Day: August 29, 2025

One Step method turns PVC plastic into fuel with 95% efficiency at room temperature

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…]One-step conversion and outputs At the end of the process, the products include the main components of petrol (gasoline), chemical raw materials, and hydrochloric acid. The scientists say that means the output could feed into water treatment, metal processing, pharmaceuticals, food production, and the petroleum industry. As the authors put it, “The method supports a Read more about One Step method turns PVC plastic into fuel with 95% efficiency at room temperature[…]

The Threat Of Extreme Statutory Damages For Copyright Almost Certainly Made Anthropic Settle With Authors: Not the Use of Books for training, but the idiots used pirated books for training

Posted on by Robin Edgar

In what may be the least surprising news in the world of copyright and the internet, Anthropic just agreed to settle the copyright lawsuit that everyone’s been watching, but not for the reasons most people think. This isn’t about AI training being found to infringe copyright—in fact, Anthropic won on that issue. Instead, it’s about Read more about The Threat Of Extreme Statutory Damages For Copyright Almost Certainly Made Anthropic Settle With Authors: Not the Use of Books for training, but the idiots used pirated books for training[…]

Developer Unlocks Suddenly Paywalled Echelon Exercise Bikes But Thinks DMCA says He Can’t Legally Release His Software

Posted on by Robin Edgar

An app developer has jailbroken Echelon exercise bikes to restore functionality that the company put behind a paywall last month, but copyright laws prevent him from being allowed to legally release it. Last month, Peloton competitor Echelon pushed a firmware update to its exercise equipment that forces its machines to connect to the company’s servers Read more about Developer Unlocks Suddenly Paywalled Echelon Exercise Bikes But Thinks DMCA says He Can’t Legally Release His Software[…]

German banks block EUR 10B in ‘unauthorized’ PayPal direct debits

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Shoppers and merchants in Germany found themselves dealing with billions of euros in frozen transactions this week, thanks to an apparent failure in PayPal’s fraud-detection systems. According to the Association of German Banks, the problem hit on Monday when banks noticed a slew of recent unauthorized direct debits from PayPal. The body said the banks Read more about German banks block EUR 10B in ‘unauthorized’ PayPal direct debits[…]