SoylentNews

CoolHand writes:

Vim 8.0 has been released. This is the first major Vim release in 10 years.

New features include:

• Asynchronous I/O support, channels, JSON
• Jobs
• Timers
• Partials, Lambdas and Closures
• Packages
• New style testing
• Viminfo merged by timestamp
• GTK+ 3 support
• MS-Windows DirectX support

Even if Neovim never becomes status quo in the vi world, has the competition at least given Vim developers a shot in the arm?

Original Submission

NotSanguine writes:

Jon Brodkin over at Ars Technica is reporting on a filing submitted to the FCC by Netflix last week asking thc FCC to "declare that home Internet data caps are unreasonable and that they limit customers' ability to watch online video."

From the article:

Netflix submitted a filing last week for the FCC's annual investigation of broadband deployment, a review that is mandated by Congress in Section 706 of the Telecommunications Act. Specifically, Congress requires the FCC to determine whether advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion and "take immediate action" to accelerate deployment if it's not happening to the commission's satisfaction.

The commission's assessment generally focuses on availability and speed, but Netflix wants the commission to add data caps to the mix. "Data caps (especially low data caps) and usage-based pricing ('UBP') discourage a consumer's consumption of broadband, and may impede the ability of some households to watch Internet television in a manner and amount that they would like," Netflix wrote. "For this reason, the Commission should hold that data caps on fixed-­line networks ­­and low data caps on mobile networks­­ may unreasonably limit Internet television viewing and are inconsistent with Section 706."

[...] Netflix argued that a 300GB-per-month allotment "is required just to meet the Internet television needs of an average American," without accounting for other things consumers want to do on the Internet, like Web browsing and downloading games and applications. "The Commission should recognize that data caps and UBP on fixed line networks are an unnecessary constraint on advanced telecommunications capability," Netflix said.

Comcast, the nation's largest home Internet provider, recently raised its caps from 300GB to 1TB, making it easier for customers to watch online video instead of Comcast's own cable TV service. But consumers' data needs are increasing quickly enough that "today's 'above-average' Internet consumer is tomorrow's average Internet consumer," Netflix said.

Data caps also aren't necessary for network management, Netflix argued. The online video provider pointed to a government survey from 2014 in which ISPs told regulators that congestion wasn't a problem on their networks. ISPs have alternatively described data caps "as a way to align consumers' use of the network with what they pay," Netflix said.

So what say you, Soylentils? Do data caps discriminate against online video providers?

Do data caps negatively impact other types of Internet usage?

Is online video the bulk of the data you consume through your Internet connection?

Do you have a data cap? If so, what is it and how often do you exceed it? If you do exceed it, what steps does your ISP take in response?

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

"Microsoft has just released a new version of Skype for Linux, once again addressing many of the reported bugs, but also introducing some new features that certainly come in handy to those on the platform."

According to the official changelog, which you can read in the box at the end of the article, Skype 1.7 for Linux is still part of the alpha development stage, but it includes several important improvements, such as fixes for the reconnection of the app that occurred every once in a while when it was suspended for a longer time.

There were plenty of users who complained that Skype for Linux was reconnecting automatically when not using the app for a certain amount of time and Microsoft has already acknowledged the bug. This new version fixes the problem, so everything should work correctly after updating.

Additionally, Skype for Linux 1.7 introduces a new grid layout of the group calls, but also fixes the standard behavior of unread messages. According to Microsoft, this means that "when opening chat with unread messages, the view will focus on the first unread message and as you scroll, messages will be marked as read."

http://www.softpedia.com/blog/microsoft-officially-releases-skype-1-7-for-linux-508199.shtml

Original Submission

takyon writes:

After Brian Krebs exposed a DDoS-for-hire service disguised as "stress testing", a denial-of-service attack was launched against his website. Now, the two alleged operators of the service have been arrested:

Krebs describes vDos as a DDoS-for-Hire service that offered paid accounts to users who wanted to launch DDoS attacks on their targets or developers who planned to build DDoS services (stressers) of their own. The investigator provided the vDos database to Krebs, who discovered that, in the last two years, vDos customers launched over 150,000 DDoS attacks that totaled more than 277 million seconds of attack time. The database also contained payment records. Krebs discovered that the site's two operators made $618,000 only in the last two years, based on financial records dating back to 2014. vDos launched in 2012, so it might be accurate to say that its creators have made over $1 million since its creation.

The investigator also told Krebs that vDos was hosted on servers in Bulgaria, but its two creators were from Israel, as revealed by support tickets. The site's two creators had banned the ability to launch DDoS attacks against Israeli IPs so that it would not cause problems with local authorities.

[...] Soon after the article went live and users started sharing it on social media, Reddit, Slashdot, and HackerNews, a DDoS attack hit Krebs' website. According to Krebs, the attack was initially small, only 20 Gbps, but more than enough to bring down his website. In reality, 1 Gbps is more than enough to bring down most web servers. This initial attack later turned into a 128 Gbps attack. [...] UPDATE: Minutes after publishing this story, reports came in that Israeli law enforcement arrested the two alleged vDos owners named in the Krebs report.

Also at The Register, which notes that the two men authored a paper about DDoS attacks signed with their real names, and that one of them had previously claimed to have attacked the Pentagon.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Get ready for innovation in printing:

HP said the acquisition would help it to "disrupt and reinvent" the $55bn copier industry, a segment that "hasn't innovated in decades". It is buying a big printing presence in Asia, as well as Samsung's laser printing technology and patents. The deal comes days after HP's sister company sold its software business to rising UK tech champion Micro Focus.

[...] Samsung's printer business made $1.4bn in revenue last year and includes more than 6,500 printing patents as well as nearly 1,300 staff with expertise in laser printer technology. Meanwhile, shares in Samsung fell 9% after it urged customers to hand in Galaxy Note 7 phones as they risk exploding.

Also at TechCrunch and Bloomberg.

Original Submission

Hostel California writes:

https://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-loud-sound-just-shut-down-a-banks-data-center-for-10-hours

ING Bank's main data center in Bucharest, Romania, was severely damaged over the weekend during a fire extinguishing test. In what is a very rare but known phenomenon, it was the loud sound of inert gas being released that destroyed dozens of hard drives. The site is currently offline and the bank relies solely on its backup data center, located within a couple of miles' proximity.

"The drill went as designed, but we had collateral damage", ING's spokeswoman in Romania told me, confirming the inert gas issue. Local clients were unable to use debit cards and to perform online banking operations on Saturday between 1PM and 11PM because of the test. "Our team is investigating the incident," she said.

The purpose of the drill was to see how the data center's fire suppression system worked. Data centers typically rely on inert gas to protect the equipment in the event of a fire, as the substance does not chemically damage electronics, and the gas only slightly decreases the temperature within the data center.

Original Submission

Appalbarry wrote an article for us to discuss:

I've been an Android user since Froyo, over several devices. I'm beginning to think that there must be a better way.

First, although I liked Android, especially the part that was Open Source, I'll suggest that the whole Android ecosystem represents a dead end.

At a minimum, it seems like madness to rely on two or more layers of outside partners to deliver software patches and updates. It's just not reasonable or safe for end users to wait for months or years until device makers and wireless carriers deliver patches from Google - if they ever do.

That there's no way a user can update their system without their cooperation is just not acceptable today.

Second, even if an update or patch does arrive, it brings with it the likelihood that some feature or application that you have been using will be hobbled, eliminated, or just plain be made unusable by Google. Services provided by Google are subject to changes that, depending on your circumstances, make them significantly less usable. (Gmail being a prime example) Standalone apps like Reader or MyTracks may just stop working one day if Google loses interest.

Finally, there's the Play store, and the millions of apps available to users. I think that most people would agree that trying to find a usable app for a specific purpose is an exercise in frustration.

[Continues...]

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

AlterNet reports

The [EpiPen], which millions of Americans depend on, was invented in the 1970s by engineer Sheldon Kaplan[PDF], who died seven years ago in modest surroundings amid obscurity. But Kaplan's patent made its way into [the] Netherlands-based drug maker Mylan, which, since 2007, has jacked up the price of the spring-loaded injector from $57 a shot to $300.

[...] The high price [...] caught the attention of Dr. Douglas McMahon. The 38-year-old allergy specialist in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been thinking about how to improve on the EpiPen and to do so in a way that's affordable.

[...] McMahon saw that the EpiPen device was not only overpriced for what it does but also was too big to be easily carried in a pocket. For the past couple of years, he has been tinkering with injection-device components in his lab. And the result of his work is AllergyStop [1], an injection prototype that's small enough to fit on a key chain. McMahon claimed his device is as effective as the EpiPen and can be marketed and sold for about $50.

But, even though McMahon's device has been production-ready for the past two months, the steps he must take to get the device approved will cost him about $2 million and it will potentially take him years to go through all the hurdles required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for possible approval of his invention.

[1] All content is behind scripts. archive.li will run those for you.

Previously:
EpiPen's Price Increased 400% since 2008

Original Submission

"exec" writes:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2016/09/07/this-employee-badge-knows-not-only-where-you-are-but-whether-you-are-talking-to-your-co-workers/

Do you hog office conversations? Or not talk enough? Does your voice squeal Do you sit very still at your desk all day? Or do you fidget under stress? Where do you go in the office? How much time do you spend there? To whom do you talk?

An employee badge can now measure all this and more, all with the goal of giving employers better information to evaluate performance. Think of it as biometrics meets the boss.

A Boston company has taken technology developed at MIT and turned it into special badges that hang around your neck on a lanyard. Each has two microphones doing real-time voice analysis, and each comes with sensors that follow where you are in the office, with motion detectors to record how much you move. The beacons tracking your movements are omitted from bathroom locations, to give you some privacy.

[...] Those concerned about their privacy might be alarmed by the arrival of such badges. But Humanyze says it doesn't record the content of what people say, just how they say it. And the boss doesn't get to look at individuals' personal data. It is also up to the employee to decide whether they want to participate.

"Those are things we hammer home," Waber said. "If you don't give people choice, if you don't aggregate instead of showing individual data, any benefit would be dwarfed by the negative reaction people will have of you coming in with this very sophisticated sensor."

[...] Waber said the company is careful not to divulge personal data to the employer, preferring instead to stick with broad analytics. Employees get to see their own data, but managers do not get to identify the employee with the specific data.

-- submitted from IRC

Original Submission

f4r writes:

Researchers at Google DeepMind have released a paper (PDF) and writeup on their new "WaveNet" neural network. WaveNet is able to generate speech that arguably sounds far better than current text-to-speech (TTS) programs, and was also used to synthesize other audio, such as piano music.

There are multiple audio samples included on the writeup page.

Phoenix666 writes:

The idea of giving people free money is so radical, even some recipients think it's too good to be true.

Later this year, roughly 6,000 people in Kenya will receive regular monthly payments of about a dollar a day, no strings attached, as part of a policy experiment commonly known as basic income.

People will get to use the money for whatever they want: food, clothing, shelter, gambling, alcohol — anything — all in an effort to reduce poverty.
...
But instead of accepting the cash transfers with open arms, many Kenyans have recently been saying "No, thank you." It's a legitimate concern: As GiveDirectly moves into its larger basic income experiment, the last thing it wants is for people to turn down the money.

Basic Income is a concept often mentioned on SN, and this is an experiment to do exactly that. Many potential recipients of the basic income are skeptical about the goals of the experiment, though, and rumors have arisen that it's tied to a cult or devil worship.

Opponents of such wealth transfers argue they lead to indolence, while another school of thought believes they would reduce poverty and directly produce economic stimulus because the poor would immediately spend the money.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

New details have emerged about the communications and protocol failures that happened in the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, including the breakdown of the "continuity of government" plan among the presidential successors:

Based on a review of newly unclassified documents, memoirs and other published accounts, and interviews with U.S. officials, NBC News has learned that:

• Three dozen live nuclear weapons were aboard U.S. Air Force bombers at three airbases when al Qaeda struck New York and Washington.
• Because of inadequate communications equipment and procedures, top U.S. officials couldn't talk to each other or to anyone else. Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to speak to Bush to know why the U.S. was preparing to go to DEFCON 3 — but the White House couldn't put him through to Air Force One. Bush had no way to receive phone calls.
• After Bush left Florida, where he had been reading a book to schoolkids, his plane was low on fuel but for hours had nowhere to land.
• Most of the top 10 people in the president's line of succession, including Vice President Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, either refused to follow the protocol and go to their designated secure sites, or were out of the country, or were never contacted.
• Now-disgraced Speaker of the House Denny Hastert, third in line, observed protocol and was taken to an underground bunker in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But that left him out of touch with all other top government leaders.
• Attorney General John Ashcroft was in a government plane and tried to return to Washington, but was turned away by the FAA.
• Education Secretary Rod Paige, 16th in line to the White House, was left on the tarmac in Sarasota, Florida. He rented a car and drove back to Washington.

[...] Perhaps the biggest newly uncovered secret is that on the morning of 9/11, when Al Qaeda struck New York and Washington, the Pentagon's annual "Global Guardian" war game was in full swing. Three dozen real nuclear weapons had been loaded onboard intercontinental bombers in North Dakota, Missouri, and Louisiana.

[...] With U.S. forces worldwide going on alert, the U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Alexander Vershbow, called the White House Situation Room: Russian President Vladimir Putin "wanted to speak with Bush." Coincidently, the Russians were in the middle of their own nuclear war exercise and their intelligence had now detected telltale signs of enhanced American force posture. For 30 minutes, White House communicators tried to establish a secure line between Air Force One and the Kremlin, finally giving up. Russian-speaking National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice then got on the phone with the Russian president to agree on a cooperative stand-down.

This will be great fodder for my alternate history novel featuring President John Dennis "Denny" Hastert.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Police have arrested a couple in connection to gas canisters found in a parked car near the Notre Dame Cathedral:

A criminal terrorist investigation has been opened in Paris following the discovery of a car parked near Notre Dame Cathedral with seven gas canisters and pages written in Arabic inside, prosecutors said.

The Paris prosecutor's office revealed Wednesday that a couple it described as radicalized —a 34-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman— was arrested a day earlier and transferred to Paris to be questioned in the case.

The car found near the famous cathedral on Sunday morning had its license plates removed and hazard lights on. That evening, its owner went to the police to report that his is radicalized daughter was missing but without saying his car had also disappeared, the prosecutor's office said. Police briefly detained and questioned the car owner before letting him go, the prosecutor's office said. His daughter still is being sought, the office said.

Also at Reuters, WSJ, Le Figaro. What's in the can?

[Update: 9 total people arrested - cmn32480]

[More....]

Phoenix666 writes:

When potato chips and cheese doodles lose their luster, celery and carrots don't pack enough punch, and nostalgia for SERE School grips you:

Welcome to the exciting world of entomophagy! Below you will find a list of North American companies producing edible insects in various forms - from snack bites to protein powder to roasted whole. Start wherever you're comfortable.

Are you ready to eat some insects? The facts are out and it's hard to argue with them – insects are the perfect answer to people's desire for protein without the environmental costs that go along with animal agriculture. Raising insects for human consumption uses far less water, land, and food than livestock, and insects emit almost no greenhouse gases.

From the Entomo Farms website: "These insects contain 70% protein, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach, and almost 20 times the amount of B12 as beef."

Also, overcoming antipathy toward eating insects is a useful post-SHTF (S* Hits The Fan) skill...

Original Submission

https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoylectures/

Playlist of all lectures in order: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7ddpXYvFXspUN0N-gObF1GXoCA-DA-7i

Some of the course materials (slides etc):
http://graphics.stanford.edu/courses/cs178/schedule.html

Original Submission