Links 06/04/2024: Discarding 70,000 Government Employees in Argentina, Janet Yellen Sounds Warning on Global Economy
Contents
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Leftovers
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Hackaday ☛ Vibratory Rock Tumbler Bounces On Printed Spring
If you’re reading Hackaday, there’s a good chance you had a rock tumbler in your younger days. Hell, we’d put odds on a few of you having one rumbling away in the background as you read this. They’re relatively simple contraptions, and a common enough DIY project. But even still, this largely 3D printed rock tumbler from [Fraens] is unique enough to stand out.
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Hackaday ☛ TOMOS Moped Becomes Electric Beast
The TOMOS 50cc moped, a small motorcycle produced in Yugoslavia and the Netherlands, has for decades been a common sight on European roads and provided the first taste of transport independence for countless youngsters. Unfortunately the company went bankrupt a few years ago, but there are still plenty of them about, and it’s one of these that [Doctor D.S.] gives an electric conversion in the video below the break.
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Manuel Moreale ☛ P&B: Matt Stein
I don’t even have a rough idea how many people subscribe to my RSS feed, and I like that. The feed isn’t for me.
The winds of income shifted for me recently, and as I re-evaluated expenses I suddenly noticed how many independent writers and developers and artists seem to put their work before their income. I think that’s a courageous thing to do, and my usually-free-tier patronage didn’t square with that. So now I keep a list of projects and resources and try to do a better job of supporting them when they offer a way to do it. (It’s never enough and I have a lot more to go!)
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Hackaday ☛ ColecoVision Cart Rises From Ashes
We felt bad for [Mark] of Mark Fixes Stuff. Apparently, his house burned down and took virtually everything, including his retrocomputer collection. He did manage to pull out a few things from the remains including a ColecoVision cartridge that was — honestly — melted. We probably would have written it off, but [Mark] was determined to recover something.
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James G ☛ Technical Writing Chat with Sabrina Lim
This is the third interview in Technical Writing Chats, a series where I speak with technical writers about their day-to-day role and how they got started in their career. Today's interview is with Sabrina Lim, a Senior Associate Technical Writer at Workday. I sincerely hope you enjoy!
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Cory Dransfeldt ☛ AI cannot and should not replace search
Search engines, at their core, should seek to surface information quickly and transparently. Google started there before ever more ads encroached on and cluttered results. I want clarity, relevance and brevity. DuckDuckGo's results were just fine and the last thing I need are questionable answers from an AI bolted to the top of the page.
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Science
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New Yorker ☛ A Guide to the Total Solar Eclipse
Eclipses dazzled the ancient world. Now that we understand them better, they may be even more miraculous.
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Science Alert ☛ Keep Your Eyes Peeled: 'Devil Comet' May Show During Solar Eclipse
Don't miss this!
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Science Alert ☛ The Polar Vortex Has Shifted Into Reverse – And Is Now Spinning Backwards
Nobody panic.
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Science Alert ☛ Math Homework Can End Up Doing More Harm Than Good, Study Shows
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Science Alert ☛ Microplastics Are Infiltrating Archeological Remains, Scientists Warn
"We see our historic heritage incorporating toxic elements."
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Education
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Los Angeles Times ☛ Black couple defied racism and rented to Chinese family, who pay back
Some 85 years since the Dongs moved to Coronado, Lloyd Sr.’s sons, Ron Dong and Lloyd Dong Jr., are donating $5 million from their portion of the sale of the house they eventually came to own to San Diego State University’s Black Resource Center. Advertisement
The gift will expand scholarships for Black students and fund future renovations at the center, its director, Brandon Gamble, said.
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Hardware
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Omicron Limited ☛ Radio made the famous Finnish composer Jean Sibelius an international media figure, researchers say
In the 1950s, the international reach of radio decreased due to the new FM technology.
The central research material of the article consists of Finnish newspapers and magazines and Yleisradio's annual reports. The research literature includes writings about music, radio operations, internationality and Jean Sibelius.
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Marcin Juszkiewicz ☛ DT-free EDK2 on SBSA Reference Platform
During last weeks we worked on getting rid of DeviceTree from EDK2 on SBSA Reference Platform. And finally we managed!
All code is merged into upstream EDK2 repository.
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Ruben Schade ☛ Et tu, Samsung USB key?
USB-C is such a compromised connector, with multiple incompatible signals requiring specific cables that lack visual disambiguation, and their susceptibility to issues from the tiniest flecks of dust. This particular key was perfectly clean though, and was never transport without its cap which I somehow didn’t lose. Maybe it was zapped or something.
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Hackaday ☛ 3D Printer Hot Off The Griddle
If you look at [Proper Printing’s] latest video — see below — you’ll immediately get the idea behind his latest printer. There are two heads on two separate gantries, which, of course, opens up many possibilities. But when you think you’ve seen enough, you find out the heated bed is a kitchen griddle, and… well, for us, we had to keep watching.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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Alan Pope ☛ Alan Pope: Today is my Birthday! I got ADHD
This is a deeply personal post. Feel free to skip this if you’re only here for the GNU/Linux and open-source content. It’s also a touch rambling. As for the title, no, I didn’t “get” ADHD on my birthday; obviously, that’s humourous literary hyperbole. Read on.
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Science Alert ☛ The Earliest Signal of Future Alzheimer's May Have Just Been Revealed
A biomarker found in the brain.
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Science Alert ☛ "This Is The First Time": Drug Shows Signs of Slowing Parkinson's Disease
We've finally found something.
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Science Alert ☛ A Strange Thing Happens When You And Your Partner Drink Alcohol Over Time
A mysterious pattern can be seen.
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Science Alert ☛ Scientists Predict Prostate Cancer Cases to Double Within 20 Years
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Hong Kong man wounded by wild monkeys in critical condition after contracting B virus
Experts have warned against touching or feeding Hong Kong’s wild monkeys after a man wounded by macaques was left in a critical condition in the city’s first case of human B virus infection.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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India Times ☛ meta deepfake rules: Meta overhauls rules on deepfakes, other altered media
Facebook owner Meta announced major changes to its policies on digitally created and altered media on Friday, ahead of US elections poised to test its ability to police deceptive content generated by new artificial intelligence technologies.
The social media giant will start applying "Made with AI" labels in May to AI-generated videos, images and audio posted on its platforms, expanding a policy that previously addressed only a narrow slice of doctored videos, Vice President of Content Policy Monika Bickert said in a blog post.
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India Times ☛ meta: Meta to start labeling AI-generated content in May
Facebook and Instagram giant Meta on Friday said it will begin labeling AI-generated media beginning in May, as it tries to reassure users and governments over the risks of deepfakes. - Biden deepfakes - Meta said its rollout will occur in two phases with AI-generated content labeling beginning in May 2024, while the removal of manipulated media solely based on the old policy will cease in July.
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Matt Birchler ☛ Apple just allowed emulators on iOS! Or did they? Not everyone agrees.
You should read Axon’s post to see what they think this does allow, but basically they think it isn’t what anyone wants. I have a different reading, though. My reading is that app developers are responsible for the games downloadable from inside their app, but they’re not responsible for what users load into the app. Google makes a web browser and they’re not on the hook for their users going to websites Apple wouldn’t allow, and I think this is a similar situation.
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The Hill ☛ Meta to label more AI-generated content
Meta will begin to label more content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and only remove AI content that violates other policies, according to an update released Friday.
Meta said it plans to start labeling AI-generated content next month, and will stop removing content “solely on the basis of our manipulated video policy” in July.
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The Hill ☛ Meta to lean on labels over takedowns of AI content
Meta said it plans to start labeling AI-generated content next month and will stop removing content “solely on the basis of our manipulated video policy” in July.
The company said the timeline aims to let users understand the self-disclosure process before the company stops removing the “smaller subset of manipulated media.”
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Techdirt ☛ NYC Officials Are Mad Because Journalists Pointed Out The City’s New ‘AI’ Chatbot Tells People To Break The Law
Countless sectors are rushing to implement “AI” (undercooked language learning models) without understanding how they work — or making sure they work. The result has been an ugly comedy of errors stretching from journalism to mental health care thanks to greed, laziness, computer-generated errors, plagiarism, and fabulism.
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Bruce Schneier ☛ Maybe the Phone System Surveillance Vulnerabilities Will Be Fixed
It seems that the FCC might be fixing the vulnerabilities in SS7 and the Diameter protocol: [...]
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Defence/Aggression
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Truthdig ☛ Trump's Insurrection Architect Is Close to Disbarment
Donald Trump could not have caused as much damage to the United States as he did had it not been for his coterie of unethical lawyers. While Trump deploys his usual strategy of delay, deny and obstruct to avoid trial on 88 criminal charges, many on his legal team are facing the consequences of their dishonest behavior.
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RFA ☛ Chinese tourist tower overlooking North Korea could be demolished
Tower at Changbai Millennium Cliff City shuttered after hostility between North Koreans and Chinese tourists.
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RFA ☛ Ethnic army seizes city on Myanmar-China border
The capture comes days after a meeting between the junta and Chinese envoy.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Cho in War on the Rocks
On April 4, IPSI Nonresident Senior Fellow Sungmin Cho published a piece in War on the Rocks suggesting that a crisis in northeast Asia is more likely to start on the Korean Peninsula than in Taiwan.
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JURIST ☛ Malaysia ex-PM applies to serve six-year sentence under house arrest
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak filed a judicial review application to the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Wednesday seeking an addendum order from former King Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, according to reports from local media. The order would allow Najib to serve his six-year sentence under house arrest.
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RFERL ☛ Russia Summons South Korean Ambassador Over North Korea-Linked Sanctions
Russia's Foreign Ministry said on April 5 that it had summoned South Korean Ambassador Lee Do-hoon to inform him that Moscow considers Seoul's recent sanctions imposed on Russian citizens and organizations as "another unfriendly" move based on "baseless accusations."
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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Deutsche Welle ☛ Is Telegram a threat to Ukraine's national security?
These messages, monitored by the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, are distributed by allegedly pro-Russian Telegram channels, apparently to sow panic and disinformation about Ukraine's military affairs and political establishment. The speed and anonymity of Telegram have heightened the debate over whether to block the platform in Ukraine.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania mulls banning Chinese software in private power plants – minister
Lithuania’s Ministry of Energy intends to ban the use of Chinese software by private developers in the construction of solar and wind power plants with a capacity of more than 100 kW.
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New Statesman ☛ Reality is chipping away at Putinism
One thing led to another. Putin’s reaction in March 2014 was to seize Crimea and encourage rebellions in eastern Ukraine, prioritising Ukraine’s dismemberment. Then, through the Minsk agreements, he sought to use the Russian-sponsored rebel enclaves in the Donbas region as levers to influence the Ukrainian government and prevent it from taking “anti-Russian” positions. It was when that effort failed that he decided, in February 2022, to invade the country and instal a puppet government in Kyiv. And when that also failed, he was back to dismemberment, to the point that he now refuses to countenance any peace deal that denies him the four Ukrainian provinces he is currently trying to occupy in addition to Crimea. As this would still leave the non-occupied 80 per cent of the country deeply hostile to Russia, the primary objective has by necessity come back into view. Hopes have revived in Moscow that Ukraine might be so weakened by the loss of US support that Putin can return to its original plan and occupy the major cities, including Kyiv.
As I have argued many times, Russia’s inability to achieve its objectives and so win the war is not the same as a Ukrainian victory. Ukraine has suffered a lot and continues to do so. A ceasefire based on the current lines of contact would be seen in Kyiv as a defeat because it would leave sovereign territory occupied, with those trapped inside subject to harsh measures and “Russification”. But it would hardly be a victory for Russia, which would be left with ruined, depopulated territory, full of unexploded ordnance, with a demanding internal security situation, a long border to defend, and a hostile government in Kyiv working to get into the EU and Nato. For this Russia has sacrificed thousands of people – dead, wounded and living abroad. Economic activity and industrial production is now geared to the war effort, with little left for public amenities or productive investment. It has lost its European energy markets, become a junior partner to China, and depends on Iran and North Korea for armaments.
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Insight Hungary ☛ Hungarian politicians might have accepted Moscow funds to promote pro-Kremlin messaging
A propaganda network was uncovered with alleged ties to Moscow, purportedly funneling funds to politicians across Europe to advance pro-Russian agendas within the EU, Der Spiegel and Der Standard reported.
Funds were directed towards financing campaigns ahead of the European Parliamentary elections, with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala shedding light on the matter during a recent press briefing. Fiala highlighted the network's utilization of the Prague-based news outlet, Voice of Europe, a platform spreading pro-Russian narratives, including calls for the EU to rethink its support for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. Deník N noted the cessation of operations by Voice of Europe, hinting at potential ramifications following the investigative reports.
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Atlantic Council ☛ Ukraine’s grain exports are crucial to Africa’s food security
Moscow is trying to increase Africa’s dependence on its imports by blocking the exports of Ukrainian grain. By helping Ukraine sell its grain, the West can offer the African continent an alternative to Russia’s grain and decrease Russia’s profits.
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France24 ☛ Russia claims to have captured village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region
Russian forces have captured the village of Vodyane in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, Russia's defence ministry said on Friday.
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LRT ☛ Western instructors could go to Ukraine under proper air defence – Lithuanian PM
With proper air defence protection, Western military instructors could go to Ukraine to train Ukrainian troops, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė told a joint press conference with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Vilnius on Friday.
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LRT ☛ Lithuania to buy 3,000 drones for Ukraine, launches soldiers’ rehabilitation initiative
Lithuania is set to purchase around 3,000 drones for Ukraine and is launching a special rehabilitation program for the country’s injured soldiers, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė announced on Friday.
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RFERL ☛ Moldovan Separatists Say Drone Struck Military Base In Transdniester
Russian-backed separatists in Moldova claimed on April 5 that a drone hit a military base about 6 kilometers from the border with Ukraine but caused no injuries or major damage.
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RFERL ☛ Uzbek Film Festival Showing Ukrainian War Film Canceled
The Uzbek Culture Ministry said on April 5 that the Artdocfest/Asia film festival was blocked because its organizers "did not obtain permission" to hold a public event and failed to comply with regulations.
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RFERL ☛ Japan Names Additional Goods Banned For Export To Russia
Japan's Trade Ministry on April 5 officially named goods banned from being exported to Russia in accordance with additional sanctions Tokyo imposed on Russia in early March over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
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New York Times ☛ Dwindling Ammunition Stocks Pose Grave Threat to Ukraine
What few munitions remain are often mismatched with battlefield needs as the country’s forces gird for an expected Russian offensive this summer.
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Latvia ☛ Latvia joins protest to Georgia over reintroduction of 'Russian law'
April 5 saw the Chairs of the Foreign Affairs Committees of national parliaments, including the Latvian Saeima, issuing a joint statement in which they call on the parliament of Georgia to withdraw its so-called “Russian Law”. In their opinion, this law undermines Georgia’s hard-won European perspective.
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Latvia ☛ Pro-Kremlin activist arrested in Rīga
On Thursday, April 4, the Riga City Court imposed a precautionary measure - detention - on Rīga's Torņakalns district resident Jeļena Kreile, who is suspected of justifying and glorifying Russian war crimes.
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France24 ☛ EU pledges €270 million in aid for Armenia as Yerevan pivots away from Moscow
The European Union on Friday pledged a 270-million-euro ($290 million) financial package for Armenia as Brussels and Washington push to boost ties with Yerevan while its relations with Russia crumble.
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Meduza ☛ Riding the folk-rock wave A new generation of Armenian musicians navigates conflict, creativity, and cultural preservation — Meduza
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JURIST ☛ Finland extends closure of crossing stations on Russian border until further notice
The Finnish Ministry of Interior announced on Thursday that it will extend the closure of crossing stations on its land border with Russia until further notice. In addition, it will also close the water traffic border crossings at Haapasaari, the port of Nuijamaa and Santio, on April 15.
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JURIST ☛ Germany far-right lawmaker denies receiving Russian bribes
German parliamentarian Petr Bystron, representing the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), denied on Thursday allegations of receiving bribes from Russia, according to an exclusive report from German journalist Alexander Wallasch, who obtained a copy of a letter from Bystron to the AfD’s leadership.
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LRT ☛ Lithuanian court deems ex-president’s donor threat to national security
The Regional Administrative Court has ruled that Russian businessman Yuri Borisov, a former supporter of impeached Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas, poses a threat to Lithuania’s national security.
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RFERL ☛ Evacuation Under Way In Russian City Near Kazakh Border After Dam Bursts
A dam burst on April 5 in the Russian city of Orsk in the Ural Mountains and an evacuation is under way, local emergency services said.
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RFERL ☛ EU, Washington Pledge Funds As Armenia Turns Away From Moscow
The European Union and the United States have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to Armenia as Yerevan looks westward amid failing relations with its traditional ally, Russia.
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RFERL ☛ Russian Activists Accused Of Calling For Mass Unrest Jailed
A Moscow court on April 5 sentenced 11 activists to prison terms between five years and eight years on charges of making online calls for mass unrest and inciting hatred.
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RFERL ☛ Probe Launched Against Two Self-Exiled Russian Anti-War Pensioners
Russian authorities have launched a probe against two self-exiled pensioners from Russia's northwestern region of Karelia.
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RFERL ☛ High Radiation Levels Prompt State Of Emergency In Russia's Khabarovsk
Authorities in the city of Khabarovsk in Russia's Far East said on April 5 that a state of emergency has been announced in the city's Industrialny district due to elevated levels of radiation.
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RFERL ☛ Siberian Man Accused Of Gathering Military Data For Germany Gets 12 Years In Prison
The Omsk regional court in Siberia has sentenced a 46-year-old local resident to 12 years in prison on a high treason charge.
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Meduza ☛ Head of Murmansk region stabbed What we know about the first armed attack against a Russian governor in 15 years — Meduza
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Meduza ☛ Russian court sentences woman to 10 months of forced labor for pretending to tickle World War II statue — Meduza
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RFERL ☛ Christian Preacher In Belarus Not Released After Serving 13-Day Jail Term
The Christian Vision Telegram channel said on April 5 that preacher, poet, and father of seven, Syarhey Melyanets, was not released after serving 13 days in jail on unspecified charges amid an ongoing crackdown on civil society by the government of authoritarian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka
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Latvia ☛ Latvian companies doing business with Russia named and shamed
The Baltic Center for Investigative Journalism, Re:Baltica, has published a new investigation which reveals the names of companies still doing business with aggressor state Russia more than two years after its brutal invasion of Ukraine.
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European Commission ☛ EU and international partners agree to expand cooperation on critical raw materials
European Commission Press release Brussels, 05 Apr 2024 Today, the EU, the US, and other Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) partners, joined by Kazakhstan, Namibia, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, announced the launch of the Minerals Security Partnership Forum (or “MSP Forum”).
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Environment
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Science Alert ☛ Microplastics Are Infiltrating Archeological Remains, Scientists Warn
Despite careful preservation efforts, researchers have discovered at least 16 different types of microplastics infiltrating a 2nd-century archeological site in York, UK, up to 7 meters (23 feet) deep.
This region is known for its Viking and Roman history.
"The presence of microplastics can and will change the chemistry of the soil, potentially introducing elements which will cause the organic remains to decay," explains archaeologist David Jennings from York Archaeology. "If that is the case, preserving archaeology in situ may no longer be appropriate."
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RFA ☛ Rescuers search for 13 people following Taiwan’s biggest quake in 25 years
The island continues to be rocked by aftershocks following Wednesday’s 7.2 magnitude quake.
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Energy/Transportation
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RFERL ☛ Montenegrin Supreme Court Sends 'Crypto King' Case Back To Lower Court
The Supreme Court of Montenegro on April 5 overturned the extradition of reputed "cryptocurrency king" Do Kwon to South Korea and referred the case back to the Higher Court in Podgorica.
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Wired ☛ [Cryptocurrency] Magnate Do Kwon Found Liable for Multibillion-Dollar Fraud
Filed in February 2023 by the Securities and Exchange Commission, a regulatory body responsible for protecting US investors, the civil complaint alleged that Kwon and Terraform had “perpetrated a fraudulent scheme that led to the loss of $40 billion of market value,” whereby they lied to investors about the prospects and stability of the cryptotokens they issued.
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Ruben Schade ☛ Revisiting self-driving cars
Self-driving cars are one of those technologies that flew under my LIDAR (thank you) until I started seeing their social effects. I’d previously lumped them in with hyperloops, cryptocurrency, and generative AI as mediocre tech in search of problems. Or at least, gullible investors with short memories.
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DeSmog ☛ IEA Think Tank Contributes to Climate Science Denial Documentary
A senior figure at the influential Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) think tank contributed to a new documentary that spread numerous myths about climate change.
Stephen Davies, an academic who has worked in educational outreach roles at the IEA since 2010, appeared several times in Climate The Movie: The Cold Truth – a new film directed by climate science denier Martin Durkin.
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The Strategist ☛ China’s EV battery sector has an Achilles’ heel
To make a good battery, you need fluorine, an element that is sourced from the mineral fluorspar.
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Hackaday ☛ A Drone Motor Does E-Bikes
On paper, the motors from both an electric bicycle and a drone can both take about 500 watts or so of power. Of course, their different applications make them anything but equivalent, as the bike motor is designed for high torque at low speed while the drone motor has very little torque but plenty of speed. Can the drone motor do the bike motor’s job? [Pro Know] makes it happen, with a set of speed reducing and torque increasing belts.
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Wildlife/Nature
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The Revelator ☛ Six Degrees of Plant Extinction
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CS Monitor ☛ Project ‘Frozen Dumbo’ helps boost dwindling African elephant populations
Factors such as poaching and habitat loss have decimated wild African elephant populations. Operation “Frozen Dumbo” aims to bolster the animals’ numbers in the wild and in zoos.
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The Straits Times ☛ South Koreans’ love for ‘national panda’ Fu Bao belies less than cuddly ties with China
Despite frosty relations with China, South Koreans' love for the first panda born in the country runs deep.
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The Straits Times ☛ ST Picks: Panda diplomacy — A look at the current state of South Korea-China relations
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Finance
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70,000 Govt Employees Will Be Fired In This Country: Nation In Turnmoil
To reduce the bloated state, Milei has instituted a chainsaw-style strategy that includes canceling over 200,000 social welfare programs, halting public works projects, and reducing financing to local governments.
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Omicron Limited ☛ Should the SEC ditch quarterly reporting?
In recent years, widespread concerns about short-termism have helped to rejuvenate the debate around the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)'s quarterly-reporting rules. For example, in 2018 the Trump administration instructed the SEC to investigate returning to a semiannual (i.e. twice yearly) requirement, which was in force from 1955-1970.
In a forthcoming paper for Accounting Horizons, David S. Koo, an assistant professor of accounting at the Donald G. Costello College of Business at George Mason University, revisits this history to determine whether switching back to semiannual reporting would automatically curtail short-termism.
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Hong Kong Free Press ☛ Beijing’s industrial subsidies threaten global economy, US treasury chief Janet Yellen warns on China visit
By Beiyi Seow US Treasury chief Janet Yellen warned during a visit to China on Friday that Beijing’s subsidies for industry could pose a risk to global economic resilience.
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France24 ☛ Bangladesh, a young nation embracing globalisation
Fifty-three years ago, Bangladesh finally obtained independence from Pakistan, at the cost of a war that left nearly 3 million people dead. Since then, the nation has developed into one of Asia's most dynamic economies, thanks in particular to the textile industry. The garment industry brings in more than $55 billion a year, making Bangladesh the world's second-largest clothing exporter, just behind China. FRANCE 24 takes a closer look at the Bangladesh of today, a country that has fully embraced globalisation.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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RFA ☛ China's festival for the dead gives political focus to the living
Reports emerge of police patrols in locations that laid flowers for late premier Li Keqiang last year.
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RFA ☛ With feasts and patrols, China tries to keep Uyghurs from fasting
For years, Beijing has banned or restricted Ramadan in the name of fighting religious extremism.
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New York Times ☛ John Sinclair, 82, Dies; Counterculture Activist Who Led a ‘Guitar Army’
As the leader of the White Panther Party in the late 1960s, Mr. Sinclair spoke of assembling a “guitar army” to wage “total assault” on racists, capitalism and the criminalization of marijuana. “We are a whole new people with a whole new vision of the world,” he wrote in his book “Guitar Army” (1972), “a vision which is diametrically opposed to the blind greed and control which have driven our immediate predecessors in Euro-Amerika to try to gobble up the whole planet and turn it into one big supermarket.”
He also managed the incendiary Detroit rock band the MC5. Their lyrics — “I’m sick and tired of paying these dues/And I’m finally getting hip to the American ruse” — were a kind of ballad for the cause.
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The Hindu ☛ As cannabis consumption surges, Germany opts for partial legalisation
At the stroke of midnight on 1 April, the area around Berlin’s famous Brandenburg Gate was shrouded in a fog of smoke emanating from the thousands of lit joints. The German Cannabis Association organised a smoke-in to celebrate the legalisation of the recreational consumption of cannabis (or marijuana). Around 1,500 people had assembled this spring night to celebrate publicly what was deemed illegal until then.
Masha M. was one of the revellers celebrating this decriminalisation of cannabis use. “I am happy because now I can plant my cannabis, which is excellent. Earlier, this was illegal. I have worked for a long time with drug addicts, and it is very important to remove this taboo on cannabis consumption and decriminalise it.”
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Quartz ☛ California Forever project timeline: Tech billionaires try to build a city
But can they pull it off? To be honest, the prospects look dim. For one thing, no private group has built a city from scratch since... I’m not sure when. For another thing, if the people behind the project are known for their ability to accumulate wealth, they aren’t exactly known for their clear-eyed realism. After all, half of them have spent years telling us how cool [cryptocurrency] is.
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Silicon Angle ☛ Apple cuts 600+ jobs across electric car, microLED display teams
The layoffs reportedly affect teams that worked on two recently canceled engineering initiatives. The first initiative, which was known internally as Project Titan, focused on developing an electric car. The other was an effort on Apple’s part to design custom displays for its devices.
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Gizmodo ☛ Apple Laid Off 600 People in Pivot Away From Cars and Watch Displays: Report
Apple decided to stop building cars and smartwatch displays in-house so it laid off 600 employees, according to a report from Bloomberg Thursday. The layoffs, which occurred in Feb. and March, affected 87 employees working at a secret Apple facility working on smartwatch screens, and hundreds working on the Apple Car.
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The Register UK ☛ Apple lays off 600+ as projects cancelled
Most of the layoffs [listed on this .xlsx doc] have come from the Kifer 4 facility at 3689 Kifer Road in Santa Clara. According to a report in Bloomberg, this location was the company's main car-related facility. Other satellite offices were also affected.
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Techdirt ☛ Jim Jordan Demands Major Ad Companies Explain Why They Won’t Advertise On Truth Social
Jim Jordan, who heads the House Judiciary Committee and its subcommittee on “the weaponization of the federal government,” continues to use “weaponize the power of the federal government” to punish his enemies and support his friends. He’s done this before. Many times before.
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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Atlantic Council ☛ Tehran cooked up a conspiracy theory blaming Israel for US TikTok ban
However, the same outlet has vehemently justified Iran’s weeks-long state-imposed internet shutdown in 2019, which came in response to nationwide protests that were used as cover for security forces to kill 1,500 protesters. It has argued that the government was left with no option but to fully cut people in Iran off from the world to prevent “misuse of the Internet by the outside agencies who [sought] instability in the country” and were “engineering a crisis in Iran.”
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VOA News ☛ X user misrepresents police brutality video as display of Pakistani–Afghan tensions
RS’s false description of the footage — specifically, identifying the police officers as Punjabi and the alleged criminal as an Afghan — is significant in the context of the border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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Jamie Zawinski ☛ Wikipedia: Constructed entirely of the Appeal to Authority Fallacy
It's more important for something to be quoted than for it to be true. That is the Wikipedia Way.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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EFF ☛ Federal Court Dimisses X's Anti-Speech Lawsuit Against Watchdog
Researchers, journalists, and everyone else has a First Amendment right to criticize social media platforms and their content moderation practices without fear of being targeted by retaliatory lawsuits, a federal court recently ruled.
The decision by a federal court in California to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk’s X against the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting online hate speech and misinformation, is a win for greater transparency and accountability of social media companies. The court’s ruling in X Corp. v. Center for Countering Digital Hate Ltd. shows that X had no legitimate basis to bring its case in the first place, as the company used the lawsuit to penalize the CCDH for criticizing X and to deter others from doing so.
Vexatious cases like these are known as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs. These lawsuits chill speech because they burden speakers who engaged in protected First Amendment activity with the financial costs and stress of having to fight litigation, rather than seeking to vindicate legitimate legal claims. The goal of these suits is not to win, but to inflict harm on the opposing party for speaking. We are grateful that the court saw X’s lawsuit was a SLAPP and dismissed it, ruling that the claims lacked legal merit and that the suit violated California’s anti-SLAPP statute.
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Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press
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CPJ ☛ CPJ condemns Russian journalist Igor Kuznetsov’s 6-year prison sentence
The court also banned Kuznetsov from managing websites for two years after he serves his term and sentenced 10 other defendants in the case to time prison, those sources said.
Kuznetsov’s charges stemmed from his involvement in the Chto-Delat! Telegram channel, according to human rights news website OVD-Info. Kuznetsov previously said that while he was a channel administrator, he acted “exclusively as a journalist” and did not organize any protests.
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Yury Molodtsov ☛ The Unsettling Battle Between Media and Technology
When tech became a celebrity itself, it joined a circle of politics and big businesses. Small startups don’t affect the world much at first. Then, they grow into big corporations, and sometimes, their road ahead is filled with unintended consequences. Although, sometimes, they know perfectly well what they were doing.
Journalists don’t hate tech people. They talk to them and write stories all the time. They are definitely more critical than they were, though. But only because the industry itself has grown.
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Los Angeles Times ☛ Tyler Laube, linked to white supremacist group Rise Above Movement, sentenced to time served
The California State Park Police didn’t arrest Laube, who was on probation for his role in an armed robbery in L.A. County. Nor did they detain any of his fellow associates in the white supremacist fight club Rise Above Movement, who had attended the rally with anti-Semitic signs, chased down and stomped on anti-Trump protesters and giddily displayed their mayhem on social media. Instead, rangers handcuffed anti-Trumpers for using pepper spray in self-defense.
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Kansas Reflector ☛ Facebook apologizes for blocking Kansas Reflector, then expands crackdown to other news sites
A day after a Facebook spokesman apologized for blocking Kansas Reflector articles by mistake, the social media giant blocked all links to two other news sites that republished a Kansas Reflector column.
Facebook on Friday removed posts pointing to The Handbasket, which is written by independent journalist Marisa Kabas, as well as posts pointing to News From The States, which aggregates stories and columns published by States Newsroom affiliates, including Kansas Reflector.
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Hamilton Nolan ☛ What Will Replace Advertising Revenue?
All of this brings me back to a conclusion that I have stated here before, and will now state again: Public funding of journalism is the only way to fix this. Reader subscription revenue is not enough, and recipe book revenue is not enough, and there are not enough hedge funds to build enough newsrooms to replace the amount of journalism that has been lost with the collapse of advertising revenue. Public money is it. Not so I can buy a Jet Ski, although I certainly believe I deserve one, but so there can be at least a few reporters in your town who can write about what all the crooks in your local government are doing.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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EDRI ☛ Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic: Belgium’s latest move doesn’t solve critical issues with EU CSA Regulation
The EDRi network has long-urged European Union (EU) lawmakers to ensure that efforts to combat OCSEA (online child sexual exploitation and abuse) are lawful, effective and technically feasible. The goal to protect children online is vital. This can only be done if the proposed measures work and are compatible with human rights, including privacy and the presumption of innocence.
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RFA ☛ Tibetan monk arrested for holding Dalai Lama’s portrait during protest
Pema’s detention is the latest in a slew of arrests Chinese authorities have made over the years of Tibetans who have been charged with possessing a portrait of the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists.
Possessing photos of the Dalai Lama, who has resided in exile in northern India since 1959, is considered an act of separatism and has been a punishable offense in Tibetan-populated areas of China for decades.
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DEV Community ☛ Why I Care Deeply About Web Accessibility And You Should Too - DEV Community
Why I am sticking to a broader view is somewhat personal. As someone living in South Africa, a developing country (although some people will tell you differently), I encounter additional barriers to getting the full benefit of the internet. While not specifically related to someone’s physical or mental abilities per se, I consider them barriers to access.
An example of this is web performance. The indiscriminate use of web technologies that end up delivering massive payloads to end users on low-end devices with either slow internet access or capped internet bandwidth allowances creates a massive barrier to access. When these same web properties then add additional dependencies to polyfill several modern JavaScript, CSS, or HTML features, the problems for these people are multiplied.
Depending on how you ship these polyfills, you may even open up a security risk for them. There is a reason there are best practices such as progressive enhancement and local first. Is this always possible? Probably not, but does that mean we throw out the baby with the bathwater? I do not believe that is a good approach.
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Reason ☛ California Cops Tased a Man Having a Seizure, Then Booked Him on Bogus Charges To Cover Their Mistake
In August 2022, Bruce Frankel's fiancee dialed 911 after Frankel began having a grand mal seizure. But instead of receiving medical help, a police officer burst into Frankel's home and tased him. Making matters worse, police engaged in an attempt to cover up their mistake by launching bogus charges against Frankel.
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The Register UK ☛ Microsoft hiring Inflection team triggers EU interest
Microsoft formed an AI division last month headed by Mustafa Suleyman and Karén Simonyan, founders of Inflection. It reportedly paid the Palo Alto based startup $650 million in a move that saw scores of the team transfer to Microsoft, along with giving Redmond the right to use Inflection's models.
Competition officials within the EU are already closely inspecting Microsoft’s investment in OpenAI, believed to be in the region of $13 billion, and are checking to ascertain if this runs afoul of the region's merger rules. Also under the magnifying glass is Microsoft's $15 million stake in Mistral.
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The Hill ☛ Meta asks judge to dismiss FTC antitrust case
The FTC sued Meta in 2020, alleging the social media giant has illegally maintained a monopoly on personal social networking through its acquisition of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.
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Patents
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Kangaroo Courts
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PC Gamer ☛ Roku has filed a patent for your TV to detect when you're paused and play 'relevant ads'. Nope, no thank you, not for me I'm afraid
The patent details several different methods of potentially detecting a "pause event" through an HDMI connected device, including using an onboard processor to identify a silent audio signal in combination with identical video frames that suggests the user is currently in an idle state (via Lowpass). However the pause or idle state is detected, multiple methods suggest that an ad could be selected based on the content of the previous frame, thereby cueing in advertising that's directly relevant to the content the user was previously viewing.
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Game Rant ☛ Roku Wants to Displaying Ads When Consoles Connected to Its TVs Are Idle
Roku patent proposes showing targeted ads during paused HDMI device use, potentially increasing profits for the Smart TV company.
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PC Mag ☛ Roku TVs May Soon Show Ads When You Pause Shows or Games
This means that if the tech is implemented on Roku TVs, you could see ads any time you pause something on an Apple TV device, Xbox, or PlayStation, for example. Two Roku inventors are credited on the patent, which is currently pending. The filing further claims that Roku will be able to detect what users are watching via their HDMI-connected devices and serve ads that match the "context" of what's being displayed.
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Lowpass Media LLC ☛ Roku explores taking over HDMI feeds with ads
Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.
This way, when an owner of a Roku TV takes a short break from playing a game on their Xbox, or streaming something on an Apple TV device connected to the TV set, Roku would use that break to show ads. Roku engineers have even explored ways to figure out what the consumer is doing with their TV-connected device in order to display relevant advertising.
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OS News ☛ Roku gets patent for injecting ads through HDMI
↫ Some bullshit patent for a bullshit ‘invention’
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Android Authority ☛ Your Roku TV could soon show you ads every time you hit pause — even on other devices - Android Authority
TL;DR
• Roku has filed a patent that could allow it to inject ads into your viewing experience, even if you’re using a non-Roku streaming device.
• The patent describes sophisticated ways to detect when you’ve paused your content and analyze what you’re watching to show relevant ads.
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Trademarks
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New York Times ☛ David Chang’s Company, Momofuku, Claims Sole Rights to ‘Chile Crunch’
David Chang’s Momofuku company is waging a trademark battle for the term “chile crunch.” But what does ownership mean for such an everyday pleasure?
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Copyrights
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Techdirt ☛ Germany Still Locking Up Some Laws Behind Copyright
This Leistungsschutzrecht is also known as an “ancillary copyright”, and is a good demonstration of how fans of copyright try to spread its monopoly beyond the usual domains. Whether to create a new Leistungsschutzrecht was one of the important battles that took place during the passage of the EU’s Copyright Directive, discussed at length in Walled Culture the book (free digital versions available). In that instance, it resulted in a new ancillary copyright for newspaper publishers that is another example of yet more money being channeled to the copyright world simply because they were able to lobby for it effectively. As usual, there is no corresponding benefit for the public flowing from this extension of copyright. In the case of the Leistungsschutzrecht claimed by the publisher of the German law gazettes, it results in a ridiculous situation: [...]
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Torrent Freak ☛ Danish Torrent Tracker Crackdown Leads to Another 'Mild' Sentence
As part of a widespread torrent tracker crackdown in Denmark, the National Unit for Special Crime investigated and prosecuted more than two dozen suspects. The most recent defendant, a 48-year-old man from East Jutland, pleaded guilty to his involvement in the Asgaard tracker and was handed a conditional prison sentence. According to local anti-piracy group Rights Alliance, the punishment should have been much tougher.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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