SoylentNews

takyon writes:

A leaked presentation from 2006 shows that Sony Pictures considered the merits of acquiring BitTorrent Inc., Netflix, and TiVo:

Sony Pictures considered BitTorrent Inc. as a potential acquisition opportunity to diversify its business, leaked information reveals. The file-sharing company made it onto a shortlist together with Netflix and TiVo, with Sony praising its effectiveness at downloading online media.

In Hollywood, BitTorrent is often framed as a threat due to its pirate stigma, but the technology also offers opportunities. BitTorrent Inc, the company behind the popular uTorrent software, helps artists to legally distribute their work to millions of people every year.

TF can now reveal that Sony Pictures' interest in the technology was so concrete that the movie studio listed it as a potential acquisition. In a draft presentation from early 2006 BitTorrent flanks other buying opportunities such as TiVo and Netflix. The Sony presentation discusses options to "refine" its business and saw BitTorrent as a potential candidate to diversify. Among other things, buying BitTorrent could improve margins and facilitate growth. To accomplish this goal Sony could invest $2 to $4 billion dollars, certainly enough to buy BitTorrent. Even Netflix, which didn't offer video streaming yet, was within reach based on a $1.2 billion valuation at the time.

According to the presentation the acquisition candidates would bridge a gap between Sony's entertainment content and the company's technology devices. In the case of BitTorrent this could facilitate the development of set-top boxes and TVs with built-in technology to download and play video content. This is an area BitTorrent was already working on with other partners.

In an overview sheet Sony sums up some of BitTorrent's strengths as well as recent developments. It mentions the agreement with the MPAA to keep infringing content off its website, among others. Sony was also aware of BitTorrent's plans to launch its own entertainment store. This eventually launched a year later but never got any real traction.

Original Submission

The Mighty Buzzard writes:

Elizabeth Nolan Brown over at Reason.com brings us this interesting piece:

People might debate whether it's a chicken or egg effect, but it's often taken for granted that men who watch a lot of porn are more likely to hold hostile, retrograde, or sexist views of women. Yet new research links watching porn with more positive views toward gender equality.

The study, published in The Journal of Sex Research, was conducted by researchers at the University of Western Ontario. "According to radical feminist theory, pornography serves to further the subordination of women by training its users, males and females alike, to view women as little more than sex objects over whom men should have complete control," they wrote in the study abstract.

Yet after comparing people who watch porn with those who don't, researchers found those who had watched an adult film at least once in the past year held more egalitarian ideas about women in positions of power and women working outside the home, along with more positive views toward abortion. The two groups did not differ significantly in attitudes about "traditional" families or self-identification as feminist.

"Taken together, the results of this study fail to support the view that pornography is an efficient deliverer of 'women-hating ideology,'" study authors concluded. "While unexpected from the perspective of radical feminist theory, these results are consistent with a small number of empirical studies that have also reported positive associations between pornography use and egalitarian attitudes."

Honestly, I prefer the paper to the article though. Maybe that's just because my experience with feminism has led me to the conclusion that it hasn't anything to do with egalitarianism anymore.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket chimes in with this update on Bitcoin/MTG baron Mark Karpeles:

Japanese prosecutors have charged the former founder and CEO of bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox with embezzling the money of clients. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Mark Karpeles was arrested by police in Tokyo last month, 17 months after Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy with losses of tens of millions of dollars.

Karpeles is suspected of moving money from the accounts of clients into the accounts of his own company, reported Japan's Kyodo News. While it's too early to know the specifics of the prosecution case, Karpeles' odds are not good now he's been charged. Japan has a conviction rate of roughly 99 percent.

[...] Before his arrest in August, Karpeles had denied any wrongdoing at his company. “While I believe I did everything I could do to prevent this from happening, it still happened,” he told the IDG News Service in an interview last November, blaming hackers for the loss of bitcoins that led to the company's collapse. At the time, 850,000 bitcoins were thought to have been lost, but Mt. Gox later said it had “found” 200,000 of them.

Original Submission

janrinok writes:

The Solar Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft known as SOHO is set to cross the 3,000 comet discovery threshold this month. Launched atop an Atlas II rocket on December 2nd, 1995, SOHO is a joint NASA/ESA mission, and has observed the sun now for almost 20 years from the sunward L1 Lagrange point. That fact is amazing enough, as SOHO has already followed the goings on of our tempestuous host star for nearly two full solar cycles.

And though SOHO wasn't initially designed as a comet hunter extraordinaire, it has gone on to discover far more comets than anyone else—human or robotic.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Sungrazer website lists the discovery count as 2,987 as of July 31, 2015[1], with more comets awaiting verification daily. "In the past, SOHO has often discovered as many as four or five comets in a single day," Karl Battams, a solar scientist at the NRL told Universe Today. "Suffice to say, it really could be any day now, given how close we are to 3,000! I actually expected it to be a month ago, so I'm surprised it's dragging out like this. Predicting comets is fraught with uncertainty!"

Part of what gives SOHO an edge is its LASCO (the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph) C2 and C3 coronagraphs. With a field of view about 15 degrees wide, the C3 imager monitors the faint corona of the sun, while blocking its dazzling disk. The corona is the pearly white outer atmosphere of the sun, and is about half as bright as a Full Moon. On Earth, we only see the corona briefly during a total solar eclipse. SOHO routinely sees sungrazing comets 'photobomb' the view of its LASCO C3 camera, sometimes to the tune of more than 200 a year.

SOHO has rewritten the history of sungrazers. How far we've come: flashback to 1979, and less than a dozen sungrazers were known, one being the famous Comet Ikeya-Seki in 1965. Early space-based platforms such as Solwind and SMM sported early coronagraphs, and paved the way for SOHO. Think about that for a moment; a vast majority of the cometary population of the solar system was simply sliding by, unobserved from the ground. And this was only a generation ago.

[1] Still showing 2,987 as of Sept 13, 2015. - Ed.]

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

The head of the nation's primary consumer protection agency on Wednesday paid a visit to San Francisco, where she called on technology startups to do a better job of incorporating security protections as they race to bring new applications into the market.

Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez's comments amplified the agency's "Start With Security" initiative, a program that aims to encourage businesses to prioritize cybersecurity as an integral part of their product development.

That effort is geared toward businesses across industries, though on Wednesday Ramirez was speaking directly to the tech world. In a remarkably short period of time, firms in that sector have introduced a galaxy of apps that help people chart their fitness, manage their money and communicate with their doctors and nurses, Ramirez noted. But with each new tool that collects or relays sensitive information, the security threats mount.

In July FBI Director Comey argued for weakening security by the inclusion of "back doors" and "front doors" to encryption.

Original Submission

janrinok writes:

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have found traces of two enormous meteorite impacts in the Swedish county of Jämtland, a twin strike that occurred around 460 million years ago.

The researchers have discovered two craters in Jämtland. One is enormous, while the other is a tenth of the size of the first.

"The two meteorite impacts occurred at the same time, 458 million years ago, and formed these two craters," says Erik Sturkell, Professor of Geophysics at the University of Gothenburg.

Erik Sturkell and his research colleagues found one of the craters 20 kilometres south of Östersund in Brunsflo. This is an enormous crater, with a diameter of 7.5 kilometres. The smaller crater is located 16 kilometres from there, and has a diameter of 700 metres.

[...] Jämtland was under the sea at the time, with a water depth of 500 metres at the points where two meteorites simultaneously stuck. Double impacts like this are very unusual. This is the first double impact on Earth that has been conclusively proved.

"Information from drilling operations demonstrates that identical sequences are present in the two craters, and the sediment above the impact sequences is of the same age. In other words, these are simultaneous impacts," says Erik Sturkell.

The water was forced away during the impact, and for a hundred seconds these enormous pits were completely dry.

"The water then rushed back in, bringing with it fragments from the meteorites mixed with material that had been ejected during the explosion and with the gigantic wave that tore away parts of the sea bed," says Erik Sturkell.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

the sheer portability of the laptop also makes it vulnerable to unauthorized access or outright theft or lost. Gartner recently estimated that a laptop is lost every 53 seconds.

While nobody plans to lose a laptop, there are some things that you can do to reduce both the risk and the potential legal repercussions should your laptop ever be misplaced or stolen. As with most security measures, the best defense is a good offense. Here are 10 things to do before you lose your laptop.

Tip 11: Switch entirely to CLI. Thieves will recoil in horror and abandon it, upping the chance for safe recovery.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Defining open source as "free" is too simple. While it does mean free access to papers, downloads and data, open source focuses primarily on sharing knowledge in order to refine and apply that knowledge. Free, or even inexpensive, is currently hard to come by in research.

"In science, we all have this problem where we pay so much for scientific equipment that it overwhelms our budgets," Pearce says, explaining that a lot of equipment is simple—mechanically speaking—and can even be manufactured with a do-it-yourself 3-D printer like the RepRap.

Pearce proposes that instead of spending millions of dollars every year replacing quickly obsolescent equipment, that money could be redirected to developing open source tools that are "upgradeable and transformable—they will be continuously updated" using digital manufacturing techniques such as 3-D printing.

The benefits could be huge: research would cost less, the equipment would improve each year, grant competition would be less inflamed and educational tools would provide better inspiration and instruction. Outside the lab, open source tools could help spur innovation and diversity in the science manufacturing market. While these big impacts would take time to grow, Pearce and his Michigan Tech Open Sustainability Technology lab did quantify the impact of open source syringe pumps.

Original Submission

The Mighty Buzzard writes:

Sounds like a good thing, yeah? Here's the problem:

The participants in these tournaments are the *BAD GUYS* that the [player characters] are supposed to kill! Most of the "stat blocks" are for monsters/creatures for the PC's to fight. People got up-in-arms about the TITLE of the book. Can you imagine fleshing out the main bad guy who actually puts these things on so your party of good guys can go dismantle the entire organization and kill the Half-daemon Billionaire industrialist who runs it? Now *THAT* is a bad guy worth fighting in my opinion; I'd want to kill him more than I would King Joffrey on Game of Thrones.

I've seen comments where people assume Chris [the author] must be a horrible human being that wants to rape people or whatever. (He isn't. And by the same token, do these same people also think George R.R. Martin wants to have sex with his sister because he wrote about two of his characters engaged in incest?) He's a guy with a huge imagination who loves RPG's.

Oopsie...

Original Submission

AnonTechie writes:

The California legislature on Friday approved a bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients despite opposition from religious and disability rights groups, sending it to Democratic Governor Jerry Brown for his approval or veto.

The bill would allow mentally competent patients to request a prescription that would end their lives if two doctors agree the patients have only six months to live.

The measure, based on a similar law in Oregon, passed the state Senate on Friday on a vote of 23-14, after passing the Assembly on Wednesday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/12/us-usa-california-assistedsuicide-idUSKCN0RB2LC20150912?

However, in the UK, things are very different:

Assisted Dying Bill: UK MPs Reject 'Right To Die' Law

MPs have rejected plans for a right to die in England and Wales in their first vote on the issue in almost 20 years.

In a free vote in the Commons, 118 MPs were in favour and 330 against plans to allow some terminally ill adults to end their lives with medical supervision.

In a passionate debate, some argued the plans allowed a "dignified and peaceful death" while others said they were "totally unacceptable".

Pro-assisted dying campaigners said the result showed MPs were out of touch.

Original Submission Significant editing of this submission to include UK story.

Phoenix666 writes:

Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka returned safely to Earth with two other astronauts from the International Space Station Saturday with the record for having spent the most time in space.

Padalka—who has spent a total of 879 days in space over five separate trips—touched ground on the barren Kazakh steppe on schedule at 0051 GMT along with Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov and Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen.

"Landing has taken place," a spokesman for Russia's space agency Roscosmos told AFP. "All is well."

Padalka led the 44th expedition at the ISS, breaking a 10-year-old record for the total number of days spent in the cosmos on June 28 when he surpassed the figure of 803 days, nine hours and 41 minutes achieved by Sergei Krikalev, another Russian.

Original Submission

eof writes:

The New York Times has posted surveillance video of the arrest of James Blake, a former tennis star. The article also contains information on past complaints about the arresting officer, James Frascatore.

Officer Frascatore's history of excessive force complaints, including at least three filed against him with the Civilian Complaint Review Board in 2013, revealed a pattern of residents claiming they were detained without explanation and mistreated despite complying. It also led some lawyers and residents to criticize the Police Department for not punishing him before he was involved in another rough arrest.

Here is one example of a past incident.

Leroy Cline, a Queens resident, claimed that Officer Frascatore punched him in the face after the officer stopped him for a broken taillight, ignored his questions and tried to pull him out of his car in 2012, according to a memorandum his lawyer sent to the Queens district attorney's office.

Mr. Cline was charged with assaulting a police officer. Officer Frascatore later said Mr. Cline bit him.

The memo quotes from medical records, reviewed by an expert witness, showing the officer's cut on his hand was consistent with him punching Mr. Cline in the mouth.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward wrote to tell us:

Google has begun working with city leaders to explore the possibility of building a super fast network for San Diego, California. This means understanding local requirements and challenges – from roads and infrastructure to permits and utility paths. This will take time.

There are reports on the web that it may also be coming to Irvine, California and Louisville, Kentucky.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes with news of a report recommending walkable communities:

It's not easy to walk in much of North America; most people now live in suburbs that were designed for cars. Now the US Surgeon General, Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, is calling for a change.

"Walking helps people stay both physically and mentally healthy. It brings business districts to life and can help reduce air pollution. However, there are barriers to choosing even this simple form of physical activity. Many of us live in neighborhoods that can present barriers to walking. Important places, such as shops, schools, parks, or senior centers, may not be near enough to reach by walking; there may be no sidewalks; or there may be concerns about safety. Lack of time can be a barrier, as can health problems."

He is also calling for a redesign of our communities.

"People should be able to walk almost anywhere. Designing communities to encourage pedestrian activity will make it safer and easier for all users, including those with mobility limitations and other disabilities. For example, streets can be designed to include sidewalks and improve traffic safety, and communities can locate residences, schools, worksites, businesses, parks, recreational facilities, and other places that people regularly use within walkable distance of each other."

Often all that's needed are changes in zoning laws. Home from Nowhere has a good history of post-war zoning that gave rise to modern suburbs.

Original Submission

eof writes:

The New York Times reports that a Chinese-American physicist, Xi Xiaoxing, has had espionage charges against him dropped after the Department of Justice was encouraged to consult experts before proceeding with prosecution.

It was an embarrassing acknowledgment that prosecutors and F.B.I. agents did not understand — and did not do enough to learn — the science at the heart of the case before bringing charges that jeopardized Dr. Xi's career and left the impression that he was spying for China.

"I don't expect them to understand everything I do," Dr. Xi, 57, said in a telephone interview. "But the fact that they don't consult with experts and then charge me? Put my family through all this? Damage my reputation? They shouldn't do this. This is not a joke. This is not a game."

[...] The science involved in Dr. Xi's case is, by any measure, complicated. It involves the process of coating one substance with a very thin film of another. Dr. Xi's lawyer, Peter Zeidenberg, said that despite the complexity, it appeared that the government never consulted with experts before taking the case to a grand jury. As a result, prosecutors misconstrued the evidence, he said.

Dr. Xi was supposed to have passed along schematics of a sensitive technology, a pocket heater. One of the experts testifying that the schematics were not of the device was its co-inventor. This is the second Chinese espionage case dismissed in the last few months.

Original Submission + Alternate Submission