SECURITY: Bitcoin mining hardware exec falls for sophisticated crypto scam

Sunday, November 30, 2025

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2025/11/bonkers-bitcoin-heist-5-star-hotels-cash-filled-envelopes-vanishing-funds/

Bitcoin mining hardware exec falls for sophisticated crypto scam to tune of $200k
Joel Khalili – Nov 18, 2025 1:37 PM 

*** begin quote ***

As Kent Halliburton stood in a bathroom at the Rosewood Hotel in central Amsterdam, thousands of miles from home, running his fingers through an envelope filled with 10,000 euros in crisp banknotes, he started to wonder what he had gotten himself into.

Halliburton is the cofounder and CEO of Sazmining, a company that operates bitcoin mining hardware on behalf of clients—a model known as “mining-as-a-service.” Halliburton is based in Peru, but Sazmining runs mining hardware out of third-party data centers across Norway, Paraguay, Ethiopia, and the United States.

As Halliburton tells it, he had flown to Amsterdam the previous day, August 5, to meet Even and Maxim, two representatives of a wealthy Monaco-based family. The family office had offered to purchase hundreds of bitcoin mining rigs from Sazmining—around $4 million worth—which the company would install at a facility currently under construction in Ethiopia. Before finalizing the deal, the family office had asked to meet Halliburton in person.

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but NO ONE gets cash filled envelopes in an honest transaction.

That should have been the first clue to a scam.

Then to “prove a capability or a holding” of bitcoin transfer some to a strange wallet?

Just reading the story, my ex-CISO “spydee senses” were on high alert.

And inputing a key “seed phrase” into an unknown software wallet you just downloaded was just the height of stupidity.

Sorry to pile on and beat a “dead horse”, but the warning signs were there.

Who knew if “wealthy Monaco-based family office” was even a real entity.  Or if they even knew what was going on in their name.

Argh!

“You can’t cheat an honest man.” — W. C. Fields

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Create a “Devil’s Advocate” to speak against pardoning people

Thursday, November 13, 2025

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/11/trump-on-why-he-pardoned-binance-ceo-are-you-ready-i-dont-know-who-he-is/

Trump on why he pardoned Binance CEO: “Are you ready? I don’t know who he is.”
Trump family business could benefit from pardon of crypto ex-con Changpeng Zhao.
Jon Brodkin – Nov 3, 2025 2:15 PM

*** begin quote ***

President Trump says he still doesn’t know who Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao is, despite having pardoned Zhao last month.

CBS correspondent Norah O’Donnell asked Trump about the pardon in a 60 Minutes interview that aired yesterday, noting that Zhao pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering laws. “The government at the time said that C.Z. had caused ‘significant harm to US national security,’ essentially by allowing terrorist groups like Hamas to move millions of dollars around. Why did you pardon him?” O’Donnell asked.

*** end quote ***

After the Biden fiasco of autopen pardons, @realDonaldTrump should create a “Devil’s Advocate” to speak against pardoning people.  Maybe we could get Judge Judy to chair a TV trial with a retired judge to act as the Devil’s Advocate versus the lawyer who thinks his client deserves one.  

Put it on Pay Per View for a few buck to defer the expense.  It’d make Survivor or the Bachelor look tame by comparison.  Judge “Don’t Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It’s Raining” Judy Sheindlin could hear both sides and then issue a recommendation to the President.  Of course, that recommendation meeting could be on PPV too where the President could sign it for all to see.  

I love this idea.  (Who doesn’t love their own “baby”?  No matter how ugly.). Your comments welcome.

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TECHNOLOGY: Software update bricks some Jeep 4xe hybrids

Monday, October 20, 2025

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/10/software-update-bricks-some-jeep-4xe-hybrids-over-the-weekend/

don’t OTA on Friday
Software update bricks some Jeep 4xe hybrids over the weekend

  • Jeep has pulled the update; owners are advised to ignore it if it already downloaded.

Jonathan M. Gitlin – Oct 13, 2025 10:10 AM 

*** begin quote ***

Owners of some Jeep Wrangler 4xe hybrids have been left stranded after installing an over-the-air software update this weekend. The automaker pushed out a telematics update for the Uconnect infotainment system that evidently wasn’t ready, resulting in cars losing power while driving and then becoming stranded.

*** end quote ***

Laugh!  Thanks for the advice to ignore the update.  A little late; no?

​A good reason not to allow any car to do “over the air” updates unless it’s parked at home?

Or a good reason not to buy any such car!

Anyone wonder why I wait a week to apply updates?  I’m as scared of the “update” as I am mildly “scared” of the problems it fixes.

How does one backup and restore an old version of your car’s software?  

IDK !? !? !?

Do you?

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TECHNOLOGY: It’s just fraud — like shrink wrapped licenses — labeling long-term rentals as purchases.

Monday, September 8, 2025

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/08/i-like-plaintiffs-chances-prime-video-back-in-court-over-using-the-word-buy/

Words matter

The fight against labeling long-term streaming rentals as “purchases” you “buy”

  • New law emboldens complaints against digital content rentals labled as purchases.

Scharon Harding – Aug 29, 2025 5:51 PM

*** begin quote ***

Words have meaning. Proper word selection is integral to strong communication, whether it’s about relaying one’s feelings to another or explaining the terms of a deal, agreement, or transaction.

*** and ***

Often, streaming services like Amazon Prime Video offer customers the options to “rent” digital content for a few days or to “buy” it. Some might think that picking “buy” means that they can view the content indefinitely. But these purchases are really just long-term licenses to watch the content for as long as the streaming service has the right to distribute it—which could be for years, months, or days after the transaction.

A lawsuit [PDF] recently filed against Prime Video challenges this practice and accuses the streaming service of misleading customers by labeling long-term rentals as purchases. The conclusion of the case could have implications for how streaming services frame digital content.

*** end quote ***

I think the “high water mark” is when we bought CDs with the belief that we could always have the content.

I got burned buying content on cassettes and 8 tracks.  Then having to buy the “content” when the player were sent to the technology equivalent of the Google Graveyard.  

This is just another instance of the same fraud all over again. And again. And again. 

If they said “buy”, then they have stuck themselves with a “deal” they had no intention of fulfilling.  To me, that’s fraud!

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DISCOURAGING: Whistle pet trackers to IoT graveyard

Tuesday, August 5, 2025

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/07/acquisition-sends-thousands-of-whistle-pet-trackers-to-iot-graveyard/

Acquisition sends thousands of Whistle pet trackers to IoT graveyard

  • Whistle pet monitors will stop working on August 31.

Scharon Harding – Jul 29, 2025 1:38 PM |

*** begin quote ***

Whistle pet trackers are headed to the Internet of Things (IoT) graveyard. After releasing its first product in 2013, the Seattle-based Whistle has just been acquired by a competitor that has decided to brick all of Whistle’s smart GPS and activity monitors.

Tractive, an Austrian company that has also been selling Internet-connected GPS trackers for pets since 2013, on Monday announced its acquisition of Whistle from Mars Petcare, as spotted by The Verge. Mars Petcare is the pet food subsidiary of Mars Inc (which also makes candies like M&M’s), and it acquired Whistle in 2016 for $117 million.

*** end quote ***

Where is the “consumer protection”?  I won’t be buying M&M’s anytime soon.  This is a complete betrayal of loyal customers.  

Wonder if we will see any litigation as a result? 

Anyone wonder what the Gooferment at any level is stepping up to enforce Customer’s interests?

If not, why are they there?

Argh!

Google Graveyard, AT&T Ashcan, Amazon depreciation, … … or <synonym for the act of procreation> you! … … shrinkflation.

As they say on Wall Street, there is always a “counter party risk”.  Or in layman’s terms: “Life time guarantee  —  but whose lifetime?”

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TECHNOLOGY: Uncrewed aircraft delivery seems to be working

Friday, April 18, 2025

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/dont-call-it-a-drone-ziplines-uncrewed-aircraft-wants-to-reinvent-retail/

Don’t call it a drone: Zipline’s uncrewed aircraft wants to reinvent retail

  • Ars visits a zipline delivery service that’s deploying in more locations soon.

Tim Stevens – Apr 8, 2025 9:00 AM

*** begin quote ***

The inner portion of the Zipline P2 is lowered to the ground on a tether, facing into the wind, with a small propeller at the back. Doors on the bottom open when it touches the ground, depositing the cargo. Credit: Tim Stevens

The skies around Dallas are about to get a lot more interesting. No, DFW airport isn’t planning any more expansions, nor does American Airlines have any more retro liveries to debut. This will be something different, something liable to make all the excitement around the supposed New Jersey drones look a bit quaint.

Zipline is launching its airborne delivery service for real, rolling it out in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Mesquite ahead of a gradual spread that, if all goes according to plan, will also see its craft landing in Seattle before the end of the year. These automated drones can be loaded in seconds, carry small packages for miles, and deposit them with pinpoint accuracy at the end of a retractable tether.

It looks and sounds like the future, but this launch has been a decade in the making. Zipline has already flown more than 1.4 million deliveries and covered over 100 million miles, yet it feels like things are just getting started.

*** end quote ***

I was especially interest in their description of delivering blood in remote places in Africa.  That could be used to deliver organs with less risk and fewer delays.  A lot can be improved if their service is as promised.  I imagine that some day, I would be able to ship stuff from my doorstep.  Instacart, DoorDash, and UberEats may be in trouble.

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SAFETY: Dispose of Lithium Ion batteries properly

Sunday, March 2, 2025

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/02/see-a-garbage-trucks-cng-cylinders-explode-after-lithium-ion-battery-fire/

See a garbage truck’s CNG cylinders explode after lithium-ion battery fire

  • It happened recently in Arlington Heights, Illinois.

Nate Anderson – Feb 20, 2025 5:21 PM |

*** begin quote ***

Garbage truck fires are never ideal, but they are usually not catastrophic. When a fire broke out on December 6 in the back of a garbage truck making its Friday rounds through the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, the fire department responded within five minutes. Firefighters saw flames shooting five feet into the air out the back of the truck, and they prepared to put the fire out using hoses and water. Four minutes after their arrival on scene, however, the garbage truck exploded in rather spectacular fashion, injuring several firefighters and police officers, damaging several homes in the vicinity, and scattering debris through the neighborhood.

*** end quote ***

What is an infrequent event  — a garbage truck fire  —  turned into a war zone!

Do you think all the warnings are just to give someone a job?

In this case, no one was hurt.  But that was just luck.

Remember this when you’re flying or just doodling around town on your e-scooter with your laptop.

Not everything has to be sabotage by a waring country; sometimes it’s just ordinary human stupidity.

Argh!

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INTERESTING: Elephant demonstrates the use of a tool — not something seen in other than humans

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/11/this-elephant-figured-out-how-to-use-a-hose-to-shower/

An elephant never forgets

This elephant figured out how to use a hose to shower
Jennifer Ouellette – Nov 12, 2024 6:06 PM 

*** begin quote ***

An Asian elephant named Mary living at the Berlin Zoo surprised researchers by figuring out how to use a hose to take her morning showers, according to a new paper published in the journal Current Biology. “Elephants are amazing with hoses,” said co-author Michael Brecht of the Humboldt University of Berlin. “As it is often the case with elephants, hose tool use behaviors come out very differently from animal to animal; elephant Mary is the queen of showering.”

Tool use was once thought to be one of the defining features of humans, but examples of it were eventually observed in primates and other mammals. Dolphins have been observed using sea sponges to protect their beaks while foraging for food, and sea otters will break open shellfish like abalone with rocks. Several species of fish also use tools to hunt and crack open shellfish, as well as to clear a spot for nesting. And the coconut octopus collects coconut shells, stacking them and transporting them before reassembling them as shelter.

*** end quote ***

It’s pretty funny to watch.  I wish I had a trunk like that for my showers.  And, the way she tosses it like a trunk extension is amazing to me.

Maybe we need to redefine “intelligence” or “human like”?

Certainly we shouldn’t be shooting them for any reason other than to alleviate suffering.  

We could learn “humanity” from animals.

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INTERESTING: Pirate library hides in plain sight?

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/09/pirate-library-must-pay-publishers-30m-but-no-one-knows-who-runs-it/#p3

“This site can’t be reached” —
Pirate library must pay publishers $30M, but no one knows who runs it
Some Libgen links can’t be reached after broad takedown order.

Ashley Belanger – 9/26/2024, 1:25 PM

*** begin quote ***

Because Libgen’s admins remain anonymous and elusive—and previously avoided paying a different set of publishers $15 million in 2017—McMahon granted publishers’ request for an uncommonly broad injunction that may empower publishers to go further than ever to destroy the shadow library.

Under the injunction, not only is Libgen banned from sharing copyrighted content, but so are “all those in active concert or participation with” anyone connected to Libgen. The order forbids anyone from hosting Libgen, registering Libgen domains, or providing cloud storage, file-sharing, or advertising services, among other restrictions. Even using tools to display links or enabling browser extensions linking to Libgen is forbidden under the order.

But even under such a broad injunction, the question remains whether publishers can succeed in taking down Libgen—which openly informs users that using its platform violates copyright laws and encourages them to pirate books anyway.

*** end quote ***

This raises a bunch of questions.  How are they able to hide so effectively?

I wonder if a rogue nation like North Korea, Afghanistan, or such would host a website like this for “free” access to all the dikw (i.e., data, information, knowledge, wisdom) that Users could upload.

Hmm!

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