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takyon writes:

Why Google Fiber Is High-Speed Internet's Most Successful Failure (archive)

In the Big Bang Disruption model, where innovations take off suddenly when markets are ready for them, Google Fiber could be seen as a failed early market experiment in gigabit internet access. But what if the company's goal was never to unleash the disrupter itself so much as to encourage incumbent broadband providers to do so, helping Google's expansion in adjacent markets such as video and emerging markets including smart homes? Seen through that lens, Google Fiber succeeded wildly. It stimulated the incumbents to accelerate their own infrastructure investments by several years. New applications and new industries emerged, including virtual reality and the Internet of Things, proving the viability of an "if you build it, they will come" strategy for gigabit services. And in the process, local governments were mobilized to rethink restrictive and inefficient approaches to overseeing network installations.

[...] Google went about announcing locations, and incumbent broadband ISPs, including AT&T, CenturyLink, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable, would quickly counter by promising improved pricing, faster speeds, network upgrades or some combination of the three. A "game of gigs" had erupted. In the end, Google announced plans to build in 34 cities, playing a kind of broadband whack-a-mole game. Incumbents, who initially dismissed the effort as a publicity stunt, accelerated and reprioritized their own deployments city by city as Google announced follow-on expansion.

As the game of gigs played out, city leaders were forced to offer the same administrative advantages to incumbents as they had to Google Fiber. Construction costs fell, and the speed of deployments increased. Only six years after Google's initial announcement, according to the Fiber Broadband Association, 30% of urban residents had access to gigabit Internet service.

Related: Movie Studios Fear a Piracy Surge From Google Fiber
Google Files Letter with FCC Showing Positives of Title II for Broadband Providers
Google Fiber Announces Next 4 Cities to Get 1Gbps
AT&T Charges $29 More for Gigabit Fiber that Doesn't Watch Your Web Browsing
Austinites Outraged as Google Fiber Tears Up Texas Capital
Google Fiber Buys Webpass ISP
After Years Waiting for Google Fiber, KC Residents Get Cancellation E-Mails
FCC Gives Google Fiber and New ISPs Faster Access to Utility Poles

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Golden sandwich could make the world more sustainable

Scientists have developed a photoelectrode that can harvest 85 percent of visible light in a 30 nanometers-thin semiconductor layer between gold layers, converting light energy 11 times more efficiently than previous methods.

[...] In the study published in Nature Nanotechnology, the research team sandwiched a semiconductor, a 30-nanometer titanium dioxide thin-film, between a 100-nanometer gold film and gold nanoparticles to enhance light absorption. When the system is irradiated by light from the gold nanoparticle side, the gold film worked as a mirror, trapping the light in a cavity between two gold layers and helping the nanoparticles absorb more light.

To their surprise, more than 85 percent of all visible light was harvested by the photoelectrode, which was far more efficient than previous methods. Gold nanoparticles are known to exhibit a phenomenon called localized plasmon resonance which absorbs a certain wavelength of light. "Our photoelectrode successfully created a new condition in which plasmon and visible light trapped in the titanium oxide layer strongly interact, allowing light with a broad range of wavelengths to be absorbed by gold nanoparticles," says Hiroaki Misawa.

Enhanced water splitting under modal strong coupling conditions (DOI: 10.1038/s41565-018-0208-x) (DX)

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

Mill Valley joins effort to constrain 5G proliferation

The city of Mill Valley has enacted an urgency ordinance to regulate "small cell" towers amid concerns that cellphone companies want to grow their 5G networks and install new equipment in Marin. "We do intend to do more work and studies to craft a permanent ordinance within the next year," Mill Valley Mayor Stephanie Moulton-Peters said Friday. "The urgency ordinance has standards to limit and prohibit the installations of devices in residential neighborhoods, but there is more that we can do."

The decision came on a unanimous vote by the City Council on Thursday, after residents from across Marin packed the council chambers as part of a campaign urging local officials to block cellphone companies from attempting to build 5G towers in the county. No proposals for 5G towers have been submitted to Mill Valley, staff said.

The issue is that 5G towers, which would allow for faster and higher-capacity video streaming and other transmissions, could exacerbate health symptoms already suspected as a result of exposure to electromagnetic fields, according to the EMF Safety Network, a group advocating to keep communities EMF-free. Those symptoms can include fatigue, headaches, sleep problems, anxiety, heart problems, learning and memory disorders, ringing in the ears and increased cancer risk, according to the EMF Safety Network website.

"What 5G does is it adds another cloud to what we refer to as 'electromagnetic smog' into an environment that is already pretty saturated," said Fairfax resident and activist Valeri Hood. "In Fairfax, what we're doing is asking our council to step up in the way councils have in the past, and just say no to 5G."

Also at HardOCP.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Seagate BarraCuda Pro 14TB HDD Review: Massive Storage for Desktops

The exponential increase in data storage requirements over the last decade or so has been handled by regular increases in hard drive capacities. Multiple HDD vendors supply them to cloud providers (who get the main benefits from advancements in hard drive technologies), but, Seagate is the only one to also focus on the home consumer / prosumer market. In the last three generations, we have seen that Seagate has been the first to target the desktop storage market with their highest capacity drives. The 10 TB BarraCuda Pro was released in Q3 2016, and the 12 TB version in Q4 2017. Seagate is launching the 14 TB version today.

The Seagate BarraCuda Pro 14TB is a 7200RPM SATAIII (6 Gbps) hard drive with a 256MB multi-segmented DRAM cache. It features eight PMR platters with a 1077 Gb/in² areal density in a sealed enclosure filled with helium. The main change compared to the 12TB version introduced last year is the usage of two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR) heads, allowing for higher areal density (1077 Gb/in² vs. 923 Gb/in² without TDMR).

Launch price is $580.

Bytram (from IRC) writes:

Hackers Can Clone Tesla Key Fobs in Seconds | SecurityWeek.Com:

[...] The attack described by KU Leuven researchers has four major phases. In the first phase, the attacker obtains the targeted vehicle's identifier, which is transmitted periodically. The identifier is then used to impersonate the vehicle and send two challenges to the key fob.

The response pairs are captured and the 40-bit encryption key can be recovered, allowing the attacker to impersonate the fob and unlock and start the car.

An attack can be conducted using Proxmark 3, a $400 tool designed for RFID analysis, from a distance of 1 meter (3 feet). However, experts believe the distance can be increased to up to 8 meters (26 feet) if purposely build antennas and transmission hardware are used.

This research focused on the PKES system used in the Tesla Model S. However, the analyzed PKES system is made by Pektron and is used by several other manufacturers, including McLaren, Karma and Triumph, which means their vehicles could be affected as well.

Tesla has worked with the researchers to implement measures that should prevent attacks, but none of the other companies responded to attempts to report the flaws.

[...] In general, these types of attacks can be prevented by keeping the key in a special box or pouch that blocks RF transmission. However, this defeats the purpose of the keyless entry and start system.

The researchers do not plan on making public any of the tools they have developed, but a paper containing technical details will become available soon.

Related: Tesla Model X Hacked by Chinese Experts

Related: Chinese Researchers Remotely Hack Tesla Model S

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

John Paul Wohlscheid over at It's FOSS takes a look at the ZFS file system and its capabilities. He mainly covers OpenZFS which is the fork made since Oracle bought and shut down Solaris which was the original host of ZFS. It features pooled storage with RAID-like capabilities, copy-on-write with snapshots, data integrity verification and automatic repair, and it can handle files up to 16 exabytes in size, with file systems of up to 256 quadrillion zettabytes in size should you have enough electricity to pull that off. Because it started development under a deliberately incompatible license, ZFS cannot be directly integrated in Linux. However, several distros work around that and provide packages for it. It has been ported to FreeBSD since 2008.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Man who made billions from OxyContin is pushing drug to wean addicts off opioids

Following hundreds of lawsuits over the years against pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma, Colorado's attorney general is suing the OxyContin creator for its "significant role in causing the opioid epidemic." The lawsuit claims Purdue Pharma L.P. and Purdue Pharma Inc. deluded doctors and patients in Colorado about the potential for addiction with prescription opioids and continued to push the drugs. And it comes amid news that the company's former chairman and president, Richard Sackler, has patented a new drug to help wean addicts from opioids.

[...] In federal court in 2007, three top current and former employees for Purdue pleaded guilty to criminal charges, admitting that they had falsely led doctors and their patients to believe that OxyContin was less likely to be abused than other drugs in its class, according to The New York Times. Then earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Purdue planned to stop promoting the drug.

Now, it seems, a new business venture is only adding to the outcry. The Financial Times reported that Sackler, whose family owns Purdue Pharma, a multibillion-dollar company, patented a new drug earlier this year that is a form of buprenorphine, a mild opioid that is used to ease withdrawal symptoms. However, some are expressing outrage that the Sacklers, who have in essence profited from opioid addictions, may soon be profiting from the antidote. "It's reprehensible what Purdue Pharma has done to our public health," Luke Nasta, director of Camelot, a New York-based treatment center for drug and alcohol addiction, told the Financial Times. He told the newspaper that the Sackler family "shouldn't be allowed to peddle any more synthetic opiates - and that includes opioid substitutes."

Financial Times also reported that the Sackler family owns Rhodes Pharma, "a little-known Rhode Island-based drugmaker that is among the largest producers of off-patent generic opioids in the U.S."

Also at The Independent.

Previously: City of Everett, Washington Sues OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma
OxyContin's 12-Hour Problem
South Carolina Sues OxyContin Maker Purdue
Purdue Pharma to Cut Sales Force, Stop Marketing Opioids to Doctors
Tens or Hundreds of Billions of Dollars Needed to Combat Opioid Crisis? (Massachusetts Attorney General sues Sackler family)

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

A company that sells exploits to government agencies drops Tor Browser zero-day on Twitter after recent Tor Browser update renders exploit less valuable.

Zerodium, a company that buys and sells vulnerabilities in popular software, has published details today on Twitter about a zero-day vulnerability in the Tor Browser, a Firefox-based browser used by privacy-conscious users for navigating the web through the anonymity provided by the Tor network.

In a tweet, Zerodium said the vulnerability is a full bypass of the "Safest" security level of the NoScript extension that's included by default with all Tor Browser distributions.

NoScript is a browser extension that uses a whitelist approach to let the user decide from what domains the browser can execute JavaScript, Flash, Java, or Silverlight content. It is included with all Tor Browser distributions because it provides an extra layer of security for Tor Browser users.

Zerodium's Tor zero-day basically allows malicious code to run inside the Tor Browser by bypassing NoScript's script-blocking ability.

Original Submission

Bytram (from IRC) writes:

Progress update from the Librem 5 hardware department:

[...] Making a non-Android mobile phone that will run an FSF-approved OS that supports all the features that we've all come to rely on (cellular, WiFi, Bluetooth, touchscreen input) has and continues to involve a lot of pathfinding, given that a RYF phone has never been attempted before and discovery involves solving issues as they come up.

The industry offers all the hardware to create a smartphone on a fast path, as the SoC vendors typically provide the modem (cellular and wifi) integrated directly on the SoC. Like a recipe in a cookbook—take an SoC, place it on a PCB, add RAM and flash chip on top of it (called a package on package—PoP), add antennas and finally power. The difficulty comes down to the firmware and the software that run these devices. The necessary firmware to operate the cellular modem, WiFi, BT etc. is provided by the chip maker, including the drivers for the GPU and more. The firmware and software included is proprietary with no source code with little to no alternatives.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Amazon is now worth $1,000,000,000,000

Amazon's total market value passed $1 trillion on Tuesday, following Apple's ascent into 13-digit territory at the beginning of August. Amazon and Apple now make up more than 8% of the entire value of the S&P 500, according to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst for S&P.

Microsoft exec: Amazon's expansion is our opportunity

Microsoft views Amazon's entry into new business areas as a great opportunity to steal cloud customers. During an appearance at Citi's Global Technology Conference in New York on Thursday, Judson Althoff, the executive vice president heading up Microsoft's worldwide commercial business group, pointed to trust as one reason that Microsoft's public cloud is growing faster than Amazon's. "Amazon is frankly attacking a lot of industries right now, and they're pretty bold and open about it," Althoff said. "I mean, Jeff will say, 'Look, your margin is my opportunity,' and there's evidence of that, huge evidence of that, huge evidence of that in retail, of course, but also financial services and health care."

Amazon's interest in retail is well understood following its acquisition of Whole Foods and the introduction of Amazon Go convenience stores. That expansion [has] already started to help Microsoft. In July Microsoft announced a five-year deal involving cloud with Walmart. Other Microsoft cloud customers include Costco and Kroger.

chromas (from IRC) writes:

Tor Browser for Android released - gHacks Tech News:

Tor Browser for Android is now available officially on Google Play and on the Tor Project website. The release is marked as alpha at this point in time; this becomes obvious right after start as it is required that you install Orbot, a proxy application, on your Android device as well as Tor Browser requires it currently for its functionality.

The team notes, however, that future versions of Tor Browser for Android won't have that dependency which means that they will provide all the functionality and do not depend on other apps anymore when that happens.

You need to accept the Orbot prompt when you first launch Tor Browser for Android. Doing so opens the Orbot page on Google Play so that you can install the app.

Note that you need to configure Orbot so that Tor Browser for Android uses it as the proxy on the system. Just start the app and check the Tor Browser for Android box under Apps to do so.

Tip: The release of Tor Browser for Android comes just days after the release of Tor Browser 8.0 for desktop operating systems.

First thing you may want to do is load https://check.torproject.org/ in the browser to verify that the connection flows through the Tor network. The browser has a bookmark on the start page that you can activate for that or you type the URL manually.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Legacy of NASA's Dawn, Near the End of its Mission

NASA's Dawn mission is drawing to a close after 11 years of breaking new ground in planetary science, gathering breathtaking imagery, and performing unprecedented feats of spacecraft engineering.

Dawn's mission was extended several times, outperforming scientists' expectations in its exploration of two planet-like bodies, Ceres and Vesta, that make up 45 percent of the mass of the main asteroid belt. Now the spacecraft is about to run out of a key fuel, hydrazine. When that happens, most likely between mid-September and mid-October, Dawn will lose its ability to communicate with Earth. It will remain in a silent orbit around Ceres for decades.

[...] Because Ceres has conditions of interest to scientists who study chemistry that leads to the development of life, NASA follows strict planetary protection protocols for the disposal of the Dawn spacecraft. Unlike Cassini, which deliberately plunged into Saturn's atmosphere to protect the system from contamination -- Dawn will remain in orbit around Ceres, which has no atmosphere.

Engineers designed Dawn's final orbit to ensure it will not crash for at least 20 years -- and likely decades longer.

Dawn, Vesta, and Ceres.

Previously: Dawn's Orbit Around Ceres: A New Low
Dawn Spacecraft Captures Closest-Ever Images of Ceres' Shiny Occator Crater

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Heat transfer surprise could lead to thermal transistors

As much as 100 times more heat than predicted by the standard radiation theory can flow between two nanoscale objects, even at bigger-than-nanoscale distances, researchers at the University of Michigan and the College of William and Mary have reported in the journal Nature. The new results could have implications for better solar cells, materials that behave like one-way valves for heat flow and perhaps even a heat-based computing platform.

Max Planck's theory of radiation, proposed in 1900, set the stage for quantum mechanics and has held up well over the intervening century. But five years ago, a microstructure in the lab of Pramod Reddy, U-M professor of mechanical engineering, was letting an astonishing amount of heat flow between objects that should have been insulated from one another. [...] In an object the size and shape of a credit card, heat would ordinarily radiate from each of the six sides in proportion to the surface area. But the team found that when the structures were extremely thin—at the thinnest, about half the wavelength of green light—those edges released and absorbed much more heat than anticipated.

takyon writes:

Samsung Foundry Updates: 8LPU Added, EUVL on Track for HVM in 2019

Samsung recently hosted its Samsung Foundry Forum 2018 in Japan, where it made several significant foundry announcements. Besides reiterating plans to start high-volume manufacturing (HVM) using extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) tools in the coming quarters, along with reaffirming plans to use gate all around FETs (GAAFETs) with its 3 nm node, the company also added its brand-new 8LPU process technology to its roadmap. Samsung Foundry's general roadmap was announced earlier this year, so at SFF in Japan the contract maker of semiconductors reiterated some of its plans, made certain corrections, and provided some additional details about its future plans.

takyon writes:

Hong Kong scientists develop new 'nano-swarm' robots

A groundbreaking new method of controlling nano-robots that emulates natural swarm behavior has been developed by scientists in Hong Kong, the first step in what is hoped could lead to a major medical advancement in the treatment of blood clots.

[...] Led by Associate Professor Li Zhang, a team of scientists from the Chinese University of Hong Kong designed and implemented a strategy of using oscillating magnetic fields to create highly reconfigurable ribbon-like swarms of nano-robots, millions of magnetic nanoparticles each less than one micron wide, or one-fifth the length of a red blood cell.

As programmers tune the applied magnetic fields, the "micro-swarm" of nano-robots is capable of performing a wide range of structural changes, including extending, shrinking, splitting, and merging, all with a high degree of accuracy.

[...] It is hoped surgeons could manipulate the nano-robots to pass through highly compact spaces within organs and blood vessels, allowing the nano-robots to resolve blood clots and assist with targeted drug delivery to cells.

Nature article includes ten supplementary movies:

Ultra-extensible ribbon-like magnetic microswarm (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05749-6) (DX)

Original Submission

Bytram (from IRC) writes:

International research team discovers career hot streaks occur in science, art and film:

A team of researchers [...] examined the works of nearly 30,000 scientists, artists and film directors to learn if high-impact works in those fields came in streaks.

According to Lu Liu, a doctoral student in the College of IST and member of the research team, they found a universal pattern.

"Around 90 percent of professionals in those industries have at least one hot hand, and some of them have two or even three," she said.

[...] Liu says that there are two previous schools of thought regarding hot streaks in individual careers. According to the "Matthew effect," the more famous you become, the more likely you'll have success later, which supports the existence of a hot streak. The other school of thought -- the random impact rule -- implies that the success of a career is primarily random and is primarily driven by levels of productivity.

"Our findings provide a different point of view regarding individual careers," said Liu. "We found a period when an individual performs better than his normal career, and that the timing of a hot streak is random."