Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ 2024 Tiny Games Contest: Salsa One Handheld Requires No PCB

  If you’re thinking about building a single tiny game or even a platform, you might be tempted to use a single button for everything. Such is the case with [Alex]’s Salsa ONE minimalist game console, which is inspired by both the Arduboy and the ergonomics of the SanDisk Sansa music player.

• Ruben Schade ☛ Stein’s Law

  Bob Wyman linked to this policy brief by William White published in 2021, in which he quotes Herb Stein, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute:

  “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”

• Science

  • Hackaday ☛ Canadarm2 Scores Milestone With Catching Its 50th Spacecraft

    Recently Canada’s Canadarm2 caught its 50th spacecraft in the form of a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo vessel since 2009. Although perhaps not the most prominent part of the International Space Station (ISS), the Canadarm2 performs a range of very essential functions on the outside of the ISS, such as moving equipment around and supporting astronauts during EVAs.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Abluetech PTR7002 WiFi 6 and PTR5302 WiFi 6 and BLE 5.4 modules feature Nordic Semi nRF7002/nRF5340 wireless chips

    Shenzhen-based Abluetech has launched two low-power wireless modules based on Nordic Semi nRF7002 and nRF5340 wireless chips.

  • Hackaday ☛ Fighting The Scourge Of “Screwdriver Mange”

    We’ve all got our favorite hand tools, and while the selection criteria are usually pretty subjective, it usually boils down to a combination of looks and feel. In our opinion, the king of both these categories when it comes to screwdrivers is those clear, hard acetate plastic handles, which are a joy to use — at least until the plastic starts to degrade and exude a characteristically funky aroma.

  • Hackaday ☛ Roll Your Own Presence Sensor

    [Mellow_Labs] wanted an Everything Presence Lite kite but found it was always out of stock. Therefore, he decided to create his own. The kit uses a millimeter wave sensor as a super-sensitive motion tracker for up to three people. It can even read your heart rate remotely. You can see a video of the project below.

  • Hackaday ☛ A USA Feature For A Europe-Market Sony Receiver

    A feature of many modern network-connected entertainment devices is that they will play streamed music while on standby mode. This so-called “network standby”is very useful if you fancy some gentle music but don’t want the Christmas lights or the TV. It was a feature [Caramelfur] missed on their Sony AV receiver, something especially annoying because it’s present on the US-market equivalent of their European model. Some gentle hackery ensued, and now the receiver follows its American cousin.

  • NYPost ☛ Gen Z ditching smartphones for point and shoot cameras as vintage tech makes a comeback: ‘Gives off a certain vibe’

    It's giving old school.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • France24 ☛ China to screen arrivals for mpox as Pakistan reports first case of deadly virus

    China will monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, for the next six months, its customs administration said on Friday, after the WHO designated the outbreak a global public health emergency earlier this week. Pakistan on Friday confirmed the first case in Asia of a new mpox variant, a day after Sweden reported the first case outside Africa.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China to start screening arrivals for Mpox symptoms after WHO declares virus a global health emergency

    China announced Friday it will begin screening people and goods entering the country for mpox over the next six months, just two days after the World Health Organization declared the virus a global health emergency.

  • CS Monitor ☛ A caring response to mpox

    Lessons from COVID-19 – such as the need for empathy and transparency – are being applied to a similar health crisis.

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ COVID-19 is on the upswing in the US

    By The Associated Press COVID-19 hasn’t gone away, and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests it’s on the upswing around the country. “We’ve seen these summer increases every summer that COVID-19 has been with us,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Johns Hopkins University infectious disease physician.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong welcomes 3.9 million visitors in July, 24% less than before Covid-19 pandemic

    Hong Kong welcomed over 3.9 million visitors in July, according to provisional figures, a 9 per cent increase compared to same month last year. Mainland China continued to be the city’s largest source market, with 80 per cent of visitor arrivals from across the border, the Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announced on Thursday.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Before Jackson’s Water Crisis, State Inspectors Found Few Problems With Failing Pipes

    Beneath the city of Jackson, Mississippi, is a Rube Goldberg-esque network of pipes that brings water to residents. The system, by one estimate, is twice as long as it should be for a city of this size. Much of it has been in disrepair for years; some parts are more than 100 years old.

    Underground, broken pipes have spewed water into the surrounding earth or sent it bubbling up from cracked streets. For every gallon of water that reaches a customer’s tap, at least another gallon doesn’t, according to a June estimate from the manager of the water system.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Inside Life on an Illegal Marijuana Farm in Oklahoma

    Lin’s most vivid memory of the marijuana farm is the moment he found himself staring into the barrel of an AK-47.

    He was one of several dozen Chinese immigrants who had spent months working without pay at the farm in Oklahoma. None of them had spoken up because they were intimidated by the bosses and their armed guards. But Lin and his wife, who also worked on the farm, were desperate for money to send to their kids back in China.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Silicon Angle ☛ California advances Hey Hi (AI) regulation bill amid Silicon Valley concerns

    The California State Assembly’s Appropriations Committee today voted in favor of a proposed law to regulate the artificial intelligence industry that has drawn the ire of some in Silicon Valley and federal lawmakers.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Silicon Angle ☛ EU issues request for information to Meta in connection with DSA probe

      The European Union has asked Meta Platforms Inc. for information about the way it shares data from its social control media platforms with researchers.  The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, disclosed the request today.

    • Privacy International ☛ Humans in the Hey Hi (AI) loop: the data labelers behind some of the most powerful LLMs' training datasets

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ US meets Myanmar opposition, pledges expanded support

    China earlier urged neighbouring countries to help war-torn Myanmar advance its peace and reconciliation process.

  • RFA ☛ China fires into Myanmar after junta airstrike on border, group says

    The firing came a day after Chinese minister was in Myanmar to press for stability

  • RFA ☛ Vietnam’s top leader to visit China from Sunday

    General Secretary To Lam will hold talks with President Pooh-tin Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

  • RFA ☛ US approves AUKUS defense sharing deal

    The decision paves the way for a unified defense industrial base across the US, UK and Australia.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi says country supports Myanmar junta’s plan for elections

    China supports a plan by Myanmar’s junta to hold fresh elections and return the conflict-torn country to a “democratic transition”, Beijing’s foreign minister said Friday. The Southeast Asian country has been in turmoil since the military deposed the government of Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power in 2021.

  • Press Gazette ☛ MI5 transcripts reveal exploits of Fleet Street’s ‘murder gang’ of reporters

    Top Express crime reporter was bugged and watched by MI5 as he paid off top police contacts.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Sheer madness’: Nuclear expert Dmitry Gorchakov on the fire at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia power plant and Putin’s plan to bring it back online — Meduza

    • RFA ☛ North Korean leader hails deepening ties with Russia

      Kim Jong Un said he believed victory was assured in Putin’s “sacred war”

    • RFERL ☛ Russian President Putin To Visit Azerbaijan For Talks With Aliyev

      Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to visit Azerbaijan on August 18 for talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the strategic partnership between the two countries and other international and regional issues.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Moves To Ratify ICC Statute

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has submitted to parliament a bill on the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and its amendments, the president's office announced on August 15.

• Finance

  • New York Times ☛ Late Night Tackles Trump’s Tic Tac Show and Tell

    “That is not an example of inflation; it’s just two different sizes of breath mints,” Desi Lydic said on Thursday’s “The Daily Show.”

  • France24 ☛ Kamala Harris vows to tackle price gouging, ease cost of living in economy plan

    US Vice President Kamala Harris outlined economic proposals including a federal ban on price gouging in groceries and tax breaks for families in her first major economy-focused speech as the Democratic presidential nominee during a visit to North Carolina on Friday. Though her plans do not stray far from those put forth by the Biden administration, Harris shifted the focus from job creation and infrastructure to measures that would ease the cost of living for Americans.

  • New York Times ☛ Kamala Harris Blames ‘Price Gouging’ for Grocery Inflation. Here’s What Economists Say.

    Price increases when demand exceeds supply are textbook economics. The question is whether, and how much, the pandemic yielded an excess take.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Harris urges a ban on price gouging: Will that keep food inflation down?

    With inflation on voters’ minds, Kamala Harris pitches a ban on grocery store price gouging. What’s behind food prices, and can her plan help?

  • ABP ☛ Mastercard Layoffs: Firm Set To Fire 3% Of Employees Worldwide Before Sept 30

    Mastercard Layoffs: The planned layoffs are expected to affect several employees worldwide, reflecting Mastercard's effort to adjust its resources to meet its strategic objectives

  • Neowin ☛ Ubisoft cuts 45 more jobs from its US San Francisco and NC offices

    The trend of layoffs at major video game developers and publishers continued this week, this time affecting a number of people working at Ubisoft. Bloomberg reported that 45 team members from that company were laid off on Friday.

    Some were located at Ubisoft"s San Fransico offices, and the rest were in Cary, North Carolina, the location of the publisher"s Red Storm Entertainment development studio.

  • India ☛ Layoff Crisis Hit over 130,000 Employees till August: Expert Highlights Workforce Recovery Scenario

    Tech giants like Google, IBM, Apple, Amazon, SAP, Meta, and Microsoft have contributed to these staggering figures, indicating a major recalibration within the job market.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • RFA ☛ Kim Jong Un shocks listeners by using South Korean terms in speech

    North Koreans are punished for using ‘anti-socialist’ words picked up from smuggled South Korean dramas.

  • RFA ☛ Dalai Lama talks about life in exile in first speech since surgery

    Living outside Tibet and traveling widely has brought global awareness of Tibet and Buddhism, he says.

  • France24 ☛ Brazil, Colombia call for new Venezuela elections as opposition cries foul

    The presidents of Brazil and Colombia on Thursday called on Venezuela to hold a new presidential election amid the ongoing political crisis over Nicolas Maduro's disputed re-election. The proposal was swiftly rejected by the Venezuelan opposition and the United States.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Cloudbooklet ☛ How Elon Musk Deepfake Scam Took Over the Internet

      Find out how Elon Musk Deepfake Scam became one of the most notorious scams on the internet.

    • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ San Francisco goes after websites that make Hey Hi (AI) deepfake nudes of women and girls

      Nearly a year after AI-generated nude images of high school girls upended a community in southern Spain, a juvenile court this summer sentenced 15 of their classmates to a year of probation.

    • RFA ☛ TikTok promotes pro-China bias on Tibet, Taiwan, Uyghurs: study

      The findings show Beijing’s attempts to sway public opinion, particularly among youth, experts say.

    • Digital Music News ☛ Post Malone Releases ‘F-1 Trillion’ with Full-Blown Fentanylware (TikTok) Activation [Ed: Outsourcing to Fentanylware (TikTok) is misguided]

      TikTok is celebrating the release of Post Malone’s new album, F-1 Trillion, with an interactive fan experience inside the app—complete with rewards to win. The interactive Fentanylware (TikTok) experience contains exclusive album artwork and if fans complete all five tasks, they have a chance to win tickets to the F-1 Trillion tour.

    • Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Doubles Down on Forced-Sale Law Opposition, Says the DOJ ‘Misstates Where Sensitive U.S. User Data Resides’

      A little over five months ahead of its scheduled U.S. ban, Fentanylware (TikTok) is doubling down on arguments against the relevant law – including by maintaining that its ties to China are being misrepresented.

    • Digital Music News ☛ Chinese Tech Giant Debuts ‘World’s First Hey Hi (AI) Music Streaming Platform’ [Ed: Cultural conrol ambitions]

      Chinese tech giant Kunlun Tech launches what it claims is the ‘world’s first AI-powered music streaming platform.’ Kunlun Tech, a former investor in TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly, and parent company of web browser Opera, has launched what it calls the “world’s first AI-powered music streaming platform.”

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper urges columnists to be ‘prudent’ and ‘law-abiding,’ or else ‘crisis may come’

    The chief editor of Hong Kong’s Ming Pao has urged columnists to be “prudent” and “law-abiding” when writing for the newspaper, warning that if they were not, “crisis may come.” Barrister and Ming Pao columnist Senia Ng on Thursday posted a note sent by chief editor Lau Chung-yung on social control media.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Advertising blocklists unfairly targeted coverage from Olympics and Euros

    News UK is the latest publisher to address blocklisting concerns with a new contextual tool.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Reason ☛ The ACLU's Response to My Post on the Fifth Circuit's Smith Ruling—And My Reply to the ACLU

    A debate on a very important Fourth Amendment ruling.

  • JURIST ☛ British Columbia rights commissioner’s report highlights systemic inequalities in Canadian province

    British Columbia’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner reported on Wednesday that inequalities are baked into the western Canadian province’s justice, health and child welfare systems after taking a focused look at 10 key systems impacting human rights in the province.

  • Reason ☛ Are Laws Restricting Mask-Wearing in Public Constitutional?

    [1.] Some places have recently enacted restrictions on wearing masks in public. They generally stem from three related rationales: People's wearing masks makes it harder for the police to identify who committed some crime: trespass, vandalism, assault, and more.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong immigration officers arrest 3 photographers over suspected illegal work

    Hong Kong’s Immigration Department has arrested three tourists from mainland China on suspicion of working illegally as photographers in the city. Two women and a man, aged 25 to 30, were arrested by immigration officers on Wednesday and Thursday, over allegedly providing photography services in Hong Kong illegally.

  • Defence Web ☛ SA makes progress in combatting human trafficking but Cuban doctors still exploited

    The US State Department has released its 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report, which notes that South Africa “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.”

  • ACLU ☛ How Kamala Harris Can Be a Pro-Voting Rights President

    In a moment when hostile state legislators have used unlawful redistricting efforts and discriminatory voting laws to attack our electoral systems, Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris has committed to protecting our democracy.

    On the campaign trail, Harris has promised to push for passage of essential federal voting rights protections, including the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (JLVRAA), the Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA), and the Native American Voting Rights Act (NAVRA). If elected, Harris has the opportunity to build on the Biden-Harris administration’s record of championing measures that increase voting access. The ACLU is determined to hold a Harris-Walz administration accountable for promoting fair representation, preventing discriminatory voting laws, and strengthening our democracy for years to come.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ Event Wrap: IDNOG 9

    APNIC presented and conducted training at IDNOG 9 held from 22 to 25 July 2024 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

  • APNIC ☛ Four policy proposals up for community discussion at APNIC 58

    Have your say on the policy proposals up for discussion at the APNIC 58 OPM.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• New York Times ☛ Apple Changes App Store Rules

  The company faces pressure from governments around the world and complaints from companies that it is still too restrictive.

• KOL438 | The Rational Egoist: Debating the Moral Status of Intellectual Property: Part I

  Kinsella on Liberty Podcast: Episode 437.

  My appearance on The Rational Egoist: Debating the Moral Status of Intellectual Property with Stephan Kinsella. We focused here mostly on property rights and other precursor concepts.

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Defense Side Amici Support for Tighter Reins on Damages Expert Testimony

    Google’s pending en banc petition in EcoFactor v. Google has drawn significant  support from some tech giants, focusing on the application of Daubert standards to patent monopoly damages expert testimony. Five amicus briefs supporting Google’s position have been filed with the Federal Circuit, each arguing for stricter scrutiny of damages calculations and expert reliability in patent monopoly cases.  This post discusses the case and the issues presented by the amici army.

  • Unified Patents ☛ Swiss NPE Palmira Acquires Toshiba’s Wi-Fi 4 & 5 Portfolio

    Swiss-based Palmira Wireless AG acquired Toshiba’s patents and applications claimed to be related to Wi-Fi 4 and 5 in November 2021. The acquisition comprises 159 publications listed on Palmira’s website, of which 63% are still active and 79% are granted. These publications represent up to 58 families, 35 of which are active and 25 of which have a US grant. The earliest priority date in the portfolio is October 7, 1998, and the latest priority date is August 18, 2008. The average age of the active portfolio is around 20 years. At the end of 2026, more than 80% of the portfolio will have expired. By the end of March 2026, all of Palmira’s EP portfolio will have expired.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Three Recent Section 2(d) Appeals - Outcome?

    A TTAB judge (now retired) once said to me that one can predict the outcome of a Section 2(d) appeal 95% of the time just by looking at the involved marks and the goods/services. Here are three recent TTAB decisions in Section 2(d) appeals. How do you think they came out? [Answers in first comment.]

    In re Parklife Innovations Ltd., Serial No. 88413981 (August 9, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Mary Beth Myles) [Section 2(d) refusal of the mark BAZOOKAGOAL for "sports training apparatus, namely, portable, retractable pop-up goal nets for soccer training and modified soccer training" in view of the registered mark BAZOOKA BALL for "amusement products, namely, inflatable balls; Athletic equipment, namely, striking shields; Balls for games; Balls for sports; Outdoor activity game equipment sold as a unit comprising paint ball equipment modified for playing games; Target equipment, namely, backers for targets; Target equipment, namely, stands for targets; Umpire protection equipment" [BALL disclaimed].

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Cox Takes Its Battle Against the Major Labels to the Supreme Court, Asking Justices to Address ‘Confusion, Disruption, and Chaos’

    Internet provider Cox asks the US Supreme Court to review the decision to hold it liable for piracy to the tune of $1 billion in damages.

  • Latvia ☛ New radio channel to promote best of Latvian hiphop

    To promote the development of Latvian rap and hip-hop music, Latvian Radio 5 is launching a new internet channel "HipHop Strāva", LR5 representatives said Friday.