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Computers/Internet (General/Chat)

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  • Another Friday Night PC Wrestling Match! Dell 3420 Tower "almost there" / "Ghost" drive letters question...

    07/14/2023 6:57:40 PM PDT · by Paul R. · 15 replies
    Me | 7/14/2023 | Paul R.
    After considerable grief(!) I have my new (refurbished) Dell Precision Tower 3420 just about ready to take over as my "main" desktop PC. The NVME M.2 drive is back to being the boot & programs drive (see note on using Acronis cloning software below), a 500 GB Crucial MX500 SSD is installed as the data drive (but also has Win10 Pro and a few other programs on it as an immediate fallback should the primary drive fail), and I've copied all my data files from my old HP Win 7 Pro machine onto a 240 GB SDD (actually the original...
  • Elon Musk Openly Ponders About Tesla Making a Smartphone . . . Which Means They Already Are

    07/14/2023 1:11:48 PM PDT · by Red Badger · 43 replies
    Liberty Daily ^ | Jul. 14, 2023 | By J.D. Rucker
    Elon Musk took to Twitter and declared Tesla is making its own smartphone. He didn’t explicitly announce it, saying they “should” do it, but if we’ve learned anything about Elon Musk over the last couple of years it’s that he doesn’t hint at anything unless it’s already happening. Tesla should create its own smartphone. Your information will never be collected. Would you use it? This came from his “parody” account, but it’s actually his account. And to answer his question, yes, people would use it… but he already knew that. The cult-like following of Tesla and Musk is similar to...
  • The SAG/WGA Strike Could Affect Content Creators. Here's What to Do About It. ('You'll Be Known as a Scab')

    07/13/2023 11:48:15 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 30 replies
    Mashable ^ | July 13, 2023 | Elizabeth de Luna
    Actors aren't working right now, so studios will turn to you for content in their place. Don't fall for it.If you're a content creator, the SAG/WGA strike will likely affect you in some way. It might change the way you view Hollywood, affect what opportunities are available to you, or keep your loved ones from finding work. Here's a quick run down of why you should support the strike and how you can show solidarity. What is this strike about? What are SAG and WGA striking over? We've put together a helpful summary at this link but basically, amidst an...
  • Phosphate Discovered in Norway Could Help in Electric Power Generation for the Next 50 Years

    07/13/2023 6:54:34 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 8 replies
    Times of India ^ | Jul 14, 2023,
    A significant discovery has been made in Norway that could have a positive impact on electric cars. Norge Mining, a government organization responsible for finding valuable minerals, recently found large deposits of phosphate rocks in the country. These rocks can be used to power electric cars. According to the mining company, there could be up to 70 billion tonnes of phosphorus in Norway, which is enough to meet the demand for electric power generation for the next 50 years. Phosphorus is an important mineral listed by the European Union as crucial to the economy. Previously, the largest deposits of phosphate...
  • Tens of millions of Americans' private details compromised after three major tax preparation companies accused of sharing information with Google and Meta

    07/13/2023 1:07:44 AM PDT · by Libloather · 18 replies
    Daily Mail ^ | 7/12/23 | Tilly Armstrong
    Three of America's largest tax preparation companies have been accused of sharing tens of millions of taxpayers' sensitive financial data with tech giants Google and Meta without their consent. A seven-month congressional probe, led by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, alleges H&R Block, TaxAct and TaxSlayer used visitor tracking technology embedded in websites to share the information. In a potential violation of federal law, the investigation found data was in some cases misused by Facebook parent company Meta for targeted advertising. According to the report, alongside sharing data such as addresses and phone numbers, companies also shared details about taxpayers' filing...
  • Eh-I? Kamala Harris' latest 'word salad' gaffe sees VP attempt to explain artificial intelligence - with VERY confusing results

    07/13/2023 12:16:40 AM PDT · by dennisw · 28 replies
    Mail on line ^ | 13 July 2023 | By KEITH GRIFFITH and NIKKI SCHWAB
    Harris faced criticism over her remarks at a round table on AI on Wednesday 'AI is kind of a fancy thing. First of all, it's two letters,' she explained It came a day after Harris delivered a memorable explanation of transportation Vice President Kamala Harris is facing ridicule over her latest awkward turn of phrase, after she delivered a jumbled explanation of artificial intelligence. 'AI is kind of a fancy thing. First of all, it's two letters. It means 'Artificial Intelligence," Harris told a roundtable gathering of labor and civil rights leaders in Washington DC on Wednesday. She continued: 'It's...
  • Kids LGBTQ Youtube Channel Reads Abortion Picture Book

    07/12/2023 6:42:00 PM PDT · by Morgana · 2 replies
    Odins Men ^ | July 12, 2023 | Odins Men
    Kids LGBTQ Youtube Channel Reads Abortion Picture Book LGBT Youtube channel for kids reads a picture book about what abortion is to kids. They should just talk about "What does an IED explosion look like anyway"
  • It's not just tech. FOMO is in full swing across the stock market, and investors are about to be disappointed.

    07/12/2023 7:35:54 AM PDT · by millenial4freedom · 21 replies
    Market Watch ^ | 07/11/2023 | Matthew Fox
    The stock market is overvalued, and it's not just the tech sector that appears stretched, according to JPMorgan's chief global market strategist Marko Kolanovic.The S&P 500's forward price-to-earnings ratio is currently 19.4x, and when you back out tech and AI stocks, the remaining 65% of the index trades at 17.4x, according to Kolanovic. That's not cheap, as the historical forward P/E of the index is 15.3x, meaning that current valuations represent a 10% premium. "FOMO is in full swing, there is complacency being built into stocks with VIX at the lows of its range," Kolanovic said in a Monday note....
  • After 30 Years, Linux Finally Hits 3% Market Share

    07/12/2023 4:56:02 AM PDT · by ShadowAce · 60 replies
    linuxiac ^ | 09 July 2023 | Bobby Borisov
    Linux enthusiasts rejoice! After a long journey, according to StatCounter’s data, by June 2023, Linux has achieved a 3% desktop market share.Linux has a long history that dates back more than 30 years. However, it has never been as popular among regular computer users as other operating systems such as Microsft’s Windows or Apple’s macOS.Of course, for many years, Linux has emerged as a dominant force in the realm of server operating systems. Due to its exceptional performance, stability, reliability, and security, it has been widely adopted in server/cloud/IoT environments.However, these days, Linux is no longer limited to these environments...
  • Sarah Silverman Is Suing the Creators of ChatGPT

    07/11/2023 2:09:58 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 25 replies
    Far Out Magazine ^ | MON 10TH JUL 2023 | Thomas Leatham
    Actor and comedian Sarah Silverman is suing the creators of AI software ChatGPT over the unauthorised use of her 2010 book The Bedwetter. The details arrived in a lawsuit last Friday (July 7th) in a U.S. District Court. Silverman has come together with writers Richard Kadrey and Christopher Golden in two lawsuits against OpenAI and Meta, the creators of the AI chatbot LLaMA, a river to ChatGPT. The suits have been filed accusing the companies of illegally training their respective AI programmes with texts from the above-stated authors’ works without acquiring permission. They go on to explain that the AI...
  • Harvard study: Why a record number of Americans are struggling to pay rent

    07/11/2023 9:01:13 AM PDT · by millenial4freedom · 22 replies
    yahoo! Finance ^ | 07/11/2023 | Rebecca Chen
    A record number of American renters are spending at least one-third of their income on rents, according to 2023 The State of the Nation's Housing published by Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. A total of 21.6 million households now spend more than 30% of pre-tax income on rent. Some households are even paying even up to 50% of earnings on apartments, per Harvard’s research. Housing experts often suggest tenants spend less than 30% of income on rent.“Housing costs remain well above pre-pandemic levels thanks to the substantial increases over the last few years,” Daniel McCue, senior research associate at...
  • Unearthing Rare Earth Elements – Scientists Use AI To Find Rare Materials

    07/10/2023 3:24:20 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 13 replies
    SciTechDaily ^ | JULY 9, 2023
    By harnessing patterns in mineral associations, a new machine-learning model can predict the locations of minerals on Earth and potentially, other planets. This advancement is of immense value to science and industry, as they continually explore mineral deposits to unravel the planet’s history and to mine resources for practical applications, such as rechargeable batteries. A team led by Shaunna Morrison and Anirudh Prabhu aimed to develop a method for identifying the occurrence of particular minerals, an objective that has traditionally been considered as much an art as it is a science. This process has often been dependent on individual experience...
  • Baldur's Gate III Boasts 'Tender, Consensual' Sex With a Bear

    07/10/2023 2:01:10 PM PDT · by Ciaphas Cain · 23 replies
    CBR.com ^ | July 7, 2023 | Julia Anderson
    Baldur's Gate III evelopers Larian got its livestream banned on TikTok after it revealed a spicy scene with a bear. Per IGN, the scene in question, which is still available to view on Twitch, sees the player as Astarion share a tender moment with a bear. The bear in question is actually a Druid, Halsin, taking Wildshape bear form after the two agree to have sex. The scene is partly played for laughs, according to Larian, as evidenced by the shot of a squirrel witnessing the moment and dropping its acorn. "Every single person who's seen it is like, 'oh...
  • Apple Will Permanently Delete iPhone Photos in July: Here’s How to Keep Yours Safe

    07/09/2023 8:40:13 PM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 40 replies
    Epoch Times ^ | 07/09/2023 | Jack Phillips
    Apple will permanently delete a photo album from iPhones in about two weeks and has stopped uploading pictures to it, the company confirmed.My Photo Stream is an iCloud service that originally launched in 2011. What the service does is temporarily uploads photos taken on a device so they can be seen on another device with My Photo Stream enabled. It also allows users to import the pictures to that device.Up to around 1,000 photos can be stored in My Photo Stream for about 30 days. They are then automatically deleted from Apple’s iCloud.But it will no longer be available in...
  • A 79-year-old mathematician may have just solved an infinite dimension puzzle that's vexed theorists for decades

    07/09/2023 1:35:35 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 48 replies
    SPACE.com ^ | Nathan Brownlowe
    Mathematician Per Enflo, who solved a huge chunk of the 'invariant subspaces problem' decades ago, may have just finished his work.This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Nathan Brownlowe, Senior Lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sydney. Two weeks ago, a modest-looking paper was uploaded to the arXiv preprint server with the unassuming title "On the invariant subspace problem in Hilbert spaces". The paper is just 13 pages long and its list of references contains only a single entry. The paper...
  • Arizona GOP state senator could face REVENGE PORN charges for sharing X-rated Hunter Biden photos on Twitter

    07/09/2023 10:14:11 AM PDT · by Libloather · 55 replies
    Daily Mail ^ | 7/09/23 | Emma James
    A Republican GOP state senator could face criminal charges for revenge porn after sharing explicit images of Hunter Biden on social media. Arizona Senator Wendy Rogers retweeted footage of the First Son to her 300,000 followers on Twitter, which included several X-rated images. Posting online, Rogers – a staunch advocate for former President Trump - said: 'It's all here in black and white. Oh, and apparently in NBC living color.' She has since removed the footage and has been warned that her social media post was a 'mistake' by another Republican – who claims she didn't realize the images were...
  • Even the Search Engines Don't Know Why...

    07/09/2023 8:27:07 AM PDT · by Paul R. · 30 replies
    Me | 7/9/2023 | Paul R.
    Sometimes, certain things can become very annoying. And here is one, that likely only male members of FR might think of and surely (or at least very, VERY hopefully!) only our guys have experienced: Sweatpants / running pants / jogging pants can be handy and quite comfy, sweatpants in cool weather especially so. BUT, the darn things almost never have some sort of fly, as in a zippered or buttoned or "snapped" (securely!) fly. This can be a bit of a, well, "pain", or at least an inconvenience, especially if the waist is a bit tight, and, well, I won't...
  • Battery Backups

    07/08/2023 9:08:13 AM PDT · by eyeamok · 62 replies
    07/07/23 | self
    I run my own DNS servers and Mail server, I have purchased a few battery backups that are available, they work but they only work for a limited time. With one backup per computer, which I have 3, they will run for about 45 minutes if the power goes out. None of them work properly with Windows Server 19 to shut down system then restart when the power comes back on. I have had to make multiple emergency trips to my home in Arizona where they are setup, just to turn them back on. Yes it sucks. I decided to...
  • TikTok now sponsoring human smuggling

    07/08/2023 6:43:43 AM PDT · by eastexsteve · 4 replies
    The Dallas Express ^ | 07/08/2023 | Noah DeGarmo
    The popular social media app TikTok is reportedly hosting videos intended to recruit people to help smuggle humans in Dallas and throughout Texas.
  • You can now join Meta’s Twitter rival, Threads: Launched as a competitor to Twitter, Meta’s new platform is far from a perfect clone

    07/06/2023 10:00:20 AM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 42 replies
    Popular Science ^ | 07/06/2023 | SARA KILEY WATSON
    On Wednesday evening, Meta released their “friendly” alternative to Twitter called Threads. Within seven hours of its launch, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerburg claimed that 10 million people have signed up. The Instagram-linked competitor (you currently need an Instagram account to sign up for Threads) currently looks more or less just like Twitter. Users can post text-based messages up to 500 characters, as well as videos or photos, and respond to or repost other posts. However, unlike Twitter, direct messaging is currently unavailable, and hashtags are nowhere to be found. Also, if you decide Threads isn’t for you, the only way...