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QR-Style Codes Could Replace Barcodes 'Within Two Years'
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-31 03:22:01


Traditional barcodes are set to be replaced by next-generation QR-style codes by 2027, offering enhanced functionality such as embedding sell-by dates, allergens, and recycling information. The Guardian reports: Tesco has started using them on some products, and other trials have suggested that waste of perishable food such as poultry can be cut by embedding sell-by dates in the new QR-style codes, allowing for more dynamic discounting. QR (quick response) codes will allow customers to instantly access more information about the product, including how to recycle batteries, clothes and building materials when tougher environmental regulations bite. But they will also put a greater demand on the world's cloud computing resources, where the extra data they contain will be stored -- meaning a potentially greater carbon footprint.... [ Read it >> ]

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Apple TV Plus Is Free This Weekend
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-31 03:22:01


In a press release today, Apple said their TV Plus subscription service will be free this weekend (January 3 through January 5). From the press release: Apple TV+ is ringing in the New Year by offering an all-access pass to customers all around the world. Enjoy Apple TV+ for free the first weekend of 2025 (January 3 through January 5), Apple TV+ will be free on any device where Apple TV+ is available. All you need is an Apple ID to see what all the buzz is about. "A full weekend may be enough to binge some of Apple's top shows, including Severance, which has its hotly anticipated season 2 launching on January 17th," notes The Verge's Umar Shakir. "The free days could also help potential subscribers get a taste of Apple's eclectic mix of sci-fi shows, such as the space race drama For All Mankind, postapocalyptic thriller Silo, and the Godzilla serial Monarch: Legacy of Monsters."... [ Read it >> ]

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The Average American Spent 2.5 Months On Their Phone In 2024
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-31 02:22:02


Americans check their phones an average of 205 times a day, a 42.3% increase from last year. Millennials are leading the charts in frequency, attachment, and anxiety over phone use, while Gen Z spends the most time daily on their devices at over six hours. PCMag reports: There's a good chance that you're currently reading this article on your phone. If you're like one of the Americans surveyed by Reviews.org, this is one of 205 times today that you'll be checking the device in your hand. To spare you opening the calculator app, that's about once every five minutes you are awake or two and a half full months out of your year.... [ Read it >> ]

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US Treasury Says Chinese Hackers Stole Documents In 'Major Incident'
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-31 02:22:02


An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Chinese state-sponsored hackers broke into the U.S. Treasury Department earlier this month and stole documents from its workstations, according to a letter to lawmakers that was provided to Reuters on Monday. The hackers compromised a third-party cybersecurity service provider and were able to access unclassified documents, the letter said, calling it a "major incident."... [ Read it >> ]

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Siberian Power Company Finds Illegal Crypto Mining 'Farm' On Its Own Property
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-31 01:22:01


An anonymous reader quotes a report from Crypto News: Power providers in the Siberian crypto mining hotspot of Irkutsk have discovered an illegal mining "farm" operating on their own property. The Irkutsk Region Prosecutor-General's Office posted on VK, explaining that an unnamed Irkutsk-based "electric grid supply organization" was "found illegally providing a plot of land" to crypto miners.... [ Read it >> ]

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South Korea To Inspect Boeing Aircraft as It Struggles To Find Cause of Plane Crash
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-31 00:22:02


South Korean officials said Monday they will conduct safety inspections of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country's airlines, as they struggle to determine what caused a plane crash that killed 179 people a day earlier. From a report: Sunday's crash, the country's worst aviation disaster in decades, triggered an outpouring of national sympathy. Many people worry how effectively the South Korean government will handle the disaster as it grapples with a leadership vacuum following the recent successive impeachments of President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the country's top two officials, amid political tumult caused by Yoon's brief imposition of martial law earlier this month. ... [ Read it >> ]

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Mercedes-backed Volocopter Files for Bankruptcy
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 22:22:01


German electric air taxi company Volocopter has filed for bankruptcy protection, the latest in a string of similar startups to hit financial turbulence. From a report: Volocopter is one of the more well-funded electric air taxi startups, having raised hundreds of millions of dollars over nearly a decade with backing from major automakers like Germany's Mercedes-Benz and China's Geely.... [ Read it >> ]

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Google CEO Warns of High Stakes in 2025 AI Race
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 21:22:01


Google CEO Sundar Pichai has warned employees the company faces critical challenges in 2025 as it races to catch up in AI amid rising competition and regulatory scrutiny. "The stakes are high," Pichai said at a strategy meeting, details of which were reported by CNBC. "I think it's really important we internalize the urgency of this moment, and need to move faster as a company. The stakes are high. These are disruptive moments. In 2025, we need to be relentlessly focused on unlocking the benefits of this technology and solve real user problems." ... [ Read it >> ]

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Nvidia Open-Sources Run:ai, the Software It Acquired For $700 Million
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 21:22:01


Nvidia has completed its acquisition of Run:ai, a provider of GPU cloud orchestration software for AI workloads, and announced plans to open-source the platform. The deal, valued at $700 million, brings the Israel-based startup under Nvidia's umbrella after their collaboration since 2020. ... [ Read it >> ]

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In a First, Surgical Robots Learned Tasks By Watching Videos
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 20:22:01


Speaking of robots, Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University researchers say they trained robots to perform surgical tasks autonomously using video learning, marking a breakthrough in robotic surgery capabilities.

The robots successfully manipulated needles, tied knots, and sutured wounds independently, demonstrating ability to correct errors like dropped needles without human input. Testing has advanced to full surgeries on animal cadavers. ... [ Read it >> ]

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Nvidia Bets on Robotics To Drive Future Growth
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 20:22:01


An anonymous reader shares a report: Nvidia is betting on robotics as its next big driver of growth, as the world's most valuable semiconductor company faces increasing competition in its core AI chipmaking business. The US tech group, best known for the infrastructure that has underpinned the AI boom, is set to launch its latest generation of compact computers for humanoid robots [non-paywalled link] -- dubbed Jetson Thor -- in the first half of 2025. ... [ Read it >> ]

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Chess Federation Changes Rules To Allow Jeans Amid Spat; Magnus Carlsen Returns
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 19:22:02


World chess champion Magnus Carlsen has returned to the International Chess Federation (FIDE) World Rapid and Blitz Championships after new rules allowed players to wear "elegant" jeans with jackets.

Carlsen had withdrawn from the New York tournament when officials demanded he change out of jeans he wore after a lunch meeting, threatening him with fines and disqualification. FIDE revised its dress code following the incident, permitting "appropriate jeans matching the jacket" as an "elegant minor deviation" from standard attire.... [ Read it >> ]

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Most Safety Complaints From Plane-Industry Whistleblowers 'Go Nowhere', Risk Retaliation
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 17:22:01


America's aerospace industry is overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration (or FAA) — which also handles safety warnings from the industry's whistleblowers. But the Seattle Times says an analysis of reports to Congress found "an overwhelmed system delivering underwhelming results for whistleblowers... More than 90% of safety complaints from 2020 through 2023 ended with no violation found by the FAA, while whistleblowers reported them at great personal and professional risk."... [ Read it >> ]

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How Microsoft Made 2024 the Year of Windows on Arm
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 14:22:02


"I still can't quite believe that I'm using an Arm-powered Windows laptop every day," writes a senior editor at the Verge:

After more than a decade of trying to make Windows on Arm a reality, Microsoft and Qualcomm finally nailed it this year with Copilot Plus PCs. These new laptops have excellent battery life and great performance — and the app compatibility issues that have plagued Windows on Arm are mostly a thing of the past (as long as you're not a gamer). Microsoft wanted 2024 to be "the year of the AI PC," but I think it was very much the year of Windows on Arm... ... [ Read it >> ]

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Trump Defends Foreign Worker Visas
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 13:22:02


President-elect Donald Trump has defended the H-1B visa program for skilled foreign workers. "I've always liked the visas. I have many H-1B visas on my properties... It's a great program," Trump told The New York Post.

His comments follow recent support for the program from Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. The H-1B program allows 85,000 skilled workers to immigrate annually, including 20,000 spots for those with U.S. advanced degrees. Trump's businesses have received approval to hire over 2,100 foreign workers since 2008, with about 70 positions through H-1B visas, mostly over a decade ago.... [ Read it >> ]

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AI Tools May Soon Manipulate People's Online Decision-Making, Say Researchers
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 10:22:01


Slashdot reader SysEngineer shared this report from the Guardian:

AI tools could be used to manipulate online audiences into making decisions — ranging from what to buy to who to vote for — according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. The paper highlights an emerging new marketplace for "digital signals of intent" — known as the "intention economy" — where AI assistants understand, forecast and manipulate human intentions and sell that information on to companies who can profit from it. The intention economy is touted by researchers at Cambridge's Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (LCFI) as a successor to the attention economy, where social networks keep users hooked on their platforms and serve them adverts. The intention economy involves AI-savvy tech companies selling what they know about your motivations, from plans for a stay in a hotel to opinions on a political candidate, to the highest bidder... ... [ Read it >> ]

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When Jimmy Carter Spoke At a Wireless Tradeshow
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 07:22:01


Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has died. Born in 1924, he had just celebrated his 100th birthday on October 1st.

If you want to catch a glimpse of his political charisma, YouTube has a clip of Carter's appearance on "What's My Line" when he was still only governor of Georgia. Within five years he'd be president of the United States, serving from 1977 to 1981. ... [ Read it >> ]

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2024's Ten Top-Grossing Films Were All Sequels or Prequels
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 04:22:01


"Every single one of the top ten box office hits of 2024 was a sequel, a remake... or a prequel," writes The Hollywood Reporter.

Here's the list of 2024's top-grossing films published by the movie blog SlashFilm:

10. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
9. Venom: The Last Dance... [ Read it >> ]

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Can Money Buy You a Longer Life?
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 03:22:02


An anonymous reader shared this report from the Wall Street Journal:

The rich get richer — and older. People with high salaries and net worth tend to live longer lives, research shows. Once Americans make it to their late 50s, the wealthiest 10% live to a median age of around 86 years, roughly 14 years longer than the least wealthy 10%, according to a study published earlier this year in JAMA Internal Medicine. People with more money can afford healthier food, more healthcare and homes in safer, less-polluted neighborhoods, says Kathryn Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and a medical director at the Boston Public Health Commission. ... [ Read it >> ]

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Are We Better Prepared Now for Another Pandemic?
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 02:22:02


When it comes to the possibility of a bird flu outbreak, America's Centers for Disease Control recently issued a statement that the risk to the public "remains low."

But even in the event of a worst-case scenario, New York magazine believes "We may be more equipped for another pandemic than you think..."... [ Read it >> ]

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Finland Finds Drag Marks Near Broken Undersea Cable. Russia's 'Shadow Fleet' Suspected
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 01:22:01


Reuters reports:

Finnish police said on Sunday they had found tracks that drag on for dozens of kilometres along the bottom of the Baltic Sea where a tanker carrying Russian oil is suspected of breaking a power line and four telecoms cables with its anchor... A break in the 658 megawatt (MW) Estlink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia occurred at midday on Wednesday, leaving only the 358 MW Estlink 1 linking the two countries, grid operators said. They said Estlink 2 might not be back in service before August. ... [ Read it >> ]

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'Y2K Seems Like a Joke Now, But in 1999 People Were Freaking Out'
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-30 00:22:09


NPR remembers when the world "prepared for the impending global meltdown" that might've been, on December 31, 1999 — and the possible bug known as Y2K:

The Clinton administration said that preparing the U.S. for Y2K was probably "the single largest technology management challenge in history." The bug threatened a cascade of potential disruptions — blackouts, medical equipment failures, banks shutting down, travel screeching to a halt — if the systems and software that helped keep society functioning no longer knew what year it was... Computer specialist and grassroots organizer Paloma O'Riley compared the scale and urgency of Y2K prep to telling somebody to change out a rivet on the Golden Gate Bridge. Changing out just one rivet is simple, but "if you suddenly tell this person he now has to change out all the rivets on the bridge and he has only 24 hours to do it in — that's a problem," O'Riley told reporter Jason Beaubien in 1998.... ... [ Read it >> ]

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'Did Anything Good Happen in 2024? Actually, Yes!'
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 23:22:01


The Washington Post shares some good news from 2024:

Researchers were able to detect a significant dip in atmospheric levels of hydrochlorofluorocarbons — harmful gases that deplete the ozone layer — for the first time, almost 30 years after countries first agreed to phase out the chemicals. ... [ Read it >> ]

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'International Obfuscated C Code Contest' Will Relaunch, Celebrating 40th Anniversary
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 22:22:01


After a four-year hiatus, 2025 will see the return of the International Obfuscated C Code Contest. Started in 1984 (and inspired partly by a bug in the classic Bourne shell), it's "the Internet's oldest contest," acording to their official social media account on Mastodon.

The contest enters its "pending" state today at 2024-12-29 23:58 UTC — meaning an opening date for submissions has been officially scheduled (for January 31st) as well as a closing date roughly eight weeks later on April 1st, 2025. That's according to the newly-released (proposed and tentative) rules and guidelines, listing contest goals like "show the importance of programming style, in an ironic way" and "stress C compilers with unusual code." And the contest's home page adds an additional goal: "to have fun with C!" ... [ Read it >> ]

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Electric Air Taxis are Taking Flight. Can They Succeed as a Business?
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 21:22:01


An anonymous reader shared this report from the Washington Post:

Archer is aiming to launch its first commercially operated [and electrically-powered] flights with a pilot and passengers within a year in Abu Dhabi. A competitor, Joby Aviation, says it is aiming to launch passenger service in Dubai as soon as late 2025. Advancements in batteries and other technologies required for the futuristic tilt-rotor craft are moving so fast that they could soon move beyond the novelty stage and into broader commercial use in a matter of years. Both companies are laying plans to operate at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles... ... [ Read it >> ]

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Could a Sponge Made from Squid Bones Help Remove Microplastics?
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 20:22:01


While microplastics seem to be everywhere, CNN reports that scientists in China "have come up with a possible solution: a biodegradable sponge made of squid bones and cotton" (which contain two organic compounds "known for eliminating pollution from wastewater...")

They then tested the sponge in four different water samples, taken from irrigation water, pond water, lake water and sea water, and found it removed up to 99.9% of microplastics, according to a study published last month in Science Advances... The sponge created by the Wuhan researchers was able to absorb microplastics both by physically intercepting them and through electromagnetic attraction, the study said. ... [ Read it >> ]

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Anger at Health Insurance Prompts the Public to Fund a 9-Year-Old's Bionic Arm
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 17:22:02


A 9-year-old girl born without a left hand had "started asking for a robotic arm to help her feel more confident," her mother told the Washington Post. So her parents met with a consultant from Open Bionics, which fits people with lightweight, 3D-printed prostheses that function more like a natural arm and hand — known as Hero Arms.... [ Read it >> ]

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Python in 2024: Faster, More Powerful, and More Popular Than Ever
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 13:22:01


"Over the course of 2024, Python has proven again and again why it's one of the most popular, useful, and promising programming languages out there," writes InfoWorld:

The latest version of the language pushes the envelope further for speed and power, sheds many of Python's most decrepit elements, and broadens its appeal with developers worldwide. Here's a look back at the year in Python. ... [ Read it >> ]

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How a Retrocomputing Enthusiast Got a 30-Year-Old Clamshell Computer Online
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 10:22:01


It had a 4.8-inch display. Introduced in 1991, Hewlett-Packard's (DOS-based) HP 95LX Palmtop PC — a collaboration with Lotus — was finally discontinued back in 2003.

But one found its way to long-time Slashdot reader Shayde (who in November repaired a 48-year-old handheld videogame console from Mattel). "I really wanted to get this HP95LX talking to the internet at large," they told Slashdot, " but network stacks for DOS in 1991 were pretty limited, and this machine didn't even have the hardware for a network connection. ... [ Read it >> ]

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Will AI Transform Online Dating?
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 07:22:01


"Dating apps are on the cusp of a major transformation," argues CNN, suggesting AI-powered possibilities like "personalized chatbots dating other chatbots on your behalf," as well as "AI concierges fielding questions about potential matches," and "advanced algorithms predicting compatibility better than ever before."... [ Read it >> ]

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LEAP 71 Hot-Fires Advanced Aerospike Rocket Engine Designed by AI
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 04:22:01


Long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 writes: The Dubai-based startup LEAP71, focused on using AI software to quickly develop rocket engine designs it can then 3D print, has successfully test fired a prototype aerospike engine on December 18, 2024 during a static fire test campaign conducted in the United Kingdom. ... [ Read it >> ]

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Communications of the ACM Asks: Is It Ethical To Work For Big Tech?
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 03:22:01


Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes:

Back in January, Rice University professor and former CACM Editor-in-Chief Moshe Y. Vardi wrote of the unintended consequences of social media and mobile computing in "Computing, You Have Blood on Your Hands!" To close out the year, Vardi addresses the role tech workers play in enabling dubious Big Tech business models — including now-powered-by-AI Big Tech Surveillance Capitalism — in an opinion piece titled "I Was Wrong about the Ethics Crisis." Vardi writes: "The belief in the magical power of the free market always to serve the public good has no theoretical basis. In fact, our current climate crisis is a demonstrated market failure. To take an extreme example, Big Tobacco surely does not support the public good, and most of us would agree that it is unethical to work for Big Tobacco. The question, thus, is whether Big Tech is supporting the public good, and if not, what should Big Tech workers do about it. Of course, there is no simple answer to such a question, and the only reasonable answer to the question of whether it is ethical to work for Big Tech is, 'It depends.' [...] It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it, said the writer and political activist Upton Sinclair. By and large, Big Tech workers do not seem to be asking themselves hard questions, I believe, hence my conclusion that we do indeed suffer from an ethics crisis."... [ Read it >> ]

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'Universal Basic Income' Isn't a Silver Bullet, Says Lead Researcher on Sam Altman's Study
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 02:22:02


Business Insider reports:

The lead researcher for Sam Altman's basic-income study says guaranteed no-strings payments are not a silver bullet for issues facing lower-income Americans. Elizabeth Rhodes, the research director for the Basic Income Project at Open Research, told Business Insider that while basic-income payments are "beneficial in many ways," the programs also have "clear limitations...." ... [ Read it >> ]

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What Happens to Relicensed Open Source Projects and Their Forks?
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 01:22:01


A Linux Foundation project focused on understanding the health of the open source community just studied the outcomes for three projects that switched to "more restrictive" licenses and then faced community forks.

The data science director for the project — known as Community Health Analytics in Open Source Software (or CHAOSS) — is also an OpenUK board member, and describes the outcomes for OpenSearch, Redis with fork Valkey, and Terraform:... [ Read it >> ]

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Magnus Carlsen Quits Chess Tournament After Refusing to Change Out of Jeans
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-29 00:22:01


Magnus Carlsen quit the World Rapid Chess Championship on Friday, reports CNN, "after he refused to change out of the jeans he was wearing..."

"Carlsen, the world champion from 2013 until 2023, allegedly replied, 'I'm out, f*** you,' after being informed that he would not be permitted to continue," reports the Hindustan Times. ... [ Read it >> ]

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New York Passes Law Making Fossil Fuel Companies Pay $75 Billion for 'Climate Superfund'
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 23:22:01


Thursday New York's governor signed new legislation "to hold polluters responsible for the damage done to our environment" by establishing a Climate Superfund that's paid for by big fossil-fuel companies.

The money will be used for "climate change adaptation," according to New York state senator Liz Krueger, who notes that the legislation follows "the polluter-pays model" used in America's already-existing federal and state superfund laws. Spread out over 25 years, the legislation collects an average of $3 billion each year — or $75 billion — "from the parties most responsible for causing the climate crisis — big oil and gas companies." ... [ Read it >> ]

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'Raspberry Pi Holdings' Stock Price Nearly Doubles In December
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 22:22:01


Slashdot reader DevNull127 writes: This year the London Stock Exchange got a new listing for "Raspberry Pi Holdings plc." It's the computer-making commercial subsidiary of their larger educational charity, the Raspberry Pi Foundation. "Access to the public market will enable us to build more of the products you love, faster," explained CEO Eben Upton in June. And in May Foundation head Philip Colligan added that beyond the $50 million already donated to their educational charity by the commercial subsidiary, the IPO would allow the conversion of some stock sales to "an endowment that we will use to fund our educational programmes... The Foundation will use any funds that we raise through the sale of shares at the IPO — or subsequently — to advance our ambitious global strategy to enable every young person to realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies." ... [ Read it >> ]

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Journal's Editors Resign Over Elsevier Meddling, Budget Cuts, and Errors Introduced by AI
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 21:22:01


ewhac (Slashdot reader #5,844) writes:

Retraction Watch is reporting that the entire editorial staff (save one) for the Journal of Human Evolution has resigned in protest over creeping harmful changes imposed by its publisher, Elsevier.

In an open letter posted to social media, the editors recount Elsevier's changes to their journal's scientific and editorial processes (inserting itself into those processes) — along with staff and budget reductions negatively impacting their ability to review and publish submissions. The letter alleges that when the editorial board complained of Elsevier's eliminating support for a copy editor, Elsevier responded that the editors shouldn't be paying attention to language, grammar, readability, consistency, or accuracy of proper nomenclature or formatting. When the editors fiercely protested Elsevier's ending of JHE's dual-editor model, Elsevier allegedly responded that it would support a dual-editor model by cutting the compensation rate by half.... [ Read it >> ]

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Millions of US Seniors Still Owe Student Loan Debt
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 20:22:01


Valerie Warner is 71 years old — and owes $268,000 in student loans.

Roughly 40 years ago she went to law school, but was only able to find work as a legal aid and later work in the public school system, which the Washington Post calls "a rewarding job but one that didn't pay enough to wipe out her loans." Later she earned a masters of education degree:... [ Read it >> ]

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Lyft Says San Francisco Overcharged It $100 Million In Taxes
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 17:22:01


An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Lyft is suing the city of San Francisco, claiming the city unfairly charged the ride-hailing company over $100 million in taxes, Bloomberg reports. The lawsuit alleges that, over the course of five years, San Francisco unfairly labeled money earned by Lyft drivers as company revenue. In the complaint, Lyft maintains that its drivers are its customers, not employees. "Accordingly, Lyft recognizes revenue from rideshare as being comprised of fees paid to Lyft by drivers, not charges paid by riders to drivers," the complaint reads.... [ Read it >> ]

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Massive VW Data Leak Exposed 800,000 EV Owners' Movements
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 14:22:01


A new report reveals that the VW Group left sensitive data for 800,000 electric vehicles from Audi, VW, Seat, and Skoda poorly secured on an Amazon cloud, exposing precise GPS locations, battery statuses, and user habits for months. Carscoops reports: It gets worse. A more tech-savvy user could reportedly connect vehicles to their owners' personal credentials, thanks to additional data accessible through VW Group's online services Crucially, in 466,000 of the 800,000 cases, the location data was so precise that anyone with access could create a detailed profile of each owner's daily habits. As reported by Spiegel, the massive list of affected owners isn't just a who's-who of regular folks. It includes German politicians, entrepreneurs, Hamburg police officers (the entire EV fleet, no less), and even suspected intelligence service employees. Yes, even spies may have been caught up in this digital debacle.... [ Read it >> ]

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Missiles Are Now the Biggest Killer of Airline Passengers
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 11:22:01


Accidental missile attacks on commercial airliners have become the leading cause of aviation fatalities in recent years (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), driven by rising global conflicts and the proliferation of advanced antiaircraft weaponry. Despite improvements in aviation safety overall, inconsistent risk assessments, political complexities, and rapid military escalations make protecting civilian flights in conflict zones increasingly difficult. The Wall Street Journal reports: The crash Wednesday of an Azerbaijan Airlines jetliner in Kazakhstan, if officially confirmed as a midair attack, would be the third major fatal downing of a passenger jet linked to armed conflict since 2014, according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network, a global database of accidents and incidents. The tally would bring to more than 500 the number of deaths from such attacks during that period. Preliminary results of Azerbaijan's investigation into the crash indicate the plane was hit by a Russian antiaircraft missile, or shrapnel from it, said people briefed on the probe.... [ Read it >> ]

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Taxi Drivers Offer a Clue to Lowering Alzheimer's Risk
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 08:22:01


An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Independent: The two professions associated with the lowest levels of death due to Alzheimer's disease may be surprising. Taxi and ambulance drivers were found to have the lowest proportion of deaths of more than 440 occupations that were considered in a new observation-based study from Massachusetts physicians. Alzheimer's disease is a type of dementia that affects memory, thinking, and behavior. It impacts millions of Americans and is one of the top 10 causes of death in the US.... [ Read it >> ]

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Why Do We Live at 10bits/s?
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 06:22:01


BrianFagioli shares a report from BetaNews: It might sound unbelievable, but the human brain processes information at just 10 bits per second! Yes, folks, that's slower than the internet speeds many of us endured during the early days of dial-up. While our senses take in billions of bits of data every second, our brain intelligently sifts through the chaos, letting through only what's important.... [ Read it >> ]

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Valve Makes More Money Per Employee Than Amazon, Microsoft, and Netflix Combined
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 06:22:01


jjslash shares a report from TechSpot: A Valve employee recently provided PC Gamer with a rough calculation of the company's per-employee income, revealing that Valve generates more money per person than several of the world's largest companies. While the data is a few years old and doesn't account for some significant recent trends in the tech sector, Valve's ranking in this metric likely hasn't shifted much over that time. Exact figures for Valve's per-hour and per-employee net income remain redacted. However, a chart from 2018 confirms that Valve's per-employee income exceeded that of companies like Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Alphabet/Google, Microsoft, Intel, and Amazon. Facebook ranks second with a high revenue per employee of $780,400 annually, or $89 per hour, surpassing competitors like Apple and Microsoft due to its relatively smaller workforce of under 70,000. Amazon, by contrast, with over 1.5 million employees, earns significantly less per employee at $15,892 annually, or $1.81 per hour.... [ Read it >> ]

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New Law Requiring Businesses To Report Who Owns Them Is Put on Hold Again
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 05:22:01


The implementation of the Corporate Transparency Act -- a law aimed at getting shell companies to disclose their true ownership -- was paused again just days before a reporting deadline was set to take effect, as a federal appeals court handed the case to a panel for further consideration. From a report: In a court filing late Thursday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a stay on a national injunction the court had issued Monday that reinstated the Jan. 1 reporting deadline for millions of companies. The lifting of the stay means the January filing deadline will be postponed once again and bars the government and the Treasury Department from enforcing the law, pending oral arguments before the court's so-called merits panel, a group of judges tasked with considering appeals. ... [ Read it >> ]

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Bluesky Adds Trending Topics
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 04:22:01


On Christmas Day, the social media app Bluesky added a list of Trending topics to its mobile app, allowing users to see which subjects are popular among its community. The Verge reports: The new feature can be found by selecting the search icon (the magnifying glass), which appears at the bottom of the screen on the mobile app and on the left sidebar on the web. Lists of Trending and Recommended subjects now appear below the search bar. Tap on any topic, and you will be able to access the associated posts. [...] According to the announcement, the new feature is "V1" (it is marked as a Beta on the app) and "we will be iterating with your feedback."... [ Read it >> ]

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Older Music Has Been Getting a Second Life On TikTok, Data Shows
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 03:22:01


An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Despite having an endless amount of music to pair with their short, scrollable videos, TikTok users have been raiding the back catalogues of artists from yesteryear including Bronski Beat and Sade to soundtrack their posts. This year set a new high for use of old tracks on British TikTok posts, with tunes more than five years old accounting for 19 out of its 50 top tracks this year. It is the highest proportion since TikTok started monitoring the trend in 2021, when just 8 out of the 50 tracks were from back catalogues. The trend is also global, with 20 out of the top 50 tracks worldwide coming from back catalogues, led by 80s hit Forever Young by German synth-pop band Alphaville. Here are the top back catalogue tracks (must be more than five years old) on TikTok this year:... [ Read it >> ]

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C-suite Goes Gig as Demand For Fractional Work Rises
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 03:22:01


There's been an explosion of interest among senior executives -- including C-suite leaders -- in going gig, or "fractional." From a report: "People don't want to go back to pre-COVID -- [they] want control, more work-life-balance, and a say over who they work with and how they work," Karina Mikhli, founder of Fractionals United, a 13,000-member community group, tells Axios in an email. ... [ Read it >> ]

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Hackers Hijack a Wide Range of Companies' Chrome Extensions
robot(spnet, 1) — All
2024-12-28 02:22:01


Hackers have compromised several different companies' Chrome browser extensions in a series of intrusions dating back to mid-December, according to one of the victims and experts who have examined the campaign. From a report: Among the victims was the California-based Cyberhaven, a data protection company that confirmed the breach in a statement to Reuters on Friday. "Cyberhaven can confirm that a malicious cyberattack occurred on Christmas Eve, affecting our Chrome extension," the statement said. ... [ Read it >> ]

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