Leftovers

• Hong Kong Free Press ☛ HKFP Lens: Scenes from Macau shot by Portuguese photojournalist Gonçalo Lobo Pinheiro

  Portuguese photojournalist Gonçalo Lobo Pinheiro has spent 14 years documenting life in Macau.

• Standards/Consortia

  • LWN ☛ LWN in EPUB format

    For years we have had occasional requests to be able to receive LWN in

    a format for ebook readers. It took a while, but we are now happy to

    announce that all of LWN's feature content is available, to subscribers at

    the "professional hacker" level and above, in the EPUB format.

  • DomainTools ☛ What’s RDAP and Whereis Whois?

    Whois has been the protocol to communicate domain registration for over 40 years. While the protocol is well understood, it’s dated; Whois records are text files that are easy for human reading but poor for machine processing. RDAP, or Registration Data Access Protocol, was introduced in 2015 to be a replacement for Whois. It was designed from the ground up to be machine readable and addresses many of the shortcomings of Whois.

  • Digital Camera World ☛ What is a JPEG file type? Why the most common image format may not be the best option for photography

    If you want to share a digital photograph, the odds are the file type that you want is a JPEG. But just because the JPEG is one of the most widely used formats doesn’t mean it’s always the best option. Photographers – and anyone who has ever snapped a photo with a camera or a smartphone – should know what a JPEG is, when to use one, and when not to use one. Consider this your Photography 101 course to the ins and outs of a JPEG.

• Science

  • New York Times ☛ Why Convicted Felon Picked a Science Advisor, Michael Kratsios, Who Isn’t a Scientist

    Michael Kratsios, who served in the White House and Defense Department in the first Convicted Felon administration, is a policy specialist on artificial intelligence.

  • Science Alert ☛ The Ocean Surface Is Warming Over 400% Faster Than in The 1980s

    "The hot tap is running much faster."

  • Science Alert ☛ Our Moon Was Geologically Active Just a 'Hot Minute' Ago, Study Finds

    Not as dead as we thought?

  • Science Alert ☛ Breakthrough Discovery: Asteroid Fragments Reveal Ingredients For Life

    Here's what that means.

  • Science Alert ☛ 'Unusual Find': 66-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Vomit Discovered

    Is there carrot in it?

  • Science Alert ☛ Watch Live as NASA Astronauts Collect Microbe Samples During Spacewalk

    What’s lurking on the ISS exterior?

• Hardware

  • Ruben Schade ☛ The Kinesis mWave Keyboard

    I’ve talked here about my preference for split keyboards, though I currently don’t use one. I loved my family’s original Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Natural Keyboard in particular, and I used the 2019 model for several years in spite of its mushy keys.

    Kinesis, known for their ergonomic kit, has announced a mechanical board with a similar split design to the Natural Keyboard.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ TSMC founder says Tim Cook told him in 2011 that defective chip maker Intel did not know how to be a foundry

    Founder of TSMC remembers how his company managed to land a supply contract with Apple.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Public Knowledge ☛ Public Knowledge Rejects Banning Kids from Social Media [Ed: Public Knowledge, with Microsoft in its Board, insists that digital weapons should continue to target children, based on flawed logic]

    Today, Senators Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and other co-sponsors reintroduced the “Kids Off Social Media Act” (KOSMA) to ban minors under the age of 13 from using social control media platforms.

  • Ruben Schade ☛ Useful dreams

    This was a draft post from 2021. Not sure why I didn’t post it.

    Douglas Heingartner shared the findings of a Danish research paper in Psych News Daily which suggested a majority of respondents have useful dreams:

    The results showed that 62% of the participants said they’d had dreams that were of help, or of good use. About 56% said they’d had dreams that influenced their opinions about others, and 54% had had dreams that changed their behavior. [..]

    Among the 62% of respondents who reported having had helpful dreams, the most frequently-cited area of help was in assisting with creative tasks. This was followed close behind by emotional problem-solving, with “providing personal insight” coming in third. [..]

  • University of Michigan ☛ Democrats need a MAHA makeover

    As a kid, I found out I reacted poorly to artificial food dyes. Amid an American culture of sugar and dye indulgence, it was torture to navigate my restrictive health problems. At the time, former first lady Michelle Obama was leading the charge to improve the health of American children and reform our food system.

  • Science Alert ☛ Leading Cause of Death in US Claims A Life Every 34 Seconds

    Most cases are preventable.

  • Science Alert ☛ Surprising Link Between Menthol And Alzheimer's Discovered in Mice

    Could inhaling menthol help fight the disease?

  • Science Alert ☛ [Algorithm] Can Predict Breast Cancer Risk Years Before Diagnosis, Study Finds

    This could save thousands of lives each year.

  • Science Alert ☛ Babies Learn Language Even Earlier Than We Realized, Study Reveals

    They're watching you.

  • Science Alert ☛ Microbes in Your Mouth May Impact Your Risk of Cognitive Decline

    Food for thought.

  • Science Alert ☛ Tuberculosis Outbreak in Kansas Is Among Largest on Record in US

    "This outbreak is still ongoing."

  • The Straits Times ☛ Japan sees record number of suicides among students in 2024

    The exact reason is unknown but it may have to do with studies, bullying, relationships and career choices.

• Proprietary

  • The Next Platform ☛ Azure Can’t Make Up For On Premise Profit Decline At Microsoft

    If you think it might be difficult to sell companies general purpose servers when they are frenzied about GenAI and trying to figure out how to get GPU-accelerated systems, you ought to try to convince the same companies to upgrade to backdoored Windows Server 2025, which launched last November.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    • Sergio Talens-Oliag: Testing DeepSeek with Ollama and Open WebUI

      With all the recent buzz about DeepSeek and its capabilities, I’ve decided to give it a try using Ollama and Open WebUI on my work laptop which has an NVIDIA GPU: [...]

    • Cloudbooklet ☛ DeepSeek Download Tops No 1 Spot in App Store

      See how DeepSeek claims the No. 1 spot on Apple’s App Store, offering users a more intuitive and dynamic Hey Hi (AI) experience that stands out in the market!

    • New York Times ☛ DeepSeek Shows Meta’s Hey Hi (AI) Strategy Is Working

      The Silicon Valley giant was criticized for giving away its core Hey Hi (AI) technology two years ago for anyone to use. Now that bet is having an impact.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ AMD claims RX 7900 XTX outperforms RTX 4090 in DeepSeek benchmarks

      AMD has published benchmarks of DeepSeek's Hey Hi (AI) model with its flagship RX 7900 XTX that show the GPU outperforming both the Nvidia RTX 4090 and RTX 4080 Super using DeepSeek R1.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Ex-Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger's startup chose China's DeepSeek instead of OpenAI

      Pat Gelsinger credited DeepSeek's creative engineering for driving competition and making Hey Hi (AI) more affordable.

    • The Straits Times ☛ DeepSeek’s ‘Sputnik moment’ exposes holes in US chip curbs

      For years, many assumed that the US would dominate in the field of artificial intelligence.

    • Ruben Schade ☛ genAI’s also killed irony

      Mashable:

      Now, Proprietary Chaffbot Company and Abusive Monopolist Microsoft are hitting back at DeepSeek. The companies claim they have evidence that the Chinese company trained their Hey Hi (AI) model by using data it had lifted from OpenAI.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ AMD released instructions for running DeepSeek on Ryzen Hey Hi (AI) CPUs and Radeon GPUs

      AMD has provided instructions on how to run DeepSeek R1 on its latest consumer-based Ryzen Hey Hi (AI) and RX 7000 series CPUs and GPUs.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ Alibaba unveils Qwen 2.5-Max Hey Hi (AI) model, saying it outperforms DeepSeek-V3

      Alibaba Cloud, the clown computing arm of China’s Alibaba Group Ltd., has released its latest breakthrough artificial intelligence large language model just in time for the Chinese New Year: Qwen 2.5-Max, which it claims surpasses today’s most powerful Hey Hi (AI) models.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ Google report finds state-based hackers are using Hey Hi (AI) for research and content generation

      A new report released today by Surveillance Giant Google LLC’s Threat Intelligence Group details how advanced persistence threat groups and coordinated information operations actors from countries such as China, Iran, Russia and North Korea are using generative artificial intelligence in their campaigns — but despite some headlines to the contrary, it’s not quite as bad [...]

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ DeepSeek's Hey Hi (AI) breakthrough bypasses industry-standard CUDA for some functions, uses Nvidia's assembly-like PTX programming instead

      DeepSeek used PTX ISA to fine-tune its Hey Hi (AI) model training.

  • Social Control Media

    • The Straits Times ☛ TikTok to invest $5 billion in Thailand data hosting project, investment board says

      The Chinese firm’s investment was made by its Singapore-based unit.

    • The Straits Times ☛ American-born girl shot dead by father in Pakistan over Fentanylware (TikTok) videos

      The family recently returned to Pakistan after living in the US for about 25 years.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Latvia ☛ Scammers got at least €15.5 million from Latvians last year

      €15.5 million was defrauded from customers of Latvia's four biggest banks last year, with the people themselves confirming the payments. The most popular fraud methods remain the same: phone calls, text messages, and investment scams, Latvian Radio reported on January 29.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ FBI seizes major cybercrime forums in coordinated domain takedown

      The domains for Cracked and Nulled now redirect to FBI-controlled servers.

    • Silicon Angle ☛ FBI seizes domains of Cracked.io and Nulled.to in latest cybercrime crackdown

      The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has seized the domain names of infamous hacking forums Cracked.io and Nulled.to in the latest crackdown on cybercrime. Although the FBI has released no statement on the seizures, visitors to the forums were presented with a banner stating that “this website has been seized” as part of “Operation Talent.”

• Defence/Aggression

  • Defence Web ☛ SAAF criticised for holding golf day amid DRC crisis

    Senior members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) are facing a backlash for holding a South African Air Force (SAAF) golf day at Copperleaf Golf Estate in Centurion while soldiers fight for their lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

  • Defence Web ☛ More calls for SANDF funding rethink and withdrawal from the DRC

    The chorus of calls for South Africa to properly resource its military and withdraw its troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continue after 13 SA National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers were killed there over the last week.

  • Does a photo show Taiwan cargo officials apologizing to China for shipping US tanks?

    Verdict: False.

  • New York Times ☛ In Photos: The Aftermath of the Maha Kumbh Mela Stampede

    Many were feared dead after millions of Hindu pilgrims at a huge Hindu festival in India rushed to bathe in holy river waters.

  • Chronicle Of Higher Education ☛ Dictator Threatens to Deport International Students and Scholars Who Protested the War in Gaza

    The president’s message came in a new executive order on combating antisemitism. Some legal experts are skeptical.

  • France24 ☛ Dictator reiterates Gaza expulsion plan – and stokes security fears

    US President The Insurrectionist’s suggestion that Egypt and Jordan should absorb Palestinians from Gaza has gotten no takers in the Arab world, shocked US allies like France and Germany, and threatens to strengthen Hamas.

  • New York Times ☛ Israel Urged to Reverse UNRWA Ban

    Diplomats at the United Nations Security Council said planned restrictions on the agency, UNRWA, would imperil Palestinians. Only the U.S. sides with Israel.

  • JURIST ☛ Italy PM Giorgia Meloni investigated for release of Libya police chief following ICC warrant

    Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was put under investigation on Tuesday for the release and repatriation of Lybian police chief Osama Almasri Njeem. Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi opened investigations against Giorgia Meloni for allegedly aiding and abetting Almasri. This occurred following a lawsuit issued by Italian lawyer Luigi Li Gotti.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Philippines eyes stricter anti-spy laws as fears of foreign espionage grow

    The move comes as tensions mount over the South China Sea.

  • France24 ☛ "Bad news for democracy", analyst says as Germany's far-right 'firewall' crumbles

    Weeks before Germany's elections, a heated immigration debate inflamed by a deadly knife attack sparked a political earthquake Wednesday when conservative parties for the first time cooperated with the far-right AfD. FRANCE 24's Yinka Oyetade speaks to Sophie Pornschlegel, Deputy Director at Europe Jacques Delors. She says that the move is "bad news for democracy in Germany", as it will hinder the formation of a solid working coalition in the upcoming general election.

  • France24 ☛ HTS rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa is named interim president of Syria

    Ahmed al-Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, was declared Syria's head of state for a transitional phase and empowered to form a new legislative council, state media reported Wednesday. After an Islamist rebel alliance toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime in December, their leader al-Sharaa took over as de facto leader.

  • France24 ☛ Return to Damascus: How to build the new Syria?

    For exiled Syrians, this is their Berlin Wall moment—the doors to a homeland they thought they’d never see again suddenly swinging open. The heady days following December 8th and the fall of Assad’s seemingly immovable regime have brought an unexpected Christmas gift: a return to Damascus. But as the initial euphoria fades, clear-eyed Syrians know better than to declare, “And they all lived happily ever after.” The lessons of the Arab Spring loom large, and the challenges ahead are daunting. How to navigate a landscape shaped by heavily armed factions—sometimes allies, sometimes rivals? What to do with thousands of civil servants and state security employees left unpaid since Assad’s fall? And as the international community moves to lift sanctions, the bigger question remains: how to channel money and efforts toward rebuilding a Syria that is not just revived, but reimagined.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Cambodian gov’t official denies role in Bangkok shooting of opposition critic

      Khliang Huot was heard discussing crackdown on Thailand-based activists in audio clips posted to Facebook (Farcebook) last year

    • RFERL ☛ Putin Says Ready For Peace Talks, But Not With 'Illegitimate' Zelenskyy

      Russian President Vladimir Putin has again ruled out direct peace talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy whom he called "illegitimate," prompting the Ukrainian leader to accuse Putin of being "afraid" of negotiating a settlement to the almost three-year-old war.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Strikes Russian Oil Refinery In Major Attack On Energy Infrastructure

      Officials in multiple Russian regions reported major Ukrainian drone strikes overnight targeting energy infrastructure, including a nuclear power site, while the Ukrainian and Russian presidents exchanged insults over the possibility of peace negotiations.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukraine Giving Up Nukes Was 'Absolutely Stupid, Illogical, And Very Irresponsible,' Zelenskyy Says

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was optimistic about U.S. pressure on Moscow to end Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine, according to a new interview, though he said he thought President The Insurrectionist was unclear how to do that.

    • France24 ☛ Petro Poroshenko: 'We should not only win the war, we should win the peace'

      When he was Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko says he knew how to get along with The Insurrectionist. The leader of the opposition European Solidarity party tells François Picard about how to handle the new administration in Washington and confirms that he’s ready when the time comes to throw his hat in the ring for a return to power. But it's not time for elections, he explains. "You can't have elections and unity", Ukraine can only win this battle by "demonstrating strength through unity", alongside Europe, the US. The Russian president only understands "the language of strength." Mr. Poroshenko says that Putin wants "all of Ukraine" and wants him dead. "But I will not leave. Try to find a compromise between that!" And so here's Mr. Poroshenko's vision for victory: "No compromise on sovereignty, national identity, territorial integrity, the armed forces, Russian sanctions, and no compromise on future EU and NATO membership. "Everything else is possible!"

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Can increased energy sector sanctions pressure Putin into peace talks?

      US President The Insurrectionist has warned Russia that he will impose economic measures including taxes, tariffs, and sanctions unless Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees to end the war in Ukraine, writes Aura Sabadus.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ The West must study the success of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces

      The success of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces in the war against Russia can provide a range of valuable lessons for Kyiv's Western partners that will shape military doctrines for years to come, writes Doug Livermore.

    • France24 ☛ A US shutdown on foreign aid is hitting from Africa to Asia to Ukraine

      U.S.-funded aid programs around the world were firing staff and shutting down or preparing to stop operations, as the Convicted Felon administration's unprecedented freeze on almost all foreign assistance brought their work to a sudden halt. FRANCE 24's Charli James reports

    • LRT ☛ Migration to Lithuania: more Filipinos, fewer Ukrainians

      Lithuania’s migration policy favours the Philippines, says the chief of the Migration Department, while a growing number of residence permit holders also come from India and Bangladesh.

    • RFERL ☛ Investigation: How China Feeds Critical Rare Minerals To Russia's War Machine

      An investigation by RFE/RL’s Schemes has found that companies at least partially owned by the Chinese state are feeding critical minerals to Russian suppliers to manufacturers of weapons the Kremlin has used to pummel Ukraine since its all-out invasion nearly three years ago.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy Presses Ukraine's Cause With Gathered World Leaders In Poland

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed efforts to bolster support as world leaders gathered in Poland to mark the 80th anniversary of the Auschwitz death camp liberation, while on the battlefield Russian forces pressed their assault on Pokrovsk, their major target over recent months.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Seizes Another Town in Ukraine in Push to Take All of Donetsk

      Moscow’s troops used the same pincer tactic on Velyka Novosilka that has enabled their recent capture of town after town in eastern Ukraine.

    • Meduza ☛ Russia confirms capture of Australian who fought for Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Ukraine’s defense minister is being investigated for abuse of power — and could face up to six years in prison — Meduza

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Bigger than the Berlin Airlift: How NATO’s natural gas shut down a key Russian pipeline

      NATO's formidable defense of Europe against Russian energy aggression has shut down one of the last natural gas connections between the EU and Russia. These efforts are reminiscent of the 1948 Berlin Airlift, and mark a moment in geopolitics, energy security, and climate progress that merits celebration.

    • LRT ☛ Over 700 Russians, Belarusians deemed threat to Lithuania’s security last year

      Last year, 598 Belarusian and 125 Russian citizens were recognised as a threat to Lithuania’s state security, public order, or human health, the Migration Department reported on Wednesday.

    • Press Gazette ☛ Law firm OK to represent Russian warlord against UK editor, legal watchdog rules

      Bellingcat editor Eliot Higgins lost £70,000 defending against the spurious claim.

    • Meduza ☛ So, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church wants to ban Satanism Meduza explains how the crackdown would expand ‘anti-extremism’ policing and expose new ideological hypocrisies — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian court reduces sentences of prison guards who tortured and raped inmate, allowing for their early release — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian authorities sign contracts to send orphans and disabled children to oil-polluted Black Sea beaches — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Syria’s new authorities call on Russia to ‘take past mistakes into account’ and pay compensation — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ E.U. proposes disconnecting 15 Russian banks from SWIFT as part of new sanctions package — Bloomberg — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Kyiv mayor accuses new military administration head of trying to ‘unbalance power’ in the city, asks Zelensky to intervene — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Doing everything he can to drag out the war’ Zelensky slams Putin’s claim that he’s open to talks but that Ukrainian president can’t sign peace deal — Meduza

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania’s intelligence chief wants tougher punishments for spying

      People should face tougher punishments for spying for another country, Darius Jauniškis, director of Lithuania’s State Security Department, has said.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ Bangladesh train services resume after strike called off

      DHAKA - Train services in Bangladesh resumed on Wednesday after railway workers ended their indefinite strike, which had brought the country’s rail network to a halt.

    • NYPost ☛ Fox News reads transcript from Air Traffic Control on the aircraft collision near Reagan National Airport

      The Associated Press released a transcript of Air Traffic Control trying to contact the military helicopter that crashed into a passanger jet while attempting to land at Ronald Reagan National Airport.

    • New York Times ☛ The Citizen Scientists of Fukushima

      Armed with measuring devices, groups of citizens are embracing science to monitor radioactive fallout — and regain control of lives upended by the 2011 meltdowns in Fukushima.

  • Overpopulation

    • Overpopulation ☛ The Need For More Wilderness Preservation

      In a picture essay with stunning photos from all around the United States, ecologist and author George Wuerthner highlights how valuable wilderness preservation is for both wildlife and human societies. >

• Finance

  • Green Party UK ☛ “The idea that we have to choose between economic prosperity and safeguarding our children’s future is absolute nonsense”

    Responding to Rachel Reeves’ speech on economic growth, Green Party Co-Leader, Adrian Ramsay MP, said “The idea that we have to choose between economic prosperity and safeguarding our children’s future is absolute nonsense – in fact it’s quite the opposite."

  • France24 ☛ Dictator administration withdraws freeze on federal grants

    The White House rescinded an order freezing all federal grants and loans on Wednesday. Acting director Matthew J. Vaeth for the Office of Management and Budget, which issued the freeze order, told federal agencies that the memo suspending the funds had been “rescinded”, The New York Times reported.

  • Marcy Wheeler ☛ Judge AliKhan Didn’t Halt Convicted Felon’s Funding Freeze Alone, Democracy Forward Did Too

    Coverage of the halt Judge Loren AliKhan ordered on Convicted Felon's cuts to federal funding focus on her actions. But the lawsuit itself arises from the kind of civil society networks that are crucial to battling fascist attacks on democracy and tolerance.

  • New York Times ☛ The Bond Market Is Flashing a Warning about Convicted Felon Tariff and Spending Plans

    Fears of inflation and more debt are already making borrowing more expensive.

  • Rlang ☛ Anomaly Detection of the S&P 500

    Since the date the Bank of Japan (BoJ) increased the interest rate, there seems to have yet been tested an anomaly for the S&P 500 despite the strategists saying it is overvalued.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • New York Times ☛ Meta Agrees to Pay Convicted Felon $25 Million to Settle His Lawsuit

    President Convicted Felon had sued Meta and other tech firms in 2021, arguing that he had been wrongfully censored by them. Meta also reported revenue and profit growth for the fourth quarter.

  • New York Times ☛ DeepSeek’s Hey Hi (AI) Chatbot Awkwardly Navigates China’s Censors

    Asked about sensitive topics, the bot would begin to answer, then stop and delete its own work. It refused to answer questions like: “Who is Pooh-tin Jinping?”

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Exiled citizen journalist Li Ying is a ‘top priority’ for Beijing

    ‘Mr Li is not your teacher’ to keep posting censored news despite China’s targeting of him, his family and follower

  • Press Gazette ☛ Jewish Chronicle announces new editor, new look and revamped membership

    World's oldest Jewish newspaper appoints Daniel Schwammenthal to replace Jake Wallis Simons.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • European Commission ☛ Speech at the European Parliament's Disability Intergroup

    European Commission Speech Brussels, 29 Jan 2025 I am delighted to be with you to speak about this important topic. .

  • JURIST ☛ Canada judge slams youth strip-search policy as violation of charter rights

    An Ontario Court judge ruled on Tuesday that the two teenage girls charged in the swarming death of Kenneth Lee had their charter rights violated and called the provincial government’s strip-search policy as ‘troubling’. The judge opted to give the accused girls a reduced sentence.

  • ACLU ☛ Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Birthright Citizenship?

    Hours into his presidency, The Insurrectionist issued an executive order that would rewrite the constitution and deny millions of people citizenship, putting them at risk of statelessness, deportation, and civil rights abuses. This order, which has been blocked by a federal judge for now, is an attack on a fundamental constitutional protection and contrary to the core constitutional principle of equality and inclusion.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Pentagon agency pauses celebrations for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Black History Month and more

    The Defense Department intelligence agency has paused observances of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Pride Month, Holocaust Days of Remembrance and other cultural or historical annual events in response to President The Insurrectionist’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal workplace. The instructions were published Tuesday in a Defense Intelligence Agency memo obtained by The Associated Press and affect 11 annual events, including Black History Month, which begins Saturday, and National Hispanic Heritage Month. An official says the pause was initiated by the agency and appears not to be policy across the Defense Department.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Alice Mikhaylenko: New Website

    I finally got distracted enough to finish my website that has been saying "under construction" for over a year, since I set up this server for my Sharkey instance.

    I've wanted to do this for a while - one, so that I actually have a home page, and two, so that I can move my blog here instead of using WordPress.

    Initially I wanted to use a static generator like Hugo, but then I discovered that the web server I'm using (Caddy) can do templates.

  • APNIC ☛ Network traffic modelling approaches

    Guest Post: Exploring the characteristics of various traffic models using synthetic data to gain insight into traffic patterns.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• CNBC ☛ UK raises cloud competition concerns, names Abusive Monopolist Microsoft and Amazon as dominant players

  Britain’s antitrust watchdog on Tuesday raised concerns over competition in the multi-billion-pound cloud computing market and singled out Microsoft and Amazon as the dominant players. An independent Competition and Markets Authority inquiry group provisionally recommended that the regulator considers investigating Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft’s Azure cloud unit under the new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act.

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Is Surveillance Giant Google Simply Asking for More Efficient Infringement?

    Three new amicus briefs were recently filed supporting EcoFactor in the pending en banc case against Surveillance Giant Google over patent monopoly damages methodology.

  • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ Examination & Appeal Changes in Brazil: What Can We Learn from Recent Cases

    In 2024, the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office (BRPTO) introduced pivotal changes to the appeal stage. Appeals has long been critical for applicants seeking to overturn unfavorable first-instance decisions.