Leftovers

• Robert Birming ☛ The overthinking blogger

  Maybe I just need to accept that my blogging will always be a bit of a never-ending dance between platforms and languages.

• Science

  • The Local DK ☛ 'Spectacular' Viking burial site discovered near Aarhus

    According to the museum's archaeologist Mads Ravn, the graves are most likely linked to a noble family from the Viking Age -- which lasted between the eighth and 11th centuries -- whose farm was discovered less than a kilometre from the burial site in the late 1980s.

  • Harvard University ☛ Existential crisis for ‘irreplaceable resource’

    The studies’ biological samples are stored in a network of high-powered freezers, which must maintain temperatures as low as 170 degrees below Celsius. The freezers are filled with liquid nitrogen and maintained by a small staff of research assistants and managers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Grants to operate the biorepository have been terminated.

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Brain Emits a Secret Light That Scientists Are Trying to Read

    It's controversial, absolutely, but it's possible that detecting these 'biophotons' could tell us a thing or two about what takes place beneath our skin.

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ A Number Of Microphones… Er, Inductors, Rather

    There’s a famous old story about [Charles Steinmetz] fixing a generator for [Henry Ford]. He charged a lot of money for putting a chalk X in the spot that needed repair. When [Ford] asked for an itemization, the bill read $1 for the chalk, and the balance for knowing where to draw the X. With today’s PCB layout tools, it seems easy to put components down on a board. But, as [Kasyan TV] points out in the video below, you still have to know where to put them.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Wired ☛ The EPA Plans to ‘Reconsider’ Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos

    With the ban, the US joined over 50 other countries around the world that had banned its use due to health risks. Generally, asbestos is known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, ovarian cancer, and laryngeal cancer. Asbestos exposure is linked to more than 40,000 deaths in the US each year, the EPA noted at the time.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Native American life expectancy is lower than previous estimates show

    The study, novel in its approach, tracks mortality outcomes over time among self-identified AI/AN individuals in a nationally representative cohort known as the Mortality Disparities in American Communities. The researchers linked data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey with official death certificates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System from 2008 through 2019, and found that the life expectancy of AI/AN populations was 6.5 years lower than the national average. They then compared this to data from the CDC’s WONDER database, and found that their numbers were nearly three times greater than the gap reported by the CDC.

• Proprietary

  • France24 ☛ 'We're done with Teams': German state hits uninstall on Microsoft

    "We're done with Teams!" he said, referring to Microsoft's messaging and collaboration tool and speaking on a video call -- via an open-source German program, of course.

    The radical switch-over affects half of Schleswig-Holstein's 60,000 public servants, with 30,000 or so teachers due to follow suit in coming years.

    The state's shift towards open-source software began last year.

  • Futurism ☛ Man Unable to Sleep When His AI-Controlled Mattress Suffers an Outage

    Browne owns an intelligent mattress cooling system called Pod3, created by sleep tech company Eight Sleep. It boasts a host of sensors that track biometrics, including heart rate and sleep stages. An optional cooling cover cycles cooled or heated water through embedded coils, allowing sleepers to either raise or lower the temperature as needed.

    In short, it's an incredibly convoluted system, designed to reengineer something we've taken for granted for centuries.

  • Google ☛ What’s in an ASP? Creative Phishing Attack on Prominent Academics and Critics of Russia

    In cooperation with external partners, Google Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG) observed a Russia state-sponsored cyber threat actor impersonating the U.S. Department of State. From at least April through early June 2025, this actor targeted prominent academics and critics of Russia, often using extensive rapport building and tailored lures to convince the target to set up application specific passwords (ASPs). Once the target shares the ASP passcode, the attackers establish persistent access to the victim’s mailbox. Two distinct campaigns are detailed in this post. This activity aligns with Citizen Lab’s recent research on social engineering attacks against ASPs, another useful resource for high risk users.

  • Security Week ☛ Russian [Crackers] Bypass Gmail MFA with App Specific Password Ruse

    A professional [cracking] team linked to the Russian government has been caught wielding a new, low-and-slow phishing trick that beats two-factor authentication by exploiting Google’s little-known “app-specific password” feature.

  • 404 Media ☛ 40,000 Cameras, From Bird Feeders to Baby Monitors, Exposed to the Internet

    Tens of thousands of security cameras in businesses, CCTV cameras, and cameras from commonplace [Internet]-connected devices were found vulnerable to dark web actors, a new report shows.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • RTL ☛ Humans still behind the wheel: Waymo looks to test its self-driving cars in New York

      Waymo plans to begin operating a small fleet of autonomous vehicles in Manhattan next month, with human drivers at the wheel until regulators allow otherwise, a spokesperson told AFP.

    • 404 Media ☛ The AI Slop Fight Between Iran and Israel

      There’s a lack of footage from the conflict and AI-generated content is filling the void.

    • The Washington Post ☛ Why pushes for more AI from Duolingo and Audible hit a nerve

      People are upset over the quality of AI products and the loss of human jobs. Is it enough to slow the tech down?

    • Wired ☛ This AI Model Never Stops Learning

      Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have now devised a way for LLMs to keep improving by tweaking their own parameters in response to useful new information.

      The work is a step toward building artificial intelligence models that learn continually—a long-standing goal of the field and something that will be crucial if machines are to ever more faithfully mimic human intelligence. In the meantime, it could give us chatbots and other AI tools that are better able to incorporate new information including a user’s interests and preferences.

    • Terence Eden ☛ Why do people have such dramatically different experiences using AI?

      Again, superficially right, but not accurate in the slightest.

      There were half a dozen mistakes in a 300 word article. That, frankly, is shit. I could have copy-typed it and made fewer mistakes. I probably spent more time correcting the output than I saved by using AI.

      Boring old Tesseract - a mainstay of OCR - did far better. Yes, it might occasionally mistake a speck of dust for a comma or confuse two similar characters - but it has never invented new sentences!

    • Monroe Clinton ☛ I Counted All of the Yurts in Mongolia Using Machine Learning

      Naturally, I was impressed by the quantity of yurts I saw, and I was curious: just how many yurts (ger in Mongolian) are in Mongolia and why? This set me on the path drawing bounding boxes on over 10,000 yurts to train a machine learning model to count the rest of the yurts in the country. While I was training the model, I wondered what the story behind these yurts are, I did a small investigation for later in this article. For now, this is the story of counting them.

    • J Kenneth King ☛ Why I Won't Use AI

      If you are a programmer in 2025 you have likely been pressured into adopting generative artificial intelligence tools into your workflow. Maybe you have already been ordered to. You have probably wondered if next year will be the year that you will be replaced with an AI. Or maybe in the next five years. Weren’t we supposed to be replaced already?

      I do not doubt that people using these tools enjoy using them. If you are one of those folks this post isn’t aimed to, “yuck in your yum.” If you find yourself reading this for some reason, thank you, and don’t worry — your golden goose is going to be fine.

      I do intend to cover the moral and ethical reasons why I don’t use AI tools in my work. Perhaps you have also considered these issues. Perhaps you can empathize with them.

  • Social Control Media

    • RTL ☛ As visa processing resumes: US to screen social media of foreign students for anti-American content

      Foreign students applying to study in the US will now be required to make their social media profiles public for screening under new State Department guidelines aimed at identifying anti-American or antisemitic content, officials said Wednesday, as the Trump administration resumes student visa processing after a brief pause.

    • France24 ☛ New US visa rules require foreign students to unlock social media accounts for review

      The US State Department said Wednesday it is restarting the suspended process for foreigners applying for student visas but all applicants will now be required to unlock their social media accounts for government review.

    • India Times ☛ Musk's X sues to block New York social media transparency law

      Elon Musk's X Corp has filed a lawsuit challenging a New York state law that requires social media companies to report how they moderate hate speech and disinformation. The New York law requires social media companies with over $100 million in annual revenue to submit semiannual reports detailing how they define and moderate hate speech, racism, extremism, disinformation and harassment.

    • Deccan Chronicle ☛ All New Videos Uploaded On Facebook To Be Classified As Reels Soon

      Meta said Reels on Facebook will no longer have length or format restrictions, and include all types of video content — short, long and live

    • Press Gazette ☛ Daily Beast gains on Reddit and Facebook as Google traffic falls

      Tucker said that falling referral traffic, especially from search due to the impact of generative AI, is “affecting everybody, including subscriptions sites like our own”.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • India Times ☛ WhatsApp 'concerned' services to be blocked after Iran calls to delete app

      WhatsApp said it was "concerned" that its services would be blocked in Iran after a state broadcaster urged the public to delete the messaging app, saying it was sharing data with arch-rival Israel. State television IRIB appealed to Iranians on Tuesday to delete WhatsApp from their phones, alleging that the app collected users' personal data and "last known locations and communications," and shared them with Israel.

    • NYOB ☛ Years of inactivity in “Pay or OK” cases: noyb sues German DPAs

      In August 2021, noyb had filed several complaints against news sites using unlawful ‘Pay or OK’ systems with German data protection authorities (DPAs). Despite the fact that only about 3 to 10% of people want tracking for personalised advertising, these systems lead to consent rates of more than 99%. Almost four years after the filing of the complaints, the DPAs of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse still haven’t managed to issue a decision on the merits. Quite the opposite: In order to avoid finally deciding the case, the DPA of North-Rhine Westphalia has even issued a 12-page decision that it cannot decide yet. Today, noyb took both authorities to court for their year-long inactivity.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Democrats push Palantir for answers on reports of IRS ‘mega-database’

      Ten congressional Democrats are demanding answers from Palantir about reports that it is aiding the IRS in building a searchable, governmentwide “mega-database” to house Americans’ sensitive information.

      In a letter sent Tuesday to Palantir CEO Alex Karp, the lawmakers argued that the creation of a database of that kind likely violates several federal laws, including the Privacy Act.

    • TwinCities Pioneer Press ☛ Address search sites raise concerns after MN lawmaker shootings

      Various people-search engine websites say they source information from public records, mailing lists, surveys, public social media profiles and other sources.

    • IT Wire ☛ National Australia Bank pays $751,200 in penalties for alleged breaches of Consumer Data Right Rules

      National Australia Bank Limited has paid penalties totalling $751,200 after the ACCC issued it with four infringement notices for alleged contraventions of the Consumer Data Right (CDR) Rules.

    • 404 Media ☛ The People Search Sites in the Suspected Minnesota Killer's Notebook Are a Failure of Congress

      The list of sites in the suspect's notebook, which can easily reveal where someone lives, are a simple Google search away, have been for years, and lawmakers could make changes if they wanted. They have before.

    • Michael Geist ☛ “Big Brother Tactics”: Why Bill C-2’s New Warrantless Disclosure Demand Powers Extend Far Beyond Internet and Telecom Providers

      The government’s inclusion of warrantless information demand powers in Bill C-2 may make this the most dangerous lawful access proposal yet, exceeding even the 2010 bill led by Conservative Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. The initial concern regarding the bill’s warrantless disclosure demand unsurprisingly focused on whether the proposal was consistent with Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence upholding the reasonable expectation of privacy in basic subscriber information (there is a strong argument it is not). The application of this new power was generally framed as a matter for telecom and Internet companies, given that companies such as Bell, Rogers, and Telus are typically the focal point for law enforcement seeking information on subscriber activity. However, it has become increasingly apparent that this is an overly restrictive reading of the provision. The Bill C-2 information demand power doesn’t just target telecom providers. It targets everyone who provides services with the prospect of near limitless targets for warrantless disclosure demands.

    • Jérôme Marin ☛ Meta unleashes ads on WhatsApp

      WhatsApp has held out for sixteen years before giving in to the lure of advertising. But the messaging app will soon begin displaying ads, its parent company Meta announced on Monday. The goal: to significantly accelerate the platform’s monetization process, and finally recoup the $19 billion spent in 2014 to acquire it – not to mention the investments made since.

      But this move is doubly sensitive. On one hand, alternatives known for better protecting user privacy, such as Telegram and Signal, are growing in popularity. On the other hand, the Noyb association has already announced its intention to take the matter to authorities for violating the European GDPR. “Your personal messages, calls and groups you are in will not be used to determine the ads you may see,” Meta tries to reassure users.

• Defence/Aggression

  • FAIR ☛ Working Hard to Justify Israel’s Unprovoked Attack on Iran

    Imagine for a moment that Country A launched an illegal and unprovoked attack on Country B. In any sort of objective world, you might expect media coverage of the episode to go something along the lines of: “Country A Launches Illegal and Unprovoked Attack on Country B.”

  • The Kyiv Independent ☛ Russia turns sound into weapon

    Shaheds typically start to approach Kyiv after sunset, and attacks sometimes last until sunrise. This means that the terror inflicted on a city of over three million people is primarily an audio experience, rather than visual. I’ve never seen a Shahed, but I’ve learned, unwillingly, to recognize the sound from various distances. I’ve also learned how different types of air defense sound, from deep, far-off booms on the other side of the Dnipro River to automatic gunfire from the back of trucks on the street below my apartment.

    After a while, you use decibels as a basis for understanding how much danger you’re in.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvia will no longer recognize non-biometric Russian passports

    In one month's time, Latvia will cease recognition of non-biometric passports issued by aggressor state Russia.

  • Futurism ☛ Trump Is Apparently Raging About His Embarrassing Birthday Parade

    There is, infamously, little love lost between Trump and the military. A few months before the presidential election he lost in 2020, the billionaire was quoted in The Atlantic as referring to fallen troops as "suckers" and "losers" — an alleged comment that was corroborated by John Kelly, a retired Marine general who served as Trump's longtime chief of staff during his first term.

    The optics of the parade were dodgy in other ways that likely got under Trump's image-sensitive skin: one viral video showed a procession of audibly squeaky and old-fashioned-looking tanks that evoked anything but overwhelming military strength.

  • Sightline Media Group ☛ The history of presidents activating US troops on American soil

    Presidents have rarely federalized the National Guard to intervene in protests on U.S. soil, but since the latter half of the 20th century there has been an upward tick in their utility.

  • US Navy Times ☛ Marines and sailors combat drone threats by digging trenches

    Service members used lumber milled from the Latvian Army’s field-deployable sawmill to reinforce trench walls and build overhead cover and concealment, according to the release.

  • Task And Purpose ☛ How to build World War I-style trenches in the age of drones

    “These field fortifications are built to reduce detection, limit exposure to unmanned systems, and enhance force protection across the battlespace,” said Lt. j.g. Wiatt Lewis, of Naval Construction Battalion 14, in a Navy release.

  • Freedom From Religion Foundation ☛ Federal agency flies Christian nationalist flag — FFRF demands answers

    “The ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag is a symbol of Christian nationalism — not patriotism,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “Government buildings should never fly a flag that represents religious favoritism, political extremism, and the anti-democratic movement that tried to overturn the 2020 election.”

    Flying such a flag at a federal agency directly undermines the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which prevents the government from aligning itself with a particular religious movement. It sends a message that only evangelical Christians are “real” Americans, and that public institutions will serve their interests above all others.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Misguided copper thieves plunge LA into internet blackout — perps cut lines only to find fiber-optic cables

    Many households across Los Angeles were left without internet on Father's Day, after some would-be thieves attempted to strip copper from fiber optic cables. Internet provider Spectrum told The LA Times that cut lines in Van Nuys affected swaths of homes in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, with the total number of affected residents unknown.

  • The Register UK ☛ Trump administration set to again waive TikTok ban

    TikTok is “a national security threat and acts as the puppet strings of Communist China to push their propaganda on the American people.”

  • [Repeat] Silicon Angle ☛ Trump will push TikTok sale deadline another 90 days

    The app, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance Ltd., has been at the center of national security concerns for years. Following legislation passed in 2024, a deadline was given for it to divest or face a ban in the U.S., where it had around 170 million users at the time. The app was given until Jan. 19, and though it did experience a month-long suspension when it was removed the app stores of Google LLC and Apple Inc., President Donald Trump signed an executive order that delayed the ban.

  • The Zambian Observer ☛ Trump to give TikTok another extension before enforcing sale-or-ban law - The Zambian Observer

    The legislation forcing TikTok to be divested from its parent Chinese company, ByteDance, or face a ban in the United States came amid widespread national security concerns about the platform.

  • International Business Times ☛ Is TikTok Getting Banned on June 19? No, Donald Trump Is Extending It To This Month

    TikTok has won third reprieve with 90-day extension announced just hours before June 19 deadline as US President Donald Trump once again pulled Chinese-owned app from the brink, that saves it from disappearing off American phones this Thursday.

  • Inside Towers ☛ FCC: China Mobile Not Cooperating With Probe

    In 2011, China Mobile applied for an international section 214 authorization requesting permission to provide international facilities-based and resale telecommunications services. In 2019, the Commission denied the company’s application because it raised serious national security and law enforcement risks, Inside Towers reported. The Commission found that China Mobile would be subject to the influence and control of the Chinese government.

  • Mike Brock ☛ The Cult Member in Charge of American Intelligence

    This isn't speculation. This isn't guilt by association. This is pattern recognition of someone who has consistently positioned herself against American interests while defending authoritarian regimes—and who now has access to every classified assessment, every intelligence operation, every sensitive source and method that keeps America safe.

  • India Times ☛ Elon Musk's Starlink granted licence to operate in India

    New Delhi had granted a licence to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service, opening India's "next frontier of connectivity", according to the country's communications minister. Communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said he held a "productive meeting" with Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of Starlink owner SpaceX.

  • Rolling Stone ☛ Masked Federal Agents Arrest New York Mayoral Candidate Brad Lander

    In video of the arrest that has gone viral, Lander has his arms linked with the man and demands proof that the arresting agents are following the law. “I would like to see the judicial warrant,” Lander repeatedly says as a gaggle of officers — including ICE agents and other members of federal law enforcement —ushered the pair down a hallway of a federal immigration court building. An officer can be heard saying “take him in” before Lander is pushed up against the wall by a smaller huddle of men, several of whom do not appear to be wearing regular uniforms, and handcuffed. Lander has been escorting migrants to and from immigration hearings in New York for several weeks now.

    “You don’t have the authority to arrest U.S. citizens asking for a judicial warrant,” Lander said as he was cuffed. “I’m not obstructing, I’m standing right here in the hallway.” Hours later, Lander exited the courthouse in the company of New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul.

  • Hackaday ☛ BhangmeterV2 Answers The Question “Has A Nuke Gone Off?”

    You might think that a nuclear explosion is not something you need a detector for, but clearly not everyone agrees. [Bigcrimping] has not only built one, the BhangmeterV2, but he has its output publicly posted at hasanukegoneoff.com, in case you can’t go through your day without checking if someone has nuked Wiltshire.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • Meduza ☛ Kremlin says Putin and Trump didn’t speak yesterday, attributes U.S. president’s claim to ‘figurative speech’ — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘A Bashkir-style mosh pit’: Outdoor dance parties with no fees, no alcohol, and no politics are trending in Russia’s Bashkortostan — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Sky-high evidence Satellite imagery confirms Russia’s capacity for expanded fortifications at Finnish border while waging full-scale war on Ukraine — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ E.U. diplomat assaulted during visit to Russian Far East — Der Spiegel — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Let’s mediate Russia first’: Trump says Putin offered to help mediate Israel–Iran conflict — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Better than ending up under a bush in Ukraine’ How Russian army deserters are getting themselves sent to prison to avoid being sent back to war — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ U.S. envoy Keith Kellogg planning meeting with Lukashenko in Belarus — Reuters — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian occupation official in Berdyansk reportedly killed in Ukrainian intelligence operation — Meduza

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • The Dissenter ☛ Imprisoned For Exposing US-Israel's War Plans Against Iran

• Environment

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ California's 2025 wildfire season was already going to be dangerous. Trump has made it worse

    However, these three agencies are critical components of California’s wildfire response capabilities, from forecasting and forest management to firefighting and disaster relief. Weakening them at the start of fire season — and at a moment when human-caused climate change is driving larger and more destructive blazes — puts California at a dangerous disadvantage, multiple experts said.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Hackaday ☛ Gas Burner Reuses Printer Nozzle For Metalwork

      Even if you don’t cast or forge metal yourself, you’re probably aware that you need to get the material very, very hot to make that happen. While some smiths might still stoke coal fires, that’s a minority taste these days; most, like [mikeandmertle] use gas burners to generate the heat. Tired of expensive burners or finicky DIY options [mikeandmertle] built their own Better Burner out of easily-available parts. 

    • The Register UK ☛ Nvidia bets on Gates-backed TerraPower micronuclear provider

      Datacenter operators’ desire for cheap and clean energy to power their facilities has led to renewed interest in nuclear energy and small modular reactors (SMRs) – a tech Nvidia has just decided is worthy of investment.

    • Positech Games ☛ Visiting the solar farm, 8 months after energization

      The situation with the farm is that it is 99% finished. There is some tree planting to do (one of the planning constraints), which will have to wait until later in the year, and also it has a problem regarding shutdown. When the site loses power (due to a grid outage), it then does NOT come right back online automatically, which is frustrating. It should, and its back to negotiations between the construction company and the DNO as to why this doesn’t work yet, and fixing it.

    • Arduino ☛ This spinning water contraption is actually a functional battery

      This isn’t a crazy idea, because flywheels exist specifically to store kinetic energy in a spinning mass. In this case, most of that mass comes from tubes full of water. Water is cheaper than something like cast iron and it is easy to adjust the levels to maintain perfect balance.

    • YLE ☛ New Swedish rail link ready for passengers — but funding still undecided

      The electrification cost some 37 million euros, of which Finland paid 30 million and Sweden seven million. But further funding is needed to start passenger services, and the government is yet to make a decision on that.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Revelator ☛ Something for Everyone: Wildlife Trade in Paradise

    • EcoWatch ☛ Are Sharks and Rays Using Offshore Wind Farms as Habitats?

      In new research, scientists from the Wageningen University & Research have confirmed regular activity by sharks and rays at offshore wind farms around the Netherlands. The team was able to confirm the presence of these elasmobranchs through traces of environmental DNA, or eDNA, in the waters around Dutch wind farms.

    • Mere Civilian ☛ Elephant at IMAX Melbourne

      IMAX is probably the best place to see it. I cannot believe how life like a documentary can become on the largest screen on this planet.

• Finance

  • Digital Music News ☛ Patreon Ups The Cut It Takes From Creators to 10%

    The new consolidated plan is a balance between its current offering of 8% on the Patreon Pro plan and 12% on the Patreon Premium tier. The higher premium tier will now be phased out for new sign-ups. Patreon has also announced that creators who have established Patreon pages by the August 4, 2025 change will not see any changes to their current rates.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Ruben Schade ☛ digiDirect to buy Mwave

    In a move that surprised me, is a phrase with six words. Various outlets are now reporting that Australian electronics retailer digiDirect has purchased them. Sasha Karen reported for ARN: [...]

  • Inside Towers ☛ U.S. Senate Confirms Olivia Trusty to the FCC

  • Security Week ☛ OpenAI to Help DoD With Cyber Defense Under New $200 Million Contract [Ed: Just a bailout]

    The US Department of Defense (DoD) will be the first to benefit from this new initiative, through a pilot program run with the DoD’s Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO).

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Microsoft reportedly planning new round of layoffs, with sales roles likely to be hit [iophk: there have been more than two rounds already this year]

    The new layoffs would be the second major round by Microsoft this year, after the company laid off about 6,000 people, or 3% of its workforce, in May. As of June, Microsoft reportedly has 228,000 workers, with 45,000 of them working in sales and marketing.

  • Futurism ☛ Desperate Zuckerberg Apparently Offering OpenAI Staffers $100 Million Bonuses to Come Save His Failing AI Efforts

    In the US tech space, poaching usually looks like "big tech" firms nabbing promising young staffers from up-and-coming startups, fueling widespread allegations that the American tech industry runs on monopoly power rather than innovation.

  • Futurism ☛ Scam Altman Heaps Praise on Donald Trump

    In short, it's exactly the kind of groveling and rehashing we'd expect from the CEO of one of the leading AI companies. OpenAI has benefited greatly from an administration that has looked very kindly on the AI industry. In January, Trump signed an executive order that revoked existing Biden-era AI policies, in a purported effort to remove "barriers to American leadership" in AI.

  • Futurism ☛ There's Explosive Drama Between OpenAI and Microsoft

    There's a lot on the line here. Microsoft benefits from having the rights and access to OpenAI's intellectual [sic] property [sic], which it integrates into its own AI offerings like Copilot. OpenAI received heavy investment from the Redmond giant, which became the lifeblood of the company. Both are locked into a revenue-sharing agreement, though OpenAI has recently moved to decrease what it shares with its partner.

  • India Times ☛ Microsoft planning thousands more job cuts aimed at salespeople

    Microsoft is reportedly planning to eliminate thousands of jobs, primarily impacting its sales division, as part of ongoing cost-cutting measures amidst substantial investments in artificial intelligence. The announcement is expected in early July, following the close of the company's fiscal year. These terminations follow previous layoffs in May and a shift towards using third-party firms for some sales operations.

  • NDTV ☛ Microsoft Planning Thousands Of Job Cuts: Report

    The latest layoffs follow Microsoft's previous round of job cuts in May, which affected about 6,000 employees.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • YLE ☛ HS: Russian woman spreading anti-Finland propaganda on YouTube

      The videos began appearing on YouTube about five months ago, and show images of empty and abandoned properties as well as lengthy bread lines.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • La Quadature Du Net ☛ French Administrative Supreme Court illegitimately buries the debate over internet censorship law

    In November 2023, La Quadrature du Net, Access Now, ARTICLE 19, European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), European Digital Rights (EDRi) and Wikimedia France filed a complaint against the French decree implementing the European Union’s (EU) Regulation on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online (TCO, also known as “TERREG”). The goal was to obtain the annulment of this dangerous regulation by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for its incompatibility with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Unfortunately, in a decision released on Monday, the French supreme administrative court, the Conseil d’État, rejected the organisations’ arguments and their request to refer the case to the CJEU.

  • RFA ☛ Hong Kong grows more opaque on arrests in national security cases

    Political commentator Sampson Wong said that in the past the Hong Kong government rarely used national security as a reason to withhold information, and now the public’s basic right to know was being damaged.

  • NDTV ☛ Donald Trump Privately Approved Iran Attack Plans, Withheld Final Order: Report

    The communications ministry said on Wednesday that temporary restrictions on [Internet] access would be imposed to help prevent "the enemy from threatening citizens' lives and property".

  • Wired ☛ Iran’s Internet Blackout Adds New Dangers for Civilians Amid Israeli Bombings

    “Things went to overdrive since yesterday,” says a researcher with [Internet] freedom effort Project Ainita, who asked not to be named for safety reasons. “For a second day in a row, they have cut international connectivity, and this time it's even more severe than yesterday, affecting all domestic news sites as well.” Other [Internet] monitoring efforts such as Cloudflare Radar and Netblocks have also observed the multiple [Internet] shutdowns in recent days, with Netblocks calling the most recent a “near-total” blackout. Iranian news agency Khabar posted on its Telegram channel that international [Internet] access in the country had been “temporarily restricted to prevent enemy abuse,” citing the Ministry of Communications.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • CPJ ☛ Spanish-language journalist arrested in Atlanta while covering protest, facing possible deportation

    “We are deeply concerned by the ongoing detention of Spanish-language journalist Mario Guevara by authorities in DeKalb County, Georgia. He must be released immediately and the charges against him dropped,” said CPJ U.S., Canada and Caribbean Program Coordinator Katherine Jacobsen. “Guevara was doing his job and reporting the news at the time of his arrest. It is alarming that the charges he is now facing could be a pretext to begin deportation proceedings against him.”

  • CPJ ☛ Iranian journalists censored, threatened over reporting Israel conflict

    “We cannot report anything at all,” she told CPJ. “We are journalists who, in this situation, are unable to practice journalism.”

    An exiled freelance journalist who had been commenting on the war on social media told CPJ that they were threatened by an intelligence agent on June 13.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • BIA Net ☛ Centuries-old church in eastern Turkey used as warehouse

    The building’s interior no longer retains any decorative features. The plastered walls have collapsed, and most of the structure has suffered extensive damage due to lack of maintenance.

    The main entrance has disappeared, and access is now through a secondary door on the northern side, added after the western facade was enclosed by a residential building.

  • RFA ☛ U.S. lawmakers honor Dalai Lama with bipartisan resolution ahead of 90th birthday

    The resolution – introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday and in the Senate on Tuesday – reaffirms that only the Dalai Lama himself should determine his successor and that any attempt by Beijing to select or appoint one would be an “invalid interference” and violation of religious freedom rights.

    China has sought greater control over Tibetan Buddhism since invading the independent Himalayan country in 1950 and forcing the Dalai Lama into exile in India in 1959. In 2007, Beijing announced it would oversee the recognition of all reincarnate Tibetan lamas, including the next Dalai Lama.

  • NDTV ☛ Dalai Lama To Issue July 2 Message, Expected To Address Succession

    Many exiled Tibetans fear China will name a successor to bolster control over a territory it poured troops into in 1950.

    [...]

    He has also made it clear that any successor would by necessity be "born in the free world".

  • Smithsonian Institute ☛ The Historical Legacy of Juneteenth

    But not everyone in Confederate territory would immediately be free. Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, it could not be implemented in places still under Confederate control. As a result, in the westernmost Confederate state of Texas, enslaved people would not be free until much later. Freedom finally came on June 19, 1865, when some 2,000 Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas. The army announced that the more than 250,000 enslaved black people in the state, were free by executive decree. This day came to be known as "Juneteenth," by the newly freed people in Texas.

  • Advance Local Media LLC ☛ In Oklahoma, Juneteenth highlights tribal slavery descendants’ fight for recognition and citizenship

    Several tribes practiced slavery, and five in Oklahoma — The Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Muscogee nations — signed reconstruction treaties with the U.S. in 1866 abolishing it three years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. They granted the formerly enslaved, known commonly as Freedmen, citizenship within their respective tribes.

  • The Nation ☛ Abolishing ICE Is the Bare Minimum

    ICE agents aren’t out of control. They are performing their designed role as fascism’s storm troopers.

  • PC World ☛ Pope Leo XIV warns AI is a threat to humanity and calls for a treaty

    In a recent article, The Wall Street Journal drew attention to the fact that Pope Leo XIV considers artificial intelligence to be a threat to humanity.

    In a recent speech to a group of cardinals, the newly appointed pope noted that recent developments in the field of AI are a challenge to “human dignity, justice, and labor.”

  • Smashing Magazine ☛ What I Wish Someone Told Me When I Was Getting Into ARIA — Smashing Magazine

    This is not a recipe book for how to use ARIA to build accessible websites and web apps. It is also not a guide for how to remediate an inaccessible experience. A lot of accessibility work is highly contextual. I do not know the specific needs of your project or organization, so trying to give advice here could easily do more harm than good.

    Instead, think of this post as a “know before you go” guide. I’m hoping to give you a good headspace to approach ARIA, as well as highlight things to watch out for when you undertake your journey. So, with that out of the way, let’s dive in!

  • Papers Please ☛ Closing the escape route from the USA to Canada

    The governments of both Canada and the US are threatening or testing measures to further close off the Canadian border as the escape route of last resort for those fleeing the US.

    Representatives of a coalition of more than 300 refugee rights, civil liberties, gender justice, and migrant advocacy groups came to Parliament Hill in Ottawa today to speak out against Bill C-2, the “Strong Borders Act” introduced by the new Liberal government of Canada. They called for withdrawal of Bill C-2 as a “dangerous shift toward Trump-style anti-immigrant policies and attacks on the rights and freedoms of all residents” of Canada.

    Despite its name, Bill C-2 is predominantly a surveillance bill, not a border bill. It would authorize a wide range of seizures of digital devices and data, location tracking, compelled assistance of communications and cloud services providers in extracting and providing the government with data from and about their customers and users, and conversion of requests from the US and other foreign governments into orders legally enforceable in Canada, among a wide range of other Big Brother tactics. Bill C-2 appears to be inspired by, but goes well beyond, the most invasive surveillance practices of the US government.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ Spotify Deserves the Hate. But Don’t Forget the Major Labels.

    Years down the line, both Spotify and the major record labels — Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony, and Warner — would benefit in different ways from a neat story in which the plucky Swedish tech upstarts disrupted a complacent and declining music industry, running into town to save it from freewheeling pirates and bringing it back to robust growth. But that call was coming from inside the building.