Leftovers

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Mysterious Radio Signal Caught Bursting From Long-Dead NASA Satellite

    Slightly concerning.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ New single-molecule magnet tech could unlock hard drives with 100x more capacity — drives could store half a million Fentanylware (TikTok) views on a hard drive the size of a postage stamp, or three terabytes per square centimeter

    New single-molecule magnet tech could enable hard drives with 100x more capacity

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Intel lays off hundreds of engineers in California, including chip design engineers and architects — automotive chip division also gets the axe

    Intel has begun laying off employees in California — including design engineers — as part of CEO Lip-Bu Tan's plan to cut 15–20% of the workforce. The company is also to shut down its automotive chip division.

  • Hackaday ☛ Announcing The 2025 Hackaday One Hertz Challenge

    It’s about time! Or maybe it’s about time’s reciprocal: frequency. Whichever way you see it, Hackaday is pleased to announce, just this very second, the 2025 One Hertz Challenge over on Hackaday.io. If you’ve got a device that does something once per second, we’ve got the contest for you. And don’t delay, because the top three winners will each receive a $150 gift certificate from this contest’s sponsor: DigiKey.

  • Hackaday ☛ Linear Solar Chargers For Lithium Capacitors

    For as versatile and inexpensive as switch-mode power supplies are at all kinds of different tasks, they’re not always the ideal choice for every DC-DC circuit. Although they can do almost any job in this arena, they tend to have high parts counts, higher complexity, and higher cost than some alternatives. [Jasper] set out to test some alternative linear chargers called low dropout regulators (LDOs) for small-scale charging of lithium ion capacitors against those more traditional switch-mode options.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China vows to retaliate against Taiwan for blacklisting Huawei, SMIC from chip tech — "Such despicable acts are utterly contemptible" says China spokesperson

    Taiwan's blacklisting of 601 Chinese firms, including Huawei and SMIC, over national security concerns have provoked fierce condemnation from Beijing, which threatened retaliatory measures.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Report: DeepSeek’s newest model delayed by GPU export restrictions

    China’s top artificial intelligence company DeepSeek Ltd. has reportedly come unstuck in its efforts to develop its next-generation R2 reasoning model, because it cannot get its hands on enough of Nvidia Corp.’s graphics processing units, according to a report.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ AI disruptor DeepSeek's next-gen model delayed by Nvidia GPU export restrictions to China — short supply of Hey Hi (AI) GPUs hinders development

    DeepSeek's development of its next-gen R2 Hey Hi (AI) model has reportedly stalled due to a shortage of Nvidia's H20 chips in China, exposing the company's heavy reliance on U.S. hardware and casting uncertainty over the model’s launch timeline.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Blocking strategic rivals from tech, resources may not work, says PM Wong on US-China ties

    Such tactics will incentivise the competitors to find alternative solutions and sources.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Blacklisted Chinese GPU makers line up to file for IPOs as US sanctions and trade war take toll on Hey Hi (AI) hardware market

    Amid rising demand for Hey Hi (AI) hardware in China and U.S. sanctions, China's GPU industry is rapidly expanding, with companies like Biren, Moore Threads, MetaX, and Zhaoxin pursuing IPOs to secure funding and strengthen their position.

  • Hackaday ☛ Pi Networks The Smith Chart Way

    [Ralph] is excited about impedance matching, and why not? It is important to match the source and load impedance to get the most power out of a circuit. He’s got a whole series of videos about it. The latest? Matching using a PI network and the venerable Smith Chart.

  • CNX Software ☛ Topton N18 NAS mini-ITX motherboard ships with defective chip maker Intel N150 or Core i3-N305 SoC, offers 6x SATA, 10GbE, 2x 2.5GbE

    Topton N18 is a mini-ITX motherboard powered by either an defective chip maker Intel Processor N150 Twin Lake CPU or a Core i3-N305 Alder Lake-N SoC, and suitable for NAS and networking applications with six SATA ports, a 10GbE RJ45 port, and two 2.5GbE jacks. The motherboard also features a DDR5 SO-DIMM socket for up to 64GB memory, two M.2 PCIe sockets for NVMe SSD storage, HDMI and DisplayPort video output, and up to eight USB ports via ports and internal headers.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ RFK Jr.’s New Advisers Rescind Recommendations for Some Flu Vaccines

    Critics saw in the move the beginnings of a more restrictive approach to providing vaccines to Americans.

  • Latvia ☛ Health Ministry to slash employees' health insurance in bid to cut costs

    The health sector will try to reduce budget expenditure by €4.6 million, including cancelling health insurance policies for employees of the Ministry of Health (VM) and its subordinate institutions, the VM has announced.

  • The Straits Times ☛ 3 S’poreans charged in Malaysia with trafficking cocaine-laced vape liquid, may face death penalty

    If convicted, they face the death penalty, or life imprisonment with whipping.

  • New York Times ☛ RFK Jr. Accuses Gavi, Global Vaccine Agency, of Ignoring Science

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed that the agency, Gavi, had “ignored the science” in immunizing children around the world.

  • New York Times ☛ The Evolution of Convicted Felon’s Views on Foreign Aid

    The administration has gutted agencies like U.S.A.I.D., and Hell Toupée has denigrated their work as wasteful and rife with fraud. His views on humanitarian assistance have seesawed since he entered political life.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia’s Musang King may reign supreme but a new wave of durian contenders is emerging

    Chinese nationals, in particular, are willing to pay premium prices for these varieties, it was noted.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China takes action on key US fentanyl demands

    This comes after both sides have been in a stalemate over the issue for months.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China urges Philippine military to refrain from ‘malicious accusations’ over drugs trade

    A Navy spokesman has said China is “flooding” the Philippines with illegal drugs.

  • Science Alert ☛ An Early Warning Signal of a 'Silent Killer' Cancer May Hide in Your Poop

    Here's how it leaves clues.

  • Science Alert ☛ Is There Thimerosal in Vaccines, And Is It Safe? Here's What The Science Says

    This is important.

  • Science Alert ☛ Promising New Drug For Weight Loss Works With Just One Monthly Dose

    Move over, Ozempic?

  • Science Alert ☛ 100-Million-Year-Old Rock Reveals 40 Never-Before-Seen Squid Species

    Squishy rulers of the dinosaur-era seas.

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Cell's Powerhouses Are Secretly Helping Fight Bacteria, Study Finds

    New possibilities for treating infections.

  • Science Alert ☛ Heavy Drinkers Face Higher Risk of Brain Lesions And Alzheimer's Markers

    "Understanding these effects is crucial."

  • New York Times ☛ Promise of Victory Over H.I.V. Fades as U.S. Withdraws Support

    A new drug that gives almost complete protection against the virus was to be administered across Africa this year. Now, much of the funding for that effort is gone.

  • Science Alert ☛ Amazonian Scorpion Venom Can Kill Breast Cancer Cells, Scientists Say

    A potential future treatment?

  • New York Times ☛ Tanner Martin Announces His Own Death

    Tanner Martin has documented his fight against colon cancer for hundreds of thousands of followers. His death was announced in a recorded video.

• Proprietary

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ 27-year-old Easter egg found in the Fashion Company Apple Power Mac G3's ROM— creating a RAM disk with the name 'secret ROM image' unveils a hidden file

    The activation method for an Easter egg, hidden deep within the ROMs of ancient beige Fashion Company Apple Power Mac G3 computers, has been uncovered.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Ruben Schade ☛ What else are you doing?

      Every company, big and small, touts AI. I was just on the landing page for a large American enterprise IT company, and all the banner images and news stories included AI. Well, what the marketing and PR people call “AI”.

      It’s all so passé. Everyone is doing it. Tell me what else you’re doing. What makes you unique? What sets you apart? You don’t follow the pack on everything, right?

    • The Straits Times ☛ China-led Hey Hi (AI) could play a role in Asean power grid, says bank president

      The bank pledged to double its annual lending by 2030 and focus on green projects.

    • New York Times ☛ A.I. Is Starting to Wear Down Democracy

      Content generated by artificial intelligence has become a factor in elections around the world. Most of it is bad, misleading voters and discrediting the democratic process.

    • Arduino ☛ Why we chose Claude for the Arduino Cloud Hey Hi (AI) Assistant [Ed: Trying to jump the sharp with "clown computing" and SLOP]

      We know that introducing Hey Hi (AI) into your coding environment comes with questions – about safety, accuracy, privacy, and trust.

    • Press Gazette ☛ Google’s site reputation abuse policy: the wrong solution to a real problem

      How publishers have been affected by Google's "overreach", dictating commercial and hiring decisions.

    • New York Times ☛ Takeaways From Hard Fork’s Interview With OpenAI’s Scam Altman

      Mr. Altman discussed Hell Toupée’s understanding of artificial intelligence, the war for Hey Hi (AI) talent and OpenAI’s relationship with Microsoft.

    • New Yorker ☛ [Slop] Is Homogenizing Our Thoughts

      Recent studies suggest that tools such as Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot make our brains less active and our writing less original.

    • Science Alert ☛ Does Using Artificial Intelligence Ruin Your Actual Intelligence? Scientists Investigated

      Could Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot make us 'dumber'?

  • Social Control Media

    • The Straits Times ☛ Japan executes ‘Twitter killer’ who murdered 9 people: Media reports

      Japan's justice ministry declined to confirm hanging.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • The Straits Times ☛ Japan to step up fight against counterfeit anime goods overseas

      With China in mind, Japan will work with foreign authorities to investigate fake goods distributors.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • The Straits Times ☛ Former S.Korean president Yoon to be questioned on Saturday, requests privacy protection

      Yoon Suk Yeol will appear in court at 10am (9am, Singapore time) on June 28.

• Defence/Aggression

  • New York Times ☛ Israel-Backed Aid Sites In Gaza Pose Lethal Risk for Palestinians Amid Deadly Fighting

    Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed over the past month near aid hubs set up under a new Israel-backed system, according to Gaza health officials.

  • The Straits Times ☛ India says defence gathering in China unable to adopt joint statement

    There had been a lack of consensus on referring to “terrorism”, said the Indian foreign ministry.

  • Defence Web ☛ How will the Iran crisis impact Africa?

    Israel, Iran and the United States’ (US) escalating hostilities have sent geopolitical tremors far beyond the Middle East. With the fragile ceasefire holding for now, the world waits tensely to see if broader regional or global conflict will erupt. The first danger lies in the security sphere.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 2 Chinese men arrested in South Korea for filming US carrier

    Two Chinese nationals have been arrested for illegally flying drones to film a South Korean naval base and a visiting US aircraft carrier docked in the port city of Busan, local police said Thursday.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea nuclear watchdog approves first dismantlement of nuclear power plant

    SEOUL - South Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission approved on Thursday the first dismantlement of a nuclear power plant in the country, the Kori-1, which was permanently shut down in 2017 after 39 years of operation, it said in a statement.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Departing US top official in Hong Kong criticises reach of national security law

    Mr Gregory May accused Hong Kong of engaging in the "transnational repression" of activists abroad.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Pacific Islands delay security plan that could open door to China

    It comes against a backdrop of increasing rivalry between China, Australia and the US in the Pacific Ocean.

  • New York Times ☛ Iran’s Attack on a U.S. Base in Qatar Is a Nightmare Come True for Gulf States

    The countries have long worried about being sucked into regional war as they juggle relations with Washington, their security guarantor, while seeking to improve ties with Tehran.

  • France24 ☛ Palestinians say teenager, three others killed in West Bank

    The Palestinian health ministry said four people were killed in two separate incidents in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, including a 15-year-old boy who it said was shot by Israeli troops. It said the teenager was killed in the northern West Bank town of Al-Yamoun, while three other unnamed people died in a separate clash in the southern village of Kafr Malik.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man dented Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Should Kim Jong Un be worried?

    The US attack on Iran could send a message to nuclear-armed North Korea to return to dialogue or face the same fate.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea court rejects arrest warrant for former president Yoon

    It was related to a probe into Yoon’s short-lived attempt to impose martial law.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean man’s wrongful spy charges overturned – 58 years after execution

    The late Oh Gyeong-mu was convicted of spying for North Korea in 1967.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korea opens landmark coastal Wonsan tourist zone

    Leader Kim Jong-Un has been rebuilding the seaside city of Wonsan to turn it into a tourist hotspot.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China, Taiwan clash over history, Beijing says can’t ‘invade’ what is already Chinese territory

    Tensions have raised the possibility Beijing may one day take Taiwan by force.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China calls CIA videos ‘absurd’ attempt to recruit spies

    China and the US continue to trade accusations of espionage.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 3,800 restaurants, shops to offer July 1 promotions to celebrate Hong Kong handover to China

    Around 3,800 restaurants and shops have volunteered to participate in the July 1 promotions to celebrate the 28th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China on Tuesday, a legislator said.

  • Chinese ship conducts survey off Vietnam but Hanoi’s state media stays silent

    The ship has surveyed an area of 2,000 square kilometers since mid-June within Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man reiterates claims about Iran’s nuclear program that contradict early intelligence findings.

  • New York Times ☛ Intelligence Agencies Race to Evaluate Iran’s Nuclear Program

    Also, violence has frequently erupted near aid sites in Gaza. Here’s the latest at the end of Thursday.

  • New York Times ☛ Fate of Iran’s Enriched Uranium Is a Mystery

    U.S. intelligence agencies had long assessed that, faced with the possibility of an attack on its nuclear facilities, Iran would try to move its stockpile.

  • France24 ☛ Pools and slides as North Korea set to open 'world class' tourist resort

    North Korea has completed construction on a massive tourist resort boasting colourful water slides and swimming pools, state media said on Thursday, a pet project of leader Kim Jong Un. Kim was an enthusiastic visitor this week to the sprawling site on the isolated country's east coast, which is set to open its doors on July 1 to domestic tourists and maybe one day foreign ones.

  • The Strategist ☛ US’s Iran strike may have strengthened Tehran’s nuclear resolve

    The Insurrectionist could be having his Mission Accomplished moment. He said in a nationally televised address Saturday night, ‘Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.

  • Atlantic Council ☛ What really happened to Fordow? Three possible futures for Iran’s nuclear program after US strikes.

    The condition of Fordow will have a direct impact on the likelihood of Iran giving up its nuclear program versus resuming its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

  • France24 ☛ Iran turns to internal crackdown in wake of 12-day war

    While it holds a ceasefire with Israel, Iran is stepping up an internal crackdown with mass arrests, executions and military deployments, officials and activists said. Within days of Israel's airstrikes beginning on June 13, Iranian security forces started a campaign of widespread arrests accompanied by an intensified street presence based around checkpoints. FRANCE 24 speaks to Hussein Baoumi, deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

  • France24 ☛ Yes, Convicted Felon posted a ‘Bomb Iran’ and ‘Daddy’s home’ parody video

    US President The Insurrectionist posted a ‘Bomb Iran’ parody clip, of The Beach Boys 1965 song, showing the B-2 bombers that carried out the American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites on June 22. Then, in reference to Mark Rutte’s viral remarks calling Convicted Felon ‘daddy,’ The White House embraced the nickname while posting a montage of Convicted Felon at the NATO Summit set to Usher’s ‘Daddy’s home.’ We explain in this edition of Truth or Fake.

  • France24 ☛ Hegseth doubles down as Khamenei says Convicted Felon 'exaggerated' impact of US strikes on nuclear sites

    The Pentagon's top leaders doubled down Thursday on how destructive the U.S. attacks had been on Iran's nuclear facilities and described in detail the study and planning behind the bombing mission. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused US President The Insurrectionist on Thursday of exaggerating the impact of US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. FRANCE 24's Catherine Viette reports.

  • France24 ☛ REPLAY - Hegseth praises US attack on Iran but offers few details on the strikes’ impact

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine held a news conference on June 26 to respond to an early leaked intelligence report suggesting U.S. strikes against Iran likely put the country back mere months.

  • New Yorker ☛ Inside the Mind of a Never Convicted Felon War Hawk

    Why Eliot Cohen, an intellectual architect of the Iraq War, thinks Convicted Felon was right to strike Iran.

  • France24 ☛ Battle of narratives rage over US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other military officials held a morning news conference on June 26 to respond to an early leaked intelligence report suggesting U.S. strikes against Iran likely put the country back mere months. France 24's Leela Jacinto tells us more.

  • New York Times ☛ Iran’s Foreign Minister Says Nuclear Facilities ‘Seriously Damaged’

    The assessment came hours after the country’s supreme leader had downplayed the damage the U.S. strikes had caused.

  • New York Times ☛ Centrifuges at Iran’s Fordo ‘No Longer Operational’ After U.S. Strikes, Nuclear Watchdog Says

    The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said that there was “no escaping significant physical damage” after a U.S. strike on the Iranian facility.

  • New York Times ☛ How Convicted Felon’s Strike on Iran Might Affect China’s Calculus on Taiwan

    By attacking Iran, Hell Toupée has shown he is willing to engage in a distant war. This raises questions in Beijing about what he might risk for Taiwan.

  • New York Times ☛ Rubio Fleshes Out Convicted Felon’s Case That Iran Nuclear Capacity Was Eliminated

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio said U.S. strikes had destroyed a facility that is key to turning highly enriched nuclear fuel into a working bomb. He railed against a less optimistic U.S. intelligence report.

  • New York Times ☛ The Israeli atomic energy commission says the war set back Iran’s nuclear program by ‘many years.’

    The assertion comes as questions swirl about how effective the U.S. and Israeli strikes were.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • CS Monitor ☛ In Mideast and at NATO summit, Convicted Felon models norm-busting diplomacy

      In his second term, President The Insurrectionist has unleashed a diplomatic style that jettisons all the norms of traditional diplomacy in favor of commands, threats, and shows of force.

    • LRT ☛ Former special ops commander tipped as Lithuania’s next military intelligence chief

      Colonel Mindaugas Mažonas, former commander of Lithuania’s Special Operations Forces, is expected to be appointed head of the military intelligence, LRT and Lrytas.lt reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • The Strategist ☛ Australia’s classification system must balance secrecy and usability

    In an era of escalating strategic competition, the effectiveness of Australia’s government and national security apparatus hinges on its ability to use information with precision and agility.

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ Over 80,000 people flee severe flooding in south-west China

    China is enduring a summer of extreme weather, with heatwaves and rainstorms.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China, reeling from floods, braces for 2nd tropical cyclone in 2 weeks

    Chinese officials warn of unforeseen black swan events arising from massive flooding.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China’s Guangxi deluged by flood waters from upstream province

    Extreme storms and severe flooding increasingly pose major challenges to Chinese officials.

  • France24 ☛ China's Guangxi deluged by floodwaters from upstream province

    Towns and villages by a major river in China's Guangxi lay half-submerged as floodwaters from a province upstream roared into the mountainous region, with the expected landfall of a tropical cyclone later on June 26 compounding disaster risk.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s OSHA Nominee Has a History With Heat and UPS Drivers

    David Keeling would take over the workplace-safety agency just as it is considering rules to protect against extreme heat. His former employers, UPS and Amazon, have opposed the rules.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ 17 express bus firms on list as Malaysia names companies with overdue traffic summonses

      The companies involved were given 14 days to settle their traffic summonses.

    • Mexico News Daily ☛ Cargo ship carrying 3,000 Chinese cars to Mexico sinks in the Pacific

      The ship had caught fire June 3, eight days after departing Yantai, China. Of the 3,048 cars aboard, at least 800 were EVs or electric-hybrids.

    • New York Times ☛ Debris From SpaceX Explosion, Landing in Mexico, Draws Investigation

      Mexican environmental activists say detritus raining down from MElon’s rocket company has caused die-offs of marine life. SpaceX said there were “no hazards to the surrounding area.”

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Straits Times ☛ China launches first 4-year ‘pet’ undergraduate programme

      The university is offering a novel "pet" undergraduate programme, focusing on animals like cats, dogs and horses.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Indian labourer fights off leopard attack in Gladiator style with his bare hands

      The wounded big cat will be relocated to a rescue centre.

• Finance

  • José Antonio Rey: 2025: Finding a job, and the understanding the market

    So, I’ve been in the job market for a bit over a year. I was part of a layoff cycle in my last company, and finding a new gig has been difficult. I haven’t been able to find something as of yet, but it’s been a learning curve. The market is not what it has been in the last couple of years. With Hey Hi (AI) in the mix, lots of roles have been eliminated, or have shifted towards where human intervention is needed to interpret or verify the data Hey Hi (AI) is interpreting. Job hunting is a job in an of itself, and may even take a 9 to 5 role. I know of a lot of people who have gone through the same process as myself, and wanted to share some of insights and tips from what I’ve learned throughout the last year.

  • The Straits Times ☛ More choosing S. Korean convenience stores’ ultra-cheap options as restaurant prices soar

    Convenience store chains like CU and GS25 are seeing a boom in low-cost, ready-to-eat items.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia’s former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq acquitted of all graft charges

    He was previously sentenced to seven years in jail, caning and a fine.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Tearful former Malaysian minister Syed Saddiq thankful after corruption charges quashed

    The Court of Appeal acquitted him in a graft case involving funds from Armada Bersatu.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Prosecution appeals against ex-Malaysian minister Syed Saddiq’s acquittal on corruption charges

    The intended appeal challenges the Court of Appeal’s decision to set aside Mr Syed Saddiq's comviction.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia’s anti-graft agency to seek forfeiture of $53.7m linked to ex-PM Ismail Sabri probe

    The deputy public prosecutor’s office will file for the forfeiture within two weeks.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Indonesia to make e-commerce firms collect tax on sellers’ sales, sources say

    Platforms argue this would increase administrative costs and push sellers away from online marketplaces.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China is building a ‘mega-sized’ consumer economy, Premier says

    Premier Li Qiang has projected confidence that China can turn consumption into a driver for the economy.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Pizza store’s extortion of delivery tips leads to lawsuit in South Korea

    Pigubnam Pizza said it will take action against the store in question for unlicensed use of its official menus.

  • JURIST ☛ 21 US states sue Convicted Felon administration over federal funding cuts

    A group of 21 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit on Tuesday asking a judge to declare that a key tool President The Insurrectionist’s administration has relied on to cancel federal grants is being used unlawfully.

  • Pro Publica ☛ What Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement Tells Us About the Costs of the “Big Beautiful Bill”

  • Pro Publica ☛ Senators Demand Investigation of DOGE’s AI-Driven VA Cuts, Cite ProPublica Reporting

    Senators this week called for a federal investigation into the Trump administration’s killing of hundreds of contracts for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Angus King, a Maine independent, wrote to the agency’s inspector general on Monday asking for an investigation into the administration’s cancellation of the contracts and the consequences for veterans.

    The senators highlighted “damning reporting from ProPublica” on the cancellations, including how the Department of Government Efficiency used an artificial intelligence tool that marked contracts as “MUNCHABLE.”

  • The Strategist ☛ Australia’s innovation gap threatens national safety, not just economic prosperity

    From grey zone coercion to regional surveillance competition, the Indo-Pacific is now in live contest. Yet our national innovation posture is not structured to mitigate emerging risks or leverage strategic possibilities.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ Mexican government takes control of two Mexican banks facing US sanctions

    The national banking commission intervened "for the purpose of safeguarding the rights of savers and clients" at Intercam and CIBanco.

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ US sanctions 3 Mexican financial institutions accused of money laundering

    Though Mexico protested a lack of evidence of money laundering, the banks will soon be cut off from making financial transactions with many US institutions.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • JURIST ☛ US judges condemn impeachment calls, urge greater security at House hearing

    Judges Amy St. Eve and Michael Scudder appeared before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government on Tuesday for a discussion centered around the fiscal accountability and oversight of the federal courts.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • AccessNow ☛ Kenya must obey court orders and #KeepItOn during protests

    We demand that Kenyan authorities uphold human rights, restore full internet access, and refrain from imposing any future shutdowns in the country.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ The PR agency, the publishers and the disappearing lottery winners

    Lottery winners whose stories promoted casino website cannot be found.

  • Press Gazette ☛ BBC.com launches dynamic paywall for US users

    BBC's first website paywall will see US readers charged $49.99 a year.

  • Press Gazette ☛ Guardian returns to Glastonbury with 100-page one-off magazine

    Guardian returns as official Glastonbury media partner for 28th year.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong lawmakers pass nat. security amendments to labour union laws

    Hong Kong lawmakers have passed amendments to the city’s union laws, banning anyone convicted of national security offences from serving in trade unions for life.

  • JURIST ☛ US DOJ sues federal court and all of its judges over immigration order

    The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the US District Court for the District of Maryland and all 15 of its judges Tuesday over an order last month that automatically blocks for two business days the deportation of migrants in the state who file a new lawsuit challenging their detention.

  • American Oversight ☛ New Lawsuit Seeks Disclosure of Agreements Giving Local Law Enforcement Immigration Enforcement Powers

    American Oversight is seeking records related to the Convicted Felon administration's dramatic expansion of the 287(g) program, which opens the door for abuse of power by deputizing local law enforcement to perform immigration enforcement duties.

  • Amnesty accuses Cambodia of ‘gross failure’ to stop rampant abuses in scam centers

    Amnesty documents torture, forced and child labor, human trafficking, and slavery in at least 53 scam compounds.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China vows crackdown on torture in rare admission

    A new investigation department to target judicial officers who “infringe on citizens’ rights” will be set up.

  • JURIST ☛ Human rights group entreats Syria to extend support to torture victims

    On Thursday, Amnesty International called upon the new regime in Syria to provide requisite support to people who were detained and subjected to torture in its military prisons. Survivors of Syria’s detention system face severe mental and physical consequences due to the torture they experienced and lack adequate support.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • APNIC ☛ Event Wrap: CommunicAsia 2025

    Adli Wahid moderated a panel discussion on cybercrime at CommunicAsia 2025, held in Singapore from 27 to 29 May 2025.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Western Digital's $500 million penalty for patent monopoly infringement reduced to a mere $1 — court says recipient failed to 'adequately tie a dollar amount' to damages

    A California court reduced the damages awarded to SPEX Technologies after the testimony of its expert has been excluded from the case.

  • Unified Patents ☛ Flexiworld data mining patent monopoly challenge instituted

    On June 24, 2025, one month after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent RE48,066, owned and asserted by Flexiworld Technologies, Inc., an NPE.

  • Kangaroo Courts

    • Kluwer Patent Blog ☛ More Than a Feeling: UPC, Rewriting the Score for Pharma at BIO 2025 [Ed: UPC is illegal; it's time for it to be squashed along with the corrupt EPO that works against science and against Europe, all that in violation of the laws]

      In 1976, Tom Scholz—a MIT-trained engineer and sonic perfectionist—spent months layering guitar tracks in the basement of his Boston apartment to produce More Than a Feeling, a song whose depth came not from its melody, but from its structure. The track was not written; it was architected.

    • JUVE ☛ CMS strengthens team with two UPC and SEP litigators from Klaka and Freshfields [Ed: UPC is illegal; they created an illegal "legal" system and now use media that they bribes to play along with this charade.]

      Despite established teams in Germany and the UK, CMS’ pan-European patent monopoly practice has so far lacked visibility in UPC litigation. CMS does not act as a merged practice, but through the respective patent monopoly teams of its network law firms, such as CMS Hasche Sigle.

  • Software Patents

    • Unified Patents ☛ Fortress entity DivX video codec patent monopoly affirmed invalid by Federal Circuit

      On June 24, 2025, the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Office's final decision, in a summary Rule 36 affirmance, confirming that the challenged claims 1 and 10 of U.S. Patent 10,326,987 were unpatentable. Owned by DivX, LLC, an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group, this filing was a part of Unified's ongoing efforts in its SEP Video Codec Zone. The '987 patent monopoly was asserted against Hulu and is directed to encoding alternative streams of video for use in adaptive bitrate streaming.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ WYHA? TTAB Finds VITAWHEY Confusable with VITAWAYS for Dietary and Nutritional Supplements

    Keep moving! Not much to see here. The Board upheld a Section 2(d) refusal of the mark VITAWHEY in the form shown below, for dietary and nutritional supplements "principally comprised of whey protein," finding confusion likely with the registered mark VITAWAYS for, inter alia, "dietary and nutritional supplements." Among other losing arguments, applicant noted that the registrant does not sell whey-protein supplements, but no way was that helfpful to its cause. In re Evlution Nutrition, LLC, Serial No. 98502228 (June 23, 2025) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Thomas L. Casagrande).

• Copyrights

  • Creative Commons ☛ Introducing CC Signals: A New Social Contract for the Age of AI [Ed: There is no "Age of Hey Hi (AI)", it's a slop frenzy boosted by liars and scammers]

    CC Signals © 2025 by Creative Commons is licensed under CC BY 4.0 Creative Commons (CC) today announces the public kickoff of the CC signals project, a new preference signals framework designed to increase reciprocity and sustain a creative commons in the age of AI.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Creative Commons introduces CC Signals framework for Hey Hi (AI) data use

    Creative Commons has previewed an upcoming framework designed to help creators manage how artificial intelligence models use their content. The framework, which is called CC Signals, debuted on Wednesday. Creative Commons is a nonprofit that helps creators license their works to others.

• Gemini* and Gopher

  • Personal/Opinions

    • Mosquito and Me

      Well, this is common knowledge. Here is my story...

      I have decided that I wanted to stop killing mosquitos while I sleep. In a way, I was curious to know what most mosquitos want with my face. I noticed that rarely I get bitten in the face (mostly I am bitten on other parts of my body).

      So, I started allowing mosquitos to land on my face, besides the annoying noise that mosquitos do while flying. I guess this annoyment is what leads most people into wanting to kill mosquitos. So... I did allow mosquito landing. This was what happened...

    • Hello, again

      It's been a while!

      For those who have never tuned into this frequency, it's a pleasure to meet you. I was active in Geminispace circa 2020-2021. You might have seen some Gemini-related software I wrote, such as Kineto or gmnlm.

      To those who have seen my capsule before… I hope you remember me well. I know I started some trouble the last time I was around these parts. I'm sorry for playing a part in making this place a bit less welcoming. I want to do things better this time, and in particular leaving that big fat ego at the door.

      I find myself returning to Gemini from a different world, as a different person. Things have really changed for the worse down there on Earth since I was last here. It's so loud, all of the time. I yearn for a quiet place. I never understood that Gemini could be that, before.

      I'm used to being loud, too, as some people here may remember. Over the past few years I've tried more and more to be loud where it counts, in particular by speaking out against injustice. I've tried to do the little that I can to speak out against the rising tide of hate and tyranny.

  • Technology and Free Software

    • Still putting along

      I haven't had much to say lately, but I'm still putting along. I'm playing D&D 5E regularly, and occasionally running a Barrowmaze game using Advanced Labyrinth Lord. My RPG reading is concentrating right now on the HARP Fantasy RPG and it's supplements, but I'm working on some stuff for Big Eyes Small Mouth Second Revised Second Edition (BESM 2ER) and Centauri Knights, and there are other RPG things I'm working on in the background, like (slowly) reading ACKS II.