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Submission + - Kill Russian soldiers, win points: Is Ukraine's new drone scheme gamifying war? (bbc.com)

schwit1 writes: The images come in every day. Thousands of them.

Men and equipment being hunted down along Ukraine's long, contested front lines. Everything filmed, logged and counted.

And now put to use too, as the Ukrainian military tries to extract every advantage it can against its much more powerful opponent.

Under a scheme first trialled last year and dubbed "Army of Drones: Bonus" (also known as "e-points"), units can earn points for each Russian soldier killed or piece of equipment destroyed.

And like a killstreak in Call of Duty, or a 1970s TV game show, points mean prizes.

"The more strategically important and large-scale the target, the more points a unit receives," reads a statement from the team at Brave 1, which brings together experts from government and the military.

"For example, destroying an enemy multiple rocket launch system earns up to 50 points; 40 points are awarded for a destroyed tank and 20 for a damaged one."

Call it the gamification of war.

Submission + - Jury verdict of $23.2 million for wrongful death based on Gmail server evidence (andrewwatters.com)

wattersa writes: In 2022, I wrote here about a complex missing person case, which was partially solved by a Google subpoena that showed the suspect was logged into the victim's Gmail account and sent a fake "proof of life" email from her account at the hotel where he was staying alone after killing her.

The case finally went to trial in July 2025, where I testified about the investigation along with an expert witness on computer networking. The jury took three hours to returned a verdict against the victim's husband for wrongful death in the amount of $23.2 million, with a special finding that he caused the death of his wife. The defendant is a successful mechanical engineer at an energy company, but is walking as a free man because he is Canadian and no one can prosecute him in the U.S., since Taiwan and the U.S. don't have extradition with each other. It was an interesting case and I look forward to using it as a model in other missing person cases.

Comment Re: WSJ source? (Score 1) 88

Add to that if a human do something wrong on a video you can't in a case like this know why.

At the time the temperature in the area was very high - 37 degrees C. Probably higher in cockpit since air conditioning isn't working. In that condition it's easy to make totally weird decisions. Human error caused by environmental factors would be my idea at this time.

Submission + - Russia: Commercial satellite providing help to the Ukraine are now targets (behindtheblack.com)

schwit1 writes: Russia this week informed regulators at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that it now considers all European and American private satellite constellations "legitimate targets to be destroyed" if they provide any help to the Ukraine.

Russia tells ITU that GPS/Galileo/GNSS nav commercial broadcast sats helping Ukraine militarily should expect interference. Same for EutelsatGroup, OneWeb, Starlink constellations, which Russia has said are 'legitimate targets to be destroyed.

There is more at the full article, but that is behind a subscription paywall.

Russia's announcement here is probably in response to Trump's more bellicose statements recently about Putin and Russia.

I suspect Russia will begin by trying to jam these constellations. Let us hope it does not go farther than that.

Submission + - Delta may eliminate set prices. AI will determine how much you're willing to pay (fortune.com)

schwit1 writes: Delta moves toward eliminating set prices in favor of AI that determines how much you personally will pay for a ticket

Delta has a long-term strategy to boost its profitability by moving away from set fares and toward individualized pricing using AI. The pilot program, which uses AI for 3% of fares, has so far been “amazingly favorable,” the airline said. Privacy advocates fear this will lead to price-gouging, with one consumer advocate comparing the tactic to “hacking our brains.”

https://x.com/OwenGregorian/st...

Submission + - Two monster black holes just collided — it's so massive, it shouldn't exis (sciencedaily.com)

alternative_right writes: Two colossal black holes—among the most massive ever seen—collided in deep space, creating gravitational waves that rippled across the cosmos and shook the foundations of astrophysical theory. Detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observatories, this record-breaking merger has stunned scientists not only because of its size, but also due to the black holes’ extreme spins, challenging our current understanding of how such behemoths form.

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