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Last updated 26 Jun, 08:20 AM

BBC News - Home

Brady had access to teenagers in jail, files show - For years Ian Brady was able to mix with borstal boys in jail, newly released official papers reveal.

Migrant children crisis: Democrats agree $4.5bn aid for migrants at border - A bid to ease the crisis, which has seen migrants dying on the border, faces a tough Senate battle.

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt divided over Brexit plans - Boris Johnson says the UK must leave on 31 October but Jeremy Hunt calls this a "fake deadline".

Sheryl Crow: Universal Studios fire destroyed all my master tapes - The star says all her master tapes were destroyed in an "apocalyptic" 2008 blaze at Universal Studios.

Beauty queen 'raped by Gambia's ex-President Jammeh' - Three women tell HRW how they were assaulted by the now exiled leader - allegations his party deny.

The Register

Vulture gets claws on Lego's latest Apollo nostalgia-fest - Plastic-fantastic Moon shenanigans for Reg hack Hands On One of the more delightful side effects of the current obsession with Apollo 11 at 50 has been the arrival of nerd-pleasing Lego. Today, an injured Vulture had a crack at building his own very Lunar Module.…

Watch live online today: Make data earn its keep by not just collating it, but securely sharing it with suppliers, partners - We talk real-world examples with OSIsoft, Axens, MOL Group Sponsored webcast While many organisations are still gazing in marvel at the inelegantly named Internet of Things, the technology world has been making big strides in the area of routinely handling data from thousands of pieces of equipment.…

The seven deadly sins of the 2010s: No, not pride, sloth, etc. The seven UI 'dark patterns' that trick you into buying stuff - Present in more than 1 in 10 top websites (and yes, greed covers them all) Dark patterns – user interfaces designed to deviously manipulate people into doing things – have become common enough on websites and in apps that almost two dozen providers have sprung up to supply behavior persuasion as a service.…

Buckminsterfullerene sounds like the next UK Prime Minister but trust us, it's in fact the largest molecule yet found in interstellar space - Tally ho, you can call me Buckyballs, what what Astrophysicists have found the single largest molecule yet floating in the interstellar medium, the soup of matter and radiation that floods space in between all of the universe’s objects.…

Stop us if you've heard this one: US government staff wildly oblivious to basic computer, info security safeguards - Now for deep-diving Congress hearings... LMAO JK JK they will do nothing A US Senate probe has once again outlined the woeful state of computer and information security within Uncle Sam's civil service.…

New Scientist - News

UK has halved air pollution deaths since 1970 but must still do more - The share of premature deaths in the UK linked to air pollution has dropped significantly because of action on emissions – but there is still a long way to go

Non-addictive CRISPR-edited tobacco could help eliminate smoking - A gene-edited tobacco plant with near-zero nicotine could boost plans to eliminate smoking by making cigarettes non-addictive

Exposure to air pollution seems to negatively affect women's fertility - Daily exposure to air pollution, including particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, has a negative impact on women's fertility

An Arctic fox made an epic 4400-kilometre-long journey over sea ice - In 2018, a satellite-tracked Arctic fox migrated across sea ice from Svalbard to northeast Canada – but repeat journeys may soon be impossible as the poles warm

Second world war bomb explodes after three-quarters of a century - This huge crater in a field in Germany was created when a bomb dropped around 75 years ago finally exploded

Hacker News

Apple buys autonomous driving company Drive.ai - Comments

A Teenager's IoT worm is bricking thousands of devices - Comments

BTrDB: Berkeley Tree Database - Comments

James Lovelock at 100: the Gaia saga continues - Comments

How Discount Brokerages Make Money - Comments

Slashdot

Robots To Take 20 Million Jobs, Worsening Inequality, Study Finds - A new study by Oxford Economics, a private British-based research and consulting firm, says robots are expected to take over some 20 million manufacturing jobs worldwide by 2030, extending a trend of worsening social inequality while boosting overall economic output. "The forecast set to be released Wednesday highlights growing concerns that automation and robots, while offering economic benefits, are disproportionately killing low-skill jobs and aggravating social and economic stress," reports France 24. From the report: Robots have already taken over millions of manufacturing jobs and are now gaining in services, helped by advances in computer vision, speech recognition and machine learning, the study noted. In lower-skilled regions, job losses will be twice as high as those in higher-skilled regions, even in the same country, the study concluded. According to the latest study, the current wave of "robotization" is likely ultimately to boost productivity and economic growth, generating roughly as many new jobs as it destroys. At the high end of the forecast, the researchers see a $5 trillion "robotics dividend" for the global economy by 2030 from higher productivity. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

US Tech Companies Sidestep a Trump Ban, To Keep Selling To Huawei - An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: A number of the United States' biggest chip makers have sold millions of dollars of products to Huawei despite a Trump administration ban (alternative source) on the sale of American technology to the Chinese telecommunications giant, according to four people with knowledge of the sales. Since the Commerce Department enacted the ban in May, American companies including Intel and Micron have found ways to sell technology to Huawei, said the people, who spoke on the condition they not be named because they were not authorized to disclose the sales. The components began to flow to Huawei about three weeks ago, the people said. Goods produced by American companies overseas are not always considered American-made, and the suppliers are taking advantage of this. The sales will help Huawei continue to sell products such as smartphones and servers. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Smartphones and Fitness Trackers Are Being Used To Gauge Employee Performance - A new system to assess the performance of employees is claimed to be more objective and thus more accurate by utilizing smartphones and fitness trackers. New Atlas reports: The passive system incorporates an app known as PhoneAgent, which was developed by Prof. Andrew Campbell at New Hampshire's Dartmouth College. Using the smartphone's own sensors, that app continuously monitors factors such as the worker's phone usage, physical activity level, geographical location, and the ambient light levels of their environment. PhoneAgent is also Bluetooth-linked to a fitness bracelet worn by the employee, which transmits data including their heart functions, sleep quality, stress levels, and calorie consumption. Additionally, Bluetooth locational beacons in the person's home and workplace monitor how much time they spend at each place, and how often they leave their workstation. All of the phone, bracelet and beacon data is transmitted to a cloud-based server, where it's processed via machine-learning algorithms that were "trained" on the habits of people already known to be high- or low-level performers. When tested on 750 workers across the U.S. over a one-year period, the system was reportedly able to distinguish between individuals' performance levels (in a variety of industries) with an accuracy of 80 percent. That number should rise as the system is developed further. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Lightyear One Debuts As the First Long-Range Solar-Powered Electric Car - The new Lightyear One is a prototype electric car from a Netherlands startup that gets all it needs to run from the sun. It features a sleek, driver-friendly design and also boasts a range of 450 miles on a single charge. TechCrunch reports: The startup says that it has already sold "over a hundred vehicles" even though this isn't yet ready to hit the road, but Lightyear is aiming to begin production by 2021, with reservations available for 500 additional units for the initial release. You do have to pay around $136,000 USD to secure a reservation, however. Lightyear One isn't just a plug-in electric with some solar sells on the roof: Instead it's designed from the ground up to maximize performance from a smaller-than-typical battery that can directly grab sun from a roof and hood covered with 16 square feet of solar cells, embedded in safety glass designed with passenger wellbeing in mind. The car can also take power directly from regular outlets and existing charging stations for a quick top-up, and again because it's optimized to be lightweight and power efficient, you can actually get around 250 miles on just one night of charging from a standard (European) 230V outlet. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

YouTube Looks To Demonetization As Punishments For Major Creators, But It Doesn't Work - YouTube is looking to send a message to content creators who step out of line by disabling ads on videos that infringe on the site's policies. The punishment is meant to revoke a key source of income, presenting a strong incentive for users to change their behavior. But, as Julia Alexander writes via The Verge, many creators make money through other platforms, rendering YouTube's punishment largely ineffective. From the report: Selling merchandise and subscriptions through other platforms isn't just a way for creators to make more money, it's also a way for creators to insulate themselves from YouTube's ever-mercurial rules and algorithms. And it means that if a creator's ads are cut off for whatever reason, they'll still have a source of revenue. Taking away a channel's ability to run ads is supposed to send a message that YouTube is punishing creators who severely step out of line. The company stated as much in a June 5th blog post, reiterating that channels repeatedly brushing up "against our hate speech policies will be suspended from the YouTube Partner program, meaning they can't run ads on their channel." Creators also won't be able to use alternative monetization techniques like Super Chat or channel memberships, according to YouTube. For up-and-coming YouTubers reliant on that revenue, it can pose a huge problem. Many people just entering YouTube's Partner Program, a threshold that signifies a creator can start earning ad revenue, may rely on that advertising money as they start their career. Channels that face day-to-day monetization issues, one of the biggest issues within the community, are struggling to understand what works and what doesn't. But for larger creators, who still keep their ability to reach a huge number of subscribers, the punishment doesn't necessarily accomplish YouTube's goals. "YouTube isn't likely to ban high-profile channels, either," Alexander writes. "If a channel's content is borderline, meaning that it doesn't violate YouTube's rules but is considered harmful, moderators will allow videos to remain up. Demonetizing a channel's videos allows YouTube to appear to have taken a strong action, even if that action isn't always effective." Read more of this story at Slashdot.