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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Among many things that former head of the EPA Scott Pruitt did during his time at the agency was to cease enforcement of emissions standards for so-called "Glider" trucks. Gliders are new heavy truck chassis that have older, less technologically advanced and emissions-compliant engines installed into them.

The Obama administration sought to close the loopholes that allow gliders to be built and sold in significant numbers in an effort to curb their pollution but Pruitt opted to toss that aside in the name of business. We've covered the glider situation in the past, but the big news is that the new acting head of the EPA, a former coal lobbyist, has moved to reinstate the Obama regulations after a court insisted that they be enforced once again.

[...] Many trucking fleets like gliders because they are often cheaper to maintain and run than modern trucks, but the amount of pollutants that they emit can be hundreds of times more than the federal standards would allow. The laws that permitted gliders to be built in the first place were designed primarily to reduce the number of wrecked trucks going into scrap yards, instead giving their engines new homes. That kind of backfired.

-- submitted from IRC

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"exec" writes:

The European Court of Justice has thrown out an appeal by the chocolate bar's maker, Nestlé, which argued that it owns the shape of the teatime treat.

Nestlé has spent more than a decade fighting to trademark the four-fingered wafer shape - something that rival Cadbury had fought hard against.

But Wednesday's judgement found that a previous court had been right to annul the decision by Europe's trademark group.

That could bring an end to the snack's protected European status - and a saga that has proved expensive for both sides.

It also takes the pressure off identical treats like Norway's Kvikk Lunsj - pronounced "quick lunch" and which has been around for 80 years - and opens the door to own-brand imitations at your local supermarket.

[...] Nestlé said that Wednesday's judgement was "not the end of the case" and that it believed the EU trademark office will side with the company anyway.

"We think the evidence proves that the familiar shape of our iconic four-finger Kit Kat is distinctive enough to be registered as an EU trademark," a spokesman said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-44939819

-- submitted from IRC

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Via the good people at io9, my attention was drawn this morning to news that Dune is coming back to the silver screen. This is probably old news to many of you; we've known for a while that the man at the helm is Denis Villeneuve, fresh off Blade Runner 2049 (a worthy sequel to most everyone's favorite futuristic film noir), and just this week Deadline pegged a certain young Hollywood heartthrob for Atreides.

The latest news, however, is that Brian Herbert—son of Dune author Frank Herbert and an author in his own right—revealed that the first script will only focus on the first half of the novel. This confirms an earlier report that Villeneuve plans to adapt the book across two movies.

Herbert's epic sci-fi novel is set far off in the future—about 20,000 years from now—and it tells the story of an intergalactic power struggle between different noble houses to control a substance called melange, which makes interstellar travel possible. (That's massively underselling things, but you try summarizing a 400-page novel in one sentence.) Published in 1965, it has gone on to have a huge influence in popular culture; here at Ars, our favorite descendants are Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice" and the frequent references to the litany of fear by Peter Puppy in the Earthworm Jim cartoons. (The recreation of Dune using gummy worms gets a notable mention.)

[...] By now you may have decided I am an uncritical viewer of all things Dune, so you may not be surprised to know that I am greatly looking forward to see what Villeneuve does with the story. Again, I think he did a bang-up job with a follow-on to Blade Runner, but it's true there's not much similarity between the two franchises other than the fact that they both take place in the future. Other Dune watchers are less confident—upon the news that Kevin J. Anderson (of Star Wars novels fame) was collaborating with Brian Herbert, Ars editor Lee Hutchinson told me, "I can't believe this is going to end in anything other than a nuclear explosion of human excrement."

[...] Legendary (the company behind The Dark Knight and Interstellar) bought rights to Dune about two years ago, but for now there's no firm timetable for the first film.

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Thexalon writes:

The American Civil Liberties Union, in an effort to demonstrate the dangers of face recognition technology, ran photos of members of Congress against a database of mug shots using Amazon Rekognition software. That test incorrectly identified 28 legislators as criminals (cue the jokes - yes, the Congress members were confirmed to be elsewhere at the time). They hope that demonstrating that this risk hits close to home will get Congress more interested in regulating the use of this technology.

The false matches were disproportionately of people of color, including six members of the Congressional Black Caucus, among them civil rights legend Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). These results demonstrate why Congress should join the ACLU in calling for a moratorium on law enforcement use of face surveillance.

[...] If law enforcement is using Amazon Rekognition, it’s not hard to imagine a police officer getting a “match” indicating that a person has a previous concealed-weapon arrest, biasing the officer before an encounter even begins. Or an individual getting a knock on the door from law enforcement, and being questioned or having their home searched, based on a false identification.

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666_

The Trump administration is working on a set of data privacy protections, the Washington Post reports, and according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, officials have held 22 meetings with more than 80 companies and groups since last month. Companies like Facebook, Google, AT&T and Comcast have been involved, according to four Washington Post sources familiar with the matter. The short-term goal is to deliver a data privacy proposal -- including how data should be collected and handled and what rights consumers have regarding that data -- which could serve as a guide for lawmakers as they consider legislation.

Axios reported last month that the White House was looking into a data privacy plan, meeting with groups like the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade group representing companies such as Apple, Google and Facebook, and The Business Roundtable, a lobbying group that hosts tech CEOs like Apple's Tim Cook, IBM's Virginia Rometty and Verizon's Lowell McAdam.

"Through the White House National Economic Council, the Trump Administration aims to craft a consumer privacy protection policy that is the appropriate balance between privacy and prosperity," Lindsay Walters, the president's deputy press secretary, told the Washington Post. "We look forward to working with Congress on a legislative solution consistent with our overarching policy."

takyon writes:

After 25 years, military told to move from "expendable" to "reusable" rockets

Less than a year and a half has passed since SpaceX first flew a used first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket, but this achievement has already shaken up the glacial process of lawmaking and military budgeting. The final version of the defense budget bill for fiscal year 2019 will make both a symbolic and a significant policy change when it comes to reusable rockets.

The conference report from the US House and Senate calls for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program of the Department of Defense, commonly known as the EELV program, to be named the "National Security Space Launch program" as of March 1, 2019. No longer will the military rely solely on expendable rockets.

Moreover, the report says the US Air Force must consider both expendable and reusable launch vehicles as part of its solicitation for military launch contracts. And in the event that a contract is solicited for a mission that a reusable launch vehicle is not eligible to compete for, the Air Force should report back to Congress with the reason why. The US House has already agreed to the conference report, and it should be taken up in the Senate next week. After that, it will need the president's signature to become law.

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takyon writes:

Another German state plans switch back from Linux to Windows

The German state of Lower Saxony plans to follow Munich's example, and migrate a reported 13,000 users from Linux back to Windows.

Apparently undaunted by the cost of the Munich switch (which we reported in January could be as much as €100m), Lower Saxony is considering making the change in its tax office. The state seems to expect a much cheaper transition, with Heise (in German here) reporting the first-year budget is €5.9m, and another €7m further out.

The tax office argues its decision is driven by compatibility: field workers and teleworkers overwhelmingly use Windows, while the OpenSUSE variants are installed on its office workstations. The office workstations are also ageing and due for replacement, something that helped open the door for Windows.

Related: Linux Champion Munich Takes Decisive Step Towards Returning to Windows
Munich Switching From Linux to Windows 10
German Documentary on Relations Between Microsoft and Public Administration Now Available in English

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666_

Virgin Galactic conducted another test of its VSS Unity, taking it out on a third rocket-powered supersonic flight this morning. After being released from the VMS Eve carrier craft, the VSS Unity flew higher than it has previously, reaching a peak altitude of 170,800 feet and entering the mesosphere for the first time. It also reached speeds of Mach 2.47 during its 42 second rocket burn.

The VSS Unity replaced Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which crashed in 2014, killing one of its pilots.

[...] The company says that tests like the one performed today allow it to collect cabin data like temperature, pressure, thermal response, vibration and radiation.

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/07/26/virgin-galactic-vss-unity-mach-2-third-test-flight/

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant seems to be everywhere these days – and now she’s powering your sex life too.

The voice-controlled AI has made its way into the popular Lovense series of smart sex toys, giving you more control over your late-night action than ever before.

Lovense toys can already be controlled remotely using an app, but now Alexa voice commands will activate them too.

An upcoming app update, revealed exclusively to The Sun, will add support for Amazon’s hugely popular Alexa service.

Source: https://nypost.com/2018/07/20/you-can-soon-have-sex-with-amazons-alexa/

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takyon writes:

Walmart To Test Self-Driving Cars For Grocery Pickup Service

The future is here and soon it will be toting grocery shoppers around Phoenix. Walmart and Waymo — formerly Google's self-driving car project — announced on Wednesday the launch of a pilot program that will allow consumers to make their grocery pickups with the help of an autonomous vehicle.

The plan is simple. Participants in Waymo's "early riders" program will be able to take a driverless shuttle service to and from Walmart whenever they purchase groceries from Walmart.com using the retailer's online grocery pickup service.

Current "early riders" will receive incentives to participate in the pilot and the rides will be provided with no additional cost, Molly Blakeman, a Walmart spokesperson, said in an email to NPR. "Since the pilot is part of our Grocery Pickup program, personal shoppers pick customers' orders and bring them right out to the car ... in this case a Waymo self-driving car," she said.

Also at NYT and AZCentral.

Related: Google/Waymo Announces Testing of Self-Driving Trucks in Atlanta, Georgia

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for BoyceMagooglyMonkey

Microsoft said today that hackers compromised a font package installed by a PDF editor app and used it to deploy a cryptocurrency miner on users' computers.

The OS maker discovered the incident after its staff received alerts via the Windows Defender ATP, the commercial version of the Windows Defender antivirus.

Microsoft employees say they investigated the alerts and determined that hackers breached the cloud server infrastructure of a software company providing font packages as MSI files. These MSI files were offered to other software companies.

One of these downstream companies was using these font packages for its PDF editor app, which would download the MSI files from the original company's cloud servers during the editor's installation routine.

[...] Microsoft did not reveal the names of the two software companies involved in this incident. The OS maker says the compromise lasted between January and March 2018, and affected only a small number of users, suggesting the hacked companies aren't big names on the PDF software market.

Indicators of compromise are available in Microsoft's report on the attack, here.

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/microsoft-discovers-supply-chain-attack-at-unnamed-maker-of-pdf-software/

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JesusAmieiro writes:

Slack made a surprise announcement today that it’s acquired HipChat, once a primary competitor to its workplace chat service, from enterprise software giant Atlassian. As part of the partnership between Slack and Atlassian, HipChat will be shutting down and the two companies will work together to migrate all of its users over to Slack. The same goes for Stride, the chat and collaboration successor to HipChat that Atlassian launched last year. Atlassian clarified that Slack is only buying the intellectual property behind the two products, and that the two companies will be working on future integrations together.

takyon writes:

Slack is buying, and shutting down, HipChat and Stride

HipChat, the workplace chat app that held the throne before Slack was Slack, is being discontinued. Also being discontinued is Atlassian's own would-be HipChat replacement, Stride.

News of the discontinuation comes first not from Atlassian, but instead from a somewhat surprising source: Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. In a series of tweets, Butterfield says that Slack is purchasing the IP for both products to "better support those users who choose to migrate" to its platform.

Butterfield also notes that Atlassian will be making a "small but symbolically important investment" in Slack — likely a good move, given that rumors of a Slack IPO have been swirling (though Butterfield says it won't happen this year). Getting a pre-IPO investment into Slack might end up paying off for Atlassian better than trying to continue competing.

Slack announcement. Also at Bloomberg, Android Police, and Wired.

Related: Why I Hate Slack and You Should Too
Slack Valued at Over $5 Billion

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takyon writes:

AMD "Rome" EPYC CPUs to Be Fabbed By TSMC

AMD CEO Lisa Su has announced that second-generation "Rome" EPYC CPU that the company is wrapping up work on is being produced out at TSMC. This is a notable departure from how things have gone for AMD with the Zen 1 generation, as GlobalFoundries has produced all of AMD's Zen CPUs, both for consumer Ryzen and professional EPYC parts.

[...] As it stands, AMD seems rather optimistic about how things are currently going. Rome silicon is already back in the labs, and indeed AMD is already sampling the parts to certain partners for early validation. Which means AMD remains on track to launch their second-generation EPYC processors in 2019.

[...] Ultimately however if they are meeting their order quota from GlobalFoundries, then AMD's situation is ultimately much more market driven: which fab can offer the necessary capacity and performance, and at the best prices. Which will be an important consideration as GlobalFoundries has indicated that it may not be able to keep up with 7nm demand, especially with the long manufacturing process their first-generation DUV-based 7nm "7LP" process requires.

See also: No 16-core AMD Ryzen AM4 Until After 7nm EPYC Launch (2019)

Related: TSMC Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for "5nm" Fab, Production to Begin in 2020
Cray CS500 Supercomputers to Include AMD's Epyc as a Processor Option
AMD Returns to the Datacenter, Set to Launch "7nm" Radeon Instinct GPUs for Machine Learning in 2018
AMD Ratcheting Up the Pressure on Intel
More on AMD's Licensing of Epyc Server Chips to Chinese Companies

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

[...] There is a clear correlation between close proximity to a body of water and better psychological and overall health outcomes, said Michael Depledge, chair of Environment and Human Health at the University of Exeter Medical School.

Depledge has been studying the effects of so-called "blue environments" for a decade, helping to shepherd a number of research projects that have caught the attention of the U.K. government and the European Union (EU).

Spending time near the water, "promotes physical activity and general fitness," reducing the incidence of diabetes and other diseases associated with obesity.

But it also slows down our heart rate and reduces stress hormones, boosting our mental health, which Depledge calls "the second great epidemic we're facing."

I told you fishing was good for the soul but you were all poo-poo, he's a redneck, poo-poo.

Source: Being Near a Body of Water Makes Us Calmer and Healthier, Science Shows

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takyon writes:

HPE supercomputer is still crunching numbers in space after 340 days

HPE's mini supercomputer launched into space last year has survived the harsh conditions of zero gravity and radiation for almost a year. The Spaceborne Computer isn't the greatest supercomputer and has a performance of one teraflop, runs on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and is built out of two HPE Apollo Intel x86 servers with a 56Gbps interconnect.

NASA wanted to see if a computer would last for a year - roughly the time it takes to reach Mars - inside the International Space Station (ISS). So, HPE offered to tuck its Spaceborne Computer aboard SpaceX's CRS-12 rocket and send it into the abyss. "It has now been in space for 340 days", said Mark Fernandez, America's HPC technology officer at HPE and co-principal of the experiment, during a panel talk at the ISS Research & Development Conference on Wednesday in San Francisco.

[...] The machine hasn't been radiation hardened, and relies on a few software tricks to stop it from corrupting, something Fernandez calls "autonomous self-care". Continuous health checks helps keep the computer in check, and when it detects any potential hardware failures, it runs at a slower pace or enters "idle mode", where it powers down.

Previously: HPE Supercomputer to be Sent to the ISS

Related: Rodent Research-9 Experiments Sent to the ISS

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