kbahey - Slashdot User

Submission + - John Conway, Game Of Life author, dies at 82 of COVID-19

Submitted by kbahey on Monday April 13, 2020 @02:21PM

kbahey writes: Renowned mathematician and Princeton University professor John Horton Conway died April 11 as a result of complications from the coronavirus. He was 82.

Conway made contributions to many areas of mathematics, including game theory, but was most well known for the invention of the cellular automaton called the Game of Life.

Submission + - Havana Syndrome may have been caused by pesticide fumigation (www.cbc.ca) 1

Submitted by kbahey on Thursday September 19, 2019 @01:33PM

kbahey writes: Remember staff at embassies in Havana claiming they were targeted by an unknown weapon, ultrasonic or radio waves?

In the wake of the health problems experienced over the past three years by USA and Canadian staff in Havana, Cuba embassies, Global Affairs Canada commissioned a clinical study by a team of multidisciplinary researchers.

Now, the working hypothesis is that the cause could instead be neurotoxic agents used in pesticide fumigation.

Submission + - Misleading results from widely-used machine-learning data analysis techniques (bbc.com)

Submitted by kbahey on Saturday February 16, 2019 @03:56PM

kbahey writes: The increased reliance on machine-learning techniques used by thousands of scientists to analyze data, is producing results that are misleading and often completely wrong.
Dr Genevera Allen from Rice University in Houston said that the increased use of such systems was contributing to a "crisis in science".
She warned scientists that if they didn't improve their techniques they would be wasting both time and money. Her research was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington.

This is the oft-discussed 'reproducibility problem' in modern science.

Submission + - Software Defined Satellite Soon To Be Launched (bbc.com)

Submitted by kbahey on Thursday January 10, 2019 @05:05PM

kbahey writes: Traditionally, large satellites are configured on the ground for specific tasks that cannot be changed after launch, even if market demands evolve.

A new satellite scheduled to be launched soon, will change all that: its coverage, bandwidth, power and frequency can all be altered in orbit.

The 3.5 tonne spacecraft will be operated by Paris-based telecom operator Eutelsat, in a R&D partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), with manufacturer Airbus acting as the prime contractor.

A company official stated that the satellite "will bring unprecedented flexibility to our customers, allowing for in-orbit payload re-configuration and taking customisation to a new level, while also opening the way to a paradigm shift in the manufacture of telecommunications satellites".

Submission + - Single Pixel Causes Thousands To Lose Their Income, Freedom And Reputation ...

Submitted by kbahey on Tuesday January 23, 2018 @06:23PM

kbahey writes: Can a single pixel cost you your livelihood and/or freedom? Apparently, this has already happened in Turkey to thousands of people and their relative. It all stems down from the purge by president Edrogan, following a failed coupe. The result is that many innocent people lost their jobs (and source of income), their freedom, their reputation, and more.

The details are frightening. The underlying technology is the use of 1x1 transparent pixels, as most web sites do, to track their visitors. This particular pixel was used by Bylock, a messaging app that the Turkish government deemed seditious, in their purge against Fethullah Gulen loyalists. Pre-dawn raids by police on those who have this pixel. The long legal proceedings caused a digital forensic expert to challenge those cases based on the servers for Bylock being used for other applications, such as music streaming, and prayer times/direction of Mecca.

Submission + - Near Earth Asteroid Florence Makes a Close Pass

Submitted by kbahey on Saturday September 02, 2017 @12:26PM

kbahey writes: A big, bright, near-Earth asteroid known as 3122 Florence, made a safe fly by yesterday.

Florence is classified as a Potentially Hazardous Object. At its closest, it was about 7 million km (4.4 million miles) away from earth.

It is still visible in amateur telescopes over the next few days where it would be seen to move over several minutes against the background stars. It can be located using this map.

Submission + - Bono wishes movie moguls succeed against downloads (nytimes.com)

Submitted by

Khalid Baheyeldin

on Sunday January 03, 2010 @01:40PM

Khalid Baheyeldin writes: "In his New York Times op-ed column, Irish singer Bono, otherwise noted for his humanitarian efforts expressed dismay at losses music artists incur from internet downloads. He notes that "we know from America's noble effort to stop child pornography, not to mention China's ignoble effort to suppress online dissent, that it's perfectly possible to track content". He then goes on to wonder "perhaps movie moguls will succeed where musicians and their moguls have failed so far, and rally America to defend the most creative economy in the world, where music, film, TV and video games help to account for nearly 4 percent of gross domestic product.""

Submission + - Sandvine CEO says Internet monitoring a necessity

Submitted by

Khalid Baheyeldin

on Thursday June 19, 2008 @02:01PM

Khalid Baheyeldin writes: "In an interview with the Canadian CBC, Sandvine CEO Dave Caputo says, among other things, that internet monitoring is a necessity.

Slashdotters may not know who Sandvine is, until they realize that it is the Waterloo, Ontario based company that provides the technology for Comcast and other ISPs the ability to send RST packets for torrents."

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