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What was highest label on your first car speedometer?

  • 80 mph
  • 88 mph
  • 100 mph
  • 120 mph
  • 150 mph
  • it was in kph like civilized countries use you insensitive clod
  • Other (please specify in comments)

[ Results | Polls ]
Comments:43 | Votes:95

posted by takyon on Wednesday January 16 2019, @10:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the radeon-7000 dept.

AMD Responds to Radeon VII Short Supply Rumours

A few days ago we reported on rumours which alleged that AMD's Radeon VII graphics card would be in short supply, with a report claiming that AMD had "less than 5,000", units to sell.

The report also stated that AMD would also lose money on every graphics card sold, likely due to the device's workstation/datacenter origins and its use of 16GB of costly HBM2 memory.

This morning AMD has released an official response to these rumours, claiming that the company expects to meet demand from gamers, declining to release detailed production numbers. On top of that, AMD also confirmed that the company's AIB partners would be selling Radeon VII graphics cards, alongside their retail presence on AMD.com, which means that AMD has produced their new graphics card in large enough quantities for AIBs to receive a sizable stock allocation.

Will AMD's Lisa Su Step Up as Intel's Next CEO?

Intel's next CEO is a hot topic in the tech sector. Rumors suggest that the company plans to announce its new CEO before its fourth quarter of 2018 earnings release on January 24. Intel's only rival in the PC and server CPU market is Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). Speculation of an Intel–AMD merger keeps popping up, but it's unwarranted. The merger can never be a reality, as it would remove competition from the CPU market.

At CES 2019 (the Consumer Electronics Show), AMD overshadowed Intel with its 7nm (nanometer) product announcements. AMD's presentation once again sparked speculation of an Intel–AMD merger. An article in EE Times cited Jon Peddie Research vice president Kathleen Maher's views on this speculation.

She dismissed the speculation that Intel might acquire AMD, stating that AMD has nothing Intel wants except a CEO. Her comments were reiterated by Tirias Research principal analyst Kevin Krewell, who told EE Times that Intel "could try to hire Lisa Su, but that would be hard as well."

Previously: AMD Announces Radeon VII GPU, Teases Third-Generation Ryzen CPU
Intel Core i9-9990XE: Up to 5.0 GHz, Auction Only; AMD Radeon VII: Less Than 5,000 Available


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posted by takyon on Wednesday January 16 2019, @09:10PM   Printer-friendly
from the check-your-credit-card-statement dept.

Netflix raises monthly prices on all of its US plans; here's how much you'll pay

Your Netflix subscription is about to get pricier. ‬

‪The popular streaming service announced that it will raise prices across its U.S. plans for new subscribers on Tuesday, and for existing users over the next three months. ‬

‪Netflix's most popular plan, previously $10.99 a month for two HD streams, will rise to $12.99. The cheapest $7.99 non-HD plan will now be $8.99, while the premium option that allowed four simultaneous streams in 4K will rise to $15.99 per month from $13.99. ‬

Netflix is raising the rates to fund its push into original programming. It was reported by The Economist last year that the company was spending between $12 billion and $13 billion on original programming in 2018, releasing popular films such as "Bird Box" and "Roma" as well as new seasons of TV shows like "13 Reasons Why," "Orange is the New Black" and "Marvel's Daredevil."

Related: Netflix Adds 5 Million Subscribers, Doubles Profit
Netflix Beats Wall Street Expectations on Subscriber Growth, Reaches $100 Billion Market Cap
Video Streaming Services set for Cambrian Explosion


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posted by chromas on Wednesday January 16 2019, @07:07PM   Printer-friendly
from the and-2-million-atmospheres dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The key to this discovery was creation of a metallic, hydrogen-rich compound at very high pressures: roughly 2 million atmospheres. The researchers used diamond anvil cells, devices used to create high pressures, to squeeze together miniscule samples of lanthanum and hydrogen. They then heated the samples and observed major changes in structure. This resulted in a new structure, LaH10, which the researchers previously predicted would be a superconductor at high temperatures.

While keeping the sample at high pressures, the team observed reproducible change in electrical properties. They measured significant drops in resistivity when the sample cooled below 260 K (minus 13 C, or 8 F) at 180-200 gigapascals of pressure, presenting evidence of superconductivity at near-room temperature. In subsequent experiments, the researchers saw the transition occurring at even higher temperatures, up to 280 K. Throughout the experiments, the researchers also used X-ray diffraction to observe the same phenomenon. This was done through a synchrotron beamline of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois.

 

Evidence for Superconductivity above 260 K in Lanthanum Superhydride at Megabar Pressures$ (DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.027001)


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posted by takyon on Wednesday January 16 2019, @05:46PM   Printer-friendly
from the Why-Not-Re-Referendum? dept.

Brexit vote: What just happened and what comes next?

With only approximately two more months before a default no-deal "hard Brexit," the British Parliament has decisively rejected Prime Minister May's proposed plan for leaving the European Union.

There is a no confidence vote in works which, if successful, will dissolve the government and force another general election.

See also: Live: Latest as MPs debate no confidence vote


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posted by chromas on Wednesday January 16 2019, @04:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the IceDiskDrive dept.

News of crop circles come and go, but when is the last time you saw a rotating ice circle? A disk of ice approximately 100 yards in diameter has been spotted in the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, Maine:

This week in the city of Westbrook, Maine, a huge, rotating circle of ice formed on the Presumpscot River. While it seems like it could be an omen of the impending apocalypse or a particularly low-effort attempt at a crop circle by extraterrestrials, in reality it appears to be another example of a natural yet rare phenomenon resulting from some simple physics.

Photos taken by and the city of Westbrook's marketing & communications manager, Tina Radel, show the gigantic disk of ice appearing to have a surface area larger than a nearby, multi-story parking garage. True to municipal form, the city also published a video of the ice disk with a dramatic soundtrack:

Pictures and videos in the story require Javascript; videos are posted to YouTube and Vimeo.

Additional coverage at the Portland Press Herald.


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posted by chromas on Wednesday January 16 2019, @02:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the where's-my-solar-freakin'-cirruswaterfontuseer? dept.

The Dirty Truth about Turning Seawater into Drinking Water:

As countries in the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere struggle to find enough freshwater to meet demand, they're increasingly turned to the ocean. Desalination plants, located in 177 countries, can help turn seawater into freshwater. Unfortunately, these plants also produce a lot of waste—more waste, in fact, than water for people to drink.

A paper published Monday by United Nations University's Institute for Water, Environment, and Health in the journal Science of the Total Environment found that desalination plants globally produce enough brine—a salty, chemical-laden byproduct—in a year to cover all of Florida in nearly a foot of it. That's a lot of brine.

In fact, the study concluded that for every liter of freshwater a plant produces, 0.4 gallons (1.5 liters) of brine are produced on average. For all the 15,906 plants around the world, that means 37.5 billion gallons (142 billion liters) of this salty-ass junk every day. Brine production in just four Middle Eastern countries—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates—accounts for more than half of this.

[...] "Brine underflows deplete dissolved oxygen in the receiving waters," said lead author Edward Jones, who worked at the institute and is now at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, in a press release. "High salinity and reduced dissolved oxygen levels can have profound impacts on benthic organisms, which can translate into ecological effects observable throughout the food chain."

Whatever happened to the idea of towing icebergs to where water was needed?


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posted by martyb on Wednesday January 16 2019, @12:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the bigger-is-better? dept.

Here's a roundup of four very large format TVs displayed (heh!) at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

Samsung Expands 8K TV to 98 Inches at CES, Because Why the Hell Not

Samsung expands 8K TV to 98 inches at CES, because why the hell not

8K resolution might be so much overkill, but if you ask the TV makers, they'll tell you all those extra pixels are worthwhile in really big TVs.

The 98-inch Samsung Q900 QLED unveiled here at CES is one the most massive 8K TVs announced so far, outgunning Samsung's own 85-inch member of the Q900 series -- first introduced in late 2018 -- as well as LG's new 88-inch 8K OLED TV. It's no 219-inch MicroLED TV, however.

Samsung says more sizes of the Q900 series will come to the US in 2019, complete with the "AI upconversion" it introduced on the 85-incher. Other markets, such as the UK and Europe, already have 8K QLED TVs at 65, 75 and 82 inches, so it's a fair bet that those sizes will be in the mix stateside.

LG introduces OLED TV that can roll up and disappear when you’re not watching it

Watch the video of LG's stage presentation to see the R in action, if you can stomach some intense marketing speak.

[...] OK, so it's just a TV. And the R is not even a totally new concept; I saw an earlier prototype of a rollable OLED display back at CES 2009. But that display was 13-inches, had major limitations, and did not yet look like a consumer product. This time, we're looking at a full-featured, 65-inch TV that's actually coming to market this year.

LG says to expect picture quality on par with its just-announced 2019 4K OLED lineup. That means 120Hz and AI image processing using LG's new Alpha 9 Gen 2 CPU. The TV's base—the same one it rolls into—houses a 4.2-channel, 100-watt soundbar with Dolby Atmos support.

LG hasn't announced a price for the TV R yet, though TechCrunch reports that the company said it would cost more than the 8K TV announced last week—that TV's price hasn't been announced either, but given that the 8K LG will compete directly with Samsung's $15,000 8K offering, we're betting the rollable TV won't be within most people's reach. LG says the Signature OLED TV R will be available for purchase in the second half of 2019.

-- submitted from IRC

Sony's First 8K TVs Get Supersized to 85 and 98 Inches at CES 2019

Sony's first 8K TVs get supersized to 85 and 98 inches at CES 2019

Nothing says CES 2019 like obnoxiously large 8K TVs. And Sony is throwing down some serious screen real estate with its latest models.

The Z9G Master Series LCD comes in just two sizes: 85 inches as well as a whopping 98-inch model. The latter ties Samsung for the largest 8K TV introduced at the show so far. No pricing was announced, but for reference, Samsung's current 85-inch 8K TV costs 15 grand. 'Nuff said.

8K resolution promises improved detail compared to standard 4K, but at this early stage in the game there's no actual 8K TV shows and movies to take advantage of it. That's why Sony and other TV makers tout their sets' video processing, which takes 4K and lower-resolution video and converts it to 8K for display.

[...] The new 8K sets also have full-spec HDMI 2.1 inputs complete with 48Gbps capability, which means they're compatible with higher frame rates and resolutions that could come down the pike soon, like 4K at 120 frames per second or 8K at 60fps. They also support variable refresh rate (VRR) and automatic low latency mode (ALLM, or auto game mode) for as well as enhanced audio return channel (eARC).

Like the current smaller, 4K resolution Z9D models, the new 85- and 98-inchers have fancier full-array local dimming LCD backlights. They utilize "ultra-dense LED modules that are independently controlled" and can "intelligently boost the brightness in the areas where it needs to be boosted."

HP Omen Gaming Gear at CES 2019 Includes $5K Emperium 65 BFGD Monitor

HP Omen gaming gear at CES 2019 includes $5K Emperium 65 BFGD monitor

After a year of waiting, the first Nvidia-partner Big Format Gaming Displays are ready for prime time. HP gave us [cnet] a tour around its version, the Omen X Emperium 65, slated for February for $5,000.

[...] In addition to a built-in Nvidia Shield streaming/gaming system, which lets you play Android and PC games via GeForce Now, the Emperium comes with a gaming-optimized sound bar designed to obviate the need for a separate subwoofer and to minimize vibration transferring to the display.

It also offers a 144Hz refresh rate -- better than the 120Hz available on TVs like the Vizio mentioned above -- which is essential to minimize motion artifacts in games, and 4 millisecond gray-to-gray pixel response.

[...] For $5,000, though, you'd think it would incorporate the latest version of HDMI, 2.1, which is better for gaming. The same goes for the connectivity, 802.11ac wireless (aka Wi-Fi 5) rather than 802.11ax (aka Wi-Fi 6) and Gigabit Ethernet rather than 10Gb for better cloud gaming. While adoption is in the very early stages for all of those, if you're plunking down that much money you'd kind of like it to be future-ready.


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posted by chromas on Wednesday January 16 2019, @07:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the more-bits,-more-power,-more-fun dept.

Google details upcoming 64-bit requirement for Android apps on the Play Store

In late 2017, Google began alerting Android app developers about a 64-bit support requirement for the Play Store. The policy comes into effect this August, and Google today is providing more details about the transition.

Android has supported 64-bit CPUs since 5.0 Lollipop, and the Play Store in 2017 announced that apps using native code must provide a 64-bit version in light of future chips that only support 64-bit code.

In August 2019, the Play Console will require that all new apps and updates that include native code provide 64-bit versions. Google is not removing 32-bit support with continued Play functionality in the future.


Original Submission

posted by chromas on Wednesday January 16 2019, @06:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the maybe-Tabasco? dept.

A carpet python from Coolangatta that was fished out of a backyard swimming pool on January 9th by a professional snake catcher was a Lovecraftian horror. According to this article:

A snake that was recently captured near a suburban home in Queensland, Australia, was covered with hundreds upon hundreds of ticks. So many of the bloodsucking parasites clung to the snake that the unfortunate reptile looked like it was wearing a second coat of living scales.

Currumbin Wildlife Hospital Foundation in Queensland reported that 511 ticks in total were removed from the python.

Facebook page here

Nightmare inducing images here and here.

A similar nightmare inducing polyticks infestation here

An extreme infestation such as this likely happened because the snake was already sick, likely with a compromised immune system, Emily Taylor, a professor of biological sciences at California Polytechnic State University, told Live Science. When a tick bites an animal and injects anticoagulants from its saliva, the animal sets off an immune response that can kill the tick or slow down its feeding. However, if an animal's immune response is dampened, "you may see a greater number of ticks feeding or concluding their feeding," Taylor said.

Rebecca Trout Fryxell, an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture adds

sated female ticks can lay thousands of eggs. If the eggs are fertilized, this can blanket the host with more hungry mouths to feed.

Robots are always the answer.

Although now tick free, Nike, as the python has been named, is still suffering from anemia and "a nasty infection" but it is intended to return him to the wild once he fully recovers.


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posted by chromas on Wednesday January 16 2019, @04:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the rings-without-tokens dept.

Next-generation LHC: CERN lays out plans for €21-billion super-collider

CERN has unveiled its bold dream to build a new accelerator nearly four times as long as its 27-kilometer Large Hadron Collider—currently the world's largest—and up to six times more powerful.

The European particle physics laboratory, outside Geneva, Switzerland, outlined the plan in a technical report on 15 January.

The document offers several preliminary designs for a Future Circular Collider (FCC)—which would be the most powerful particle-smasher ever built—with different types of colliders ranging in cost from around €9 billion (US$10.2 billion) to €21 billion. It is the lab's opening bid in a priority-setting process over the next two years, called the European Strategy Update for Particle Physics, and it will affect the field's future well into the second half of the century.

[...] Not everyone is convinced the super collider is a good investment. "There is no reason to think that there should be new physics in the energy regime that such a collider would reach," says Sabine Hossenfelder, a theoretical physics at Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies in Germany. "That's the nightmare that everyone has on their mind but doesn't want to speak about."

Hossenfelder says that the large sums involved might be better spent on other types of huge facilities. For example, she says that placing a major radio telescope on the far side of the Moon, or a gravitational-wave detector in orbit, would be safer bets in terms of their return on science.

CERN press release and poster.

Also at The Verge.


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posted by chromas on Wednesday January 16 2019, @02:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the The-Chosen-Ones dept.

From Engadget:

Netflix's choose-your-own-adventure style film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is the subject of a new lawsuit, brought against the streaming giant by Chooseco LLC The company is known for publishing the "Choose Your Own Adventure" book series popular in the 1980s and 90s, and it's claiming Netflix infringed upon its trademarks, Variety reports. Netflix tried to obtain a license for Chooseco's trademark in the past, according to Chooseco, but never reached a deal with the publisher.

In its complaint, Chooseco specifically points to a scene in Bandersnatch where a character makes a reference to a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book -- and that appears to be Chooseco's main infringement charge against Netflix. It also says Netflix is "causing confusion, tarnishing, denigrating and diluting the distinct quality of the 'Choose Your Own Adventure' trademark," and that Bandersnatch's "dark and violent themes" reflect poorly on its brand.


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posted by martyb on Wednesday January 16 2019, @01:04AM   Printer-friendly
from the Information-wants-to-be-free dept.

Washington, D.C. – Today, President Trump signed into law the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking (FEBP) Act (H.R. 4174, S. 2046), which includes the Open, Public, Electronic and Necessary (OPEN) Government Data Act (Title II). The package passed Congress on Monday, December 31, 2018.

The OPEN Government Data Act requires all non-sensitive government data to be made available in open and machine-readable formats by default. It establishes Chief Data Officers (CDO) at federal agencies, as well as a CDO Council.

https://www.datacoalition.org/press-releases/president-signs-government-wide-open-data-bill/

OPEN Government Data Act passes.

The OPEN Government Data Act will ensure that the federal government releases valuable data sets, follows best practices in data management, and commits to making data available to the public in a non-proprietary and electronic format.

https://www.datainnovation.org/2019/01/open-government-data-act-signed-into-law-establishes-u-s-as-leader-in-open-data/

https://9to5mac.com/2019/01/15/open-government-data-act/


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posted by martyb on Tuesday January 15 2019, @11:27PM   Printer-friendly
from the blinded-by-even-more-distant-oncoming-traffic dept.

Bloomberg:

Most people don’t turn on their car’s headlights and think, I wish they were brighter. Shuji Nakamura is not most people.

The Nobel Prize-winning illumination scientist has spent the past five years developing a laser-based lighting system. His company, SLD Laser, says the new design is 10 times brighter than today’s LED lights, capable of illuminating objects a kilometer away while using less power than any current technology. And unlike a regular, dumb headlight, the laser can potentially be integrated into current and forthcoming driver-assistance systems.

Do headlights need to be brighter?


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posted by chromas on Tuesday January 15 2019, @09:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the all-your-files-are-belong-to-us dept.

Oh, SSH, IT Please see This: Malicious Servers can Fsck With Your PC's Files During scp Slurps

A decades-old oversight in the design of Secure Copy Protocol (SCP) tools can be exploited by malicious servers to unexpectedly alter victims' files on their client machines, it has emerged.

F-Secure's Harry Sintonen discovered a set of five CVE-listed vulnerabilities, which can be abused by evil servers to overwrite arbitrary files on a computer connected via SCP. If you use a vulnerable version of OpenSSH's scp, PuTTY's PSCP, or WinSCP, to securely transfer files from a remote server, that server may be able to secretly tamper with files on your local box that you do not expect the server to change.

[...] Sintonen explained that because rcp, on which scp is based, allows a server to control which files are sent, and without the scp client thoroughly checking it's getting its expected objects, an attacker can do things like overwrite the user's .bash_aliases file. This, in turn, would allow the attacker to run arbitrary commands on the victim's box when the user does routine stuff, like list a directory.

"Many scp clients fail to verify if the objects returned by the scp server match those it asked for. This issue dates back to 1983 and rcp, on which scp is based," Sintonen explained in his disclosure this month.

"A separate flaw in the client allows the target directory attributes to be changed arbitrarily. Finally, two vulnerabilities in clients may allow server to spoof the client output."

The CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures) reports are:

  • CVE-2018-20685
  • CVE-2019-6111
  • CVE-2018-20684
  • CVE-2019-6109
  • CVE-2019-6110

Only WinSCP seems to have released an update that fixes these.


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posted by chromas on Tuesday January 15 2019, @08:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the lol dept.

Phys.org:

A few years ago, virtual reality was all the rage in Hollywood, helping to fuel the rise of Silicon Beach with the promise of reinventing the entertainment business.

At its peak, investors pumped $253 million into two dozen deals involving virtual and augmented reality start-ups in L.A. and Orange counties in 2016, hoping that pricey headsets projecting virtual worlds would become as popular as smartphones. But investment in the technology has slowed dramatically in recent years, and what seemed like a promising boom has largely fizzled.

Several California companies that raised millions of dollars have shut down or have laid off dozens of workers, as businesses scrambled to readjust their strategies in the face of lackluster consumer demand for VR headsets and a drought of capital.

Take heart, VR enthusiasts. It took several tries for video streaming to catch on, too.


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