Leftovers

• France24 ☛ ‘Tourists, go home!’: Mass tourism exasperates locals in Spain and other countries

  An increasing number of visitors has sparked numerous anti-tourism movements in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. Locals blame tourists for driving up housing costs, inflation, and causing environmental degradation. Some affected regions are beginning to take small steps to ease their residents' concerns.

• Press Gazette ☛ Huw Edwards charged with making indecent images of children

  Edwards will appear in court on Wednesday (31 July).

• New York Times ☛ Huw Edwards, Former BillBC Anchor, Charged With Making Indecent Images of Children

  Huw Edwards, who led the BBC’s coverage of major events, including King Charles III’s coronation, has been charged with three offenses, the police said on Monday.

• Hackaday ☛ A Brief History Of AlphaSmart

  There are a handful of gadgets that do one thing so well that they become cult classics long after the company that made them has moved on or closed up shop. [This Does Not Compute] takes us through the history of the AlphaSmart word processor which started as an educational tool, but finds itself in many a writer’s bag today.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Solar Mystery Solved by Astronomer's Drawings From Hundreds of Years Ago

    Johannes Kepler isn't done yet.

  • New York Times ☛ Two Meteor Showers Peak This Week. Here’s How and When to Watch.

    The Southern Delta Aquarids and the Alpha Capricornids are reaching their peak this week. The Perseids, one of the best shows of the year, are also ramping up.

  • Science Alert ☛ Astronomers Just Discovered The Earliest Galaxy We've Ever Seen

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Alleged GDDR6X shortage could briefly hinder Nvidia gaming GPU supply starting August — affected models include RTX 4070 through RTX 4090

    A rumor suggests RTX 4070 through RTX 4090 GPUs will face temporary supply shortages due to a quality control failure on a batch of Micron GDDR6X memory modules.

  • CNX Software ☛ Jetway JMTX-ADN8 mini-ITX motherboard features defective chip maker Intel N97 CPU, dual GbE, three display interfaces

    The Jetway JMTX-ADN8 is a mini-ITX motherboard built around an defective chip maker Intel N97 (Alder Lake-N) processor.

  • Hackaday ☛ A Soviet Cassette Recorder Receiving Some Love

    For those of us who lived in the capitalist west during the Cold War, there remains a fascination to this day about the Other Side. The propaganda we were fed as kids matched theirs in describing the awful things on the other side of the wall, something that wasn’t borne out when a decade or so later in the 1990s we met people from the former communist side and found them unsurprisingly to be just like us. It’s thus still of interest to have a little peek into Eastern Bloc consumer electronics, something we have the chance of courtesy of [DiodeGoneWild], who’s fixing a 1980s Soviet cassette recorder.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Common Drug May Extend Women's Fertility by Years, Early Results Show

  • Hackaday ☛ Foliodeck Squeezes A Writerdeck Into A Planner

    When it comes to writing, sometimes a computer or smartphone is just too distracting to keep on task. [vagabondvivant] found this to be the case and rolled their own distraction-free writing tool, the Foliodeck.

  • Science Alert ☛ Olympics: The Brains of Elite Athletes Reveal Crucial Differences

    Peak performance begins in the mind.

  • Science Alert ☛ Infections Spreading in US Hospitals Are on The Rise. Here's Why.

    Something has changed.

  • Science Alert ☛ This New Blood Test Identifies Alzheimer's Memory Loss With 90% Accuracy

    It's already available in the US.

  • Science Alert ☛ Brain-Invading Parasite Could Be Hacked to Deliver Meds in Your Head

    Let's put this parasite to work.

  • Latvia ☛ Pets evacuated from flooded shelter in Jelgava, Latvia Monday

    An animal shelter at Helmaņa Street 8 in Jelgava, under the supervision of the Latvian University of Life Sciences and Technologies, has been flooded due to the storm, the LETA news agency reports July 29.

  • CS Monitor ☛ They stepped away for mental health. Their comebacks are powering the Olympics.

    From Simone Biles to Caeleb Dressel, today’s athletes are more open about their mental health. They that honesty has led to better balance in their lives.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Nearly a quarter of adolescent girls suffer partner violence, WHO study finds

    GENEVA - Around a quarter of adolescent girls who have been in relationships have endured physical or sexual violence, a World Health Organization study said on Tuesday, calling for more prevention actions.

  • Latvia ☛ Two hospitalized with storm injuries on Monday in Rīga

    On Monday, July 29, two patients who suffered severe injuries from falling trees were brought to the Emergency Medicine and Patient Admission Clinic of Riga East Clinical University Hospital (RAKUS), LETA news agency reports.

  • University of Michigan ☛ UMich receives a $17.9 million grant to research improving first-time mental health treatment

    The University of Michigan received a 17.9 million dollar grant from the National Institute of Mental Health June 25th to study mental health treatment. The study, called COMPASS, aims to improve first-time mental health treatment and better predict what treatment methods or combination of treatment methods work best for patients. 

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Atlantic Council ☛ A policymaker’s guide to ensuring that [buzzword]-powered health tech operates ethically

    The private sector is moving quickly with the development of Hey Hi (AI) tools. The public sector will need to keep up with new strategies, standards, and regulations around the deployment and use of such tools in the healthcare sector.

  • Microsoft’s DEI Layoffs: Are We Being Gaslit? – Techish Podcast

    • Microsoft lays off a DEI team (00:00:20)

  • ABP ☛ Major Layoffs In July: Microsoft

    Layoffs across the industry are not showing any signs of slowing down, as companies continue to fire a significant number of employees this month as well. From industry giants to small start-ups, every sector is dealing with difficult times amid economic challenges, and firing employees is one way these firms are coping with these testing times.

    From Nike to Dyson, companies across different sectors are firing people in an effort to optimise costs and regain their profit margins. These layoffs may be necessary for organisational survival and strategic adjustments, but their effects on the employees affected by the layoffs are widespread and complex. Here are some of the major layoffs carried out in the month of July.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Pro Publica ☛ How One State’s Anti-Gift-Card Fraud Law Could Impact U.S. Retailers

      Maryland Gov. Wes Moore recently signed the Gift Card Scams Prevention Act of 2024, creating the country’s first law aimed at curbing a rising form of gift card fraud called card draining.

      Card draining is a scheme in which thieves remove gift cards from stores, capture their numeric codes or swap them out for counterfeit cards, and place the products back on display. When an unsuspecting customer loads money onto a tampered or counterfeit card, criminals access it online and steal the balance.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Unicorn Media ☛ Google Dropped a Planned 3rd-party Cookie Ban…Because of Course They Did!

      We're probably not going to find a solution to mass data mining by advertisers and others, as long as privacy issues are handled in a siloed manner by the individual platforms.

• Defence/Aggression

  • JURIST ☛ Human Rights Watch reports widespread sexual violence in Sudan amid catastrophic humanitarian crisis

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed an extensive report on sexual violence perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, Sudan, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

  • The Strategist ☛ China’s growing influence in the Middle East

    China’s economic and political engagement in the Middle East has surged over the past decade, particularly in the aftermath of the Arab Spring and amid growing perceptions of the United States’ withdrawal from the region.

  • The Strategist ☛ Beware mesmerisation by China’s spell

    In the lexicon of Japan’s diplomacy, there is a phrase, ‘China magic’. Both Japan and Australia seem to be absorbed by this magical power and obsessed with making efforts not to displease their Chinese counterparts.

  • Meduza ☛ Taking on ‘alien clothing’ The context and consequences of Tajikistan’s hijab ban — Meduza

  • New York Times ☛ Anguish in Golan Heights Village After Rocket Strike From Lebanon

    A stunned hush of collective mourning fell over Majdal Shams, in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, after the attack from Lebanon.

  • New York Times ☛ Netanyahu Vows ‘Severe’ Response to Deadly Attack in Golan Heights

    Fears linger among Lebanese civilians after a strike killed 12 children and teenagers in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.

  • France24 ☛ Lebanon braces for Israeli retaliation after deadly Golan Heights strike

    Lebanon braced on Monday for a possible large-scale counterstrike after Israel's security cabinet authorised a military response to the weekend rocket attack from Lebanon that killed 12, all teenagers and children. Diplomats engaged in extensive last-minute diplomatic efforts to avert a full blown war between Israel and Hezbollah.

  • France24 ☛ Netanyahu vows 'harsh' response to deadly Golan Heights strike blamed on Hezbollah

    Israel's response to a rocket strike from Lebanon that killed 12 children in the occupied Golan Heights on Saturday will be "harsh", Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday after visiting the stricken town of Majdal Shams. Israel aims to harm the Lebanon-based, Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, which it holds responsible for the attack, without causing an all-out war in the Middle East, two Israeli officials said Monday.

  • Digital Music News ☛ DOJ Fires Back Against Fentanylware (TikTok) Injunction Push Ahead of January Forced Sale Deadline

    Five weeks ago, Fentanylware (TikTok) formally sought an injunction blocking the forced sale deadline it’s staring down in the U.S. Now, the Justice Department has fired back against the request and the arguments therein.

  • RFA ☛ Authorities in Xinjiang rearrest son of prominent Uyghur businessman

    Uyghurs who have already served time are being detained again under the guise of ‘threats to national security.’

  • RFA ☛ Quad foreign ministers meet in Tokyo to discuss regional security

    It comes after US announced plans for a major revamp of its military command to improve coordination with allies.

  • Defence Web ☛ EU sanctions nine people and a political movement in DR Congo

    Nine people and an “entity” apparently involved in “sustaining armed conflict, instability and insecurity” in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) find themselves on a European Union (EU) restrictive measures – also known as sanctions – list as of last Friday (26 July).

  • Defence Web ☛ Investigation into illegal White River military training camp still ongoing

    Police and Home Affairs officials are continuing to investigate an illegal military training camp in White River, Mpumalanga, with firearms recovered and 95 Libyan nationals facing charges of contravening the immigration act.

  • The Strategist ☛ Peacebuilding in the Middle East requires women

    On 19 July, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said negotiations on an agreement to release hostages held in Gaza and establish a ceasefire were nearing the finish line.

  • France24 ☛ Airlines cancel, delay Lebanon flights amid Israeli retaliation fears

    Hours after Israel’s security cabinet authorised Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his defence minister to decide how to retaliate for a deadly attack in the Golan Heights, airlines such as Air France and Lufthansa on Monday cancelled or delayed flights to Beirut. Israel blamed Hezbollah for the attack. The Lebanese-based militant group has denied responsibility.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Chinese spy or counterrevolutionary? Foreign agent trial begins in Brooklyn

    NEW YORK - U.S. prosecutors alleged a Chinese academic betrayed U.S.-based dissidents to Beijing at the start of the 76-year-old's trial on foreign agents charges on Monday, while defense lawyers said their client was trying to bring democracy to communist China.

  • RFERL ☛ Protests In Western Pakistan Turn Violent, Leaving 1 Soldier Dead, Many Injured

    Thousands of Pakistanis have been protesting for nearly a week in the port city of Gwadar, leading to the death of one soldier and the injury of at least 16 others, Pakistan’s army said on July 29.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ US, Japan, Australia, India foreign ministers express ‘serious concern’ over situation in South China Sea

    The foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, Australia and India on Monday expressed “serious concern” over the situation in the South China Sea in a veiled rebuke to Beijing.

  • RFA ☛ Philippines conducts resupply mission to disputed shoal

    Philippine vessel brought supplies to troops at Second Thomas Shoal amid confusion over deal with China.

  • France24 ☛ Quad foreign ministers 'seriously concerned' over South China sea tensions

    The foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, Australia, and India expressed concern on Monday over the situation in the South China Sea, indirectly criticising Beijing during their meeting in Tokyo. The Quad's joint statement emphasised the need for a "free and open" Pacific and condemned recent confrontations involving Chinese and Philippine vessels, as well as North Korea's missile launches.

  • RFA ☛ Chinese dissidents in exile stage sporadic Olympic rights protests in Paris

    Overseas activists make the most of their freedom, but still fear retaliation against loved ones back home.

  • RFA ☛ Hong Kongers in UK 'lonely,' but most plan to stay for good

    A survey by Hongkongers in Britain says migrants from the city experience 'higher than average' distress levels.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Italy’s Giorgia Meloni meets Chinese leader Pooh-tin Jinping in Beijing, pledging to ‘relaunch ties’

    Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hailed China as an “important interlocutor” in managing global tensions Monday as she met President Pooh-tin Jinping.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFA ☛ Is North Korea planning to join BRICS?

      Verdict: Lack of evidence

    • RFERL ☛ Whereabouts Of 2 Imprisoned Former Navalny Associates Unknown

      Two former leaders of the late Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny’s teams in Ufa and Tomsk, Lilia Chanysheva and Ksenia Fadeyeva, have been transferred from the prisons where they were being held and their current whereabouts are not known.

    • France24 ☛ Russia's Wagner group reports casualties in intense clash with Tuareg rebels in Mali

      The Wagner mercenary group reported on Monday that its fighters, alongside Malian soldiers, suffered casualties during intense clashes with Tuareg rebels near Mali's border with Algeria. Despite claims by Malian authorities that Russian forces in the country are trainers rather than mercenaries, Wagner confirmed its involvement in the fighting, which saw significant losses on both sides.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘A successful military operation’ Ukrainian intelligence says ‘more to come’ after rebels in Mali reportedly kill dozens of Wagner Group fighters — Meduza

• Environment

  • Defence Web ☛ Joint army/police ops to curb illegal mining ongoing

    Soldiers continue to work in tandem with police to curb illegal mining with the arid, but mineral-rich Northern Cape the latest in the sights of Operation Vala Umgodi teams.

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ From Meta CTO to climate tech investor: Mike Schroepfer on his big pivot [Ed: Seems like greenwashing PR; follow the MTR money...]

    As the pandemic locked down cities in early 2020, Mike Schroepfer, then the chief technology officer of Meta, found himself with more free time than he’d ever had in his career.

  • Hackaday ☛ Saildrones Searching The Sea For Clues To Hurricane Behavior

    Hurricanes can cause widespread destruction, so early forecasting of their strength is important to protect people and their homes. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is using saildrones to get better data from inside these monster storms.

• Finance

  • New York Times ☛ Scammers Are Targeting Older Americans and Their Retirement Savings

    Criminals on the internet are increasingly going after Americans over the age of 60 because they are viewed as having the largest piles of savings.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • New York Times ☛ Warning of ‘Extreme’ Agenda, Biden Calls for Supreme Court Overhaul

    In a speech in Austin, Texas, the president outlined a proposal that included term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the justices but that faces long odds in a divided Congress.

  • New York Times ☛ Roy Cooper Withdraws From Kamala Harris VP Sweepstakes

    Mr. Cooper, the governor of North Carolina, had been seen as one of the half-dozen top candidates to join the Democratic presidential ticket. It was not immediately clear why he withdrew.

  • NYPost ☛ North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper withdraws from consideration to be Kamala Harris’ running mate

    North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is no longer in the running to be Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate this election season.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Reason ☛ Judge Tosses Former 'Disinformation' Chief's Defamation Suit, Says She Really Was a Censor

      Nina Jankowicz finds out the truth may hurt, but it isn’t lawsuit bait.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Reason ☛ Trump's Favorite Justice Was One of Those 'Stupid People' Who Think Flag Burning Is Protected Speech

    Antonin Scalia twice joined Supreme Court decisions rejecting bans on that particular form of political expression.

  • RFERL ☛ Georgian Constitutional Court Consolidates Lawsuits Against 'Foreign Agent' Law

    Georgia's Constitutional Court on July 29 said it would consolidate cases against the controversial "foreign agent" law after 32 opposition lawmakers filed a lawsuit against the legislation.

  • JURIST ☛ Bangladesh authorities announce end to 11-day Internet shutdown

    The Bangladeshi Minister for Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology, Zunaid Ahmed Palak, announced Sunday that 4G mobile internet services would be restored after an 11-day nationwide blackout. However, access to social control media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube would remain restricted.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Reason ☛ KOSA Moves Forward in Congress, Threatening Free Speech and Encryption

    Only Sens. Paul and Wyden are expected to vote "no" on Tuesday. Power to stop KOSA now resides with the House.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Overnight fiber optic sabotage disrupts telecommunications in several French regions — Paris and the Olympic Games unaffected

    Just days after saboteurs struck France's train network, unknown parties cut fiber optic bundles, affecting phone and internet service in several country regions.

  • APNIC ☛ Are subsea cables feeling the heat from climate change?

    Guest Post: How future climate change may affect subsea cables and their shore-based landing stations.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ The MLC and Spotify Won’t Be Settling Anytime Soon — Dismissal Arguments Ramp Up in High-Stakes Legal Battle

    In turns out Spotify and the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) won’t be settling their legal battle anytime soon, as the MLC has officially fired back against the streaming giant’s dismissal arguments.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Channel 4 News bets Youtube is ‘where podcast market growth really lies’

    The Political Fourcast averaged more than 100,000 views an episode over the UK general election.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • KOL437 | Morgan Meets the Eye: Argumentation Ethics, Private Law, Restitution and Punishment, Intellectual Property

    Patent attorney Stephan Kinsella joins the show to discuss the problems intellectual "property" laws create in society, how these laws came into being in the first place, and why intellectual property is a flawed concept to begin with.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Degrees of Disagreement: Surveillance Giant Google Petitions En Banc on Smart Thermostat Patent Damages

    Google recently petitioned for en banc review a Federal Circuit split decision in EcoFactor v. Google. The case focuses on when a damages expert testimony satisfies Daubert.  The original opinion also highlights an interesting debate regarding the appeal of pre-trial eligibility rulings.

    In EcoFactor, Inc. v. Surveillance Giant Google LLC, No. 23-1101 (Fed. Cir. June 3, 2024), the Federal Circuit issued a 2-1 split decision affirming a $20 million jury verdict in favor of smart thermostat company EcoFactor.  The majority opinion, authored by Judge Reyna and joined by Judge Lourie, upheld the district court’s denial of Google’s motions for judgment as a matter of law on non-infringement and for a new trial on damages. Judge Prost dissented from the damages portion of the decision, arguing that the testimony of EcoFactor’s damages expert was fatally flawed and should have been excluded.

  • How the End of Chevron Deference Is (Or Isn’t?) Reshaping IP [sic] Regulation

    In a decision that reverberated throughout the regulatory world, the Supreme Court ruled on June 28th, in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, that federal courts may no longer defer to an agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute.

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Panasonic cases: Clarification on the production of comparable licenses before UPC (orders to produce evidence) [Ed: UPC is illegal and unconstitutional, so this kangaroo court ought not even exist, nor should this case]

      This week we reported on the case between Huawei and Netgear, in which the defendant had obtained a production order for a comparable license granted by Huawei to Qualcomm, the production of which Netgear had obtained via a decision of the Munich local division on 24 April 2024.

  • Software Patents

    • JUVE ☛ UK Court of Appeal issues landmark ruling in Emotional Perception Hey Hi (AI) case

      The dispute centres on a patent monopoly application by Emotional Perception Hey Hi (AI) for a system that recommends data files. The technology uses an artificial neural network (ANN) to, for example, organise music files in a different way than common search algorithms.

    • Unified Patents ☛ Atlantic IP entity, Foras Technologies, parallel processor patent monopoly found invalid

      On July 26, 2024, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) entered a final rejection of the challenged claims 1-2, 5-18, and 21-30 of U.S. Patent 7,627,781, owned and asserted by Foras Technologies, Ltd., an NPE and entity of Atlantic IP Services Limited. The ‘781 patent monopoly relates to lockstep processor technology where two processors are paired together, and the two processors perform exactly the same-operations and the results-are compared.(e.g., with an XOR gate).

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ With Amended First Use Date, RESORT WEAR SEASPICE Registration Survives Section 2(d) Attack

    The Board denied a petiton for cancellation of a registration for the mark shown below, for various clothing items, rejecting Petitioner Paradise Holdings' likelihood of confusion claim because Paradise failed to prove priority. Respondent Neo Nyc asserted dates of first use in its registration as early as January 1, 2018, but by clear and convincing evidence it successfully established a first used date of June 10, 2015. Paradise Holdings, Inc. v. Neo Nyc inc, Cancellation No. 92078182 (July 26, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Jennifer L. Elgin).

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ K-Pop Keeps Surging on the Global Stage — So Why are K-Pop Agencies Sinking?

    As K-pop surges on the global stage, K-pop agencies sink further beneath financial pressure. So what’s going on? As K-pop fans flock to Los Angeles for KCON L.A., a three-day convention and concert series celebrating Korean pop music, the talent agencies behind the world’s biggest K-pop acts are sinking under an ever-increasing financial pressure.

  • Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Targets Shazam, YouTube Music with ‘Sound Search’ — Hum or Sing a Song to Find a Match

    TikTok takes on Shazam and YouTube Music with a new feature that allows you to find a sound by singing, humming, or playing it. Fentanylware (TikTok) is rolling out a new feature to rival Shazam and YouTube Music with Sound Search, which allows users to find a sound by singing, humming, or playing it.