For the first time, an AI-controlled autonomous robot performed an entire dental procedure on a human patient, completing the task eight times faster than a human dentist could. New Atlas reports: The system, built by Boston company Perceptive, uses a hand-held 3D volumetric scanner, which builds a detailed 3D model of the mouth, including the teeth, gums and even nerves under the tooth surface, using optical coherence tomography, or OCT. This cuts harmful X-Ray radiation out of the process, as OCT uses nothing more than light beams to build its volumetric models, which come out at high resolution, with cavities automatically detected at an accuracy rate around 90%. At this point, the (human) dentist and patient can discuss what needs doing -- but once those decisions are made, the robotic dental surgeon takes over. It plans out the operation, then jolly well goes ahead and does it.

The machine's first specialty: preparing a tooth for a dental crown. Perceptive claims this is generally a two-hour procedure that dentists will normally split into two visits. The robo-dentist knocks it off in closer to 15 minutes. Here's a time-lapse video of the drilling portion, looking very much like a CNC machine at work. Remarkably, the company claims the machine can take care of business safely "even in the most movement-heavy conditions," and that dry run testing on moving humans has all been successful. [...] The robot's not FDA-approved yet, and Perceptive hasn't placed a timeline on rollout, so it may be some years yet before the public gets access to this kind of treatment.

Intel has announced plans for a substantial workforce reduction, surpassing initial expectations, as part of a comprehensive strategy to bolster its financial position and streamline operations. The company intends to lay off over 16,000 employees, representing more than 15% of its global workforce, with the majority of these cuts slated for completion by the end of 2024, according to the firm's second-quarter earnings report released on Thursday.

Concurrent with the workforce reductions, Intel has outlined plans to significantly curtail its capital expenditures, projecting a decrease of over 20% to a range of $25 to $27 billion in 2024, with further reductions anticipated in 2025. This shift in focus towards capital efficiency comes as the company achieves its goal of developing five process nodes in four years, signaling a recalibration of investment levels to align with market demands. As part of its financial restructuring, Intel has also made the decision to suspend its quarterly dividend starting in the fourth quarter of 2024, prioritizing liquidity to support strategic investments. The cumulative effect of these cost-saving initiatives is expected to yield over $10 billion in savings by 2025.

Physicists have been exploring the theoretical possibility of warp drives, which could propel spaceships faster than light by compressing spacetime. A new study published in the Open Journal of Astrophysics simulates the gravitational waves such a drive might emit if it failed, showing potential detectable signals by future high-frequency instruments and advancing our understanding of exotic spacetimes. Phys.Org reports: The results are fascinating. The collapsing warp drive generates a distinct burst of gravitational waves, a ripple in spacetime that could be detectable by gravitational wave detectors that normally target black hole and neutron star mergers. Unlike the chirps from merging astrophysical objects, this signal would be a short, high-frequency burst, and so current detectors wouldn't pick it up. However, future higher-frequency instruments might, and although no such instruments have yet been funded, the technology to build them exists. This raises the possibility of using these signals to search for evidence of warp drive technology, even if we can't build it ourselves.

The study also delves into the energy dynamics of the collapsing warp drive. The process emits a wave of negative energy matter, followed by alternating positive and negative waves. This complex dance results in a net increase in the overall energy of the system, and in principle could provide another signature of the collapse if the outgoing waves interacted with normal matter.

Mobile game developers have voiced increasing frustration with Apple, citing reduced payments, delayed compensation, poor communication, and inadequate support, particularly with the Apple Vision Pro. Apple Insider reports: In February, game developers began expressing frustration over Apple Arcade. They pointed out that while the service was initially profitable, Apple had begun decreasing upfront payments and the per-play "bonus pool." Additionally, the tech giant began to axe projects with little to no warning. According to Mobilegamer.biz, developers continue to be unhappy with how Apple's running its "pay once, play all you want" game subscription service. Developers point out how Apple has delayed payments -- sometimes up to six months -- which has put smaller studios in precarious situations.

Devs are also unhappy with Apple's communication -- or lack thereof. "We can go weeks without hearing from Apple at all and their general response time to emails is three weeks, if they reply at all," one developer told Mobilegamer.biz. Some have even called Apple's tech support "miserable" and the worst they'd seen anywhere. Even the QA and update process is frustrating, prompting some developers to avoid updating their games altogether. [...] One particularly frustrated developer spoke out against Apple Arcade, saying, "It's like an abusive relationship where the abused stays in the relationship hoping the other partner will change and become the person you know they could be." When it comes to the Apple Vision Pro, many game developers are increasingly frustrated with the headset's struggles to run demanding games. And, while Apple wants indie developers to create new games for their new headset, the company "does not provide compensation or make any promises to promote or market the game once it is finished," says Apple Insider.

Google is updating its search algorithm and removal request process to make it easier for victims to combat unwanted sexually explicit AI deepfakes. "When reported AI deepfakes are identified, Google Search will automatically filter out related search results that might pop up in the future so users won't have to repeatedly report similar images or duplicates of an image to Google," reports PCMag. Additionally, Google will demote sites repeatedly hosting non-consensual deepfakes and aims to differentiate between consensual and non-consensual explicit content. From the report: Google says its Search algorithm update will lower the chances of explicit deepfakes appearing in Search. The search engine will also attempt to differentiate between real sexually explicit content made consensually (such as adult film stars' work, for example) and AI-generated media made without the person's consent. But Google says doing this is a "technical challenge," so these efforts may not be entirely accurate or effective. Regardless, Google claims that the changes it's already made to Search have reduced the resurfacing of such deepfakes by more than 70%. "With these changes, people can read about the impact deepfakes are having on society, rather than see pages with actual non-consensual fake images," Google said.

California's DMV has digitized 42 million car titles using blockchain technology to detect fraud and streamline the title transfer process, enabling residents to claim vehicle titles through a mobile app -- the first such initiative in the U.S. The project is a collaboration with tech company Oxhead Alpha on Ava Labs' Avalanche blockchain. Reuters reports: Digitizing car titles will reduce the need for in-person DMV visits and the blockchain technology will also function as a deterrent against lien fraud. Blockchain technology can help detect lien fraud by creating a transparent and unalterable record of property ownership, making it difficult for fraudulent activity to go unnoticed. California residents will be able to access their digital car titles starting early next year as the DMV builds out the app and infrastructure for consumer access.

China has proposed issuing "cyberspace IDs" to its citizens in order to protect their personal information, regulate the public service for authentication of cyberspace IDs, and accelerate the implementation of the trusted online identity strategy. The Register reports: The ID will take two forms: one as a series of letter and numbers, and the other as an online credential. Both will correspond to the citizen's real-life identity, but with no details in plaintext -- presumably encryption will be applied. A government national service platform will be responsible for authenticating and issuing the cyberspace IDs. The draft comes from the Ministry of Public Security and the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). It clarifies that the ID will be voluntary -- for now -- and eliminate the need for citizens to provide their real-life personal information to internet service providers (ISPs). Those under the age of fourteen would need parental consent to apply.

China is one of the few countries in the world that requires citizens to use their real names on the internet. [...] Relying instead on a national ID means "the excessive collection and retention of citizens' personal information by internet service providers will be prevented and minimized," reasoned Beijing. "Without the separate consent of a natural person, an internet platform may not process or provide relevant data and information to the outside without authorization, except as otherwise provided by laws and administrative regulations," reads the draft.

An unexpected disapperance of saved passwords "impacted Chrome web browser users from all over the world," writes Forbes, "leaving them unable to find any passwords already saved using the Chrome password manager." Newly saved passwords were also rendered invisible to the affected users. Google, which has now fixed the issue, said that the problem was limited to the M127 version of Chrome Browser on the Windows platform.

The precise number of users to be hit by the Google password manager vanishing act is hard to pin down. However, working on the basis that there are more than 3 billion Chrome web browser users, with Windows users counting for the vast majority of these, it's possible to come up with an estimated number. Google said that 25% of the user base saw the configuration change rolled out, which, by my calculations, is around 750 million. Of these, around 2%, according to Google's estimation, were hit by the password manager issue. That means around 15 million users have seen their passwords vanish into thin air.

Google said that an interim workaround was provided at the time, which involved the particularly user-unfriendly process of launching the Chrome browser with a command line flag of " — enable-features=SkipUndecryptablePasswords." Thankfully, the full fix that has now been rolled out just requires users to restart their Chrome browser to take effect.

"Apple and the union representing retail workers at its store in Towson, Maryland, agreed to a tentative labor deal late Friday," reports CNN, "in the first US labor agreement not only for an Apple store but for any US workers of the tech giant." Workers at the Apple store in Towson had voted to join the International Association of Machinists union in June 2022 and have since been seeking their first contract. In May, they voted to authorize a strike without providing a deadline. The labor deal, which needs to be ratified by a vote of the 85 rank-and-file members at the store before it can take effect, is a significant milestone. Other high-profile union organizing efforts, such as those at Starbucks and Amazon, have yet to produce deals for those workers, even though workers at those companies voted to join unions well before the workers at the Apple store in Maryland.

There are not many legal requirements to force a company to reach a labor agreement with a new union once that union has been recognized by the National Labor Relations Board, the government body that oversees labor relations for most US business. But the process can take a long time, as one recent study by Bloomberg Law found the average time for reaching a first contract is 465 days, or roughly 15 months. In many cases, it can take longer. A separate 2023 academic study found 43% of new unions were still seeking their first contract two years after winning a representation election.
The union said their deal includes pay increases of 10% over the three-year life of the contract and guaranteed severance packages for laid-off workers.

Brian Krebs writes via KrebsOnSecurity: Google says it recently fixed an authentication weakness that allowed crooks to circumvent the email verification required to create a Google Workspace account, and leverage that to impersonate a domain holder at third-party services that allow logins through Google's "Sign in with Google" feature. [...] Google Workspace offers a free trial that people can use to access services like Google Docs, but other services such as Gmail are only available to Workspace users who can validate control over the domain name associated with their email address. The weakness Google fixed allowed attackers to bypass this validation process. Google emphasized that none of the affected domains had previously been associated with Workspace accounts or services.

"The tactic here was to create a specifically-constructed request by a bad actor to circumvent email verification during the signup process," [said Anu Yamunan, director of abuse and safety protections at Google Workspace]. "The vector here is they would use one email address to try to sign in, and a completely different email address to verify a token. Once they were email verified, in some cases we have seen them access third party services using Google single sign-on." Yamunan said none of the potentially malicious workspace accounts were used to abuse Google services, but rather the attackers sought to impersonate the domain holder to other services online.

Open AI models that allow developers to customize them with few restrictions are more likely to promote competition, FTC Chair Lina Khan said, weighing in on a key debate within the industry. From a report: "There's tremendous potential for open-weight models to promote competition," Khan said Thursday in San Francisco at startup incubator Y Combinator. "Open-weight models can liberate startups from the arbitrary whims of closed developers and cloud gatekeepers."

"Open-weight" models disclose what an AI model picked up and was tweaked on during its training process. That allows developers to better customize them and makes them more accessible to smaller companies and researchers. But critics have warned that open models carry an increased risk of abuse and could potentially allow companies from geopolitical rivals like China to piggyback off the technology. Khan's comments come as the Biden administration is considering guidance on the use and safety of open-weight models.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Conversation, written by Michael W. Crowder, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Dean of the Graduate School at Miami University: For many people, the aroma of freshly brewed coffee is the start of a great day. But caffeine can cause headaches and jitters in others. That's why many people reach for a decaffeinated cup instead. I'm a chemistry professor who has taught lectures on why chemicals dissolve in some liquids but not in others. The processes of decaffeination offer great real-life examples of these chemistry concepts. Even the best decaffeination method, however, does not remove all of the caffeine -- about 7 milligrams of caffeine usually remain in an 8-ounce cup. Producers decaffeinating their coffee want to remove the caffeine while retaining all -- or at least most -- of the other chemical aroma and flavor compounds.

Decaffeination has a rich history, and now almost all coffee producers use one of three common methods. All these methods, which are also used to make decaffeinated tea, start with green, or unroasted, coffee beans that have been premoistened. Using roasted coffee beans would result in a coffee with a very different aroma and taste because the decaffeination steps would remove some flavor and odor compounds produced during roasting. Here's a summary of each method discussed by Dr. Crowder:

The Carbon Dioxide Method: Developed in the early 1970s, the carbon dioxide method uses high-pressure CO2 to extract caffeine from moistened coffee beans, resulting in coffee that retains most of its flavor. The caffeine-laden CO2 is then filtered out using water or activated carbon, removing 96% to 98% of the caffeine with minimal CO2 residue.

The Swiss Water Process: First used commercially in the early 1980s, the Swiss water method uses hot water and activated charcoal filters to decaffeinate coffee, preserving most of its natural flavor. This chemical-free approach removes 94% to 96% of the caffeine by soaking the beans repeatedly until the desired caffeine level is achieved.

Solvent-Based Methods: Originating in the early 1900s, solvent-based methods use organic solvents like ethyl acetate and methylene chloride to extract caffeine from green coffee beans. These methods remove 96% to 97% of the caffeine through either direct soaking in solvent or indirect treatment of water containing caffeine, followed by steaming and roasting to ensure safety and flavor retention.

"It's chemically impossible to dissolve out only the caffeine without also dissolving out other chemical compounds in the beans, so decaffeination inevitably removes some other compounds that contribute to the aroma and flavor of your cup of coffee," writes Dr. Crowder in closing. "But some techniques, like the Swiss water process and the indirect solvent method, have steps that may reintroduce some of these extracted compounds. These approaches probably can't return all the extra compounds back to the beans, but they may add some of the flavor compounds back."

According to a new study published in Nature, researchers found that training AI models using AI-generated datasets can lead to "model collapse," where models produce increasingly nonsensical outputs over generations. "In one example, a model started with a text about European architecture in the Middle Ages and ended up -- in the ninth generation -- spouting nonsense about jackrabbits," writes The Register's Lindsay Clark. From the report: [W]ork led by Ilia Shumailov, Google DeepMind and Oxford post-doctoral researcher, found that an AI may fail to pick up less common lines of text, for example, in training datasets, which means subsequent models trained on the output cannot carry forward those nuances. Training new models on the output of earlier models in this way ends up in a recursive loop. In an accompanying article, Emily Wenger, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University, illustrated model collapse with the example of a system tasked with generating images of dogs. "The AI model will gravitate towards recreating the breeds of dog most common in its training data, so might over-represent the Golden Retriever compared with the Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen, given the relative prevalence of the two breeds," she said.

"If subsequent models are trained on an AI-generated data set that over-represents Golden Retrievers, the problem is compounded. With enough cycles of over-represented Golden Retriever, the model will forget that obscure dog breeds such as Petit Basset Griffon Vendeen exist and generate pictures of just Golden Retrievers. Eventually, the model will collapse, rendering it unable to generate meaningful content." While she concedes an over-representation of Golden Retrievers may be no bad thing, the process of collapse is a serious problem for meaningful representative output that includes less-common ideas and ways of writing. "This is the problem at the heart of model collapse," she said.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: A team of Australian scientists is genetically engineering a common fly species so that it can eat more of humanity's organic waste while producing ingredients for making everything from lubricants and biofuels to high-grade animal feeds. Black soldier flies are already being used commercially to consume organic waste, including food waste, but tweaking their genetics could widen the range of waste their larvae consume while, in the process, producing fatty compounds and enzymes. In a scientific paper, the team based at Sydney's Macquarie University outlined their hopes for the flies and how they could also cut the amount of planet-warming methane produced when organic waste breaks down.

"We are heading towards a climate disaster, and landfill waste releases methane. We need to get that to zero," Dr Kate Tepper, a lead author of the paper, said. Dr Maciej Maselko runs an animal synthetic biology lab at Macquarie University where Tepper has already started engineering the flies. Maselko said insects would be the "next frontier" in dealing with the planet's waste management problem, which weighs in at about 1 billion tons a year in food waste alone. Black soldier flies are found in all continents except Antarctica. "If you've got a compost bin, then you've probably got some," Maselko said. The fly larvae can eat double their body weight a day and, like other insects, their larvae are used for animal feed. Maselko said the flies could already do the job of consuming waste faster than microbes. The university team has created a spin-off company, EntoZyme, to commercialize their work and hopes to have the first genetically engineered flies for use in waste facilities by the end of the year. [...]

Creating a suite of genetically engineered flies would see them also produce enzymes used in animal feeds, textiles and pharmaceuticals, and fatty compounds that can be used to make biofuels and lubricants. Another proposed use is for some flies to be able to consume contaminated waste, which would then leave behind their poo that could be used as fertilizer. Tepper said flies can be engineered to deal with pollutants in several ways, including by breaking pollutants down into less toxic or inorganic compounds, evaporating them into the air or accumulating some pollutants into their bodies that can then be separated, leaving clean organic waste behind. The research has been published in the journal Communications Biology.

In a blog post on Tuesday, security firm KnowBe4 revealed that a remote software engineer hire was a North Korean threat actor using a stolen identity and AI-augmented images. "Detailing a seemingly thorough interview process that included background checks, verified references and four video conference-based interviews, KnowBe4 founder and CEO Stu Sjouwerman said the worker avoided being caught by using a valid identity that was stolen from a U.S.-based individual," reports CyberScoop. "The scheme was further enhanced by the actor using a stock image augmented by artificial intelligence." From the report: An internal investigation started when KnowBe4's InfoSec Security Operations Center team detected "a series of suspicious activities" from the new hire. The remote worker was sent an Apple laptop, which was flagged by the company on July 15 when malware was loaded onto the machine. The AI-filtered photo, meanwhile, was flagged by the company's Endpoint Detection and Response software. Later that evening, the SOC team had "contained" the fake worker's systems after he stopped responding to outreach. During a roughly 25-minute period, "the attacker performed various actions to manipulate session history files, transfer potentially harmful files, and execute unauthorized software," Sjouwerman wrote in the post. "He used a [single-board computer] raspberry pi to download the malware." From there, the company shared its data and findings with the FBI and with Mandiant, the Google-owned cyber firm, and came to the conclusion that the worker was a fictional persona operating from North Korea.

KnowBe4 said the fake employee likely had his workstation connected "to an address that is basically an 'IT mule laptop farm.'" They'd then use a VPN to work the night shift from where they actually reside -- in this case, North Korea "or over the border in China." That work would take place overnight, making it appear that they're logged on during normal U.S. business hours. "The scam is that they are actually doing the work, getting paid well, and give a large amount to North Korea to fund their illegal programs," Sjouwerman wrote. "I don't have to tell you about the severe risk of this." Despite the intrusion, Sjouwerman said "no illegal access was gained, and no data was lost, compromised, or exfiltrated on any KnowBe4 systems." He chalked up the incident to a threat actor that "demonstrated a high level of sophistication in creating a believable cover identity" and identified "weaknesses in the hiring and background check processes."

Investigative journalist and cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs writes: The Chinese company in charge of handing out domain names ending in ".top" has been given until mid-August 2024 to show that it has put in place systems for managing phishing reports and suspending abusive domains, or else forfeit its license to sell domains. The warning comes amid the release of new findings that .top was the most common suffix in phishing websites over the past year, second only to domains ending in ".com." On July 16, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) sent a letter to the owners of the .top domain registry. ICANN has filed hundreds of enforcement actions against domain registrars over the years, but in this case ICANN singled out a domain registry responsible for maintaining an entire top-level domain (TLD). Among other reasons, the missive chided the registry for failing to respond to reports about phishing attacks involving .top domains.

"Based on the information and records gathered through several weeks, it was determined that .TOP Registry does not have a process in place to promptly, comprehensively, and reasonably investigate and act on reports of DNS Abuse," the ICANN letter reads (PDF). ICANN's warning redacted the name of the recipient, but records show the .top registry is operated by a Chinese entity called Jiangsu Bangning Science & Technology Co. Ltd. Representatives for the company have not responded to requests for comment.

Domains ending in .top were represented prominently in a new phishing report released today by the Interisle Consulting Group, which sources phishing data from several places, including the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG), OpenPhish, PhishTank, and Spamhaus. Interisle's newest study examined nearly two million phishing attacks in the last year, and found that phishing sites accounted for more than four percent of all new .top domains between May 2023 and April 2024. Interisle said .top has roughly 2.76 million domains in its stable, and that more than 117,000 of those were phishing sites in the past year.

AI is increasingly being employed in job interviews across China and India, marking a significant shift in recruitment practices in the region. This follows a similar practice making inroads in the U.S. Rest of World adds: A 2023 survey of 1,000 human-resources workers by the U.S. firm ResumeBuilder found that 10% of companies were already using AI in the hiring process, and another 30% planned to start the following year. The research firm Gartner listed natural-language chatbots as one of 2023's key innovations for the recruiting industry, designating the technology as experimental but promising. Companies like Meituan, Siemens, and Estee Lauder are using AI-powered interviews, with platforms such as MoSeeker, Talently.ai, and Instahyre leading the charge in AI recruitment solutions.

smooth wombat writes: The FTC has sent mandatory notices for information to eight companies it says engages in "surveillance pricing", the process by which prices are rapidly changed using AI based on data about customer behavior and characteristics. This process, the FTC claims, allows companies to charge different customers different prices for the same product.

The list includes Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, Accenture and consulting giant McKinsey. It also includes software firm Task, which counts McDonald's and Starbucks as clients; Revionics, which works with Home Depot, Tractor Supply and grocery chain Hannaford; Bloomreach, which services FreshDirect, Total Wine and Puma; and Pros, which was named Microsoft's internet service vendor of the year this year. "Firms that harvest Americans' personal data can put people's privacy at risk," FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a news release. "Now firms could be exploiting this vast trove of personal information to charge people higher prices."

An anonymous reader quotes a report from SFGate: A group of tech billionaires and millionaires has pulled its ballot measure that aimed to build a utopian city in Solano County. Instead, the group will go back to the drawing board the old-fashioned way by submitting an application to the county. The surprise announcement was made Monday by California Forever, a group of investors planning a city of 400,000 people in an agricultural part of the Bay Area near Rio Vista. It recently received the requisite number of signatures to put its East Solano Plan on the November ballot; that measure, if passed, would have removed some zoning restrictions that prevent this type of development in the area.

California Forever will instead "submit an application for a General Plan & Zoning Amendment and proceed with the normal County process which includes preparation of a full Environmental Impact Report and the negotiation and execution of Development Agreement," Solano County Board of Supervisors Chair Mitch Mashburn said in a statement Monday. The news was celebrated by many in Solano County, where skepticism about the project ran deep. The group's secretive purchases of huge tracts of land first brought about national security fears, even from local politicians, who had no idea who was behind the project. When the plan to build a futuristic city was announced, California Forever faced widespread pushback, ranging from concerns about billionaire backers like Reid Hoffman and Laurene Powell Jobs to questions about the impacts on traffic, water usage and proximity to Travis Air Force Base. California Forever CEO Jan Sramek said in a statement: "We believe that with this process, we can build a shared vision that passes with a decisive majority and creates broad consensus for the future. We're excited about working with the Board of Supervisors, its land use subcommittee, and county staff to make this happen."

An amateur photographer has documented his experience with at-home color film development and digitization. The process, initially undertaken for cost savings, involves a complex setup including a changing bag, developing tank, chemicals, and a DSLR scanning system, the author argues. Key challenges reported include film loading in darkness and achieving consistent image quality. Despite mixed results, the hobbyist -- Jason Koebler, an editor of 404 Media, a new publication that we have linked to quite a few times in recent months -- nonetheless cites satisfaction with the artistic and analog aspects of the process. He concludes: I have obviously (obviously!) not saved any money yet by doing this myself at home. I have spent many hundreds of dollars to develop about 20 rolls of film at home, and have achieved results that I am both amazed by and also frustrated with. The amazement comes from the fact that any of this actually works at all, and the knowledge that I am trying my best and having fun. The frustration comes from the blurry photos. It's all part of the process, I guess.