Comment Re:"Is Enron Overpriced?" (Score 1) 43
Mail Gartner about that one!
Submission + - Secret Service Raids Malicious SIM Server Setup (apnews.com)
Gilmoure writes: The US Secret Service is in the process of taking down a massive network of SIM Server systems, designed to function "like banks of mock cellphones, able to generate mass calls and texts, overwhelm local networks and mask encrypted communications criminals. When agents entered the sites, they found rows of servers and shelves stacked with SIM cards. More than 100,000 were already active, investigators said, but there were also large numbers waiting to be deployed, evidence that operators were preparing to double or even triple the network’s capacity, McCool said. He described it as a well-funded, highly organized enterprise, one that cost millions of dollars in hardware and SIM cards alone."
Comment Re:"Is Enron Overpriced?" (Score 5, Insightful) 43
I see that we are now about to exit the Peak of inflated expectations and are now going into the Trough of disillusionment defined in the Gartner hype cycle.
Submission + - LibreOffice Needs a Bullt-in Non-AI Adulterated Grammar Checker 1
BrendaEM writes: LibreOffice writer is a great word processor. Its menus are coherent. It suffer from suffers from less inline style-corruption than Word. Its files are lossless compressed to save on disk space--allowing you to save more often, but as download and installed, there seems to be no functioning grammar checker. I will not write for all writers, but I have no trust for anything touched by unchecked AI. I just want things like double space checking, punctuation, and that kind of thing, grammar checking before large companies lined up to steal your content. While grammar checking extensions are available, most are touched by AI, or require additional Java. So, why is no included grammar checking in LibreOffice?
Submission + - More durable UV coating for solar panels made from red onion skins (zmescience.com)
fahrbot-bot writes: In a lab in Turku, Finland, scientists have found a surprising ally in the fight for sustainable solar energy: the papery red skin of an onion.
Researchers from the University of Turku, in collaboration with Aalto University and Wageningen University, have developed a bio-based UV protection film for solar cells that not only blocks nearly all harmful ultraviolet light but also outperforms commercial plastic films. The key ingredient is a water extract made from red onion skins.
Sunlight can degrade the delicate components in solar panels—particularly the electrolyte inside dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), a type known for their flexibility and low-light performance. To mitigate this, manufacturers typically wrap cells in UV-protective films made from petroleum-based plastics like polyethylene terephthalate (PET). But these plastics degrade over time and are difficult to recycle.
Seeking a greener alternative, the team turned to nanocellulose, a renewable material derived from wood pulp. Nanocellulose can be processed into thin, transparent films that serve as the perfect substrate for UV-blocking compounds.
Their breakthrough came when they dyed these films using an extract from red onion skins, a common kitchen waste. The result was a filter that blocked 99.9% of UV radiation up to 400 nanometers, a feat that outstripped even the PET-based commercial filters chosen for comparison.
In solar cells, preserving visible and near-infrared light is crucial. That’s the part of the spectrum that powers electricity generation. And here, too, the onion-treated filter excelled: it let through over 80% of light in the 650–1,100 nm range—an ideal sweet spot for energy absorption.
Testing under 1,000 hours of artificial sunlight, the CNF-ROE film—short for cellulose nanofiber with red onion extract—held up remarkably well. It exhibited only minor discoloration and preserved the yellow hue of the electrolyte far better than any other filter. Even predictive modeling based on early degradation trends suggested the CNF-ROE filter could extend a solar cell’s lifetime to roughly 8,500 hours. The PET-based filter? Just 1,500 hours.
Google: red onions solar panels
Researchers from the University of Turku, in collaboration with Aalto University and Wageningen University, have developed a bio-based UV protection film for solar cells that not only blocks nearly all harmful ultraviolet light but also outperforms commercial plastic films. The key ingredient is a water extract made from red onion skins.
Sunlight can degrade the delicate components in solar panels—particularly the electrolyte inside dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), a type known for their flexibility and low-light performance. To mitigate this, manufacturers typically wrap cells in UV-protective films made from petroleum-based plastics like polyethylene terephthalate (PET). But these plastics degrade over time and are difficult to recycle.
Seeking a greener alternative, the team turned to nanocellulose, a renewable material derived from wood pulp. Nanocellulose can be processed into thin, transparent films that serve as the perfect substrate for UV-blocking compounds.
Their breakthrough came when they dyed these films using an extract from red onion skins, a common kitchen waste. The result was a filter that blocked 99.9% of UV radiation up to 400 nanometers, a feat that outstripped even the PET-based commercial filters chosen for comparison.
In solar cells, preserving visible and near-infrared light is crucial. That’s the part of the spectrum that powers electricity generation. And here, too, the onion-treated filter excelled: it let through over 80% of light in the 650–1,100 nm range—an ideal sweet spot for energy absorption.
Testing under 1,000 hours of artificial sunlight, the CNF-ROE film—short for cellulose nanofiber with red onion extract—held up remarkably well. It exhibited only minor discoloration and preserved the yellow hue of the electrolyte far better than any other filter. Even predictive modeling based on early degradation trends suggested the CNF-ROE filter could extend a solar cell’s lifetime to roughly 8,500 hours. The PET-based filter? Just 1,500 hours.
Google: red onions solar panels
Comment Re:IANAL but... (Score 1) 92
Since the Mickey Mouse character has changed over the years and has been quite different from the Steamboat Willie version it might be considered to deviate enough from their logo to be considered no longer protected.
Comment Re:IANAL but... (Score 1) 92
For a work in the Public Domain I understand why Disney don't answer. Anything they say could be used against them in court.
Comment Re: Astonishing one company can do this (Score 2) 156
Also realize that the hardware constraints are fictional. I have installed 24H2 Enterprise LTSC on several computers that shouldn't allow it on my workplace.
Comment Re: A comittee of morons (Score 1) 86
I'd consider to avoid C/C++ for anything but the most time critical functionalities.
Comment Re: This should stop the abuse of H1-B (Score 1) 231
We live in the Max Headroom world.
Comment Re: This should stop the abuse of H1-B (Score 1) 231
The offices in other places will also be a lot cheaper.
Comment Re:"and found no evidence of exploitation" (Score 1) 32
Even if you have logs you need to have someone able to process and interpret them.
I'm just waiting for the day someone successfully makes an intrusion and then locks out everyone using Entra / Microsoft Accounts from their computers. If you can't log in anymore and you have bitlocker enabled on your hard drive then you'd lose everything.
Submission + - Trump to impose new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas in sweeping overhaul (indiatimes.com)
nunya_bizns writes: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the development on X, posting a link to the Bloomberg report, with a caption headlined 'Trump to Add New $100,000 Fee for H-1B Visas in Latest Crackdown.'
https://www.bloomberg.com/news...
https://www.bloomberg.com/news...
Comment Re:We all know Intel's roadmap (Score 2) 26
I'd say that this is the first step of a takeover of Intel properties by Nvidia.
Submission + - C++ Commitee Prefers Bjarne Profiles Over Baxter Rustification
robinsrowe writes: No surprise, the C++ Committee is still trending toward C++ Profiles. It would have been a huge change had the Committee embraced Baxter's Rustification memory safety proposal. Would mean banning pointers. Making the C++ language much like Rust would deeply break every C++ program in the world.
Article at TheRegister: “Rust-style safety model for C++ 'rejected' as profiles take priority” https://www.theregister.com/20...
The C++ standards committee abandoned a detailed proposal to create a rigorously safe subset of the language, according to the proposal's co-author, despite continuing anxiety about memory safety.
Article at Le Monde (in French): “The C++ standards committee rejected a proposal to create a secure subset of the language. Members prefer to focus on the Profiles framework pushed by C++ creator Bjarne Stroustrup.” https://www.lemondeinformatiqu...
"If you mark your code to apply a Profile, some features of the C/C++ language will stop working," he says. There is also a small problem, these guidelines were not integrated into version 26 of C++, but simply into a white paper. The controversy surrounding the security of C++ opens the door to another solution with the use of another language. The first advocated by several American authorities is Rust, but there is also Google's experimental Carbon project. Unveiled in 2022, it also aims to modernize C++.
If Profiles are eventually adopted, it may Balkanize C++ by dividing C++ into safe and unsafe subsets. C++ Profiles won't fix the issue of making C pointers memory safe. A proposal to implement pointer memory safety is TrapC, but for the C language, not C++. Some say make the switch to Rust, but that doesn't solve the safety problems lurking in billions of lines of existing C/C++ code.
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