Monthly Archives: March 2018

NOAA just prevented SpaceX from showing its rocket in orbit

Posted on by

Enlarge / SpaceX cut its webcast from space at T+ 9:00 on Friday, and went back to Michael Hammersley in Hawthorne, due to “NOAA restrictions.” (credit: SpaceX)

On Friday morning, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket into space and later deployed 10 Iridium communications satellites into low-Earth orbit as planned. But, unexpectedly for most watching, the company’s webcast was precluded from showing the mission in its entirety.

At T+ 9:00 minutes, just two seconds before the rocket’s second-stage engine cut off from firing, the video from space ended. The launch commentator, SpaceX engineer Michael Hammersley, explained earlier in the broadcast that, “Due to some restrictions from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, SpaceX will be intentionally ending live video coverage of the 2nd stage just prior to engine shutdown.”

Asked about this on Friday morning, a NOAA spokesman was not aware of the situation. “I can only think it’s an error,” Chris Vaccaro told Ars. “I would double check with them (SpaceX).” NOAA has promised more information will be forthcoming.

Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – NOAA just prevented SpaceX from showing its rocket in orbit

'GTA V' Character Doesn't Resemble Lindsay Lohan, Court Rules

Posted on by

Actress Lindsay Lohan has failed in her latest attempt to sue the maker of the video game Grand Theft Auto V. From a report: While the court said in an opinion a computer generated image may be considered a “portrait” under current state civil rights law, “the artistic renderings are indistinct, satirical representations of the style, look, and persona of a modern, beach-going young woman that are not reasonably identifiable as the plaintiff.” Lohan sued GTA V publisher Take-Two Interactive in 2014 over a NPC in the game called Lacey Jonas. Players encounter her while she’s hiding in an alley from the paparazzi. She describes herself as an “actress slash singer” and the “voice of a generation.” Artwork during the game’s loading screens depict similar blonde women. One is wearing a red bikini and flashing a peace sign as she takes a selfie. Another wears a fedora and large sunglasses while being frisked by a female police officer. Lohan claimed developer Rockstar Games modelled the character and screens after her, using her “image, likeness, clothing, outfits, clothing line products, and ensemble in the form of hats, hairstyle, and sunglasses” without her permission.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – ‘GTA V’ Character Doesn’t Resemble Lindsay Lohan, Court Rules

Frogs make a comeback, beat fungus

Posted on by

Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – Frogs make a comeback, beat fungus

AI Imagines Nude Paintings as Terrifying Pools of Melting Flesh

Posted on by

When Robbie Barrat trained an AI to study and reproduce classical nude paintings, he expected something at least recognizable. What the AI produced instead was unfamiliar and unsettling, but still intriguing. The “paintings” look like flesh-like ice cream, spilling into pools that only vaguely recall a woman’s body.…

Read more…



Source: Gizmodo – AI Imagines Nude Paintings as Terrifying Pools of Melting Flesh

Real Products That Exist (And Taste Great): Earthworm Jerky

Posted on by

earthworm-jerky.jpg

In bet you can’t eat just one news, this is the earthworm jerky available from the Newport Jerky Company of Newport, Rhode Island. It costs $10 for a 5 gram package, which is presumably about a million dried worms. Want to try earthworm jerky but don’t feel like paying $10? Here’s what you do: 1) wait for it to rain, then 2) wait for the sun to come out and finally, 3) rake the sidewalk. Bon appétit!

Thanks to Lydia, for reminding me how much I loved reading How To Eat Fried Worms when I was a kid, but also now. It’s a timeless classic. Maybe not as good as The Boxcar Children, but nothing is.

Source: Geekologie – Real Products That Exist (And Taste Great): Earthworm Jerky

Don’t Update to macOS 10.13.4 If You Use Duet Display

Posted on by

With all the excitement of yesterday’s iOS 11.3 release, you may not have noticed that Apple also unleashed macOS 10.13.4 on the world. The latest Mac update includes a bunch of smaller fixes, with a focus on “stability, performance, and security,” but if you’re using Duet Display you should avoid the newest version…

Read more…



Source: LifeHacker – Don’t Update to macOS 10.13.4 If You Use Duet Display

Microsoft Issues Out-Of-Band Security Update To Patch a Meltdown Patch It Released Earlier This Year

Posted on by

On Friday, Microsoft issued an out-of-band security update for 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. From a report: The security update — KB4100480 — addresses a security bug discovered by a Swedish security expert earlier this week. The bug was caused by a patch meant to fix the Meltdown vulnerability but accidentally opened the kernel memory wide open. According to Ulf Frisk, Microsoft’s January 2018 Meltdown patch (for CVE-2017-5754) allowed any app to extract or write content from/to the kernel memory. This all happened because the Meltdown patch accidentally flipped a bit that controlled access permissions to kernel memory. Frisk said that the March Patch Tuesday appears to have “fixed” the issue, as he was not able to interact with kernel memory.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Microsoft Issues Out-Of-Band Security Update To Patch a Meltdown Patch It Released Earlier This Year

Email From Senior Facebook Exec Surfaces and it's an Ugly Look for the Company

Posted on by

An email titled “The Ugly” from Facebook exec Andrew Bosworth has surfaced in media and it’s ugly for Facebook. Written in 2016 the email suggests that Facebook growth at any cost is the goal. It even mentions that this strategy could get people killed, but overall it’s more important to grow than anything else. Of course Mr. Zuckerberg refuted this email, but considering how things have been shaking out lately for Facebook I’d have to say his words ring a bit hollow. By the way, have I mentioned lately you should delete all of your social media accounts? Thanks cageymaru.



“The ugly truth is that we believe in connecting people so deeply that anything that allows us to connect more people more often is *de facto* good. It is perhaps the only area where the metrics do tell the true story as far as we are concerned,” he wrote. “That isn’t something we are doing for ourselves. Or for our stock price (ha!). It is literally just what we do. We connect people. Period.”

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Email From Senior Facebook Exec Surfaces and it’s an Ugly Look for the Company

Latest macOS Adds External GPU Support

Posted on by

External GPU support has been added to the latest release of macOS High Sierra and you guys that love your Mac will be able to add high end gaming GPU’s via the Thunderbolt 3 port. This isn’t the only thing added to macOS, but for us here at the [H] it’s probably the most important addition. Go forth and game my Mac friends. May the FPS be with you.



Another notable addition is Business Chat in Messages for users in the US. Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and others have tweaked their services to enable customer service linkups and now Apple has its version available on the desktop. With it, you can interact with business representatives or even make purchases.

Discussion

Source: [H]ardOCP – Latest macOS Adds External GPU Support

FCC approves SpaceX plan to launch 4,425 broadband satellites

Posted on by

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Olena_T)

SpaceX yesterday received US approval to launch 4,425 low-Earth orbit satellites, a key milestone in its plan to offer broadband with high speeds and low latency around the world.

The Federal Communications Commission issued an order approving SpaceX’s application with some conditions. SpaceX intends to start launching operational satellites as early as 2019, with the goal of reaching the full capacity of 4,425 satellites in 2024. The FCC approval just requires SpaceX to launch 50 percent of the satellites by March 2024, and all of them by March 2027.

“Grant of this application will enable SpaceX to bring high-speed, reliable, and affordable broadband service to consumers in the United States and around the world, including areas underserved or currently unserved by existing networks,” the FCC order said.

Read 18 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – FCC approves SpaceX plan to launch 4,425 broadband satellites