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The chemicals we off-gas change when we watch something funny or thrilling

One day, air testing over a theater audience could be used to review new movies.

In cartoon worlds, squiggly lines over characters are reserved for the exceptionally smelly. But, in reality, everyone deserves those little squiggles: each of us is constantly emitting a steady stream of gases and microbes, as well as smells. And those gases may be able to reveal more about us than what we last ate (and whether it agreed with us). Our gases may also divulge what we think about movies.

In a study involving 9,500 moviegoers, researchers found that the chemicals that audience members off-gas while viewing a film reproducibly vary depending on the type of scene they’re watching. Specifically, the researchers noted synchronized changes in the amounts of specific gases during funny and thrilling bits of movies. The finding, published in the journal Scientific Reports, provides a whiff of evidence that humans may use volatile chemicals as signals. While much more data is needed to support that hypothesis, the authors speculate that audience emissions may be useful for evaluating whether movies are truly funny or thrilling.

For the study, researchers hooked up a proton transfer reaction mass spectrometer (PTR-MS) to the out-going air vents of a theater during 108 showings of 16 different films, including Buddy, The Hobbit, and Carrie. The PRT-MS measured 100 of the 872 volatile chemicals humans are known to emit, with a detection limit of sub-parts per billion.

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How two determined scientists built a world-class lab out of Radio Shack parts

In her book Lab Girl, Hope Jahren tells a scientific coming-of-age story.

Hope Jahren and Bill Hagopian in their lab, where they created many one-of-a-kind instruments to study plants and the deep geological history of Earth's atmosphere. (credit: Jahren Lab)

Hope Jahren's memoir about becoming a biogeoscientist—someone who studies the deep geological history of plant life on Earth—is the year's biggest surprise bestseller. Humbly titled Lab Girl, it's the story of how Jahren escaped a working class town she not-so-fondly calls a "shithole" to become a young scientist in the high-tech labs of UC Berkeley and Georgia Tech. It's also a fascinating introduction to the ways plants survive, even though they can never flee from danger. But most of all, it's a crazy adventure about two broke geeks, Jahren and her lab technician Bill Hagopian, who somehow scrape together enough cash and spare parts to build lab instruments unlike anything the scientific world had ever seen. You won't be able to put this book down, and that's a quality one rarely finds in a nonfiction book about science.

Radio Shack lab

Jahren and Hagopian met when she was a graduate student helping to run a class where he was an undergrad learning about field work. Out of all the students in the class, Hagopian's work was the most meticulous—but he also sprinkled his lab notes with weird jokes that only Jahren found amusing. They became fast friends, and when she got her first job as an assistant professor at Georgia Tech, she offered him a job as lab technician. Paying Hagopian a near-poverty-level salary took up most of her grant money from the National Science Foundation. So the two spent several years living on cheap pizza, Ensure, and candy bars, saving all their money to build up the Jahren Lab. Their goal is to simulate atmospheres from Earth's past, and then grow plants inside those atmospheres to understand how life forms survive dramatic changes in the molecular composition of the air they breathe. This is obviously relevant to the current carbon loading in our atmosphere, but it also helps scientists understand what our planet was like hundreds of millions of years ago, when carbon and oxygen levels were quite different from those today.

In Lab Girl, Jahren describes her early years perfecting a technique to blow glass bubbles full of alien atmospheres, while Hagopian lives out of his van and designs sophisticated growth chambers. Without much money, the two are left scrounging up parts to use in their lab from the recycling bins of other labs—and from Radio Shack, of course. Speaking to Ars by phone from her current lab at the University of Hawaii, Jahren said, "When we can't get a controller from a catalogue, we go to Radio Shack. We love Radio Shack. Being able to jerryrig things is super satisfying." Getting to scientific conferences to present their work was even more challenging. In one memorable scene, Jahren and Hagopian "borrow" the lab van from Georgia Tech and drive across the country to San Francisco for the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union. They had so little money that all their meals for several days came from an icebox full of lunch meat. It all backfired when one of their graduate students crashed the van and the slightly rancid contents of the icebox flew everywhere. Still, Jahren managed to clean up and make it to San Francisco in time—only to be yelled at by one of her colleagues that her hypotheses are just plain wrong.

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Court Orders Pirate Bay Domains to be Forfeited to the State

The Swedish Court of Appeal has today ruled that The Pirate Bay will have its Swedish domains confiscated. ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se will both be forfeited to the state but Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij informs TorrentFreak that he will appeal claims that he owns the domains at the Supreme Court.

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

In 2013, anti-piracy prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad filed a motion targeting two of The Pirate Bay’s most recognizable names, ThePirateBay.se (the site’s main domain) and PirateBay.se (a lesser used alternative).

Rather than take on the site and its operators directly, Ingblad filed a complaint against Punkt SE (IIS), the organization responsible for Sweden’s top level .SE domain.

Ingbland argued that since The Pirate Bay is an illegal site the domains are tools used to infringe copyright and should be suspended. Furthermore, the prosecutor insisted that as the controller of those domains, IIS should also be held liable for copyright infringement.

IIS naturally took an opposing stance and said that any decision on the fate of the domains should be decided by the court. Meanwhile, IIS refused to suspend The Pirate Bay’s domains.

The case was heard in April 2015 and a month later the Stockholm District Court ruled that The Pirate Bay should forfeit both ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se.

But despite ordering the domain seizures the case against IIS was essentially rejected, with the District Court dismissing the prosecution’s case and awarding the registry close to $40,000 in costs. As a result the prosecution took the case to appeal.

This morning, however, the Svea Court of Appeal handed down its decision which upholds the decision of the Stockholm District Court.

“In common with the District Court ruling the Court of Appeal finds that there is a basis for confiscation since the domain names assisted crimes under the Copyright Act,” the Svea Court of Appeal said in a statement.

This means that ThePirateBay.se and PirateBay.se are now set to be forfeited to the Swedish state and The Pirate Bay will have to find alternatives.

Speaking with TorrentFreak, IIS counsel Elisabeth Ekstrand says that her organization is pleased that the decision of the District Court has been upheld.

“We are pleased that the Court of Appeal chose to uphold the decision from the District Court. We think it is good that this issue has been examined. Now we need some time to read through the verdict before we can make any further comments,” Ekstrand told TF.

Both of the domains are held in the name of Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij and the District Court previously ruled that he is the owner.

“The prosecutor’s primary claim with respect to Fredrik Neij should be upheld and domain names should be confiscated from him in accordance with the Copyright Act,” the Court said.

However, speaking with TorrentFreak a few minutes ago, Neij denied that he is the owner of the domains and will file an appeal to the Supreme Court to protest.

“I will appeal on the grounds that I do not own the domain and that I did not commit copyright infringement as I am not involved with the site anymore,” Neij explained.

All of the parties involved are allowed to appeal so this case seems far from over.

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

Man who claims to have invented e-mail sues Gawker for $35M in libel suit

Gizmodo: “Laying claim…for a universal technology gives you acres of weasel room.”

(credit: Howard Lake)

The same lawyer who successfully sued Gawker Media over Hulk Hogan’s sex tape has now sued the online publisher again, this time representing the Massachusetts man who claims that he invented e-mail in 1978 at the age of 14.

On Tuesday, Charles Harder brought a libel suit on behalf of Shiva Ayyadurai, a man who has gone on a years-long campaign (seriously, his website is inventorofemail.com) trying to convince the world that he, and he alone, invented e-mail.

Ayyadurai now demands $35 million from Gawker, Gizmodo’s parent company, and a public retraction to Gizmodo’s 2012 articles that convincingly reported: "Corruption, Lies, and Death Threats: The Crazy Story of the Man Who Pretended to Invent Email," and "The Inventor of Email Did Not Invent Email?"

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Veröffentlichung privater Daten: AfD sucht mit Kopfgeld nach “Datendieb”

Der Bundesvorstand der Alternative für Deutschland hat ein Kopfgeld ausgelobt. Damit sollen die Urheber der Veröffentlichung privater Daten von Parteitagsbesuchern gefunden werden. Die Staatsanwaltschaft ermittelt in dem Fall. (Security, Datenschutz)

Browser: Opera erhält Stromsparmodus

Opera tüftelt an einem speziellen Stromsparmodus für den eigenen Browser. Denn allgemein können Browser die Akkulaufzeit eines Notebooks erheblich verringern, wenn viele Tabs offen sind. Um dem entgegenzuwirken, hat Opera seinem Browser einige Kniffe beigebracht. (Opera, Browser)

Business-Notebooks im Überblick: Voll ausgestattet, dockingtauglich und trotzdem klein

Kleine Notebooks mit allen Anschlüssen: Die gibt es, wenn auch zu einem hohen Preis. Wir haben uns die Business-Zwerge von Panasonic (Toughbook CF-MX4), Fujitsu (Lifebook T935), HP (Elitebook 820 G3) und Dell (Latitude 12 5270) angesehen. (Business-Notebooks, Notebook)

Breitbandausbau: SPD schlägt neue Förderung durch den Bund vor

Das neue Diginetz-Gesetz soll den Breitbandausbau beschleunigen. Während sich die Koalition im Bundestag für bisherige Fortschritte lobt, prangert die Opposition Versäumnisse an und sieht falsche Prioritäten. (Glasfaser, Breko)

Mega Ordered to Hand Over Users’ Details to U.S. Court

Mega, the cloud storage site founded by Kim Dotcom, has been ordered to hand the IP addresses and personal details of some of its users to a U.S. court. The ruling follows the uploading of sensitive documents to Mega following a hack on a foreign government computer system. Speaking with TorrentFreak, Mega chairman Stephen Hall expressed concerns over the process.

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

When Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom launched his new Mega cloud-storage company in January 2013, the company was focused on one key issue – privacy.

Mega encrypts all files uploaded by users, meaning that no one other than the uploader can see what is in those files unless he or she shares their private key with a third party. But while Mega is secure in many respects, users can not expect complete anonymity.

From the start Mega made it clear it would carry communication logs, the IP addresses used by subscribers to access the service, and other personal information.

Nevertheless, although Dotcom is no longer part of the company (his current stance is actually one of hostility), Mega’s commitment to privacy has been maintained by its current operators. Just recently, however, their stance of keeping user information private has been challenged in court.

The case involves a hack on a Kazakhstan government computer system which is said to have taken place in August 2014 but was not unearthed until 2015.

According to the Kazakh authorities the hackers made off with a trove of information including thousands of sensitive documents and emails between the government and advisors in the United States. These were then uploaded and stored on Mega by either the hackers or individuals closely linked to them.

In order to begin tracking the hackers down, in May last year Kazakhstan filed a lawsuit in the United States against 100 unnamed “John Does” seeking an injunction and damages. The EFF became involved in the case after the Kazakhstan government tried to stop Respublika, a site which reports critically on Kazakhstan’s ruling regime, from publishing the leaks.

Subsequently the Southern District of New York sought assistance from authorities in New Zealand in an effort to gain access to the hackers’ personal details. The request was processed by the New Zealand High Court which was asked to order Mega to hand over the information it holds on the supposed hacker(s).

The application was opposed by Mega, who told the Court that handing over the information would undermine the privacy of its users and was not guaranteed to assist in the U.S. hacking case.

However, in a ruling handed down today Mega’s attempt at protecting user privacy was dismissed by the High Court.

“[This] information is neither particularly revealing nor particularly sensitive; it does not, for instance, carry the same degree of confidentiality as an individual’s email or phone records,” wrote Justice Simon Moore.

“Therefore, I am satisfied that the privacy interests in this case should not carry significant weight. I am also satisfied that any potential harm could be mitigated by the imposition of properly worded protection orders”

As a result, Mega will now have to reveal the IP addresses, email addresses, contact and payment details of the users in question. When it does, that information will have to be sent to the New York district court, although Mega will be compensated for its trouble.

Speaking with TorrentFreak, Mega chairman Stephen Hall says that he has concerns about the Kazakhstan Government and the process it has undertaken.

“The Kazakhstan Government has a poor record as documented by international groups (1,2). Mega holds concerns that this is not a mere civil case about seeking damages from a hacker as the only damages that have been mentioned are the costs of the investigation,” Hall says.

“By construing it as a civil case [the Kazakhstan Government] has bypassed the usual discretion that needs to be exercised by a Minister of the NZ Government under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1992 process.

Furthermore, Hall says that Mega is not convinced that the party who uploaded the content to Mega is the original hacker as no evidence to that end has been provided. Additionally, it appears there has been little effort to take the content down.

“Mega has only received one request to take down any of the material. This request which related to the contents of a Gmail account of an official in the Finance Ministry was implemented immediately,” he explains.

“However, takedown requests were not received for the remaining material, suggesting that finding the hacker was more important than preserving secrecy of the material.”

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

Gerichtsverfahren: Wire und Signal streiten um die GPL, Erpressung und Geld

Es ist ein bizarres Hin und Her: Signal-Entwickler Moxy Marlinspike soll den Gründern von Wire GPL-Urheberrechtsverletzungen vorgeworfen haben, diese beschuldigten ihn vor Gericht der Erpressung. Der Streit landete vor einem US-Gericht – und ist jetzt angeblich beendet. (Open Source, Skype)

Es ist ein bizarres Hin und Her: Signal-Entwickler Moxy Marlinspike soll den Gründern von Wire GPL-Urheberrechtsverletzungen vorgeworfen haben, diese beschuldigten ihn vor Gericht der Erpressung. Der Streit landete vor einem US-Gericht - und ist jetzt angeblich beendet. (Open Source, Skype)