Just another news site
Erste Auswirkungen und Angriffe im virtuellen Raum: die Woche im Video. (Golem-Wochenrückblick, Malware)
Erste Auswirkungen und Angriffe im virtuellen Raum: die Woche im Video. (Golem-Wochenrückblick, Malware) Der russische Präsident hat nicht geblufft. Sein Nicht-Bluffen war der Bluff
A single dot means we’re nearly halfway through focusing the telescope.
Enlarge (credit: NASA/STSci)
Today, NASA shared an image indicating that it had successfully completed the image alignment stage of commissioning the Webb Space telescope. The Webb's primary mirror is composed of 18 individual segments and, as of today's update, all of those segments are aligned so that a single star shows up as a single object. While there are still several more focusing steps required, the path to commissioning the telescope keeps getting shorter.
Immediately after launch, the focus was on unfolding all the pieces of the telescope that had to be held in a compact configuration to fit in the launch vehicle. This process included reorienting and extending the primary mirror, lowering the secondary mirror into place, and stretching out the multi-layered sunscreen that helps keep the imaging hardware cold.
To the surprise and delight of many people, that all went incredibly smoothly. Since then, the focus has shifted to... well, focus. The Webb's primary mirror consists of 18 separate mirrors in a hexagonal array, each of which can be controlled separately. Initially, when the mirror was first unfolded, these produced 18 individual smears scattered across the secondary mirror.
Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Was wissen wir über andere Länder – und über welche? Studie der Otto-Brenner-Stiftung macht viele weiße Flecken in der Berichterstattung aus
Caltech study recruited participants from SoCal’s 17th Door haunted house experience.
Enlarge / Caltech researchers conducted a study on how the body responds to threats in conjunction with The 17th Door haunted house experience in Orange County, California. (credit: YouTube/17th Door)
The 17th Door haunted house experience has become a fixture of the annual Halloween fright scene in Orange County, California, attracting thousands of scare seekers since it opened in 2014. And now it's contributing to science, specifically our understanding of how the human body responds to threats differently depending on certain factors, according to a recent paper published in the journal Psychological Science.
As we've reported previously, human beings tend to seek out scary movies, horror novels, or haunted houses—and not just during the Halloween season. This tendency has been dubbed "recreational fear" in the academic literature: a "mixed emotional experience of fear and enjoyment." This new study focuses less on recreational fear specifically and more on gaining a better understanding of the biological systems that are involved with different fear responses in humans, according to lead author Sarah Tashjian, a postdoc in psychology at Caltech.
Mathias Clasen of Aarhus University, author of Why Horror Seduces, conducted his own investigation of two different fear-regulation strategies employed by subjects participating in a Danish haunted house: "adrenaline junkies," who lean into the fear; and "white-knucklers," who try to tamp down their fear. A 2020 study from Clasen's lab found that the scare factor has to be just right in order to achieve that crucial mixed stated (a "Goldilocks zone" or "sweet spot" of subjective enjoyment). Clasen's core hypothesis is that horror exploits the evolved fear system.
Read 17 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Most of the country falls into categories where face mask use is considered optional.
Enlarge / The new standards place most of the country in a state where mask use is optional. (credit: CDC)
In a widely expected move, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced new guidelines for the use of masks and other precautions to limit the spread of COVID-19. While the precautions people should take—vaccinations and mask use—are largely unchanged, the metrics that will trigger changes in suggested precautions will shift from being focused purely on case counts to including information on the severity of cases and hospital capacity.
The move had been hinted at for weeks, and it comes in response to a wide range of pressures. These include the rapidly falling numbers of new cases following the peak of omicron infections earlier this year, changes made in policies at the state level, and a general fatigue regarding pandemic precautions among the public. During a press call announcing the changes, however, CDC head Rochelle Walensky said the agency had been considering the changes for some time.
Walensky announced the changes by saying, "We're in a stronger place today," before elaborating that this is because, "with widespread population immunity, the overall risk of severe disease is lower." Given that situation, the CDC has decided to shift the focus of its advice to cases of severe illness and the strain those put on the health care system.
Read 8 remaining paragraphs | Comments
There’s no web version yet, though.
Enlarge / The Reddit iOS app icon. (credit: Getty Images | Yuriko Nakao )
The Reddit mobile app doesn't often get big updates, but this week was an exception, with the company adding a new "Discover Tab" and menus for managing subscriptions.
In a blog post announcing the feature, Reddit says that one in five users joined at least one new community after using the Discover Tab. Jason Costa, Reddit's director of product for content and communities, offered the following statement in the blog post:
We’re ushering in a new era of discovery on Reddit, with images and video top of mind. We’re making discovering relevant content and communities more intuitive with the Discover Tab. It’s a great new way for people to explore and engage with hundreds of thousands of communities around the world.
The Discover tab is now in the top-level app navigation, replacing the communities and subscriptions tab. Tapping it brings you to a scrollable grid list of Reddit content from a variety of subreddits you may not already be following.
Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments
As part of the US Trade Representative’s annual Special 301 review, Peru has submitted a detailed update of its copyright enforcement plans and accomplishments. The Peruvian IP protection authority reports that it has teamed up with music industry group IFPI which will help to identify and block problematic sites, including stream-ripping services.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Every year the US Trade Representative publishes a new update of its Special 301 Report, highlighting countries that fail to live up to U.S copyright protection standards.
The annual overview is meant to motivate foreign governments to improve policy and legislation in favor of US copyright holders.
This year’s list will be published in a few weeks. One of the ‘nominated’ countries is Peru, which is being closely watched by rightsholders. In response to various issues that were raised, Peru’s National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) sent an update of its plans and accomplishments to the USTR.
These diplomatic updates are nothing new. However, they can sometimes offer more insight into the collaboration between states and private organizations that, usually, remains behind closed doors.
This is also the case with the latest letter from Peru. Responding to questions and remarks from rightsholders, INDECOPI informs the USTR that fighting online piracy remains high on the agenda.
Over the past year, the government organization has asked ISPs to block several stream-ripping sites, for example, and these efforts will continue.
“INDECOPI will continue monitoring and surveillance in the digital environment of suspected piracy sites for the year 2022 and will take the corresponding actions to block illegal sites that would allow the downloading of works under the modality of stream ripping, as well as regarding the transmission of sports events via streaming.”
To ensure that no stone is left unturned, INDECOPI has teamed up with the global music industry group IFPI, which it describes as one of its allies in the fight against online piracy.
IFPI puts pirate sites on the radar of the Peruvian Government but it also provides training and education, so the proper authorities can increase their anti-piracy skillset.
“INDECOPI has just signed a few days ago a memorandum of understanding with IFPI […] to implement jointly cooperation mechanisms, particularly regarding training and exchange of information for the detection […] of websites, as well as mobile and desktop applications, through which are carried out or contribute to allegedly infringing acts.”
Among other things, IFPI will share information about infringing sites with the authorities. INDECOPI can then use this information to take legal action.
Last year the government already requested ISP blockades of 17 websites. These include the stream-ripping services FLVto.biz, Y2Mate, and Yout.com. However, with help from the music industry, this list is expected to grow in the coming year.
IFPI confirmed to TorrentFreak that it signed a cooperation agreement with Peru’s IP authority. One of the main goals is to exchange intelligence on the music piracy landscape and assist in the ongoing blocking efforts and related investigations.
It is quite common for rightsholders and their representatives to be involved in site blocking proceedings, either through lawsuits or administrative procedures. However, this is the first time we’ve seen it being framed as a collaboration.
In addition to IFPI, Peru has also teamed up with the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Spain. Both countries will combine their forces to fight online piracy and other copyright infringing activities.
—
A copy of INDECOPI’s letter to the USTR is available here (pdf).
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Export ban affects chips, telecom, encryption tech, lasers, sensors, and more.
Enlarge / Ukrainians living in Greece demonstrate in front of the Russian consulate in Thessaloniki on February 24, 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine. (credit: Getty Images | Sakis Mitrolidis )
In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the US and allies are imposing sanctions that "will cut off more than half of Russia's high-tech imports, restricting Russia's access to vital technological inputs, atrophying its industrial base, and undercutting Russia's strategic ambitions to exert influence on the world stage," the White House said on Thursday. The sanctions are a "response to Putin's war of choice against Ukraine" and "impose severe costs on Russia's largest financial institutions," the White House said.
For exports to Russia, "US companies must now obtain licenses to sell computers, sensors, lasers, navigation tools, and telecommunications, aerospace, and marine equipment. The United States will deny almost all requests," a Reuters article explained. "The new rules also force companies making tech products overseas with US tools to seek a US license before shipping to Russia," Reuters wrote, noting that similar restrictions were previously applied to Chinese tech giant Huawei.
According to the White House announcement, "countries that adopt substantially similar export restrictions are exempted from new US licensing requirements for items produced in their countries." The European Union, Australia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom are imposing similar sanctions.
Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Valve has been one of the top names in PC gaming for decades thanks to its popular games including the Portal Series and the Steam game client and store. But until recently the company had only dabbled in hardware. Now Steam is going all-in with the launch of the Steam Deck. It’s a handheld gaming […]
The post Steam Deck Review roundup: A promising work in progress appeared first on Liliputing.
Valve has been one of the top names in PC gaming for decades thanks to its popular games including the Portal Series and the Steam game client and store. But until recently the company had only dabbled in hardware.
Now Steam is going all-in with the launch of the Steam Deck. It’s a handheld gaming device that blurs the lines between PC and console gaming thanks to its portable design, a Linux-based operating system that puts Steam front and center, and relatively affordable price: it sells for between $399 and $650 depending on the configuration. But is it any good? The first reviews are in and they’re… a little mixed.
On the one hand, reviewers generally seem impressed with the Steam Deck’s hardware and performance, especially considering its price tag. The Steam Deck has the most powerful GPU of any handheld gaming PC to date and games that struggled to run on pricier models like the AYA Neo, ONEXPLAYER, or GPD Win Max are said to run smoothly on the Steam Deck.
The controllers are comfortable and responsive, and the built-in touchpads make it possible to play games that were designed for keyboard and mouse input as well as titles optimized for gamepads.
Steam OS also includes a bunch of options for creating custom button maps that will allow you to play just about any PC game… if you go through the trouble of tinkering to set everything up just so.
And therein lies one of the Steam Deck’s strengths and weaknesses. Many games won’t necessarily run smoothly out of the box the way they would on a console like the Nintendo Switch. You may have to create custom control schemes. Or if you want to eke out longer battery life, you may want to adjust graphics settings or cap frame rates, among other tweaks. That could come in handy since reviewers note that you may get as little as two hours of battery life when playing some more demanding games.
But you can tweak those things – and that could make the Steam Deck attractive for hardcore gamers who want more control over their device.
Another strength? With access to the Steam library of games, more titles are compatible with the Steam Deck than many consoles. But not all PC games will work out of the box. Games with native support for Linux should be compatible and many games that don’t natively support Linux will run too thanks to Valve’s Proton software which allows Windows games to run on Linux PCs without any modifications.
But Valve is still in the process of verifying which of the thousands and thousands of games in the Steam library run well on the Steam Deck, which need some tweaking, and which don’t run at all.
Valve is also still working on the Steam Deck’s operating system very actively. Reviewers noted that Valve has pushed out software updates on a nearly daily basis over the past few weeks. And they’re apparently much needed, because despite the fact that the Steam Deck will start arriving on doorsteps as soon as next week, the software appears to be very buggy.
Reviewers report frequent crashes, error messages, freezes, and graphical glitches. In spite of that, I’ve read multiple reviews where testers say the Steam Deck has already become their favorite gaming handheld because it’s just that much fun to use.
The good news is that most of the issues seem to be software related, which suggests that Valve may be shipping the Steam Deck before the software is really ready… but the company will likely be able to resolve many issues over time.
Other issues like fan noise and battery life may be a bit more challenging to deal with via software updates alone (although they can help). But putting up with those things might just be a price to pay for packing this much horsepower into a handheld device.
On the bright side, despite recent reports suggesting that the Steam Deck battery is glued down with a lot of adhesive, making it difficult to remove, Valve has committed to selling replacement parts for the Steam Deck for folks who want to perform at-home repairs. And it sounds like the company will offer battery replacements. So while hot-swapping batteries on the go probably isn’t going to be a thing, folks who use the Steam Deck heavily and see the battery life degrade after a year or two should be able to buy a replacement eventually.
And since the Steam Deck is a full-fledged PC, you aren’t necessarily limited to running Steam’s software. Want to install Windows on the computer so it will support games that might not run in Steam OS? You can do that.
Alternately you could stick with the Arch Linux-based Steam OS and use the built-in KDE desktop environment to treat it like a more traditional desktop operating system. Ars Technica digs into the “switch to desktop” option available in the Steam Deck’s operating system, also noting that you could even install a completely different Linux distribution in a separate partition on the hard drive if you’d prefer Ubuntu, Debian, or Fedora over Arch, for example.
Here’s a roundup of some of the first in-depth Steam Deck reviews I’ve found so far:
The post Steam Deck Review roundup: A promising work in progress appeared first on Liliputing.
You must be logged in to post a comment.