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Submission + - California Drivers May Soon Get Mandatory In-Car Speed Warnings 1

Submitted by sinij
sinij writes:

Now California is looking to emulate the EU with legislation that would mandate in-car speed-warning devices. The bill, SB 961, aims to make such systems standard in the Golden State by requiring every 2030 model year vehicle to also have visual and audio warnings when driving more than 10 mph over the speed limit

More government-mandated anti-features.

Submission + - Vaporizing plastics recycles them into nothing but gas (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by echo123
echo123 writes: Polypropylene and polyethylene can be recycled, but the process can be difficult and often produces large quantities of the greenhouse gas methane. They are both polyolefins, which are the products of polymerizing ethylene and propylene, raw materials that are mainly derived from fossil fuels. The bonds of polyolefins are also notoriously hard to break.

Now, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have come up with a method of recycling these polymers that uses catalysts that easily break their bonds, converting them into propylene and isobutylene, which are gasses at room temperature. Those gasses can then be recycled into new plastics.

Submission + - Amazon Calls for Advertisers to Use AI-Generated Videos to Sell Products

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: When it comes to the authentic (Apple) vs illusory (Google) imagery debate, Amazon appears to be in the latter camp. On Thursday, Amazon Ads announced Video Generator and Live Image, "our first generative AI-powered technology designed to remove creative barriers and enable brands to produce lifestyle imagery that enhances ad performance."

From the Amazon News post: "Today at Accelerate, Amazon Ads announced a new feature that uses generative AI technology to make it easier for advertisers to create more interesting and relevant video ads for customers. The new feature, Video generator, creates visually rich video content in a matter of minutes and at no additional cost. Using a single product image, Video generator curates custom AI-generated videos tailored to a product's distinct selling proposition and features, leveraging Amazon's unique insights to vividly bring a product story to life."

An accompanying video demonstrates how Amazon's AI-powered tech can be used to animate still images, making it appear that steam is rising from a coffee mug, flowers are being blown in the wind, the night sky is changing breathtakingly behind a telescope, and that waves are breaking behind a smart speaker at the beach.

The Amazon Ads Video Generator announcement came a week after AWS CEO Matt Garman and other tech giant leaders convened in Washington DC and committed to partnering closely with the White House to maintain American leadership in AI that will achieve shared national security, economic, and environmental goals. "Developing and operating leading AI in the United States," a White House recap of the roundtable explained, "is vital for protecting national security and ensuring that AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy."

Submission + - Radar Used to Decode Silent Speech (ieee.org)

Submitted by rezoG
rezoG writes: Korean scientists were able to decode 'silent speech' using radar placed near a "speaker's" head and machine-learning techniques — discerning silent utterances at the phoneme (a fundamental unit of spoken words) level. The system does not require physical contact with the speaker, and "[the] study achieved average classification accuracies of 86.47%, 81.59%, 88.95%, and 96.88% for the vowels, consonants, words, and phrases, respectively."

Abstract: Several sensing techniques have been proposed for silent speech recognition (SSR); however, many of these methods require invasive processes or sensor attachment to the skin using adhesive tape or glue, rendering them unsuitable for frequent use in daily life. By contrast, impulse radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) radar can operate without physical contact with users’ articulators and related body parts, offering several advantages for SSR. These advantages include high range resolution, high penetrability, low power consumption, robustness to external light or sound interference, and the ability to be embedded in space-constrained handheld devices. This study demonstrated IR-UWB radar-based contactless SSR using four types of speech stimuli (vowels, consonants, words, and phrases). To achieve this, a novel speech feature extraction algorithm specifically designed for IR-UWB radar-based SSR is proposed. Each speech stimulus is recognized by applying a classification algorithm to the extracted speech features. Two different algorithms, multidimensional dynamic time warping (MD-DTW) and deep neural network—hidden Markov model (DNN–HMM), were compared for the classification task. Additionally, a favorable radar antenna position, either in front of the user’s lips or below the user’s chin, was determined to achieve higher recognition accuracy. Experimental results demonstrated the efficacy of the proposed speech feature extraction algorithm combined with DNN–HMM for classifying vowels, consonants, words, and phrases. Notably, this study represents the first demonstration of phoneme-level SSR using contactless radar.

Submission + - Classic Windows Update for those older Windows versions (windowsupdaterestored.com) 3

Submitted by Z00L00K
Z00L00K writes: Welcome to Windows Update Restored! This is a project dedicated to restoring the update functionality for Windows 95 up to Windows XP, with Automatic Updates as well. We actively work on the project and make improvements over time, which can be found in the news section at the bottom of this page.

In August of 2011, Microsoft shut down the Windows Update servers for Windows 95/NT4/98/Me/2000 (RTM, SP1 & SP2). This prevented legacy systems from getting updates and other software from Microsoft. Windows Update Restored has brought back those old websites, to give you the update experience of how it was back then!

The original Windows Update websites provided users with security (critical) updates, optional software updates, driver updates, and other types of software for your operating system. Windows Update Restored has revived all of these features, as well as the Automatic Updates feature and the Critical Update Notification Tool (Windows 98 to Windows XP). Want to learn more about what is available on Windows Update Restored? Read the Frequently Asked Questions.

This website is best viewed with a resolution of 800x600 pixels and required a minimum of Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 to properly be displayed. Though, we recommend the use of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5. To download various versions of Internet Explorer, visit the Internet Explorer Downloads page.

Every Windows Update website will require Internet Explorer (versions 4.0 to 6.0 to work, and won't work in any other browsers).

Submission + - Researcher wins award for debunking 'blue zones (san.com) 1

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: Researcher, Saul Justin Newman, was given an Ig Nobel Prize on Sept. 12 for his work on debunking “blue zones.” He found the phenomenon is actually based on fraudulent birth certificates, bad data and unscientific measurements.

The concept of blue zones had given people the idea that to live a healthier life, they must eat and exercise like the people in towns with unusual amounts of people who live to be 100.

Over the last decade, Newman tracked down 80% of the world’s supercentenarians, which are people aged 110 and older. He found that almost none have a birth certificate and some have multiple recorded birth dates.

Newman also discovered that pension fraud is extremely common in the blue zone areas. He cited that most of the supercentenarians who have turned out to be alive in government records are actually dead.

Submission + - Three Mile Island's Nuclear Plant to Reopen, Help Power Microsoft's AI Centers (t.co)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: he 20-year deal with Constellation Energy would kick-start the site of the nation’s worst nuclear accident

A deal between Constellation Energy and Microsoft will restart Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, the site of the country’s worst nuclear accident, to help power the tech giant’s growing artificial intelligence ambitions.

Under the agreement, Constellation would revive the plant’s undamaged reactor, which was too costly to run and closed in 2019, and sell the power to Microsoft. The plan signals the gargantuan amount of power needed for data centers for AI, along with the tech industry’s thirst for a carbon-free, round-the-clock electricity source needed to meet climate goals.

Constellation expects to spend around $1.6 billion to restart the reactor by early 2028. Microsoft has signed a 20-year power-purchase agreement with Constellation, the companies said Friday. The deal would help Microsoft pair its 24-7 electricity use with a matching source of nearby clean power generation.

Submission + - PowerShell Phish using fake CAPTCHA (krebsonsecurity.com) 1

Submitted by sinij
sinij writes:

Clicking the “I’m not a robot” button generates a pop-up message asking the user to take three sequential steps to prove their humanity. Step 1 involves simultaneously pressing the keyboard key with the Windows icon and the letter "R," which opens a Windows "Run" prompt that will execute any specified program that is already installed on the system.
Step 2 asks the user to press the “CTRL” key and the letter “V” at the same time, which pastes malicious code from the site’s virtual clipboard.
Step 3 — pressing the “Enter” key — causes Windows to launch a PowerShell command, and then fetch and execute a malicious file from github[-]scanner[.]com called “l6e[.]exe.”

Submission + - UK's National Grid blames old computer systems for sidelining batteries (ft.com)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Ageing computer systems and an outdated electricity network means National Grid is often unable to use batteries designed to deliver cheap green power, it has admitted. Batteries were being overlooked by Britain’s network operator up to 30 per cent of the times when they are cheaper than other power sources, Craig Dyke, from National Grid’s electricity system operator, said.

Dyke’s comments came in response to a letter from four leading battery storage groups which said National Grid’s “electricity system operator” or ESO division was making the country’s power costlier and dirtier by failing to use their technology properly. “Consumers are paying more, clean renewable energy is being wasted, and fossil fuel generation is being used instead,” they said. The groups claimed batteries were being overlooked up to 90 per cent of the time in a way that favoured gas-fired power plants, which emit tonnes of carbon dioxide and can be more expensive to run.

Paywall bypass: https://archive.ph/VIeeq

Submission + - how Cyprus became a world leader in solar heating

Submitted by votsalo
votsalo writes: From the article:

“We do around four installations a day across Cyprus,” says Mihali. “And each takes little more than two hours at most because, like the system itself, it’s all so easy.”

Cyprus has outstripped all other EU member states in embracing hot-water solar systems, with an estimated 93.5 % of households exploiting the alternative energy form for domestic needs.

All you need are solar panels, a tank and copper pipes. Ever since, it’s been a wonderful solution to the hot water needs of households here.”

Submission + - ISPs tell Supreme Court they don't want to disconnect users accused of piracy (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by Joe_Dragon
Joe_Dragon writes: Sony v. Cox —
ISPs tell Supreme Court they don’t want to disconnect users accused of piracy
ISPs say Sony's win over Cox would force them to do "mass Internet evictions."

Jon Brodkin — 9/18/2024, 1:32 PM
The US Supreme Court building is seen on a sunny day. Kids mingle around a small pool on the grounds in front of the building.
Enlarge / The Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, DC, in May 2023.
Getty Images | NurPhoto
86

Four more large Internet service providers told the US Supreme Court this week that ISPs shouldn't be forced to aggressively police copyright infringement on broadband networks.

While the ISPs worry about financial liability from lawsuits filed by major record labels and other copyright holders, they also argue that mass terminations of Internet users accused of piracy "would harm innocent people by depriving households, schools, hospitals, and businesses of Internet access." The legal question presented by the case "is exceptionally important to the future of the Internet," they wrote in a brief filed with the Supreme Court on Monday.

The amici curiae brief was filed by Altice USA (operator of the Optimum brand), Frontier Communications, Lumen (aka CenturyLink), and Verizon. The brief supports cable firm Cox Communications' attempt to overturn its loss in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by Sony. Cox petitioned the Supreme Court to take up the case last month.

Sony and other music copyright holders sued Cox in 2018, claiming it didn't adequately fight piracy on its network and failed to terminate repeat infringers. A US District Court jury in the Eastern District of Virginia ruled in December 2019 that Cox must pay $1 billion in damages to the major record labels.

Cox won a partial victory when the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit vacated the $1 billion verdict, finding that Cox wasn't guilty of vicarious infringement because it did not profit directly from infringement committed by users of its cable broadband network. But the appeals court affirmed the jury's finding of willful contributory infringement and ordered a new damages trial.
Future of Internet at stake, ISPs say

The Altice/Frontier/Lumen/Verizon brief said the 4th Circuit ruling "imperils the future of the Internet" by "expos[ing] Internet service providers to massive liability if they do not carry out mass Internet evictions." Cutting off a subscriber's service would hurt other residents in a home "who did not infringe and may have no connection to the infringer," they wrote.

The automated processes used by copyright holders to find infringement on peer-to-peer networks are "famously flawed," ISPs wrote. Despite that, the appeals court's "view of contributory infringement would force Internet service providers to cut off any subscriber after receiving allegations that some unknown person used the subscriber's connection for copyright infringement," the brief said.

Under the 4th Circuit's theory, "an Internet service provider acts culpably whenever it knowingly fails to stop some bad actor from exploiting its service," the brief said. According to the ISPs, this "would compel Internet service providers to engage in wide-scale terminations to avoid facing crippling damages, like the $1 billion judgment entered against Cox here, the $2.6 billion damages figure touted by these same plaintiffs in a recent suit against Verizon, or the similarly immense figures sought from Frontier and Altice USA."

Potential liability for ISPs is up to $150,000 in statutory damages for each work that is infringed, the brief said. "Enterprising plaintiffs' lawyers could seek to hold Internet service providers liable for every bad act that occurs online," they wrote. This threat of financial liability detracts from the ISPs' attempts "to fulfill Congress's goal of connecting all Americans to the Internet," the ISPs said.

ISPs cite Twitter’s Supreme Court win

The ISPs' brief argues that the 4th Circuit decision conflicts with the Supreme Court's 2023 ruling in Twitter v. Taamneh, which rejected allegations that social media companies aided and abetted ISIS in a terrorist attack. ISPs wrote:

        But the Fourth Circuit's rule runs roughshod over the traditional common-law limits on aiding-and-abetting liability. This Court recently clarified those principles in Twitter. That case addressed claims that Twitter and other social-media companies aided and abetted terrorism by knowingly failing to stop ISIS from using their platforms to raise funds and attract recruits. In assessing those claims, the Court invoked the same principles that have "animated aiding-and-abetting liability for centuries," searching for "conscious, voluntary, and culpable participation in another's wrongdoing." Under the common law, the Court stressed, "truly culpable conduct" exists when "the defendant consciously and culpably participated in a wrongful act so as to help make it succeed." The Court emphasized the need for such active wrongdoing more than a dozen times.

        A communication provider's failure to stop bad actors from misusing its service does not qualify. Under the common law, this Court explained, "communication-providing services" have no "duty" "to terminate customers after discovering that the customers were using the service for illicit ends." For that reason, the Court held that the social-media companies' continued provision of routine communication service to terrorists was "mere passive nonfeasance" that did not amount to culpable aid. And in words that could have been written for this case, the Court explained that it "would run roughshod over the typical limits on tort liability and take aiding and abetting far beyond its essential culpability moorings" to hold a "communication provider" liable "merely for knowing that... wrongdoers were using its services and failing to stop them."

ISPs say they shouldn't be liable for copyright infringement because "aiding and abetting requires some act to support the wrongdoing—not mere knowledge that a customer is doing something wrong." Providing service to a customer is not the same as providing "substantial assistance" to a wrongdoer, they wrote.

"Providing routine services to a wrongdoer generally counts as substantial assistance only if done under 'unusual circumstances' or 'in an unusual way,'" ISPs wrote. ISPs claim the 4th Circuit "made the same errors this Court corrected in Twitter" when it "ruled that Cox materially contributed to its subscribers' infringement by knowingly failing to cut their Internet connections."
Sony wants to reinstate $1 billion verdict

Even if ISPs win their argument, copyright holders will still have the right to pursue claims of infringement directly against the infringers, the brief said. "They can still use any evidence they collect of online infringement to serve subpoenas to learn the identity of the customer whose Internet access was used for infringement," ISPs wrote. "The subpoenas can then lead to direct actions against the actual infringers."

Record labels say going after individuals is too difficult. Sony and other labels want the Supreme Court to reinstate the $1 billion verdict along with the jury's original finding that Cox was guilty of vicarious infringement.

"Vicarious liability is an especially important tool in the digital age where pursuing direct infringers—in this case, thousands of faceless individuals who cannot be identified except through an ISP like Respondent—is impractical at best and impossible at worst," record labels wrote in an August 16 petition to the Supreme Court.

Record labels say the case "is an ideal vehicle to resolve the scope of the profit requirement," given that the 4th Circuit decided record labels failed to prove that Cox profits directly from subscribers' infringement. "The facts that underpin the jury's profit finding—Cox's fees, its employees' emails, its advertising, and its network traffic—are not in dispute," they wrote.

Submission + - Creator of Kamala Harris video sues California over election 'deepfake' ban (politico.com)

Submitted by SonicSpike
SonicSpike writes: The creator of a video that used artificial intelligence to imitate Kamala Harris is suing the state of California after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed laws restricting the use of digitally altered political “deepfakes,” alleging First and 14th Amendment violations.

Christopher Kohls, who goes by the name “Mr Reagan” on X, has been at the center of a debate over the use of AI-generated material in elections since he posted the video in July, calling it a parody of a Harris campaign ad. It features AI-generated clips mimicking Harris’ voice and saying she’s the “ultimate diversity hire.” The video was shared by X owner Elon Musk without calling it parody and attracted the ire of Newsom, who vowed to ban such content.

The governor made good on that promise Tuesday by signing laws targeting fraudulent campaign materials. Now, Kohls is suing, arguing the governor is trying to make computer-generated parody illegal and asserting that political satire is a “fundamental First Amendment Right.”

The suit, filed Tuesday in federal court, seeks permanent injunctions against the laws.

One of the laws in question, the Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act, specifies that it does not apply to satire or parody content. It requires large online platforms to remove or label deceptive, digitally altered media during certain periods before or after an election.

Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said in a statement that Kohls had already labeled the post as a parody on X.

“Requiring them to use the word ‘parody’ on the actual video avoids further misleading the public as the video is shared across the platform,” Gardon said. “It’s unclear why this conservative activist is suing California. This new disclosure law for election misinformation isn’t any more onerous than laws already passed in other states, including Alabama.”

Submission + - Tesla employee exposed a dangerous safety flaw in Autopilot (thestreet.com)

Submitted by smooth wombat
smooth wombat writes: Tesla has promised hands-free driving for some time using its AutoPilot system. The key components of this system are cameras which monitor every corner of the vehicle and the machine learning software that makes decisions on how to respond to road hazards. In addition, there is a team of Tesla employees who review what AutoPilot sees and change the software as needed to respond to those conditions. However, instead of making the drive more safe, some of those employees have reported Tesla has directed them to not teach AutoPilot the rules of the road.

The extent of this stance, some workers revealed, came as far as being told to not teach Autopilot to follow certain traffic signs like "No Turn On Red" or "No U-Turn" in the effort of making its systems drive the cars more "human-like."

"It's a driver-first mentality," a former Tesla employee told BI. "I think the idea is we want to train it to drive like a human would, not a robot that's just following the rules."

Additionally, much to the same tune of Facebook content moderators, these workers viewed some pretty disturbing footage day in and day out, which were not limited to Teslas getting into accidents and near misses. A few workers even disclosed to BI that a fellow employee shared a disturbing video involving a Tesla vehicle hitting a young boy on a bicycle as a joke.

Submission + - YouTube Launches Communities, a Discord-Like Space For Creators and Fans (techcrunch.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: At its Made On YouTube event on Wednesday, the company announced a new dedicated space for creators to interact with their fans and viewers. The space, called “Communities,” is kind of like a Discord server built into a creator’s channel. With Communities, YouTube is hoping creators won’t need to use other platforms like Discord or Reddit in order to interact with viewers. Communities are a space for viewers to post and interact with other fans directly within a creator’s channel. In the past, viewers have been limited to leaving comments on a creator’s video. Now, they can share their own content in a creator’s Community to interact with other fans over shared interests. For instance, a fitness creator’s Community could include posts from fans who are sharing videos and photos from their most recent hike.

To start, the feature is only available to subscribers. The company sees Communities as a dedicated space for conversation and connection, while still allowing creators to maintain control over their content. Conversations in Communities are meant to flow over time, YouTube says, as they would in any other forum-style setting. The new Communities feature shouldn’t be confused with YouTube’s Community feature, which is a space for creators to share text and images with viewers. The feature launched back in 2016, and doesn’t allow viewers to interact with each other. YouTube is testing Communities now on mobile devices with a small group of creators. The company plans to test the feature with more creators later this year before expanding access to additional channels in early 2025.

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