175882521
submission
destinyland writes:
Thursday a "panel of dystopia experts" was livestreamed to iFixit’s feed of over 1 million subscribers on YouTube, with the video’s description warning about manufacturers “hoping to convince us that they have invented the future. But will their vision make our lives better, or lead humanity down a dark and twisted path?” The resulting video is a fun and rollicking romp that tries to forestall a future clogged with power-hungry AI and data-collecting sensors.
“We’re seeing more and more of these things that have basically surveillance technology built into them,” iFixit‘s Chamberlain told The Associated Press... Proving this point was EFF executive director Cindy Cohn, who gave a truly impassioned takedown for "smart" infant products that "end up traumatizing new parents with false reports that their baby has stopped breathing." But worst for privacy was the $1,200 "Revol" baby bassinet — equipped with a camera, a microphone, and a radar sensor. The video also mocks Samsung's "AI Home" initiative which let you answer phone calls with your washing machine, oven, or refrigerator. (And LG's overpowered "smart" refrigerator won the "Overall Worst in Show" award.)
One of the scariest presentations came from Paul Roberts, founder of SecuRepairs, a group advocating both cybersecurity and the right to repair. Roberts notes that about 65% of the routers sold in the U.S. are from a Chinese company named TP-Link — both wifi routers and the wifi/ethernet routers sold for homes and small offices.Roberts reminded viewers that in October, Microsoft reported “thousands” of compromised routers — most of them manufactured by TP-Link — were found working together in a malicious network trying to crack passwords and penetrate “think tanks, government organizations, non-governmental organizations, law firms, defense industrial base, and others” in North America and in Europe. The U.S. Justice Department soon launched an investigation (as did the U.S. Commerce Department) into TP-Link’s ties to China’s government and military, according to a SecuRepairs blog post. The reason? “As a China-based company, TP-Link is required by law to disclose flaws it discovers in its software to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology before making them public.” Inevitably, this creates a window “to exploit the publicly undisclosed flaw That fact, and the coincidence of TP-Link devices playing a role in state-sponsored hacking campaigns, raises the prospects of the U.S. government declaring a ban on the sale of TP-Link technology at some point in the next year.”
TP-Link won the award for the worst in security.
175786683
submission
destinyland writes:
I saw Jimmy Carter speak in Las Vegas on the final day of the CTIA Wireless tradeshow back in 2001. "I feel thrilled to be a part of this," 77-year-old Carter said....
He applauded the work of "entrepreneurs and scientists and engineers that are transforming the face of the globe," and noted their technologies could address problems targeted by the Carter Center.... Interrupted by a few cell phone rings, the former President conversed on a stage at the Sands Expo and Venetian Hotel with Tom Wheeler, the president of the wireless communications trade association. Wheeler reminded the audience of Carter's decidedly nontechnical background, discussing An Hour Before Daylight , Carter's memoir about growing up on a farm in Georgia during the Great Depression. "We were the only family blessed with an outhouse," Carter told the crowd.
Wheeler also asked a question many in the technology community could relate to. Carter, he pointed out, had been involuntarily retired. "What's it feel like?" The former President told the audience he'd re-focussed his energies into humanitarian efforts through the Carter Center, which is active in providing health services around the world as well as monitoring elections...
Carter donated his appearance fee to the Carter Center.
Midway through the hour-long discussion, the former President touted his administration's record of deregulating several industries, including transporation, energy — and communications. "If it hadn't been for that deregulation, this environment in which you all live wouldn't have been possible." Carter also shared with the business crowd that it was a belief in free enterprise that made him want to enter politics, drawn from his experiences selling peanuts as a young boy for a dollar a day.
The audience greeted the former president warmly, giving him a standing ovation both when he took the stage and when he left. Carter joked it was almost enough to make him want to get back into politics.
174069377
submission
destinyland writes:
Space.com reports:
Boeing's Starliner capsule is experiencing some issues in orbit. After launching yesterday (June 5) on its first-ever crewed mission, Starliner missed its first chance to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) today (June 6) after four of its 28 reaction-control thrusters malfunctioned.
That first docking window was at 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT). The next opportunity for Starliner to rendezvous with the orbiting lab opens at 1:33 p.m. EDT (1733 GMT)...
Starliner's thruster issues followed two helium leaks the mission team detected after the capsule reached orbit.
174061883
submission
destinyland writes:
The third attempt was the charm for Boeingâ(TM)s Starliner mission after launching its first crewed flight test Wednesday in a milestone that has been a decade in the making.
The new spacecraftâ(TM)s maiden voyage with humans on board lifted off atop an Atlas V rocket at 10:52 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The historic event is streaming live on NASAâ(TM)s website.
172478823
submission
destinyland writes:
It's a question that comes up all the time on Reddit. Etsy even created a special page for programmer-themed gift suggestions (showing more than 5,000 results). While CNET sticks to broader lists of "tech gifts" — and a separate list for "Star Wars gifts" — other sites around the web have been specifically honing in on programmer-specific suggestions. (Blue light-blocking glasses... A giant rubber duck... The world's strongest coffee... A printer that transfers digital images onto cheese...)
So while in years past Amazon has said they laughed at customer reviews for cans of uranium, this year Amazon has now added a special section that's entirely dedicated to Gifts for Computer Programmers, according to this funny rundown of 2023's "Gifts for Programmers" (that ends up recommending ChatGPT gift cards and backyard office sheds):
[Amazon's Gifts for Programmers section] shows over 3,000 results, with geek-friendly subcategories like "Glassware & Drinkware" and "Novelty Clothing"... For the coder in your life, Amazon offers everything from brain–teasing programming puzzles to computer–themed jigsaw puzzles. Of course, there's also a wide selection of obligatory funny t–shirts... But this year there's also tech-themed ties and motherboard-patterned socks...
Some programmers, though, might prefer a gift that's both fun and educational. And what's more entertaining than using your Python skills to program a toy robot dog...? But if you're shopping for someone who's more of a cat person, Petoi sells a kit for building a programmable (and open source) cat robot named "Nybble". The sophisticated Arduino-powered feline can be programmed with Python and C++ (as well as block-based coding)... [part of] the new community that's building around "OpenCat", the company's own quadruped robotic pet framework (open sourced on GitHub).
172348673
submission
destinyland writes:
CNN anchor Jake Tapper interviewed TikTok's head of public policy last year, asking if they censored content critical of the Chinese party. "We do not censor content on behalf of any government," the spokesperson answered.
But this week CNN reviewed data the total number of hashtags on both Instagram and on TikTok for topics that might be embarrassing to the Chinese government — and found stark differences.
— Hashtag #Uyghurs appears in 10.4X more posts on Instagram than on TikTok.
— Hashtag #Tiananmen (referencing the 1989 pro-democracy protests) is 153 more likely to appear on Instagram than on TikTok.
"So yes, the content exists on TikTok, but there's far less of it on TikTok than on other social media apps," CNN's Tapper says. "And that seems very convenient for the Chinese Communist Party."
172302099
submission
destinyland writes:
The popular party game "Cards Against Humanity" continued their tradition of practical jokes on Black Friday. They created a new social network where users can perform only one action: posting the word “yowza.”
Then announced it on their official social media accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and X...
Regardless of what words you type into the window, they're replaced with the word yowza. "For just $0.99, you’ll get an exclusive black check by your name," reads an announcement on the site, "and the ability to post a new word: awooga."
It's a magical land where "yowfluencers" keep "reyowzaing" the "yowzas" of other users. And there's also a tab for trending hashtags. (Although, yes, they all seem to be "yowza".) But they've already gotten a write up in the trade industry publication Advertising Age .
“With every bad thing happening in the world, social media is always right there, making it worse,” a spokesperson said.... "[W]e asked ourselves: Is there a way we could make a social network that doesn’t suck? At first, the answer was ‘no.’ The content moderation problem is just too hard. And then we thought, why not solve the content moderation problem by having no content? That’s Yowza....”
When creating your profile on the network there's a dropdown menu for specifying your age and location — although all of the choices are yowza. More details from Advertising Age:
The company said the word “yowza” was the first that came to mind when its creative teams were brainstorming—and it just stuck. “It’s dumb, it’s ridiculous, it means nothing. It’s perfect,” the rep said.
And the service is still evolving, with fresh user upgrades. The official Yowza store will now also sell you the ability to also post the word Shazam — for $29.99. (Also on sale are 100,000 followers — for 99 cents.) But there's also an official FAQ which articulates the service's deep commitment to protecting their users' privacy.
Do you promise you won’t share my private information with the Chinese Communist Party, like TikTok?
Yowza.
172301169
submission
destinyland writes:
The Linux Foundation recently funded a new "security developer in residence" position for Python. (It's funded through the Linux Foundation's own "Open Software Security foundation", which has a stated mission of partnering with open source project maintainers "to systematically find new, as-yet-undiscovered vulnerabilities in open source code, and get them fixed to improve global software supply chain security.") The position went to the lead maintainer for the HTTP client library urllib3, the most downloaded package on the Python Package Index with over 10 billion downloads. But he hopes to create a ripple effect by demonstrating the impact of security investments in critical communities — ultimately instigating a wave of improvements to all software supply chains. (And he's also documenting everything for easy replication by other communities...)
So far he's improved the security of Python's release processes with signature audits and security-hardening automation. But he also learned that CVE numbers were being assigned to newly-discovered vulnerabilities by the National Cyber Security Division of the America's Department of Homeland Security — often without talking to anyone at the Python project. So by August he'd gotten the Python Software Foundation authorized as a CVE Numbering Authority, which should lead to more detailed advisories (including remediation information), now reviewed and approved by the responsible security response teams.
"The Python Software wants to help other Open Source organizations, and will be sharing lessons learned," he writes in a blog post. And he now says he's already been communicating with the Curl program about his experiences to help them take the same step, and even authored a guide to the process for other open source projects.
172200615
submission
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.
172133176
submission
destinyland writes:
In 1994 the TV show Friends premiered, and its first season's high ratings made it the 8th most-popular show. The next year Microsoft released Windows 95 — and filmed a promotional video for it with 25-year-old Matthew Perry and 26-year-old Jennifer Aniston.
"They'll be taking you on an adventure in computing that takes place in the office of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates," explains the video's narrator, adding "Along the way, they meet a wacky bunch of propellor-heads.... And are introduced the top 25 features of Windows 95!"
It's a journey back in time. (At one point the video refers to Windows as the operating system "with tens of millions of users.") Their 30-minute segment — billed as "the world's first cyber sitcom" — appears in an hour-long video introducing revolutionary features like the new "Start" button. Also demonstrated in Excel are the new minimize and maximize "features" in "the upper right-side of the window". And the two actors marvel at the ability to type a filename that was longer than eight characters.
Watch for reminders that The Microsoft Windows 95 Video Guide was filmed nearly three decades ago. When the desktop appears after waking from screensaver mode, Perry notes that there's "no messy DOS build-up." And later the video reminds iewers that Windows 95 is compatible "with DOS games like Flight Simulator." There's also a brand new feature called "Windows Explorer" (which is described as "File Manager on steroids"), as well as a new "Find" option and a brand new icon named "My Computer". And they even pay a visit to the Microsoft Network — which was mostly a "walled garden" online service — described in the video as "your on-ramp to the information superhighway".
The video even explains how Windows 95 "uses the right mouse button for what Microsoft calls power users."
And by the end of it, Jennifer Anniston finds herself playing Space Cadet 3D pinball.
172111633
submission
destinyland writes:
Threads is officially a success. From a report:
All indications are that the platform is thriving. During Metaâ(TM)s quarterly earnings call today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg offered an update on the Threads, saying that the service has âoejust underâ 100 million monthly active users.
When Threads launched in July, the app quickly rocketed to having 100 million users within just a few days. While that growth is believed to have slowed down, as expected when something takes off so quickly, Zuckerberg says the service is currently at almost 100 million active users. Note the difference in terms, too. Having 100 million âoeusersâ is one thing, while having 100 million monthly active users is quite different â" and more impressive.
The number is also impressive when you consider that Threads isnâ(TM)t available to the millions of people who live in the European Union.
As noted by The Verge, Zuckerberg also reiterated today that Metaâ(TM)s goal is to turn Threads into a âoebillion-person public conversations appâ that is âoea bit more positiveâ than some of the competition. According to Zuckerberg, Threads is on the way to achieving that goal.
171835132
submission
destinyland writes:
Thursday America's Energy Department released an interactive map showing America's clean energy investments, "for tracking the industrial revitalization happening across the country, fostered by a clean energy transition..."
The map aims to show how both the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act "are leading to announcements of historic levels of private sector investments in the United States," which the head of America's Energy Department credited for "a manufacturing renaissance across the U.S." A senior White House energy advisor specifically described it as "a clean energy boom" and called the map "a great resource for understanding the widespread and important impact this boom is having on communities all across our nation."
The announcement notes 500 "planned investments in at least 450 new or expanded clean energy manufacturing facilities, totaling over $160 billion in announced private and public sector investments" in solar, battery, and offshore wind manufacturing projects — as well as in electric vehicle assembly, components, and chargers. Ford received over $12 billion for battery pack/cell projects and EV assembly, along with billions more for Ford's joint venture with BlueOval SK to build a battery plant. And six of the projects are Tesla — totalling over $2 billion for projects in battery materials, cells, packs, and EV assembly.
171620750
submission
destinyland writes:
The Discord.io custom invite service has temporarily shut down after suffering a data breach exposing the information of 760,000 members.
Discord.io is not an official Discord site but a third-party service allowing server owners to create custom invites to their channels. Most of the community was built around the service's Discord server, with over 14,000 members.
171548962
submission
destinyland writes:
"This is straight out of science fiction. The technology is absolutely incredible..." says a woman who received an AI-powered bionic arm. "I'm just absolutely in awe of the technology and excited about the future prospects this will give me."
The short video clip (produced by the BBC) also features the woman's doctor explaining that "the top section is customized to fit...with electrodes there recording the unique pattern of movement, that then talk to a little computer inside the forearm that then, through AI, build data and record those movements to tell the arm what to do."
A GoFundMe campaign had raised £296,613 (about $378,121 USD) to purchase the bionic arm — and last week the grateful recipient shared a long-awaited status update. "It's here. It fits. It works...! 6 months after I first signed up in the clinic I have my bionic arm. State of the art, tailored to my body, the price of a very nice sports car. 24h in and I'm already putting it to good use. The feeling of freedom is unbeatable. Being able to carry things in 2 hands! Open a bottle! Give my husband a 2 arm hug!
"I wouldn't have been able to do this without you, you believed in me since the very beginning. You stood by me in my darkest hour. THANK YOU."
171496766
submission
destinyland writes:
Oxide Computer Company spent four years working toward “The power of the cloud in your data center bringing hyperscaler agility to the mainstream enterprise.” And on June 30, Oxide finally shipped its very first server rack.
It’s the culmination of years of work — to fulfill a long-standing dream. In December of 2019, Oxide co-founder Jess Frazelle had written a blog post remembering conversations over the year with people who’d been running their own workloads on-premises... “Hyperscalers like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft have what I like to call ‘infrastructure privilege’ since they long ago decided they could build their own hardware and software to fulfill their needs better than commodity vendors. We are working to bring that same infrastructure privilege to everyone else!”
Frazelle had seen a chance to make an impact with “better integration between the hardware and software stacks, better power distribution, and better density. It’s even better for the environment due to the energy consumption wins.”
