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Submission + - Arm China Goes Rogue, Ex-CEO Blocking the Business (bloomberg.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Arm Ltd., the chip designer owned by SoftBank Group Corp., accused the ousted head of its China joint venture of hurting its business there, escalating a dispute that’s becoming a test of Beijing’s willingness to protect foreign investment in the world’s second-largest economy.

The U.K. chip giant in June announced it was firing Allen Wu, the head of its Chinese unit, over undisclosed breaches of conduct, but the executive has refused to step down and remains in control of the strategically important operation. Rather than the peaceful, rapid resolution that both sides have said they want, the situation has deteriorated.

Wu has hired his own security and won’t let representatives of Arm Ltd. or his board on the premises, said a person familiar with the situation. He’s refused to hold a planned event to connect Chinese chipmakers with Arm Ltd. and avoided negotiations despite public statements to the contrary, said the person, who asked not to be named.

Submission + - Google removes all Danish music from YouTube (google.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: All the while the negotiations on a new joint Nordic agreement are in full swing, Google has chosen to put a thick line under their total dominance in the market. On Thursday evening, Google announced to Koda (the Danish rights owner organization) that they will on Saturday remove all Danish music content on YouTube.

And for a bit of irony, here is a Google translate of the press release from Koda: https://translate.google.com/t...

Submission + - China Is What Orwell Feared: Using AI to enhance government totalitarian control (theatlantic.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Xi Jinping is exporting this technology to regimes around the globe.

Xi’s pronouncements on AI have a sinister edge. Artificial intelligence has applications in nearly every human domain, from the instant translation of spoken language to early viral-outbreak detection. But Xi also wants to use AI’s awesome analytical powers to push China to the cutting edge of surveillance. He wants to build an all-seeing digital system of social control, patrolled by precog algorithms that identify potential dissenters in real time.

China’s government has a history of using major historical events to introduce and embed surveillance measures. In the run-up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Chinese security services achieved a new level of control over the country’s internet. During China’s coronavirus outbreak, Xi’s government leaned hard on private companies in possession of sensitive personal data. Any emergency data-sharing arrangements made behind closed doors during the pandemic could become permanent.

Xi Jinping endorsed this explanation for the Soviet collapse in a 2013 address to party cadres. “Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate?” he asked his audience. “An important reason is that in the ideological domain, competition is fierce!” The party leadership is determined to avoid the Soviet mistake. A leaked internal party directive from 2013 describes “the very real threat of Western anti-China forces and their attempt at carrying out westernization” within China. The directive describes the party as being in the midst of an “intense, ideological struggle” for survival. According to the directive, the ideas that threaten China with “major disorder” include concepts such as “separation of powers,” “independent judiciaries,” “universal human rights,” “Western freedom,” “civil society,” “economic liberalism,” “total privatization,” “freedom of the press,” and “free flow of information on the internet.” To allow the Chinese people to contemplate these concepts would “dismantle [our] party’s social foundation” and jeopardize the party’s aim to build a modern, socialist future.

Related: China’s Plans to Win Control of the Global Order.

Submission + - All Dreamwidth links blocked on Facebook; silent deletion of existing links (dreamwidth.org)

Submitted by JoshuaZ
JoshuaZ writes: Andrew Drucker has reported https://andrewducker.dreamwidth.org/3861716.html that Facebook has apparently blocked all links to Dreamwidth, a semi-popular blogging/journaling platform with tens of thousands of users. Facebook is not only preventing anyone from posting it, they've also silently deleted all statuses, posts, and replies which have included even a single Dreamwidth links. As of right now, the reason for this is unknown. This may be an overzealous spam filter at work.

Submission + - Brain-Inspired "Memcomputer" Built, Could Surpass Quantum Computers (sandiegouniontribune.com)

Submitted by DorkFest
DorkFest writes:

Inspired by the human brain, UC San Diego scientists have constructed a new kind of computer that stores information and processes it in the same place. This prototype "memcomputer" solves a problem involving a large dataset more quickly than conventional computers, while using far less energy...Such memcomputers could equal or surpass the potential of quantum computers, they say, but because they don't rely on exotic quantum effects are far more easily constructed.

The team, led by UC San Diego physicist Massimiliano Di Ventra published their results in the journal Science Advances.

Submission + - How much did your biggest "tech" mistake cost?

Submitted by NotQuiteReal
NotQuiteReal writes: What is the most expensive piece of hardware you broke (I fried a $2500 disk drive once, back when 400MB was $2500) or what software bug did you let slip that caused damage? (No comment on the details — but about $20K cost to a client.)

Did you lose your job over it?

If you worked on the Mars probe that crashed, please try not to be the First Post, that would scare off too many people!

Submission + - Someone Will Die Playing a Game in Virtual Reality

Submitted by SlappingOysters
SlappingOysters writes: Grab It has detailed a hands-on session with horror VR title Kitchen — from Resident Evil creator Capcom — and argues how the physical reaction to the experience could lead to death. The site also believes that classifying VR games will be a challenge and many titles could be banned. Virtual Reality has a big year ahead, with the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus all set to release, while Microsoft is working on the HoloLens, which the site argues adds a further challenge to traditional gaming.

Comment Re:here's an idea (Score 2) 57

by pen (#48995953) Attached to: With Insider Help, ID Theft Ring Stole $700,000 In Apple Gift Cards
Here's another idea:

Apple products can be deactivated remotely, even laptops.

Each device has a serial number that can be linked to the gift cards which can be linked to the stolen credit cards.

Do a little bit or leg work, deactivate the illegally obtained devices. Even if you don't nab the thieves, you make this scheme way less profitable.

Comment Re:You Kids Get Off My Lawn (Score 4, Interesting) 294

by pen (#47936721) Attached to: Study Finds Link Between Artificial Sweeteners and Glucose Intolerance
"Natural" means "tested by hundreds of thousands of your ancestors who lived to reproduce", provided this is actually true for whatever you're eating.

"Artificial" means "some lab tech trying to feed his/her family on 50k/year synthesized it and then it passed FDA testing without killing anyone or making them sick right away"
The Internet

Submission + - Windows 8 bypasses and modifies the hosts file (ghacks.net) 8

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Windows 8 has been confirmed to not only ignore, but also modify the hosts file. As soon as a website that should be blocked is accessed, the corresponding entry in the hosts file is removed, even if the hosts file is read-only. The hosts file is a popular, cross-platform way of blocking access to certain domains, such as ad-serving websites, but now that Microsoft clearly wants to control your web browsing experience, the practice not be that cross-platform anymore.

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