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takyon writes:

Samsung is about to make 4TB SSDs and mobile storage cheaper

A couple of years ago, Samsung launched its first 4TB solid state drives, which might as well not have existed given their $1,499 asking price. Today, the company announces the commencement of mass production of a more — though it's too early to know exactly how much more — affordable variant with its 4TB QLC SSDs. The knock on QLC NAND storage has traditionally been that it sacrifices speed for an increased density, however Samsung promises the same 540MBps read and 520MBps write speeds for its new SSDs as it offers on its existing SATA SSD drives.

Describing this new family of storage drives, which will also include 1TB and 2TB variants, as consumer class, Samsung will obviously aim to price them at a level where quibbles about performance will be overwhelmed by the sheer advantage of having terabytes of space. Any concerns about the reliability of these drives should also be allayed by the three-year warranty promised by Samsung. The launch of the first drives built around these new storage chips is slated for later this year.

What's the endurance of QLC NAND again?

Also at Engadget.

Related: Toshiba's 3D QLC NAND Could Reach 1000 P/E Cycles
Samsung Announces a 128 TB SSD With QLC NAND
Micron Launches First QLC NAND SSD
Western Digital Samples 96-Layer 3D QLC NAND with 1.33 Tb Per Die

Original Submission

Taco Cowboy writes:

https://www.livescience.com/63182-quantum-computer-reverse-arrow-time.html

A new technique for quantum computing could bust open our whole model of how time moves in the universe.

A new paper, published July 18 in the journal Physical Review X [ https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.8.031013 ], opens the door to the possibility that the arrow pf time is an artifact of classical-style computation — something that's only appeared to us to be the case because of our limited tools.

A team of researchers found that in certain circumstances causal asymmetry disappears inside quantum computers.

In this paper, the researchers looked at physical systems that had a goldilocks' level of disorder and randomness — not too little, and not too much.

They tried to figure out those systems' pasts and futures using theoretical quantum computers (no physical computers involved). Not only did these models of quantum computers use less memory than the classical computer models, she said, they were able to run in either direction through time without using up extra memory. In other words, the quantum models had no causal asymmetry

"While classically, it might be impossible for the process to go in one of the directions [through time]," said Jayne Thompson, of the National University of Singapore, "our results show that 'quantum mechanically,' the process can go in either direction using very little memory."

And if that's true inside a quantum computer, that's true in the universe, she said.

Quantum physics is the study of the strange probabilistic behaviors of very small particles — all the very small particles in the universe. And if quantum physics is true for all the pieces that make up the universe, it's true for the universe itself, even if some of its weirder effects aren't always obvious to us. So if a quantum computer can operate without causal asymmetry, then so can the universe.

Thompson added that the research doesn't prove that there isn't any causal asymmetry anywhere in the universe. She and her colleagues showed there is no asymmetry in a handful of systems. But it's possible, she said, that there are some very bare-bones quantum models where some causal asymmetry emerges.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

A team of researchers at Duo Security has unearthed a sophisticated botnet operating on Twitter; and being used to spread a cryptocurrency scam.

The botnet was discovered during the course of a wider research project to create and publish a methodology for identifying Twitter account automat...

The team used Twitter's API and some standard data enrichment techniques to create a large data set of 88 million public Twitter accounts, comprising more than half a billion tweets. (Although they say they focused on the last 200 tweets per account for the study.)

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/06/duo-security-researchers-twitter-bot-or-not-study-unearths-crypto-botnet/

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Only one of top 12 ISPs raised listed speed after new truth-in-advertising rule.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/isps-listed-speeds-drop-up-to-41-after-uk-requires-accurate-advertising/

Most broadband providers in the UK "have been forced to cut the headline speeds they advertise when selling deals" because of new UK rules requiring accurate speed claims, according to a consumer advocacy group.

"Eleven major suppliers have had to cut the advertised speed of some of their deals, with the cheapest deals dropping by 41 percent," the group wrote last week.

The analysis was conducted by Which?, a brand name used by the Consumers' Association, a UK-based charity that does product research and advocacy on behalf of consumers.

"BT, EE, John Lewis Broadband, Plusnet, Sky, Zen Internet, Post Office, SSE, TalkTalk, and Utility Warehouse previously advertised their standard (ADSL) broadband deals as 'up to 17Mbps,'" the group noted in its announcement on Saturday. "The new advertised speed is now more than a third lower at 10Mbps or 11Mbps."

"TalkTalk has completely dropped advertising speed claims from most of its deals," the consumer group also said. "Vodafone has also changed the name of some of its deals: Fibre 38 and Fibre 76 are now Superfast 1 and Superfast 2."

The new rules were implemented in May by the Committees of Advertising Practice, the UK ad industry's self-regulatory body. Which? said it had been "campaigning for an advertising change since 2013."

Previously, ISPs were allowed to advertise broadband speeds of "up to" a certain amount, even if only one in 10 customers could ever get those speeds, Which? wrote. "But the new advertising rules mean that at least half of customers must now be able to get an advertised average speed, even during peak times (8-10pm)," the group said.

The entry-level speed tiers were apparently the least accurate before the rule change. While advertised speeds dropped the most on entry-level tiers, there were drops in higher-speed tiers as well.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

5News reports:

President Donald Trump appears to have changed his story about a 2016 meeting at Trump Tower that is pivotal to the special counsel's investigation, tweeting that his son met with a Kremlin-connected lawyer to collect information about his political opponent.

[...] That is a far different explanation than Trump gave 13 months ago, when a statement dictated by the president but released under the name of Donald Trump Jr., read: "We primarily discussed a program about the adoption of Russian children that was active and popular with American families years ago."

also at Vox, MSN and Mic

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

An ambitious project that set out nearly 5 years ago to replicate experiments from 50 high-impact cancer biology papers, but gradually shrank that number, now expects to complete just 18 studies.

"I wish we could have done more," says biologist Tim Errington, who runs the project from the Center for Open Science in Charlottesville, Virginia. But, he adds, "There is an element of not truly understanding how challenging it is until you do a project like this."

[...] Costs rose and delays ensued as organizers realized they needed more information and materials from the original authors; a decision to have the proposed replications peer reviewed also added time. Organizers whittled the list of papers to 37 in late 2015, then to 29 by January 2017. In the past few months, they decided to discontinue 38% or 11 of the ongoing replications, Errington says. (Elizabeth Iorns, president of Science Exchange, says total costs for the 18 completed studies averaged about $60,000, including two high-priced "outliers.")

One reason for cutting off some replications was that it was taking too long to troubleshoot or optimize experiments to get meaningful results, Errington says. For example, deciding what density of cells to plate for an experiment required testing a range of cell densities. Although "these things happen in a lab naturally," Errington says, this work could have proceeded faster if methodological details had been included in the original papers. The project also spent a lot of time obtaining or remaking reagents such as cell lines and plasmids (DNA that is inserted into cells) that weren't available from the original labs.

[...] The project has already published replication results for 10 of the 18 studies in the journal eLife. The bottom line is mixed: Five were mostly repeatable, three were inconclusive, and two studies were negative, but the original findings have been confirmed by other labs. In fact, many of the initial 50 papers have been confirmed by other groups, as some of the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology's critics have pointed out.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/07/plan-replicate-50-high-impact-cancer-papers-shrinks-just-18

Interesting that it seems to be much easier for labs to do "secret protocol replications" than the "open protocol replications" aimed for by this project.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Hydrus VR Records Cinema-Quality 8K Virtual Reality Videos Underwater

If you love oceanic videography or just want to experience deep sea diving without getting wet, you're going to love Hydrus VR, a submersible 8K virtual reality video system designed for professional filmmakers. The unit uses a total of 10 cameras — eight in a horizontal circle plus two vertical — to capture 8K, 4K, or stereoscopic 4K imagery, notably with impressive low light capabilities.

Developed by Marine Imaging Technology (MI Tech), the system looks like a large metal can ringed by lens bumps. Weighing 75 pounds with neutral salt water buoyancy, it's depth rated for 300 meter submersion, so it can be connected to a metal control arm or underwater robots, depending on the filmmaker's needs.

Inside the can are Sony ultra-high sensitivity UMC-S3CA cameras equipped with SLR Magic lenses, plus enough storage capacity and battery life to record continuously for two hours. A subsea control module enables the recording time to be expanded to eight hours. Users can remotely monitor nine of the cameras in real time during shooting.

Sony's camera sensors enable the system to capture video at a minimum illumination level of 0.004 lux (ISO 409,600), which is especially important when recording in places without their own lighting sources — a challenge that increases video noise and grain. While the sensors have a normal ISO range of 100–102,400, the four times lower "expandable" ISO gives filmmakers the option to accept additional noise where necessary to capture an underwater scene with particularly poor illumination.

James Cameron ponders reshooting Avatar 2 entirely underwater.

Film speed.

Also at Engadget.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

The 20th century spawned a number of iconic long-selling motor vehicles, among them Ford's Model T, Germany's Volkswagen "Beetle" and Italy's Vespa scooter. In terms of total sales, however, none of them has come close to approaching the success of the Honda Super Cub, which has outsold the other three combined.

Designated model C-100, the Super Cub went on sale 60 years ago this week. Since then, it has enjoyed steady demand at home and abroad, particularly in Southeast Asia. Last year, Honda Motor Co.'s total sales of the Super Cub, including sports and commercial models adopting the same platform, shot past the 100 million mark; they account for about 30 percent of the 350 million motorcycles Honda has sold worldwide.

Rebutting the philosophy of "planned obsolescence" that some manufacturers have been accused of building into their products, the Super Cub's minimalist profile remains immediately recognizable, having changed only slightly over the past 60 years. And while nobody knows the exact number still in running condition, nostalgia buffs in search of an original C-100 have been known to bid over ¥300,000 on auction sites online — six times its 1958 selling price.

Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2018/08/04/lifestyle/wheels-keep-rolling-hondas-diminutive-super-cub-celebrates-60th-anniversary/

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

TechCrunch has written about the FCCs pre-emptive reaction to the new inspector general report regarding an alleged attack on the FCC comment system last year which the FCC had long alluded to concerning the net neutrality debate. The FCC now admits that the attacks never actually took place, after a report from its inspector general found a lack of evidence supporting the idea. Chairman Ajit Pai immediately turned around and blamed both the previous CIO and ... wait for it ... Obama.

Pai's statement was issued before the OIG publicized its report, as one does when a report is imminent that essentially says your agency has been clueless at best or deliberately untruthful at worst, and for more than a year. To be clear, the report is still unpublished, though its broader conclusions are clear from Pai's statement. In it he slathers Bray with the partisan brush and asserts that the report exonerates his office

TechCrunch is still waiting to hear back from the FCC and its Office of the Inspector General for more information, including the report itself.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

As he was brushing his teeth on the morning of July 17, 2014, Thomas Royen, a little-known retired German statistician, suddenly lit upon the proof of a famous conjecture at the intersection of geometry, probability theory, and statistics that had eluded top experts for decades.

Known as the Gaussian correlation inequality (GCI), the conjecture originated in the 1950s, was posed in its most elegant form in 1972 and has held mathematicians in its thrall ever since. "I know of people who worked on it for 40 years," said Donald Richards, a statistician at Pennsylvania State University. "I myself worked on it for 30 years."

[...] No one is quite sure how, in the 21st century, news of Royen's proof managed to travel so slowly. "It was clearly a lack of communication in an age where it's very easy to communicate," [Bo'az] Klartag said.

"But anyway, at least we found it," he added—and "it's beautiful."

[...] The "feeling of deep joy and gratitude" that comes from finding an important proof has been reward enough. "It is like a kind of grace," he said. "We can work for a long time on a problem and suddenly an angel—[which] stands here poetically for the mysteries of our neurons—brings a good idea."

Source: https://www.wired.com/2017/04/elusive-math-proof-found-almost-lost

Abstract

Paper

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

When an American college student showed that quantum computers have less of an advantage in recommendation systems than previously thought by developing a new algorithm that can run on classical computers, the response was overwhelming.

quantamagazine
University of Texas
Paper

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for BoyceMagooglyMonkey

Surface Go—Microsoft's 10-inch, $399 tablet—launches today in 25 markets. Many publications around the Web have had a couple of days to review Microsoft's latest attempt at a cheap(ish) computer, and opinions are surprisingly varied.

Surface Go is a shrunk-down version of the Surface Pro, Microsoft's kickstand-equipped two-in-one tablet/laptop. It has a smaller screen (10-inches, 1800×1200), a weaker processor (an Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y, which is a two-core, four-thread Kaby Lake chip that was launched about 18 months ago), slower and smaller storage (64GB, using an eMMC interface), and reduced battery life (estimated at 9 hours). But it's cheaper. A lot cheaper: the base model is just $399, compared to $799 for the base Surface Pro.

[...] One thing almost every review agrees on is that the Go's processor is slow. The Pentium 4415Y is a 6W processor running at 1.6GHz (with no turbo boosting). As with other Intel chips, that power draw is configurable, and Microsoft has apparently cut it to 4.5W. It should still hit 1.6GHz, but the tighter power envelope means that it will cut back its speed even more aggressively to keep within its thermal budget.

takyon writes:

University finds prominent astrophysicist Lawrence Krauss grabbed a woman's breast

An investigation by Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe concluded this week that high-profile astrophysicist and atheist Lawrence Krauss violated the university's sexual harassment policy by grabbing a woman's breast at a conference in Australia in late 2016.

"Responsive action is being taken to prevent any further recurrence of similar conduct," ASU's executive vice president and provost, Mark Searle, wrote in a 31 July letter to Melanie Thomson, a microbiologist based in Ocean Grove, Australia, who is an outspoken advocate for women in science. Thomson, who witnessed the breast-grabbing incident, received the investigative report from ASU's Office of Equity and Inclusion (OEI) and shared it with Science.

In response to an email asking what specific actions the university is taking, an ASU spokesperson wrote: "Professor Lawrence Krauss is no longer director of Arizona State University's Origins Project, a research unit at ASU. Krauss remains on administrative leave from the university. It is the policy of the university not to comment on ongoing personnel matters."

Lawrence M. Krauss and The Origins Project.

Related: Two EmDrive Papers -- Mach Effect Thruster, Too

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for BoyceMagooglyMonkey

The US Department of Justice said Wednesday that it has filed criminal charges against three men believed to be central to the FIN7 hacking group.

According to indictments unsealed in federal court in Seattle, prosecutors say that Dmytro Federov, 44, Fedir Hladyr, 33, and Andrii Kolpakov, 30, hacked into "thousands of computer systems and stole millions of customer credit and debit card numbers, which the group used or sold for profit."

The suspects are believed to have hit companies across 47 states and the District of Columbia to steal "more than 15 million customer card records."

"The three Ukrainian nationals indicted today allegedly were part of a prolific hacking group that targeted American companies and citizens by stealing valuable consumer data, including personal credit card information, that they then sold on the Darknet," said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski.

The three men have been charged with 26 felony counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, hacking, and more.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/08/doj-announces-arrest-of-3-men-allegedly-behind-notorious-fin7-hacking-group/

Original Submission

takyon writes:

AMD's Threadripper 2 TR 2990WX will be available for retail on August 13. The CPU has 32 cores and the suggested retail price is $1,799, compared to $1,999 for Intel's 18-core i9-7980XE. A 24-core TR 2970WX will be available in October for $1,299.

The 16-core TR 2950X ($899, August 31) and 12-core TR 2920X ($649, October) replace their counterparts from the last generation of Threadripper CPUs, but have slightly improved "12nm" Zen+ cores like the other Threadripper 2 CPUs. The 16 and 12-core chips use 2 dies while the 24 and 32-core versions use 4 dies.

A benchmark leak shows the 32-core TR 2990WX outperforming Intel's 18-core i9-7980XE by 53% in the multithreaded Cinebench R15 (this is an early result, may not represent the final performance, and may be overly favorable to AMD).

Also at Tom's Hardware and Engadget.

Related: First Two AMD Threadripper Chips Out on Aug. 10, New 8-Core Version on Aug. 31
Intel Teases 28 Core Chip, AMD Announces Threadripper 2 With Up to 32 Cores
AMD Ratcheting Up the Pressure on Intel

Original Submission

takyon writes:

SpaceX will attempt to reuse its first Falcon 9 Block 5 booster tonight (August 6):

On May 11, SpaceX launched the new, optimized-for-reuse Block 5 variant of its Falcon 9 rocket for the first time. Just before the flight, Ars asked company founder Elon Musk how long it would be before we saw the first reflight of a Block 5 booster.

"We are going to be very rigorous in taking this rocket apart and confirming our design assumptions to be confident that it is indeed able to be reused without taking it apart," Musk said at the time. "Ironically, we need to take it apart to confirm it does not need to be taken apart."

Apparently it did not take that long to tear the first stage of this rocket apart, because less than three months later, this booster is back on the launch pad for a geostationary mission set to launch late Monday night. SpaceX is targeting launch of the Merah Putih satellite to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit during a two-hour launch window that opens at 1:18am ET Tuesday (5:18 UTC). The launch will occur from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The first stage will attempt to make a landing on the Of Course I Still Love You drone ship after completing its primary mission. Weather conditions appear favorable.

As is customary for SpaceX a of the launch will be available on YouTube. The webcast should begin about 15 minutes before the launch window opens.

SpaceX is also planning to launch 71 satellites on one rocket later this year:

chromas (from IRC) writes:

iTWire:

Only a few of the search behemoth's 88,000 workers were briefed on the project before The Intercept reported on 1 August that Google had plans to launch a censored mobile search app for the Chinese market, with no access to sites about human rights, democracy, religion or peaceful protest.

The customised Android search app, with different versions known as Maotai and Longfei, was said to have been demonstrated to Chinese Government authorities.

In a related development, six US senators from both parties were reported to have sent a letter to Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, demanding an explanation over the company's move.

One source inside Google, who witnessed the backlash from employees after news of the plan was reported, told The Intercept: "Everyone's access to documents got turned off, and is being turned on [on a] document-by-document basis.

"There's been total radio silence from leadership, which is making a lot of people upset and scared. ... Our internal meme site and Google Plus are full of talk, and people are a.n.g.r.y."

Original Submission