m/technology has a new owner
As this magazine had been classified as abandoned after being inactive for months, my application to take over its ownership was approved....
Wikimedia Foundation calls on US Supreme Court to strike laws that threaten Wikipedia (wikimediafoundation.org)
The Foundation supports challenges to laws in Texas and Florida that jeopardize Wikipedia's community-led governance model and the right to freedom of expression....
Wild new NASA plasma tech reduces drag during hypersonic flight (www.space.com)
The agency claims the technology is 'simpler than conventional methods for control of hypersonic craft.'
A vaginal ring that discreetly delivers anti-HIV drugs will reach more women (www.npr.org)
In sub-Saharan Africa, women are at high risk of contracting HIV. Some protective measures carry a stigma but this device enables them to take control without anyone knowing....
The Breakthrough Listen Search for Intelligent Life: Technosignature Search of 97 Nearby Galaxies (arxiv.org)
The Breakthrough Listen search for intelligent life is, to date, the most extensive technosignature search of nearby celestial objects. We present a radio technosignature search of the centers of 97 nearby galaxies, observed by Breakthrough Listen at the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope. We performed a narrowband Doppler...
Google’s best Gemini AI demo video was fabricated (arstechnica.com)
Google takes heat for a misleading AI demo video that hyped up its GPT-4 competitor.
PlayStation keeps reminding us why digital ownership sucks (www.theverge.com)
Sony’s content removals and unexpected account bans are timely reminders of why you don’t really own digital content.
Governments spying on Apple, Google users through push notifications - US senator (www.reuters.com)
Unidentified governments are surveilling smartphone users via their apps' push notifications, a U.S. senator warned on Wednesday....
Quantum computer performs error-resistant operations with logical qubits (arstechnica.com)
QuEra gets ready for error correction, runs operations with over 40 logical qubits.
Introducing Wikifunctions: first Wikimedia project to launch in a decade creates new forms of knowledge – Wikimedia Foundation (wikimediafoundation.org)
The new library of functions will answer questions and enhance knowledge. Everyone, everywhere can access and contribute to it now.
Google launches Gemini, the AI model it hopes will take down GPT-4 (www.theverge.com)
Google let OpenAI take the lead in the AI race — now, it’s mounting a comeback.
Ex-Tesla employee casts doubt on car safety (www.bbc.com)
A whistleblower believes the self-driving vehicle technology is not safe enough for public roads.
Bing tests AI Deep Search that turns your simple question into a detailed prompt (www.theverge.com)
It can take up to 30 seconds to conduct a Deep Search.
Automakers’ data privacy practices “are unacceptable,” says US senator (arstechnica.com)
OEMs collect too much personal data and share it too freely, says Senator Markey.
23andMe hackers accessed ancestry information on millions of customers using a feature that matches relatives (www.engadget.com)
Biotech company 23andMe first disclosed a data breach affecting a portion of its customers back in October. The information was obtained in a credential stuffing attack. An SEC filing now reveals roughly 14,000 accounts were accessed, along with information on millions of users participating in the DNA Relatives feature.
Anthrobots: Tiny biological robots from human cells (www.techexplorist.com)
The multicellular bots move around and help heal “wounds” created in cultured neurons. Scientists at Tufts and Harvard made tiny biological robots called Anthrobots using human tracheal cells. These tiny robots move and, in the lab, help neurons grow in damaged areas. The researchers hope to use similar biobots made from...
1960s chatbot ELIZA beat OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 in a recent Turing test study (arstechnica.com)
AI chatbot deception paper suggests that some bots (and people) aren't very persuasive.
Where are all the robot trucks? (www.theverge.com)
The promised wave of autonomous big rigs never materialized. But 2024 could prove to be a pivotal year for the technology.
Japan debuts six-story experimental fusion reactor (gizmodo.com)
The reactor, a forerunner for the vast ITER experiment in France, has the potential to hasten the race for cleaner energy.
Apple loses on Appeal, CMA can restart investigation into browsers - Open Web Advocacy (open-web-advocacy.org)
[Work In Progress]: Vosh - a third-party screen-reader for the Macintosh | AppleVis (www.applevis.com)
After getting fed up with the general neglect of MacOS accessibility from Apple, and having wanted to work on something meaningful for quite some time, I decided to attempt something that for some reason nobody seems to have tried to do before: write a completely new screen-reader for that platform. This isn't an easy task, not...
The Cybertruck Must Be Huge—or It Will Dig Tesla’s Grave (www.wired.com)
If Musk fulfils just 15 percent of Cybertruck preorders, it would equal the annual unit sales of Toyota. If the polarizing EV flops, Tesla could be in big trouble.
Reddit updates look after rough 6 months and ahead of reported IPO (arstechnica.com)
"Edit: Obligatory 'F--- Spez' for karma."
Inside the 'arms race' between YouTube and ad blockers (www.engadget.com)
YouTube's dramatic content gatekeeping decisions of late have a long history behind them, and there's an equally long history of these defenses being bypassed.
Telegram’s Bans on Extremist Channels Aren't Really Bans (www.wired.com)
A WIRED analysis of more than 100 restricted channels shows these communities remain active, and content shared within them often spreads to channels accessible to the public.
