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Submission + - Elon Musk's Growing Empire Fueled by Government Subsidies

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: By the Los Angeles Times' reckoning, Elon Musk's Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and SpaceX together have benefited from an estimated $4.9 billion in government support. The figure compiled by The Times, explains reporter Jerry Hirsch, comprises a variety of government incentives, including grants, tax breaks, factory construction, discounted loans and environmental credits that Tesla can sell. It also includes tax credits and rebates to buyers of solar panels and electric cars. "He definitely goes where there is government money," said an equity research analyst. "Musk and his companies' investors enjoy most of the financial upside of the government support, while taxpayers shoulder the cost," Hirsch adds. "The payoff for the public would come in the form of major pollution reductions, but only if solar panels and electric cars break through as viable mass-market products. For now, both remain niche products for mostly well-heeled customers." And as Musk moves into a new industry — battery-based home energy storage — Hirsch notes Tesla has already secured a commitment of $126 million in California subsidies to companies developing energy storage technology.

Submission + - Scientists Study Crime in Progress in a VR Simulated Environment

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: Claire Nee writes in the NYT that for psychologists, it’s best to observe actual behavior, in real time, and afterward interview research participants. Yet for obvious ethical and safety reasons, it’s almost never possible to observe a crime as it happens. Now psychologists have devised a simulated environment that can be navigated using a mouse or a game controller. and had willing, experienced ex-burglars to commit a mock burglary in it. Ex-burglars approached the task in a dramatically different way from a comparison group of postgraduate students, of a similar age as our experienced ex-burglars. Burglars entered and exited the house at the rear, while students, unaware of the cover that the side and rear of the house afforded, entered at the exposed front. Burglars spent significantly more time in areas of the house with high-value items and navigated it much more systematically than the students did. They also showed greater discernment, by stealing fewer but more valuable items. Most important, all participants burgled the real and the simulated houses almost identically (PDF). We concluded that using simulations can be a robust way to study crime, and in studying it this way, we will not be limited to just burglary. "A better understanding of criminal behavior will help us reduce opportunities for crime in our neighborhoods," concludes Nee. "By knowing what the burglar is looking for — what signals wealth, occupancy, ease of access and security in properties — we can make adjustments in awareness and protection."

Submission + - _STARCODER: the first mmo game teaching kids how to code (kickstarter.com) 3

Submitted by jdnyc___
jdnyc___ writes: Coding is one of the most valuable job skills a student can learn. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to develop: too often, computer programming is taught in a highly theoretical and (frankly) boring manner. Educators like us are always trying to create innovative new approaches to the topic.

That’s why we created _STARCODER: the first massively multiplayer online game that teaches kids to code.

When students log in to the game, they immediately see their friends' space ships moving around in the digital world and the cool ways that they have been customized with their own code.

We have had some of our students start to play competitively with each other online using _STARCODER and they really loved the experience.

Students craft creative JavaScript codes on the fly to increase the power of their space ships and get advantages over the other team.

We are in the process of setting up leagues in major cities which will start next school year.

_STARCODER is currently in beta and we are asking for your support to:

1. Upgrade to a more powerful server to enhance the students' game play experience

2. Complete a tablet version of the game which is more appealing to elementary students

The campaign is over 53% funded with 17 days left to go.

Would you help support the project to make the competitive coding leagues a huge success next year?

Even $1 helps us out by pushing us up in the campaign-metric algorithms and helping other parents and schools around the world find us!

It would be a huge help if you could share the kickstarter link with your facebook network or like our facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/Winto...

It would be an honor if you could join us as we put this plan into action!

Sincere thanks,

Jon
Businesses

Steve Albini: The Music Industry Is a Parasite -- and Copyright Is Dead 189

Posted by timothy from the but-how's-the-marrow? dept.
journovampire sends word of another thought-provoking rant from Steve Albini (mentioned here last a few years back for his paean to the beauty of analog tape for recording): The veteran producer addressed an audience in Barcelona on Saturday: "The old copyright model – the person who creates something owns it and anyone else that wants to use it or see it has to pay them – has expired."

Submission + - Windows 10 RTM in 6 weeks (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Billly Gates
Billly Gates writes: Arstechnica has the scoop on a new build with less flat icons and a confirmation of a mid July release date. While Microsoft is in a hurry to fix the damage by the Windows 8 versions of its operating system the question next is if it is ready for prime time? On Neowin a list of problems are already mentioned by MS and its users with this latest release including wifi and sound not working without a reboot and users complaining about tiles and apps not working in the new start menu. Also the new Microsoft browser EDGE/aka Spartan will be shipping without plugin support at RTM which could damage its reputation as an IE killer as one of the disadvantages of IE compared to Firefox or Chrome was the lack of real browser extensions. Also this new build takes away color from the titlebars similiar to Office 2013 which bothers some users as well. What is not known is if Microsoft plans to have OEMs sell new computers with Windows 10 in the middle of July? Or will this mean OEM's will get the official version for testing and deployment in the middle of July too while Microsoft fixes the bugs for the next 1 — 3 months before it comes standard on all new pcs?
Google

Google Calendar Ends SMS Notifications 101

Posted by timothy from the giveth-and-taketh-away dept.
LuserOnFire writes: Google has sent out an email this morning that says in part: "Starting on June 27th, 2015, SMS notifications from Google Calendar will no longer be sent. SMS notifications launched before smartphones were available. Now, in a world with smartphones and notifications, you can get richer, more reliable experience on your mobile device, even offline." You can find the announcement on Google's support pages as well. "Richer" may be accurate, but I'm not sure that "more reliable" describes web-based notifications; that may be why the announcement linked does not apply for Google's "Work, Education and Government customers."

Submission + - Future of Employment: How Susceptible are Jobs to Computerization? (npr.org)

Submitted by turkeydance
turkeydance writes: What job is hardest for a robot to do? Mental health and substance abuse social workers (found under community and social services). This job has a 0.3 percent chance of being automated. That's because it's ranked high in cleverness, negotiation, and helping others. The job most likely to be done by a robot? Telemarketers. No surprise; it's already happening.

The researchers admit that these estimates are rough and likely to be wrong. But consider this a snapshot of what some smart people think the future might look like. If it says your job will likely be replaced by a machine, you've been warned.
Communications

Orange County Public Schools To Monitor Students On Social Media 166

Posted by timothy from the well-that's-air-tight dept.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that Orange County, Florida, is undertaking a sweeping effort to snoop on the social media communications of the county's public school students and staff, for the nebulous task of "[ensuring] safe school operations," and say they will use the software (at a license cost of about $13,000 per year) "to conduct routine monitoring for purposes of prevention or early intervention of potential issues where students or staff could be at risk to themselves or to others." The software they're using is from Snaptrends, which offers "location-based social media discovery." According to one of the comments attached to the linked story, there are monthly fees, in addition to the annual licensing cost.
Censorship

Artist Uses 3D Printing To Preserve Artifacts Destroyed By ISIS 73

Posted by timothy from the not-quite-the-same dept.
tedlistens writes: "From the burning of the Library of Alexandria to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan by the Taliban, to the Nazi's battle to burn as much "degenerate art" as they could find, mobs and soldiers have been quick to destroy what took societies centuries to create; what museums and collectors spent decades collecting, preserving, and documenting for the public." However, as noted by Motherboard in an article to which tedlistens links, "The digital era looks different: files can be cheaply hosted in data centers spread across several states or continents to ensure permanence. Morehshin Allahyari, an Iranian born artist, educator, and activist, wants to apply that duplicability to the artifacts that ISIS has destroyed. Now, Allahyari is working on digitally fabricating the sculptures for a series called "Material Speculation" as part of a residency in Autodesk's Pier 9 program. The first in the series is "Material Speculation: ISIS," which, through intense research, is modeling and reproducing statues destroyed by ISIS in 2015. Allahyari isn't just interested in replicating lost objects but making it possible for anyone to do the same: Embedded within each semi-translucent copy is a flash drive with Allahyari's research about the artifacts, and an online version is coming.

Submission + - NASA Senior Technologist Rob Muller On Their Plan To 3D Print Habitats on Mars (youtube.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: With NASA's new 3D Printed Habitat Challenge in full swing, Rob Mueller (NASA/KSC) gives an interview at FSU on what his Swampworks lab is doing to extract, refine, and "3D Print" large scale structures (landing pads, habitats, roads) on Mars, the moon, and asteroids!
Your Rights Online

Can You Commit Copyright Infringement By Using Your Own Work? 172

Posted by timothy from the out-there-to-grab dept.
Mrs. Grundy writes: Notorious appropriation artist Richard Prince has been in the news again with his show consisting of screen shots of other people's Instagram photos printed as large inkjets on canvas. These prints have reportedly sold for $90,000. In 2013 Prince successfully defeated a lawsuit for a previous appropriation by convincing the court his work was 'transformative' and it's likely this new work would also find a sympathetic ear in the court. Among the photographs whose work he used this time were several from the Suicide Girls Instagram feed. In response, Selena Mooney, cofounder of Suicide Girls, began offering exact replicas of Prince's pieces that used her photographs for a mere $90. Photographer Mark Meyer looks at the bizarre possibility that if Prince's use of Mooney's work is transformative and fair, Mooney's might be copyright infringement.

Comment Re:Never should have been passed (Score 1) 218

by HiThere (#49805875) Attached to: The Patriot Act May Be Dead For Good

And as someone else mentioned, if nothing shows up quickly enough, another "false flag" operation. Though actually I think it's probably usually easy enough to instigate someone somewhere in the world to do something wildly threatening. So you just don't stop them, and maybe turn a blind eye to a few of their fumbles. (E.g., see all the advance reports on 9/11, including reports by the FBI about pilot training in the US that didn't involve landing.)

It's quite rare that an actual false-flag operation is necessary. A bit of provocation and instigation by agents in place is generally all that's needed. (This, however, doesn't mean that they never happen. Sometimes someone wants quick results, or wants to be seen to be taking action.)

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