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takyon writes:

Illinois Becomes 11th State to Legalize Recreational Marijuana

Illinois lawmakers voted to legalize recreational marijuana, becoming the 11th U.S. state to do so and bolstering Governor J.B. Pritzker's efforts to shore up the finances of the cash-strapped state.

The House of Representatives Friday passed the measure that allows the purchase and possession of cannabis by those who are 21 and older starting in 2020. The Senate approved the bill on Wednesday. Pritzker, who took office in January, had made legalization a key platform in his campaign and said soon after the legislation passed that he will sign it. The billionaire Democrat's budget proposal for the year that starts July 1 included an estimated $170 million from the sale of producer licenses.

Illinois joins a growing movement to end the prohibition of the drug: ten other states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational pot in the past seven years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Illinois's move follows Michigan, potentially creating a hub in the Midwest after efforts to legalize in New Jersey and New York stalled earlier this year.

Vermont was the first state to legalize cannabis through an act of the legislature. Illinois is now the second state.

Also at Chicago Tribune.

See also: llinois state lawmaker uses eggs to demonstrate 'your brain on drugs'
Legalizing marijuana is a victory for freedom in Illinois

Previously: Vermont Legislature Passes Cannabis Legalisation Bill
Following Years of Opposition, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Plans Cannabis Legalization

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takyon writes:

NASA awards contracts to three companies to land payloads on the moon

NASA announced May 31 the award of more than $250 million in contracts to three companies to deliver NASA payloads to the lunar surface by 2021.

The agency said it awarded contracts to Astrobotic, Intuitive Machines and OrbitBeyond to carry up to 23 payloads to the moon on three commercial lunar lander missions scheduled for launch between September 2020 and July 2021. The three companies were selected for these task orders from the nine companies that received Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) awards in November 2018.

[...] OrbitBeyond is the first of the three scheduled to fly, with the company currently planning to launch its Z-01 lander on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in Septmber 2020. The New Jersey-based company, which has ties to India's TeamIndus, a former Google Lunar X Prize team, received $97 million from NASA to fly up to four payloads on a lander scheduled to touch down on Mare Imbrium.

Astrobotic plans to launch its Peregrine lander in June 2021, landing in July. The company had previously announced plans to fly the payload as a secondary payload on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5, but John Thornton, chief executive of Astrobotic, said on the NASA webcast that the company was "assessing our launch options and making a decision very shortly." The company received $79.5 million for carrying up to 14 payloads to the crater Lacus Mortis.

Intuitive Machines plan to launch its Nova-C lander on a Falcon 9 in July 2021, landing on the moon six and a half days later. The Houston-based company received $77 million to carry up to four payloads on its lander, which will touch down on Oceanus Procellarum or Mare Serenitatis.

Also at NYT and The Verge.

Previously: NASA Opens the Floodgates for Firms With Planetary Ambitions

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takyon writes:

A USB Stick as an SSD? A New Silicon Motion SM3282 Single-Chip Controller for USB SSDs

Silicon Motion has introduced its first single-chip controller for portable USB SSDs. The SM3282 promises to enable makers of portable drives to offer up to 400 MB/s sequential read speeds in a cost-efficient manner previously unachievable by external SSDs.

[...] Previously, makers of external SSDs had to use a USB-to-PCIe bridge alongside an SSD controller to build their products, which greatly increased BOM costs as well as the final price. The SM3282 packs all the necessary functionality into a single chip and thus reduces BOM cost of external SSDs.

SSD - Solid State Drive
BOM - Bill of Materials

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c0lo writes:

BBC:

The UN's special rapporteur on torture said that Assange had been subjected to sustained collective persecution - including threatening statements and incitement to violence against him.

"I've worked in many areas of war in my life, in situations of violence, and I've talked to victims of persecution around the world and I've seen very serious atrocities," Mr Melzer told the BBC.

"But [what] I have never seen is that a single person has been deliberately isolated and, I would say, persecuted - not prosecuted, but persecuted - by several democratic states in a concerted effort to eventually break his will."

He added that he believes Assange "has a very strong case, and a very reasonable fear, that if he gets extradited to the Unites States he has no chance to get a fair trial with the level of public and official prejudice that exists there for him".

Mr Melzer added that, because of his treatment, his health was at serious risk.

"We could see that Assange showed all the symptoms that are typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture," he said.

Assange, he said, needs access to a psychiatrist who is "not part of the prison service - someone he can fully trust" - to avoid his health deteriorating further.

RandomFactor writes:

The MOONRISE project is a technology demonstration project that will send a rover to our nearest neighbor equipped with a lightweight laser system to melt lunar regolith and convert it into building materials.

So far, all the proposals made for a lunar base have centered on in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) and 3D printing – where robots will manufacture the base out of lunar regolith. For this purpose, the Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH) and the Institute of Space Systems (IRAS) at the Technical University of Braunschweig came together to develop a laser system capable of turning moon dust into building materials.

The ability to generate building materials using local resources is an absolute must for the future of space exploration. At present, the cost of launching payloads to the Moon is still prohibitively expensive – estimated at roughly $780,000 a kilogram ($355,000 a pound). For this reason, the most cost-effective plans involve manufacturing everything directly on the lunar surface.

The MOONRISE project will validate that the 3kg laser system is capable of melting regolith and converting it into a molten ceramic material that could then be 3d-printed into desired shapes.

This, or a similar 3d printing method, will be used in the construction of the ESA's planned International Moon Village.

The results of the previous tests are promising, which validated the system’s laser hardware and optics. The science team has also been using materials that are increasingly similar to lunar regolith to see if the laser is capable of melting them. Currently, the team is working on integrating the laser to fit into the load compartment of the lunar rover so that it is able to fire out of the underside.

The fourth generation four-wheeled rover that will be used for the mission is the Audi Lunar Quattro developed by Berlin-based PTScientists in conjunction with Audi. The rover has stereoscopic vision and is remote controlled from Earth using a joystick.

This regolith reshaping research may come to fruition as early as 2021 when PTScientists plans to launch the rover with its lunar liquefying laser.

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takyon writes:

Microsoft details 'Modern OS,' its vision for a future operating system

At Computex 2019, major tech companies are showing off their newest products and visions for the future of computing. Microsoft is also sharing its vision for the future in a blog post that highlights the path forward for the future of Windows 10 – or another operating system (OS) entirely.

Microsoft noted many features that would need to be central to what it calls "Modern OS." One quality-of-life feature is seamless updates for the OS, which would automatically download and install in the background. They wouldn't require any interruption to users, as past Microsoft updates have required a system restart and usually entail a lengthy installation process.

The tech giant also wants the OS to be secure by default, with key aspects of the computer walled in. It would keep the OS, applications and compute components separate from one another to defend against attacks.

This is particularly important, as these devices would also be always connected, whether that's through Wi-Fi or a cellular 5G connection.

Also at The Verge.

See also: Dell Accidentally 'Confirms' New Version Of Windows 10 [Updated]

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takyon writes:

Scientists Genetically Modify Fungus To Kill Mosquitoes That Spread Malaria

In the hope of finding a new way to fight malaria, scientists have used a spider gene to genetically engineer a fungus to produce a venom that can quickly kill mosquitoes.

The modified fungus was a highly effective mosquito killer in the first tests mimicking conditions in sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria remains a major public health problem, researchers reported Thursday in the journal Science [DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw8737] [DX].

"We're very excited," says Raymond St. Leger, a professor of entomology at the University of Maryland who led the research. "The results are very good. This could save many lives."

[...] [Others] worry the approach may be unsafe. "Fighting malaria is something that everybody should do. But fighting malaria through genetic engineering is dangerous," says Nnimmo Bassey of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, an advocacy group based in Nigeria. Bassey worries the fungus would inadvertently kill other organisms, such as other insects, upsetting fragile ecosystems.

"I'm heavily worried that Africans are the preferred guinea pigs for experimentation, and Africa is going to become a large laboratory for risky experimentation," Bassey says. "We don't want this to happen."

Also at BBC.

(Hat tip to saturnalia0 who also submitted a story about this.)

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"upstart" writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow4463

Maine lawmakers pass bill to prevent ISPs from selling browsing data without consent – TechCrunch

Maine lawmakers have passed a bill that will prevent internet providers from selling consumers’ private internet data to advertisers.

The state’s senate unanimously passed the bill 35-0 on Thursday following an earlier vote by state representatives 96-45 in favor of the bill.

The bill, if signed into law by state governor Janet Mills, will force the national and smaller regional internet providers operating in the state to first obtain permission from residents before their data can be sold or passed on to advertisers or other third parties.

[...] the ACLU — which along with the Open Technology Institute and New America helped to draft the legislation — praised lawmakers for passing the bill, calling it the “strongest” internet privacy bill of any state.

“Today, the Maine legislature did what the U.S. Congress has thus far failed to do and voted to put consumer privacy before corporate profits,” said Oamshri Amarasingham, advocacy director at the ACLU of Maine, in  a statement. “Nobody should have to choose between using the internet and protecting their own data,” she said.

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Fnord666 writes:

It seems like you can't go a day without hearing news of a merger. Not corporate mergers—those are boring. Mergers between astronomical bodies are where it's at these days. And it's not just black holes and neutron stars doing the merging. I honestly had no idea, but it seems that it is not so unusual for stars to be the product of a merger.

Of course, it's also possible that a collision between two stars would lead to a massive explosion. And, so far at least, it's been hard to answer the question of what happens when two stars collide: do they explode or go out with a whimper? The observation of a large white dwarf that seems to have been the product of two titchy white dwarfs may support the whimper side.

[...] Models indicate that the creation of a neutron star from a large white dwarf might take a few thousand years. That means, in astronomical terms, the J005311 merger basically happened yesterday, and we are still awaiting the fallout. You can bet that "awaiting" will involve a multi-instrument observation campaign.

Personally, I am still coming to grips with the idea that 10 percent of massive main sequence stars and 10 percent of white dwarfs are the product of mergers. How did I not know this before now?

Source:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/05/two-white-dwarfs-collide-may-end-up-as-neutron-star/

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Fnord666 writes:

Google has made some major alterations to its Play Store policies that tighten rules surrounding sexual content, hate speech and loot boxes. Android Police has spotted the changes, noting that they were designed to make the platform's ecosystem more suitable for children. Under the policies' Monetization and Ads section, Google now notes that games offering randomized virtual items for purchase "must clearly disclose the odds of receiving those items in advance of purchase." In other words, you'll now know how hard it is to get particular items from loot boxes or gacha, so you can better manage your expectations.

The addition of the new rule coincides with the government's efforts to crack down on loot boxes. Senator Josh Hawley recently introduced a bill that would prohibit games marketed towards children from selling them. The FTC also plans to host a public workshop in August to look into consumer protection issues linked to the virtual items.

Source:
https://www.engadget.com/2019/05/30/google-android-apps-odds-loot-boxes/

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aristarchus writes:

Reported by The Hill:

The owners of a replica of Noah's Ark featured at the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Ky., sued its insurers [(pdf)] who refused to cover rain damage.

The ark's owner said heavy rains in 2017 and 2018 caused a landslide on its property and its five insurance carriers refused to cover damages totaling nearly $1 million. The ark itself was reportedly undamaged in the rains.

[...] "Subsequent to heavy rains, a significant landslide occurred along portions of the slope, which eliminated the structural support for the roadway, caused significant damage to the road surface itself and the incorporated improvements, and rendered portions of the road unsafe and unfit for use," the suit reads.

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Fnord666 writes:

Researchers say they've discovered an advanced piece of Linux malware that has escaped detection by antivirus products and appears to be actively used in targeted attacks.

HiddenWasp, as the malware has been dubbed, is a fully developed suite of malware that includes a trojan, rootkit, and initial deployment script, researchers at security firm Intezer reported on Wednesday. At the time Intezer's post went live, the VirusTotal malware service indicated Hidden Wasp wasn't detected by any of the 59 antivirus engines it tracks, although some have now begun to flag it. Time stamps in one of the 10 files Intezer analyzed indicated it was created last month. The command and control server that infected computers report to remained operational at the time this article was being prepared.

Some of the evidence analyzed—including code showing that the computers it infects are already compromised by the same attackers—indicated that HiddenWasp is likely a later stage of malware that gets served to targets of interest who have already been infected by an earlier stage. It's not clear how many computers have been infected or how any earlier related stages get installed. With the ability to download and execute code, upload files, and perform a variety of other commands, the purpose of the malware appears to be to remotely control the computers it infects. That's different from most Linux malware, which exists to perform denial of service attacks or mine cryptocurrencies.

[...] Since Wednesday's post went live, AV detection rates have grown, but at the time Ars published this article, the rates still remained low. Depending on the file being analyzed, the rates ranged from two to 13, out of 59 AV engines tracked.

[...] Wednesday's post lists indicators of compromise that people can use to tell if their computers have been infected. One telltale sign: "ld.so" files that don't contain the string "/etc/ld.so.preload." This is the result of the HiddenWasp trojan trying to patch instances of ld.so to enforce the LD_PRELOAD mechanism from arbitrary locations.

Source:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/05/advanced-linux-backdoor-found-in-the-wild-escaped-av-detection/

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Fnord666 writes:

In 2005, Apple contacted Qualcomm as a potential supplier for modem chips in the first iPhone. Qualcomm's response was unusual: a letter demanding that Apple sign a patent licensing agreement before Qualcomm would even consider supplying chips.

"I'd spent 20 years in the industry, I had never seen a letter like this," said Tony Blevins, Apple's vice president of procurement.

Most suppliers are eager to talk to new customers—especially customers as big and prestigious as Apple. But Qualcomm wasn't like other suppliers; it enjoyed a dominant position in the market for cellular chips. That gave Qualcomm a lot of leverage, and the company wasn't afraid to use it.

[...] Last week, a California federal judge provided the FTC and Apple with sweet vindication. In a scathing 233-page opinion [PDF], Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Qualcomm's aggressive licensing tactics had violated American antitrust law.

[...] "Qualcomm has monopoly power over certain cell phone chips, and they use that monopoly power to charge people too much money," says Charles Duan, a patent expert at the free-market R Street Institute. "Instead of just charging more for the chips themselves, they required people to buy a patent license and overcharged for the patent license."

Now, all of that dominance might be coming to an end. In her ruling, Koh ordered Qualcomm to stop threatening customers with chip cutoffs. Qualcomm must now re-negotiate all of its agreements with customers and license its patents to competitors on reasonable terms. And if Koh's ruling survives the appeals process, it could produce a truly competitive market for wireless chips for the first time in this century.

Source:
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/05/how-qualcomm-shook-down-the-cell-phone-industry-for-almost-20-years/

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

There are few things better than the smell of freshly baked bread from the oven; this is because molecules in the bread disperse in the heat to reach your nose. In a similar way, the ExoMars rover Rosalind Franklin will "bake" and "sniff" Martian samples in miniature ovens, imaged above, as part of its investigation of the extra-terrestrial world.

Set to land on Mars in 2021, Rosalind Franklin will scout areas of interest and drill up to 2 meters below the surface and report back its findings to scientists on Earth.

Nothing short of a miniature laboratory on wheels, the dirt that Rosalind Franklin collects will pass through different steps in an intricate process allowing for many types of analysis to get the best possible overview of the composition of Mars so far.

The Mars Organic Molecule Analyser, "MOMA," will heat samples to unlock the organic molecules from the Martian dust and transform them into the gas phase. The gas produced will then flow past a receptor that "sniffs" the molecules to learn more about the sample, thanks to its gas chromatograph.

[...] Choosing when and where to take a Martian sample, and choosing which instrument to analyze the sample with, will be a discussion of interplanetary proportions for scientists, but that discussion will need to reach conclusions quickly: the ExoMars rover has 31 tubes to fill and analyze and is designed to work for 218 "sols" or Martian days.

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Uber To Start Banning Passengers With Low Ratings

Uber has unveiled a new policy that enables the company to kick riders with low ratings to the curb.

For years, Uber allowed passengers to rate drivers on a star system, ultimately allowing customers to influence whether drivers can stay behind the wheel. Internal charts from 2014 published by Business Insider showed that drivers with ratings of 4.6 or below were at risk for the boot.

Though drivers could rate passengers, there was no equivalency in consequences. But now Uber's drivers will have a greater say about the behavior of passengers.

"Respect is a two-way street, and so is accountability," Kate Parker, Uber's head of Safety Brand and Initiatives, said in a statement released Tuesday. Parker added, "While we expect only a small number of riders to ultimately be impacted by ratings-based deactivations, it's the right thing to do." The shift will begin in the United States and Canada, the company said.

Also at TechCrunch and CNN.

Original Submission