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Freeman writes:

Facebook Finally Explains Its Mysterious Wrist Wearable:

IT FIRST APPEARED on March 9 as a tweet on Andrew Bosworth's timeline, the tiny corner of the Internet that offers a rare glimpse into the mind of a Facebook executive these days. Bosworth, who leads Facebook's augmented and virtual reality research labs, had just shared a blog post outlining the company's 10-year vision for the future of human-computer interaction. Then, in a follow-up tweet, he shared a photo of an as yet unseen wearable device. Facebook's vision for the future of interacting with computers apparently would involve strapping something that looks like an iPod Mini to your wrist.

Facebook already owns our social experience and some of the world's most popular messaging apps—for better or notably worse. Anytime the company dips into hardware, then, whether that's a very good VR headset or a video chatting device that follows your every move, it gets noticed. And it not only sparks intrigue, but questions too: why does Facebook want to own this new computing paradigm?

In this case, the unanswered questions are less about the hardware itself and more about the research behind it—and whether the new interactions Facebook envisions will only deepen our ties to Facebook. (Answer: probably.)

Also at Ars Technica.

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

LOL Garamond sux, say federal judges:

Fast-forward to this week, when the DC Circuit Court of Appeals came to the same realization that lawyers use Garamond[*] to cram more than is strictly allowed into their legal briefs. Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32(a)(5) says only that "a proportionally spaced face must include serifs" and must "be 14-point or larger." But the rules don't say what proportional fonts can be used in legal filings.

As lawyer John Elwood pointed out on Twitter, "Garamond is more compact than most fonts. For most appellate filings, its use will shave several pages off a brief. For that reason, it's long been a last resort for page-limited filings."

As a smaller font, it's also just harder to read at the same size as fonts like Times New Roman. And the court has had just about enough of it.

"The court has determined that certain typefaces, such as Century and Times New Roman, are more legible than others, particularly Garamond, which appears smaller than the other two typefaces," the DC Circuit announced this week. The court, it said, wants to "discourage use of Garamond."

[*] Wikipedia entry for Garamond.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Legal questions linger as governments and companies keep pushing into space:

The Perseverance rover's landing on Mars is still fresh in people's memories, privately owned companies are ferrying people and supplies into orbit, and NASA continues to work on "the most powerful rocket" it has ever built. But as world governments and private enterprises continue to eye the skies for opportunities, a SXSW panel called "Who on Earth should govern Space" makes clear that the laws dealing with space aren't evolving as fast as the technology that gets us there.

"People like to think of space as the Wild Wild West — nothing out there, there's open frontier, we can do whatever we want," said Michelle Hanlon, president of For All Moonkind, a non-profit devoted to preserving mankind's cultural heritage in space. "Unfortunately or fortunately, that's not true at all."

Hanlon was referring to the Outer Space Treaty, which was developed in 1966 and ratified by over 60 countries in early 1967. Considering the treaty was put into effect a full two years before mankind landed on the moon, it's little surprise that the document is heavy on broad principles, but light on specifics. Among its greatest hits: outer space shall be free for exploration and use by all states; states should avoid harmful contamination of space; celestial bodies shall only be used for peaceful purposes; and, perhaps most importantly, the assertion that outer space isn't subject to claims of sovereignty by Earth-bound governments.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

New York lawmaker wants to ban police use of armed robots:

New York City councilmember Ben Kallos says he "watched in horror" last month when city police responded to a hostage situation in the Bronx using Boston Dynamics' Digidog, a remotely operated robotic dog equipped with surveillance cameras. Pictures of the Digidog went viral on Twitter, in part due to their uncanny resemblance with world-ending machines in the Netflix sci-fi series Black Mirror.

Now Kallos is proposing what may be the nation's first law banning police from owning or operating robots armed with weapons.

"I don't think anyone was anticipating that they'd actually be used by the NYPD right now," Kallos says. "I have no problem with using a robot to defuse a bomb, but it has to be the right use of a tool and the right type of circumstance."

Kallos' bill would not ban unarmed utility robots like the Digidog, only weaponized robots. But robotics experts and ethicists say he has tapped into concerns about the increasing militarization of police: their increasing access to sophisticated robots through private vendors and a controversial military equipment pipeline. Police in Massachusetts and Hawaii are testing the Digidog as well.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

CentOS vs CentOS Stream - LinuxConfig.org:

Up until a late 2020 announcement from Red Hat, CentOS Linux had a longstanding reputation as a dependable and enterprise-class Linux distribution. And now, the main purpose of CentOS is shifting. Along with that comes a name change to CentOS Stream.

In this article, we'll talk about this change of direction for CentOS, and what it means for the huge community of users and businesses that have relied on the distro for years. We'll also see what's next, as many users are left scrambling for a replacement so they can avoid switching to CentOS Stream.

[...] All of this leads users and businesses to one question. Should we continue using CentOS (CentOS Stream, that is), or do we shift to a different distribution? The biggest feature of CentOS was its (free) stability. Without it, many have no reason to continue using it.

[...] In this guide, we went over the shift of CentOS to CentOS Stream. You now know what this shift means for businesses and end users that have been relying on CentOS for years. We also saw alternatives to the "old" CentOS, for those that don't want to use CentOS Stream. Ultimately, the CentOS shift gives its users three options: switch to CentOS Stream, use a CentOS replacement, or distro hop entirely.

Previously:
CentOS Linux 8 Will End in 2021
Red Hat Introduces Free RHEL for Open-Source, Non-Profit Organizations

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:

Chip-starved automakers shudder at Renesas plant's 1-month halt:

TOKYO -- Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics said Sunday that production may take up to a month to resume at a fire-damaged main factory in Hitachinaka, northeast of Tokyo.

But considering the many processes in semiconductor fabrication, it may take over three months for supply chains [to] return to normal.

Renesas' fire could not come at a worse time for the auto industry. Already battered by a global shortage of semiconductors, the industry had been scrambling to respond to the Texas winter storm that knocked out production at NXP Semiconductors and Infineon Technologies, the world's No. 1 and No. 3 players in automotive chips.

Renesas is No. 2. It controls around a 20% global share in microcontrollers and supplies the likes of Toyota Motor and Nissan Motor.

[...] CEO Hidetoshi Shibata told a news conference Sunday that Renesas will make efforts to resume production "within a month." But he acknowledged a "significant" impact the supply of the chips.

"I apologize for any inconvenience and troubles caused by this incident," Shibata said. "We will make every effort to minimize the impact, including looking at alternative production," he said.

But "it is difficult to say whether it is possible to substitute production at other factories," Shibata said.

[...] Shibata said that he fears the fire will have a big impact on chip supply. Roughly 50 people from automakers and clients have come to help out, replacing the damaged machinery, he said.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

In Case of Nuclear Disaster: Stem Cells Derived From Fat Show Promise as a Treatment for Mass Radiation Exposure:

Nuclear power offers an efficient, reliable way to provide energy to large populations — as long as all goes well. Accidents involving nuclear reactors such as those that took place in 1986 at Chernobyl and at Fukushima Daiichi after the March 2011 tsunami raise major concerns about what happens if the worst occurs and large numbers of people are simultaneously exposed to high levels of radiation. Currently, there are no effective, safe therapies for total body irradiation (TBI) — a condition known as acute radiation syndrome (ARS). That could change, in the future based on new research published in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) demonstrated, for the first time, how allogeneic adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) can mitigate TBI-induced ARS. This would allow for the stockpiling of these cells to be used in case of a radioactive emergency.

"In nearly all instances of TBI exposure, the primary life-threatening damage is inflicted on the hematopoietic system, which primarily consists of the bone marrow, spleen, tonsils and lymph nodes involved in the production of blood. High doses of radiation can cause irreparable damage to the bone marrow, affecting the immune system and potentially causing inflammation and infection," said the study's co-author, Asim Ejaz, Ph.D., from the UPMC Department of Plastic Surgery.

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

NASA has begun a study of the SLS rocket's affordability [Updated]:

Original story: NASA is conducting an internal review of the Space Launch System rocket's affordability, two sources have told Ars Technica.

Concerned by the program's outsized costs, the NASA transition team appointed by President Joe Biden initiated the study. The analysis is being led by Paul McConnaughey, a former deputy center director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, as well as its chief engineer.

The SLS rocket program has been managed by Marshall for more than a decade. Critics have derided it as a "jobs program" intended to retain employees at key centers, such as Alabama-based Marshall, as well as those at primary contractors such as Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Aerojet Rocketdyne. Such criticism has been bolstered by frequent schedule delays—the SLS was originally due to launch in 2016, and the rocket will now launch no sooner than 2022—as well as cost overruns.

For now, costs seem to be the driving factor behind the White House's concerns. With a maximum cadence of one launch per year, the SLS rocket is expected to cost more than $2 billion per flight, and that is on top of the $20 billion NASA has already spent developing the vehicle and its ground systems. Some of the incoming officials do not believe the Artemis Moon Program is sustainable with such launch costs.

Update: After this story was published, NASA released the following statement at 11pm ET on Monday regarding the internal study:

NASA is conducting an internal study of the timing and sequence of lunar missions with available resources, and with the guidance that SLS and Orion will be providing crew transportation to the Gateway. The backbone for NASA's Moon to Mars plans are the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, ground systems at Kennedy Space Center, Gateway in lunar orbit and human landing system. We currently are alsoassessing various elements of our programs to find efficiencies and opportunities to reduce costs, and this exercise is ongoing. This will include conversations with our industry partners. Budget forecasts and internal agency reviews are common practice as they help us with long-term planning. The agency anticipates taking full advantage of the powerful SLS capabilities, and this effort will improve the current construct associated with executing the development, production and operations of the NASA's Artemis missions.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

Computer giant Acer hit by $50 million ransomware attack:

Computer giant Acer has been hit by a REvil ransomware attack where the threat actors are demanding the largest known ransom to date, $50,000,000.

Acer is a Taiwanese electronics and computer maker well-known for laptops, desktops, and monitors. Acer employs approximately 7,000 employees and earned $7.8 billion in 2019.

Yesterday, the ransomware gang announced on their data leak site that they had breached Acer and shared some images of allegedly stolen files as proof.

These leaked images are for documents that include financial spreadsheets, bank balances, and bank communications.

Will their new computers ship with ransomware preinstalled?

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Water on Mars May Be Trapped in the Planet's Crust, Not Lost to Space

Mars had water—until it didn't. Scientists thinks that about four billion years ago, the planet had substantial amounts of liquid water on its surface, enough to form rivers, lakes, seas, and even oceans—and perhaps also to support life. But something happened in the following billion years, triggering the loss of this water from the surface until all that was left was the cold, dry wasteland of a world that we see today. Why and how that happened remains somewhat of a mystery. "We don't exactly know why the water levels decreased and Mars became arid," says Eva Scheller of the California Institute of Technology.

In recent years, results from NASA's Mars-orbiting MAVEN spacecraft suggested the driver of this water depletion may have been atmospheric loss. Long ago, for reasons unknown, Mars lost its strong magnetic field, exposing the planet to atmosphere-eroding outbursts from the sun. As a result, much of Mars's air escaped to space, presumably carrying away most of the planet's water with it. But in a new paper published this week in the journal Science, Scheller and her colleagues argue this process alone cannot explain Mars's modern-day aridity. Instead they say that a substantial amount of the planet's water—between 30 and 99 percent—retreated into the crust [open, DOI: 10.1126/science.abc7717] [DX], where it remains today, in a process known as crustal hydration.

Also at NYT, Reuters, National Geographic, and Yahoo News.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission for c0lo:

World's first dinosaur preserved sitting on nest of eggs with fossilized babies:

The fossil in question is that of an oviraptorosaur, a group of bird-like theropod dinosaurs that thrived during the Cretaceous Period, the third and final time period of the Mesozoic Era (commonly known as the 'Age of Dinosaurs') that extended from 145 to 66 million years ago. The new specimen was recovered from uppermost Cretaceous-aged rocks, some 70 million years old, in Ganzhou City in southern China's Jiangxi Province.

"Dinosaurs preserved on their nests are rare, and so are fossil embryos. This is the first time a non-avian dinosaur has been found, sitting on a nest of eggs that preserve embryos, in a single spectacular specimen," explains Dr. Shundong Bi.

The fossil consists of an incomplete skeleton of a large, presumably adult oviraptorid crouched in a bird-like brooding posture over a clutch of at least 24 eggs. At least seven of these eggs preserve bones or partial skeletons of unhatched oviraptorid embryos inside. The late stage of development of the embryos and the close proximity of the adult to the eggs strongly suggests that the latter died in the act of incubating its nest, like its modern bird cousins, rather than laying its eggs or simply guarding its nest crocodile-style, as has sometimes been proposed for the few other oviraptorid skeletons that have been found atop nests.

Journal Reference:
Bi, S., Amiot, R., de Fabrègues, C.P. et al. An oviraptorid preserved atop an embryo-bearing egg clutch sheds light on the reproductive biology of non-avialan theropod dinosaurs, (DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2020.12.018)

Original Submission

looorg writes:

Cleaning up space junk with magnets in space!

Prototype mission. It might run into a bit of an issue since a lot of satellites (if not all) tend to be made of things that are not magnetic -- future solution is apparently to attach a magnetic plate to your satellites so this janitor (or recycling-) satellite can attract them and clean them up.

They really missed out tho -- they should just have named it Roger Wilco

Satellite that can clean up space junk with a magnet about to launch:

A satellite is about to demonstrate a new way of capturing space junk with magnets for the first time. With the frequency of space launches dramatically increasing in recent years, the potential for a disastrous collision above Earth is continually growing. Now, Japanese orbital clean-up company Astroscale is testing a potential solution.

The firm’s End-of-Life Services by Astroscale demonstration mission is scheduled to lift off on 20 March aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket. It consists of two spacecraft: a small “client” satellite and a larger “servicer” satellite, or “chaser”. The smaller satellite is equipped with a magnetic plate which allows the chaser to dock with it.

The two stacked spacecraft will perform three tests once in orbit, each of which will involve the servicer satellite releasing and then recapturing the client satellite. The first test will be the simplest, with the client satellite drifting a short distance away and then being recaptured. In the second test, the servicer satellite will set the client satellite tumbling before catching up with it and matching its motion to grab it.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

One company wants to sell the feds location data from every car on Earth:

There is a strange sort of symmetry in the world of personal data this week: one new report has identified a company that wants to sell the US government granular car location data from basically every vehicle in the world, while a group of privacy advocates is suing another company for providing customer data to the feds.

A surveillance contractor called Ulysses can "remotely geolocate vehicles in nearly every country except for North Korea and Cuba on a near real-time basis," Vice Motherboard reports.

Ulysses obtains vehicle telematics data from embedded sensors and communications sensors that can transmit information such as seatbelt status, engine temperature, and current vehicle location back to automakers or other parties.

"Among the thousands of other data points, vehicle location data is transmitted on a constant and near real-time basis while the vehicle is operating," the company wrote in a sales pitch document obtained by Vice. As roughly 100 million new cars are manufactured worldwide each year that are "increasingly connected to the manufacturer, other vehicles, infrastructure, and their owners, it becomes apparent that telematics will revolutionize intelligence," the document adds. Ulysses claims it can currently access more than 15 billion vehicle locations around the world every month, and it estimates that by 2025, 100 percent of new cars will be connected and transmitting gigabytes of collectible data per hour.

Meanwhile...

[...] A coalition of privacy advocates in California is now suing Thomson Reuters, which operates CLEAR, alleging that it violates state privacy law by collecting and sharing personal information without individuals' consent.

"When we look at the ways that these data brokers are remaking our country, the Fourth Amendment concerns are terrifying," Surveillance Technology Oversight Project Executive Director Albert Fox Cahn, who is participating in the suit, told the Post. "But the way that they're allowing companies to track millions without the most basic consent is deeply alarming as well."

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Victoria University of Wellington accidentally nukes files on all desktop PCs:

[On March 12th], IT staff at the Victoria University of Wellington started a maintenance procedure aimed at reclaiming space on the university network—in theory, by removing the profiles of students who no longer attend the university. The real impact, unfortunately, was much larger—affecting students, faculty, and staff across the university.

The New Zealand university's student newspaper reported the issue pretty thoroughly this Wednesday, although from a non-IT perspective. It sounds like an over-zealous Active Directory policy went out of bounds—the university's Digital Solutions department (what most places would refer to as Information Technology, or IT) declared that files stored on the university network drives, or on Microsoft's OneDrive cloud storage, were "fully protected."

A grad student reported that not "only files on the desktop were gone" but "my whole computer had been reset, too," which would be consistent with an AD operation removing her user profile from the machine entirely—in such a case, a user would be able to log in to the PC, but into a completely "clean" profile that looked factory new.

Original Submission

upstart writes in with an IRC submission:

Unicode: On Building The One Character Set To Rule Them All:

Most readers will have at least some passing familiarity with the terms 'Unicode' and 'UTF-8', but what is really behind them? At their core they refer to character encoding schemes, also known as character sets. This is a concept which dates back to far beyond the era of electronic computers, to the dawn of the optical telegraph and its predecessors. As far back as the 18th century there was a need to transmit information rapidly across large distances, which was accomplished using so-called telegraph codes. These encoded information using optical, electrical and other means.

During the hundreds of years since the invention of the first telegraph code, there was no real effort to establish international standardization of such encoding schemes, with even the first decades of the era of teleprinters and home computers bringing little change there. Even as EBCDIC (IBM's 8-bit character encoding demonstrated in the punch card above) and finally ASCII made some headway, the need to encode a growing collection of different characters without having to spend ridiculous amounts of storage on this was held back by elegant solutions.

Development of Unicode began during the late 1980s, when the increasing exchange of digital information across the world made the need for a singular encoding system more urgent than before. These days Unicode allows us to not only use a single encoding scheme for everything from basic English text to Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese, and even Mayan, but also small pictographs called 'emoji', from Japanese 'e' (絵) and 'moji' (文字), literally 'picture word'.