Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ Where Do You Connect The Shield?

  When it comes to polarizing and confusing questions in electronics, wiring up shields is on the top-10 list when sorted by popularity. It’s a question most of us need to figure out at some point – when you place a USB socket symbol on your schematic, where do you wire up the SHIELD and MP pins?

• Jakub Steiner ☛ Weyland

  A couple of weeks ago, I went to see Alien: Romulus. While many of my friends were disappointed, I actually enjoyed it. In fact, it exceeded my expectations — mainly because I didn’t expect much! :)

  Fede Alvarez delivered exactly what producer Ridley Scott asked of him, leaning heavily on the nostalgia of the original masterpiece while skirting the edge of a reboot. The world of Prometheus wasn’t ignored, but purposedly avoided referencing too deeply.

• Hackaday ☛ Hackaday Podcast Episode 288: Cyanotypes, Antique 21-Segment Displays, And The Voynich Manuscript In A New Light

  It’s Friday the 13th, and despite having to dodge black cats and poorly located ladders, Elliot and Dan were able to get together and run down the best hacks of the first week of September. Our luck was pretty good, too, seeing how we stumbled upon a coffee table that walks your drink over to you on Strandbeest legs, a potato that takes passable photographs, and a cool LED display three times better than a boring old seven-segment.

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ Starliner Astronauts Say What They’ll Miss During Extended Stay in Space

    Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore of NASA spoke from the International Space Station for the first time since their Boeing orbital transport returned to Earth uncrewed.

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ Neuroscientists and architects are using this enormous laboratory to make buildings better

    Have you ever found yourself lost in a building that felt impossible to navigate? Thoughtful building design should center on the people who will be using those buildings. But that’s no mean feat. It’s not just about navigation, either.

  • Science Alert ☛ Skyscraper Tsunami Unleashed by Seismic Anomaly Never Seen Before

    "This will happen again."

  • Science Alert ☛ A Completely New Structure of Light Has Been Created: The Chiral Vortex

    A major step forward.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Building A Multi-Purpose Electrochemistry Device

    We don’t get enough electrochemistry hacks on these pages, so here’s [Markus Bindhammer] of YouTube/Marb’s lab fame to give us a fix with their hand-built general-purpose electrochemistry device.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ AMD Z1 Extreme beats defective chip maker Intel Core Ultra 7 258V in DX12 gaming benchmark — Zen 4 chip offers over 90% higher performance

    The defective chip maker Intel Core Ultra 7 258V performs much better than the AMD Z1 Extreme with 12GB of RAM. However, when the AMD chips were matched with 16GB of RAM, they blew the 32GB defective chip maker Intel SoC out of the water.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Italian authorities bust a $52 million video game trafficking ring — criminals smuggled pirated games and bootleg consoles from China

    Italy's financial police dismantled a counterfeit game console and pirated games trafficking ring at an estimated value of around $52.5 million.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ Boar’s Head Shuts Down Virginia Plant Tied to Deadly Listeria Outbreak

    The company said that the site would close indefinitely and that it would permanently stop making liverwurst. Union officials said the plant’s 500 workers would be given severance and offered relocation.

  • The Kent Stater ☛ 560,000 children in Gaza vaccinated against polio as first round of campaign ends

    More than 560,000 children aged below 10 in Gaza have received the first of two doses of the polio vaccine, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, after Israel’s destruction of water and sanitation systems led to a resurgence of the deadly disease in the besieged strip.

  • New York Times ☛ Some Gazans Say Polio Drive Is Futile While Israel Keeps Bombing

    Palestinians living with the daily fear of Israeli strikes see a level of absurdity in the international drive to vaccinate their children.

  • Latvia ☛ Doctors fight for four-year-old's life in diphtheria outbreak

    For a week, doctors at the Children's Clinical University Hospital (BKUS) have been fighting for the life of a four-year-old boy - his family has had a deadly diphtheria outbreak and three of the family's unvaccinated children are being treated at the hospital, Latvian Television reported on September 12.

  • New York Times ☛ Missouri Bird Flu Case Raises Prospect of Human Transmission

    A close contact of someone with bird flu became ill on the same day, the C.D.C. reported. But the second person was not tested, and the cause of the illness is unknown.

  • Science Alert ☛ High Doses of ADHD Drug Can Cause Serious Side Effects, Study Warns

    A wake-up call.

  • Science Alert ☛ Humans Keep Growing an Extra Artery in Their Arms, And Here's Why

    Evolution is a mysterious thing.

  • Ruben Schade ☛ “You’re not smiling enough”

    You know that Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons where the family is bundled off for some “Re-Neducation”, and everyone’s faces are forced into a smile with tenterhooks? It’s such a visceral image I can still remember it decades later. And weirdly, I feel as though I just experienced something a bit similar myself.

    I had to verify my identity for some documents, and the online form helpfully offered to film my face in various poses for… reasons. A bit weird, but I guess that’s the brave new future in which we find ourselves.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian hospitals start to introduce restrictions due to Covid spreading

    The increase in the incidence of Covid has led several medical authorities to impose restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus. Vidzeme Hospital has quarantined several wards and requires guests to wear face masks. Similar restrictions may be introduced elsewhere, Latvian Television reported on September 12.

• Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

  • Bruce Schneier ☛ My TedXBillings Talk

    Over the summer, I gave a talk about Hey Hi (AI) and democracy at TedXBillings. The recording is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqC4nb7fLpY”>live.

    Please share. I’m hoping for more than 200 views….

  • Welcome to Artificial Intelligence!

    I am not a Developer of Software? You are now! I am about to give you all the tools. Both online and offline. Many I built so you don’t have to, Repostorm dropped them on our repos.

  • Digital Music News ☛ FDA Approves Fashion Company Apple AirPods Pro 2 As First Over-the-Counter Hearing Aids

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the first over-the-counter hearing aid software for the Fashion Company Apple AirPods 2 Pro. Fashion Company Apple advertised its AirPods Pro 2 as a personalized hearing aid that would be “available in an upcoming software update.”

  • Microsoft Gaming CEO warns staff of 'challenging days' amid 650 job cuts

    Microsoft is losing approximately 650 employees in its gaming division, or three per cent of its global workforce, in a new round of layoffs that follow its $69billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

    The cuts will primarily impact staff in “corporate and supporting functions,” according to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer.

    “For the past year, our goal has been to minimize disruption while welcoming new teams and enabling them to do their best work,” Spencer said in an email to staff.

  • Microsoft cuts more jobs from gaming unit

    Microsoft is cutting about 650 more positions from its gaming unit as it continues to tighten its belt following the blockbuster buyout of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard.

  • Reports Say Morale At Xbox Is “Very Low”

    Regardless of the field you work in, there will be times when you are “riding high” and feel like nothing can bring you down. Then, there are the times when you are laid low so badly that you wonder if you’ll ever feel good again. We’ve all had those kinds of days. When you think about the gaming industry, you tend to picture it as a place where “everyone is having fun” as they make incredible titles. When it’s firing on all cylinders, it can give off that impression. However, as Xbox showed both yesterday and earlier in the year, it can also cut the legs out from under you without much warning.

    Microsoft laid off 650 people yesterday, and while Phil Spencer tried to pass it off as something that “wouldn’t affect game development or other projects,” it still was felt across the industry. After all, that’s not a small number from any standpoint. Even if they were “redundancies” from the Activision Blizzard merger, which already claimed 1900 jobs earlier in the year, that doesn’t justify what’s happening within the company.

  • Science Alert ☛ FDA Approves Fashion Company Apple AirPods Pro as Hearing Aids in Industry First

    The first over-the-counter hearing aid of its kind.

  • Medevel ☛ The Dangers of Digital Self-Diagnosis: Why Hey Hi (AI) and Internet Searches Can't Replace Medical Professionals

    Why People Should Not Use Hey Hi (AI) or the Internet to Diagnose Their Medical Conditions: A Comprehensive Analysis

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Latvia ☛ Latvian Radio uncovers the criminal world of phone scammers and money mules

      This week's episode of Latvian Radio's investigative reporting strand 'Open Files' (Atvērtie Faili) saw journalist Linda Spundina filing about phone scammers who steal huge sums of money from companies by targeting their accountants.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • AccessNow ☛ Access Now welcomes first set of amendments to Australia’s Privacy Act, but more needs to be done

      Access Now welcomes the introduction of the first set of amendments in reforming Australia’s Privacy Act, 1988 on September 12. The Attorney-General’s statements acknowledging privacy as a “fundamental human right,”

    • NYOB ☛ noyb WIN: Belgian DPA “settlement” turned into proper legal orders on deceptive cookie banners

      noyb WIN: Belgian DPA “settlement” turned into proper legal orders on deceptive cookie banners

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ North Korea Reveals Weapons-Grade Uranium Factory

    Its leader, Kim Jong-un, visited the factory and urged his country to produce more highly enriched uranium to build “exponentially” more nuclear weapons.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Coca-Cola suspends distribution in southern Morelos after kidnapping incident

    Coca-Cola FEMSA has temporarily closed it's distribution center in Puente de Ixtla until "security conditions are guaranteed."

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Part 2. Maritime security: Redefining regional order in a new security environment

    A redefinition of the EU-Turkey relations will result with a lasting maritime security arrangement in the Black Sea.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Part 4. Turkey’s geopolitical role in the Black Sea and European energy security: From pipelines to liquefied natural gas

    Turkey’s strategic position in the region provides cooperation opportunities for European energy security and economic interdependence.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ A sea of opportunities: Main takeaways and policy recommendations

    Recommendations for the West and Turkey for enhancing cooperation in defense, maritime security, energy, and political dialogue.

  • France24 ☛ DR Congo military court to deliver verdict on 'attempted coup'

    A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo is set to deliver its verdict Friday over an alleged coup attempt, with 51 defendants, including three Americans, facing charges and all but one risking the death penalty. Armed men on May 19 attacked the home of then-economy minister Vital Kamerhe before heading to President Felix Tshisekedi’s offices, waving Zaire-era flags. An army spokesman later said that security forces had stopped "an attempted coup d'etat".

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ UK report warns focus on national security ‘undermining’ Hong Kong’s reputation as city slams ‘hypocrisy’

    A regular UK government report on Hong Kong, which said the city’s focus on national security was “undermining” its international reputation, has sparked condemnation from authorities over its “absurd and false contents.”

  • JURIST ☛ UN Security Council resolution imposes stricter sanctions on Sudan to mitigate violence in Darfur

    The UN Security Council unanimously decided on Wednesday to extend its longstanding sanctions against Sudan by adopting Resolution 2750. This extension, set under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, prolongs the sanctions for an additional year.

  • New York Times ☛ Why the Fight for Control Over the Philadelphi Corridor?

    The increasingly bitter dispute has not just affected cease-fire talks but also destabilized a once-strong security partnership between Egypt and Israel.

  • JURIST ☛ Hungary prepares to sue EU for border protection costs

    Hungary may seek to file a lawsuit against the European Union for border protection costs, Gergely Gulyás, Hungarian minister for the Prime Minister’s Office, announced this Thursday. Gulyás claimed that Hungary spent the equivalent of 2 billion euros on Schengen Zone border protection without recompense from the European Union.

  • RFA ☛ China mulls national military training for children, college students

    The ruling Chinese Communist Party wants to cultivate the next generation of recruits to prepare for war.

  • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

    • Security Week ☛ Apple Suddenly Drops NSO Group Spyware Lawsuit

      Apple has abruptly withdrawn its lawsuit against NSO Group, citing increased risk that the legal battle might unintentionally reveal sensitive vulnerability data and difficulties in acquiring essential information from the spyware vendor.

      In a court filing Friday, Apple said continuing the lawsuit now poses “too significant a risk” of exposing the anti-exploitation and threat intelligence efforts needed to fend off the very adversaries involved in the legal dispute.

    • RFERL ☛ U.S. Army Already Implementing Key Lessons From Ukraine War, Chief Says

      The command posts can now be set up and taken down within 15 minutes, she said.

      Speed is important because surveillance drones can identify and locate enemy command-and-control centers. The information is instantly relayed to artillery units that can then fire precision missiles.

      Wormuth said the army is also reducing its electronic footprint in light of the war in Ukraine. Electronic signals emitted by devices such as Fitbits and mobile phones can be picked up by opposing forces and used to identify their location.

      “We’ve really been working on getting that signature as tight as possible,” she said.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • CS Monitor ☛ ‘I have nowhere to go’: With Russia at their door, Ukrainians flee Pokrovsk

      The eastern Ukraine city of Pokrovsk is emptying as citizens evacuate in the face of a swift Russian advance.

    • New York Times ☛ Read Putin’s Warning to NATO on Ukraine’s Use of Long-Range Weapons

      The Russian president said Western support for Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia would put his country and NATO “at war.”

    • New York Times ☛ Vance Describes Plan to End Ukraine War That Sounds a Lot Like Putin’s

      Former President Donald J. Trump would tell the Russians, Ukrainians and Europeans to “figure out what a peaceful settlement looks like,” Senator JD Vance, his running mate, says.

    • New York Times ☛ With Russia in Mind, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer Goes to Washington

      A trip to Washington by Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, came after President Vladimir Putin of Russia warned that the allies’ next step could mean war for NATO.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Expels 6 U.K. Diplomats as Tensions Mount Over Missiles

      Vladimir Putin said allowing Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons would mean NATO countries were “at war with Russia.” It was one of his most direct threats yet.

    • RFERL ☛ EU Lifts Sanctions On Mother Of Late Wagner Leader Prigozhin

      The European Union on September 13 removed Violetta Prigozhina, the 85-year-old mother of the late leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, along with several other Russians from its sanctions list.

    • France24 ☛ Zelensky says Kursk offensive 'slowed' Russian advance in eastern Ukraine

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday said Kyiv’s surprise incursion launched August 6 into Russia’s border region of Kursk had “slowed” Moscow’s advance in eastern Ukraine. “In Kharkiv region, the enemy has been stopped, the progress in Donetsk region has been slowed down,” Zelensky said. He added that there are currently 40,000 Russian troops fighting in the Kursk region. Read our liveblog to see how all the day's events unfolded.

    • France24 ☛ Toronto festival cancels screenings of film ‘Russians at War’ over ‘significant threats’

      The Toronto International Film Festival announced Thursday it was cancelling all screenings of the documentary “Russians at War” due to "significant threats" to public safety and festival operations. Directed by Anastasia Trofimova, the film follows a Russian battalion during the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The festival described the decision to cancel the screenings as "unprecedented".

    • New York Times ☛ Toronto Film Festival Pulls Documentary on Russian Soldiers

      The festival canceled the screenings of “Russians at War,” which has been criticized as Kremlin propaganda. The filmmaker has said it is an antiwar film.

    • RFERL ☛ Toronto Festival Drops Screenings Of Russian War Film Over Threats

      The controversial documentary Russians at War about Moscow's invasion of Ukraine was to be unveiled to North American audiences on September 13, but the Toronto International Film Festival paused the screenings after receiving "significant threats."

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s Defence Minister Dong Jun says ‘negotiation’ only way to end wars in Ukraine, Gaza

      Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun said Friday that “negotiation” was the only solution to conflicts such as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, as he addressed a global gathering of military officials in Beijing. Scores of delegates are in Beijing for the Xiangshan Forum, dubbed China’s answer to the annual Shangri-La meeting in Singapore.

    • RFERL ☛ Biden, Starmer Reaffirm Support For Ukraine But Weapons Restrictions Remain In Place

      U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reaffirmed their "unwavering support" for Ukraine at a meeting, according to a White House statement that didn't mention the topic of loosening restrictions on Kyiv's use of donated long-range weapons.

    • RFERL ☛ NATO Says 'No Justification' For Missile Attack On Grain Vessel In Black Sea

      A Russian missile strike on a civilian ship transporting Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea has drawn sharp condemnation from NATO and raised concerns in Romania about the status of shipping on the Black Sea.

    • RFERL ☛ 49 Ukrainians Freed In Latest Prisoner Swap With Russia

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on September 13 that 49 Ukrainians were released from Russian custody and returned home as part of another prisoner swap.

    • RFERL ☛ Activist Flees Belarus After Being Charged Over Sending Parcels To 2 Political Prisoners

      Belarusian activist Hanna Auchynnikava told the Vyasna rights group on September 13 that she fled Belarus without travel documents after being charged with facilitating extremist activities because she sent parcels to political prisoners Zmitser Dashkevich and Svyatoslav Udod.

    • Latvia ☛ Four surveillance towers erected on Latvian-Belarusian border

      Four out of six towers for border surveillance have been installed in the Daugava river section near the Latvian-Belarusian border, "Valsts nekustamie īpašumi" (State Real Estate, VNĪ) said on September 13.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Releases 45 Indians Fighting In Ukraine, 50 Remain

      India's NDTV television on September 12 quoted the country's Foreign Ministry as saying that 45 Indian nationals had been discharged from the Russian forces fighting in Ukraine after they were tricked into enlisting.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Anti-War Rappers' New Album Blocked On Yandex Music Platform

      The Russian streaming service Yandex Music has blocked the new album by the rap group Kasta, which is known for its opposition to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

    • RFERL ☛ U.S. Stresses No Change In View On Weapons Restrictions Ahead Of U.K. Meeting

      U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are expected to discuss the loosening of restrictions on Ukraine’s use of donated long-range weapons when they meet on September 13 in Washington.

    • New York Times ☛ Starmer, Meeting Biden, Hints at Ukraine Weapons Decision Soon

      As the president deliberated with Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the question of whether to let Ukraine use long-range weapons in Russia was a rare point of contention between allied nations.

    • New York Times ☛ Britain Is Prodding Biden to Allow Kyiv to Strike in Russia

      Also, have some patience on election night. Here’s the latest at the end of Friday.

    • New York Times ☛ Diplomacy Over Ukraine War Is About Bolstering Forces

      For both Ukraine and Russia, battlefield gains now might provide an upper hand in any negotiations later. That’s reflected in their discussions over arms with allies.

    • New York Times ☛ Biden Poised to Approve Ukraine’s Use of Long-Range Missiles in Russia

      The topic will be on the agenda Friday as Britain’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, visits the White House.

    • Latvia ☛ Armed Forces 'learning communication' from Russian drone incident

      The National Armed Forces (NBS)  Colonel Māris Tūtins, Chief of the Information Analysis and Management Department of the NAF Joint Staff, told Latvian Radio's "Labrīt" program on September 13 that the NBS is "learning" how to communicate better from the incident of the Russian drone falling in the territory of Latvia.

    • The Kent Stater ☛ Biden administration unveils new evidence of RT’s key role in Russian intelligence operations globally

      The Biden administration on Friday announced a major effort to blunt the global influence of RT and expose what it says is the Russian state media network’s key role in the Kremlin’s global intelligence and influence operations.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ US accuses RT, others of covert arms dealing, global influence operations

      Secretary of State Antony Blinken said information from RT employees indicate the media outlet is “functioning like a de facto arm” of the Russian government.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia's RT Network Working Directly With Kremlin To Spread Disinformation, U.S. Says

      The United States on September 13 said the Russian news outlet RT is taking orders directly from the Kremlin and working with Russian military intelligence to spread disinformation around the world to undermine democracies.

    • JURIST ☛ US sanctions Russian news outlet RT for ‘covert operations;’ RT responds with sarcasm

      US authorities on Friday announced new sanctions against RT amid sprawling accusations that the state-run media conglomerate has engaged in covert influence operations and election interference on a global scale. “RT moved beyond being simply a media outlet and has been an entity with cyber capabilities.

    • JURIST ☛ Russia security service revokes credentials for six British diplomats

      Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on Friday revoked the validation of six British diplomats. The FSB claimed the diplomats were coordinating “the implementation of subversive policy.” The FSB stated that they “received documentary materials confirming London’s coordination of the escalation of the international military situation.”

    • LRT ☛ Attack on Volkov in Vilnius ordered by another Russian oppositionist – investigation

      The attack on Russian opposition activist Leonid Volkov in Vilnius was allegedly ordered by another Russian oppositionist, businessman Leonid Nevzlin, the investigation by the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) has revealed.

    • LRT ☛ LRT English Newsletter: Explosive shipments from Russia

    • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Useful Idiots: DOJ Moves from Name-and-Shame to Name-and-Disrupt

      The RT indictment rolled out last week serves as an object lesson in how Russia has been using RT as part of its intelligence recruiting.

    • New York Times ☛ U.S. Accuses Russian TV Network of Conducting Covert Intelligence Acts

      Sanctions announced on Friday are an effort to undercut RT by making it difficult for the network to conduct global business in dollars.

    • RFERL ☛ Citing Accelerating Inflation, Russian Central Bank Raises Key Interest Rate

      Russia's central bank raised its key interest rate to 19 percent from 18 percent, citing a recent acceleration of inflation.

    • RFERL ☛ EU Condemns Alleged Iranian Missile Transfers To Russia, Mulls New Sanctions

      The European Union has condemned the recent alleged transfer of Iranian-made ballistic missiles to Russia and is considering new sanctions against Tehran in response.

    • RFERL ☛ U.S. Activists Convicted On Charges Linked To Russian Political Influence Operation

      A jury in Florida has convicted four civil rights activists of conspiring to act as unregistered Russian agents as part of a secret initiative by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) to influence U.S. politics.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Declares Poland-Based Belsat TV 'Undesirable'

      The Russian Prosecutor-General's Office on September 13 declared the Poland-based Belsat TV channel, which broadcasts in Belarusian, an "undesirable organization."

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Expels 6 British Diplomats It Accuses Of Spying And 'Subversive Activities'

      Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on September 13 accused six British diplomats of spying and said a decision has been made to withdraw their accreditation.

    • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea's Kim meets Russia's Shoigu, vows more cooperation

      SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with top Russian security official Sergei Shoigu and discussed deepening strategic dialogue between the two countries, state media KCNA said on Saturday.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Barry Kauler ☛ MPPT controller for custom trike

    • Ruben Schade ☛ Boeing Starliner back on Earth

      The BBC’s Science News desk reported on the returned craft a week ago:

      The capsule, which suffered technical problems after it launched with Nasa’s Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on board, was deemed too risky to take the astronauts home.

      […] it was plagued with problems soon after it blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on 5 June.

      The capsule experienced leaks of helium, which pushes fuel into the propulsion system, and several of its thrusters did not work properly.

      Engineers at Boeing and Nasa spent months trying to understand these technical issues, but in late August the US space agency decided that Starliner was not safe enough to bring the astronauts home.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Science Alert ☛ Mega El Niños Could Have Inflamed Earth's Most Devastating Extinction

      Could it happen again?

• Finance

  • Mashable ☛ Verizon to lose almost 5,000 employees by March

    Verizon is the latest company to announce cuts, saying on Thursday that it expects to lose 4,800 employees by March, with about half of those leaving in September, per MarketWatch. The telecom giant also said it will charge up to $1.9 billion before taxes in severance pay. As recently as February, Verizon reported it had 105,400 full-time employees, so about 4.5 percent of its headcount will be cut by the end of March.

  • France24 ☛ US government faces shutdown as Congress grapples with funding bill

    The US federal government is on the verge of a shutdown as Republicans in the House of Representatives struggle to agree on a funding bill. A new hurdle has emerged with former President Donald Trump pushing for voter ID requirements to be linked to the bill, further complicating negotiations ahead of a September 30 deadline.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China to raise retirement age to 63 as ageing population puts pressure on economy, healthcare systems

    China said Friday it would gradually raise its statutory retirement age, as the country grapples with a looming demographic crisis and an older population. Hundreds of millions of people in China are set to enter old age in the coming decades while the birth rate dwindles dramatically.

  • New York Times ☛ China Raises Retirement Age for the First Time Since the 1950s

    The move, made in the hope of addressing an aging population, was decidedly unpopular.

  • CS Monitor ☛ With an aging workforce and a shrinking population, China raises retirement ages

    In China, the number of people over the age of 60 will grow from 300 million to 400 million by 2035, experts project. That’s larger than the entire U.S. population. Officials are raising the retirement age to expand the workforce and fund pensions.

  • New York Times ☛ Dejected Social Media Users Call ‘Garbage Time’ Over China’s Ailing Economy

    The sports term refers to a time during a game when defeat becomes inevitable. Officialdom is warning against using it to take veiled jabs at the country’s political and economic system.

  • H2 View ☛ Ballard restructures: Job cuts, executive changes, strategic shift in China

    The Canadian fuel cell firm said the measures were necessary to reduce corporate spending to maintain balance sheet strength as the adoption of hydrogen technology continues to face delays.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Global China Newsletter—US-China rivalry in the Middle East and Pacific as 5G Competition Intensifies

    The September edition of the 2024 Global China Newsletter

  • Digital Music News ☛ More Staffing Cuts at NY Public Radio — Digital Formats, Declining Radio Listenership Blamed

    New York Public Radio is making cuts to staffers and programming across several of its stations, including canceling multiple podcasts.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • RFERL ☛ Kyrgyz Opposition Politician Beknazarov Accused Of Money Laundering

    Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on September 13 that opposition politician Azimbek Beknazarov was detained a day earlier on suspicion of having been involved in money laundering.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Presidential Campaign, After Philadelphia

    Part of the intrigue has been which movement would run out of steam first: Trump’s MAGA, through its failures, or Obama’s liberalism, through its successes.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • France24 ☛ Does this grisly video really show a Haitian migrant eating a cat, like Trump claimed? Nope

      Pro-Trump social control media users have been circulating a video since September 9 that they say shows an undocumented migrant from Haiti decapitating and eating a cat in the American town of Springfield, Ohio. Former president Donald Trump famously recounted this grisly piece of fake news during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harrison on September 10 to criticize the migration policies of his political rival. In reality, this grisly video was filmed in another town entirely and has no connection to the Haitian community in Springfield.

    • France24 ☛ Musk slams Australia as ‘fascists’ over anti-misinformation bill aimed at social platforms

      Elon Musk has slammed Australia as "fascists" in response to proposed laws aimed at fining social control media platforms for failing to curb misinformation. The "combating misinformation" bill, introduced Thursday, grants authorities powers to fine tech giants up to five percent of annual turnover. Musk's comment came via his platform X.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Public Knowledge ☛ Platform Regulation After the Supreme Court’s NetChoice Ruling

    The Supreme Court’s decision in the NetChoice case reaffirms the importance of protecting editorial discretion on social control media platforms while leaving the door open for other forms of consumer protection rules.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Sun and Mail make journalist redundancies in US

    US Sun cites "seismic change" in digital landscape.

  • Press Gazette ☛ News diary 16 – 22 September: Huw Edwards sentenced, party conference season

  • Press Gazette ☛ Mail Online removes ‘Britain’s grimmest’ village story after Gavin Williamson complaint

    The former defence and education secretary argued the Mail story contained several inaccuracies.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • AccessNow ☛ Access Now and KICTANet’s joint memorandum on Kenya’s Assembly and Demonstrations Bill, 2024

  • JURIST ☛ Amnesty International condemns Libya Arab Armed Forces for allowing suppression of dissidents

    Amnesty International has condemned the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) in a Tuesday report for authorizing the Internal Security Agency (ISA) to increase crackdown on dissidents. Amnesty International interviewed detainees, including family, lawyers, and activists, and stated that the suppression of political rivals and activists has resulted in human rights abuses and two suspicious deaths [...]

  • France24 ☛ Boeing workers in northwest US begin strike after rejecting pay deal

    More than 30,000 Boeing workers in the Seattle region have gone on strike after they overwhelmingly rejected a proposed contract that included a 25 percent pay rise. Workers seeking a 40 percent hike criticised the deal as “misleading” since it eliminates an annual company bonus.

  • CS Monitor ☛ In a sharp rebuke of Boeing, 30,000 air machinists lower tools to raise picket signs

    After negotiations for a 25% pay raise and other benefits stalled, nearly 30,000 Boeing assembly workers have begun striking in Seattle. The strike will shut down airplane production but is unlikely to affect commercial flights.

  • France24 ☛ UNRWA worker killed amid Israeli West Bank operation

    An employee of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, was killed by a sniper in the West Bank amid ongoing Israeli military operations, the agency said Friday. The death of the employee, Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, comes after six other UNRWA staffers were killed in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday during an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Child sex abuse allegations in Malaysia welfare homes: 13 kids sexually assaulted, police say

    The police discovered that at least 10 of the rescued children were autistic, disabled and sick.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ The evolution of PON

    How feasible are terabit-per-second Passive Optical Network access networks?

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ Netflix Co-CEO Dumps Over $6 Million in Spotify Stock As SPOT Continues to Ride High

    Another day, another multimillion-dollar stock dump: DRM spreader Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos is cashing in on Spotify stock (NYSE: SPOT) as it continues to ride high at north of $330 per share. The DRM spreader Netflix co-head and Spotify board member Sarandos just recently disclosed the sizable SPOT sale in a regulatory filing.

  • Digital Music News ☛ More Rumblings of a Major Spotify Video Buildout — Creators Reportedly Receive Seven-Figure Non-Exclusive Offers to Upload Content

    Less than two months after Digital Music News was first to cover Spotify’s Cineverse deal – including the on-platform availability of full TV episodes – additional evidence is pointing to a major video expansion.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • JUVE ☛ Xarelto case: patient information not state of the art

    When Munich Regional Court and Oslo District Court decided on the preliminary injunctions against a total of nine generics manufacturers this summer, Bayer must have breathed a sigh of relief. The courts upheld all injunctions in favour of the originator.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ “Directed to” vs. “Reciting” vs. “Involving” an Abstract Idea

    I have been reading a good number of PTAB decisions recently to try to get my head wrapped around the current state of the obviousness and eligibility doctrines within the USPTO.  The Board's recent decision in Ex parte Annakov is on point.  The case involves a distributed service-and-transaction system for aircraft passengers, and the examiner rejected the claims both for lack of eligibility under § 101 (all the claims) and as obvious under § 103 (most of the claims).  On appeal, the Board reversed on eligibility, but affirmed on obviousness -- leaving a handful of claims ready for issuance.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Which of these Three Section 2(d) Refusals Was/Were Reversed?

    Here are three recent TTAB Decisions in Section 2(d) appeals. At least one of the appeals led to a reversal. How do you think they came out?

    In re Kristian J. Bell, Serial No. 97497611 (September 10, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Martha B. Allard). [Section 2(d) refusal of the mark shown first below in view of the registered mark shown second below, both for real estate brokerage services.]

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ House Judiciary Committee Demands Greater Transparency from ASCAP, BMI, Other PROs

    The House Judiciary Committee expresses concern about the lack of transparency from performance licensees and the ‘proliferation of PROs.’