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takyon writes:

Nvidia's Turing pricing strategy has been 'poorly received,' says Instinet

Instinet analyst Romit Shah commented Friday on Nvidia Corp.'s new Turing GPU, now that reviews of the product are out. "The 2080 TI is indisputably the best consumer GPU technology available, but at a prohibitive cost for many gamers," he wrote. "Ray tracing and DLSS [deep learning super sampling], while apparently compelling features, are today just 'call options' for when game developers create content that this technology can support."

Nvidia shares fall after Morgan Stanley says the performance of its new gaming card is disappointing

"As review embargos broke for the new gaming products, performance improvements in older games is not the leap we had initially hoped for," Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore said in a note to clients on Thursday. "Performance boost on older games that do not incorporate advanced features is somewhat below our initial expectations, and review recommendations are mixed given higher price points." Nvidia shares closed down 2.1 percent Thursday.

Moore noted that Nvidia's new RTX 2080 card performed only 3 percent better than the previous generation's 1080Ti card at 4K resolutions.

takyon writes:

The ESA teamed with Nissan to build an off-road astronomy lab

Nissan unveiled its Navara Dark Sky concept vehicle at the Hannover Motor Show this week, and it's a vehicle designed for astronomers. The truck is an enhanced version of the automaker's Navara vehicle and along with including some handy new features, it also has a trailer in tow that carries a powerful PlaneWave telescope. Designed with the European Space Agency, the trailer not only houses the telescope but has a number of features that protect the telescope and help researchers collect and transmit data.

The trailer boasts a refrigerated interior that helps stabilize the telescope and battery packs can power a WiFi hotspot, a laptop station and a UHF transmitter for data relay. Further, the truck itself makes use of red lighting in order to cut down on light pollution while the ProPilot driver assistance technology takes the trailer into account and helps locate parking that best accommodates the trailer and telescope.

Seems like a good platform for measuring occultations.

Also at Autoblog.

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

Yale News:

[Robotic] skins enable users to design their own robotic systems. Although the skins are designed with no specific task in mind, Kramer-Bottiglio said, they could be used for everything from search-and-rescue robots to wearable technologies. The results of the team's work are published today in Science Robotics [DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.aat1853] [DX].

The skins are made from elastic sheets embedded with sensors and actuators developed in Kramer-Bottiglio's lab. Placed on a deformable object — a stuffed animal or a foam tube, for instance — the skins animate these objects from their surfaces. The makeshift robots can perform different tasks depending on the properties of the soft objects and how the skins are applied. [...] Robots are typically built with a single purpose in mind. The robotic skins, however, allow users to create multi-functional robots on the fly. That means they can be used in settings that hadn't even been considered when they were designed, said Kramer-Bottiglio.

The robotic skin you had carry your coffee cup to you can now be used for... other things.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Scientists have discovered that your ordinary, everyday octopus can get "high" on MDMA just like humans. While intoxicated with "molly", an octopus is likely to be more social and friendly towards others, changing from being antisocial to highly social, much like how the drug affects humans.

Human and octopus lineages are separated by over 500 million years of evolution and show divergent anatomical patterns of brain organisation, which makes this find surprising. This may make the octopus an attractive test subject for future drug trials.

In order to test the theory that an octopus is affected by MDMA in the same way as a human, an octopus was submerged in a tank of water mixed with MDMA, and later put into a series of three connected chambers, one of which had a caged octopus underneath. The stoned octopus chose to spend its time trying to play with the caged octopus, in a complete reversal of sober octopus nature.

A Conserved Role for Serotonergic Neurotransmission in Mediating Social Behavior in Octopus (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.07.061) (DX)

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

China Blocks Twitch Game-Streaming Service

Video game-streaming service Twitch has been blocked in China.

Since 20 September, Twitch's website has been unreachable from the country and its app has been removed from the local Apple App Store.

Twitch has confirmed that it is being blocked but it has not said why the authorities have imposed the restriction.

The service was cut off shortly after enjoying a significant bump in popularity among Chinese gamers. The streaming service has been gaining a larger following in China over the last few months. Many keen gamers flocked to it in late August to watch eSports matches being played at the Asian Games in Jakarta.

Not a fan of Twitch myself, but I'm even less of a fan of censorship.

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Amazon uses fake packages to catch delivery drivers who are stealing, according to sources with knowledge of the practice.

The company plants the packages — internally referred to as "dummy" packages — in the trucks of drivers at random. The dummy packages have fake labels and are often empty.

[...] During deliveries, drivers scan the labels of every package they deliver. When they scan a fake label on a dummy package, an error message will pop up.

When this happens, drivers might call their supervisors to address the problem, or keep the package in their truck and return it to an Amazon warehouse at the end of their shift.

Drivers, in theory, could also choose to steal the package. The error message means the package isn't detected in Amazon's system. As a result, it could go unnoticed if the package were to go missing.

"If you bring the package back, you are innocent. If you don't, you're a thug," said Sid Shah, a former manager for DeliverOL, a courier company that delivers packages for Amazon.

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-sets-traps-for-drivers-2018-9

Original Submission

Bytram (from IRC) writes:

Spotify to let artists post music without labels:

In a move with the power to shake up the music industry, Spotify said Thursday that it will allow select artists to upload songs directly without record labels or distributors.

Spotify, by far the biggest player in the fast-growing format of streaming, said that the feature for now is only in the test phase for select US-based independent artists who have secured their own copyrights.

But the feature, if eventually put to scale, could in the long run drastically change the business decisions for artists who would not need to go through a label or one of the batch of new companies, such as TuneCore, that provide uploading services for independent artists.

Spotify said artists would simply upload their songs to the platform, first seeing a preview of how it will look, with the Swedish company automatically sending royalties each month.

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Wired has published a long article about how the farming equipment manufacturer John Deere has just swindled farmers out of their right to repair their own equipment. Basically the manufacturer was allowed to write the agreement governing access to the firmware embedded in the farming equipment.

Farmers have been some of the strongest allies in the ongoing battle to make it easier for everyone to fix their electronics. This week, though, a powerful organization that's supposed to lobby on behalf of farmers in California has sold them out by reaching a watered-down agreement that will allow companies like John Deere to further cement their repair monopolies.

Farmers around the country have been hacking their way past the software locks that John Deere and other manufacturers put on tractors and other farm equipment, and the Farm Bureau lobbying organization has thus far been one of the most powerful to put its weight behind right to repair legislation, which would require manufacturers to sell repair parts, make diagnostic tools and repair information available to the public, and would require manufacturers to provide a way to get around proprietary software locks that are designed to prevent repair.

Motherboard also covered the topic about how farmer lobbyists sold out their farmers and helped enshrine John Deere's maintenance monopoly.

Earlier on SN:
The Right to Repair Battle Has Come to California (2018)
Apple, Verizon Join Forces to Lobby Against New York's 'Right to Repair' Law (2017)
US Copyright Office Says People Have the Right to Hack their Own Cars' Software (2015)
Jailbreak your Tractor or Make it Run OSS? (2015)

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

The EU deemed Ireland's tax break to Apple illegal in 2016 as it gave the company a "significant advantage" over its competition. Apple was ordered to pay back the taxes it owed for the period between 2003 and 2014, along with interest. Unsuccessful appeals followed until Apple began paying back the money, starting with a $1.76 billion payment in May of this year, into an escrow fund.

"In light of the full payment[*] by Apple of the illegal State aid it had received from Ireland, Commissioner Vestager will be proposing to the College of Commissioners the withdrawal of this court action," European Commission spokesman Ricardo Cardoso said in an email to Reuters.

[*] 13.2 billion Euros ($15.4 billion) in back taxes, plus interest of 1.2 billion Euros ($1.4 billion)

Source: https://www.engadget.com/2018/09/19/apple-pays-irish-tax-bill-eu/

Original Submission

Motortrend has some pics of cargo version of the ID Buzz concept,
https://www.motortrend.com/news/volkswagen-d-buzz-cargo-previews-future-commercial-vehicles/ If I were a contractor or had a repair company, an electric van to lug my tools and parts around would be nice. But unless VW has located a secret source of cheap lithium batteries, the first cost of this version will be much higher than an equivalent ICE-powered commercial van. Will contractors or service companies buy these instead of, for example, a Ford Transit?

It's looking at a different market sector than Tesla where the first adopters had money for a luxury car. Maybe the customers will be rich kids looking for a cool way to get their surf boards to the beach?

Volkswagen reimagined the Microbus when it introduced the I.D. Buzz concept in early 2017. This all-electric remake seats up to eight people in a living-room style seating environment. Now, the automaker is revealing a cargo version designed for commercial use.

Like the passenger version, the I.D. Buzz Cargo concept sits on the flexible MEB platform for electric vehicles. This architecture can accommodate batteries with ranges of around 205 miles to more than 310 miles on the European scale. While the I.D. Buzz passenger van will enter production in 2022, the cargo model could launch as early as 2021, the automaker says. Eventually, the model will support autonomous driving and allow drivers to get more work done while on the road.

aristarchus writes:

From the fine pages of the New York Post, such as they are:

Shares of Peter Thiel-backed marijuana grower Tilray soared as much as 94 percent on Wednesday, briefly hitting a market value of $28 billion, as bullish comments from the company's chief executive stoked Wall Street's growing euphoria over marijuana stocks.

But late in the afternoon, the shares crashed, falling briefly into negative territory before spiking in the final minutes to close the day at $214.06, up 38 percent. Traders blamed the wild ride, marked by at least four halts for volatility, on a short squeeze as pot-addled investors tried to get their heads around the budding business of legalized weed.

Despite the bumpy day, shares of the Canada-based pot farmer — which are up 10-fold from their debut on the Nasdaq in July — closed with a market capitalization of $19.93 billion, bigger than Expedia, Dish Networks and Mylan. Twitter, which briefly got eclipsed by Tilray, closed Wednesday with a market cap of $22.3 billion.

Thiel, the libertarian tech tycoon who backed Donald Trump in 2016, is rolling in the green thanks to Tilray's runup. Pot-focused private equity fund Privateer Holdings, in which Thiel is a big investor, owns 76 percent of Tilray's stock — making the fund's stake worth roughly $15 billion.

Wow, better than a Tesla pump-and-dump, no doubt due to the mimetic transfusion of young non-gay blood!

See also: Investing in cannabis is 'a great hedge' for alcohol and drug companies, CEO of medical marijuana producer Tilray says
Canadian cannabis producer Tilray had a wild day after its CEO appeared on Cramer's 'Mad Money' (TLRY)
It's Time for a Reality Check About Tilray
Weed is the new blockchain
Tilray Is Partying Like It's 1999 (and It Won't End Well)
Pot-focused investment fund backed by Peter Thiel gets a boost from its big stake in Tilray

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for takyon

Ampere is launching two versions of its first ARM-based 64-bit server processor today in a challenge to Intel's dominance of data center chips.

Intel dominates about 99 percent of the server chip market with its x86-based processors, but Ampere is targeting power-efficient, high-performance, and high-memory capacity features with its Ampere eMAG processors for data centers.

Renee James, former president of Intel and CEO of Ampere, said in an interview with VentureBeat that customers can now order the chip from the company's website. The chips are aimed at hyperscale cloud and edge computing, using the ARMv8-A cores. The chips target big data and in-memory databases.

[...] Based on the SPECint benchmark performance, Ampere's eMAG processor can deliver about twice the performance of the Intel Xeon Gold 6130 processor at about the same price, the company said. The eMAG with 32 cores and 3.3 Ghz in performance will sell for $850, and with 16 cores at 3.3 GHz will sell for $550.

[...] Ampere designed its cores, which feature eight DDR4-2667 memory controllers, 42 lanes of PCIe 3.0 for high bandwidth I/O, 125W TDP for maximum power efficiency, and a 16-nanometer FinFET manufacturing process at contract manufacturer TSMC.

Source: https://venturebeat.com/2018/09/18/ampere-launches-its-first-arm-based-server-processors-in-challenge-to-intel/

Previously: Former Intel President Launches New Chip Company With Backing From Carlyle Group

Original Submission

martyb writes:

[Update: WOW! Thanks for all the useful feedback! Plenty of information on the TV-as-a-monitor side of things (but feel free to add more!) Would very much appreciate it if folks could provide some input as to what has worked for them in using a laptop to drive a 4K display. I'd consider a used system. Would, ideally, like something that costs in the ~$300 range, but am resigned to the fact I may have to kick out more like ~$750. What graphics adapter do you have. Is it an integrated model (e.g. Intel HD 630) or discrete card? What model? What troubles, if any, have you had with getting proper drivers (windows OR Linux/Debian/BSD/etc.) Could you get the full 60 fps or were you limited to 30 fps? See below the fold for details on my current system and what my needs are compute-wise. --Bytram]

Summary: I need more screen space.

Which means I'll need a new (to me) laptop (portability++) which can support more pixels. I want a system that is Linux/BSD friendly. I don't have a whole lot of money to spend, so I'm hoping I can draw on the experience of my fellow Soylentils to help point me in the right direction. I'd like to avoid overspending, but I don't want to find that I've boxed myself into a corner for making an ignorant mistake.

I used to follow the bleeding edge of technology, but I've now firmly moved into the "I want it to just work" camp.

takyon writes:

Intel Tock-Ticks Chipsets Back to 22nm

We've confirmed through multiple sources that Intel is fabbing its new H310C chipset on its 22nm process. That means the chip-making giant has taken a step back to an older process for the H310C chipset as it struggles with its ongoing shortage of 14nm processors. Contrary to recent reports, our sources confirmed Intel manufactures these chips and not TSMC (which has been reported in recent weeks), though that could be subject to change in the future.

The shift in Intel's strategy comes as the company struggles with the fallout from its chronically delayed 10nm process. Now the company is dealing with an increasingly loud chorus of reports that Intel's 14nm shortage is now impacting its server, desktop and mobile chips.

[...] Intel typically produces chipsets on a larger node than its current-gen processors, but the delayed 10nm production has found both chipsets and chips on the same 14nm node, creating a manufacturing bottleneck as the company experiences record demand for 14nm processors.

Related: Intel's "Tick-Tock" Strategy Stalls, 10nm Chips Delayed
Intel's First 8th Generation Processors Are Just Updated 7th Generation Chips
Intel Delays Mass Production Of 10 nm CPUs To 2019

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-onion-service/

...the Internet is full of bad actors, and distinguishing legitimate traffic from malicious traffic, which is one of Cloudflare's core features, becomes much more difficult when the traffic is anonymous. In particular, many features that make Tor a great tool for privacy also make it a tool for hiding the source of malicious traffic.

Today's edition of the Crypto Week introduces an "opportunistic" solution to this problem, so that under suitable conditions, anyone using Tor Browser 8.0 will benefit from improved security and performance when visiting Cloudflare websites without having to face a CAPTCHA. At the same time, this feature enables more fine-grained rate-limiting to prevent malicious traffic, and since the mechanics of the idea described here are not specific to Cloudflare, anyone can reuse this method on their own website.

Convenience always seems to be in conflict with security, but it appears they have arrived at an innovative solution.

Original Submission