Leftovers

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ This Week in Science: World's Second-Largest Diamond, Fishy Finger Origins, And More!

    Our weekly science roundup!

  • Science Alert ☛ The First Black Hole We Ever Saw Is Doing Something Never Seen Before

    A cosmic table flip.

  • Science Alert ☛ Chronic Insomnia May Spark Changes in The Brain That Trigger Dementia

    The pattern is clear.

  • Science Alert ☛ Giant Stars With Black Holes Inside Them May Have Been Detected For The First Time

    What ARE these things?

  • Science Alert ☛ The Truth About Public Toilets, According to Science

    How much do you want to know?

• Hardware

  • Hackaday ☛ How Many Phones Sport A 5 And 1/4 Diskette Drive? This One.

    It all started with a sarcastic comment right here on Hackaday.com: ” How many phones do you know that sport a 5 and 1/4 inch diskette drive?” — and [Paul Sanjay] took that personally, or at least thought “Challenge accepted” because he immediately hooked an old Commodore floppy drive to his somewhat-less-old smartphone. 

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Large-scale simulated 10-year OLED monitor torture tests confirm burn-in haunts all models — Testing also reveals edge-lit TVs are insanely failure-prone

    RTINGS.com's longevity burn-in test for TVs and monitors enters its second year of progress, with many screens dying completely or showing intense signs of wear and tear after the equivalent of 10 years of average use.

  • Hackaday ☛ Kinethreads: A Low Cost Haptic Exo-Suit

    There have been lots of haptic vest devices over the years, though the vast majority have been very simple. Many existing suits pack in a few speakers or vibration motors to give feedback to the wearer. Kinethreads aims to go further, serving as a full-body haptic suit using an innovative mechanical setup.

  • Hackaday ☛ Whither The Chip Shortage?

    Do you remember the global chip shortage? Somehow it seems so long ago, but it’s not even really been three years yet. Somehow, I had entirely forgotten about it, until two random mentions about it popped up in short succession, and brought it all flooding back like a repressed bad dream.

  • Hackaday ☛ NEC V20: The Original PC Processor Upgrade

    In the early 1980s, there was the IBM PC, with its 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor. It was an unexpected hit for the company, and within a few years there were a host of competitors. Every self-respecting technology corporation wanted a piece of the action including processor manufacturers, and among those was NEC with their V20 chip and its V30 sibling. From the outside they were faster pin-compatible 8088 and 8086 clones, but internally they could also run both 8080 and 80186 code. [The Silicon Underground] has a look back at the V20, with some technical details, history, and its place as a PC upgrade.

  • Hackaday ☛ Bluetooth Earrings Pump Out The Tunes

    When you think of a Bluetooth speaker, you’re probably picturing a roughly lunchbox-sized device that pumps out some decent volume for annoying fellow beachgoers, hikers, or public transport users. [Matt Frequencies] has developed something in an altogether different form factor—tiny Bluetooth speakers you can dangle from your earlobes! They’re called Earrays, and they’re awesome.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • New York Times ☛ Oura Heath’s C.E.O. Knows the Secret to Better Sleep

    Oura Health makes a pricey smart ring that busy executives, celebrities and others use to track health measures like their sleep patterns. It expects $1 billion in sales this year.

  • Futurism ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s Top Anti-Tylenol Expert Was Paid to Hate Tylenol, Records Show

    "Legitimizing bad science with dangerous policy endangers you when your decisions are based on fear, not facts."

• Proprietary

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Futurism ☛ In Situations Where Most Humans Think You’re Being a Jerk, Abusive Monopolist Microsoft Chaffbot Will Assure You You’re Behaving Like an Angel

      ChatGPT is way less likely to call you the a-hole.

    • Futurism ☛ Lionsgate’s Attempt to Create Movies Using Hey Hi (AI) Has Crumbled Into Disaster

      Turns out that making an Hey Hi (AI) good enough to churn out entire Hollywood films is pretty hard.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • The Dissenter ☛ US Judge Dismisses Wiretapping Charges In DOJ Prosecution Against A Journalist

• Defence/Aggression

  • FAIR ☛ When Palestinians Die in Israeli Captivity, US Media Almost Never Take Note

    Take 20-year-old Palestinian prisoner Ahmed Saeed Tazaz’a, who died in Israel’s Megiddo Prison after nearly three months of illegal detention, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs (CDA), an agency of the Palestinian Authority (8/3/25).

  • New York Times ☛ Stampede at Actor’s Political Rally Kills at Least 36 in India

    The stampede took place at an event for Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar, the popular actor known professionally as Vijay. A health official said the toll was likely to rise.

  • NYPost ☛ Stampede at India political rally kills 36, including 8 children

    A stampede at a rally for a popular Indian actor and politician in the southern state of Tamil Nadu killed at least 36 people and injured 40 others, the state’s health minister said late Saturday.

  • RFERL ☛ Iran Recalls Ambassadors As 'Snapback' Sanctions Arrive

    Iran has recalled its ambassadors to Britain, France, and Germany as the clocked ticks down toward the imposition of UN "snapback" sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear program.

  • New York Times ☛ Iranians Brace for Economic Impact of New U.N. Sanctions

    Already suffering a 40 percent inflation rate and critical shortages of power and water, many in Iran expect conditions to get worse.

  • France24 ☛ Berlin’s ‘Together for Gaza’ rally draws tens of thousands protesters urging end to war

    Waving Palestinian flags and chanting, "free, free Palestine", tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the heart of Berlin Saturday to call for an end to the Gaza war. Demonstrators also called for EU sanctions against Israel, breaking with Germany's longstanding pro-Israel stance, mainly due to its historical responsibility for the Holocaust.

  • JURIST ☛ Human Rights Watch urges UN to authorize a mission to address violence in Haiti

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on the UN Security Council on Friday to authorize an international mission to address the escalating violence in Haiti, insisting the mission be adequately funded, staffed, and anchored in strong human rights safeguards.

  • France24 ☛ Lebanon: A year after losing its longtime leader Nasrallah, Hezbollah is beginning to regroup

    Hezbollah suffered one blow after another during its most recent war with Israel, culminating in the killing of the militant group's longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in massive Israeli airstrikes on a Beirut suburb. The group was weakened militarily and politically. Many of its opponents declared that its days as a dominant regional and local player were over. But one year later, many of Hezbollah’s supporters, enemies and analysts agree in their assessment: it is regrouping. Analysis by Sami Nader, director of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs in Beirut.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ New Drone Sightings Reported Over Europe As EU Plans Defensive Wall

      New drone sightings over Europe were reported as the European Union moved forward with plans to create a "drone wall," amid fears of intensified Russian "hybrid warfare" tactics.

    • RFERL ☛ Moldovans Vote In Pivotal Choice Between EU Integration And Russian Influence

      Moldovans head to the polls in key parliamentary elections facing a choice of two paths: continuing towards joining the European Union or veering toward Russia amid widespread reports of campaign meddling by the Kremlin.

    • France24 ☛ Moldova bars pro-Russian party from tense parliamentary election

      Moldova’s electoral commission barred a pro-Russian party from participating in this weekend's tense parliamentary election, which is beleaguered by widespread claims of Russian interference. The vote could decide the country’s geopolitical future: a stark choice between East and West. Details by FRANCE 24 correspondent Maria Gerth-Niculescu.

    • RFERL ☛ Russian Strikes Pound Ukraine As Kyiv Disrupts Major Oil-Pumping Station 1,200-Km From Border

      Russian air strikes on several regions across Ukraine damaged critical civilian infrastructure, as a Ukrainian drone attack halted operations at a major oil-pumping station deep inside Russia.

    • France24 ☛ Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant off-grid for days as Moscow and Kyiv trade blame

      Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been off-grid for four consecutive days, Ukrainian and Russian authorities said Saturday, its longest blackout to date as both sides accuse each other of attacking power-supply lines. The plant's reactors are shut down but still need energy to maintain vital cooling and safety systems.

    • France24 ☛ Lavrov warns of ‘decisive response’ to ‘aggression’ as NATO boosts vigilance after drone incidents

      Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the UN General Assembly on Saturday that any aggression against his country will be met with a decisive response. His address came as NATO has been considering whether to shoot down Russian aircraft after a series of incursions over several NATO member states.

    • France24 ☛ Any aggression against Russia will be met with 'decisive response', Lavrov tells UN

      Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavron on Saturday told the UN General Assembly that his nation doesn't intend to attack Europe but will mount a “decisive response” to any aggression. FRANCE 24's Aidan Stretch reports from Kyiv, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday said Ukraine received a US-made Patriot air defence system from Israel a month ago.

    • Latvia ☛ Future of aggressor state sanatoriums in Latvia still unclear

      Two sanatoriums (or sanatoria, if you prefer) – "Belorusija" and "Jantarnij Bereg" or "Dzintarkrasts" – which are in Latvia but owned by the aggressor states Belarus and Russia, respectively, have not been accepting vacationers since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    • LRT ☛ Jinseok Seo: finding parallels between Korean and Lithuanian stories of oppression

      South Korean scholar Jinseok Seo is a seasoned expert in Baltic languages and culture. He is currently translating The Forest of the Gods, the memoir by Lithuanian poet and writer Balys Sruoga. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the book’s completion. Speaking in fluent Lithuanian, Seo explained what led him to this language and literature.

    • Hackaday ☛ Drones At Danish Airports, A Plea For Responsible Official Response

      In Europe, where this is being written, and possibly further afield, news reports are again full of drone sightings closing airports. The reports have come from Scandinavia, in particular Denmark, where sightings have been logged across the country. It has been immediately suggested that the Russians might somehow be involved, something they deny, which adds a dangerous geopolitical edge to the story.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Russia outlines EUV litho chipmaking tool roadmap through 2037 — country eyes replacing DUV with EUV

      The Russian Academy of Sciences has unveiled a 2026–2037 roadmap for domestic 11.2 nm EUV lithography tools that reject ASML's architecture in favor of xenon plasma, Ru/Be mirrors, and solid-state lasers, aiming for simplified, tin-free, cost-effective alternatives.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • New York Times ☛ Outages to Government Services Continue After Fire at South Korean Data Center

      Hundreds of state services were still offline the day after a lithium battery exploded during maintenance work at a data center, officials said. The fire was extinguished on Saturday.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Bangkok sinkhole: Traffic on collapsed road to be restored by Oct 8, says governor

      All utility connections will be completed to avoid reopening the road in the future.

    • Futurism ☛ China Unveils EV That Can Violently Eject Its Battery in Case of a Fire

      A car that can shoot a giant flaming battery pack — what could possibly go wrong?

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • France24 ☛ USA: Democrats says Convicted Felon is marching the country into a government shutdown

    House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said President The Insurrectionist and the Republican Party are “marching the country” into a government shutdown over their refusal to meet with Democrats and strike a deal to save health care funding from cuts. This shutdown, not the nation's first, could be more difficult. Convicted Felon’s budget office this week ordered federal agencies to prepare a mass firing of federal workers, rather than the typical temporary employee furlough, if the federal government were to close.

  • France24 ☛ USA: Republicans cancel talks meant to avoid US government shutdown

    House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said President The Insurrectionist and the Republican Party are “marching the country” into a government shutdown over their refusal to meet with Democrats and strike a deal to save health care funding from cuts. This shutdown, not the nation's first, could be more difficult. Convicted Felon’s budget office this week ordered federal agencies to prepare a mass firing of federal workers, rather than the typical temporary employee furlough, if the federal government were to close. Story by Catherine Viette.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Enthusiasts bond twelve 56K modems together to set dial-up broadband records — a dozen screeching boxes achieve record 668 kbps download speeds

    Can you stream YouTube via dial-up? You'll need at least four bonded 56K modems. But what if you have 12?

  • Standards/Consortia

    • Torrent Freak ☛ BitTorrent's DHT and the Leading ISP Networks Helping to Keep it Alive

      Aside from the genius baked into the protocol itself, BitTorrent's success as a global network can be attributed to its Distributed Hash Table, commonly known by the initials DHT. Its existence goes unnoticed by millions of BitTorrent users, yet its absence would be felt all around the world. The DHT network is global and difficult to monitor comprehensively, but data shows that by IP address volume, customers of a relatively small number of ISPs dominate the DHT landscape.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ AMD's memory patent monopoly outlining a 'new, improved RAM' made from DDR5 memory isn't a new development — HB-DIMMs already superseded, probably won't come to market

    AMD's HB-DIMM concept probably isn't coming to market, as the company has already thrown its support behind the similar JEDEC MRDIMM standard.