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Submission + - Turn off SSL VPN says SonicWall 1

Submitted by Mirnotoriety
Mirnotoriety writes: TLDR: ‘SonicWall have, over the last 24 hours, taken the unusual step of recommending any organisation using their Generation 7 devices to provide SSL VPN access to corporate resources turn this functionality off. Not "patch it". Not "enforce MFA". Turn it off. There are a high volume of exploits happening right now, led by the Akira ransomware group, following days of active exploitation against a vulnerability that doesn't even have a CVE reference yet. If you have a SonicWall device and your users are expecting to use it tomorrow — they may find that their files have been encrypted when they do.’

Submission + - The quantum internet just went live on Verizon's network (sciencedaily.com) 1

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: Penn engineers have taken quantum networking from the lab to Verizon’s live fiber network, using a silicon “Q-chip” that speaks the same Internet Protocol as the modern web. The system pairs classical and quantum signals like a train engine with sealed cargo, ensuring routing without destroying quantum states. By maintaining fidelity above 97% even under real-world noise, the approach shows that a scalable quantum internet is possible using today’s infrastructure.

Submission + - Disastrous Oracle implementation at Europe's largest city council. (theregister.com) 1

Submitted by whoever57
whoever57 writes: Birmingham city council, the largest such entity in Europe has been declared effectively bankrupt. There are a couple of reasons for this, but one of them is a disastrous project to replace the city's income management system, using Oracle. The cost of this has risen to $230M, while the initial estimate was $24M. There was a failed rollout of the new system earlier this year.

Comment Re: The crackpipe of subscription licenses (Score 1) 44

by Z00L00K (#65681798) Attached to: Broadcom's Prohibitive VMware Prices Create a Learning 'Barrier,' IT Pro Says

The difference here is that with a database ecosystem you can lock in your customers while with a virtualization environment your applications don't depend on which hypervisor you use.

Broadcom knows this and is very aggressive with the pricing to reap off profits quickly and leave an empty shell that they close as non-profitable.

Submission + - Secret Service Raids Malicious SIM Server Setup (apnews.com)

Submitted by Gilmoure
Gilmoure writes: The US Secret Service is in the process of taking down a massive network of SIM Server systems, designed to function "like banks of mock cellphones, able to generate mass calls and texts, overwhelm local networks and mask encrypted communications criminals. When agents entered the sites, they found rows of servers and shelves stacked with SIM cards. More than 100,000 were already active, investigators said, but there were also large numbers waiting to be deployed, evidence that operators were preparing to double or even triple the network’s capacity, McCool said. He described it as a well-funded, highly organized enterprise, one that cost millions of dollars in hardware and SIM cards alone."

Submission + - LibreOffice Needs a Bullt-in Non-AI Adulterated Grammar Checker 1

Submitted by BrendaEM
BrendaEM writes: LibreOffice writer is a great word processor. Its menus are coherent. It suffer from suffers from less inline style-corruption than Word. Its files are lossless compressed to save on disk space--allowing you to save more often, but as download and installed, there seems to be no functioning grammar checker. I will not write for all writers, but I have no trust for anything touched by unchecked AI. I just want things like double space checking, punctuation, and that kind of thing, grammar checking before large companies lined up to steal your content. While grammar checking extensions are available, most are touched by AI, or require additional Java. So, why is no included grammar checking in LibreOffice?

Submission + - More durable UV coating for solar panels made from red onion skins (zmescience.com)

Submitted by fahrbot-bot
fahrbot-bot writes: In a lab in Turku, Finland, scientists have found a surprising ally in the fight for sustainable solar energy: the papery red skin of an onion.

Researchers from the University of Turku, in collaboration with Aalto University and Wageningen University, have developed a bio-based UV protection film for solar cells that not only blocks nearly all harmful ultraviolet light but also outperforms commercial plastic films. The key ingredient is a water extract made from red onion skins.

Sunlight can degrade the delicate components in solar panels—particularly the electrolyte inside dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), a type known for their flexibility and low-light performance. To mitigate this, manufacturers typically wrap cells in UV-protective films made from petroleum-based plastics like polyethylene terephthalate (PET). But these plastics degrade over time and are difficult to recycle.

Seeking a greener alternative, the team turned to nanocellulose, a renewable material derived from wood pulp. Nanocellulose can be processed into thin, transparent films that serve as the perfect substrate for UV-blocking compounds.

Their breakthrough came when they dyed these films using an extract from red onion skins, a common kitchen waste. The result was a filter that blocked 99.9% of UV radiation up to 400 nanometers, a feat that outstripped even the PET-based commercial filters chosen for comparison.

In solar cells, preserving visible and near-infrared light is crucial. That’s the part of the spectrum that powers electricity generation. And here, too, the onion-treated filter excelled: it let through over 80% of light in the 650–1,100 nm range—an ideal sweet spot for energy absorption.

Testing under 1,000 hours of artificial sunlight, the CNF-ROE film—short for cellulose nanofiber with red onion extract—held up remarkably well. It exhibited only minor discoloration and preserved the yellow hue of the electrolyte far better than any other filter. Even predictive modeling based on early degradation trends suggested the CNF-ROE filter could extend a solar cell’s lifetime to roughly 8,500 hours. The PET-based filter? Just 1,500 hours.

Google: red onions solar panels

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