Last year, I coined the term ‘enshittification,’ to describe the way that platforms decay. That obscene little word did big numbers, it really hit the zeitgeist. I mean, the American Dialect Society made it their Word of the Year for 2023 (which, I suppose, means that now I’m definitely getting a poop emoji on my Read more about Cory Doctorow’s McLuhan lecture on enshittification (30 Jan 2024)[…]
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) held a recent workshop on incidents where people spoofed and jammed satellite navigation systems, and concluded these pose a “significant challenge” to safety. Mitigating the risks posed by such actions will require measures to be enacted in the short term as Read more about EASA and IATA start work on aviation GPS interference[…]
[Kagen Sound] is a woodworker and artist who gives a great behind-the-scenes look at his amazingly high-quality puzzle boxes (video). Not only do his varied puzzle box designs show his math background, but they are all made entirely of wood. There are no nails or fasteners; just intricately-fitted wood and some glue. There’s a lot Read more about Design Secrets Of Fantastic, Hand-made Puzzle Boxes[…]
“Music that evoked different emotions, such as happiness, sadness or fear, caused different bodily sensations in our study. For example, happy and danceable music was felt in the arms and legs, while tender and sad music was felt in the chest area,” explains Academy Research Fellow Vesa Putkinen. The emotions and bodily sensations evoked by Read more about Music causes similar emotions and bodily sensations across cultures[…]
[…] Concetto Spampinato and his colleagues at the University of Catania, Italy, were looking for ways to avoid a phenomenon known as “catastrophic forgetting”, where an AI model trained to do a new task loses the ability to carry out jobs it previously aced. For instance, a model trained to identify animals could learn to spot Read more about AI can better retain what it learns by mimicking human sleep[…]
An MIT biotech researcher has been able to run the iconic computer game Doom using actual gut bacteria. Lauren Ramlan didn’t get the game going on a digital simulation of bacteria, but turned actual bacteria into pixels to display the 30-year-old FPS, as reported by Rock Paper Shotgun. Specifically, Ramlan created a display inside of Read more about Doom running on gut bacteria, proving you really can play the game on anything[…]
Mercedes-Benz accidentally exposed a trove of internal data after leaving a private key online that gave “unrestricted access” to the company’s source code, according to the security research firm that discovered it. Shubham Mittal, co-founder and chief technology officer of RedHunt Labs, alerted TechCrunch to the exposure and asked for help in disclosing to the Read more about Mercedes-Benz source code exposed by leaving private key online[…]
Japan is an innovative country that leads the way on many technological fronts. But the wheels of bureaucracy often turn incredibly slowly there. So much so, that the government still requires businesses to provide information on floppy disks and CD-ROMs when they submit certain official documents. That’s starting to change. Back in 2022, Minister of Read more about Japan will no longer require floppy disks for submitting some official documents[…]
What happens when you expose tellurite glass to femtosecond laser light? That’s the question that Gözden Torun at the Galatea Lab at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, in collaboration with Tokyo Tech scientists, aimed to answer in her thesis work when she made the discovery that may one day turn windows into single material light-harvesting Read more about Turning glass into a ‘transparent’ light-energy harvester[…]
Since the US Supreme Court overturned the right to an abortion, estimates suggest that there have been tens of thousands of pregnancies as a result of rape in states with near-total abortion bans. Very few, if any, of those pregnancies were ended by a legal in-state abortion, even if states had exceptions for rape […] Read more about US states had 65,000 rape-related pregnancies after banning abortion[…]
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has proposed creating a new top-level domain (TLD) and never allowing it to be delegated in the global domain name system (DNS) root. The proposed TLD is .INTERNAL and, as the name implies, it’s intended for internal use only. The idea is that .INTERNAL could take Read more about ICANN proposes creating .INTERNAL domain which will never be used in root zone DNS[…]
Hundreds of thousands of EU citizens were wrongly fined for driving in London’s Ulez clean air zone, according to European governments, in what has been described as “possibly one of the largest data breaches in EU history”. The Guardian can reveal Transport for London (TfL) has been accused by five EU countries of illegally obtaining Read more about Hundreds of thousands of EU citizens ‘wrongly fined for driving in London Ulez’ in one of EUs largest privacy breaches[…]
One of the dumber things we’ve seen over the last couple of years is the supposed “war on woke” and (more recently) attacks on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” efforts (often shortened to the acronym DEI). In almost every case, these attacks misrepresent reality to generate culture war bullshit, and make a bunch of false claims Read more about Investigative Report Proves What Most People Already Suspected: The ‘War On Woke & DEI’ Mostly Pushed By A Bunch Of Censorial, Racist Shitheads[…]
The latest dispute between the New York Times and OpenAI reinforces the distinction in understanding artificial intelligence (AI) between autonomy and automatons, which we have previously examined. The Gray Lady turned heads late this past year when it filed suit against OpenAI, alleging that the artificial intelligence giant’s ChatGPT software infringed its copyrights. Broadly speaking, the Times alleged that the famous Read more about OpenAI-New York Times Copyright Fight Further Illustrates Autonomy-Automaton Dichotomy[…]
Our planet sits in the Habitable Zone of our Sun, the special place where water can be liquid on the surface of a world. But that’s not the only thing special about us: we also sit in the Galactic Habitable Zone, the region within the Milky Way where the rate of star formation is just Read more about The Galactic Habitable Zone[…]
In response to new EU regulations, Apple on Thursday outlined plans to allow iOS developers to distribute apps outside the App Store starting in March, though developers must still submit apps for Apple’s review and pay commissions. Now critics say the changes don’t go far enough and Apple retains too much control. Epic Games CEO Read more about Shameless Insult, Malicious Compliance, Junk Fees, Extortion Regime: Industry Reacts To Apple’s Proposed Changes Over Digital Markets Act[…]
Apple’s new rules in the European Union mean browsers like Firefox can finally use their own engines on iOS. Although this may seem like a welcome change, Mozilla spokesperson Damiano DeMonte tells The Verge it’s “extremely disappointed” with the way things turned out. “We are still reviewing the technical details but are extremely disappointed with Apple’s Read more about Mozilla says Apple’s new browser rules are ‘as painful as possible’ for Firefox[…]
[…] For the first time, new EU rules have forced the company to entertain the idea that you can shop for apps outside of Apple’s own App Store, as well as allow browsers other than Apple’s own Safari to run on iOS with their full suite of features. Yet critics say those changes, although drastic, Read more about Apple Isn’t Ready to Release Its Grip on the App Store[…]
When it comes to copyright suits or conflicts that never should have existed, one of the most common misunderstandings that births them is not understanding the idea/expression dichotomy in copyright law. Even to most laypeople, once you explain it, it’s quite simple. You can copyright a specific expression of something, such as literature, recorded music, Read more about Palworld Is a Great Example Of The Idea/Expression Dichotomy | Techdirt[…]
Apple is making major changes to the App Store and other core parts of iOS in Europe in response to new European Union laws. Beginning in March, Apple will allow users within the EU to download apps and make purchases from outside of its App Store. The company is already testing many of these changes Read more about EU forces Apple to open up to third-party app stores and payments. Details emerge what it will look like.[…]
Astronomers have discovered stars that appear to be blowing out plumes of smoke. The “old smokers”, as they have been nicknamed, challenge our ideas of what happens at the end of giant stars’ lives. Generally, when red giant stars grow old, they begin to pulsate. They become brighter, dimmer, brighter again and so on, while Read more about Newly discovered smoking stars emit huge clouds.[…]
EV buyers are often motivated by a desire to save money on gas and/or drive something more environmentally friendly. But, a recent story out of Florida in The Miami Herald details how EV owners there have been blindsided by how fast they’re having to change the tires on their EVs. The Herald spoke with the Read more about Florida EV Buyers Shocked To Learn Their Cars Eat Tires[…]
The Akira ransomware gang is claiming responsiblity for the “cybersecurity incident” at British bath bomb merchant. Akira says it has stolen 110 GB of data from the UK-headquartered global cosmetics giant, which has more than 900 stores worldwide, allegedly including “a lot of personal documents” such as passport scans. Passport scans are routinely collected to Read more about Akira ransomware gang says it stole personnel passport scans and other PII from Lush[…]
A password-less database containing an estimated 1.3 million sets of Dutch COVID-19 testing records was left exposed to the open internet, and it’s not clear if anyone is taking responsibility. Among the information revealed in the publicly accessible and seemingly insecurely configured database were 118,441 coronavirus test certificates, 506,663 appointment records, 660,173 testing samples and Read more about Dutch COVID-19 testing firm Coronalab exposed 1.3 million patient records[…]
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the smallest exoplanet where water vapor has been detected in its atmosphere. At only approximately twice Earth’s diameter, the planet GJ 9827d could be an example of potential planets with water-rich atmospheres elsewhere in our galaxy. GJ 9827d was discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope in 2017. Read more about Hubble finds water vapor in small exoplanet’s atmosphere[…]