SoylentNews

mrpg writes:

The BBC reports:

At least 10 people died of cold in Poland. Night temperatures in Russia plunged to minus 30C.

Normally milder Greece has witnessed temperatures of minus 15C in the north where an Afghan migrant died of cold last week and roads were closed.

In Athens, the temperature failed to rise above 0C and several of the islands were covered in snow.

BBC Weather report about why the cold is so intense.

CBC reports:

The extreme winter weather that has gripped Europe in the past days has caused more than a dozen deaths, left villages cut off, caused power and water outages, frozen rivers and lakes, grounded flights and led to road accidents. Serbia's authorities on Sunday banned river traffic on its stretch of the Danube — one of Europe's main rivers — because of ice and strong wind.

[...] In Italy, eight deaths were blamed on the cold, including a man who died in the basement of an unused building in Milan, and another one on a street flanking Florence's Arno River. [Pope] Francis asked God to "warm our hearts so we'll help" the homeless.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

From Anandtech.com:

Qualcomm previously revealed the name of its new high-end SoC, but today at CES 2017 it discussed the Snapdragon 835 in greater detail. Replacing the Snapdragon 820/821 as the pinnacle processor in its lineup, the 835 is the first commercial SoC to use Samsung's 10nm "10LPE" FinFET manufacturing node. Qualcomm did not disclose die size, but it said the overall package size is 35% smaller than the Snapdragon 820 and contains more than 3 billion transistors. Samsung says its third-generation FinFET node "allows up to a 30% increase in area efficiency with 27% higher performance or up to 40% lower power consumption" relative to its first-generation 14nm 14LPE node at the same frequency, so Snapdragon 835's process advantage over the 820, which uses Samsung's second-generation 14LPP node, will be a bit less.

[...] Qualcomm finds itself in a much different position today compared to one year ago when it launched the Snapdragon 820. Back then, it was on the hot seat after its previous flagship products, the Snapdragon 808 and 810, failed to meet expectations. Qualcomm's implementation of ARM's Cortex-A57 CPU core and TSMC's last 20nm planar process were not a good combination, resulting in a generation of flagship phones that struggled to meet or exceed the performance of older models and exhibited higher than normal skin temperatures. The success of Snapdragon 820 would be crucial to regaining its partner's trust and restoring its image with consumers. The 820 was pivotal for another reason too: It introduced Qualcomm's first custom 64-bit CPU core, Kryo. Creating a custom CPU (or GPU/DSP/ISP) is one way for SoC vendors to differentiate their products and establish themselves as innovators. Snapdragon 810's use of stock ARM cores could be construed as a step backwards then after previous Snapdragon SoCs used Qualcomm's custom Krait CPUs. Apple's prior introduction of a custom 64-bit CPU, which caught everyone by surprise, only added fuel to the fire.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Artificial intelligence made enormous strides in 2016, so it is fitting that one of the year's hit TV shows was an exploration of what it means for machines to gain consciousness. But how close are we to building the brains of Westworld's hosts for real? I'm going to look at some recent AI research papers and show that the hosts aren't quite as futuristic as you might think.

This long article discusses how plausible the robots in the show are, touching on neural networks, image compression, memory, and unintended emergent goals of AI systems. Well worth a read, even if you have not seen the show (contains spoilers).

-- submitted from IRC

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Chinese state censors won't be permitting Pokémon Go and other augmented reality games anytime soon:

Nintendo's hit smartphone app, Pokemon Go, and other augmented reality games are unlikely to be rolled out in China any time soon, after the state censor said it would not license them until potential security risks had been evaluated.

[...] Prompted by "a high level of responsibility to national security and the safety of people's lives and property," the censor, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, is coordinating with other government departments to evaluate the game's risks, an industry body said. These risks include the "threat to geographical information security and the threat to transport and the personal safety of consumers", a games panel of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, which is governed by the censor body, said in a posting on its website.

Some Chinese companies have been developing similar games based on augmented reality and location-based services, prompting the panel to seek advice from the top licensing body, it said.

Original Submission

randomerr writes:

General Motors has announced a new partnership with education nonprofit Girls Who Code that's intended to encourage more young women to pursue STEM subjects. The auto manufacturer will offer up a $250,000 grant to help fund after-school STEM clubs in schools, universities, and community centers.

"Becoming an engineer paved the way for my career," said GM CEO Mary Barra in a statement posted to the company's website. "It's one of the reasons I am passionate about promoting STEM education to students everywhere. Partnering with Girls Who Code is one more step in GM's commitment to inspiring and growing diverse future leaders."

[...] GM and Girls Who Code are pursuing this collaboration is [sic] response to the decreasing proportion of women in jobs related to computing, even as the field continues to grow. In 1995, 37 percent of the computing workforce was comprised of women, but today that has shrunk to 24 percent.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

The controversial Indian Point nuclear plant near New York will close in 2021, a casualty of low energy prices and relentless criticism by environmentalists, the power company announced Monday.

Under an agreement with New York State, Entergy plans to shut down one of the two operating units at Indian Point by April 30, 2020, and the second unit will close a year after that.

Entergy attributed the decision to close the decades-old plant to shifting energy economics. Among the changes, power prices fell as much as 45 percent due to natural gas from the Marcellus Shale formation in New York and Pennsylvania, part of the American shale boom.

"Key considerations in our decision to shut down Indian Point ahead of schedule include sustained low current and projected wholesale energy prices that have reduced revenues, as well as increased operating costs," said Bill Mohl, president of Entergy wholesale commodities.

Entergy said it would look for other opportunities for the 1,000 workers employed at Indian Point.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and environmentalists applauded the news since the plant, located within 30 miles of New York, has long been a concern due to safety problems and worries that an accident at the aging facility could affect some 20 million people.

Lower energy prices cited by the article have not been reflected in customer electricity bills. Indian Point supplies 30% of New York's power, so if the post-Indian point power supply drops by the same amount the high prices New Yorkers currently pay per kwh will climb even higher.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Samsung has announced a new battery cell for electric vehicles that could enable 20 minute fast charging. The company plans to get that time down to 5 to 10 minutes:

Samsung's SDI battery subsidiary announced a new battery cell designed for use in electric vehicles that offers improved density to manage a max range of up to 372 miles on a full charge, with a quick charge capacity that will help it regain 310 miles or so of charge on just 20 minutes of charging. Unveiled at the North American International Auto Show for the first time, the new battery tech come with a 10 percent decrease in the number of units and weight required vs. current production battery units made by Samsung SDI.

Mass production isn't set to begin until 2021, but the tech should arrive in time to supply the first crop of autonomous cars, which are also targeting street dates sometime within that year from a range of manufacturers. EV and self-driving are tied closely to one another, since both are crucial components for operating the kind of on-demand ride-sharing fleets planned by Ford, among others.

Also at Engadget. Press release at Business Wire.

Samsung's SDI division is the same company that made the batteries used in the Galaxy Note 7 as well as the upcoming Galaxy S8. Samsung will reportedly reveal the cause of the Galaxy Note 7 overheating issues later this month, but the batteries are not expected to be the culprit.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

From JPL comes this view of Earth from afar:

This composite image of Earth and its moon, as seen from Mars, combines the best Earth image with the best moon image from four sets of images acquired on Nov. 20, 2016, by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Each was separately processed prior to combining them so that the moon is bright enough to see. The moon is much darker than Earth and would barely be visible at the same brightness scale as Earth. The combined view retains the correct sizes and positions of the two bodies relative to each other.

HiRISE takes images in three wavelength bands: infrared, red, and blue-green. These are displayed here as red, green, and blue, respectively. This is similar to Landsat images in which vegetation appears red. The reddish feature in the middle of the Earth image is Australia. Southeast Asia appears as the reddish area (due to vegetation) near the top; Antarctica is the bright blob at bottom-left. Other bright areas are clouds.

Composite image?! It's NASA trickery!

Also at Space.com. Compare with the Pale Blue Dot and The Day the Earth Smiled.

Original Submission

The Mighty Buzzard writes:

In case you penguin botherers were feeling left out, the folks over at iTWire bring us this little fun bit o' news:

Eset says it has found a Linux variant of the KillDisk malware used in the late 2015 attack on the Ukraine electricity system.

Like its Windows counterpart, the Linux version of KillDisk encrypts files, rendering the affected system unbootable. It asks for the same 222 Bitcoin (around US$278,000) ransom, but the encryption key used is neither stored locally or sent to a remote server, so even if the perpetrators are paid they have no way of reversing the process.

Eset says its researchers have found a weakness in the encryption method that makes decryption "possible, albeit difficult." Exactly how decryption can be performed was not disclosed.

It's nice to feel noticed but I could personally do without this particular kind of attention.

Original Submission

Verizon Raises Upgrade Fee, Purges More Unlimited Data Users

takyon writes:

Verizon has raised its phone upgrade fee to "cover increased cost" of providing a 4G LTE network, despite its latest earnings report showing decreases in wireless capital expenditures. Verizon later "clarified" that it was referring to "ongoing costs to maintain and enhance the network".

Additionally, Verizon Wireless customers with grandfathered-in unlimited data plans will be disconnected or forced to switch to a limited plan if they use more than 200 GB of data a month on average. The company stopped offering the unlimited data plans in 2011. During Verizon's previous purge, customers using more than 500 GB of data per month were targeted.

T-Mobile eliminates cheaper postpaid plans, sells "unlimited data" only

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

T-Mobile USA will stop selling its older and cheaper limited-data plans to postpaid customers, shifting entirely to its new "unlimited" data plans that impose bandwidth limits on video and tethering unless customers pay extra. To ease the transition, T-Mobile will offer bill credits of $10 a month to customers when they use less than 2GB per month.

T-Mobile began its shift to unlimited data plans in August with the introduction of T-Mobile One, which starts at $70 a month. While there are no data caps, customers have to pay a total of $95 a month to get high-definition video and mobile hotspot speeds of greater than 512kbps.

The carrier said in August that the unlimited plan would be "replacing all our rate plans," including its cheaper plans that cost $50 or $65 a month. Nonetheless, T-Mobile kept selling limited postpaid data plans to new customers for a few months, but yesterday CEO John Legere said that as of January 22, T-Mobile One will be the "only postpaid consumer plan we sell."

Updated: AT&T is raising the price of grandfathered unlimited plans again

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

SC Red Baron writes:

The top google hits say that there is little or no benefit to resolution above 4k. I recently bought a 40" 4k tv which I use as a monitor (2' viewing distance). While this is right at the threshold where I'm told no benefit can be gained from additional resolution, I can still easily discern individual pixels. I'm still able to see individual pixels until I get to about a 4' viewing distance (but I am nearsighted).

I did some research and according to Wikipedia the Fovea Centralis (center of the eye) has a resolution of 31.5 arc seconds. At this resolution, a 4k monitor would need to be only 16" at a 2' viewing distance, or my 40" would need a 5' viewing distance.

Now the Fovea Centralis comprises only the size of 2 thumbnails width at arms length (2° viewing angle) and the eye's resolution drops off quickly farther from the center. But this tiny portion of the eye is processed by 50% of the visual cortex of the brain.

So I ask, are there any soylentils with perfect vision and/or a super high resolution set up, and does this match where you can no longer discern individual pixels? Do you think retina resolution needs to match the Fovea Centralis or is a lesser value acceptable?

My 40" 4k at 2' fills my entire field of view. I really like it because I have so much screen real estate for multiple windows or large spreadsheets, or I can scoot back a little bit for gaming (so I don't have to turn my head to see everything) and enjoy the higher resolution. I find 4k on high graphics looks much nicer than 1080p on Ultra. I find the upgrade is well worth the $600 I spent for the tv and a graphics card that can run it. Have you upgraded to 4k and do you think it was worth it? I would one day like to have dual 32" 8k monitors (not 3D). What is your dream setup if technology and price weren't an issue?

Written from my work 1366 x 768 monitor.

Related discussions: First "8K" Video Appears on YouTube
LG to Demo an 8K Resolution TV at the Consumer Electronics Show
What is your Video / Monitor Setup?
Microsoft and Sony's Emerging 4K Pissing Contest

Original Submission

Phoenix666 and takyon write:

Despite hiccups, Yahoo's planned sale to Verizon appears to be moving forward — but some portions of the company will be left behind and renamed Altaba Inc.

Yahoo is hanging on to its 15 percent stake in Alibaba and its 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, and those assets will survive as an investment company under the new name Altaba Inc., as the rest of Yahoo integrates with Verizon. The assets had previously been nicknamed Remain Co.

Only five board members will remain at Altaba: Tor Braham, Eric Brandt, Catherine Friedman, Thomas McInerney and Jeffrey Smith. The rest of Yahoo's board, including CEO Marissa Mayer, will step down from the newly formed company. Mayer may be tapped for a role in Yahoo's integration at Verizon, but her position has yet to be announced.

Also at CNET, Reuters, Bloomberg, and CNN.

Original Submission #1   Original Submission #2

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The theoretical computer scientist László Babai has retracted a claim that amazed the computer science community when he made it just over a year ago. In November 2015, he announced that he had come up with a "quasi-polynomial" algorithm for graph isomorphism, one of the most famous problems in theoretical computer science. While Babai's result has not collapsed completely — computer scientists still consider it a breakthrough — its central claim has been found, after a year of close scrutiny, to contain a subtle error.

[...] The graph isomorphism problem asks for an algorithm that can spot whether two graphs — networks of nodes and edges — are the same graph in disguise. For decades, this problem has occupied a special status in computer science as one of just a few naturally occurring problems whose difficulty level is hard to pin down.

[...] Babai, a professor at the University of Chicago, had presented in late 2015 what he said was a "quasi-polynomial" algorithm for graph isomorphism. His work appeared to place the problem, if not firmly in the easy zone, then at least in its suburbs. But on January 4 he announced that while his algorithm still works (with some small tweaks) and has now been carefully checked by other computer scientists, it doesn't run as fast as he had thought. It is "sub-exponential," which moves the problem back into the suburbs of the hard zone.

Babai's algorithm is, nevertheless, significantly faster than the previous best algorithm for graph isomorphism, which had held its title unchallenged for more than 30 years. "It's still a massive improvement over the previous state of the art," said Aaronson by email. Computer scientists conversant in Babai's approach will presumably try to figure out whether further improvements can be milked from it, Aaronson predicted.

January 9, 2017, update: Babai announced that he has fixed the error and renewed his claim that his algorithm runs in quasi-polynomial time, adding that he is "working on an updated arXiv posting."

-- submitted from IRC

Original Submission

randomerr writes:

Have you ever wondered what really goes on when your computer takes a higher-level language, like Javascript or C, and turns it into something it can read? Quine8 (Q8) is a simple virtual machine that takes the most basic building block a computer can operate on, bytecode and runs it at a fraction of the speed of a real CPU, allowing you to watch it run each step of the way.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The Breakthrough Starshot initiative, which is known for its long-term plan for sending chip-sized craft to Alpha Centauri using lasers, will fund an upgrade to the Very Large Telescope in order to search for exoplanets:

Today, the European Southern Observatory announced an agreement with Breakthrough Starshot, A group dedicated to sending hardware to return data from the nearest stars. The agreement would see Breakthrough Starshot fund the development of new hardware that would allow the ESO's Very Large Telescope to become an efficient planet hunter. The goal is presumably to confirm there's something in the Alpha Centauri system worth sending spacecraft to image.

[...] The new hardware will be a modification of existing equipment. The Very Large Telescope is actually four eight-meter telescopes capable of being operated as a single unit. One of these (Unit 3, named "Melipal") has hardware called VISIR, for VLT Imager and Spectrometer for mid-Infrared. VISIR can separate infrared light into its component wavelengths, which can tell us something about either the source of the light or any objects in between that absorb light of these wavelengths. Exoplanets turn out to be best to image in the infrared since they often glow with heat, either left over from their formation or due to absorbing light from their host star. But VISIR isn't specialized for planet hunting. For that, it will need a coronagraph, which will blot out the light from the star and make planets easier to spot. VISIR will also need adaptive optics, which can compensate for distortions created by the atmosphere. (The Very Large Telescope may be 2.5km above sea level in a desert, but the atmosphere still poses problems.) And it will likely need additional vibration dampening equipment.

Previously: Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner's $100 Million Interstellar Spacecraft Plan
"Earth-Like" Exoplanet Found in Habitable Zone of Proxima Centauri

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

The Washington Post reports:

For the new political order taking shape in Washington, how­ever, H-1Bs aren't quite welcome. Amid promises of sweeping changes to immigration policy, President-elect Donald Trump and his choice for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), have tabbed the program for a major overhaul, and might even scrap it altogether. In the House, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is on the same wavelength.

Trump has described H-1Bs as a "cheap labor program" subject to "widespread, rampant" abuse. Sessions co-sponsored legislation last year with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) to effectively gut the program; Issa, a congressman with Trump's ear, released a statement Wednesday saying he was reintroducing similar legislation called the Protect and Grow American Jobs Act.

Sessions and Issa's legislation primarily targets large outsourcing companies, such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services, that receive the vast majority of H-1B visas and use them to deploy workers to American companies seeking to cut costs. In 2015, the top 10 recipients of H-1B visas were outsourcing firms. As recently as 2013, the Justice Department, which Sessions stands to take over, settled with Infosys for $34 million in a visa fraud case.

If they were smart they'd change the program to maximize brain-drain from other countries by making H-1B a fast-track to citizenship instead of the 6+ year wait for a green-card that it now is. Bring in the best of them rather than the cheapest of them and let them compete on equal footing rather than the indentured servitude of the current H-1B program.

Original Submission