Comment Cue James Randi laughing from the grave. (Score 2) 47
Naming a company willing to buy AOL after Uri Geller's fraudulent trickery seems appropriate.
Submission + - MIT physicists just found a way to see inside atoms (sciencedaily.com)
alternative_right writes: MIT researchers have devised a new molecular technique that lets electrons probe inside atomic nuclei, replacing massive particle accelerators with a tabletop setup. By studying radium monofluoride, they detected energy shifts showing electrons interacting within the nucleus. This breakthrough could help reveal why matter dominates over antimatter in the universe.
Submission + - Bay Area tech CEO says test project likely struck United flight at 36,000 feet (sfgate.com)
joshuark writes: The mystery object that struck a plane at 36,000 feet is likely not space debris, as some speculated, but rather a Silicon Valley test project gone wrong.
WindBorne Systems, a Palo Alto startup that uses atmospheric balloons to collect weather data for AI-based forecast models, has come forward to say that they believe they may be responsible for the object that hit the windshield.
“Yes, I think this was a WindBorne balloon. We learned about UA1093 and the potential that it was related to one of our balloons at 11pm PT on Sunday and immediately looked into it,” WindBorne CEO John Dean posted on social media. “At 6am PT, we sent our preliminary investigation to both NTSB and FAA, and are working with both of them to investigate further.”
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement released on social media on Sunday that the windscreen was being sent to their lab for testing, using “radar, weather, flight recorder data” to determine the cause of the incident.
WindBorne said the company has launched more than 4,000 balloons and that it coordinates with the Federal Aviation Administration for every launch. After presenting one of its balloons as a possible cause of the collision, the company said in a statement on its website that it “immediately rolled out changes to minimize time spent between 30,000 and 40,000 feet.”
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for a comment about the structural integrity of the windshields on its 737 Max planes.
WindBorne Systems, a Palo Alto startup that uses atmospheric balloons to collect weather data for AI-based forecast models, has come forward to say that they believe they may be responsible for the object that hit the windshield.
“Yes, I think this was a WindBorne balloon. We learned about UA1093 and the potential that it was related to one of our balloons at 11pm PT on Sunday and immediately looked into it,” WindBorne CEO John Dean posted on social media. “At 6am PT, we sent our preliminary investigation to both NTSB and FAA, and are working with both of them to investigate further.”
The National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement released on social media on Sunday that the windscreen was being sent to their lab for testing, using “radar, weather, flight recorder data” to determine the cause of the incident.
WindBorne said the company has launched more than 4,000 balloons and that it coordinates with the Federal Aviation Administration for every launch. After presenting one of its balloons as a possible cause of the collision, the company said in a statement on its website that it “immediately rolled out changes to minimize time spent between 30,000 and 40,000 feet.”
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for a comment about the structural integrity of the windshields on its 737 Max planes.
Submission + - Intel 8080 bottleneck made classic Space Invaders run faster as enemies died (tomshardware.com)
alternative_right writes: One of the most charming bug = feature tales is the story behind the thrilling crescendo of pacing gamers experienced when playing the original Space Invaders arcade machine. This weekend, self-proclaimed C/C++ expert Zuhaitz reminded us that the adrenaline-pumping rising intensity of Taito’s arcade classic was not due to genius-level coding. Rather, it was simply the fact that the underlying Intel 8080 could run the game code faster as aliens were wiped from the screen one by one, by the player dishing out laser missile death.
Submission + - Microsoft disbles preview in File Explorer to block attacks (bleepingcomputer.com) 1
joshuark writes: Microsoft says that the File Explorer (formerly Windows Explorer) now automatically blocks previews for files downloaded from the Internet to block credential theft attacks via malicious documents. This attack vector is particularly concerning because it requires no user interaction beyond selecting a file to preview and removes the need to trick a target into actually opening or executing it on their system.
For most users, no action is required since the protection is enabled automatically with the October 2025 security update, and existing workflows remain unaffected unless you regularly preview downloaded files.
"This change is designed to enhance security by preventing a vulnerability that could leak NTLM hashes when users preview potentially unsafe files."
It is important to note that this may not take effect immediately and could require signing out and signing back in.
For most users, no action is required since the protection is enabled automatically with the October 2025 security update, and existing workflows remain unaffected unless you regularly preview downloaded files.
"This change is designed to enhance security by preventing a vulnerability that could leak NTLM hashes when users preview potentially unsafe files."
It is important to note that this may not take effect immediately and could require signing out and signing back in.
Submission + - Analytics Platform Databricks Joins Amazon, Microsoft in AI Demo Hall of Shame
theodp writes: If there was an AI Demo Hall of Shame, the first inductee would have to be Amazon, whose demo to support its CEO's claims that Amazon Q Code Transformation AI saved it 4,500 developer-years and an additional $260 million in 'annualized efficiency gains' by automatically and accurately upgrading code to a more current version of Java showcased a program that didn't even spell 'Java' correctly (it was instead called 'Jave'). Also worthy of a spot is Microsoft, whose AI demo of a Copilot-driven Excel school exam analysis for educators reassured a teacher they needn't be concerned about the student who received a 27% test score, autogenerating a chart to back up its claim.
Today's nominee for the AI Demo Hall of Shame inductee is analytics platform Databricks for the NYC Taxi Trips Analysis it's been showcasing on its Data Science page since last November. Not only for its choice of a completely trivial case study that requires no 'Data Science' skills — find and display the ten most expensive and longest taxi rides — but also for the horrible AI-generated bar chart used to present the results of the simple ranking that deserves its own spot in the Graph Hall of Shame. In response to a prompt of "Now create a new bar chart with matplotlib for the most expensive trips," the Databricks AI Assistant dutifully complies with the ill-advised request, spewing out Python code to display the ten rides on a nonsensical bar chart whose continuous x-axis hides points sharing the same distance (one might also question why no annotation is provided to call out or explain the 3 trips with a distance of 0 miles that are among the ten most expensive rides, with fares of $260, $188, and $105).
Looked at with a critical eye, all three of these examples used to sell data scientists, educators, management, investors, and Wall Street on AI by Amazon (market cap $2.32 trillion), Microsoft (market cap $3.87 trillion), and Databricks (valuation $100+ billion) would likely raise eyebrows rather than impress their intended audiences. So, is AI fever so great that it sells itself and companies needn't even bother reviewing their AI demos to see if they make sense?
Today's nominee for the AI Demo Hall of Shame inductee is analytics platform Databricks for the NYC Taxi Trips Analysis it's been showcasing on its Data Science page since last November. Not only for its choice of a completely trivial case study that requires no 'Data Science' skills — find and display the ten most expensive and longest taxi rides — but also for the horrible AI-generated bar chart used to present the results of the simple ranking that deserves its own spot in the Graph Hall of Shame. In response to a prompt of "Now create a new bar chart with matplotlib for the most expensive trips," the Databricks AI Assistant dutifully complies with the ill-advised request, spewing out Python code to display the ten rides on a nonsensical bar chart whose continuous x-axis hides points sharing the same distance (one might also question why no annotation is provided to call out or explain the 3 trips with a distance of 0 miles that are among the ten most expensive rides, with fares of $260, $188, and $105).
Looked at with a critical eye, all three of these examples used to sell data scientists, educators, management, investors, and Wall Street on AI by Amazon (market cap $2.32 trillion), Microsoft (market cap $3.87 trillion), and Databricks (valuation $100+ billion) would likely raise eyebrows rather than impress their intended audiences. So, is AI fever so great that it sells itself and companies needn't even bother reviewing their AI demos to see if they make sense?
Submission + - CCP GOTION DEAD: Whitmer-funded Chinese battery maker pulls plug on project (themidwesterner.news)
schwit1 writes: While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Michigan Economic Development Corporation contends it’s “not the outcome we hoped for,” residents in Mecosta County are celebrating its decision to nix $715 million in taxpayer-funded incentives for Gotion.
MEDC officials on Thursday notified lawmakers that the company with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party is in breach of its economic development contract, which was negotiated in secret by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration and select lawmakers just three years ago.
“It’s about damn time,” Marjorie Steele, founder of the Economic Development Responsibility Alliance that opposed Gotion’s planned $2.4 billion EV battery plant, told Bridge Michigan. “What the MEDC tried to pull here in Big Rapids was just so egregious.”
Whitmer claimed in 2022 that the agreement, which included $715 million in taxpayer-funded incentives and tax breaks, would fuel “the biggest ever economic development project in Northern Michigan” and create “2,350 good-paying jobs in Big Rapids.”
MEDC officials on Thursday notified lawmakers that the company with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party is in breach of its economic development contract, which was negotiated in secret by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration and select lawmakers just three years ago.
“It’s about damn time,” Marjorie Steele, founder of the Economic Development Responsibility Alliance that opposed Gotion’s planned $2.4 billion EV battery plant, told Bridge Michigan. “What the MEDC tried to pull here in Big Rapids was just so egregious.”
Whitmer claimed in 2022 that the agreement, which included $715 million in taxpayer-funded incentives and tax breaks, would fuel “the biggest ever economic development project in Northern Michigan” and create “2,350 good-paying jobs in Big Rapids.”
Submission + - Japanese convenience stores are hiring robots run by workers in the Philippines
John.Banister writes: Teleoperated robot workers are here! No more worries about immigrants taking jobs, as the jobs themselves can be exported. Anything that isn't done by the cheapest labor can be exported to where the skilled labor is cheap. And, what better way to train AI replacements than the encoded stimulus and response of teleoperation?
Submission + - Sweden's crowd-forecasting platform 'Glimt' helps Ukraine make wartime predictio (france24.com)
alternative_right writes: Glimt is an open platform that relies on the theory of “crowd forecasting”: a method of making predictions based on surveying a large and diverse group of people and taking an average. "Glimt" is a Swedish word for "a glimpse" or "a sudden insight". The theory posits that the average of all collected predictions produces correct results with “uncanny accuracy”, according to the Glimt website. Such “collective intelligence” is used today for everything from election results to extreme weather events, Glimt said.
Submission + - Am I The Last Surviving 3-Digit User ID on Slashdot? 5
Jeremiah Cornelius writes: Some distinctions mean very little to anyone other than the singular individual holding them. Are there others remaining? Does Rob Malda ever bother checking in here? Who remembers the promising ascent and rapid zenith of VA Linux Systems? How about the decade-old sighting of the Slashdot PT Cruiser?
If you're out there we want to hear from you. Or just tell us why we don't.
If you're out there we want to hear from you. Or just tell us why we don't.
Comment Nothing enhanced global social coercion won't fix. (Score 1) 180
Communism didn't save the world and is now out of fashion.
Surely this popular belief (with or without factual basis is irrelevant, see "religion") could not be exploited by those with ulterior motives. Humanity are too virtuous for that. Elections prove it.
Comment How is it best inspected and repaired? (Score 1) 13
The most versatile, repairable, recyclable materials for bridges if one can afford them are steels which can be cut, welded, and easily inspected using proven methods then scrapped and recycled efficiently with many of the standard steel sections easy to cut and resell for less critical reuse.
Cheaper concrete destroys reinforcement bars and mats by corrosion which is a major reason why the US infrastructure repair bills are so expensive. (Small and medium bridges can be replaced by portable metal bridging which can even be rented for use on short-term projects. Some WWII Bailey bridges remain in daily use because there's no reason to install a downgrade that's difficult to remove vs. swapping parts, weld repair or disassembly and replacement with similar.) Portable bridging in military usereliably withstand thousands of heavy wheeled and tracked military vehicles
"Shotcrete" is a handy coating and good for the developers trying this out, but the TCO and averting traffic delays due to repair time also matter.
Automated NDI inspection robots designed for these would be a very good idea to save labor. Bridge inspection robots are not new. Check out these inspection and maintenance robots:
Comment AI meme + reskin of Chrome = profit (Score 2) 27
Suits the sort of users who deserve (even more) data mining.
Comment Yet even more generic space filler (Score 1) 85
Were I that slack I'd have been fired from every job I ever held.
Comment Slow news day as usual. (Score 0) 104
To what single-digit IQ audience is that not instantly obvious so why is it defiling Slashdot?
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When we write programs that "learn", it turns out we do and they don't.
