Quantum Computing And New Approaches To Artificial Intelligence

Quantum Computing And New Approaches To Artificial Intelligence Could Get The Resources To Achieve Real Breakthroughs In Computing -- Next Big Future

Ramez gives examples and problems to achieving an intelligence explosion

* the complexity of important problems like computational chemistry have exponentially increasing complexity
- if designing intelligence is an N^2 problem, an AI that is 2x as intelligent as the entire team that built it (not just a single human) would be able to design a new AI that is only 70% as intelligent as itself

* There are already entities with vastly greater than human intelligence working on the problem of augmenting their own intelligence. A great many, in fact. We call them corporations. And while we may have a variety of thoughts about them, not one has achieved transcendence.

Let's focus on as a very particular example: The Intel Corporation. Intel uses the collective brainpower of tens of thousands of humans and probably millions of CPU cores to.. design better CPUs! (And also to create better software for designing CPUs.) Those better CPUs will run the better software to make the better next generation of CPUs. Yet that feedback loop has not led to a hard takeoff scenario.

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My Comment: The money for this research is now coming in .... but will the results follow? I guess we will find out in the next fwe years.

Saturn's Moon Enceladus Has A Sea Of Water The Size Of Lake Superior

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

A view of Saturn's fourth-largest moon, Enceladus, as seen from the Cassini spacecraft. Credit NASA

A Moon of Saturn Has A Sea, Scientists Say -- New York Times

Inside a moon of Saturn, beneath its icy veneer and above its rocky core, is a sea of water the size of Lake Superior, scientists announced on Thursday.

The findings, published in the journal Science, confirm what planetary scientists have suspected about the moon, Enceladus, ever since they were astonished in 2005 by photographs showing geysers of ice crystals shooting out of its south pole.

“What we’ve done is put forth a strong case for an ocean,” said David J. Stevenson, a professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology and an author of the Science paper.

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More News On Reports That Saturn's Moon Enceladus Has A Sea Of Water The Size Of Lake Superior

Saturn Moon Harbors Ocean, Raising Possibility of Life -- National Geographic
Liquid Ocean Sloshes under Saturn Moon’s Icy Crust, Cassini Evidence Shows -- Scientific America
Underground Ocean Makes Enceladus A Top Candidate For Extraterrestrial Life -- Science/Wired
Ocean as Large as Lake Superior Found on Enceladus, a Tiny Moon Orbiting Saturn -- Newsweek
NASA Cassini spacecraft finds sign of subsurface sea on Saturn’s moon Enceladus -- Washington Post

Trion SuperCars Wants To Develop The Nemesis, An American Supercar With 2,000hp

Trion SuperCars plans to introduce a prototype for the Nemesis, an American supercar with 2,000hp. Yahoo News

2,000-hp Trion Nemesis Angling To Be America's Next Great Supercar -- Autoblog

You can add one more name to the list of boutique builders hoping to break into the automotive industry. This time it's a California-based outfit called Trion Supercars that is launching the 2,000-horsepower Nemesis. It's supposed to be a driver-oriented sportscar and is aimed at the wealthiest people in the world. At the moment it still only exists in renderings, though.

"We want to be the Nemesis of the Europeans," said company leader Richard Patterson to Autoblog about in the inspiration for the name. The company claims the it's going to be one of the world's fastest cars when it's ready, theoretically packing a twin-turbo V8 with more than 2,000 hp and an eight-speed sequential gearbox. The company believes that its creation could hit 60 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds and reach a top speed of over 270 mph. If that is the case, then it would put the newcomer against the heavyweights like the Hennessey Venom GT and Koenigsegg Agera One:1.

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More News On Trion SuperCars Wanting To Develop The Nemesis, An American Supercar With 2,000hp

US firm developing 2,000hp supercar -- Yahoo News
Trion Supercars Nemesis promises the US a 2000hp street bullet -- Slash Gear
With ‘Predator Mode’ and 2,000 horsepower, Trion’s Nemesis is as mythical as it sounds -- Digital Trends
Trion Nemesis 2,000-hp Super Car Imagined by American Firm -- Motorward
Trion Nemesis Supercar Sports 2,000hp For Top Speed Of Over 270mph -- Geeky Gadgets
The Trion Nemesis Is A Ridiculous 2,000-HP Supercar For Tall People -- Jalopnik

Tesla Motors Wants To Replace Sideview Mirrors With Cameras

Tesla Motors Leads Campaign To Replace Sideview Mirrors With Cameras -- Digital Trends

The car has been around for so long that it’s easy to take things for granted. Things like side mirrors.

Tesla Motors is leading a campaign to replace those reflective pieces of glass with cameras, Automotive News (sub. required) reports.

The Silicon Valley carmaker has teamed up with the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers – a trade group that represents 12 major car companies – to ask the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for its OK.

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More News On Tesla Motors Wanting To Replace Sideview Mirrors With Cameras

Automakers lobbying to replace rearview mirrors with cameras -- FOX News
Tesla, Auto Alliance Submit Proposal to Eliminate Side Mirrors -- Motor Trend
Tesla Wants To Put Side Mirrors In The Rearview Mirror -- Huffington Post
Camera happy auto industry? Tesla, auto makers looking to replace side-view mirrors with cameras -- Tech Times
Tesla Wants to Replace Side-View Mirrors With Cameras -- PC Mag
Tesla behind lobbying push to ditch side mirrors -- Autoblog
Why It’ll Be a While Before We Can Replace Car Mirrors With Cameras -- Damon Lavrinc, Autopia/Wired

Why Do Zebras Have Stripes?

Wikipedia

Why Do Zebras Have Stripes? Scientists Have The Answer -- The Guardian

There have been many explanations for the zebra’s impressive stripes. New research strongly suggests that they have evolved to deter parasitic flies.

The zebra’s striped coat is simultaneously extraordinary and stunning. So wondrous, in fact, that many people have imagined it to be evidence of God’s infinitely artistic hand. Over the years, there have been many more rational explanations, but that all-important scientific consensus has remained elusive.

Charles Darwin certainly found the zebra’s stripes to be a conundrum. In The Descent of Man, he dismissed the idea they could act as camouflage, citing William Burchell’s observations of a herd:

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My Comments: It apparently all comes down to biting flies not liking stripes.

NASA Breaks Contact With Russia's Space Agency Because Of Crimea

Backdropped by Earth, the International Space Station is seen in this image photographed by an STS-130 crew member on space shuttle Endeavour after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative separation, in this undated NASA handout photo. Reuters

NASA Suspends Contact With Russia Over Ukraine Crisis -- The Verge

Work on International Space Station will continue.

Citing Russia’s ongoing violations of Ukraine’s sovereign and territorial integrity, NASA told its officials today that the agency is suspending all contact with Russian government representatives. In an internal NASA memorandum obtained by The Verge, the agency said that the suspension includes travel to Russia, teleconferences, and visits by Russian government officials to NASA facilities. NASA is even suspending the exchange of emails with Russian officials.

Ongoing International Space Station activities are exempt from this suspension, however, as are meetings with other countries held outside of Russia that include the participation of Russian officials. The directives come directly from Michael O'Brien, the agency associate administrator for International and Interagency Relations.

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More News On NASA Breaking Contact With Russia's Space Agency Because Of Ukraine

NASA Internal Memo: Suspension of NASA contact with Russian entities -- Space Ref
NASA cuts ties with Russia except on space station -- AP
NASA halts contact with Russia, except for International Space Station -- CBS News
NASA orders its staff to stop talking to Russia, because Crimea -- Washington Post
NASA Limits Cooperation With Russia -- Voice of America
NASA to suspend almost all ties with Russia, according to leaked internal memo -- Christian Science Monitor
NASA suspends ties with Russian gov't officials over ongoing crisis in Crimea -- FOX News
NASA Suspends Some Ties With Russia Over Ukraine Crisis -- NPR
NASA Breaks Most Contact With Russia -- New York Times
NASA Cuts All Non-ISS Ties with Russia Over Ukraine (Updated) -- Gizmodo
NASA suspends relations with Russia space agency -- UPI
NASA Limits Contact With Russia, Except for Space Station -- NBC
NASA suspends cooperation with Russia over Ukraine crisis -- RT
NASA Suspends Space Contracts With Russia Due To Ukraine Crisis -- Red Orbit
Leaked NASA Memo Says Agency Is Giving Russia the Cold Shoulder -- Time
The U.S.-Russia Fight Has Entered Space -- National Journal
NASA suspends relations with Russia, but Putin holds all the cards -- Peter Spotts, Christian Science Monitor
NASA must immediately cease contact with Russia [Updated at 19:30 CDT] -- Ars Technica
Russia regrets NASA halting cooperation, experts warn of impact on intl space work -- RT

Whale Sets Record For Deepest Ever Dive After It Plunges 9,816ft (2,992 Metres) Below The Waves

A study has revealed that the shy Cuvier's beaked whale performs the deepest dives made by any mammal on the planet at 9,816ft (2,992metres) below the waves - the equivalent of just under seven Empire State Buildings - and stays below for 138 minutes

10,000 FEET Under The Sea: Whale Sets Record For Deepest Ever Dive After It Plunges Seven Empire State Buildings Deep -- Daily Mail

* One Cuvier's beaked whale dived 9,816ft (2,992 metres) below the waves and stayed below for 38 minutes
* The equivalent of 6.75 Empire State Buildings placed on top of one another
* Biologists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California tagged eight of the whales off San Nicholas Island in southern California
* They are interested in whether the whales display unusual behaviour when they hear sonar emitted from ships

Whales are capable of swimming vast distances across oceans, but they are also expert divers.

And now a study has revealed that the shy Cuvier’s beaked whale performs the deepest dives made by any mammal on the planet.

Scientists were surprised to record one of the mammal's dives, which was 9,816ft (2,992 metres) below the waves.

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My Comment: Wow .... I never knew that they can dive that deep and stay underwater for that long.

Why Do The Japanese Wear Surgical Masks?

Why Do Japanese People Wear Surgical Masks? It’s Not Always For Health Reasons -- Rocket News 24

Like kimono and T-shirts with English writing (sometimes vulgar, sometimes comical, always unintelligible), the number of people you’ll see in Japan wearing surgical masks is pretty surprising. Sure, Japan is a hard working society, and the spread of productivity-sapping sickness is always a concern at schools and workplaces, but that doesn’t seem like reason enough for the proliferation of facial coverings that sometimes has Tokyo offices looking more like an operating room.

Health concerns are only part of the equation, though, as recent studies have revealed multiple reasons people in Japan wear masks that have nothing to do with hygiene.

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My Comment: So typically Japanese .... they are being polite and considerate of others.

Pentagon Announces A ‘Super-Soldier’ Serum That Will Grant ‘Significant Boost To Troop Performance’

U.S. Military Perfects ‘Super-Soldier’ Serum That Grants ‘Significant Boost To Troop Performance’ -- Guns.com

U.S. Military scientists in conjunction with the office of the Vice President and Warner Music Group have developed a working “super-soldier” serum that “significantly boosts troop performance.”

While President Obama recently confirmed the military is already “building Iron Man,” (see video below) the revelation that a “super-soldier” serum exists comes as nothing short of a surprise. According to military researchers, Project Perspective began over 70 years ago at the height of WWII, but it was only after combining two never-before-tried elements that the experiment truly began to shine.

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My Comment: OK .... I am two days late with my April Fools joke. :)

Ebola Outbreak Is Spreading In West Africa

Ebola Outbreak Causing Panic In West Africa -- Jennifer Lazuta, Special for USA TODAY

DAKAR, Senegal – The rising death toll and the wide spread of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has sparked fear across the region with at least 80 already having died from the nearly always fatal virus.

"Every day we're reading about it in the newspaper, hearing about it on the radio, and wondering when it's going to come here," said 32-year-old Mossa Bau, who lives in Dakar, Senegal. "Everyone is very scared because, really, it's a dangerous disease and no one has the means to stop it."

The World Health Organization says that as many as 125 people across three countries are now believed to have contracted the highly contagious disease. Senegal shut off its border with Guinea, where the outbreak is believed to have originated, in the hopes of keeping the disease from spreading its way.

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My Comment: This is a nasty disease.

America's Beer Map

Researchers analysed a million tweets to see what people preferred to drink, and found huge differences between the coasts

The East Coast Prefers Bud, While The West Goes For Coors: Beer Maps Of America Reveals Top Tipples (And Finds If You Live Near The Coast, You're Probably Drinking Wine) -- Daily Mail

* Researchers analysed a million tweets to find what beers people were drinking
* Found those living near the coast tend to prefer beer over wine
* Washington, Colorado and California prefer wine, while Midwest, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas prefer beer

The East Coast prefers Bud Light, and those near the coast are more likely to prefer wine over beer, a new study of America's drinking habits has revealed.

Researchers analysed a million tweets to find out which each region prefers.

They found tweet preferences for Bud Light were found mainly in the Eastern half of the US, while preferences for Coors Light originate in the Western half, particularly near Colorado and surrounding states.

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My Comment: I prefer Guinness and Stella Artois.

The Inside Story Of Gmail

Gmail's home page as it looked on March 31, 2004, shortly before the service launched. Skizzers.org

How Gmail Happened: The Inside Story Of Its Launch 10 Years Ago Today -- Time

Google's email breakthrough was almost three years in the making. But it wasn't a given that it would reach the public at all

If you wanted to pick a single date to mark the beginning of the modern era of the web, you could do a lot worse than choosing Thursday, April 1, 2004, the day Gmail launched.

Scuttlebutt that Google was about to offer a free email service had leaked out the day before: Here’s John Markoff of the New York Times reporting on it at the time. But the idea of the search kingpin doing email was still startling, and the alleged storage capacity of 1GB—500 times what Microsoft’s Hotmail offered—seemed downright implausible. So when Google issued a press release date-stamped April 1, an awful lot of people briefly took it to be a really good hoax. (Including me.)

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My Comment: I am still a Hotmail user .... but I also use a GMail account. But if given the choice .... I will take GMail.

Massive 8.2 Magnitude Earthquake Off The Coast Of Chile

A map of the Pacific coast of Chile, where an earthquake was reported on April 1, 2014. Google

8.0 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Off Chile; Tsunami Strikes Coast -- ABC News

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 8.0 has struck off the coast of Chile, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

A tsunami warning was issued following the quake, which was centered 49 miles west-northwest of Iquique, Chile, and was 6.21 miles deep, the USGS said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said a 6-foot tsunami that hit Pisagua, Chile, at 8:04 p.m. ET. No damage assessment has been made at this time.

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More News Of A Massive 8.2 Magnitude Earthquake Off The Coast Of Chile. Tsunami Strikes Coast

Powerful earthquake strikes off Chile: Live Updates -- CNN
Tsunami alert after 8.2 quake strikes off Chile -- BBC
Deadly 8.2 Earthquake Strikes Off Chile Coast, Tsunami Warning Issued -- NBC
Chile earthquake: Massive earthquake causes landslides, tsunami,10 aftershocks -- Christian Science Monitor
8.2 Earthquake Hits Northern Chile, Setting Off Small Tsunami -- Voice of America
2 dead as magnitude-8.2 quake hits northern Chile -- AP
Officials evaluating whether tsunami warning will be issued for Hawaii -- Reuters
As South America Flees, Hawaii Told to Prepare for Tsunami -- NBC
Magnitude-8.2 quake strikes northern Chile -- AP
Massive 8.0 quake off Chile coast sparks tsunami -- Reuters
Magnitude 8.2 Earthquake Strikes Off Coast of Chile -- Time
Powerful quake strikes off Chile; tsunami warning posted -- Time
Tsunami warning after 8.0 quake strikes off Chile -- BBC
Large earthquake strikes off coast of Chile, tsunami warning issued -- New York Daily News
Tsunami Alert Issued After Magnitude 8.0 Quake Off Chile Coast -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Chile earthquake: No tsunami warning for California or West Coast -- L.A. Times
Experts Say Chile Fault Was Due for 'Big One,' But How Big? -- Alan Boyle, NBC

A Yellowstone Volcano Eruption In 2014?

This map from the U.S. Geological Service shows the range of the volcanic ash that was deposited after the biggest of the Yellowstone National Park eruptions around 2.1 million years ago. "These eruptions left behind huge volcanic depressions called “calderas” and spread volcanic ash over large parts of North America," it said. "If another large caldera-forming eruption were to occur at Yellowstone, its effects would be worldwide. Thick ash deposits would bury vast areas of the United States, and injection of huge volumes of volcanic gases into the atmosphere could drastically affect global climate. Fortunately, the Yellowstone volcanic system shows no signs that it is headed toward such an eruption in the near future. In fact, the probability of any such event occurring at Yellowstone within the next few thousand years is exceedingly low."

Yellowstone Volcano Eruption in 2014? Are Animals Fleeing Park As ‘An Alert’? -- Zachary Stieber, Epoch Times

A number of bloggers are posting videos that show bison and other animals allegedly leaving Yellowstone National Park, prompting theories that as earthquakes ramp up the seismic activity will set off the Yellowstone supervolcano.

Two of the main bloggers behind the discussion stress that there’s no way to know when the supervolcano will go off but note that the 4.8 magnitude earthquake that hit on March 30 seemed to set off a reaction from the animals, who are moving for a reason.

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My Comment: Here is an easy prediction .... if such an eruption should occur .... it will be the number one news story for all of us for a very very very long time.

U.S. Air Force's X-37B Breaks It's Own Record After Circling The Earth For 470 Days

Mystery Of The Pentagon’s Space Plane: X-37B Breaks Record After Circling Earth For 470 Days - But Won't Reveal What Mission Was For -- Daily Mail

* Spacecraft taken into orbit on a rocket but lands by gliding down to Earth
* Is the third and longest flight for mission which is shrouded in secrecy
* Some analysts suggest it will help support American soldiers in warzones
* Other rumours are circulating that the craft has been kept in space to spy on the new Chinese space station, Tiangong

A U.S. space plane, shrouded in secrecy, has broken its own longevity record by staying in orbit for more than 469 days.

The flight is the third for the X-37B mystery mission and was launched on December 11, 2012, atop an Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral.

Little is known about the spacecraft, which is taken into orbit on a rocket but lands like the space shuttle by gliding down to Earth.

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More News On The X-37B

Air Force’s X-37B breaks orbit record -- FOX News
Air Force’s X-37B Breaks Orbit Record -- Defense Tech
Pentagon's secret X-37B plane breaks space longevity record -- Space Daily/Voice of Russia
Top secret Pentagon spacecraft stays in orbit over 469 days, breaks longevity record -- Space Daily/Voice of Russia
Report: Air Force’s Unmanned Space Plane Close to 500-Day Orbit Mark -- Executive Gov

A Pill That Helps Adults Learn New Skills As Quickly As Children?

In 2011 thriller Limitless, Bradley Cooper, pictured centre, takes a pill that opens up closed regions of his brain. This boost his intelligence, motor skills and ability to learn new languages

The Real-Life Limitless Pill? Drug Helps Adults Learn As Fast As Children By Making The Brain More 'Elastic' -- Daily Mail

* Donepezil is used to improve memory function in Alzheimer’s patients
* Children learn skills quickly as their brains go through 'critical periods’
* Researchers found donepezil can revert adult brains to these periods
* It increases the 'elasticity' of the brain making it capable of learning rapidly
* Researchers rewired a visually impaired patient’s brain to process images
* The drug works by boosting chemicals in the brain that reduce with age

It may sound like something from 2011 thriller Limitless, but researchers have discovered a pill that helps adults learn new skills as quickly as children.

A professor at Harvard rewired the brain of a visually impaired women to process images by giving her Alzheimer’s drug donepezil.

The pill boosts chemicals in the brain, such as serotonin and acetylcholine, which are both found in high concentrations in the brains of young children.

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My Comment: Faster please. On a side note .... the 2011 thriller Limitless with Bradley Cooper is a great film.

Seven People Hold The Master Keys To Worldwide Internet Security

Meet The Seven People Who Hold The Keys To Worldwide Internet Security -- The Guardian

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction: seven keys, held by individuals from all over the world, that together control security at the core of the web. The reality is rather closer to The Office than The Matrix

In a nondescript industrial estate in El Segundo, a boxy suburb in south-west Los Angeles just a mile or two from LAX international airport, 20 people wait in a windowless canteen for a ceremony to begin. Outside, the sun is shining on an unseasonably warm February day; inside, the only light comes from the glare of halogen bulbs.

There is a strange mix of accents – predominantly American, but smatterings of Swedish, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese can be heard around the room, as men and women (but mostly men) chat over pepperoni pizza and 75-cent vending machine soda. In the corner, an Asteroids arcade machine blares out tinny music and flashing lights.

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My Comment: A fascinating look at the internet that is rarely seen. Hmmmm .... makes you wonder what influence the NSA has in this group.

Knowledge Transfer Between Computers

Researchers had agents -- virtual robots -- act like true student and teacher pairs: student agents struggled to learn Pac-Man and a version of the StarCraft video game. The researchers were able to show that the student agent learned the games and, in fact, surpassed the teacher. Credit: Image courtesy of Washington State University

Knowledge Transfer Between Computers: Computers Teach Each Other Pac-Man -- Science Daily

Researchers in Washington State University's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science have developed a method to allow a computer to give advice and teach skills to another computer in a way that mimics how a real teacher and student might interact.

The paper by Matthew E. Taylor, WSU's Allred Distinguished Professor in Artificial Intelligence, was published online in the journal Connection Science.

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My Comment: Pac-Man today .... who knows what tomorrow.

A 200+ Mile Backpacking Experience Through Yosemite National Park (Video)

My Comment: Beautiful.

Android Has 97 Percent Of Global Mobile Malware

Such mobile market. Very malware. Wow! [Image Source: F-Secure via Forbes]

Android Has 97 Percent Of Mobile Malware, But Nearly None In The U.S. -- Daily Tech

But almost all of that comes from third party apps stores in Asia and the Middle East

Google Inc. (GOOG) has fought the mobile war against Nokia Oyj. (HEX:NOK1V), Apple, Inc. (AAPL), and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) (among others) and it has won -- at least in terms of OS market share.

I. Almost No Android Malware in the U.S.; a Whole Lot in China

Roughly four out of every five devices sold around the globe today run a version of Android. And Android is now the world's largest tablet platform as well, in terms of unit share.

But Android also has a massive malware headache. A new report from Finnish security firm F-Secure claims 97 percent of the fast-growing field of mobile malware is Android exclusive. But here comes the twist -- virtually all of that malware comes from smaller Asian and Middle Eastern third-party app stores. - See more at: http://www.dailytech.com

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My Comment: China and Chinese malware is the problem.