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martyb writes:

YouTube turns 15 today. Watch the first video it posted:

The clip is just 18 seconds long, but 15 years ago, it kicked off an online video revolution. Thursday marks the 15th anniversary of the first-ever YouTube video, which shows company co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of an elephant enclosure at the San Diego Zoo.

[Video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw]

[...] "All right, so here we are in front of the, uh, elephants, and the cool thing about these guys is that, is that they have really, really, really long, um, trunks," Karim says. "And that's, that's cool. And that's pretty much all there is to say."

[...] Karim founded YouTube along with Steven Chen and Chad Hurley, all of whom were former PayPal employees. He's said in the past that part of the inspiration for the site came when he missed Janet Jackson's famous wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Super Bowl[*], and couldn't find online video of the goof. Just one year after the 2005 zoo video was made, Karim and his fellow YouTube co-founders sold the platform to Google for $1.65 billion.

Obligatory link to YouTube video of the 2004 Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AnonymousCoward:

People Are Making Bots to Snatch Whole Foods Delivery Order Time Slots:

Social distancing and stay-home orders have led to booming demand for grocery delivery services. In some big cities, people report not being able to find an open delivery time slot for days or weeks at a time. And now Motherboard has found a series of bots that automatically give some people an upper hand when limited delivery time slots are available on Amazon Fresh or Wholefoods.

A slew of developers have made bots and other tools that, in some cases, automatically hunt for a free delivery slot, grab it, and then complete the user's food order, making sure they have a much better chance of buying food before other people snatch up the slot. While some of the developers told Motherboard they designed their bots to help those in need, such as senior citizens who may need to stay inside as exposure to the coronavirus could be more serious for them, others are dealing with the ethical issue of releasing a tool that can clearly be abused, by allowing those who can figure out how to use a technical tool to buy food while others go without.

[...] Data scientist Pooja Ahuja publicly released her own bot a few weeks ago, which checks for a free delivery slot on Wholefoods or Amazon Fresh. Her tool goes a step further though, and can also checkout automatically.

"You just have to run the bot once, and as soon as there is a delivery slot available, it secures it for you, and completes the entire process through checkout," Ahuja told Motherboard in an email.

[...] "Yes, it's an unfair advantage over others who aren't tech-savvy but may still need to purchase items urgently."

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AnonymousCoward:

An SSD can resurrect your old Sega Saturn and Dreamcast consoles:

Classic disc-based consoles are getting long in the tooth. As their optical drives burn out, they're rendered unplayable, which is a shame -- these systems were the peak of gaming in the eyes of many. Hardcore gamers who miss titles like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Power Stone may want to perform life-saving surgery on their Sega Saturn or Dreamcast consoles this summer, as a new solution will be able to replace dead disc drives, with no soldering skills needed. The Terraonion MODE -- Multi-Optical Disc Emulator -- simply drops into your console of choice, reads ROMs from a storage medium, and passes the data onto the console for processing. The dream of the '90s is alive.

[...] Some may wonder what the big deal is. Most of these games can be played on an emulator. But emulators simply don't have that magic that original hardware does. Is that worth the nearly $200 price of something like the MODE? For a lot of hardcore gamers -- especially those who are privy to the Saturn and Dreamcast's vast Japanese libraries -- the answer could be yes. It may be time to dust off some old consoles and relive one of gaming's greatest eras.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AnonymousCoward:

We may have seen two asteroids annihilate each other in another solar system:

We've not actually "seen" the vast majority of exoplanets we've found orbiting distant stars. Instead, their existence has been inferred based on changes in the light of the stars that they orbit. That makes the 20 or so we have imaged directly exceptional. Direct imaging typically requires a very large planet, which means this sample isn't entirely representative, but these planets do provide a unique opportunity for us to observe how bodies interact with each other and their environments in exosolar systems.

But, if two researchers at the University of Arizona are right, we can scratch one of these examples off the list. They say that the supposed planet has vanished in more recent images, which indicates it was never actually there in the first place. Instead, they argue that we've been observing the debris of a smash-up between two very large asteroids.

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martyb writes:

"Good Code Documents Itself" and Other Hilarious Jokes You Shouldn't Tell Yourself:

I didn't notice this story when it appeared on Hackaday just over a year ago. I'm well aware this has all the hallmarks of devolving into an emacs vs vi battle. Yet, the story does raise some interesting points about the different kinds of comments. That some comments are worse than useless and others can have great value. Without further ado, here's the introduction:

Code documentation — is there anything more exciting than spending your time writing extensive comments? If I had to guess, your answer is probably somewhere along the lines of "uhm, yes, everything is more exciting than that". Plus, requesting to document your code is almost like an insult to your well thought out design, this beautiful creation you implemented so carefully that it just has to be obvious what is happening. Writing about it is just redundant, the code is all you need.

As a result, no matter if it's some open source side project or professional software development, code documentation usually comes in two flavors: absent and useless. The dislike for documenting ones code seems universal among programmers of any field or language, no matter where in the world they are. And it's understandable, after all, you're in it for the coding, implementing all the fun stuff. If you wanted to tell stories, you would have chosen a different path in life.

This reluctance has even formed whole new paradigms and philosophies claiming how comments are actually harmful, and anyone trying to weasel their way out of it can now happily rehash all those claims. But, to exaggerate a bit, we're essentially villainizing information this way. While it is true that comments can be counterproductive, it's more the fundamental attitude towards them that causes the harm here.

In the end, code documentation is a lot like error handling, we are told early on how it's important and necessary, but we fail to understand why and instead grow to resent doing it again for that same old teacher, supervisor, or annoying teammate. But just like error handling, we are the ones who can actually benefit the most from it — if done right. But in order to do it right, we need to face some harsh truths and start admitting that there is no such thing as self-documenting code, and maybe we simply don't understand what we're actually doing if we can't manage to write a few words about it.

So let's burst some bubbles!

I found the rest of the story well worth the read. Highly recommended! I'll be the first to admit that the coding example has shortcomings. But it did serve as a concrete basis on which to launch the discussion.

AnonTechie writes:

Worst CPUs:

Today, we've decided to revisit some of the worst CPUs ever built. To make it on to this list, a CPU needed to be fundamentally broken, as opposed to simply being poorly positioned or slower than expected. The annals of history are already stuffed with mediocre products that didn't quite meet expectations but weren't truly bad.

Note: Plenty of people will bring up the Pentium FDIV bug here, but the reason we didn't include it is simple: Despite being an enormous marketing failure for Intel and a huge expense, the actual bug was tiny. It impacted no one who wasn't already doing scientific computing and the scale and scope of the problem in technical terms was never estimated to be much of anything. The incident is recalled today more for the disastrous way Intel handled it than for any overarching problem in the Pentium micro-architecture.

We also include a few dishonourable mentions. These chips may not be the worst of the worst, but they ran into serious problems or failed to address key market segments. With that, here's our list of the worst CPUs ever made.

1. Intel Itanium
2. Intel Pentium 4 (Prescott)
3. AMD Bulldozer
4. Cyrix 6×86
5. Cyrix MediaGX
6. Texas Instruments TMS9900

Which CPUs make up your list of Worst CPUs Ever Made?

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AnonymousCoward:

[Editor's Note: Some links require a log in to a Chinese site www.weibo.com]

Huawei caught passing off DSLR photos as being taken with smartphones:

Huawei recently launched a photography contest to promote its new flagship P40 Pro, but now it's catching flak for trying to pass off photos taken with a DSLR as ones shot with one of its phones.

Earlier this month, Huawei kicked off a contest for its Next Image community, and a video on Weibo included several high-quality photos and at the end said they were "taken with Huawei smartphones." As South China Morning Post notes, though, Weibo user Jamie-hua found that some of those photos were actually taken with a $3,500 Nikon D850 DSLR camera.

[...] Huawei has since apologized and said that the photos were incorrectly marked due to "an oversight by the editor". The company has also updated its original promo video for the contest to remove the claim that the images were taken with Huawei phones.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Soybull:

Toxin-producing bacteria can make this newt deadly:

Some newts living in the western United States are poisonous, perhaps thanks to bacteria living on their skin.

Rough-skinned newts use tetrodotoxin — a paralytic neurotoxin also found in pufferfish and the blue-ringed octopus — as a defense against predators. But rather than making the toxin on their own, the amphibians (Taricha granulosa) may rely on microbes to produce it for them, researchers report April 7 in eLife. It is the first time that researchers have found tetrodotoxin-producing bacteria on a land animal.

Tetrodotoxin, or TTX, prevents nerve cells from sending signals that tell muscles to move (SN: 6/26/14). When ingested in low doses, the toxin can cause tingling or numbness. High amounts can trigger paralysis and death. Some newts harbor enough TTX to kill several people.

Marine animals including pufferfish get TTX from bacteria living in their tissues or by eating toxic prey. It was unclear how rough-skinned newts acquire the lethal chemical. Previous work in 2004 had hinted that the newts didn't have the toxin-producing bacteria on their skin. Newts also didn't appear to get TTX through their diet, which led scientists to think that the animals might make the toxin themselves.

But TTX is a complicated molecule to make, says Patric Vaelli, a molecular biologist at Harvard University. It seemed unlikely that newts would be able to do it when no other known animal can.

[...] But the finding adds a microbial player to an evolutionary arms race that pits newts against garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis). Some snakes living in the same regions as toxic newts have developed resistance, allowing the predators to feast on TTX-laden prey. It's possible that in response, Pseudomonas bacteria become more abundant on newts over time to make the animals more toxic, and put evolutionary pressure back on snakes to evolve higher levels of resistance, Vaelli says.

Citations:

P. Vaelli et al. The skin microbiome facilitates adaptive tetrodotoxin production in poisonous newts. eLife. Published online April 7, 2020. doi: 10.7554/eLife.53898.

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"Anonymous Cowherd" writes:

https://www.siasat.com/irans-guard-says-it-launched-satellite-amid-us-tensions-1877783/:

Tehran: Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Wednesday said it launched a military satellite into orbit amid wider tensions with the US, a successful launch after months of failures.

There was no immediate independent confirmation of the launch of the satellite, which the Guard called "Noor", or light.

The Guard on its official [site] said the satellite successfully reached an orbit of 425 kilometers (264 miles) above the Earth's surface.

The two-stage satellite launch took off from Iran's Central Desert, the Guard said, without elaborating.

Can anyone confirm this? Has a new orbital element manifested in the heavens?

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Soybull:

Dancing peacock spiders turned an arachnophobe into an arachnologist:

Joseph Schubert spends hours at a time lying in the dirt of the Australian outback watching for tiny flickers in the sparse, ground-hugging foliage. The 22-year-old arachnologist is searching for flea-sized peacock spiders, and he admits, he's a little obsessed.

But it wasn't always so. Schubert grew up fearing spiders, with parents who were "absolutely terrified" of the eight-legged crawlers. "I was taught that every single spider in the house was going to kill me, and we should squish it and get rid of it," he says.

Then Schubert stumbled across some photographs of Australia's endemic peacock spiders, a group named for the adult males' vivid coloring and flamboyant dance moves aimed at wooing a mate (SN: 9/9/16; SN: 12/8/15). And he was hooked.

"They raise their third pair of legs and dance around and show off like they are the most amazing animals on the planet, which in my eyes they are." He decided to pursue a career in arachnology. And despite not quite having completed his undergraduate degree in biology, he's begun working part time at Museums Victoria in Melbourne, and has already made a mark.

[...] He still hasn't entirely gotten over his arachnophobia, though he's grateful that peacock spiders, while venomous to their tiny insect prey, are harmless to humans. He's handled hundreds of the spiders and suspects their mouthparts are too small to puncture human skin, even if they wanted to take a bite.

Less charismatic spiders are sometimes still a challenge for Schubert's nerves, though. In the Little Desert last year, while putting a 5-centimeter-long wolf spider into a container, the spider pushed the lid aside and crawled up Schubert's arm. "I screamed," he says, laughing. "But if I can prepare and mentally tell myself that a spider is not looking to hurt me, and even if it does bite me, it's not going to do anything, then I can put myself in the mental position to handle it."

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AnonymousCoward:

US govt: Hacker used stolen AD credentials to ransom hospitals:

Hackers have deployed ransomware on the systems of U.S. hospitals and government entities using stolen Active Directory credentials months after exploiting a known remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in their Pulse Secure VPN servers.

[...] "CISA observed—once credentials were compromised—cyber threat actors accessing victim network environments via the Pulse Secure VPN appliances," the alert explains.

"Cyber threat actors used Connection Proxies —such as Tor infrastructure and virtual private servers (VPSs)—to minimize the chance of detection when they connected to victim VPN appliances."

One of the threat actors CISA observed using stolen credentials after exploiting Pulse Secure VPN appliances was able to infect and encrypt the systems of several hospitals and U.S. government entities using ransomware payloads.

The same actor was also spotted by the cybersecurity agency while "attempting to sell the stolen credentials after 30 unsuccessful attempts to connect to the customer environment to escalate privileges and drop ransomware. "

Threat actors were also observed while using remote administration tools like TeamViewer and LogMeIn as improvised backdoors designed to help gain persistence on their victims' networks even after they got kicked out.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AnonymousCoward:

The New Yorker adds co-op to its online crossword puzzles:

I never knew I wanted online co-op in a crossword app, but The New Yorker has added the feature to its online puzzles. Turns out, it's a really great way to solve a puzzle with a partner.

As each of you fills in answers, those will show up on the other person's screen almost immediately

From there, you'll each be able to click or tap around to solve the puzzle. The row or column that matches the clue you're looking at will be highlighted in blue, while the row or column your friend is looking at will be highlighted in green. As each of you fills in answers, those will show up on the other person's screen almost immediately.

I had a lot of fun working on today's puzzle on my computer with my wife, who was on her phone. The co-solving allowed us to each focus on different clues, and there were a few times where one of us would fill in a clue and the other would jump in to fill out another one because we saw something we had missed before.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Soybull:

FCC blasted for "shameful" ruling against cities and fire department:

The Federal Communications Commission is in another dispute with the fire department that fought for net neutrality rules after being throttled by Verizon during a wildfire response.

The Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District, along with the cities of Los Angeles and New York, last week asked the FCC to extend a deadline for filing comments on the last remaining piece of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's net neutrality repeal. Pai had to seek another round of public comments on the net neutrality repeal and related deregulation of the broadband industry because federal judges who upheld the overall repeal ruled that Pai "failed to examine the implications of its decisions for public safety."

The fire department and cities said they couldn't meet the FCC's comments deadline because of the coronavirus pandemic. But the FCC refused to grant more time for filing comments in an order issued yesterday, resulting in condemnation from the Santa Clara County Fire Department, Democrats, and consumer advocates.

"When the Trump FCC repealed net neutrality two years ago, it completely ignored public safety," US Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) said. "Santa Clara County firefighters paid a steep price when Verizon throttled their data speeds as they fought the worst fire in California's history, and the County was helpless to resolve the issue... Now, when these same first responders of the Santa Clara County Fire Department are requesting a very reasonable extension to file their comments in the FCC's order because they are on the front lines in responding to the worst pandemic of our lifetimes, Chairman Pai has ignored their pleas. The FCC's decision is shameful, offensive, and dangerous. The FCC must rethink this decision immediately."

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for AnonymousCoward:

Fandango is buying Vudu's video service from Walmart:

Fandango has agreed to buy Vudu from Walmart for an undisclosed sum. Although Fandango has its own streaming platform, FandangoNow, it's not planning to shut down Vudu and roll it into that service. The Vudu app will remain available, and you'll still have access to the movies and TV shows you own there. You can still use your Walmart credentials to login and make purchases on Vudu with your Walmart wallet.

[...] Fandango isn't exactly selling many movie tickets right now, as almost all theaters (save for some drive-ins) are closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Streaming, on the other hand, is booming, so adding Vudu to the portfolio might help Fandango's bottom line in the long run. Comcast, which is the majority owner of Fandango, is in the midst of launching another streaming service: NBCUniversal's Peacock.

Original Submission

[20200422_200816 UTC: Update: Launch was successful. The first-stage booster functioned nominally and successfully landed on a drone ship. The second stage successfully deployed the satellites at an altitude of approximately 250 km. The satellites will use on-board ion thrusters to raise their orbits up to a planned 550 km altitude. No word on this flight's fairing recovery attempt.--martyb]

martyb writes:

SpaceX returns to the launch pad, and there are a few things to watch for:

SpaceX has targeted Wednesday afternoon for the next launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from a pad at Kennedy Space Center. This mission will launch the sixth batch of operational Starlink satellites, bringing the company closer to offering initial broadband Internet access to North America.

However, the Starlink-6 launch—set for 3:37pm ET (19:37 UTC)[*]—is notable for reasons beyond the simple extension of the company's Starlink network.

[...] SpaceX has gotten pretty darn good at landing first stages back on Earth, as they have now done it 50 times. However, the company failed to successfully land the first stage on an autonomous drone ship the last two times it attempted to do so.

On February 17, after the Starlink-4 launch, the first stage received incorrect data about wind conditions near the landing location and missed the drone ship. Then, on March 18, one of the rocket's nine Merlin 1D engines failed during launch, and although the Starlink-5 satellites made orbit, this precluded a fully controlled return of the first stage.

[...] It is notable that SpaceX pushed up this week's launch from Thursday to Wednesday, citing a "more favorable weather forecast for launch and landing." Launch conditions on Wednesday are more favorable (90-percent chance of "go" weather) than Thursday, but seas, too, should be considerably less choppy in the landing zone offshore. This increases the chance of success.

[*] Rescheduled: As of 09:56 this Wednesday morning, this tweet states: "New T-0 of 3:30 p.m. EDT, 19:30 UTC, for today's launch of Starlink". For further updates, keep an eye on SpaceX's twitter fed.

Live stream on YouTube to start 10 minutes before liftoff.

I remember SpaceX's first successful landing and how amazing it was. Now they have succeeded 50(!) times and it has become so 'commonplace' we are surprised when they do not succeed in landing a booster!

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