Leftovers

• Ruben Schade ☛ Zoophagous, and my mum, on art and the process

  Quoted by Jeff, forwarded by Paul Traylor:

  I feel like people get so hung up on the results of a thing that they don’t appreciate that the process of making it, actually, enjoyable.

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Finally Explain Why Your Skin Wrinkles As You Age

    It comes with a new name for crow's feet.

  • Hackaday ☛ The 64-Degree Egg, And Other Delicious Variants

    Many of us have boiled an egg at some point or another in our lives. The conventional technique is relatively straightforward—get the water boiling, drop the egg in, and leave it for a certain period of time based on the desired consistency. If you want the yolk soft, only leave it in for a few minutes, and if you want it hard, go longer.

  • Science Alert ☛ An Astrophysicist Proposes We Send a Spacecraft to Visit a Black Hole

    So crazy it might just work.

• Hardware

  • CNX Software ☛ Qualcomm IPQ5322 embedded boards target WiFi 7 and 10GbE networking applications

    There are already some consumer-grade WiFi 7 routers based on Qualcomm IPQ5322 SoC like Xiaomi Router BE6500 Pro and TP-Link Deco BE65, but if you plan on developing your own embedded solution, Compex and Wallys offer separate embedded boards based on the quad-core Cortex-A53 router processor with support for 10GbE, 2.5GbE, and up to tri-band WiFi 7.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ US to roll out 100% chip tariff with exemptions for TSMC, Samsung

    The U.S. will apply a 100% tariff to certain chip imports in a bid to encourage domestic semiconductor production. U.S. President The Insurrectionist announced the move on Wednesday during a White House event.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan says TSMC ‘exempt’ from US President The Insurrectionist’s 100% chip tariff

    Taiwanese chipmaking giant TSMC “is exempt” from US President The Insurrectionist’s 100 percent tariff on semiconductor chips, Taipei said Thursday. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is the world’s largest contract maker of chips and counts Nvidia and Fashion Company Apple among its clients.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ Why More People in the World Are Feeling Hopeful (Except Us) [Ed: Oligarchs-owned Wall Street Times says the "plebs" in the West should be more optimistic]

    I would say the most important social trend over the past decade has been the disconnect between our nation’s economic health and its social health.

  • New York Times ☛ On Vaccines, RFK Jr. Has Broken Sharply With the Mainstream

    While many officials and scientists embrace other parts of the secretary’s agenda, his stance on vaccines is alienating allies who fear a public health crisis.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea paves way for trainee doctors’ return to hospitals in autumn semester

    Training hospitals will be allowed to autonomously rehire doctors who previously resigned in protest.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Japan PM Ishiba vows action on health as record heat grips nation

    More air conditioners should be installed in school gymnasiums to help protect children, the PM said.

  • University of Michigan ☛ The pesticide liability shield is a public health crisis

    In 1962, marine biologist Rachel Carson published “Silent Spring,” an environmental science book that examined the excessive spraying of the synthetic pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, and its devastating environmental impacts.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong records 3 more chikungunya fever infections, as expert warns of steady increase in imported cases

    Hong Kong’s health authorities have recorded three more imported cases of the mosquito-borne chikungunya fever, including an elderly woman who returned from Foshan, the mainland Chinese city that has emerged as a hotspot for the virus. The three new cases were reported by the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) on Wednesday evening, bringing the total […]

  • France24 ☛ Nearly 12,000 children under five face acute malnutrition in Gaza, WHO says

    Nearly 12,000 children under five in Gaza were diagnosed with acute malnutrition in July, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday, warning of worsening hunger-related deaths amid ongoing conflict and aid restrictions. The organisation urged immediate, large-scale intervention to flood the enclave with diversified nutrition supplies to prevent  further deterioration of the humanitarian situation.

  • NYPost ☛ NYC officials claim worst of Legionnaires’ disease outbreak is over — even as top doc says ‘we have more work to do’

    At least 24 people remained hospitalized nearly two weeks after the cluster of Legionnaires' disease was first detected in Harlem, with five zip codes affected, city health officials said.

  • Latvia ☛ Latvian men are some of Europe's heaviest smokers

    Eurostat data on the prevalence of smoking in the European Union illustrates that several of Latvia's serious health problems are likely linked to the fact that its men continue to puff their way through lots of cigarettes, despite the well-documented health risks of doing so.

  • France24 ☛ 'Plastic pollution really begins when we're making plastics and extracting oil, gas from the ground'

    The 184 countries gathering to forge a landmark treaty on combating plastic pollution are seeking a way forward to tackle a global crisis wrecking ecosystems and trashing the oceans. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Eve Irvine welcomes Martin Wagner, Professor in the Department of Biology at NTNU: Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China the world’s biggest plastic producer

    China was responsible for 34 per cent of production of the big four polymers in 2024.

  • Science Alert ☛ Alzheimer's May Start at The Brain's Borders, Scientists Discover

    A new path to treatment.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Discover a Viral Cause of One of The World's Most Common Cancers

    Here's how it hijacks DNA.

  • Science Alert ☛ Just One High-Fat Meal Can Disrupt Blood Flow to Your Brain, Study Finds

    Diet doesn't only shape our long-term health.

  • New York Times ☛ Measles Spreads Quickly in Rural Alberta Areas That Resisted Vaccines

    The virus is spreading in insular Mennonite communities. But the broader population is vulnerable as vaccine rates have fallen across the Canadian province since the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Proprietary

  • Security Week ☛ SonicWall Says Recent Attacks Don’t Involve Zero-Day Vulnerability

    SonicWall has been investigating reports about a zero-day potentially being exploited in ransomware attacks, but found no evidence of a new vulnerability. 

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Twilio’s stock tanks on tepid earnings forecast

    Shares of Twilio Inc. fell more than 10% in post-market trading after the communications and customer engagement software provider offered a third-quarter profit forecast that fell short of expectations. The drop came despite a solid showing in the previous three months.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Jeff Geerling ☛ I clustered four Framework Mainboards to test huge [Bullshit Generators]

      Framework casually mentioned they were testing a mini-rack Hey Hi (AI) cluster in their Framework Desktop presentation back in March.

      Imagine my surprise when Nirav Patel, Framework's founder and CEO, was at Open Sauce a couple weeks ago, and wanted to talk! He said they had seen my Project Mini Rack posts earlier this year and thought it was the perfect application to try out their new AMD Ryzen Hey Hi (AI) Max+ 395-powered Mainboard, as it's mini ITX dimensions fit inside a 10" rack.

    • Press Gazette ☛ Google told to ‘stop the BS’ as it claims Hey Hi (AI) has not harmed website clickthroughs

      Google's Liz Reid claims total click volume from search is "relatively stable" year on year.

    • Press Gazette ☛ Why publishers should worry about growing reliance on Surveillance Giant Google Discover

      'Increasingly precarious' to rely on Surveillance Giant Google Discover traffic and revenue.

    • Press Gazette ☛ How lifestyle brand Man of Many has changed to counter falling Surveillance Giant Google traffic

      Man of Many is moving away from SEO-focused, evergreen articles.

  • Social Control Media

    • JURIST ☛ Rights organization finds X amplified anti-migrant violence in UK after 2024 Southport stabbings

      Amnesty International reported Wednesday that social control media platform X, formerly Twitter, played a central role in fueling anti-Muslim and anti-migrant violence in the UK following the 2024 Southport stabbings. The rights organization cited design flaws in the platform’s algorithm that made it prone to amplifying harmful content.

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • PR Newswire ☛ Shielded Technologies Joins Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust as Premier Member

      "We are joining LF Decentralized Trust as a premier member to accelerate the development and enterprise adoption of open source, privacy-first technologies, making data protection a core, foundational building block of Web3," said Bob Blessing-Hartley, CTO, Shielded Technologies. "LF Decentralized Trust has established itself as the collaborative backbone for decentralized innovation while Shielded brings a critical and missing component to the table—the rational privacy at the core of Midnight network. Collectively, we will build the next generation of internet infrastructure, one that is not only transparent and resilient but also fundamentally respects user privacy."

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • New York Times ☛ U.K. Forces Porn Sites to Get Serious on ‘Age-Gating’

      The new measures have been widely embraced, but new age-verification methods have drawn some criticism because of privacy concerns.

    • Privacy International ☛ Revealed: “Skyrocketing” scale of UK police's Secret Facial Recognition Searches of Passport and Immigration Databases

• Defence/Aggression

  • ACLU ☛ Surveillance Company Flock Now Using Hey Hi (AI) to Report Us to Police if it Thinks Our Movement Patterns Are “Suspicious”

    The police surveillance company Flock has built an enormous nationwide license plate tracking system, which streams records of Americans’ comings and goings into a private national database that it makes available to police officers around the country. The system allows police to search the nationwide movement records of any vehicle that comes to their attention. That’s bad enough on its own, but the company is also now apparently analyzing our driving patterns to determine if we’re “suspicious.” That means if your police start using Flock, they could target you just because some algorithm has decided your movement patterns suggest criminality.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Cambodia, Thailand agree on Asean observers monitoring truce, but fundamental differences remain

    The agreement includes not moving or reinforcing troops and weapons along the disputed border.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea, US to conduct major joint military drills starting on Aug 18

    The drill will test an upgraded response to heightened North Korean nuclear threats.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea special prosecutor seeks detention warrant for ex-first lady

    Kim is facing charges that include stock fraud, bribery and illegal influence peddling.

  • The Straits Times ☛ North Korean rescued after swimming across border

    The North Korean is now in custody and has expressed a wish to defect.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Solomon Islands blocks US, China, Taiwan from Pacific’s top political meet

    No dialogue partners would be invited as a review of each country's relationship had not been completed.

  • The Strategist ☛ Taiwanese analysts sceptical about China’s barges with legs

    Since March, China has been making a splash with manoeuvres off its south coast involving a line of odd-looking barges with retractable legs that work like giant stilts. Taiwanese analysts aren’t impressed, however.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Special counsel withdraws from 2nd warrant execution attempt against South Korea’s Yoon

    But after a standoff, it was determined that the situation made it unfeasible to continue with the arrest.

  • New York Times ☛ How a Pro-Palestinian Group Got Banned in Britain

    Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian group known for its direct action, was banned as a terrorism group under British law. The decision followed a break-in by the group at Britain’s largest air base, causing a political scandal. Lizzie Dearden, a security reporter, explains how this has large stakes for the legacy of direct action in protest movements in Britain.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Singaporean tourist arrested in Pattaya for flying drone amid Thailand’s nationwide ban

    Drone-flying was banned amid heightened security concerns and tensions along Thailand's border with Cambodia.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Australia’s purchase of Japanese frigates signals a new era for Indo-Pacific security

    This comes as the pacifist nation is urged to be more active in defending the rules-based global order.

  • LRT ☛ PM-nominee Ruginienė says she’ll stick to Lithuania’s military spending targets

    Inga Ruginienė, the Social Democratic Party’s candidate for prime minister and current social security and labour minister, says that her government would not change Lithuania’s defence funding commitments.

  • JURIST ☛ Group demands release of former Macao lawmaker after arrest under Chinese national security law

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday called for the immediate and unconditional release of a former lawmaker following his arrest under national security charges, which marked the first time Macao has invoked China’s sweeping Law on Safeguarding National Security. 

  • France24 ☛ Relatives of hostages protest with Gaza flotilla ahead of Israeli security meeting

    Relatives of Israeli hostages sailed in a flotilla toward Gaza, waving flags and posters of their loved ones held by Hamas, calling for international support. The protest comes ahead of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s security cabinet meeting Thursday, where he may seek approval to expand military operations in Gaza despite opposition, including from hostage families.

  • France24 ☛ Netanyahu says Israel wants to ‘control but not govern’ Gaza as security cabinet convenes

    Ahead of a security cabinet meeting on the future of the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that his government plans to take full military control of Gaza but does not want to "govern" it. The statement comes amid growing domestic and international pressure to end the war, while far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition push for broader military action.

  • Defence Web ☛ Armed banditry is becoming a crisis in Nigeria: why fixing the police is key

    Armed banditry in Nigeria has escalated into a full-blown security crisis, particularly in the north-west and north-central regions. What began as sporadic attacks has now morphed into coordinated campaigns of terror affecting entire communities. In March 2022, bandits attacked an Abuja-bound train with over 900 passengers, killing several and abducting an unknown number.

  • Transgender prisoners challenge prison authorities

    Lawyers for Human Rights is representing a prisoner with the initials NM, a transgender woman serving a long-term sentence in Johannesburg Correctional Centre, who has taken the Department of Correctional Services to court. For over five years, NM has been requesting gender-affirming healthcare, such as hormone treatment, recommended by Department of Correctional Services (DCS) psychiatrists.

  • Bruce Schneier ☛ China Accuses Nvidia of Putting Backdoors into Their Chips

    The government of China has accused Nvidia of inserting a backdoor into their H20 chips:

    China’s cyber regulator on Thursday said it had held a meeting with Nvidia over what it called “serious security issues” with the company’s artificial intelligence chips. It said US Hey Hi (AI) experts had “revealed that Nvidia’s computing chips have location tracking and can remotely shut down the technology.”

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ Kremlin Aide Says Convicted Felon, Putin To Meet In 'Coming Days'

      A top Kremlin aide says President Vladimir Putin and US President The Insurrectionist will meet in the "coming days" after the Russian leader had "useful and constructive" talks with a US special envoy in Moscow over bringing more than three years of war in Ukraine to an end.

    • RFERL ☛ Russia And Ukraine Trade Drone Strikes Amid Talk Of Convicted Felon-Putin Meeting

      Russia and Ukraine exchanged drone strikes in the early hours of August 7, a day after a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff, which US President The Insurrectionist said "made a lot of progress."

    • France24 ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man-Putin meeting agreed for 'coming days', Kremlin says

      US President The Insurrectionist and Russian President Vladimir Putin could hold a summit as early as next week, according to the Kremlin. The possible meeting comes as Convicted Felon pushes to end Russia’s military assault on Ukraine, just a day after Putin met with US envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow.

    • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man and Putin to Meet in ‘Coming Days,’ Kremlin Aide Confirms

      A summit between Hell Toupée and President Vladimir V. Putin would come as the United States has urged Russia to agree to a cease-fire in Ukraine or face new sanctions.

    • New York Times ☛ For Putin, Convicted Felon Summit Is Key to Securing Ukraine Goals

      The Russian leader sees direct talks with Convicted Felon as essential to achieving his ultimate aims in Ukraine.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Donald can’t really scare Moscow with anything right now’ How Russia’s pro-war bloggers reacted to the planned Trump–Putin meeting — Meduza

    • Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine’s expanding robot army can help address manpower shortages

      Robotic systems are in many ways an ideal battlefield solution for Ukraine as the country seeks ways to leverage its proven tech prowess in order to defend itself in a grueling war of attrition against a far larger enemy, writes David Kirichenko.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuanian PM candidate Ruginienė addresses past trips to Russia, family ties to Ukraine

      Social Democrat candidate for prime minister Inga Ruginienė confirmed she had travelled to Russia after its annexation of Crimea and said she has family roots in both Ukraine and Russia.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man could help solve a long-running conflict Friday. It’s not Gaza or Ukraine.

      The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are visiting the White House in hopes of a peace deal. As power in the region shifts, the U.S. could be key.

    • CS Monitor ☛ Ukraine seeks to revive Russian-blockaded ports near Black Sea

      Mykolaiv, a port in Ukraine, was a major naval shipyard since the Russian Empire. Russian control of a narrow sandbar nearby has silenced the docks.

    • New York Times ☛ She Survived a 9-Story Fall After a Russian Missile Hit Her Building

      Veronika Osintseva’s story has captivated a war-weary Ukraine.

    • Meduza ☛ ‘It’s becoming a humanitarian disaster’: Ukrainians stranded at Georgian border after deportation from Russia launch hunger strike — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russian court fines woman for using anti-Ukrainian ethnic slur — Meduza

    • Latvia ☛ Drone incursion in Lithuania revives questions about Baltic air defence

      When a Russian military drone, equipped with approximately two kilograms of explosives, flew into Lithuania from Belarus and crashed at the Gaižiūnai military training area recently, Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Šakaliene responded with plans to reorganize Lithuania's air defence to achieve timely neutralization of the drones.

    • Defence Web ☛ Russian Navy training ship Smolny back in Cape Town

      Nearly a year after stopping in South Africa, the Russian Navy Baltic Fleet training vessel Smolny is back in Cape Town for a visit as part of its Africa-Asia voyage.

    • LRT ☛ Russian business ties between Lithuanian citizen and FSB General – LRT Investigation

      A Lithuanian citizen and former resident of Visaginas is developing a quarrying business in Russia. His business partner is the wife of a general in an ultra-secret division of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). According to The Insider, the business is, in fact, being overseen by the FSB officer himself. Meanwhile, information gathered by the LRT Investigative Team suggests that the Lithuanian citizen in question continues to visit Lithuania – including his relative, who is employed at the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (IAE).

    • The Straits Times ☛ Russia and India talk up ‘strategic partnership’ after Convicted Felon tariff hike

      Mr Convicted Felon had announced higher tariffs on imports from India because of its purchases of Russian oil.

    • Meduza ☛ U.S. soldier arrested for allegedly trying to share sensitive tank info with Russia — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ U.S. and Russia agree to hold Putin–Trump meeting ‘in the coming days,’ Kremlin says — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia’s HIV patients are losing access to routine medical tests — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia proposes priority college access for military widows — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Russia prepares ‘white list’ of essential services to keep online during mobile Internet blackouts — Meduza

    • New York Times ☛ India Bought Russian Oil. Now It’s a Trade-War Weapon.

      If Narendra Modi surrendered to Hell Toupée, how tough would it be to wean his country from Russia’s discounted supply?

    • Meduza ☛ ‘Pressure on them is working’: Trump and Putin are finally set to meet in person. Here’s what we know. — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Behold Witkoff’s breakfast Trump’s envoy reportedly ate a giant meat pie before meeting with Putin. Russian media couldn’t get enough. — Meduza

    • Meduza ☛ Trump’s offer to Putin includes ceasefire, sanctions relief, and land concessions, but Ukraine could still join NATO, Polish media reports — Meduza

• Environment

  • The Straits Times ☛ Hot South Korean summer drives surge in aircon sales, power demand

    Companies are charming consumers by marketing models with improved cooling and energy efficiency.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Hackaday ☛ Buying Large LiFePO4 Batteries: How Cheap Is Too Cheap?

      It’s a well-known factoid that batteries keep getting cheaper while capacity increases. That said, as with any market that is full of people who are hunting for that ‘great deal’, there are also many shady sellers who will happily sell you a product that could be very dangerous. Especially in the case of large LiFePO4 (LFP) batteries, considering the sheer amount of energy they can contain. Recently [Will Prowse] nabbed such a $125, 100 Ah battery off Amazon that carries no recognizable manufacturer or brand name.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Five killed in China’s Xinjiang after cable on suspension bridge snaps

      The incident injured a further 24 people.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • France24 ☛ 'Wildfires in south of France becoming more widespread, challenging to manage over past 10-15 years'

      France’s largest wildfire in decades continued to burn and spread Thursday, though at a slower pace, after having already ravaged more than 160 square kilometers (62 square miles) in the south of the country and claiming one life, local authorities said. The blaze, which started Tuesday and tore through the Corbières massif in the Aude region, has remained uncontained despite the deployment of over 2,100 firefighters and several water bomber aircraft. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza welcomes Lieutenant-Colonel Frédéric Harrault, spokesperson for the of the French Civil Security and Crisis Management Agency (DGSCGC).

  • Overpopulation

    • Government commits to cracking down on water mafia

      Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo has reaffirmed government’s commitment to tackling the growing challenge of water infrastructure sabotage and criminal activities of the so-called “water mafia”, who continue to violate citizens’ constitutional right to water access.

• Finance

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong gov’t recovered 9,000 public rental flats over 3 years amid crackdown on ‘rich tenants’

    The Hong Kong government has recovered around 9,000 public rental flats over the past three years amid a crackdown on “rich tenants” and an abuse of public resources.

  • Ruben Schade ☛ Australian card surcharges

    ABC News, August 2025:

    The RBA has said scrapping credit and debit card surcharges would save every adult using a card around $60 a year.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Out of their main jobs by age 53, most older South Koreans hope to work – somewhere – past 73

    South Korea’s retirement age is 60, though government officials are debating whether to extend that to 65.

  • France24 ☛ 'Highest tariffs since Great Depression': In 1930's, trade plummeted and global depression deepened

    President The Insurrectionist began levying higher import taxes on 60 countries and the European Union, just as the economic fallout of his monthslong tariff threats has begun to create visible damage for the US economy. Convicted Felon expects the EU, Japan and South Korea to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the US. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Stuart Norval welcomes Ryan Young, Senior Economist at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Mexico News Daily ☛ US immigration raids and a meeting with the president of Guatemala: Thursday’s mañanera recapped

    US immigration raids, a meeting with the president of Guatemala and a drop in inflation's inflation rate were topics of Sheinbaum's Thursday presser.

  • Mike Duggan banks on partisan fatigue in independent bid for Michigan governor

    Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s decision to run for governor of Michigan as an independent has infuriated his old party. The longtime Democrat says voters of both Republican and Democratic leanings are tired of partisan politics

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Press Gazette ☛ Telegraph showed ‘lack of care’ with headline: ‘Quarter of UK sex crimes carried out by foreigners’

      Data was available and set out in article but headline was misleading, IPSO finds.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • JURIST ☛ US federal court upholds SEC ‘gag rule’ against free speech claims

    The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday upheld a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) policy prohibiting settlement defendants from publicly denying enforcement allegations. The court found that the SEC rule is constitutionally permissible despite free speech concerns.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Screening of Taiwanese film ‘Family Matters’ axed from festival after failing to meet gov’t censorship requirements

    A Taiwanese film has been axed from a film festival programme after it failed to meet requirements set by the Hong Kong government’s censorship requirements. The Hong Kong International Film Festival said in a Facebook (Farcebook) post on Wednesday that it had to cancel the screening of Family Matters.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • New York Times ☛ Why a Teen Bullying Case in China Set Off Protests and a Crackdown

    Residents in a city in southwestern China protested what they saw as official indifference in the attack on a girl. Police repression and censorship fueled the outrage.

  • Stanford University ☛ Letter from the Editors: On The Daily’s lawsuit with FIRE

    The executive editing team addresses The Daily's participation in the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression's lawsuit to protect free speech.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia’s ‘chicken bone’ influencers freed on police bail

    The Johor-based trio were taken to a Seremban police station after a report was lodged against them there.

  • New York Times ☛ South Africa’s Equity Laws, Reviled by Convicted Felon, May Complicate Tariff Talks

    Slapped with a steep tariff, South African officials hope for a deal, but some worry the U.S. may insist that it roll back measures that redress the damage of apartheid.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Internet Society ☛ Community Snapshot—July

    Our global chapters and special interest groups work to keep the Internet a force for good. This brief overview covers just some of the things they achieved in July.

  • Hackaday ☛ A Repeater For WWVB

    For those living in the continental US who, for whatever reason, don’t have access to an NTP server or a GPS device, the next best way to make sure the correct time is known is with the WWVB radio signal. Transmitting out of Colorado, the 60-bit 1 Hz signal reaches all 48 states in the low-frequency band and is a great way to get a clock within a few hundred nanoseconds of the official time. But in high noise situations, particularly on the coasts or in populated areas these radio-based clocks might miss some of the updates. To keep that from happening [Mike] built a repeater for this radio signal.

  • Public Knowledge ☛ Trustless, Not Truthless: Strengthening Media Literacy for the [Buzzword] Era

    When no one controls the message, everyone must learn to read it.

  • Michael Geist ☛ Let Competition Be the Guide: Why the Government and CRTC Got It Right on Wholesale Fibre Broadband Access

    Late last night, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly announced that the government was leaving in place a CRTC decision that granted wholesale access to fibre networks. By sheer coincidence, today the Globe and Mail runs my opinion piece on the issue, in which I argued that maximizing competition regardless of provider should be the guiding principle for the government.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ CAFC: Even Anticipation Requires Explanation

    American Science and Engineering v. Stewart, No. 23-2127 (Fed. Cir. 2025)

    In this short non-precedential opinion, the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the PTAB's anticipation conclusion -- finding too many gaps in the Board's analysis.  The invention here is an X-Ray inspection system used for moving objects.  The claims require two "pencil-beams" shot in specific perpendicular directions with reference to the object's direction of motion. Detectors are then used to collect the scattered radiation and integrate the overlapping bi-directional results.  In the IPR, the PTAB found a number of claims anticipated by "Seppi" and AS&E appealed - arguing that the finding lacked substantial evidence.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: How Did These Three Recent Section 2(d) Appeals Turn Out?

    Section 2(d) affirmances are running at about 90% this year (as usual). Here are three recent appeals. No hints this time. How do you think they came out? [Answer in first comment].