Researchers at UC Irvine uncovered a vulnerability that enables some gaming mice with polling rates of 4,000 Hz or higher — many of which are developed in the Bay Area — to be turned into spyware, capturing conversations through desk vibrations using AI.

As Tom’s Hardware reports, security researchers from the University of California Irvine found a way to use high-end optical gaming mice containing advanced sensors that can sample data up to 8,000 times per second, per Hoodline, to record users’ conversations via desk vibrations. They then used artificial intelligence to decode the vibrations with an accuracy of about 42 to 61%, as detailed in the group’s paper, aptly titled, Mic-E-Mouse.

Tom’s Hardware explains that the vulnerability can occur when a user connects their gaming mouse to a computer that’s been compromised, which frequently happens via infected free and open source software like creative apps or video games.

"With only a vulnerable mouse, and a victim’s computer running compromised or even benign software (in the case of a web-based attack surface), we show that it is possible to collect mouse packet data and extract audio waveforms," the researchers write.

As Hoodline reports, Sunnyvale-based PixArt Imaging manufactures some of the sensors used in the vulnerable gaming mice, many of which are developed by Bay Area companies, including Milpitas-based Cosair, San Jose’s Logitech, and Razer, which is based in Irvine but has offices in San Francisco, per Hoodline.

Hoodline notes that the researchers discovered the quality of the audio transmissions was degraded significantly when users’ conversations were kept below 60-80 decibels and if they utilized thick or rigid surfaces like signal-absorbing mouse pads. They also suggest security measures for companies, such as blacklisting vulnerabilities, compiling approved peripheral lists, and releasing firmware updates that limit data exposure, per Hoodline.

Image: Viper 8K Hz, one of the vulnerable mice tested in the research; Razer

• Matias Augusto Travizano, 45, of Argentina died while descending Mount Shasta during rough conditions last Friday, September 12. Travizano and a companion had gone off course and were stranded on the tip of a glacier when he hit his head and slid 2,000 feet to his death. [SFGate]
• SF’s first televised Lowrider Parade and the "KING of the STREETS” Hopping Competition, which will be co-hosted by local legend Chuy Gomez, is taking place Saturday in the Mission in Celebration of Latino Heritage Month. [Secret San Francisco]
• Four people were shot in the East Bay town of Antioch around 10:20 pm Thursday in the area of "D" and West 19th Streets; two died at the scene, and two others were taken to local hospitals. [KPIX]
• A large, non-venomous ball python, which experts believe to be someone’s pet, is currently on the loose in the South Bay. [NBC Bay Area]

National:

• The air traffic control towers at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field lost all radar and phone communications Friday afternoon due to an outage at the local phone company. Six hundred fourty-five flights at DFW were delayed and 183 cancelled, and Love Field had 165 delays, as of 4:30 pm CT. [CNN]
• Trump signed a proclamation Friday requiring an annual fee of $100,000 for H-1B visa applications. He also announced plans to launch his new “Trump Gold Card,” which grants US citizenship with a $1 million processing fee, as well as the Platinum for $2 million. [CBS Washington DC]
• In a recent Pew Research poll, "How Americans View AI and Its Impact on People and Society," 53% of the respondents said they are concerned about AI technology and they want more government protections safeguarding how it’s used in their daily lives. [KRON4]
• A California federal judge representing 21 states and Washington DC won a temporary restraining order Thursday barring the US Department of Agriculture from collecting data on US residents who applied for SNAP. [Associated Press]

Video of the Day:

The year is 1998, and the goths are all gathered at an SF club called The Catacombs.

A new study confirmed that an underwater “Octopus Garden” in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Central Valley, discovered in 2018, is home to the largest known aggregation of octopus on the planet — and the research, conducted over the past five years, also reveal why that is.

In 2018, researchers on an expedition to Davidson Seamount, an extinct underwater volcano about 80 miles southwest of Monterey, first observed a unexpectedly large community of “Muusoctopus robustus,” also known as the pearl octopus, on the ocean floor nearby, according to the research group's press release. While scientists believed that it was one of only a handful of known deep-sea octopus nurseries, they didn’t know just how many octopus there were.

Several groups, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, came together to organize more than a dozen deep-sea dives using a custom-built remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with a 4K camera, as SFGATE reported. The equipment reportedly enables researchers to identify each individual octopus, which are about the size of grapefruits, and track their habits. They found that most of the octopus were upside down, inverting their arms and folding them around their bodies — an indication of pearl octopus mothers protecting their eggs (called “brooding”).

More observation found only adult male and female octopus, developing eggs, and hatchlings at the site, which is about two miles below the ocean’s surface, suggesting that it was exclusively used for reproduction. The question of “why” remained.

They were able to determine that a deep-sea thermal springs just beneath the crevices of the site provided warmth otherwise unavailable at the depths of the ocean floor. The temperature in these crevices is about 51 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to the rest of the temperature in the abyss, which are about 35 degrees. This warmth apparently accelerates the development of the octopus eggs, reducing the incubation period, and enhancing the chances of hatchling survival.

As the research revealed, deep-sea octopuses typically experience extended incubation periods due to the cold temperatures of their habitat, which slow down embryo development. In the freezing abyss, pearl octopus eggs were initially projected to take five to eight years or more to hatchl but the 4K camera closely observed nesting mothers, tracking their unique markings, and found that contrary to expectations, the eggs hatched in under two years, as the warmth from thermal springs accelerated the metabolism of female octopuses and their broods.

The octopus hotspot still attracts predators and scavengers — in fact, octopus mothers die after reproducing, so a thriving community of invertebrates lives alongside the nesting females, feeding on the weak hatchlings and dying mothers.

This key discovery holds important implications for understanding the deep-sea ecosystem and underscores the fragile interplay between these creatures and their environment, the researchers say. As senior scientist Jim Barry puts it, "The deep sea is one of the most challenging environments on Earth, yet animals have evolved clever ways to cope with frigid temperatures, perpetual darkness, and extreme pressure."

They believe that the Octopus Garden's role as a sanctuary for reproduction and a haven for scavengers in the abyssal depths shows the need for the protection of such unique and vital habitats as human impact extends further into the oceans.

You can watch the research group's video about the discovery and see more of the Octopus Garden here.

Feature image of the Octopus Garden via the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Cornell-based research using Twitter posts suggests that people are happiest in the morning hours, with users using words like "awesome" and "super" most often from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. Tweets, it seem, later turn remorseful and angry, with many users employing words like "annoy" from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. (Side note: not surprisingly, this is also when most blogs receive the crankiest commentary from the peanut gallery.) What does this all mean? Well, according to Money Watch, you should not make any big decisions after 3 p.m.

"[N]ot only are you likely to be groggy and less disciplined around 4 p.m., you're also probably not too happy, either. Doesn't sound like the best time to decide anything terribly important," suggests Money Watch's Laura Vanderkam, adding that the best time to make any grand, life-altering decision should happen from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. "Use that time to focus on work instead, especially if you're trying to think about long-term goals," she recommends.

What about you? At what time do you post some of your nastiest or most regretful Tweets?

[CBS]

Delightful news, folks. The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (a stem cell research funding agency established thanks to Prop 71 in the 2004 election) put their seal of approval on 15 grants to help fund blessed and beneficial stem cell know-how. Awesome. Said funding will go to Stanford ($3,930,000), UC Berkeley ($3,371,686), UCSF ($3,899,912), and the J. David Gladstone Institutes ($2,517,888) to "fund graduate students, postdoctoral scholars and clinical fellows working in stem cell research labs," reports SF Biz Times. After handing out the much-needed funds, CIRM President Alan Trounson said "'It’s important that we continue supporting these future stem cell scientists who are already making significant contributions.'"

Nat: This journey is complex, out of the box. Transformation process. Ontime performance, environmental issues.

Judy Kirshbaum: As program manager of Transit Effectiveness Project, I'll be doing more community outreach. Six more workshops coming up with public.

Our take on all this: it sounds like a good start. Eliminating stops is a great idea; eliminating entire lines would be even better. Muni's always tried to accomplish more than it's able to; and so just like anyone whose to-do list is unmanageable (or like Apple before the return of Steve), Muni needs to delegate some of its bloat to someone else, eliminate the bullshit, and focus on its core competency of moving people from one place to another.

But here's what we'd like someone to cut: lengthy, meaningless, buzzwordy speeches by officials that are just grandiose daydreams instead of specific promises. Just do the damn study, give us the damn findings, and then make the damn changes.