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HughPickens.com writes:

Imagine that within two or three decades we'll have morphed into the Robotic States of America. Most manual laborers will have been replaced by herculean bots. Truck drivers, cabbies, delivery workers and airline pilots will have been superseded by vehicles that do it all. Doctors, lawyers, and business executives will have seen their ranks thinned by charming, attractive, all-knowing algorithms. So how will humans earn a living after they've been made redundant?

Farhad Manjoo writes at The New York Times that one idea has gained widespread interest — including from some of the very technologists who are now building the bot-ruled future — is a plan known as "universal basic income," or U.B.I. - just give everyone a paycheck. "Imagine the government sending each adult about $1,000 a month, about enough to cover housing, food, health care and other basic needs for many Americans," writes Manjoo. "U.B.I. would be aimed at easing the dislocation caused by technological progress, but it would also be bigger than that." Supporters argue machine intelligence will produce so much economic surplus that we could collectively afford to liberate much of humanity from both labor and suffering in the sort of quasi-utopian future we've seen in science fiction universes like that of "Star Trek."

There is an urgency to the techies' interest in U.B.I. They argue that machine intelligence reached an inflection point in the last couple of years, and that technological progress now looks destined to change how most of the world works. Wage growth is sluggish, job security is nonexistent, inequality looks inexorable, and the ideas that once seemed like a sure path to a better future (like taking on debt for college) are in doubt. Even where technology has created more jobs, like the so-called gig economy work created by services like Uber, it has only added to our collective uncertainty about the future of work. "All of a sudden," says Roy Bahat, "people are looking at these trends and realizing these questions about the future of work are more real and immediate than they guessed."

Previously:
"Silicon Valley Startup Funder Eyes Universal Basic Income"

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for takyon

With a July 1 deadline looming, Congress was scrambling this week to quickly set a national standard for labeling food products that contain genetically modified ingredients.

While most lawmakers mentioned polls showing the majority of Americans support GMO labeling, they differed on whether a national system should be voluntary or mandatory. A measure passed in the U.S. House last summer sets voluntary labeling standards.

The first mandatory GMO labeling law is set to go into effect in Vermont in July – Kansas Republican Sen. Pat Roberts has called it a "wrecking ball" headed the food industry's way. Roberts, the chair of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, won first-round approval on Tuesday for his own GMO labeling bill – which would preempt Vermont's law.

Roberts' bill would create a voluntary USDA labeling standard for GMO foods. Perhaps more importantly, it specifically prevents states from creating their own labeling standards.

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/03/04/469245418/action-on-a-national-gmo-labeling-measure-heats-up-on-capitol-hill

Original Submission

martyb writes:

Nancy Reagan, wife of former US President Ronald Reagan, passed away today at the age of 94 of congestive heart failure.

The New York Times reports:

Nancy Reagan, the influential and stylish wife of the 40th president of the United States who unabashedly put Ronald Reagan at the center of her life but who became a political figure in her own right, died on Sunday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 94.

[...] "Without Nancy, there would have been no Governor Reagan, no President Reagan," said Michael K. Deaver, the longtime aide and close friend of the Reagans who died in 2007.

President Obama said on Sunday that Mrs. Reagan "had redefined the role" of first lady, adding, "Later, in her long goodbye with President Reagan, she became a voice on behalf of millions of families going through the depleting, aching reality of Alzheimer's, and took on a new role, as advocate, on behalf of treatments that hold the potential and the promise to improve and save lives."

Australian Broadcasting Corporation News reports:

Nancy Reagan, devoted wife and trusted confidante to late president Ronald Reagan who after his death became the most ardent guardian of his political legacy, has died aged 94.

The former first lady died at her home in Los Angeles from congestive heart failure, her spokeswoman Joanne Drake said.

She will be buried next to her husband at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, Ms Drake said.

"She is once again with the man she loved," her stepson Michael Reagan wrote on Twitter.

One tech-related aspect of Ronald Reagan's presidency was his championing of the Strategic Defense Initiative aka "Star Wars":

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (Intercontinental ballistic missiles and Submarine-launched ballistic missiles).

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

Common Dreams reports

In what environmental advocates called a "major step" toward justice against corporate crime, three former executives with the Tokyo Electronic[sic] Power Company (TEPCO) on Monday were indicted [February 28] on negligence charges over their roles in the 2011 nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

"I'm full of emotion", said Ruiko Muto, head of a campaign group that is pushing for a Fukushima trial [...]. "This will be a great encouragement for hundreds of thousands of nuclear accident victims who are still suffering and facing hardship."

JapanToday continues

The indictment, mandated by an independent panel of citizens after prosecutors decided against laying charges, seeks to answer in court the question of whether the key TEPCO figures should be held criminally responsible over the nuclear disaster.

At the six-reactor plant located on the Pacific coast, tsunamis triggered by the massive earthquake on March 11, 2011, flooded power supply facilities and crippled reactor cooling systems. [Reactors Numbers 1, 2, and 3] suffered fuel meltdowns, while hydrogen explosions damaged the buildings housing the No. 1, 3, and 4 units.

The three, who were indicted on charges of professional negligence resulting in death and injury, are Tsunehisa Katsumata, 75, chairman of TEPCO at the time, and two former vice presidents: Sakae Muto, 65, and Ichiro Takekuro, 69.

Monday's indictment blames the three for injuries to 13 people, including Self-Defense Forces members, from hydrogen explosions at the plant, as well as the deaths of 44 patients forced to evacuate from hospital.

[...] The Tokyo No. 5 Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution last July [...] said the former executives [had] received a report by June 2009 that the plant could be hit by tsunami as high as 15.7 meters [50 feet] and that they "failed to take pre-emptive measures knowing the risk of a major tsunami".

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Clifford Stoll author of The Cuckoo's Egg purchased two mechanical mechanical calculators at a bank auction for $75.00 and has painstakingly managed to get one in operating condition. Called The Millionaire, these machines were the first commercially successful machines that could perform a direct multiplication. Production ran from 1893 through 1935.

"The Millionaire" was advertised as being the "only calculating machine on the market ... that requires but one turn of the crank ... for each figure in the multiplier or quotient," making it the fastest calculator available.

A video by Clifford Stoll on the Numberphile YouTube channel shows the components of the machine and a demonstration of its operation.

See: Watch a 120-year-old 'Millionaire' machine do some astounding calculations which goes into some detail on the history of mechanical computation machines, as well as describing this particular device.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A dating app called Bumble has added a "BFF[*] Mode":

Bumble, the popular dating app where girls make the first move, has released an update that may turn the dating app world on its head. The new feature, called BFF, essentially lets users use the same swiping and matching algorithms for friendship instead of dating.

Here's how it works: After switching into BFF mode, users will see their potential dates replaced by people of the same sex that Bumble thinks you would want to be friends with. Once both people swipe right, both parties have 24 hours to initiate a conversation, similar to how Bumble handles same-sex dating today.

[...] But why does Bumble think that its users want to use the platform to find best friends? Because users have not only been requesting the feature, but have already been using the platform for that purpose, the company explained. Specifically, they have seen users using Bumble as a means to connect with new friends when moving to or just visiting a new city. [...] Implementing BFF makes Bumble the first major dating app to expand outside, well, dating. It's a brave move by a company that doesn't really need to try anything new, at least for now. The startup has added 1.5 million users since January alone, and 100 million messages have been exchanged in the last three months.

Where's Facebook's version of Tinder? Perhaps users would be scared to link their Facebook profile to their dating/casual sex service?

Older article about Bumble.

[*] BFF: best friends forever.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

During Thursday night's televised US Presidential debate between the four remaining candidates for the Republican nomination, front-runner Donald Trump acknowledged that he was "softening" his stated position against H1-B immigration visas, because "we have to have talented people in this country".

Trump's web site describes the candidate's hard-line stance against several types of immigration, particularly undocumented workers from Mexico, but also the H1-B program for guest workers in IT and other STEM-related fields:

Asked point blank by debate moderator Megyn Kelly whether he was changing the policy described on his web site, Trump acknowledged that he was:

In fairness, Trump's rivals for the GOP nomination have also flip-flopped on immigration issues in recent years.

Trump's new position brings him closer to the views of financial media tycoon Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, who is reportedly considering an independent run for the US Presidency. Bloomberg is a vocal advocate for unlimited H1-B visas, an idea which is popular in the executive suites and boardrooms of Silicon Valley but is anathema to many rank-and-file US engineers.

An Anonymous Coward wrote in with this addendum while it was still in the submission queue: [Maybe the same one, and maybe not]

Trump has clarified his statement in a post on his Facebook page:

Original Submission 1 Original Submission 2

An Anonymous Coward writes:

So with this addition:

https://tails.boum.org/news/test_2.2-rc1/index.en.html#index2h1
https://archive.is/KhhEe

"Add support for viewing DRM protected DVD videos using libdvdcss2. Patch series submitted by Austin English (Closes: #7674)[1]"

[1] https://labs.riseup.net/code/issues/7674
          https://archive.is/hXgYe

Will it become illegal to use Tails in the United States?

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Following closely upon the hacking of the Linux Mint website, the developers of the Transmission bittorrent client have announced that last week's 2.90 release was infected by a new form of OSX malware, OSX.keRanger.A (or "KeyRanger" as 9to5mac is calling it).

The payload appears to be the first OSX ransomware discovered in the wild. If it works, OSX.KeRanger.A should begin encrypting infected users' files on Monday, March 7. The malware seems to have been included only in downloads from the developers' website, while Transmission's internal update function (using the Sparkle framework) seems to have delivered clean updates. The developers have released two updates (2.91 and 2.92) in the past twenty-four hours to remove the infection.

Those who use Transmission on OSX should check for the following on their systems:

• a process called "kernel_service" running
• a file "Contents/Resources/General.rtf" inside the Transmission.app directory
• any of the following files in the "/Library/" directory: ".kernel_pid", ".kernel_time", ".kernel_complete" or "kernel_service"

[Update:] According to a report in ITWorld, Apple shuts down first-ever ransomware attack against Mac users.

With the help of security researchers, Apple over the weekend quickly blocked a cyberattack aimed at infecting Mac users with file-encrypting malware known as ransomware.

[...] The tainted Transmission version was signed with a legitimate Apple developer's certificate. If a Mac user's security settings are set to allow downloads from identified Apple developers, the person may not see a warning from Apple's GateKeeper that the application could be dangerous.

Apple revoked the certificate after being notified on Friday, [Security company] Palo Alto wrote. The company has also updated its XProtect antivirus engine.

After it is installed on a system, KeRanger waits three days before connecting to a remote command-and-control server using the Tor system. It is coded to encrypt more than 300 types of files.

Original Submission

jdavidb writes:

Over the last year my family and I have become enamored of Star Trek Continues (STC), a beautiful Star Trek fan production headed by Vic Mignogna and Todd Haberkorn which is successfully creating new episodes of Star Trek to follow on to the original series. With financial help from fans through two previous kickstarter campaigns, STC has created six new episodes of the show and the most complete and fantastically accurate original series Enterprise set ever, including a recently completed accurate reproduction of Engineering. Episode 6 premiers soon and STC is again seeking fan funding to continue the mission: episode 7 will be going into post production soon and with funds from this new campaign will be completed later this year. STC also hopes to raise enough money for three new episodes.

If you haven't seen or heard of Star Trek Continues, check out the SoylentNews writeup from episode 5 which includes several interesting facts and links. Be sure also to check out the set tour.

The last STC fundraising campaign wildly exceeded expectations, yielding enough funding to produce three episodes and construct an engineering set and a planet site. We kicked in a little bit and plan to for this campaign as well. If you contribute you usually get special access links to view each episode early before general release, and also sometimes other emailed perks.

Original Submission

Amazon Removes Tablet Encryption With Latest FireOS Update

takyon writes:

In a move that may lose Amazon corporate customers, The Register reports the company has made its stance on device encryption known by removing it in the latest version of FireOS:

Amazon is warning customers that the latest version of its Fire OS will disable storage encryption in Fire tablets and Kindles. The cyber-bazaar says people who want to keep files on their gadgets encrypted should not install the latest Fire OS 5.

[...] Folks have pointed out that without full device encryption, customers using the fondleslabs for business will no longer be allowed to use Fire OS 5 devices for email and other activities that require at-rest encryption as a security measure. For one thing, if the hardware is stolen, its data will be sitting on the flash storage in the clear. Information sent to and from Amazon's servers and the tablets remains encrypted.

"In the fall when we released Fire OS 5, we removed some enterprise features that we found customers weren't using," Amazon said in a statement to The Register. "All Fire tablets' communication with Amazon's cloud meets our high standards for privacy and security, including appropriate use of encryption."

Tablets owner, meanwhile, are making their displeasure known in the Amazon support forums. "It means I will no longer be able to my keep corporate email (exchange active sync) on my Fire HDX 8.9. Big downside!! I am shocked that such an important feature like encryption is being left behind," writes user beekalmer. "I find this most recent move incredibly customer unfriendly. Regardless of whether you see the Fire as simply an Amazon front end or as a full-featured tablet, there is personal information stored on the device," notes Gerby. "That information is now accessible to malicious actors if the device is lost or stolen."

Amazon will Restore Device Encryption with Fire OS Update this Spring

takyon writes:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3040865/security/encryption-will-return-to-fire-tablets-amazon-says.html
http://www.engadget.com/2016/03/04/amazon-will-bring-encryption-back-to-fireos/
http://www.androidcentral.com/amazon-will-bring-encryption-back-its-fire-tablets-upcoming-update

Update: After just one day, Amazon has reversed course on its removal of full disk encryption from Fire OS 5, a feature it said was rarely used by customers. Amazon says "We will return the option for full disk encryption with a Fire OS update coming this spring." What do you do until then? Perhaps insert the device into a safety deposit box or encase it in concrete.

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2

oaklandwatch writes:

Hundreds of different data-hacking events are being held around the globe this weekend to celebrate International Open Data Day. It's the fifth installment of an annual event promoting government data-sharing with a series of loosely joined hackathons, to show support for and encourage the adoption of open data policies by the world's local, regional and national governments," according to the event's web site. "Data science is a team sport," says Megan Smith, the former Google executive turned U.S. CTO, who points out over 200,000 new federal data sets have been opened to the public since 2009 on Data.gov. Each hackathon will culminate with a demo or brainstorm proposal that can be shared with the other participating groups around the world.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists have discovered a possible new species of octopus near the Hawaiian Archipelago:

In the ocean near Hawaii, more than 2 1/2 miles underwater, scientists have discovered a small small, delicate-looking and ghostlike little octopod — possibly a new species. The animal was discovered by Deep Discoverer, a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV — picture a small, unmanned submarine equipped with cameras and a robotic arm — that was working to collect geological samples

Michael Vecchione, of the National Marine Fisheries Service, described the Feb. 27 discovery on the NOAA website:

"As the ROV was traversing a flat area of rock interspersed with sediment at 4,290 meters, it came across a remarkable little octopod sitting on a flat rock dusted with a light coat of sediment. The appearance of this animal was unlike any published records and was the deepest observation ever for this type of cephalopod."

Vecchione explained that cirrate octopods — which have fins between their arms and little finger-like strands near their suckers — have been reported at depths up to 5,000 meters. But the octopod encountered by Deep Discoverer was incirrate, like the familiar octopus — and incirrate octopods have never before been detected at depths below 4,000 meters.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

Russia Today reports

The US public doesn't need a Digital Security Commission; they need the FBI to stop deceiving everyone and tell the truth that it wants to spy on Americans, John McAfee, developer of the first commercial anti-virus program told RT's Ed Schultz.

[...] "The FBI wants Apple to change their software so that it removes the check for security, so that we don't check for security anymore. Once it has that software, they can use that software on any phone. But they say they only need it for one phone."

[...] "You need a hardware engineer and a [software] engineer. The hardware engineer takes the phone apart and copies the instruction set, which are the iOS and applications, and your memory. And then you run a program called a disassembler, which takes all the ones and zeros and gives you readable instructions. Then the coder sits down and he reads through. What he is looking for is the first access to the keypad, because that is the first thing you do when you input your pad. It'll take half an hour. When you see that, then he reads the instructions for where in memory this secret code is stored. It is that trivial--a half an hour.
...The FBI knows this, Apple knows this."

[...] "In either case, if they (the FBI) don't know, that is tragic; if they do know it, then they are deceiving the American public and Apple and everyone else by asking for a universal key."
Video

Do you see any flaws in McAffee's explanation?

Previous: Apple Wants Court To Rule If It Can Be Forced To Unlock iPhones
Seems Like Everyone has an Opinion About Apple vs. the FBI
Update: TPP-Exposing Journalist Ed Schultz Lands on His Feet at RT
John McAfee Announces He Will Run For President of the United States

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Researchers at Michigan State University have discovered a new type of stem cell. Induced extraembryonic endoderm (iXEN) stem cells were discovered while looking at cells thought to be defective, cancerous, or waste byproducts:

Researchers at Michigan State University say they have discovered a new kind of stem cell, one that could lead to advances in regenerative medicine as well as offer new ways to study birth defects and other reproductive problems. [...] Prior to the discovery of reprogramming, scientists developed pluripotent stem cells from embryos. However, the embryo produces not only pluripotent stem cells, but also XEN cells, a stem cell type with unique properties. While pluripotent stem cells produce cells in the body, XEN cells produce extraembryonic tissues that play an essential but indirect role in fetal development.

Parenti and his team speculated that if the embryo produces both pluripotent and XEN cells, this might also occur during reprogramming. The eureka moment came when Parenti discovered colonies of iXEN cells popping up like weeds in his iPSC cultures. Using mice models, the team spent 6 months proving that these genetic weeds are not cancer-like, as previously suspected, but in fact, a new kind of stem cell with desirable properties. Even more surprising, the team found that by inhibiting expression of XEN genes during reprogramming, they could decrease production of iXEN cells and increase production of iPSCs. "Nature makes stem cells perfectly, but we are still trying to improve our stem cell production," Parenti said. "We took what we learned by studying the embryo and applied it to reprogramming, and this opened up a new way to optimize reprogramming."

OSKM Induce Extraembryonic Endoderm Stem Cells in Parallel to Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2016.02.003)

Original Submission