This Is What Happens When You Let a Neural Network Design Fonts

Neural networks are increasingly taking on jobs that used to be the preserve of the human brain . So Erik Bernhardsson decided to see what would happen if he threw 50, 000 fonts at a neural network and left it to chew through them. The results, it turns out, are pretty interesting. Read more…

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This Is What Happens When You Let a Neural Network Design Fonts

This Is an X-Ray of the Earth’s Aurora

This planet’s aurora are a spectacular sight, but you’ve probably never seen them quite like this. You’re looking at a view of them as seen by the European Space Agency’s Integral space observatory, which captured how they look as an X-ray. Read more…

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This Is an X-Ray of the Earth’s Aurora

Why the calorie is broken

(credit: Getty Images) Calories consumed minus calories burned—it’s the simple formula for weight loss or gain, but dieters often find that it doesn’t work. Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley of Gastropod investigate for Mosaic science , where this story first appeared . It’s republished here under a Creative Commons license. “For me, a calorie is a unit of measurement that’s a real pain in the rear.” Bo Nash is 38. He lives in Arlington, Texas, where he’s a technology director for a textbook publisher. He has a wife and child. And he’s 5’10” and 245 lbs—which means he is classed as obese. Read 44 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Why the calorie is broken

Every App That Apple’s Tried to Kill

Apps die—often. It’s all part of the technological circle of life where alpha predators in multi-billion dollar dens feast on more vulnerable, less cash-infused prey. And one company that has always had an insatiable T. Rex-level hunger is Apple. Read more…

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Every App That Apple’s Tried to Kill

Wikipedia Editors Revolt, Vote "No Confidence" In Newest Board Member

An anonymous reader writes with news about an editor revolt at Wikimedia to remove Arnnon Geshuri from the foundation’s board. Ars reports: “Nearly 200 Wikipedia editors have taken the unprecedented step of calling for a member of the Wikimedia Foundation board of directors to be tossed out. The Wikimedia Foundation, which governs both the massive Wikipedia online encyclopedia and related projects, appointed Arnnon Geshuri to its board earlier this month. His appointment wasn’t well received by the Wikipedia community of volunteer editors, however. And last week, an editor called for a ‘vote of no confidence on Arnnon Geshuri.’ The voting, which has no legally binding effect on the Wikimedia Foundation, is now underway. As of press time, 187 editors had voted in favor of this proposition: ‘In the best interests of the Wikimedia Foundation, Arnnon Geshuri must be removed from his appointment as a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation Board.’ Just 13 editors have voted against, including Wikimedia board member Guy Kawasaki. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Wikipedia Editors Revolt, Vote "No Confidence" In Newest Board Member

Sriracha: now in individual sachets

The convenience of carrying your favorite hot-sauce in individual sachets — think “McDonald’s ketchup pouches” — can’t be overstated. It’s a particularly great format if you’re a frequent traveller, as TSA screeners don’t recognize the shape as a “liquid” on their X-rays, meaning you can just stash them in your bags and pockets and not worry about getting them all out when you reach a checkpoint. (more…)

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Sriracha: now in individual sachets

Floating Bonsai trees are better than floating speakers

Floating things on magnets makes most things cooler. Bonsai trees are certainly no exception. Kickstarter project ” Air Bonsai ” combines together magnetic levitation, wee plants and traditional Japanese “monozukuri” (craftsmanship). Using the same magnetic floating trick we’ve seen in speakers , everything that the tree — or plant of your choosing — needs is contained within the floating ball. The team has already passed its goal of $80, 000 but you can still add to the money pot, with $200 enough to land you a basic starter kit. Because of the import issues of sending plants between countries, US-based backers will be receiving locally-sourced, tiny pine trees, but there’s nothing to stop you floating different tiny plants for your own bizarre anime dream. Depending on your aesthetic tastes, you can upgrade the “little star” floating orb, with a particularly attractive lava-stone pot at the top of our shopping list. There’s four designs for the “energy base” that maintains the magnetic field: all of which look classier than the chintzy speakers we’ve seen at tech trade shows. And if you’re feeling classy to the extent of $10, 000 , then you can get an exclusive handmade cushion, base and Bonsai “star”, as well as a tour of both a Bonsai garden and the workshop behind the project. Source: Kickstarter

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Floating Bonsai trees are better than floating speakers

Doctor Who gets lengthy sabbatical as showrunner Steven Moffat quits

Doctor Who fans prepare to be bitterly disappointed: you won’t be getting your timey-wimey fix this year, because season 10 won’t hit our screens until 2017, the BBC has confirmed. The reason? Long-running showrunner Steven Moffat has run out of puff. He will pass the baton (OK, Sonic Screwdriver) to Chris Chibnall—the creator of ITV’s gripping whodunnit, Broadchurch —who will take over the iconic British sci-fi drama at the start of season 11. The BBC, which fiendishly buried this news late on Friday night in the hope that no-one would notice, has promised a Christmas Day special, but that will be the first and only time a new episode of the much-loved show will appear on the TV this year. Read 7 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Doctor Who gets lengthy sabbatical as showrunner Steven Moffat quits

Ransomware Hits Three Indian Banks, Causes Millions In Damages

An anonymous reader writes: Ransomware has locked computers in three major Indian banks and one pharmaceutical company. While the ransom note asks for 1 Bitcoin, so many computers have been infected that damages racked up millions of dollars. According to an antivirus company that analyzed the ransomware, it’s not even that complex, and seems the work of some amateur Russians. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Ransomware Hits Three Indian Banks, Causes Millions In Damages

Linux 4.5 Adds Raspberry Pi 2 Support, AMD GPU Re-Clocking, Intel Kaby Lake

The Linux 4.5 merge window has been open for the last two weeks; that means that the 4.5-rc1 kernel is expected to emerge, with the official kernel following in about eight weeks. An anonymous reader writes with this top-level list of changes to look for, from Phoronix: Linux 4.5 is set to bring many new features across the kernel’s 20 million line code-base. Among the new/improved features are Raspberry Pi 2 support, open-source Raspberry Pi 3D support, NVIDIA Tegra X1 / Jetson TX1 support, an open-source Vivante graphics driver, AMDGPU PowerPlay/re-clocking support, Intel Kaby Lake enablement, a Logitech racing wheel driver, improvements for handling suspended USB devices, new F2FS file-system features, and better Xbox One controller handling. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Linux 4.5 Adds Raspberry Pi 2 Support, AMD GPU Re-Clocking, Intel Kaby Lake