Leftovers

• New York Times ☛ Ship Crashes Into Bridge in China, Killing 5

  Several vehicles plummeted from the crossing, part of which collapsed, in the southern city of Guangzhou, the authorities said.

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 2 dead, 3 missing after cargo ship hits bridge near Guangzhou in southern China

  Two people were killed and three others remained missing after an empty cargo ship struck a bridge in southern China on Thursday, causing part of it to collapse, authorities and state media reported.

• The Straits Times ☛ Several injured in 100-car pile on icy China expressway

  Several people were injured after more than 100 cars collided into each other on an icy stretch of an expressway in the Chinese city of Suzhou, Chinese media reported on Friday, the latest accident caused by extreme weather conditions.

• New York Times ☛ San Diego Zoo Could Be First in U.S. to Get Pandas From China Again

  China said it reached agreements with zoos to again send giant pandas to the United States and Europe, continuing a tradition of animal-based diplomacy.

• Hackaday ☛ Filters Are In Bloom

  If you are a fan of set theory, you might agree there are two sets of people who write computer programs: those who know what a Bloom filter is and those who don’t. How could you efficiently test to see if someone is one set or another? Well, you could use a Bloom filter.  [SamWho] takes us through the whole thing in general terms that you could apply in any situation.

• Hackaday ☛ Solar E-Ink Weather Station Works On Dark Days, Too

  One way to get through the winter doldrums is to take notice of the minuscule positive changes in weather as spring approaches. Although much of the US is experiencing a particularly warm month, that’s not the case in Germany where [rsappiawf] resides. Even so, they are having a good time charting the weather on their new solar-powered E-ink weather station.

• Ruben Schade ☛ Phil Gerbyshak’s happiness boosters

  One of Phil’s latest newsletters enumerated happiness boosters, which I’m all for. This one stuck out for me:

  Three Cheers for the Day: Each night, think of 3-5 cool things that happened. It could be anything, from a tasty coffee to nailing a work task.

• Hackaday ☛ The ELIZA Archaeology Project: Uncovering The Original ELIZA

  Since ELIZA was created by [Joseph Weizenbaum] in the 1960s, its success had led to many variations and ports being written over the intervening decades. The goal of the ELIZA Archaeology Project by Stanford, USC, Oxford and other university teams is to explore and uncover as much of this history as possible, starting with the original 1960s code. As noted in a recent blog post by [Anthony Hay], most of the intervening ‘ELIZA’ versions seem to have been more inspired by the original rather than accurate replicas or extensions of the original. This raises the question of what the original program really looked like, a question which wasn’t answered until 2020 when the original source code was rediscovered.

• James G ☛ Photograph a bookshelf, get a list of the book titles

  This week, I have been working on Open Shelves (source code), a project that lets you photograph a bookshelf and retrieve a list of the book titles. This project was inspired by my blog post last week on how I made my bookshelves clickable. The approach I outlined in that post had one big limitation: computation requirements.

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ Odysseus Spacecraft Lands on Moon, First Time for U.S. Since 1972

    Odysseus was the first privately built vehicle to make it to the moon, and points to a future in which NASA, companies and others rely on commercial lunar delivery services.

  • Science Alert ☛ Treatment Breakthrough: FDA Approves First Ever Drug For Frostbite

    Reducing the risk of life-changing amputations.

  • Science Alert ☛ Strange Metal From Beyond Our World Found in Ancient Treasure Stash

    More precious than gold.

  • Science Alert ☛ Success! US Lander Odysseus Makes Space History With Lunar Touchdown

    They did it!

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ The Book8088 Gets A Post-Hype Review

    Last year, a couple of rather unusual computers emerged from China: a 386sx-based palmtop and an 8088-based mini-laptop. The average person isn’t exactly clamoring for a DOS machine these days, but they attracted quite a bit of interest among the retrocomputing scene. Now the dust has settled, [The Retro Shack] has taken a Book 8088 and given it an honest review. Do you need portable 1980s computing in your life, and if so it this the machine to give you it?

  • [Repeat/Updated] Tom's Hardware ☛ Is your defective chip maker Intel Core i9-13900K crashing in games? Your motherboard BIOS settings may be to blame — other high-end defective chip maker Intel CPUs also affected (Updated)

    Gamers and game developers are taking note of crashes on high-end defective chip maker Intel CPUs, and we think we have the answer. Multiple answers, even. Power, current, voltage, and clock speeds are all potential factors.

  • The Next Platform ☛ Intel: I Was Lostry, But Now I Am Foundry [Ed: This author is sponsored by Intel, but this does not mention it]

    Pat Gelsinger, current chief executive officer at defective chip maker Intel and formerly the head of its Data Center Group as well as its chief technology officer, famously invented the tick-tock method of chip launches to bring some order and reason to the way the world’s largest chip maker – as it was in the mid-2000s – mitigated risk and spurred innovation in its products.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ The Number of People With Persistent Fatigue Could Soon Double. Here's Why.

    A huge problem that's getting worse.

  • Science Alert ☛ Man Eats 'Potentially Deadly' Raw Chicken For Weeks But Doesn't Get Sick

  • New York Times ☛ Wendy Williams Has Frontotemporal Dementia and Aphasia, Representatives Say

    Representatives for the former daytime talk show host announced her diagnoses two days before the release of a two-part documentary about her health issues.

  • The Kent Stater ☛ Students, staff discuss impact of Flu this season

    Sickness is going around on campus, and The Ohio Department of Health agrees. The Ohio Department of Health shared in a live stream that flu season cases are rising this February despite an average number of flu cases since October.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea health alert raised to ‘severe’ over doctors’ walkout

    More than 8,400 doctors have joined the walkout so far, said South Korea's health ministry.

  • YLE ☛ THL expert advises 40-second hand washing amid norovirus spread

    Norovirus, which causes gastrointestinal illness, is not destroyed by alcohol hand sanitiser.

  • Stanford University ☛ From the Community | The health harms of fossil fuel research funding

    "If the Doerr School accepts funding from the fossil fuel industry without guardrails, history has taught that industry interests will prevail over the mission of the school to solve the climate crisis," community members from the School of Medicine write.

  • Science Alert ☛ Simple Experiment Reveals Why Your Next Antibiotics May Prove Useless

    Organisms that develop resistance to things they've never seen.

  • Latvia ☛ Travelers urged to beware of cat coronavirus

    In Cyprus, which is a popular travel destination for Latvian residents, the cat coronavirus is now spreading rapidly. Although this virus has not been detected in Latvia at this time, it is worth keeping an eye out for when traveling,  the Food and Veterinary Service (PVD) told Latvian Television's 4. studija on February 22.

  • Reason ☛ Liquor Regulators Are Seeking Revenge on Bars That Broke Pandemic Rules

    "The people who violated the governor's mandates and orders should face some consequences," a Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board member said in 2022.

  • Federal News Network ☛ A Deeper Look at the Agriculture Department

    On this episode of A Deeper Look, Joe Paiva speaks with Tony Brannum, associate CIO for the Agriculture Department's Client Experience Center.

  • CS Monitor ☛ What happens when achievement turns toxic – and how to fix it

    College prep increases the pressure on teens to succeed. Author Jennifer Breheny Wallace offers tips for turning down the heat.

  • Hackaday ☛ Making Wooden Shingles With Hand Tools

    While they have mostly been replaced with other roofing technologies, wooden shingles have a certain rustic charm. If you’re curious about how to make them by hand, [Harry Rogers] takes us through his friend [John] making some.

  • BIA Net ☛ Lawsuit against Ministry of Education starts for providing one free meal a day in schools

    Legal Counsel Saadet Yıldırım, speaking on behalf of the Ministry of National Education, stated, "These steps can start in certain pilot provinces. It was initiated in 22 districts in Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep, and Hatay. The Ministry observed many shortcomings in its implementation," and requested dismissal of the lawsuit.

  • Science Alert ☛ The Y Chromosome Is Vanishing. A New Sex Gene May Be The Future of Men.

    Big changes are coming.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Bruce Schneier ☛ New Image/Video Prompt Injection Attacks

    Simon Willison has been playing with the video processing capabilities of the new Gemini Pro 1.5 model from Google, and it’s really impressive.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Google admits its Gemini Hey Hi (AI) was problematic with racially diverse images, vows to fix it

  • New York Times ☛ Google Chatbot’s Hey Hi (AI) Images Put People of Color in Nazi-Era Uniforms

    The company has suspended Gemini’s ability to generate human images while it vowed to fix the historical inaccuracy.

  • Why Data Governance is the backbone of ethical AI [Ed: If Lauren Maffeo is connected to Stefano (OSI), this would be a conflict of interest]

    "Regardless of size, industry, mission, today’s organizations are simply not prepared to build or use Hey Hi (AI) effectively...most don’t have the tools, talent, or strategy to yield high-quality data, which is crucial for using AI," says author Lauren Maffeo.

  • Cloudbooklet ☛ ChatGPT Goes Crazy: What Behind the Hey Hi (AI) Chatbot Nonsense

    Discover the hilariously bizarre side of Hey Hi (AI) chatbots as Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot goes Crazy! Explore the nonsensical yet intriguing realm of Hey Hi (AI) conversation.

  • Zimbabwe ☛ Phone got wet? – DO NOT put it in rice, come on now, you know it’s stupid, Fashion Company Apple tells you why

    Everyone enjoys a good little life hack. Finding out you can use lemon juice to remove highlighter marks is a neat thing to know even if you don’t really use the highlighter that much. As you know though, some people have made it a career of providing silly little life hacks like those.

  • EA Planning Layoffs After Closing Two Mobile Titles, Report Says

    According to a new report from Games Industry.biz, EA is planning new layoffs that will affect “a small number of staff” after shutting down two mobile games.

    EA reportedly made the decision as a result of closing EA Sports MLB Tap Sports and F1 Mobile Racing. However, EA did not confirm exactly how many employees that the layoffs affected.

    EA gave some clear statements to GI.biz addressing the fans and the future of the games.

    The company said that “this is a difficult decision that we know impacts passionate communities who have played and enjoyed these games, and we do not take it lightly”.

  • Mass Layoffs At Microsoft Will Include Over 800 Employees From Activision Blizzard

    That number has now been confirmed to include 812 Activision Blizzard staff, 478 of whom work at the company headquarters in Irvine, California, despite Microsoft’s insistence that it won’t be cutting jobs at Activision Blizzard following its controversial acquisition of the studio just four months ago.

  • Microsoft is under fire over revelations that its white employees earn less than their black, Asian and Hispanic colleagues

    Critics of DEI have highlighted an apparent celebration of racial and gender discrimination in Microsoft’s annual Diversity and Inclusion Report.

    Microsoft proudly noted in the document that its black, Asian and Hispanic employees earn more than their white colleagues. In addition, it was found that female employees earn more than male colleagues working at the same level and in the same roles.

    The possibility that the tech giant is openly engaging in pay discrimination against employees based on their immutable characteristics has led to condemnation and calls for legal action.

• Defence/Aggression

  • RFA ☛ In Taiwan, US lawmaker calls any Chinese invasion plans ‘foolish’

    Gallagher, chair of the House Select Committee on China, said an invasion by China ‘would fail.’

  • LRT ☛ Most Lithuanians disagree with their government’s China policies – study

    Despite the current government’s combative stance towards China and enthusiastic embrace of relations with Taiwan, a new study shows that the general public would prefer friendly and pragmatic ties with Beijing.

  • YLE ☛ Preparations move ahead for F-35 fighter jet assembly near Tampere

    The Air Force's purchase of 64 Lockheed Martin F-35 warplanes will generate industrial jobs in Finland.

  • YLE ☛ Pickpockets targeting victims in downtown Helsinki, police say

    The street crimes took place in the city's Kluuvi neighbourhood and area featuring shops and cafes which is often full of locals as well as tourists.

  • JURIST ☛ Greece anarchist group claims responsibility for planned parcel bomb attack against judge

    A previously unknown Greek anarchist group, “Armed Response,” claimed responsibility Monday for a bomb attack against a judge earlier this month. The incident occurred at a courthouse in Thessaloniki, and explosive experts defused the parcel bomb before it caused any harm.

  • RFA ☛ Two-month travel ban extended in western Myanmar

    The area’s lockdown is causing problems for people’s health and livelihood, locals said.

  • New York Times ☛ Middle East Crisis: Hostage Talks Set for Paris on Friday

    Top U.S., Israeli and Egyptian intelligence officials, as well as the prime minister of Qatar, are expected to attend the negotiations, which are aimed at securing a cease-fire and the release of hostages, according to an Israeli official.

  • France24 ☛ 🔴 Live: Deadly Israeli air strikes hit Rafah, Paris to host Gaza ceasefire talks

    Israel launched deadly air strikes on Rafah on Thursday, after threatening to send troops in to hunt for Hamas militants in the southern Gaza city where around 1.4 million Palestinians have sought refuge. Another 97 people were killed over the past 24 hours in Hamas-run Gaza, the health ministry said, as a US envoy was in Israel for fresh efforts to secure a truce. Read our liveblog for all the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war.

  • France24 ☛ G20 says two-state solution is only answer to Israeli-Palestinian conflict

    Foreign ministers at the G20 group of nations meeting in Brazil were nearly unanimous in their support for a two-state solution as the only path to peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Brazilian minister hosting the event said on Thursday. Israel launched air strikes on southern Gaza’s Rafah after threatening to send troops into the city. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded.

  • New York Times ☛ Israel Steps Up Attacks in Gaza Amid Cease-Fire Talks

    Strikes overnight killed nearly 100, seven of them in Rafah, as officials said there had been momentum on a deal to free some Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Biden calls Putin ‘crazy SOB,’ Kremlin says Biden acting like ‘Hollywood cowboy’ — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia’s Supreme Court rejects Putin challenger Boris Nadezhdin’s appeal of commission’s refusal to register him as presidential candidate — Meduza

• Environment

  • YLE ☛ Luke: Finland's 2035 carbon neutrality may remain just a goal

    The gap between political decision-making and the scientific reality is much larger than before, according to a new assessment by Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • CS Monitor ☛ New kind of whale watch: Puget Sound pilot program tracks whale safety

      The U.S. Coast Guard is launching a pilot program to alert ships of whale sightings in an effort to keep the animals safe from boat strikes and noise in Washington state’s Salish Sea. The alert system uses thermal cameras and citizen whale sighting reports.

• Finance

  • Indian IT companies layoffs over 67,000 employees in just one year: Reports

    The year 2023 began on a grim note for techies across the globe as many companies started announcing large-scale layoffs. From Twitter (now called X) and Meta to Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, ex-employees of many companies came forward and shared their stories on LinkedIn. In India too, many employees were impacted by the layoffs wave and took to social media to either look for a new job, or simply vent out their feelings.

  • Indian Major IT Companies Laid Off More Than '67,000' Employees in Just One Year: Report

    Tech companies have announced IT layoffs in 2024 due to market slowdowns and restructuring plans. Last year, many tech companies announced large-scale layoffs, cutting thousands of employees across the globe. Companies like X (Previously Twitter), Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and many others handed over pink slips to employees, marking the wave of layoffs throughout the year.

  • TechCrunch ☛ Google is sunsetting the Google Pay app in the US later this year

    Google has announced that Google Pay is shutting down in the United States in June, as the standalone app has largely been replaced by Google Wallet. The company says the move is designed to simplify its payment apps. After the standalone app shuts down in the United States, it will only be available in Singapore and India.

    Although the change may seem sudden, it makes sense for Google to consolidate and simplify its payment apps to make its services less confusing for its users, as it props up Google Wallet as the go-to, singular app for its payment features.

  • Zimbabwe ☛ Let’s talk about the ‘structured ZW$’ that’s on the way now that we know a little about it

    Earlier this month, we got a surprise announcement that Zimbabwe would be introducing a structured currency. We speculated on what that could be and were way off. The Minister of Finance later clarified and we have been stewing on it and gauging the market response.

  • University of Michigan ☛ The age of Fentanylware (TikTok) shop consumerism [Ed: The age of Fentanylware (TikTok) controlling people's purchases too]

    If you’re on TikTok, there’s a good chance you’ve heard this: “Hey guys, today I’m going to be sharing my new favorite *insert product* that I’ve been obsessed with lately.

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Federal Reserve officials caution against cutting US interest rates too soon or too much

    Several Federal Reserve policymakers warned Thursday against cutting U.S. interest rates too soon or by too much in the wake of recent data showing inflation stayed unexpectedly high in January.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Inflation slows in Mexico in first half of February

    The better-than-expected decline in inflation is good news for central bankers looking to cut interest rates in the near future, according to analysts.

  • France24 ☛ Eiffel Tower closed for fourth day as staff strike over lack of financing

    France's iconic Eiffel Tower was closed for a fourth day on Thursday as employees extended a strike over the monument's management, unions said.

  • New York Times ☛ Eiffel Tower Closed by Strike for 4th Day

    Unions worry that a fee paid to the city of Paris could cut into the repair budget. But the company that manages the monument said an “ambitious” investment plan would keep the tower in shape.

  • Internet Society ☛ Bridging the Unemployment Gap for Young Female Graduates

    Aminata Hélène Dackouo hurried along Bamako’s hot, dusty streets one morning in May 2023, intent on reaching her destination in time. Her heart raced, and she had butterflies in her stomach—she was about to ask a very important question, and the answer would significantly impact her future.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Reason ☛ Michael Moynihan: What's Up With Tucker Carlson?

    Michael Moynihan, journalist and co-host of The Fifth Column, discusses Tucker Carlson's recent trip to Moscow on the latest episode of Just Asking Questions.

  • Meduza ☛ Local Russian officials instruct schools to use Tucker Carlson’s interview with Putin for educational purposes — Meduza

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • New York Times ☛ Pro-Trump Internet Trolls Escalate Ugly Attacks on Nikki Haley

      For most of the campaign, Ms. Haley was spared the full force of former President Donald J. Trump’s devoted online following. No longer.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Reason ☛ Indiana Bill Would Mandate "Intellectual Diversity" in the Classroom

    This approach to doing so poses serious academic freedom problems

  • BIA Net ☛ Metin Kahraman: 'We will file a lawsuit against the concert ban'

    The Bingöl Governorate had canceled the Metin - Kemal Kahraman concert scheduled for February 21, International Mother Language Day, without providing any reasons just 2 hours before the event.

  • JURIST ☛ Hong Kong appeals court upholds Tiananmen Square vigil organizer’s 15-month prison sentence

    The Hong Kong Court of First Instance upheld pro-democracy activist Chow Hang-tung’s 15-month prison sentence on Wednesday and ruled that Chow will serve the remaining four and a half months of her sentence for inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly. Chow has been detained since September 2021 on National Security Law charges.

  • RFERL ☛ Pakistan Blocks X For Sixth Straight Day As Activists Criticize Shutdown

    Pakistan's media regulators again disrupted service on February 22 to the social-media platform X, formerly Twitter, affecting users across the country for the sixth day in a row.

  • RFA ☛ Report: 1,500 arrested in Myanmar since 2022 in social control media crackdown

    The arrests were for writing or sharing anti-junta posts on Facebook (Farcebook) and other social networks.

  • Stanford University ☛ ASSU bill tackles University restrictions on free speech

    The bill, to be voted on in the coming weeks, will call on the University to clarify its policies and publicly commit to not penalizing students exercising free speech in designated areas.

  • Stanford University ☛ UGS debates free speech on campus, Full Moon on the Quad

    Samuel Santos, Associate Vice Provost for Inclusion, Community and Integrative Learning, joined the UGS for a dialogue on tabling in White Plaza

  • CCIA ☛ Online Speech in the Supreme Court - Disruptive Competition Project

    This Monday, February 26, 2024, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral argument in two cases — Moody v. NetChoice & CCIA and NetChoice & CCIA

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • RFERL ☛ Kazakh Journalist Mukhammedkarim Starts Hunger Strike Demanding His Trial Be Public

    Independent Kazakh journalist Duman Mukhammedkarim, who is on trial for what he says are politically motivated charges of financing an extremist group and participating in a banned group's activities, has launched a hunger strike to demand that his court hearings be open to the public.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Assange waits for outcome of last-ditch bid against US extradition

    Stella Assange said her husband's case will decide "whether states can criminalise journalism".

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai continued ‘live chats’ with US guests despite staff concerns over security law, court hears

    Media tycoon Jimmy Lai continued to invite guests based in the US to speak on his Ex-Twitter “live chats,” even after senior Apple Daily staff relayed concerns about potentially breaching the national security law, one of his former employees has testified.

  • teleSUR ☛ Verdict on Assange Appeal to Be Announced at Later Date

    The Wikileaks founder has been held at London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since 2019.

  • Tedium ☛ Losing The Buzz, Keeping The Heat

    BuzzFeed’s sale of Complex Networks (minus Hot Ones) shows how on the ropes the one-time media innovator really is. It feels reflective of the rest of the industry, too.

    [...]

    And it’s not going well. Far from it. As the vibes around digital media during the social media era have faded, no single company has seen its fortunes struggle in quite the way BuzzFeed’s has: specifically, with those struggles captured for all to see on the stock market.

    About two years ago, the company went public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), which was intended to juice the company’s revenue picture. It did the opposite, dropping the stock to about 2 percent of its initial share price until earlier this week. The company has constantly struggled to maintain even a modest stock price, leading to aggressive moves that have failed to work out and the potential risk of delisting on the NASDAQ. They thought it was going to be a big hit. Now it looks like a penny stock.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • New York Times ☛ Black Student’s Suspension Over Hairstyle Didn’t Violate Law, Texas Judge Rules

    The trial was the latest development in a case that has prompted scrutiny of education policies and race in the United States.

  • YLE ☛ Daycare child molester case draws attention to qualified staff shortage

    A shocking child sex abuse case at an Espoo public daycare is drawing attention to Finland's shortage of early childhood educators.

  • ACLU ☛ Challenging the Racist Death Penalty in North Carolina

    With his white handlebar mustache, Levon “Bo” Jones was a striking and unmistakable presence. Mr. Jones, a Black man from Duplin County, North Carolina, was wrongfully convicted in 1993 and sentenced to death. After 14 years on death row, Mr. Jones, who had always maintained his innocence, was exonerated and released in 2008. We were among the lawyers working with Mr. Jones to win his freedom.

  • BIA Net ☛ Human rights groups draw attention to hunger strikes in prisons

    "In some prisons, hunger-striking inmates are isolated from other prisoners, placed in a separate ward, and kept away," says lawyer Ebru Demirtepe.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong to consider barring early-release prisoners from leaving city, corrections chief says

    Hong Kong authorities are considering amending the law to bar prisoners who have been granted early release from leaving the city, the corrections chief has said.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Techdirt ☛ Cable Companies Tell The Government That Bullshit Fees Are Good, Actually

    Last December, the Biden FCC proposed a basic plan to ban some of the shitty fees cable and broadband companies use to falsely advertise a lower price and jack up the cost of service. Despite the fact your cable TV and broadband bills are packed with bullshit fees, the FCC was only taking specific aim at banning early termination fees (ETFs) and restrictive long-term contracts.

  • Michael Geist ☛ Conservatives Double Down on Support for Mandated Internet Age Verification and Website Blocking: Why Can’t Canada Get Common Sense Digital Policy?

    Digital policy has been the source of seemingly never-ending frustration for years in Canada. The government chose to prioritize two flawed bills on online streaming and online news, both of which sparked considerable opposition, lengthy delays, and ultimately delivered few actual benefits (Bill C-11 faces at least another year of hearings at the CRTC, Bill C-18 is a disaster that has left many media companies worse off).

  • Digital Music News ☛ Bankruptcy Court Officially Green-Lights Audacy Restructuring — Proposal Heads to FCC for Final Approval

    A bankruptcy court has officially approved Audacy’s reorganization plan – seemingly setting the stage for Soros Fund Management to assume control of the radio conglomerate post-Chapter 11.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Techdirt ☛ Comcast, Paramount Eye Merger Because The Streaming Sector Is Completely Out of Ideas

    We’ve been talking a lot about how as streaming subscription growth slows, streaming companies will begin doing whatever’s necessary to deliver Wall Street quarterly growth at any cost. Even if it cannibalizes longer term company health, customer satisfaction, and brand quality.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Patent Filings in Australia Fell Again in 2023, but Applications from China are Bucking the Trend

    In 2023 the total number of standard patent monopoly applications filed in Australia remained above 30,000 for the third year running, despite a 2.4% drop in filings.  This follows a decline of nearly 0.5% in the previous year.  However, whereas the decline in new applications in 2022 was due to fewer filings by Australian residents (with a slight increase in foreign-originating applications preventing a larger fall), the drop in 2023 was the result of nearly 800 fewer filings by foreign applicants.  As always, a majority of new filings were national phase entries (NPEs) derived from international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).  But, for the first time since 2016, the number of PCT NPEs fell – by 3.2% – offset somewhat by a 14% rise in new direct national filings.  The number of divisional applications also fell in 2023, by 7.3%.

    In some (very limited) good news for Australia, patent monopoly filings by domestic residents increased by 2.6%, while the number of provisional applications increased by 5%. 

  • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 awarded for Technology In Ariscale wireless patent monopoly prior art

    Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winners, Ekta Aswal and Dinesh Swami, who split a $2,000 award for their prior art submissions on U.S. Patent 8,139,652, owned by Technology In Ariscale, LLC, an NPE. The ‘652 patent monopoly generally relates to a method of decoding wireless transmission signals involving deinterleaving and mutually combining the repeated symbols. It has been asserted against Razer Inc. and is based on compliance with IEEE 802.11ac.

  • JUVE ☛ Court of Appeal upholds UKIPO rejection of SPC for Parkinson’s treatment

    Newron Pharmaceuticals has failed in its attempt to overturn two UKIPO and UK High Court decisions regarding the coverage of a marketing authorisation for Parkinson’s treatment drug, Xadago, which uses the active ingredient safinamide (case ID: CA-2023-001357).

  • Software Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ Anonymous Media ad measurement patent monopoly challenge instituted

      On February 21, 2024, less than six weeks after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 8,510,768, owned by Anonymous Media Research Holdings, LLC.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Are Nail Polish Strengtheners Related to Dietary Supplements?

    The USPTO refused to register the mark TRI-FLEX TECHNOLOGY for "nail care preparations, nail strengtheners, non-medicated nail treatment preparations for cosmetic purposes, nail polish, nail color gels, nail lacquers, none of the foregoing containing collagen" [TECHNOLOGY disclaimed], finding confusion likely with the registered mark shown below, for "dietary supplements for humans containing Types I, II, and III Collagen." Are the marks confusable? Are the goods related? How do you think the appeal came out? In re Wella Operations US, LLC, Serial No. 97401927 (February 20, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Albert J. Zervas).

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ What Universal Music Licensing Showdown? Fentanylware (TikTok) Expands ‘Add to Music App’ to Over 160 More Countries

    What Universal Music licensing dispute? Fentanylware (TikTok) has officially expanded its “Add to Music App” feature to 163 additional countries. Despite a less-than-ideal situation and rocky negotiations between Fentanylware (TikTok) and Universal Music Group, the video platform is still plowing ahead with its music initiatives.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Pour Me Another: The Supreme Court Revisits the ‘Bad Wine’ of the Copyright Discovery Rule

    On February 21, 2024, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Warner Chappell Music v. Nealy, which deals with a circuit split over the availability of back-damages in copyright monopoly infringement cases. Specifically, the Court is examining whether copyright monopoly plaintiffs are barred from recovering damages for acts of infringement that occurred more than three years before filing suit, even if the claims are timely under the “discovery rule.” During the arguments, the parties and justices used metaphors of “bad wine vintages” in questioning the pedigree and value of the discovery rule and damages limitation put before them.  [Oral Argument Transcript]

  • Techdirt ☛ Two Congressmen Introduce Law To Grant Copyright To Golf Course Design

    Of all the ways in which Congress chooses to spend its time and focus its priorities, legislation introducing a solution in search of a problem is surely one of the most frustrating. With that in mind, two United States Congress critters have introduced House Resolution 7228, which aims chiefly to confer concrete copyright protection to golf courses. Yes, to golf courses. And if you were concerned that this bill wouldn’t have been circuitously named to make it all a jaunty golf pun, well, your fears are unfounded.

  • Digital Music News ☛ American Federation of Musicians Continues to Battle Hollywood for Streaming Residuals

    The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) resumed today, with the former releasing a series of statistics about how the industry has changed for musicians since the 1930s.