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Comment Re: Really? (Score 1) 58

by kzanol (#57716514) Attached to: Nike and Boeing Are Paying Sci-Fi Writers To Predict Their Futures
This really triggers a deja vu moment for listeners of the escape pod podcast just in September there was a two part episode perfectly Matched to this topic: The revolution, brought to you by Nike. http://escapepod.org/2018/09/0... Also shows that the results probably aren't necessarily what you wanted...

Comment Re:What a breathtakingly awesome announcement! (Score 1) 168

by kzanol (#55178745) Attached to: Volkswagen To Build Electric Versions of All 300 Models By 2030

I see one huge flaw with this plan: The way to get a successful electric car is NOT to stick a battery+electric motor onto an existing design - that just gets you yet another bunch of compliance cars with sub-par performance and driving characteristics that no one actually wants to use.

Concentrate on just a few models.

Design these new models as all electric models from the ground up.

Distribution of components is radically different than classic internal combustion based cars- you can have multiple small motors, not necessarily located under the hood. You want the battery as an integral part of the chassis right at the bottom. You definitely want to put way more effort into aerodynamics to get best range. Since you just got rid of engine noise, concentrate on wheel noise and wind noise to actually make the most of the low-noise experience possible with electric cars.

The resulting cars may not look exactly like today's cars because of the changed parameters - but they'll actually work and be fun to drive. I guess it'll be a challenge to get there without creating weirdomobiles (BMW i3 anyone?).

Submission + - RIP Dr. Henry Heimlich, inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver

Submitted by tomhath
tomhath writes: Dr Heimlich died at the age of 96. He invented the lifesaving technique, which uses abdominal thrusts to clear a person's airway, in 1974.

In May he used the technique himself to save a woman at his retirement home.

He dislodged a piece of meat with a bone in it from the airway of an 87-year-old woman, telling the BBC: "I didn't know I really could do it until the other day."
Security

Why IoT Security Is So Critical (techcrunch.com) 148

Posted by Soulskill from the because-people-can't-shut-up-about-it dept.
An anonymous reader writes: Software engineer Ben Dickson starts off an opinion piece about Internet of Things security with this amusing comment: "Twenty years ago, if you told me my phone could be used to steal the password to my email account or to take a copy of my fingerprint data, I would've laughed at you and said you watch too much James Bond. But today, if you tell me that hackers with malicious intents can use my toaster to break into my Facebook account, I will panic and quickly pull the plug from the evil appliance." Dickson then lays out many of the issues with securing internet-connected devices, and explains the work being done to make them more secure. He highlights areas that manufacturers must focus on: "In contrast to human-controlled devices, they go through a one-time authentication process, which can make them perfect sources of infiltration into company networks. Therefore, more security needs to be implemented on these gateways to improve the overall security of the system. ... There also must be a sound plan for installing security updates on IoT devices. Each consumer will likely soon own scores — if not hundreds — of connected devices. The idea of manually installing updates on so many devices is definitely out of the question, but having them automatically pushed by manufacturers also can be a risky business."

Comment Re:MythTV (Score 1) 236

by kzanol (#50775391) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What's Your Media Setup?
Also Mythtv.

Backend: Headless server in the tech closet:
2x pcie dual dvb-s2 receivers.
8x4TB HDD
1x payTV subscription card (Sky), used by all the sat receivers via oscam and sasc-ng

A couple of tvs in the house, all w/ Acer aspire revo ion-based mini PCs running mythtv frontends.
Medicine

Legionnaires' Bacteria Reemerges In Previously Disinfected Cooling Towers 118

Posted by timothy from the but-you-said-disinfected dept.
schwit1 writes with the New York Times' unsettling report that 15 water-cooling towers in the Bronx that this week tested positive for Legionnaires' disease had been disinfected less than two months ago. From the NYT: After an outbreak of the disease killed 12 people in July and August in the South Bronx, the city required every building with cooling towers, a common source of the Legionella bacteria that cause the disease, to be cleaned within two weeks. ... [The] city found this week that bacteria had regrown in at least 15 towers that had been cleaned recently in the Morris Park section of the Bronx. The testing occurred after a fresh outbreak in that area that has killed one person and sickened at least 12, and spurred an order from health officials for the towers to be disinfected again.

Submission + - When Nerds Do BBQ 1

Submitted by Rick Zeman
Rick Zeman writes: On this 4th of July, the day that Americans flock to their grills and smokers, Wired has a fascinating article on a computerized smoker designed by Harvard engineering students. They say, "In prototype form, the smoker looks like a combination of a giant pepper mill, a tandoori oven, and V.I.N.CENT from The Black Hole. It weighs 300 pounds. It has a refueling chute built into the side of it. And it uses a proportional-integral-derivative controller, a Raspberry Pi, and fans to regulate its own temperature, automatically producing an ideal slow-and-low burn."

After cooking >200 lbs of brisket fine-tuning the design, the students concluded, "“Old-school pitmasters are like, ‘I cook mine in a garbage can,’ and there’s a point of pride in that,” Parker says. “A lot of the cutting edge is when you take an art form and drag it back onto scientific turf and turn it into an algorithm. I don’t think we’ve diluted the artistic component with this."

Submission + - Lt. Uhura Hospitalised in LA After Stroke

Submitted by WheezyJoe
WheezyJoe writes: The Register tells us that Nichelle Nichols, who played the lovely Lt. Uhura, communications officer of the original starship Enterprise (original series and animated series), has been hospitalized after a mild stroke. She is reported to have undergone a CAT scan and MRI, and was awake and eating as of Thursday evening. Nichols has shown minor signs of loss of mobility but otherwise no signs of paralysis.

Submission + - World's 1st Penis Transplant Done in South Africa (webmd.com)

Submitted by PolygamousRanchKid
PolygamousRanchKid writes: The world's first successful penis transplant has been performed by surgeons in South Africa, Bloomberg News reported Friday. The 21-year-old recipient has made a full recovery and regained all functions in the transplanted organ. The nine-hour operation was done Dec. 11 by surgeons from Stellenbosch University and Cape Town's Tygerberg Hospital, the university said Friday in a statement.

The unidentified patient had his penis amputated three years ago in a life-saving procedure after he developed complications from a traditional circumcision.

"Our goal was that he would be fully functional at two years and we are very surprised by his rapid recovery," said Dr. Andre van der Merwe, head of the university's urology division, who led the surgical team.
Communications

Ask Slashdot: Issue Tracker For Non-Engineers? 144

Posted by timothy from the who-did-what-when-where-why-and-to-whom? dept.
purplie writes My non-technical spouse is an analyst in a small county government department, a handful of people plus some contractors for projects. Their project/task management is mouth-to-mouth, sticky notes, and emails, and it's driving them crazy. I want to suggest something like an issue tracker. It would have to work for tasks both large (year-long investigations) and small (arranging catering for a meeting). The issue trackers I'm familiar with are too software-development-oriented, or make too many assumptions about your 'agile' religion. Are there any good options for non-engineers? They use mainly Windows and have iPads. I don't like web-based tools, but that might work better for them because they don't have administrative privs on their machines. Something that also incorporates a wiki might be nice. There will be resistance if it's not really easy to use.
Communications

The Mexican Drug Cartels' Involuntary IT Guy 128

Posted by Soulskill from the undesirable-career-paths dept.
sarahnaomi writes: It could have been any other morning. Felipe del Jesús Peréz García got dressed, said goodbye to his wife and kids, and drove off to work. It would be a two hour commute from their home in Monterrey, in Northeastern Mexico's Nuevo León state, to Reynosa, in neighboring Tamaulipas state, where Felipe, an architect, would scout possible installation sites for cell phone towers for a telecommunications company before returning that evening. That was the last time anyone saw him.

What happened to Felipe García? One theory suggests he was abducted by a sophisticated organized crime syndicate, and then forced into a hacker brigade that builds and services the cartel's hidden, backcountry communications infrastructure. They're the Geek Squads to some of the biggest mafia-style organizations in the world.

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Those who do things in a noble spirit of self-sacrifice are to be avoided at all costs. -- N. Alexander.

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