Comment on People on the move 08/03

Enlarge (credit: BeeBright / Getty Images / iStockphoto) Infrastructure used to maintain and distribute the Linux operating system kernel was infected for two years, starting in 2009, by sophisticated malware that managed to get a hold of one of the developers’ most closely guarded resources: the /etc/shadow files that stored encrypted password data for more than 550 system users, researchers said Tuesday. The unknown attackers behind the compromise infected at least four servers inside kernel.org, the Internet domain underpinning the sprawling Linux development and distribution network, the researchers from security firm ESET said.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images) The Federal Trade Commission's Office of Technology has issued a warning to automakers that sell connected cars. Companies that offer such products "do not have the free license to monetize people’s information beyond purposes needed to provide their requested product or service," it wrote in a blog post on Tuesday.

Enlarge / John Milton citing Spenser on the recent history of Ireland in his 1587 edition of Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles. Note Milton's italic e, hooks and curls on letters and distinctive s's. (credit: Phoenix Public Library) John Milton is widely considered to be one of the greatest English poets who ever lived—just ask such luminaries as John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Samuel Jonson, and Voltaire, who once declared, "Milton remains the glory and the wonder of England." But while Milton's own books continue to be widely read and studied, there are only a handful of books in collections today known to have been part of his personal library. Add one more title to that small list, as scholars recently discovered a copy of Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland in the Phoenix Public Library, containing handwritten notes in Milton's distinctive hand.

Enlarge (credit: VMware) Broadcom's acquisition of VMware last year has led to widespread upheaval at the company, including layoffs, big changes to how it approaches software licensing, and general angst from customers and partners. Broadcom also discontinued the free-to-use version of VMware's vSphere Hypervisor, also known as ESXi, earlier this year, forcing home users to find alternatives. But today there's a bit of good news—for home users, at least.

Enlarge / GM used a Silverado EV to power a 10,000-square-foot house as a demo of its Home Energy system. (credit: General Motors) LOS ANGELES—Let's face it: The American power grid is a hot mess. The system is outdated and overstressed by amp-sucking appliances, air conditioning units, and extreme weather.

Enlarge / Riding atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, spacecraft sets off to collide with an asteroid in the world’s first full-scale planetary defense test mission in November 2021. (credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls) On a fall evening in 2022, scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory were busy with the final stages of a planetary defense mission.