SoylentNews

Phoenix666 writes:

Russia is one of only a handful of countries to have developed its own internet, including its own search engines, e-mail systems, and social networks. To get to the roots of this sovereign internet, I spend a day hanging out with Dmitry Grishin, co-founder and chairman of Russian internet giant Mail.Ru Group. Grishin is a technology legend in Russia. We cruise Moscow in his Tesla, check out his gadget collection at the Mail.Ru offices, and dine at the highest restaurant in Europe, because that's what Russian techno oligarchs do.

As for the budding tech oligarchs, well, there are plenty of those running around Moscow, too. Over the past few years, Russia's wealth of smart, aggressive entrepreneurs has yielded a new generation of world-class technology companies. There's Prisma, which uses artificial intelligence to turn your photos and videos into works of art, and Group-IB, one of the world's top cybersecurity firms, which has an unmatched track record when it comes to hunting down hackers.

But the most stunning—and creepiest—software developed in Russia is something called FindFace. It's an app that lets you take a picture of a stranger and then almost instantly, using a facial-recognition algorithm, find the person on a social network. If you're hoping the software doesn't work that well, you'll be disappointed: When I tested the app, it found the right faces all the freaking time. Privacy is so 2015.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

The new movie Arrival is drawing sufficient praise as a smart and stylish science fiction film [AdBlock unfriendly] that Kate and I actually went to the trouble of getting a sitter so we could see it in the theater Friday night. It is, indeed, a very good movie, and probably the best adaptation one could hope for of the Ted Chiang story "Story of Your Life" (which is one of the best science fiction stories in any medium over the last mumble years). I was, however, disappointed that they left out nearly all of the physics that's in the original.

First, a brief, non-spoiler summary, before diving into the details: In the film, Amy Adams plays Dr. Louise Banks, a linguist who is recruited by the military to help them communicate with the aliens in one of twelve "shells" that have appeared at random locations on the surface of the Earth. She's paired with theoretical physicist Dr. Ian Donnelly (played by Jeremy Renner), and the two of them spend a lot of time writing messages back and forth to the alien "heptapods," who appear only on the far side of a transparent partition. As Louise figures out the heptapod language, it leads to a transformation in the way she sees the world, one with significant emotional costs to her, but that might be the key to saving the whole communicate-with-aliens enterprise.

What's your take on 'The Arrival,' Soylent?

Original Submission

Gaaark writes:

THE PETTICOAT REBELLION OF 1916
WOMEN GAIN RIGHT TO VOTE, SUCCEED IN OVERTHROWING GOVERNMENT

Or something like that, might have been Newspaper Headlines of the day.

The real story is that on December 5th, 1916, the polls opened at 8:00am in the small town of Umatilla, Oregon, for a municipal election. And there was not a woman in sight.
Until.

At 2pm, the women showed up in droves and with write-in ballots, they proceeded to elect an all-woman council: a coup d'etat, of sorts.

The story is at:
https://www.damninteresting.com/the-petticoat-rebellion-of-1916/
http://mentalfloss.com/article/63262/laura-starcher-and-petticoat-revolution-1916

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

Kieren McCarthy at The Register has an interesting article discussing the inclusion of encryption backdoors in the recently passed Investigatory Powers Act, also knows as the Snooper's Charter.

Among the many unpleasant things in the Investigatory Powers Act that was officially signed into law this week, one that has not gained as much attention is the apparent ability for the UK government to undermine encryption and demand surveillance backdoors.

As the bill was passing through Parliament, several organizations noted their alarm at section 217 which obliged ISPs, telcos and other communications providers to let the government know in advance of any new products and services being deployed and allow the government to demand "technical" changes to software and systems.

[...] As per the final wording of the law, comms providers on the receiving end of a "technical capacity notice" will be obliged to do various things on demand for government snoops – such as disclosing details of any system upgrades and removing "electronic protection" on encrypted communications.

Thus, by "technical capability," the government really means backdoors and deliberate security weaknesses so citizens' encrypted online activities can be intercepted, deciphered and monitored.

[...] In effect, the UK government has written into law a version of the much-derided Burr-Feinstein Bill proposed in the US, which would have undermined encryption in America. A backlash derailed that draft law.

[...] To be fair, there were some fears that Blighty's law would effectively kill off the UK software industry as well as undermine Brits' privacy, and expose them to surveillance and hacking by criminals exploiting these mandatory backdoors. This mild panic did bring about some changes to the UK's Investigatory Powers Bill before it was passed.

The question is: were the changes sufficient?

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes with a thought provoking article about integrating AI developments into our financial world:

Money makes the world go round, or so they say. Payments, investments, insurance and billions of transactions are the beating heart of a fractal economy, which echoes the messy complexity of natural systems, such as the growth of living organisms and the bouncing of atoms.

Financial systems are larger than the sum of their parts. The underlying rules that govern them might seem simple, but what surfaces is dynamic, chaotic and somehow self-organizing. And the blood that flows through this fractal heartbeat is data.

Today, 2.5 exabytes of data are being produced daily. That number is expected to grow to 44 zettabytes a day by 2020 (Source: GigaOm). This data, along with interconnectivity, correlation, predictive analytics and machine learning, provides the foundation for our AI-powered future.

takyon: ComputerWeekly actually reports that, "The amount of data on the planet is set to grow 10-fold in the next six years to 2020 from around 4.4 zettabytes to 44ZB. That's according to IDC's annual Digital Universe study, which also predicted that, by 2020, the amount of information produced by machines, the so-called internet of things, will account for about 10% of data on earth."

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

MIT researchers and their colleagues have developed a new computational model of the human brain's face-recognition mechanism that seems to capture aspects of human neurology that previous models have missed.

The researchers designed a machine-learning system that implemented their model, and they trained it to recognize particular faces by feeding it a battery of sample images. They found that the trained system included an intermediate processing step that represented a face's degree of rotation—say, 45 degrees from center—but not the direction—left or right.

This property wasn't built into the system; it emerged spontaneously from the training process. But it duplicates an experimentally observed feature of the primate face-processing mechanism. The researchers consider this an indication that their system and the brain are doing something similar.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Uber is beginning to track the locations of riders up to five minutes after a ride has ended:

As promised, Uber is now tracking you even when your ride is over. The ride-hailing service said the surveillance—even when riders close the app—will improve its service.

The company now tracks customers from when they request a ride until five minutes after the ride has ended. According to Uber, the move will help drivers locate riders without having to call them, and it will also allow Uber to analyze whether people are being dropped off and picked up properly—like on the correct side of the street.

"We do this to improve pickups, drop-offs, customer service, and to enhance safety," Uber said.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

According to an article at Snopes.com:

The Army Corps of Engineers has denied the easement needed to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline, according Colonel Henderson, who notified Veterans for Standing Rock co-organizer Michael A. Wood Jr on 4 December 2016.

More than 3,000 veterans had converged at the Standing Rock camp to support the Sioux in their ongoing opposition to the building of a $3.7 billion pipeline that would cross through disputed land managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Wood said upon learning of the move, "This is history."

From a report in Al Jazeera :

The US Army Corps of Engineers has turned down a permit for a controversial pipeline project running through North Dakota, in a victory for Native Americans and climate activists who have protested against the project for several months, according to a statement released.

The 1,885km Dakota Access Pipeline, owned by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP, had been complete except for a segment planned to run under Lake Oahe, a reservoir formed by a dam on the Missouri River.

"The Army will not grant an easement to cross Lake Oahe at the proposed location based on the current record," a statement from the US Army said.

The Standing Rock Sioux tribe, along with climate activists, have been protesting the $3.8bn project, saying it could contaminate the water supply and damage sacred tribal lands.

[...] "Today, the US Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will not be granting the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline," said Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault II, in a statement.

"Instead, the Corps will be undertaking an environmental impact statement to look at possible alternative routes."

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

On 3 December, Virgin Galactic made its first tentative return to space flight.

Virgin Galactic's new spaceship has made a successful first glide flight, a key step after a deadly crash of its predecessor two years ago, the spaceflight company said on Saturday.

The new SpaceShipTwo, dubbed VSS Unity, was hoisted aloft by carrier airplane WhiteKnightTwo VMS Eve from the Mojave Air & Space Port in California, the company said on Twitter.

Released from the mothership, VSS Unity flew home to Earth on its own, according to the company owned by British billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson.

"VSS Unity has landed. Vehicle and crew are back safe and sound after a successful first glide test flight," Virgin Galactic tweeted at #SpaceShipTwo.

Unity's weight was kept light for the first flight, Virgin Galactic said. Its success now opens a phase of tougher flight testing before the spacecraft's hybrid rocket motor will be fired in flight.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Americans are turning to their mobile devices for deals to kick off the holiday shopping season, with retail trends increasingly upended by ever-present smartphones.

According to Adobe Digital Insights, the four-day Thanksgiving Day weekend that normally marks the start of the holiday season saw online sales of $36.5 billion, up seven percent from last year—more than a third of that coming from mobile devices.

The latest figures showed the diminishing importance of events such as "Black Friday," the blockbuster sales day following the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, and "Cyber Monday," a tradition dating back to days when consumers waited to use their office high-speed connections for online purchases.

Data released earlier by the National Retail Federation showed relatively flat total retail sales for Black Friday, noting that 44 percent shopped online, compared to 40 percent who went in stores.

Plenty of bargain-hunters took a break from Thanksgiving festivities on Thursday to shop—with online sales totaling $1.93 billion, and 40 percent of the total on tablets or smartphones ($771 million), according to Adobe.

Now you know why the family members around the Thanksgiving table wouldn't put their phones down and talk to each other.

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

Airbnb, the startup that has fought tooth and nail to avoid regulation in cities around the world, appears to have reversed its attitude toward regulators in a dramatic change of policy.

In a deal with London and Amsterdam announced this week, the company has agreed to take on the responsibility of policing limits on the number of days per year a full unit can be let through its system, making it the first short-term rental company to cut such a deal.

Some analysts have met the move with cautious optimism, hoping that the short-term rental giant might finally be able to get its regulation problem under control before its mooted IPO.

Under the deal, Airbnb will be responsible for making sure their hosts stick to the local limits for short-term rentals unless the hosts have the proper licenses – 90 days per year in London, 60 per year in Amsterdam.

Original Submission

n1 writes:

British Prime Minister Theresa May is cracking down on unauthorized leaks by ministers and civil servants on her Brexit plans, a leaked memo to the Mail on Sunday newspaper said.

Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Heywood has written to senior officials to tell them that May wants to "urgently tighten security processes" and that anyone found to have leaked sensitive information will be dismissed, according to the memo.

A spokeswoman for May said: "We don't comment on leaked documents."

In his letter dated Nov. 28, Heywood said: "Leaking is corrosive and undermines trust and good government."

"Anyone found to have leaked sensitive information will be dismissed even where there is no compromise of national security."

Source: Reuters

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

Drew Harwell over at the Washington Post has an interesting story about a tax loophole that could allow Trump appointees to avoid paying millions in taxes.

President-elect Donald Trump's ultra-wealthy Cabinet nominees will be able to avoid paying millions of dollars in taxes in the coming weeks when they sell some of their holdings to avoid conflicts of interest in their new positions.

The tax advantage will allow Trump officials, forced by ethics laws to sell certain assets, to defer the weighty tax bills they would otherwise owe on the profits from selling stock and other holdings.

The benefit is one of the more subtle ways that the millionaires and billionaires of Trump's White House, which already will be the wealthiest administration in modern American history, could benefit financially from their transition into the nation's halls of power.

The legal tax maneuver, offered for years to executive-branch appointees and employees, was designed to help ease the sting of being forced to suddenly sell investments.

But the federal program, encoded in Section 2634 of federal ethics laws and known as a "certificate of divestiture," has never been tested quite like this. Trump's Cabinet picks have amassed assets worth billions of dollars from lifetimes in banking and investing, much of which they will be able to sell tax-free.

Original Submission

charon writes:

The Spirit rover on Mars found some interesting rock formations in the Gusev crater. A NASA scientist has just published a paper suggesting that these silica deposits could have been formed by biological activity.

"This mineral, opaline silica, can form in various ways," said Steve Ruff, the planetary scientist at Arizona State University who led the recent study. "It can form around a hot spring or geyser, or in fumaroles," he added, referring to the steaming vents around volcanoes that spew hot, sulfur-rich gases into the air.

Initially, Ruff and his colleagues suspected Spirit's opaline silica deposits formed billions of years ago, from basaltic rocks that were leached by sulfuric acid pouring out of fumaroles. But as they continued to analyze Spirit's data, the scientists began to favor another possibility: opaline silicate precipitating out of hot, mineral-rich waters. After Spirit became stuck in a rut in 2009, and died in 2010, there was no way prove one scenario or the other.

A few years back, Ruff got a new lead. Reading a volcanology paper, he came across a reference to El Tatio, a vast Chilean hydrothermal system located 14,000 feet above sea level, where hot spring and geyser channels contain deposits of opaline silica. Excitingly, many of the silica deposits at El Tatio bore striking similarity to those in Gusev crater, and the cold, arid environment seemed pretty Mars-like, too.

To learn more about what's shaping opaline silica minerals on Earth, Ruff and his colleague Jack Farmer traveled to El Tatio to survey the environment and collect samples for spectral analysis and high-resolution imaging. They learned that silica minerals at El Tatio form in shallow, hydrothermal waters—and that the deposits most closely resembling the Martian ones occur in the presence of microbes.

Full Paper: Silica deposits on Mars with features resembling hot spring biosignatures at El Tatio in Chile DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13554

Original Submission

charon writes:

Two university students and their professor have created smartphone software that allows people with hand tremors to use touchscreens accurately.

According to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 11 million people have cerebral palsy globally, an additional 10 million have Parkinson's Disease and with an aging population there is growing demand for a solution.

It was a situation noted by two of the university's students - Aviva Dayan and Ido Elad - and their Professor Yuval Kochman who went on to develop a potentially "life-changing", but yet-to-be-named, tremor absorbing software which could open up touchscreen technology to millions of people.

[...] Dayan describes the software as a "translation programme" which intercepts and "listens" to the shaky screen touches, cancelling out the "noise" of the tremors for the operating system to understand and act upon without delay.

[...] Dayan says: "As far as the user is concerned, they just press the icons on the screen, and the computer works just the same as it works for anyone else."

This looks to be an invaluable piece of software to keep older people connected to their friends and family.

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

A team of researchers at Peking University has developed a new type of vaccine that they claim may allow for a new approach to generating live virus vaccines which could conceivably be adapted to any type of virus. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team outlines the means by which they modified an influenza virus causing it to incite an immune response without a risk of infection.

Most vaccines today contain viruses that have been killed or weakened to the point that they are unlikely to cause an infection when injected into a healthy patient. Such vaccines work by causing the immune system to target similar viruses if found in the body before they have a chance to multiply, causing an infection. Unfortunately, in some cases, people with weak immune systems have found themselves experiencing a full-blown infection from a vaccine. In this new effort, the researchers took a new approach to creating a vaccine—modifying an influenza virus in such a way as disallow it from causing an infection in any patient.

Original Submission