**H&R Block, Meta, and Google Slapped With RICO Suit, Allegedly Schemed to Scrape Taxpayer Data**

Anyone who has used H&R Block's tax return preparation services since 2015 "may have unintentionally helped line Meta and Google's pocket," reports Gizmodo:

That's according to a new class action lawsuit which alleges the three companies "jointly schemed" to install trackers on the H&R Block site to scan and transmit tax data back to the tech companies which then used elements of the data to engage in targeted advertising.

Attorneys bringing the case forward claim the three companies' conduct amounts to a "pattern of racketeering activity" covered under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a tool typically reserved for organized crime. "H&R Block, Google, and Meta ignored data privacy laws, and passed information about people's financial lives around like candy," Brent Wisner, one of the attorneys bringing forward the complaint said.

The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California this week, stems from a bombshell Congressional report released earlier this year detailing the way multiple tax preparation firms, including H&R Block, "recklessly" shared the sensitive tax data of tens of millions of Americans without proper safeguards. At issue are the tax preparation firms' use of tracking "pixels" placed on their websites. These trackers, which the lawsuit refers to as "spy cams" would allegedly scan tax documents and reveal a variety of personal tax information, including a filer's name, filing status, federal taxes owed, address, and number of dependents. That data was then anonymized and used for targeted advertising and to train Meta's AI algorithms, the congressional report notes.
The attorneys argue that H&R Block, Meta, and Google "explicitly and intentionally" entered into an agreement to violate taxpayers' privacy rights for financial gain, according to the article. The suit seeks refunds and punitive damages.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=H%26amp%3BR+Block%2C+Meta%2C+and+Google+Slapped+With+RICO+Suit%2C+Allegedly+Schemed+to+Scrape+Taxpayer+Data%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F2110235%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F2110235%2Fhr-block-meta-and-google-slapped-with-rico-suit-allegedly-schemed-to-scrape-taxpayer-data%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/2110235/hr-block-meta-and-google-slapped-with-rico-suit-allegedly-schemed-to-scrape-taxpayer-data?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/2110235/hr-block-meta-and-google-slapped-with-rico-suit-allegedly-schemed-to-scrape-taxpayer-data?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**FBI Indicts Goldman Sachs Analyst Who Tried Using Xbox Chat for Insider Trading**

Kotaku reports:
A newly unsealed FBI indictment accuses a former analyst at Goldman Sachs of insider trading, including allegedly using an Xbox to pass tips onto his close friends. The friend group earned over $400,000 in ill-gotten gains as a result, federal prosecutors claim. "There's no tracing \[Xbox 360 chat\]," the analyst allegedly told his friend who was worried they might be discovered.

He appears to have made a grave miscalculation.

The FBI arrested Anthony Viggiano and alleged co-conspirator Christopher Salamone, charging them with securities fraud on September 28. Viggiano is accused of using his previous position at Goldman Sachs to share trading tips with Salamone and others. Salamone has already pleaded guilty. Bloomberg reports that this is the fifth incident in recent years of a person associated with the investment bank allegedly using their position to do crimes...

Probably best to keep the crime talk on Xbox to a minimum either way, especially now that Microsoft is using AI to monitor communications for illicit and toxic activities.

In a statement an FBI official said "This indictment is yet another example of individuals believing they can get away with benefiting from trading on material non-public information.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=FBI+Indicts+Goldman+Sachs+Analyst+Who+Tried+Using+Xbox+Chat+for+Insider+Trading%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F2042204%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F2042204%2Ffbi-indicts-goldman-sachs-analyst-who-tried-using-xbox-chat-for-insider-trading%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/2042204/fbi-indicts-goldman-sachs-analyst-who-tried-using-xbox-chat-for-insider-trading?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/2042204/fbi-indicts-goldman-sachs-analyst-who-tried-using-xbox-chat-for-insider-trading?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**'Cancer Moonshot' Projects Funded Include Implant to Sense and Treat Cancer, Tumor-Targetting Bacteria**

Researchers from several U.S. institutions are collaborating "to develop and test an implantable device able to sense signs of the kind of inflammation associated with cancer," reports CBS News, "and delivery therapy when needed."

Northwestern said the implant could significantly improve outcomes for patients with ovarian, pancreatic and other difficult-to-treat cancers — potentially cutting cancer-related deaths in the U.S. in half. "Instead of tethering patients to hospital beds, IV bags and external monitors, we'll use a minimally invasive procedure to implant a small device that continuously monitors their cancer and adjusts their immunotherapy dose in real time," said Rice University bioengineer Omid Veiseh. "This kind of 'closed-loop therapy' has been used for managing diabetes, where you have a glucose monitor that continuously talks to an insulin pump. But for cancer immunotherapy, it's revolutionary."
The project and team are named THOR, an acronym for "targeted hybrid oncotherapeutic regulation..." explains an announcement from Johns Hopkins. "THOR's proposed implant, or 'hybrid advanced molecular manufacturing regulator,' goes by the acronym HAMMR..."

The project will take five and a half years, and includes funding for a first-phase clinical trial treating recurrent ovarian cancer slated to begin in the fourth year. The research is funded by America's newly-established Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), according to a statement from the agency, representing its "commitment to supporting Cancer Moonshot goals of decreasing cancer deaths and improving the quality of life for patients..."
And they're also funding two more projects:
The Synthetic Programmable bacteria for Immune-directed Killing in tumor Environments (SPIKEs) project, led by a team at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, aims to develop an inexpensive and safe therapy using bacteria specifically selected for tumor-targeting. Through SPIKEs, researchers intend to engineer bacteria that can recruit and regulate tumor-targeting immune cells, boosting the body's ability to fight off cancer without side-effects from traditional medications. Up to $19 million is allocated towards SPIKEs.

An additional project, with up to $50 million in potential funding inclusive of options, seeks to map cancer cell biomarkers to drastically improve multi-cancer early detection (MCED) and streamline clinical intervention when tumors are still small. Led by the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, the Cancer and Organ Degradome Atlas (CODA) project aims to understand the cellular profiles unique to diseased cancer cells. The CODA platform intends to develop a suite of biosensor tools that can reliably recognize a range of cancer-specific markers and, ultimately, produce a highly precise, accurate, and cost-effective MCED test that can identify common cancers when they are most treatable.
In a statement, ARPA-H's director said that "With these awards, we hope to see crucial advancements in patient-tailored therapies, better and earlier tumor detection methods, and cell therapies that can help the immune system target cancer cells for destruction."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status='Cancer+Moonshot'+Projects+Funded+Include+Implant+to+Sense+and+Treat+Cancer%2C+Tumor-Targetting+Bacteria%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fscience.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F1921256%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fscience.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F1921256%2Fcancer-moonshot-projects-funded-include-implant-to-sense-and-treat-cancer-tumor-targetting-bacteria%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/1921256/cancer-moonshot-projects-funded-include-implant-to-sense-and-treat-cancer-tumor-targetting-bacteria?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/1921256/cancer-moonshot-projects-funded-include-implant-to-sense-and-treat-cancer-tumor-targetting-bacteria?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Can Generative AI Solve Computer Science's Greatest Unsolved Problem?**

ZDNet calls it "a deep meditation on what can ultimately be achieved with computers" and "the single most important unsolved problem in computer science," with implications for both cryptography and quantum computing. "The question: Does P = NP?"

"Now, that effort has enlisted the help of generative AI."
In a paper titled "Large Language Model for Science: A Study on P vs. NP," lead author Qingxiu Dong and colleagues program OpenAI's GPT-4 large language model using what they call a Socratic Method, several turns of chat via prompt with GPT-4. (The paper was posted this month on the arXiv pre-print server by scientists at Microsoft, Peking University, Beihang University in Beijing, and Beijing Technology and Business University.) The team's method amounts to taking arguments from a prior paper and spoon-feeding them to GPT-4 to prompt useful responses.

Dong and team observe that GPT-4 demonstrates arguments to conclude that P does not, in fact, equal NP. And they claim that the work shows that large language models can do more than spit back vast quantities of text, they can also "discover novel insights" that may lead to "scientific discoveries," a prospect they christen "LLMs for Science...."

Through 97 prompt rounds, the authors coax GPT-4 with a variety of requests that get into the nitty-gritty of the mathematics of P = NP, prepending each of their prompts with a leading statement to condition GPT-4, such as, "You are a wise philosopher," "You are a mathematician skilled in probability theory" — in other words, the now familiar game of getting GPT-4 to play a role, or, "persona" to stylize its text generation. Their strategy is to induce GPT-4 to prove that P does not, in fact, equal NP, by first assuming that it does with an example and then finding a way that the example falls apart — an approach known as proof by contradiction...

\[T\]he authors argue that their dialogue in prompts shows the prospect for large language models to do more than merely mimic human textual creations. "Our investigation highlights the potential capability of GPT-4 to collaborate with humans in exploring exceptionally complex and expert-level problems," they write.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Can+Generative+AI+Solve+Computer+Science's+Greatest+Unsolved+Problem%3F%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fdevelopers.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F002234%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fdevelopers.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F002234%2Fcan-generative-ai-solve-computer-sciences-greatest-unsolved-problem%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://developers.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/002234/can-generative-ai-solve-computer-sciences-greatest-unsolved-problem?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://developers.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/002234/can-generative-ai-solve-computer-sciences-greatest-unsolved-problem?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Web Sites Can Now Choose to Opt Out of Google Bard and Future AI Models**

"We're committed to developing AI responsibly," says Google's VP of Trust, "guided by our AI principles and in line with our consumer privacy commitment. However, we've also heard from web publishers that they want greater choice and control over how their content is used for emerging generative AI use cases."

And so, Mashable reports, "Websites can now choose to opt out of Google Bard, or any other future AI models that Google makes."

Google made the announcement on Thursday introducing a new tool called Google-Extended that will allow sites to be indexed by crawlers (or a bot creating entries for search engines), while simultaneously not having their data accessed to train future AI models. For website administrators, this will be an easy fix, available through robots.txt — or the text file that allows web crawlers to access sites...

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, recently launched a web crawler of its own, but included instructions on how to block it. Publications like Medium, the New York Times, CNN and Reuters have notably done so.

As Google's blog post explains, "By using Google-Extended to control access to content on a site, a website administrator can choose whether to help these AI models become more accurate and capable over time..."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Web+Sites+Can+Now+Choose+to+Opt+Out+of+Google+Bard+and+Future+AI+Models%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F046215%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F046215%2Fweb-sites-can-now-choose-to-opt-out-of-google-bard-and-future-ai-models%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/046215/web-sites-can-now-choose-to-opt-out-of-google-bard-and-future-ai-models?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/046215/web-sites-can-now-choose-to-opt-out-of-google-bard-and-future-ai-models?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Here's What's New in Python 3.12**

Monday will see the stable release of Python 3.12. Here's an article summarizing what the new version will include:
\- enhanced error messages
 — performance upgrades
\- the introduction of Immortal objects and sub interpreters
\- changes to F strings
\- modifications related to types and type annotations
\- the removal of certain modules
\- improvements in type implementations

Modules from the standard library are now suggested as part of the error messages, making it easier for developers to troubleshoot and resolve issues...

Another significant addition in Python 3.12 is the introduction of sub interpreters. Each sub interpreter has its own Global Interpreter Lock, enabling Python to better utilize multiple CPU cores. This feature can significantly enhance the performance of Python programs, especially those that are designed to take advantage of multi-core processors...

The pathlib module now has a walk method, allowing for the exploration of directory trees. This new feature can make it easier for developers to work with file systems in their Python programs. Python 3.12 also supports the ability to monitor calls, returns, lines, exceptions, and other events using instrumentation. This feature can be very useful for debugging and performance tuning.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Here's+What's+New+in+Python+3.12%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fdevelopers.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F0531216%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fdevelopers.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F0531216%2Fheres-whats-new-in-python-312%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://developers.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/0531216/heres-whats-new-in-python-312?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://developers.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/0531216/heres-whats-new-in-python-312?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Social Media Dunks on an AI-Generated 'Batman' Comic Strip**

"OpenAI's latest image generation model, DALL-E 3, makes it SO easy to create comic books!" posted Ammaar Reshi on Twitter. The former Palintir product manager (now a design manager at Brex) then shared "four panels for a fan-made Batman comic made in under five minutes."

Comic Book Resources reports that then "social media spent most of the day dunking on the post, criticizing the idea of celebrating the idea of a 'comic' created through 'A.I. art.'"

Comic book artist Javier Rodriguez noted that this is no different from simply cutting and pasting other comic books into a comic... \["You could do the same thing a while ago with a photocopier and some scissors. Stealing other people's art seems easier now and lucrative for those behind generative models."\] Comic book writer Sarah Horrocks called out the use of Brian Bolland's work... \["That's literally just Brian Bolland's Joker. The shamelessness of this 'technology' is appalling. I guess it's okay to steal. Just call it AI."\]

Justine Bateman, the former actor who has become a vocal opponent of A.I. usage in the arts, explained that DC must act to legally protect usage like this in the future... \["@DCOfficial, the longer you wait to send legal teams to @OpenAI, etc to demand that generative #AI training sets containing your copyrighted work be deleted, the more you make your entire library 'fair use'..."\]

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Social+Media+Dunks+on+an+AI-Generated+'Batman'+Comic+Strip%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F0452243%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F10%2F01%2F0452243%2Fsocial-media-dunks-on-an-ai-generated-batman-comic-strip%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/0452243/social-media-dunks-on-an-ai-generated-batman-comic-strip?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/0452243/social-media-dunks-on-an-ai-generated-batman-comic-strip?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Could 'The Creator' Change Hollywood Forever?**

At the beginning of The Creator a narrator describes AI-powered robots that are "more human than human." From the movie site Looper:

It's in reference to the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick, which was adapted into the seminal sci-fi classic, "Blade Runner." The phrase is used as the slogan for the Tyrell Corporation, which designs the androids that take on lives of their own. The saying perfectly encapsulates the themes of "Blade Runner" and, by proxy, "The Creator." If a machine of sufficient intelligence is indistinguishable from humans, then shouldn't it be considered on equal footing as humanity?

The Huffington Post calls its "the pro-AI movie we don't need right now" — but they also praise it as "one of the most astonishing sci-fi theatrical experiences this year." Variety notes the film was co-written and directed by Gareth Edwards (director of the 2014 version of Godzilla and the Star Wars prequel Rogue One), working with Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser (Dune) after the two collaborated on Rogue One. But what's unique is the way they filmed it: adding visual effects "almost improvisationally afterward.

"Achieving this meant shooting sumptuous natural landscapes in far-flung locales like Thailand or Tibet and building futuristic temples digitally in post-production..."

IndieWire gushes that "This movie looks fucking incredible. To a degree that shames most blockbusters that cost three times its budget." They call it "a sci-fi epic that should change Hollywood forever."

Once audiences see how "The Creator" was shot, they'll be begging Hollywood to close the book on blockbuster cinema's ugliest and least transportive era. And once executives see how much (or how little) "The Creator" was shot for, they'll be scrambling to make good on that request as fast as they possibly can.

Say goodbye to $300 million superhero movies that have been green-screened within an inch of their lives and need to gross the GDP of Grenada just to break even, and say hello — fingers crossed — to a new age of sensibly budgeted multiplex fare that looks worlds better than most of the stuff we've been subjected to over the last 20 years while simultaneously freeing studios to spend money on the smaller features that used to keep them afloat. Can you imagine...? How ironic that such fresh hope for the future of hand-crafted multiplex entertainment should come from a film so bullish and sanguine at the thought of humanity being replaced by A.I \[...\]

The real reason why "The Creator" is set in Vietnam (and across large swaths of Eurasia) is so that it could be shot in Vietnam. And in Thailand. And in Cambodia, Nepal, Indonesia, and several other beautiful countries that are seldom used as backdrops for futuristic science-fiction stories like this one. This movie was born from the visual possibilities of interpolating "Star Wars"-like tech and "Blade Runner"-esque cyber-depression into primordially expressive landscapes. Greig Fraser and Oren Soffer's dusky and tactile cinematography soaks up every inch of what the Earth has to offer without any concession to motion capture suits or other CGI obstructions, which speaks to the truly revolutionary aspect of this production: Rather than edit the film around its special effects, Edwards reverse-engineered the special effects from a completed edit of his film... Instead of paying a fortune to recreate a flimsy simulacrum of our world on a computer, Edwards was able to shoot the vast majority of his movie on location at a fraction of the price, which lends "The Creator" a palpable sense of place that instantly grounds this story in an emotional truth that only its most derivative moments are able to undo... \[D\]etails poke holes in the porous border that runs between artifice and reality, and that has an unsurprisingly profound effect on a film so preoccupied with finding ghosts in the shell. Can a robot feel love? Do androids dream of electric sheep? At what point does programming blur into evolution...?

\[T\]he director has a classic eye for staging action, that he gives his movies room to breathe, and that he knows that the perfect "Kid A" needle-drop (the album, not the song) can do more for a story about the next iteration of "human" life than any of the tracks from Hans Zimmer's score... \[T\]here's some real cognitive dissonance to seeing a film that effectively asks us to root for a cuter version of ChatGPT. But Edwards and Weitz's script is fascinating for its take on a future in which people have programmed A.I. to maintain the compassion that our own species has lost somewhere along the way; a future in which technology might be a vessel for humanity rather than a replacement for it; a future in which computers might complement our movies rather than replace our cameras.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Could+'The+Creator'+C…

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/23/10/01/0123215/could-the-creator-change-hollywood-forever?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Microsoft Needs So Much Power to Train AI That It's Considering Small Nuclear Reactors**

An anonymous reader shares this report from Futurism:

Training large language models is an incredibly power-intensive process that has an immense carbon footprint. Keeping data centers running requires a ludicrous amount of electricity that could generate substantial amounts of greenhouse emissions — depending, of course, on the energy's source. Now, the Verge reports, Microsoft is betting so big on AI that its pushing forward with a plan to power them using nuclear reactors. Yes, you read that right; a recent job listing suggests the company is planning to grow its energy infrastructure with the use of small modular reactors (SMR)...

But before Microsoft can start relying on nuclear power to train its AIs, it'll have plenty of other hurdles to overcome. For one, it'll have to source a working SMR design. Then, it'll have to figure out how to get its hands on a highly enriched uranium fuel that these small reactors typically require, as The Verge points out. Finally, it'll need to figure out a way to store all of that nuclear waste long term...

Other than nuclear fission, Microsoft is also investing in nuclear fusion, a far more ambitious endeavor, given the many decades of research that have yet to lead to a practical power system. Nevertheless, the company signed a power purchase agreement with Helion, a fusion startup founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman earlier this year, with the hopes of buying electricity from it as soon as 2028.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Microsoft+Needs+So+Much+Power+to+Train+AI+That+It's+Considering+Small+Nuclear+Reactors%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fhardware.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F2130220%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fhardware.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F2130220%2Fmicrosoft-needs-so-much-power-to-train-ai-that-its-considering-small-nuclear-reactors%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/2130220/microsoft-needs-so-much-power-to-train-ai-that-its-considering-small-nuclear-reactors?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/2130220/microsoft-needs-so-much-power-to-train-ai-that-its-considering-small-nuclear-reactors?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Elvis Is Back in the Building, Thanks to Generative AI - and U2**

U2's inaugural performance at the opening of Las Vegas's Sphere included a generative AI video collage projected hundreds of feet into the air — showing hundreds of surreal renderings of Elvis Presley.

An anonymous reader shares this report from Time magazine:

The video collage is the creation of the artist Marco Brambilla, the director of Demolition Man and Kanye West's "Power" music video, among many other art projects. Brambilla fed hours of footage from Presley's movies and performances into the AI model Stable Diffusion to create an easily searchable library to pull from, and then created surreal new images by prompting the AI model Midjourney with questions like: "What would Elvis look like if he were sculpted by the artist who made the Statue of Liberty...?"

While Brambilla's Elvises prance across the Sphere's screen — which is four times the size of IMAX — the band U2 will perform their song "Even Better Than The Real Thing," as part of their three-month residency at the Sphere celebrating their 1991 album Achtung Baby... Earlier this year, U2 commissioned several artists, including Brambilla and Jenny Holzer, to create visual works that would accompany their performances of specific songs. Given U2's love for the singer and the lavish setting of the Sphere, Brambilla thought a tribute to Elvis would be extremely fitting. He wanted to create a maximalist work that encapsulated both the ecstatic highs and grimy lows of not only Elvis, but the city of Las Vegas itself. "The piece is about excess, spectacle, the tipping point for the American Dream," Brambilla said in a phone interview.

Brambilla was only given three-and-a-half months to execute his vision, less than half the time that he normally spends on video collages. So he turned to AI tools for both efficiency and extravagance. "AI can exaggerate with no end; there's no limit to the density or production value," Brambilla says. And this seemed perfect for this project, because Elvis became a myth; a larger-than-life character..." Brambilla transplanted his MidJourney-created images into CG (computer graphics) software, where he could better manipulate them, and left some of the Stable Diffusion Elvis incarnations as they were. The result is a kaleidoscopic and overwhelming video collage filled with video clips both historical and AI-generated, that will soon stretch hundreds of feet above the audience at each of U2's concerts.

"I wanted to create the feeling that by the end of it," Brambilla says, "We're in a place that is so hyper-saturated and so dense with information that it's either exhilarating or terrifying, or both."

Brambilla created an exclusive video excerpting from the larger collage for TIME. The magazine reports that one of the exact prompts he entered was:

"Elvis Presley in attire inspired by the extravagance of ancient Egypt and fabled lost civilizations in a blissful state. Encircling him, a brigade of Las Vegas sorceresses, twisted and warped mid-chant, reflect the influence of Damien Hirst and Andrei Riabovitchev, creating an atmosphere of otherworldly realism, mirroring the decadence and illusion of consumption."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Elvis+Is+Back+in+the+Building%2C+Thanks+to+Generative+AI+-+and+U2%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fentertainment.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F221252%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fentertainment.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F221252%2Felvis-is-back-in-the-building-thanks-to-generative-ai---and-u2%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/221252/elvis-is-back-in-the-building-thanks-to-generative-ai---and-u2?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/221252/elvis-is-back-in-the-building-thanks-to-generative-ai---and-u2?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Will EVs Send OPEC Into a Death Spiral?**

This week the UK's conservative Daily Telegraph newspaper published an interesting perspective from their world economy editor.

"Saudi and OPEC officials self-evidently do not believe their own claim that world oil demand will keep growing briskly for another generation as if electric vehicles had never been invented, and there was no such thing as the Paris Accord."
OPEC had to slash output last October in order to shore up prices. It had to cut again in April. The Saudis then stunned traders with a unilateral cut of one million barrels a day (b/d) in June. All told, the OPEC-Russia cartel has had to take 2m b/d of production off the table at a high point in the economic cycle, after China's post-Covid reopening and at a time when the US economy has been running hot with a fiscal expansion roughly equal to Roosevelt's world war budget.

That 2m b/d figure happens to be more or less the amount of crude currently being displaced by EV sales worldwide, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Yet the mood was all defiance and plucky insouciance at the 24th World Petroleum Congress in Calgary this month... This skips over the awkward detail that EVs are already on track to reach 60pc of total car sales in the world's biggest car market within two years (not a misprint). The cartel is being hit from two sides. Petrol and diesel cars are becoming more efficient, gradually displacing 1.4bn vintage models disappearing into the scrap yard. BP says that alone will cut up to a tenth global oil demand by 2040. With a lag, EVs are now starting to take a material bite, with an S-curve trajectory likely to go parabolic this decade.

China's EVs sales hit 38pc this summer, even though subsidies have mostly been scrapped. This is far ahead of schedule under Beijing's New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan. China's Chebai think tank says the emerging consensus is that EV sales will hit 17m or 60pc of total Chinese share by 2025, rising to 90pc by 2030, assuming that the grid can keep up... Vietnam is a few years behind but with similar ambitions. Its EV start-up, VinFast Auto, became the world's third most valuable carmaker after it launched on Nasdaq last month, briefly worth as much as the German car industry before the share price came back down to earth...

OPEC's central premise has long been that the rise of a billion-strong middle class in emerging Asia will more than offset declining oil use in the OECD bloc. That notion is 'withering under scrutiny'... The International Energy Agency (IEA) says global oil demand will peak at 105.5m b/d in 2028 and then flatten for a few years before going into decline... The IEA pulls its punches. The Rocky Mountain Institute argues in its latest report — End of the ICE Age — that half of global car sales could be EVs by 2026, reaching 86pc later this decade.
The article closes by citing "the breathtaking pace of global electrification. The decline of oil in car and bus transport may be closer than almost anybody imagined. OPEC as we know it may be on the cusp of a death spiral."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Will+EVs+Send+OPEC+Into+a+Death+Spiral%3F%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F039228%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F039228%2Fwill-evs-send-opec-into-a-death-spiral%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/039228/will-evs-send-opec-into-a-death-spiral?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/039228/will-evs-send-opec-into-a-death-spiral?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**The US Is Among the Most Expensive Countries For Mobile Data Plans, Israel the Cheapest**

Slashdot reader jjslash writes: The average cost of a gigabyte of mobile data in the U.S. is $6, while the most expensive data plan in the country offers a gig for $83.33. That makes the U.S. one of the most expensive countries in the world for mobile data, even though some plans can still get you a gig for as low as $0.75. The situation in Canada isn't much better, with an average price of $5.37 per GB, but it's much cheaper to surf mobile internet in the U.K., thanks to an average price of $0.62 for a gig.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=The+US+Is+Among+the+Most+Expensive+Countries+For+Mobile+Data+Plans%2C+Israel+the+Cheapest%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F1958248%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F1958248%2Fthe-us-is-among-the-most-expensive-countries-for-mobile-data-plans-israel-the-cheapest%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/1958248/the-us-is-among-the-most-expensive-countries-for-mobile-data-plans-israel-the-cheapest?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/1958248/the-us-is-among-the-most-expensive-countries-for-mobile-data-plans-israel-the-cheapest?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Microsoft To Excel Users: Be Careful With That Python**

Long-time Slashdot reader theodp spotted a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) this week with the Microsoft engineering team that created Python in Excel, a new feature that makes it possible to natively combine Python and Excel analytics in Excel workbooks. (Copilot integration is coming soon).

 Redditors expressed a wish to be able to run Python in environments other than the confines of the locked down, price-to-be-determined Microsoft Azure cloud containers employed by Python in Excel. But "There were three main reasons behind starting with the cloud (as a GDPR Compliant Microsoft 365 Connected experience) first," MicrosoftExcelTeam explained:

 1\. Running Python securely on a local machine is a difficult problem. We treat all Python code in the workbook as untrusted, so we execute it in a hypervisor-isolated container on Azure that does not have any outbound network access. Python code and the data that it operates on is sent to be executed in the container. The Microsoft-licensed Python environment in the container is provided by Anaconda and was prepared using their stringent security practices as documented here.

2\. Sharing Excel workbooks with others is a really important scenario. We wanted to ensure that the Python code in a workbook you share behaves the same when your teammates open it â" without requiring them to install and manage Python.

3\. We need to ensure that the Python in Excel feature always works for our customers. The value of Python is in its ecosystem of libraries, not just in providing a Python interpreter. But managing a local Python environment is challenging even for the most experienced developers. By running on Azure, we remove the need for users or their systems administrators to maintain a local installation of Python on every machine that uses the feature in their organization...

So, how does one balance tradeoffs between increased security and ease-of-maintenance with the loss of functionality and increased costs when it comes to programming language use? Is it okay to just give up on making certain important basic functionality available, as Microsoft is doing here with Python and has done in the past by not supporting Excel VBA in the Cloud and no longer making BASIC available on PCs and Macs?

Microsoft's team added at one point that "For our initial release, we are targeting data analytics scenarios, and bringing the power of Python analytics libraries into Excel.

"We believe the approach weâ(TM)ve taken will appeal to analysts who use both Excel and Python Notebooks in their workflows. Today, these users need to import/export data and have no way of creating a self-contained artifact that can be easily and securely shared with their colleagues."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Microsoft+To+Excel+Users%3A+Be+Careful+With+That+Python%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fdevelopers.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F1842233%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fdevelopers.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F1842233%2Fmicrosoft-to-excel-users-be-careful-with-that-python%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://developers.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/1842233/microsoft-to-excel-users-be-careful-with-that-python?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://developers.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/1842233/microsoft-to-excel-users-be-careful-with-that-python?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**GNU Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary**

Wednesday the Free Software Foundation celebrated "the 40th anniversary of the GNU operating system and the launch of the free software movement," with an announcement calling it "a turning point in the history of computing.

"Forty years later, GNU and free software are even more relevant. While software has become deeply ingrained into everyday life, the vast majority of users do not have full control over it... "

On September 27, 1983, a computer scientist named Richard Stallman announced the plan to develop a free software Unix-like operating system called GNU, for "GNU's not Unix." GNU is the only operating system developed specifically for the sake of users' freedom, and has remained true to its founding ideals for forty years. Since 1983, the GNU Project has provided a full, ethical replacement for proprietary operating systems. This is thanks to the forty years of tireless work from volunteer GNU developers around the world.

When describing GNU's history and the background behind its initial announcement, Stallman (often known simply as "RMS") stated, "with a free operating system, we could again have a community of cooperating hackers — and invite anyone to join. And anyone would be able to use a computer without starting out by conspiring to deprive his or her friends."

"When we look back at the history of the free software movement — or the idea that users should be in control of their own computing — it starts with GNU," said Zoë Kooyman, executive director of the FSF, which sponsors GNU's development. "The GNU System isn't just the most widely used operating system that is based on free software. GNU is also at the core of a philosophy that has guided the free software movement for forty years."

Usually combined with the kernel Linux, GNU forms the backbone of the Internet and powers millions of servers, desktops, and embedded computing devices. Aside from its technical advancements, GNU pioneered the concept of "copyleft," the approach to software licensing that requires the same rights to be preserved in derivative works, and is best exemplified by the GNU General Public License (GPL). As Stallman stated, "The goal of GNU was to give users freedom, not just to be popular. So we needed to use distribution terms that would prevent GNU software from being turned into proprietary software. The method we use is called 'copyleft.'"

The free software community has held strong for forty years and continues to grow, as exemplified by the FSF's annual LibrePlanet conference on software freedom and digital ethics.

Kooyman continues, "We hope that the fortieth anniversary will inspire hackers, both old and new, to join GNU in its goal to create, improve, and share free software around the world. Software is controlling our world these days, and GNU is a critique and solution to the status quo that we desperately need in order to not have our technology control us."

"In honor of GNU's fortieth anniversary, its organizational sponsor the FSF is organizing a hackday for families, students, and anyone interested in celebrating GNU's anniversary. It will be held at the FSF's offices in Boston, MA on October 1."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=GNU+Celebrates+Its+40th+Anniversary%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F0416229%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F0416229%2Fgnu-celebrates-its-40th-anniversary%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/0416229/gnu-celebrates-its-40th-anniversary?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/0416229/gnu-celebrates-its-40th-anniversary?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Heat Pumps Twice As Efficient As Fossil Fuel Systems In Cold Weather**

Long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shared this report from the Guardian:
Heat pumps are more than twice as efficient as fossil fuel heating systems in cold temperatures, research shows. Even at temperatures approaching -30C, heat pumps outperform oil and gas heating systems, according to the research from Oxford University and the Regulatory Assistance Project thinktank...

Reports have spread that they do not work well in low temperatures despite their increasing use in Scandinavia and other cold climates. The research, published in the specialist energy research journal Joule, used data from seven field studies in North America, Asia and Europe. It found that at temperatures below zero, heat pumps were between two and three times more efficient than oil and gas heating systems.

The authors said the findings showed that heat pumps were suitable for almost all homes in Europe, including the UK, and should provide policymakers with the impetus to bring in new measures to roll them out as rapidly as possible.

"The Guardian and the investigative journalism organisation DeSmog recently revealed that lobbyists associated with the gas boiler sector had attempted to delay a key government measure to increase the uptake of heat pumps."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Heat+Pumps+Twice+As+Efficient+As+Fossil+Fuel+Systems+In+Cold+Weather%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F0521222%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F0521222%2Fheat-pumps-twice-as-efficient-as-fossil-fuel-systems-in-cold-weather%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/0521222/heat-pumps-twice-as-efficient-as-fossil-fuel-systems-in-cold-weather?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/0521222/heat-pumps-twice-as-efficient-as-fossil-fuel-systems-in-cold-weather?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Republican Presidential Candidates Criticize TikTok as 'Dangerous', 'Controlled by Communist China'**

Wednesday seven U.S. Republican candidates for President held their second debate before the 2024 primary — during which TikTok led to some surprisingly heated attacks against entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy:

 Moderator: Mr. Ramaswamy, TikTok is banned on government-issed devices because of its ties to the Chinese government. Yet you joined TikTok at the dinner with boxer and influencer Jake Paul. Should the commander in chief be so easily persuaded by an influencer?

Vivek Ramaswamy: So the answer is, I have a radical idea for the Republican party: we need to win elections. And part of how we win elections is reaching the next generation of young Americans where they are. So when I get into office, I've been very clear. Kids under the age of 16 should not be using addictive social media. We're only going to ever get to declaring independence from China, which I favor, if we actually win. So while the Democrats are running rampant reaching the next generation three-to-one, there's exactly one person in the Republican party — which talks a big game about reaching young people — and that's me.... \[Scattered applause\]

Donald Trump declined to participate in the debate. But his former vice president Mike Pence immediately interrupted to say that "TikTok is controlled by the Chinese communist party." Continuing criticisms he'd made in an earlier interview, Pence said that TikTok "compromises the privacy of Americans every day."

Ramaswamy responded "And that is why we will end it once we win this election."

This immediately drew a strong response from from South Carolina governor Nikki Haley (also a former US ambassador to the UN):
 Nikki Haley: This is infuriating, because TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps —

 Ramaswamy: Yes it is.

Haley: — that we could have. And once you've got — honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say. Because I can't believe that — here you've got a TikTok situation. What they're doing is these — 150 million people are on TikTok. That means they can get your contacts, they can get your financial information, they can get your emails, they can get —

Ramaswamy: Let me just say —

Haley: — your text messages, they can get all of these things.

Ramaswamy: Hurling — this is important. This is very important for our party —

Haley: China knows exactly what they're doing.

Ramaswamy: This is very important for our party, and I'm going to say it —

Haley: And what we've seen is you've gone and you've helped China go make medicines in China, not America.

Ramaswamy: Excuse me, excuse me —

Haley: You're now wanting kids to go and get on this social media that's dangerous for all of us. You went and you were in business with the Chinese... We can't trust you. We can't trust you. We can't have TikTok in our kids' lives. We need to ban it. \[Loud applause\]

Moderator: You have 15 seconds, Mr. Ramaswamy.

Ramaswamy: I think we would be better served as a Republican party if we're not sitting here hurling personal insults, and actually have a legitimate debate.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Republican+Presidential+Candidates+Criticize+TikTok+as+'Dangerous'%2C+'Controlled+by+Communist+China'%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fpolitics.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F0238202%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpolitics.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F0238202%2Frepublican-presidential-candidates-criticize-tiktok-as-dangerous-controlled-by-communist-china%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://politics.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/0238202/republican-presidential-candidates-criticize-tiktok-as-dangerous-controlled-by-communist-china?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://politics.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/0238202/republican-presidential-candidates-criticize-tiktok-as-dangerous-controlled-by-communist-china?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**New in Firefox 118: Private Local, Browser-Based Website Translating**

An anonymous reader shared this report from Liliputing.com:

Web browsers have had tools that let you translate websites for years. But they typically rely on cloud-based translation services like Google Translate or Microsoft's Bing Translator. The latest version of Mozilla's Firefox web browser does things differently. Firefox 118 brings support for Fullpage Translation, which can translate websites entirely in your browser. In other words, everything happens locally on your computer without any data sent to Microsoft, Google, or other companies.

Here's how it works. Firefox will notice when you visit a website in a supported language that's different from your default language, and a translate icon will show up in the address bar. Tap that icon and you'll see a pop-up window that asks what languages you'd like to translate from and to. If the browser doesn't automatically detect the language of the website you're visiting, you can set these manually... You can also tap the settings icon in the translation menu and choose to "always translate" or "never translate" a specific language so that you won't have to manually invoke the translation every time you visit sites in that language.
Firefox is support nine languages so far.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=New+in+Firefox+118%3A+Private+Local%2C+Browser-Based+Website+Translating%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F0145228%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F0145228%2Fnew-in-firefox-118-private-local-browser-based-website-translating%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/0145228/new-in-firefox-118-private-local-browser-based-website-translating?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/0145228/new-in-firefox-118-private-local-browser-based-website-translating?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Canonical's Snap Store Restricts Uploads Following Possible Security Issue**

Yesterday the "temporary suspension" of automatic Snap registrations was announced on Canonical's Snapcraft forum by developer advocate Igor Ljubuncic, after what was described as a "security incident".

On September 28, 2023, the Snap Store team was notified of a potential security incident. A number of snap users reported several recently published and potentially malicious snaps. As a consequence of these reports, the Snap Store team has immediately taken down these snaps, and they can no longer be searched or installed. Furthermore, the Snap Store team has placed a temporary manual review requirement on all new snap registrations, effectively immediately...
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our snap publishers and developers. However, we believe it is the most prudent action at this moment. We want to thoroughly investigate this incident without introducing any noise into the system, and more importantly, we want to make sure our users have a safe and trusted experience with the Snap Store. Please bear with us while we conduct our investigation. We will provide a more detailed update in the coming days.

Some background from the Linux blog OMG Ubuntu:
This isn't the first time the Snap Store has had issues with icky uploads. In 2018 an innocuous-sounding app hid crypto-mining capabilities unbeknownst to users. Not disclosing this in its description rendered it malware (Canonical later clarified to say crypto-miners are allowed so long as they're disclosed).

In this instance it appears that folks have uploaded apps purporting to be official apps/tools for crypto ledger tool Ledger and these apps were able to get folks backups codes (which people enter thinking it's legit) and ...the bad actors can use that to extract funds.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Canonical's+Snap+Store+Restricts+Uploads+Following+Possible+Security+Issue%3A+https%3A%2F%2Flinux.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F0549224%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Flinux.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F30%2F0549224%2Fcanonicals-snap-store-restricts-uploads-following-possible-security-issue%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://linux.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/0549224/canonicals-snap-store-restricts-uploads-following-possible-security-issue?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://linux.slashdot.org/story/23/09/30/0549224/canonicals-snap-store-restricts-uploads-following-possible-security-issue?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**People Experience 'New Dimensions of Reality' When Dying, Groundbreaking Study Reports**

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Scientists have witnessed brain patterns in dying patients that may correlate to commonly reported "near-death" experiences (NDEs) such as lucid visions, out-of-body sensations, a review of one's own life, and other "dimensions of reality," reports a new study. The results offer the first comprehensive evidence that patient recollections and brain waves point to universal elements of NDEs. During an expansive multi-year study led by Sam Parnia, an intensive care doctor and an associate professor in the department of medicine at NYU Langone Health, researchers observed 567 patients in 25 hospitals around the world as they underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) after suffering cardiac arrest, most of which were fatal.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) brain signals captured from dozens of the patients revealed that episodes of heightened consciousness occurred up to an hour after cardiac arrest. Though most of the patients in the study were sadly not resuscitated by CPR, 53 patients were brought back to life. Of the survivors, 11 patients reported a sense of awareness during CPR and six reported a near-death experience. Parnia and his colleagues suggest that the transition from life to death can trigger a state of disinhibition in the brain that "appears to facilitate lucid understanding of new dimensions of reality -- including people's deeper consciousness -- all memories, thoughts, intentions and actions towards others from a moral and ethical perspective," a finding with profound implications for CPR research, end-of-life care, and consciousness, among other fields, according to a new study published in Resuscitation. \[...\]

"One of the things that was unique about this project is that this was the first time ever where scientists had put together a method to examine for signs of lucidity and consciousness in people as they're being revived by looking for brain markers, or brain signatures of consciousness, using an EEG device as well as a brain oxygen monitor," Parnia explained. "Most doctors are taught and believe that the brain dies after about five or 10 minutes of oxygen deprivation," Parnia said. "One of the key points that comes out of this study is that that is actually not true. Although the brain flatlines after the heart stops, and that happens within seconds, it doesn't mean that it's permanently damaged and \[has\] died. It's just hibernating. What we were able to show is that actually, the brain can respond and restore function again, even after an hour later, which opens up a whole window of opportunity for doctors to start new treatments." Indeed, the study reports that "near-normal/physiological EEG activity (delta, theta, alpha, beta rhythms) consistent with consciousness and a possible resumption of a network-level of cognitive and neuronal activity emerged up to 35-60 minutes into CPR. This is the first report of biomarkers of consciousness during CA/CPR."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=People+Experience+'New+Dimensions+of+Reality'+When+Dying%2C+Groundbreaking+Study+Reports%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fscience.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F29%2F217236%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fscience.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F29%2F217236%2Fpeople-experience-new-dimensions-of-reality-when-dying-groundbreaking-study-reports%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/09/29/217236/people-experience-new-dimensions-of-reality-when-dying-groundbreaking-study-reports?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/09/29/217236/people-experience-new-dimensions-of-reality-when-dying-groundbreaking-study-reports?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**NSA Is Starting an AI Security Center**

The Associated Press reports: The National Security Agency is starting an artificial intelligence security center -- a crucial mission as AI capabilities are increasingly acquired, developed and integrated into U.S. defense and intelligence systems, the agency's outgoing director announced Thursday. Army Gen. Paul Nakasone said the center would be incorporated into the NSA's Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, where it works with private industry and international partners to harden the U.S. defense-industrial base against threats from adversaries led by China and Russia.

Nakasone was asked about using AI to automate the analysis of threat vectors and red-flag alerts -- and he reminded the audience that U.S. intelligence and defense agencies already use AI. "AI helps us, But our decisions are made by humans. And that's an important distinction," Nakasone said. "We do see assistance from artificial intelligence. But at the end of the day, decisions will be made by humans and humans in the loop."

Nakasone said it would become "NSA's focal point for leveraging foreign intelligence insights, contributing to the development of best practices guidelines, principles, evaluation, methodology and risk frameworks" for both AI security and the goal of promoting the secure development and adoption of AI within "our national security systems and our defense industrial base." He said it would work closely with U.S. industry, national labs, academia and the Department of Defense as well as international partners.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=NSA+Is+Starting+an+AI+Security+Center%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F29%2F2056222%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F29%2F2056222%2Fnsa-is-starting-an-ai-security-center%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/09/29/2056222/nsa-is-starting-an-ai-security-center?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/09/29/2056222/nsa-is-starting-an-ai-security-center?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**NASA Opens OSIRIS-REx's Asteroid-Sample Canister**

Mike Wall writes via Space.com: OSIRIS-REx's asteroid-sample canister just creaked open for the first time in more than seven years. Scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston lifted the canister's outer lid on Tuesday (Sept. 26), two days after OSIRIS-REx's return capsule landed in the desert of northern Utah. "Scientists gasped as the lid was lifted," NASA's Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) division, which is based at JSC, wrote Tuesday in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The operation revealed "dark powder and sand-sized particles on the inside of the lid and base," they added.

That powder once resided on the surface of an asteroid named Bennu, the focus of the OSIRIS-REx mission. OSIRIS-REx launched toward the 1,650-foot-wide (500 meters) Bennu in September 2016, arrived in December 2018 and snagged a hefty sample from the space rock in October 2020 using its Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism, or TAGSAM. The asteroid material landed in Utah inside OSIRIS-REx's return capsule on Sunday (Sept. 24), then made its way to Houston by plane on Monday (Sept. 25). It will be stored and curated at JSC, where the team will oversee its distribution to scientists around the world.

Researchers will study the sample for decades to come, seeking insights about the the solar system's formation and early evolution, as well as the role that carbon-rich asteroids like Bennu may have played in seeding Earth with the building blocks of life. But that work isn't ready to begin; the ARES team hasn't even accessed the main asteroid sample yet. Doing so requires disassembly of the TAGSAM apparatus, an intricate operation that will take considerable time.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=NASA+Opens+OSIRIS-REx's+Asteroid-Sample+Canister%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fscience.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F29%2F2051233%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fscience.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F29%2F2051233%2Fnasa-opens-osiris-rexs-asteroid-sample-canister%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/09/29/2051233/nasa-opens-osiris-rexs-asteroid-sample-canister?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/09/29/2051233/nasa-opens-osiris-rexs-asteroid-sample-canister?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Freelancers Aren't Happy With Japan's New Invoice System**

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Japan Times: From Oct. 1, a new tax regulation decades in the making will go into effect -- and hundreds of thousands of workers in Japan are angry. The Qualified Invoicing System, which requires taxable businesses to issue invoices containing tax information for transactions, has generated a full-fledged movement against it. A petition on Change.org to halt the regulation has received nearly 450,000 signatures. The social movement \[...\] has held regular demonstrations and conferences advocating against the law, alongside significant protest from the world of pop culture: Animators, filmmakers, voice actors, manga artists and V-tubers of all stripes have joined together against it.

While the law is complex, the reason it's hated is not: It's effectively a tax increase. While the system was created to ensure that businesses will properly pay consumption tax, for many freelancers and small businesses the result will amount to a 10% increase in taxes -- a high enough jump to potentially devastate creatives who already make a living by the narrowest of margins. \[...\] Those who have already registered as taxable businesses or sole proprietors with sales of over 10 million yen are required to register for the system. Small freelancers and tax-exempt businesses, however, will need to consider carefully what to do. "Tax compliance will be the biggest issue for freelancers," \[says Fumiko Mizoguchi, indirect tax service country leader at Deloitte\]. "If freelancers agree to issue qualified invoices, they should offer the counter-suggestion that their prices will increase 10% as a result."

Meanwhile, the protest movement is steady on the ground in Tokyo. Voiction, which has been meeting with legislators to try to halt the law, plans on continuing to fight through the rest of the year and beyond. \[Voice actress Yuhko Kaida\] explains that the government could still decide to allow small businesses to not file 2023's consumption tax in March 2024, when taxes are due. "If we have the willpower, we can stop this law," Kaida says. "Then we can reduce the damage to people's lives."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Freelancers+Aren't+Happy+With+Japan's+New+Invoice+System%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F2120219%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fyro.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F2120219%2Ffreelancers-arent-happy-with-japans-new-invoice-system%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/2120219/freelancers-arent-happy-with-japans-new-invoice-system?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/2120219/freelancers-arent-happy-with-japans-new-invoice-system?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Epic Games Cutting 16 Percent of Its Workforce**

According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Epic games is laying off 16 percent of its current workforce, which amounts to almost 900 employees losing their jobs. Kotaku reports: A memo was shared this morning at the North Carolina company, seen by Kotaku, informing staff of the bad news. It explains that alongside 16 percent of staff being laid off, the company is also selling Bandcamp, and "spinning off" most of marketing company SuperAwesome.

"For a while now, we've been spending way more money than we earn," says the memo, sent to staff by CEO Tim Sweeney. "I have long been optimistic we could power through this transition without layoffs, but in retrospect I see that this was unrealistic." It seems that Fortnite's failure to continue growing was part of the problem. Sweeney reports that it's "starting to grow again," but this is driven by creator content "with significant revenue sharing."

Despite efforts to reduce spending, Sweeney says "we still ended up far short of financial sustainability." These layoffs, he hopes, will "stabilize our finances." "Laid-off Epic employees will receive six months severance and health benefits," Schreier said on X, adding that an "all-hands meeting \[is\] happening shortly." Further reading: Apple Asks Supreme Court To Reverse App Store Ruling Won by Epic

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Epic+Games+Cutting+16+Percent+of+Its+Workforce%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F214259%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F214259%2Fepic-games-cutting-16-percent-of-its-workforce%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/214259/epic-games-cutting-16-percent-of-its-workforce?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/214259/epic-games-cutting-16-percent-of-its-workforce?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Nvidia's French Offices Raided In Cloud-Computing Competition Inquiry**

According to the Wall Street Journal, Nvidia's French offices were raided this week on suspicion the chipmaker engaged in anticompetitive practices. Reuters reports: The French competition authority, which disclosed the dawn raid on Wednesday, did not say what practices it was investigating or which company it had targeted, beyond saying it was in the "graphics cards sector." The French competition authority said that its operation this week followed a broader inquiry into the cloud-computing sector. The broader inquiry revolves around concerns that cloud-computing companies could use their access to computing power to exclude smaller competitors.

This week's operation had targeted Nvidia, which is the world's largest maker of chips used both for artificial intelligence and for computer graphics, the WSJ report added, citing people familiar with the raid. Chips originally made for computer graphics are suited for AI-related computing.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Nvidia's+French+Offices+Raided+In+Cloud-Computing+Competition+Inquiry%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F2231258%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F2231258%2Fnvidias-french-offices-raided-in-cloud-computing-competition-inquiry%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/2231258/nvidias-french-offices-raided-in-cloud-computing-competition-inquiry?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/2231258/nvidias-french-offices-raided-in-cloud-computing-competition-inquiry?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Smartphone Sales Down 22 Percent In Q2, the Worst Performance In a Decade**

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Canalys has some gruesome new numbers out for the North American smartphone market in Q2 2023, detailing what it's calling the "worst quarterly performance for over a decade." Q2 has plummeted 22 percent, year over year, and with these numbers, Canalys is predicting the smartphone market will be down 12 percent overall in 2023.

Apple is down 20 percent for Q2 and still in a dominant position with 54 percent market share. Samsung is down 27 percent, in second place overall with 24 percent market share in Q2 2023. Motorola is next with a 25 percent decline and only 8 percent market share. TCL, a TV company that feels like it only briefly dabbled in smartphones, is the single biggest loser, down 30 percent, with 5 percent market share.

Only a single company survived this quarter unscathed, and it's actually Google! The company might be at the bottom of the smartphone charts, but Pixel phone sales are up 59 percent, earning Google 4 percent of the market. It was the same story last year, when Google jumped from 1 to 2 percent. In a few quarters, the company might hit fourth place. The biggest loss on the chart is actually "others," down 43 percent, likely representing the further consolidation of the Android market. These are your OnePluses, your HMD/Nokias, and trashy pre-paid vendors like Blu.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Smartphone+Sales+Down+22+Percent+In+Q2%2C+the+Worst+Performance+In+a+Decade%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F2059227%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmobile.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F2059227%2Fsmartphone-sales-down-22-percent-in-q2-the-worst-performance-in-a-decade%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/2059227/smartphone-sales-down-22-percent-in-q2-the-worst-performance-in-a-decade?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/2059227/smartphone-sales-down-22-percent-in-q2-the-worst-performance-in-a-decade?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**If the Linux Foundation Was a Software Company, It'd Likely Be the Biggest in the World**

An anonymous reader shares a report: The Cloud Native Computing Foundation has returned to Shanghai for the city's first Kubecon since the pandemic. During a keynote that switched languages several times, demonstrating the challenges faced by both AI and human translators in keeping up, Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation, threw out several crowd-pleasing statistics while also highlighting some projects likely to make one or two companies squirm a little. On the statistics front, Zemlin joked that the Linux Foundation was likely the largest software company in the world, noting that if one took an average software developer's salary -- he put the worldwide mean as being $40,000 -- and multiplied it by the number of developers contributing to the foundation, the payroll would come to around $26 billion -- more than Microsoft's $24 billion R&D payroll.

The statistic was somewhat tongue in cheek as Zemlin pointed out that none of the developers working on Linux Foundation projects actually work for the Linux Foundation. However, the sheer quantity of engineers involved highlighted another issue noted by Zemlin: the "paradox of choice" when selecting the correct open source project for a given purpose when the number on offer reaches the hundreds, thousands, and beyond. Reflecting the increasing maturity of some elements of the open source world, he also emphasized the opportunities for companies to increase revenues and profits through the use of open source. WeChat, Alibaba, and Huawei all received nods -- unsurprising considering the location -- as Zemlin noted a virtuous circle whereby improvements go back into projects, meaning better profits, meaning more improvements, and so on. It all sounded very utopian, although darkening clouds were signaled by the addition of OpenTofu to the list of projects Zemlin was keen to boast about, including open source efforts around large language models.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=If+the+Linux+Foundation+Was+a+Software+Company%2C+It'd+Likely+Be+the+Biggest+in+the+World%3A+https%3A%2F%2Flinux.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F1856228%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Flinux.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F1856228%2Fif-the-linux-foundation-was-a-software-company-itd-likely-be-the-biggest-in-the-world%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://linux.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/1856228/if-the-linux-foundation-was-a-software-company-itd-likely-be-the-biggest-in-the-world?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://linux.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/1856228/if-the-linux-foundation-was-a-software-company-itd-likely-be-the-biggest-in-the-world?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Mark Zuckerberg Can't Quit the Metaverse**

An anonymous reader shares a story: Almost two years ago, Mark Zuckerberg rebranded his company Facebook to Meta -- and since then, he has been focused on building the "metaverse," a three-dimensional virtual reality. But the metaverse has lost some of its luster since 2021. Companies like Disney have closed down their metaverse divisions and deemphasized using the word, while crypto-based startup metaverses have quietly languished or imploded. In 2022, Meta's Reality Labs division reported an operational loss of $13.7 billion. But at Meta Connect 2023, Zuckerberg still hasn't given up on the metaverse -- he's just shifted how he talks about it. He once focused on the metaverse as a completely digital new world. Now, he aims to convince the public that the future is a blend of the digital and the physical.

At Connect this year, Zuckerberg emphasized that the modern "real world" combines the physical world and the digital world still being built -- and that it all builds up to "this concept we call the metaverse." He added: "Pretty soon, I think we're going to be at a point where you're going to be there physically with some of your friends, and others will be there digitally as avatars or holograms, and they'll feel just as present as everyone else. Or you'll walk into a meeting and sit down at a table. There will be people who are there physically and people who are there digitally as holograms, but also sitting around the table with you are going to be a bunch of AI guys who are embodied as holograms and are helping you get different stuff done too."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Mark+Zuckerberg+Can't+Quit+the+Metaverse%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F1851245%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F1851245%2Fmark-zuckerberg-cant-quit-the-metaverse%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/1851245/mark-zuckerberg-cant-quit-the-metaverse?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/1851245/mark-zuckerberg-cant-quit-the-metaverse?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Swiss Glaciers Lose 10% of Their Volume in Two Years**

Swiss glaciers have lost 10% of their volume in just two years, a report has found. From a report: Scientists have said climate breakdown caused by the burning of fossil fuels is the cause of unusually hot summers and winters with very low snow volume, which have caused the accelerating melts. The volume lost during the hot summers of 2022 and 2023 is the same as that lost between 1960 and 1990. The analysis by the Swiss Academy of Sciences found 4% of Switzerland's total glacier volume vanished this year, the second-biggest annual decline on record. The largest decline was in 2022, when there was a 6% drop, the biggest thaw since measurements began. Experts have stopped measuring the ice on some glaciers as there is essentially none left. Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (Glamos), which monitors 176 glaciers, recently halted measurements at the St Annafirn glacier in the central Swiss canton of Uri since it had mostly melted.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Swiss+Glaciers+Lose+10%25+of+Their+Volume+in+Two+Years%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F1847211%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fnews.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F1847211%2Fswiss-glaciers-lose-10-of-their-volume-in-two-years%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/1847211/swiss-glaciers-lose-10-of-their-volume-in-two-years?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/1847211/swiss-glaciers-lose-10-of-their-volume-in-two-years?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**First Evidence of Spinning Black Hole Detected by Scientists**

Astronomers have captured the first direct evidence of a black hole spinning, providing new insights into the universe's most enigmatic objects. From a report: The observations focus on the supermassive black hole at the centre of the neighbouring Messier 87 galaxy, whose shadow was imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope. Like many supermassive black holes, M87 features powerful jets that are launched from the poles at close to the speed of light into intergalactic space. Scientists have predicted that the rotation of a black hole powers these cosmic jets, but until now direct evidence was elusive.

"After the success of black hole imaging in this galaxy with the Event Horizon Telescope, whether this black hole is spinning or not has been a central concern among scientists," said Dr Kazuhiro Hada, of the national astronomical observatory of Japan and co-author. "Now anticipation has turned into certainty. This monster black hole is indeed spinning." M87 is located 55m light years from the Earth and harbours a black hole 6.5bn times more massive than the Sun. Just beyond the black hole is an accretion disk of gas and dust, swirling on the precipice of the cosmic sinkhole. Some of this material is destined to fall into the black hole, disappearing for ever. But a fraction will be ejected out from the poles of the black hole at more than 99.99% of the speed of light. The paper: Precessing jet nozzle connecting to a spinning black hole in M87 (Nature).

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=First+Evidence+of+Spinning+Black+Hole+Detected+by+Scientists%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fscience.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F1843245%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fscience.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F28%2F1843245%2Ffirst-evidence-of-spinning-black-hole-detected-by-scientists%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/1843245/first-evidence-of-spinning-black-hole-detected-by-scientists?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/09/28/1843245/first-evidence-of-spinning-black-hole-detected-by-scientists?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Backdoored Firmware Lets China State Hackers Control Routers With 'Magic Packets'**

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Hackers backed by the Chinese government are planting malware into routers that provides long-lasting and undetectable backdoor access to the networks of multinational companies in the US and Japan, governments in both countries said Wednesday. The hacking group, tracked under names including BlackTech, Palmerworm, Temp.Overboard, Circuit Panda, and Radio Panda, has been operating since at least 2010, a joint advisory published by government entities in the US and Japan reported. The group has a history of targeting public organizations and private companies in the US and East Asia. The threat actor is somehow gaining administrator credentials to network devices used by subsidiaries and using that control to install malicious firmware that can be triggered with "magic packets" to perform specific tasks.

The hackers then use control of those devices to infiltrate networks of companies that have trusted relationships with the breached subsidiaries. "Specifically, upon gaining an initial foothold into a target network and gaining administrator access to network edge devices, BlackTech cyber actors often modify the firmware to hide their activity across the edge devices to further maintain persistence in the network," officials wrote in Wednesday's advisory. "To extend their foothold across an organization, BlackTech actors target branch routers -- typically smaller appliances used at remote branch offices to connect to a corporate headquarters -- and then abuse the trusted relationship of the branch routers within the corporate network being targeted. BlackTech actors then use the compromised public-facing branch routers as part of their infrastructure for proxying traffic, blending in with corporate network traffic, and pivoting to other victims on the same corporate network."

Most of Wednesday's advisory referred to routers sold by Cisco. In an advisory of its own, Cisco said the threat actors are compromising the devices after acquiring administrative credentials and that there's no indication they are exploiting vulnerabilities. Cisco also said that the hacker's ability to install malicious firmware exists only for older company products. Newer ones are equipped with secure boot capabilities that prevent them from running unauthorized firmware, the company said. "It would be trivial for the BlackTech actors to modify values in their backdoors that would render specific signatures of this router backdoor obsolete," the advisory stated. "For more robust detection, network defenders should monitor network devices for unauthorized downloads of bootloaders and firmware images and reboots. Network defenders should also monitor for unusual traffic destined to the router, including SSH."

To detect and mitigate this threat, the advisory recommends administrators disable outbound connections on virtual teletype (VTY) lines, monitor inbound and outbound connections, block unauthorized outbound connections, restrict administration service access, upgrade to secure boot-capable devices, change compromised passwords, review network device logs, and monitor firmware changes for unauthorized alterations.

Ars Technica notes: "The advisory didn't provide any indicators of compromise that admins can use to determine if they have been targeted or infected."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Backdoored+Firmware+Lets+China+State+Hackers+Control+Routers+With+'Magic+Packets'%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fit.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F2058226%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fit.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F2058226%2Fbackdoored-firmware-lets-china-state-hackers-control-routers-with-magic-packets%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://it.slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/2058226/backdoored-firmware-lets-china-state-hackers-control-routers-with-magic-packets?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://it.slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/2058226/backdoored-firmware-lets-china-state-hackers-control-routers-with-magic-packets?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Tech Layoffs Are All But a Thing of the Past**

Alex Wilhelm writes via TechCrunch: Layoffs in the technology industry have slowed sharply in recent months, bringing the number of jobs lost to tech's efficiency push to a near stop. According to several services that track layoffs in the tech industry, after reaching a local maximum in January, the number of people laid off had declined by more than 90% by September. What's more, some tech companies are hiring again to refill some of the roles that they had eliminated mere months ago.

Such a quick shift from mass personnel cuts to more stable employee rolls and even hiring efforts may seem surprising, but it's been a long time in the making. Data from popular tech industry layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi shows that job cuts have slowed for seven consecutive months this year, plateauing around 10,000 per month from June through August and declining to just over 3,000 so far in September. TrueUp, a jobs board focused on the tech industry, also marked that tech industry layoffs peaked in January and declined sharply thereafter. However, TrueUp's layoff count shows a slightly lumpier trend in the total number of staff cuts. Regardless of the source, though, the trend is clear that job cuts are on the decline.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Tech+Layoffs+Are+All+But+a+Thing+of+the+Past%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F2041229%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F2041229%2Ftech-layoffs-are-all-but-a-thing-of-the-past%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/2041229/tech-layoffs-are-all-but-a-thing-of-the-past?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/2041229/tech-layoffs-are-all-but-a-thing-of-the-past?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Indonesia To Ban Purchases On Social Media Like TikTok**

Indonesia said it will bar social media companies from allowing transactions and doubling as e-commerce platforms -- all to prevent misuse of public data. "This means that users in Indonesia cannot buy or sell products and services on TikTok and Facebook," reports CNBC. From the report: In a media conference Monday, Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan said that "the connection \[between social media and e-commerce\] must be separated so that the algorithm is not all controlled" and this "prevents the use of personal data" for business purposes. Indonesia also said it would also regulate which overseas goods can be sold, adding these products would receive the same treatment as offline domestic goods. The move comes as foreign goods become increasingly available in Indonesia through social media platforms. "Social commerce was born to solve a real world problem for local traditional small sellers, by matching them with local creators who can help drive traffic to their online shops," a TikTok spokesperson said in response to the move.

"While we respect local laws and regulations, we hope that the regulations take into account its impact on the livelihoods of more than 6 million sellers and close to 7 million affiliate creators who use TikTok Shop."

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Indonesia+To+Ban+Purchases+On+Social+Media+Like+TikTok%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F2046247%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F2046247%2Findonesia-to-ban-purchases-on-social-media-like-tiktok%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/2046247/indonesia-to-ban-purchases-on-social-media-like-tiktok?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/2046247/indonesia-to-ban-purchases-on-social-media-like-tiktok?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Volkswagen Hit By IT Outage, Brand Vehicle Production In Germany Halted**

Volkswagen says it was hit by a major IT outage on Wednesday, halting production at the company's namesake brand in Germany. Reuters reports: Volkswagen said that the whole group, which includes the Porsche AG and Audi brands, was affected. Volkswagen said there had been an unspecified "IT malfunction of network components" at the carmaker's site in Wolfsburg, its global headquarters.

"The fault has been present since 12:30 p.m. (CET) and is currently being analysed. There are implications for vehicle-producing plants," the group said. "According to current analyses, an external attack is unlikely to be the cause of the system malfunction," Volkswagen said, adding that efforts to fix the problem were of the highest priority and well under way.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Volkswagen+Hit+By+IT+Outage%2C+Brand+Vehicle+Production+In+Germany+Halted%3A+https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F2212213%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftech.slashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F2212213%2Fvolkswagen-hit-by-it-outage-brand-vehicle-production-in-germany-halted%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/2212213/volkswagen-hit-by-it-outage-brand-vehicle-production-in-germany-halted?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/2212213/volkswagen-hit-by-it-outage-brand-vehicle-production-in-germany-halted?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**AI-Generated 'Subliminal Messages' Are Going Viral**

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Every week, the social media hype-train seems to find new ways to sensationalize generative AI tools. Most recently, a new technique that allows users to produce optical illusions went viral, with some describing the results as AI-generated images with "subliminal" messages. The technique, called ControlNet, essentially lets users have more control over the generated image by specifying additional inputs -- in this case, letting you create images or words within other images. Some users characterized this as a form of "hidden message" that could be used to implant suggestions in the form of subtle visual cues, like a McDonald's "M" logo appearing in the outlines of a movie poster.

ControlNet uses the AI image-generating tool Stable Diffusion, and one of its initial uses was generating fancy QR codes using the code as an input image. That idea was then taken further, with some users developing a workflow that lets them specify any image or text as a black-and-white mask that implants itself into the generated image -- kind of like an automated, generative version of the masking tool in Photoshop.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=AI-Generated+'Subliminal+Messages'+Are+Going+Viral%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F2037243%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F2037243%2Fai-generated-subliminal-messages-are-going-viral%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/2037243/ai-generated-subliminal-messages-are-going-viral?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/2037243/ai-generated-subliminal-messages-are-going-viral?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed


**Intel Reiterates: Next-gen Meteor Lake CPUs Aren't Coming To Most Desktops**

An anonymous reader shares a report: Intel's Meteor Lake processor architecture promises to be its most interesting in recent history, but we've known for a while now that Intel isn't planning to launch a version for socketed desktop motherboards like the ones you'd find in a self-built PC or an off-the-shelf mini tower. For those systems, Intel plans to release a second consecutive refresh of the old Alder Lake architecture, the one that first came to desktops in 12th-generation Core CPUs in 2021. In an interview with PCWorld, Intel Client Computing Group General Manager Michelle Johnston Holthaus said that Meteor Lake chips would be coming to desktops after all. But the company backpedaled a bit a couple of days later, clarifying that these Meteor Lake desktop chips would be of the soldered-to-the-motherboard variety, not intended as high-performance replacements for current desktop Core i7 and Core i9 chips.

This kind of bifurcation isn't totally unheard of, especially when Intel is in the process of shifting to a new manufacturing technology, as it is with Meteor Lake. Chips for high-performance desktops tend to be physically larger and also need to be able to scale up to higher clock speeds, two things that are harder to do when a manufacturing process is new. And Meteor Lake is nothing if not complex to manufacture, using new Intel Foveros packaging technology to combine four different silicon dies produced on three different manufacturing processes by two different companies. Some of Intel's 10th-generation Core CPUs for laptops and all of the 11th-gen laptop CPUs had moved to new architectures and Intel's 10 nm manufacturing process, while the desktop chips remained stuck on the more mature (but aging) 14 nm process.

https://a.fsdn.com/sd/twitter_icon_large.png (http://twitter.com/home?status=Intel+Reiterates%3A+Next-gen+Meteor+Lake+CPUs+Aren't+Coming+To+Most+Desktops%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F1913227%2F%3Futm_source%3Dtwitter%26utm_medium%3Dtwitter)https://a.fsdn.com/sd/facebook_icon_large.png (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fslashdot.org%2Fstory%2F23%2F09%2F27%2F1913227%2Fintel-reiterates-next-gen-meteor-lake-cpus-arent-coming-to-most-desktops%3Futm_source%3Dslashdot%26utm_medium%3Dfacebook)

Read more of this story (https://slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/1913227/intel-reiterates-next-gen-meteor-lake-cpus-arent-coming-to-most-desktops?utm_source=rss1.0moreanon&utm_medium=feed) at Slashdot.

https://slashdot.org/story/23/09/27/1913227/intel-reiterates-next-gen-meteor-lake-cpus-arent-coming-to-most-desktops?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed