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Submission + - Amazon, Microsoft, 'putting world at risk of killer AI'

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: Amazon, Microsoft and Intel are among leading tech companies putting the world at risk through killer robot development, according to a report that surveyed major players from the sector about their stance on lethal autonomous weapons.

Dutch NGO Pax ranked 50 companies by three criteria: whether they were developing technology that could be relevant to deadly AI, whether they were working on related military projects, and if they had committed to abstaining from contributing in the future.

Submission + - Apple Patches Stagefright-Like Bug in iOS

Submitted by Trailrunner7
Trailrunner7 writes: Apple has fixed a series of high-risk vulnerabilities in iOS, including three that could lead to remote code execution, with the release of iOS 9.3.3.

One of those code-execution vulnerabilities lies in the way that iOS handles TIFF files in various applications. Researchers at Cisco’s TALOS team, who discovered the flaw, said that the vulnerability has a lot of potential for exploitation.

“This vulnerability is especially concerning as it can be triggered in any application that makes use of the Apple Image I/O API when rendering tiled TIFF images. This means that an attacker could deliver a payload that successfully exploits this vulnerability using a wide range of potential attack vectors including iMessages, malicious web pages, MMS messages, or other malicious file attachments opened by any application that makes use of the Apple Image I/O API for rendering these types of files,” Cisco TALOS said in a blog post.

Submission + - Valve takes aim at Counter Strike Gambling

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Game maker Valve is threatening to shut down sites dedicated to gambling with add-ons to its popular Counter Strike game. On Thursday the company sent cease and desist letters to 23 sites, demanding that gambling operations be stopped, and that the sites had 10 days to comply. The row revolves around the software overlays that change the appearance of the characters people play in Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) and the weapons and other virtual items. Last week the company reiterated that its user agreements ban external sites from asking users to connect their Steam accounts in order to trade items for real money. The company added that it would use "all available remedies" against sites that did not stop players using virtual goods to gamble.

Submission + - Assange: Google Is Not What It Seems (newsweek.com)

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: In June 2011, Julian Assange received an unusual visitor: the chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt. They outlined radically opposing perspectives: for Assange, the liberating power of the Internet is based on its freedom and statelessness. For Schmidt, emancipation is at one with U.S. foreign policy objectives and is driven by connecting non-Western countries to Western companies and markets. These differences embodied a tug-of-war over the Internet’s future that has only gathered force subsequently. Assange describes his encounter with Schmidt and how he came to conclude that it was far from an innocent exchange of views.

Submission + - Banker offers $1M to solve Beal Conjecture

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: A Texas banker with a knack for numbers has offered $1 million for anyone who can solve a complex math equation that has stumped mathematicians since the 1980s. The Beal Conjecture states that the only solutions to the equation A^x + B^y = C^z, when A, B and C are positive integers, and x, y and z are positive integers greater than two, are those in which A, B and C have a common factor. Like most number theories, it's “easy to say but extremely difficult to prove.”
Earth

Submission + - Hurricane Prompts Unprededented Evacuation of NYC 1

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: For the first time, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered a mandatory evacuation of 300,000 residents of the cities coastal areas as Hurricane Irene barrels up the East Coast. Buses and subways prepared to shut on Saturday as Hurricane Irene approaches as well.

All New Jersey rail service will be suspended from noon Saturday, while the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will institute a shutdown of trains and buses starting at the same time. The suspension will include subways, buses, the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and Access-A-Ride. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will suspend PATH train service at noon as well.

"This is a mandatory evacuation," Bloomberg said. "By five o'clock tomorrow you have to be out. Waiting for the last minute is not a smart thing to do. This is life threatening."
Medicine

Submission + - Rick Perry's Stem Cell Surgery Could lead to Quack

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: Presidential candidate Rick Perry underwent a controversial stem-cell treatment this past month, prompting some doctors to fear the high-profile event would send the wrong signal to desperate patients. "As a highly influential person of power, Perry's actions have the unfortunate potential to push desperate patients into the clinics of quacks,"Dr. George Q. Daley said.
NASA

Submission + - Cutting Edge Tech Slated for Next Mars Rover

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: NASA is pushing the boundaries of technology as it readies its next mission to Mars, loading up its 4th Mars Rover with nearly a dozen instruments and deploying an innovative but risky landing procedure. Scientists and engineers were piecing together some of the final components to the new rover, dubbed Curiosity, on Saturday as it ramps up for a high-stakes launch in November.
Space

Submission + - Perseid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: August's Perseid meteor shower has historically been providing the best opportunity for enthusiasts to catch meteor shows, but this year the Internet will let casual observers enjoy the show live online. The Perseids have been observed for at least 2,000 years and are associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years. Each year in August, the Earth passes through a cloud of the comet's debris. These bits of ice and dust — most more than 1,000 years old — burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
Apple

Submission + - TouchPad Downgrade Highlights iPad Dominance

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: Hewlett Packard reduced the price of its TouchPad tablet computer again, highlighting the uphill battle manufacturers will need to overcome as they go head-to-head against the dominant Apple iPad line of tablets. Much of a tablet's success is based on a the ecosystem of apps, or software, that is available to the end-user. HP is far behind Apple or even the No.2 tablet platform, Google's Android.
Government

Submission + - United States loses AAA credit rating 1

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday in an unprecedented reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy. S&P cut the long-term U.S. credit rating by one notch to AA-plus on concerns about the government's budget deficits and rising debt burden. The move is likely to raise borrowing costs eventually for the American government, companies and consumers.
Medicine

Submission + - Another Cell Phone-Cancer Study Emerges

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: Since the advent of cellular phones, researchers have pondered whether a connection exists between cell phone usage and brain cancer. New evidence always seems to emerge to support or refute such a link. On Wednesday, another study was added to the list.
A European study involving nearly 1,000 participants found no link between cell phone use and brain tumors in children and adolescents. This marks the 3rd study this month and the 4th major one this year, all with different conclusions
Medicine

Submission + - Personal DNA Sequencing Machine One Step Closer

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: A new, low cost semiconductor-based gene sequencing machine has been developed and may unlock the door to advanced medicines and life itself. A team led by Jonathan Rothberg of Ion Torrent in Guilford, Conn is working on a system which uses semiconductors to decode DNA, dramatically reducing costs and taking them closer to being able to reach the goal of a $1000 human genome test. The current optical based system costs around $49000 and is already on the market and being used in over 40 countries.
Media

Submission + - Netflix Deflects Rage Over Price Increase

Submitted by oxide7
oxide7 writes: Netflix provoked an unprecedented outpouring of backlash across the Internet as the company unveiled plans to raise prices on its movie-rental services.

The company said it would Netflix raise the Internet-plus-DVDs-in-the-mail plan from $9.99 per month to $15.98 per month late Tuesday sparking protests and rage across the subscriber base.
Netflix brushed off the criticism however.

"We knew there would be some people who would be upset," company spokesman Steve Swasey said. "To most people, it's a latte or two," he added.

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Thus spake the master programmer: "When a program is being tested, it is too late to make design changes." -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"

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