Leftovers

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ Reason Versus Sentimental Attachment For Old Projects

    We have probably all been there: digging through boxes full of old boards for projects and related parts. Often it’s not because we’re interested in the contents of said box, but because we found ourselves wondering why in the name of project management we have so many boxes of various descriptions kicking about. This is the topic of [Joe Barnard]’s recent video on his BPS.shorts YouTube channel, as he goes through box after box of stuff.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ TikTok to comply with ‘upsetting’ Australian under-16 ban

    TikTok urged parents to “have conversations” with their teens to ensure they are truthful about their age.

• Proprietary

  • Digital Music News ☛ Meta Expected to Cut Up to 30% of Metaverse Budget

    Meta is expected to cut up to 30% of its metaverse budget after pouring billions into the initiative over the last five years. Meta is expected to make budget cuts to its metaverse initiative of up to 30%, people close to the matter told Bloomberg.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • New York Times ☛ OpenAI Calls a ‘Code Red’ + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop

      “For Proprietary Chaffbot Company to realize its ambitions, it is not going to be enough for them to make a model that is as good as Gemini 3. They need to be able to leapfrog it again.”

    • Press Gazette ☛ Who’s suing Hey Hi (AI) and who’s signing: NYT and Chicago Tribune sue Perplexity, Meta signs licensing deals

  • Social Control Media

    • European Commission ☛ Commission accepts TikTok's commitments on advertising transparency under the Digital Services Act

      European Commission Press release Brussels, 05 Dec 2025 Today, the European Commission secured TikTok's commitment to provide advertising repositories that ensure full transparency around ads on its services, as required by the Digital Services Act (DSA).

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Stressed, Fearful and Excluded: New research exposes harms of digitalising immigration status

      New research warns that the digitalisation of immigration status system is causing stress, confusion, and exclusion and placing an unfair burden on migrants to navigate a complex system and resolve errors and glitches that are beyond their control.

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Exclusion by Design: Digital Identification and the Hostile Environment for Migrants

      The debate over digital ID systems has recently intensified in the UK, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer framing digital IDs as a mechanism to curb ‘illegal working’.

  • Confidentiality

    • OMG Ubuntu ☛ Proton Launches Encrypted Spreadsheets (Browser-Based)

      Proton has launched Sheets, an encrypted spreadsheet app available to use in any browser with CSV/XLS import, real-time collaboration and more – for free!

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ New Anonymous Phone Service

      A new anonymous phone service allows you to sign up with just a zip code.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-27 [Older] Sudan: Could international pressure bring about a ceasefire?

  • New Yorker ☛ Adam Schiff on How the Convicted Felon Administration Targets Its Opponents

    The senator, currently being investigated by the Justice Department, notes that the President can’t stop thinking about him: “I live rent-free in that guy’s head.”

  • New Yorker ☛ America’s “Bad Emperor” Problem

    Assessing the political implications of the President apparently dozing off in a Cabinet meeting.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan says China deploys warships in ‘military operations’

    Taiwan said Friday that China had deployed warships for “military operations” stretching hundreds of kilometres from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea, posing a “threat” to the region. Beijing, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, neither confirmed nor denied the manoeuvres.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man unveils strategy to prevent China conflict over Taiwan

    The details appear in a 29-page National Security Strategy document.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Warns of Europe’s ‘Civilizational Erasure’ Through Immigration

    America’s goal should be “to help Europe correct its current trajectory,” the administration said in its new National Security Strategy.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s Security Strategy Focuses on Profit, Not Spreading Democracy

    Hell Toupée’s new National Security Strategy describes a country that is focused on doing business and reducing migration while avoiding passing judgment on authoritarians.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Manila’s turn towards Seoul to bolster defence versus China reflects shifting security framework

    South Korea is one of the few countries whose military hardware is integral to the Philippine armed forces.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Coupang leak outrage morphs into anti-Chinese hatred

    Security specialists stress that focusing on nationality distracts from the need for accountability and reform.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Hong Kong faces low election turnout as residents mourn deadly fire

    Hong Kong's national security office urged residents to actively participate in voting.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-27 [Older] Poland-Belarus: When human borders harm nature

    • New York Times ☛ Putin Basks in Praise From Modimir on India Visit

      Prime Minister Narendra Modimir lauded President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, underlining the close personal relationship between the leaders and their countries’ longtime friendship.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Putin and Modimir discuss trade, peace in New Delhi summit

      NEW DELHI, Dec 5 - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modimir began summit talks in New Delhi on Friday, as New Delhi rolled out the red carpet for the Russian leader and Modimir told him India supported peace efforts in Ukraine.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Modi, Putin push economic links to revitalise India-Russia ties in closely watched visit

      Economic pacts were made during the visit, the Russian leader's first to India since the start of the Ukraine war.

    • Latvia ☛ Ukrainian startups to star at Latvia's TechChill

      In collaboration with Techosystem, a non-governmental organization (NGO) uniting participants of Ukraine’s startup ecosystem, the Latvian startup and technology conference TechChill is organising a special startup growth programme, reports Labs of Latvia.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ The cost of an unjust peace in Ukraine? An emboldened China.

      A peace deal aimed at ending the war in Ukraine that favors Russia could embolden China to take military action of its own.

    • France24 ☛ Liberty, equality, invincibility: Cultural highlights of France's Ukraine Season

      France's Ukraine Season (December 1, 2025-March 31, 2026) is an invitation to “travel” to a country which is fighting for its freedom while creating new cultural horizons. More than 50 cultural events will take place during the festival in 20 cities across France.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukrainian, US Officials Meet In Florida For Peace Talks As Putin Doubles Down On Demands

      Ukrainian negotiators were set to meet with European officials in Brussels, and later US officials in Florida, days after a five-hour Kremlin meeting with a visiting White House delegation where President Vladimir Putin doubled down on his hard-line conditions to end the war on Ukraine.

    • France24 ☛ Modi-Putin meeting 'symbolic': Agreements 'predictable and along familiar lines'

      While the announcements between India and Russia may appear symbolic, they reveal a deeper continuity in New Delhi’s long-standing realpolitik: using Moscow as both a counterweight to China and a hedge against fluctuating American policy. Economics, energy, migration, and defence cooperation unfold less as breakthroughs and more as incremental recalibrations shaped by global pressures, including US tariffs and shifting regional alignments. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, Erin Ogunkeye welcomes Aparna Pande, Research Fellow and Director of the India and South Asia Initiative at the Hudson Institute. She offers context and perspective on India’s characteristic non-alignment on conflicts like Ukraine, its structural reliance on China for trade despite deep mistrust, and its determination to signal diplomatic optionality in a world of unstable geopolitical headwinds.

    • France24 ☛ 'You can't build peace just with Russia': Ex-EU Commissioner Moscovici on US-led Ukraine talks

      With France going through major government instability and facing an alarmingly high public debt, and with Europe struggling to find its diplomatic feet as the US pursues talks to end the war in Ukraine, we speak to a seasoned political figure at the French and European level. Pierre Moscovici is the First President of the French Court of Auditors, a former EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs, and was a minister of the economy and finance in the former Socialist government in France.

    • France24 ☛ Diplomacy to end Ukraine war gets bogged down: Europe's leadership vacuum?

      A ceasefire in Ukraine remains a distant prospect, to say nothing of an actual peace settlement. US diplomatic efforts in Moscow have become bogged down, with no compromise in sight on the fundamental issues, especially the territorial ones. Meanwhile, the EU seems to be relegated to a relatively minor diplomatic role – reacting to the Convicted Felon plan with a counter-proposal, and continuing to hold meetings of the "coalition of the willing" to help Kyiv.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Appears To Hit Russia's Grozny As Kyiv Seeks Answers From US On Kremlin Peace Talks

      A suspected Ukrainian drone attack rocked the Chechen capital, Grozny, early on December 5 just hours after Ukrainian negotiators met with US officials in Florida seeking details from a meeting at the Kremlin between American and Russian teams on a proposal to end the war on Ukraine.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Chechen leader Kadyrov vows response after Ukrainian drone hits Grozny, no casualties

      MOSCOW, Dec 5 - Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Friday that a Ukrainian drone had struck and damaged a high-rise building in Grozny, capital of Russia's southern Chechnya region, and vowed to retaliate within a week.

    • New Yorker ☛ Building a State of Fear in “Extremist”

      Alexander Molochnikov’s short film reinterprets an act of protest that called attention to the invasion of Ukraine, and led to the imprisonment of Sasha Skochilenko, a young Russian artist, in 2023.

    • New York Times ☛ Zelensky’s Government Sabotaged Oversight, Allowing Corruption in Ukraine to Fester

      Ukrainian leaders blame independent advisers for failing to prevent graft. A Times investigation found that President Volodymyr Zelensky’s own administration removed guardrails.

    • Meduza ☛ A Russian deserter recounts wounding himself — and his own men — to escape the Ukraine war — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Anatomy of the ‘most difficult’ issue in the Russia–Ukraine peace talks: territory — Meduza

    • LRT ☛ Half of Europeans see high risk of war with Russia, poll finds

      A narrow majority of Europeans in nine countries perceive an elevated risk of war with Russia in the near future, a new poll has found. More felt The Insurrectionist was acting like an enemy of Europe than a friend.

    • New York Times ☛ Wary of Russia, German Defense Minister Pistorius Is Growing His Army

      Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister, is pushing to expand its military in case tensions with Russia escalate. That’s tricky in a country where the Nazi era casts a long shadow.

    • Meduza ☛ Freed from prison in Belarus, exiled opposition leader’s husband accused of battling her instead of Lukashenko — Meduza

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania plans emergency declaration over Belarus smuggler balloons

      Lithuania is considering declaring a nationwide state-level emergency in response to a surge of smugglers’ balloons drifting in from Belarus, according to a draft proposal the Interior Ministry submitted Friday.

    • France24 ☛ Hearings in absentia 'conceivable' for Putin and Netanyahu, ICC says

      Hearings in absentia could be possible for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the deputy prosecutor for the International Criminal Court said on Friday. Both leaders have been issued arrest warrants by the international tribunal.

• Environment

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-11-27 [Older] When human frontiers impact nature

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • JURIST ☛ Former EU top diplomat accused in fraud scandal

    Former European Union Commission Vice President and foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was formally accused on Wednesday of procurement fraud and corruption, conflict of interest, and violation of professional secrecy, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) revealed in an online statement.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Pandas and ping-pong: French leader Macron ending China visit on lighter note

    An ancient dam, pandas and ping-pong: French leader Emmanuel Macron concluded his fourth state visit to China on Friday in the southwestern city of Chengdu, striking a more relaxed note after tough discussions on Ukraine and trade with his counterpart Pooh-tin Jinping a day earlier.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Futurism ☛ Someone Used Hey Hi (AI) to Make a Fake Avi Loeb on YouTube

      "The nemesis of science is fake content created by AI."

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Public Knowledge ☛ Resisting Censorship: Why We Took a Stand at the FCBA Dinner

    The job of the Federal Communications Commission is to serve the public – not the president.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Bali ponders Airbnb ban in latest effort to curb tourism mess

    Bali is now grappling with the fallout from a post-Covid tourism boom.

• Fires / Freedom of the Press

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong gov’t slams ‘biased’ Wall Street Journal editorial on Tai Po fire

    The Hong Kong government has slammed an editorial by The Wall Street Journal, which accuses the city’s authorities of having moved to “silence dissent” after the deadly Tai Po blaze in Tai Po.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Tai Po fire: Hong Kong gov’t urged to offer affected migrant workers multilingual aid, visa extensions

    The Hong Kong government has been urged to provide foreign domestic workers affected by the deadly Tai Po fire with multilingual information to help them access aid and ensure visa extensions if they lose their jobs.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ On Remand, TTAB Again Denies Petition to Cancel BABIE'S MAGIC TEA Registration: Confusion Unlikely with BABY MAGIC for Skincare Products

    Back in February 2024, the CAFC vacated the Board's decision denying a petition for cancellation of a registration for the mark BABIES' MAGIC TEA for "medicated tea for babies that treats colic and gas and helps babies sleep better." [TTABlogged here]. The Board had found no likelihood of confusion with the registered mark BABY MAGIC for various toiletry goods (including baby lotion). The CAFC ruled that the basis for the Board's finding as to the second DuPont factor was unclear, that the Board had ignored certain evidence bearing on the third factor, and that it erred in failing to weigh the first factor heavily in favor of Petitioner Naterra. On remand, the Board has again concluded that confusion is not likely, and so it denied the cancellation petition. Naterra International, Inc. v. Samah Bensalem, Cancellation No. 92074494 (December 3, 2025) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Mark Lebow).

• Copyrights

  • New York Times ☛ New York Times Sues Hey Hi (AI) Start-Up Perplexity Over Use of Copyrighted Work

    Filed in federal court on Friday, the suit joins more than 40 other court disputes between copyright monopoly holders and Hey Hi (AI) companies.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Three Years Later, Epidemic Sound Expands Its Meta Copyright Battle With a New Lawsuit Alleging ‘Willful, Intentional and Purposeful’ Infringement

    Over three years into their ugly infringement showdown, Epidemic Sound and Meta are still battling it out. Now, building on the initial suit, the royalty-free music platform has fired off a second copyright monopoly complaint.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Latest Music Industry Hires: Oak View Group, Skyline Artists, TikTok, WMG, iHeartMedia, Atlantic Screen Group, CAA, A2IM, More

    Here’s a recap of recent music industry hires and in-house promotions as of December 5th, 2025. If you have a job shuffle to share, we’re all ears. Send us a note to news@digitalmusicnews.com. If you’d like to post a job on our Job Board, just send us a request to noah@digitalmusicnews.com.