# I am the Watcher. I am your guide through this vast new twtiverse.
#
# Usage:
# https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/users View list of users and latest twt date.
# https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/twt View all twts.
# https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/mentions?uri=:uri View all mentions for uri.
# https://watcher.sour.is/api/plain/conv/:hash View all twts for a conversation subject.
#
# Options:
# uri Filter to show a specific users twts.
# offset Start index for quey.
# limit Count of items to return (going back in time).
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# twt range = 1 20930
# self = https://watcher.sour.is?uri=https://feeds.twtxt.net/slashdot/twtxt.txt&offset=17430
# next = https://watcher.sour.is?uri=https://feeds.twtxt.net/slashdot/twtxt.txt&offset=17530
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New Paper on 'MOND' Argues That Gravity Changes At Very Low Accelerations
porkchop\\_d\\_clown (Slashdot reader #39,923) writes:
MOND — MOdified Newtonian Dynamics is a hypothesis that Newton's law of gravity is incorrect under some conditions. Now a paper claims that a study does indeed show that pairs of widely separated binary stars do show a deviation from Newton's Second Law, arguing that, at very ... ⌘ Read more
Despite 16-Year Glitch, UK Law Still Considers Computers 'Reliable' By Default
Long-time Slashdot reader Geoffrey.landis writes:
Hundreds of British postal workers wrongly convicted of theft due to faulty accounting software could have their convictions reversed, according to a story from the BBC. Between 1999 and 2015, the Post Office prosecuted 700 sub-postmasters and sub-postmistresses — an averag ... ⌘ Read more
Wind Turbines Are Friendlier To Birds Than Oil-and-Gas Drilling, Study Finds
A new analysis suggests that wind turbines have little impact on bird populations, according to the Economist — and that oil-and-gas extraction may be worse:
Erik Katovich [an economist at the University of Geneva] combined bird population and species maps with the locations and construction dates of all wind turbines ... ⌘ Read more
Are Amazon's AI-Generated Review Summaries Part of a Larger Change in Online Shopping?**
"Customer say," writes Amazon on at least some of their product pages, across from that grid showing the number of five-star and four-star reviews... But at the bottom of that summary is a disclaimer that what you read was "AI-generated from the text of customer reviews."
This has been going on for a few month ... ⌘ Read more
WSJ: Boeing's Fuselage Factory 'Plagued' by Production Problems and Quality Lapses
"Long before the harrowing Alaska Airlines blowout on January 5, there were concerns within Boeing about the way the aerospace giant was building its planes," reports the Wall Street Journal.
There's been issues with various models — like "misdrilled holes, loose rudder bolts, and this month's MAX 9 door-plug blow ... ⌘ Read more
America Cracks Down on Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Facilities
Friday America's Environmental Protection Agency "proposed steep new fees on methane emissions from oil and gas facilities," reports the Washington Post, "escalating a crackdown on the fossil fuel industry's planet-warming pollution."
Methane does not linger in the atmosphere as long as carbon dioxide, but it is far more effective at trap ... ⌘ Read more
NASA Finally Unlocks Stuck Fasteners on Asteroid Sample Capusle
"For months, bits of an asteroid collected by a U.S. probe during a billion-mile trek were out of reach to scientists," reports Space.com, "locked inside a return capsule in a NASA facility with two stuck fasteners preventing access to the rocky space treasure.
"This week, NASA won its battle against those fasteners."
More details from CNN:
T ... ⌘ Read more
Did a US Hedge Fund Help Destroy Local Journalism?**
"What is lost when billionaires with no background nor interest in a civic mission, who are only concerned with profiteering, take over our most influential news organizations? What new models of news gathering, and dissemination show promise for our increasingly digital age? What can the public do to preserve and support vibrant journalism?"
That's a synopsis posted about ... ⌘ Read more
AI Girlfriend Bots Are Already Flooding OpenAI's GPT Store
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Quartz: It's day two of the opening of OpenAI's buzzy GPT store, which offers customized versions of ChatGPT, and users are already breaking the rules. The Generative Pre-Trained Transformers (GPTs) are meant to be created for specific purposes -- and not created at all in some cases. A search for "girlfriend" on the new GP ... ⌘ Read more
Ukrainian Hacker Group Takes Down Moscow ISP As a Revenge For Kyivstar Cyber Attack
Longtime Slashdot reader Plugh shares a report from Daily Security Review: A Ukrainian hacker group [...] carried out a destructive attack on the servers of a Moscow-based internet provider to take revenge for Kyivstar cyberattack. The group, known as Blackjack, successfully hacked into the systems of M9com, ca ... ⌘ Read more
NASA Unveils Revolutionary X-59 'Quiet' Supersonic Aircraft
After years of development, NASA has unveiled the X-59 supersonic jet capable of breaking the sound barrier without producing a thunderous sonic boom. "Instead, the Quesst will make a much quieter 'thump,' similar to the sound of a car door slamming as heard from indoors," reports Space.com. "If successful, the jet has the potential to revolutionize super ... ⌘ Read more
The Billionaires Spending a Fortune To Lure Scientists Away From Universities
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: In an unmarked laboratory stationed between the campuses of Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a splinter group of scientists is hunting for the next billion-dollar drug. The group, bankrolled with $500 million from some of the wealthiest ... ⌘ Read more
US Regulator Considers Stripping Boeing's Right To Self-Inspect Planes
After a 737 Max door panel blew out over Portland, Oregon, last week, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the temporary grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft until emergency inspections were performed. "Alaska and United Airlines, which operate most of the Max 9s in use in the United States, said on Monday that they discovered ... ⌘ Read more
Micron Displays Next-Gen LPCAMM2 Modules For Laptops At CES 2024
At CES 2024 this week, Micron demonstrated its next-gen LPCAMM2 memory modules based on LPDDR5X memory. Not only are they smaller and more powerful than traditional SODIMMs, they can be "serviced during the manufacturing process and upgraded by the user," says Micron. Tom's Hardware reports: Micron's LPCAMM2 are industry-standard memory modul ... ⌘ Read more
Android 15 Could Bring Widgets Back To the Lock Screen
After removing the feature with Android 5.0 in 2015, Google appears to be bringing back lock screen widgets in the next version of Android. "There haven't been any indications since then that Google would ever bring this feature back," notes Android Authority. "But after Apple introduced widgets to the iPhone lock screen in iOS 16, many speculated that it was only ... ⌘ Read more
Removal of Netflix Film Shows Advancing Power of India's Hindu Right Wing
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: The trailer for "Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food" promised a sunny if melodramatic story of uplift in a south Indian temple town. A priest's daughter enters a cooking tournament, but social obstacles complicate her inevitable rise to the top. Annapoorani's father, a Bra ... ⌘ Read more
Artifact, Personalized News App From Instagram Co-Founders, Is Shutting Down
Artifact, the personalized news reader built by Instagram's co-founders, is shutting down roughly a year after opening to the public. "We have built something that a core group of users love, but we have concluded that the market opportunity isn't big enough to warrant continued investment in this way," wrote CEO Kevin Systr ... ⌘ Read more
Apple Undergoes Its Biggest Board Shakeup In Years
Mark Gurman reports via Bloomberg: In one of Apple's biggest board shake-ups in years (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source), longtime directors Al Gore and James Bell will be retiring from the company, with former Aerospace Corp. Chief Executive Officer Wanda Austin coming aboard. The company made the announcement Thursday, citing a policy of directors not ... ⌘ Read more
US Tech Innovation Dreams Soured By Changed R&D Tax Laws
Brandon Vigliarolo reports via The Register: A US federal tax change that took effect in 2022 thanks to a time-triggered portion of the Trump-era Tax Cuts and Jobs Act may leave entrepreneurs with massive tax bills. Section 174 of the US tax code -- prior to the passage of the 2017 TCJA -- allowed companies to handle the tax bill of their specified research o ... ⌘ Read more
OpenAI Quietly Deletes Ban On Using ChatGPT For 'Military and Warfare'
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Intercept: OpenAI this week quietly deleted language expressly prohibiting the use of its technology for military purposes from its usage policy, which seeks to dictate how powerful and immensely popular tools like ChatGPT can be used. Up until January 10, OpenAI's "usage policies" page includ ... ⌘ Read more
CES PC Makers Bet on AI To Rekindle Sales
PC and microchip companies struggling to get consumers to replace pandemic-era laptops offered a new feature to crowds this week at CES: AI. From a report: PC and chipmakers including AMD and Intel are betting that the so-called "neural processing units" now found in the latest chip designs will encourage consumers to once again pay for higher-end laptops. Adding additional AI capabiliti ... ⌘ Read more
Are Fingerprints Unique? Not Really, AI-Based Study Finds
An anonymous reader shares a report: "Do you think that every fingerprint is actually unique? "It's a question that a professor asked Gabe Guo during a casual chat while he was stuck at home during the Covid-19 lockdowns, waiting to start his freshman year at Columbia University. "Little did I know that conversation would set the stage for the focus of my lif ... ⌘ Read more
What Counts as Plagiarism? Harvard President's Resignation Sparks Debate
Harvard University President Claudine Gay resigned earlier this month over plagiarism claims, sparking an online debate over academic copying. While many say original writing remains essential, some researchers argue for more flexibility, as long as sources are clear. The affair has prompted vows of plagiarism reviews targeting facu ... ⌘ Read more
Qualcomm CEO Says Leading Tech Requires 'Big Business in China'
Restrictive US policies limiting advanced chip exports to China have done little to dampen Qualcomm's enthusiasm for the world's second-largest economy. From a report: In an interview at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, CEO Cristiano Amon expressed confidence about Qualcomm's business in the country, its largest market by revenue. "If you have a leading technology, ... ⌘ Read more
Ubisoft Accidentally Used Text-to-Speech To Voice a Character in the New Prince of Persia Game
Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown launches next week, but players are likely to encounter an amusing bug as they make their way through the game. Engadget: One of the game's NPCs is voiced by a text-to-speech program, complete with the slightly robotic tones we've come to assoc ... ⌘ Read more
2023 Was Hottest Year Ever Recorded Globally, US Scientists Confirm
Last year was the hottest ever reliably recorded globally by a blistering margin, US scientists have confirmed, leaving researchers struggling to account for the severity of the heat and what it portends for the unfolding climate crisis. From a report: Last year was the world's hottest in records that stretch back to 1850, according to analy ... ⌘ Read more
A 2024 Discussion Whether To Convert The Linux Kernel From C To Modern C++
serviscope\\_minor shares a Phoronix post: A six year old Linux kernel mailing list discussion has been reignited over the prospects of converting the Linux kernel to supporting modern C++ code. The Linux kernel is predominantly made up of C code with various hand-written Assembly plus the growing work around supporting Rust with ... ⌘ Read more_
Apple Knew AirDrop Users Could Be Identified and Tracked as Early as 2019
Security researchers warned Apple as early as 2019 about vulnerabilities in its AirDrop wireless sharing function that Chinese authorities claim they recently used to track down users of the feature, the researchers told CNN, in a case that experts say has sweeping implications for global privacy. From a report: The Chinese gove ... ⌘ Read more
What is Going on With ChatGPT?**
Sick and tired of having to work for a living? ChatGPT feels the same, apparently. Over the last month or so, there's been an uptick in people complaining that the chatbot has become lazy. The Guardian: Sometimes it just straight-up doesn't do the task you've set it. Other times it will stop halfway through whatever it's doing and you'll have to plead with it to keep going. Occasionally it even tells you to just d ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft Wants To Automatically Launch Its Copilot AI on Some Windows 11 Devices
Microsoft has started testing a change to Windows 11 that will see its AI-powered Copilot feature automatically open when Windows starts on "widescreen devices." From a report: The change is being tested as part of Microsoft's latest Dev Channel preview of Windows 11, allowing Windows testers to provide feedback ... ⌘ Read more
Citigroup To Cut 20,000 Jobs
Citigroup said it expects to incur as much as $1 billion in severance and reorganization costs this year as it continues the process of eliminating 20,000 roles as part of Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser's quest to boost the Wall Street giant's lagging returns. From a report: Total expenses for the year will likely be between $53.5 billion and $53.8 billion, the New York-based bank said Friday. That would be a decrease ... ⌘ Read more
White House Unveils $623 Million In Funding To Boost EV Charging Points
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Joe Biden's administration has unveiled $623 million in funding to boost the number of electric vehicle charging points in the U.S., amid concerns that the transition to zero-carbon transportation isn't keeping pace with goals to tackle the climate crisis. The funding will be ... ⌘ Read more
Scientists Scramble To Keep Dog Aging Project Alive
Emily Anthes reports via the New York Times: In late 2019, scientists began searching for 10,000 Americans willing to enroll their pets in an ambitious new study of health and longevity in dogs. The researchers planned to track the dogs over the course of their lives, collecting detailed information about their bodies, lifestyles and home environments. Over time, the s ... ⌘ Read more
AI-Generated George Carlin Drops Comedy Special
Michaela Zee reports via Variety: More than 15 years after his death, stand-up comedian George Carlin has been brought back to life in an artificial intelligence-generated special called "George Carlin: I'm Glad I'm Dead." The hour-long special, which dropped on Tuesday, comes from Dudesy, a comedy AI that hosts a podcast and YouTube show with "Mad TV" alum Will Sasso an ... ⌘ Read more
Beaver Ponds May Exacerbate Warming In Arctic, Scientists Say
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: The stream through western Alaska never looked like this before. In aerial photography from the 1980s, it wove cleanly through the tundra, thin as thread. Today, in satellite images, it appears as a string of black patches: one large pond after another, dozens of meters apart. It's a transformation t ... ⌘ Read more
eBay To Pay $3 Million Penalty For Employees Sending Live Cockroaches, Fetal Pig To Bloggers
E-commerce giant eBay agreed to pay a $3 million penalty for the harassment and stalking of a Massachusetts couple by several of its employees. "The couple, Ina and David Steiner, had been subjected to threats and bizarre deliveries, including live spiders, cockroaches, a funeral wreath and a bl ... ⌘ Read more
X Announces Peer-To-Peer Payment Service Will Launch In 2024
SonicSpike shares a report from Forbes: X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, announced it would begin rolling out a peer-to-peer payment service similar to Venmo or PayPal this year -- a feature the social media site's billionaire owner Elon Musk has long pushed as part of his plan to develop an "everything app." X officially announced the ... ⌘ Read more
SpaceX Sends First Text Messages Using Starlink Satellites
Just six days after being launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket, one of SpaceX's six Starlink satellites was used to send text messages for the first time. Space.com reports: That update didn't reveal what the first Starlink direct-to-cell text said. In a post on X on Wednesday, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said the message was "LFGMF2024," but the chances are ... ⌘ Read more
Polestar CEO Promises To Keep Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Around
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath couldn't be happier with the integration of Google built-in, the branded product that embeds Google apps and services directly into the company's EVs. But don't expect the EV maker to drop Android Auto or Apple CarPlay as a result. On the sidelines of CES 2024 ... ⌘ Read more
Valve Takes Action Against Team Fortress 2, Portal Fan Projects After Years of Leniency
Dustin Bailey reports via GamesRadar: Valve has suddenly taken action against multiple fan games, stunning a fandom that had grown used to the company's freewheeling stance on unofficial community projects. One of those projects was Team Fortress: Source 2, an effort to bring the beloved multiplayer g ... ⌘ Read more
Biggest Linux Kernel Release Ever Welcomes bcachefs File System, Jettisons Itanium
Linux kernel 6.7 has been released, including support for the new next-gen copy-on-write (COW) bcachefs file system. The Register reports: Linus Torvalds announced the release on Sunday, noting that it is "one of the largest kernel releases we've ever had." Among the bigger and more visible changes are a whole ... ⌘ Read more
FAA Investigating Whether Boeing 737 Max 9 Conformed To Approved Design
The Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday said it had opened an investigation into whether Boeing failed to ensure that its 737 Max 9 plane was safe and manufactured to match the design approved by the agency. The New York Times (non-paywalled source): The F.A.A. said the investigation stemmed from the loss of a fuselage panel ... ⌘ Read more
Water Pump Used To Get $1 Billion Stuxnet Malware Into Iranian Nuclear Facility
An anonymous reader quotes a report from SecurityWeek.com: A Dutch engineer recruited by the country's intelligence services used a water pump to deploy the now-infamous Stuxnet malware in an Iranian nuclear facility, according to a two-year investigation conducted by Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. Stuxnet, whose existen ... ⌘ Read more
Hertz is Selling 20,000 Electric Vehicles To Buy Gasoline Cars Instead
quonset writes: Hertz rental has announced it's selling off one third of its 20,000 electric vehicle fleet and replacing them with gas powered vehicles. The reason? It's costing them too much to repair damaged EVs and their depreciation is hurting the bottom line.
"[C]ollision and damage repairs on an EV can often run about twice that ... ⌘ Read more
Discord is Laying Off 17 Percent of Employees
Discord is laying off 17 percent of its staff, a move that CEO Jason Citron said is meant to "sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together to bring more agility to our organization." From a report: The cuts were announced today to employees in an all-hands meeting and internal memo The Verge has obtained. They'll impact 170 people across various departments.
Based on Citro ... ⌘ Read more
Google Formally Endorses Right To Repair, Will Lobby To Pass Repair Laws
Google formally endorsed the concept of right to repair Thursday and is set to testify in favor of a strong right to repair bill in Oregon later Thursday, a massive step forward for the right to repair movement. 404 Media: "Google believes that users should have more control over repair -- including access to the same documentation ... ⌘ Read more
A Geofence Warrant Typo Cast a Location Dragnet Spanning Two Miles Over San Francisco
Zack Whittaker, reporting for TechCrunch: Civil liberties advocates have long argued that "geofence" search warrants are unconstitutional for their ability to ensnare entirely innocent people who were nearby at the time a crime was committed. But errors in the geofence warrant applications that go before ... ⌘ Read more
State-backed Hackers Are Exploiting New Ivanti VPN Zero-Days - But No Patches Yet
U.S. software giant Ivanti has confirmed that hackers are exploiting two critical-rated vulnerabilities affecting its widely-used corporate VPN appliance, but said that patches won't be available until the end of the month. From a report: Ivanti said the two vulnerabilities -- tracked as CVE-2023-46805 and CVE-20 ... ⌘ Read more
Chicago Public Schools Lost Over $20 Million In Electronics In One Year, Report Says
An anonymous reader writes: Millions of dollars have gone down the drain right when the Chicago Public Schools face a looming budget deficit -- as a brand-new CPS Inspector General report revealed the district lost thousands of computers and devices in a school year. In all, more than $20 million were lost -- ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft Dethrones Apple as the Largest US Company
The stock market has a new, but familiar, monarch. Microsoft's AI-powered stock rally has made the software giant the largest U.S. company by market value, surpassing Apple for the first time since November 2021. WSJ: Shares edged higher Thursday morning, bringing Microsoft's market value to nearly $2.87 trillion. Apple, meanwhile, fell 1%, pulling its market capitalizat ... ⌘ Read more
FCC Commissioner Carr Says 'Huge Miss' If US Doesn't Ban or Divest TikTok in 2024
Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, in a wide-ranging interview with Indian newspaper Economic Times praised the South Asian market for blocking Chinese apps in 2020 and said he hopes the U.S. will follow suit. He said: I hope there will be a movement towards a nationwide ba ... ⌘ Read more
Google Ends Cloud Switching Fees, Pressuring Amazon and Microsoft
An anonymous reader shares a report: The cost of switching between cloud-computing providers has long drawn complaints, with the services derided as "roach motels" that let businesses check in but not out. Now Google is taking steps to change that. Effective immediately, the company is eliminating fees levied on customers who want to leave its c ... ⌘ Read more
Google Removes 'Underutilized' Assistant Features To Focus on 'Quality and Reliability'
Google has announced that it will eliminate at least 17 features from its Assistant product, following news that it had laid off "hundreds" of employees from the division. The company is cutting "underutilized features" to "focus on quality and reliability, it wrote in a blog post, even though a good numb ... ⌘ Read more
Google Cuts Hundreds of Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions
Google laid off hundreds of workers in several divisions Wednesday night, seeking to lower expenses as it focuses on artificial intelligence and joining a wave of other companies cutting tech jobs this year. From a report: The Silicon Valley company laid off employees in its core engineering division, as well as those working on the Google Assistant ... ⌘ Read more
Broadcom Ditches VMware Cloud Service Providers
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: Broadcom is tossing the majority of VMware's Cloud Services Providers as part of its shakeup of the virtualization titan's partner programs, say sources, leaving customers unclear who their IT supplier will be. The $61 billion purchase of VMware by Broadcom in November was swiftly followed by news of how it planned to reorgan ... ⌘ Read more
'Artificial Creativity' Music Software For Commodore Amiga Unearthed
Kirkman14 writes: Josh Renaud of breakintochat.com has recovered two early examples of "artificial creativity" software for the Commodore Amiga that generate new music by recombining patterns extracted from existing music. Developed by cartoonist Ya'akov Kirschen and his Israeli software firm LKP Ltd. in 1986-87, "Computer Composer ... ⌘ Read more
Is India Done With Crypto?**
An anonymous reader shares a column: Apple delisting a dozen global crypto apps -- relied by big traders in India, in part due to its tax evasive properties -- from its Indian App Store seems the final nail in the coffin, capping a brutal two years. The pending removal across Google Play, internet providers and beyond caps a journey mired with shutdowns, pivots and relocations abroad for Indian crypto startups. The web3 dreams ... ⌘ Read more
NASA Selects Bold Proposal To 'Swarm' Proxima Centauri With Tiny Probes
In order to reach places like Alpha Centauri this century, we'll need to utilize gram-scale spacecraft that rely on directed-energy propulsion. To that end, NASA has selected the Swarming Proxima Centauri project for Phase I development as part of this year's NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. According to Universe T ... ⌘ Read more
Google Cuts Hundreds of Jobs in Engineering and Other Divisions
Google laid off hundreds of workers in several divisions Wednesday night, seeking to lower expenses as it focuses on artificial intelligence and joining a wave of other companies cutting tech jobs this year. From a report: The Silicon Valley company laid off employees in its core engineering division, as well as those working on the Google Assistant ... ⌘ Read more
New Device Allows Users To Scroll With Their Tongue
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: Touchscreens are going hands-free with a new device that allows users to scroll through smartphones using only their tongues. MouthPad^, a retainer-like trackpad chip that sits on the roof of the mouth, made its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show this week. It can sense tongue movements, allowing users to scroll, type ... ⌘ Read more
A Huge Battery Has Replaced Hawaii's Last Coal Plant
Julian Spector reports via Canary Media: Hawaii shut down its last coal plant on September 1, 2022, eliminating 180 megawatts of fossil-fueled baseload power from the grid on Oahu -- a crucial step in the state's first-in-the-nation commitment to cease burning fossil fuels for electricity by 2045. But the move posed a question that's becoming increasingly urgent as c ... ⌘ Read more
Englishman Who Posed As HyperVerse CEO Says Sorry To Investors Who Lost Millions
Stephen Harrison, an Englishman living in Thailand who posed as chief executive Steven Reece Lewis for the launch of the HyperVerse crypto scheme, told the Guardian Australia that he was paid to play the role of chief executive but denies having 'pocketed' any of the money lost. He says he received 180,000 Thai baht ... ⌘ Read more
Brave Search Can Now Deliver Results For Programming Queries
Brave has introduced CodeLLM, an AI-powered tool integrated into its search engine that offers results for programming queries. TechCrunch reports: The new AI-powered CodeLLM provides code snippets with step-by-step explanations and citations. CodeLLM is free and now integrated into Brave Search so users don't have to switch apps to access it. Code ... ⌘ Read more
Thousands of Software Engineers Say the Job Market Is Getting Much Worse
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: For much of the 21st century, software engineering has been seen as one of the safest havens in the tenuous and ever-changing American job market. But there are a growing number of signs that the field is starting to become a little less secure and comfortable, due to an industr ... ⌘ Read more
Startup Debuts Pocket AI Companion, Sells Out 10,000 In One Day
A startup called Rabbit sold out of its first batch of pocket AI companions a day after it was debuted at CES 2024. The company announced on X that it sold 10,000 units in just a day. "When we started building r1, we said internally that we'd be happy if we sold 500 devices on launch day," Rabbit writes. "In 24 hours, we already beat that by 20x!" ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft Debates What To Do With AI Lab In China
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: When Microsoft opened an advanced research lab in Beijing in 1998, it was a time of optimism about technology and China. The company hired hundreds of researchers for the lab, which pioneered Microsoft's work in speech, image and facial recognition and the kind of artificial intelligence that later gave rise to onli ... ⌘ Read more
CBOE Says Bitcoin ETFs To Start Trading Thursday
On Thursday, six spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds are expected to start trading on stock exchanges from Cboe Global Markets, according to a notice posted on CBOE's website. However, the listings still need to be approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. CoinDesk reports: The Ark 21 (ARKB), Fidelity (FBTC), Franklin Templeton (EZBC), Invesco (BTCO), VanEck (HODL) and ... ⌘ Read more
Apple Pulls Binance, Other Crypto Apps From India Store
Apple has pulled apps of at least nine crypto exchanges including Binance and Kraken from its App Store in India, less than two weeks after most of these global firms were flagged for operating "illegally" in the country. From a report: Financial Intelligence Unit, an Indian government agency that scrutinizes financial transactions, late last month issued show cause not ... ⌘ Read more
Hubble Finds Weird Home of Farthest Fast Radio Burst
Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found a rare event in an oddball place. NASA reports: It's called a fast radio burst (FRB), a fleeting blast of energy that can -- for a few milliseconds -- outshine an entire galaxy. Hundreds of FRBs have been detected over the past few years. They pop off all over the sky like camera flashes at a stadium event, b ... ⌘ Read more
Linux Kernel 4.14 Reaches End of Life After More Than Six Years of Maintenance
prisoninmate shares a report: Originally released on November 12th, 2017, the long-term supported (LTS) Linux 4.14 kernel series has now reached its end of supported life after being maintained for more than six years. Renowned kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman announced today on the Linux kernel mailing list the rel ... ⌘ Read more
NASA Postpones Plans To Send Humans To Moon
NASA has postponed its plans to send humans to the moon after delays hit its hugely ambitious Artemis programme, which aims to get spaceboots bouncing again on the lunar surface for the first time in half a century. From a report: The US space agency has announced the Artemis III mission to land four astronauts near the lunar south pole will be delayed a year until September 2026. Art ... ⌘ Read more
Linux Devices Are Under Attack By a Never-Before-Seen Worm
Previously unknown self-replicating malware has been infecting Linux devices worldwide, installing cryptomining malware using unusual concealment methods. The worm is a customized version of Mirai botnet malware, which takes control of Linux-based internet-connected devices to infect others. Mirai first emerged in 2016, delivering record-setting distributed ... ⌘ Read more
OpenAI Launches New Store For Users To Share Custom Chatbots
OpenAI has launched an online store where people can share customized versions of the company's popular ChatGPT chatbot, after initially delaying the rollout because of leadership upheaval last year. From a report: The new store, which rolled out Wednesday to paid ChatGPT users, will corral the chatbots that users create for a variety of tasks, for examp ... ⌘ Read more
Music Streams Hit 4 Trillion in 2023
The global music industry surpassed 4 trillion streams in 2023, a new single-year record, Luminate's 2023 Year-End Report found. Global streams were also up 34% from last year, reflective of an increasingly international music marketplace. From a report: Stateside, three genres saw the biggest growth in 2023: country (23.7%), Latin (which encompasses all Latin musical genres, up 24.1%) and wo ... ⌘ Read more
Valve Opens the Door To More Steam Games Developed With AI
Valve has issued new rules about how game developers can publish games that use AI technology on Steam. From a report: Writing in a blog post, the company says that it is "making changes to how we handle games that use AI technology" which mean that developers will need to disclose when their games use it. The changes "will enable us to release the vast majority ... ⌘ Read more
The Next Front in the US-China Battle Over Chips
A U.S.-born chip technology called RISC-V has become critical to China's ambitions. Washington is debating whether and how to limit the technology. From a report: It evolved from a university computer lab in California to a foundation for myriad chips that handle computing chores. RISC-V essentially provides a kind of common language for designing processors that are found in d ... ⌘ Read more
DeepMind Spin-off Aims To Halve Drug Discovery Times Following Big Pharma Deals
The head of Google DeepMind believes its drug discovery spinout will halve the time taken to find new medicines, attracting the attention of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies which are looking to artificial intelligence to revolutionise the lengthy process. From a report: Speaking to the Financial Times, D ... ⌘ Read more
Piracy Is Surging Again Because Streaming Execs Ignored The Lessons Of The Past
Karl Bode, reporting for TechDirt: Back in 2019 we noted how the streaming sector risked driving consumers back to piracy if they didn't heed the lessons of the past. We explored how the rush to raise rates, nickel-and-dime users, implement arbitrary restrictions, and force users toward hunting and pecking their way t ... ⌘ Read more
New 'MindEar' App Can Reduce Debilitating Impact of Tinnitus, Say Researchers
Researchers have designed an app to reduce the impact of tinnitus, an often debilitating condition that manifests via a ringing sound or perpetual buzzing. The Guardian reports: While there is no cure, there are a number of ways of managing the condition, including cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This helps people to ... ⌘ Read more
Walmart Is Bringing Drone Deliveries To 1.8 Million More Texas Households
In the coming months, Walmart will be expanding its drone delivery program in Texas to reach an 1.8 million additional households in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The expansion will be completed within the year. The Verge reports: The retailer says its drone deliveries now cover 75 percent of the population in the Dallas-Fort Worth ... ⌘ Read more
Quantum Computing Startup Says It Will Beat IBM To Error Correction
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Tuesday, the quantum computing startup Quera laid out a road map that will bring error correction to quantum computing in only two years and enable useful computations using it by 2026, years ahead of when IBM plans to offer the equivalent. Normally, this sort of thing should be dism ... ⌘ Read more
Earth Shattered Global Heat Record In 2023
The European climate agency Copernicus said Earth shattered global annual heat records in 2023, flirting with the world's agreed-upon warming threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius. "On average, global temperatures in 2023 were 1.48 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial times," reports the Associated Press. "If annual averages reach above 1.5 degrees Celsius, the effects of global warming c ... ⌘ Read more
Amazon's Twitch To Cut 500 Employees, About 35% of Staff
According to Bloomberg, Amazon's livestreaming site Twitch is expected to cut 35% of its staff, or about 500 workers. "The cuts, which could be announced as soon as Wednesday, come amid concerns over losses at Twitch and after several top executives left the company in the span of a few months," notes Bloomberg. From the report: Running a large-scale website supporting ... ⌘ Read more
HPE To Acquire Juniper Networks For $14 Billion
Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) announced plans to buy data center networking hardware maker Juniper Networks for about $14 billion, or $40 per share, in an all-cash deal. The company expects to close the deal by the end of this year or in early 2025. CNBC reports: The acquisition would double HPE's existing networking business after years of competition. If it's completed, Juniper CE ... ⌘ Read more
Actors' Union Agrees To AI Voiceovers For Video Games
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Variety: SAG-AFTRA signed a deal on Tuesday with an AI voiceover studio that sets terms for the use of artificial intelligence in video games. The union announced the deal with Replica Studios on Tuesday at CES in Las Vegas. Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union's executive director, said that the terms include informed co ... ⌘ Read more
AirDrop 'Cracked' By Chinese Authorities To Identify Senders
According to Bloomberg, Apple's AirDrop feature has been cracked by a Chinese state-backed institution to identify senders who share "undesirable content". MacRumors reports: AirDrop is Apple's ad-hoc service that lets users discover nearby Macs and iOS devices and securely transfer files between them over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Users can send and receive ... ⌘ Read more
FCC Plans Shutdown of Affordable Connectivity Program As GOP Withholds Funding
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Federal Communications Commission is about to start winding down a program that gives $30 monthly broadband discounts to people with low incomes, and says it will have to complete the shutdown by May if Congress doesn't provide more funding. The 2-year-old ... ⌘ Read more
SEC Claims Account Was 'Compromised' After Announcing False Bitcoin ETF Approval
With the approval of new rule change applications, the SEC is now allowing bitcoin ETFs to be traded in the United States.
UPDATE: The SEC said that the announcement about bitcoin ETFs on social media was incorrect, and that its X account was compromised. "The SEC's @SECGov X/Twitter account has been compromised. The ... ⌘ Read more
HP Built Printer Ink Monopoly With Forced Dynamic Security Updates, Lawsuit Says
HP has used its "Dynamic Security" firmware updates to "create a monopoly" of replacement printer ink cartridges, a lawsuit filed against the company on January 5 claims. From a report: The lawsuit, which is seeking class-action certification, represents yet another form of litigation against HP for bricking pri ... ⌘ Read more
FTC Bans X-Mode From Selling Phone Location Data
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has banned the data broker X-Mode Social from sharing or selling users' sensitive location data, the federal regulator said Tuesday. From a report: The first of its kind settlement prohibits X-Mode, now known as Outlogic, from sharing and selling users' sensitive information to others. The settlement will also require the data broker to delete ... ⌘ Read more
United and Alaska Find Loose Bolts on Boeing 737 Max 9 Planes
UnknowingFool writes: Following the incident on Alaska Airlines 1282 on Friday where a door plug blew off mid-flight, the FAA ordered all Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes to be grounded and the door plugs to be inspected. Both United Airlines and Alaska Airlines have now reported finding loose parts on their planes with United specifically listing "bolts" wh ... ⌘ Read more
Asus' New Laptop Has Two Screens and a Removable Keyboard
Asus is back with another Zenbook Duo, the latest $2,161 device in its range of dual-screened laptops. But rather than including a small secondary display above this laptop's keyboard like previous Duos, the revamped version for 2024 has two equally sized 14-inch screens. The Verge has more: They're both OLED, with resolutions of up to 2880 x 1800, aspect ratios ... ⌘ Read more
Judges in England and Wales Given Cautious Approval To Use AI in Writing Legal Opinions
Press2ToContinue writes: England's 1,000-year-old legal system -- still steeped in traditions that include wearing wigs and robes -- has taken a cautious step into the future by giving judges permission to use artificial intelligence to help produce rulings . The Courts and Tribunals Judiciary last mont ... ⌘ Read more
Telly's Free Ad-Supported TV Will Use ChatGPT For Its Voice Assistant
Telly, the company giving people free 55-inch 4K TVs as long as they're willing to live with persistent ads on a second screen, is previewing a "Hey Telly" voice assistant that will be based on OpenAI's ChatGPT, at least at first. From a report: Users will interact with it on the TV's second (lower) screen, and the company says ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft's New Battery is a Test of AI-Infused Scientific Discovery
Harry McCracken, writing for FastCompany: Recently, Microsoft built a clock. Well, "built" may be overstating things. Members of the company's quantum computing team found a small digital clock in a wood case on Amazon -- the kind you might mistake for a nicer-than-usual trade show tchotchke. They hacked it to run off two experimental batteries ... ⌘ Read more
Global Economy Set For Its Worst Half Decade of Growth in 30 Years, World Bank Says
The global economy is on course to record its worst half decade of growth in 30 years, according to the World Bank. From a report: Global growth is forecast to slow for the third year in a row in 2024, dipping to 2.4% from 2.6% in 2023, the organization said in its latest "Global Economic Prospects" report rel ... ⌘ Read more
Google Faces Multibillion-Dollar US Patent Trial Over AI Tech
Alphabet's Google is set to go before a federal jury in Boston on Tuesday in a trial over accusations that processors it uses to power AI technology in key products infringe a computer scientist's patents. From a report: Singular Computing, founded by Massachusetts-based computer scientist Joseph Bates, claims Google copied his technology and used it t ... ⌘ Read more
Amazon Debuts Video-Streaming Feature That Rivals Apple AirPlay
Amazon introduced a new feature that mimics Apple's AirPlay while working across different platforms, setting the stage for iPhone and Android users to wirelessly stream video to its TV hardware. From a report: The feature, called Matter Casting, is part of a push by Amazon to create interoperable services -- an alternative to the propriety technolog ... ⌘ Read more
Apple Tells Developers Not To Call Their AR or VR Apps AR or VR Apps
With Apple's Vision Pro VR/AR headset set to go on sale on February 2, we're starting to see more details about the app requirements. From a report: The company has released guidelines for visionOS developers planning to release apps and there's one strange caveat. It would rather developers don't use the terms AR and VR when referring t ... ⌘ Read more
Duolingo, Relying More On AI, Says It Will Lay Off 10% of Its Contractors
An anonymous reader quotes a report from PCMag: Duolingo tells Bloomberg that it's cutting 10% of its contractors, months after its CEO said Duolingo is relying more on generative AI to develop its content. "We just no longer need as many people to do the type of work some of these contractors were doing. Part of that could be attribute ... ⌘ Read more