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Comment Re:Thermals? (Score 5, Insightful) 92

I think you perfectly summarized the point of this controversy. Everyone agrees that trees cause air movement. Now Makarieva and proponents of her theory claim this air movement has significant impact on moisture distribution, and show some math to back up their claim. Opponents say air movement caused by trees is "obviously negligible". I would say it's at least worth to study it further.

Comment Re:Glad to see it on Slashdot (Score 1) 92

But that would get a lot more page views and comments. Which is why they do it.

I understand it. Still I find it sad, that is more profitable to be one of thousands websites providing the same, general, easy to consume news, than to be a unique place serving a community of faithful users. It may be a reflection of a general, although equally sad rule, that it's better to be a small fish in a mass market than a king of a niche market.

Submission + - Facebook Research releases tech to create 3D models of people from photographs (github.io)

Submitted by shirappu
shirappu writes: The technology, called PIFuHD, takes photographs of people and reconstructs them in 3D. The tech works on deep neural networks with multi-level architecture that allows for high resolution and accuracy in 3D models even at low levels of memory. More is available in the detail-heavy research paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2004.004...

Applications for this kind of automated image digitization include medical imaging and virtual reality, and the researchers have released a version of the model for users to try out themselves on Google Colab (link: https://github.com/facebookres...)

Submission + - Is there such a thing as an 'open' streaming platform? 1

Submitted by Dan Schnau
Dan Schnau writes: Livestreaming is really cool, but when you stream on Twitch or Youtube or FB or whatever else, you're giving control of all that good stuff to someone else. Are there open, self-hostable streaming options?

I haven't yet found such a thing.

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How do you limit the charging range of a laptop battery? (linrunner.de)

Submitted by weilawei
weilawei writes: If you're anything like me, you've got a slew of devices with lithium-based batteries in them. The conventional wisdom is to cycle them between 20 and 80% for a good compromise between usability and battery life. How then, do you automate the process to avoid over- or undercharging? TLP provides some power management features that fit the bill—but they mostly rely on proprietary support found only in Thinkpad laptops. Do you remove and store your laptop battery at a medium charge when you run the laptop off an AC adapter?

Submission + - Purism announces shipments of Librem 5 security and privacy focused phone

Submitted by Ocean Consulting
Ocean Consulting writes: It is here! Purism announces shipment of the Librem 5. Librem 5 is a landmark mobile device with a dedicated platform, runs PureOS Linux, and is the first mobile phone to seek hardware certification from the Free Software Foundation. Initially a crowd sourced funding campaign, the phone embraces principles of free software and user privacy. IP native communication is supported via Matrix. Privacy features include hardware kill switches for camera, microphone, cellular, wifi, Bluetooth and GPS.

Submission + - Metasploit Team Releases Weaponized BlueKeep Exploit (zdnet.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The developers of the Metasploit penetration testing framework have released today a weaponized exploit for the BlueKeep Windows vulnerability. While other security researchers have released defanged BlueKeep proof-of-concept code in the past, this exploit is advanced enough to achieve code execution on remote systems, infosec experts who reviewed the Metasploit module have told ZDNet. The only "good news" is that the BlueKeep module has been altered to work on a system-by-system basis, meaning it can't be used to create self-spreading worms, similar to EternalBlue, the exploit that powered the WannaCry ransomware.

Submission + - Florida citrus trees to be sprayed with thousands of kilograms of antiobiotics (nature.com)

Submitted by memnock
memnock writes: From the journal Nature: "In the next month or so, orange trees across Florida will erupt in white blossoms, signalling the start of another citrus season. But this year, something different will be blowing in the winds. Farmers are preparing to spray their trees with hundreds of thousands of kilograms of two common antibiotics to combat citrus greening, a bacterial disease that has been killing Florida citrus trees for more than a decade."

Submission + - Stallman on making a deal with the Devil (gnu.org)

Submitted by markjhood2003
markjhood2003 writes: In an essay published for LibrePlanet March 23/24 2019, Richard Stallman of the FSF advocates for an explicit recognition and tolerance of the devil of non-free software at install fests:

Install fests invite users to bring their computers so that experts can install GNU/Linux on them... This presents the install fest with a dilemma. If it upholds the ideals of freedom, by installing only free software from 100%-free distros, partly-secret machines won't become entirely functional and the users that bring them will go away disappointed... My new idea is that the install fest could allow the devil to hang around, off in a corner of the hall, or the next room. (Actually, a human being wearing sign saying “The Devil,” and maybe a toy mask or horns.) The devil would offer to install nonfree drivers in the user's machine to make more parts of the computer function, explaining to the user that the cost of this is using a nonfree (unjust) program.

Comment There was no leak (Score 5, Interesting) 127

by JarekC (#57467564) Attached to: Senators Demand Google Hand Over Internal Memo Urging Google+ Cover-up
The tricky part is there was no leak. The data was available, but there is no evidence of any unauthorized access. So technically they were not required to report the leak, because there was no leak.

Let's say they promised to keep your cash safe, then kept the safe unlocked for a couple of months, then realized what's up and locked it before anyone noticed. Are they legally obliged to tell you about it?

So even if they are assholes from moral point of view, legally they may be clean.

Submission + - Marriott Fired a Social Media Manager for Liking a Tweet About Tibet

Submitted by JarekC
JarekC writes: Marriott International Inc. fired 49-year-old social media manager Roy Jones after he liked a tweet praising the chain for listing Tibet âoeas a country, rather than part of China, in an online survey.â

Let's summarize the facts. Marriot published a survey. Someone on the Internet praises the company for some aspects of the survey in a tweet. Marriot employee likes the tweet praising his company. He gets fired for doing so.

Submission + - SPAM: The NHTSA Says Electric Vehicles Can No Longer Stay Silent at Low Speeds

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: A new ruling mandates that, by 2019, electric and hybrid cars must emit artificial sounds so pedestrians, cyclists, and the blind can better detect these ultraquiet machines. It codifies the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act that Congress passed in 2010, with support from engineering group SAE International and various industry and advocacy groups for the blind. The feds first raised the issue back in 2007, well before the second-generation Toyota Prius would push hybrids into the mainstream.

But are quiet cars a true threat to road safety? In just nine years, the government has attempted to mitigate a very narrow risk factor—an electrified car, not just any car, crashing into a blind adult. Meanwhile, think about all the injuries we’d prevent (at no additional cost to automakers) if sighted people took out their earbuds and paid attention while walking.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - SPAM: Shadow Brokers the reason why Kaspersky Lab is in the US doghouse

Submitted by troublemaker_23
troublemaker_23 writes: At times, it does not pay to be the brightest kid on the block. But Kaspersky Lab, which has been in forefront of A-V research for some time, would have got away even with this, had it not been for a catastrophic leak of Windows vulnerabilities crafted by the NSA via a group that has called itself the Shadow Brokers.
Link to Original Source

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