Linking ideas with the world
[…] hackers gained control of the devices and used the onboard speakers to blast racial slurs at anyone within earshot. One such person was a lawyer from Minnesota named Daniel Swenson. He was watching TV when he heard some odd noises coming from the direction of his vacuum. He changed the password and restarted it. Read more about Hacked Robot Vacuums Shout Slurs at Their Owners, Chase down their dogs[…]
[…] RSV vaccination provided approximately 80 percent protection against severe disease and hospitalization, Intensive Care Unit admission and death due to a respiratory infection as well as similar protection against less severe disease in adults who visited an emergency department but did not require hospitalization, ages 60 and older. Of this population, those ages 75 Read more about Big data, real world, multi-state study finds RSV vaccine highly effective in protecting older adults against severe disease, hospitalization and death[…]
Both uBlock Origin and its smaller sibling, uBlock Origin Lite, are experiencing problems thanks to browser vendors that really ought to know better. Developer Raymond Hill, or gorhill on GitHub, is one of the biggest unsung heroes of the modern web. He’s the man behind two of the leading browser extensions to block unwanted advertising, Read more about Both uBlock Origin and Lite face browser problems[…]
The copyright world is currently trying to assert its control over the new world of generative AI through a number of lawsuits, several of which have been discussed previously on Walled Culture. We now have our first decision in this area, from the regional court in Hamburg. Andres Guadamuz has provided an excellent detailed analysis Read more about German court: LAION’s generative AI training dataset is legal thanks to EU copyright exceptions[…]
Penguin Random House, the trade publisher, is adding language to the copyright pages of its books to prohibit the use of those books to train AI. The Bookseller reports that new books and reprints of older titles from the publisher will now include the statement, “No part of this book may be used or reproduced Read more about Penguin Random House is adding an AI warning to its books’ copyright pages fwiw[…]
Scholars have long contemplated the connection between language and thought—and to what degree the two are intertwined—by asking whether language is somehow an essential prerequisite for thinking. […] Evelina Fedorenko, a neuroscientist who studies language at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has spent many years trying to answer Read more about You Don’t Need Words to Think[…]
University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science professor Nikolaos Sidiropoulos has introduced a breakthrough in graph mining with the development of a new computational algorithm. Graph mining, a method of analyzing networks like social media connections or biological systems, helps researchers discover meaningful patterns in how different elements interact. The new algorithm addresses Read more about New 3 point graph mining algorithm finds patterns in complex networks[…]
It’s lately been considered good business for companies to show they are responsible corporate citizens. Google touts its solar-powered data centers. Apple talks about its use of recycled materials. Walmart describes its support for local communities. But these narratives, according to new research by Haas Associate Professor Tim McQuade, have some downsides. With Emanuele Colonnelli Read more about Research shows how corporate social responsibility messaging can backfire[…]
The FIDO Alliance has published a working draft of a new set of specifications for secure credential exchange that, when standardized and implemented by credential providers, will enable users to securely move passkeys and all other credentials across providers. The specifications are the result of commitment and collaboration amongst members of the FIDO Alliance’s Credential Read more about FIDO Alliance Publishes Draft Working Specifications for Passkeys, invites feedback[…]
[…] Many Windows 11 24H2 users, this writer included, saw a chunk of disk space occupied by “Windows Update Cleanup” after running the Disk Cleanup tool. Efforts to reclaim the space proved fruitless. The cause, according to Microsoft, is not necessarily due to a change in how the company has implemented updates in Windows 11 Read more about Windows 11 24H2 disk space hoarding a ‘reporting error’ – don’t know which is worse though[…]
Impact, an app that describes itself as “AI-powered infrastructure for shaping and managing narratives in the modern world,” is testing a way to organize and activate supporters on social media in order to promote certain political messages. The app aims to summon groups of supporters who will flood social media with AI-written talking points designed Read more about AI-Powered Social Media Manipulation App Impact facilitates zealots flooding posts with AI texts to look real[…]
Apple today reminded developers that the EU trader requirement in the European Union is now being enforced. Developers who distribute apps in the EU will now need to share information that includes address, phone number, and email address on the EU App Store. Submitting updates for apps on the App Store in the European Union Read more about Developers Now Required to Share Phone Number and Address on EU App Store to Meet ‘Trader’ Requirement[…]
If you’ve ever opted to rent a movie through a Redbox kiosk, your private info is out there waiting for any tinkerer to get their hands on it. One programmer who reverse-engineered a kiosk’s hard drive proved the Redbox machines can cough up transaction histories featuring customers’ names, emails, and rentals going back nearly a Read more about If You Ever Rented From Redbox, Your Private Info Is Up for Grabs[…]
I’m a loud proponent for accessibility in tech, though, sadly, I don’t get to celebrate it often. This week, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission delivered a rare win by mandating that all mobile phones be hearing aid compatible. The new mandate, announced Thursday, also discouraged phone manufacturers from incorporating proprietary Bluetooth standards on their products Read more about All U.S. Smartphones Must Be Compatible With Hearing Aids, FCC Says[…]
Microsoft has notified customers that it’s missing more than two weeks of security logs for some of its cloud products, leaving network defenders without critical data for detecting possible intrusions. According to a notification sent to affected customers, Microsoft said that “a bug in one of Microsoft’s internal monitoring agents resulted in a malfunction in Read more about Microsoft said it lost weeks of security logs for its customers’ cloud products[…]
Fungi are fascinating lifeforms that defy conventional notions of animal intelligence. They don’t have brains, yet display clear signs of decision making and communication. But just how complex are these organisms and what can they tell us about other forms of awareness? To begin investigating these mysteries, researchers at Japan’s Tohoku University and Nagaoka College Read more about A simple experiment revealed the complex ‘thoughts’ of fungi – yes vegans and vegetarians: plants also really live and think.[…]
[…] when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke at the dev day, he touched on potential earning opportunities for developers. “Revenue sharing is important to us,” Altman said.” We’re going to pay people who build the most useful and the most-used GPTs a portion of our revenue.” […] Books GPT, which churns out personalized book recommendations Read more about OpenAI’s GPT Store Has Left Some Developers in the Lurch[…]
Police officers in Portland, Oregon, stopped a car Tuesday night when they noticed a bag inside that said “Definitely not a bag full of drugs”. It, in fact, was – full of drugs: 79 blue fentanyl pills, three fake oxycodone tablets and 230g of methamphetamine, to be exact. […] Source: Oregon police find bag full Read more about Oregon police find bag full of drugs marked ‘definitely not a bag full of drugs’[…]
It’s scary to think about how many games in your backlog will never get played; scarier, still, to think about how you don’t, in most real senses of the word, own any of them. Now Valve, seemingly working to comply with a new California law targeting “false advertising” of “digital goods,” has added language to Read more about Steam adds the harsh truth that you’re buying “a license,” not the game itself[…]
Windows 11 24H2 users are finding there is undeletable data that remains on their devices after installing the recently released feature update. The known issues list has not grown in the days since the rollout on October 15, however, for many users – this writer included – attempts to clean up the detritus after the Read more about Windows 11 24H2 hoards 8.63 GB of junk you can’t delete, blue screens with anti cheat, fingerprint sensors break, mouse cursor problems, VR glasses bricked[…]
A new study is redefining how we understand affective polarization. The study proposes that disappointment, rather than hatred, may be the dominant emotion driving the growing divide between ideological groups. The findings are published in the journal Cognition and Emotion. The team was led by Ph.D. student Mabelle Kretchner from the Department of Psychology at Read more about Study: Disappointment, not hatred probably driving polarization in the states[…]
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, known commonly as PFAS, could take over 40 years to flush out of contaminated groundwater in North Carolina’s Cumberland and Bladen counties, according to a new study from North Carolina State University. The study used a novel combination of data on PFAS, groundwater age-dating tracers, and groundwater flux to forecast PFAS Read more about It could take over 40 years for PFAS to leave groundwater[…]
The personal care products we use on a daily basis significantly affect indoor air quality, according to new research by a team at EPFL. When used indoors, these products release a cocktail of more than 200 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air, and when those VOCs come into contact with ozone, the chemical reactions Read more about How personal care products affect indoor air quality[…]
Microsoft’s Outlook app is crashing for European users due to memory problems, Redmond has warned, and evidence suggests the problems are spreading to the US. “We’re investigating an issue in which users in Europe may be experiencing crashing, not receiving emails or observing high memory usage when using the Outlook client,” Redmond warned. “We’re analyzing Read more about Microsoft applies fix for new Outlook desktop crashes[…]
The US government’s General Services Administration’s (GSA) facial matching login service is now generally available to the public and other federal agencies, despite its own recent report admitting the tech is far from perfect. The GSA announced general availability of remote identity verification (RiDV) technology through login.gov, and the service’s availability to other federal government Read more about Face matching now available on GSA’s login.gov, however it still doesn’t work in minimum 10% of the time[…]