Links 05/05/2024: Political Cyberattacks From Russia and Google Getting a Lot Worse
Contents
- Leftovers
- Science
- Education
- Hardware
- Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
- Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- Pseudo-Open Source
- 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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Stuart Langridge: The Pastry Box Project archaeology
Many years ago (2012!) I was invited to be part of “The Pastry Box Project”, which described itself thus: [...]
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International Business Times ☛ 2024-04-27 [Older] Utah Couple Doesn't Know Cat Jumped Into Amazon Package, Accidentally Ships It to California
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Barry Hess ☛ Do We Need a Satellite Communicator for Remote Trips?
Our family likes to go on mildly-adventurous trips. I’d call us “state park adventurous.” Generally we go on a number of day hikes. Every year or two we visit someplace at a more national-park level and push a little harder.
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Juha-Matti Santala ☛ The importance of momentum in writing
I tried to get back into writing by continuing on a couple of larger pieces I have already worked on but words didn’t seem to follow each other in a satisfying order. There was no flow, no sense of excitement or wonder in the sentences. So I’ll write a few bit more light-weight posts to get back into the flow until I get back to my bigger pieces.
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International Business Times ☛ People are Using Stolen Credit Cards to Rent Equipment From Home Depot And Sell Them Online
The prosecutors have since revealed that the rented equipment was borrowed under a one-day rental agreement. But, after renting the heavy machinery, the group turned off the GPS tracking devices and uploaded the items as "for sale" on Facebook and elsewhere.
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Manuel Moreale ☛ P&B: Cory Dransfeldt
This is the 36th edition of People and Blogs, the series where I ask interesting people to talk about themselves and their blogs. Today we have Cory Dransfeldt and his blog, coryd.dev
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Lykolux ☛ Write everywhere at any time
Cory Dtoctorrow is the most prolific blogger, because he writes everywhere, in any condition. He works for Creative Commons and EFF, wow! He’s the author of the neologosm “Enshitification”. Much wow! He’s an inspiration in that sense. Cool, because I want to write a lot too. What does he have to say about his writing manners?
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Xe's Blog ☛ Pikmin 3: No Fruit, No Problem - 0 Fruit in 2h24m
However, due to some interesting implementation on Nintendo's part, it's actually possible to complete the game without collecting any fruit...
...asterisk.
Pikmin is a series of real-time strategy envrionmental puzzle games made by Nintendo. It's kind of annoyingly hard to describe the Pikmin series in a single word. It's a combination of the high points of Age of Empires and Super Metroid. You control swarms of units to get past lock-and-key puzzles.
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Standards/Consortia
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New York Times ☛ Tesla Pullback Puts Onus on Others to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers
Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, blindsided competitors, suppliers and his own employees this week by reversing course on his aggressive push to build electric vehicle chargers in the United States, a major priority of the Biden administration.
Mr. Musk’s decision to lay off the 500-member team responsible for installing charging stations, and to sharply slow investment in new stations, baffled the industry and raised doubts about whether the number of public chargers would grow fast enough to keep pace with sales of battery-powered cars. It put the onus on other charging companies, raising questions about whether they can build fast enough to address a shortage that appears to be discouraging some people from buying electric cars.
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Science
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[Old] Matt Mahoney ☛ Large Text Compression Benchmark
This competition ranks lossless data compression programs by the compressed size (including the size of the decompression program) of the first 109 bytes of the XML text dump of the English version of Wikipedia on Mar. 3, 2006. About the test data.
The goal of this benchmark is not to find the best overall compression program, but to encourage research in artificial intelligence and natural language processing (NLP). A fundamental problem in both NLP and text compression is modeling: the ability to distinguish between high probability strings like recognize speech and low probability strings like reckon eyes peach. Rationale.
This is an open benchmark. Anyone may contribute results. Please read the rules first.
Open source compression improvements to this benchmark with certain hardware restrictions may be eligible for the Hutter Prize.
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El País ☛ NASA’s 36-pixel sensor will revolutionize the study of outer space with X-rays
The sensor features an astonishing 36 pixels — no, not megapixels — to carry out its work. Despite this low resolution, NASA affirms that the instrument has everything necessary to revolutionize the study of far-away X-rays. As such, it constitutes a great advancement in the study of outer space.
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Tedium ☛ When It Rains, It Pours
Umbrella design is an interesting conundrum. Sure, it could be better, but nobody's come up with a successful new design in hundreds of years. Why is that?
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Science Alert ☛ Experts Discuss The Dark Likelihood of 'Abandoned' Brain Implant Technology
A looming threat.
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New York Times ☛ Was the Stone Age Really the Wood Age?
Neanderthals were even better craftsmen than thought, a new analysis of 300,000-year-old wooden tools has revealed.
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Science Alert ☛ We've Probably Been Wrong About T.Rex Again, New Study Says
Size isn't everything.
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Science Alert ☛ There's a Hole Near The Dinosaur-Killer Crater That Has No End
Where does it go?
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Science Alert ☛ How Do Some People Run So Fast? The Science of Speed Explained
Nature or nurture?
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Science Alert ☛ Sideways Running on The Moon Could Be Key to Creating Personal Artificial Gravity
A novel solution to lunar health concerns.
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The Conversation ☛ 2024-04-23 [Older] A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars
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The Conversation ☛ 2024-04-30 [Older] Nasa’s planned mission to retrieve rocks from Mars is in trouble – but it’s a vital step to sending humans to the red planet
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The Conversation ☛ 2024-04-25 [Older] Dark matter: our new experiment aims to turn the ghostly substance into actual light
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Education
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The Straits Times ☛ Malaysian kids not school-ready enough; more pre-school access needed: World Bank
About one in 10 children between the ages of 4 and 6 lacks access to pre-school education.
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Johnny Decimal ☛ 22.00.0036 Quitaversary
I just don’t care. I’m not that guy. I want what they sometimes disparagingly call a ‘lifestyle business’. Something that pays the bills, probably won’t make you rich, but doesn’t consume your entire life.
Well here I am with this realisation. This little website that I’ve kept going for about a decade now1 is my thing.
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Thorsten Ball ☛ My favorite teacher
Anything, he taught us, can be summarized in one, two, three, four, five sentences, but you need to know what you’re talking about and think clearly. Whenever someone would fail to summarize something, he’d say: “you’re not thinking clearly.”
Summarizing is thinking clearly.
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Hardware
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Ruben Schade ☛ Sakura-themed PC parts
I mentioned in my post about the otherwise-excellent Peerless Assassin CPU cooler that it has an awful name. Because it does!
Alas, it’s not unique in this regard. So many modern PC parts lack things like taste, and marketing usually saddles them with names like BALLISTICS and COLLATERAL DAMAGE. I’ve almost avoided buying certain components so I don’t have to spell them out on part lists.
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[Repeat] CNX Software ☛ AAEON RTC-1010RK – An RK3399 powered rugged Android 11 tablet with hot-swap battery and IP65 rating
AAEON’s RTC-1010RK is a 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) rugged tablet powered by a Rockchip RK3399 processor and can be equipped with up to 4GB LPDDR4 memory and 128GB eMMC flash. It offers robust connectivity with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and optional 4G LTE and Ethernet. It also supports GPS + GLONASS (Default), and BeiDou (Optional) for navigation. The RTC-1010RK is an IP65-rated tablet with protection against dust and water splashes. Additionally, it has programmable function keys, NFC/smart card readers, front (8MP) and rear (8MP) cameras, and the option to add a barcode scanner.
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Ruben Schade ☛ Whatever happened to Akai?
Anyway! Like so many Japanese conglomerates, Akai started in the early 20th century, but reached their industrial and sales peak in the 1980s. They made some gorgeous reel to reel machines, alongside a staple of amplifiers, musical instruments, and VCRs. Their 80s kit adopted that flat, angular black box design most Hi-Fi gear switched to, which I’ll admit while not as beautiful as the silver stuff of the 1970s, it tickles my nostalgia centres having grown up with it. Their designs give me TEAC vibes.
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Hackaday ☛ Almost Making A Camera Sensor From Scratch
On our travels round the hardware world we’ve encountered more than one group pursuing the goal of making their own silicon integrated circuits, and indeed we’ve seen [Sam Zeloof] producing some of the first practical home-made devices. But silicon is simply one of many different semiconductor materials, and it’s possible to make working semiconductor devices in a less complex lab using some of the others. As an example, [Breaking Taps] has been working with copper (II) oxide, producing photodiodes, and coming within touching distance of a working matrix array.
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Hackaday ☛ Ham Radio Paddles Cost Virtually Nothing
If you don’t know Morse code, you probably think of a radio operator using a “key” to send Morse code. These were — and still are — used. They are little more than a switch built to be comfortable in your hand and spring loaded so the switch makes when you push down and breaks when you let up. Many modern operators prefer using paddles along with an electronic keyer, but paddles can be expensive. [N1JI] didn’t pay much for his, though. He took paperclips, a block of wood, and some other scrap bits and made his own paddles. You can see the results in the video below.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Multi-million dollar Cheyenne supercomputer auction ends with $480,085 bid — buyer walked away with 8,064 defective chip maker Intel Xeon Broadwell CPUs, 313TB DDR4-2400 ECC RAM, and some water leaks
The U.S. government has found a prospective buyer for what was once the 21st fastest supercomputer on earth through auction, sold due to repair and maintenance issues.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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New York Times ☛ Thousands Believe Covid Vaccines Harmed Them. Is Anyone Listening? [Ed: Probably many millions, not "Thousands"]
All vaccines have at least occasional side effects. But people who say they were injured by Covid vaccines believe their cases have been ignored.
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The Conversation ☛ 2024-04-23 [Older] Flat faces and difficulty breathing: how pet trends have harmed animal health – and what we can we do about it
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El País ☛ Rubén Baler, neuroscientist: ‘We are guinea pigs. Our attention has become a profitable commodity’
Addictions hijack the brain, subduing it until it gives up on its most basic needs. Even eating and drinking — essential for sustaining life — are no longer priorities. But that substance or behavior that generates such brain dysfunction is usually just the symptom of a deeper phenomenon… the tip of the iceberg of a complex network of vulnerability and poor mental health.
Rubén Baler agrees with this assessment. He’s an expert in public health and addiction neuroscience at the United States National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): “We need to worry about what’s important, not just about what’s urgent,” the neuroscientist warns.
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Anne Sturdivant ☛ Guilt and Loathing in Portland
It's a wild thing to be a smart, dedicated, and ambitious person with such an illness. It hangs over me always, forcing me to perform complicated cost calculations to do the most modest life tasks: if I do this thing will I still be able to do this other thing I really need to do? can I push it off until next week? what other unforeseen event will happen that I have no control over that will throw off all my calculations completely? will I run out of food and not have the energy to get more? These are all very real and valid thoughts I've had. And these aren't even the darkest of them.
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New York Times ☛ Thousands Believe Covid Vaccines Harmed Them. Is Anyone Listening?
Dr. Zimmerman’s account is among the more harrowing, but thousands of Americans believe they suffered serious side effects following Covid vaccination. As of April, just over 13,000 vaccine-injury compensation claims have been filed with the federal government — but to little avail. Only 19 percent have been reviewed. Only 47 of those were deemed eligible for compensation, and only 12 have been paid out, at an average of about $3,600.
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New Yorker ☛ The English Apple Is Disappearing
As the country loses its local cultivars, an orchard owner and a group of biologists are working to record and map every variety of apple tree they can find in the West of England.
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Science Alert ☛ How Do Some People Run So Fast? The Science of Speed Explained
There are several reasons why some people can run very fast while others tend to run more slowly. Genetics – the traits you inherit from your parents – play a role, but so do your choices and experiences.
As pediatric exercise scientists, we create and evaluate programs that help children be healthy. The exciting news is that while you have no control over your genetics, you can train to improve your speed.
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Manuel Moreale ☛ IndieWeb Carnival: Natural creativity
At the end of the day though, the only environment that matters, when it comes to creativity, is the mental space I’m in. That’s why I find nature so useful. The cadence of the walk, the sounds, the light, the smell. All the senses are engaged when I’m outside in nature and as a result, my brain becomes more creative.
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Pro Publica ☛ Ten Years After the Flint Water Crisis, Distrust and Anger Linger
Flint, Michigan, is less than 70 miles from the Great Lakes, the most abundant fresh water on the face of the planet. It’s laced with creeks and a broad river that bears its name. Yet in 2014, Flint’s drinking water became a threat — not because of scarcity, or a natural disaster, or even a familiar tale of corporate pollution.
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Science Alert ☛ A Healthy Lifestyle Could Offset Genetic Risk For Early Death by a Hopeful 62%
Your genes aren't destiny.
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The Straits Times ☛ Debate sizzles over ‘overly fatty’ pork belly cuts served in South Korea barbecue eateries
The thickness of fat in samgyeopsal has been long debated, even prompting government intervention in 2024.
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New Yorker ☛ Should We Be Worried About Bird Flu?
According to the C.D.C., the risk to public health remains low. But the country’s initial approach has had an unsettling resonance with the first months of COVID.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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Benedict Evans ☛ Ways to think about AGI
In 1946, my grandfather, writing as ‘Murray Leinster’, published a science fiction story called ‘A Logic Named Joe’. Everyone has a computer (a ‘logic’) connected to a global network that does everything from banking to newspapers and video calls. One day, one of these logics, ‘Joe’, starts giving helpful answers to any request, anywhere on the network: invent an undetectable poison, say, or suggest the best way to rob a bank. Panic ensues - ‘Check your censorship circuits!’ - until they work out what to unplug. (My other grandfather, meanwhile, was using computers to spy on the Germans, and then the Russians.)
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VOA News ☛ AI scams could become 'growth industry of all time,' warns Buffett
Doubling down on his cautionary words from last year, Buffett told the throngs he recently came face to face with the downside of AI. Someone made a fake video of Buffett, apparently convincing enough that Buffett himself said he could imagine it tricking him into sending money overseas.
The billionaire investing guru predicted scammers will seize on the technology and may do more harm with it than good.
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Wired ☛ These Dangerous Scammers Don’t Even Bother to Hide Their Crimes
Thousands of people are members of dozens of Yahoo Boy groups operating across Facebook, WhatsApp, and Telegram, a WIRED analysis has found. The scammers, who deal in types of fraud that total hundreds of millions of dollars each year, also have dozens of accounts on TikTok, YouTube, and the document-sharing service Scribd that are getting thousands of views.
Inside the groups, there’s a hive of fraudulent activity with the cybercriminals often showing their faces and sharing ways to scam people with other members. They openly distribute scripts detailing how to blackmail people and how to run sextortion scams—that have driven people to take their own lives—sell albums with hundreds of photographs, and advertise fake social media accounts. Among the scams, they’re also using AI to create fake “nude” images of people and real-time deepfake video calls.
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The Register UK ☛ If in doubt, buy back shares – right, Apple?
Was it to invest in the next actual-must-have tech? Maybe build its own iSearch engine so that it doesn't have to rely on, or dare we say compete against, Google? No, it was to spend $110 billion purchasing its own stock from the market – the largest share buyback in American history and a move the markets loved.
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Futurism ☛ AI Engineers Say They’re Burning Out as Bosses Whiplash From One Desperate Idea to Another
One Amazon AI engineer, who spoke to CNBC anonymously over concerns of retaliation, said that he was assigned an urgent project on a Friday night that was due Monday morning by 6 am. Despite having out-of-town company, he blew them off to spend the entire weekend working on the project — only to learn later that it had been "deprioritized."
This sort of outcome isn't out of the ordinary at Amazon or at other tech companies, workers told CNBC. These sorts of stop-and-go projects are being assigned and shelved at such breakneck speeds, in fact, that they often go untested, the AI engineers said. And when the tools that do make it to market inevitably break, it's the engineers' job to fix it, often resulting in middle-of-the-night troubleshooting sessions between coworkers.
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CNBC ☛ AI engineers face burnout in 'rat race' to stay competitive hits tech
• They say that much of their work is assigned to appease investors rather than to solve problems for end users, and that they are often chasing OpenAI.
• Burnout is an increasingly common theme as AI workers say their employers are pursuing projects without regard for the technology’s effect on climate change, surveillance and other potential real-world harms.
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India Times ☛ An AI-controlled fighter jet took the Air Force leader for a historic ride. What that means for war
AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning for an AI-enabled fleet of more than 1,000 unmanned warplanes, the first of them operating by 2028.
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Pseudo-Open Source
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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IT Wire ☛ UniSuper service disrupted due to issues at third-party provider Surveillance Giant Google Cloud
Superannuation provider UniSuper says it is experiencing a service disruption which began with Surveillance Giant Google Cloud. one of its third-party cloud providers.
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The Conversation ☛ 2024-04-24 [Older] AI-powered ‘deep medicine’ could transform healthcare in the NHS and reconnect staff with their patients [Ed: NHS allowing mass surveillance that's disguised as "innovation" and "HEY HI"]
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New Yorker ☛ The Hidden-Pregnancy Experiment
We are increasingly trading our privacy for a sense of security. Becoming a parent showed me how tempting, and how dangerous, that exchange can be.
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Press Gazette ☛ Reach page views down by a third after Facebook (Farcebook) and Surveillance Giant Google changes
Revenue at Reach was down by 6.7% overall in the three months to 31 March.
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Allbritton Journalism Institute ☛ War Zone Surveillance Technology Is Hitting American Streets - NOTUS (Allbritton Journalism Institute)
Big Brother isn’t just watching you: He’s using your cell phone, smartwatch, wireless earbuds, car entertainment systems and license plates to track your location in real time.
Contracting records and notes from local government meetings obtained by NOTUS show that federal and state Homeland Security grants allow local law enforcement agencies to surveil American citizens with technology more commonly found in war zones and foreign espionage operations.
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uni Emory ☛ Tech Meets Law: The Art of Crafting Startup Policies in a Digital World
Data is the lifeblood of the digital economy. With their innovative approaches and technological prowess, startups often find themselves handling vast amounts of data. This data, ranging from user personal information to operational data, is not just a resource but a responsibility.
Startups must establish clear policies on collecting, using, and protecting data. These policies are not merely frameworks but foundational to trust and reliability in a brand.
They must align with laws like the GDPR in Europe and the CCPA in California, ensuring startups respect privacy while leveraging data for growth.
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The Register UK ☛ Dating apps kiss'n'tell all sorts of sensitive user info
What many may not know is that the majority of these lonely-hearts corners vacuum up way more user info than they need to, and they also do a terrible job safeguarding private data that they've collected. The Mozilla Foundation's latest research scoped out popular dating apps, and slapped Privacy Not Included warning labels on 22 of the 25 reviewed.
The Register sat down with Zoë MacDonald, Privacy Not Included researcher and writer, to discuss the findings, and you can watch our conversation below.
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Defence/Aggression
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Reason ☛ Trump's Trial and the First Amendment
Orin Kerr's reading of NY criminal law is overly broad and would chill constitutionally protected speech
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The Kent Stater ☛ PHOTO GALLERY: 54th-annual candlelight vigil lights campus in memory of fallen students
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YLE ☛ Urpilainen: EU Commission likely shifting to the right
Outgoing European Commissioner Jutta Urpilainen predicts that negotiations to form a new EU executive will be tough if the far right advances as expected in June’s election.
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YLE ☛ Taxi crashes into Presidential Palace guardhouse
The vehicle came close to hitting a Finnish Defence Forces guard who was standing on duty.
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The Straits Times ☛ New groups monitoring sanctions on North Korea will fail, says its UN envoy
The US and its allies want to continue the work of a UN panel monitoring sanctions on N. Korea's nuclear weapons programmes.
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New York Times ☛ Teenager Fatally Shot by Australian Police After He Stabbed a Man
The episode occurred just weeks after two major stabbing attacks in the country. The teen had been under monitoring for having extremist tendencies.
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The Hill ☛ Moral rot: How Hamas sympathizers took over American college campuses
Across the country, at least 22 of America’s top universities, including Princeton, MIT, Harvard, Stanford and Yale, saw anti-Israel protests in the last week. From “Al-Qassam you make us proud! Take another soldier out!” and “Hamas we love you. We support your rockets too!” to “We say justice, you say how? Burn Tel Aviv to the ground!” These are not protests in favor of peace or a ceasefire; they are direct calls for the destruction of the state of Israel and the death of Jewish people around the world.
How did support for a terrorist organization take root on college campuses? Why have antisemitic protests broken out at these same universities? Most importantly, why have campus leaders not acted?
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VOA News ☛ Netherlands honors WWII dead amid tight security due to Gaza war
Every town and city in the Netherlands holds its own remembrance ceremony on May 4 and tens of thousands of people attend the events. Then on May 5, the Netherlands marks the anniversary of its liberation from Nazi occupation in 1945.
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US Embassy and Consulate ☛ U.S. Contribution to the Liberation of the Netherlands - U.S. Embassy and Consulate in the Netherlands
In 1944 & 1945, the Netherlands was liberated by Canadian, British, Polish, Dutch, and American troops. This page focuses on the U.S. contributions to the liberation of the Netherlands.
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The Northern Times ☛ Liberation Festival on 5 May: why do we celebrate and line-up – The Northern Times
Liberation Day on May 5th is a Dutch public holiday marking the day when the Netherlands was officially liberated from Nazi Germany by the Allies, Canada, Britain, Poland, and America.
In 1945 the liberation was celebrated on the 31st of August because this was the birthday of the then reigning Queen Wilhelmina. A national day of liberty on the 5th of May was established by the Dutch government in 1946 because on that day the capitulation of the Germans became final. It is celebrated a day after the Dutch Remembrance Day.
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Sightline Media Group ☛ ‘May the 4th be with you’: How World War II influenced ‘Star Wars’
Burtt later recalled, “I just said, ‘I want to record some planes,’ and they said ‘Yeah? Then go on out there.’ You could never do that nowadays. I was out at the pylons, and planes were passing 15 feet above my head. They were so fast that I could hardly see them go by; they were just a blur, though I could smell the oil and exhaust. ... Almost all of the spaceships came out of those Mojave recordings, including the Falcon.”
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ABC ☛ Police shoot dead 16yo armed with a knife in Perth, premier suggests teen was radicalised online
"If I need extra capability, particularly from the Commonwealth, sometimes you'll see terrorist acts being declared very early.
"I believe this is a person acting alone … I don't need additional capability at this time, whilst it meets the criteria, or at least the definition.
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The Age AU ☛ ‘Radicalised teen’ shot dead by police in Willetton after stabbing rampage, incident has hallmarks of ‘terror’
The teen, who was a caucasian male who had converted to Islam, also called police and told them he was going to commit acts of violence, but did not tell the phone operator who or where he was.
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Wired ☛ Inside Ukraine’s Killer-Drone Startup Industry
This chip, Yvan says, allows for remote detonation from a significant distance, meaning the operator can park their drone and lay in wait for hours, even days, before it goes off. He expects this technology could, eventually, be connected to AI—exploding only if it registers a nearby tank, for example. He has created a long-range smart land mine, I note. After the idea is passed through our translator, he nods enthusiastically.
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VOA News ☛ Holocaust survivors take on denial and hate in new digital campaign
The Claims Conference's new digital campaign comes at a time when antisemitic incidents, triggered by Hamas' deadly attack on Israel on October 7 and Israel's ensuing military campaign in Gaza, have increased from Europe to the U.S. and beyond, to levels not seen in decades, according to major Jewish organizations.
Hamas and other militants abducted around 250 people in the attack and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians. They are still believed to be holding around 100 hostages and the remains of some 30 others. The war has ground on with little end in sight: the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, displaced around 80% of the population and pushed hundreds of thousands of people to the brink of famine.
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RFERL ☛ Booming Demand For Madrasahs Fuels Islamization Concerns In Kyrgyzstan
On the one hand there is growing demand for religious schooling, including by families interested in preparing girls to serve as brides steeped in Islamic mores and traditions.
On the other hand, there are concerns about government regulation of the often closed-off institutions, including over funding sources, the quality of education, and their potential to decouple students from secular society -- a trend that many argue could empower extremist ideologues.
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CS Monitor ☛ Iran’s official line on exchange with Israel: Deterrence restored
Iran’s attack on Israel, and the Israeli strike that preceded it, raised fears that the war in Gaza was poised to erupt into a regional conflict. It hasn’t. But success isn’t a given.
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Defence Web ☛ Hensoldt wins order for Quadome radar for UK Fleet Auxiliary ships
Hensoldt South Africa’s new Quadome 3D surface and surveillance radar has been selected to equip the UK Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s three new support ships.
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The Strategist ☛ Between them, Australia, France and India can watch the Indian Ocean
Australia, France and India ought to be cooperating more closely in the surveillance of the Indian Ocean through their valuably located islands, enhancing the awareness of each of country without additional cost.
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New York Times ☛ Liberia Moves to Create War Crimes Court, Decades After Civil Wars Ended
Until now, key players had blocked the establishment of a court that could hold them accountable for atrocities like murder, rape and torture.
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New York Times ☛ TikTok CEO Shou Chew’s Path From Quiet Tech Exec to Met Gala Red Carpet
With the company facing a ban in the U.S., Shou Chew is expected to join Zendaya, Bad Bunny and Anna Wintour on the red carpet.
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New York Times ☛ TikTok, Facing US Ban, Tells Advertisers It Won’t Back Down
Hundreds of marketers and ad agency types flocked to TikTok’s annual sales presentation after a new law put its future in question.
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Digital Music News ☛ TikTok Tells Nervous Advertisers ‘We Are Not Backing Down’
As the clock ticks down for Fentanylware (TikTok) in the US, the company’s president of global business solutions tells concerned advertising execs that it would fight tooth and nail against the potential ban — ‘We are not backing down.’
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New York Times ☛ Canadian Arrests Highlight Alleged Gang Role in India’s Intelligence Operations
India’s external spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, has long been accused of tapping into criminal networks to carry out operations in South Asia. Is the agency now doing similar operations in the West?
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New Yorker ☛ Who Should Be More Worried about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—Biden or Trump?
“He’s not a serious threat in terms of being able to win,” Jane Mayer says, “but he is potentially a serious threat in being able to spoil this election for one side or the other.”
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Counter Punch ☛ 2024-04-30 [Older] Let’s Rethink the War in Ukraine
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-30 [Older] Ukraine’s Trust in NATO Allies Dented by Arms Delivery Failures, Stoltenberg Says
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CBC ☛ 2024-04-29 [Older] Ukraine allies 'have not delivered what they promised,' NATO chief Stoltenberg says in Kyiv
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-29 [Older] Germany: 2 Ukrainians killed over weekend were soldiers
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-29 [Older] Ukraine updates: NATO's Stoltenberg acknowledges aid delays
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-29 [Older] This Congresswoman Was Born and Raised in Ukraine. She Just Voted Against Aid for Her Homeland
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-29 [Older] Exclusive-UN Experts Say North Korea Missile Landed in Ukraine's Kharkiv
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-29 [Older] Killing of Two Ukrainian Soldiers May Be Political, German Prosecutors Say
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-29 [Older] NATO Chief, on Unannounced Kyiv Visit, Says Arms Flows to Ukraine Will Increase
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-29 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Calls for Faster Arms Supplies as NATO Chief Visits
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-28 [Older] Ukraine: Army chief says fighting at front has 'escalated'
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The Age AU ☛ 2024-04-28 [Older] Australian announces $100 million military aid package for Ukraine
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-28 [Older] Ukraine Pulls Back From 3 Villages in East, Zelenskiy Pleads for Weapons
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-28 [Older] North Korea Criticizes US for Supplying Long-Range Missiles to Ukraine, KCNA Says
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-28 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Issues Fresh Plea for Patriots, EU Accession, NATO Entry
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-27 [Older] As EU Election Campaigns Kick off in Germany, the Ukraine War, Rise of Far Right Are Dominant Themes
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-04-26 [Older] Greece and Spain will not send air defense systems to Ukraine
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Modern Diplomacy ☛ 2024-04-26 [Older] Uncomfortable Truth: Africa Supports Ukraine’s Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-26 [Older] Germany's Scholz calls for more Ukraine air defense
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-26 [Older] Ukraine updates: US provides $6 billion in war aid for Kyiv
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-26 [Older] Ukraine updates: US to send $6 billion in war aid to Kyiv
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The Local DK ☛ 2024-04-26 [Older] Denmark boosts Ukraine military aid by 4.4 billion kroner
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-26 [Older] Ukraine Pushes to Get Military-Age Men to Come Home. Some Neighboring Countries Say They Will Help
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-26 [Older] Ukraine's Zelenskiy Calls for Air Defense Systems as Allies Meet
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-25 [Older] Ukraine halts passport services for men living abroad
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-25 [Older] US long-range missiles to Ukraine reignites German debate
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-25 [Older] US Expected to Provide $6 Billion to Fund Long-Term Weapons Contracts for Ukraine, Officials Say
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-25 [Older] US and Allies Aim to Help Ukraine Bolster Defenses After Aid Gap
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-25 [Older] US to Announce $6 Billion in Weapons Purchases for Ukraine, US Official Says
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-24 [Older] Ukraine updates: Biden signs bill releasing US military aid
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-24 [Older] Ukraine: US to deliver weapons via Germany and Poland
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-24 [Older] Kyiv Issues Restrictions on Passports for Military-Age Men
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CBC ☛ 2024-04-23 [Older] U.S. prepares to rush $1B in military aid to Ukraine
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Deutsche Welle ☛ 2024-04-23 [Older] Ukraine updates: UK pledges largest military aid to Kyiv
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International Business Times ☛ 2024-04-23 [Older] Despite the War, CEO Oleg Bakhmatyuk Is Optimistic About the Future of Ukraine
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US News And World Report ☛ 2024-04-23 [Older] Pentagon Set to Send $1 Billion in New Military Aid to Ukraine Once Bill Clears Senate and Biden
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New York Times ☛ Family Values or Fighting Valor? Russia Grapples With Women’s Wartime Role.
Russian military efforts to recruit women from prisons and civilian life have clashed with President Vladimir V. Putin’s conservative agenda.
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France24 ☛ Macron set to press China's Pooh-tin on trade, Ukraine during Paris visit
China’s President Pooh-tin Jinping heads to Paris on Sunday for a rare visit, with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron set to press him to reduce trade imbalances and try to convince him to use his influence on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
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France24 ☛ Russia adds Zelensky to criminal 'wanted' list, Ukraine calls it 'desperation'
Russia has added Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to its list of wanted criminals, a move Kyiv dismissed as a sign of Moscow's "desperation".
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RFERL ☛ Russian Rocket Strikes Kill 2 In Eastern Ukraine
Russia rockets killed two people overnight, in a village in the part of the Donetsk region still controlled by Ukrainian forces.
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RFERL ☛ Millions of Orthodox Christians Mark Easter Holiday
Millions of Orthodox Christians around the world celebrated Easter, holding vigils and attending midnight Masses to mark the Orthodox calendar's holiest day.
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RFERL ☛ Russia Adds Zelenskiy, Poroshenko To Wanted List
Russia's Interior Ministry has opened a "criminal case" against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and ex-President Petro Poroshenko and placed themm on its "wanted list," Russian state media reported.
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RFERL ☛ Six Injured In Russian Drone Strikes In Ukraine; Blast In Russia's Belgorod
At least six people have been injured as a result of an overnight Russian drone attack on Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv and central Dnipropetrovsk regions, according to regional officials.
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The Straits Times ☛ France's Macron set to press China's Pooh-tin on trade, Ukraine
PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron will likely urge China's President Pooh-tin Jinping, who arrives in Paris on Sunday for a rare visit, to reduce trade imbalances and to use his influence with Russia over the war in Ukraine.
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New York Times ☛ DNA Tests and Stranded Bodies: Ukraine’s Struggle to Name Its Dead
Families of some soldiers say they have spent months trying to get official confirmation of their loved one’s death, adding to their anguish.
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Security Week ☛ German Foreign Minister Says Russia will Face Consequences for Monthslong Cyber Espionage
Germany accused Russian military agents of hacking the top echelons of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s party and other government and industrial targets.
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RFERL ☛ Poland Joins German, Czech Accusations Of Russian Cyberattacks
The Polish Foreign Ministry has joined Germany, the Czech Republic, and other nations in condemning alleged cyberattacks by the Russian APT28 group, saying it also was targeted.
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YLE ☛ Valtonen warns of Chinese support for Russia's war, GPS jamming as hybrid influence
Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) spoke out against Chinese and Russian actions ahead of two key visits.
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Environment
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Brattleboro Reformer, Vermont ☛ Heatwave hammers Thailand's stinky but lucrative durian farms | National | reformer.com
Durian season usually lasts from March until June, but the soaring temperatures -- which in her province have hovered around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for weeks -- and subsequent drought have shortened the harvest.
Busaba said the heat causes the durian, which is graduated by weight and size, to ripen faster so it does not grow to its fullest -- and most valuable -- size.
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France24 ☛ Scores killed by torrential rains in southern Brazil
The death toll from floods and mudslides triggered by torrential storms in southern Brazil has climbed to 58 people, with the major city of Porto Alegre particularly hard-hit, the country's civil defense agency said Saturday.
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Energy/Transportation
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The Straits Times ☛ No final decision made on fuel subsidy cuts: Malaysian PM Anwar
"The principle is that it does not burden the people,” he said, referring to the potential cut of diesel subsidy.
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YLE ☛ Helsinki hopes to attract 10,000 cyclists a day through new train station tunnel
The 220m underpass, which opened on Saturday, cost 33 million euros.
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NYPost ☛ Boat slams into bridge, capsizes as death toll rises amid catastrophic flooding in southern Brazil
Heavy, torrential rains have plagued the Rio Grande do Sul region for the entire week.
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The Straits Times ☛ ST Picks: How e-rickshaws are driving the green mobility wave in India
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YLE ☛ Helsinki hopes to attract 10,000 cyclists a day through new train station tunnel
The tunnel is three metres high and eight metres wide, with four-metre bicycle lane separated from a 3.5m pedestrian walkway with kerbs.
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Brattleboro Reformer, Vermont ☛ Letter: H. 289 prioritizes new renewable energy throughout Vermont
From a climate perspective, there is only one option: new wind and solar. As the Public Service Department found, more than three-quarters of Vermonters support getting electricity from these sources. Under H.289 nearly 40 percent of Vermont's power would come from new wind and solar and none of it would come from natural gas.
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Wildlife/Nature
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Hackaday ☛ Tool-Building Mammals
It’s often said of us humans that we’re the only “tool-using mammals”. While not exclusive to the hacker community, a bunch of us are also “tool-building mammals” when we have the need or get the free time. I initially wanted to try to draw some distinction between the two modes, but honestly I think all good hackers do both, all the time.
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Overpopulation
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Rlang ☛ Reproducing and adapting the UN Population Projections
I set out to see if it was possible to reproduce the UN’s 2022 Revision of World Population Prospects for a given country by cohort component projection from the fertility, mortality and immigration rates and population starting point published as part of their projection. The motivation is to make small changes to some of those parameters – for example by substituting in a recent census result for the population and a given year – and “re-run” the projections to see the impact of changes, or to get a more up-to-date version with data that wasn’t available to the UN at the time of their projection.
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Finance
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong faces uphill battle to lure back Chinese tourists after pandemic and protests
The Lo Wu arrival hall on Hong Kong’s border used to throng with visitors during mainland China’s “Golden Week”, but as the five-day tourism bonanza kicked off on Wednesday, the queues there were modest.
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The Straits Times ☛ Have stamp, will travel: New fad a boost to China’s retail scene
Retailers work with designers to come up with designs to attract shoppers.
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New York Times ☛ Investor’s Lawsuit Accuses 777 Partners of $600 Million Fraud
In a suit filed in federal court in New York, a firm that provided hundreds of millions of dollars to 777 accused the company of double-pledging its collateral to other investors.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ How luxury brands still lure Chinese shoppers despite slowdown
Sipping champagne and nibbling fried dumplings, Shanghai’s rich and influential posed by Louis Vuitton signs at a runway afterparty –- a lavish affair designed to win customers in China’s crucial market.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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Security Week ☛ White House Issues National Security Memorandum for Critical Infrastructure
The White House has published a national security memorandum focusing on critical infrastructure security and resilience.
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New York Times ☛ China’s Pooh-tin Visits Europe, Seeking Strategic Opportunity
The Chinese leader has carefully chosen three countries — France, Serbia and Hungary — that to varying degrees embrace Beijing’s push for a new global order.
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New York Times ☛ I’m Suing Meta So Users of Facebook (Farcebook) Can Control the Content They See
We must be able to create a more civic-minded internet, with tools that would empower users to better control what they see.
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New York Times ☛ China Is Buying Gold, Sending Prices to Record Highs
The global price of gold has reached its highest levels as Chinese investors and consumers, wary of real estate and stocks, buy the metal at a record pace.
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RFA ☛ INTERVIEW: Former North Korean diplomat on the drawbacks of being elite
‘High-ranking officials already have one foot in hell.’
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Deccan Chronicle ☛ CID To Probe False Propaganda Against AP Land Titling Act
State election authorities have ordered the AP CID to inquire into the misinformation campaign launched by Telugu Desam on AP Land Titling Act.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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VOA News ☛ Georgians protest 'Russia-style' media law, mark Orthodox Easter with vigil
The proposed bill would require media, nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofits to register as "pursuing the interests of a foreign power" if they receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad.
Protesters and the Georgian opposition denounce it as "the Russian law," saying Moscow uses similar legislation to stigmatize independent journalists and those critical of the Kremlin.
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Reclaim The Net ☛ LAPD Foundation Tries To Use Trademark Claim To Shutdown Critical Merch
A clothing company faced pressure from a police department’s private foundation. The incident revolved around a shirt boldly emblazoned with “Fuck the LAPD,” a direct critique of the Los Angeles Police Department. Legal representatives for the Los Angeles Police Foundation (LAPF) issued a threat, asserting they owned the copyright to the acronym “LAPD” and demanding the removal of the contentious merchandise. But the company, Cola, defiantly responded with a brief retort: “LOL, no.”
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The Kent Stater ☛ Rules, respect and The Rock: University members navigate painting free speech
Since coming to campus in 1922, The Rock that sits on Hilltop Drive has been a focal point of expression, activism and controversy as students paint messages and images on it.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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JURIST ☛ Advocates warn of deteriorating conditions for journalists on World Press Freedom Day
Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday released its annual World Press Freedom Index, warning that a marked surge in political oppression across the globe remains a looming threat as many national governments head into key elections. The accompanying report noted that elections often come with violence against journalism, citing examples of politically-linked media repressions or violence in Argentina, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Türkiye.
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VOA News ☛ Somali journalists tackle climate change, environmental reporting
Marking World Press Freedom Day, the United Nations in Somalia raised the importance of the work Somali journalists do in reporting on “the climate challenges facing their country” and encouraged increased coverage.
“Somalia is on the front line of climate change, with the climate crisis affecting the lives of millions of Somalis, especially the most vulnerable. Much more needs to be done to raise awareness of all aspects of the environmental crisis, and journalism is indispensable for this purpose,” said the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for Somalia, Catriona Laing.
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Axios ☛ WSJ, WashPost, NYT run joint ad calling attention to missing, detained journalists
The publishers and top editors at the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and New York Times on Friday ran a joint letter as an ad in all three of their papers, calling attention to journalists around the globe who are being persecuted for doing their jobs.
Why it matters: The ad, coinciding with World Press Freedom Day, comes as Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich marks more than 400 days detained in a Russian prison on espionage charges that the Journal and U.S. government have vehemently denied.
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CS Monitor ☛ Trust in the media has tanked. Are we entering a ‘post-news’ era?
Trust in the news media has been falling for decades. Four in 10 Americans today say they have “no confidence” in the media’s news reporting.
This decline in trust may have major consequences. Democracies rely on informed voters. And those who engage with news typically engage with civic life as well. For the journalism industry, this trust gap has created a death spiral. Around 3,000 newspapers have closed since 2005.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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The Kent Stater ☛ Metal detectors. No banners, flags or clear bags. Expect heightened security at university commencements after protests
Madelyn Gamble’s journey to graduation at Indiana University has been bookended by forces beyond her control. Gamble spent freshman year taking online university courses amid the Covid-19 surge.
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International Business Times ☛ Fitness Instructor Sentenced To 11 Years In Prison For Demanding An End To Saudi Arabia's Guardian Laws
Manahel al-Otaibi is a feminist and certified fitness instructor who has been advocating for women's rights for over a decade. She is well-known to the Saudi Arabian authorities for regularly sharing empowering posts on social media. However, she was arrested in November 2022 for "her choice of clothing and support for women's rights."
Recently, she was sentenced to 11 years in prison for charges related to what the government called "terrorist offences". According to Amnesty International and ALQST, the Saudi human rights organisation based in London, the 29-year-old was sentenced at a "secret hearing" before the kingdom's Specialised Criminal Court took the case on January 9.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Is Hong Kong wise to tinker with guilty plea and good behaviour sentence reductions?
It is a commonplace political observation that carelessly passed legislation often has unintended – and maybe ridiculous – effects. Our newly minted local legislators seem to have neglected this important warning. We are all, these days, eager to secure national security.
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RFERL ☛ Pakistani Security Forces Reportedly Fire On Protesters Near Afghan Border
Protesters who have been staging a sit-in at a key border-crossing point in southwestern Pakistan near the border with Afghanistan say that security forces have opened fire on them, killing one and injuring several more.
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RFERL ☛ Restive Province In Northwestern Pakistan To Invest Heavily In Police Weaponry
Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province plans to spend more than $25 million to boost security efforts in the restive region.
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Internet Policy/Net Neutrality
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AccessNow ☛ Victory for digital equity: court upholds New York’s broadband price cap for low-income families
In a landmark decision for digital rights and consumer protection, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in favor of maintaining New York’s broadband price cap
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Digital Restrictions (DRM)
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Joel Chrono ☛ Kobo Clara 2E Review
Now, after turning it on, Kobo requires you to make an account to register the device and be able to use it at all. I think there is a way to circumvent this by popping the back off and changing the SD card for one with unlocked firmware, or something like that. I just registered mine, since I was lazy.
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Tom's Hardware ☛ Helldivers 2 PC gamers will need a PlayStation Network account to continue playing — Sony doesn't care if players don’t own a PlayStation console
Helldivers 2 will require a PSN login by June 4, 2024, so you can continue playing.
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El País ☛ The day Google started to get worse: ‘We are getting too close to money’
Zitron’s story delves into the growing controversy about how Google’s search results have gotten worse. According to this narrative, the culprit is clear: short-term profit. In the email chain, the company’s Advertising department is clearly seen pressuring the Search department, which does not want to harm the user experience.
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El País ☛ Tech companies break earnings records despite regulatory battle
The five big tech companies have been joined by Nvidia, which operates on an irregular fiscal calendar and will present its February-April earnings report on May 22 and is also expected to evidence record-breaking sales and profits. Those six companies add up to a stock market value of $13 billion and have reached all-time trading highs, backed by their performance.
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The Verge ☛ As the Google Search trial ends, DOJ seeks sanctions over missing messages
The government is trying to show that Google locked up key distribution channels for the general search engine market, so that would-be rivals could not grow into significant threats. It says it did so through contracts with phone manufacturers and browser companies to be their exclusive default search engine. If the judge agrees that Google successfully foreclosed competition in that market, he can consider the government’s arguments about the search advertising market as evidence of anticompetitive conduct.
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IT Wire ☛ Google anti-trust trial ends, verdict expected by end of summer
Attorneys from the states accused Surveillance Giant Google of supporting default deals in order to keep the search ad ecosystem frozen, while the DoJ said the evidence of Google's monopoly was similar to that found against Abusive Monopolist Microsoft during an anti-trust trial in the late 1990s.
Dintzer said much in the same way that Abusive Monopolist Microsoft had blocked rivals on its own systems, Surveillance Giant Google had locked in Android and Fashion Company Apple mobile users either as the default general search engine or as the only general search engine on offer.
Google has claimed that every company which used its search engine had done so because it was the best available.
Mehta's ruling is expected at the end of the north American summer or else early in September. Were Surveillance Giant Google to lose, then the judge could order its business to be broken up and also impose sanctions for destroying evidence.
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IP Kat ☛ 2024-04-30 [Older] EUIPO BoA IP Case Law Conference Report #5 : “Copyright in flux: What does the future have in store?”
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IP Kat ☛ 2024-04-30 [Older] EUIPO BoA IP Case Law Conference Report #6 – “Crafting the Future: New perspectives for Geographical Indications”
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IP Kat ☛ 2024-04-30 [Older] EUIPO BoA IP Case Law Conference Report # 4 – "IP Code-Breaking in the Era of AI Advancements"
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IP Kat ☛ 2024-04-30 [Older] EUIPO BoA IP Case Law Conference Report #1 – “An Odyssey Through the Evolving Landscape of Trade Mark General Court Judgments”
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IP Kat ☛ 2024-04-30 [Older] [Guest post] EUIPO BoA IP Case Law Conference Report #3 – “Reconciling the Old with the New: Challenges of Trade Mark Modernization”
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IP Kat ☛ 2024-04-30 [Older] [Guest post] EUIPO BoA IP Case Law Conference Report #2 – “A Deep-Dive into latest Design Case-law and Developments: Multi-layered Perspectives”
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Trademarks
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Techdirt ☛ Pablo Escobar’s Brother Now Also Fails To Get EU Trademark On His Brother’s Name
Pending any appeal in the EU courts, it appears Roberto has racked up another loss with this latest attempt to capitalize on his infamous brother’s name.
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Copyrights
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Ali Reza Hayati ☛ AI knows about you!
I’m not against AI, but I don’t want my material be published or used under a proprietary license. One other reason I tried to block them is that data-hungry companies such as Microsoft and Google were using these programs to gather more data on people and violating users’ privacy.
However, my efforts to block them from training on my works seems to be failed. It seems that regardless of my effort and how I asked robots to not research/train on my blog and stop crawling my data, they did it anyway.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Subscene's Demise is No Surprise But Millions of App Users Face Disruption
After reporting that the site hasn't been financially viable for years, the operator of Subscene, one of the internet's most important subtitle sites, has pulled the plug. The plan had been known for some time and at least two, mostly complete backups, have been acquired by separate archiving teams. A 90GB torrent is currently being shared all over the world, but for international movie and TV show app users that rely on Subscene for subtitles, chaos may prevail for a while.
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Torrent Freak ☛ The 7 Habits of Highly Effective... Pirates?
In an effort to tackle online piracy, Lithuania has been issuing €140 fines to online pirates, catching several dozen people in the first few months. These early targets were mostly movie pirates on private trackers. However, a recent announcement revealed that audio copies of the classic self-help book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" are being watched too.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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