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Comment Re:Face ID or a fingerprint !! (Score 1) 20

by ack154 (#66423473) Attached to: ChatGPT's New Wallet Lets AI Agents Shop For You

I was initially looking forward to having things like IDs/passport/etc on my phone (in Google Wallet or whatever)... but the more I thought about it, the less I wanted to have to hand over my phone (potentially unlocked) to any figure of authority in order to verify that ID in whatever situation I happen to be in. I would generally say that "I have nothing to hide" but there's absolutely no reason to hand over my entire life on a device to someone that MIGHT want to start poking around in things I didn't necessarily agree to. Fuck that.

Comment Re:Blatantly ripping off this comment (Score 1) 20

by ack154 (#66423271) Attached to: ChatGPT's New Wallet Lets AI Agents Shop For You

I both disagree with this (sort of) and agree.

There are plenty of days when I already know exactly what I want and will just get some regular thing from some regular place at a regular time. I could easily just say "order my usual brisket burrito from Jim's Burrito Hut for pickup at 12:30". But the thing is... I will never need an AI agent and its wasteful mountain of resources to do that. I just need a shortcut in some app and maybe 3-4 taps with a saved payment method in a system that I already trust to not fuck up. And it will probably still be faster for me to just open an app and place the order myself than for an AI to do it.

And then there are all of the other times when I'm just not sure and maybe need a nudge in one direction or the other. Or maybe I really do want that brisket burrito that day. But asking the AI agent what I should get or for options might end up meaning that I do end up with that burrito... but maybe the AI decided I wanted ground beef (VERY inferior to the brisket) and peppers and onions (no) and cilantro (gross) in my burrito because it read reviews that say people like those things. I would never feel like I could trust it to get it right without ad-libbing a bunch of shit because it felt like it. I'd must rather poke around an app or a map or something for a few minutes and just figure it out.

I'm sure there are plenty of people that are like... "surprise me" and will be totally fine with what they end up with. I am not one of those people. The same goes for shopping for just about anything... electronics, clothes, even a backpack. And yes, I'm really fucking difficult to shop for (though that doesn't mean I don't appreciate when people make the effort, even if it's not my favorite thing).

Submission + - Infant Bleeding Surged as Parents Rejected Vitamin K Shots, Studies Find (nytimes.com) 2

Submitted by fahrbot-bot
fahrbot-bot writes: The New York Times is reporting that a study has found a 347% increase in infant bleeding cases as fewer babies received the vitamin K shot, which helps blood clot, since 2017.

For decades, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that every newborn receive an injection of vitamin K, which helps blood clot and can protect against sudden and catastrophic bleeding that can occur even in otherwise healthy babies. The injection is not a vaccine, but as mistrust in medicine has grown and as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other prominent health figures have cast doubt on the importance of childhood vaccinations, more parents have started forgoing it.

With fewer babies getting these injections, doctors had already begun to see more infants with serious hemorrhages. The new studies, published Thursday in the journals JAMA and JAMA Pediatrics, provide some of the first concrete data on this pattern. One found an especially sharp increase from 2024 to 2025, with cases of vitamin K deficiency bleeding roughly doubling in that time.

The JAMA study looked at more than five million infants. In 2017, 3.1 percent of these newborns went without a vitamin K shot; by 2025, it was 6.8 percent. The infants who had not received the shot had significantly higher rates of bleeding in their first six months, including more than double the risk of brain bleeds, which are especially deadly: 33 brain bleeds per 10,000 births, compared with 13.2 per 10,000 for babies who received vitamin K.

The JAMA Pediatrics study, on which Dr. Woolf was a co-author, looked at more than 11 million infants and found similarly that the rate of infants going without vitamin K more than doubled from 2017 to 2025. The overall rate of vitamin K deficiency bleeding rose nearly 350 percent, to 107.4 cases per 100,000.

The vitamin K injection is very safe, but more parents started declining it in the 2010s, citing, among other things, a belief that the shot was unnatural or unnecessary.

Dr. Elizabeth Wolf, an author of the JAMA Pediatrics study and an associate professor of pediatrics at Virginia Commonwealth University, said she hoped the results would break through to parents who may not realize the severity of the risk of going without vitamin K.

Submission + - Trump DHS asked CISA to Secretly Aquire and Hack a Voting Machine (propublica.org)

Submitted by fahrbot-bot
fahrbot-bot writes: ProPublica (and others) is reporting that a few months into President Donald Trump’s second term, political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wanted Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to secretly acquire a voting machine and hack it.

In addition, the agency had been directed not to alert the voting machine company if it uncovered flaws, contrary to its standard practices. The request made the CISA employees fear they were being asked to take part in political interference.

“My thought was they could keep it in their back pocket to invalidate any [election] results they don’t like,” one of the former officials said. “This goes against everything CISA represents.” [Or, perhaps do something worse?]

The CISA employees repeatedly told the political appointees that their request was impossible, in part because the agents capable of pulling off such an operation had just been laid off by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative. The appointees eventually stopped pressing CISA.

Comment Re:The truth is... (Score 2) 68

by ack154 (#66379044) Attached to: iPhone Duo Sells Out Immediately, Now Backordered Until Next Year

There are TONS of sold listings on eBay already. Lots of order confirmation screenshots. A lot of them around the $3k mark... which, after tax and eBay/Paypal/whatever fees, doens't feel as high of a markup as I expected. A bunch higher than that too, but most with higher storage (a couple 2 TB ones I saw "sold" for about $5k).

Comment Is this really what people will pay for? (Score 5, Interesting) 183

"keep their stories up for 48 hours instead of 24, send animated super reactions and super hearts to stories, preview stories without showing up as a viewer in other users' list"

Surely, they have some kind of data that says someone will pay for this, right? Is this really what people can't wait to hand over money to Facebook for? Super Reactions? "Exclusive" stickers and ringtones? I'd love to hear from someone that actually pays for that kind of stuff and what they are really getting out of it - because I REALLY don't get it.

Comment Re:Protectionism (Score 1) 504

by ack154 (#66323170) Attached to: Auto Companies Call For Ban On Chinese-Made Cars

As a European my perception of US cars is that they are fairly crap. A few models make it here and don't compare well to European brands.

The especially sad thing about that is most of the US cars that are sold in Europe seem to be either customized to the Euro market or only sold in Europe (or maybe more accurately, anywhere but the US?). So, they are likely better in many ways than what we have in the US market - and they're still kind of shit. It's just that the US only models seem to be even worse with less variety on top.

Comment Re:Can't you already pay with the app? (Score 1) 79

by ack154 (#66300820) Attached to: Walmart To Finally Start Accepting Apple Pay and Google Pay

3) They never have enough checkout lanes open, so are always INCREDIBLY slow.

Between our local stores, I have checkout issues are Target FAR MORE than I do at Walmart. My biggest issue at one of our Walmarts is that I always prefer self-checkout but they sometimes only open one set of 4 kiosks, which generates a line of 4-5 people at a time. I'm sure there are registers open somewhere, but I'll take a minute or two of pain over wandering to find an open staffed register most days.

Our Target is a complete clusterfuck for checkout (and it's not even a big city or anything). There are just FOUR self-checkouts total and maybe 10-15 actual registers. But at any given time I end up there there are 0 to 1 registers actually staffed and open and a line of literally 10-12 people waiting at self-checkout. It is completely absurd and I fill out the stupid receipt survey every time. It happens almost every single time I walk in that store.

Right now, this month, they are finally doing some renovations at our Target and I am really hoping they are adding more self-checkout kiosks. If they refuse to staff actual registers, they need 8-10 kiosks at a minimum most days.

Comment Re:False dichotomy (Score 1) 245

by ack154 (#66299972) Attached to: Are You Sure You Want a Car With a Giant Touch Screen?

It's been reported that the center dash will be able to fit a double din head unit (though physical mounting/wiring may be up to you - I would expect eventually someone makes a slightly more plug and play kit for it).

There's only one screen in the slate (a very tiny one in the center of the instrument cluster) that is basically only there to display the backup camera video, in addition to being the speedometer and showing other charging and vehicle information. It has nothing to do with infotainment though. It doesn't even connect to their optional speaker kits - you'd still need to connect your phone or some other device to those, even the ones that mount into the dash.

Submission + - Disable Autoplay and Infinite Scroll or Risk Massive Fines, EU Tells Meta (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The European Union is ramping up pressure on Meta to make big changes to Facebook and Instagram after the European Commission preliminarily found that features like autoplay, infinite scroll, and highly personalized content recommendations were addictive. On Thursday, the EC said its investigation indicated that “Meta did not adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors and vulnerable adults.” “These features fuel the user’s urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain into ‘autopilot mode,’ contributing to unhealthy habits and compulsive use,” the commission said.

Over the next few months, Meta will have an opportunity to dispute the claims, and it has already taken a defensive stance. Meta’s spokesperson, Ben Walters, told Reuters that Meta disagrees with the commission’s preliminary findings, which supposedly “don’t accurately take into account the significant steps we’ve taken to protect teens.” “Since this investigation began, we rolled out Teen Accounts that automatically protect teens and put parents in control—allowing them to block access to Instagram at night and cap daily screen time at just 15 minutes,” Walters said. However, the EC emphasized that Meta’s current mitigation efforts, including time management tools activated by default for teens, “failed to effectively tackle the risks stemming from its addictive design.” Additionally, parental controls were deemed “only effective if parents and guardians possess adequate technical expertise” and dedicated “effort and time to understand them effectively.” “This undermines the efficiency of such measures in addressing the inherent risks posed by Instagram and Facebook’s addictive design,” the EC said, particularly for minors.

At this stage, the EC recommended that Meta consider “disabling key addictive features such as ‘autoplay’ and ‘infinite scroll’ by default, implementing effective ‘screen time breaks,’ and adapting its recommender system to make it less engagement-oriented.” If Meta fails to make changes to comply with the EU’s Digital Services Act, the company risks fines up to 6 percent of its global annual turnover when the EC makes its final decision in the coming months. “Our starting point is that, based on our findings, this design is too addictive and changes need to be made,” Henna Virkkunen, the EU’s tech chief, told Reuters. “The next step is either that Meta changes its design or a non-compliance decision will follow,” she said, noting in the press release that the EU’s priority is “protecting the physical and mental health of Europeans.”

Submission + - County With 37 Data Centers Asks Schools to 'Conserve Electricity'

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: County With 37 Data Centers Asks Schools to ‘Conserve Electricity’

‘On June 26, the County Manager of Henrico County, Virginia, John Vithoulkas, sent an email to thousands of county employees asking them to help the local government conserve electricity.

“Beginning July 1st, the rate we pay for electricity used in all Henrico County government and school facilities will increase dramatically — by 25%, increasing costs by an estimated $5 million next fiscal year. We anticipate more rate increases for electricity in the years ahead,” a copy of the email obtained by 404 Media said (emphasis his).’

Comment Re:Overpriced (Score 1) 204

by ack154 (#66210634) Attached to: Slate Auto's Radically Simple Electric Truck Starts At $24,950

Yes, definitely overpriced compared to a Tesla which has almost every "luxury" feature possible for $36K. The Tesla Model 3 even has practically double the driving range and higher towing capacity. The only possible reason to buy this truck is for cargo hauling - but at 205 miles range empty, maybe it's just for picking stuff up from Home Depot.

What?

Practically double the driving range? Hmm. 205 miles vs 321 for the base RWD M3, which is the $36k version. Yes, it is "more" miles, but not 100%, more like 60%. Even the Premium RWD model is 363, which is still pretty far from "double" and an additional $5500.
Higher towing capacity? Sure... for another $1300 tow package. And it's 2200 vs the Slate's 2000 - technically higher but barely worth considering it different.

I can't figure out why so many people seem to have made it their life's work to convince other people they don't want this truck.

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