Leftovers

• Jakub Steiner ☛ New Music

  I haven’t done a good job posting to my blog this year and this is the first step to correct it.

  I often self-censor, thinking my thoughts aren’t worth a longer post, so I stick to quick updates on Mastodon . But I’ve realized it’s valuable to have a place to revisit my thoughts, as I’ve done in the past.

• Hackaday ☛ A Windows Control Panel Retrospective Amidst A Concerning UX Shift

  Once the nerve center of Windows operating systems, the Control Panel and its multitude of applets has its roots in the earliest versions of Windows. From here users could use these configuration applets to control and adjust just about anything in a friendly graphical environment. Despite the lack of any significant criticism from users and with many generations having grown up with its familiar dialogs, it has over the past years been gradually phased out by the monolithic Universal Windows Platform (UWP) based Settings app.

• David Revoy ☛ Pepper and Carrot in traditional clothing of Bergen

  I couldn't help but draw Pepper and Carrot in traditional clothes from Bergen.

• Hackaday ☛ 2024 Tiny Games Contest: Batch Craze Is Portable Charades, Kind Of

  So there’s this commercial electronic game out there called Catch Phrase, which, as the game’s own catch phrase explains, is the game that’s played one word at a time. See, a word comes up on the screen, and you have to get the other person or team to guess what it is using gestures and such before the timer goes off. There are a bunch of rules, like you can’t say a word that rhymes, give the first letter, or the number of syllables.

• Open Data

  • Federal News Network ☛ NGA to launch $700M data labeling competition

    NGA is also launching a new initiative to set accreditation standards for any Hey Hi (AI) models that supports the agency's geospatial intelligence analysis.

• Science

  • Hackaday ☛ Mowing The Lawn With Lasers, For Science

    Wouldn’t it be cool if you could cut the grass with lasers? Everyone knows that lasers are basically magic, and if you strap a diode laser or two to a lawn mower, it should slice through those pesky blades of grass with zero effort. Cue [Allen Pan]’s video on doing exactly this, demonstrating in the process that we do in fact live in a physics-based universe, and lasers are not magical light sabers that will just slice and dice without effort.

  • Science Alert ☛ Engineers Gave a Mushroom a Robot Body And Let It Run Wild

    Because this will end well.

  • Science Alert ☛ Having Your Tubes Tied May Not Be as Reliable For Birth Control as You Think

    Unplanned pregnancies can still happen.

  • Science Alert ☛ Love's Location in Our Brain Depends on The Target of Our Affection

    You are here.

  • Science Alert ☛ Stunning New Color Map of Mars Reveals Surface in Unprecedented Detail

    Just look at it!

  • Science Alert ☛ Stranded Astronauts Report Creepy Sounding Noises Coming From Boeing's Starliner

    There's a very simple explanation.

  • Science Alert ☛ An Astrophysicist Reveals What Space Is Actually Made of

    It's not as empty as you think.

• Education

  • New Yorker ☛ Can Colleges Do Without Deadlines?

    Since COVID, many professors have become more flexible about due dates. But some teachers believe that the way to address student anxiety is more deadlines, not fewer.

  • Hackaday ☛ College Gives You Practical Electronics

    While classroom learning isn’t for everyone, one awesome benefit of the Internet is that you have a variety of college classes available to you, even if they aren’t for credit. You can virtually audit classes from institutions around the world on just about any topic you can think of. Of course, the topic we think of is practical electronics and that happens to be the title of a class from [Dr. Bill Newhall] of the University of Colorado. You can watch the first part in the video below. So far, there are two lectures available but more are coming as the class is ongoing right now.

• Hardware

  • Ruben Schade ☛ Hardware features I wish could come back

    Smart flip phones with hardware keyboards. Not a flip phone with a creased OLED, I’m talking something like a Sony CLIÉ with a screen and keyboard on discrete slabs.

    Headphone jacks. I know phone manufacturers switched to Bluetooth so they could sell you another consumable with irreplaceable batteries. But some of us love our wired headphones, and don’t want yet another dongle to lose.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Taiwan accuses Chinese chip manufacturing tool companies of poaching engineers from Taiwanese companies

    Taiwanese intelligence says that Naura Technology and others illegally poach engineers from Taiwanese high-tech firms to boost the Chinese semiconductor industry.

  • Hackaday ☛ A Nibble Of Core Memory, In An SAO

    Core memory, magnetized memory using tiny magnetic rings suspended on a grid of wires, is now more than five decades obsolete, yet it exerts a fascination for hardware hackers still. Not least [Andy Geppert], who’s made a nibble, four bits of it, complete with interactive LED illumination to show state. Best of all, it’s on a badge Simple Add-On (SAO) for fun and games at your next hacker con.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Still or Sparkling? Here's How to Pick The Best Beverage For Your Health.

    Waiter!

  • Science Alert ☛ FDA Recalls Tattoo Inks Containing Potentially Infectious Microbes

    Here's what we know.

  • Science Alert ☛ Cannabis Use Linked to Epigenetic Changes, Study Shows

    Here's what we know.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Hackaday ☛ Supercon 2023: Teaching Robots How To Learn

    Once upon a time, machine learning was an arcane field, the preserve of a precious few researchers holed up in grand academic institutions. Progress was slow, and hard won. Today, however, just about anyone with a computer can dive into these topics and develop their own machine learning systems.

  • The New Stack ☛ Developers Can Now Access the World’s Fastest Hey Hi (AI) Chip

    AI computing is still at the dial-up level. Getting an answer from an LLM can be slow.

  • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

    • Matt Birchler ☛ Reviewing my iPhone 15 Pro review

      We’re a week away from the next iPhones being announced, instead of doing a normal, “iPhone review after one year” post, I wanted to review the things I said about last year’s iPhone and see if I still agree with those initial assessments.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ Google announces Android 15 release and brings new features to devices

      The Android team at Surveillance Giant Google LLC today announced that it’s releasing version 15 of the mobile operating system and making its source code available at the Android Open Source Project, it will become available on supported devices soon.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Latvia ☛ Non-cash payments continue rising trend in Latvia

      Nearly 400 million non-cash payments were executed in Latvia in the first half of 2024, according to data published by the Latvian Central Bank (Latvijas Banka, LB) September 3.

    • Security Week ☛ Clearview Hey Hi (AI) Fined $33.7 Million by Dutch Data Protection Watchdog Over ‘Illegal Database’ of Faces

      Dutch agency said a database with billions of photos of faces amounted to serious violations of GDPR.

    • It's FOSS ☛ This Company Says It Uses Your Phone's Mic to Serve Ads for Facebook, Google, and More

      There are plenty of ways to improve your privacy in the online world, but, one way or another, corporations both big and small find ways to mine user data, be it with or without the user's consent.

      One such case has caught our attention, where a marketing agency has been under fire since December 2023 (paywalled/subscribers-only coverage). They were seen promoting the use of an “Active Listening” tech developed by them that's targeted at smartphones for collecting user voice data by using the on-board microphones and processing it using AI.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Defence Web ☛ Contact crime on the rise in four provinces

    Senzo Mchunu, the Minister of Police, released South Africa’s quarterly crime stats on Friday, 30 August, indicating crime is on the rise, with contact crime a particular concern. “Four of the nine provinces recorded increases in murder cases,” noted Minister Mchunu.

  • France24 ☛ Ugandan opposition figure Bobi Wine shot in the leg after confrontation with police

    Uganda's main opposition leader Bobi Wine was shot in the leg and seriously injured by security agents in a northern suburb of the capital Kampala on Tuesday, his party said.

  • Defence Web ☛ Growing danger of terrorist jailbreaks in West Africa

    The attack on the well-fortified Koutoukale prison in Niger’s Tillabéri Region on 11 July followed two failed attempts in 2016 and 2019. In this year’s incident, an undisclosed number of inmates escaped from the jail, which houses Islamist militants, among others.

  • The Strategist ☛ Sports Diplomacy: a potent weapon in the Pacific against China’s Coercive Grasp

    Hindering China’s influence in the Pacific islands should become a key goal in the forthcoming update to Australia’s sports diplomacy strategy.

  • RFA ☛ EXPLAINED: What is the China-Africa summit and why does it matter?

    Beijing sees developing countries as the ‘base’ from which a rising China will extend its global clout.

  • RFA ☛ Chinese police raid Early Rain church, detaining 4 leaders

    A Sunday worship meeting is broken up by police and the power supply to the venue is cut off.

  • RFA ☛ Philippines says 200-plus Chinese vessels have clustered in its EEZ

    Up to 71 Chinese coast guard ships and other vessels were spotted at Sabina Shoal alone, from Aug. 27-Sept. 2.

  • RFA ☛ China introduces resolution opposing US sanctions on Xinjiang

    Since 2021, the U.S. has accused China of carrying out a campaign of ‘genocide’ against Uyghurs in the region.

  • RFA ☛ North Korea dominates the Asian taekwon-do championship. Notably absent: South Korea

    North and South support rival governing bodies of the sport.

  • RFA ☛ Media Watch: Rumors about Chinese leader Pooh-tin spread online

    Rumors about Pooh-tin Jinping’s health have been around for years, cropping up regularly since 2017 or even earlier.

  • JURIST ☛ EU dispatch: Paris conference on accountability for notorious 1988 Iran prison massacre highlights challenges to human rights in Iran

    James Joseph is JURIST’s Managing Editor for Long Form Content, and a Ph.D. student at Keele University in the UK. 

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ EU Blasts Serbia Deputy PM's Plan For Putin Meeting

      The European Union has told Serbia that maintaining ties with Russia during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine is incompatible with the bloc's values and the EU accession process, highlighting a running dispute between Brussels and the candidate country.

    • RFERL ☛ EU Expresses Regret That Mongolia Didn't Arrest Putin On ICC Warrant

      The European Union on September 3 criticized Mongolia for failing to enforce an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to the country.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania slams Mongolia over Putin’s visit despite ICC arrest warrant

      Lithuania has criticised Mongolia, a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), over the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to the country.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Moscow escalates nuclear threats as Ukraine erases Russia’s red lines

      The Kremlin has this week vowed to revise its nuclear doctrine as Moscow seeks to regain the fear factor after Ukraine's invasion of Russia's Kursk region made a mockery Putin's nuclear red lines, writes Peter Dickinson.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Risky business: How to save the G7 deal to mobilize $50 billion for Ukraine

      The deal announced in Italy in June is at risk of getting caught between how the EU enacts sanctions and what the Biden administration is willing to bring before Congress.

    • France24 ☛ Russian missiles strike Ukrainian military academy, killing more than 50

      Two Russian ballistic missiles struck a military academy and nearby hospital in the central Ukrainian city of Poltava on Tuesday, killing at least 51 people and wounding more than 200 others, Ukrainian officials said, in one of the deadliest Russian strikes since the start of the war. Read our liveblog to find out how the day's events unfolded.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Asks Canada To Help Ukraine Win Permission To Strike Deep Into Russia

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on September 3 that he asked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step up advocacy among Ukraine's Western partners to allow strikes on military targets deep inside Russia.

    • RFERL ☛ Several Ukrainian Ministers Resign As Zelenskiy Says More Changes Coming

      Two Ukrainian deputy prime ministers on September 3 tendered their resignations after three other ministers stepped down as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said more changes to Ukraine's government were coming.

    • RFERL ☛ British Rock Group Cancels Show In Kazakhstan Amid Criticism Of Russian Sponsor

      The British rock band Placebo has announced that its planned performance at the Park Live festival in Kazakhstan has been canceled for "circumstantial reasons" it said was unrelated the event's Russian organizer.

    • RFERL ☛ At Least 51 Killed In Russian Missile Strike In Central Ukraine

      At least 51 people were killed and 219 were injured on September 3 in one of Russia's deadliest attacks in a single strike since its all-out invasion of Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ IAEA Chief Meets Officials In Kyiv, Heads To Zaporizhzhya As Nuclear Concerns Mount

      The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on September 3 before a planned visit to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, where he said the situation is "very fragile."

    • Meduza ☛ Russian missile strike in Ukraine’s Poltava kills at least 51 people and injures over 200 — Meduza

    • France24 ☛ Russian court extends detention of French researcher held on ‘foreign agent’ charges

      A Russian court on Tuesday ruled that French researcher Laurent Vinatier, who was arrested in Moscow in June and accused of failing to register as a “foreign agent”, be held in jail until late February. Vinatier, who had been in pre-trial detention since his arrest, works with a Swiss-based NGO and is a researcher on Russia and other post-Soviet countries. The court’s ruling comes amid high tensions between Russia and France, where authorities have charged Russian-born Telegram founder Pavel Durov on several counts of failing to curb extremist and illegal content on the messaging app.

    • JURIST ☛ Finland government proposes ban on Russian real estate acquisition

      The Finnish Defense Ministry announced the introduction of legislation on Monday seeking to ban the acquisition of real estate by Russian nationals and companies within Finland. The proposal comes amid growing security concerns over Russian influence in Finland’s domestic political landscape.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Runner Banned For 10 Years In Doping Case From 2012 London Olympics

      The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on September 3 banned Russian athlete Tatyana Tomashova, a two-time world champion, for 10 years.

    • RFERL ☛ Another Russian Scholar Gets Lengthy Prison Term On Treason Charge

      The Moscow City Court on September 3 sentenced aerodynamics expert Aleksandr Shiplyuk of the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics in Siberia to 15 years in prison on a treason charge.

    • Meduza ☛ Russian traffic deaths are on the rise, in part due to wartime airport closures and crashes caused by soldiers — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Who wants to live forever? Inside the Russian authorities’ plan to develop anti-aging technology — even as they keep sending soldiers to die in droves — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘All systems have vulnerabilities’: Russian officials are still using civilian messaging apps for state business — despite the risks — Meduza

    • LRT ☛ Sanctions leave Belarusians unable to claim cars at Klaipėda Port – media

      Several thousand cars bought by Belarusians and brought from the US may be stuck in the port of Klaipėda.

    • RFERL ☛ More Than 30 Belarusians Reportedly Set To Face Trial Over 2020 Protests

      The Vyasna right group said on September 3 that at least 33 people will face trial this week across Belarus over participation in the mass rallies against the results of the 2020 presidential election.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Prosecutors Cancel Ruling Against Probe Into Navalny's Death

      Ivan Zhdanov, an exiled associate of Aleksei Navalny, on September 3 posted an official letter by prosecutors in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region that said they have canceled a decision by investigators in August against launching a probe into the late Russian opposition politician's death.

• Environment

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong issues T1 storm signal as Tropical Cyclone Yagi edges closer

    The Hong Kong Observatory issued the Standby Signal No.1 at 5.40 pm on Tuesday, as Tropical Cyclone Yagi neared the city.

• Finance

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Zscaler stock falls on weak outlook amid revenue and earnings beats

    Shares in Zscaler Inc. fell 14% in late trading today after the clown security company forecasted a lower-than-expected full-year outlook alongside solid figures for its fiscal fourth quarter.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Chinese GPU-maker XCT, once valued at $2.1B, is on the verge of collapse — shareholders now suing founder

    Xiangdixian Computing Technology (XCT), the company behind China's homegrown Tianjun GPUs, is reportedly facing financial trouble after laying off employees and being sued by its shareholders.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong 47: Judge calls community service ‘impossible’ sentence for subversion as mitigation hearings end

    A Hong Kong court has heard the last mitigation pleas in the city’s largest national security case to date, with judges calling one defendant’s request for community service “impossible” given the severity of the offence.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ New Zealand spy service calls China a complex intelligence concern’

    New Zealand’s spy service branded China a “complex intelligence concern” Tuesday and warned the Pacific nation was vulnerable to foreign interference. In an annual threat report, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service said several countries were undertaking “malicious activity” on its shores, but called out China’s attempts as “complex and deceptive”.

  • LRT ☛ Lithuanian intelligence warns about fake Migration Department calls

    Lithuania’s State Security Department (VSD) has warned about fake calls allegedly made by Migration Department employees and urging people to go to the VSD to fill in questionnaires.

  • AccessNow ☛ Who blocked access to X in Tanzania: civil society demands answers

    Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition condemn the blocking of  X in Tanzania.

  • France24 ☛ Biden says Israel's Netanyahu is not doing enough to reach Gaza hostage deal

    After Hamas's execution of six hostages in Gaza sparked massive strikes and protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu throughout Israel over the weekend, US President Joe Biden, one of Netanyahu's staunchest allies, on Monday called for more "urgency" from Netanyahu to reach a hostage deal. This prompted the prime minister to push back on the comments and Hamas to frame them as validation of Israel's refusal to cooperate on a ceasefire deal.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Judge Cannon Should Be Removed in Trump Case, CREW Argues in New Legal Filing

    Judge Aileen M. Cannon has shown bias in handling criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and should be reversed and removed from the case to “preserve the appearance of justice,” a public interest group argued in a legal filing on Tuesday.

    The brief filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and joined by a retired federal judge and two constitutional lawyers is a direct legal assault on Cannon’s decision to throw out special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of Trump for alleged mishandling of classified documents. CREW is a nonpartisan open-government advocacy group that has been at the vanguard of fighting Trump in various legal battles.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Science Alert ☛ Surging Belief in Alien Visitors Is Becoming a Serious Problem For Our Society

      It has real consequences.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • RFA ☛ Why did Marcos edit Facebook (Farcebook) post on Vietnam minister’s visit?

    The Philippine president cut a message of thanks to Vietnam for supporting a 2016 ruling on the South China Sea.

  • Off Guardian ☛ Quick Take: Elon Musk vs Brazil more fake “free speech” theatre

    Recently we were asked on Ex-Twitter to comment on the Elon Musk/Brazil situation. At the time we didn’t really see the point, coming so hot on the heels of our previous piece on the current “free speech” psyop: How (and why) they sell X as a “bastion of free speech”

  • JURIST ☛ Brazil Supreme Federal Court upholds nationwide suspension of X and imposes controversial fine

    The Supreme Federal Court (STF) of Brazil on Monday unanimously upheld the decision to suspend the platform “X,” formerly Twitter, across the country. The suspension comes after X failed to comply with court directives requiring it to appoint a local legal representative and settle outstanding fines that have accumulated to over $3 million USD.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Brazil’s Supreme Court upholds X ban, Starlink won’t comply

    Five Brazilian Supreme Court justices today voted to uphold a decision that requires the National Telecommunications Agency, Anatel, to block access to Elon Musk’s X Corp. platform. Millions of X users in Brazil found themselves without X over the weekend as the country’s internet providers and mobile phone companies restricted access.

  • The Strategist ☛ Technology can serve humanity if we don’t let it outpace our societies

    ‘Progress is happening so quickly that governments and societies struggle to understand revolutionary and disruptive technology, much less mobilise effective responses.’

  • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ FACT FOCUS: Posts falsely claim video shows Harris promising to censor X and owner Elon Musk

    Social media users are misrepresenting a years-old video of Vice President Kamala Harris to falsely claim that the Democratic presidential nominee has threatened to censor both X and Musk.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • RFA ☛ A former political aide tried to secretly advance China’s interests, say prosecutors

    Chinese officials allegedly plied the aide with money and favors — including Nanjing-style salted duck.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • EFF ☛ Victory! California Bill To Impose Mandatory Internet ID Checks Is Dead—It Should Stay That Way

    EFF opposed this bill from the start. Bills that allow politicians to define what is “sexually explicit” content and then enact punishments for those who engage with it are inherently censorship bills—and they never stop with minors. 

    A.B. 3080 would have required an age verification system, most likely a scanned uploaded government-issued ID, to be erected for any website that had more than 33% “sexually explicit” content. The proposal did not, and could not have, differentiated between sites that are largely graphic sexual content and a huge array of sites that have some content that is appropriate for minors, along with other content that is geared towards adults. Bills like this are similar to having state prosecutors insist on ID uploads in order to turn on Netflix, regardless of whether the movie you’re seeking is G-rated or R-rated. 

    Political attempts to use pornography as an excuse to censor and control the internet are now almost 30 years old. These proposals persist despite the fact that applying government overseers to what Americans read and watch is not only unconstitutional, but broadly unpopular. In Reno v. ACLU, the Supreme Court overruled almost all of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that was intended to keep “obscene or indecent” material away from minors. In 2004, the Supreme Court again rejected an age-gated internet in ACLU v. Ashcroft, striking down most of a federal law of that era. 

  • Zimbabwe ☛ Econet posts a net loss despite about a billion USD in revenue, how does that happen?

    The biggest mobile network operator in Zimbabwe, Econet, recently released its annual report for the year ended February 2024.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Reverses Section 2(d) Refusal of OCTAVE for Mental Health Services Due to Ambiguity in Cited Registration

    The Board overturned a refusal to register the mark OCTAVE for "outpatient mental health services delivered by licensed counselors," finding that the USPTO's evidence failed to support the refusal. The Office deemed applicant's mark likely to cause confusion with the identical mark registered for software and SAAS for use as a medical patient care management platform in the fields of neurology and autoimmune diseases and disorders. The Board, however, found the registration's identification of goods and services to be too ambiguous to be understood. In re Evolve Health Group, Inc., Serial No. 88030138 (August 29, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Marc Thurmon).

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Spotify Triumphs Against Eminem Publisher in Long-Running Mechanicals-Focused Lawsuit

    It’s a battle that could have gone either way, though Spotify has now triumphed against Eminem’s Eight Mile Style in a long-running mechanical licensing-focused infringement lawsuit. After a several-year legal battle, Spotify has triumphed in a court case levied against it by co-publisher of 242 of Eminem’s tracks, Eight Mile Style.

  • Digital Music News ☛ So Who Owns Isaac Hayes’ Song, “Hold On, I’m Coming,” Anyway?

    So who owns the Isaac Hayes co-penned song, “Hold On, I’m Coming?” His heirs insist they have the rights to the song, while the Trump campaign says they have lawfully obtained a license to utilize the song at political rallies.