SoylentNews

"gewg_" writes:

Many people view webstats with a jaundiced eye--with good reason. (page)[1][2]

Linux advocate Robert Pogson finds these statistics interesting; while not taking the numbers as gospel, he finds the trends to be fascinating. In recent weeks, he noticed an upward trend in online Linux usage numbers that has continued.[3]

oiaohm,[4] in the 3rd comment,[2] suspects there is a correlation with the revelation of the preinstalled Superfish malware on Lenovo consumer PCs, with owners apparently abandoning their manufacturer-supplied "recovery" mechanisms, defecting from Redmond's easily-exploited OS, and going instead for Linux install media.

So, Soylentils, any other guesses on a cause? Any estimates on how long the current trend will last? Will it then decrease or increase?

• [1] The comment that was referenced was quickly removed by Ziff-Davis from their site, of course.
• [2] Comments on Pogson's blog are numbered top-to-bottom but appear chronologically bottom-to-top.
• [3] Did Internet Exploder ever get .SVG support?
• [4] oiaohm is a very knowledgeable guy but his dyslexia can make his writing difficult to decipher.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

9to5mac has a bunch of stories about Apple Watch, the wearable that will be the focus of major announcement from Apple at Monday's 'Spring Forward" event, and the company's first major new product launch since the passing of Steve Jobs.

• at least some models will be positioned as luxury items, in contrast to iPhone, iPad, and iPod which were "for the rest of us" type products. While the entry-level "Sport" (anodised aluminum) model will retail for $349, a stainless steel model is expected to cost $1,000, and an 18K gold model will probably cost thousands USD. It's a big deal for the company.
• lots of details have been leaked: the watch will sport a heart rate monitor (like existing smartwatches such as FitBit), as well as apps for weather, calendar, music, maps, and battery life. Prototype Apple Watches have come with 8 GB storage. While Apple says that the watch will need to be recharged daily, under heavy usage the battery life may fall below five hours.
• while Steve Jobs wasn't around for the development of Apple Watch, another legendary Apple employee - Jonathan Ive - was. Ive:

  I’m much more concerned about how we can make them as good as possible than how many we’ll sell. We’re brutally self-critical and go through countless iterations of each product.

• since it's an Apple device, it comes with apps, and lots of them. Including (according to rumors) games.

Appalbarry writes:

According to a report by security firm ProofPoint, a January 2014 bot-net attack used not just computers and routers, but televisions and at least one Internet connected fridge. (Insert joke here)

According to the company,

The global attack campaign involved more than 750,000 malicious email communications coming from more than 100,000 everyday consumer gadgets such as home-networking routers, connected multi-media centers, televisions and at least one refrigerator that had been compromised and used as a platform to launch attacks. ... in many cases, the devices had not been subject to a sophisticated compromise; instead, misconfiguration and the use of default passwords left the devices completely exposed on public networks, available for takeover and use.

Also see C-net coverage here.

JamesNZ writes:

It seems Ubuntu Vivid will come with systemd instead of upstart:

Hello all, it should be no secret any more, but it'll get serious now: we will switch Ubuntu Vivid to boot with systemd instead of upstart. That is, desktop, server, cloud/autopkgtests (that already happened two days ago), and all flavors. snappy has used systemd from day one. We will *not* switch Ubuntu Touch, however.

thomasdotnet writes:

In a particularly stunning example of the Einstein Cross, astronomers have discovered a supernova that can be observed again and again. Gravitational lensing effects result in the light from the stellar explosion taking 4 different routes, each route taking a different amount of time to reach Earth. The star SN Refsdal is/was 9.3 billion light years from Earth, while the lensing galaxy cluster MACS J1149.6+2223 sits a little closer at 5 billion light years distant.

While this isn't the first example of the Einstein Cross effect proposed in 1969, it is the first example of a supernova being viewed through one.

The full paper is available on Sciencemag.org for a fee, but Physics World has an adequate summary of the discovery.

CoolHand writes:

After the initial announcement by Valve of a new console machine with its own controller and based on its own rebranded Linux, many were very excited. However, after moving in "Steam Time" for awhile, that excitement died down. That all changed this week at GDC as Valve made official announcements of many "triple a" games coming to SteamOS, with a large sale on Steam for them to boot.

There were also many vendors takes on Steam Machines announced (although many seem overpriced), as well as a new VR headset system, the official announcement of the controller, and a small fifty dollar device called the "Link" to let you stream your games (or even applications) to a tv from a computer. With all these announcements, excitement seems to be building again for the chances of SteamOS and the future of Linux gaming (which has always been a sticking point for consumer desktop adoption).

Can this finally be the dawn of a new age in the Linux world thanks to Valve?

paulej72 writes:

Our VM hosting provider, Linode, needs to update the Xen VM software on the hosts that serve up all of our VMs. Linode is reserving 2 hours of downtime but expects to take less time. Unfortunately we cannot change when this is being done, but at least it is during low demand times. Here is a list of when servers will be going down for maintenance:

• 2015-03-07 3:00:00 PM UTC - nitrogen: staff slash and tor exit node server
• 2015-03-07 3:00:00 PM UTC - fluorine: production frontend
• 2015-03-07 4:00:00 PM UTC - carbon: irc server
• 2015-03-07 6:00:00 PM UTC - boron: staff services
• 2015-03-07 6:00:00 PM UTC - lithium: dev server
• 2015-03-07 7:00:00 PM UTC - neon: production db
• 2015-03-07 7:00:00 PM UTC - helium: backup prod db
• 2015-03-08 7:00:00 PM UTC - hydrogen: backup frontend
• 2015-03-08 9:00:00 PM UTC - beryllium: mail and wiki server

We will be taking time to also upgrade the kernel prior to the downtime so the newest one will be loaded upon restart.

More info is available here: http://status.linode.com/incidents/2dyvn29ds5mz.

[For the USAians: downtime starts Saturday 03/07 @ 10 AM EST; 7 AM PST]

Marneus68 writes:

μTorrent (often referred to as uTorrent or MTorrent by people too lazy to look up how to type in a "μ" character) is reportedly silently shipping a bitcoin miner with its default install. While you can opt out during the installation process, the mining software, called "EpicScale", is apparently installed automatically and silently when updating an existing μTorrent install.

It seems that the developers are aware of this, but the only official response that was given by an administrator on the forum is that " it's easy to uninstall the software via Add/Remove Programs".

From the experience of several users, the installation process still leaves .dll's and executables behind once completed.

More detail can be found on this thread on the official forums.

Are any SoylentNews user affected by this? What alternative torrent clients do you use?

[Editor's Note: The official forums are down at time of editing. The topic has also been discussed on Reddit which includes an Imgur link with the forum thread.]

Hugh Pickens writes:

Quentin Hugon, Benjamin Benoit and Damien Leloup have created a memorial page for projects adandoned by Google over the years including: Google Answers, Lively, Reader, Deskbar, Click-to-Call, Writely, Hello, Send to Phone, Audio Ads, Google Catalogs, Dodgeball, Ride Finder, Shared Stuff, Page Creator, Marratech, Goog-411, Google Labs, Google Buzz, Powermeter, Real Estate, Google Directory, Google Sets, Fast Flip, Image Labeler, Aardvark, Google Gears, Google Bookmarks, Google Notebook, Google Code Search, News Badges, Google Related, Latitude, Flu Vaccine Finder, Google Health, Knol, One Pass, Listen, Slide, Building Maker, Meebo, Talk, SMS, iGoogle, Schemer, Notifier, Orkut, Hotpot, Music Trends, Refine, SearchWiki, US Government Search, Sparrow, Web Accelerator, Google Accelerator, Accessible Search, Google Video, and Helpouts. Missing from the list that we remember are Friend Connect, Google Radio Ads, Jaiku, SideWiki, and Wave.

We knew there were a lot, but who knew there'd be so many. Which abandoned Google project do you wish were still around?

fliptop writes:

As reported on VentureBeat.com:

Since early February, several small drones flying around the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles have been determining mobile devices’ locations from Wi-Fi and cellular transmission signals.

[...] The capture does not involve conversations or personally identifiable information, according to director of marketing and research [at Singapore-based location marketing firm Adnear] Smriti Kataria. It uses signal strength, cell tower triangulation, and other indicators to determine where the device is, and that information is then used to map the user’s travel patterns.

[...] The system identifies a given user through the device ID, and the location info is used to flesh out the user’s physical traffic pattern in his profile. Although anonymous, the user is “identified” as a code. The company says that no name, phone number, router ID, or other personally identifiable information is captured, and there is no photography or video.

I wonder how it deals with MAC address randomizing in iOS 8.

AnonTechie writes:

All over the world, gridlock, stop and go driving and constant and sometimes dangerous lane changes are a daily frustration for highway motorists. However, new research by Dr Xiaobo Qu from Griffith University in Queensland ( http://www.griffith.edu.au ), Australia, in collaboration with Dr Shuaian Wang from Old Dominion University, USA, may provide the means to improving traffic safety, capacity and efficiency between cities.

Dr Qu and Dr Wang have used the M1 Motorway between Queensland's two biggest cities—Gold Coast and Brisbane—as the basis for computer modelling assessing the viability of a Long Distance Commuter lane (LDC).

"Because so many people live on the Gold Coast and work in Brisbane, a large proportion of M1 commuters travel during morning and evening peaks," says Dr Qu. "At these times, each lane of the M1 carries up to 2300 vehicles every hour and bottlenecks are common. "However, this modelling demonstrates that a dedicated LDC lane, with not only maximum but also minimum speed limits, could accommodate much higher traffic volume - up to 3000 vehicles per hour—by eliminating or at least minimising disturbances currently caused by lane changing, low speed vehicles and use of on-ramps and off-ramps.

[Abstract]:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mice.12102/abstract

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191261515000041

An Anonymous Coward writes:

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd ( http://www.vttresearch.com JavaScript required ) has been the first to publish a scientific study on the successful generation of hybrid lager yeasts. For centuries the same few yeast strains have been used in the production of lager beer, in contrast to ale, whisky, wine and cider, for which there is a wide range of yeast strains available to produce different nuances of flavour. VTT has been developing hybrid lager yeasts so as to impart new flavour to the beer and accelerate the production process.

Traditionally, even very different tasting lagers have been produced using the reliable and cold-hardy Saccharomyces pastorianus yeast species. Studies have shown that this trustworthy brewmaster's helper is actually a hybrid composed of two different yeast species. One of them is the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast commonly used in the production of ale, while the other, only recently discovered in the wild, has been named Saccharomyces eubayanus.

These findings have opened up possibilities for researchers to create new, customised lager yeasts through selective mating of strains of different yeast species. This enables the production of new flavours for beer or the acceleration of the fermentation phase in beer production, for example.

[Abstract]: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10295-015-1597-6

AnonTechie writes:

Pick up a handful of sand, and it flows through your fingers like a liquid. But when you walk on the beach, the sand supports your weight like a solid. What happens to the forces between the jumbled sand grains when you step on them to keep you from sinking ? An international team of researchers collaborating at Duke University ( http://www.duke.edu ) have developed a new way to measure the forces inside materials such as sand, soil or snow under pressure.

Described in the March 5 issue of Nature Communications, the technique uses lasers coupled with force sensors, digital cameras and advanced computer algorithms to peer inside and measure the forces between neighboring particles in 3-D.

The new approach will allow researchers to better understand phenomena like the jamming of grain hoppers or the early warning signs of earthquakes and avalanches, said study co-author Nicolas Brodu, now at the French institute Inria.

[Abstract/Paper]: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150305/ncomms7361/full/ncomms7361.html

Hugh Pickens writes:

Hollywood Reporter reports that Twentieth Century Fox recently picked up the movie rights to "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," based on the classic sci-fi book by Robert A. Heinlein and will retitle the movie as 'Uprising'. Heinlein's 1966 sci-fi novel centers on a lunar colony's revolt against rule from Earth and the book popularized the acronym TANSTAAFL (There ain't no such thing as a free lunch), a central, libertarian theme. The novel was nominated for the 1966 Nebula award (honoring the best sci-fi and fantasy work in the U.S.) and won the Hugo Award for best science fiction novel in 1967. An adaptation has been attempted twice before — by DreamWorks, which had a script by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and by Phoenix Pictures, with Harry Potter producer David Heyman attached — but both languished and the rights reverted to Heinlein's estate. Brian Singer, who previously directed X-Men: Days of Future Past, will adopt the screenplay and reportedly direct. Several of Heinlein's novels have been adapted for the big and small screen, including the 1953 film Project Moonbase, the 1994 TV miniseries Red Planet, the 1994 film The Puppet Masters, and — very loosely — the 1997 film Starship Troopers.

n1 writes:

Science reports:

People are nicer to each other when they think someone is watching, many psychology studies have shown—especially if they believe that someone has the power to punish them for transgressions even after they’re dead. That’s why some scientists think that belief in the high gods of moralizing religions, such as Islam and Christianity, helped people cooperate with each other and encouraged societies to grow. An innovative study of 96 societies in the Pacific now suggests that a culture might not need to believe in omniscient, moral gods in order to reap the benefits of religion in the form of political complexity. All they need is the threat of supernatural punishment, even if the deities in question don’t care about morality and act on personal whims, the new work concludes.

[...] Norenzayan notes, “there’s a lot more to religion than moralizing gods.” All-powerful supernatural creators like the Abrahamic god are “at the extreme end of the spectrum” when it comes to beliefs that promote large-scale cooperation and social complexity. Certain rituals and beliefs like karma can also encourage prosocial behavior “without necessarily invoking big gods.”