Comment DUPE (Score 1) 1
i didn't see the one posted earlier
Comment Re:This is no surprise (Score 1) 51
Should states' rights trump individual rights?
This is a free society. If consenting adult Minnesotans want to use these markets why should a state be permitted to stop them? States should be permitted to regulate to ensure clarity and no fraud, and to tax.
Comment Re:It's disturbing (Score 1) 3
They are also shredding rare and old books.
Submission + - AI Co's bulk-buying rare books, remove spine, high speed scan and shredding them (x.com) 3
schwit1 writes: A service called ISBNdb facilitates orders of up to a million books and keeps buyers anonymous. Pre-2022 books are premium because they're free of AI-generated text. A federal judge ruled the practice is fair use because eliminating the original means only one copy exists at a time. Anthropic hired the former head of Google Books partnerships to obtain "all the books in the world."
This is irreversible. You can re-upload a website. You can reprint a bestseller. You can't replace the last three copies of an 18th-century botanical text once someone shreds them for training data. And the judge said it's legal. So it's going to accelerate.
"We shred rare books and offer NDAs so nobody finds out" is a legitimate business model in 2026.
This is irreversible. You can re-upload a website. You can reprint a bestseller. You can't replace the last three copies of an 18th-century botanical text once someone shreds them for training data. And the judge said it's legal. So it's going to accelerate.
"We shred rare books and offer NDAs so nobody finds out" is a legitimate business model in 2026.
Submission + - Elon Musk's Boring Company reportedly raising funding at a $20 billion valuation (wsj.com)
schwit1 writes: Elon Musk’s tunneling startup The Boring Company is in talks to raise a $4 billion funding round at a valuation of $20 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The deal hasn’t closed and the terms could change, the WSJ says. At $20 billion, the valuation would be a significant increase from The Boring Company’s $5.7 billion valuation in 2022.
The startup has already built a network of tunnels under Las Vegas, through which Teslas shuttle customers to different stations.
The Boring Company has announced plans to build tunnel networks under Nashville and Dubai. The WSJ says the startup has also pitched projects in Baltimore, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
The deal hasn’t closed and the terms could change, the WSJ says. At $20 billion, the valuation would be a significant increase from The Boring Company’s $5.7 billion valuation in 2022.
The startup has already built a network of tunnels under Las Vegas, through which Teslas shuttle customers to different stations.
The Boring Company has announced plans to build tunnel networks under Nashville and Dubai. The WSJ says the startup has also pitched projects in Baltimore, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Comment ULA got a loan to cover losses of Vulcan grounding (Score 1) 32
Submission + - Robby Starbuck's Lawsuit Alleging Google AI Had Defamed Him Can Go Forward (reason.com)
schwit1 writes: A Delaware trial court has denied Google's motion to dismiss, and concluded that, if the facts as alleged by Starbuck were true, he would have a legal basis for recovery.
Submission + - NASA replaces Vulcan Centaur with SpaceX Falcon Heavy for space weather mission (space.com)
schwit1 writes: Vulcan is losing more launches to ULA's competitors.
The six satellites of NASA's Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE) mission are poised to launch to Earth orbit soon, to serve as an early warning system for incoming solar storms. They were originally slated to lift off on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket but have now been assigned a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, according to a NASA mission update.
SunRISE will fly to space as part of a rideshare mission sponsored by the U.S. Space Force's (USSF's) Space Systems Command (SSC). Though it's not stated specifically in the NASA release, that may be a hint as to why the mission's rocket was changed. On its most recent launch, USSF-87, Vulcan experienced an anomaly in one of its solid rocket boosters — the second such incident to occur during the rocket's four launches to date.
Vulcan succeeded in delivering the USSF-87 payload to its designated orbit on that launch, but the recurrence of the booster issue during ascent prompted the Space Force to pause national security launches on Vulcan until it could be addressed. Which mission SunRISE will be manifested on has not yet been released, but SSC has already shifted other launches between Vulcan and SpaceX's Falcon 9 , so NASA's change in rockets for SunRISE could indicate either that the mission has been remanifested on a different SSC rideshare, or that another SSC mission has been shifted from Vulcan entirely.
The six satellites of NASA's Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE) mission are poised to launch to Earth orbit soon, to serve as an early warning system for incoming solar storms. They were originally slated to lift off on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket but have now been assigned a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, according to a NASA mission update.
SunRISE will fly to space as part of a rideshare mission sponsored by the U.S. Space Force's (USSF's) Space Systems Command (SSC). Though it's not stated specifically in the NASA release, that may be a hint as to why the mission's rocket was changed. On its most recent launch, USSF-87, Vulcan experienced an anomaly in one of its solid rocket boosters — the second such incident to occur during the rocket's four launches to date.
Vulcan succeeded in delivering the USSF-87 payload to its designated orbit on that launch, but the recurrence of the booster issue during ascent prompted the Space Force to pause national security launches on Vulcan until it could be addressed. Which mission SunRISE will be manifested on has not yet been released, but SSC has already shifted other launches between Vulcan and SpaceX's Falcon 9 , so NASA's change in rockets for SunRISE could indicate either that the mission has been remanifested on a different SSC rideshare, or that another SSC mission has been shifted from Vulcan entirely.
Submission + - John C. Dvorak, an early and influential technology journalist, 80 (talkingbiznews.com)
sandbagger writes: Dvorak loomed large in the 1980s and 1990s in the computer industry press.
Submission + - Aral Sea Has Been Drying Up, but Also Releasing Massive Amounts of Carbon (sciencealert.com)
schwit1 writes: If you've ever walked past a drying lakebed in the peak of summer, you might have noticed some very unpleasant smells emanating from the mud.
That pungent odor is a mix of gases being released from the soil, as enormous quantities of organic matter – a rich sludge of poop, algae, plants, decaying bodies, and other pondy things – dry out.
On a larger scale, that phenomenon stinks much worse than a bad smell.
In many parts of the world, lakes are drying out at a scale so massive that scientists are warning they may be emitting enough greenhouse gases to rival our fossil fuel habit.
In a new study published in Science , scientists say the Aral Sea – the world's largest desiccated lake – has emitted a whopping 204 megatons (~225 million US tons) of carbon dioxide since it was drained in the 1960s.
But it might not be too late to turn the tide.
That pungent odor is a mix of gases being released from the soil, as enormous quantities of organic matter – a rich sludge of poop, algae, plants, decaying bodies, and other pondy things – dry out.
On a larger scale, that phenomenon stinks much worse than a bad smell.
In many parts of the world, lakes are drying out at a scale so massive that scientists are warning they may be emitting enough greenhouse gases to rival our fossil fuel habit.
In a new study published in Science , scientists say the Aral Sea – the world's largest desiccated lake – has emitted a whopping 204 megatons (~225 million US tons) of carbon dioxide since it was drained in the 1960s.
But it might not be too late to turn the tide.
Comment Are the Chinese prices legit or more dumping? (Score 1) 102
The Chinese are notorious for massive subsidizing in order to bankrupt foreign competition and capture entire markets. Is this happening here?
Submission + - Worlds first Wave Power Generator gets certified for regular use
Qbertino writes: The Norwegian certification agency DNV has certified the commercial Wave-driven power generator Corpower C4 for regular use. German tech news site heise.de has a detailed writeup. See a CGI video of the powerstation and it's internals here and the companies website here.
Comment Another reason not to buy from Government Motors (Score 2) 158
And to buy an older car.
Comment So Claude doesn't have to unlearn what it stole? (Score 5, Insightful) 64
Proves the old adage that It's cheaper to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Submission + - US police now armed with Israeli spy vans simulating mobile phone towers (cybernews.com)
schwit1 writes: If you thought Flock was bad check out Falconet.
Falconet from Israeli company Cognyte serves as a cell tower simulator that intercepts cell phone data from all devices within range. Police mount these systems in Tahoes so the vehicles can collect information while driving through areas without any direct interaction with targets.
This mobile approach generates ongoing records of phone locations and communications for everyone nearby rather than only suspects, which creates comprehensive movement profiles and bypasses traditional warrant requirements under the Fourth Amendment.
Cognyte sells the technology directly to U.S. agencies, as shown by the Texas Department of Public Safety purchase of four Tahoes where over three point eight million dollars went to the interception equipment. Adoption spreads through routine vehicle procurement with little external review of how the collected data is stored or shared.
Once active the systems permit warrantless collection of private cell phone data across entire communities during normal patrols, which enables potential misuse and leaves individuals with no effective way to discover or contest the surveillance.
https://x.com/JoshWalkos/statu...
Falconet from Israeli company Cognyte serves as a cell tower simulator that intercepts cell phone data from all devices within range. Police mount these systems in Tahoes so the vehicles can collect information while driving through areas without any direct interaction with targets.
This mobile approach generates ongoing records of phone locations and communications for everyone nearby rather than only suspects, which creates comprehensive movement profiles and bypasses traditional warrant requirements under the Fourth Amendment.
Cognyte sells the technology directly to U.S. agencies, as shown by the Texas Department of Public Safety purchase of four Tahoes where over three point eight million dollars went to the interception equipment. Adoption spreads through routine vehicle procurement with little external review of how the collected data is stored or shared.
Once active the systems permit warrantless collection of private cell phone data across entire communities during normal patrols, which enables potential misuse and leaves individuals with no effective way to discover or contest the surveillance.
https://x.com/JoshWalkos/statu...
