The Linux kernel’s Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) code getting a “CRTC background color” property value may not seem exciting, but it can mean video memory bandwidth savings and thus better performance or power savings…
Source: Phoronix – Linux DRM Gets CRTC Background Color Property For Memory Bandwidth Savings
Monthly Archives: January 2019
'Replicator' 3D printer uses light to create structures in one piece
A team of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have unveiled a 3D printer that uses light to create an entire object at once. It’s called the Replicator, named after the machines in the Star Trek universe that can synthesi…
Source: Engadget – ‘Replicator’ 3D printer uses light to create structures in one piece
University of Columbia Researchers Translate Brain Signals Directly Into Speech
dryriver writes: There is good news for people who have limited or no ability to speak, due to having suffered a stroke for example. Researchers at Columbia University have managed to turn brain signals in the auditory cortex of test subjects into somewhat intelligible speech using a vocoder-like system with audio output cleaned up by neural networks. The findings have been published in the journal Nature. Here’s an excerpt from the Zuckerman Institute’s press release, which contains example audio of a number sequence being turned into robotic speech: “In a scientific first, Columbia neuroengineers have created a system that translates thought into intelligible, recognizable speech. By monitoring someone’s brain activity, the technology can reconstruct the words a person hears with unprecedented clarity. This breakthrough, which harnesses the power of speech synthesizers and artificial intelligence, could lead to new ways for computers to communicate directly with the brain. It also lays the groundwork for helping people who cannot speak, such as those living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or recovering from stroke, regain their ability to communicate with the outside world.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – University of Columbia Researchers Translate Brain Signals Directly Into Speech
OpenVPN 3 Linux Client Moving Closer To Release As A Big Update
While many are looking forward to the day when WireGuard support is mainlined within the Linux kernel and declared as stable and widely supported as a next-gen secure VPN tunnel, for those making use of OpenVPN currently, the OpenVPN 3 Linux client has been taking shape as a big step forward on the OpenVPN front…
Source: Phoronix – OpenVPN 3 Linux Client Moving Closer To Release As A Big Update
At-home DNA testing company gives the FBI access to its database
The FBI has struck up a partnership with one of the largest at-home DNA testing services, according to BuzzFeed News. Apparently, Family Tree DNA has allowed the agency to access its genealogy database containing the DNA profiles of over a million us…
Source: Engadget – At-home DNA testing company gives the FBI access to its database
Stop Letting Your Dogs Freeze to Death, You Slithering Ghouls
The polar vortex may be chilling much of the Midwest to the bone this week, but it’s cold as hell elsewhere too. And a dog’s place during these frigid winter months is huddled up inside with their people where it’s toasty warm. But during the last few days, multiple reports have surfaced of dogs freezing to death…
Source: Gizmodo – Stop Letting Your Dogs Freeze to Death, You Slithering Ghouls
Apple restores Google’s own internal iPhone apps after privacy brouhaha
On Thursday evening, Apple restored Google’s access to its own internal iOS apps, just hours after it made a similar move with Facebook’s private iPhone apps.
“We can confirm our internal corporate apps have been restored,” Anaik von der Weid, a Google spokeswoman, emailed Ars just after 8pm Pacific Time.
For less than a day, Apple had briefly revoked Google’s iOS certificate that enabled those private apps to conduct various internal business such as company shuttles, food menus, as well as pre-release beta testing, and more.
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Source: Ars Technica – Apple restores Google’s own internal iPhone apps after privacy brouhaha
Linux 5.0, RTX 2060, ZoL & Other Topics Dominating Discussions For January
January was certainly an exciting month with the Linux 5.0 kernel taking shape, the GeForce RTX 2060 launch and other new hardware, approaching the exciting open-source Radeon VII launch, and other Linux/open-source events to help warm up those otherwise experiencing a frigid winter…
Source: Phoronix – Linux 5.0, RTX 2060, ZoL & Other Topics Dominating Discussions For January
Ubisoft Sends Out Political Email For The Division 2, A Game That Is Definitely Not Political
Ubisoft would like you to know that The Division 2, a game with a deeply political setting, is not a political statement. Which is weird, because earlier today the publisher sent out a political email about it.
Source: Kotaku – Ubisoft Sends Out Political Email For The Division 2, A Game That Is Definitely Not Political
First Nintendo Store Opening In Japan
This fall, Japan is getting its first Nintendo Store. Called Nintendo Tokyo, the official shop will be located in the brand new Shibuya Parco building.
Source: Kotaku – First Nintendo Store Opening In Japan
Scientists Create Super-Thin 'Sheet' That Could Charge Our Phones
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have created super-thin, bendy materials that absorb wireless internet and other electromagnetic waves in the air and turn them into electricity. The lead researcher, Tomas Palacios, said the breakthrough paved the way for energy-harvesting covers ranging from tablecloths to giant wrappers for buildings that extract energy from the environment to power sensors and other electronics. Details have been published in the journal Nature. Palacios and his colleagues connected a bendy antenna to a flexible semiconductor layer only three atoms thick. The antenna picks up wifi and other radio-frequency signals and turns them into an alternating current. This flows into the molybdenum disulphide semiconductor, where it is converted into a direct electrical current. [M]olybdenum disulphide film can be produced in sheets on industrial roll-to-roll machines, meaning they can be made large enough to capture useful amounts of energy.
Ambient wifi signals can fill an office with more than 100 microwatts of power that is ripe to be scavenged by energy-harvesting devices. The MIT system has an efficiency of between 30% and 40%, producing about 40 microwatts when exposed to signals bearing 150 microwatts of power in laboratory tests. “It doesn’t sound like much compared with the 60 watts that a computer needs, but you can still do a lot with it,” Palacios said. “You can design a wide range of sensors, for environmental monitoring or chemical and biological sensing, which operate at the single microwatt level. Or you could store the electricity in a battery to use later.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Scientists Create Super-Thin ‘Sheet’ That Could Charge Our Phones
Nintendo is making a 'Dr. Mario World' mobile game with Line
Nintendo is developing yet another mobile game, this time making Mario put on the lab coat he wore once back in the ’90s. The gaming giant has announced that it’s working on an action puzzle game entitled Dr. Mario World with Line Corp. If it’s anyth…
Source: Engadget – Nintendo is making a ‘Dr. Mario World’ mobile game with Line
Giving the Humble Stethoscope an AI Upgrade Could Save Millions of Kids
the_newsbeagle writes: The stethoscope is a ubiquitous medical tool that has barely changed since it was invented in the early 1800s. But now a team of engineers, doctors, and public health researchers have come together to reinvent the tool using adaptive acoustics and AI. Their motivation is this statistic: Every year, nearly 1 million kids die of pneumonia around the world, with most deaths in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The death toll is highest among children under the age of 5. The researchers, from Johns Hopkins University, designed a smart stethoscope for use by unskilled workers in noisy medical clinics. It uses a dynamic audio filtering system to remove ambient noise and distracting body sounds while not interfering with the subtle sounds from the lungs. And it uses AI to analyze the cleaned-up signal and provide a diagnosis.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Giving the Humble Stethoscope an AI Upgrade Could Save Millions of Kids
A Frighteningly Accurate Analysis Of Smash Bros. Ultimate's Politics
Wii Fit trainer does kinda seem like she’d call the cops on black teens.
Source: Kotaku – A Frighteningly Accurate Analysis Of Smash Bros. Ultimate’s Politics
On Star Trek: Discovery, Bad Choices and Family Drama Are What Bind the Galaxy Together
Human, Klingon, Vulcan. Whatever you are, wherever you are, on Star Trek: Discovery, you’ve probably got some really messed-up family stuff to work out.
Source: io9 – On Star Trek: Discovery, Bad Choices and Family Drama Are What Bind the Galaxy Together
Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: Spacemon: A Pokemon TRPG – Chapter
Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: Spacemon: A Pokemon TRPG – Chapter 40: The Man in the Hat • Downwell On Switch Is The Perfect Excuse To Buy The Flip Grip • I Cry Every Time: Persona 3 – A and S • TAY Retro: Multiplatform – Donkey Kong [TV Commercial, NA]
Source: Kotaku – Today’s selection of articles from Kotaku’s reader-run community: Spacemon: A Pokemon TRPG – Chapter
Second China-Bound Apple Car Worker Charged With Data Theft
schwit1 shares a report from Bloomberg: An Apple hardware engineer was charged by the U.S. with stealing the iPhone maker’s driverless car secrets for a China-based company, the second such case since July amid an unprecedented crackdown by the Trump administration on Chinese corporate espionage. Jizhong Chen was seen by a fellow Apple employee taking photographs Jan. 11 with a wide-angle lens inside a secure work space that houses the company’s autonomous car project, about six months after he signed a strict confidentiality oath when he was hired, according to a criminal complaint in federal court in San Jose, California. Prosecutors said Chen admitted to taking the photos and backing up some 2,000 files to his personal hard drive, including manuals and schematics for the project, but didn’t tell Apple he had applied for a job with a China-based autonomous vehicle company.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Second China-Bound Apple Car Worker Charged With Data Theft
Facebook and Twitter Purge Hundreds of Fake Accounts Linked to Russia, Iran, and Venezuela
Twitter and Facebook both announced on Thursday that they’ve recently removed hundreds of accounts tied to misinformation campaigns with apparent links to Russia, Venezuela, and Iran. Facebook’s Head of Cybersecurity Policy Nathaniel Gleicher said in a call with reporters that the companies were able to identify bad…
Source: Gizmodo – Facebook and Twitter Purge Hundreds of Fake Accounts Linked to Russia, Iran, and Venezuela
Tesla Reports Second-Consecutive Profit; CFO Retires Again
Rei writes: Yesterday, Tesla reported their 4th quarter earnings, representing their second consecutive profit. While earnings per share missed analyst expectations ($1.93 vs. $2.20), revenue beat expectations by around $100 million and free cash flow ($910 million) was more than double the First Call consensus of $395 million. Model 3 margins were maintained at an impressive 20% level despite significant reductions in the average sale price in Q4; labor hours fell by 20% in Q4 and 65% in the second half of 2018 alone. With $3.7 billion in the bank, Tesla is now well positioned to repay its $920 million March convertible bond obligations in cash. Severance costs and an increase in inventory in transit due to shipments to Europe and China are expected to hurt Tesla’s profits in Q1, but guidance for Q2 onward in 2019 is strong. Highlights planned for 2019 include introduction of faster V3 Supercharging early in the year, Model Y and pickup unveiling in the middle of the year, base Model 3 unveiling in the middle of the year, and full-vehicle production in the under-construction Shanghai Gigafactory by the end of the year — the first wholly foreign-owned auto plant in China, which has seen extensive governmental support. Despite a generally positive earnings report and conference call, the atmosphere was soured by the news that Tesla’s 11-year Tesla veteran CFO Deepak Ahuja was re-retiring. Having previously retired in 2015, Deepak returned to Tesla in 2017 to replace outgoing CFO Jason Wheeler. Ahuja will remain with the company for several months as CFO and then become a senior advisor, while his protege Zach Kirkhorn fills his role. The market reacted negatively to the news, with Tesla trading down 4.5% premarket.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Tesla Reports Second-Consecutive Profit; CFO Retires Again
Windows Setup Error Messages Will Soon Actually Help Fix Problems
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The next major Windows release, the Windows 10 April 2019 Update (codenamed 19H1), is going to offer some significant improvements [to error messages]. Microsoft described them on its Windows Insider webcast, and they were spotted initially by WinFuture. Currently, the best case during installation is something like this screen.
The message says that an incompatible application is detected, and a Knowledge Base article is referenced. It turns out that most Windows users don’t know what “KBxxxxxxx” actually means, and the article isn’t hyperlinked to make accessing it any easier. Issues detected through the other setup experience aren’t much better. Windows will offer to uninstall problem applications, but often the better solution is to upgrade the application in question. The new setup process aims to be both more informative and more useful. The general approach is to allow decisions to be made within the setup program where possible and to put meaningful descriptions in the error messages, rather than leaving people with just a KB number to go on. Further, the “learn more” links will take you directly to the relevant Knowledge Base article, rather than hoping that end users know what “KBxxxxxxxx” means. Third-party developers will also be able to provide information about upgrades and updates when applicable to resolving compatibility issues.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Windows Setup Error Messages Will Soon Actually Help Fix Problems