Month: September 2018

Enlarge / In some cases, stray methane is burned to limit how much escapes into the atmosphere. (credit: Lawrence Berkeley Lab)

The Trump administration has been working to rollback rules instated by the Obama administration that would limit how much methane gas could be vented to the atmosphere at oil- and gas-drilling and processing operations. In a press release today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is proposing to relax Obama-era rules, saving the industry $484 million in avoided energy costs.

But the EPA is expected to justify its rules with analysis. That analysis (PDF) suggests that this regulatory rollback will also come with costs in the form of 308,000 short tons of methane emitted between 2019 and 2025. For context, the Aliso Canyon gas leak three years ago represented the largest accidental release of methane in US history, and over the four months that workers struggled to plug that well, 107,000 short tons of methane are estimated to have been released.

That is a serious amount of methane with serious climate consequences in the short-run. Methane is many times more potent than CO₂ as a greenhouse gas, though it decomposes in the atmosphere more quickly. Carbon dioxide sticks around in the atmosphere for a longer time, but each individual molecule of CO₂ has less of a warming effect than a molecule of methane.

Greetings, Arsians! Courtesy of our friends at TechBargains, we have another round of deals to share. Today's list is headlined by a deal on Dell's 25-inch UltraSharp U2518D, which the PC maker is currently selling for $250 along with a $100 Dell e-gift card.

This is an IPS panel with a 2560x1440 resolution and 60Hz refresh rate. It isn't a top-of-the-line monitor in terms of picture quality, but outside reviews suggest it's a good value at this price, with decent color accuracy, motion handling, and viewing angles. The design is in the "professional" mold Dell is known for, but the bezels surrounding the display are thin, and the device comes with a full array of ports, including four USB 3.0, HDMI ports, and a full-size and mini DisplayPort.

One thing to ignore, though, is Dell's claim that this is an "HDR" monitor: the display doesn't really have the brightness levels (about 350 cd/m²) or color gamut to get a true HDR effect. There are no built-in speakers, either. But the U2518 looks to be a solid buy for non-gaming uses at $250, and getting another $100 to spend on Dell's site afterward is a nice sweetener.

Enlarge / The US flag flies outside the US Embassy on October 14, 2017 in Havana, Cuba. US intelligence agencies now suspect Russia is responsible for what appear to have been directed microwave attacks on US embassy personnel in Havana and in China. (credit: Gary Hershorn /GettyImages)

The effects of microwave radiation on humans have long been the focus of weapons research in the US and elsewhere. At some frequencies, microwaves can be used to cause great discomfort—including a burning sensation—without causing long-term effects. But in others, microwaves can penetrate deeper into the body and cause symptoms that include auditory hallucinations induced directly in the brain. Evidence now suggests that strange symptoms experienced by US embassy staff in Havana and China may have been the result of attacks with a microwave—and Russian agents are now the most likely suspects behind the attacks.

Last March, the Journal of the American Medical Association published details of examinations of 21 of the victims of the mysterious symptoms, finding they had "sustained injury to widespread brain networks without an associated history of head trauma." Earlier this month, the head of the team that conducted the study told The New York Times that microwaves were the most likely cause of the brain injuries. The Times' William Broad reported that a number of experts have now connected the symptoms experienced by the victims with the Frey effect, also known as the microwave auditory effect (MAE)—in which microwaves induce the sensation of sounds (or even speech) inside a person's head.

That effect, first described by American neuroscientist Allan Frey in 1961, has been the focus of repeated research by the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation, and the US. US Navy-funded research in 2003 and 2004 by WaveBand—a company later acquired by Sierra Nevada—looked into the use of MAE as a crowd control weapon called MEDUSA (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio):

Enlarge / Adding an SMB location to Files. (credit: François Beaufort)

Chrome OS 70 will include native support for SMB file shares (spotted by Paul Thurrott), giving it built-in access to files stored on Windows servers. With this, Chrome OS users can add SMB file shares to the Files app and use them to store and load documents.

Currently, using these network resources requires the use of an extension that adds a similar ability to add file shares to the Files app. Google has been working to make Files a more capable application. As well as integrating support for networked files, the company is also experimenting with giving it more access to Android files, something that will streamline the use of Android applications by exposing their data files to Chrome OS apps.

The SMB support helps smooth a pain point when mixing Chromebooks with other systems: it makes it easier to use Chrome OS with corporate file servers, home networked storage devices, and of course, Windows PCs. Instead of needing the extra extension to be installed, these things will just work out of the box. That's going to prove helpful as Chromebooks move beyond their K12 education stronghold, as it will mean that Chromebooks more seamlessly interoperate with mixed platform networks. In particular, networked storage intended for Windows machines will be instantly accessible to Chrome OS machines.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | jangeltun)

Broadband access in tribal areas is likely even worse than previously thought because Federal Communications Commission data overstates deployment, according to a new report by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO).

FCC data collection was already known to be suspect throughout the US, not just in tribal areas, which in turn makes it difficult for the FCC to target deployment funding to the areas that need it most. Tribal lands have less broadband access than most other parts of the US and thus may be disproportionately affected by the FCC's data collection problems.

"Residents of tribal lands have lower levels of broadband Internet access relative to the US as a whole, but the digital divide may be greater than currently thought," the GAO wrote. "FCC data overstated tribes' broadband availability and access to broadband service. These overstatements limit FCC and tribal users' ability to target broadband funding to tribal lands."