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Submission + - Stunning: Ultra-HD View of the Sun; Timelapse Video of 2015 (amateurradio.com)

Submitted by NW7US
NW7US writes: This is a stunning timelapse view of the entire year, 2015, of the Sun in action, rotating once every 25 days. SDO's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) captures a shot of the sun every 12 seconds in 10 different wavelengths. The images shown here are based on a wavelength of 171 angstroms, which is in the extreme ultraviolet range and shows solar material at around 600,000 Kelvin (about 1 million degrees F.) In this wavelength it is easy to see the sun's 25-day rotation.

During the course of the video, the sun subtly increases and decreases in apparent size. This is because the distance between the SDO spacecraft and the sun varies over time. The image is, however, remarkably consistent and stable despite the fact that SDO orbits Earth at 6,876 mph and the Earth orbits the sun at 67,062 miles per hour.

Scientists study these images to better understand the complex electromagnetic system causing the constant movement on the sun, which can ultimately have an effect closer to Earth, too: Flares and another type of solar explosion called coronal mass ejections can sometimes disrupt technology in space. Moreover, studying our closest star is one way of learning about other stars in the galaxy. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. built, operates, and manages the SDO spacecraft for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.

Full story: http://www.amateurradio.com/ul...

Submission + - Slaughter at the bridge: Uncovering a colossal Bronze Age battle (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: About 3200 years ago, two armies clashed at a river crossing near the Baltic Sea. The confrontation can't be found in any history books-the written word didn't become common in these parts for another 2000 years-but this was no skirmish between local clans. Thousands of warriors came together in a brutal struggle, perhaps fought on a single day, using weapons crafted from wood, flint, and bronze, a metal that was then the height of military technology.

"If our hypothesis is correct that all of the finds belong to the same event, we're dealing with a conflict of a scale hitherto completely unknown north of the Alps," says dig co-director Thomas Terberger, an archaeologist at the Lower Saxony State Service for Cultural Heritage in Hannover. "There's nothing to compare it to." It may even be the earliest direct evidence-with weapons and warriors together-of a battle this size anywhere in the ancient world.

Submission + - Finnish Passenger Train Traffic Opens for Competition (yle.fi)

Submitted by jones_supa
jones_supa writes: Finland's railway network operator VR (Valtion Rautatiet) may see its traditional monopoly on domestic passenger train traffic weakened next year when new legislation will introduce limited competition to the railway sector. Chief Minna Kivimäki from the Ministry of Transport and Communications says that preparations are in their final stages, and that widespread interest among railroad tycoons has already been generated. More than ten different parties have indicated that they would be interested in joining in, many from abroad. The ministry says that the measures to introduce direct competition would concern the country's entire rail network, with the exception of the local Helsinki region transport area. One domestic company that has expressed interest is the Scottish discount bus firm Onnibus, which already runs a successful bus operation in Finland. The terrain of Finland's railway network is unique and a solution has to be created that suits the country's traffic volumes and distribution best. Kivimäki promises that quieter railway routes with fewer passengers won't be forgotten in the partial-privatization process, either.

Submission + - Will cellphone use while walking be banned in NJ? (philly.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A bill proposed this week by Assemblywoman Pamela R. Lampitt (D., Camden) would impose a fine of up to $50 and possibly 15 days in jail for pedestrians caught using their cellphones without hands-free devices while walking on public sidewalks and along roadways.

If the bill becomes law, "petextrians" — people who text while walking — would face the same penalties as jaywalkers in New Jersey.

Submission + - Microsoft made a version of Windows 10 for the Chinese government (techinasia.com) 1

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Windows 10 Zhuangongban, or “Windows 10 Specially-provided Edition”, is a special version of Windows 10 for the Chinese government, according to a report in Chinese magazine Caixin. It features fewer of Microsoft’s consumer-targeted apps and services, while including more management and security controls, in accordance with the needs of China’s government. Microsoft didn’t divulge exactly what’s been changed or how different the system looks from traditional Windows 10, but he did say that it retains the ability to run any Windows-compatible programs.

Submission + - Fix for Sony Dash released (sony.com)

Submitted by FourG
FourG writes: Not much fanfare (which is to be expected given the niche of the device now) but it looks like Sony posted a fix for the much maligned "can't download dashboard" error. It requires a USB key and can't be done over-the-air. My Dash required a factor reset afterward before it successfully downloaded the dashboard, but YMMV...

Submission + - Tribeca Film Festival, Robert De Niro Pull Anti-Vaccination Film

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: USA Today reports that one day after defending the scheduled screening of a controversial documentary linking vaccinations to autism, Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Robert De Niro announced that the film is being pulled from the event. The film, Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, was scheduled to debut April 24. It is directed by Andrew Wakefield, known to many as the father of the anti-vaccine movement. Wakefield authored a 1998 report on vaccinations and autism that was later retracted, He also had his medical license revoked. The decision to include the film in the festival resulted in outrage from many who are upset that the film's inclusion could offer legitimacy to a study debunked by leading scientists. "My intent in screening this film was to provide an opportunity for conversation around an issue that is deeply personal to me and my family," said De Niro, who has a child with autism. "But after reviewing it over the past few days with the Tribeca Film Festival team and others from the scientific community, we do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for."

Submission + - Yellowstone supervolcano eruptions were even bigger than originally thought (csmonitor.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A recent study published in the Geological Society of America Bulletin identifies an area of great volcanic activity along the Snake River Plain between Oregon and Yellowstone.

While scientists have long known that the supervolcano now under Yellowstone left a trail of mega-eruptions across the Pacific Northwest, an international research team has found evidence of only 12 distinct eruptions, contradicting earlier theories that the eruptions were more numerous and less extreme.

"The size and magnitude of this newly defined eruption is as large, if not larger, than better known eruptions at Yellowstone," said the study's lead author, Dr. Thomas Knott, in a University of Leicester press release, "and it is just the first in an emerging record of newly discovered super-eruptions during a period of intense magmatic activity between 8 and 12 million years ago."

Submission + - Linux 4.6 Brings NVIDIA GTX 900 Support, OrangeFS, Better Power Management (phoronix.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Linux 4.6-rc1 kernel has been released. New to the Linux 4.6 kernel are a significant number of new features including NVIDIA GeForce GTX 900 open-source 3D support when using the closed-source firmware files, Dell XPS 13 Skylake laptop support, a fix for laptops that were limiting their own performance due to incorrectly thinking they were overheating, AHCI runtime power management support, Intel graphics power management features enabled by default, a new file-system (OrangeFS), and a range of other improvements.

Submission + - New Attack Discovered on npm (Node.js Package Manager) (softpedia.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A Google researcher has discovered a way in which he could some npm registry design flaws to propagate a malicious package to other packages, and in the projects that load them. The exploit leverages things such as:
  • npm's persistent authentication
  • developers that never lock down dependencies, often use version number ranges
  • npm lifecycle scripts that run with the user's privileges (sometimes root)
  • npm's centralized registry that doesn't review or scan code

Attackers can compromise other projects with malicious code, can compromise Node apps used in corporate environments, or they can launch worm-like viruses that poison npm packages at random.

Submission + - How To Solve VR Simulation Sickness: Strap People Into A Rollercoaster

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Theme park owners are trying to breathe new life into old rides by adding VR headsets according to IEEE Spectrum. In the latest such ride from the UK's Alton Towers, sensors in the seats allow the virtual action to be synched with the rollercoaster's movements on a per-headset basis. As a side effect, this also eliminates the simulation sickness some VR users suffer from when making rapid movements through a virtual space, because the user's body is actually experiencing those movements. Is this cheating or the future of action VR?

Submission + - How To Build Your Own Amazon Echo Smart Speaker With The Raspberry Pi (hothardware.com)

Submitted by MojoKid
MojoKid writes: The Echo has been a fairly successful smart home device for Amazon. At its core, Echo is a smart speaker system which can respond to voice commands via Amazon's digital personal assistant named Alexa. Alexa can queue up your favorite playlist, remind you about your meetings for the day, re-order household items, or even help set some mood lighting with the right integration. For all the fun and convenience the Echo can offer, though, it doesn't come cheap with a current price point of $179.99. However, Amazon has provided a solution to the cost problem, provided you are willing to get your hands dirty. Amazon recently released instructions on how to setup their Alexa Voice Services (AVS) on the very popular open-sourced Raspberry Pi single board computer. With some basic programming knowledge, the Raspberry Pi, a micro SD card, USB mini microphone and an optional USB WiFi Adapter, you can have all the functionality of an Amazon Echo for a lot less.

Submission + - IBM Researchers Propose Device to Speed Neural Net Learning by up to 30,000X (arxiv.org)

Submitted by skywire
skywire writes: We've all followed the recent story of AlphaGo beating a top Go master. Now IBM researchers Tayfun Gokmen and Yurii Vlasov have described what could be a gamechanger for machine learning — an array of resistive processing units that would use stochastic techniques to dramatically accelerate the backpropagation algorithm, speeding up neural network training by a factor of 30,000. They argue that such an array would be reliable, low in power use, and buildable with current CMOS fabrication technology.

Submission + - Names That Break Computers (bbc.com)

Submitted by Thelasko
Thelasko writes: The BBC has a story about people with names that break computer databases.

When Jennifer Null tries to buy a plane ticket, she gets an error message on most websites. The site will say she has left the surname field blank and ask her to try again.

These people are real life Bobby Tables.

Submission + - Have a political bumper sticker? FBI might be snapping photos of you (muckrock.com)

Submitted by v3rgEz
v3rgEz writes: Tomorrow marks the 35th anniversary of Food Not Bombs, the peace organization that seeks to democratically divert military spending into free food for the needy. But as documents recently obtained by MuckRock show, even such tepid support as a bumper sticker for the outspoken anti-violence organization could land you in FBI files. Read on for yet another example of how the FBI puts war protesters, Juggalos, and animal rights activists in the same category as organized crime and terrorist groups.

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