# 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).
#
# twt range = 1 20930
# self = https://watcher.sour.is?uri=https://feeds.twtxt.net/slashdot/twtxt.txt&offset=18630
# next = https://watcher.sour.is?uri=https://feeds.twtxt.net/slashdot/twtxt.txt&offset=18730
# prev = https://watcher.sour.is?uri=https://feeds.twtxt.net/slashdot/twtxt.txt&offset=18530
Social Psychologist Urges 'End the Phone-Based Childhood Now'
"The environment in which kids grow up today is hostile to human development," argues Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist and business school ethics professor, saying that since the early 2010s, "something went suddenly and horribly wrong for adolescents."
The Atlantic recently published an excerpt from his book The Anxious Generation: How the Great ... ⌘ Read more
Pornhub Disables Website In Texas After Age-Verification Lawsuit
"Pornhub has disabled its site in Texas," reports the Hill, "to object to a state law that requires the company to verify the age of users to prevent minors from accessing the site."
Texas residents who visit the site are met with a message from the company that criticizes the state's elected officials who are requiring them to track the age of ... ⌘ Read more
Pi Calculated to 105 Trillion Digits. (Stored on 1 Petabyte of SSDs)
Pi was calculated to 100 trillion decimal places in 2022 by a Google team lead by cloud developer advocate Emma Haruka Iwao.
But 2024's "pi day" saw a new announcement...
After successfully breaking the speed record for calculating pi to 100 trillion digits last year, the team at StorageReview has taken it up a notch, revealing all the ... ⌘ Read more
TikTik is Banned in China, Notes X User Community - Along With Most US Social Media
Newsweek points out that a Chinese government post arguing the bill is "on the wrong side of fair competition" was flagged by users on X. "TikTok is banned in the People's Republic of China," the X community note read. (The BBC reports that "Instead, Chinese users use a similar app, Douyin, which is only avail ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft Criticized For Chrome Popup Ads Resembling Malware That Urge Users to Switch to Bing
"Multiple users around the world have started to notice new Microsoft Bing pop-up ads that look a lot like malware..." reports Lifehacker, describing the adds as "very low quality" and "extremely pixelated..."
"It's just Microsoft doing a bad job of trying to get you to switch to its product ... ⌘ Read more
Pet DNA Testing Company Mistakenly Identifies a Human as a Dog
"A pet company has twice sent back dog breed results for human swab samples," reports the Guardian, "prompting doubts surrounding the accuracy of dog breed tests."
On Wednesday, WBZ News reported its investigations team receiving dog breed results from the company DNA My Dog after one of its reporters sent in a swab sample — from her own cheek. A ... ⌘ Read more
Aging Voyager 1 Sends Back Response After 'Poke' Signal From Earth
"Engineers have sent a 'poke' to the Voyager 1 probe," reports CNN, "and received a potentially encouraging response..."
"A new signal recently received from the spacecraft suggests that the NASA mission team may be making progress in its quest to understand what Voyager 1 is experiencing..."
[T]hey hope to fix a communication issue with th ... ⌘ Read more
Amazon Violated Rights of Workers Trying to Unionize, Labor Regulators Find
"Workers at an Amazon air hub in Kentucky celebrated a victory Thursday," reports the Washington Post, "after federal labor regulators found that Amazon violated labor law by trying to prevent workers there from unionizing."
The employees have been demanding higher pay, more flexible schedules and safer working conditions sin ... ⌘ Read more
Can Interlune Mine Helium-3 on the Moon?**
The Washington Post reports:
Nearly a decade ago, Congress passed a law that allows private American space companies the rights to resources they mine on celestial bodies, including the moon.
Now, there's a private venture that says it intends to do just that.
Founded by a pair of former executives from Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Jeff Bezos, and an Apollo astronaut, the comp ... ⌘ Read more
After Flight to Oregon, Boeing 737-800 Lands with a Missing External Panel
A Boeing 737-800 "was discovered to be missing an external panel" on the bottom of its fuselage, reports CNN, "after it landed in Medford, Oregon, Friday afternoon after taking off from San Francisco."
They stress that it's not a 737 Max, but the previous generation of Boeing aircraft.
The plane carrying 145 passengers and cr ... ⌘ Read more
Linux Distributors' Alliance Continues Long-Term Support for Linux 4.14
"Until recently, Linux kernel developers have been the ones keeping long-term support (LTS) versions of the Linux kernel patched and up to date," writes ZDNet.
"Then, because it was too much work with too little support, the Linux kernel developers decided to no longer support the older kernels."
Greg Kroah-Hartman, the Linux kerne ... ⌘ Read more
What Happened to Other China-Owned Social Media Apps?**
When it comes to TikTok, "The Chinese government is signaling that it won't allow a forced sale..." reported the Wall Street Journal Friday, "limiting options for the app's owners as buyers begin lining up to bid for its U.S. operations..."
"They have also sent signals to TikTok's owner, Beijing-based ByteDance, that company executives have interpreted as meaning the ... ⌘ Read more
Florida Man Sues G.M. and LexisNexis Over Sale of His Cadillac Data
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: When Romeo Chicco tried to get auto insurance in December, seven different companies rejected him. When he eventually obtained insurance, it was nearly double the rate he was previously paying. According to a federal complaint filed this week seeking class-action status, it was becau ... ⌘ Read more
Is AI Ruining Etsy?**
Emily Dreibelbis reports via PCMag: Etsy's reputation as a haven for small, independent creators has come into question as tools like Midjourney have made it easy to list art without disclosing that it's been AI-generated, and shoppers are not happy. "The fact that it's AI isn't listed anywhere," says one Reddit user who purchased a stock photo on Etsy that seemed suspiciously low cost with glowing reviews. "I was so mad at myself for not no ... ⌘ Read more
Scientists Reveal Never-Before-Seen Map of the Milky Way's Central Engine
With funding from NASA, researchers from Villanova University have obtained a never-before-seen view of the central engine at the heart of our galaxy. Space.com reports: The new map of this central region of the Milky Way, which took four years to assemble, reveals the relationship between magnetic fields at the heart of our g ... ⌘ Read more
First Large Offshore US Wind Farm Delivers Power To Local Grid
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: America's first commercial-scale offshore wind farm is officially open, a long-awaited moment that helps pave the way for a succession of large wind farms. Danish wind energy developer Orsted and the utility Eversource built a 12-turbine wind farm called South Fork Wind 35 miles (56 kilometers) east o ... ⌘ Read more
Tech Layoffs Highest Since Dot-Com Crash
Alex Koller reports via CNBC: Since the start of the year, more than 50,000 workers have been laid off from over 200 tech companies, according to tracking website Layoffs.fyi. It's a continuation of the predominant theme of 2023, when more than 260,000 workers across nearly 1,200 tech companies lost their jobs. Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft have all taken part in the downsizing this yea ... ⌘ Read more
FTC Launches Inquiry Into Reddit's AI Deals, Ahead of IPO
Days before Reddit's upcoming initial public offering (IPO), the company announced that the FTC has launched an inquiry into the company's licensing of user data to AI companies. Reddit says that it's "not surprised" by the FTC's inquiry, given the novel nature of these agreements. Axios reports: Reddit says it received a letter on Thursday, March 14, in which t ... ⌘ Read more
Apple Acquires Startup DarwinAI As AI Efforts Ramp Up
According to Bloomberg, Apple has acquired Canada-based AI startup DarwinAI for an undisclosed sum. Macworld reports: Apple has reportedly folded the DarwinAI staff into its own AI team, including DarwinAI co-founder Alexander Wong, an AI researcher at the University of Waterloo who "has published over 600 refereed journal and conference papers, as well as patents, i ... ⌘ Read more
McDonald's IT Systems Outage Shuts Some Restaurants Globally
An anonymous reader quotes a report from BleepingComputer: McDonald's restaurants are suffering global IT outages that prevent employees from taking orders and accepting payments, causing some stores to close for the day. The outages started overnight and are impacting restaurants globally, including those in the USA, Japan, Australia, Canada, the Netherlan ... ⌘ Read more
Lyft and Uber To Cease Operations In Minneapolis After New Minimum Wage Law
The city council of Minneapolis on Thursday voted 10-3 to allow rideshare drivers to be paid the local minimum wage of $15.57 an hour, overriding the mayor's veto of the bill. As a result, Lyft and Uber said they will cease operations in the city. From a report: Lyft said in a statement the bill was "deeply flawed" and that ... ⌘ Read more
After 114 Days of Change, Broadcom CEO Acknowledges VMware-Related 'Unease'
In a blog post Thursday, Broadcom CEO and President Hock Tan acknowledged the discomfort VMware customers and partners have experienced after the sweeping changes that Broadcom has instituted since it acquired the company nearly four months ago. "Of course, we recognize that this level of change has understandably created some uneas ... ⌘ Read more
FTC Goes Undercover Against Fake Antivirus Companies
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a legal complaint against two companies based in Cyprus on Wednesday that it claims are behind a wave of malicious pop-ups that trick people into downloading a fake piece of antivirus software that generated tens of millions of dollars for its operators, according to court records. From a report: The scam also involved misreprese ... ⌘ Read more
Walmart Begins Selling the Mac For the First Time
Walmart is teaming up with Apple to sell the Mac for the first time. From a report: In a press release today, the company said that it is now selling the base model M1 MacBook Air online and in select stores for $699. The move comes a week after Apple introduced the new M3 MacBook Air and stopped selling the M1 MacBook Air itself. While Walmart has historically sold Apple de ... ⌘ Read more
India Drops Plan To Require Approval For AI Model Launches
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: India is walking back on a recent AI advisory after receiving criticism from many local and global entrepreneurs and investors. The Ministry of Electronics and IT shared an updated AI advisory with industry stakeholders on Friday that no longer asked them to take the government approval before launching or ... ⌘ Read more
Sam Bankman-Fried Deserves 40-50 Years in Prison For FTX Fraud, Prosecutors Say
Sam Bankman-Fried should spend between 40 and 50 years in prison after being convicted for stealing $8 billion from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, prosecutors said on Friday. From a report: "His life in recent years has been one of unmatched greed and hubris; of ambition and rationalization; ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft is Once Again Asking Chrome Users To Try Bing Through Unblockable Pop-ups
Microsoft has been pushing Bing pop-up ads in Chrome on Windows 10 and 11. The new ad once again encourages Chrome users (in bold lettering) to use Bing instead of Google search. From a report: "Chat with GPT-4 for free on Chrome! Get hundreds of daily chat turns with Bing Al," the ad reads. If you click "Yes," ... ⌘ Read more
Mercedes is Trialing Humanoid Robots For 'Low Skill, Repetitive' Tasks
Mercedes-Benz is the latest automotive company to trial how humanoid robots could be used to automate "low skill, physically challenging, manual labor." From a report: On Friday, robotics company Apptronik announced it had entered into a commercial agreement with Mercedes to pilot how "highly advanced robotics" like Apollo -- Apptron ... ⌘ Read more
Apple, Investors Reach $490 Million Settlement in Fraud Case
Apple reached a $490 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by a group of investors who accused Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook of misleading them in 2018 about the company's sales prospects. From a report: Cook made false statements about the company's business in China that caused Apple stock to trade at artificially inflated prices, the in ... ⌘ Read more
Supreme Court Tosses Rulings on Public Officials' Social Media Blockings
The Supreme Court clarified when public officials can block critical constituents from their personal profiles without violating their constitutional protections in a unanimous decision Friday. From a report: After hearing appeals of two conflicting rulings -- one filed against school board members in Southern California and another ... ⌘ Read more
Cable And Satellite Providers Required To Disclose 'All In' Pricing Under Newly Passed FCC Rules
The FCC passed new rules that will require cable and satellite providers to clearly disclose the "all in" price of subscriptions in promotional materials. From a report: "The advertised price for a service should be the price you pay when your bill arrives," FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosen ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft Singles Out Google's Competitive Edge in Generative AI
Google enjoys a competitive edge in generative AI due to its trove of data and AI-optimised chips, Microsoft has told EU antitrust regulators, underscoring the rivalry between the two tech giants. From a report: The comments by Microsoft were in response to a consultation launched by the European Commission in January on the level of competition i ... ⌘ Read more
India Cuts Import Taxes on EVs in Boost For Tesla's Entry Plans
India will lower import taxes on certain electric vehicles for companies committing to invest at least $500 million and setting up a local manufacturing facility within three years, a policy shift that could potentially bolster Tesla's plans to enter the South Asian market. From a report: Companies must invest a minimum of $500 million in the countr ... ⌘ Read more
FCC Scraps Old Speed Benchmark, Says Broadband Should Be at Least 100Mbps
The Federal Communications Commission has voted to raise its Internet speed benchmark for the first time since January 2015, concluding that modern broadband service should provide at least 100Mbps download speeds and 20Mbps upload speeds. From a report: An FCC press release after today's 3-2 vote said the 100Mbps/20Mbps benchmar ... ⌘ Read more
Giant Volcano Discovered On Mars
Scientists have discovered a giant volcano on Mars, as well as a possible sheet of buried glacier ice near the planet's equator. Phys.Org reports: Imaged repeatedly by orbiting spacecraft around Mars since Mariner 9 in 1971 -- but deeply eroded beyond easy recognition, the giant volcano had been hiding in plain sight for decades in one of Mars' most iconic regions, at the boundary between the heavily fract ... ⌘ Read more
Southern Oregon Now Boasts World's Largest Dark Sky Sanctuary
Sheraz Sadiq reports via Oregon Public Broadcasting: An area that's nearly half the size of New Jersey in southern Oregon was recently named the world's largest dark sky sanctuary by DarkSky International. The nonprofit works to combat light pollution through advocacy and conservation, including a program that has certified more than 200 places aroun ... ⌘ Read more
CIA Used Chinese Social Media In Covert Influence Operation Against Xi Jinping's Government
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Two years into office, President Donald Trump authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to launch a clandestine campaign on Chinese social media aimed at turning public opinion in China against its government, according to former U.S. officials ... ⌘ Read more
Caffeine Makes Fuel Cells More Efficient, Cuts Cost of Energy Storage
Dan Robinson reports via The Register: Adding caffeine can enhance the efficiency of fuel cells, reducing the need for platinum in electrodes and significantly reducing the cost of making them, according to researchers in Japan. [...] The study, published in the journal Communications Chemistry, concerns the catalysis process at the c ... ⌘ Read more
FTC and DOJ Think McDonald's Ice Cream Machines Should Be Legal To Fix
The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice have urged the US Copyright Office to broaden exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's Section 1201. Specifically, the two agencies are advocating for the extension of the right to repair to include "commercial and industrial equipment," which includes McDonald's ... ⌘ Read more
SpaceX Celebrates Third Launch of Starship Rocket Despite Loss of Contact
sixoh1 writes: On the third attempt, SpaceX's Super Heavy booster lofted the Starship vehicle to space on a sub-orbital parabolic trajectory. The test was successful for nearly all of the objectives, including payload delivery functions on Starship that will be used for Starlink deployment and in-space fuel transfers. Unfortu ... ⌘ Read more
Your Next Pair of Walmart Pants Could Be 3D Woven
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: We've been ableto design and 3D-print plastic phone cases and toys at home for a decade now. For almost every other consumer product made in a factory, the robots have taken over the heavy lifting. But fashion is still stuck in the 20th century. Take a typical pair of chinos. Cotton threads are woven on a large loom at a mill ... ⌘ Read more
Refund Fraud Schemes Promoted Online Are Costing Amazon and Other Retailers Billions
Refund fraud groups are exploiting lenient refund policies, resulting in significant losses for retailers like Amazon and prompting civil lawsuits and arrests. The scheme has become so pervasive that groups now market their services on Reddit, TikTok and Telegram. CNBC reports: Fraud groups are taking advan ... ⌘ Read more
Court Docs Reveal Epic CEO's Anger At Steam's 30% Fees
New emails from before the launch of the Epic Games Store in 2018 show just how angry Epic CEO Tim Sweeney was with the "assholes" at companies like Valve and Apple for squeezing "the little guy" with what he saw as inflated fees. "The emails, which came out this week as part of Wolfire's price-fixing case against Valve (as noticed by the GameDiscoverCo newsletter), con ... ⌘ Read more
How Nintendo's Destruction of Yuzu Is Rocking the Emulator World
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: When Nintendo sued the developers of Yuzu out of existence on March 4th, it wasn't just an attack on the leading way to play Nintendo Switch games without a Switch. It was a warning to anyone building a video game emulator. Seven developers have now stepped away from projects, are shutting them ... ⌘ Read more
Massively Popular Safe Locks Have Secret Backdoor Codes
Two of the biggest manufacturers of locks used in commercial safes have been accused of essentially putting backdoors in at least some of their products in a new letter by Senator Ron Wyden. 404 Media: Wyden is urging the U.S. government to explicitly warn the public about the vulnerabilities, which Wyden says could be exploited by foreign adversaries to steal what ... ⌘ Read more
US Investigators Say Video Footage Overwritten of Work On Boeing Jet's Door Plug
The head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says investigators still do not know who worked on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 door plug involved in a Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines midair emergency and that video footage was overwritten. From a report: NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in a letter to senators that invest ... ⌘ Read more
Record Breach of French Government Exposes Up To 43 Million People's Data
France Travail, the government agency responsible for assisting the unemployed, has fallen victim to a massive data breach exposing the personal information of up to 43 million French citizens dating back two decades, the department announced on Wednesday. The incident, which has been reported to the country's data protection watchd ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft Drops Azure Egress Fees
Microsoft has eliminated egress fees for customers removing data from its Azure cloud, joining Amazon Web Services and Google in this move. The decision comes as the European Data Act's provisions targeting lock-in terms are set to take effect in 2025. Microsoft adds: Azure already offers the first 100GB/month of egressed data for free to all customers in all Azure regions around the world. If you need to egress ... ⌘ Read more
Code.org Tells Court Zuckerberg-Backed Byju's Undermines Mission To Teach Kids CS
theodp writes: Tech-backed nonprofit Code.org on Wednesday fired the latest salvo in its legal battle over $3 million in unpaid licensing fees for the use of Code.org's free [for non-commercial purposes] K-12 computer science curriculum by WhiteHat Jr., the learn-to-code edtech company with a controversial pa ... ⌘ Read more
Amazon Tells Warehouse Workers To Close Their Eyes and Think Happy Thoughts
Amazon is telling workers to close their eyes and dream of being somewhere else while they're standing in a warehouse. From a report: A worker in one of Amazon's fulfillment centers, who we've granted anonymity, sent 404 Media a photo they took of a screen imploring them to try "savoring" the idea of something that makes them hap ... ⌘ Read more
Google's Safe Browsing Protection in Chrome Goes Real-Time
Google announced a major change to its Safe Browsing feature in Chrome today that will make the service work in real time by checking against a server-side list -- all without sharing your browsing habits with Google. From a report: Previously, Chrome downloaded a list of known sites that harbor malware, unwanted software and phishing scams once or twice per ... ⌘ Read more
Undersea Cable Damage Causes Internet Outages Across Africa
Damage to at least three subsea cables off the west coast of Africa is disrupting internet services across the continent. From a report: The West Africa Cable System, MainOne and ACE sea cables -- arteries for telecommunications data -- were all affected on Thursday, triggering outages and connectivity issues for mobile operators and internet service provid ... ⌘ Read more
Outdoor Voices To Close All Stores This Week
Outdoor Voices, an athletic apparel company, is closing all its stores on Sunday, The New York Times reported this week, citing four employees at four different stores. From the report: In an internal Slack message reviewed by The New York Times, some employees were notified on Wednesday that "Outdoor Voices is embarking on a new chapter as we transition to an exclusively online business." ... ⌘ Read more
Craig Wright Is Not Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto, Judge Declares
A judge in the UK High Court has declared that Australian computer scientist Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, marking the end of a years-long debate. From a report: "The evidence is overwhelming," said Honourable Mr. Justice James Mellor, delivering a surprise ruling at the close of the trial. "Dr. Wright is not the ... ⌘ Read more
China Hits Out at US Push To Ban TikTok
Beijing has hit out at US legislation to ban TikTok as former Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was assembling a consortium to buy the app from its Chinese owner. From a report: Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that the US had shown a "robber's logic" towards the app (non-paywalled link), which has 170mn users in America. "When you see other people's good things, you ... ⌘ Read more
Paul Alexander, 'The Man In the Iron Lung', Has Died
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: The polio survivor known as "the man in the iron lung" has died at the age of 78. Paul Alexander contracted polio in 1952 when he was six, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. The disease left him unable to breathe independently, leading doctors to place him in the metal cylinder, where he would spend the rest of his ... ⌘ Read more
SXSW Audiences Loudly Boo Festival Videos Touting the Virtues of AI
At this year's SXSW festival, discussions on artificial intelligence's future sparked controversy during screenings of premiers like "The Fall Guy" and "Immaculate." Variety reports: The quick-turnaround video editors at SXSW cut a daily sizzle reel highlighting previous panels, premieres and other events, which then runs before festival sc ... ⌘ Read more
FAA Grants License For SpaceX's Third Starship Launch
The FAA today awarded a launch license to SpaceX for Starship's third-ever test flight on March 14. "The FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements," the agency wrote in a post on X this afternoon. Space.com reports: The megarocket has two test flights under its belt so far, which took place in April and Nov ... ⌘ Read more
Playing Thriving Reef Sounds On Underwater Speakers 'Could Save Damaged Corals'
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Underwater speakers that broadcast the hustle and bustle of thriving coral could bring life back to more damaged and degraded reefs that are in danger of becoming ocean graveyards, researchers say. Scientists working off the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean found ... ⌘ Read more
Cognition Emerges From Stealth To Launch AI Software Engineer 'Devin'
Longtime Slashdot reader ahbond shares a report from VentureBeat: Today, Cognition, a recently formed AI startup backed by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and tech industry leaders including former Twitter executive Elad Gil and Doordash co-founder Tony Xu, announced a fully autonomous AI software engineer called "Devin." While there are mult ... ⌘ Read more
Trying Out Microsoft's Pre-Release OS/2 2.0
Last month, the only known surviving copy of 32-bit OS/2 from Microsoft was purchased for $650. "Now, two of the internet's experts in getting early PC operating systems running today have managed to fire it up, and you can see the results," reports The Register. From the report: Why such interest in this nearly third-of-a-century old, unreleased OS? Because this is the way the PC industry ... ⌘ Read more
Modern Workplace Tech Linked To Lower Employee Well-Being, Study Finds
According to a new study from the Institute for the Future of Work, contemporary technology often has a negative impact on workers' quality of life. The think tank surveyed over 6,000 people to learn how four categories of workplace technologies affected their wellbeing. TechSpot reports the findings: The study found that increased expos ... ⌘ Read more
Nvidia Founder Tells Stanford Students Their High Expectations May Make It Hard For Them To Succeed
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: We are often told that setting the bar high is key to success. After all, if you shoot for the moon and miss, at least you'll land with the stars. But Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang wants privileged Gen Z grads to lower their expecta ... ⌘ Read more
Bitcoin Fog Crypto Mixer Found Guilty of Money Laundering, Jury Finds
Roman Sterlingov, the founder of a $400 million crypto-mixing service called Bitcoin Fog, has been convicted of money laundering in a United State District Court on Tuesday. Other charges include money laundering conspiracy, operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and violations of the D.C. Money Transmitters Act. CoinTelegra ... ⌘ Read more
Stanford University Failed To Detect Ransomware Intruders For 4 Months
Connor Jones reports via The Register: Stanford University says the cybersecurity incident it dealt with last year was indeed ransomware, which it failed to spot for more than four months. Keen readers of El Reg may remember the story breaking toward the end of October 2023 after Akira posted Stanford to its shame site, with the univer ... ⌘ Read more
Ageism Haunts Some Tech Workers In the Race To Get Hired
An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from a Wired article: The U.S. economy is showing remarkable health, but in the tech industry, layoffs keep coming. For those out of work, finding a new position can become a full-time job. And in tech -- a sector notoriously always looking for the next hot, new thing -- some people whose days as fresh-faced coders are long ... ⌘ Read more
Who Uses Legacy Admissions?**
Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to end affirmative action in college admissions, there has been increased scrutiny on legacy admissions -- the practice of giving special considerations to the relatives of alumni. Critics say this practice disproportionately benefits white students from wealthy backgrounds. Much of the discussion and research on legacy admissions focuses on Ivy League and other highly selectiv ... ⌘ Read more
America's Last Top Models
For decades, U.S. inventors sent in models with their patent applications -- gizmos that reveal a secret history of unmet needs and relentless innovation. The New Yorker: The ruins of American invention have been recently resurrected in a former textile mill in Wilmington, Delaware. The Henry Clay Mill, now better known as Hagley Museum and Library Visitor Center, is perched on the banks of Brandywine Creek, at the southern ... ⌘ Read more
Epic Says Apple Violated App Store Injunction, Seeks Contempt Order
Epic Games, which makes the popular video game "Fortnite," on Wednesday accused Apple of violating an injunction governing its lucrative App Store, and asked a U.S. judge to hold Apple in contempt and end its "sham" compliance. From a report: A September 2021 injunction by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, l ... ⌘ Read more
Waymo To Launch Commercial Robotaxi Service in Austin By End of the Year
Waymo will begin offering a robotaxi service to the public in Los Angeles this week and in Austin by the end of the year, the company's co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said Wednesday at SXSW. From a report: The Alphabet company has been testing and validating its driverless vehicles across about 43 square miles around downtown, Barton Hil ... ⌘ Read more
Ethereum Network Completes Cost-Cutting 'Dencun' Software Upgrade
Ethereum has successfully completed a major software upgrade that should make using the blockchain network ecosystem cheaper. The update enables transactions that previously cost $1 on linked Layer 2 networks such as Arbitrum, Polygon, and Coinbase's Base to be executed for just a cent.
The Dencun upgrade, a combination of the "Deneb" and "Cancun ... ⌘ Read more
OpenAI's Sora Text-to-Video Generator Will Be Publicly Available Later This Year
You'll soon get to try out OpenAI's buzzy text-to-video generator for yourself. From a report: In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati says Sora will be available "this year" and that it "could be a few months." OpenAI first showed off Sora, which is capable of generating ... ⌘ Read more
Google DeepMind's Latest AI Agent Learned To Play Goat Simulator 3
Will Knight, writing for Wired: Goat Simulator 3 is a surreal video game in which players take domesticated ungulates on a series of implausible adventures, sometimes involving jetpacks. That might seem an unlikely venue for the next big leap in artificial intelligence, but Google DeepMind today revealed an AI program capable of learning how t ... ⌘ Read more
US House Passes Bill To Force ByteDance To Divest TikTok or Face Ban
The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill on Wednesday that would give TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance about six months to divest the U.S. assets of the short-video app used by about 170 million Americans or face a ban. From a report: The bill passed 352-65, with bipartisan support, but it faces a more uncertain path ... ⌘ Read more
European Lawmakers Approve Landmark AI Legislation
European lawmakers approved the world's most comprehensive legislation yet on AI (non-paywalled link), setting out sweeping rules for developers of AI systems and new restrictions on how the technology can be used. From a report: The European Parliament on Wednesday voted to give final approval to the law after reaching a political agreement last December with European Union mem ... ⌘ Read more
Spotify To Test Full Music Videos in Potential YouTube Faceoff
Swedish music streaming company Spotify is rolling out full-length music videos in a limited beta launch for premium subscribers, venturing into an arena that YouTube has dominated for nearly two decades. From a report: Music videos will be available to premium users in the UK, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Brazil, Colombia, Philippine ... ⌘ Read more
SpaceX Gets E-Band Radio Waves To Boost Starlink Broadband
Jason Rainbow reports via SpaceNews: SpaceX has secured conditional approval to use extremely high-frequency E-band radio waves to improve the capacity of its low Earth orbit Starlink broadband constellation. The Federal Communications Commission said March 8 it is allowing SpaceX to use E-band frequencies between second-generation Starlink satellites and ... ⌘ Read more
'Larger Than Everest' Comet Could Become Visible To Naked Eye This Month
12P/Pons-Brooks, a Halley-type comet larger than Mount Everest and with a 71.3-year orbit, is expected to become visible to the naked eye in the coming weeks as it makes its closest approach to the sun on April 21. The Guardian reports: While some reports suggest 12P/Pons-Brooks was spotted as far back as the 14th century, it is ... ⌘ Read more
Across the Nation, Lawmakers Aim To Ban Lab-Grown Meat
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Inside Climate News: Months in jail and thousands of dollars in fines and legal fees -- those are the consequences Alabamians and Arizonans could soon face for selling cell-cultured meat products that could cut into the profits of ranchers, farmers and meatpackers in each state. State legislators from Florida to Arizona are ... ⌘ Read more
Google Paid $10 Million In Bug Bounty Rewards Last Year
Bill Toulas reports via BleepingComputer: Google awarded $10 million to 632 researchers from 68 countries in 2023 for finding and responsibly reporting security flaws in the company's products and services. Though this is lower than the $12 million Google's Vulnerability Reward Program paid to researchers in 2022, the amount is still significant, showcasing a high le ... ⌘ Read more
Binance Executives Were Arrested In Nigeria For Allegedly Destabilizing Its Currency
Two top executives from the crypto exchange Binance have been arrested in Nigeria for allegedly destabilizing the national currency. Quartz reports: According to a Wall Street Journal report, Tigran Gambaryan, head of financial-crime compliance at Binance who previously worked at the U.S. Internal Revenue Servic ... ⌘ Read more
Pentagon Scraps $2.5 Billion Grant To Intel
According to Bloomberg (paywalled), the Pentagon has reportedly scrapped its plan to allocate $2.5 billion in grants to Intel, causing the firm's stock to slip in extended-hours trading. From a report: The decision now leaves the U.S. Commerce Department, which is responsible for doling out the funds from the U.S. CHIPs and Science Act, to make up the shortfall, the news outlet said. Th ... ⌘ Read more
Europe Lifts Sanctions On Yandex Cofounder Arkady Volozh
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Arkady Volozh, the billionaire cofounder of Russia's biggest internet company, was removed from the EU sanctions list today, clearing the way for his return to the world of international tech. On Tuesday a spokesperson for the European Council confirmed to WIRED that the Yandex cofounder was among three people whose san ... ⌘ Read more
Apple Developed Chip Equivalent To Four M2 Ultras For Apple Car Project
After 10 years and billions of dollars spent in development, Apple abruptly canceled its ambitious car project known as "Titan," shifting its focus and resources on the company's artificial intelligence division. In a recent Q&A on Monday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman (paywalled) shared some new insights about the project and how inv ... ⌘ Read more
Discord Opens Up To Games and Apps Embedded In Its Chat App
Tom Warren reports via The Verge: Discord will soon allow developers to build new games and apps that can be used directly in its chat app. A selection of minigames and apps have been available to Discord users for months now, but starting March 18th, all Discord developers will get access to a new Embedded App SDK that lets them build these special embed ... ⌘ Read more
New York Times Denies OpenAI's 'Hacking' Claim In Copyright Fight
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The New York Times has denied claims by OpenAI that it "hacked" the company's artificial intelligence systems to create misleading evidence of copyright infringement, calling the accusation as "irrelevant as it is false." The Times in a court filing on Monday said OpenAI was "grandstanding" in its re ... ⌘ Read more
China Puts Trust in AI To Maintain Largest High-Speed Rail Network on Earth
China is using AI in the operation of its 45,000km (28,000-mile) high-speed rail network, with the technology achieving several milestones, according to engineers involved in the project. From a report: An AI system in Beijing is processing vast amounts of real-time data from across the country and can alert maintenance team ... ⌘ Read more
"We Asked Intel To Define 'AI PC.' Its reply: 'Anything With Our Latest CPUs'"
An anonymous reader shares a report: If you're confused about what makes a PC an "AI PC," you're not alone. But finally have something of an answer: if it packs a GPU, a processor that boasts a neural processing unit and can handle VNNI and Dp4a instructions, it qualifies -- at least according to Robert Hallock, Intel's senior dire ... ⌘ Read more
Gold-Medalist Coders Build an AI That Can Do Their Job for Them
A new startup called Cognition AI can turn a user's prompt into a website or video game. From a report: A new installment of Silicon Valley's most exciting game, Are We in a Bubble?!, has begun. This time around the game's premise hinges on whether AI technology is poised to change the world as the consumer internet did -- or even more dramat ... ⌘ Read more
Google Restricts AI Chatbot Gemini From Answering Queries on Global Elections
Google is restricting AI chatbot Gemini from answering questions about the global elections set to happen this year, the Alphabet-owned firm said on Tuesday, as it looks to avoid potential missteps in the deployment of the technology. From a report: The update comes at a time when advancements in generative AI, including ... ⌘ Read more
FAA Audit of Boeing's 737 Max Production Found Dozens of Issues
A six-week audit by the Federal Aviation Administration of Boeing's production of the 737 Max jet found dozens of problems (non-paywalled link) throughout the manufacturing process at the plane maker and one of its key suppliers, according to a slide presentation reviewed by The New York Times. From the report: The air-safety regulator initiated the ... ⌘ Read more
Most Subscription Apps Don't Make Money, Report Shows
According to a new analysis of the subscription app economy from mobile subscription toolkit provider RevenueCat, the top 5% of apps generate 200 times the revenue of the bottom quartile after their first year, while the median monthly revenue an app generates after 12 months is under $50 USD. From a report: The "State of Subscription Apps" report offers a bird's-eye view in ... ⌘ Read more
No Big North Sea Fossil Fuel Country Has Plan To Stop Drilling in Time For 1.5C Goal
None of the big oil and gas producers surrounding the North Sea plan to stop drilling soon enough to meet the 1.5C (2.7F) global heating target, a report has found. From a report: The five countries -- the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Denmark -- have failed to align their oil and gas policies wit ... ⌘ Read more
Apple To Allow iOS App Downloads Direct From Websites in the EU
Apple is planning to make further changes in EU countries to allow some developers to distribute their iOS apps directly from a website. From a report: The new web distribution feature will be available with a software update "later this spring," according to Apple, providing developers with a key new way to distribute iOS apps in EU markets witho ... ⌘ Read more
Speedometer 3.0: A Shared Browser Benchmark for Web Application Responsiveness
Contributors from Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla, writing for BrowserBench: Since the initial version of the Speedometer benchmark was released in 2014 by the WebKit team, it has become a key tool for browser engines to drive performance optimizations as users and developers continue to demand richer and smoother ... ⌘ Read more
World Wide Web Inventor's Top Predictions as It Turns 35
A anonymous reader shares a report: Personal artificial intelligence assistants that know our health status and legal history inside out. The ability to transfer your data from one place to another seamlessly without any roadblocks. These are just some of the predictions for the future of the web from the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, on the 35 ... ⌘ Read more
How China Came To Dominate the World in Solar Energy
China unleashed the full might of its solar energy industry last year. It installed more solar panels than the United States has in its history. It cut the wholesale price of panels it sells by nearly half. And its exports of fully assembled solar panels climbed 38 percent while its exports of key components almost doubled. Get ready for an even bigger display of China's ... ⌘ Read more
The IRS Launches Direct File, a Pilot Program For Free Online Tax Filing Available in 12 States
After weeks of testing, an electronic system for filing returns directly to the IRS is now available for taxpayers from 12 selected states. From a report: The new system, called Direct File, is a free online tool. Taxpayers in the selected states who have very simple W-2s and claim a sta ... ⌘ Read more
World's Largest Aircraft Goes Supersonic In First Powered Flight
An anonymous reader quotes a report from GeekWire: Chalk up another milestone for Stratolaunch, the air-launch venture created by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen: The company's mammoth airplane deployed a winged test vehicle for its first rocket-powered flight. Stratolaunch's single-use TA-1 test vehicle blazed a trail for future reusable ... ⌘ Read more
Conflicting Values For Hubble Constant Not Due To Measurement Error, Study Finds
Jennifer Ouellette reports via Ars Technica: Astronomers have made new measurements of the Hubble Constant, a measure of how quickly the Universe is expanding, by combining data from the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope. Their results confirmed the accuracy of Hubble's earlier measurement ... ⌘ Read more