Author: Robin Edgar

Organisational Structures | Technology and Science | Military, IT and Lifestyle consultancy | Social, Broadcast & Cross Media | Flying aircraft

First Complete Map of a Fly Brain Has Uncanny Similarities to AI Neural Networks

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] An interdisciplinary team of scientists have released a complete reconstruction and analysis of a larval fruit fly’s brain, published Thursday in the journal Science. The resulting map, or connectome, as its called in neuroscience, includes each one of the 3,016 neurons and 548,000 of the synapses running between neurons that make up the baby Read more about First Complete Map of a Fly Brain Has Uncanny Similarities to AI Neural Networks[…]

US House reps, staff health data stolen in cyberattack

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Health data and other personal information of members of Congress and staff were stolen during a breach of servers run by DC Health Care Link and are now up for sale on the dark web. The FBI is investigating the intrusion, which came to light Wednesday after Catherine Szpindor, the House of Representatives’ chief administrative Read more about US House reps, staff health data stolen in cyberattack[…]

Women in trouble now: Scientists create mice with two fathers after making eggs from male cells

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Scientists have created mice with two biological fathers by generating eggs from male cells, a development that opens up radical new possibilities for reproduction. The advance could ultimately pave the way for treatments for severe forms of infertility, as well as raising the tantalising prospect of same-sex couples being able to have a biological child Read more about Women in trouble now: Scientists create mice with two fathers after making eggs from male cells[…]

Holy shit: German Courts saying DNS Service (Quad9) Is Implicated In Any Copyright Infringement At The Domains It Resolves

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Back in September 2021 Techdirt covered an outrageous legal attack by Sony Music on Quad9, a free, recursive, anycast DNS platform. Quad9 is part of the Internet’s plumbing: it converts domain names to numerical IP addresses. It is operated by the Quad9 Foundation, a Swiss public-benefit, not-for-profit organization. Sony Music says that Quad9 is implicated Read more about Holy shit: German Courts saying DNS Service (Quad9) Is Implicated In Any Copyright Infringement At The Domains It Resolves[…]

YouTube Chills the Darned Hell Out On Its Cursing Policy, but you still can’t fucking say fuck

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google’s finally rolling back its unpopular decree against any kinds of profanity in videos, making it harder for any creators used to offering colorful sailor’s speech in videos from monetizing content on behalf of its beloved ad partners. The only thing is, Google still seems to think the “f-word” is excessively harsh language, so sorry Read more about YouTube Chills the Darned Hell Out On Its Cursing Policy, but you still can’t fucking say fuck[…]

How this UK newspaper publisher uses AI to generate articles

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Reach, the owner of the UK’s Daily Mirror and Daily Express tabloids among other newspapers, has started publishing articles with the help of AI software on one of its regional websites as it scrambles to cut costs amid slipping advertising revenues. Three stories written with the help of machine-learning tools were published on InYourArea.co.uk, which Read more about How this UK newspaper publisher uses AI to generate articles[…]

Diving: how to prevent water in your ears and improve your equalizing

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Recently I went on a liveaboard with some extremely experienced divers, most of which had 400 or more dives logged. One of my problems with diving is that I am an extremely slow equalizer, which means that I have to descend extremely slowly, especially at around 5m and again at 10m depth. Another problem I Read more about Diving: how to prevent water in your ears and improve your equalizing[…]

When Given The Choice, Most Authors Reject Excessively Long Copyright Terms

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Recently, Walled Culture mentioned the problem of orphan works. These are creations, typically books, that are still covered by copyright, but unavailable because the original publisher or distributor has gone out of business, or simply isn’t interested in keeping them in circulation. The problem is that without any obvious point of contact, it’s not possible to Read more about When Given The Choice, Most Authors Reject Excessively Long Copyright Terms[…]

Texas Bill Would Make ISPs censor any abortion information

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Last week, Texas introduced a bill that would make it illegal for internet service providers to let users access information about how to get abortion pills. The bill, called the Women and Child Safety Act, would also criminalize creating, editing, or hosting a website that helps people seek abortions. If the bill passes, internet service Read more about Texas Bill Would Make ISPs censor any abortion information[…]

Florida bill would make bloggers who are paid to write about elected officials register with ethics commission

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A proposed law in Florida would force bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis and other elected officials to register with a state office and file monthly reports or face fines of $25 per day. The bill was filed in the Florida Senate Tuesday by Senator Jason Brodeur, a Republican. If enacted, the proposed law Read more about Florida bill would make bloggers who are paid to write about elected officials register with ethics commission[…]

JPMorgan Chase ‘requires workers give 6 months notice’

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A veteran JPMorgan Chase banker fumed over the financial giant’s policy requiring certain staffers to give six months’ notice before being allowed to leave for another job. The Wall Street worker, who claims to earn around $400,000 annually in total compensation after accumulating 15 years of experience, griped that the lengthy notice period likely means Read more about JPMorgan Chase ‘requires workers give 6 months notice’[…]

40-passenger hydrogen electric plane completes maiden flight

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Mere weeks after achieving experimental airworthiness certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Universal Hydrogen has successfully taken its 40-passenger regional hydrogen electric plane to the skies. The aircraft took off from Washington state this morning and ascended to an altitude of 3,500 mean sea level (MSL) before safely landing, as you can see in Read more about 40-passenger hydrogen electric plane completes maiden flight[…]

Guy Embezzles Cool $9 Million From Poop-to-Energy Ponzi Scheme

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A guy embezzled nearly $9 million by convincing investors he was turning cow poop into green energy—and then not building any of the machines at all. On Monday, 66-year-old Raymond Brewer of Porterville, California pled guilty to charges that he’d defrauded investors. Court records show that Brewer Read more about Guy Embezzles Cool $9 Million From Poop-to-Energy Ponzi Scheme[…]

Mt. Gox creditors now have until March to register for payouts

Posted on by Robin Edgar

obuaki Kobayashi, the trustee for the Mt. Gox bankruptcy, has announced that the deadline for repayment selection and registration of payee information for its creditors has been moved from Jan. 10 to Mar. 10. According to Kobayashi, the change was made due to “various circumstances such as the progress by rehabilitation creditors in respect of Read more about Mt. Gox creditors now have until March to register for payouts[…]

You don’t own what you buy: Roald Dahl eBooks Censored Remotely after you bought them

Posted on by Robin Edgar

“Owners of Roald Dahl ebooks are having their libraries automatically updated with the new censored versions containing hundreds of changes to language related to weight, mental health, violence, gender and race,” reports the British newspaper the Times. Readers who bought electronic versions of the writer’s books, such as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Read more about You don’t own what you buy: Roald Dahl eBooks Censored Remotely after you bought them[…]

It’s official: BlackLotus malware can bypass UEFI secure boot

Posted on by Robin Edgar

BlackLotus, a UEFI bootkit that’s sold on hacking forums for about $5,000, can now bypass Secure Boot, making it the first known malware to run on Windows systems even with the firmware security feature enabled. Secure Boot is supposed to prevent devices from running unauthorized software on Microsoft machines. But by targeting UEFI the BlackLotus Read more about It’s official: BlackLotus malware can bypass UEFI secure boot[…]

OpenAI will let developers build ChatGPT into their apps, control own data

Posted on by Robin Edgar

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and DALL-E 2, announced several significant changes today. First, it’s launching developer APIs for ChatGPT and the Whisper speech-transcription model. It also changed its terms of service to let developers opt out of using their data for improvements while adding a 30-day data retention policy. The new ChatGPT API will Read more about OpenAI will let developers build ChatGPT into their apps, control own data[…]

John Dodd Rolls Royce 27-Liter Merlin V12-Powered, Street-Legal Fiberglass Legend From the ’70s for sale

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Many cars claim to be a beast although just a few have a resume to back it up. This 1972 Rolls-Royce-ish plants its flag as “The Beast” so hard it’s right there on the name. This beige-on-beige-on-beige masterpiece is heading to auction to find a new home, and hopefully, one with a very long garage Read more about John Dodd Rolls Royce 27-Liter Merlin V12-Powered, Street-Legal Fiberglass Legend From the ’70s for sale[…]

Experiments with paper airplanes reveal surprisingly complex aerodynamics

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Drop a flat piece of paper and it will flutter and tumble through the air as it falls, but a well-fashioned paper airplane will glide smoothly. Although these structures look simple, their aerodynamics are surprisingly complex. Researchers at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences conducted a series of experiments involving paper airplanes to Read more about Experiments with paper airplanes reveal surprisingly complex aerodynamics[…]

Reaserchers propose Organoid intelligence (OI): the new frontier in biocomputing and intelligence-in-a-dish

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] Human brains are slower than machines at processing simple information, such as arithmetic, but they far surpass machines in processing complex information as brains deal better with few and/or uncertain data. Brains can perform both sequential and parallel processing (whereas computers can do only the former), and they outperform computers in decision-making on large, Read more about Reaserchers propose Organoid intelligence (OI): the new frontier in biocomputing and intelligence-in-a-dish[…]

ChatGPT allowed in International Baccalaureate essays

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Schoolchildren are allowed to quote from content created by ChatGPT in their essays, the International Baccalaureate has said. The IB, which offers an alternative qualification to A-Levels and Highers, said students can use the chatbot but must be clear when they are quoting its responses. […] Matt Glanville, the IB’s head of assessment principles and Read more about ChatGPT allowed in International Baccalaureate essays[…]

Dow said it was recycling Singaporean shoes. Reuters found them in Indonesia

Posted on by Robin Edgar

At a rundown market on the Indonesian island of Batam, a small location tracker was beeping from the back of a crumbling second-hand shoe store. A Reuters reporter followed the high-pitched ping to a mound of old sneakers and began digging through the pile. There they were: a pair of blue Nike running shoes with Read more about Dow said it was recycling Singaporean shoes. Reuters found them in Indonesia[…]

Does the Earth’s core have an innermost core?

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Geology textbooks almost inevitably include a cutaway diagram of the Earth showing four neatly delineated layers: a thin outer shell of rock that we live on known as the crust; the mantle, where rocks flow like an extremely viscous liquid, driving the movement of continents and the lifting of mountains; a liquid outer core of Read more about Does the Earth’s core have an innermost core?[…]

Sneaky Clock Displays Wrong Time If It Catches You Looking at it

Posted on by Robin Edgar

We have a soft spot for devices that subvert purpose and expectation, and that definitely sums up [Guy Dupont]’s Clock That Is Wrong. It knows the correct time, but whether or not it displays the correct time is another story. That’s because nestled just above the 7-segment display is a person sensor module, and when Read more about Sneaky Clock Displays Wrong Time If It Catches You Looking at it[…]

Stanford Faculty Say Anonymous Student Bias Reports Threaten Free Speech – who’d have thought that anonymous tipping off leads to abuse?!

Posted on by Robin Edgar

“A group of Stanford University professors is pushing to end a system that allows students to anonymously report classmates for exhibiting discrimination or bias, saying it threatens free speech on campus (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source),” reports the Wall Street Journal. The Daily Beast reports: Last month, a screenshot of a student reading Hitler’s manifesto Read more about Stanford Faculty Say Anonymous Student Bias Reports Threaten Free Speech – who’d have thought that anonymous tipping off leads to abuse?![…]