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Submission + - Senator Bernie Sanders Asks NSA If Agency Is Spying On Congress (foxnews.com) 3

Submitted by cold fjord
cold fjord writes: Fox News reports, "A U.S. senator on Friday pressed the National Security Agency on whether its controversial spying practices extend to monitoring members of Congress. “Has the NSA spied, or is the NSA currently spying, on members of Congress or other American elected officials?” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., asked in a letter to NSA Director Gen. Keith Alexander released from the senator’s office. Sanders, a self-described “democratic socialist,” defines spying as monitoring the phone calls, emails and internet traffic of elected officials."

Submission + - AOL Sells Winamp And Shoutcast Music Services To Online Radio Aggregator Radiono (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by VISBOT NETWORK
VISBOT NETWORK writes: Some more detail on the fate of Winamp and Shoutcast, the legacy digital music services that owner AOL originally planned to shut down but then halted pending a sale. The properties are instead being acquired by Radionomy — an international aggregator of online radio stations headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

Submission + - The Future of Neural Networks & MLaaS: Dave Sullivan Interview (datascienceweekly.org)

Submitted by hrb1979
hrb1979 writes: Thought I'd share this interview with Dave Sullivan, founder of Ersatz and machine learning aficionado. His story (he is a history major, for whom machine learning became first a hobby then an obsession), insights on how the machine learning space is evolving, and perspectives on how different industries can benefit are both interesting and inspiring. A recent article shed a little light on what he is working on, though this interview provides much more color on the future of neural networks and MLaaS.

Comment See Tom's Hardware for a second positive review. (Score 1) 373

by thebiss (#44516379) Attached to: Hybrid Hard Drives Just Need 8GB of NAND

TomsHardware performed a thorough review of a Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Hard Drives. I recommend reading it.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/momentus-xt-750gb-review,3223.html

Their conclusion:

"Really, the only time Seagate's Momentus XT slowed down drastically compared to an SSD was when we installed the operating system and applications. Once everything was fully loaded, however, performance rapidly improved as the drive's software algorithms pulled the most frequently-access data into flash, bestowing very SSD-like qualities to it. At that point, it was frankly hard to tell the difference during most common tasks. "

The radar plot at the end shows the mix of compromises, and the performance suggests it's worth a look if you're otherwise buying large capacity.

Comment Could be the demographic, not the company. (Score 1) 1121

by thebiss (#43419109) Attached to: USPS Discriminates Against 'Atheist' Merchandise

It might just be that if you label things atheist, USPS employees are less likely to care about it, as is their management. I wonder what would happen if they shipped "Jewish" shoes in Palestine, or "Palestinian" shoes in Isreal?

I suspect the moral of the story is if you run against the social grain, insure your shipments.
NASA

Submission + - Purdue Students Give NASA Lander Boost (engadget.com)

Submitted by
tekgoblin
tekgoblin writes: "This one strikes right at home:

We just learned of NASA's end-of-decade plans to rocket astronauts into deep space for exploratory missions to Mars and beyond. Now, we're getting a peek at the Purdue University-designed lander tech that'll plant our space fleet's feet firmly on terra incognita. What originally started as a senior research project for grad students Thomas Feldman and Andrew Rettenmaier, has now blossomed into a joint research endeavor for the federal space agency's Project Morpheus — a think tank for trips to heretofore unexplored celestial bodies. The in-development propulsion tech, now undergoing testing at the university's Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories, is required to "meet stringent design and performance" standards, but most importantly, needs to lift the fuel-depleted lander post-descent. You'd think scientific work of this magnitude would come with a hefty paycheck, but the student team behind it all's just doing it for the hands-on knowledge. Sure beats your summer internship at that magazine, huh?"
Google

Submission + - Judge rules Java class names not copyright (techworld.com.au) 1

Submitted by
angry tapir
angry tapir writes: "A federal judge threw out a small part of Oracle's Java lawsuit against Google on Thursday but allowed the bulk of the case to proceed. The judge rejected the bulk of Google's arguments but did agree to throw out one of Oracle's claims in the case. US District Judge William Alsup agreed with Google that the company had not violated Oracle's copyright by using Java method, class, API and package names that Oracle said were copyright-protected."
Hardware

Submission + - Why built-in car navigation is a ripoff (extremetech.com) 2

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "As portable GPS systems free-fall below $200, automakers stubbornly keep prices of onboard navigation at $1500 to $2000. There are a host of reasons why and they help explain but hardly excuse the bloated pricing of embedded navigation. Some auto analysts say $1000 is the most you can justify for first-class onboard navigation and sooner or later that may be the most, not least you’ll pay for the superiority of built-in navigation. There’s increasing sentiment within the industry that you are indeed getting ripped off today buying navigation systems. Why do in-car solutions cost so much? Integration with existing infotainment systems costs a lot, the generally-larger LCD screen isn't cheap, and even the increased-duration warranty adds to the cost. Realistically, though, if the unit costs more than $1,000, you're getting ripped off — but some upcoming cars from the likes of Hyundai look set to finally bring down the price."

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