Links 23/07/2024: Downsizing and Microsoft and Still Damage Control
Contents
- Free, Libre, and Open Source Software
- Leftovers
- Science
- Education
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Pseudo-Open Source
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Transparency/Investigative Reporting
- Environment
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing Monopolies/Monopsonies
- Leftovers
-
Free, Libre, and Open Source Software
-
Leftovers
-
Juha-Matti Santala ☛ Notes are a tool for …
Writing notes is less about the content of those notes being available later. The process of writing them is a process of thinking. It’s a tool to go through information and ideas, and transform them from abstract to tangible.
-
France24 ☛ US rapper Snoop Dogg to carry Olympic torch ahead of Paris opening ceremony
American rapper Snoop Dogg will carry the Olympic flame through Saint-Denis this Friday, marking a significant moment before the Paris Games' opening ceremony. Joining him are French actress Laetitia Casta, French rapper MC Solaar, and retired Ukrainian pole-vaulter Sergey Bubka.
-
Science
-
Science Alert ☛ New 'Missing Link' Black Hole Spotted Lurking in The Galactic Center
This could be a huge find!
-
Science Alert ☛ Mysterious 'Dark Oxygen' Discovered at Bottom of Ocean Stuns Scientists
We never knew this was possible.
-
-
Education
-
University of Michigan ☛ It Happened at Michigan — Digitizing the University Library
Coleman was even more doubtful when Provost Paul Courant, the university’s chief academic officer, and University Librarian William Gosling came to her office in 2004 to say the library was entering a partnership with Google to digitize Michigan’s 7 million books.
-
The Scotsman ☛ The teacher behind the push to ban mobile phones in Scotland schools and follow England policy
Adam Csenki, who teaches music at a Moray secondary school, said: “We have anecdotal evidence that when pupils are on their phones at breaktime, they are not interacting with each other. It is difficult to bring them up to be polite adults when they don’t feel they have to put their phone away when they are speaking to someone.”
-
Sumana Harihareswara ☛ Make Room for Big News
Sometimes I lead workshops (usually via group videocall). So I thought: this sort of thing will likely happen, at some point, during a workshop I lead. How should I deal with it? How can I plan for it, so my participants can take care of themselves appropriately?
-
-
Hardware
-
Hackaday ☛ Bluetooth Printer Works With AppleTalk
For retrocomputing enthusiasts, getting old computers to work with newer peripherals can be an exciting challenge or horrible headache. If you need to print out receipts from an old Mac, you might just be in luck now that [Hamin Mousavi] has gotten AppleTalk to work with cat printers.
-
404 Media ☛ DHS Has a DoS Robot to Disable Internet of Things ‘Booby Traps’ Inside Homes
The robot, called “NEO,” is a modified version of the “Quadruped Unmanned Ground Vehicle (Q-UGV) sold to law enforcement by a company called Ghost Robotics. Benjamine Huffman, the director of DHS’s Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC), told police at the 2024 Border Security Expo in Texas that DHS is increasingly worried about criminals setting “booby traps” with internet of things and smart home devices, and that NEO allows DHS to remotely disable the home networks of a home or building law enforcement is raiding. The Border Security Expo is open only to law enforcement and defense contractors. A transcript of Huffman’s speech was obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Dave Maass using a Freedom of Information Act request and was shared with 404 Media.
-
MaskRay ☛ Mapping symbols: rethinking for efficiency
In object files, certain code patterns embed data within instructions or transitions occur between instruction sets. This can create hurdles for disassemblers, which might misinterpret data as code, resulting in inaccurate output. Furthermore, code written for one instruction set could be incorrectly disassembled as another. To address these issues, some architectures (Arm, C-SKY, NDS32, RISC-V, etc) define mapping symbols to explicitly denote state transition. Let's explore this concept using an AArch32 code example:
-
-
Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
-
Science Alert ☛ Natural Compound in Olives May Help Fight Obesity And Type 2 Diabetes
A natural Ozempic?
-
Antivax lawyer Aaron Siri misrepresents vaccine safety testing
If there’s one thing that antivaxxers do, particularly antivax shill lawyers like Aaron Siri, it’s to spin and dissemble, often misrepresenting what vaccine advocates say in order to produce a false “gotcha” moment that, if you don’t know the background, can make them seem either to have changed their views or to have been deceptive. Other times, they just invent new definitions for what “real science” looks like, as Aaron Siri did when he tried to argue that the entire childhood vaccine schedule is unsafe because not every vaccine has been tested in a randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) versus the only true placebo control that he declares to be valid: A saline placebo. It’s utter nonsense, of course, although it’s oft-repeated by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. It also ignores the history of vaccine development, the ethics of clinical trials (particularly clinical equipoise), and that saline placebos are not the be-all and end-all of “correct” controls for RCTs of vaccines. It is scientifically and ethically acceptable to use other controls besides normal saline.
-
Pro Publica ☛ Maryland Moves to Process a Nearly 50-Year-Old Backlog of Rape Kits
One of the country’s oldest backlogs of untested evidence from rape exams is on track to be processed by the end of the year after new laws in Maryland put more than 1,400 cases dating back to 1977 on an expedited timetable.
As detailed in ProPublica’s 2021 series “Cold Justice,” a doctor at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center began quietly preserving physical evidence obtained during exams of rape survivors in the 1970s, believing that one day the technology would exist to be able to connect specimens to perpetrators.
-
Pro Publica ☛ Under Biden, U.S. Officials Fought Baby Formula Regulations Around the World
The Biden administration has quietly pushed more than a half-dozen countries to weaken, delay or rethink baby formula regulations aimed at protecting the public’s health — sometimes after manufacturers complained, a ProPublica investigation has found.
In the European Union, the U.S. opposed an effort to reduce lead levels in baby formula. In Taiwan, it sought to alter labeling that highlighted the health benefits of breastfeeding. And in Colombia, it questioned an attempt to limit microbiological contaminants — the very problem that shut down a manufacturing plant in Michigan in 2022, leading to a widespread formula shortage.
-
Science Alert ☛ Why Does The Plague Keep Coming Back to Plague Humans?
It may never disappear.
-
Science Alert ☛ 'Stones' of Undigested Fruit, Hair, And Even Gum Can Hide in Your Gut For Years
They're called bezoars.
-
Science Alert ☛ This Simple Evening Routine Could Be The Key to Better Sleep
The secret to sleeping longer?
-
Science Alert ☛ Something Strange Happens to Your Eyes When You Breathe
-
Sumana Harihareswara ☛ Things I Wish I'd Done Before Catching COVID
In mid-June I caught COVID-19 for, I'm pretty sure, the first time. The current dominant variants are transmissible enough that they got past my defenses. I believe I caught the virus either while wearing an N95 mask in a public indoors space (such as the post office or a work gathering) or outdoors unmasked while eating dinner in a bit of a crowd.
-
Science Alert ☛ Plastic Was Found Inside More Than 50% of Plaques From Clogged Arteries
Following 257 patients for 34 months, the researchers found nearly 60 percent of them had measurable amounts of polyethylene in plaques pulled from their fat-thickened arteries, and 12 percent also had polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in extracted fat deposits.
PVC comes in both rigid and flexible forms, and is used to make water pipes, plastic bottles, flooring, and packaging. Polyethylene is the most commonly produced plastic, used for plastic bags, films, and bottles, too.
-
Los Angeles Times ☛ FLiRT wave: California COVID wastewater levels worse than last summer
California has “very high” coronavirus levels in its wastewater — one of 21 states in that category, up from seven the prior week, according to estimates published Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
-
-
Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
-
Microsoft’s diversity team downsizing sparks controversy
Recently, Microsoft has come under fire for announcing a planned downsizing of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) team. A number of DEI team members are set to be reassigned, sparking disapproval from numerous employees who feel this undermines the company’s commitment to diversity.
An internal message from a senior team member highlighted their disappointment with the decision and sparked a discussion within the company. Upper management called an immediate meeting to address employee concerns, a move that was met with both cautious optimism and skepticism…
The restructuring, set to take effect from the start of July, has resulted in an undisclosed number of employees questioning the company’s true commitment to diversity and the pledges made in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020. These questions have escalated into broader discussions about Microsoft’s overall diversity strategy.
In 2020, Microsoft pledged to increase its Black leadership by 2025.
-
Microsoft disbands DEI group amid industry concerns
Microsoft made a public commitment in 2020 to double its number of Black leaders by 2025. However, the company’s progress in achieving these DEI goals remains largely unknown. The details are not readily available, leaving many to question the sincerity of these pledges.
-
Wired ☛ Waymo Is Suing People Who Allegedly Smashed and Slashed Its Robotaxis
The people of San Francisco haven’t always been kind to Waymo’s growing fleet of driverless taxis. The autonomous vehicles, which provide tens of thousands of rides each week, have been torched, stomped on, and verbally berated in recent months. Now Waymo is striking back—in the courts.
-
Howard Oakley ☛ Could our Macs be CrowdStruck?
Apple’s road from kexts to System Extensions has been long, controversial, and only succeeded when Apple silicon Macs couldn’t use kexts without being run at Reduced Security. The devastation wrought by the CrowdStrike bug is vindication for all the pain that deprecation brought.
-
The Atlantic ☛ AI Can’t Make Music
Some of these fears are misplaced. Anyone who expects that a program can create music and replace human artistry is wrong: I doubt that many people would line up for Lollapalooza to watch SZA type a prompt into a laptop, or to see a robot croon. Still, generative AI does pose a certain kind of threat to musicians—just as it does to visual artists and authors. What is becoming clear now is that the coming war is not really one between human and machine creativity; the two will forever be incommensurable. Rather, it is a struggle over how art and human labor are valued—and who has the power to make that appraisal.
-
The Verge ☛ AI terminology, explained for humans
To help you better understand what’s going on, we’ve put together a list of some of the most common AI terms. We’ll do our best to explain what they mean and why they’re important.
-
Greg Morris ☛ Producing Slop
For the past few weeks, I’ve been producing slop. Not because I want to. Merely because everyone tells me I must in order to succeed on the [Internet].
Content slop is a strange term, but it describes the mass-produced, often AI-generated, surface-level content that constitutes a large portion of the [Internet] now. It has three characteristics, but I stick to Ryan Broderick’s first outlining feature, which states that “to the user, the viewer, the customer, it feels worthless.”
-
-
Pseudo-Open Source
-
Openwashing
-
The Register UK ☛ Google, Oracle, and Microsoft pitch for VMware migrations
Those server costs can be applied to four new instance types tuned for VMware workloads and also launched last Friday. The ve2-mega-96 offers 96 hyperthreads, and the ve2-mega-128 offers 128. Both are compute nodes.
The ve2-standard-so offers 25.6TB raw data storage – a sum doubled in the ve2-mega-so. As Cloud Foundation includes VMware's VSAN virtual storage, most users will consider the "so" instances.
-
-
-
Security
-
Privacy/Surveillance
-
EFF ☛ Media Briefing: EFF, Partners Warn UN Member States Are Poised to Approve Dangerous International Surveillance Treaty
WHAT:Virtual media briefing on UN surveillance treaty
-
The Register UK ☛ Oracle coughs up $115M to make privacy case go away
The plaintiffs also obtained Offline Access Request Response Reports (OARRRs) from Oracle, which have been central to this litigation. After consulting a privacy law scholar and two computer science experts who performed forensic research and analysis of Oracle's publicly available technical documentation, the plaintiffs filed suit against Oracle in August 2022, alleging that its data brokering business violates internet users' right to privacy under the California Constitution as well as various state and federal privacy statutes.
-
The Verge ☛ Slack introduces iPhone widgets to make work more inescapable
Today, Slack introduced the first four widgets for the iOS version of its mobile app. Three of them are designed for the iPhone’s homescreen, while the fourth can be added to the lockscreen, allowing users to jump immediately into the Slack app after unlocking their device.
-
-
-
Defence/Aggression
-
US News And World Report ☛ UN Envoy Warns That Threat of Terrorism Is `Resurging' With Attacks by Islamic State Extremists
The top U_N_ envoy for Syria told the Security Council the threat of terrorism is “resurging” with attacks by Islamic State extremists set to double this year, endangering civilians already facing a “protracted state of displacement and dire humanitarian conditions.”
-
Atlantic Council ☛ How Venezuela became a model for digital authoritarianism
In their new report, “Venezuela: A playbook for digital repression,” Iria Puyosa, Andrés Azpúrua, and Daniel Suárez Pérez dive deep into the state of media in Venezuela, the role it played in the country’s slide toward authoritarianism, and whether other Latin American countries will adopt Venezuela’s model of digital repression.
-
JURIST ☛ UN special rapporteur urges accountability mechanism for 1980s Iran atrocity crimes
A UN Special Rapporteur released final findings Monday pressing for an international accountability mechanism to investigate and prosecute individuals involved in the mass arrest and killing of thousands during the 1980s.
-
Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
-
RFERL ☛ Ukrainian FM Kuleba To Visit China
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit China on July 23-25 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, the Foreign Ministries of both countries said on their official websites on July 22.
-
RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Thanks Biden, Says Ukraine Respects 'Difficult But Strong Decision'
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said that Ukraine respects U.S. President Joe Biden's "difficult but strong decision" to withdraw his candidacy for reelection.
-
RFERL ☛ Rosneft Refinery Damaged In Drone Attack, Local Russian Officials Say
A large Russian oil refinery in southern Russia sustained damage after it was set on fire early on July 22, regional officials said, as the Defense Ministry in Moscow said that it repelled a large Ukrainian drone attack targeting several regions.
-
New York Times ☛ The Decathlete Who Picked Up a Gun
About 500 top-level Ukrainian athletes and coaches have died in the war. Volodymyr Androshchuk promised his loved ones he would make it back.
-
New York Times ☛ Biden Shepherded Europe on Ukraine and NATO. What Happens Now?
President Biden’s stance on Ukraine was shaped by a deep commitment to America’s trans-Atlantic alliance. Some Europeans fear he may be among the last of his kind.
-
New York Times ☛ Ukraine Strikes Debt Restructuring Deal With Creditors
The deal with private bondholders will help preserve Kyiv’s limited state budget, which is crucial to fund its military. An agreement to suspend debt payments was to expire on Aug. 1.
-
Security Week ☛ US Sanctions Russian Hacktivists for Targeting Critical Infrastructure
US has announced sanctions against two CARR hacktivists for roles in cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure.
-
The Strategist ☛ As Russia’s Caucasus influence falls, filling the gap isn’t simple
Armenia’s intention to withdraw from a Russia-led security alliance of ex-Soviet states appears on the surface to offer an opportunity for the European Union, Turkey and Iran to expand their influence and pursue their own [...]
-
RFERL ☛ Russian Court Sentences RFE/RL Journalist Kurmasheva To 6 1/2 Years In Prison
A Russian court has sentenced Alsu Kurmasheva, a veteran RFE/RL journalist who holds dual U.S.-Russian citizenship, to 6 1/2 years in prison on charges she, her employer, the U.S. government, and her supporters reject as politically motivated.
-
RFERL ☛ Explosion Destroys Shopping Center In Southwestern Russia
Emergency officials in Russia's southwestern Krasnodar region said on July 22 that an explosion completely leveled a shopping center in the city of Apsheronsk.
-
RFERL ☛ Head Of Stalin Bust Knocked Off In Town Near Moscow
An unidentified man has used a sledgehammer to knock off the head of a bust of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in the town of Zvenigorod in the Moscow region, videos posted by Telegram appeared to show.
-
RFERL ☛ Tajik, Uzbek Teenagers Charged With Attempted Murder After Brawl With Russian Lawmaker
A Russian court on July 22 sent three teenagers -- two of whom were from Central Asia -- to pretrial detention until September 18 on an attempted-murder charge after a brawl last week with Mikhail Matveyev -- a member of the Russian parliament's lower chamber, the State Duma.
-
RFERL ☛ Warrants Issued For Russian Anti-War Activists In Exile
A Moscow court on July 22 issued arrest warrants for two members of the Vesna youth movement on charges of organizing an extremist group, distributing false data about Russia's military, calls for anti-government activities, and disrespecting past military glory.
-
The Straits Times ☛ Growing cooperation between Russia and China in Arctic, Pentagon says
WASHINGTON - Russia and China are increasingly cooperating in the Arctic region, which could impact regional stability, the U.S. military said as it released its strategy for the Arctic region on Monday.
-
New York Times ☛ Russia Sentences Alsu Kurmasheva, American Editor, to a Penal Colony
Ms. Kurmasheva, a Russian American working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, had been charged in relation to an antiwar book she edited.
-
New York Times ☛ A New Candidate Must Now Defend Biden’s Legacy Abroad
More than any election in decades, this one will be marked by starkly different approaches to an era of simultaneous confrontations, from China to Russia to the Middle East.
-
Meduza ☛ ‘You wanted to go to Russia? Then go die for it.’ How a Moscow IT worker got roped into the war while visiting his mother in Donetsk — Meduza
-
Meduza ☛ Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva sentenced to 6.5 years in prison in secret trial — Meduza
-
RFERL ☛ Belarusian Opposition Politician Kazlou Released After 30 Months In Prison
The former leader of the opposition United Civic Party (AHP), Mikalay Kazlou, was released from prison on July 22 after serving 30 months on a charge of disrupting civil order.
-
RFERL ☛ Belarusian Activist On Trial For Helping Families Of Political Prisoners
The Mahilyou regional court in southeastern Belarus on July 22 began the trial of activist Alesya Serheyenka for allegedly facilitating extremist activities.
-
LRT ☛ Lithuanian border guards report rise in secondary migration via Latvia
The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service (VSAT) says that last Saturday’s 40 attempts at irregular border crossings from Belarus, a record daily number so far this year, did not signal “any major shift”, but noted a recent rise in secondary migration through Latvia.
-
Latvia ☛ Border Guard: Migrant flow from Belarus to Latvia picks up again
The influx of migrants at Latvia's border with Belarus has increased again - more than 100 attempts to illegally enter Latvia were prevented last weekend. The head of the State Border Guard, General Guntis Pujāts, sees this as a deliberate retaliation policy, Latvian Radio reports July 22.
-
RFERL ☛ Hungary, Slovakia Seek EU Consultation Procedure With Ukraine Over LUKoil Ban
Hungary and Slovakia will seek a consultation procedure with Ukraine mediated by the European Commission after Kyiv placed Russian group LUKoil on a sanctions list, leading to a halt in deliveries, Hungary's foreign minister said in Brussels on July 22.
-
RFERL ☛ Belarusian Woman Gets 6 Years In Prison For Sending Money To Regiment In Ukraine
Prosecutors in the western Belarusian region of Brest said on July 22 that a local woman was sentenced five days earlier to six years in prison for sending 4,400 rubles ($1,344) to the Kastus Kalinouski Regiment, consisting of Belarusian citizens, in Ukraine.
-
RFERL ☛ Ukraine Strikes Preliminary Deal To Restructure $20 Billion Debt
Kyiv said it reached an agreement in principle with international creditors to restructure government debt worth more than $20 billion, according to a July 22 filing with the London Stock Exchange.
-
Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to visit China for talks on ending Russia’s invasion
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit China on Tuesday for talks on ending Russia’s invasion, now in its third year, his ministry announced.
-
France24 ☛ Gaza, Ukraine and China: How Biden can still move the dial on foreign policy
US President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the presidential race gives him nearly six months left in office with an array of foreign policy challenges on the table. How will Biden continue to shape Washington’s stance towards Ukraine, China and the Israel-Hamas war? FRANCE 24 speaks with Dr Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the US and the Americas Programme at UK thinktank Chatham House.
-
France24 ☛ Ukraine's top diplomat in Beijing for talks on ending war with Russia
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit China this week in a bid to persuade Beijing to reduce its support for Russia and get behind Kyiv’s push for “sustainable” peace.
-
Atlantic Council ☛ Andriy Yermak: Ukraine and NATO are restoring Europe’s security architecture
Together with the country's allies, Ukraine has set out on the path to restore the European security architecture, writes the head of Ukraine’s Office of the President Andriy Yermak.
-
Latvia ☛ Rīga opens temporary housing for Ukrainian refugees
A building at Ūnijas Street 49 in Rīgs, adapted for Ukrainian residents, will support the initial accommodation of refugees, municipality officials said Monday, July 22, at the opening ceremony.
-
RFERL ☛ Kazakh Court Commences Trial in High-Profile Prison Torture Case
12 former Kazakh prison guards accused of torturing a noted anti-war activist Timur Danebaev and 40 other inmates went on trial on July 22. The probe was launched after a video showing guards severely beating the 39-year-old activist and other inmates circulated on the Internet in September 2023.
-
RFERL ☛ Kremlin-Friendly Reporter Expelled From German Investigative Journalism Association
Germany's investigative journalism association Netzwerk Recherche (NR) has expelled influential broadcaster and author Hubert Seipel after it became known that he received money from Moscow for writing laudative books about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
-
-
-
Transparency/Investigative Reporting
-
Reason ☛ The Trump Campaign Keeps Lying About Minnesota Man Acquitted of Shooting at Cops
What the Trump War Room neglected to mention yesterday is that a jury acquitted Stallings of all charges, and he later won a $1.5 million lawsuit settlement as a result of his violent arrest. In fact, one of the police officers pleaded guilty last year to assaulting him.
-
-
Environment
-
JURIST ☛ European governments suppress climate activism according to HRW Report
The report indicates a trend of increasing repression against climate activists across Europe. This alleged silencing takes various forms, including legal measures, restrictions on protests, and other measures to potentially limit the influence and reach of environmental activists and organizations. Governments often justify this crackdown on economic stability, public order, and security concerns. However, such measures have sparked significant controversy, arguing that they undermine democratic freedoms, human rights, and the urgent need for climate action.
-
Energy/Transportation
-
DeSmog ☛ World’s Biggest Meat and Dairy Companies Spend More on Ads than Cutting Emissions — New Report
-
Deseret Media ☛ Man charged with throwing 11 electric scooters in Idaho river
Witnesses told police Frost had pushed approximately 11 Bird scooters into the river or adjacent canal, the report states. According to police reports, each scooter is worth $699.
-
-
Wildlife/Nature
-
The Revelator ☛ The Beaver Seekers
-
Omicron Limited ☛ Biologists discover male elephants use infrasonic rumbles to signal 'let's go'
The findings, detailed in the open-access journal PeerJ, are surprising because this behavior was previously thought to be exclusive to female elephants in family groups.
"We were astonished to find that male elephants, typically considered to have loose social ties, engage in such sophisticated vocal coordination to trigger action," said study lead author Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, a research associate at Stanford University's Center for Conservation Biology. "These calls show us that there's much more going on within their vocal communication than has previously been known."
-
-
Overpopulation
-
Los Angeles Times ☛ Californians' water usage by supplier and more from The Times' updated water tracker
The state’s relaunch of its water use dashboard coincides with the adoption of new permanent conservation rules for urban water suppliers. The Making Conservation a California Way of Life framework is designed to help the state save 500,000 acre-feet of water per year by 2040. That’s enough to supply more than 1.4 million households per year. The rules are individualized to retail water utilities and would require some agencies to cut water usage by more than 30% within the next 16 years.
-
-
-
AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
-
Atlantic Council ☛ Why the United States needs a robust strategy for space cooperation with Africa
Africa’s space industry presents the United States with economic opportunity. For example, according to the Space in Africa report, Africa’s space industry currently generates about $19 billion annually, with projections indicating growth to over $22.64 billion by 2026. US satellite communications companies such as ViaSat and Starlink—along with Earth observation data providers such as Maxar Technologies, Tomorrow.io, and Planet Labs, and geographic-information-system (GIS) software companies such as Esri—have found a robust market in Africa.
-
MIT Technology Review ☛ AI companies promised to self-regulate one year ago. What’s changed?
But it’s not clear what the commitments have changed and whether the companies would have implemented these measures anyway, says Rishi Bommasani, the society lead at the Stanford Center for Research on Foundation Models, who also reviewed the responses for MIT Technology Review.
One year is a long time in AI. Since the voluntary commitments were signed, Inflection AI founder Mustafa Suleyman has left the company and joined Microsoft to lead the company’s AI efforts. Inflection declined to comment.
-
Wired ☛ An OpenAI-Backed Nonprofit Gave $1,000 a Month to Poor People. Here’s What They Did With It
What critics of assistance programs fear, though, is that instead of investing in the future, people eventually give up on working completely and become ever more reliant on support. OpenResearch found “the total amount of work withdrawn from the market” was “fairly substantial” in its experiment.
Adding the fact that researchers found “no effect” from the cash on several measures of physical health and welfare, and critics may have plenty to snarl at. But the studies’ authors say it’s important not to forget that participants showed with their spending what they valued most. “Policymakers should take into account the fact that recipients have demonstrated—by their own choices—that time away from work is something they prize highly,” authors wrote. If anything OpenResearch has proved true the adage: Money can buy time.
-
The North Lines IN ☛ Could Alphabet's Rumored $23B Acquisition of Cybersecurity Unicorn Wiz Spark a Revival in VC
Many entrepreneurs and VCs have grown anxious seeing few sizable startup exits materialize so far in 2024. But Angela Lee, a professor at a prominent business school, thinks a deal of this magnitude could provide the catalyst needed. “The market is ready for an exit at this scale,” she noted, expressing hope it will encourage more deals. However, she cautioned that few will match Alphabet's resources to complete similar mega-acquisitions.
-
Craig Murray ☛ Who is Running America?
There is an argument to continue the convention of referring to the President of the United States as the most powerful man in the world. The dollar has not quite yet been replaced as the world’s international reserve currency and Bretton Woods still, creaking and cracking, holds.
-
Site36 ☛ Much less seaborne migration to Italy, government in Rome and U.N. report
-
-
Censorship/Free Speech
-
Hindustan Times ☛ Internet hasn't been restored in Bangladesh despite apparent calm following deadly protests
Internet and mobile data services are still down despite apparent calm in Bangladesh following a verdict that scaled back a controversial quota system for government jobs after weeks of relentless protests that turned deadly.
The government has also declared Monday a public holiday, with only essential services running. This comes after a curfew with a shoot-on-sight order was installed days earlier and military personnel could be seen patrolling the capital and other areas.
-
-
Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
-
VOA News ☛ Russia convicts 2nd American journalist in secret trial
Kurmasheva, who works at VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, or RFE/RL, in Prague, was sentenced Friday to six and a half years in prison for spreading what Moscow views as false information about the Russian army, according to the website of the Supreme Court of Tatarstan.
“This secret trial and conviction make a mockery of justice — the only just outcome is for Alsu to be immediately released from prison by her Russian captors,” RFE/RL president and CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement. “It’s beyond time for this American citizen, our dear colleague, to be reunited with her loving family.”
-
JURIST ☛ Florida judge allows Donald Trump's defamation suit against Pulitzer to continue
The lawsuit centers on a statement made by the Pulitzer Prizes board in 2022 defending its upheld its 2018 award for national reporting to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their investigative work on Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election and alleged connections between Russia and the Trump campaign.
-
-
Civil Rights/Policing
-
Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 210: Meredith Lilly on the Trade Risks Behind Canada’s Digital Services Tax and Mandated Streaming Payments
The battle over a digital services tax has been the subject of Law Bytes podcast episodes for several years as the Canadian government signalled its intent to move ahead with one even as US officials warned of risks of trade retaliation if they did so outside of an international framework.
-
CBC ☛ 'Shocking' bodycam video of Illinois police shooting Black woman in her home sparks outrage
Crump said Massey may have appeared to have mental health issues, but the officer was not justified in using deadly force. The video shows she was neither aggressive nor threatening to the officers, he said.
"Just imagine if there wasn't a video, what the narrative would have been," Crump said.
-
The Register UK ☛ Meta's separation agreements violate the law, says judge
The judge ordered Meta to eliminate the offending language, contact all employees who signed one of the problematic agreements to tell them what has happened, and post additional notices in workplaces telling employees of their NLRB-given rights.
-
-
The Strategist ☛ CrowdStrike glitch sounds a cybersecurity alarm we cannot ignore
A faulty security update, a false positive— and suddenly thousands of businesses worldwide found their digital defences compromised. It wasn’t a cyberattack, but it provided a glimpse into the chaos that could follow if a widespread cyber attack were launched against critical infrastructure.
As such, the CrowdStrike incident exposed several glaring weaknesses in our current approach and has underscored the need for a fundamental shift in our cybersecurity culture. To mitigate these risks, Australia must adopt a proactive and multi-faceted approach to cybersecurity, moving beyond reactive measures and embracing a culture of resilience.
-
Copyrights
-
Ethan Marcotte ☛ Reacquired.
I’m certain this was a difficult decision for the company. It was hard enough for me to hear about it — and heck, I’m sure that applies to anyone who’d published a book with them. But as difficult as that news was, something wonderful happened in response: a bunch of authors got organized, reached out to our former publisher, and collectively asked if they’d be willing to let us reacquire the rights to our books.
Then something else wonderful happened: they agreed.
-
Torrent Freak ☛ Pirated Movies Flood YouTube, Millions of Views on Compromised Channels
Despite the best efforts of YouTube and rightsholders, determined users can usually find a limited number of pirated movies available for viewing. Yet, at the time of writing, something more unusual catches the eye. Channels that have been dormant for 15+ years, or newer channels showing zero signs of previous infringement, are suddenly offering the latest Hollywood movies. Viewing numbers are vast - easily tens of millions - but the true number could be even higher.
-
Torrent Freak ☛ Fmovies ‘Sister’ Sites Shut Down, Redirect to Pirate Streaming Alternatives
A few days after popular pirate streaming site Fmovies seemingly shut down for good, a flurry of 'related' streaming portals have closed shop too. Flixtorz.to, Flixhq.bz, Movies7.to, Swatchseries.mx and Yeahmovies.to are among more than a dozen sites that are no longer online. The sites all redirect to new domains that are, purportedly, managed by another team.
-
Monopolies/Monopsonies
-
-