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Updated 2025-06-08 11:45
EFF: Tell Congress that we Can't Afford More Bad Patents
upstart writes:Tell Congress: We Can't Afford More Bad Patents:
Oracle's Larry Ellison Predicts AI Surveillance Society
looorg writes:https://www.businessinsider.com/larry-ellison-ai-surveillance-keep-citizens-on-their-best-behavior-2024-9[paywalled].
In the Beginning, There Was a Theory... JWST Data Supports Big Bang Challengers.
JoeMerchant writes:https://www.earth.com/news/new-observations-disprove-big-bang-theory-universe-began-tired-light-theory/We have been getting stories for a while about how JWST observations don't line up with the current Big Bang timelines. I'm certain there will be "Big Bang Band Aid" theories at least until the current crop of Astrophysicists who built their entire career on the semi-biblical "In the Beginning..." theory of where it all started have, themselves, died off. Meanwhile, there is also never a shortage of contrarian theories out there, and one of them is starting to get some support from the JWST observations of the "deep past" - which, maybe, isn't so deep after all.Current theories for the redshift observed in more distant galaxies rely on the postulate: "photons travel at the speed of light and arrive unchanged at their destination, exactly when they left their source, from their perspective."There are other theories. One, in particular, explains the observed redshifts with the idea that photons "get tired" on their Billions of light year journeys and lose a little frequency / gain a little wavelength along the way. JWST observations that are seeing mature galaxies back at, and before, the previously presumed start of "it all" may align better with the less well developed tiring photon theory than they do with the Big Bang. Not only does the "tired light" theory directly explain red-shift, but the observations of wavelength shift with respect to galactic rotation seem to be lining up better with "tired light" than "Big Bang," too...
Firefighters Use 50,000 Gallons to Battle Electric Vehicle Fire
fliptop writes:A Tesla Semi's fiery crash on California's Interstate 80 turned into a high-stakes firefight, asemergency responders struggled to douse flames ignited by the vehicle's lithium-ion battery pack:
23andMe Proposes $30 Million Payment for Data Breach
fliptop writes:Genetic information and ancestry reports of U.S. citizens were among the information stolen in the cyber attack:
Exploding Pagers: Actual Cyber War?
Pagers kill a dozen, injure thousands... Huh? Pagers?mcgrew writes:If you know what a pager is, you're OLD. Or are a Hezbollah terrorist. According to the Washington Post (paywalled), Wall Street Journal, CNN, and just about every outlet, about a dozen people were killed and thousands reportedly injured.See, kid, back in the stone age we didn't have supercomputers in our pockets acting as telephones, we only had telephones. They were a permanent part of a room. If you weren't home, nobody could call you. But if you were a physician, people need to call you. So they had "pagers", also called "beepers," that alerted you to call the office.They're not supposed to blow up. This is James Bond stuff. Since the Israelis can listen in to every cell phone call in the area, Hezbollah needed a secure way to communicate, so used pagers. But who loaded them with explosives? How? Pagers weren't big, the explosive must be high tech.What was 007's tech guy's name?exploding pagers: actual cyber war?An Anonymous Coward writes:I remember vague stories heard in the 90s about "viruses" that would take over your computer, then spin your hard drive so fast that it broke.
The Commoditization of LLMs
fliptop writes:The availability of large datasets which are used to train LLMs enabled their rapid development. Intense competition among organizations has made open-sourcing LLMs an attractive strategy that's leveled the competitive field:
The Strange Case of the Rogue HP-12c
owl writes:https://dm319.github.io/pages/2024_09_09_hp12_comma.html
‘The Data on Extreme Human Ageing is Rotten From the Inside Out’ – Says Ig Nobel Winner
hubie writes:One of the most recent Ig Nobel winners that caught my eye was: Saul Justin Newman, for detective work in discovering that many of the people famous for having the longest lives lived in places that had lousy birth-and-death recordkeeping. He found that almost all data on the reported oldest people in the world are staggeringly wrong, as high as 82% incorrect, and he says, "If equivalent rates of fake data were discovered in any other field... a major scandal would ensue. In demography, however, such revelations seem to barely mention citation."The Conversation also picked up on this and interviewed him about it:
Europol Gains Access to More Encrypted Communication
looorg writes:The next encrypted phone service have fallen after Encrochat, Sky ECC and Anom. This time it's probably "Ghost".
Emissions-Free Truck Prices Need to Drop by 50% to Compete With Diesel, Study Says
fliptop writes:Prices of emissions-free trucks need to fall by as much as half to make them an affordable alternative to diesel models, a study by consultancy firm McKinsey published on Wednesday said, anecessary step to help achieve European Union climate targets:
Cyber Crooks Shut Down Some US, UK Schools
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Chinese Chipmaker Loongson Claims Their Next Gpu Will Match RTX 2080'S Performance
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Ancient DNA Unveils A Previously Unknown Line Of Neandertals
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
My Dead Father is “Writing” Me Notes Again
Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/09/my-dead-father-is-writing-me-notes-again/
Fake Password Manager Coding Test Used to Hack Python Developers
hubie writes:Members of the North Korean hacker group Lazarus posing as recruiters are baiting Python developers with coding test project:
Professor Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Elsevier, Wiley & Four Other Academic Journal Publishers
McGruber writes:Article: https://dailynous.com/2024/09/13/journal-publishers-sued-on-antitrust-grounds/From Dailynous:
Mobile Phones Are Not Linked to Brain Cancer: WHO Confirms in Major Study
hubie writes:A systematic review into the potential health effects from radio wave exposure has shown mobile phones are not linked to brain cancer:
EU Hits 50Pc Renewable Electricity Milestone
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Unity is Dropping its Unpopular Per-Install Runtime Fee
Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/09/unity-is-dropping-its-unpopular-per-install-runtime-fee/
Texas Startup Keeps Launching Obnoxiously Large Satellites—and Worse is Yet to Come
DannyB writes:Texas Startup Keeps Launching These Obnoxiously Large Satellites-and the Worst Is Yet to ComeFive BlueBird satellites have launched as part of AST SpaceMobile's growing constellation, with even larger ones ahead that may pose a threat to clear night skies.
Is Regulating AI Easier Than You Think ?
AnonTechie writes:
60% of Earth's Food Crops Aren't Being Visited by Enough Pollinators
hubie writes:Some of our favorite food crops around the world aren't reaching their full potential:
2024 Ig-Nobels Announced
Snotnose writes:The ig-nobels for 2024 have been announced. If you don't know what they are:
US Senators Urge Regulators To Probe Potential AI Antitrust Violations
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
PC Floppy Copy Protection: Softguard Superlok
owl writes:https://martypc.blogspot.com/2024/08/pc-floppy-copy-protection-softguard.html
AI Solves the 'Cocktail Party Problem' and Proves Useful in Court
upstart writes:In groups people screen out chatter around them - and now technology can do the same:
Someone Discovered A New Cheat Code For The 27-Year-Old Saturn Port Of Doom
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Music Industry's 1990s Hard Drives, Like All HDDs, Are Dying
Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/09/music-industrys-1990s-hard-drives-like-all-hdds-are-dying/
Ancient People Of Easter Island Made Return Trips To South America
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
A Case Study in Ticketmaster Price Gouging aka Dynamic Pricing
canopic jug writes:Several sites have covered the dynamic pricing scandal concerning Tickemaster's sales of tickets to the Manchester based English rock band Oasis' reunion tour. Aside from the problems of the monopoly maintained by Ticketmaster, and aside from the problem of ticket scalping which is encouraged by Ticketmaster's business model, the dynamic pricing has come across as price gouging and a possible breach of consumer law. The Competition and Markets Authority is now launching an investigation into if or how much Ticketmaster engaged in unfair, prohibited commercial practices.
AMD Silently Launches RX 7800M GPU - Mobile Navi 32 With 12Gb Of VRAM
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
US Wireless Data Usage Hit Record 100 Trillion Megabytes in 2023
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Would You Bet Your Enterprise On Azure Linux?
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Appeals Judge Baffled by X's Loss Over Calif. Moderation Law, Orders Injunction
Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/09/elon-musks-x-wins-appeal-to-block-california-content-moderation-law/
North Korean Threat Actor Citrine Sleet Exploiting Chromium Zero-Day
fliptop writes:On August 19, 2024, Microsoft identified a North Korean threat actor exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in Chromium, now identified as CVE-2024-7971, to gain remote code execution (RCE). We assess with high confidence that the observed exploitation of CVE-2024-7971 can be attributed to a North Korean threat actor targeting the cryptocurrency sector for financial gain:
Elon Musk Gives New Timeline for Humans on Mars Saying When Starship Will Launch
upstart writes:SpaceX founder has said humans will be able to go to Mars in just four years:
Leaked Disney+ Financials May Shed Light on Recent Price Hike
upstart writes:Leaked Disney+ financials may shed light on recent price hike:
A Good Day to Trie-Hard: Saving Compute 1% at a Time
owl writes:https://blog.cloudflare.com/pingora-saving-compute-1-percent-at-a-time/
Rogue WHOIS Server Gives Researcher Superpowers No One Should Ever Have
Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/09/rogue-whois-server-gives-researcher-superpowers-no-one-should-ever-have/
V2X Technology to Become Standard in Most Vehicles
upstart writes:A wider global trend that will see V2X technology become the standard in most vehicles:
Ford Seeks Patent for Tech that Listens to Driver Conversations to Serve Ads
owl writes:https://therecord.media/ford-patent-application-in-vehicle-listening-advertising
Is Accidentally Stumbling Across the Unknown a Key Part of Science?
upstart writes:Is accidentally stumbling across the unknown a key part of science?:
Apple Forced to Pay €13bn in Back Taxes
quietus writes:The European Court of Justice has ruled that Apple has gotten an unfair tax advantage by the Irish tax authorities over the period 1991 to 2014.During this period, Apple only paid taxes in the European Union through 2 subsidiaries in Ireland, Apple Sales International and Apple Operations Europe. Both companies were granted exemption tax rules by the Irish government in 1991 and 2007. As a result of the allocation method endorsed in these tax rulings, Apple only paid an effective corporate tax rate that declined from 1% in 2003 to 0.005% in 2014 on the profits of Apple Sales International.This selective tax treatment of Apple in Ireland is illegal under EU state aid rules, because it gives Apple a significant advantage over other businesses that are subject to the normal national taxation rules, according to the European Commission.After a long legal battle, the European Court of Justice has now ruled that this viewpoint of the Commission is correct, and Apple needs to pay illegal tax benefits worth 13 billion, plus rent, to the Irish authorities.There is no appeal possible to this decision.Original SubmissionRead more of this story at SoylentNews.
Ukrainian Drones Now Spray 2,500°C Thermite Streams Right Into Russian Trenches
Freeman writes:https://arstechnica.com/culture/2024/09/ukrainian-drones-now-spray-2500-c-thermite-streams-right-into-russian-trenches/
Found: 280 Android Apps That Use OCR to Steal Cryptocurrency Credentials
upstart writes:Optical Character Recognition converts passwords shown in images to machine-readable text:
Stellantis Lays Off Thousands of Workers after Pocketing Hundreds of Millions in EV Subsidies
fliptop writes:A multinational automaker prepared to lay off more than 2,000 American workers in August after benefiting handsomely from the Biden administration's subsidies for electric-vehicle production:
WaveCore Runs Right Through a Concrete Wall With Gigabit-Speed Network Signal
upstart writes:Core drilling is tricky. Getting a 6 GHz signal through concrete is now easier.
The Beginnings of FM Radio Broadcasting
owl writes:http://www.theradiohistorian.org/fm/fm.html
Leaving Behind its Crew, Starliner Departs Space Station and Returns to Earth
upstart writes:"We will review the data and determine the next steps for the program," says Boeing's Starliner manager:
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