Anyone who works as a freelancer these days has to be at least a bit familiar with techie things. But it isn’t just that. When I was a kid and those vaguely SF puppet shows were on the television and all the other kids wanted to be Greg Gogetem or Steve Savetheuniverse, I wanted to be the guy in a white coat and glasses called Doc or Brains. Here are some technology-related feeds I find useful and/or entertaining.
Slashdot » OpenAI Board Reappoints Altman and Adds Three Other Directors
As reported by The Information (paywalled), OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will return to the company's board along with three new directors. Reuters reports: The company has also concluded the investigation around Altman's November firing, the Information said, referring to the ouster that briefly threw the world's most prominent artificial intelligence company into chaos. Employees, investors and OpenAI's biggest financial backer, … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Exclusive: Aid groups have no concrete long-term health plans for Gaza
Palestinians face a protracted health disaster as physical injuries, mental health issues and malnutrition are widespread in Gaza – and major health groups have no firm plans to address it [Link]
Slashdot » NYTimes Files Copyright Takedown Against Hundreds of Wordle Clones
As reported by 404 Media, the New York Times has issued hundreds of copyright takedown requests against Wordle clones "in which it asserts not just ownership over the Wordle name but over the broad concepts and mechanics of the word game, which includes its '5×6 grid' and 'green tiles to indicate correct guesses.'" From the report: The Times filed at … [Link]
Slashdot » AMD Stops Certifying Monitors, TVs Under 144 Hz For FreeSync
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: AMD announced this week that it has ceased FreeSync certification for monitors or TVs whose maximum refresh rates are under 144 Hz. Previously, FreeSync monitors and TVs could have refresh rates as low as 60 Hz, allowing for screens with lower price tags and ones not targeted at serious gaming to … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Snail robot excretes sticky mucus that helps it crawl up slopes
A remotely controlled robot with an inflatable foot that oozes mucus can crawl across surfaces like a snail, and could inspire soft medical robots that move through mucus-lined cavities in the human body [Link]
Slashdot » Marketers Are About To Infiltrate Subreddits
Ahead of its IPO, Reddit has announced a set of tools for businesses that want to be more active on the platform — including the ability to see which subreddits are mentioning a brand. For businesses, Reddit says it's a way to "establish and grow a meaningful organic presence on Reddit." 
Read more of this story at Slashdot. [Link]
Slashdot » Dozens of Top Scientists Sign Effort To Prevent AI Bioweapons
An anonymous reader shares a report: Dario Amodei, chief executive of the high-profile A.I. start-up Anthropic, told Congress last year that new A.I. technology could soon help unskilled but malevolent people create large-scale biological attacks, such as the release of viruses or toxic substances that cause widespread disease and death. Senators from both parties were alarmed, while A.I. researchers in … [Link]
Slashdot » Astronomers Detect 'Waterworld With a Boiling Ocean' in Deep Space
Astronomers have observed a distant planet that could be entirely covered in a deep water ocean, in findings that advance the search for habitable conditions beyond Earth. From a report: The observations, by Nasa's James Webb space telescope (JWST), revealed water vapour and chemical signatures of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the exoplanet, which is twice Earth's … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Quantum memory device could stop unhackable networks from failing
A memory device that temporarily saves quantum information could become an important addition to quantum networks because it would allow users to salvage information if it fails to transfer properly [Link]
Slashdot » Microsoft Sends OneDrive URL Upload Feature To the Cloud Graveyard
Microsoft has abruptly pulled a feature from OneDrive that allows users to upload files to the cloud storage service directly from a URL. From a report: The feature turned up as a preview in 2021 and was intended for scenarios "where the file contents aren't available, or are expensive to transfer," according to Microsoft. It was particularly useful for mobile … [Link]
Slashdot » Apple Reinstates Epic Developer Account After Public Backlash for Retaliation
Epic Games, in a blog post: Apple has told us and committed to the European Commission that they will reinstate our developer account. This sends a strong signal to developers that the European Commission will act swiftly to enforce the Digital Markets Act and hold gatekeepers accountable. We are moving forward as planned to launch the Epic Games Store and … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Damaged coral reefs can recover quickly after restoration work
Four years after being restored with steel frames, coral reefs in Indonesia damaged by blast fishing grow at the same rate as healthy reefs, but they have lower levels of species diversity [Link]
New Scientist – News » Chemical injection brings dying batteries back to life
Researchers restored degraded lithium-ion batteries to nearly full capacity by injecting them with a chemical that creates more charged particles inside them [Link]
Slashdot » Microsoft Says Russian Hackers Stole Source Code After Spying On Its Executives
Microsoft revealed earlier this year that Russian state-sponsored hackers had been spying on the email accounts of some members of its senior leadership team. Now, Microsoft is disclosing that the attack, from the same group behind the SolarWinds attack, has also led to some source code being stolen in what Microsoft describes as an ongoing attack. From a report: "In … [Link]
Slashdot » President Biden Calls for Ban on AI Voice Impersonations
President Biden included a nod to a rising issue in the entertainment and tech industries during his State of the Union address Thursday evening, calling for a ban on AI voice impersonations. From a report: "Here at home, I have signed over 400 bipartisan bills. There's more to pass my unity agenda," President Biden said, beginning to list off a … [Link]
Slashdot » China Readies $27 Billion Chip Fund To Counter Growing US Curbs
China is in the process of raising more than $27 billion for its largest chip fund to date, accelerating the development of cutting-edge technologies to counter a US campaign to thwart its rise. From a report: The National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund is amassing a pool of capital from local governments and state enterprises for its third vehicle that … [Link]
New Scientist – News » AI chatbot models ‘think’ in English even when using other languages
When answering questions posed in Chinese, French, German or Russian, large language models seem to process the queries in English, which could create cultural issues [Link]
Slashdot » 10 Years On, Is the World Any Closer To Finding MH370?
An anonymous reader shares a report: For the past 10 years it has remained one of the modern era's greatest mysteries. A commercial airliner with a strong safety record carrying 239 people vanishing from the map, spawning a wide variety of competing theories, books and documentaries and leaving the families of those left behind asking themselves every March 8 — … [Link]
Slashdot » Apple Releases visionOS 1.1 With Improvements To Persona, EyeSight, Virtual Keyboard and More
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MacRumors: Apple today released visionOS 1.1, marking the first major update to the visionOS operating system that was launched alongside the Vision Pro in February. visionOS updates can be installed by going to the Settings app on the Vision Pro, selecting the General section, and choosing Software Update. The Vision Pro headset will … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Engineers are diverting Mississippi river to restore Louisiana’s coast
South of New Orleans, a project to divert the Mississippi river could restore ecosystems destroyed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and build new land to protect against sea level rise [Link]
New Scientist – News » How one theory ties together everything we know about the universe
All known natural phenomena fit into just a few categories and unifying them all is quantum field theory, says physicist Matt Strassler [Link]
Slashdot » Should an Emoji Count As Confirmation of a Contract?
innocent_white_lamb shares a report from CBC News: In June, a Court of King's Bench judge ordered Swift Current farmer Chris Achter to pay more than $82,000 to a grain buyer with South West Terminal (SWT). The ruling stems from a text message when the buyer, Kent Mickleborough, asked Achter to confirm a flax contract that requested more than 85 tons … [Link]
Slashdot » Mexico Argues Glyphosate In GM Corn Is Unsafe For Human Consumption
Mexico is waiting for the United States to provide evidence that shows imported genetically modified corn is safe for human consumption. "In a written submission to a panel of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Mexico, the top buyer of U.S. corn, argued that science proves GM corn and the herbicide glyphosate are harmful to human health and its native varieties, and … [Link]
Slashdot » Microscopic Plastics Could Raise Risk of Stroke and Heart Attack, Study Says
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Doctors have warned of potentially life-threatening effects from plastic pollution after finding a substantially raised risk of stroke, heart attack and earlier death in people whose blood vessels were contaminated with microscopic plastics. Researchers in Naples examined fatty plaques removed from the blood vessels of patients with arterial disease and found … [Link]
Slashdot » Company That Plans To Bring Back the Mammoth Takes a Key Step
John Timmer reports via Ars Technica: A company called Colossal plans to pioneer the de-extinction business, taking species that have died within the past few thousand years and restoring them through the use of DNA editing and stem cells. It's grabbed headlines recently by announcing some compelling targets: the thylacine, an extinct marsupial predator, and an icon of human carelessness, … [Link]
Slashdot » Reddit Will Now Use an AI Model To Fight Harassment
An APK teardown performed by Android Authority has revealed that Reddit is now using a Large Language Model (LLM) to detect harassment on the platform. From the report: Reddit also updated its support page a week ago to mention the use of an AI model as part of its harassment filter. "The filter is powered by a Large Language Model … [Link]
Slashdot » Fedora Workstation 41 To No Longer Install GNOME X.Org Session By Default
Michael Larabel writes via Phoronix: Fedora Workstation has long defaulted to using GNOME's Wayland session by default, but it has continued to install the GNOME X.Org session for fallback purposes or those opting to use it instead. But for the Fedora Workstation 41 release later in the year, there is a newly-approved plan to no longer have that GNOME X.Org … [Link]
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