SoylentNews

lhsi writes:

http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2014/jul/video-games-could-provide-venue-exploring-sustainability-concepts
Full paper: http://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/5259/3877

Researchers believe that playing video games may help with the understanding of global sustainability issues. As video games encourage creative and strategic thinking, it could help people make sense of complex problems.

Futures of scarcity require people to think strategically about adaptation and redesigning life -- what is important to us, how we make choices, and the tradeoffs with which we will have to contend. Researchers interested in global futures should explore digital games both as avenues for simulating futures of scarcity and for a better understanding of public ideas about futures of scarcity.

Developers, gamers, and game studies scholars should challenge the gaming community to bring problem solving in a game closer to problem solving outside the game. Video games can be generative platforms to develop adaptive strategies, make the strategies visible and critiquable, and give members of the gaming community an entry point from which to begin and develop discussions about the future. Not only can better science lead to more interesting challenges within games, but the creativity of games could lead to better science for understanding a complex global model of potential futures.

legont writes:

A prototype of a Russian tablet, built using the Android-derived operating system RoMOS for the Russian Defense Ministry, features the ability to physically disconnect communication modules and sensors on demand.

The "kill communications" button affects GPS, 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth modules, as well as its two cameras, microphone and even the speaker. The tablet can work 1 meter underwater for at least 30 minutes, functions in hot temperatures of up to +55 degrees Celsius, and is shock-resistant. An extra-tough variant fit for the combat zone is available.

Other Russian sites report that a "secure" app store would accept only apps without access rights to personal data.

Is anything similar coming on the western front?

lhsi writes:

A number of studies (abstract) looked at how children perceive the trustworthiness of written instructions compared to oral instructions. Children who could read trusted a written instruction over an oral instruction, whereas children who could not read did not show a preference.

Regardless of age, the children who couldn't yet read were indiscriminate in whether they chose to trust the purely oral advice, or whether to trust the puppet who read the text instruction. By contrast, the children with some reading ability showed a clear preference to trust the puppet who read from the envelope, choosing the tube they recommended over 75 percent of the time.

Two further studies cleared up some ambiguities. For instance, it was found that young readers prefer to trust a puppet who reads the instruction from text, than oral advice from a puppet who gets their information from a whisper in the ear. In other words, the young readers weren't simply swayed by the fact the text puppet was drawing on a secondary source. Young readers also trusted instruction from written text over information conveyed in a coloured symbol. This shows they're specifically trusting of written text, not just any form of permanent, external information.

Corriveau's team said their results showed that once children learn to read, "they rapidly come to regard the written word as a particularly authoritative source of information about how to act in the world." They added that in some ways this result is difficult to explain. Young readers are exposed to a good deal of fantasy and fiction in written form, so why should they be so trusting of written instruction? Perhaps they are used to seeing adults act on the basis of written information such as maps, menus, and recipes but then again, pre-readers will also have had such experiences. This suggests there's something special about the process of learning to read that leads children to perceive written instruction as authoritative.

present_arms writes:

The Register is reporting that the market share for the elderly OS's are on the increase.

Whatever Microsoft is doing to get punters adopting Windows 8.x isn't working, at least if the latest figures from Netmarketshare showing its older operating systems growing faster than its latest progeny are any guide.

We've now tracked Netmarketshare's data for nine months and as the table shows, Windows 7 has enjoyed steady growth over that period. Windows XP has also had its moments, as it did between May and June 2014 when it accounted for 0.06 per cent more of the operating systems Netmarketshare detected with its methodology of digging through web server logs.

Cryptonymous Coward writes:

From Politico:

The health world is flirting with disaster, say the experts who monitor crime in cyberspace. A hack that exposes the medical and financial records of tens of thousands of patients is coming, they say it's only a matter of when.

As health data become increasingly digital and the use of electronic health records booms, thieves see patient records in a vulnerable health care system as attractive bait, according to experts interviewed by POLITICO. On the black market, a full identity profile contained in a single record can bring as much as $500.

lhsi writes:

NASA data has shown that plant growth increases in large areas where intensification of agriculture has occurred.

Mueller, of the University of Maryland in College Park (now at the Biodiversity and Climate Research Center in Frankfurt) teamed up with university and NASA colleagues to find out. Their new analysis shows that on a global scale, the presence of people corresponds to more plant productivity, or growth.

Specifically, populated areas that have undergone intensive land use showed increasing plant greenness and productivity during the study period from 1981 to 2010.

The researchers found that the magnitude of changes in plant growth over the 29-year study period was different depending on the size of nearby population. Near areas defined as dense settlements with about 500 people per square kilometer the vegetation index increased by 4.3 percent. That's less than near villages, where the vegetation index increased by almost 6 percent. "More intensive agriculture occurs in these rural areas", Tucker added.

In short, areas with a human footprint have seen plant productivity increase. In contrast, areas with a minimal human footprint rangelands and wildlands saw close to no change.

wantkitteh writes:

Forbes reports that, following Microsoft's heavy-handed seizure of 23 domains belonging to DDNS service No-IP in order to deal with the NJrat and NJw0rm botnets, the domains have been returned to the control of their original owner. Whether this was the original plan all along is unclear, but Microsoft has so far not made any explanation of the move or responded to the criticism leveled at it by No-IP service users, both free and paid, all over the Internet:

"Microsoft's move ... to cut off cybercriminal control of the Bladabindi (NJrat) and Jenxcus (NJw0rm) malware also saw millions of legitimate websites shuttered as they were using the same infrastructure as thousands of domains being used to manage the malicious software. The Redmond giant was subsequently told to cease "policing" the internet. At around 8pm BST today, No-IP started reporting a number of domains were back online, whilst records on the Domain Name System showed Microsoft had relinquished its control of many of the sites it wiped off the internet. One wonders if this was Microsoft giving up its anti-malware operation or if it's simply part of the process. There is another possibility, as suggested by a noted security researcher today: the court may have reversed its decision to allow Microsoft to take control of the 23 domains it seized."

No-IP said more than 1.8 million "legitimate customers" were taken out by Microsoft's seizure, affecting roughly 4 million hostnames. Though a digital issue there have been some potentially dangerous physical results from Microsoft's action, according to Goguen, as it may have stopped people receiving medicines or caring for their children. "We have received many calls from customers who use our service to monitor cameras for elderly relatives, small children and even pets," she added. "We have even had a customer from a medical dispatch company go down because of this. Over the past two days they have not been able to dispatch medics to elderly patients and it is very troubling to them."

lhsi writes:

The UK internet "porn filters" have been found to be blocking more than just porn, including TorrentFreak & Linuxtracker. Twitter, Facebook and reddit have been blocked by some ISPs as "potentially dangerous to children ".

This data has been collected by the Open Rights Group's website that checks to see if a site is blocked on a certain network (as this information is not released from the ISPs). Ironically, this site, blocked.org.uk has itself been blocked by some ISPs.

A new tool released by the Open Rights Group today reveals that 20% of the 100,000 most-visited websites on the Internet are blocked by the parental filters of UK ISPs. With the newly-launched website, the group makes it easier to expose false positives and to show that the blocking efforts actually ban many legitimate sites, TorrentFreak included.

The results of ORG's new tool show that what started as a "porn filter" has turned into something much bigger. Under the guise of "protecting the children" tens of thousands of sites are now caught up in overbroad filters, which is a worrying development to say the least.

c0lo writes:

Less the 3 years after the Austrian police raided the house and confiscated the computers of a man operating a Tor exit node, the Austrian justice decided that the operator of a Tor exit node is also co-responsible for any illegal traffic exiting the node.

In an ironic twist (of fate or of faith?), the verdict comes very close to the date EFF decided to run a series of articles trying to convince people that everybody should run Tor.

What doesn't fit my mind: why aren't the phone service providers made responsible for any premeditated criminal act arranged/discussed over their network? Why are the only Tor exit nodes co-responsible for the illegal traffic? After all, the operators of TOR bridges and all the ISP-es etc carried that traffic.

cafebabe writes:

From http://rt.com/news/169660-facebook-criminal-damage-page/:-

An Irish man has avoided serving jail time after pleading guilty to posting an offensive status update on his ex-girlfriend's Facebook page. The landmark case represents the first criminal prosecution for damages done to a social media account.

The 30-year-old man, hailing from the town of Donegal, was charged under the Criminal Damage Act 1991, which carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and a €10,000 fine.

The Defendant, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was acquitted by a jury last month of raping and falsely imprisoning the same woman in her home on the same date her Facebook page was defaced.

He received a 2,000 Euro (US$2,735) fine. Potentially, a large number of people would be guilty of Fraping. Overall, the prosecution of criminal damage/computer misuse/fraudulent advertising/false utterances may be very expensive. In addition to this, there is the lawful and unlawful manipulation of social media accounts by police and courts:-

• Social Media Complaints "At Least Half" of Calls Passed to Front-Line Police in UK
• Atlanta Police Arrest Street Performer, Coerce Pro-Police Facebook Post
• UK Police Request Delete of Political Tweet

lhsi writes:

https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/science/nearby-earth-planet-found

A new earth-like planet has been discovered 16 light years away.

A UNSW-led team of researchers has discovered a potentially habitable Earth-like planet that is only 16 light years away.

The "super-Earth" planet, GJ 832 c, takes 16 days to orbit its red-dwarf star, GJ 832, and has a mass at least five times that of Earth.

It receives about the same average stellar energy as Earth does, because red dwarfs shine more dimly than our Sun, and may have similar temperatures to our planet.

Team member and Head of UNSW's Exoplanetary Science research group, Professor Chris Tinney, says that if the planet has a similar atmosphere to Earth it may be possible for life to survive, although seasonal shifts would be extreme.

"However, given the large mass of the planet, it seems likely that it would possess a massive atmosphere, which may well render the planet inhospitable. A denser atmosphere would trap heat and could make it more like a super-Venus and too hot for life," says Professor Tinney.

pbnjoe writes:

From Ars Technica:

Recent games shows like the Game Developers Conference and E3 have come and gone with little fanfare or hubbub surrounding the Android-powered Ouya console other than small promotional displays and a seemingly stillborn Ouya Everywhere initiative. This week, Ouya has tried yet again to get gamers' attention by way of a crazy, limited-time bargain: the Ouya All-Access Pass.

The pass, which costs $60 and lasts for a full year, is meant to unlock seemingly unlimited access to the Ouya online store's major paid offerings: namely, "one-time purchases under $30 such as full-game unlocks and level-pack add-ons." However, the fine print explains that downloadable content designed to "enhance gameplay" with options such as "extra lives and power-ups" is not included in the All-Access Pass, which may create a blurry line between what content is and isn't included. Ouya's Chess 2 , for example, doesn't include a full "unlock" purchase but rather coin packs used to enable online play at a cost per online session.

The promotion comes on the heels of a March change in Ouya policy allowing developers to make paid games that don't include free demo versions or in-app purchases. That shift made particular sense for a wave of serious games coming to Ouya, including That Dragon, Cancer, and Thralled, whose sensitive content might be undermined by "pay more to keep going!" alerts mid-stream.

It appears to need the attention:

Though Ouya has yet to announce firm sales figures for either its hardware or software, developers have routinely complained about low sales for their Ouya fare. A Gamasutra report from last October saw that issue come up as a recurring theme, and our own interviews with game designers have echoed that sentiment in kind. In an e-mail interview, Chess 2 developer Zachary Burns told Ars that "there is no money in the [Ouya] userbase," though he was quick to express unabashed appreciation for the promotional and developmental support given by the official Ouya team.

However, those interested in this deal are too late, as:

the promotion has already been closed. Visitors can enter their e-mail address at the promotion's link to receive an alert if/when it resumes.

Appalbarry writes:

It's a sad day when it's surprising to see a government using scientific method to make policy, but for once that has happened in Canada. After several years of lobbying, drivers in British Columbia will see speed limits on many rural highways increased to what is commonly referred to as the 85th Percentile.

Media coverage is ranging from the confused to the outraged, and the call in shows and web site comment streams are just plain out there.

There will also be a new set of laws to enforce the practice of "keep right, except to pass" on multi-lane highways, and a new definition for "Winter Tires" to clarify that mud and snow (M+S) and mountain/snowflake tires are defined as winter tires.

redneckmother writes:

Nick Hanauer, a self-described "plutocrat" says history shows that the current economic and governmental situation can't last, and the USA should should get busy changing before the system breaks down.

From the memo to his "Fellow Zillionaires":

I founded aQuantive, an Internet advertising company that was sold to Microsoft in 2007 for $6.4 billion. In cash. My friends and I own a bank. I tell you all this to demonstrate that in many ways I'm no different from you. Like you, I have a broad perspective on business and capitalism. And also like you, I have been rewarded obscenely for my success, with a life that the other 99.99 percent of Americans can't even imagine.

But let's speak frankly to each other. I'm not the smartest guy you've ever met, or the hardest-working. I was a mediocre student. I'm not technical at all - I can't write a word of code. What sets me apart, I think, is a tolerance for risk and an intuition about what will happen in the future.

If we don't do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn't eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It's not if, it's when.

lhsi writes:

The Advertising Standards Authority (UK) has banned an EA Dungeon Keeper advert as it is misleading, it omitted important information regarding in app purchases. The advert claimed that the game was free to play but didn't mention the in app purchases that can speed up gameplay. EA pointed out that the "average player would expect a free-to-play title to be monetised with countdown timers and premium currency, and mentioned popular titles that use this feature".

Luckily, the ASA knew more about how the game works, and that at later stages in the game the countdown timers grew longer.

The ASA noted that the game software was available to download for free, and that it was possible to play the game without spending money. However, we understood that several mechanisms within the game took a significant amount of time to be completed, and that these would only be speeded up by using the premium Gem currency. We noted that, although some of these actions could be done simultaneously, there was a limit to how many actions could happen at the same time and that the length of the countdown timers increased according to how far the player had progressed in aspects of the game. We therefore regarded it as extremely likely that players would reach a position where they would be unable to take any further meaningful or progressive action in the game until a timer had finished or been skipped, and that these periods would become longer and more significant, and the cost of skipping increasingly higher, as the player progressed. Although some of the features in the ad did not require waiting for a timer, we noted that these were either incidental or brief (such as 'slapping' the imp characters) or were dependent on other actions that were gated by a timer.

The complaint has been upheld and the ad must no longer appear in it's current form.

cafebabe writes:

From RT:

Blood transfusions containing genetically engineered cells could be the future of countering germ warfare, according to new research sponsored by DARPA, which hopes modified blood cells could help neutralize biological toxins deployed against soldiers.

"We wanted to create high-value red cells that do more than simply carry oxygen," says Whitehead Founding Member Harvey Lodish, in a statement published on the Whitehead Institute website. Lodish collaborated with Whitehead Member Hidde Ploegh in the project.

The breakthrough study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which harvests Lodish's expertise in red blood cells (RBCs) with biochemical methods developed in Ploegh's lab. Referred to as "sortagging," the approach uses "bacterial enzyme sortase A" to bond between the surface protein and a substance of choice, "be it a small-molecule therapeutic or an antibody capable of binding a toxin." Such modifications leave the cells unharmed.

Trials on laboratory mice have been "positive" and the researches have outlined potential applications.

"Because the modified human red blood cells can circulate in the body for up to four months, one could envision a scenario in which the cells are used to introduce antibodies that neutralize a toxin," said Ploegh. "The result would be long-lasting reserves of antitoxin antibodies."

Researchers hope that the method could be used to deliver drugs to human organs and in a number of benign medical treatment practices, such as treating stoke.