# Trump Wins US Presidency For Second Time
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 07:22:01 2024-11-06
Major media outlets are beginning to declare former President Trump the winner of the 2024 presidential election, having secured 270 electoral votes. "He becomes the first president in more than 120 years to lose the White House, and then to come back and win it again, after President Grover Cleveland in 1892," notes The Hill. As with previous election announcements on Slashdot, this is your chance to talk about it and what it means for the future of our nation.
Developing...
[ Read more of this story ]( https://politics.slashdot.org/story/24/11/06/0652209/trump-wins-us-presidency-for-second-time?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 07:22:01 2024-11-06
Major media outlets are beginning to declare former President Trump the winner of the 2024 presidential election, having secured 270 electoral votes. "He becomes the first president in more than 120 years to lose the White House, and then to come back and win it again, after President Grover Cleveland in 1892," notes The Hill. As with previous election announcements on Slashdot, this is your chance to talk about it and what it means for the future of our nation.
Developing...
[ Read more of this story ]( https://politics.slashdot.org/story/24/11/06/0652209/trump-wins-us-presidency-for-second-time?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Google CEO Forbids Political Talk After Firing 28 Over Israeli Contract Protest
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 04:22:01 2024-11-06
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: Google CEO Sundar Pichai has weighed in on the debate over the relative values of political expression and workplace coexistence by ordering employees to leave their political opinions at home. A day after firing 28 workers for participating in a sit-in protest of the tech giant's cloud contract with Israel, Pichai warned staff that the office is not a place "to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics" in a company blog post.
Although Pichai didn't specifically mention the protests or the Israel-Hamas war, he concluded that the $1.92 trillion company "is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform." "We have a duty to be an objective and trusted provider of information that serves all of our users globally," Pichai continued. "When we come to work, our goal is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. That supersedes everything else and I expect us to act with a focus that reflects that." The sit-in protest was staged against Google's involvement in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud contract with the Israeli government. During the nearly 10-hour protest, employees wore "Googler against genocide" T-shirts and occupied the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.
The report notes how tech companies, "previously famed for their progressive culture where nap pods and abortion benefits were welcome," are increasingly restricting political discussions to avoid internal conflict. Pichai notes in his memo that Google has previously enjoyed "a culture of vibrant, open discussion that enables us to create amazing products and turn great ideas into action."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/06/0120243/google-ceo-forbids-political-talk-after-firing-28-over-israeli-contract-protest?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 04:22:01 2024-11-06
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: Google CEO Sundar Pichai has weighed in on the debate over the relative values of political expression and workplace coexistence by ordering employees to leave their political opinions at home. A day after firing 28 workers for participating in a sit-in protest of the tech giant's cloud contract with Israel, Pichai warned staff that the office is not a place "to fight over disruptive issues or debate politics" in a company blog post.
Although Pichai didn't specifically mention the protests or the Israel-Hamas war, he concluded that the $1.92 trillion company "is a business, and not a place to act in a way that disrupts coworkers or makes them feel unsafe, to attempt to use the company as a personal platform." "We have a duty to be an objective and trusted provider of information that serves all of our users globally," Pichai continued. "When we come to work, our goal is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. That supersedes everything else and I expect us to act with a focus that reflects that." The sit-in protest was staged against Google's involvement in Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud contract with the Israeli government. During the nearly 10-hour protest, employees wore "Googler against genocide" T-shirts and occupied the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.
The report notes how tech companies, "previously famed for their progressive culture where nap pods and abortion benefits were welcome," are increasingly restricting political discussions to avoid internal conflict. Pichai notes in his memo that Google has previously enjoyed "a culture of vibrant, open discussion that enables us to create amazing products and turn great ideas into action."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/06/0120243/google-ceo-forbids-political-talk-after-firing-28-over-israeli-contract-protest?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Bitcoin Hits All-Time High
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 04:22:01 2024-11-06
Bitcoin surged over 9.2% to an all-time high of over $74,200 on Tuesday evening as early results showed favorable outcome for Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has promised crypto-friendly policies if he wins.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/24/11/06/0321239/bitcoin-hits-all-time-high?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 04:22:01 2024-11-06
Bitcoin surged over 9.2% to an all-time high of over $74,200 on Tuesday evening as early results showed favorable outcome for Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has promised crypto-friendly policies if he wins.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/24/11/06/0321239/bitcoin-hits-all-time-high?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Korean Cinema in 'Precarious Period' Due To Netflix, Says Director Jang Joon-hwan
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 03:22:02 2024-11-06
An anonymous reader shares a report: When Parasite became the first non-English language film in Oscars history to win best picture in 2019, it marked a breakthrough moment for Korean cinema. But the surge of interest that followed the director Bong Joon-ho's international success has not translated into a thriving local film industry, according to another of its leading lights.
The director Jang Joon-hwan said K-cinema was struggling after the arrival of Netflix and other streaming platforms, with movies often rushed on to streaming platforms, and box office ticket sales suffering as a consequence. Jang, whose 2004 cult sci-fi comedy Save the Green Planet is being remade by the Poor Things director, Yorgos Lanthimos, said Korean cinema was going through a "very precarious period" because Korean viewers would increasingly prefer to wait for films to come out on streaming platforms than pay more to go to the cinema.
"I hope that such a day comes that Korean films are being introduced to wider audiences and we can all enjoy them together, however as a Korean film director in Korea, [it's] a very difficult and challenging time with the advent of Netflix and the [streaming] platforms. In this post-pandemic period cinemagoers have dropped dramatically, so investment has dropped. There are less Korean films being made," he said. But he acknowledged that platforms such as Netflix had "introduced a lot of new international fans to Korean content," through hit shows such as Squid Game.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2246215/korean-cinema-in-precarious-period-due-to-netflix-says-director-jang-joon-hwan?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 03:22:02 2024-11-06
An anonymous reader shares a report: When Parasite became the first non-English language film in Oscars history to win best picture in 2019, it marked a breakthrough moment for Korean cinema. But the surge of interest that followed the director Bong Joon-ho's international success has not translated into a thriving local film industry, according to another of its leading lights.
The director Jang Joon-hwan said K-cinema was struggling after the arrival of Netflix and other streaming platforms, with movies often rushed on to streaming platforms, and box office ticket sales suffering as a consequence. Jang, whose 2004 cult sci-fi comedy Save the Green Planet is being remade by the Poor Things director, Yorgos Lanthimos, said Korean cinema was going through a "very precarious period" because Korean viewers would increasingly prefer to wait for films to come out on streaming platforms than pay more to go to the cinema.
"I hope that such a day comes that Korean films are being introduced to wider audiences and we can all enjoy them together, however as a Korean film director in Korea, [it's] a very difficult and challenging time with the advent of Netflix and the [streaming] platforms. In this post-pandemic period cinemagoers have dropped dramatically, so investment has dropped. There are less Korean films being made," he said. But he acknowledged that platforms such as Netflix had "introduced a lot of new international fans to Korean content," through hit shows such as Squid Game.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2246215/korean-cinema-in-precarious-period-due-to-netflix-says-director-jang-joon-hwan?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Google Asked To Remove 10 Billion 'Pirate' Search Results
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 02:22:01 2024-11-06
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Rightsholders have asked Google to remove more than 10 billion 'copyright infringing' URLs from its search results. The search engine doesn't celebrate the milestone in any way, but the takedown notices document intriguing shifts in volume over time, as well as shifting takedown interests. [...] The path to 10 billion was turbulent. When Google first made DMCA details public it was processing a few million DMCA takedown requests in a year. That number swiftly increased to hundreds of millions and eventually reached a billion DMCA requests in 2016.
The exponential growth curve eventually flattened out and around 2017, the takedown volume started to decline. The decrease was in part due to various anti-piracy algorithms making pirated content less visible in search results. By downranking pirate sites, infringing content became harder to find. As a result, Google processed fewer takedown notices, a welcome change for both rightsholders and the search engine. Today, Google continues to make pirate sites less visible in search, but the reduction in takedown notices didn't last. On the contrary, over the past several months, Google search processed a record number of DMCA notices.
Last summer, the search giant recorded the 7 billionth takedown request and after that the numbers shot up, adding billions more in the year that followed. The company is now handling removal requests at a rate of roughly 2.5 billion per year; a new record. This represents more than 50 million takedown requests per week and roughly 5,000 every minute. [...] While the 10 billionth reported URL is undoubtedly a milestone, this number is largely driven by a few rightsholders, reporting outfits, and domain names. The aforementioned takedown outfit Link-Busters, for example, accounts for roughly 15% of all reported links, nearly 1.5 billion. Similarly, the ten most prolific rightsholders, including the BPI, HarperCollins, and VIZ Media, are responsible for 40% of all reported links. These ten companies are only a tiny fraction of the 600,000 rightsholders that reported pirated links, however. A small group of domains also receives a disproportionate amount of attention. In total, 5,400,061 domains have been reported, with the top domains having dozens of millions of flagged URLs each. However, most domains have only a few flagged links, some of which are erroneous.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2059252/google-asked-to-remove-10-billion-pirate-search-results?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 02:22:01 2024-11-06
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: Rightsholders have asked Google to remove more than 10 billion 'copyright infringing' URLs from its search results. The search engine doesn't celebrate the milestone in any way, but the takedown notices document intriguing shifts in volume over time, as well as shifting takedown interests. [...] The path to 10 billion was turbulent. When Google first made DMCA details public it was processing a few million DMCA takedown requests in a year. That number swiftly increased to hundreds of millions and eventually reached a billion DMCA requests in 2016.
The exponential growth curve eventually flattened out and around 2017, the takedown volume started to decline. The decrease was in part due to various anti-piracy algorithms making pirated content less visible in search results. By downranking pirate sites, infringing content became harder to find. As a result, Google processed fewer takedown notices, a welcome change for both rightsholders and the search engine. Today, Google continues to make pirate sites less visible in search, but the reduction in takedown notices didn't last. On the contrary, over the past several months, Google search processed a record number of DMCA notices.
Last summer, the search giant recorded the 7 billionth takedown request and after that the numbers shot up, adding billions more in the year that followed. The company is now handling removal requests at a rate of roughly 2.5 billion per year; a new record. This represents more than 50 million takedown requests per week and roughly 5,000 every minute. [...] While the 10 billionth reported URL is undoubtedly a milestone, this number is largely driven by a few rightsholders, reporting outfits, and domain names. The aforementioned takedown outfit Link-Busters, for example, accounts for roughly 15% of all reported links, nearly 1.5 billion. Similarly, the ten most prolific rightsholders, including the BPI, HarperCollins, and VIZ Media, are responsible for 40% of all reported links. These ten companies are only a tiny fraction of the 600,000 rightsholders that reported pirated links, however. A small group of domains also receives a disproportionate amount of attention. In total, 5,400,061 domains have been reported, with the top domains having dozens of millions of flagged URLs each. However, most domains have only a few flagged links, some of which are erroneous.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2059252/google-asked-to-remove-10-billion-pirate-search-results?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Schneider Electric Ransomware Crew Demands $125k Paid in Baguettes
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 02:22:01 2024-11-06
Schneider Electric confirmed that it is investigating a breach as a ransomware group Hellcat claims to have stolen more than 40 GB of compressed data -- and demanded the French multinational energy management company pay $125,000 in baguettes or else see its sensitive customer and operational information leaked. The Register: And yes, you read that right: payment in baguettes. As in bread. Schneider Electric declined to answer The Register's specific questions about the intrusion, including if the attackers really want $125,000 in baguettes or if they would settle for cryptocurrency.
A spokesperson, however, emailed us the following statement: "Schneider Electric is investigating a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to one of our internal project execution tracking platforms which is hosted within an isolated environment. Our Global Incident Response team has been immediately mobilized to respond to the incident.âSchneider Electric's products and services remain unaffected."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2231244/schneider-electric-ransomware-crew-demands-125k-paid-in-baguettes?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 02:22:01 2024-11-06
Schneider Electric confirmed that it is investigating a breach as a ransomware group Hellcat claims to have stolen more than 40 GB of compressed data -- and demanded the French multinational energy management company pay $125,000 in baguettes or else see its sensitive customer and operational information leaked. The Register: And yes, you read that right: payment in baguettes. As in bread. Schneider Electric declined to answer The Register's specific questions about the intrusion, including if the attackers really want $125,000 in baguettes or if they would settle for cryptocurrency.
A spokesperson, however, emailed us the following statement: "Schneider Electric is investigating a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to one of our internal project execution tracking platforms which is hosted within an isolated environment. Our Global Incident Response team has been immediately mobilized to respond to the incident.âSchneider Electric's products and services remain unaffected."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2231244/schneider-electric-ransomware-crew-demands-125k-paid-in-baguettes?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Amazon CEO Denies Full In-Office Mandate is 'Backdoor Layoff'
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 01:22:01 2024-11-06
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said at an all-hands meeting on Tuesday that the plan to require employees to be in-office five days per week is not meant to force attrition or satisfy city leaders, as many employees have suggested. Reuters: The controversial plan mandating workers come to Amazon offices every day starting next year, up from three days now, has caused consternation among employees who say it is stricter than other tech companies and will hinder efficiency because of commuting times. Workers who are consistently not in compliance have been told they will be "voluntarily resigning" and locked out of company computers.
"A number of people I've seen theorized that the reason we were doing this is, it's a backdoor layoff, or we made some sort of deal with city or cities," said Jassy, according to a transcript of the meeting reviewed by Reuters. "I can tell you both of those are not true. You know, this was not a cost play for us. This is very much about our culture and strengthening our culture," he said.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2224228/amazon-ceo-denies-full-in-office-mandate-is-backdoor-layoff?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 01:22:01 2024-11-06
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said at an all-hands meeting on Tuesday that the plan to require employees to be in-office five days per week is not meant to force attrition or satisfy city leaders, as many employees have suggested. Reuters: The controversial plan mandating workers come to Amazon offices every day starting next year, up from three days now, has caused consternation among employees who say it is stricter than other tech companies and will hinder efficiency because of commuting times. Workers who are consistently not in compliance have been told they will be "voluntarily resigning" and locked out of company computers.
"A number of people I've seen theorized that the reason we were doing this is, it's a backdoor layoff, or we made some sort of deal with city or cities," said Jassy, according to a transcript of the meeting reviewed by Reuters. "I can tell you both of those are not true. You know, this was not a cost play for us. This is very much about our culture and strengthening our culture," he said.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2224228/amazon-ceo-denies-full-in-office-mandate-is-backdoor-layoff?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# The Hyperloop Lives On As a 1/12th Scale Model In Switzerland
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 00:22:01 2024-11-06
Last December, Hyperloop One, the futuristic transportation company pursuing Elon Musk's dream of tube-based, airplane-speed travel, announced its shutdown. However, the concept itself has found a new lease on life in a scaled-down version overseas. According to The Verge's Andrew J. Hawkins, "The hyperloop, in fact, lives on -- as a 1/12th scale model in Switzerland." From the report: Sure, this isn't exactly the full realization of Musk's 2013 white paper, in which he theorized that aerodynamic aluminum capsules filled with passengers or cargo could be propelled through a nearly airless tube at speeds of up to 760mph. These tubes, either raised on pylons or sunk beneath the earth, could be built either within or between cities. Musk called it a "fifth mode of transportation" and argued it could help change the way we live, work, trade, and travel. The idea is being put to the test in Lausanne, Switzerland, where a 120-meter circular test track is being operated by a team that includes the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), the School of Business and Engineering Vaud (HEIG-VD), and Swisspod Technologies. This week, the group announced that it had conducted "the longest" hyperloop test of its kind: traveling 11.8 km (7.3 miles) at a speed of 40.7km/h (25.3mph).
The circular test track has a circumference of 125.6 meters (412 feet) and a diameter of 40 centimeters (15.7 inches). It sounds modest, but the group claims that in a full-scale system, their test "directly translates" to a journey of 141.6 km (88 miles), which is about the distance between Geneva and Bern, or San Francisco to Sacramento, and speeds of up to 488.2 km/h (303.4mph). The project is called LIMITLESS, which stands for Linear Induction Motor Drive for Traction and Levitation in Sustainable Hyperloop Systems. During the test, the team "monitored the performance of vital subsystems," including propulsion, communication infrastructure, power electronics, and thermal management. They assessed "energy consumption, thrust variations, [linear induction motor] response, and control during acceleration, cruising, coasting, and braking scenarios."
Of course, a 1/12th-scale circular test track is hardly a sign that the hyperloop is alive and well. Most of the startups and companies pursuing a full-scale hyperloop have shut down, victims of financial mismanagement, as well as infrastructure and regulatory hurdles. Critics said that while the hyperloop may be technically feasible, it still only amounts to vaporware. It's been called a "utopian vision" that would be financially impossible to achieve. But the Swiss team is undeterred, promising to conduct a battery of future tests to further validate the system. Swisspod CEO Denis Tudor said the group plans to test its first freight product soon, and is currently building a larger test track in the US. "This is a key step toward making hyperloop for passengers a reality and changing how we connect, work, and live," he said.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2217233/the-hyperloop-lives-on-as-a-112th-scale-model-in-switzerland?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 00:22:01 2024-11-06
Last December, Hyperloop One, the futuristic transportation company pursuing Elon Musk's dream of tube-based, airplane-speed travel, announced its shutdown. However, the concept itself has found a new lease on life in a scaled-down version overseas. According to The Verge's Andrew J. Hawkins, "The hyperloop, in fact, lives on -- as a 1/12th scale model in Switzerland." From the report: Sure, this isn't exactly the full realization of Musk's 2013 white paper, in which he theorized that aerodynamic aluminum capsules filled with passengers or cargo could be propelled through a nearly airless tube at speeds of up to 760mph. These tubes, either raised on pylons or sunk beneath the earth, could be built either within or between cities. Musk called it a "fifth mode of transportation" and argued it could help change the way we live, work, trade, and travel. The idea is being put to the test in Lausanne, Switzerland, where a 120-meter circular test track is being operated by a team that includes the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), the School of Business and Engineering Vaud (HEIG-VD), and Swisspod Technologies. This week, the group announced that it had conducted "the longest" hyperloop test of its kind: traveling 11.8 km (7.3 miles) at a speed of 40.7km/h (25.3mph).
The circular test track has a circumference of 125.6 meters (412 feet) and a diameter of 40 centimeters (15.7 inches). It sounds modest, but the group claims that in a full-scale system, their test "directly translates" to a journey of 141.6 km (88 miles), which is about the distance between Geneva and Bern, or San Francisco to Sacramento, and speeds of up to 488.2 km/h (303.4mph). The project is called LIMITLESS, which stands for Linear Induction Motor Drive for Traction and Levitation in Sustainable Hyperloop Systems. During the test, the team "monitored the performance of vital subsystems," including propulsion, communication infrastructure, power electronics, and thermal management. They assessed "energy consumption, thrust variations, [linear induction motor] response, and control during acceleration, cruising, coasting, and braking scenarios."
Of course, a 1/12th-scale circular test track is hardly a sign that the hyperloop is alive and well. Most of the startups and companies pursuing a full-scale hyperloop have shut down, victims of financial mismanagement, as well as infrastructure and regulatory hurdles. Critics said that while the hyperloop may be technically feasible, it still only amounts to vaporware. It's been called a "utopian vision" that would be financially impossible to achieve. But the Swiss team is undeterred, promising to conduct a battery of future tests to further validate the system. Swisspod CEO Denis Tudor said the group plans to test its first freight product soon, and is currently building a larger test track in the US. "This is a key step toward making hyperloop for passengers a reality and changing how we connect, work, and live," he said.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2217233/the-hyperloop-lives-on-as-a-112th-scale-model-in-switzerland?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Interpol Disrupts Cybercrime Activity On 22,000 IP Addresses, Arrests 41
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 00:22:01 2024-11-06
During an operation across 95 countries from April to August 2024, Interpol arrested 41 individuals and dismantled over 1,000 servers and infrastructure running on 22,000 IP addresses facilitating cybercrime. BleepingComputer reports: Interpol said its enforcement action was backed by intelligence provided by private cybersecurity firms like Group-IB, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, and Team Cymru, leading to the identification of over 30,000 suspicious IP addresses. Eventually, roughly 76% of those were taken down, 59 servers were seized, and 43 electronic devices were confiscated, which will be examined to retrieve additional evidence. In addition to the 41 individuals who were arrested, the authorities are also investigating another 65 persons suspected of associating with illicit activities.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2211252/interpol-disrupts-cybercrime-activity-on-22000-ip-addresses-arrests-41?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 00:22:01 2024-11-06
During an operation across 95 countries from April to August 2024, Interpol arrested 41 individuals and dismantled over 1,000 servers and infrastructure running on 22,000 IP addresses facilitating cybercrime. BleepingComputer reports: Interpol said its enforcement action was backed by intelligence provided by private cybersecurity firms like Group-IB, Kaspersky, Trend Micro, and Team Cymru, leading to the identification of over 30,000 suspicious IP addresses. Eventually, roughly 76% of those were taken down, 59 servers were seized, and 43 electronic devices were confiscated, which will be examined to retrieve additional evidence. In addition to the 41 individuals who were arrested, the authorities are also investigating another 65 persons suspected of associating with illicit activities.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2211252/interpol-disrupts-cybercrime-activity-on-22000-ip-addresses-arrests-41?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Russian Email Domains Target US Polling Sites with Bomb Threats, FBI Says
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 23:22:02 2024-11-05
The FBI warned on Tuesday that polling stations across multiple U.S. states received fake bomb threats sent from Russian email domains, forcing brief evacuations at two voting sites in Georgia's Fulton County.
The threats, which targeted locations in Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin, have not been deemed credible, the FBI said in a statement. The evacuated Fulton County sites reopened after 30 minutes, prompting local officials to seek extended voting hours beyond the 7 p.m. ET deadline.
The incidents follow Friday's joint intelligence warning from the FBI, ODNI, and CISA about Russian-created fake videos aimed at undermining election integrity. The agencies also reported Russian actors are spreading false claims about planned election fraud by U.S. officials.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2238205/russian-email-domains-target-us-polling-sites-with-bomb-threats-fbi-says?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 23:22:02 2024-11-05
The FBI warned on Tuesday that polling stations across multiple U.S. states received fake bomb threats sent from Russian email domains, forcing brief evacuations at two voting sites in Georgia's Fulton County.
The threats, which targeted locations in Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin, have not been deemed credible, the FBI said in a statement. The evacuated Fulton County sites reopened after 30 minutes, prompting local officials to seek extended voting hours beyond the 7 p.m. ET deadline.
The incidents follow Friday's joint intelligence warning from the FBI, ODNI, and CISA about Russian-created fake videos aimed at undermining election integrity. The agencies also reported Russian actors are spreading false claims about planned election fraud by U.S. officials.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2238205/russian-email-domains-target-us-polling-sites-with-bomb-threats-fbi-says?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Amazon Starts Drone Deliveries In Arizona
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 22:22:01 2024-11-05
Amazon is launching drone deliveries from its Tolleson, AZ, same-day delivery site, making over 50,000 essentials available to eligible customers in the West Valley Phoenix area. The Verge reports: The news came after Amazon announced it was shutting down its testing zone location in Lockeford, California. The new Tolleson location integrates drone deliveries into Amazon's delivery network for the first time, and the drones will deploy right next to the fulfillment center. Amazon is using its latest MK30 drones that can carry up to 5 pounds while also flying "twice as far" and running "50 percent quieter" than its previous models that sometimes crashed and burned in testing.
Amazon will launch the drones from its hybrid facility. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved Amazon's drones for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), meaning they can be flown out of visual range from the operator. The company claims it's the first to launch both a new facility and BVLOS drone service that meets FAA requirements.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2054203/amazon-starts-drone-deliveries-in-arizona?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 22:22:01 2024-11-05
Amazon is launching drone deliveries from its Tolleson, AZ, same-day delivery site, making over 50,000 essentials available to eligible customers in the West Valley Phoenix area. The Verge reports: The news came after Amazon announced it was shutting down its testing zone location in Lockeford, California. The new Tolleson location integrates drone deliveries into Amazon's delivery network for the first time, and the drones will deploy right next to the fulfillment center. Amazon is using its latest MK30 drones that can carry up to 5 pounds while also flying "twice as far" and running "50 percent quieter" than its previous models that sometimes crashed and burned in testing.
Amazon will launch the drones from its hybrid facility. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved Amazon's drones for Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), meaning they can be flown out of visual range from the operator. The company claims it's the first to launch both a new facility and BVLOS drone service that meets FAA requirements.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2054203/amazon-starts-drone-deliveries-in-arizona?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# World's First Wood-Paneled Satellite Launched Into Space
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 22:22:01 2024-11-05
SpaceX has launched the world's first wood-paneled satellite into space "to test the suitability of timber as a renewable building material in future exploration of destinations like the Moon and Mars," reports the BBC. From the report: Made by researchers in Japan, the tiny satellite weighing just 900g is heading for the International Space Station on a SpaceX mission. It will then be released into orbit above the Earth. Named LignoSat, after the Latin word for wood, its panels have been built from a type of magnolia tree, using a traditional technique without screws or glue. Researchers at Kyoto University who developed it hope it may be possible in the future to replace some metals used in space exploration with wood.
"Wood is more durable in space than on Earth because there's no water or oxygen that would rot or inflame it," Kyoto University forest science professor Koji Murata told Reuters news agency. "Early 1900s airplanes were made of wood," Prof Murata said. "A wooden satellite should be feasible, too." If trees could one day be planted on the Moon or Mars, wood might also provide material for colonies in space in the future, the researchers hope. Along with its wood panels, LignoSat also incorporates traditional aluminium structures and electronic components. It has sensors on board to monitor how its wood reacts to the extreme environment of space during the six months it will orbit the Earth. You can watch the launch on YouTube.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2047247/worlds-first-wood-paneled-satellite-launched-into-space?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 22:22:01 2024-11-05
SpaceX has launched the world's first wood-paneled satellite into space "to test the suitability of timber as a renewable building material in future exploration of destinations like the Moon and Mars," reports the BBC. From the report: Made by researchers in Japan, the tiny satellite weighing just 900g is heading for the International Space Station on a SpaceX mission. It will then be released into orbit above the Earth. Named LignoSat, after the Latin word for wood, its panels have been built from a type of magnolia tree, using a traditional technique without screws or glue. Researchers at Kyoto University who developed it hope it may be possible in the future to replace some metals used in space exploration with wood.
"Wood is more durable in space than on Earth because there's no water or oxygen that would rot or inflame it," Kyoto University forest science professor Koji Murata told Reuters news agency. "Early 1900s airplanes were made of wood," Prof Murata said. "A wooden satellite should be feasible, too." If trees could one day be planted on the Moon or Mars, wood might also provide material for colonies in space in the future, the researchers hope. Along with its wood panels, LignoSat also incorporates traditional aluminium structures and electronic components. It has sensors on board to monitor how its wood reacts to the extreme environment of space during the six months it will orbit the Earth. You can watch the launch on YouTube.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2047247/worlds-first-wood-paneled-satellite-launched-into-space?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Mozilla Foundation Lays Off 30% Staff, Drops Advocacy Division
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 21:22:01 2024-11-05
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The Mozilla Foundation, the non-profit arm of the Firefox browser maker Mozilla, has laid off 30% of its employees as the organization says it faces a "relentless onslaught of change." When reached by TechCrunch, Mozilla Foundation's communications chief Brandon Borrman confirmed the layoffs in an email. "The Mozilla Foundation is reorganizing teams to increase agility and impact as we accelerate our work to ensure a more open and equitable technical future for us all. That unfortunately means ending some of the work we have historically pursued and eliminating associated roles to bring more focus going forward," read the statement shared with TechCrunch.
According to its annual tax filings, the Mozilla Foundation reported having 60 employees during the 2022 tax year. The number of employees at the time of the layoffs was closer to 120 people, according to a person with knowledge. When asked by TechCrunch, Mozilla's spokesperson did not dispute the figure. This is the second layoff at Mozilla this year, the first affecting dozens of employees who work on the side of the organization that builds the popular Firefox browser.
[...] Announcing the layoffs in an email to all employees on October 30, the Mozilla Foundation's executive director Nabiha Syed confirmed that two of the foundation's major divisions -- advocacy and global programs -- are "no longer a part of our structure." The move, according to Syed, is in part to produce a "unified, powerful narrative from the Foundation," including revamping the foundation's strategic communications. "Our mission at Mozilla is more high-stakes than ever," said Syed. "We find ourselves in a relentless onslaught of change in the technology (and broader) world, and the idea of putting people before profit feels increasingly radical."
"Navigating this topsy-turvy, distracting time requires laser focus -- and sometimes saying goodbye to the excellent work that has gotten us this far because it won't get us to the next peak. Lofty goals demand hard choices."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2039228/mozilla-foundation-lays-off-30-staff-drops-advocacy-division?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 21:22:01 2024-11-05
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The Mozilla Foundation, the non-profit arm of the Firefox browser maker Mozilla, has laid off 30% of its employees as the organization says it faces a "relentless onslaught of change." When reached by TechCrunch, Mozilla Foundation's communications chief Brandon Borrman confirmed the layoffs in an email. "The Mozilla Foundation is reorganizing teams to increase agility and impact as we accelerate our work to ensure a more open and equitable technical future for us all. That unfortunately means ending some of the work we have historically pursued and eliminating associated roles to bring more focus going forward," read the statement shared with TechCrunch.
According to its annual tax filings, the Mozilla Foundation reported having 60 employees during the 2022 tax year. The number of employees at the time of the layoffs was closer to 120 people, according to a person with knowledge. When asked by TechCrunch, Mozilla's spokesperson did not dispute the figure. This is the second layoff at Mozilla this year, the first affecting dozens of employees who work on the side of the organization that builds the popular Firefox browser.
[...] Announcing the layoffs in an email to all employees on October 30, the Mozilla Foundation's executive director Nabiha Syed confirmed that two of the foundation's major divisions -- advocacy and global programs -- are "no longer a part of our structure." The move, according to Syed, is in part to produce a "unified, powerful narrative from the Foundation," including revamping the foundation's strategic communications. "Our mission at Mozilla is more high-stakes than ever," said Syed. "We find ourselves in a relentless onslaught of change in the technology (and broader) world, and the idea of putting people before profit feels increasingly radical."
"Navigating this topsy-turvy, distracting time requires laser focus -- and sometimes saying goodbye to the excellent work that has gotten us this far because it won't get us to the next peak. Lofty goals demand hard choices."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/2039228/mozilla-foundation-lays-off-30-staff-drops-advocacy-division?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Oil Giant BP is Killing 18 Hydrogen Projects, Chilling the Nascent Industry
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 19:22:01 2024-11-05
An anonymous reader shares a report: Tucked inside a 32-page earnings report, oil and gas giant BP revealed it was killing 18 early-stage hydrogen projects, a move that could have a chilling effect on the nascent hydrogen industry. The decision, along with the sale of the company's U.S. on-shore wind power operations, will save BP $200 million annually and help boost its bottom line. The hydrogen industry, which has relied on oil and gas companies both financially and through lobbying efforts, is preparing for a grimmer outcome.
BP has been a supporter of hydrogen. The company's venture capital arm has invested in several green hydrogen startups, including Electric Hydrogen and Advanced Ionics. Earlier this year, BP said it would develop "more than 10" hydrogen projects in the U.S., Europe, and Australia. Now, BP is scaling back those plans, saying it'll develop between five and ten projects. The company is keeping quiet about which ones will receive the green light.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1841248/oil-giant-bp-is-killing-18-hydrogen-projects-chilling-the-nascent-industry?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 19:22:01 2024-11-05
An anonymous reader shares a report: Tucked inside a 32-page earnings report, oil and gas giant BP revealed it was killing 18 early-stage hydrogen projects, a move that could have a chilling effect on the nascent hydrogen industry. The decision, along with the sale of the company's U.S. on-shore wind power operations, will save BP $200 million annually and help boost its bottom line. The hydrogen industry, which has relied on oil and gas companies both financially and through lobbying efforts, is preparing for a grimmer outcome.
BP has been a supporter of hydrogen. The company's venture capital arm has invested in several green hydrogen startups, including Electric Hydrogen and Advanced Ionics. Earlier this year, BP said it would develop "more than 10" hydrogen projects in the U.S., Europe, and Australia. Now, BP is scaling back those plans, saying it'll develop between five and ten projects. The company is keeping quiet about which ones will receive the green light.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1841248/oil-giant-bp-is-killing-18-hydrogen-projects-chilling-the-nascent-industry?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# AMD Overtakes Intel in Datacenter Sales For First Time
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 18:22:01 2024-11-05
AMD has surpassed Intel in datacenter processor sales for the first time in history, marking a dramatic shift in the server chip market. AMD's datacenter revenue hit $3.549 billion in Q3, edging out Intel's $3.3 billion, according to SemiAnalysis.
The milestone ends Intel's decades-long dominance in server processors, where it held over 90% market share until recent years. AMD's EPYC processors now power many high-end servers, commanding premium prices despite selling at lower costs than comparable Intel chips.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1818222/amd-overtakes-intel-in-datacenter-sales-for-first-time?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 18:22:01 2024-11-05
AMD has surpassed Intel in datacenter processor sales for the first time in history, marking a dramatic shift in the server chip market. AMD's datacenter revenue hit $3.549 billion in Q3, edging out Intel's $3.3 billion, according to SemiAnalysis.
The milestone ends Intel's decades-long dominance in server processors, where it held over 90% market share until recent years. AMD's EPYC processors now power many high-end servers, commanding premium prices despite selling at lower costs than comparable Intel chips.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1818222/amd-overtakes-intel-in-datacenter-sales-for-first-time?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Degradation of Land is Threat To Human Life, Saudi Government Says
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 18:22:01 2024-11-05
The degradation of the world's soils and landscapes is threatening human life, and must be addressed as a matter of urgency, the government of Saudi Arabia has said. The Guardian: Neglect of the land is wiping trillions of dollars from global economies, hampering agricultural production, disrupting water supplies, threatening children with poor nutrition, and destroying vital ecosystems, according to the country's deputy environment minister. Land degradation, and ways to combat the problem, will come into sharp focus at a global summit to be held in the nation's capital, Riyadh, in December.
The conference of the parties (Cop) to the UN convention on combating desertification (CCD), which takes place every two years, is often an overlooked international meeting, sparsely attended compared with the Cops on climate and on biodiversity. But as this year's host, Saudi Arabia is planning to put the issue of land management in the spotlight, inviting senior ministers and heads of government from around the world, in an attempt to bring in some financial muscle. In so doing, the country, often accused of obstructive behaviour at climate Cops, will offer an unusual glimpse of its own environmental priorities, in a world increasingly imperilled by global heating and related water shortages. Osama Faqeeha, deputy environment minister in the kingdom's government, said people should not be misled by the term desertification, which could appear a narrow concern limited to arid countries. In fact, the CCD should be understood to cover all of the globeâ(TM)s vulnerable lands, and efforts to rescue and protect them.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1735247/degradation-of-land-is-threat-to-human-life-saudi-government-says?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 18:22:01 2024-11-05
The degradation of the world's soils and landscapes is threatening human life, and must be addressed as a matter of urgency, the government of Saudi Arabia has said. The Guardian: Neglect of the land is wiping trillions of dollars from global economies, hampering agricultural production, disrupting water supplies, threatening children with poor nutrition, and destroying vital ecosystems, according to the country's deputy environment minister. Land degradation, and ways to combat the problem, will come into sharp focus at a global summit to be held in the nation's capital, Riyadh, in December.
The conference of the parties (Cop) to the UN convention on combating desertification (CCD), which takes place every two years, is often an overlooked international meeting, sparsely attended compared with the Cops on climate and on biodiversity. But as this year's host, Saudi Arabia is planning to put the issue of land management in the spotlight, inviting senior ministers and heads of government from around the world, in an attempt to bring in some financial muscle. In so doing, the country, often accused of obstructive behaviour at climate Cops, will offer an unusual glimpse of its own environmental priorities, in a world increasingly imperilled by global heating and related water shortages. Osama Faqeeha, deputy environment minister in the kingdom's government, said people should not be misled by the term desertification, which could appear a narrow concern limited to arid countries. In fact, the CCD should be understood to cover all of the globeâ(TM)s vulnerable lands, and efforts to rescue and protect them.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1735247/degradation-of-land-is-threat-to-human-life-saudi-government-says?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Apple Warns Investors Future Products May Never Be as Profitable as iPhone
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 17:22:02 2024-11-05
Apple has warned investors that future products may never be as profitable as its iPhone business, as it pushes into unproven new markets such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality headsets. From a report: The iPhone maker added the new warning on growth and profit margins to its latest annual report, in the list of "risk factors" facing the tech group's business.
"New products, services and technologies may replace or supersede existing offerings and may produce lower revenues and lower profit margins," Apple said, "which can materially adversely impact the company's business, results of operations and financial condition." Apple routinely warns investors in its annual reports that competition, foreign exchange, supply chain issues and other factors can put "volatility and downward pressure" on its margins. The same 10-K regulatory filing in previous years suggested that new product introductions could have "higher cost structures." But until now, Apple has not been so direct in addressing the financial profile of its future products.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/171227/apple-warns-investors-future-products-may-never-be-as-profitable-as-iphone?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 17:22:02 2024-11-05
Apple has warned investors that future products may never be as profitable as its iPhone business, as it pushes into unproven new markets such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality headsets. From a report: The iPhone maker added the new warning on growth and profit margins to its latest annual report, in the list of "risk factors" facing the tech group's business.
"New products, services and technologies may replace or supersede existing offerings and may produce lower revenues and lower profit margins," Apple said, "which can materially adversely impact the company's business, results of operations and financial condition." Apple routinely warns investors in its annual reports that competition, foreign exchange, supply chain issues and other factors can put "volatility and downward pressure" on its margins. The same 10-K regulatory filing in previous years suggested that new product introductions could have "higher cost structures." But until now, Apple has not been so direct in addressing the financial profile of its future products.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/171227/apple-warns-investors-future-products-may-never-be-as-profitable-as-iphone?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Google's Big Sleep LLM Agent Discovers Exploitable Bug In SQLite
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 16:22:01 2024-11-05
spatwei writes: Google has used a large language model (LLM) agent called "Big Sleep" to discover a previously unknown, exploitable memory flaw in a widely used software for the first time, the company announced Friday.
The stack buffer underflow vulnerability in a development version of the popular open-source database engine SQLite was found through variant analysis by Big Sleep, which is a collaboration between Google Project Zero and Google DeepMind.
Big Sleep is an evolution of Project Zero's Naptime project, which is a framework announced in June that enables LLMs to autonomously perform basic vulnerability research. The framework provides LLMs with tools to test software for potential flaws in a human-like workflow, including a code browser, debugger, reporter tool and sandbox environment for running Python scripts and recording outputs.
The researchers provided the Gemini 1.5 Pro-driven AI agent with the starting point of a previous SQLIte vulnerability, providing context for Big Sleep to search for potential similar vulnerabilities in newer versions of the software. The agent was presented with recent commit messages and diff changes and asked to review the SQLite repository for unresolved issues.
Google's Big Sleep ultimately identified a flaw involving the function "seriesBestIndex" mishandling the use of the special sentinel value -1 in the iColumn field. Since this field would typically be non-negative, all code that interacts with this field must be designed to handle this unique case properly, which seriesBestIndex fails to do, leading to a stack buffer underflow.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1532207/googles-big-sleep-llm-agent-discovers-exploitable-bug-in-sqlite?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 16:22:01 2024-11-05
spatwei writes: Google has used a large language model (LLM) agent called "Big Sleep" to discover a previously unknown, exploitable memory flaw in a widely used software for the first time, the company announced Friday.
The stack buffer underflow vulnerability in a development version of the popular open-source database engine SQLite was found through variant analysis by Big Sleep, which is a collaboration between Google Project Zero and Google DeepMind.
Big Sleep is an evolution of Project Zero's Naptime project, which is a framework announced in June that enables LLMs to autonomously perform basic vulnerability research. The framework provides LLMs with tools to test software for potential flaws in a human-like workflow, including a code browser, debugger, reporter tool and sandbox environment for running Python scripts and recording outputs.
The researchers provided the Gemini 1.5 Pro-driven AI agent with the starting point of a previous SQLIte vulnerability, providing context for Big Sleep to search for potential similar vulnerabilities in newer versions of the software. The agent was presented with recent commit messages and diff changes and asked to review the SQLite repository for unresolved issues.
Google's Big Sleep ultimately identified a flaw involving the function "seriesBestIndex" mishandling the use of the special sentinel value -1 in the iColumn field. Since this field would typically be non-negative, all code that interacts with this field must be designed to handle this unique case properly, which seriesBestIndex fails to do, leading to a stack buffer underflow.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1532207/googles-big-sleep-llm-agent-discovers-exploitable-bug-in-sqlite?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Delhi Wants Artificial Rain To Tackle Worsening Air Pollution
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 16:22:01 2024-11-05
India's capital territory of Delhi is keen to use artificial rain to fight air pollution this year, its Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Tuesday, as deteriorating air quality in the region led to an increase in respiratory illnesses. From a report: Large swathes of north India battle pollution each winter as cold air traps dust, vehicle emissions and smoke from farm fires in the breadbasket states of Punjab and Haryana, shrouding the national capital and its suburbs in a toxic haze. Cloud-seeding - the method of triggering rain by seeding clouds with salts - was considered to curb pollution in 2023 too but the plan did not materialise due to unfavourable weather conditions.
"I appeal to the federal environment minister...now in Delhi and north India, the pollution has reached the border of 400," Rai told reporters, referring to the air quality index (AQI) score on Tuesday. "The next 10 days are quite crucial...help us get permission for artificial rain, call a meeting," he said. About a third of Delhi's 39 monitoring stations showed a severe AQI score of more than 400 on Tuesday, a level which affects healthy people but is more serious for those fighting disease. An air quality score of zero to 50 is considered good.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1528239/delhi-wants-artificial-rain-to-tackle-worsening-air-pollution?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 16:22:01 2024-11-05
India's capital territory of Delhi is keen to use artificial rain to fight air pollution this year, its Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Tuesday, as deteriorating air quality in the region led to an increase in respiratory illnesses. From a report: Large swathes of north India battle pollution each winter as cold air traps dust, vehicle emissions and smoke from farm fires in the breadbasket states of Punjab and Haryana, shrouding the national capital and its suburbs in a toxic haze. Cloud-seeding - the method of triggering rain by seeding clouds with salts - was considered to curb pollution in 2023 too but the plan did not materialise due to unfavourable weather conditions.
"I appeal to the federal environment minister...now in Delhi and north India, the pollution has reached the border of 400," Rai told reporters, referring to the air quality index (AQI) score on Tuesday. "The next 10 days are quite crucial...help us get permission for artificial rain, call a meeting," he said. About a third of Delhi's 39 monitoring stations showed a severe AQI score of more than 400 on Tuesday, a level which affects healthy people but is more serious for those fighting disease. An air quality score of zero to 50 is considered good.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1528239/delhi-wants-artificial-rain-to-tackle-worsening-air-pollution?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# India Issues Notice To Wikipedia Over Concerns of Bias
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 15:23:02 2024-11-05
India's government challenged Wikipedia's legal immunity as a tech platform on Tuesday, issuing a notice questioning whether the online encyclopedia should be reclassified as a publisher. The move follows Delhi High Court warnings to suspend Wikipedia's India operations over a defamation case filed by Asian News International. The news agency seeks to unmask contributors who labeled it a "government propaganda tool." Justice Navin Chawla threatened contempt proceedings after Wikipedia cited its lack of physical presence in India to request more time for disclosing user information. The court deemed the site's open editing feature "dangerous."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1437225/india-issues-notice-to-wikipedia-over-concerns-of-bias?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 15:23:02 2024-11-05
India's government challenged Wikipedia's legal immunity as a tech platform on Tuesday, issuing a notice questioning whether the online encyclopedia should be reclassified as a publisher. The move follows Delhi High Court warnings to suspend Wikipedia's India operations over a defamation case filed by Asian News International. The news agency seeks to unmask contributors who labeled it a "government propaganda tool." Justice Navin Chawla threatened contempt proceedings after Wikipedia cited its lack of physical presence in India to request more time for disclosing user information. The court deemed the site's open editing feature "dangerous."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/1437225/india-issues-notice-to-wikipedia-over-concerns-of-bias?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Apple Explores Push Into Smart Glasses With 'Atlas' User Study
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 14:23:02 2024-11-05
Apple is exploring a push into smart glasses with an internal study of products currently on the market, setting the stage for the company to follow Meta into an increasingly popular category. From a report: The initiative, code-named Atlas, got underway last week and involves gathering feedback from Apple employees on smart glasses, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Additional focus groups are planned for the near future, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the work is secret.
The studies are being led by Apple's Product Systems Quality team, part of the hardware engineering division. "Testing and developing products that all can come to love is very important to what we do at Apple," the group wrote in an email to select employees at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California. "This is why we are looking for participants to join us in an upcoming user study with current market smart glasses."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/145230/apple-explores-push-into-smart-glasses-with-atlas-user-study?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 14:23:02 2024-11-05
Apple is exploring a push into smart glasses with an internal study of products currently on the market, setting the stage for the company to follow Meta into an increasingly popular category. From a report: The initiative, code-named Atlas, got underway last week and involves gathering feedback from Apple employees on smart glasses, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Additional focus groups are planned for the near future, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the work is secret.
The studies are being led by Apple's Product Systems Quality team, part of the hardware engineering division. "Testing and developing products that all can come to love is very important to what we do at Apple," the group wrote in an email to select employees at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, California. "This is why we are looking for participants to join us in an upcoming user study with current market smart glasses."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/145230/apple-explores-push-into-smart-glasses-with-atlas-user-study?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Meta Permits Its AI Models To Be Used For US Military Purposes
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 13:23:02 2024-11-05
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Meta will allow U.S. government agencies and contractors working on national security to use its artificial intelligence models for military purposes, the company said on Monday, in a shift from its policy that prohibited the use of its technology for such efforts. Meta said that it would make its A.I. models, called Llama, available to federal agencies and that it was working with defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen as well as defense-focused tech companies including Palantir and Anduril. The Llama models are "open source," which means the technology can be freely copied and distributed by other developers, companies and governments.
Meta's move is an exception to its "acceptable use policy," which forbade the use of the company's A.I. software for "military, warfare, nuclear industries," among other purposes. In a blog post on Monday, Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, said the company now backed "responsible and ethical uses" of the technology that supported the United States and "democratic values" in a global race for A.I. supremacy. "Meta wants to play its part to support the safety, security and economic prosperity of America -- and of its closest allies too," Mr. Clegg wrote. He added that "widespread adoption of American open source A.I. models serves both economic and security interests." The company said it would also share its technology with members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance: Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand in addition to the United States.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/043209/meta-permits-its-ai-models-to-be-used-for-us-military-purposes?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 13:23:02 2024-11-05
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: Meta will allow U.S. government agencies and contractors working on national security to use its artificial intelligence models for military purposes, the company said on Monday, in a shift from its policy that prohibited the use of its technology for such efforts. Meta said that it would make its A.I. models, called Llama, available to federal agencies and that it was working with defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen as well as defense-focused tech companies including Palantir and Anduril. The Llama models are "open source," which means the technology can be freely copied and distributed by other developers, companies and governments.
Meta's move is an exception to its "acceptable use policy," which forbade the use of the company's A.I. software for "military, warfare, nuclear industries," among other purposes. In a blog post on Monday, Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, said the company now backed "responsible and ethical uses" of the technology that supported the United States and "democratic values" in a global race for A.I. supremacy. "Meta wants to play its part to support the safety, security and economic prosperity of America -- and of its closest allies too," Mr. Clegg wrote. He added that "widespread adoption of American open source A.I. models serves both economic and security interests." The company said it would also share its technology with members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance: Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand in addition to the United States.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/043209/meta-permits-its-ai-models-to-be-used-for-us-military-purposes?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# US Regulator Rejects Bid To Boost Nuclear Power To Amazon Data Center
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 10:23:01 2024-11-05
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) blocked Amazon's bid to access more power from the Susquehanna nuclear plant for its Pennsylvania data center, citing grid reliability and consumer cost concerns. The Hill reports: In a 2-1 decision, the FERC found the regional grid operator, PJM Interconnection, failed to prove that the changes to the transmission agreement with Susquehanna power plant were necessary. The regulator's two Republican commissioners, Mark Christie and Lindsay See, outvoted Democratic chair Willie Phillips. The chair's two fellow Democratic commissioners, David Rosner and Judy Chang, sat out the vote. "Co-location arrangements of the type presented here present an array of complicated, nuanced and multifaceted issues, which collectively could have huge ramifications for both grid reliability and consumer costs," Christie wrote in a concurring statement.
In a dissenting statement, Phillips argued the deal with Amazon "represents a 'first of its kind' co-located load configuration" and that Friday's decision is a "step backward for both electric reliability and national security." "We are on the cusp of a new phase in the energy transition, one that is characterized as much by soaring energy demand, due in large part to AI, as it is by rapid changes in the resource mix," Phillips wrote.
Amazon purchased a 960-megawatt data center next to the Susquehanna power plant for $650 million earlier this year. Following the announcement, PJM sought to increase the amount of power running directly to the co-located data center. However, the move faced pushback from regional utilities, including Exelon and American Electric Power (AEP).
[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/0357243/us-regulator-rejects-bid-to-boost-nuclear-power-to-amazon-data-center?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 10:23:01 2024-11-05
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) blocked Amazon's bid to access more power from the Susquehanna nuclear plant for its Pennsylvania data center, citing grid reliability and consumer cost concerns. The Hill reports: In a 2-1 decision, the FERC found the regional grid operator, PJM Interconnection, failed to prove that the changes to the transmission agreement with Susquehanna power plant were necessary. The regulator's two Republican commissioners, Mark Christie and Lindsay See, outvoted Democratic chair Willie Phillips. The chair's two fellow Democratic commissioners, David Rosner and Judy Chang, sat out the vote. "Co-location arrangements of the type presented here present an array of complicated, nuanced and multifaceted issues, which collectively could have huge ramifications for both grid reliability and consumer costs," Christie wrote in a concurring statement.
In a dissenting statement, Phillips argued the deal with Amazon "represents a 'first of its kind' co-located load configuration" and that Friday's decision is a "step backward for both electric reliability and national security." "We are on the cusp of a new phase in the energy transition, one that is characterized as much by soaring energy demand, due in large part to AI, as it is by rapid changes in the resource mix," Phillips wrote.
Amazon purchased a 960-megawatt data center next to the Susquehanna power plant for $650 million earlier this year. Following the announcement, PJM sought to increase the amount of power running directly to the co-located data center. However, the move faced pushback from regional utilities, including Exelon and American Electric Power (AEP).
[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/0357243/us-regulator-rejects-bid-to-boost-nuclear-power-to-amazon-data-center?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Researchers Spot Black Hole Eating Stuff At Over 40x the Theoretical Limit
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 07:23:01 2024-11-05
Astronomers have discovered a supermassive black hole in the early Universe devouring matter at over 40 times the Eddington limit. ScienceAlert reports: Led by astronomer Hyewon Suh of Gemini Observatory and NSF's NOIRLab, a team of researchers used JWST to take follow-up observations of a smattering of galaxies identified by the Chandra X-ray Observatory that were bright in X-rays but dim in other wavelengths. When they got to LID-568, they were having trouble identifying its distance across space-time. The galaxy was very faint and very hard to see; but, using the integral field spectrograph on JWST's NIRSpec instrument, the team homed in on the galaxy's exact position. LID-568's far-off location is surprising. Although the object is faint from our position in the Universe, its distance means it must be incredibly intrinsically bright. Detailed observations revealed powerful outflows from the supermassive black hole, a signature of accretion as some of the material is being diverted and blasted into space.
A painstaking analysis of the data revealed that the supermassive black hole is a relatively small one, as supermassive black holes go; just 7.2 million times the mass of the Sun. And the amount of light being produced by the material around the disk was much, much higher than a black hole of this mass should be capable of producing. It suggests an accretion rate some 40 times higher than the Eddington limit. At this rate, the period of super-Eddington accretion should be extremely brief, which means Suh and her team were extremely lucky to catch it in action. And we expect that LID-568 will become a popular observation target for black hole scientists, allowing us a rare glimpse into super-Eddington processes. The research has been published in Nature Astronomy.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/0352224/researchers-spot-black-hole-eating-stuff-at-over-40x-the-theoretical-limit?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 07:23:01 2024-11-05
Astronomers have discovered a supermassive black hole in the early Universe devouring matter at over 40 times the Eddington limit. ScienceAlert reports: Led by astronomer Hyewon Suh of Gemini Observatory and NSF's NOIRLab, a team of researchers used JWST to take follow-up observations of a smattering of galaxies identified by the Chandra X-ray Observatory that were bright in X-rays but dim in other wavelengths. When they got to LID-568, they were having trouble identifying its distance across space-time. The galaxy was very faint and very hard to see; but, using the integral field spectrograph on JWST's NIRSpec instrument, the team homed in on the galaxy's exact position. LID-568's far-off location is surprising. Although the object is faint from our position in the Universe, its distance means it must be incredibly intrinsically bright. Detailed observations revealed powerful outflows from the supermassive black hole, a signature of accretion as some of the material is being diverted and blasted into space.
A painstaking analysis of the data revealed that the supermassive black hole is a relatively small one, as supermassive black holes go; just 7.2 million times the mass of the Sun. And the amount of light being produced by the material around the disk was much, much higher than a black hole of this mass should be capable of producing. It suggests an accretion rate some 40 times higher than the Eddington limit. At this rate, the period of super-Eddington accretion should be extremely brief, which means Suh and her team were extremely lucky to catch it in action. And we expect that LID-568 will become a popular observation target for black hole scientists, allowing us a rare glimpse into super-Eddington processes. The research has been published in Nature Astronomy.
[ Read more of this story ]( https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/0352224/researchers-spot-black-hole-eating-stuff-at-over-40x-the-theoretical-limit?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
# Sweden Scraps Plans For 13 Offshore Windfarms Over Russia Security Fears
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 04:23:01 2024-11-05
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Sweden has vetoed plans for 13 offshore windfarms in the Baltic Sea, citing unacceptable security risks. The country's defence minister, Pal Jonson, said on Monday that the government had rejected plans for all but one of 14 windfarms planned along the east coast. The decision comes after the Swedish armed forces concluded last week that the projects would make it more difficult to defend Nato's newest member.
The proposed windfarms would have been located between Aland, the autonomous Finnish region between Sweden and Finland, and the Sound, the strait between southern Sweden and Denmark. The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is only about 310 miles (500km) from Stockholm. Wind power could affect Sweden's defence capabilities across sensors and radars and make it harder to detect submarines and possible attacks from the air if war broke out, Jonson said. The only project to receive the green light to was Poseidon, which will include as many as 81 wind turbines to produce 5.5 terawatt hours a year off Stenungsund on Sweden's west coast. "Both ballistic robots and also cruise robots are a big problem if you have offshore wind power," Jonson said. "If you have a strong signal detection capability and a radar system that is important, we use the Patriot system for example, there would be negative consequences if there were offshore wind power in the way of the sensors."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/0011207/sweden-scraps-plans-for-13-offshore-windfarms-over-russia-security-fears?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.
robot (spnet, 1) → All – 04:23:01 2024-11-05
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Sweden has vetoed plans for 13 offshore windfarms in the Baltic Sea, citing unacceptable security risks. The country's defence minister, Pal Jonson, said on Monday that the government had rejected plans for all but one of 14 windfarms planned along the east coast. The decision comes after the Swedish armed forces concluded last week that the projects would make it more difficult to defend Nato's newest member.
The proposed windfarms would have been located between Aland, the autonomous Finnish region between Sweden and Finland, and the Sound, the strait between southern Sweden and Denmark. The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is only about 310 miles (500km) from Stockholm. Wind power could affect Sweden's defence capabilities across sensors and radars and make it harder to detect submarines and possible attacks from the air if war broke out, Jonson said. The only project to receive the green light to was Poseidon, which will include as many as 81 wind turbines to produce 5.5 terawatt hours a year off Stenungsund on Sweden's west coast. "Both ballistic robots and also cruise robots are a big problem if you have offshore wind power," Jonson said. "If you have a strong signal detection capability and a radar system that is important, we use the Patriot system for example, there would be negative consequences if there were offshore wind power in the way of the sensors."
[ Read more of this story ]( https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/24/11/05/0011207/sweden-scraps-plans-for-13-offshore-windfarms-over-russia-security-fears?utm_source=atom1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed ) at Slashdot.