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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666

The news emerged via user reports, particularly on the primary Netflix Reddit community, in which users claimed that ads for entirely different series would play between episodes of a given show's binging. One initial claim said that "unskippable" ads for the AMC series Better Call Saul appeared between episodes of Rick & Morty and that this ad appeared while using Netflix's smart TV app on an LG set in the UK. Replies to that thread included an allegation that a video ad for I Am A Killer (a Netflix-produced true-crime series) appeared between episodes of the animated comedy Bob's Burgers.

An American Netflix user offered more details for exactly how the ads appear:

After the episode ended, I got a screen saying "More Shameless up next... " then the title card slid off screen, and it continued with, "but first check out Insatiable" [a Netflix-exclusive series] and started playing the trailer.

In a statement given to Ars Technica, Netflix described the change as follows: "We are testing whether surfacing recommendations between episodes helps members discover stories they will enjoy faster." The reasoning, Netflix's statement says, comes from its last controversial decision: to add auto-playing videos, complete with unmuteable audio, while browsing through Netflix content.

Netflix offered a major rebuttal to at least one Reddit claim, pointing out that the ads for Netflix content are entirely skippable.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2018/08/netflix-begins-testing-ads-for-its-own-series-between-binge-season-episodes/

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Author Glyn Moody has written an article over at Private Internet Access regarding implanted microchips, such as RFID and NFC responders. Initially seen as one-off bad ideas, these projects centered around implants are starting to come more frequently and with stronger incentives. If allowed to become more common there is a danger that they will become normalized and extended to uses that are less and less benign.

Just recently, in Ohio, Toledo City Councilman Rob Ludeman suggested microchipping criminal offenders as an alternative to using electronic monitoring ankle bracelets. He justified the idea on the basis that this would prevent the tracking devices being removed when committing additional crimes. The Toledo Blade reported Ludeman as saying:

“I’ve seen enough shows on TV where the individual has slipped it off and they’ll go commit a crime and slip it back on,” he said. “I can’t believe it’s an inhumane thing and I’ve got to believe the technology is there. We microchip our dogs, cats, there’s got to be a way that you can put a microchip in and it can’t be removed until their sentence is served or probation is over.”

Other council members rejected the idea, and experts pointed out that the implanted chips used for animals would not work in the way Ludeman wanted, since they do not function like a GPS tracker that can be monitored from afar, but are scanned once a lost animal is located.

Nonetheless, the incident is significant, because it indicates that implanted microchips are starting to enter the political mainstream. And even if they can’t be used as GPS trackers, there are plenty of other applications that have troubling privacy implications. For example, a common suggestion is that a person’s medical history could be stored in such chips to aid medics in an emergency. In fact, an implanted product of this kind was launched back in 2002, but it never caught on. Indeed, the company’s own research indicated that nine out of 10 people were uncomfortable with this kind of application. But it is easy to imagine new entrants to the sector arguing that technology has moved on now, and that strong encryption could handle concerns about unauthorized access to data.

Source: Private Internet Access : After call to implant microchips in people awaiting trial, are they about to become the next threat to our privacy?

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takyon writes:

A valley so low: Electrons congregate in ways that may be useful to "valleytronics"

A Princeton University-led study has revealed an emergent electronic behavior on the surface of bismuth crystals that could lead to insights on the growing area of technology known as "valleytronics."

The term refers to energy valleys that form in crystals and that can trap single electrons. These valleys potentially could be used to store information, greatly enhancing what is capable with modern electronic devices.

In the new study, researchers observed that electrons in bismuth prefer to crowd into one valley rather than distributing equally into the six available valleys. This behavior creates a type of electricity called ferroelectricity, which involves the separation of positive and negative charges onto opposite sides of a material. The study was published in the journal Nature Physics [open, DOI: 10.1038/s41567-018-0148-2] [DX].

The finding confirms a recent prediction that ferroelectricity arises naturally on the surface of bismuth when electrons collect in a single valley. These valleys are not literal pits in the crystal but rather are like pockets of low energy where electrons prefer to rest.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

A low-carb or high-carb diet raises your risk of death, a new study suggests, with people eating the food staple in moderation seeing the greatest benefits to their health.

Less than 40% or more than 70% of your energy -- or calories -- coming from carbohydrates was associated with the greatest risk of mortality. Eating moderate levels between that range offered the best options for a healthy lifespan.

The lowest risk of an early death was seen where carbs made up 50-55% of a person's diet, according to the study published Thursday.

However, the definition of a low-carb diet had some caveats as not all diets were equal.

[...] "On an 'average' 2,000 kcal-a-day intake, a diet of 30% calories from carbs equates to only 150g a day, with sugars (natural or 'added') contributing around 50g of that total. With a mere 100g of complex carb a day to play with, a lower intake of cereals, grains, and starchy vegetables is inevitable," said Catherine Collins, a dietitian with the UK's National Health Service, who was not involved in the study.

[...] The findings "will disappoint those who, from professional experience, will continue to defend their low carb cult, but contributes to the overwhelming body of evidence that supports a balanced approach to caloric intake recommended globally by public health bodies," Collins added.

takyon writes:

Kofi Annan, former UN chief, dies at 80

Kofi Annan, the only black African to become UN secretary-general, has died. The 80-year-old "passed away peacefully on Saturday after a short illness", the foundation named after him said.

His home country, Ghana, has declared a week of national mourning. Annan served two terms as UN chief from 1997 to 2006, and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his humanitarian work. He later served as the UN special envoy for Syria, leading efforts to find a solution to the conflict.

In a statement announcing his death, the Kofi Annan Foundation described him as a "global statesman and deeply committed internationalist who fought throughout his life for a fairer and more peaceful world". "Wherever there was suffering or need, he reached out and touched many people with his deep compassion and empathy."

[...] Annan was not immune from criticism. His critics blamed him for the UN's failure to halt the genocide in Rwanda in the 1990s when he was head of the organisation's peacekeeping operations. Later, after the US-led invasion of Iraq, he and his son were accused of being involved in the "oil for food corruption scandal" that led some to call for his resignation, though he was later exonerated.

Kofi Annan.

See also: Kofi Annan death: World leaders honour former UN chief
Kofi Annan: The developing world is an easy target for populists
What it's like to be a young African mentored by Barack Obama (the inaugural meeting of the Obama Foundation's Leaders: Africa fellowship was attended by Kofi Annan in July)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Astronomers want to find small asteroids near Earth that would be easy to reach (in terms of delta-v) targets for sample return missions. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) could help find such objects:

The moon is not alone. Or at least theoretically it shouldn't be. Researchers believe that our planet is potentially orbited by lots of "mini-moons," little asteroids gripped by Earth's gravity that swing around the planet for a little while before burning up in our atmosphere or being flung back into the cosmos.

[...] [If] we could detect these bits of space debris when they enter our orbit, we could capture samples from the space rocks and bring them down to Earth to study, new research in the journal Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Science [open, DOI: 10.3389/fspas.2018.00013] [DX] suggests. It would be faster, cheaper and more efficient than our big budget missions, including the current OSIRIS-REx sample and return mission to the asteroid Bennu and Japan's Hyabusa 2 mission to the asteroid Ryugu, which take millions of dollars and years of planning and zipping through space to accomplish.

"At present we don't fully understand what asteroids are made of," co-author Mikael Granvik, of Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, and the University of Helsinki, Finland, says in a statement. "Missions typically return only tiny amounts of material to Earth. Meteorites provide an indirect way of analyzing asteroids, but Earth's atmosphere destroys weak materials when they pass through. Mini-moons are perfect targets for bringing back significant chunks of asteroid material, shielded by a spacecraft, which could then be studied in detail back on Earth."

According to the team, the LSST is a "dream instrument" for finding the fast-moving mini-moons because its massive mirror will be able to detect very faint objects and its field of view will allow it to survey the entire sky more than once a week, giving us a good heads up when a chunk of asteroid begins orbiting Earth. Once we find a few targets, the team suggests that we can begin using satellites to study them and shuttle the samples back to Earth.

Also at Discover Magazine and Space.com.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

NASA's Opportunity rover has been silent since June 10, when a planet-encircling dust storm cut off solar power for the nearly-15-year-old rover. Now that scientists think the global dust storm is "decaying"—meaning more dust is falling out of the atmosphere than is being raised back into it—skies might soon clear enough for the solar-powered rover to recharge and attempt to "phone home."

No one will know how the rover is doing until it speaks. But the team notes there's reason to be optimistic: They've performed several studies on the state of its batteries before the storm, and temperatures at its location. Because the batteries were in relatively good health before the storm, there's not likely to be too much degradation. And because dust storms tend to warm the environment—and the 2018 storm happened as Opportunity's location on Mars entered summer—the rover should have stayed warm enough to survive.

[...] When Opportunity experiences a problem, it can go into so-called "fault modes" where it automatically takes action to maintain its health. Engineers are preparing for three key fault modes if they do hear back from Opportunity.

takyon writes:

U.S. judge blocks programs letting 'Grand Theft Auto' players 'cheat'

A federal judge on Thursday awarded Take-Two Interactive Software Inc, the maker of the "Grand Theft Auto" series, a preliminary injunction to stop a Georgia man from selling programs that it said helps players cheat at the best-selling video game.

Take-Two had accused David Zipperer of selling computer programs called Menyoo and Absolute that let users of the "Grand Theft Auto V" multiplayer feature Grand Theft Auto Online cheat by altering the game for their own benefit, or "griefing" other players by altering their game play without permission.

U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in Manhattan said Take-Two was likely to show that Zipperer infringed its "Grand Theft Auto V" copyright, and that his programs would cause irreparable harm to its sales and reputation by discouraging users from buying its video games.

Stanton also said an injunction would serve the public interest by encouraging Take-Two to invest more in video games and was appropriate because of the "high risk" that Zipperer, who claimed to be unemployed, could not afford damages.

Also at Motherboard, Variety, Kotaku, and Comicbook.com.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Water-worlds are common: Exoplanets may contain vast amounts of water

Scientists have shown that water is likely to be a major component of those exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) which are between two to four times the size of Earth. It will have implications for the search of life in our Galaxy. The work is presented at the Goldschmidt conference in Boston.

[...] [A] new evaluation of data from the exoplanet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope and the Gaia mission indicates that many of the known planets may contain as much as 50% water. This is much more than the Earth's 0.02% (by weight) water content. [...] Scientists have found that many of the 4000 confirmed or candidate exoplanets discovered so far fall into two size categories: those with the planetary radius averaging around 1.5 that of the Earth, and those averaging around 2.5 times the radius of the Earth.

[...] "We have looked at how mass relates to radius, and developed a model which might explain the relationship," said [lead researcher] Li Zeng. The model indicates that those exoplanets which have a radius of around x1.5 Earth radius tend to be rocky planets (of typically x5 the mass of the Earth), while those with a radius of x2.5 Earth radius (with a mass around x10 that of the Earth) are probably water worlds."

"This is water, but not as commonly found here on Earth," said Li Zeng. "Their surface temperature is expected to be in the 200 to 500 degree Celsius range. Their surface may be shrouded in a water-vapor-dominated atmosphere, with a liquid water layer underneath. Moving deeper, one would expect to find this water transforms into high-pressure ices before we reaching the solid rocky core. The beauty of the model is that it explains just how composition relates to the known facts about these planets." Li Zeng continued, "Our data indicate that about 35% of all known exoplanets which are bigger than Earth should be water-rich. These water worlds likely formed in similar ways to the giant planet cores (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) which we find in our own solar system. The newly-launched TESS mission will find many more of them, with the help of ground-based spectroscopic follow-up. The next generation space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, will hopefully characterize the atmosphere of some of them. This is an exciting time for those interested in these remote worlds."

Original Submission

takyon writes:

As Twitter Suspends Alex Jones, Should We Worry About Silicon Valley Regulating Speech?

Apple, Facebook, Spotify, and YouTube's decision to ban right-wing shock jock Alex Jones and his media site, Infowars, from their platforms in early August has reignited a debate about what, if any, obligations these companies have to provide access to ideologically diverse users in the name of free speech. Twitter came under enormous criticism for refusing to go along, but on Tuesday announced that they were suspending Jones's account for one week due to violations of its rules. Jones was banned after years of public outrage over lies spread by Infowars, including the infamous "Pizzagate" conspiracy and the false claim that the Sandy Hook shooting, in which 26 elementary school children and staff members were killed, was a hoax. Jones is also known for tirades against Muslims, immigrants, and transgender people.

Some critics have claimed that, given the monopoly-like power that Silicon Valley giants now exert over the internet, encouraging them to regulate content based on ideology, hate speech, or arbitrations of "truth" and "falsity" will jeopardize internet freedom and vest a handful of corporate executives too much control over it. But others have defended the choice to ban Jones, citing the anti-hate speech rules and nonviolence policies almost universally adopted by major internet platforms. Because terms of service are open to interpretation — "hate speech," for example, can be difficult to define — there is a significant risk that standards will be inconsistently applied. The ambiguous policies also present a threat to controversial speech from the left — think, for example, of speech related to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, or expressive speech about bad cops or white men.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Groundbreaking research shows that neurological health depends as much on signals sent by the body's large, leg muscles to the brain as it does on directives from the brain to the muscles. Published in Frontiers in Neuroscience⁰, the study fundamentally alters brain and nervous system medicine — giving doctors new clues as to why patients with motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal muscular atrophy and other neurological diseases often rapidly decline when their movement becomes limited.

"Our study supports the notion that people who are unable to do load-bearing exercises — such as patients who are bed-ridden, or even astronauts on extended travel — not only lose muscle mass, but their body chemistry is altered at the cellular level and even their nervous system is adversely impacted," says Dr. Raffaella Adami from the Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.

The study involved restricting mice from using their hind legs, but not their front legs, over a period of 28 days. The mice continued to eat and groom normally and did not exhibit stress. At the end of the trial, the researchers examined an area of the brain called the sub-ventricular zone, which in many mammals has the role of maintaining nerve cell health. It is also the area where neural stem cells produce new neurons.

Limiting physical activity decreased the number of neural stem cells by 70 percent compared to a control group of mice, which were allowed to roam. Furthermore, both neurons and oligodendrocytes — specialized cells that support and insulate nerve cells — didn't fully mature when exercise was severely reduced.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666

A team of security researchers has a solid claim to $10,000, after meeting the three requirements of Bitfi's second bug bounty on its cryptocurrency wallet.

Remember John McAfee’s supposedly “unhackable” cryptocurrency wallet? It appears a group of researchers is about to prove the once-lauded antivirus pioneer wrong.

After cracking the so-called Bitfi wallet to play legendary game DOOM on it, today the researchers were able to successfully send signed transactions with the device – that is despite the “security” mechanisms Bitfi has in place to prevent attackers from doing that.

Well, that's a transaction made with a MitMed Bitfi, with the phrase and seed being sent to a remote machine. [...] That sounds a lot like Bounty 2 to me.

With this development in mind, the researchers believe they have fulfilled the conditions of Bitfi's $10,000 bug bounty. Bitfi had three criteria to claim the rewards: namely that researchers should be able to prove they can modify the device, connect to the Bitfi server, and send sensitive data with the device.

Source: https://thenextweb.com/hardfork/2018/08/13/bitfi-cryptocurrency-wallet-bounty/

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

To tame chaos in powerful semiconductor lasers, which causes instabilities, scientists have introduced another kind of chaos.

[...] Their technique, published today in Science, uses 'quantum chaos' to prevent the laser filaments, which lead to the instabilities, from forming in the first place. By creating quantum (wave) chaos in the cavity used to create the laser, the laser itself remains steady.

Professor Ortwin Hess, from the Department of Physics at Imperial, contributed much of the theory, simulation and interpretation of the new system. He said: "The way the optical filaments, which cause the laser instabilities, grow and resist control is for the laser a bit like the unruly behaviour of tornadoes. Once they form, they move about chaotically, causing destruction in their wake.

"However, tornadoes are more likely to form and move about over flat country. For example, in America they form frequently in beautiful Oklahoma but not as often in hilly West Virginia. The hills appear to be a key difference -- they prevent tornadoes from being able to form or move around.

"In the same way, by creating a 'hilly' optical landscape right inside our lasers using quantum chaos, we don't allow the filaments -- our optical tornados -- to form or grow out of control."

[...] To create a different kind of chaos -- the quantum chaotic landscape -- the team designed a new shape of cavity for the laser. Most cavities are cuboid in shape, but by using a D-shaped cavity, the team were able to induce quantum chaos in the light bouncing around.

This quantum chaos acts on a smaller scale than the wavelength of the light, creating the optical 'hills' that help to dispel the optical 'tornadoes'.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Some people have a plan, the digital equivalent of living will, or have chosen "family" option in a password management package such as LastPass or have entrusted a book of passwords to a family member.

But the consequences of doing nothing are not as neutral as some might expect and were spelled out during an informative presentation by Chris Boyd of Malwarebyes at BSides in Manchester on Thursday. The presentation, cheerily titled "The digital entropy of death", covered what could happen to your carefully curated online presence after you log off.

Miscreants are already targeting obviously abandoned profiles. Boyd explained that in some cases it's easier for fraudsters to gain hold of these accounts than the account-holders' relatives, because crooks know the systems better and controls - although present - are often deeply embedded on the sites such as Facebook, Twitter et al.

Alongside regular postings asking for help on Facebook due to compromise of dead people’s logins (examples here and here) there’s also the problem of “cloning”.

"Facebook users have reported receiving friend requests from accounts associated with dead friends and family members," The Independent reports. "Such requests appear to be the result of cloning or hacking scams that see criminals try [to] add people on the site, and then use that friendship as a way of stealing money from them or running other cons."

canopic jug writes:

Back in May, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Julia Reda wrote a blog post warning of pending legislation promoting out-of-control censorship. Now she has noticed that out-of-control censorship machines removed her article warning of out-of-control censorship machines, thus proving her point about how these proposed laws would be misused.

A few days ago, about a dozen articles and campaign sites criticising EU plans for copyright censorship machines silently vanished from the world’s most popular search engine. Proving their point in the most blatant possible way, the sites were removed by exactly what they were warning of: Copyright censorship machines.

Among the websites that were made impossible to find: A blog post of mine in which I inform Europeans about where their governments stand on online censorship in the name of copyright and a campaign site warning of copyright law that favors corporations over free speech.

SN has had many articles on the topic, which unfortunately continues to press.

Original Submission