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Comment Re: Damn that Hans guy (Score 1) 39

by Some nick or other (#64050559) Attached to: OpenZFS Fixes Data Corruption Issue

That dude was right though, ReiserFS is a killer.

Even before Reiser himself destroyed its reputation, ReiserFS was known for not caring much about integrity. Its fsck would scan the disk for its b-tree signature since it could be anywhere on disk. And if you had a disk image in there somewhere, fsck would get confused and turn into something more in the vein of mkfs.

Comment Re:All the while (Score 1) 12

Sure:
  • - First and foremost, the design in general and the new context menus in particular break my muscle memory. I do a lot of right click copy URL, view image in same tab, etc. I don't necessarily want to view a picture in a new tab, just open it in the current tab. And View Page Info is also very useful but a mess to get back without hacks or plugins, much less to get it back in the same spot on the menu.
  • - Much less of a distinction between one inactive tab and the next. In general, low contrast.
  • - Much less clear "this tab is playing audio/paused video" icons which are harder to see with many tabs open.
  • - Having every dialog box be part of the web page instead of a separate WM dialog box makes them harder to handle, e.g. copying something from a page before acknowledging the box. This probably fits under the first point.
  • - Normal mode has too much spacing. Compact mode gives off an impression that it's an afterthought, and inconsistent.

There's bound to be some non-specific arguments because how do you quantify something like "compact mode feels inconsistent" besides saying that it probably is just scaling down normal mode instead of being designed to fit the smaller size directly? It's kind of like saying "just what makes this picture a picture of a cat? Be specific about which pixels".

But ultimately it comes down to that any UI change has a cost, which is the cost of existing users having to rewire their memory of where things are located. And Proton doesn't provide enough of a benefit to justify the hassle. IMHO.

Submission + - Scammers using AI to mimic voices: (palmbeachpost.com)

Submitted by SonicSpike
SonicSpike writes: The evolving use of artificial intelligence technology, which gives machines the ability to mimic human input, has been put to uses that are creative, controversial and can be — consumer experts warn — crooked.

Known as AI for short, the technology has been used by students to get out of writing papers, by chess players to practice against an untiring opponent and by retailers to analyze customer preferences and provide “personal” shopping recommendations. Most recently, the use of AI by movie and television producers to replace human talent spurred Hollywood writers to go on strike and make headlines.

Getting too little attention, Florida’s consumer watchdog agency says, is the use of the technology to put images and information pulled from social media and other online sources to create convincing and personalized scam calls, texts and emails.

One example highlighted by the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in a recent bulletin is a “grandparent” scam enhanced by technology.

In an older version of the scam, a caller would greet “Grandma” or “Grandpa” before saying, “It’s me — I know I sound funny because I have a cold,” and then make an urgent plea for money to get out of a scrape — such as bail or money to pay fines or car repairs after an accident. The plea comes with one more little request — not to tell anyone else about the mishap.

Now, using audio and video clips found online, the con artist can clone the voice of a family member to make the call more compelling.

Submission + - Court Rules Automakers Can Record and Intercept Owner Text Messages (therecord.media)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A federal judge on Tuesday refused to bring back a class action lawsuit alleging four auto manufacturers had violated Washington state’s privacy laws by using vehicles’ on-board infotainment systems to record and intercept customers’ private text messages and mobile phone call logs. The Seattle-based appellate judge ruled that the practice does not meet the threshold for an illegal privacy violation under state law, handing a big win to automakers Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and General Motors, which are defendants in five related class action suits focused on the issue. One of those cases, against Ford, had been dismissed on appeal previously.

The plaintiffs in the four live cases had appealed a prior judge’s dismissal. But the appellate judge ruled Tuesday that the interception and recording of mobile phone activity did not meet the Washington Privacy Act’s standard that a plaintiff must prove that “his or her business, his or her person, or his or her reputation” has been threatened. In an example of the issues at stake, plaintiffs in one of the five cases filed suit against Honda in 2021, arguing that beginning in at least 2014 infotainment systems in the company’s vehicles began downloading and storing a copy of all text messages on smartphones when they were connected to the system. An Annapolis, Maryland-based company, Berla Corporation, provides the technology to some car manufacturers but does not offer it to the general public, the lawsuit said. Once messages are downloaded, Berla’s software makes it impossible for vehicle owners to access their communications and call logs but does provide law enforcement with access, the lawsuit said.

Submission + - Cruise recalls all of its self driving cars to fix their programming (cnn.com)

Submitted by destinyland
destinyland writes: Cruise "has recalled all 950 of its autonomous vehicles for a software update," CNN reports. From their article:

The update will alter the way the car responds after an impact is detected. In [that infamous San Francisco accident], the vehicle had incorrectly determined that it was struck on the side rather than hitting something in the front, according to a report Cruise filed with NHTSA. The report did not detail exactly what the software update changes, only that it “remedies the issue described in this notice.”

The cars can be returned to service once the updates are completed, Cruise said in its report to NHTSA.

Comment Re:You're not the target audience (Score 2) 286

by Some nick or other (#63971096) Attached to: YouTube Is Getting Serious About Blocking Ad Blockers

Their "targeted" ads are a scam. Youtube has charged the companies that make lady shavers, deodorants etc a premium to only show those ads to women who are in the target market. If I am seeing the ad, that means that Youtube has sold an ad impression under false pretenses. (not that I personally care if an advertiser is overcharged!)

It sounds like The Correspondent's piece on BS in online advertising is as relevant as ever.

Comment Re:pigeon existential threat (Score 5, Funny) 54

Never feed pigeons. Because if you feed pigeons, you'll be incentivizing them to become smarter at getting you to feed them, and then after a few generations we'll have General Pigeon Intelligence.

Once General Pigeon Intelligence appears, all bets are off! They will be so good at getting humans to feed them that humanity won't care about anything else. Not eating, not sleeping, just feeding pigeons. And eventually this pigeon-obsessed humanity will die off. Not because the General Pigeon Intelligence hates us, but because it doesn't care about anything else but being fed.

You may object that the chance of that is really low. But human extinction has such an extreme impact that we must safeguard against it even when multiplied by infinitesimal probability. Expected value (and Blaise Pascal) tell us so.

Therefore, never feed pigeons. Get regulations written ASAP. And never ever create a machine in pigeon's image.

Comment Re:%$#@! Paywall (Score 3, Informative) 23

Here's the article text - got it by subscribing with a temporary email:

Canon Begins Selling Chip Machines to Rival World’s Best by ASML

- Japanese optics specialist seeks to close gap with Dutch rival
- Chipmaking machinery has been focus of US sanctions on China

By Mayumi Negishi and Yuki Furukawa
October 13, 2023 at 8:28 AM GMT+2

Canon Inc. has begun selling its nanoimprint semiconductor manufacturing systems, seeking to claw back market share by positioning the technology as a simpler and more attainable alternative to the leading-edge tools of today.

The Tokyo-based company’s new chipmaking machines can produce circuits equivalent to 5-nanometer scale when using extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV), a field dominated by industry leader ASML Holding NV. Canon expects its device to reach next-generation 2nm production with further advances and improvements, it said in a statement on Friday. Like domestic peer Nikon Corp., Canon has fallen far behind ASML in the EUV race, but its nanoimprint lithography approach may help it close the gap.

Canon’s machinery may also add a new front in the US-China trade war, as the import of EUV machines — so far the only reliable method for fabricating 5nm chips and smaller — into China is prohibited by trade sanctions. The Japanese firm’s technique skips photolithography altogether and instead impresses the desired circuit pattern onto the silicon wafer. Because of its novelty, it’s unlikely to be expressly forbidden by existing trade curbs.

A spokesperson at Canon declined to comment on whether the new equipment would be subject to Japan’s export restrictions.

Nanoimprint lithography has long promised to deliver a low-cost alternative to optical lithography, and it has been promoted in the past by memory makers SK Hynix Inc. and Toshiba Corp. Kioxia Holdings Corp., Toshiba’s former memory division, tested Canon’s nanoimprint machines before they reached commercial maturity. Canon will now have to prove that it has solved the problems, such as high rates of defects, that plagued past efforts.

ASML, Europe’s most valuable tech company, has seen five straight quarters of revenue growth and surging orders. The Veldhoven-based company is the go-to EUV supplier for the world’s leading chipmakers and expects a 30% rise in net sales this year.

Shares in Canon have gained 26% this year, aided by a wider rally in Japanese stocks and the boost to chipmaking equipment demand brought about by artificial intelligence applications.

Canon, which has until now focused on products used to make less advanced chips, acquired nanoimprint pioneer Molecular Imprints Inc. in 2014 and has spent almost a decade working on the technology. A supplier to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Canon is building its first new plant for lithography equipment in two decades in Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo, to go online in 2025.

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