DannyB writes:

Intelligence Community Feels It Might Be Time To Start Stuffing Surveillance Gear Into People's Pants

Who among us has not considered shoving a camera into our underwear... but for the greater good... on the public's dime? No need to raise your hands. We already know where they are.

The only thing better than lots of surveillance is even more surveillance. That's the unofficial tagline of the Intelligence Community, [ . . . . ]

The US intelligence community has invested $22 million in a project called SMART ePants, which aims to produce underwear and other garments that help the wearer conduct surveillance operations. Though fully washable, each garment is expected to contain audio, video, and geolocation recording devices.

Yes, they actually called it "SMART ePANTS." And that's not the only acronym in play here. [ . . . . ]

The Smart Electrically Powered and Networked Textile Systems (SMART ePANTS) program represents the largest single investment to develop Active Smart Textiles (AST) that feel, move, and function like any garment. Resulting innovations stand to provide the Intelligence Community (IC), Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and other agencies with durable, ready-to-wear clothing that can record audio, video, and geolocation data. This eTextile technology could also assist personnel and first responders in dangerous, high-stress environments, such as crime scenes and arms control inspections without impeding their ability to swiftly and safely operate.

[...] it may be useful for agencies to track employees during their interactions in "dangerous, high-stress environments," it seems far more useful for these agencies to have always-on surveillance gear that doesn't make it immediately apparent to the surveillance targets that they're being surveilled.

[...] let's stop pretending this is about "first responders, [...] It's not like these people have been crying out for more passive surveillance options, much less wearable tracking devices with cameras attached. The addition of the phrase "first responders" is supposed to soften the harder edges of the proposed $22 million, always-literally-on surveillance gear [...]

On the bright side, this has important secondary applications such as sending you alerts that you should change your underwear in a few days.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Europe's particle accelerator at CERN spews out around a petabyte of data daily, which means monitoring the computing infrastructure that processes the data is crucial.

CERN's main activities are based on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which propels sub-atomic particles around a 27km circuit, 100 meters underground, then smashes them into each other under the guise of eight distinct experiments. Among them is the CMS experiment, which aims to spot the particles responsible for dark matter, among other things.

Like other experiments, CMS shut down for a period of upgrades from 2018 to 2022, and restarted in July last year for the three-year Run 3 period in which scientists will increase the beam energy and sample physics data at a higher rate.

In preparation, four big LHC experiments performed major upgrades to their data readout and selection systems, with new detector systems and computing infrastructure. The changes will allow them to collect significantly larger data samples of higher quality than previous runs.

But Brij Kishor Jashal, a scientist in the CMS collaboration, told The Register that his team were currently aggregating 30 terabytes over a 30-day period to monitor their computing infrastructure performance.

"Entering the new era for our Run 3 operation, we will see more and more scaling of the storage as well as the data. One of our main jobs is to ensure that we are able to meet all this demand and cater to the requirements of users and manage the storage," he said.

upstart writes:

Novel electrical therapy rebuilds muscles lost through natural aging:

Sarcopenia affects up to 16% of the world's aging population and is one of the leading factors in the loss of independence. Marked by a loss of both muscle mass and function or strength, it's behind many age-related falls, poor mobility and functional decline. What's more, to date there's no 'cure' or treatments to halt its progression, let alone reverse it, and most intervention is based on slowing the loss of muscle mass with lifestyle and diet changes.

Now, scientists at Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology (DGIST) in South Korea have developed a novel bioelectric therapy that restored muscle cells in aging mice, and they're confident of its promise to have a similar effect in human models.

"The number of patients with sarcopenia has exploded recently due to restrictions on social activities owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and aging of the world's population," said lead author Minseok Kim, a professor in DGIST's Department of New Biology. "This research is significant because it confirms, for the first time, the potential of applying bioelectric medicine to treat sarcopenia, a disease for which there currently is no cure. We also identified the optimal electrical stimulation conditions for muscle recovery as a function of age, which may lead to a paradigm shift in the development of personalized electrotherapy treatments."

The team developed a biochip-based electrostimulation (ES) screening platform for aging human muscle cells. Using this, they were able to pinpoint the optimal ES conditions that coaxed aging muscle cells to regenerate. While ES has the potential to damage muscles, at the optimal level the researchers found it has a positive interaction with calcium signaling, senescence and metabolism. A restoration of calcium signaling in aged skeletal muscles can induce hypertrophy, or an increase in muscle mass.

upstart writes:

Multispectral Imaging Shows Erased Evidence Of Ancient Star Catalogue:

Ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus worked to accurately catalog and record the coordinates of celestial objects. But while Hipparchus' Star Catalogue is known to have existed, the document itself is lost to history. Even so, new evidence has come to light thanks to patient work and multispectral imaging.

Hipparchus' Star Catalogue is the earliest known attempt to record the positions of celestial bodies (predating Claudius Ptolemy's work in the second century, which scholars believe was probably substantially based on Hipparchus) but direct evidence of the document is slim.

That is somewhat less true after it was discovered that the coordinates of Corona Borealis (the Northern Crown) appeared to be hidden within some ancient documents. This led to further investigations, which yielded a translated passage, some of the strongest evidence yet of Hipparchus' lost work. It describes the Corona Borealis and gives coordinates accurate within one degree; considerably more precise than Ptolemy's calculations. A remarkable achievement for a second-century scholar, considering that the telescope would not be invented for another 1500 years or so.

How was this information uncovered? Multispectral imaging of a palimpsest manuscript (a parchment erased of writing, then re-used) revealed the earlier markings, followed by reconstruction and translation. In 2012 an undergraduate student named Jamie Klair first noticed the astronomical nature of of the undertext present in some pages of the ancient Greek palimpsest known as the Codex Climaci Rescriptus. Peter Williams, a biblical scholar at Cambridge University, later noticed it contained the astronomical measurements of the Corona Borealis in 2021, which led to the discoveries.

Hipparchus' Star Catalogue is far from having been rediscovered, but this is the most direct evidence yet of an important piece of science history from the ancient Greeks; much like the marvelous device known as the Antikythera mechanism.

Journal Reference:
Peter J. Williams and Emanuel ZinggVi. New evidence for Hipparchus' Star Catalogue revealed by multispectral imaging Journal for the History of Astronomy (DOI: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00218286221128289)

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

In preparation of landing humans on the Moon as part of the ongoing Artemis program, SpaceX recently ran a test of one of its lunar lander engines while simulating the cold temperatures of space.

The private space venture demonstrated a vacuum-optimized Raptor, evaluating the engine’s performance “through a test that successfully confirmed the engine can be started in the extreme cold conditions resulting from extended time in space,” NASA announced on Thursday.

NASA signed a $2.89 billion contract with SpaceX to develop a human landing system for Artemis 3, which is tentatively scheduled to land astronauts on the Moon in 2025, in addition to a separate $1.15 billion contract signed last year for Artemis 4, which will follow in 2028. 

[...] The test, which took place last month, was the second one to demonstrate the Starship Raptor engine’s ability to perform on the lunar surface. In November 2021, SpaceX tested the engine’s ability to perform a descent burn to land on the surface of the Moon. During the 2021 test, which lasted for 281 seconds, “Raptor demonstrated the powered descent portion of the mission, when the Starship [Human Landing System] leaves its orbit over the lunar surface and begins its descent to the Moon’s surface to land,” NASA wrote.

I *just* realized that an editor on SoylentNews, janrinok (AKA JR), has very recently attained a huge milestone on our site:

8,000 stories!

I can speak from personal experience that this represents a HUGE sacrifice of time and energy. He showed me the ropes in how to post a story. (There is FAR MORE than meets the eye to be an editor!) There was also the fact that in the early years of SoylentNews, he was simultaneously taking care of his severely ill wife. (She, sadly, passes away a few short years ago.) He endured some exceedingly heart-wrenching periods doing this. I have witnessed him posting stories even though he was beyond the point of exhaustion. So much so that his doctors *demanded* that he stop *everything* and take a break for many months.

So it may not appear to be a huge milestone, please take my word for it. It is!

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

If you're a Linux enthusiast, you've likely come across terms like "immutable distribution", "OS3", or "image-based operating system". These concepts have been gaining traction in the Linux community, sparking curiosity about their significance. In this article, we'll delve into the world of immutable distributions, exploring how they work, their advantages, potential drawbacks, and whether they truly represent the future of the Linux desktop.

An immutable Linux distribution is a unique breed of operating system designed to be read-only and resistant to easy modification once installed. The fundamental idea behind these distributions is to restrict user and superuser access to system files and directories, ensuring that most changes are temporary and erased upon reboot. This approach has earned them the moniker "immutable."

When updates are applied to the system, they don't modify the existing installation. Instead, they create a new system image that becomes the active one upon the next reboot. While this might initially seem limiting, immutable distributions implement workarounds to ensure users can still customize their computing environment.

Immutable distributions offer robust security benefits. Since users and third-party programs can't readily modify the core system, the risk of viruses, Trojans, ransomware, and other malware compromising system files and directories is significantly reduced. Even if an attacker gains access to the system, their ability to write or modify system components is limited.

Immutable distributions are highly reliable. Users are less likely to accidentally break their systems or encounter issues caused by third-party software modifications. Unlike conventional distributions, there's no risk of running into dependency conflicts or unintentionally destructive commands.

Maintenance is streamlined with immutable distributions. Updates are only applied after a reboot, eliminating the risk of breaking the system while it's running. This approach also minimizes the chances of encountering dependency-related problems during updates.

One significant challenge with immutable distributions is installing applications, as traditional package management systems typically require write access to the system. Immutable distributions address this issue using various methods:

Many immutable distributions embrace universal packaging formats like Flatpaks, Snaps, and AppImages. These formats don't need full system access and bring their dependencies, making them ideal for installation on immutable systems.

Some distributions allow users to install packages in a dedicated layer separate from the immutable base system. These layered packages persist across reboots and are included in the updated system image, providing a way to install drivers, libraries, and applications not available as universal packages.

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/09/unity-promises-changes-to-install-fee-plans-as-developer-fallout-continues/

After nearly a week of protracted developer anger over a newly announced runtime fee of up to $0.20 per game install, Unity says it will be "making changes" to that policy and will share a further update "in a couple of days."

In a late Sunday social media post, Unity offered apologies for the "confusion and angst" caused by the sudden announcement of the policy last Tuesday. "We are listening, talking to our team members, community, customers, and partners, and will be making changes to the policy," the post reads. "Thank you for your honest and critical feedback."

[...] "Publishers can no longer trust that the deals they make with Unity developers won't worsen over time," Zeboyd Digital Entertainment's Robert Boyd said in a statement that sums up similar feelings being expressed publicly by many developers.

[...] "If they make line 1 of their EULA one that guarantees we can continue to use current and past versions of Unity under those terms, maybe with a provision that they can scale the sub fee within some reasonable bounds—that's better than trust," indie developer Tom Francis wrote in a blog post about the complicated legal terms underlying the whole situation.

[...] Caves of Qud developer Brian Bucklew memorably documented his marathon porting work from Unity to Godot over the weekend, though the situation for the retro-styled 2D roguelike might not be representative of more complex porting efforts.

[...] Earlier this year, about a week after Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast faced widespread criticism for changes to its longstanding Open Gaming License, the company tried to partially walk back those changes with a draft that kept many of the most controversial points. A week later, the company fully backed off and promised the original license would "remain untouched."

Previously:
Developer Dis-Unity - 20230915

chromas writes:

Digital Trends:

A gorgeous new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows a dramatic sight created by the outbursts of energy coming from a very young star. Called a Herbig-Haro object, this particular example is named HH 211 and shows the effects of huge jets of gas that are thrown out by the star and which collide with clouds of dust and gas to create stunning shapes.

The image was taken in the infrared wavelength in which Webb operates, which is ideal for observing hot objects like new stars without the view being blocked by dust, which is opaque in the visible light wavelength. The observations were made using Webb's NIRCam instrument.

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/09/a-phone-call-to-helpdesk-was-likely-all-it-took-to-hack-mgm/

A cyber criminal gang proficient in impersonation and malware has been identified as the likely culprit for an attack that paralized networks at US casino operator MGM Resorts International.

The group, which security researchers call "Scattered Spider," uses fraudulent phone calls to employees and help desks to "phish" for login credentials. It has targeted MGM and dozens of other Western companies with the aim of extracting ransom payments, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The operator of hotel casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, including the Bellagio, Aria, Cosmopolitan, and Excalibur, preemptively shut down large parts of its internal networks after discovering the breach on Sunday, one of the people said.

The effort to contain the hackers caused chaos. Slot machines stopped working, electronic transfers of winnings slowed down, and key cards for thousands of hotel rooms no longer functioned. MGM did not respond to a request for comment.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

On August 23 the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully landed a spacecraft on the moon's south pole, a location that has always been of particular interest to scientists due to the unique conditions created by the planet's extremities.

The moon rover, Chandrayaan-3, which recently completed its 14-day mission, made history by landing on the lunar south pole. Dr. Laura McKemmish, an astrochemist from UNSW Sydney, explains the significance of the mission and what the future holds for lunar exploration.

"This is the first landing of India on the moon, and it will make India the fourth country ever to land on the moon," says Dr. McKemmish. "The ability of our global civilization to go into space exploration is really, really crucial to enable humankind as a global community to explore elsewhere in the universe."

Interest in the southern pole of the moon stems primarily from the fact that scientists have been aware of the presence of frozen water there, and locating water is a large part of Chandrayaan-3's mission. "Identifying frozen bodies of water on the moon is a really important gateway for further space discovery in our solar system."

Following a failed mission to land on the moon in 2019, India joined the US, China and the Soviet Union as only the fourth country to reach this milestone.

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/09/ai-hype-reaches-coca-cola-with-new-y3000-flavor-co-created-with-ai/

Coca-Cola has taken a fizzy leap into the future of AI hype with the release of Coca‑Cola Y3000 Zero Sugar, a "limited-edition" beverage reportedly co-created with artificial intelligence. Its futuristic name evokes flavor in the year 3000 (still 977 years away), but its marketing relies on AI-generated imagery from 2023—courtesy of the controversial image synthesis model Stable Diffusion.

Stable Diffusion, a technology that is mentioned by name when launching the "Coca-Cola Y3000 AI Cam" mobile app, gained its ability to generate images by scraping hundreds of millions of copyrighted works found on the Internet without copyright-holder permission and is currently the subject of litigation related to copyright infringement.
[...]
Coca-Cola says that the zero-sugar version of the new AI-augmented soda will be available for a limited time in "select markets" including the United States, Canada, China, Europe, and Africa. Thirsty futuristic folks in the US, Canada, and Mexico will also be able to buy an "original taste version" of Coca‑Cola Y3000 soon.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

In a controversial bid to expose supposed bias in a top journal, a US climate expert shocked fellow scientists by revealing he tailored a wildfire study to emphasize global warming.

While supporters applauded Patrick T. Brown for flagging what he called a one-sided climate "narrative" in academic publishing, his move surprised at least one of his co-authors—and angered the editors of leading journal Nature.

"I left out the full truth to get my climate change paper published," read the headline to an article signed by Brown in the news site The Free Press on September 5.

He said he deliberately focused on the impact from higher temperatures on wildfire risk in a study in the journal, excluding other factors such as land management.

"I just got published in Nature because I stuck to a narrative I knew the editors would like," the article read. "That's not the way science should work."

One of the named co-authors of the study, Steven J. Davis, a professor in the earth system science department at the University of California, Irvine, told AFP Brown's comments took him "by surprise".

"Patrick may have made decisions that he thought would help the paper be published, but we don't know whether a different paper would have been rejected," he said in an email.

"I don't think he has much evidence to support his strong claims that editors and reviewers are biased."

[...] "It is unfortunate, but not surprising, that Patrick felt like he had to be a willing participant in oversimplifying his work to have a career in science. In that long run, that is not a service to him, the field, or humanity."

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://hackaday.com/2023/09/11/cheap-lcd-uses-usb-serial/

Browsing the Asian marketplaces online is always an experience. Sometimes, you see things at ridiculously low prices. Other times, you see things and wonder who is buying them and why — a shrimp pillow? But sometimes, you see something that probably could have a more useful purpose than the proposed use case.

That's the case with the glut of "smart displays" you can find at very low prices.
[...]
Like a lot of this cheap stuff, these screens are sold under a variety of names, and apparently, there are some subtle differences. Two of the main makers of these screens are Turing and XuanFang, although you rarely see those names in the online listings. As you might expect, though, someone has reverse-engineered the protocol, and there is Python software that will replace the stock Windows software the devices use.
[...]
We are still tempted to reflash the CH552 to convert it to use a normal serial port. If you decide to give it a go, you'll need to figure out programming.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Israeli software maker Insanet has reportedly developed a commercial product called Sherlock that can infect devices via online adverts to snoop on targets and collect data about them for the biz's clients.

This is according to an investigation by Haaretz, which this week claimed the spyware system had been sold to a country that is not a democracy.

The newspaper's report, we're told, marks the first time details of Insanet and its surveillanceware have been made public. Furthermore, Sherlock is capable of drilling its way into Microsoft Windows, Google Android, and Apple iOS devices, according to cited marketing bumf.

[...] To market its snoopware, Insanet reportedly teamed up with Candiru, an Israel-based spyware maker that has been sanctioned in the US, to offer Sherlock along with Candiru's spyware – an infection of Sherlock will apparently set a client back six million euros ($6.7 million, £5.2 million), mind you.

[...] The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Director of Activism Jason Kelley said Insanet's use of advertising technology to infect devices and spy on clients' targets makes it especially worrisome. Dodgy online ads don't just provide a potential vehicle for delivering malware, such as via carefully crafted images or JavaScript in the ads that exploit vulnerabilities in browsers and OSes, they can be used to go after specific groups of people – such as those who are interested in open source code, or who frequently travel to Asia – that someone might be interested in snooping on.