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Kmart's Facial Recognition System Deemed Unlawful Privacy Breach

2025-09-22

Kmart's Facial Recognition System Deemed Unlawful Privacy Breach

Australia's Privacy Commissioner has ruled that Kmart Australia Limited's use of facial recognition technology (FRT) to combat refund fraud violated the privacy of Australians. Between June 2020 and July 2022, Kmart deployed FRT in 28 stores, collecting facial data without consent. The Commissioner found the system disproportionately invasive and that less privacy-intrusive alternatives existed. This follows a similar ruling against Bunnings, highlighting the need for businesses to prioritize privacy when implementing new technologies.

(www.oaic.gov.au)

Tech

Celtic Coins: Crude or Sophisticated?

2025-05-14

Celtic Coins: Crude or Sophisticated?

Celtic coins are often dismissed as crude, a misconception this article challenges. By tracing the evolution of Celtic coin designs, it reveals a unique abstract art style. Initially mimicking Greek coins, the Celts developed a distinctive approach: breaking down images, abstracting them, and reassembling them in a way that reflected their aesthetic and spiritual beliefs. This wasn't crudeness, but a sophisticated artistic expression, the appreciation of which hinges on understanding the underlying symbolism and the serial nature of the imagery's evolution.

(collectingancientcoins.co.uk)

Design Celtic art coins abstract art

Commercial Tea Bags Release Millions of Microplastics, Entering Human Intestinal Cells

2024-12-23

Commercial Tea Bags Release Millions of Microplastics, Entering Human Intestinal Cells

Research from the Autonomous University of Barcelona reveals that commercial tea bags release millions of microplastics and nanoplastics during brewing. The study, published in Chemosphere, shows for the first time that these particles can be absorbed by human intestinal cells, entering the bloodstream and potentially spreading throughout the body. Analysis of tea bags made from nylon-6, polypropylene, and cellulose revealed polypropylene released the highest number of particles—approximately 1.2 billion per milliliter. The microplastics were even observed entering the cell nucleus. The findings highlight the need for further research into the long-term health effects of chronic exposure and for regulations to mitigate microplastic contamination from food packaging.

(medicalxpress.com)

Tech microplastic pollution tea bags human health

Las Vegas Fights Heat with Trees

2025-06-10

Las Vegas Fights Heat with Trees

Following a record-breaking summer with over 500 heat-related deaths, Las Vegas is aggressively tackling climate change. The city, county, and local advocates are planting thousands of trees, particularly in the hottest neighborhoods, to mitigate the urban heat island effect. Studies show trees can significantly lower surrounding temperatures, by at least 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The effort focuses not only on the number of trees planted but also on strategic species selection and placement to maximize cooling impact while conserving water in the desert environment. Schools are also participating, educating the next generation about environmental responsibility.

(www.npr.org)

Tech urban heat island tree planting

Turn Your iPhone into an AirPlay Receiver with AirAP

2025-06-03

Turn Your iPhone into an AirPlay Receiver with AirAP

AirAP, a native iOS AirPlay server written in Swift, lets you use your iPhone as an AirPlay receiver. Stream audio from your Mac, Apple TV, or other iOS devices to your iPhone. Perfect for late-night work (routing audio to headphones), developers testing audio apps, or building a multi-room audio setup. Just install the app, connect to the same Wi-Fi, and your iPhone will appear as an AirPlay destination.

(github.com)

Development Audio Streaming

Blockchain Misuse: Hype or Innovation?

2025-03-18

Blockchain Misuse: Hype or Innovation?

This article critically analyzes the current state of blockchain applications in areas such as supply chain management, object authenticity verification, statement authenticity guarantee, voting, proof of authorship, and land registry. The author points out that many seemingly logical blockchain solutions ignore the core issue of 'blockchain is not the Internet of Things (IoT)', leading to difficulties in guaranteeing data authenticity. The article argues that in many scenarios, distributed databases or digital signatures can solve the problem without the complexity and resource consumption of blockchain. The author believes that currently, only in the area of value transfer does blockchain (such as Bitcoin) demonstrate true value, while the application prospects of smart contracts remain unclear.

(blog.smartdec.net)

Tech smart contracts

EU Mandates New Labels for Smartphones and Tablets

2025-04-24

EU Mandates New Labels for Smartphones and Tablets

The European Union is introducing mandatory labels for smartphones and tablets sold within the bloc, starting June 20th. These labels will rate devices on energy efficiency (A-G), battery life, charge cycles, durability, repairability, and water/dust resistance. Beyond labeling, new 'ecodesign requirements' mandate minimum standards for water resistance, scratch and drop protection, battery longevity (80% capacity after 800 cycles), and readily available spare parts (within 5-10 business days). Manufacturers must also provide OS updates within six months of code availability. The regulations cover smartphones, tablets (up to 17.4 inches), cordless phones, and feature phones, excluding rollable displays. Windows tablets fall under separate computer regulations.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech smartphone

WireGuard Setup Complexity: A Guide from Simple to Advanced

2025-01-05

This blog post explores various WireGuard setup complexities, ranging from the simplest, with completely isolated internal IP address spaces, to the most challenging 'VPN' setup where some endpoints are accessible both inside and outside the WireGuard tunnel. The author details the difficulty and potential issues of each setup, such as routing conflicts and recursive routing. The article stresses the importance of upfront planning and suggests opting for simpler configurations to avoid complex routing when designing a WireGuard environment.

(utcc.utoronto.ca)

Development Network Configuration

Boxing Legend George Foreman Dies at 76

2025-03-22

Boxing Legend George Foreman Dies at 76

George Foreman, the charismatic boxer and infomercial icon, passed away Friday at age 76. A two-time Heavyweight Champion, Foreman transcended the boxing world, becoming a pop culture figure thanks to his wildly successful George Foreman Grill. His life story is one of remarkable resilience: from impoverished beginnings to Olympic gold, world champion, and eventually a business mogul. A near-fatal boxing experience in 1977 led him to faith and a career as an ordained minister, only to shockingly return to boxing in 1987, reclaiming the Heavyweight title in 1994. His death marks the end of an era, but his legacy will live on.

(variety.com)

Misc entrepreneur

/etc/glob: The Untold Story of Early Unix Shell Globbing

2025-01-13

This article delves into the history and function of `/etc/glob` in early Unix systems. Before the V7 Bourne Shell, Unix shell globbing wasn't handled by the shell itself but delegated to the external program `/etc/glob`. `/etc/glob` received the command and arguments, expanded wildcards, and then executed the command. The article details how `/etc/glob` worked across different Unix versions, including handling escaped characters and the rationale behind using an external program—likely due to resource constraints in early systems.

(utcc.utoronto.ca)

Development Unix history Globbing

Robots Learn to Identify Objects by 'Blindly' Feeling Them

2025-05-13

Robots Learn to Identify Objects by 'Blindly' Feeling Them

Researchers from MIT, Amazon Robotics, and the University of British Columbia have developed a new technique enabling robots to learn an object's weight, softness, or contents using only internal sensors—no cameras or external tools needed. By picking up and gently shaking an object, the robot infers properties like mass and softness. The technique uses simulations of the robot and object, analyzing data from the robot's joint encoders to work backward and identify object properties. This low-cost method is particularly useful in environments where cameras are ineffective (like dark basements or post-earthquake rubble) and is robust in handling unseen scenarios. Published at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation, this research promises to improve robot learning, enabling faster development of manipulation skills and adaptation to changing environments.

(news.mit.edu)

AI robot perception object recognition

HTTP/3's Divide: Hyperscale vs. Long Tail

2025-03-17

HTTP/3's Divide: Hyperscale vs. Long Tail

Despite HTTP/3 and its underlying QUIC protocol being standardized and widely used by major websites, native support in mainstream programming languages and open-source tools remains lacking. This article analyzes this paradox, arguing that its root cause lies in the internet's "two-tiered" structure: a vast gap exists between a few large tech companies ("hyperscale web") and the rest of the developers ("long tail web") in terms of resources and technological capabilities. Hyperscale players have the resources to quickly adopt new technologies, while the long tail is constrained by the update speed and compatibility issues of open-source tools. OpenSSL's handling of QUIC further exacerbates this divide. The author calls for attention to this issue to prevent the benefits of technological progress from being monopolized by a select few.

(httptoolkit.com)

Development

Hidden JavaScript Quirks: Beyond the Memes

2025-04-04

This article uncovers lesser-known quirks in JavaScript that go beyond typical programmer humor and tutorials. Examples include the peculiar scoping of the `eval` function; the counter-intuitive variable capture in `for` loops; the falsiness of `document.all`; Unicode pitfalls in string iteration; and the performance and strange behavior of sparse arrays. The author also touches upon the complexities of Automatic Semicolon Insertion (ASI) and potential errors it can cause, listing many other noteworthy oddities within JavaScript.

(stack-auth.com)

Development quirks

Biomni: A Game-Changing Biomedical AI Agent

2025-07-10

Biomni: A Game-Changing Biomedical AI Agent

Biomni is a game-changing general-purpose biomedical AI agent capable of autonomously conducting a wide array of research tasks across various biomedical subfields. By integrating cutting-edge LLMs, retrieval-augmented planning, and code-based execution, Biomni significantly boosts research productivity and facilitates the generation of testable hypotheses. The open-source project actively solicits community contributions—new tools, datasets, software, benchmarks, and tutorials—to build Biomni-E2, a next-generation environment. Significant contributors will be recognized with co-authorship on publications in top-tier journals or conferences.

(github.com)

AI Biomedical AI

Munich vs. Hamburg: A Tale of Two German Cities

2025-06-18

Munich vs. Hamburg: A Tale of Two German Cities

A long weekend trip to Munich provided a fascinating comparison to the author's home in Hamburg. The article explores the historical impact of the Wittelsbach dynasty on Munich's development, contrasting it with Hamburg's independent growth as a free imperial city. Munich's strong religious presence is highlighted against Hamburg's more secular atmosphere. While Munich boasts more museums and nearby natural beauty, Hamburg offers superior green spaces and a less frenetic pace of life. The author concludes that Munich offers stronger tech job opportunities, but Hamburg better suits his personal preferences.

(mertbulan.com)

Misc city comparison German culture travelogue

Adobe Raises Creative Cloud Prices, Adds Generative AI Features

2025-05-20

Adobe Raises Creative Cloud Prices, Adds Generative AI Features

Adobe is increasing prices for its Creative Cloud All Apps plan in North America, renaming it Creative Cloud Pro. The price hike comes with the addition of generative AI features, including unlimited credits for image generation and 4,000 monthly credits for premium video and audio AI tools. Individual annual subscriptions will rise from $59.99 to $69.99 per month, while monthly subscriptions jump from $89.99 to $104.99. A cheaper Creative Cloud Standard plan with limited AI capabilities is also being offered. The changes have sparked some user backlash, raising questions about Adobe's pricing strategy.

(www.theverge.com)

Development

Inflammation and Aging: Not a Universal Truth

2025-07-01

Inflammation and Aging: Not a Universal Truth

A new study from Columbia University challenges the long-held belief that inflammation is a universal hallmark of aging. Researchers compared industrialized populations (Italy and Singapore) with non-industrialized Indigenous groups (Tsimane of Bolivia and Orang Asli of Malaysia). They found that while 'inflammaging' (chronic, low-grade inflammation associated with aging) was prevalent in industrialized societies and linked to chronic diseases, it wasn't consistently observed in the Indigenous groups. In these populations, inflammation was more strongly correlated with infection rates than age. This suggests that inflammaging may be a byproduct of industrialized lifestyles rather than an inherent part of the aging process, opening up new avenues for intervention and highlighting the importance of considering context-specific factors in aging research.

(www.publichealth.columbia.edu)

Tech

PURLs: Uniquely Identifying Software Packages

2025-06-05

PURLs: Uniquely Identifying Software Packages

Package URLs (PURLs) are an open standard for uniquely identifying software packages across various ecosystems. Created in 2017, PURLs address the need for standardized software package references. A PURL is a specially formatted URL encoding package type, name, version, and other qualifiers. Crucially, PURLs are essential for Software Bills of Materials (SBOMs), acting as unique identifiers for software components. This enables accurate vulnerability tracking and license verification. While offering simplicity and broad open-source support, PURLs currently lack comprehensive commercial product coverage, a domain where CPE remains more prevalent.

(fossa.com)

Development PURLs Software Package Management

Biomass Satellite: Precisely Measuring Forest Carbon Storage to Combat Climate Change

2025-05-11

Biomass Satellite: Precisely Measuring Forest Carbon Storage to Combat Climate Change

The European Space Agency and Airbus have developed the Biomass satellite, the first of its kind to directly measure forest carbon storage using P-band radar. Overcoming previous limitations of indirect measurement, Biomass uses its P-band radar to penetrate the canopy and precisely measure carbon stored in trunks and large branches, providing crucial data for assessing the impact of climate change. While the satellite's radar must be switched off over North America and Europe to avoid interference, its data collection in regions like the Amazon rainforest will fill critical information gaps, informing climate policy. This is vital in combating global warming by reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.

(www.thecooldown.com)

Tech forest carbon storage

Google's Android XR Glasses: A Mission: Impossible Moment

2025-05-23

Google's Android XR Glasses: A Mission: Impossible Moment

At Google I/O, I briefly tested prototype Android XR glasses, a collaboration with Samsung and Qualcomm. Looking like regular glasses, they pack a microphone, speaker, camera, and sensors, integrating Gemini AI. The glasses display time, weather, allow photo previews, and offer voice-controlled access to Gemini for information retrieval and intuitive Google Maps navigation. While battery life and pricing remain unknown, the seamless integration and information display were impressive, hinting at a potential breakthrough in smart glasses technology.

(www.cnet.com)

Tech

$750M Bitcoin Lost in Landfill: Judge Rejects Recovery Attempt

2025-01-10

$750M Bitcoin Lost in Landfill: Judge Rejects Recovery Attempt

A decade-long legal battle ended in defeat for James Howells, a UK IT engineer who lost a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins (worth $700-750 million) in a landfill. A Cardiff High Court rejected his lawsuit against Newport City Council, citing environmental concerns and the council's ownership of the landfill's contents. Howells' attempts to excavate the site or receive compensation were unsuccessful, highlighting the importance of secure digital asset storage.

(crypto.news)

Tech Landfill

Coding ≠ Programming: A Turing Award Winner's Perspective on Abstraction

2025-05-05

Coding ≠ Programming: A Turing Award Winner's Perspective on Abstraction

Leslie Lamport, an 84-year-old Turing Award winner, delivered a keynote speech emphasizing the crucial difference between coding and programming. He argued that abstract thinking before coding is paramount, leading to fewer errors and more efficient code. His own TLA+ specification language, used in the Rosetta spacecraft's development, serves as a prime example, demonstrating significant code reduction and architectural improvements. Lamport criticizes programmers' tendency to focus on languages instead of abstract design, advocating for designing the program's abstract model first, then coding. This approach minimizes debugging and revision, resulting in cleaner, more maintainable code.

(thenewstack.io)

Development abstract thinking

The Five-Week Solo Startup: A Mad Dash to Launch

2025-03-16

The Five-Week Solo Startup: A Mad Dash to Launch

This article outlines a five-week plan for launching a startup, not promising overnight success but offering a framework for rapid iteration. It emphasizes personal development for founders (communication, networking), securing a first paying customer, continuously improving the product and service, and securing funding. The plan covers marketing, team building, and aims to establish a sustainable business model.

(taylor.town)

Startup Business Model Rapid Launch

Harvard Releases Massive Free AI Training Dataset

2024-12-18

Harvard Releases Massive Free AI Training Dataset

Harvard University, in collaboration with Microsoft and OpenAI, has released a massive AI training dataset comprising nearly 1 million public domain books. Created by Harvard's Institutional Data Initiative, this dataset aims to 'level the playing field' by providing smaller players and individual researchers access to high-quality training data previously only available to large tech companies. Similar to the impact of Linux, this resource, spanning various genres, decades, and languages, will fuel AI model development. However, companies will still need additional licensed data to differentiate their models.

(www.wired.com)

AI AI training dataset public domain books level playing field

The Mystery of the IBM PC's 'Little House' Character: The Origins of DEL (0x7F)

2025-04-12

The Mystery of the IBM PC's 'Little House' Character: The Origins of DEL (0x7F)

This article delves into the mystery of why the character at code point 0x7F (DEL key) in IBM PC's Code Page 437 is rendered as a 'little house'. It traces the origins of CP437 and IBM's decision to add 'non-serious' graphical characters for undefined control characters. Several theories are explored, including the 'house' as a symbol for home computers, its relation to the delete key, origins in other systems like Wang or Blissymbolics, and even a misidentified Greek Delta. Ultimately, the article suggests internal miscommunication at IBM as the likely cause of the persistent ambiguity. Regardless of its original intent, the 'little house' has found new life in PC ASCII art, becoming a purely visual element.

(blog.glyphdrawing.club)

Tech

From the Bel Air Fire to Firebrake®: The Story of Boron Flame Retardants

2025-04-08

From the Bel Air Fire to Firebrake®: The Story of Boron Flame Retardants

The devastating 1961 Bel Air fire, which destroyed hundreds of homes, spurred innovation in flame retardant technology. U.S. Borax played a crucial role in controlling the blaze using borate compounds, leading to the development of Firebrake®, a groundbreaking zinc borate flame retardant. Decades of research culminated in products like Firebrake 500, offering superior thermal stability and widespread application in polymers. Today, U.S. Borax continues its commitment to developing advanced boron-based flame retardants, addressing the growing need for safer and more effective fire protection.

(www.borax.com)

Tech borate

Revolutionizing Race Timing: StoryTiming Demo

2025-01-20

StoryTiming reimagines race timing, prioritizing timing information and letting the race action follow. This demo, using data from the 2024 IMSA Rolex 24, showcases an innovative interactive experience. Users navigate the race effortlessly via keyboard shortcuts or mouse controls, viewing data through various perspectives, including a driver tracker overlay. Aimed at enhancing digital broadcasts, this project is the work of an independent software developer and is still under development.

(storytiming.racing)

Misc race timing interactive video

Nvidia's $3,000 Personal AI Supercomputer: Digits

2025-01-07

Nvidia's $3,000 Personal AI Supercomputer: Digits

Nvidia unveiled Project Digits, a $3,000 personal AI supercomputer, at CES 2025. Powered by the new GB10 Grace Blackwell Superchip, this desktop-sized system handles AI models with up to 200 billion parameters. Boasting 128GB of unified memory and up to 4TB of NVMe storage, it's expandable to 405 billion parameters by linking two units. Digits includes Nvidia's AI software library, supporting popular frameworks for local development and easy deployment to cloud or data center infrastructure.

(www.theverge.com)

Tech AI Supercomputer

Indian Grocery App KiranaPro Hit by Deliberate Cyberattack, GitHub and AWS Resources Wiped

2025-06-04

Indian Grocery App KiranaPro Hit by Deliberate Cyberattack, GitHub and AWS Resources Wiped

Indian grocery ordering app KiranaPro suffered a deliberate cyberattack that wiped its GitHub repository and AWS resources. CEO Deepak Ravindran claims it was a targeted attack, possibly by a disgruntled insider. The attack crippled the app, impacting thousands of Kirana store owners whose livelihoods depend on it. Ravindran is rebuilding systems with enhanced security and promises to reveal the hacker's identity. The incident highlights the dangers of insider threats and the importance of robust security practices, such as regular backups and multi-factor authentication.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech insider threat

China Investigates Apple's App Store: Tech Giant Faces New Scrutiny

2025-02-05

China Investigates Apple's App Store: Tech Giant Faces New Scrutiny

China's market regulator is investigating Apple's App Store policies and fees, potentially adding fuel to the US-China trade war. The probe focuses on Apple's up to 30% commission on in-app purchases and its restriction of external payment services and app stores. This stems from long-standing disputes between Apple and developers like Tencent and ByteDance over iOS App Store policies. While not yet a formal investigation, further action could be taken if Apple fails to address concerns. Apple faces intense competition from domestic rivals like Huawei in China, adding pressure amid this regulatory scrutiny.

(www.cnbctv18.com)

Tech US-China Trade War

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