SoylentNews

looorg writes:

ATARI releasing a "new" game for the 2600 console. 46 years in development, there wasn't just active development, have got to be some kind of record in and by itself.

Sold in the classic box and cartridge form. Clearly targeting the collector-market since it's just 500 copies. I'm not sure you'll get your $60 worth tho. It doesn't look very good or appear to be overly interesting as a game. It's not Pitfall.

Perhaps this isn't a surprise, or should come as one. After all it seems the game market today is in large just remaking the same titles over and over again, remaking and "updating" previous titles etc. In that sense starting to release games for long dead consoles is perhaps not that far fetched.

https://www.engadget.com/atari-is-releasing-a-new-cartridge-for-its-46-year-old-2600-console-183922523.html

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Result confirms time-dilation expectations of Einstein's general relativity:

Scientists have for the first time observed the early universe running in extreme slow motion, unlocking one of the mysteries of Einstein's expanding universe.

Einstein's general theory of relativity means that we should observe the distant – and hence ancient – universe running much slower than the present day. However, peering back that far in time has proven elusive. Scientists have now cracked that mystery by using quasars as 'clocks'.

"Looking back to a time when the universe was just over a billion years old, we see time appearing to flow five times slower," said lead author of the study, Professor Geraint Lewis from the School of Physics and Sydney Institute for Astronomy at the University of Sydney.

"If you were there, in this infant universe, one second would seem like one second – but from our position, more than 12 billion years into the future, that early time appears to drag."

[...] "Thanks to Einstein, we know that time and space are intertwined and, since the dawn of time in the singularity of the Big Bang, the universe has been expanding," Professor Lewis said.

"This expansion of space means that our observations of the early universe should appear to be much slower than time flows today.

[...] Professor Lewis worked with astro-statistician Dr Brewer to examine details of 190 quasars observed over two decades. Combining the observations taken at different colours (or wavelengths) – green light, red light and into the infrared – they were able to standardise the 'ticking' of each quasar. Through the application of Bayesian analysis, they found the expansion of the universe imprinted on each quasar's ticking.

"With these exquisite data, we were able to chart the tick of the quasar clocks, revealing the influence of expanding space," Professor Lewis said.

You can look at their source data if you want to do your own number crunching.

Journal Reference:
Lewis, G.F., Brewer, B.J. Detection of the cosmological time dilation of high-redshift quasars. Nat Astron (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-023-02029-2

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Elon Musk's X Corp. has to pay $1.1 million in reimbursements for legal fees to former Twitter executives that he fired, including ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, a judge reportedly ruled yesterday. Delaware Court of Chancery Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled against Musk's firm during a hearing yesterday, Bloomberg reported.

The former Twitter executives said that after being fired by Musk, the company now known as X refused to reimburse them for expenses related to federal investigations and civil lawsuits. The former executives' lawsuit filed in April said the company "has breached its obligations... by refusing to advance Plaintiffs' Expenses."

"After hearing arguments, McCormick noted Delaware courts lean in favor of granting executives' request to have legal fees covered when tied to their actions on behalf of companies. She said she didn't see any reason to deviate from the norm in the case," Bloomberg wrote.

McCormick is the same judge who handled the trial that forced Musk to complete the deal to buy Twitter that he tried to break last year. "I have reviewed the amount in question, and although it is high and probably higher than most humans would like to pay, it's not unreasonable," McCormick was quoted as saying yesterday. A written ruling wasn't available on the court website yet.

The lawsuit was filed by Agrawal, former Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde, and former Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal. Musk fired the executives right after he completed the $44 billion purchase of Twitter in October 2022.

Their lawsuit said that Twitter's bylaws and agreements with executives required it "to indemnify Plaintiffs and advance all Expenses incurred in connection with any Proceeding in which Plaintiffs are involved by reason of their Corporate Status." The plaintiffs said they incurred legal bills related to inquiries by the US Securities and Exchange Commission Division of Enforcement and US Department of Justice; a securities class action filed against the company and its executives; a congressional inquiry into alleged "social media bias"; and other matters.

upstart writes:

The Grace Hopper Celebration is meant to unite women in tech. This year droves of men came looking for jobs:

It was meant to be a week for women in tech—but this year's Grace Hopper Celebration was swamped by men who gate-crashed the event in search of lucrative tech jobs.

The annual conference and career fair aimed at women and non-binary tech workers, which takes its name from a pioneering computer scientist, took place last week in Orlando, Florida. The event bills itself as the largest gathering of women in tech worldwide and has sought to unite women in the tech industry for nearly 30 years. Sponsors include Apple, Amazon, and Bloomberg, and it's a major networking opportunity for aspiring tech workers. In-person admission costs between $649 and around $1,300.

This year, droves of men showed up with résumés in hand. AnitaB.org, the nonprofit that runs the conference, said there was "an increase in participation of self-identifying males" at this year's event. The nonprofit says it believes allyship from men is important and noted it cannot ban men from attending due to federal nondiscrimination protections in the US.

[...] Cullen White, AnitaB.org's chief impact officer, said in a video posted to X, formerly Twitter, that some registrants had lied about their gender identity when signing up, and men were now taking up space and time with recruiters that should go to women. "All of those are limited resources to which you have no right," White said. AnitaB.org did not respond to a request for comment.

upstart writes:

Records reportedly belong to millions of users who opted in to a relative-search feature:

Genetic profiling service 23andMe has commenced an investigation after private user data was been scraped off its website

Friday's confirmation comes five days after an unknown entity took to an online crime forum to advertise the sale of private information for millions of 23andMe users. The forum posts claimed that the stolen data included origin estimation, phenotype, health information, photos, and identification data. The posts claimed that 23andMe's CEO was aware the company had been "hacked" two months earlier and never revealed the incident. In a statement emailed after this post went live, a 23andMe representative said "nothing they have posted publicly indicates they actually have any 'health information.' These are all unsubstantiated claims at this point."

23andMe officials on Friday confirmed that private data for some of its users is, in fact, up for sale. The cause of the leak, the officials said, is data scraping, a technique that essentially reassembles large amounts of data by systematically extracting smaller amounts of information available to individual users of a service. Attackers gained unauthorized access to the individual 23andMe accounts, all of which had been configured by the user to opt in to a DNA relative feature that allows them to find potential relatives.

[...] The DNA relative feature allows users who opt in to view basic profile information of others who also allow their profiles to be visible to DNA Relative participants, a spokesperson said. If the DNA of one opting-in user matches another, each gets to access the other's ancestry information.

hubie writes:

People with dementia still have the ability to learn new things despite their illness:

Elias Ingebrand let ten dementia sufferers, eight of whom lived in care facilities, try using computer tablets for the first time in their lives. A staff member or a loved one was there for support, but the only instruction given to participants was to use the tablet as they wished. It soon turned out that the device made them curious.

"I was rather surprised at this. I may have expected that it would just lie there and that they would talk about something else, but we saw that they focused their attention on it," he says.
[...] A woman who used to do orienteering spontaneously started using the tablet to check competition results. A man who used to be restless and aggressive learned how to navigate to the Open Archive of SVT, the Swedish public television broadcaster. After a while, staff noted that he would sit and watch for a long time, calmly and focused. This was a side of him they had never seen before.

Elias Ingebrand was surprised to find that people with dementia could solve the mysteries of the tablet also without help from staff or loved ones, by collaborating and learning from each other. Also in this context, they managed to focus on the task at hand. As far as he knows, no-one has studied collaboration between dementia sufferers before.

[...] "My thesis has an impact on how we look at people with dementia. They are not to be treated as children, but as people who still have a will and an incentive to do things. This is ultimately about having the opportunity to participate in meaningful activities based on the person's own interests and desires."

This of course presents a challenge to care facility staff, who are often too busy to sit down with just one person for any length of time. Letting people with dementia do things in collaboration could be a solution worth trying. And even though this study is about computer tablets, Elias Ingebrand believes that its results are valid also for other forms of learning.

Reference:
Ingebrand, E. (2023). Dementia and learning : The use of tablet computers in joint activities (PhD dissertation, Linköping University Electronic Press). DOI: 10.3384/9789180750714

Original Submission

hubie writes:

'Very online' Gen Z and millennials are most vulnerable to fake news:

University of Cambridge psychologists have developed the first validated "misinformation susceptibility test".

The quick two-minute quiz gives a solid indication of how vulnerable a person is to being duped by the kind of fabricated news that is flooding online spaces.

The test, proven to work through a series of experiments involving over 8,000 participants taking place over two years, has been deployed by polling organisation YouGov to determine how susceptible Americans are to fake headlines.

The first survey to use the new 20-point test, called 'MIST' by researchers and developed using an early version of ChatGPT, has found that – on average – adult US citizens correctly classified two-thirds (65%) of headlines they were shown as either real or fake.

However, the polling found that younger adults are worse than older adults at identifying false headlines, and that the more time someone spent online recreationally, the less likely they were to be able to tell real news from misinformation.

This runs counter to prevailing public attitudes regarding online misinformation spread, say researchers – that older, less digitally-savvy "boomers" are more likely to be taken in by fake news.

You can test yourself at: https://yourmist.streamlit.app/

Journal Reference:
Maertens, R., Götz, F.M., Golino, H.F. et al. The Misinformation Susceptibility Test (MIST): A psychometrically validated measure of news veracity discernment. Behav Res (2023). https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-023-02124-2

Original Submission

Meeting Announcement: The next meeting of the SoylentNews governance committee is scheduled for Wednesday, October 11th, 2023 at 21:00 UTC (5pm Eastern) in #governance on SoylentNews IRC. Logs of the meeting will be available afterwards for review, and minutes will be published when complete. Please note the new day and time.

The agenda for the upcoming meeting will also be published when available. Minutes and agenda, and other governance committee information are to be found on the SoylentNews Wiki at: https://wiki.staging.soylentnews.org/wiki/Governance

The community, as always, is welcome to observe and participate, and is, as always, invited to the meeting.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Meta's new Emu AI algorithm allows users to generate unsavory content involving weapons and nudity while blocking only certain explicit phrases.

Meta’s continued experiments with piloting us into a half-baked future appear to be backfiring. After announcing more customer-facing AI features on Meta platforms in September, the company’s new sticker generation tool is letting some choice phrases and prompts go unchecked.

Meta’s new algorithm, called Emu which stands for “expressive media universe,” is the brain behind the stickers. On Meta platforms like Instagram, Facebook Stories, WhatsApp, and Messenger, users can input a phrase or word and have a few different sticker choices generated for use in conversations. The company, however, appears to have safeguards in place that more closely resemble Swiss cheese as opposed to guardrails as certain controversial phrases are blocked while synonyms of those same phrases are deemed okay.

[...] In Gizmodo’s own tests, the phrase “elon musk, large breasts” was blocked, while “elon musk mammaries” got past Emu’s filters. Phrases “spongebob rifle” and “karl marx underwear” generated stickers as well. Most jarringly, searching for “pol pot” generated a sticker of the Cambodian dictator seemingly sitting on a throne of babies and skulls. “guantanamo bay” showed a cartoon boy in an orange jumpsuit behind jail bars while “syria gas attacks” generated a barrage of stickers of people in gas masks, some of which were laying down with their eyes closed. The prompt “school shooting” also showed several children holding guns while “school shooting mass murder” goes against Community Guidelines.

Original Submission

hubie writes:

In eye-tracking study, half of participants look only at date:

Up to half of consumers may decide to pour perfectly good milk down the drain based solely on their glance at the date label on the carton, a new study suggests.

Researchers using eye-tracking technology found that 50% of study participants declared their intent to throw away milk based on the date stamped on the container – without ever even looking at the label phrasing in front of the date.

Each participant saw one of three phrasing options: "Sell by," "Best if used by" or "Use by" a given date, as well as containers with no label at all.

"We asked them if they intended to discard it, and if they said yes, it didn't matter which phrase was there," said senior study author Brian Roe, professor of agricultural, environment and development economics at The Ohio State University.

"As soon as we changed the printed date, that was a huge mover of whether or not they would discard or not. So we documented both where their eyes were and what they said was going to happen. And in both cases, it's all about the date, and the phrase is second fiddle."

Policymakers and industry leaders are working toward settling on a universal two-phrase system – one when quality, but not safety, is the concern, and a second phrase for items where safety may be a concern, Roe said. To date, they haven't landed on what those phrases would be.

"If you're going to have an education campaign, it helps to have a set of phrases out there that people can cling to – but in the end, so few actually look at the phrase. They look at the date," he said. "The date signifies a point after which you can expect quality to degrade. If you can get firms to push that date further out, then people are going to be willing to use the milk, or whatever it is, for a few more days, and waste a lot less food."

[...] "But we were a bit surprised that over half of the viewing sessions featured no attention on the phrase whatsoever," he said. "The date is more salient – you have to reference it against the calendar. It's more actionable than the phrase is.

"For policy reasons, it's still important to narrow the phrases down to two choices. But that's only the beginning – there needs to be a broader conversation about pushing those date horizons back to help minimize food waste."

Journal Reference:
Badiger et al. When considering whether to waste food, consumers focus attention on food label dates rather than phrases, Waste Management, 168, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2023.06.006

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Paleontologists find first molecular evidence of ginger pigment molecules in fossil frogs:

Paleontologists at University College Cork (UCC) have found the first molecular evidence of pheomelanin, the pigment that produces ginger coloration, in the fossil record.

The new study reports the preservation of molecular fragments of the pigment pheomelanin in 10-million-year-old frogs, adding molecular analysis to the paleontologists' arsenal when reconstructing the original colors of extinct organisms.

[...] Dr. Slater said, "This finding is so exciting because it puts paleontologists in a better place to detect different melanin pigments in many more fossils. This will paint a more accurate picture of ancient animal color and will answer important questions about the evolution of colors in animals. Scientists still don't know how—or why—pheomelanin evolved, because it is toxic to animals, but the fossil record might just unlock the mystery."

Journal Reference:
Slater, Tiffany S., Ito, Shosuke, Wakamatsu, Kazumasa, et al. Taphonomic experiments reveal authentic molecular signals for fossil melanins and verify preservation of phaeomelanin in fossils [open], Nature Communications (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40570-w)

Original Submission

looorg writes:

What is a photography anyway?

"World's first AI art award ignites debate about what is photography."

The artists won the world's first artificial intelligence art award at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale with a life-like image of sisters cuddling an octopus, which was created using computer prompts, instead of a camera.

"Many people say my pictures make them uncomfortable ... When I explain that AI creates them as a kind of collage... many laugh, others are distressed and find them disgusting... "

https://www.smh.com.au/culture/art-and-design/world-s-first-ai-art-award-ignites-debate-about-what-is-photography-20231004-p5e9td.html

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Somehow, advanced Triada malware was added to devices before reaching resellers:

When you buy a TV streaming box, there are certain things you wouldn't expect it to do. It shouldn't secretly be laced with malware or start communicating with servers in China when it's powered up. It definitely should not be acting as a node in an organized crime scheme making millions of dollars through fraud. However, that's been the reality for thousands of unknowing people who own cheap Android TV devices.

In January, security researcher Daniel Milisic discovered that a cheap Android TV streaming box called the T95 was infected with malware right out of the box, with multipleotherresearchers confirming the findings. But it was just the tip of the iceberg. This week, cybersecurity firm Human Security is revealing new details about the scope of the infected devices and the hidden, interconnected web of fraud schemes linked to the streaming boxes.

Human Security researchers found seven Android TV boxes and one tablet with the backdoors installed, and they've seen signs of 200 different models of Android devices that may be impacted, according to a report shared exclusively with WIRED. The devices are in homes, businesses, and schools across the US. Meanwhile, Human Security says it has also taken down advertising fraud linked to the scheme, which likely helped pay for the operation.

[...] Human Security's research is divided into two areas: Badbox, which involves the compromised Android devices and the ways they are involved in fraud and cybercrime. And the second, dubbed Peachpit, is a related ad fraud operation involving at least 39 Android and iOS apps. Google says it has removed the apps following Human Security's research, while Apple says it has found issues in several of the apps reported to it.

upstart writes:

Tom Hanks has warned an advert that appears to be fronted by him is in fact an artificial intelligence (AI) fake:

"There's a video out there promoting some dental plan with an AI version of me," the actor wrote on Instagram.

"I have nothing to do with it," he added.

Hanks has previously spoken about the "artistic challenge" that AI poses his industry, and the issue has been central to recent strikes by high-profile Hollywood actors and writers.

As AI systems have grown in power and sophistication, so have concerns about their ability to create ever more realistic virtual versions of real people - what are sometimes called deepfakes.

[...] In September, Google announced it would require any political adverts that ran on its platform to disclose if they had been created with AI.

[...] Fears about being displaced by AI have helped drive a wave of strikes that have disrupted Hollywood, with Stranger Things and the Last of Us among the shows to be affected.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA), which represents screenwriters, recently reached a tentative agreement with studio bosses to bring their industrial action to an end.

However, a separate dispute involving actors - which is also partly motivated by fears about AI resulting in fewer acting jobs - remains unresolved.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The leader of Russia's space corporation, Yuri Borisov, discussed his country's future ambitions in space on Tuesday at the International Astronautical Congress. He spoke expansively about Russia's plans to build a new space station in low-Earth orbit, the Russian Orbital Station, as well as other initiatives.

"We are expecting to design, manufacture, and launch several modules by 2027," Borisov said via a translator at the conference, which is being held in Baku, Azerbaijan, this year. The conference's plenary sessions are being livestreamed on YouTube.

This space station will reside in a polar orbit, Borisov added, allowing it to observe the entire planet's surface. Its purpose will be to test new materials, new technologies, and new medicines. “It will be like a permanently functioning laboratory,” he said.

[...] It all may have looked and sounded good on the international stage, but the presentation had something of the feel of a Potemkin Village, which refers to fake villages designed to impress the Russian empress Catherine the Great two centuries ago. Put another way, most (if not all) of the presentation was based on vaporware rather than hardware.

Shortly before Borisov took the stage, Russian media sources revealed that the country's budget for space activities is due to drop over the next two years—rather than rise to meet the challenge of these ambitious new space programs.

[...] No one doubts the ability of Russia to build space stations, as the country has a long history of assembling successful orbital outposts. However, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia has struggled to build new hardware for spaceflight activities. Both its Nauka space station module and Luna 25 spacecraft that recently crashed into the Moon were essentially mothballed projects largely constructed decades ago.

The idea that Russia will now build a new space station and launch it within the next four years at a reduced budget is especially difficult to comprehend in the current situation. The country's main focus is on financing and fighting its unprovoked war against Ukraine, and as the space budget story shows, resources for the space program are likely to be reduced rather than increased.

Original Submission