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Submission + - TypeScript vs Haxe (onthewings.net)

Submitted by lars_doucet
lars_doucet writes: Released in 2012, Microsoft's TypeScript is perhaps the best-known "compile to JS" language, but it wasn't the first. One of the earliest was Haxe, whose JS target first appeared in 2006.

In his illuminating article, TypeScript vs Haxe, Andy Li gives an excellent rundown of the two languages' various merits, but the bottom line is:

"Existing JS developers will favor TypeScript as they are more similar in many ways. They can utilize their existing skills immediately. Non-JS developers with backgrounds like Java/C# or even from the functional programming world will appreciate Haxe more since it fixes a lot of weirdness of JS."

The full article includes an excellent rundown of the type systems, syntax, scope handling, compilers, and overall language design philosophy.

Submission + - MIT yolk and shell nanoparticle improve rechargeable batteries

Submitted by jan_jes
jan_jes writes: A new "yolk-and-shell" nanoparticle by the researchers at MIT and Tsinghua University in China, could boost the capacity and power of lithium-ion batteries. The researchers have created an electrode made of nanoparticles with a solid shell, and a “yolk” inside that can change size again and again without affecting the shell. The new findings, which use aluminum as the key material for the lithium-ion battery’s negative electrode, or anode, are reported in the journal Nature Communications. The use of nanoparticles with an aluminum yolk and a titanium dioxide shell has proven to be “the high-rate champion among high-capacity anodes".

Submission + - Noise can knock drones out of the air mid-flight (thestack.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers are proving that drones can be knocked out of the sky using sound waves alone. The vulnerability – resonance. Taking a drone and creating a sound that matches the natural resonant frequency of its gyroscope, resulting in erroneous flight outputs. Gyroscopes are typically designed to have resonant frequencies above the audible spectrum, but some models are still in the audible spectrum which makes them vulnerable to intentional interfering sound.

Submission + - Chinese to set up 'online security teams' at major internet firms (thestack.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: China is planning to tighten its control over the country’s internet users with a new framework of security offices positioned in leading domestic tech firms and websites, the Chinese ministry of public security announced yesterday. With the growth in cloud and internet services China has wanted to gain more control over web usage, issuing warnings to popular social media sites owned by giants Tencent and Sina for the inadequate regulation of pornography and politically sensitive content. The government hopes that this move will help support surveillance and monitor for illegal online activity. He stressed that the new ‘online police’ would help websites refrain from publicising sensitive events and potentially vulgar content, which could lead to crime.

Submission + - Probe into Fukushima No.2 reactor hits snag

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Sources familiar with the decommissioning process at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant say efforts to determine the state of molten fuel in the reactors have hit another snag. Two new devices developed at a cost of more than 4 million dollars to take X-ray-like photos inside the No.2 reactor are too big to install. TEPCO devised the machines so that they use elementary particles called muons to see through hard surfaces and map the spread of fuel inside, but found the 8-by-8-meter devices will not fit the No.2 reactor building site unless they remove and decontaminate other equipment first. They believe that would hinder the decommissioning process and cost twice as much money as they spent creating the devices.

Submission + - Idaho Law Against Recording Abuses on Factory Farms Ruled Unconstitutional

Submitted by onproton
onproton writes: An Idaho law that made it illegal to record and document animal abuse or dangerous hygienic practices in agricultural facilities, often referred to as an ‘ag-gag’ law, was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge on Monday. The judge concluded that the law restricted constitutionally protected free speech, and contradicted “long-established defamation and whistleblowing statutes by punishing employees for publishing true and accurate recordings on matters of public concern.” Idaho is just one of several states to pass this type of law, which allow food production facilities to censor some unfavorable forms of speech at their convenience. Under the Idaho statute, an employee that witnessed and recorded an incident, even if it depicted true and life-threatening health or safety violations, could be faced with a year in jail and fines of up to “twice the economic loss the owner suffers.” In his ruling, the judge stated that this was “precisely the type of speech the First Amendment was designed to protect.” This decision has raised questions about the constitutionality of these types of laws in other states as well, and it’s likely that there will be more legal battles ahead.

Submission + - MIT develops Biochemical sensor for cancer treatment

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at MIT have developed a tiny biochemical sensor that can be implanted in cancerous tissue during the initial biopsy. The sensor then wirelessly sends data about telltale biomarkers to an external “reader” device, allowing doctors to better monitor a patient’s progress and adjust dosages or switch therapies accordingly. The sensors provide real-time, on-demand data concerning two biomarkers linked to a tumor’s response to treatment: pH and dissolved oxygen. The sensor housing[paper], made of a biocompatible plastic, is small enough to fit into the tip of a biopsy needle. It contains 10 microliters of chemical contrast agents typically used for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and an on-board circuit to communicate with the external reader device.

Submission + - Drone drops drugs onto Ohio prison yard (cnn.com)

Submitted by Okian Warrior
Okian Warrior writes: Officers rushed into the north yard of Mansfield Correctional Institution in Mansfield, Ohio, last week after noticing 75 inmates gathering and a fight breaking out.

It wasn't until authorities later reviewed surveillance tape that they saw what led to the fisticuffs: A drone had flown over the yard and delivered 144.5 grams of tobacco, 65.4 grams of marijuana and 6.6 grams of heroin before the fight ensued.

If the heroin is half pure, that package amounts to about 140 individual doses,
Communications

How Boing Boing Handled an FBI Subpoena Over Its Tor Exit Node 104

Posted by Soulskill from the very-carefully dept.
An anonymous reader writes: Cory Doctorow has posted an account of what happened when tech culture blog Boing Boing got a federal subpoena over the Tor exit node the site had been running for years. They received the subpoena in June, and the FBI demanded all logs relating to the exit node: specifically, "subscriber records" and "user information" for everybody associated with the exit node's IP address. They were also asked to testify before a federal grand jury. While they were nervous at first, the story has a happy ending. Their lawyer sent a note back to the FBI agent in charge, explaining that the IP address in question was an exit node. The agent actually looked into Tor, realized no logs were available, and cancelled the request. Doctorow considers this encouraging for anyone who's thinking about opening a new exit node: "I'm not saying that everyone who gets a federal subpoena for running a Tor exit node will have this outcome, but the only Tor legal stories that rise to the public's attention are the horrific ones. Here's a counterexample: Fed asks us for our records, we say we don't have any, fed goes away."
Math

Using Math To Tune a Video Game's Economy 96

Posted by Soulskill from the as-opposed-to-tuning-it-with-music-theory dept.
An anonymous reader writes: When the shipping deadline was approaching for The Witcher 3, designer Matthew Steinke knew there was a big part of the game still missing: its economy. A game's economy is one of the things that can make or break immersion — you want collection and rewards to feel progressive and meaningful. Making items too expensive gives the game a grindy feel, while making them too cheap makes progression trivial. At the Game Developers Conference underway in Germany, Steinke explained his solution.

"Steinke created a formula that calculated attributes like how much damage, defense, or healing that each item provided, and he placed them into an overall combat rating could be used to rank other items in the system. ... Steinke set about blending the sub-categories into nine generalized categories, allowing him to determine the final weighting for damage and the range of prices for each item. To test if it all worked, he used polynomial least squares (a form of mathematical statistics) to chart each category's price progression. The resultant curve (pictured below) showed the rate at which spending was increasing as the quality of each item approached the category's ceiling value."

Submission + - Behold the whalecopter: Drones give whales a breathalyzer test (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: Whales, like many cetaceans, are prone to respiratory tract infections, which can jeopardize already endangered populations. Assessing whales’ health, however, isn’t easy: Scientists hoping to measure bacteria and fungi in a whale’s “breath”—the moist air it shoots from its blowhole—need to get close enough to take a sample. Enter the whalecopter, a small, remote-controlled drone developed by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The drone—a six-propeller hexacopter—can both collect breath samples and take high-resolution photos of the whales from the air to assess general health and conditions such as fat level and skin lesions. In a test at the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary last month, the whalecopter first hovered about 40 meters above 36 whales to take full-body photographs of the animals—and then zoomed in to just a few meters above sea level to fly through the whales’ spouts and collect breath samples.

Submission + - Has Microsoft Lost Its Developer Mojo?

Submitted by linkchaos
linkchaos writes: Through its storied history--filled with high-highs and low-lows--Microsoft has lost some of that mindshare to the likes of tech giants like Apple and Google, but also to companies that it never had to consider as competitors before. Has Microsoft lost its developer mojo, and can the company get it back?

Submission + - USC vs. UC San Diego in Throwdown over Alzheimer's Research

Submitted by BVBigelow
BVBigelow writes: In Southern California, a legal skirmish between USC and UC San Diego is escalating into into a full-blown donnybrook, replete with restraining orders, loyalty oaths, and accusations of computer piracy, intimidation, and interference in federal grant awards. The two universities are fighting over control of an Alzheimer’s program that coordinates about $100 million in research grants. The lawsuits began after USC recruited scientist Paul Aisen from UC San Diego, where he has been director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study since 2007. The study has been based at UC San Diego since 1991, and and UCSD expected to retain control. But Aisen’s team took root command of the computer system (including 24 years’ worth of clinical trial data) and won’t give it back.

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