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“We’ve come such a long way,” she says in a welcome speech. “Looking at the guest list for today, 10% of you in the room are LTK millionaires.” Everyone swivels their heads in search of these mystery super earners. A man next to me, clad entirely in black, whispers, “Damn, let me take off my sunglasses and take a look around.” LTK has revolutionized the online shopping experience with what Box describes as a win-win-win model. The company allows influencers to post links to products they’re wearing, carrying, and decorating with on the LTK platform, which their followers can access...

The first successful demonstration of quantum teleportation over a fiber optic cable has been achieved, according to groundbreaking new research. The breakthrough, made by engineers at Northwestern University and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE), presents new potentials in the realm of quantum communication by allowing it to be combined with existing cables used for providing Internet. This innovative approach reduces the requirement for additional infrastructure needed for quantum computing or quantum sensing technologies. Previously thought to be impossible, the Northwestern team responsible for the breakthrough says their work showcases the next stage in leveraging a single fiber...

Photo of the experimental setup to couple MWs to N- 𝑉⁢s using grape dimers. A stripped optical fiber with N- 𝑉 spins, cantilevered from a rod, lies between two grapes. The grapes were positioned on a platform with a vertical straight copper wire, equidistant from each grape. Credit: Fawaz, Nair, Volz Scientists at Macquarie University have discovered a novel way to enhance quantum sensor performance using ordinary grapes. By utilizing the water content and specific size of grapes, they created strong magnetic field hotspots that improve the efficiency of microwave-based quantum sensing. Supermarket Grapes and Quantum Sensors Researchers at Macquarie...

My friend @JoshuaSteinman is dropping bombshells about H-1B visas, and I’ve got a story to add. tl;dr – It’s a cultural problem. I spent years in India, working directly for one of the country’s wealthiest individuals. He recruited me for my computer skills to lead some of the most ambitious, technically challenging projects ever attempted. We broke world records and unlocked trillions in wealth. My boss? He now lives in a skyscraper in Mumbai. Toward the end of the project, he told me his best engineers were leaving for Silicon Valley, lured by unbelievable salaries. So, on his recommendation, I...

A now-banned FReeper used to do this every year, these were always fun.

For the last week the only thing anyone on Twitter – and, by extension, the rest of the Internet – has been talking about is the H1B visa. The fun started when Sriram Krishnan, brought on by the incoming Trump administration as an Artificial Intelligence policy advisor, mused about lifting country caps on the widely reviled H1B visa. This elicited enthusiastic support from a chorus of tech CEOs, who insisted that there is a severe shortage of skilled engineers in the United States and, presumably, the West more generally, which can only be met by poaching the ‘best and brightest’...

Video In 2018, Rob Joyce, then Donald Trump's White House Cybersecurity Coordinator, gave a surprise talk at the legendary hacking conference Shmoocon about his hobby. As the former head of the NSA's Tailored Access Operations squad – the people who crack systems and gather intelligence for the US government – Joyce was also the friendly public face of the agency. The agency didn't come out of the Edward Snowden affair with a great reputation when the ex-NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower made public the existence of the NSA data collection programs back in June 2013. Many in the security industry were peeved at...

s this Georgia, or Jersey? A family of angry masons wielding baseball bats, sticks and a a lever-action rifle allegedly launched a Sopranos-style assault on a rival paving company outside Macon, Georgia when they saw the compeitor doing a job near one of their homes. Cops collared six members of the Buckland family Dec. 19 after the bloody, broad-daylight beatdown on guys from rival EH Paving at a Monroe County job site, according to WMAZ. “Like something out of ‘The Sopranos,’” Monroe County Sheriff Brad Freeman told the outlet. The Buckland boys thought EH Paving was being “disrespectful” by working...

Mumbai: The fierce row over Indian immigrants and H-1B visas that’s roiling Donald Trump’s team even before he takes office misses the point and isn’t borne out by data, said Aravind Srinivas, founder of Perplexity AI. Illegal immigration is the real issue, said the IIT graduate who’s worked at DeepMind and OpenAI, and is himself in the US on an H-1B visa. “Clearly, it surprised everybody online and it's not exactly data driven--the claims that the H-1B or Indian immigrants are taking away the jobs of laid-off American tech workers,” he told ET in an interview. “Indians are also being...

As the year winds down, it’s that time again when the internet is flooded with articles declaring which Linux distribution was the best of the year—this time, for 2024.These pieces can be fun to read, but let’s be honest: almost no one fully agrees with the opinions they present. If I dare say, even the authors themselves might not be entirely convinced by the conclusions they’ve written.The reason is simple: there has never been—and never will be—a single “best Linux distribution.” It all comes down to one essential question: what is the specific use case for a given distribution?I’m trying...

Merry Christmas, dear readers! It’s that magical time of year when we pause to reflect on the past and celebrate the moments that made this year special.As a media covering the latest from the Linux and FOSS ecosystem, we’ve kept you updated with the most important developments in this vibrant field. Now, as 2024 comes to a close, let’s take a moment to look back at the highlights that defined this year.2024 in Review: Key Moments in Linux and FOSSThis year has brought plenty of exciting developments in the Linux and open-source world—most of them overwhelmingly positive. Of course, not...

The Silicon Valley immigration priority was not the topic I thought would explode and fracture the tenuous MAGA alignment with the New Big Tech group represented by Elon Musk and his billionaire network. However, we learn more every day. This is a jaw-dropping moment to watch unfold as a very influential sector of the political discourse begins a full-frontal attack against those who are pointing out how the tech community abuse H1B visas to replace American workers. In the background, of course, is the context of widespread immigration policy fraud being one of the priorities for the average Trump supporter....

Certain 2024 election results in California took many by surprise. The Golden State's residents, for example, rejected another term for progressive Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, backed by billionaire George Soros. They also overwhelmingly voted — at more than 70% — in favor of Proposition 36, the Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act, which seeks to undo portions of Proposition 47 from 2014 by increasing penalties for some crimes. The proposition, which took effect Dec. 18, will allow felony charges to be filed against those possessing certain drugs and those who commit thefts under $950. Additionally, people...

Tony Heller @TonyClimate Antarctic sea ice extent is 17% higher today than it was in 1979. Ice doesn't lie, but climate scientists do. https://noaadata.apps.nsidc.org/NOAA/G02135/south/daily/images/1979/12_Dec/S_19791224_extn_v3.0.png https://noaadata.apps.nsidc.org/NOAA/G02135/south/daily/images/2024/12_Dec/S_20241224_extn_v3.0.png

An NYU study using Fitbit data suggests that modest weekly physical activity may reduce atrial fibrillation risk by up to 65%, underscoring the heart health benefits of regular exercise. A new study reveals that adding an extra hour of physical activity each week can reduce the risk of developing the most common type of irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) by 11%. Led by researchers at NYU Langone Health, the investigation focused on atrial fibrillation, a condition in which the heart’s upper two chambers beat rapidly and irregularly instead of at a consistent pace. If left untreated, this can lead to stroke, heart...

Ugly-ass new logo Mozilla earned approximately 80% of its income through “revenue-sharing” deals with Google, pushing Google’s search engine as Firefox’s default choice. Now that Google faces antitrust investigations for this practice, Mozilla and Firefox may suffer a concomitant reduction in revenues. So what does Mozilla do? They “rebrand” themselves as “advocates” and “activists,” fighting “misinformation.” Among other marketing gobbledygook at this website, Mozilla’s rebranding director describes her client as “a trailblazing, activist organization in both its mission and its approach…. The new brand presence captures this uniqueness, reflecting Mozilla’s refreshed strategy to ‘reclaim the internet.’ The modern, digital-first identity...

1. Modern Encryption Methods Will Be Rendered UselessFinancial technologies are completely dependent on modern encryption methods. Any password or key can be cracked by brute-force attack, but currently, computing power does not allow attackers to succeed in a reasonable time. With the release of quantum computing into the public sector, all encryption becomes useless, and currently, the industry has no answer on how to deal with it. - Pavlo Sidelov, SDK.finance2. Web Interactions Will Be At RiskThe breakdown of prevalent cryptographic technology is an infrastructural risk. Most security technology is based on our current inability to quickly find the prime...

Run Dialog box is something that is one of the favorite utilities for an avid Windows user. Its been around since Windows 95 and became an important part of Windows User Experience over the years. While its only duty is to quickly open apps and other tools, many power users like us at TechCult, love the handy nature of the Run dialog box. Since it can access any tool, setting, or app as long as you know the command for it, we decided to give you the cheat sheet to help you breeze through Windows like a pro...pressing Windows +...

The Egyptian government has yet again rented out the pyramids to the highest bidder—this time to American YouTuber MrBeast. “We got all three of the pyramids of Egypt for 100 hours. I’m gonna do a video where they let me explore anywhere I want in the Pyramids,” MrBeast revealed during the “Beyond the Records” podcast with Noah Lyles. MrBeast is known for organizing and filming extreme challenges and prize giveaways. “I’d never been inside of [the pyramids]. I want to just find secrets and go through all the rooms and tombs and that kind of stuff,” he continued. “I’m so...

A Nasa spacecraft is attempting to make history with the closest ever approach to the Sun. The Parker Solar Probe is plunging into our star's outer atmosphere, enduring brutal temperatures and extreme radiation. It's out of communication for several days during this burning hot fly-by and scientists will be waiting for a signal, expected on 27 December, to see if it has survived. The hope is the probe could help us to better understand how the Sun works. Dr Nicola Fox, head of science at Nasa, told BBC News: "For centuries, people have studied the Sun, but you don't experience...