[no title] Scripting News(cached at July 23, 2025, 11:33 pm)

If you could look into people's minds and see if, at their core, they feel it can't happen here, most of us would have that belief. We'll probably still believe it when the last of our freedoms is gone.
[no title] Scripting News(cached at July 23, 2025, 11:33 pm)

Here's a benchmark. I just asked ChatGPT for 250 words on climate change. Let's check that out in a year and two years and see if they're still telling the truth.
[no title] Scripting News(cached at July 23, 2025, 11:33 pm)

Trump says he's going to give AI companies freedom except with DEI and climate change, guessing they have to follow Trump dogma? Hard to tell from the language. I assume so. Just like CBS when the Ellisons own it. Our communications systems are pretty much owned by the government as they are in China. Or very close to that.
Why 24/7 Trading is a Bad Idea Slashdotby msmash on business at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at July 23, 2025, 11:05 pm)

The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq have applied for regulatory permission to extend their trading hours to 22 and 24 hours daily, respectively. Nasdaq expects to implement round-the-clock trading from the second half of 2026. The London Stock Exchange is considering similar extensions, according to Financial Times. Several retail brokers already facilitate overnight trading through alternative platforms and "dark pools" -- off-exchange venues that operate during non-standard hours. Robinhood began offering all-night trading for select stocks in May 2023, while Charles Schwab announced plans to expand its overnight trading service to 1,100 securities this July. Economist argues that 24/7 trading is a bad idea. The publication writes: The problem with such trading is that price discovery can be fraught with difficulty. In fact, this is partly why institutional investors like dark pools: their lighter reporting requirements, compared with exchanges, allow big orders to be executed without alerting the wider market beforehand, which would move the price. Professionals taking the other side of these trades accept the risks and know how to navigate them. Amateurs, getting a worse price than they might have done in daylight, often do not. The witching hours are currently when all manner of dull, but vital, post-trade processes take place, from settlement and valuation to the reconciliation of mistakes. Once trading is non-stop, there will be no pause for the financial plumbing to clear. Nor for traders to rest in the knowledge that the market is resting with them, so there is no need to refresh their screens. In today's always-on world, stock exchanges' limited opening hours might seem old-fashioned. But get ready to miss them once they're gone.

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[no title] Scripting News(cached at July 23, 2025, 11:03 pm)

Question. If you have to choose between Google's web browser or one from your favorite AI company, which would you go with? And let me know which is your favorite AI "universe." Also yeah Google is destroying the web, as is ChatGPT and Claude etc. Because the people who tried to capture flow using SEO made you wade through mountains of garbage before you got the info you were coming there for. If instead, they had some focus on providing a product that made people happy and built respect for theri brand, they'd still have a seat at the table. It's too late to complain, you had a chance to view your efforts as a business.
Power Cuts, Cable Damage, and Government Shutdowns Behind Q2 Internet Outages Slashdotby msmash on internet at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at July 23, 2025, 10:35 pm)

Internet outages spiked during the second quarter of 2025, driven by government-mandated shutdowns, infrastructure failures, and technical glitches, according to Cloudflare's quarterly disruption report. Government restrictions returned after a quiet first quarter, with Libya, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Panama imposing internet cutoffs for reasons ranging from protest suppression to exam security. A massive power outage on April 28 knocked Spain's internet traffic down 80% and Portugal's by 90%, with service restored around 1 a.m. the following day. Cable damage caused complete outages for Digicel in Haiti and a 90-minute disruption for Airtel in Malawi. Several major outages went unexplained, including an eight-hour blackout at SkyCable in the Philippines and a nationwide outage at Thai provider TrueMove H, with companies providing no official explanations for the service failures.

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War on Hidden Motors Goes Undercover Slashdotby msmash on technology at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at July 23, 2025, 10:05 pm)

ItsJustAPseudonym shares a Reuters story:The International Cycling Union (UCI) has intensified its fight against mechanical doping, employing intelligence-driven methods to combat increasingly sophisticated alleged cheating in professional cycling. ItsJustAPseudonym adds: They call the use of hidden motors "mechanical doping". In 2010 it led to the ban of a rider from Belgium who had a hidden motor in her seat-tube during a cyclocross event. "It's a bit of a technological arms race. Components are getting lighter, smaller. Easier to conceal, which is harder to detect", according to Nick Raudenski, the UCI Head of the Fight Against Technological Fraud.

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Sony is Fighting Climate Change By Scaling Back PS5 Performance Slashdotby msmash on sony at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at July 23, 2025, 9:06 pm)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Sony is testing a Power Saver mode for the PlayStation 5, explaining in a new PlayStation Blog update that the option will permit games to run with lower power consumption. While the upcoming feature was revealed as part of the system update beta, the feature will not be available during the beta phase. However, when the feature does hit your console, players will gain access to a new option called Power Saver. With Power Saver enabled, "supported PS5 games will scale back performance and will allow your PS5 to reduce its power consumption," explained Shuzo Kikuchi, VP of product management at Sony Interactive Entertainment. "If not enabled, or if games do not support the feature, the performance will not be scaled back and power consumption will not be reduced." As for what scaled-back performance actually means, SIE indicates that VR mode will be unavailable and that "some gameplay features may be limited." So that's one very clear change, and one vague, game-specific change.

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Top UN Court Says Countries Can Sue Each Other Over Climate Change Slashdotby msmash on earth at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at July 23, 2025, 8:36 pm)

A landmark decision by a top UN court has cleared the way for countries to sue each other over climate change, including over historic emissions of planet-warming gases. BBC: But the judge at the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday said that untangling who caused which part of climate change could be difficult. The ruling is non-binding but legal experts say it could have wide-ranging consequences. It will be seen as a victory for countries that are very vulnerable to climate change, who came to court after feeling frustrated about lack of global progress in tackling the problem.

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Meta Unveils Wristband That Controls Computers With Muscle Signals Slashdotby msmash on technology at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at July 23, 2025, 8:06 pm)

Meta researchers published findings in Nature Wednesday detailing a wristband prototype that controls computers through hand gestures by reading electrical signals from forearm muscles. The device uses surface electromyography to detect signals from alpha motor neurons in the spinal cord that connect to muscle fibers, allowing users to move cursors with wrist turns, open applications with thumb-to-forefinger taps, and write text by tracing letters in the air. The technology, developed at Meta's Reality Labs, trained neural networks on data from 10,000 participants to identify common muscle signal patterns. The wristband works without individual calibration across most users and can detect intended movements before physical motion occurs. Meta demonstrated the device controlling its Orion augmented reality glasses last fall and plans product integration over the next few years.

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US Nuclear Weapons Agency 'Among 400 Organizations Breached By Chinese Hackers' Slashdotby msmash on usa at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at July 23, 2025, 7:06 pm)

A cyber-espionage campaign exploiting unpatched Microsoft SharePoint vulnerabilities has breached approximately 400 organizations worldwide, including the US National Nuclear Security Administration, according to Netherlands-based cybersecurity firm Eye Security. The figure represents a four-fold increase from 100 organizations cataloged over the weekend, with researchers calling it likely an undercount since not all attack vectors leave detectable artifacts. Microsoft identified three Chinese groups -- state-backed Linen Typhoon and Violet Typhoon, plus China-based Storm-2603 -- as exploiting the vulnerabilities in on-premises SharePoint servers to steal authentication credentials and execute malicious code remotely. The campaign began July 7 and was first detected July 18 when Eye Security found unusual activity on a customer's server. Victims include the US Energy Department, Education Department, Florida's Department of Revenue, Rhode Island General Assembly, and European and Middle Eastern governments.

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More Than 80% of Tuvalu Seeks Australian Climate Visa Slashdotby msmash on australia at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at July 23, 2025, 6:05 pm)

Australia is offering visas to Tuvalu citizens each year under a climate migration deal Canberra has billed as "the first agreement of its kind anywhere in the world." From a report: "We received extremely high levels of interest in the ballot with 8,750 registrations, which includes family members of primary registrants," the Australian high commission in Tuvalu said in a statement. The figure is equal to 82 percent of the country's 10,643 population, according to census figures collected in 2022. "With 280 visas offered this program year, it means that many will miss out," the commission said. One of the most climate-threatened corners of the planet, scientists fear Tuvalu will be uninhabitable within the next 80 years. Two of the archipelago's nine coral atolls have already largely disappeared under the waves.

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Top UN court says countries can sue each other over climate change BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition(cached at July 23, 2025, 6:01 pm)

The decision from the world's highest court has been welcomed by developing nations at most risk from climate change.
White House Unveils Action Plan To Accelerate AI Development Slashdotby msmash on ai at January 1, 1970, 1:00 am (cached at July 23, 2025, 5:35 pm)

The Trump administration on Wednesday unveiled a 23-page "AI Action Plan" [PDF] designed to accelerate American AI development through deregulation and infrastructure expansion while countering Chinese influence in the technology sector. The plan, mandated by President Trump in January with a six-month deadline, establishes three core pillars: innovation acceleration, infrastructure development, and international AI diplomacy. Central provisions include removing federal regulations that hinder AI development and directing agencies to withhold AI-related funding from states with "burdensome" AI regulations. The administration will streamline environmental permitting for data centers and energy infrastructure while expanding use of coal, natural gas, and nuclear power to meet AI's electricity demands. The plan mandates that government-procured large language models be "neutral and unbiased," addressing conservative concerns about perceived liberal bias in AI systems. Trump signed accompanying executive orders requiring the US International Development Finance Corporation and Export-Import Bank to support global deployment of American AI technology. "To win the AI race, the U.S. must lead in innovation, infrastructure, and global partnerships," Sacks stated, emphasizing worker protection and avoiding "Orwellian uses of AI." The initiative represents Trump's campaign promise to position America as the dominant global AI leader while dismantling Biden-era AI safety requirements rescinded on Trump's first day in office.

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Gaps in our knowledge of ancient Rome could be filled by AI BBC News | Science/Nature | UK Edition(cached at July 23, 2025, 5:30 pm)

A new system fills in missing words from ancient inscriptions carved on monuments and everyday objects.