The New York Times looks at the AbbVie’s anti-inflammatory drug Humira and their “savvy but legal exploitation of the U.S. patent system.” Though AbbVie’s patent was supposed to expire in 2016, since then it’s maintained a monopoly that generated $114 billion in revenue by using “a formidable wall of intellectual property protection and suing would-be Read more about A Drug Company Made $114 Billion Gaming America’s Patent System by adding tiny bits to the original patent[…]

Last year BMW took ample heat for its plans to turn heated seats into a costly $18 per month subscription in numerous countries. As we noted at the time, BMW is already including the hardware in new cars and adjusting the sale price accordingly. So it’s effectively charging users a new, recurring fee to enable Read more about BMW Further Embraces Making Basic Features A Costly Subscription Service – now it’s remote starting[…]

On Thursday, Microsoft researchers announced a new text-to-speech AI model called VALL-E that can closely simulate a person’s voice when given a three-second audio sample. Once it learns a specific voice, VALL-E can synthesize audio of that person saying anything—and do it in a way that attempts to preserve the speaker’s emotional tone. Further Reading Read more about Microsoft’s new AI can simulate anyone’s voice with 3 seconds of audi[…]

After a years-long process, data protection officials across the European Union have ruled that Europe’s ad tech industry has been operating unlawfully. The decision, handed down by Belgium’s APD (.PDF) and agreed by regulators across the EU, found that the system underpinning the industry violated a number of principles of the General Data Protection Regulations Read more about Regulators find Europe’s ad-tech industry acted unlawfully, violates GDPR[…]

A funny thing happened on Google Drive overnight. Seemingly innocuous files started being flagged as violating the search behemoth’s terms of service over copyright infringement. Dr Emily Dolson, assistant professor at Michigan State University, was one of those affected after she attempted to upload a file containing a single digit, “1”. Uh, @googledrive, are you Read more about Google Drive flags single-digit files over copyright[…]

The French government’s roadmap for developing open source to make it a vector of digital sovereignty and a guarantee of “democratic confidence” was presented by Public Transformation and Civil Service Minister Amélie de Montchalin on Wednesday (10 November). EURACTIV France reports. Montchalin spoke at the closing of the first edition of the “Open Source Experience”, Read more about French government to speed up deployment of open source – EURACTIV.com[…]

Build watering system for house plants. In part one of this video series, we will create a sensor that measures soil moisture, ambient temperature and light. Build watering system for house plants. In part two of this video series, we will create a central unit that takes sensor readings and also waters our plants on Read more about DIY House Plants Watering System[…]

China’s National Space Administration has released footage recorded by the country’s Mars probe. The videos and photos taken by the camera installed on the Zhurong rover of the Tianwen-1 spacecraft show the lander deploying a parachute before touching down on the surface of Mars and the rover driving away from its landing platform. State broadcaster Read more about China releases video and audio footage from its Mars rover[…]

An F-35B Joint Strike Fighter shot itself in the skies above Arizona earlier this month, doing at least $2.5 million in damage. The pilot was unharmed and successfully landed the jet. The Pentagon isn’t quite sure how or why the jet shot itself and the incident is still under investigation. As first reported by Military.com, Read more about One of America’s $135.8 Million Fighter F-35 Jets Shot Itself[…]

Rocket Lab today unveiled plans for its Neutron rocket, an advanced 8-ton payload class launch vehicle tailored for mega-constellation deployment, interplanetary missions and human spaceflight. Neutron will build on Rocket Lab’s proven experience developing the reliable workhorse Electron launch vehicle, the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually since 2019. Where Electron provides dedicated access Read more about Rocket Lab Unveils Plans for New 8-Ton Class Reusable Rocket for Mega-Constellation Deployment. Probably won’t explode as much as SpaceX. Also to become publically traded.[…]

The use of “invisible” tracking tech in emails is now “endemic”, according to a messaging service that analysed its traffic at the BBC’s request.Hey’s review indicated that two-thirds of emails sent to its users’ personal accounts contained a “spy pixel”, even after excluding for spam.Its makers said that many of the largest brands used email Read more about ‘Spy pixels in emails have become endemic’[…]

  62 pages of visual illusions! Source: Akiyoshi’s illusion pages

Perhaps you’ve been hearing strange sounds in your home—ghostly creaks and moans, random Rick Astley tunes, Alexa commands issued in someone else’s voice. If so, you haven’t necessarily lost your mind. Instead, if you own one of a few models of internet-connected speaker and you’ve been careless with your network settings, you might be one Read more about Hackers Can Rickroll Thousands of Sonos and Bose Speakers Over the Internet[…]

When buying a new monitor there are 5 sites you should have open at all times: 1. The site selling monitors (eg plattetv.nl) 2. The comparison site Display specifications which allows you to search for models, add them to comparison lists and then view detailed specifications next to each other 3. A google search for Read more about Buying a new Monitor / TV[…]

http://www.inc.com/betsy-mikel/1-interview-question-that-cuts-through-the-bs-to-reveal-someones-true-character.html Are you a giver or a taker? Ask for the names of 4 people the interviewee has boosted their career. If the positions of the people are lower than the interviewee you have a giver. If higher then the interviewee is a taker – a self serving backstabber…

Amazon Lumberyard is a free AAA game engine deeply integrated with AWS and Twitch – with full source. Source: Amazon Lumberyard – Free AAA Game Engine Build your own games for free!

ReactOS is a free and open source operating system written from scratch. It’s design is based on Windows in the same way Linux is based on Unix, however ReactOS is _not_ linux. ReactOS looks and feels like Windows, is able to your run Windows software and your Windows drivers, and is familiar for Windows users Read more about ReactOS Project: A free OS to run Windows programmes in[…]

TrackMeNot runs in Firefox and Chrome as a low-priority background process that periodically issues randomized search-queries to popular search engines, e.g., AOL, Yahoo!, Google, and Bing. It hides users’ actual search trails in a cloud of ‘ghost’ queries, significantly increasing the difficulty of aggregating such data into accurate or identifying user profiles. TMN serves as Read more about TrackMeNot – run random searches in the background[…]