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takyon writes:

The UK may deploy its own constellation of navigation satellites due to being excluded from the European Union's Galileo project:

Britain is considering setting up a satellite navigation system to rival the European Union's Galileo project amid a row over attempts to restrict Britain's access to sensitive security information after Brexit, the Financial Times reported.

[...] "The UK's preference is to remain in Galileo as part of a strong security partnership with Europe. If Galileo no longer meets our security requirements and UK industry cannot compete on a fair basis, it is logical to look at alternatives," she said.

The European Commission has started to exclude Britain and its companies from sensitive future work on Galileo ahead of the country's exit from the EU in a year's time, a move which UK business minister Greg Clark said threatened security collaboration.

"We have made it clear we do not accept the Commission's position on Galileo, which could seriously damage mutually beneficial collaboration on security and defence matters," he said in an emailed statement.

Although basic Galileo services are supposedly free and open to everyone with no risk of being disabled or degraded, higher-precision capability is available only to paying commercial users.

Now we have GPS, Galileo, BeiDou/COMPASS, GLONASS, IRNSS/NAVIC, QZSS, and possibly a British satnav system in the future. Devices can use multiple systems to achieve greater precision. Check out this comparison of systems.

Also at BBC and The Independent.

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

This is not a great time to be tone deaf about privacy. Between Facebook's rapid fall from grace to the grand launch of the EU's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) privacy legislation next month, people are more sensitive than ever about their personal information.

Into this climate, Warsaw-based GOG -- Good Old Games, owned by CD Projekt Group -- launched a user profiles feature that many feel lacks important privacy guards, such as the ability to completely hide your profile, as well as the fact that it's opt-out rather than opt-in, and that the site announced it in a forum post (where many won't see it) rather than a blast email.

Source: GOG debuts profiles feature, users flip out

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takyon writes:

WASP-104b is Darker than Charcoal

By analysing the K2 short-cadence data from Campaign 14 we detect phase-curve modulation in the light curve of the hot-Jupiter host star WASP-104. The ellipsoidal modulation is detected with high significance and in agreement with theoretical expectations, while Doppler beaming and reflection modulations are detected tentatively. We show that the visual geometric albedo is lower than 0.03 at 95% confidence, making it one of the least-reflective planets found to date. The light curve also exhibits a rotational modulation, implying a stellar rotational period likely to be near 23 or 46 days. In addition, we refine the system parameters and place tight upper limits for transit timing and duration variations, starspot occultation events, and additional transiting planets.

WASP-104b's albedo was previously thought to be 0.4 (absorbing 60% of incoming light).

Also at ScienceAlert.

Related: NASA Finds a Pitch-Black Hot Jupiter Exoplanet (WASP-12b)

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takyon writes:

Amazon has unveiled a Kids Edition of its Echo Dot smart speaker:

The $79 Echo Dot Kids Edition takes the original device's design and wraps it in a kid-friendly, colorful case. Otherwise, the hardware is the same as the tiny smart speaker that debuted in 2016. While the regular, $49 Dot is considered a more affordable and accessible version of the regular Echo speaker, the Kids Edition costs more thanks to its bundled software. Amazon includes a two-year warranty plus a one-year subscription to the new Amazon FreeTime Unlimited service, an expanded version of Amazon's new FreeTime for Alexa.

FreeTime gives users "family-focused features" and new parental controls that adults can use to restrict what their kids can do with Alexa. Family features include "Education Q&A," allowing kids to ask Alexa science, math, spelling, and definition questions, "Alexa Speaks 'Kid,'" which gives Alexa kid-appropriate answers to nebulous statements that kids may say such as, "Alexa, I'm bored." Parents can also limit the times during which kids can speak to Alexa (like no talking to it after bedtime), restrict the skills kids can use, filter out songs with explicit lyrics, and more.

[...] But even with the added parental controls, some will be wary of a speaker designed to listen to their children. Like the original Dot, the Kids Edition has a mute button and parents can put the device in "sleep mode" to prevent it from responding to commands. However, the mic will always be listening for its wake-word just like other Echo devices.

In the new Parent Dashboard in the Alexa app and online, parents can monitor how kids are using their Echos (including all their utterances, or the phrases Alexa thinks it heard before trying to respond) and limit their abilities. According to a Buzzfeed report, Amazon claims it isn't making back-end profiles for users with data harvested from Alexa. While the virtual assistant can now recognize voices and provide personalized answers based on who's talking, the company maintains that data is only being used to make Alexa smarter and more tailored to each user.

Also at CNN and Fortune.

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takyon writes:

Google's spending spree rattles Wall Street

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, racked up $7.7 billion in capital expenditures for the first three months of 2018 on everything from real estate to undersea cables.

The company reported strong growth in sales and profit for the quarter on Monday, fueled by the strength of its advertising business and helped by a lower tax rate. But its staggering investments appear to be rattling Wall Street. Google's stock fell as much as 5% in early trading Tuesday.

"The big story from the results was the significant rise in expenses," Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research, wrote in an investor note Monday night.

Alphabet spent $2.4 billion in March to buy Cheslea Market in Manhattan to expand its office space in New York City. The company also said it invested in data centers, production equipment and undersea cables.

Also at Bloomberg and Reuters.

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-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

Gazette Day reports:

In the year 2016, there was a heatwave that affected many parts of the world. The extreme temperatures were especially felt in and around the continent of Australia. As a result of the heatwave, the waters around the Great Barrier Reef warmed considerably. Scientists were worried that with the oceans already warming due to global climate change, the additional heat stress might cause considerable damage to the Great Barrier Reef.

After the heatwave subsided, a team of scientists conducted tests to find out how the heatwave damaged the reef. Extensive aerial surveys were conducted. These surveys concluded that a great deal of the reef had bleaching that had killed off many parts of the reef. [...] The surveys found that 90 percent of the corals in the reef suffered at least some type of bleaching. The worst damage was on the northernmost third of the reef. In this section, much of the damage was caused by the initial rise in temperature.

The other damage occurred later. The coral reefs depend on a symbiotic relationship with a certain type of algae. Over the course of a few months after the heating event, the algae separated from the reef causing additional reef death.

During the heating event in 2016, one-third of the coral reefs in the world were bleached and damaged in some way. The reefs do have the ability to come back from this [heat-induced damage] as long as the damaging events are not too frequent.

Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages (DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0041-2) (DX)

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

A new RAND Corporation paper finds that artificial intelligence has the potential to upend the foundations of nuclear deterrence by the year 2040.

While AI-controlled doomsday machines are considered unlikely, the hazards of artificial intelligence for nuclear security lie instead in its potential to encourage humans to take potentially apocalyptic risks, according to the paper.

During the Cold War, the condition of mutual assured destruction maintained an uneasy peace between the superpowers by ensuring that any attack would be met by a devastating retaliation. Mutual assured destruction thereby encouraged strategic stability by reducing the incentives for either country to take actions that might escalate into a nuclear war.

The new RAND publication says that in coming decades, artificial intelligence has the potential to erode the condition of mutual assured destruction and undermine strategic stability. Improved sensor technologies could introduce the possibility that retaliatory forces such as submarine and mobile missiles could be targeted and destroyed. Nations may be tempted to pursue first-strike capabilities as a means of gaining bargaining leverage over their rivals even if they have no intention of carrying out an attack, researchers say. This undermines strategic stability because even if the state possessing these capabilities has no intention of using them, the adversary cannot be sure of that.

"The connection between nuclear war and artificial intelligence is not new, in fact the two have an intertwined history," said Edward Geist, co-author on the paper and associate policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization. "Much of the early development of AI was done in support of military efforts or with military objectives in mind."

[...] Under fortuitous circumstances, artificial intelligence also could enhance strategic stability by improving accuracy in intelligence collection and analysis, according to the paper. While AI might increase the vulnerability of second-strike forces, improved analytics for monitoring and interpreting adversary actions could reduce miscalculation or misinterpretation that could lead to unintended escalation.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

World IP Review reports

Inter partes reviews (IPRs) do not violate the US Constitution and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has authority to invalidate patents.

This is the holding of the US Supreme Court, which handed down its decision in Oil States Energy Services v Greene's Energy Group today.

In June last year, the court granted[1] Oil States' petition for certiorari.

Oil States, a provider of services to oil and gas companies, had claimed that the IPR process at the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) violates the right to a jury in an Article III court (a federal court established under Article III of the US Constitution).

The service provider added that although in certain situations non-Article III tribunals may exercise jurisdiction over disputes involving "public rights", this doesn't apply to IPRs because patents are private property rights.

The Supreme Court asked the government to weigh in--Noel Francisco, the acting solicitor general, submitted a brief[1] on behalf of the US government in October 2017.

"Consistent with longstanding practice, the Patent Act authorises USPTO examiners within the executive branch to determine in the first instance whether patents should be granted. That allocation of authority is clearly constitutional", he said.

Siding with the US government, in a 7-2 opinion, the Supreme Court rejected Oil States' argument and found that patents are "public" rights, not "private" in an IPR context.

"The primary distinction between IPR and the initial grant of a patent is that IPR occurs after the patent has issued. But that distinction does not make a difference here", said the court.

[1] Paywall after first article, apparently.

Also at Ars Technica.

Original Submission   Alternate Submission

Children have energy levels greater than endurance athletes, scientists find

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

Parents run ragged by their children may have suspected it all along.

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2018/04/24/children-have-energy-levels-greater-endurance-athletes-scientists/

Children Are As Fit As Endurance Athletes

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Children not only have fatigue-resistant muscles, but recover very quickly from high-intensity exercise -- even faster than well-trained adult endurance athletes. This is the finding of new research published in open-access journal Frontiers in Physiology, which compared the energy output and post-exercise recovery rates of young boys, untrained adults and endurance athletes. The research could help develop athletic potential in children as well as improve our understanding of how our bodies change from childhood to adulthood -- including how these processes contribute to the risk of diseases such as diabetes.

"During many physical tasks, children might tire earlier than adults because they have limited cardiovascular capability, tend to adopt less-efficient movement patterns and need to take more steps to move a given distance. Our research shows children have overcome some of these limitations through the development of fatigue-resistant muscles and the ability to recover very quickly from high-intensity exercise," say Sébastien Ratel, Associate Professor in Exercise Physiology who completed this study at the Université Clermont Auvergne, France, and co-author Anthony Blazevich, Professor in Biomechanics at Edith Cowan University, Australia.

Previous research has shown that children do not tire as quickly as untrained adults during physical tasks. Ratel and Blazevich suggested the energy profiles of children could be comparable to endurance athletes, but there was no evidence to prove this until now.

The researchers asked three different groups -- 8-12 year-old boys and adults of two different fitness levels -- to perform cycling tasks. The boys and untrained adults were not participants in regular vigorous physical activity. In contrast the last group, the endurance athletes, were national-level competitors at triathlons or long-distance running and cycling.

Each group was assessed for the body's two different ways of producing energy. The first, aerobic, uses oxygen from the blood. The second, anaerobic, doesn't use oxygen and produces acidosis and lactate (often known by the incorrect term, lactic acid), which may cause muscle fatigue. The participants' heart-rate, oxygen levels and lactate-removal rates were checked after the cycling tasks to see how quickly they recovered.

In all tests, the children outperformed the untrained adults.

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

canopic jug writes:

Reuters has reported that, in a defeat for the publisher Springer, the German Supreme Court has ruled that ad blockers are legal.

Germany's Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a case brought by Axel Springer seeking to ban a popular application that blocks online advertising, in a landmark ruling that deals a blow to the publishing industry.

The court found in favor of Adblock Plus adblockplus.org, an app marketed by a firm called Eyeo that has been downloaded more than 100 million times by users around the world seeking protection from unwanted or intrusive online advertising.

That is followed by some analysis by Rick Falkvinge on the court's decision over at the Private Internet Access blog.

Related on SN:
Ad-Blocking Brave Browser Will Offer Free Cryptocurrency to All Users
Malvertising Campaign Finds a Way Around Ad Blockers
Ransomware Spreads Through Advertising on Major Sites
and many more ...

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Coca-Cola sales surge after Diet Coke reboot

Coca-Cola Co beat Wall Street estimates with quarterly results on Tuesday, citing more demand for Coke Zero Sugar and new flavors under its Diet Coke brand as overall revenue topped expectations by around $300 million.

[...] The company said the launch of its popular low-calorie Diet Coke in sleeker tins and flavors including ginger-lime and feisty cherry drove Diet Coke volumes up 3 percent, marking a return to growth for the brand in North America.

[...] The strong results come as Coke diversifies its portfolio to include more low-sugar drinks with fewer calories to appeal to consumers reaching for healthier produce, while simultaneously spending more on marketing its core Coca-Cola brands.

Also at Bloomberg and CNBC.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Democrat Mignon Clyburn is leaving the Federal Communications Commission after nine years of service. As part of the FCC's Democratic majority from 2009 through 2016, Clyburn repeatedly voted for consumer-protection regulations over the objections of Internet service providers. More recently, Clyburn has been on the losing end of many votes as the FCC's new Republican majority deregulates the broadband and telecom industries.

Clyburn's term expired in June 2017, but commission rules allowed her to stay until the end of 2018 if she had chosen to do so. Rather than seek a new five-year term, she announced that today's [April 17] FCC meeting would be her last.

Being an FCC commissioner has been "the most incredible opportunity for me," Clyburn said at the meeting. "In my wildest dreams, if I could have crafted my destiny, I never would have dreamed of this."

Clyburn served as the FCC's interim chair for six months in 2013 before giving way to Democratic Chairman Tom Wheeler, who frequently called Clyburn "the conscience of the commission."

"Mignon Clyburn will go down in history as one of the best FCC commissioners of all time," former FCC official and consumer advocate Gigi Sohn said today. "For nearly nine years, she has been a vocal and passionate advocate for the public interest and defender of the most vulnerable in our society."

[...] Rosenworcel will be the lone Democrat on the commission after Clyburn's departure. There are three Republicans. President Trump and the Senate will be responsible for filling the Democratic seat to restore the 3-2 split.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Apple Korea has a new chief. He's none other than a former top executive at Samsung.

Former Samsung Corporate Vice President Brandon Yoon has left his post to join the iPhone maker at its South Korea office this month, his LinkedIn profile reveals. He was in charge of digital strategies at Samsung, his LinkedIn page says, while he'll be acting as general manager at Apple. The move was first spotted by Bloomberg.

[...] Samsung has declined to comment on Yoon's move. Apple did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

A new DNA structure inside human cells known as the “i-motif”, has been identified by scientists.  

This form resembles a twisted “knot” of DNA, instead of the well-known double helix first described by James Watson and Francis Crick.

Lab work has previously suggested the existence of DNA in this form, but this is the first time it has been observed in living cells.

The scientists are not exactly sure what the function the i-motif is, but they suspect it is involved with the process of “reading” DNA sequences and converting them into useful substances.

[...]

A conventional strand of DNA is made up of “base pairings”. The building blocks of the double helix are substances called bases – adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine.

takyon writes:

In a world first, Garvan researchers have identified a new four-stranded 'tangled knot' structure that comes and goes in the DNA of living human cells.

In a world first, Australian researchers have identified a new DNA structure – called the i-motif – inside cells. A twisted 'knot' of DNA, the i-motif has never before been directly seen inside living cells.

[...] "When most of us think of DNA, we think of the double helix," says Associate Professor Daniel Christ, Head of the Antibody Therapeutics Lab at Garvan and and a conjoint Associate Professor in UNSW Medicine, who co-led the research. "This new research reminds us that totally different DNA structures exist and could well be important for our cells."

"The i-motif is a four-stranded 'knot' of DNA," says Associate Professor Marcel Dinger, Head,of the Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics at Garvan, who co-led the research with Associate Professor Christ. "In the knot structure, C letters on the same strand of DNA bind to each other – so this is very different from a double helix, where 'letters' on opposite strands recognise each other, and where Cs bind to Gs [guanines]."

Although researchers have seen the i-motif before and have studied it in detail, it has only been witnessed in vitro – that is, under artificial conditions in the laboratory, and not inside cells. In fact, scientists in the field have debated whether i-motif 'knots' would exist at all inside living things – a question that is resolved by the new findings.

I-motif DNA structures are formed in the nuclei of human cells (DOI: 10.1038/s41557-018-0046-3) (DX)

takyon writes:

Machine learning algorithms are now involved in the bulk of video removal from YouTube. ~80% of videos removed by YouTube in Q4 2017 were initially flagged by a computer, with many receiving less than 10 views before removal:

The vast majority of videos removed from YouTube toward the end of last year for violating the site's content guidelines had first been detected by machines instead of humans, the Google-owned company said on Monday. YouTube said it took down 8.28 million videos during the fourth quarter of 2017, and about 80 percent of those videos had initially been flagged by artificially intelligent computer systems.

The new data highlighted the significant role machines — not just users, government agencies and other organizations — are taking in policing the service as it faces increased scrutiny over the spread of conspiracy videos, fake news and violent content from extremist organizations. Those videos are sometimes promoted by YouTube's recommendation system and unknowingly financed by advertisers, whose ads are placed next to them through an automated system.

[...] Betting on improvements in artificial intelligence is a common Silicon Valley approach to dealing with problematic content; Facebook has also said it is counting on A.I. tools to detect fake accounts and fake news on its platform. But critics have warned against depending too heavily on computers to replace human judgment.

Also at Recode.

Previously:
Google Fails to Stop Major Brands From Pulling Ads From YouTube
AI Beating Mechanical Turks at YouTube Censorship Accuracy

Related:
YouTube Cracks Down on Weird Content Aimed at Kids
A.I. Algorithm Recognizes Terrorist Propaganda With 99% Accuracy

Original Submission