67835397
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
Reuters reports that flights from Heathrow and Gatwick airports have been shut down "due to a computer failure". The information comes from European air traffic control body Eurocontrol. No word as yet as to the nature of the failure. Incoming flights are still being accommodated.
67671741
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
A new report claims that almost a quarter of the "clicks" registered by digital advertisements are, in fact, from robots created by cyber crime networks to siphon off advertising dollars. The scale and sophistication of the attacks which were discovered caught the investigators by surprise. As one said, "What no one was anticipating is that the bots are extremely effective of looking like a high value consumer."
67436007
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
Simon Phipps has done a little sleuthing after finding a slew of support requests for Apache OpenOffice coming from iOS users. Problem is, there is no version of OO for iOS. Phipps soon found that a fraudulent app was being offered on the Apple App Store website. In short order he found more such phony offerings. So, what does this say of Apple's vaunted vetting of App Store apps?
67433733
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
In a bid to make the venerable AK-47 assault rifle more appealing to a wider segment of the market, Kalashnikov has given its cornerstone product a makeover. No longer the exclusive province of Communists and revolutionaries, the AK-47 is now found in the sporting market, worldwide. Kalashnikov's move, which includes a new logo, is said to stem from a desire to appeal to more foreign buyers. As Kalashnikov CEO Alexei Krivoruchko said, "The US market was very important for us." The new look was rolled out in a glitzy event in Moscow.
67381025
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
In a departure from his usual focus on theoretical physics, the estimable Steven Hawking has posited that the development of artificial intelligence could pose a threat to the existence of the human race. His words, "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." Rollo Carpenter, creator of the Cleverbot, offered a less dire assessment, "We cannot quite know what will happen if a machine exceeds our own intelligence, so we can't know if we'll be infinitely helped by it, or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it." I'm betting on 'ignored'.
67327141
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
South Korea has instituted large fines for selling unregistered "selfie-sticks". The problem arises because many of the devices are using Bluetooth radio spectrum, and must be certified to do so legally. Expressing doubts that the regulations and stiff fines will influence sales, one official said of them, "It's not going to affect anything in any meaningful way, but it is nonetheless a telecommunication device subject to regulation, and that means we are obligated to crack down on uncertified ones,"
67150943
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
Britain's National Museum of Computing has flipped the switch on the venerable Edsac computer. The arduous task of reconstructing the 1949 behemoth, fraught with little in terms of the original hardware or documentation, was brought to fruition on Wednesday. As project lead, Andrew Herbert, is quoted as saying, "We face the same challenges as those remarkable pioneers who succeeded in building a machine that transformed computing." A remarkably shaky video of the event, replete with excellent views of the floor at the videographer's feet, can be found here.
66838769
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
Using machine learning techniques, Google claims to have produced software that can better produce natural-language descriptions of images. This has ramifications for uses such as better image search and for better describing the images for the blind. As the Google people put it, "A picture may be worth a thousands words, but sometimes it's the words that are the most useful..."
66789083
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
The commissioners at the FCC are expected to vote, on December 11, on a proposal by Chairman Tom Wheeler to increase the funding for the nation's largest educational technology subsidy program, E-Rate, by 62 percent. The proposal is intended to be paid for by higher fees on phone service. The increased cost is pegged at $1.92 a year, per telephone line. Support for the proposal, or lack thereof, appears to be falling along partisan lines. To quote Wheeler, however, "Almost two-thirds of American schools cannot appropriately connect their students to the 21st century." National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García adds, "Today's announcement will go a long way to help level the digital playing field for our country's students and ensuring equity."
66739801
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
The commissioners at the FCC are expected to vote, on December 11, on a proposal by Chairman Tom Wheeler to increase the funding for the nation's largest educational technology subsidy program, E-Rate, by 62 percent. The proposal is intended to be paid for by higher fees on phone service. The increased cost is pegged at $1.92 a year, per telephone line. Support for the proposal, or lack thereof, appears to be falling along partisan lines. To quote Wheeler, however, "Almost two-thirds of American schools cannot appropriately connect their students to the 21st century." National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García adds, "Today's announcement will go a long way to help level the digital playing field for our country's students and ensuring equity."
66446641
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
Groupon has announced they will work with the GNOME Foundation to come to a satisfactory resolution over the recent naming controversy that had the open source community up in arms. Their statement is appended to this Engaget article. Bottom line, "... if we can't come up with a mutually acceptable solution, we'll be glad to look for another name."
My question is, does this represent Gnu thinking on the part of Groupon?
65823083
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
The New York Times is reporting that pharmacy chains Rite Aid and CVS Health have disabled Apple Pay in their stores, this weekend. Speculation is that this move is to support the rival MCX (Merchant Customer Exchange) e-payment system. Rite Aid and CVS are both members of the consortium backing MCX.
65089263
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered Boeing to replace Honeywell-built cockpit screens that could be affected by wi-fi transmissions. Additionally, the FAA has expressed concerns that other frequencies, such as used by air surveillance and weather radar, could disrupt the displays. The systems involved report airspeed, altitude, heading and pitch and roll to the crew, and the agency stated that a failure could cause a crash.
Meanwhile, the order is said to affect over 1,300 aircraft, and some airlines are baulking, since the problem has never been seen in operation, that the order presents "a high, and unnecessary, financial burden on operators".
64940205
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
Researchers, at the University of Rochester, have developed a remarkably effective visual cloak using a relatively simple arrangement of optical lenses. The method is unique in that it uses off-the-shelf components and provides cloaking through the visible spectrum. Also, it works in 3-D. As one researcher put it, "This is the first device that we know of that can do three-dimensional, continuously multidirectional cloaking, which works for transmitting rays in the visible spectrum." Bonus: The article includes instructions to build your own.
64784115
submission
Rambo Tribble writes:
It is being reported that forest detritus, contaminated in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster [abstract], is decaying at a much slower rate than normal, building up and creating a significant fire risk. This, in turn, is creating a real potential for the residual radioactive material to be distributed, through smoke, over a broad area of Europe and Russia. Looking at different possible fire intensities, researchers speculate, "20 to 240 people would likely develop cancer, of which 10 to 170 cases may be fatal". These figures are similar to those hypothesized for Fukushima.
