SoylentNews

A company in Canada called Lyrebird has a new technology that can imitate any voice using a 60 second sound sample

The Montreal based startup in AI has presented a voice imitation algorithm that the team says can mimic the speech and also shift its emotional cadence — and all this with just a tiny snippet of real world audio.

So if you think fake news online is bad now, wait until there’s a tech that lets anyone generate a ‘recording’ of a person apparently incriminating themselves, trivially easily.

The company will release a online API later so that people can try the technology for themselves. Likely under some freemium model. The team has been working for more than a year on the technology at the MILA lab of the University in Montréal, and is being advised by the AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio.

CRISPR gene-editing tool causes unintended genetic mutations

CRISPR from 1987 which is a efficient and widely used DNA modification technique has been found to modify more than desired. The next mishap may very well be the one that create a superbug. Be it something like flue pandemic of 1918 etc.

In examining the entire genome from the CRISPR-treated mice, they found that the tool had successfully corrected the specific gene they were targeting, but it also potentially caused a great deal of other genetic changes. In two CRISPR-treated animals, more than 100 large gene deletions or insertions and over 1,500 single-nucleotide mutations were identified.

UPDATE: Intel Announces 4 to 18-Core Skylake-X CPUs

Previously, rumor had it that Intel would pit 12-core Skylake enthusiast processors against AMD Ryzen chips with up to 16 cores. Now, a new rumor/leak adds 14, 16, and 18 core chips to the Intel lineup. They don't appear to be Xeons either.

This isn't substantial enough for me to make a submission for it, but it's interesting. Of course, while this may be a bit of a slap in the face to AMD, it's not like Intel hasn't made 18-core (Xeon) chips before, and pricing for the 18 core, 36 thread chip could be outrageous (do I hear $2,500?).

$2,500 is just a guess, but I checked and the Intel Xeon E5-2697V4 Broadwell with 18 cores has an RCP of $2,702 and is $2,799.99 on Newegg.

I'll predict $1,250 for an AMD Ryzen 16-core.

(oblig)

Researchers at U.C. Berkeley has found a birth control that is hormone free, fully natural, resulted in no known side effects so far, is harmless to eggs and sperm, could be used both in the long and short-term, and it can be used either before or after conception, from ancient Chinese folk medicine... "Because these two plant compounds block fertilization at very, very low concentrations -- about 10 times lower than levels of levonorgestrel in Plan B -- they could be a new generation of emergency contraceptive we nicknamed 'molecular condoms,'" team leader Polina Lishko.

The active compounds are pregnenolone sulfate — and the two plant-derived inhibitors pristimerin and lupeol. According to the publication.

And they work by blocking ABHD2 that signals to sperms to move faster. However these compounds hit a target that is important for many cell types in the body. So these compounds are no "magic bullet" and a better comparison is that of carpet bombing.

The chemicals they studied is supposedly extracted from mangoes and dandelion roots.

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1700367114
(useful for those scientific hubs..)

I'm no longer homeless - I've been in a subsidized apartment for a year.

The program is called "Permanent Assistive Housing". That means I could live here for the rest of my life without paying a dime. Ultimately the cost is borne by the American Taxpayer through the Federal Housing And Urban Development Administration.

However I have a really good consulting client. I cancelled my food stamps a couple months ago. I no longer have Medicare - last month was my first month of paying for Obamacare.

Because my income is very uneven, the agency which got me the housing - Community Services Northwest is waiting until August before I'm responsible for paying the rent.

Should I be out of work again, the American Taxpayer will pick up the tab.

I presently have five grand in the bank. I figured I'd spread the love by subscribing here. I'm also going to subscribe to Radio Paradise.

I expect to donate some to the Portland homeless shelters that kept me out of the rain and snow, but haven't decided yet how much to give them.

Unfortunately I've got to find a new shrink. Molina's health insurance won't pay for CSNW's Program for Assertive Community Treatment. My understanding is that the PACT Team is for the extra-special crazies. I've always wanted that feeling of belonging to something.

I expect Molina will cover a once per month visit to a psychiatrist. I'm doing well these days; once per month for a medication adjustment should be just fine.

BBC:
British Airways (BA) computer systems that handles tickets and vacation of gates is not working. BA has cancelled all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick until 17:00 UTC because of computer problems.

A "major IT system failure that is causing very severe disruption to our flight operations worldwide", BA said. They apologized for the "global system outage" and said it was "working to resolve the the problem".

Heathrow Airport said it was "working closely" with BA to solve the issue. The problems mean parts of BA's website are unavailable and some travellers claimed they could not check in on the mobile app.

BA aircraft landing at Heathrow are unable to park up as outbound aircraft cannot vacate the gates, which has resulted in passengers being stuck on aircraft. Heathrow advised passengers to check the status of their flight before travelling to the airport.

BA staff in Heathrow's Terminal 5 were resorting to using white boards, according to passenger Gareth Wharton.

Delays have also been reported in Rome, Prague, Milan, Stockholm and Malaga due to the system failure. Philip Bloom said he had been waiting on board a Heathrow-bound flight at Belfast for two hours and added: "We haven't been told very much just that there is a worldwide computer system failure. "We were told that we couldn't even get on other flights because they are unable to see what flights we can be moved to."

The BBC's Phillip Norton is at Rome International airport, where he has been waiting to fly to London. He said BA staff were unable to say how long delays would be, telling him "all flights are grounded around the world". Alma Saffari is in Marseille waiting to get her flight back to Heathrow and said: "When we finally boarded the captain came out and told us their computer systems were down worldwide. "Eventually after sitting on the tarmac for 1 and a half hours we disembarked the plane. /../ Now we are sitting in the departure area outside the gate."

Ms Saffari, who is with her 13-month-old baby, said she had been given a voucher for food and drink.

The Sun:
There were reports of BA staff telling disgruntled passengers trying to get away for the Bank Holiday weekend that the company was under cyber attack but this has been denied by the airline. Passenger Jo Josson said: "Officials are telling us there has been a cyber attack against BA's systems. Even the tannoy is affected."

"It appears it is a cyber attack" said @British_Airways captain @Gatwick_Airport.

Londoner Terry Page, 28, was booked on a flight to Texas but was left stuck in a queue at Terminal 5 in Heathrow Airport for two hours and said "I tried to use their website to get a screenshot of my boarding pass - but the website isn't working either.

britishairways.com seems to work now at 17:01 UTC.

Anybody knows what OS and software they really run for this system?

Fight club: Russian spies seek EU recruits

Russian intelligence services are using martial arts clubs to recruit potential troublemakers in Germany and other EU countries, security experts have warned.

The number of clubs is higher than previously reported and the “sleeper cells” could stage violent provocations ahead of the upcoming German elections, they said.

[...] The martial arts clubs, which teach an offensive style called “systema”, all have “direct or indirect” links to the GRU military intelligence or FSB domestic intelligence services in Russia, according to Dmitrij Chmelnizki, a scholar of Russian espionage who lives in Berlin.

I leggings verranno messi fuorilegge: sono ‘’atti osceni’’ in luogo pubblico translation "Leggings will be outlawed: they are "obscene acts" in a public place"

Machine translation:

"Leggings will be outlawed": the female chief of clothing may soon be subject to a restrictive rule of law. The reason? They are considered obscene and comparable to 'obscene acts in a public place'. If you think that the proposal comes from some country with deep Muslim religious fundamentalism, you are wrong: the bill comes from the US state of Montana.

Republican David Moore, in fact, has proposed legislation, the Billboard House Bill 365, which would like to ban "yoga pants" - so called because used by women to do yoga or gymnastics - as "indecent" clothing not to be worn in place Public because they would put too much emphasis on the side b. If passed, the law may also affect other garments that show the breasts or other parts of the provocative body.

It's Polyamorous Polysaturation — Unconventional Relationships Abound On TV

Listened to a bit of it on the radio, found the text version.

Huawei Matebook 2017 Launch Live Blog: Starts 2pm CEST (8am ET)

Huawei Launching Two New Clamshell Laptops: The MateBook X and the MateBook D

Huawei Launches the MateBook E 2-in-1: The Next Generation (compare to Surface Pro 5)

Or at the extreme end, would you only buy Purism? Or this thing?