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fliptop writes:

Dubai Police has unveiled new self-driving mini vehicles that can patrol different areas and monitor any unusual activities using biometrics to scan crowds and identify criminals, or suspects:

About the size of a child's electric toy car, the driverless vehicles will patrol different areas of the city to boost security and hunt for unusual activity, all the while scanning crowds for potential persons of interest to police and known criminals.

The new security system is so advanced that the mini-vehicle even comes with its own drone which can be launched via a rear sleeve — both are monitored and linked to Dubai Police command room.

[...] "It can recognise people in any area and identify suspicious objects and can track suspects. It has a drone and the user [police officer] needs to access the car through fingerprint. It will be deployed at tourist destinations in Dubai," Brigadier Al Razooqi said.

Deployed at "tourist destinations?" Is that where the problems are? Originally spotted on Bruce Schneier's blog.

Related: Dubai Deploys "Robocop"

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

Fight for the Future reports via Common Dreams

Urban Dictionary, Bandcamp, Automattic (who run WordPress), and Discord are among latest major web platforms to join the Internet-Wide Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality scheduled for July 12th to oppose the FCC's plan to slash Title II, the legal foundation for net neutrality rules that protect online free speech and innovation.

[...] More than 50,000 people, sites, and organizations have signed on to the effort overall, and more announcements from major companies are expected in the coming days. Participants will display prominent messages on their homepages on July 12 or encourage users to take action in other ways, using push notifications, videos, social media, and emails.

See the announcement for the day of action here: https://battleforthenet.com/july12

See examples of what sites are doing on July 12 here: https://www.battleforthenet.com/july12#join

The effort is led by many of the grassroots groups behind the largest online protests in history including the SOPA blackout and the Internet Slowdown. The day of action will focus on grassroots mobilization, with public interest groups activating their members and major web platforms providing their visitors with tools to contact Congress and the FCC.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The PC market may have stabilized and could see its recent declines reverse:

The PC market is forecast to return to growth next year according to Gartner, as buyers come to the end of their evaluation periods for Windows 10.

Worldwide PC shipments are expected to hit 267 million units in 2018, a 1.9 per cent increase on 2017, when shipments are forecast to reach 262 million. By 2019, shipments are pegged to hit 272 million units.

This year's PC sales are however expected to fall yet again for the sixth consecutive year, with shipments dropping three per cent when compared with 2016.

[...] Elsewhere, smartphone shipments will also continue to grow at a healthy rate, the market watcher claims. Shipments are expected to grow 5 per cent year on year to nearly 1.6 billion units in 2017. Gartner claims that the market is experiencing a shift away from low-cost "utility" phones, towards higher-priced "basic" and "premium" smartphone devices.

PC components are becoming slightly more expensive at the same time.

Also at EE Times.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports:

A Halifax [Nova Scotia] man is facing the daunting task of going through almost two decades of email messages after his email provider served notice it was deactivating his account in 30 days because of his email address: noreply@eastlink.ca

"I had it since the late '90s, probably 1998 when I really started getting online," Steve Morshead told CBC News.

"I asked for it, it was available and they gave it to me without hesitation."

He said he picked the handle "noreply" because he wanted an unusual address--and back in the '90s, it was.

Morshead never expected to lose his email address, which he uses for communicating with everyone from friends to banks to lawyers. He is in the process of selling his home and says this couldn't come at a worse time.

[...] "Now, after all these years, 20 years almost, I find it reprehensible they want to pop out of bushes and just give me 30 days to go through 20 years worth of emails and decide what I want to keep," he said.

[...] Morshead did ask the company to transfer the contents from the existing email account to a new one but they said no.

"Just flat no. No offers of help. Just the bullying that 'We're going to do it, you're going to take it. That's it.'"

Also at The Inquirer.

Original Submission

fliptop writes:

Alibaba's version of the digital personal assistant will be available on August 8th only in China and without a display:

Alibaba's "Tmall Genie X1" will go for 499 yuan ($73) to the first 1,000 people during a one-month trial, coming in below Apple's $349 HomePod and the roughly $180 Echo. Its biggest competitor, Tencent Holdings Ltd., is developing a voice-activated digital speaker that could hit the market within months, Tencent President Martin Lau said in a May interview. And on Wednesday, Baidu Inc. showed off its own "DuerOS" personal assistant.

Taking a page from Amazon.com Inc. and Google, Hangzhou-based Alibaba's speaker offers voice-controlled services from music streaming to newscasts and calendar-booking, according to its website. Importantly, the gadget -- powered by the AliGenie system -- may eventually simplify shopping for the Chinese e-commerce giant's 450 million active buyers who turn to the website for everything from cherries to makeup.

Originally spotted on The Eponymous Pickle.

Related:
Amazon Rolls out Chatbot Tools in Race to Dominate Voice-Powered Tech
Amazon Dominates Voice-Controlled Speaker Market

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A study has found that mice with an impaired sense of smell gain less weight than other mice, even when calorie consumption and exercise levels are the same:

To conduct the study, molecular biologist Andrew Dillin of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues turned to a variety of genetically altered mice. The scientists gave them regular doses of the diphtheria toxin—which causes a temporary loss of odor-sensing neurons—to suppress their sense of smell. They then fed the rodents either a normal diet or fatty foods—the mouse equivalent of cheesecake and pizza—that usually induce obesity.

After more than 3 months of noshing on regular chow, the odor-deprived rodents weighed slightly less than mice whose sense of smell was intact. In the group on the high-fat diet, however, the mice that couldn't smell weighed 16% less than animals that could [open, DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.06.015] [DX], which became obese. Losing the ability to smell also caused a different group of already-obese mice to lose weight, the researchers reveal today in Cell Metabolism. The obvious explanation for this effect—that mice with impaired olfaction were eating less—turned out to be wrong. There was no difference in the animals' food consumption. Nor were the slim rodents getting more exercise. They weren't moving around their cages more than their porky counterparts.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Google has expanded its DeepMind AI division with a new office in Edmonton, Canada:

Although it was bought by Google in 2014, AI firm DeepMind has always been true to its British roots — expanding its offices in London, working closely with UK institutions like the NHS, and even teaching in the country's universities. Now, though, the company is opening its "first ever international AI office" — in Edmonton, Canada.

It's a natural fit for DeepMind, which has close links with the AI research community in Edmonton's University of Alberta. The company says nearly a dozen Alberta grads have joined its ranks, and the firm has sponsored the university's machine learning lab for a number of years. Richard Sutton, professor of computing science at Alberta, was also DeepMind's first outside advisor, and will head up the company's new base along with colleagues Michael Bowling and Patrick Pilarski. Seven more researchers will join them to fill out the initial DeepMind Alberta team.

Also at Bloomberg and 9to5Google.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Bruce Perens warns of potential contributory infringement and breach of contract risk for customers of GRSecurity:

Grsecurity is a patch for the Linux kernel which, it is claimed, improves its security. It is a derivative work of the Linux kernel which touches the kernel internals in many different places. It is inseparable from Linux and can not work without it. it would fail a fair-use test (obviously, ask offline if you don’t understand). Because of its strongly derivative nature of the kernel, it must be under the GPL version 2 license, or a license compatible with the GPL and with terms no more restrictive than the GPL. Earlier versions were distributed under GPL version 2.

Currently, Grsecurity is a commercial product and is distributed only to paying customers. My understanding from several reliable sources is that customers are verbally or otherwise warned that if they redistribute the Grsecurity patch, as would be their right under the GPL, that they will be assessed a penalty: they will no longer be allowed to be customers, and will not be granted access to any further versions of Grsecurity. GPL version 2 section 6 explicitly prohibits the addition of terms such as this redistribution prohibition.

By operating under their policy of terminating customer relations upon distribution of their GPL-licensed software, Open Source Security Inc., the owner of Grsecurity, creates an expectation that the customer’s business will be damaged by losing access to support and later versions of the product, if that customer exercises their re-distribution right under the GPL license. This is tantamount to the addition of a term to the GPL prohibiting distribution or creating a penalty for distribution. GPL section 6 specifically prohibits any addition of terms. Thus, the GPL license, which allows Grsecurity to create its derivative work of the Linux kernel, terminates, and the copyright of the Linux Kernel is infringed. The contract from the Linux kernel developers to both Grsecurity and the customer which is inherent in the GPL is breached.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A deep crack on on Antarctica's Larsen C ice shelf has nearly severed off one of the largest icebergs ever recorded:

One of the largest icebergs ever recorded — 2,500 square miles, about the size of Delaware — is about to break off Antarctica, according to the European Space Agency. The iceberg could speed up the break-off of other ice chunks, eventually eating away at a barrier that prevents ice from flowing to the sea.

The impending iceberg is being carved from one of the continent's major ice shelves, called Larsen C. Scientists have been monitoring Larsen C for months now, as a deep crack has slowly extended over the course of 120 miles. Only about three miles of ice are keeping the iceberg attached to the shelf, ESA says. No one knows when it will break off — it could be any moment — but when it does, the iceberg will likely be 620 feet thick (about the height of the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York) and contain roughly 1 trillion tons of ice. It'll be drifting north toward South America, and could even reach the Falkland Islands. "If so it could pose a hazard for ships in Drake Passage," Anna Hogg from the University of Leeds, said in a statement.

Also at BBC.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Micron has temporarily suspended operation of a DRAM production facility, leading to predictions of shortages and rising prices:

TrendForce reports that Micron suspended the operation of its Fab-2 DRAM production facility on June 1 due to a malfunctioning nitrogen gas dispensing system. Micron responded that while there was an event, it didn't involve nitrogen leaking. However, Micron's admission of a problem is telling, as TrendForce predicts the event will eliminate 5.5% of the global DRAM production capacity for July. Interestingly, the market analyst firm also claims this could lead to an impact on production for Apple's new iPhone.

The 5.5% output reduction may not sound like a significant event, but in the past, similar issues have served as the catalyst for massive shortages. This could exacerbate the ongoing DRAM shortage, which has already seen DRAM prices rise appreciably.

DRAM prices are on the rise due to slow transitions to new nodes and increased demand in PC, mobile, and server segments. TrendForce predicts that the first quarter of 2017 suffered a 30% increase in the average contract pricing for DIMM modules. Making matters worse, the soothsayer predicts that we will see another 10% increase this quarter, and that is before accounting for the recent production interruption.

Also at Reuters, which reports that Micron denies the event will affect its business:

"Regarding recent rumours about Micron's fabrication facility in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Micron hereby clarifies that there was no nitrogen leaking incident nor evacuating of personnel," Micron said in a statement. "There was indeed a minor facility event but operations are recovering speedily without material impact to the business."

[...] TrendForce analysts base their reports on channel checks in the supply chain, a media officer with TrendForce told Reuters.

It's the floods all over again!

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Elderly people living in care homes could soon be enjoying the company of specifically designed sex robots, according to a leading organization in the field.

The freakishly realistic robots could be widely available within the next decade, used not just by fetishists but as a tool for sexual therapy and communication.

[...] Professor Sharkey, who was speaking on Wednesday at the launch of a new consultation report, said it is time for the government to step in and start regulating sex bots.

“They are being proposed for the elderly in care homes, which I think is controversial. If you have severe Alzheimer’s you can’t really tell the difference,” said the researcher.

Source: RT

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

From CNN's writeup on how they managed to "dox" an individual who posted a GIF of President Trump wrestling a CNN logo:

CNN is not publishing "HanA**holeSolo's" name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.

CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change.

For those that have not seen the GIF or video, it rose to prominence after this tweet by Trump. This story is being predictably split down partisan lines, but this raises major questions about freedoms in the internet age. This is a company which is part of one of world's largest and most powerful media conglomerates threatening to engage in an action knowing it would likely result in harm to an individual because they found a silly video clip about them distasteful.

To put this into perspective, imagine if an organization such as Fox News or Breitbart chose to track down and "dox" any of the countless individuals posting numerous anti-Trump memes. And they then threatened to publish this information unless said individual apologized and promised to stop posting memes. This may already be illegal under coercion laws in the US, but is time for the rights (or lack thereof) of anonymity and privacy in the digital world to be clearly codified?

takyon: A reporter for BuzzFeed, CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski's former employer, compared the HanAssholeSolo GIF to the video tweeted by the President and found some differences, suggesting that it was altered by someone else before reaching the President or his aides (including the addition of a sound track). In other words, someone out there actually responsible for catching the President's attention may have gone unidentified, and the Reddit user likely uploaded only the initial version of the infamous GIF. The editing is acknowledged in the second paragraph of CNN's story.

Kaczynski has denied threatening anyone and says that the Reddit user called him and agreed that he had not been threatened by Kaczynski or CNN. He says that the "reserves the right to publish his identity" line from the CNN story has been misinterpreted, and that "It was intended only to mean we made no agreement w/the man about his identity". Kaczynski has also denied the widespread notion that the Reddit user was 15 years old, saying that "HanAssholeSolo is an adult and not 15 which people have spread".

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

More than one-third of 15-year-old children in the UK could be classified as 'extreme internet users', or those who are online for more than six hours daily outside of school.

A report from UK think-tank Education Policy Institute (EPI) states that children in the UK have a higher rate of extreme usage (37.8 percent of all UK 15 year olds) than other countries. Only Chile reported more.

The think-tank examined the relation between social media use (including online time) and mental illness:

While twelve percent of children who spend no time on social networking websites on a normal school day have symptoms of mental ill health, that figure rises to 27 percent for those who are on the sites for three or more hours a day.

Here's a hint: if one third of your kids think a certain way, it's a personality trait not a mental illness.

Source: https://thenextweb.com/insider/2017/07/03/uk-teens-are-among-the-most-extreme-internet-users-world-wide/

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

All Volvo car models launched after 2019 will be electric or hybrids, the Chinese-owned company said on Wednesday, making it the first major traditional automaker to set a date for phasing out vehicles powered solely by the internal combustion engine.

The Sweden-based company will continue to produce pure combustion-engine Volvos from models launched before that date, but its move signals the eventual end of nearly a century of Volvos powered solely that way.

While electric and hybrid vehicles are still only a small fraction of new cars sales, they are gaining ground at the premium end of the market, where Volvo operates and where Elon Musk's Tesla Motors has been a pure-play battery carmaker from day one. As technology improves and prices fall, many in the industry expect mass-market adoption to follow.

"This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car," Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson said.

The company, owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, said five new models set to be launched in 2019 through 2021 - three of them Volvos and two Polestar-branded - would all be fully electric.

"These five cars will be supplemented by a range of petrol and diesel plug in hybrid and mild hybrid 48-volt options on all models," Volvo said. "This means that there will in future be no Volvo cars without an electric motor."

Source: Reuters

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Tor Browser 7.0.2 is now available from the Tor Browser Project page and also from our distribution directory.

This release features an important security update to Tor.

We are updating Tor to version 0.3.0.9, fixing a path selection bug that would allow a client to use a guard that was in the same network family as a chosen exit relay. This release also updates HTTPS-Everywhere to 5.2.19.

Here is the full changelog since 7.0.1:

        All Platforms

                Update Tor to 0.3.0.9, fixing bug #22753
                Update HTTPS-Everywhere to 5.2.19

Original Submission