Leftovers

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ Mouse Study Flags a Serious Downside to Popular Weight-Loss Diet

    Fat burning at what cost?

  • Science Alert ☛ A Common Sleeping Pill May Reduce Buildup of Alzheimer's Proteins, Study Reveals

    Intriguing...

  • Science Alert ☛ Forever Chemicals Linked to Multiple Sclerosis in Concerning New Study

    A significant clue.

  • Science Alert ☛ Sleep Loss Is Physically Damaging Your Brain Cells, Study Suggests

    But it can be countered.

  • Science Alert ☛ Mysterious Structure in Bird Eyes May Explain a Curious Lack of Blood

    A 350-year-old curiosity.

  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Identified a New Blood Group After a 50-Year Mystery

    A medical breakthrough that could save lives.

  • Science Alert ☛ Expert Advice: What to Do (And Not Do) When You Have a Splinter

    No glue, vinegar, or onions required.

• Hardware

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ China moves into manufacturing disruptive new semiconductor glass substrates as processor packaging competition intensifies

    Glass wafer materials are emerging as a potential and viable alternative to their more conventional, aged organic counterparts.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The Straits Times ☛ Thai FDA warns on unapproved herbal inhaler registration misuse

    Its registration certificate number G belongs to a different product and is not linked to the popular-brand inhaler.

  • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Overpriced’ sanitary pads spark dialogue in S. Korea; groups call for manufacturing overhaul

    In a Cabinet meeting on Jan 20, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung mentioned pad prices.

  • The Straits Times ☛ ‘Start talking about death earlier’: China to improve palliative care with some help from Singapore

    China still lags many countries in end-of-life care, even as it makes gradual progress.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Modi ally proposes social control media ban for India's teens as global debate grows

    NEW DELHI, Jan 31 - An ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modimir has proposed a bill to ban social control media for children, as the world's biggest market for Meta and YouTube joins a global debate on the impact of social control media on young people's health and safety.

• Proprietary

  • Qt ☛ Qt;Athon 2025: Meet the Winners of Our Global Student Coding Competition

    In the fall of 2025, Qt Group hosted its second Qt;Athon—an online global coding competition for students. This time Qt;Athon was hosted in collaboration with Extenly. The event brought together 138 student teams from 32 countries, all challenged to push their creativity and technical skills.

  • Qt ☛ Call for Presentations – Qt World Summit 2026 in Berlin

    It's that time of year again; another Qt World Summit is approaching! We are looking for speakers, collaborators, and industry thought leaders to share their expertise and insights at the upcoming Qt World Summit 2026 on October 27-28, in Berlin, Germany.

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Futurism ☛ OpenAI Representatives Are Going to Critics’ Houses With Threats and Demands

      "It's a bit scary to know that the most valuable private company in the world has your address and has shown up and has questions for you."

    • Futurism ☛ Amid Lawsuits, Proprietary Chaffbot Company Says It Will Retire “Reckless” Model Linked to Deaths

      OpenAI says that GPT-4o is headed to the junkyard.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Cybersecurity can be America’s secret weapon in the Hey Hi (AI) race

      Beijing is aggressively exploiting global data for strategic purposes. AI-powered cybersecurity is essential to Washington’s counter-offensive to win the global market.

    • Press Gazette ☛ AI answers cite ‘narrow range’ of top newsbrands led by BillBC and Guardian

      BBC content widely cited by Perplexity despite fact LLM's crawlers are blocked.

    • AI Assistant with Oracle Cloud Native Environment 2.3

      Beyond automation, the AI Assistant streamlines troubleshooting by helping diagnose issues, interpret logs, and understand deployed services, allowing users to resolve problems quickly and efficiently. By automating routine tasks and offering tailored, insightful guidance, the AI Assistant equips customers to manage modern infrastructure with speed, accuracy, and confidence, helping drive greater operational success.

  • Social Control Media

    • Digital Music News ☛ YouTube Blocks Background Play for Non-Premium Subscribers on Third-Party Browsers

      YouTube has been updated so that non-Premium users can no longer access background playback by accessing a third-party browser. YouTube’s background play feature—the ability to play only the audio of a video while in another app or while your screen is off—has long been available only to paying Premium users.

    • Latvia ☛ YouTube channel explains the battles for Rīga during War of Independence

      History buffs may be interested to learn that a new English-language YouTube video tells the incredibly complicated story of the battles for Rīga during the Latvian War of Independence in a commendably digestible and informative manner.

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • Open Source Initiative ☛ OSI Joins OpenForum Europe and the Open Knowledge Foundation to Officially Launch Open Technology Research Initiative [Ed: So now it can lobby for billionaires like Soros and for Microsoft (Gates, Russian girls with STIs) at the same time]

      Together from Brussels, Open Source Initiative (OSI), OpenForum Europe (OFE), and the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) announced the official launch of Open Technology Research (OTR). The launch comes with the unveiling of a new website that details the activities of the initiative and how the community can expect to get involved.

• Security

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Bridge Michigan ☛ Michigan license plate cameras face backlash: Big help, or Big Brother?

      Privacy advocates are raising red flags over Flock cameras used in more than 125 Michigan cities and counties. But police say they help solve crimes. ‘We do not spy on residents,' said one chief.

  • Confidentiality

    • The Straits Times ☛ Coupang CEO questioned in first police appearance over data breach

      The appearance followed two earlier summonses that he declined after leaving South Korea.

• Defence/Aggression

  • JURIST ☛ Massachusetts governor files law to prevent National Guard entry absent governor’s permission

    Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey on Thursday filed legislation that would make it unlawful for another state to deploy its National Guard in Massachusetts without her permission. Among the laws introduced, one would keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) out of local schools, houses of worship, hospitals, and courthouses.

  • New York Times ☛ Why Convicted Felon Is Going After Iran Now

    As Hell Toupée warns that “we have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now,” our national security correspondent David E. Sanger breaks down what to know.

  • New York Times ☛ Senate Passes Deal to Fund Government and Negotiate ICE Limits

    Democrats agreed to fund the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks while they negotiate with Hell Toupée on restricting his immigration crackdown.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Japan tightens security for Feb 8 election in wake of ex-PM Abe shooting

    As the campaign intensifies, posts hinting at harm towards candidates are spreading on social control media.

  • JURIST ☛ US federal appeals court rules DHS cannot end protections for Venezuela and Haiti immigrants

    The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled on Wednesday that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem acted illegally when she ended Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuelans and Haitians, effective on April 7, 2025.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Judge questions relevance of 2019 protest remarks in nat. sec case against Tiananmen vigil activists

    A judge presiding over a national security trial of Tiananmen vigil activists has questioned why their remarks about anti-extradition protests six years ago were relevant to the prosecution’s case.

  • France24 ☛ Syria and Kurdish-led forces agree on ceasefire and phased integration deal

    The Syrian government ⁠and US-backed Kurdish forces have declared an integration deal.The agreement comes after government forces captured swathes of northern and eastern Syria from the Kurds this month, forcing them to retreat into a shrinking enclave. Under the agreement, ​forces will withdraw from the front lines, ‌government units will deploy ‍to the centres of Hasakahand Qamishli, and local security forces ‍will be merged.

  • France24 ☛ Challenge of meaningful reform in Iran: Tantamount to acknowledging 'revolution is over'- Dr Hellyer

    Catherine Viette is pleased to welcome Dr H. A. Hellyer, Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Int'l Security Studies. In a wide-ranging interview, Dr. Hellyer highlights the strategic constraints of Iran, the ambivalence of Gulf states toward military escalation, and uncertainty gripping the region amid the highly unpredictable posture of US President The Insurrectionist. Maximalist demands, regional power realignments, and fears of post-regime chaos make diplomacy both urgent and elusive.

  • France24 ☛ With US-Iran talks, Turkey has "another opportunity to carve out its mediator role"

    Iran's top diplomat said that his country's missile and defence capabilities would "never" be on the negotiating table, as US President The Insurrectionist appeared to cool on threats of a strike after a military build-up in the region. He arrived in Istanbul earlier on January 30 for talks with Turkish officials, who have positioned themselves as intermediaries to try and de-escalate the situation. FRANCE 24's Rochelle Ferguson Bouyahi tells us more.

  • France24 ☛ US and Iran have "little wriggle room" as tensions remain high

    Iran's foreign minister was in Turkey on January 30 as Ankara led a diplomatic push to mediate between Tehran and Washington, after US President The Insurrectionist cooled threats of an imminent strike on the Islamic republic. The standoff spurred calls for diplomacy from regional actors and allies of the rival countries. FRANCE 24's James André breaks it down for us.

  • The Straits Times ☛ At least 170 civilians killed in Myanmar air strikes during election: UN

    There were more than 400 military air strikes during nearly two months, said the UN.

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea, Japan defence ministers agree to upgrade cooperation

    The two countries have in recent months drawn closer in political ties under new leaders.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Investigators launch probe into S. Korean church over election allegations

    The church founder is accused of forcing members to join the People Power Party to support it.

  • France24 ☛ Japanese court holds North Korea accountable for deceptive repatriation campaign

    In a landmark ruling, a Japanese court has ordered North Korea to pay compensations to victims of a mass repatriation programme that ran between 1959 and 1984. More than 93,000 ethnic Koreans and their Japanese spouses were lured by the promise of a "paradise on Earth" with free education, healthcare and guaranteed jobs, only to suffer human rights abuses, poverty and famine. Yuka Royer speaks with Human Rights Watch's Kanae Doi about the significance of the court decision.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China coast guard patrolled Japan-held islands almost daily in 2025 amid tensions

    The patrols could add to tensions as China and Japan are embroiled in a diplomatic dispute.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China renews call for citizens to avoid travel to Japan after robbery in Tokyo

    The call comes after a group of two Chinese and three Japanese nationals were allegedly robbed.

  • The Straits Times ☛ China conducts naval, air patrols around disputed South China Sea shoal

    China conducted naval and air patrols around the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea on Saturday, the China Southern Theater Command said.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • RFERL ☛ Russia Strikes Ukraine After Convicted Felon Says Putin Agreed To Week-Long Halt

      Russia launched a ballistic missile and more than 100 drones at Ukraine overnight, none of which hit Kyiv, after US President The Insurrectionist's statement that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to pause air strikes on the capital and other "various towns" until February 1.

    • France24 ☛ 'It's important to finalise the EU-US trade agreement': EU Economy Commissioner Dombrovskis

      As Europe faces unprecedented geopolitical headwinds, from the Ukraine war to The Insurrectionist’s designs on Greenland, we speak to the EU Commissioner in charge of the economy, productivity, and simplification: Valdis Dombrovskis. A former prime minister of Latvia, Dombrovskis is very much a Brussels insider, serving in various high-profile roles in the EU Commission since 2016, and as a member of the European Parliament in 2004-2009.

    • France24 ☛ Ukraine city of Kherson protects itself from drones with French fishing nets

      With an ever-increasing range, lightweight drones are a danger to soldiers and civilians alike anywhere near the frontlines in Ukraine. They can either act as kamikaze weapons in themselves, or drop small bombs and mines. In the southern city of Kherson alone at least 200 civilians have been killed in such attacks. To help defend against them, authorities in several Ukrainian regions have started putting up nets to protect roads and buildings. It turns out ordinary fishing nets do the job just fine – and French fishermen have been leading the effort to provide them.

    • France24 ☛ Ukrainians sceptical after Russia announces agreeing to temporarily stop strikes

      Ukraine waited for signs on January 30 that Russia is abiding by a commitment that The Insurrectionist said he made to temporarily halt attacks on Ukraine’s power grid, as Kyiv and other regions are gripped by one of the most bitter winters in years. Russia suggested it would agree to the request; but scepticism remains. Ukraine said it would not strike if Russia didn't either.

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania’s MFA asks ICC to consider genocide charges over Russian attacks on Ukraine

      Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys has asked prosecutors at the International Criminal Court to look into whether Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector and civilian infrastructure amount to genocide, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.

    • The Straits Times ☛ US pitches Venezuelan crude to India as its Russian oil imports slow, sources say

      The US wants India to cut Russian oil purchases due to the war in Ukraine.

    • New York Times ☛ Russia Is Finding the Gaps in Ukraine’s Front Line

      The swift advance of Moscow’s forces into the town of Huliaipole showcases a central challenge for Kyiv: how to defend 700 miles with too few troops.

    • Latvia ☛ Wikipedia policy edges Baltic history into Russiasphere

      The birthplaces of of well-known people in the Baltic states are being systematically changed on the reference website Wikipedia, reports Latvian Radio.

    • Security Week ☛ ICS Devices Bricked Following Russia-Linked Intrusion Into Polish Power Grid

      Sandworm/Electrum hackers targeted communication and control systems at 30 sites.

    • Defence Web ☛ Ethiopia acquires Yak-130 trainers, Orion-E UAVs from Russia

      The Ethiopian Air Force has taken into service two new types from Russia: the Orion-E unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) [...]

    • LRT ☛ Meeting of Lithuanian-Belarusian vice ministers ‘considered’ – Seimas committee chair

      Lithuania is not currently planning a specific meeting between deputy foreign ministers of Lithuania and Belarus, but discussions are underway in Vilnius about what the content of possible talks with Minsk could be and where they might take place, the head of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee said Thursday.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • NYPost ☛ Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor appears to be crouching over woman in creepy photos from DOJ’s latest Epstein files dump

    The ousted prince was stripped of his royal titles and honors last year after allegations surfaced that he was one of Epstein’s notorious clients.

  • BBC ☛ Photos appearing to show Andrew on all fours over female included in tranche of new Epstein files

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • New York Times ☛ Panamanian Court Strikes Down Hong Kong Firm’s Canal Contract

      The ruling delivers a victory to Hell Toupée, who has said he wants the U.S. to control the canal, and a blow to the longtime ports operator, CK Hutchison.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Panama’s top court annuls Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison’s canal port concession

      Panama’s Supreme Court annulled on Thursday the concession allowing Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison to operate ports at the Panama Canal, a year after US President The Insurrectionist threatened to seize the crucial passageway claiming China controlled it.

    • France24 ☛ Solar desert power: Inside China's mega farm

      China may be the world's number one polluter in real time, but Beijing is also driving the world's most ambitious renewables rollout, at breakneck speed. China is now home to nearly a third of the world's total installed solar and wind capacity, although it's yet to kick the coal habit. Our colleagues at France 2 visited some of the country’s flagship projects.

    • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 16 firefighters, 4 medics, 3 fire trucks, ambulance respond to man unable to take off bus seatbelt

      Hong Kong bus operator Citybus has filed a police report after it found a piece of aluminium foil stuffed inside a seatbelt buckle, which reportedly left a passenger trapped for over 45 minutes. Sixteen firefighters, four medics, three fire trucks, an ambulance and ambulance motorcycle were deployed to the scene.

• Finance

  • New York Times ☛ South Korean Stocks, Kospi Index Are Trading at a Record High

    Spurred by government policies and the global Hey Hi (AI) boom, the market’s value has jumped by hundreds of billions of dollars. Individual investors have piled in.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Tells U.K. and Canada That Boosting Trade With China Is ‘Dangerous’

    The leaders of both countries have recently visited Beijing seeking to strengthen economic ties, as tensions with the United States rise.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ UK PM Starmer seeks to bolster China ties despite Convicted Felon warning

    By Isabel Kua Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday that the UK has a “huge amount to offer” China, after his attempts to forge closer ties prompted warnings from UThe Insurrectionist./blockquote>

  • The Straits Times ☛ Visit by Britain’s PM Starmer shows drawbacks of ‘China pivot’ in countering Convicted Felon

    It is unclear what tangible long-term benefits such overture will yield, experts say.

  • The Straits Times ☛ In China’s richest province, not every city is in the fast lane

    The differing fortunes Foshan and Shenzhen, both in Guangdong province, show the challenges of China's economic transition.

  • France24 ☛ China’s gold boom tempts Shanghai residents to cash in

    At automated machines assessing gold on the spot, Shanghai residents queue to sell old jewellery, lured by prices nearing $5,600 per ounce. Others continue to buy, betting the rally will last amid global uncertainty and a weaker US dollar.

  • CS Monitor ☛ The audacity of Convicted Felon’s choice as Fed chief

    The Senate needs to probe Kevin Warsh, the nominee to head the central bank, on his ideas about the creative role of Americans in fighting inflation. By probing nominee Kevin Warsh on his views about tapping the ingenuity of Americans to fight inflation, the Senate may uncover new thinking on a bold approach.

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man’s Lawsuit Against I.R.S. Creates ‘Enormous Conflict of Interest’

    The president is demanding that the federal government pay him at least $10 billion over the unauthorized disclosure of his tax returns during his first term.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Straits Times ☛ China to lift restrictions on UK lawmakers, PM Starmer says

    China is set to lift restrictions which it had imposed on a group of British lawmakers, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Friday, meaning that they will now be free to travel to China.

  • Federal News Network ☛ Can automation in government coexist with transparency and public trust?

    "I think we really have to think politically and really think about our values and what we need to protect there," Michael Livermore said.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Digital Music News ☛ The Six-Fingered Grande? Singer Reacts to Vogue Japan Cover Featuring Telltale Hey Hi (AI) Edits

      Ariana Grande is on the cover of Vogue Japan’s latest issue, but fans were quick to spot a problem: a six-fingered Grande.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • The Straits Times ☛ Pokemon event at Yasukuni shrine in Japan cancelled after drawing China’s ire

    China and South Korea view the shrine as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • CS Monitor ☛ How Minneapolis protests fit into the larger struggle for civil rights

    In the U.S., protests against oppressive government actions, and even civil disobedience, have contributed to shifts in thinking – and changes in policy.

  • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian influencer fined $12,800 for video of teens giving homeless man leftover chicken bones

    Tang Sie Luk has since uploaded an apology video on his Instagram account.

  • France24 ☛ ‘Essential’ to ICE: French IT giant Capgemini under fire over migrant tracking role

    French IT group Capgemini is facing growing scrutiny over a controversial contract between its US subsidiary and ICE. While the company says the deal is “not currently being executed” and that it became aware of the contract “through public sources”, investigations by several French media outlets reveal a relationship stretching back nearly two decades.

  • New Yorker ☛ The City of Minneapolis vs. The Insurrectionist

    The staff writers Emily Witt and Ruby Cramer, reporting from the occupied city, share interviews with the mayor, the police chief, and two citizens who were detained and interrogated.

  • New Yorker ☛ From 9/11 to Minneapolis: How ICE Became a Paramilitary Force

    “What we’re seeing in Minneapolis is really like the ‘Black Mirror’ version of how federal forces have been used in the past, where the federal agents are coming to do the violence, not protect against violence,” Garrett Graff says.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Patents

  • Unified Patents ☛ iScan2D Technologies device-pairing patent monopoly prior art found

    The team at Unified IP Services used Pearl to successfully identify and chart prior art against U.S. Patent 11,664,123, owned by iScan2D Technologies, LLC. The ‘123 patent monopoly is broadly directed to wirelessly pairing a “wearable activity device” and a “mobile device” with at least one “camera sensor” via a “color coded digital scannable media”.

  • JUVE ☛ Munich Regional Court further clarifies FRAND rules in Wilus vs Asus judgment

    Implementer Asus, SEP holder Wilus and their lawyers received a judgment yesterday that packs a punch. Munich Regional Court ordered Asus to cease and desist from infringing the Wifi 6 patent monopoly EP 3 512 289. This much had been known since mid-January.

• Trademarks

  • TTAB Blog ☛ Precedential No. 1 - TTAB Re-designates Decision: DANKE Not Confusable with MERCI for Chocolates

    On January 27th, the Board re-designated as precedential its opinion in the DANKE/MERCI opposition, in which it concluded that DANKE (Stylized) is not confusable with MERCI for chocolate, despite their identical meaning in English.

  • TTAB Blog ☛ Crowded Field Argument Fails, TTAB Deems MARIO'S for Clothing Confusable with MARIO'S 3.10 for Retail Apparel Stores

    Despite some two dozen third-party registrations for MARIO-formative marks for clothing and footwear, the Board affirmed a refusal to register the mark MARIO'S for boots, dresses, shirts, and various other clothing items, finding confusion likely with the registered mark MARIO'S 3.10 for "retail apparel stores." Noting that "[r]etail store services have frequently been found to be related to goods sold by those retail stores," the Board deemed the involved goods and services "related on their face[s?]." But what about the marks? In re Mario’s LLC, Serial No. 98460342 (January 27, 2026) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Cheryl S. Goodman).

• Copyrights

  • Scoop News Group ☛ DOJ seizes piracy sites, Italian police dismantle illegal IPTV operation

    Officials took down three U.S.-registered domains that distributed copyrighted content and received tens of millions of visits a year.

  • Digital Music News ☛ 79% of Musicians Are Now ‘Worried’ About AI, Latest PRS for Music Poll Reveals

    More musicians than ever say they are worried about AI-generated content competing with human-created music in the latest survey from PRS for Music. Two years after British music copyright monopoly collective PRS for Music previously surveyed music creators on their thoughts about artificial intelligence, concern levels have only increased.

  • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Government Urges Supreme Court to Deny Hey Hi (AI) Copyright Case, Emphasizing Narrow Question and Statutory Text

    Government defends copyright monopoly denial in Thaler while Allen v. Perlmutter briefing reveals the harder questions about copyright monopoly for AI-human collaboration.

  • Digital Music News ☛ Engagement Insights Platform Levellr Raises $2.5M in a Seed Round Led by Fuel Ventures

    Engagement-focused Hey Hi (AI) insights platform Levellr announces a $2.5 million seed round to turn Discord conversations into actionable insight.