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 » Your Next Pair of Walmart Pants Could Be 3D Woven
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: We've been ableto design and 3D-print plastic phone cases and toys at home for a decade now. For almost every other consumer product made in a factory, the robots have taken over the heavy lifting. But fashion is still stuck in the 20th century. Take a typical pair of chinos. Cotton threads … [Link]
Slashdot » Refund Fraud Schemes Promoted Online Are Costing Amazon and Other Retailers Billions
Refund fraud groups are exploiting lenient refund policies, resulting in significant losses for retailers like Amazon and prompting civil lawsuits and arrests. The scheme has become so pervasive that groups now market their services on Reddit, TikTok and Telegram. CNBC reports: Fraud groups are taking advantage of retailers' lenient return policies, experts told CNBC, which often include unlimited free returns … [Link]
Slashdot » Court Docs Reveal Epic CEO's Anger At Steam's 30% Fees
New emails from before the launch of the Epic Games Store in 2018 show just how angry Epic CEO Tim Sweeney was with the "assholes" at companies like Valve and Apple for squeezing "the little guy" with what he saw as inflated fees. "The emails, which came out this week as part of Wolfire's price-fixing case against Valve (as noticed … [Link]
Slashdot » How Nintendo's Destruction of Yuzu Is Rocking the Emulator World
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Verge: When Nintendo sued the developers of Yuzu out of existence on March 4th, it wasn't just an attack on the leading way to play Nintendo Switch games without a Switch. It was a warning to anyone building a video game emulator. Seven developers have now stepped away from projects, are shutting … [Link]
Slashdot » Massively Popular Safe Locks Have Secret Backdoor Codes
Two of the biggest manufacturers of locks used in commercial safes have been accused of essentially putting backdoors in at least some of their products in a new letter by Senator Ron Wyden. 404 Media: Wyden is urging the U.S. government to explicitly warn the public about the vulnerabilities, which Wyden says could be exploited by foreign adversaries to steal … [Link]
Slashdot » US Investigators Say Video Footage Overwritten of Work On Boeing Jet's Door Plug
The head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says investigators still do not know who worked on a Boeing 737 MAX 9 door plug involved in a Jan. 5 Alaska Airlines midair emergency and that video footage was overwritten. From a report: NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in a letter to senators that investigators sought security camera footage when … [Link]
Slashdot » Record Breach of French Government Exposes Up To 43 Million People's Data
France Travail, the government agency responsible for assisting the unemployed, has fallen victim to a massive data breach exposing the personal information of up to 43 million French citizens dating back two decades, the department announced on Wednesday. The incident, which has been reported to the country's data protection watchdog (CNIL), is the latest in a series of high-profile cyber … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Why biodiversity offsetting is a contentious issue in conservation
As a new law is introduced in England, requiring developers to create 10 per cent more wildlife habitat than they destroy when developing a site, does it really work to destroy nature in one place, but preserve it elsewhere, asks Graham Lawton [Link]
New Scientist – News » Combatting deepfakes is an evolutionary arms race
Disinformation is far older than humans. Lessons from evolutionary biology can help defend against it today, says Jonathan R. Goodman [Link]
Slashdot » Microsoft Drops Azure Egress Fees
Microsoft has eliminated egress fees for customers removing data from its Azure cloud, joining Amazon Web Services and Google in this move. The decision comes as the European Data Act's provisions targeting lock-in terms are set to take effect in 2025. Microsoft adds: Azure already offers the first 100GB/month of egressed data for free to all customers in all Azure … [Link]
New Scientist – News » What do home faecal test kits really reveal about our gut microbiome?
Many firms sell direct-to-consumer faecal testing kits, but an investigation has revealed that scientists don't yet know what makes for a healthy gut microbiome [Link]
Slashdot » Code.org Tells Court Zuckerberg-Backed Byju's Undermines Mission To Teach Kids CS
theodp writes: Tech-backed nonprofit Code.org on Wednesday fired the latest salvo in its legal battle over $3 million in unpaid licensing fees for the use of Code.org's free [for non-commercial purposes] K-12 computer science curriculum by WhiteHat Jr., the learn-to-code edtech company with a controversial past that was bought for $300M in 2020 by Byju's, another edtech firm that received … [Link]
Slashdot » Amazon Tells Warehouse Workers To Close Their Eyes and Think Happy Thoughts
Amazon is telling workers to close their eyes and dream of being somewhere else while they're standing in a warehouse. From a report: A worker in one of Amazon's fulfillment centers, who we've granted anonymity, sent 404 Media a photo they took of a screen imploring them to try "savoring" the idea of something that makes them happy — as … [Link]
Slashdot » Google's Safe Browsing Protection in Chrome Goes Real-Time
Google announced a major change to its Safe Browsing feature in Chrome today that will make the service work in real time by checking against a server-side list — all without sharing your browsing habits with Google. From a report: Previously, Chrome downloaded a list of known sites that harbor malware, unwanted software and phishing scams once or twice per … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Should everyone start eating snakes to save the planet?
Pythons convert food into meat more efficiently than other livestock, and they can be fed on waste meat, but this doesn't mean snake meat is inherently more sustainable [Link]
Slashdot » Undersea Cable Damage Causes Internet Outages Across Africa
Damage to at least three subsea cables off the west coast of Africa is disrupting internet services across the continent. From a report: The West Africa Cable System, MainOne and ACE sea cables — arteries for telecommunications data — were all affected on Thursday, triggering outages and connectivity issues for mobile operators and internet service providers, according to data from … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Chimp mothers play with their youngsters even when times are tough
Ten years’ worth of observations of a wild chimpanzee community show that most adults stop playing when food is short, but not mothers and their young [Link]
Slashdot » Outdoor Voices To Close All Stores This Week
Outdoor Voices, an athletic apparel company, is closing all its stores on Sunday, The New York Times reported this week, citing four employees at four different stores. From the report: In an internal Slack message reviewed by The New York Times, some employees were notified on Wednesday that "Outdoor Voices is embarking on a new chapter as we transition to … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Starship launch: Third flight reaches space but is lost on re-entry
The world’s most powerful rocket, Starship, launched from Texas and reached an altitude of more than 230 kilometres, travelling further and faster than it has done before. But it seems to have been destroyed on re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere [Link]
Slashdot » Craig Wright Is Not Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto, Judge Declares
A judge in the UK High Court has declared that Australian computer scientist Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, marking the end of a years-long debate. From a report: "The evidence is overwhelming," said Honourable Mr. Justice James Mellor, delivering a surprise ruling at the close of the trial. "Dr. Wright is not the author of … [Link]
Slashdot » China Hits Out at US Push To Ban TikTok
Beijing has hit out at US legislation to ban TikTok as former Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was assembling a consortium to buy the app from its Chinese owner. From a report: Foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that the US had shown a "robber's logic" towards the app (non-paywalled link), which has 170mn users in America. … [Link]
Slashdot » Paul Alexander, 'The Man In the Iron Lung', Has Died
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: The polio survivor known as "the man in the iron lung" has died at the age of 78. Paul Alexander contracted polio in 1952 when he was six, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. The disease left him unable to breathe independently, leading doctors to place him in the metal … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Can a pill really reverse ageing in dogs? Don't get your hopes up yet
A trial suggests that giving older dogs a supplement makes them cognitively sharper, but some scientists stress that pet owners should lower their expectations [Link]
New Scientist – News » Starship launch 3: What time is the SpaceX flight today?
Elon Musk’s SpaceX is gearing up for the third launch of its massive Starship rocket, following two failed missions, with coverage beginning at about 13.25 GMT. What will the company be hoping for and what can we expect? [Link]
New Scientist – News » A single meteorite smashed into Mars and created 2 billion craters
The debris from the formation of a relatively small crater on Mars created billions of additional craters, which could help us learn about Martian geology [Link]
Slashdot » SXSW Audiences Loudly Boo Festival Videos Touting the Virtues of AI
At this year's SXSW festival, discussions on artificial intelligence's future sparked controversy during screenings of premiers like "The Fall Guy" and "Immaculate." Variety reports: The quick-turnaround video editors at SXSW cut a daily sizzle reel highlighting previous panels, premieres and other events, which then runs before festival screenings. On Tuesday, the fourth edition of that daily video focused on the … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Did the people of Easter Island independently invent writing?
Wooden tablets containing a language of glyphs called Rongorongo may be evidence that the people of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, created their own writing system without the influence of European language [Link]
New Scientist – News » Anti-inflammatory nasal spray helps treat multiple sclerosis in mice
A nasal spray containing an anti-inflammatory molecule reduces the symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis in animals, although the treatment might come with risks in people [Link]
Slashdot » FAA Grants License For SpaceX's Third Starship Launch
The FAA today awarded a launch license to SpaceX for Starship's third-ever test flight on March 14. "The FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements," the agency wrote in a post on X this afternoon. Space.com reports: The megarocket has two test flights under its belt so far, which took place in April and November … [Link]
Slashdot » Playing Thriving Reef Sounds On Underwater Speakers 'Could Save Damaged Corals'
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Underwater speakers that broadcast the hustle and bustle of thriving coral could bring life back to more damaged and degraded reefs that are in danger of becoming ocean graveyards, researchers say. Scientists working off the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean found that coral larvae were up to seven times more … [Link]
Slashdot » Cognition Emerges From Stealth To Launch AI Software Engineer 'Devin'
Longtime Slashdot reader ahbond shares a report from VentureBeat: Today, Cognition, a recently formed AI startup backed by Peter Thiel's Founders Fund and tech industry leaders including former Twitter executive Elad Gil and Doordash co-founder Tony Xu, announced a fully autonomous AI software engineer called "Devin." While there are multiple coding assistants out there, including the famous Github Copilot, Devin … [Link]
Slashdot » Trying Out Microsoft's Pre-Release OS/2 2.0
Last month, the only known surviving copy of 32-bit OS/2 from Microsoft was purchased for $650. "Now, two of the internet's experts in getting early PC operating systems running today have managed to fire it up, and you can see the results," reports The Register. From the report: Why such interest in this nearly third-of-a-century old, unreleased OS? Because this … [Link]
Slashdot » Modern Workplace Tech Linked To Lower Employee Well-Being, Study Finds
According to a new study from the Institute for the Future of Work, contemporary technology often has a negative impact on workers' quality of life. The think tank surveyed over 6,000 people to learn how four categories of workplace technologies affected their wellbeing. TechSpot reports the findings: The study found that increased exposure to three of the categories tended to … [Link]
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