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Submission + - UK Secondary Schools Pivoting from Narrowly Focused CS Curriculum to AI Literacy

theodp writes: The UK Department for Education is "replacing its narrowly focused computer science GCSE with a broader, future-facing computing GCSE [General Certificate of Secondary Education] and exploring a new qualification in data science and AI for 16–18-year-olds." The move aims to correct unintended consequences of a shift made more than a decade ago from the existing ICT (Information and Communications Technology) curriculum, which focused on basic digital skills, to a more rigorous Computer Science curriculum at the behest of major tech firms and advocacy groups to address concerns about the UK’s programming talent pipeline.

The UK pivot from rigorous CS to AI literacy comes as tech-backed nonprofit Code.org leads a similar shift in the U.S., pivoting from its original 2013 mission calling for rigorous CS for U.S. K-12 students to a new mission that embraces AI literacy. Code.org next month will replace its flagship Hour of Code event with a new Hour of AI "designed to bring AI education into the mainstream" with the support of its partners, including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. Code.org has pledged to engage 25 million learners with the new Hour of AI this school year.

Comment Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk (Score 3, Interesting) 157

Don't count on help from the Supreme Court on this. Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk, 574 U.S. 27 (2014), was a unanimous decision by the United States Supreme Court, ruling that time spent by workers waiting to undergo anti-employee theft security screenings is not "integral and indispensable" to their work, and thus not compensable under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
 
Jesse Busk was among several workers employed by the temp agency Integrity Staffing Solutions to work in Amazon.com's warehouse in Nevada to help package and fulfill orders. At the end of each day, they had to spend about 25 minutes waiting to undergo anti-theft security checks before leaving. Busk and his fellow workers sued their employer, claiming they were entitled to be paid for those 25 minutes under the Fair Labor Standards Act. They argued that the time waiting could have been reduced if more screeners were added, or shifts were staggered so workers did not have to wait for the checks at the same time. Furthermore, since the checks were made to prevent employee theft, they only benefited the employers and the customers, not the employees themselves.

Submission + - UK Replacing Narrowly Focused CS GCSE in Pivot to AI Literacy for Schoolkids

theodp writes: The UK Department for Education announced this week that it is "replacing the narrowly focused computer science GCSE with a broader, future-facing computing GCSE [General Certificate of Secondary Education] and exploring a new qualification in data science and AI for 16–18-year-olds." The move aims to correct the unintended consequences of a shift made more than a decade ago from the existing ICT (Information and Communications Technology) curriculum, which focused on basic digital skills, to a more rigorous Computer Science curriculum at the behest of major tech firms and advocacy groups like Google, Microsoft, and the British Computer Society, who pushed for a curriculum overhaul to address concerns about the UK’s programming talent pipeline (a similar U.S. talent pipeline crisis was also declared around the same time).

From the Government Response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review: "We will rebalance the computing curriculum as the Review suggests, to ensure pupils develop essential digital literacy whilst retaining important computer science content. Through the reformed curriculum, pupils will know from a young age how computers can be trained using data and they will learn essential digital skills such as AI literacy."

The UK pivot from rigorous CS to AI literacy comes as tech-backed nonprofit Code.org is orchestrating a similar move in the U.S., pivoting from its original 2013 mission calling for rigorous CS for U.S. K-12 students to a new mission that embraces AI literacy. Code.org next month will replace its flagship Hour of Code event with a new Hour of AI "designed to bring AI education into the mainstream" that's supported by AI giants and Code.org donors Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. In September, Code.org pledged to the White House at an AI Education Task Force meeting led by First Lady Melania Trump and attended by U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Google CEO Sundar Pichai (OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was spotted in the audience) that it will engage 25 million learners in the new Hour of AI this school year, build AI pathways in 25 states, and launch a free high school AI course for 400,000 students by 2028.

Comment Re:The low-hanging fruit has been picked (Score 2) 306

Tell me you've never been a landlord, without telling me you've never been a landlord.

Landlords LOVE chargers. They attract higher-income renters with better credit ratings, especially if they're at the high end of power output. I installed at least one and sometimes two Autel 50A chargers at all 28 of my rental properties three years ago and have been steadily able to cycle out to higher-paying, lower credit risk tenants.

Comment Re:What happened? UAW and stealerships did. (Score 1) 306

You have to be careful talking to anti-union MAGAts. To them, "communism" isn't an economic system. It just means "any system of government, economics, or religion we don't like." It doesn't matter to them what China actually is. It only matters that it's not "freedom" or whatever it is MAGAts think they're supporting (because it definitely isn't freedom). Probably Jesus. China doesn't like Jesus, so therefore they're COMMUNISTS!

Comment Re:The ugly truth (Score 2) 306

>> October rolls around and the tax credit is gone, along with many of the near purchase consumers who bought while the tax credit was still active.

Not to mention the inventory is also gone. Not a single EV on the lot at any local dealer here.. I waited too long and they were all gone. I was going to buy an EV9 but now I have to wait until Kia backs the tax credit out of the price.

Submission + - The Largest Theft In Human History?

theodp writes: In OpenAI Moves To Complete Potentially The Largest Theft In Human History, Zvi Mowshowitz opines on the 'recapitalization' of OpenAI. Mowshowitz writes:

"OpenAI is now set to become a Public Benefit Corporation, with its investors entitled to uncapped profit shares. Its nonprofit foundation will retain some measure of control and a 26% financial stake [valued at approximately $130 billion], in sharp contrast to its previous stronger control and much, much larger effective financial stake. The value transfer is in the hundreds of billions, thus potentially the largest theft in human history. [...] I am in no way surprised by OpenAI moving forward on this, but I am deeply disgusted and disappointed they are being allowed (for now) to do so."

"Many media and public sources are calling this a win for the nonprofit. [...] This is mostly them being fooled. They’re anchoring on OpenAI’s previous plan to far more fully sideline the nonprofit. This is indeed a big win for the nonprofit compared to OpenAI’s previous plan. But the previous plan would have been a complete disaster, an all but total expropriation. It’s as if a mugger demanded all your money, you talked them down to giving up half your money, and you called that exchange a ‘change that recapitalized you.’"

Mowshowitz also points to an OpenAI announcement, The Next Chapter of the Microsoft–OpenAI Partnership, which describes how Microsoft will fare from the deal: "Microsoft holds an investment in OpenAI Group PBC valued at approximately $135 billion, representing roughly 27 percent on an as-converted diluted basis, inclusive of all owners—employees, investors, and the OpenAI Foundation."

Submission + - Code.org Vows to Shape Policy to Prep Kids for AI as CS Shifts Away from Coding

theodp writes: "This year marks a pivotal moment, for Code.org and for the future of education," explains tech-backed nonprofit Code.org's just released 2024-25 Impact Report. "AI is reshaping every aspect of our world, yet most students still lack the opportunity to learn how it works, manage it, or shape its future. For over a decade, Code.org has expanded access to computer science education worldwide, serving as a trusted partner for policymakers, educators, and advocates. Now, as the focus of computer science shifts from coding to AI, we are evolving to prepare every student for an AI-powered world. [...] As this year’s impact shows, Code.org is driving change at every level — from classrooms to statehouses to ministries of education worldwide. [...] When we first launched Hour of Code in 2013, it changed how the world saw computer science. Today, AI is transforming the future of work across every field, yet most classrooms aren’t ready to teach students AI literacy. [...] That’s why, in 2025, the Hour of Code is becoming the Hour of AI, a bold, global event designed to move learners from AI consumers to confident, creative problem-solvers. [...] Our ambitious goal for the 2025-26 school year: Engage 25 million learners, mobilize 100,000 educators, and partner with 1,000 U.S. districts. The Hour of AI is only the beginning. In the year ahead, we will continue building tools, shaping policy, and inspiring movements to ensure every student, everywhere, has the opportunity to not just use AI, but to understand it, shape it, and lead with it."

Interesting, Code.org's pivot from coding to AI literacy comes as former R.I. Governor and past U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo — an early member of Code.org's Governors for CS partnership who was all in on K-12 CS in 2016 — suggested the Computer Science for All initiative might have been a dud. “For a long time, everyone said, ‘let’s make everybody a coder,’” Raimondo said at a Harvard Institute of Politics forum. “We’re going to predict this is where the skills are going to be. Everyone should be a software coder. I don’t know, it doesn’t look necessarily like a super idea right now with AI.”

As it pivots from coding to AI with the blessing of its tech donors, the Code.org Impact Report notes the nonprofit spent a staggering $276.8 million on its K-12 CS efforts from 2013-2025, including $41M for Diversity and Global Marketing, $69.9M for Curriculum + Learning Platform, $122.8M on Partnership + Professional Learning, $25M for Government Affairs, and $18.1M on Global Curriculum (the nonprofit reported assets of $75M in an Aug 2024 IRS filing).

Submission + - Analytics Platform Databricks Joins Amazon, Microsoft in AI Demo Hall of Shame

theodp writes: If there was an AI Demo Hall of Shame, the first inductee would have to be Amazon, whose demo to support its CEO's claims that Amazon Q Code Transformation AI saved it 4,500 developer-years and an additional $260 million in 'annualized efficiency gains' by automatically and accurately upgrading code to a more current version of Java showcased a program that didn't even spell 'Java' correctly (it was instead called 'Jave'). Also worthy of a spot is Microsoft, whose AI demo of a Copilot-driven Excel school exam analysis for educators reassured a teacher they needn't be concerned about the student who received a 27% test score, autogenerating a chart to back up its claim.

Today's nominee for the AI Demo Hall of Shame inductee is analytics platform Databricks for the NYC Taxi Trips Analysis it's been showcasing on its Data Science page since last November. Not only for its choice of a completely trivial case study that requires no 'Data Science' skills — find and display the ten most expensive and longest taxi rides — but also for the horrible AI-generated bar chart used to present the results of the simple ranking that deserves its own spot in the Graph Hall of Shame. In response to a prompt of "Now create a new bar chart with matplotlib for the most expensive trips," the Databricks AI Assistant dutifully complies with the ill-advised request, spewing out Python code to display the ten rides on a nonsensical bar chart whose continuous x-axis hides points sharing the same distance (one might also question why no annotation is provided to call out or explain the 3 trips with a distance of 0 miles that are among the ten most expensive rides, with fares of $260, $188, and $105).

Looked at with a critical eye, all three of these examples used to sell data scientists, educators, management, investors, and Wall Street on AI by Amazon (market cap $2.32 trillion), Microsoft (market cap $3.87 trillion), and Databricks (valuation $100+ billion) would likely raise eyebrows rather than impress their intended audiences. So, is AI fever so great that it sells itself and companies needn't even bother reviewing their AI demos to see if they make sense?

Submission + - Former R.I. Governor Raimondo is Rethinking Coding Education Push in AI Era

theodp writes: As Governor of Rhode Island, the Boston Globe reports, Gina Raimondo made a relentless push to expand computer science in K-12 education, part of an effort to train more students to code. But during a forum at the Harvard Institute of Politics this week, the former R.I. Governor and past U.S. Secretary of Commerce suggested the Computer Science for All initiative might have been a dud (YouTube).

“For a long time, everyone said, ‘let’s make everybody a coder,’” Raimondo said. “We’re going to predict this is where the skills are going to be. Everyone should be a software coder. I don’t know, it doesn’t look necessarily like a super idea right now with AI.”

Raimondo was responding to a question about investing in research and development versus the government picking specific companies to invest in, the Globe notes. She was critical of President Trump’s strategy of having the United States take a stake in companies, although she defended the Biden administration’s handling of subsidies through the CHIPS and Science Act. “You could pick 100 different examples,” Raimondo said. “The government gets it wrong a lot.” Raimondo launched the computer science initiative as governor in 2016 to ensure that it was part of every student’s experience in Rhode Island. It was a trendy – and widely praised – strategy at the time.

Comment Eight Sleep is a truly horrible product (Score 1) 105

I bought one of their mattress toppers for Burning Man figuring that it's much more efficient to chill a bed than chill a space. However, setting the thing up required an internet connection. By using my phone as a hotspot, I was just barely able to bridge the gap so the mattress would connect to the internet. But then it also required a Bluetooth connection from the same phone to the bed, to actually turn it on, and the bridging-the-gap location was just outside Bluetooth range. What a completely frustrating, overengineered piece of crap. How about a simple couple of buttons to set the temperature?

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