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takyon writes:

President Obama has become the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since long before the Cuban embargo began:

President Barack Obama embarked on Sunday on a historic trip to Cuba where a Communist government that vilified the United States for decades prepared a red-carpet welcome. Lifting off from Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, Obama headed for Havana where the sight of Air Force One, America's iconic presidential jet, touching down on Cuban soil would have been unimaginable not long ago.

The three-day trip, the first by a U.S. president in 88 years, is the culmination of a diplomatic opening announced by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro in December 2014, ending a Cold War-era estrangement that began when the Cuban revolution ousted a pro-American government in 1959. Obama, who abandoned a longtime U.S. policy of trying to isolate Cuba internationally, now wants to make his shift irreversible. But major obstacles remain to full normalization of ties.

Ahead of Obama's arrival, plainclothes police blanketed the capital with security while public works crews busily laid down asphalt in a city where drivers joke they must navigate "potholes with streets." Welcome signs with images of Obama alongside Castro popped up in colonial Old Havana, where the president and his family will tour later on Sunday.

Also at The Guardian and live at The Washington Post. Voice of America reports that dozens of protesters were arrested hours before Obama's visit.

Extras:

How Canada played pivotal role in Obama's history-making trip to Cuba
How Raúl Castro broke with firebrand brother Fidel to jump start Cuba-U.S. relations
US hotel firm Starwood strikes historic Cuba deal

Original Submission

bitstream writes:

This week Microsoft has released a Windows 10 build for Insiders that brings support for extensions in the web browser Edge. Currently there's few extensions but Jacob Rossi an engineer says they are working on tool to allow developers to port Chrome extensions to their store. Which will make it possible to run Chrome extensions in Edge. It's currently not finished and not all APIs are supported.

It seems in line with attempting to co-opting other software ecosystems by attempts like trying get iOS apps to run on Windows 10 with "Islandwood" and Android apps with "Astoria". But this was dropped in favor of Xamarin which were bought for 400-500 million USD on 2016-02-24.

Next week, Microsoft will work on a tool to port Edge extensions to Firefox? :P
Seems like a part of the octopus strategy to import values to the corporate ecosystem but not contributing anything back. Except for more ensnaring. The code quality also seems to be in line with their history.

function pageload(){ if( browser===Edge/IE ) alert("Non compliant browser upgrade please.."); }

Original Submission

bitstream writes:

The high density of dynamic RAM like DDR3 and the tendency for bit cells to leak their charge has enabled a physical weakness named "Row Hammer" that can be used for privilege escalation. Tests now show that also DDR4 memory is also susceptible to this. The article How Rowhammer Could Be Used to Exploit Weaknesses in Computer Hardware (PDF), came to this conclusion by testing the integrity of dual in-line memory modules (DIMM) using new diagnostic techniques that showed that the memory type is vulnerable to "bitflipping," where bits change their value.

Mitigation can perhaps be accomplished by check sum with secret salts and physically moving around the pages responsible for privileges and memory setup?

Original Submission

CaTfiSh writes:

Claudio Mattei, Managing Director at Digital Video, the makers of TOONZ, said:

"The contract with Dwango, which offers the Toonz open source platform to the animation community, has enabled Digital Video to realize one of its strategies, i.e. to make of Toonz a world standard for 2D animation. This deal will be also the starting point of a new exciting plan to endorse the Open Source business model, by supporting training and customizing Toonz for the old and new users. We are proud to share this path with Dwango and with Studio Ghibli, the renowned Toonz user since 1995."

-Interesting that they've decided to take this strategy with such a niche and high-end software. It should be interesting to see how it works for them.

Press release: http://www.toonzpremium.com/#!news/aawrs

Original Submission

butthurt writes:

A computer security expert who had recently criticised the Bangladesh Bank for "apathy" toward security after a computerised theft from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank has disappeared. A friend said that Tanvir Hassan Zoha was travelling home in a rickshaw when Zoha and the friend were both seized by a group of men, then the friend was released. Minister of Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told the press:

Law enforcers might have arrested Zoha for the sake of investigation. But I am not sure about it.

• The Star Online
• Reuters
• Softpedia
• Prothom Alo
• The Daily Star
• The Financial Express
• bdnews24.com
• Dhaka Tribune (non-Cloudflare copy)
• Dhaka Tribune (non-Cloudflare copy)

Update: Prior to his disappearance, Zoha had alleged (non-Cloudflare copy) that at least one bank official had been complicit in the theft.

See original submission #2 for more links.

Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2

This article describes an emergent logic of accumulation in the networked sphere, 'surveillance capitalism,' and considers its implications for 'information civilization.' The institutionalizing practices and operational assumptions of Google Inc. are the primary lens for this analysis as they are rendered in two recent articles authored by Google Chief Economist Hal Varian. Varian asserts four uses that follow from computer-mediated transactions: 'data extraction and analysis,' 'new contractual forms due to better monitoring,' 'personalization and customization,' and 'continuous experiments.'

An examination of the nature and consequences of these uses sheds light on the implicit logic of surveillance capitalism and the global architecture of computer mediation upon which it depends. This architecture produces a distributed and largely uncontested new expression of power that I christen: 'Big Other.' It is constituted by unexpected and often illegible mechanisms of extraction, commodification, and control that effectively exile persons from their own behavior while producing new markets of behavioral prediction and modification. Surveillance capitalism challenges democratic norms and departs in key ways from the centuries-long evolution of market capitalism.

The full article is at http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jit/journal/v30/n1/pdf/jit20155a.pdf
or if you don't like a pdf: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/the-digital-debate/shoshana-zuboff-secrets-of-surveillance-capitalism-14103616.html

Original Submission

butthurt writes:

The Economist Intelligence Unit (under the same ownership as The Economist) released its semiannual report, "The Worldwide Cost of Living." While the report itself is sold, its contents were written about in various media:

• CNBC
• Business Insider (multi-page)
• CNN
• WTKR-TV
• Metro.co.uk
• The Telegraph
• Fortune
• International Business Times
• Straits Times
• BBC News
• mothership.sg (non-Cloudflare copy)
• WCTI-TV (multi-page)
• theCHIVE

Among the ranks of the most expensive cities, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles and New York rose, while Paris and Oslo fell. Some of the changes were attributed to a decrease in the value of the euro, and an increase in the value of the U.S. dollar. While the cost of living in Singapore had declined by 10% in a year, it remained the most expensive city overall, and the most expensive place in which to own a car.

The least expensive were Lusaka, Karachi, Bengaluru (Bangalore), Mumbai, Chennai, New Delhi, and Tehran.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have issued a PSA about cybersecurity threats to vehicle owners:

The FBI and the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have added their voices to growing concerns about the risk of cars being hacked. In an advisory note it warns the public to be aware of "cybersecurity threats" related to connected vehicles. Last year Fiat Chrysler recalled 1.4 million US vehicles after security researchers remotely controlled a Jeep. People who suspect their car has been hacked were told to get in contact with the FBI. The public service announcement laid out the issues and dangers of car hacking.

This Public Service Announcement has an identifier, I-031716-PSA:

Vehicle hacking occurs when someone with a computer seeks to gain unauthorized access to vehicle systems for the purposes of retrieving driver data or manipulating vehicle functionality. While not all hacking incidents may result in a risk to safety – such as an attacker taking control of a vehicle – it is important that consumers take appropriate steps to minimize risk. Therefore, the FBI and NHTSA are warning the general public and manufacturers – of vehicles, vehicle components, and aftermarket devices – to maintain awareness of potential issues and cybersecurity threats related to connected vehicle technologies in modern vehicles.

Original Submission

devlux writes:

The cookie monster part is my own personal spin but...

According to a recent paper (DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stw571) :

In June 2015, a black hole called V404 Cygni underwent dramatic brightening for about two weeks, as it devoured material that it had stripped off an orbiting companion star.

the black hole emitted dazzling red flashes lasting just fractions of a second, as it blasted out material that it could not swallow.
nom, nom, nom

Each flash was blindingly intense, equivalent to the power output of about 1,000 suns, and some of the flashes were shorter than 1/40th of a second — about ten times faster than the duration of a typical blink of an eye. Such observations require novel technology, so astronomers used the ULTRACAM fast imaging camera mounted on the William Herschel Telescope in La Palma, on the Canary Islands.

Original article is here...
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2016/03/red-flares-black-hole.page

Original Submission

Bobs writes:

"Hell might actually be other people -- at least if you're really smart.

That's the implication of fascinating new research published last month in the British Journal of Psychology."

Interesting theory.
It seems to boil down to 2 main points:

• Smarter people can adapt to the new, more congested environment better.
• Smarter people are more likely to sublimated desire for social interaction with desire to spend more time working on something more important.

"They use what they call "the savanna theory of happiness" to explain two main findings from an analysis of a large national survey (15,000 respondents) of adults aged 18 to 28.

First, they find that people who live in more densely populated areas tend to report less satisfaction with their life overall. "The higher the population density of the immediate environment, the less happy" the survey respondents said they were. Second, they find that the more social interactions with close friends a person has, the greater their self-reported happiness."
..
"But there was one big exception. For more intelligent people, these correlations were diminished or even reversed.

"The effect of population density on life satisfaction was therefore more than twice as large for low-IQ individuals than for high-IQ individuals," they found. And "more intelligent individuals were actually less satisfied with life if they socialized with their friends more frequently."

[Continues...]

mendax writes:

El Reg published a story today, the topic of which was a 70-year-old science fiction story, one that predicted the Internet, its problems, and more:

Buried deep in the pages of the March 1946 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine sits a short story by Murray Leinster that, 70 years on, has proven a remarkably sharp prediction of both 21st century consumer technology and culture. [...]

Though Leinster never achieved the notoriety of other science fiction visionaries such as Asimov or Philip K Dick, A Logic Named Joe has been recognized by, among others, the Computer History Museum as "one of the most prescient views of the capabilities of computers in a network." [...]

In the story, Leinster envisions a future in which every home is equipped with a "logic" device that serves as both a reference source and entertainment box. Each logic connects to a "tank" where huge stores of data are kept. In Leinster's own words:

You got a logic in your house. It looks like a vision receiver used to, only it's got keys instead of dials, and you punch the keys for what you wanna get. It's hooked in to the tank, which has the Carson Circuit all fixed up with relays. Say you punch 'Station SNAFU' on your logic. Relays in the tank take over an' whatever vision-program SNAFU is telecastin' comes on your screen ... But besides that, if you punch for the weather forecast or who won today's race at Hialeah or who was the mistress of the White House durin' Garfield's administration or what is PDQ and R sellin' for today, that comes on the screen too.

The story goes on to tell how "Joe," a rogue logic with a slight manufacturing defect, becomes self-aware and resolves to provide his owners and all other "logic" users with whatever information they require. Leinster says of Joe:

Joe ain't vicious, you understand. He ain't like one of those ambitious robots you read about that make up their minds the human race is inefficient and has got to be wiped out an' replaced by thinkin' machines. Joe's just got ambition. If you were a machine you'd wanna work right, wouldn't you? That's Joe. He wants to work right. And he's a logic, an' logics can do a lotta things that ain't been found out yet.
This, in turn, leads to logics around the city providing tips on everything from poisoning spouses to covering up drinking binges and robbing banks. Only when Joe is taken offline is that information hidden away from humanity and order restored.

If you want to read the story, you can find it here. If you're lazy, blind, or driving and want to hear the X Minus One radio show version from the 1955, you can listen to it here. The Computer History Museum's take on the story is here. I've known this story for a long time and you can take it from me that this is speculative science fiction at its best.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

In an attempt to retain and attract talent in the state, a New York state senator has proposed a tax credit for open source coders:

A New York state senator says open-source programmers should be able to claim back part of their costs for writing free software. NY senate bill S161, proposed by Senator Daniel Squadron (D) and co-sponsored by Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson (D), would allow developers to claim for 20 per cent of the out-of-pocket costs of building and sharing open-source code – although the rebate has a maximum annual benefit of only $200 per person.

"I represent the tech triangle and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, as well as areas in lower Manhattan where the technology sector has a growing presence – supporting that kind of innovation is key," Squadron told El Reg in a statement. "I've also seen the cost-saving impacts open source can have for everyday users and businesses. Incentivizing open source software can attract more open source developers, create in-state jobs, and add to the state's burgeoning technology sector."

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A team of researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Regenerative Medicine have outlined the steps required to create a bioengineered heart suitable for transplantation:

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have taken early steps towards producing a bioengineered heart for transplantation that would use cells from the patient receiving the heart.

Using a patient's own cells would help to overcome some of the problems associated with receiving a heart donated by another person, including immune rejection of the donated heart, as well as the long-term side effects of life-long treatment with the immunosuppressive drugs needed to suppress the immune system and reduce the risk of rejection.

To achieve those steps, Jacques Guyette, PhD, of the Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Regenerative Medicine, lead author of a paper in Circulation Research, says the research team had to overcome three major technical challenges.

Those steps are creating a structural scaffold from a donated heart of a deceased person, stripping away muscle cells and other components that would be rejected, coaxing induced pluripotent stem cells from the patient to grow into spontaneously contracting heart-like muscle cells, re-seeding the heart scaffold with the muscle cells, and incubating the heart in a bioreactor.

Bioengineering Human Myocardium on Native Extracellular Matrix (DOI: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.115.306874)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Domino's is taking a bold step that would replace fleshy delivery drones with robots that would deliver slabs of dough, cheese, flesh slices, and vegetables:

Pizza delivery boys and girls, beware! Pizza giant Domino's has unveiled an autonomous pizza delivery robot that is being trialled in New Zealand. On Friday the company unveiled the Domino's Robotic Unit (DRU), and announced that the bot had already carried out its first successful pizza delivery on March 8. "DRU is an autonomous delivery vehicle and is set to take the world by storm," the company wrote in a statement on its website.

The vehicle's development started in 2015 and was pushed towards commercialisation by Domino's Australia-based skunkworks DLab. According to a promotional video (embedded below), DRU uses software developed by the Australian military contractor Marathon, which manufactures autonomous robots with obstacle-avoidance capabilities.

This feature has been incorporated in DRU, which according to Domino's can dodge hurdles thanks using on-board sensors. The autonomous four-wheeler is about one metre tall and contains two different compartments to keep beverages cool and pizzas (up to ten per robot) hot, which customers can unlock with an order-specific code. It can carry out a delivery within 20 kilometres from the store before needing a battery charge, and it is designed to move on both footpaths and roads.

It is not really clear how the cute-looking automaton would defend its precious cargo from glutton thieves or random troublemakers, but the company said in Facebook posts that it "will be taking every precaution necessary to ensure he is safe including surveillance and security etc."

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A NASA scientist suggests that building a base on the moon would be feasible within a $10 billion budget, in a special issue of New Space focusing on the feasibility of lunar colonization:

What if I told you there's no reason we couldn't set up a small base on the moon by 2022 without breaking the bank? The endeavor would cost about $10 billion, which is cheaper than one U.S. aircraft carrier. Some of the greatest scientists and professionals in the space business already have a plan. NASA's Chris McKay, an astrobiologist, wrote about it in a special issue of the New Space journal, published just a few weeks ago.

Before we get into the details, let's ask ourselves: Why the moon? Although scientists (and NASA) don't find it all that exciting, the moon is a great starting point for further exploration. Furthermore, building a lunar base would provide us with the real-world experience that may prove invaluable for future projects on other planets like Mars, which NASA plans to reach by 2030. The main reason the moon is not a part of NASA's plan is simply because of the agency's crimped budget.

NASA's leaders say they can afford only one or the other: the moon or Mars. If McKay and his colleagues are correct, though, the U.S. government might be able to pull off both trips. All it takes is a change of perspective and ingenuity. "The big takeaway," McKay says, "is that new technologies, some of which have nothing to do with space — such as self-driving cars and waste-recycling toilets — are going to be incredibly useful in space, and are driving down the cost of a moon base to the point where it might be easy to do." The document outlines a series of innovations — already existing and in development — that work together toward the common goal of building the first permanent lunar base.

[cont..]