Tag: science

Dropbox Moves Users’ Data Off Amazon S3 to Its Own Infrastructure

Reader Richard_at_work writes: Dropbox today announced that it has been working on a “top secret” project called Magic Pocket for the past two and a half years to get data of more than 500 million users from Amazon S3 to its own custom-built infrastructure. The company says that it has migrated over 90% of its users’ data so far. Dropbox’s relationship with AWS isn’t completely over, however, as they will continue to use AWS for specific regional data stores where there is a requirement. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Dropbox Moves Users’ Data Off Amazon S3 to Its Own Infrastructure

Software brings your PC’s entire interface to VR

Virtual reality faces numerous challenges , but one of the biggest is having to take your headset off whenever you need to run a conventional app. What if you want to maintain that immersion, or just want to use a VR device as your only display? That’s where BigScreen thinks it can help. It’s developing software that places your entire Windows desktop in a VR environment. It’s partly for the sake of immersion (you can have a massive, wall-filling screen without spending a fortune ), but it’s a bigger deal for social experiences. You can see a friend’s shared screen as a separate virtual monitor, or play games and movies with friends who sit in using personalized avatars. You can sign up for a public beta test today, and the finished software should be available for both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift when they’re available in April. Samsung Gear VR support is due later in 2016. BigScreen is definitely going to be a niche app on launch (you’re going to need an expensive headset and a powerful PC just to use it), but it’s an important step toward turning VR from a once-in-a-blue-moon experience into something you use every day, whether you’re catching up on Netflix or creating worlds . Via: Upload Source: BigScreen

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Software brings your PC’s entire interface to VR

Intel’s Optane SSD Compatible With NVMe; Could Boost MacBook Storage Speeds By 1000x

More details have emerged about Intel’s Optane, a new kind of memory and SSD that utilizes 3D Xpoint. The upcoming 3D Xpoint technology, which is supposedly 10 times denser than DRAM and 1, 000 times faster than flash storage, will be compatible with NVMe, a storage protocol that allows an SSD to make effective use of a high-speed PCIe. Several MacBook Pro models already support NVMe technology. Apple is often among the first companies to adopt emerging standards and technologies, which has led many to believe that the Cupertino-based company might leverage Intel’s Optane solid state drives for super fast performance speeds in its next batch of laptops. Apple is expected to announce the refreshed MacBook lineup sporting Intel Skylake processor later this year. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Intel’s Optane SSD Compatible With NVMe; Could Boost MacBook Storage Speeds By 1000x

Wi-Fi Hotspot Blocking Persists Despite FCC Crackdown

An anonymous reader writes: An examination of consumer complaints to the FCC over the past year and a half shows that the practice of Wi-Fi hotspot device blocking continues even though the agency has slapped organizations such as Marriott and Hilton more than $2 million in total for doing this. Venues argue they need to block hotspots for security reasons, but the FCC and consumers say the organizations are doing this to force people to pay for pricey Internet access. “Consumers who purchase cellular data plans should be able to use them without fear that their personal Internet connection will be blocked by their hotel or conference center, ” FCC Enforcement Bureau chief Travis LeBlanc said in a statement. “It is unacceptable for any hotel to intentionally disable personal hotspots while also charging consumers and small businesses high fees to use the hotel’s own Wi-Fi network. This practice puts consumers in the untenable position of either paying twice for the same service or forgoing Internet access altogether.” Consumers have filed many complaints about Wi-Fi hotspot blocking to the FCC. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Wi-Fi Hotspot Blocking Persists Despite FCC Crackdown

An Inside Look At How Netflix Builds Code

mmoorebz writes: Netflix is known as a place to binge watch television, but behind the scenes, there’s a lot that goes on before everyone’s favorite show can be streamed. The first step to deploying an application or service is building. Netflix created Nebula, a set of plugins for the Gradle build system, that “help with the heavy-lifting around building applications, ” said the engineers. Once the code has been built and tested locally using Nebula, the team pushes the updated source code to a Git repository. Every deployment at Neflix begins with the creation of an Amazon Machine Image, and to generate them from source, Netflix created what it calls “the Bakery.” It exposes an API that facilitates the creation of AMIs globally, according to the blog. When it comes time to deploy and after the “baking” is complete, teams will use Spinnaker to manage multi-region deployments, canary releases, and red/black deployments. Netflix is continuing to look at the developer experience and determine how it can improve. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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An Inside Look At How Netflix Builds Code

FDA Approves Indego Exoskeleton For Clinical And Personal Use

Science_afficionado writes to note that the FDA “has approved a powered lower-limb exoskeleton created by a team of Vanderbilt engineers and commercialized by the Parker Hannifin Corporation for both clinical and personal use in the United States.” Indego, which allows people paralyzed below the waist to stand up and walk, is the result of an intensive, 10-year effort. The initial development was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The device acts like an external skeleton as it straps in tightly around the torso. Rigid supports are strapped to the legs and extend from the hip to the knee and from the knee to the foot. The hip and knee joints are driven by computer-controlled electric motors powered by advanced batteries. The device operates a lot like a Segway with legs and the minimalist design allows users to take it on and off while sitting in a wheelchair. Indego’s clearance came after completion of the largest exoskeleton clinical trial conducted in the United States. It has been available in Europe since November, when it received the CE Mark, the European Union’s equivalent of FDA approval. The initial price is $80, 000. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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FDA Approves Indego Exoskeleton For Clinical And Personal Use

Skype Co-Founder Launches End-To-End Encrypted ‘Wire’ App

An anonymous reader writes: A group of former Skype technologists, backed by the co-founder of the messaging platform, has introduced a new version of its own messaging service that promises end-to-end encryption for all conversations, including by video. Wire, a 50-person start-up mostly made up of engineers, is stepping into a global political debate over encryption that pits privacy against security advocates, epitomized by the standoff between the U.S. government and Apple. Wire, which is headquartered in Switzerland and Germany, two of the most privacy-friendly countries in the world, relays communications through its network of cloud computers where user communications are stored, in encrypted form, on their own devices. It delivers privacy protections that are always on, even when callers use multiple devices, such as a phone or desktop PC simultaneously. For voice and video calls, Wire uses the same DTLS and SRTP encryption standards found in the peer-to-peer WebRTC protocol. Rivals such as Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp or Telegram offer encryption on only parts of a message’s journey or for a specific set of services, the company said. “Everything is end-to-end encrypted: That means voice and video calls, texts, pictures, graphics — all the content you can send, ” Wire Executive Chairman Janus Friis told Reuters. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Skype Co-Founder Launches End-To-End Encrypted ‘Wire’ App

Scientists Have Discovered a Bacteria That’s Evolved to Eat Plastic

A team of Japanese scientists has discovered a bacteria that’s evolved to break down and consume PET—one of the world’s most environmentally damaging plastics. Read more…

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Scientists Have Discovered a Bacteria That’s Evolved to Eat Plastic

Chicagoan Arrested For Using Cell-phone Jammer To Make Subway Commute Tolerable

McGruber writes with this story from the Chicago Tribune: Last Fall, certified public accountant Dennis Nicholl boarded a Chicago subway train while carrying a plastic bag of Old Style beer. Nicholl popped open a beer and looked around the car, scowling as he saw another rider talking on a cellphone. He pulled out a black device from his pocket and switched it on. Commuters who had been talking on their phones went silent, checking their screens for the source of their dropped calls. On Tuesday, undercover officers arrested Nicholl. Cook County prosecutors and Chicago police allege he created his own personal ‘quiet car’ on the subway by using an illegal device he imported from China. He was charged with unlawful interference with a public utility, a felony. This is not the first time Nicholl has been charged with jamming cell calls. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in June 2009, according to court records. He was placed under court supervision for a year, and his equipment was confiscated and destroyed. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chicagoan Arrested For Using Cell-phone Jammer To Make Subway Commute Tolerable

Software Bug in F-35 Radar Causes Mid-Flight System Reboot

Reader Lisandro writes: The F-35 Fighter jet can’t seem to catch a break. An advanced AN/APG-81 AESA F35 radar system has been found riddled with a software bug that causes it to degrade and stop working. The solution? Rebooting the system while in the air. Major General Jeffrey Harrigian, director of the Air Force’s F-35 integration office at the Pentagon, was quoted as saying “radar stability – the radar’s ability to stay up and running. What would happen is they’d get a signal that says either a radar degrade or a radar fail – “something that would force us to restart the radar.” The issue was spotted in late 2015, and thankfully, it was caught during the testing period. The software version “3i” is affected. An update aimed to resolve the bug is expected to be delivered to the US Air Force by the end of March. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Software Bug in F-35 Radar Causes Mid-Flight System Reboot