HughPickens.com writes: Brian Booker writes at Digital Journal that carbon dating suggests that the Koran, or at least portions of it, may actually be older than the prophet Muhammad himself, a finding that if confirmed could rewrite early Islamic history and shed doubt on the “heavenly” origins of the holy text. Scholars believe that a copy Koran held by the Birmingham Library was actually written sometime between 545 AD and 568, while the Prophet Mohammad was believed to have been born in 570 AD and to have died in 632 AD. It should be noted, however, that the dating was only conducted on the parchment, rather than the ink, so it is possible that the quran was simply written on old paper. Some scholars believe, however, that Muhammad did not receive the Quran from heaven, as he claimed during his lifetime, but instead collected texts and scripts that fit his political agenda. “This gives more ground to what have been peripheral views of the Koran’s genesis, like that Muhammad and his early followers used a text that was already in existence and shaped it to fit their own political and theological agenda, rather than Muhammad receiving a revelation from heaven, ” says Keith Small, from the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library. “‘It destabilises, to put it mildly, the idea that we can know anything with certainty about how the Koran emerged, ” says Historian Tom Holland. “and that in turn has implications for the history of Muhammad and the Companions.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Author: kenmay
How to Maximize Battery Life on Windows 10
Whether you’ve upgraded to Windows 10 on your laptop or bought a brand new machine, you’re going to want to eke out as much battery juice as you can while you’re on the go. Microsoft’s shiny new OS includes a new native battery saver feature — and there are a few other tricks you can pull to make sure your laptop lasts until you can find a power socket. Read more…
Transparent Batteries That Charge in the Sun Could Replace Smartphone Screens
A group of Japanese researchers have managed to improve the design of a transparent lithium-ion battery so that it’s now able to recharge itself when exposed to sunlight without the need for a separate solar cell. Read more…
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Transparent Batteries That Charge in the Sun Could Replace Smartphone Screens
Amazon beats Netflix to offline movie and TV show streaming
For years, Netflix subscribers have asked for the ability to download movies and TV shows offline. The company is yet to introduce such a feature — so Amazon has taken the initiative and added exactly that to its rival streaming service. If you’re signed up to Prime Video, or have an active Amazon Prime account, you can now download and watch titles covered by your monthly subscription. It’s supported in both the iOS and Android app — although the latter will require you to download the app through the Amazon Appstore. The regular Amazon app in Google Play, which also supports Prime Video, doesn’t seem to have the feature just yet. Regardless, offline playback is a massive addition — if you’re a frequent flyer, for instance, you no longer have to break your Transparent binge-session or purchase the full series before takeoff. Now, how long will it be before Netflix offers the same? Filed under: Cellphones , Amazon Comments Via: Amazon Source: Amazon Video (iOS) , (Amazon) Tags: amazon, android, app, download, instantvideo, ios, offlineplayback, primeinstantvideo, streaming
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Amazon beats Netflix to offline movie and TV show streaming
Tesla strikes deal to buy lithium hydroxide mined in northern Mexico
On Friday, Tesla struck a deal with mining companies Bacanora Minerals Ltd and Rare Earth Minerals Plc. to purchase lithium compounds from a proposed mining site in northern Mexico. The mine is not functional yet—the deal requires the mining companies to raise funding to construct a mine as well as processing facilities over the next two years. But as the supply contract published by Bacanora (PDF) states, the companies project that once the mine is up and running, it will be able to supply 35,000 tons of lithium compounds (namely, lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate) per year at first, eventually expanding to 50,000 tons per year. Tesla has agreed to purchase a minimum amount of lithium hydroxide from Bacanora Minerals and Rare Earth Minerals for five years after the mine becomes operational, with the potential to extend the agreement. In exchange, the mining companies will sell their mined materials to Tesla at below market rate, the Wall Street Journal reports . Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Tesla strikes deal to buy lithium hydroxide mined in northern Mexico
City of Chicago sues red light camera maker Redflex for more than $300 million
Red light cameras in Arizona. Robert Couse-Baker The city of Chicago has joined a lawsuit against Redflex, an Australian company that sold the city red light cameras starting in 2003. Redflex announced the legal action in a statement to stockholders (PDF) today, sending the company’s already-suffering stock down to $0.17 per share. The suit alleges (PDF) that Redflex bribed a former Department of Transportation manager, John Bills, with $2 million in kickbacks to secure contracts with the city. The debacle has already resulted in corruption convictions, and the company’s CEO, Karen Finley, pleaded guilty to bribery earlier this year. Beyond these issues, Redflex cameras have been implicated in faulty ticketing accusations , with the company’s cameras allegedly issuing some 13,000 undeserved tickets to motorists in 2014. Redflex cameras have reportedly raised more than $500 million in traffic fines since 2003, according to the Chicago Tribune . Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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City of Chicago sues red light camera maker Redflex for more than $300 million
Six UK teens arrested for being “customers” of Lizard Squad’s DDoS service
On August 28, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency announced the arrest of six teenagers, ranging in age from 15 to 18, for launching distributed denial of service attacks against multiple websites. The attacks were carried out using an attack tool created by Lizard Squad , the group behind denial of service attacks on gaming networks and the 8Chan imageboard site last winter. Called Lizard Stresser, the tool exploited compromised home routers, using them as a robot army against targeted sites and services. The six arrested “are suspected of maliciously deploying Lizard Stresser, having bought the tool using alternative payment services such as Bitcoin in a bid to remain anonymous,” an NCA spokesperson wrote in an official statement on the case. “Organizations believed to have been targeted by the suspects include a leading national newspaper, a school, gaming companies, and a number of online retailers.” Those sites, according to a source that spoke with Bloomberg Business , included Microsoft’s Xbox Live, Sony’s Playstation network, and Amazon.com. The timing of the attacks wasn’t mentioned by NCA. However, the user database of Lizard Stresser was leaked in January of this year. The NCA has been investigating individuals listed in the database and has identified a substantial number of them living in the UK. “Officers are also visiting approximately 50 addresses linked to individuals registered on the Lizard Stresser website, but who are not currently believed to have carried out attacks,” the NCA spokesperson noted. “A third of the individuals identified are under the age of 20, and the activity forms part of the NCA’s wider work to address younger people at risk of entering into serious forms of cyber crime.” Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Six UK teens arrested for being “customers” of Lizard Squad’s DDoS service
Google is working to make 4K video less of a data hog
Ultra HD 4K video is still in its infancy, but there’s no doubt the format will become increasingly popular in the next year or two. Huge players like YouTube and Netflix already support it, but delivering such high bandwidth video content remains a challenge. Google’s trying to do its part to solve that problem by developing a more efficient video compression codec called VP10. The new codec has been in the works for nearly a year, but the company gave some details about how effective it can be over the VP9 format it’ll eventually replace. In an interview with CNET , Google product manager James Bankoski said that VP9 uses half the bandwidth needed to deliver the same quality video as the popular H.264 format — and with VP10, the company is trying to cut it in half again. Reduced bandwidth usage isn’t the only thing VP10 has going for it — it should also provide shaper images, better color, and a better dynamic range between lights and dark. But despite some strong technical credentials and the backing of Google, widespread adoption of VP10 is hardly a foregone conclusion. H.264 is still the dominant video compression standard, and its successor (HEVC / H.265) will likely see widespread support. Still, this is a battle that isn’t yet won, and the dominance of YouTube means that VP10 will have a fighting chance against HEVC. The fact that VP10 is open source is another point in its favor; the licensing for HEVC could add red tape and costs for developers and devices makers. It’ll be a while before this conflict comes to a head, however: Google said it hopes to hit its performance targets for VP10 by the end of next year. Filed under: HD , Google Comments Source: CNET Tags: 4k, google, h264, h265, hdpostcross, hevc, vp10, vp9, youtube
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Google is working to make 4K video less of a data hog
Algorithm turns any picture into the work of a famous artist
A group of German researchers have created an algorithm that basically amounts to the most amazing Instagram filter ever conceived: a convolutional neural network that can convert any photograph into a work of fine art. The process takes an hour (sorry, it’s not actually coming to a smartphone near you), and the math behind it is horrendously complicated, but the results speak for themselves. The algorithm leverages how complex neural networks process object recognition to help it rebuild photographs in the style of specific artists. On a very basic level, the network treats the art style of a source image as a “texture, ” and filters the target image through several layers of computational units to create a representation of it that agrees with the features of the original art. It’s a pretty neat trick, but not the actual point of the group’s research — the art project is simply an example that shows that convolutional neural networks are now capable of separating the content and style of an image. That said, researchers admit that content and style have to be careful balanced if the output image is to make any sense — too much focus on style, and the output image won’t look anything like the original photograph. The group plans to publish an additional paper on the algorithm in Nature later this year — but you can read the original report at the source link below. Filed under: Science Comments Via: Washington Post Source: Corell University Tags: art, imagerecognition, NeuralNetwork, picasso, vangogh
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Algorithm turns any picture into the work of a famous artist
Colombia is conducting widescale illegal surveillance
Want to know why it’s important to have checks on mass surveillance programs? Colombia should serve as a good example. Privacy International reports that the country not only collects bulk internet and phone data on a grand scale, but violates the law in the process — it’s supposed to require judicial approval for any surveillance, but regularly ignores that oversight. Colombian agencies have also relied on controversial tools like IMSI catchers (which scoop up nearby cellphone data) and Hacking Team’s spyware, and they’ve sought to expand their powers rather than rein things in. It’s no secret that Colombia has a history of surveillance, fueled in no small part by its decades-long battles with rebels and drug cartels. And unfortunately, the pressure to keep an eye on communications isn’t likely to drop anytime soon. A Venezuelan immigrant crackdown has forced many Colombia-born residents back to their homeland, increasing tensions between the two countries. It may take a long while before the political climate is truly conducive to surveillance reform. [Image credit: AP Photo/Fernando Vergara] Filed under: Cellphones , Wireless , Internet Comments Via: The Verge Source: Privacy International Tags: colombia, hackingteam, imsicatcher, internet, privacy, security, spying, spyware, surveillance
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Colombia is conducting widescale illegal surveillance