Comment Re: Tldr (Score 1) 269
This is called brand extension - people that know marketing (say proctor and gamble) know better than to do it. It reduces the value of the brand. Much better to create new brands..
Comment IT is about grant money - not about finding truth (Score 1) 119
The signal to noise in the research field varies a bit - but over all it is so bad that most medical and nutritional work is best ignored until replicated.
The norm is there are a few teams doing good work - but most of the papers are grant money prostitution. This muddies the waters for people trying to learn about some topic - reinforcing the accepted narrative in order to keep the grant gravy-train flowing.
A couple of examples:
There is a long list of rodent papers with titles such as "High fat diet causes x-y or z bad things" But when one digs into the paper, the contents of the diet are not specified. Digging further one finds the supplementary information - where only a part number is listed. Pulling up the part number revels that the so-called high fat diet has no fat - instead is loaded with sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oil. (If this was real science the diets would come from one lot (or at least one company and only the single variable would be changed and they would run an independent analysis on the diet contents.) The truth of the matter is the outcome was decided before the research began.
Even in engineering I've talked with students that were told not to write up disturbing results as it would embarrass other researchers. One student was blackmailed with losing his Phd if he didn't leave out the failure of a 'student-T test'( a statistical test that looks at distribution validity).
Academia - even in engineering has become ever more politicized and is about supporting narratives of the biggest ego on the faculty rather than finding truth.
Be skeptical - most of what we know is not from theory but form endless trial and error.
Submission + - SPAM: The Hilarious (and Terrifying?) Ways Algorithms Have Outsmarted Their Creators 1
schwit1 writes: Flying saucers have yet to land—at least, not that we've confirmed—but alien intelligence is already here. As research into AI grows ever more ambitious and complex, these robot brains will challenge the fundamental assumptions of how we humans do things. And, as ever, the only true law of robotics is that computers will always do literally, exactly what you tell them to.
A paper recently published to ArXiv highlights just a handful of incredible and slightly terrifying ways that algorithms think. These AI were designed to reflect evolution by simulating generations while other competing algorithms conquered problems posed by their human masters with strange, uncanny, and brilliant solutions.
Link to Original Source
A paper recently published to ArXiv highlights just a handful of incredible and slightly terrifying ways that algorithms think. These AI were designed to reflect evolution by simulating generations while other competing algorithms conquered problems posed by their human masters with strange, uncanny, and brilliant solutions.
Link to Original Source
Submission + - How can I prove my ISP is slowing certain traffic? 1
GerryGilmore writes: I live in North Georgia where we have a monopoly ISP provider — Windstream — whose service overall could charitably be described as iffy.
Sometimes, I have noticed that certain services like Netflix and/or HBONow will be ridiculously slow but — when I run an internet speed test from my Linux laptop — the basic throughput is what it's supposed to be for my DSL service. That is, about 3Mbps due to my distance from the nearest CO. Other basic web browsing seems to be fine.
I know that this is laughably slow to most /. readers, but it should still be consistent at least.
So, to my question: as a basically pretty knowledgeable Linux guy totally comfortable with the command line (I've written some pretty nice shell scripts and C fragments, plus a SCO UNIX device driver), but I don't know enough about network tracing to be able to identify where/why such severe slowdowns in certain circumstances are occurring.
PS — my goal in gathering this info is to try to pressure my local reps to put pressure (Hah!) on Windstream.
Any other suggestions, etc. are greatly appreciated. (Aside from moving! I live on a riverside lot that is to die for and I'd sacrifice the internet before I'd ever leave.)
Sometimes, I have noticed that certain services like Netflix and/or HBONow will be ridiculously slow but — when I run an internet speed test from my Linux laptop — the basic throughput is what it's supposed to be for my DSL service. That is, about 3Mbps due to my distance from the nearest CO. Other basic web browsing seems to be fine.
I know that this is laughably slow to most
So, to my question: as a basically pretty knowledgeable Linux guy totally comfortable with the command line (I've written some pretty nice shell scripts and C fragments, plus a SCO UNIX device driver), but I don't know enough about network tracing to be able to identify where/why such severe slowdowns in certain circumstances are occurring.
PS — my goal in gathering this info is to try to pressure my local reps to put pressure (Hah!) on Windstream.
Any other suggestions, etc. are greatly appreciated. (Aside from moving! I live on a riverside lot that is to die for and I'd sacrifice the internet before I'd ever leave.)
Submission + - 50 million Facebook profiles harvested (theguardian.com)
umafuckit writes: A whistleblower has revealed how Cambridge Analytica stole personal information from Facebook in early 2014 to build a system that could profile individual US voters. The data analytics firm, that worked with Trump’s election team and the Brexit campaign, harvested millions of Facebook profiles in the tech giant’s biggest ever data breach. This has been confirmed by a Facebook statement, says The Guardian.
Submission + - The Ordinary Engineering Behind the Horrifying Florida Bridge Collapse (wired.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The people of Sweetwater, Florida were supposed to wait until early 2019 for the Florida International University-Sweetwater University City Bridge to open. Instead, they will wait about that long for an official assessment from the National Transportation Safety Board of why it collapsed just five days after its installation, killing at least six people. In the immediate aftermath of the disaster, many queries have centered on the unconventional technique used to build the bridge, something called Accelerated Bridge Construction, or ABC. But ABC is more complicated than its acronym suggests—and it’s hardly brand new. ABC refers to dozens of construction methods, but at its core, it’s about drastically reducing on-site construction time. Mostly, that relies on pre-fabricating things like concrete decks, abutments, walls, barriers, and concrete topped steel girders, and hauling them to the work site. There, cranes or specialized vehicles known as Self-Propelled Modular Transporter install them. A video posted online by Florida International University, which helped fund the bridge connects to its campus, showed an SPMT lifting and then lowering the span into place.
In a now-deleted press release, the university called the “largest pedestrian bridge moved via SPMT in US history,” but that doesn’t seem to mean much, engineering-wise. SPMTs have been around since the 1970s, and have moved much heavier loads. In 2017, workers used a 600-axle SPMT to salvage the 17,000 ton ferry that sank off the coast of South Korea in 2014. The ABC technique is much more expensive than building things in place, but cities and places like FIU like it for a specific reason: Because most of the work happens far away, traffic goes mostly unperturbed. When years- or months-long construction projects can have serious effects on businesses and homes, governments might make up the money in the long run. Workers installed this collapsed span in just a few hours. These accelerated techniques are also much safer for workers, who do most their work well away from active roads.
In a now-deleted press release, the university called the “largest pedestrian bridge moved via SPMT in US history,” but that doesn’t seem to mean much, engineering-wise. SPMTs have been around since the 1970s, and have moved much heavier loads. In 2017, workers used a 600-axle SPMT to salvage the 17,000 ton ferry that sank off the coast of South Korea in 2014. The ABC technique is much more expensive than building things in place, but cities and places like FIU like it for a specific reason: Because most of the work happens far away, traffic goes mostly unperturbed. When years- or months-long construction projects can have serious effects on businesses and homes, governments might make up the money in the long run. Workers installed this collapsed span in just a few hours. These accelerated techniques are also much safer for workers, who do most their work well away from active roads.
Submission + - Power Outage At Samsung's Fab Destroys 3.5 Percent of Global NAND Flash Output (anandtech.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A half-hour power outage at Samsung’s fab near Pyeongtaek, South Korea, disrupted production and damaged tens of thousands of processed wafers. Media reports claim that the outage destroyed as much as 3.5% of the global NAND supply for March, which may have an effect on flash memory pricing in the coming weeks. The outage happened on March 9 and lasted for about 30 minutes, according to a news story from Taiwain-based TechNews that cites further South Korean reports. The report claims that the outage damaged 50,000 to 60,000 of wafers with V-NAND flash memory, which represent 11% of Samsung’s monthly output. The report further estimates that the said amount equates to approximately 3.5% of global NAND output, but does not elaborate whether it means wafer output or bit output. Samsung uses its fab near Pyeongtaek to produce 64-layer V-NAND chips used for various applications. The fab is among the largest flash production facilities in the world and therefore any disruption there has an effect on the global output of non-volatile memory. Meanwhile, since production lines have not been damaged and the fab is back online, the significance of such an effect is limited.
Submission + - Plattsburgh, New York Passed the First Bitcoin Mining Ban In the US (vice.com)
An anonymous reader writes: On Thursday evening, the city council in Plattsburgh, New York unanimously voted to impose an 18-month moratorium on Bitcoin mining in the city. Mining is the extremely energy-intensive computational process that secures the Bitcoin blockchain and rewards miners with bitcoins. The Bitcoin moratorium was proposed by Plattsburgh Mayor Colin Read earlier this month after local residents began reporting wildly inflated electricity bills in January. The moratorium affects only new commercial Bitcoin operations and will not affect companies that are already mining in the city.
Comment Re:First ... (Score 1) 152
Yes - the 'other guy' should walk or bike... that is why we have cities full of empty buses driving in circles and traffic squeezed to provide unused bike lanes...
What is really strange is a lot of sidewalks are not used - yet they ban bikes. Mixing bikes and cars is just stupid.
Submission + - Police in China are scanning travelers with facial recognition glasses (engadget.com)
Baron_Yam writes: Engadget reports:
"The Wall Street Journal reports that Beijing-based LLVision Technology Co. developed the devices. The company produces wearable video cameras as well and while it sells those to anyone, it's vetting buyers for its facial recognition devices. And, for now, it isn't selling them to consumers. LLVision says that in tests, the system was able to pick out individuals from a database of 10,000 people and it could do so in 100 milliseconds. However, CEO Wu Fei told the Wall Street Journal that in the real world, accuracy would probably drop due to "environmental noise." Additionally, aside from being portable, another difference between these devices and typical facial recognition systems is that the database used for comparing images is contained in a hand-held device rather than the cloud."
Engadget link was used as WSJ is paywalled
Submission + - Bowing to Popularity, Apple Stores in China Accept Alipay (9to5mac.com)
hackingbear writes: Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba has announced that its mobile wallet app Alipay is to be accepted in physical Apple Stores in the country. This would be the first time Apple has allowed retail store purchases to be made with a third-party mobile wallet app amid a push by the iPhone maker to revive growth in the world’s No.2 economy. Apple has had to work hard to promote Apple Pay in China due to the popularity of existing, local mobile wallet apps like WeChat Pat and Alipay. The company had already bowed to the inevitable in allowing local apps to be used for online payments. Other American brands like McDonald's and Starbucks have already started accepting Alipay and WeChat Pay in China for sometimes.
Submission + - FCC Report Claims Broken Broadband Market Fixed By Killing Net Neutrali (vice.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The FCC has released a new report falsely claiming that the agency’s attack on net neutrality is already paying huge dividends when it comes to sector investment and competition. Unfortunately for the FCC, the data the agency is relying on to “prove” this claim comes from before current FCC boss Ajit Pai even took office and doesn’t remotely support that conclusion. The Trump FCC’s latest broadband deployment report [concludes] that “advanced telecommunications capability is being deployed to all Americans in a reasonable and timely fashion." That claim comes despite the fact that this same data also shows that two thirds of U.S. homes lack access to 25 Mbps broadband from more than one ISP, resulting in numerous broadband monopolies in markets nationwide.
An accompanying press release goes on to claim that “steps taken last year have restored progress by removing barriers to infrastructure investment, promoting competition, and restoring the longstanding bipartisan light-touch regulatory framework for broadband that had been reversed by the Title II Order.” The FCC has repeatedly tried to claim that the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules devastated sector investment—despite the fact this is easily disproved by ISP earnings reports, SEC filings, and numerous CEO statements to investors. That hasn’t stopped this FCC from repeating this claim anyway, apparently hoping that repetition forges reality.
An accompanying press release goes on to claim that “steps taken last year have restored progress by removing barriers to infrastructure investment, promoting competition, and restoring the longstanding bipartisan light-touch regulatory framework for broadband that had been reversed by the Title II Order.” The FCC has repeatedly tried to claim that the FCC’s 2015 net neutrality rules devastated sector investment—despite the fact this is easily disproved by ISP earnings reports, SEC filings, and numerous CEO statements to investors. That hasn’t stopped this FCC from repeating this claim anyway, apparently hoping that repetition forges reality.
Submission + - Senator Warns YouTube Algorithm May Be Open To Manipulation By 'Bad Actors' (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee has warned that YouTube’s powerful recommendation algorithm may be “optimizing for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content” or susceptible to “manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities." Senator Mark Warner, of Virginia, made the stark warning after an investigation by the Guardian found that the Google-owned video platform was systematically promoting divisive and conspiratorial videos that were damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign in the months leading up to the 2016 election.
“Companies like YouTube have immense power and influence in shaping the media and content that users see,” Warner said. “I’ve been increasingly concerned that the recommendation engine algorithms behind platforms like YouTube are, at best, intrinsically flawed in optimising for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content.” He added: “At worst, they can be highly susceptible to gaming and manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities.”
“Companies like YouTube have immense power and influence in shaping the media and content that users see,” Warner said. “I’ve been increasingly concerned that the recommendation engine algorithms behind platforms like YouTube are, at best, intrinsically flawed in optimising for outrageous, salacious and often fraudulent content.” He added: “At worst, they can be highly susceptible to gaming and manipulation by bad actors, including foreign intelligence entities.”
Submission + - Somebody's had better days at work (chicagotribune.com)
flopwich writes: Somebody sent out a false emergency alert to all cell phones in Hawaii saying, "BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL" Authorities vow to ensure it doesn't happen again.
Submission + - SPAM: Scientists Think They've Discovered Lava Tubes Leading to The Moon's Polar Ice
schwit1 writes: Small pits in a large crater on the Moon's North Pole could be "skylights" leading down to an underground network of lava tubes – tubes holding hidden water on Earth's nearest neighbour, according to new research.
There's no lava in them now of course, though that's originally how the tubes formed in the Moon's fiery past. But they could indicate easy access to a water source if we ever decide to develop a Moon base sometime in the future.
Despite the Moon's dry and dusty appearance, scientists think it contains a lot of water trapped as frozen ice. What these new observations carried out by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show is that it might be much more accessible than we thought.
Link to Original Source
There's no lava in them now of course, though that's originally how the tubes formed in the Moon's fiery past. But they could indicate easy access to a water source if we ever decide to develop a Moon base sometime in the future.
Despite the Moon's dry and dusty appearance, scientists think it contains a lot of water trapped as frozen ice. What these new observations carried out by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) show is that it might be much more accessible than we thought.
Link to Original Source
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