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Submission + - MIT AI's fake video-sounds fool human viewers (robohub.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) have demonstrated a deep-learning algorithm that passes the Turing Test for sound: when shown a silent video clip of an object being hit, the algorithm can produce a sound for the hit that is realistic enough to fool human viewers."

Submission + - Australian Researchers Believe They've Found the World's Ugliest Color (fstoppers.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: We talk a lot about color toning, and the truth is, it's one of those subtler steps that can really make a good image a standout image. Sometimes though, it smacks you in the face, as is the case with the color opaque couché, Pantone 448 C. Australian researchers believe it's the "ugliest" color as judged by the reactions study participants had to it, which included such labels as "sewage-tinted" and "death." The research was done for an important reason, however, as the Australian government will now use it on packaging to help deter consumers from buying tobacco products.

Comment Re:I guess there's one sensible solution to this (Score 1) 819

by sys64764 (#52133491) Attached to: Employers Struggle To Find Workers Who Can Pass A Drug Test

Wauw, you managed to push all my buttons with a few words, you're a little Napoleon! Do you ever wonder what your employees really think of you?
I guess you hurdle sheep and micromanage the shit out of them, you probably don't have anyone in your team that really shines or anyone with a really strong character because you can't stand anything with a bigger ego than yourself.

Regardless of the drug test issue I wouldn't even consider working for you if you showed that attitude during an interview.

Submission + - Observe your sperm with this smart-phone loupe

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Japanese firm TENGA has released a kit for observing sperm with a smart phone. The product is aimed at men worried about infertility, offering 550x magnification to give a clear view of individual sperm.

Submission + - The TSA spent $1.4 million on an iPad app that randomly points left or right (rare.us)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Next time you go to the airport, the TSA may direct you to the right or left using an iPad app which randomly displays a giant arrow pointing-you guessed it!-right or left.

And if that's not enough to impress you, maybe the cost will: The agency, well known for its history of waste, incompetence, and disregard for basic civil liberties, dropped a cool $1.4 million of Americans' tax dollars to get this randomizer app up and running.

(Again, it is an app that displays two giant arrows.)

Now, to be fair, that $1.4 million total may well include the purchase price of the physical iPads or perhaps the cost of getting the app to work on other, non-iPad devices. But still, the iPad app alone cost about $336,000, which is a really hefty price tag for big arrows.

Submission + - Toshiba recalls over 100,000 faulty laptop batteries (cpsc.gov)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall for over 100,000 Toshiba laptop battery packs after several "hazard" reports. Toshiba, which says it shipped the affected battery module in 39 models of Toshiba Protege, Satellite, Tecra between mid-2011 and early 2016, urges users to check the model number of the battery on their laptop. Defective packs have part numbers beginning with G71C (G71c*******).

Submission + - Banking-grade authentication for all 1

Submitted by ymenager
ymenager writes: For a long while I’ve been quite frustrated with the IT authentication available.

1) Most authentication solutions available have proven themselves to be very weak and especially vulnerable to social engineering and advanced malware deployed by cybercriminals (banks lose millions daily due to cyber-theft, even those using “best practice” solutions)

2) Most solutions deployed are based on a “one-size-fits-all” model. This model however is not very good, because each person will have a different willingness to trade off convenience for security depending on the stakes of what they’re trying to protect. For example if you have two bank accounts, one with a small amount of money and another with all your life savings, most people would be willing to suffer extra inconvenience in order to guarantee that all their life savings are protected from cyber-criminals.

3) Most “advanced” authentication technologies are “corporate priced” and completely unaffordable for typical small businesses or websites that have non-paying users (which is the majority of websites out there).

4) Most technologies neglect account recovery, leaving major holes in their security. For example we’re told that “Secured by Visa” would improve your credit card security by protecting with a password, however a hacker can use the account recovery to bypass the password step, only by knowing the user’s date of birth (which is much less “secret” than a password, and often easy to find from social networks or using social engineering).

This led me to create IDVKey, a banking-grade mobile and cloud authentication solution that:

- Provides a very high level of security, in fact better than most banks currently have available for their customers (talking from experience as I’ve spent the last 5 years designing crypto/security solutions in the banking industry).
- Is an “authentication Swiss army knife” that covers all authentication needs.
- Allows the user to take control of their security/convenience balance.
- Is affordable by everyone.

Its primary feature is a secure real-time notification mechanism that allows the user to easily authenticate and approve any sensitive operation using their mobile device (aka out-of-band authentication).

This short video demonstrates how that works

On top of that we’ve added "legacy support” in the form of Google authenticator (TOTP/HOTP) compatible one-time-passwords, as well as a Password manager.

We’re providing various ways for the user to customize security to fit their needs. For example using the ability to set different security levels that are secured by different unlock mechanisms.

For example if you could setup your app to be able to:

- Authenticate with your social network website without needing to unlock the app
- Require a PIN to access most of your other normal website/services
- Require a long password and fingerprint to authenticate with your online bank.

Account recovery is designed to be highly customizable. You will able to specify different recovery mechanisms each with a specific delay.

After the user approves account recovery using one of those methods, the recovery will only be processed after that delay giving the user the chance to identify and abort any fraudulent recovery attempts.

IDVKey is now on open beta, and you can request access on it’s website (please note not all the features described above are currently available in the beta but will released in the near future).

Integration with your website/service can be easily done using our REST API, and we provide extensive documentation in our dev support pages

We also provide various SDKs and examples in order to make integration easier (we currently provide a Java SDK and website example, and will be adding PHP soon).

Submission + - Carl Sagan received anonymous note predicting Columbia disaster,20 years early (muckrock.com)

Submitted by v3rgEz
v3rgEz writes: You never know what you'll find in the FBI's old files. Case in point: A weird and weirdly prophetic letter in Carl Sagan's files that predicted the Columbia disaster — 20 years before it launched. Of course, the letter got a lot of details wrong: The explosion wasn't followed by World War III, let alone "ARMAGEDDON." At least not yet. But it gets weirder, because the person who supposedly sent the letter, at least as far as the FBI could tell, died 10 years before that. Read the full story, and read the letter, on MuckRock.

Comment Might not need? (Score 1) 153

by sys64764 (#50650597) Attached to: Volkswagen Diesel Scandal Logistics Imply Sizable Conspiracy

Might not need vs does not have is a stretch. I would think all the information to determine if it's being tested or not would just be accessible by some main controller engine API. It seems the sensors needed to tell if it's being tested or not were really basic stuff like finding out if it's moving or not vs how fast it was being driven which could be required by the hand breaking system or a sensor to tell if the steering wheel is moving or not which could be required to turn headlights in the direction the steering wheel is turned etc. Excluding these build-in hardware sensors from a car that does not have extra options payed for by the owner might not be cost-effective when mass producing and reusing much of the same parts / wiring. Not paying for one of those options does not mean the sensors are not in place.
Some of the extra options you select when buying a car are software driven things with an extra switch in the console to turn it on/off. Not paying for it does not necessarily mean none of the hardware is installed or that none of the signals are available in the API.

Submission + - The abandoned college campuses of Second Life (fusion.net)

Submitted by drkim
drkim writes: "In the year 2007, people were really excited about Second Life... Many universities set up their own private islands to engage students; some even held classes within Second Life.
Most of these virtual universities are gone... ...but it turns out a handful remain as ghost towns..."

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