SoylentNews

takyon writes:

Google has hired one of the key designers behind Apple's A-series SoCs. Google may be designing custom ARM chips for its own products:

A recent report from The Information details Google's efforts to grow its chip development efforts, which in turn is costing Apple some considerable talent. The report explains that Google has hired several key chip engineers from Apple, including well-regarded chip designer John Bruno.

At Apple, Bruno was responsible for the silicon competitive analysis group. This group is Apple's way of ensuring it stays ahead of other chipmakers in terms of performance. Bruno also served at AMD and was one of the lead developers of the Fusion processors for PCs.

Bruno has confirmed the move on his LinkedIn page, where he says he's working as a System Architect at Google. He served at Apple for five years and joined Google just this month. [...] Today's report also notes that Google has hired Wonjae (Gregory) Choi and Tayo Fadelu from Apple, as well as engineers from Qualcomm.

Also at Engadget and Silicon Valley Business Journal.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

A digital archive of BYTE Magazine covering 1975 through 1995 is online now at the Internet Archive. BYTE was a very influential magazine its first decades and included articles and columns on both hardware and software, basically everything in the topic of small computers and software. A broad range of operating systems were addressed as well. Any of the programming languages available at the time were regularly covered, Smalltalk, Lisp, Logo, basically anything. And of course source samples and occasionally whole programs were included. It basically lead in the era of hands-on computing.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Unregulated herpes experiments expose 'black hole' of accountability

Recent revelations that a U.S. researcher injected Americans with his experimental herpes vaccine without routine safety oversight raised an uproar among scientists and ethicists. Not only did Southern Illinois University researcher William Halford vaccinate Americans offshore, he injected other participants in U.S. hotel rooms without Food and Drug Administration oversight or even a medical license. Since then, several participants have complained of side effects.

But don't expect the disclosures after Halford's death in June to trigger significant institutional changes or government response, research experts say. "A company, university or agency generally does not take responsibility or take action on their own to help participants, even if they're hurt in the trial," said Carl Elliott, a professor in the Center for Bioethics at the University of Minnesota. "These types of cases are really a black hole in terms of accountability." The federal government once scrutinized or even froze research at universities after learning of such controversies. Now, experts said, the oversight agencies tend to avoid action even in the face of the most outrageous abuses.

Experts said the U.S. regulatory agencies are especially unprepared to deal with off-the-grid experiments like Halford's. He recruited subjects through Facebook and in some cases didn't require signed consent forms, or informed participants outright that the experiments flouted FDA oversight. These patients, many who struggle with chronic, painful herpes, proceeded anyway in their quest for a cure. After Halford's offshore trial, Peter Thiel, a libertarian and adviser to President Donald Trump, pitched in millions of dollars for future research.

Previously: Hopes of Extended Lifespans Using Transfusions of Young People's Blood
University Could Lose Millions From "Unethical" Research Backed by Peter Thiel

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Surgery For Saving Babies From 'Water On The Brain' Developed in Uganda

Traditionally doctors treat hydrocelphalus in the U.S. with what's called a shunt: They place a long tube in the baby's brain, which allows the liquid to drain into the child's stomach. But a third of the time, these shunts fail within two years, says Dr. Jay Riva-Cambrin, a neurosurgeon at the University of Calgary. "Imagine buying a car and having the dealer tell you, 'By the way, there's a 40 percent chance the car won't be on the road in two years.' You'd be like 'No way.' "

That failure rate is tolerable here in the U.S. because children can be rushed quickly to a hospital for emergency surgery to fix the shunt, says Dr. Benjamin Warf, a neurosurgeon at Harvard Medical School, who led the development of the new method at a clinic in Mbale, Uganda. "Some kids wind up having dozens of these shunt operations over over[sic] the years," he says. But for many kids in rural Uganda — and other poor countries — emergency neurosurgery isn't an option. "They're going to die from a shunt malfunction," Warf says. "I can't put a shunt in a baby and then send them back to a rural village in western Uganda or southern Sudan because it would take days to return to the clinic."

So Warf and his colleagues decided to innovate. They took a technique that works in adults and then tweaked it a bit so that it would have a better chance of working with babies. In the new method, doctors basically poke a hole in the brain's chambers so they can drain. They also prevented the chambers from filling back up by partially damaging the region of the brain that produces spinal fluid.

The team knew the procedure fixed the hydrocephalus. They could see that the babies' brains stopped swelling. But the big question was whether or not the method could prevent brain damage as effectively as shunting does. After 15 years of testing and optimizing, he and his team can finally say that their approach — at least in the short term — appears to be just as effective as the procedure commonly used here in the U.S. In the study, Warf and his colleagues tested the two methods on about 100 children in Uganda. After 12 months, the doctors couldn't detect a difference in the children's brain volume or cognitive skills.

Hydrocephalus.

Endoscopic Treatment versus Shunting for Infant Hydrocephalus in Uganda (open, DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1707568) (DX)

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Original URL

The death toll from the 1918 flu pandemic surpassed all the military deaths in the two world wars.

"You had a lethal new influenza virus that entered the population. No one is sure exactly where. It may have been in southwestern Kansas, it could have been Indonesia, could have been France, there are several theories. Worldwide, the death toll was between 50 and 100 million, obviously a huge range. If you adjust for population today, that would equal 200 to 450 million."

"We were in the middle of the war, and I think that very definitely contributed to the chaos. I don't think it had much impact on the actual spread of disease, but in terms of how society dealt with it, yes, I think it had quite a bit to do with the chaos. Chiefly, because everyone in authority, from the surgeon general of the United States to your local mayor, lied. Everyone could see that this was a lethal pandemic. Some of the symptoms were horrific — bleeding not only from your nose and mouth but from your eyes and ears. And yet the authorities were saying, 'This is just ordinary influenza. If proper precautions are taken, you have nothing to fear.' But people knew they had something to fear. You know, their neighbors or spouses were dying sometimes in 24 hours."

"That's of course because of the war, and the idea was you don't say anything that might be bad news and hurt morale. This is exactly the wrong thing to do. I think ultimately society is based on trust, and once you breach that trust, then people become alienated, particularly from authority. And the worse things get, the more you feel it's everybody out for himself or herself. I mean, in most disasters, people rise to the occasion help each other out. In this disaster, there were people starving to death, both in places like Philadelphia and in rural communities in Kentucky because others were afraid to bring them food."

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Nvidia to cease producing new drivers for 32-bit systems

While most people have probably made the switch by now, yet another reason to drop 32-bit operating systems and move to 64-bits is coming. Version 390 of Nvidia's graphics drivers, likely to arrive in January, will be the last to contain support for 32-bit versions of Windows (7, 8/8.1, and 10), Linux, and FreeBSD.

There will be another year of security updates for 32-bit drivers, but all new features, performance enhancements, and support for new hardware will require the use of a 64-bit operating system and 64-bit drivers.

Original Submission

looorg writes:

A man in Moscow has died while (or due to) wearing a VR-headset. Apparently while wearing it he stumbled around his apartment and fell over a glass table, cut himself and bled out. No information is available on what he was watching or playing. So VR goggles will soon have to come with some kind of warning label? Real world items may hamper VR experience and cause death?

"According to preliminary information, while moving around the apartment in virtual reality glasses, the man tripped and crashed into a glass table, suffered wounds and died on the spot from a loss of blood"

It must have been a fairly serious cut if you bleed out almost instantly and die on the spot. Did he decapitate himself or something?

http://tass.com/society/982465

Also at Newsweek.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

El Reg reports

Linux kernel security biz Grsecurity's defamation lawsuit against open-source stalwart Bruce Perens has been dismissed, although the door remains open for a revised claim.

In June, Perens opined in a blog post that advised companies to avoid Grsecurity's Linux kernel security patches because it might expose them to claims of contributory infringement under the Linux kernel license, GPLv2.

Grsecurity then accused Perens of fearmongering to harm the firm's business, and sued him in July.

On [December 21], the judge hearing the case, San Francisco magistrate judge Laurel Beeler, granted [Perens'] motion to dismiss the complaint while also denying--for now--his effort to invoke California's anti-SLAPP law.

SLAPP stands for Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, and describes legal complaints aimed at silencing public discourse and free speech. In 1992, California passed its anti-SLAPP statute to provide a defense against such legal bullying. Many other states and countries have similar laws.

In addition, Beeler denied Grsecurity's motion for summary judgment, which amounts to asking the judge to agree that the facts are so clear a ruling can be rendered without a trial.

"The court holds that Mr Perens's [sic] statements are opinions that are not actionable libel, dismisses the complaint with leave to amend, denies the anti-SLAPP motion without prejudice, and denies the motion for summary judgment", Judge Beeler ruled.

The page links to another article where Torvalds' opinion (similar in nature to Perens', but more colorful, as usual) was discussed in June.

Previous: Linux Kernel Hardeners Grsecurity Sue Open Source's Bruce Perens
Bruce Perens Warns of Potential Contributory Infringement Risk for Grsecurity Customers

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The Antarctic research season has begun 15 December, when researchers in the international research project MAGIC-DML returned to Dronning Maud Land in Antarctica to investigate how ice sheet volume has changed.

In the Eastern Antarctic, scientists are taking samples from the so-called nunataks. The team is now in Dronning Maud Land for the second time after an expedition in February 2017.

Dronning Maud Land in Antarctica is almost entirely covered by the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Even though a reduction in ice sheet volume since the last ice age has been confirmed here, it is one of the least studied areas in Antarctica.

Underneath the ice sheet is a landscape composed of hills, valleys, mountains, and planes, similar to landscapes on other continents. When the ice sheet shrinks, this landscape becomes gradually exposed and the first parts of the landscape to emerge from the ice are the summits of the highest mountains, known as nunataks.

Nunataks contain a wealth of information that can show how thick the ice sheet was during various periods of the past when global climate was colder than present and how much it has thinned until today. Nunataks also reveal unique information on the fluctuations of the ice surface during past warm periods, such as the mid-Pliocene warm interval dated back to about 3 million years ago.

During this remote period of globally warmer climate inland parts of the East Antarctic ice sheet received more snowfall and were thicker than today. Such information is especially important in the light of the ongoing climate change and its potential impacts on the East Antarctic ice sheet and the global sea level.

"Understanding how the ice has thinned is very important in order to understand how the entire ice sheet might change in the long run. We know very little about this when it comes to Dronning Maud Land," says Arjen Stroeven, Professor in Physical Geography at Stockholm University, and Principal Investigator of the project.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Boeing has released an image of what it says is a working prototype for the U.S. Navy's MQ-25 competition. The Navy wants a drone capable of aerial refueling:

After piquing our interest with a cryptic post on Twitter, Boeing has given us the very first look at its prototype for the US Navy's MQ-25 Stingray unmanned tanker initiative. The Chicago-headquartered firm is now the second entrant in that competition, the other being General Atomics, to offer a look at their full concept and the first to show off an actual working prototype.

[...] Boeing says the drone is functional, though it hasn't flown. It will finish engine test runs on the ground ahead of deck handling demonstrations in early 2018. The Navy wants all of the competitors to submit their formal MQ-25 proposals by Jan. 3, 2018. [...] In all, Boeing's MQ-25 entrant's configuration is similar on a basic level to General Atomics' Sea Avenger concept, which itself was remodeled from the Predator-C/Avenger unmanned aircraft. Both designs include wide v-tails, a dorsal inlet, a chined fuselage, and so on.

Lockheed Martin has yet to publicly unveil any prototype, and Northrop Grumman pulled its X-47B out of the competition in October.

Boeing press release. Also at The Aviationist.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Two weeks after various outlets reported that Jay-Z's music streaming service Tidal was having money problems, Tidal will offer a 12-day free trial (Dec. 25 to Jan. 5):

Tidal is getting into the holiday spirit. The streaming service is opening up its platform to anyone and everyone for 12 days beginning on Christmas, with no credit card required (a usual requirement for free streaming trials). The free trial will cover Tidal's Hi-Fi tier as well, so if you've been wanting to try out high-fidelity music, now is your chance.

Meanwhile, YouTube has done some work behind the scenes to launch a new attempt at getting people to pay for music:

After years of bickering over rights, YouTube has finally signed all three of the major music record labels into long-term deals. This week, Universal and Sony both reached rights agreements with the Alphabet platform, joining Warner Music Group. Though YouTube still needs to make deals with companies like the Merlin consortium of smaller labels to be fully comprehensive, the way is now paved for it to launch its hotly-tipped streaming service next year. [...] YouTube's anticipated streaming service, dubbed YouTube Remix by Bloomberg, could seem a little late to the party. With Spotify readying for an IPO and swapping stakes with Tencent, Apple music firmly established and Tidal, well, just being Tidal, streaming is already a crowded space.

Alphabet has tried to crack the streaming market before, launching its own premium Google play music service in 2011, but it's not exactly been a smash hit with a market share even smaller than Amazon, Deezer and Tidal's. It launched YouTube Music Key in 2014 to offer ad-free music videos, and this morphed into YouTube Red in 2016. Hopes that this would change the music scene were dashed, however, as YouTube Red gravitated towards entertainment videos instead. The chances are, Alphabet will look to combine its Google Play service with a premium YouTube service for music fans.

Fnord666 writes:

A new report concludes that a Department of Homeland Security pilot program improperly gathers data on Americans when it requires passengers embarking on foreign flights to undergo facial recognition scans to ensure they haven't overstayed visas.

The report, released on Thursday by researchers at the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University's law school, called the system an invasive surveillance tool that the department had installed at nearly a dozen airports without going through a required federal rule-making process.

The report's authors examined dozens of Department of Homeland Security documents and raised questions about the accuracy of facial recognition scans. They said the technology had high error rates and were subject to bias, because the scans often fail to properly identify women and African-Americans.

"It's telling that D.H.S. cannot identify a single benefit actually resulting from airport face scans at the departure gate," said Harrison Rudolph, an associate at the center and an author of the report.

"D.H.S. doesn't need a face-scanning system to catch travelers without a photo on file," he added. "It's alarming that D.H.S. still hasn't supplied evidence for the necessity of this $1 billion program."

Homeland security officials said the program was necessary and fulfilled a decades-old congressional requirement to prevent foreign visitors from overstaying their visas.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/21/us/politics/facial-scans-airports-security-privacy.html

Original Submission

takyon writes:

'Longest-frozen' embryo born 24 years on

A baby has been born from an embryo frozen for nearly 25 years - possibly the longest gap between conception and birth since IVF began. The embryo was donated by a family in the US and has become the first child for a woman who would herself have been only one when the baby was conceived.

The donated embryo that would become Emma Wren Gibson, a healthy baby girl, was thawed in March and transferred to mum Tina Gibson's uterus. Emma was born in November.

"Do you realise I'm only 25? This embryo and I could have been best friends," Mrs Gibson, now 26, of eastern Tennessee told CNN. "I just wanted a baby. I don't care if it's a world record or not," she added.

Also at CNN.

2010 case study for a 42-year-old who received a >19-year-old embryo: Live birth from a frozen–thawed pronuclear stage embryo almost 20 years after its cryopreservation (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2010.08.056) (DX)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Apple is facing a class action lawsuit in California over slowing iPhone speeds as batteries age:

Residents of Los Angeles, Stefan Bogdanovich, and Dakota Speas have been represented by Wilshire Law Firm and both of them filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The plaintiffs are accusing Apple of slowing down their older iPhone models when newer models are released and this has been happening without their consent or approval.

Another class action lawsuit has been filed in Illinois [Ecmascript required]:

A day after Apple acknowledged that their software updates slow down older iPhone models, five customers have filed a federal lawsuit in Chicago against the tech giant for what they're calling "deceptive, immoral and unethical" practices that violate consumer protection laws.

The suit was filed Thursday by two Illinoisans along with Ohio, Indiana and North Carolina residents, who had a range of models from the iPhone 5 to the iPhone 7. They claim that Apple's iOS updates "were engineered to purposefully slow down or 'throttle down' the performance speeds" of the iPhone 5, iPhone 6 and iPhone 7.

[...] Apple partially confirmed the theory on Wednesday, releasing a statement admitting updates would slow down phones, but only to prevent devices with old batteries "from unexpectedly shutting down."

TechCrunch's defense of Apple. Also at Business Insider.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Gamers Want DMCA Exemption for 'Abandoned' Online Games

The U.S. Copyright Office is considering whether or not to update the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions, which prevent the public from tinkering with DRM-protected content and devices. These provisions are renewed every three years. To allow individuals and organizations to chime in, the Office traditionally launches a public consultation, before it makes any decisions.

This week a series of new responses were received and many of these focused on abandoned games. As is true for most software, games have a limited lifespan, so after a few years they are no longer supported by manufacturers. To preserve these games for future generations and nostalgic gamers, the Copyright Office previously included game preservation exemptions. This means that libraries, archives and museums can use emulators and other circumvention tools to make old classics playable. However, these exemptions are limited and do not apply to games that require a connection to an online server, which includes most recent games. When the online servers are taken down, the game simply disappears forever.

This should be prevented, according to The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (the MADE), a nonprofit organization operating in California. "Although the Current Exemption does not cover it, preservation of online video games is now critical," MADE writes in its comment to the Copyright Office. "Online games have become ubiquitous and are only growing in popularity. For example, an estimated fifty-three percent of gamers play multiplayer games at least once a week, and spend, on average, six hours a week playing with others online."

During the previous review, similar calls for an online exemption were made but, at the time, the Register of Copyrights noted that multiplayer games could still be played on local area networks. "Today, however, local multiplayer options are increasingly rare, and many games no longer support LAN connected multiplayer capability," MADE counters, adding that nowadays even some single-player games require an online connection.

Original Submission