Tag: score2

"E-mailable" House Snaps Together Without Nails

MikeChino writes: Your next house could snap together like a jigsaw puzzle without the use of any power tools. Clemson University students designed and built Indigo Pine, a carbon-neutral house that exists largely as a set of digital files that can be e-mailed to a wood shop anywhere in the world, CNC cut, and then assembled on-site in a matter of days. “Indigo Pine has global application, ” says the Clemson team. “Because the house exists largely as a set of digital files, the plans can be sent anywhere in the world, constructed using local materials, adapted to the site, and influenced by local culture.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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"E-mailable" House Snaps Together Without Nails

See the Sketches J.R.R. Tolkien Used To Build Middle-Earth

Esther Schindler writes: In addition to writing the story of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien drew it. The maps and sketches he made while drafting it “informed his storytelling, allowing him to test narrative ideas and illustrate scenes he needed to capture in words, ” reports Ethan Gilsdorf at Wired. “For Tolkien, the art of writing and the art of drawing were inextricably intertwined.” It’s all coming out in a new book, but here we get a sneak preview, along with several cool observations, such as: “If Tolkien’s nerdy use of graph paper feels like a secret message to future Dungeons & Dragons players, then so does his ‘Plan of Shelob’s lair.’ Tolkien’s map of tunnels stocked with nasties—here, a spider named Shelob—would be right at home in any Dungeon Master’s campaign notes. He even marks the place for a classic dungeon crawl feature: ‘trap.'” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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See the Sketches J.R.R. Tolkien Used To Build Middle-Earth

World’s First 5G Field Trial Delivers Speeds of 3.6Gbps Using Sub-6GHz

Mark.JUK writes: Global Chinese ICT firm Huawei and Japanese mobile giant NTT DOCOMO today claim to have conducted the world’s first large-scale field trial of future 5th generation (5G) mobile broadband technology, which was able to deliver a peak speed of 3.6Gbps (Gigabits per second). Previous trials have used significantly higher frequency bands (e.g. 20-80GHz), which struggle with coverage and penetration through physical objects. By comparison Huawei’s network operates in the sub-6GHz frequency band and made use of several new technologies, such as Multi-User MIMO (concurrent connectivity of 24 user devices in the macro-cell environment), Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) and Filtered OFDM (F-OFDM). Assuming all goes well then Huawei hopes to begin a proper pilot in 2018, with interoperability testing being completed during 2019 and then a commercial launch to follow in 2020. But of course they’re not the only team trying to develop a 5G solution. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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World’s First 5G Field Trial Delivers Speeds of 3.6Gbps Using Sub-6GHz

SIgn Of the Times: Calif. Privacy Protections Signed Into Law

The EFF reports a spot of bright news from California: Governor Jerry Brown today signed into law the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act. CalECPA, says the organization, “protects Californians by requiring a warrant for digital records, including emails and texts, as well as a user’s geographical location. These protections apply not only to your devices, but to online services that store your data. Only two other states have so far offered these protections: Maine and Utah.” The ACLU provides a fact sheet (PDF) about what the bill entails, which says: SB 178 will ensure that, in most cases, the police must obtain a warrant from a judge before accessing a person’s private information, including data from personal electronic devices, email, digital documents, text messages, and location information. The bill also includes thoughtful exceptions to ensure that law enforcement can continue to effectively and efficiently protect public safety in emergency situations. Notice and enforcement provisions in the bill provide proper transparency and judicial oversight to ensure that the law is followed. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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SIgn Of the Times: Calif. Privacy Protections Signed Into Law

NY Times Passes 1M Digital Subscribers

HughPickens.com writes: Many news organizations, facing competition from digital outlets, have sharply reduced the size of their newsrooms and their investment in news gathering but less than four-and-a-half years after launching its pay model the NY Times has increased coverage as it announced that the Times has passed one million digital-only subscribers, giving them far more than any other news organization in the world. The Times still employs as many reporters as it did 15 years ago — and its ranks now include graphics editors, developers, video journalists and other digital innovators. “It’s a tribute to the hard work and innovation of our marketing, product and technology teams and the continued excellence of our journalism, ” says CEO Mark Thompson. According to Ken Doctor the takeaway from the Times success is that readers reward elite global journalism. The Wall Street Journal is close behind the Times, at 900, 000, while the FT’s digital subscription number stands at 520, 000. “These solid numbers form bedrock for the future. For news companies, being national now means being global, and being global means enjoying unprecedented reach, ” says Doctor. “These audiences of a half-million and more portend more reader revenue to come.” Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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NY Times Passes 1M Digital Subscribers

On-Chip Liquid Cooling Permits Smaller Devices With No Heatsinks Or Fans

An anonymous reader writes: DARPA-funded research into on-chip liquid cooling has resulted in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) liquid-cooled device that can operate at 24 degrees Celsius, versus 60 degrees Celsius for an equivalent air-cooled device. The cooling fluid resides only nanometers from the heat it must address, and operates so efficiently as to offer potential to stack CPUs and GPUs using copper columns, as well as dispensing with heat-sinks and fan systems. With those components removed, the system can facilitate far more compact designs than are currently feasible. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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On-Chip Liquid Cooling Permits Smaller Devices With No Heatsinks Or Fans

DHS Detains Mayor of Stockton, CA, Forces Him To Hand Over His Passwords

schwit1 writes: Anthony Silva, the mayor of Stockton, California, recently went to China for a mayor’s conference. On his return to San Francisco airport he was detained by Homeland Security, and then had his two laptops and his mobile phone confiscated. They refused to show him any sort of warrant (of course) and then refused to let him leave until he agreed to hand over his password. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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DHS Detains Mayor of Stockton, CA, Forces Him To Hand Over His Passwords

Vostochny Launch Building Built To the Wrong Size

schwit1 writes: The Russians have just discovered that their Soyuz 2 rocket does not fit in the building just finished at their new spaceport at Vostochny: “The cutting-edge facility was meant be ready for launches of Soyuz-2 rockets in December, but an unidentified space agency told the TASS news agency late Thursday that the rocket would not fit inside the assembly building where its parts are stacked and tested before launch. The building ‘has been designed for a different modification of the Soyuz rocket, ‘ the source said, according to news website Medusa, which picked up the story from TASS.” The rocket had just been delivered to Vostochny for assembly, so this report, though unconfirmed at this time, fits well with current events. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Vostochny Launch Building Built To the Wrong Size

Stagefright 2.0 Vulnerabilities Affect 1 Billion Android Devices

msm1267 writes: Security researcher Joshua Drake today disclosed two more flaws in Stagefright, one that dates back to the first version of Android, and a second dependent vulnerability that was introduced in Android 5.0. The bugs affect more than one billion Android devices, essentially all of them in circulation. One of the vulnerabilities was found in a core Android library called libutils; it has been in the Android OS since it was first released and before there were even Android mobile devices. The second vulnerability was introduced into libstagefright in Android 5.0; it calls into libutils in a vulnerable way. An attacker would use a specially crafted MP3 or MP4 file in this case to exploit the vulnerabilities. Google has released patches into the Android Open Source Project tree, but public patches are not yet available. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Stagefright 2.0 Vulnerabilities Affect 1 Billion Android Devices

ALS Patients Use a Brain Implant To Type 6 Words Per Minute

the_newsbeagle writes: With electrodes implanted in their neural tissue and a new brain-computer interface, two paralyzed people with ALS used their thoughts to control a computer cursor with unprecedented accuracy and speed. They showed off their skills by using a predictive text-entering program to type sentences, achieving a rate of 6 words per minute. While paralyzed people can type faster using other assistive technologies that are already on the market, like eye-gaze trackers and air-puff controllers, a brain implant could be the only option for paralyzed people who can’t reliably control their eyes or mouth muscles. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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ALS Patients Use a Brain Implant To Type 6 Words Per Minute