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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

Google Facing Fine of Up To $1.4 Billion In India Over Rigged Search Results

An anonymous reader writes: The Competition Commission of India has opened an investigation into Google to decide whether the company unfairly prioritized search results to its own services. Google could face a fine of up to $1.4 billion — 10% of its net income in 2014. A number of other internet companies, including Facebook and FlipKart, responded to queries from the CCI by confirming that Google does this. “The CCI’s report accuses Google of displaying its own content and services more prominently in search results than other sources that have higher hit rates. It also states that sponsored links shown in search results are dependent on the amount of advertising funds Google receives from its clients. Ecommerce portal Flipkart noted that it found search results to have a direct correlation with the amount of money it spent on advertising with Google.” The company has faced similar antitrust concerns in the EU and the U.S Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Google Facing Fine of Up To $1.4 Billion In India Over Rigged Search Results

Plunging Battery Prices Expected To Spur Renewable Energy Adoption

Lucas123 writes: Lithium-ion (Li-on) and flow battery prices are expected to drop by as much as 60% by 2020, making them far more affordable for storing power from distributed renewable energy systems, such as wind and solar, according to a recent report by Australia’s Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). The 130-page report (PDF) shows that Li-on batteries will drop from $550 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in 2014 to $200 per kWh by 2020; and flow battery prices will drop from $680 per kWh to $350 per kWh during the same time. Flow batteries and Li-ion batteries work well with intermittent energy sources such as solar panels and wind turbines because of their ability to be idle for long periods without losing a charge. Both battery technologies offer unique advantages in that they can easily be scaled to suit many applications and have high cycle efficiency, the ARENA report noted. Li-ion batteries more easily suit consumer market. Flow batteries, which are less adaptable for consumer use because they’re typically too large, scale more easily because all that’s needed to grow storage capacity is more electrolyte liquid; the hardware remains the same. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Plunging Battery Prices Expected To Spur Renewable Energy Adoption

Newer Android Wear Watches Now Work On iOS

 More than a year after the launch of the first Android Wear watches, Google is now finally bringing iOS support to its smartwatch platform with the launch of its Android Wear mobile app in Apple’s App Store today. This probably doesn’t come as a huge surprise, given that Huawei spoiled this launch by announcing iOS support for its upcoming Android Wear watch last week, … Read More

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Newer Android Wear Watches Now Work On iOS