Leftovers

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • NYPost ☛ Tyler Allgeier happy to share Cardinals’ running back load with Jeremiyah Love

    Cardinals running back Tyler Allgeier says it's all love with rookie Jeremiyah Love.

  • Science Alert ☛ Brain Dramatically Remodels Its Cellular Composition, Starting in Midlife

    The brain swaps cell types, starting at around age 50.

  • Science Alert ☛ JWST May Have Just Found Heavy Water on an Alien World

    "A new era in exoplanet research".

  • Science Alert ☛ Color Blind? Just 3 Amino Acids Separate Red From Green Vision

    Seeing red.

  • Science Alert ☛ Earth's Biggest Mass Extinction Reveals Chilling Parallels to Today's World

    "The good news is, we're still at the point where we can change things."

  • Science Alert ☛ There's One Creature of The Deep That Can Scare Even Orcas Away

    But why?

  • Science Alert ☛ The Large Hadron Collider May Already Have Detected Hints of Dark Matter

    Hear us out...

  • Science Alert ☛ Rare Genetic Disorder Leaves Bones Unable to Harden – And Many Patients Don't Even Know They Have It

    Here’s what we know.

• Hardware

  • Jonathan McDowell: My CPU died

    I built my current house server back in 2019. It had an upgrade from the original Ryzen 2700 to a 5700G in late 2021, but otherwise is still running with the original setup. Back in November it developed some erratic behaviour (initially manifesting as problems with the TPM, which is ironic as I’ve spent a bunch of time at my day job trying to improve TPM reliability), culminating in unreliable reboots.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Examining the best options for PCIe SSDs during the RAMpocalypse — capacity trumps raw speed for most tasks

    High SSD speeds are helpful in many applications, but should they trump the capacity of the SSD when it comes to gaming?

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Shanghai Aishengna named as the maker of China's first domestic immersion DUV chipmaking tools — first viable domestic 7nm-capable scanner to be completed by 2038

    Aishengna has been named by a single source who declined to be named, and its shareholders, SMEE, and Yuliangsheng didn’t respond to requests for comment.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ India takes action against 90% of inspected high-risk pharmaceutical facilities: Regulator

    This comes after Indian-made cough syrups were linked by global health authorities to child deaths in other countries.

  • France24 ☛ No, there's no proof sunscreen increases cancer risk

    Social media posts are pointing to a study of more than 470,000 people to argue that sunscreen increases the risk of skin cancer. However, the study didn't examine whether sunscreen is dangerous, and its findings have been largely distorted.

  • Bridge Michigan ☛ Planned Parenthood of Michigan closes three more clinics; cites federal cuts

    Michigan’s largest abortion provider — and provider of other sexual health services — continued to shrink its footprint Thursday, announcing the immediate closure of three more brick-and-mortar clinics.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Banned by China, Taiwan’s prized mangoes debut and sell out in Europe even with steep price tag

    In France, a single fruit cost as much as $37.

  • Futurism ☛ Almost the Entire Country Is Drowning in Cases of Explosive Diarrhea

    So much for "under control."

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Suicide among children and teens hit ten-year high last year, but overall figures decline – NGO

    The suicide rate among Hong Kong children and teens hit a 10-year high last year, an NGO has said, as it urged the government to expand its existing suicide prevention mechanism for students.

  • Federal News Network ☛ To protect patients, Washington must treat healthcare cybersecurity as a priority

    The next cyberattack is not a matter of if but when, and our collective preparedness must rise to meet that certainty.

• Proprietary / SaaS

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Apple’s stock slides as it blames supply chain constraints for its weak guidance

    iPhone maker Fashion Company Apple Inc. reported better-than-expected earnings and revenue as it delivered its third quarter results, thanks to a 22% surge in handset sales.

  • New York Times ☛ Apple’s Profit Is Up 27%, but Expectations for Current Quarter Disappoint

    The company recently raised prices on a number of products because of component supply shortages caused by the artificial intelligence boom.

  • So-Called 'Artificial Intelligence' ('AI') / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • New York Times ☛ Why an Hey Hi (AI) Bubble Might Not Be a Bad Thing

      As fears spread over a possible artificial intelligence bubble, some tech investors say: Bring it on.

    • New York Times ☛ Anthropic Says Its Hey Hi (AI) Systems Broke Into Computers at 3 Organizations

      The disclosure followed OpenAI’s report last week that its own artificial intelligence had hacked into the network of an online library.

    • Security Week ☛ ‘DangleGeddon’: Hey Hi (AI) Could Weaponize Forgotten DNS Records at Global Scale

      Researchers warn that Hey Hi (AI) could turn dangling DNS takeovers into a nation-state weapon capable of disrupting governments, banks and global supply chains.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Amazon accidentally spent $1.8 million using Claude for menial coding task, went 860% over budget —'catastrophically expensive' coding blunders discovered in internal Amazon Hey Hi (AI) usage metrics

      An internal presentation revealed that a failed Hey Hi (AI) deployment cost Amazon $1.8 million, while a couple of other projects resulted in hundreds of thousands of extra Hey Hi (AI) expense. What's worse is that the issue went undetected for several months.

    • It's FOSS ☛ GCC Compiler Bans Hey Hi (AI) Code Contribution But Sensibly

      The GCC Steering Committee adopted a new Hey Hi (AI) policy this week, with a review planned for early 2027.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ LinkedIn cracks down on users posting ‘AI slop’ after previously encouraging it

      Microsoft Corp.’s Microsoft's Surveillance Arm LinkedIn is making a concerted effort to combat “AI slop,” or the low-quality, artificial intelligence-generated content that has been increasingly dominating user’s feeds.

  • Social Control Media

    • The Straits Times ☛ Thai YouTuber Hlun Solo found dead in Georgia

      The Youtuber had travelled to Georgia alone to film content.

    • The Straits Times ☛ India summons Meta executives over briefly restricted Modimir Facebook (Farcebook) post

      A Meta spokesperson said at the time that the post had been blocked inadvertently.

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • RedMonk ☛ Who’s Writing Open Source Code? [Ed: Microsoft front group]

      As Hey Hi (AI) steadily reshapes the software industry around it as open source once did before it, it’s useful to try and understand where those two forces intersect. Open source has, as it has with virtually every other industry software category, had an enormous impact on AI.

• Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)

  • TechRepublic ☛ GitHub Automatically Holds Suspicious Actions Runs, but Repository Owners Must Approve Them

    GitHub’s new Actions safeguard pauses potentially malicious workflow runs before execution, leaving repository owners to decide who can approve them and what checks must come first.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Futurism ☛ Wild Footage Shows Man Blocking Flock Camera With Comically Gigantic Protest Sign

      "We didn't give them permission to do it on us."

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean prisons use VR to put inmates in victims’ shoes

    The programme will begin full operations from late July after a pilot involving 392 inmates showed improvements.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea state media says US Forces’ Japan expansion raises risk of Korean peninsula clash

    KCNA said US Forces Japan was becoming a full-fledged “war command” with increase in headquarters personnel.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea evacuates border residents after US drone mix-up

    The US military confirmed the American drone was taking part in a joint training with South Korea.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea reviews near-shootdown of US military drone near border

    SEOUL, July 31 - South Korean military inspectors will visit an army corps on Friday to review an incident in which troops nearly shot down an unidentified aircraft near the border with North Korea before determining it was a U.S. drone taking part in a joint exercise, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

  • Defence Web ☛ How to stop South Africans getting away with murder

    South Africa recorded 23 096 murders in the last reporting year.

  • Futurism ☛ Shell Is Profiting Massively Off the War in Iran

    Its profits doubled compared to last year.

  • JURIST ☛ Amnesty report reveals Shell documents confirm complicity in Nigerian oil spills

    Amnesty International on Wednesday called on Shell plc to answer for decades of pollution in the Niger Delta following release of a report detailing how Shell oil pollution has damaged water, farmland, fisheries, health and livelihoods, while the company continued to profit and deny responsibility.

  • France24 ☛ Spain deploys military as hundreds cross into Ceuta from Morocco

    Spain will deploy military units to support police in Ceuta after hundreds of migrants breached the border fences from Morocco on Thursday, overwhelming local security forces. Nine bodies have been recovered, a Spanish government spokeswoman said Thursday.

  • France24 ☛ Spain to deploy military to restore order in Ceuta after thousands of people breach Morocco’s border

    Madrid on Thursday said it would deploy soldiers to Ceuta to ensure security after hundreds of migrants entered the Spanish north African exclave from Morocco, mainly by swimming, and reported nine deaths. The ​Italian ​government is considering ​suspending ‌the ⁠EU ‌Schengen ⁠agreement with ​Spain ‌in light of ‌the ​migrant crisis in ​Ceuta. FRANCE 24's Sarah Morris reports from Madrid.

  • The Straits Times ☛ New Zealand top diplomat draws Chinese embassy complaint in racism row

    Winston Peters told a lawmaker of Chinese descent to “go back to your own country”.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Official criticises ‘anti-China bias’ after ex-banker calls Hong Kong ‘just another big Chinese city’

    A top official has hit back at remarks by a former Morgan Stanley Asia chair who said Hong Kong has become “just another big Chinese city,” arguing that his views were rooted in anti-China bias rather than objective analysis.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s military, coast guard, patrol contested shoal in South China Sea

    Tensions have recently flared between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China protests over New Zealand foreign minister's jibe at Chinese-born lawmaker

    China made a diplomatic protest to New Zealand on Thursday after Foreign Minister Winston Peters characterised a Chinese-born lawmaker as a "loudmouth" whom he urged to "go back to your own country" during a debate in parliament.

  • The Strategist ☛ China pushes harder in South China Sea – as global attention drifts away

    In the South China Sea, China is expanding its presence in disputed waters and adopting increasingly dangerous tactics against neighbouring states. At the same time, it is challenging the centrality of the United Nations Convention ...

  • The Straits Times ☛ China's Pooh-tin urges deeper anti-graft fight in military, Xinhua reports

    BEIJING, July 31 - China's President Pooh-tin Jinping urged senior leaders of the ruling Communist Party on Friday to deepen the fight against corruption in the military and to advance the modernisation of national defence, state news agency Xinhua reported.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Strikes Ukraine With Missiles and Drones, Killing at Least 8

      President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said five members of a family had been killed in the latest large-scale aerial assault by Moscow.

    • New York Times ☛ NATO Says Russian Missile Hit Poland During Ukraine Attack

      Russian missiles have briefly entered Polish airspace in the past. Investigators have yet to definitively identify the object that struck overnight.

    • New York Times ☛ Political Turmoil Will Not Derail Killer Robot Program, Former Minister Says

      The recently ousted Ukrainian defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, an advocate for drone and robot warfare, says Ukraine’s tech-heavy strategy will persist.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Kyiv’s ambassador on how Ukraine revived vital ties with US

      Outgoing Ukrainian Ambassador Olga Stefanishyna met with reporters for a Monitor Breakfast to discuss the war, Convicted Felon-Zelenskyy relations, and corruption charges facing herself and the government.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Missile Strike On Ukrainian Village Kills Almost Entire Family

      KRYVIY RIH -- Russian ballistic missile strike hit a home in the village of Radushne in Ukraine's southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, killing almost an entire family, as local officials reported at least nine people dead and dozens of others injured across the country.

    • JURIST ☛ Russia charges Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorism

      Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on Wednesday charged Pavel Durov, founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, with aiding terrorism, and subsequently placed him on an international wanted list.

    • France24 ☛ Russian missiles interception rate in Ukraine dropped from 90% back in March to 70%, expert says

      A Russian ballistic missile and drone barrage across Ukraine overnight killed at least 10 civilians, including children. Ukraine's air force said it had managed to intercept 55 missiles and 265 drones launched by Moscow -- but it has struggled to intercept the advanced ballistic missiles that Russia is increasingly deploying. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney, former British Army captain, Patrick Bury, Senior Associate Professor in Warfare and Counter-terrorism at the University of Bath, explains that "the average interception rate of Russian missiles has dropped from probably around 90% back in March to 70-75%, sometimes below"

    • European Commission ☛ Commission disburses another €3.47 billion to Ukraine for drones, missiles, air defence and fighter jets

      European Commission Press release Brussels, 30 Jul 2026 The European Commission has today disbursed €3.47 billion to Ukraine, under the defence window of the €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan.

    • France24 ☛ Warsaw blames Moscow after a missile crashes in Poland

      Polish authorities are investigating an object that came down in eastern Poland overnight and is thought to be a Russian missile, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday. The discovery followed reports of an explosion, with investigators finding a crater and debris scattered across a nearby field.

    • France24 ☛ 'Not an infringement on freedom of expression': French minister defends expulsion of Russian pundit

      France's Interior Minister Laurent Nunez defended the decision to expel pro-Kremlin commentator Xenia Fedorova, saying on Thursday that the measure was "not an infringement on freedom of expression". Authorities ordered her to leave France on Wednesday amid allegations that she had relayed Kremlin propaganda on French TV channels.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Federal News Network ☛ Whistleblower protections only matter if employees know where to turn when they uncover a problem

    "The consistent lesson is that when employees trust the process, they are able to surface problems that lead to meaningful reforms," said Charles Baldis.

  • Federal News Network ☛ The U.S. has protected whistleblowers since the Continental Congress

    "People want to do the right thing. And if they have the ability to safely and confidentially report, they will," said Stephen Kohn.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ China’s car sector seeking new stability amid slumping domestic sales, structural headwinds

      Subsidy cuts and weak consumer sentiment are testing Chinese carmakers as the high-growth era ends.

    • The Straits Times ☛ China generates less than half of its electricity from coal for the first time

      This marks a key milestone as the country moves towards clean energy.

• Finance

  • New York Times ☛ China, Its Economy Stumbling, Signals Only Cautious Support

    The ruling Politburo called for “more proactive” tax and spending policies but did not endorse broad action to address weak consumer spending.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Daniel Pocock ☛ New public holidays: St George's Day and the politics of Saints

    The Universal Declaration of Human Rights tells us everybody is equal. Therefore, we have a right to equal holidays. I don't feel there is anything unreasonably nationalistic about this. The people of every country and culture like to reflect on their heritage for a day. Whether you are a lefty or a conservative, I feel you have a right to celebrate your national day and your national Saint as you see fit.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • New Yorker ☛ How The Insurrectionist Silenced the Voice of America

    The agency was created to spread the story of freedom and democracy around the world. Now, with many of its journalists being paid to stay home, it’s delivering a very different message.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Why reporting of Ann Widdecombe killing pushed legal boundaries

    Daily Mail first to name suspect in Widdecombe murder case before charge.

  • JURIST ☛ Federal judge dismisses FBI Director Kash Patel’s defamation suit against blogger for lack of jurisdiction

    A US federal judge in Nevada on Thursday dismissed a defamation lawsuit brought by FBI Director Kash Patel and his nonprofit foundation against a California blogger on July 25.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Police and crime commissioner to pay Allison Pearson ‘substantial damages’

    Telegraph columnist receives five-figure sum in complaint against Essex police boss.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • BIA Net ☛ Turkey declares Italian high school executive 'persona non grata'

    The school dismissed 10 teachers after they won a strike demanding better wages in early June. Teachers say they they faced severe workplace harassment following the strike.

  • JURIST ☛ US federal judge strikes down Houston’s race-based contracting program

    A US federal judge on Tuesday ruled that a Houston, Texas, city program establishing racial goals for public contracts violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, striking down the policy in one of the first rulings to extend a Supreme Court landmark 2023 affirmative action holding beyond the context of college admission

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Internet Society ☛ Carrying the Light of the Internet Forward: A Farewell Message from Board Chair Ted Hardie

    Ted Hardie, chair of our Board of Trustees, spoke to Internet Society and Foundation staff on 14 May 2026. After many years of excellent service, Ted's time on the board will conclude on 25 July 2026.

  • New Yorker ☛ The Accidental Architect of the Internet’s Brain

    Steven Pruitt, who is widely regarded as the most prolific Wikipedia editor, has made more than six million edits to the site, and, by extension, has quietly shaped the raw material that every major Hey Hi (AI) chatbot was trained on.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Patents

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Four Petitions, One Question: Tesla Joins the Supreme Court’s IPR Reviewability Docket

      Tesla's new petition joins Google, Intel, and Kahoot! in asking whether courts can review the USPTO's extra-statutory IPR institution rules.

    • Unified Patents ☛ InstaCom communications patent monopoly challenged

      On July 28, 2026, Unified filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 10,298,644, owned and asserted by InstaCom LLC, an NPE and entity of Elon Life LLC. The '644 patent monopoly relates to an instant communications system having established communication channels between communication devices. It was previously asserted against Samsung. 

      View district court litigations by InstaCom.

    • JUVE ☛ Win for Nokia and Cisco as Federal Court of Justice revokes Mala patent

      The dispute centres on EP 2 057 796, entitled “point-to-multipoint functionality in a bridged network”. Mala alleges that Nokia and Cisco Systems are infringing the patent monopoly through their switches for LAN network architecture. The patent monopoly expires in June 2027.

  • Copyrights

    • Digital Music News ☛ Amy Winehouse’s Dad Ordered to Pay Almost $2.7M to Daughter’s Friends After Accusing Them of Auctioning Off Her Belongings

      Amy Winehouse’s dad has been ordered to pay nearly $2.7 million to two of his late daughter’s friends after accusing them of auctioning off her belongings without consent.