SoylentNews

takyon writes:

GlobalFoundries Establishes Avera Semiconductor: a Custom Chip Company

GlobalFoundries this week announced that it has spun off its ASIC Solutions division, establishing Avera Semiconductor, a wholly owned subsidiary that will help fabless chip developers to design their products. Avera will work closely with GlobalFoundries' customers to enable them take advantage of various process technologies that GF has, but the company will also establish ties with other contract makers of semiconductors to help their clients develop chips to be made using leading edge process technologies at 7 nm and beyond.

[...] The new wholly owned subsidiary of GlobalFoundries has over 850 employees, an annual revenue of over $500 million, and ongoing projects worth $3 billion. By working not only with clients of GlobalFoundries, but expanding to customers of companies like Samsung Foundry and TSMC, Avera has a chance to increase its earnings over time. Avera Semi is led by Kevin O'Buckley, a former head of ASIC Solutions, who joined GlobalFoundries from IBM.

Shuffling money on the Titanic?

Previously: AMD, GlobalFoundries Renew Vows, Focus on Path to 7nm
GlobalFoundries to Spend $10-12 Billion on a 7nm Fab, Possibly $14-18 Billion for 5nm
AnandTech Interview With the CTO of GlobalFoundries: 7nm EUV and 5 GHz Clock Speeds
GlobalFoundries Abandons "7nm LP" Node, TSMC and Samsung to Pick Up the Slack

Related: Can Intel Really Share its Fabs?

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Petter Reinholdtsen at the Skolelinux project has a very, very short blog post which simply asks if it is time for an official MIME type for patches and points to the mailing list proposed for such a discussion.

As part of my involvement in the Nikita archive API project, I've been importing a fairly large lump of emails into a test instance of the archive to see how well this would go. I picked a subset of my notmuch email database, all public emails sent to me via @lists.debian.org, giving me a set of around 216 000 emails to import. In the process, I had a look at the various attachments included in these emails, to figure out what to do with attachments, and noticed that one of the most common attachment formats do not have an official MIME type registered with IANA/IETF. The output from diff, ie the input for patch, is on the top 10 list of formats included in these emails. At the moment people seem to use either text/x-patch or text/x-diff, but neither is officially registered. It would be better if one official MIME type were registered and used everywhere.

What do Soylentils have to say for or against designating a specific MIME type for software patches? Which details need to be addressed and would there be any pitfalls?

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Amazon in advanced talks about putting HQ2 in Northern Virginia, those close to process say

Amazon.com has held advanced discussions about the possibility of opening its highly sought-after second headquarters in Crystal City, including how quickly it would move employees there, which buildings it would occupy and how an announcement about the move would be made to the public, according to people close to the process.

The discussions were more detailed than those the company has had regarding other locations in Northern Virginia and some other cities nationally, adding to speculation that the site in Arlington County is a front-runner to land the online retail giant's second North American headquarters and its 50,000 jobs.

The company is so close to making its choice that Crystal City's top real estate developer, JBG Smith, has pulled some of its buildings off the leasing market and officials in the area have discussed how to make an announcement to the public this month, following the midterm elections, according to public and private-sector officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Amazon has asked that the selection process remain confidential. The company may be having similar discussions with other finalists.

[...] [After] publication of this story, Mike Grella, director of economic development for Amazon, posted on Twitter: "Memo to the genius leaking info about Crystal City, VA as #HQ2 selection. You're not doing Crystal City, VA any favors. And stop treating the NDA you signed like a used napkin," he said in reference to the nondisclosure agreements that Amazon required finalists to sign.

The Amazon Washington Post confirms it.

Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia.

Also at CNBC and CNN.

Previously: Amazon to Invest $5 Billion in Second HQ Outside of Seattle
Cities Desperate to Become the Location of Amazon's "Second Headquarters"

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for chromas

The true cost of a data breach

From the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) back in May, which fundamentally changed the rulebook for storing data of EU citizens at least to the Butlin’s hack, 2018 has been a very significant year for cybersecurity.  

One of the biggest changes centred around transparency, specifically businesses being forced to reveal within 72 hours if they have suffered a breach. While the US has had this type of policy for a while, businesses in the EU were not required to publicly state when a breach occurred, leaving them free to keep significant news like this from their customers. But now that things have changed, and it’s starting to heat up in the EU.

takyon writes:

November: The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin.
December: Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.

A poll for the January 2019 book will be around the 15th, unless you want it sooner (not sooner than the U.S. midterms).

Discuss Foundation by Isaac Asimov in the comments below.

As for Liu Cixin's best known novel:

"Wildly imaginative, really interesting." ―President Barack Obama on The Three-Body Problem trilogy

The English translation for The Three-Body Problem was published in 2014 by Ken Liu under Tor Books.

Consider using <spoiler>text</spoiler> wherever you feel the need to do so.

Previously: Announcement post • Mars, Ho!

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for chromas

Stephen Hawking's thesis, wheelchair heading for auction

LONDON (Reuters) - From a copy of his PhD thesis to his wheelchair, items belonging to Stephen Hawking are headed for auction, offering fans of the late British physicist famed for his work exploring the origins of the universe a chance to buy some of his possessions.

Known for his acclaimed research on black holes, the wheelchair-bound Hawking, who suffered from motor neurone disease and used an electronic voice synthesizer, died in March at the age of 76.

“On the Shoulders of Giants”, which also features documents penned by Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein, will feature 22 lots from Hawking’s estate, including one of five known copies of his PhD thesis, “Properties of expanding universes”, estimated at 100,000-150,000 pounds ($127,480 - $191,220).

“Stephen Hawking was a huge personality worldwide. He had this amazing ability to connect with people,” Thomas Venning, head of the Books and Manuscripts department at auction house Christie’s London, told Reuters.

“The whole idea...was to provide something that was accessible to his admirers so that people could connect with him and remember his extraordinary story.”

Also at The Guardian, The Register

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

Another Tesla with Autopilot crashed into a stationary object—the driver is suing

Earlier this month, Shawn Hudson's Tesla Model S crashed into a stalled car while moving at about 80 miles per hour on a Florida freeway. Tesla's Autopilot technology was engaged at the time, and Hudson has now filed a lawsuit against Tesla in state courts.

"Through a pervasive national marketing campaign and a purposefully manipulative sales pitch, Tesla has duped consumers" into believing that Autpilot can "transport passengers at highway speeds with minimal input and oversight," the lawsuit says.

Hudson had a two-hour commute to his job at an auto dealership. He says that he heard about Tesla's Autopilot technology last year and went to a Tesla dealership to learn more.

"Tesla's sales representative reassured Hudson that all he needed to do as the driver of the vehicle is to occasionally place his hand on the steering wheel and that the vehicle would 'do everything else,'" the lawsuit claims.

Tesla blames driver in last month's fatal crash with Autopilot engaged

But that description of Tesla's Autopilot system is not true. While the system can handle a range of driving conditions, it's not designed to stop for parked cars or other stationary objects when traveling at highway speeds. This year, at least two other Tesla drivers have plowed into parked vehicles while their cars were in Autopilot mode (one of them sued Tesla last month). Another Tesla customer, Californian Walter Huang, was killed when his Tesla vehicle ran into a concrete lane divider at full speed.

"It is the driver's responsibility to remain attentive to their surroundings and in control of the vehicle at all times," a Tesla spokesman told Ars by email. "Tesla goes to great lengths to provide clear instructions about what Autopilot is and is not, including by offering driver instructions when owners test drive and take delivery of their car, before drivers enable Autopilot and every single time they use Autopilot, as well as through the Owner's Manual and Release Notes for software updates." (I've reproduced Tesla's full emailed statement at the end of the story.)

Original Submission

takyon writes:

FDA approves powerful new opioid in 'terrible' decision

The Food and Drug Administration approved a powerful new opioid Friday, despite strong criticism and accusations that it bypassed its own advisory process to do it.

The new drug, Dsuvia, is a tablet that goes under the tongue. It is designed for use in the battlefield and in other emergency situations to treat intense, acute pain.

Known generically as sufentanil, it's a new formulation of a drug currently given intravenously. Critics say it will be incredibly easy for health workers to pocket and divert the drug to the illicit drug market and because it is so small and concentrated, it will likely kill people who overdose on it.

"This is a dangerous, reckless move," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe senior adviser of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. He questions whether there's need for yet another synthetic opioid when the U.S. is in the throes of an opioid overdose crisis.

Sufentanil is described as 5 to 10 times more potent than fentanyl and 500 times as potent as morphine. Carfentanil is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, but is only approved for the veterinary use of tranquilizing large animals. Sufentanil is the strongest opioid painkiller available for use in humans.

Cannabis and kratom? Exercise caution!

Also at STAT News, NPR, and The Hill.

See also: People on front lines of epidemic fear powerful new drug Dsuvia

Related:

*SPOILER* (click to show) *SPOILER* (click to hide)

Opioid Addiction is Big Business
Heroin, Fentanyl? Meh: Carfentanil is the Latest Killer Opioid
Study: Legal Weed Far Better Than Drug War at Stopping Opioid Overdose Epidemic
President Trump Declares the Opioid Crisis a National Emergency
Study Finds Stark Increase in Opioid-Related Admissions, Deaths in Nation's ICUs
FDA Blocks More Imports of Kratom, Warns Against Use as a Treatment for Opioid Withdrawal
Opioid Commission Drops the Ball, Demonizes Cannabis
U.S. Life Expectancy Continues to Decline Due to Opioid Crisis
FDA Labels Kratom an Opioid
Two More Studies Link Access to Cannabis to Lower Use of Opioids
"Synthetic Opioids" Now Kill More People than Prescription Opioids in the U.S.
U.S. Opioid Deaths May be Plateauing

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Jurassic Park for Perfume: Ginkgo Bioworks Reconstructs Scents From Extinct Plants

Researchers at Ginkgo Bioworks, one of the largest synthetic-biology companies in world, succeeded in resurrecting the smell by expressing the genes needed for making the defunct flower's pungent aroma molecules in microbes. Ginkgo unveiled—and demoed—the new perfume at the company's inaugural annual meeting in Boston last week.

[...] They took small snippets of tissue from around a dozen plants, including the Falls-of-the-Ohio scurfpea (last seen in 1881), the Wynberg conebush (last seen in 1806), and the Hawaiian mountain hibiscus (presumed extinct around 1912). They then worked with Beth Shapiro, a paleogenomicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to isolate and decode the ancient DNA, before taking a Jurassic Park–like approach to genetic reconstitution.

Back in the company's robot-filled organism-design lab—which last week expanded for a fourth time to accommodate the engineering of mammalian cells—Ginkgo scientists went through a highly structured trial-and-error design process to synthesize biochemical recipes for making aromatic oils called terpenes.

In total, they fashioned around 2,000 gene variants, each a hybrid of modern plant DNA and centuries-old sequences from the hibiscus, scurfpea, conebush, or other extinct plants. All that genetic material was manufactured in a DNA synthesizer; liquid-handling robots added the gene snippets to yeast cells, and mass-spectrometry machines analyzed the resulting terpene molecules.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Another Space Diamond! NASA Probe Snaps Great Photo of Asteroid Bennu

The asteroid Bennu is really coming into focus for NASA's approaching OSIRIS-REx spacecraft.

OSIRIS-REx snapped eight photos of the 1,650-foot-wide (500 meters) Bennu on Monday (Oct. 29), when the probe was about 205 miles (330 kilometers) away from the space rock. Mission team members combined these images into a single "super-resolution" shot, which reveals boulders and other features on the asteroid's surface.

The striking photo also highlights Bennu's diamond shape, which is similar to that of the 3,000-foot-wide (900 m) asteroid Ryugu. Japan's Hayabusa2 mission has been orbiting Ryugu since late June and has dropped three separate landing craft onto the space rock's surface over the past five weeks.

101955 Bennu has an average diameter of 492 meters, compared to about 1 kilometer for 162173 Ryugu. New Horizons will fly by (486958) 2014 MU₆₉, a 30-40 km object or objects, on January 1, capping the space rock trio for the year.

NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona photo.

Previously: New Horizons Spacecraft Approaches 2014 MU69; OSIRIS-REx Nears 101955 Bennu (images taken from 2.2 million km away)

Related: Hayabusa2 Reaches Asteroid 162173 Ryugu
Japan's Hopping Rovers Capture Amazing Views of Asteroid Ryugu
Short-Lived MASCOT Lander Reaches Asteroid Ryugu

Original Submission

takyon writes:

'Human brain' supercomputer with 1 million processors switched on for first time

The world's largest neuromorphic supercomputer designed and built to work in the same way a human brain does has been fitted with its landmark one-millionth processor core and is being switched on for the first time.

[...] To reach this point it has taken £15million in funding, 20 years in conception and over 10 years in construction, with the initial build starting way back in 2006. The project was initially funded by the EPSRC and is now supported by the European Human Brain Project. It is being switched on for the first time on Friday, 2 November.

[...] The SpiNNaker machine, which was designed and built in The University of Manchester's School of Computer Science, can model more biological neurons in real time than any other machine on the planet.

SpiNNaker.

Also at CNN.

Related: Simulating Neuromorphic Supercomputing Designs
The Second Coming of Neuromorphic Computing
IBM's Latest Attempt at a Brain-Inspired Computer

Original Submission

upstart writes in with a submission via IRC for chromas

The Supreme Court just allowed a major climate lawsuit to go ahead

In a surprise decision late Friday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for Juliana v. US, a major lawsuit filed by young people against the US government for failing to limit the effects of climate change. The case may now go to trial in a lower court after the Supreme Court’s extremely unusual move last month to temporarily block the proceeding.

The case includes 21 plaintiffs between the ages of 11 and 22, who began testing the idea that a safe climate is a civil right when the suit was first filed in 2015. It argues that the US government pursued policies that harmed the climate, thereby robbing the children of a “climate system capable of sustaining human life.” As redress, they want the government to take action to fight climate change.

“The youth of our nation won an important decision today from the Supreme Court that shows even the most powerful government in the world must follow the rules and process of litigation in our democracy,” the plaintiffs said Friday in a statement. “We have asked the District Court for an immediate status conference to get Juliana v. US back on track for trial in the next week.”

A lower court ruled earlier this year the case could go to trial, and that trial was expected begin at the United States District Court in Oregon on Monday, October 29.

But then late last month, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts issued a temporary stay of the case to consider a request from the Justice Department for a stay to halt the case. The Supreme Court’s temporary stay sent the plaintiffs scrambling to put together a brief in time to keep the case moving forward on schedule.

takyon writes:

Researchers Exploit Another Intel Hyper-Threading Flaw

Five academics from the Tampere University of Technology in Finland and Technical University of Havana, Cuba, have discovered yet another flaw in Intel's Hyper-Threading (HT) technology that attackers could use to steal users' encrypted data, as reported by ZDNet today.

Other CPUs that use Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) technology may also be affected by the bug, but so far only Intel's HT has been confirmed as vulnerable. SMT and HT are technologies that allow two or multiple computing threads to be executed on the same CPU core. Intel enables two threads per physical core with its HT technology.

[...] The vulnerability, which the researchers nicknamed PortSmash, allows attackers to create a malicious process that can run alongside another legitimate process using HT's parallel thread running capabilities. This malicious process can then leak information about the legitimate process and allow the attacker to reconstruct the encrypted data processed inside the legitimate process.

The researchers also made available the proof of concept (PoC) for the attack, showing that it is indeed feasible and not just theoretical. This PoC can now also be re-purposed and modified by attackers to launch a real attack against owners of systems using Intel CPUs.

Also at Ars Technica and The Register.

Related: OpenBSD disables Intel's hyper-threading over CPU data leak fears
TLBleed Affects Intel Processors with Hyperthreading to Leak Encryption Keys, Non-Trivial to Exploit
OpenBSD Chief De Raadt Says No Easy Fix For New Intel CPU Bug
Intel 'Gags' Linux Distros From Revealing Performance Hit From Spectre Patches

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Diablo is getting a 'full-fledged' mobile RPG

Blizzard is bringing Diablo to mobile devices, the company announced today during BlizzCon 2018. The game's creators promised a "full-fledged action RPG" called Diablo Immortal. Diablo Immortal picks up after Diablo II: Lord of Destruction and will launch for iOS and Android.

The mobile RPG is a massively multiplayer online action game; players will be able to drop in and out of groups and play through "dynamic events" as they travel through Sanctuary. Classes include monk, wizard, crusader, demon hunter, necromancer, and barbarian. Blizzard is currently allowing players to pre-register for a chance to join the game's upcoming beta.

Fingers do massive damage to phones.

Also at Ars Technica.

Related: Blizzard Releases an Update for Diablo II... 16 Years After its Release
Animated "Diablo" Series Reportedly Coming to Netflix

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Humans are to blame for the October failure of the Soyuz rocket:

Roscosmos: An assembly error doomed our Soyuz, but we promise it won't happen again

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, has completed its investigation into October's Soyuz mishap in record time, pointing the finger of blame at problems during assembly.

Mutterings emitted from the space agency earlier this week suggested that the issue was related to a sensor that detects stage separation of the booster. In yesterday's press conference, Roscosmos provided a few more details and shared a terrifying video[*] showing the moment things went bad for the Soyuz. It then gave the green light for putting a crew back on the thing next month.

The actual explosion was, according to the State Commission tasked with getting to the bottom of the mess, caused by one of the side boosters not separating correctly and striking the rocket core. This led to the depressurisation of a fuel tank and the loss of control of the booster. The problems start at 1:23 in the video.

Of course, the real question is why did the separation fail? The answer, according to Roscosmos, was a failure to open a nozzle at the top of the strap-on booster to vent its tank. This meant the booster did not separate cleanly. The nozzle failure was caused by a faulty contact sensor, which had been "bent" during assembly of the Soyuz at the Baikonur cosmodrome.

[*] [This appears to be the video. --Ed.]

Also at Inverse.

Previously: Soyuz Crew Vehicle Fails Mid-Flight, Astronauts OK
Soyuz Failure Narrowed Down to Collision Between Booster and Core Stage

Original Submission