47485517
submission
symbolset writes:
In the wake of a disastrous E3 product reveal Microsoft has distributed a confidential internal 100-point "FAQ" for the XBox one that reads like it's from the Ministry of Truth. It was of course immediately leaked on pastebin. Kotaku has the story and an amusing online poll. In the discussion below make sure to line up the FAQ entries with the AC comments for extra "Informative" moderation.
46899129
submission
symbolset writes:
Google is said to be developing wifi blimps to deliver Internet access to vast unserved populations in Africa and Southeast Asia. This CNET article references a Wired article describing the effort, which allegedly involves TV whitespace technologies as well. The notion is that high tethered blimps can cover a considerable low-population density area in a way that doesn't require expensive landline efforts. In a development that may be related, last week Google acquired the company Makani Power, which uses kites with wind turbines to generate electricity. The goal seems to be to connect another two billion people to the Internet. Microsoft is also working on this issue with a different project. What do you think about these technologies? Could you think of some clever ways to implement these plans? Will success bring diversity and global understanding, share the wealth — not just of money but of knowledge — to a wider share of mankind, or will it be just another Eternal September where all of us must bear again the spectacle of an innocent population adapting to Internet memes?
46519037
submission
symbolset writes:
Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) education has been gaining steam for many years no. MIT's Open Courseware allows anyone online to experience many of MIT's exteemed courses remotely. But Georgia Tech is the first to offer a fully accredited Masters degree program without ever setting foot on campus. And the price is right.
They anticipate from three to six years to complete the program. You must have a Bachelor's degree from a related discipline to apply, but can complete the curriculum for free without the degree.
46517921
submission
symbolset writes:
HP's first Android tablet last month didn't get anybody breathing heavy. Tonight a number of sources are announcing a new HP product with Tegra 4, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, 1920x1200 10" display, a tablet that docks with a keyboard — making it both an Android tablet and an Android Notebook.
Yes, Asus had been doing this for a long time but it's remarkable for HP to land so hard in the Android camp after shunning it for so long.
46418689
submission
symbolset writes:
Arctic temperatures 8C higher than current and CO2 levels of the current day supported Douglas fir and hemlock, sediments from lake El'gygytgyn in Russia some 300km north of the Arctic Circle reveal. These samples date from the Pliocene epoch some 2-3 million years ago and may give some insight into the what might happen in a warmer future. Link is a translation of a podcast. Research article is in the journal Science.
46418401
submission
symbolset writes:
Commenting on last week's VP9 summit, Business Project Manager for WebM Mark Frost states that the bit freeze for VP9 will be June 17th. This open-source coder/decoder for video and audio will be included by default in Chrome and ChromeOS.
46404215
submission
symbolset writes:
On Friday the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that four patents held by electronic marketplace Alice are too abstract for patentability. In her dissent Judge Kimberly Moore wrote of the ruling in CLS Bank v. Alice: "And let's be clear: if all of these claims, including the system claims, are not patent-eligible, this case is the death of hundreds of thousands of patents, including all business method, financial system, and software patents as well as many computer implemented and telecommunications patents." The case will doubtless be appealed to the Supreme Court.
46366541
submission
symbolset writes:
Published today in the journal Cell and reported by WBUR radio in this interview Drs Richard Lee and Amy Wagers have isolated GDF-11 as a negative regulator of age-associated cardiac hypertrophy. Through a type of transfusion called parabiotic or "shared circulation" in mice — one old and sick, the other young and well — they managed to reverse this age-associated heart disease. From there isolated an active agent GDF-11 present in the younger mouse but absent in the older which reverses the condition when administered directly. They are also using the agent to restore other aged/diseased tissues and organs. Human applications are expected within six years.
Since the basis for the treatment is ordinary sharing of blood between an older ill, and younger healthy patient, someone is likely to start offering the transfusion treatment somewhere in the world, soon, to those with the means to find a young and healthy volunteer. It may be time to have the discussion of the consequences of drastically prolonging human life.
46203445
submission
symbolset writes:
Over the past month a number of individual observations of CO2 at the Mauna Loa Observatory have exceeded 400 parts per million. The daily average observation has crept above 399 ppm, and as annual the peak is typically in mid-May it seems likely the daily observation will break the 400 ppm milestone within a few days. This measure of potent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere should spark renewed discussion about the use of fossil fuels. For the past few decades the annual peak becomes the annual average two or three years later, and the annual minimum after two or three years more.
46197105
submission
symbolset writes:
Phys.org shares a visual image of a "shockingly bright" gamma ray burst observed April 27th, labelled GRB 130427A and subsequently observed by ground optical and radio telescopes. One gamma ray photon from the event measured 94 billion electron volts — three times the previous record. The burst lasted four hours and was observable for most of a day — another record. Typical duration of a gamma ray burst is from 10 milliseconds to a few minutes.
Astronomers will now train optical telescopes on the spot searching for the supernova expected to have caused it — typically one is observed some few days after the burst. They expect to find one by the middle of May. The event occurred about 3.6 billion lightyears distant which is fairly close as gamma ray bursts go.
Click on the GIF to view the actual burst.
46183393
submission
symbolset writes:
Though there were some troubles and worries along the way, Datawind has delivered to India's government the full allocation of 100,000 (1 lakh) "Aakash 2" Android tablets from their first order. Priced at about $40, these tablets aren't the sort Americans would rave about: 330 MHz, 256MB RAM and so on.
But for the last 2,000 units for the same price Datawind supplied Aakash 3 1GHz, 1GB RAM, 4GB Android tablets with SDHC and 3G mobile — for the same price. Such is the progress in mobile today.
India hopes to put tablet computers in the hands of all 1 billion students who will graduate their schools in the next 10 years. To do this they have to get the cost down (because they don't have a lot of money) and the quality up (because technology improves over time).
There was some doubt whether Datawind could deliver, so kudos to them.
46028019
submission
symbolset writes:
For decades the war on drugs has led to an increasingly violent Mexican mafia much as was seen in the US during our Prohibition era. Extreme profitability of illegal substances creates market forces that makes princes of the most extreme criminals. Murder, kidnapping and torture have become commonplace: newsworthy only when the brutality of torture and body counts become the most extreme. Infiltration of all levels of law enforcement and government have resulted in drug lords becoming a quasi-official government of Mexico, or rather multiple warring governments laying waste to the communities and extracting a tax in blood. No one is safe.
A vigilante movement of ordinary citizens armed with machetes and hunting rifles in the small town of Ayutla have had enough of this have risen to encompass the entire Mexican state of Guerrero now. Citizens patrol the streets and because local, state and federal police are known to be complicit with the druglords they may not pass without supervision. Gang members are captured, detained, and exported to external officials. Says one vigilante leader: “Since we started, there hasn't been a single kidnapping, murder or rape. There are no extortions, and no one is charging for protection. These are the results we are getting. We are here because we want to [be]. No one is forcing us to come here. We plan on staying here for good.” Unlike other nations where the area has more than 40% native population this is accepted self-regulation in the Mexican constitution recognized as law. The movement is spreading, and could become a new Mexican revolution.
[8:35] My name is Severo Castro Godínez. I'm the mayor of Ayutla. I would like to acnowledge that we have failed at the state, municipal and federal levels. These three levels of government are responsible for keeping the peace in our society. But things have gotten a little out of hand, and I would like to recognize the participation of our citizens.
The source, Vice Media Inc., seems to want to stage a revolution of their own through supplanting traditional news sources by committing serial journalism on YouTube.
46025811
submission
symbolset writes:
The Atlantic is running an indepth article on energy. The premise is that there remain incalculable and little-understood carbon fuel assets that far outweigh all the fossil fuels ever discovered, lists them and discusses their potentials and consequences fiscal and environmental.
On a related note, today the US Geological Survey more than doubled their estimate of Bakken shale oil reserve in North Dakota and Montana to 7.4-11 billion barrels.
46023763
submission
symbolset writes:
NBC News is reporting that the FDA has approved controversial "Plan B One Step" emergency contraceptive to be available to all girls and women 15 and over without a prescription. The drug from Teva Women's Health Inc. had previously been available by prescription only. According to the report: "It uses a single pill that contains a high dose of the same hormone used in birth control pills to prevent or delay ovulation, prevent fertilization or, in some cases, prevent implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterine lining."
The so-called "morning after pill" has many vocal proponents and opponents, so expect a fairly robust discussion.
46023401
submission
symbolset writes:
The Periodical Cicada is a bizarre insect. It is extraordinarily long-lived for an insect: the nymphs live in the ground for 13-17 years. Cohorts of cicadas or "broods" gain adulthood simultaneously, overwhelming their countryside with millions of singing, breeding adult insects for four to six weeks. And then the adults die to be seen no more above ground for another 17 years. This odd cycle seems to be an adaptation to predation: by not being available all the time the cicadas outlive and outnumber their predators and can successfully reproduce.
Such a plague of cicadas, Brood II is expected to erupt in the Northeast US in the coming weeks. They do not normally bite or sting so aren't considered harmful. They can be unsettling to people who don't like insects, and gorging on cicadas by fish and birds can have some undesirable side effects.
For the culinary adventurer a [PDF] periodical cicada cookbook is available.
