SoylentNews

AnonTechie writes:

Back in September last year, Mike wrote about the remarkable court ruling in India that copyright is not inevitable, divine or a natural right. As we have been reporting since 2013, the case in question was brought by three big Western publishers against Delhi University and a photocopy shop over "course packs" -- bound collections of photocopied extracts from books and journals that are sold more cheaply than the sources. Although the High Court of Delhi ruled that photocopying textbooks in this way is fair use, that was not necessarily the end of the story: the publishers might have appealed to India's Supreme Court. But as the Spicy IP site reports, they didn't:

In a stunning development, OUP, CUP and Taylor & Francis just withdrew their copyright law suit filed against Delhi University (and its photocopier, Rameshwari) 5 years ago! They indicated this to the Delhi high court in a short and succinct filing made this morning.

This withdrawal brings to an end one of the most hotly contested IP battles ever, pitting as it did multinational publishers against academics and students. The law suit was filed as far back as 2012 and it dragged on for 5 long years!

[...] That's an important point. So often it seems that copyright only ever gets longer and stronger, with the public always on the losing side. The latest news from India shows that very occasionally, it's the public that wins.

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170309/07340536878/photocopying-textbooks-is-fair-use-india-western-publishers-withdraw-copyright-suit-against-delhi-university.shtml

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

Kodi set-top boxes that allow football fans to stream live matches without a licence will be blocked by the UK's four biggest ISPs, after the High Court approved a piracy clampdown order.

Sky, BT, TalkTalk, and Virgin Media will all be required to block servers that stream Premier League football games.

"The new block will enable a proportionate and targeted restriction of content that would otherwise have been proliferated to unauthorised websites and IPTV devices," said the Premier League after it secured the court order from Mr Justice Arnold on Wednesday.

BT and Sky fling millions of pounds at footie matches to win exclusive rights to broadcast the games live. Earlier this week, BT Sport secured the exclusive rights to show UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches until 2021.

But broadcasters and the Premier League have been fretting about the rise of Kodi set-top boxes, which allow football fans to watch live streams of copyrighted material on their TVs without paying for a subscription.

The High Court granted the order to block the servers that stream the matches via the Kodi boxes under section 97a of the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act.

"We will continue working with ISPs, government, and other sports content producers to protect consumers from illegitimate services that offer no recourse when services are removed, provide no parental controls and, in many instances, are provided by individuals involved in other criminal activity," the Premier League said.

Source: ArsTechnica

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

A commercial malware scanner used by businesses has recently detected an outbreak of malware that came preinstalled on more than three dozen Android devices.

An assortment of malware was found on 38 Android devices belonging to two unidentified companies. This is according to a blog post published Friday by Check Point Software Technologies, maker of a mobile threat prevention app. The malicious apps weren't part of the official ROM firmware supplied by the phone manufacturers but were added later somewhere along the supply chain. In six of the cases, the malware was installed to the ROM using system privileges, a technique that requires the firmware to be completely reinstalled for the phone to be disinfected.

"This finding proves that, even if a user is extremely careful, never clicks a malicious link, or downloads a fishy app, he can still be infected by malware without even knowing it," Check Point Mobile Threat Researcher Daniel Padon told Ars. "This should be a concern for all mobile users."

Most of the malicious apps were info stealers and programs that displayed ads on the phones. One malicious ad-display app, dubbed "Loki," gains powerful system privileges on the devices it infects. Another app was a mobile ransomware title known as "Slocker," which uses Tor to conceal the identity of its operators.

The infected devices included:

AnonTechie writes:

Abraham de Moivre, a French mathematician and the godfather of probability theory, was also the first-known person to correctly predict the day he would die. At the age of 87, he noticed that he was sleeping 15 minutes longer each night. He theorized that when those extra 15 minutes per day added up to a full 24 hours, he would die. The date he predicted: Nov. 27, 1754. Sure enough, he passed away from "somnolence" that day.

Though there is some doubt about the veracity of this story, many researchers have since tried to use statistics to tell us how long we will live. More than 250 years later, however, the science of predicting mortality has remained stagnant, left to insurance actuaries using antiquated statistical techniques based on limited data.

But the advent of Big Data analytics has reraised the questions that de Moivre considered: Can we use mathematics to predict the timing of death? Do people want to know when they will die? Recent insights using computer analytics say yes to both.

Predicting one's mortality is an important question for many stakeholders. As a physician who studies end-of-life care, I have come across cases for which an accurate estimate of one's longevity would dramatically improve patients' lives.

[...] A 2013 study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that machine learning outperformed any single algorithm or risk score by up to 44 percent when predicting mortality in an elderly population.

[...] In his book Being Mortal, author and physician Atul Gawande writes, "how we seek to spend our time may depend on how much time we perceive ourselves to have." The machine can help with this, freeing us from trying to live longer so that we can just live.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2017/03/machines_are_getting_better_at_predicting_when_patients_will_die.html

What do you think ? Would you want to know when you are going to die ?

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

The Silk Road was a series of ancient trading routes that spanned Asia, reaching as far as the Middle East and Europe. Self-organizing and vast, it fell under the control of various empires—but never for long. The polyglot civilizations of traders who lived along its routes are the subject of legends, and more recently the Silk Road lent its name to an infamous darknet market. Historians usually date the Silk Road from roughly the 200s to the 1400s. But a new study in Nature suggests the trade routes may be 2,500 years older than previously believed and its origins much humbler than the rich cities it spawned.

Historical accounts of the Silk Road begin in China in the 100s, when the Han Dynasty used its many routes to trade with the peoples of Central and South Asia. Han soldiers protected the roads and maintained regular outposts on them, allowing wealth and knowledge to flow across the continent. Monks wandering the Silk Road brought Buddhism from India to China, while merchants brought spices, gems, textiles, books, horses, and other valuables from one part of the continent to the other. Great Silk Road cities such as Chang'an (today called Xi'an) and Samarkand grew fat on wealth from the routes that passed outside their walls.

But Washington University in St. Louis anthropologist Michael Frachetti and his colleagues wondered how people traversed the many difficult stretches of the Silk Road that switchbacked through the mountains of Central Asia. Even though these routes weren't urban or under the protection of soldiers, people used them all the time to pass between Asia and the Middle East. We can see where these travelers camped at over 600 archaeological sites in the mountains. Writing in Nature, Frachetti and his colleagues describe how they had to devise a new approach to track the routes people took between these camps.

The problem was that previous scholars assumed people took routes that resembled what a "least cost" algorithm would draw—essentially the easiest path. This is "largely effective in lowland zones where economic networks and mobility between urban centers are consistent with ease of travel," the researchers write in their paper. But those algorithms won't work in the mountains, on uneven terrain that was often barren.

To predict the Silk Road's high-elevation routes, they argue, means following in the footsteps of nomadic peoples who trekked across these mountains with herd animals for thousands of years. "More than 50 years of research concerning nomadic adaptive strategies in Asia's highland elevations suggests that 'ease of travel' was probably not the dominant factor dictating mobility across the mountains," they explain.

Source: ArsTechnica

Abstract available online:
  Michael D. Frachetti, C. Evan Smith, Cynthia M. Traub, Tim Williams, Nomadic ecology shaped the highland geography of Asia's Silk Roads, Nature doi:10.1038/nature21696

Original Submission

This is the third exciting installment of this ongoing saga of restoring Xenix 2.2.3c. When we last left off, we had discovered that it is possible for Xenix to boot with several sectors missing in /etc/init and that the vast majority of the data on the diskettes was intact — to the point that several more steps of the early installation completed.

The story thus far:

• Part 1: Introducing Xenix 2.2.3c
• Part 2: No Tools, No Problem

[Aside: Quite a while ago, I came across the excellent OS/2 Museum, run by Michal Necasek which helps categorize many of the more obscure bits of PC history, including a series of articles about Xenix, Microsoft’s version of SVR2 UNIX.]

If we were to get any further, Michal and I would have to dig deep into the world of teledisk, floppy disk formats, and perform some creative thinking.

takyon writes:

Infineon is using a 65nm process as well as the GlobalFoundries 14nm Low Power Plus process to create ever-tinier SIM cards:

At MWC this year, Infineon showcased a lineup of its current and embedded SIM products. The company demonstrates not only the industry-standard MFF2 eSIM chip, but also considerably smaller ICs designed for future miniature devices (many of which may not even exist yet as a category) as well as M2M (machine to machine) applications. It is noteworthy that to manufacture an eSIM the size of a match head, Infineon uses GlobalFoundries 14LPP process technology, taking advantage of leading-edge lithography to bring the size of a simple device down.

[...] The first one, when packaged, has dimensions of 2.5×2.7×0.5 mm, which essentially means that it has no packaging at all. This IC is produced using a mature 65 nm process technology and that means that it is very cheap. The second eSIM implementation that Infineon demonstrates is actually even tinier: its dimensions when fully packaged and ready to use are just 1.5×1.1×0.37 mm. The IC is made using 14LPP process technology by GlobalFoundries and the foundry charges the chip developer accordingly. Using a leading-edge process technology to make eSIM cards is not something common, but the approach enables developers of various devices to take advantage of the smallest cards possible (another advantage of such cards are low voltages and power consumption).

The current JEDEC eSIM form factor has an area of 5×6 mm (30 mm², over 18 times the area of Infineon's smaller version) and less than 1 mm thickness (0.85 mm in Infineon's comparison).

Original Submission

butthurt writes:

Consumerist reports that Amazon.com has updated Alexa, the software of its Amazon Echo listening devices, in the wake of a viral video in which someone asks the device "Do you work for the CIA?" and it goes silent and dark. The updated software says "No, I work for Amazon."

The submitter found a video on Youtube in which a Google Home device responds "I've got to admit, I'm not sure" in answer to the same question, as well as a video showing the updated Alexa software going silent when asked "Is Amazon connected to the CIA?".

additional coverage:

• Fortune
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• New York Magazine
• Daily Mail
• The Interrobang

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Illegal Southwest border crossings were down 40% last month, according to just released Customs and Border Protection numbers -- a sign that President Donald Trump's hardline rhetoric and policies on immigration may be having a deterrent effect.

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly himself announced the month-to-month numbers, statistics that CBP usually quietly posts on its website without fanfare.

According to CBP data, the 40% drop in illegal Southwest border crossings from January to February is far outside normal seasonal trends. Typically, the January to February change is actually an increase of 10% to 20%.

The drop breaks a nearly 20-year trend, as CBP data going back to 2000 shows an uptick in apprehensions every February.

The number of apprehensions and inadmissible individuals presenting at the border was 18,762 people in February, down from 31,578 in January.

It will still take months to figure out if the decrease in apprehensions is an indication of a lasting Trump effect on immigration patterns. Numbers tend to decrease seasonally in the winter and increase into the spring months.

But the sharp downtick after an uptick at the end of the Obama administration could fit the narrative that it takes tough rhetoric on immigration -- backed up by policy -- to get word-of-mouth warnings to undocumented immigrants making the harrowing journey to the border.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/08/politics/border-crossings-huge-drop-trump-tough-talk/index.html

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

A new report from AAA reveals that the majority of U.S. drivers seek autonomous technologies in their next vehicle, but they continue to fear the fully self-driving car. Despite the prospect that autonomous vehicles will be safer, more efficient and more convenient than their human-driven counterparts, three-quarters of U.S. drivers report feeling afraid to ride in a self-driving car, and only 10 percent report that they'd actually feel safer sharing the roads with driverless vehicles. As automakers press forward in the development of autonomous vehicles, AAA urges the gradual, safe introduction of these technologies to ensure that American drivers are informed, prepared and comfortable with this shift in mobility.

"A great race towards autonomy is underway and companies are vying to introduce the first driverless cars to our roadways," said Greg Brannon, AAA's director of Automotive Engineering and Industry Relations. "However, while U.S. drivers are eager to buy vehicles equipped with autonomous technology, they continue to fear a fully self-driving vehicle."

n 2016, a AAA survey found that three-quarters of Americans reported feeling afraid to ride in a self-driving car. One year later, a new AAA survey found that fear is unchanged. While the majority are afraid to ride in a fully self-driving vehicle, the latest survey also found that the majority (59%) of Americans are keen to have autonomous features in their next vehicle. This marked contrast suggests that American drivers are ready embrace autonomous technology, but they are not yet ready to give up full control.

"U.S. drivers may experience the driver assistance technologies in their cars today and feel they don't work consistently enough to replace a human driver – and they're correct," continued Brannon. "While these technologies will continue to improve over time, it's important that consumers understand that today's systems require your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel."

Source: http://newsroom.aaa.com/2017/03/americans-feel-unsafe-sharing-road-fully-self-driving-cars/

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

TechDirt reports

The US Trade Representative's annual Special 301 Report repeatedly points out how other countries are "failing" US IP industries by not doing enough to prevent piracy. The "name and shame" approach hasn't done much to curb piracy, although it has generated a few pressure points to leverage during trade negotiations.

Countries appear to be tiring of the annual shaming. Michael Geist reports the Canadian government has issued a rebuttal ahead of this year's Special 301 hearing.

I recently obtained documents under the Access to Information Act that confirm the Canadian government's rejection of the Special 301 process. Canada will not bother appearing today largely because it rejects the entire process.

The two-page memorandum goes directly to the heart of the issue: despite Canada now having some of the world's toughest anti-piracy laws, the USTR continues to make the annual claim that the country could be doing so much more. The memo [PDF] puts it bluntly: the USTR represents no one but industry leaders.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The Arkansas House of Representatives has passed a bill restricting public records access to photographs, audio recordings, and video (such as body cam footage) depicting the death of a law enforcement officer:

Nearly six years after Arkansas police Officer Jonathan Schmidt was shot to death while pleading for his life, a dashcam video of his final moments still circulates on the internet - sometimes landing in the social media feeds of his family members. "It's a very sacred thing," the officer's widow, Andrea Schmidt, said Wednesday. "It's not just a cop getting killed. This is a human being. This is my husband. This is a father."

Now a newly elected Arkansas legislator, a former deputy prosecutor who used the tape to help put Schmidt's killer on death row, wants to prevent other families from suffering. The first bill he introduced since joining the House would prevent the broad release of material showing officers dying in the line of duty. "It's just a video of a murder. There's no general interest in that," said Rep. Jimmy Gazaway, a Republican from Paragould, whose measure needs only a final successful vote in the state Senate. He said continued interest in a tape of the shooting is "something that just violates our sensibilities." Gazaway was a prosecutor when the Trumann Police Department distributed the 20-minute recording. The video typically shows up in the family's social media feeds around April 12, the day of the shooting. "It's so horrifying to see it happen," the officer's father, Donald Schmidt, said. "I wish to God I had never watched it."

Under the bill, which passed the House on a 94-0 vote Monday, video showing a law enforcement officer's death would be released only if a court decides the public interest outweighs the desire for government secrecy. [...] The bill is one of many being considered this session that would restrict Arkansas' Freedom of Information Act. Open records advocates oppose Gazaway's bill but understand it is an emotional issue and likely to pass.

This bill does not prevent judges, juries, and attorneys from seeing recordings in court, and has exemptions for family members of the deceased officers. It does not prevent the law enforcement agency at which the death occurred, the Department of Arkansas State Police, or the FBI from investigating the death. The recordings can also be used for training purposes. It is not clear from the text of the bill whether the law could be used to justify restricting the release of evidence recorded by and seized from a citizen; it is not one of the exemptions listed under Ark. Code § 12-6-601(e).

takyon writes:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vancouver-has-banned-whale-dolphin-and-porpoise-captivity

A Vancouver aquarium that had its last two beluga whales die off in November will no longer be able to import or keep whales in captivity. The city's park board unanimously voted to ban the display of all cetaceans on Thursday night.

[...] Five aquarium-owned cetaceans died in the last two years, according to a park board statement. Earlier this year, the aquarium had pledged to phase out its research program and discontinue beluga display in 12 years.

Supporters of the aquarium lamented the loss of marine mammal research opportunity Friday. The parks board, meanwhile, committed to working with the fish prison. "We applaud the valuable work by the Aquarium in public education and conservation and look forward to continuing our strong partnership into the future," [park board chair Michael] Wiebe said.

Park Board report.

Also at CBC and The Georgia Straight.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Mathematician John Baez presents a delightful and beautifully illustrated version of the ultimate question... http://www.math.ucr.edu/home/baez/42.html for which the answer is 42.

Hint -- it's 2D geometry. And maybe the mice should have been bargaining with Zaphod for his brain instead of for Arthur Dent's brain.

Lots more math & physics fun on his pages, I also enjoyed http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/rolling/

Original Submission

takyon writes:

NASA's Small Business Innovation Research program is funding 133 ideas from 112 small businesses, including:

• Multifunctional, lightweight metallic materials that can be used to create the advanced structures needed for future deep space missions and next-generation aeronautics capabilities;
• Compact, high-powered 3-D LIDAR (light detection and ranging) system for unmanned aircraft that significantly reduces the size and weight of object-detection sensors, with applications ranging from autonomous aircraft to space missions;
• A technology that integrates a plastic recycling system, a dry-heat sterilization system and a 3-D printer to create materials that can be used to print food- and medical-grade devices, lowering mission costs and trash generated on long-duration manned missions;
• A technology that will allow constellations of individual satellites to fly in precise formation and perform coordinated science, enabling new capabilities such as autonomous rendezvous and docking, and precision formation flying both for human and robotic exploration missions.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A team of scientists has published seven papers describing the design and ongoing creation process for a completely synthetic Saccharomyces cerevisiae genome:

Scientists have taken another important step toward creating different types of synthetic life in the laboratory. An international research consortium reports Thursday that it has figured out an efficient method for synthesizing a substantial part of the genetic code of yeast. "We are absolutely thrilled," says Jef Boeke, a geneticist at New York University School of Medicine, who is leading the project. "This is a significant step toward our goal."

The milestone is the latest development in the intensifying quest to create living, complex organisms from scratch in the lab. This group previously reported it had completely synthesized one of yeast's 16 chromosomes, which are the molecular structures that carry all of an organism's genes.

1. Design of a synthetic yeast genome (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4557) (DX)

2. Deep functional analysis of synII, a 770-kilobase synthetic yeast chromosome (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4791) (DX)

3. "Perfect" designer chromosome V and behavior of a ring derivative (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4704) (DX)

4. Synthesis, debugging, and effects of synthetic chromosome consolidation: synVI and beyond (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4831) (DX)

5. Bug mapping and fitness testing of chemically synthesized chromosome X (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4706) (DX)

6. Engineering the ribosomal DNA in a megabase synthetic chromosome (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf3981) (DX)

7. 3D organization of synthetic and scrambled chromosomes (open, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4597) (DX)

Original Submission