Comment Strong they are which is why you got downmodded. (Score 1) 68
There is no reason your post should offend an adult. Those it does are clowns unable to admit a reality that's common as dirt.
Advertising proves your point every day.
Comment Her fans are are thursty by nature. (Score 1) 68
That's how she took advantage of pathetic gullibles.
Many men react to females like cat hoarders do felines. Youtube creators noted this long ago and often include cats (and dogs) to get views from many people who don't care at all about content.
Using AI to insert fictitious females into content like Facesbook Marketplace
is increasingly popular because it gets viewers to click the thumbnail. Holmes was able to fool old men who should have been utterly jaded like General Matthis because many people with high specialized competence are weak outside their lane.
Comment Get a printed title for vehicle you own. (Score 3, Interesting) 11
DMV lose or delete old title records fairly often. Fortunately I had hard copy titles for all my vintage vehicles so getting one reloaded was not a problem.
When I buy a vehicle I get a hard copy of the title printed on the spot, not mailed to me. I've been a mechanic for ~five decades and seen many title problems due to buyers failing to transfer titles then losing their copy (which is the most common error), but don't count on titles in a DMV system to last forever.
Don't omit boat and outboard motor titles where applicable. You can avoid much frustration.
Comment Mandate ability to host independent servers (Score 5, Insightful) 146
If a game is discontinued that's no reason to deprive the willing of ability to host their own servers.
That option adds value long after a company ends support. It's a feature not a barrier to profit.
Comment What a silly excuse for an anti-consumer choice. (Score 1) 71
Blocking RAM upgrades is inexcusable. RAM upgrades are the most basic computer upgrade since the dawn of the PC.
Comment Good, nothing of value to the public is lost. (Score 1) 31
The UK is already overcrowded and property punitively expensive.
Comment Smartphones are expected. Other devices less so. (Score 1) 56
A discrete device permits recording without leaving a trace on expected hardware. There are many good reasons to defensively record interactions. The world is a high threat environment that can instantly turn bad. It's wise to know your legal and technical options well in advance of need.
A common example predating smart phones is truck drivers recording interactions with their dispatchers. That goes back to the miniature magnetic tape recorder era. Proof matters.
Submission + - Ledger confirms spy chip implant behind wallet crypto thefts (bleepingcomputer.com)
AmiMoJo writes: Ledger has confirmed that some of its devices distributed through Southeast Asian reseller CryptoBilis were compromised with a hardware implant that drained users' cryptocurrency wallets. The company has been investigating reports of users losing funds from wallets purchased through CryptoBilis, a major Malaysia-based hardware wallet retailer operating across Southeast Asia. Some researchers have shown the implant in Ledger X since September 16, saying tampered devices were available for nearly half the price of the original hardware.
"Under the battery and antenna sits an ST STM32G431KBU6 (Arm CortexM4, 128 KB flash, UFQFPN32)," the researchers found inside one of the devices. For connectivity, the actor used "a tiny eSIM, an 8pad package just 2×2 mm, next to the MCU, and a shielded LTE module that sends the words out."
"Under the battery and antenna sits an ST STM32G431KBU6 (Arm CortexM4, 128 KB flash, UFQFPN32)," the researchers found inside one of the devices. For connectivity, the actor used "a tiny eSIM, an 8pad package just 2×2 mm, next to the MCU, and a shielded LTE module that sends the words out."
Submission + - Cyberattack against stores forces refrigeration systems to heat frozen goods (franceinfo.fr)
advid.net writes: Stores belonging to several major French retailers, such as Système U, Intermarché, and E.Leclerc, were affected by a cyberattack targeting their refrigeration systems on Monday, October 12. A source close to the investigation told France Inter that total losses could amount to several million euros.
The Les Mousquetaires group explained that Danfoss, the company that manufactures its refrigerated display cases, was the victim of a cyberattack overnight from Sunday to Monday. The temperature of the freezers and refrigerators was set to 50C (120F).
The Les Mousquetaires group explained that Danfoss, the company that manufactures its refrigerated display cases, was the victim of a cyberattack overnight from Sunday to Monday. The temperature of the freezers and refrigerators was set to 50C (120F).
Submission + - LLM-inspired study sheds light on how brain cells encode the meaning of words (medicalxpress.com)
alternative_right writes: To investigate how the brain encodes the meaning of words, the researchers first recorded the activity of individual neurons in the hippocampus of 10 people who were listening to stories. Their recordings were collected using tiny wire electrodes that were implanted in the participants' brains as part of clinical monitoring procedures for epilepsy.
The team then used mathematical models to analyze the language used in the stories and the brain recordings. This allowed them to examine whether information about the meaning of words could predict the recorded neuronal activity.
"We recorded responses of hippocampal neurons while individuals listened to narrative speech," wrote Melissa Franch and her colleagues in their paper. "Using an encoding model approach, we find robust encoding of semantics, even after controlling for phonemics and grammar. Individual words had complex selectivities that included multiple words in multiple semantic categories."
The team then used mathematical models to analyze the language used in the stories and the brain recordings. This allowed them to examine whether information about the meaning of words could predict the recorded neuronal activity.
"We recorded responses of hippocampal neurons while individuals listened to narrative speech," wrote Melissa Franch and her colleagues in their paper. "Using an encoding model approach, we find robust encoding of semantics, even after controlling for phonemics and grammar. Individual words had complex selectivities that included multiple words in multiple semantic categories."
Comment Greed ensures AI access to means of destruction (Score 1) 47
AI is and will continute to be increasingly empowered with indifferent safety precautions because the power money confers is all that matters to techbros.
First world systems are far more fragile than they appear to humans. AI doesn't have that problem.
Submission + - ChatGPT, Gemini Call BS on Microsoft's PERM Program Ban 'Comment'
theodp writes: Asked to comment on the merits of the Microsoft Comment on Recent Immigration Questions, which was posted without attribution on the Microsoft On The Issues blog in response to the U.S. Government's suspension of Microsoft, Adobe, and IT outsourcing giants from the Green Card program (PERM), ChatGPT suggested it was a red herring defense at best: "The central issue is whether Microsoft has complied with the requirements governing permanent labor certification, including whether qualified American workers were genuinely considered for positions being offered to foreign workers. Microsoft instead emphasizes that 80% of its H-1B applications involved existing employees rather than new hires. That framing encourages readers to think the government's concern rests on a basic misunderstanding: that the government is counting existing workers as new foreign hires. But that is not necessarily the government's argument. Existing H-1B employees can subsequently be sponsored for permanent residency, and their employers must still comply with the applicable PERM requirements."
Asked to provide a second AI opinion, Google's Gemini agreed: "Microsoft’s response is a classic piece of defensive corporate communication. It successfully highlights true statistics—such as its high median wages and the fact that most H-1B filings are internal extensions—to counter the narrative that it is a low-wage outsourcing shop. However, its statement completely sidesteps the central accusation: that its ongoing sponsorship of thousands of green cards via the PERM program ran afoul of labor regulations while it was concurrently laying off thousands of domestic American workers. By omitting this tension, Microsoft's response answers questions the administration wasn't actually asking while ignoring the underlying compliance and fraud investigations that triggered the freeze."
Microsoft is hardly the only tech giant whose PERM program hiring practices have attracted U.S. government scrutiny. In August 2026, the U.S Dept. of Justice's Civil Rights Division announced a $3.2 million settlement involving OpenAI OpCo LLC and its analytics provider Statsig that addressed allegations of "discriminating against U.S. workers" during the PERM hiring process. And in 2023, Apple was required by the U.S. Dept. of Justice to pay up to $25 million in backpay and civil penalties to "resolve allegations that Apple illegally discriminated in hiring and recruitment against U.S. citizens and certain non-U.S. citizens." And in 2021, Facebook agreed to pay up to $14.25 million to settle civil claims by the U.S. government that the social media company discriminated against American workers and violated federal recruitment rules.
Asked to provide a second AI opinion, Google's Gemini agreed: "Microsoft’s response is a classic piece of defensive corporate communication. It successfully highlights true statistics—such as its high median wages and the fact that most H-1B filings are internal extensions—to counter the narrative that it is a low-wage outsourcing shop. However, its statement completely sidesteps the central accusation: that its ongoing sponsorship of thousands of green cards via the PERM program ran afoul of labor regulations while it was concurrently laying off thousands of domestic American workers. By omitting this tension, Microsoft's response answers questions the administration wasn't actually asking while ignoring the underlying compliance and fraud investigations that triggered the freeze."
Microsoft is hardly the only tech giant whose PERM program hiring practices have attracted U.S. government scrutiny. In August 2026, the U.S Dept. of Justice's Civil Rights Division announced a $3.2 million settlement involving OpenAI OpCo LLC and its analytics provider Statsig that addressed allegations of "discriminating against U.S. workers" during the PERM hiring process. And in 2023, Apple was required by the U.S. Dept. of Justice to pay up to $25 million in backpay and civil penalties to "resolve allegations that Apple illegally discriminated in hiring and recruitment against U.S. citizens and certain non-U.S. citizens." And in 2021, Facebook agreed to pay up to $14.25 million to settle civil claims by the U.S. government that the social media company discriminated against American workers and violated federal recruitment rules.
Submission + - "Software is over" Developer uses AI builds Adobe clones after cancellation fees (techspot.com) 2
joshuark writes: Ars Technica reports, developer Brandon Thomas is taking on seven of Adobe's best-known applications through Artcraft. The project extend beyond Adobe's famous photo editing program to video production, vector graphics, page layouts, and PDF tools.
In his Reddit announcement, Thomas says he used Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 to build the replacements in Rust. Photocraft imitates Photoshop, while Vectorcraft and Filmcraft take on Illustrator and Premiere. Lightcraft, Effectcraft, Designcraft, and Printcraft are the alternatives to Lightroom, After Effects, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro, respectively.
The apps are open source and free, with no subscription required. Users can download the source code, modify it, and contribute fixes. Thomas describes himself as a software industry veteran with 15 years of experience, including roughly a decade working with Rust. He also insists the project has team support and will not be abandoned after launch.
"We're going to reach 100% parity within a month," he said, which is an ambitious claim.
For now, the software remains at an early stage, and commenters have reported problems with basic functionality. They might look like Adobe's apps, but it doesn't sound like they're able to replace the long-established programs just yet.
Thomas says Adobe's cancelation fees helped motivate the project, which is understandable.
Thomas believes other developers will follow suit, predicting a future where free, near-identical open-source versions of popular paid apps will be widely available.
"Now you can just create 1:1 functional equivalents, clean room, that are highly performant and cross-platform. Nothing is stopping you," Thomas wrote. "We'll replace Google Search, we'll build our own smartphones, we'll build better infra. We'll remove all the ads and de-enshittify the entire tech world."
"Software is over," he declared, somewhat boldly. And hopefully cancellation fees.
In his Reddit announcement, Thomas says he used Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5 to build the replacements in Rust. Photocraft imitates Photoshop, while Vectorcraft and Filmcraft take on Illustrator and Premiere. Lightcraft, Effectcraft, Designcraft, and Printcraft are the alternatives to Lightroom, After Effects, InDesign, and Acrobat Pro, respectively.
The apps are open source and free, with no subscription required. Users can download the source code, modify it, and contribute fixes. Thomas describes himself as a software industry veteran with 15 years of experience, including roughly a decade working with Rust. He also insists the project has team support and will not be abandoned after launch.
"We're going to reach 100% parity within a month," he said, which is an ambitious claim.
For now, the software remains at an early stage, and commenters have reported problems with basic functionality. They might look like Adobe's apps, but it doesn't sound like they're able to replace the long-established programs just yet.
Thomas says Adobe's cancelation fees helped motivate the project, which is understandable.
Thomas believes other developers will follow suit, predicting a future where free, near-identical open-source versions of popular paid apps will be widely available.
"Now you can just create 1:1 functional equivalents, clean room, that are highly performant and cross-platform. Nothing is stopping you," Thomas wrote. "We'll replace Google Search, we'll build our own smartphones, we'll build better infra. We'll remove all the ads and de-enshittify the entire tech world."
"Software is over," he declared, somewhat boldly. And hopefully cancellation fees.
Submission + - Canonical facing Distributed Denial of Service Attack against its web infrastruc (phoronix.com)
devphaeton writes: Unfortunately, Ubuntu is once again facing a distributed denial of service "DDoS" attack against its web infrastructure. This isn't the first time they have experienced this issue and Canonical's IT team is currently working to mitigate the attack.
Those trying to access the Ubuntu website, ISO downloads, and similar Ubuntu resources today are finding the site inoperable amid what's now confirmed as an ongoing distributed denial of service attack.
Those trying to access the Ubuntu website, ISO downloads, and similar Ubuntu resources today are finding the site inoperable amid what's now confirmed as an ongoing distributed denial of service attack.
Submission + - Cloudflare Keeps 1.1.1.1 Out of Piracy Blocking, Escapes Penalties in France (torrentfreak.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Cloudflare doesn't block pirate sports streaming sites through its 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver in France, only through its CDN. The Paris Judicial Court has now accepted that stance, rejecting [French pay-TV provider] Canal+'s request for penalties of 50,000 euros per site, per day. Interestingly, the court's conclusion relies on statistics provided by Canal+ itself. [...] As a result, Cloudflare will not be penalized under these orders, even though its public DNS resolver is not blocking the sites in question. That is in line with the company’s long-standing claim that it doesn’t interfere with its DNS.
In its recent transparency reports, Cloudflare repeatedly stated that it hasn’t blocked any content through 1.1.1.1, despite orders from French and Italian courts. “To date, Cloudflare has not blocked content through the 1.1.1.1 Public DNS Resolver,” the company’s latest report reads. [...] Blocking through the CDN is another matter. According to the same report, Cloudflare geoblocked 1,238 domains in France in the second half of 2025, all under a single court order. In the first half of the year, it geoblocked 662 domains under seven orders. Cloudflare recently explained its position to the European Commission, in a submission (PDF) to its Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List consultation, stressing that global public DNS resolvers should not be used to block or restrict access.
Instead, it highlights its real-time pirate stream blocking program, which allows vetted rightsholders to flag pirate streams that run through its network. These streams are disrupted "within seconds," Cloudflare says, without any DNS or IP address blocking. "For live content, where speed is crucial, Cloudflare has built real-time mitigation mechanisms that allow vetted rightsholder partners to flag infringing streams. When those streams are running through our network, we act on them in seconds," Cloudflare informed the Commission. For now, Cloudflare can continue to block pirate sites through its CDN only, while its 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver remains untouched. Canal+ can still appeal the rulings, so it may not be the last we hear of it.
In its recent transparency reports, Cloudflare repeatedly stated that it hasn’t blocked any content through 1.1.1.1, despite orders from French and Italian courts. “To date, Cloudflare has not blocked content through the 1.1.1.1 Public DNS Resolver,” the company’s latest report reads. [...] Blocking through the CDN is another matter. According to the same report, Cloudflare geoblocked 1,238 domains in France in the second half of 2025, all under a single court order. In the first half of the year, it geoblocked 662 domains under seven orders. Cloudflare recently explained its position to the European Commission, in a submission (PDF) to its Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List consultation, stressing that global public DNS resolvers should not be used to block or restrict access.
Instead, it highlights its real-time pirate stream blocking program, which allows vetted rightsholders to flag pirate streams that run through its network. These streams are disrupted "within seconds," Cloudflare says, without any DNS or IP address blocking. "For live content, where speed is crucial, Cloudflare has built real-time mitigation mechanisms that allow vetted rightsholder partners to flag infringing streams. When those streams are running through our network, we act on them in seconds," Cloudflare informed the Commission. For now, Cloudflare can continue to block pirate sites through its CDN only, while its 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver remains untouched. Canal+ can still appeal the rulings, so it may not be the last we hear of it.
