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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for guy_:

We found out who makes Walmart's new Gateway laptops, and it's bad news:

Back in 2007, Taiwan-based PC manufacturer Acer bought the once-iconic Gateway brand in order to stick a thumb in the eye of rival OEM Lenovo and increase its US market presence. In the 13 years since, the Gateway brand has languished largely unused, while Acer built up its own name in the United States directly. The cow is officially back now, though, with a new line of mostly budget, Walmart-exclusive Gateway laptops.

[...] In June of this year, we reviewed and absolutely despised a $140 EVOO laptop—a device powered by an AMD A4-9120e CPU, just like the cheapest model of Gateway laptop in the table above. The new GWTN116-1BL has twice the RAM and storage compared to the effectively uncooled, drastically underclocked, and absolutely bletcherous EVOO EV-C-116-5—but when we went sleuthing, we discovered shipping records indicating that it, too, is an EVOO system.

More accurately, EVOO imports devices made by Shenzhen Bmorn Technology, a Chinese national brand. We found US Customs records of EVOO importing from Bmorn, with devices under both the Gateway brand and EVOO's own inside the same shipment.

An Acer representative confirmed later that, although Acer does own the Gateway brand, it is not directly involved in the production or manufacture of these devices.

[...] We've heard people say decent things about EVOO's higher-end laptops, so it's possible that some of these will turn out to be a good deal. We intend to test and review at least one of them here soon—but in the meantime, we'd advise some caution with the new "Gateway" brand.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

High-tech UK-US ship launched on 400th Mayflower anniversary:

With a splash of Plymouth gin, the U.S. ambassador to Britain officially launched a ship named Mayflower on Wednesday, 400 years to the day after a wooden vessel with that name sailed from an English port and changed the history of two continents.

Unlike the merchant ship that carried a group of European Puritan settlers to a new life across the Atlantic Ocean in 1620, the Mayflower christened by U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson has no crew or passengers. It will cross the sea powered by sun and wind, and steered by artificial intelligence.

Johnson said the high-tech ship, developed jointly by U.K.-based marine research organization ProMare and U.S. tech giant IBM, showed that "the pioneering spirit of the Mayflower really lives on" in the trans-Atlantic partnership.

[...] The Mayflower Autonomous Ship — its creators decided against a snappier name — is intended to be the first in a new generation of crewless high-tech vessels that can explore parts of oceans too difficult or dangerous for people to reach.

[...] The 50-foot (15-meter) trimaran will undertake six months of sea trials and short trips before setting out on its trans-Atlantic trip to measure ocean health: assessing the impact of climate change, measuring micro-plastic pollution and studying populations of whales and dolphins.

Along the way, its AI captain will have to make complex decisions in response to wind, waves, vessels and unknown surprises.

"We're quietly confident we're going to make it," Stanford-Clark said. "Ultimately, the sea will decide."

Related:
Groundbreaking Mayflower Autonomous Ship revealed to the world
Mayflower Autonomous Ship Launches
An unmanned voyage in the wake of the Mayflower

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

Google Drive outages reported across the US:

Google Drive appeared to experience a widespread service disruption on Tuesday, with people reporting outages and other issues across the US. The issue has now been resolved, but not before people took to social media to vent frustration about  Google Drive going down amid remote work and learning.

[...] People began reporting trouble with Google Drive around 6:45 a.m. PT, according to outage monitoring site DownDetector. While some said they were getting error messages, others reported that Google Drive wasn't loading at all. Those affected also took to Twitter to vent frustration over the outage, with some noting that it was disrupting virtual learning. Many people are relying on Google Drive and other services to help with remote work and schooling amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Any Soylentils impacted by this outage and if so, how long did it last for you? Do you use Google Docs at your place of employment or at school?

Additional coverage at BleepingComputer and Post Register.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for carny:

Solar cycle 25 is here. NASA, NOAA scientists explain what that means:

Solar Cycle 25 has begun. During a media event on Tuesday, experts from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) discussed their analysis and predictions about the new solar cycle – and how the coming upswing in space weather will impact our lives and technology on Earth, as well as astronauts in space.

The Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, an international group of experts co-sponsored by NASA and NOAA, announced that solar minimum occurred in December 2019, marking the start of a new solar cycle. Because our Sun is so variable, it can take months after the fact to declare this event. Scientists use sunspots to track solar cycle progress; the dark blotches on the Sun are associated with solar activity, often as the origins for giant explosions – such as solar flares or coronal mass ejections – which can spew light, energy, and solar material into space.

"As we emerge from solar minimum and approach Cycle 25's maximum, it is important to remember solar activity never stops; it changes form as the pendulum swings," said Lika Guhathakurta, solar scientist at the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

NASA and NOAA, along with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other federal agencies and departments, work together on the National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan to enhance space weather preparedness and protect the nation from space weather hazards. NOAA provides space weather predictions and satellites to monitor space weather in real time; NASA is the nation's research arm, helping improve our understanding of near-Earth space, and ultimately, forecasting models.

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

https://www.slashfilm.com/don-bluth-studios-trying-to-revive-hand-drawn-animation/

"Don Bluth made waves in the 1980s and 1990s as an animation alternative to what was being made by Walt Disney Animation Studios. With titles like The Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time, An American Tail, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Rock-a-Doodle, and Anastasia, Don Bluth Productions carved out a nice niche for themselves during the Disney renaissance. Now he's going to try again by ushering in a renaissance of their own with the recently founded Don Bluth Studios, which will be focusing on bringing hand drawn animation back in a big way.

Cartoon Brew called our attention to the creation of a new Facebook page for Don Bluth Studios, which says:

Don Bluth is teaming up with Lavalle Lee from TraditionalAnimation.com to create brand new content from the newly formed Don Bluth Studios, LLC. This new company is going to be establishing NEW characters, NEW ideas and NEW cartoons. These fully animated ideas will be pitched to television networks and online streaming services. We believe the public is craving another renaissance of hand drawn animation. Our goal is to make that dream become a reality. Our company will be VERY transparent, showcasing and updating the public with concept art, pencil tests, model sheets, animatics, and much much more. We are excited to show everyone what we have been working on. Please join us in our new adventure!

As of now, there aren't any feature length animated projects that have been revealed, but as the page indicates, they have various pitches and ideas that they're working on. In the meantime, recently named vice president Lavalle Lee has been working on a project to whet the appetite of Don Bluth fans.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:

Snowden criticises Amazon for hiring former NSA boss:

A former National Security Agency (NSA) chief who was in the post when the Edward Snowden scandal broke has joined Amazon's board as a director. Gen Keith Alexander, whose appointment was made public on Wednesday, became known to the public after Mr Snowden blew the whistle on the agency's mass surveillance programs. A spokesman for Privacy International told the BBC the move was "worrying". The BBC has asked Amazon for comment.

Hours after Gen Alexander's appointment was made public Mr Snowden took to Twitter to voice his concern.

"It turns out 'Hey Alexa' is short for 'Hey Keith Alexander,'" he tweeted.

"Yes, the Keith Alexander personally responsible for the unlawful mass surveillance programs that caused a global scandal," he added.

Last week, a US federal court ruled that the NSA's phone record surveillance, uncovered by Mr Snowden in 2013, was illegal.

Gen Alexander suggested at the time that reporters should not have been allowed to report on the documents that were leaked by Mr Snowden.

"I think it's wrong that that newspaper reporters have all these documents, the 50,000-whatever they have and are selling them and giving them out as if these - you know it just doesn't make sense," he told the Verge in 2013.

"We ought to come up with a way of stopping it," he added.

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upstart writes in with an IRC submission for RandomFactor:

NASA mulls possible mission to Venus after recent discovery of possible life:

NASA is considering approving by next April up to two planetary science missions from four proposals under review, including one to Venus that scientists involved in the project said could help determine whether or not that planet harbors life.

An international research team on Monday described evidence of potential microbes residing in the harshly acidic Venusian clouds: traces of phosphine, a gas that on Earth is produced by bacteria inhabiting oxygen-free environments. It provided strong potential evidence of life beyond Earth.

The U.S. space agency in February shortlisted four proposed missions that are now being reviewed by a NASA panel, two of which would involve robotic probes to Venus. One of those, called DAVINCI+, would send a probe into the Venusian atmosphere.

[...] The search for life elsewhere in the solar system has until now not focused on Venus. In fact, NASA in July launched a next-generation rover to look for traces of potential past life on Mars.

Previously:
Life on Venus? Unexplained Discovery in the Clouds Has Scientists Buzzing
Venus May Have Dozens of Active Volcanoes
NASA Thinks It's Time to Return to Neptune with its Trident Mission
NASA Wants to Send a Probe to Venus That Can Last 60 Days
New Theory Proposes Large Ocean Killed Venus
NASA Concept for a Crewed Airship Mission in Venus's Upper Atmosphere
The Case for Microbial Life in the Atmosphere of Venus

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An Anonymous Coward writes:

A funny, well written, story both written by, and about an Australian teenager seeing what information he could find out about someone from a picture of a boarding pass that was shared online. He ends up finding a former PM of Australia's passport number, phone number, and other information. The post details his technique to discover the information, and his efforts to do the right thing while not getting into trouble for being a haxor. And, also send a warning to folks to treat boarding passes and luggage tags as if they contain sensitive personal information, since, at least indirectly, they may.

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Phoenix666 writes:

How a giant short-faced bear reached the California Channel Islands:

[...] a team of researchers from the University of Oklahoma, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the University of Oregon and others report the first occurrence of the extinct giant short-faced bear, Arctodus simus, from the California Channel Islands. This fearsome beast—weighing by some estimates 2,000 lbs. - once roamed diverse environments from Alaska to Mexico, but has never been found in such an isolated island context. While this is not the first strange mammal to be found on the California Channel Islands, which was once home to a pygmy mammoth and a giant mouse, it is the first case of a potentially native megafaunal carnivore, which would challenge previous models of colonization and evolution of the islands's biodiversity.

[...] The research team suggests that the most likely mode of transport was by wing. Chemical analyses known as stable isotopes indicate that this bear was feeding opportunistically on marine mammal carcasses, perhaps putting it at the right time and right place for its own carcass to eventually be scavenged by a bird, such as a California Condor or bald eagle.

It seems the bone likely hitched a ride from the mainland from a scavenging condor or eagle.

Journal Reference:
Alexis M. Mychajliw, Torben C. Rick, Nihan D. Dagtas, et al. Biogeographic problem-solving reveals the Late Pleistocene translocation of a short-faced bear to the California Channel Islands [open], Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71572-z)

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Phoenix666 writes:

BBC:

Some of China's biggest technology firms are expanding operations in Singapore as tensions rise between Washington and Beijing.

Tencent and Alibaba are increasing their presence in the city state while TikTok owner ByteDance is reported to be investing billions of dollars.

Considered neutral territory, Singapore has good ties to both the US and China.

Relations between Washington and Beijing are growing increasingly hostile, particularly over technology.

Tencent announced this week it was "expanding its business presence in Singapore to support our growing business in South East Asia and beyond".

Good news for technology workers in Singapore.

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Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org:

New research from Chalmers, together with ETH Zürich, Switzerland, suggests a promising way to detect elusive dark matter particles through previously unexplored atomic responses occurring in the detector material.

The new calculations enable theorists to make detailed predictions about the nature and strength of interactions between dark matter and electrons, which were not previously possible.

[...] So far, these mysterious particles have escaped detection. According to the Chalmers researchers, a possible explanation could be that dark matter particles are lighter than protons, and thereby do not cause the nuclei to recoil—imagine a ping pong ball colliding into a bowling ball. A promising way to overcome this problem could therefore be to shift focus from nuclei to electrons, which are much lighter.

In their recent paper, the researchers describe how dark matter particles can interact with the electrons in atoms. They suggest that the rate at which dark matter can kick electrons out of atoms depends on four independent atomic responses—three of which were previously unidentified. They have calculated the ways that electrons in argon and xenon atoms, used in today's largest detectors, should respond to dark matter.

Will the new approach find dark matter at last?

Journal Reference:
Riccardo Catena, Timon Emken, Nicola A. Spaldin, et al. Atomic responses to general dark matter-electron interactions [open], Physical Review Research (DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.033195)

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Phoenix666 writes:

Injectable hydrogel could someday lead to more effective vaccines:

Vaccines have curtailed the spread of several infectious diseases, such as smallpox, polio and measles. However, vaccines against some diseases, including HIV-1, influenza and malaria, don't work very well, and one reason could be the timing of antigen and adjuvant presentation to the immune system. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science developed an injectable hydrogel that allows sustained release of vaccine components, increasing the potency, quality and duration of immune responses in mice.

To confer resistance to infectious diseases, vaccines display parts of a pathogen—known as antigens—to cells of the immune system, which develop antibodies against these molecules. If a vaccinated person later becomes infected with the same pathogen, their immune system can quickly deploy antibodies to destroy the invader. Vaccines usually contain an additional component, called an adjuvant, that helps stimulate the immune system. In natural infections, the body is typically exposed to antigens for 2-3 weeks, compared with only 1-2 days for vaccines. Eric Appel and colleagues wondered whether they could develop an injectable hydrogel that would slowly release vaccine components over a longer period of time, more similar to what the body is used to, which might boost the immune response.

A bubble of hydrogel under the skin would dissolve and release its vaccine over time.

Journal Reference:
Gillie A. Roth, Emily C. Gale, Marcela Alcántara-Hernández, et al. Injectable Hydrogels for Sustained Codelivery of Subunit Vaccines Enhance Humoral Immunity [open], ACS Central Science (DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.0c00732)

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Phoenix666 writes:

Al Jazeera:

A team of paleontologists has discovered what they believe is the world's oldest animal sperm, frozen inside a tiny crustacean in a blob of tree resin in Myanmar 100 million years ago.

The oldest known examples of fossilised animal sperm were previously a mere 17 million years old, according to the team of experts led by Wang He of the Chinese Academy of Science in Nanjing.

The sperm were found inside an ostracod, a kind of crustacean that has existed for 500 million years and can be found in many oceans today, researchers said in a paper published on Wednesday in the prestigious Royal Society's Proceedings journal.

The specimen was found inside the body of a fertilized female.

Journal Reference:
He Wang, Renate Matzke-Karasz, David J. Horne, et al. Exceptional preservation of reproductive organs and giant sperm in Cretaceous ostracods, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1661)

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takyon writes:

Jensen Huang Says Nvidia-Branded ARM CPUs Are a Possibility

According to comments from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a conference call yesterday, we could see Nvidia-branded CPUs in the future, setting the stage for a new level of competition with Intel and AMD.

[...] However, during yesterday's briefing, Timothy Prickett Morgan from TheNextPlatform asked Jensen Huang, "Will you actually take an implementation of something like Neoverse first and make an Nvidia-branded CPU to drive it into the data center? Will you actually make the reference chip for those who just want it and actually help them run it?"

"Well, the first of all you've made an amazing observation, which is all three options are possible," Huang responded, "[...] So now with our backing and Arm's serious backing, the world can stand on that foundation and realize that they can build server CPUs. Now, some people would like to license the cores and build a CPU themselves. Some people may decide to license the cores and ask us to build those CPUs or modify ours."

"It is not possible for one company to build every single version of them," Huang continued, "but we will have the entire network of partners around Arm that can take the architectures we come up with and depending on what's best for them, whether licensing the core, having a semi-custom chip made, or having a chip that we made, any of those any of those options are available. Any of those options are available, we're open for business and we would like the ecosystem to be as rich as possible, with as many options as possible."

takyon, aristarchus and an anonymous submitter write in with the latest in the TikTok saga:

TikTok will spin off into a separate company, partly owned by Oracle

Oracle plans take an ownership stake in a newly formed TikTok corporation as part of the recently announced deal, the Financial Times reports. The new arrangement will not cleave off TikTok regionally, but it will create a separate corporate entity for the app, in which Oracle will take a minority stake. Oracle will also ensure that data from American users is stored and processed in the United States, per the recommendations of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).

TikTok was already headquartered in California, with nominal independence from ByteDance's China operation. The main change made by the deal is Oracle's minority stake in the company, the size of which is still unclear. But while Oracle's stake makes TikTok a more legally distinct corporation, it's still likely that the resulting company will rely on algorithms and applications developed and deployed from China.

TikTok has committed to increasing hiring within the US, and in an interview with CNBC, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin described the deal as part of a broader effort to establish TikTok as a "US-headquartered company."

TikTok Could Be Spun Off Rather Than Sold to Oracle

The Financial Times reports that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said ByteDance is committing to "create TikTok Global as a U.S.-headquartered company," with other outlets saying the deal could be approved as soon as this evening.

See also:
TikTok taps Oracle as US partner
TikTok users rejoice over Oracle deal, but saga with Trump isn't over
Oracle's TikTok non-acquisition seeks Treasury, White House approval
'It's done' — Cramer says Trump administration will approve Oracle-TikTok deal Tuesday
TikTok rejects Microsoft bid at eleventh hour

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