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What was highest label on your first car speedometer?

  • 80 mph
  • 88 mph
  • 100 mph
  • 120 mph
  • 150 mph
  • it was in kph like civilized countries use you insensitive clod
  • Other (please specify in comments)

[ Results | Polls ]
Comments:48 | Votes:106

posted by martyb on Saturday January 09 2021, @10:35PM   Printer-friendly

Phytium presents D2000 ARM-based octa-core desktop CPU for the Chinese market

The new Phytium D2000 processors use the same custom 64-bit ARMv8-compatible FTC663 cores integrated in last year's FeiTeng-2000/4 model, except now there are 4x 2-core clusters instead of 2. Each of these clusters shares a unified 2 MB L2 cache and 1 MB L3 cache (8 MB of L2 cache and 4 MB L3 cache in total). This architecture features a four-issue out-of-order pipeline combined with Phytium's latest dynamic branch predictor and INT / FP units supporting ARM's ASIMD instructions. There is also support for SM2 / SM3 / SM4 / SM9 cryptography algorithms and the proprietary PSPA 1.0 security platform.

As far as hardware specs go, the D2000 is not really a match for the latest Intel and AMD chips, as it is built on China's own 14 nm nodes. Still, it features all the standard features you would expect from an entry-level CPU, including 128-bit DDR4-3200 / LPDDR4 RAM support, 34 PCIe 3.0 lanes that can be split into four PCIe 3.0 x8 slots and two PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, plus 2x GbE NiCs, 32 GPIO lanes, and an integrated audio codec. There is no iGPU, however. Core clock speeds will be set between 2.3 - 2.6 GHz, with a 25 W TDP, and the processor scores 97.45 points in the SPECint test.

Phytium is currently rolling out the D2000 chips to Chinese PC OEMs, and the first systems featuring the new processors are expected to hit the market in late Q1 2021.

Many more details at Tom's Hardware.


Original Submission

posted by requerdanos on Saturday January 09 2021, @05:50PM   Printer-friendly

WhatsApp: Let us share your data with Facebook or else:

In a surprise move, WhatsApp recently gave many of its users a difficult choice: they could either accept a revised privacy policy that explicit[sic] allowed the service to share information with parent company Facebook by February 8th, or decline and risk not being able to use the service at all.

[...] Upon further inspection, the updated policy makes clear that data collected by WhatsApp — including user phone numbers, "transaction data, service-related information, information on how you interact with others (including businesses) when using our Services , mobile device information, your IP address" and more are subject to be shared with other properties owned and controlled by Facebook.

"As part of the Facebook Companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information (see here) with, the other Facebook Companies," the updated privacy policy reads. "We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings, including the Facebook Company Products."

[...] The shift appears to be a dramatic about-face for WhatsApp, a company that contends "respect for your privacy" is coded into its DNA and made end-to-end encryption standard across all chats as of 2016.

Additionally, Signal sees surge in new signups after boost from Elon Musk and WhatsApp controversy:

Encrypted messaging app Signal says it's seeing a swell of new users signing up for the platform, so much so that the company is seeing delays in phone number verifications of new accounts across multiple cell providers.

As for what or who is responsible for so many new users interested in trying the platform, which is operated by the nonprofit Signal Foundation, there are two likely culprits: Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Signal competitor WhatsApp.

[...] WhatsApp has outlined a new privacy policy going into effect next month that no longer includes language indicating it will allow users to opt out of data sharing with parent company Facebook. Instead, the new policy expressly outlines how WhatsApp will share data (stuff like your phone number, profile name, and address book info) with Facebook.

Two anonymous submitters also pointed us to this story.

Oculus to Begin Requiring Facebook Accounts to Use VR Headsets


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2Original Submission #3

posted by requerdanos on Saturday January 09 2021, @01:05PM   Printer-friendly
from the twitter-and-facebook-and-twitch-and-snapchat-and... dept.

Twitter permanently suspends Trump's account:

US President Donald Trump has been permanently suspended from Twitter "due to the risk of further incitement of violence", the company says.

Twitter said the decision was made "after close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them".

Mr Trump had earlier been locked out of his account for 12 hours.

Twitter then said that it would ban Mr Trump "permanently" if he breached the platform's rules again.

Reacting to the permanent ban, Trump 2020 campaign adviser Jason Miller tweeted: "Disgusting... if you don't think they're coming for you next, you're wrong."

It comes after Mr Trump tweeted several messages on Wednesday, calling the people who stormed the US Capitol "patriots".

Hundreds of his supporters entered the Capitol building as the US Congress attempted to certify Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election. The ensuing violence led to the deaths of four civilians and a police officer.

The siege took place just hours after Trump addressed supporters and told them: "We will never give up; we will never concede."

[...] On Thursday, Facebook said it had suspended Mr Trump "indefinitely". The popular gaming platform Twitch also placed an indefinite ban on the outgoing president's channel, which he has used for rally broadcasts. So has Snapchat.

Two online Trump memorabilia stores were closed this week by e-commerce company Shopify. On Friday, Reddit banned its "donaldtrump" forum for the president's supporters.

[...] The big question now is, can Trumpism survive without the backing of mainstream media? Or will it simply slip into the shadows of the internet?

(Emphasis retained from original.)

Also at Ars Technica, CNET

Full Twitter explanation at: blog.twitter.com


Original Submission

posted by Fnord666 on Saturday January 09 2021, @08:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the spoiling-their-game dept.

Google Chrome browser privacy plan investigated in UK:

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said Google's plan could have a "significant impact" on news websites and the digital advertising market.

It had already raised concerns that publishers' profits could sink if they were unable to run personalised ads.

But Google said digital advertising practices had to "evolve".

[...] But Google intends to go further by ending support for all cookies except first-party ones - those used by sites to track activity within their own pages.

It wants to replace them with new tools that give advertisers more limited, anonymised information such as how many users visited a promoted product's page after seeing a relevant ad - but not tie this information to individual users.

[...] "Google's Privacy Sandbox proposals will potentially have a very significant impact on publishers like newspapers, and the digital advertising market. But there are also privacy concerns to consider," said Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the CMA.

At that point it acknowledged that while there were benefits to consumers from the kinds of privacy measures Google was proposing, they might be outweighed by other concerns.

It added that "many news publishers" had expressed concern that their news sites would become "unsustainable".

[...] Last November, the government announced it would create a new Digital Markets Unit within the CMA.

The organisation subsequently detailed how it would to govern the behaviour of Google, Facebook and other tech platforms "that currently dominate" online markets, and give consumers "more control over how their data is used".


Original Submission

posted by Fnord666 on Saturday January 09 2021, @03:35AM   Printer-friendly

NVIDIA fixes high severity flaws affecting Windows, Linux devices:

NVIDIA has released security updates to address six security vulnerabilities found in Windows and Linux GPU display drivers, as well as ten additional flaws affecting the NVIDIA Virtual GPU (vGPU) management software.

The vulnerabilities expose Windows and Linux machines to attacks leading to denial of service, escalation of privileges, data tampering, or information disclosure.

All these security bugs require local user access, which means that potential attackers will first have to gain access to vulnerable devices using an additional attack vector.

[...] The full list of security flaws addressed by NVIDIA this month is available in the January 2021 Security Bulletin.


Original Submission

posted by Fnord666 on Friday January 08 2021, @10:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the watch-where-you're-going! dept.

Evidence mounts for effectiveness of rear autobrake:

Front automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems have greater potential to save lives, but rear AEB is saving drivers the hassle and expense of many a fender bender, an updated analysis from the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) shows.

Rear AEB was the standout feature in HLDI's annual compilation of its research on the impact of crash avoidance technologies.

The updated rear AEB analysis adds insurance data for model year 2015-18 Subaru vehicles with and without the feature to an earlier analysis of 2014-15 General Motors vehicles. The researchers found that vehicles equipped with rear AEB had 28 percent fewer property damage liability claims and 10 percent fewer collision claims across the two manufacturers.

Collision insurance covers damage to the insured driver's vehicle, while property damage liability insurance covers damage to the other vehicle involved in a crash when the insured driver is at fault.

"We haven't seen that kind of reduction in claims for vehicle and other property damage from any other advanced driver assistance system," says HLDI Senior Vice President Matt Moore.

The impact of rear AEB on injury crashes was relatively small, which makes sense based on the type of crashes the technology is designed to avoid.

"Backing crashes generally happen at lower speeds than front-to-rear crashes," Moore says. "That means they're less dangerous, but the costs from vehicle damage can add up."


Original Submission

posted by Fnord666 on Friday January 08 2021, @08:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the broadband-for-everyone dept.

SpaceX launches Turksat 5A communications satellite for Turkey, lands rocket:

SpaceX kicked off what is expected to be another launch-packed year by delivering a Turkish communications satellite to orbit tonight (Jan. 7).

A 230-ft-tall (70 m) Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Space Launch Complex 40 here at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9:15 p.m. EST (0215 GMT on Jan. 8), about 45 minutes into a planned four-hour window, carrying the Turksat 5A satellite into space. The brief delay was due to a downrange tracking issue, SpaceX said during its live launch broadcast.

[...] Today's flight was the fourth launch for this particular Falcon 9 first stage. The booster, designated B1060, previously lofted an upgraded GPS III satellite for the U.S. Space Force in June 2020, followed by launches of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites in September and October.

[...] the Falcon 9 deposited the 7,700-lb. (3,500 kilograms) Turksat 5A satellite into orbit about 33 minutes after liftoff. The spacecraft is designed to operate for approximately 15 years, providing broadband coverage to Turkey, the Middle East, Europe and portions of Africa.

SpaceX will also launch the spacecraft's counterpart, Turksat 5B, later this year.


Original Submission

posted by Fnord666 on Friday January 08 2021, @06:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the Cost-of-doing-business dept.

GPU, Motherboard Prices Will Jump Thanks to US-China Trade War - ExtremeTech:

Up until now, the United States' ongoing trade war with China hasn't made much of an impact on tech enthusiasts' wallets. That's going to change from this point forward until the US and China settle their disputes or GPUs are specifically granted an exemption from the increased tariffs. Neither of these seems to be particularly likely at the moment.

Up until now, graphics cards and a number of other products have been shielded from the impact of tariffs by US-granted exemptions that shielded them from the price increases. Those laws, however, expired on December 31, 2020. Now that we're into the new year, companies like Asus are notifying consumers they can expect some unwelcome changes. Juan Jose Guerrero III, Asus' Technical Marketing Manager, has released a statement on the company's MSRP pricing expectations for 2021. This applies to both GPUs and motherboards:

We have an announcement in regards to MSRP price changes that are effective in early 2021 for our award-winning series of graphic cards and motherboards. Our new MSRP reflects increases in cost for components. operating costs, and logistical activities plus a continuation of import tariffs. We worked closely with our supply and logistic partners to minimize price increases. ASUS greatly appreciates your continued business and support as we navigate through this time of unprecedented market change.

Asus also notes that more than just GPUs and motherboards may be affected. Price increases are going to vary by GPU value, but the tariffs on Chinese goods ranged from 7.5 percent to 25 percent. This the very last thing PC enthusiasts will want to hear because it's going to additionally raise the price on GPUs at a time when the graphics cards market is running hot already.


Original Submission

posted by Fnord666 on Friday January 08 2021, @03:38PM   Printer-friendly

After decades of effort, scientists are finally seeing black holes:

While working on his doctorate in theoretical physics in the early 1970s, Saul Teukolsky solved a problem that seemed purely hypothetical. Imagine a black hole, the ghostly knot of gravity that forms when, say, a massive star burns out and collapses to an infinitesimal point. Suppose you perturb it, as you might strike a bell. How does the black hole respond?

Teukolsky, then a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), attacked the problem with pencil, paper, and Albert Einstein's theory of gravity, general relativity. Like a bell, the black hole would oscillate at one main frequency and multiple overtones, he found. The oscillations would quickly fade as the black hole radiated gravitational waves—ripples in the fabric of space itself. It was a sweet problem, says Teukolsky, now at Cornell University. And it was completely abstract—until 5 years ago.

In February 2016, experimenters with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), a pair of huge instruments in Louisiana and Washington, reported the first observation of fleeting gravitational ripples, which had emanated from two black holes, each about 30 times as massive as the Sun, spiraling into each other 1.3 billion light-years away. LIGO even sensed the "ring down": the shudder of the bigger black hole produced by the merger. Teukolsky's old thesis was suddenly cutting-edge physics.

"The thought that anything I did would ever have implications for anything measurable in my lifetime was so far-fetched that the last 5 years have seemed like living in a dream world," Teukolsky says. "I have to pinch myself, it doesn't feel real."

[...] But no one could be sure those black holes actually are what theorists had pictured, notes Feryal Özel, an astrophysicist at the University of Arizona (UA). For example, "Very little that we have done so far establishes the presence of an event horizon," she says. "That is an open question."

Now, with multiple ways to peer at black holes, scientists can start to test their understanding and look for surprises that could revolutionize physics. "Even though it's very unlikely, it would be so amazingly important if we found that there was any deviation" from the predictions of general relativity, Carroll says. "It's a very high-risk, high-reward question."

[...] In September 2019, Teukolsky and colleagues teased out the main vibration and a single overtone from a particularly loud merger. If experimenters can improve the sensitivity of their detectors, Ohme says, they might be able to spot two or three overtones—enough to start to test the no-hair theorem.

[...] In the meantime, the sudden observability of black holes has changed the lives of gravitational physicists. Once the domain of thought experiments and elegant but abstract calculations like Teukolsky's, general relativity and black holes are suddenly the hottest things in fundamental physics, with experts in general relativity feeding vital input to billion-dollar experiments. "I felt this transition very literally myself," Ohme says. "It was really a small niche community, and with the detection of gravitational waves that all changed."

[The story provides a well-written and eminently readable history of research into black holes. Best treatment on the subject I've ever seen. --martyb]


Original Submission

posted by Fnord666 on Friday January 08 2021, @01:13PM   Printer-friendly
from the supply-chain-economics dept.

NOTE: As part of the editing process, we try to have two editors look at a story before it is released. I noticed a few stories in the Story Queue which had not been seconded. So, I jumped in and proceeded to do so. Unfortunately, the UI for editors has this button layout:

[preview] [update] [delete]

Yes, I accidentally clicked on [delete] instead of [update]. (These are especially close together on a phone.) Not only did the story get deleted, but so did the 17 comments which had already been been made. No, there is no confirmation dialog.

I hereby publicly apologize to AC, AC, Runaway1956, RS3, SomeGuy, AC, AC, epitaxial, SomeGuy, Runaway1956, AC, looorg, AC, Runaway1956, AC, Runaway1956, and Grishnakh as well as the rest of the community.

I will investigate moving the delete button to a safer location on the page and otherwise attempt to make it harder to hit by accident. I retyped re-created the story text; it appears below.

--martyb


Honda cuts car production on massive chip shortage:

Honda Motor will reduce vehicle production due to a supply crunch in semiconductors, Nikkei has learned, a sign that a pandemic-spurred global shortage is threatening the auto industry.

[...] There are warnings that the cuts could be worse later in the year. "The period starting in February may be grim," said a source familiar with the matter. The shortage could "impact tens of thousands of vehicles during the January-March quarter on the domestic side alone," the source added.

Honda has apparently run short on semiconductors used in vehicle control systems. As people stay mainly indoors and work from home, demand has surged for chips used in smartphones and computers. As chipmakers focus on meeting that demand, semiconductor supplies to auto parts manufacturers have stalled.

[...] Honda will not halt factory operations this month, but the company is expected to limit the daily number of vehicles produced. A cutback of 4,000 autos represents less than 0.1% of the 4.77 million units produced globally in fiscal 2019.

Because the process of procuring material and turning it into semiconductors takes more than three months, adjusting production volume quickly based on demand is a tall order. The coronavirus pandemic caused demand for cars to drop during the first half of 2020. At the time, automakers temporarily cut orders for semiconductors, and the chip suppliers modified production plans accordingly.

[...] The market recovery from the coronavirus impact has kept Honda's factories busy. In November, global production shot up 11.4% from a year earlier to 457,671 vehicles. In Japan alone, production jumped 22.5% to 64,843 units.

But just as Honda pruned excess capacity and is enjoying the comeback in demand, an unexpected fallout from the pandemic is forcing Honda to hit the brakes on production.

"Demand from smartphones, 5G base stations, gaming and elsewhere are robust, so there is limited production capacity to devote to automotive semiconductors," said Kazuhiro Sugiyama at British market intelligence company Omdia. The surge in demand from Chinese electric vehicles have contributed to the supply crunch as well.

posted by Fnord666 on Friday January 08 2021, @01:12PM   Printer-friendly
from the 3/4-of-a-chance dept.

Brazilian study says Sinovac coronavirus jab 78% effective:

A vaccine candidate made by China's Sinovac is 78% effective in protecting against the coronavirus, according to results of a study announced Thursday by Brazilian state health officials seeking federal approval of the shot.

More than 12,000 health workers participated in the study, which detected 218 cases of COVID-19 — about 160 of those among people who received a placebo rather than the actual vaccine.

Turkish officials last month said that a smaller, companion study in that country of the same vaccine candidate found an efficacy rate over 90%.

The government of Sao Paulo state, which has contracted for the vaccine, said it will ask Brazil's federal health regulators Friday for emergency approval to begin using it. Gov. João Doria plans to start a vaccination campaign for the state's 46 million residents on Jan. 25.

Sao Paulo's Butantan Institute, which is Sinovac's partner in Brazil, did not disclose data such as results by age and gender or the number of asymptomatic volunteers in the sample, which many epidemiologists require to assess whether the shot complies with safety standards.

Officials said details will be published after Brazil's health regulatory agency approves the vaccine. They gave no date for disclosure in scientific publications.

[...] A different Chinese company, SinoPharm, announced last week that its similar vaccine is about 79% effective. Both of those vaccines rely on inactivated viruses.


Original Submission

posted by Fnord666 on Friday January 08 2021, @10:48AM   Printer-friendly
from the almost-but-not-quite dept.

Identical twins don't share 100% of their DNA:

Identical twins form from the same egg and get the same genetic material from their parents — but that doesn't mean they're genetically identical by the time they're born.

That's because so-called identical twins pick up genetic mutations in the womb, as their cells weave new strands of DNA and then split into more and more cells. On average, pairs of twins have genomes that differ by an average of 5.2 mutations that occur early in development, according to a new study.

"One particularly surprising observation is that in many twin pairs, some mutations are carried by nearly all cells in one twin but completely absent in the other," Ziyue Gao, an assistant professor of genetics at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not involved in the research, said in an email.

The study authors estimate that, in about 15% of identical twin pairs, one twin carries a "substantial" number of mutations that the other does not share.

[...] The new study, published Jan. 7 in the journal Nature Genetics, offered this unique snapshot into early development because the authors did some clever detective work using DNA from three generations of people.

[...] For now, the takeaway from the current study is that scientists should not assume that identical twins share 100% identical DNA; such assumptions could lead them to overestimate the influence of the environment, when in reality, a genetic mutation may be the source of a given disease or trait, Stefansson said.

However, "such genomic differences between identical twins are still very rare, on the order of a few differences in 6 billion base pairs," with base pairs being the building blocks of DNA, Gao said. It's unclear how many of these small mutations would result in a functional change that alters how the cell works, and in general, "I doubt these differences will have appreciable contribution to phenotypic [or observable] differences in twin studies," she added.

Journal Reference:
Hakon Jonsson, Erna Magnusdottir, Hannes P. Eggertsson, et al. Differences between germline genomes of monozygotic twins, Nature Genetics (DOI: 10.1038/s41588-020-00755-1)


Original Submission

posted by Fnord666 on Friday January 08 2021, @08:24AM   Printer-friendly

Boeing to pay $2.5bn to resolve 737 MAX criminal probe in US:

Boeing Co will pay over $2.5bn to resolve the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into two deadly 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people, the DOJ said, but will not be forced to plead guilty to criminal charges.

The DOJ said the settlement includes a criminal monetary penalty of $243.6m, compensation payments to Boeing's 737 MAX airline customers of $1.77bn, and the establishment of a $500m crash-victim beneficiaries fund to compensate the heirs, relatives and legal beneficiaries of the passengers.

[...] Boeing admitted in court documents that two of its 737 MAX Flight Technical Pilots deceived the FAA about a key safety system tied to both fatal crashes called MCAS.

Boeing Chief Executive David Calhoun said in a statement the agreement "appropriately acknowledges how we fell short of our values and expectations."

The airline payment fund will include prior payments already made by the Boeing to airlines.


Original Submission

posted by requerdanos on Friday January 08 2021, @06:00AM   Printer-friendly

Main bioactive compound of ginger root may protect against autoimmune disease progression:

Naturopathic medicine, or herbal medicine, is all the rage, especially among young people. But how much of this is supported by science?

Ginger is known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects, making it a popular herbal supplement to treat inflammatory diseases.

And according to a Michigan Medicine led study published in JCI Insight, the main bioactive compound of ginger root, 6-gingerol, is therapeutic in countering the mechanism that fuels certain autoimmune diseases in mice. Researchers specifically looked at lupus, a disease which attacks the body's own immune system, and its often associated condition antiphospholipid syndrome, which causes blood clots, since both cause widespread inflammation and damage organs overtime.

[...] The study question was, "will the anti-inflammatory properties of ginger extend to neutrophils, and specifically, can this natural medicine stop neutrophils from making [Neutrophil Extracellular Traps, or] NETs that contribute to disease progression?"

"This pre-clinical study in mice offers a surprising and exciting, 'yes'," [lead study author Dr. Ramadan] Ali says.

Journal Reference:
Ramadan A. Ali, Alex A. Gandhi, Lipeng Dai, et al. Anti-neutrophil properties of natural gingerols in models of lupus [open], JCI Insight (DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.138385)


Original Submission

posted by requerdanos on Friday January 08 2021, @03:30AM   Printer-friendly

It appears open source is going to be respected in the White House.

Open-source developer and manager David Recordon named White House Director of Technology

With a background in open source, open standards, and security, Recordon may be ideal for President Joe Biden's White House.

Article didn't say much about the distinction between open-source and freedom.

Facebook has gotten two of its own onto President-elect Joe Biden's transition team. Austin Lin and David Recordon will serve as deputy directory of technology and director of technology respectively.

President-elect Joe Biden's transition team announced two technology officials to serve in the incoming administration, both of whom served in the Obama White House.

David Recordon will be the director of technology in the White House's Office of Management and Administration, and Austin Lin will serve as his deputy. Recordon and Lin both come from roles at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative before taking technology roles on the Biden transition team late last year. They also have in common stints working at Facebook.

The Office of Management and Administration is typically an internal, behind-the-scenes White House office that oversees operations, and the tech functions within it tend to serve the needs of the Executive Office of the President. But it appears the incoming Biden administration may expand Recordon and Lin's roles to be more governmentwide than in previous administrations.

"The technology leaders will play an important role in restoring faith across the federal government by encouraging collaboration to further secure American cyber interests," says a release from the Biden-Harris transition.


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