SoylentNews

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

The EU Commission’s wording could land social media users in legal hot water.

The European Commission created a legal minefield for billions of internet users with a well-intentioned but poorly worded proposed law to help struggling publishers guard against digital attrition by Google and other news aggregators.

As people read the fine print in plans released last month to strengthen publishers' rights over their articles, they discovered the Commission may have accidentally exposed tweeters, facebookers and even LinkedIn users to the whims of the world's most powerful media organizations.

Under the Commission's proposal, copyright lawyers could chase down citizens for sharing sentences or snippets of articles on social media.

"Users would be breaking the law if they use snippets of articles whether it is enforced or not," said Julia Reda, a Member of the European Parliament. The law is intended to help traditional publishers survive the digital age but, she said, "it applies to everyone, and if we pass this legislation, it will be in the hands of the publishers to decide whether they want to enforce it."

The check's in the mail...

Source: http://www.politico.eu/article/copyright-conundrum-tweeting-this-may-cost-you/

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Issue 32 is the last issue of Linux Voice as a stand-alone magazine as we have joined Linux Magazine. This newly merged magazine will bring the best bits of Linux Voice and Linux Magazine together into a single volume. All four of us Linux Voice founders will still be here contributing to the newly merged magazine – you'll find us in the aptly named Linux Voice section. We'll continue to write about the things that excite us in the world of open source software and we'll continue making our popular podcast.

Now that we're free of the day-to-day work of running the business, we can focus again on great technology. As well as us four, we're working with Linux Magazine to keep bringing great content to the Linux-using world, and this includes former contributors to Linux Voice.

The first issue of Linux Magazine done in tandem with Linux Voice (issue 193) is on its way to subscribers now and will be available in newsagents from 29th October 2016.

We're sure you've got a lot of questions, and we've tried to anticipate the most common ones below."

Frequently Asked Questions on the Linux Voice / Linux Magazine Merge:

• https://www.linuxvoice.com/merge/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20161028151636/https://www.linuxvoice.com/merge/

Which publications do you read to keep up to date with your own OS?

Original Submission

Bruke writes:

From the BBC website:

Twitter announced on Thursday that it was cutting 9% of its workforce following slow growth of the social network.

"In the coming months we'll be discontinuing the [Vine] mobile app," the company said in a blog.

When he learned of the change, Rus Yusupov (one of Vine's three co-founders) - tweeted: "Don't sell your company!"

A quick search revealed that it's not just a rumor - it appears to be confirmed

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Among older women residing in nursing homes, administration of cranberry capsules compared with placebo resulted in no significant difference in presence of bacteriuria plus pyuria (presence of bacteria and white blood cells in the urine, a sign of urinary tract infection [UTI]), or in the number of episodes of UTIs over 1 year, according to a study published online by JAMA. The study is being released to coincide with its presentation at IDWeek 2016.

Urinary tract infection is the most commonly diagnosed infection among nursing home residents. Bacteriuria is prevalent in 25 percent to 50 percent of women living in nursing homes, and pyuria is present in 90 percent of those with bacteriuria. Cranberry capsules are an understudied, nonantimicrobial prevention strategy used in this population. Manisha Juthani-Mehta, M.D., of the Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn., and colleagues randomly assigned 185 women (average age, 86 years; with or without bacteriuria plus pyuria at study entry) residing in nursing homes to two oral cranberry capsules, each capsule containing 36 mg of the active ingredient proanthocyanidin (i.e., 72 mg total, equivalent to 20 ounces of cranberry juice) or placebo administered once a day.

Another folk remedy bites the dust?

Original Submission

AtomBomb: The New Zero-Day Windows Exploit Microsoft Can't Fix?

Celestial writes:

There's a new zero-day Microsoft Windows exploit in the wild by the name of AtomBomb, and Microsoft may not be able to fix it.

Ensilo security researchers have discovered a new zero-day exploit in Windows that attackers can make use of to inject and execute malicious code. The researches call the exploit AtomBombing because of its use of a Windows function called Atom Tables.

What's particularly interesting about the exploit is that it does not rely on security vulnerabilities in Windows components but native Windows functions. This means, according to the researchers, that Microsoft won't be able to patch the issue.

It is particularly worrying that the issue affects all versions of Windows, and that security programs that run on the system -- firewall or antivirus for instance -- won't stop the execution of the exploit.

The technique works in the following way on an abstract level:

1. Malicious code needs to be executed on a Windows machine. A user might run malicious code for instance.
2. This code is blocked usually by antivirus software or other security software or policies.
3. In the case of AtomBombing, the malicious program writes the malicious code in an atom table (which is a legitimate function of Windows and won't be stopped therefore).
4. It then uses legitimate processes via APC (Async Procedure Calls) , a web browser for instance, to retrieve the code from the table undetected by security software to execute it.

You can find an extremely detailed explanation of AtomBombing here. Time to run Windows only in VMs?

New code injection attack works on all Windows versions - Help Net Security

MrPlow also submits a story on the same topic via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard:

Source: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2016/10/28/code-injection-windows-atombombing/

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

takyon writes:

SolarCity has unveiled a line of solar roof tiles:

[Elon] Musk, the chief executive of Tesla Motors and chairman of SolarCity, showcased a line of high-design solar roof tiles that would replace clunky solar panels and tie into an upgraded version of the Tesla wall-mounted battery for those times when the sun doesn't shine. The glass solar shingles resemble French slate, Tuscan barrel tile or more conventional roofing materials with a textured or smooth surface. "The key is to make solar look good," Musk said during the product introduction staged on the old set of ABC's "Desperate Housewives" series, where he had re-roofed four of the Wisteria Lane houses. "If this is done right, all roofs will have solar."

[...] Price and styling will likely prove critical for the industry in attracting customers as current solar power owners have seen some of the benefits of self-generating electricity erode. Utility companies have complained that solar owners haven't been paying their share of the cost to maintain the network of power lines, substations, transformers and power plants that make up the electric grid. Regulators across the country have added costs to solar power owners such as higher rate tiers and mandatory fees that have increased per-household costs by as much as $10 to $20 a month in California, Del Chiaro said.

[...] A 2014 survey by home-solar power provider Lumeta found that slightly under a third of respondents considered appearance very or extremely important, while slightly over a third said the look was slightly important or not important at all. "People spend a lot of time trying to create an attractive home," said Andy Ogden, chairman of the industrial design graduate program at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena. "They don't want funny glass boxes stuck on one side of their roof." Making solar roofs more attractive, he said, "increases the number of people who will install solar."

The quartz glass tiles supposedly have 2-3 times the longevity of asphalt tiles. A Powerwall 2 battery with 14 kWh capacity was also unveiled.

Has Musk gone too far?

Original Submission

The Mighty Buzzard writes:

Right, so there's currently a DDoS of our site specifically happening. Part of me is mildly annoyed, part of me is proud that we're worth DDoS-ing now. Since it's only slowing us down a bit and not actually shutting us down, I'm half tempted to just let them run their botnet time out. I suppose we should tweak the firewall a bit though. Sigh, I hate working on weekends.

Update: Okay, that appears to have mitigated it; the site's functional at a reasonable rate of responsiveness.

Update2: Attack's over for now. You may go about your business.

Phoenix666 writes:

Ever wonder what it would be like if a device could decode your thoughts into actual speech or written words? While this might enhance the capabilities of already existing speech interfaces with devices, it could be a potential game-changer for those with speech pathologies, and even more so for "locked-in" patients who lack any speech or motor function.

[...] This study presents the Brain-to-text system in which epilepsy patients who already had electrode grids implanted for treatment of their condition participated. They read out texts presented on a screen in front of them while their brain activity was recorded. This formed the basis of a database of patterns of neural signals that could now be matched to speech elements or "phones."

When the researchers also included language and dictionary models in their algorithms, they were able to decode neural signals to text with a high degree of accuracy. "For the first time, we could show that brain activity can be decoded specifically enough to use ASR technology on brain signals," says Herff. "However, the current need for implanted electrodes renders it far from usable in day-to-day life."

The full journal article is available: Automatic Speech Recognition from Neural Signals: A Focused Review. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2016; 10 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00429

Tried it. It kept writing, "OMG, ponies!"

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

A new study led by the University of Leicester to understand how to improve the health of severe asthma patients has made a breakthrough finding.

Researchers have described their discovery as a 'paradigm shift' in understanding the life-threatening condition.

The international team from the Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester, and the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jefferson School of Pharmacy, Thomas Jefferson University, discovered the presence of increased amounts of a protein -- called PP5 -- in the lungs of severe asthma patients.

They found that PP5 blocks the effects of the best medicines in improving the condition.

This now provides researchers with a target in order to try and help improve the symptoms of the condition in sufferers. The team has published their findings in the journal Allergy -- the European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

The protein PP5 blocks the action of anti-asthma medication in the lungs, so new treatments might be found that skirt the protein.

An abstract is available: Protein phosphatase 5 mediates corticosteroid insensitivity in airway smooth muscle in patients with severe asthma. Allergy, 2016; DOI: 10.1111/all.13003

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

Catholic Online reports

On Thursday [October 27], the Bundy gang of ranchers who took over a federal building in Oregon and led a 41-day standoff were acquitted on all charges. At least five of the seven surviving militia members will now walk free from federal custody as a result. Ammon Bundy will not be released however because he still faces charges in Nevada over the standoff at his father's ranch two years ago. His brother, Ryan Bundy also remains in custody. An eighth member of their gang was killed by police when the standoff drew to an end.

[...]The Bundy gang also staged their occupation on sacred Native American land. This cannot be condoned; it would be like legitimizing the armed takeover of a parish church.

[...]At the same time the Bundy gang was being acquitted, heavily armed paramilitary-police moved into the crowds at Cannonball, North Dakota gassing and arresting protesters. The key difference in this case is [that] the protesters in North Dakota are peaceful and unarmed.

[...] During Thursday's protest, a fire broke out at the site and police moved in with riot gear and military-grade armored vehicles. They attacked the crowd with tear gas, a sound cannon, batons, and bean-bag ammunition. Police are evicting the protesters by force to make way for the pipeline's construction. Protesters have built barricades to keep authorities at bay.

Peoples World continues

[Continues...]

Phoenix666 writes:

Fresh from forcing Uber to back down in China, ride-sharing king Didi Chuxing plans to put what it knows to work in other parts of the world.

"We aspire to be a global company; we think it's our mission," Didi Chuxing president Jean Liu said at a WSJD Live global technology conference that ended Wednesday in Laguna Beach, California.

"We feel the expertise and knowledge we build in China can benefit other markets."

Didi would like to collaborate with local ride-sharing companies where possible, but will consider launching its own operations in places where such services do not exist, she said.

Liu maintained that Didi has good partnerships with Lyft and Uber in the US market.

Didi, which claims almost 90 percent of the China ride-hailing market, announced the tie-up with Uber nearly three months ago, ending a ferocious battle for market share that saw it and Uber spending billions of dollars on subsidies for drivers and passengers.

Are Miandi's coming to a market near you?

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Boosting the fuel efficiency of motor vehicles by "harvesting" the energy generated by their shock absorbers and feeding it back into batteries or electrical systems such as air conditioning has become a major goal in automotive engineering. Now, a University of Huddersfield researcher has made a breakthrough by designing a new system and constructing a prototype that is ready for real-world testing.

Ruichen Wang carried out the project to obtain his doctorate at the University and has published his findings. The article, in the journal Energies, is titled Modelling, Testing and Analysis of a Regenerative Hydraulic Shock System. It provides a summary of current progress in the field of vehicle energy harvesting and a detailed account of the theory and the practical development of his device, designed for installation in a heavy good vehicle.

An abstract is available: DOI: 10.3390/en9050386

Why not also a stirling engine to make use of solar gain in parked cars on sunny days?

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

New research published online in The FASEB Journal suggests that omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are found in fish oil, could improve the function of the glymphatic system, which facilitates the clearance of waste from the brain, and promote the clearance of metabolites including amyloid-β peptides, a primary culprit in Alzheimer's disease.

To make this discovery, scientists first used transgenic fat-1 mice, which express high endogenous omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the brain, to investigate the effect of omega-3 PUFAs on the clearance function of the glymphatic system. Compared to the wild-type mice, the fat-1 mice with enriched endogenous omega-3 PUFAs significantly promote the clearance function of the lymphatic system, including the Aβ clearance from the brain. Wild-type mice were supplemented with fish oil, which contains high concentrations of omega-3 PUFAs, and found that fish oil-supplemented mice also improved the clearance function of the glymphatic system compared to the control mice without fish oil supplementation. Omega-3 PUFAs help maintain the brain homeostasis, which may provide benefits in a number of neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain injury, and sleep impairment, among others.

An abstract is available at The FASEB Journal [Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology].

Take your fish oil pills. Similar benefit potentially derived from eating the fish. So go fishing.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Scientists have found evidence of a broad range of "anti-aging" effects caused by giving older mice (but not younger mice) nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), a compound found in various vegetables and other foods. High-grade NMN for human consumption is not yet commercially available:

Scientists in the US claim to have discovered a natural compound found in avocado, broccoli and cucumber that has "remarkable anti-ageing effects in mice" – and could also work on humans. The researchers, who have started clinical trials involving a small group of people, said older mice given the compound, called NMN, in their water saw an array of beneficial effects. Their level of physical activity increased, bone density and muscles improved, the immune system and liver performed better, their eyesight improved and they even lost weight.

[...] As animals get older, they produce less NAD [nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide] and it is thought this is a part of the ageing process. Attempts to add extra NAD failed, so the researchers looked for a way to boost its production in the body. They gave mice NMN, also found in cabbage and edamame, in their drinking water to see if this would boost levels of NAD and have a rejuvenating effect. Asked if this worked, lead researcher Professor Shin-ichiro Imai, of Washington University in St Louis, said: "The answer is basically yes. As a matter of fact, NMN has remarkable anti-ageing effects in mice. "Those NMN [fed] mice definitely have longer health-span – entire lifespan, we're not sure, but if this keeps working in this way they could have a longer lifespan as well."

[...] However, while there was no sign of it in the study, there could be a significant catch – NAD might also give an energy boost to cancer cells. "Some tumour cells are known to have a higher capability to synthesise NAD, so we were concerned that giving NMN might increase cancer incidence," Professor Imai said. "But we have not seen any differences in cancer rates between the groups [of mice]."

Long-Term Administration of Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Mitigates Age-Associated Physiological Decline in Mice (DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2016.09.013) (DX)

Previously: Elysium Health Pitches an Anti-Aging Pill (that pill used nicotinamide riboside (NR) as a precursor to NAD).

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

For those who are unfortunate enough to have unimpressive access to the internet or none at all, SJVN has a Linux distro to suggest.

Occasional FOSS Force ¹ contributor Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols reports:

In the West, we take the Internet for granted. Oh, we may grumble about a slow connection, but that's a first-world problem. For many, however, the Internet is a "maybe" thing. For those users, Endless's Endless OS 3, may be just what they need.

This Ubuntu Linux-based operating system is designed for use with the "Asynchronous Internet".

[...] This operating system strives to deliver a persistent computing experience to society's digital have-nots by providing both online and off-line access to hundreds of pre-installed, open-source health, education, business, and entertainment apps.

To cut download times to a minimum Endless OS uses the Flatpack packaging system. This makes installing programs from the net when ever megabit counts much quicker.

Flatpack also enables Endless OS to run applications in sandboxes. This, in turn, makes them safer. It also uses a read-only root file system managed by OSTree, with application bundles overlaid on top. For its interface, Endless uses a heavily modified GNOME Shell desktop.

In short, this operating system is also designed to be idiot-proof. If you're a hacker, this is not the Linux for you.

[...] As part of its intent to make it as foolproof as possible, Endless OS also has some quirks. You can't, for example, install packages from other Linux distributions. Instead you can only install programs from the Endless App Center.

[...] You can also buy inexpensive--$79 to $99--computers that come with Endless OS pre-installed.

1. If you have a narrow screen or simply hate their page layout, I recommend an AdBlocker filter of ##div.widget

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Pennsylvania State University reports:

An electric current will not only heat a hybrid metamaterial, but will also trigger it to change state and fade into the background like a chameleon in what may be the proof-of-concept of the first controllable metamaterial device, or metadevice, according to a team of engineers.

"Previous metamaterials work focused mainly on cloaking objects so they were invisible in the radio frequency or other specific frequencies," said Douglas H. Werner, John L. and Genevieve H. McCain Chair Professor of electrical engineering, Penn State. "Here we are not trying to make something disappear, but to make it blend in with the background like a chameleon and we are working in optical wavelengths, specifically in the infrared."

The article makes it seem like the blending results from heating the material, not from affecting how surrounding light interacts with the material, but the image shown does blend well.

Hybrid metamaterials for electrically triggered multifunctional control (open, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13236) (DX)

Original Submission