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Arthur T. Knackerbracket writes in wiht a story from Phys.org:

When NASA's Juno mission arrives at Jupiter on July 4, 2016, new views of the giant planet's swirling clouds will be sent back to Earth, courtesy of its color camera, called JunoCam. But unlike previous space missions, professional scientists will not be the ones producing the processed views, or even choosing which images to capture. Instead, the public will act as a virtual imaging team, participating in key steps of the process, from identifying features of interest to sharing the finished images online.

"This is really the public's camera. We are hoping students and whole classrooms will get involved and join our team," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

The Juno team has kicked off the first stage of JunoCam activity with the launch of a new Web platform on the mission's website. Now and throughout the mission, amateur astronomers are invited to submit images of Jupiter from their own telescopes. These views will be the basis for online discussions about which of Jupiter's swirls, bands and spots JunoCam should image as it makes repeated, close passes over the planet. The ground-based views will be essential for identifying and tracking changes in the planet's cloud features as Juno approaches.

"In between our close Jupiter flybys, Juno goes far from the planet, and Jupiter will shrink in JunoCam's field of view to a size too small to be useful for choosing which features to capture. So we really are counting on having help from ground-based observers," said Candy Hansen, a member of the Juno science team who leads planning for the camera.

[More after the break.]

An Anonymous Coward writes:

A plea from orbiting solar farmers on the ISS to COP21 (The United Nations Climate Change Conference): "open your eyes!"

The Association of Space Explorers reached out to their fellow astronauts to pass on a simple message of solidarity, hope and collaboration to combat climate change and reach our political leaders during such a crucial time.

Original Submission

"gewg_" writes in with news that The Register reported:

Security researchers at FireEye / Mandiant [say] "We identified the presence of a financially-motivated threat group that we track as FIN1, whose activity at the organisation dated back several years."

[...] "FIN1 used this malware to access the victim environment and steal cardholder data. The group, which may be located in Russia, is known for stealing data that is easily monetised from financial services organisations such as banks, credit unions, ATM operations, and financial transaction processing and financial business services companies."

[...] The malware's installation location also means it will persist even after re-installing the operating system, widely considered the most effective way to eradicate malware.

Can we all agree that updating firmware should require the movement of a physical jumper?

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

The GnuPG team is pleased to announce the availability of a new release
of GnuPG modern: Version 2.1.10. The main features of this release are
support for TOFU (Trust-On-First-Use) and anonymous key retrieval via
Tor.
...
Noteworthy changes in version 2.1.10
====================================

[More after the break.]

Teckla writes:

Microsoft may have sidelined its effort to allow Android apps to run unmodified on Windows 10. But Windows users have been able to do this on PCs for over a year at very low cost - thanks to a cunning virtualization project.

DuOS, or AmiDuOS, is an emulator that provides excellent compatibility for Android apps on the desktop. And perhaps unsurprisingly it survived an interesting history of tussles with Google before staking its claim.

[...] If this is the shape of things to come, it poses some intriguing strategic questions for Microsoft. Microsoft risks losing the developer client base that it has been able to take for granted for two decades. Windows has a huge app gap, and is marginal in mobile and tablets. Ideally, Microsoft wants developers to write to a Universal API that is compatible across Windows PCs and ARM-based mobile devices such as tablets and phones. But the apps have already been written, in Java, for Android.

Credit: Posted by RS Wood on comp.misc

Related: Steve Balmer: Use Android to Save Windows Phone

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Roger Thomas Clark, an adviser to Ross Ulbricht, creator of the Silk Road darknet marketplace, has been arrested in Thailand. Clark faces extradition to the U.S. and charges of narcotics and money laundering conspiracy:

A man alleged to have helped run the notorious Silk Road drug marketplace has been arrested in Thailand. Canadian Roger Thomas Clark is said to have been a key adviser for Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht. The US Department of Justice alleged that Mr Clark advised Ulbricht about the best way to run the site and how to evade the police. The Silk Road website was shut down in late 2013 following raids by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.

[...] The DoJ alleges that Mr Clark was a "high-ranking" operator on the Silk Road and was instrumental in helping Ulbricht run it. He gave advice about ways to improve the technology underpinning the site, boost sales and on the best way for Ulbricht to hide his real identity, said US authorities. Mr Clark was paid "at least hundreds of thousands of dollars" for this advice, said the DoJ in a statement announcing the arrest. [...] On the site and in other underground forums, Mr Clark is believed to have used several nicknames including "Variety Jones, "VJ", "Cimon" and "Plural of Mongoose".

From the DOJ press release:

CLARK repeatedly advocated the use of intimidation and violence to keep members of the Silk Road support staff from cooperating with law enforcement. In one such conversation, in which CLARK and Ulbricht discussed "track[ing] down" a certain Silk Road employee to ensure that he had not gone "[o]ff the rails," CLARK commented, "[D]ude, we're criminal drug dealers – what line shouldn't we cross?"

[...] CLARK, 54, a citizen of Canada, is charged with one count of narcotics conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years, and one count of money laundering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Meanwhile, Shaun Bridges, a Secret Service agent who pleaded guilty to stealing $820,000 worth of Bitcoins from the Silk Road, has been sentenced to 6 years in prison.

Original Submission

"gewg_" writes:

Paul Buchheit reports via AlterNet

While Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning and John Kiriakou are vilified for revealing vital information about spying and bombing and torture, a man who conspired with Goldman Sachs to make billions of dollars on the planned failure of subprime mortgages was honored by New York University for his "Outstanding Contributions to Society".

This is one example of the distorted thinking leading to the demise of a once-vibrant American society. There are other signs of decay:

• A House Bill Would View Corporate Crimes as "Honest Mistakes"
• Almost 2/3 of American Families Couldn't Afford a Single Pill of a Life-Saving Drug
• Violent Crime Down; Prison Population Doubles
• One in Four Americans Suffer Mental Illness; Mental Health Facilities Cut by 90 Percent
• The Unpaid Taxes of 500 Companies Could Pay for a Job for Every Unemployed American ...for two years ...at the nation's median salary of $36,000 ...for all 8 million unemployed.

Citizens for Tax Justice reports that Fortune 500 companies are holding over $2 trillion in profits offshore to avoid taxes that would amount to over $600 billion. Our society desperately needs infrastructure repair, but 8 million potential jobs are being held hostage beyond our borders.

Previous: Cost of Daraprim Medication Raised by Over 50 Times

Original Submission

DeathMonkey writes with a story from InsideClimate News:

The volume of carbon dioxide belched into the atmosphere from human activity this year is on track to decline slightly from last year's emissions, according to a new analysis published in the journal Nature Climate Change on Monday. The anticipated decrease in CO₂ emissions comes even as the world economy is growing, suggesting a turning point in clean energy development—and a long-hoped-for "decoupling" of economic growth and increased carbon emissions.

[...] Decreased coal use in China—whose carbon dioxide emissions account for nearly one-third of global emissions—was largely responsible for the decline in global emissions, the researchers concluded. After a decade of rapid growth, China's emissions rate slowed to 1.2 percent in 2014 and is expected to drop by approximately 3.9 percent in 2015, according to the report. More than half of new energy needs in China were met in 2014 from non-fossil fuel sources, such as hydro, nuclear, wind and solar power.

Original Submission

"gewg_" writes:

Common Dreams reports

As a way to improve living standards and boosts its economy, the nation of Finland is moving closer towards offering[1] all of its adult citizens a basic permanent income of approximately 800 euros per month.

[...] The monthly allotment would replace other existing social benefits, but is an idea long advocated for by progressive-minded social scientists and economists as a solution--counter-intuitive as it may first appear at first--that actually decreases government expenditures while boosting both productivity, quality of life, and unemployment.

[...] The basic income proposal, put forth by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution, known as KELA, would see every adult citizen "receive 800 euros ($876) a month, tax free, that would replace existing benefits. Full implementation would be preceded by a pilot stage, during which the basic income payout would be 550 euros and some benefits would remain."

[...] Under the current welfare system, a person gets less in benefits if they take up temporary, low-paying or part-time work--which can result in an overall loss of income.

[...] As Quartz reports, previous experiments with a basic income have shown promising results:

Everyone in the Canadian town of Dauphin was given a stipend from 1974 to 1979, and though there was a drop in working hours,[PDF] this was mainly because men spent more time in school and women took longer maternity leaves. Meanwhile, when thousands of unemployed people in Uganda were given unsupervised grants of twice their monthly income, working hours increased by 17% and earnings increased by 38%.

[1] Link to The Independent in TFA was redundant IMO.

...and, before anyone shouts SOCIALISM!, this is actually Liberal Democracy (of the Bernie Sanders type).

An actual move toward Socialism would subsidize the formation of worker-owned cooperatives. An initiative to do that was floated in 1980. 5 percent of taxes would have gone into a pool (kinda like USA's Social Security fund). The Finns rejected it. Source: Prof. Richard Wolff

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Keurig Green Mountain has been sold to JAB Holding for $13.9 billion:

The deal will make JAB the biggest player in the North American single-serve coffee pod market. "Keurig Green Mountain represents a major step forward in the creation of our global coffee platform," said JAB chairman Bart Becht, in a statement.

JAB has invested heavily in the US coffee market. It bought Caribou Coffee Co and Peet's Coffee & Tea in 2012 and formed a joint venture between coffeemakers DE Master Blenders and Mondelez International in July.

Keurig will continue to operate as an independent company after the purchase. Coca-Cola - Keurig's biggest investors- voiced its support for the deal in a statement. Coca-Cola will take a 17.4% stake in the new private company.

[...] Despite the higher cost of a single-serve coffee pod compared to a cup of filter coffee, the popularity of the machines continues to grow globally. According to Euromonitor International over the next three to five years, sales of single serve coffee pods are expected to grow by 5% in the US, 10% in Canada and 8% in Mexico. The research firm said the coffee pod business already accounts for 40% of the $15bn global coffee market.

Related: DRM: Coming to a Coffee Maker Near You
Keurig DRM Cracked By Competitors
Keurig Cup DRM Cracked
How much coffee do you drink each day?

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Get ready for The Pentagon's hip new online propaganda campaign:

The Pentagon has been given formal approval to start an online propaganda campaign against the Islamic State following a recent push by the US Department of Defense (DoD).

Congress approved the National Defense Authorization Act for 2016 last week and included in it a whole section (1056) on "Information operations and engagement technology demonstrations."

The section states that the Secretary of Defense "should develop creative and agile concepts, technologies, and strategies across all available media to most effectively reach target audiences, and to counter and degrade the ability of adversaries and potential adversaries to persuade, inspire, and recruit inside areas of hostilities or in other areas in direct support of the objectives of commanders."

In other words: counter the unexpectedly sophisticated and effective propaganda machine that the Islamic State has put into place in Iraq and Syria.

The section authorizes the Pentagon to carry out these operations for seven years – until October 2022 – and notes that it expects funding requests in that time: "The Secretary of Defense should request additional funds in future budgets to carry out military information support operations to support the broader efforts of the Government to counter violent extremism."

George Washington University has published an analysis (PDF) of the "American Isis Twitter scene".

Don't do drugs and join ISIS, kids.

Original Submission

hubie brought news of this story:

When Drug kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' escaped from a maximum-security Mexican prison, the most impressive part of the escape was its sophistication, planning and execution. A tunnel dug approximately 60 feet (19 meters) underground, complete with rails for a small cart and extending for about one mile (1.6 km).

On the other hand, as a BBC article points out, sometimes the low tech approach is just as effective.

What is the most amazing or wackiest escape attempt you have heard of? Was it successful?

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

In the U.S., digital advertising will surpass TV in 2016.

For the first time in history, outside of recession years, global television advertising revenue fell year-over-year as digital advertising surged once again. Digital, in fact, should overtake TV by the end of 2017, according to a study released Monday from Magna Global.

In the U.S., digital advertising will surpass TV in 2016.

A different study from ZenithOptimedia, also released Monday, says TV's share of the advertising pie probably peaked at 39.7 percent in 2012, and it will be overtaken by digital for the first time in 2018.

Both studies paint a rosy picture for digital advertising and a troubling one for traditional cable and broadcast TV, at least in the long term. Many TV cable channels have been losing subscribers lately — including Disney's crown jewel, ESPN, down 7 million subs in two years — while others at Viacom and elsewhere have seen declining ratings.

The advertising dollars jumping to digital will be just in time to run into a box canyon formed by AdBlock, NoScript, Ghostery, and other improving ad-blocking technologies.

Original Submission

"gewg_" writes with news starting with background about Replicant ...

Replicant is a fully free Android distribution running on several devices, a free software mobile operating system putting the emphasis on freedom and privacy/security. It is based on CyanogenMod and replaces or avoids every proprietary component of the system, such as user-space programs and libraries as well as firmwares.

Replicant aims to be an ethical system: it does not ship nor recommend the use of non-free software.

...and that The Replicant blog reports on devices which are now available with Replicant pre-installed:

[More after the break.]

takyon writes:

The Pirate Bay's original .org domain has been suspended over an ICANN domain verification issue.

Pirate Bay's original .org domain was suspended by EuroDNS a few hours ago, after the registrant failed to verify the contact details. Even though it's no longer the main domain name for the site, the bookmark was still in use by many people as a redirect to Pirate Bay's latest home base.

[...] The person managing the domain name has failed to verify the contact details and until this is done the domain name will stop functioning. "This domain name is pending ICANN verification and has been suspended. If you are the owner of this domain you can reactivate this domain by logging into your EuroDNS account," reads the notice that appears.

For the site's users the issue doesn't cause any problems. The Pirate Bay site is still reachable via the .se domain name, which redirects visitors to several other official TPB domain names.

[More after the break.]