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stormwyrm writes:

Despite the recent whinging about whether or not the maps on the Pioneer and Voyager space probes might have been a big mistake that might lead to Earth being invaded by hostile aliens, it turns out that the pulsar maps included on these probes are actually worthless for determining the location of our Solar System. Pulsars were first discovered in 1967 by Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, and at the time they were believed to be unique and stable landmarks suitable for that purpose. However, subsequent discoveries have shown that they are not actually as stable and reliable as they were first believed. Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang has an article on this:

[...] While fear-mongers foolishly claim that hostile aliens could follow the Voyager maps back to Earth, the maps themselves are actually among the most useless information aboard Voyager. According to Frank Drake, who worked on the Voyager message with Carl Sagan:

"We needed to put something on the Voyager that said where it came from, and how long it was traveling... There was a magic about pulsars ... no other things in the sky had such labels on them. Each one had its own distinct pulsing frequency, so it could be identified by anybody, including other creatures after a long period of time and far, far away."

Although these identifiers were thought to be unique and stable, we now know that long-term changes will render this map useless. If you tried to identify Earth by the presence of Pangaea, you'd be sorely disappointed. By sending the messages we did with Voyager, we actually delivered a much more challenging problem to any aliens "lucky" enough to come upon it. The idea to send pulsar positions and frequencies was a brilliant one, but by the time anyone receives it, they'll only encounter one of the most difficult-to-decipher riddles we could have possibly imposed.

In summary, it turns out that pulsars are far from being as unique, rare, and stable as they were believed to be in the 1970s when they came up with the idea. There are an estimated one billion neutron stars in the Milky Way, and almost all of these will look like pulsars somewhere in space because their spin and magnetic axes aren't perfectly aligned and so they will beam radio waves in some direction. The pulsar periods are also not as unique as they were at the time believed, so any extraterrestrial finding the Voyager plaque will have a hard time figuring out which fourteen pulsars out of a billion are described. Second, the properties of a pulsar can change in unpredictable fashion. Pulsars have since been observed to appear and disappear as the orientations of their spins relative to Earth change due to various factors, such as their motion in space and events internal to the pulsar itself such as starquakes and pulsar speedup. If one really wanted to tell aliens were we were it would have been better to give them a description of the Solar System, with the astronomical properties and description of our sun and the planets. It is, after all, how we identify exoplanet systems today.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Just when you thought that anime character designs couldn't get any more generic, machine learning comes to the rescue:

A collaborative team from Fudan University, Carnegie Mellon University, Tongji University and Stony Brook University have created a generative adversarial network (GAN) that can generate high-quality anime character drawings with just minimal input from humans. You can check the demonstration website and make your own anime renders by inputting some basic preferences.

You can choose hair and eye color and then decide on what accessories you might like such as glasses, hats or ribbons. The site will then generate a character for you based on your inputs. There are some things that could be improved for sure, but overall, it's a really fun application.

Researchers used a technique called DRAGAN to train the AI. The demo site was built on ReactJS. The scientists have summed up the full process in more detail in this technical report. The source code is also available from here.

Of course, designing a character is only the first step. How about a custom Gatebox holographic waifu? Or import your character into an advanced VR fantasy world powered by petaflops GPUs. Which is just a stopgap measure until you jack into the Matrix directly, allowing you to caress your loved one (as far as your brain is concerned).

Is this what happens when you poach Carnegie Mellon University's top scientists?

"Moe" (pronounced "mo-ayyy") refers to "kawaii"/cute characters.

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Fnord666 writes:

The security coprocessor was introduced alongside the iPhone 5s and Touch ID. It performs secure services for the rest of the SOC and prevents the main processor from getting direct access to sensitive data. It runs its own operating system (SEPOS) which includes a kernel, drivers, services, and applications.

The Secure Enclave is responsible for processing fingerprint data from the Touch ID sensor, determining if there is a match against registered fingerprints, and then enabling access or purchases on behalf of the user. Communication between the processor and the Touch ID sensor takes place over a serial peripheral interface bus. The processor forwards the data to the Secure Enclave but can't read it. It's encrypted and authenticated with a session key that is negotiated using the device's shared key that is provisioned for the Touch ID sensor and the Secure Enclave. The session key exchange uses AES key wrapping with both sides providing a random key that establishes the session key and uses AES-CCM transport encryption

Today, xerub announced the decryption key 'is fully grown'. You can use img4lib to decrypt the firmware and xerub's SEP firmware split tool to process.

Decryption of the SEP Firmware will make it easier for hackers and security researchers to comb through the SEP for vulnerabilities.

Source: iClarified

Also at ThreatPost which notes that this does not mean it is open season on SEP:

Yesterday’s news set off another flurry of angst as to the ongoing security of iOS and what would happen now that the firmware had been unlocked.

“I wouldn’t say there is any immediate threat to users at this point,” Azimuth Security’s Mandt said. “Although the key disclosure allows anyone to analyze the software that is running on the SEP processor, it still requires an attacker to find and exploit a vulnerability in order to compromise SEP.”

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

A flaw buried deep in the hearts of all modern cars allows an attacker with local or even remote access to a vehicle to shut down various components, including safety systems such as airbags, brakes, parking sensors, and others.

The vulnerability affects the CAN (Controller Area Network) protocol that's deployed in modern cars and used to manage communications between a vehicle's internal components.

The flaw was discovered by a collaborative effort of Politecnico di Milano, Linklayer Labs, and Trend Micro's Forward-looking Threat Research (FTR) team.

Researchers say this flaw is not a vulnerability in the classic meaning of the word. This is because the flaw is more of a CAN standard design choice that makes it unpatchable.

Patching the issue means changing how the CAN standard works at its lowest levels. Researchers say car manufacturers can only mitigate the vulnerability via specific network countermeasures, but cannot eliminate it entirely.

"To eliminate the risk entirely, an updated CAN standard should be proposed, adopted, and implemented," researchers say. "Realistically, it would take an entire generation of vehicles for such a vulnerability to be resolved, not just a recall or an OTA (on-the-air) upgrade."

takyon writes:

AMD's Vega 64 GPU is an underwhelming chip that competes against the GTX 1080, which is a 15 month old GPU. Nvidia could lower the price of the GTX 1080 and 1070 to better compete against Vega 64 and 56, or launch Volta-based consumer GPUs in the coming months. But Vega 64 is sold out everywhere due to cryptocurrency miners.

AMD has released an updated (Windows-only) driver called Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition Beta for Blockchain Compute. The driver improves the hash rate for Ethereum mining significantly, and Vega 56 performance may even exceed that of Vega 64 (it is a beta driver so these results are subject to change):

As you can see, we're getting some pretty significant gains already (at stock speeds) with this beta driver. We wouldn't be surprised if there are even further optimizations to be found, once AMD is ready to go with a production driver, but we'll take what we can get right now. We did have one performance anomaly that we ran into, however. When cranking up the memory speeds, the Vega 56 actually vaulted past the Vega 64, cranking out 36.48 MH/s. That's not bad for a card that's supposed to retail for $399.

Unfortunately, there is some confusion over the true price of Vega 64, although they are out of stock anyway aside from some hardware and game bundles.

Nvidia's market cap hit $100 billion on the day of the Vega 64 launch. Nvidia's CEO told investors that the company has the ability to "rock and roll" with the volatile cryptocurrency market (implying less shortages).

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Astrophysicists have predicted the existence of an exoplanet orbiting between two known exoplanets around the red dwarf Gliese 832 (it is a large red dwarf of about 0.45 solar masses at a distance of 16.1 light years from the Sun). The two currently known exoplanets are Gliese 832c with a mass of over 5.4 Earth masses at around 0.162 AU from the star, and Gliese 832b with over 0.64 Jupiter masses at around 3.4 AU away. Gliese 832c is in the habitable zone of the star, but may be hot with a Venus-like atmosphere.

The predicted planet could have a mass anywhere from 1 to 15 Earth masses, at a distance of 0.25 to 2 AU from the star:

For this research, the team analyzed the simulated data with an injected Earth-mass planet on this nearby planetary system hoping to find a stable orbital configuration for the planet that may be located in a vast space between the two known planets.

[...] "We also used the integrated data from the time evolution of orbital parameters to generate the synthetic radial velocity curves of the known and the Earth-like planets in the system," said Satyal, who earned his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from UTA in 2014. "We obtained several radial velocity curves for varying masses and distances indicating a possible new middle planet," the astrophysicist noted.

For instance, if the new planet is located around 1 AU from the star, it has an upper mass limit of 10 Earth masses and a generated radial velocity signal of 1.4 meters per second. A planet with about the mass of the Earth at the same location would have radial velocity signal of only 0.14 m/s, thus much smaller and hard to detect with the current technology.

"The existence of this possible planet is supported by long-term orbital stability of the system, orbital dynamics and the synthetic radial velocity signal analysis", Satyal said. "At the same time, a significantly large number of radial velocity observations, transit method studies, as well as direct imaging are still needed to confirm the presence of possible new planets in the Gliese 832 system."

Dynamics of a Probable Earth-mass Planet in the GJ 832 System (DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aa80e2) (DX)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

A study of molecules in the fossil record has pinpointed the rise of algae on Earth:

A planetary takeover by ocean-dwelling algae 650 million years ago was the kick that transformed life on Earth. That's what geochemists argue in Nature this week [DOI: 10.1038/nature23457] [DX], on the basis of invisibly small traces of biomolecules dug up from beneath the Australian desert.

The molecules mark an explosion in the quantity of algae in the oceans. This in turn fuelled a change in the food web that allowed the first microscopic animals to evolve, the authors suggest. "This is one the most profound ecological and evolutionary transitions in Earth's history," lead researcher Jochen Brocks told the BBC's Science in Action programme.

Original Submission

tonyPick writes:

Over at StatNews is a story on a recent trend where low cost commercial DNA testing is resulting in a number of White Nationalists taking genetic tests, and sometimes they don't like the results that come back.

The article looks at research on how they respond to the sometimes unexpected results:

[...] In a new study, sociologists Aaron Panofsky and Joan Donovan examined years' worth of posts on Stormfront to see how members dealt with the news.

[...] About a third of the people posting their results were pleased with what they found. "Pretty damn pure blood," said a user with the username Sloth. But the majority didn't find themselves in that situation. Instead, the community often helped them reject the test, or argue with its results.

Some rejected the tests entirely, saying that an individual's knowledge about his or her own genealogy is better than whatever a genetic test can reveal. [...] Others, he said, responded to unwanted genetic results by saying that those kinds of tests don't matter if you are truly committed to being a white nationalist. Yet others tried to discredit the genetic tests as a Jewish conspiracy "that is trying to confuse true white Americans about their ancestry," Panofsky said.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

We've all been forced to do it: create a password with at least so many characters, so many numbers, so many special characters, and maybe an uppercase letter. Guess what? The guy who invented these standards nearly 15 years ago now admits that they're basically useless. He is also very sorry.

[The 2003 NIST guidance has been replaced by a new version of NIST Special Publication 800-63A, "Digital Identity Guidelines: Enrollment and Identity Proofing Requirements." which is basically a 180° reversal from the original. - Ed.]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-guy-who-invented-those-annoying-password-rules-now-1797643987

Additional Coverage at The Wall Street Journal[paywalled]

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Try this simple technique to write messages that help users understand the reason for errors.

The first time a user encounters an application's documentation, it's not always with the user manual or online help. Often, that first encounter with documentation is an error message.

Technical writers should be involved in writing error messages. It's an important, although often overlooked, part of the job. After all, error messages are documentation, albeit documentation that's embedded in the code.

[...] An error message should be meaningful. By that, I mean full of meaning not only for a developer, but also for the user of the software. To prevent any panic or confusion, the message should be clear.

A meaningful error message should:

• be short (you can write in sentence fragments);
• contain a description, in plain language, of what went wrong; and
• use wording or a tone that doesn't (whether explicitly or not) blame the user.

Source: https://opensource.com/article/17/8/write-effective-error-messages

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Passengers on the Los Angeles subway system can, at their option, be checked for weapons and explosives by walking through a millimeter-wave scanner. The system, which began operation Wednesday, was installed by a partnership of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Transportation Security Administration and the manufacturer of the scanner, Evolv Technology.

Travelers boarding the Metro Red Line at Union Station were met Wednesday with a new security screening system designed to detect possible "mass-casualty" threats, as part of a pilot project to explore the latest in transit-security technology.

The Evolv Edge screening system is billed as a high-speed, high-volume screening system that can scan 600 people per hour, without the need for passengers to stop or even slow down.

According to the manufacturer, Evolv Technology, uses a series of sensors that quickly collect data on people who pass through the machine and feed it into an "algorithmic model that automatically determines if there is a potential threat," rendering a decision in a matter of seconds.

[...] "You don't have to take all the things that you normally carry out of your pockets," he said. "You can leave your phone in your pocket, your keys in your pocket, and we're looking specifically for weapons and explosives. So this system's called a millimeter-wave scanner. It uses harmless radio waves and we're able to process well over 600 visitors per hour."

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Android O and iOS 11 are both set to release in a matter of weeks, but I'm sorry to say that only one of these new operating systems seem to give tablet users much reason to get excited.

If you want a tablet that offers PC-like productivity and a thriving app selection that bears more native, made-for-tablet apps than it does upscaled or incompatible phone apps, you're probably going to buy an iPad equipped with iOS 11.

And while Android O in general will bring a slew of tweaks that we're excited about, including some interesting features like picture-in-picture mode and faster boot times (all underlined with a promise to make updating easier in the future), Google hasn't made enough changes to impact tablet users in a comparably meaningful way.

Of course, this isn't to say you can't still purchase a capable Android tablet that will likely serve your desired purpose. And yep, it's certainly possible that Google might have a few tablet-specific tricks up its sleeve for the software down the line. But as it stands, iOS 11 capitalizes on Android O's seeming lack of focus on tablet chops in a few key ways, all of which Google can improve on.

Source: http://www.techradar.com/news/ios-11-versus-android-o-on-a-tablet-its-not-even-close

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Physical activity among children and teens is lower than previously thought, and, in another surprise finding, young adults after the age of 20 show the only increases in activity over the lifespan, suggests a study conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. And, the study found, starting at age 35, activity levels declined through midlife and older adulthood.

The study also identified different times throughout the day when activity was highest and lowest, across age groups and between males and females. These patterns, the researchers say, could inform programs aimed at increasing physical activity by targeting not only age groups but times with the least activity, such as during the morning for children and adolescents.

The findings, which were published online June 1 in the journal, Preventive Medicine, come amid heightened concern that exercise deficits are contributing to the growing obesity epidemic, particularly among children and teens.

"Activity levels at the end of adolescence were alarmingly low, and by age 19, they were comparable to 60-year-olds," says the study's senior author, Vadim Zipunnikov, assistant professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Biostatistics. "For school-age children, the primary window for activity was the afternoon between two and six P.M. So the big question is how do we modify daily schedules, in schools for example, to be more conducive to increasing physical activity?"

This is what comes from not teaching your kids how to fish.

Source: http://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2017/nineteen-year-olds-as-sedentary-as-sixty-year-olds-study-suggests.html

Re-evaluating the effect of age on physical activity over the lifespan (DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.05.030) (DX)

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

The Army's decision to formalize its open-source software development policy is paying off. At least two major projects have benefited from the policy announced this spring, with open source helping to speed development and save taxpayer dollars, according to officials from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory.

"Open source can reduce development time and lower overall costs, resulting in a win-win situation for the Army and the U.S. taxpayer," said ARL Deputy Chief Scientist Mary Harper.

When it comes to defense agencies embracing open-source software development, the Army is hardly at the cutting edge. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency paved the way with the launch of its GitHub open-source community in 2014. The Navy issued a guidance on the use of open-source code as early as 2007.

Still, ARL leaders say they expect to reap big benefits by formalizing their approach to open source, a term used to describe software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be shared and modified.

[...] Looking ahead, ARL leaders say their explicit embrace of an open-source approach should be a boon to the other military services. But they aren't yet offering insight into just what those evolutions might look like.

"It's extremely difficult to guess how the code might be used or leveraged by others," Harper said. "ARL's belief is that [the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center] and other groups will leverage the code as they see fit to support mission and potentially improve ARL's code at the same time. This has been the case for extremely popular open-source projects such as the Linux kernel, and ARL hopes to leverage this power as well."

Source: https://www.federaltimes.com/it-networks/2017/08/14/army-reaps-benefits-of-open-source-policy/

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Buy an iPhone and you might get 4-5 years of official software updates. Android phones typically get 1-3 years of updates… if they get any updates at all. But there are ways to breathe new life into some older Android phones. If you can unlock the bootloader, you may be able to install a custom ROM like LineageOS and get unofficial software updates for a few more years.

The folks behind postmarketOS want to go even further: they're developing a Linux-based alternative to Android with the goal of providing up to 10 years of support for old smartphones.

That's the goal anyway. Right now the developers have only taken the first steps.

[...] At this point the developers behind postmarketOS are a long way from creating a fully functional OS that works on a single phone, let alone an operating system that will provide a decade of software updates for dozens of different devices. But it's a laudable goal that could help keep your aging phones useful (and secure) long after your phone maker stops pushing official updates.

Source: https://liliputing.com/2017/08/linux-based-postmarketos-project-aims-give-smartphones-10-year-lifecycle.html

Original Submission