The Daily Populous

Saturday February 26th, 2022 evening edition

Driver that promised faster Ethereum mining for Nvidia GPUs is full of viruses
Authored by arstechnica.com
image for Driver that promised faster Ethereum mining for Nvidia GPUs is full of viruses

One of the most significant changes came in mid-2021, when Nvidia released "Lite Hash Rate" (LHR) versions of its RTX 3000-series GPUs that halved their performance when mining Ethereum or similar coins but didn't affect their gaming performance.

Cryptocurrency miners have tried to circumvent the LHR limitations in a bunch of ways since then, including by using non-LHR drivers that Nvidia leaked (oops!)

and flashing the BIOSes from 3090-series cards onto 3080-series cards to bump up the hash-rate limit.

And earlier this week, a hacker by the name of Sergey released an "Nvidia RTX LHR v2 Unlocker" that promised to remove the hash-rate limits on most Nvidia cards using a combination of BIOS updates and specially modified drivers.

Surprising no one, the sketchy drivers with the too-good-to-be-true performance promises turned out to be full of viruses.

Other times, as with this well-known AMD driver package for Macs running Boot Camp, it's the best way to get consistent driver updates with the latest fixes and performance improvements.

If mysterious drivers from a previously unknown third party promise a silver-bullet fix for a problem that the entire cryptocurrency mining community has not been able to figure out, you probably shouldn't install them. »

Moscow newspaper condemns Putin over invasion: ‘Russia. Bombs. Ukraine.’
Authored by inews.co.uk

In an act of rebellion against the Putin government, Russian daily Novaya Gazeta said it would publish editions in Russian and Ukrainian.

Editor Dmitri Murátov, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, wrote: “Together with pain, we feel a sense of shame.

With a picture of her bloodied face, The Sun’s headline was “Her blood on his hands” – a reference to Putin. »

Ukraine crisis: Poland to boycott World Cup play-off against Russia
Authored by bbc.co.uk
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Poland will boycott their World Cup play-off against Russia because of the invasion of Ukraine, with captain Robert Lewandowski saying "we can't pretend that nothing is happening".

Russia are due to host Poland in Moscow on 24 March, while Ukraine travel to Scotland on the same day.

The Scottish FA is in talks with Uefa over the home World Cup play-off semi-final against Ukraine and the planned women's World Cup qualifier in Kyiv in April. »

Humpback whales no longer listed as endangered after major recovery
Authored by abc.net.au
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Humpback whales will be removed from Australia's threatened-species list, after the government's independent scientific panel on threatened species deemed the mammals had made a major recovery.

Key points: Humpback whales will no longer be considered an endangered or vulnerable species.

Humpback whales will no longer be considered an endangered or vulnerable species Climate change and fishing still pose threats to their long-term health. »

Joe Biden signs order to provide $600m military assistance to Ukraine
Authored by independent.co.uk

US president Joe Biden has signed an order to provide up to $600m (£448m) in “immediate military assistance’’ to Ukraine, as Russia wages war against the country.

Ukraine is under Russian invasion for the third day on Saturday, with no signs of talks between Moscow and Kyiv to resolve the conflict.

Earlier, Mr Biden and Mr Zelensky spoke about strengthening sanctions against Russia and providing defence assistance to Kyiv. »

In pictures

image for Leadership [oc]
image for Thus begins the unnecessary gas hoarding (OC)
image for The last photo of my cat and dog before my cat passed [OC]
image for Ukraine sunrise this morning
image for [OC] Ukrainian kids paying their respect to Ukrainian troops
image for [OC] Seen at my local Walmart
image for [OC] My daughter made this bookmark. I don’t have the heart to tell her.
image for (oc) first time in 10 years I attempted watercolors. Been long enough.
image for [OC] Not as big as other protests but It still has meaning.
image for (OC) Back in 2017, I painted Putin as a gay clown. Oil on canvas.
image for Showing my love and support for Ukraine the best way I know how to. [OC]
image for [OC] Purchased on a visit to Kyiv from a seller in the metro station below Independence Square

Also in the news

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy addresses nation after new dawn rises in Kyiv: 'I'm here'

Russian special forces have entered Kyiv to hunt down Ukraine’s leaders, says Volodymyr Zelensky

Estonian MP calls for Ukraine to become EU candidate country

Biden signs memo to give Ukraine £448m in immediate military assistance

Ukraine invasion: UK and US among 27 nations which have agreed to give more weapons and military aid to country, Sky News understands