SoylentNews

canopic jug writes:

The IEEE Spectrum has two articles about the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Linux kernel later this year. The first is Linux at 25: Why It Flourished While Others Fizzled which attributes the success to timing, cost, and the right license. The second is an actual interview with Linus Torvalds himself about various topics related to the past, present, and future of Linux. The kernel started out as "just a hobby" without aspiration to become big and professional like GNU. Yet it has grown and evolved into what appears to be the largest online collaborative project to-date by far.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A teenager found a flaw in Valve's Steam game approval process, and used it to publish an unapproved game about a familiar subject:

A 16-year-old lad in Manchester, England, exploited flaws in Valve's developer site to publish on Steam an unapproved game about watching paint dry. Ruby Nealon, a computer science student at Salford uni, said a set of programming blunders in the Steamworks website let him sneak his Watch Paint Dry roleplaying game past Valve's censors and onto gaming store Steam without their approval. "The Steam store had a game posted to it on Sunday called Watch Paint Dry that was never reviewed by anyone at Valve," Nealon told El Reg. "I published it after they ignored several reports of the vulnerabilities."

Nealon first managed to blag an account on Steamworks, Valve's developer platform, and created some basic in-game trading cards. He then fiddled with the HTML form data sent to Valve's servers to trick the system into thinking they had been approved by a Valve editor. He basically changed his user ID number in a form element from his own to a Valve employee's and then changed the approved state to accepted, and submitted it. Bingo, that worked.

Here is a Reddit IAmA about it.

Original Submission

tonyPick writes:

According to Techcrunch Spotify has raised $1 billion in convertible debt to fight Apple Music, but the terms of the deal may prove to be difficult if Spotify under performs:

On-demand streaming music is inevitable, so Spotify is taking whatever fuel it can get to win the race against Apple. Whoever can sign up customers faster to consume their data and network effect could earn money off them for a long, long time. So it makes sense that Spotify would be willing to raise money at ugly, exploitative terms now for a better chance at earning those riches later.
...
But here's the catch.

If Spotify doesn't perform well, some aggressive deal terms could cost it a lot of money.

TPG and Dragoneer get to convert the debt to equity at a 20% discount of whatever share price Spotify sets for an eventual IPO. And if it doesn't IPO within the next year, that discount goes up 2.5% every extra six months.

Spotify also has to pay 5% annual interest on the debt, and 1% more every six months up to a total of 10%. And finally, TPG and Dragoneer can sell their shares just 90 days after the IPO, before the 180-day lockup period ends for Spotify's employees and other investors.

(Originally spotted via Hacker News).

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Google has launched a phone/landline service for its Google Fiber customers, called Fiber Phone. It allows you to use a "cloud-based" phone number from any tablet, PC, or phone:

For $10/month, you get unlimited local and nationwide calling, and the same affordable rates as Google Voice for international calls. You can keep your old phone number, or pick a new one. You can use call waiting, caller ID, and 911 services just as easily as you could before. Fiber Phone can also make it easier to access your voicemail—the service will transcribe your voice messages for you and then send as a text or email.

[...] Your Fiber Phone number lives in the cloud, which means that you can use it on almost any phone, tablet or laptop. It can ring your landline when you're home, or your mobile device when you're on-the-go. [...] To stay updated on the latest, sign up here.

Original Submission

butthurt writes:

The Washington Post reports on a psychological study (PDF) in which participants (matchd in gender, age, education, and income to the U.S. population) were shown a neutrally written, fictional news item, then asked about their willingness to express an opinion on the topic via social media. Some participants were shown a message telling them that the National Security Agency undertakes online surveillance. Those receiving the message were, unsurprisingly, less willing to express what they felt were unpopular opinions. Participants who saw the message, perceived that their opinions were unpopular, agreed that surveillance is desirable, and stated they had "nothing to hide" were the least willing to express themselves.

The study sought to investigate whether, and how, a "spiral of silence" phenomenon, in which members of a social group suppress their own unpopular views, could arise in an online setting.and be influenced by knowledge of surveillance.

Original Submission

tonyPick writes:

At The Conversation is a summary of a recent study on the age of Saturn's moons, which claims that many of Saturn's moons formed as recently as about 100m years ago – when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth.

It has long been thought that nearly all of the major moons of our solar system's giant planets were born from the cloud of gas and dust surrounding each planet as it grew. That would make them the same age as their host planet – 4.5 billion years (the age of the solar system). However, these planets also have tiny moons that they acquired later, such as captured asteroids and comets in outer orbits, and chunks of debris from collisions in inner orbits.

But the new study now suggests that most of Saturn's main moons are also young. The researchers deduced this from observations of the tidal relationships of Saturn's principal moons. They found that if the medium-sized moons, such as Tethys, Dione and Rhea, had existed for billions of years, they ought to have influenced each other's orbits much more than they have.

A more detailed summary at the SETI Institute is available, as well as a preprint of the paper at arXiv.org

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

In a second go-round of its copyright lawsuit against Google, Oracle is hoping to land a knockout blow. A damages report filed last week in federal court reveals that the enterprise-software giant will ask for $9.3 billion in damages.

In its lawsuit, Oracle argues that Google infringed copyrights related to Java when it used 37 Java API packages to create its Android mobile operating system.

The damages it's seeking aren't just more than the Java API packages are worth—it's far more than Oracle paid for the entirety of Sun Microsystems, which was purchased in 2009 for $5.6 billion. By way of comparison, Google parent company Alphabet earned $4.9 billion in profits last quarter, according to IDG News, which reported on the Oracle figures yesterday.

Such a result would be far and away the biggest copyright verdict ever. It's vastly larger than the $1.3 billion copyright verdict Oracle won against SAP in 2010, which at the time was said to be the largest copyright verdict ever. (That award was later vacated by the judge overseeing the case, who called the jury's decision "overly speculative.")

Source: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/03/oracle-will-seek-a-staggering-9-3-billion-in-2nd-trial-against-google/

Original Submission

hubie writes:

In March, 1921, a Navy tugboat, the U.S.S. Conestoga, set sail into choppy seas from San Francisco to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, but she never reached her destination. Neither the ship nor any of the 56 crewmen were ever found and she became the last US Navy vessel to be lost at sea during peacetime. In 2009, NOAA was conducting a seafloor scan in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and discovered a possible shipwreck. The site was investigated in 2014 and confirmed to be the missing ship, thus putting to rest a 95 year mystery.

"Thanks to modern science and to cooperation between agencies, the fate of Conestoga is no longer a mystery," said Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment Dennis V. McGinn. "In remembering the loss of the Conestoga, we pay tribute to her crew and their families, and remember that, even in peacetime, the sea is an unforgiving environment."

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Much is made these days of the modern dating scene, such as online profiles or speed dating events. What those things have in common is that initial dating choices are heavily influenced by visual cues picked up after only meeting for a few minutes, or from quickly flipping through profile pictures. A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined the effect of body language on modern dating success. They looked at both speed dating and online dating and found that initial dating success correlated with the "openness" of the body posture, such as a wide stance and open arms. They suggest that an open posture projects an aura of dominance, which potential mates could find more attractive.

This set of studies tested whether humans are more attracted to individuals displaying their bodies expansively, a behavior considered to express both dominance and openness. Results from two field studies—a speed-dating event and a controlled experiment using a Global Positioning System-based dating application—suggested that (i) expansive (vs. contractive) body posture increases one's romantic desirability; (ii) these results are consistent across gender; and (iii) perceived dominance and perceived openness are mechanisms through which expansiveness exerts its effect. These findings indicate that in modern-day dating contexts, in which initial attraction often is determined by a rapid decision following a brief interaction or seeing a photograph, displays of expansive posture increase one's chances of initial romantic success.

The abstract from the paper:

[Continues...]

HughPickens.com writes:

Clashes between the use of faith vs. scientific evidence to explain the world around us dates back centuries and is perhaps most visible today in the arguments between evolution and creationism. Now Science 2.0 reports that according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Babson College, the conflict between science and religion may have its origins in the structure of our brains. According to their research, to believe in a supernatural god or universal spirit, people appear to suppress the brain network used for analytical thinking and engage the empathetic network, the scientists say. When thinking analytically about the physical world, people appear to do the opposite. "When there's a question of faith, from the analytic point of view, it may seem absurd," says Tony Jack. "But, from what we understand about the brain, the leap of faith to belief in the supernatural amounts to pushing aside the critical/analytical way of thinking to help us achieve greater social and emotional insight."

In a series of eight experiments, the researchers found the more empathetic the person, the more likely he or she is religious. That finding offers a new explanation for past research showing women tend to hold more religious or spiritual worldviews than men. The gap may be because women have a stronger tendency toward empathetic concern than men. Atheists, the researchers found, are most closely aligned with psychopaths--not killers, but the vast majority of psychopaths classified as such due to their lack of empathy for others. "Because of the tension between networks, pushing aside a naturalistic world view enables you to delve deeper into the social/emotional side," Jack says. "And that may be the key to why beliefs in the supernatural exist throughout the history of cultures. It appeals to an essentially nonmaterial way of understanding the world and our place in it." "Having empathy doesn't mean you necessarily have anti-scientific beliefs," says Jared Friedman. "Instead, our results suggest that if we only emphasize analytic reasoning and scientific beliefs, as the New Atheist movement suggests, then we are compromising our ability to cultivate a different type of thinking, namely social/moral insight."

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Advocates of a cashless economy believe that Greece's barter networks, most of which arose out of necessity following the country's financial crisis, are here to stay:

The controls have gradually lifted over the past few months, returning some normalcy to Greek economic life. And so while Greeks used barter networks to trade goods and services at times when few had ready cash at the peak of the controls, they use them now with resources scarce and the country battling a bailout impasse that requires further austerity. It is the perfect time for barter to evolve from a form of crisis therapy to a sustainable alternative for the economy, advocates and enthusiasts say. But for that to happen, they argue, they must organize the more than 200 networks currently operating in Greece into a functioning system of cashless commerce, attracting business participants to build scale and reach.

[...] In Greece, [the] growth [of barter systems] sprang out of necessity in the early days of the country's financial crisis, spiking in popularity last summer when daily ATM withdrawals were capped at 60 euros, or about $65. Over 200 groups have been created since the financial crisis began in 2010, according to antallaktiki.gr, a Greek barter group aggregator. They include local-trade cooperatives; grass-roots solidarity groups, such as a hospital in Athens that serves more than 100 people a day on donated supplies and time; online-barter auctions that resemble eBay; and time banks. Some networks practice pure barter, or a direct exchange of goods. Most have adopted some type of unit that approximates the value of goods or services. The networks operate across the country, reaching into some of its more remote islands, and span all areas of commerce.

Original Submission

GungnirSniper writes:

In a new study published in the British Medical Journal's Tobacco Control found that combustible cigarettes cost less than disposable e-cigarettes in almost every country sampled. The high cost of refillable vaping systems has also been found to be a significant cost barrier to switching even if the long-term costs are less.

Existing prices of e-cigarettes are generally much higher than of combustible cigarettes. If policymakers wish to tax e-cigarettes less than combustibles, forceful policy action—almost certainly through excise taxation—must raise the price of combustible cigarettes beyond the price of using e-cigarettes.

The Times of India notes the study found that Britain has "achieved price equality between cigarettes and e-cigarettes". Worldwide prices vary significantly for combustible cigarettes. In Pakistan a pack costs as little as a US dollar, two dollars in Russia, and upwards of 16 dollars in Australia.

The relative safety of e-cigarettes to traditional tobacco ones remains an area of contention. Estimates range from 5 percent to 20 percent of the risk to vapers compared to tobacco smokers.

Original Submission

"exec" writes with an article from RT:

After a FlyDubai whistleblower contacted RT, some 60 people claiming to work or have worked for that airline and Emirates contacted us with allegations of pilot fatigue and airline intimidation.

They said complaints led nowhere as the aviation authority took no action, as it is controlled by the same people as the airline. RT has published accounts of only those people whose IDs have been verified.

Crucially, many of the pilots described being discouraged to file reports, as there is usually no response – other than occasional threatening "warnings." One of the latest pilots to speak with RT on condition of anonymity said that complaints of fatigue "end up" at the UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), but generate no result.

"The pilots at FlyDubai and Emirates are dangerously tired, and if you call in sick or sick fatigue you run the gauntlet of being delayed in your upgrade, which to a pilot is a slap at his profession and life, or reprimanded like a child and treated like a slave or non-professional," the pilot said.

-- submitted from IRC

Original Submission

VanessaE writes:

A man was arrested while attending a committee meeting at the Arizona House of Representatives, for doing nothing more than wearing a Guy Fawkes mask and otherwise sitting silently and unobtrusively. Capitol police were called to arrest the man, raising a huge ruckus among the other attendees, shouting and chanting phrases such as "shame, shame" and "the whole world is watching".

Department of Public Safety Captain Damon Cecil said the House's Sergeant of Arms wanted the man in the mask to leave and asked troopers to remove him.

[...] The man will be booked into Maricopa County jail on suspicion of resisting arrest and trespassing, Cecil said.

Cecil disagreed with witnesses who said the man wasn't disruptive.

"If he was peaceful, why wouldn't he just leave?" Cecil said.

Video shot by one of the attendees: https://www.facebook.com/jessicahcarlson/videos/10104729624721042/ [warning: graphic language]

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Australia's National Coral Bleaching Taskforce has warned that the Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its worst coral bleaching on record. UNESCO recently voted not to add the Great Barrier Reef to its World Heritage in Danger list:

Evidence that Australia's Great Barrier Reef is experiencing its worst coral bleaching on record has renewed calls for the UN to list it as "in-danger". The National Coral Bleaching Taskforce says 95% of reefs from Cairns to Papua New Guinea are now severely bleached. It says only four reefs out of 520 have no evidence of bleaching.

[...] Experts say it is too early to tell whether the corals will recover, but scientists "in the water" are already reporting up to 50% mortality of bleached corals. Climate change and the effects of El Nino are being blamed for the rise in sea temperatures that causes coral bleaching. "What we're seeing now is unequivocally to do with climate change," Professor Justin Martin University of Queensland told the ABC.

NOAA and Wikipedia on coral bleaching.

Original Submission