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Submission + - Supreme Court Nominee Kavanaugh Opposes Net Neutrality (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Beardydog
Beardydog writes: An article currently on Ars Technica examines comments about Net Neutrality issues by recent Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh not only rejects the FCC's reclassification of ISPs under Title II, but seems to also support a broad First Amendment right to "editorial control," allowing ISPs to selectively block, filter, or modify transmitted data.

Kavanaugh compares ISPs to cable TV operators, rather than phone companies. "Deciding whether and how to transmit ESPN and deciding whether and how to transmit ESPN.com are not meaningfully different for First Amendment purposes."

Submission + - Most Americans Think AI Will Destroy Other People's Jobs, Not Theirs (theverge.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of U.S. adults believe artificial intelligence will “eliminate more jobs than it creates,” according to a Gallup survey. But, the same survey found that less than a quarter (23 percent) of people were “worried” or “very worried” automation would affect them personally. Notably, these figures vary depending on education. For respondents with only a four-year college degree or less, 28 percent were worried about AI taking their job; for people with at least a bachelor degree, that figure was 15 percent. These numbers tell a familiar story. They come from a Gallup survey of more than 3,000 individuals on automation and AI. New details were released this week, but they echo the findings of earlier reports. The newly released findings from Gallup’s survey also show that by one measure, the use of AI is already widespread in the U.S. Nearly nine out of 10 Americans (85 percent) use at least one of six devices or services that use features of artificial intelligence, says Gallup. Eighty-four percent of people use navigation apps like Waze, and 72 percent use streaming services like Netflix. Forty-seven percent use digital assistants on their smartphones, and 22 percent use them on devices like Amazon’s Echo.

Submission + - FBI Again Calls For Magical Solution To Break Into Encrypted Phones (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: FBI Director Christopher Wray again has called for a solution to what the bureau calls the "Going Dark" problem, the idea that the prevalence of default strong encryption on digital devices makes it more difficult for law enforcement to extract data during an investigation. However, in a Wednesday speech at Boston College, Wray again did not outline any specific piece of legislation or technical solution that would provide both strong encryption and allow the government to access encrypted devices when it has a warrant. A key escrow system, with which the FBI or another entity would be able to unlock a device given a certain set of circumstances, is by definition weaker than what cryptographers would traditionally call "strong encryption." There's also the problem of how to compel device and software makers to impose such a system on their customers—similar efforts were attempted during the Clinton administration, but they failed. A consensus of technical experts has said that what the FBI has asked for is impossible.

Submission + - US Calls Broadcom's Bid For Qualcomm a National Security Risk (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The United States government said Broadcom’s proposed acquisition of rival chipmaker Qualcomm could pose a national security risk and called for a full investigation into the hostile bid. The move complicates an already contentious deal and increases the likelihood that Broadcom, which is based in Singapore, will end its pursuit of Qualcomm. Such an investigation is often a death knell for a corporate acquisition. A government panel, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or Cfius, noted, in part, that the potential risk was related to Broadcom’s relationships with foreign entities, according to a letter from a United States Treasury official. It also said that the deal could weaken “Qualcomm’s technological leadership,” giving an edge to Chinese companies like Huawei. “China would likely compete robustly to fill any void left by Qualcomm as a result of this hostile takeover,” the official said in the letter. The letter and the public call for an investigation reflects a newly aggressive stance by Cfius. In most cases, the panel operates in secret and weighs in after a deal is announced. In this instance, Cfius, which is made up of representatives from multiple federal agencies, is taking a proactive role and investigating before an acquisition agreement has even been signed.

Submission + - Autonomous Uber trucks moving freight in Arizona (cnet.com)

Submitted by nasch
nasch writes: Uber is operating a program to move freight within Arizona using autonomous trucks.

"It'll work this way: A regular semi truck with a human driver will load up its trailer at a city port or other loading area and drive to a transfer station, like Topok. There, the freight gets transferred to one of Uber's self-driving trucks, which will then drive it long-distance across the state to another transfer station. A regular big rig with a human driver will take over again and drive the trailer the final short haul into an urban area."

Key fact: "Uber always has a safety operator who's a licensed truck driver at the wheel of the self-driving trucks."

Comment Re:Ever seen...? (Score 1) 164

by Beardydog (#45350073) Attached to: Gate One Will Support X11: Fast Enough To Run VLC In Your Browser
I wasn't trying to sell it to you, just answering the question in the headline. I have seen a streamer fast enough that I often use it to play unsupported video on an iPad (I'd rather do things like that locally than use one of the many "cloud browsers" that used to get articles here when iOS's lack of Flash was still worth talking about) , and have played a little Fallout 3 on it when the TV was in use. It's also worth noting that the streamer does run on Linux: http://www.splashtop.com/linux

Benefits aside, I've come to hate a Splashtop as a company, and they manage to make the software progressively worse with each update. If there were a FOSS alternative, I'd switch in a heartbeat.

Comment Re:Ever seen...? (Score 2) 164

by Beardydog (#45349973) Attached to: Gate One Will Support X11: Fast Enough To Run VLC In Your Browser
They do have an Ubuntu package for the streamer, at least, or they used to. But not a client? I don't know. I've only ever needed to connect to Lonux, never from.

http://www.splashtop.com/linux

As for trust, yeah, no. My understanding is that the first version did, in fact, stream your screen completely unencrypted over the internet for remote sessions. And they charge a subscription for remote connections. Ridiculous. Which is why I use a VPN when I stream, and never log into their awful account system.

Comment Re:Distortions (Score 2) 55

by Beardydog (#45213665) Attached to: Improved Image Quality For HMDs Like Oculus Rift
It's not a lens problem. The lenses are trying to correct for the fact that current games display 3D images meant for display on flat surfaces. The lense is there to distort to image and make it wrap around your eyes, but the portion of the image you're wrapping is distorted and lacking detail, even before the lens smears it across your peripheral vision. This is a method for making the initial image much better and full of data so that less aggressive smearing is necessary, and the per-smear image has more data in it to begin with.

Comment Better for Multi-Monitor Gaming (Score 4, Interesting) 55

by Beardydog (#45213129) Attached to: Improved Image Quality For HMDs Like Oculus Rift
Oculus Rift is one of the greatest products ever, and Ima let you finish, but this is even better for multi-monitor gaming.

At least Oculus Rift had identified and addressed the problem of distortion, even though their solution loses image quality. Multi-monitor gaming has been garbage for a decade because everyone seems content with horrific distortion at large FOVs.

I know, it's all a matter of screen placement and eye positioning. That's dumb. I want a wrap-around image. I want to aim a projector at each of three walls and have the result make sense.

If you've tried Fisheye Quake, you know it's hell on your system, and still doesn't look great. If this technique is at all performance, everyone needs to start shipping with support, and they need to start yesterday.
United Kingdom

UK Court Orders Two Sisters Must Receive MMR Vaccine 699

Posted by samzenpus from the protecting-the-herd dept.
rnws writes "The BBC reports that an English High Court judge has ruled that sisters aged 15 and 11 must have the MMR vaccine even though they and their mother do not want it. The High Court decision, made last month, came after the girls' father brought a case seeking vaccination. When outlining her decision in the latest case, Mrs Justice Theis emphasized it was a specific case 'only concerned with the welfare needs of these children', but lawyers say as one of a series it confirms there is no longer any debate about the benefits of the vaccine."

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