Comment Europol doing it too (Score 1) 28
https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/st...
Europol just dismantled a SIM farm-for-hire platform that powered 49 million fake accounts used for global fraud.
Submission + - Feds Pump the Brakes on Autonomous Trucks (reason.com)
schwit1 writes: An obscure federal rule is slowing the self-driving revolution. When trucks break down, operators are required to place reflective warning cones and road flares around the truck to warn other motorists. The regulations are exacting: Within 10 minutes of stopping, three warning signals must be set in specific locations around the truck.
Aurora asked the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) to allow warning beacons to be fixed to the truck itself—and activated when a truck becomes disabled. The warning beacons would face both forward and backward, would be more visiblethan cones (particularly at night), and wouldn't burn out like road flares. Drivers of nonautonomous vehicles could also benefit from that rule change, as they would no longer have to walk into traffic to place the required safety signals.
In December 2024, however, the DOT denied Aurora's request for an exemption to the existing rules, even though regulators admitted in the Federal Register that no evidence indicated the truck-mounted beacons would be less safe.
Aurora asked the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) to allow warning beacons to be fixed to the truck itself—and activated when a truck becomes disabled. The warning beacons would face both forward and backward, would be more visiblethan cones (particularly at night), and wouldn't burn out like road flares. Drivers of nonautonomous vehicles could also benefit from that rule change, as they would no longer have to walk into traffic to place the required safety signals.
In December 2024, however, the DOT denied Aurora's request for an exemption to the existing rules, even though regulators admitted in the Federal Register that no evidence indicated the truck-mounted beacons would be less safe.
Comment Re:oh look (Score 1) 136
"Behind every union is a company that gave it a reason to exist by exploiting the workers."
At one time this was true. But today too many unions exploit the workers for its own benefit and not the workers'. How much is the head of the union making compared to the workers? The unions also too often protect bad workers and it makes the rank & file look bad. ie teachers' and police unions.
Comment Top Conservation Groups Just Voted Yes? (Score 2) 26
Who elected them to make this decision, either way?
Comment Re:Enshittification continues (Score 1) 21
Exactly. F1 should have learned from the Tour De France. TDF did an exclusive streaming deal a few years back and lost huge viewership in the US.
Comment What's next? (Score 1) 70
Walmart can't use AI to set prices if they are partially based on what other stores in its vicinity are charging?
Sports gambling can't use AI to set odds if the decisions include what other gambling sites are using?
Submission + - PayPal's crypto partner mints $300T worth of stablecoins in 'technical error' (cnbc.com)
schwit1 writes: Paxos mistakenly minted the stablecoins as part of an internal transfer, before it "immediately identified the error and burned the excess PYUSD," the company said in a social media statement.
There aren't enough dollars in global circulation to back $300 trillion PYUSD, which would theoretically require more than double the world's estimated total GDP.
There aren't enough dollars in global circulation to back $300 trillion PYUSD, which would theoretically require more than double the world's estimated total GDP.
Submission + - Is Windows 7 about to overtake Windows 10? (gbnews.com)
alternative_right writes: According to StatCounter, Windows 7 has been rapidly gaining market share in recent weeks — a full five years after support for the desktop operating system was officially terminated. At the latest count, Windows 7 is now used by some 22.65% of all Windows PCs worldwide. That's an increase from the 18.97% just a little over a month ago.
As of last month, users were already switching to Windows 7 in record numbers, but that number had only totalled to 9.6% worldwide.
As of last month, users were already switching to Windows 7 in record numbers, but that number had only totalled to 9.6% worldwide.
Submission + - How we sharpened the James Webb telescope's vision from a million kilometers awa (theconversation.com)
schwit1 writes: Hubble started its life seeing out of focus – its mirror had been ground precisely, but incorrectly. By looking at known stars and comparing the ideal and measured images (exactly like what optometrists do), it was possible to figure out a “prescription” for this optical error and design a lens to compensate.
The correction required seven astronauts to fly up on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1993 to install the new optics. Hubble orbits Earth just a few hundred kilometers above the surface, and can be reached by astronauts.
By contrast, Webb is roughly 1.5 million kilometers away – we can’t visit and service it, and need to be able to fix issues without changing any hardware.
This is where AMI comes in. This is the only Australian hardware on board, designed by astronomer Peter Tuthill.
It was put on Webb to diagnose and measure any blur in its images. Even nanometers of distortion in Webb’s 18 hexagonal primary mirrors and many internal surfaces will blur the images enough to hinder the study of planets or black holes, where sensitivity and resolution are key.
AMI filters the light with a carefully structured pattern of holes in a simple metal plate, to make it much easier to tell if there are any optical misalignments.
We wanted to use this mode to observe the birth places of planets, as well as material being sucked into black holes. But before any of this, AMI showed Webb wasn’t working entirely as hoped.
The correction required seven astronauts to fly up on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1993 to install the new optics. Hubble orbits Earth just a few hundred kilometers above the surface, and can be reached by astronauts.
By contrast, Webb is roughly 1.5 million kilometers away – we can’t visit and service it, and need to be able to fix issues without changing any hardware.
This is where AMI comes in. This is the only Australian hardware on board, designed by astronomer Peter Tuthill.
It was put on Webb to diagnose and measure any blur in its images. Even nanometers of distortion in Webb’s 18 hexagonal primary mirrors and many internal surfaces will blur the images enough to hinder the study of planets or black holes, where sensitivity and resolution are key.
AMI filters the light with a carefully structured pattern of holes in a simple metal plate, to make it much easier to tell if there are any optical misalignments.
We wanted to use this mode to observe the birth places of planets, as well as material being sucked into black holes. But before any of this, AMI showed Webb wasn’t working entirely as hoped.
Submission + - Conventional Climate Science Threatens Civilization (americanthinker.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Practitioners of rigorous scientific methodology – from the 17th century’s Galileo to 1965’s winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, Richard Feynman – would consider today’s climate research an embarrassment, shaped by uncritical orthodoxy and zealotry rather than genuine testing of hypotheses.
Classical science welcomes skepticism. It thrives in an environment where debate and revision are encouraged. Today’s climate conformists declare the debate “settled” and label those with questions as deniers, effectively outlawing the skepticism that drives scientific progress.
Plenty of 21st century scientists have objected to this travesty. Dr. Matthew Wielicki, formerly of the University of Alabama, put it bluntly: “Science should be self-correcting. Climate science isn’t. It’s self-preserving.”
Dr. Richard Lindzen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology notes that climate dogma has little to do with evidence: “The narrative is a quasi-religious movement predicated on an absurd scientific narrative.”
In essence, modern climate science has been transformed into a political apparatus dominated by campaign-style advocacy, subverting the foundational principles of evidence-based inquiry.
Climate cultists treat every warming or cooling event as anthropogenic by default, ignoring millennia of natural variation. “While substantial concern has been expressed that emissions may cause significant climate change, measured or reconstructed temperature records indicate that 20th- and 21st-century climate changes are neither exceptional nor persistent, and the historical and geological records show many periods warmer than today,” say scientists writing to the American Physics Society.
Classical science welcomes skepticism. It thrives in an environment where debate and revision are encouraged. Today’s climate conformists declare the debate “settled” and label those with questions as deniers, effectively outlawing the skepticism that drives scientific progress.
Plenty of 21st century scientists have objected to this travesty. Dr. Matthew Wielicki, formerly of the University of Alabama, put it bluntly: “Science should be self-correcting. Climate science isn’t. It’s self-preserving.”
Dr. Richard Lindzen of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology notes that climate dogma has little to do with evidence: “The narrative is a quasi-religious movement predicated on an absurd scientific narrative.”
In essence, modern climate science has been transformed into a political apparatus dominated by campaign-style advocacy, subverting the foundational principles of evidence-based inquiry.
Climate cultists treat every warming or cooling event as anthropogenic by default, ignoring millennia of natural variation. “While substantial concern has been expressed that emissions may cause significant climate change, measured or reconstructed temperature records indicate that 20th- and 21st-century climate changes are neither exceptional nor persistent, and the historical and geological records show many periods warmer than today,” say scientists writing to the American Physics Society.
Submission + - Army details plans to put nuclear reactors on 9 bases (taskandpurpose.com) 1
schwit1 writes: Wright said that the U.S. is planning to work with commercial partners who are already developing modular and transportable nuclear reactors that can be flown in a C-17, sit on the back of a flatbed truck, and “not in the too far future,” can be forward deployed and supply multiple megawatts of power.
Submission + - China switches trade files to WPS-only format, shutting out MS Word (business-standard.com)
schwit1 writes: In a striking parallel to what the Europeans did when they first reached the shores of America and read out orders to the unsuspecting native populace, China now seems to have taken a leaf out of that playbook. This time, however, it’s not about conquest but control. Beijing no longer wants Washington to easily read its official documents.
Last week, China’s Ministry of Commerce issued new documents on rare earth export controls, but these couldn’t be opened using Microsoft Word or any other American word processor. In a first, the ministry used a file format that works exclusively with WPS Office, China’s homegrown equivalent to Microsoft’s suite, according to a report by South China Morning Post.
Developed by Beijing-based Kingsoft, WPS Office uses a different coding structure, making its files incompatible with Word without conversion.
The timing of this shift is symbolic of the growing cold war-like tensions between the two economic giants. The relations have been souring between Washington and Beijing, with deepening control over technology, semiconductors, and systems as strategic weapons.
Last week, China’s Ministry of Commerce issued new documents on rare earth export controls, but these couldn’t be opened using Microsoft Word or any other American word processor. In a first, the ministry used a file format that works exclusively with WPS Office, China’s homegrown equivalent to Microsoft’s suite, according to a report by South China Morning Post.
Developed by Beijing-based Kingsoft, WPS Office uses a different coding structure, making its files incompatible with Word without conversion.
The timing of this shift is symbolic of the growing cold war-like tensions between the two economic giants. The relations have been souring between Washington and Beijing, with deepening control over technology, semiconductors, and systems as strategic weapons.
Comment Re:Kiwi farms on the other hand (Score -1) 127
"There are limits after all to free speech."
True, but 4Chan isn't doing anything that's related to those limits.
The bottom line is the newest Palestinian state can go F itself.
Submission + - ShinyHunters Leak Alleged Data from Qantas, Vietnam Airlines & Other Major F (hackread.com)
schwit1 writes: On October 3, 2025, Hackread.com published an in-depth report in which hackers claimed to have stolen 989 million records from 39 major companies worldwide by exploiting a Salesforce vulnerability. The group demanded that Salesforce and the affected firms enter negotiations before October 10, 2025, warning that if their demands were ignored, they would release the entire dataset.
The hackers, identifying themselves as “ Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters,” a collective said to combine elements of Scattered Spider, Lapsus$, and ShinyHunters, have now published data allegedly belonging to 6 of the 39 targeted companies.
The companies named in the leak are as follows:
The hackers, identifying themselves as “ Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters,” a collective said to combine elements of Scattered Spider, Lapsus$, and ShinyHunters, have now published data allegedly belonging to 6 of the 39 targeted companies.
The companies named in the leak are as follows:
- Fujifilm
- GAP, INC.
- Vietnam Airlines
- Engie Resources
- Qantas Airways Limited
- Albertsons Companies, Inc.
Submission + - Britain Issues First Online Safety Fine To US Website 4chan (reuters.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Britain said on Monday it had issued U.S. internet forum site 4chan with a $26,644 fine for failing to provide information about the risk of illegal content on its service, marking the first penalty under the new online safety regime. Media regulator Ofcom said 4chan had not responded to its request for a copy of its illegal harms risk assessment nor a second request relating to its qualifying worldwide. Ofcom said it would take action against any service which "flagrantly fails to engage with Ofcom and their duties under the Online Safety Act" and they should expect to face penalties.
The act, which is designed to protect children and vulnerable users from illegal content online, has caused tension between U.S. tech companies and Britain. Critics of the law have said it threatens free speech and targets U.S. companies. Technology minister Liz Kendall said the government "fully backed" Ofcom in taking action. "This fine is a clear warning to those who fail to remove illegal content or protect children from harmful material," she said.
The act, which is designed to protect children and vulnerable users from illegal content online, has caused tension between U.S. tech companies and Britain. Critics of the law have said it threatens free speech and targets U.S. companies. Technology minister Liz Kendall said the government "fully backed" Ofcom in taking action. "This fine is a clear warning to those who fail to remove illegal content or protect children from harmful material," she said.
Slashdot Top Deals
Real Users hate Real Programmers.
