Leftovers

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Fuzzy, Large, And Very Old: Everything We Know About Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

    Getting to know our new friend.

  • Science Alert ☛ Sold: Largest Mars Rock Exceeds Auction Expectations

    To an anonymous bidder.

  • Science Alert ☛ 11 Everyday Items That We Forget Are Nasty Hotspots For Bacteria

    Take a moment to protect yourself.

  • Science Alert ☛ Cuisine Fad Unleashes Invasive Threat Into The US Wilderness

    Kitchen nightmares.

  • Science Alert ☛ Yo-Yo Dieting May Trigger Long-Lasting Changes in Gut Bacteria

    It's a vicious circle.

  • Science Alert ☛ Strange 'Fossil' World Detected at Fringes of Solar System

    A step closer to finding Planet Nine.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Gaping Hole Full of Milky Blue Water Has Appeared at Yellowstone

    How did it get there?

  • Science Alert ☛ Measles Can Erase Your Immune System's Memory, Expert Says

    The phenomenon of measles amnesia.

  • Science Alert ☛ Hidden Detail in Crotch Solves 500-Year-Old Leonardo Da Vinci Mystery

    Hiding in plain sight for centuries!

  • Hackaday ☛ The Apollo–Soyuz Legacy Lives On, Fifty Years Later

    On this date in 1975, a Soviet and an American shook hands. Even for the time period, this wouldn’t have been a big deal if it wasn’t for the fact that it happened approximately 220 kilometers (136 miles) over the surface of the Earth.

• Career/Education

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s exam paper thieves suspected to have been active for at least 2 years

    The high school has decided to expel the student and give scores of zero to all the tests she has taken.

• Hardware

  • New York Times ☛ How Nvidia’s Jensen Huang Persuaded Convicted Felon to Sell Hey Hi (AI) Chips to China

    With help from a longtime Silicon Valley investor turned White House insider, Mr. Huang got the administration to reverse course on restrictions.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China-linked hackers target Taiwan’s chip industry with increasing attacks, researchers say

    Targets include financial analysts at Asian and US-headquartered financial investment firms.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Japan, EU to explore joint rare earths procurement, Nikkei reports

    Both are looking to reduce their reliance on China, the world's dominant supplier of rare earths.

  • CNX Software ☛ Quectel KCMA32S – A Zigbee 3.0 and BLE 5.3 module based on Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 wireless SoC

    Quectel is better known for its GNSS, 4G LTE, and 5G cellular IoT modules, but the KCMA32S offers Zigbee 3.0 and BLE 5.3 short-range connectivity through a Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 (MG21 for short) Cortex-M33 wireless SoC. The module comes with up to 96KB SRAM and 1024KB flash through the MG21 SoC, and is offered in an LCC + LGA form factor (20 x 12 x 2.2mm) exposing up to 20 GPIO, I2C, UART, SPI, and I2S to the host board.

  • CNX Software ☛ P250Q-M80 M.2 NVMe SSD supports one-click data destruction by software or hardware (smoke involved)

    Team Group P250Q-M80 is a PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 SSD with up to 2TB capacity and a rather unique feature: one-click data destruction with software or hardware method. If you press a button for 5 to 10 seconds, the software method is triggered, and the SSD automatically wipes out all data.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Sarawak considers banning sale of vape products

    A minister noted that several states in Malaysia had issued religious rulings against vaping.

• Proprietary

  • Windows TCO / Windows Bot Nets

    • Security Week ☛ Armenian Man Extradited to US Over Ryuk Ransomware Attacks

      Karen Serobovich Vardanyan pleaded not guilty to charges related to his alleged role in the Ryuk ransomware operation.

• Security

  • Bruce Schneier ☛ Security Vulnerabilities in ICEBlock

    The ICEBlock tool has vulnerabilities:

    The developer of ICEBlock, an iOS app for anonymously reporting sightings of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials, promises that it “ensures user privacy by storing no personal data.” But that claim has come under scrutiny. ICEBlock creator Joshua Aaron has been accused of making false promises regarding user anonymity and privacy, being “misguided” about the privacy offered by iOS, and of being an Fashion Company Apple fanboy.

  • Security Week ☛ Mobile Forensics Tool Used by Chinese Law Enforcement Dissected

    Deployed on mobile devices confiscated by Chinese law enforcement, Massistant can collect user information, files, and location.

  • Security Week ☛ VMware Flaws That Earned Hackers $340,000 at Pwn2Own Patched

    Four CVEs disclosed at the Pwn2Own Berlin 2025 hacking competition have been patched in VMware products.

  • Security Week ☛ Cisco Patches Another Critical ISE Vulnerability

    Cisco has released patches for multiple vulnerabilities, including a critical flaw in Cisco ISE that leads to remote code execution (RCE).

  • Security Week ☛ Oracle Patches 200 Vulnerabilities With July 2025 CPU

    Oracle’s July 2025 Critical Patch Update contains 309 security patches that address approximately 200 unique CVEs.

  • The Strategist ☛ Binary view of hard and soft skills impedes cyber responses

    Cybersecurity professionals tend to be categorised as either ‘technical’ or ‘non-technical’. However, success in this field is far more nuanced than this binary suggests.

  • NVISO Labs ☛ Detection Engineering: Practicing Detection-as-Code – Repository – Part 2

    This is the second part of the Practicing Detection-as-Code series, where we will cover some basic elements of designing a repository to develop, store, and deploy detections from. We'll go through several different aspects of the setup like the Git platform, branch strategy, repository structure, detections structure, taxonomies, and content packs.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Ruben Schade ☛ Meta’s arguments for using Australian data

      The imitable Josh Taylor posted an article about Meta’s request to train AIs against Australian social control media data. And oh boy, are there some fun quotes! This is my favourite: [...]

    • Federal News Network ☛ Assessing the impacts of the DOGE interventions in federal data bases

      "It's really important that any administration protect the American people and the American businesses' privacy of any data that's collected," said Nick Hart.

    • Security Week ☛ Trial Opens Against Meta CEO Mark Kapo-berg and Other Leaders Over Facebook (Farcebook) Privacy Violations

      An $8 billion class action investors’ lawsuit against Meta stemming from the 2018 privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ Meta execs settle with board in $8B lawsuit over data harvesting scandal

      Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Mark Kapo-berg, along with former and current company directors and officers, today reached a settlement in a trial in which shareholders sought $8 billion in damages for losses related to the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal.

    • France24 ☛ Kapo-berg settles $8 billion lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica scandal, avoids testifying

      Mark Kapo-berg and current and former Meta executives agreed on Thursday to settle a $8 billion shareholder lawsuit alleging the company’s directors failed to prevent billions of dollars in fines and legal costs stemming from repeated Facebook (Farcebook) user privacy violations. The Federal Trade Commission in 2019 fined Facebook (Farcebook) $5 billion in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ New pier completed at North Korea rocket launch site, satellite imagery shows

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wanted the site modernised and expanded to ensure the launching of various rockets.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea retries ex-spy chief over 1979 presidential assassination

    Kim killed both Mr Park and Mr Cha at a private dinner featuring expensive whiskey in Seoul.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea says Japan seeking to be a ‘military giant’

    The Japanese defence white paper was approved this week.

  • Taiwan holds annual live-fire, air raid drills that simulate Chinese attack

    Officials say the drills aim to show China and the international community that Taiwan is ready to defend itself.

  • The Strategist ☛ How Taipei is fighting back against Beijing’s spies

    Taiwan has dramatically stepped-up efforts to address what authorities describe as a growing espionage challenge linked to China. In 2024, 64 individuals were charged with espionage-related offences—more than in the previous two years combined. According ...

  • The Strategist ☛ The problem with ‘stabilising’ China relations: it hardly makes a difference

    Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s current, six-day visit to China is meant to be another step in stabilising the relationship between the two countries.

  • France24 ☛ Who are the Middle East's Druze minority?

    In Syria, Druze fighters have clashed both with neighbouring Bedouin tribes and with forces loyal to the Islamist government, as they have struggled to find their place in the new order ushered in by the December overthrow of longtime president Bashar al-Assad. FRANCE 24's international affairs editor Leela Jacinto takes a look at the Druze's role and influence in Middle East geopolitics.

  • NYPost ☛ 10-year-old Cub Scout knocked out of his shoes by deadly NJ lightning strike: ‘He’s still in shock’

    A 10-year-old Cub Scout is “still in shock” after he was literally knocked out of his socks by the deadly lightning strike at a New Jersey archery range on Wednesday.

  • New York Times ☛ Archery Club Used to ‘Nasty Storms’ Reels From Fatal Lightning Strike

    The bolt struck local archers and a boy scout troop in New Jersey, killing one man and injuring 13 other people. Friends of the victims said the strike had come out of nowhere.

  • France24 ☛ Europeans warn Iran of UN sanctions if no progress on nuclear deal

    Top European diplomats have warned Iran they are prepared to trigger the UN "snapback" mechanism — reimposing international sanctions — if Tehran fails to make concrete progress on reviving the nuclear deal by the end of summer. In talks with Iran’s foreign minister, the UK, France, Germany, and the EU emphasized the urgency of returning to diplomacy amid rising tensions following Israeli and US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June.

  • France24 ☛ Church attack will hit Gaza's Catholic community 'terribly'

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said Israel "deeply regrets" the loss of life in a mistaken strike that hit Gaza's only Catholic church. FRANCE 24's Mark Owen speaks to Canon Mark Madden of the Archdiocese of Liverpool. He says that today's attack will hit the small Catholic community of Gaza terribly.

  • France24 ☛ Israeli strike hits Gaza church, killing 3 and wounding priest who was close to Pope Francis

    An Israeli shell slammed into the compound of the only Catholic church in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing three people and wounding 10 others, including the parish priest, according to church officials. The late Pope Francis, who died in April, had regularly spoken to the priest about the situation in the war-ravaged territory. FRANCE 24's Seema Gupta reports from Italy.

  • New York Times ☛ Israeli Strike on a Gaza Church Kills Three

    As cease-fire talks stalled, a deadly strike on a Catholic church in Gaza City prompted Pope Leo XIV to call for an immediate end to the fighting.

  • New York Times ☛ Why Israel Attacked Syria

    For weeks, Israel has engaged in back-channel talks over a diplomatic agreement with the Syrian government. Its strikes on Damascus this week highlight a lack of strategic clarity.

  • New York Times ☛ Syria’s President Condemns Israeli Strikes on Damascus

    President Ahmed al-Shara said the airstrike on Damascus threatened to escalate sectarian violence, in his sharpest criticism of Israel since he came to power.

  • France24 ☛ Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti is 'most qualified', says former Mossad chief

    In an interview with FRANCE 24, former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy called jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti the “most qualified” person to lead the Palestinians. Halevy said recent strikes on Iran were "a success" but that it was "too early" to know whether the US attack on the Fordo nuclear facility had achieved its aim.

  • New York Times ☛ Iran’s Fordo Nuclear Site Was Badly Damaged by U.S. Strikes, New Assessment Finds

    A clearer picture begins to emerge of what the Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites achieved.

  • France24 ☛ Raids, arrests and deportations: The economic toll of closed borders

    This week, we focus on the unprecedented immigration crackdown currently taking place in the United States under President The Insurrectionist. We head to Los Angeles, where our team meets local business owners whose shops are on the brink of bankruptcy, as workers and customers are staying home to avoid ICE raids. Plus, Charles Pellegrin talks to Tara Watson, director of the Center for Economic Security and Opportunity at the Brookings Institution.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong court to rule on appeals in city’s largest national security case within 9 months

    A Hong Kong court will rule within nine months on appeals that stemmed from the city’s largest national security case, a judge has said, after lawyers representing 12 activists sought lighter jail terms or to clear their name.

  • JURIST ☛ Amid soaring child deaths UN officials urge Israel to comply with international humanitarian law

    Amid soaring child deaths, surging malnutrition, ceaseless bombardments, and a shattered health system, conditions in Gaza have deteriorated to “unspeakable” levels, top UN officials warned the Security Council on Wednesday.

  • New York Times ☛ The Cost of Convicted Felon’s Surrender to China

    China has been displaying intellectual and innovative vitality for decades and the United States has scarcely mobilized.

  • New York Times ☛ China’s Aircraft Carriers Push Into Waters Long Dominated by U.S.

    Recent drills near Japan reflect China’s ambitions to extend its navy’s reach and exert greater influence, in the Pacific and beyond.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ Collective security in the Indo-Pacific: Rethinking the United Nations Command

    Europe has NATO. The Indo-Pacific needs a similar mechanism. Enter the United Nations Command, a legacy of the Korean War ready to be refitted for the current threat landscape in the Pacific.

  • The Strategist ☛ Bookshelf: risks of Sino-Indian rivalry set to grow

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea battered by record rainfall; 2 dead and more than 1,000 evacuated

    The country is regularly hit by flooding during the summer monsoon period.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong Observatory to consider T3 storm signal on Saturday as tropical cyclone nears

    The Hong Kong Observatory will consider issuing the T3 storm signal on Saturday as a tropical cyclone to the east of the Philippines is forecast to move towards the city.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Torrential rain pounds South Korea for third day as thousands take shelter

    Torrential rain warnings remain in effect for most of the country's western and southern regions.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ Japan voters see little hope for tariff reprieve in car maker Mazda's hometown

      Mazda faces tariffs of 25% on automobiles, a dispiriting prospect for an electorate already battling inflation.

    • Hackaday ☛ Building A Stirling Engine Bike

      Over on his YouTube channel [Tom Stanton] shows us how to build a Stirling Engine for a bike.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Straits Times ☛ Volcanic eruption ends day’s search for bodies of Filipino cockfighters

      The low-level eruption sent a plume of steam billowing 2,400m skyward from the Taal volcano.

    • Drones and other tech to be used by Kruger Park in saving the white rhino

      Government aims to monitor rhino herds daily using drones, GPS collars, and digital reporting systems to provide real-time data to enforcement teams as part of a new strategy to rebuild the Kruger National Park’s white rhino population from just over 2 000 to 12 000 within the next decade.

• Finance

  • New York Times ☛ Samsung Chairman Lee Jae-yong’s Decade of Legal Woes Ends

    ​The South Korean Supreme Court’s ruling dispels uncertainty​ over Lee Jae-yong’s leadership as the tech giant faces challenges from tariffs and chip making rivals.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s top court clears Samsung chairman Lee in 2015 merger fraud case

    The Supreme Court’s verdict permanently removes a long-running legal distraction for Mr Lee Jae-yong.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia’s King appoints Wan Ahmad Farid as new chief justice

    The 62-year-old was previously deputy home minister but retired from politics in 2013.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Appointment of Malaysia’s new chief justice eases controversy over vacant top judge seats for now

    But more can be done to restore confidence in the judiciary, say analysts.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian police arrest more than dozen men in raid of ‘gay party’

    Homosexuality is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

  • New Yorker ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Has a Bad Case of Biden on the Brain

    Distracted by the President’s constant bashing of his predecessor? Of course not.

  • Pro Publica ☛ Lawsuit: NYC Mayor Eric Adams Ran “Criminal Enterprise”

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Meduza ☛ Kremlin spokesman calls for ‘more detailed explanations’ of ban on ‘extremist’ Internet searches — Meduza

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • BIA Net ☛ Journalist Sultan Eylem Keleş sentenced to prison over coverage of workers' protest

    Keleş has been found guilty of "resisting a public official to prevent them from performing their duty."

  • Press Gazette ☛ The Times: From loss-making broadsheet to profit on a tiny screen

    Times Media head of digital Edward Roussel says Hey Hi (AI) can't replace journalists.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • New York Times ☛ ‘Who Killed Love?’ A Video Game Plays to Male Resentment in China.

    A popular and contentious game, Revenge on Gold Diggers, sheds light on misogyny, inequality and the feeling among many men that they are economic victims.

  • AccessNow ☛ EU: stop criminalizing migration in the Facilitator’s Package law

  • AccessNow ☛ #KeepItOn: Togolese authorities must uphold human rights online and off during protests

    We demand that Togolese authorities uphold human rights, restore full internet access, and refrain from imposing any future shutdowns in the country.

  • ACLU ☛ Rümeysa Öztürk On How We Can All Support Immigrants

    President The Insurrectionist’s second term has been nothing short of a disaster for the immigrant community.

    Masked federal agents have arrested people outside schools and homes. Hell Toupée has violated due process rights to “disappear” people to a mega-prison in El Salvador notorious for torture. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents have abducted people from courthouses as they attended their own immigration hearings. The Forrest Dump administration has also targeted immigrants like Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, Dr. Badar Khan Suri, and Rümeysa Öztürk for their political speech.

  • New York Times ☛ Prominent Human Rights Group Flees El Salvador

    The group, Cristosal, has investigated prison deaths and torture under President Nayib Bukele. Its employees were threatened and surveilled, its director said.

  • University of Michigan ☛ Former DEI administrator sues UMich over alleged discrimination in termination

    Rachel Dawson, former executive director of the University of Michigan Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives, filed a lawsuit against the University Monday for alleged racial and gender discrimination during her termination process.

  • New York Times ☛ Fired D.E.I. Administrator Rachel Dawson Sues the University of Michigan

    In her lawsuit, Rachel Dawson denies making antisemitic remarks and accuses the school of racial bias in its investigation and decision-making.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Paris Suburb Withdraws Rock-En-Seine Music Festival Funding Due to Kneecap Booking

    The Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud has withdrawn a 40,000 euro subsidy for the Rock-en-Seine music festival due to booking Irish band Kneecap. The Paris suburb of Saint-Cloud, home of the annual Rock-en-Seine music festival, has decided to withdraw a 40,000 euro ($46,000) subsidy for the event due to booking controversial Irish rap group Kneecap.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Public Knowledge ☛ Public Knowledge Welcomes New Member to Board of Directors [Ed: The Board is already stuffed with Microsoft]

    Public Knowledge is proud to announce a new member has joined its Board of Directors. Richard Whitt will join nine other board members to provide Public Knowledge with strategic counsel and leadership.

  • Public Knowledge ☛ Public Knowledge Joins 21 Groups Urging FCC Chairman Carr To Follow the Law, Stop Undermining Agency’s Power

    Today, Public Knowledge joined 21 other public interest, civil rights, labor, and digital rights groups in a letter urging Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to pull an item from the agency’s July Open Meeting agenda for violating the Administrative Procedure Act.

  • Internet Society ☛ What Is Community-Centered Connectivity and Why Should We Care?

    Community-centered connectivity is when connectivity solutions are built for, with, or by local communities themselves. These solutions are not imposed from outside, but instead designed with direct involvement from the people who will use and maintain them.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • JUVE ☛ UK appeals court upholds cancellation of AstraZeneca’s diabetes SPC and patent

    The UK Court of Appeal has dismissed AstraZeneca’s appeal and upheld the UK High Court judgment, ruling that the patent monopoly is invalid for both lack of inventive step and insufficient disclosure (case ID: CA-2025-001040, [2025] EWHC 1012 (Pat)). At issue is AstraZeneca’s EP 1 506 211, which expired on 14 May 2023.

  • IP Kat ☛ 2025-07-15 [Older] UK IPO launches SEPs consultation [Ed: Surely will be stacked by patent litigation profiteers, not public interest groups]

  • JUVE ☛ Düsseldorf court to hear Tecfidera PI appeal as Biogen fights to stop generics

    Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court will decide on appeals against preliminary injunctions granted to stop competitors entering the German market with generic versions of Biogen’s MS drug Tecfidera (case IDs: I-2 U 32/25, I-2 U 33/25, I-2 U 34/25 and I-2 U 36/25).

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • IP Kat ☛ 2025-07-11 [Older] First interpretation of G 1/24 (the description must always be consulted) (T 1561/23)

  • Software Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ InterDigital video codec patent monopoly challenged

      On July 16, 2025, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 10,805,610, owned by InterDigital VC Holdings. The '610 patent monopoly relates to coding groups of pixels within blocks. It has been asserted against The Walt Disney Company.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ Proof of One Incident of Actual Confusion Factors Into TTAB's Granting of Petition to Cancel ZEROLIQUID Registration for Water Filters

    The Board granted this petition for cancellation of a registration for the mark ZEROLIQUID for filters for drinking water and related goods, finding confusion likely with the registered mark ZEROWATER for “water filtering units for household use" [WATER disclaimed]. Although deeming the petitioner's mark to be "highly suggestive" of the goods and therefore "entitled to a narrower scope of protection under the sixth DuPont factor," the Board found the involved marks to be "very similar, with the first DuPont factor weighing heavily in favor of likelihood of confusion." Petitioner’s evidence of a single instance of actual confusion lent some support under the seventh DuPont factor. Zero Technologies, LLC v. Hangzhou Yilin Technology Research Co., Ltd., Cancellation No. 92081980 (July 14, 2025) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Catherine Dugan O'Connor).

  • IP Kat ☛ 2025-07-13 [Older] Eleanor – prop or character? US Court of Appeals says prop

  • IP Kat ☛ 2025-07-14 [Older] Wise Payments v With Wise: Court applies SkyKick in score-draw infringement claim

• Gemini* and Gopher

  • Personal/Opinions

    • the other

      What I am learning now is how to enjoy the presence of the other person without expecting more from that person.

      What I've done in the past is that I experience the other person, but then I build, in my mind, what that other person could be.

      The ego I create for myself, I project it on others.

  • Technology and Free Software

    • Internet/Gemini

      • OCC - IRC, ICQ and Nostalgia

        Yesterday I was able to chat a bit with Matto [0] on ICQ, and also hopped onto the #oldcomputerchallenge IRC channel on libera.chat, also via Pidgin [1].

        Also a nod to linuxquestions.org, which looks and works as it always has in my old Iceweasel browser, including allowing old TLS. I really like forums in that style, we've lost so much with the prevalence of walled gardens, unsearchable or inaccessible forums, and algorithmically generated social media.

        Someone on IRC asked if nostalgia was a factor in using old Linux - I think partly, but as I mentioned previously [2], for me the simplicity is a major draw. At least with Debian, the stable release has always been a great desktop, and the older versions allow more freedom as far as tinkering and making things work. And while I can't use a 2009-era Linux as a daily driver, I can use it as a "smallnet workstation". Gopher and IRC (and NNTP, although I'm not using it) is builtin, and with a few tweaks I'm able to access modern pubnixes via SSH, and most websites that don't rely on javascript.