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takyon writes:

New quick-learning neural network powered by memristors

A new type of neural network made with memristors can dramatically improve the efficiency of teaching machines to think like humans. The network, called a reservoir computing system, could predict words before they are said during conversation, and help predict future outcomes based on the present.

The research team that created the reservoir computing system, led by Wei Lu, U-M professor of electrical engineering and computer science, recently published their work [open, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02337-y] [DX] in Nature Communications.

Reservoir computing systems, which improve on a typical neural network's capacity and reduce the required training time, have been created in the past with larger optical components. However, the U-M group created their system using memristors, which require less space and can be integrated more easily into existing silicon-based electronics. [...] When a set of data is inputted into the reservoir, the reservoir identifies important time-related features of the data, and hands it off in a simpler format to a second network. This second network then only needs training like simpler neural networks, changing weights of the features and outputs that the first network passed on until it achieves an acceptable level of error. "The beauty of reservoir computing is that while we design it, we don't have to train it," says Lu.

[...] Using only 88 memristors as nodes to identify handwritten versions of numerals, compared to a conventional network that would require thousands of nodes for the task, the reservoir achieved 91% accuracy.

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takyon writes:

Teacher, parents weigh in on nude-artwork incident

Lincoln Elementary School art teacher Mateo Rueda had no idea what was in store for his career when he wrapped up a lesson Dec. 4 by telling students to look through some art postcards in the classroom library for examples of color usage in notable paintings. The cards, which were part of an educational package called "The Art Box" produced by Phaidon publishing, were placed in the library before Rueda began working at the Hyrum school. He knew the set portrayed a wide variety of classic artworks, but he has since said he was not aware that three or four of the 100 pieces featured in the box showed nudity.

Before the week was out, Rueda would find himself at the center of a controversy at the school, would be contacted by police after someone filed a classroom pornography complaint against him, and would eventually be out of a job.

The situation came to light Wednesday when The Herald Journal published a letter from the mother of one of Rueda's students complaining about the art teacher's dismissal and praising his work with students. She also let her feelings be known on Facebook, where her posts gained wide circulation among local school parents and educators.

takyon writes:

Russia Restores Contact With AngoSat-1 Satellite

Russia has stated that it has restored contact with Angola's first satellite, AngoSat-1, that was launched by a Zenit rocket on Tuesday, December 26, 2017.

According to RSC Energia, which manufactured the satellite and controls its operations in space, its operators worked on the issue and on Thursday, Dec. 28, telemetry data indicated that the spacecraft's systems are operating normally.

"Experts from the Energia Corporation have received telemetry data from the AngoSat satellite launched by the Zenit-3SLBF space rocket from the Baikonur spaceport on December 26. The satellite has provided telemetry data showing that all its systems settings are in order," RSC Energia said in a statement.

Also at Satellite Today.

Previously: Angola's First Communications Satellite Lifts Off from Kazakhstan
Russia Blames Human Error for Loss of Angolan Satellite

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Making an unconventional computer using conventional technology

In their quest to build a quantum computer, researchers from RIKEN are turning to well-established, silicon-based manufacturing techniques currently used in the electronics industry. [...] Making a fully functional quantum computer will require connecting huge numbers of qubits—of the order of a 100 million or more.

[...] Keiji Ono and colleagues from the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science and the Toshiba Corporation in Japan, in collaboration with researchers from the United States, are investigating the properties of qubits produced by imperfections or defects in silicon MOSFETs. In particular, they are exploring their potential for developing quantum computing devices that are compatible with current manufacturing technologies.

"Companies like IBM and Google are developing quantum computers that use superconductors," explains Ono. "In contrast, we are attempting to develop a quantum computer based on the silicon manufacturing techniques currently used to make computers and smart phones. The advantage of this approach is that it can leverage existing industrial knowledge and technology."

After cooling a silicon MOSFET to 1.6 kelvin (−271.6 degrees Celsius), the researchers measured its electrical properties while applying a magnetic field and a microwave field. They found that when the silicon MOSFET was neither fully turned on nor off, a pair of defects in the silicon MOSFET formed two quantum dots in close vicinity to each other. This 'double quantum dot' generated qubits from the spin of electrons in the dots. It also produced quantum effects that can be used to control these qubits.

Hole Spin Resonance and Spin-Orbit Coupling in a Silicon Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.156802) (DX)

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takyon writes:

Iranian cities hit by anti-government protests

Anti-government demonstrations that began in Iran on Thursday have now spread to several major cities. Large numbers reportedly turned out in Rasht, in the north, and Kermanshah, in the west, with smaller protests in Isfahan, Hamadan and elsewhere. The protests began against rising prices but have spiralled into a general outcry against clerical rule and government policies.

A small number of people have been arrested in Tehran, the capital. They were among a group of 50 people who gathered in a city square, Tehran's deputy governor-general for security affairs told the Iranian Labour News Agency.

The US State Department condemned the arrests and urged "all nations to publicly support the Iranian people and their demands for basic rights and an end to corruption".

Also at Bloomberg and Reuters.

Update: Street protests hit Iran for third straight day as pro-government rallies held
Iran Confronts 3rd Day of Protests, With Calls for Khamenei to Quit

Update 2: Iran blocks Instagram, Telegram apps as government protesters will 'pay the price' for unrest (archive)
CEO says Iran blocking (Telegram) messaging app after issuing warning to protesters
Iran protests: 'Iron fist' threatened if unrest continues

Original Submission

"Arthur T Knackerbracket" has found the following story:

A Maine robotics company is in the running to build the Army's next generation of battlefield support vehicles.

Waterboro-based Howe and Howe Technologies is competing with three other firms for a massive government contract to build autonomous vehicles that will carry ammunition and supplies into combat with Army ground forces.

"It is going to be a huge thing in the future, as big as drones or Humvees," said Michael Howe, who owns the company with his twin, Geoffrey. The Army is expected to order thousands of the units by 2020.

[...] To get to this point, Howe and Howe had to pass a grueling field test of their vehicle in the thick swamps and forests of Fort Benning, Georgia.

[...] The outcome, however, was worth it. Howe and Howe passed the trials, beating major defense companies like Lockheed Martin and AM General, which builds the Humvee, and moving onto the next phase of product development.

[...] The other companies moving onto the next development phase are General Dynamics Land Systems, HDT Global and a combined effort from Applied Research Associates and Polaris Defense.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Currently, research in the domain of flexible and stretchable supercapacitors is focused on adjusting electrodes, as they have the most significant effect on performance. However, the separator materials for such applications remain largely unexplored. Recently, a group of scientists from Skoltech and Aalto University (Finland) proposed a novel method for the fabrication of an all-nanotube stretchable supercapacitor from SWCNTs film electrodes and BNNTs separator.

Besides being dielectric, porous and chemically inert, the separators for stretchable supercapacitors need to withstand bending and stretching without severe structural damages. Materials that are known to meet these requirements include polymers and polymer-based electrolytes. However, despite being inexpensive and nontoxic, such separator applications. Another key component of the supercapacitors are electrodes, which have to be highly conductive and mechanically stable. In this study, researchers used carbon nanotube films (CNTs) as such material has a unique pore structure, high specific surface area, low electrical resistivity and high chemical stability, and exceptionally high Young's modulus of elasticity and tensile strength.

The BNNT separator of only 0.5 µm thickness ensured reliable short circuit protection and low equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the stretchable supercapacitor (SSC). The device, fabricated in a test cell configuration for material characterization retains 96 percent of its initial capacitance after 20 000 charging/discharging cycles with low equivalent series resistance of 4.6 Ω. The stretchable supercapacitor prototype withstands at least 1000 cycles of 50 percent strain with a slight increase in the volumetric capacitance and volumetric power density from 32 mW cm⁻³ to 40 mW cm⁻³ after stretching, which is higher than reported before. Moreover, a low resistance of 250 Ω for the as-fabricated stretchable prototype was obtained. The simple fabrication process of such devices can be easily extended, making the all-nanotube stretchable supercapacitors, presented here, promising elements in future wearable devices.

Original Submission

mrpg writes:

https://threatpost.com/mozilla-patches-critical-bug-in-thunderbird/129244/

Mozilla issued a critical security update to its popular open-source Thunderbird email client. The patch was part of a December release of five fixes that included two bugs rated high and one rated moderate and another low.

Mozilla said Thunderbird, which is also serves as a news, RSS and chat client, the latest Thunderbird 52.5.2 version released last week fixes the vulnerabilities.

The most serious of the fixes is a critical buffer overflow bug (CVE-2017-7845) impacting Thunderbird running on the Windows operating system. The bug is present when "drawing and validating elements with angle library using Direct 3D 9," according to the Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

What have the Romans ever done for us? Well, besides water systems, straight roads and central heating, the discovery of the Tantalus bowl now suggests they were the masters of cracking good jokes.

The function of the Tantalus bowl, which soaks whoever drinks from it in wine, was only fully realized after it was studied by an archaeologist from the British Museum. The bowl was uncovered in Vinkovci, eastern Croatia, in March 2012, and is believed to date back to the 4th century AD.

The silver object is a testimony to how, despite being regarded as one of the most sophisticated societies in the history of human civilization, the Romans were also a total bunch of jokers.

"This is the earliest example of a physical practical joke, certainly for the Romans," said Dr Richard Hobbs, curator of Roman Britain at the British Museum.

Source: https://www.rt.com/uk/414580-romans-tantalus-bowl-joke/

[For those who want to print their own version: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:562790 - Ed]

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The Hubble Space Telescope captured what looks like a colorful holiday ornament in space. It's actually an image of NGC 6326, a planetary nebula with glowing wisps of outpouring gas that are lit up by a central star nearing the end of its life.

When a star ages and the red giant phase of its life comes to an end, it starts to eject layers of gas from its surface leaving behind a hot and compact white dwarf. Sometimes this ejection results in elegantly symmetric patterns of glowing gas, but NGC 6326 is much less structured. This object is located in the constellation of Ara, the Altar, about 11,000 light-years from Earth.

Planetary nebulae are one of the main ways in which elements heavier than hydrogen and helium are dispersed into space after their creation in the hearts of stars. Eventually some of this out-flung material may form new stars and planets.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

The "frilled giant Pacific octopus" is being recognized as a distinct species:

What scientists are now calling the "frilled giant Pacific octopus" has been right under our noses the whole time - mistaken for the giant Pacific octopus, Enteroctopus dofleini. It's just that we didn't have enough evidence for a separate species, until now.

It doesn't have a scientific name, and it hasn't been fully described yet, but the frilled giant Pacific octopus has been confirmed using genetics.

[...] [Researchers] Nate Hollenbeck and David Scheel from Alaska Pacific University set out looking for that visual confirmation - for an octopus that was similar to, but nevertheless morphologically different from, Enteroctopus dofleini. [...] [They] retrieved 21 octopuses [from shrimp traps] - a full seven of which could be visually identified as distinct from the giant Pacific octopus.

The new octopus was defined by a frill of merged papillae - raised fleshy bumps on its skin - running the length of its body and two white spots on its head, where the great pacific octopus only has one spot. They all also had one long, thin, major papillae over each eye, a trait that occurs only rarely in the giant Pacific octopus. Some also had three smaller raised papillae under the eyes, like eyelashes; compound major papillae over the eye; or long, branched, antler-like papillae over the eyes. All of the new octopuses had at least one of these traits; none of the giant Pacific octopuses did.

Body Patterns of the Frilled Giant Pacific Octopus, a New Species of Octopus from Prince William Sound, AK (DOI: 10.4003/006.035.0206) (DX)

Use of Swabs for Sampling Epithelial Cells for Molecular Genetics Analyses in Enteroctopus (DOI: 10.4003/006.035.0207) (DX)

Nuclear and mitochondrial markers reveal evidence for genetically segregated cryptic speciation in giant Pacific octopuses from Prince William Sound, Alaska (DOI: 10.1007/s10592-012-0392-4) (DX)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Two Italian brothers noticed in 2012 that "Steve Jobs" was not trademarked, and now the entrepreneurs have won the right to use that name:

After years of legal battles, a pair of brothers — Vincenzo and Giacomo Barbato — have successfully managed to win a legal battle against Apple, earning the right to call their company "Steve Jobs," after Apple's iconic founder, according to la Repubblica Napoli.

The fight began back in 2012, when the two brothers noticed that Apple had never trademarked Jobs' name. The pair were already in the process of starting their own clothing and accessory company after spending years creating products for other brands, and decided that "Steve Jobs" would be the perfect name for their new brand.

Their logo, a stylized letter 'J' with a bite taken out of it, has been upheld as a unique trademark.

The brand name will be used on bags, t-shirts, and other fashion products, but the brothers also told Business Insider Italia that they plan to eventually create "Steve Jobs" branded electronics.

Also at Complex and CNET.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

FCC tries to make Miami pirate radio station walk the plank

"Pirate radio" in 2017 takes many forms, but here's one: a north Miami couple hosting a transmitter in their backyard shed while a DJ's signal is piped in over the Internet and promoted on Facebook—even after multiple warnings from the government and a gear seizure by the US Marshals. Oh—did I mention the $144,344 fine? Not that anyone's likely to pay it.

Welcome to 90.1 MHz, "Radio Touche Douce," a Haitian music station appearing to be so obviously illegal that it even has the ability to unite the current fractious set of FCC commissioners. It's not even a secret; as the Miami Herald notes, the station is "the pulse of the Haitian music industry in Miami, organizing some of the most popular big-ticket parties while promoting bands and guiding konpa music fans to the next hit." But that doesn't mean it has been easy to shut down.

Here, in statements pulled right from FCC documents, is the story of how Radio Touche Douce has operated for years right under the nose of government investigators—and how the FCC has now upped the ante.

Touche Douce Radio.

Original Submission

AnonTechie writes:

Have you ever had that nagging sensation that your computer was slower than it used to be? Or that your brand new laptop seemed much more sluggish than an old tower PC you once had? Dan Luu, a computer engineer who has previously worked at Google and Microsoft, had the same sensation, so he did what the rest of us would not: He decided to test a whole slew of computational devices ranging from desktops built in 1977 to computers and tablets built this year. And he learned that that nagging sensation was spot on—over the last 30 years, computers have actually gotten slower in one particular way.

Not computationally speaking, of course. Modern computers are capable of complex calculations that would be impossible for the earliest processors of the personal computing age. The Apple IIe, which ended up being the “fastest” desktop/laptop computer Luu tested, is capable of performing just 0.43 million instructions per second (MIPS) with its MOS 6502 processor. The Intel i7-7700k, found in the most powerful computer Luu tested, is capable of over 27,000 MIPS.

But Luu wasn’t testing how fast a computer processes complex data sets. Luu was interested in testing how the responsiveness of computers to human interaction had changed over the last three decades, and in that case, the Apple IIe is significantly faster than any modern computer.

https://gizmodo.com/the-one-way-your-laptop-is-actually-slower-than-a-30-ye-1821608743

Original Submission

takyon writes:

SoftBank has finally secured a large stake in Uber that devalues the company and reduces former CEO Travis Kalanick's influence on the company:

Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group has bought a 20 percent stake in Uber, completing a months-long process, according to the Wall Street Journal. The move drops Uber's value by about 30 percent from around $70 billion to $48 billion — a reflection of the trouble that the ride-hailing company has experienced across 2017.

More important than the valuation change, though, could be the impact SoftBank's new stake will have on the influence former CEO Travis Kalanick still has on the company. Kalanick resigned from his post earlier this year after a number of scandals, but still maintains a seat on the company's board of directors, where he is surrounded by allies and controls 16 percent of the voting power.

The SoftBank deal triggers new governance terms at Uber that were approved by the company's board in October, though. The size of the board will expand from 11 to 17, which dilutes the power Kalanick wields. Two of those seats will go to SoftBank.

Also at Recode, CNBC, and Quartz.

Previously: SoftBank to Invest Billions in Uber
SoftBank Knew of Data Breach at Uber
SoftBank Devalues Uber by 30% With Latest Offer

Original Submission