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Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Florida witnessed a massive rise in VPN demand on New Year's Day after Pornhub began prohibiting people from accessing its site from within the Sunshine State, it is claimed.

Between the clock striking midnight and 4am on January 1, the day of the Pornhub pullout, the folks at VPN-pushing vpnMentor documented a rather incredible 1150 percent spike in Floridians wanting to use a VPN to mask their public IP addresses.

January 1 marked the implementation of Florida's age-verification mandate, so perhaps all those netizens were scrambling for a VPN client and provider so that they appeared to the adult dot-com to be visiting from somewhere outside the Sunshine State, and thus evade Pornhub's blockade.

[...] Here's the back story: In March, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed the Online Protection for Minors act, aka House Bill 3, into law. The legislation requires websites to verify visitors' ages, and for those hosting a "substantial portion of material harmful to minors," such as Pornhub, to block access to anyone under 18 in an effort to prevent kids and teens from peeping on any pornographic videos. Making sure children aren't looking at smut online requires identity and age verification, which Pornhub isn't willing to get into.

HB3 allows fines of up to $50,000 for websites that don't comply with the regulations. 

And so in response, Pornhub's parent company Aylo decided to yank the site from Florida users as it had already done in other states with similar laws, including Kentucky, Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, North Carolina, Montana, Mississippi, Virginia, Arkansas, and Utah. 

"Unfortunately, the way many jurisdictions worldwide, including Florida, have chosen to implement age verification is ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous," Aylo told news outlets in a statement.

"Any regulations that require hundreds of thousands of adult sites to collect significant amounts of highly sensitive personal information is putting user safety in jeopardy. Moreover, as experience has demonstrated, unless properly enforced, users will simply access non-compliant sites or find other methods of evading these laws."

[...] For what it's worth, Robin Tombs, boss of Yoti, which provides age checks for blue-movie sites in the US, argued earlier this week that its age confirmation system, using facial analysis, and identity document verification is secure and safe, as you might imagine.

[...] The New Year may ring in some good news for southern states' smut surfers, however. Over the summer, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging the legality of the Texas law, which could set a precedent for similar age-verification mandates — and, thus, Pornhub blocks.

The Texas case, Free Speech Coalition, et al v. Paxton, is set for argument on January 15. ®

Original Submission

fliptop writes:

Lukasz Olejnik opines:

While I once hoped 2017 would be the year of privacy, 2024 closes on a troubling note, a likely decrease in privacy standards across the web. I was surprised by the recent Information Commissioner's Office post, which criticized Google's decision to introduce device fingerprinting for advertising purposes from February 2025. According to ICO, this change risks undermining user control and transparency in how personal data is collected and used. Could this mark the end of nearly a decade of progress in internet and web privacy? It would be unfortunate if the newly developing AI economy started from a decrease of privacy and data protection standards. Some analysts or observers might then be inclined to wonder whether this approach to privacy online might signal similar attitudes in other future Google products, like AI.

[...] What Is Fingerprinting? Device fingerprinting involves collecting information about user devices, such as smartphones or computers, to create a unique identifier, often to track people or their activities as they browse around the web. This data may include IP addresses, browser user-agent strings, screen resolution, or even details like battery discharge rate. Fingerprinting is particularly concerning because it can be passive—requiring no user interaction. Data is collected without the user's knowledge and linked to their device. Upon subsequent browsing, systems can recognize the same visitor, enabling ad tracking or uncovering private information, such as browsing habits.

This form of identification is neither transparent nor user-friendly. Users are often unaware it is happening, and when done without their consent, awareness, or other legal grounds, it breaches laws. Unlike cookies or other mechanisms, such identifiers cannot be easily "cleared," making them especially invasive. Nevertheless, websites, advertising technologies, and others have continued to use them. Remarkably, large technology companies like Apple and Google once vowed not to engage in such practices. This commitment marked a major achievement for privacy, driven by advancements in privacy research and engineering. Large platforms even began competing to enhance user privacy, benefiting users' welfare and reducing the risk of data misuse or leaks. This issue cannot simply be reduced to "Google does this, and the ICO critiques it."

The editorial goes on to describe the Google Ads policy change, discusses why it's drastic, and notes the contradictions it creates.

Originally spotted on Schneier on Security.

Previously: ICO Puts Foot Down on Google's Planned Fingerprinting Change

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

On December 30, at around 3 pm local time, a massive metallic ring weighing approximately 1,100 pounds came crashing into the village. The loud impact startled residents, some of whom initially feared it was an attack or a bomb explosion.

Joseph Mutua, a local villager, recounted the event to Kenyan news station NTV. While tending to his cows, he heard "a loud bang" and assumed it might be a car accident. However, there were no signs of a collision nearby.

The source of the disturbance turned out to be space debris – a separation ring from a rocket launch. These components are typically designed to burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere or fall into remote areas. Occasionally, however, they veer slightly off course.

The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) was quickly alerted and sprang into action. Collaborating with local authorities, they secured the area and took the hefty ring into custody for further investigation. Preliminary assessments suggested the debris was from a launch vehicle re-entering Earth's atmosphere. The KSA also issued a statement assuring the public that this was an "isolated case" and that the metal object posed no threat to public safety.

[...] While rare, incidents like this are becoming more frequent as Earth's orbital paths become increasingly congested. As of last year, over 170 million pieces of space debris larger than a millimeter were orbiting our planet – remnants of rockets, defunct satellites, and other space operations. Most of this debris burns up safely upon re-entry, but some make it uncomfortably close to the ground.

In February of last year, the European Space Agency issued an alert about a satellite, heavier than a large car, making an uncontrolled re-entry to Earth. Additionally, in March, a piece of the International Space Station crashed through a family's house in Florida. At times, even the station itself has had to perform maneuvers to avoid incoming debris.

For now, Kenyan authorities are still investigating the exact origin of the fallen ring.

Original Submission

taylorvich writes:

https://phys.org/news/2025-01-pollution-widespread-iq-declines-ancient.html

Lead exposure is responsible for a range of human health impacts, with even relatively low levels impacting the cognitive development of children. DRI scientists have previously used atmospheric pollution records preserved in Arctic ice cores to identify periods of lead pollution throughout the Roman Empire, and now new research expands on this finding to identify how this pollution may have affected the European population.

The study, published Jan. 6 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined three ice core records to identify lead pollution levels in the Arctic between 500 BCE through 600 CE. This era spans the rise of the Roman Republic through the fall of the Roman Empire, with the study focusing on the approximately 200-year height of the Empire called the Pax Romana.

Lead isotopes allowed the research team to identify mining and smelting operations throughout Europe as the likely source of pollution during this period. Advanced computer modeling of atmospheric movement then produced maps of atmospheric lead pollution levels across Europe. Combined with research linking lead exposure to cognitive decline, the research team also identified likely reductions in IQ levels of at least 2 to 3 points among the European population.

"This is the first study to take a pollution record from an ice core and invert it to get atmospheric concentrations of pollution and then assess human impacts," says Joe McConnell, research professor of hydrology at DRI and lead author of the study. "The idea that we can do this for 2,000 years ago is pretty novel and exciting."

Journal Reference: McConnell, Joseph R., Pan-European atmospheric lead pollution, enhanced blood lead levels, and cognitive decline from Roman-era mining and smelting, PNAS (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2419630121

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The Federal Communications Commission's long-standing effort to establish stronger oversight of the internet was dealt a decisive blow this week when the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC lacks the authority to regulate wireless and home broadband services under the same set of rules that have traditionally governed telephone service.

The court's decision hinged on the recent Supreme Court ruling that overturned the Chevron deference, a precedent that had previously granted federal agencies significant leeway in interpreting ambiguous statutory language. This ruling significantly curtailed the FCC's ability to implement and enforce net neutrality regulations.

Net neutrality, a principle that advocates for equal treatment of all internet traffic, has been a contentious issue in American politics for over a decade. The concept aims to prevent internet service providers from favoring certain websites or services over others – a practice that could potentially stifle competition and innovation.

The Obama administration introduced robust net neutrality rules in 2015, which were subsequently repealed in 2017 under the Trump administration. In 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling for the reinstatement of these regulations. The FCC, under the leadership of Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, voted to restore net neutrality rules in 2024.

The Sixth Circuit Court's decision effectively nullifies the FCC's Safeguarding Order, which would have reinstated net neutrality regulations. The court declared that broadband internet service providers offer only an "information service" as defined under current US law, and therefore, the FCC lacks the statutory authority to impose net neutrality policies through the "telecommunications service" provision of the Communications Act.

Furthermore, the court ruled that the FCC cannot classify mobile broadband as a "commercial mobile service," which would have allowed the agency to impose net neutrality regulations on those services. The Sixth Circuit explicitly cited the absence of Chevron deference in its ruling, stating that they no longer afford deference to the FCC's interpretation of the statute.

In response to the court's decision, Rosenworcel called on Congress to enshrine net neutrality principles in federal law – an acknowledgment that the FCC's regulatory efforts have reached an impasse.

On the other hand, Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who is set to become the agency's chair later this month, praised the court's ruling. Carr criticized the Biden administration's approach, stating that their plan relied on "persuading Americans that the internet would break in the absence of these so-called 'net neutrality' regulations."

As for the future of net neutrality, the ball is now in Congress's court. However, given the current political landscape and the other pressing issues facing the government, it remains uncertain whether Congress will take up this challenge. With Carr poised to take the helm, it also seems unlikely that the agency will pursue further regulatory action on net neutrality.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Hackers were reportedly able to modify several Chrome extensions with malicious code this month after gaining access to admin accounts through a phishing campaign. The cybersecurity company Cyberhaven shared in a blog post this weekend that its Chrome extension was compromised on December 24 in an attack that appeared to be “targeting logins to specific social media advertising and AI platforms.” A few other extensions were hit as well, going back to mid-December, Reuters reported. According to Nudge Security’s Jaime Blasco, that includes ParrotTalks, Uvoice and VPNCity.

Cyberhaven notified its customers on December 26 in an email seen by TechCrunch, which advised them to revoke and rotate their passwords and other credentials. The company’s initial investigation of the incident found that the malicious extension targeted Facebook Ads users, with a goal of stealing data such as access tokens, user IDs and other account information, along with cookies. The code also added a mouse click listener. “After successfully sending all the data to the [Command & Control] server, the Facebook user ID is saved to browser storage,” Cyberhaven said in its analysis. “That user ID is then used in mouse click events to help attackers with 2FA on their side if that was needed.”

Cyberhaven said it first detected the breach on December 25 and was able to remove the malicious version of the extension within an hour. It’s since pushed out a clean version.

From https://www.techspot.com/news/106205-widespread-cyberattack-targets-google-chrome-extensions-compromises-26.html

Cyberhaven breach reported. Employee phished and pushed malicious chrome extension.
 
  Command and Control:
  149.28.124.84
  cyberhavenext[.]pro
 
  File Hashes:
  content.js AC5CC8BCC05AC27A8F189134C2E3300863B317FB
 
  worker.js 0B871BDEE9D8302A48D6D6511228CAF67A08EC60

– Christopher Stanley (@cstanley)

[...] Here's a compilation of known extensions to have been compromised (thanks Ars Technica), with further updates available here. If you used any of these, you should update passwords and other login credentials:

Further investigation revealed an even more alarming trend. One of the compromised extensions, Reader Mode, had been part of a separate campaign dating back to at least April 2023. This earlier compromise was linked to a monetization code library that collected detailed data on every web visit a browser makes. Tuckner identified 13 Chrome extensions, with a combined 1.14 million installations, that had used this library to collect potentially sensitive data.

---

Original Submission

mrpg writes:

https://english.elpais.com/technology/2024-12-22/hybrid-work-a-cause-of-techno-stress-you-have-to-be-there-all-the-time.html#?rel=mas

"It's that pressure to respond, like when I get an email and feel I have to reply quickly, or someone will think, 'What are you doing at home?'"

"The truth is that I leave my phone in the car at night, so I'm not tempted to look at it."

These are just two of the responses featured in a recent study exploring the challenges of hybrid work — the combination of in-person and remote work that has become more prevalent since the pandemic.

The Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) has only just accepted "teleworking" as a new word, but society has been ahead of the curve for years, already grappling with the challenges of blending office and remote work. This hybrid format — particularly common in computer-based jobs — has attracted a lot of attention from academia. A recent qualitative study, based on 14 in-depth interviews conducted in 2022 with individuals ranging in age from 27 to 60 and from various work backgrounds, delves into the complexities of this new work dynamic.

"The article provides concrete insights into how the work experience is lived in a digital environment with high demands and intense use of technology," says Elizabeth Marsh, co-author and professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Nottingham. "It analyzes how employees perceive being hyperconnected and feeling overwhelmed by their digital work, and the consequences for their mental and physical health."

Five common themes emerged from the responses, highlighting the "dark side" of hybrid work: hyperconnectivity, digital fatigue, system feature overload, informational fear of missing out, and techno-stress. Drawing from previous research, the article mentions that hybrid workers, driven in part by "productivity paranoia" from distrustful bosses, "can spend up to 67 extra minutes a day to avoid appearing to be faltering."

Several of the phrases cited in the study reflect common complaints about hybrid work: "You feel like you have to be there all the time, as if you had to be that little green light that's always on," "I'm constantly on Slack on my phone, and sometimes it affects other things I should be doing," and "I could be working, but I get distracted and think, 'I'm going to check my emails,' and before I know it, I've spent half an hour just looking at emails without doing anything in particular."

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Fast radio bursts are brief and brilliant explosions of radio waves emitted by extremely compact objects such as neutron stars and possibly black holes. These fleeting fireworks last for just a thousandth of a second and can carry an enormous amount of energy — enough to briefly outshine entire galaxies.

Since the first fast radio burst (FRB) was discovered in 2007, astronomers have detected thousands of FRBs, whose locations range from within our own galaxy to as far as 8 billion light-years away. Exactly how these cosmic radio flares are launched is a highly contested unknown.

Now, astronomers at MIT have pinned down the origins of at least one fast radio burst using a novel technique that could do the same for other FRBs. In their new study, appearing today in the journal Nature, the team focused on FRB 20221022A — a previously discovered fast radio burst that was detected from a galaxy about 200 million light-years away.

The team zeroed in further to determine the precise location of the radio signal by analyzing its “scintillation,” similar to how stars twinkle in the night sky. The scientists studied changes in the FRB’s brightness and determined that the burst must have originated from the immediate vicinity of its source, rather than much further out, as some models have predicted.

The team estimates that FRB 20221022A exploded from a region that is extremely close to a rotating neutron star, 10,000 kilometers away at most. That’s less than the distance between New York and Singapore. At such close range, the burst likely emerged from the neutron star’s magnetosphere — a highly magnetic region immediately surrounding the ultracompact star.

The team’s findings provide the first conclusive evidence that a fast radio burst can originate from the magnetosphere, the highly magnetic environment immediately surrounding an extremely compact object.

“In these environments of neutron stars, the magnetic fields are really at the limits of what the universe can produce,” says lead author Kenzie Nimmo, a postdoc in MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. “There’s been a lot of debate about whether this bright radio emission could even escape from that extreme plasma.”

“Around these highly magnetic neutron stars, also known as magnetars, atoms can’t exist — they would just get torn apart by the magnetic fields,” says Kiyoshi Masui, associate professor of physics at MIT. “The exciting thing here is, we find that the energy stored in those magnetic fields, close to the source, is twisting and reconfiguring such that it can be released as radio waves that we can see halfway across the universe.”

Detections of fast radio bursts have ramped up in recent years, due to the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME). The radio telescope array comprises four large, stationary receivers, each shaped like a half-pipe, that are tuned to detect radio emissions within a range that is highly sensitive to fast radio bursts.

Automobile Sales, Including EVs and Hybrids, Surge in 2024

hubie writes:

EV Sales, Including Hybrids, Surge for Auto Giants Not Named Tesla:

General Motors and Ford Motor on Friday reported robust U.S. auto sales and electric-vehicle sales for the final quarter of 2024. GM more than doubled EV sales for the full year, while Tesla suffered a sales decline. GM stock edged higher on Friday, while Ford stock popped and Tesla jumped.

Toyota Motor posted declining U.S. new vehicle sales, but marked an EV sales milestone, including hybrid vehicles. Hyundai, which trades over the counter, and Honda Motor saw robust hybrid and EV sales, spearheading their overall sales growth.

GM, Ford report best annual U.S. sales since 2019 as auto recovery continues:

Sales of new vehicles in the U.S. continued to rise last year, rebounding from historical lows caused by the coronavirus pandemic and supply chain shortages during the past four years.

American legacy automakers General Motors and Ford Motor on Friday both reported their best annual U.S. new vehicle sales since 2019, led by growth of electrified vehicles such as all-electric and hybrid models.

Those results are in line with industrywide expectations for automakers. Market research firms expected U.S. automakers to report total sales of nearly 16 million vehicles in 2024, which would mark the industry's best year since selling roughly 17 million units in 2019.

[...] GM said sales were driven by increases in all four of its U.S. brands as well as a roughly 50% rise in sales of electric vehicles to more than 114,400 units.

Despite the notable jump in EV sales, the vehicles only made up 4.2% of the automaker's overall sales. GM estimated it achieved a 12% EV market share in the U.S. during the fourth quarter.

It was a similar trend at Ford, which reported a notable increase in sales of its "electrified" vehicles, including EVs and hybrids.

Mazda is Selling More Cars Than Ever—All Without an EV in Sight

fliptop writes:

However, EVs are not the focus of some auto manufacturers.

Mazda is defying industry trends with surging sales of its gas-powered SUVs. Can it keep the momentum going without a fully electric vehicle in its lineup?

While many automakers are racing toward electrification, Mazda is proving that there's still room for gas-powered success. The Japanese automaker is set to break its U.S. sales record from 1986, with over 420,000 vehicles expected to be sold in 2024—a 16% increase from the previous year.

Mazda's president of North American operations, Tom Donnelly, credited the popularity of its compact crossovers and mid-size SUVs for this growth, with a target of 450,000 vehicles for 2025. "We're growing our business in what has largely been a stable industry," Donnelly said, talking about the consistent sales volume that Mazda has seen from its compacts and mid-size SUVs.

[...] What's driving Mazda's success? Mazda's lineup relies heavily on a few key models. The CX-5, a compact crossover manufactured in Japan, remains its best seller, despite being one of the oldest vehicles in its lineup. A redesign is expected within the next two years. The CX-30 subcompact hatchback and the Alabama-made CX-50 have also contributed significantly to the brand's recent surge.

[...] With overall US auto sales projected by Kelley Blue Book to rise just 2.3% in 2024, Mazda's performance is a standout. However, challenges remain. While Mazda charts new territory for its U.S. sales, it still lags behind competitors like Subaru, Kia and even Nissan, which has struggled with a host of its own problems in 2024.

Previously: Mazda: Americans Want Cheap Gas Cars

Original Submission #1  Original Submission #2 

owl writes:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/03/science/mystery-volcano-1831-eruption-simushir/index.html

An unknown volcano erupted so explosively in 1831 that it cooled Earth's climate. Now, nearly 200 years later, scientists have identified the "mystery volcano."

The eruption was one of the most powerful of the 19th century, spewing so much sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere that annual average temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere dropped by about one 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit). The event took place during the last gasp of the Little Ice Age, one of the coldest periods on Earth in the past 10,000 years.

While the year of this historic eruption was known, the volcano's location was not. Researchers recently solved that puzzle by sampling ice cores in Greenland, peering back in time through the cores' layers to examine sulfur isotopes, grains of ash and tiny volcanic glass shards deposited between 1831 and 1834.

[...] According to the analysis, the mystery volcano was Zavaritskii (also spelled Zavaritsky) on Simushir Island, part of the Kuril Islands archipelago, an area disputed by Russia and Japan. Before the scientists' findings, Zavaritskii's last known eruption was in 800 BC.

Using geochemistry, radioactive dating and computer modeling to map particles' trajectories, the scientists linked the 1831 eruption to an island volcano in the northwest Pacific Ocean, they reported Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to the analysis, the mystery volcano was Zavaritskii (also spelled Zavaritsky) on Simushir Island, part of the Kuril Islands archipelago, an area disputed by Russia and Japan. Before the scientists' findings, Zavaritskii's last known eruption was in 800 BC.

"For many of Earth's volcanoes, particularly those in remote areas, we have a very poor understanding of their eruptive history," said lead study author Dr. William Hutchison, a principal research fellow in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of St. Andrews in the United Kingdom.

"Zavaritskii is located on an extremely remote island between Japan and Russia. No one lives there and historical records are limited to a handful of diaries from ships that passed these islands every few years," Hutchison told CNN in an email.

Original Submission

fliptop writes:

The incident exposes the growing vulnerabilities tied to digital ID systems and mandatory KYC (know your customer) data collection:

A US-based online gift card retailer has resolved a critical data exposure incident that left highly sensitive customer identity documents accessible on the internet, raising concerns about the growing risks posed by mandatory data collection under "know your customer" (KYC) and digital ID regulations.

The issue came to light when a security researcher, known by the alias JayeLTee, discovered an unprotected storage server linked to MyGiftCardSupply. According to TechCrunch, the server, which lacked even basic password protection, contained hundreds of thousands of government-issued IDs, including driver's licenses and passports, as well as selfies submitted by customers. These documents are required by the company to comply with US anti-money laundering laws, which mandate identity verification for certain transactions.

Despite an attempt by JayeLTee to notify MyGiftCardSupply about the exposure, the company did not respond until TechCrunch reported the breach. MyGiftCardSupply's founder, Sam Gastro, later confirmed the issue. "The files are now secure, and we are doing a full audit of the KYC verification procedure," Gastro stated. He also pledged that the company would delete identity documents promptly after verification in the future.

[...] According to JayeLTee, the server, hosted on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, contained over 600,000 images of identity documents and selfies from approximately 200,000 customers. These materials are a part of controversial KYC procedures, intended to confirm identities and prevent fraud.

Related: Chinese Organized Crime's Latest U.S. Target: Gift Cards

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Social media addiction can reduce grey matter, shorten attention spans, weaken memory, and distort core cognitive functions, according to recent research:

"Brain rot" was named the Oxford Word of the Year for 2024 after a public vote involving more than 37,000 people. Oxford University Press defines the concept as "the supposed deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of over consumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging."

According to Oxford's language experts, the term reflects growing concerns about "the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media." The term increased in usage frequency by 230% between 2023 and 2024.

But brain rot is not just a linguistic quirk. Over the past decade, scientific studies have shown that consuming excessive amounts of junk content — including sensationalist news, conspiracy theories and vacuous entertainment — can profoundly affect our brains. In other words, "rot" may not be that big of an exaggeration when it comes to describing the impact of low-quality online content.

Research from prestigious institutions such as Harvard Medical School, Oxford University, and King's College London — cited by The Guardian — reveals that social media consumption can reduce grey matter, shorten attention spans, weaken memory, and distort core cognitive functions.

[...] The problem, says the researcher, is that social media users are constantly exposed to rapidly changing and variable stimuli — such as Instagram notifications, WhatsApp messages, or news alerts — that have addictive potential. This means users are constantly switching their focus, which undermines their ability to concentrate effectively.

[...] In December, psychologist Carlos Losada offered advice to EL PAÍS on how to avoid falling into the trap of doomscrolling — or, in other words, being consumed by the endless cycle of junk content amplified by algorithms. His recommendations included recognizing the problem, making a conscious effort to disconnect, and engaging in activities that require physical presence, such as meeting friends or playing sports.

"These activities are critical for brain health and overall wellbeing, helping to balance the potentially damaging effects of prolonged screen use," explains Moshel, who stresses that the type of content consumed plays a pivotal role in shaping brain anatomy. "Focus on both the quality and quantity of screen time. Prioritize educational content that avoids addictive features. Set clear, age-appropriate limits on daily screen use and encourage regular breaks."

Original Submission

hubie writes:

Hollow-eyed insincere robot posters are already flooding Meta's sites and they're everything we dreaded:

Update 1/03/24: After the publication of this article, Meta told 404 Media that it had begun to delete the AI-generated accounts and that many had been managed by humans. Since then, Meta has deleted the accounts. Our original story follows below.

As I stared into the dead-eyed visage of "Carter," one of Meta's new AI posters, I remembered a line from Dawn of the Dead. "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth."

Something about George Romero's 1978 film about doomed survivors riding out the zombie apocalypse in a shopping mall feels resonant today as I look across Meta's suite of AI-created profiles. The movie's blue-skinned corpses don't know they're dead. They just wander through the shopping center on autopilot, looking for something new to consume.

That's how many of our social media spaces feel now. Digital town squares populated by undead posters, zombies spouting lines they learned from an LLM, the digested material from decades of the internet spewed back at the audience. That's what Meta is selling now.

Meta's various sites have over 3 billion users, an incredible percentage of the world's population. But businesses demand constant growth and, not content with almost half of the living people on the planet, Meta has decided to cut out the middle-man. It is flooding Facebook and Instagram with AI-generated posters of its own creation.

A December 27, 2024 article in Financial Times laid out the vision. "We expect these AIs to actually, over time, exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do," Connor Hayes, vice president of generative AI at Meta, told the outlet. "They'll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform . . . that's where we see all of this going."

[...] The AIs don't seem to be faring well on Instagram. They have low engagement numbers and people are calling them out as AI slop. It's different on Facebook, where the norm has been AI-powered slop for a year now. The post has 13 likes and 2 comments on Instagram and 192 likes, 112 comments, and 33 shares on Facebook. Many of the comments are spam, links to other profiles, or phishing bait of one kind or another.

But it's all interaction and, on a spreadsheet, that's all that matters.

[...] The AI apocalypse is here and it's far stupider and more depressing than we were promised. Instead of being hunted down by a gleaming metal skeleton in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, we are surrounded by zombies endlessly repeating our own posts back to us.

And the worst is yet to come. Remember that to power these nightmares Big Tech is going to revive the nuclear power industry. That's our future. A barren mall kept alight with nuclear power, filled with the dead and the never-born.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

The iPhone 6 and Apple Watch were two devices owned by the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit:

Apple has agreed to pay $95m (£77m) to settle a court case alleging some of its devices were listening to people without their permission.

The tech giant was accused of eavesdropping on its customers through its virtual assistant Siri.

The claimants also allege voice recordings were shared with advertisers.

Apple, which has not admitted any wrongdoing, has been approached for comment.

In the preliminary settlement, the tech firm denies any wrongdoing, as well as claims that it "recorded, disclosed to third parties, or failed to delete, conversations recorded as the result of a Siri activation" without consent.

Apple's lawyers also say they will confirm they have "permanently deleted individual Siri audio recordings collected by Apple prior to October 2019".

But the claimants say the tech firm recorded people who activated the virtual assistant unintentionally - without using the phrase "Hey, Siri" to wake it.

And they say advertisers who received the recordings could then look for keywords in them to better target ads.

[...] According to the court documents, each claimant - who has to be based in the US -could be paid up to $20 per Siri-enabled device they owned between 2014 and 2019.

In this case, the lawyers could take 30% of the fee plus expenses - which comes to just under $30m.

By settling, Apple not only denies wrongdoing, but it also avoids the risk of facing a court case which could potentially mean a much larger pay out.

The California company earned $94.9bn in the three months up to 28 September 2024.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

The Great White North recognizes our need for more sources for these crucial elements.

The Canadian government released its Canadian Critical Mineral Strategy Annual Report 2024, highlighting the progress and further plans the nation has made in expanding its mining industry to produce critical minerals, including rare earth elements. The EE Times says that Canada’s Critical Minerals Center of Excellence at Natural Resources Canada works “to identify and support strategic projects within the semiconductor supply chain.”

The report defines a critical mineral with a threatened supply chain and must have a reasonable chance of being produced in the country. Furthermore, it must meet one or more of the following criteria: it is essential to Canadian economic and national security, it is needed for Canada to hit its net-zero target, and it allows the country to be a sustainable and strategic partner in the global supply chain. Currently, there are 34 critical minerals on the Canadian list, but the following six are a priority for the government: lithium, graphite, nickel, cobalt, copper, and rare earth elements.

Rare earth minerals are used to make the latest chips, but, as their name suggests, they’re not as abundant as other minerals like silicon or iron. The ongoing tensions between China and the rest of the Western world have even moved the former to tighten export controls for its supply of these crucial elements, leading to increased pricing of these products. This has led other countries like Australia to find alternative sources for these products to help alleviate the supply crunch and keep semiconductor production going. Aside from this, lithium, nickel, and copper are also crucial elements in producing EVs and the battery technology they require.

However, one industry executive says this move is too little, too late for Canada, noting that putting up a new mine in the country takes at least 10 to 15 years owing to strict regulations. CMC Microsystems CEO Gordon Harling said in his personal capacity that the U.S., China, and Australia already have a head start in production and are “much less likely to slow things down for environmental reasons” compared to Canada. He added, “The other fly in the ointment is that a new battery chemistry could show up at any moment, which eliminates the need for lithium.”

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