Tag: Internet

AITechnology

Vernor Vinge, influential sci-fi author who warned of AI ‘Singularity,’ has died

 Emma  0 135 

Vernor Vinge, prolific science-fiction writer, professor, and one of the first prominent thinkers to conceptualize the concepts of a “Technological Singularity” and cyberspace, has died at the age of 79. News of his passing on March 20 was confirmed through a Facebook post from author and friend David Brin, citing complications from Parkinson’s Disease. “Vernor enthralled millions with tales of plausible tomorrows, made all the more vivid by his polymath masteries of language, drama, characters, and the implications of science,”…

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Wikipedia Has A Gender Gap Problem, Study Claims

 sykes  0 131 

BARCELONA, Spain — For over two decades, Wikipedia has served as a go-to source of information for countless people. Serving as the internet’s free-to-use encyclopedia, it isn’t a stretch to say Wikipedia has changed how people create, gather, share, and learn new information. However, researchers from the University of Barcelona point to a number of glaring defects when it comes to its decentralization and flexibility. More specifically, study authors say there is a gender gap on Wikipedia when it comes to…

AITechnology

Airbnb finally bans all indoor security cameras

 Amy  0 110 

Certain Airbnb hosts will need to make a few adjustments to their properties. On Monday, the short-term rental service announced it is finally prohibiting the use of all indoor security cameras, regardless of room location. For years, hosts could install video cameras in “common areas” such as living rooms, kitchens, and hallways, so long as they were both clearly visible and disclosed in the listings. Beginning April 30, however, zero such devices are permitted within any Airbnb location around the…

AITechnology

How social media helps wildlife trafficking thrive in plain sight

 admin  0 218 

This article was originally featured on Hakai Magazine, an online publication about science and society in coastal ecosystems. Read more stories like this at hakaimagazine.com. In the summer of 2020, Jennifer Pytka spent three and a half hours a day sleuthing the internet for evidence of wildlife trafficking. She’d type กระเบนท้องน้ำ, a Thai word that loosely translates to stingray, into Google, and her search would immediately yield images of rings, each studded with an ornate white thorn about the size of a thumbnail.…

AITechnology

TSA is testing a self-screening security checkpoint in Vegas

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The Transportation Security Administration is launching the pilot phase of an autonomous self-screening checkpoint system. Unveiled earlier this week and scheduled to officially open on March 11 at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, the station resembles grocery store self-checkout kiosks—but instead of scanning milk and eggs, you’re expected to…scan yourself to ensure you aren’t a threat. Or at least that’s what it seems from the looks of it. “We are constantly looking at innovative ways to enhance the…

AITechnology

OpenAI wants to devour a huge chunk of the internet. Who’s going to stop them?

 admin  0 107 

You probably don’t know about Automattic, but they know you. As the parent company of WordPress, its content management systems host around 43 percent of the internet’s 10 million most popular websites. Meanwhile, it also owns a vast suite of mega-platforms including Tumblr, where a massive amount of embarrassing personal posts live. All this is to say that, through all those countless Terms & Conditions and third-party consent forms, Automattic potentially has access to a huge chunk of the internet’s…

AITechnology

The Apple Car is dead

 Ingle  0 58 

It turns out that last month’s report on Apple kicking its tortured, multibillion dollar electric vehicle project down the road another few years was a bit conservative. During an internal meeting on Tuesday, company representatives informed employees that all EV plans are officially scrapped. After at least a decade of rumors, research, and arguably unrealistic goals, it would seem that CarPlay is about as much as you’re gonna get from Apple while on the roads. RIP, “iCar.” The major strategic…

AITechnology

SLIM lives! Japan’s upside-down lander is online after a brutal lunar night

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Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced on Monday that its historic Smart Lander for Investigating Moon has defied the odds—after surviving a brutal, two-week lunar night while upside down, SLIM’s solar cells subsequently gathered enough energy to restart the spacecraft over the weekend. In an early morning post to X, JAXA reported it briefly established a communication relay with its lunar lander on Sunday, but the moon’s extremely high surface temperature currently prevents engineers from doing much else at the…

AITechnology

Google pauses Gemini image tools after AI generates ‘inaccuracies’ in race

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Facing bias accusations, Google this week was forced to pause the image generation portion of Gemini, its generative AI model. The temporary suspension follows backlash from users who criticized it for allegedly placing too much emphasis on ethnic diversity, sometimes at the expense of accuracy. Prior to Google pausing services, Gemini was found producing racially diverse depictions of World War II-era Nazis, Viking warriors, the US Founding Fathers, and other historically white figures. loving google’s ongoing commitment to diversity here…

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Delta’s solar eclipse flight sold out, but your best bet to see it is still down here

 Naomi  0 59 

Earlier this week, Delta Air Lines announced an extra flight for its April 8 schedule, timed specifically to provide passengers an aerial view of the total solar eclipse. But if you were still hoping to snag a ticket for the afternoon jaunt alongside the path of totality, you’re already out of luck—seats aboard the Airbus A220-300 sold out within 24 hours. According to Delta’s original announcement, DL Flight 1218 with service from Austin to Detroit will depart at 12:15 PM…

AITechnology

This DVD-sized disk can store a massive 125,000 gigabytes of data

 admin  0 26 

Even in a digital-first world, optical disks like DVDs and Blu-rays still have their many uses. But despite being cheap, sturdy, and small, they can’t keep up with today’s storage needs. This is because, spatially speaking, optical disks almost always offer just a single, 2D layer–that reflective, silver underside–for data encoding. If you could boost a disk’s number of available, encodable layers, however, you could hypothetically gain a massive amount of extra space. Researchers at the University of Shanghai for…

AITechnology

Watch this cool, useless biohybrid robot take a stroll

 Emma  0 61 

As impressive as many biohybrid robotic projects are, they aren’t exactly known for their hairpin turns. In fact, it’s still pretty difficult to design an agile machine merging artificial materials and biological tissue. But if a future generation of biohybrids does manage to one day clear that hurdle, they could owe it to a tiny pair of cute, albeit pretty much useless, robo-legs. Researchers at the University of Tokyo detailed their 3cm tall creation in a new study published today…