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Updated 2025-04-30 00:01
A New Kali Linux Archive Signing Key
An Anonymous Coward writes:
AI-Powered, Non-Intrusive Terminal Assistant
Mojibake Tengu writes:Site: https://tmuxai.dev/ Github: https://github.com/alvinunreal/tmuxaiIs it dangerous? Probably. Though, so is everything else in a terminal. Stay safe, do not antagonize LLMs. Be careful about what you ask for.It was inevitably coming. This one is cute:TmuxAI
New Framework Suggests Stars Dissolve Into Neutrons to Forge Heavy Elements
taylorvich writes:https://phys.org/news/2025-04-framework-stars-dissolve-neutrons-forge.html
Differential Equations and Urine
looorg writes:Urinals have had the same or a similar design since its invention or introduction. Sometimes it leaves things to be desired, that or the aim of the people using them. New designs promises to lower water consumption and collect more, or lead to less spillage. By changing the geometry. Lets hope it's not piss-poor-math."Splash-free urinals for global sustainability and accessibility: Design through physics and differential equations "
Ice Age Pyrotechnology: This is How Humans Made Fire Tens of Thousands of Years Ago
upstart writes:Differences between the fireplaces indicate ingenious use:
$8 Billion of US Climate Tech Projects Have Been Canceled So Far in 2025
upstart writes:Battery, solar, and wind projects are getting killed in record numbers:
Everyone Should Stop Working on AI Now
An Anonymous Coward writes:I just saw this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMwjKyAPR34, explaining how the end of the world is coming in 2028 or so. I work for the department of redundancy department, so here's a summary:Investors are throwing a lot of money into AI research. State-level investors, in many cases, are interested in surveillance and efficient warfare. Many experts are saying that humans cannot control a machine more intelligent than themselves. Experts have also outlined a number of "AGI success" scenarios which end with human extinction. The video provides a relatively simple suggestion to circumvent the problem: keep "AI" simple for now, by keeping three properties always separate: "autonomy", "generality" and "intelligence". The video then ends encouraging the spreading of the word, and putting pressure on the EU to act on this (since it seems that the US and China are going to ignore the warnings).In a recent journal entry by AnonTechie https://soylentnews.org/~AnonTechie/journal/19211 [note: I am not AnonTechie] other experts say that we're not on the right path to general AI. I asked there "but why try to make AGI in the first place?". And it's still not clear to me: what advantage does humanity get from "building AGI"? I can certainly see the money that Google, Amazon and Facebook are making from improving their advertisement stuff, and I can certainly see the benefits of improved medical diagnosis, universal translation, and a bunch of other clearly defined use-cases. But why do we need 1 algorithmic/hardware entity that can do everything? Why are the citizens of democracies allowing their governments to put money into "AGI"?For what it's worth, humanity has recent experience with exponential growth (covid), and warnings of a catastrophic future ignored by governments and populations (climate change). We also have experience with a catastrophic future that was avoided (ozone layer survives and it's recovering because of actions taken in the 1980s). In democracies, at least nominally, power is evenly divided between people through the universal vote. How can we convince voters that the rate of progress in AI research is out of control?In the case of ITER (hard theory), the LHC (hard theory and high precision) or LIGO (high precision) there is a human community which can ultimately explain every nut and bolt.
Multi-Microbiome-Mashup
Many of you will recall last week I made a plea for submissions as the subs queue was all but empty. One of our regular contributors did us proud and provided about a dozen stories, some of which you have already seen. But, unusually, they were all connected by a single topic - the gut microbiome.Several of you have made comments that you are aware of the strong link between the microbiome and various medical problems and issues. Rather than drag all the other stories out gradually, I have created a mashup of the remaining stories.There are quite a few..... Thanks c0lo!Gut Microbiome Could Delay Onset of Type 1 DiabetesGut microbiome could delay onset of type 1 diabetes:
Windows 11’s Voice Typing Will Soon Let You Turn Off the ****ing Profanity Filter
hubie writes:Ideal for everyone who likes to throw a few swear words into their sentences:
Fedora Considers Dropping GNOME X11 Session From Repositories
An Anonymous Coward writes:- https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=showheadline&story=19984
9-Mile-Thick Layer of Solid Diamonds May Lurk Beneath Mercury's Surface, Study Hints
upstart writes:9-mile-thick layer of solid diamonds may lurk beneath Mercury's surface, study hints:
XKCD Cartoon Protest
Arthur Wellesley writes:The XKCD cartoon 'PhD Timeline' ( https://xkcd.com/3081/ ) with its rollover, protests.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.
The EU is Implementing Energy Labels and Minimum Requirements for Phones and Tablets
hubie writes:Energy labelling and ecodesign requirements will apply to these products from June 2025:
NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Images Asteroid Donaldjohanson
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Post-Quantum Crypto: McEliece Standardization
canopic jug writes:Mathematician, cryptologist, and computer scientist, Daniel J Bernstein has written a detailed blog post about the McEliece cryptosystem. Specifically he covers what Classic McEliece does , how the parameter sets were selected, its small ciphertexts, what NIST says about ISO standardization. what NIST says about deployment, a note about one performance number, a second note about FrodoKEM, and finally what NIST says about security.
Kennedy Promises Studies Using Private Health Data to Identify Factors That May Cause Autism
upstart writes:Kennedy promises exhaustive studies to identify any environmental factors that may cause autismKennedy promises exhaustive studies to identify any environmental factors that may cause autism:
First Confirmed Footage of a Colossal Squid
upstart writes:One hundred years after its discovery, the colossal squid has been filmed alive in its environment for the first time:
The History of Timekeeping
canopic jug writes:SparkFun Electronics, known for open source designs and software libraries, has an article covering the history of time keeping, from the earliest archeological evidence like sundials and water clocks, through mechanical clocks, to the latest standards like Cesium-133 atomic clocks.
Drawing a Line From the Gut Microbiome to Inflammation and Depression
upstart writes:Study provides explanation for one bacterium's link to mental health:
German Team Demonstrates Quantum Communication Over an Existing 254km Fibre Optic Network
aliks writes:The story itself is interesting as quantum messaging over existing networks dramatically reduces costs, but I wanted to compare how different sources report the story.The story caught my eye on phys.org where you get a short but reasonable summary with pictures. Maybe phys.org used AI to generate this summary?scienmag.com has a longer summary with more detail and commentary on why the story is significant.The original story is reported in Nature, with more detail and dense technical language.First off we have phys.org: Quantum messages travel 254 km using existing infrastructure for the first time
Matter Mediates Ultrastrong Coupling Between Light Particles
A team of researchers has developed a new way to control light interactions using a specially engineered structure called a 3D photonic-crystal cavity that could enable transformative advancements in quantum computing, quantum communication and other quantum-based technologies.
First SD Express 8.0 Memory Card From Adata Hits 1.6 GB/s Read Speeds
upstart writes:Those are large numbers for an SD card:
Harvard Stands Up for the First Amendment
canopic jug writes:Harvard University is pushing back via a lawsuit against micromanagement and censorship attempts emanating from the White House.
Out-of-Balance Bacteria is Linked to Multiple Sclerosis − the Ratio Can Predict Severity of Disease
upstart writes:Out-of-balance bacteria is linked to multiple sclerosis - the ratio can predict severity of disease:
4chan May be Dead, but its Toxic Legacy Lives on
Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/04/4chan-may-be-dead-but-its-toxic-legacy-lives-on/
Crosswalk Button Voices Altered
An Anonymous Coward writes:https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/19/us_crosswalk_button_hacking/Some pranksters altered the voices on crosswalk buttons in some US cities. The hardware had a control app available on Google Play and Apple App Store along with a listed default PIN of 1234.
C64 Demo Using Audio for Video and Vice Versa
coolgopher writes:http://www.quiss.org/signal_carnival/
Open Home passes 2 million homes equipped
JoeMerchant writes:
Sophisticated Gmail Attack Highlights Dangers of Trusting Big Tech with Personal Data
fliptop writes:The scam exploited a Google Sites vulnerability, tricking users with convincing fake emails:
World's First Drone System for Fighting Lightning Protects Cities and Infrastructure
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Lone Black Hole Discovered
turgid writes:At phys.org there is an article about a lone black hole discovered by astronomers at the University of St Andrews.Lone black holes are very rare, and the discovery was challenged, since lone neutron stars are far more common but subsequent observations confirm the lone black hole moving through the constellation Sagittarius.
Hosting a Blog on a Nintendo Wii
coolgopher writes:https://blog.infected.systems/posts/2025-04-21-this-blog-is-hosted-on-a-nintendo-wii/
Laser Stimulation of Photoreceptors Reveals New Colors
Booga1 writes:Researchers explored a new range of colors using a different kind of laser vision. Direct laser stimulation of individual photoreceptors:
ChatGPT is Now a Potent Tool for Finding the Locations of Photos, Raising Doxxing Concerns
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Major Blow For Cheap Handhelds As Anbernic No Longer Ships To The US
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Cancer-Causing Arsenic is Building Up in the World's Rice
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
CA/Browser Forum Votes to Reduce the Maximum Validity Term of SSL/TLS Certs to 47 Days by 2029
aliks writes:The stated aim is to promote better security by encouraging automation of certificate renewal, and this is the narrative promoted by vendors who will coincidentally benefit mightily from increased certificate and services sales.The story was picked up by most of the usual tech channels such as Computerworldhttps://www.computerworld.com/article/3960658/vendors-vote-to-radically-slash-website-certificate-duration.htmlwho have a decent summary of the likely consequences, but here is an exercept from the press release of one vendor: Sectigohttps://www.sectigo.com/resource-library/sectigo-cab-reduce-ssl-tls-certificates-lifespan-47-daysScottsdale, AZ - April 14, 2025 - Sectigo, a global leader in digital certificates and automated Certificate Lifecycle Management (CLM), today announced that the CA/Browser (CA/B) Forum ballot it endorsed to reduce the maximum validity term of SSL/TLS certificates to 47 days by 2029 has passed. This groundbreaking move to shorten digital certificate lifespans seeks to enhance online security, drive automation in certificate management, and ready systems for quantum computing challenges by improving crypto agility.The newly approved measure, initially proposed by Apple and endorsed by Sectigo in January 2025, will gradually reduce certificate lifespans from the current 398 days to 47 days through a phased approach:March 15, 2026: Maximum TLS certificate lifespan shrinks to 200 days. This accommodates a six-month renewal cadence. The Domain Control Validation (DCV) reuse period reduces to 200 days.
Tesla Accused of Speeding Up Odometers So Their Warranties Expire Faster
upstart writes:Tesla Accused Of Speeding Up Odometers So Their Warranties Expire Faster:
Oldest Serving US Astronaut Returns to Earth on 70th Birthday
upstart writes:Oldest serving US astronaut returns to Earth on 70th birthday:
Scientists Can Tell Healthy And Cancerous Cells Apart By How They Move
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
"Only 2 submissions in the queue."
Submissions - we need them pleaseThat says it all, really.ImportantNote:
Jim Zemlin on Taking a 'Portfolio Approach' to Linux Foundation Projects
upstart writes:Jim Zemlin on taking a 'portfolio approach' to Linux Foundation projects:
Deepseek Open Source model Promotes Fast Innovation and Extensive Application in China
aliks writes:Glyn Moody writing for the techdirt.com site has a good summary of the status of Deepseek - with an added bonus of lots of links to his source material. Longish article, covering a lot of ground including usage of AI for social surveillance by the Chinese governmenthttps://www.techdirt.com/2025/04/14/deepseek-is-already-being-applied-widely-across-chinas-industries-and-used-for-government-surveillance-and-propaganda/
The Universe Isn't Just Expanding—It May be Spinning
AnonTechie writes:
Google Introduces Firebase Studio, an End-to-End Platform That Builds Custom Apps in-Browser
upstart writes:Google introduces Firebase Studio, an end-to-end platform that builds custom apps in-browser, in minutes:
Pope Francis Has Died on Easter Monday Aged 88
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2025-04/pope-francis-dies-on-easter-monday-aged-88.htmlPope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican's Casa Santa Marta.Read more of this story at SoylentNews.
Intel Agrees to Sell Controlling Stake in Altera Chip Business
upstart writes:Intel agrees to sell controlling stake in Altera chip business:
Google Has Illegal Advertising Monopoly, Judge Rules
upstart writes:Google has illegal advertising monopoly, judge rules:
Astronomers Say They’ve Recorded the Strongest Sign Yet of Life Beyond Earth
AnonTechie writes:
Some Tropical Trees Act as Lightning Rods to Fend Off Rivals
upstart writes:Taking a jolt of lightning also kills parasitic vines:
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