Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ Slime Mold-Powered Smart Watches See Humans Fall In Love With The Goo

  Humans are very good at anthropomorphising things. That is, giving them human characteristics, like ourselves. We do it with animals—see just about any cartoon—and we even do it with our own planet—see Mother Nature. But we often extend that courtesy even further, giving names to our cars and putting faces on our computers as well.

• Ruben Schade ☛ What can you put on a personal website?

  The question kinda throws me back to GeoCities in the late 1990s. Kids around me at the time said they loved going to my silly site to see my Star Trek trivia, maps of places I’d walked, short stores, and lists of my favourite games. But when I’d ask why they didn’t have their own site I could link back to, they’d say they had “nothing to say”. It’s the same thing I hear today from people who refuse to start a blog, but can spend hours writing posts on Facebook. It’s as though people have convinced themselves they’re not worthy of their own site, which is nonsense.

• Silicon Angle ☛ Google releases first Android 15 preview with new cryptographic, chip management features

  Google LLC today released the first preview version of Android 15, the next major iteration of its mobile operating system. The preview is intended only for use by developers.

• Hackaday ☛ Change The Jingle In Your Makita Charger Because You Can

  Lots of things beep these days. Washing machines, microwaves, fridge — even drill battery chargers. If you’re on Team Makita, it turns out you can actually change the melody of your charger’s beep, thanks to a project from [Real-Time-Kodi].

• Techdirt ☛ The Copia Institute Tells The Ninth Circuit That The District Court Got It Basically Right Enjoining California’s Age Design Law

  States keep trying to make the Internet a teenager-free zone. Which means that lawsuits keep needing to be filed because these laws are ridiculously unconstitutional. And courts are noticing: just this week a court enjoined the law in Ohio, and a different court had already enjoined the California AB 2273 AADC law a few months ago.

• New York Times ☛ ‘Shawshank’ in China, as You’ve Never Seen It Before

  A stage adaptation of the film featured an all-Western cast, was performed in Chinese and raised questions about translation, both linguistic and cultural.

• RFA ☛ Japanese dance group’s take on a Fentanylware (TikTok) hit irks Hong Kong

  Avantgardey’s performance of the popular Chinese dance move reflects China’s ‘vulgar culture,’ say critics.

• Digital Music News ☛ Now You Can ‘Remix’ YouTube Music Videos Into Your Shorts

  YouTube introduces the ability for users to ‘remix’ a music video into their short-form videos, as the company continues to develop features to challenge TikTok.

• The Straits Times ☛ Curtains on Aussie theatres of memories: Cinema opened by Nicole Kidman latest to bite the dust

  
  

  In New South Wales, there are about 139 cinemas, down from 158 in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Ruben Schade ☛ Introducing my new 8-bit Software Fun series

  I write technical documents and engineer cloud infrastructure for my day job, but I’ve made no secret of my love for 8-bit and other retrocomputer hardware here. But in a recent pseudo-hallucinatory flu state where I didn’t sleep for two days, as many things struck me: [...]

• Ruben Schade ☛ More wood behind fewer tasks

  Alongside retrocomputing, this blog threatens to turn into one of those #productivity sites that were huge a decade ago. Oh well!

  [...]

  The question kinda throws me back to GeoCities in the late 1990s. Kids around me at the time said they loved going to my silly site to see my Star Trek trivia, maps of places I’d walked, short stores, and lists of my favourite games. But when I’d ask why they didn’t have their own site I could link back to, they’d say they had “nothing to say”. It’s the same thing I hear today from people who refuse to start a blog, but can spend hours writing posts on Facebook. It’s as though people have convinced themselves they’re not worthy of their own site, which is nonsense.

• Hackaday ☛ Deadblow Axe Splits Wood With Minimal Rebound

  Dead-blow hammers are well-known in the construction industry for minimizing rebound. [Jacob Fischer] is on a mission to bring this concept to splitting axes.

• Hackaday ☛ Bioluminescent Glowing Petunias Are Now A Thing

  Outside of the depths of the ocean, or cartoons, we’re not typically accustomed to plant life glowing or otherwise generating its own light. However, science is helping to change all that. Now, you can order some bioluminescent plants of your very own from Light Bio.

• Hackaday ☛ Sneaky Fix Gets Simon Back Up And Running

  Simon was a cutting-edge “computer controlled game” when it launched back in 1978. It would flash out a pattern of ever-increasing length and you had to copy it if you didn’t want to lose. The name, obviously inspired by the traditional folk game of Simon Says. [Robert] recently found an original vintage Simon game, but it had been non-functional for many years. However, with some astute analysis and repair, he was able to get it working again.

• Hackaday ☛ Salvaged Meter Movements Really Pop In This DIY VU Meter Bridge

  If you’re going to build a nice VU meter bridge for the recording studio, the first thing you need is a nice pair of VU meters. But lest you think it’s as easy as putting some meters into a nice box and calling it a day, think again.

• Education

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ St. Paul teachers could strike soon, but timeline still up in air

    “If the district can turn things around and start putting acceptable offers on the table, we absolutely have time to settle before any strike would occur,” said union contract negotiator Erica Schatzlein.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Avnet MSC C10M-ALN – A COM Express Type 10 Mini Module with defective chip maker Intel Alder Lake-N CPU, LPDDR5 memory

    Avnet MSC C10M-ALN is a COM Express Type 10 module powered by the Alder Lake-N family of processors including the defective chip maker Intel Core i3, defective chip maker Intel Atom x7000E, and defective chip maker Intel Processor N-Series. The design allows for easy adaptation of applications between various defective chip maker Intel CPU models, ensuring compatibility across different performance and power needs.

  • CNX Software ☛ Digi IX40 5G edge computing industrial IoT cellular gateway is designed for Industry 4.0 use cases

    Digi IX40 is a 5G edge computing industrial IoT cellular router solution designed for Industry 4.0 use cases such as advanced robotics, predictive maintenance, asset monitoring, industrial automation, and smart manufacturing.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • YLE ☛ Provinssi festival offers discounts to plant-based food vendors

    Organisers of the June festival are aiming to reduce the event's carbon footprint.

  • Latvia ☛ Teenage addiction treatment inconsistent in Latvia

    A teenager died last year from an overdose at the Riga Children's and Youth Center (orphanage). The Center's management and Ombudsman point to inconsistencies in the laws – if a minor does not wish to be treated for addiction, he or she cannot be helped, Latvian Radio reported on February 16.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Simple Blood Test Could Soon Predict Your Risk of Dementia

    An early warning system is hidden in your veins.

  • Science Alert ☛ People Value a Single Human Life Over Entire Species, Survey Reveals

    Disturbing.

  • Science Alert ☛ Ancient DNA Reveals a Tragic Genocide Hidden in Humanity's Past

    A dark secret we never knew about.

  • Science Alert ☛ This Common Food Preservative May Not Be as Harmless as We Thought

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Unveil First-Ever Images of a Cell Building Its 'Molecular Highway'

    Stunning footage!

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • The Register UK ☛ Lawmakers try again to break open black box algorithms

    On Thursday House Representatives Mark Takano (D-CA) and Dwight Evans (D-PA) reintroduced the Justice in Forensic Algorithms Act of 2024, a draft law that forbids using trade secret claims from barring defense attorneys from reviewing source code relevant to criminal cases and establishes a federal testing regime for forensic software.

    The bill, introduced in 2019 and in 2021 to no avail, aims to guarantee that criminal defendants have the opportunity to assess the fairness of software used against them.

  • Manuel Moreale ☛ Ai and Robots

    David Pierce at The Verge just published a great long-form piece about robots.txt, the relationship between the people running websites and the people running spiders and crawlers, and what’s happening now that AI has entered the scene.

  • The Verge ☛ With the rise of AI, web crawlers are suddenly controversial

    It’s not a perfect system, but it works. Used to, anyway. For decades, the main focus of robots.txt was on search engines; you’d let them scrape your site and in exchange they’d promise to send people back to you. Now AI has changed the equation: companies around the web are using your site and its data to build massive sets of training data, in order to build models and products that may not acknowledge your existence at all.

    The robots.txt file governs a give and take; AI feels to many like all take and no give. But there’s now so much money in AI, and the technological state of the art is changing so fast that many site owners can’t keep up. And the fundamental agreement behind robots.txt, and the web as a whole — which for so long amounted to “everybody just be cool” — may not be able to keep up either.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Navy used threat of cyber vulnerability to expand VDI

    The VDI, however, is part of the broader move to zero trust. Rathbun said using a VDI helps focus protections on the device, the person and data, which is part of the principles around zero trust.

    Underlying the Department of the Navy’s move to zero trust is its move away from the Risk Management Framework (RMF) and toward the “Cyber Ready” approach, which focuses instead on continuous monitoring and ongoing risk assessments. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced the “Cyber Ready” initiative in August 2022 in a memo outlining its principles of pre-emptive cyber defense.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Security Week ☛ EU Watchdog Urged to Reject Meta ‘Pay for Privacy’ Scheme

      Civil rights groups called on an EU watchdog to rule against Facebook (Farcebook) owner Meta's scheme to let Europeans pay to opt out of data tracking, which they say violates EU law.

    • US News And World Report ☛ State Governments Looking to Protect Health-Related Data as It's Used in Abortion Battle

      Federal law bars medical providers from sharing health data without a patient’s consent but doesn’t prevent digital tech companies from tracking menstrual cycles or an individual’s location and selling it to data brokers. Legislation for federal bans have never gained momentum, largely because of opposition from the tech industry.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Mint Press News ☛ The Threat of All Out War: Yemen Nears the Tipping Point As US Airstrikes Intensify

    The danger of Washington's attacks on Yemen's mainland lies not only in exposing civilians to danger but has the potential to spark retaliatory measures taken by Ansar Allah should pressure from the public and family members of victims continue to mount.

  • The Register UK ☛ Report accuses X of dealing with US-sanctioned entities

    The allegations were leveled against the Twitter successor by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), which published a report on Wednesday that revealed more than a dozen accounts belonging to sanctioned parties had paid-for verification check marks. An account belonging to Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Hasrallah even claimed to be ID verified – meaning the Lebanese militant would have to submit a selfie and a government-issued identity card.

    Along with Hezbollah leadership and affiliated media outlets, TTP found verified accounts linked to Iran-sponsored militia Harakat al-Nujaba, Al-Saadi Gadhafi – son of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi – Russian state-owned television network NTV, Iranian state media station Press TV, and Russian commercial bank Tinkoff Bank. Press TV and Tinkoff Bank have gold checkmarks, which at the time of TTP's research cost $1,000 a month.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Eyeing China, senior US lawmaker vows to back funding for Pacific islands

    February 17, 2024 5:48 AM
    
    

    The Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee said on Friday he supported funding for U.S.-allied Pacific Island nations as a way to counter the influence of China, and would push to include them in any supplemental security aid bill.

  • The Straits Times ☛ UK's Cameron raises Red Sea, human rights issues with Chinese counterpart

    British foreign minister David Cameron met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, the Foreign Office said in a statement.

  • RFA ☛ Philippines launches patrols around disputed shoal to protect fishing grounds, food security

    Action aims to protect rights, safety of Filipinos in traditional fishing grounds near Scarborough Shoal, national security adviser says.

  • JURIST ☛ UK antisemitic incidents at all-time high following the outbreak of Israel-Hamas war

    British charity and advisory body, the Community Security Trust, released a report Thursday finding that antisemitic incidents were more common in 2023 since the group began tracking incidents in 1984. In 2023 there were 4,103 reported events, almost double the previous 2021 record of 2,255.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • France24 ☛ Zelensky’s A-team: Who is who among Ukraine's new army commanders

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky labelled it a “reset” while others have called it a “shake-up”: FRANCE 24 takes a look at the new team of army commanders tasked with helping Ukraine rebuild military momentum and ultimately win the war against Russia.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine troops withdraw from frontline city of Avdiivka in victory for Moscow

      Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the frontline city of Avdiivka to avoid being encircled, new military chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Saturday, handing Russia its biggest symbolic victory following Kyiv's failed summer counter-offensive.

    • LRT ☛ Why do foreigners learn Lithuanian?

      People from all over the world, including Japan, Argentina, India, Ukraine, and other countries, come to Lithuania to learn the Lithuanian language. Why do they do so?

    • RFERL ☛ Family Of Four Feared Dead In Russian Missile Strike On Kramatorsk, Ukrainian Officials Say

      Four members of one family -- including two teenagers -- were feared dead in the aftermath of a Russian missile attack in the southeastern city of Kramatorsk, the local adminstration said.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Warns Of Border Crossing Shutdown Amid Polish Farmers' Protest

      Ukraine's customs service warned that a protest by farmers on the Polish side of the Yahodyn-Dorohusk checkpoint will likely block traffic on February 18, as a long line of trucks and other vehicles has already been seen at the crossing.

    • RFERL ☛ Germany Says Helped U.S. Shut Down Russian Computer Spy Network

      German security authorities have helped to shut down a Russian computer espionage network in a U.S.-led operation that uncovered, in part, spying about Germany's plans for Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ Dutch PM 'Cautiously Optimistic' Military Aid For Ukraine Coming 'Soon'

      Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the front-runner to be the next secretary-general of NATO, has said EU countries are "working with our partners all over the globe" to meet Ukraine's military needs, especially supplying Kyiv with ammunition and air-defense systems.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Russian forces seize control of eastern Ukrainian city Avdiivka

      Russian forces have taken complete control of the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka. The announcement came the same day that Ukraine’s military chief said he was withdrawing troops from the city where outnumbered defenders battled a Russian assault for four months.

    • New York Times ☛ Avdiivka, Longtime Stronghold for Ukraine, Falls to Russia

      With Ukraine’s forces at risk of encirclement, the top military commander ordered a retreat. In startlingly candid accounts, soldiers described disarray and despair.

    Fall of Avdiivka: What to Know After Russia Captures Ukrainian Stronghold ☞ https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/17/world/europe/avdiivka-russia-ukraine-war.html

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Urges West To Step Up Weapons Deliveries In Face Of Avdiyivka Pullout

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that the decision to pull out of the embattled eastern city of Avdiyivka was made in order to safeguard the lives of the outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian soldiers.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Ukrainian foreign minister discusses peace prospects with Chinese counterpart

      Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Saturday he had discussed the prospects for peace in Kyiv's nearly two-year-old war against Russia with his Chinese counterpart, part of a long-running bid to bolster relations with Beijing.

    • New York Times ☛ Maps: Where Ukraine Is Fighting to Hold Back Russian Onslaught

      Outmanned and outgunned, Ukrainian ground forces are in perhaps their most precarious position since the opening months of the war.

    • New York Times ☛ The Best Case for Ukraine Aid

      It will make it easier to negotiate an armistice on terms favorable to Ukraine.

    • New York Times ☛ ‘Dictators Do Not Go on Vacation,’ Zelensky Warns Washington and Europe

      President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed back against skepticism of a Ukraine victory, calling on world leaders not to ask when the war would end, but why Russia was still able to wage it.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Even in Russia, people are permitted to lay flowers, but not here’: Istanbul police have allowed pro-Palestinian demonstrations. They’ve allowed rallies in support of Ukraine. But they stopped Navalny’s mourners. — Meduza

    • Off Guardian ☛ Shall we talk about Navalny…?

      I mean “they” obviously would appreciate it if we did right? It’s a nice, polarised divisive topic that can never be resolved, gets people all worked up and ultimately doesn’t really change anything. So, pretty much an ideal talking point for these post-covid days.

    • France24 ☛ Navalny aide confirms his death as family seeks to locate his body

      A spokesperson for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny confirmed on Saturday that he had died at a remote Arctic penal colony, adding that he was “murdered" but that it is unclear where his body is.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China says Navalny death is ‘Russia’s internal affair’ as foreign ministry declines comment

      China’s foreign ministry declined to comment on Saturday on the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, describing it as “Russia’s internal affair”. “This is Russia’s internal affair.

    • New York Times ☛ Hundreds of Navalny Mourners Detained Across Russia

      At least 400 people have been detained across Russia since Aleksei Navalny’s death, a rights group reported. Those who came to lay flowers found solace in the company of others.

    • RFERL ☛ Navalny's Death Confirmed, But Officials Refuse To Release Body Pending 'Investigation'

      Aleksei Navalny's family and close associates have confirmed his death in an Arctic prison and have demanded his body be handed over, but Russian officials have refused, telling his lawyers and mother that an "investigation" of the causes would only be completed next week.

    • YLE ☛ Exhibit in Helsinki honours Kremlin critic Navalny

      Helsinki, like many world capitals, has seen vigils for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny who died in a remote penal colony.

    • New York Times ☛ With Prison Certain and Death Likely, Why Did Navalny Return?

      An activist who thrived on agitation, he feared irrelevancy in exile. Winning new respect as he continued to lambast the Kremlin from behind bars cost him his life.

    • New York Times ☛ What We Know About the Cause of Aleksei Navalny’s Reported Death

      The Russian authorities have issued sparse details of what they said happened to Aleksei A. Navalny, the opposition leader who they announced had died in prison.

    • Meduza ☛ Zelensky says ‘absolutely clear’ Putin behind Navalny’s death, calls him a murderer — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Russia had someone who believed in the future’: Maxim Trudolyubov on Alexey Navalny’s death and the fate of the Putin regime — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ Navalny’s Challenge to Putin’s Russia

      The reported death of a leading dissident reveals how deeply his crusade against corruption has challenged Russia’s autocratic leader, Vladimir Putin.

    • France24 ☛ Alexei Navalny: a daring Kremlin critic dies behind bars

      Anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny, whose death in a remote Arctic prison was announced on Friday, was long the most prominent face of Russian opposition to President Vladimir Putin.

    • France24 ☛ Hundreds detained across Russia at rallies in memory of Navalny

      At least 359 people were detained at events in Russia on Friday and Saturday in memory of Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin's most formidable domestic opponent, who died on Friday, according to an independent Russian human rights group.

    • Meduza ☛ Over 280 people arrested at memorial protests for Alexey Navalny throughout Russia — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Navalny’s press secretary says Russian authorities hiding politician’s body to cover up evidence: ‘There’s no doubt this murder was planned’ — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Prison official says Navalny died of ‘sudden death syndrome,’ Russian Investigative Committee says cause of death remains unknown — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘He didn’t live in vain’: Meduza’s Russian readers react to Alexey Navalny’s death — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Human rights lawyer says Russian authorities can legally keep Alexey Navalny’s body for up to 30 days — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian human rights project coordinates nationwide campaign to demand release of Alexey Navalny’s body — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian lawmaker asks prosecutors to launch criminal negligence probe into Alexey Navalny’s death — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian priest arrested on way to hold Navalny memorial service suffers stroke in police custody — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Over 400 people arrested in first two days of memorial protests for Alexey Navalny across Russia — Meduza

    • France24 ☛ Lack of artillery, long-range capacity helps Putin, Zelensky tells Munich meeting

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned allies Saturday that an “artificial deficit” of arms for his country risks giving Russia breathing space, highlighting the need for artillery and long-range weapons after his military chief said he was withdrawing troops from the eastern city of Avdiivka.

    • New York Times ☛ The Florida Fraudster and the Russian ‘Killer’

      How do you like your pal, Putin, now, Trump?

    • RFERL ☛ Biden Joins Other World Leaders In Blaming Putin For Navalny's Death

      U.S. President Joe Biden joined other Western leaders in condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying he is "responsible" for the reported death of jailed opposition leader Aleksei Navalny.

    • New York Times ☛ Haley Calls Navalny a ‘Hero,’ Saying Trump Must Answer for His Death

      Nikki Haley has long criticized her former boss over what she has described as his love of dictators and authoritarian leaders.

    • RFERL ☛ Mixed Reaction To Navalny's Death In Moscow While Europeans Gather To Mourn Kremlin Critic

      The death of Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny in a Russian prison on February 16 led to an outpouring of grief across Europe, but in Moscow the reaction was more mixed, with some people calling him brave and others saying he won't be missed.

    • RFERL ☛ Floral Tributes To Navalny Removed Overnight As More Than 100 Reportedly Arrested

      Groups of unidentified people removed flowers and other tributes for opposition politician Aleksei Navalny from Russian cities under the watch of the police overnight, as more than 100 people were arrested across Russia for laying flowers in Navalny's memory in various spots

    • YLE ☛ Finland, Poland discuss instrumentalised migration, border security

      PM Petteri Orpo and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, say they want to strengthen their borders and defences in response to Russia.

    • New York Times ☛ U.S. Fears Russia Might Put a Nuclear Weapon in Space

      American spy agencies are divided on whether Moscow would go so far, but the concern is urgent enough that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has asked China and India to try to talk Russia down.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • American Oversight ☛ American Oversight, Wisconsin Office of Special Counsel settle lawsuit over document retention policies

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • YLE ☛ Mild weather during strike helps Finland dodge giant electric bills

      Electricity imports and mild weather helped prevent shortfalls as strikes targeted power facilities.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • France24 ☛ Chile wildfires: Conspiracy theorists claim blue paint can save homes

      As wildfires ravaged central Chile, a number of posts have been circulating online claiming that buildings or objects painted blue are immune to the fires. Why? Well, these accounts claim the fires were actually set by powerful lasers that don’t work on anything coloured blue. These claims are baseless.

    • Science Alert ☛ Amazon Rainforest Facing Drastic Collapse From 2050, Scientists Warn

      The unthinkable is happening.

• Finance

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Youth unemployment in China: New metric, same mess

    The youth labor induced weakening of Chinese productivity and growth has the potential to impact youth labor markets worldwide.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ As Chinese manufacturers set up shop near Mexico’s Tesla plant, the US is watching closely

    Tesla's connections to Chinese suppliers raises the question: Could Mexico become China's backdoor to the U.S. market?

  • Federal News Network ☛ Congresswoman blasts GSA for purchasing Chinese tech

    Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is concerned about a recent GSA IG report that found GSA bought 150 videoconference cameras manufactured in China

    [...]

    Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro had a few choice words for contractors. The Department of the Navy is putting its contractors on notice to deliver ships, aircraft and submarines on time and on budget. Del Toro said it is time for contractors to spend more money on the future. "You can't be asking for the American taxpayer to make even greater public investments while you continue, in some cases, to goose your stock prices through stock buybacks, deferring promised capital investments," Del Toro said. Speaking yesterday in San Diego at AFCEA West, the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association International, Del Toro also said the Navy and its partners need to reduce costs, optimize systems, and improve interoperability.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Trump fined $355 million in New York financial fraud case

    Judge Arthur Engoron ruled that Donald Trump and his co-defendants “failed to accept responsibility” for years of inflated financial statements that misrepresented the former president's wealth.

  • Reason ☛ Trump Ordered To Pay $364 Million for Inflating His Assets in Civil Fraud Trial

    Despite brazenly lying on financial documents and inventing valuations seemingly out of thin air, Trump's lender did not testify that it would have valued his loans any differently.

  • YLE ☛ Finns Party minister accuses unions of "propaganda" as political strikes continue

    Both the government and trade unions say they will not back down in the ongoing dispute over labour market reforms and social security cuts.

  • The Globe And Mail CA ☛ As tech giants cut jobs, innovation may head back to its roots: The garage

    The sweeping layoffs in the technology sector over the past year have raised this concern about innovation: If the recognized champions of curve-jumping thinking are discarding big brains in big numbers, doesn’t the ability to generate big ideas decline proportionally?

    It’s a fair question, because it’s been a bloodbath across the tech waterfront – the worst since the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s. During 2023, more than 260,000 tech jobs were eliminated in North America, including many with six-figure salaries and all the benefits trimmings. The new year has brought no relief – another 24,000 positions disappeared in January, and more are expected. Members of tech’s so-called Magnificent Seven – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla – have accounted for much of the carnage.

  • What's behind the 'second wave' of layoffs in tech industry?

    After a tumultuous year that saw the tech industry grappling with the fallout of the pandemic, 2024 was supposed to mark a return to stability. However, recent reports reveal that major players in Silicon Valley are once again wielding the axe, initiating a second wave of layoffs that has sent shockwaves through the sector.

    In 2023, the tech industry endured its worst period since the dot-com crash of the early 2000s, shedding over 260,000 jobs amid pandemic-induced chaos. Executives pointed to a combination of factors to justify the mass layoffs, including a hiring spree during the pandemic, inflationary pressures, and sluggish consumer demand.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • JURIST ☛ India Supreme Court strikes down electoral bonds scheme

    The India Supreme Court unanimously declared unconstitutional the electoral bonds scheme on Wednesday, which previously allowed for anonymous funding to political parties. The electoral bonds scheme was first instituted by India Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Union government in 2018.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ No foreign countries have criticised Hong Kong’s impending domestic security law, gov’t advisor Regina Ip says

    Foreign governments have not criticised Hong Kong’s impending domestic national security law, executive councillor and lawmaker Regina Ip has said. Speaking on a Commercial Radio show on Friday, Ip said the enactment of security legislation under Article 23 had not attracted negative feedback internationally.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong correctional officers target ‘illicit food transaction’ as some prisoners resist

    Hong Kong authorities have targeted what they described as “illicit food transaction” in Tai Lam Correctional Institution, a minimum security institution for male adult prisoners.

  • The Strategist ☛ Loads and laments of the South Pacific leader

    Australia sees itself as the natural leader of the South Pacific. The preferred senior-partner synonyms these days are ‘partner of choice’ and ‘principal security partner’.

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ Cisco will cut 4 000 jobs - 5% of its global workforce

    Cisco Systems said it will cut 5% of its global workforce, or more than 4 000 jobs, and lowered its annual revenue target as the company navigates a tough economy that has led to thousands of layoffs by tech firms this year.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Iran is socially engineering mass depression to suppress dissent  

    Meet Sadegh Booghi—or “Amoo Booghi” (Uncle Booghi) as he has come to be known—an elderly fishmonger from a small northern Iranian town, who was detained by authorities after videos of him singing and dancing went viral on Instagram—the most popular social media platform in Iran and one that also happens to be blocked (Iranians use circumvention tools to bypass censorship). The pensioner’s Instagram page was suspended. It was reactivated after mass pressure, although a case against Booghi is still open.

    What was Booghi’s crime? Spreading joy across the country—and much of the world.

  • India Times ☛ reddit ai content licensing deal: Reddit signs content licensing deal with AI company ahead of IPO: report

    According to a Bloomberg report, Reddit, which is eyeing an initial public offering (IPO) launch, has told prospective investors that it signed the deal, worth $60 million on an annualised basis.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • JURIST ☛ Australia MPs pass motion calling for return of Julian Assange

    Australian Federal MPs voted Wednesday in favour of a motion supporting the return of Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange to Australia, ahead of a US extradition hearing next week in London’s High Court of Justice.

  • The Dissenter ☛ Countdown To Day X: Assange's Right To A Fair Trial

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • JURIST ☛ US DOJ files lawsuit against Tennessee over allegedly discriminatory prostitution law

    The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against the state of Tennessee on Thursday seeking the invalidation of a law criminalizing “aggravated” prostitution citing the discriminatory impacts of its elevated penalties on those convicted of prostitution if they are HIV positive.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Protesting Indian farmers pose challenge for Modi ahead of polls

    February 17, 2024 5:00 AM
    
    

    NEW DELHI - India’s millions of farmers are a vital voting block and have long sought greater political support to boost their incomes and cut crippling debt. Yet in recent days, security forces have been using drones to drop tear gas on them during protests – just months ahead of an election.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Indian farmers demand guaranteed crop prices. Why Modi may listen.

    Tens of thousands of Indian farmers are marching toward New Delhi to demand guaranteed minimum crop prices, a development reminiscent of 2021 protests that succeeded in changing agriculture laws. Police have responded with arrests and tear gas.

  • Vice Media Group ☛ Amazon Joins Elon Musk’s SpaceX In Mission to Destroy Federal Agency Protecting Workers

    Amazon is the latest company facing labor charges to argue that the National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional.

  • Cupalo ☛ Your Job Will NEVER Love You Back - by Lauren Hannon

    People used to seek out a job for “stability.” Some still do. But with the mass layoffs of 2023 and those already kicking off 2024, the fragility of a job has never seemed more apparent to me.

    To add insult to injury, there is often a disturbing lack of respect and dignity shown to those impacted during the layoff “process.” Salt in an already festering wound.

  • VOA News ☛ UN Study Warns Recognizing Taliban Will Intensify Women's Rights Crisis

    "Women expressed dread and anxiety when asked to consider the possibility of international recognition of the DFA (de facto authorities)," according to the report jointly prepared by U.N. Women, the International Organization for Migration, and the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

  • teleSUR ☛ French Railway Workers Continue Strike Until Monday

    Striking unions believe that the deal to end the crisis negotiated in late 2022, when a Christmas weekend strike left 200,000 travelers stranded, is slow to be implemented.

  • YLE ☛ Yle survey: Majority approves of strikes against the government's labour reforms

    This week Finland saw a series of trade union actions protesting the government's planned labour market policies and cuts to social welfare.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• KOL425 | Haman Nature: Stephan KINSELLA dismantles “intellectual” property

  Introducing two amazing books: Stephan's Against Intellectual Property and Against Intellectual Monopoly by Boldrin and Levine. Then Stephan touches on many aspects of the philosophical and consequential aspects of intellectual property laws. The dude goes all over the place! There's no stopping him! He knows so much!

• Techdirt ☛ Amazon Faces Class Action For Enshittifying Prime Video

  Last week Amazon began charging Amazon Prime Video customers (who already pay $140 per year) an extra $3 extra per month to avoid ads that didn’t previously exist. One added wrinkle: apparently Amazon also pulled Dolby Vision and Atmos audio support from Prime Video unless users pay the additional toll to avoid ads, a change the company couldn’t be bothered to inform users of.

• Patents

  • JUVE ☛ Kiekert accelerates proceedings against Brose after Düsseldorf defeat

    Kiekert has failed in its last attempt to sue automotive supplier Brose for infringement of car-door lock patents. Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court has revised a judgment of the first instance, where the regional court ordered Brose to cease and desist from infringing German patent monopoly DE 10 2009 029 041 B4.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Federal Circuit Decisions – 2023 Stats and Datapack

    It’s time for the annual Federal Circuit statistics update! As I’ve done for the last few years, below I provide some statistics on what the Federal Circuit has been doing over the past year. These charts draw on the Federal Circuit Dataset Project, an open-access dataset that I maintain that contains information on all Federal Circuit decisions and docketed appeals. The docket data is collected directly from PACER, and the court’s decisions are collected from via its RSS feed. My research team then uses a combination of algorithmic processing via Python code and manual review to code information about each document

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Incorporation by Reference Rules at the Federal Circuit

    The Federal Circuit released two opinions today involving these two parties.  The first sides with Promptu on claim construction – remanding the case back to the Pennsylvania district court for further development.  The second concludes that reprimands Comcast’s attorney for trying to sneak-in extra words into its appellate brief.  This post will focus on the second case.

  • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 for Jeffrey M. Gross entity Secure Ink e-document patent monopoly prior art

    Unified Patents added a new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on at least claim 1 of U.S. Patent 8,140,440, owned by Secure Ink LLC, an NPE and entity of Jeffrey M. Gross. The ‘440 patent monopoly generally relates to the field of electronic document processing systems.

  • Software Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ $4,000 for Helios Streaming multimedia patents prior art

      Unified Patents added two new PATROLL contests, each with a $2,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on the list below. The patents are owned by Helios Streaming, LLC, an NPE. The patents generally relate to multimedia streaming.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ Trade Name Use is not Trademark Use, Says TTAB

    The Board affirmed a refusal to register the proposed mark EXPERIMENTAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES for “Dietary and nutritional supplements” on the ground that the mark is used solely as a trade name to identify applicant's business and therefore is not registrable. In re Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Serial No. 88291540 (February 14, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Martha B. Allard).

  • Gizmodo ☛ OpenAI's Effort to Trademark ‘GPT’ Crushed by Feds

    In a final decision issued last week, which largely flew under the radar, the USPTO said it was denying OpenAI’s petition to register a trademark for “GPT” because the acronym was “merely descriptive” and only detailed a feature or characteristic of the company’s product. “GPT” is short for “generative pre-trained transformer,” a set of neural network models that can create human-like text and images.

  • The Verge ☛ OpenAI can’t register ‘GPT’ as a trademark — yet

    The PTO wrote in its February 6th decision that it doesn’t matter if consumers don’t know what GPT means — because those who do use the technology understand GPT refers to a general type of software, not just OpenAI products.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Kanye West’s ‘Vultures 1’ Album Reappears on Fashion Company Apple Music and Remains on Spotify — What’s Going On?

    Yesterday Kanye West’s new album ‘Vultures 1’ with Ty Dolla $ign disappeared from Fashion Company Apple Music after distributor FUGA said the release was unauthorized. The album never left Spotify, Tidal, or Deezer and has appeared elsewhere, including SoundCloud and HiFi streaming service Qobuz. Later in the evening, the album reappeared on Fashion Company Apple Music.

  • Techdirt ☛ Just Because Mickey Mouse Is In The Public Domain, It Doesn’t Mean The Battle To Prevent Copyright Term Extensions Is Over

    The beginning of the year is a great time for the public domain, since it sees thousands of copyrighted works released from the intellectual monopoly that prevents their free creative use. Which works enter the public domain depends on the details of local copyright law, which varies around the world. But there’s a liberation that has taken place in the US that is particularly worth celebrating. Among the many important works that are now in the US public domain, there is the long-awaited arrival of Mickey and Minnie Mouse as they appeared in the short animation Steamboat Willie.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Cam’ron Ordered to Pay $51,000 For Using Copyrighted Photo — Of Himself

    Cam’ron is ordered to pay $51,000 for copyright monopoly infringement over his use of a photograph of his own likeness.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Music Publishers Fire Back Against Anthropic As Infringement Battle Heats Up: ‘Hard to Imagine a Machine More Destructive to Artistic Control’

    Last November, Universal Music, ABKCO, Concord, and others demanded a preliminary injunction against Anthropic in connection with their copyright monopoly infringement lawsuit against the Hey Hi (AI) giant. Now, these plaintiff music publishers have fired back against Anthropic’s opposition to the corresponding motion.