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takyon writes:

Cloaking devices -- it's not just 'Star Trek' anymore

During the 175th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, being held May 7-11, 2018, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, [Amanda D.] Hanford will describe the physics behind an underwater acoustic shield designed in her lab.

Hanford and her team set out to engineer a metamaterial that can allow the sound waves to bend around the object as if it were not there. Metamaterials commonly exhibit extraordinary properties not found in nature, like negative density. To work, the unit cell -- the smallest component of the metamaterial -- must be smaller than the acoustic wavelength in the study.

[...] To date, most acoustic metamaterials have been designed to deflect sound waves in air. Hanford decided to take this work one step further and accept the scientific challenge of trying the same feat underwater. Acoustic cloaking underwater is more complicated because water is denser and less compressible than air. These factors limit engineering options.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

New Ear Grown on Soldier's Forearm in First-of-its-kind Army Surgery

U.S. Army surgeons have grown a new ear on soldier's forearm to replace one that was lost in a car accident.

Doctors at William Beaumont Army Medical Center (WBAMC) in El Paso, Texas, took cartilage from the soldier's ribs to craft a new ear. This was then inserted under the skin of the forearm so that it could grow.

The groundbreaking technique—the first procedure of its kind in the Army—allows the ear to form new arteries, veins and even nerves, meaning the private should eventually regain sensation in the ear.

"The whole goal is by the time she's done with all this, it looks good, it's sensate, and in five years if somebody doesn't know her they won't notice," Lt. Col. Owen Johnson III, chief of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at WBAMC, said in a statement.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

Softpedia reports

The ReactOS project recently showcased on YouTube [that it's] possible to virtualize the Mac OS X 10.4 operating system on their free and open-source Windows alternative operating system.

Our "Watch" series of articles continues today with a very interesting one where you can see Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger running inside the ReactOS computer operating system, which we believe has come a long way, and it's beginning to look like a viable alternative to Microsoft's Windows 7 or Vista operating systems, perfect for desktop computers and laptops.

The latest release, ReactOS 0.4.8, showed us last month that it's now possible to use Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows Vista software on the free and open-source operating system that's binary compatible with computer programs and device drivers made for Windows.

It also introduced initial support for reading data from NTFS formatted drives, a new app similar to the DrWatson32 software for Windows, some user-visible changes like support for balloon notifications in the system tray area, and support for unmounting network drives directly from the file explorer.

The video is available on YouTube

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Increasing amounts of research show that hazardous smoke residues can be absorbed through the skin, ingested, and inhaled months and even years after smoke has dissipated.

The latest study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, shows how tobacco smoke from outdoor air can seep into a nonsmoking classroom and coat its surfaces, and how those hazardous chemicals often become airborne again and circulate throughout buildings via central air-conditioning systems.

From The Washington Post : Thirdhand smoke is widespread and may be dangerous, mounting evidence shows

Original Submission

martyb writes:

[Update: I noticed that the YouTube Live Feed page now shows the launch to be scheduled for 20:42 UTC -- a 30 minute delay. This is confirmed by SpaceX's Twitter feed. --martyb]

[Update 2: Another hour and 5 minutes of delay. T-0 scheduled for 5:47 PM EDT (21:47 UTC). --takyon]

[Update 3: The rocket aborted the launch sequence at T-58s. Launch window tomorrow at 4:14 PM EDT (20:14 UTC) to 6:21 PM EDT (22:21 UTC). --takyon]

[Update 3: The rocket aborted the launch sequence at T-58s. Launch window tomorrow at 4:14 PM EDT (20:14 UTC) to 6:21 PM EDT (22:21 UTC). --takyon]

[Update 4: Launch and booster landing successful. --takyon]

Ars Technica reports:

A Falcon 9 rocket has gone vertical on Thursday morning at Launch Complex 39A in Florida, and SpaceX is on track for the liftoff of a brand new version of its workhorse booster. The launch of the Bangabandhu Satellite-1 to geostationary transfer orbit is set for 4:12pm ET (20:12 UTC) Thursday, with a launch window that stretches for a little more than two hours.

The highlight of this flight is the debut of the Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 rocket (which Ars previewed thoroughly last week). SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said this will be the final "substantial" upgrade to the Falcon 9 rocket, optimizing the booster for reuse. The company hopes to be able to fly each Block 5 first stage 10 times before significant refurbishment is required.

[...] Ten flights of an individual booster would be hugely significant, as SpaceX has thus far only ever reused each of its Falcon 9 rockets a single time. Additionally, the company hopes to reduce the turnaround time between launches of a Falcon 9 booster, now several months, to a matter of weeks.

Uber Aims to Make its Flying Car Service Cheaper Than Ground Car Ownership

takyon writes:

At Uber's Elevate conference, the company revealed some price targets for its upcoming vertical takeoff and landing flying taxi service:

The passenger cost per mile, [Uber Head of Elevate Eric] Allison said, needs to be competitive with the variable cost of car ownership. Car ownership, on a per mile basis, costs between $0.464 to $0.608, according to AAA.

However, uberAIR will not be cheaper on a cost per passenger mile at launch. Initially, uberAIR will cost $5.73 per passenger mile. In the near-term, Uber says it will get the cost down to $1.86 per passenger mile before ideally getting to $0.44 per passenger mile. At that point, it would actually be cheaper to use uberAIR.

uberAIR is scheduled to begin testing in 2020, with the first official passenger trip in 2023.

Additionally, Uber will collaborate with NASA and the U.S. Army on its uberAIR plans:

An Anonymous Coward writes:

I tried searching and came to the conclusion this does not exist. I would like a tablet with the following features:

• Easy to install (or pre-installed) LineageOS, or some other open source OS that doesnt require any fighting with bloatware or control over updates (please give your opinion on what is best)
• Easy to open up and repair (and mod) the device hardware myself without any special tools (ie, standard electronics screwdrivers, etc)
• Matte screen with dynamic range that allows the screen to be bright enough to use in the sun but dark enough to use while falling asleep.

I don't plan on using it for anything besides basic web browsing and pdf reading, so it should be cheap. However, price is no object if it has those features. There was one other soft criteria but it sounded like an ad so I removed it... See if you can guess.

Original Submission

Two bits of news from Asia, widely covered elsewhere. However, are we beginning to see a peace dividend as a result of the thawing in relationships between North and South Korea?

American prisoners held in North Korea on their way home after Pompeo visit, Trump says

realDonaldTrump writes:

"Three American prisoners held in North Korea have been released and are en route to the U.S. after a surprise diplomatic mission by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, President Trump announced Wednesday. " foxnews.com/politics/2018/05/09/american-prisoners-held-in-north-korea-on-their-way-home-after-pompeo-visit-trump-says.html

[Ed Note: They should be back in the US by now although I have not seen any direct reporting of this at the time of editing this story. Anyway, welcome back guys!]

Update: North Korea summit: Trump greets freed US detainees

China, Japan, South Korea open three-way summit

realDonaldTrump writes:

"China, South Korea and Japan have begun their first trilateral summit in more than two years.

[...] They are expected to take up the recent flurry of developments on the Korean peninsula. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Moon on April 27 and Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this week.

Abe said he hopes North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons in a complete and irreversible way.

Li said China is willing to work with Japan and South Korea to maintain regional stability.

The three-way summit is supposed to happen annually, but hasn't been held since November 2015 because of tense relations between Japan and China." foxnews.com/world/2018/05/08/latest-china-japan-south-korea-open-three-way-summit.html

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

The World Socialist Web Site reports

Injured Amazon worker Shannon Allen spoke to the International Amazon Workers Voice about the conditions at the DFW-7 fulfillment center in Haslet, Texas. Shannon described brutal working conditions, authoritarian-style surveillance of workers, and management demands to maintain frenetic rates of speed.

Shannon, 49, lives in Azle, Texas, a small town on the western outskirts of Fort Worth. She was injured while working at Amazon, returned to the job, and was injured again at the same workstation. Physically unable to continue work, Shannon now faces homelessness on top of her injuries, but she is determined to "fight or die".

[...] To maximize her income, Shannon volunteered for the overnight shift on Saturday through Thursday. The shift begins at 6:30 at night and ends at 5:00 in the morning. However, once Shannon received her first paycheck, she realized that her pay was $13 per hour for the weekend shifts, not the $13.50 that had been promised.

[...] Shannon worked as a "counter", whose job was to check the work of the pickers and stowers. Fail to catch a mistake, and become a target of a punitive system of "quality errors" and "write-ups".

Not long after starting to work at Amazon, Shannon began to recognize what she called the "dirty secrets". "These are the things they don't tell you about when you're hired."

takyon writes:

NASA chief on Moon return: "This will not be Lucy and the football again"

In 1989, President George H.W. Bush announced the Space Exploration Initiative, a long-range commitment toward the human exploration of deep space, beginning with a return to the Moon. "Major parts of that policy went forward, but establishing permanence on the Moon was abandoned," Bridenstine said Tuesday. Then, in 2004, President George W. Bush announced a bold plan to send humans back to the Moon, where they would learn how to operate in deep space and then go on to Mars. This became the Constellation program. Again, major parts of that policy went forward, Bridenstine said. But NASA abandoned the drive back to the Moon.

Before the US Senate confirmed pilot and former congressman Bridenstine, the Trump administration announced a plan to send humans back to the Moon. "To many, this may sound similar to our previous attempts to get to the Moon," Bridenstine said Tuesday. "However, times have changed. This will not be Lucy and the football again."

How have times changed? During his brief address, Bridenstine listed several technologies that he believes have lowered the cost of a lunar return. These include the miniaturization of electronics that will allow for smaller robotic vehicles, the decreasing costs of launch, private investment in spaceflight, commercial interest in lunar resources, and new ways of government contracting. (Bridenstine did not mention the Space Launch System rocket or the Orion spacecraft).

The speech was only a few minutes long, so I wouldn't read too much into the absence of SLS/Orion. But it's no secret that BFR could deliver 150 metric tons to the Moon or Mars by using in-orbit refueling, vs. a lot less when using the expensive SLS.

Previously:

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

President Trump Nominates Congressman Jim Bridenstine to Lead NASA
President Trump Signs Space Policy Directive 1
NASA's Acting Administrator to Retire as Nominee Impasse Continues
Senate Narrowly Confirms Trump's Pick to Head NASA
2020s to Become the Decade of Lunar Re-Exploration

Related:

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

Should We Skip Mars for Now and Go to the Moon Again?
How to Get Back to the Moon in 4 Years, Permanently
After the Falcon Heavy Launch, Time to Defund the Space Launch System?
President Trump Praises Falcon Heavy, Diminishes NASA's SLS Effort
NASA's Chief of Human Spaceflight Rules Out Use of Falcon Heavy for Lunar Station
NASA Cancels Lunar Rover

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/police-drop-charges-in-nova-scotia-government-breach-1.4651543

"Spokesperson Neera Ritcey said in an email Monday that after a thorough investigation, police determined there were no grounds to lay a charge of unauthorized use of a computer against the teen."

See also

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/freedom-of-information-request-privacy-breach-teen-speaks-out-1.4621970

http://dilbert.com/strip/2018-05-09

Previously

https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/04/23/001205

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Japan's Recruit Buys Jobs Website Glassdoor for $1.2 Billion

Japanese human-resources and consumer-information provider Recruit Holdings Co. has agreed to buy Glassdoor for $1.2 billion in cash. Through the tie-up, Recruit will gain access to the U.S. website's extensive cache of content such as employee reviews, while Glassdoor will seek to accelerate its push into non-U.S. markets. Recruit shares rose as much as 3 percent in Tokyo.

[...] Glassdoor runs the second-largest job website in the U.S. and is known for hosting anonymous employee reviews about the culture and management of their companies. Glassdoor was taking steps earlier this year toward an initial public offering and was said to be interviewing banks for a market debut in 2018.

Also at TechCrunch.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Google has shown off some new augmented reality features at its I/O conference. Google Maps will get an augmented reality Street View:

Google showed off new features for Google Maps at I/O today, including an augmented reality Street View mode to help you follow directions in real time, along with personalized recommendations to help you discover places in your neighborhood.

The new AR features combine Google's existing Street View and Maps data with a live feed from your phone's camera to overlay walking directions on top of the real world and help you figure out which way you need to go. It's a lot like the promises Google had made with the original version of Google Glass, except without the need for wearing an additional AR headset.

No need for an AR headset? What if I want to walk around without holding a phone?*

Google has also updated ARCore, with version 1.2:

Google is launching a new version of its augmented reality platform for Android, ARCore 1.2. Version 1.2 adds support for wall detection, launching an AR experience via image recognition, a new "Sceneform" framework, and a "Cloud Anchors" feature that enables shared experiences not just across Android devices—it works on top of iOS' ARKit, too.

Google launched ARCore version 1.0 in February as its big reboot of the Project Tango augmented reality project. Where Tango was focused on special hardware with extra sensors and cameras, ARCore tries to replicate some of that functionality on a normal smartphone. ARCore doesn't work on every single Android phone; instead, it works on a model-by-model basis (mostly on flagships) and requires some work from the device manufacturer. Most of the major Android OEMs, like Samsung, LG, and OnePlus, are signed up though, and today ARCore has a supported install base of more than 100 million devices.

Google Lens, an augmented reality service which overlays information on top of objects seen by a smartphone camera, will be integrated into the default camera app of at least 10 Android smartphones, instead of operating separately. It will also add new features, including real-time search displayed within the camera app (e.g. point your camera at a concert poster and begin playing a video of the artist's new single), and "smart text selection" (e.g. point it at a handwritten recipe to convert it into a document).

*And still be blessed by Google's guidance.

Related: Google Announces "Lens" Augmented Reality Service
Google's Project Tango Shutting Down, to be Replaced by ARCore

Original Submission

frojack writes:

Reason and the WaPost as well as many other sites are still rolling on the floor laughing at the assertion made by Chad Larner, the director of Maron County's K-9 Training Academy.

In a bid to protest legalization, the Illinois police have threatened to kill their dogs if marijuana is legalized. This could mean euthanizing hundreds of dogs trained to sniff out marijuana and other illegal substances.

Chad Larner claims:

Chad Larner, dismissed the idea of retraining dogs, saying it would amount to "extreme abuse" to change their mindset. K-9s are rewarded for successfully alerting to the presence of narcotics, and they continue to train regularly with their handlers for a suggested minimum of 16 hours a month.

[...] Because many K-9s are trained not to be social so their work won't be affected, Larner said a number of dogs would likely have to be euthanized.

While at the same time claiming the dogs are trained for many roles:

There are about 275 certified narcotic detection K-9s in Illinois, Larner said. Most of the dogs are dual-purpose, meaning they are trained to find drugs and to track and apprehend suspects and missing persons.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

House spending bill offers $21.5 billion for NASA in 2019

A House appropriations bill released May 8 offers more than $21.5 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2019, a significant increase over both what the agency received in 2018 and what the White House proposed for 2019.

While there is no mention of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) or the possibility of raising the James Webb Space Telescope's $8 billion spending cap, there is plenty of money for a Europa mission (a favorite of Rep. John Culberson) and continued development of the Space Launch System (SLS):

The bill, though, does specify funding for some programs. It calls for spending $545 million on the Europa Clipper mission and $195 million for a follow-on lander. NASA requested only $264.7 million for Europa Clipper and nothing for the lander. NASA said in the budget proposal it was seeking to launch Europa Clipper in 2025 on a commercial vehicle, while the bill calls for the use of the Space Launch System and a launch by 2022. In its budget proposal, NASA estimated needing $565 million in 2019 to keep Europa Clipper on track for a 2022 launch but warned of "potential impacts to the rest of the Science portfolio" if funded at that level.

The bill includes $1.35 billion for Orion and $2.15 billion for SLS, the same funding those exploration programs received in 2018. NASA requested slightly less for each: $1.164 billion for Orion and $2.078 billion for SLS. The bill fully funds the administration's request for the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, at $504 million in 2019.

WFIRST was given $150 million in a 2018 omnibus spending bill, staving off its possible cancellation, but its future may still be in peril due to JWST delays:

Congress, in the 2018 omnibus spending bill, provided $150 million for WFIRST, which many interpreted as a rebuke to the administration's proposal even though Congress had yet to take up the 2019 budget. However, Congress passed the 2018 omnibus spending bill just days before NASA revealed another delay, and potential cost overrun, for JWST, complicating the future of WFIRST.

As with PACE, work on WFIRST is continuing for 2018 as the appropriations process for 2019 plays out in Congress. The mission's next major review, for Key Decision Point B, is scheduled for May 22, which will allow it go into Phase B of its development.

"We were funded fully through FY '18," said Jeff Kruk, WFIRST project scientist, at the Space Studies Board meeting May 3. "We have to be ready to proceed should Congress decide to continue funding the mission. The only way we will meet the cost cap is if we stay on schedule."

Original Submission

martyb writes:

[Update 5: All done. Nuttin but net. --TMB]

[Update 4: As of 20180509 @ 11:55 UTC, beryllium has been successfully rebooted. This leaves hydrogen to be rebooted in just over 13 hours. --martyb]

[Update 3: As of 20180509 @ 0414 UTC, both lithium and sodium appear to have successfully completed their reboots. That leaves beryllium (1hr45m from now) and hydrogen (20h45m from now) to complete their reboots. --martyb]

[Update 2: The second round of reboots went peachy keen as well. Next round starts at 3AM UTC (7 hours from this story's time) with our dev server (lithium). An hour later the load balancer (sodium) that I switched us off of this morning will reboot. Two hours after that the box (beryllium) that hosts the wiki, mail, IRC, and some other lesser-used stuff will get bounced. If you can't stand being disconnected from IRC for a few minutes, add irc2.sylnt.us (6667/6697) to the list of servers for this network. --TMB]

[Update 1: The first scheduled reboot (of fluorine) was successful. The two-hour reboot window for helium starts 1.5 hours from the date/time stamp for this story. Two hours after that marks the commencement of the two-hour reboot window for boron, magnesium, and neon. We do not anticipate any site interruption as a result of these reboots. --martyb]

We have been informed by Linode (on which all of the SoylentNews servers are hosted) that maintenance is required to mitigate against the Spectre (v1 and v2) attacks. As a result, all of our servers will require a reboot. Historically, any given server is down for anywhere from 15-30 minutes. We have redundancies in place for many of our operations, but there may be some unavoidable downtime. We ask your patience and understanding during this process.

The scheduled reboots are:

[1] Unable to process subscriptions or update comment counts or deliver messages until it reboots.

[2] IRC (Internet Relay Chat) server will be unavailable.

Original Submission

-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

OpenSource.com reports

Dana Lewis is the 2018 Women in Open Source Community Award winner! Here is her story about how open source improved her health in a big way.

Dana has Type 1 diabetes and commercially available medical devices were failing her. The continuous glucose monitor (CGM) alarm she was using to manage her blood sugar was not loud enough to wake her up. The product design put her in danger every time she went to sleep.

"I went to a bunch of manufacturers and asked what they could do, and I was told, 'It's loud enough for most people.' I was told that 'it's not a problem for most people, and we're working on it. It'll be out in a future version.'' That was all really frustrating to hear, but at the same time, I didn't feel like I could do anything about it because it's an FDA-approved medical device. You can't change it."

These obstacles aside, Dana thought that if she could get her data from the device, she could use her phone to make a louder alarm. Toward the end of 2013, she saw a tweet that provided an answer to her problem. The author of the tweet, who is the parent of a child with diabetes, had reverse-engineered a CGM to get the data off his child's device so that he could monitor his child's blood sugar remotely.

She realized that if he was willing to share, she could use the same code to build a louder alarm system.

"I didn't understand that it was perfectly normal to ask people to share code. That was my first introduction to open source."