Sonic black hole produces equivalent of Hawking radiation

This may be the closest we get to testing the idea any time soon.

Enlarge / Like this, but one-dimensional and only trapping sound. (credit: NASA)

One of the common descriptions of black holes is that their gravitational pull is so strong, not even light can escape it. Stephen Hawking is famous for (among other things) showing that this isn't actually true. The Hawking radiation that bears his name allows matter to escape from the grip of a black hole. In fact, Hawking's work suggests that an isolated black hole would slowly evaporate away and cease to exist.

But his work remains entirely theoretical. Hawking radiation is expected to be so diffuse that we could only detect it if we could somehow find or create a black hole isolated from all other matter. But Jeff Steinhauer of Israel's Technion has been on a sometimes single-handed quest to develop a system that can accurately model a black hole's behavior. And, in a recent paper in Nature Physics, Dr. Steinhauer describes how his model system generates what appears to be Hawking radiation.

Searching for the horizon

A feature called the event horizon plays a central role in both Hawking radiation and the new model system. At a real black hole, the space-time outside the event horizon may be distorted by the intense gravity, but the distortion is relatively limited. Inside the event horizon, however, space-time is stretched at a rate that's faster than the speed of light. Photons can't escape because the space-time they occupy is getting stretched away from the event horizon faster than the photon can move.

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Most effective teams have high testosterone and low cortisol

Mean hormone levels correlate with a group’s success.

(credit: http://www.colorado.feb.gov/index.php?content=17&page=Alternative%20Dispute%20Resolution)

Working collaboratively in small groups is one of the primary ways that modern humans accomplish anything. But what explains whether a group succeeds? Previous research on group dynamics has considered things like the demographic and psychological characteristics of individual group members. But a recent study published in PNAS indicates that their biology matters, too. Groups with collectively high testosterone and low cortisol (a stress hormone) show the highest performance in group tasks.

To examine the effects of hormones on group performance, the researchers collected saliva samples from 370 MBA students, then assigned them into groups of three to six members. The groups were then given a group decision-making task, and their performance was evaluated in light of the testosterone and cortisol levels in their saliva samples.

The decision-making task was a computerized exercise that asked the group to manage a fictional computerized laboratory for seven days, with the goal of maximizing profitability. The groups competed against each other to devise the most profitable management scheme. Since the lab required 24-hour monitoring and was too complicated for one person to manage on their own, the task required members to be interdependent and rely on each other to maximize their performance. However, team members were allowed to use any decision-making process they preferred to complete the task.

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Space and booze, an anecdotal history

From the archives: From Buzz’s holy wine to sherry, alcohol and space mix despite NASA policy.

NEW ORLEANS—"Half a century ago, this was an essential part of spaceman culture," said Jeffrey Kluger, senior writer at Time and author of the book that inspired Apollo 13. Presenting at the world's best alcohol event, Kluger wasn't referring to old astronaut traditions like military experience or crew cuts. "Test pilots were male, under 6-feet tall, and had to be a tough and tireless drinker."

Tales of the Cocktail 2016 continued the conference's trend of sneaking science into a series of bar industry seminars. Food scientists from Bacardi discussed internal testing on carbonation in liquor, and alcohol alchemist Camper English unveiled his tireless research on the compounds and combinations that can be lethal (or at least really, really bad) when unleashed in our cocktails. But this year's schedule also featured what seemed like a peculiarity—a panel titled "Cosmic Cocktails: The Final Frontier" that outlined the informal history of NASA and drinking.

According to Kluger, the intertwining of highballs and high altitudes was inescapable—a natural evolution of the downtime imbibing of previous military generations. For many of the US' early space pioneers, this part of training took place outside Southern California's Edwards Air Force Base at a vast and communal pub in the Mojave Desert called the Happy Bottom Riding Club (fittingly considering its clientele, the bar was created by Pancho Barnes, a pioneering female pilot who had bested Amelia Earhart's air speed record at age 29).

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Samsung SM-P580 is a 10 inch tablet with a stylus (leaks)

Samsung SM-P580 is a 10 inch tablet with a stylus (leaks)

Samsung has a new 10 inch tablet on the way, and all signs point to it being a lot like one that launched earlier this year… but with one major difference. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 does not work with Samsung’s S-Pen stylus. The upcoming SM-P580/P585 does.

Roland Quandt spotted a user manual for the new tablet on Samsung’s website, and while I can’t read most of the manual (since it’s in Korean), there are drawings that clearly show a pen, and a few specs and other items in English that make it pretty clear that the new tablet is a cousin to the Galaxy Tab A 10.1.

Continue reading Samsung SM-P580 is a 10 inch tablet with a stylus (leaks) at Liliputing.

Samsung SM-P580 is a 10 inch tablet with a stylus (leaks)

Samsung has a new 10 inch tablet on the way, and all signs point to it being a lot like one that launched earlier this year… but with one major difference. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 does not work with Samsung’s S-Pen stylus. The upcoming SM-P580/P585 does.

Roland Quandt spotted a user manual for the new tablet on Samsung’s website, and while I can’t read most of the manual (since it’s in Korean), there are drawings that clearly show a pen, and a few specs and other items in English that make it pretty clear that the new tablet is a cousin to the Galaxy Tab A 10.1.

Continue reading Samsung SM-P580 is a 10 inch tablet with a stylus (leaks) at Liliputing.

Backpage.com defies sex trafficking subpoena despite Senate contempt vote

Feds: 1st Amendment is secondary to Senate’s online sex trafficking investigation.

(credit: Mayor McGinn)

The First Amendment has been good, really good to the online classified ads portal Backpage.com. In 2015, the US Constitution helped Backpage dodge a lawsuit from victims of sex trafficking. What's more, a federal judge invoked the First Amendment and crucified an Illinois sheriff—who labeled Backpage a "sex trafficking industry profiteer"—because the sheriff coerced Visa and Mastercard to refrain from processing payments to the site. The judge said Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart's anti-Backpage lobbying amounted to "an informal extralegal prior restraint of speech" because Dart's actions were threatening the site's financial survival.

But the legal troubles didn't end there for Backpage, which The New York Times had labeled "the leading site for trafficking of women and girls in the United States."

Thirteen months ago, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is examining sex trafficking on the Internet, subpoenaed (PDF) Carl Ferrer, Backpage's chief executive officer. But Ferrer, citing the First Amendment, has largely refused to comply with the subpoena—which essentially demands to know everything about the company's business model and profits, including how it screens ads. That screening aspect of the subpoena are similar to the one Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood issued to Google about its polices of policing third-party content. In July, however, Hood and Google settled their dispute about the subpoena, which read like a page from the anti-piracy playbook of the Motion Picture Association of America.

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Android-Aktualisierungen: Honor gibt Update-Versprechen für Smartphones

Die Huawei-Tochter Honor verspricht für neue Smartphones mindestens zwei Jahre lang Android-Updates. Im ersten Jahr nach der Produktvorstellung gibt es ein festes Intervall. Einige Unklarheiten bleiben aber. (Honor, Smartphone)

Die Huawei-Tochter Honor verspricht für neue Smartphones mindestens zwei Jahre lang Android-Updates. Im ersten Jahr nach der Produktvorstellung gibt es ein festes Intervall. Einige Unklarheiten bleiben aber. (Honor, Smartphone)

Google: Bald keine Chrome-Apps mehr im Browser

Google hat das bevorstehende Ende von Chrome-Apps im Browser verkündet. Nutzer werden auf Web-Apps verwiesen. Nur für Chrome OS wird es weiterhin Chrome-Apps geben. (Chrome, Google)

Google hat das bevorstehende Ende von Chrome-Apps im Browser verkündet. Nutzer werden auf Web-Apps verwiesen. Nur für Chrome OS wird es weiterhin Chrome-Apps geben. (Chrome, Google)

How Legitimate Content Killed an “Ethical” Torrent Site

In the early days of P2P, saving money on media was a key motivator for people to pirate online. But now, with the market beginning to mature, it is the timely availability of content in convenient formats that has the ability to tackle the piracy issue. For one iconic torrent site, availability of legitimate content was to prove fatal.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

When peer-to-peer file-sharing networks started to gain traction more than a decade and a half ago, it soon became clear that if entertainment industries were to compete, they’d need to step up their game.

In the early 2000s, for example, users of Sharman Networks’ Kazaa software already had wide and free access to music and video titles. The introduction of BitTorrent shortly after only turned up the pressure.

Fifteen years down the line it’s now clearer than ever. The true enemy of illicit file-sharing is broad and convenient access to all content at a fair price. In the meantime, however, platforms such as torrent sites continue to pick up the slack. More than a decade ago, they were leading the charge.

Founded in 2003/4, torrent site UKNova took a somewhat unusual approach to its offering. Rather than the free-for-all witnessed on most platforms, UKNova aimed to responsibly service UK-based consumers and those overseas with select content that couldn’t easily be obtained by other means.

Initially, the site catered to a few ex-pats who were desperate for their fix of long-running TV soap, Eastenders. It had been made available in the States by BBC America, but in 2003 the iconic show was dropped.

“After initially sending VHS tapes across the Atlantic, a daring foray into the unknown world of trackers and torrents was made by brave visionaries and uknova.com was born,” a site operator told TorrentFreak.

“UKNova rapidly became known as the ‘go-to’ place for UK television and for a while was probably the leading private tracker catering to ex-pats and Anglophiles around the world.”

Most private torrent sites have strict rules, but UKNova went a step further than most by only allowing UK-produced TV content that was not available on DVD or premium channels. But despite the restrictions, UKNova was a success.

“Membership rapidly grew and was voluntarily limited to between 30,000 and 40,000 members. Forum activity could become so heavy that server problems arose, leading to an iconic ‘Mind The Gap‘ message.”

But UKNova was much more than just a torrent site. Like many niche trackers, UKNova had a thriving close-knit community centered around the theme and culture of UK TV. With assistance from the site’s radio station, those friendships thrived beyond the digital space.

“Events and activities grew from the forums: picnics and meet-ups, annual awards ceremonies with live radio, mugs and t-shirts, fantasy football leagues, and above all solidarity for members who were in need, ill or deceased,” the operator explains.

“There were at least four marriages resulting from friendships struck up on UKNova’s forums and IRC chat.”

Due to the nature of UK TV (free to view, for those who pay the standard license fee), UKNova offered a lot of BBC content. Back in the early days BBC iPlayer simply did not exist so once shows disappeared off air, that was that until the corporation decided to bring them back. UKNova not only filled that gap, but even received a request to help the BBC complete its archives.

“During this time relations with the BBC were cordial. In one case UKNova was even asked if they could find a missing recording of documentary series Horizon,” a site representative explains.

But by 2012, the atmosphere had begun to shift.

“UKNova is being forced to change,” an operator told TF at the time. “We have been issued with a ‘cease and desist’ order by FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft.”

FACT was clear in its demands. All copyrighted content needed to come down, no matter where that content had come from and despite the fact that UKNova had never had a complaint from any TV station since its inception. The site didn’t believe it could be successfully prosecuted but had no way of defending itself.

“UKNova has never had any source of revenue other than donations to help pay for the servers and bandwidth. In latter years the site survived uniquely on private donations from Staff,” TF was told.

Within weeks UKNova shut down, but the dream wasn’t quite over yet.

“In 2013 a group of independent users decided to re-ignite the flame with a new site which was kept as low profile as possible. This site kept the ethos of the original UKNova, with the same rules concerning commercially available material,” a site veteran explains.

This, it appears, was to be the site’s ultimate undoing. The environment in 2013 was massively different to that of 2003. Legitimate services were appearing left and right, meaning that the content pool available to UKNova users under the site’s own stringent rules was diminishing every day.

UKNova’s decision to maintain its position as “the ethical torrent site” was cutting off its own oxygen supply and over the next three years the site began to die.

“In 2016 it became clear that the advent of the BBC Store and Amazon Video, linked to the quasi-immediate availability of shows from other channels on DVD, meant that allowable content was shrinking daily,” a site operator explains.

With the main reason for people visiting the site diminishing all the time, members had less and less to talk about. The continued rise of external and mainstream social media only exacerbated the situation.

“The discussion forums were grinding to a halt and membership was gradually shrinking. Rather than flogging a dead horse it seemed appropriate to turn out the lights, lock the door and gracefully retire.”

On Saturday August 7, UKNova’s trackers were taken offline. A week later the site was shuttered completely. UKNova was dead, this time for real.

“It’s been a good long run, so much good has been done, and so much fun has been had, by so many people – a unique experience. But all good things..,” the site said in a closing statement.

While FACT’s intervention was certainly an unwelcome one, it seems fairly clear that its own strict rules and the availability of legitimate content was what ultimately led to UKNova’s demise. Sadly, however, UKNova’s initial goals of serving the ex-pat community are still proving a problem today.

Only last week, FACT and the UK’s Police Intellectual Property Unit shut down an IPTV service directly aimed at British citizens living abroad.

PIPCU said that the platform had many thousands of customers, showing that a potentially lucrative market still exists if only someone, somewhere, would service it. Someone will, but it won’t be UKNova.

Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and ANONYMOUS VPN services.

Windows 10: Anniversary Update kann Webcams unbrauchbar machen

Das Anniversary Update für Windows 10 kann eine Webcam unbrauchbar machen. Grund dafür sind interne Änderungen am Betriebssystem. Ein Patch ist in Arbeit, einen ersten Workaround gibt es bereits. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

Das Anniversary Update für Windows 10 kann eine Webcam unbrauchbar machen. Grund dafür sind interne Änderungen am Betriebssystem. Ein Patch ist in Arbeit, einen ersten Workaround gibt es bereits. (Windows 10, Microsoft)

Mozilla is changing its look—and asking the Internet for feedback

Each concept “emphasizes a particular facet of the Mozilla story.”

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, as shown in the gallery above.

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.

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