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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The guide price is $40,000 - $60,000; you will need a large spare room.

A transformative transistorized milestone in the history of computing could be yours, as an IBM 7090 Mainframe computer system has gone up for auction at Christie’s. Before the arrival of the IBM 7090, commercially available computers relied on valves rather than transistors, and this machine is said to have delivered a remarkable speed, efficiency, and reliability boost compared to its predecessor due to embracing the newest solid-state technology.

This auction lot is an extensive collection of IBM tech gear, cutting edge in 1959, and you would need a sizeable spare room or garage to house it all. Christie’s says the hardware on auction is from the Paul G. Allen (Microsoft co-founder) Collection, and he acquired it in 2017 from a ‘Weapons Research Establishment’ in South Australia. The mainframe is currently in Seattle, and the guide price is $40,000 - $60,000, with 19 days left of the auction period. Purchasing an IBM 7070 new, back in the 1950s, was a much bigger investment, at $813,000.

Despite the move away from vacuum tube technology, the IBM 7070 was still a hulking beast. Capable of processing about 229,000 instructions per second, the machine used approximately 14,000 Standard Modular System cards. These cards housed about 30,000 alloy-junction germanium transistors and 22,000 germanium diodes. Due to this bulk, an IBM 7070 system weighs over 23,000 pounds (10,430kg).

The mainframe system being sold by Christie’s includes many functional equipment and peripherals for the IBM 7070 user. According to the listing, the lucky auction winner will also end up owning:

• 1x IBM 7151 console control unit with IBM 7155 switch control console attached to side
• 1x IBM 711 card reader
• 2x IBM 7617 Data Channel Consoles
• 1x IBM 7608 power converter
• 13x IBM 729 magnetic tape units
• 1x IBM 1401 mainframe computer
• 1x IBM 7302 core storage
• 1x IBM 7606 multiplexer
• 1x IBM 7108 instruction processing unit
• 1x IBM 7109 arithmetic sequence unit
• 1x IBM 7607 I data channel
• 1x IBM 7607 II data channel
• 1x IBM 7618 power control
• 1x IBM 1403 printer
• 1x IBM 1402 card read punch
• 1x IBM 716 printer

upstart writes:

According to the Dutch data watchdog, Uber has violated the GDPR:

The Dutch data protection authority (DPA) has hit Uber with a €290mn fine for transferring personal European driver data to the US.

According to the DPA, the transfers constituted a "serious violation" of the EU's GDPR, as they failed to provide the necessary safeguards for data storage outside the block.

Following an investigation, the DPA found that, between August 2021 and November 2023, Uber was transferring and storing sensitive data to US servers without the additional protection tools required by the GDPR.

The data included taxi licences, account and payment details, IDs, photos, and even criminal or medical records.

[...] The investigation was prompted by a complaint from over 170 French drivers to local human rights organisation Ligue des droits de l'Homme (LDH). LDH then filed a complaint to France's data protection watchdog CNIL.

According to the GDPR, companies processing data across the EU must answer to a single privacy authority, located in the country where a business has its European headquarters. As Uber's base is in the Netherlands, the DPA led the probe.

The DPA said that Uber has now stopped the practice. It's also going to appeal the decision.

This is the third fine the Dutch watchdog imposes on Uber. In 2018, the DPA hit the company with €600,000 for failing to notify the agency on time over a data breach in 2016. And as of January this year, Uber is also facing a €10mn fine (again) for violating privacy rules, which it has appealed.

Original Submission

AnonTechie writes:

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy revealed in a LinkedIn post on August 22 that the company was able to integrate Amazon Q, its generative AI assistant, into its internal systems to update its foundational software.

The result has been a "game changer," Jassy said.

"The average time to upgrade an application to Java 17 plummeted from what's typically 50 developer-days to just a few hours," he wrote. "We estimate this has saved us the equivalent of 4500 developer-years of work (yes, that number is crazy but, real)."

The AI is not only fast but seems pretty accurate, too, according to his post. Amazon developers shipped 79% of the AI-generated code reviews without any additional changes, Jassy wrote.

Business Insider India

[Also Covered By]: MSN Money

What do you make of this story ? Do you believe that this has more substance than hype ??

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Using bacteria to take a bite out of plastic pollution is not new. But can the same microbes be used as a food source?

In 2019, an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense released a call for research projects to help the military deal with the copious amount of plastic waste generated when troops are sent to work in remote locations or disaster zones. The agency wanted a system that could convert food wrappers and water bottles, among other things, into usable products, such as fuel and rations. The system needed to be small enough to fit in a Humvee and capable of running on little energy. It also needed to harness the power of plastic-eating microbes.

“When we started this project four years ago, the ideas were there. And in theory, it made sense,” said Stephen Techtmann, a microbiologist at Michigan Technological University, who leads one of the three research groups receiving funding. Nevertheless, he said, in the beginning, the effort “felt a lot more science-fiction than really something that would work.”

That uncertainty was key. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, supports high-risk, high-reward projects. This means there’s a good chance that any individual effort will end in failure. But when a project does succeed, it has the potential to be a true scientific breakthrough. “Our goal is to go from disbelief, like, ‘You're kidding me. You want to do what?’ to ‘You know, that might be actually feasible,’” said Leonard Tender, a program manager at DARPA who is overseeing the plastic waste projects.

[...] For years, scientists have also been experimenting with various species of plastic-eating bacteria. But DARPA is taking a slightly different approach in seeking a compact and mobile solution that uses plastic to create something else entirely: food for humans.

The goal, Techtmann hastens to add, is not to feed people plastic. Rather, the hope is that the plastic-devouring microbes in his system will themselves prove fit for human consumption. While Techtmann believes most of the project will be ready in a year or two, it’s this food step that could take longer. His team is currently doing toxicity testing, and then they will submit their results to the Food and Drug Administration for review. Even if all that goes smoothly, an additional challenge awaits. There’s an ick factor, said Techtmann, “that I think would have to be overcome.”

hubie writes:

Smart display will soon default to showing ads after three hours:

In September of 2023, Amazon announced the Echo Show 8 Photos Edition. It looked just like the regular Echo Show 8 smart display/speaker but cost $10 more. Why? Because of its ability to show photos on the home screen for as long as you want—if you signed up for a $2 monthly subscription to Amazon's PhotosPlus. Now, about a year after releasing the Echo Show 8 Photos Edition, Amazon is announcing that it's discontinuing PhotosPlus. That means Echo Show 8 Photos Edition users will be forced to see ads instead of their beloved pics.

As per The Verge yesterday, Amazon started sending PhotosPlus subscribers emails saying that it will automatically cancel all PhotosPlus subscriptions on September 12 and will stop supporting PhotosPlus as of September 23. PhotosPlus, per Amazon's message, "makes photos the primary home screen content you see on your Echo Show 8 and includes 25 GB of storage with Amazon Photos," Amazon's online photo storage offering. Users can continue using the 25GB of Amazon Photos storage after September.

However, users will no longer be able to make photos the indefinite home screen on the Alexa gadget. After September, their devices will no longer have the "photo-forward mode" that Amazon advertised for the Echo Show 8 Photos Edition. The photo-forward mode, per Amazon, let people make "selected personal photos the primary rotating content on the ambient screen" (photos rotated every 30 seconds). Now, Echo Show 8 Photo Editions will work like a regular Echo Show 8 and default to showing ads and promotions after three hours.

[...] But now people who bought into the Photos Edition could feel like the victims of a bait-and-switch. After paying $10 extra to get a device capable of displaying photos indefinitely instead of ads, they'll be forced into the same user experience as the cheaper Echo Show 8.

[...] Amazon may make more money selling ads than it has selling PhotosPlus subscriptions and relevant hardware. It was always somewhat peculiar that PhotosPlus only applied to one Amazon device. Amazon might have been considering extending PhotosPlus to other devices but didn't get enough interest or money from the venture. Getting people to pay monthly for a feature that some would argue the gadget should already support out of the box seems difficult.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs is warning residents of under-siege regions to switch off home surveillance systems and dating apps to stop Ukraine from using them for intel-gathering purposes.

Residents of the Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod regions were issued with the warnings amid what seems like Russia being thoroughly rattled by Ukraine's incursion into the country's southwest.

"The enemy is massively identifying IP ranges in our territories and connecting to unprotected video surveillance cameras remotely, viewing everything from private yards to roads and highways of strategic importance," said the ministry, according to Russian newswire Interfax. "In this regard, if there is no urgent need, it is better not to use video surveillance cameras.

"It is highly discouraged to use online dating services. The enemy actively uses such resources for the covert collection of information."

These warnings were just two of many included in a public memo aimed at protecting the identities of high-value Russian individuals, including military personnel, law enforcement agents, and nuclear energy workers.

They follow an unexpected table-turning offensive launched by Ukraine on August 6, during which it surged into Kursk Oblast, seizing hundreds of square miles of land within mere weeks.

[...] The memo's warnings appear to be driven by fears of Russians with knowledge of Ukrainian interest being captured and having their devices combed for intel.

The military was reminded to avoid opening links that come from anyone other than official sources, and, while they're at it, to avoid using devices at all if they contain a significant amount of state and/or personal information.

Russian police officials reportedly said: "It is necessary to control and moderate chats, and promptly delete from them the accounts of people who have been captured by the enemy, as well as the accounts of people whose phones the enemy has gained access to."

If using Telegram, users were urged to disable the app's feature allowing other users to identify people who are geographically close to them. Deleting all markers that tie an individual to a specific affiliation, such as soldiers, law enforcement workers, and those working in the energy sector – especially nuclear power – was advised too.

"If your number appears in search results as recorded by third parties as 'Lesha FSB,' 'Pasha Rosgvardia,' 'Misha 123 Regiment,' this number needs to be changed, it has been compromised."

Social media posts must be audited too, removing any images or posts that are geotagged, out of fear that they could be used to locate Russian troops.

Original Submission

DannyB writes:

There's a Problem With Rescuing the Stranded Astronauts: SpaceX and Boeing Spacesuits Aren't Compatible

While NASA and Boeing maintain that Starliner is ready to take the two crew members down to the surface in the case of an emergency — despite the possibility of several thrusters malfunctioning — even alternative rideshare options could expose Williams and Wilmore to considerable risks.

For one, Starliner's spacesuits aren't compatible with those used on board SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft. That means if the pair were to return on board the SpaceX capsule currently docked to the station, which is one rescue plan under consideration by NASA, they'd be flying without wearing a suit, as NASA confirmed during a teleconference call last week — an unfortunate reality for the space agency that will likely factor into its upcoming decision.

While "launch and entry" or intravehicular (IVA) spacesuits, unlike extravehicular activity (EVA) suits, are worn as a precaution inside spacecraft in case of cabin pressure loss, they could still prove life-saving if an emergency were to occur. They can also help with temperature regulation, and in some cases collect data and pass it on to the spacecraft's software.

[....] Even if Williams and Wilmore were to be loaded into an already fully occupied Crew-8 Crew Dragon, and they somehow had suits ready, Krishna explained, the capsule is only configured for four passengers, despite originally being designed to be occupied by a crew of seven. That means their suits wouldn't have anywhere to plug in anyway.

Fortunately, NASA has an entirely separate option to get the two astronauts back down to the ground: SpaceX's upcoming Crew-9 mission, which could be launched with just two, not four, crew members to make space for Williams and Wilmore, allowing them to return sometime in February.

Boeing should build it to be as safe as their aircraft.

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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Implantable technologies have significantly improved our ability to study and even modulate the activity of neurons in the brain. However, neurons in the spinal cord are harder to study in action.

“If we understood exactly how neurons in the spinal cord process sensation and control movement, we could develop better treatments for spinal cord disease and injury,” said Yu Wu, a research scientist who is part of a team of Rice University neuroengineers working on a solution to this problem.

“We developed a tiny sensor, spinalNET, that records the electrical activity of spinal neurons as the subject performs normal activity without any restraint,” said Wu, who is the lead author of a study about the sensor published in Cell Reports. “Being able to extract such knowledge is a first but important step to develop cures for millions of people suffering from spinal cord diseases.”

According to the study, the sensor recorded neuronal activity in the spinal cord of freely moving mice for prolonged periods and with great resolution, even tracking the same neuron over multiple days.

“Up until now, the spinal cord has been more or less a black box,” said Lan Luan, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and a corresponding author on the study. “The issue is that the spinal cord moves so much during normal activity. Every time you turn your head or bend over, spinal neurons are also moving.”

During such movements, rigid sensors implanted in the spinal cord inevitably disturb or even damage the fragile tissue. SpinalNET, however, is over a hundred times smaller than the width of a hair, which makes it extremely soft and flexible ⎯ nearly as soft as the neural tissue itself.

“This flexibility gives it the stability and biocompatibility we need to safely record spinal neurons during spinal cord movements,” said Chong Xie, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and bioengineering and a corresponding author of the study. “With spinalNET, we were able to get low-noise signals from hundreds of neurons.”

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Failures

So we just wrote about how advertising on ExTwitter remains in freefall and is likely down between 75 and 85% from when Elon took over. And now the Wall Street Journal has a piece recognizing that the banks that financed about $13 billion of the $44 billion Musk needed are admitting that it may be one of the worst buyout deals of all time.

The headline of the article actually underplays the story, calling it “the worst buyout for banks since the financial crisis.” But that’s just based on the “hang” — the length of time the deal has remained on their books. You see, the way this normally works is that the big banks lend the money and then almost immediately turn around and sell off the debt to other suckers to deal with.

But, in the case of Musk and Twitter, the banks immediately rubber-stamped it on the basis of “Ooooh, that Elon, doesn’t he always make money?” and without doing much (if any) due diligence. The entities who would buy the debt actually care about the return (or lack thereof) and were quick to recognize that Musk was going to tank Twitter’s revenue potential.

Some of this was known before. Just as Musk was about to officially gain control of Twitter, it was reported that the banks were regretting their decision as they realized they couldn’t sell the debt. There was talk of them offering it to other investors for pennies on the dollar. Instead, they all just kept marking down the value of the debt.

To make matters worse for all involved, it has been reported that the banks agreed to a sell-down letter, preventing any bank from taking a deal that isn’t offered to the rest of them. But to make matters even worse for Elon specifically, he apparently promised the bankers they wouldn’t lose money on this deal. It’s unclear how binding that promise is, and Musk is somewhat infamous for breaking promises. But it certainly could impact his ability to borrow in the future.

That said, the WSJ article highlights that the banks have had to hang on to the (greatly devalued) loans for a record length of time.

Maybe the banks will think about due diligence next time? I mean, it was no secret that the basic ideas Musk laid out for how he was going to run Twitter were absolute nonsense from Day One.

But, while the headline and the beginning of the piece compare the performance of this deal to the financial crisis, they admit deeper in the article that it may just be one of the worst of all time...[.]

Original Submission

canopic jug writes:

Pavel Durov, head of the Dubai-based proprietary "app" Telegram, had been wanted by the French authorities for his lack of cooperation in monitoring and filtering the activities of the users of his "app". This is in spite of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling that any weakening of end-to-end encryption disproportionately risks undermining human rights. Multiple sites are now reporting that he has been arrested on a warrant in France during a flight layover in his private jet:

The Korea Times, Telegram chief Pavel Durov arrested at French airport: officials:

France's OFMIN, an agency tasked with preventing violence against minors, had issued an arrest warrant for Durov as the coordinating agency in a preliminary investigation into alleged offenses including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime and promotion of terrorism, one of the sources close to the case said.

Durov is suspected of failing to take action to curb the criminal use of his platform.

Voice of America, CEO of Telegram messaging app arrested in France, say French media:

Based in Dubai, Telegram was founded by Russian-born Durov. He left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.

Durov was traveling aboard his private jet, TF1 said on its website, adding he had been targeted by an arrest warrant in France as part of a preliminary police investigation.

The Guardian, Telegram app founder Pavel Durov reportedly arrested at French airport:

The Russia-born entrepreneur lives in Dubai, where Telegram is based, and holds dual citizenship of France and the United Arab Emirates.

Durov, who is estimated by Forbes to have a fortune of $15.5bn (£12bn), left Russia in 2014 after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social media platform, which he sold.

Reuters, Telegram messaging app CEO Durov arrested in France:

The encrypted Telegram, with close to one billion users, is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It is ranked as one of the major social media platforms after Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok and Wechat.

SomeGuy writes:

Axios reports: locked up items are driving frustrated consumers to shop online more.

Locking up merchandise at drugstores and discount retailers hasn't curbed retail theft but is driving frustrated consumers to shop online more, retail experts tell Axios. Retail crime is eating into retailers' profits and high theft rates are also leading to a rise in store closures. Secured cases can cause sales to drop 15% to 25%, Joe Budano, CEO of anti-theft technology company Indyme, previously told Axios. Barricading everything from razors to laundry detergent has largely backfired and broken shopping in America, Bloomberg reports.

Aisles full of locked plexiglass cases are common at many CVS and Walgreens stores where consumers have to wait for an employee to unlock them. Target, Walmart, Dollar General and other retailers have also pulled back on self-checkout to deter shoplifting. "Locking up products worsens the shopping experience, and it makes things inconvenient and difficult," GlobalData retail analyst Neil Saunders said, adding it pushes shoppers to other retailers or to move purchases online.

Driving the news: Manmohan Mahajan, Walgreens global chief financial officer, said in a June earnings call that the retailer was experiencing "higher levels of shrink." Amazon CEO Andy Jassy spoke of the "speed and ease" of ordering online versus walking into pharmacies on a call with investors last week. "It's a pretty tough experience with how much is locked behind cabinets, where you have to press a button to get somebody to come out and open the cabinets for you," Jassy said.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

A team of archaeologists says humans may have braced the butt of their weapons against the ground in a way that would impale a charging animal:

How did early humans use sharpened rocks to bring down megafauna 13,000 years ago? Did they throw spears tipped with carefully crafted, razor-sharp rocks called Clovis points? Did they surround and jab mammoths and mastadons? Or did they scavenge wounded animals, using Clovis points as a versatile tool to harvest meat and bones for food and supplies?

UC Berkeley archaeologists say the answer might be none of the above.

Instead, researchers say humans may have braced the butt of their pointed spears against the ground and angled the weapon upward in a way that would impale a charging animal. The force would have driven the spear deeper into the predator's body, unleashing a more damaging blow than even the strongest prehistoric hunters would have been capable of on their own.

Drawing upon multiple sources of writings and artwork, a team of Berkeley archaeologists reviewed historical evidence from around the world about people hunting with planted spears.

They also ran the first experimental study of stone weapons that focused on pike hunting techniques, revealing how spears react to the simulated force of an approaching animal. Once the sharpened rock pierced the flesh and activated its engineered mounting system, they say, the spear tip functioned like a modern day hollow-point bullet and could inflict serious wounds to mastodons, bison and saber-toothed cats.

"This ancient Native American design was an amazing innovation in hunting strategies," said Scott Byram, a research associate with Berkeley's Archeological Research Facility and first-author of a paper on the topic published today in the journal PLOS ONE. "This distinctive Indigenous technology is providing a window into hunting and survival techniques used for millennia throughout much of the world."

upstart writes:

Victory! Grand Jury Finds Sacramento Cops Illegally Shared Driver Data:

For the past year, EFF has been sounding the alarm about police in California illegally sharing drivers' location data with anti-abortion states, putting abortion seekers and providers at risk of prosecution. We thus applaud the Sacramento County Grand Jury for hearing this call and investigating two police agencies that had been unlawfully sharing this data out-of-state.

The grand jury, a body of 19 residents charged with overseeing local government including law enforcement, released their investigative report on Wednesday. In it, they affirmed that the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office and Sacramento Police Department violated state law and "unreasonably risked" aiding the potential prosecution of "women who traveled to California to seek or receive healthcare services."

[...] Since 2016, California law has prohibited sharing ALPR data with out-of-state or federal law enforcement agencies. Despite this, dozens of rogue California police agencies continued sharing this information with other states, even after the state's attorney general issued legal guidance in October "reminding" them to stop.

In Sacramento County, both the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office and the Sacramento Police Department have dismissed calls for them to start obeying the law. Last year, the Sheriff's Office even claimed on Twitter that EFF's concerns were part "a broader agenda to promote lawlessness and prevent criminals from being held accountable." That agency, at least, seems to have had a change of heart: The Sacramento County Grand Jury reports that, after they began investigating police practices, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office agreed to stop sharing ALPR data with out-of-state law enforcement agencies.

NASA decided Saturday it's too risky to bring two astronauts back to Earth in Boeing's troubled new capsule, and they'll have to wait until next year for a ride home with SpaceX. What should have been a weeklong test flight for the pair will now last more than eight months.

The seasoned pilots have been stuck at the International Space Station since the beginning of June. A cascade of vexing thruster failures and helium leaks in the new capsule marred their trip to the space station, and they ended up in a holding pattern as engineers conducted tests and debated what to do about the flight back.

After almost three months, the decision finally came down from NASA's highest ranks on Saturday. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will come back in a SpaceX capsule in February. Their empty Starliner capsule will undock in early September and attempt to return on autopilot with a touchdown in the New Mexico desert.

[...] "A test flight by nature is neither safe nor routine," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The decision "is a result of a commitment to safety."

Nelson said lessons learned from NASA's two space shuttle accidents played a role. This time, he noted, open dialogue was encouraged rather than crushed.

"This has not been an easy decision, but it is absolutely the right one," added Jim Free, NASA's associate administrator.

AnonTechie writes:

Across different cultures and countries, people perceive the wisest people to be logical and reflective as well as able to consider other people's feelings and perceptions.

What makes someone seem wise? People view wisdom through the lens of applying knowledge and thinking logically as well as considering others' feelings and perceptions, finds a new study led by University of Waterloo researchers who looked at perceptions of wisdom across 12 countries and five continents.

Researchers examined the underlying principles guiding who we perceive as wise in political leadership, science, and daily life. Across different cultures, participants' judgements converged on two dimensions: reflective orientation and socio-emotional awareness. Reflective orientation includes characteristics such as thinking logically, emotion control and application of knowledge. Socio-emotional awareness includes characteristics like care for other's feelings and attention to social context.

"To our surprise, the two dimensions emerged across all cultural regions we studied, and both were associated with explicit attribution of wisdom," said Dr. Maksim Rudnev, a postdoctoral research associate in psychology at Waterloo and lead author.

The study suggests how people around the world might judge, support and trust leaders, educators and others in positions of influence. One example is how people view U.S. former president Donald Trump and current president Joe Biden.

[...] The collaboration among 26 research institutions was coordinated by the Geography of Philosophy consortium and included researchers from North and South Americas (Canada, U.S., Ecuador and Peru), Asia (China, India, Japan, and South Korea), Africa (Morocco and South Africa), and Europe (Slovakia).

[Source]: University of Waterloo

[Journal reference]: nature communications

[Also Covered By]: PHYS.ORG

More information: M. Rudnev et al, Dimensions of wisdom perception across twelve countries on five continents, Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50294-0

Do you think that people who exhibit these characteristics are wise ??

Original Submission