Leftovers

• Hillel Wayne ☛ The Tale of Daniel

  It’s April Cools! It’s like April Fools, except instead of cringe comedy you make genuine content that’s different what you usually do. For example, last year I talked about the strangest markets on the internet. This year I went down a different rabbit hole.

  Daniel has been a top 5 baby name twice since 2000. There are over 1.5 million Daniels in the United States (and almost 100,000 last-name Danielses).

• Public Knowledge ☛ The People’s Party | April 11

• Ruben Schade ☛ We found the Fern Gully again

  Clara and I went to the Melbourne Botanic Gardens last week, but we didn’t get to the Fern Gully in time. But over the weekend we went back to wander, and we did find it this time.

• James G ☛ Technical Writing Chat with Ally Sassman

  This is the first interview in Technical Writing Chats, a series where I speak with technical writers about their day-to-day role and how they got started in their career. Today's interview is with Ally Sassman, a Senior Technical Writer at New Relic. I sincerely hope you enjoy!

  Can you tell me a bit about yourself and what role you are in now?

  I'm currently a senior technical writer at New Relic, a company that does observability for applications. The role is fully remote, so I work from home and spend my free time playing beach volleyball in Los Angeles.

• Hackaday ☛ How Star Trek Breached The Defences Of A Major Broadcaster

  Back in 2000 in the brief lull between COVID lockdowns in the UK, I found myself abruptly on the move, with a very short time indeed to move my possessions into storage. As I was going through the accumulated electronic detritus of over four decades, I happened upon a grey box with some wires hanging out of it, and more than a few memories. This was a Sky VideoCrypt decoder, and the wires were part of the so-called “Season” interface to attach it to the serial port of a PC. It had this modification in the hope of catching some unauthorised free satellite TV, and in its day this particular hack caused some headaches for the broadcaster.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Heart Rate Could Predict Whether You're More Likely to Be a Criminal

    A compelling link.

  • Science Alert ☛ Venting Doesn't Reduce Anger, But Something Else Does, Study Finds

    Blowing off steam may do more harm than good.

  • France24 ☛ No, this video isn’t proof that Earth is flat

    Social media users are sharing a video of a sunset which they claim provides proof that Earth is flat and the sun is “local”, by which they mean that it orbits a flat Earth at cloud level. This is actually an optical illusion.

  • The Register UK ☛ Japan’s moon lander makes it through a second lunar night • The Register

• Education

  • New Yorker ☛ How Chinese Students Experience America

    COVID, guns, anti-Asian violence, and diplomatic relations have complicated the ambitions of the some three hundred thousand college students who come to the U.S. each year.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ SatCat5: UART, SPI And I2C Via Ethernet With FPGA-Based Design

    To the average microcontroller, Ethernet networks are quite a step up from the basic I2C, SPI and UART interfaces, requiring either a built-in Ethernet MAC or SPI-based MAC, with tedious translation between Ethernet and those other interfaces. Yet what if this translation could be done automatically and transparently?  This is what the SatCat5 FPGA-based project by [The Aerospace Corporation] aims to provide: a gateway akin to an unmanaged Ethernet switch that also supports those non-Ethernet links. Recently they answered a range of questions about the project on Hacker News.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Make Hey Hi (AI) servers in Mexico, US tech firms tell Taiwanese manufacturers [Ed: There is no such thing as "Hey Hi (AI) servers"; this is hype.]

    US tech giants are keen for their Taiwanese manufacturing partners to set up in Mexico. The idea has proven attractive to giants like Foxconn and others, says the report, and geopolitics aside, it looks like a savvy move to have manufacturing that much closer and to benefit from the attractive USMCA free trade agreement.

  • Hackaday ☛ Why Is My 470uF Electrolytic Cap More Like 20uF?

    Inductors are more like a resistor in series with an ideal inductor, resistors can be inductors as well, and well, capacitors aren’t just simply a capacitance in a package. Little with electronics is as plain and simple in reality as basic theory would have you believe. [Tahmid Mahbub] was measuring an electrolytic capacitor with an LCR and noticed it measuring 19 uF despite the device being rated at 470 uF. This was because such parts are usually specified at low frequencies, and at a mere 100 kHz, it was measuring way out of the specification they were expecting. [Tahmid] goes into a fair bit of detail regarding how to model the equivalent circuit of a typical electrolytic capacitor and how to determine with a bit more accuracy what to expect.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • NYPost ☛ Don’t betray NY workers who braved pandemic

    The state faced a crisis four years ago as the COVID pandemic wreaked havoc.

  • Ruben Schade ☛ The science (or not) behind smartphones and anxiety

    This is a correction on my part regarding a train of thought I started last year.

    For some background, I’ve noticed that as I use my smartphone less, uninstall certain social control media applications, turned off notifications, and become more deliberate about when I let it into my life, I noticed huge improvements in my anxiety. I’ve found my resting heart rate is lower, I can concentrate more easily, and my general mood is better.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Strict Housing Requirements Are Keeping Some Kids Longer in Georgia’s Foster Care System

    K. thought she was one step closer to regaining custody of her children when she secured her studio apartment.

    It wasn’t much — just a large basement room in an outer-Atlanta suburb that she was able to rent through a friend. But it had a kitchen and living area, and she was able to arrange beds in different corners of the room for her two sons and daughter. “It was cozy,” she said.

  • Science Alert ☛ Lab Results Show Your Cannabis May Be Incredible, And Not in a Good Way

    Credibility is everything.

  • Science Alert ☛ The Hidden Cause of Alzheimer's May Have Been Identified a Century Ago

    By Alzheimer himself.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Ross hosts Amy Finkelstein for talk on the American health care system

    About 60 University of Michigan students and Ann Arbor community members gathered in Robertson Auditorium at the Ross School of Business Monday afternoon to hear Amy Finkelstein talk about inequities in the American health care system and about her book, “We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care.”

  • Science Alert ☛ Water Allergy: What We Know About This Rare And Mysterious Condition

    Triggered by the mere touch of water.

  • Science Alert ☛ Large Review Finds CBD Products Don't Relieve Chronic Pain After All

  • Science Alert ☛ Hand Sanitizers Could Damage Critical Supporting Cells In The Brain

    Here's what to know.

  • Science Alert ☛ Breaking: Officials Report Texan Infected With Bird Flu After Exposure to Cattle

    A surprising development.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • America Online ☛ Amazon layoffs show Big Tech is still coming down from pandemic highs

    Amazon (AMZN) is eliminating several hundred roles across Prime Video and MGM Studios, according to a memo sent to staff on Wednesday. And the company's video game livestreaming platform, Twitch, announced it is laying off more than 500 people.

  • BDG ☛ Final Fantasy XIV’s Xbox Launch Has Been Rough [Ed: Microsoft fired (mass layoffs) its workers every month this year, not just in January. Computer World ☛ Microsoft funded "media" skips many of the Microsoft layoffs.]

    Microsoft announced nearly 1900 layoffs, which included the majority of the customer service team of Activision Blizzard.

  • BYJU'S fires employees via calls in new wave of layoffs

    BYJU'S has laid off over 10,000 employees in the past two years

    [...]

    This move comes as BYJU'S faces significant financial difficulties, having already laid off over 10,000 employees in the past two years.

  • Techdirt ☛ Twenty Years Ago, Google Did The Only Good Tech April Fools Joke: It Launched Gmail For Real

    Regular readers of Techdirt will know that we’ve never done any sort of April 1st jokes, even though people often send us ideas for them each year. The simple fact is: nearly all April Fools’ jokes are terrible, especially the silly corporate ones. They’re just bad.

  • Reason ☛ Don't Cite Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot as Authority in Legal Filings

    From a Reply brief filed by plaintiff's counsel in Wojcik v. Metlife (N.D. Ill.): MetLife alleges that "Dr. Khan's opinion [Autopsy Report] and the Death Certificate provide rational support for MetLife's determination to deny Wojcik's claim for payment of an AD&D benefit." It is not rational to determine a vehicle fire was intentionally set.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Security Week ☛ Google to Purge Billions of Files Containing Personal Data in Settlement of Chrome Privacy Case

      Google agreed to purge billions of records containing personal information collected from more than 136 million people using its Chrome web browser as part of settlement in a lawsuit accusing it of illegal surveillance.

    • Privacy International ☛ Key highlights of our results from 2023

    • The Register UK ☛ Polish officials may face criminal charges for Pegasus use • The Register

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ North Korea Tests Ballistic Missile That Could Reach Guam

    The test, analysts said, may have involved a new intermediate-range hypersonic missile that is faster to launch and more difficult to intercept.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea fires suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile

    Japan's coast guard said the apparent missile had already fallen into the sea.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Another Malaysia store attacked over 'Allah' socks

    The incident happened on March 31, a day after a similar attack on another store in a different city.

  • New York Times ☛ Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou to Visit China

    A rare visit to mainland China by Ma Ying-jeou, who’s now in the opposition, is a chance for political messaging on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

  • The Straits Times ☛ When push comes to shove, China edges out US as S-E Asia’s preferred superpower: ISEAS survey

    Respondents had favoured the United States in the last four surveys.

  • teleSUR ☛ Philippines Fails to Meet Commitments in South China Sea: Wang

    Diplomat Wang Wenbin pointed out that Nansha Qundao has always been China's territory.

  • New York Times ☛ American YouTuber Freed After Kidnapping in Haiti

    Adisson Pierre Maalouf, who is from Georgia, was kidnapped two weeks ago by a gang leader after traveling to Haiti.

  • RFA ☛ Has China’s Pooh-tin succeeded in assuring US execs of economic prospects?

    Hardly, as the Chinese leader reportedly said China will continue to centralize its economy: report.

  • RFA ☛ US, allies to conduct joint patrols to counter China

    The U.S., Japan and the Philippines to launch joint naval patrols amid tensions with China in the South China Sea.

  • RFA ☛ Indonesian President-elect Prabowo meets with Chinese leader Xi, discusses deeper strategic ties

    Outgoing President Jokowi signed off on defense chief visiting with regional leaders months before being sworn in.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Fentanylware (TikTok) Ban Bill Reportedly Faces Slower Senate Journey — Including a Hearing and Possible Changes — As the App’s Media Blitz Continues

    Following the House’s quick passage of a bill that would compel ByteDance to sell or shut down Fentanylware (TikTok) in the U.S., senators are reportedly preparing for a lengthy debate on the measure. This update in the multifaceted discussion about TikTok’s stateside future entered the media spotlight in a Wall Street Journal report.

  • France24 ☛ Two senior commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards killed in Israeli strike on Damascus

    Seven members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps including two high-ranking generals were killed in an Israeli attack on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, the Guards said in a statement Monday. Earlier in the day, Israel’s military confirmed it had withdrawn from Gaza’s main hospital, Al Shifa. The health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said the complex had been left in ruins, and was 'completely out of service'.

  • RFERL ☛ Suspected Israeli Air Strike 'Flattens' Iranian Consulate In Damascus, Kills Top Quds Commander

    Multiple people were killed, including a commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), in an Israeli air strike on the Iranian Consulate in Damascus on April 1, according to Syrian and Iranian officials, media, and opposition groups.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australia says it is trying to confirm death of citizen in Gaza

    SYDNEY - Australia's foreign ministry said on Tuesday it was seeking to confirm reports that one of its citizens died in a suspected Israeli airstrike in Gaza.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Iran's Revolutionary Guards: Powerful group with wide regional reach

    A senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps' Quds force, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, was reported killed on Monday in what Syrian and Iranian media called an Israeli airstrike on Iranian diplomatic premises in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

  • New York Times ☛ Middle East Crisis: Airstrike in Damascus Kills Several Top Iranian Commanders, Iran Says

    Iranian officials said the strike killed three generals in the Quds Force, making it one of the deadliest attacks in the shadow war between Israel and Iran.

  • New York Times ☛ World Central Kitchen Workers Killed in Gaza Airstrike, José Andrés Says

    The disaster relief nonprofit has become a crucial source of food for desperate Gazans. The Israeli military said it was investigating.

  • New York Times ☛ Israeli Strike in Syria Kills 7, Including 3 Iranian Commanders

    The airstrike on an Iranian Embassy building was one of the biggest attacks yet in a shadow war that has increasingly been moving into the open.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Techdirt ☛ Studies Show Flock’s ALPRs Reduce Crime… So Long As Flock Controls The Inputs And The Methodology

    404 Media, the new news outlet formed by excellent journalists kicked to the curb by the successive brunchlord regimes overseeing Vice Media, continues to stake its claim as the best investigative media outlet in the country.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Ruben Schade ☛ Cataloguing some Melbourne trams

      Intercity travellers to Melbourne might talk about the coffee and views, but the real reason transport nerds like me go back there is to explore the world’s largest tram system, known in other parts of the world as light rail, trolleys, street cars, anything but bus. Because buses suck.

      I tasked myself with getting photos of every generation of tram I could while we wandered around, because again, I’m a massive nerd. None of them were especially good, but it was still fun.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ US govt wants to talk to tech companies about Hey Hi (AI) electricity demands — eyes nuclear fusion and fission

      President Joe Biden's administration wants to further talks with tech companies on how to meet electricity needs for computing. Nuclear power seems to be the front runner for meeting the increasing demands of AI.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Science Alert ☛ The Weirdest Eyes in The Animal Kingdom See a World We Can't Even Imagine

      Jeepers creepers!

    • Science Alert ☛ Plants Really Do 'Scream'. We've Simply Never Heard It Until Now.

    • New Yorker ☛ The Brazilian Special-Forces Unit Fighting to Save the Amazon

      As miners ravage Yanomami lands, combat-trained environmentalists work to root them out.

• Finance

  • Elmin Media ☛ Citigroup to Axe 430 Staff in New York, Florida Offices

    Citigroup Inc., or Citi, is set to axe hundreds of staff members as part of its reorganization program. The investment banking company said that New York and Florida employees are the most affected by the latest round of layoffs.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China factory activity up after 5-month slump following year of slow growth

    Monthly factory activity in China grew for the first time in half a year, official figures showed Sunday, in a positive sign for policymakers seeking to revive the world’s second-largest economy.

  • YLE ☛ Housing benefits come into force, payments to reduce with next assessment

    Cuts in benefit spending will reduce general housing benefit payments for all those who currently receive it.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ In Pictures: Hong Kong book lovers bid farewell to independent store Mount Zero

    Hundreds of book lovers gathered in a quiet alleyway over the weekend to bid farewell to Hong Kong independent bookstore Mount Zero. The two-storey store, at the upper end of the sloping Tai Ping Shan Street in Sheung Wan, was packed with readers and writers who had formed a community over the past six years.

  • YLE ☛ "Positive credit register" opens in Finland

    The register is intended to help people build a credit rating and convince lenders of their creditworthiness, while helping prevent over-indebtedness.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Retirement planning enters era of renewed inflation

    With the era of near-zero inflation over, retirement planning has taken on new urgency, because a fixed income and rising prices don't make a good combination.

  • New York Times ☛ The Quiet Power of Supply Chain Diplomacy in Latin America

    A big investment in semiconductors could transform the relationship between the United States and its neighbors.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea's first lady avoids limelight ahead of high-stakes election

    SEOUL - Beset by controversies about share price manipulation and a costly gifted handbag, South Korea's first lady has not been seen in public since Dec. 15, but few in Seoul were surprised as a high-stakes parliamentary election approaches this month.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Chinese leader Pooh-tin Jinping hails ties with Indonesia during meeting with president-elect Prabowo Subianto

    Chinese President Pooh-tin Jinping praised ties with Indonesia on Monday, laying out a vision for regional peace as he met president-elect Prabowo Subianto amid tensions with other Southeast Asian neighbours. Prabowo is making his first visit to a key trade partner of Jakarta since his victory in elections last month.

  • France24 ☛ Taipei replica in remote Chinese province fans Taiwan invasion fears

    Satellite images verified by FRANCE 24 reveal that China has built a replica of Taipei’s presidential district in remote Inner Mongolia, fuelling speculation that Beijing intends to use the site as a training ground to prepare for a future invasion of Taiwan.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ How China could respond to US sanctions in a Taiwan crisis

    New research on Chinese resilience to and potential against G7 sanctions in the event of a Taiwan Crisis.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ The US needs a new paradigm for India: ‘Great Power Partnership’

    Amid great power competition with China, the United States and India should forge a “Great Power Partnership" to their mutual advantage.

  • BIA Net ☛ DEM contests election results in Kurdish cities amid 'voter transfer' claims

    The party has claimed that thousands of security officers were relocated to the country's predominantly Kurdish-populated regions with the aim of affecting the outcome of the local polls.

  • New York Times ☛ Turkey’s Opposition Strikes Elections Blow to Erdogan’s Party

    A raft of local election victories by rivals of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s governing party could serve as a check on his power.

  • New York Times ☛ Florida Supreme Court Allows 6-Week Abortion Ban, but Voters Will Weigh In

    The Florida Supreme Court found that the State Constitution’s privacy protections do not extend to abortion. But it also allowed a ballot question on whether to expand abortion access.

  • New York Times ☛ Florida’s Top Court Allowed a Six-Week Abortion Ban

    Also, an Israeli strike killed top Iranian commanders, Iran said. Here’s the latest at the end of Monday.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Public Knowledge ☛ Antitrust or Anti-truth? Jim Jordan’s Latest Attack on the “War on Disinformation”

      Representative Jim Jordan continues his attack on institutions that mitigate harmful digital content — this time, under the guise of antitrust enforcement.

    • RFA ☛ Episode 3: The Science of Social

      The 'Insider Crew' discuss the ins and outs of social control media in the newsroom with RFA social control media editor 'Wilson.'

    • The Register UK ☛ Microsoft GM on AI and elections: 'There will be fakes' • The Register

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Explainer: Hong Kong’s national security crackdown – month 45

    In the 45th month since Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, the city saw the passage of its own legislation with new offences and tougher punishments, a broader definition of sedition, new restrictions on detainees and tighter rules on early release from prison.

  • Reason ☛ Journal of Free Speech Law: "Distrust, Negative First Amendment Theory, and the Regulation of Lies," by Prof. Helen Norton

    The seventh of twelve articles from the Knight Institute’s Lies, Free Speech, and the Law symposium.

  • Reason ☛ Voices for Liberties Papers on Freedom of Speech, Civil Rights, and Social Progress

    I am the Executive Director of the Scalia Law School's Law & Liberty Center. Our most significant current project at the Center is "Voices for Liberty," which our website describes as follows: "While some view freedom of speech as detrimental to minority groups, others champion it as a necessary condition for protecting underrepresented voices."

  • Techdirt ☛ Why Are So Many ‘Free Speech’ Elon Musk Lawsuits About Suppressing Speech?

    Elon Musk claims to be a “free speech absolutist,” but almost every time we look more closely at that claim, we discover that he’s one of the most censorial, free speech suppressors around. He just got called out by a judge for filing a SLAPP suit seeking to punish an organization for its speech. And then earlier this year, he funded Gina Carano’s SLAPP suit against Disney.

  • Off Guardian ☛ Climate-Con and the Media-Censorship Complex – Part 1

    The gauntlet has been cast by the media-censorship complex.

  • Reason ☛ Defending Pornography on Feminist Grounds: A Q&A With Nadine Strossen

    "There were many of us who opposed censoring pornography...precisely because of our commitment to feminist goals and principles," says the former ACLU chief.

  • Reason ☛ Journal of Free Speech Law: "Anonymity, Identity, and Lies," by Prof. Artur Pericles L. Monteiro

    The sixth of twelve articles from the Knight Institute’s Lies, Free Speech, and the Law symposium.

  • RFERL ☛ Karakalpak Activist Wanted In Uzbekistan Detained In Kazakhstan

    Kazakh security forces have detained a Karakalpak activist and member of an opposition party at the request of Uzbek authorities, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reports.

  • New York Times ☛ Netanyahu Says Israel Will Shut Down Al Jazeera in Israel

    The move came after Israeli lawmakers passed a new law that allows the government to temporarily shutter foreign media outlets deemed to be a risk to national security.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • IT Wire ☛ Social control media giant Facebook (Farcebook) shuts news tab in Australia [Ed: Social control media giant Facebook (Farcebook) to allow only gossip, rumours, and speculations]

    Social media giant Facebook (Farcebook) has shut its news tab in Australia as of Tuesday, with the company saying it would take a few days for the closure to be evident in both Australia and the US.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Reason ☛ No Right to Be Forgotten for Defendant in Civil Case

    "To the extent that Kavadia asks the Court to order that public reporting about this case be removed from the Internet, such an order would blatantly violate the First Amendment."

  • Techdirt ☛ Texas Court Famous For Judicial Shopping Decides It Can Ignore Judicial Conference’s New Policy Against Judicial Shopping

    Apparently, everything really is bigger in Texas, including the audacity of federal judges who think they’re above the rules. In a stunning display of hypocrisy, the Northern District of Texas has decided that new judicial shopping rules just don’t apply to them. Because that would make it harder to win culture war fights. But if you want to undermine what little respect is left for the judiciary, this is exactly how to do it. This is brazen partisanship, mixed with a belief that the rules just don’t apply when you don’t like them.

  • EFF ☛ Ola Bini Faces Ecuadorian Prosecutors Seeking to Overturn Acquittal of Cybercrime Charge

    Bini prevailed in a trial last year before a three-judge panel. The core evidence the Prosecutor’s Office and CNT’s lawyer presented to support the accusation of unauthorized access to a computer, telematic, or telecommunications system was a printed image of a telnet session allegedly taken from Bini’s mobile phone.The image shows the user requesting a telnet connection to an open server using their computer’s command line. The open server warns that unauthorized access is prohibited and asks for a username. No username is entered. The connection then times out and closes. Rather than demonstrating that Bini intruded into the Ecuadorean telephone network system, it shows the trail of someone who paid a visit to a publicly accessible server—and then politely obeyed the server's warnings about usage and access.Bini’s acquittal was a major victory for him and the work of security researchers.

  • RFA ☛ China court jails 'tortured' rights activist Xu Qin for four years

    Xu's sentence for 'subversion' is linked to her work with jailed veteran democracy activist Qin Yongmin.

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Inmate’s lawsuit seeks to block Alabama’s bid to arrange 2nd execution using nitrogen gas

    By KIM CHANDLER (Associated Press) MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama inmate seeking to block the state’s attempt to make him the second person put to death by nitrogen gas has filed a lawsuit arguing the first execution under the new method was “botched” and caused cruel and prolonged suffering.

  • JURIST ☛ Somalia state of Puntland rejects constitutional amendments and withdraws from federal government

    Puntland refused to recognize the authority of the federal government of Somalia on Sunday, rejecting the latest constitutional reforms approved by the Somali Parliament.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • The Register UK ☛ FTC boss on the Daily Show, told Apple tried to block her • The Register

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Don Marti: trying to think about European tech policy in context

  Good post on Antitrust, Meta, Fashion Company Apple and more by Ian Betteridge.

  The EU isn’t just concerned with today. It’s really taking Steve Jobs’ advice and listening to the Wayne Gretzky quote: it’s skating to where the puck is going, not where it’s been. Its aim is to ensure that two very large companies don’t own the market for smartphones to such a degree they can determine everything that happens in those markets, to their advantage. The EU is a capitalist body: its obsession is keeping markets open, and it will do anything it needs to do to make sure that happens.

• New Yorker ☛ Mannequin Pussy, Set Loose from Big Tech Jail

  The members of the punk band muse on the nature of profanity and describe how their name got shadow-banned by Fentanylware (TikTok) and Amazon’s Alexa.

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ $2,000 for Leigh M. Rothschild entity Electronic Edison Transmission power patent monopoly prior art [Ed: IBM et al let this troll off the hook, failing to take away the software patents and now even trying]

    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 9,871,415, owned by Electronic Edison Transmission Technologies, LLC, an entity of Leigh M. Rothschild. The ‘415 patent monopoly relates to systems, methods, and devices for transferring power to a mobile device.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Obviousness and Pharmaceutical Method of Treatment Claims

    In April 2024, the Federal Circuit issued a significant decision vacating a district court’s judgment that Janssen Pharmaceuticals’ dosing regimen patent monopoly claims were nonobvious. Janssen Pharms., Inc. v. Teva Pharms. USA, Inc., No. 2022-1258 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 1, 2024). The case involved Janson’s U.S. Patent No. 9,439,906, which claims methods of treating schizophrenia by administering specific doses of the long-acting injectable antipsychotic paliperidone palmitate.

    Teva filed an Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) seeking approval to market a generic version of Janssen’s Invega Sustenna product, which embodies the claimed methods. In the ensuing Hatch-Waxman litigation, Teva stipulated to infringement but challenged the patent monopoly on obviousness and indefiniteness grounds. Following a bench trial Judge Cecchi (D.N.J.) rejected Teva’s invalidity defenses, and Teva appealed.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Exclusive: Federal Judge Unseals Eight Mile Style v. Spotify Docket — Date Set for Oral Argument on Summary Judgement Motions

    The judge overseeing the years-running copyright monopoly infringement legal battle between Spotify and Eminem publisher Eight Mile Style has unsealed the case’s docket, revealing a number of noteworthy details in the process.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Sony Music Entertainment CEO Won’t Rule Out a Fentanylware (TikTok) Catalog Removal—Especially Given ‘Astonishingly Small’ Payouts

    Will Sony Music pull its music from TikTok? CEO Rob Stringer won’t rule out the possibility—potentially lining up the second largest music publisher to join UMG’s boycott of the platform. Universal Music Group pulled out of the platform earlier this year after failing to reach an agreement on licensing its music for the platform.

  • Techdirt ☛ Bandai Namco Copyright Strikes YouTubers Showing Off Game Mods

    I really cannot believe it’s 2024 and there are still video game publishers out there that want to go to war on their own modding communities. I expect this sort of thing from the Nintendos of the world, but those that publish to the PC gaming market really need to stop it with this crap. Half the pleasure of gaming on a computer is being able to utilize fan-made mods for games. It’s one thing if we’re talking about mods that are used for cheating in online games, but it’s entirely bewildering that companies would want to punish modding communities creating mods for offline, singe-player games.