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Phoenix666 writes:

Al Jazeera:

Vietnam's Force 47 is run by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to hack anti-government websites and spread pro-government messages online, and is believed to be at least 10,000-strong.

Anh Chi, the pen name of 46-year-old Nguyen Chi Tuyen, knows the ministry's tactics well. He has created videos criticising Force 47, and has expressed concern about the impact of a new cyber-law that came into effect at the beginning of the month.

The deadly January 9 incident in Dong Tam is a case in point.

According to the authorities, three police officers and 84-year-old village leader Le Dinh Kinh were killed after local residents clashed with police in the early hours of that day.

The dispute, over agricultural land next to a military airport, shocked the country. But afterwards, Vietnam's cyber-army, also known as Force 47, was deployed to counter the content on social media platforms deemed critical of the way the authorities handled the situation.

"Facebook is the main source of independent news now in Vietnam," said Trinh Huu Long, a co-founder of Legal Initiatives for Vietnam.

"The government has been working with Facebook to try to control content posted by dissidents and independent voices," he added.

Vietnam is said to be following China's lead in policing its citizens speech online. Is this going to become the global norm?

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kazzie writes:

News from the BBC

Christopher Tolkien, who edited and published the posthumous works of his father, Lord of the Rings writer JRR Tolkien, has died aged 95.

The news was confirmed by the Tolkien Society, which described him as "Middle-earth's first scholar".

After his father's death in 1973, Mr Tolkien published the acclaimed work The Silmarillion.

Scholar Dr Dimitra Fimi said the study of JRR Tolkien "would never be what it is today" without his input.

My first introduction to J.R.R. Tolkien's work was The Father Christmas Letters, which were written for Christopher and his siblings. In more recent years, I've dipped into Christopher's work on Middle Earth, both his History of Middle Earth, and the various pieces of his father's work that he edited and expanded upon.

What memories do Soylentils have of the Tolkiens' work?

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:

Scientists unexpectedly witness wolf puppies play fetch:

When it comes to playing a game of fetch, many dogs are naturals. But now, researchers report that the remarkable ability to interpret human social communicative cues that enables a dog to go for a ball and then bring it back also exists in wolves. The study appears January 16 in the journal iScience.

The findings were made serendipitously when researchers tested 13 wolf puppies from three different litters in a behavioral test battery designed to assess various behaviors in young dog puppies. During this series of tests, three 8-week-old wolf puppies spontaneously showed interest in a ball and returned it to a perfect stranger upon encouragement. The discovery comes as a surprise because it had been hypothesized that the cognitive abilities necessary to understand cues given by a human, such as those required for a game of fetch, arose in dogs only after humans domesticated them at least 15,000 years ago.

"When I saw the first wolf puppy retrieving the ball I literally got goose bumps," says Christina Hansen Wheat of Stockholm University, Sweden. "It was so unexpected, and I immediately knew that this meant that if variation in human-directed play behavior exists in wolves, this behavior could have been a potential target for early selective pressures exerted during dog domestication."

More information: iScience, Wheat and Temrin: "Intrinsic ball retrieving in wolf puppies suggests standing ancestral variation for human-directed play behaviour" https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(19)30557-7 , DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2019.100811

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c0lo writes:

WSJ runs this story (alternative MSN same text)

HONG KONG—Japanese citizen Midori Nishida was checking in to a flight in Hong Kong in November to visit her parents on Saipan, a U.S. island in the Pacific, when airline staff made an unusual demand. She had to take a pregnancy test if she wanted to board.

Ms. Nishida, 25 years old, was escorted to a public rest room and handed a strip to urinate on.

The test was part of the response of one airline, Hong Kong Express Airways, to immigration concerns in Saipan. The island has become a destination for women intending to give birth on U.S. territory, making their babies eligible for American citizenship. In 2018, more tourists than residents gave birth in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, in which Saipan is the largest island.

Pregnant foreigners aren't barred from entering the U.S., or from giving birth in U.S. territory. But immigration authorities can turn away visitors if they are found to be lying about their purpose of travel, or if they come to the U.S. planning to have a medical procedure, such as giving birth, but can't prove they have the funds to pay for it.

Airlines are required to take back passengers who are denied entry—an incentive to ensure that those who board their flights are likely to be deemed admissible to the U.S.

One would think the birth tourism was reaching crisis levels in Saipan; but TFA has a chart showing 582 births by tourists in 2018.

Heck, looks like even Trump's businesses are happy to oblige if the price is right.

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canopic jug writes:

The GNU/Linux-based smartphone, PinePhone, has begun shipping. It uses the same Quad-Core ARM Cortex A53 64-Bit System on a Chip (SOC) as the the Pine64 Single Board Computer (SBC) and thus it also runs mainstream GNU/Linux. The goal is to provide a hardware platform for a wider variety of Linux-on-Phone projects. Hardware availability is expected to be five years.

Lilliputing: PinePhone Braveheart Linux smartphone begins shipping January 17th

The PinePhone is an inexpensive smartphone designed to run Linux-based operating systems. Developed by the folks at Pine64, the $150 smartphone was first announced about a year ago — and this week the first units will ship.

Herald Writer: The PinePhone begins delivery—a Linux-powered smartphone for $150

The PinePhone is powered through an Allwinner A64 SoC, which options 4 Cortex A53 CPUs at 1.2GHz, constructed on an attractive historical 40nm procedure. This is similar chip the corporate makes use of at the PINE A64 unmarried board pc, a Raspberry Pi competitor. There are 2GB of RAM, a Mali-400 GPU, 16GB of garage, and a 2750mAh battery. The rear digicam is 5MP, the entrance digicam is 2MP, the show is a 1440×720 IPS LCD, and the battery is detachable. There is a headphone jack, a USB-C port, and strengthen for a MicroSD slot, which you'll if truth be told boot running techniques off of. The mobile modem is a big separate chip this is soldered onto the motherboard: a Quectel EG25-G.

Earlier on SN:
PinePhone Linux Smartphone Priced at $149 to Arrive This Year (2019)
Librem 5 Backers Have Begun Receiving Their Linux Phones (2019)

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AzumaHazuki:

Worried About Swearing Too Much? Science Says You Shouldn't Be:

Well, damn. Maybe you stubbed your toe first thing in the morning. Or some thoughtless commuter forced you to slam the brakes on the drive to work. Perhaps you're just fed up with it all and feel like sinking to your knees and cursing the heavens.

If you've ever suppressed the urge to unleash a string of obscenities, maybe think again. Some research suggests that it might be a better idea to simply let the filth fly.

Scientifically speaking, a penchant for profanity doesn't seem to be such a bad thing. Studies have shown that swearing relieves stress, dulls the sensation of pain, fosters camaraderie among peers and is linked with traits like verbal fluency, openness and honesty.

And the effects of cursing are physical as well as mental. A 2018 study in Psychology of Sport and Exercise found that letting out a few choice words during a workout can actually make you stronger. In the study, participants who cursed aloud while gripping a hand vise were able to squeeze harder and longer.

Timothy Jay, professor emeritus of psychology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, thinks that humans partly developed taboo language as an emotional release valve.

"There's a point where it's just more efficient to say, 'F*&^ you,' than it is to hit somebody," adds Jay, a world-renowned expert in cursing. "We've evolved this very efficient way to vent our emotions and convey them to others."

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

A Georgia court granted final approval for an Equifax settlement in a class-action lawsuit, after the credit-reporting agency was hit by its massive 2017 data breach.

Equifax will pay $380.5 million to settle lawsuits regarding the 2017 data breach, the Atlanta federal judge reportedly ruled this week. In addition, Equifax may be required to dole out an additional $125 million "if needed to satisfy claims for certain out-of-pocket losses."

"We are pleased that the Court approved the settlement, which provides significant benefits for consumers whose information was impacted in the 2017 breach," an Equifax spokesperson told Threatpost.

The $380.5 million will be placed into a fund for consumers affected who are part of the class outlined in the lawsuit. The settlement cost will also cover attorneys' fees, expenses and administration costs.

The $380.5 million for affected consumers is slightly more than the $300 million proposed previously  by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in July 2019. The July 2019 proposal was subject to the federal court's Monday approval.

As part of the settlement, the company will also need to pay at least $1 billion for improved security, as well as $175 million to 48 states in the U.S and and $100 million in civil penalties to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Equifax will also need to pay $1.4 billion in litigation expenses and $77.5 million as a percentage based fee, according to Bloomberg.

-- submitted from IRC

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:

Researchers test hearing by looking at dilation of people's eyes:

University of Oregon neuroscientists have shown that a person's hearing can be assessed by measuring dilation of the pupils in eyes, a method that is as sensitive as traditional methods of testing hearing.

The approach is being developed as a potential way to test hearing in babies, young adults with developmental disabilities and adults suffering from a stroke or illness -- populations where direct responses are not possible.

In the experiments, changes in pupil size of 31 adults were monitored with eye-tracking technology for about three seconds as they performed a traditional tone-based hearing test while also staring at an object on a monitor. Dilation in all subjects matched their subsequent push-button responses, when prompted by a question mark on the screen, signifying whether or not a tone was heard.

The project, detailed in an open-access paper published online last month in the Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, was inspired more than a decade ago when the study's lead author, Avinash Singh Bala, noticed changes in the pupils of barn owls in response to unexpected noises in their environment.

Avinash D. S. Bala, Elizabeth A. Whitchurch, Terry T. Takahashi. Human Auditory Detection and Discrimination Measured with the Pupil Dilation Response. Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology, 2019; DOI: 10.1007/s10162-019-00739-x

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Mozilla Lays Off 70 People as Non-search Revenue Fails to Materialize

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:

Mozilla lays off 70 people as non-search revenue fails to materialize:

Mozilla has laid off 70 people, TechCrunch reports. It's a significant move for an organization that employs around 1,000 people worldwide.

"You may recall that we expected to be earning revenue in 2019 and 2020 from new subscription products as well as higher revenue from sources outside of search," wrote Mozilla interim CEO Mitchell Baker in a memo to staff obtained by TechCrunch. "This did not happen."

Baker said Mozilla had decided not to shelve Mozilla's $43 million innovation fund, which focuses on creating new Mozilla products. She said Mozilla would provide "generous exit packages and outplacement support" to those who were let go.

Mozilla Lays Off 70 Employees

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Bytram:

Mozilla lays off 70 employees:

Mozilla laid off about 70 employees Wednesday as part of an effort to preserve funding for its top new priorities like protecting privacy and fighting surveillance online. The nonprofit is best known for creating the Firefox web browser, but it also is expanding into new areas including password management, file sharing and private network connections while doubling down on its longstanding push to improve online privacy.

"We're making a significant investment to fund innovation. In order to do that responsibly, we've also had to make some difficult choices which led to the elimination of roles at Mozilla which we announced internally today," Mozilla Chair Mitchell Baker said of the layoffs in a blog post.

And Mozilla is being more cautious with revenue and expenses. "We are taking a more conservative approach to our finances. This will enable us to pivot as needed to respond to market threats to internet health, and champion user privacy and agency," Mozilla said in a statement.

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martyb writes:

How to watch SpaceX show NASA the Crew Dragon capsule can escape if a launch goes wrong

Plan for success. Prepare for failure. SpaceX is setting out to prove that a critical safety system will be able to save astronaut lives in the event of a launch emergency.

The Crew Dragon in-flight abort test is scheduled for Jan. 18. This is a required step before NASA will allow astronauts to fly to the International Space Station in the SpaceX capsule as part of the Commercial Crew Program.

NASA announced on Tuesday it will livestream the event, with coverage starting at 4:45 a.m. PT [0745 ET, 1245 UTC] on Saturday. SpaceX and NASA are targeting 5 a.m. PT [0800 ET, 1300 UTC] for the launch, but the test has a four-hour launch window to work with.

Crew Dragon will take a ride on a Falcon 9 rocket, which won't survive the test. The launch will take place at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, which will allow the rocket to break up over the Atlantic Ocean. It could be quite an eye-opening experience.

[...] If all goes well, the Crew Dragon capsule will separate from the rocket, deploy parachutes and float gently down to the water.

An animation of the in-flight abort (IFA) test is available on YouTube.

Also at Ars Technica.

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Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/01/comcast-accused-of-lying-about-its-prices-gets-away-with-1-3m-settlement/

Comcast has agreed to issue refunds to 15,600 customers and cancel the debts of another 16,000 people to settle allegations that the cable company lied to customers in order to hide the true cost of service. Comcast will have to pay $1.3 million in refunds.

[...]"The settlement also requires Comcast to change its advertising practices to disclose to its customers the full amount that they will be charged for service."

[...]The consent judgment was filed in Hennepin County District Court. Minnesota alleged violations of the state's Prevention of Consumer Fraud Act and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, but Comcast did not admit any wrongdoing.

[...]About 8,400 customers are eligible for refunds of $80 each because they did not receive Visa prepaid cards or other promotional items that they were promised

[...]About 2,000 customers who were charged for a modem but returned the modem within three months will get refunds

[...]Another 5,200 customers who "were involuntarily disconnected or who voluntarily downgraded their Residential Services, and, as a result, paid an Early Termination Fee to Comcast" will get $80 refunds.

[...]"Part of being able to afford your life means knowing the full cost of what you're getting, getting what you were promised, not being overcharged for things you didn't ask for, and not being unfairly charged to get rid of things you didn't ask for. But when people signed up for Comcast, that's what happened to them," Ellison said.

Comcast has already identified the 16,000 customers who will get debt relief, the settlement says. Comcast is required to forgive their debts within 30 days.

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canopic jug writes:

The Insurance Journal is asking if the NotPetya Windows worm was an act of war. If so, that would change any potential obligations carried by insurance policies towards claimants, in this case Merck & Co. NotPetya took over Windows computers in 2017 but was apparently originally intended to target Ukrainian Windows computers. The rest of the Windows computers may have just been collateral damage.

By the time Deb Dellapena arrived for work at Merck & Co.’s 90-acre campus north of Philadelphia, there was a handwritten sign on the door: The computers are down.

It was worse than it seemed. Some employees who were already at their desks at Merck offices across the U.S. were greeted by an even more unsettling message when they turned on their PCs. A pink font glowed with a warning: “Ooops, your important files are encrypted. … We guarantee that you can recover all your files safely and easily. All you need to do is submit the payment …” The cost was $300 in Bitcoin per computer.

The ransom demand was a ruse. It was designed to make the software locking up many of Merck’s computers—eventually dubbed NotPetya—look like the handiwork of ordinary criminals. In fact, according to Western intelligence agencies, NotPetya was the creation of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency—the same one that had hacked the Democratic National Committee the previous year.

In all, the attack crippled more than 30,000 laptop and desktop [Windows] computers at the global drugmaker, as well as 7,500 servers, according to a person familiar with the matter. Sales, manufacturing, and research units were all hit. One researcher told a colleague she'd lost 15 years of work. Near Dellapena's suburban office, a manufacturing facility that supplies vaccines for the U.S. market had ground to a halt. "For two weeks, there was nothing being done," Dellapena recalls. "Merck is huge. It seemed crazy that something like this could happen."

Earlier on SN:
Windows 7 and Server 2008 End of Support: What Will Change on 14 January? (2020)
Cyber Insurance claims NotPetya was an act of war (2019)
Original Petya Master Decryption Key Released (2017)

Original Submission

Phoenix666 writes:

New Atlas:

For its sixth concept vehicle, the ecomotive team at the Eindhoven University of Technology will build Luca – a sporty compact EV that's built using a bio-based composite that includes plastic waste reclaimed from the ocean.

[...] The idea is to implement as much waste as possible when building the Luca concept car. Its chassis is to be made using a composite material with reclaimed polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sandwiched between outer layers of flax. The body will be formed using a new material being developed in collaboration with Israeli startup UBQ, which will combine its additive derived from household waste with recycled polypropylene (PP). There will also be recycled aluminum spaceframes front and rear.

Building cars from waste. Maybe hoarders are onto something.

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RandomFactor writes:

University of Michigan researchers have determined that the class of proteins known as Sestrins mimic the effects of exercise in mice and flies.

The findings could eventually help scientists combat muscle wasting due to aging and other causes.

Flies with increased levels of Sestrin showed increased endurance vs flies without it. Mice without the ability to produce Sestrin did not gain the improved aerobic capacity, respiration, and fat burning that those with it did when exercised.

For three weeks, researchers used a kind of treadmill to train Drosophila flies, which will instinctively attempt to climb up and out of a test tube.

when they overexpressed Sestrin in the muscles of normal flies, essentially maxing out their Sestrin levels, they found those flies had abilities above and beyond the trained flies, even without exercise. In fact, flies with overexpressed Sestrin didn't develop more endurance when exercised.

Additionally it was determined that

Sestrin can also help prevent atrophy in a muscle that's immobilized, such as the type that occurs when a limb is in a cast for a long period of time. "This independent study again highlights that Sestrin alone is sufficient to produce many benefits of physical movement and exercise," said [professor Jun Hee Lee.]

The first question that comes to mind for some may be whether Sestrin might one day come in a handy pill form. Unfortunately Sestrins are large molecules not well suited to supplements, however the team is "working to find small molecule modulators of Sestrin."

Journal Reference:
Myungjin Kim, Alyson Sujkowski, Sim Namkoong, Bondong Gu, Tyler Cobb, Boyoung Kim, Allison H. Kowalsky, Chun-Seok Cho, Ian Semple, Seung-Hyun Ro, Carol Davis, Susan V. Brooks, Michael Karin, Robert J. Wessells, Jun Hee Lee. Sestrins are evolutionarily conserved mediators of exercise benefits. Nature Communications, 2020; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-13442-5

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c0lo writes:

Guardian

A specially deployed team of remote air firefighters helped save the trees from the giant Gospers Mountain fire

Firefighters have saved the only known natural stand of Wollemi pines, so-called "dinosaur trees" that fossil records show existed up to 200m years ago, from the bushfires that have devastated New South Wales.

The state's environment minister, Matt Kean, said a specially deployed team of remote air firefighters helped save the critically endangered trees from the giant Gospers Mountain fire.

The pines are in an undisclosed sandstone grove in the Wollemi national park, in the Blue Mountains, about 200km north-west of Sydney. They were thought extinct until discovered 26 years ago.

Kean said with fewer than 200 of the trees left in the wild the government had to do everything it could to save them, describing it as "an unprecedented environmental protection mission".

He said the operation by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and NSW Rural Fire Service included air tankers dropping fire retardant and specialist firefighters being winched in by helicopter to set up an irrigation system in the gorge. As the fire approached, helicopters water bucketed the fire edge to reduce its impact on the groves of trees.

A scientific assessment found while some of the trees were charred the species would survive in the wild. Kean said the government would continue to keep the precise location of the trees secret to ensure their long-term protection.

Wikipedia

In both botanical and popular literature the tree has been almost universally referred to as the Wollemi pine, although it is not a true pine (genus Pinus) nor a member of the pine family (Pinaceae), but, rather, is related to Agathis and Araucaria in the family Araucariaceae. The oldest fossil of the Wollemi tree has been dated to 200 million years ago.

A brief blog entry with some photos on how the trees look in wilderness.

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