Comment Re: RFK is running on, and ruining, his father's n (Score 1) 265
I died five times!
Comment Xeon + FPGA (Score 1) 180
I would guess that this is a CPU where you can add additional instructions/features via a tightly integrated high performance FPGA. It makes sense after Intel purchased Altera in 2015, Omnitek in 2019 and various other FPGA-related firms in the past few years - in fact I'm surprised it took this long to see it in a flagship CPU product.
Comment Re:Seems plausible (Score 1) 66
Due to my myopia I misread this as an irrational fear of presbyterians.
Comment Is the lawsuit against Tesla still proceeding? (Score 2) 100
They were suing Tesla for copying the design of their downhill-only truck... this new design feature is an interesting plot twist.
Comment Yep, garbage (Score 5, Informative) 101
It's crank physics. Ignore.
Microsoft's New Windows Terminal Update Is Out and It's 'Huge' (zdnet.com) 152
Microsoft has released Windows Terminal Preview version 0.3, the recently launched command-line interface, which it wants to be the newest and best experience for developers who use Windows Command Prompt and PowerShell. ZDNet reports: It launched in June amid concern that it might replace the familiar Command Prompt and PowerShell. Microsoft is allowing Windows Terminal to co-exist with Windows Console but it believes Terminal will become the favored tool among those who need command-line apps. The latest version of the Terminal app is available from the Microsoft Store but it's also available on Microsoft's Releases page on GitHub.
Among the improvements in v0.3 is that the interface can now be dragged regardless of where the mouse pointer is positioned on the title bar. The title bar itself has also been updated with a resized dropdown button with new colors and stays to the right of the last opened tab. There are also new colors for the minimize, maximize, and close buttons. Terminal is inheriting some accessibility features that allow tools like Windows Narrator "to interrogate, navigate, and read" the Terminal's user interface controls and text content, according to Kayla Cinnamon, program manager for Windows Terminal, Console and Command-Line. Terminal users can now define the tab title of each profile within settings, which takes priority over the shell-provided tab and should make it easier to tell the difference between profiles. There are now more choices for configuring the background image, with an option to add a background image on an acrylic background, as well as position the background anywhere on the screen. Additionally, Terminal users can now connect to the in-browser command-line called Azure-hosted Cloud Shell, which provides shell access to Azure. Kayla Cinnamon, program manager for Windows Terminal, Console and Command-Line, calls the update "HUGE," noting that the new accessibility features are still a work in progress.
Among the improvements in v0.3 is that the interface can now be dragged regardless of where the mouse pointer is positioned on the title bar. The title bar itself has also been updated with a resized dropdown button with new colors and stays to the right of the last opened tab. There are also new colors for the minimize, maximize, and close buttons. Terminal is inheriting some accessibility features that allow tools like Windows Narrator "to interrogate, navigate, and read" the Terminal's user interface controls and text content, according to Kayla Cinnamon, program manager for Windows Terminal, Console and Command-Line. Terminal users can now define the tab title of each profile within settings, which takes priority over the shell-provided tab and should make it easier to tell the difference between profiles. There are now more choices for configuring the background image, with an option to add a background image on an acrylic background, as well as position the background anywhere on the screen. Additionally, Terminal users can now connect to the in-browser command-line called Azure-hosted Cloud Shell, which provides shell access to Azure. Kayla Cinnamon, program manager for Windows Terminal, Console and Command-Line, calls the update "HUGE," noting that the new accessibility features are still a work in progress.
Comment Re:Here's a thought.... (Score 2) 230
Compare and contrast the number of terrorists from Iran (on "The List") vs. the number of terrorists from Our Friend And Ally, Saudi Arabia (not on The List) and Pakistan (also not). The List just gives Trump supports an illusion of Doing Something; never mind that it is useless and indeed counter-productive.
Most of the crazies have been home-grown (and many have been converts).
Comment Dark side of the moon, eh? (Score 2) 114
Possibly you mean far side?
Monopoly May Replace Iconic Pieces With Emoji Faces and Hashtags (cnet.com) 123
Hasbro, the toymaker behind Monopoly, is letting the public decide whether or not they should replace the game's iconic game pieces with new pieces inspired by pop culture and social media. CNNMoney reports: Gamers can visit the Vote Monopoly site and choose from more than 50 new options. The old tokens, including the thimble, top hat and Scottie dog, are also on the table. The voting takes place inside a digital house with shelves and furniture stocked with both classic and newfangled token options. Jazzy music plays in the background as you explore and take a closer look at the figurines. Some aren't too surprising. There's a horse, a sailboat, an airplane, a bike and a helicopter. Two of the stranger options are sliced bread and a fuzzy bunny slipper. Hasbro is offering up a number of tokens that may appeal to tech consumers. There's a cell phone that looks like it came out of the '80s, a television that looks very '50s, and a computer with keyboard that vaguely resembles the first flat-screen iMac. Internet denizens can also vote for a hashtag and emoji options, including a winking smiley-face, thumbs-up symbol, crying-laughing face and a Rich Uncle Pennybags version of an emoji face. Voting is open to internet users worldwide until January 31. The chosen tokens will be part of a fresh Monopoly game due to hit stores this summer, so think long and hard about whether you want to stare at a kissy-face emoji for the next decade or so. A special edition called Token Madness will offer the original tokens as well as the new winners.
Adobe Resurrects Flash Player On Linux (neowin.net) 153
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Neowin: Four years ago, Adobe made a decision to stop updating the Flash Player package (NPAPI) on Linux, aside from delivering security patches. It has made an about turn on this decision in the last week and has said that it will keep it in sync with the modern release branch going forward. In its announcement, Adobe wrote: "In the past, we communicated that NPAPI Linux releases would stop in 2017. This is no longer the case and once we have performed sufficient testing and received community feedback, we will release both NPAPI and PPAPi Linux builds with their major version numbers in sync and on a regular basis." Although this is great news for Linux users who don't want to struggle to watch Flash content online, there also a few drawbacks. Adobe writes: "Because this change is primarily a security initiative, some features (like GPU 3D acceleration and premium video DRM) will not be fully implemented. If you require this functionality we recommend that you use the PPAPI version of Flash Player." You can download the new NPAPI binaries from the Adobe Labs download page.
World's Oldest Fossils Found In Greenland (washingtonpost.com) 76
schwit1 quotes a report from Washington Post: Scientists probing a newly exposed, formerly snow-covered outcropping in Greenland claim they have discovered the oldest fossils ever seen, the remnants of microbial mats that lived 3.7 billion years ago. It's a stunning announcement in a scientific field that is always contentious. But if confirmed, this would push the established fossil record more than 200 million years deeper into the Earth's early history, and provide support for the view that life appeared very soon after the Earth formed and may be commonplace throughout the universe. A team of Australian geologists announced their discovery in a paper titled "Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures," published Wednesday in Nature. The report adds: "Subsequent laboratory analysis established that the formation is 3.7 billion years old, and turned up additional chemical signatures consistent with a biological origin for the conical structures, Allen Nutman, a University of Wollongong geologist, said. These scientists determined the age of the rocks through radiometric dating, measuring the abundance of elements created by the steady decay of uranium."
First Satellite in Facebook's Plan For Global Internet Access Exploded With Falcon 9 (qz.com) 155
Mike Murphy, reporting for Quartz: The first step in Facebook's grand vision to connect the entire world to the internet -- or Facebook -- has gone up in flames. Earlier today, a SpaceX rocket carrying a satellite that Facebook planned to use in its internet.org initiative exploded during a pre-launch test at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rocket was due to send the satellite up into orbit Sept. 3, but during the set-up and testing process, an "anomaly" occurred on the launch pad, according to SpaceX, and the rocket exploded. Facebook had planned to lease some of the bandwidth on the satellite, Amos 6, from its operator, the Israeli company SpaceCom, to beam internet to sub-Saharan Africa. The satellite was intended to fill in until Facebook's more ambitious plans for internet access are ready, including developing and launching massive solar-powered drones that use lasers to beam internet to the ground. This the first time Facebook had planned to use a satellite.Facebook wanted to use the $200 million AMOS-6 satellite to beam free internet to developing parts of the world such as Africa. The satellite was supposed to ride SpaceX's Falcon 9 into orbit. After hearing the news, Mark Zuckerberg said he is "deeply disappointed" to hear that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed his satellite. But this setback won't stop him from his goal to connect every person he can find on the face of the earth to get online. He said, "Fortunately, we have developed other technologies like Aquila that will connect people as well. We remain committed to our mission of connecting everyone, and we will keep working until everyone has the opportunities this satellite would have provided."
'Octobot' Is The World's First Soft-Bodied Robot (sciencemag.org) 44
sciencehabit quotes a report from Science Magazine: Researchers have created the first completely soft-bodied robot, dubbed the 'octobot.' The palm-sized machine's exterior is made of silicone. And whereas other soft robots have had at least a few hard parts, such as batteries or wires, the octobot uses a small reservoir of hydrogen peroxide as fuel. The basic design can be scaled up or down, increasing or decreasing fuel capacity depending on the robot's job. As the field of soft robotics advances, the scientists envision these robots being used for marine search and rescue, oceanic temperature sensing, and military surveillance. The report adds: "When the hydrogen peroxide washes over flecks of platinum embedded within the octobot, the resulting chemical reaction produces gas that inflates and flexes the robot's arms. As described online today in Nature, the gas flows through a series of 3D-printed pneumatic chambers that link the octobot's eight arms; their flexing propels it through water."
Mozilla Is Changing Its Look -- and Asking the Internet For Feedback (arstechnica.com) 226
Megan Geuss, writing for ArsTechnica: Mozilla is trying a rebranding. Back in June, the browser developer announced that it would freshen up its logo and enlist the Internet's help in reaching a final decision. The company hired British design company Johnson Banks to come up with seven new "concepts" to illustrate the company's work. The logos rely on vibrant colors, and several of them recall '80s and '90s style. In pure, nearly-unintelligible marketing speak, Mozilla writes that each new design reflects a story about the company. "From paying homage to our paleotechnic origins to rendering us as part of an ever-expanding digital ecosystem, from highlighting our global community ethos to giving us a lift from the quotidian elevator open button, the concepts express ideas about Mozilla in clever and unexpected ways," Mozilla's Creative Director Tim Murray writes in a blog post. Mozilla is soliciting comment and criticism on the seven new designs for the next two weeks, but this is no Boaty McBoatface situation. Mozilla is clear that it's not crowdsourcing a design, asking anyone to work on spec, or holding a vote over which logo the Internet prefers. It's just asking for comments.
ULA Interns Launch Record-Breaking 50-Foot Rocket (space.com) 79
schwit1 writes: A team of United Launch Alliance (ULA) interns, working in their spare time, have successfully launched the largest model rocket every built. Space.com reports: "On Sunday (July 24), ULA launched the 50-foot-tall (15.24 meters) Future Heavy rocket out of Fort Carson Army Post, breaking the record for 'the largest sport rocket launched anywhere in the world,' according to a statement from ULA. The Future Heavy is also notable because it was built entirely by company interns and their mentors. 'We like [our interns] to have a very realistic experience,' ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno told Space.com at the Space Symposium meeting in Colorado Springs, Colorado, last April." Calling it a "model rocket" really isn't fair. The thing is big, and really ranks up there with many of the suborbital rockets NASA used to routinely fly out of Wallops Island. [The fact that] ULA has provided support for this effort again suggests that the leadership of Bruno is reshaping the company into a much more innovative and competitive company.
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The reason that every major university maintains a department of mathematics is that it's cheaper than institutionalizing all those people.
