SoylentNews

c0lo writes:

ArsTechnica and others report on a bill (called the Internet Freedom Act) introduced by the Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn.

These rules "shall have no force or effect, and the Commission may not reissue such rule in substantially the same form, or issue a new rule that is substantially the same as such rule, unless the reissued or new rule is specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of the enactment of this Act," the Internet Freedom Act states.

The legislation has 31 Republican cosponsors.

[...] In the latest election cycle, Blackburn received $25,000 from an AT&T political action committee (PAC), $20,000 from a Comcast PAC, $20,000 from a cable industry association PAC, and $15,000 from a Verizon PAC, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

[...]Blackburn's Internet Freedom Act wouldn't even enforce a weaker version of net neutrality, consistent with her past proposals. In 2011, she filed an "Internet Freedom Act" that would have struck down the FCC's original net neutrality rules that were enforced without a Title II reclassification.

In February 2014, long before FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler decided to use Title II, Blackburn introduced another "Internet Freedom Act" that would have prohibited the FCC from issuing any new net neutrality rules.

Blackburn's announcement yesterday notes that she "has been leading the fight against the Obama Administration’s Net Neutrality regulations since they were first proposed in 2010 by Former Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski." Blackburn is Vice Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

If you want to send comments to FCC on the Net neutrality/Open internet issue, be aware that FCC opened a special mailbox for them in addition to their usual comments page.

chromas writes:

Waggle is an open, Linux-based embedded next-generation platform for building intelligent attentive sensor data collection networks with cloud technology (buzzword bingo! ;) ).

From phys.org:

As urban populations increase, so too does the complexity involved in maintaining basic services like clean water and emergency services. But one of the biggest barriers to making cities "smarter"—for example, comprehensively monitoring sources of waterway pollutants in real time—is quick and easy access to data.

Future scenarios like these depend on technology not yet widely available. Future "smart" cities would have to feature hundreds, maybe thousands, of strategically placed sensors. These devices would record everything from air pressure and temperature to microbial content, and the data would be relayed instantly to the laptops of people who can make decisions based on what they are seeing.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory are laying the groundwork for that future now. Their newly developed Waggle platform outfits researchers with a next-generation data collection experience.

Fauxlosopher writes:

The Market Ticker has commentary [NOTE: javascript required] on a Yahoo article covering an overlooked security problem with Apple Pay, exploited by fraudsters to buy expensive items at Apple's own retail stores.

From the Yahoo article:

Apple Inc.’s new mobile-payment system has been hit by a wave of fraudulent transactions using credit-card data stolen in recent breaches of big retailers, including Home Depot Inc. and Target Corp.

[...] About 80% of the unauthorized purchases have been for big-ticket items bought with smartphones at Apple’s own stores

frojack writes:

ABC and others - via the AP are featuring a story about a growing model for the deployment of Solar Power in new housing subdivisions.

The concept is a Solar Garden, built by developers along with the housing subdivision, or retrofitted after the fact when there is enough land included in the plat. The installation costs are averaged into the price of the homes, or office buildings, freeing the homeowner from individual rooftop solar investments, maintenance, and interconnects.

Hugh Pickens writes:

AP reports that Ryan Pate, a helicopter mechanic, took to Facebook while in Florida after a dispute over sick leave with his company and when he returned to Abu Dhabi last month, he was told to report to the police station, where he was arrested for breaking a United Arab Emirates law on slandering his employer. Pate was shown screenshots of the Facebook message and told his employer had filed charges accusing him of breaking wide-ranging Emirates laws that ban slander. The laws were introduced in late 2012 and make it an offense to use the net to mock or deride organizations and individuals. Pate spent about 10 days in jail and is now free on bail awaiting a March 17 trial. His supporters say he faces up to five years in prison and a steep fine if convicted. "I just couldn't register it in my head because as an American growing up in the United States, the First Amendment right is just ingrained in my brain," says Pate. "I never even entertained the fact that I would wind up in prison out here for something I put on Facebook in the United States."

Pate's congressman, Rep. David Jolly, intervened on his constituent's behalf, lobbying the State Department and Emirates officials for help. In a letter to the Emirati attorney general, Jolly emphasized respect for the sovereignty of the country, but argued because the posts occurred while Pate was on American soil, those laws shouldn't apply. "It is deeply troubling that Mr. Pate now faces judicial proceedings over an action that was done legally in his home country," says Jolly. Speaking via phone from his apartment in Abu Dhabi, Pate was remorseful. “I just want to apologize to everybody I dragged into this,” he said. “It is embarrassing, and I never meant for this to happen. I let my emotions get the better of me.”

We had three Soylents submit stories telling of a solar-powered circumnavigation attempt: Solar Impulse-2.

Note: at the time of posting this story, the solarimpulse.com site [javascript required] was struggling under the load and returning "500 Server Error" messages. It appears that the flight was able to take off at 03:12 UTC.

Solar Impulse-2 Set to Fly Around the World

takyon writes:

Solar Impulse-2, a long-range solar-powered plane, was scheduled to launch on March 9th from Abu Dhabi with the goal of circumnavigating the globe. Pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg will stop at various locations, campaigning with a message about clean technologies. While Solar Impulse-1 was designed to remain airborne for up to 36 hours, the new aircraft can remain airborne effectively indefinitely, enabling it to cross the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The 35,000 km journey is expected to take place over 5 months, although the flight time will be closer to 25 days at speeds ranging from 50 to 100 kilometers per hour.

http://www.solarimpulse.com/

Solar Impulse 2 takes off for a fuel-free global circumnavigation

sigma writes:

The solar-powered plane, Solar Impulse 2, has taken off from Abu Dhabi en route to Muscat, Oman for the first 10 hour leg of its flight.

The plane has a wingspan of 72m; weighs 2,300kg; has 17,248 solar cells built into the wing; and has four lithium polymer batteries to store the solar power. If successful, it will return to Abu Dhabi in late July or even August.

http://info.solarimpulse.com/en/our-adventure/the-first-round-the-world-solar-flight/

Pilots set for first round-the-world solar flight

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Controversy has surrounded the shooting of Michael Brown from the moment it happened. SoylentNews did not escape this controversy. There was fierce debate early on, before all of the evidence had been thoroughly considered. Later on, after the grand jury's findings were presented, there was more volatile discussion.

Some of the earliest SoylentNews discussion about this controversial incident happened nearly six months ago. As we approach this important milestone, we must look back on this discussion, how it developed, and how it has shaped our community here at SoylentNews.

AnonTechie writes:

Mystery 'noise' could be an Earth-like world: Strange signals suggest habitable planet exists 22 light years away.

Astronomers believe mysterious signals - previously dismissed as stellar bursts - are coming from an Earth-like planet. The Gliese 581d planet has conditions that could support life, and is likely to be a rocky world, twice the size of Earth. Signals from the planet were initially discovered in 2010, but last year dismissed as noise from distant stars. Now, a further study claims that the 2014 research was based on 'inadequate analyses of the data' and that Gliese 581d does exist.

[Also Covered By]:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/science/mystery-signals-space-could-proof-5290055

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2983202/Alien-noise-Earth-like-world-Mystery-signals-suggest-habitable-planet-exists-22-light-years-away.html

Walzmyn writes:

The New York Times has something that's (A) interesting and (B) not behind a paywall.

It's an interactive map showing percentages of residents, for each of the states, that were born in said state or were born elsewhere. The map breaks down numbers of residents that have moved from each of the other states or from outside the U.S.

This is apparently a followup to other charts they have published on migration patterns between the states.

For instance, around a quarter of the people now living in Florida, California, and New York are not American by birth, and Louisiana has the highest population of people still living in the state in which they were born at 79%.

n1 writes:

The Intercept reports:

Near the heartland of New Zealand’s renowned wine country, there is a place that visitors are not allowed to go. The peculiar large white domes that protrude from the earth in the Waihopai Valley are surrounded by razor wire and shrouded in secrecy.

But now, newly revealed documents from the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden shine a light on what is behind the security perimeter. The buildings there are crammed with sophisticated NSA spying technology, used by New Zealand to sweep up text messages, emails, phone calls, and other communications in bulk across the Asia-Pacific.

The documents, revealed Saturday by the Sunday Star-Times in collaboration with The Intercept, show how closely New Zealand has worked with the NSA to maintain surveillance coverage of the region. The files also offer an unprecedented insight into the Waihopai base, exposing how it’s been integrated into a global eavesdropping network.

AnonTechie writes:

A promotional video for Paperspace ( https://paperspace.io/ ) made its point quickly. A woman sitting at a computer sighed as she pressed down on the keys impatiently, as the straight-faced announcer noted computers can be such a pain. What if we told you there was a better way, he said, throwing her computer off the table and on to the floor. Paperspace. The difference between a regular computer and Paperspace is that the computer is a small piece of hardware and the Paperspace computer is in the cloud. It's like cloud storage, but instead it's your whole computer.

Once you sign up for Paperspace, he said, you log into your web browser. That's it. All you require is a web browser and Internet access. Paperspace is able to run applications suitable for 3D CAD, rendering, simulations and photo and video editing. The team is offering Paperspace on two tiers. Basic is for web browsing, email and office. The Professional tier is for such work as high-end 3D CAD, Creative Suite, and GIS, they said. How fast does the user's internet need to be to access Paperspace? For the best experience they recommend >15Mbps download speed and less than 60 ms of latency.

Basically, the company is proposing a return to very thin clients. - the only requirement is for a small, low power computer (a Raspberry Pi perhaps?) and an internet connection. Paperspace provide the 'computer' for $50. However, there are many places that as yet do not enjoy the necessary download speed so it will appeal more to those well served by fibre and good broadband connections. There are the usual problems with who has access to your data and how do you back it up? But, for all of these limitations and more, there is perhaps some money to be made with this idea.

martyb writes:

Even if you are a long-time reader of Slashdot (an outdated version of whose code became the basis for this site), the user interface for SoylentNews can be confusing. We've been averaging about two dozen new registered users per week. I cannot imagine that all of them have prior experience with our UI. What tips or settings have you found useful in getting the most out of this site?

Continued...

n1 writes:

Iceland Review Online reports:

The Pirate Party, which was the smallest in parliament after the 2013 election, has grown to become the third-largest political party in Iceland, according to the latest Capacent Gallup poll. More than 15 percent of respondents now support the party.

This is a surge in support for the Pirates, up from 5 percent in the election and 11 percent from Gallup’s survey in January, ruv.is reports. [in Icelandic - use your favourite translator]

The Independence Party of Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson remains the country’s largest with 26 percent (down from 27 percent in the 2013 election), followed by the opposition’s Social Democratic Alliance with 17 percent (up from 13 percent).

Gordon Shure writes:

India's Daughter is a BBC documentary which details the shocking gang rape and murder of Jyoti Singh, a young medical student from Delhi. In the days leading up to and following its broadcast, the Indian government have furiously protested its showing, and have enacted a ban to this effect. The film shows a remorseless testimony of victim blaming from one of the perpetrators speaking from death row. Jyoti's family meanwhile have praised the documentary makers, with her father stating that "everyone should watch the film". News of the ban has apparently spurred a backlash: as of yesterday, the film is available in full on a number of popular streaming websites such as Vimeo.

"gewg_" writes:

Cory Doctorow reports:

Har-har-f[...]k-you, said Albequerque's murderous, lawless police department, as they fulfilled a records request from Gail Martin, whose husband was killed by them, by sending her encrypted CDs with the relevant videos, then refusing to give her the passwords.

I really liked Cory's to-the-point description, but Boing Boing originally got the story from Tim Cushing at Techdirt.

Now the APD's being sued. The firm is seeking not only access to the password-protected videos, but also damages and legal fees. According to the firm, access to these videos is crucial to determining whether or not Gail Martin has a legitimate civil rights case. Without them, the firm is no better positioned to make this call than the general public, which has only seen the lead-in and aftermath of the shooting.

This isn't the APD's only legal battle related to its IPRA non-compliance. Late last year, KRQE of Albuquerque sued it for "serial violations" of the law. That's in addition to the one it filed over a 2012 incident, in which the PD stalled on its response to a journalist's public records request before releasing the requested footage at a press conference, basically stripping the reporter of her potential "scoop."