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upstart writes:

Fallen Arecibo Observatory to be transformed into STEM education centre:

The famous observatory, once the largest radio telescope on Earth, collapsed in 2020 after a number of its cables began to fail.

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has decided to turn the iconic Arecibo Observatory into a STEM-focused education centre.

The 305-metre radio telescope, made internationally famous by movies such as GoldenEye and Contact, was regarded as a beacon for breakthrough science.

The observatory operated for 57 years but was set to be decommissioned in 2020 after a series of incidents left it damaged beyond repair. The platform collapsed at the end of 2020 after a third cable snapped off.

Before the observatory collapsed, the NSF stated that even if repairs were made to Arecibo, the structure would still present long-term stability issues. Rather than rebuild, the NSF has decided to turn the site into a multidisciplinary centre to serve as a hub for STEM education and outreach.

The new education centre will work to promote learning and teaching within STEM and broaden participation. The centre will also seek to build and leverage existing and new collaborations and support fundamental STEM education research.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Techie reported to management for failing to fix a stapler:

On Call The seasons turn, the tides ebb and flow. Just as regularly, each Friday The Register delvers another instalment of On-Call, our reader-contributed tale of another sad constant: IT people being asked to do amazingly dumb things.

This week, meet a reader we'll Regomize as "Phil" who shared a short and sweet tale of his time as a senior systems engineer.

That grand title reflects the skills and qualifications required to tend a sizable fleet of virtualized servers and their respective operating systems.

Which made the support call we recount today all the stranger – because it came from an executive assistant who needed help to fix an electric stapler.

[...] This machine was not even located in the facility wherein Phil toiled. Instead, the call came from another office several states away.

Phil nonetheless tried to help, starting with the – pardon the pun – staple tactics of asking the user if the device was plugged in and then requesting it be turned off and on again.

When that proved ineffective, Phil asked the executive assistant what he felt an IT person hundreds of miles away could do to repair the stapler.

"It plugs into the wall, isn't that what IT fixes?" was the non sequitur reply. Phil's response was to suggest the user contact their facilities department and order a new stapler.

For offering that sensible advice, Phil became the subject of a complaint to corporate that labelled the IT team "unresponsive."

What amusing things have you been asked to do which were nothing to do with your job? For those of you who have worked on help desks, what are your most amusing recollections of problems you have been faced with?

Original Submission

takyon writes:

Russian Baikal 48-Core CPU Die Shots, Benchmarks Emerge

Twitter user Fritzchens Fritz has managed to obtain a sample of Baikal Electronics' 48-core BE-S1000 server-grade system-on-chip (SoC) and throw it under an infrared microscope to reveal its internals. In addition, some benchmark results of the SoC have surfaced.

Baikal Electronics has developed several system-on-chips for different devices to replace x86 processors from PCs and various compute appliances made in Russia. However, the pinnacle of the company's design prowess should have been its BE-S1000 server-grade SoC with 48 Arm Cortex-A75 cores, which the company managed to tape out and produce the first sample using TSMC's 16FFC fabrication technology, but which will never be released commercially due to sanctions against Russia for its invasion in Ukraine.

Also at TechPowerUp.

Previously:
TSMC Ships First Batch of Baikal BE-M1000 ARM CPUs
UK Sanctions Russian Microprocessor Makers, Banning Them From ARM
BITBLAZE Titan BM15 Arm Linux Laptop Features Russian Baikal-M1 Processor
Former Co-Owner of Russia's Baikal Microelectronics Goes Bankrupt

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Archaeologists from the University of Bristol have suggested that mysterious stone spheres found at various ancient settlements across the Aegean and Mediterranean could be playing pieces from one of the earliest ever board games:

There has been quite a lot of speculation around these spheres found at sites on Santorini, Crete, Cyprus, and other Greek Islands with theories around their use including being for some sort of sling stones, tossing balls, counting/record-keeping system or as counters/pawns.

Previous research by the same team from the University of Bristol indicated that there was variability in sphere size within specific clusters and collections of spheres. Following on from this the team wanted to explore potential patterning within these sphere concentrations, to help give an insight into their potential use.

[...] The stones, which are smaller than golf balls, are in various colours and made from different materials. The analysis put the stones into two groups of larger stones and smaller. In addition, in Akrotiri and in other settlements across the Aegean there are stone slabs with shallow cup marks where the spheres could have sat or been placed.

Dr Ferneé said: "The most important finding of the study is that the speres fit two major clusters (one of smaller and one of larger stones). This supports the hypothesis that they were used as counters for a board game with the spheres most possibly have been collected to fit these clusters rather than a counting system for which you would expect more groupings."

If these spheres are in-fact part of a boardgame, they will be one of the earliest examples, along with similar examples from the Levant and Egypt, such as the Egyptian Mehen and Senet.

Journal Reference:
C. Ferneé and K. Trimmis. The rolling stones of Bronze Age Aegean: Applying machine learning to explore the use of lithic spheres from Akrotiri, Thera [open], J Archaeol Sci, 45, 2022. (DOI: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103615)

Original Submission

liar writes:

Human brain cells implanted in rats: Human brain cells transplanted into baby rats' brains grow and form connections

Also:

• Human brain cells implanted in rats prompt excitement — and concern
• Scientists grow human brain cells in rats to study diseases

Scientists have successfully implanted and integrated human brain cells into newborn rats, creating a new way to study complex psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autism, and perhaps eventually test treatments.

Scientists can assemble small sections of human brain tissue derived from stem cells in petri dishes, and have already done so with more than a dozen brain regions...

But in dishes, "neurons don't grow to the size which a human neuron in an actual human brain would grow", said Sergiu Pasca, the study's lead author and professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.

And isolated from a body, they cannot tell us what symptoms a defect will cause.

To overcome those limitations, researchers implanted the groupings of human brain cells, called organoids, into the brains of young rats.

The rats' age was important: human neurons have been implanted into adult rats before, but an animal's brain stops developing at a certain age, limiting how well implanted cells can integrate.

"By transplanting them at these early stages, we found that these organoids can grow relatively large, they become vascularized (receive nutrients) by the rat, and they can cover about a third of a rat's (brain) hemisphere," Pasca said.

Journal Rereference:
Omer Revah, Felicity Gore, Kevin W. Kelley, et al. Maturation and circuit integration of transplanted human cortical organoids Nature 610, pages 319–326 (2022) (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03238-x

Original Submission

takyon writes:

NVIDIA cancels GeForce RTX 4080 12GB

Facing never-ending criticism, NVIDIA has just announced it will not launch GeForce RTX 4080 12GB model, the card that we knew and will always know as RTX 4070. In a last-minute change in September, the company had decided to launch two RTX 4080 models with vastly different specifications. Turns out this has backfired hard.

NVIDIA has just announced it is 'unlaunching' its RTX 4080 12GB GPU. Only the 16GB model will be released. NVIDIA has confirmed that, 4080 16GB launches on November 16th.

Nvidia blog post.

Also at AnandTech, Guru3D, and Wccftech.

Previously: Nvidia Announces the RTX 4090, 4080 (16 GB and 12 GB), and More

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Explained: Why a new lawsuit targeting Google & YouTube can potentially change the internet forever- Technology News, Firstpost;:

Legislators have often debated whether social media platforms and search result aggregators should be held responsible for objectionable content that users post, which then gets recommended to different users by an algorithm, based on the user's interest.

The Supreme Court of the United States of America is now going to consider a case against Google, which may settle the debate and potentially change the internet forever.

The Supreme Court of the US is going to listen to the case of Gonzalez v. Google. The case was filed by the parents of Nohemi Gonzalez, who was killed in the 2015 ISIS attack in Paris.

Gonzalez's family is suing Google, claiming that YouTube, which is owned by Google, violated the Anti-Terrorism Act when its algorithm recommended ISIS videos to other users. The complaint states that YouTube not only hosts videos that are used by ISIS to recruit terrorists but also recommends these videos to users, instead of taking them down as per their content moderation policies.

upstart writes:

Microsoft's HoloLens headsets are giving US Army testers nausea:

Microsoft's HoloLens headsets for the US Army have some teething troubles. Bloomberg and Insider say a recent unclassified report reveals the current Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) iteration is creating problems for soldiers in tests. Some testers suffered nausea, headaches and eyestrain while using the augmented reality goggles. Others were concerned about bulk, a limited field of view and a display glow that could reveal a soldier's position even at long distances.

A Microsoft worker talking to Insider claimed IVAS failed four out of six elements in one test. The Defense Department's Operational Test and Evaluation Director, Nickolas Guertin, also said there were still too many failures for essential features. Soldier acceptance is still low, according to the report.

[...] The military appears to be aware of and addressing issues. In a statement to Insider, Brigadier General Christopher Schneider said IVAS was successful in "most" criteria, but that there were areas where it "fell short" and would receive improvements. Army assistant acquisition secretary Doug Bush cleared the acceptance of an initial batch of 5,000 HoloLens units in August, but that the armed forces branch was modifying its plans to "correct deficiencies." Microsoft told Bloomberg it still saw IVAS as a "transformational platform" and was moving ahead with delivery for the initial headsets.

Original Submission

NotSanguine writes:

In a blog post today (12 October 2022), the Signal team announced that they will be removing SMS/MMS send/receive functionality from the Signal Android app.

For many years, the Signal app on Android has supported sending and receiving plaintext SMS and MMS messages in addition to Signal messages. SMS and MMS are standardized communication protocols that allow mobile devices to send and transmit messages, and most people picking up their phone to text or share memes don't really think about them. [...] we continued supporting the sending and receiving of plaintext SMS messages via the Signal interface on Android. We did this because we knew that Signal would be easier for people to use if it could serve as a homebase for most of the messages they were sending or receiving, without having to convince the people they wanted to talk to to switch to Signal first. But this came with a tradeoff: it meant that some messages sent and received via the Signal interface on Android were not protected by Signal's strong privacy guarantees.We have now reached the point where SMS support no longer makes sense. For those of you interested, we walk through our reasoning in more detail below.

In order to enable a more streamlined Signal experience, we are starting to phase out SMS support from the Android app. You will have several months to transition away from SMS in Signal, to export your SMS messages to another app, and to let the people you talk to know that they might want to switch to Signal, or find another channel if not. [...] This change will only affect you if you use Signal as your default SMS app on Android. Meaning that you use Signal on Android to receive and send both Signal and SMS messages from within the Signal interface.

[...] The most important reason for us to remove SMS support from Android is that plaintext SMS messages are inherently insecure. They leak sensitive metadata and place your data in the hands of telecommunications companies. With privacy and security at the heart of what we do, letting a deeply insecure messaging protocol have a place in the Signal interface is inconsistent with our values and with what people expect when they open Signal. [...] We are focused on building secure, intuitive, reliable, and pleasant ways to connect with each other without surveillance, tracking, or targeting. Dropping support for SMS messaging also frees up our capacity to build new features (yes, like usernames) that will ensure Signal is fresh and relevant into the future. After much discussion, we determined that we can no longer continue to invest in accommodating SMS in the Android app while also dedicating the resources we need to make Signal the best messenger out there.

Do many (any?) Soylentils use Signal? What's your use case?

This change will break my primary use case (as the app for SMS and secure messaging on my phone) and will confuse the hell out of the dozens of non-technical folks I've converted to Signal over the years.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Taiwan says destroying TSMC in the event of a Chinese invasion is unnecessary:

Once again, rising tensions between China and the US have put the spotlight on Taiwan and what would happen to TSMC, which manufactures more than half the world's semiconductors, in the event of an invasion. One proposal is to destroy the company's facilities, but the island's security chief said such a move is unnecessary.

Chen Ming-tong, director-general of Taiwan's National Security Bureau, told lawmakers (via Bloomberg) that TSMC's reliance on overseas companies and supplies for its operations means the facilities would be useless if China took over Taiwan.

"If you understand the ecosystem of TSMC, the comments out there are unrealistic," Chen said. "TSMC needs to integrate global elements before producing high-end chips. Without components or equipment like ASML's lithography equipment, without any key components, there is no way TSMC can continue its production."

[...] The US is said to be considering the evacuation of TSMC chip engineers in the event of a Chinese invasion, something the US National Security Council estimates would impact the world economy by more than $1 trillion. Former US officials have suggested making it clear to China that the semiconductor giant's facilities would be destroyed by the US if the attack occurred, thereby prevented TSMC from falling into Chinese hands.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Delta invests in air taxi startup Joby to enable home-to-airport flights:

Flying taxi startup Joby Aviation just landed a deal that could make your ride to the airport much more enjoyable. Delta is investing a total of up to $200 million in Joby in exchange for a home-to-airport flight service. Instead of hailing a car or paying for parking, you can have an eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft take you to the terminal without the usual traffic hassles.

The service will initially be available to Delta passengers travelling through New York City and Los Angeles, and will operate for at least five years after launch. It will exist alongside Joby's regular airport service in "priority" areas.

This represents a significant boost for Joby. It was the first eVTOL company to get key FAA certifications for airworthiness and carrier service, and now it's signing a "first-of-its-kind" (according to the companies) agreement with a US airline. The move could give Joby an edge over rivals like Archer and Wisk Aero that are waiting for FAA certifications or major commercial partnerships.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

A compound that both inhibits the MRSA superbug in lab experiments and renders it more vulnerable to antibiotics has been discovered by scientists at Bath:

The novel compound – a polyamine – seems to destroy Staphylococcus aureus, the bacterium that causes (among other things) deadly Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, by disrupting the pathogen's cell membrane.

[...] The study shows that as well as destroying S. aureus directly, the compound is able to restore the sensitivity of multidrug resistant strains of the bacteria to three important antibiotics (daptomycin, oxacillin and vancomycin). This could mean that antibiotics that have become ineffective through decades of overuse may, in time, reclaim their ability to bring serious infections under control.

"We're not entirely sure why these synergies occur between the compound and antibiotics, but we're keen to explore this further," said Dr Laabei, researcher from the Department of Live Sciences at Bath.

Polyamines are naturally occurring compounds found in most living organisms. Until a decade ago, they were thought to be essential to all life, but scientists now know they are both absent in, and toxic to, S. aureus. Since making this discovery, researchers have been attempting to exploit the pathogen's unusual vulnerability to polyamines to inhibit bacterial growth.

[...] Antibiotic resistance (or antimicrobial resistance – AMR) poses a major threat to human health around the world, and S. aureus has become one of the most notorious multidrug-resistant pathogens.

[...] "New treatments are urgently needed to treat infections," said Dr Laabei.

Journal Reference:
Edward J. A. Douglas, Abdulaziz H. Alkhzem, Toska Wonfor, et al. Antibacterial activity of novel linear polyamines against Staphylococcus aureus, Front Microbiol, 2022. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.948343

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Data from DappRadar suggests metaverse platforms Decentraland and The Sandbox each have fewer than 1,000 "daily active" users, despite $1 billion valuations:

What's going on in the metaverse these days, you might ask. Looking at two of the biggest companies with over $1 billion valuations, one data point suggests that users may not be returning every day. According to data aggregator DappRadar, the Ethereum-based virtual world Decentraland had 38 "active users" in the past 24 hours, while competitor The Sandbox had 522 "active users" in that same time.

It's important to note that an active user, according to DappRadar, is defined as a unique wallet address' interaction with the platform's smart contract. For example, logging onto The Sandbox or Decentraland to make a purchase with SAND or MANA, each platform's respective native utility token, is counted as an "active use."

This means that DappRadar's compilation of daily "active users" doesn't count people who simply log in and interact with other users on a metaverse platform or drop in briefly for an event, such as a virtual fashion week. It also may mean that fewer transactions, like buying or selling a non-fungible token (NFT), take place on these platforms than the number of people that visit.

[...] Sam Hamilton, Creative Director at Decentraland, disputed the way DappRadar tracks daily "active users" on the platform. "DappRadar doesn't track our users, only people interacting with our contracts," he told CoinDesk, adding that the platform had 8,000 users on average per day, though he did not specify what makes an "active use" versus a more passive interaction. [...]

[...] "Imagine you only track the number of people paying for something at a cashier at a shopping mall," he said. "That doesn't mean there aren't a lot of passerbys."

upstart writes:

Peer-to-peer file sharing would make the Internet far more efficient:

When the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in early 2020, the world made an unprecedented shift to remote work. As a precaution, some Internet providers scaled back service levels temporarily, although that probably wasn't necessary for countries in Asia, Europe, and North America, which were generally able to cope with the surge in demand caused by people teleworking (and binge-watching Netflix). [...]

But is overprovisioning the only way to ensure resilience? We don't think so. [...]

The reality today is that the Internet is more often used to send exactly the same thing to many people, and it's doing a huge amount of that now, much of which is in the form of video. [...]

The real problem is not so much the volume of content being passed around—it's how it is being delivered, from a central source to many different far-away users, even when those users are located right next to one another.

A more efficient distribution scheme in that case would be for the data to be served to your device from your neighbor's device in a direct peer-to-peer manner. But how would your device even know whom to ask? Welcome to the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS).

upstart writes:

ASUS, Acer and Lenovo built Chromebooks optimized to run services like GeForce Now:

One part of Google may have given up on cloud gaming, with Stadia set to be discontinued in a few months. But on the ChromeOS team, there's a whole new initiative to try and push back on the whole "you can't game on a Chromebook" thing. Today, Google — along with a handful of hardware and software partners — are announcing what it calls "the world's first laptops built for cloud gaming."

Stripping back the hyperbole, what does this mean in practice? After all, the whole point of cloud gaming is that you don't need superpowered hardware to enjoy high-quality games — many existing Chromebooks can run cloud gaming services just fine. That said, the new laptops announced today are quite a bit different than your average Chromebook.

At a high level, Google says that it focused on a handful of hardware features to differentiate these laptops, including large displays with high refresh rates, keyboards with anti-ghosting tech (and RBG keyboards in some cases), WiFi 6/6E cards and generally high specs.