The Federal "Democratic" Republic of Nepal bans 20+ social media platform.
reshared this
China Unveils Large Unmanned Stealth Fighter Design During Military Parade
China Unveils Large Unmanned Stealth Fighter Design During Military Parade
The still-unnamed fighter-sized drone is clearly optimized for high performance, likely with supersonic capabilities, as well as low observability.Thomas Newdick (The War Zone)
reshared this
UK Politicians now talk of climate ‘pragmatism’ to delay action – new study
Politicians now talk of climate ‘pragmatism’ to delay action – new study
Politicians talk about being pragmatic on climate change to avoid hard decisions.The Conversation
like this
475 people taken into ICE custody at Hyundai plant in Georgia
United States immigration authorities have arrested 475 people in a raid on a Hyundai manufacturing site in Georgia, Steve Schrank, a special agent in charge of Homeland Securities Investigations Atlanta, said at a press conference on Friday.
The Hyundai facility, located in Ellabell, Georgia -- approximately 30 miles west of Savannah -- was raided “as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes,” according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.
475 people taken into ICE custody at Hyundai plant in Georgia
"This operation underscores our commitment to protecting jobs for Georgians."Jon Haworth (ABC News)
like this
Why I Ditched Spotify, and How I Set Up My Own Music Stack
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/36925956
::: spoiler Comments
- Hacker News.
:::
Why I Ditched Spotify, and How I Set Up My Own Music Stack
::: spoiler Comments
- Lemmy;
- Hacker News.
:::
like this
reshared this
Anime with a high death count that's actually good?
Two sawwings preening
Trump-Appointed Judges Block Order to Shut Down “Alligator Alcatraz”
Trump-Appointed Judges Block Order to Shut Down “Alligator Alcatraz”
Critics slammed the move, calling the jail an environmental threat that “has been functioning as an extrajudicial site.”…Jessica Corbett (Truthout)
Why I Ditched Spotify, and How I Set Up My Own Music Stack
::: spoiler Comments
- Lemmy;
- Hacker News.
:::
Why I Ditched Spotify, and How I Set Up My Own Music Stack
cross-posted from: programming.dev/post/36925956::: spoiler Comments
- Hacker News.
:::
Technology Channel reshared this.
California quietly guts ambitious virtual power plant bill | Bills boosting solar, batteries, EVs, and smart thermostats to rein in California’s utility costs moved ahead
California quietly guts ambitious virtual power plant bill
Bills boosting solar, batteries, EVs, and smart thermostats to rein in California’s utility costs moved ahead — but the most innovative approaches were…Canary Media
like this
Gun Owners of America - which sees the NRA as soft - wants to get rid of the National Firearms Act. Even children should be able to buy guys, they believe
Inside the gun absolutists’ bold plot to repeal one of America’s strongest firearms laws
Gun Owners of America, which sees the NRA as soft, has the National Firearms Act in its sights – and it’s ready for battleGuardian staff reporter (The Guardian)
DC Statehood: Now, More Than Ever
DC Statehood: Now, More Than Ever | The Nation
The best counter to Trump’s authoritarianism is a renewed commitment to secure full representative democracy in Washington.The Nation
The Browser Company, maker of Arc and Dia, is being acquired
Mike Cannon-Brookes, the CEO of enterprise software giant Atlassian, was one of the first users of the Arc browser. Over the last several years, he has been a prolific bug reporter and feature requester. Now he’ll own the thing: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company, the New York-based startup that makes both Arc and the new AI-focused Dia browser. Atlassian is paying $610 million in cash for The Browser Company, and plans to run it as an independent entity.The acquisition is mostly about Dia, which launched in June. Dia is a mix of web browser and chatbot, with a built-in way to chat with your tabs but also do things across apps. Open up three spreadsheets in three tabs and Dia can move data between them; log into your Gmail and Dia can tell you what’s next on the calendar. Anything with a URL immediately becomes data available to Dia and its AI models. For a company like Atlassian, which makes a whole suite of work apps — the popular project-tracker Jira, the note-taking app Confluence, plus Trello, Loom, and more — a way to stitch them all together seems obviously compelling.
The Browser Company, maker of Arc and Dia, is being acquired
It’s a big bet on AI for Atlassian, which makes tools like Jira and Confluence, and a work-focused shift for Dia.David Pierce (The Verge)
adhocfungus likes this.
OpenAI eats jobs, then offers to help you find a new one at Walmart
On Thursday, Fidji Simo, OpenAI's head of applications (and former CEO of Instacart), announced the plan for workers to advertise themselves to the company's customers for new jobs. She said that while AI is going to shake up the employment market, who better to solve that problem than the people doing the shaking?"AI will be disruptive. Jobs will look different, companies will have to adapt, and all of us – from shift workers to CEOs – will have to learn how to work in new ways," she said in a blog post.
"At OpenAI, we can't eliminate that disruption. But what we can do is help more people become fluent in AI and connect them with companies that need their skills, to give people more economic opportunities."
Simo's plan is that workers should take courses in tech literacy at its OpenAI Academy and then advertise themselves on a forthcoming jobs platform. She said the company has already signed up some big names to the scheme, although maybe the choice of Walmart as an early adopter might not encourage IT admins in their future career paths.
OpenAI eats jobs, then offers to help you find a new one at Walmart
: Move over LinkedIn, Altman's crew wants a piece of the actionIain Thomson (The Register)
adhocfungus likes this.
Researchers unveil RoboBallet, an AI system designed to help teams of industrial robots work together without colliding
Specialized AI for scalable and adaptive multi-robot orchestration
Led by researchers at Google DeepMind Robotics, and through a long-term collaboration with Intrinsic - we are unveiling advanced AI research that enables fully automated, collision-free coordination for multiple industrial robots performing tasks tog…www.intrinsic.ai
Boston Dynamics and Toyota Research Institute have developed a large behavior model that enables more natural movement and “emergent skills” in humanoid robots
AI-Powered Robot by Boston Dynamics and Toyota Research Institute Takes a Key Step Towards General-Purpose Humanoids - Toyota USA Newsroom
BOSTON (Aug. 20, 2025) - Today, Boston Dynamics and Toyota Research Institute (TRI) announced a big step forward in robotics and artificial intelligence research: demonstrating a Large Behavior Model (LBM) powering the Atlas humanoid robot.Melissa Faulner (Toyota USA Newsroom)
Huawei to yank battery energy storage systems from UK
Huawei's battery energy storage systems run out of juice in the UK
Exclusive: Sources say decision to pull products takes effect from end of 2025Paul Kunert (The Register)
Technology Channel reshared this.
Mark Zuckerberg sues Meta - but he's not who you think
::: spoiler Comments
- Lemmy;
- Reddit;
- Hacker News.
:::
Mark Zuckerberg sues Meta - but he's not who you think
Indiana bankruptcy lawyer Mark S Zuckerberg says his Facebook account is "constantly hacked", businesses refuse to take his bookings and he gets constant requests online for money or favours aimed at the billionaire Meta founder.Mickey Carroll (Sky News)
Mark Zuckerberg, the Lawyer, Is Suing Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO
Mark Zuckerberg, the Lawyer, Is Suing Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO
An Indiana attorney is suing Meta for repeatedly shutting down his Facebook pagesEce Yildirim (Gizmodo)
adhocfungus likes this.
Technology Channel reshared this.
Clingy chatbots, AI recruiters and other new research findings
New AI research roundup: chatbots, fairness, and more - Rest of World
We reviewed the latest academic studies on AI recruiters, emotionally manipulative chatbots, fairness challenges, and how AI is reshaping jobs and society.Rina Chandran (Rest of World)
Scammers Exploit Grok AI With Video Ad Scam to Push Malware on X
Have you noticed how malicious links are now being "𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐤𝐞𝐝"?
X won't allow links in promoted posts to fight malvertising. Yet scammers love the challenge and trick X’s AI to amplify the same links that should've been blocked!
This is "𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠"
Malvertisers run “video card” promoted posts with mostly sketchy “adult” content baits (how these even pass X's review is a mystery!)
The malicious link is hidden in the tiny "𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦:" field below the video player. There is no malicious link scanning whatsoever on X! Yet, it is still barely noticeable at this spot. It is not really a good malvertising practice, just yet...
Meanwhile, these posts reach 100k to 5M+ impressions through paid promotion! 💰
Then comes the twist. Scammers turn to 𝐀𝐬𝐤 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐤!
They ask something like: "𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦?" 😏
Grok reads the promoted post and finds the “From” field, using it in its reply 👉 This time, the malicious link is fully visible, clickable, and impossible to miss. Adding to that, it is now amplified in SEO and domain reputation - after all, it was echoed by Grok on a post with millions of impressions! 🤯
So what happened?
A malicious link that X explicitly prohibits in ads (and should have blocked entirely!) suddenly appears in a post by the system-trusted Grok account, sitting under a viral promoted thread and spreading straight into millions of feeds and search results!
👉 The system meant to enforce restrictions gets bypassed, and the AI itself becomes the amplifier! 🤖
And the links? They lead through shady ad networks, monetizing clicks with “direct links” that are known to push Fake captcha scam, Info stealer malware and other shady grey-area content
Really, grok? Don’t you check your links before you “grok” them?
Head of Guardio Labs, Nati Tal, post on X/Twitter.
For people who may not know, even a small satellite (not counting starlink's disposable suitcase ones) usually takes 5-10 YEARS to even build at the very minimum. If we were to also include the development, testing, and launch; the time could easily double that.
So, what he's doing is much, much worse; he's trying to create a legacy of destruction that would take multiple generations to even get back to where we were before he got his mealy hands on everything.
Climate change turns Pakistan’s summer oases into deadly flood zones
The mountain retreats where Pakistanis go to escape the stifling summer heat have been inundated this year by floods, another product of climate change.
Access options:
* gift link — registration required
* archive.today
New Electron Flaw Allows Backdooring Signal, 1Password, and Slack
Subverting code integrity checks to locally backdoor Signal, 1Password, Slack, and more
A vulnerability in Electron applications allows attackers to bypass code integrity checks by tampering with V8 heap snapshot files, enabling local backdoors in applications like Signal, 1Password, and Slack.Darius Houle (The Trail of Bits Blog)
adhocfungus likes this.
Technology Channel reshared this.
Payrolls rose 22,000 in August, less than expected in further sign of hiring slowdown
KEY POINTS
Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 22,000 for the month, lower than the 75,000 forecast, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.3%.
The report showed a marked slowdown from the July increase of 79,000, which was revised up by 6,000. Revisions also showed a net loss of 13,000 in June.
Health care again led by sectors, adding 31,000 jobs, while social assistance contributed 16,000. Wholesale trade and manufacturing both saw declines of 12,000 on the month.
Payrolls rose 22,000 in August, less than expected in further sign of hiring slowdown
Nonfarm payrolls were expected to increase by 75,000 in August while the unemployment rate edged up tp 4.3%.Jeff Cox (CNBC)
like this
Why Putin is winning
Why Putin is winning
Last week's summit revealed just how little leverage the US has, while Europe looks panicked, and Zelensky is painted into a cornerJennifer Kavanagh (Responsible Statecraft)
UC Berkeley’s Rhagobot: Water Strider Robot Harnesses Surface Tension for Speed
Researchers from UC Berkeley, Ajou University, and Georgia Tech unveiled Rhagobot in 2025, a tiny aquatic robot inspired by water striders of the genus Rhagovelia[^1]. The robot features self-deploying fan-like structures on its legs that harness surface tension for propulsion, mimicking the insects' ability to move rapidly across water surfaces[^2].The 8 cm long robot weighs just 0.2 grams and uses passive fan mechanisms that unfurl in 0.01 seconds without requiring muscle power[^3]. These fans, measuring 10 by 5 mm, enable the robot to achieve speeds of two body lengths per second and execute 90-degree turns in under half a second[^4].
According to Professor Je-Sung Koh from Ajou University, "Our robotic fans self-morph using nothing but water surface forces and flexible geometry, just like their biological counterparts. It is a form of mechanical intelligence refined by nature through millions of years of evolution"[^5].
The breakthrough came from studying the water striders' fan architecture using electron microscopy, which revealed that surface tension alone powers the fan deployment - contrary to previous assumptions about muscle activation[^4]. This passive mechanism reduces power consumption compared to motorized alternatives, making it promising for environmental monitoring and search-and-rescue applications[^3].
[^1]: WebProNews - UC Berkeley's Rhagobot: Water Strider Robot Harnesses Surface Tension for Speed
[^2]: Heise - Inspired by water striders: self-unfolding fans make the 'Rhagobot' agile
[^3]: Future Tech on Instagram
[^4]: New Atlas - Robotic water strider rows itself forward by fanning feathery feet
[^5]: Heise - Inspired by water striders: self-unfolding fans make the 'Rhagobot' agile
Robotic water strider rows itself forward by fanning feathery feet
Although we've seen many robotic water striders over the years, scientists are still finding new aspects of the insects to replicate. Recently, for instance, researchers created a strider-bot that zips across the water's surface via fans on its feet.Ben Coxworth (New Atlas)
“I didn’t hear the usual grinding of ice”
“I didn’t hear the usual grinding of ice”
When a Norwegian vessel reached the North Pole this week, the scientific team made an alarming discovery.Elizaveta Vereykina (thebarentsobserver)
like this
DOJ plans to label trans Americans as "mentally defective" to take away their guns
Justice Department leadership is prepared to use its rule-making authority to declare transgender people as mentally ill and deprive them of their Second Amendment right to possess firearms, according to two Justice officials who shared internal discussions with CNN.
Deliberations at the highest levels of the DOJ follow the recent mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, an attack police say was carried out by a 23-year-old former student at the church’s school who may have been a transgender person or a de-transitioned individual. Two children were killed in the attack, and 21 others were injured.
like this
Amazon's strict RTO policy is costing it top tech talent, according to internal document and insiders
Amazon's strict return-to-office policy and relocation demands are hindering recruitment, affecting its ability to attract top tech talent.
Archived version: archive.is/20250904101836/busi…
like this
They blew up a boat far offshore, killed eleven people, and called it justice
Lives erased in the Caribbean, wrapped in a White House video and sold as victory
copymyjalopy likes this.
Why I Ditched Spotify, and How I Set Up My Own Music Stack | LeshiCodes
For years, I relied on Spotify like millions of others. The convenience was undeniable stream anything, anywhere, discover new music through algorithms, and share playlists with friends. But over time, several issues became impossible to ignore: artists getting paid fractions of pennies per stream, fake Artists and ghost Tracks, AI music and impersonation, creepy age verification complicity and the fact that despite paying monthly, I never actually owned anything. So I decided to take back control of my music experience. Here's how I built my own self-hosted music streaming setup that gives me everything Spotify offered and more.
like this
I understand the author's intent to support artists by purchasing their music on various platforms, but by using Sabnzbd to download music from Usenet, this is essentially a guide to pirate music. The only thing in this setup that isn't automated is purchasing the albums, and at one point the author says he uses Sabnzbd to download from Bandcamp. No, he doesn't, that's impossible; Sabnzbd is a Usenet client and nothing more.
I applaud the author for trying to be honest and support his favorite artists with legal purchases to justify his use of these apps, and it's a great setup. But let's not pretend that most people following this guide will actually legally purchase any music they download once they see how seamless and fun it is to pirate it.
And I say all of that as someone who has a similar setup with Lidarr and Sabnzbd, I am not judging anyone who chooses to pirate music. And I do purchase actual physical albums of some of the music I download so I can support my favorite artists. I just wanted to call out the author for being a bit disingenuous about his setup.
<...> at one point the author says he uses Sabnzbd to download from Bandcamp.
He does? I can't find that reference.
UC Berkeley’s Rhagobot: Water Strider Robot Harnesses Surface Tension for Speed
Researchers from UC Berkeley, Ajou University, and Georgia Tech unveiled Rhagobot in 2025, a tiny aquatic robot inspired by water striders of the genus Rhagovelia1. The robot features self-deploying fan-like structures on its legs that harness surface tension for propulsion, mimicking the insects' ability to move rapidly across water surfaces2.
The 8 cm long robot weighs just 0.2 grams and uses passive fan mechanisms that unfurl in 0.01 seconds without requiring muscle power3. These fans, measuring 10 by 5 mm, enable the robot to achieve speeds of two body lengths per second and execute 90-degree turns in under half a second4.
According to Professor Je-Sung Koh from Ajou University, "Our robotic fans self-morph using nothing but water surface forces and flexible geometry, just like their biological counterparts. It is a form of mechanical intelligence refined by nature through millions of years of evolution"5.
The breakthrough came from studying the water striders' fan architecture using electron microscopy, which revealed that surface tension alone powers the fan deployment - contrary to previous assumptions about muscle activation4. This passive mechanism reduces power consumption compared to motorized alternatives, making it promising for environmental monitoring and search-and-rescue applications3.
- WebProNews - UC Berkeley's Rhagobot: Water Strider Robot Harnesses Surface Tension for Speed ↩︎
- Heise - Inspired by water striders: self-unfolding fans make the 'Rhagobot' agile ↩︎
- Future Tech on Instagram ↩︎ ↩︎
- New Atlas - Robotic water strider rows itself forward by fanning feathery feet ↩︎ ↩︎
- Heise - Inspired by water striders: self-unfolding fans make the 'Rhagobot' agile ↩︎
Robotic water strider rows itself forward by fanning feathery feet
Although we've seen many robotic water striders over the years, scientists are still finding new aspects of the insects to replicate. Recently, for instance, researchers created a strider-bot that zips across the water's surface via fans on its feet.Ben Coxworth (New Atlas)
reshared this
SAP to invest €20B in European sovereign cloud push
German giant takes aim at US hyperscaler dominance as some EU customers fret amid Trump 2.0 rhetoric
SAP splashes €20B on Euro sovereign cloud push
: German giant takes aim at US hyperscaler dominance as some EU customers fret amid Trump 2.0 rhetoricLindsay Clark (The Register)
Send in your questions for the Guardian’s climate assembly panel
cross-posted from: slrpnk.net/post/27075196
On Tuesday 16 September, a Guardian panel of experts will be looking to answer questions about the forces driving the pushback against a greener world.We want to hear from our readers globally as not everyone can make the live event. Send in your climate crisis questions and we will put a selection of them to our panel on the day.
Send in your questions for the Guardian’s climate assembly panel
We would like to hear your questions about the climate crisis and we will put a selection of them to our panelGuardian community team (The Guardian)
Switzerland Launches Apertus: A Public, Open-Source AI Model Built for Privacy
The Swiss have unveiled Apertus, a fully open-source, multilingual LLM built with transparency, inclusiveness, and compliance at its core.
like this
Technology Channel reshared this.
Unions refuse to let Labour off the hook, joining forces to demand 'Wages not Weapons'
When it comes to investment in death and destruction abroad, the money is always found, says the Wages Not Weapons campaign
onlinepersona
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • • •Hopefully these won't end up in the ukraine war on the side of Russia 😐
Anti Commercial-AI license
Deed - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons
creativecommons.org☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆
in reply to onlinepersona • • •rbesfe
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • • •Hundreds of Russians dying every week doesn't seem like winning to me, maybe we have different definitions
Edit: don't forget the burning refineries and lineups for gasoline. Are we winning in the Trumpian sense here?
☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆
in reply to rbesfe • • •geneva_convenience
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • • •