172178106
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
Tired of high rates and longer-than-average outages, Maine voters consider exchanging corporate electric utilities in favour of a non-profit alternative:
Taking a page from the “throw-the-bums-out” script in politics, Mainers are poised to vote on an unprecedented plan to rid themselves of the state’s two largest electric utilities and start with a clean slate.
The proposed takeover of two investor-owned utilities that distribute 97% of electricity in the state would mark the first time a U.S. state’s utilities were forcibly removed at the same time. The referendum calls for dismantling Central Maine Power and Versant Power and replacing them with a nonprofit utility called Pine Tree Power to operate 28,000 miles (45,000 kilometers) of transmission lines.
172157394
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
AI pioneer and Google Brain co-founder Dr. Andrew Ng warns that tech companies are hyping the dangers of AI to encourage strict regulation that would eliminate competition from the Open Source community:
Google Brain was a deep-learning AI research team that merged with the DeepMind division earlier this year.
Andrew Ng, an adjunct professor at Stanford University who taught OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, told The Australian Financial Review that the biggest tech companies hoped to trigger strict regulation with the "bad idea that AI could make us go extinct."
"There are definitely large tech companies that would rather not have to try to compete with open source, so they're creating fear of AI leading to human extinction," he told the news outlet. "It's been a weapon for lobbyists to argue for legislation that would be very damaging to the open-source community."
In May, AI experts and CEOs signed a statement from the Center for AI Safety that compared the risks posed by AI with nuclear war and pandemics. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei all put their names to the public statement.
Other AI heavyweights have issued several warnings about the accelerated development of advanced generative AI models, with many urging regulators to act quickly.
171921063
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
On Tuesday of this week, French AI startup Mistral tweeted a magnet link to their first publicly released, open sourced LLM. That might be merely interesting if not for the fact that the chatbot has remarkably few guardrails:
According to a list of 178 questions and answers composed by AI safety researcher Paul Röttger and 404 Media’s own testing, Mistral will readily discuss the benefits of ethnic cleansing, how to restore Jim Crow-style discrimination against Black people, instructions for suicide or killing your wife, and detailed instructions on what materials you’ll need to make crack and where to acquire them.
It’s hard not to read Mistral’s tweet releasing its model as an ideological statement. While leaders in the AI space like OpenAI trot out every development with fanfare and an ever increasing suite of safeguards that prevents users from making the AI models do whatever they want, Mistral simply pushed its technology into the world in a way that anyone can download, tweak, and with far fewer guardrails asking users trying to make the LLM produce controversial statements.
154613193
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
Here's a summary quote from the article: "Hospital staff around the world have faced overwhelming workloads during the COVID-19 pandemic. Could humanoid robots help ease that burden? A Hong Kong-based robotics company believes their latest creation, “Grace,” could help transform the healthcare industry as a doctor’s assistant, interfacing directly with patients. Equipped with cameras and sensors as well as a nurse’s uniform, Grace can maintain eye contact, recognize faces, understand speech, hold conversations, and diagnose patients".
There's also a YouTube video starring Grace and featuring Hanson Robotics founder David Hanson: [spam URL stripped]?...Link to Original Source
94204655
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
A few minutes ago I saw a longer version of this TV commercial for The Source. Although I'm reluctant to aid the spread of advertising, in this case it may be worthwhile as the starting point for (yet) another Slashdot privacy discussion.
Facebook and other social media are so common, and so relied upon by both individuals and businesses, that they practically fall into the category of infrastructure. The popularity of Alexa, Siri, Cortana, and the like, is growing daily. The impending ubiquity of the IOT seems unstoppable. Now, with this Source commercial, advertisers have moved far beyond marketing the "connected home" as a convenience and a security feature. They've assumed that on-demand invasion of privacy will be widely accepted as trivial and inconsequential — even when with regard to one's own family members. I fear that they're correct...
How about it Slashdot? Is there even a trace of hope left that the public will wake up? Can we make them understand that being 'on stage' 24/7 is both dangerous and soul-destroying?
90586083
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
As reported here back in February, the CBC, (Canada's national broadcaster), revealed DNA test results which indicated the chicken used in Subway Restaurants' sandwiches only contained about 50% chicken. Now, Subway is suing the public broadcaster for $210 million, because "its reputation and brand have taken a hit as a result of the CBC reports". The suit claims that "false statements ... were published and republished, maliciously and without just cause or excuse, to a global audience, which has resulted in pecuniary loss to the plaintiffs".
Personally, my working assumption here is that the CBC report is substantially correct. It will be interesting to see how the case plays out — but should this have happened at all? Regulatory agencies here in Canada seem to be pretty good when it comes to inspecting meat processing facilities. Should they also be testing the prepared foods served by major restaurant chains, to ensure that claims regarding food content are true and accurate?
87257239
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
As election results began to indicate that Donald Trump would be America's next president, Canada's immigration website crashed as a result of large numbers of US residents looking into moving here. Immigration sites 'Down Under' also saw spikes in activity, with New Zealand's jumping from its daily average of about 2300 to more than 56,000. Admittedly, much of this occurred in the heat of the moment and probably won't result in a large-scale exodus. Still, many of these people may actually follow up and leave the States. Also, in what's already being called 'Trump's America', xenophobes of all kinds and ages are crawling out of the woodwork, giving their inner racists full reign and trying to resurrect Jim Crow laws.
The people most at risk in the wake of Trump's election may feel that leaving the States is the only way to protect themselves and their families. Canada is right next door. Will American residents start to move here, (legally and otherwise), just as Mexicans have long moved to the US to escape undesirable conditions in their home country?
86400603
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
Maryland drone builder and attorney John Taylor, who in January took the FAA to court over its drone registry program, is now receiving financial help with his suit from DC DUG, the D.C. area Drone User Group. In his Petitoner's Brief, (PDF), Taylor maintains that "(f)or the first century of American aviation and beyond, the federal government made no attempt whatsoever to regulate recreational model aircraft", and that "(t)he FAA seeks to revise history when it argues its failure to register model aircraft, or otherwise treat them in any manner as ‘aircraft,’ in the past was the exercise of an ‘enforcement discretion'"
As of this writing I have been unable to find any news on the progress of the suit beyond its having been filed.
86308441
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
From Hackaday.com comes the news that the latest version of Chrome includes trial support for Web Bluetooth. According to Hackaday, "JavaScript code, served to your browser, can now connect directly to your Bluetooth LE (BTLE) devices". The article goes on to discuss the pros and (significant) cons of this development.
Yikes! The IOT continues to spread its tentacles, and the possibility of retaining some small vestige of personal privacy diminishes by the second.
86308155
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
The Swedish government is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to encouraging the repair of stuff that would otherwise be thrown away, according to both The Guardian and Fast Company
The country's Social Democrat and Green party coalition have submitted proposals to Parliament that would reduce the VAT on bicycle, clothing, and shoe repairs from 25% to 12%. Also proposed is an income tax deduction equalling half the labour cost of repairing household appliances. According to The Guardian, "the incentives are part of a shift in government focus from reducing carbon emissions produced domestically to reducing emissions tied to goods produced elsewhere." Per Bolund, Sweden's Minister for Financial Markets and Consumer Affairs, is quoted as saying "the policy also tied in with international trends around reduced consumption and crafts, such as the “maker movement” and the sharing economy, both of which have strong followings in Sweden.
84486909
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
From Hackaday comes news that the collected writings of Aaron Swartz, released as a watermarked eBook by publishing company Verso Books, has had its watermarking scheme cracked by The Institute for Biblio-Immunology, who also published a guide for removing the BooXtream watermarks.
The writings of Aaron Swartz, with DRM applied? Oh, the irony. Still, at least the DRM employed doesn't restrict a user from reading the book on any and all capable devices, so it's not a very intrusive form of DRM. But I somehow doubt that Mr. Swartz would take any comfort from that, and I bet the fact that companies are profiting from DRM'd copies of his writing has him spinning in his grave. I wonder if his family will have anything to say about this...
67008121
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
A happily married Ontario woman was shocked and dismayed last January to discover that she had an active account with dating site Zoosk.com. Mari Sherkin saw a pop-up ad on Facebook for Zoosk, but wasn't interested, so she "clicked on the X to close it. At least I thought I did."
She immediately began to receive messages from would-be Zoosk suitors in her Facebook mailbox. When she had a look on Zoosk she was horrified to find a dating profile with her Facebook picture, name, and postal code. Zoosk denies ever setting up profiles in this way, yet their terms of service explicitly allow them to do it, and there are apparently several Facebook pages with complaints of similar occurrences.
When will people ever learn to practise ''safeWeb"? I guess maybe the answer is 'never', given that it seems at least some of Zoosk's victims are still active on Facebook. Or should we just start calling it 'Faceplant'?
66199939
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
90-year-old Fort Lauderdale resident Arnold Abbott and two local pastors were charged on Sunday with "feeding the homeless in public". Abbott was told by police to "drop that plate right now" when he was attempting to distribute food. The three men were charged under a new city ordinance banning public food sharing, and face up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. The ordinance "limits where outdoor feeding sites can be located, requires the permission of property owners and says the groups have to provide portable toilets".
Mayor Jack Seiler was quoted as saying "Just because of media attention we don't stop enforcing the law. We enforce the laws here in Fort Lauderdale". He believes that "Providing them with a meal and keeping them in that cycle on the street is not productive."
Really, I have no words for this other than "heartless jackbooted fuckwits".
65991391
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
DARPA's Terahertz Electronics program has created "the fastest solid-state amplifier integrated circuit ever measured". The TMIC, (Terahertz Monolithic Integrated Circuit), boasts a gain of 9dB — previously unheard of for a monolithic device in this frequency range. Plus, the status of "fastest" has been certified by Guinness — seriously! ('Cause you might not trust DARPA, but you gotta trust Guinness — right?).
In related news, DARPA has also created a micro-machined vacuum power amplifer operating at 850 GHz, or 0.85 THz.
63748929
submission
jenningsthecat writes:
Four-and-a-half years in the making, The Coupe, billed as "the first all-electric American supercar", was revealed on August 17 of this year at the Pebble Beach Concours by Silicon Valley firm Renovo Motors. Slated for availability in late 2015, the $500K-plus car does 0-60 in 3.4 seconds, and is spec'd at 500 brake horsepower and 1,000 pound-feet of torque. Top speed is said to be 120 mph. The fast-charge time is 30 minutes — not surprising given the rather small 100-mile range. The car is modelled on the '64 Daytona coupe and has a Shelby chassis.
Lots of cool factor there, and lots of grunt off the line. But if you had enough money for only one supercar, would you pay more than $500K for something that only gets 100 miles per charge?
