# 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=19030
# next = https://watcher.sour.is?uri=https://feeds.twtxt.net/slashdot/twtxt.txt&offset=19130
# prev = https://watcher.sour.is?uri=https://feeds.twtxt.net/slashdot/twtxt.txt&offset=18930
Elon Musk Says Tesla Will Unveil Its Robotaxi on August 8
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Tesla "is poised to roll out its version of a robotaxi later this year, according to CEO Elon Musk." ("Musk made the announcement on social media saying 'Tesla Robotaxi unveil on 8/8.' His cryptic post contained no other details about the forthcoming line of autonomous vehicles.")
Electrek thinks they know what it'll l ... ⌘ Read more
OpenBSD 7.5 Released
Slashdot reader Mononymous writes: The latest release of OpenBSD, the FOSS Unix-like operating system focused on correctness and security over features and performance, has been released. This version includes newer driver support, performance improvements, stability fixes, and lots of package updates. One highlight is a complete port of KDE Plasma 5.
You can view the announcement and get the bits at OpenBSD.org.
Phoronix reports t ... ⌘ Read more
Meta (Again) Denies Netflix Read Facebook Users' Private Messenger Messages
TechCrunch reports this week that Meta "is denying that it gave Netflix access to users' private messages..."
The claim references a court filing that emerged as part of the discovery process in a class-action lawsuit over data privacy practices between a group of consumers and Facebook's parent, Meta. The document alleges tha ... ⌘ Read more
SK Hynix To Build $3.87 Billion Memory Packaging Fab In the US For HBM4 and Beyond
Longtime Slashdot reader DrunkenTerror shares a report from AnandTech: SK hynix this week announced plans to build its advanced memory packaging facility in West Lafayette, Indiana. The move can be considered as a milestone both for the memory maker and the U.S., as this is the first advanced memory packaging ... ⌘ Read more
NASA Figured Out Why Its Voyager 1 Probe Has Been Glitching for Months
NASA engineers have traced the Voyager 1 spacecraft's transmitted gibberish to corrupted memory hardware in its flight data system (FDS). "The team suspects that a single chip responsible for storing part of the affected portion of the FDS memory isn't working," NASA wrote in an update. Gizmodo reports: FDS collects data from Voyag ... ⌘ Read more
Biden Takes Aim At SpaceX's Tax-Free Ride In American Airspace
Whenever a rocket launch occurs, air traffic controllers ensure the safety of commercial flights by managing airspace closures and monitoring rocket debris, without receiving compensation from commercial space companies like SpaceX for these services. The Biden administration's budget proposal aims to change this by suggesting that for-profit space ... ⌘ Read more
Trudeau Pushes 3D-Printed Homes To Solve Canada Housing Crisis
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Daily Hive: It is now the third consecutive day a major housing funding announcement has been made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Friday's announcement entails over $600 million in investments targeted to help lower the construction cost of homes and speed up building timelines, with a new focus on ... ⌘ Read more
Heat-Trapping CO2, Methane Levels In the Air Last Year Spiked To Record Highs
According to the latest data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, carbon dioxide and methane levels in the atmosphere reached historic highs last year, growing at near-record fast paces. The Associated Press reports: Carbon dioxide, the most important and abundant of the greenhouse gases caused b ... ⌘ Read more
Apple Opens the App Store To Retro Game Emulators
In an update on Friday, Apple announced that game emulators can come to the App Store globally and offer downloadable games. "Apple says those games must comply with 'all applicable laws,' though -- an indication it will ban apps that provide pirated titles," adds The Verge. From the report: The move should allow the retro console emulators already on Android -- at least thos ... ⌘ Read more
FCC Won't Block California Net Neutrality Law, Says States Can 'Experiment'
Jon Brodkin reports via Ars Technica: California can keep enforcing its state net neutrality law after the Federal Communications Commission implements its own rules. The FCC could preempt future state laws if they go far beyond the national standard but said that states can "experiment" with different regulations for interconne ... ⌘ Read more
Apple Lays Off More Than 700 Workers, Including Apple Car and MicroLED Teams
Apple is laying off more than 700 employees across the company, including its Micro-LED displays division and the recently shut down Apple Car project. 9to5Mac reports: As seen by 9to5Mac in the latest WARN report provided by the California Employment Development Department, the layoffs affect projects that have been in th ... ⌘ Read more
Academics Probe Apple's Privacy Settings and Get Lost and Confused
Matthew Connatser reports via The Register: A study has concluded that Apple's privacy practices aren't particularly effective, because default apps on the iPhone and Mac have limited privacy settings and confusing configuration options. The research was conducted by Amel Bourdoucen and Janne Lindqvist of Aalto University in Finland. The pair n ... ⌘ Read more
Terraform Labs and Founder Do Kwon Found Liable In US Civil Fraud Trial
Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon have been found liable on civil fraud charges on Friday by a jury in Manhattan. The jury agreed with the SEC that the two misled investors before their stablecoin's 2022 collapse shocked crypto markets around the world. Reuters reports: The SEC accused the company and Kwon of misleading investors ... ⌘ Read more
Android's AirTag Competitor Gears Up For Launch, Thanks To iOS Release
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Will Google ever launch its "Find My" network? The Android ecosystem was supposed to have its own version of Apple's AirTags by now. Google has had a crowd-sourced device-tracking network sitting dormant on 3 billion Android phones since December 2022. Partners have been ready to go ... ⌘ Read more
Best Buy Geek Squad Agents 'Going Sleeper' After Mass Layoffs
An anonymous reader shares a report: Best Buy is conducting mass layoffs of Geek Squad employees this week, according to former employees who lost their jobs. Workers told 404 Media they were told by the company to stay at home Tuesday and to wait for a call from their bosses about whether they had been let go. Best Buy did not respond to a request for comment ... ⌘ Read more
AMD To Open Source Micro Engine Scheduler Firmware For Radeon GPUs
AMD plans to document and open source its Micro Engine Scheduler (MES) firmware for GPUs, giving users more control over Radeon graphics cards. From a report: It's part of a larger effort AMD confirmed earlier this week about making its GPUs more open source at both a software level in respect to the ROCm stack for GPU programming and a hardware l ... ⌘ Read more
Meta Will Require Labels on More AI-Generated Content
Meta is updating its AI-generated content policy and will add a "Made with AI" label beginning next month, the company announced. The policy will apply to content on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. From a report: Acknowledging that its current policy is "too narrow," Meta says it will start labeling more video, audio, and image content as being AI-generated. Labels w ... ⌘ Read more
Cinephiles Rallying To Physical Media
An anonymous reader shares a report: Streaming was supposed to kill physical media, and has come very close. The DVD and Blu-ray market fell from $4.7bn in revenue in 2017 to barely $1.5bn in 2022. In September, Netflix ended its movie-by-mail service. Best Buy has removed physical media from its brick-and-mortar stores, and Target and Walmart may follow. Some new films may never be released phy ... ⌘ Read more
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia Names and Shames Customers Over Bank Glitch Money
An Ethiopian bank has put up posters shaming customers it says have not returned money they gained during a technical glitch. From a report: Notices bearing their names and photos could be seen outside branches of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) on Friday. The bank says it has recovered almost three-quarters of the $ ... ⌘ Read more
AI Seen Cutting Worker Numbers, Survey By Staffing Company Shows
AI will lead to many companies employing fewer people in the next five years, staffing provider Adecco Group said on Friday, in a new survey highlighting the upheaval AI will bring to the workplace. From a report: Some 41% of senior executives expect to have smaller workforces because of AI technology, Adecco said in a report based on a survey of execut ... ⌘ Read more
UK Govt Office Admits Ability To Negotiate Billions in Cloud Spending Curbed By Vendor Lock-in
The UK government has admitted its negotiating power over billions of pounds of cloud infrastructure spending has been inhibited by vendor lock-in. From a report: A document from the Cabinet Office's Central Digital & Data Office, circulated within Whitehall, seen by The Register, says t ... ⌘ Read more
China Will Use AI To Disrupt Elections in the US, South Korea and India, Microsoft Warns
China will attempt to disrupt elections in the US, South Korea and India this year with artificial intelligence-generated content after making a dry run with the presidential poll in Taiwan, Microsoft has warned. From a report: The US tech firm said it expected Chinese state-backed cyber groups to ... ⌘ Read more
Denis Villeneuve is Doing Dune 3
An anonymous reader writes: Variety reports that following the massive box office success of Dune: Part Two, Legendary has tapped Denis Villeneuve for a third installment that would presumably continue the story of how Paul Atreides goes on to conquer the galaxy. Earlier this year, Villeneuve told Empire that he had already "put words on paper" thinking about where he would like to take the Dune franc ... ⌘ Read more
Roku's New HDMI Tech Could Show Ads When You Pause Your Game
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Kotaku: A new patent recently filed by TV and streaming device manufacturer Roku hints toward a possible future where televisions could display ads when you pause a movie or game. For Roku, the time in which the TV is on but users aren't doing anything is valuable. The company has started leasing out ad space in its ... ⌘ Read more
Google Rolls Out New 'Jpegli' JPEG Coding Library
Google has introduced a new JPEG library called Jpegli, which reduces noise and improves image quality over traditional JPEGs. Proponents of the technology said it has the potential to make the Internet faster and more beautiful. InfoWorld reports: Announced April 3 and accessible from GitHub, Jpegli maintains high backward compatibility while offering enhanced capabilities and ... ⌘ Read more
Mars May Not Have Had Liquid Water Long Enough For Life To Form
Elizabeth Rayne reports via Ars Technica: Led by planetary researcher Lonneke Roelofs of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, a team of scientists has found that the sublimation of CO2 ice could have shaped Martian gullies, which might mean the most recent occurrence of liquid water on Mars may have been further back in time than previously th ... ⌘ Read more
How a Micro-Budget Student Film Changed Sci-Fi Forever
An anonymous reader writes: In the early 70s, young filmmakers John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon created a spaceship tale for a graduation project -- little knowing it would influence Alien and many other works. Made for $60,000 by film school students, horror maestro John Carpenter's directorial debut Dark Star is now regarded as a sci-fi cult classic. Having ... ⌘ Read more
Plex Asks GitHub to Take Down 'Reshare' Repository Over Piracy Fears
Plex is a multi-functional streaming platform that allows users to watch, organize, and curate their favorite media entertainment. Sharing Plex libraries is also an option; one that comes with piracy concerns. In an effort to "avoid the growth of piracy," Plex asked GitHub to remove a repository that allows people to reshare libraries that w ... ⌘ Read more
Rickroll Meme Immortalized In Custom ASIC That Includes 164 Hardcoded Programs
Matthew Connatser reports via The Register: An ASIC designed to display the infamous Rickroll meme is here, alongside 164 other assorted functions. The project is a product of Matthew Venn's Zero to ASIC Course, which offers prospective chip engineers the chance to "learn to design your own ASIC and get it fabricat ... ⌘ Read more
Roblox Executive Says Children Making Money On the Platform Isn't Exploitation, It's a Gift
In an interview with Roblox Studio head Stefano Corazza, Eurogamer asked about the reputation Roblox has gained and the notion that it was exploitative of young developers, since it takes a cut from work sometimes produced by children. Here's what he had to say: "I don't know, you can say this f ... ⌘ Read more
Hospital Network Admin Used Fake Identity For 35 Years
An anonymous reader writes: Could you imagine discovering that your identity had been used to take out fraudulent loans and when you tried to resolve the issue by providing your state ID and Social Security card you were instead arrested, charged with multiple felonies, jailed for over a year, incarcerated in a mental hospital and given psychotropic drugs, eventually ... ⌘ Read more
Traders Are Betting Millions That Trump Media 'Meme Stock' Will Tumble
Many investors are lining up to bet on the collapse of former President Donald J. Trump's social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., which made its stock market debut last week under the ticker "DJT." The stock has been called the "mother of all meme stocks" since it is highly volatile and there are no fundamental underp ... ⌘ Read more
Developer Hacks Denuvo DRM After Six Months of Detective Work and 2,000 Hooks
After six months of work, DRM developer Maurice Heumann successfully cracked Hogwarts Legacy's Denuvo DRM protection system to learn more about the technology. According to Tom's Hardware, he's "left plenty of the details of his work vague so as not to promote illegal cracking." From the report: Heumann reveals in his bl ... ⌘ Read more
A 'Law Firm' of AI Generated Lawyers Is Sending Fake Threats As an SEO Scam
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Last week, Ernie Smith, the publisher of the website Tedium, got a "copyright infringement notice" from a law firm called Commonwealth Legal: "We're reaching out on behalf of the Intellectual Property division of a notable entity, in relation to an image connected to our clie ... ⌘ Read more
PCIe 7.0 On Track For a 2025 Release
An anonymous reader shares a PC Gamer report: PCI Express 7.0 is coming. But don't feel as though you need to start saving for a new motherboard anytime soon. The PCI-SIG has just released the 0.5 version, with the final version set for release in 2025. That means supporting devices are not likely to land until 2026, with 2027-28 likely to be the years we see a wider rollout. PCIe 7.0 will initially be f ... ⌘ Read more
YouTube Says OpenAI Training Sora With Its Videos Would Break Rules
The use of YouTube videos to train OpenAI's text-to-video generator would be an infraction of the platform's terms of service, YouTube Chief Executive Officer Neal Mohan said. Bloomberg: In his first public remarks on the topic, Mohan said he had no firsthand knowledge of whether OpenAI had, in fact, used YouTube videos to refine its artifi ... ⌘ Read more
German State Moving Tens of Thousands of PCs To Linux and LibreOffice
The Document Foundation: Following a successful pilot project, the northern German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein has decided to move from Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office to Linux and LibreOffice (and other free and open source software) on the 30,000 PCs used in the local government. As reported on the homepage of the Mini ... ⌘ Read more
Google Books Is Indexing AI-Generated Garbage
Google Books is indexing low quality, AI-generated books that will turn up in search results, and could possibly impact Google Ngram viewer, an important tool used by researchers to track language use throughout history. From a report: I was able to find the AI-generated books with the same method we've previously used to find AI-generated Amazon product reviews, papers published in acade ... ⌘ Read more
Disney Will Crack Down on Password Sharing in June
Disney said Thursday it planned to crack down on password sharing [non-paywalled link] for its streaming services starting with a few countries in June before implementing a wider rollout in September. From a report: Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger unveiled the timeline to limit password sharing in a CNBC interview Thursday morning, a day after the company defeated ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft Edge Will Let You Control How Much RAM It Uses Soon
Microsoft is working on a new feature for its Edge browser that will let you limit the amount of RAM it uses. From a report: Leopeva64, who is one of the best at finding new Edge features, has spotted a new settings section in test builds of the browser that includes a slider so you can limit how much RAM Edge gets access to. The RAM slider appears to be ... ⌘ Read more
Amazon Still Has a Serious Plastic Waste Problem in the US
Despite making pledges to cut down on plastic packaging, a new report from the nonprofit conservation organization Oceana estimates that Amazon's plastic waste has continued to grow in the US. From a report: The company created 208 million pounds of plastic waste from its packaging in the US in 2022 alone, which Oceana says is enough trash to circle Earth mo ... ⌘ Read more
New 3D Cosmic Map Raises Questions Over Future of Universe, Scientists Say
The biggest ever 3D map of the universe, featuring more than 6m galaxies, has been revealed by scientists who said it raised questions about the nature of dark energy and the future of the universe. From a report: The map is based on data collected by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (Desi) in Arizona and contains thr ... ⌘ Read more
Amazon Sellers Plagued by Surge in Scam Returns
An anonymous reader shares a report: Amazon has built one of the world's most efficient delivery systems. Yet people regularly ship junk back to sellers and claim they are returns, often with little to no penalty, merchants say. Amazon has long believed in a system based on pleasing customers above all, including easy returns, but that ethos has hurt the merchants who make up most of ... ⌘ Read more
Google Weighs Offer for $32 Billion Marketing Firm HubSpot
Google parent Alphabet has been talking to its advisers about the possibility of making an offer for HubSpot, an online marketing software company with a market value of $32 billion, Reuters reported Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. From the report: If Alphabet moves ahead with an offer, it would be a rare example of a major technology compan ... ⌘ Read more
Only 57 Companies Produced 80% of Global Carbon Dioxide
Last year was the hottest on record and the Earth is headed towards a global warming of 2.7 degrees, yet top fossil fuel and cement producers show a disregard for climate change and actively make things worse. From a report: A new Carbon Majors Database report found that just 57 companies were responsible for 80 percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions between ... ⌘ Read more
Google Considers Charging For AI-Powered Search
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Times: Google is considering charging for new "premium" features powered by generative artificial intelligence, in what would be the biggest ever shake-up of its search business. The proposed revamp to its cash cow search engine would mark the first time the company has put any of its core product behind a paywall, and show ... ⌘ Read more
Are Your Solar Eclipse Glasses Fake?**
SonicSpike shares a report from Scientific American: A day after the American Astronomical Society (AAS) announced that there were no signs of unsafe eclipse glasses or other solar viewers on the market in early March, astronomer and science communicator Rick Fienberg received an alarming call. Fienberg is project manager of the AAS Solar Eclipse Task Force, which is busy preparing for the total ecl ... ⌘ Read more
NASA Picks 3 Companies to Help Astronauts Drive Around the Moon
NASA announced on Wednesday that they have selected three companies to develop preliminary designs for vehicles to take astronauts around the south polar region of the Moon. "After the astronauts return to Earth, these vehicles would be able to self-drive around as robotic explorers, similar to NASA's rovers on Mars," reports the New York Times. ... ⌘ Read more
Groundbreaking Trial To Grow 'Mini Liver' From Patient's Own Lymph Node
An anonymous reader quotes a report from InterestingEngineering: A Pittsburgh-based biotech company has started a one-of-a-kind trial in a patient with a failing liver. Their goal is to grow a functional second liver within the patient's body -- something never achieved before. If effective, it might be a life-saving therapy for thos ... ⌘ Read more
Scientists Complete Construction of the Biggest Digital Camera Ever
Isaac Schultz reports via Gizmodo: Nine years and 3.2 billion pixels later, it is complete: the LSST Camera stands as the largest digital camera ever built for astronomy and will serve as the centerpiece of the Vera Rubin Observatory, poised to begin its exploration of the southern skies. The Rubin Observatory's key goal is the 10-year L ... ⌘ Read more
Feds Finally Decide To Do Something About Years-Old SS7 Spy Holes In Phone Networks
Jessica Lyons reports via The Register: The FCC appears to finally be stepping up efforts to secure decades-old flaws in American telephone networks that are allegedly being used by foreign governments and surveillance outfits to remotely spy on and monitor wireless devices. At issue are the Signaling System N ... ⌘ Read more
ChatGPT Customers Can Now Use AI To Edit DALL-E Images
Paid ChatGPT users can now edit AI-generated images using text prompts from within ChatGPT. Axios reports: In a demo shared on X (formerly Twitter), OpenAI showed off the new capability, using it to add bows to a poodle's ears in an image created by DALL-E. DALL-E will also begin letting people choose the aspect ratio of the desired image as well as to add styles, such a ... ⌘ Read more
Stability AI Reportedly Ran Out of Cash To Pay Its Bills For Rented Cloudy GPUs
An anonymous reader writes: The massive GPU clusters needed to train Stability AI's popular text-to-image generation model Stable Diffusion are apparently also at least partially responsible for former CEO Emad Mostaque's downfall -- because he couldn't find a way to pay for them. According to an extensive expose citing co ... ⌘ Read more
Apple Reportedly Exploring Personal Home Robots
As reported by Bloomberg (paywalled), Apple is exploring the development of personal home robots following the shut down of its electric vehicle project. CNBC reports: Engineers at Apple have been looking into a robot that can follow users around their homes and a tabletop device that uses robotics to adjust a display screen, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with th ... ⌘ Read more
Google Brings Keyboard Shortcuts, Custom Mouse Buttons To ChromeOS
A new ChromeOS update (M123) is rolling out that brings keyboard shortcuts and mouse buttons and enables hotspot connections on cellular Chromebooks. The Verge reports: The keyboard shortcut feature will work like it does in other operating systems, in which you can assign specific actions to specific key combinations. Google uses the examples ... ⌘ Read more
George Carlin Estate Forces 'AI Carlin' Off the Internet For Good
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The George Carlin estate has settled its lawsuit with Dudesy, the podcast that purportedly used a "comedy AI" to produce an hour-long stand-up special in the style and voice of the late comedian. Dudesy's "George Carlin: Dead and Loving It" special, which was first uploaded in early January, ga ... ⌘ Read more
Anthropic Researchers Wear Down AI Ethics With Repeated Questions
How do you get an AI to answer a question it's not supposed to? There are many such "jailbreak" techniques, and Anthropic researchers just found a new one, in which a large language model (LLM) can be convinced to tell you how to build a bomb if you prime it with a few dozen less-harmful questions first. From a report: They call the approach "m ... ⌘ Read more
Cable Lobby Vows 'Years of Litigation' To Avoid Bans on Blocking and Throttling
An anonymous reader shares a report: The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled an April 25 vote to restore net neutrality rules similar to the ones introduced during the Obama era and repealed under former President Trump. The text of the pending net neutrality order wasn't released today. The FCC press releas ... ⌘ Read more
US, EU To Use AI To Seek Alternate Chemicals for Making Chips
The European Union and the US plan to enlist AI in the search for replacements to so-called forever chemicals that are prevalent in semiconductor manufacturing, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, citing a draft statement. From the report: The pledge forms part of the conclusions to this week's joint US-EU Trade and Technology Council taking place in Leu ... ⌘ Read more
New 'Matrix' Movie in Works
Deadline: Drew Goddard, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of The Martian who also directed The Cabin in the Woods, has been set to write and direct a new Matrix movie at Warner Bros. The franchise's original co-scribe and co-director Lana Wachowski is executive producing. It's still early days in regards to whether core cast members Keanu Reeves, Carrie Anne-Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving and Jada Pinkett ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft Reveals Subscription Pricing for Using Windows 10 Beyond 2025
Microsoft announced an extended support program for Windows 10 last year that would allow users to pay for continued security updates beyond the October 2025 end of support date. Today, the company has unveiled the pricing structure for that program, which starts at $61 per device, and doubles every year for three years. Windows Cen ... ⌘ Read more
Business Schools Are Going All In on AI
Top business schools are integrating AI into their curricula to prepare students for the changing job market. Schools like the Wharton School, American University's Kogod School of Business, Columbia Business School, and Duke University's Fuqua School of Business are emphasizing AI skills across various courses, WSJ reported Wednesday. Professors are encouraging students to use AI as a tool for ... ⌘ Read more
JPMorgan Chase is About To Let Advertisers Target Customers Based on Their Spending
smooth wombat writes: Chase bank announced a new program that will allow brands to target Chase customers based on the customer's purchases. According to the press release, the new program is called Chase Media Solutions and "serves as a key conduit for brands, connecting them with consumers' personal passions and ... ⌘ Read more
Users Say Google's VPN App Breaks the Windows DNS Settings
An anonymous reader shares a report: Google offers a VPN via its "Google One" monthly subscription plan, and while it debuted on phones, a desktop app has been available for Windows and Mac OS for over a year now. Since a lot of people pay for Google One for the cloud storage increase for their Google accounts, you might be tempted to try the VPN on a desktop ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft and Quantinuum Say They've Ushered in the Next Era of Quantum Computing
Microsoft and Quantinuum today announced a major breakthrough in quantum error correction. Using Quantinuum's ion-trap hardware and Microsoft's new qubit-virtualization system, the team was able to run more than 14,000 experiments without a single error. From a report: This new system also allowed the team to chec ... ⌘ Read more
Tennessee Passes 'Chemtrail' Bill Banning Airborne Chemicals
vik writes: According to this BBC article Tennessee just passed a bill banning the dispersion of chemicals in the air that affect weather and temperature. Sponsored by the chemtrail and anti-geoengineering crowds, if signed into law it seems it would ban atmospheric CO2 emissions:The bill forbids "intentional injection, release, or dispersion" of chemicals ... ⌘ Read more
Scathing Federal Report Rips Microsoft For Shoddy Security
quonset shares a report: In a scathing indictment of Microsoft corporate security and transparency, a Biden administration-appointed review board issued a report Tuesday saying "a cascade of errors" by the tech giant let state-backed Chinese cyber operators break into email accounts of senior U.S. officials including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
The Cy ... ⌘ Read more
Missouri County Declares State of Emergency Amid Suspected Ransomware Attack
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Jackson County, Missouri, has declared a state of emergency and closed key offices indefinitely as it responds to what officials believe is a ransomware attack that has made some of its IT systems inoperable. "Jackson County has identified significant disruptions within ... ⌘ Read more
UK and US Sign Landmark Agreement On AI Safety
The UK and US have signed a landmark deal to work together on testing advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and develop "robust" safety methods for AI tools and their underlying systems. "It is the first bilateral agreement of its kind," reports the BBC. From the report: UK tech minister Michelle Donelan said it is "the defining technology challenge of our generation." "We have alwa ... ⌘ Read more
Taiwan Quake Puts World's Most Advanced Chips at Risk
Taiwan's biggest earthquake in 25 years has disrupted production at the island's semiconductor companies, raising the possibility of fallout for the technology industry and perhaps the global economy. From a report: The potential repercussions are significant because of the critical role Taiwan plays in the manufacture of advanced chips, the foundation of technologies ... ⌘ Read more
NASA To Create Time Standard For the Moon
artmancc writes: The White House has directed NASA and other federal agencies to get to work on a plan to implement precision timekeeping and dissemination on the moon and elsewhere in space. Reuters cited a memo from the head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) that "instructed the space agency to work with other parts of the U.S. government to devise a plan ... ⌘ Read more
'Russia Might Have Caused Havana Syndrome'
An anonymous reader quotes an opinion piece from the Washington Post, published by the Editorial Board: A just-published investigation by Russian, American and German journalists has unearthed startling new information about the so-called Havana syndrome, or "Anomalous Health Incidents," as the government calls the unexplained bouts of painful disorientation that U.S. diplomats and intelli ... ⌘ Read more
Intel Discloses $7 Billion Operating Loss For Chip-Making Unit
Intel on Tuesday disclosed $7 billion in operating losses for its foundry business in 2023, "a steeper loss than the $5.2 billion in operating losses the year before," reports Reuters. "The unit had revenue of $18.9 billion for 2023, down 31% from $63.05 billion the year before." From the report: Intel shares were down 4.3% after the documents were fi ... ⌘ Read more
Jon Stewart Claims Apple Wouldn't Let Him Interview FTC Chair On His Podcast
Sara Fischer reports via Axios: Jon Stewart on Monday told Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan that Apple wouldn't let him interview her for a podcast. "I wanted to have you on a podcast and Apple asked us not to do it," "The Daily Show" host said to Khan, in reference to his former podcast that was an extension ... ⌘ Read more
Bitcoin Tumbles $5,000 In 24 Hours As Interest Rates Jump
Bitcoin fell more than 4.76% on Tuesday to $66,134 amid rising Treasury yields and strength in the U.S. dollar. CNBC reports: On Monday morning, it was trading at about $70,000 before data came out showing growth in the manufacturing sector for the first time since September 2022 and investor bets on June rate cuts began to cool. Bitcoin is now off its all-time ... ⌘ Read more
President Biden Is Now Posting Into the Fediverse
President Joe Biden has become the first sitting U.S. president to post on a decentralized networking protocol. As reported by The Verge, President Biden's Threads account "has begun using Meta's ActivityPub integration," which allows for content, data, and followers to be ported between networks -- the basis that makes up the "fediverse." From the report: The account turning ... ⌘ Read more
FCC To Vote To Restore Net Neutrality Rules
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission will vote to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules and assume new regulatory oversight of broadband internet that was rescinded under former President Donald Trump, the agency's chair said. The FCC told advocates on Tuesday of the plan to vote on the final rule at its April 25 meeting. The comm ... ⌘ Read more
Yahoo Is Buying Artifact, the AI News App From the Instagram Co-Founders
Yahoo is acquiring Artifact, the AI news app from Instagram's co-founders that failed to make it big on its own. The Verge reports: The two sides declined to share the cost of the acquisition, but both made clear Yahoo is acquiring Artifact's tech rather than its team. Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom, Artifact's co-founders, will be ... ⌘ Read more
New XZ Backdoor Scanner Detects Implants In Any Linux Binary
Bill Toulas reports via BleepingComputer: Firmware security firm Binarly has released a free online scanner to detect Linux executables impacted by the XZ Utils supply chain attack, tracked as CVE-2024-3094. CVE-2024-3094 is a supply chain compromise in XZ Utils, a set of data compression tools and libraries used in many major Linux distributions. Late last ... ⌘ Read more
VMware By Broadcom Plots Pair of Cloud Foundation Releases
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Register: VMware by Broadcom will deliver a significant update to its flagship Cloud Foundation bundle in the middle of this year and follow it up with a major update early in 2025. Both releases will show off Broadcom's plan to make the package easier to implement and operate, and hopefully assuage customer concerns a ... ⌘ Read more
PC, Console Growth To Lag Pre-pandemic Levels as Gamers Clock in Fewer Hours
Personal computing and console gaming revenue growth is expected to remain below pre-pandemic levels through 2026 as gamers record fewer hours of playtime, according to research firm Newzoo. From a report: The market is expected to grow 2.7% from 2023-end to 2026, below the 7.2% growth rate from 2015 to 2021, according to ... ⌘ Read more
California Introduces 'Right To Disconnect' Bill That Would Allow Employees To Possibly Relax
An anonymous reader shares a report: Burnout, quiet quitting, strikes -- the news (and likely your schedule) is filled with markers that workers are overwhelmed and too much is expected of them. There's little regulation in the United States to prevent employers from forcing workers to be at ... ⌘ Read more
White House Makes Last-ditch Push for Internet Subsidy Program
The White House plans to renew a push in April to convince Congress to extend an internet subsidy program used by 23 million American households just weeks before it runs out of money, officials said. From a report: In October, the White House asked for $6 billion to extend the program through December 2024, but Congress has not funded it, potentiall ... ⌘ Read more
Amazon Ditches 'Just Walk Out' Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores
Amazon is phasing out its checkout-less grocery stores with "Just Walk Out" technology. The company's senior vice president of grocery stores says they're moving away from Just Walk Out, which relied on cameras and sensors to track what people were leaving the store with. From a report: Just over half of Amazon Fresh stores are equipped with Just Walk ... ⌘ Read more
Top Musicians Among Hundreds Warning Against Replacing Human Artists With AI
More than 200 musical artists -- including Billie Eilish, Katy Perry and Smokey Robinson -- have penned an open letter to AI developers, tech firms and digital platforms to "cease the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists." From a report: Unlike other advocacy ... ⌘ Read more
Shrinking Arctic Ice Redraws the Map For Internet Cable Connections
Thawing ice in the Arctic may open up new routes for internet cables that lie at the bottom of the ocean and carry most international data traffic. And more routes matter when underwater infrastructure is at risk of attack. From a report: Baltic Sea gas and telecoms cables were damaged last year, with a Chinese vessel a potential suspect. R ... ⌘ Read more
Amazon Offers Free Credits For Startups To Use AI Models Including Anthropic
AWS has expanded its free credits program for startups to cover the costs of using major AI models. From a report: In a move to attract startup customers, Amazon now allows its cloud credits to cover the use of models from other providers including Anthropic, Meta, Mistral AI, and Cohere. "This is another gift that we're m ... ⌘ Read more
Microsoft is Working on an Xbox AI Chatbot
Microsoft is currently testing a new AI-powered Xbox chatbot that can be used to automate support tasks. From a report: Sources familiar with Microsoft's plans tell The Verge that the software giant has been testing an "embodied AI character" that animates when responding to Xbox support queries. I understand this Xbox AI chatbot is part of a larger effort inside Microsoft to apply AI to ... ⌘ Read more
Researchers Unlock Fiber Optic Connection 1.2 Million Times Faster Than Broadband
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Popular Science: In the average American house, any download rate above roughly 242 Mbs is considered a solidly speedy broadband internet connection. That's pretty decent, but across the Atlantic, researchers at UK's Aston University recently managed to coax about 1.2 mil ... ⌘ Read more
TikTok Is Bringing Its Dedicated STEM Feed To Europe
As political pressure mounts, TikTok says it's committed to fostering educational content on its app. "The company announced on Tuesday that it's expanding its dedicated STEM feed across Europe, starting in the U.K. and Ireland, after first launching it in the U.S. last year," reports TechCrunch. From the report: The STEM feed will begin to automatically appear along ... ⌘ Read more
Trash From the ISS May Have Hit a House In Florida
A nearly two-pound piece of trash from the International Space Station may have hit a house in Florida. Alejandro Otero said it "tore through the roof and both floors of his two-story house in Naples, Florida," reports Ars Technica. "Otero wasn't home at the time, but his son was there." From the report: A Nest home security camera captured the sound of the crash at 2:34 ... ⌘ Read more
India Hydropower Output Records Steepest Fall In Nearly Four Decades
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: India's hydroelectricity output fell at the steepest pace in at least 38 years during the year ended March 31, a Reuters analysis of government data showed, as erratic rainfall forced further dependence on coal-fired power amid higher demand. The 16.3% drop in generation from the count ... ⌘ Read more
Databricks Claims Its Open Source Foundational LLM Outsmarts GPT-3.5
Lindsay Clark reports via The Register: Analytics platform Databricks has launched an open source foundational large language model, hoping enterprises will opt to use its tools to jump on the LLM bandwagon. The biz, founded around Apache Spark, published a slew of benchmarks claiming its general-purpose LLM -- dubbed DBRX -- beat open sou ... ⌘ Read more
Telegram Challenges Meta With the Launch of New 'Business' Features, Revenue-Sharing
Telegram is enhancing its platform for businesses with the introduction of Telegram Business, offering specialized features like customizable start pages, business hours, and chat management tools, while also initiating an ad-revenue sharing model for public channels with at least 1,000 subscribers. "As a whol ... ⌘ Read more
Discord To Start Showing Ads This Week After History of Shunning Them
Starting this week, Discord will show ads on the site from video game companies, some of which will offer users gifts for carrying out in-game tasks. According to the Wall Street Journal, Discord said users will be able to turn off the ads in their settings. From a report: The sources said Discord aims to hire more than a dozen ad sales peop ... ⌘ Read more
Record Heat in Europe, Asia Closes Another Extremely Warm Month For Planet
Earth has a long-running fever that shows little signs of easing. The planet has set high temperature records in each of the last nine months, and March is poised to become the 10th. From a report: Multiple locations around the world observed unprecedented heat on the month's final weekend, as if to put an exclamation mark on t ... ⌘ Read more
Rust Developers at Google Twice as Productive as C++ Teams
An anonymous reader shares a report: Echoing the past two years of Rust evangelism and C/C++ ennui, Google reports that Rust shines in production, to the point that its developers are twice as productive using the language compared to C++. Speaking at the Rust Nation UK Conference in London this week, Lars Bergstrom, director of engineering at Google, wh ... ⌘ Read more
McKinsey is Offering Staff Pay, Career Coaching If They Leave Firm
An anonymous reader shares a report: The management-consulting giant McKinsey is dangling career-coaching services and nine months' worth of pay to staffers keen on leaving the firm, the British newspaper The Times reported on Saturday. The Times reported that managers for McKinsey's UK offices could spend up to nine months searching for a job inst ... ⌘ Read more
The FTC is Trying To Help Victims of Impersonation Scams Get Their Money Back
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a new way to combat the impersonation scams that it says cost people $1.1 billion last year alone. Effective today, the agency's rule "prohibits the impersonation of government, businesses, and their officials or agents in interstate commerce." The rule also lets the FTC directly file ... ⌘ Read more
'Smart Devices Are Turning Out To Be a Poor Investment'
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Android Police, written by Dhruv Bhutani: As someone who is an early adopter of all things smart and has invested a significant amount of money in building a fancy smart home, it saddens me to say that I feel cheated by the thousands of dollars I've spent on smart devices. And it's not a one-off. Amazon's recent move to b ... ⌘ Read more