News gathered 2024-08-31
(date: 2024-08-31 12:18:44)
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-31, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Nuns in rural Kansas vex big companies with their investment activism.
Firefox adds automatic picture-in-picture so you can stream and surf more easily
date: 2024-08-31, from: Liliputing
Mozilla has added a new toggle to Firefox that makes activating picture-in-picture video streaming a little bit easier. Firefox has offered picture-in-picture functionality for five years. If you wanted to keep a video going in the foreground while switching over to another tab, however, you had to do it manually. Turn the new setting on […]
The post Firefox adds automatic picture-in-picture so you can stream and surf more easily appeared first on Liliputing.
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-31, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Today in Boston we celebrate a local holiday known as “Allston Christmas” all across town - it is a true miracle.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113058039651500017
Check your IP cameras: There’s a new Mirai botnet on the rise
date: 2024-08-31, updated: 2024-08-31, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Also, US offering $2.5M for Belarusian hacker, Backpage kingpins jailed, additional MOVEit victims, and more
in brief A series of IP cameras still used all over the world, despite being well past their end of life, have been exploited to create a new Mirai botnet. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/31/ip_cameras_mirai_botnet/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-31, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Kamala Harris has been dealing with trolls almost since there have been trolls.
https://www.threads.net/@davew/post/C_V0pbwpOcu
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-31, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Trump Won’t Commit to Vetoing Federal Abortion Ban.
https://politicalwire.com/2024/08/31/trump-wont-commit-to-vetoing-federal-abortion-ban/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-31, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
The press took its best shot at Kamala Harris, and it was a big puff of smoke, she just cruised right through it.
https://www.threads.net/@davew/post/C_VzCo_JSN5
Plus Post: SoftLogic Solutions’ Software Carousel
date: 2024-08-31, from: Computer ads from the Past
Get the best of Windows and OS/2 without learning all this.
https://computeradsfromthepast.substack.com/p/plus-post-softlogic-solutions-software
Harris calls on Trump to debate with mics ‘on the whole time’
date: 2024-08-31, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee in the November 5 U.S. presidential election, on Saturday called on her Republican rival, Donald Trump, to debate her with their microphones switched on throughout the event.
Harris and the former president have agreed to a debate, hosted by ABC News, on September 10.
“Donald Trump is surrendering to his advisors who won’t allow him to debate with a live microphone. If his own team doesn’t have confidence in him, the American people definitely can’t,” Harris said in a post on social media platform X.
“We are running for President of the United States. Let’s debate in a transparent way with the microphones on the whole time.”
Trump has said that he preferred to have his microphone kept on and that he did not like it muted during the last debate against then-contender President Joe Biden.
So-called “hot mics” can help or hurt political candidates, catching off-hand comments that sometimes were not meant for the public. Muted microphones also prevent the debaters from interrupting their opponent.
A representative for ABC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The debate would be the first time Harris and Trump face off since Biden dropped out of the presidential race following a poor performance at a CNN debate in June that raised doubts about his mental acuity.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz and Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance have agreed to an October 1 debate on CBS News.
https://www.voanews.com/a/harris-calls-on-trump-to-debate-with-mics-on-the-whole-time-/7766615.html
Here’s 22 Examples of Google Employees Trying to Avoid Creating Evidence in Antitrust Case
date: 2024-08-31, from: 404 Media Group
“pls turn off history”
AMCOG’s Tony Bartram talks to WROCC – 4th September
date: 2024-08-31, from: RiscOS Story
Tony Bartram has around twenty titles in his AMCOG Games back catalogue, and is currently working on two more titles, both of which feature something new or novel for our platform, and he will be talking at the next Wakefield RISC OS Computer Club (WROCC) meeting, this coming Wednesday. The first of these is a 3D space game, which will be coming at you at the RISC OS London Show later this year – and when I say ‘coming at you’ I mean that in a slightly more literal way…
https://www.riscository.com/2024/amcog-wrocc-4th-september/
Harris’ record in California praised, ridiculed, in US presidential campaign
date: 2024-08-31, from: VOA News USA
U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris is from one of America’s most politically liberal states — California. Her work as a local prosecutor, the state’s attorney general and U.S. senator is central to Harris’ presidential campaign. Her opponent, Donald Trump, says that Harris’ record in California shows she is too liberal for the rest of America. From Los Angeles, Genia Dulot tells us what Californians are saying.
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-31, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
For me, the question is how can I integrate this business guidance into Godot for iPad?
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113057096315033982
The Final Demonstration of the Xerox ‘Star’ computer (1998)
date: 2024-08-31, from: Tilde.news
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OwG_rQ_Hqw
E Ink faces growing competition in the “paper-like” display space
date: 2024-08-31, from: Liliputing
For the past few decades, E Ink has dominated the market for the paper-like displays found in eBook readers and other devices. The screens are high-contrast, easy to view indoors or outdoors, don’t require a backlight, don’t reflect glare, and consume very little power. But E Ink displays also have slow screen refresh rates, limited […]
The post E Ink faces growing competition in the “paper-like” display space appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/e-ink-faces-growing-competition-in-the-paper-like-display-space/
YOU LOVE TO SEE IT: National Parks Score A Monumental Gift
date: 2024-08-31, from: The Lever News
Plus, sustainable housing is going up, diabetes patients get high-tech help, and abortion rights can’t wait.
https://www.levernews.com/you-love-to-see-it-national-parks-score-a-monumental-gift/
Canadian artist wants Anthropic AI lawsuit corrected
date: 2024-08-31, updated: 2024-08-31, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Tim Boucher objects to the mischaracterization of his work in authors’ copyright claim
Interview Tim Boucher, a Canadian artist, author, and AI activist, sent a letter to the San Francisco judge overseeing an authors’ lawsuit against AI firm Anthropic to object to the way the legal filing characterizes his work.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/31/canadian_artist_anthropic_ai_lawsuit/
Gaza conflict shapes — and reshapes — political views of Muslim American voters
date: 2024-08-31, from: VOA News USA
High rents are forcing small businesses in into tough choices
date: 2024-08-31, from: VOA News USA
NEW YORK — While many costs have come down for small businesses, rents remain high and in some cases are still rising, forcing many owners into some uncomfortable decisions.
“Every time the rent goes up, we have to raise prices, to keep up with the cost,” said Adelita Valentine, owner of HairFreek Barbers in Los Angeles. “But with the cost of living, it makes it difficult on our customers.”
Other owners are choosing to be late on payments or seeking out new locations where the rent is lower. A few are pushing back against their landlord.
Although inflation is easing, it remains a top concern for small businesses. According to Bank of America internal data, rent payments per small business client rose 11% year-over-year in July. That’s more than twice the increase for renting and owning a residence, a metric known as shelter, according to the government’s monthly Consumer Price Index. That figure rose 5.1% in July.
And although the situation has improved since the height of the pandemic, a survey by business networking platform Alignable of more than 6,000 small business owners found that 41% could not pay their July rent on time and in full. And 52% said they’ve encountered rent spikes in the past six months.
The rent for Valentine’s barbershop rose to $4,000 in January from $3,600 in December, the fifth increase in the past eight years. She had to raise the price for her cuts from $35 to $40.
Two months ago, she moved locations for a cheaper $3,200 rent, but her space is smaller now and she sees fewer families coming in.
“A lot of people can’t afford to take a whole family to get haircuts,” after the price increase, she said.
Peter Yu has owned iPAC Automotive, an auto repair and detailing shop in Ontario, Canada, for six years. He said the rent on the shop typically went up about 4% a year. But when his landlord sold the property to a new owner, Yu’s rent jumped from about $1,800 (2,500 Canadian dollars) to about $2,700 (3,700 Canadian dollars) after three months.
He contemplated moving but decided that the cost of a move would be more than just paying the extra rent.
Yu tried to raise prices a month ago, but customers would come in and say “Oh, its too expensive,” and leave, he said. So, he had to drop the price increase in order to get those customers back.
“When we do try to raise our prices, consumers don’t have the money to pay for it. They’re looking for financing options,” he said. Yu’s services run the gamut from paint correction that costs a few hundred dollars to troubleshooting problematic EV battery and electric drive units for out-of-warranty Teslas that can cost up to $15,000.
So instead, he’s going to try to improve his marketing, close more sales, and find a way to offer more financing.
Standing firm against a landlord sometimes works. Janna Rodriguez has run her home-based The Innovative Daycare Corp. in Freeport, New York, since 2018. When she first signed her lease, she paid $3,500, plus costs including landscaping and maintenance. In 2020, the pandemic began, and her landlord raised her rent to $3,800 and also made her start paying half of the homeowner’s insurance. Last year, the landlord raised her rent to $4,100, plus the additional expenses.
Rodriguez raised her prices for the first time, by $10 per child per week, to help offset the rising rent.
This year she successfully pushed back when the landlord wanted to raise the rent yet again.
“I said to them, if you do that, then I’m going to find another property to move my business to, because at this point now you’re trying to bankrupt a business, right?”
It’s worked – so far. But Rodriguez is worried about the future.
For others, negotiating a late payment is an option. Nicole Pomije owner of Minneapolis-based The Cookie Cups, which makes cookie kits for kids, has a 372-square-meter office space along with a warehouse where she develops her line of baking kits. Her rent rose 10% this year to $4,000 monthly. Then there are unanticipated bills, such as $1,500 for snow plowing.
“There’s so much stuff that pops up that you just you never expect,” she said. “And it’s always when you never expect it.”
Pomije hasn’t raised prices, but instead tried to mitigate the higher rent costs by buying materials in bulk – like ordering 5,000 boxes instead of 1,000 boxes for a 40% discount – and finding cost savings elsewhere.
Still, there have been several months over the past couple of years where she couldn’t pay rent on time. So, far the landlord has been amenable.
“If we have a conversation like hey, we don’t know if we’re going to make it for the first this month. It might be closer to the tenth,” she said.
Asked if she thinks costs might ease in the future, Pomije said she is focused on the present.
“It’s weird, but I’m trying not to think about the future too much and I’m trying to just do what we have to do, and get ready for a holiday season and just, like, get everything paid on time now,” she said. “And then we’ll kind of reevaluate everything in January.”
https://www.voanews.com/a/high-rents-are-forcing-small-businesses-in-into-tough-choices/7763504.html
Here’s what Harris and Trump have said about easing costs for families
date: 2024-08-31, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — The high cost of caring for children and the elderly has forced women out of the workforce, devastated family finances, and left professional caretakers in low-wage jobs — all while slowing economic growth.
That families are suffering is not up for debate. As the economy emerges as a theme in this presidential election, the Democratic and Republican candidates have sketched out ideas for easing costs that reveal their divergent views about family.
On this topic, the two tickets have one main commonality: Both of the presidential candidates — and their running mates — have, at one point or another, backed an expanded child tax credit.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination last week, has signaled that she plans to build on the ambitions of outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration, which sought to pour billions in taxpayer dollars into making child care and home care for elderly and disabled adults more affordable. She has not etched any of those plans into a formal policy platform. But in a speech earlier this month, she said her vision included raising the child tax credit.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican, has declined to answer questions about how he would make child care more affordable, even though it was an issue he tackled during his own administration. His running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, has a long history of pushing policies that would encourage Americans to have families, floating ideas like giving parents votes for their children. Just this month, Vance said he wants to raise the child tax credit to $5,000. But Vance has opposed government spending on child care, arguing that many children benefit from having one parent at home as caretaker.
The candidates’ care agendas could figure prominently into their appeal to suburban women in swing states, a coveted demographic seen as key to victory in November. Women provide two-thirds of unpaid care work — valued at $1 trillion annually — and are disproportionately impacted when families can’t find affordable care for their children or aging parents. And the cost of care is an urgent problem: Child care prices are rising faster than inflation.
Kamala Harris: Increase child tax credit
When Harris addressed the Democratic National Convention, she talked first about her own experience with child care. She was raised mostly by a single mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who worked long hours as a breast cancer researcher. Among the people who formed her family’s support network was “Mrs. Shelton, who ran the day care below us and became a second mother.”
As vice president, Harris worked behind the scenes in Congress on Biden’s proposals to establish national paid family leave, make prekindergarten universal, and invest billions in child care so families wouldn’t pay more than 7% of their income. She announced, too, the administration’s actions to lower copays for families using federal child care vouchers, and to raise wages for Medicaid-funded home health aides. Before that, her track record as a senator included pressing for greater labor rights for domestic workers, including nannies and home health aides who may be vulnerable to exploitation.
This month at a community college in North Carolina, Harris outlined her campaign’s economic agenda, which includes raising the child tax credit to as much as $3,600 and giving families of newborns even more — $6,000 for the child’s first year.
“That is a vital — vital year of critical development of a child, and the costs can really add up, especially for young parents who need to buy diapers and clothes and a car seat and so much else,” she told the audience. Her running mate selection of Tim Walz, who established paid leave and a child tax credit as governor of Minnesota, has also buoyed optimism among supporters.
Donald Trump: Few specifics, but some past support
For voters grappling with the high cost of child care, Trump has offered little in the way of solutions. During the June presidential debate, CNN moderator Jake Tapper twice asked Trump what he would do to lower child care costs. Both times, he failed to answer, instead pivoting to other topics. His campaign platform is similarly silent. It does tackle the cost of long-term care for the elderly, writing that Republicans would “support unpaid Family Caregivers through Tax Credits and reduced red tape.”
The silence marks a shift from his first campaign, when he pitched paid parental leave, though it was panned by critics because his proposal excluded fathers. When he reached the White House, the former president sought $1 billion for child care, plus a parental leave policy at the urging of his daughter and policy adviser, Ivanka Trump. Congress rejected both proposals, but Trump succeeded in doubling the child tax credit and establishing paid leave for federal employees.
In his 2019 State of the Union address, Trump said he was “proud to be the first president to include in my budget a plan for nationwide paid family leave, so that every new parent has the chance to bond with their newborn child.”
This year, there are signs that his administration might not pursue the same agenda, including his selection of Vance as a running mate. In 2021, before he joined the Senate, Vance co-authored an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal opposing a proposal to invest billions in child care to make it more affordable for families. He and his co-author said expanding child care subsidies would lead to “unhappier, unhealthier children” and that having fewer mothers contributing to the economy might be a worthwhile trade-off.
Vance has floated policies that would make it easier for a family to live off of a single income, making it possible for some parents to stay home while their partners work. Along with his embrace of policies he calls pro-family, he has tagged people who do not have or want children as “sociopaths.” He once derided Harris and other rising Democratic stars as “childless cat ladies,” even though Harris has two stepchildren — they call her “Momala” — and no cats.
Even without details about new care policies, Trump believes that families would ultimately get a better deal under his administration.
The Trump-Vance campaign has attacked Harris’ record on the economy and said the Biden administration’s policies have only made things tougher for families, pointing to recent inflation.
“Harris … has proudly and repeatedly celebrated her role as Joe Biden’s co-pilot on Bidenomics,” said Karoline Leavitt, a campaign spokeswoman. “The basic necessities of food, gas and housing are less affordable, unemployment is rising, and Kamala doesn’t seem to care.”
Vanuatu ancestral relics, trafficked as art to New York, return home
date: 2024-08-31, from: VOA News USA
MP3 for image compression (2006)
date: 2024-08-31, from: Tilde.news
https://keyj.emphy.de/mp3-for-image-compression/
GPT apps fail to disclose data collection, study finds
date: 2024-08-31, updated: 2024-08-31, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Researchers say that implementing Actions omit privacy details and expose info
Many of the GPT apps in OpenAI’s GPT Store collect data and facilitate online tracking in violation of OpenAI policies, researchers claim.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/31/gpt_apps_data_collection/
Who Wins With Cursor & Copilot?
date: 2024-08-31, updated: 2024-08-31, from: Tom Kellog blog
Who wins now that Cursor is out? Good programmers? Bad programmers? Here, I make the case that it is more about your tempermant and personality traits. If you’re good in the places where the AI is weak, you’ll knock it out of the park.
http://timkellogg.me/blog/2024/08/31/llm-pairing
RansomHub hits 210 victims in just 6 months
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The ransomware gang recruits high-profile affiliates from LockBit and ALPHV
As RansomHub continues to scoop up top talent from the fallen LockBit and ALPHV operations while accruing a smorgasbord of victims, security and law enforcement agencies in the US feel it’s time to issue an official warning about the group that’s gunning for ransomware supremacy.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/ransomhub/
@Robert’s feed at BlueSky (date: 2024-08-30, from: Robert’s feed at BlueSky)
Fun presentation by Grace Hopper https://youtu.be/si9iqF5uTFk?si=RccSMtRk7HEMg9_I
https://bsky.app/profile/rsdoiel.bsky.social/post/3l2xwjnkcx22n
X platform suspended in Brazil amid Brazilian judge’s feud with Musk
date: 2024-08-30, from: VOA News USA
SAO PAULO — A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday ordered the suspension of Elon Musk’s social media giant X in Brazil after the tech billionaire refused to name a legal representative in the country, according to a copy of the decision seen by The Associated Press.
The move further escalates the monthslong feud between the two men over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday night that X could be blocked in Brazil if he failed to comply with his order to name a representative. He set a 24-hour deadline. The company hasn’t had a representative in the country since earlier this month.
In his decision, de Moraes gave internet service providers and app stores five days to block access to X, and said the platform will remain blocked until it complies with his orders. He also said people or companies who use virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access X will be subject to daily fines of 50,000 reais ($8,900).
“Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country,” de Moraes wrote.
Brazil is an important market for X, which has struggled with the loss of advertisers since Musk purchased the platform, formerly Twitter, in 2022. Market research group Emarketer says about 40 million Brazilians, roughly one-fifth of the population, access X at least once per month.
X had posted on its official Global Government Affairs page late Thursday that it expected X to be shut down by de Moraes, “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”
“When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts,” the company wrote. “Our challenges against his manifestly illegal actions were either dismissed or ignored. Judge de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him.”
Musk characterizes judge as tyrant
X has clashed with de Moraes over its reluctance to comply with orders to block users.
Accounts that the platform previously has shut down on Brazilian orders include lawmakers affiliated with former President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing party and activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy.
Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has repeatedly claimed the justice’s actions amount to censorship, and his argument has been echoed by Brazil’s political right. He has often insulted de Moraes on his platform, characterizing him as a dictator and tyrant.
De Moraes’ defenders have said his actions aimed at X have been lawful, supported by most of the court’s full bench and have served to protect democracy at a time in which it is imperiled. His order Friday is based on Brazilian law requiring foreign companies to have representation in the country so they can be notified when there are legal cases against them.
Given that operators are aware of the widely publicized standoff and their obligation to comply with an order from de Moraes, plus the fact doing so isn’t complicated, X could be offline as early as 12 hours after receiving their instructions, said Luca Belli, coordinator of the Technology and Society Center at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Rio de Janeiro.
Other apps suspended in past
The shutdown is not unprecedented in Brazil.
Lone Brazilian judges shut down Meta’s WhatsApp, the nation’s most widely used messaging app, several times in 2015 and 2016 when the company’s refused to comply with police requests for user data. In 2022, de Moraes threatened the messaging app Telegram with a nationwide shutdown, arguing it had repeatedly ignored Brazilian authorities’ requests to block profiles and provide information. He ordered Telegram to appoint a local representative; the company ultimately complied and stayed online.
X and its former incarnation, Twitter, have been banned in several countries — mostly authoritarian regimes such as Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela and Turkmenistan. Other countries, such as Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, have also temporarily suspended X before, usually to quell dissent and unrest. Twitter was banned in Egypt after the Arab Spring uprisings, which some dubbed the “Twitter revolution,” but it has since been restored.
Friday Links: August 30, 2024
date: 2024-08-30, from: California Native Plants Society
Is there a coast redwood grove in SoCal? Are seeds really time travelers? Who is the Plant Messiah? Get these answers and more!
The post Friday Links: August 30, 2024 appeared first on California Native Plant Society.
https://www.cnps.org/friday-links/friday-links-august-30-2024-40015
Musk’s X, Media Matters headed to trial
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The platform ‘has provided sufficient allegations to survive dismissal,’ judge says
Elon Musk’s X Corp and Media Matters for America are headed to trial next year following a judge’s refusal to toss the billionaire’s lawsuit. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/media_matters_elon_musk_x_lawsuit/
This Week in the IndieWeb
date: 2024-08-30, from: This week in Indie Web
August 23-30, 2024
Recent Events
From events.indieweb.org/archive:
Front End Study Hall is an HTML + CSS focused group meeting, held on Zoom to learn from each other about how to make code do what we want.
Come prepared to teach and learn!
- PORTLAND, Oregon: Grand Stark Study Hall
A one day IndieWebCamp Portland 2024 is planned for August 25th, the day after the XOXO conference and festival! We’re gathering around a large 8-person table (or two or more) at the Grand Stark Study Hall Meeting Room on the first floor for IndieWeb discussions sessions, creating/hacking time, and demos! Doors open at 8am, breakout sessions at 10am, demos at 4pm, camp cleanup 5pm.
- PORTLAND, Oregon: Revolution Hall
Lunch table discussions for IndieWeb / Fediverse / ActivityPub / decentralized social media, following-up from the IndieWeb / Mastodon XOXO meet up the day before!
Upcoming Events
From events.indieweb.org:
- NÜRNBERG, Bayern: LEONARDO – Zentrum für Kreativität und Innovation
HWC Nuremberg is a in-person meeting for everybody who is interested in setting up a personal website and talk about web-related issues.
What We’re Reading
From news.indieweb.org:
New Community Members
From IndieWeb Wiki: New User Pages:
User:Marisabel.nl
Created by Marisabel.nl on Thursday and edited 1 more time
User:Sebbu.fr
Created by Sebbu.fr on Monday
Top New Wiki Pages
From IndieWeb Wiki: New Pages:
2024/Portland/Demos
Create Day Demos was the final session of IndieWebCamp Portland 2024 where participants showed and demonstrated what they made during the day.
Created by Tantek.com on Wednesday and edited 13 more times
2024/Portland/Intros
Personal Site Intros was a session at IndieWebCamp Portland 2024.
Created by Tantek.com on Wednesday and edited 5 more times
2024/Portland/Planning
Planning for IndieWebCamp Portland 2024, Sunday 2024-08-25 after XOXO 2024.
Created by Tantek.com on Friday and edited 4 more times
Google Trends
Google Trends is a service by Google that shows a how often a term or phrase is being searched for in Google Search.
Created by [tantek] on Friday and edited 3 more times
Plone
Plone is a CMS written in Python for the Zope framework.
Created by [mattl] on Friday
CityDesk
CityDesk was a Windows desktop based CMS from Fog Creek software for simple websites.
Created by [mattl] on Friday
New Event Notes
From IndieWeb Wiki: New Pages:
Front End Study Hall #009: 2024-08-27
Homebrew Website Club - Pacific: 2024-08-28
Homebrew Website Club Europe/London: 2024-08-28
Top Edited Wiki Pages
From IndieWeb Wiki: Recent Changes:
- 2024/Portland 21 edits by tantek.com, www.kevinmarks.com, martymcgui.re, and artlung.com
- Front End Study Hall 3 edits by artlung.com
- web hosting 2 edits by mat.tl and trainedmonkey.com
- footnote 2 edits by loqi.me
- Planning 2 edits by tantek.com
- web component 2 edits by loqi.me and tantek.com
- outbound link wrapper 2 edits by tantek.com
- longevity 2 edits by tantek.com
- framework 2 edits by loqi.me and tantek.com
- comments 2 edits by loqi.me and tantek.com
https://indieweb.org/this-week/2024-08-30.html
#215 - Not Connecting
date: 2024-08-30, from: Interesting, a blog on writing
What they see may not be what you intended.
https://inneresting.substack.com/p/215-not-connecting
Green Berets storm building after hacking its Wi-Fi
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Relax, it’s just a drill. This time at least.
US Army Special Forces, aka the Green Berets, have been demonstrating their hacking chops in the recent Swift Response 24 military exercises in May, the military has now confirmed.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/green_berets_wifi_hacking/
Starliner’s not-so-grand finale is a thump in the desert next week
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
An ignominious, uncrewed end to Boeing’s misfire
Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft is set to return to Earth just over a week from now with managers setting a date of no earlier than September 6 for undocking from the International Space Station (ISS) and September 7 to land at White Sands in New Mexico.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/starliner_return_date/
An Awkward Day at the Office
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: One Foot Tsunami
https://onefoottsunami.com/2024/08/30/an-awkward-day-at-the-office/
US restricts visas for 14 Syrian officials over human rights abuses
date: 2024-08-30, from: VOA News USA
A Dolphin Keeps Biting People in Japan. Researchers Think It’s Just Lonely
date: 2024-08-30, from: Smithsonian Magazine
A series of dolphin attacks in Wakasa Bay is believed to be the doing of a lone male bottlenose dolphin looking for friends or a mate—but finding only humans
London Unveils Design for the City’s First Memorial to Victims of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
date: 2024-08-30, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The towering bronze sculpture by Khaleb Brooks will be installed at West India Quay in 2026
Kenyan analyst falsely accuses US of meddling in upcoming AU elections
date: 2024-08-30, from: VOA News USA
U.S. Ambassador Meg Whitman has strengthened U.S. ties with Kenya, helping elevate the nation’s status to a major non-NATO ally. The U.S. has a long-standing, cordial relationship with Raila Odinga, Kenya’s veteran opposition leader.
Dell’s all-in bet on AI pays off in latest earnings
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
The term was mentioned over 140 times during the earnings call
Few companies have tied their fortunes to AI as much as Dell Technologies has, with the technology giant seeing a rise in server and networking revenue of 80 percent thanks to AI infrastructure sales, while eyeing potential AI PC dividends coming down the pike.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/dells_q2_results_ai/
Scientists Identify the Gene Behind Thorny Roses and Other Prickly Plants
date: 2024-08-30, from: Smithsonian Magazine
A recent study could pave the way to cultivating various thornless plants, making them easier to grow and potentially more widely available
Workers Find Mysterious Letter Hidden Inside a Concrete Column at London’s National Gallery
date: 2024-08-30, from: Smithsonian Magazine
John Sainsbury hoped the note would be found when the “unnecessary columns” were finally demolished
Microsoft quietly makes controversial Recall feature uninstallable
date: 2024-08-30, from: OS News
After spending a few months in complete radio silence about Recall, Microsoft finally emerged with a statement that its controversial feature will make a comeback later this year, in October, to be more precise. In preparation for the release, Microsoft quietly made a big change in Windows 11 version 24H2 on Copilot+ PCs, namely, adding the ability to uninstall Recall (via Deskmodder). ↫ Taras Buria Recall, a half-baked security nightmare of a feature trying to catch the AI hype train, uninstallable using a Windows 95-era Windows Features dialog, is a better summary of the current state of Windows than anything anyone could put into words. Nobody cares about Windows, least of all Microsoft, and I have the sneaking suspicion that could Microsoft get away with it, they would put the source code to large parts of the Windows platform on GitHub to “outsource” its development to the community and fire even more employees. Is anyone excited about new Windows releases? Is anyone looking forward to new features? Because it feels like every new releases, every new feature, just causes more dread, more exasperation, more what is it this time? than genuine excitement and happiness. Everything coming out of Microsoft when it comes to Windows ever since the release of Windows 11 is just… Sadness.
Massive AI Dataset Back Online After Being ‘Cleaned’ of Child Sexual Abuse Material
date: 2024-08-30, from: 404 Media Group
LAION-5B is back, with thousands of links removed after research last year that showed it contained instances of abusive content.
Lilbits: Amazon’s AI-powered subscription voice assistant could launch in October
date: 2024-08-30, from: Liliputing
Apple was the first major tech company to launch a voice-based virtual assistant with the introduction of Siri in 2011. But when Amazon’s Alexa voice service debuted in 2014, it introduced the idea of “smart speakers” and displays that you could speak to without pulling out your phone or pressing a button. The idea was […]
The post Lilbits: Amazon’s AI-powered subscription voice assistant could launch in October appeared first on Liliputing.
Team Catalina to race at U.S. Outrigger Championships
date: 2024-08-30, from: Catalina Islander
By Paul “Uncle Paul” DeMyer The Catalina Channel Crossing has become the official U.S. Outrigger Canoe Championship event since it first took place in September 1959, one month after Hawai’i became the 50th State of the Union. Team Catalina will represent our Island community with a Co-ed Crew racing 28 miles from Newport Harbor to […]
https://thecatalinaislander.com/team-catalina-to-race-at-u-s-outrigger-championships/
Introducing the RP2350
date: 2024-08-30, from: Stephen Smith’s blog
Introduction Raspberry recently introduced the Raspberry Pi Pico 2 featuring the updated RP2350 chip. I haven’t received my Pico 2’s yet, but thought I’d blog a bit about what is new anyway. The main advertising points are double the memory and double the speed. Another big one is reduced power usage, especially when it isn’t […]
https://smist08.wordpress.com/2024/08/30/introducing-the-rp2350/
Cherry Cove ‘Cockpit Concert’
date: 2024-08-30, from: Catalina Islander
Get yourself over to Cherry Cove, Catalina on Sunday, Sept. 1, at 5 p.m. for the 12th Annual Cherry Cove Yacht Club “Cockpit Concert” sponsored by Cherry Cove Yacht Club, and featuring Scott Grillo, John Balesteri, Steve Lampe, and special guest opener, Island singer/songwriter and Harbor Department grey boat Captain, Karl Matson-deKay. Taking place at […]
https://thecatalinaislander.com/cherry-cove-cockpit-concert/
Lancer VB team on the upswing
date: 2024-08-30, from: Catalina Islander
For the Islander The Avalon High girls volleyball team started slow, but has been on an upswing lately. The Lancers dropped their first three matches, but have gone 5-1 since, including 2-0 sweeps over Crossroads Christian and New Covenant Academy in tournament play. The Lancers are playing in the Liberty Christian Tournament this weekend with […]
https://thecatalinaislander.com/lancer-vb-team-on-the-upswing/
MongoDB takes a swing at PostgreSQL after claiming wins against rival
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Open source competitor is still the most popular database among devs, though
NoSQL database vendor MongoDB says it is making significant gains against open source relational rival PostgreSQL in a claim that seems to fly in the face of recent research.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/mongodb_postgresql/
Sheriff’s Log: Aug. 22 to Aug. 28, 2024
date: 2024-08-30, from: Catalina Islander
Editor’s Note: The following is the Avalon’s Sheriff’s Stations significant incidents report for the period of Aug. 22 to Aug. 28, 2024. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Many people who are arrested do not get prosecuted in the first place and many who are prosecuted do not […]
https://thecatalinaislander.com/sheriffs-log-aug-22-to-aug-28-2024/
NASA Sets Coverage for Starliner News Conference, Return to Earth
date: 2024-08-30, from: NASA breaking news
NASA will provide live coverage of the upcoming activities for Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft departure from the International Space Station and return to Earth. The uncrewed spacecraft will depart from the orbiting laboratory for a landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. Starliner is scheduled to autonomously undock from the space station at approximately […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-sets-coverage-for-starliner-news-conference-return-to-earth/
Co-creating authentic STEM learning experiences with Latino communities
date: 2024-08-30, from: NASA breaking news
Led by Arizona State University, the NASA Science Activation Program’s “Engaging Hispanic Communities in Authentic NASA Science” project advances NASA’s vision for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education by co-creating learning experiences with Latino communities in six locations in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. Partners at each site – including educational organizations, community […]
65th Annual Catalina Festival of Art
date: 2024-08-30, from: Catalina Islander
One of the longest running and most acclaimed art festivals in California returns on Sept. 20-22. Artists from all over the country exhibit along the pedestrian friendly, ocean front Crescent Avenue and sell their works of fine art, jewelry, pottery, stoneware, sculpture, fine crafts and photography. Highlights include charity art auction and kids art show. […]
https://thecatalinaislander.com/65th-annual-catalina-festival-of-art/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-30, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Feature I really need: A way to search all of my conversations with ChatGPT. It's the one feature I'm most missing, and the most surprising. I'm sure there's a huge amount of utility locked up in that.
https://feedland.org/?item=15017551
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-30, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
New Trump Book Threatens To Jail Zuckerberg, Putting Zuck’s Groveling Letter In New Light.
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-08-30, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Presented without context. @saagar:
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113052041374798376
CNPS Applauds Congressional Leaders’ Call to Designate Sáttítla National Monument
date: 2024-08-30, from: California Native Plants Society
Senators Alex Padilla, Laphonza Butler, and Representative Adam Schiff urged President Biden to designate Sáttítla National Monument, showcasing California’s support for Tribally-led conservation of sacred lands and biodiversity.
The post CNPS Applauds Congressional Leaders’ Call to Designate Sáttítla National Monument appeared first on California Native Plant Society.
Featured Friday: 24 Hours or Less
date: 2024-08-30, from: John August blog
Weekend Read, our app for reading scripts on your phone, features a new curated collection of screenplays each week. This week, we look at movies that use the confines of a single day to their advantage, keeping characters constantly pushing against time and towards their goals. Our collection includes: All is Lost by J.C. Chandor […] The post Featured Friday: 24 Hours or Less first appeared on John August.
https://johnaugust.com/2024/featured-friday-24-hours-or-less
CORRECTION: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Changes Ahead of September Launch
date: 2024-08-30, from: NASA breaking news
Editor’s note: This release was updated twice on Aug. 30, 2024. First, to correct Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov’s role as a mission specialist. It was updated again to correct a launch date. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 24, on the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/correction-nasas-spacex-crew-9-changes-ahead-of-september-launch/
Behind the Scenes at the 2024 Mars 2020 Science Team Meeting
date: 2024-08-30, from: NASA breaking news
The Mars 2020 Science Team meets in Pasadena for 3 days of science synthesis
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/behind-the-scenes-at-the-2024-mars-2020-science-team-meeting/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-30, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Maryland Supreme Court sends Adnan Syed case back to lower court.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4855801-adnan-syed-maryland-supreme-court/
‘Matching’ Dinosaur Footprints Discovered in Africa and South America
date: 2024-08-30, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The fossils show how dinosaurs may have crossed between landmasses around 120 million years ago, when the continents were still connected
Gelsinger opens up about Intel troubles amid talk of possible split
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
From spinoffs to layoffs and a boardroom revolt, 2024 isn’t going great for Chipzilla
Intel chief Pat Gelsinger has acknowledged the chip giant’s financial woes and said he is working to address investor concerns amid talk that the company is considering spinning off its foundry business and delaying expansion of its fabrication plants.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/gelsinger_discusses_intel_troubles/
Behind the Blog: Bobbleheads and Maxed-Out Gaming
date: 2024-08-30, from: 404 Media Group
This is Behind the Blog, where we share our behind-the-scenes thoughts about how a few of our top stories of the week came together. This week, we discuss generative AI in gaming, getting into sports events, and good laptops.
https://www.404media.co/behind-the-blog-bobbleheads-and-maxed-out-gaming/
NASA, ESA Missions Help Scientists Uncover How Solar Wind Gets Energy
date: 2024-08-30, from: NASA breaking news
Since the 1960s, astronomers have wondered how the Sun’s supersonic “solar wind,” a stream of energetic particles that flows out into the solar system, continues to receive energy once it leaves the Sun. Now, thanks to a lucky lineup of a NASA and an ESA (European Space Agency)/NASA spacecraft both currently studying the Sun, they […]
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-30, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Pelosi’s Car Passed Near Pipe Bomb on Jan. 6, According to New Video.
Marathon Games on Steam
date: 2024-08-30, from: Michael Tsai
Malcolm Owen: Bungie has finally brought all of the “Marathon” trilogy of games to Steam, with “Marathon Infinity” now playable for free on modern Macs.[…]Classic Marathon Infinity is a free game on the Steam storefront, playable on both Mac and Windows PC. It is a faithful re-release of the 1995 first-person shooter, using the original […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/30/marathon-games-on-steam/
Cancellable withObservationTracking in Swift
date: 2024-08-30, from: Michael Tsai
Toomas Vahter: This function works as a one shot function and the onChange closure is called only once. Note that it is called before the value has actually changed. If we want to get the changed value, we would need to read the value on the next run loop cycle. It would be much more […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/30/cancellable-withobservationtracking-in-swift/
SwiftUI Breaks Continuity Camera
date: 2024-08-30, from: Michael Tsai
Wade Tregaskis: If any view in the [active] window contains a Toggle – even one that’s disabled or hidden – then Continuity Camera (re. ImportFromDevicesCommands and importableFromServices) doesn’t work; all the submenu items under “Import from iPhone or iPad” are disabled. I don’t know if this is truly specific to Toggle, that’s just the example […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/30/swiftui-breaks-continuity-camera/
macOS Firewall Slows DNS Queries
date: 2024-08-30, from: Michael Tsai
Jeff Johnson (Reddit): I took packet traces of the DNS queries with the firewall enabled and disabled. What I found is that the DNS query response packet consistently arrives in under 20 milliseconds after the query packet is sent, regardless of whether the firewall is enabled. Thus, it appears that the extra query time added […]
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2024/08/30/macos-firewall-slows-dns-queries/
NSA releases copy of internal lecture delivered by computing giant Rear Adm. Grace Hopper
date: 2024-08-30, from: OS News
In one of the more unique public proactive transparency record releases for the National Security Agency (NSA) to date, NSA has released a digital copy of a lecture that then-Capt. Grace Hopper gave agency employees on August 19, 1982. The lecture, “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People,” features Capt. Hopper discussing some of the potential future challenges of protecting information. She also provided valuable insight on leadership and her experiences breaking barriers in the fields of computer science and mathematics. ↫ NSA press release Digital preservation is about more than just code – it’s also about invaluable content like this. It seems rather uncouth to spend only a few lines on who Grace Hopper really is, since it’s your duty to know already, and she deserves a hell of a lot more than a few lines. If you don’t yet know who she is, her Wikipedia page is a good place to start. The speech in question has an interesting history, in that the only medium on which it was stored were 1-inch AMPEX tapes. The speech was originally given to NSA employees, but not even the damn NSA had the ability to access the recordings of the speech, and had to call in the National Archives and Records Administration’s help. The NARA managed to retrieve the footage from the tapes, and now here we are. This will make for some great weekend viewing.
Did Section 230 Meet Its Match?
date: 2024-08-30, from: Tedium site
A new ruling from a federal appeals court finds that Section 230 protections may not apply to algorithms like the one TikTok uses. That could (potentially) be a big problem for the internet.
https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16789094/section-230-anderson-tiktok-ruling-analysis
The State of Public Education in 2024 in Five Charts
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: RAND blog
Every year RAND sends more than a dozen surveys to members of the American Educator Panels to keep tabs on what is happening in classrooms around the country. When we looked back on the last 12 months of reports based on our surveys, these are the findings that told us the most about the state of American public schools.
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2024/08/five-charts-that-tell-us-about-the-state-of-public.html
T-38 Flyover of Artemis I on Launch Pad
date: 2024-08-30, from: NASA breaking news
NASA’s T-38 jets fly in formation above the Space Launch System rocket on Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Aircraft designations and passengers:901: Chris Condon / Astronaut Zena Cardman.902: Astronaut Candidate Nicole Ayers / Astronaut Christina Koch.903: Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen / Astronaut Drew Morgan.904: Chief Astronaut Reid Wiseman / Astronaut […]
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/t-38-flyover-of-artemis-i-on-launch-pad/
End of the road: an AnandTech farewell
date: 2024-08-30, from: OS News
I hate this timeline. It is with great sadness that I find myself penning the hardest news post I’ve ever needed to write here at AnandTech. After over 27 years of covering the wide – and wild – word of computing hardware, today is AnandTech’s final day of publication. For better or worse, we’ve reached the end of a long journey – one that started with a review of an AMD processor, and has ended with the review of an AMD processor. It’s fittingly poetic, but it is also a testament to the fact that we’ve spent the last 27 years doing what we love, covering the chips that are the lifeblood of the computing industry. ↫ Ryan Smith at AnandTech This sudden loss is sending shockwaves through the industry, and rightfully so. AnandTech is a pillar, a cornerstone of hardware reporting, and one of the very few – possibly only – tech news outlet out there with such depth, quality, integrity, and restraint. I can’t think of any other outlet being as dedicated to proper benchmarking and hardware reviews as AnandTech was, and losing them is a huge loss for all of us. The cause is exactly what you’d expect, sadly. It’s simply not really possible to remain profitable writing in-depth hardware reviews and benchmarks, as the world has shifted to video, and advertising income has cratered. There’s tons of hints about AnandTech not wanting to embrace sensationalism and clickbaiting to increase revenue – they’d rather go out with class, and I admire and appreciate that greatly. It just goes to show how hard it is to keep your head above water in the current online publishing world without rampant clickbaiting and flashy videos. In a better, less monopolised world, AnandTech could thrive. Sadly, that’s not the timeline we’re in. As far as housekeeping goes, the site will remain up for now, but there’s no guarantee it’ll stay up forever. I’m sure countless people are already archiving the invaluable content AnandTech has produced over its 27 year run, including the forums. We shan’t lose what AnandTech has created.
https://www.osnews.com/story/140635/end-of-the-road-an-anandtech-farewell/
As a rate cut looms, can the Fed stick the landing?
date: 2024-08-30, from: Marketplace Morning Report
Interest rates in America are guided by a key inflation reading released today, and it came in line with expectations, showing year-over-year inflation was pretty tame. We chat with FHN Financial Chief Economist Christopher Low about how to unpack recent inflation data and what it says about a potential Fed rate cut. Also on the show: the potential economic boon provided by a reunion of the British band Oasis.
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Changes Ahead of September Launch
date: 2024-08-30, from: NASA breaking news
Editor’s note: This release was updated twice on Aug. 30, 2024. First, to correct Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov’s role as a mission specialist. It was updated again to correct a launch date. NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will launch no earlier than Tuesday, Sept. 24, on the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission […]
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasas-spacex-crew-9-changes-ahead-of-september-launch/
The secret inside One Million Checkboxes
date: 2024-08-30, from: Tilde.news
https://eieio.games/essays/the-secret-in-one-million-checkboxes/
SpaceX grounded after fumbling Falcon 9 landing for first time in years
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-31, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Failure has become rare, but the FAA needs to look into it regardless
Updated SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has been grounded following a rare mishap during the landing of a veteran booster.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/spacex_falcon_9_failure/
TANK 3S is a cheaper rugged phone with a built-in projector
date: 2024-08-30, from: Liliputing
After launching the TANK 3 Pro rugged smartphone with a massive 23,800 mAh battery and a built-in projector earlier this year, the folks behind the TANK line of rugged projector-phones are back with a slightly cheaper model with many of the same features. The new TANK 3S is a rugged phone with an integrated 100-lumen, 120 […]
The post TANK 3S is a cheaper rugged phone with a built-in projector appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/tank-3s-is-a-cheaper-rugged-phone-with-a-built-in-projector/
Hubble Zooms into the Rosy Tendrils of Andromeda
date: 2024-08-30, from: NASA breaking news
Clusters of stars set the interstellar medium ablaze in the Andromeda Galaxy about 2.5 million light-years away. Also known as M31, Andromeda is the Milky Way’s closest major galaxy. It measures approximately 152,000 light-years across and, with almost the same mass as our home galaxy, is headed for a collision with the Milky Way in […]
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-30, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Harris bus tour focused on reproductive rights to start in Palm Beach.
https://thehill.com/homenews/4855089-harris-bus-tour-eproductive-rights-palm-beach/
Tired of airport security queues? SQL inject yourself into the cockpit, claim researchers
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Infosec hounds say they spotted vulnerability during routine travel in the US
Updated Cybersecurity researchers say they’ve found a vulnerability that allowed them to skip US airport security checks and even fly in the cockpit on some scheduled flights.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/sql_injection_known_crewmember/
The Secret Message Contained in One Million Checkboxes
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/secret-message-in-one-million-checkboxes
This 4-Year-Old Shattered a Bronze Age Jar. Now, He’ll Get to See How Experts Restored It
date: 2024-08-30, from: Smithsonian Magazine
The 3,500-year-old artifact had been on view at an Israeli museum, which wants to use the mishap as a teaching opportunity
What is missing from the web? We’re asking for Google
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Besides sanity, of course
The CSS Day conference may have come and gone, but Google’s Chrome team is keen to keep the spirit alive with a list of what attendees felt was missing from the web.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/what_is_missing_from_web/
Qualcomm’s 8-core Snapdragon X Plus chip is made for sub-$800 notebooks
date: 2024-08-30, from: Liliputing
When the first crop of Copilot+ PCs with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite chips began to hit the streets earlier this year, they all had a few things in common. They were thin and light machines with long battery life and an integrated NPU that delivered 45 TOPS of AI performance. And […]
The post Qualcomm’s 8-core Snapdragon X Plus chip is made for sub-$800 notebooks appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/qualcomms-8-core-snapdragon-x-plus-chip-is-made-for-sub-800-notebooks/
Kamala Harris Tells CNN She ‘Will Not Ban Fracking’
date: 2024-08-30, from: Heatmap News
Current conditions: Conditions in the central Atlantic appear “conducive” to the possible formation of Tropical Storm Francine over Labor Day weekend • A cold front is relieving the more than 20 million Americans who were under a heat alert this week • An “exceptionally rare deluge” could bring rain to parts of the Sahara Desert for the first time on record in August.
THE TOP FIVE
- BLM finalizes plan to free 31 million acres for solar development
On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management released its Final Utility-Scale Solar Energy Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and Proposed Resource Management Plan Amendments — a mouthful more commonly known as the Western Solar Plan. The idea is to “drive responsible solar development to locations with fewer potential conflicts while helping the nation transition to a clean energy economy,” BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning said in a statement.
To speed up the approval process of solar projects, the Western Solar Plan identifies 31 million acres of public lands across 11 western states as available for potential development, singling out regions that would bring solar “closer to transmission lines or to previously disturbed lands” and avoid “protected lands, sensitive cultural resources, and important wildlife habitat,” according to the BLM. Individual projects would still need to be authorized through site-specific environmental reviews and public comment periods.
- Kamala Harris commits to fracking in first major interview as
candidate
CNN’s Dana Bash pressed Kamala Harris on her former opposition to fracking on Thursday night during the candidate’s first major sit-down with the press since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee. Asked if she stood by her 2019 statement that “there’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking,” Harris stressed, “As vice president, I did not ban fracking. As president, I will not ban fracking.” Harris said her “values have not changed” and that “we take seriously what we must do to guard against what is a clear crisis in terms of the climate,” but that she has become convinced “we can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking.”
Harris has had weak recent poll numbers in Pennsylvania, where the fracking industry employs about 24,000 people, and which could be a deciding factor in the November election. The Trump campaign has seized on her potential weakness there, telling Axios in the aftermath of the interview that Harris “has promised to ban fracking and kill good-paying energy jobs in Pennsylvania and across the heartland.”
- It’s official: This summer was disgusting
Saturday, August 31, marks the end of meteorological summer (even if real ones know summer doesn’t end spiritually until next Tuesday and astronomically until the 22nd). And yes, this was another one for the books: Specifically, summer 2024 was the most humid in 85 years of record-keeping, and likely the most humid summer on Earth, as well, The Washington Post reports based on calculations by the climate scientist Brian Brettschneider.
“June 2024 and July 2024 both set records for highest dew point for their respective months,” Brettschneider told the Post. “I expect August 2024 to be a record too. Summer 2024 should break the record set in summer 2023.” Humidity notably makes extreme heat more dangerous, a process that is accelerating because warmer air caused by climate change can hold more moisture.
- More than half of Americans would back a permitting reform
compromise
Just over half of Americans (52%) would support a bipartisan law that made it easier to build new clean energy projects and benefit some oil and gas development, a new poll by Heatmap has found. “That’s good news for one of the last remaining pieces of environmental policy that Congress could pass under this presidency: a bipartisan proposal from Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso that would speed up the process of building climate-friendly infrastructure in exchange for concessions to the oil and gas industry,” writes Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer.
Though many people polled said they didn’t know enough about the bill to make a call one way or the other, those who did were largely in favor, including 58% of GOP voters, who were a little more amenable to the compromise than Democrats. “This all suggests that the permitting reform deal could remain largely depoliticized as Congress continues to debate it through the fall,” adds Meyer. “If you were to summarize respondents’ reactions to the survey, it might look like, ‘Sure, whatever, sounds good.’”
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- August’s extreme heat may be behind youth football deaths
At least seven teenage athletes have died in the U.S. in August during or immediately after football practice, with experts saying extreme heat may be to blame. Three of the deaths — 15-year-old Javion Taylor of central Virginia; 14-year-old Semaj Wilkins of Alabama; and 16-year-old Junior Leslie Noble of Maryland — were linked to heat, while others involved traumatic head injuries. But heat can also increase the risk of brain injuries, Kei Katawa, an assistant professor of clinical neuroscience at Indiana University Bloomington, told NPR. “At that point, your brain [already has] asymptomatic heat exhaustion — pre-heat exhaustion. And then on top of that, you sustain head impact. It has a potential of amplifying head impact effect,” he said. Since 1960, at least 157 football players across all levels of the sport have died of heatstroke, according to The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research.
THE KICKER
A “daring team of three Tesla enthusiasts” is set to embark this week on a six-day, 460-mile round trip journey from Dawson City, Yukon, to the Arctic Ocean … in a Cybertruck. The drive — which is intended to promote “the sustainable energy future through electric vehicle travel” — is off to a bit of a rough start, per Futurist, which reports the adventurers have been struggling to reach their starting point due to northwestern Canada’s limited charging infrastructure.
https://heatmap.news/politics/kamala-harris-fracking-cnn-interview
How to Sign Up for Local Emergency Alerts Before Natural Disasters Strike
date: 2024-08-30, from: The Markup blog
We know early warning systems save lives. Give yourself extra time when disasters come your way
https://themarkup.org/the-breakdown/2024/08/30/local-emergency-alerts-sign-up
25 Years Strong: NASA’s Student Launch Competition Accepting 2025 Proposals
date: 2024-08-30, from: NASA breaking news
By Wayne Smith NASA’s Student Launch competition kicks off its 25th year with the release of the 2025 handbook, detailing how teams can submit proposals by Wednesday, Sept. 11, for the event scheduled next spring near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Student Launch is an annual competition challenging middle school, high school, […]
EV sales hit speed bump as drivers unplug from the electric dream
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Cost of the hardware as well as range and lack of charging infrastructure to blame
Registrations of battery electric vehicles (BEV) continue to fall in the European continent, as sales growth slows in the US and British manufacturing of the wheeled machines declines sharply.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/electric_vehicle_sales/
Investment in the Paralympic Games is growing
date: 2024-08-30, from: Marketplace Morning Report
The Paralympic Games are now underway in Paris, and a record number of broadcasters around the world will be covering this year’s events, including para swimming, wheelchair rugby and tennis. NBC — the games’ U.S. broadcast partner — reported that Paralympic ad sales are up 60% over the Tokyo games in 2021. Also on the show: the presidential candidates on economic policy and a big moving day in Boston.
Only You (and AI) Can Prevent Wildfires
date: 2024-08-30, from: Heatmap News
In a warming world where winter snow is melting earlier and rain is
arriving later,
“wildfire
season” has become somewhat of a misnomer. Some parts of the
country now see blazes popping up practically year round. This, combined
with decades of fire management policy that promoted suppression over
natural and controlled burns, has turned certain states — California,
most famously — into tinderboxes.
With wildfire smoke becoming a standard component of Silicon Valley summers, it’s probably no surprise that numerous data analytics and artificial intelligence-focused startups have sprung up to address the issue. There’s even a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, Convective Capital, devoted solely to funding wildfire solutions.
“My big question coming into starting Convective was, are there enough companies in this category?” Bill Clerico, founder and managing partner of the firm told me. The answer, he found, was yes. After establishing Convective Capital in the beginning of 2022, he said, “we’ve identified about 500 of what we call fire tech companies.” They run the gamut from startups that work on wildfire suppression to those dealing with identification, prevention, mitigation, and insurance against damages.
Rhizome, a company making an AI-powered wildfire risk mitigation platform for utilities, is one of the firm’s most recent investments. “Think of it as Sim City for the grid,” Mishal Thadani, CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based startup, told me. “You obviously need to know, as extreme weather events hit, how this is going to affect your assets,” he explained.
Rhizome’s platform gives utilities insight into, “if there is an asset failure, given the asset type, the type of failure, and the burn probability given the vegetation makeup and the dryness conditions, what’s going to be the likelihood of a wildfire ignition?” This information helps utilities decide where to put their money, whether that means replacing a power line or pole, insulating conductors, undergrounding power lines, or trimming back a bush. Last month, Rhizome announced a $1 million investment from Convective Capital, not tied to a particular funding round. The company raised $2.5 million in its pre-seed round last year.
The problem is not simply a lack of data, Thadani told me — utilities often know things about their assets such as last inspection date and outage history, and have systems that can render the surrounding landscape and other infrastructural features. The problem is that data is not part of a holistic system that can provide comprehensive insights. If risk analysis is being performed, Thadani said, “it’s being done on a super scrappy spreadsheet basis.”
Rhizome aims to build the “connective tissue” between a utility’s disparate data systems, then combine that with other geographic datasets on climate, weather, and vegetation. From there, the company uses its machine learning models to assess the likelihood of extreme weather events and their subsequent impacts. Ultimately, this allows utilities to provide regulators with more quantifiable information on their plans to improve grid resiliency and prevent wildfires, beyond just citing a figure for how much money they want to spend.
Utilities are not exactly known for their technical prowess, but are hungry nevertheless for solutions to their wildfire woes. Pacific Gas & Electric, the nation’s largest utility, was driven into bankruptcy after being found liable for a spate of enormous California wildfires in 2017 and 2018. After reemerging from bankruptcy in 2020, it now has a plan to spend $18 billion on wildfire mitigation through 2025. Other utilities such as Hawaii Electric and Berkshire Hathaway Energy face billions in potential liabilities for wildfires in their service areas.
The most common customers for companies in Convective Capital’s portfolio are utilities, governments, and insurance companies. “These are tremendously deep-pocketed institutions, but they are not, you know, necessarily the most fast-moving or innovative,” he told me. “And so that is the fundamental challenge of building a wildfire technology company.”
So far, Rhizome has announced partnerships with two utilities, Seattle City Light and Vermont Electric Power Company. But Clerico acknowledges that getting traditional institutions onboard is no easy task, even when the benefits seem clear. The magnitude of the destruction in recent years has served as an accelerant, though — something the vegetation management platform provider AiDash has seen first hand. Abhishek Singh, cofounder and CEO of the startup (which is not in Convective’s portfolio), said that when he founded the company in 2019, “Every investor warned us not to do this because utilities don’t buy and they won’t invest.” But that’s not what he’s experienced.
AiDash raised $58.5 million in an oversubscribed Series C round earlier this year, led by the impact investor Lightrock, and has five utility partnerships, including Southern California Edison’s holding company, Edison International, as well as Duke Energy. The company uses satellite data and AI analytics to assess vegetation near utility infrastructure for wildfire risk. It can also detect faults by fusing satellite data with other sources such as thermal or LiDAR-based imagery. (Convective Capital sees the value proposition in using satellites for vegetation management, too — it’s invested in one of AiDash’s direct competitors, an Amsterdam-based startup called Overstory.)
When Singh founded AiDash in 2019, both the size and cost of satellites were plummeting, leading to far more launches and thus far more data. . “Since the history of the first satellite until 2018, there were 2,200-odd satellites launched,” he told me. “From 2019 onwards, each year close to 1,000 satellites are getting launched.” The company purchases mounds of that data to conduct its vegetation analyses.
Vegetation management is typically the largest line item in a utility’s operations and maintenance budgets, Singh told me, costing the entire sector around $6 billion or $7 billion annually. “It’s also the single largest cause of utility-caused wildfires, as well as the cause of most outages,” he said, as power lines coming into contact with trees, grasses, and shrubs can easily spark a fire. Anything that can help them trim that budget and preempt the need for costly equipment repairs is worth a lot. “These are all million dollar contracts,” Singh told me.
But big data platforms alone are just one tool in the vast toolbox that comprises a holistic approach to wildfire management. “There’s no panacea, where you just do one thing and then it solves the problem,” Clerico told me. “It’s going to get solved as a combination of consistent and repeated forest management, building towns and cities that are fire adapted, building great infrastructure, and then having the ability to detect and respond quickly. All of these things are huge, multi decade, multi billion dollar investments.”
So for the foreseeable future, Convective Capital will have its work cut out for it. But when I asked Clerico if one day, in a beautiful, far-off dreamland, there might not be the need for a dedicated wildfire tech VC, he said he hopes so.
https://heatmap.news/technology/ai-fire-prevention
Social media platform X could be blocked in Brazil
date: 2024-08-30, from: Marketplace Morning Report
From the BBC World Service: A dispute over local laws in Brazil could mean that the X platform is blocked in the country. And with the announcement that the British band Oasis is reforming, we look at the figures behind the hype.
Post-apocalyptic education
date: 2024-08-30, from: One Useful Thing
What comes after the Homework Apocalypse
https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/post-apocalyptic-education
Microsoft PC accessories rise from the grave just in time for Christmas
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Incase revives Windows giant’s abandoned peripherals range
Microsoft’s line of PC peripherals is being revived in time for the incoming festive season, with a range reintroduced under the “Designed by Microsoft” brand.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/incase_designed_by_microsoft/
Panama deports Ecuadorean migrants in second US-backed flight
date: 2024-08-30, from: VOA News USA
PANAMA CITY — Panamanian authorities deported a group of migrants to Ecuador on a second flight financed by the United States, as part of an agreement between the U.S. and Panama to discourage irregular crossings and reduce the flow of mostly U.S.-bound migration.
The flight carrying 30 Ecuadoreans departed on Thursday evening en route to the coastal city of Manta, Ecuador, Panama’s migration service said, adding the migrants were deported for evading a migration checkpoint on the popular Darien Gap route.
Thousands of people every year cross the dangerous Darien Gap jungle on Panama’s border with Colombia on the way to the United States.
The flight on Thursday followed a maiden journey financed by Washington in mid-August, which returned around 30 migrants to Colombia.
The latest deportation comes days after Panama’s President Jose Mulino announced return flights for Indian migrants in September and for Chinese citizens on an unspecified date.
https://www.voanews.com/a/panama-deports-ecuadorean-migrants-in-second-us-backed-flight/7765093.html
September’s Night Sky Notes: Marvelous Moons
date: 2024-08-30, from: NASA breaking news
by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific September brings the gas giants Jupiter and Saturn back into view, along with their satellites. And while we organize celebrations to observe our own Moon this month, be sure to grab a telescope or binoculars to see other moons within our Solar System! We recommend […]
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/night-sky-network/sept2024-night-sky-notes/
Faulty valve sent Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander straight back to Earth’s atmosphere
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
What goes up must come down – just not always on the Moon
Astrobotic has continued its policy of transparency with a report into the failings that resulted in its Peregrine lander burning up in Earth’s atmosphere rather than making a soft landing on the Moon.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/astrobotic_peregrine_postmortem/
NY nonprofit reclaims centuries-old cemetery for enslaved people
date: 2024-08-30, from: VOA News USA
KINGSTON, New York — On a residential block in upstate New York, college students dug and sifted backyard dirt as part of an archeological exploration this summer of a centuries-old cemetery for African Americans.
Now covered with green lawns in the city of Kingston, this spot in 1750 was part of a burial ground for people who were enslaved. It was located on what was then the outskirts of town. An unknown number of people who were denied church burials were interred here until the late 19th century, when the cemetery was covered over as the city grew.
The site is now being reclaimed as the Pine Street African Burial Ground, one of many forgotten or neglected cemeteries for African Americans getting fresh attention. In the last three summers, the remains of up to 27 people have been located here.
Advocates in this Hudson River city purchased a residential property covering about half the old cemetery several years ago and now use the house there as a visitor center. Money is being raised to turn the urban backyard into a respectful resting place. And while the names of people buried here may be lost, tests are planned on their remains to shed light on their lives and identify their descendants.
“The hardships of those buried here cannot just go down in vain,” said Tyrone Wilson, founder of Harambee Kingston, the nonprofit community group behind the project. “We have a responsibility to make sure that we fix that disrespect.”
While the more-than-0.2 hectares site was designated as a cemetery for people who were enslaved in 1750, it might have been in use before then. Burials continued through about 1878, more than 50 years after New York fully abolished slavery. Researchers say people were buried with their feet to the east, so when they rise on Judgment Day they would face the rising sun.
Remains found on the Harambee property are covered with patterned African cloths and kept where they are. Remains found on adjoining land are exhumed for later burial on the Harambee property.
Students from the State University of New York at New Paltz recently finished a third summer of supervised backyard excavations in this city 129 kilometers upriver from Manhattan. The students get course credit, though anthropology major Maddy Thomas said there’s an overriding sense of mission.
“I don’t like when people feel upset or forgotten,” Thomas said on a break. “And that is what’s happened here. So we’ve got to fix it.”
Harambee is trying to raise $1 million to transform the modest backyard into resting spot that reflects the African heritage of the people buried there. Plans include a tall marker in the middle of the yard.
While some graves were apparently marked, it’s still hard to say who was buried there.
“Some of them, it’s obvious, were marked with just a stone with no writing on it,” said Joseph Diamond, associate professor of anthropology at New Paltz.
The only intact headstone recovered with a name visible was for Caezar Smith, who was born enslaved and died a free man in 1839 at age 41. A researcher mined historical records and came up with two more people potentially buried there in 1803: a man identified as Sam and a 16-year-old girl named Deyon who was publicly hanged after being convicted of murdering the 6-year-old daughter of her enslavers.
The cemetery was at first covered by a lumberyard by 1880, even though some gravestones were apparently still standing by that date.
In 1990, Diamond was doing an archaeological survey for the city and noticed the cemetery was marked on a map from 1870. He and the city historian went out to find it.
Coincidentally, Pine Street building owner Andrew Kirschner had just discovered buried bone chips while digging in front of the building in search of a sewer pipe. He put the pieces in a box. Kirschner said he was still digging when Diamond told him what they were looking for.
“The conversation begins and then I go, ‘Well, let me show you what I found.’ Of course, they were amazed,” said Kirschner, who had owned the building next to the current Harambee property.
Even after the discovery, Diamond said it was difficult to convince people there were graves on Pine Street. There were even plans in 1996 to build a parking lot over much of the site. Advocates purchased the property in 2019.
Similar stories of disregard and rediscovery have played out elsewhere.
In Manhattan, the African Burial Ground National Monument marks the site where an estimated 15,000 free and enslaved Africans were buried until the 1790s. It was discovered in 1991 during excavations for a federal building. Farther up the Hudson River, the renovation in Newburgh of a century-old school into a courthouse in 2008 led to the discovery of more than 100 sets of remains.
Antoinette Jackson, founder of The Black Cemetery Network, said many of the 169 sites listed in their online archive had been erased.
“A good deal of them represent sites that have been built over — by parking lots, schools, stadiums, highways. Others have been under-resourced,” said Jackson, a professor of anthropology at the University of Southern Florida.
She added that the cemeteries listed on the archive are just the “tip of the iceberg.”
Given the meager historical record in Kingston, advocates hope tests on the remains will help fill in some gaps. Isotopic analyses could provide information on whether individuals grew up elsewhere — like South Carolina or Africa — and then moved to the region. DNA analyses could provide information on where in Africa their ancestors came from. The DNA tests also might be able to link them to living descendants.
Wilson said local families have committed to providing DNA samples. He sees the tests as another way to connect people to heritage.
“One of the biggest issues that we have in African culture is that we don’t know our history,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of information of who we are.”
Biometrischer Überwachungsexzess der Bundesregierung
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: Chaos Computer Club Updates
Das neue „Sicherheitspaket“ der Bundesregierung beinhaltet gefährliche Überwachungsvorhaben. Die geplante biometrische Erfassung von Gesichtsbildern aus dem Internet ist ein Angriff auf die Privatsphäre aller – ohne klare Notwendigkeit oder Nutzen.
https://www.ccc.de/de/updates/2024/biometrischer-uberwachungsexzess-der-bundesregierung
Have we stopped to think about what LLMs actually model?
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Claims about much-hyped tech show flawed understanding of language and cognition, research argues
In May, Sam Altman, CEO of $80-billion-or-so OpenAI, seemed unconcerned about how much it would cost to achieve the company’s stated goal. “Whether we burn $500 million a year or $5 billion – or $50 billion a year – I don’t care,” he told students at Stanford University. “As long as we can figure out a way to pay the bills, we’re making artificial general intelligence. It’s going to be expensive.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/ai_language_cognition_research/
How to set up the Raspberry Pi AI Kit with Raspberry Pi 5
date: 2024-08-30, from: Raspberry Pi News (.com)
Learn how to run rpicam-apps camera demos using the Hailo AI neural network accelerator.
The post How to set up the Raspberry Pi AI Kit with Raspberry Pi 5 appeared first on Raspberry Pi.
https://www.raspberrypi.com/news/how-to-set-up-the-raspberry-pi-ai-kit-with-raspberry-pi-5/
Use Your Pubnix as a Personal Permanent Pastebin Service
date: 2024-08-30, from: Tilde.news
https://klu.sdf.org/articles/pubnix_as_pastebin.html
A nice cup of tea rewired the datacenter and got things working again
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
See? The world’s second best hot non-alcoholic beverage can fix anything
On Call Many folks start their day with the gentle stimulus of tea or coffee. But each Friday morning The Register offers a different way to kickstart your brain: a fresh serve of On Call, the reader-contributed column in which you share stories of trying to bring tech back to life and we try to tell them in an amusing fashion.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/on_call/
No one’s ready for this
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: Robin Rendle Essays
https://robinrendle.com/notes/no-ones-ready-for-this/
France charges Telegram CEO with multiple crimes
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Testing the idea that a platform boss can be responsible for the acts of others, or not helping to investigate them
French police have laid multiple charges against Pavel Durov, co-founder and CEO of encrypted messaging platform Telegram.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/french_telegram_ceo/
Webcurios 30/08/24
date: 2024-08-30, from: Web Curios blog
Reading Time: 34 minutes HAPPY LAST FRIDAY IN AUGUST, EVERYONE! That’s right – it’s basically all over, it’s all mist and mellow fruitfulness from hereon in (apart from those of you reading this in the antipodes – thanks Rosie! Does this satisfy your hubris?), but thankfully this edition of Curios is PACKED FULL OF SUNSHINE and will possibly extend…https://webcurios.co.uk/webcurios-30-08-24/
Crypto boss finds fraud trial a serious pain in the neck
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Thankfully his injuries are not life threatening
South Korean crypto CEO Hyung-soo “Hugo” Lee was stabbed in the neck in court during his fraud trial on Thursday, according to numerous reports.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/crypto_boss_stabbed_in_neck/
Iran hunts down double agents with fake recruiting sites, Mandiant reckons
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Farsi-language posts target possibly-pro-Israel individuals
Government-backed Iranian actors allegedly set up dozens of fake recruiting websites and social media accounts to hunt down double agents and dissidents suspected of collaborating with the nation’s enemies, including Israel.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/iran_dissident_recruitment_scam/
A message in binary
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: Robin Rendle Essays
https://robinrendle.com/notes/a-message-in-binary/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-30, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
How the NY Times came to support RSS.
http://scripting.com/2019/09/03/132640.html?title=nytAndRss
Trump asks federal court to intervene in hush money case
date: 2024-08-30, from: VOA News USA
new york — Donald Trump asked a federal court late Thursday to intervene in his New York hush money criminal case, seeking a pathway to overturn his felony conviction and indefinitely delay his sentencing scheduled for next month.
Lawyers for the former president and current Republican nominee asked the federal court in Manhattan to seize the case from the state court where it was brought and tried, arguing that the historic prosecution violated Trump’s constitutional rights and ran afoul of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity.
Trump’s lawyers said moving the case to federal court following his May 30 conviction will give him an “unbiased forum, free from local hostilities” to address those issues. If the case is moved to federal court, Trump lawyers wrote, they will then seek to have the verdict overturned and the case dismissed. If it remains in state court, with sentencing proceeding as scheduled, it could amount to election interference, they said.
“The ongoing proceedings will continue to cause direct and irreparable harm to President Trump — the leading candidate in the 2024 Presidential election — and voters located far beyond Manhattan,” Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove wrote in a 64-page U.S. District Court filing.
Trump was convicted in state court in Manhattan of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a payment to bury affair allegations that threatened to cloud his 2016 presidential run. Even if the case isn’t moved to federal court, the potential delay caused by litigation surrounding Trump’s effort could give him a critical reprieve as he navigates the aftermath of his criminal conviction and the homestretch of his presidential campaign.
Separately, the state court judge who presided over the trial, Juan M. Merchan, is weighing Trump’s requests to postpone sentencing until after Election Day, November 5, and to overturn the verdict and dismiss the case in the wake of the Supreme Court’s immunity decision.
The high court’s July 1 ruling reins in prosecutions of ex-presidents for official acts and restricts prosecutors in pointing to official acts as evidence that a president’s unofficial actions were illegal.
Trump’s lawyers argue that in light of the ruling, jurors in the hush money case should not have heard such evidence as former White House staffers describing how the then-president reacted to news coverage of the deal to pay hush money to porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Trump’s lawyers had previously invoked presidential immunity in a failed bid last year to get the hush money case moved from state court to federal court. A federal judge rejected that request, clearing the way for Trump’s historic trial in state court.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected Trump’s claim that allegations in the hush money indictment involved official duties, writing in July 2023, “The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely a personal item of the president — a cover-up of an embarrassing event.”
“Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a president’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the president’s official duties,” Hellerstein added.
A message seeking comment was left with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case.
https://www.voanews.com/a/trump-asks-federal-court-to-intervene-in-hush-money-case/7764996.html
China is beating the world at scientific research, think tank finds
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Could monopolise 24 key techs if current trends continue
Think Tank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) has released an update to its Critical Technology Tracker, revealing that China leads the way in 89 percent of the technologies it tracks.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/08/30/aspi_technology_tracker/
Harris vows tougher approach on migration, supports weapons for Israel
date: 2024-08-30, from: VOA News USA
savannah, georgia/washington — Kamala Harris vowed a tougher approach to migration along the U.S. southern border and said she would not withhold weapons to Israel, in her first interview with a major news organization since becoming the Democratic nominee for president.
In the interview with CNN anchor Dana Bash, Harris sought to show she is in command of the issues and give Americans a sense of her policy positions with little more than two months until Election Day on November 5.
Harris said she would renew a push for comprehensive border legislation that would tighten migration into the United States and vowed to “enforce our laws” against border crossings.
“We have laws that have to be followed and enforced, that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally, and there should be consequence,” Harris said.
She also hewed closely to President Joe Biden’s strong support of Israel and rejected calls from some in the Democratic Party that Washington should rethink sending weapons to Israel because of the heavy Palestinian death toll in Gaza.
She said she supports a strong Israel but “we must get a deal done” to get a cease-fire in the Gaza conflict.
“No, we have to get a (cease-fire and hostage) deal done,” Harris said when asked if she would withhold weapons to Israel. She has been Biden’s vice president since the start of his administration.
Abbas Alawieh, a co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement that has protested against Biden’s policy, expressed frustration over Harris’ response on Gaza.
“If the vice president is interested in a cease-fire, she must support an immediate stop to sending the fire,” Alawieh said.
Harris, joined by her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, also said she would like to add a Republican to her cabinet if she wins the election.
“I think it’s important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican,” she said.
Surging in polls
Since becoming the Democratic candidate for president last month, Harris has surged in the polls, brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign donations, and had a series of forceful campaign speeches.
She leads Trump 45% to 41% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Thursday that showed the vice president sparking new enthusiasm among voters.
Some critics suggested she might be less polished in unscripted settings like a TV interview, but she appeared to make no major mistakes on Thursday.
Harris defended her and Biden’s handling of inflation, saying they inherited a pandemic-ravaged economy that she said Trump had mismanaged. She said much work had been done to lower prices but that “prices are still too high.”
Jeremi Suri, history and public affairs professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said Harris came across as knowledgeable and a “consensus builder” in the interview but she could have had “more concrete and specific answers” on what she would do on her first day as president.
Harris has moved more toward the center on some issues from the time she ran for president in 2020 until she took over from Biden last month as the Democrats’ choice to face Republican former President Donald Trump in the election.
She has toughened her position on migration along the southern U.S. border with Mexico. She also no longer wants a ban on fracking, an energy production method that employs many people in Pennsylvania, one of a handful of swing states that could decide the election.
When asked about her policy shifts, Harris said: “My values have not changed.”
Harris dismissed a comment from Trump in which he questioned whether she was a Black American. “Same old tired playbook,” she said. “Next question, please.”
Trump, in a post on Truth Social, responded to the interview by saying: “I look so forward to Debating Comrade Kamala Harris and exposing her for the fraud she is.” Trump often falsely refers to Harris as a Marxist.
Though she has taken questions from journalists on the campaign trail and been interviewed on TikTok in recent days, she had, until Thursday, not done a one-on-one interview with a major network or print journalist since Biden ended his reelection campaign on July 21 and endorsed her.
Bash, who co-moderated the June 27 debate between Trump and Biden that ultimately led to the president’s departure from the race, conducted the interview in Savannah, Georgia, as Harris and Walz were on a campaign bus tour.
Harris widens lead over Trump with boost from women, Hispanics, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds.
https://www.voanews.com/a/7764956.html
EmuDeck Machine is a mini PC made for retro gaming (crowdfunding)
date: 2024-08-30, from: Liliputing
EmuDeck is a script that simplifies the process of using a Steam Deck handheld gaming PC as an emulation machine. You can use it to install emulators, set up folders, optimize settings, and keep everything up to date. Now EmuDeck founder Rodrigo Sedano wants to try his hand at hardware. He’s launched a crowdfunding campaign to […]
The post EmuDeck Machine is a mini PC made for retro gaming (crowdfunding) appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/emudeck-machine-is-a-mini-pc-made-for-retro-gaming-crowdfunding/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-30, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Steve Silberman, Grateful Dead and autism writer, dies at 66.
https://sfstandard.com/2024/08/29/grateful-dead-autism-writer-steve-silberman-dies/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-08-30, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Trump Threatens to Jail Mark Zuckerberg for Life Over Election: Book.
RIP to journalist, author, and huge Deadhead Steve Silberman. His wish when…
date: 2024-08-30, updated: 2024-08-30, from: Jason Kottke blog
https://kottke.org/24/08/0045192-rip-to-journalist-author-
ASSURE 2018
date: 2024-08-30, from: NASA breaking news
Home ASSURE 2018 has successfully concluded. UPDATES Introduction The 6th International Workshop on Assurance Cases for Software-intensive Systems (ASSURE 2018) is being collocated this year with SAFECOMP 2018, and aims to provide an international forum for high-quality contributions on the application of assurance case principles and techniques to provide assurance that the dependability properties of critical, […]
https://www.nasa.gov/general/assure-2018/
pg_hint_plan v1.7.0 Released
date: 2024-08-30, from: PostgreSQL News
The pg_hint_plan development team is pleased to announce pg_hint_plan 1.7.0. This release of pg_hint_plan adds compatibility with PostgreSQL 17, and includes various improvements and bug fixes. For more details, see the release notes. This new major version includes the following new features:
- Addition of a lexer to parse the query indexes.
- Integration of query IDs with the hint table, instead of normalized strings.
- Removal of pg_hint_plan.hints_anywhere.
pg_hint_plan is a PostgreSQL extension that offers the possibility to tweak PostgreSQL execution plans using so-called “hints” in SQL comments. For more information, see the project page.
The documentation of the project is published at this page, and is synced up automatically from the source repository.
A new set of minor releases is available down to PostgreSQL 12, each marked with the following versions:
- pg_hint_plan 1.6.1, compatible with PostgreSQL 16.
- pg_hint_plan 1.5.2, compatible with PostgreSQL 15.
- pg_hint_plan 1.4.3, compatible with PostgreSQL 14.
- pg_hint_plan 1.3.10, compatible with PostgreSQL 12 and 13.
This is the last release planned for PostgreSQL 12.
Notable changes in this set of releases include the following bug fixes, where applicable:
- Revert improvement related to the handling of unavailable indexes in Scan hints. This has proved to cause unwelcome plan instabilities, so this has been removed for all stable branches.
- Handle better the hint table if the extension is not created.
- Various improvements and fixes to documentation and regression test suite.
- Addition of META.json to distribute the module in PGXN.
- Fix crash when retrieving query hint, impacting only PostgreSQL 12 and 13.
https://www.postgresql.org/about/news/pg_hint_plan-v170-released-2924/
Full Circle Magazine 208
date: 2024-08-30, from: Full Circle Magazine
This month:
- Command & Conquer
- How-To : Python, Stable Diffusion and Latex
- Graphics : Inkscape
- Micro This Micro That
- Review : Ubuntu Budgie 24.04, Ubuntu Unity 24.04 and Ubuntu Lomiri 24.04 (A Quick Look)
- UbPorts Touch
- Ubuntu Games - Chasm
plus: News, My Opinion, Q&A, The Daily Waddle, and more.
Other Languages
https://fullcirclemagazine.org/magazines/issue-208/
What is the soul of a game?
date: 2024-08-30, from: Ze Iaso’s blog
A video essay about Pikmin