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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

Selfie-obsessed are reportedly trampling Dutch tulip farms

The perfect selfie is coming at a cost for Dutch tulip farmers.

Selfie takers are causing thousands of euros in damage to tulip farms in the Netherlands, CNN reported Wednesday.

"Last year I had one field and there were 200 people in the field," a grower named Simon Pennings told CNN, saying people, particularly younger folks, are in the fields all day.

The Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but told CNN it thinks Instagram is sparking the trend.

Are selfie takers causing problems in your area?

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The debate over whether an Apple iPad can replace a laptop remains pretty polarized. But with the launch of the next iteration of iOS, Apple could finally remove one of the longest-running arguments against the iPad as a productivity device.

The iPad is on track to get mouse support for the first time, according to Federico Viticci, editor in chief of MacStories. Viticci revealed his scoop on episode 239 of the Connected podcast. It was confirmed on Twitter by Steve Troughton-Smith, a long-time Apple developer from Ireland.

Over the years, I've heard from plenty of smart people who really like the iPad but lament over the fact that they could do a lot more things with it if they could just plug in a mouse or a trackpad when they need to power through emails, edit photos, or perform traditional desktop tasks. In other words, I agree with Troughton-Smith that pro users would welcome this development.

Viticci and Troughton-Smith left plenty of wiggle room in their statements. Both appear to have knowledge that Apple has been working on the feature, but since they aren't on the iOS product team they obviously can't confirm whether it will officially make it into iOS 13. CNET reached out to Apple for comment and will add to this story when there's additional information to report.

Viticci said he heard the report about iPad getting mouse support from "a couple of people a few months ago." It was in the context of getting a mouse cursor on the iPad as an "accessibility feature." He suggested that it would be part of AssistiveTouch, which helps people with motor-skill limitations to operate their iOS devices more easily.

"What I heard is that, without adapters, you will be able to use any USB mouse on your iPad, but as an accessibility device," Viticci said. "It totally would not surprise me if mouse support eventually comes to the iPad, but it's presented as an accessibility [feature]... Apple doesn't want to say that the only way to use the iPad as a PC replacement is to actually plug in a mouse."

[...] The irony of mouse support being quietly integrated into the iPad would be hard to miss, when we consider how much the mouse was celebrated as the killer feature in the launch of the first Mac. It goes to show that we often have to sacrifice our sacred cows as technology advances, but that some of the least sexy features can also remain the most useful.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

She Was Fired After Raising Questions About a DNA Test. Now She's Getting $1 Million.

Officials from the chief medical examiner's office in New York City were furious when they heard that Marina Stajic, one of their longest-serving laboratory directors, had openly questioned whether they had sufficiently verified the reliability of a novel form of DNA testing being used in criminal cases.

Ms. Stajic was concerned that incorrect use of the DNA testing technique could lead to wrongful convictions, she said. But her bosses took her questioning in a different light.

"Hold me down," Dr. Barbara Sampson, the city's medical examiner, wrote in an internal email to a colleague in 2014, when she found out that Ms. Stajic had voted on a state panel to compel the office to release a study proving the technique's validity. "She sucks," a lawyer for the office wrote about Ms. Stajic, in another internal email.

Ms. Stajic, who was fired from the medical examiner's office about six months later, sued in 2016, claiming she was pushed out in part because she had challenged the controversial DNA testing technique. On Monday, the city agreed to settle her case for $1 million.

Ms. Stajic, 69, said she felt vindicated. "As a forensic scientist, I am fully aware of the importance of validating each study," she said in an interview. "My concern was if that study was not done, there could be wrongful convictions. And if the wrong people were convicted, that would mean the wrong person would be walking free."

[...] Ms. Stajic's case, even without going to trial, shed light on the inner workings of a city agency that is often assumed to be untouched by political pressure. But the case's bigger legacy may be one bit of information that her attorneys say came out in the lawsuit: They said it proved the city had never performed the study of the DNA technique as it had claimed.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for Antidisestablishment

The Feds Are Dropping Child Porn Cases Instead of Revealing Info on Their Surveillance Systems

The Feds Are Dropping Child Porn Cases Instead of Revealing Info on Their Surveillance SystemsHuman Rights Watch and other groups say these systems draw serious concerns.

The Department of Justice has been dismissing child pornography cases in order to not reveal information about the software programs used as the basis for the charges.

An array of cases suggest serious problems with the tech tools used by federal authorities. But the private entities who developed these tools won't submit them for independent inspection or hand over hardly any information about how they work, their error rates, or other critical information. As a result, potentially innocent people are being smeared as pedophiles and prosecuted as child porn collectors, while potentially guilty people are going free so these companies can protect "trade secrets."

The situation suggests some of the many problems that can arise around public-private partnerships in catching criminals and the secretive digital surveillance software that it entails (software that's being employed for far more than catching child predators).

With the child pornography cases, "the defendants are hardly the most sympathetic," notes Tim Cushing at Techdirt. Yet that's all the more reason why the government's antics here are disturbing. Either the feds initially brought bad cases against people whom they just didn't think would fight back, or they're willing to let bad behavior go rather than face some public scrutiny.

An extensive investigation by ProPublica "found more than a dozen cases since 2011 that were dismissed either because of challenges to the software's findings, or the refusal by the government or the maker to share the computer programs with defense attorneys, or both," writes Jack Gillum. Many more cases raised issues with the software as a defense.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

Scientists develop swallowable self-inflating capsule to help tackle obesity

Called the EndoPil, the prototype capsule contains a balloon that can be self-inflated with a handheld magnet once it is in the stomach, thus inducing a sense of fullness. Its magnetically-activated inflation mechanism causes a reaction between a harmless acid and a salt stored in the capsule, which produces carbon dioxide to fill up the balloon. The concept behind the capsule is for it to be ingested orally, though trials using this route for administration have not yet begun.

Designed by a team led by Professor Louis Phee, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Dean of Engineering, and Professor Lawrence Ho, a clinician-innovator at National University Health System (NUHS), such an orally-administered self-inflating weight loss capsule could represent a non-invasive alternative to tackle the growing global obesity epidemic.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

Welding with stem cells for next-generation surgical glues: New generation of smart surgical glues and dressings for chronic wounds

Cell membrane re-engineering is emerging as a powerful tool for the development of next generation cell therapies, as it allows scientists to provide additional functions in the therapeutic cells, such as homing, adhesion or hypoxia (low oxygen) resistance. At the moment, there are few examples where the cell membrane is re-engineered to display active enzymes that drive extracellular matrix production, which is an essential process in wound healing.

In this research, published in Nature Communications today [Tuesday 23 April], the team modified the membrane of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) with an enzyme, known as thrombin, which is involved in the wound healing process. When the modified cells were placed in a solution containing the blood protein fibrinogen, they automatically welded together through the growth of a natural hydrogel from the surface of the cells. The researchers have also shown that the resulting 3D cellular structures could be used for tissue engineering.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

NoScript extension officially released for Google Chrome

Starting today, the NoScript Firefox extension, a popular tool for privacy-focused users, is also available for Google Chrome, Giorgio Maone, NoScript's author, has told ZDNet.

[...] The extension gathered a huge following across the years, and because of its unique features, it has also been selected as one of the very few add-ons that come built into default installations of the Tor Browser.

It is also one of the most-used and must-use extensions in the arsenal of security researchers that visit sites with malicious code, as the extension can prevent the execution of some exploits.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

People Who Claim to Work 75-Hour Weeks Usually Only Work About 50 Hours

I want to thank Kevin Drum from Mother Jones for surfacing a 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics study [PDF] that confirms something I've long suspected: Virtually anyone you know who claims to be working more than 60 hours a week is not telling the truth.

Bureau of Labor Statistics researchers reached this conclusion by comparing regular survey data to diary data from the American Time Use Survey, a Census project that asks Americans to track, diary style, how their weekly time is divided among 163 different activity categories, from sleeping to shopping to pet care.

[...] Again, this sort of misreporting is not limited to work hours. People overestimate how often they do all sorts of things they "ought" to be doing, often by even larger margins than with work for pay. One study from the 1980s found swim and tennis club members provided estimates of their frequency of use of recreation facilities that was double what was reflected in their clubs' logbooks.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

Speedgate: World's First Sport Generated by AI

If you like playing or watching team sports, you’ll probably find this AI's latest creation fascinating. Developers from AKQA, a global innovation agency most known for working with some of the hottest brands and public figures, trained a recurrent neural network and a deep convolutional generative adversarial network on over 400 sports with the aim of creating a new and original sport.

Picture Rugby, Soccer, sprinkled with a little football, and marinated with some field hockey, scrambled all into one sport, you get Speedgate.

"Speedgate is fun, fast and physical, relying heavily on teamwork and passing to score and win,” the company wrote in a post. "Going all out for victory is applauded, but it should never come at the expense of having an awesome time. Speedgate is all about enjoyment, inclusivity, and sportsmanship."

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upstart writes:

The US Navy is drafting new rules to report UFO sightings

Are we alone in the universe? The question has been debated for ages. Most recently, US Navy pilots who think they spotted a UFO will be getting guidelines for logging what they've seen.

The US Navy began drafting the new forms after multiple sightings of highly advanced aircraft trespassing on military formations, Politico reported on Tuesday.

"Pilots are upset, and they're trying to help wake up a slumbering system," Chris Mellon, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence and a staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Washington Post. Mellon and other pilots reportedly think a new streamlined reporting system could make it more acceptable to report UFOS and ultimately remove the stigma.

The Navy and the United States Air Force said they're taking each report seriously.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

Women underreport prevalence and intensity of their own snoring: Social stigma may deter women from admitting that they snore

Results show that objectively measured snoring was found in 88% of the women (591 of 675), but only 72% reported that they snore (496 of 675). In contrast, objective snoring (92.6%) and self-reported snoring (93.1%) were nearly identical in men. The study also found that women snored as loudly as men, with a mean maximal snoring intensity of 50 decibels among women and 51.7 decibels among men. About 49% of the women had severe or very severe snoring (329 of 675), but only 40% of the women rated their snoring at this level of severity (269 of 675).

"We found that although no difference in snoring intensity was found between genders, women tend to underreport the fact that they snore and to underestimate the loudness of their snoring," said Nimrod Maimon, MD, MHA, principal investigator and professor at the BGU Faculty of Health Sciences and the head of internal medicine (B Ward) at Soroka University Medical Center in Be'er Sheva, Israel. "Women reported snoring less often and described it as milder."

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Appalbarry writes:

A West Vancouver philanthropist is suing Twitter claiming that the social media company "published defamatory statements about him."

Frank Giustra, the CEO of Fiore Group and founder of Lionsgate Entertainment, says that posts noted in the suit are that he is “corrupt," a “murderous thief,” a “criminal” and that he was involved in Pizzagate, a “discredited and malicious conspiracy theory in which he was labeled a ‘pedophile’.”

Although some tweets were removed, “Twitter has neglected or refused to remove and continues to publish a large number of false, defamatory, abusive and threatening Tweets.” According to the North Shore News, "In the suit, Giustra is asking for a mandatory permanent injunction requiring Twitter to delete the Tweets and to prohibit further publications by its users of materials that are defamatory to him, as well as general damages."

[...] No statement of defense has been filed and the claims have not been heard in court.

Twitter has declined comment on the story.

Original Submission

Fnord666 writes:

P2P Weakness Exposes Millions of IoT Devices

A peer-to-peer (P2P) communications technology built into millions of security cameras and other consumer electronics includes several critical security flaws that expose the devices to eavesdropping, credential theft and remote compromise, new research has found.

The security flaws involve iLnkP2P, software developed by China-based Shenzhen Yunni Technology. iLnkP2p is bundled with millions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, including security cameras and Webcams, baby monitors, smart doorbells, and digital video recorders.

iLnkP2P is designed to allow users of these devices to quickly and easily access them remotely from anywhere in the world, without having to tinker with one's firewall: Users simply download a mobile app, scan a barcode or enter the six-digit ID stamped onto the bottom of the device, and the P2P software handles the rest.

But according to an in-depth analysis shared with KrebsOnSecurity by security researcher Paul Marrapese, iLnkP2P devices offer no authentication or encryption and can be easily enumerated, allowing potential attackers to establish a direct connection to these devices while bypassing any firewall restrictions.

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AnonTechie writes:

The first laser radio transmitter: Researchers transmit data via a semiconductor laser, opening the door to ultra-high-speed Wi-Fi. Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences transmitted a recording of Martin's classic "Volare" wirelessly via a semiconductor laser -- the first time a laser has been used as a radio frequency transmitter.

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers demonstrated a laser that can emit microwaves wirelessly, modulate them, and receive external radio frequency signals.

"The research opens the door to new types of hybrid electronic-photonic devices and is the first step toward ultra-high-speed Wi-Fi," said Federico Capasso, the Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering, at SEAS and senior author of the study.

Source: The first laser radio transmitter.

Abstract: Radio frequency transmitter based on a laser frequency comb

Original Submission

RandomFactor writes:

Researchers have observed something that on average takes far longer than the universe has existed.

The XENON1T detector, which is intended to detect dark matter particles:

[...] has now managed to observe an extremely rare process using the detector – the decay of the Xenon-124 atom, which has an enormously long half-life of 1.8 x 10 to the power of 22 years.

Buried 1500 meters below ground in the Gran Sasso mountains in Italy, the detector is shielded from interference by stray radiation.

Until now, researchers using this detector have not yet observed any dark matter particles, but they have now managed to observe the decay of the Xenon-124 atom for the first time. The half-life time measured – i.e. the time span after which half of the radioactive atoms originally present in a sample have decayed away – is over a trillion times longer than the age of the universe, which is almost 14 billion years old.

The decay process starts with what is called a double electron capture:

The atomic nucleus of Xenon-124 consists of 54 positively charged protons and 70 neutral neutrons, which are surrounded by several atomic shells occupied by negatively charged electrons. In double electron capture, two protons in the nucleus simultaneously "catch" two electrons from the innermost atomic shell, transform into two neutrons, and emit two neutrinos. As two electrons are then missing in the atomic shell, the other electrons reorganize themselves, with the energy released being carried away by X-rays. However, this is a very rare process which is usually hidden by signals from the omnipresent "normal" radioactivity – in the sealed-off environment of the underground laboratory, however, it has now been possible to observe the process.

This decay process has occurred 126 times in the detector over the past two years allowing the physicists to calculate the half-life of Xenon-124 at 1.8x10^22 years, making this the slowest process ever measured directly.

Journal reference:
Xenon Collaboration/E. Aprile et al. First observation of two-neutrino double electron capture in 124Xe with XENON1T. Nature. 24 April 2019. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1124-4

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