L4s Bot

Blackstone acquires pet care app Rover in $2.3 billion all-cash deal::Private equity giant Blackstone will acquire the pet care app Rover in an all-cash deal valued at $2.3 billion, the companies announced Wednesday

Italy bans cultivated meat products::New law prohibits the production or sale of cultivated meat in Italy, with fines of up to €60,000

Early Ford carrier maintenance costs lower than planned, Navy says::Early Ford-class maintenance costs are lower than expected, meaning the aircraft carriers could save more than predicted compared to the Nimitz class.

Okta hackers stole data on all customer support users, company says::The hack was worse than initially believed, with every client having some data stolen in the breach, the cybersecurity company warned.

Amazon exec says it’s time for workers to ‘disagree and commit’ to office return — “I don’t have data to back it up, but I know it’s better.”::“We’re here, we’re back. It’s working,” an Amazon Studios head said in a meeting, before acknowledging a lack of evidence.

Amazon unveils Q, its AI chatbot for workers::Available to AWS users, Amazon Q aims to help workers draft emails, generate content, and fix bugs.

The frantic battle over OpenAI shows that money triumphs in the end::Private businesses, motivated by profit, can’t be relied on to police themselves against the horrors unfettered AI could bring

A Civil Rights Firestorm Erupts Around a Looming Surveillance Power Grab: Dozens of advocacy groups are pressuring the US Congress to abandon plans to ram through the renewal of a controversial sur…::Dozens of advocacy groups are pressuring the US Congress to abandon plans to ram through the renewal of a controversial...

Lawsuit filed by 33 US states alleges Meta knew Facebook and Instagram’s ‘addictive features harmed young people’s physical and mental health’::Meta is being sued by the attorneys general of 33 separate US states over allegations that it intentionally created and launched features on its Facebook and Instagram social...

Unity Software to cut 3.8% of staff in ‘company reset’::Videogame software provider Unity Software will eliminate 265 jobs or 3.8% of its global workforce and end an agreement with a digital video effects company founded by the “Lord of the Rings” director as part of a “reset,” the company said on Tuesday.

The Washington Post Will Pause Its Advertising on X::undefined

Meta Joins Google In Turning Its Back On The Open Web, And Embracing Unconstitutional Mandates That Pretend To ‘Protect The Children’::A month ago we wrote about Google effectively “pulling up the ladder” on the open internet by embracing age verification mandates as part of a regulatory approach to child safety. As we...

Plex update raises concerns over potential sharing of porn viewing habits | Be careful what you watch::undefined

FCC Moves Slowly To Update Definition Of Broadband To Something Still Pathetic::For decades, the FCC has maintained an arguably pathetic definition of “broadband,” allowing the telecom industry to under-deliver substandard access. And despite some new rhetoric from the agency under Biden, that doesn’t appear to be changing...

The smart home tech inside your home is less secure than you think, new Northeastern research finds.::A team of researchers discovered vulnerabilities in smart home devices made by big technology companies like Google.

Google says bumpy Pixel 8 screens are nothing to worry about — Display ‘bumps’ are components pushing into the OLED panel::undefined

5000-Year-Old Tablets Can Now Be Decoded by Artificial Intelligence, New Research Reveals::Researchers in Germany have unveiled an AI system capable of deciphering ancient cuneiform texts with excellent accuracy.

A Controversial US Surveillance Program May Get Slipped Into a ‘Must-Pass’ Defense Bill.::Congressional leaders are discussing ways to reauthorize Section 702 surveillance, including by attaching it to the National Defense Authorization Act, Capitol Hill sources tell WIRED.

Broadcom lays off many VMware employees after closing its $69 billion acquisition of the company::Job losses follow Broadcom’s $69 billion acquisition of VMware.

Google Drive misplaces months’ worth of customer files::The horror of logging in only to find everything since May has vanished

What part of ‘get rid of my data’ don’t companies get?::undefined

After 151 years, Popular Science will no longer offer a magazine::Popular Science is doing away with its magazine format as the publication looks to “evolve beyond the digital magazine product.”

In a surprising finding, light can make water evaporate without heat::At the interface of water and air, light can, in certain conditions, bring about evaporation without the need for heat, according to an MIT study.

Toyota boasts new battery technology with 745-mile range and 10-minute charging time — here’s how it may impact mass EV adoption::The potential to significantly reduce pollution could be huge.

The stainless steel body of Tesla’s Cybertruck is reportedly leading to issues with gaps in between the panels::The Cybertruck’s steel is made in “coils that resemble giant rolls of toilet paper,” WSJ reported.

Big brands keep dropping X over antisemitism; $75M loss, report estimates::Creators worried advertisers dropping X could hurt revenue-sharing payouts.

China begins building underwater data center with performance equal to 6 million PCs — aims to save 122 million KWh of electricity and nearly ten soccer fields of land | Data centers find refuge at…::China Central Television reports that China has added another data module to the country’s commercial underwater data center...

YouTube’s Loaded With EV Disinformation::When it comes to articles on a website like CleanTechnica, there are two kinds of articles. First, there are the … [continued]

Tesla sues Swedish state agency over number plate blockage::undefined

Paris mayor quits X platform, calling it a ‘gigantic global sewer’::Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo on Monday announced she was quitting the X platform formerly known as Twitter, calling it a “gigantic global sewer” that was “destroying our democracies” by spreading abuse and misinformation.

Blade Runner director Ridley Scott calls AI a “technical hydrogen bomb” | “we are all completely f**ked”::undefined

AI system self-organises to develop features of brains of complex organisms::As neural systems such as the brain organise themselves and make connections, they have to balance competing demands. For example, energy and resources are

Why Bother With uBlock Being Blocked In Chrome? Now Is The Best Time To Switch To Firefox::Choose the browser that best suits your privacy needs.

Fairphone has created a smartphone that owners can repair themselves - This sustainable smartphone aims to reduce global electronic waste::In a bid to reduce global electronic waste, Fairphone has created a smartphone that owners can repair themselves. What makes its technology so sustainable?

Largest Study of its Kind Shows Outdated Password Practices are Widespread::undefined

33 states accuse Meta of having a big ‘open secret’ — millions of underage users::Meta “routinely documented, rigorously analyzed and confirmed” its knowledge of millions of underage Instagram users, the complaint says.

Unsealed complaint says Meta ‘coveted’ under-13s and deceives the public about age enforcement | The unredacted document reveals more details from a lawsuit filed against Meta by 33 states in October.::Nearly a month after attorneys general from 33 states filed a lawsuit against Meta, the complaint has been unsealed to show...

Arizona’s solar-over-canal project will tackle its major drought issue::undefined

Biontech is planning cancer vaccines before 2030::undefined

Ethernet is Still Going Strong After 50 Years::The technology has become the standard LAN worldwide

Portugal Runs on 100% Renewables Dropping Consumer Electric Bills to Nearly Zero for 6 Days in a Row::In total, there were 149 hours of total renewables generation, 95 of which saw the Portuguese grid exporting to Spain

Spotify will end service in Uruguay due to bill requiring fair pay for artists:: The Uruguayan Parliament approved an amendment to the country’s copyright law last month

As FISA turns 45, time to rethink post-9/11 mass surveillance expansion under Section 702::Forty-five years ago this month, President Jimmy Carter signed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to restrain U.S. intelligence agencies’ power to spy on Americans. A 1976 Senate investigation had found that the FBI’s...

AI Art Generators Can Be Fooled Into Making NSFW Images::Nonsense words can get around DALLE-2’s and Stable Diffusion’s filters

A Spanish agency became so sick of models and influencers that they created their own with AI — and she’s raking in up to $11,000 a month::Founder Rubén Cruz said AI model Aitana was so convincing that a famous Latin actor asked her on a date.

‘I employ a lot of hackers’: how a stock exchange chief deters cyber-attacks::Six Group, which operates the Swiss and Spanish bourses, is a target for cyberwarfare and must be on guard, its boss says

China’s secretive Sunway Pro CPU quadruples performance over its predecessor, allowing the supercomputer to hit exaflop speeds::Sunway’s SW26010 Pro packs 384 compute cores, could power exascale-class supercomputers.

An After-School Program Teaches Teens Java and Python::The students also learn how to design board games and video games