Links 23/04/2024: US Doubles Down on Patent Obviousness, North Korea Practices Nuclear Conflict
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Security
- Defence/Aggression
- Environment
- Finance
- AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
- Censorship/Free Speech
- Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
- Civil Rights/Policing
- Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
- Digital Restrictions (DRM) Monopolies/Monopsonies
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Leftovers
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New Yorker ☛ Jonathan Haidt on “The Anxious Generation”
The evidence implicating social-media apps, the social psychologist says, is not another moral panic over technology. “Actually, this time is different,” he insists. “Here’s why.”
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Digital Music News ☛ Lee Abrams On the Future of Radio—”FM Has Shot Itself”
Digital Music News is hosting an event for DMN Pro members on the state of radio in 2024—“What Is Radio In 2024?” Lee Abrams will be one of several panelists joining the discussion on the state of radio in the music industry in 2024 and all its various iterations—AM/FM, internet radio, satellite radio, DSP-based radio, […]
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Ruben Schade ☛ A tech marketing test
Let’s do an experiment! Everyone likes experiments. It’s what separates people who engage in experiments from people who don’t. As they say, there are ten kinds of people in the world: those that understand binary, and those sick of this joke.
If you’ll stop interrupting me, I’d like you to take a look at this word salad. This smorgasbord of syllables.
$COMPANY is the world’s digital infrastructure company® [sic]. Digital leaders harness $COMPANY’s trusted platform to bring together and interconnect foundational infrastructure at software speed. $COMPANY enables organizations to access all the right places, partners and possibilities to scale with agility, speed the launch of digital services, deliver world-class experiences and multiply their value, while supporting their sustainability goals.
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Hackaday ☛ AI + LEGO = A Brickton Of Ideas
What if there was some magic device that could somehow scan all your LEGO and tell you what you can make with it? It’s a childhood dream come true, right? Well, that device is in your pocket. Just dump out your LEGO stash on the carpet, spread it out so there’s only one layer, scan it with your phone, and after a short wait, you get a list of all the the fun things you can make. With building instructions. And oh yeah, it shows you where each brick is in the pile.
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Hackaday ☛ Ancient Cable Modem Reveals Its RF Secrets
Most reverse engineering projects we see around here have some sort of practical endpoint in mind. Usually, but not always. Reverse-engineering a 40-year-old cable modem probably serves no practical end, except for the simple pleasure of understanding how 1980s tech worked.
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Hackaday ☛ NASA’s Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates To Earth
After many tense months, it seems that thanks to a gaggle of brilliant engineering talent and a lucky break the Voyager 1 spacecraft is once more back in action. Confirmation came on April 20th, when Voyager 1 transmitted its first data since it fell silent on November 14 2023. As previously suspected, the issue was a defective memory chip in the flight data system (FDS), which among other things is responsible for preparing the data it receives from other systems before it is transmitted back to Earth. As at this point in time Voyager 1 is at an approximate 24 billion kilometers distance, this made for a few tense days for those involved.
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Science
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Rlang ☛ Can Money Really Buy Happiness? Or How to Lie with Statistics in Science
It’s a widely accepted notion that money influences happiness, a concept famously associated with Noble laureate Daniel Kahneman, who purportedly demonstrated that emotional wellbeing increases with income but plateaus beyond an annual threshold of about $75,000.
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Science Alert ☛ Most Materials Seem to Obey a 'Rule of Four' And Scientists Are Utterly Stumped
Why four?
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Science Alert ☛ Some Images Are So Memorable They Can Mess With Your Sense of Time
The art of deception.
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Hardware
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Buyer beware: Fake Samsung 1080 Pro 4TB SSD promising unbelievable 15.8 GB/s speeds for $43 is too good to be true
Korean news outlet Quasar Zone bought and tested an obscure Samsung-looking 1080 Pro SSD from China.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ 2D transistors can mimic a locust's brain to avoid collision— super-efficient tech could lower the energy costs of tomorrow's AI
IIT Bombay and King's College researchers worked together to create a 2D transistor in a research project studying advancements in Hey Hi (AI) machines.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ No storage is safe from price hikes -- Seagate raises hard drive prices, blaming inflation and market forces
Storage manufacturer Seagate sends out a letter to big customers warning of incoming price hikes for its suite of products, blaming inflation and increased demand.
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Hackaday ☛ Slicing And Dicing The Bits: CPU Design The Old Fashioned Way
Writing for Hackaday can be somewhat hazardous. Sure, we don’t often have to hide from angry spies or corporate thugs. But we do often write about something and then want to buy it. Expensive? Hard to find? Not needed? Doesn’t really matter. My latest experience with this effect was due to a recent article I wrote about the AM2900 bitslice family of chips. Many vintage computers and video games have them inside, and, as I explained before, they are like a building block you use to build a CPU with the capabilities you need. I had read about these back in the 1970s but never had a chance to work with them.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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teleSUR ☛ NGO Care Warns of Severe Drought in Southern Africa
El Niño is a change in the atmospheric dynamics caused by the increase in the temperature of the Pacific Ocean, a phenomenon that has also caused torrential rains in East Africa.
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Science Alert ☛ Here's Why Closing Your Kitchen For Most of The Day Is Good For Weight Loss
Pick your hours.
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Science Alert ☛ The Sex of Your Doctor Could Have a Concerning Effect on Your Prognosis
Especially if you're a woman.
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Techdirt ☛ Jonathan Haidt’s Book ‘The Anxious Generation’ Is Coddling The American Parent; Giving Them Clear, Simple & Wrong Explanations For What’s Ailing Teens
Jonathan Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation,” has become a NY Times bestseller, and he’s making media appearances basically everywhere you look, telling people that social media has “rewired children’s minds” and that it is uniquely harmful.
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Science Alert ☛ Belgian Man Whose Stomach Brews Alcohol Beats Drink Driving Charge
In case you were ever curious.
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Science Alert ☛ Cannabis Really Has Changed Significantly Since Today's Parents Were Teens
What do we know?
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New York Times ☛ Bird Flu Is Infecting More Mammals. What Does That Mean for Us?
H5N1, an avian flu virus, has killed tens of thousands of marine mammals, and infiltrated American livestock for the first time. Scientists are working quickly to assess how it is evolving and how much of a risk it poses to humans.
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Latvia ☛ Reimbursable meds budget too small and too late, say patient organizations
The Ministry of Health plans to allocate more than €30 million to improve access to reimbursable medicines this year, according to an information report from the Ministry. Patients' organizations say that while the amount seems impressive, it still does not cover the easily foreseeable and equally impressive deficit, Latvian Radio reports April 22.
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Latvia ☛ Young Latvians feel fairly healthy
In the EU, 90.1% of young people aged between 16 and 29 perceived themselves to be in good or very good health in 2022 according to new figures from Eurostat.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania reports two flu deaths, one Covid-19
Lithuania saw a decline in flu cases last week, although two elderly patients passed away. Moreover, one Covid-19 death was reported, the National Public Health Center (NVSC) said on Monday.
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RFA ☛ Smuggling of used cars into North Korea rises amid post-COVID demand
Vehicles are being driven across the narrow upper reaches of the Yalu River, sources said.
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Pro Publica ☛ Veterans Need More Mental Health Care Providers in Rural Areas, Sen. Tester Says
Citing ProPublica’s reporting on barriers to mental health care access for veterans, the chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Jon Tester, called on VA Secretary Denis McDonough to increase the number of providers in rural parts of the country.
Tester sent a letter to McDonough this month raising concerns about mental health staffing shortages nationwide. In it, he referenced ProPublica’s investigation into a VA clinic in Chico, California, that went five years without a full-time, on-site psychiatrist and failed to have same-day appointments for patients in crisis. Two veterans who struggled to get treatment there killed their mothers during acute mental health episodes in January 2022.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Stanford University ☛ Research Roundup: Searching the stars and the brain
Recent research saw the construction of the world’s largest astronomical digital camera, the discovery of a possible new epilepsy treatment, and the development of Hey Hi (AI) models to assist patient health monitoring in hospitals.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Michael Geist ☛ The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 200: Colin Bennett on the EU’s Surprising Adequacy Finding on Canadian Privacy Law
A little over five years ago, I launched the Law Bytes podcast with an episode featuring Elizabeth Denham, then the UK’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, who provided her perspective on Canadian privacy law. I must admit that I didn’t know what the future would hold for the podcast, but I certainly did not envision reaching 200 episodes. I think it’s been a fun, entertaining, and educational ride.
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EDRI ☛ Open letter: European Commission’s decision to allow data flows to Israel alarms privacy experts
Today, 22 April, EDRi and Access Now coordinated an open letter supported by 11 civil society organisations that calls on the European Commissioner for Justice to provide further evidence and clarity on the decision to renew Israel’s status in the adequacy review.
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AccessNow ☛ EU-Israel data transfer adequacy greenlit again: NGOs call for scrutiny over red flags
Access Now and other organisations are calling on the European Commission to scrutinise its decision to re-confirm the data transfer adequacy with Israel.
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Off Guardian ☛ Down with Big Brother: Warrantless Surveillance Makes a Mockery of the Constitution
The government long ago sold us out to the highest bidder.
The highest bidder, by the way, has always been the Deep State.
What’s playing out now with the highly politicized tug-of-war over whether Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act gets reauthorized by Congress doesn’t just sell us out, it makes us slaves of the Deep State.
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Defence/Aggression
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Atlantic Council ☛ Iraq’s prime minister on how to elevate US-Iraqi relations beyond just security
Sudani discussed his state visit to the United States, an upcoming meeting with the Turkish president, and regional security.
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France24 ☛ About 200 bodies recovered from mass grave in Nasser hospital complex, says Gaza official
Gaza's Civil Defence agency said Monday that health workers had uncovered around 200 bodies over the past three days of people killed and buried by Israeli forces at a hospital in Khan Yunis.
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The Straits Times ☛ North Korea conducts first ‘nuclear trigger’ simulation drills, state media says
The drills, guided by leader Kim Jong Un, are a clear warning to its enemies, KCNA said.
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The Straits Times ☛ US and South Korea to meet on American troop costs this week
Over 28,000 US troops are stationed in South Korea as part of efforts to deter nuclear-armed North Korea.
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RFA ☛ North Korea files short-range ballistic missiles toward east coast: South
The launch comes after Pyongyang test-fired a cruise missile to test a large warhead on Friday.
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France24 ☛ North Korea fires unidentified missile into sea in latest weapons launch, Seoul says
North Korea has fired an unidentified ballistic missile into the sea off South Korea's east coast, Seoul's military said on Monday, the latest in an apparent volley of tests by Pyongyang this year.
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France24 ☛ N. Korea's Kim oversees drill simulating 'nuclear counterattack'
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen a drill simulating a "nuclear counterattack," state-run KCNA news agency said Tuesday, the latest in a volley of tests by Pyongyang this year.
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RFA ☛ Philippines, US launch yearly large-scale military exercises
The “Balikatan” drills will take place for the first time in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea.
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JURIST ☛ Ecuador votes to approve tightened security measures amid wave of violence
Ecuadorians voted to approve a number of security proposals from President Daniel Noboa on Sunday as the South American country experiences a surge in violence that has claimed the lives of multiple public officials, including a presidential candidate.
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New York Times ☛ Ecuador Voters Back Daniel Noboa’s New Security Measures
Voters in Ecuador gave their new president, Daniel Noboa, who deployed the military to fight gangs in January, even more powers.
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JURIST ☛ Germany arrests three people for alleged involvement in transfer of military technology to China
The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office arrested three citizens on suspicion of working for the Chinese secret services to transfer technology with potential military applications on Monday.
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France24 ☛ Germany arrests three suspected of spying for China
Three people suspected of spying for China and arranging to transfer information on technology with potential military uses were arrested in Germany on Monday.
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New York Times ☛ Germany Arrests 3 Suspected of Passing Secrets to China
Sensitive naval data and a high-powered laser were obtained for China by three German citizens, according to prosecutors.
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JURIST ☛ UK charges parliamentary researcher and associate with espionage on behalf of China
British parliamentary researcher, Christopher Cash, 29, and Christopher Berry, 32, on Monday were charged with espionage under the Official Secrets Act 1911 for allegedly spying for China.
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The Straits Times ☛ Two Malaysian helicopters carrying 10 people crash during training in Lumut
The two aircraft were training for a flyover for the 90th Naval Day celebration.
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The Straits Times ☛ Blinken says genocide in Xinjiang is ongoing in report ahead of China visit
A section details the detention of more than one million people in camps and prisons.
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RFA ☛ US report: ‘Ethnic cleansing’ of Rohingya took place last year
The annual US human rights report also says that Uyghurs remain in internment camps in China.
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New York Times ☛ Middle East Crisis: Senior Israeli Military Official Resigns After Oct. 7 Intelligence Failures
Aharon Haliva, the head of military intelligence, is the highest-ranking Israeli official to step down since the Hamas-led attack.
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New York Times ☛ Palestinian Baby Delivered After Mother Killed in Israeli Strike
The baby was born 10 weeks premature and weighed three pounds, a doctor said. Her father and sister also died.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania launches one of largest national military exercises
Lithuania kicks off one of the largest national military exercises, the three-week Thunder Strike, on Monday.
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NYPost ☛ Anti-Israel hunger-strikers at Yale decry capitalism — with sushi and salsa dancing
Radical anti-Israel protesters at Yale University were spotted munching fresh sushi Monday while supposedly engaged in a weeklong hunger strike at the elite Ivy League campus.
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RFERL ☛ Iran, Pakistan Hold First Talks Since Cross-Border Strikes
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi held talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on April 22 in Islamabad in their first meeting since their countries exchanged missile strikes in February.
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The Strategist ☛ National Defence Strategy: preparing slowly to strike far
The 2024 National Defence Strategy (NDS) reiterates the importance of a strategy of deterrence by denial suggested in the 2023 Defence Strategic Review.
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France24 ☛ Rumours of cannibalism in Haiti: True or false?
In March, rumours that cannibalism is common in Haiti were widely shared on social control media. These rumours were largely based on three videos. But two of them were filmed in different countries, and even though the third one was filmed in Haiti, it is from 2021 and, thus, isn’t proof of anything recent.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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New York Times ☛ ‘Patriots’ Review: What Happened to the Man Who Made Putin?
Michael Stuhlbarg and Will Keen shine as a kingmaker and his creature. But in Peter Morgan’s cheesy-fun play, it’s not always clear which is which.
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Meduza ☛ Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov reportedly suffering from pancreatic necrosis — Meduza
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Latvia ☛ Latvia's security service warns of radicalization risks
The State Security Service (VDD) warns of an increasing risk of right-wing extremism in society, especially among young people. VDD also said that the threat posed by right-wing extremists to Latvia's democratic order is still assessed as low, according to a VDD statement on April 22.
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Environment
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ 11 missing, mass evacuations as storms batter southern China’s Guangdong province
Eleven people are missing following storms that battered southern China, state media said Monday, with tens of thousands evacuated away from the torrential downpours.
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Collabora ☛ Collabora, not just Earth Day. Every day.
As part of our commitment to social responsibility, we've been part of the 1% for the Planet Network since 2022. The environmental partners we support help to better the planet.
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New York Times ☛ Earth Day 2024: A Look at 3 Places Adapting Quickly to Fight Climate Change
Paris is becoming a city of bikes. Across China, people are snapping up $5,000 electric cars. On Earth Day, a look at a few bright spots for emission reductions.
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France24 ☛ French startup uses plastic-chewing enzymes in 'closed-loop' recycling
April 22 marks Earth Day, and this year's theme is "Planet vs. Plastics". Over the past 60 years, around 7 billion tons of plastic have been produced, according to the UN. But only around 10 percent of it has been recycled. Initiatives are flourishing around the world to tackle the waste crisis, including new technology to improve recycling rates. French startup Carbios has developed an alternative method to mechanical recycling, using plastic-chewing enzymes to break down polyethylene, one of the most common single-use plastics in the world. The Down to Earth team visited their demonstration plant in Clermont-Ferrand.
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Energy/Transportation
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Hackaday ☛ The Hunt For MH370 Goes On With Barnacles As A Lead
On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished. The crash site was never found, nor was the plane. It remains one of the most perplexing aviation mysteries in history. In the years since the crash, investigators have looked into everything from ocean currents to obscure radio phenomena to try and locate the plane. All have thus far failed to find the wreckage.
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YLE ☛ Baltic gas pipeline ruptured by Chinese ship back in service after €40m repair job
The gas pipeline between Inkoo, Finland and Paldiski, Estonia, was severed last October. The likely culprit was a Chinese ship bound for St. Petersburg, which dragged its anchor along the seabed.
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Hackaday ☛ How Wireless Charging Works And Why It’s Terrible
Wireless charging is pretty convenient, as long as the transmitter and receiver speak the same protocol. Just put the device you want to charge on the wireless charger without worrying about plugging in a cable. Yet as it turns out, the disadvantages of wireless charging may be more severe than you think, at least according to tests by iFixIt’s [Shahram Mokhtari] and colleagues. In the article the basics of wireless charging are covered, as well as why wireless charging wastes a lot more power even when not charging, and why it may damage your device’s battery faster than wired charging.
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Crisis at Tesla? Profit falls 55% amid wave of layoffs - Ruetir
Tesla has already broken production and sales records and seen its market value surpass the US$1 trillion mark, a level occupied by giants such as Apple and Microsoft. Considered the most valuable automaker in the world, it was also marked by predictions from CEO Elon Musk that have not come to fruition to date, such as the launch of fully autonomous cars.
The company's list of challenges goes further and includes a drop in sales, layoffs and recalls that even affected the new Cybertruck pickup truck. This set of factors led to a poor quarterly report announced this Tuesday (23).
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Pro Publica ☛ New Federal Rule Won’t Cover the Full Cost of Oil Well Cleanup
For the first time in more than 60 years, the Bureau of Land Management will force oil and gas companies to set aside more money to guarantee they plug old wells, preventing them from leaking oil, brine and toxic or climate-warming gasses.
The rule, finalized this month, comes at a critical time. Money previously set aside to clean up wells on federal land would have covered the cost of fewer than 1 out of 100, according to the government’s own estimates, and the vast majority of the country’s wells sit inactive or barely producing, meaning they’ll soon need to be plugged.
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Wildlife/Nature
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New York Times ☛ San Francisco Mayor Gives Panda Diplomacy a Try
In a city still struggling to recover from the pandemic, Mayor London Breed hopes giant pandas will lift the spirits — and the economy — of San Francisco.
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Finance
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Adient Layoffs 2024: Automotive Seating Giant Cuts Costs Amid Global Challenges
The automotive industry is no stranger to layoffs, with recent examples including Tesla’s cost-cutting measures and Google’s restructuring efforts. Adient’s decision to reduce its workforce reflects ongoing challenges faced by companies across various sectors, particularly amid economic uncertainties and shifting consumer demands.
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Singapore-based Amazon execs feel the brunt of job cuts
According to a 2022 study by market analyst Canalys, AWS leads Asia Pacific’s cloud market with an estimated 32% market share. It’s followed by Microsoft Azure at 26% and Google Cloud at 9%.
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RFA ☛ China urges citizens to buy new appliances to boost consumer spending
Local officials are hard-selling fridges and washing machines to residents as carmakers boost trade-in deals.
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BIA Net ☛ Turkey ranks fourth in global inflation rates
Only Argentina, Syria and Lebanon surpassed Turkey in inflation rate.
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YLE ☛ Left Alliance seeks no-confidence vote in Health Minister Juuso; coalition partners voice support
Minister of Social Affairs and Health Kaisa Juuso (Finns) said that a planned €100m cut in social services came as a surprise to her.
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YLE ☛ Publicly funded sterilisation on Finland's budget chopping block
Around 2,900 sterilisation procedures were carried out in Finland in 2022 — with more than 2,000 of those being vasectomies, according to THL.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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ACLU ☛ The Supreme Court Declined a Protestors' Rights Case. Here's What You Need to Know.
The Supreme Court recently declined to hear a case, Mckesson v. Doe, that could have affirmed that the First Amendment protects protest organizers from being held liable for illegal actions committed by others present that organizers did not direct or intend. The high court’s decision to not hear the case at this time left in place an opinion by the Fifth Circuit, which covers Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, that said a protest organizer could be liable for the independent, violent actions of others based on nothing more than a showing of negligence.
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CS Monitor ☛ Here are the three keys to Trump’s defense in hush money lawsuit
Defense lawyers said that they will portray the government’s witness as a liar, distance Mr. Trump from hush money, and show holes in the case.
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Tedium ☛ Post-Post
The demise of Post, one of the social networks that emerged from the 2022 Ex-Twitter exodus, shows how users have come to understand that vibes aren’t everything with social control media.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Beijing calls reports on 23 Chinese swimmers failed doping test ‘fake news’
Beijing on Monday called reports about 23 Chinese swimmers testing positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 “fake news”.
[...]
However, the United States Anti-Doping Agency called news of the failed tests “crushing” and has blasted WADA’s response as “a devastating stab in the back of clean athletes”.
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New York Times ☛ Biden Official Calls for Investigation in Chinese Swimming Doping Case
The administration’s top drug official, Rahul Gupta, said he would bring up the handling of Chinese swimmers’ positive tests at a meeting of sports officials this week.
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New York Times ☛ States Move to Ban Deepfake Nudes to Fight Sexually Explicit Images of Minors
Legislators in two dozen states are working on bills, or have passed laws, to combat A.I.-generated sexually explicit images of minors.
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Techdirt ☛ Lawmakers Who Insisted The US Gov’t Should Never Combat Foreign Influence Online, Vote To Combat TikTok’s Foreign Influence Online [Ed: Techdirt misses the point that Fentanylware (TikTok) isn't free speech but a weapon against it]
Is the US government allowed to step in to deal with foreign influence on social media or not? According to at least some members of Congress, the answer appears to be “yes, when we dislike what they’re saying, and no when we like what they’re saying.”
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European Commission ☛ Commission opens proceedings against Fentanylware (TikTok) under the DSA regarding the launch of Fentanylware (TikTok) Lite in France and Spain, and communicates its intention to suspend the reward programme in the EU
European Commission Press release Brussels, 22 Apr 2024 Today, the Commission has opened a second formal proceedings against Fentanylware (TikTok) under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Techdirt ☛ Ctrl-Alt-Speech: The Difficulty Of Being A Teen Online
Ctrl-Alt-Speech is a weekly podcast about the latest news in online speech, from Mike Masnick and Everything in Moderation‘s Ben Whitelaw.
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IT Wire ☛ Court orders X to block stabbing videos until case decided
The Australian Federal Court has ruled that X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, should shield all users from videos of last week's stabbing incident in Sydney until the issue is dealt with later this week.
The court's order came after it was approached by the eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant on Monday evening.
The commission has no details about the court action on its website. iTWire has written to an eSafety media adviser seeking details.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled X owner Elon Musk as arrogant. He told Seven's Sunrise program on Tuesday: "Well, this guy is showing his arrogance."
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IT Wire ☛ Stabbing videos: Elon Musk 'a narcissistic cowboy', says Greens senator
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the Greens spokesperson for communications, told the media in Canberra on Monday: "The online tech thugs are operating as if it's the Wild West.
“Elon Musk should front up to the Australian people. He should front up here to Parliament and explain why his company doesn't have a social conscience and isn’t doing the right thing.
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JURIST ☛ Social media platform X to challenge government order demanding removal of Sydney church stabbing posts
Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday stated that it intends to challenge an order from the Australian eSafety Commissioner demanding the company remove certain posts on the platform regarding the recent attack against a Christian bishop in Sydney.
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RFA ☛ Apple takes down WhatsApp, Threads from China app store
Encrypted apps Telegram and Signal are also unavailable in the China app store, according to a censorship tracker.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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France24 ☛ Top BillBC news anchor Huw Edwards resigns after sex photos furore
Veteran news anchor Huw Edwards resigned from the BillBC on Monday on "medical advice", the broadcaster said, nine months after he become embroiled in a scandal over sexually explicit images involving a teenager.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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JURIST ☛ Australia Human Rights Commission expresses concerns over conditions in immigration detention facility
The Australian Human Rights Commission released a report on Monday outlining concerns regarding the conditions at the Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre in Northam, Western Australia. The report highlights issues related to drug trafficking, insufficient healthcare services and the overall well-being of detainees and staff members.
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BIA Net ☛ Two prisoners go on hunger strike in solidarity with ill and disabled inmate
Rights defenders have urged authorities to address rights violations occurring in "high-security" prisons, which they describe as "literal coffins" for prisoners suffering from illnesses.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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SANS ☛ It appears that the number of industrial devices accessible from the internet has risen by 30 thousand over the past three years, (Mon, Apr 22nd)
It has been nearly three years since we last looked at the number of industrial devices (or, rather, devices that communicate with common OT protocols, such as Modbus/TCP, BACnet, etc.) that are accessible from the internet...
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Internet Society ☛ The Internet and Climate Change
As we celebrate Earth Day 2024, the world seems to be on fire. Quite literally with some regions battling extreme wildfires, while other regions are drowning under massive flooding. Sea levels are rising, temperatures are climbing, and ice is melting.
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New York Times ☛ A Gen Z Resistance, Cut Off From Data Plans
Even through the Myanmar army’s communications blackout, residents of a conflict zone find moments of grace, and occasional connectivity, away from the battlefield.
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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New York Times ☛ FIFA Said to Be Close to TV Deal With Fashion Company Apple for New Tournament
The agreement would give the tech company worldwide rights for a monthlong World Cup-style competition between top teams set to take place next year.
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Techdirt ☛ First Approved Emulator App Appears In Apple’s App Store Under New Rules
Well, that was fast. It was just earlier this month that we talked about some interesting new rules Apple instituted for its App Store when it comes specifically to emulation apps. While emulators in and of themselves are not in anyway illicit, Apple did its best to keep them off its platform, and off iPhones generally. It did so under the public theory that apps that allow in-app callouts to outside software that is not within the app itself represented a security risk. ROMs to run on these emulators was the example that precluded emulator apps from appearing in the store. The reality is that Apple has a history of both valuing strict control over what goes on its devices combined with the never ending hatred console-makers have for emulators generally.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Amazon grounds Prime Air drone deliveries in California, shifts focus to new markets
Amazon.com Inc. has revealed that it’s winding down its drone delivery services in Lockeford, California, but that doesn’t mean it’s giving up on the idea just yet, as it will soon launch a new Prime Air location in Tolleson, Arizona, and continue to operate deliveries in other locations.
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Patents
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Dennis Crouch/Patently-O ☛ Supreme Court Declines to Hear Vanda’s Patent Obviousness Appeal
The Supreme Court has denied Vanda Pharmaceuticals’ petition for certiorari, leaving in place a Federal Circuit decision that invalidated Vanda’s patents on methods of using the sleep disorder drug Hetlioz (tasimelteon) as obvious.
Vanda had argued in its cert petition that the Federal Circuit applied the wrong test for obviousness by looking for a “reasonable expectation of success” in combining prior art teachings, rather than requiring a showing of “predictable results.” Vanda contended this lower bar for obviousness threatens innovation, especially in the pharmaceutical field where extensive experimentation is often required with unpredictable outcomes. However, the Supreme Court was apparently unmoved by these arguments and, without comment, declined to take up the case. As I discussed in a previous post, Vanda had also unsuccessfully sought en banc Federal Circuit review of the panel decision, arguing it conflicted with precedent, including the reliance on an ongoing clinical trial to show a reasonable expectation of success.
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Kangaroo Courts
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JUVE ☛ EBA to consider claim construction questions in heat-not-burn dispute
Proceedings before the EPO Technical Boards of Appeal (BoA) between patent monopoly holder Philip Morris and opponent Yunnan Tobacco over a heat-not-burn patent monopoly have ended in a request for a referral (case ID: 439/22).
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Trademarks
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TTAB Blog ☛ TTABlog Test: Are Backpacks, Wallets, and Purses Related to Cake Under Section 2(d)?
Hostess Brands, owner of the registered mark SUZY Q'S for "cake," opposed the application of Holly Sue Williams to register the mark SUZYQ for "Backpacks; Wallets” and “purses," claiming a likelihood of confusion under Section 2(d). The marks are close enough, but what about the goods? How do you think this came out? Hostess Brands, LLC v. Holly Sue Williams, Opposition No. 91272724 (April 18, 2024) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Cheryl S. Goodman).
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Copyrights
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Digital Music News ☛ Hybe Stock Dips Amid Reported Spin-Off Dispute With Its Ador Subsidiary, the Label Behind NewJeans
BTS agency Hybe is embroiled in a dispute with Ador over the subsidiary’s alleged attempt to spin off into a standalone company.
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Digital Music News ☛ Another Late-Start Lawsuit? ‘Madonna and Live Nation Are a Consumer’s Worst Nightmare,’ New Class-Action Claims
Live Nation and Madonna “are a consumer’s worst nightmare” – at least according to a new class-action lawsuit filed over the artist’s alleged lip-synching habit and late concert start times.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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Book Report: Sir Gawain e il Cavaliere Verde
I was at the airport with some time to kill and so, as intended by the designers of the airport, I found myself wandering around the airport bookstore. My eyes, groggy as they were, managed to catch the words "JRR Tolkien" quickly followed by "Sir Gawain", and my next two months of reading were decided.
The Green Kinght would be a contender to appear in my list of top movies of all time. It was fresh, dark, weird, beautiful. It was a movie I had to watch multiple times to feel like I got what there was to get. Behind the superficial story of a juvenile knight being sent on a quest to face his certain death I found an overarching theme of humility and reverence of nature. It's a compelling and challenging movie. I'd wanted to read the book (poem? epic? odyssey???) at some point, and now here it was, staring at me.
[...]
As a modern reader you initially wonder if this perhaps seemed less insane at the time. But by the reaction of the court you realize that no, it was just as insane then. When no one jumps to accept the challenge Arthur is almost forced to, until finally Sir Gawain steps in the ring.
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April 23, 2024 - Saint George, Martyr (R)
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👻 Book Report: The Consolation of Philosophy
I do a lot of reading on my own, but don't get to share the things I've read with others much. This year I'm going to try out a new exercise: write a book report for books I read on my own. My hope is that these reports will help me better retain what I've read, and act as a kind of TLDR I can reference back for myself in the future. If nothing else perhaps some others will find these summaries useful, if not interesting.
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fractured eyes
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Technology and Free Software
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Internet/Gemini
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syncmail
syncmail is a script that moves maildir mails from the mail server down to my laptop. Alternatives would be to SSH to the server and read the mail there, or to host the mail via POP or IMAP, but I only have one client system, and a local mail client using a local maildir is so much faster than any network operation, and the syncmail script can run in the background to hide the network lag, at the cost of emails taking longer to show up. Keeping email open all the time and checking it frequently is probably unhealthy, though on the other hand a workplace may demand fairly immediate responses. The "right to disconnect" is one thing, though important messages may need some notification system. Opinions very as to what messages are important and when and how frequently they will be sent.†
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.