking witnesses to give evidence at the public hearings, the former US ambassador to Ukraine received a rare round of applause as she left the committee room after testifying. Canadian-born Yovanovitch was attacked on Twitter by Donald Trump while she was actually testifying, giving Democrats the chance to ask her to respond. She said she found the attack very intimidating. Trump had already threatened her in his 25 July phone call to the Ukrainian president saying: Shes going to go through some things.Yovanovitch said she was shocked, appalled and devastated by the threat and by the way she was forced out of her job without explanation.

REUTERS

A decorated Iraq War veteran and an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Lt Col Vindman began his evidence with an eye-catching statement about the freedoms America afforded him and his family to speak truth to power without fear of punishment.One of the few witnesses to have actually listened to Trumps 25 July call with the Ukrainian president, he said he found the conversation so inappropriate that he was compelled to report it to the White House counsel. Trump later mocked him for wearing his military uniform and insisting on being addressed by his rank.

Getty Images

A state department official acting as a Russia expert for vice-president Mike Pence, Ms Williams also listened in on the 25 July phone call. She testified that she found it unusual because it focused on domestic politics in terms of Trump asking a foreign leader to investigate his political opponents.

Getty Images

The former special envoy to Ukraine was one of the few people giving evidence who was on the Republican witness list although what he had to say may not have been too helpful to their cause. He dismissed the idea that Joe Biden had done anything corrupt, a theory spun without evidence by the president and his allies. He said that he thought the US should be supporting Ukraines reforms and that the scheme to find dirt on Democrats did not serve the national interest.

Getty Images

An expert on the National Security Council and another witness on the Republican list. He testified that he did not think the president had done anything illegal but admitted that he feared it would create a political storm if it became public. He said he believed the moving the record of the controversial 25 July phone call to a top security server had been an innocent mistake.

Getty Images

In explosive testimony, one of the men at the centre of the scandal got right to the point in his opening testimony: Was there a quid pro quo? Yes, said the US ambassador to the EU who was a prime mover in efforts in Ukraine to link the release of military aid with investigations into the presidents political opponents. He said that everyone knew what was going on, implicating vice-president Mike Pence and secretary of state Mike Pompeo. The effect of his evidence is perhaps best illustrated by the reaction of Mr Trump who went from calling Sondland a great American a few weeks earlier to claiming that he barely knew him.

AP

A Pentagon official, Cooper said Ukrainian officials knew that US aid was being withheld before it became public knowledge in August undermining a Republican argument that there cant have been a quid pro quo between aid and investigations if the Ukrainians didnt know that aid was being withheld.

Getty Images

The third most senior official at the state department. Hale testified about the treatment of Marie Yovanovitch and the smear campaign that culminated in her being recalled from her posting as US ambassador to Ukraine. He said: I believe that she should have been able to stay at post and continue to do the outstanding work.

EPA

Arguably the most confident and self-possessed of the witnesses in the public hearings phase, the Durham-born former NSC Russia expert began by warning Republicans not to keep repeating Kremlin-backed conspiracy theories. In a distinctive northeastern English accent, Dr Hill went on to describe how she had argued with Gordon Sondland about his interference in Ukraine matters until she realised that while she and her colleagues were focused on national security, Sondland was being involved in a domestic political errand.She said: I did say to him, Ambassador Sondland, Gordon, this is going to blow up. And here we are.

AP

The Ukraine-based diplomat described being in a restaurant in Kiev with Gordon Sondland while the latter phoned Donald Trump. Holmes said he could hear the president on the other end of the line because his voice was so loud and distinctive and because Sondland had to hold the phone away from his ear asking about the investigations and whether the Ukrainian president would cooperate.

REUTERS

Accused of abusing his office by pressing the Ukrainian president in a July phone call to help dig up dirt on Joe Biden, who may be his Democratic rival in the 2020 election. He also believes that Hillary Clintons deleted emails - a key factor in the 2016 election - may be in Ukraine, although it is not clear why.

EPA

Believed to be a CIA agent who spent time at the White House, his complaint was largely based on second and third-hand accounts from worried White House staff. Although this is not unusual for such complaints, Trump and his supporters have seized on it to imply that his information is not reliable.Expected to give evidence to Congress voluntarily and in secret.

Getty

The lawyer for the first intelligence whistleblower is also representing a second whistleblower regarding the President's actions. Attorney Mark Zaid said that he and other lawyers on his team are now representing the second person, who is said to work in the intelligence community and has first-hand knowledge that supports claims made by the first whistleblower and has spoken to the intelligence community's inspector general. The second whistleblower has not yet filed their own complaint, but does not need to to be considered an official whistleblower.

Getty

Former mayor of New York, whose management of the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001 won him worldwide praise. As Trumps personal attorney he has been trying to find compromising material about the presidents enemies in Ukraine in what some have termed a shadow foreign policy.In a series of eccentric TV appearances he has claimed that the US state department asked him to get involved. Giuliani insists that he is fighting corruption on Trumps behalf and has called himself a hero.

AP

The newly elected Ukrainian president - a former comic actor best known for playing a man who becomes president by accident - is seen frantically agreeing with Trump in the partial transcript of their July phone call released by the White House.With a Russian-backed insurgency in the east of his country, and the Crimea region seized by Vladimir Putin in 2014, Zelensky will have been eager to please his American counterpart, who had suspended vital military aid before their phone conversation.He says there was no pressure on him from Trump to do him the favour he was asked for.Zelensky appeared at an awkward press conference with Trump in New York during the United Nations general assembly, looking particularly uncomfortable when the American suggested he take part in talks with Putin.

AFP/Getty

The vice-president was not on the controversial July call to the Ukrainian president but did get a read-out later.However, Trump announced that Pence had had one or two phone conversations of a similar nature, dragging him into the crisis. Pence himself denies any knowledge of any wrongdoing and has insisted that there is no issue with Trumps actions.It has been speculated that Trump involved Pence as an insurance policy - if both are removed from power the presidency would go to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, something no Republican would allow.

AP

Trump reportedly told a meeting of Republicans that he made the controversial call to the Ukrainian president at the urging of his own energy secretary, Rick Perry, and that he didnt even want to.The president apparently said that Perry wanted him to talk about liquefied natural gas - although there is no mention of it in the partial transcript of the phone call released by the White House. It is thought that Perry will step down from his role at the end of the year.

Getty

The former vice-president is one of the frontrunners to win the Democratic nomination, which would make him Trumps opponent in the 2020 election.Trump says that Biden pressured Ukraine to sack a prosecutor who was investigating an energy company that Bidens son Hunter was on the board of, refusing to release US aid until this was done.However, pressure to fire the prosecutor came on a wide front from western countries. It is also believed that the investigation into the company, Burisma, had long been dormant.

Reuters

Joe Bidens son has been accused of corruption by the president because of his business dealings in Ukraine and China. However, Trump has yet to produce any evidence of corruption and Bidens lawyer insists he has done nothing wrong.

AP

The attorney-general, who proved his loyalty to Trump with his handling of the Mueller report, was mentioned in the Ukraine call as someone president Volodymyr Zelensky should talk to about following up Trumps preoccupations with the Bidens and the Clinton emails.Nancy Pelosi has accused Barr of being part of a cover-up of a cover-up.

AP

The secretary of state initially implied he knew little about the Ukraine phone call - but it later emerged that he was listening in at the time. He has since suggested that asking foreign leaders for favours is simply how international politics works.Gordon Sondland testified that Pompeo was "in the loop" and knew what was happening in Ukraine. Pompeo has been criticised for not standing up for diplomats under his command when they were publicly criticised by the president.

AFP via Getty

The Democratic Speaker of the House had long resisted calls from within her own party to back a formal impeachment process against the president, apparently fearing a backlash from voters. On September 24, amid reports of the Ukraine call and the day before the White House released a partial transcript of it, she relented and announced an inquiry, saying: The president must be held accountable. No one is above the law.

Getty

Democratic chairman of the House intelligence committee, one of the three committees leading the inquiry.He was criticized by Republicans for giving what he called a parody of the Ukraine phone call during a hearing, with Trump and others saying he had been pretending that his damning characterisation was a verbatim reading of the phone call.He has also been criticised for claiming that his committee had had no contact with the whistleblower, only for it to emerge that the intelligence agent had contacted a staff member on the committee for guidance before filing the complaint.The Washington Post awarded Schiff a four Pinocchios rating, its worst rating for a dishonest statement.

Reuters

Florida-based businessmen and Republican donors Lev Parnas (pictured with Rudy Giuliani) and Igor Fruman were arrested on suspicion of campaign finance violations at Dulles International Airport near Washington DC on 9 October.Separately the Associated Press has reported that they were both involved in efforts to replace the management of Ukraine's gas company, Naftogaz, with new bosses who would steer lucrative contracts towards companies controlled by Trump allies. There is no suggestion of any criminal activity in these efforts.

Reuters

The most senior US diplomat in Ukraine and the former ambassador there. As one of the first two witnesses in the public impeachment hearings, Taylor dropped an early bombshell by revealing that one of his staff later identified as diplomat David Holmes overheard a phone conversation in which Donald Trump could be heard asking about investigations the very day after asking the Ukrainian president to investigate his political enemies. Taylor expressed his concern at reported plans to withhold US aid in return for political smears against Trumps opponents, saying: It's one thing to try to leverage a meeting in the White House. It's another thing, I thought, to leverage security assistance -- security assistance to a country at war, dependent on both the security assistance and the demonstration of support."

Getty Images

A state department official who appeared alongside William Taylor wearing a bow tie that was later mocked by the president. He accused Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trumps personal lawyer, of leading a campaign of lies against Marie Yovanovitch, who was forced out of her job as US ambassador to Ukraine for apparently standing in the way of efforts to smear Democrats.

Getty Images

One of the most striking witnesses to give evidence at the public hearings, the former US ambassador to Ukraine received a rare round of applause as she left the committee room after testifying. Canadian-born Yovanovitch was attacked on Twitter by Donald Trump while she was actually testifying, giving Democrats the chance to ask her to respond. She said she found the attack very intimidating. Trump had already threatened her in his 25 July phone call to the Ukrainian president saying: Shes going to go through some things.Yovanovitch said she was shocked, appalled and devastated by the threat and by the way she was forced out of her job without explanation.

REUTERS

A decorated Iraq War veteran and an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Lt Col Vindman began his evidence with an eye-catching statement about the freedoms America afforded him and his family to speak truth to power without fear of punishment.One of the few witnesses to have actually listened to Trumps 25 July call with the Ukrainian president, he said he found the conversation so inappropriate that he was compelled to report it to the White House counsel. Trump later mocked him for wearing his military uniform and insisting on being addressed by his rank.

Getty Images

More here:
If Devin Nunes wants to call the FBI 'dirty cops', he better be ready to propose a solution - The Independent

Open source in 2020: The future looks bright – TechRepublic

Posted on by

Jack Wallen offers up predictions on open source, Linux, docker engines, automation, and more for the coming year.

Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto

Mirror, mirror on the wall.

Wait; wrong glass.

Crystal, crystal on my table, predict for me if you are able.

Much better.

It's all about open source this time. The year is 2020. The future looks bright and my shades are preppped and ready. Shall we prognosticate?

SEE: 2020 IT budget research report: Security, cloud services, and digitalization are top budget priorities (TechRepublic Premium)

It's not often I predict that one Linux distribution might change the landscape of open source, but everything I've seen and heard about the upcoming release for Deepin Linux has me thinking this could be the one. The developers of Deepin 15.11 are planning to release a feature that could shift the tectonic plates of Linux distributions. That feature is Deepin Cloud Sync.

This feature will sync system settings--of your choosing--to the cloud. For instance, you could install another instance of the OS, connect it to your Deepin Cloud Sync account, and have that new instance of the OS automatically sync your settings. Imagine how much time that would save for the rollout of multiple desktop instances. Couple that with how gorgeous the Deepin desktop is, and you have something special.

Deepin Linux is going to turn heads, and many users will jump the ship of their favorite distribution.

SEE: Top five open source Linux server distributions (TechRepublic Premium)

This one has been a long time in the making. It's a slow burn, slow clap moment that will help Linux in its rise in market share--maybe even reaching near double digits for the first time. What is this remarkable moment? I believe more OEMs will start selling machines with Linux pre-installed.

We already have System76, Dell, Pine64, Lenovo, ThinkPenguin, Star LabTop, and more, and by the end of 2020, I predict we'll see not only a rise in smaller OEMs (mostly rebranding Clevo hardware) with pre-installed Linux, but some larger OEMs as well. I am expecting Acer, HP, and ASUS to jump into the fray, so when 2020 comes to a close, don't be surprised if every desktop and laptop manufacturer on the planet offers a Linux version of some of its hardware.

Let's face it, there's not much about enterprise business that open source doesn't dominate--it's everywhere. It's in the cloud, containers, big data, Internet of Things (IoT), edge computing--you name it--and open source is leading that charge. If there's one area Linux has yet to conquer in the enterprise domain, it's the desktop, but be prepared for that to change--at least on a small scale--by the end of 2020.

The cause will be security. I predict another rise in Windows ransomware attacks, which will lead some businesses to look for a more reliable alternative: Linux. Companies realizing how much of the workflow and bottom line depends upon open source may also drive this shift. I realize most of us pundits have been saying this for years, but 2020 could see a perfect storm bringing the change we've hoped for.

SEE: Predicting 2020 trends across DesignOps, AppDev, AI, IoT and 5G (TechRepublic)

I'm not talking about Docker the company (although I do have my fingers crossed it will find solid footing this year). I'm talking about docker the engine that launched the popularity of the container as it is now. 2019 wasn't kind to docker--Kubernetes became the container orchestrator of choice--but I believe there are going to be developments with the docker engine that will bring it on par with Kubernetes.

These developments could consist of more powerful, user-friendly docker swarm tools or a new client tool to make orchestrating docker clusters easy. In the end, what will drive the comeback of docker is an ease of administration. As Kubernetes gets more powerful, it also becomes more complicated. If docker can reclaim simplicity--while maintaining its power and flexibility--it will regain some much-needed market share.

SEE: What is Kubernetes? (free PDF) (TechRepublic)

This prediction comes from the fiction writing side of my brain. You've been warned.

Thanks to the drive for more efficient CI/CD pipelines, we've witnessed a rise in impressive automation. With the help of Helm, Terraform, and other Kubernetes-centric tools, we can create systems that update themselves, test code and refuse to promote it to production (if there's a problem), and much more.

In 2020, open source automation will come near the realm of fiction, with systems that "think" for themselves, and for the first time we'll experience a system that optimizes itself based on experience (from AI) and prediction. The big questions are: How far will these systems go with the tasks, and will we be able to shut them down once they pass some unknown event horizon? You might scoff at the notion, but the more you look down the rabbit hole of CI/CD, the more plausible it becomes.

SEE: Forrester: The 5 IoT predictions paving the way for 2020 (TechRepublic)

NVIDIA announced it has a big surprise in store for Linux in 2020. Those outside the open source loop may not understand how big this could be, but I believe NVIDIA plans on doing one of two things: Contributing to the Nouveau drivers, or open source its official NVIDIA drivers. Why? I think NVIDIA sees the writing on the wall, and getting on board with Linux is the only way forward.

This will be a huge win for Linux for two reasons: The Nouveau driver has never been all that great for gaming; if NVIDIA started contributing to the Nouveau drivers or open sourced its official drivers, it could be a boon to gaming on the Linux desktops and spike a rise in Linux popularity. Gamers would love a platform that is more reliable and secure than Windows. Give them the option, and we'll see Linux not only crash through that double-digit market share but maybe overtake macOS for that coveted second place.

On a personal note, thank you for continuing to read my words and supporting open source software and TechRepublic. I hope you have a productive, outstanding, and joyous year.

You don't want to miss our tips, tutorials, and commentary on the Linux OS and open source applications. Delivered Tuesdays

Continue reading here:
Open source in 2020: The future looks bright - TechRepublic

National Science Foundation Awards Grant to Develop Next-Generation Cloud Computing Testbed Powered by Red Hat – Business Wire

Posted on by

RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Red Hat, Inc., the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Computer and Network Systems has awarded a grant to a research team from Boston University, Northeastern University and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) to help fund the development of a national cloud testbed for research and development of new cloud computing platforms.

The testbed, known as the Open Cloud Testbed, will integrate capabilities previously developed for the CloudLab testbed into the Massachusetts Open Cloud (MOC), a production cloud developed collaboratively by academia, government, and industry through a partnership anchored at Boston Universitys Hariri Institute for Computing. As a founding industry partner and long-time collaborator on the MOC project, Red Hat will work with Northeastern University and UMass, as well as other government and industry collaborators, to build the national testbed on Red Hats open hybrid cloud technologies.

Testbeds such as the one being constructed by the research team, are critical for enabling new cloud technologies and making the services they provide more efficient and accessible to a wider range of scientists focusing on research in computer systems and other sciences.

By combining open source technologies and a production cloud enhanced with programmable hardware through field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), the project aims to close a gap in computing capabilities currently available to researchers. As a result, the testbed is expected to help accelerate innovation by enabling greater scale and increased collaboration between research teams and open source communities. Red Hat researchers plan to contribute to active research in the testbed, including a wide range of projects on FPGA hardware tools, middleware, operating systems and security.

Beyond this, the project also aims to identify, attract, educate and retain the next generation of researchers in this field and accelerate technology transfer from academic research to practical use via collaboration with industry partners such as Red Hat.

Since its launch in 2014, Red Hat has served as a core partner of the MOC, which brings together talent and technologies from various academic, government, non-profit, and industry organizations to collaboratively create an open, production-grade public cloud suitable for cutting-edge research and development. The MOCs open cloud stack is based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Red Hat OpenStack Platform and Red Hat OpenShift.

Beyond creating the national testbed, the grant will also extend Red Hats collaboration with Boston University researchers to develop self-service capabilities for the MOCs cloud resources. For example, via contributions to the OpenStack bare metal provisioning program (Ironic), the collaboration aims to produce production quality Elastic Secure Infrastructure (ESI) software, a key piece to enabling more flexible and secure resource sharing between different datacenter clusters. And by sharing new developments that enable moving resources between bare metal machines and Red Hat OpenStack or Kubernetes clusters in open source communities such as Ironic or Ansible, Red Hat and the MOCs researchers are helping to advance technology well beyond the Open Cloud Testbed.

Supporting Quotes

Michael Zink, associate professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), University of Massachusetts AmherstThis testbed will help accelerate innovation in cloud technologies, technologies affecting almost all of computing today. By providing capabilities that currently are only available to researchers within a few large commercial cloud providers, the new testbed will allow diverse communities to exploit these technologies, thus democratizing cloud-computing research and allowing increased collaboration between the research and open-source communities. We look forward to continuing the collaboration in MOC to see what we can accomplish with the testbed.

Orran Krieger, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University; co-director, Red Hat Collaboratory; PI, Massachusetts Open CloudAn important part of the MOC has always been to enable cloud computing research by the academic community. This project dramatically expands our ability to support researchers both by providing much richer capabilities and by expanding from a regional to a national community of researchers.

Chris Wright, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Red HatThis grant and the work being done by the MOC show how open source solutions can positively impact real-world challenges outside of enterprise data centers. Red Hat is no stranger to pioneering new ways in which open source software can be used for innovative research, and we are pleased to help drive this initiative in bringing open cloud technologies to a wider range of disciplines, from social sciences to physics, while also continuing our commitment to the next generation of open source practitioners.

Additional Resource

Connect with Red Hat

About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat is the worlds leading provider of enterprise open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to deliver reliable and high-performing Linux, hybrid cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies. Red Hat helps customers integrate new and existing IT applications, develop cloud-native applications, standardize on our industry-leading operating system, and automate, secure, and manage complex environments. Award-winning support, training, and consulting services make Red Hat a trusted adviser to the Fortune 500. As a strategic partner to cloud providers, system integrators, application vendors, customers, and open source communities, Red Hat can help organizations prepare for the digital future.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: risks related to the ability of the Company to compete effectively; the ability to deliver and stimulate demand for new products and technological innovations on a timely basis; delays or reductions in information technology spending; the integration of acquisitions and the ability to market successfully acquired technologies and products; risks related to errors or defects in our offerings and third-party products upon which our offerings depend; risks related to the security of our offerings and other data security vulnerabilities; fluctuations in exchange rates; changes in and a dependence on key personnel; the effects of industry consolidation; uncertainty and adverse results in litigation and related settlements; the inability to adequately protect Company intellectual property and the potential for infringement or breach of license claims of or relating to third party intellectual property; the ability to meet financial and operational challenges encountered in our international operations; and ineffective management of, and control over, the Company's growth and international operations, as well as other factors. In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic and political conditions, governmental and public policy changes and the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the Red Hat logo, and OpenShift are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries. The OpenStack Word Mark is either a registered trademark/service mark or trademark/service mark of the OpenStack Foundation, in the United States and other countries, and is used with the OpenStack Foundation's permission. Red Hat is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by the OpenStack Foundation, or the OpenStack community.

Continue reading here:
National Science Foundation Awards Grant to Develop Next-Generation Cloud Computing Testbed Powered by Red Hat - Business Wire

Xen Project Hypervisor 4.13 Brings Improved Security, Hardware Support and Features to Increase Embedded Use Case Adoption – PRNewswire

Posted on by

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TheXen Project, an open source hypervisor hosted atthe Linux Foundation, today announced the release of Xen Project Hypervisor 4.13, which improves security, hardware support, added new options for embedded use cases and reflects a wide array of contributions from the community and ecosystem. This release also represents a fundamental shift in the long-term direction of Xen, one which solidifies its resilience against security threats due to side channel attacks and hardware issues.

"Xen 4.13 combines improved security, broader support for hardware platforms, an easier adoption path for embedded and safety-critical use-cases, as well as a broad representation of diverse community collaboration," said Lars Kurth, Xen Project Advisory Board Chairperson. "In addition to the significant features we are adding, including Core scheduling, late uCode loading, live-patching and added support for OP-TEE and improvements to Dom0less, our community is laying the groundwork for a fully functional and more easily safety certifiable platform for Xen."

SecurityXen 4.13 provides key updates in defence against hardware vulnerabilities including Core scheduling, late uCode loading and branch hardening to mitigate against Spectre v1. Xen 4.13 is the first step in revamping key architectural functionality within Xen that allows users to better balance security and performance.

Key updates include:

Embedded and Safety-CriticalXen 4.13 brings new features that provide easier adoption for embedded and safety-critical use-cases, specifically ISO 26262 and ASIL-B.

Key updates include:

In addition, the Xen Project community has created a Functional Safety Working group supported by multiple vendors, including safety assessors. This group is working on a multi-year plan that makes it possible for vendors to consume Xen Project software in a fashion that is compatible with ASIL-B requirements. This is a significant challenge that requires code and development processes to comply with key tenets of ISO 26262, a challenge which has not yet been solved by any open source project, but which multiple projects are trying to address.

Support for new hardware platforms Xen 4.13 brings support for a variety of hardware platforms. Most notably, Xen 4.13 introduces support for AMD 2nd Generation EPYC with exceptional performance-per-dollar, connectivity options, and security features. In addition, Xen 4.13 also supports Hygon Dhyana 18h processor family, Raspberry Pi4 and Intel AVX512.

Comments from Xen Project Users and Contributors:"AMD has been a long-time contributor to the Xen Project and we are pleased to include Xen in our growing AMD 2nd Generation EPYC ecosystem. The Xen 4.13 based hypervisors running on servers powered by AMD EPYC processors are well suited for many different workloads and help provide customers an attractive total cost of ownership. In particular, the results of VDI performance tests demonstrate the power of Xen on AMD EPYC processors," said Raghu Nambiar, Corporate Vice President and CTO of Datacenter Ecosystems & Application Engineering, AMD.

"The Xen Project Hypervisor has always focused on securely isolating VMs, enabling operators to run multi-tenant workloads with confidence. Xen 4.13 builds on this heritage by further defending against attacks which attempt to leverage hardware-based side channels," said Jacus de Beer, Director of Engineering, Hybrid Cloud Platforms, Citrix. "Xen 4.13 also helps integrators and operators to simplify system maintenance and reduce downtime using the new live-patching, and run-time microcode-loading features. This blend of security and serviceability helps Citrix Hypervisor, which uses Xen at its core, to deliver a dependable platform to our cloud, server and desktop virtualization customers."

"The Xen Project is making huge progress in functional safety compliance, which will allow OEMs and tier 1 suppliers to design mixed safety systems using an open source hypervisor," said Alex Agizim, CTO, Automotive & Embedded, EPAM Systems. "We are excited to be part of this initiative as one of the leaders in Xen's FuSa SiG and enable vehicles to be part of the connected services ecosystem."

"At SUSE we are constantly looking at the requirements of performance and security in our enterprise solutions. Xen's new scheduling option 'core scheduling' is the result of many months of work in the Xen community championed by SUSE," said Claudio Fontana, Engineering Manager, Virtualization, SUSE. "It demonstrates a new way to take advantage of hardware optimizations, without compromising on the security of our customers' systems, that should also be looked at as a successful example to spark similar work and discussions in other large open source projects."

"Xilinx sees Xen Project Hypervisor as the leader in the embedded and automotive virtualization space," said Tony McDowell, Senior Product Marketing Engineer at Xilinx. "Xilinx embraces and continues to enhance with support the Xen Project by completing our development of key features required to have usable and easily configured Dom0-less systems."

Additional Resources

About the Xen ProjectXen Project software is an open source virtualization platform licensed under the GPLv2 with a similar governance structure to the Linux kernel. Designed from the start for cloud computing, the Project has more than a decade of development and is being used by more than 10 million users. A project at The Linux Foundation, the Xen Project community is focused on advancing virtualization in a number of different commercial and open source applications including server virtualization, Infrastructure as a Services (IaaS), desktop virtualization, security applications, embedded and hardware appliances. It counts many industries and open source community leaders among its members includingAlibaba, Amazon Web Services, AMD, Arm, Bitdefender, Citrix, EPAM Systems, Huawei and Intel. For more information about the Xen Project software and to participate, please visit XenProject.org.

Intel and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or other countries.AMD, the AMD logo, EPYC, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

About Linux FoundationFounded in 2000, the Linux Foundation is supported by more than 1,000 members and is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, open standards, open data, and open hardware. Linux Foundation's projects are critical to the world's infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, and more. The Linux Foundation's methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us atlinuxfoundation.org.

The Linux Foundation has registered trademarks and uses trademarks. For a list of trademarks of The Linux Foundation, please see our trademark usage page: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/trademark-usage. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Media ContactRachel Romoff rromoff@linuxfoundation.org 210-241-8284

SOURCE Xen Project

http://www.xenproject.org

Continued here:
Xen Project Hypervisor 4.13 Brings Improved Security, Hardware Support and Features to Increase Embedded Use Case Adoption - PRNewswire

The world increasingly relies on open source here’s how to control its risks – BetaNews

Posted on by

Open source softwares hold on the IT sector has deepened in the last five years. An estimated 96 percent of applications use open source components, and big players like Microsoft, IBM and even the U.S. government now embrace open source projects for their software needs. But while open source has transformed organizations ability to use proven and maintained code in the development of new software, its not untouchable in terms of security. Using code thats readable by anyone brings risks -- and issues have occurred in the past.

Its true that open source makes security efforts more transparent since its happening out in the open. If there are flaws in the code, theyre often resolved quickly by committed members of the open source community. Additionally, many open source projects have security scans built into their build processes, so contributions that introduce vulnerabilities directly or through dependencies are few and far between. But leaving the code in the open also allows bad actors to write attacks specific to unpatched vulnerabilities or to unrealized vulnerabilities in libraries that products actively depend on. As a result, teams using open source need to take steps to remain secure.

A growing embrace of open source

Its clear why organizations use open source. Would you rather build a tool on proprietary code from the ground up or use blocks of code that are proven effective and maintained by other trustworthy users out in the open?

Most organizations prefer the latter and open source code delivers it to thousands of companies. According to Red Hat, 69 percent of IT leaders said open source is very or extremely important to their organizations infrastructure plans.

Over the past decade, the business world has embraced open source as the new normal for building software. At SPR, we work with more than 300 clients, and I cant name one that doesnt use open source software in some form.

Open source adoption by some of the most powerful tech players has been key to its growing influence. For example, Microsoft now offers many development tools for free and allows users to run them on all operating systems, not just Windows. In 2018, it even acquired GitHub, the well-known open source software development platform.

The ethos of the open source community is to further whats possible with software and share innovations with the rest of the world. When members develop useful code or software, they share it back to the community. But its not a perfect system. Cybersecurity risks often accompany open source projects, and IT teams must proactively respond to those risks.

Managing open source risks

While open source projects tend to be in good hands out in the open, the right sequence of events can lead to attacks from malicious actors. They may inject harmful code into an open source package or write an attack specifically targeting applications that use certain (potentially outdated) versions of tools.

For example, in January 2018, nefarious individuals inserted malicious code into multiple core JavaScript packages that other projects depended on. After a manual operations professional accidentally deleted a certified username, several packages associated with it immediately disappeared. The mistake cleared the way for a bad actor to quickly upload malicious packages that used the same names. As a result, teams accidentally injected these packages into their applications without scanning them. In the end, hundreds of products were likely affected.

With such consequences in mind, your team must have an established policy operating in the background to protect your tools from ever-changing vulnerabilities -- or more rarely, malicious code.

Above all, you should define a policy for using open source and enforce it through automation. Automate the retrieval and scanning of dependencies so your deployments are halted or your builds are broken when new vulnerabilities are detected in packages that your software depends on. If an organization had this type of process during the JavaScript snafu, the malicious code may never have made it into the software because the scanning tool would have picked it up.

This measure goes back to continuous delivery best practices. Whenever I pull code from my repository for a build, it should be automatically tested -- both to ensure correct functionality and to check for known security vulnerabilities, either directly or through one of its dependencies. Your process should have a security scan built into the delivery pipeline so when your build is happening, youll know what could affect your app. Dependency management tools like Node Package Manager (NPM) provide warnings when a projects dependencies contain vulnerabilities -- and you shouldnt ignore them.

Additionally, IT leaders should monitor vulnerabilities by subscribing to the security bulletin mailing list accompanying the software license. Monitoring a security bulletin, like Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) -- which is run by an open consortium -- keeps you informed about published vulnerabilities and scheduled fixes. Make sure youre paying attention to bulletins like CVE for all the tools you use.

For all the good open source software has brought to the world, there will always be vulnerabilities and malicious actors intent on wreaking havoc. By implementing the right measures into software delivery timelines, you can position your teams to reap the benefits that open source offers, while confidently minimizing risks.

Photo Credit: Olivier Le Moal / Shutterstock

Justin Rodenbostel is a polyglot software engineer, architect, and lead one of the custom application development practices at SPR Consulting, a digital technology consultancy, where he focuses on building solutions for our clients using open source technology. His teams broad expertise enables them to build their customers, not the most convenient solution or the solution someones most comfortable with -- but the right solution. Throughout his career, he's worked on large, mission-critical enterprise apps, small internal apps, and everything in between -- for clients as small as a 3-person startup and as large as a global Fortune 50.

See original here:
The world increasingly relies on open source here's how to control its risks - BetaNews

How Quantum Computers Work | HowStuffWorks

Posted on by

The massive amount of processing power generated by computer manufacturers has not yet been able to quench our thirst for speed and computing capacity. In 1947, American computer engineer Howard Aiken said that just six electronic digital computers would satisfy the computing needs of the United States. Others have made similar errant predictions about the amount of computing power that would support our growing technological needs. Of course, Aiken didn't count on the large amounts of data generated by scientific research, the proliferation of personal computers or the emergence of the Internet, which have only fueled our need for more, more and more computing power.

Will we ever have the amount of computing power we need or want? If, as Moore's Law states, the number of transistors on a microprocessor continues to double every 18 months, the year 2020 or 2030 will find the circuits on a microprocessor measured on an atomic scale. And the logical next step will be to create quantum computers, which will harness the power of atoms and molecules to perform memory and processing tasks. Quantum computers have the potential to perform certain calculations significantly faster than any silicon-based computer.

Scientists have already built basic quantum computers that can perform certain calculations; but a practical quantum computer is still years away. In this article, you'll learn what a quantum computer is and just what it'll be used for in the next era of computing.

You don't have to go back too far to find the origins of quantum computing. While computers have been around for the majority of the 20th century, quantum computing was first theorized less than 30 years ago, by a physicist at the Argonne National Laboratory. Paul Benioff is credited with first applying quantum theory to computers in 1981. Benioff theorized about creating a quantum Turing machine. Most digital computers, like the one you are using to read this article, are based on the Turing Theory. Learn what this is in the next section.

Originally posted here:

How Quantum Computers Work | HowStuffWorks

How quantum computing could beat climate change – World Economic Forum

Posted on by

Imagine being able to cheaply and easily suck carbon directly out of our atmosphere. Such a capability would be hugely powerful in the fight against climate change and advance us towards the ambitious global climate goals set.

Surely thats science fiction? Well, maybe not. Quantum computing may be just the tool we need to design such a clean, safe and easy-to-deploy innovation.

In 1995 I first learned that quantum computing might bring about a revolution akin to the agricultural, industrial and digital ones weve already had. Back then it seemed far-fetched that quantum mechanics could be harnessed to such momentous effect; given recent events, it seems much, much more likely.

Much excitement followed Googles recent announcement of quantum supremacy: [T]he point where quantum computers can do things that classical computers cant, regardless of whether those tasks are useful.

The question now is whether we can develop the large-scale, error-corrected quantum computers that are required to realize profoundly useful applications.

The good news is we already concretely know how to use such fully-fledged quantum computers for many important tasks across science and technology. One such task is the simulation of molecules to determine their properties, interactions, and reactions with other molecules a.k.a. chemistry the very essence of the material world we live in.

While simulating molecules may seem like an esoteric pastime for scientists, it does, in fact, underpin almost every aspect of the world and our activity in it. Understanding their properties unlocks powerful new pharmaceuticals, batteries, clean-energy devices and even innovations for carbon capture.

To date, we havent found a way to simulate large complex molecules with conventional computers, we never will, because the problem is one that grows exponentially with the size or complexity of the molecules being simulated. Crudely speaking, if simulating a molecule with 10 atoms takes a minute, a molecule with 11 takes two minutes, one with 12 atoms takes four minutes and so on. This exponential scaling quickly renders a traditional computer useless: simulating a molecule with just 70 atoms would take longer than the lifetime of the universe (13 billion years).

This is infuriating, not just because we cant simulate existing important molecules that we find (and use) in nature including within our own body and thereby understand their behaviour; but also because there is an infinite number of new molecules that we could design for new applications.

Thats where quantum computers could come to our rescue, thanks to the late, great physicist Richard Feynman. Back in 1981, he recognized that quantum computers could do that which would be impossible for classical computers when it comes to simulating molecules. Thanks to recent work by Microsoft and others we now have concrete recipes for performing these simulations.

One area of urgent practical importance where quantum simulation could be hugely valuable is in meeting the SDGs not only in health, energy, industry, innovation and infrastructure but also in climate action. Examples include room-temperature superconductors (that could reduce the 10% of energy production lost in transmission), more efficient processes to produce nitrogen-based fertilizers that feed the worlds population and new, far more efficient batteries.

One very powerful application of molecular simulation is in the design of new catalysts that speed up chemical reactions. It is estimated that 90% of all commercially produced chemical products involve catalysts (in living systems, theyre called enzymes).

Annual CO2 emissions globally in 2017

A catalyst for scrubbing carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere could be a powerful tool in tackling climate change. Although CO2 is captured naturally, by oceans and trees, CO2 production has exceeded these natural capture rates for many decades.

The best way to tackle CO2 is not releasing more CO2; the next best thing is capturing it. While we cant literally turn back time, [it] is a bit like rewinding the emissions clock, according to Torben Daeneke at RMIT University.

There are known catalysts for carbon capture but most contain expensive precious metals or are difficult or expensive to produce and/or deploy. We currently dont know many cheap and readily available catalysts for CO2 reduction, says Ulf-Peter Apfel of Ruhr-University Bochum.

Given the infinite number of candidate molecules that are available, we are right to be optimistic that there is a catalyst (or indeed many) to be found that will do the job cheaply and easily. Finding such a catalyst, however, is a daunting task without the ability to simulate the properties of candidate molecules.

And thats where quantum computing could help.

We might even find a cheap catalyst that enables efficient carbon dioxide recycling and produces useful by-products like hydrogen (a fuel) or carbon monoxide (a common source material in the chemical industry).

We can currently simulate small molecules on prototype quantum computers with up to a few dozen qubits (the quantum equivalent of classical computer bits). But scaling this to useful tasks, like discovering new CO2 catalysts, will require error correction and simulation to the order of 1 million qubits.

Its a challenge I have long believed will only be met on any human timescale certainly by the 2030 target for the SDGs if we use the existing manufacturing capability of the silicon chip industry.

At a meeting of the World Economic Forums Global Future Councils last month a team of experts from across industry, academia and beyond assembled to discuss how quantum computing can help address global challenges, as highlighted by the SDGs, and climate in particular.

As co-chair of the Global Future Council on Quantum Computing, I was excited that we were unanimous in agreeing that the world should devote more resources, including in education, to developing the powerful quantum computing capability that could help tackle climate change, meet the SDGs more widely and much more. We enthusiastically called for more international cooperation to develop this important technology on the 2030 timescale to have an impact on delivering the SDGs, in particular climate.

So the real question for me is: can we do it in time? Will we make sufficiently powerful quantum computers on that timeframe? I believe so. There are, of course, many other things we can and should do to tackle climate change, but developing large-scale, error-corrected quantum computers is a hedge we cannot afford to go without.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Here is the original post:

How quantum computing could beat climate change - World Economic Forum

What WON’T Happen in 2020: 5G Wearables, Quantum Computing, and Self-Driving Trucks to Name a Few – Business Wire

Posted on by

OYSTER BAY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As 2019 winds down, predictions abound on the technology advancements and innovations expected in the year ahead. However, there are several anticipated advancements, including 5G wearables, quantum computing, and self-driving trucks, that will NOT happen in the first year of the new decade, states global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research.

In its new whitepaper, 54 Technology Trends to Watch in 2020, ABI Researchs analysts have identified 35 trends that will shape the technology market and 19 others that, although attracting huge amounts of speculation and commentary, look less likely to move the needle over the next twelve months. After a tumultuous 2019 that was beset by many challenges, both integral to technology markets and derived from global market dynamics, 2020 looks set to be equally challenging, says Stuart Carlaw, Chief Research Officer at ABI Research. Knowing what wont happen in technology in the next year is important for end users, implementors, and vendors to properly place their investments or focus their strategies.

What wont happen in 2020?

5G Wearables: While smartphones will dominate the 5G market in 2020, 5G wearables wont arrive in 2020, or anytime soon, says Stephanie Tomsett, 5G Devices, Smartphones & Wearables analyst at ABI Research. To bring 5G to wearables, specific 5G chipsets will need to be designed and components will need to be reconfigured to fit in the small form factor. That wont begin to happen until 2024, at the earliest.

Quantum Computing: Despite claims from Google in achieving quantum supremacy, the tech industry is still far away from the democratization of quantum computing technology, says Lian Jye Su, AI & Machine Learning Principal Analyst at ABI Research. Quantum computing is definitely not even remotely close to the large-scale commercial deployment stage.

Self-Driving Trucks: Despite numerous headlines declaring the arrival of driverless, self-driving, or robot vehicles, very little, if any, driver-free commercial usage is underway beyond closed-course operations in the United States, says Susan Beardslee, Freight Transportation & Logistics Principal Analyst at ABI Research.

A Consolidated IoT Platform Market: For many years, there have been predictions that the IoT platform supplier market will begin to consolidate, and it just wont happen, says Dan Shey, Vice President of Enabling Platforms at ABI Research. The simple reason is that there are more than 100 companies that offer device-to-cloud IoT platform services and for every one that is acquired, there are always new ones that come to market.

Edge Will Not Overtake Cloud: The accelerated growth of the edge technology and intelligent device paradigm created one of the largest industry misconceptions: edge technology will cannibalize cloud technology, says Kateryna Dubrova, M2M, IoT & IoE Analyst at ABI Research. In fact, in the future, we will see a rapid development of edge-cloud-fog continuum, where technology will complement each other, rather than cross-cannibalize.

8K TVs: Announcements of 8K Television (TV) sets by major vendors earlier in 2019 attracted much attention and raised many of questions within the industry, says Khin Sandi Lynn, Video & Cloud Services Analyst at ABI Research. The fact is, 8K content is not available and the price of 8K TV sets are exorbitant. The transition from high definition (HD) to 4K will continue in 2020 with very limited 8K shipments less than 1 million worldwide.

For more trends that wont happen in 2020, and the 35 trends that will, download the 54 Technology Trends to Watch in 2020 whitepaper.

About ABI Research

ABI Research provides strategic guidance to visionaries, delivering actionable intelligence on the transformative technologies that are dramatically reshaping industries, economies, and workforces across the world. ABI Researchs global team of analysts publish groundbreaking studies often years ahead of other technology advisory firms, empowering our clients to stay ahead of their markets and their competitors.

For more information about ABI Researchs services, contact us at +1.516.624.2500 in the Americas, +44.203.326.0140 in Europe, +65.6592.0290 in Asia-Pacific or visit http://www.abiresearch.com.

See the article here:

What WON'T Happen in 2020: 5G Wearables, Quantum Computing, and Self-Driving Trucks to Name a Few - Business Wire


« First...102030...1,4831,4841,4851,4861,487...1,4901,5001,510...Last »