MIT Technology Review: Google has released a giant database of deepfakes to help fight deepfakes . “On Tuesday, Google released an open-source database containing 3,000 original manipulated videos as part of its effort to accelerate the development of deepfake detection tools. It worked with 28 actors to record videos of them speaking, making common expressions, and doing mundane tasks. It then used publicly available deepfake algorithms to alter their faces.”
open source
BetaNews: New open source tool helps prevent brute force and ransomware attacks
BetaNews: New open source tool helps prevent brute force and ransomware attacks. “Ransomware attacks are a major problem and they often gain access to systems via brute-force attacks against open and exposed remote access points such as Remote Desktop Protocol. Cloud-native virtual application delivery platform Cameyo is launching its new RDP Port Shield security technology, along with a free, open source monitoring tool that any organization can use to identify attacks taking place over RDP in their environment.”
Making Collaborative Data Projects Easier: Our New Tool, Collaborate, Is Here (ProPublica)
ProPublica: Making Collaborative Data Projects Easier: Our New Tool, Collaborate, Is Here. “Collaborations are a major part of ProPublica’s approach to journalism, and in the past few years we’ve run several large-scale collaborative projects, including Electionland and Documenting Hate. Along the way, we’ve created software to manage and share the large pools of data used by our hundreds of newsrooms partners. As part of a Google News Initiative grant this year, we’ve beefed up that software and made it open source so that anybody can use it.”
Software isolation utility Sandboxie is now free; soon it will be open source too (BetaNews)
BetaNews: Software isolation utility Sandboxie is now free; soon it will be open source too. “Sandboxie — the sandboxing tool with the tagline “Trust no program” — has been made into a free utility. But more than this, Sophos also plans to make the software open source in the near future.”
Slashgear: Flash videos and games are resurrected by Ruffles emulator
Slashgear: Flash videos and games are resurrected by Ruffles emulator. “Once the darling of the young Web, Flash eventually became a liability because of its gaping security holes and heavy resource usage. But for all the flack it has received, it’s hard to deny the amount of legitimate and noteworthy content produced using flash, particularly 2D animations and games. To make sure those are never lost forever, one developer has taken upon the rather grueling task of creating Ruffles, the open source WebAssembly Flash emulator.”
University of Alberta: First global open-source database for spinal cord injury research will be a ‘game-changer,’ say experts
University of Alberta: First global open-source database for spinal cord injury research will be a ‘game-changer,’ say experts. “Experts from the University of Alberta and two universities of California are teaming up to launch the world’s first open-source database for spinal cord injury research. The Open Data Commons for preclinical Spinal Cord Injury research (ODC-SCI) will improve research and treatment worldwide by making data more accessible, according to researchers and patients.”
MIT News: The MIT Press releases a comprehensive report on open-source publishing software
MIT News: The MIT Press releases a comprehensive report on open-source publishing software. “The MIT Press has announced the release of a comprehensive report on the current state of all available open-source software for publishing. ‘Mind the Gap,’ funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, ‘shed[s] light on the development and deployment of open source publishing technologies in order to aid institutions’ and individuals’ decision-making and project planning,’ according to its introduction. It will be an unparalleled resource for the scholarly publishing community and complements the recently released Mapping the Scholarly Communication Landscape census.”
