L4s Bot

Detroit police changing facial-recognition policy after pregnant woman says she was wrongly charged::undefined

‘The most stunning demo I’ve ever seen in my life’: ChatGPT impressed Bill Gates by acing AP Bio exam::ChatGPT’s AP Biology score demonstrates near human-level competency, according to tech billionaire Bill Gates.

Music labels sue nonprofit Internet Archive for copyright infringement over digitized 78s of Frank Sinatra and other artists::The labels take issue with the nonprofit posting digitized copies, which it solicits from users, of records in the antiquated 78 LP format.

Judge clears way for $500M iPhone throttling settlements::Owners of iPhone models who were part of throttling lawsuits that ended up with a $500 settlement from Apple may soon receive their payments, after a judge denied objections against the offer.

The U.S. Government Wants To Control Online Speech to “Protect Kids”::The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a bill that allows for a wide range of government penalties for online speech, could soon be passed by Congress. If that happens, the access we have to information may be forever changed. KOSA will make state prosecutors...

Verizon Fails Again, Shutters Attempted Zoom Alternative BlueJeans After Paying $400 Million For It::Pretty much every time Verizon wanders outside of its core competencies (operating telecom networks, lobbying to hamstring competition, undermining the most basic of regulatory oversight), the telco amusingly falls flat on its...

The World’s Largest Time Capsule Won’t Be Opened For Another 6,000 Years::“The world is engaged in burying our civilization forever, and here in this crypt we leave it to you.”

Illinois just made it possible to sue people for doxxing attacks | States crack down on doxxing, but there’s still no federal law.::States crack down on doxxing, but there’s still no federal law.

Pornhub Sues Texas Over Age Verification Law::The law would require a “Texas Health and Human Services Warning” on all porn sites.

Quake II gets a remaster for PC and consoles—and it’s exactly what it needs to be::It features both split-screen and online multiplayer, new levels, and 4K.

FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail::Sam Bankman-Fried is heading to jail after a U.S judge on Friday revoked his bail, finding probable cause that the indicted founder of the bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange tampered with witnesses at least twice.

Apple has plowed over $500 billion into stock buybacks since 2012 — more than Visa, JPMorgan, or Exxon are worth::Only eight companies in the S&P 500 have larger market values than Apple’s outlay on share repurchases over the last decade.

‘A wake up call for opponents of net zero’: Government predicts gas power will be three times more expensive than renewables by 2025::undefined

Microsoft shuts down Cortana app on Windows 11 | The digital assistant was first part of Windows Phone and now it’s being discontinued on Windows.::Microsoft has discontinued Cortana on Windows 11. The digital assistant no longer functions as a standalone app, years after Microsoft shut down its Cortana iOS and Android apps.

The US just invested more than $1 billion into carbon removal / The move represents a big step in the effort to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere—and slow down climate change.::undefined

Amazon warns workers to come back into the office::This week, a reminder email was sent to employees who didn’t work on-site at least three times a week.

Hops for beer flourish under solar panels. They’re not the only crop thriving in the shade.::A farm in Bavaria is covering its hops with solar panels, providing electricity to 250 households and shading the plants from the increasingly scorching summer heat in the process.

Rogue AI bot is giving recipes for human flesh and chlorine gas::undefined

US eyes Australia as test site for missiles to counter China::undefined

China’s tech titans scramble to buy $5 billion of Nvidia chips as US bans investment in key Chinese sectors, report says::Alibaba, TikTok-owner Bytedance, and other Chinese tech giants have reportedly rushed to order Nvidia chips as US-China trade tensions mount.

Texas could get a 205-mph bullet train zipping between Houston and Dallas::The proposed electric railway line could travel 240 miles in under 90 minutes for over 6 million passengers per year.

Scientists at Fermilab close in on fifth force of nature::Physicists believe that an unknown force could be acting on sub-atomic particles known as muons.

Amazon employees are outraged by a new warning about individual office attendance: ‘Is this supposed to scare people?’::undefined

Bots are better than humans at cracking ‘Are you a robot?’ Captcha tests, study finds::New study suggests effort users put in cracking these puzzles every day may be more trouble than its worth

Hackers Rig Casino Card-Shuffling Machines for ‘Full Control’ Cheating::Security researchers accessed an internal camera inside the Deckmate 2 shuffler to learn the exact deck order—and the hand of every player at a poker table.

GM confirms $130,000 Cadillac Escalade IQ won’t have Apple CarPlay or Android Auto | GM said it was going to drop Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in all vehicles, and now, that includes Cadillac’s l…::Cadillac confirms its new Google built-in infotainment leaves no room for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Instead, Google...

Once Again, Dirty Energy is not in the Public Interest::It’s time for a New Mexico utility to invest in clean energy over dirty coal and gas.

A.I. can identify keystrokes by just the sound of your typing and steal information with 95% accuracy, new research shows. Researchers had artificial intelligence listen to the sounds of typing thr…::Researchers had artificial intelligence listen to the sounds of typing through a phone and over Zoom, with eerie results.

Critical thinking education trumps banning and censorship in battle against disinformation, study suggests::A new study conducted by researchers from Michigan State University suggests that the battle against online disinformation cannot be won by mere content moderation or banning those who spread fake news. Instead, the key...

Zoom says it won’t use your calls to train AI ‘without your consent’ after its terms of service sparked backlash and prompted people to talk about ditching the service::The company updated its terms of service to say that users must consent to the content of their calls being used to train its AI amid privacy concerns.

Nvidia reveals new A.I. chip, says costs of running LLMs will ‘drop significantly’::Currently, Nvidia dominates the market for AI chips, with over 80% market share, according to some estimates.

Planetary defense test deflected an asteroid but unleashed a boulder swarm::A UCLA-led study of NASA’s DART mission determined that the strategy presents previously unanticipated risks.

Disney Raises Prices for Streaming Services by as Much as 27%::Walt Disney Co. is raising the prices of its streaming services, including a 27% increase for the advertising-free version of the flagship Disney+.

White House unveils ban on US investment in Chinese tech sectors::Biden cites security risk as he restricts American capital for companies linked to China’s military

Saudi Arabia passes law requiring USB-C charges for smartphones::From 2025, Apple’s iPhone and all Android smartphones sold in Saudi Arabia will have to have a USB-C charging port, with laptops to follow in 2026.

People share misinformation because of social media’s incentives — but those can be changed::“After a few tweaks to the reward structure of social media platforms, users begin to share information that is accurate and fact-based.” (Though the tweaks involved paying people to do so.)

AI hysteria is a distraction: algorithms already sow disinformation in Africa::Forget ‘AI doomerism’ hype over ChatGPT, big tech’s colonial attitude lets hateful electoral propaganda be fed to millions

Tech workers react to UPS drivers landing a $170,000 a year package with a mixture of anger and admiration::Some tech workers questioned whether UPS drivers deserved high pay — others jumped in to note the importance of the jobs and harsh working conditions.

Lyft wants to kill surge pricing.::The number of Lyft rides that were affected by surge pricing dropped 35% from the first quarter, according to CEO David Risher.

An author is suing Apple and Tetris, accusing them of adapting his book about the game into a film without permission, listing 22 similarities::Dan Ackerman’s lawsuit against Apple and Tetris lists 22 similarities between the book and film, including a “narrative invention” about a KGB agent.

Author discovers AI-generated counterfeit books written in her name on Amazon::Amazon resisted a removal request, citing lack of “trademark registration numbers.”

China universities waste millions, fail to make real use of research, audit finds in indictment of tech-sufficiency drive::undefined

The famously overworked visual effects workers behind the Marvel movies just voted to join a union::Bob Iger’s labor headaches might have just gotten a bit worse.

Marvel’s visual effects workers vote to unionize::Marvel’s visual effects employees have voted in favor of joining a union in their fight for better pay, overtime compensation, more benefits and better treatment…

Beijing Superconductor (LK-99) Levitation Video Author Admits Fraud, Takes it Down::The author of one of the Billibilli videos posted as proof of LK-99’s levitation capabilities has admitted that his posting was a hoax.

Banks hit with $549 million in fines for use of Signal, WhatsApp to evade regulators’ reach::Wells Fargo, a relatively small player on Wall Street, racked up the most fines Tuesday, with a total of $200 million in penalties.

Intel’s deepfake detector tested on real and fake videos::We tested Intel’s new tool, “FakeCatcher”, on videos of Donald Trump and Joe Biden - with mixed results.

Zoom Changes TOS to Say It Won’t Train AI on Your Calls ‘Without Your Consent’ After Backlash::Zoom added a line to its terms of use on Monday, after concerns that the company was using calls to train artificial intelligence algorithms went viral.