Comment Re:Soon (Score 1) 102
for many games the latest version of Wine works well too by the way.
Comment for many Economy protecting the environment (Score 2) 254
I had longer road trip with a colleague of mine and we actually argued about that on the road. My take was that the most important thing nowadays is protecting the environment, his take was 'yeah ...but what's the point of protecting the environment if the economy is down'. I really don't get that "Money über Alles" mindset that fails to consider that not having water, food and breathable air might make a failing economy pretty insubstantial.
As I heard a couple of weeks ago (some politician from Die Grünen said that I think): we're seriously doomed if protecting the environment is only a 'nice to have' optional point while discussing policies.
Submission + - Perplexity CEO Says Its Browser Will Track Everything Users Do To Sell Ads (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said this week on the TBPN podcast that one reason Perplexity is building its own browser is to collect data on everything users do outside of its own app. This so it can sell premium ads. “That’s kind of one of the other reasons we wanted to build a browser, is we want to get data even outside the app to better understand you,” Srinivas said. “Because some of the prompts that people do in these AIs is purely work-related. It’s not like that’s personal.”
And work-related queries won’t help the AI company build an accurate-enough dossier. “On the other hand, what are the things you’re buying; which hotels are you going [to]; which restaurants are you going to; what are you spending time browsing, tells us so much more about you,” he explained. Srinivas believes that Perplexity’s browser users will be fine with such tracking because the ads should be more relevant to them. “We plan to use all the context to build a better user profile and, maybe you know, through our discover feed we could show some ads there,” he said. The browser, named Comet, suffered setbacks but is on track to be launched in May, Srinivas said.
And work-related queries won’t help the AI company build an accurate-enough dossier. “On the other hand, what are the things you’re buying; which hotels are you going [to]; which restaurants are you going to; what are you spending time browsing, tells us so much more about you,” he explained. Srinivas believes that Perplexity’s browser users will be fine with such tracking because the ads should be more relevant to them. “We plan to use all the context to build a better user profile and, maybe you know, through our discover feed we could show some ads there,” he said. The browser, named Comet, suffered setbacks but is on track to be launched in May, Srinivas said.
Submission + - Germany will get a Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs
Qbertino writes: This afternoon the political parties CDU and SPD agreed on their final coalition contract to form a Government that includes the founding of a German Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Modernisation. German public news Tagesschau.de writes:
Praise for the Ministry of Digital Affairs
The digital association Bitkom welcomed the planned establishment of a Ministry for Digitalization and State Modernization. It called it a “milestone for Germany” and a long-overdue signal for progress. If properly structured, the ministry could bring together digital policy issues at the federal level under one roof and thus become a true driver of digitalization. “More than ever, we must now become competitive, innovative, and digitally capable of action.
As a German IT expert I can say: Well, that's about effing time. Halle-flippin-luja. I'm cautiously optimistic that the upcoming Friedrich Merz government won't botch this completely. Let's hope they do first things first: National OIDC-type Ident/Auth/Auth, Signature and Encryption with optional anonymity and strict enforcement of open human-readable formats for official documents and notices. We'll see.
Praise for the Ministry of Digital Affairs
The digital association Bitkom welcomed the planned establishment of a Ministry for Digitalization and State Modernization. It called it a “milestone for Germany” and a long-overdue signal for progress. If properly structured, the ministry could bring together digital policy issues at the federal level under one roof and thus become a true driver of digitalization. “More than ever, we must now become competitive, innovative, and digitally capable of action.
As a German IT expert I can say: Well, that's about effing time. Halle-flippin-luja. I'm cautiously optimistic that the upcoming Friedrich Merz government won't botch this completely. Let's hope they do first things first: National OIDC-type Ident/Auth/Auth, Signature and Encryption with optional anonymity and strict enforcement of open human-readable formats for official documents and notices. We'll see.
Submission + - Scientists scorn EPA push to say climate change isn't a danger (apnews.com)
ZipNada writes: Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin has privately pushed the White House for a rewrite of the agency’s finding that planet-warming greenhouse gases put the public in danger. The original 52-page decision in 2009 is used to justify and apply regulations and decisions on heat-trapping emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.
“Carbon dioxide is the very essence of a dangerous air pollutant. The health evidence was overwhelming back in 2009 when EPA reached its endangerment finding, and that evidence has only grown since then,” said University of Washington public health professor Dr. Howard Frumkin, who headed the National Center for Environmental Health at the time. “CO2 pollution is driving catastrophic heat waves and storms, infectious disease spread, mental distress, and numerous other causes of human suffering and preventable death.”
That 2009 science-based assessment cited climate change harming air quality, food production, forests, water quality and supplies, sea level rise, energy issues, basic infrastructure, homes and wildlife. ...
It’s these indirect effects on human health that are “far-reaching, comprehensive and devastating,” said Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech and chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy. She said rising carbon dioxide levels in the air even “ affect our ability to think and process information.”
Scientists said the Trump administration will be hard-pressed to find scientific justification — or legitimate scientists — to show how greenhouse gases are not a threat to people.
“This one of those cases where they can’t contest the science and they’re going to have a legal way around,” Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer said.
“Carbon dioxide is the very essence of a dangerous air pollutant. The health evidence was overwhelming back in 2009 when EPA reached its endangerment finding, and that evidence has only grown since then,” said University of Washington public health professor Dr. Howard Frumkin, who headed the National Center for Environmental Health at the time. “CO2 pollution is driving catastrophic heat waves and storms, infectious disease spread, mental distress, and numerous other causes of human suffering and preventable death.”
That 2009 science-based assessment cited climate change harming air quality, food production, forests, water quality and supplies, sea level rise, energy issues, basic infrastructure, homes and wildlife.
It’s these indirect effects on human health that are “far-reaching, comprehensive and devastating,” said Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist at Texas Tech and chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy. She said rising carbon dioxide levels in the air even “ affect our ability to think and process information.”
Scientists said the Trump administration will be hard-pressed to find scientific justification — or legitimate scientists — to show how greenhouse gases are not a threat to people.
“This one of those cases where they can’t contest the science and they’re going to have a legal way around,” Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer said.
Comment Re:Rendered in 200x150px and upscaled with AI? (Score 1) 72
sure you can ... it just takes *a lot* more time and/or you have to scale your operation up. Easy to do when you're Pixar, less easy when you're a small studio.
Submission + - SPAM: Grok 3 caught censoring prompts about Musk/Trump as spreaders of disinformation
angularbanjo writes: Hot on the heels of Deepseek, it looks like Grok 3 engineers have been busy manipulating the system message, here to avoid including sources that mention Musk or Trump as spreaders of misinformation. The issue was apparently confirmed by a Grok team member on X.
Link to Original Source
Link to Original Source
Comment Re:USAID is a money laundering operation (Score 1) 4
Even if there was a good reason for these cuts (imo it's just a reminder that the whole Trump administration is not about helping those in needs, whether in the US or abroad), the USAID slash is just the tip of the iceberg. Firing employees who investigated January the 6th or Trump himself is a much bigger red flag.
Submission + - Techdirt: A Coup Is In Progress In America (techdirt.com) 4
An anonymous reader writes: A coup is underway in the United States, and we must stop pretending otherwise. The signs are unmistakable and accelerating: in just the past 48 hours, Elon Musk’s DOGE commission has seized control of Treasury payment systems and gained unauthorized access to classified USAID materials, while security officials who followed protocols were removed. Career civil servants across agencies are being systematically purged for having followed legal requirements during previous administrations. The president openly declares he won’t enforce laws he dislikes, while Congress watches in complicit silence. This isn’t happening through tanks in the streets or soldiers at government buildings—it’s occurring through the systematic dismantling of constitutional governance and its replacement with a system of personal loyalty to private interests. Those who resist are being removed, while those who enable this transformation are being rewarded with unprecedented control over government functions. The time for euphemisms and careful hedging has passed. We are watching, in real time, the conversion of constitutional democracy into something darker and more dangerous. To pretend otherwise isn’t prudence—it’s complicity.
Submission + - The Birth of a Dictatorship? (nytimes.com) 2
sammyF70 writes: Trump apparently removed at least 12 watchdog officials, charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse and preventing misconduct, over night, defying the law mandating a 30 day notice and an actual reason for the firing. Considering how much previous criminal charges and condemnation hindered him to do whatever he wants, the only question that seems to remain is how fast the USA will shift to a full blown dictatorship.
Submission + - Slashdot Dies A Slow Death with Crippling Advertisements (slashdot.org) 2
zamboni1138 writes: Anybody familiar with the technology news web forum known as Slashdot have known about the recent decline in quality of stories and comments. Recently Slashdot decided to "upgrade" their advertisement experience resulting in an almost broken user experience for users that implement any kind of ad-blocking technology. Over the last week visitors to the site using ad blockers have noticed a unique experience with javascript alerts explaining "This page could not be loaded properly due to incorrect / bad filtering rule(s) of adblockers in use. Please disable all adblockers to continue using the website. (click OK if you'd like to learn more)". These notices are almost non-stop while trying to load/read a page making the site unusable.
Submission + - The Onion buys Alex Jones's Infowars (bbc.com)
skam240 writes: "Satirical news publication The Onion has bought Infowars, the media organisation headed by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, for an undisclosed price at a court-ordered auction.
The Onion said that the bid was secured with the backing of families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, who won a $1.5bn (£1.18bn) defamation lawsuit against Jones for spreading false rumours about the massacre."
The Onion said that the bid was secured with the backing of families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, who won a $1.5bn (£1.18bn) defamation lawsuit against Jones for spreading false rumours about the massacre."
Comment Re:So.. the question is.. did Clancy read Mossad, (Score 0) 751
so ... they try to instill fear and terror in their enemies? sounds awefully like terrorism to me.
Comment Re:So.. the question is.. did Clancy read Mossad, (Score 1) 751
so ... you agree it's terrorism?
Comment nice ... too bad it can't do anything. (Score 4, Informative) 16
While Gemini is actually fun to talk to, it's also pretty pointless at this time. It can't do anything useful, like starting apps, taking notes or give you directions, unlike Google Assistant. I actually tried in my car and the result was abysmal, with some really weird infuriating responses. The worst one was its response to 'play music from [some band] on Spotify' 'I will now search for [some band] on Youtube Music' ... not only doesn't it have the ability to start Spotify (nor, as it turns out, youtube music), but it just ignore any other streaming service apart from Google's own.
Really disappointing.
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