Never Surrender is a heartfelt tribute to sci-fi action comedy Galaxy Quest

Trailer for Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary.

Galaxy Quest, the glorious 1999 science fiction action comedy starring Tim Allen and Sigourney Weaver (among others), will turn 20 on December 25 of this year. And what better way to celebrate this important milestone than with a documentary feature? Never Surrender: A Galaxy Quest Documentary is an entertaining, heartfelt tribute that comes to us (believe it or not) from the same folks behind the wildly popular online Honest Trailers series.

(Spoilers for Galaxy Quest below.)

The premise of the movie is deceptively simple: what if aliens watched transmissions of a popular science fiction TV show from Earth and thought it was real? An alien race called the Thermians model their entire society on the principles of a fictional Galaxy Quest TV show, building real, functional versions of the spaceship and much of the technology from the series. When their very existence is threatened by a reptilian humanoid general from another species named Roth’h’ar Sarris, they travel to Earth to ask their heroes for help—arriving in the middle of a Galaxy Quest fan convention.

Read 13 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – Never Surrender is a heartfelt tribute to sci-fi action comedy Galaxy Quest

Quantum computing’s also-rans and their fatal flaws 

Extreme closeup of computer chip.

Enlarge / IBM’s 16-qubit quantum computer from 2017. (credit: IBM quantum experience)

Last month, Google claimed to have achieved quantum supremacy—the overblown name given to the step of proving quantum computers can deliver something that a classical computer can’t. That claim is still a bit controversial, so it may yet turn out that we need a better demonstration.

Independently of the claim, it’s notable that both Google and its critics at IBM have chosen the same type of hardware as the basis of their quantum computing efforts. So has a smaller competitor called Rigetti. All of which indicates that the quantum-computing landscape has sort of stabilized over the last decade. We are now in the position where we can pick some likely winners and some definite losers.

Why are you a loser?

But why did the winners win and the losers lose?

Read 22 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – Quantum computing’s also-rans and their fatal flaws 

Google attempts to protect users from sketchy stem cell clinics

Google logo seen during Google Developer Days (GDD) in Shanghai, China, September 2019.

Enlarge / Google logo seen during Google Developer Days (GDD) in Shanghai, China, September 2019. (credit: Lyu Liang | VCG | Getty Images)

Transplanted stem cells can be as lifesaving as donated organs, but the Food and Drug Administration in September warned consumers that some stem cell clinics only pretend to be in the business of miraculous recoveries.

Now, Google is attempting to protect its users after years of showing ads for questionable stem cell treatments. The company stated that it will stop allowing “bad actors” to post Google ads that “take advantage of individuals by offering untested, deceptive treatments.” Enforcement of the new policy started at the end of October, said Google spokesperson Alex Krasov. That change, while helpful, is unlikely to shutter clinics that cloak themselves in a façade of reputable science in order to peddle questionable stem cell treatments.

The risky business of unproven treatments

Different types of stem cell treatments are at varying stages of development. Transplants of bone-marrow stem cells are well-established treatments for a number of cancers. But the identification of other types of stem cells has allowed researchers to develop new therapies that are just beginning to enter clinical testing. Unfortunately, many stem cell clinics have latched on to the hype and are offering unapproved treatments for which there is no experimental evidence.

Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments



Source: Ars Technica – Google attempts to protect users from sketchy stem cell clinics

Any still running an overclocked i7 5820k? (haswell-E)

I had a 5820k from 2015ish still a 4.3 GHz and 1.150vcore (x99 asrock extreme ITX motherboard).

I was wondering if I could squeeze out a bit O’ headroom more from it and was wondering if any of…

Any still running an overclocked i7 5820k? (haswell-E)

Source: [H]ardOCP – Any still running an overclocked i7 5820k? (haswell-E)

FS: i9-9900k + Asus Z390 Strix combo | FE RTX 2080Ti | Wasabi Mango 4k120hz UHD430

i9-9900k + Asus Z390 Strix combo —- $590 shipped

View attachment 203289

View attachment 203290

Founders Edition RTX 2080Ti —- $950 shipped

View attachment 203288

Wasabi Mango 43″ 4k…

FS: i9-9900k + Asus Z390 Strix combo | FE RTX 2080Ti | Wasabi Mango 4k120hz UHD430

Source: [H]ardOCP – FS: i9-9900k + Asus Z390 Strix combo | FE RTX 2080Ti | Wasabi Mango 4k120hz UHD430

Walmart Dodged US Tax on $2 Billion by Routing Cash Through Multiple Countries, Whistleblower Says

Walmart, the world’s biggest retail company, underpaid US taxes on nearly $2 billion worth of offshore cash, according to whistleblower documents filed by a former Walmart executive to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2011, and recently obtained by Quartz. From the report: The firm avoided nearly $200 million in taxes on that money and “dramatically” overstated its foreign tax credits in 2009 and 2010 by routing payments from Luxembourg to the United States via the United Kingdom and not declaring they came from a tax haven, the whistleblower wrote. If Walmart claimed all the tax credits, it could have improperly avoided paying close to $600 million in total via the maneuvers, according to the files. The whistleblower argued in the documents that the company should owe all that money to the IRS. A second former executive, who shared the files with Quartz, confirmed the whistleblower’s allegations. Walmart denied any wrongdoing. “The transactions brought to our attention were appropriately reported to and audited by the IRS,” a spokesman said in an emailed statement. “The tax years covering this matter were closed by the IRS more than seven years ago.” The spokesman declined to say whether the company explicitly told the IRS that the money originated in Luxembourg, rather than the United Kingdom.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – Walmart Dodged US Tax on Billion by Routing Cash Through Multiple Countries, Whistleblower Says

Save over $200 on B&O's H9i headphones, but only for a few hours

My issues with Bang and Olufsen headphones have never been sound quality, design or features. It almost always comes down to price. Premium audio brand commands a premium price. But despite a refined design, crisp sound and nice overall comfort, it w…

Source: Engadget – Save over 0 on B&O’s H9i headphones, but only for a few hours

HSBC Swaps Paper Records For Blockchain To Track $20 Billion Worth of Assets

HSBC aims to shift $20 billion worth of assets to a new blockchain-based custody platform by March, in one of the biggest deployments yet of the widely-hyped but still unproven technology by a global bank. From a report: The platform, known as Digital Vault, will give investors real-time access to records of securities bought on private markets, HSBC told Reuters, and seeks to capitalize on booming interest in such investments by yield-hungry investors. Banks and other financial firms have invested billions of dollars into finding uses for blockchain, a digital ledger that can be instantly and transparently updated. Few, however, have come up with practical or widely-used applications. Proponents say the blockchain will upend the financial sector by cutting out costly processes or the need for middlemen – though there have been few solid examples yet of such revolutionary use. The HSBC platform will digitize paper-based records of private placements, using blockchain to reduce the time it takes investors to make checks or queries on holdings.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – HSBC Swaps Paper Records For Blockchain To Track Billion Worth of Assets

Apple Black Friday deals include a $250 iPad and MacBook Pro discounts

You knew it wouldn’t be Black Friday if there weren’t sales for Apple gear, and there are plenty of those to go around in 2019. One of the best bargains may be Apple’s 10.2-inch iPad, which is selling for $250 at Target through November 30th — $80 o…

Source: Engadget – Apple Black Friday deals include a 0 iPad and MacBook Pro discounts

SMS Replacement is Exposing Users To Text, Call Interception Thanks To Sloppy Telecos

A standard used by phone carriers around the world can leave users open to all sorts of attacks, like text message and call interception, spoofed phone numbers, and leaking their coarse location, new research reveals. From a report: The Rich Communication Services (RCS) standard is essentially the replacement for SMS. The news shows how even as carriers move onto more modern protocols for communication, phone network security continues to be an exposed area with multiple avenues for attack in some implementations of RCS. “I’m surprised that large companies, like Vodafone, introduce a technology that exposes literally hundreds of millions of people, without asking them, without telling them,” Karsten Nohl from cybersecurity firm Security Research Labs (SRLabs) told Motherboard in a phone call.

SRLabs researchers Luca Melette and Sina Yazdanmehr will present their RCS findings at the upcoming Black Hat Europe conference in December, and discussed some of their work at security conference DeepSec on Friday. RCS is a relatively new standard for carrier messaging and includes more features than SMS, such as photos, group chats, and file transfers. Back in 2015, Google announced it would be adopting RCS to move users away from SMS, and that it had acquired a company called Jibe Mobile to help with the transition. RCS essentially runs as an app on your phone that logs into a service with a username and password, Nohl explained.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.



Source: Slashdot – SMS Replacement is Exposing Users To Text, Call Interception Thanks To Sloppy Telecos

Eruption of Indonesian Volcano in 2018 Generated a Tsunami at Least 330 Feet High

The eruption of Anak Krakatoa in 2018 produced a tsunami that, for a short while, was somewhere between 330 to 492 feet tall, according to new research. Had the Indonesian shoreline been closer to the volcano, this disaster would’ve been much worse.

Read more…



Source: Gizmodo – Eruption of Indonesian Volcano in 2018 Generated a Tsunami at Least 330 Feet High

Elektron's Model:Samples groovebox is $100 off for the holidays

Elektron’s synths, samplers, drum machines and grooveboxes are known for their top-notch sound and unique sequencing features. Once thing they’re not known for, though, is being affordable. The Model:Samples is the big exception to that rule. And it’…

Source: Engadget – Elektron’s Model:Samples groovebox is 0 off for the holidays