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Submission + - FedEx Sues US Government Over 'Impossible' Task of Policing Exports To China (reuters.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: U.S. parcel delivery firm FedEx Corp on Monday sued the U.S. government, saying it should not be held liable if it inadvertently shipped products that violated a Trump administration ban on exports to some Chinese companies. In court filings in the District of Columbia, FedEx said it should not be expected to enforce the export ban, and could not reasonably be held liable for shipping products that it did not know about. Export restriction rules “essentially deputize FedEx to police the contents of the millions of packages it ships daily even though doing so is a virtually impossible task, logistically, economically, and in many cases, legally,” it said in a filing.

Submission + - Scientists Discover a New Way To Provide Plants the Nutrients They Need To Thriv (techcrunch.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have discovered a new method for delivering key nutrients to plant roots – without having to ensure they’re present in the soil where the plants are growing. This method, described by researchers in detail in a new academic paper, would manage to improve efficiency to nearly 100% absorption of nutrients and pesticides delivered as nanoparticles (particles smaller than 50 nanometers across – a human hair is about 75,000 nanometers wide, for context) sprayed onto the leaves of plants, which then make their way through the plant’s internal vascular system all the way down into the root system.

Submission + - Six Years After Ed Snowden Went Public, How Much Has Changed? (counterpunch.org) 1

Submitted by Nicola Hahn
Nicola Hahn writes: In June of 2013 an intelligence specialist named Edward Snowden released a set of classified documents to journalists in Hong Kong. Ushering in a series of revelations that put mass surveillance and state sponsored hacking center stage. Snowden’s initial disclosures were soon joined by others, like the ANT Catalogue, the Equation Group tools, and the Vault 7 leaks.

In the wake of these developments a number of high-ranking officials scrambled to justify clandestine programs. Executives likewise recalibrated their stance toward the government and lawmakers worked to defend our civil liberties. Yet despite the tumult of the post-Snowden era and the debates that ensued, has it actually changed anything? Or did society merely offer a collective shrug to the looming threat of pervasive monitoring, surrendering to the convenience of mobile devices? One observer who has warily followed the aftermath of the Snowden affair believes that most people followed the latter path and that it does not bode well for civilization.

Submission + - Building computer systems to recognize facial microexpressions (cmu.edu)

Submitted by jbmartin6
jbmartin6 writes: Microexpressions are fast, involuntary facial expressions which other people may not consciously recognize, but arise from our real emotions instead of the face we wish to present to the world. Carnegie Mellon University released an interesting blog entry about new approaches to using computers to recognize these microexpressions with a focus on the security and military applications. If you haven't taped over the cameras on your devices, it might be time to start thinking about it. Just imagine how advertisers would (mis)use this sort of technology.

Submission + - A Photo Accidentally Revealed a Password For Hawaii's Emergency Agency (qz.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: In the aftermath of an erroneous missile warning that terrified Hawaiians on Saturday (Jan. 13), the state’s emergency management agency has come under increased scrutiny, from the poor design of the software that enables alerts to a particularly slapdash security measure by one of its employees. Old photos from the Associated Press inside the agency’s office appear to show an unspecified password on a yellow Post-It note, stuck to a computer monitor. The image, which shows operations manger Jeffrey Wong standing in front of the computer, was taken in July and appeared in articles published at the time about the agency’s preparedness in the face of a nuclear threat. The agency verified that the password is indeed real but wouldn’t go into specifics on what program the password was supposed to be used for.

Submission + - Google Search Will Start Ranking Faster Mobile Pages Higher In July

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Google today announced a new project to improve its mobile search results: Factoring page speed into its search ranking. As the company notes, page speed “has been used in ranking for some time” but that was largely for desktop searches. Starting in July 2018, page speed will be a ranking factor for mobile searches on Google as well. In November 2014, Google started labeling sites as “mobile-friendly” to denote pages optimized for phones. The company then spend the next few years experimenting with using the label as a ranking factor, ultimately pushing those changes in April 2015 and increasing the effect in May 2016. The label was removed in August 2016 as the company noted that most pages had become “mobile-friendly.” Google now plans to wield that power again to make mobile pages load faster.

Submission + - Roombas Will Soon Build a Wi-Fi Coverage Map While They Clean (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The feature is arriving later this month on the iRobot app, making it possible for WiFi-enabled Roombas to create a map of indoor signals. The map exists alongside the existing Clean Map feature, letting users toggle between the two, like they would, say, satellite and standard imagery in Google Maps. The maps themselves won’t go into too much detail — no upload and download speeds like you see on many mobile speed test apps. Instead, the information will show up as decibel readings. Really, it’s intended as a handy way of showing off where you might want to toss a range extender, to help get rid of dead spots.

Submission + - Apple Confirms iPhone With Older Batteries Will Take Hits On Performance (theverge.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Reddit users have noticed that Apple appears to be slowing down old iPhones that have low-capacity batteries. While many iPhone users have experienced perceived slowdowns due to iOS updates over the years, it appears that there’s now proof Apple is throttling processor speeds when a battery capacity deteriorates over time. Geekbench developer John Poole has mapped out performance for the iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 over time, and has come to the conclusion that Apple’s iOS 10.2.1 and 11.2.0 updates introduce this throttling for different devices. iOS 10.2.1 is particularly relevant, as this update was designed to reduce random shutdown issues for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S. Apple’s fix appears to be throttling the CPU to prevent the phone from randomly shutting down. Geekbench reports that iOS 11.2.0 introduces similar throttling for low iPhone 7 low-capacity batteries.

When reached for comment, Apple basically confirmed the findings to The Verge, but disputes the assumed intention: "Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices. Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components. Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions. We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future."

Submission + - 12 Days in Xinjiang - China's surveillance state (wsj.com)

Submitted by b0s0z0ku
b0s0z0ku writes: China has turned Xinjiang, the Northwestern part of the country surrounding Urumqi, into one of the most advanced surveillance states in the world. Officially, the purpose is to prevent terrorism and control resistance to the government in one of the few parts of China where ethnic Chinese are a minority.

From routine use of facial recognition cameras, to police checkpoints where people's cell phones randomly are checked for unauthorized software, to needing to swipe an ID card and be photographed to buy gasoline and other necessities, the level of technology — and control — is frightening and awe-inspiring.

Submission + - FDA Just Approved The First-Ever Gene Therapy For an Inherited Disease (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: In a historic move, the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved a pioneering gene therapy for a rare form of childhood blindness, the first such treatment cleared in the United States for an inherited disease.

The approval signals a new era for gene therapy, a field that struggled for decades to overcome devastating setbacks but now is pushing forward in an effort to develop treatments for haemophilia, sickle-cell anaemia, and an array of other genetic diseases.

Yet the products, should they reach patients, are likely to cost as much as US$1 million for both eyes.

Submission + - Youbit Shuts Down Crypto-Currency Exchange After 2nd Hack, Files For Bankruptcy (bbc.com)

Submitted by phalse phace
phalse phace writes: After experiencing another hack, South Korean crypto-currency exchange Youbit has closed their doors and is filing for bankruptcy.

Youbit, which lets people buy and sell bitcoins and other virtual currencies, has filed for bankruptcy after losing 17% of its assets in the cyber-attack.

It did not disclose how much the assets were worth at the time of the attack.

In April, Youbit, formerly called Yapizon, lost 4,000 bitcoins now worth $73m (£55m) to cyberthieves.

South Korea's Internet and Security Agency (Kisa) which investigates net crime, said it had started an enquiry into how the thieves gained access to the exchange's core systems.

Kisa blamed the earlier attack on Youbit on cyber-spies working for North Korea. Separate, more recent, attacks on the Bithumb and Coinis exchanges, have also been blamed on the regime.

No information has been released about who might have been behind the latest Youbit attack.

In a statement, Youbit said that customers would get back about 75% of the value of the crypto-currency they have lodged with the exchange.

Submission + - Toyota's New Power Plant Will Create Clean Energy from Manure (usatoday.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Japanese automobile giant Toyota is making some exciting moves in the realm of renewable, clean energy. The company is planning to build a power plant in California that turns the methane gas produced by cow manure into water, electricity, and hydrogen. The project, known as the Tri-Gen Project, was unveiled at this year's Los Angeles Auto Show. The plant, which will be located at the Port of Long Beach in California, will be "the world’s first commercial-scale 100% renewable power and hydrogen generation plant," writes USA Today. Toyota is expecting the plant to come online in about 2020.

The plant is expected to have the capability to provide enough energy to power 2,350 average homes and enough fuel to operate 1,500 hydrogen-powered vehicles daily. The company is estimating the plant to be able to produce 2.35 MW of electricity and 1.2 tons of hydrogen each day. The facility will also be equipped with one of the largest hydrogen fueling stations in the world. Toyota's North America group vice president for strategic planning, Doug Murtha, says that the company "understand[s] the tremendous potential to reduce emissions and improve society."

Submission + - A new test of the Equivalence Principle

Submitted by orsayman
orsayman writes: Most stories around space today seem to revolve around SpaceX but let's not forget that space is also a place for cool physics experiments. One such experiment currently running into low orbit is the MICROSCOPE satellite launched in 2016 to test the (weak) Equivalence Principle (also knows as the universality of free fall) a central hypothesis in General Relativity.

The first results confirm the principle with a precision ten times better than previous experiments. And it's just the beginning since they hope to increase the precision by another factor of 10. If the Equivalence Principle is still verified at this precision, this could constrain or invalidate some quantum gravity theories.

For those of you who are more satellite-science oriented, the satellite also features an innovative "self destruct" mechanism (meant to limit orbit pollution) based on inflatable structures described in this paper (paywalled).

Submission + - PSA: Comcast Doesn't Really Support Net Neutrality (slate.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Anyone who has ever paid a bill to or waited for customer service from Comcast knows why it is one of America’s most detested companies, its recent efforts to improve its image notwithstanding. While Comcast says its customers will “enjoy strong net neutrality protections,” it hasn’t explicitly said it won’t offer paid prioritization, which is how the company would most likely monetize its new ability to legally muck with internet traffic. In other words, Comcast might not choke or slow service to any website, but it could speed access to destinations that pay for the priority service. The company’s promises should sound familiar. As Jon Brodkin pointed out in Ars Technica on Monday, back when the FCC was crafting the network neutrality rules in 2014, Comcast said it had no plans to enact paid prioritization, either. “We don't prioritize Internet traffic or have paid fast lanes, and have no plans to do so,” a Comcast executive wrote in a blog post that year.

But Comcast’s line has changed in an important way. In a comment to the FCC from earlier this year, the company said it is time for the FCC to adopt a “more flexible” approach to paid prioritization, and noted in a blog post at the time that the FCC should consider net neutrality principles that prevent “no anticompetitive paid prioritization.” In other words, not necessarily all paid prioritization. The inclusion of “anti-competitive” could signal that the company does in fact hope to offer fast-lane service, but at the same price for all. And it might be a price that say, Fox News and the New York Times can afford, but one that smaller outlets can’t. That Comcast’s language is changing is one reason to distrust its promises regarding net neutrality, but its track record is an even bigger one. The company has been caught red-handed lying about its traffic discrimination in the past. In 2007, for example, when Comcast was found intermittently blocking users' ability to use BitTorrent, the company made numerous false claims about its network interference before finally admitting its bad behavior and halting the disruptions.

Submission + - Computer Pioneer Geoff Tootill Passed Away (thetimes.co.uk)

Submitted by tigersha
tigersha writes: Computer pioneer Geoff Tootill passed away this week. He worked on the first computer that stored a program in main memory, as opposed to a paper tape and actually had the opportunity to teach Alan Turing and debug one of Turing's programs.

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