Leftovers

• Digital Music News ☛ Dr. Demento Announces Retirement From Radio After 55 Years

  Legendary radio host Barret ‘Dr. Demento’ Hansen has announced his retirement after 55 years in radio—marking the end of an era for fans of comedy and novelty music. The most recent airing of his regular show revealed the news, with a series of retrospective episodes airing until his official farewell in October.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Hacker Tactic: ESD Diodes

    A hacker’s view on ESD protection can tell you a lot about them. I’ve seen a good few categories of hackers neglecting ESD protection – there’s the yet-inexperienced ones, ones with a devil-may-care attitude, or simply those of us lucky to live in a reasonably humid climate. But until we’re able to control the global weather, your best bet is to befriend some ESD diodes before you get stuck having to replace a microcontroller board firmly soldered into your PCB with help of 40 through-hole pin headers.

  • India Times ☛ Intel to layoff 10,000+ employees, and why none of them will be getting any severance

    Intel is preparing to lay off between 15% and 20% of its Intel Foundry workforce beginning in July, marking one of the largest job cuts in the semiconductor giant's history. The layoffs are expected to affect more than 10,000 employees worldwide, representing roughly one-fifth of the company's manufacturing division."These are difficult actions but essential to meet our affordability challenges and current financial position of the company. It drives pain to every individual," Intel Manufacturing Vice President Naga Chandrasekaran wrote in an internal memo to employees over the weekend, as seen by The Oregonian.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ Marijuana’s Links to Heart Attack and Stroke Are Becoming Clearer

    The evidence is stacking up that the drug is associated with a greater likelihood of heart problems.

  • Latvia ☛ RSU launching new master’s programme in digital health

    In this autumn semester, the first master students will begin their studies in a new academic study programme, Digital Transformation in Healthcare, at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU). This is the first programme of its kind in Latvia, designed to prepare professionals for the digital future of the healthcare sector.

  • Aaron Rainbolt: The bug that code couldn't fix...

    This isn’t a tech-related post, so if you’re only here for the tech, feel free to skip over.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Baby in Malaysia dies after being pinned under father who had fatal heart attack

    The baby died while receiving treatment at the hospital.

  • New York Times ☛ Cave Explorer Videos Show Decade of Trash in ‘Avatar’ Park in China

    Officials ordered a huge cleanup effort after videos of the mountains of garbage spread widely online.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Pink pond in Chinese village sparks fear of toxic water

    The authorities in China are looking into the matter.

• Proprietary

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ MElon's xAI is projected to lose $13 billion in 2025 — Hey Hi (AI) Slop project burns $1 billion a month in expenditures

      MElon's Hey Hi (AI) startup xAI is rapidly burning through cash — spending $1 billion a month and projecting $13 billion in losses for 2025 — as it races to build massive Hey Hi (AI) Slop infrastructure and catch up with rivals.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

      • Digital Music News ☛ A New Trend? Sabrina Carpenter Praises Phone Bans for Concerts

        More pertinently, it’s possible that doing away with phones will help attendees better connect with and experience shows. Though there’s sure to be a bit of grumbling beforehand here, Carpenter isn’t alone in describing phone-free concerts as comparatively pleasant.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ Taiwan says UK Navy ship sailed through Taiwan Strait

    This is viewed as a move that challenges China’s claim to the sensitive waterway.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China condemns British warship’s ‘troublemaking’ Taiwan Strait transit

    Beijing said such an action undermined peace and stability in the region.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan says UK Navy ship sailed through Taiwan Strait

    Taiwan said Thursday a British Navy patrol vessel sailed through the Taiwan Strait, a move that challenges China’s claim to the sensitive waterway. Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory and claims jurisdiction over the body of water that separates the self-ruled island from the Chinese mainland.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Japan destroyer sails through Taiwan Strait after China jet encounter

    The destroyer headed to waters off the Philippines’ main island of Luzon after the transit.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China evacuates 1,600 from Iran and hundreds from Israel, warns of border congestion

    BEIJING - China has evacuated more than 1,600 citizens from Iran and hundreds more from Israel, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday, as evacuees clog border crossings amid the intensifying conflict between the two countries.

  • France24 ☛ Israel-Iran war undermines Beijing’s Mideast diplomatic push

    Beijing has said it is prepared to act as peacemaker in the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran after having successfully brokered a rapprochement between regional foes Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023.  But the war has also highlighted the gap between China's diplomatic ambitions in the Middle East and its rather limited options for involvement in the current conflict.

  • France24 ☛ Chinese cargo planes secretly landing in Iran with aid?

    Since the war broke out between Israel and Iran, users are claiming that Iranian ally, China, is secretly aiding Iran with cargo planes. To prove these claims, users are sharing Flightradar24 information that is being misinterpreted on social control media. We explain in this edition of Truth or Fake.

  • The Strategist ☛ China’s meeting was mostly talk, but the Pacific still listened

    China’s first in-person meeting with Pacific island foreign ministers demonstrated Beijing’s willingness to talk the talk with little substance to back it up.

  • The Strategist ☛ Legislation, not technology, is the biggest problem for ADF drone defence

    Ukraine’s Operation Spider’s Web has fundamentally redefined the nature of drone warfare and highlighted just how vulnerable Australia’s precious cache of exquisite systems truly is.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ UK court sentences Chinese student to life in prison for ‘campaign of rape’

    A Chinese post-graduate student convicted of drugging and raping 10 women in the UK and China and suspected of having attacked more was on Thursday jailed for life by a London court. Police in London say they have evidence to suggest he may have targeted more than 50 other women.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • JURIST ☛ Russia court dismisses appeal of Ukraine national convicted of espionage

      The Second Court of Appeal of St. Petersburg on Tuesday upheld the conviction of Ivan Zabavsky, a Ukrainian who was convicted on a charge of espionage. The court rejected the appeal during a closed-door trial, where journalists and listeners were not allowed to be present.

    • LRT ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man envoy to meet Belarus' Lukashenko – media

      Keith Kellogg, the United States special envoy for Ukraine under The Insurrectionist’s administration, is preparing to meet with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk in the coming days, reports Reuters.

    • New York Times ☛ No Rock Stars, No Mercedes: A Russian Expo Shows the Cost of Divorce With the West

      The annual economic forum in St. Petersburg used to yield multibillion-dollar deals and feature performances by global music stars. With the war in Ukraine still raging, the mood has shifted.

    • New York Times ☛ China Is Hacking Russia to Steal War Secrets

      Since the war in Ukraine began, analysts have monitored a series of intrusions aimed at stealing information about weaponry and warfighting.

    • New York Times ☛ This Oregon Native Went to Kyiv as a Volunteer. He Died in a Russian Attack.

      Fred Grandy was upset by the United States’ reversal in its support for Ukraine, his family said. This week, he was among the 28 people killed in a drone and missile assault.

    • Meduza ☛ Zelensky appoints new commander of Ukraine’s Ground Forces — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ E.U. weighs riskier investments of frozen Russian assets to boost returns and raise more funds for Ukraine — Politico — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘A false semblance of choice’ Putin’s latest passportization deadline dials up the pressure on civilians in Ukraine’s occupied territories — Meduza

    • The Straits Times ☛ Putin hosts Indonesia's Prabowo in Russia in bid to deepen ties

      Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto held talks with President Vladimir Putin in the northern Russian city of St Petersburg on Thursday after which the duo signed a declaration on a strategic partnership between the two nations, the Kremlin said.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Says Russia 'Chooses To Kill' As Putin Repeats Hard-Line Demands

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a massive Russian drone and missile attack on Kyiv, which claimed dozens of civilian lives, is a reminder that Russia is disregarding cease-fire efforts and "chooses to kill."

    • Atlantic Council ☛ New EU and US energy sanctions are needed to disarm Putin’s war machine

      The EU and US have prepared measures that could dramatically weaken Russia’s energy weapon and undermine Putin’s war machine. The question now is whether they have the political leadership to proceed, writes Aura Sabadus.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Let the one without sin cast the first stone’: At St. Petersburg forum, Putin dismisses NATO rearmament, denies civilian toll in Kyiv strike, and quotes the Bible — Meduza

    • The Strategist ☛ Why Ukraine’s Hey Hi (AI) drones aren’t a breakthrough yet

      Despite early hopes, machine vision has not yet become a game-changing feature of Ukraine’s battlefield drones. But its time will come. The technology, a form of AI, allows drones to identify and strike targets autonomously.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Addressing Georgia’s slide away from European integration

      Officials in Brussels and Tbilisi must act to rebuild trust and address the deteriorating relationship between Georgia and the European Union, writes Matteo Mecacci.

    • France24 ☛ Russia and Ukraine carry out another POW exchange

      Russia and Ukraine on Thursday completed another exchange of prisoners of war, with officials on both sides releasing photos of soldiers wrapped in their national flags, cheering. Neither side said how many prisoners were freed in Thursday's exchange.

    • LRT ☛ Finland joins Baltics, Poland in quitting anti-landmine treaty

      Finland’s parliament has voted to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines, citing a worsening regional security environment driven by neighbouring Russia, reports ELTA.

    • LRT ☛ Russian who jumped from Lithuania transit train still missing, search area expanded

      Lithuanian police on Thursday expanded the search area and are checking residents' reports but have yet to find the Russian citizen believed to have jumped off a Kaliningrad transit train.

    • LRT ☛ Russia's Zapad drill up to three times smaller than in 2021, says Nausėda

      Russia's Zapad military drills in September will be up to three times smaller than when they were last held in 2021, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said after a meeting of the State Defence Council.

    • The Straits Times ☛ China unleashes hackers against its friend Russia, seeking war secrets

      The hacking campaign shows that China sees Russia as a vulnerable target.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Forget Europe, Russian travel agents say. How about a North Korean resort?

      With the West now inhospitable to them, Russian tourists are finding new holiday opportunities in North Korea, Afghanistan, and other unlikely spots.

    • New York Times ☛ Trying to Satisfy Convicted Felon, NATO Is Running Into Difficulties

      A plan to increase military spending at the level Hell Toupée wants is becoming clearer, as are its shortcomings.

    • Meduza ☛ Moscow and Kyiv carry out another prisoner exchange — Meduza

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ China warns of extensive flooding after heavy rains

    The red alerts covered areas in the provinces of Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou and Guangxi region.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ Flights to Bali resume after disruption by volcano eruption

      A number of flights operated by AirAsia Malaysia and AirAsia Indonesia to and from Bali have resumed.

• Finance

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea drafts second extra budget as new leader seeks to spur growth

    South Korea's new administration proposed 20.2 trillion won (S$18.84 billion) of extra government spending.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s Cabinet approves universal cash grant amid controversy

    The move to dole out the handouts has triggered criticism from opposition politicians.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Discharge but no acquittal for ex-PM Najib in 1MDB-related money laundering case

    His lawyer says decision is fair as prosecution remains free to refile charges once it is ready to proceed.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysians fret over hotpot of bad economic news, as govt moves to expand sales and services tax

    The Malaysian government is also planning to cut petrol subsidies and raise industrial electricity tariffs.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Not just business: US-Japan steel deal helps America to compete against China

    The deal will be held up as an example of friend-shoring, as the allies aim to close the gap on China.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Despite archbishop’s censorship efforts, the Marilyn Manson show will go on in San Luis Potosí

    The controversial rocker's scheduled appearance at the SLP state fair set off an old-fashioned church-state controversy, with the state coming down on the side of free expression.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Taiwanese rethink China travel as Beijing raises stakes for 'separatist' speech

    China’s campaign to unify Taiwan with the mainland is now extending to a crackdown on Taiwanese who Beijing deems 'pro-independence.'

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Tech media challenges: ‘World of churn for clicks is disappearing’

    Recent cuts at Techcrunch and Business Insider lay difficulties bare.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Publicist to receive damages after settling legal claim against Sun publisher

    Ciara Parkes previously settled a claim against the News of the World in 2012.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Cert Petition Preview: Federal Circuit’s Broad Reading of TrafFix in CeramTec

    CeramTec GmbH v. CoorsTek Bioceramics LLC, (formerly known as C5 Medical Werks, LLC)

    CeramTec GmbH has requested a 30-day extension to file a petition for certiorari in its dispute with CoorsTek Bioceramics LLC over pink ceramic hip implants, setting up what could be a significant Supreme Court review of the intersection between expired utility patents and trademark protection. The case presents a fairly clean vehicle for resolving a circuit split over the proper interpretation of TrafFix Devices, Inc. v. Marketing Displays, Inc., 532 U.S. 23 (2001).