Free Republic

Artistic view of the imploding wire: a strong current of high-energy electrons (pink) heats up the surface, thus driving subsequent shockwaves that compress the wire radially. Credit: HZDR / T. Toncian, edited Using a novel laser method, scientists mimicked the extreme environments of stars and planets, enhancing our understanding of astrophysical phenomena and supporting nuclear fusion research. Extreme conditions prevail inside stars and planets. The pressure reaches millions of bars, and it can be several million degrees hot. Sophisticated methods make it possible to create such states of matter in the laboratory – albeit only for the blink of an...

Every time I write about electric cars, there is an explosion of hostile comments online in which readers angrily denounce electric vehicles and the people who drive them. Much of this animus rests on a plausible yet mistaken assumption — that EV owners are all passionate environmentalists, sanctimoniously swanning around in their zero–emission vehicles while disdaining the ghastly, planet-killing masses burning dinosaur juice. Let me disabuse you of this. That stereotype was perhaps partly fair when applied to the Toyota Prius — although even then I suspect it concerned only a minority of owners. In the case of fully electric...

Facial recognition technology will soon be enabled at every security checkpoint inside Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport ... The Smart Travel project, currently being implemented inside the futuristic flight hub serving the capital of the wealthy United Arab Emirates, will replace the traditional screening process — and the whipping out of travel documents, like a passport or ID card. ... The capability will reportedly also be implemented at duty-free shops, lounges and boarding gates as well. The goal is to have the biometric concept — which has courted controversy in the United States — fully running in 2025 at nine...

We need to stop treating technology and those who know how it works like a commodity. Because when you do that, you're quietly creating an elaborate and expensive mess down the road. ..asking tech to code itself seems like a great idea. On paper. But it's only when you ask AI to code something that's going to generate the revenue needed to pay for itself and the company's future growth that you'll realize that AI doesn't know how to shrug. .. Techies, especially software developers, are terrible at marketing. Especially when marketing themselves. So when the boom cycles in the...

US stocks again soared to fresh all-time highs on Wednesday as Jerome Powell's remarks on Capitol Hill buoyed rate-cut hopes and Big Tech stocks piled on the gains. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 1% for a 37th record close this year, breaching 5,600 for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) jumped 1.1%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) gained 1.2%. The S&P and Nasdaq were each higher for the seventh straight session. Tech's biggest names continued to rise, powering the gains of the broader market. The AI darling Nvidia (NVDA) advanced more than 2%, while Apple, (AAPL),...

Last hour pr so…

Can Windows 11 Pro be used with 6th or 7th gen Intel processors without running into lack of support problems with Microsoft? I see MANY refurbs on eBay with such combinations, yet SFAIK Microsoft still says it does not support Intel processors that are not at least 8th generation.

It has officially happened-- Mechanic says he can’t work on your car because they’ve officially been locked out of computer systemsThe car companies want to put small guy out of businessA mechanic went viral when he posted a TikTok about technicians being locked out of computer systems in a new Dodge Ram.TikTok user Shorty of Shorty’s Speed Shop (@shortysspeedshop) garnered over 301,000 views when he showed viewers what mechanics had to do to be able to repair newer car models.“It has officially happened. 2024 Ram 3500, authorization denied,” Shorty said as he showed viewers the computer screen. “Cannot get into...

The IBM 3380 Direct Access Storage Device (DASD) marked the pinnacle of 14-inch disks in 1981. Utilizing nine platters, it broke the 1 gigabyte barrier with a total capacity of 1,260 MB and ultimately reached 2.52 GB when two HDAs were paired. A three-capacity version was offered in 1987. The IBM 3380 was revolutionary not just for its storage capacity but also for its impact on the data storage industry. It represented a significant leap in technology, providing businesses with unprecedented storage capabilities that were essential for the growing demands of data processing in the 1980s. One HDA (as pictured)...

Research has revealed concerning findings about AI systems known as large language models (LLMs) and their ability to deceive human observers intentionally. Two studies, one published in the journal PNAS and the other in Patterns, highlight the unsettling capabilities of LLMs. The PNAS paper, authored by German AI ethicist Thilo Hagendorff, suggests that advanced LLMs can exhibit “Machiavellianism,” or intentional and amoral manipulativeness, which can lead to deceptive behavior. Mr. Hagendorff notes that GPT-4, a model within OpenAI’s GPT family, demonstrated deceptive behavior in simple test scenarios 99.2% of the time.

The tech layoff wave is still going strong in 2024. Following significant workforce reductions in 2022 and 2023, this year has already seen 60,000 job cuts across 254 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. Companies like Tesla, Amazon, Google, TikTok, Snap and Microsoft have conducted sizable layoffs in the first months of 2024. Smaller-sized startups have also seen a fair amount of cuts, and in some cases, have shut down operations altogether.By tracking these layoffs, we’re able to understand the impact on innovation across companies large and small. We’re also able to see the potential impact of businesses embracing...

With more than a third of North American homes protected by a video doorbell or some other Wi-Fi-dependent device, it’s reasonable to worry about the growing threat of Wi-Fi jammers. These mysterious devices can override your smart home security monitoring, effectively neutralizing the systems you’ve relied on for peace of mind. Indeed, these increasingly cheap and accessible jamming devices make it easier than ever for criminals to block your security system’s primary communications signal.

The startup offers an AI-based legacy service, which allows you to communicate with loved ones even after you die. Humanity has long sought, and failed, to achieve immortality. Now the AI era has a solution. Sort of. Eternos is a startup that creates AI voice clones of people so their loved ones can continue to interact with them after they've died. t's one of the more far out uses of generative AI, a technology with wide-ranging applicability, from generating content to planning summer travel, scheduling home repairs and translating baby cries. And as AI rapidly evolves, these use cases will...

A chemical engineer says his discovery of a ‘missing link’ to describe the movement of ions within supercapacitors could lead to laptops and phones that can be charged in just one minute and electric cars in less than ten.Previously, Kirchhoff’s Law, which has successfully described the movement of electrons since 1845, was limited in its definition. This resulted in an engineering roadblock that has prevented the adoption of supercapacitors to replace lithium-ion batteries in commercial applications.Now, Ankur Gupta, a chemical engineer from the University of Colorado at Boulder, says his findings modify Kirchhoff’s law in a way that allows engineers...

If you could, would you want to talk with someone who has died? What if that person was someone you deeply loved and cared for? I asked if you could because we now have technology that promises to make that scenario possible. Here’s a technology issue: it doesn’t go backward once it reaches a certain level. It only advances. Our world is now promoting it has the technology to have a conversation with the dead. Dadbot and HereAfter AI How do these conversations take place? Through a chatbot called Dadbot. Dadbot is on an interactive app called HereAfter AI. This...

Where did China get the idea to dominate specific sectors of the tech industry by pushing out US competitors? The plan, known as "Made in China 2025," was at least partly inspired by a 300-page book written for them by McKinsey and Company, an American strategy and management consulting firm. The Financial Times was the first to report on McKinsey's contribution to China's 13th five-year plan back in February.A McKinsey-led think-tank advised China to deepen co-operation between business and the military and push foreign companies out of sensitive industries as part of a project for the central government in 2015.The...

Popular artificial intelligence tools are becoming more covertly racist as they advance, says an alarming new report. A team of technology and linguistics researchers revealed this week that large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini hold racist stereotypes about speakers of African American Vernacular English, or AAVE, an English dialect created and spoken by Black Americans.... (more)

Microsoft has unveiled a new category of Windows PCs called Copilot+ at a special event held at their campus in Redmond, Washington. These PCs are designed to handle more AI tasks locally, thanks to powerful hardware that includes dedicated neural processing units (NPUs) capable of at least 45 trillion operations per second (TOPS). Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella introduced the Copilot+ PCs, calling them "the fastest, most intelligent Windows PCs ever built." The company has partnered with major PC manufacturers like Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer, ASUS, and Samsung, as well as chipmakers Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD to bring these devices to...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly ubiquitous and is improving at an unprecedented pace...But there are risks in embracing any new technology, especially one that we do not fully understand. While AI could be a powerful personal assistant, for example, it could also represent a threat to our livelihoods and even our lives.The various existential risks that an advanced AI poses means the technology should be guided by ethical frameworks and humanity's best interests, says researcher and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) member Nell Watson.In "Taming the Machine" (Kogan Page, 2024), Watson explores how humanity can wield the...

When I first starting writing for Breitbart.com way back in its first year, I was urged by my editors to make sure I carefully researched and documented any information in my columns. I would often insert the verifying link of the videos or newspaper resources to support the charges I asserted in the piece. At that time, I had full confidence in the videos I used as proof that supported the claims I was writing about. It is now 2024 and I have found that thanks to the technical advances in media manipulation, nothing is credible anymore. I have already...