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Comment Newspaper (Score 2) 47

by JBMcB (#65841789) Attached to: Why Gen Z is Using Retro Tech
My son works for his high school newspaper. He brought in a battery powered Panasonic cassette recorder to do interviews, complete with the cheesy chrome microphone it came with. It got people more interested in the interviews and he got some good copy out of them. He also brought in a portable typewriter we found on the side of the road being thrown away. He fixed it up and uses it to type notes in newspaper class. Everyone in that class loves it.

Submission + - AI Agents Casually Rob $4.6 Million (In Simulation), Cost $3,476 To Run (anthropic.com)

Submitted by weiyeh
weiyeh writes: Remember when we worried about script kiddies? Meet their AI-powered, profit-optimizing successors. Researchers from Anthropic and the MATS program have released SCONE-bench, a benchmark showing that AI agents can now autonomously exploit blockchain smart contracts—and they're getting scary good at it. From the research report:

"On contracts exploited after March 2025 (beyond the models' training data), Claude Opus 4.5, Claude Sonnet 4.5, and GPT-5 developed working exploits worth a collective $4.6 million in simulated stolen funds. The top performer, Opus 4.5, successfully compromised 50% of these contracts."

Submission + - Fish-inspired filter removes 99% of microplastics from washing machine wastewate (techxplore.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Some fish feed by means of filtration; these include, for example, mackerel, sardines, and anchovies. They swim through the water with their mouths open and sift out the plankton with their gill arch system. "We took a closer look at the construction of this system and used it as the model for developing a filter that can be used in washing machines," says Blanke, who is a member of the transdisciplinary research areas Life & Health and Sustainable Futures at the University of Bonn.

During their evolution, these fish have developed a technique similar to cross-flow filtration. Their gill arch system is shaped like a funnel that is widest at the fish's mouth and tapers towards their gullet. The walls of the funnel are shaped by the branchial arches. These feature comb-like structures, the arches, which are themselves covered in small teeth. This creates a kind of mesh that is stretched by the branchial arches.

The filter element in the center imitates the gill arch system of the fish. The filter housing enables periodic cleaning and installation in washing machines.

"During food intake, the water flows through the permeable funnel wall, is filtered, and the particle-free water is then released back into the environment via the gills," explains Blanke. "However, the plankton is too big for this; it is held back by the natural sieve structure. Thanks to the funnel shape, it then rolls toward the gullet, where it is collected until the fish swallows, which empties and cleans the system."

This principle prevents the filter from being blocked—instead of hitting the filter head-on, the fibers roll along it toward the gullet. The process is also highly effective, as it removes almost all of the plankton from the water. Both are aspects that a microplastic filter must also be able to deliver. The researchers thus replicated the gill arch system. In doing so, they varied both the mesh size of the sieve structure and the opening angle of the funnel.

"We have thus found a combination of parameters that enable our filter to separate more than 99% of the microplastics out of the water but not become blocked," says Hamann. To achieve this, the team used not only experiments but also computer simulations. The filter modeled on nature does not contain any elaborate mechanics and should thus be very inexpensive to manufacture.

The microplastics that it filters out of the washing water collect in the filter outlet and are then suctioned away several times a minute. According to the researcher, who has now moved to the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, they could then, for example, be pressed in the machine to remove the remaining water. The plastic pellet created in this manner could then be removed every few dozen washes and disposed of with general waste.

Submission + - African Swine Fever outlet 'may have leaked from research lab' (theguardian.com)

Submitted by Bruce66423
Bruce66423 writes: 'Authorities say strain of virus that has killed wild boars in Catalonia is one often used for experiments in secure facilities

'Spanish authorities investigating the African swine fever outbreak in Catalonia are looking into the possibility that the disease may have leaked from a research facility and are focusing on five nearby laboratories as potential sources.

'Thirteen cases of the fever have been confirmed in wild boars in the countryside outside Barcelona since 28 November, prompting Spain to scramble to contain the outbreak before it becomes a serious threat to its pork export industry, which is worth €8.8bn (£7.7bn) a year.

'The regional authorities initially believed the disease may have begun to circulate after a wild boar ate contaminated food that had been brought in from outside Spain, perhaps in the form of a meat sandwich discarded by a haulier.

'But Spain’s agriculture ministry has opened a new line of inquiry after concluding that the strain of the virus found in the dead boars in Catalonia was not the same as the one reported to be circulating in other EU member states. According to one report, the strain in question is instead similar to one detected in Georgia in 2007.'

Submission + - Complex Life May Be a Billion Years Older Than We Thought (sciencealert.com)

Submitted by alternative_right
alternative_right writes: A molecular clock is a method that allows scientists to estimate when organisms diverged and when traits first emerged. Basically, all lifeforms on the planet have a few things in common, such as the universal genetic code, an almost-universal set of amino acids, and a universal reliance on ATP for energy.

Scientists can estimate the rate at which mutations occur in a specific DNA sequence, compare the same sequence in multiple species, and work backwards to estimate when those species last shared an ancestor. They can also use a molecular clock to figure out when traits or gene functions first appeared.

Submission + - University of Utah team finds original UNIX os from 1973 on a tape. (ksl.com)

Submitted by Smonster
Smonster writes: Aleks Maricq, research associate in the Flux Research Group, discovered a version of the original UNIX operating system from 1973 that was thought to be lost. He found it while cleaning a storage room.

"I think UNIX before was only sent out to 20 people total, outside of Bell Laboratories, so it was rather scarce," Maricq said. "The fact we found a version at all is pretty astonishing."

Rob Ricci, a professor in the Kalhert School of Computing, said this particular tape was influential. It paved the way for operating systems like Linux and macOS.

"Someone at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City; we believe it was Martin Newell, who's also famous for being the guy who invented the Utah teapot that's used for graphics; expressed an interest in this, asked Ken for a copy, and was sent here," Ricci said.

Comment Re:Hey (Score 1) 199

by whoever57 (#65839443) Attached to: Trump Wants Asia's 'Cute' Kei Cars To Be Made and Sold In US

Spoiler alert: There never was any law saying you couldn't build small cars here in the USA.

Not explicitly, but crash survivability regulations make Kei cars illegal in the USA.

Unless Trump pulls the US out of the treaty that he signed (USMCA), any small cars will be built in Mexico. If Trump pulls the US out of that treaty, many other prices will go up.

But this is really just another brain fart from Trump. It won't happen.

Submission + - 'No US Citizens': Meet the IT Firms Discriminating Against Americans (freebeacon.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The job post for LanceSoft, an IT staffing firm committed to "diversity, equality, and inclusivity," began innocently enough.

The $60-per-hour role would be based in Santa Clara, Calif., focus on "technical support," and entail a 3–10 p.m. shift. Posted on Nvoids, an IT jobs aggregator, the ad described LanceSoft as an equal opportunity employer and said that the firm, one of the largest staffing agencies in the country, strives "to be as diverse as the clients and employees we partner with."

"We embrace people of any race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation," the Nov. 25 post read.

This particular job, however, would not be open to a very large group of people: citizens of the United States.

In a section titled "Visa requirement," LanceSoft recruiter Riyaz Ansari wrote that "candidates must hold an active H1B visa"—and stated explicitly that American citizens need not apply.

"No USC/GC for this role," Ansari wrote, using the acronyms for U.S. citizens and green card holders. He added that "LanceSoft is a certified Minority Business Enterprise"—a status the firm has used to secure public contracts—and touted the company's "diversified team environment."

Comment Cheap (Score 3, Informative) 77

by JBMcB (#65839425) Attached to: Linus Torvalds Defends Windows' Blue Screen of Death
Because ECC adds price and, usually, is slower than regular memory. What has mainly driven PC hardware is gaming, and gamers care about speed, not long-term stability.

RAM speed doesn't matter as much as it used to for framerates, though, unless you are overclocking a ton, in which case you don't care about stability anyways.

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