Month: July 2016

A new Skype for Linux client is now available as an alpha.

The Skype client for Linux had been long abandoned—it's stuck on version 4.3, compared to version 7 on Windows—but Microsoft has now belatedly recognized that Skype is at its most desirable when it's available on every platform. To that end, it has created an all-new Skype client.

The new client in fact has two versions. There's a Linux app for users of traditional Linux systems. There's also the Skype Web Client, which is supported in Chrome on Linux and Chromebooks running Chrome OS. Whether using the Web or the standalone app, the core code and capabilities are the same: it's using Chrome's WebRTC support to provide a plugin-free, Web-based Skype client.

A CC-licensed photo that was incorrectly used in an Italian festival's promotional materials has led to a public apology by the organisers for not respecting the terms of the licence, and the reimbursement of legal costs incurred.

The picture in question was taken by Niccolò Caranti, who is a professional photographer and an active member of the Wikipedia community—nearly 900 of his images are available on Wikimedia Commons. The photo was used by the Festival delle Resistenze 2016, held in Trentino-Alto Adige, in northern Italy.

Journalist Federico Rampini was one of the guest speakers at the festival, and the image used for all the promotional material was a photo of him taken by Caranti, which had been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under the Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 licence. This particular variant allows the image to be used freely for any purpose on the condition that it includes attribution and releases it under the same or a similar licence. However, neither condition was respected in the festival's publicity materials.

Love it or hate it, Pokémon Go is bringing out the best in people. There are the impromptu meet ups, organised walks of thousands, and the general feeling that, yes, humanity isn't so bad, which is quite the feat given the a torturous few weeks we've had in the UK. Unfortunately, like any video game (AR or otherwise), unscrupulous players have entered the Pokémon Go fold, and they've figured out some (admittedly clever) ways of cheating the game out of Pokémon, without even having to walk around to do so.

The first method is actually a way to get Pokémon Go up and running on a PC. The technique, created by YouTuber Travis D, involves installing the Android phone emulator BlueStacks, and then rooting that virtual device in order to install an app that spoofs the reported GPS location. From there, you can play the game just like you can on an Android or iOS phone, without the need to go outside at all. The solution isn't perfect given that you have to tab out every time you want to change your GPS location, and there are random crashes. That's not to mention that, thanks to GPS spoofing, you can effectively take over Pokémon gyms and find Pokémon that would otherwise be inaccessible, thus screwing over those who actually put in the hard work and walk around for miles.

There was a similar cheat unveiled on Twitch earlier this week, dubbed the Pokémon Go Cheat Tool, which involved downloading a modified version of the Android app APK that allowed you to change location at will. In the stream, which has now been removed, the player was able to catch numerous Pokémon without leaving his seat. The streamer also claimed that the hack would allow Pokémon Go players to collect items and level up their Pokémon without having to grind or use in-app purchases.

Reaction Engines, the UK company behind the reusable SABRE jet-cum-rocket engine that could dramatically alter air and space travel, has secured the final piece of funding that will allow for the creation of a SABRE demonstrator engine by 2020.

At the Farnborough Air Show on Tuesday, Reaction Engines signed a £10 million development contract with the European Space Agency. In turn, this commitment from the ESA unlocked a £50 million grant from the UK Space Agency (which is an executive agency of the government).

Back in November 2015, BAE Systems—the massive defence and aerospace multinational based in the UK—invested £20.6 million in Reaction Engines; in return, it picked up 20 percent of the company's share capital, while also agreeing to provide industrial and technological support during the development phase.

British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover will launch a fleet of more than 100 autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles on UK roads by 2020. Dubbed Connected and Autonomous Vehicle (CAV) technologies, the vehicles will cruise along 41 miles of roads near Coventry and Solihull beginning later this year, with the first stage testing tech that allows cars to communicate directly with each other, and with infrastructure like signs and traffic lights.

While the company hasn't revealed all the tech inside the new test vehicles, it did detail a few of the key technologies. First is the "Roadwork Assist" feature, which uses a front-facing 3D camera to scan the road for for cones and barriers. In a regular car, this would chart a course around the obstruction, and provide steering assistance. In an autonomous car, it could be used to navigate a way through roadworks without any human intervention at all.

The "Safe Pullaway" feature uses another camera to monitor the area in front of the vehicle, the idea being to prevent the driver (or computer) from being overeager with the accelerator and bumping the car in front before it's had a chance to pull away. If the system detects that the car in front isn't moving, it swiftly applies the brakes.

At this point, alarmist headlines about the end of the antibiotic era may seem a lot like those car alarms that periodically go off on your street: distracting, annoying, and probably nothing worth panicking over. After all, despite years of distressing headlines, drug-resistant superbugs have yet to rain down upon the public, striking the otherwise healthy with deadly, incurable infections.

Yet, the unfortunate reality is that the longstanding challenge of drug resistance is cause for concern and action. Bacteria have been developing resistance to powerful antibiotics ever since the drugs were first introduced in the 1930s. In some cases, bacteria developed widespread resistance in years and sometimes months after a new drug came out. And bacteria are building up ever more extensive immunity thanks to current practices of overusing and misusing the drugs—antibiotics given thoughtlessly for mild illnesses, or used to treat viral infections (which antibiotics don’t fight), or poured into the feed of healthy livestock. Coupled with the sluggish development of new drugs in the past few decades, the public health problem has reached a crisis level.

Right now, drug resistant infections are mainly a threat to those that are already sick and/or in medical facilities. But, if we continue down this path, mundane infections in the otherwise healthy could someday morph into life-threatening ordeals, and simple medical procedures and surgeries may be skipped to avoid risk of infection.