October 5, 2015

You may have recently seen an abundance of bug-eyed people puking rainbows on Snapchat. Thank Looksery for that. Launched last year as an entertainment app based on face recognition technology and special effects, Looksery was acquired by Snapchat last month.

Looksery technology propels Snapchat’s new special effects

Founded in 2013, Looksery launched in October 2014 after...read more
By Jordan Crone

DatView is a new graphical user interface (GUI) for plotting parameters to explore correlations, identify outliers and export subsets of data. It was designed to simplify and expedite analysis of very large unmerged serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) data sets composed of indexing results from hundreds of thousands of microcrystal diffraction patterns. However, DatView works with any tabulated data, offering its functionality to many applications outside serial crystallography. In DatView's user-friendly GUI, selections are drawn onto plots and synchronized across all other plots, so correlations between multiple parameters in large multi-parameter data sets can be rapidly identified. It also includes an item viewer for displaying images in the current selection alongside the associated metadata. For serial crystallography data processed by indexamajig from CrystFEL [White, Kirian, Martin, Aquila, Nass, Barty & Chapman (2012). J. Appl. Cryst. 45, 335–341], DatView generates a table of parameters and metadata from stream files and, optionally, the associated HDF5 files. By combining the functionality of several commonly needed tools for SFX in a single GUI that operates on tabulated data, the time needed to load and calculate statistics from large data sets is reduced. This paper describes how DatView facilitates (i) efficient feedback during data collection by examining trends in time, sample position or any parameter, (ii) determination of optimal indexing and integration parameters via the comparison mode, (iii) identification of systematic errors in unmerged SFX data sets, and (iv) sorting and highly flexible data filtering (plot selections, Boolean filters and more), including direct export of subset CrystFEL stream files for further processing.

Bragg intensities can be used to analyse crystal size distributions in a method called FXD-CSD, which is based on the fast measurement of many Bragg spots using two-dimensional detectors. This work presents the Python-based software and its graphical user interface FXD-CSD-GUI. The GUI enables user-friendly data handling and processing and provides both graphical and numerical crystal size distribution results.

EDDIDAT is a program that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for the evaluation of energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction data with the focus on the depth-resolved residual stress analysis.

Hydrogen is present in almost all of the molecules in living things. It is very reactive and forms bonds with most of the elements, terminating their valences and enhancing their chemistry. X-ray diffraction is the most common method for structure determination. It depends on scattering of X-rays from electron density, which means the single electron of hydrogen is difficult to detect. Generally, neutron diffraction data are used to determine the accurate position of hydrogen atoms. However, the requirement for good quality single crystals, costly maintenance and the limited number of neutron diffraction facilities means that these kind of results are rarely available. Here it is shown that the use of Transferable Aspherical Atom Model (TAAM) instead of Independent Atom Model (IAM) in routine structure refinement with X-ray data is another possible solution which largely improves the precision and accuracy of X—H bond lengths and makes them comparable to averaged neutron bond lengths. TAAM, built from a pseudoatom databank, was used to determine the X—H bond lengths on 75 data sets for organic molecule crystals. TAAM parametrizations available in the modified University of Buffalo Databank (UBDB) of pseudoatoms applied through the DiSCaMB software library were used. The averaged bond lengths determined by TAAM refinements with X-ray diffraction data of atomic resolution (dmin ≤ 0.83 Å) showed very good agreement with neutron data, mostly within one single sample standard deviation, much like Hirshfeld atom refinement (HAR). Atomic displacements for both hydrogen and non-hydrogen atoms obtained from the refinements systematically differed from IAM results. Overall TAAM gave better fits to experimental data of standard resolution compared to IAM. The research was accompanied with development of software aimed at providing user-friendly tools to use aspherical atom models in refinement of organic molecules at speeds comparable to routine refinements based on spherical atom model.

Transferable Aspherical Atom Model (TAAM) instead of Independent Atom Model (IAM) applied through DiSCaMB software library in the structure refinement against X-ray diffraction data largely improves the X—H bond lengths and make them comparable to the averaged neutron bond lengths.

Will Davidson and his Minecraft creation, modeled off the Santa Cruz Mission; Credit: Steve Henn

Minecraft is a deceptively simple video game. You're dropped into a virtual world, and you get to build things. It's like a digital Lego set, but with infinite pieces.

Its simplicity makes it a big hit with kids, like 10-year old Will Davidson. Last year, Will built a Spanish mission for a school report. He modeled his off the Santa Cruz Mission. "I made a chapel over here," Davidson says. "I also have a bell tower."

After he turned in his report, he added a few things. Like skeleton archers. "And zombies ... and exploding things, and spiders, that try to kill you," he said.

Minecraft is popular with kids because they're free to create almost anything, says Ramin Shokrizade, a game designer.

Also, kids aren't manipulated into clicking buttons to buy add-ons within the game. In other games, designers give players a special power for free at first, then take it away and offer it back at a price.

Zynga, the creator of Farmville, calls this fun pain, according to Shokrizade. "That's the idea that, if you make the consumer uncomfortable enough, and then tell them that for money we'll make you less uncomfortable, then [they] will give us money," he says.

Kids, Shokrizade says, are especially susceptible to this — and Minecraft has a loyal following, in part, because it doesn't do it.

Susan Linn, from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, agrees. She says a big reason she likes Minecraft is because after you purchase the game upfront, that's it.

"Parents don't have to worry that their kids are going to be targeted for more marketing," Linn says. "How forward-thinking!"

But Linn is worried. Microsoft bought Mojang, the company that created Minecraft, on Monday for $2.5 billion, and she says that any time a large company spends billions to acquire a smaller company, executives are bound start looking for new ways to get even more money out of it.

A pair of vulnerabilities in the default email app on iOS devices is believed to have been exploited against high-profile targets

The post iOS Mail app flaws may have left iPhone users vulnerable for years appeared first on WeLiveSecurity

Researchers have developed a prototype system to predict the impact of storms on European coastlines. The MICORE Early Warning System aims to improve civil defence and coastal evacuation plans and could pave the way for an autonomous early warning system to save countless lives and protect infrastructure worldwide.

The lifetime environmental impacts of non-electrical consumer products, such as clothes, could be cut by over 40% if consumers maintained them in a more environmentally friendly manner, new research suggests. The study found the impacts of eco-designed products fell significantly when user guidelines were included in the eco-design.

The costs and benefits of sustainable land management have been collated in a new review. Data from a global archive was analysed for the costs of sustainable practices and technologies and for land users’ perceptions of cost–benefit ratios. Most respondents had a positive view of the short-term cost-benefit ratio, and a strongly positive view of the long term. Low upfront costs, long-term planning and security of land tenure were identified as important factors to facilitate these practices.

A pilot Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) project in the UK has found MSP to be a useful approach in managing marine waters sustainably. Sharing the knowledge and experiences gained in developing the Shetland Islands’ Marine Spatial Plan (SMSP) can help other authorities in the process of developing similar plans, says the project team.

A Crisil note said due to the aggressive play by the telcos, the number of subscribers has stagnated at 19 million since 2016. Till now, the lower speed 4G served the purpose for people due to affordable smartphones, it noted. "But now, subscriptions to fixed broadband, especially in the urban areas, have surged because millions are working from home...," it said.

​​ According to IAMAI's 'Digital in India' report, India had 504 million active Internet users, who logged onto the web at least once in the last one month, at the end of November 2019. In rural India, the number of accessing Internet daily had grown by 30 million from March 2019, it added.

Xiaomi India Managing Director said that the company does not collect any user data that the user has not explicitly given permission or consent to. He added that in the browser's incognito mode, all user data is completely encrypted and anonymised. He also pointed out that all Mi Browser and Mi Cloud data of Indian users is stored locally in AWS servers in India.

The Internet consumers are becoming more aware of their personal data and 82 per cent users have tried to remove private information from websites or social media channels, according to a report by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.

Unacademy said that basic information related to 11 million learners had been compromised but no sensitive information such as financial data, location, or passwords had been leaked

‘Safe harbour protection’ only if intermediaries facilitate and not modify such content, including ads

The advent of new rules for social media applications - like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp - could spell the end for privacy in the Indian internet space. Despite push back from major internet companies, the Indian government is all set to go ahead with the new regulations. The rules are a bid to quell the spread of fake news and trace anti-social elements in the Indian internet ecosystem faster.

Direct messages on the desktop have been in the works for a while now.

A model for chemical use that involves collaboration between suppliers and end-users could benefit both parties as well as the environment, according to recent research. In a Serbian case study, a bottled water manufacturer reduced its costs, water and chemicals consumption, and production of hazardous wastewater when it collaborated with its supplier of lubricant for factory conveyor belts using the ‘Chemical Leasing’ model.

User Authentication Controlling who can access your site Overview Authentication, or "login", is the process by which a user lets CBM Wiki know who they are. Authentication ... (last changed by ProjectContributor)

Users of Twitter’s new Vine app quickly discovered that porn was easily accessible, putting the app's future in question.

Meditation sessions to promote self awareness may have an enduring effect on curbing substance abuse.

After using the bathroom, 95 percent of people fail to wash their hands long enough to kill harmful bacteria.

GoodGuide, home of the world's largest healthy and green product database, is searching for a Rock Star User Interaction Engineer.

This will create the world's largest virtual graveyard.

New York City's Feral Cat Initiative pairs feral cats that need a range with humans who want a defense against rodents.

Dog trainer Anna Jane Grossman provides private iPad lessons to dogs, where she teaches them to nose the screen to activate apps.

From what the new labels mean to how to properly apply it, here are the essentials to help keep your skin healthy in the sun.

North Carolina's Outer Banks area offers opportunities for a wide range of activities, from quiet reflection to any water-based recreational activity you can dr

The largest of Georgia's barrier islands was once the winter playground for wealthy industrialists and now is a fruitful nesting ground for loggerhead turtles.

Built atop a parking garage, this iconic park is considered the world's largest rooftop garden. It's also the place for kids and curious adults to go.

The headline attraction at Edisto Beach State Park near Charleston, S.C., is 1.5 miles of palmetto-lined beach pristine enough to be the nesting grounds of enda

The tea-colored Great Egg Harbor River is a great way to access the wilderness known as the Pine Barrens. It flows pretty much as it always has — a rest stop

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a strand of green gems stretching 70 miles north and south of San Francisco and the famed Golden Gate Bridge. You’

Some urban parks are a spot of green in a landscape of gray concrete and steel, the only spot for blocks and blocks with trees and grass. Atlanta has lots of tr

The stone observation tower atop Mount Constitution – at 2,409 feet, the highest point among Washington’s San Juan Islands – offers panoramic views of gre

You don’t have to go to the boondocks to go hiking or horseback riding in deep woods teeming with deer, raccoons and even coyotes. You can do that in Rock Cre

Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, may be the world’s largest sculpture garden — a place where Mother Nature has used wind and water to carve more than 2

You can take the rugged outdoors approach (rock-climbing, anyone?) or simply enjoy the views from one of eight overlooks at this scenic Alabama park.