Technology

The article has full details, excerpts below

> The week before Thanksgiving, Marshall Brain sent a final email to his colleagues at North Carolina State University. "I have just been through one of the most demoralizing, depressing, humiliating, unjust processes possible with the university," wrote the founder of HowStuffWorks.com and director of NC State's Engineering Entrepreneurs Program. Hours later, campus police found that Brain had died by suicide.

> Marshall David Brain II established HowStuffWorks.com in 1998 as a personal project to explain technical topics to general audiences. The website grew into a major success that Discovery Communications acquired for $250 million in 2007. He later expanded his educational reach through books like The Engineering Book and television shows on National Geographic Channel [...] > > Brain was also well-known in futurist and transhumanist circles. In 2003, his "Robotic Nation" essay, published freely on the web, predicted that widespread automation and robotics would cause a massive labor crisis by 2050, warning that up to half of American jobs could be eliminated, leading to unprecedented unemployment and social upheaval. [...]

> At 4:29 am—just two and a half hours before he was discovered dead in his office, Brain sent a final email, obtained by Ars Technica, to over 30 recipients inside and outside the university. In the detailed letter, Brain disputed an announcement made by his boss, Stephen Markham, executive director of NC State's Innovation and Entrepreneurship program. Markham had told staff Brain would retire effective December 31, 2025. Brain wrote that he had instead been terminated on October 29 and was forced into retirement as a face-saving option. > > The termination followed Brain's filing of ethics complaints through the university's EthicsPoint system about an employee at the university's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The complaints stemmed from an August dispute over repurposing the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program meeting space. > > "What got us to this point? The short answer is that I witnessed wrongdoing on campus, and I tried to report it," Brain wrote in his email. "What came back was a sickening nuclear bomb of retaliation the likes of which could not be believed," Brain wrote in the email. He stated that the accused person "excommunicated me from my department for reporting my concerns to her."

> In his email, Brain wrote that the school's head of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering later informed him the department would stop recommending students for Brain's Engineering Entrepreneurs Program. According to Brain's account, this led to disciplinary action against Brain for "unacceptable behavior." > > "My career has been destroyed by multiple administrators at NCSU who united together and completely ignored the EthicsPoint System and its promises to employees," Brain wrote. "I did what the University told me to do, and then these administrators ruined my life for it."

> [...] Dror Baron, an NCSU professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, wrote on X, "A professor I know died following various investigations. I know the people mentioned here, and call for a transparent and independent investigation." > > So far, that investigation has not been forthcoming. University spokesperson Mick Kulikowski declined to comment to The Technician about Brain's death or the allegations. To date, the university has not issued a public statement about Brain's death. > > Barry and Kashani expressed disappointment in the university's lack of public response. "It's been six days now," Kashani said at the time to the school newspaper. "There hasn't been any acknowledgment of mistakes that were made, systems that failed, no resignations, not even a call to celebrate Marshall's achievements."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22814154

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/48909380 >

> Self-scans reveal that Pegasus, an invasive and powerful spyware that can secretly control phones and track owners, might be more widespread than previously thought. It was discovered on the phones of everyday phone users.

From wikiHow: How to Check Your Smartphone for Pegasus Spyware

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/23162928

> Archive link: https://archive.ph/nAWbR

Achieving global stability and sustainable development is not just about big, idealistic goals; it’s equally about selecting strategies that are both impactful and genuinely attainable within the coming decade. The following actions combine urgency with feasibility, leveraging existing technologies, institutions, and policy frameworks:

1. Accelerate a Just Energy Transition:

• Scale-up renewable energy infrastructure: Rapidly expanding solar, wind, and other renewables can meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower dependence on fossil fuels. Regions with abundant natural resources (e.g., Africa’s solar potential) can leapfrog traditional power grids, improving energy access and economic growth.
• Phase down coal with targeted support: Programs like the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) provide financial and technical support to coal-dependent economies, enabling them to retire coal plants and invest in cleaner alternatives.
• Improve energy efficiency standards: Implementing stringent efficiency requirements for buildings, appliances, and transport can quickly reduce consumption, cut emissions, and lower energy costs.

2. Strengthen Global Health Systems and Pandemic Preparedness:

• Universal healthcare baseline improvements: Enhancing primary healthcare infrastructure, ensuring affordable medicines, and training community health workers can dramatically boost resilience to pandemics and chronic diseases.
• Collaborative vaccine research and distribution networks: Agreements that guarantee rapid information-sharing, manufacturing capacity building, and equitable vaccine distribution can help prevent future global health crises and maintain stability.

3. Invest in Sustainable Food and Agriculture Systems:

• Support regenerative and climate-smart agriculture: Techniques like no-till farming, agroforestry, and cover cropping increase soil fertility, reduce emissions, and improve resilience to climate impacts.
• Shorten and diversify supply chains: Encouraging local and regional food production reduces vulnerability to global disruptions, increases dietary diversity, and lowers transport-related emissions.
• End food waste through better logistics and regulations: Improved storage facilities, clearer date-labeling standards, and educational campaigns can cut the vast amount of edible food lost or wasted each year.

4. Advance Education, Digital Access, and Skill Building:

• Boost digital infrastructure and literacy: Providing affordable, reliable internet access and digital literacy training, especially in underserved regions, opens doors to education, remote work, and entrepreneurial opportunities.
• Prioritize universal, high-quality basic education: Enhancing teacher training, updating curricula to emphasize critical thinking and sustainability, and ensuring gender parity can uplift entire communities.
• Focus on STEM and climate education: Building a workforce skilled in climate science, engineering for resilient infrastructure, and green technologies ensures long-term capacity to address global challenges.

5. Bolster Multilateral Cooperation and Effective Governance:

• Revitalize international institutions: Strengthening the UN system, the WTO, and regional bodies can facilitate fair trade, conflict resolution, and coordinated action on transnational issues.
• Adopt robust international legal frameworks: Binding agreements on issues like carbon pricing, deforestation, and ocean protection can foster trust, set clear targets, and provide accountability.
• Enhance transparency and anti-corruption measures: Digital public procurement platforms, open government initiatives, and stronger watchdog agencies reduce corruption, build public trust, and stabilize societies.

6. Promote Gender Equality and Inclusive Economic Policies:

• Close gender gaps in education and the workforce: Ensuring equal access to quality education and decent work opportunities for women and marginalized groups boosts economic output, community resilience, and social cohesion.
• Adopt inclusive financial policies: Microcredit, mobile banking, and fintech solutions can broaden access to capital for small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs, reducing inequalities and fostering stable local economies.

7. Protect and Restore Critical Ecosystems:

• Scale up nature-based solutions: Restoring wetlands, mangroves, and forests not only sequesters carbon but also shields communities against floods and storms. These steps can be accelerated through existing reforestation and conservation programs.
• Implement sustainable fisheries and marine conservation: Strengthening marine protected areas and fishing quotas ensures long-term food security, stable fishing communities, and ocean health.

8. Accelerate Circular Economy and Waste Reduction Strategies:

• Improve recycling and resource recovery technologies: Encouraging the development of municipal composting, advanced material recovery facilities, and design-for-recycling standards reduces environmental harm and creates local jobs.
• Adopt product lifecycle and extended producer responsibility policies: By requiring manufacturers to be accountable for their products' entire lifespan, waste is reduced, and resources are used more efficiently.

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Why These Actions Are Attainable:

• Existing Technologies: Solar panels, wind turbines, vaccines, digital learning platforms, and advanced recycling systems are already proven. Scaling them is a matter of policy commitment and investment, not scientific breakthrough.
• Institutional Frameworks in Place: From the Paris Agreement to regional economic blocs, the scaffolding for cooperation exists. Enhancing rather than reinventing these frameworks is a realistic path forward.
• Economic and Social Co-Benefits: Many of these actions yield multiple benefits—reducing emissions also cuts healthcare costs from pollution; enhancing digital access simultaneously boosts education and entrepreneurial activity. These win-wins increase political and public support.

>Despite Microsoft's push to get customers onto Windows 11, growth in the market share of the software giant's latest operating system has stalled, while Windows 10 has made modest gains, according to fresh figures from Statcounter. > >This is not the news Microsoft wanted to hear. After half a year of growth, the line for Windows 11 global desktop market share has taken a slight downturn, according to the website usage monitor, going from 35.6 percent in October to 34.9 percent in November. Windows 10, on the other hand, managed to grow its share of that market by just under a percentage point to 61.8 percent.

>The dip in usage comes just as Microsoft has been forcing full-screen ads onto the machines of customers running Windows 10 to encourage them to upgrade. The stats also revealed a small drop in the market share of its Edge browser, despite relentlessly plugging the application in the operating system.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22789901

Pretty much the only thing I think AI could be useful for - forecasting the weather based off tracking massive amounts of data. I look forward to seeing how this particular field of study is improved.

Bonus points, AI weather modeling, for once, saves energy relative to physics models. Pair it with some sort of light weight physical model to keep the hallucinations at bay, and you've got a good combo.

If even half of Intel's claims are true, this could be a big shake up in the midrange market that has been entirely abandoned by both Nvidia and AMD.

Ubisoft will be shutting down its free-to-play first-person shooter game "XDefiant" in the new year.

The Digital Ocean outage on 28-Nov-2024 was caused by a mistaken clientHold put on DigitalOceanSpaces.com by Network Solutions, probably by one person, which continued for hours because a bevy of clueless VeriSign executives, notified in multiple escalations, didn't know who to contact to reverse this simple mistake that lead to a major corporation bleeding revenue and reputation.

Imagine if Network Solutions accidentally put a clientHold on your domain. You'd have to kiss your domain goodbye because a lot of VeriSign executives will not be helping you, even if they could.

"DigitalOcean is working with Network Solutions to understand what happened on their end that resulted in the clientHold being applied to our domain incorrectly. In addition, we are reviewing other domain registrars as possible new homes for our domains."

https://status.digitalocean.com/incidents/jm44h02t22ck

The Article

Future’s 200+ brands will bring a broad range of news and lifestyle content to ChatGPT.

OpenAI and Future, the global platform for specialist media, have today announced a strategic partnership to bring content from Future’s 200–plus media brands to OpenAI’s users.

Future, headquartered in the UK and listed on the FTSE 250 with operations globally, distributes trusted, specialist content across a range of platforms, including websites, newsletters, videos, magazines and live events. Its brands include Marie Claire, PC Gamer, TechRadar, Tom’s Guide, The Week, Who What Wear, and Cycling Weekly.

The initiative brings Future’s journalism to new audiences while also enhancing the ChatGPT experience. ChatGPT users will be able to access content from across Future’s portfolio, with attribution and links to the full original articles for transparency and further information.

This content partnership builds on Future’s existing deployment of OpenAI’s technology. The publisher has developed chatbots so users can engage more deeply with content from Tom’s Hardware and Who What Wear. Future is also using OpenAI’s tools across multiple functions including sales, marketing, and editorial to boost productivity.

“Across Future’s brands, we are focused on growing our engaged audience and building global communities. Our partnership with OpenAI helps us achieve this goal by expanding the range of platforms where our content is distributed. ChatGPT provides a whole new avenue for people to discover our incredible specialist content,” said Future CEO Jon Steinberg. “Future is proud to be at the forefront of deploying AI, both in building new ways for users to engage with our content but also to support our staff and enhance their productivity.”

“This partnership enables us to enhance the ChatGPT experience by providing more access to engaging, up to date and reliable information from a range of specialist sources,” said Brad Lightcap, COO, OpenAI. “Our goal is to help publishers and content creators both benefit from advanced AI technology and expand their reach.”

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/49075365

archive link

> Software engineer Vishnu Mohandas decided he would quit Google in more ways than one when he learned that the tech giant had briefly helped the US military develop AI to study drone footage. In 2020 he left his job working on Google Assistant and also stopped backing up all of his images to Google Photos. He feared that his content could be used to train AI systems, even if they weren’t specifically ones tied to the Pentagon project. “I don't control any of the future outcomes that this will enable,” Mohandas thought. “So now, shouldn't I be more responsible?”

The site (TheySeeYourPhotos) returns what Google Vision is able to decern from photos. You can test with any image you want or there are some sample images available.

China has near global monopolies on these exports, accounting for 98% of global gallium production, 93% of germanium production, and 49% of antimony production.