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Submission + - MIT just discovered a way to mass produce graphene in large sheets (inhabitat.com)

Submitted by Paige.Bennett
Paige.Bennett writes: Up till now, graphene has been produced in small batches in labs. But MIT just found a way to mass produce graphene in large sheets using a process that rolls out five centimeters of graphene each minute. The longest span so far was nearly four hours, which produced about 10 meters of graphene.

Submission + - Project Maven brings AI to the fight against ISIS (thebulletin.org) 1

Submitted by Dog of the South
Dog of the South writes: When the Pentagon--famous for its painful procurement process and its penchant for producing tech systems that are obsolete before they're fielded--decided to develop and deploy artificial intelligence to a combat zone within just six months, the idea sounded like a failure waiting to happen. Remarkably, Project Maven has met its goals and won rave reviews--and may have changed the Pentagon's whole approach to tech innovation. But is the Defense Department ready for the enormous challenges that lie at the intersection of military power and artificial intelligence?

Submission + - H1-B Administrators Challenging an Unusually Large Number of Applications

Submitted by decaffeinated
decaffeinated writes: Bloomberg reports that starting this summer, employers began noticing that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services was challenging an unusually large number of H-1B applications. Cases that would have sailed through the approval process in earlier years ground to a halt under requests for new paperwork.

“We’re entering a new era,” said Emily Neumann, an immigration lawyer in Houston who has been practicing for 12 years. “There’s a lot more questioning, it’s very burdensome.” She said in past years she's counted on 90 percent of her petitions being approved by Oct. 1 in years past. This year, only 20 percent of the applications have been processed. Neumann predicts she’ll still have many unresolved cases by the time next year’s lottery happens in April 2018.

Submission + - SPAM: People are complete suckers for online reviews

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: No reviews, no revenue.

That’s the key takeaway from a new study published in Psychological Science, which finds that if two similar products have the same rating, online shoppers will buy the one with more reviews.

Researchers at the Association for Psychological Science tasked 120 adults with comparing pairs of phone cases on Amazon, and found the participants routinely picked the phone case with the most reviews – even if the ratings for both products were low.

The researchers repeated the experiment, following the same design and procedure, and produced similar results. The study concluded that consumers see products with more reviews as being more popular, and they’re more comfortable having what everyone else is having, regardless of quality.

“[When] faced with a choice between two low-scoring products, one with many reviews and one with few, the statistics say we should actually go for the product with few reviews, since there’s more of a chance it’s not really so bad,” wrote researcher Derek Powell of Stanford University, lead author of the report. In other words, when there’s only a handful of reviews, a few bad ones break the curve and bring down the overall rating.

“But participants in our studies did just the opposite: They went for the more popular product, despite the fact that they should’ve been even more certain it was of low quality,” he wrote.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - New Zealand Supreme Court rules operation against Kim Dotcom was illegal (torrentfreak.com) 1

Submitted by Mashiki
Mashiki writes: New Zealand supreme court rules that spying against Kim Dotcom was illegal, that GCSB violated the law, including the observation of citizens and residents within the country. It was also determined by the courts that the operation had gone on longer then was stated by both the police and GCSB. This may, leave the extradition case up in the air since the methods used to gain the information have been ruled illegal, in turn this makes the arrest illegal, along with the seizure of his equipment illegal. "“The GCSB has now admitted that the unlawfulness was not just dependent upon residency issues, it went further. The reason it went further was because it didn’t have authorization to carry out the kind of surveillance that it was carrying out under the legislation, as it was at that time”" The GCSB has said that it was impossible to plead the case as it would jeopardize national security.

Submission + - U.S. Intelligence Agencies Should Put Up Or Shut Up With Kaspersky Rumors (csoonline.com)

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: As previously reported on Slashdot, U.S. intelligence agencies have warned against using Kaspersky software amid swirling rumors of ties between Kaspersky Lab executives and the Russian government. White House cybersecurity coordinator Rob Joyce this week advised against consumer use of Kaspersky software. This may be good politics, but CSOonline's Fahmida Rashid warns that it's bad infosec. 'If the government has any evidence—or even compelling reasons for being suspicious—it should be sharing that, because many companies and consumers rely on Kaspersky Lab products. The fact that the government hasn’t done so makes it likely this is all just geo politics,' writes Rashid. 'There is enough FUD in the market without throwing in politics into decision-making. Organizations should focus on deploying the technology which best addresses their needs.'

Submission + - Science fiction author Brian Aldiss dies aged 92 (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Freshly Exhumed
Freshly Exhumed writes: Acclaimed Science Fiction author Brian Aldiss, first published in the 1950s, has died at the age of 92. Aldiss wrote such science fiction classics as Non-Stop, Hothouse and Greybeard, as well as the Helliconia trilogy, winning the Hugo and Nebula prizes for science fiction and fantasy, an honorary doctorate from the University of Reading, the title of grand master from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and an OBE for services to literature. Tributes from contemporaries and younger authors have been plentiful.

Submission + - The 2017 Hugo Awards

Submitted by Dave Knott
Dave Knott writes: The Hugo Awards, the most prestigious awards in science fiction, had their 2017 ceremony today, at WorldCon 75 in Helsinki, Finland.
The winners are:

Best Novel: The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin
Best Novella: "Every Heart a Doorway" by Seanan McGuire
Best Novelette: "The Tomato Thief" by Ursula Vernon
Best Short Story: "Seasons of Glass and Iron", by Amal El-Mohtar
Best Related Work: Words Are My Matter: Writings About Life and Books, 2000-2016 by Ursula K Le Guin
Best Graphic Story: Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening , written by Marjorie Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda
Best Dramatic Presentation: Arrival , screenplay by Eric Heisserer based on a short story by Ted Chiang, directed by Denis Villeneuve
Best Dramatic Presentation: The Expanse: Leviathan Wakes , written by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, directed by Terry McDonough
Best Series: The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
John W Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Ada Palmer

Just as they did last year, female creators have dominated the awards, with women taking home awards in the major categories—including N. K. Jemisin, who became the first woman to win the Hugo for Best Novel twice in a row since Lois McMaster Bujold did in 1991 and 1992.
This year’s slate of nominees, unlike the drama surrounding the 2016 and 2015 Hugos, was less impacted by the ballot-stuffing tactics of the “Rabid Puppies”, thanks to a change in the way nominees were voted for this year (including the fact no work could appear in more than one category) in an attempt to avoid tactical slate picks.

Submission + - Almost 300 people join class-action lawsuit for age discrimination at Google (bizjournals.com) 1

Submitted by BrookHarty
BrookHarty writes: 269 people have joined a class-action lawsuit against Google claiming they were discriminated against in the workplace based on their age. The lawsuit originated in 2015 with plaintiff Robert Heath and was certified as a class-action in 2016. Google has stated it has implemented policies to stop age discrimination but still has an average employee age of 29.

In 2004 Larry Page fired Brian Reid 9 days before IPO costing Ried 45 million in unvested stock options. Reid was fired for lack of "cultural fit". Ried has settled for an undisclosed amount.

Submission + - Scrap dealer finds Apollo-era NASA computers in dead engineer's basement (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Joe_NoOne
Joe_NoOne writes: A pair of Apollo-era NASA computers and hundreds of mysterious tape reels have been discovered in a deceased engineer’s basement in Pittsburgh. Most of the tapes are unmarked, but the majority of the rest appear to be instrumentation reels for Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, NASA’s fly-by missions to Jupiter and Saturn. At some point in the early 1970s, an IBM engineer working for NASA at the height of the Space Race took home the computers—and the mysterious tape reels. A scrap dealer, invited to clean out the deceased’s electronics-filled basement, discovered the computers. The devices were clearly labelled “NASA PROPERTY,” so the dealer called NASA to report the find.

"Please tell NASA these items were not stolen," the engineer's heir told the scrap dealer, according to the report. "They belonged to IBM Allegheny Center Pittsburgh, PA 15212. During the 1968-1972 timeframe, IBM was getting rid of the items so [redacted engineer] asked if he could have them and was told he could have them."

Submission + - Afghan Girls Robotics Team Allowed To Enter U.S. For Competition (reuters.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A team of Afghan girls are on their way to compete in an academic robotics competition in the United States after American officials agreed to allow them to enter the country despite initially denying them visas. The reversal reportedly came at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Submission + - Amazon Prime Is a Blessing and a Curse For Remote Towns (vice.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: If access to Prime is reduced, or in some cases, cut off, it can leave many remote towns in the lurch. One dozen five-gallon barrels of hydraulic oil. A 2x4x8 of lumber. A pallet's worth of 10-ply, heavy-duty truck tires. These are just a few of the heavy, cumbersome orders one Redditor on the Alaska subreddit claimed to have ordered from Amazon Prime, with free shipping, before users started to notice difficulty finding eligible products. For many remote and rural communities in the US and Canada, the arrival of Amazon Prime, with its low prices and free, expedient shipping was a boon. Hard-to-get or expensive products were now accessible, and reasonably priced to boot. For the cost of a membership (which now runs $99 per year), residents were able to get deals on everything from food to diapers to truck tires. But sometimes when something seems too good to be true, it is. Prime has proven to be a bit of a double-edged sword for many of these communities. Residents become dependent on Prime as local retailers struggle to compete. If access to Prime is reduced, or in some cases, cut off, it can leave many remote towns in the lurch.

Submission + - JRR Tolkien book Beren and Lúthien published after 100 years (bbc.com)

Submitted by seoras
seoras writes: BBC article: "A new book by Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien is going on sale — 100 years after it was first conceived.
Beren and Lúthien has been described as a "very personal story" that the Oxford professor thought up after returning from the Battle of the Somme.
It was edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and contains versions of a tale that became part of The Silmarillion.
The book features illustrations by Alan Lee, who won an Academy Award for his work on Peter Jackson's film trilogy.
It is being published on Thursday by HarperCollins on the 10th anniversary of the last Middle Earth book, The Children of Húrin."

Submission + - Light Sail propulsion could reach Sirius sooner than Alpha Centauri (arxiv.org)

Submitted by RockDoctor
RockDoctor writes: A recent proposition to launch probes to other star systems driven by lasers which remain in the Solar system has garnered considerable attention. But recently published work suggests that there are unexpected complexities to the system.

One would think that the closest star systems would be the easiest to reach. But unless you are content with a fly-by examination of the star system, with much reduced science returns, you will need to decelerate the probe at the far end, without any infrastructure to assist with the braking.

By combining both light-pressure braking and gravitational slingshots, a team of German, French and Chilean astronomers discover that the brightness of the destination star can significantly increase deceleration, and thus travel time (because higher flight velocities can be used. Sling-shotting around a companion star to lengthen deceleration times can help shed flight velocity to allow capture into a stable orbit.

The 4.37 light year distant binary stars Alpha Centauri A and B could be reached in 75 years from Earth. Covering the 0.24 light year distance to Proxima Centauri depends on arriving at the correct relative orientations of Alpha Centauri A and B in their mutual 80 year orbit for the sling shot to work. Without a companion star, Proxima Centauri can only absorb a final leg velocity of about 1280km/s, so that leg of the trip would take an additional 46 years.

Using the same performance characteristics for the light sail the corresponding duration for an approach to the Sirius system, almost twice as far away (8.58ly), is a mere 68.9 years, making it (and it's white dwarf companion) possibly a more attractive target.

Of course, none of this addresses the question of how to get any data from there to here. Or, indeed, how to manage a project that will last longer than a working lifetime. There are also issues of aiming — the motion of the Alpha Centauri system isn't well-enough known at the moment to achieve the precise manoeuvring needed without course corrections (and so, data transmission from there to here) en route.

Submission + - Drupal Developers Threaten to Quit Drupal Unless Larry Garfield Reinstated (drupalconfessions.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Slashdot previously covered the story of Larry Garfield, a Drupal developer who was allegedly banned from the community for his BDSM/Gorean lifestyle, after he was outed by a colleague with a grudge. Now, dozens of core Drupal developers, committers, and funders have banded together in an open letter to Dries Buytaert, the CTO of Acquia, Drupal trademark owner, and Benevolent Dictator for Life (BDFL) of the Drupal project. Among other things, they demand that Larry Garfield be reinstated, threatening to abandon the project if their demands are not met:

If you will not fight for us and restore our faith in the professionalism of the Drupal community, then a number of us will be permanently leaving the Drupal community, ceasing all contributions to the official, Drupal-branded branch of the codebase, and ceasing participation in all Drupal communities. This is not our first choice, but we cannot and will not participate in a community that encourages abusers to totally destroy people’s careers for personal or ideological reasons.

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