The BEAD program was originally designed to give states funding for fiber-optic cable installation, increase Wi-Fi networks and free broadband internet access for some individuals. Fiber-optic broadband provides the fastest internet speeds, but the new mandate will get rid of BEAD’s preference for it.
“The Department is ripping out the Biden Administration’s pointless requirements,” said US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick in a statement. “It is revamping the BEAD program to take a tech-neutral approach that is rigorously driven by outcomes, so states can provide internet access for the lowest cost.”
The writing on the wall is clear: Musk, the richest person in the world, leader of a department to reduce government waste (read: cut many critical jobs and programs) and an unelected right hand to what can best be described as an authoritarian government, is about to make even more money.
Under the Biden administration in 2023, Starlink received a rejection from the Federal Communications Commission for nearly $900 million in subsidies. The FCC stated that Starlink’s application, which was part of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program, failed to meet the program’s requirements.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/musks-starlink-stands-to-benefit-from-changes-to-a-broadband-equity-program-132521582.html?src=rss
A newly discovered network botnet comprising an estimated 30,000 webcams and video recorders—with the largest concentration in the US—has been delivering what is likely to be the biggest denial-of-service attack ever seen, a security researcher inside Nokia said.
The botnet, tracked under the name Eleven11bot, first came to light in late February when researchers inside Nokia’s Deepfield Emergency Response Team observed large numbers of geographically dispersed IP addresses delivering “hyper-volumetric attacks.” Eleven11bot has been delivering large-scale attacks ever since.
Volumetric DDoSes shut down services by consuming all available bandwidth either inside the targeted network or its connection to the Internet. This approach works differently than exhaustion DDoSes, which over-exert the computing resources of a server. Hypervolumetric attacks are volumetric DDoses that deliver staggering amounts of data, typically measured in the terabits per second.
In a policy paper, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, and Center for AI Safety Director Dan Hendrycks said that the U.S. should not pursue a Manhattan Project-style push to develop AI systems with “superhuman” intelligence, also known as AGI. From a report: The paper, titled “Superintelligence Strategy,” asserts that an aggressive bid by the U.S. to exclusively control superintelligent AI systems could prompt fierce retaliation from China, potentially in the form of a cyberattack, which could destabilize international relations.
“[A] Manhattan Project [for AGI] assumes that rivals will acquiesce to an enduring imbalance or omnicide rather than move to prevent it,” the co-authors write. “What begins as a push for a superweapon and global control risks prompting hostile countermeasures and escalating tensions, thereby undermining the very stability the strategy purports to secure.”
If you’re into kite surfing, skiing, rock climbing or other adventure sports and want to film your activities, an action camera is the only way to go. In the past, GoPro was uniquely associated with this type of first-person action filming. But now, buyers now have more choice, with models also available from DJI and Insta360. Each company has its own strength, with Insta360 specializing in 360-degree video, DJI known for low-light video quality and GoPro making solid all-around cams with a wide choice of accessories.
That raises the question, which one has the best features for your personal exploits? Engadget has been testing action cameras for more than 16 years and with that experience, we can help you find the right model for your budget and needs.
What to consider before choosing an action camera
Action cameras have certain traits that separate them from regular cameras or smartphones. The most important is ruggedness that makes them resistant to water, dust and shocks. Most action cameras are now waterproof without the need for a separate enclosure. At the same time, you can purchase housing accessories to make them waterproof to even greater depths.
Video quality is also key. Every model we recommend goes to at least 4K 60fps, but some models like GoPro’s latest Hero 13 boost resolution up to 5.3K 60fps, or even 8K 30p with the Insta360 Ace Pro 2. That allows you to crop in on shots and capture vertical video at higher resolutions for social media. Another nice feature is log video that improves dynamic range when filming on sunny, contrasty days. And if you film in dim environments, you’ll want the largest sensor possible for the best low-light performance.
For activities with bumps and jolts like mountain biking, stabilization is incredibly important. You want your video to look smooth, but still need to convey the thrill and speed of the action. The Hero 13 is still the best in this regard, delivering jolt-free video that makes the viewer feel like they’re going down the bike trail or ski slope, with no annoying digital artifacts. DJI and Insta360’s products are good, but not quite at that level yet.
Some action cameras are easier to handle and use, so take that into account as well. You’ll want bright and colorful displays both front and back, buttons you won’t have to fumble to find and easy-to-use menus. Remote control is another factor that can ease operation. And you’ll want to check which software is available to improve stabilization, edit video, remove selfie sticks and more.
Then there’s the area of accessories. Do you need helmet or chest mounts, waterproof housings or battery charger? GoPro has the largest number of those, but DJI makes handy wireless mics that connect directly with its cameras. And of course, battery life is critical for action shooting as it’s hard to change one when you’re out surfing.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cameras/best-action-camera-130017459.html?src=rss
Gina Trapani, founder of the website you’re reading right now, popularized a plaintext format for to-do lists way back in 2006 (please excuse any weird formatting on that nearly 20-year-old article). Called Todo.txt, it is used by many people to this day, in part thanks to an ecosystem of applications built around the format.
I recently stumbled on Calendar.txt, by author and teacher Tero Karvinen. It’s a text document based on a similar philosophy—a stripped down, just-the-basics take on your overloaded calendar app. It’s a concept worth considering. We’re at least a decade into the “using a separate app for everything” era, and sure, a lot of those apps are pretty great. I’ve spent years recommending software-based tools for everything from managing tasks to making drinks, and I don’t plan to stop anytime soon.
But not everyone needs a bespoke app for everything they do. Productivity is personal, and everyone has different needs. I’ve known several highly technically competent people who still use paper day planners to track their appointments and tasks—a simple notebook is flexible in a way that no app can match.
One line of text per day
I view plaintext tools like Calendar.txt in a similar light. This specific tool is about as simple as it gets: It uses one line of text for every day. You can download a pre-made file with lines for dates that stretches through the year 2033, or you can just make your own.
Every line starts with the date, followed by the week number, followed by a three-letter week name. The idea is that you write your appointments after that, by simply writing the time, followed by the name of the event. Events are simply added, in order, to the line.
So, for example, a line for today, with one appointment/task (me cleaning the house this afternoon) would look like this:
2025-03-06 w10 Thu 14 cleaning the house
There are many shortcomings to this approach. There’s no built-in tool for reminding you of events, for one thing, and there’s no way to invite others to your appointment. But this simple approach might work for you.
And, as todo.txt demonstrated two decades ago, there are benefits to using plaintext files. Plaintext is versatile, can be opened on any device, and your files won’t disappear because some software company decides it wanted to change its priorities. If you’re familiar with the command line, you can use existing tools in all kinds of interesting ways. For example, the calendar.txt documentation shows how you can use grep, a tool for searching text documents, to pull up today’s appointments:
grep 2025-03-06 calendar.txt
You could use the same command to search for events by the day.
Credit: Justin Pot
Again, this approach won’t seem useful to everyone—especially if you never open the command prompt—but not every tool needs to be for every user. Only you can decide which tools work best for you.
With the release of Blender 4.3 last November an experimental Vulkan back-end was added and it continues to be improved upon for modernizing this 3D creation suite for digital artists and serving a variety of other purposes. The upcoming Blender 4.4 release will further refine the Vulkan support while later in the year it should be reaching production readiness…
The FreeBSD Foundation paired with resources committed by AMD, Dell, and Framework are working to improve FreeBSD laptop support. In recent months there have been FreeBSD development efforts to improve the power management support with modern laptops as well as a strong focus on enhancing the WiFi driver support. A status update was issued yesterday for highlighting the latest FreeBSD laptops efforts…
FEX 2503 is out as the newest monthly update to this open-source emulator that enables the ability to run Linux x86_64 binaries on Linux ARM64 (AArch64) hosts…
Toast Interactive announced their VR games Max Mustard (2024) and Richie’s Plank Experience (2017) have been removed from the Horizon Store for Quest. For now, it’s unclear precisely why, however the veteran indie studio says the move has left them feeling “betrayed and powerless.”
“Unfortunately, Meta has unilaterally chosen to remove Toast and its two games, Max Mustard and Richies Plank Experience from their store,” the studio says in a post on X. “We feel betrayed and powerless on many levels.”
While temporary delisting can happen by mistake, this doesn’t appear to be the case. There is a reason, however Toast Interactive says it can’t talk about it yet, separately noting the studio “look[s] forward to sharing our story with you all in the near future.”
In a Reddit post, Toast Interactive says the reason will “blow everyone’s minds. But I’ve been firmly advised not to.”
On both the Max Mustard and Richie’s Plank Experience Horizon Store pages, the reason listed is the apps are “out of compliance with Meta’s Platform Abuse Policy,” although there’s no information on specifically how it fell out of compliance.
Image captured by Road to VR
The company’s platform abuse policy covers a wide range of offenses, such as pirated content, security exploits, or deception of any kind, however it also covers more nebulous areas that are likely left up to interpretation.
Not following developer documentation, or “any other provisions of the Meta Platforms Technologies Terms of Service or Code of Conduct for Virtual Experiences, or any other Meta Platforms Technologies terms, policies or guidelines” can also get an app removed with or without warning, Meta says in its Platform Abuse Policy.
Notably, both games are still available across their other supported platforms, with Max Mustard supporting PC VR, PSVR 2 and Pico headsets, and Richie’s Plank Experience supporting PC VR, the original PSVR and Pico headsets.
This follows a first layoff round in November 2024, which affected 10 employees. At the time, the studio maintained that while Max Mustard was “one of the highest-rated games on both PSVR 2 and Meta Quest, it sadly can’t sustain a large indie team.”
This story is breaking: we’ve reached out to Meta for more clarity on the situation and will report back when/if we receive a response, or as more information arises.
Generative AI (GenAI) tools like GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT are rapidly changing how programming is taught and learnt. These tools can solve assignments with remarkable accuracy. GPT-4, for example, scored an impressive 99.5% on an undergraduate computer science exam, compared to Codex’s 78% just two years earlier. With such capabilities, researchers are shifting from asking, “Should we teach with AI?” to “How do we teach with AI?”
Leo Porter from UC San Diego
Daniel Zingaro from the University of Toronto
Leo Porter and Daniel Zingaro have spearheaded this transformation through their groundbreaking undergraduate programming course. Their innovative curriculum integrates GenAI tools to help students tackle complex programming tasks while developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Leo and Daniel presented their work at the Raspberry Pi Foundation research seminar in December 2024. During the seminar, it became clear that much could be learnt from their work, with their insights having particular relevance for teachers in secondary education thinking about using GenAI in their programming classes
Practical applications in the classroom
In 2023, Leo and Daniel introduced GitHub Copilot in their introductory programming CS1-LLM course at UC San Diego with 550 students. The course included creative, open-ended projects that allowed students to explore their interests while applying the skills they’d learnt. The projects covered the following areas:
Data science: Students used Kaggle datasets to explore questions related to their fields of study — for example, neuroscience majors analysed stroke data. The projects encouraged interdisciplinary thinking and practical applications of programming.
Image manipulation: Students worked with the Python Imaging Library (PIL) to create collages and apply filters to images, showcasing their creativity and technical skills.
Game development: A project focused on designing text-based games encouraged students to break down problems into manageable components while using AI tools to generate and debug code.
Students consistently reported that these projects were not only enjoyable but also responsible for deepening their understanding of programming concepts. A majority (74%) found the projects helpful or extremely helpful for their learning. One student noted that.
“Programming projects were fun and the amount of freedom that was given added to that. The projects also helped me understand how to put everything that we have learned so far into a project that I could be proud of.“
Core skills for programming with Generative AI
Leo and Daniel emphasised that teaching programming with GenAI involves fostering a mix of traditional and AI-specific skills.
Writing software with GenAI applications, such as Copilot, needs to be approached differently to traditional programming tasks
Their approach centres on six core competencies:
Prompting and function design: Students learn to articulate precise prompts for AI tools, honing their ability to describe a function’s purpose, inputs, and outputs, for instance. This clarity improves the output from the AI tool and reinforces students’ understanding of task requirements.
Code reading and selection: AI tools can produce any number of solutions, and each will be different, requiring students to evaluate the options critically. Students are taught to identify which solution is most likely to solve their problem effectively.
Code testing and debugging: Students practise open- and closed-box testing, learning to identify edge cases and debug code using tools like doctest and the VS Code debugger.
Problem decomposition: Breaking down large projects into smaller functions is essential. For instance, when designing a text-based game, students might separate tasks into input handling, game state updates, and rendering functions.
Leveraging modules: Students explore new programming domains and identify useful libraries through interactions with Copilot. This prepares them to solve problems efficiently and creatively.
Ethical and metacognitive skills: Students engage in discussions about responsible AI use and reflect on the decisions they make when collaborating with AI tools.
Adapting assessments for the AI era
The rise of GenAI has prompted educators to rethink how they assess programming skills. In the CS1-LLM course, traditional take-home assignments were de-emphasised in favour of assessments that focused on process and understanding.
Leo and Daniel chose several types of assessments — some involved having to complete programming tasks with the help of GenAI tools, while others had to be completed without.
Quizzes and exams: Students were evaluated on their ability to read, test, and debug code — skills critical for working effectively with AI tools. Final exams included both tasks that required independent coding and tasks that required use of Copilot.
Creative projects: Students submitted projects alongside a video explanation of their process, emphasising problem decomposition and testing. This approach highlighted the importance of critical thinking over rote memorisation.
Challenges and lessons learnt
While Leo and Daniel reported that the integration of AI tools into their course has been largely successful, it has also introduced challenges. Surveys revealed that some students felt overly dependent on AI tools, expressing concerns about their ability to code independently. Addressing this will require striking a balance between leveraging AI tools and reinforcing foundational skills.
Additionally, ethical concerns around AI use, such as plagiarism and intellectual property, must be addressed. Leo and Daniel incorporated discussions about these issues into their curriculum to ensure students understand the broader implications of working with AI technologies.
A future-oriented approach
Leo and Daniel’s work demonstrates that GenAI can transform programming education, making it more inclusive, engaging, and relevant. Their course attracted a diverse cohort of students, as well as students traditionally underrepresented in computer science — 52% of the students were female and 66% were not majoring in computer science — highlighting the potential of AI-powered learning to broaden participation in computer science.
By embracing this shift, educators can prepare students not just to write code but to also think critically, solve real-world problems, and effectively harness the AI innovations shaping the future of technology.
If you’re an educator interested in using GenAI in your teaching, we recommend checking out Leo and Daniel’s book, Learn AI-Assisted Python Programming, as well as their course resources on GitHub. You may also be interested in our own Experience AI resources, which are designed to help educators navigate the fast-moving world of AI and machine learning technologies.
Join us at our next online seminar on 11 March
Our 2025 seminar series is exploring how we can teach young people about AI technologies and data science. At our next seminar on Tuesday, 11 March at 17:00–18:00 GMT, we’ll hear from Lukas Höper and Carsten Schulte from Paderborn University. They’ll be discussing how to teach school students about data-driven technologies and how to increase students’ awareness of how data is used in their daily lives.
To sign up and take part in the seminar, click the button below — we’ll then send you information about joining. We hope to see you there.
Copr is a build-system for anyone in the Fedora community. It hosts thousands of projects with a wide variety of purposes, targeting diverse groups of users. Some of them should never be installed by anyone, some are already transitioning into the official Fedora repositories, and others fall somewhere in between.
The RK3566 Single Board Computer is designed for a range of applications, combining processing power with multiple connectivity options. Built with an 8-layer PCB design and featuring a compact form factor, it is powered by a quad-core Cortex-A55 processor and includes an M.2 2242 slot for expansion.
India’s income tax department will gain powers to access citizens’ social media accounts, emails and other digital spaces beginning April 2026 under the new income tax bill, in a significant expansion of its search and seizure authority.
The legislation, which has raised privacy concerns among legal experts, allows tax officers to “gain access by overriding the access code” to computer systems and “virtual digital spaces” if they suspect tax evasion.
The bill broadly defines virtual digital spaces to include email servers, social media accounts, online investment accounts, banking platforms, and cloud servers.
“The expansion raises significant concerns regarding constitutional validity, potential state overreach, and practical enforcement,” Sonam Chandwani, Managing Partner at KS Legal and Associates, told Indian newspaper Economic Times.
