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Submission + - IRS Commissioner got grilled in Congress (npr.org)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes:

" You are the Internal Revenue Service. You can reach into the lives of hard-working taxpayers, and with a phone call, an email, or a letter, you can turn their lives upside-down. You ask taxpayers to hang on to seven years of their personal tax information in case they are ever audited, and you can't keep six months' worth of employee emails? "

Those were the words of Republican Congress Representative Paul Ryan to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen

As the Republican Congress Representatives were trying to get the truth out from Mr. Koskinen, the Democrats were lining up busily defending him

With the Democrats' backing, Mr. Koskinen of IRS got much embolden and accused the Republicans of releasing inaccurate, interim information

Submission + - Americans More Distracted Behind The Wheel Than Europeans (npr.org)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: Either the Europeans have lied, or the Americans were bragging

U.S. drivers are much more likely than Europeans to drive while distracted, federal health officials report Thursday

Nearly 69 percent of Americans who drive say that they talked on their cell phones while driving at least once in the previous month, according to a survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

That's a lot higher than what was reported by Europeans in another survey. Only 21 percent of British drivers reported chatting on their cell phones while behind the wheel, for example. In Germany and France it was about 40 percent

The same goes for reading or sending texts or emails. About a third of U.S. drivers said they did that. And that's about double what it was in Spain and Great Britain

Health officials say that's a big problem because driving while distracted causes fatal car accidents. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 3,331 Americans were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver in 2011, compared to 3,267 in 2010

"The cell phone can be a fatal distraction for those who use it while they drive," CDC Director Thomas Frieden said in a statement. "Driving and dialing or texting don't mix. If you are driving, pull over to safe place and stop before you use your phone"

Submission + - Meningitis in Princeton (npr.org)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: There had already been seven (7) Meningitis cases in the Princeton University since March, and what makes these cases special is that local (meaning, USA) vaccine is useless against it

That prompted the CDC (Center of Disease Control and Prevention) to issue an EMERGENCY IMPORT of Meningitis vaccine from Europe

"Government health officials," reports NBC News, "said Friday they have agreed to import Bexsero, a vaccine licensed only in Europe and Australia that protects against Meningitis B, a strain not covered by the shots recommended for college students in the U.S."

Here are some info from the CDC's Webpage about Meningitis — http://www.cdc.gov/meningitis/...

— "Bacterial meningitis is usually severe. While most people with meningitis recover, it can cause serious complications, such as brain damage, hearing loss, or learning disabilities"

— "In the United States, about 4,100 cases of bacterial meningitis, including 500 deaths, occurred each year between 2003–2007"

— "Fortunately, most of the bacteria that cause meningitis are not as contagious as diseases like the common cold or the flu. Also, the bacteria are not spread by casual contact or by simply breathing the air where a person with meningitis has been"

— "Sometimes the bacteria that cause meningitis spread to other people. This usually happens when there is close or long contact with a sick person in the same household or daycare center, or if they had direct contact with a patient's oral secretions (such as a boyfriend or girlfriend)"

— "Meningitis infection may show up in a person by a sudden onset of fever, headache, and stiff neck. It will often have other symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, increased sensitivity to light [and] altered mental status (confusion)"

Submission + - Online Advertising of the Mujahideen Kind (telegraph.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: As ISIL's push into Iraq has been making headline news, and as picture/video of their slaughter of thousands of Iraqi prisoners have gone viral, a recruiting video has also making its online debut, starring three Britons and two Australians

Nasser Muthana, 20, with the nom du guerre of Abu Muthanna al Yemeni, along with Abu Dujana al Hindi and Abu Bara al Hindi are the three Britons are the stars of the Mujahidden recruitment video, appealing all their brothers to "fight for Allah. Sacrifice for Allah"

"Are you willing to sacrifice this for the sake of Allah? Definitely, if you sacrifice something for Allah, Allah will give you 700 times more than this "

Addressing to those who are scared of being killed, the Briton Abu Dujana al Hindi said

"What prevents you from obtaining martyrdom? You are going to die anyway"

This 13-minute video has shocked the British Prime Minister David Cameron so much that he has directed his Home Office to work with internet companies to stop terrorist messages from being broadcast

Submission + - Unexpected Behavior at the Nucleus of Supermassive Black Hole (nasa.gov)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: An international team of astronomers, using data from several NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) space observatories, has discovered unexpected behavior from the supermassive black hole at the heart of the galaxy NGC 5548, located 244.6 million light-years from Earth. This behavior may provide new insights into how supermassive black holes interact with their host galaxies

A stream of gas flowing rapidly outward from the galaxy's supermassive black hole, blocking 90 percent of its emitted X-rays

The discovery was made during an intensive observing campaign that also included data from NASA's Swift spacecraft, Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and Chandra X-ray Observatory, as well as ESA's X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) and Integral gamma-ray observatory (INTEGRAL)

Supermassive black holes in the nuclei of active galaxies, such as NGC 5548, expel large amounts of matter through powerful winds of ionized gas. For instance, the persistent wind of NGC 5548 reaches velocities exceeding 621 miles (approximately 1,000 kilometers) a second

A new wind has arisen, much stronger and faster than the persistent wind. These new winds reach speeds of up to 3,107 miles (5,000 kilometers) per second, but is much closer to the nucleus than the persistent wind

The new gas outflow blocks 90 percent of the low-energy X-rays that come from very close to the black hole, and it obscures up to a third of the region that emits the ultraviolet radiation at a few light-days distance from the black hole

Researchers also deduced that in more luminous quasars, the winds may be strong enough to blow off gas that otherwise would have become "food" for the black hole, thereby regulating both the growth of the black hole and that of its host galaxy

Submission + - Why is there no net neutrality in mobile ? (recode.net)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: The net neutrality issue has become a very hot topic recently, but curiously on the mobile scene, the net neutrality rules were absent

Why ?

Simply because the wireless companies have successfully convinced regulators four years ago to keep mobile networks mostly free of net neutrality rules

Now that Federal Communications Commission officials are looking into whether wireless networks should remain exempt from net neutrality rules the mobile carriers have lobbied hard to foil FCC's latest attempt

“Wireless is different it is dependent on finite spectrum,” Meredith Attwell Baker, the new head of CTIA, the wireless industry’s lobbying arm, told reporters Tuesday

Baker previously served as the top lobbyist for Comcast’s NBCUniversal division, joining the company after serving as an FCC commissioner

On the other side of the spectrum, net neutrality advocates are hoping to convince regulators to include wireless networks more fully under any new proposed rules. They are pushing for the FCC to re-regulate broadband Internet under a section of the law (called Title II), which was written with old phone networks in mind

The FCC will be taking public comments about what it should do about new net neutrality rules through the end of July

You can comment by emailing to openinternet@fcc.gov or go to http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/uploa... to file a Consumer Informal Complaint

Submission + - Latest Wearable Computing Devices Trend (marketwatch.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: While Smartwatches are getting all the headlines for the past 2 years or so, the real marketplace chose activity trackers over smartwatches to the tune of 4 to 1, according to ABI Research

ABI Research reports that Activity Trackers dominated sales of wearable devices in Q1 2014, outselling much-hyped smartwatches by 4 to 1, with 2.35 million devices shipped

Activity Trackers are currently the most viable consumer electronics wearable device category, because they have a clear use case that cannot be matched by smartphones, in contrast to smartwatches

But smartwatches may still be doing a comeback

Smartwatches will develop rapidly in 2014 and 2015, with hybrid activity tracker/smartwatches soon to hit the market, more specialized components being developed and most importantly the use case improving through a growing applications ecosystem. As the value proposition of smartwatches increases, however, the price will still need to decrease to balance with end-user expectations

Submission + - Verizon Demands Netflix Take Down the Message Calling Its Internet Slow (businessinsider.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: Courtesy of FCC's decision in scrapping Net Neutrality, we have the following story to share —

A little story background — Tuesday night, Vox Media's Yuri Victor tweeted a screenshot from his Mac that shows an error message from Netflix claiming that Verizon's clogged internet is responsible for poor streaming quality

A Netlfix spokesperson later confirmed on Twitter that the company is testing new ways to alert users why streams may be slogging

Verizon fired back by sending Netflix a cease and desist Thursday afternoon telling the streaming service to take down a notice Netflix sent to its users
"The Verizon network is crowded right now
Adjusting video for smoother playback"

Verizon claimed that it's actually Netflix's clogged servers causing the problem, but as Netflix has recently agreed to start paying Verizon for "direct access" to Verizon's customers, in theory, should result in faster streams

Netflix also has a similar deal with Comcast that has already proven to result in faster speeds

In the cease and desist letter to Netflix, Verizon's general counsel Randal Milch writes:"Netflix's false accusations have the potential to harm the Verizon brand in the marketplace. This potential harm is broader than only the experience of a customer viewing Netflix content. The impression that Netflix is falsey giving our customers is that the Verizon network is generally "crowded" and troublesome. This could cause a customer to think that any attempted viewing of video, whether it be Hulu, YouTube, or other sites, would yield a similarly "crowded" experience, and he or she may then choose to alter or cease their use of the Verizon network"

Milch's letter gives Netflix five days to comply with its request or face legal action. He also asks for evidence that Verizon's network is indeed the culprit for poor streaming on Netflix

In a statement to Business Insider, a Netflix spokesperson intimated that the company won't stop:"This is about consumers not getting what they paid for from their broadband provider. We are trying to provide more transparency, just like we do with the Netflix ISP Speed Index, and Verizon is trying to shut down that discussion"

Submission + - Musk hints at Technology Giveaways (bbc.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: Tesla boss Elon Musk was in London the other day, just as Tesla was about to deliver the first five of its Model S cars to the UK

When asked by the BBC's Theo Leggett if he was considering giving technology away, Mr Musk said "you're on the right track"

Mr Musk told the BBC: "We don't want to cut a path through the jungle and then lay a bunch of landmines behind us"

Earlier this week, Mr Musk told Tesla shareholders that in order to speed up the pace of adoption of electric cars, Tesla was "playing with doing something fairly significant on this front which would be kind of controversial with respect to Tesla's patents"

Another of Mr Musk's business venture, Space X, on the other hand, does not patent its technology for fear that they could be stolen by competitors ( see http://www.wired.com/2012/10/f... )

Submission + - Uber is now worth nearly as much as Hertz and Avis combined (slate.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: The San Francisco startup Uber, which bills itself in offering " everyone's private driver " is now worth, according to venture capitals which has invested in the startup (which includes but not limited to Fidelity, BlackRock, Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, and Google Ventures) as much as $17 billion

Astonishingly, Uber’s valuation is also more than the market capitalization of rental-car giants Hertz Global Holdings ($12.5 billion) or Avis Budget Group ($6.32 billion). It’s closer to the market cap of those two companies combined

Submission + - Would government-led initiative for Chip Industry ever panned out ? (eetimes.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: China is reportedly about to inject at least $10 Billion a year on the domestic Chip industry with the combined investments over the next 10 years range from $20 billions to $200 billions

However, critics have argued that the plan would mostly failed — much like the ill-fated European Commission led initiative that was started last year ( http://www.eetimes.com/documen... )

"It was the spring of 2013 when the European Commission launched a campaign of public investment in micro- and nano-electronics with the aim of doubling chip production on the continent to around 20 percent of global production. The plan was to channel more than €5 billion (about $6.4 billion) of public authority money into research, development, and innovation over the next seven years to match a similar amount of investment from companies supported by the plan"

When asked whatever happened to the €5 billion plan, Joep van Beurden, CEO of CSR in Cambridge, UK, said, "I was one of those people in Europe much excited about the European Commission's renewed interest in semiconductors." However, the plan morphed into something that was spread out and shared among various IT sectors in Europe. "In the end, there was little focus left for the semiconductor business"

Hence, two questions that need serious answers are -

1. What should government-led initiatives for Chip Industry do to become successful?

2. Is there any pre-condition that must be met prior to the commence of the government-led initiatives to grant it a chance of being successful ?

Submission + - Lyme bacterium's possible ancestor found in ancient tick (nature.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: A few ancient ticks, some 15-million to 20-million old, were trapped inside a piece of amber

That piece of amber was bought by a researcher some 25 years ago, in Dominican Republic

Only recently that researcher took a closer look with a powerful compound microscope — magnifying the specimen up to 1,000 times — that he noticed the tiny ticks within

Upon examination, that researcher turns up some ancient bacterium in one of the ticks. The bacterium appears to be spirochetes, a group of rotini-shaped bacteria responsible for many human diseases

Although Lyme disease did not exist back then, the spirochetes in the fossil tick probably contributed to the genetic diversity of the 12 or more species of Borrelia that cause Lyme and similar diseases today, says the researcher

Like modern ticks, the ancient ones likely picked up spirochetes when they took blood meals from infected vertebrates. Which of those hosts served as a natural reservoir for the spirochetes found in the juvenile tick, however, remains unknown. Ancestors of modern-day jaguars, ancient woodpeckers and shrewlike solenodons are a few potential spirochete-harboring hosts that lived in the same hot, balmy forest as the tick. The researcher, however, thinks it is more likely that the tick inherited its spirochetes from its mother (a process called vertical transmission), rather than from an animal reservoir. He found no evidence that the young arachnid had feasted on blood prior to its fatal encounter with the amber-forming tree resin

The researcher placed the newly discovered bacterium within its own genus, naming it Palaeoborrelia dominicana. He could not attempt to analyze the ancient DNA to confirm whether or not the bacterium is related to modern Borrelia because those tests would destroy the specimen. So it is impossible to know how closely — if at all — the ancient spirochetes are related to contemporary Borrelia. But the bacteria’s morphology and its location within the tick’s alimentary tract indicate that it probably has ties to those notorious pathogens

While on a related article on Nature — @ http://www.nature.com/news/lym... — it has been shown that Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, shows that the capacity to evolve can itself be the target of natural selection

The oldest evidence of Lyme disease dates back 5,300 years, to an ice mummy discovered to contain Borrelia’s genetic material, but the condition’s evolutionary origins are unknown. Lyme disease is only one of a number of human afflictions caused by spirochetes, however, so even if that condition arose more recently, our problems with spirochetes likely date back much further. When Homo sapiens arrived on the scene around 200,000 years ago, the researcher thinks, the ticks — and their spirochetes — were probably waiting “As long as humans have been around,” he says, “I’m sure that they suffered from ailments caused by spirochetes carried by ticks”

Submission + - Electrical control of nuclear spin qubits: Important step towards quantum comput (sciencedaily.com)

Submitted by Taco Cowboy
Taco Cowboy writes: Using a spin cascade in single-molecule magnet, the scientists at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and their French partners has demonstrated that a single nuclear spin can be realized in a purely electric manner, rather than through the use of magnetic fields, in which to provide the much needed Qubits are the most basic computation units of the quantum computers, which is a computer based on quantum mechanics principles is to solve tasks much more efficiently than a classical computer

For their experiments, the researchers used a nuclear spin-qubit transistor that consists of a single-molecule magnet connected to three electrodes (source, drain, and gate). The single-molecule magnet is a TbPc2 molecule — a single metal ion of terbium that is enclosed by organic phthalocyanine molecules of carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen atoms. The gap between the electric field and the spin is bridged by the so-called hyperfine-Stark effect that transforms the electric field into a local magnetic field. This quantum mechanics process can be transferred to all nuclear spin systems and, hence, opens up entirely novel perspectives for integrating quantum effects in nuclear spins into electronic circuits

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