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• 'I'm Not Drunk, It's My Car.' Tesla's 'Full Self-Driving' Gets Mixed Reviews
• Trump's TikTok Ban Temporarily Blocked by US Judge
• 'Don't Even Try Paying With Cash in China'
• Moderna On Track to Report COVID-19 Vaccine Late-Stage Trial Data in November
• After 3-Year Hiatus, 'Pyston' Runtime Returns to Make Python Code Faster
• New Chinese Laptop Appears With 14nm Loongsoon Quad-Core 3A4000 CPU
• Scientists Discover New Molecule, Possible Basis For Life, on Saturn's Moon Titan
• Sean Connery Dies at Age 90. Remembered as 'The Best of Many' James Bonds
• Software Freedom Conservancy: Microsoft Should Resign from RIAA Over Youtube-DL Takedown Demand
• Therapy Patients Blackmailed For Cash After Clinic Data Breach
• While Europe Accounts for 46% of COVID-19 Cases, Taiwan Goes 200 Days Without a Local Infection
• Amazon Now Has More Than 1 Million Employees
• Apple Says Some AirPods Pro Have Sound Problems, Will Replace For Free
• SpaceX Will 'Make Its Own Laws On Mars'
• US and UK Citizens Are World's Biggest Sources of Plastic Waste

'I'm Not Drunk, It's My Car.' Tesla's 'Full Self-Driving' Gets Mixed Reviews Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:34 PM PDT CNN describes the reactions posted online by six beta testers of Tesla's "full self-driving" software, saying they "appear to be both delighted and alarmed by what they've experienced so far." "Turn left. Come on. What are you doing?" said one frustrated Tesla owner as his car appeared slow to change lanes during a trip he posted on YouTube last week. "I swear I'm not drunk you guys, I'm not drunk, it's my car...." CNN Business reviewed hours of footage and found early impressions of the software are a mixed bag. At times the testers are impressed with the "full self-driving" technology, in other cases they say it's overly cautious. The videos also show unsafe situations that appear to result from the car not understanding traffic well enough. Brandon McGowen, one of the beta testers, has posted videos online in which his Tesla nearly drives off the road or into a median. He's not the only driver who claims to have experienced trouble while testing the software. Beta testers Zeb Hallock, James Locke, Rafael Santoni, Kim Paquette, and a YouTuber who goes by "Tesla Raj," have highlighted concerns. In videos reviewed by CNN Business, Teslas appear to blow through red lights, stop well short of intersections, miss turns, nearly rear-end a parked car, make a turn from the wrong lane, and speed over speed bumps... Tesla has warned current drivers to pay extra attention to the road, and keep their hands on the wheel. "Do not become complacent," Tesla warned the drivers in a message displayed when they installed the software, which CNN viewed in multiple videos posted by people testing the software. "It may do the wrong thing at the worst time...." The cars...have shown a pattern of coming to a full stop when entering a roundabout, even when no car is blocking their path. Videos show that full self-driving often slows for speed humps, but won't necessarily slow down for speed bumps. In at least one case, the Tesla "full self-driving" software appeared to confuse a one-way street for a two-way street, according to the video. Paquette estimated in her Talking Tesla interview that her Tesla might be as good a driver as her, if she'd had "maybe three bourbons." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Trump's TikTok Ban Temporarily Blocked by US Judge Posted: 31 Oct 2020 04:44 PM PDT Forbes reports that TikTok "cannot be shut down in the United States next month, a U.S. District Court judge ruled Friday afternoon, the latest setback in President Donald Trump's push to force the Chinese-owned app to be transferred to American ownership." In an August executive order that labeled TikTok a national security threat, Trump required Beijing-based tech company ByteDance to sell its popular short-form video app to an American firm by Nov. 12, or else the federal government would enforce restrictions on data transfers that effectively make the app unusable. Pennsylvania Judge Wendy Beetlestone blocked that order Friday, issuing a preliminary injunction while the court considers a lawsuit brought by several TikTok content creators. Beetlestone said Trump probably doesn't have the power to block TikTok: he tried to force a sale using a 43-year-old law that gives him broad power over international transactions that pose threats to national security, but that law exempts "informational materials" like artwork and news, a category Beetlestone said includes TikTok videos... The U.S. Department of Commerce plans to comply with Beetlestone's injunction, but it will "vigorously defend" Trump's executive order from this legal challenge, a spokesperson told Forbes. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

'Don't Even Try Paying With Cash in China' Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:54 PM PDT "It's hard for those of us who live outside of China to grasp how paying for everything has gone digital in the country," writes the New York Times, introducing a Q&A with technology reporter Ray Zhong (who used to live in Beijing): Most businesses there, from the fanciest hotels to roadside fruit stands, display a QR code — a type of bar code — that people scan with a smartphone camera to pay with China's dominant digital payment apps, Alipay and WeChat. Paying by app is so much the norm that taxi drivers might curse at you for handing them cash... Ray: Credit cards were never prevalent in China. The country skipped over a generation of finance and went straight to smartphone-based digital payments. And the apps are simple for businesses. If a business can get a printout of a QR code, it can get paid by app. They don't need special machines like businesses do to accept credit cards or many mobile payments like Apple Pay, which are essentially digital wallets of bank cards, while Alipay and WeChat are more pure digital payments... China has a stodgy, state-dominated banking system. These apps have allowed small businesses to connect to modern financial infrastructure easily. I know paying with a credit card isn't tremendously difficult, but making it a fraction easier to buy stuff has enabled different kinds of commerce. You probably wouldn't buy something on Instagram for 50 cents with your credit card, but people in China buy digital books one chapter at a time. What are the downsides? Ray: Imagine if powerful tech companies like Google knew everything you've purchased in your entire life. That's one. There are also concerns that Alipay and WeChat are so dominant that no one can compete with them. Yet towards the end of the interview, the reporter concedes that Alipay and WeChat were "developed for China's specific needs. I'm not convinced similar QR-code-based digital payment systems will catch on elsewhere. Maybe in India." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Moderna On Track to Report COVID-19 Vaccine Late-Stage Trial Data in November Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:36 PM PDT This week Moderna "said it is on track to report early data from a late-stage trial of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine next month, reports Reuters, "offering the clearest timeline yet for when the world will know whether it is effective." The company, one of the front-runners in the global race to produce vaccines to protect against COVID-19, said an independent data monitoring committee is expected to conduct an interim review of its ongoing 30,000-person trial in November... The company said it is preparing to distribute the vaccine, known as mRNA-1273, and expects to be able to produce 20 million doses by the end of the year, and between 500 million and 1 billion in 2021. Moderna said infection rates in the trial were on track with expectations... Moderna said it expects two-month follow-up safety data, as required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in the second half of November, after which it will file for an emergency use authorization. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

After 3-Year Hiatus, 'Pyston' Runtime Returns to Make Python Code Faster Posted: 31 Oct 2020 01:39 PM PDT "Development of Pyston, a variant of the Python runtime that uses just-in-time compilation to speed up the execution of Python programs, is back on again," reports InfoWorld — after a hiatus that began in 2017: Picking up where Dropbox left off, a new development team has released Pyston 2.0. Pyston provides what is ultimately intended to be a drop-in replacement for the standard Python runtime, CPython. It's compatible with Python 3.8, so programs that runs with that version of Python should run as-is on Pyston... One of the goals of the project was to remain as close as possible to the original implementation of CPython, since many third-party projects make assumptions about CPython behavior. Thus Pyston 2.0 began with the existing CPython codebase and added features from Pyston 1.0 that worked well, such as caching attributes and JITting. Pyston's JIT no longer uses LLVM, but DynASM to emit assembly directly... [U]nlike the original Pyston incarnation, the new version is closed-source for the time being, as its new stewards determine their business model. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New Chinese Laptop Appears With 14nm Loongsoon Quad-Core 3A4000 CPU Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:42 PM PDT "BDY electronics, a Chinese laptop manufacturer, has unveiled an all-new 13.3-inch laptop sporting Longsoon's new Dragon Core 3A4000 quad-core 14nm CPU," reports Tom's Hardware: The biggest feature of this laptop is the CPU, featuring Longsoon's latest 14nm quad-core 3A4000 CPU. Longsoon claims the CPU is 100% faster than the previous generation 3A3000 and is comparable in performance to AMD's "Excavator" cores used in the A8-7680 Godavari architecture. Of course, this demonstrates how far behind Longsoon is from TSMC and Intel in performance, speed, and efficiency of its latest node. However, the chairman of Loongsoon Technologies, Hu Weiwu, says, "14nm and 28nm (for its GPU node) is enough for 90% of applications.," so it appears the company isn't too worried about catching up to the performance leaders like Intel and AMD. Due to this laptop being in the Chinese market, Windows is not supported at all. It only runs Chinese "domestic operating systems" that are typically modified versions of Linux. Fortunately, this does mean you can install any Linux flavor you want on the laptop, which can be handy if you don't want to run China-specific apps only. Slashdot reader Hmmmmmm points out that Loongson's upcoming 3a5000 CPU "will be a 12nm CPU that is 50% faster than the 3A4000." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Scientists Discover New Molecule, Possible Basis For Life, on Saturn's Moon Titan Posted: 31 Oct 2020 11:48 AM PDT CNN reports: Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is the only moon in our solar system that has a thick atmosphere. It's four times denser than Earth's. And now, scientists have discovered a molecule in it that has never been found in any other atmosphere. The particle is called cyclopropenylidene, or C3H2, and it's made of carbon and hydrogen. This simple carbon-based molecule could be a precursor that contributes to chemical reactions that may create complex compounds. And those compounds could be the basis for potential life on Titan. The molecule was first noticed as researchers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array of telescopes in Chile. This radio telescope observatory captures a range of light signatures, which revealed the molecule among the unique chemistry of Titan's atmosphere. The study published earlier this month in the Astronomical Journal... "We're trying to figure out if Titan is habitable," said Rosaly Lopes, a senior research scientist and Titan expert at JPL, in a statement. "So we want to know what compounds from the atmosphere get to the surface, and then, whether that material can get through the ice crust to the ocean below, because we think the ocean is where the habitable conditions are." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sean Connery Dies at Age 90. Remembered as 'The Best of Many' James Bonds Posted: 31 Oct 2020 10:54 AM PDT In 1962 Sean Connery became the first actor to appear in movies as secret agent James Bond, and according to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 was "The best of the many Bonds, by far." An anonymous reader writes: Connery influenced the character deeply. The Huffington Post once wrote that James Bond wasn't Scottish until Sean Connery played the role. Ian Fleming was still writing his series of James Bond novels, and "After seeing Connery in Dr. No and thinking the actor did a superb job, Fleming wrote Connery's heritage into the character. In the book You Only Live Twice, Fleming wrote that James Bond's father was Scottish and was from the town of Glencoe. Coincidentally, Connery would film Highlander in Glencoe decades later." Sir Sean Connery — he was also knighted in the year 2000 — performed many other iconic roles throught his long career, even playing the father of Harrison Ford's character in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Leaving Bond behind, Connery appeared in many historical dramas, including the World War II movies The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far, as well as The Man Who Would Be King, The Name of the Rose, and (in 2003) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. But throughout his life he was always in demand for high-quality action films, from The Hunt for Red October to The Rock, even co-starring with Catherine Zeta-Jones in the romantic caper film Entrapment at the age of 69. And in Terry Gilliam's movie Time Bandits, Connery appears as more than one character, hinting that beneath the individual roles lay some timeless embodiment of strength and goodness itself. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Software Freedom Conservancy: Microsoft Should Resign from RIAA Over Youtube-DL Takedown Demand Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:34 AM PDT "We believe that youtube-dl has substantial non-infringing uses," argues the non-profit Software Freedom Conservancy. But while that software faces a DMCA takedown notice from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), GitHub's owner Microsoft is also a paying member of the RIAA. The Software Freedom Conservancy argues that this leaves Microsoft "stuck between their industry association's abuses of the law and the needs of FOSS projects for which they provide infrastructure." While under current law (which we object to), complying with the takedown notice is admittedly the fastest way to limit Microsoft's liability, we view Microsoft's membership in the RIAA as a much bigger liability to our community, now that Microsoft controls GitHub. We call on Microsoft to resign from the RIAA and remove their conflict of interest in this matter. This is an important opportunity for Microsoft to stand up for the values of software freedom... To build a strong community of FOSS developers, we need confidence that our software hosting platforms will fight for our rights. While we'd prefer that Microsoft would simply refuse to kowtow to institutions like the RIAA and reject their DMCA requests, we believe in the alternative Microsoft can take the easy first step of resigning from RIAA in protest. We similarly call on all RIAA members who value FOSS to also resign. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Therapy Patients Blackmailed For Cash After Clinic Data Breach Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:34 AM PDT "Many patients of a large psychotherapy clinic in Finland have been contacted individually by a blackmailer, after their data was stolen," reports the BBC: The data appears to have included personal identification records and notes about what was discussed in therapy sessions. Vastaamo is a nationwide practice with about 20 branches and thousands of patients. The clinic has advised those affected to contact the police. It said it believed the data had been stolen in November 2018, with a further potential breach in March 2019... About 300 records have already been published on the dark web, according to the Associated Press news agency. On its website, the clinic calls the attack "a great crisis". It has set up a helpline and is offering all victims one free therapy session, the details of which will not be recorded. According to the article, the blackmailer claims Vastaamo refused to pay the 40 bitcoin ransom — so they are instead blackmailing individual patients. And one patient even complained that while his therapist took notes in a physical notebook, "he had not been told these would be uploaded to a server." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

While Europe Accounts for 46% of COVID-19 Cases, Taiwan Goes 200 Days Without a Local Infection Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:34 AM PDT Europe "now accounts for 46% of global coronavirus cases," reports ABC News, "and nearly a third of total related deaths." Dr. Jean-Francois Delfraissy, a senior French physician and the president of the scientific council that reports to the government, warned that the country has "lost control of the epidemic," after health authorities reported more than 52,000 new cases. He said that the council estimates that the true figure could well be closer to 100,000 daily cases, accounting for asymptomatic cases and those who haven't been tested... Fearing both the economic price of national lockdowns and the political backlash from citizens increasingly wearied of the restrictions on their livelihoods, government officials around Europe have been reluctant to shutter businesses to the extent that they did in the spring. The Guardian reports that Apple "will temporarily close 17 of its 20 stores in France from Oct. 30, as the country goes into a fresh one-month lockdown due to a resurgence of coronavirus cases." Meanwhile, CNN reports that Taiwan "just marked its 200th consecutive day without a locally transmitted case of the disease," due partly to mass testing but also quick and effective contact tracing. Taiwan's landmark achievement comes in a week when France and Germany are enacting new lockdowns and the United States identified a record 88,000-plus cases in a day. The state of Florida, which has a similar population size to Taiwan, with approximately 21 million people, identified 4,188 cases on Wednesday alone. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Amazon Now Has More Than 1 Million Employees Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:00 AM PDT An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: Amazon.com said it now has about 1 million employees after hiring 250,000 workers in the third quarter, part of a growth spurt driven by booming ecommerce sales during the coronavirus pandemic and a milestone for a company founded in 1995 by Jeff Bezos as an online bookseller. Despite its rapid ascent, Amazon still has fewer workers than the nation's biggest private employer, Walmart, which has 2.2 million global workers. Even so, Amazon's explosive growth underscores the historic shift in financial might from manufacturers such as General Motors, U.S. Steel and General Electric. In the 1950s, these three corporations were the country's biggest employers, with a combined workforce of more than 1 million employees at the time. Today, the three employ about 400,000 workers as the U.S. economy has shed factory jobs in favor of service-oriented work. In a conference call on Thursday, Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said the company hired "a lot more people to support the strong customer demand." After hiring 250,000 full-time and part-time workers in the quarter ended in September, Amazon has hired another 100,000 workers in October, he said. The jobs pay a minimum of $15 an hour and include benefits such as health insurance, retirement benefits and parental leave, he added. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Apple Says Some AirPods Pro Have Sound Problems, Will Replace For Free Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT Apple said on Friday that it's replacing AirPods Pro headphones that have sound problems. CNBC reports: These problems include a static or crackling sound that increases in loud environments and issues with active noise cancellation. Apple said AirPods Pro made after October 2020 don't have the problems. Owners who experience problems can contact Apple online or make an appointment at an Apple store to get their AirPods Pro replaced for free. Only devices that are confirmed to have the issue will be replaced. The replacement applies only to the buds, not the charging case. Apple's not offering a similar program for other AirPod models. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

SpaceX Will 'Make Its Own Laws On Mars' Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:00 AM PDT schwit1 writes: SpaceX will not recognize international law on Mars, according to the Terms of Service of its Starlink internet project. Elon Musk's space company will instead reportedly adhere to a set of "self-governing principles" that will be defined at the time of Martian settlement. Musk revealed plans to create a self-sustaining city on Mars last week, though no timeframe is yet to be put in place for its development. Any future colony created by SpaceX would likely use constellations of Starlink satellites orbiting the planet to provide internet connection to people and machines on the surface. "For services provided on Mars, or in transit to Mars via Starship or other colonization spacecraft, the parties recognize Mars as a free planet and that no Earth-based government has authority or sovereignty over Martian activities," the governing law section states. "Accordingly, disputes will be settled through self-governing principles, established in good faith, at the time of Martian settlement." Space systems engineer Erwan Beauvois said SpaceX's position was reminiscent of a declaration put forward by the Earthlight Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to preparing for the expansion of humanity beyond Earth. The Declaration of the Rights and Responsibilities of Humanity in the Universe states that space should be "considered free, by all, for all and to all." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

US and UK Citizens Are World's Biggest Sources of Plastic Waste Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:30 PM PDT An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The U.S. and UK produce more plastic waste per person than any other major countries, according to new research. The analysis also shows the U.S. produces the most plastic waste in total and that its citizens may rank as high as third in the world in contributing to plastic pollution in the oceans. Previous work had suggested Asian countries dominated marine plastic pollution and placed the U.S. in 20th place, but this did not account for U.S. waste exports or illegal dumping within the country. Data from 2016, the latest available, show that more than half of the plastic collected for recycling in the U.S. was shipped abroad, mostly to countries already struggling to manage plastic waste effectively. The researchers said years of exporting had masked the U.S.'s enormous contribution to plastic pollution. The latest study, published in the journal Science Advances, used World Bank data on waste generation in 217 countries. It focused on the U.S. and used additional data on littering and illegal dumping within the country and on contamination by exported plastic, which is likely to be dumped rather than recycled. The researchers found the U.S. produced the most plastic waste by World Bank reckoning, at 34m tonnes in 2016, but the total increased to 42m tonnes when the additional data was considered. India and China were second and third, but their large populations meant their figures for per capita plastic waste was less than 20% of that of U.S. consumers. Among the 20 nations with the highest total plastic waste production, the UK was second to the U.S. per capita, followed by South Korea and Germany. "When the researchers estimated how much of each country's plastic waste ends up in the oceans, Indonesia and India ranked highest," the report adds. "The U.S. ranked between third and eleventh, depending on the assumptions made about waste leakage into the environment. The analysis found that up to 1 million tons of exported U.S. plastic waste ended up as marine pollution." Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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