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Celestial writes:

Amazon unveiled a service that allows users to post videos and earn royalties from them, putting a big bulls eye on Alphabet's YouTube.

The service, called Amazon Video Direct, will make the uploaded videos available to rent or own, to view free with ads, or be packaged together and offered as an add-on subscription.

Amazon will pay content creators 50% of the revenue earned from rental receipts or sale of the videos, according to the company's license agreement. For ad-supported videos, the creators will get half of the net ad receipts.

Amazon's fast-growing Prime loyalty program already offers original TV programming and access to digital entertainment products such as Prime Music and Prime Video, as well as one-hour delivery of purchases, for an annual fee of $99.

YouTube offers a free, ad-supported service as well as a $10-per-month subscription option called YouTube Red. Amazon, though, has a long way to go to catch up with YouTube, the go-to venue for video on the internet since 2005.

Users of Amazon's service will be able to make their videos available in the US, Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom. and Japan. The company has also signed up several partners for the service, including Conde Nast, the Guardian, Mashable and toymaker Mattel.

Amazon can throw a lot of money behind their new Video Direct service, but I don't know how well it will do. YouTube is pretty well thoroughly entrenched in the online video space.

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Phoenix666 writes:

Mount St. Helens has been reminding researchers it is still an active volcano.

More than 130 small tremors have been documented in the Mount St. Helens region in Washington, according to the US Geological Survey. The quakes began in mid-March and have ramped up to nearly 40 localized earthquakes a week.

Thousands of small quakes preceded the massive eruption on May 18, 1980 that blew off nearly 1,000 feet of the mountain and spewed hot ash across the state, resulting in deaths, forest fires, and flooding.

But this time, the data collected offers more reassurance than worry, say the volcanologists.

"There is absolutely no sign that it will erupt anytime soon," the USGS said in a statement, "but the data we collect tells us that the volcano is still very much alive."

I watch for signs of a crazed Woody Harrelson ranting before I worry about volcanic eruptions.

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Phoenix666 writes:

US carbon emissions were down slightly in 2015, continuing a period in which economic growth has been accompanied by relatively flat emissions. Compared to 2005, however, the current numbers represent a 12 percent drop. The Energy Information Agency (EIA) indicates this has largely been caused by the transition from coal to natural gas.
...
The EIA ascribes the majority of this decade-long drop—70 percent—to changes in fuel use in the electrical industry. Cheap natural gas, available due to fracking, has displaced significant amounts of coal from the energy landscape, resulting in a drop in coal production of more than 20 percent in the US (and the bankruptcy of a number of coal companies). Other contributing factors include more efficient energy use and a relatively mild winter, which lowered the energy devoted to heating.

Solar and wind are growing rapidly, but still represent a small portion of the overall energy mix. Presumably aggregate carbon emissions will nosedive as that trend really takes hold. Studies have emerged in the last couple of years suggesting that grid parity for residential solar has already been reached in 20 states and that number will climb to 40 by 2020.

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CoolHand writes:

Gather round tech folks, it's time for an epic rematch between two industry giants. At stake is not just billions of dollars in copyright claims, but also a controversial legal concept that could roil the entire software industry.

It all begins on Monday in San Francisco, where Google GOOG and Oracle ORCL will joust in court for a second time over little bits of code used to build the Android operating system. Here's a Q&A in plain English about what you need to know about the case, including each side's strategy and possible outcomes.

Why are Google and Oracle in court?

The case is about intellectual property. It began six years ago when Oracle sued Google for using APIs tied to Java... without permission. Google won at an initial trial in 2012 when a jury found the company didn't infringe Oracle's patents, and a judge concluded the APIs didn't qualify for copyright protection.

But in a ruling that shocked the tech community, an appeals court found in 2014 that Oracle's APIs were indeed covered by copyright. The ruling also kicked the case back to the lower court to determine whether Google's use of the APIs counted as a "fair use." Now, at this second trial, a jury will look at the fair use question.

How does "fair use" come into it?

Fair use is a part of copyright law that allows use of a work without the author's permission. Examples are parody sketches that use famous TV or movie characters, or a book review that quotes a section of a a novel. The Oracle-Google trial is unusual because you normally see fair use debates in the realm of media and the arts, not computer science.

Google and Oracle's $9.3 Billion Fair Use Fight Starts Today

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devlux writes:

It looks like Lilum Aviation is now hiring http://lilium-aviation.com/#jobs

This is the company that has announced via the Telegraph a vertical lift flying car in two years.

Oh and there's something in there about a personal electric jet, with vertical take off and landing, a top speed of 250MPH and a range of 300 Miles.

But really, a job designing a real flying car, how cool is that?

From the article:

Personal aeroplanes which can take off noiselessly from the back garden, will be available within two years, engineers have claimed.

Lilium Aviation is designing an electric two-seater aircraft which takes just 20 hours to learn to fly, and can travel at speeds of 250mph.

Crucially, the small aircraft, which weighs just 25kg[sic], can take off vertically which means it does not need to fly from an airport, but could be parked outside a house or in a garden.

The company says the design will 'open the door to a new class of simpler, quieter and environmentally friendly planes' and will be available from 2018.

"Our goal is to develop an aircraft for use in everyday life," said Daniel Wiegand, CEO and one of the company's four founders.

"We are going for a plane that can take off and land vertically and does not need the complex and expensive infrastructure of an airport.

"To reduce noise and pollution, we are using electric engines so it can also be used close to urban areas."

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takyon writes:

Wearable cheating involving at least three students with glasses-mounted cameras and smartwatches has forced thousands of students to retake university entrance exams in Thailand:

Some 3,000 students in Thailand must retake university entrance exams after a cheating scam involving cameras and smartwatches was uncovered. The sophisticated scam happened at Rangsit University in Bangkok. The university says three people filmed their test papers using tiny cameras embedded in their glasses. They then transmitted the images to an outside team, who sent the correct answers to the smartwatches of three other students taking the exams. One admitted he was being charged $24,000 (£17,000) to receive the right answers to get into medical school.

Also at Bangkok Post.

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MichaelDavidCrawford writes:

tl;dr: I ask $65/hour, a competitor charges $150.

Due to my recent homelessness I stopped responding to consulting inquiries received through my business website. I'm getting more - potential - business by targeting drivers and embedded work, but being homeless had nowhere to put the prototype gadgets.

I have an apartment now, care of Vancouver's Community Services Northwest. I don't have Internet yet but figure I can pay for that by singing on the street - until I get a client, than I don't have to busk anymore.

I've had a brief email exchange with a potential client that told me that he sent me his first inquiry, but got no response from me until after the work was done by a competitor. That competitor had extensive experience with the hardware involved, but charged $150/hour.

It was an OS X driver, I have extensive experience with OS X but none with that board. However there are other kinds of devices - primarily storage - that I do have extensive experience with.

This leads me to speculate that $65/hour is charging too little. Maybe the reason I don't get the work is that potential clients figure the $150/hour consultants must be worth the pay.

When I sing on the street I make about $5/hour on average. (Sometimes I make nothing at all, sometimes I make $10/hour.). But it is important to me to get back to regular coding work; I'm courting a lady who knows I was homeless.

Usually I'm happy with my "workday" if I can buy a couple coffees so I can Troll The Series Of Tubes from a wifi spot.

In asking "as much" as $65, I feel that I'm asking for far, far more than I really need. For quite a long time I was really low-balling my requested pay - also for perm jobs - but got no offers.

The most I've ever made was $120. That particular job permitted me to work as many hours as I wanted.

(I commonly do fixed-bid work, but my bid is based on the $65 rate.)

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-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

Nick Heath reports via TechRepublic

Munich city council spent years migrating more than 15,000 staff to LiMux, a custom-version of Ubuntu and other open-source software--a move the city said had saved it more than €10M ($11M).

[...] After his election, the new mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, announced he would commission a report to evaluate how IT should be run at council in [the] future--including whether the authority should continue to run LiMux.

Now, an interim release of this report[PDF, Deutsch] by consultants Accenture has highlighted user dissatisfaction with outdated and unreliable software. However, when detailing the problems with desktop PCs, the draft report fails to specify whether it's Linux-based machines that are affected or the minority Windows PCs retained at Munich.

[...] Problems stem from the variety of PC clients being used, and the use of old operating systems, office software, browsers, and infrastructure, according to the report. The report cites evidence of these IT problems causing intermittent, rather than persistent problems for staff. When employees at Munich were surveyed last year, 85 percent said software problems interfered with their work at least once per month, with 55 percent blaming hardware problems. The council has previously stated the bulk of users had no issue with the move to LiMux, outside of a couple of councillors.

For my part, I wonder how objective the report will be. From Wikipedia:

Avanade Inc. was founded in 2000 as a joint venture between Accenture and
Microsoft

Additionally, Munich declared the conversion "complete" at 94 percent (though they have continued to inch forward away from non-open software). A major reason for starting the switch in the first place was because they had a mix of software that was unnecessarily difficult to manage.

Previous: Munich Reveals Preliminary Costs for a 'Return' to Windows

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

Apparently there is a booming industry in India whose modus operandi is to break the bones in your leg and then install stress braces you will wear for months to make you a few centimeters taller. The operation is expensive and experimental, yet getting more and more popular.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/09/i-have-to-be-taller-the-unregulated-world-of-indias-limb-lengthening-industry

Limb lengthening surgery was pioneered in the 1950s, in a small Soviet town called Kurgan in Siberia. Its inventor, a Polish man named Gavriil Ilizarov, once dismissed as a quack, became known as the "magician from Kurgan", after he performed orthopaedic operations on people including an Olympic high jump champion. Ilizarov never intended for his technique to be used for cosmetic purposes; his work was targeted at people who had had accidents or were born with limbs of different lengths.

Now, the controversial Ilizarov technique is being used by surgeons across India, though with many modern modifications to make it quicker and less painful. Sarin, who has earned an international reputation for his skill in performing the surgery, says he struggled with the ethics of performing it at first. "I used to wonder whether what I'm doing is right, but when I saw how much their self-esteem was improving, I decided to keep going," he says.

How would you like a few centimeters more? I personally find fashion pretty ridiculous as 100 years ago it was deemed valuable to be pale & fat...

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edinlinux writes:

This below came from Cricket to my cellphone today.. (trimmed down, comments and bolding by me)

How is this even legal? Which congresscritter do I need to donate money to to stop shenanagins like this? (I see it is 'opt out' (for a limited time I guess?), but why should I have to?).

Changes to Cricket Wireless' (non) Privacy Policy

The full policy here:
www.cricketwireless.com/june

Here's some of the information we collect:

        Account Information includes your name, address, telephone number, email address, service related details such as payment data, security codes, service history, and other information like that;
        Web Browsing & Wireless Application Information tells us about the websites you visit and the mobile applications you use on our network;
        Location Information tells us where your wireless device is located.

Here are the three basic ways we collect it:

        We get information from you when you do things like make a purchase from us;
        We collect it from how you use our products and services;
        Other sources, like credit agencies, marketing companies, and other service providers provide it to us.

Here are just some of the ways we use it. To:
...
        Let you know about service updates, offers, and promotions;
        Improve entertainment options;
        Deliver Relevant Advertising;
        Create External Marketing & Analytics Reports
        Assist in the prevention and investigation of illegal activities and violations of our Terms of Service or Acceptable Use Policies.

Our commitment to protecting your data

        We don't sell your Personal Information to anyone for any purpose. Period. [ed: just we give it away to our 'affiliates' (which is anyone who gives us money) instead!]

....
        Web Browsing & Mobile Application Information such as IP addresses, URLs, data transmission rates and delays. We also learn about the pages you visit, the links or advertisements you see and follow, the search terms you enter, how often you open an application, how long you spend using the app, and other similar information.

[Continues...]

takyon writes:

You can now search for the names of people and companies that are included among the Panama Papers:

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists just released a searchable database with the names of more than 300,000 people and companies included in the so-called "Panama Papers." The database is barebones, containing the name of the entity and how its connected to an offshore account. [...] The database released today includes the names of more than 7,000 entities from the United States. [...] The Washington Post ran a story today that finds that at least 36 Americans listed in the database have been "accused of fraud or other serious financial misconduct."

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c0lo writes:

The Guardian reports on Megumi Igarashi:

A Japanese artist who made a kayak modelled on her vagina has been found guilty of breaking the country's obscenity laws, in a case that has invited widespread ridicule of attitudes towards images of female genitalia.

Megumi Igarashi, who works under the pseudonym Rokudenashiko – or good-for-nothing girl – was arrested in July 2014 after she distributed data that enabled recipients to make 3D prints of her vagina.

The 44-year-old was fined 400,000 yen (£2,575), half the penalty demanded by prosecutors, at the Tokyo district court on Monday after she was convicted of distributing "obscene" images. She was cleared of another charge of displaying similar material.

Igarashi distributed the data to help raise funds to create a kayak inspired by her genitalia she called "pussy boat".

The judge, Mihoko Tanabe, said that the data, though "flat and inorganic", realistically portrayed the shape of a vagina and could "sexually arouse viewers", according to Kyodo News.

Igarashi was cleared, however, of another charge relating to the display of plaster versions of the kayak at a shop selling adult goods in Tokyo. Tanabe said the kayak did not obviously resemble female genitalia and could not be considered obscene.

[Continues...]

Zinho writes:

A legal battle is heating up between the producers of a Star Trek fan film, Anaxar, and Paramount (the corporation that owns Star Trek). Paramount is suing the film producers, claiming not only trademark over the iconic alien races and the look and feel of their equipment, but also copyright ownership of the language they speak. This became interesting when a lawyer, representing Pro Bono the Language Creation Society (LCS), filed an Amicus brief arguing that Klingon has moved beyond the point where anyone can logically own it, and has taken on a life of its own. For bonus points, part of the brief was written in Klingon.

Paramount Copyright Claim on Klingon Language Challenged in Klingon Language; Paramount's arguments lack reason, or "meq Hutlh."
Is Klingon A Living Language? That's For (Human) Courts To Decide (NPR Broadcast recording and transcript)
Why a lawyer wrote a legal brief partially in Klingon (listen to the recording for this one, it's particularly funny and to-the-point)

Paramount, for its part, predictably stands by its claim; they say that they made it, and Klingons aren't real anyway, so they should be able to own copyright on the language.

This argument is of interest to the tech world as well, as some of the same arguments can be made regarding computer language. A person or corporation can create a computer language, but what control then does it give them over how that language is used? The brief touches on various famous software cases such as Oracle America, Inc. v. Google, Inc and Computer Associates International, Inc. v. Altai Inc. The broad issues of whether copyright can/should be applied to a language as a whole affect both the Constructed Language community and the world of programming.

The LCS' page covering the Axanar case has an impressive list of further reading on this topic; the Internet has made this into a meme and discussion of it has gone viral.

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takyon writes:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/05/09/477310339/uber-lyft-vow-to-stop-driving-in-austin-after-voters-affirm-regulations

After voters in Austin, Texas, rejected a proposal for loosened regulations on ride-hailing apps, both Uber and Lyft have announced they will be "pausing" operations in the city.

In late 2015, Austin's City Council approved an ordinance requiring companies like Uber and Lyft to be regulated like taxis. That meant, among other things, drivers would have to be fingerprinted as part of a background check. Uber and Lyft, in response, pushed a ballot proposal asking voters to choose between that city ordinance and a looser statewide law. NPR's John Burnett reports that the two companies dropped $8 million to promote their stance on Proposal 1 — a record for Austin ballot proposals. "Despite spending what amounted to $200 on each vote in their favor, Uber and Lyft lost by 44 to 56," John says.

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takyon writes:

Twitter has cut off U.S. intelligence agency access to Dataminr, a partly-owned search tool that sifts through tweets in real time. The decision may be due to the bad "optics" of being closely associated with U.S. spies:

Twitter Inc. cut off U.S. intelligence agencies from access to a service that sifts through the entire output of its social-media postings, the latest example of tension between Silicon Valley and the federal government over terrorism and privacy.

The move, which hasn't been publicly announced, was confirmed by a senior U.S. intelligence official and other people familiar with the matter. The service — which sends out alerts of unfolding terrorist attacks, political unrest and other potentially important events — isn't directly provided by Twitter, but instead by Dataminr Inc., a private company that mines public Twitter feeds for clients.

Also at The Verge and PC World.

Original Submission