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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Intel's profit dropped sharply last quarter due to heavy costs from a restructuring announced in April, though sales were up thanks to the company's powerful data center group. Intel's profit for the quarter, Which ended July 2, was $1.3 billion, down from $2.7 billion a year earlier, the company announced Wednesday. Revenue climbed 3 percent to $13.5 billion.

Intel said in April that it would axe 12,000 jobs worldwide, or 11% of its staff, in a plan to cut costs and focus on growing businesses like server processors and chips for the internet of things.

[...] Results elsewhere were mixed. Revenue from Intel's data center group, which sells Xeon server chips, were up 5% from last year, to $4 billion.

However, revenue from its client computing group, which makes chips for PCs and mobile devices, was down 3% to $7.3 billion, Intel said.

Its IoT group produced sales of $572 million, up 2% year over year.

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Electrocatalytic water splitting is one of the most promising next generation technologies for environmentally friendly and inexpensive energy conversion and storage. However, one of its biggest obstacles is the sluggishness of the oxidation reaction, which is key to the whole process. State-of-the-art technology relies on metal oxide electrocatalysts, but both cost and performance still need to be improved. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, Chinese scientists have now introduced oxidized, that is, rusty, stainless-steel plates as excellent electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution. That technology could represent a surprisingly simple approach toward solving a long-standing problem.

The water splitting reaction represents the conversion of water into oxygen and hydrogen. Although this principle used in plants is the most important energy converting reaction on Earth, it is difficult to implement as industrial processes. One of the key challenges is the development of suitable catalysts to accelerate the sluggish oxidation reaction of water for the generation of oxygen. The requirements for possible electrocatalysts are manifold, including durability and low cost. The best electrocatalysts considered today are the oxides of the heavy metals ruthenium and iridium, but they are expensive and scarce, whereas the cheaper ones based on earth-abundant transition metals need other improvements. In an unusual approach, Xinbo Zhang at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and his colleagues have turned a simple stainless steel plate electrode into a highly efficient electrocatalyst just by artificially corroding its surface.

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

A Chinese environmental group has won a landmark public interest lawsuit against a glass manufacturer, with the firm fined more than $3 million for excessive pollution, a court said.

The Jinghua Group Zhenhua Decoration Glass Limited Company, based in Dezhou in the eastern province of Shandong, was ordered to pay nearly 22 million yuan ($3.3 million) for its surplus emission of pollutants and told to make a public apology, the city's Intermediate People's Court said on a verified social media account.

The suit, filed by the government-affiliated All-China Environment Federation (ACEF) in March of last year, was the first of its kind since a new Chinese environmental protection law came into force at the start of 2015, making it easier for unofficial groups to mount legal actions on public interest grounds.

The glass producer had emitted hundreds more tonnes of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide and smoke dust than the maximums stipulated by regulations, the court said in its ruling, issued Wednesday.

China's ruling Communist party has tried to cut pollution through the courts, but efforts have been hampered by corruption and low levels of fines.

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Conservative firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos received big-name support on Wednesday for reversing his lifetime Twitter ban: Minecraft creator Markus Persson.

Twitter froze Mr. Yiannopoulos' account on Tuesday after barbed exchanges with "Ghostbusters" star Leslie Jones. The Breitbart News tech editor seemingly was banned for the racist comments made by other users. Mr. Persson told his nearly 4 million followers that Twitter's actions were absurd.

"I think the guy's a bit of a [expletive], but for the love of Christ, #FreeMilo," the video game icon said Wednesday morning. "If/when I get suspended too, check http://notch.net. I've reported tweets worse than anything (well.. almost) Nero's ever said, and the reply is always the same: Nope."

Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/20/markus-persson-minecraft-creator-rips-twitter-for-/

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

France takes issue with the amount of data collection Microsoft's Windows 10 imposes on its users.

France is not happy with Microsoft's Windows 10, and it has nothing to do with the annoying update reminders. In a report, the CNIL (France's data protection commission) has called the user data collection in Windows 10 "excessive."

The CNIL specifically highlighted the ways in which Microsoft collects data on every app downloaded and installed by a user, and how much time the user spends in each app. The report calls attention to a security concern: there is no limit to the amount of times someone can incorrectly attempt to guess the 4-digit PIN that users place on their accounts.

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fork(2) writes:

In a 2015 article about a Science article on the replication of scientific results, Lloyd Sederer says, "One study is not enough to claim enduring evidence of its findings; it must be replicated by other investigators to demonstrate that the original study's results were not just an accident or, worse, the product of poor design or inflated findings."

Today (Jul 20), Nature reports that the Dutch agency Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) has announced a pilot program dedicated to replication studies -- to test whether important research results in social and medical sciences can be replicated. The €3 million (US$3.3 million) program

[...] marks a tiny fraction of the agency's €700-million annual budget, but is an important step, says Brian Nosek, executive director of the Center for Open Science in Charlottesville, Virginia. "If my calculations are correct, this is an increase of infinity per cent of federal funding dedicated to replication studies," he says.

[...] The NWO pilot will focus on repeating "cornerstone" research -- studies that have had a large impact on science, government policy or public debate. Jos Engelen, chair of the NWO's governing board, says that the agency expects to be able to fund 8-10 projects each year. A study that collects new data can be funded with up to €150,000; one that re-analyses existing data can receive up to €75,000. Scientists are not allowed to use the money to replicate their own work, and the official call for proposals should come in September.

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takyon writes:

KickassTorrents (KAT), currently the largest torrent site, has had several of its domains seized, along with the arrest of its alleged owner:

The U.S. Government has arrested the alleged owner of KickassTorrents, the world's largest torrent site. The 30-year-old Ukrainian was arrested in Poland today and is charged with criminal copyright infringement and money laundering. In addition, a federal court in Chicago has ordered the seizure of several KAT domain names.

With millions of unique visitors per day KickassTorrents (KAT) has become the most-used torrent site on the Internet, beating even The Pirate Bay. Today, however, the site has run into a significant roadblock after U.S. authorities announced the arrest of the site's alleged owner.

The 30-year-old Artem Vaulin, from Ukraine, was arrested today in Poland from where the United States has requested his extradition. In a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the owner is charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of criminal copyright infringement.

It also appears that Apple was involved in making the arrest possible:

The complaint further reveals that the feds posed as an advertiser, which revealed a bank account associated with the site. It also shows that Apple handed over personal details of Vaulin after the investigator cross-referenced an IP-address used for an iTunes transaction with an IP-address that was used to login to KAT's Facebook account. "Records provided by Apple showed that tirm@me.com conducted an iTunes transaction using IP Address 109.86.226.203 on or about July 31, 2015. The same IP Address was used on the same day to login into the KAT Facebook," the complaint reads.

That will teach you not to use iTunes. Several of the proxy domains as well as the status site also appear to be down.

Update: Can KickassTorrents Make a Comeback?

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fork(2) writes:

Spacepolicyonline.com reports that

The international Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) has cancelled its biennial conference for this year, which was scheduled to take place in Istanbul, Turkey from July 30-August 7. COSPAR President Lennard Fisk called it a "difficult and sad decision," but the wise course of action following this weekend's attempted coup.

[...] COSPAR was created in 1958 as part of the International Council for Science (formerly the International Council of Scientific Unions). It holds a "scientific assembly" every two years that brings together the world's top space scientists who share and discuss their recent discoveries and future plans. The 2014 COSPAR meeting was in Russia (Moscow) and the 2018 COSPAR meeting will be in the United States (Pasadena). The Space Studies Board (SSB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine is the U.S. national committee to COSPAR.

In late June, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden canceled all NASA reimbursements for travel to the conference citing security concerns based on a State Department travel advisory. At that time, many were concerned that the NASA action was sending the wrong message about responding to terrorism.

[Continues...]

fork(2) writes:

On July 14 an unusual video popped up on YouTube in which well-recognized Republicans outline the danger of climate change. (Still fewer than 1000 hits.) The video was posted by The Partnership for Responsible Growth.

Today (July 20), The Guardian carries an article explaining that the Partnership for Responsible Growth and other groups have launched campaigns to urge Republicans and Rupert Murdoch's media empire to accept climate change.

Conservative and free-market groups have staged a rearguard effort to get the Republican party to accept the dangers of climate change, criticizing climate denialism within the GOP and Rupert Murdoch's media empire.

Climate change, and other environmental concerns, are unlikely to receive much, if any, attention during the Republican convention in Cleveland this week. This is despite a slew of temperature records being broken -- June was the 14th consecutive month of record heat around the world -- and extreme examples of Arctic ice decline and drought and wildfires in the US west.

But the Republican gathering has been targeted by conservative voices calling for climate science to be accepted and for national parks to be preserved, rather than opened up for drilling and other development.

A group called the Partnership for Responsible Growth has launched a TV advertisement campaign aimed squarely at conservatives, reminding them of previous Republican acceptance of climate science. The ad, which will run on Fox News throughout the GOP convention in Cleveland this week, shows clips of presidents George W Bush and George HW Bush, as well as former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, outlining the dangers of climate change.

[...] The Partnership for Responsible Growth calls itself a free-market group that supports putting a price on carbon. Its advisory council includes Ted Roosevelt IV, managing director of investment banking at Barclays Capital, former oil executive William Nitze and retired rear admiral David Titley.

[Continues...]

fork(2) writes:

If you liked The Martian , or if you just like Mars, planetary astronomy, or cool stuff, you might be happy to know that images of Acidalia Planitia from the HiRISE Camera are available as wallpaper.

About this Image

Acidalia Planitia, a region on Mars imaged by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) Camera on NASA's Reconnaissance Orbiter, is known to the public for reasons less than scientific. While the real region has been a location of interest as part of an objective to locate safe landing sites for future Mars missions, many may know of this site as it relates to the popular movie "The Martian:" this is the area where Ares 3 and its crew lands.

The HiRISE Camera's images are used not only for finding safe landing sites but to learn more about the topography of the Red Planet by creating stereo images and even helping to plan out safe paths for rovers currently on mission. [See more images by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter]

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fork(2) writes:

The commercial Earth observation satellite WorldView-2 was involved in a "debris-causing event" yesterday (July 19). According to SpaceNews, "The Joint Space Operations Center, which is the Defense Department's nerve center for space operations and tracks space objects from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, tweeted July 19 that it had identified a debris-causing event related DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite." From the article:

As a result, the JSpOC is tracking eight pieces of debris related to the incident. An estimated time of the event was not immediately available.

"Earlier today JSPOC issued a 'debris causing event' notification related to DigitalGlobe's Worldview-2 satellite," the Longmont, Colorado-based company tweeted. "WorldView-2 is currently operational and is performing standard maneuvering and imaging tasks."

The company tweeted an image of downtown Oakland, California taken by the satellite later that afternoon.

Air Force Capt. Nicholas Mercurio, a spokesman for U.S. Strategic Command's Joint Functional Component Command for Space and the 14th Air Force, said DigitalGlobe is conducting an investigation into what happened.

Spaceflight Insider says:

WorldView-2 offers commercial panchromatic imagery with a resolution of less than a half-a-meter per pixel. The satellite was built by Ball Aerospace and launched on Oct. 8, 2009, atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base's Space Launch Complex 2W.

The satellite is joined by WorldView-1, which launched in 2007; GeoEye-1, which was placed into orbit in 2008; and WorldView-3, which took to the skies in 2014. WorldView-2 takes a new picture of any place on Earth every 1.1 days.

Original Submission

fork(2) writes:

When it comes to police and the public, technology doesn't always have to mean Big Brother. In part of an interview on NPR's All Tech Considered, Rayid Ghani of University of Chicago's Center for Data Science and Public Policy described using data analytics to head off police misconduct.

From the interview:

The idea is to take the data from these police departments and help them predict which officers are at risk of these adverse incidents. Instead of the systems today -- where you wait until something bad happens, and again, the only intervention at that point you have is punitive -- we're focusing on, "Can I detect these things early? And if I can detect them early, can I direct intervention to them -- training, counseling."

[...] Stress is a big indicator there. For example, if you are an officer and you have been ... responding to a lot of domestic abuse cases or suicide cases, that is a big predictor of you being involved in an adverse incident in the near future.

[Continues...]

mendax suggested this story:

If the verbal diarrhea that has emitted from the Republican convention in Cleveland this week isn't enough, it seems that the notorious Noro virus may be on the loose among the delegates, according to Ars Technica.

Around 11 Californian Republican Party staff members who arrived in Cleveland early to help organize this week's National Convention have fallen ill with what appears to be norovirus infections.

Health officials have reportedly taken fecal samples from the sick and sent them for testing at a lab in Columbus, Ohio. "It looks like the norovirus, but we're not going to say that's definitively what it is," Erie County Health Commissioner Pete Schade told the local newspaper, the Plain Dealer.

What I found interesting about this story is not the possibility that the country and the world may see Donald Trump lose his lunch and bowels on stage on Thursday night, but rather this:

The resort [where the staff members have been quarantined] has set up hand sanitizer stations for guests, however alcohol-based sanitizers are not effective against non-enveloped viruses such as noroviruses.

Ars goes on to explain:

The notorious gastrointestinal bug, known to lurk on cruise ships, schools, day care centers, and recently in several Chipotle restaurants, causes sudden and explosive bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. The virus is highly contagious and can spread directly or indirectly from a sick person—from shaking hands, touching shared surfaces, or through shared food items. In close, densely packed quarters such as a convention, the germ can spread swiftly. The incubation period is between 12 to 48 hours with an average of about 33 hours, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It generally passes after a few, grim days, but the bug can cause severe illness in the young and elderly.

If the norovirus gets loose on the convention floor there is nothing that can be done except to shut it down early. Maybe they'll blame it on some devious plot by the Democrats and/or the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Source: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160716/12015834995/half-tsas-30000-employees-accused-misconduct-nearly-third-multiple-times.shtml

The TSA is a multibillion dollar agency with nearly zero redeemable qualities. It can only act in hindsight, does almost nothing to make traveling safer, and seemingly devotes most of its screening efforts to toddlers, cancer patients, and ensuring carry-on liquids do not exceed three ounces.

What it lacks in competency, it makes up in misconduct. Lines at security checkpoints have slowed to a crawl. Making it through the tedious, invasive process sometimes means inadvertently "donating" expensive electronics to sticky-fingered agents. The TSA's morale is generally on par with Congress' approval rates. And, when it's all said and done, the people hired to protect travelers just plain suck at their job.

Despite the Transportation Security Administration's ten-point action plan to reduce long lines at airports across the country, lengthy queues remain. Now, the TSA's summer may be getting even worse: According to a recent report from the House Homeland Security Commission entitled "Misconduct at TSA Threatens the Security of the Flying Public", nearly half of the TSA’s 60,000 employees have been cited for misconduct in recent years.

As Katherine LaGrave of the Conde Nast Traveler points out, the problem is only getting worse. Complaints are up 28% over the last three years, with larger airports averaging a complaint a week. Long lines may be causing a spike in the complaints, but the misconduct detailed in the report has very little to do directly with this issue.

Attendance issues are part of the problem, but the offenses listed in the report range from missing work to smuggling drugs/humans to "engaging in child pornography activities." Although processes are in place to handle disciplinary issues, they are both bureaucratic and inconsistently applied. Worse, the investigation found that the agency has no specific process in place to fire problem employees.

But the obvious takeaway from this report is that the TSA is not improving. It's getting worse, despite the institution of an action plan and added layers of direct oversight. The report also cautions that this will never improve, at least not if the TSA continues to ignore internal issues. It notes that misconduct allegations have increased by nearly 29% in the last three years but opened investigations not increased, but have actually gone down 15% over the same period.

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"exec" writes with this story from The Register:

Gaming two-factor authentication systems with premium rate phone numbers can be very profitable – or it was until the flaws got reported.

Belgian security researcher Arne Swinnen noticed that the authentication systems used by Facebook-owned Instagram, Google and Microsoft allow access tokens to be received by a voice call as well as a text message. By linking accounts to a premium-rate phone number he controlled and could pocket money from, he was able to scam the three companies out of cash – in some cases potentially thousands of dollars a day.

"Microsoft was exceptionally vulnerable to mass exploitation by supporting virtually unlimited concurrent calls to one premium number," he said. "The vulnerabilities were submitted to the respective Bug Bounty programs and properly resolved."

In the Microsoft case, he set up an Office 365 trial account and linked it back to a premium-rate number he owned. Redmond's servers will block authentication calls to a number after seven failed attempts to call it, but there were ways around that.

Swinnen found that by preceding the high-cost calling number with up to 18 zeros fooled the Office authentication system into making many more calls. Adding in a country code had the same effect, as did adding up to four digits at the end of the phone number string. All these techniques tricked Office into thinking it was calling new numbers rather than the same one over and over.

By writing a script to automate this process, a single premium rate number could yield €668,882 ($740,485) in call charges before the app refused to dial any more. To make matters worse, multiple accounts could be linked to the same phone number, meaning Swinnen could potentially have coined in one Euro in profit every minute.

After informing Microsoft of the flaw, the Office team quickly fixed the issue. The company gave Swinnen a $500 bug bounty, saying it would have been more but no customer data was stolen in the attack.

-- submitted from IRC

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