Menu

Blog

Page 7833

Jan 19, 2020

Hacker leaks passwords for more than 500,000 servers, routers, and IoT devices

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

The list was shared by the operator of a DDoS booter service.

Jan 19, 2020

Bongo the robot dog: Like a real dog but quieter, cleaner and cheaper

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Japan is the only country in the world in which pets outnumber children. Kids and pets are closely linked in Japan: as the number of newborns shrinks, the number of cats and dogs is rising.

Not that you’d know it walking the streets of Tokyo. Despite the rising number of cats, it’s rare to see them out and about. Dogs are a more common sight (and often to be seen tucked up in prams, swaddled in coats and blankets like substitute babies).

The near invisibility of the city’s pets is probably down to their owners’ reluctance to let them out. Generally speaking, cats aren’t allowed out because their crap is considered antisocial. As for the city’s dogs, most of them are ‘toy’ breeds rather than working dogs, which is to say they’re bred to loll around the house not doing much but looking pretty. They don’t get walked much and many are what might be called involuntary hikikomori (hikikomori are people who refuse to leave their rooms for fear of interaction with others).

Jan 19, 2020

Cash, Plastic or Hand? Amazon Envisions Paying With a Wave

Posted by in category: mobile phones

Amazon.com Inc. wants to make your hand your credit card.

The tech giant is creating checkout terminals that could be placed in bricks-and-mortar stores and allow shoppers to link their card information to their hands, according to people familiar with the matter. They could then pay for purchases with their palms, without having to pull out a card or phone.

The Times

  • Unruly
  • Jan 19, 2020

    ESA opens plant that turns moondust into oxygen

    Posted by in categories: energy, space

    If humans are going to have a long-term presence on the Moon, they’re going to need breathable air and rocket fuel — and the ESA might just have a way to create both using the Moon itself. The agency is running a prototype plant that converts moondust (currently simulated, of course) into oxygen that could be used for air and fuel. The technique unlocks the high amounts of oxygen in regolith using molten salt electrolysis that superheats the dust and migrates the oxygen along the salt until it’s collected at an anode. The basic process has already been used for metal and alloy production, but the ESA tweaked it to ensure oxygen was available to measure.

    Jan 19, 2020

    Liquid Biopsies: A Lung Cancer Game-Changer?

    Posted by in category: biotech/medical

    Newer, less invasive tests are helping scientists isolate genomic alterations.

    BY HEATHER MILLAR

    MATTHEW TOBIN - PHOTO BY ELIZABETH HORNE

    Jan 19, 2020

    Mycorrhizal fungi: all you need to know about the Internet of Plants

    Posted by in category: internet

    Symbiotic fungi have a key role in soil ecosystems and inoculating plants with them has been claimed to benefit their growth. But scientific evidence shows a very complex picture; which might surprise you.

    Jan 19, 2020

    US Officials Will Screen Travelers from China for New Virus

    Posted by in category: biotech/medical

    As an outbreak of a new virus in China spreads, U.S. officials will start screening passengers arriving at select U.S. airports.

    Jan 19, 2020

    Sugar alters brain chemistry after only 12 days

    Posted by in categories: chemistry, neuroscience

    New research in pigs examines how sugar intake affects the brain’s reward circuits and finds that changes are noticeable after just 12 days.

    Jan 19, 2020

    How Quartz used AI to sort through the Luanda Leaks

    Posted by in category: robotics/AI

    Reporters had a problem: 350 GB of documents is a lot of documents. Enter machine learning.

    Jan 19, 2020

    FBI Takes Down Site With 12 Billion Stolen Records

    Posted by in category: security

    Turkey gets Wikipedia back, Mayor Pete loses his cyberguy, and more of the week’s top security news.