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upstart writes:

We use technology in work more than ever before, but it isn't making us more productive:

We are often told that we are in the midst of a technological revolution.

That business and the world of work continue to be transformed and improved by computers, the internet, the increased speed of communication, data processing, robotics, and now - artificial intelligence.

There is only one small problem with all this - none of it seems to show up in the economic data. If all this technology really is making us all work faster and better, there is precious little evidence.

Between 1974 and 2008 the UK's productivity - the amount of output you get per worker - grew at an annual rate of 2.3%. But between 2008 and 2020 the rate of productivity growth collapsed to around 0.5% per annum.

[...] It feels like we are continuing to go through a huge period of innovation and technological advancement, but at the same time, productivity has slowed to a crawl. How can you explain this apparent paradox?

[...] Productivity is something economists look at very closely. And while it is a complicated issue, with the 2008 financial crisis and current high inflation having a negative impact, there are said to be two main explanations for why technology is not boosting productivity.

The first is that we are just not measuring the impact of technology properly. The second is that economic revolutions tend to be rather slow-burning affairs. And therefore, technological change is happening, but it just might be decades before we see the full benefits.

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/07/ready-for-your-eye-scan-worldcoin-launches-but-not-quite-worldwide/

Sam Altman's cryptocurrency project, the Worldcoin Foundation, is rolling out its services globally even as the company cofounded by the OpenAI chief faces regulatory pushback in the US.

The Berlin and San Francisco-based start-up announced on Monday that its technology, including its Worldcoin token—a cryptocurrency traceable on the blockchain that requires users to first prove their identity—will be available in 35 cities across 20 countries.

Central to the effort is an eye-scanning physical "orb," which Worldcoin's founders say is necessary for a future in which distinguishing between humans and robots becomes increasingly challenging due to a surge in artificial intelligence technology. Once users have proven they are not robots, they can be issued one of the company's tokens.

[...] Altman admitted that eye-scanning technology has "a clear ick factor," but he is confident that with proper explanation the company can attract users.

"On crypto, there have been a lot of bad actors and that's a real shame... we have to earn people's trust, which is why we're explaining so much about how the technology works and the road map for decentralizing the company," he said.

Original Submission

fliptop writes:

A federal judge ruled on Friday that Arizona’s law limiting how close people can get to recording law enforcement is unconstitutional:

In his three-page ruling, [U.S. District Judge] John J. Tuchi said the law violated the First Amendment and “there is a clearly established right to record law enforcement officers engaged in the exercise of their official duties in public places.” He also said the law was too vague.

The judge cited infringement against a clear right for citizens to film police while doing their jobs in his ruling:

“The law prohibits or chills a substantial amount of First Amendment protected activity and is unnecessary to prevent interference with police officers given other Arizona laws in effect,” Tuchi wrote.

Tuchi suspended the implementation of the law last year. Now, his ruling permanently blocks enforcement.

Previously:

• Federal Judge Blocks Arizona Law Limiting Filming of Police
• Arizona Makes It Illegal for Bystanders to Record Cops at Close Range

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Researchers have created an edible power resource that could boost healthcare and help preserve the environment:

Most examinations of the gastrointestinal region involve sending a thin tube with a camera affixed to the tip either down your throat to the small intestine or through the rectum to the colon, neither of which are pleasant experiences.

However, an innovative, and increasingly attractive -- albeit less common -- method is to dispatch a camera housed in a small, vitamin pill-shaped capsule along with silver oxide batteries on its maiden voyage down into your gut.

[...] While this process sounds great so far, there's a problem. Ingestible devices, as amazing as they are, require medical oversight while they're administered and they sometimes get lodged into the mountainous crevices of your innards.

Out of nowhere, you've gone from a routine, affordable cancer test to surgery and a humongous medical bill.

But what if the pill camera was made of substances that were not harmful and somehow quietly melded away into nothingness once it served its tour of duty?

Italian researchers from Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT-Italian Institute of Technology) have engineered a battery that could power devices, such as the pill camera, using ingredients you may find in any food lover's pantry.

[...] This carefully crafted work of ingenuity is able to operate at 0.65 Volts, low enough to not affect humans when they swallow it, but with enough juice to power a tiny LED for a short while.

Journal Reference:
Ivan K. Ilic, Valerio Galli, et. al. An Edible Rechargeable Battery, Advanced Materials (DOI: 10.1002/adma.202211400)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

AMD is considering broadening chip production suppliers as it believes it is too reliant on semiconductor giant TSMC and this places the supply chain at risk of disruption:

The latest 4th generation Epyc processor from AMD is manufactured using TSMC's 5nm production node technology. However, while previous generations used an I/O die produced by GlobalFoundries, the latest CPU also has its I/O die manufactured by TSMC.

During a visit to Tokyo late last week, AMD CEO Lisa Su told Nikkei Asia that her company would consider "other manufacturing capabilities" besides TSMC to produce its chips to ensure it has a more resilient supply chain. As a so-called "fabless" chip company, AMD relies on others to manufacture its products.

[...] Other semiconductor manufacturing companies that could have the fabrication capabilities that AMD needs to make its processor chips include Samsung Electronics and GlobalFoundries. However, AMD effectively shifted from GlobalFoundries to TSMC several years ago when the former halted work on its 7nm process technology.

[...] There is another alternative, of course. Intel has ambitions to ramp up Intel Foundry Services as a contract manufacturing business to help revitalize the company's fortunes as part of its IDM [Integrated Device Manufacturing] 2.0 strategy, and the previous head of the business unit, Randhir Thakur, said he expected Intel Foundry Services to overtake Samsung's contract chip manufacturing business by 2030, which would make it second to TSMC.

Intel signed an agreement with Brit chip designer Arm earlier this year to enable Arm licensees to have their products manufactured by Intel Foundry Services despite some of these being competitors for Intel's own products, so the unthinkable is possible.

We asked Intel if it would consider becoming AMD's silicon manufacturing partner, and we await its response with interest.

The US disclosed earlier this year that it would sooner see TSMC's semiconductor facilities in Taiwan destroyed than allow them to fall into Chinese hands in the event of an invasion. Not surprisingly, Taiwanese officials have asked Washington to row back on some of its anti-Beijing rhetoric.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Last year, we made an intriguing discovery—a radio signal in space that switched on and off every 18 minutes:

Astronomers expect to see some repeating radio signals in space, but they usually blink on and off much more quickly. The most common repeating signals come from pulsars, rotating neutron stars that emit energetic beams like lighthouses, causing them to blink on and off as they rotate towards and away from the Earth.

Pulsars slow down as they get older, and their pulses become fainter, until eventually they stop producing radio waves altogether. Our unusually slow pulsar could best be explained as a magnetar—a pulsar with exceedingly complex and powerful magnetic fields that could generate radio waves for several months before stopping.

Unfortunately, we detected the source using data gathered in 2018. By the time we analyzed the data and discovered what we thought might be a magnetar it was 2020, and it was no longer producing radio waves. Without additional data, we were unable to test our magnetar theory.

[...] So, we used the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope in Western Australia to scan our Milky Way galaxy every three nights for several months.

We didn't need to wait long. Almost as soon as we started looking, we found a new source, in a different part of the sky, this time repeating every 22 minutes.

At last, the moment we had been waiting for. We used every telescope we could find, across radio, X-ray, and optical light, making as many observations as possible, assuming it would not be active for long. The pulses lasted five minutes each, with gaps of 17 minutes between. Our object looked a lot like a pulsar, but spinning 1,000 times slower.

upstart writes:

From package signing to SBOMs to new developer toolchains, the pieces for securing the software supply chain are starting to come together:

The Log4j vulnerability in December 2021 spotlighted the software supply chain as a massively neglected security surface area. It revealed just how interconnected our software artifacts are, and how our systems are only as secure as their weakest links. It also reinforced the idea that we may think security is something we can buy, but really it's about how we function as development teams.

Ever since, we've been sprinting to improve.

[...] What's starting to pull all of this together—and create more urgency to create a cohesive strategy around software signing, SBOMs, and developer workflow—is regulation, which would demand stricter ownership of the integrity of software security.

Back in April, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) published a request for comment on a newly proposed Secure Software Development Attestation Form that will put the onus on the CEOs of software companies to attest that their software has been built in secure environments and that good-faith, reasonable efforts have been made to maintain trusted source code supply chains.

What counts as "reasonable?"

Thus far, "reasonable" efforts seem to be the guidelines set forth in FedRAMP's Vulnerability Scanning Requirements for Containers and the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Secure Software Development Framework. But the far more nuanced, read-between-the-lines interpretation of the new self-attestation requirements is in the clauses that cover third-party code incorporated into the software. In short, software providers will be held liable for the unfunded, unmaintained popular open source they use in their supply chains.

Wait, what? Responsible for some random project maintainer's code? Apparently, yes. Is that "reasonable"?

This is a somewhat shocking, if necessary, check on unfettered adoption of open source. I'm not suggesting that companies shouldn't be using open source, quite the contrary. I'm reminding you that there is no free lunch, including when it comes packaged as free (and open source) software. Someone needs to pay to keep the lights on for maintainers, and someone needs to help developers make sense of all this inbound, open source software.

I wanted to post a reminder to the community that the SoylentNews PBC has it’s upcoming meeting at the end of July on the 31st ( #meeting on irc.sylnt.us @ 1:30 PDT - web access via https://irc.staging.soylentnews.org/ ). I believe that this event is the continuation and result of a very hard push by myself and others to bring about necessary changes to the management and structure of SoylentNews.

The upcoming meeting will be to nominate one or more qualified candidates to serve on the Board. The PBC exists to define what and how SoylentNews will be and to enforce that vision. Ultimately the Board is responsible for the high-level oversight that ensures the bylaws are fulfilled. The purpose of the expansion is to include more voices from the community so they will be directly represented in the decision making effecting the community. The next meeting will be held over IRC and will be answering and addressing your questions and concerns from any of the comments posted in this article.

hubie writes:

Plants remove cancer causing toxins from air:

A ground-breaking study has revealed that plants can efficiently remove toxic petrol fumes, including cancer causing compounds such as benzene, from indoor air.

The study was led by University of Technology Sydney (UTS) bioremediation researcher Associate Professor Fraser Torpy, in partnership with leading plantscaping solutions company Ambius.

The researchers found that the Ambius small green wall, containing a mix of indoor plants, was highly effective at removing harmful, cancer-causing pollutants, with 97 per cent of the most toxic compounds removed from the surrounding air in just eight hours.

[...] Ambius General Manager Johan Hodgson said the research presented new evidence into the critical role played by indoor plants and green walls in cleaning the air we breathe quickly and sustainably.

"We know that indoor air quality is often significantly more polluted than outdoor air, which in turn impacts mental and physical health. But the great news is this study has shown that something as simple as having plants indoors can make a huge difference," Mr Hodgson said.

Previous studies on indoor plants have shown they can remove a broad range of indoor air contaminants, however this is the first study into the ability of plants to clean up petrol vapours, which are one of the largest sources of toxic compounds in buildings worldwide.

[...] "At Ambius, we see over and over again the effects plants have in improving health, wellbeing, productivity and office attendance for the thousands of businesses we work with. This new research proves that plants should not just be seen as 'nice to have', but rather a crucial part of every workplace wellness plan.

"The bottom line is that the best, most cost effective and most sustainable way to combat harmful indoor air contaminants in your workplace and home is to introduce plants," Mr Hodgson said.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Amazon is asking some employees to move closer to its Seattle headquarters and other hubs around the country, as part of its requirement for corporate and tech workers to be in the office three days a week:

Doubling down on its efforts to bring corporate and tech employees back to the office, Amazon is asking some workers to relocate to ensure they're close enough to work in person with others on their teams.

Decisions about who will need to relocate are being made at a department level, and the number of employees impacted isn't yet known, Bloomberg News reported. Unless they can get an exception, the choice facing some employees is to relocate or resign, the Seattle Times reported, citing internal Slack messages.

Amazon says it has a process in place for requesting exceptions, and those requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The company says employees who are asked to move will be given relocation benefits.

"There's more energy, collaboration, and connections happening since we've been working together at least three days per week, and we've heard this from lots of employees and the businesses that surround our offices," Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser said. "We continue to look at the best ways to bring more teams together in the same locations, and we'll communicate directly with employees as we make decisions that affect them."

[...] Community leaders in Seattle have lauded Amazon's policy as a boost for the city's struggling downtown. Amazon this week released new numbers that it said showed the economic benefits in the area around its Seattle headquarters.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Greenland has greener history than previously thought:

New analysis of samples collected from underneath Greenland's ice sheet reveal the Arctic island was much greener as recently as 416,000 years ago. The findings overturn previous views that Greenland's continental glacier, which covers about 80 percent of the 836,3000-square-mile land mass, has persisted for the last two and a half million years.

"We're discovering the ice sheet is much more sensitive to climate change than we previously thought," says Utah State University geoscientist Tammy Rittenour. "This is a foreboding wake-up call."

[...] "We had always assumed the ice sheet has remained about the same for nearly 2.5 million years," says Rittenour, professor in USU's Department of Geosciences. "But our investigation indicates it melted enough to allow the growth of moss, shrubs and buzzing insects during an interglacial period called Marine Isotope Stage 11, between 424,000 to 374,000 years ago."

The melting caused at least five feet of sea-level rise around the globe, she says. "Some of our model scenarios suggest sea levels up to 20 feet higher than today."

"It was an unusually long period of warming with moderately elevated levels of carbon dioxide—CO2—in the atmosphere," Rittenour says. "What's alarming about this finding is today's CO2 levels are 1.5 times higher."

Even if humans abruptly stopped activities that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, she says, "we'd still have inflated CO2 levels for hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years to come."

That's an uneasy realization, she says, with current rates at which Greenland's ice sheet is thawing.

upstart writes:

Nations aim to ink deep sea mining rules by 2025:

The International Seabed Authority's member nations on Friday agreed on a two-year roadmap for the adoption of deep sea mining regulations, despite conservationists' calls for a moratorium on mineral extraction they say would avert marine threats.

The ISA, an intergovernmental body tasked with protecting the seabed, and its member states have spent the last decade trying to hash out a mining code for the possible exploitation of nickel, cobalt and copper in deep seabed areas that fall outside of national jurisdictions.

But an agreement has so far been elusive.

[...] Since July 9, after the expiration of a deadline triggered by the small Pacific state of Nauru in 2021, the ISA is obligated to consider—though not necessarily grant—licenses for potentially environmentally devastating mining operations if governments request them.

That would go beyond the status quo, which has so far only seen the body grant exploration permits, as the deep sea mining sector itches to take off in earnest.

"We are no longer in a 'what if' scenario, but rather 'what now'," Nauru's ambassador to the ISA Margo Deiye said during the session, adding that her government planned to soon apply for a mining contract

[...] Next week, the ISA Assembly and its 167 member states will discuss for the first time a "precautionary pause" in mining, supported by about 20 countries, including France, Chile and Brazil.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

After a 10-year hiatus, the 31st century comedy arrives July 24th with 10 new episodes:

After debuting in 1999, multiple Emmy winner Futurama had an on-and-off existence across Fox, the direct-to-DVD realm, and Comedy Central, with its apparent finale in 2013—until news came last year that Hulu had ordered 20 new episodes. The first 10 arrive July 24, and fans will be glad to know they were worth the 10-year wait.

That said, you need not be an existing fan of Futurama (or be on a quote-along basis with the more than 120 episodes that came before) to appreciate the new season. Sure, there are Easter eggs for long-time devotees, and it's a more rewarding viewing experience if you are at least somewhat familiar with the show—but the plot callbacks are explained enough so that new viewers should be able to follow along.

[...] Though it can sometimes feel like the show is racing along trying to cram in fan-favorite characters (Robot Devil! Calculon! Robot Santa Claus! The Hypnotoad!), and that first episode leans awfully hard into the self-referential stuff, it all feels very rooted in the show Futurama has always been—with weird asides, clever gags, and characters you can't help but love, even though they tend to always do the wrong thing. The leap to 2023 feels as seamless as it could possibly feel, which is truly the greatest way to please old-school fans and, hopefully, the legions of new ones this revival will bring into the fold.

See also:
    Futurama Returns With New Episodes After a 10-Year Layoff
    "Futurama" Revival Ordered at Hulu with Multiple Original Cast Members Returning

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Sick of hearing about record heat? Scientists say those numbers paint the story of a warming world:

The summer of 2023 is behaving like a broken record about broken records.

Nearly every major climate-tracking organization proclaimed June the hottest June ever. Then July 4 became the globe's hottest day, albeit unofficially, according to the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer. It was quickly overtaken by July 5 and July 6. Next came the hottest week, a tad more official, stamped into the books by the World Meteorological Organization and the Japanese Meteorological Agency.

With a summer of extreme weather records dominating the news, meteorologists and scientists say records like these give a glimpse of the big picture: a warming planet caused by climate change. It's a picture that comes in the vibrant reds and purples representing heat on daily weather maps online, in newspapers and on television.

Beyond the maps and the numbers are real harms that kill. More than 100 people have died in heat waves in the United States and India so far this summer.

[...] In the past 30 days, nearly 5,000 heat and rainfall records have been broken or tied in the U.S. and more than 10,000 records set globally, according to NOAA [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]. Texas cities and towns alone have set 369 daily high temperature records since June 1.

Since 2000, the U.S. has set about twice as many records for heat as those for cold.

"Records go back to the late 19th century and we can see that there has been a decade-on-decade increase in temperatures," said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, keeper of the agency's climate records. "What's happening now is certainly increasing the chances that 2023 will be the warmest year on record. My calculations suggest that there's, right now, a 50-50 chance."

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Apple Tries to Explain to U.K. Legislators That You Can't Add Back Doors to Secure Protocols:

Zoe Kleinman, reporting for BBC News:

Apple says it will remove services such as FaceTime and iMessage from the UK rather than weaken security if new proposals are made law and acted upon. The government is seeking to update the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) 2016. It wants messaging services to clear security features with the Home Office before releasing them to customers. The act lets the Home Office demand security features are disabled, without telling the public. Under the update, this would have to be immediate. [...]

The U.K. legislators pushing this believe, wrongly, that it must be possible for these messaging platforms to add "good guys only" back doors. That if they pass this law, the result will be that the nerds who work at these companies will be forced to figure out a way to comply. What will actually happen is that these companies will be forced to pull the services from U.K., because they can't comply, unless they scrap their current end-to-end encryption and replace it — worldwide — with something insecure, which they aren't going to do.

[...] And while it's Apple and iMessage/FaceTime that are getting the headlines today, it's WhatsApp that's the big player in the UK, with 75 percent of adult Britons using it monthly. It's hard to overstate how much outrage these legislators are poised to bring upon themselves if they effectively ban WhatsApp. (The legislators themselves surely all depend upon it.)

Original Submission