Leftovers

• Hackaday ☛ Testing At Scale

  We’ve said it before: building one-offs is different from building at scale. Even on a small scale. There was a time when it was rare for a hobbyist to produce more than one of anything, but these days, access to cheap PC boards makes small production runs much more common. [VoltLog], for example, is selling some modules and found he was spening a lot of time testing the boards. The answer? A testing jig for his PC board.

• Science

  • University of Michigan ☛ UMich study uncovers the mechanism behind gold deposit formation

    Amid Earth’s mobile tectonic plates, subduction zones arise as regions of intense geological activity. These zones create processes that concentrate minerals into ore deposits. High-temperature, water-based hydrothermal fluids play a role in forming these deposits, including gold.

• Hardware

  • Dictator threatens 100% tariff on Taiwan’s microchip industry

    Foreign companies exporting to the United States need to pay for ‘destroying’ American industry, he said.

  • Hackaday ☛ Keebin’ With Kristina: The One With The DIY Homing Keys

    When [coral-bells] posted her first build to r/mechanicalkeyboards, she likely felt some trepidation. After all this is reddit we’re talking about, so right away you’ve got two layers of male-domination hobby.

  • Hackaday ☛ Your VAX In A Cloud Is Ready

    For many people of a certain age, the DEC VAX was the first computer they ever used. They were everywhere, powerful for their day, and relatively affordable for schools and businesses. These minicomputers were smaller than the mainframes of their day, but bigger than what we think of as a computer today. So even if you could find an old one in working order, it would be a lot more trouble than refurbishing, say, an old Commodore 64. But if you want to play on a VAX, you might want to get a free membership on DECUServe, a service that will let you remotely access a VAX in all its glory.

  • Hackaday ☛ Cool Kinetic Sculpture Has Tooling Secrets To Share

    Occasionally, we get a tip for a project that is so compelling that we just have to write it up despite lacking details on how and why it was built. Alternatively, there are other projects where the finished product is cool, but the tooling or methods used to get there are the real treat. “Homeokinesis,” a kinetic art installation by [Ricardo Weissenberg], ticks off both those boxes in a big way.

  • Hackaday ☛ Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides: Super-Conducting, Super-Capacitor Semiconductors

    Transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are the subject of an emerging field in semiconductor research, with these materials offering a range of useful properties that include not only semiconductor applications, but also in superconducting material research and in supercapacitors. A recent number of papers have been published on these latter two applications, with [Rui] et al. demonstrating superconductivity in (InSe2)xNbSe2. The superconducting transition occurred at 11.6 K with ambient pressure.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Confirm a New Strain of Bird Flu Has Emerged in The US

    A new variant has been detected in California.

  • Science Alert ☛ This 'Strange' Gas May Hold Promise For Treating Alzheimer's, Study Says

    Clinical trials are expected to begin this year.

  • Science Alert ☛ Exercise Doesn't Burn as Many Calories as You Think, Experts Say

    You might be surprised.

  • Science Alert ☛ DNA Reveals Surprise Twist About Christopher Columbus

    Could the conspiracy theories be true?

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ Mice with two dads have been created using CRISPR

    Mice with two fathers have been born—and have survived to adulthood—following a complex set of experiments by a team in China.  Zhi-Kun Li at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and his colleagues used CRISPR to create the mice, using a novel approach to target genes that normally need to be inherited from both…

  • Week 2 2019: England and Wales 12,609 deaths. Week 2 2025: England and Wales 14,416 deaths.

• Proprietary

  • Amazon to Eliminate ‘Small Number’ of Roles in Communications Department

    Amazon’s communications department is reportedly the latest segment of the company’s corporate workforce to see layoffs.

    The company is laying off dozens of people in the department, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (Jan. 29).

    “Following a recent review, we’re making some changes to the Communications & Corporate Responsibility organization to help us move faster, increase ownership, strengthen our culture, and bring teams closer to customers,” Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser said in the report. “As part of these changes, we’ve made the difficult decision to eliminate a small number of roles.”

    Tens of thousands of corporate jobs have been cut at the company since Andy Jassy became CEO of Amazon in 2021, according to the report.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    • New York Times ☛ Why DeepSeek Could Change What Silicon Valley Believe About A.I.

      A new Hey Hi (AI) model, released by a scrappy Chinese upstart, has rocked Silicon Valley and upended several fundamental assumptions about Hey Hi (AI) progress.

    • CS Monitor ☛ China’s DeepSeek impresses. But is a ‘fast follow’ good enough in AI?

      China’s success with Hey Hi (AI) tool DeepSeek is giving U.S. markets a reality check. But it’s too early to say that American Hey Hi (AI) leaders will be eclipsed.

    • New York Times ☛ How China Is Reacting to DeepSeek Upending the Hey Hi (AI) Race

      Social media exploded in a celebration after the news that a Chinese start-up had made an artificial intelligence tool that was more efficient than any in the United States.

    • Security Week ☛ DeepSeek Blames Disruption on Cyberattack as Vulnerabilities Emerge

      China’s DeepSeek blamed sign-up disruptions on a cyberattack as researchers started finding vulnerabilities in the R1 Hey Hi (AI) model. 

    • What does DeepSeek say about the South China Sea?

      Chinese Hey Hi (AI) tool prefers to stay away from the ‘sensitive’ subject.

    • Science Alert ☛ DeepSeek Is Sending Shockwaves Around The World. Here's Why.

      A radical new Hey Hi (AI) has emerged.

    • New York Times ☛ How DeepSeek Changed the Hey Hi (AI) Game

      What is DeepSeek, and why did it cause the markets and U.S. tech giants to quake? Cade Metz, a technology reporter for The New York Times who writes about artificial intelligence, explains.

    • New York Times ☛ How DeepSeek Went From Stock Trader to Hey Hi (AI) Star

      The little-known artificial intelligence firm has emphasized research, even as it emerged as the brainchild of a hedge fund.

    • New York Times ☛ Do DeepSeek’s Hey Hi (AI) Advances Mean US Tech Controls Have Failed?

      DeepSeek’s Hey Hi (AI) models show that China is making rapid gains in the field, despite American efforts to hinder it.

    • China’s DeepSeek has close ties to Beijing

      Founder Liang Wenfeng recently met with Premier Li Qiang to comment on his annual work report.

    • France24 ☛ DeepSeek: Convicted Felon warns of 'wake-up call' as low-cost Chinese Hey Hi (AI) jolts sector

      Fears of upheaval in the Hey Hi (AI) gold rush rocked Wall Street on January 27 following the emergence of a popular ChatGPT-like model from China, with US President The Insurrectionist saying it was a 'wake-up call' for Silicon Valley. France 24's Peter O'Brien tells us more.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ What DeepSeek’s breakthrough says (and doesn’t say) about the ‘AI race’ with China

      DeepSeek’s achievement has not exactly undermined the United States’ export control strategy, but it does bring up important questions about the broader US strategy on AI.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Ex-Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger loads up on Nvidia stock, says the market's reaction to DeepSeek is wrong

      The need for Hey Hi (AI) compute power will not go anywhere and Nvidia will thrive, says Pat Gelsinger.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Nvidia loses $589 billion in market cap — broad stock plunge triggered by DeepSeek Hey Hi (AI) release

      Nvidia stock prices plummet by 17% after the release of DeepSeek. Investors nervous that investing in more hardware is unnecessary to develop advanced AI.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Scam Altman said startups with only $10 million were 'totally hopeless' competing with OpenAI, DeepSeek's disruption says otherwise

      Scam Altman's comments on the prospects of Hey Hi (AI) startups may have come back to bite him after the dramatic debut of DeepSeek.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s DeepSeek Hey Hi (AI) sends ‘wake-up call’ to Silicon Valley, says The Insurrectionist

      Fears of upheaval in the Hey Hi (AI) gold rush rocked Wall Street on Monday following the emergence of a popular ChatGPT-like model from China, with US President The Insurrectionist saying it was a “wake-up call” for Silicon Valley. Last week’s release of the latest DeepSeek model initially received limited attention, overshadowed by the inauguration of Convicted Felon...

    • New York Times ☛ Vatican Warns About the Risks of Artificial Intelligence

      A new document examines the opportunities and risks of Hey Hi (AI) and calls for “moral and ethical considerations” to be enshrined in all of its applications.

    • The Strategist ☛ DeepSeek is a modern Sputnik moment for West

      The release of China’s latest DeepSeek artificial intelligence model is a strategic and geopolitical shock as much as it is a shock to stockmarkets around the world.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ DeepSeek launches Janus Pro Hey Hi (AI) image model it claims can outperform DALL-E

      DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence startup behind the release of the ultra-popular DeepSeek Hey Hi (AI) chatbot and provider of an alterative large language model to OpenAI’s models such as ChatGPT, launched a new cutting-edge Hey Hi (AI) image generation model on Monday: Janus-Pro-7B.

  • Social Control Media

    • Hackaday ☛ It’s Raining From The BlueSky

      Which would you rather feel? The blast of a fire hose, or a cool, digital rain? That’s what we thought. Introducing Blue Rain — the fire hose that is the BlueSky feed, falling semi-cryptically down your screen in Matrix-style letter droplets. Ahh, isn’t that nice?

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Hackaday ☛ Parcae: A Trio Of Spy Satellites

      Did you ever hear of a satellite called Parcae (pronounced like park-eye)? If you haven’t, don’t feel bad—it was, after all, a top-secret project only revealed in July 2023. [Ivan Amato] not only heard about it, but also wrote a fascinating peek into the cloak-and-dagger world of cold-war spy satellites for this month’s IEEE Spectrum.

    • Pen Test Partners ☛ How Garmin watches reveal your personal data, and what you can do

      TL;DR A walk-through of obtaining sensitive data from a Garmin watch using forensic techniques How digital forensics on a Garmin watch helped solve a double murder case

• Defence/Aggression

  • ADF ☛ Puntland Security Forces Recruit Clans in the Fight Against Islamic State Terrorists

    Security forces in the Puntland region of Somalia recently destroyed several operating bases for Islamic State (IS-Somalia) in the Cal Miskaad Mountains at the country’s northern tip.

  • ADF ☛ Niger Junta Unable to Control Rising Extremist Violence

    Niger’s ruling junta took power in July 2023 promising to restore security to areas of the country ravaged by extremist violence. More than 18 months later, the situation has only worsened.

  • New York Times ☛ Faced by Convicted Felon’s Interest in Greenland, Denmark Will Increase Military Spending in Arctic

    The prime minister does a European tour while announcing more spending on security around the island, following President Convicted Felon’s stated desire to have Greenland, a semiautonomous Danish territory, as part of the U.S.

  • JURIST ☛ HRW: pregnant women in Gaza face disproportionate harm amid hostilities

    Yevheniia Khoroshun contributed to this report.  Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported Tuesday that pregnant women in Gaza face disproportionate harm from the Israel-Gaza conflict. The report highlighted that women in Palestine face “extraordinary challenges” in finding safe places to give birth even when they face a high-risk delivery due to food insecurity.

  • JURIST ☛ US Quaker groups sue to prevent immigration searches in houses of worship

    Five Quaker groups filed a lawsuit Monday to stop immigration agents from conducting raids in houses of worship.

  • New York Times ☛ Israel Is Urged to Reverse Course on Palestinian Aid Agency Ban

    Diplomats at the United Nations Security Council said planned restrictions on the agency, UNRWA, would imperil Palestinians. Only the U.S. sides with Israel.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Halt to Foreign Aid Cripples Programs Worldwide

    Many of the frozen programs are aimed at alleviating disease and malnutrition, but even security programs with U.S. funding are shutting down.

  • Defence Web ☛ Legoete calls for more SANDF funding amid ‘security lapse’ in the DRC

    The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans (PCDMV) Dakota Legoete has said South Africa is facing a ‘security lapse’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following the deaths of 13 soldiers, and consequently is ‘becoming a joke’.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Thailand denies mistreating detained gambling tycoon wanted by China

    BANGKOK - Thailand denies abusing a jailed gambling tycoon fighting extradition to China over charges he ran illegal online gambling operations in Southeast Asia, the country's justice minister said on Tuesday.

  • New York Times ☛ Israel Says 8 of the 26 Hostages That Hamas Is Expected to Release Are Dead

    An accounting provided by Hamas over the weekend confirmed intelligence assessments, Israeli officials said.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Something flickered across his face’ A decade ago, a woman’s disappearance rocked the Russian city of Tomsk. A spelling error pointed to the culprit. — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘How do you even f—?” In Russia’s anti-queer crackdown, police have spent years raiding nightclubs, private parties, and medical institutions. Now, the authorities have the data for another Great Terror. — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Buyers and ports in China and India steer clear of sanctioned tankers, stalling Russia’s oil trade — Meduza

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Giving Up Nukes Was 'Absolutely Stupid, Illogical And Very Irresponsible,' Zelenskiy Says

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was optimistic about U.S. pressure on Moscow to end Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine, according to a new interview, though he said he thought President The Insurrectionist was unclear how to do that.

• Environment

  • Science Alert ☛ A Vast Swathe of The Arctic Has Turned Into a Carbon Emitter

    One of Earth's largest carbon sinks has transformed.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • New York Times ☛ India, China to Resume Direct Flights After Nearly Five Years

      It was the latest thaw in relations between the two countries, whose troops were involved in deadly skirmishes high in the Himalayas in 2020.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Images show China building huge fusion research facility, analysts say

      The facility appears to be 50 per cent bigger than the world's largest, located in the US.

    • Science Alert ☛ 'Artificial Sun' Blazes Past 1,000 Seconds in New Fusion Record

      The potential is incredible.

    • Security Week ☛ Hackers Drain Over $85 Million From Crypto Exchange Phemex [Ed: Fake 'money' anyway]

      Hackers stole more than $85 million in crypto assets from hot wallets at cryptocurrency exchange Phemex.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • NYPost ☛ Dolphins forced to survive in shocking conditions at luxury resort — just feet from the ocean: ‘Like jailed criminals’

      The finned creatures are kept to entertain hotel guests — but activists aren't amused.

    • Science Alert ☛ The Most Active Volcano in The Northeast Pacific Is Preparing to Erupt

      Get ready for it.

• Finance

  • Star Tribune ☛ Minnetonka e-commerce company Digital River closing, laying off 122

    The company survived the dot-com bubble and boasted high-profile clients, including Microsoft.

  • The Business Journals ☛ Digital River closing headquarters, laying off employees

    The company, once a highlight of the Twin Cities technology scene, said in a WARN notice filed with the state of Minnesota that it would permanently lay off all employees at its headquarters at 10380 Bren Road W., including those working remotely. The job cuts are effective March 28.

  • The Stack ☛ Firing 10,000 staff cost SAP €2.5 billion - and that EOL deadline's not moving

    SAP profits slumped an eye-watering 47% in 2024 on “restructuring expenses of €3.1 billion” due in large part to its 2024 “transformation program” which saw ~10,000 staff including “expensive resources” laid off.

    The figures (€2.5 billion was for payouts) were a blot on an otherwise highly successful year for SAP, which it reported on January 28.

    Total revenues for 2024 were €34.176 billion, up 10%. SAP also boasted of a €63 billion “cloud backlog” (contractually committed cloud revenue SAP expects to recognize over 12 months) on the Q4 earnings call.

  • Legoland Florida plans to layoff 234 workers who are mostly performers

    Legoland Florida plans to lay off 234 workers, primarily performers, in an effort to be more competitive in central Florida's thriving theme park market, company officials said.

    The theme park resort in Winter Haven, Florida, said in a notice to the state of Florida last Friday that the permanent layoffs would start at the end of March and last through the beginning of April.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Moveable feasts: Asia offers many ways – and dates – to celebrate the New Year

    Hundreds of millions will celebrate the Lunar New Year in China, Korea and Vietnam.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Senators raise concern about Chinese influence on Panama Canal operations

    A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday expressed alarm at China's influence on the Panama Canal, which President The Insurrectionist has vowed the United States would take back.

  • Latvia ☛ Government approves concept of centralized crisis management in Latvia

    On Tuesday, January 28, the government adopted a number of draft laws to establish a Crisis Management Center in Latvia.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ BBC News digital director Naja Nielsen to exit for Swedish broadcaster

    Nielsen is leaving the corporation after almost six years to join Swedish public broadcaster SVT.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Daily Star editor Jon Clark to leave amid new digital-first strategy

    Ex-Mirror online editor Ben Rankin to become Daily Star Online editor-in-chief.

Monopolies/Monopsonies