Tag: chicago

Chicago seeks a high-speed O’Hare link, Boring Company to propose 125mph “Loop”

Enlarge / An artist’s rendering of an electric skate. (credit: The Boring Company ) On Wednesday, the city of Chicago opened a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for an express train that would take passengers from the city’s O’Hare airport to downtown. The system would have to be completely privately funded—Chicago says no taxpayer money would be used for it. Elon Musk’s Boring Company—a tunneling company that the SpaceX and Tesla CEO started last year—will respond to the request. Musk hopes to get to the second round when bidding will take place. On Wednesday evening, he tweeted that his company “will compete to fund, build & operate a high-speed Loop connecting Chicago O’Hare Airport to downtown.” Musk’s reference to a “Loop” is explained more clearly on  The Boring Company’s FAQ page : “Loop is a high-speed underground public transportation system in which passengers are transported on autonomous electric skates traveling at 125-150 miles per hour. Electric skates will carry between 8 and 16 passengers (mass transit), or a single passenger vehicle.” Unlike Musk’s idea for a Hyperloop, a Loop won’t draw a vacuum. “For shorter routes, there is no technical need to eliminate air friction,” The Boring Company states. Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Read the article:
Chicago seeks a high-speed O’Hare link, Boring Company to propose 125mph “Loop”

Quark fusion makes ten times as much energy as nuclear fusion

Scientists have overcome huge barriers in the past year to get us even closer to nuclear fusion, and with it a near-limitless supply of clean energy. But, what if there’s something far more powerful out there? According to researchers at Tel Aviv University and the University of Chicago, there is, and it involves the fusion of elementary particles known as quarks — the resulting energy from which would be ten times that of nuclear fusion. Quarks (not to be confused with the alien from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) are tiny particles that make up the neutrons and protons inside atoms. They come in six different types, with scientists referring to them in terms of three pairs: up, down; charm, strange; and top, bottom. To find out more, researchers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have been smashing atoms together at high speeds. Doing so, causes these component parts to split from their parent atoms, and fuse with other particles, creating baryons. Prior research has indicated that energy is produced when quarks bind together. By looking into one-such occurrence (a doubly-charmed baryon), the physicists found that it would take 130 megaelectronvolts (MeV) of energy to force two charm quarks together. On top of that, the fusion ends up releasing even more power, around 12 MeV. Motivated by their findings, they then focussed on the much-heavier bottom quarks. The same binding process, they claim, would theoretically release approximately 138 MeV, which is almost eight times as much as hydrogen fusion (which also powers hydrogen bombs). Naturally, this set off alarm bells, with the researchers hesitating to go public with their findings. “If I thought for a microsecond that this had any military applications, I would not have published it, ” professor Marek Karliner told Live Science . But, further calculations suggested that causing a chain reaction with quarks would be impossible — mainly because they don’t exist long enough to set each other off. Plus, there’s the fact that this type of bottom quark fusion is completely theoretical. Whereas, the researchers didn’t fuse bottom quarks themselves, they claim it is technically achievable at the LHC. Source: Nature

Link:
Quark fusion makes ten times as much energy as nuclear fusion

Accenture left four servers of sensitive data completely unprotected

UpGuard has yet again uncovered a trove of corporate data left unprotected, this time from major consulting and management firm Accenture . The data — contained on four cloud-based storage servers — were discovered by UpGuard Director of Cyber Risk Research Chris Vickery in mid-September and weren’t protected by a password. Anyone with the servers’ web addresses could download the stored information, which included decryption keys, passwords and customer info. And Accenture’s client list includes a number of large companies. On its website , Accenture says its clients “span the full range of industries around the world and include 94 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500.” UpGuard says that the information stored on the unprotected servers could have been used to attack Accenture itself as well as a number of its clients and Vickery told ZDNet that the data amounted to the “keys to the kingdom.” In a blog post about the exposure, UpGuard said, “Taken together, the significance of these exposed buckets is hard to overstate. In the hands of competent threat actors, these cloud servers, accessible to anyone stumbling across their URLs, could have exposed both Accenture and its thousands of top-flight corporate customers to malicious attacks that could have done an untold amount of financial damage.” This data exposure is just the latest to be sniffed out by cybersecurity firm UpGuard. Other recent discoveries by the company include Election Systems & Software’s exposure of 1.8 million Chicago residents’ personal information, Deep Root Analytics’ leak of nearly 200 million US citizens’ data, the release of 14 million Verizon customers’ info by Nice Systems and exposure of classified intelligence data by a US defense contractor. In light of these repeated mishandlings of sensitive data, it’s becoming increasing clear that major companies need to take a serious look at their cybersecurity practices. UpGuard quickly notified Accenture after discovering the exposed data and the company secured the servers soon thereafter. Accenture also said that UpGuard was the only non-authorized visitor to access the servers. Accenture told ZDNet , “We closed the exposure when the Amazon Web Services S3 issue was first reported. As we continue our forensic review we may learn more but, the email and password information in the database is more than two and a half years old and for Accenture users of a decommissioned system.” Source: UpGuard

Read the article:
Accenture left four servers of sensitive data completely unprotected

Chicago School Official: US IT Jobs Offshored Because ‘We Weren’t Making Our Own’ Coders

theodp writes: In a slick new video, segments of which were apparently filmed looking out from Google’s Chicago headquarters giving it a nice high-tech vibe, Chicago Public Schools’ CS4ALL staffers not-too-surprisingly argue that creating technology is “a power that everyone needs to have.” In the video, the Director of Computer Science and IT Education for the nation’s third largest school district offers a take on why U.S. IT jobs were offshored that jibes nicely with the city’s new computer science high school graduation requirement. From the transcript: “People still talk about it’s all offshored, it’s all in India and you know, there are some things that are there but they don’t even realize some of the reasons that they went there in the first place is because we weren’t making our own.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Originally posted here:
Chicago School Official: US IT Jobs Offshored Because ‘We Weren’t Making Our Own’ Coders

Boston Red Sox Used Apple Watches To Steal Hand Signals From Yankees

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Mac Rumors: Investigators for Major League Baseball believe the Boston Red Sox, currently in first place in the American League East, have used the Apple Watch to illicitly steal hand signals from opposing teams, reports The New York Times. The Red Sox are believed to have stolen hand signals from opponents’ catchers in games using video recording equipment and communicated the information with the Apple Watch. An inquiry into the Red Sox’ practice started two weeks ago following a complaint from Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, who caught a member of the Red Sox training staff looking at his Apple Watch in the dugout and then relaying information to players. It’s believed the information was used to determine the type of pitch that was going to be thrown. Baseball investigators corroborated the claim using video for instant replay and broadcasts before confronting the Red Sox. The team admitted that trainers received signals from video replay personnel and then shared them with some players. “The Red Sox told league investigators said that team personnel scanning instant- replay video were electronically sending the pitch signs to the trainers, who were then passing the information to the players, ” reports The New York Times. “The video provided to the commissioner’s office by the Yankees was captured during the first two games of the series and included at least three clips. In the clips, the team’s assistant athletic trainer, Jon Jochim, is seen looking at his Apple Watch and then passing information to outfielder Brock Holt and second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who was injured at the time but in uniform. In one instance, Pedroia is then seen passing the information to Young.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Originally posted here:
Boston Red Sox Used Apple Watches To Steal Hand Signals From Yankees

Chicago police see less violent crime after using predictive code

Law enforcement has been trying predictive policing software for a while now, but how well does it work when it’s put to a tough test? Potentially very well, according to Chicago police. The city’s 7th District police report that their use of predictive algorithms helped reduce the number of shootings 39 percent year-over-year in the first 7 months of 2017, with murders dropping by 33 percent. Three other districts didn’t witness as dramatic a change, but they still saw 15 to 29 percent reductions in shootings and a corresponding 9 to 18 percent drop in murders. It mainly comes down to knowing where and when to deploy officers. One of the tools used in the 7th District, HunchLab, blends crime statistics with socioeconomic data, weather info and business locations to determine where crimes are likely to happen. Other tools (such as the Strategic Subject’s List and ShotSpotter ) look at gang affiliation, drug arrest history and gunfire detection sensors. If the performance holds, It’ll suggest that predictive policing can save lives when crime rates are particularly high, as they have been on Chicago’s South Side. However, both the Chicago Police Department and academics are quick to stress that algorithms are just one part of a larger solution. Officers still have be present, and this doesn’t tackle the underlying issues that cause crime, such as limited access to education and a lack of economic opportunity. Still, any successful reduction in violence is bound to be appreciated. Source: Reuters

View post:
Chicago police see less violent crime after using predictive code

McDonald’s will satisfy your Big Mac craving with UberEats delivery

McDonald’s already tried delivering Quarter Pounder combo meals via Uber in Florida and now the fast-food restaurant it ready to expand the option. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that McDonald’s will launch its delivery option in more cities before the end of June. And yes, it’s still powered by UberEats . That original testing phase included 200 locations in Florida, and for now, there’s no word on exactly where the delivery option is headed next. Those details are likely to come soon, so you might be able to satisfy your Big Mac craving without leaving the house in the near future. For now, McDonald’s is trying to perfect the process of accepting orders, finding the right packaging for deliveries and tackling other “operational challenges.” The company also tried its hand at delivery in 2015 with help from Postmates. That initiative is limited to New York City, though. Delivery isn’t the only move McDonald’s is making to meet the needs of diners in 2017. The company began testing mobile ordering and payments back in March, a feature of its app that’s now available for 400 locations in Chicago, California, Washington state and the DC area. The plan is for every location to have the mobile ordering system in place eventually. As part of the Uber news, McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook explained that restaurant redesigns and digital options like mobile ordering are top priorities over the next two years. Source: Crain’s Chicago Business

Originally posted here:
McDonald’s will satisfy your Big Mac craving with UberEats delivery

AT&T’s faux 5G network launches in Austin

At last, 5G wireless is here… sort of. As promised , AT&T has launched its pre-standard 5G network, starting with certain parts of Austin. So long as you have a Galaxy S8 or S8 Plus , you can get speeds that should leave LTE in the dust. Expect downloads about twice as fast on average, the carrier says. Indianapolis is due for the next rollout in the summer, and there will be 20 total areas covered (including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Nashville and San Francisco) by the end of 2017. And if you’re not inclined to Samsung hardware, you should see “numerous other devices” this year that take advantage of the new network. The launch will certainly give you some bragging rights if you’re an early smartphone adopter, but we wouldn’t quite call it the dawn of the 5G era. As we hinted earlier, the wireless industry is still hashing out the details of 5G . You won’t get “real” 5G until there’s a standard, and that could change both the performance you expect as well as compatibility with early pseudo-5G devices. This doesn’t mean your S8 will lose 5G-like speeds the moment there is a standard, but we wouldn’t count on full support. Arguably, AT&T is launching its 5G network to shout “first!” — it wants to one-up Verizon’s 5G plans and show that it’s ahead of the game, even if it’s only by a matter of a few months at most. Source: AT&T

View article:
AT&T’s faux 5G network launches in Austin

Lyft tests a new fixed-route ‘Shuttle’ service for commuters

Now that shared rides represent a sizable portion of Uber and Lyft’s business, both companies have been looking for new ways to expand their offerings while making the whole system more efficient and affordable at the same time. According to TechCrunch , Lyft is currently testing a new version of its shared Line rides called “Lyft Shuttle” aimed directly at commuters and riders who regularly take busy routes. As it’s only a test for now, Lyft Shuttle is only available in Chicago and San Francisco. Riders in those cities will see the “Shuttle” option while searching for Line rides in the app — but only if their pickup and drop off locations are close enough to one of the test routes. The service is only available during the morning and evening commute hours (6:30-10AM, 4-8PM), but the fares are a fixed price so riders can avoid surge pricing during rush hour. Uber tried a similar feature for UberPool called “Smart Routes” back in 2015 , and it still highlights nearby pickup points for shared rides, but the bus-like highlighted routes seem to have fizzled out. And unlike other services intended to cover long-distance commutes like Waze Rider , Lyft’s offering is meant for shorter trips within the city limits. In San Francisco, at least, Lyft will be competing more directly with Chariot, which runs private shuttles along popular commuter bus routes and handles ticketing through its own app. Chariot was bought by Ford last year and the automaker intends to expand to eight more cities by the end of 2017, so there’s definitely a market for this type of in-between service. Source: TechCrunch

Visit site:
Lyft tests a new fixed-route ‘Shuttle’ service for commuters

Self-assembling wires could lead to faster processors

There’s a very real fear that processor speed upgrades will slow to a crawl as it becomes increasingly difficult to make denser chips. Don’t tell that to a team of researchers at MIT and in Chicago, though — they’ve devised a chip-making technique that could keep Moore’s Law relevant for a while longer. Their approach produces much finer wires by letting them partly assemble themselves, rather than relying on the very deliberate (not to mention slow) ultraviolet or scanning processes used to make chips today. The team starts out with the conventional process of using an electron beam to etch patterns on a chip, but that’s where much of the familiarity ends. The next step is to lay down a mix of two polymers that naturally separate themselves into patterns. When you place a protective polymer coating on top of those polymers, you force them to self-assemble in a dense, vertically oriented way that produces four wires where there would usually be one. There’s a long way to go before you see this method put into practice. Thankfully, it promises to be relatively simple. You could use existing chip lithography techniques, and it wouldn’t be difficult to add the coating process. This would use well-understood materials, to boot. As such, there’s a real possibility that companies could build very dense (that is, denser than 10nm ) chips without throwing out their current technology, leading to speed and energy improvements that once seemed unrealistic. Source: MIT News , Nature

See original article:
Self-assembling wires could lead to faster processors