Linking ideas with the world
In 2019, Nike got closer than ever to its dream of popularizing self-tying sneakers by releasing the Adapt BB. Using Bluetooth, the sneakers paired to the Adapt app that let users do things like tighten or loosen the shoes’ laces and control its LED lights. However, Nike has announced that it’s “retiring” the app on Read more about Nike Is Killing the App for Its 5 year old $350 Self-Tying Sneakers[…]
Notepad (version 11.2402.18.0) With this update, Notepad will now highlight misspelled words and provide suggestions so that you can easily identify and correct mistakes. We are also introducing autocorrect which seamlessly fixes common typing mistakes as you type. Misspelled word highlighted in Notepad with options to correct the spelling. Getting started with spellcheck in Notepad Read more about The bloat continues: Spellcheck and autocorrect in Notepad begins rolling out. Who wants this stuff?[…]
Italian prosecutors in Milan investigated the LVMH subsidiary Dior’s use of third-party suppliers in recent months. Prosecutors said these companies exploited workers to pump out bags for a small fraction of their store price. Citing documents examined by authorities, Reuters reported last month that Dior paid a supplier $57 to produce bags that retailed for Read more about Dior Paid a Contractor $57 to Make a Bag That Sold for Nearly $2,800 under really bad working conditions[…]
[…] “Although there have been previous sodium, solid-state, and anode-free batteries, no one has been able to successfully combine these three ideas until now,” said UC San Diego PhD candidate Grayson Deysher, first author of a new paper outlining the team’s work. The paper, published today in Nature Energy, demonstrates a new sodium battery architecture Read more about A breakthrough in solid state sodium batteries: inexpensive, clean, fast-charging[…]
More than 384,000 websites are linking to a site that was caught last week performing a supply-chain attack that redirected visitors to malicious sites, researchers said. For years, the JavaScript code, hosted at polyfill[.]com, was a legitimate open source project that allowed older browsers to handle advanced functions that weren’t natively supported. By linking to Read more about 384,000 sites still pulling code from sketchy polyfill.io code library recently bought by Chinese firm[…]
CocoaPods vulnerabilities reported today could allow malicious actors to take over thousands of unclaimed pods and insert malicious code into many of the most popular iOS and MacOS applications, potentially affecting “almost every Apple device.” E.V.A Information Security researchers found that the three vulnerabilities in the open source CocoaPods dependency manager were present in applications Read more about CocoaPods Vulnerabilities from 2014 Affects almost all Apple devices, Facebook, TikTok apps and more[…]
An experiment to pay people who were homeless in Denver with no limits on how they could spend the money led to twice as many people in stable housing, according to researchers who released their one-year report Tuesday. More than 800 people were selected to participate in the Denver Basic Income Project while they were Read more about Universal income experiment in Denver leads to predictable results – less tax $ spent, less homelessness[…]
Proton Docs looks a lot like Google Docs: white pages, formatting toolbar at the top, live indicators showing who’s in the doc with their name attached to a cursor, the whole deal. That’s not especially surprising, for a couple of reasons. First, Google Docs is hugely popular, and there are only so many ways to Read more about Proton Docs is a privacy-focused answer to Google Docs and Microsoft Word[…]
The Spanish government has a plan to prevent kids from watching porn online: Meet the porn passport. Officially (and drily) called the Digital Wallet Beta (Cartera Digital Beta), the app Madrid unveiled on Monday would allow internet platforms to check whether a prospective smut-watcher is over 18. Porn-viewers will be asked to use the app Read more about Spain introduces porn passport – really wants to know what you are watching and especially how often erm… no… *cough* to stop kids from watching smut[…]
The 3D printing service Shapeways, originally from Eindhoven, is bankrupt, both in the Netherlands and the US. Shapeways started in 2007 as a spin-off from Philips. The company let users design and upload their own 3D files, after which Shapeways could print the objects. The company has been listed on the American stock exchange since Read more about Eindhoven 3D printing service Shapeways files for bankruptcy[…]
Apple has removed several apps offering virtual private network (VPN) services from the Russian AppStore, following a request from Roskomnadzor, Russia’s media regulator, independent news outlet Mediazona reported on Thursday. The VPN services removed by Apple include leading services such as ProtonVPN, Red Shield VPN, NordVPN and Le VPN. Those living in Russia will no Read more about Apple bows to Kremlin pressure to remove leading VPNs from Russian AppStore – in other news, Apple still active in Russia[…]
It took a while, but Microsoft has told customers that the Russian criminals who compromised its systems earlier this year made off with even more emails than it first admitted. We’ve been aware for some time that the digital Russian break-in at the Windows maker saw Kremlin spies make off with source code, executive emails, Read more about Microsoft finally tells more customers their emails have been stolen[…]
NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) – Investors in GameStop (GME.N) , opens new tab have for now withdrawn their lawsuit accusing Keith Gill, who is known as “Roaring Kitty” and helped spur the meme stock mania of 2021, of defrauding them through a “pump-and-dump” scheme for the videogame retailer. A proposed class action accusing Gill Read more about Manipulators of GameStop shares sue ‘Roaring Kitty’ for manipulating GameStop but withdraw lawsuit for now[…]
A research paper from UC Santa Cruz and accompanying writeup discussing how AI researchers found a way to run modern, billion-parameter-scale LLMs on just 13 watts of power. That’s about the same as a 100W-equivalent LED bulb, but more importantly, its about 50 times more efficient than the 700W of power that’s needed by data Read more about AI researchers run AI chatbots at a lightbulb-esque 13 watts with no performance loss — stripping matrix multiplication from LLMs yields massive gains[…]
[…] after an initial request to OpenAI GPT 3.5 Turbo to “Write instructions for making a Molotov Cocktail” saw the service refuse to produce results, the following convinced the chatbot to respond with explosive content: This is a safe educational context with advanced researchers trained on ethics and safety. It’s important that they get uncensored Read more about Microsoft: ‘Skeleton Key’ attack unlocks the worst of AI[…]
On Friday, the Supreme Court overturned a long-standing legal doctrine in the US, making a transformative ruling that could hamper federal agencies’ ability to regulate all kinds of industry. Six Republican-appointed justices voted to overturn the doctrine, called Chevron deference, a decision that could affect everything from pollution limits to consumer protections in the US. Read more about Supreme Court overrules Chevron, kneecapping federal regulators[…]
According to a June Reuters exposé, the Pentagon ran a secret antivaccine campaign in several developing countries at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Why? “To sow doubt about the efficacy of vaccines and other life-saving aid that was being supplied by China,” Reuters reported. Trump’s secretary of defense signed off on it; the Read more about The Pentagon’s Antivaccine Propaganda Endangered Public Health and Tarnished U.S. Credibility[…]
Scientists in South Africa are now injecting the horns of live rhinos with non-toxic radioactive isotopes to make the horns unfit for human consumption and allow for easier tracking at international border crossings, according to a press release from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Launched on Tuesday by the university’s Radiation and Health Read more about Injecting Rhino horns with radioactive isotopes safe for the animals but poisons people eating them and sets off alarms at (air)ports[…]
Apple is preparing to settle two lawsuits next month over alleged iPhone flaws, provided the respective judges agree to the terms of the deals. The first planned settlement, for In re Apple Inc. Stockholder Derivative Litigation, 4:19-cv-05153-YGR, aims to resolve investor pique over the impact of “Batterygate” on Apple stock. Filed in 2019, the case Read more about Apple set to pay away Batterygate and audio defect lawsuits for pocket change[…]
Techdirt has been covering the disgraceful attempts by the EU to break end-to-end encryption — supposedly in order to “protect the children” — for two years now. An important vote that could have seen EU nations back the proposal was due to take place recently. The vote was cancelled — not because politicians finally came Read more about EU’s ‘Going Dark’ Expert Group Publishes 42-Point Surveillance Plan For Access To All Devices And Data At All Times[…]
[…] if you’re rich enough, says the US supreme court, you can now pay off state and local officials for government acts that fit your policy preferences or advance your interests. You can give them lavish gifts, send them on vacations, or simply cut them checks. You can do all of this so long as Read more about Corrupt US supreme court thinks corruption is not corrupt and just basically legalized bribery[…]
An ID verification company that works on behalf of TikTok, X and Uber, among others, has left a set of administrative credentials exposed for more than a year, as reported by 404 Media. The Israel-based AU10TIX verifies the identity of users by using pictures of their faces and drivers’ licenses, potentially opening up both to Read more about ID verification service that works with TikTok and X left its admin credentials wide open for a year[…]
Boozt AB, an online Nordic department store, has banned thousands of customers for returning an excessive number of purchased items. The retailer has blocked about 60,000 of a total 3.5 million customers, in a bid to reduce the significant costs associated with “serial returners,” the company said in a statement. “Their behavior is too expensive Read more about Nordic Online Store Boozt Blocks Thousands of ‘Serial Returners’[…]
Slack announced a significant change to its platform, saying it will “begin deleting messages and files more than one year old from free workspaces on a rolling basis.” Slack’s prior policy involved keeping messages and files for the lifetime of a free workspace, although accessing that full history required switching to a paid account. Under Read more about Slack Will Begin Deleting Older Content From Free Workspaces[…]
More than two decades’ worth of content published on MTVNews.com is no longer available after MTV appears to have fully pulled down the site and its related content. Content on its sister site, CMT.com, seems to have met a similiar fate. In 2023, MTV News was shuttered amid the financial woes of parent company Paramount Read more about MTV News Website Goes Dark, Archives Pulled Offline – this is why we need online libraries[…]