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Showing posts with the label 2018 at 03:41PM

Intel says memory security issue extends beyond its own chips

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That major security flaw attributed to Intel chips might not be so Intel-specific after all. After hours of silence, Intel has posted a response denying some of the claims about the exploit, which is believed to revolve around identifying content in an operating system kernel's protected memory space. The chip giant shot down reports that the issue was unique to its CPUs, noting that it's working with AMD and ARM (not to mention multiple OS makers) to create a solution -- sorry, you're not safe because you have a Ryzen rig. It also reminded people that the performance hit of the fix would be "workload-dependent," and shouldn't be noticeable for the "average computer user." The company also asserts that this isn't a flaw, but rather "software analysis methods" that could potentially grab sensitive info from computing devices. It doesn't appear to have the ability to corrupt, delete or modify data, Intel added, although that woul...

Amazon shipped over 5 billion items with Prime in 2017

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As we close out one year and welcome another, Amazon has a few stats for us to better reflect on how we spent 2017 -- evidently by sending each other a colossal volume of stuff. The company announced today that Prime members shipped over 5 billion items using the service this year. The company announced the statistic today along with a few notes trumpeting Amazon products. Notably, among all manufacturers and categories, the Fire TV Stick and Echo Dot were the best-selling products purchased by Prime members in the US. Shocking nobody, the trendy Instant Pot was the most gifted item on Amazon's Wedding Registry, as well as the most Wish Listed item; Accordingly, the Instant Pot Cookbook was the book Prime members gifted all year. Amazon spent 2017 building out Prime's non-shipping features, too, like reserving early film screenings for members. It also added more content to its video service, which has at least won some critical notice, snagging three Golden Globe nomi...