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Computers/Internet (General/Chat)

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  • Billionaire Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz, who claimed to drink 10 cans of energy drink a day, dies at 78

    10/23/2022 7:17:49 PM PDT · by dennisw · 70 replies
    MSN ^ | Oct 23, 2022 | Anders Hagstrom
    Red Bull owner and co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz, who once claimed to drink 10-12 cans of the beverage every day, has died at 78. Mateschitz accrued an estimated fortune of $24.65 billion throughout his career and was widely known as the richest man in Austria, Reuters reported Sunday. He passed away following a battle with cancer Saturday. Mateschitz built the Red Bull brand from merely an energy drink to the multi-billion dollar cultural giant it is today, sponsoring high-octane sports events, both fringe and mainstream, across the globe. Red Bull first entered global markets in 1987 after modifying the recipe for...
  • Microsoft just dropped the latest Pride flag design, and yes, IT'S REAL (Not The Bee)

    10/23/2022 8:22:06 AM PDT · by dayglored · 108 replies
    Twitter (sorry) ^ | Oct 20, 2022 | Microsoft
    Inspired by the public's response to our 2022 Pride flag, we’re expanding our design to represent 40 LGBTQIA+ communities—and making it available for everyone to use and build on.
  • From Camping To Cheese Pizza, ‘Algospeak’ (using code words to evade detection by content moderation technology, especially when posting about things that are controversial or may break platform rules) Is Taking Over Social Media

    10/22/2022 10:09:26 PM PDT · by DoodleBob · 40 replies
    Forbes ^ | September 19, 2022 | Alexandra S. Levine
    If you’ve seen people posting about “camping” on social media, there’s a chance they’re not talking about how to pitch a tent or which National Parks to visit. The term recently became “algospeak” for something entirely different: discussing abortion-related issues in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. Social media users are increasingly using codewords, emojis and deliberate typos—so-called “algospeak”—to avoid detection by apps’ moderation AI when posting content that is sensitive or might break their rules. Siobhan Hanna, who oversees AI data solutions for Telus International, a Canadian company that has provided human and AI...
  • Dating Is Getting Tougher In The U.S.

    10/20/2022 2:54:23 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 136 replies
    Newsy ^ | October 13, 2022
    The "In The Loop" series Love Life digs into how Americans are dealing with the changing landscape of modern dating. Nearly half of U.S. adults, and a majority of women, say that dating has become harder in the last 10 years or so in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center. Anna Brown, a researcher who has written extensively about American experiences with dating and related issues for the Pew Research Center, gave Newsy some insight on the statistics. "Men were more likely to say things like they had trouble approaching people, whereas women were more likely to give...
  • Students should consider the negative effects of dating apps before using them

    10/19/2022 7:11:20 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 16 replies
    The Daily Orange ^ | 11/19 | Daniela Dorado
    Dating apps like Tinder are negatively affecting college students by causing trust issues, body dysmorphia and self-doubt.Since arriving at Syracuse University, I haven’t met a soul that hasn’t had some sort of experience with dating apps. Some may be looking for casual hookups, some may just be using it for fun, while others may be using these apps to find a relationship. During the past couple of years since the pandemic, dating app usage has skyrocketed, with Tinder recording 300 billion swipes in a day and other dating apps recording an increase in activity. Hookup culture can be great...
  • Why the World Needs ‘Dataism,’ the New Art Movement That Helps Us Understand How Our World Is Shaped by Big Data

    10/19/2022 5:38:25 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 10 replies
    ARTnews ^ | September 23, 2022 | Albert-László Barabási
    The head of the scientist-and-artist collective BarabásiLab reflects on the transformative power of data in art.The 1961 Jasper Johns work 0 Through 9, which depicts the numerical figures stacked one on top of the other and scaled to fill the whole canvas, is art’s early acknowledgment of the important role that numbers play in our lives. Five years later, On Kawara began a series of small canvases, each painted with nothing more than the date—in simple white letters and digits—of its creation. His “Today” series, which now numbers more than 3,000 canvases, relies on the same indicators of numerical...
  • Is This Why PayPal Are FREEZING Accounts?! (Including Mine)

    10/19/2022 3:10:25 AM PDT · by EBH · 85 replies
    YouTube ^ | 10/12/22 | Neil McCoy-Ward
    This video is a bit longer for most people at 25 minutes. Neil takes a deep dive into the Paypal issue and how it is affecting users as they pull out of the Paypal system. He also looks at how their $2500 fine announcement and retraction has affected their stock and how it looks like Paypal may be experiencing a liquidity crisis. Neil continues to share how these political policies are affecting organizations on both the Right and the Left.
  • Wind farms may pose risks for condor repopulation program

    10/19/2022 1:07:46 AM PDT · by Libloather · 21 replies
    LA Times via MSN ^ | 10/18/22 | Natacha Pisarenko, Daniel Politi
    It was a sunny morning when about 200 people trudged up a hill in southern Argentina's Patagonia region with a singular mission: free two Andean condors that had been born in captivity. While members of the Mapuche, the largest Indigenous group in the area, played traditional instruments, and a group of children threw condor feathers into the air to symbolize their good wishes for the newly liberated birds, an eerie silence engulfed the mountain in Sierra Paileman in Rio Negro province as researchers opened the cages where the two specimens of the world’s largest flying bird were kept. **SNIP** The...
  • Ubuntu Once Again Angered Users by Placing Ads in the Terminal

    10/18/2022 12:03:58 PM PDT · by ShadowAce · 11 replies
    linuxiac ^ | 15 October 2022 | Bobby Borisov
    Ubuntu has once again sparked debate among Linux users by implementing a very controversial approach – using the most often used shell command, notably the software update tool, to advertise its service.But first, let me explain what this is all about.Ubuntu Pro Ad in Command ShellCanonical has recently launched a fantastic initiative – a free personal Ubuntu Pro subscription for up to five machines. In other words, they opened up its previously paid-for Ubuntu Pro update service free of charge.So far, so good. The news flooded the Internet, well received by all users. And everything would have been perfect if...
  • Elon Musk tells Dave Portnoy he has plan to address number of Twitter bots

    10/18/2022 12:19:18 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 6 replies
    Fox News ^ | October 18, 2022 12:34am EDT | Landon Mion
    Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Monday he has a plan to tackle the high number of spam robots or “bots” on Twitter, as he intends to purchase the social media company. Dave Portnoy, the founder of Barstool Sports, complained in a tweet to Musk Monday night that he was seeing too many bots on the platform. […] Bots are automated accounts that help drive traffic on Twitter. They appear like real accounts controlled by a person. They retweet posts, like posts and follow other accounts. Advertisers, marketing agencies and other companies are looking to reach real human accounts,...
  • Kyle Rittenhouse launches YouTube channel for 'great content' on GUNS and the Second Amendment as the 19-year-old Kenosha shooter notches up thousands of subscribers in just hours

    10/17/2022 10:40:55 PM PDT · by Morgana · 26 replies
    Daily Mail UK ^ | October 17, 2021 | staff
    Kyle Rittenhouse has started a YouTube channel devoted to his love of guns and the Second Amendment. The Kenosha shooter shared his first video Sunday, telling fans he is 'super excited' to create content 'about guns and talking the 2nd amendment.' In a 35-second teaser trailer for the channel, he appears alongside a fellow gun-rights advocate to promote 'great content' to come from his channel. In the channel's bio, the 19-year-old doesn't shy away from mentioning his controversial past. 'You might remember me as the kid who defended himself with a firearm during the 2020 riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin,' Rittenhouse...
  • New Alchimist attack framework hits Windows, Linux and Mac

    10/17/2022 11:33:45 AM PDT · by ShadowAce · 8 replies
    techrepublic ^ | 13 October 2022 | Cedric Pernet
    A standalone Command and Control (C2) server called “Alchimist” was recently discovered by Cisco Talos. The framework has been designed to run attacks via standalone GoLang-based executables that can be distributed easily. The framework found by Talos contains both the whole web user interface and the payloads.GoLang-written frameworkGo programming language, also known as GoLang, becomes increasingly popular for developers looking to compile their code on multiple different systems and architecture. As an example, we recently wrote about the Sliver offensive framework, fully written in Go. It is therefore no wonder that more cybercriminals are also adopting it.Alchimist, whose name has...
  • The computer errors from outer space

    10/16/2022 10:23:04 AM PDT · by BenLurkin · 17 replies
    BBC ^ | 11th October 2022 | Chris Baraniuk
    When computers go wrong, we tend to assume it's just some software hiccup, a bit of bad programming. But ionising radiation, including rays of protons blasted towards us by the sun, can also be the cause. These incidents, called single-event upsets, are rare and it can be impossible to be sure that cosmic rays were involved in a specific malfunction because they leave no trace behind them. And yet they have been singled out as the possible culprits behind numerous extraordinary cases of computer failure. From a vote-counting machine [?!?!} that added thousands of non-existent votes to a candidate's tally,...
  • 'I let my guard down': Scammers targeting small business owners with Instagram takeover trick

    10/15/2022 10:08:00 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 14 replies
    Channel News Asia ^ | 16 Oct 2022 | Aqil Haziq Mahmud
    Scammers are duping small business owners into sending the password reset link to their Instagram page under the guise of confirming their identity.Small business owner Dayana Rizal, 27, is no stranger to dealing with online buyers, but the one she encountered on Oct 3 seemed particularly - in her words - "harmless". Ms Dayana, who sold clay mugs on her now-defunct Instagram page potekceramics, said the buyer was a sweet talker who seemed clueless about how to purchase her mugs online. The buyer, using a private Instagram account with a few hundred followers, sent Ms Dayana a direct message with...
  • Taiwan Security Bureau: No Need to Destroy TSMC's Fabs If China Invades

    10/13/2022 8:02:16 PM PDT · by libh8er · 14 replies
    Tom’s Hardware ^ | 10.12.2022 | Anton Shilov
    Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturing prowess might be one reason for China to invade the island and seize fabs belonging to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., United Microelectronics Corp., and Micron. One of the potential responses to such a plan could be evacuating personnel and destroying the fabs, suggested Parameters, a top U.S. army publication recently. But this might be unnecessary, according to Taiwan’s National Security Bureau. To build chips using leading-edge process technologies, TSMC needs leading-edge chip production equipment from companies like ASML, Applied Materials, and KLA. Even if China invades the island and seizes TSMC’s fabs without access to advanced equipment...
  • [video game] Starfield's Massive Dialogue System Exceeds 250,000 Lines

    10/13/2022 4:45:04 PM PDT · by BenLurkin · 8 replies
    dualshockers.com ^ | MATTHEW SCHOMER
    Bethesda has become well-known for its in-depth dialogue and deeply story-driven approach to game design, and its upcoming space-travel title Starfield looks like it will be no exception. The game will incorporate what Howard calls his "favorite speech persuasion system," which he says is set apart from the standard and will require a point-spending speech check system. "It feels like it's part of the dialogue, but you're spending points to persuade them," he explains. "It feels natural, not like I've entered some other mode ... I'm in this mode of persuading you to get what I want." Another topic of...
  • Microsoft's HoloLens headsets are giving US Army testers nausea

    10/13/2022 4:38:16 PM PDT · by BenLurkin · 6 replies
    ntegrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) iteration is creating problems for soldiers in tests. Some testers suffered nausea, headaches and eyestrain while using the augmented reality goggles. Others were concerned about bulk, a limited field of view and a display glow that could reveal a soldier's position even at long distances. The Defense Department's Operational Test and Evaluation Director, Nickolas Guertin, also said there were still too many failures for essential features. Soldier acceptance is still low, according to the report. The tests are part of a "Soldier Touch Point" program that helps the Army collect real-world feedback and help Microsoft...
  • Japanese woman conned out of $30,000 by ‘astronaut’ who promised marriage but was ‘stuck’ in space

    10/12/2022 10:23:57 PM PDT · by DallasBiff · 20 replies
    Yahoo ^ | 10/11/22 | Carl Samson
    A fraudster has taken international romance scams out of this world by claiming to be an astronaut and conning a 65-year-old woman out of millions of yen, Japanese police announced last week. The scam reportedly began when the pair corresponded through Instagram on June 28. The con artist, who has yet to be identified, claimed to be a Russian cosmonaut working in the International Space Station (ISS). Romance between the two quickly blossomed. The “astronaut” eventually expressed his intent to marry the Japanese senior but said he could not leave the ISS unless he had enough money. “Even if I...
  • Adult performer breaks back jumping into foam pit at San Diego streamer convention

    10/12/2022 5:31:44 PM PDT · by BenLurkin · 31 replies
    ktla ^ | Travis Schlepp
    Adriana Chechik, who has more than 3.8 million followers on Instagram and over 800,000 followers on Twitch, was one of the thousands of people in attendance at TwitchCon Saturday and Sunday in San Diego. The sold-out convention brought together streamers and fans for meetups, panels and exhibits. One of the interactive exhibits at the sold-out convention was a booth organized by tech company Lenovo. The booth featured foam sword battles on an elevated platform with a foam pit below. It was set up in a “Gladiator” style battle, allowing for two people to duke it out with foam weapons or...
  • WATCH: A Dish of Brain Cells Figured Out How to Play Pong in 5 Minutes

    10/12/2022 9:39:50 AM PDT · by Red Badger · 32 replies
    Science Alert ^ | 13 October 2022 By MICHELLE STARR
    How many brain cells does it take to play a video game? No, really. That's not a joke, and there isn't a punchline. Instead, there's a real actual answer, thanks to a neural network system called DishBrain. If that game is Pong, the number of brain cells is around 800,000. While their slow-moving, one-sided strategy for digital table tennis won't see them win any e-sports championships in the near future, it does reflect the potential in fusing living tissues with silicon technology. VIDEO AT LINK.............. This is the first synthetic biological intelligence experiment that shows neurons can adjust their activity...