Skype is the latest service to be joining in on the bot craze. After deploying a preview of Skype Bots back in April , the company is pushing a new series of chatbots out into the Skype Bot directory across Windows, Android, iOS, Mac and Web apps. The goal is to offer services to users in a more efficient manner so that more complex tasks can be completed in an expedient manner. You’ll be able to bring bots into group conversations to manage tasks with friends and family, or collaborate on things like selecting restaurants, as daunting of a task as that can be. For instance, you can use Hipmunk to browse flight times or figure out travel recommendations directly within your discussions. Skype has partnered with services like StubHub and Skyscanner to bring additional functionality to its bots, as well as the IFTTT Bot, which allows you to set your own personalized triggers like social media notifications, someone coming to your door, etc. There’s also a special Star Trek Spock bot, if that’s your thing. Chatbots are quickly becoming a way of the future, so it’s not surprising to see these bots being folded in to Skype functionality. Done correctly, they’ve got their own unique boons that make them useful for every day situations, but many do still have a long way to go. Source: Skype
schwit1 quotes a report from Yahoo News: Scientists for the first time have found a complex organic molecule in space that bears the same asymmetric structure as molecules that are key to life on Earth. The researchers said on Tuesday they detected the complex organic molecule called propylene oxide in a giant cloud of gas and dust near the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Akin to a pair of human hands, certain organic molecules including propylene oxide possess mirror-like versions of themselves, a chemical property called chirality. Scientists have long pondered why living things make use of only one version of certain molecules, such as the ‘right-handed’ form of the sugar ribose, which is the backbone of DNA. The discovery of propylene oxide in space boosts theories that chirality has cosmic origins. The scientists in the new study used radio telescopes to ferret out the chemical details of molecules in the distant, star-forming cloud of gas and dust. As molecules move around in the vacuum of space they emit telltale vibrations that appear as distinctive radio waves. Future studies of how polarized light interacts with the molecules may reveal if one version of propylene oxide dominates in space, the researchers said. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, reporting for Motherboard: There’s an oft-repeated adage in the world of cybersecurity: There are two types of companies, those that have been hacked, and those that don’t yet know they have been hacked. MySpace, the social media behemoth that was, is apparently in the second category. The same hacker who was selling the data of more than 164 million LinkedIn users last week now claims to have 360 million emails and passwords of MySpace users, which would be one of the largest leaks of passwords ever. And it looks like the data is being circulated in the underground by other hackers as well. It’s unclear when the data was stolen from MySpace, but both the hacker, who’s known as Peace, and one of the operators of LeakedSource, a paid hacked data search engine that also claims to have the credentials, said it’s from a past, unreported, breach. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
An anonymous reader quotes a report from US Uncut: A Super PAC headed by a longtime Clinton operative is spending $1 million to hire online trolls to “correct” Bernie Sanders’ supporters on social media. Correct The Record (CTR), which is operated by Clinton attack dog and new owner of Blue Nation Review David Brock, launched a new initiative this week called “Barrier Breakers 2016” for the purpose of debating supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders — or “Bernie Bros, ” as they’re referred to in Correct the Record’s press official release — on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and other social media platforms. The “Barrier Breakers” will also publicly thank Hillary Clinton’s superdelegates and fans for supporting her campaign. The paid trolls are professional communicators, coming from public relations and media backgrounds. “The task force staff’s backgrounds are as diverse as the community they will be engaging with and include former reporters, bloggers, public affairs specialists, designers, Ready for Hillary alumni, and Hillary super fans who have led groups similar to those with which the task force will organize, ” CTR stated. Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
