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takyon writes:

Toshiba and SanDisk have announced the development of a new 3D NAND product (called V-NAND by Samsung). It uses 48 layers of triple-level cell (TLC) NAND to store 256 Gb (32 GB) in a single die. It is expected to sample in September, and appear in solid-state drives and other products in the second half of 2016. However, the two companies will face plenty of competition. From Anandtech:

The new 3D NAND will face experienced competition from Samsung who are currently shipping 32-layer 3D NAND in capacities up to 128Gb for both MLC and TLC configurations. Samsung has also announced its third generation V-NAND which should be starting mass production in the latter half of this year. Meanwhile, Intel and Micron have stated that their 32-layer 3D NAND will be in mass production by the fourth quarter of this year in the form of a 256Gb MLC die and a 384Gb TLC die. SK Hynix is to begin mass production of a 36-layer 128Gb MLC die during the third quarter and is working toward a 48-layer TLC that will be available in 2016.

All of the major flash manufacturers have now publicized their plans for introducing 3D NAND. Planar NAND won't be disappearing overnight or even in a year, as it takes a lot of time and money to convert a fab to a new process. But from here on out, we can expect all the most interesting news about NAND flash memory to be about 3D.

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Phoenix666 writes:

Soylent [food replacement] founder Rob Rhinehart shares his thoughts on extreme sustainability.

I am electrically self-reliant. My home life runs comfortably on a single 100W solar panel, which cost $150 and was available on Amazon Prime. I tracked down a few manufacturers in China who all said it costs around $40 to make. The US for some reason leverages massive tariffs on Chinese solar panels, so they ship them through Malaysian customs. Why do the politicians even bother?

For storage a $65 lead acid automobile battery does the trick. It's 12V so can be charged directly from the solar panel, and holds 420Wh, way more than I use in a day. That's $0.15 / Wh so I don't see why everyone is so excited about Tesla charging $0.43 / Wh for the Powerwall, sans inverter and installation.

He got rid of his fridge and other kitchen implements to make it work. What are the biggest energy users in your place? Could you pare things down as much as Rob?

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Phoenix666 writes:

Humans could soon be having sexual relationships with robots, a top academic has claimed.

Dr Helen Driscoll said advances in technology mean the way in which humans interact with robots is set to change drastically in the coming years.

Dr Driscoll, a leading authority on the psychology of sex and relationships, said 'sex tech' was already advancing at a fast pace and by 2070, physical relationships will seem primitive.
...
She said: "Most people successfully integrate other forms of virtual reality into their lives, but virtual sex - not to mention love - will be seen by some as infidelity, and this will present real challenges to some relationships.

"In the world of the future, we could well see human relationships increasingly conducted entirely online.

Would you feel cheated on if your partner had sex with a robot?

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Earlier this week we read about the German Public Prosecutor opening up a treason investigation.

Within hours, the investigation was halted. And now the public prosecutor lost his job over it.

Looks like this Slashdot commenter foresaw accurately what would happen, based on a very similar past incident:

Also at the BBC and Deutsche Welle.

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Arthur T Knackerbracket uploads this Windows shocker:

Microsoft will use its customers' upload bandwidth to deliver Windows 10's updates and apps with a peer-to-peer technology resembling BitTorrent, a fact that has caught some by surprise.

Baked into Windows 10 is a new technology Microsoft dubbed "Windows Update Delivery Optimization" (WUDO) that is turned on by default for all editions of Windows 10. However, only some SKUs (stock-keeping units) -- notably Windows 10 Home and Windows 10 Pro -- are set to provide updates and apps to other devices when connected to the public Internet.

Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education, volume-licensed SKUs for large companies and organizations, also have WUDO enabled, but default to sharing updates and apps only within a local network.

WUDO resembles BitTorrent in its basics, and like that file-sharing technology, uses a peer-to-peer delivery system to spread the load to PCs worldwide rather than relying on a centralized-servers model.

If WUDO is enabled, Microsoft can point others to locally-cached copies of updates and apps on users' Windows 10 devices that are connected to the Internet. When that happens, a user's Windows 10 PC acts as a substitute server for others, and any customer whose device is tapped for WUDO delivery has given Microsoft access to their upload bandwidth.

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Phoenix666 writes:

Healey, who works on security for payments company Stripe, teamed up with fellow researcher Mike Ryan, who works on security for E-Bay, to examine his and other electric skateboards to see if they could be hacked. The result is an exploit they developed called FacePlant that can give them complete control of someone's digital board.

"[The attack] is basically a synthetic version of the same RF noise [at that intersection in Melbourne]," he says, and allows them to cold stop a board or send it flying in reverse, tossing the rider in either case.

They plan to present their findings Saturday at the Def Con hacker conference in Las Vegas.

takyon: The researchers tested three skateboards and found vulnerabilities in each. They completed an exploit for a $1500 American-made "Boosted" board, and are working on an exploit for a $700 board called E-Go made by China-based firm Yuneec.

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tt0106977 writes:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), privacy company Disconnect and a coalition of Internet companies have announced a stronger "Do Not Track" (DNT) setting for Web browsing—a new policy standard that, coupled with privacy software, will better protect users from sites that try to secretly follow and record their Internet activity, and incentivize advertisers and data collection companies to respect a user's choice not to be tracked online.

The new DNT standard is not an ad- or tracker-blocker, but it works in tandem with these technologies.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Hello Soylentils. I work in the IT Department of a mid sized utility company. Our engineering department requested that we use Google Analytics to track how people are hitting certain pages, from where, and whether or not they are getting to pages from links on our website or directly. A co worker found that Google Analytics can get expensive. Does anyone have any experience with any FOSS alternatives such as the ones listed in the article below?

http://opensource.com/business/14/10/top-3-open-source-alternatives-google-analytics

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takyon writes:

British investigative journalist Duncan Campbell has written about his career exposing government surveillance in an article simultaneously published at The Intercept and The Register. Campbell was placed under MI5 surveillance for revealing the name of Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) in a 1976 Time Out article. He was arrested along with a fellow Time Out reporter for talking to ex-SIGINT operator John Berry, and prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act in what became known as the ABC trial.

Campbell revealed the existence of the ECHELON surveillance program in a 1988 article entitled "Somebody's listening" in New Statesman. Now, on August 3, 2015, Campbell says that documents obtained from Edward Snowden have helped shed new light on ECHELON:

As Campbell writes today, in a first-person article in The Intercept, the archive of top-secret documents provided to journalists by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden contains a stunning 2005 document that not only confirms ECHELON's existence as "a system targeting communications satellites"– it shows how the program was kept an official secret for so long.

It describes how in 2000, the European Parliament responded to increasingly authoritative reports that ECHELON was being used to indiscriminately survey non-military targets — including governments, organizations and businesses in virtually every corner of the world — by appointing a committee to investigate the program. Members of the committee vowed to get the truth from the NSA. What happened, according to an article in the NSA's own in-house "Foreign Affairs Digest" was this:

Corporate NSA (FAD, SID, OGC, PAO and Policy), ensured that our interests, and our SIGINT partners' interests, were protected throughout the ordeal; and ironically, the final report of the EU Commission [link] reflected not only that NSA played by the rules, with congressional oversight, but that those characteristics were lacking when the Commission applied its investigatory criteria to other European nations.

The initials there stand for NSA's Foreign Affairs Directorate, Signals Intelligence, Office of the General Counsel, and Public Affairs Office. And then, in what is possibly one of the most memorable lines to come out of the Snowden archive, the author of the article, a "foreign affairs directorate special adviser," concluded with this observation:

In the final analysis, the "pig rule" applied when dealing with this tacky matter: "Don't wrestle in the mud with the pigs. They like it, and you both get dirty."

The companion article also mentions that ECHELON protests such as the "Jam Echelon Day" on October 21, 1999 were premature; the NSA has only recently begun to scan voice communications for keywords routinely.

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fliptop writes:

Earlier this year, Seattle-based Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price announced he was setting the minimum wage for his workers at $70k. About 70 of the company's 120 employees would be receiving the raises over a 3 year period and Price cut his salary from $1m to $70k to make the change happen. His reasoning: He read an article that more money for people who make less than $70k leads to increased happiness.

His plan may have backfired:

What few outsiders realised, however, was how much turmoil all the hoopla was causing at the company itself. To begin with, Gravity was simply unprepared for the onslaught of emails, Facebook posts and phone calls. The attention was thrilling, but it was also exhausting and distracting. And with so many eyes focused on the firm, some hoping to witness failure, the pressure has been intense.

More troubling, a few customers, dismayed by what they viewed as a political statement, withdrew their business. Others, anticipating a fee increase - despite repeated assurances to the contrary - also left. While dozens of new clients, inspired by Price's announcement, were signing up, those accounts will not start paying off for at least another year. To handle the flood, he has had to hire a dozen additional employees - now at a significantly higher cost - and is struggling to figure out whether more are needed without knowing for certain how long the bonanza will last.

Two of Price's most valued employees quit, spurred in part by their view that it was unfair to double the pay of some new hires while the longest-serving staff members got small or no raises. Some friends and associates in Seattle's close-knit entrepreneurial network were also piqued that Price's action made them look stingy in front of their own employees.

To make matters worse, Price's brother and company co-founder Lucas filed a lawsuit less than 2 weeks after the raise increase announcement, accusing his brother of violating his rights as a minority shareholder.

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Arthur T Knackerbracket updates us on the following:

With just 11 days before Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko reaches perihelion, we get a look at recent images and results released by the European Space Agency from the Philae lander along with spectacular 3D photos from Rosetta's high resolution camera.

Remarkably, some 80% of the first science sequence was completed in the 64 hours before Philae fell into hibernation. Although unintentional, the failed landing attempt led to the unexpected bonus of getting data from two collection sites—the planned touchdown at Agilkia and its current precarious location at Abydos.

After first touching down, Philae was able to use its gas-sniffing Ptolemy and COSAC instruments to determine the makeup of the comet's atmosphere and surface materials. COSAC analyzed samples that entered tubes at the bottom of the lander and found ice-poor dust grains that were rich in organic compounds containing carbon and nitrogen. It found 16 in all including methyl isocyanate, acetone, propionaldehyde and acetamide that had never been seen in comets before.

While you and I may not be familiar with some of these organics, their complexity hints that even in the deep cold and radiation-saturated no man's land of outer space, a rich assortment of organic materials can evolve. Colliding with Earth during its early history, comets may have delivered chemicals essential for the evolution of life.

Ptolemy sampled the atmosphere entering tubes at the top of the lander and identified water vapor, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, along with smaller amounts of carbon-bearing organic compounds, including formaldehyde. Some of these juicy organic delights have long been thought to have played a role in life's origins. Formaldehyde reacts with other commonly available materials to form complex sugars like ribose which forms the backbone of RNA and is related to the sugar deoxyribose, the "D" in DNA.

ROLIS (Rosetta Lander Imaging System) images taken shortly before the first touchdown revealed a surface of 3-foot-wide (meter-size) irregular-shaped blocks and coarse "soil" or regolith covered in "pebbles" 4-20 inches (10–50 cm) across as well as a mix of smaller debris.

[...]

"With perihelion fast approaching, we are busy monitoring the comet's activity from a safe distance and looking for any changes in the surface features, and we hope that Philae will be able to send us complementary reports from its location on the surface," said Philae lander manager Stephan Ulamec.

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fliptop writes:

Apple is testing a service that will let Siri answer, record and transcribe your calls:

Apple's iCloud service will then send you the text of the transcribed voicemail — meaning that you'll never need to listen to your voicemails again.

[...] Here is how it works: When someone using iCloud Voicemail is unable to take a call, Siri will answer instead of letting the call go to a standard digital audio recorder.

iCloud Voicemail can relay information about where you are and why you can't pick up the phone to certain people. But the coolest feature of the service is that Siri will transcribe any incoming voicemails, just like it does with anything else you say to it.

Since they're replicating a service that carriers already provide, could this be another indication Apple is looking to become its own cellular carrier?

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Arthur T Knackerbracket unwillingly writes:

A trio of researchers with Kobe University in Japan has found that lycaenid butterfly caterpillars of the Japanese oakblue variety, have dorsal nectary organ secretions that cause ants that eat the material to abandon their fellow ants to instead hang out with and defend the caterpillar against enemies. In their paper published in the journal Current Biology, Masaru Hojo, Naomi Pierce and Kazuki Tsuji describe their research into the relationship between the two creatures and why they believe the nature of that relationship needs to be reclassified.

Scientists have studied Japanese oakblue butterflies before, noting that ants seem to guard the young caterpillars, but until now that relationship was described as reciprocal, both seemed to derive some benefit. The caterpillars got protection and the ants got a nice meal. Now however, according to this new research, the ants may not be willing partners.

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Arthur T Knackerbracket reaches for the 'roids:

If you need any proof that NASA fans are geeks of the highest order (and we mean that as the highest compliment, of course), all you need to do is look at the open call for name submissions that NASA ran in April to help name the features on Pluto and its orbiting bodies, which got submissions like Cthulhu, Balrog, Kirk and Spock.

The rules for naming such things are always set by International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Paris. In this case, they opened it up to names from mythology, science fiction and fantasy. For example, since Charon was the ferryman who took souls across the river Styx, names of features on Pluto's moon Charon will be drawn from mythical and fictional stories of travel and exploration. And as dwarf planet Ceres was a Roman goddess of agriculture and fertility, the IAU dictated that names of its features would come from "spirits and deities relating to agriculture from a variety of cultures," according to NASA.

The organization on July 28 released some stunning maps of Ceres, which is located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that has been getting examined by the Dawn spacecraft since March. The maps use color to differentiate the heights of various craters and peaks on the Ceres. (Previously we've mostly been admiring black and white photos of bright spots and pyramids.) The map below is also labeled with the names of the features that have now been approved by the IAU.

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HughPickens.com writes:

Katie Rogers reports at the NYT that officials at Yellowstone National Park are warning visitors not to fraternize with wildlife after a woman was injured while trying to take a selfie near a bison — but that hasn't stopped some visitors from posting their close encounters on social media. A notice released by the National Park Service details how a 43-year-old and her child turned their backs to a bison while trying to take a selfie while the animal was 6 yards away. The visitors tried to get away when they heard the bison approach, but the animal lifted the woman up and tossed her with its head. She is the fifth person to be injured in an encounter with one of the park's bison this summer.

The park's warnings are not subtle: Upon entering, visitors receive a bright yellow flier that depicts a person getting gored by a bison. According to Julena Campbell, summer, which is breeding season, is the most dangerous time to be near the animals. "The family said they read the warnings in both the park literature and the signage, but saw other people close to the bison, so they thought it would be OK," says Colleen Rawlings, a ranger in the park's Old Faithful District. "People need to recognize that Yellowstone wildlife is wild, even though they seem docile. This woman was lucky that her injuries were not more severe."

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Phoenix666 writes:

A new prosthetic arm dubbed Iko can be endlessly customized with Lego pieces so that kids can make it whatever they want it to be.

The field of prosthetics has seen significant advances in recent years. Designers have harnessed new technologies like 3-D printing to make prosthetics more beautiful, fashionable, or waterproof. Making prosthetics more accessible and expressive empowers the people who wear them. Iko aims to help kids overcome the stigma of having a prosthetic by making it fun to wear.

Iko is the work of Carlos Arturo Torres, who built the set of white plastic parts so that a child could easily swap out a hand-like four-fingered claw for a digital spaceship. "My friends in psychology used to tell me that when a kid has a disability, he is not really aware of it until he faces society," Torres says. "That's when they have a super rough encounter." Torres's design is geared toward kids between three and 12 years old, a broad age range covering crucial self-esteem-building years.

Using tech to make amputee kids feel like they have superpowers. May we all do such good with our craft...

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Arthur T Knackerbracket bleeps out the following:

The Indian government has ordered a large number of porn websites to be blocked, creating an uproar among users and civil rights groups in the country. The Department of Telecommunications has issued orders for the blocking of 857 websites serving pornography, said two persons familiar with the matter, who declined to be named.

Section 69 (A) of India’s Information Technology Act allows the government to order blocking of public access to websites and other information through computer resources, though this section appears to be designed to be invoked when a threat is perceived to the sovereignty and integrity of India, security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states or public order.

“The government cannot on its own block private access to pornography under current statutes,” said Pranesh Prakash, policy director of the Centre for Internet and Society in Bangalore. “Parliament has not authorized the government to ban porn on its own... However, courts have in the past ordered specific websites to be blocked for specific offences such as defamation, though as far as I know not for obscenity,” Prakash added. Viewing pornography privately is not a crime in the country, though its sale and distribution is an offense.

Some porn websites were still accessible through certain Internet service providers on Monday, as some ISPs took some time to implement the order. “All the 857 websites will be blocked by all ISPs today,” said a source in the ISP industry, who requested anonymity. “As licensees we have to follow the orders.” The government could not be immediately reached for comment.

Reports of the blocks created a furore among Internet users in the country, who criticized the move on Reddit, Twitter and other social media.

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Phoenix666 writes:

While working with Horticulture Innovation Australia to reveal some hidden benefits of the fruit, a CSIRO research team led by Professor Manny Noakes found that pears can lower cholesterol, relieve constipation and have anti-inflammatory effects.

But likely the most interesting discovery for those with a tendency to overindulge was the discovery that Korean pear juice can prevent hangovers as well as lower blood alcohol levels. Further research is needed to determine whether the hangover-preventing capabilities extend to other pear varieties as the studies have so far only involved the Korean pear, which is known to have a number of compositional differences to Western pear varieties.

With study subjects measuring hangover severity using a 14-item hangover symptom scale, those given 220 ml (7.4 oz) of Korean pear juice reported reduced overall hangover symptoms compared to those in the placebo group, with the most pronounced improvement reported in the area of "trouble concentrating."

Importantly, the hangover was only avoided if the pear juice was consumed before the alcohol, so downing the juice after a big night out won't help. And although the study involved pear juice, the researchers believe consuming whole pears would produce similar effects.

What's your favorite (scientifically approved) hangover cure?

takyon: The claims are based on preliminary results reported at CSIRO news blog. Here is the abstract of an older study: Effect of Korean pear (Pyruspyrifolia cv. Shingo) juice on hangover severity following alcohol consumption.

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darkfeline writes:

The food replacement Soylent is now hitting 2.0. The new version will come premixed in bottled liquid form instead of powder, though the powdered version will still exist. It will cost $12 per day, as opposed to $9 per day for the powder. The liquid and powder versions will have slightly different compositions.

In other Soylent news (pun intended), Soylent products will now be shipping in two to three days instead of the multi-month waits previously due to overwhelming demand relative to supply.

takyon: Soylent blog post and The Register.

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