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Comment Fine. (Score 5, Insightful) 42

by AgTiger (#66023396) Attached to: Sony Pulls Back From PlayStation Games on PC

I'll just continue to purchase games from GOG on sale. My "to be played" backlog is already crushingly large, I'm not at a loss for something to play.

Also, SONY? I still remember that rootkit you and BMG hit people with. Sucks when your customers have long memories, doesn't it?

Comment Mumbauer's actions will hurt him later. (Score 3, Insightful) 13

Whatever court hears Mumbauer's wrongful dismissal case will likely look at his actions post-firing and decide that he doesn't have "clean hands" in this matter. That will reduce the amount of damages the court is willing to award, or potentially end up with the decision going against Mumbauer completely, with him now being potentially on the hook for the company's legal fees.

If you have a legal dispute like this, keep your hands legally clean, even if it pains you to do so.

Comment Backup Generators should not be at ground level. (Score 4, Informative) 49

For those who need a refresher as to how the failure of the Fukushima reactors, see this video:

Understanding the accident of Fukushima Daiichi (from 2012)
https://youtu.be/YBNFvZ6Vr2U

Total time: 13:01. The key bit is at 4:49: "The waves went over the sea wall flooding the lower parts of buildings, and disabled the emergency diesel generators."

Had those generators and fuel tanks been higher up in the structure, things probably would have been fine, but with the reactors in control-rod shutdown and needing to dissipate the residual heat in the reaction chambers, the secondary cooling systems powered by those emergency diesel generators were absolutely crucial.

Comment Driving up memory prices. (Score 5, Insightful) 61

by AgTiger (#65887859) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What's the Stupidest Use of AI You Saw In 2025?

The tripling of memory prices and watching the domino effect to any computer hardware that needs memory (but can't get adequate supplies) due to the hoovering up of nearly all the memory being produced by data centers used for AI projects.

That's the most stupid, and annoying thing about all this to me. May this bubble pop, and quickly.

Comment That's a bad look on Marriott. (Score 4, Insightful) 46

by AgTiger (#65790268) Attached to: Airbnb Rival Sonder Abruptly Shuts Down, Orders Guests To Leave

In a situation like this where the occupants aren't at fault, you honour the reservation for the duration of the stay, and you comp the rest of the stay ("It's on the house.")

In this way you generate a ton of good-will for the Marriott, and positive word of mouth advertising that you only wish you could buy on demand. Marriott decided to take the low road and kick the occupants out mid-stay. Bad form.

Comment There's a way to mitigate interference. (Score 2) 46

by AgTiger (#65734060) Attached to: A Classified Network of SpaceX Satellites Is Emitting a Mysterious Signal

Satellites can broadcast to a tight geographic area thus minimizing any potential interference. Basically it's an aimed-cone around the antenna that restricts the signal from reaching any area other than an intended geographic circle on the ground.

Dish Network does this with local broadcast channels. If you subscribe in one geographic area, and move to another far away, you lose access to the old local network channels, not because of any digital restrictions based on zip code plus gps location, but because you're simply outside the area the signals reach.

The same technology could be implemented (perhaps already is) to mitigate any potential interference with ground-to-space signals.

Comment Re:How does that work? (Score 3, Informative) 36

by AgTiger (#65523398) Attached to: Cloudflare Starts Blocking Pirate Sites For UK Users

Cloudflare is one of the DNS providers for the "DNS over HTTPS" (DoH) service inside browsers, and it may well be the default choice. If your browser is configured to use DoH, and it's set to use 1.1.1.1, it's pushing its DNS resolution calls through Cloudflare.

As such, Cloudflare makes for a good choke point for the music and movie consortiums to use to lock out resolution of these sites based on the user's geo-located IP.

Me, I turned off DoH as soon as I heard about this new service. I run my own local Bind9 server with protection against malware sites, and I didn't want them doing an end-run around that layer of protection.

Submission + - Infrared Contact Lenses Allow People To See In the Dark, Even With Eyes Closed (phys.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Neuroscientists and materials scientists have created contact lenses that enable infrared vision in both humans and mice by converting infrared light into visible light. Unlike infrared night vision goggles, the contact lenses, described in the journal Cell, do not require a power source — and they enable the wearer to perceive multiple infrared wavelengths. Because they're transparent, users can see both infrared and visible light simultaneously, though infrared vision was enhanced when participants had their eyes closed. [...] The contact lens technology uses nanoparticles that absorb infrared light and convert it into wavelengths that are visible to mammalian eyes (e.g., electromagnetic radiation in the 400–700 nm range). The nanoparticles specifically enable the detection of "near-infrared light," which is infrared light in the 800–1600 nm range, just beyond what humans can already see.

The team previously showed that these nanoparticles enable infrared vision in mice when injected into the retina, but they wanted to design a less invasive option. To create the contact lenses, the team combined the nanoparticles with flexible, nontoxic polymers that are used in standard soft contact lenses. After showing that the contact lenses were nontoxic, they tested their function in both humans and mice. They found that contact lens-wearing mice displayed behaviors suggesting that they could see infrared wavelengths. For example, when the mice were given the choice of a dark box and an infrared-illuminated box, contact-wearing mice chose the dark box whereas contact-less mice showed no preference. The mice also showed physiological signals of infrared vision: the pupils of contact-wearing mice constricted in the presence of infrared light, and brain imaging revealed that infrared light caused their visual processing centers to light up. In humans, the infrared contact lenses enabled participants to accurately detect flashing morse code-like signals and to perceive the direction of incoming infrared light.

An additional tweak to the contact lenses allows users to differentiate between different spectra of infrared light by engineering the nanoparticles to color-code different infrared wavelengths. For example, infrared wavelengths of 980 nm were converted to blue light, wavelengths of 808 nm were converted to green light, and wavelengths of 1,532 nm were converted to red light. In addition to enabling wearers to perceive more detail within the infrared spectrum, these color-coding nanoparticles could be modified to help color-blind people see wavelengths that they would otherwise be unable to detect. [...] Because the contact lenses have limited ability to capture fine details (due to their close proximity to the retina, which causes the converted light particles to scatter), the team also developed a wearable glass system using the same nanoparticle technology, which enabled participants to perceive higher-resolution infrared information. Currently, the contact lenses are only able to detect infrared radiation projected from an LED light source, but the researchers are working to increase the nanoparticles' sensitivity so that they can detect lower levels of infrared light.

Submission + - Bitchute banned in United Kingdom

Submitted by Mirnotoriety
Mirnotoriety writes: UPDATE 2025-MAY-7 - Due to what we view as ongoing harassment from Ofcom, as well as our unwillingness to cooperate with a regime we view as hostile to our values and principles, we have disabled all remaining comment access entirely for UK video creators.

To our valued users in the United Kingdom,

After careful review and ongoing evaluation of the regulatory landscape in the United Kingdom, we regret to inform you that BitChute will be discontinuing its video sharing service for UK residents.

The introduction of the UK Online Safety Act of 2023 has brought about significant changes in the regulatory framework governing online content and community interactions. Notably, the Act contains sweeping provisions and onerous corrective measures with respect to content moderation and enforcement. In particular, the broad enforcement powers granted to the regulator of communication services, Ofcom, have raised concerns regarding the open-ended and unpredictable nature of regulatory compliance for our platform.

The BitChute platform has always operated on principles of freedom of speech, expression and association, and strived to foster an open and inclusive environment for content creators and audiences alike. However, the evolving regulatory pressures—including strict enforcement mechanisms and potential liabilities—have created an operational landscape in which continuing to serve the UK market exposes our company to unacceptable legal and compliance risks. Despite our best efforts to navigate these challenges, the uncertainty surrounding the OSA’s enforcement by Ofcom and its far-reaching implications leaves us no viable alternative but to cease normal operations in the UK.

Therefore, effective immediately, BitChute platform users in the UK will no longer be available to view content produced by any other BitChute user. Because the OSA’s primary concern is that members of the public will view content deemed unsafe, however, we will permit UK BitChute users to continue to post content. The significant change will be that this UK user-posted content will not be viewable by any other UK user, but will be visible to other users outside of the UK. Users outside the UK may comment on that content, which the creator will continue to be able to read, delete, block, reply and flag. Users outside the UK may share UK-user produced content to other users outside of the UK as normal. In other words, for users in the UK, including content creators, the BitChute platform is no longer a user-to-UK user video sharing service.

We deeply regret the inconvenience and disappointment this decision may cause to our UK users and partners. This decision was not taken lightly. It reflects our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of compliance, protecting our community, and ensuring that our platform remains a safe and sustainable space for creative expression globally. We recognize the value of our UK community and extend our sincerest apologies for the disruption caused by this necessary step. Our support team remains available to answer any queries or concerns regarding this transition.

We appreciate the support and engagement of our community around the world and remain dedicated to providing a platform that champions free expression and innovative content sharing in an environment of regulatory certainty.

Thank you for your understanding.

Submission + - US Treasure to Kill the Penny (cnn.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The US Treasury is phasing out production of the penny and will stop putting new one-cent coins into circulation. The US Treasury has made its final order of penny blanks this month, and the mint will continue to manufacture pennies as long as its supply of penny blanks exist. President Donald Trump stated that production of pennies are wasteful, as the coins cost more to produce than their one-cent value.

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