It’s hard for me to throw out the final scrapings of the dips I love. I want to avoid waste, but I have a hard time letting go of luscious, umami-packed dips and spreads. Rather than let even half a spoonful of flavor go to waste, I use the near-empty tub to make a flavorful salad dressing out of my beloved dip tub…
Source: LifeHacker – Use That Last Bit of Dip to Make a Salad Dressing
Zabbix is a powerful open-source monitoring solution to monitor IT infrastructure. With Zabbix, you can monitor various IT components, including networks, servers, virtual machines, and cloud services.
Source: LXer – How to Install Zabbix Monitoring Tool on Ubuntu 22.04
Pokémon Go publisher Niantic has aroused fans’ suspicions after a promotional image showed some telltale signs of potentially being AI artwork, rather than something made by an actual human artist.
Source: Kotaku – Fans Think Latest Pokémon Go Artwork Was Made With AI
Enlarge (credit: Activision)
On Wednesday, Activision announced that it will be introducing real-time AI-powered voice chat moderation in the upcoming November 10 release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. The company is partnering with Modulate to implement this feature, using technology called ToxMod to identify and take action against hate speech, bullying, harassment, and discrimination.
While the industry-wide challenge of toxic online behavior isn’t unique to Call of Duty, Activision says the scale of the problem has been heightened due to the franchise’s massive player base. So it’s turning to machine-learning technology to help automate the solution.
ToxMod is an AI-powered voice moderation system designed to identify and act against what Activision calls “harmful language” that violates the game’s code of conduct. The aim is to supplement Call of Duty’s existing anti-toxicity measures, which include text filtering in 14 languages and an in-game player-reporting system.
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Source: Ars Technica – AI-powered hate speech detection will moderate voice chat in Call of Duty
The embargo on Starfield reviews and coverage is up and the internet is flooded with videos and opinions about Bethesda’s newest, soon-to-be-released RPG. And for those of you excited to play Starfield on Valve’s portable Steam Deck, there’s some bad news: It ain’t a great fit for the tiny PC.
Source: Kotaku – Warning: Starfield Doesn’t Run Well On Steam Deck
Enlarge / Poor critical and commercial reception for the latest Saints Row reboot may have played a role in Volition’s fate.
Volition—the development studio behind franchises from Descent and Freespace to Red Faction and Saints Row—has been abruptly shut down after a 30-year run. Parent company Embracer Group said the studio will be closed “effective immediately” as part of a massive restructuring program that began in June, according to a farewell notice posted on Volition’s website and on LinkedIn.
“The Volition team has proudly created world-class entertainment for fans around the globe for 30 years,” the statement reads, in part. “We’ve been driven by a passion for our community and always worked to deliver joy, surprise and delight.”
Some of Volition’s more than 200 employees are sharing news of their layoffs. But it’s unclear just how many of the studio’s more than 200 employees are now out of a job and how many will be transitioned to other parts of Embracer’s gaming behemoth, which includes Gearbox Entertainment, THQ Nordic, Eidos Interactive, and many more studios.
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Source: Ars Technica – 30 years after Descent, developer Volition is suddenly no more
The US Copyright Office is opening a public comment period around AI and copyright issues beginning August 30th as the agency figures out how to approach the subject. From a report: As announced [PDF] in the Federal Register, the agency wants to answer three main questions: how AI models should use copyrighted data in training; whether AI-generated material can be copyrighted even without a human involved; and how copyright liability would work with AI. It also wants comments around AI possibly violating publicity rights but noted these are not technically copyright issues. The Copyright Office said if AI does mimic voices, likenesses, or art styles, it may impact state-mandated rules around publicity and unfair competition laws. Written comments are due on October 18th, and replies must be submitted to the Copyright Office by November 15th.
The copyright status of AI training data and the output of generative AI tools has become a hot topic for politicians, artists, authors, and even civil rights groups, making it a potential testing ground for coming AI regulation. The Copyright Office says that “over the past several years, the Office has begun to receive applications to register works containing AI-generated material.” It may use the comments to inform how it decides to grant copyright in the future. The Copyright Office was involved in a lawsuit last year after it refused to grant Stephen Thaler rights to an image created by an AI platform. Earlier this month, a Washington, DC, court sided with the US Copyright Office in the case, stating copyright has never been handed to any work without a human involved.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – US Copyright Office Wants To Hear What People Think About AI and Copyright
In this tutorial, we will walk you through the steps on how to install Linux kernel 6.5 on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Linux Mint 21.
The post How to Install Linux Kernel 6.5 on Ubuntu and Linux Mint appeared first on Linux Today.
Source: Linux Today – How to Install Linux Kernel 6.5 on Ubuntu and Linux Mint
StackSkills is an online learning platform with beginner and intermediate courses for various skills, industries, and hobbies, and StackSkills Unlimited courses are on sale for $34.97 right now through Labor Day, September 4.
Source: LifeHacker – StackSkills e-Learning Courses Are Right Now
Enlarge / Ukrainian soldiers. (credit: Getty Images)
Russia’s military intelligence unit has been targeting Ukrainian Android devices with “Infamous Chisel,” the tracking name for new malware that’s designed to backdoor devices and steal critical information, Western intelligence agencies said on Thursday.
“Infamous Chisel is a collection of components which enable persistent access to an infected Android device over the Tor network, and which periodically collates and exfiltrates victim information from compromised devices,” intelligence officials from the UK, US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand wrote. “The information exfiltrated is a combination of system device information, commercial application information and applications specific to the Ukrainian military.”
Ukraine’s security service first called out the malware earlier this month. Ukrainian officials said then that Ukrainian personnel had “prevented Russia’s intelligence services from gaining access to sensitive information, including the activity of the Armed Forces, deployment of the Defense Forces, their technical provision, etc.”
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Source: Ars Technica – Russia targets Ukraine with new Android backdoor, intel agencies say
New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced today that it’s disabling the “feature” on its website that made it possible to track people’s movements by entering their credit card info. The MTA says it’s turning off the seven-day history feature for OMNY as part of its commitment to privacy.
“This feature was meant to help our customers who want access to their tap-and-go trip histories, both paid and free, without having to create an OMNY account,” MTA spokesperson Eugene Resnick wrote in a statement to Engadget. “As part of the MTA’s ongoing commitment to customer privacy, we have disabled this feature while we evaluate other ways to serve these customers.”
The OMNY website included a page (screenshotted above) where passengers could enter their credit card number and expiration date to view their seven-day point-of-entry history across NYC’s subways. Although intended to provide convenience for users, it was also “a gift for abusers,” as Eva Galperin, the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s director of cybersecurity, described it to Engadget. Joseph Cox of 404 Media, which originally reported on the security hole, successfully tracked someone’s entry points (with consent) using their card info. “If I had kept monitoring this person, I would have figured out the subway station they often start a journey at, which is near where they live,” Cox wrote. “I would also know what specific time this person may go to the subway each day.”
The feature opened the door to stalkers, abusive exes or anyone who got a person’s credit card to find out where and when they entered the subway. The feature didn’t require a PIN or password; although a separate section allowed travelers to create a more secure account, it was buried farther down the page.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nycs-transit-agency-disables-feature-that-made-it-possible-to-track-subway-riders-195003276.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – NYC’s transit agency disables feature that made it possible to track subway riders
Nintendo has just announced the latest Switch special edition, one that’s steeped in nostalgia. The new colorway has been dubbed the Mario Red Edition and pays tribute to one of Nintendo’s most popular video game characters. The system will feature a console, dock and Joy-Con controllers all in Mario’s iconic red. On the back of the dock, there’s a tiny silhouette of Mario as he leaps into action. There’s also a touch of gold thanks to a set of coins hidden inside.
The new design will only be available on the OLED model, which was expected. The OLED version of the Switch is the company’s flagship model, and we’ve already seen similar special editions recently. Nintendo has been known to release custom consoles as tie-ins with upcoming games – and with the official release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder set for October, it’s not surprising to see the company creating a little buzz with this Mario-themed colorway.
Warp into a world of games with the #NintendoSwitch – OLED Model: Mario Red Edition system!
The system features a console, dock, and Joy-Con controllers all in the iconic Mario Red color, with a silhouette of Mario on the back of the dock.
Learn more: https://t.co/sGAG1rfH4ppic.twitter.com/giOAawtDWI
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) August 31, 2023
Additionally, we saw the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie back in April. So, it’s been a pretty big year for Mario and the gang. The Mario Red Edition will be available for purchase from the official Nintendo store and Best Buy. It’s currently available for pre-order and will cost $350, the same as the standard OLED model. Shipping is expected to start in October.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nintendos-mario-red-special-edition-switch-comes-out-next-month-193050476.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Nintendo’s Mario-red special edition Switch comes out next month
The Webb Space Telescope recently imaged Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A), one of the brightest supernovae in the night sky and the nearest observed in centuries, according to NASA.
Source: Gizmodo – Webb Telescope Spots Eye-Shaped Supernova With a Messy Filling
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)
The day before a Texas antiporn law that requires age verification to access adult websites was set to take effect, the state’s attorney general, Angela Colmenero, has been at least temporarily blocked from enforcing the law.
US District Judge David Alan Ezra granted a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking enforcement after the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) joined adult performers and sites like Pornhub in a lawsuit opposing the law. Today, they succeeded in convincing Ezra that Texas’ law violates the First Amendment and would have “a chilling effect on legally-protected speech,” FSC said in a press release.
“This is a huge and important victory against the rising tide of censorship online,” Alison Boden, FSC’s executive director, said. “From the beginning, we have argued that the Texas law, and those like it, are both dangerous and unconstitutional. We’re pleased that the court agreed with our view that [the law’s] true purpose is not to protect young people, but to prevent Texans from enjoying First Amendment protected expression. The state’s defense of the law was not based in science or technology, but ideology and politics.”
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Source: Ars Technica – Pornhub wins injunction that blocks Texas age-verification law
In an unprecedented decision, Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee announced on Thursday that he will allow not only a press pool, cameras and laptops to be present in the courtroom during the election interference trial of former President Donald Trump, but that the entire proceedings will be livestreamed on YouTube as well. That stream will be operated by the court.
Trump and 18 co-defendants are slated their trial on October 23rd. Tsplhey’re facing multiple racketeering charges surrounding their efforts in the state of Georgia to subvert and overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, what Fulton County DA Fanni Harris describes as “a criminal enterprise” to unconstitutionally keep the disgraced politician in power. Trump has pled not guilty to all charges.
While recording court proceedings can be an uncommon occurrence in some jurisdictions, the state of Georgia takes a far more lax approach in allowing the practice.
“Georgia courts traditionally have allowed the media and the public in so that everyone can scrutinize how our process actually works,” Atlanta-based attorney Josh Schiffer, told Atlanta First News. “Unlike a lot of states with very strict rules, courts in Georgia are going to basically leave it up to the judges.”
For example, when Trump was arraigned in New York on alleged financial crimes, only still photography was allowed. For his Miami charges, photography wasn’t allowed at all. This means that the public will not be privy to the in-court proceedings of Trump’s federal election interference case, only the Georgia state prosecution.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/trumps-georgia-election-interference-trial-will-be-livestreamed-on-youtube-193146662.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Trump’s Georgia election interference trial will be livestreamed on YouTube
You’ve probably heard of “learning styles,” and you may have a vague idea of which one you most align with. But even though learning through various methods is a good thing, there’s also a lot of hype and fluff around knowing your specific style. Let’s sort through both the good and the bad.
Source: LifeHacker – ‘Learning Styles’ Matter Less Than You Might Think
The stakes are high for Bethesda’s newest role-playing game. Microsoft needs an Xbox hit, and players are hungry for an expansive and satisfying space adventure. From a report: Starfield almost immediately nudges its players to the edges of the cosmos. In the opening hours of the role-playing video game, it’s possible to land your spaceship on Earth’s moon or zip 16 light-years to Alpha Centauri. When you open your map and zoom out from a planet, you can behold its surrounding solar system; zoom out again, and you’re scrolling past luminous stars and the mysterious worlds that orbit them. That sprawling celestial journey within Starfield, developed by Bethesda Game Studios, reveals both the tremendous potential and the monumental challenge of an open-world space adventure. Bethesda has hyped an expansive single-player campaign with 1,000 explorable planets. And expectations around the game, officially releasing on Sept. 6 after a 10-month delay, are nearly as vast.
It’s the first new universe in 25 years for Bethesda, known for the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series. It’s also a high-stakes moment for Microsoft, which makes the Xbox and has long faced criticism that it produces fewer hit games than its console rivals, Sony and Nintendo. To compete, Microsoft went on a spending spree, acquiring Bethesda’s parent company in 2020 and agreeing to purchase Activision Blizzard in 2022, a $69 billion bet that is being challenged by regulators. Now Bethesda must deliver. Known for letting players navigate competing factions and undertake eccentric quests, the studio hopes Starfield will dazzle those clamoring for engaging encounters with alien life-forms or space mercenaries as well as a sense of boundless exploration.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Starfield’s 1,000 Planets May Be One Giant Leap for Game Design
The JBL Authentics 200.
The Google Assistant and Alexa have long been at odds, and back in the voice assistants’ heydays, speaker-makers seemingly weren’t allowed to ship both platforms in one product. Later around 2019, the two companies finally deigned to be on the same device—but never active at the same time. Notably on Sonos speakers, customers could swap between the two assistants via an app setting. Times are getting tough for voice assistants, though, and now via a new toolkit, Amazon and Google can finally work at the same time on a single speaker. One of the first to support the new toolkit is JBL, via the new JBL Authentics 200, 300, and 500 speakers.
The toolkit is called the “Multi-Agent Experience (MAX) Toolkit,” and we have dueling press releases from Google and Amazon promoting the new speaker. Amazon says the two voice assistants can even work together and handoff tasks, saying “customers no longer need to remember which service they asked to start a request for music, timers, reminders, or alarms—either service can stop it. For example, customers can ask Alexa to set a timer and ask Google Assistant to stop it when it goes off, or vice versa.”
As for JBL’s hardware, you get a choice of three rather pricey speakers. The JBL Authentics 200 is $329.99 and has “a pair of 1-inch tweeters bringing each song to life, with the full-range 5-inch woofer and downfiring 6-inch passive radiator.” The 300 model takes the same basic speaker and adds an “8 hour” battery and a handle to the mix, making it a portable bluetooth speaker for $429.99. The beefy 500 model is a whopping $699.99 and features three 1-inch tweeters, three 2.75-inch midrange woofers, and a 6.5-inch downfiring subwoofer for 270 Watts of sound. This also adds Dolby Atmos support for 3D sound. All units have top-mounted treble, base, and volume knobs, and on the back you get USB-C, power, and—a real shocker—wired Ethernet ports!
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Source: Ars Technica – Alexa and Google Assistant fall on hard times, agree to be speaker roommates
Hollywood may be at a near-standstill due to the ongoing strikes, but AMC Studios has been granted waivers to resume work on three of its most high-profile shows. Interview With the Vampire and two of the Walking Dead spinoffs, Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live, will resume production under waivers granted by…
Source: Gizmodo – AMC Reaches a Deal With SAG-AFTRA to Resume Production
Reviews have started pouring in for Starfield, the highly anticipated and allegedly gargantuan space RPG from Bethesda, which comes out worldwide on September 6. And though the reviews are mostly positive, and reports suggest that this may be the least buggy Bethesda launch yet, one content creator has pointed out a…
Source: Kotaku – It Looks Like Starfield Has Major Accessibility Problems
