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An Anonymous Coward writes:

After a vegan cheeseburger crashed and burned Burger King has successfully rolled out a true alternative to meat burgers for vegans working with Impossible Foods to make the vegan Impossible Burger. First thought to be an April Fools joke, the Impossible Burger is now on the menu at St. Louis with one carnivore inclined customer saying that he would not have known that it was plant-based.

Finally, the last barrier to mankind heading for the stars has been reached.

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realDonaldTrump writes:

foxnews.com/science/israels-beresheet-spacecraft-snaps-stunning-images-of-far-side-of-the-moon-ahead-of-lunar-landing

Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft has captured its first images of the far side of the Moon ahead of the probe’s historic lunar landing later this month.

The spacecraft entered lunar orbit Thursday, capturing the dramatic pictures of Earth’s natural satellite.

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takyon writes:

TSMC's 5nm EUV Making Progress: Process design kits, design rule manual, electronic design automation tools, 3rd Party IP Ready

TSMC[*] this week said that it has completed development of tools required for design of SoCs that are made using its 5 nm (CLN5FF, N5) fabrication technology. The company indicated that some of its alpha customers (which use pre-production tools and custom designs) had already started risk production of their chips using its N5 manufacturing process, which essentially means that the technology is on-track for high-volume manufacturing (HVM) in 2020.

TSMC's N5 is the company's 2nd generation fabrication technology that uses both deep ultraviolet (DUV) as well as extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. The process can use EUVL on up to 14 layers (a tangible progress from N7+, which uses EUVL on four non-critical layers) to enable significant improvements in terms of density. TSMC says that when compared to N7 (1st Gen 7 nm, DUV-only), N5 technology will allow chip developers to shrink die area of their designs by ~45%, making transistor density ~1.8x higher. It will also increase frequency by 15% (at the same complexity and power) or reduce power consumption by 20% power reduction (at the same frequency and complexity).

[*] TSMC - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation

Same chip(let) size? Approximately double the core count.

Previously: TSMC Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony for "5nm" Fab, Production to Begin in 2020
TSMC Details Scaling/Performance Gains Expected From "5nm CLN5" Process
TSMC Tapes Out Second-Generation "7nm" Chip Using EUV, Will Begin Risk Production of "5nm" in April

Related: Samsung Plans to Make "5nm" Chips Starting in 2019-2020
ASML Plans to Ship 30 Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUV) Scanners in 2019

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/oregon/articles/2019-04-04/oregon-senate-oks-permanent-daylight-saving-time

The Oregon Senate has passed a bill establishing permanent Daylight Saving Time in the state, and the Governor has signaled she supports the effort. If it passes the House (and possibly the US Congress, it is a bit ambiguous to me), it could end the semi-annual resetting of clocks which causes so much annoyance and increase of injury and deaths.

Personally speaking, I'd rather it settled on permanent Standard time than Daylight time, but as long as it is steady I think it's better than the current regime.

See also:
Texas efforts: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/03/05/1413228
Europe's efforts: http://fortune.com/2019/03/26/european-union-parliament-daylight-saving-time/
Mandatory XKCD: https://www.xkcd.com/1268/

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takyon writes:

Exoplanet tally set to pass 4,000 mark

The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia, run by the Observatoire de Paris, has already passed the 4,000 mark.

[...] The Nasa Exoplanet Archive is 74 planets away from the milestone. But there are 443 planet candidates detected by Nasa's [Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)] space telescope (launched in 2018) awaiting confirmation.

There are a further 2,423 candidates detected by the Kepler space telescope.

The latest exoplanet to be added to the Nasa archive was the Super Earth GI 686 b, which orbits a red dwarf star (a type cooler than our Sun) which was discovered using ground telescopes. It was added on 21 March.

Data flows from NASA's TESS Mission, leads to discovery of Saturn-sized planet

TOI 197.01 (TOI is short for "TESS Object of Interest") – is described as a "hot Saturn" in a recently accepted scientific paper. That's because the planet is about the same size as Saturn and is also very close to its star, completing an orbit in just 14 days, and therefore very hot.

The Astronomical Journal will publish the paper written by an international team of 141 astronomers. Daniel Huber, an assistant astronomer at the University of Hawaii at Manoa's Institute for Astronomy, is the lead author of the paper. Steve Kawaler, a professor of physics and astronomy; and Miles Lucas, an undergraduate student, are co-authors from Iowa State University.

First exoplanet directly observed with optical interferometry

Astronomers using the four members of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope have made the first direct observation of a planet orbiting another star using optical interferometry.

By combining the light from the four VLT telescope units, and using the sensitive GRAVITY instrument to precisely disentangle the light of the planet from its parent star, the research team found a complex atmosphere of iron and silicates suspended in a planet-wide storm.

Known as HR8799e, the planet is a so-called "super Jupiter" with a temperature of roughly 1,000 degrees C. While the hellish world was discovered in 2010, the GRAVITY measurements provided a spectrum 10 times more detailed than earlier observations, revealing at least some of the chemical constituents of the exoplanet's atmosphere.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for takyon

Rubbery figures: scientists create an entirely soft robot

US researchers have really put the "soft" into "soft robot". They've built one out of nothing but rubber and air.

There aren't even any conventional electronics. Silicone tubing and pressurised air do that job. According to Harvard University's Daniel Preston, the invention could allow operators to "replicate any behaviour found on any electronic computer".

In the case of the bobbing fish-like robot Preston and colleagues created, an environmental pressure sensor determines what action to take.

The soft valves are programmed to react to different air pressures. The robot dives when the circuit senses low pressure at the top of the tank and surfaces when it senses high pressure at depth. It can also rise up on command if someone pushes an external soft button.

In other words, says Preston, it relies exclusively on soft digital logic – and that's a first.

The how and why are explained in a paper published in the journal PNAS.

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takyon writes:

Intel has announced a number of new products, including a new "Cascade Lake" Xeon CPU with 56 cores instead of 48, and persistent memory 3D XPoint ("Optane") modules:

While these new CPUs do not use a new microarchitecture compared to the first generation Skylake-based Xeon Scalable processors, Intel surprised most of the press at its Tech Day with the sheer number of improvements in other areas of Cascade Lake. Not only are there more hardware mitigations against Spectre and Meltdown than we expected, but we have Optane DC Persistent Memory support. The high-volume processors get a performance boost by having up to 25% extra cores, and every processor gets double the memory support (and faster memory, too). Using the latest manufacturing technologies allows for frequency improvements, which when combined with new AVX-512 modes shows some drastic increases in machine learning performance for those that can use them.

New to the Xeon Scalable family is the AP line of processors. Intel gave a hint to these late last year, but we finally got some of the details. These new Xeon Platinum 9200 family of parts combine two 28-core bits of silicon into a single package, offering up to 56 cores and 112 threads with 12 channels of memory, in a thermal envelope up to 400W. This is essentially a 2P configuration on a single chip, and is designed for high-density deployments. These BGA-only CPUs will only be sold with an underlying Intel-designed platform straight from OEMs, and will not have a direct price – customers will pay for 'the solution', rather than the product.

takyon writes:

Relativity Space announces first launch contract, and it's a big one

The ambitious rocket company Relativity announced its first customer on Friday, the global satellite operator Telesat. The contract for flights on the Terran 1 rocket includes "multiple" launches, but Relativity chief executive Tim Ellis said he could not provide additional details.

[...] Relativity considers this a huge win because it offers another validation of its—and really, this is not an exaggeration—revolutionary approach to launch. The company aspires to use large 3D printers to manufacture nearly the entirety of a rocket, thereby automating the process and taking another step toward low-cost, launch-on-demand service. It's one thing for a private company to build a new rocket to launch small satellites, it's another to try and remake the manufacturing process as well.

Ellis said Telesat has been in discussions with Relativity for awhile, so the satellite operator has had good access to Relativity's launch technology. After this due diligence, Telesat chose Relativity in addition to previous deals with SpaceX, Arianespace, and Blue Origin. Effectively, Telesat has decided that Relativity's Terran 1 booster, with a capacity of 1.25 tons to low Earth orbit, has the right stuff to help launch a major low Earth orbit satellite constellation that will provide global broadband connectivity.

Previously: Relativity Space Leases Land at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi
Aerospace Startup Making 3D-Printed Rockets Now Has a Launch Site at America's Busiest Spaceport
Blue Origin to Provide Multiple Orbital Launches for Telesat

Related: Amazon Planning its Own Satellite-Based Broadband Service, with 3,236 Satellites in Low Earth Orbit

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takyon writes:

Softbank-Backed Brain Corp. Expands Its Robot "Brain" Beyond Floor Cleaning To Autonomous Delivery

Brain Corp., a Softbank-backed firm that makes autonomous systems for robotic floor cleaners, said today that it was expanding into the robotic delivery space. As a first step, the San Diego-based company introduced a proof-of-concept delivery robot, powered by its software brain, called BrainOs, which is capable of towing carts in factories, warehouses and stores. It expects to launch commercially early next year.

Eugene Izhikevich, Brain's cofounder and CEO, told Forbes that the launch is of one of many types of robots that he hopes to enable with BrainOS with help from the company's venture capital funding, which now totals $125 million. "It is my dream to have hundreds of robots in a very short period of time," said Izhikevich, a 51-year-old computational neuroscientist, who worked in academia before starting the company. "Launching one per year may not satisfy my dream. I'm too impatient."

Brain gained attention late last year when Walmart agreed to roll out 360 floor-scrubbing robots enabled by the BrainOS operating system in its stores.

The market for commercial floor-cleaning equipment is large—estimated at roughly $5 billion a year globally—and macroeconomic forces favor the adoption of autonomous solutions. Last month, Forbes profiled startup Avidbots, based near Toronto, whose young immigrant founders have built commercial floor-cleaning robots from scratch and sold a few hundred of them to be deployed in airports and shopping centers.

Also at TechCrunch.

Previously: Walmart to Introduce Floor-Mopping Robots; Amazon Wants to Sell Alcohol at Cashierless Store

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Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org:

Whales belong in the ocean, right? That may be true today, but cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) actually descended from four legged mammals that once lived on land. New research published in Current Biology reports the discovery in Peru of an entirely new species of ancestral whale that straddled land and sea, providing insight into the weird evolutionary journey of our mammalian friends.

We might think of them as smooth, two-flippered ocean swimmers that struggle to even survive the Thames, but whales originated more than 50m years ago from artiodactyls – land-dwelling, hooved mammals.

There is hope that one day we too may return to our mother ocean.

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takyon writes:

Here's why NASA's audacious return to the Moon just might work

Speaking in front of a high-fidelity model of the Apollo program's Lunar Module spacecraft, Vice President Mike Pence charged NASA with accelerating its Moon plans last week. Instead of 2028, Pence wanted boots on the ground four years earlier, before the end of 2024. This marked the rarest of all moments in spaceflight—a schedule moving left instead of to the right.

Understandably, the aerospace community greeted the announcement with a healthy dose of skepticism. Many rocket builders, spaceship designers, flight controllers, and space buffs have seen this movie before. Both in 1989 and 2004, Republican administrations have announced ambitious Moon-then-Mars deep space plans only to see them die for lack of funding and White House backing.

And yet, this new proposal holds some promise. Pence, as well as NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, have adopted a clear goal for the agency and promised enduring political support. Moreover, they have said the "end" matters more than the "means." This suggests that whatever rockets and spacecraft NASA uses to reach the Moon, the plan should be based on the best-available, most cost-effective technology. In short, they want to foster a healthy, open competition in the US aerospace industry to help NASA and America reach its goals.

Walzmyn writes:

This morning I was trying to find a video via Youtube of a dust-up that happened in an MLB game last night. I tripped over an annoying video with a robotic voice and still images being scrolled across the screen. I thought I hit this same video more than once, but it may have been multiple videos after seeing what Destin has come up with.

This evening, I finally watched a Smarter Every Day video that's been in my notifications for a few days and lo, he starts talking about political videos that look exactly like the one that plagued me this morning.

The first third of the SED video is the part I thought would be interesting to Soylents. It explains how these multiple videos with subtle changes are intended to avoid detection by algorithms that are looking for repeat postings. Later he also looks at how they are using the different platforms to generate buzz on each other, pushing the fake content up in listings. (In the 9th minute we're shown how easy it is to buy likes and comments and a farm of hundreds of smart phones to get it done.)

The technical measures Big Tech (Youtube, Twitter, Facebook) are both employing and being inundated with to either protect us or get content in front of us is fascinating.

Part 2 and 3 will cover interviews with Twitter and Facebook. I'm sure there are folks here that were already familiar with these goings on, can you share with us any other places to educate ourselves?

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Georgia Republicans Push for State 'Journalism Ethics Board':

Six Republican state representatives in Georgia have moved to create an "ethics board" for journalists that would require news organizations to provide copies of pictures and audio and video recordings of interviews to subjects who request them or risk civil penalty.

The cost of meeting those requests would be paid by the news organizations.

The proposed legislation, House Bill 734, titled the "Ethics in Journalism Act," was sponsored Tuesday by Rep. Andy Welch, who represents the city of McDonough.

The bill would create a board of media professionals and academics that would produce"a canon of ethics" and "develop a voluntary accreditation process in journalism ethics," which would also allow for the investigation and sanctioning of journalists.

This bill isn't really about local news publishers (although they would be censored too) this is about censoring CNN which is headquartered in Atlanta.

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canopic jug writes:

Physicist and Linux geek Igor Ljubuncic has posted a detailed game review for Euro Truck Simulator 2. He includes lots of screen shots and descriptions of game dynamics.

I have to admit, when I first heard about a game that is essentially a truck simulator, my first reaction was, what the hell? Why would anyone bother developing - let alone playing - a game where you lug heavy workloads across Europe at moderate speeds, snail-pace acceleration, and with long, boring slogs of roads between your source and destination? Ah, little did I know how crazy and addictive this idea was.

[...] Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a fantastic game. I'm so happy to have found it - and decided to play, as I had it in my arsenal for a year or two. It's got everything - a need for speed, a need for skill, drama, tension, you actually care, and the devilishly simple premise turns out to be full of twists and turns - literally.

This title blends strategy and simulation in a unique fashion. Some games manage to pull this off, but most either focus too much on one or the other. Yet, somehow, the seemingly most boring concept that could be has been designed into a thrilling, captivating game. Really splendid. I hear there's also American Truck Simulator. Well, you know what that means. A real convoy!

He does not cover acquiring and installing the game which happens via Steam, with the advantages and disadvantages that brings.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Intel Launches Wi-Fi 6 AX200 Wireless Network Adapter

Intel has quietly launched its first Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) wireless network adapter, codenamed Cyclone Peak. The new WLAN adapter will deliver up to 2.4 Gbps network throughput when used with a compatible access point, but, like Wi-Fi 6 in general, its main advantage is that it will work better than existing adapters in RF-noisy environments where multiple Wi-Fi networks co-exist.

The Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 is a CNVi WLAN card that supports 802.11ax via 2x2 MU-MIMO antennas over the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. And never found too far from a Wi-Fi card, Intel's AX200 also supports Bluetooth 5.0.

[...] Intel's web-site says that the first Cyclone Peak wireless network adapter has been launched, so the device is available to makers of PCs. Depending on the order, the Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 costs Intel's customers from $10 to $17.

One of the commenters linked to this paper about 802.11be, a generation of Extremely High Throughput (EHT) Wi-Fi technology beyond 802.11ax that could offer a maximum throughput of at least 30 Gbps.

Previously: Netgear Introduces its First Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) Routers

Related: Wi-Fi Alliance Rebrands Wi-Fi Standards
Qualcomm Announces 802.11ay Wi-Fi Chips that Can Transmit 10 Gbps Within Line-of-Sight
Intel Promises "10nm" Chips by the End of 2019, and More

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