OnePlus announced the launch of its new OnePlus 10 Pro 5G in a very dramatic way, by launching one into the stratosphere. You can also reserve one of the new smartphones for just $1 until March 31st.
OnePlus asked its community how it could best showcase its newest flagship phone, the OnePlus 10 5G. The result was to launch the smartphone
Source: Hot Hardware – OnePlus 10 Pro Reservations Go Live As The Phone Is Shot Into The Stratosphere, Literally, Watch
CNN Business reports a deepfake video of Russian president Volodymyr Zelensky was fabricated to falsely depict him urging viewers to lay down their weapons and return to their families. But at the same time, “there was another widely circulated deepfake video depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin supposedly declaring peace in the Ukraine war.”
Though both videos were “noticeably low resolution” (which they describe as a common tactic for hiding flaws), “experts still see them as dangerous.”
That’s because they show the lighting speed with which high-tech disinformation can now spread around the globe. As they become increasingly common, deepfake videos make it harder to tell fact from fiction online, and all the more so during a war that is unfolding online and rife with misinformation. Even a bad deepfake risks muddying the waters further. “Once this line is eroded, truth itself will not exist,” said Wael Abd-Almageed, a research associate professor at the University of Southern California and founding director of the school’s Visual Intelligence and Multimedia Analytics Laboratory. “If you see anything and you cannot believe it anymore, then everything becomes false. It’s not like everything will become true. It’s just that we will lose confidence in anything and everything….”
The fact that they are now being used in an attempt to influence people during a war is especially pernicious, experts told CNN Business, simply because the confusion they sow can be dangerous. Siwei Lyu, director of the computer vision and machine learning lab at University at Albany, said under normal circumstances, deepfakes may not have much impact beyond drawing interest and getting traction online. “But in critical situations, during a war or a national disaster, when people really can’t think very rationally and they only have a very truly short span of attention, and they see something like this, that’s when it becomes a problem,” he added.
Snuffing out misinformation in general has become more complex during the war in Ukraine. Russia’s invasion of the country has been accompanied by a real-time deluge of information hitting social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Much of it is real, but some is fake or misleading. The visual nature of what’s being shared — along with how emotional and visceral it often is — can make it hard to quickly tell what’s real from what’s fake. Nina Schick, author of “Deepfakes: The Coming Infocalypse,” sees deepfakes like those of Zelensky and Putin as signs of the much larger disinformation problem online, which she thinks social media companies aren’t doing enough to solve. She argued that responses from companies such as Facebook, which quickly said it had removed the Zelensky video, are often a “fig leaf.”
“You’re talking about one video,” she said. The larger problem remains.
As deepfakes get better, researchers and companies are trying to keep up with tools to spot them….
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Could Deepfakes Change the Course of War?
Apple’s third-generation AirPods may only be a few months old, but you can purchase them right now for 16 percent off their suggested retail price. Amazon has discounted the company’s latest earbuds to $149.98. That’s only $10 more than their all-time low of $140.
Buy AirPods (3rd gen) at Amazon – $150
While you could buy Apple’s second-generation AirPods for less money, we think the new model is a better purchase for most people. We gave Apple’s latest earbuds a score of 88, noting they were “better in nearly every way” from their predecessor. They feature a new design that we found a lot more comfortable. Sound quality is likewise improved with the third-generation AirPods capable of delivering rich bass. Battery life was another highlight, with the included charging case providing up to 30 hours of listening time. Apple’s H1 chip enables a handful of handy features, including hands-free Siri, support for spatial audio with head tracking and seamless pairing with Apple devices.
Of course, they’re not perfect. Their one-size-fits-all design won’t be for everyone, and they don’t come with active noise cancellation, a feature that would make them ideal for commuting. Still, if you own an iPhone, it’s hard to go wrong with the third-generation AirPods.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
Source: Engadget – Apple’s latest AirPods are on sale for 0 right now
It’s been a long, delay-heavy road for Morbius, which releases next week. Sony’s been trying their best to build Jared Leto’s tragic-ish vampire as another big part of their Spider-Man adjacent cinematic universe that so far has only led to Venom and whatever the heck that Kraven the Hunter movie is going to be. But…
Source: Gizmodo – Morbius’ Director Opens Up on Its Post-Credits Scene, and It’s Weird
In a perfect world, we’d all eat seasonally available local produce that we’ve purchased directly from farmers (or farmers’ markets). But that’s not an option for everyone (especially since there are entire neighborhoods that don’t have access to affordable fruits and vegetables).
Source: LifeHacker – Don’t Throw Away Your Mesh Produce Bags
“A massive ice shelf in eastern Antartica collapsed, scientists said on Friday, marking the first time an ice shelf has done so in the region,” reports the Hill:
The 460-square mile wide ice shelf, which was roughly the size of New York City and helped keep the Conger and Glenzer glaciers from warmer water, collapsed between March 14 and March 16, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute ice scientist Catherine Walker told The Associated Press. University of Minnesota ice scientist Peter Neff said the collapse was worrying because eastern Antartica holds five times more ice than western Antartica, and if the whole region were to melt, it could raise sea levels across the globe more than 160 feet, according to the AP.
Scientists had long thought that the area had not been impacted heavily by climate change and was stable, according to the wire service, but Neff said the collapse of the ice shelf brought that belief into question. The Glenzer-Conger ice shelf has been shrinking since the 1970s, Neff noted. Walker added that it rapidly began losing ice in 2020, according to the AP.
“The Glenzer-Conger ice shelf presumably had been there for thousands of years, and it’s not ever going to be there again,” Neff told the wire service.
Last week the Washington Post reported that temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet had been “soaring 50 to 90 degrees above normal.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Massive Ice Shelf Collapses in Antarctica
Whether you like it or not, samurai are dominating Elden Ring. It’s a good class, with some solid base stats and starting gear that can see you through the end of the game if you treat them right and level them up. The uchigatana is an especially excellent beginner weapon, but there’s another sword that has a growing…
Source: Kotaku – Elden Ring Players Love (And Hate) That Moonveil Katana
Casey Newton, Platformer
Telegram was almost banned in Brazil because it missed some emails from the local authorities. In his newsletter, Newton explains why this is the latest in a series of troubling decisions from a platform with over 500 million users. “When you’re providing critical communications infrastructure to tens of millions of people, though, you have more responsibility,” he writes.
Nicole Wetsman, The Verge
Artificial intelligence is being used for all sorts of things in medicine, one of which is predicting if a patient is at risk for conditions like diabetes or cardiovascular issues. However, it can be difficult for us as members of the public to understand how these algorithms work. The Verge guides us through one called Sepsis Watch, a system that monitors patients for a potentially deadly condition following an infection.
Thomas Brewster, Forbes
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are helping to provide internet access in Ukraine in the midst of the ongoing Russian invasion, but crews on the ground are venturing into dangerous areas to fix equipment that was already in place that’s being damaged by bombings.
Source: Engadget – Recommended Reading: Telegram is playing with fire
Wordle’s creator, Josh Wardle, gave a talk at this year’s GDC, which has been bringing people joy. Described by one member of the audience as “the opposite of every NFT and Metaverse panel,” during the talk Wardle explained the hit game was created as long ago as 2013.
Source: Kotaku – Wordle Prototype’s Obscure Word List Makes Its Current Puzzles Look Easy
In this tutorial, we’re going to show you how to set up a VPN on Linux and why you’d need one.
Source: LXer – How to set up a VPN on Linux
Spare tires fall into the category of things you forget about until you desperately need them. But that’s not exactly the safest approach.
Source: LifeHacker – You Should Know Your Spare Tire’s Expiration Date (and Where to Find It)
Enlarge / Don’t you hate it when ice crystals form and make your ice cream all crunchy? Scientists at the University of Tennessee found that plant cellulose could work better than the additives manufacturers currently use to slow the growth of ice crystals. (credit: Sally Anscombe/Getty Images)
We’ve all made the mistake of leaving a container of ice cream on the kitchen counter for a bit too long. Sure, you can refreeze the half-melted treat, but you may find that the texture is far more crunchy than delectably creamy afterward. The culprit is overly large ice crystals. Scientists at the University of Tennessee think they’ve found a plant-based additive to stop the formation of these crystals, and it’s more effective and cheaper than the additives currently used by ice cream manufacturers. The researchers presented their work at this past week’s meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego.
“Food science is not cooking,” Tao Wu, a food scientist specializing in carbohydrate chemistry, said during a press conference. “It’s a multi-disciplinary field that uses chemistry, biology, and engineering to solve real-world problems in the production of food. For instance, we must use good chemistry knowledge to produce high-quality ice cream.”
The basic science involved in making ice cream is well known. (Physics students have even been known to use liquid nitrogen to make their own ice cream in the lab.) Just heat milk, cream, and sugar until the sugar dissolves; cool the mixture; and add any flavorings. Then slowly churn that mixture as it freezes. This adds air to the mixture, inflating the volume (overrun). The best ice creams, including gelato, have an overrun of less than 25 percent compared to cheap commercial ice creams, where the overrun can be as high as 100 percent. That higher overrun is why cheap ice creams melt more quickly and don’t store as well. Finally, pack the soft ice cream mixture into containers for the final step in the process (hardening).
Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments
Source: Ars Technica – Secret to keeping ice cream creamy (not crunchy) might be plant-based nanocrystals
Building off DXVK 1.10 released at the start of the month, we are now ending out March with DXVK 1.10.1 for this translation layer used for running Direct3D 9/10/11 games over the Vulkan API on Linux systems…
Source: Phoronix – DXVK 1.10.1 Released With Initial Support For Shared Resources, Game Fixes
The XFS file-system updates have been submitted and merged for the ongoing Linux 5.18 merge window…
Source: Phoronix – XFS Online Repair Functionality To Undergo A Massive Design Review
Disassembling and analyzing malware to see how it works, what it’s designed to do and how to protect against it, is mostly a long, manual task that requires a strong understanding of assembly code and programming, techniques and exploits used by miscreants, and other skills that are hard to come by.
Source: LXer – How AI can help reverse-engineer malware: Predicting function names of code
For the past three months, a mysterious hacker gang has been giving Silicon Valley a migraine of epic proportions. LAPSUS$, a band of cybercriminals with unorthodox techniques and a flare for the dramatic, has been on a white hot streak—lining tech companies up and knocking em’ down like bowling pins.
Source: Gizmodo – Who is LAPSUS$, the Big, Bad Cybercrime Gang Hacking Tech’s Biggest Companies?
I was informed that AMD has a few more Linux positions open at the company. While they have in past years been rather nimble with their Linux staffing, things continue to change thanks to their ongoing successes in the marketplace from the consumer side with Steam Deck through the likes of Tesla’s infotainment system up through high-end server platforms…
Source: Phoronix – AMD Recruiting More Linux Engineers For Debug, CXL Enablement & More
Longtime Linux game porter and SDL developer Ryan Gordon released SDL_sound 2.0 as the first release of this sound component to the Simple DirectMedia Library in nearly fourteen years…
Source: Phoronix – SDL_sound 2.0 Released As First Update In Nearly 14 Years
Akihabara News (Tokyo) — The Osaka Prefectural Assembly approved on March 24 the development plan for the Integrated Resort (IR) including a casino on the manmade island Yumeshima, despite lingering doubts over potential soil liquefaction and only conditional commitment by the private companies.
With the backing of the locally dominant Osaka Restoration Association led by Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui, the Osaka City Council is also expected to give its nod to the project on March 29.
In order to be considered for licensing, the IR proposal must be submitted to the national government before the April 28 deadline.
Development costs for the IR are expected to reach ¥1.08 trillion (US$9 billion), including ¥530 billion (US$4.4 billion) in direct investment the MGM Resorts-Orix Corporation led consortium, and the remaining ¥550 billion (US$4.6 billion) through bank loans.
This figure appears to be separate from the ¥79 billion (US$660 million) needed to strengthen and decontaminate the Yumeshima soil, which will be ponied up by Osaka taxpayers.
The passage of the IR plan through the prefectural assembly finally spurred local anti-casino groups to action, with a referendum petition now appearing imminent.
However, this grassroots reaction is likely coming much too late to impact events, and in any case it has no chance to succeed with the pro-IR Osaka Restoration Association dominating the local political offices.
Recent Integrated Resorts Related Articles
Mario Ho Fails to Silence Wakayama IR Misgivings
Shaky Ground! Osaka’s Casino Resort Plans
Clairvest Yet to Convince on Wakayama IR Financing
Osaka Takes Heat on IR Land Expenses
Mie Governor Puts Brakes on Kuwana IR Bid
Major Changes to Nagasaki IR Design
Japan’s Casino Industry Dodges Suncity Bullet
Wakayama IR Signature Drive Succeeds
Kuwana Reemerges as IR Candidate City
The post Prefectural Assembly Passes Osaka Casino Resort Plan appeared first on Akihabara News.
Source: Akihabara News – Prefectural Assembly Passes Osaka Casino Resort Plan
While bats have been closely associated with vampires for centuries, there are actually only three species of bats that drink blood. Most of them eat fruits, insects, nectar and small animals, like frogs and fish, instead. Blood is low in calories, while being rich in iron, protein and little else, making it a terrible, terrible food source. Now, a team of scientists has figured out how and why those vampire bat species are the only mammals that can live solely on a diet of blood.
Upon comparing the genome of common vampire bats to 26 other species, the scientists found 13 genes in the blood-sucking mammals that either no longer work or are missing. Three of those losses had been reported in another study published in 2014, with all of them indicating a reduced sense of taste reception in vampire bats. The remaining 10 gene losses are new discoveries, according to the team.
The loss of a gene called REP15 indicates enhanced iron uptake in the animals’ gastrointestinal cells, which they also shed and excrete quickly. This prevents iron overload that can have severe detrimental effects. The absence of two other genes allow glucose to remain longer in the bats’ bodies and prevent hypoglycemia, since blood contains minimal carbohydrates. Another absent gene might also be the consequence of the “extensive morphological and physiological modifications” in the stomach of common vampire bats. Instead of being a muscular organ, their stomachs are expandable structures used to store large amounts of liquid and serve as a major site of fluid absorption.
The loss of one gene even contributed “to the evolution of vampire bats’ exceptional social behaviors.” Since they can’t survive too long without feeding, seeing as blood is very low in calories, vampire bats can regurgitate their meals and share with others. They can also keep track of who shared with them in the past and will extend extend help to them in the future if needed. Hannah Kim Frank, a bat researcher at Tulane University, told AP: “It’s totally bizarre and amazing that vampire bats can survive on blood — they are really weird, even among bats.”
The study revealing the loss of genes that allow them to live off blood doesn’t make vampire bats any less weird, or intriguing. You can read the whole study in the Science Advances journal.
Source: Engadget – Gene losses allow vampire bats to live solely on a diet of blood
