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Submission + - Snowden's handler criticizes universities' funding-driven collaboration with NSA (thestack.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Speaking at 'Secrecy Week' at the University of Utah, one of the two journalists who helped disseminate Edward Snowden's revelations about the scope of National Security Agency surveillance has criticized [http://www.sltrib.com/home/2331830-155/utah-data-center-has-ominous-role?fullpage=1] universities which open up their campuses to government agencies in exchange for funding. Ex-Guardian journalist and lawyer Glenn Greenwald, one of Snowden's first contacts after his flight from the NSA, commented: "That sort of subverts the concept of universities'. The statement has some implicit criticism of the University of Utah, which provides a curriculum for students intended to lead to work at Utah's NSA data center at Bluffdale.

Submission + - The Solar System is Awash in Water (nasa.gov)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: NASA has published an article detailing the vast amount of water found on other worlds in our solar system. "There are several worlds thought to possess liquid water beneath their surfaces, and many more that have water in the form of ice or vapor. Water is found in primitive bodies like comets and asteroids, and dwarf planets like Ceres. The atmospheres and interiors of the four giant planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — are thought to contain enormous quantities of the wet stuff, and their moons and rings have substantial water ice. Perhaps the most surprising water worlds are the five icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn that show strong evidence of oceans beneath their surfaces: Ganymede, Europa and Callisto at Jupiter, and Enceladus and Titan at Saturn." They've released an inforgraphic to accompany the article. It's also bolstered by new research from the Niels Bohr Institute, which confirmed that glaciers on Mars do contain a large quantity of water ice. These glaciers are separate from the ice caps, existing in belts closer to the planet's equator. This ice has a total volume of roughly 150 billion cubic meters — enough to cover the entirety of Mars' surface with one meter of ice (abstract).

Submission + - Giant Bust Of Edward Snowden Erected In A Brooklyn Park (huffingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A giant sculpture of National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden was installed in a Brooklyn park early Monday morning. A group of unidentified artists wearing yellow construction vests erected the 100-pound, bronze patina bust atop a stone column at the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument in Fort Greene Park before dawn Monday. On the bottom of the column, capital letters spell out Snowdenâ(TM)s name in a font similar to one often used on war memorials.

Submission + - Planes Without Pilots

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: John Markoff writes in the NYT that in the aftermath of the co-pilot crashing a Germanwings plane into a mountain, aviation experts are beginning to wonder if human pilots are really necessary aboard commercial planes. Advances in sensor technology, computing and artificial intelligence are making human pilots less necessary than ever in the cockpit and government agencies are already experimenting with replacing the co-pilot, perhaps even both pilots on cargo planes, with robots or remote operators. What the Germanwings crash “has done has elevated the question of should there or not be ways to externally control commercial aircraft,” says Mary Cummings. NASA is exploring a related possibility: moving the co-pilot out of the cockpit on commercial flights, and instead using a single remote operator to serve as co-pilot for multiple aircraft. In this scenario, a ground controller might operate as a dispatcher managing a dozen or more flights simultaneously. It would be possible for the ground controller to “beam” into individual planes when needed and to land a plane remotely in the event that the pilot became incapacitated — or worse. “Could we have a single-pilot aircraft with the ability to remotely control the aircraft from the ground that is safer than today’s systems?" asks Cummings. "The answer is yes.”

Automating that job may save money. But will passengers ever set foot on plane piloted by robots, or humans thousands of miles from the cockpit? In written testimony submitted to the Senate last month, the Air Line Pilots Association warned, “It is vitally important that the pressure to capitalize on the technology not lead to an incomplete safety analysis of the aircraft and operations.” The association defended the unique skills of a human pilot: “A pilot on board an aircraft can see, feel, smell or hear many indications of an impending problem (PDF) and begin to formulate a course of action before even sophisticated sensors and indicators provide positive indications of trouble.” Not all of the scientists and engineers believe that increasingly sophisticated planes will always be safer planes. "Technology can have costs of its own,” says Amy Pritchett. “If you put more technology in the cockpit, you have more technology that can fail.”

Submission + - Snowden statue in NY (marketwatch.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A statue of Snowden showed up in Brooklyn. As quickly as it showed up, it was even more quickly removed. Apart from this, the bust was also hidden by a blue tarp so that New Yorkers do not get any ideas.
  Still, it is nice to see civil disobedience did not completely die in this nation.

Submission + - Your Porn Is Watching You 2

Submitted by merbs
merbs writes: Thirty million Americans regularly watch porn online. That’s a lot more than fess up to it, even in anonymous surveys: In 2013, just 12 percent of people asked copped to watching internet porn at all. But thanks to pervasive online tracking and browser fingerprinting, the brazen liars of America may not have a say in whether their porn habits stay secret. Porn watchers everywhere are being tracked, and if software engineer Brett Thomas is right, it would be easy to out them, along with an extensive list of every clip they’ve viewed.

Submission + - Why I Ditched My Credit Cards for Cash (huffingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "About three years ago, I gave up my credit cards for cold-hard-cash. And not just any cash, but moola with makeup. That's right, I have started to legally rubber stamp dollar bills with messages like "Not To Be Used For Bribing Politicians" in order to build grassroots demand for common sense reforms to get big money out of politics and restore a government of, for, and by the people." --Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's

Submission + - Neural Modularity Helps Organisms Evolve to Learn New Skills without Forgetting (youtube.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A long-standing goal in artificial intelligence (AI) is creating computational brain models (neural networks) that learn what to do in new situations. An obstacle is that agents typically learn new skills only by losing previously acquired skills. Here we test whether such forgetting is reduced by evolving modular neural networks, meaning networks with many distinct subgroups of neurons. Modularity intuitively should help because learning can be selectively turned on only in the module learning the new task. We confirm this hypothesis: modular networks have higher overall performance because they learn new skills faster while retaining old skills more. Our results suggest that one benefit of modularity in natural animal brains may be allowing learning without forgetting.

Comment Re:Fascist (Score -1) 289

There is no aspect of your life this president KNOWS he cannot control. There, fixed it for you. Obama is your Emperor-God and you should consider yourself lucky you have not been disappeared for daring to even thinking to criticize him. You should be on the streets right now, screaming your neverending fealty to Lord Obama the Magnificent and Merciful, pledging your loyalty, affirming your willingness to destroy his enemies and to give your life for his eternal glory. Or are you a republithug? Why aren't you now on a flight to Moscow, where you will assemble a suicide jacked and blow yourself up to kill the traitor Snowden, may his bones be ground to dust, while screaming "OBAMAHU AKBAR"?

Submission + - Chinese internet addicts pay for digital detox in military-style bootcamps

Submitted by Press2ToContinue
Press2ToContinue writes: Last year, China recognized internet addiction as an official disorder. Since then, over 6,000 patients have submitted themselves for treatment, after some spent up to 14 hours a day online

And as these amazing pictures show, dealing with it is serious. The Daxing Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC) is a military-style bootcamp nestled in the suburbs of Bejing.

The young men that enter its doors are subjected to a strict military regime of exercise, medication and solitary confinement. Any kind of electronic gadgetry is completely banned. Additionally, patients are frequently subjected psychiatric assessments and brain scans to make sure they stay on the straight and narrow.

And if you're thinking it's just an extreme reaction by the Chinese, think again. The western world is following suit. Last year, a man was treated in the US after spending 18 hours a day using Google Glass.

Despite it's recent official classification, Is internet addition a real disorder? Or is it a red herring masking depression and escapism? And to make things more indeterminate, Isn't more and more time online the inevitable future?

And the concept is gaining steam, the first Internet Congress on Internet Addiction Disorders was held in Milan in early 2014.

Submission + - This Is Big: A Robo-Car Just Drove Across the Country (wired.com)

Submitted by Press2ToContinue
Press2ToContinue writes: AN AUTONOMOUS CAR just drove across the country.

Nine days after leaving San Francisco, a blue car packed with tech from a company you’ve probably never heard of rolled into New York City after crossing 15 states and 3,400 miles to make history. The car did 99 percent of the driving on its own, yielding to the carbon-based life form behind the wheel only when it was time to leave the highway and hit city streets.

This amazing feat, by the automotive supplier Delphi, underscores the great leaps this technology has taken in recent years, and just how close it is to becoming a part of our lives. Yes, many regulatory and legislative questions must be answered, and it remains to be seen whether consumers are ready to cede control of their cars, but the hardware is, without doubt, up to the task.

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