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Submission + - FBI Software For Analyzing Fingerprints Contains Russian-Made Code (buzzfeed.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: In a secret deal, a French company purchased code from a Kremlin-connected firm, incorporated it into its own software, and hid its existence from the FBI, according to documents and two whistleblowers. The allegations raise concerns that Russian hackers could compromise law enforcement computer systems.

Submission + - Google's Voice-Generating AI Is Now Indistinguishable From Humans (qz.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A research paper published by Google this month—which has not been peer reviewed—details a text-to-speech system called Tacotron 2, which claims near-human accuracy at imitating audio of a person speaking from text. The system is Google’s second official generation of the technology, which consists of two deep neural networks. The first network translates the text into a spectrogram (pdf), a visual way to represent audio frequencies over time. That spectrogram is then fed into WaveNet, a system from Alphabet’s AI research lab DeepMind, which reads the chart and generates the corresponding audio elements accordingly. The Google researchers also demonstrate that Tacotron 2 can handle hard-to-pronounce words and names, as well as alter the way it enunciates based on punctuation. For instance, capitalized words are stressed, as someone would do when indicating that specific word is an important part of a sentence.

Submission + - Lockheed Martin to build high-energy airborne laser for fighter planes (newatlas.com)

Submitted by Big Hairy Ian
Big Hairy Ian writes: In a move that could revolutionize aerial combat, the US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) has awarded Lockheed Martin a US$26.3 million contract to design, develop, and produce a high-power laser weapon that the AFRL wants to install and test on a tactical fighter jet by 2021. The new test weapon is part of the AFRL Self-protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) program tasked with developing airborne laser systems.

Airborne laser weapons are nothing new. Experimental lasers mounted on aircraft date back to the US Strategic Defense Initiative of the 1980s, but producing a practical weapon system has proven difficult. Previous attempts have resulted in dodgy chemical laser weapons so bulky that they had to be mounted in a 747, but the development of solid state fiber optic lasers is starting to change the game.

Submission + - 3D printing doubles the strength of stainless steel (sciencemag.org)

Submitted by sciencehabit
sciencehabit writes: 3D printing has taken the world by storm, but it currently works best with plastic and porous steel—materials too weak for hard-core applications. Now, researchers have come up with a way to 3D print tough and flexible stainless steel, an advance that could lead to faster and cheaper ways to make everything from rocket engines to parts for nuclear reactors and oil rigs.

The team designed a computer-controlled process to not only create dense stainless steel layers, but to more tightly control the structure of their material from the nanoscale to micron scale. That allows the printer to build in tiny cell wall–like structures on each scale that prevent fractures and other common problems. Tests showed that under certain conditions the final 3D printed stainless steels were up to three times stronger than steels made by conventional techniques and yet still ductile.

Submission + - Startup plans to clean up cigarette butts using crows 1

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: A startup in the Netherlands has developed the "Crowbar", a bird feeder that takes discarded cigarette butts as payment for dispensing food. A camera recognises cigarette filters and rejects any other objects placed in the Crowbar. The idea isn't entirely original, a gentleman in the US has already built a similar device and trained crows to deposit coins. The hope is that crows will be able to keep cities clean, sort through refuse and perform other tasks for our mutual benefit.

Submission + - Toshiba's new fast-charging battery could triple the range of electric vehicles (newatlas.com)

Submitted by Big Hairy Ian
Big Hairy Ian writes: A key focus of electric vehicle (EV) makers is maximizing the range users can get from each charge, and for that reason new battery technologies are poised to play a huge part in driving their adoption. Toshiba has developed a new fast-charging battery it claims could allow EVs to travel three times as far as they do now, and then be fully recharged again in a matter of minutes.

Toshiba's SCiB (Super Charge ion Battery) has been around in various forms since 2007, with its chief claim to fame an ability to charge to 90 percent of capacity in just five minutes. It also boasts a life-span of 10 years and high levels of safety, and has found its way into a number of notable EVs, including Mitsubishi's i MiEV and Honda's Fit EV.
Wireless Networking

Submission + - UK Fuzz Cracking Down on "Broadband Theft" (itn.co.uk) 1

Submitted by dubculture
dubculture writes: A 39 year-old man in West London was arrested (presumably today) for "[d]ishonestly obtaining free internet access" from an unsecured wireless router nearby. The article discusses a couple of other cases, including one where a fine of £500 (~US$1000) was handed out for, essentially, taking advantage of someone else's inability (read: apathy) towards securing their home network.
Security

Submission + - How To Steal Cars - Breaking a Car's Cipher

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: KeeLoq is a cipher used in several car anti-theft mechanisms distributed by Microchip Technology Inc. It may protect your car if you own a Chrysler, Daewoo, Fiat, General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Volvo, Volkswagen, or a Jaguar. The cipher is included in the remote control device that opens and locks your car and that controls the anti-theft mechanisms.

The 64-bit key block cipher was widely believed to be secure. In a recent research, a method to identify the key in less than a day was found. The attack requires access for about 1 hour to the remote control (for example, while it is stored in your pocket). The attacker than runs the implemented software, finds the secret cryptographic key, and drives away in your car after copying the key.

More info at: http://www.cosic.esat.kuleuven.be/keeloq/
Music

Submission + - The Future of Music (ieee.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The loudness war, what many audiophiles refer to as an assault on music (and ears), has been an open secret of the recording industry for nearly the past two decades and has garnered more attention in recent years as CDs have pushed the limits of loudness thanks to advances in digital technology. The "war" refers to the competition among record companies to make louder and louder albums by compressing the dynamic range. But the loudness war could be doing more than simply pumping up the volume and angering aficionados — it could be responsible for halting technological advances in sound quality for years to come.

Feed Engadget: Deep-brain electrical stimulation brings man out of vegetative state (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

A 38-year-old man who had been in a near-coma for six years was recently awakened via the use of a pacemaker and two electrodes which were implanted deeply in his brain. The electrical device, manufactured by a company called Medtronics, was used to send impulses to the area of the brain regulating consciousness, and researchers believe that the stimulation may be enhancing brain circuits that are still capable of functioning. The man, the first of 12 to undergo the procedure, has gone from a vegetative state to being able to play cards, speak with family members, and take trips outside. While this isn't exactly a new technology -- as doctors have been experimenting with deep-brain stimulation in the treatment of Parkinson's, epilepsy, and brain injuries for some time -- it is a clear sign that there's hope for patients whom the medical community has been, heretofore, unable to treat.

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