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Submission + - Facebook removes Patriot Prayer pages in bid to halt 'violent social militias' (theguardian.com) 1

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Facebook has taken down the pages of US right-wing group Patriot Prayer and its founder Joey Gibson, a company spokesman said, as part of efforts to remove “violent social militias” from the platform. Patriot Prayer has hosted dozens of pro-gun, pro-Trump rallies and attendees have repeatedly clashed with leftwing groups around Portland, Oregon, where one supporter of the group was killed this week. The victim, 39-year-old Aaron Danielson, was walking home on Saturday night after a pro-Trump demonstration in the city when he was shot. The company updated its policies last month to ban groups that demonstrate significant risks to public safety. Its dangerous organisations policy now includes groups that celebrate violent acts or suggest they will use weapons, even if they are not directly organising violence.

Submission + - SPAM: NASA increases cost estimate for SLS development, again

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: In an Aug. 27 blog post, Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said the agency was moving ahead with SLS development with the goal of a first launch of the heavy-lift rocket no later than November 2021.

In her statement, Lueders said NASA had increased the cost estimate for the development of the SLS and Exploration Ground Systems (EGS), the ground infrastructure needed to support SLS launches. For SLS, the “development baseline cost” is now $9.1 billion, while for EGS that cost estimate is now $2.4 billion.

NASA didn’t state by how much the programs’ costs increased. A U.S. Government Accountability Office report published in April assessing NASA’s major programs estimated the development cost of SLS at $8.75 billion and EGS development cost at $2.33 billion, both as of January. The new estimates represent increases of 4% for SLS and 3% for EGS over those in the GAO report.

However, both programs have seen their costs soar since NASA estimated baselines in 2014. At that time, NASA estimated an SLS development cost of $7.02 billion and EGS development cost of $1.84 billion.

The new estimates are both approximately 30% above the original baseline cost estimates. That is the threshold to trigger a formal congressional notification and rebaselining of the program. “NASA has notified Congress of these new commitments,” Lueders said in her statement.

A March report by NASA’s Office of Inspector General argued that the SLS program had already hit the 30% threshold required for notification and review. That report argued that NASA had removed nearly $1 billion in costs for the vehicle’s solid rocket boosters and RS-25 engines, but did not adjust the baseline cost estimate accordingly.

Who thinks SpaceX couldn't do the SLS mission at half the cost and in half the time?
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Nano-diamond self-charging batteries using C14 radioactive waste (newatlas.com) 1

Submitted by Heart44
Heart44 writes: There is a lot of C14 radioactive waste from graphite rods that is expensive to store. This graphite according to the article can be converted to C14 diamonds covered in C12 diamonds. C14 has a half-life of 5,700 years, so such batteries would last a long time and are supposedly safe. Sounds like an April fool but ...

Submission + - Web browsing history uniquely identifies users (schneier.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers from Mozilla report in a study that web browsing histories (the lists of user visited websites) are uniquely identifying users. In their study that was the case for 99% users. Treating web browsing histories like fingerprint, the researchers analysed how the users can be reidentified just based on the coarsened list of user-visited websites. .

In doing so they upheld and confirmed a previous study from 2011, prompting the author of the original study to say that web browsing histories are now personal data subject to privacy regulations like the GDPR.

Sensitivity of web browsing history data questions the laws allowing ISPs to sell web browsing histories

Submission + - The Golden Age of computer user groups (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Esther Schindler
Esther Schindler writes: The Home-brew computer club where the Apple I got its start is deservedly famous. But throughout the 80s and into the 90s, computer user groups around the world helped hapless users figure out their computer systems, learn about technology trends, and get product demonstrations of the latest whiz-bang applications. Ready for a step into the wayback machine?
 

Submission + - SPAM: Mars Map With Water: Incredible Terraforming Image Shows Elon Musk's Dream

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: WHAT WOULD MARS LOOK LIKE if most of its surface was covered with water? Thanks to a new project released this week, we may have a better idea.

A new map shows what the red planet would look like if 71 percent of its surface area was covered with water — around the same proportion as Earth.

The results are spectacular: it shows two distinct landmasses forming, each of which would seem to form continents. While the left side shows a dramatic, mountainous terrain that includes Olympus Mons, the right side seems to offer more flatlands that include planes like Terra Sabaea.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - SpaceX's Starship SN5 testbed successfully makes 150m controlled flight (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Zitchas
Zitchas writes: Tuesday evening SpaceX launched a testbed system which flew 150m into the air, hovered, and made a controlled landing. This testbed is noteworthy for being made out of stainless steel, as well as for being powered by a single off-center raptor engine. It demonstrates that the propulsion system can successfully compensate for the off-balanced propulsion via vectored thrust, as well as handle the stresses involved with landing and take-off.

Submission + - Garmin reportedly held hostage by WastedLocker ransomware

Submitted by decaffeinated
decaffeinated writes: Both TechCrunch and Forbes are reporting that Garmin's network is down and held hostage by WastedLocker ransomware.

Forbes states: "The navigation company was hit by a ransomware attack on Thursday [7/23], leaving customers unable to log fitness sessions in Garmin apps and pilots unable to download flight plans for aircraft navigation systems, among other problems. The company’s communication systems have also been taken offline, leaving it unable to respond to disgruntled customers. Garmin is reportedly being asked to pay a $10 million ransom to free its systems."

Submission + - Sinclair Broadcast Group plans to force the screening of "Plandemic" (cnn.com) 2

Submitted by Cyberax
Cyberax writes: Local television stations owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group (193 of them across the country) are set to air a conspiracy theory over the weekend that suggests Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top expert on infectious diseases, was responsible for the creation of the coronavirus.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/24...

Submission + - Pressure from Trump led to 5G ban, Britain tells Huawei (theguardian.com)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: The British government privately told the Chinese technology giant Huawei that it was being banned from Britain’s 5G telecoms network partly for "geopolitical" reasons following huge pressure from President Donald Trump. In the days leading up to the controversial announcement on Tuesday last week, intensive discussions were held and confidential communications exchanged between the government and Whitehall officials on one side and Huawei executives on the other.

As part of the high-level behind-the-scenes contacts, Huawei was told that geopolitics had played a part, and was given the impression that it was possible the decision could be revisited in future, perhaps if Trump failed to win a second term and the anti-China stance in Washington eased.

Submission + - VPN with 'strict no-logs policy' exposed millions of user log files (betanews.com) 3

Submitted by kimmmos
kimmmos writes: An unprotected database belonging to the VPN service UFO VPN was exposed online for more than two weeks. Contained within the database were more than 20 million logs including user passwords stored in plain text.

User of both UFO VPN free and paid services are affected by the data breach which was discovered by the security research team at Comparitech. Despite the Hong Kong-based VPN provider claiming to have a "strict no-logs policy" and that any data collected is anonymized, Comparitech says that "based on the contents of the database, users' information does not appear to be anonymous at all".

Comment Re:How about don't buy it from them in the 1st pla (Score 1) 55

How about you actually learn about the medical device market before you spout off? There are not huge numbers of companies making all of these things. There is not a ton of choice. And, the vast majority of vendors are using the same tactics. Following your suggestion would simply mean I don't have the medical devices to treat you when you need it.

Comment Re:It's to ensure a standard. (Score 3, Informative) 55

It's to ensure a standard.

To a point, yes. And I even agree with that goal. The problem comes when a device manufacturer allows only their own personnel to work on a device, and then makes it extremely expensive to get that person on site to do the job. Or, as with the current COVID situation, bans travel of their Field Support Engineers entirely, leaving my device broken for potentially months on end. As a Biomed, I could attend training for the repair of said device (and have, for some), and do the repair in-house. That is, if the device manufacturer allows non-company people to be trained. And even that is expensive, and can take months to get.

And before you say a company's FSE is better than I could be, I've actually watched them break my devices worse than when I called for service, and then charge me for what they broke. How is that better than what I could do, given the same training?

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