Almost None of the Women in the Ashley Madison Database Ever Used the Site

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When you look at the evidence, it’s hard to deny that the overwhelming majority of men using Ashley Madison weren’t having affairs. They were paying for a fantasy.

Source: Almost None of the Women in the Ashley Madison Database Ever Used the Site

The question is, how do you find fakes in a sea of data? Answering that becomes more difficult when you consider that even real users of Ashley Madison were probably giving fake information at least some of the time. But wholesale fakery still leaves its traces in the profile data. I spoke with a data scientist who studies populations, who told me to compare the male and female profiles in aggregate, and look for anomalous patterns.

Japan Launches Vital Supplies (and Mice) Toward International Space Station

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If all goes according to plan, the cargo ship will arrive at the space station early Monday morning (Aug. 24). Astronauts aboard the orbiting lab can then begin offloading HTV-5’s 6 tons (5.5 metric tons) of food, water, scientific gear and other supplies. [Japan’s Robotic Space Station Cargo Ship Fleet in Pictures (Photos)]

Source: Japan Launches Vital Supplies (and Mice) Toward International Space Station

How new ‘white space’ rules could lead to an urban super-Wi-Fi

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The UHF spectrum, which ranges from 400 to 700 MHz, is superior to the higher-frequency signals used for existing Wi-Fi hotspots, the researchers said, as these signals carry for miles and are not blocked by walls or trees.

Source: How new ‘white space’ rules could lead to an urban super-Wi-Fi | Computerworld

It should be noted that carriers such as AT&T and related associations such as the National Association of Broadcasters objected to the FCC rules in the run up to the commission’s August meeting, citing concerns that new unlicensed uses in the 600 MHz band would create interference.

I wonder what AT&T’s true motivation for their objection.

Rosetta’s big day in the Sun

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The activity reaches its peak intensity around perihelion and in the weeks that follow – and is clearly visible in the spectacular images returned by the spacecraft in the last months. One image taken by Rosetta’s navigation camera was acquired at 01:04 GMT, just an hour before the moment of perihelion, from a distance of around 327 km.

Source: Rosetta’s big day in the Sun / Rosetta / Space Science / Our Activities / ESA

Time to fix patents

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Patents also last too long. Protection for 20 years might make sense in the pharmaceutical industry, because to test a drug and bring it to market can take more than a decade. But in industries like information technology, the time from brain wave to production line, or line of code, is much shorter. When patents lag behind the pace of innovation, firms end up with monopolies on the building-blocks of an industry.

Source: Time to fix patents | The Economist

How the battle over biologics helped stall the Trans Pacific Partnership

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Section 25a of Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Act provides for five years of data exclusivity for all medicines. It makes no distinction between biologics and other drugs. Data exclusivity provides an absolute monopoly that, unlike a patent, can’t be revoked or challenged in court.

The powerful biopharmaceutical industry lobby in the United States has been seeking 12 years of market exclusivity for biologics.

Source: How the battle over biologics helped stall the Trans Pacific Partnership

It seems clear to everyone except US negotiators – and biopharmaceutical industry lobbyists – that the demand for extending data exclusivity for biologics needs to be dropped if the TPP is to be finalised.

Manipulating Microsoft WSUS to Own Enterprises

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Paul Stone and Alex Chapman of Context Information Security in the U.K. took a long look at the WSUS attack surface and discovered that when a WSUS server contacts Microsoft for driver updates, it does so using XML SOAP web services, and those checks are not made over SSL. While updates are signed by Microsoft and updates must be verified by Microsoft, Stone and Chapman discovered that an attacker already in a man-in-the-middle position on a corporate network, for example, could with some work tamper with the unencrypted communication and inject a malicious homegrown update.

Source: Manipulating Microsoft WSUS to Own Enterprises | Threatpost | The first stop for security news

Neil Sloane, Connoisseur of Number Sequences

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A mathematician whose research generates a sequence of numbers can turn to the OEIS to discover other contexts in which the sequence arises and any papers that discuss it. The repository has spawned countless mathematical discoveries and has been cited more than 4,000 times.

Source: Neil Sloane, Connoisseur of Number Sequences | Quanta Magazine

the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS), often simply called “Sloane” by its users.