Comment Re:A gym is a Walmart? (Score 1) 96
Yes, I love working out at Walmart. I usually get kicked out afterwards, when I strip naked to take a shower. But at that point I've already gotten my workout, mission accomplished.
Submission + - No Warrant, No Suspicion, No Problem (reason.com)
fjo3 writes: Part of the bedrock of American civil liberties is the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches. There is no right to privacy, and no due process in the justice system, without that. But immigration authorities, cops, and courts keep deciding that, for some reason, the Fourth Amendment just doesn't apply where new technology is concerned.
Comment Re:No they aren't (Score 1) 3
How can you be so sure? Nowadays, most, if not all, cars come equipped with internet connection so there's not way of telling if the manufacturer is actually monetizing the driver's distractions by selling the info to insurance companies. On a similar note, LG also sells TVs that they swear don't spy on you and that it's all fake news.
How can he be so sure? Because it is AniMoJo, who is never wrong!
Submission + - China's Top Spy Chief Warns AI Is a Threat to Party Rule (gvwire.com)
fjo3 writes: China’s top spy chief has warned that artificial intelligence could pose a direct threat to the Chinese Communist Party’s hold on power, in what is the highest-level and most detailed articulation yet of how Beijing sees the technology’s security risks.
The unusually blunt assessment by Chen Yixin, the head of China’s Ministry of State Security, is in contrast to the warnings dominating the AI debate in the United States, which have focused on the possibility that AI could slip out of human control or pose a threat to humanity itself.
In an article published Sunday in the state-run magazine China Cyberspace, Chen called for more party control over AI and stricter government oversight. This, he said, was necessary to protect political stability at home; to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns from “hostile forces”; and to compete militarily with countries like the United States.
The unusually blunt assessment by Chen Yixin, the head of China’s Ministry of State Security, is in contrast to the warnings dominating the AI debate in the United States, which have focused on the possibility that AI could slip out of human control or pose a threat to humanity itself.
In an article published Sunday in the state-run magazine China Cyberspace, Chen called for more party control over AI and stricter government oversight. This, he said, was necessary to protect political stability at home; to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns from “hostile forces”; and to compete militarily with countries like the United States.
Submission + - European Cars Are Spying on Their Drivers. The Same Tech Could Be Coming to USA (reason.com) 3
fjo3 writes: As of July 7, all new passenger vehicles sold in the E.U. had to come equipped with "advanced driver distraction warning" systems that watch for signs of "distraction" and, upon detecting them, issue a visual and an audio or tactile warning. Cars will warn drivers whose gaze drifts for more than three to six seconds, depending on their speed.
To comply with this mandate, cars will have to fix cameras on drivers' faces at all times, turning private motor vehicles into efficient surveillance systems. The equipment is supposed to operate as a "closed-loop system," meaning it "shall only continuously record and retain data necessary for the system to function and operate." But it is not clear how that rule will be enforced.
Beyond privacy concerns, some critics worry that the system itself will become a dangerous distraction, issuing warnings every time a driver changes the radio station or glances at a passenger. Others have complained that the requirement will increase auto costs.
To comply with this mandate, cars will have to fix cameras on drivers' faces at all times, turning private motor vehicles into efficient surveillance systems. The equipment is supposed to operate as a "closed-loop system," meaning it "shall only continuously record and retain data necessary for the system to function and operate." But it is not clear how that rule will be enforced.
Beyond privacy concerns, some critics worry that the system itself will become a dangerous distraction, issuing warnings every time a driver changes the radio station or glances at a passenger. Others have complained that the requirement will increase auto costs.
Submission + - Children develop 'toasted skin syndrome' from overuse of electronics (telegraph.co.uk)
fjo3 writes: A skin condition caused by a reaction to heat from electronic devices is on the rise in children, doctors have said.
Erythema ab igne (EAI) – also known as toasted skin syndrome – is a rash caused by long-term exposure to low-level heat.
It is usually found in adults who regularly use hot water bottles or heated pads, but is becoming increasingly common among children who use electronic devices.
Doctors have shed light on the surge of cases in children after a boy was diagnosed with EAI after resting his laptop on his stomach for up to eight hours a day.
Erythema ab igne (EAI) – also known as toasted skin syndrome – is a rash caused by long-term exposure to low-level heat.
It is usually found in adults who regularly use hot water bottles or heated pads, but is becoming increasingly common among children who use electronic devices.
Doctors have shed light on the surge of cases in children after a boy was diagnosed with EAI after resting his laptop on his stomach for up to eight hours a day.
Comment It works well for me (Score 1) 61
I still use, and need, Mozilla for specific tasks, but Brave does 90% of my browsing. It's nothing special, but I don't have to fiddle around with any settings to block ads, and that's what I am looking for as a recommendation to my friends and family when they complain about ads on their laptop and on their iPhones, where it is in the app store and works great for me there too (on most websites).
Comment Experiencing this firsthand (Score 4, Informative) 149
Had this happen three times in the last month or two in Northern California. As long as I follow the new route strictly, I usually get there at about the same time I would have otherwise, but with a brand new view of the cityscape / rural landscape. Went for a nice river drive last week, 10/10 so far.
Comment Re:A couple of weeks ago, chess.com was great (Score 2) 12
Now, all of a sudden there's this annoying guy with captions saying AI-like things each time you move on the puzzles. It's completely put me off the site. They added ads recently, and I thought "that's fair and makes sense." But the awful animated comment on every move? I'll either stop using the site, or put a post-it note over that part of the screen, which by the way will bock the ads.
They can now produce code faster. That does not mean they know what to produce.
lichess.com will be your new home.
Comment Re:chess.com is the worst (Score 4, Funny) 12
It's run like a Soviet dictatorship.
Trump Chess is even worse. You can be White or Orange. When you're about to win, the AI bombs the board so you always lose.
Comment Re: Wow (Score 1) 24
Wow I missed Mario64 on the snes. I only got it on n64 when it *actually* came out.
Shows what you know - I had Mario64 on my Genesis!
Comment Re:WHo? (Score 1) 41
It's a hand-cranked game boy, basically.
Comment Re:The old Twitter is gone forever (Score -1, Troll) 111
Reality has a center-left bias. If your social media platform doesn't fall within that realm, you've probably done something to drive off a portion of your liberal users. Musk has. It's well known that left-leaning users get feeds full of rage bait to drive up engagement. The scheme works on some people, but others just get fed up and leave.
I also don't really buy that the old Twitter was anti-conservative as some people claimed. They just enforced their TOS more strictly in those days. On the far ends of the political spectrum you've got literal Nazis on the extreme right, and on the extreme left liberals suggesting things like giving everyone UBI and free healthcare. Care to take a guess which side is more likely to be expressing their viewpoint in a way that violates the TOS?
The extreme left has gone way beyond UBI and Universal Healthcare. They are now advocating outright Communism, praising Chairman Mao, etc. I am not a far right person, but I dislike Communism (to put it mildly), based solely on its track record. If you haven't been paying attention to the DSA and their members lately, you might think I am exaggerating. I am not.
Submission + - Scientists Turn Plastic Waste Into Edible Cookies (futurism.com)
fjo3 writes: In the event we turn all arable land on this planet into a barren heath incapable of growing food, humankind may have to resort to reaping what we sowed by eating our own plastic pollution.
A team of researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale just demonstrated that this was possible by using specially engineered yeast to create tasty — and yes, edible — cookies which they 3D printed out of plastic waste.
The yeast breaks down the components of plastic compounds and agricultural byproducts like discarded plant stalks into proteins, fats, acids, and flavorings that we can eat. When these are combined together, the mixture is fed into a 3D printer that spits out cookies of any desired shape.
A team of researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale just demonstrated that this was possible by using specially engineered yeast to create tasty — and yes, edible — cookies which they 3D printed out of plastic waste.
The yeast breaks down the components of plastic compounds and agricultural byproducts like discarded plant stalks into proteins, fats, acids, and flavorings that we can eat. When these are combined together, the mixture is fed into a 3D printer that spits out cookies of any desired shape.
Submission + - Study: Most Mealtime Screen Time Is TV, Not Social Media (reason.com)
fjo3 writes: Everyone has seen them out at restaurants: the "iPad babies" and zoned-out families. Parents letting their children, some quite young, stare at phones or tablets throughout the meal, sometimes while mom and dad also look at screens.
It's easy to judge those families, though I try to remind myself that we, as casual onlookers, never know the full story. Maybe this almost never happens but tonight the parent has a crucial work deadline. Maybe it's been that rare kind of extraordinarily stressful day. Maybe that boy has developmental issues and this is the only way he can get through a restaurant meal, which the family needs to do because they're traveling. Maybe, whatever the reason, this is an anomaly and not the mealtime norm.
But screen time during meals may be the norm for many families, according to some new research published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Hold up, though—before you call in Jonathan Haidt (or Josh Hawley, or Jean Twenge, or whoever your favorite tech-panic evangelist might be), take a closer look at what sorts of screens that kids are using. The most common form of mealtime media consumption for kids in this study was "watching content on a large-screen device." That is, a TV, or something akin to a TV.
It's easy to judge those families, though I try to remind myself that we, as casual onlookers, never know the full story. Maybe this almost never happens but tonight the parent has a crucial work deadline. Maybe it's been that rare kind of extraordinarily stressful day. Maybe that boy has developmental issues and this is the only way he can get through a restaurant meal, which the family needs to do because they're traveling. Maybe, whatever the reason, this is an anomaly and not the mealtime norm.
But screen time during meals may be the norm for many families, according to some new research published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Hold up, though—before you call in Jonathan Haidt (or Josh Hawley, or Jean Twenge, or whoever your favorite tech-panic evangelist might be), take a closer look at what sorts of screens that kids are using. The most common form of mealtime media consumption for kids in this study was "watching content on a large-screen device." That is, a TV, or something akin to a TV.
