SoylentNews

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Chine has installed a surveillance network on the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. Recent satellite imagery shows a new structure that appears to be anchored on the north edge of the Bombay Reef, with solar panels and a radome on top. The Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative believes the dome to be an Ocean E-Station destined to be part of the Blue Ocean Information Network which China is building for "exploration, exploitation and control" of the region. China's interest is in claiming control of the area which is currently claimed by multiple countries and to prevent the US and other countries from entering the international waters around the islands. If this continues China may very well claim the area by right of possession in the same way it claims ownership of Tibet.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

A cashless society is a wet dream for some, a nirvana for others, and hell in a mall for retailers unable to collect payment for goods. The latter is what happened to ANZ and Westpac customers this boxing day where EFTPOS systems failed, leaving businesses to ask customers to pay in cash. For busy shops during boxing day being unable to process payments by card is a nightmare. This type of system wide failure puts a stake in the idea of a cashless society. In order to go fully cashless the credit systems backing payments for retailers must be robust enough to survive this kind of scenario. Which, with the state of today's technology, looks likely to happen any time soon.

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upstart wrote in with a submission, via IRC, for SoyCow1984.

Congress approves act that opens US government data to the public

Congress has passed a bill that could make it easier for you to access public data released by the government. The House approved the OPEN Government Data Act on Saturday, while all eyes were on the shutdown, as part of a larger bill to support evidence-based policymaking. It requires that federal agencies must publish any "non-sensitive" info in a "machine-readable" format (essentially in a way that's legible on your smartphone or laptop). The act also insists that agencies appoint a chief data officer to oversee all open data efforts. Having passed the Senate last Wednesday, the bill is next headed to the President's desk.

The US public already paid for the data to be gathered, analyzed, and reported; why shouldn't they be able to freely access it?

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DECbot writes:

What is your most significant New Year's resolution for 2019?

1. Eat better
2. Sleep better
3. Exercise more
4. Lose weight mass
5. Talk to other humans more
6. Less time spent on the internet
7. Ditch Google/Facebook/Amazon/Apple
8. Try out a new OS or distro
9. Write more code
10. Write less code
11. Perform more expeditionary missions out of the basement
12. Be nicer to other Soylents
13. Use all my mod points
14. Make less resolutions
15. Other (listed below)...

[Ed. Note: A new poll went up just a few days ago to decide "Book Club picks for Jan. and Feb. 2019" and I didn't want to interrupt that process. Further, our polls are limited to 8 choices and this submission had many more than that. Given the timeliness of the topic, I decided to run this as a story, instead. Have Fun!]

takyon: Changed to an <ol> since users are posting #s.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Oslo Puts Up a Stop Sign

If you drive a car into the city center of Oslo next month, you shouldn't plan on staying long: There won't be any parking spots.

The Norwegian capital is in the process of eliminating the remaining 700 street parking spots in its city center by the end of 2018 as part of its plan to turn the area into a car-free zone.

"We're doing this to give the streets back to the people," Hanna Elise Marcussen, Oslo's vice mayor for urban development, said during a recent phone interview. "And of course, it's environmentally friendly." (The Scandinavian country, recently recognized as one of the world's most ecologically progressive nations, has plans to become carbon neutral by 2030 and halt the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2025.)

And it's not just Oslo that is turning away drivers. Popular tourist destinations across the globe are removing cars from heavily trafficked areas to reduce congestion, cut down on pollution, and make streets more welcoming to bikers and pedestrians.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Trump signs legislation to boost quantum computing research with $1.2 billion

President Donald Trump on Friday signed legislation ramping up quantum computing research and development.

The National Quantum Initiative Act (H.R. 6227) authorizes $1.2 billion over five years for federal activities aimed at boosting investment in quantum information science, or QIS, and supporting a quantum-smart workforce.

The law also establishes a National Quantum Coordination Office, calls for the development of a five-year strategic plan and establishes an advisory committee to advise the White House on issues relating to quantum computing.

"This next great technological revolution has far-reaching implications for job creation, economic growth and national security," Michael Kratsios, deputy assistant to the president for technology policy, said in a White House statement. "We look forward to building upon efforts to support the quantum-smart workforce of the future and engage with government, academic and private-sector leaders to advance QIS."

Today's White House signing came after the bill was approved by unanimous consent in the Senate and by a vote of 348-11 vote in the House.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Grab is messing up the world's largest mapping community's data in Southeast Asia

Grab, Southeast Asia's top ride-hailing company, has hit a roadblock in its efforts to improve its mapping and routing service after running into trouble with OpenStreetMap, the world's largest collaborative mapping community, through a series of blundering edits in Thailand.

Grab, which gobbled up Uber's local business in exchange for an equity swap earlier this year, has busily added details and upgraded the maps it uses across its eight markets in Southeast Asia.

[...] Grab's effort to improve the never-ending quest of more accurate maps involves a multi-input approach that uses Google Maps as the base with Grab adding in its own information — "points of interest" cultivated through customer feedback and groundwork — and other public or licensed information.

However, what appears to be a focus on speed has seen it suspend all activities in Thailand — Southeast Asia's second-largest economy — after it was found to have overwritten data developed by OpenStreetMap (OSM) with inaccurate edits that were created by a remote team based in India.

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takyon writes:

Tesla's SolarCity lost ground to Sunrun in 2018

The first three quarters of 2018 show that Sunrun's residential solar panel sales have outpaced SolarCity's residential solar panel sales, according to data from analysis firm Wood Mackenzie. Though Tesla, the owner of SolarCity, has been losing ground in the solar panel market-share game for years now, Sunrun's new upset shows just how far Tesla has pulled SolarCity back. [...] SolarCity has gone from cornering 33.5 percent of the US' residential solar panel market share to holding on to just 9.1 percent of the same market, according to Wood Mackenzie's numbers.

[...] Sunrun has pursued none of the same cutbacks that Tesla has imposed on SolarCity. As a result, Sunrun's market share rose in the first three quarters of 2018 to 9.5 percent. The company said in its third quarter financial report that it "added 13,000 customers and 100 megawatts of deployments," which represents record volume for Sunrun.

The Wood Mackenzie numbers show that Sunrun installed 163 megawatts (MW) of residential solar panels in the first three quarters of 2018. SolarCity installed just 156 MW. An analyst said that, as SolarCity's sales have faltered, large regional solar installers have picked up the bulk of the slack.

Sunrun Inc.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Using molten salt to store electricity isn't just for solar thermal plants

An energy storage startup that found its footing at Alphabet's X "moonshot" division announced last week that it will receive $26 million in funding from a group of investors led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a fund that counts Jeff Bezos and Michael Bloomberg as investors, and whose chairman is Bill Gates. The startup, called Malta, uses separate vats of molten salt and antifreeze-like liquid to store electricity as thermal energy and dispatch it to the grid when it's needed.

Pumping liquid metal at 1,400°C opens the door for better solar thermal systemsMalta's system stores electricity by taking that electricity, using a heat pump to convert the electricity to heat, and storing that heat in molten salt. Then, when electricity is needed again, the system reunites the molten salt with the cold fluid, using a heat engine to reconvert the thermal energy to electricity, which can be sent back to the grid.

The concept is outlined in a July 2017 paper in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, which states that "Round-trip efficiency...is found to be competitive with that of pumped hydroelectric storage." Pumped hydroelectric storage is one of the oldest forms of electricity storage, using electricity when it's cheap and plentiful to pump water up a hill, and then releasing that water through hydroelectric turbines when electricity is expensive and scarce.

In fact, lots of parallels can be drawn between Malta's system and other forms of energy storage. A liquid-air energy storage system in the UK uses temperature differentials (like Malta does) to expand condensed air and put more electricity back on the grid when it's needed. Solar thermal systems direct concentrated sunlight to a central tower to heat molten salt, which can store that heat for a long time before it's used. This allows solar thermal systems to keep sending energy to the grid well after the sun goes down.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Domain Registrar Can be Held Liable for Pirate Site, Court Rules - TorrentFreak

in September 2013, H33T.com, one of the Internet's most-visited torrent sites at the time, disappeared from the web .

Although the downtime was initially shrouded in mystery, it later became clear that the site had been targeted in a copyright infringement action.

In order to stop the distribution of a copy of Robin Thicke's album Blurred Lines, Universal Music had obtained an injunction against Key-Systems, a German-based registrar where the H33t.com domain name was registered.

Key-Systems wasn't happy with the ruling and the precedent it set but had no other option than to comply. However, the company informed us at the time that it would appeal the verdict, hoping to have it lifted.

This was the start of a drawn-out legal battle from which the latest ruling was just released.

The Higher Regional Court of Saarbrücken concluded Key-Systems can be held secondarily liable for the infringing actions of a customer if it fails to take action if rightsholders point out "obvious" copyright infringing activity online.

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takyon writes:

Development cell by cell

From at least the time of Hippocrates, biologists have been transfixed by the mystery of how a single cell develops into an adult animal with multiple organs and billions of cells. The ancient Greek physician hypothesized that moisture from a mother's breath helps shape a growing infant, but now we know it is DNA that ultimately orchestrates the processes by which cells multiply and specialize. Now, just as a music score indicates when strings, brass, percussion, and woodwinds chime in to create a symphony, a combination of technologies is revealing when genes in individual cells switch on, cueing the cells to play their specialized parts. The result is the ability to track development of organisms and organs in stunning detail, cell by cell and through time. Science is recognizing that combination of technologies, and its potential for spurring advances in basic research and medicine, as the 2018 Breakthrough of the Year.

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Google hit with FTC complaint over 'inappropriate' kids apps

The Federal Trade Commission is being asked to investigate how apps that may violate federal privacy laws that dictate the data that can be collected on children ended up in the family section of the Google Play store.

A group of 22 consumer advocates, led by the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown University Law School, filed a formal complaint against Google on Wednesday and asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the company misled parents by promoting children's apps that may violate the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and Google's own policies.

"The business model for the Play Store's Family section benefits advertisers, developers and Google at the expense of children and parents," Josh Golin, executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, said in a statement. "Google puts its seal of approval on apps that break the law, manipulate kids into watching ads and making purchases."

Among the examples cited in the complaint are a "Preschool Education Center" app and a "Top 28 Nursery Rhymes and Song" app that access location, according to an analysis by privacy research collective AppCensus. Other apps, including "Baby Panda's Carnival" and "Design It Girl - Fashion Salon," were among those listed that sent device identification data to advertising technology companies, allowing them to build a profile of the user.

The complaint also spotlights several apps that may not be age appropriate, including "Dentist Game for Kids," which lets the player give the virtual patient shots in the back of their throat. Another game, "Doctor X & the Urban Heroes," requires players to cut clothing off of a patient.

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takyon writes:

Huawei's kit removed from emergency services 4G network

BT has confirmed that equipment made by Huawei is being removed from the heart of a communication system being developed for the UK's police forces and other emergency services. It follows a statement from BT earlier this month that it was swapping out the Chinese firm's kit from the "core" of its 3G and 4G mobile networks.

The Sunday Telegraph was first to report the latest development. It said the move could extend work on the late-running £2.3bn project.

BT is covering the cost of the switch. It does not believe the changeover will lead to a further delay.

See also: Defying US crackdown, Huawei ships a record 200 million smartphones in 2018

Huawei on SN.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

It's that time of year again where the good folks of Gavle, Sweden build a gigantic goat and the bad folks of Gavle try to burn it down. For five decades, Gavle has built a Gavlebocken, a large scale Yule Goat made out of straw. For decades Santa will be putting coal in their stocking for trying to destroy the gigantic goat. In its 52nd year, technology and goat protection methods have improved including fireproofing and a live web cam. Only 15 out of 51 goats built were not destroyed in years past. Let's hope this one survives.

[The linked story has incorrect spelling of the name of the town in Sweden and goat — it should be Gävle and Gävlebocken, respectively. --martyb]

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for takyon

How Google software won 2018

But it's not just what's outside that matters. When it comes to Google's products, software can not only make up for lackluster hardware, but even give the company's devices an edge over competing gadgets. This year, Google delivered thoughtful software and truly helpful AI that made some of its otherwise mediocre devices surprisingly compelling.

The Pixel 3 is the best example. Physically, the phone is a more premium version of the Pixel 2. It also comes in a really nice "Not Pink" color. But aside from that, nothing about the Pixel 3's design makes me yearn for the phone. In fact, the 3 XL even has one of the biggest screen notches in the market, which some people find hideous. And yet, the Pixel 3s were still one of our favorite phones of the year, and ended up on our best gadgets list.

But if you can stomach the notch, or don't mind using the smaller phone, then boy, will you be blown away by Google's software. Let's start with my favorite -- Call Screening.

Original Submission