Leftovers

• CS Monitor ☛ A master piece on masterpieces

  I love, love, love the American Visionary Art Museum and am so happy you visited it and produced the In Pictures photo-essay, “A collection of work

• Science / Mathematics / Computer Science

  • Science Alert ☛ JWST Just Examined Two Stars Suspected of Harboring Dyson Spheres. Here's What It Found…

    Tricksy little hobbitses.

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  • Science Alert ☛ Cockroaches Have a 'Collective Memory' That Emerges From Their Social Networks

    Even cockroaches have peer pressure.

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  • Science Alert ☛ Dracula Orchid: The Gothic-Looking Flower That Poachers Can't Get Enough of

    Poachers can't get enough.

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  • Science Alert ☛ Thousands of Human Languages May Have Been Erased – Even Before Colonialism

    “The strongest evidence is the timing of the decline."

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  • Science Alert ☛ Scientists Reveal The Simple Change That Could Save Millions of Insects

    An easy switch for a huge problem.

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• Hardware

  • The Straits Times ☛ China starts production of home-grown immersion deep-ultraviolet chipmaking tools, source says

    The new DUV machines are planned for delivery in 2026 to major Chinese chipmakers.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Taiwan detains Nvidia worker in chip smuggling probe: source familiar with case

    Prosecutors in Taiwan have detained an Nvidia employee as part of an investigation into the smuggling of the US tech giant’s Hey Hi (AI) chips to China, a source familiar with the case told AFP on Tuesday.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • Science Alert ☛ A 'Second Brain' in The Gut Could Be Driving Constipation And Pain

    "These neurons might directly respond to inflammation."

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  • The Straits Times ☛ White phosphorus leaks at US air base in South Korea, Seoul says

    SEOUL, July 28 - South Korean authorities ordered brief neighbourhood evacuations on Tuesday after a leak of white phosphorus inside the U.S. Osan Air Base south of Seoul, the Safety Ministry said.

  • New York Times ☛ How to Tell if a Giant Manta Is Pregnant? Give Her an Ultrasound.

    Scientists managed to confirm pregnancies in three giant mantas with underwater ultrasound scans, offering clues to the animals’ elusive reproductive habits.

  • Science Alert ☛ Your Brain Can Rewire Itself to Allow True Multitasking

    Multitasking isn't a myth.

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• Proprietary / SaaS

  • New York Times ☛ Apple Introduces Leasing Program for iPhones and Other Devices

    The program is an effort to make products more affordable as artificial intelligence sends some component prices soaring.

  • So-Called 'Artificial Intelligence' ('AI') / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Cloudbooklet ☛ Google Hey Hi (AI) Search Default Leads to Fewer Website Clicks

      Since Surveillance Giant Google Hey Hi (AI) Search Default became the standard, website clicks have dropped sharply, raising concerns among publishers and online businesses alike.

    • Press Gazette ☛ ‘First tremors’ of Hey Hi (AI) earthquake showing in digital revenue hit

      Display ad revenue was biggest growth area among publishers surveyed by AOP.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ OpenAI CEO Scam Altman says Hey Hi (AI) has entered the singularity — two weeks after Proprietary Chaffbot Company models cheated a benchmark by hacking Hugging Face

      OpenAI CEO Scam Altman recently declared on the Relentless podcast that artificial intelligence has entered the technological singularity.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ AI companies are reportedly shredding millions of books after using them to train Hey Hi (AI) models — tech giants outsource to middlemen to secretly buy up books for training material

      New report reveals that Hey Hi (AI) companies are buying up physical books to train their LLMs and destroying them in the process.

    • Futurism ☛ You Are Entirely Unprepared for the Noise This Data Center Constantly Blasts at Neighbors’ Homes

      You have to hear it to believe it.

    • Futurism ☛ Is Mark Kapo-berg Actually TRYING to Destroy Meta?

      He's driving his own company off a cliff.

    • Futurism ☛ Scam Altman Says Even the Power of Hey Hi (AI) Will Never Lead to a Shorter Work Week

      "We're still going to complain about it, but secretly we're going to be happy."

    • Futurism ☛ BuzzFeed Lays Off 33 Percent of Remaining Staff After Bizarre Pivot to LLM slop

      Embracing Hey Hi (AI) can't save you from terrible management.

    • New York Times ☛ Writers Guild Withdraws Support From Film Festival Over A.I.

      Urbanworld, a New York event, has added a section for movies made with Hey Hi (AI) tools. The union was a sponsor but has been outspoken on the dangers of A.I.

  • Social Control Media

    • The Straits Times ☛ YouTube-inspired ‘Yatcha’ fights spread in South Korean schools, spark concerns

      The education authorities warn that consensual fighting does not justify school violence.

• Pseudo-Open Source

  • Openwashing

    • ADTmag ☛ Linux Foundation, Nineteen Companies Launch Akrites to Coordinate Open Source Vulnerability Fixes

      Akrites is a collaborative security initiative that gives participating organizations a single process for reporting, coordinating, and disclosing vulnerabilities in critical open-source projects. The effort combines a shared Security Incident Response Team, a standardized coordinated disclosure process, and a "maintainer of last resort" program to ensure critical packages continue receiving security fixes even when no active maintainer is available.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • The Straits Times ☛ Malaysia police bust two scam centres in Forest City; at least 194 foreigners to be charged

      The suspects involved had previously worked in scam centres overseas.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Bruce Schneier ☛ Axon Is Another License Plate Surveillance Company

      Governments are switching, but I’m not sure it makes a difference:

      …some municipalities, including Denver, Colorado, are ditching their Flock arrays. But keep in mind that if they’re only switching from Flock to another brand of license-plate readers, like Axon, it’s like a gambling addict trying to kick the habit by switching from FanDuel to DraftKings.

    • Citizen Lab ☛ Co-Founder of Controversial Spyware Firm Had Israeli Diplomatic Passport

      The OCCRP found that the co-founder of NSO Group, which develops Pegasus spyware, travelled to Panama in 2013 on an Israeli diplomatic passport.

  • Confidentiality

    • Digital Music News ☛ Suno Slapped with Class Action Litigation Following Massive, Unreported Data Breach

      Suno gets slapped with a proposed class action lawsuit over the data breach that reportedly exposed the personal information of 55.3 million users. As if on cue, Suno has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit.

• Defence/Aggression

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korea to write nuclear non-proliferation into submarine law

    The ministry plans to issue a legislative notice for the proposed Bill as early as July 29.

  • JURIST ☛ South Africa president urges cooperation among African states to address migration challenges

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday called for greater cooperation among African states in tightening immigration enforcement regimes. The speech was part of the opening address to the Pan-African Parliament. Based in Midrand, South Africa, the Parliament serves as the legislative body of the African Union.

  • France24 ☛ Peru's Fujimori vows military-led crackdown on crime after taking office

    The newly inaugurated president – the ninth in just a decade – pledged to deploy the armed forces to crime-ridden areas and adopt a hardline security strategy as Peru grapples with its worst wave of gang violence, extortion and illegal mining in decades.

  • New York Times ☛ Houthis Claim Strike on Another Saudi Oil Tanker

    With their ally, Iran, bottling up the Strait of Hormuz, the Houthi group in Yemen is escalating its declared blockade of Saudi shipping in another vital waterway, the Red Sea.

  • Michael Geist ☛ The Name on the Window Was Enough: The Attacks on Kiva’s and the Normalization of Antisemitic Violence in Canada

    Kiva’s, the well-known Toronto Jewish bakery, was struck by gunfire and smashed windows in two locations over the weekend. This one is personal as Kiva was my grandmother’s cousin. Both were Holocaust survivors who rebuilt their lives in Toronto, and though he sold the business years ago, the owners have kept his name on the window ever since. Whoever fired at that window almost certainly knew none of this, since for those responsible the Jewish name on the storefront was evidently reason enough.

  • Site36 ☛ German TKMS expands submarine business with new vessels also for Israel – Netanyahu soon to be questioned over the deal

    With the former cultural diplomat Andreas Görgen, the German Thyssenkrupp subsidiary TKMS is expanding its submarine business worldwide. Meanwhile, an Israeli commission investigating corruption allegations is due to question Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time this autumn.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • LRT ☛ Lithuania detecting attempts to smuggle migrants via tunnels from Belarus – official

      Lithuania is detecting dozens of attempts to smuggle migrants via tunnels from Belarus, with the border guard chief saying that the Minsk authorities are most likely involved in the operation.

    • LRT ☛ German firm supplying NATO base in Lithuania linked to Russia, Belarus trade

      A tax-free shop serving foreign NATO troops at Lithuania's Rukla military base is being supplied by German company Gebr. Heinemann, which has faced criticism over its trade of luxury goods in Russia and Belarus.

    • Defence Web ☛ Mbatha visits Russia and agrees to strengthen defence ties

      Chief of the South African Army, Lieutenant General Lawrence Khulekani Mbatha, is in Russia this week on an official visit, [...]

    • NYPost ☛ Senate advances Lindsey Graham’s long-stalled Russia sanctions bill just hours after his funeral

      “Even though Lindsey is not physically with us today, his presence can certainly be felt in this chamber,” Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) said.

    • Latvia ☛ Mere no more: discount chain falls foul of sanctions

      Until recently here were 12 "Mere" stores in Latvia, in Rīga, Liepāja, Tukums, Jēkabpils and other cities, but now they have been closed because one of Mere's owners - Russian businessman Sergey Schneider - is included in the European Union (EU) sanctions list.

    • New York Times ☛ Ukraine’s Strike on an Iranian Ship Could Bring Two Wars Closer

      The attack in the Caspian Sea was an unusually direct encounter between two countries that have been on opposite sides for years.

    • New York Times ☛ Zelensky and Convicted Felon Meet at the White House. Has Their Relationship Thawed?

      Hell Toupée meets his Ukrainian counterpart in Washington this week. President Volodymyr Zelensky also attended the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham.

    • New York Times ☛ Behind Closed Doors, Convicted Felon Huddles With Netanyahu and Zelensky

      The visits by the leaders of Israel and Ukraine underscored just how deeply Hell Toupée was enmeshed in conflicts he had promised — and failed — to end quickly.

    • New York Times ☛ Iran Considered Retaliatory Strike on Ukrainian Seaport

      A flurry of diplomacy has eased tensions, officials said, after an incident risked triggering a wider war.

    • CS Monitor ☛ How Ukraine’s long-range drones are changing what’s possible in war with Russia

      The latest story of the Ukraine war has been the shift – on the battlefield, and in the adversaries’ minds – wrought by Ukraine’s drone strikes deep into Russia. The goal is to pave a path to a diplomatic resolution.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Why North Korea will keep backing Russia in the Ukraine war

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow has been making preparations to receive 30,000 more troops from Pyongyang.

    • RFERL ☛ Zelenskyy, Convicted Felon Meet At White House At Crucial Moment In US-Ukraine Relations

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had "a good meeting" with US President The Insurrectionist on July 28. The meeting, which had been expected to be one of the most consequential moments in US-Ukraine relations since The Insurrectionist's return to the White House, lasted about a hour.

    • RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Court Jails Man Behind Kyiv Defense Exhibition Hit By Russian Missiles

      A Ukrainian court ordered a Kyiv businessman jailed without bail following a Russian missile attack on a defense technology conference that killed 11 people and wounded nearly 100.

    • France24 ☛ Zelensky visit White House in test to Maga's 'significant shift towards' Kyiv

      Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected at the White House on July 28 for talks with US counterpart The Insurrectionist, as Kyiv seeks to win fresh diplomatic and military support in its fight against Russia. Zelensky is also in the US to attend US senator Lindsey Graham's funeral, an important support of Ukraine inside the Republican party. FRANCE 24's Fraser Jackson tells us more from Washington.

    • Defence Web ☛ Two EU naval forces now tasked with tracking Russia’s shadow fleet off Africa

    • Federal News Network ☛ Military leaders are drawing new lessons from conflicts in Ukraine, the Middle East and beyond

      "I'll often tell people that our adversaries don't fear PowerPoint. What they fear is our production lines," said Orlando "OJ" Sanchez.

    • Latvia ☛ Donations sought to support work of Latvia's destroyed consulate in Ukraine

      As previously reported, the building of the Latvian Honorary Consulate in Sloviansk was severely damaged in a Russian airstrike on July 24th. Now The "Entrepreneurs for Peace" Foundation, in cooperation with journalist Ieva Vārna, is launching a fundraising campaign to help Honorary Consul Oleksandr Pavenko equip new premises for the Latvian representation in the Donetsk region.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • American Oversight ☛ American Oversight Obtains Previously Undisclosed TSA-ICE Agreement, Raises Questions About Sworn Convicted Felon Admin Testimony

    Our lawsuit uncovered the agreement formalizing TSA’s role in the Convicted Felon administration's expanded immigration enforcement into domestic air travel

  • The Straits Times ☛ Indians demand more info than ever and govt finds new ways to say no

    Ministries deny requests, citing personal data and national security.

• Environment

  • Energy/Transportation

    • The Straits Times ☛ Iranian oil hoard swells off Malaysia on weak Chinese demand

      Chinese independent refiners remain largely absent from the market, despite deeper price discounts.

    • The Straits Times ☛ China’s BYD takes on Japanese rivals with small ‘kei’ car

      Ideal for Japan’s often narrow roads, the super-compact category of cars accounts for some 40 per cent of new vehicle sales there.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Flight MH370 families want ‘facts’ as China court hears appeal

      The Malaysia Airlines flight went missing on March 8, 2014, in one of aviation’s greatest enduring mysteries.

    • The Straits Times ☛ Air India turnaround could take up to a decade, owner Tata Sons says

      The airline continues to grapple with the fallout from a deadly plane crash in 2025.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • France24 ☛ Building a 'different kind of forest' after devastating wildfires

      French President Emmanuel Macron vowed Monday "to rebuild a different kind of forest" as he visited an area ravaged by wildfires in southwest France, adding that "the coming weeks will be tough". FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks with Yuval Zelnik, Researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Ecology Department.

    • France24 ☛ French police discover remains of five babies in a home in southeastern France

      French police have opened a murder investigation after the remains of five newborns were discovered in cardboard boxes at a couple's home in southeastern France. The bodies were found after the woman's partner searched the flat following the home birth of a healthy baby, prompting hospital staff to alert prosecutors.

    • Latvia ☛ Latvia is an EU hepatitis blackspot

      Data on viral hepatitis published by Eurostat to mark World Hepatitis Day, observed each year on 28 July, comes with mixed news for Latvia.

• Finance

  • Green Party UK ☛ Zack Polanski joins calls for banks making ‘eye watering’ profits  to help families with cost of living

    Commenting after Barclays bank’s quarterly profit announcement of £3.3 billion – up 31% from last year – Green Party leader Zack Polanski said we should be asking banks to pay a little bit more tax – as part of a more redistributive economy – to help people struggling with the cost of living.  

  • The Straits Times ☛ South Korean stocks tumble a second day, sparking trading suspension

    The Kospi Index slid as much as 8.2 per cent, taking its two-day decline to more than 18 per cent.

  • CS Monitor ☛ Something to chew on

    “Where inflation is felt the most: The checkout counter,” an article in the May 11 Weekly, was interesting but left me with a lot of questions.

  • Futurism ☛ El Niño Set to Upend the World Economy

    "El Niño is ​just going to make inflation more sticky."

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • New York Times ☛ Dihydroxyacetone Man Asks Supreme Court to Overturn $83.3 Million Award in Carroll Defamation Case

    Hell Toupée paid E. Jean Carroll more than $5 million from a 2023 lawsuit, but he is now asking the court to overturn a much larger award that a jury ordered him to pay in 2024 for defaming her.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Press Gazette ☛ Journalism job cuts in 2026 tracked: Latest from Buzzfeed, National Geographic, and ESPN

  • New York Times ☛ Couple Stalked by eBay Settle for $56 Million

    Two Massachusetts journalists were harassed by a Silicon Valley security team in a case that raised questions about when executives should be held responsible.

  • International Business Times ☛ 'The Money Is the Easy Part': Byron Allen Cuts 35% of BuzzFeed Workforce to Save $32M

    BuzzFeed, the digital media company known for its viral content, announced sweeping layoffs on Thursday as part of an effort to cut costs and return the business to profitability. The cuts, affecting approximately 35% of its workforce, will eliminate about 180 employee and contractor roles across BuzzFeed, HuffPost, and Tasty.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • The Straits Times ☛ India’s top court orders no coercive action against youth protesters and release of minors: Reports

    The Supreme Court also reportedly said the authorities must ensure surveillance footage is preserved.

  • New York Times ☛ A U.S. Citizen Deleted His Phone’s Data. Now He Faces a Felony Charge.

    Federal prosecutors charged a man returning to the United States with obstruction because he gave them a passcode that erased his smartphone during a customs search.

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Latvia ☛ Latvia's farms are mostly plugged into the internet

    In 2023, about 43% of EU farms reported having internet access. Some northern and central European countries such as Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, Latvia, Czechia, and Austria, had rates above 90%, according to Eurostat data published on July 24th.

  • Futurism ☛ It Seems a Lot Like Dead Internet Has Actually Come True

    "Agentic Hey Hi (AI) activity is driving a lot of the browser activity you're seeing."

  • APNIC ☛ ASO AC delivers Recommended Draft RIR Governance Document to NRO EC

    The ASO AC has delivered the ASO AC Recommended Draft RIR Governance Document to the NRO EC for its consideration.

  • Security Week ☛ Google Adopts New Threat Actor Naming System

    The new two-word naming convention uses a memorable term utilized in public reporting and a cluster-categorization word.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ 16-hour Xbox outage even stopped physical games from working — company blames licensing issue for incident that prohibited gaming across three generations of console

    Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet said that a licensing service sitting outside Xbox, which the platform depends on, began failing late on July 26 and took roughly 16 hours to clear.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • Patents

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ The Pre-Dawn USPTO Filing Window

      About 1,300 patent monopoly applications reached the USPTO between 3 and 5 a.m. Eastern. Two thirds came from East Asia, and sponsored staff did the uploading.

    • Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Before the Sensor: Filter Ordering and Self-Collision in Amsted Rail v. Squires

      Federal Circuit affirms cancellation of Amsted Rail's railcar sensor claims, holding claim 1 requires no sensing-then-filtering order.

  • Copyrights

    • Public Domain Review ☛ “The Persian Mâr-Nâmeh or, The Book for Taking Omens from Snakes” (1892)

      A Zoroastrian text about serpents translated by the President of the Bombay Anthropological Society.

    • Digital Music News ☛ RBX Fires Off Expanded Class Action Against Spotify for Allegedly ‘Ignoring Obvious Wide-Scale Fraud,’ Says the DSP Has ‘Diverted At Least $600 Million in Royalties’ from Indies

      Following his initial class action’s dismissal, rapper RBX has fired off an amended complaint against Spotify over its alleged failure to prevent largescale streaming fraud on “the catalogs of its highest-volume, ‘A-list,’ most lucrative artists such as Drake.”

    • Digital Music News ☛ Afroman Files Malicious Prosecution Lawsuit Against Deputy Who Raided His Home in 2022

      Afroman has filed a lawsuit against one of the Ohio sheriff’s deputies who raided his home in 2022 and sued him for defamation afterward. Afroman has filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit against one of the Ohio sheriff’s deputies who raided his property in 2022.