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ticho writes:

"Followers of the Penguin, Marcin Iwiński, one of the founders of CD Projekt RED, has spoken out about why the developer of The Witcher series and Cyberpunk 2077 has not yet shown any support towards Linux.

Marcin says: "You know, one of the reasons we have not released The Witcher on Linux is that we most probably have to address five different versions of Linux and this is always terrible to support the quality of the games afterwards. The patches, the updates, and everything. If Steam will deliver a constant Linux environment, call it SteamOS or anything like that, we would love to have our games there because, you know, the more people play our games, the better for us."

Entire podcast (in MP3 form) here."

janrinok writes:

"The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is providing many interesting news items this week. The BBC reports that the Black Ghost Knifefish has inspired construction of a new robot. The robotic fish would be able to swim in underwater situation where it would be impossible or too dangerous for a human to swim."

Read more below.

Gaaark writes:

"Germany plans to beef up its counterintelligence tactics against allied countries in response to revelations of widespread US spying, Der Spiegel magazine reported Sunday.

In the wake of the leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the German government is considering deploying its own agents to keep tabs on Western secret services and embassies on German soil, including those of the United States and Britain.

They'll deploy two spies, and they'll deploy two spies, and so on, and so on... Read about it here, at Security Week"

janrinok writes:

"Researchers from Norway have developed a new instrument to measure Facebook addiction, the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale. This report is based on one first issued in 2012, but updated within the past few days.

'The use of Facebook has increased rapidly. We are dealing with a subdivision of Internet addiction connected to social media,' Doctor of Psychology Cecilie Schou Andreassen says about the study, which is the first of its kind worldwide.

Andreassen heads the research project “Facebook Addiction” at the University of Bergen (UiB). An article about the results has just been published in the renowned journal Psychological Reports. She has clear views as to why some people develop Facebook dependency.

"It occurs more regularly among younger than older users. We have also found that people who are anxious and socially insecure use Facebook more than those with lower scores on those traits, probably because those who are anxious find it easier to communicate via social media than face-to-face. People who are organized and more ambitious tend to be less at risk from Facebook addiction. They will often use social media as an integral part of work and networking. Our research also indicates that women are more at risk of developing Facebook addiction, probably due to the social nature of Facebook," Andreassen says.

The report also details 6 warning signs of Facebook addiction, which resemble those of drug, alcohol and chemical substance addiction."

mrbluze writes:

"Projected to cost around US$37 billion, China has resurrected plans for an underwater tunnel 123km in length, Daily Mail reports that 'the tunnel will run from the port city of Dalian in northeastern Liaoning province to Yantai city in eastern Shandong, slashing travel time to 40 minutes.'

China first announced plans in 1994 to build the tunnel, at an estimated cost of $10 billion, with completion set before 2010. But 20 years on, the project remains stuck in the planning stage. The project has also been proposed at the annual session of China's parliament every year since 2009.

A world wonder, or just another pipe dream?"

mrbluze writes

"In the ongoing fallout from the problematic Obamacare website launch, John McAfee gave his perspective on the troubled project as reported in Day On The Day:

'The company used Indian programmers—in India—to code using Java Script. On the user's computer…Just bizarre,' he said.

McAfee also pointed out security flaws in the website, and those flaws are in addition to the scammers who will build fake websites just to get personal information. He said the hacker aspect was only one of the problems in 'an error ridden system.'"

[Ed. Note] Now that individuals will be more or less compelled to sign up, what implications will this have on information security?

similar_name writes:

"Obligatory 3D Printing Story from Frankfurt, Germany (CNN)...

Call him Charlie, Charles, Chuck -- whatever you want. It's all okay with him. Beaming a warm smile from beneath his push-broom mustache, the softly spoken 74-year-old doesn't strike you as a pioneering innovator -- the man responsible for a breakthrough that's now driving forward the world of manufacturing. But Chuck Hull -- "in this kind of environment, it's usually 'Chuck'," he says, as he sits down with CNN in Frankfurt, Germany -- is executive vice president and chief technology officer of 3D Systems, a company built on his creation: the 3D printer."

Gaaark writes:

"Remember the 3-dimensional crime scene that Kirk inspected on his tablet in Star Trek Into Darkness?

Australian police are now able to do just that; though not currently in a quality that meets Star Fleet standards.

According to Ars Technica, a device called 'the Zebedee handheld mapping scanner' (developed by CSIRO, Australia's national science research agency) allows Australian police to obtain a 3D map of a crime scene in about 20 minutes.

There is an interesting video of a forest walk-through and the 3D results, plus other results."

AudioGuy writes:

"You heard it here first. According to Natural News, a NASA report has verified that carbon dioxide actually cools the atmosphere.

Practically everything you have been told by the mainstream scientific community and the media about the alleged detriments of greenhouse gases, and particularly carbon dioxide, appears to be false, according to new data compiled by NASA's Langley Research Center. As it turns out, all those atmospheric greenhouse gases that Al Gore and all the other global warming hoaxers have long claimed are overheating and destroying our planet are actually cooling it, based on the latest evidence."

[Ed. note] I'm going to post this, because why not argue science that has been settled? Also, we needed to test the algorithm that generated mod points by sparking conversation. This was as good a way as any to get posts quickly. Sorry if you thought SoylentNews really endorsed this. ~Mattie_p

According to a recent announcement, the crowdfunding site Kickstarter has been hacked. Kickstarter states that there was no credit card information stolen and that all unauthorized activity has been limited to only two accounts.

While the passwords are all salted and encrypted (either using SHA-1 or bcrypt), a weak password might still be hacked. Users are strongly advised to change their passwords on Kickstarter and any other site where they use the same passwords.

Further information can be found at the Kickstarter blog.

Inuit whalers are being warned away from eating raw meat (muktuk) from Beluga whales after researchers at the University of British Columbia's Marine Mammal Research Unit identified infection in whales by the parasite Toxoplasma gondii.

Toxoplasma is usually identified as being carried by cats and is often cited as a reason why pregnant women should not clean out litter boxes. According to the CDC, effects of toxoplasmosis related illness can range from "flu-like symptoms" to "causing damage to the brain, eyes, or other organs".

Speculation is that the rising temperatures in the Arctic are allowing new pathogens to spread to the North. "Ice is a significant ecological barrier and it influences the way in which pathogens can be transmitted in nature and your risk of exposure" said molecular parasitologist Michael Grigg. "What we're finding with the changes ongoing in the Arctic is that we're getting new pathogens emerging to cause diseases in the region that haven't been there before."

Gaaark writes:

"According to the BBC, Silk Road 2, the infamous online market for illicit goods, was hacked through the manipulation of 'computer code' which caused a $2.7 million loss.

In a statement posted on Silk Road 2 forums, the administrator of the site, known as Defcon, said: 'We have been hacked. Nobody is in danger, no information has been leaked, and server access was never obtained by the attacker.'

Prior to the Silk Road 2's loss, MtGox and other BitCoin exchanges had already disabled withdrawals due to a currency wide vulnerability.

Do you 'collect' Bitcoins? What is the future of cryptocurrencies now that countries have started 'banning' them?"

[Ed. note] Bitteridge would suggest "None - there is no future."