VLC player has been banned by the Indian Government since February 2022

It seems that VLC media player has actually been banned in India since February of this year. In a surprising turn of events, India Today reported that the media player will still work for users who’ve downloaded the player but newer users might have problems acquiring a new version of the software. There has been no reason given for the ban, as the government nor VLC have made any official statements. The official VLC player Twitter account did reply to India Today and stated that the ban had indeed started on 13 February this year. 

Since the 13 of February, according to our stats.

— VideoLAN (@videolan) August 12, 2022 VLC Player banned in India since February 2022

Excuses such as a hacking scam and such have already hit the web but there seems to be no logical explanation of why the ban took place. Security experts stated that a Chinese-based hacking software was bundled with the player but there are no official endorsements of this theory. In any case, if that were true then VLC player should have been banned in a lot of countries other than India but there seems to be no real news on that front. The Indian government has also banned TikTok, Streamable, BGMI and many more. 

As mentioned above, if you’ve already downloaded the software, it should still continue to work on your system. But, for users looking to download the player, you’ll be directed to a page that says it’s been banned as per an order from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under the IT Act of 2000. 

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Zoom installer flaw can give attackers root access to Mac: Report

San Francisco, Aug 13 (IANS) A security researcher has found a way that an attacker could leverage the macOS version of Zoom to gain access over the entire operating system.

According to The Verge, details of the exploit were released in a presentation by Mac security specialist Patrick Wardle at the Def Con hacking conference in Las Vegas this week.

Zoom has already fixed some of the bugs involved, but the researcher also presented one unpatched vulnerability that still affects systems now.

The exploit works by targeting the installer for the Zoom application, which needs to run with special user permissions to install or remove the main Zoom application from a computer.

Though the installer requires a user to enter their password on first adding the application to the system, Wardle found that an auto-update function then continually ran in the background with superuser privileges.

When Zoom issued an update, the updater function would install the new package after checking that it had been cryptographically signed by Zoom.

But a bug in how the checking method was implemented meant that giving the updater any file with the same name as Zoom's signing certificate would be enough to pass the test -- so an attacker could substitute any malware program and have it be run by the updater with elevated privilege, the report said.

The result is a privilege escalation attack, which assumes an attacker has already gained initial access to the target system and then employs an exploit to gain a higher level of access.

In this case, the attacker begins with a restricted user account but escalates into the most powerful user type -- known as a "superuser" or "root" -- allowing them to add, remove, or modify any files on the machine.

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

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NASA asks students to design metal production pipeline on the Moon

Washington, Aug 13 (IANS) The US space agency has asked university students to design a metal production pipeline on the Moon -- from extracting metal from lunar minerals to creating structures and tools.

The ability to extract metal and build needed infrastructure on the Moon advances the Artemis Programme goal of a sustained human presence on the lunar surface, NASA said in a statement.

"Here at home, forging metal has long been a key part of building our homes and infrastructure, and the same holds true as we work towards a sustained presence on the Moon," said Niki Werkheiser, director of technology maturation within the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).

"This challenge gives students the opportunity to help develop the future technology that will help us find, process, and manufacture with metal on the lunar surface," Werkheiser added.

The 2023 Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea Challenge invites university students to tackle some of the most critical needs facing space exploration and help create the mission capabilities that could make new discoveries possible.

Student teams will develop innovative ways to extract and convert metals from minerals found on the Moon, such as ilmenite and anorthite, to enable metal manufacturing on the Moon.

The NASA-funded challenge provides development awards of up to $180,000 to up to eight selected teams to build and demonstrate their concept designs and share the results of their research and testing at the culminating forum in November 2023.

The availability of derived metals on the Moon would allow infrastructure needed for a lunar base -- including pipes, power cables, landing pads, transport rails, and pressure vessels to contain volatiles like fuel -- to be made locally using additive manufacturing, or 3D printing.

"NASA is already thinking about supporting longer-term missions to the Moon. This BIG Idea Challenge theme links university teams to the push toward sustained human presence on the Moon and on other planets," said Tomas Gonzalez-Torres, Space Grant project manager in NASA's Office of STEM Engagement.

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

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There will be blood on streets, Google execs warn employees about layoffs

San Francisco, Aug 13 (IANS) As Big Tech companies begin to lay off employees in the global economic downturn, Google executives have reportedly warned workers to either boost performance or prepare to leave as "there will be blood on the streets" if the next quarterly earnings are not good.

In a company message viewed by Insider, Google Cloud sales leadership has threatened employees with an "overall examination of sales productivity and productivity in general" and that if next quarter results "don't look up, there will be blood on the streets."

If third-quarter results "don't look up, [then] there will be blood on the streets," according to a message conveyed to the sales team. The warning was first reported by Insider.

Google employees are "fearful of layoffs" after the company quietly extended its hiring freeze this month without making an announcement, reports The New York Post.

The company has now reportedly warned employees with layoffs if they don't produce results.

Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai told employees late last month that they must improve productivity due to fierce economic headwinds.

Pichai said that he wanted to solicit ideas from his employees on how to get "better results faster."

"There are real concerns that our productivity as a whole is not where it needs to be for the head count we have," he was quoted as saying.

Google in July put a freeze on hiring for two weeks to review its headcount needs and decide on future course of action. The company earlier announced to slow down hirings for the rest of the year.

According to Pichai, "it's clear we are facing a challenging macro environment with more uncertainty ahead".

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reported weaker-than-expected earnings and revenue for the April-June period (Q2).

Revenue growth slowed to 13 per cent from 62 per cent in the same quarter last year.

Other tech companies that have either laid off employees or slowed hiring in the current economic downturn include LinkedIn, Meta, Oracle, Twitter, Nvidia, Snap, Uber, Spotify, Intel and Salesforce, among others.

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

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US bill that couldve allowed parents to sue social media companies addictive features fizzles out

San Francisco, Aug 13 (IANS) California lawmakers have rejected a much-anticipated bill allowing parents to sue social media platforms over their addictive features for kids has failed in the legislature.

The Social Media Platform Duty to Children Act (AB 2408) failed to pass out of committee for a full state Senate vote, reports Miami Herald.

The bill would have let local prosecutors sue social media platforms for up to $250,000 per violation for knowingly using tools that can make children addicted to their products.

"As we've said from the start, protecting children online is a priority but must be done responsibly and effectively," Dylan Hoffman, executive director for California and the Southwest of TechNet was quoted as saying.

"We're glad to see that this bill won't move forward in its current form. If it had, companies would've been punished for simply having a platform that kids can access," Hoffman said in the report that came out on Friday.

Supporters said that such rules are necessary to protect children from companies who turn a blind eye to the harm caused to their mental health by social media addiction.

The Bill applied to social networks that generate less than $100 million annually or are primarily intended for video games.

"I am extremely disappointed. The bill's death means a handful of social media companies will be able to continue their experiment on millions of California kids, causing generational harm," said bill author Jordan Cunningham.

The demise of the bill comes at a time when US President Joe Biden has called for new child safety protections online.

Critics of the bill argued that it would have pushed services toward privacy-threatening age verification.

"It hurts the kids by depriving them of valuable social outlets and educational resources," according to Internet policy expert Eric Goldman.

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

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Google Search shows which streaming services have specific games

San Francisco, Aug 13 (IANS) Tech giant Google's Search will show users what cloud streaming services have a particular video game, building on existing support for movies, TV, and music.

According to 9To5Google, for years, Google Search has acted as an aggregator of the world's streaming services.

If you want to watch a particular show, users can use Google Search or Google TV to get accurate info about what services it is on, the report said.

For example, searching for The Simpsons reveals that the show can be streamed from various apps, including Disney+ and Hulu, or purchased from multiple stores, it added.

In the last few days, Google Search has expanded this capability to include support for video games.

However, rather than including links to various consoles' storefronts or to the many PC gaming retailers, Google is strictly focusing on cloud gaming.

As per the report, it makes perfect sense, given Google has skin in the game thanks to Stadia and Google Cloud's Immersive Stream.

Oddly enough, the list of services seems to vary between desktop and mobile. Searching for "Destiny 2" on Android only brings up a result for Stadia, while the same search on the desktop shows both GeForce Now and Stadia.

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

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Multiversus Season 1 With New Battle-Pass System Starts on August 15

Multiversus Season 1 releases August 15 with a new battle-pass system. The new season will add Morty from Adult Swim's Rick and Morty animated series to the character roster on August 23. Content drop will be spread out throughout the season.

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