Submission + - UK's GCHQ intern transferred top secret files to his phone (bbc.co.uk) 1

Submitted by Bruce66423
Bruce66423 writes: 'A former GCHQ intern has admitted risking national security by taking top secret data home with him on his mobile phone.

'Arshad, from Rochdale in Greater Manchester, is said to have transferred sensitive data from a secure computer to his phone, which he had taken into a top secret area of GCHQ on 24 August 2022.

'The court heard that Arshad took his work mobile into a top secret GCHQ area and connected it to work station.

'He then transferred sensitive data from a secure, top secret computer to the phone before taking it home, it was claimed.

'Arshad then transferred the data from the phone to a hard drive connected to his personal home computer.'

Seriously? What on earth was the UK's equivalent of the NSA doing allowing its hardware to carry out such a transfer?

Submission + - OpenFDA (open.fda.gov) API: "temporary suspension of updates"

Submitted by aikawa
aikawa writes: The OpenFDA API is used by developers to get information about drugs, recalls, medical devices, and adverse events.

Since March 31, the OpenFDA status page reads: "there is a temporary suspension of updates to the openFDA datasets".

This is impacting third-party developers, and there is speculation that it might be linked to ongoing changes at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), which is set to loose 20,000 full-time employees under DOGE. OpenFDA is one of the most-used government Open Data APIs, its demise would be a serious setback for the Open Data movement.

Submission + - Copilot Can't Duplicate 2013 TouchDevelop and Windows Phone Code Generation Demo

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "The devil is in the details," Ross Perot famously said of President Clinton's economic plan back in 1993. Such, too, is the case with code generation, now personified by the much-hyped coding capabilities of Copilot and other GenAI LLMs.

But ask Copilot to "write a program that can be run on an iPhone 16 to select 15 random photos from the phone, tint them to random colors, and display the photos on the phone" in 2025 like TouchDevelop did for the long-discontinued Windows Phone in a 2013 Microsoft Research 'SmartSynth' natural language code generation demo (ACM paper, demo video), and you'll get lots of code and caveats from Copilot, but nothing that you can execute as is (compare to functioning 10 lines of code TouchDevelop program). It's a good reminder that just because GenAI can generate code, it doesn't necessarily mean it will generate the least amount of code, the most understandable or appropriate code for the requestor, or code that runs unchanged and produces the desired results.

TouchDevelop — a programming environment and language that enabled schoolchildren and expert programmers alike to write applications directly on mobile devices and in the browser — was (like BASIC) abandoned by Microsoft, who explained: "We determined we needed to replace Touch Develop with MakeCode in order to provide a more holistic, hands-on computing education platform that will bring computer science to life through physical computing devices like the micro:bit and immersive experiences like [Microsoft-owned] Minecraft." It marked an abrupt change in direction from the "Don't just play on your phone, program it" learn-to-code messaging for K-12 students that was promoted for years by the tech giants and even President Obama.

Interestingly, a Microsoft Research video from CS Education Week 2011 shows enthusiastic Washington high school students participating in an hour-long TouchDevelop coding lesson and demonstrating the apps they created that tapped into music, photos, the Internet, and yes, even their phone's functionality, showing us how lacking iPhone and Android still are today as far as easy programmability-for-the-masses goes (when asked, Copilot replied that Apple's Shortcuts app wasn't up to the task). Two years later during CSEdWeek 2013, the new Hour of Code (TM) was launched by tech-backed nonprofit Code.org with a decidedly dumbed-down approach to introducing kids to coding, with Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg teaching 30+ million schoolkids how to drag-and-drop puzzle pieces to advance an Angry Bird character up, down, left, and right, the same concepts a 5-year-old might learn by playing Pop-O-Matic Trouble.

Submission + - Grown-ups are buying more toys than preschoolers (nypost.com)

Submitted by sinij
sinij writes:

Adults now account for 28% of all global toy sales, according to analytics firm Circana — an increase of 2.5% since 2022. In 2024, grown-ups bought more toys than any other age group, including preschoolers.

I wonder if attachment to physical items in increasingly digital existence plays a role in this.

Submission + - Clothes that Grow with Your Kids (thetimes.com)

Submitted by databasecowgirl
databasecowgirl writes: After observing how quickly a gift of baby clothes no longer fit, aeronautical engineering graduate from Imperial College London, Ryan Yasin decided to tackle the growing problem of perfectly good clothes ending up in landfills.

The Sunday Times documents strategies science is developing to counter the environmental damage implicit in the disposable fast fashion at Imperialâ(TM)s White City campus in west London, which provides resources for start-ups and is becoming a hub of sustainable fashion solutions.

Submission + - CDC buried Measles Forcast That Emphasized Vaccines (propublica.org)

Submitted by XXongo
XXongo writes: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered staff this week not to release their experts’ assessment that found the risk of catching measles is high in areas near outbreaks where vaccination rates are lagging, according to internal records. The assessment had emphasized the importance of vaccinating people against the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease that has spread to 19 states, the records show. The shift in its long-standing messaging about vaccines is a sign that it may be falling in line under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines. Meanwhile, researchers say that measles vaccination rates may be as low as 71% in younger children, well below the threshold needed for herd immunity.

Submission + - Utah becomes first US state to ban fluoride in its water (bbc.com) 1

Submitted by Hmmmmmm
Hmmmmmm writes: Utah has become the first US state to ban the use of fluoride in its public water, following concerns raised by health secretary Robert F Kennedy that the mineral poses potential health risks.

Governor Spencer Cox signed the ban into law this week, which will go into effect on 7 May. Other states, including Florida and Ohio, are weighing similar legislation.

Fluoride has been added to US drinking water since 1945 to prevent cavities.

Utah's move to remove the mineral has been criticised by experts, who worry it will have consequences for oral health, especially for children.

The bill, signed by Cox on Thursday, prohibits communities from adding fluoride to their public water supplies.

The law does not mention any public health concerns related to the mineral, but Republican state lawmaker Stephanie Gricius — who introduced the bill in the state legislature — has argued that there is research suggesting fluoride could have possible cognitive effects in children.

Gricius has said that her bill would give citizens a choice whether they want to consume fluoride or not.

This concern over fluoride was previously raised by Kennedy, the US health secretary, who said in November that "the Trump White House will advise all US water systems to remove fluoride from public water".

He alleged the chemical found in toothpaste and regularly used by dentists "is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease".

Most of western Europe does not add fluoride to its water. In England, about one in 10 people has fluoridated drinking water, though a programme has since been introduced to fluoridate water for 1.6 million people in north-east England.

By contrast, around 63% of the US population have fluoridated water.

Experts who support putting fluoride in water says studies show that community water fluoridation prevents at least 25% of tooth decay in children and adults.

Submission + - Microsoft Attempts to Close Local Account Windows 11 Setup Loophole (theverge.com)

Submitted by jrnvk
jrnvk writes: The Verge is reporting that Microsoft will soon make it harder to run the well-publicized bypassnro command in Windows 11 setup. This command allows skipping the Microsoft account and online connection requirements on install. While the command will be removed, it can still be enabled by a regedit change — for now.

Submission + - Car prices could jump $6,000 as Trump's 25% import tariff kicks in (techspot.com)

Submitted by jjslash
jjslash writes: President Trump has introduced a new 25% tariff on imported cars and auto parts, sparking debate about its effects on the U.S. auto industry. TechSpot reports:

While supporters argue that the policy will spur growth, attract investment, and create jobs domestically, critics warn that it will lead to significantly higher prices for shoppers.

The new tariff on imported cars will take effect on April 2, while the import duty on car parts will go into effect on May 3. The components subject to the new policy include engines and engine parts, transmissions and powertrain components, and electrical systems.

Under the plan, imported vehicles will be taxed only on their non-US content.

Submission + - DOGE to replace SSA's entire COBOL codebase with JAVA "within months" (wired.com)

Submitted by SoCalChris
SoCalChris writes: Wired is reporting that DOGE is planning to try and replace the entire Social Security Administration's existing COBOL code base with a new JAVA implementation, and plan to have it completed "within a matter of months". As one of the experts that Wired talked to pointed out, simply identifying all of the edge cases that the software would need to test for would take several years.

Submission + - DOGE to Rewrite SSA Codebase in "Months" (wired.com)

Submitted by frank_adrian314159
frank_adrian314159 writes: According to an article in Wired, Elon Musk has appointed a team of technologists from DOGE to "rewrite the code that runs the SSA in months". This codebase is currently 10 million lines of COBOL and handles record keeping for all American workers and payments for all Social Security recipients. Given that the code has to track the byzantine regulations dealing with Social Security, it's no wonder that the codebase is this large. What is in question, though is whether a small team can rewrite this code "in months". After all, what could possibly go wrong?

Submission + - Microsoft President Calls for a National Talent Strategy for Electricians

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: "As I prepared for a White House meeting last fall on the nation’s electricity needs," begins Microsoft President Brad Smith in The Country Needs More Electricity — And More Electricians, a Fox Business op-ed. "I met with the leaders at Microsoft who are building our AI infrastructure across the country. During our discussion, I asked them to identify the single biggest challenge for data center expansion in the U.S. I expected they would mention slow permitting, delays in bringing more power online or supply chain constraints — all significant challenges. But instead, they highlighted a national shortage of people. Electricians, to be precise."

Much as Smith has done in the past as he declared crisis-level shortages of Computer Science, Cybersecurity, and AI talent, he's calling for the nation's politicians and educators to step up to the plate and deliver students trained to address the data center expansion plans of Microsoft and Big Tech.

"How many new electricians must the U.S. recruit and train over the next decade?" Smith asks. "Probably half a million. [...] The good news is that these are good jobs. The bad news is that we don’t have a national strategy to recruit and train the people to fill these jobs. Given the Trump administration’s commitment to supporting American workers, American jobs and American innovation, we believe that recruiting and training more electricians should rise to its list of priorities. There are several ways to address this issue, and they deserve consideration. For example, we need to do more as a nation to revitalize the industrial arts and shop classes in American high schools. [...] This should be a priority for local school boards, state governors and appropriate federal support. [..] We must also adopt a broad perspective on where new technology is taking us. The tech sector is most often focused on computer and data science — people who code. But the future will also be built in critical ways by a new generation of engineers, electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, iron workers, carpenters and other skilled trades.

So, is 'Learn to Wire' the new 'Learn to Code'?

Submission + - Anthropic Can Now Track the Bizarre Inner Workings of a LLM (technologyreview.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The AI firm Anthropic has developed a way to peer inside a large language model and watch what it does as it comes up with a response, revealing key new insights into how the technology works. The takeaway: LLMs are even stranger than we thought. The Anthropic team was surprised by some of the counterintuitive workarounds that large language models appear to use to complete sentences, solve simple math problems, suppress hallucinations, and more, says Joshua Batson, a research scientist at the company. [...] Batson and his colleagues describe their new work in two reports published today.

The first presents Anthropic’s use of a technique called circuit tracing, which lets researchers track the decision-making processes inside a large language model step by step. Anthropic used circuit tracing to watch its LLM Claude 3.5 Haiku carry out various tasks. The second (titled “On the Biology of a Large Language Model”) details what the team discovered when it looked at 10 tasks in particular.

Submission + - Virginia Will Punish Fast Drivers With Devices That Limit Their Speed (washingtonpost.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Virginia is set to become the first state in the country to require some reckless drivers to put devices on their cars that make it impossible to drive too fast. D.C. passed similar legislation last year. Several other states,including Maryland,are considering joining them. It’s an embrace of a technological solution to a human problem: Speeding contributes to more than 10,000 deaths a year. Under the Virginia legislation, a judge can decide to order drivers to install the speed limiters in their vehicles in lieu of taking away their driving privileges or sending them to jail. It takes effect in July 2026.

Del. Patrick A. Hope (D-Arlington) said various advocacy groups, including Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the National Safety Council, gave him the idea. He drove a car outfitted with the technology and was impressed. “It was easy to use, and once you’re engaged it’s impossible to go over the speed limit,” he said. “It will make our streets safer.” He thinks the device is preferable to suspending drivers’ licenses, a punishment that people frequently ignore because they have no other way of getting to work or the store or taking their children to school. It’s an approach similar to using an interlock device that requires a person convicted of drunken driving to pass a Breathalyzer test to start their car.

Submission + - Open Letter to Meta: Support True Messaging Interoperability with XMPP (xmpp.org)

Submitted by ralphm
ralphm writes: The European Digital Markets Act (DMA) is designed to break down walled gardens and enforce messaging interoperability. As a designated gatekeeper, Meta—controlling WhatsApp and Messenger—must comply. However, its current proposal falls short, risking further entrenchment of its dominance rather than fostering genuine competition. [..]

A Call to Action

The XMPP Standards Foundation urges Meta to adopt XMPP for messaging interoperability. It is ready to collaborate, continue to evolve the protocol to meet modern needs, and ensure true compliance with the DMA. Let’s build an open, competitive messaging ecosystem—one that benefits both users and service providers.

It’s time for real interoperability. Let’s make it happen.

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