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Phoenix666 writes:

Assistive exoskeletons are a bit like electric bikes – they do indeed give users a power boost, but part of that boost is needed just to move the extra weight along. Japanese researchers at Hiroshima University and Daiya Industry Co., however, have created a minimalist exoskeleton that does away with heavy batteries and motors. Instead, their Unplugged Powered Suit (UPS) harnesses the wearer's own weight.

The UPS consists of a pump located under the sole of the user's foot, an air hose that runs up the leg from that pump, and what's known as a Pneumatic Gel Muscle (PGM).

With each step that the wearer takes, their foot presses down on the pump. This pushes air up the hose to a hip belt, where it's relayed into the PGM. There, it temporarily causes a gel contained within the device to compress, causing the whole thing to contract and relax like a natural muscle.

See also at Aalborg University and Hiroshima University.

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"exec" writes:

Police are attending a shooting in California, with reports of 20 victims, say officials.

From the BBC:

Fire officials in San Bernardino said it was responding to a "20 victim shooting incident" and it was working to clear the scene.

ABC News reports that there are 12 people dead but police have not confirmed that number.

It is still a "very active scene" and police are trying to secure the building, said a police spokeswoman.

There may be up to three gunmen, she said, and they were heavily armed and possibly wearing body armour.

-- submitted from IRC

Update 1: BBC Live stream updates

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takyon writes:

To mark the birth of their first child as well as "#GivingTuesday", Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have promised to give away 99% of their Facebook shares, currently worth about $45 billion, to charity over their lifetimes. MarketWatch notes a federal filing that indicates that Zuckerberg will donate about $1 billion per year over the next three years, but will retain his majority voting position in Facebook for the foreseeable future. From the letter:

Like all parents, we want you to grow up in a world better than ours today. While headlines often focus on what's wrong, in many ways the world is getting better. Health is improving. Poverty is shrinking. Knowledge is growing. People are connecting. Technological progress in every field means your life should be dramatically better than ours today. We will do our part to make this happen, not only because we love you, but also because we have a moral responsibility to all children in the next generation.

We believe all lives have equal value, and that includes the many more people who will live in future generations than live today. Our society has an obligation to invest now to improve the lives of all those coming into this world, not just those already here. But right now, we don't always collectively direct our resources at the biggest opportunities and problems your generation will face.

Consider disease. Today we spend about 50 times more as a society treating people who are sick than we invest in research so you won't get sick in the first place. Medicine has only been a real science for less than 100 years, and we've already seen complete cures for some diseases and good progress for others. As technology accelerates, we have a real shot at preventing, curing or managing all or most of the rest in the next 100 years.

Today, most people die from five things -- heart disease, cancer, stroke, neurodegenerative and infectious diseases -- and we can make faster progress on these and other problems. Once we recognize that your generation and your children's generation may not have to suffer from disease, we collectively have a responsibility to tilt our investments a bit more towards the future to make this reality. Your mother and I want to do our part.

Curing disease will take time. Over short periods of five or ten years, it may not seem like we're making much of a difference. But over the long term, seeds planted now will grow, and one day, you or your children will see what we can only imagine: a world without suffering from disease.

There are so many opportunities just like this. If society focuses more of its energy on these great challenges, we will leave your generation a much better world.

The letter goes on to mention other grand goals, global availability of Internet access, and the creation of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

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Phoenix666 writes:

Imagine you found out that your former spouse had opened a fake LifeLock credit monitoring account in your name, and then used it to follow your every financial move for two years? Then imagine that no one at LifeLock will take your query seriously, even after the police get involved.

That's the story of an Arizona woman who learned in March that her ex-husband had been keeping track — literally, their son found a five-page Excel spreadsheet on his computer — of her bank accounts, credit cards and other financial activities.

"He knew everything I did," she tells the Arizona Republic. "I had no idea about all the things he knew."

That spreadsheet didn't just have financial info. It also included his ex-wife's passwords and answers to her security questions. When she reviewed the file — which her son had sent her after finding it on dad's computer — she saw mention of a LifeLock account that her ex was paying for.

The next question is, if people freak out about this, why don't they freak out about the government or companies knowing the same information?

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AndyTheAbsurd writes:

Los Angeles City Council is considering sending "Dear John" letters to the registrants of cars seen in an area of San Fernando described as having a "thriving street prostitution problem". The plan would use automated license plate readers to identify vehicles that stopped in the area. Council member Nury Martinez claims "If you aren't soliciting, you have no reason to worry about finding one of these letters in your mailbox. But if you are, these letters will discourage you from returning."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/12/01/the-age-of-pre-crime-has-arrived/

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Phoenix666 writes:

"We have identified a new molecular mechanism which directly contributes to this synapse loss -- a discovery we hope could eventually lead to earlier diagnosis of the disease and new treatments."

The team studied a protein in the brain called neural cell adhesion molecule 2, or NCAM2 -- one of a family of molecules that physically connects the membranes of synapses and help stabilise these long lasting synaptic contacts between neurons.

The research is published in the journal Nature Communications .

Using post-mortem brain tissue from people with and without the condition, they discovered that synaptic NCAM2 levels in the part of the brain known as the hippocampus were low in those with Alzheimer's disease.

They also showed in mice studies and in the laboratory that NCAM2 was broken down by another protein called beta-amyloid, which is the main component of the plaques that build up in the brains of people with the disease.

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Knowledge Troll writes:

In England there has recently been a horrific tragedy that resulted in a 16 month old child losing an eye after a drone crash landed on top of them. This is a terrible event but it isn't the first time someone's drone went kill all babies. Actually this isn't the second time a drone did this either: it is the second time an irresponsible pilot is screwing up remote control flying machines for the rest of us pilots and it got into the news. It is very problematic that babies are much more cute than the average remote control helicopter and most of the population likes babies more than flying pieces of plastic and metal.

People are dumb with these devices and lack respect; this is getting out of control. If bad pilots keep hitting babies it'll be impossible for anyone to get their hands on a remote control airplane, helicopter, or what most people would call a drone, unless they get licensed first. That isn't a registration: licensing. I don't even like the registration requirements the FAA has recently proposed. However I'm a practical person and soon a giant backlash is going to come and it will sweep up the good and bad pilots. Whats worse people are engaging in conversations about "fixing" this drone problem and they have no clue what they are talking about.

[More after the break.]

Phoenix666 writes:

A number of doctors aren't so sure about the benefits of wearables eithers. A recent MIT Technology Review story found doctors from a number of specialities unsure about what to do with the data many of their fitness-tracking patients are bringing them."Clinicians can't do a lot with the number of steps you've taken in a day," Neil Sehgal, a senior research scientist at UCSF Center for Digital Health Innovation said. Andrew Trister, an oncologist and researcher at Sage Bionetworks echoed this sentiment. "[Patients] come in with these very large Excel spreadsheets, with all this information," he said. "I have no idea what to do with that."

One of the short-term problems for trackers is that their [sic] not actually reliable enough to be medically useful. The sorts of measurements that devices cheap enough to be commercial products tend only to focus on vague metrics that could just as easily be inferred from a short interview or basic examination. While certain health trackers have shown promise—such as the small implants that manage insulin for diabetics—they can also produce a hyper-vigilance and paranoia, leading to a degenerative process of over-managing issues that a person's body is already handling.

Are there Soylentils that do use fitness trackers regularly? Do they help you manage your health?

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Anonymous Coward writes:

The political and ideological discussion in the USA about gun control laws and the 2nd Amendment has been a hot topic for decades. Usually, the topic remains in a glowing, hot-ember state. The heat and light emanating from this hot-ember pulses and intensifies when fanned by the news of mass murder involving guns. As drones become more prevalent in society, I fear the hot-embers of this age-old debate will fan into flames. While one must have a license to operate either machine, that legal requirement will not deter those with harmful intent.

Putting aside the political and ideological debates, how would soylentils implement a no-fly zone for drones - especially ones with harmful payloads or in areas containing volatile substances?

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"joekiser" writes:

In this Ars Technica article, Mozilla Corporation Chair Mitchell Baker discloses the desire to drop the Thunderbird email client altogether.

"Many inside of Mozilla, including an overwhelming majority of our leadership, feel the need to be laser-focused on activities like Firefox that can have an industry-wide impact." Baker writes. "With all due respect to Thunderbird and the Thunderbird community, we have been clear for years that we do not view Thunderbird as having this sort of potential."

Thunderbird has already been demoted to second-tier status, receiving only security updates since the summer of 2012. Baker's plan would turn Thunderbird over to a community product, similar to what happened with the Mozilla Suite a decade ago.

Is Mozilla's decision to laser-focus on improving Firefox going to stop their dwindling market share? Who else, besides the submitter, is still using Thunderbird? And where will you go once Thunderbird is no longer supported?

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Nearly half of U.S. households only use cellphones, according to new federal statistics that show more and more people are cutting the cord on landlines.

Now, only about 8 percent of households have just landlines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday.

More than 47 percent of American homes use only cellphones. About 42 percent have both.

A dozen years ago, a mere 3 percent of U.S. households used only cellphones. Given the trend, officials believe more than half of U.S. homes will be wireless within the next year.

"The tipping point is approaching," said CDC's Stephen Blumberg, the report's lead author.

Telemarketers can't reach you on your cell phone. Political calls can't reach you on your cell phone. Excellent call-blocking apps exist.

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takyon writes:

Italian Justice Minister Andrea Orlando has said that €150 million would be invested in order to reform information and security services, including monitoring the PlayStation Network for terrorist communications:

Italian counter-terror agents are to monitor Sony's PlayStation Network for jihadi chatter, according to the nation's justice minister, following alarmingly silly reports that a PS4 was used to coordinate the terrorist attacks in Paris.

Andrea Orlando told Italian broadsheet Il Messaggero that the government would be investing €150m (£105m) in a reformation of the nation's security services, with the aim of allowing them to monitor "any form of communication", with the PlayStation gaming console receiving specific attention.

The Italian plans follow an article in Forbes, cited by the Telegraph and the New York Times, which claimed, "An ISIS agent could spell out an attack plan in Super Mario Maker's coins and share it privately with a friend, or two Call of Duty players could write messages to each other on a wall in a disappearing spray of bullets."

That report, in turn, appears to have been prompted by statements made by the Belgian deputy prime minister, Jan Jambon. Jambon complained that Belgian security services and their international partners were unable to decrypt communications made through the PlayStation Network. Jambon reportedly claimed that "PlayStation 4 is even more difficult to keep track of than WhatsApp" in this regard. His claims were made days before the attacks in Paris, however, and had to do with ISIS' general tactics.

Also at The Independent.

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The Mighty Buzzard writes:

E20 is out. Straight from the horse's mouth:

The E20 development cycle has come to a close, with 1890 patches submitted by over 50 developers in the course of 441 days.
25+ reported Coverity analyzer issues and 165 tickets were addressed during this time (based on commit message tagging).
I'd like to personally thank everyone who contributed, whether by submitting patches, writing documentation, reporting bugs, or simply providing feedback on IRC.
The bug reporting MVP for this cycle was @ApB with 231 submitted tickets: an impressive echievement, though I regret that only about 70% of these tickets were able to be solved.

Release Highlights

• Full Wayland support
• New screen management infrastructure and dialog
• New audio mixer infrastructure and gadget
• Many internal widgets replaced with Elementary
• Improved FreeBSD support
• Geolocation module

The complete log can be seen here.

Every time they release a new major version I feel compelled to try it, then I remember why I don't dig Enlightenment. It's just too hardcore a desktop environment for me. Any of you lot use it regularly or do I have company in my ass-pansy-ness?

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Phoenix666 writes:

Two years after the Tesla CEO crowdsourced the idea for the Hyperloop, his dream of a 'fifth mode' of transportation is quickly and quietly becoming a reality, but what's his endgame?
...
Reactions at the time [of Elon Musk's announcement about the Hyperloop] ranged from excitement to skepticism to outright disbelief—Musk was even accused of sabotaging the high-speed rail project for profit, despite his statement that he had no plans to develop the Hyperloop commercially. Musk stepped back, essentially giving the field to the host of students, engineers and entrepreneurs who almost immediately answered the challenge. Musk spent the next two years tweeting support for any opensource Hyperloop developments. He remains close to members of both startups currently in the lead to produce the first working Hyperloop—Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, or HTT, and Hyperloop Technologies Inc., or HTI. But on Jan. 15th of this year, Musk shook up the field when he announced plans to build a Hyperloop test track and hold a contest in summer 2016 at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. The challenge? Create a functioning, half-scale pod. Specs for the test track's tube were released in October, and in November, 318 teams from 162 universities and 16 countries submitted their final pod designs. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx will be the keynote speaker at the first event, a Hyperloop design weekend for the finalists at Texas A&M University on January 13th, 2016.

"Hyperloop." The name still evokes images of Toucan Sam.

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HughPickens.com writes:

Danielle Douglas-Gabriel writes in the Washington Post that Purdue University is partnering with Vemo Education, a Reston-based financial services firm, to create income-share agreements, or ISAs, that its students can tap to pay for tuition, room and board. In return, students would pay a percentage of their earnings after graduation for a set number of years, replenishing the fund for future investments.

Purdue president Mitch Daniels calls the contracts a constructive addition to today’s government loan programs and perhaps the only option for students and families who have low credit ratings and extra financial need. "From the student’s standpoint, ISAs assure a manageable payback amount, never more than the agreed portion of their incomes. Best of all, they shift the risk of career shortcomings from student to investor: If the graduate earns less than expected, it is the investors who are disappointed; if the student decides to go off to find himself in Nepal instead of working, the loss is entirely on the funding providers, who will presumably price that risk accordingly when offering their terms. This is true “debt-free” college."

However some observers worry that students pursuing profitable degrees in engineering or business would get better repayment terms than those studying to become nurses or teachers. "Income share agreements have the potential to create another option for students looking to pay for college while seeking assurances they will not be overwhelmed by future payments," says Robert Kelchen. "However, given the current generosity of federal income-based repayment programs and the likely hesitation of those who expect six-figure salaries to sign away a percentage of their income for years to come, the market for these programs may be somewhat limited."

Original Submission

PiMuNu writes:

From a paper published at the Cornell University Library (published in Phys. Rev D):

There are very few direct experimental tests of the inverse square law of gravity at distances comparable to the scale of the Solar System and beyond. Here we describe a possible space mission optimized to test the inverse square law at a scale of up to 100 AU. This experiment would extend our understanding of gravity to the largest scale that can be reached with a direct probe using known technology. This would provide a powerful test of long-distance modifications of gravity including many theories motivated by dark matter or dark energy.

(Nb: the paper is published in Phys. Rev D, I link to the arxiv article. The form of publication is common where one publishes in arxiv before sending to a journal in order to provide open access to an article published in a subscriber only journal.)

Original Submission