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 » Apple Opens the App Store To Retro Game Emulators
In an update on Friday, Apple announced that game emulators can come to the App Store globally and offer downloadable games. "Apple says those games must comply with 'all applicable laws,' though — an indication it will ban apps that provide pirated titles," adds The Verge. From the report: The move should allow the retro console emulators already on Android … [Link]
Slashdot » FCC Won't Block California Net Neutrality Law, Says States Can 'Experiment'
Jon Brodkin reports via Ars Technica: California can keep enforcing its state net neutrality law after the Federal Communications Commission implements its own rules. The FCC could preempt future state laws if they go far beyond the national standard but said that states can "experiment" with different regulations for interconnection payments and zero-rating. The FCC scheduled an April 25 vote … [Link]
Slashdot » Apple Lays Off More Than 700 Workers, Including Apple Car and MicroLED Teams
Apple is laying off more than 700 employees across the company, including its Micro-LED displays division and the recently shut down Apple Car project. 9to5Mac reports: As seen by 9to5Mac in the latest WARN report provided by the California Employment Development Department, the layoffs affect projects that have been in the news recently. For instance, Apple is laying off 58 … [Link]
New Scientist – News » We finally know why Stephen Hawking's black hole equation works
Stephen Hawking and Jacob Bekenstein calculated the entropy of a black hole in the 1970s, but it took physicists until now to figure out the quantum effects that make the formula work [Link]
New Scientist – News » Suppressing wildfires is harming California’s giant sequoia trees
California’s rare sequoias rely on high heat to disperse their seeds, and efforts to reduce the size of wildfires may be damaging their ability to reproduce [Link]
New Scientist – News » How a total solar eclipse in 1919 left physicists 'more or less agog'
One total solar eclipse changed physics forever – and even to this day these celestial phenomena are astonishing viewers and teaching us crucial lessons about the universe [Link]
Slashdot » Academics Probe Apple's Privacy Settings and Get Lost and Confused
Matthew Connatser reports via The Register: A study has concluded that Apple's privacy practices aren't particularly effective, because default apps on the iPhone and Mac have limited privacy settings and confusing configuration options. The research was conducted by Amel Bourdoucen and Janne Lindqvist of Aalto University in Finland. The pair noted that while many studies had examined privacy issues with … [Link]
Slashdot » Terraform Labs and Founder Do Kwon Found Liable In US Civil Fraud Trial
Terraform Labs and its founder Do Kwon have been found liable on civil fraud charges on Friday by a jury in Manhattan. The jury agreed with the SEC that the two misled investors before their stablecoin's 2022 collapse shocked crypto markets around the world. Reuters reports: The SEC accused the company and Kwon of misleading investors in 2021 about the … [Link]
Slashdot » Android's AirTag Competitor Gears Up For Launch, Thanks To iOS Release
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Will Google ever launch its "Find My" network? The Android ecosystem was supposed to have its own version of Apple's AirTags by now. Google has had a crowd-sourced device-tracking network sitting dormant on 3 billion Android phones since December 2022. Partners have been ready to go with Bluetooth tag hardware since … [Link]
Slashdot » Best Buy Geek Squad Agents 'Going Sleeper' After Mass Layoffs
An anonymous reader shares a report: Best Buy is conducting mass layoffs of Geek Squad employees this week, according to former employees who lost their jobs. Workers told 404 Media they were told by the company to stay at home Tuesday and to wait for a call from their bosses about whether they had been let go. Best Buy did … [Link]
Slashdot » AMD To Open Source Micro Engine Scheduler Firmware For Radeon GPUs
AMD plans to document and open source its Micro Engine Scheduler (MES) firmware for GPUs, giving users more control over Radeon graphics cards. From a report: It's part of a larger effort AMD confirmed earlier this week about making its GPUs more open source at both a software level in respect to the ROCm stack for GPU programming and a … [Link]
Slashdot » Meta Will Require Labels on More AI-Generated Content
Meta is updating its AI-generated content policy and will add a "Made with AI" label beginning next month, the company announced. The policy will apply to content on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads. From a report: Acknowledging that its current policy is "too narrow," Meta says it will start labeling more video, audio, and image content as being AI-generated. Labels will … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Left-handed monkeys prompt rethink about evolution of right-handedness
A popular idea links primates living on the ground with a tendency for right-handedness, but findings from urban langurs in India cast doubt on the idea [Link]
Slashdot » Cinephiles Rallying To Physical Media
An anonymous reader shares a report: Streaming was supposed to kill physical media, and has come very close. The DVD and Blu-ray market fell from $4.7bn in revenue in 2017 to barely $1.5bn in 2022. In September, Netflix ended its movie-by-mail service. Best Buy has removed physical media from its brick-and-mortar stores, and Target and Walmart may follow. Some new … [Link]
Slashdot » Commercial Bank of Ethiopia Names and Shames Customers Over Bank Glitch Money
An Ethiopian bank has put up posters shaming customers it says have not returned money they gained during a technical glitch. From a report: Notices bearing their names and photos could be seen outside branches of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) on Friday. The bank says it has recovered almost three-quarters of the $14m it lost, its head said … [Link]
Slashdot » AI Seen Cutting Worker Numbers, Survey By Staffing Company Shows
AI will lead to many companies employing fewer people in the next five years, staffing provider Adecco Group said on Friday, in a new survey highlighting the upheaval AI will bring to the workplace. From a report: Some 41% of senior executives expect to have smaller workforces because of AI technology, Adecco said in a report based on a survey … [Link]
Slashdot » UK Govt Office Admits Ability To Negotiate Billions in Cloud Spending Curbed By Vendor Lock-in
The UK government has admitted its negotiating power over billions of pounds of cloud infrastructure spending has been inhibited by vendor lock-in. From a report: A document from the Cabinet Office's Central Digital & Data Office, circulated within Whitehall, seen by The Register, says the "UK government's current approach to cloud adoption and management across its departments faces several challenges" … [Link]
Slashdot » China Will Use AI To Disrupt Elections in the US, South Korea and India, Microsoft Warns
China will attempt to disrupt elections in the US, South Korea and India this year with artificial intelligence-generated content after making a dry run with the presidential poll in Taiwan, Microsoft has warned. From a report: The US tech firm said it expected Chinese state-backed cyber groups to target high-profile elections in 2024, with North Korea also involved, according to … [Link]
Slashdot » Denis Villeneuve is Doing Dune 3
An anonymous reader writes: Variety reports that following the massive box office success of Dune: Part Two, Legendary has tapped Denis Villeneuve for a third installment that would presumably continue the story of how Paul Atreides goes on to conquer the galaxy. Earlier this year, Villeneuve told Empire that he had already "put words on paper" thinking about where he … [Link]
New Scientist – News » The mathematician who worked out how to time travel
Mathematics suggested that time travel is physically possible – and Kurt Gödel proved it. Mathematician Karl Sigmund explains how the polymath did it [Link]
New Scientist – News » How mass bleaching has pushed the Great Barrier Reef to the brink
Diving at One Tree Island in one of the most highly protected parts of the Great Barrier Reef reveals the shocking extent of the latest mass bleaching event [Link]
Slashdot » Roku's New HDMI Tech Could Show Ads When You Pause Your Game
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Kotaku: A new patent recently filed by TV and streaming device manufacturer Roku hints toward a possible future where televisions could display ads when you pause a movie or game. For Roku, the time in which the TV is on but users aren't doing anything is valuable. The company has started leasing out … [Link]
Slashdot » Google Rolls Out New 'Jpegli' JPEG Coding Library
Google has introduced a new JPEG library called Jpegli, which reduces noise and improves image quality over traditional JPEGs. Proponents of the technology said it has the potential to make the Internet faster and more beautiful. InfoWorld reports: Announced April 3 and accessible from GitHub, Jpegli maintains high backward compatibility while offering enhanced capabilities and a 35% compression ratio at … [Link]
Slashdot » Mars May Not Have Had Liquid Water Long Enough For Life To Form
Elizabeth Rayne reports via Ars Technica: Led by planetary researcher Lonneke Roelofs of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, a team of scientists has found that the sublimation of CO2 ice could have shaped Martian gullies, which might mean the most recent occurrence of liquid water on Mars may have been further back in time than previously thought. That could also … [Link]
Slashdot » How a Micro-Budget Student Film Changed Sci-Fi Forever
An anonymous reader writes: In the early 70s, young filmmakers John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon created a spaceship tale for a graduation project — little knowing it would influence Alien and many other works. Made for $60,000 by film school students, horror maestro John Carpenter's directorial debut Dark Star is now regarded as a sci-fi cult classic. Having just turned … [Link]
New Scientist – News » Could an MRI scan make prostate cancer screening more accurate?
Combining PSA blood tests with MRI scans is making the screening less harmful, but it still should be targeted only at high-risk groups, such as men who are Black or have a family history of prostate cancer, says a new report [Link]
Slashdot » Plex Asks GitHub to Take Down 'Reshare' Repository Over Piracy Fears
Plex is a multi-functional streaming platform that allows users to watch, organize, and curate their favorite media entertainment. Sharing Plex libraries is also an option; one that comes with piracy concerns. In an effort to "avoid the growth of piracy," Plex asked GitHub to remove a repository that allows people to reshare libraries that were not originally theirs. TorrentFreak reports: … [Link]
Slashdot » Rickroll Meme Immortalized In Custom ASIC That Includes 164 Hardcoded Programs
Matthew Connatser reports via The Register: An ASIC designed to display the infamous Rickroll meme is here, alongside 164 other assorted functions. The project is a product of Matthew Venn's Zero to ASIC Course, which offers prospective chip engineers the chance to "learn to design your own ASIC and get it fabricated." Since 2020, Zero to ASIC has accepted several … [Link]
Slashdot » Roblox Executive Says Children Making Money On the Platform Isn't Exploitation, It's a Gift
In an interview with Roblox Studio head Stefano Corazza, Eurogamer asked about the reputation Roblox has gained and the notion that it was exploitative of young developers, since it takes a cut from work sometimes produced by children. Here's what he had to say: "I don't know, you can say this for a lot of things, right?" Corazza said. "Like, … [Link]
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