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RandomFactor writes:

Sea Hero Quest is a video game that helps to identify sufferers of Alzheimer's disease in its early (and often effectively symptomless) stages.

Sea Hero Quest was built as a way to identify people who might be at risk of Alzheimer's but who aren't yet suffering any major symptoms of the disease and according to a study recently published in the journal PNAS, it seems the game is effective.

In Sea Hero Quest, which is a VR game, players have to navigate and control a virtual boat. They are given a map and shown checkpoints, then the map is taken away and players must navigate to these checkpoints in the game world without the map.

The researchers have created a baseline to compare to future players from the thousands of players who have already downloaded and played the game. The hope is that this will help identify unknowing sufferers of the disease so they can be treated early before the severe memory and cognitive impairment of later stages.

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MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

In 1940, Britain had retreated back to their island fortress after being throttled in mainland Europe by invading Nazis. They would hide behind the sea and hope that their navy and air force could stop the possible German invasion of their island.

As the Battle of Britain raged on, the German and British air forces went head to head. Something strange happened, the Germans pulled of[sic] a series of highly effective night bombing raids. It's strange because night bombing was incredibly ineffective for the most part.

[...] This German bombing was much more effective than what the British could do at night. As a matter of fact, it was more accurate than what typical bombing could do in the day time.

Source: https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/england-was-almost-destroyed-by-radio-waves-df70830e8593

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

Older job applicants up to three times less likely to be selected for interview than younger ones, study finds

Fifty-year-old job seekers are up to three times less likely to be selected for interview than younger applicants with less relevant experience, a major new study shows.

Research found that applications from 28-year-old white men were three times more likely to get an interview than those sent by 50-year-old black women, and over twice as likely as those sent by 50-year-old white women.

Academics from Anglia Ruskin and Cyprus universities applied for 811 sales and service jobs in England, sending in applications from fictional British job seekers.

One was a 28-year-old white man with nine years' experience relevant to the job, and the others were from 50-year-old white and black men and women with 31 years' relevant experience. All the fictional applicants said they were employed at the time, and their age and ethnic background were noted on their CVs.

Researchers found that applications from young white men were:

• 1.8 times more likely to be selected for interview than ones from 50-year-old white men
• 2.3 times more likely to be selected than those from 50-year-old white women
• 2.6 times more likely to be selected than those from 50-year-old black men
• 3 times more likely to be selected than those from 50-year-old black women.

Professor Nick Drydakis, Dr. Anna Paraskevopoulou of the School of Business and Law, Anglia Ruskin University, and Dr. Vasiliki Bozani of Economics Research Centre, University of Cyprus, also found that the young men were accepted for interview for jobs that paid more highly, around £19,863, than the ones that 50-year-old men were invited to, around £17,552, 13% lower.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.paymentsjournal.com/digital-trust-safety-bridges-fraud-prevention-and-growth/

When it comes to fighting fraud, especially in the payments world, businesses expect some collateral damage, i.e. good users being blocked in the attempt to keep out fraudsters. What happens, though, when too many legitimate customers get burned? Things like chargebacks and false positives create more friction, putting rifts between businesses and customers. The consequence? Brands are losing customers as they pick other companies to do business with in search of better experiences.

To cut through the fraud noise and further understand how businesses are — or aren't — balancing fraud prevention and growth, Sift recently surveyed 500 fraud fighting professionals across North America, with responsibilities related to fraud, risk, mobile or e-commerce operations and strategies.

The report, titled Digital Trust & Safety: Aligning Security and Growth Strategies, looks at the latest fraud trends impacting payments and how criminals are becoming more sophisticated in their attacks across advancing technologies. Our findings show tension and mistrust on both sides of the fence as organizations struggle to break down the barriers between boosting revenues by meeting customer needs in personalized and innovative ways while protecting those same customers from fraud.

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saturnalia0 writes:

Video display of micro robots performing tasks showing their possible usefulness in medical procedures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7lXymxsdhw

The so called robots are tiny magnets glued together in a resin, organized in such a way that changes in the magnetic field around them makes them move in a predetermined way, allowing their controller to perform complex tasks in the micro scale. Video by Derek Muller (AKA Veritasium), displaying the work of Dr. Eric Diller, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto.

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upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

Radio Piracy on the High Seas: Commercial Demand for Taboo Music

The true story of pirate radio is a complicated fight over the airwaves. Maybe you have a picture in your mind of some kid in his mom’s basement playing records, but the pirate stations we are thinking about — Radio Caroline and Radio Northsea International — were major business operations. They were perfectly ordinary radio stations except they operated from ships at sea to avoid falling under the jurisdiction of a particular government.

Back then many governments were not particularly fond of rock music. People wanted it though, and because people did, advertisers wanted to capitalize on it. When people want to spend money but can’t, entrepreneurs will find a way to deliver what is desired. That’s exactly what happened.

Of course, if that’s all there was to it, this wouldn’t be interesting. But the story is one of intrigue with armed boardings, distress calls interrupting music programs, and fire bombings. Most radio stations don’t have to deal with those events. Surprisingly, at least one of these iconic stations is still around — in a manner of speaking, anyway.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

New technique uses power anomalies to ID malware in embedded systems

"Embedded systems are basically any computer that doesn't have a physical keyboard -- from smartphones to Internet of Things devices," says Aydin Aysu, co-author of a paper on the work and an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at NC State. "Embedded systems are used in everything from the voice-activated virtual assistants in our homes to industrial control systems like those used in power plants. And malware that targets those systems can be used to seize control of these systems or to steal information."

At issue are so-called micro-architectural attacks. This form of malware makes use of a system's architectural design, effectively hijacking the hardware in a way that gives outside users control of the system and access to its data. Spectre and Meltdown are high-profile examples of micro-architectural malware.

"The nature of micro-architectural attacks makes them very difficult to detect -- but we have found a way to detect them," Aysu says. "We have a good idea of what power consumption looks like when embedded systems are operating normally. By looking for anomalies in power consumption, we can tell that there is malware in a system -- even if we can't identify the malware directly."

[...] "This paper demonstrates a proof of concept. We think it offers an exciting new approach for addressing a widespread security challenge."

The paper, "Using Power-Anomalies to Detect Evasive Micro-Architectural Attacks in Embedded Systems," will be presented at the IEEE International Symposium on Hardware Oriented Security and Trust (HOST), being held May 6-10 in Tysons Corner, Va. First author of the paper is Shijia Wei, a Ph.D. student at UT-Austin. The paper was co-authored by Michael Orshansky, Andreas Gerstlauer and Mohit Tiwari of UT-Austin.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

Migrating bats use the setting sun

Bats weighing no more than 6 grams, migrating over a thousand miles from the Baltic to Britain, could be the key to revealing how migrating mammals navigate.

We know more about how birds and reptiles and fish navigate than we do about mammals such as whales or wildebeest, but one part of the puzzle is revealed in the latest edition of Current Biology.

Working with colleagues at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and the University of Latvia, Dr. Richard Holland of Bangor University's School of Natural Sciences, who has also studied navigational systems in birds, has looked at the navigational systems used by tiny soprano pipistrelle bats.

What the latest research has revealed is that, despite being nocturnal creatures, these bats use the direction of the setting sun over the Baltic Sea to re-calibrate their internal magnetic compass. Hiding the setting sun's rays and showing a mirror image to half the bats, the scientists then released bats from a special release box which tracked their footprints as they left the cage. As the direction of their exit has been found to accurately reflect the direction of flight, the scientists saw that adult bats exposed to the mirror image of the setting sun had re-calibrated their internal magnetic compass to this new information, and had followed that trajectory on their flight. Instead of heading for the Baltic Sea, as the adult bats who saw the setting sun had done, they few[sic] east

Journal Reference:
Oliver Lindecke et al. Experienced Migratory Bats Integrate the Sun's Position at Dusk for Navigation at Night, Current Biology (2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.03.002

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for ErnestTBass

'Rude' scooters play offensive messages

Lime scooters in Brisbane have been making suggestive and offensive comments to riders after pranksters swapped audio files on some vehicles.

The scooters were hacked to make a variety of comments most of which were sexual in nature, local papers in the city reported.

At least eight scooters had files swapped in the cyber-attack.

Lime said the prank was "not funny" and that it was working to return the hacked scooters to their normal state.

[...] One message had the scooter saying: "Don't take me around, because I don't like to be ridden."

Another played when riders ended a journey on a scooter at which point the speaker on the gadget said: "No, where you go?"

Lime spokesman Nelson Savanh told the Brisbane Times that the prank was the work of "vandals" and that it was checking its entire fleet to see how many had been tampered with.

"It's not smart, it's not funny and is akin to changing a ringtone," he said.

"It's disappointing that someone has taken this opportunity to poke fun at members of the community in a hurtful way," added Mr Savanh.

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martyb writes:

Elon Musk Reaches Settlement in SEC Tweet Battle:

Elon Musk has reached a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the two parties said in a legal filing on Friday. The new agreement provides much more detailed guidance about when tweets and other public statements by Musk must be approved by Tesla lawyers.

Musk's original deal with the SEC was announced last September. It required Musk to obtain pre-approval for tweets that "contain or could contain" information that's material—legal jargon for information that's significant to shareholders. While the SEC expected Musk to begin regularly clearing tweets with lawyers, Musk interpreted this language as giving him significant discretion to decide for himself which tweets contained material information. As a result, he didn't seek legal review for any tweets in the first few months the agreement was in effect.

[...]Under the new rules, Musk must get a Tesla securities lawyer's sign off on tweets (and other communications) regarding Tesla's finances, its production and delivery numbers, new lines of business, sales projections, proposed mergers, fundraising efforts, regulatory decisions, and several other types of information.

The SEC says that if the judge signs off on these new terms, the SEC will drop its request for Musk to be held in contempt. In other words, the SEC seems to be satisfied with getting Musk to start seeking legal review for his tweets the way the agency thought Musk had been doing since last time. The SEC is not seeking to punish Musk further for his February tweet.

Given how well Elon Musk followed the intent of the prior ruling, I wonder how closely he will follow this ruling?

Previously:
Funding for Tesla to Go Private Could Come From Saudis; Lawsuits and SEC Scrutiny Increase
SEC Reportedly Subpoenas Tesla Over Take-Private Tweet
Tesla Facing Criminal Probe
Elon Musk Accused by SEC of Misleading Investors in August Tweet
SEC Settlement: Elon Musk Resigns as Chairman of Tesla, Stays as CEO, $40 Million in Fines Paid
Elon Musk Isn’t on His Twitter Leash Yet, So He’s Taunting the SEC

Original Submission

An Anonymous Coward writes:

As lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom supported a 2017 bill increasing the state's gas taxes. When running for governor in 2018, he opposed a ballot initiative that would have repealed that same increase. It's 2019, and Newson, now the state's governor, is demanding an investigation into why the state's gas prices are so high.

On Tuesday, the governor sent a letter to the California Energy Commission (CEC) asking that the state agency investigate the Golden State's roughly $4.03 per gallon gas prices, currently the highest in the country (and well above the national average of $2.86 per gallon).

"Independent analysis suggests that an unaccounted-for price differential exists in California's gas prices and that this price differential may stem in part from inappropriate industry practices," wrote Newsom in his letter to the CEC. "These are all important reasons for the Commission to help shed light on what's going on in our gasoline market."

[...] California currently imposes the second-highest gas taxes in the country. A state excise tax currently adds $.417 per gallon, a rate that will increase to $.473 come July. On top of that, the state imposes a 2.25 percent gasoline sales tax.

In addition, California has adopted a low-carbon fuel standard and a cap-and-trade scheme for carbon emissions which together increase the state's gas prices by $.24 per gallon above the national average, according to a 2017 state government report.

That same report maintained that, even after all these state-imposed costs were tallied up, California's gas prices remained above the national average, a finding that both those 19 state legislators and Newsom are using to justify their demands for an investigation.

https://reason.com/2019/04/24/california-politicians-hiked-gas-tax-now-demand-investigation-into-states-4-per-gallon-gas-prices/

Original Submission

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?

Original Submission

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.

Original Submission

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.

Original Submission

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.

Original Submission