SoylentNews

takyon writes:

Tesla names Larry Ellison and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson to board after SEC settlement

Tesla named Larry Ellison and Kathleen Wilson-Thompson to its board on Friday, in compliance with an SEC settlement. The appointments add needed business and human resources expertise to the board — though add to questions about CEO Elon Musk's influence over the board.

Wilson-Thompson is the global head of human resources at Walgreens Boots Alliance and a former executive at Kellogg. Ellison is co-founder and executive chairman of Oracle, and recently disclosed a massive personal stake in Tesla.

[...] A Tesla spokesperson downplayed Ellison and Musk's personal relationship, saying the two had only socialized a handful of times and always in a group setting. The spokesperson said Musk and Ellison had not spoken for about a year leading up to Ellison's appointment to the board.

Also at The Verge.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for takyon

Japan restarting commercial whaling, ignoring global moratorium

On Wednesday, Japan announced that it was pulling out of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), a step that will allow it to restart commercial whaling in the spring. The move comes after a failed attempt to get the IWC to set legal quotas for legal hunting by its members. For whales, the news is good and bad: the move with shift Japan's hunting to its territorial waters, and away from the healthier populations in the Antarctic.

[...] Whaling ruling helps to clarify what counts as science researchAfter a hiatus, Japan restarted its whaling program, and began pressuring the IWC to set quotas for commercial whaling, something that was supported by Iceland and Norway, and was specified as a goal in the IWC's charter. But most other countries, noting that some populations of whales were only just beginning to rebound—there are under 500 right whales left in the North Atlantic, for example—rejected this proposal. Japan, suspecting that the IWC might never set quotas, has decided to withdraw from the organization instead.

Japan's announcement means that it will be free to restart commercial whaling in July. As part of the change, the country will no longer be sending ships to the Antarctic, a move Australian leaders say means these waters "will finally be true sanctuaries for all whales.” (The Australian government has otherwise condemned the move.) Instead, the whaling fleet will focus on Japanese territorial waters and economic zones. The country also says it will set limits on its hunts based on IWC estimates of populations. Currently, however, there's no indication of how Japan will track the number of kills and whether they'll report them to the IWC.

Others' takes:
BBC: Japan 'to leave whaling commission to resume hunting'
NatGeo: Japan will resume commercial whaling. Get the facts.

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

UK Cops Have Decided Impolite Online Speech Is Worth A Visit From An Officer

In this case, it was Irish comedy writer Graham Linehan being visited by the Norwich Police Department on a Sunday morning. He was apparently reported by outspoken trans rights activist Adrian Harrop. Linehan had posted tweets criticizing Harrop's televised debate with a woman who had paid for a billboard depicting the dictionary's definition of the word "woman," which bothered Harrop so much he complained and got that taken down as well.

Harrop was the reason Linehan was talking to police officers about tweets that didn't even violate the Twitter Rules. He had merely suggested Harrop's steamrolling of the billboard buyer during a televised debate might have been "male privilege." Another tweet alleged Harrop had threatened women and doxxed them for not being friendly enough to his cause. This is the tweet Harrop admits bothered him so much he needed to call the police. This is the disturbing, but ultimately useless, outcome of Harrop's decision.

[...] You can't recognize free speech while still insisting everyone has to be nice to everyone else while online. You can hope that's what will happen, but you can't demand this of the general population. Unless you're in the UK, in which case you can, because you don't really recognize free speech and should probably remove that phrase from the government's collective vocabulary.

Original Submission

martyb writes:

For on-line news, what sites do you avoid and which ones do you seek out as being trustworthy?

Thanks to my position as an editor on SoylentNews, I've had the privilege of viewing story submissions which have referenced a veritable plethora of different sources. It has been a privilege to serve you these past few years. My goal has been to provide stories that cover a diversity of areas but always with an attempt to provide level-headed background. I strive to avoid shrill in-your-face!!!!elevnty! diatribes. To invoke a common mis-quotation "Just the facts, ma'am." Full confession: I'm not above posting an occasional funny or feel-good story, either.

Over time, I've come to learn that some sources are more reputable than others. News outlets are comprised of people who have their own biases; some try to remain objective whereas others use their position to push an agenda.

For example, I've learned here that RT is a mouthpiece for the Russian government (A modern-day Pravda, if you will).

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), on the other hand, is funded primarily through a television license costing £147 per year per household. But, it has received a funding boost from government to expand its global reach.

Fox News has had complaints about its content and has had its share of controversies. But even some commonly-held beliefs about Fox News have proved exaggerated and not fully supported by the facts.

ScienceDaily, phys.org, CNET, Quora, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), ESA (European Space Agency), Spaceflight Now, weather.gov, and Hurricane Prediction Center are just some of the sites that I have found especially helpful.

So, I turn to the SoylentNews community:

• What biases have you found with MSM (main-stream media)?
• what 'news' sites do YOU avoid? Why?
• where do YOU find trustworthy, unbiased, fact-supported news?

Bonus question: What would you think of a news story on SoylentNews whose only supporting link is CNN? Fox News? Breitbart?

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Security flaws let anyone snoop on Guardzilla smart camera video recordings

A popular smart security system maker has ignored warnings from security researchers that its flagship device has several serious vulnerabilities, including allowing anyone access to the company’s central store of customer-uploaded video recordings.

The researchers at 0DayAllDay found that Guardzilla’s top-selling indoor wireless security system contains a set of hardcoded keys that can be easily extracted, because the device’s root password was protected using a decade-old algorithm that’s nowadays easily crackable. Each device uses the same set of keys to upload video recordings to the company’s Amazon Web Services’ storage servers. Anyone can use these keys to log in and gain full access to the company’s cloud storage — and customer data uploaded from the device.

But the storage servers remain vulnerable — even at the time of publication, TechCrunch can confirm — despite the researchers privately emailing the company detailing the vulnerabilities in September.

“We’ve tried several avenues to get in touch with Guardzilla, but they have not acknowledged the report,” said Tod Beardsley, Rapid7’s research director, who helped coordinate the release of the researchers’ findings.

martyb writes:

Note: This story is over four years old, but I just came upon it and thought other Soylentils might find it interesting.

5 Things That Sound, Move, or Smell Like a Nuclear Explosion:

After most of the world's nations signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, in 1996, they set up a new commission to watch out for clandestine explosions. Since then the commission (CTBTO[*]) has wired the world with hundreds of seismometers, infrasound detectors, radionuclide sniffers, and underwater microphones. The stations send their data to the CTBTO's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, where it is analyzed for signs of a secret bomb. But the system keeps picking up other things, too—which is sometimes a problem for the system and sometimes a boon to science. Here are some of the things that can at first seem like nuclear tests:

In the course of the efforts to detect clandestine nuclear tests, these devices have also detected:

• Space rocks
• Aurora (Northern and Southern Lights)
• Whales
• Tsunamis
• Nuclear-power-plant disasters
• Medical-isotope manufacturing

[*] CTBTO: Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for takyon

NASA opens the floodgates for firms with planetary ambitions - SpaceNews.com

This article originally appeared in the Dec. 17, 2018 issue of SpaceNews magazine.

When NASA revealed the names of nine companies eligible for contracts to deliver payloads to the moon on robotic landers, it set off a flurry of activity among firms with related technology.

"Going back to the moon with commercial technology opens the floodgates," said Grant Anderson, president, chief executive and co-founder of Paragon Space Development Corp., a thermal control technology specialist and Moon Express teammate for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

NASA's recent moon missions have been few and far between, Anderson said. Companies competed for roles in a multibillion-dollar lunar exploration campaigns and if not chosen waited many years for another opportunity. Instead, CLPS offers firms a chance to bid for firm fixed-price task orders worth as much as $2.6 billion over a decade. Tasks include integration of NASA payloads onto commercial vehicles, transportation of payloads to the moon, delivery of scientific data obtained by commercial instruments and return of lunar samples to Earth.

In late November, NASA selected nine companies to participate in CLPS: Astrobotic Technology, Deep Space Systems, Draper, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, Lockheed Martin, Masten Space Systems, Moon Express and Orbit Beyond. Each of those firms is forming partnerships with additional companies, including many pairings not yet announced.

"All of the sudden there are opportunities for anyone," said Kris Zacny, vice president and director for Honeybee Robotics Exploration Technology Group, which develops scientific instruments and in-situ resource utilization technology.

"CLPS has the potential to be a great program," said Michael Sims, Ceres Robotics Inc. founder and chief executive, who established the Montara, California, company in 2017 after spending 21 years at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We go from a couple of companies in the U.S. to nine companies viable to do work on the moon."

Original Submission

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Fnord666

2018 was the biggest shakeup in years for the camera world

2018 was the tipping point for mirrorless cameras.

If you're a photographer who fears change, 2018 might've shook you up. First Sony launched the A7 III, arguably the world's best full-frame camera, then Fujifilm released the X-T3, the top APS-C model you can buy right now. Right after that, Canon and Nikon launched all-new full-frame mirrorless systems with three new cameras, the EOS R, Z6 and Z7. To top it off, mirrorless video champ Panasonic announced it was diving into full-frame mirrorless as well with two new models, the S1 and S1R.

This is the biggest upheaval in the camera industry for years and could have a big impact on your buying decisions. On top of that, companies that don't adapt quickly may not survive, especially in a market gutted by ever more incredible smartphone cameras -- and moving fast will be a challenge for conservative companies like Canon and Nikon. Based on everything that happened in 2018, you can expect more drama and turmoil in 2019, but also even more innovative and interesting cameras.

[...] While Full-frame is great, most of us don't have $1,500 or more to throw down on a camera, let alone the lenses. What I hope to see is the same level of innovation on more affordable mirrorless products that cost under $1,000. With multi-camera AI-powered smartphones starting to close the gap there, too, camera companies have got to bring some of the same capabilities. Here's hoping that 2019 is just as eventful as 2018, if not more so.

Original Submission

janrinok writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has overseen a test of a new hypersonic missile, declaring that the weapon is impossible to intercept and will guarantee the country's security over the coming decades.

Speaking to Russia's military top brass on Wednesday after watching the live feed of the launch of the Avangard system from the defence ministry's control room, Putin said the test was a "great success" and an "excellent New Year's gift to the nation".

According to the Kremlin, the missile was launched from the Dombarovskiy missile base in the southern Ural Mountains and hit its target on a test site in Kamchatka, about 6,000km away.

[...] When first presenting it, the Russian president said the new missile system has an intercontinental range and can fly in the atmosphere at 20 times the speed of sound, bypassing the enemy's missile defence. He emphasised that no other country currently has hypersonic weapons.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for takyon

An article at SpaceNews.com asks Is the Gateway the right way to the moon? — the "Gateway" is The Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway.

This article originally appeared in the Dec. 17, 2018 issue of SpaceNews magazine.

Sometime in 2028, competing for attention alongside a presidential election and the return of the Summer Olympics to Los Angeles, NASA will return humans to the surface of the moon.

A lunar lander will depart the cluster of modules in an elliptical orbit around the moon, called Gateway, and descend. One stage will take the lander to a low lunar orbit and then separate, after which the descent module will handle the rest of the journey to the lunar surface. A crew of up to four will spend days — perhaps up to two weeks — on the surface before boarding the ascent module, which will take them back to the Gateway.

At least that’s NASA’s plan for now. A year after President Donald Trump formally directed NASA to return humans to the moon in Space Policy Directive (SPD) 1, the agency has developed the outlines of a plan to carry that out, while emphasizing the language in the policy to do so in a “sustainable” manner and with international and commercial partners. But as the agency describes two of the biggest elements of the plan, the Gateway and a “human-class” lunar lander, it’s still struggling to sell the proposal to its various stakeholders, including its own advisers.

[The somewhat long article is well worth a read. Notable members of NASA as well as former astronauts weigh in on their views of the pros and cons of such an approach as opposed to direct flights to and from the moon. To my eye, NASA was instructed to make the Deep Space Gateway happen so there was a destination for the Space Launch System (SLS) which currently costs something like $2 billion per year in launch and development costs. By comparison, I recall reading that SpaceX anticipates it can develop its next-generation Big 'Falcon' Rocket (BFR) and Big 'Falcon' spaceship (BFS) — now called "Super Heavy" and "Starship", respectively — for about $2 billion total. --martyb]

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for takyon

Elon Musk promises 100 percent Tesla Supercharger coverage in Europe next year

Entering into the seasonal spirit of giving, Elon Musk has promised a big present for Tesla owners: 100 percent Supercharger coverage in Europe by next year.

[...] While there’s no doubt that Tesla’s charging network has grown quickly in recent years, it’s worth remembering that Musk has a history of over-promising on exact expansion rates. As EV site Electrek notes, Tesla originally wanted to have 18,000 Superchargers up and running by the end of 2018, but currently falls well short of that goal with 11,853 chargers online at the time of publication. (It also missed a similar target in 2017, though by less of a margin.)

[...] Still, you can check out the full expanse of Tesla’s impressive Supercharger network here.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for takyon

The year of deleted tweets

In July, Disney fired Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. Cause for termination: a series of offensive tweets, in most cases about a decade old, that were circulated by a right-wing media personality. Gunn’s tweets, many of which were about molestation or pedophilia, were indefensible. But the method in which they were dug up, as well as the people who circulated them — bad-faith conspiracy theorists who used old jokes made in poor taste to brand Gunn as a pedophile — are part of a larger trend in which problematic or out-of-context tweets are being ripped from the past to ruin their author in the present.

Trial by online fire isn’t new. Milkshake Duck, a term coined by Twitter user @pixelatedboat in 2016, gave a name to a cultural internet phenomenon. It goes like this: someone gains online fame for something innocuous, only for it to come out shortly after that the person holds repugnant or problematic views. After a presidential election debate in 2016, for example, the internet became obsessed with a sweater-clad man named Ken Bone. His reign as a viral darling quickly came to an end after people discovered that his Reddit history included comments about stolen celebrity nudes and the “justified” killing of Trayvon Martin.

In 2018, however, the concept of Milkshake Ducking became far more convoluted. Now it’s not just about present problematic views, but holding people responsible for comments they’ve made previously, in some cases years ago. Call it Gunn’s Law: everyone has a past.

[...] Tweet deletion is no longer a matter of curation, but a necessity. Our lives are lived online more each year. We shouldn’t excuse people who spout racist, misogynist, damaging views online in present day. But as we confront our younger, more problematic past selves preserved online, the line between personal growth and punishment deserves breathing room. Until we can accept that, deleting tweets is all we have.

[This concept goes way back in time. Let the one among you who has no sin, cast the first stone. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones. Is it just that things are more visible, findable and more easily promulgated, now? --Ed.]

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Users report losing Bitcoin in clever hack of Electrum wallets | ZDNet

A hacker (or hacker group) has made over 200 Bitcoin (circa $750,000 at today's exchange) using a clever attack on the infrastructure of the Electrum Bitcoin wallet.

The attack resulted in legitimate Electrum wallet apps showing a message on users' computers, urging them to download a malicious wallet update from an unauthorized GitHub repository.

The attack began last week on Friday, December 21, and appears to have been temporarily stopped earlier today after GitHub admins took down the hacker's GitHub repository.

Admins of the Electrum wallet expect a new attack to soon get underway, with either a new GitHub repo or a link to another download location altogether.

This is because the vulnerability at the heart of this attack has remained unpatched, albeit Electrum wallet admins taking steps to mitigate its usability for the attacker.

How the attack works:

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

How police are using corpses to unlock phones

Police in Largo, Florida, recently tried to use a dead man's finger to open his phone. This was to the complete astonishment of his family and probably also the staff at the Sylvan Abbey Funeral Home. Detectives just rolled right in with Linus F. Phillip's phone and asked staff where his corpse was. They then attempted to unlock his phone by pressing his hands and fingers on to the fingerprint sensor. The dead man's fiancée, Victoria Armstrong, told press, "I just felt so disrespected and violated."

Mr. Phillip, an unarmed black man, was shot and killed outside a gas station after police claimed he tried to drive away during a search. His death was ruled a "justifiable homicide." His family does not trust the investigation into his death. "They were trying to open up that cellphone using a dead man's finger," the family's attorney, John Trevena, said. "That's disgusting beyond words."

Attempts by police to use the dead man's hands for what they claimed was "to preserve evidence" by unlocking his phone were unsuccessful. The alleged evidence on his phone, the press wrote, was "to aid in the investigation into Phillip's death and a separate inquiry into drugs," according to Lt. Randall Chaney.

Like it or not, what the police did was legal -- and it's becoming a common practice. In November 2016, FBI agents used the bloody finger belonging to Ohio State University killer Abdul Razak's iPhone in hopes of finding information and evidence. They got the timing wrong, missing the window before the phone required a passcode and ended up cracking the device with other means.

janrinok writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

In a step that could change the definition of death, researchers have restored circulation to the brains of decapitated pigs and kept the reanimated organs alive for as long as 36 hours.

The feat offers scientists a new way to study intact brains in the lab in stunning detail. But it also inaugurates a bizarre new possibility in life extension, should human brains ever be kept on life support outside the body.

The work was described on March 28 at a meeting held at the National Institutes of Health to investigate ethical issues arising as US neuroscience centers explore the limits of brain science.

During the event, Yale University neuroscientist Nenad Sestan disclosed that a team he leads had experimented on between 100 and 200 pig brains obtained from a slaughterhouse, restoring their circulation using a system of pumps, heaters, and bags of artificial blood warmed to body temperature.

There was no evidence that the disembodied pig brains regained consciousness. However, in what Sestan termed a "mind-boggling" and "unexpected" result, billions of individual cells in the brains were found to be healthy and capable of normal activity.