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mendax writes:

Ars Technica has a short article about the recovery of data off 200 floppy disks used by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenbery for scripts and story ideas:

The circumstances of the information recovery are particularly interesting, however. Several years after the death of Roddenberry, his estate found the 5.25-inch floppy disks. Although the Star Trek creator originally typed his scripts on typewriters, he later moved his writing to two custom-built computers with custom-made operating systems before purchasing more mainstream computers in advance of his death in 1991.

Here is the press release from DriveSavers, the company that was paid to do the recovery work.

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Phoenix666 writes:

Brain scans from nearly 200 adolescent boys provide evidence that the brains of compulsive video game players are wired differently. Chronic video game play is associated with hyperconnectivity between several pairs of brain networks. Some of the changes are predicted to help game players respond to new information. Other changes are associated with distractibility and poor impulse control. The research, a collaboration between the University of Utah School of Medicine, and Chung-Ang University in South Korea, was published online in Addiction Biology on Dec. 21, 2015.

"Most of the differences we see could be considered beneficial. However the good changes could be inseparable from problems that come with them," says senior author Jeffrey Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neuroradiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine.

Those with Internet gaming disorder are obsessed with video games, often to the extent that they give up eating and sleeping to play. This study reports that in adolescent boys with the disorder, certain brain networks that process vision or hearing are more likely to have enhanced coordination to the so-called salience network. The job of the salience network is to focus attention on important events, poising that person to take action. In a video game, the enhanced coordination could help a gamer to react more quickly to the rush of an oncoming fighter. And in life, to a ball darting in front of a car, or an unfamiliar voice in a crowded room.

"Hyperconnectivity between these brain networks could lead to a more robust ability to direct attention toward targets, and to recognize novel information in the environment," says Anderson. "The changes could essentially help someone to think more efficiently." Follow up studies will be needed to directly determine whether the boys with these brain differences do better on performance tests.

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takyon writes:

The Wi-Fi Alliance has approved a new Wi-Fi standard that increases network range rather than frequency and bandwidth:

The Wi-Fi Alliance announced that it approved a new wireless technology standard called the 802.11ah. The devices supporting it will work on the 900MHz band and will have twice the range of devices working on the 2.4GHz band. The new standard is meant to be used in smart homes, connected cars, digital healthcare, as well as in agricultural, industrial and smart city environments.

In the past few years, the Wi-Fi Alliance approved the 802.11ac standard, which provides roughly 1Gbps bandwidth over the 5GHz band, as well as the more recent 802.11ad, which has even higher multi-Gbps bandwidth, but works over a much shorter range on the 60GHz band.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has been focusing on improving bandwidth performance at the cost of range and lower obstacle penetration. However, with the new 802.11ah standard, codenamed "HaLow" (made up of the "ah" letters and the "low" word from low-power), the Wi-Fi Alliance wants to extend the range of its wireless technology and lower the power consumption for the embedded devices that will end up using it.

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, the 900MHz band will allow the new wireless technology to not only have double the range of the current Wi-Fi standards, but it will also be able to penetrate walls and other obstacles more reliably.

Here's the Wi-Fi Alliance press release and the Wikipedia article.

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chromas writes:

The Register reports:

The Dutch government has formally opposed the introduction of backdoors in encryption products.

A government position paper, published by the Ministry of Security and Justice on Monday and signed by the security and business ministers, concludes that “the government believes that it is currently not appropriate to adopt restrictive legal measures against the development, availability and use of encryption within the Netherlands.”

The formal position comes just months after the Dutch government approved a €500,000 ($540,000) grant to OpenSSL, the project developing the widely used open-source encryption software library.

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einar sent us some news.

According to the Oculus Blog, Oculus Rift pre-orders will open at 8AM Pacific time on Wednesday, January 6. Pricing and and actual release date are not yet known, but presumably will be revealed at that time. Also:

As a reminder, every Rift comes bundled with Lucky's Tale by Playful, and we're also including CCP's EVE: Valkyrie for free with every pre-order!

Disclaimer: although posting about the rift a second time within two weeks, I am not affiliated with Oculus or facebook :-)

[UPDATED 2015-01-06 @1637 UTC.]

The Oculus Rift is now available for pre-order.

[Details after the break.]

takyon writes:

Technologies developed by NASA researchers could save commercial airlines billions of dollars:

The nation's airlines could realize more than $250 billion dollars in savings in the near future thanks to green-related technologies developed and refined by NASA's aeronautics researchers during the past six years.

These new technologies, developed under the purview of NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) project, could cut airline fuel use in half, pollution by 75 percent and noise to nearly one-eighth of today's levels.

"If these technologies start finding their way into the airline fleet, our computer models show the economic impact could amount to $255 billion in operational savings between 2025 and 2050," said Jaiwon Shin, NASA's associate administrator for aeronautics research.

Created in 2009 and completed in 2015, ERA's mission was to explore and document the feasibility, benefits and technical risk of inventive vehicle concepts and enabling technologies that would reduce aviation's impact on the environment. Project researchers focused on eight major integrated technology demonstrations falling into three categories – airframe technology, propulsion technology and vehicle systems integration. By the time ERA officially concluded its six-year run, NASA had invested more than $400 million, with another $250 million in-kind resources invested by industry partners who were involved in ERA from the start.

That's quite the return on investment, if the technologies are adopted by airlines. NBF estimates U.S. jet fuel consumption at 25% of the global total, so airlines globally may be able to save up to a trillion dollars if these fuel-saving technologies are adopted.

Phoenix666 sent in the news:

A computer security researcher has probed the communication protocols used by her pacemaker – and hopes her findings will raise awareness of just how much info medical devices are emitting.

Marie Moe received her pacemaker four years ago after she experienced a form of arrhythmia, and her heart began to slow.

Soon after, she sought out the manual for her closed-source device – and enlisted the help of Cambridge University industrial control hacker Eireann Leverett to find out more about the vital gizmo that keeps her heart beating normally.

Moe, once of Norway's Computer Emergency Response Team, found the device had two wireless interfaces: some near-field communications (NFC) electronics used to exchange data with medical equipment during hospital check-ups, and another system for communicating with a bedside device.

Leverett says the bedside unit passes sensitive medical information about herself from her pacemaker to remote servers, and finally to her doctor's workstation, via communications channels from SMS and 3G to the standard internet. Leverett fears these channels are not necessarily secure, and the servers are often held in foreign countries – which all in all is a headache for privacy.

Please refrain from making comments about Larry and Curly.

Original Submission

MichaelDavidCrawford writes:

I haven't had a whole lot of luck finding work the past few years, with the result that I earn what money I can by singing on the street. I live in a tent under a highway overpass.

I'd like to get out of that tent. I'm a long ways from making it as a musician.

I have founded a new consultancy. I don't want to work through the agencies, in my view the agencies work to build their own businesses rather than building mine. In the short term what I need are methods for locating sales leads.

What most companies seek when they advertise for contractors on the job boards are temporary employees. Someone who will work on-site under the direct supervision of the client company's management. That's not the way I work. I operate an independent company, I supervise myself and work from my own office - which presently consists of a variety of WiFi spots, but will be a desk at a co-working space once I get a client.

The one thing I know how to do is to attract traffic to my business' website by publishing technical articles on it. What I'd like to do is send direct mail - snail mail - with a cover letter, business card and trifold brochure.

I've had success as a consultant in the past but my old methods don't really seem to work anymore.

The services I offer shouldn't matter for a general answer to this Ask SN, but I am specifically looking for embedded systems development, device driver and operating system work, debugging and performance tuning.

Original Submission

edIII writes:

The Transportation Security Administration can now mandate some passengers go through a body scanner (AIT) even if the travelers ask to opt out and get a full-body pat-down instead.

Mandated screening for some passengers would be "warranted by security considerations in order to safeguard transportation security," the TSA said in a document updating the protocol. The change comes at a time of heightened concern about aviation security and terror plots against commercial aviation. The TSA said the benefit of using the technology is it "improves threat detection capabilities for both metallic and nonmetallic threat objects." In other words, the scanners can catch weapons hidden in clothes that a pat-down might miss. The agency said it does not store any personally identifiable information from the body scanner, known as Advanced Imaging Technologies, or AIT.

Also covered here.

From the DHS:

TSA is updating the AIT PIA to reflect a change to the operating protocol regarding the ability of individuals to opt opt-out of AIT screening in favor of physical screening. While passengers may generally decline AIT screening in favor of physical screening, TSA may direct mandatory AIT screening for some passengers. TSA does not store any personally identifiable information from AIT screening.

The full document is here.

This certainly does seem to be the actual end to freedom while travelling the country via airplane, but what's interesting is that according to my friend in the TSA (placed higher up), none of this is true. The policy was never actually enforced from "Day 2" of the policy which is years old, not weeks. The TSA will still respect privacy in all cases, allow you to leave the line without inspection (your items must not enter the x-ray), and at all times, must respect the privacy rules by allowing opt-outs with private pat down requests. There will be no exceptions made to this policy. My friend was very clear that the news media is just wrong in the reporting.

So whether a policy or not (the document makes it pretty clear it is an actual policy), the TSA hasn't been enforcing it going on three years now. You still have the option to leave as long as you didn't start the process. I don't feel there is enough notice of this policy posted around the lines, but it's good to know nonetheless. I do believe my friend more, but the language in the news and official documents are fairly clear. You may be forced to go through a naked-body-porno-scanner (or AIT for short) should your pass state "enhanced screening" on it. However, it's also highly likely that the TSA agents responsible will not directly enforce the policy (my friend would not enforce the policy).

Have any Soylentils been forced through an AIT yet? If AIT was mandatory, would you still fly? I've been herded very strongly towards one, and admonished that I have "no technical understanding of the machine" by TSA personnel, but I've always made it to the ball-groping stage of free travel in America nonetheless...

Original Submission

chromas writes:

From TorrentFreak:

Warner Bros. and Intel's daughter company Digital Content Protection have sued a hardware manufacturer that creates devices enabling consumers to bypass 4K copy protection. The devices, sold under the HDFury brand, can be used by pirates to copy 4k video from streaming platforms as well as other HDCP 2.2 protected content.

[...] Starting a few weeks ago [Chinese technology company LegendSky] launched a range of new devices which allow users to strip the latest HDCP encryption. This hardware sits between a HDCP-compliant source device and another device, allowing it to pass on a "stripped" 4K signal.

The Hollywood studio and DCP argue that these devices violate the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions and should no longer be sold to prevent further damage.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

BBC presenter Benjamin Zand recently took what he believes was a nootropic, or smart drug. The reporter is uncertain since he ordered the tablets online. In this downbeat report, he recounts the effects of the presumed modafinil:

Many so-called smart drugs have conventional uses - a popular one, modafinil, is used to treat excessive need for sleep caused by narcolepsy or shift work. But they are also being taken, in growing numbers, by people looking to work more effectively. Modafinil was dubbed the "world's first safe smart drug" by researchers at Harvard and Oxford universities who suggested its effects were "low risk" when taken in the short term. But side effects can include insomnia, headaches and potentially dangerous skin rashes, and there is a lack of long-term data.

Nevertheless, having read such positive reviews online - some claiming smart drugs had drastically improved their university grades - I decided to take it as an experiment. While it is illegal to sell modafinil in the UK without a prescription, it is not illegal to buy. There are many websites, often based in India, which make it available to purchase.

[...] The following day, a train journey presented what I expected to be a perfect opportunity to get some work done with the aid of a smart pill. I was wrong. I became distracted - more so than normal. While the drug made me focus, it was on the wrong things - such as playing video games on my smartphone. As the time passed, I began to develop a very bad headache, I lost my appetite and I needed to use the bathroom - constantly. While my brain wasn't working any faster, my bladder certainly was.

That evening, I began to feel the effects of modafinil's "wakefulness promoting agent". When I tried to get to sleep, I found myself unable to switch off until the early hours of the morning. I also found an itchy lump on the back of my leg - one on my arm appeared too the following day.

My experiences seemed a far cry from those of others. Jason Auld - an athlete and entrepreneur from Edinburgh - says he feels like he can achieve virtually anything on modafinil. "It just makes you feel as if you're operating at 100%, you're putting in all you can put in. Usually you don't think that's possible, but modafinil allows me to do it."

Related:

Cognitive Enhancement is Ethically Risky Business
Drug Unlocks Malleable, Fast-Learning, Child-Like State In Adult Brain
Ethics and the Enhanced Soldier of the Near Future
Cognitive Enhancement May Not be All It's Cracked Up To Be.

Original Submission

chromas writes:

From Game politics:

On January 1st of every year under US Copyright Law, creative and scientific works that have reached the end of their copyright terms go into the public domain. These works are then open for use and distribution by the public without restriction.

Prior to 1976, one could get a copyright on their work for 28 years and extend that copyright for another 28 years if they so wished. After Congress extended copyright terms, all works previously covered by copyright, and all new works, had their terms extended automatically to life of the creator plus 50 years.

Every year on January 1st, The Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke University publishes a list of all the works that would have gone into the public domain had the 1976 copyright term extensions not been passed. Had copyright terms remained at a maximum of 56, we would see a good number of works enter the public domain. Sadly, under the US's extended terms no works will go into the public domain until 2019, that is if Congress doesn't extend copyright terms again.

North Korea Detonates First Hydrogen Bomb

HughPickens.com writes:

The NYT reports that North Korea has announced it has detonated its first hydrogen bomb dramatically escalating the nuclear challenge from one of the world's most isolated and dangerous states. "This is the self-defensive measure we have to take to defend our right to live in the face of the nuclear threats and blackmail by the United States and to guarantee the security of the Korean Peninsula," said a female North Korean announcer on the state-run network. "With this hydrogen bomb test, we have joined the major nuclear powers." The North's announcement came about an hour after detection devices around the world had picked up a 5.1 seismic event that South Korea said was 30 miles from the Punggye-ri site where the North has conducted nuclear tests in the past.

"North Korea's fourth test — in the context of repeated statements by U.S., Chinese, and South Korean leaders — throws down the gauntlet to the international community to go beyond paper resolutions and find a way to impose real costs on North Korea for pursuing this course of action," says Scott Snyder, a Korea expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. According to the Times, the test is bound to figure in the American presidential campaign, where several candidates have already cited the North's nuclear experimentation as evidence of American weakness — though they have not prescribed alternative strategies for choking off the program. The United States did not develop its first thermonuclear weapons — commonly known as hydrogen bombs — until 1952, seven years after the first and only use of nuclear weapons in wartime.

mendax writes:

The New York Times is reporting a claim made by the North Korean government in which is says that it has detonated a hydrogen bomb:

a claim that, if true, would dramatically escalate the nuclear challenge from one of the world's most isolated and dangerous states.

In a brief announcement, about an hour after seismic detectors around the world picked up a 5.1 magnitude seismic event along the country's northeast cost, officials said that the test was a "complete success." But it is difficult to tell whether that boast is true, and it may be weeks or longer before detectors sent aloft by the United States and other powers can determine what kind of test was conducted.

The apparent North Korean test took place at or near the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where the three previous tests have been conducted over the past nine years. But if the North Korean claim is true, this one was of a of a different nature.

Like most of the rest of the world who know something about the physics of these devices, I'm very skeptical of this claim, given that, even on a slow news day, the North Korean government has about as much credibility as the boy who cried wolf.

chromas writes:

From the Ars-ticle:

T-Mobile USA's controversial "Binge On" program is throttling all HTML5 video streams and direct video downloads to about 1.5Mbps, according to tests run by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

Binge On, unveiled in November, is enabled by default for all T-Mobile customers and downgrades video resolution to 480p in order to reduce data usage. Companies that cooperate with T-Mobile can stream video without counting against customers' high-speed data limits. That means you can watch Netflix, HBO, Hulu, and about another 20 services without using up your data.

But all video is downgraded, regardless of whether it gets a data cap exemption, which has led to a rift between T-Mobile and Google's YouTube.

Original Submission

oaklandwatch writes:

Scammers pretending to be Dell technical support are calling real Dell customers on their actual home phone numbers — and they know their entire support history. "They're hacking our web site," one Dell support staffer told an irate customer, and the problem has been happening since at least last May. In some case scammers have even supplied a customer's Dell Service Tag Number and Express Service Code before pointing victims to a web site that lets the scammers remotely access their victim's system. Eight days after the FTC announced they'd closed a different technical support scam, these phone calls were still continuing, and the FTC has yet to recover millions of dollars of the victims' money.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

a bacterium named Moorella thermoacetica has been induced to perform only a single trick, but it's a doozy. Berkeley Lab researchers are using M. thermoacetica to perform photosynthesis – despite being non-photosynthetic – and also to synthesize semiconductor nanoparticles in a hybrid artificial photosynthesis system for converting sunlight into valuable chemical products.

"We've demonstrated the first self-photosensitization of a non-photosynthetic bacterium, M. thermoacetica, with cadmium sulfide nanoparticles to produce acetic acid from carbon dioxide at efficiencies and yield that are comparable to or may even exceed the capabilities of natural photosynthesis," says Peidong Yang, a chemist with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division, who led this work.

"The bacteria/inorganic-semiconductor hybrid artificial photosynthesis system we've created is self-replicating through the bio-precipitation of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles, which serve as the light harvester to sustain cellular metabolism," Yang says. "Demonstrating this cyborgian ability to self-augment the functionality of biological systems through inorganic chemistry opens up the integration of biotic and abiotic components for the next generation of advanced solar-to-chemical conversion technologies."

This could be used to directly remove CO2 from the air and into acetic acid which, in diluted form, is the major component of vinegar. Pickles, anyone?

An abstract is available (DOI: 10.1126/science.aad3317).

Original Submission

HughPickens.com writes:

Lawyers have been described as the canaries in the coal mine in the face of a wave of automation now beginning to displace highly skilled white-collar workers as the increasing reliance on so-called "e-discovery" software in lawsuits raises the specter that $35-an-hour paralegals as well as $400-an-hour lawyers could fall victim to programs that could read and analyze legal documents more quickly and accurately than humans. Now John Markoff writes in the NY Times that a new study, "Can Robots Be Lawyers?", by Dana Remus analyzes which aspects of a lawyer's job could be automated and concludes that many of the tasks that lawyers perform fall well within human behavior that cannot be easily codified. "When a task is less structured, as many tasks are," writes Remus, "it will often be impossible to anticipate all possible contingencies."

According to Markoff being a lawyer involves performing a range of tasks including counseling, appearing in court, and persuading juries. Reading documents accounts for a relatively modest portion of a lawyer's activities. Remus estimates that about 13 percent of all legal work might ultimately fall prey to automation (pdf). According to Markoff, if that amount of work disappeared in a single year, it would be devastating but implemented over many years, this amount of technological change will be less noticeable. Even in the case of start-ups like LegalZoom and Rocket Lawyer, two sites that can aid in the preparation of legal documents, the impact of automation will more likely be in expanding into underserved markets rather than in displacing existing legal services.. "A careful look at existing and emerging technologies reveals that it is only relatively structured and repetitive tasks that can currently be automated," concludes Remus. "These tasks represent a relatively modest percentage of lawyers' billable hours."

Original Submission