Leftovers

• Science

  • MIT Technology Review ☛ Odd new tricks from a massive black hole

    In 2018 astronomers at MIT and elsewhere observed previously unseen behavior from a black hole known as 1ES 1927+654, which is about as massive as a million suns and sits in a galaxy 270 million light-years away.

• Career/Education

  • New York Times ☛ Some Harvard Donors Still Want It to Strike a Deal With Convicted Felon

    Harvard frantically tried to avoid a showdown with the Convicted Felon administration. Now many of its big donors are pushing the university’s leaders to back down and renew talks with the White House.

• Hardware

  • Ruben Schade ☛ #Japan2025 Cameras, and Ninomae Ina’nis

    I’m typing this today as we travel from Tōkyō to Nagoya on the Shinkansen, the best form of transport in the world. It’s fast, quiet, convenient, smooth, spotless, punctual, and the booking system is even understandable after you’ve made a bunch of mistakes! The seats in the reserved Green Cars are bigger and more comfortable than business class on a loud, shaky aircraft, and the windows are gigantic. You also board at a station without going through all the rigmarole of an airport.

  • Hackaday ☛ EInk PDA Revisited

    In the dark ages, before iOS and Android phones became ubiquitous, there was the PDA. These handheld computers acted as simple companions to a computer and could often handle calendars, email, notes and more. Their demise was spelled by the smartphone, but the nostalgia of having a simple handheld and romanticizing about the 90’s and 2000’s is still there. Fortunately for the nostalgic among our readers, [Ashtf] decided to give us a modern take on the classic PDAs.

  • New Intel CEO announces major layoffs to streamline operations

    Intel is preparing to cut more than 20% of its workforce as part of a sweeping effort to eliminate bureaucracy and rebuild its engineering-driven culture.

  • Mansueto Ventures ☛ Why Intel Reportedly Plans to Lay Off 20 Percent of Its Workforce

    Intel’s brand-new CEO took a big step in his effort to turn the chipmaker around, slashing costs by shedding 21,000 workers.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • University of Michigan ☛ Photo Essay: ‘Out of the Darkness’ walk

    Trigger warning: This article contains sensitive content concerning the topic of suicide. Ten colors. Ten wounds. Ten ways to say “you’re not alone.” Color by color, the invisible becomes visible. At the University of Michigan’s annual “Out of the Darkness” walk, hundreds of attendees join on a journey for suicide prevention and awareness.

  • The Strategist ☛ To prepare for future threats, treat health security as national security

    Health security is often seen as a peripheral security domain, and as a problem that is difficult to address. These perceptions weaken our capacity to respond to borderless threats.

  • Pro Publica ☛ New Law Increases Oversight of Arizona Sober Living Homes

    Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed legislation increasing oversight of sober living homes, two years after state officials announced that a Medicaid fraud scheme had targeted Native Americans seeking drug and alcohol treatment.

    The bill, sponsored by three Republicans, amends state law for the regulation and licensing of sober living homes. It places new demands on the Arizona Department of Health Services, though a lawmaker from the Navajo Nation expressed concern that the bill does not go far enough in addressing root causes of the fraud.

• Proprietary

  • Pro Publica ☛ Trump Tariff Exemptions Benefit Politically Connected Firms

    After President Donald Trump announced sweeping new tariffs earlier this month, the White House released a list of more than a thousand products that would be exempted.

    One item that made the list is polyethylene terephthalate, more commonly known as PET resin, the thermoplastic used to make plastic bottles.

  • The Register UK ☛ When Microsoft made the Windows as a Service pivot • The Register

  • The Register UK ☛ IBM earnings beat dragged down by DOGE contract roulette • The Register

  • The Business Journals ☛ IBM dodges major blow from DOGE, tariffs

  • IBM reports 15 contracts canceled due to DOGE cuts

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • Venture Beat ☛ Batch data processing is too slow for real-time AI: How open-source Apache Airflow 3.0 solves the challenge with event-driven data orchestration

      Open-source data orchestration gets a major rewrite to help support inference and enterprise AI

• Security

  • Security Week ☛ Open Source Security Firm Hopper Emerges From Stealth With $7.6M in Funding

    Hopper has emerged from stealth mode with a solution designed to help organizations manage open source software risk.

  • Security Week ☛ Legacy Surveillance Giant Google Service Abused in Phishing Attacks

    A sophisticated phishing campaign abuses weakness in Surveillance Giant Google Sites to spoof Surveillance Giant Google no-reply addresses and bypass protections.

  • Security Week ☛ Many Malware Campaigns Linked to Proton66 Network

    Security researchers detail various malware campaigns that use bulletproof services linked to Proton66 ASN.

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • JURIST ☛ UN says Asia cybercrime syndicates expanding global reach with tech-fueled scams

      Transnational organized cybercrime groups from East and Southeast Asia are rapidly expanding operations beyond the region, leveraging advanced technologies and strategic relocation to evade growing enforcement pressure, according to a new report published Monday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). >

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Silicon Angle ☛ Google scales back cookie-focused Privacy Sandbox initiative

      Google LLC is scaling back Privacy Sandbox, an initiative it launched in 2019 to reduce the advertising industry’s use of third-party cookies. Privacy Sandbox Vice President Anthony Chavez announced the move in a blog post published today.

  • Confidentiality

    • New York Times ☛ Details Hegseth Shared on Signal Came From a Secure Site

      Information about U.S. strikes in Yemen that the defense secretary put in two group chats came from Central Command, according to two people familiar with the chats.

• Defence/Aggression

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Putin’s cynical Easter ceasefire stunt backfires as Zelenskyy calls his bluff

      Vladimir Putin’s surprise Easter ceasefire announcement was clearly a cynical stunt, but it did inadvertently serve an important purpose by underlining the simple fact that Russia can end the war whenever it chooses, writes Peter Dickinson.

    • Atlantic Council ☛ US-led peace talks hampered by Convicted Felon’s reluctance to pressure Putin

      US-led efforts to end the Russian invasion of Ukraine are being hampered by The Insurrectionist's reluctance to put pressure on Vladimir Putin and force the Kremlin leader to accept a compromise peace, writes Olivia Yanchik.

    • France24 ☛ Russian drones strike Odesa, Zaporizhzhia ahead of Ukraine peace talks in London

      Russian drones targeted Odesa and Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday, a day before Ukrainian, British, French and US officials meet for peace talks in London. The Kremlin has said Russia will consider a proposal from Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to halt attacks on civilian infrastructure for 30 days but warned that such an agreement would take time.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia and Ukraine, Under Convicted Felon Pressure, Signal Openness to Direct Talks

      An unusual public back-and-forth suggested that both sides in the war were eager to at least appear interested in negotiations.

    • Meduza ☛ Putin offers to freeze Ukraine invasion along current battle lines as U.S. suggests recognition of annexed territories — The Financial Times — Meduza

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Pro Publica ☛ Earthjustice’s Abigail Dillen Describes a New Era of Hostility Facing Environmentalists

      Environmentalists have long faced harassment, imprisonment and other forms of retribution in some parts of the world. The U.S. has largely been an exception, a place where people and organizations can freely and safely pursue efforts to protect human health and nature — sometimes working hand in hand with the government.

      But the treatment of people who fight pollution has palpably changed in recent months.

    • US Layoffs: Houston-Based Oil and Gas Giant ConocoPhillips To Cut Jobs Due to Cost-Cutting Measures, Streamlining Operations

      ConocoPhillips, an independent exploration and product (E&P) company, will reportedly lay off several employees as a part of cost-cutting measures and streamlining its operations. The US-based oil and gas producer will reduce the employee headcount as a part of its broader push after the USD 23 billion buyout of rival Marathon Oil company.

      According to a report by Reuters, ConocoPhillips layoffs were a sign of struggles in the oil and gas industry. The industry faced higher costs and lower revenues as the price reached USD 63 per barrel. The exploration companies said they could not drill and make profits if the price fell below USD 65 a barrel. Intel Layoffs Coming This Week? Chipmaker May Announce Over 20% Job Cuts To Restructure and Streamline Operations.

• Finance

  • France24 ☛ IMF slashes global growth forecast amid Convicted Felon tariff turmoil

    The International Monetary Fund said it expected global economic growth to be slower and sharply downgraded its forecast for US growth as a result of The Insurrectionist's tariffs and the uncertainty they created. It also warned risks to the global financial sector had significantly risen since last autumn.

    But first, we look at why it's important for central banks to be free from political meddling, as The Insurrectionist's intensifying attacks against Fed chairman Jerome Powell rattled markets.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Meduza ☛ Russian sovereign wealth fund suspends internships amid fears of leaker after Navalny team exposes wealth of CEO Kirill Dmitriev, a key figure in talks with U.S. — Meduza

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ The Asia Pacific region prepares for WTDC-25

    Insights from the recent APT WTDC25-3, RDF-ASP, and RPM-ASP ahead of WTDC-25.

  • Bryan Lunduke ☛ Dead Internet Theory Confirmed: 51% of Traffic Now Non-Human

    Even worse: 37% of all Internet traffic is from "malicious bots" according to the 2025 "Bad Bot Report".

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Digital Music News ☛ Spotify 1,000-Stream Minimum Debate Continues As Distribution Exec Claps Back Against the ‘Patently Unfair Practice’ [Ed: Digital Restrictions (DRM) are also not fair]

    Let the debate over Spotify’s 1,000-stream royalties threshold continue: A distribution exec is firing back against the service’s defense of the controversial minimum. As many know, that much-criticized model went into effect at the behest of the majors last year.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ The Priority Paradox: In re Floyd Highlights the Dual Standards of Written Description and Anticipation

    While a design patent monopoly can technically claim priority to a prior utility patent, that approach takes some planning and forethought to ensure that the utility patent's drawings and disclosure sufficiently show possession of the specific ornamental design features that will later be claimed in the design application.  Ideally, the drawings in the utility filing would be identical to those later included in the design application.

    This situation is exemplified by the Federal Circuit's recent decision In re Floyd (Fed. Cir. April 22, 2025) (non-precedential).  The claimed design is a cooling blanket -- with the drawings showing a 6x5 array pattern.  The priority filing included a 6x6 array, a 6x4 array, and a statement that the array could include a plurality of array layouts.  But, the priority

  • Software Patents

    • SCOTUS Denies Petitions from Summary Judgment Rulings on Section 101, Attorney’s Fees Awards

      On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court published an order list denying petitions for writ of certiorari in several IP cases, including a pair of petitions challenging Section 101 rulings by lower courts at the summary judgment phase despite alleged factual disputes. The Court also denied a pro se appeal from a patent monopoly examiner’s rejection of patent monopoly claims covering nutritional products, and a pair of petitions challenging standards for awarding attorney’s fees in trademark and copyright monopoly cases.

• Copyrights

  • Digital Music News ☛ Australia’s Bluefest Clocks 109,000 Attendees—Though the Wider Festival Sector Is Still in Crisis

    Australia’s Bluefest 2025 drew a record 109,000 attendees—the third-highest in its history. It’s also the largest attendance record for any Australian festival since the pandemic. Despite organizers’ stating ‘festivals are back’, the live music scene in Australia is still struggling.

• Gemini* and Gopher

  • Personal/Opinions

    • Channel your emotions into your art

      A pretty short message. Emotions are powerful things, directing the energy they carry into something you make can be very rewarding.

      I was feeling particularly annoyed about something today, and instead of lashing out at people, or quietly stirring in that annoyance, I decided to draw about it. The annoyance isn't gone, but I feel better. I'm also pretty glad how the drawing turned out, certainly better than I expected.

  • Technology and Free Software

    • Owning Physical Copies

      "Progress". That's the term they use to describe streaming services, a "leap" in progress. It might as well be called another misstep in the descent of man. The fact they wish to digitalize everything without a second thought is not only arrogant, but downright skeptic. If you don't really own something, what's the point in paying for it if at any time, a company, anyone can take it away from you?

      Physical copies matter because without them we wouldn't have videos in the digital realm, heck, I'm not sure we would have YouTube.