Leftovers

• Off Guardian ☛ WATCH: How To Save The World!

  You know what the most powerful weapon in the world is, don’t you? And you know how to use that weapon to change the course of human history, right? If not, don’t fret! James is here to tell you all about it.

• New York Times ☛ Inside Miss USA Turmoil: A Leaked Letter and String of Resignations

  Noelia Voigt’s announcement this week that she was stepping down as Miss USA set off a string of departures and prompted larger questions about the inner workings of the organization.

• YLE ☛ Finnish retailers want to place restraining orders on unruly customers

  The group of businesses said incidents of shoplifting as well as disruptive behaviour in stores are on the rise in Finland.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover First-of-Its-Kind Molecule That Absorbs Greenhouse Gasses

    Every degree matters.

  • New York Times ☛ A Solar Storm Lights Up the Night Sky

    The unusual sight of aurora borealis was visible across Britain on Friday, including southern parts of the country and London.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Full scan of 1 cubic millimeter of brain tissue took 1.4 petabytes of data, equivalent to 14,000 4K movies — Google's Hey Hi (AI) experts assist researchers

    Harvard researchers teamed up with Surveillance Giant Google machine learning minds to study a cubic millimeter of a healthy human brain, mapping out each of its connections and blood vessels, a process taking up wild amounts of data.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Split-Flap Clock Uses Magnets Everywhere

    While split-flap alarm clocks once adorned heavy wood nightstands in strong numbers, today the displays are most commonly found in train stations and airports. Hey, at least they’re still around, right? Like many of us, [The Wrench] has always wanted to make one for themselves, but they actually got around to doing it.

  • Hackaday ☛ The 3D Printed Computer Space Takes Shape

    A few weeks ago we brought you news of a project to recreate the flowing lines of the first computerised arcade game, Computer Space, as a full-size 3D printed replica. We left the project with all the parts put together to make a complete but unfinished shell that was very recognizable as a Computer Space cabinet but had neither finishing nor internals. Now we’re very pleased to bring you the conclusion of the project, as it moves from unfinished 3D print to playable cabinet.

  • Hackaday ☛ DIY Bimetallic Strip Dings For Teatime

    Do you like your cup of tea to be cooled down to exactly 54 C, have a love for machining, and possess more than a little bit of a mad inventor bent? If so, then you have a lot in common with [Chronova Engineering]. In this video, we see him making a fully mechanical chime-ringing tea-temperature indicator – something we’d be tempted to do in silicon, but that’s admittedly pedestrian in comparison.

  • Hackaday ☛ An Umbrella Can Teach A Thing Or Two About Product Longevity

    This time of year always brings a few gems from outside Hackaday’s usual circle, as students attending industrial design colleges release their final year projects, The worlds of art and engineering sit very close together at times, and theirs is a discipline which sits firmly astride that line. This is amply demonstrated by the work of [Charlie Humble-Thomas], who has taken an everyday object, the umbrella, and used it to pose the question: How long should objects last?

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Blacklisted China chipmaker SMIC becomes the world's second-largest pure-play foundry by revenue — outsells GlobalFoundries and others

    SMIC becomes the world's second-largest pure-play foundry as it eclipses GlobalFoundries and UMC, but this is only true if you exclude defective chip maker Intel and Samsung.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Breach Media ☛ Pundits regularly attacked pharmacare without disclosing Big Pharma ties

    Dozens of op-eds opposing pharmacare from think tank analysts did not reveal their authors’ conflicts of interest

  • Federal News Network ☛ Federal leaders unpack hybrid work’s link to mental health

    In a hybrid work environment, federal employees' mental health and well-being have become remarkably important, said U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.

  • Science Alert ☛ Groundbreaking Therapy Lets Young Deaf Girl Hear For The First Time

    "A new era in the treatment of deafness."

  • Science Alert ☛ Elite Runners Live Years Longer Than The Average Person, Scientists Find

    An astounding revelation.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Single Drop of Blood Could Soon Reveal Your Risk of Developing MS

    Earlier warnings, better treatments.

  • Science Alert ☛ Intense Headaches Triggered by Sex Are a Real Thing, And Can Be Dangerous

    Was it good for you?

  • BIA Net ☛ Over 160 workers killed on the job in April

    Five workers have been killed in a day on average since the start of the year, the Health and Safety Labor Watch.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Pair receives Javits Award for work on stroke health disparities

    Two U-M researchers have received the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke for their work on stroke health disparities in Mexican Americans.

  • YLE ☛ Finland preparing law limiting use of mobile phones in schools

    The government is planning to introduce a law this autumn that would give teachers more powers to stop students using mobile phones during lessons, Education Minister Anna-Maja Henriksson (SPP) tells Yle.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Einstein and anime: How a Hong Kong university is testing the use of ‘AI lecturers’

    Using virtual reality headsets, students at a Hong Kong university travel to a pavilion above the clowns to watch an AI-generated Albert Einstein explain game theory.

  • Science Alert ☛ AI Has Already Become a Master of Lies And Deception, Scientists Warn

    Proceed with caution.

  • Tedium ☛ Press, Pause

    Beyond misunderstanding its iPad consumer base, Apple’s infamous “Crush” ad deeply misunderstands the role of the hydraulic press in meme culture.

  • IT Wire ☛ Court to issue judgment on Musk-eSafety tussle over videos on 13 May

    An interim order that required the social control media platform X [formerly Twitter] to block access to videos of a stabbing in Sydney, that occurred on 15 April, has been extended until Monday [13 May] morning, when Federal Court Judge Geoffrey Kennett will render his judgment.

  "massive layoffs, studio closures" https://www.pocket-lint.com/what-is-going-on-with-microsoft-xbox/

  • Pocket Lint ☛ What the heck is going on with Microsoft Xbox?

    It's been a rough generation for the Xbox brand, but the last couple of months have been particularly brutal. Between massive layoffs, studio closures, and first-party titles coming to competitor platforms, the Xbox fanbase is rightfully confused and frustrated with the current management. So many questions are swirling around the internet, and there is quite a lot of rumors and speculation muddling the real information. The most pressing concerns relate to why Xbox is closing its studios, is Phil Spencer responsible, and what does it all mean for Game Pass and the future of Xbox as a whole.

    [...]

    The inciting incident to all this has to be Xbox closing down three of its studios under Bethesda: Tango Gameworks, Arkane Austin, and Alpha Dog Games, with Roundhouse Games being dissolved. With the exception of Arkane Austin releasing the critical and commercial failure Redfall last year, none of these studios have been underperforming. In fact, Tango Gameworks' Hi-Fi Rush was a critical hit that received numerous nominations and awards and has recently been ported to PlayStation where it has received even more sales and praise. Considering Xbox chose to purchase Bethesda's studios to the tune of around $7.5 billion, and just last year shelled out almost $70 billion to purchase Activision Blizzard, fans are right to question why.

  • Techdirt ☛ Microsoft Shutters Several Bethesda Developers Post Acquisition, Same As It Did In Activision Acquisition

    Here we go again. Back in February, the FTC wanted to dive back into its battle with Microsoft over its acquisition of Activision Blizzard due to Microsoft announcing thousands of jobs worth of layoffs, including many developers from Activision Blizzard. When the FTC had asked for an injunction to block the sale, Microsoft made two claims. First, it indicated that the injunction wasn’t needed as this was a horizontal acquisition, not a vertical one, meaning that it wasn’t going to reduce staff after the purchase due to redundancies in the workforce. Second, it indicated that the injunction wasn’t necessary due to the hands-off approach Microsoft would take at these studios, meaning that it could easily divest from these developers if ordered to, rather than having to shut them down entirely. Post acquisition, Microsoft went right ahead and announced plans to lay off nearly 2,000 people, rather than doing any divesting. A complete one-eighty from what it told the courts, in other words.

    [...]

    No, it’s far more likely that this is simply the result of lies and greed at work. Lies to the courts and FTC about what its plans were all along...

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Fujitsu uses Fugaku supercomputer to train LLM: 13 billion parameters

    Fujitsu trains Fugaku-LLM model with 13 billion parameters for research and commercial use.

  • Hackaday ☛ AI-Created Coffee Blend Isn’t Terrible [Ed: "AI-conic" just mean hype wave-riding, nothing more]

    Weren’t we just talking about coffee-based sacrilege the other day? Here’s something to make the single-origin bean snobs chew their espresso cups: an artisan roastery in Helsinki is offering a coffee blend created by artificial intelligence called AI-conic. The idea, of course, is that technology will lighten the workload needed to produce coffee.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • EFF ☛ The FBI is Playing Politics with Your Privacy

      In other words, an agency that has repeatedly abused this exact authority—with 3.4 million warrantless searches of Americans’ communications in 2021 alone, thinks that the answer to its misuse of mass surveillance of Americans is to do more of it, not less. And it signals that the FBI believes it should do more surveillance–not because of any pressing national security threat—but because the FBI has an image problem.

      The American people should feel a fiery volcano of white hot rage over this revelation. During the recent fight over Section 702’s reauthorization, we all had to listen to the FBI and the rest of the Intelligence Community downplay their huge number of Section 702 abuses (but, never fear, they were fixed by drop-down menus!). The government also trotted out every monster of the week in incorrect arguments seeking to undermine the bipartisan push for crucial reforms. Ultimately, after fighting to a draw in the House, Congress bent to the government’s will: it not only failed to reform Section 702, but gave the government authority to use Section 702 in more cases.

    • Reason ☛ Short Circuit: A Roundup of Recent Federal Court Decisions

      Firearm privacy, trial transcripts, and a Good Samaritan.

• Defence/Aggression

  • teleSUR ☛ DRC: Death of at Least 8 People by ISIS

    He explained that the terrorist group killed at least eight people and injured many others. He added “the person in charge and the nurse of the health center are currently missing. A house has been burned; our belongings have been taken”.

  • Defence Web ☛ Bold African Union role needed to stabilise east DRC

    The African Union lacks a coherent strategy that can reduce tensions between countries and improve security coordination. Security in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Great Lakes is worsening despite numerous stabilisation efforts.

  • BIA Net ☛ Educators strike across Turkey in wake of teacher’s murder

    Union representatives say the killing was not an isolated incident but a result of years-long policies discrediting teachers.

  • The Strategist ☛ National Defence Strategy: too slow on air-and-missile defence

    Australia’s failure to prioritise acquisition of surface-to-air systems for missile defence is alarming.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s Pooh-tin Jinping in Hungary, hails ‘history’s best’ relations with Viktor Orban

    President Pooh-tin Jinping vowed to deepen already flourishing economic ties with Hungary during a visit to Budapest on Thursday, advocating that its closest European Union ally “play a bigger role” in fostering relations between Beijing and the bloc.

  • JURIST ☛ US asylum policy violates international human rights and refugee law: Amnesty International

    The mandatory use of CBP One to seek asylum in the United States violates the United States’ and Mexico’s international human rights and refugee law obligations, according to a report published by Amnesty International on Thursday.

  • RFA ☛ US sanctions 37 Chinese tech firms over drones, spy balloons

    Move comes amid concerns American-made technology was being used for military purposes.

  • RFA ☛ Record number of Chinese ships enter Taiwan waters near Kinmen island

    11 Chinese vessels were detected inside Taiwan’s territorial waters.

  • RFA ☛ US discusses North Korea with China, raises repatriation concerns

    Beijing routinely labels North Koreans as illegal ‘economic migrants’ and forcibly repatriates them.

  • RFA ☛ Episode 6: Songs, (alleged) spies, and the curious case of Wang Shujun

    RFA's Investigative team reports about a Chinese-American democracy advocate suspected of espionage for Beijing.

  • YLE ☛ Court dismisses Finns Party's case over 'anti-immigrant' election adverts

    The Finns Party's election posters were removed because they suggested that immigrants were able to skip city housing queues.

  • New Yorker ☛ The United States Passed a Ban on TikTok. Why?

    Is Fentanylware (TikTok) the killer app of social control media—or a Trojan horse sent by the enemy? Two views on the recent ban. Plus, salmon in the dishwasher, and more highlights of culinary TikTok.

  • Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Booted from Tech Lobbying Group as Capitol Hill Pressure Mounts

    TikTok is prepared to fight the United States government over its divesture this week—but it will do so without Washington tech lobbying group NetChoice. The ByteDance-owned social control media giant has been a member of NetChoice since 2019, but the Washington-based lobbying group booted the company from its membership roll this week.

  • Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Announces Expanded Hey Hi (AI) Tagging — Including Automatic Labels — After Mending Fences With UMG

    Eight months after debuting new tags for AI-created videos – and about one week after putting its Universal Music licensing dispute to rest – Fentanylware (TikTok) is expanding labels for auto-generated media. The platform just recently unveiled its enhanced AI-labeling approach in a more than 700-word announcement message.

  • ACLU ☛ The Painful Reality of Being an Incarcerated Mother

    Many of us will celebrate Mother’s Day over the weekend by remembering or being present with women who raised us, or with our families. But for the more than 190,000 women incarcerated in the United States this weekend, there will be no celebration.

  • New York Times ☛ Middle East Crisis: U.S. Criticizes Israel for Failure to Protect Civilians in Gaza Conflict

    In a report, the State Department avoids sweeping conclusions, but raises the prospect that Israel may have violated humanitarian laws.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Criticizes Israel Over Conduct in Gaza

    In a report, the State Department avoids sweeping conclusions but raises the prospect that Israel may have violated humanitarian laws.

  • CS Monitor ☛ In war-torn Haiti, Vodou draws thousands seeking comfort, protection from gangs

    As gang violence grips their country, the ancient tradition of Vodou is experiencing a resurgence among Haitians. Followers find links in the religious practice to the nation’s history of resistance and endurance.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ Putin Reappoints Mishustin As Russian PM

      Russian lawmakers approved Mikhail Mishustin as prime minister on May 10, hours after President Vladimir Putin nominated him for reappointment.

    • Meduza ☛ Putin proposes Mishustin’s reappointment as Russian prime minister — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘The main risk is that they’ll kill us all’ How Navalny’s team worked while he was in prison — and what changed after his death — Meduza

• Environment

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Heat wave turns deadly, with deaths in at least 3 states this week

    From the official start of the hot season on March 17 to May 4, at least seven people died of heat-related illness, the federal Health Ministry reported.

  • YLE ☛ Finland's forestry industry shifting from paper to higher-value wood products

    The demand for printing paper has waned and Finnish forestry companies are on the lookout for new and more valuable products than pulp from wood.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Pro Publica ☛ How the Plastics Industry Invaded the UN’s “Plastic Free” Conference

      When I registered to attend last month’s United Nations conference in Canada, organizers insisted it would be a “plastic free meeting.” I wouldn’t even get a see-through sleeve for my name tag, they warned; I’d have to reuse an old lanyard.

      After all, representatives from roughly 170 countries were gathering to tackle a crisis: The world churns out 400 million metric tons of plastic a year. It clogs landfills and oceans; its chemical trail seeps into our bodies. Delegates have been meeting since 2022 as part of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution in hopes of ending this year with a treaty that addresses “the full life cycle of plastic, including its production, design and disposal.”

    • DeSmog ☛ Gas Lobbyists Want LNG Expansion in Canada’s Arctic

    • YLE ☛ Finland to introduce motor insurance for some e-scooters, electrical bikes

      A new law will make insurance mandatory for motorised devices weighing over 25 kilograms or travelling over 25 kilometres per hour.

    • YLE ☛ Electricity transfer fees vary wildly between different providers, study finds

      The basic fee can be as high as 40 euros per month or below five euros depending on the company, a survey by the Finnish Homeowners' Association has revealed.

• Finance

  • Latvia ☛ Inflation in Latvia driven by wage growth, economists say

    In Latvia, prices for services are still rising relatively fast, especially for labor-intensive services. Rapid wage growth in Latvia, the euro area, and elsewhere remains the biggest risk to inflation, economists surveyed by LSM said, assessing April's consumer price data.

  • Latvia ☛ April's annual inflation at 1.1% in Latvia

    The latest data published on May 10 by the Central Statistical Bureau show that in April 2024, compared to April 2023, the average level of consumer prices increased by 1.1 %.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Peso strengthens against US dollar after Bank of Mexico maintains interest rate

    The Bank of Mexico governing board decided to hold off on any further rate cuts on Thursday, after the publication of higher-than-expected inflation data.

  • Cracks in the Labor Market

    Then there is the growing number of layoffs. It started in the tech sector. Amazon has cut 27,000-plus workers since November 2022. Heavyweights like Google, Microsoft, Tesla, and Dell have all made significant cuts to their workforces this year.

  • LRT ☛ Lithuania’s central bank proposes making mortgage refinancing free

    Lithuanians are overpaying for their mortgages, so the Bank of Lithuania and the Ministry of Finance are proposing measures to make it easier for borrowers to refinance. The Banking Association is critical of the proposal.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Latvia ☛ Former Unity official accuses IT company of defamation

    Former Secretary General of the Unity party Artis Kampars has filed a lawsuit against Renārs Kadžulis, head of information technology company SOAAR, for defamation, LETA reported May 9.

  • NYPost ☛ Biden calls North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un president of South Korea in latest world leader blunder

    Biden, 81, was in the middle of attacking his 2024 opponent, former President Donald Trump, over his close relationship with the dictator when he made the blunder.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea to deploy new multiple rocket launcher this year: KCNA

    Kim Jong Un on May 10 oversaw a live-fire test of the “technically updated” rocket system.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Georgia Law Could Lead to More Voter Suppression, Advocates Warn

    Ten months after Georgia officials said they would take steps to ensure that counties were correctly handling massive numbers of challenges to voter registrations, neither the secretary of state’s office nor the State Election Board has done so.

    In July 2023, ProPublica reported that election officials in multiple Georgia counties were handling citizens’ challenges to voter registrations in different ways, with some potentially violating the National Voter Registration Act.

  • New York Times ☛ Aiming for Rosier Ties, Pooh-tin Wraps Up Europe Visit

    The red carpet receptions China’s leader received in France, Serbia and Hungary helped recast a strained relationship with the continent.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ US attacks China's Quantum research, spy balloons by adding 37 companies to ban list — Entity List aggressively targets potential military applications

    The US government has broken its record for most Chinese entities on the Entity List at once, with quantum research in China and elsewhere receiving fresh new sanctions and blockades.

  • JURIST ☛ Australia and Tuvalu sign new commitment to improve security relations and eliminate veto power

    Australia and Tuvalu released a joint statement Thursday announcing new commitments to improve security relations and remove the veto power Australia previously had over the tiny island nation’s security relations with other countries.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. to Announce New Tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles

    The administration could raise tariffs on electric vehicles from China to 100 percent in an attempt to protect American auto manufacturers.

  • New Yorker ☛ Stormy Daniels’s American Dream

    Donald Trump’s lawyers tried to portray the scrappy adult-film actress as a lying profiteer. Instead, she emerged as an intelligent, credible witness who is also very good at making money.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • JURIST ☛ South Africa president approves bill criminalizing hate crimes and hate speech

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday assented to the Preventing and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill, which criminalizes the offenses of hate crimes and hate speech in the country.

  • RFERL ☛ International Rights Groups Urge Georgia To Protect Freedom Of Speech

    International media and human rights organizations have appealed to Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to withdraw a draft law on "foreign agents" and to ensure the safety of journalists and protect the freedom of the press in Georgia.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Radical Case for Free Speech

    We need to build a broad moral consensus around the universal right to dissent, rooted in widely held beliefs about American liberty.

  • New York Times ☛ USC Valedictorian Graduates Without a Speech, but With Cheers

    Asna Tabassum, whose speech was canceled by University of Southern California administrators, received plenty of support at an engineering school ceremony.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ US consul urges Hong Kong to release Jimmy Lai and drop activist bounties, as Beijing condemns ‘interference’

    The top US diplomat in Hong Kong has called for the release of media mogul Jimmy Lai and other detained activists, sparking a complaint from Beijing’s foreign ministry of interference in China’s internal affairs.

  • RFA ☛ Taiwanese star forced to publicly support 'one China' policy

    Show will be ditched in China if Wu Mu-hsuen doesn't support Beijing's territorial claim on democratic Taiwan.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ US law allowing sanctions on China, Hong Kong officials ‘highly subjective,’ legal expert tells Jimmy Lai’s trial

    A US law which authorises sanctions against mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials for perceived human rights violations could be “highly subjective,” the national security trial of Jimmy Lai has heard.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ Spotify’s Podcast Division Experiences Another Major Shakeup With Julie McNamara Exit

    With Spotify continuing to pursue profitability in earnest – while dialing back its original-content ambitions in the podcast arena – head of podcast studios Julie McNamara is reportedly exiting the company.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Public Knowledge ☛ U.S. v. Google: The Cost of “Winning.” Recapping Closing Arguments [Ed: Conflict of interest here, with Microsoft inside the Board]

  Public Knowledge Policy Counsel Elise Phillips watched the closing arguments of the Department of Justice’s landmark U.S. v. Surveillance Giant Google case live from the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse. View the week one and week four recap of the opening arguments.

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Terminal Disclaimers: A Growing Concern in Patent Practice

    In a recent post, I discussed major proposed changes to terminal disclaimer practice that could significantly impact the landscape of patent monopoly law. Today, I want to briefly note a trend that underscores why these proposed changes are more pertinent than ever: the increasing percentage of U.S. utility patents bound by a terminal disclaimer.

  • How Challenging Low Quality Patents is Lowering Drug Prices

    The FTC made headlines in May when it announced it was challenging over 300 “junk” patents in the FDA’s “Orange Book,” including patents on popular drugs like Ozempic and Victoza.

  • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Probing the boundaries of patent monopoly law

    Advanced Cell Diagnostics v Molecular Instruments [2024] EWHC 898 (Pat) On 23 April 2024, Mr Justice Meade handed down his judgment in the dispute between Advanced Cell Diagnostics (ACD) and Molecular Instruments (MI).

  • JUVE ☛ After success in Germany InterDigital’s FRAND battle with Lenovo shifts to London

    On 2 May, Munich Regional Court ruled Lenovo may no longer sell mobile devices in Germany that infringe InterDigital’s European patent monopoly EP 2 127 420 B1. The court also classified Lenovo as an unwilling licensee, despite the Chinese company having submitted a licence offer.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ BREAKING! TTAB Reverses Section 2(d) Refusals of FURY TIRES and FURY OFF-ROAD for Tires

    So far this year, the Board has affirmed 69 of the first 71 Section 2(d) refusals reviewed on appeal (i.e., 97%). Trademark practitioners are scratching their collective head. But the Board uncommonly just reversed two Section 2(d) refusals: "We believe that this case presents a situation where the differences in the marks, taken in their entireties, outweigh the other factors. While not a common occurrence, cases like this arise from time to time." In re Limin Jiang, Serial Nos. 88921750 and 88921790 (May 8, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Thomas L. Casagrande).

  • Digital Music News ☛ Adidas Goes Back to Something More Reliable — Korn

    After their successful collaborative collection late last year, Adidas Originals teams up once again with California alt metal band Korn for a selection of footwear, apparel, and accessories.