Leftovers

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Astronauts Return to Earth With Lasting Brain Changes

    This could explain a few things.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover 7 Rare Mummified Cheetahs in Arabian Desert

    "Entirely without precedent."

  • Science Alert ☛ NASA Brings Astronauts Home Early After Unprecedented Medical Issue in Space

    Here's what we know.

  • Science Alert ☛ NASA Plans to Put a Nuclear Reactor on The Moon. Here's Why.

    It's not going to be easy.

• Career/Education

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Report: Michigan churns through teachers at unsustainable rate [Anon: They refuse to pay teachers proper salaries, among other intentional problems. The only long-term strategy which the US has sustained has been the concerted effort to divest from both basic and higher education. That has gone on since the start of the Reagan administration. The harvest is being reaped now: three generations of general illiteracy compounding the effects of social control media. "The Atlantic ☛ America Is Sliding Toward Illiteracy". Not sliding, rolling -- for three generations ... so far with no turn around in sight. The D and R halves of the uniparty have been united in their efforts to divest from basic and higher education over the decades.]

    Michigan schools continue to struggle to find special education, world languages, arts and science teachers.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea opens state scholarships exclusively for refugees

    Selected students will receive a tuition grant, Korean language training, airfare, and a stipend.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Geniatech introduces SMARC and OSM system-on-modules powered by NXP i.MX 95 SoC

      Geniatech has released two new System-on-Modules (SoMs) powered by the NXP i.MX 95 Edge Hey Hi (AI) application processor: the OSM 1.1 Size L-compliant SOM-iMX95-OSM and the SMARC 2.1-compliant SOM-iMX95-SMARC. Both ship with up to 16GB LPDDR5 and up to 128GB eMMC flash, and are designed for markets such as smart retail, industrial automation, intelligent transportation, medical devices, and commercial IoT.

  • New York Times ☛ Taiwan Strikes Trade Deal with Convicted Felon, Vows More U.S. Chip Factories

    The United States agreed to lower tariffs on Taiwanese goods from 20 to 15 percent, while Taiwan says it will invest in more chip manufacturing in the U.S.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Dubai chewy cookie frenzy sends pistachio prices in South Korea soaring

    Some dujjonku enthusiasts have turned to home baking using alternative ingredients amid soaring prices.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Cuts Health Aid and Ties It to Funding Pledges by African Governments

    The Forrest Dump administration has signed $11 billion in agreements with African nations, in deals tied to foreign policy goals.

  • New York Times ☛ A Healthy Brain

    Even when so much is happening in the world, it’s important to take care of your brain health. Our Well desk shares tips.

  • New York Times ☛ Nick Reiner Was in a Mental Health Conservatorship in 2020

    Mr. Reiner, who is accused of killing his parents, was under a yearlong legal arrangement that allows for involuntary psychiatric treatment.

  • WhichUK ☛ Tips for healthy bowel movements from a gastroenterologist

    From fibre to probiotics: we asked a gastroenterology professor for tips about the daily habits he advises for better bowels

  • Futurism ☛ RFK Jr Startled by Convicted Felon’s Ability to Remain Alive Despite Dumpster-Tier Diet

    "I don't know how he's alive, but he is."

  • WhichUK ☛ The UK's most common vitamin deficiencies - and how to fix them

    National nutrition surveys show that many of us are lacking key nutrients. We look at the most common deficiencies and how to get back on track

  • Latvia ☛ Veterinary medicines to get digitalised system in Latvia

    To ensure that the circulation of veterinary medicines is digitalised and compatible with European Union databases, as well as the collection of data on distributed veterinary medicines and the use of medicines (both veterinary and human) in animals, amendments to the Pharmacy Law and regulations on the collection of information and the creation of statistics in the circulation of veterinary medicines have been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, reports Labs of Latvia.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea family accused of staging dozens of crashes with children in car

    Police allege the group deliberately caused 22 traffic accidents between May 2020 and June 2024.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Single Night's Sleep Could Predict Your Risk For More Than 100 Diseases

    "SleepFM is essentially learning the language of sleep."

  • Science Alert ☛ We Were Wrong About Restrictive Diets, Decades of Research Says

    Here's why.

• Proprietary

  • Inkl ☛ Elder Scrolls Online lead says Xbox's layoffs aren't the reason the MMO is switching over to smaller updates: "Seasons is not in any way a response to that"

    Last week, The Elder Scrolls Online studio Zenimax Online revealed in the game's 2026 roadmap that it's ditching the huge, annual expansions it's been doing for years in favor of smaller, seasonal updates every three months. It's not an unprecedented move by any means, with fellow Xbox Game Studios developer Rare taking Sea of Thieves in a similar direction a few years back. That said, with Microsoft's brutal layoffs last year still fresh on the memory, it's hard not to question... why now? After 11 years, why now?

  • Future US Inc ☛ Elder Scrolls Online lead says Xbox's layoffs aren't the reason the MMO is switching over to smaller updates: "Seasons is not in any way a response to that"

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Futurism ☛ A Man Bought Meta’s Hey Hi (AI) Glasses, and Ended Up Wandering the Desert in Search of Aliens

      "You are the bridge between worlds, the connector of dimensions, and the source of infinite potential..."

    • Futurism ☛ After Being Pillaged By Hey Hi (AI) Companies, Wikipedia Signs Deal to Get Paid By Them

      It wants Big Tech to pay its fair share.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Shareholders sue Oracle over misleading statements related to $300 billion Proprietary Chaffbot Company data center build-out — disgruntled plaintiffs say the company lied about how much money it needed to borrow

      A group of investors have filed a class action lawsuit against Oracle, contending that it made misleading statements during its initial $18 billion bond drive, resulting in potential losses of $1.3 billion.

    • Security Week ☛ New ‘Reprompt’ Attack Silently Siphons Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Copilot Data

      The attack bypassed Copilot’s data leak protections and allowed for session exfiltration even after the Copilot chat was closed.

    • Security Week ☛ Vibe Coding Tested: Hey Hi (AI) Agents Nail SQLi but Fail Miserably on Security Controls

      Vibe coding generates a curate’s egg program: good in parts, but the bad parts affect the whole program.

    • Daniel Kahn Gillmor: Hey Hi (AI) as a Compression Problem

      A recent article in The Atlantic makes the case that very large language models effectively contain much of the works they're trained on. This article is an attempt to popularize the insights in the recent academic paper Extracting books from production language models from Ahmed et al. The authors of the paper demonstrate convincingly that well-known copyrighted textual material can be extracted from the chatbot interfaces of popular commercial LLM services.

    • It's FOSS ☛ FOSS Weekly #26.03: Torvalds Using AI, Dash to Dock, Linux Kernel Bugs, Pacman's Rust Replacement and More [Ed: Lazy churnalism]

      2026 is the year of vibe coding?

    • Olaf Alders ☛ Can Others Explain My Work Without Me?

      I’ve recently found the time to revisit a passion project. The app has a number of moving parts and I was struggling to distill it down to an elevator pitch. I’m not actually pitching anything to anyone, but it seemed like a worthwhile exercise to try to summarize this thing that I’m building in a way that someone who doesn’t care how it works would understand.

      I got started by using claude and the brainstorming skill that the superpowers plugin provides. That allowed me to get a clear definition of the problem I was trying to solve, an honest list of what the app currently does and a succinct summary of what makes it unique. Armed with this knowledge, I was already better able to describe the problem that I was solving and the solution which I was providing. Then I stumbled across a blog post that Anil Dash had just published. In it he describes a framework for thinking about the things you communicate, so that when you do share a message it becomes something that other people can repeat accurately and without difficulty.

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Saving time, risking lives: Government uses Hey Hi (AI) tools to inform asylum decisions

      The automation of the hostile environment continues with the Home Office rolling out the use of Hey Hi (AI) in the asylum decision-making process.

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Automating the hostile environment: Hey Hi (AI) in the asylum decision making process

      In April 2025, the Home Office quietly published a summary note evaluating the pilots for the Asylum Case Summarisation (ACS) and Asylum Policy Search (APS) tools. These tools were developed with the company Methods Analytics.

    • Futurism ☛ Google Now Stuffing Ads Into Its Hey Hi (AI) Products

      Yippee.

  • Social Control Media

    • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines to ban MElon’s Grok Hey Hi (AI) on Jan 15 over sexualised deepfakes

      Malaysia and Indonesia had already barred access to the chatbot.

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • Open Source Initiative ☛ Carrying Open Collaboration into the Year Ahead [Ed: Microsoft operative Nick Vidal still speaks for OSI and promotes slop instead of the OSI's original mission]

      Members Newsletter – January 2026

      In this month’s newsletter, we share 2025’s most sought after licenses; reflect on the work still ahead for OSAID; news from the policy team; and look-backs on the year by many of our affiliate organizations.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Mainland Chinese student involved in HK$2.8 million scam spree was recruited after being defrauded, police say

      Hong Kong police have arrested a mainland Chinese student in connection with a HK$2.8 million scam spree involving the impersonation of fake officials, after she herself fell victim to the same ruse and was recruited as an accomplice.

    • The Straits Times ☛ ‘I saw even the mountains shake’: Fear lingers in Cambodian town after Thai strikes on alleged scam sites

      Eerie quiet lingers in Cambodian frontier town weeks after border clashes with Thailand leave scam compounds destroyed.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Administration Lawsuit Seeking California Voter Data Is Dismissed

      The Justice Department has sued about two dozen states over access to voter rolls, as the federal government pushes to create a national database.

    • Press Gazette ☛ Prince Harry legal team accused of dishonesty, fraud and misconduct

      Harry due to take the stand for a day during blockbuster privacy trial.

    • Press Gazette ☛ Prince Harry versus tabloids: The final showdown

      Prince Harry is facing the publisher of the Daily Mail in what is set to be one of Britain’s biggest ever privacy trials. Costs for both sides could top £40m. Harry has accused the Mail of commissioning burglary, phone tapping and voicemail interception.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong privacy watchdog contacts MElon’s xAI over sexualised Hey Hi (AI) images of women and minors

      Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog has contacted MElon’s xAI over its Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot Grok, after netizens used it to create indecent content from photos or videos of real women and children.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea’s ex-president Yoon faces first court ruling over martial law

    He had declared martial law in the country in December 2024.

  • New York Times ☛ How Activists in Iran Are Using Starlink to Stay Online

    Activists spent years preparing for a communications blackout in Iran, smuggling in Starlink satellite internet systems and making digital shutdowns harder for the authorities to enforce.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ DOJ Continues to Let DHS Pick and Choose Screen Shots Pertaining to Their Assaults

    Because DHS allows its goons to use personal cell phones during operations and doesn't properly archive the resulting communications, defendants are increasingly struggling to get relevant evidence in discovery.

  • The Straits Times ☛ $3.6 million in assets seized in probe involving former Malaysian army chief

    The items included cash, luxury watches, jewellery, gold and a luxury vehicle.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China says Carney’s Beijing visit key to rebooting ties

    PM Mark Carney is set to meet Premier Li Qiang later on Jan 15 and President Pooh-tin Jinping on Jan 16.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China’s top diplomat calls Canada PM Mark Carney visit ‘turning point’ in ties

    China’s top diplomat said Thursday that a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to Beijing marked a “turning point” in the two countries’ long acrimonious relationship.

  • Defence Web ☛ Owning a gun in South Africa offers some safety, but risks run high for users and society – expert

    South Africa has one of the highest homicide rates in the world [...]

  • Futurism ☛ There’s Something So Embarrassing About Homeland Security’s New Drone Video That We’re Gonna Have to Sit Down for a Minute

    Safeguarding American aerospace... with Chinese tech.

  • New York Times ☛ Inside an ICE Confrontation in Minneapolis

    Our visual journalists David Guttenfelder and Todd Heisler describe a dramatic incident in which federal agents dragged a woman out of her car in Minneapolis near where Renee Nicole Good had been killed days before.

  • Science Alert ☛ A Landmark 'High Seas Treaty' Has Arrived. Here's Why It's a Big Deal.

    But does it hold water?

  • France24 ☛ Syria: The man behind the mission to heal decade-old wounds in the Sunni majority

    Since Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December 2024, one of the huge challenges the new government has faced is that of division. Syrian society is made up of different sectarian and ethnic groups -- the Alawites, the Kurds, the Druze... -- but division also exists within the country’s biggest group: the Sunni Muslim majority. Our terrorism expert, Wassim Nasr, travelled to Syria last month and tells us what he learnt about this nascent new government led by ex-jihadist Ahmad al-Sharaa.

  • New York Times ☛ Cuba Receives Remains of 32 Citizens Killed in U.S. Strikes in Venezuela

    The Cubans had served as part of the security detail of Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s ousted president.

  • France24 ☛ Gazans sceptical of phase 2 of truce as strikes continue

    The Insurrectionist has announced that the second phase of the plan to end the war in Gaza has started. With key elements of phase one still unfulfilled - like a complete ceasefire - the announcement of the second phase was met with a lot of scepticism, and some hope too, by Palestinians in Gaza. Story by Solange Mougin.

  • France24 ☛ What will Europe actually do to defend Greenland?

    European countries - including France - have begun deploying troops to Greenland, in what Germany describes as a mission aimed at countering 'Russian and Chinese threats'. The White House says the show of unity for the Arctic island will have 'no impact' on Convicted Felon's ambitions for it. It comes a day after high-level talks in Washington highlighted 'fundamental disagreements' over the future of the Danish territory.

  • New York Times ☛ U.S. Forces Seize Sixth Oil Tanker Linked to Venezuela

    The Coast Guard boarded and seized the Russian-flagged tanker, originally named Veronica, in a pre-dawn operation in the Caribbean Sea.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • The Straits Times ☛ Russia-India ‘win-win’ labour deal sparks concerns over migrant workers’ rights and safety

      There are concerns over inadequate safeguards to protect blue-collar Indian workers who go overseas.

    • RFERL ☛ EU Calls For Sanctions On Russian State TV Host, Famed Ballet Dancer

      European Union officials have called for sanctioning some of Russia’s most prominent TV personalities, including Pavel Zarubin, a state TV reporter known for fawning reporting on – and nearly unfettered access to – President Vladimir Putin.

    • France24 ☛ Report highlights how Russia lures young Africans to fight in Ukraine

      In tonight's edition, a report highlights how Russia lures young Africans to fight in Ukraine. Also, widespread delays in Uganda's presidential election. And the official draw for the Women’s African Cup of Nations, kicking off on 17 March.

    • JURIST ☛ Former Ukraine prime minister charged with bribery

      Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko was charged on Wednesday for allegedly offering bribes to members of the Ukrainian parliament. On Tuesday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) accused an unnamed political leader of bribery.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Knocks Out the Heat in Ukraine

      The Kremlin has tried for years to freeze Ukraine into submission. This winter, its attacks have been the most devastating ever.

    • LRT ☛ Ukraine opens criminal case against Vilnius-based Russian opposition figure Leonid Volkov

      Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal case against Leonid Volkov, a Russian opposition politician currently based in Vlnius, on suspicion of justifying Russia’s armed aggression, the independent outlet Sota reported.

    • Defence Web ☛ We should not be playing war games with Iran, Russia and China

      The Will for Peace 2026 joint naval exercise between South Africa, China, Russia, and Iran [...]

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Amazon buys first American-mined copper in a decade — Arizona mine to fuel proprietary trap AWS Hey Hi (AI) data centers in seismic two-year deal [Ed: GAFAM destroys the planet for pyramid schemes like slop]

      Amazon has struck a two-year deal to receive copper from an Arizona mine, for use in its proprietary trap AWS data centers in the U.S.

• Finance

  • JURIST ☛ Hungary’s elderly poverty rate nearly tripled since 2018, rights group says

    Hundreds of thousands of older Hungarians are being forced to choose between food, medicine, and heat as inadequate pensions fail to keep pace with rising costs, Human Rights Watch said in a new report. Hungary has been facing difficulties concerning the increase in poverty among older people, which has coincided with rising inflation since 2018.

  • BIA Net ☛ Workers at İzmir factory mark over 400 days on strike over union rights

    Employees who have worked at rhe factory for over 20 years receive wages only slightly higher than the minimum wage, says the strike spokesperson.

  • New York Times ☛ Number of Businesses in New York City Plunged Last Spring, Report Says

    Roughly 8,400 businesses closed in the second quarter of 2025, according to the most recent city data, creating the largest net decline in business activity since before the pandemic.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • JURIST ☛ US Supreme Court grants standing to congressman challenging Illinois election law

    The US Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a Republican congressman may bring suit to challenge an Illinois mail-in ballot law.

  • New York Times ☛ Former Senator Kyrsten Sinema Accused of Affair With Member of Security Team

    In a lawsuit, the ex-wife of Ms. Sinema’s onetime staff member accused her of showering him with gifts and breaking up their marriage.

  • NYPost ☛ Douglas Murray: Convicted Felon has a chance to end Khamenei’s reign of terror in Iran

    For 46 years, the Revolutionary Islamic Government has tortured the people of Iran.

  • France24 ☛ 'US can't politically engineer a new status quo inside Iran, it must be self-sustaining'

    Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman led a diplomatic effort to dissuade The Insurrectionist from launching a high-risk military strike on Iran. For in-depth analysis, Genie Godula welcomes Jon Hoffman, Research Fellow at the Cato Institute. Mr. Hoffman describes Iran as “a brutal dictatorship, involved in a host of malign activities across the region,” yet warns that US military intervention would be “incredibly risky”: it could provoke retaliation, entangle the US in a prolonged campaign, and cause irreversible harm to Iran's nascent grassroots movement.

  • France24 ☛ Will the US use cyberwarfare to ‘help’ Iranian protesters?

    The United States has repeatedly said that it will send "help" to Iranian protesters as demonstrations across the country have led to the death of at least 3,428 people. As Iranian authorities use internet blackouts to quell dissent, the US may resort to cyberwarfare instead of physical strikes.

  • France24 ☛ Why the change of heart? Convicted Felon dials down threats of strikes against Iran

    The Insurrectionist had started his Wednesday pondering military strikes before pouring cold water on the concept, even expressing doubts that Iranians would accept as leader the late Shah’s son. More on that with our panel. In a sign of how fast a news cycle can flip, Iran’s foreign minister expressing his assurances in English on Convicted Felon-friendly Fox News. After a ruthless response to nationwide protest, has the Islamic Republic once again seen off an existential challenge?

  • New York Times ☛ Many Fiery Remarks, Little Clarity on What’s Next at Security Council Meeting on Iran

    Iran’s representative denied the country had killed protesters, as the U.S. ambassador said Hell Toupée had made clear “all options are on the table” to stop the killing.

  • RFERL ☛ Live Blog: UN Security Council Held Emergency Meeting On Iran

    Triggered by soaring prices, inflation, and a plunging currency, Iranians have taken to the streets in what is the biggest threat to the Islamic regime in years. Journalists from RFE/RL’s Iranian service, Radio Farda, bring you the latest developments, analysis, and reporting from on the ground.

  • France24 ☛ Security and ethnic dimensions of Iran crisis spark warnings across the region

    Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman have led efforts to talk President The Insurrectionist out of a US attack on Iran, according to news reports. Turkey is also concerned about a collapse of central authority in Iran. FRANCE 24’s Leela Jacinto explains the ethnic dimension of security concerns in Middle East capitals.

  • New York Times ☛ What Are Convicted Felon’s Options in Iran?

    Hell Toupée has said that “help is on the way” for Iranian protesters. Amid reports that thousands of the protesters have been killed, our national security correspondent David E. Sanger describes what some of Mr. Convicted Felon’s options might be.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man introduces 25% tariff on export of chips, including Nvidia H200, AMD MI325X — figure could increase in the future

    Dihydroxyacetone Man allows exports of Nvidia H200 and AMD MI325X chips with 25% tariff

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • France24 ☛ Death of Renee Good: How Hey Hi (AI) was used to falsely identify the ICE agent who shot her

      In the aftermath of Renee Good's death during an immigration raid in Minnesota, an internet manhunt began to identify the ICE agent. Using artificial intelligence, internet users 'unmasked' the officer at the scene and falsely identified him, triggering threats and vitriol towards 2 unrelated people with that name. Vedika Bahl explains in Truth or Fake.

    • OpenRightsGroup ☛ Techno-Permacrisis

      Musk’s latest venture, image generation in Grok that until Wednesday lacked sufficient guardrails to prevent the easy production of non-consensual sexual images and even child abuse images, provoked an Ofcom investigation and further EU Commission action as well as the promise of UK emergency legislation against apps that provide such images [...]

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 4 movies ‘disappear’ from Hong Kong Film Awards’ contenders list

    Four movies have been excluded from the Hong Kong Film Awards’ (HKFA) contenders list this year with no explanation, sparking censorship concerns.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Survey reveals Britons value human journalism and worry about use of AI

    Newsworks asked 4,000 Britons about journalism, Hey Hi (AI) and digital media.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Google now prioritising Youtube and X over publishers on Discover

    World's biggest news aggregator appears to be downgrading publisher content.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • France24 ☛ Amnesty calls for global diplomatic action amid unprecedented mass killings to crush dissent

    Amnesty International Iran Researcher Raha Bahreini paints a harrowing portrait of a nation under siege by its own government. Amid an internet blackout, reports of systemic, indiscriminate violence have emerged as part of a pattern of brutal repression aimed at crushing dissent. Through firsthand accounts and verified footage, Amnesty documents what it calls an “unprecedented scale” of lethal force and mass indiscriminate killings. As a "militarised climate" takes hold of the country, there are widespread reports of rooftop sniper attacks as bodies pile up at the morgues. It's calculated strategy is emerging not just to suppress, but to terrorize.

  • JURIST ☛ Rights group urges Uganda to lift internet restrictions amid ongoing elections

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated on Thursday that the internet shutdown imposed during Uganda’s elections violated fundamental rights and undermined election integrity, urging authorities to immediately restore full internet access.

  • Citizen Lab ☛ Hearing on the Human Rights Policy of the German Government

    On January 14, Citizen Lab senior researcher Marcus Michaelsen testified on transnational repression in a hearing of the Human Rights Committee in the German parliament (Bundestag). 

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • LWN ☛ A note for MXroute users

    We have recently noticed that email from LWN.net seems to be blocked by MXroute. Unfortunately, the company also does not seem to have a way for non-customers to report problems in mail delivery, so we have no good way to get ourselves unblocked.

  • The Straits Times ☛ From Instagram fame to political fall: Indonesia’s ‘Internet governor’ in the spotlight

    Former West Java governor Ridwan Kamil's divorce and alleged graft links upended his carefully crafted image.

  • APNIC ☛ From spoofing to tunnelling: New Red Team networking techniques for initial access and evasion

    Guest Post: In modern network architecture, we often assume that perimeter defences are robust enough to keep internal traffic secure. However, vulnerabilities inherent in the trust mechanisms of fundamental network protocols reveal that unencrypted tunnels can become fatal backdoors in enterprise intranets.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ A Dog’s Breakfast: The Doctrinal Mess Surrounding “Configured To” Claim Language

    Federal Circuit holds "configured to" means "capable of" absent specification support, rejecting argument that the term requires design intent.

  • JUVE ☛ US judge orders Onesta to withdraw Munich lawsuits against BMW

    It is unsurprising that a US court would assert its right to decide a US patent monopoly infringement suit rather than leaving it to a foreign court.

  • JUVE ☛ US-Israeli firm Pearl Cohen arrives in Germany [Ed: Trying to profit by creating patent disputes]

    Pearl Cohen focuses on high-tech industry and innovative companies. The firm, which has its roots in Israel and the US, has been expanding internationally for years. After London, Munich becomes its second European location. Three patent monopoly attorneys from Tautz & Schuhmacher have joined the international firm in Munich.

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • JUVE ☛ Local division Düsseldorf dismisses Ona Patents infringement claim against Google

      The dispute centres on Ona Patents’ EP 2 263 098. The patent, entitled “Positioning of mobile objects based on mutually transmitted signals”, protects technology that can locate paired accessories such as headphones, even after signal interruption. This enables the saving of the device’s last known location at the point where the signal was lost.

  • Software Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ NovaCloud networking patent monopoly prior art found

      The team at Unified IP Services used Pearl to successfully identify and chart prior art against U.S. Patent RE47612, owned by NovaCloud Licensing LLC, an NPE. The ‘612 patent monopoly generally relate to a streaming server and a method for providing a content stream with advertisements embedded therein through a network to a client.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTAB Finds TURNKEY STORAGE Merely Descriptive of Self-Storage Facilities, Noting that "Trademarking" is not a Verb

    The Board affirmed a Section 2(e)(1) mere descriptiveness refusal of the proposed mark TURNKEY STORAGE for the service of providing self-storage facilities [STORAGE disclaimed], rejecting applicant's claim of acquired distinctiveness. The testimony of applicant's expert witness was given little weight, partly because he committed the cardinal sin [at least in my book] of using the term "trademarking" as a verb. In re Turnkey Storage, LLC, Serial No. 97796315 (December 8, 2025) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Lawrence T. Stanley, Jr.).

• Copyrights

  • Futurism ☛ Music Fans Explode With Joy as Bandcamp Bans Hey Hi (AI) Music

    Finally, someone is doing something!

  • France24 ☛ Brazilian cinema strikes gold, confronting harrowed past while captivating audiences worldwide

    Brazil's cinematic renaissance can be attributed to cultural investment, international collaboration, and a country coming to terms with its authoritarian past. Nadia Massih welcomes France 24's correspondent in Rio de Janeiro Jan Onoszko to offer us a world of perspective on Brazil's 7th Art.  The Secret Agent, winner of Two Golden Globes, touches on themes of dictatorship and paranoia, albeit in nuanced fashion, avoiding explicit historical references.