Ars Technica – Fearing copyright issues, Getty Images bans AI-generated artwork

Sep 222022
 

Enlarge / A selection of Stable Diffusion images with a strikeout through them. (credit: Ars Technica)
Getty Images has banned the sale of AI generative artwork created using image synthesis models such as Stable Diffusion, DALL-E 2, and Midjourney through its service, The Verge reports.
To clarify the new policy, The Verge spoke with Getty Images CEO Craig Peters. “There are real concerns with respect to the copyright of outputs from these models and unaddressed rights issues with respect to the imagery, the image metadata and those individuals contained within the imagery,” Peters told the publication. Getty Images is a large repository of stock and archival photographs and illustrations, often used by publications (such…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://arstechnica.com/?p=1883513

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Ars Technica – Set a calendar alert: NASA to broadcast first asteroid redirect on Monday

Sep 212022
 

Enlarge / An artist’s conception of DART’s electronics in the last moments before they suffer catastrophic failure. (credit: NASA)
This coming Monday, NASA will broadcast its first attempt to modify the orbit of an asteroid, a capability that will be essential if we detect an asteroid that poses a threat of colliding with Earth. The planetary defense effort is focused on a craft called DART, for Double Asteroid Redirection Test, which will target a small asteroid called Dimorphos that orbits the larger 65803 Didymos, forming a binary system. If all goes according to plan, DART will direct itself to a head-on collision that slows Dimorphos, altering its orbit around Didymos. NASA has repeatedly…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://arstechnica.com/?p=1883002

 2022-09-21  Comments Off on Ars Technica – Set a calendar alert: NASA to broadcast first asteroid redirect on Monday

The Onion – Worm Feels Conflicted About Feasting On Monarch Who Symbolized So Much Oppression

Sep 212022
 

BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND—Troubled by the immense pleasure it derived from the flesh of such a polarizing figure, a local worm told reporters Tuesday that it felt conflicted about feasting on a monarch who symbolized so much oppression. “Granted, I’m not literally supporting her by burrowing into her decaying body and…

Read more…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.theonion.com/worm-feels-conflicted-about-feasting-on-monarch-who-sym-1849558952

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The Intercept – Israeli Forces Deliberately Killed Palestinian American Journalist, Report Shows

Sep 212022
 

Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed by Israeli forces in May while reporting from the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, was deliberately and repeatedly targeted, along with her colleagues, despite being clearly identified as a member of the press, a new report released Tuesday concludes.
The report, a collaboration between Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and the U.K.-based research agency Forensic Architecture, confirms the findings of half a dozen earlier independent reviews of the incident, including by the United Nations, which have found that Israeli forces were responsible for Abu Akleh’s killing, with the U.N. noting that the bullet that killed her was “well aimed.” But the new report, which includes a detailed digital…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://theintercept.com/2022/09/20/shireen-abu-akleh-killing-israel/

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Motherboard – ‘Ring Nation’ Is a Terrible Idea That’s Unstoppable Because Amazon Owns Everything

Sep 212022
 

On Tuesday, 40 civil rights groups published an open letter calling on MGM Television executives to cancel the studio’s upcoming reality show Ring Nation, which will feature former NSA employee and comedian Wanda Sykes presenting humorous surveillance footage captured from Ring doorbell cameras.  The groups say the studio is “normalizing and promoting Amazon Ring’s dangerous network of surveillance cameras,” which, along with the Neighbors app, “violate basic privacy rights, fuel surveillance-based policing that disproportionately targets people of color and threatens abortion seekers, and enables vigilantes to surveil their neighbors and racially profile bystanders.”  There’s just one potential problem with the well-intentioned campaign: Amazon owns Ring, producer Big Fish Entertainment, and distributor MGM, and it also owns…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7zdkm/cancel-ring-nation-amazon-show

 2022-09-21  Comments Off on Motherboard – ‘Ring Nation’ Is a Terrible Idea That’s Unstoppable Because Amazon Owns Everything

Ballot Access News – Over 200 Political Scientists Publish Statement in Favor of Multi-Member U.S. House Districts

Sep 212022
 

On September 19, over 200 U.S. political scientists published an open letter calling for Congress to pass a bill for multi-member U.S. House districts, combined with proportional representation. The group is organized under the name “Scholars for Redistricting Reform.” See the statement here.

A bill has been pending in Congress to make that change. It is HR 3863, by Congressman Don Beyer (D-Virginia). He has introduced it for several sessions of congress now.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://ballot-access.org/2022/09/20/over-200-political-scientists-publish-statement-in-favor-of-multi-member-u-s-house-districts/

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jwz – Fix it with eyes, Unicode edition

Sep 192022
 

Proposal to revise the glyph of CYRILLIC LETTER MULTIOCULAR O:Doc Type: Working Group Document Title: Proposal to revise the glyph of CYRILLIC LETTER MULTIOCULAR O Source: Michael Everson Status: Individual Contribution Action: For consideration by JTC1/SC2/WG2 and UTC Date: 2022-01-09 Refer to: N3194R (L2/07-003R)This document requests the replacement of the glyph of U+A66E CYRILLIC LETTER MULTIOCULAR O. A tweet by Étienne FD @etiennefd brought to my attention an old error on my part. Taken from his tweet: The multiocular O is a rare form of the Cyrillic letter О. How rare?Rare enough to occur in a single phrase, in a single text written in an extinct language, Old Church…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2022/09/fix-it-with-eyes-unicode-edition/

 2022-09-19  Comments Off on jwz – Fix it with eyes, Unicode edition

Richard Stallman’s Political Notes – (satire) *Apple Announces New iPhones Will No Longer Be Compatible With Human Hand.*

Sep 192022
 

(satire) *Apple Announces New iPhones Will No Longer Be Compatible
With Human Hand.*

They have always been incompatible with natural human society.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://stallman.org/archives/2022-jul-oct.html#18_September_2022_((satire)_apple_new_iphone_human_hand)

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World Socialist Web Site (en) – UAW presidential candidate Will Lehman launches new campaign website: “Put rank-and-file workers in power!”

Sep 132022
 

Collected on the new site are a wide range of statements that Lehman has issued since launching his campaign in June which elaborate his program and perspective.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/09/13/will-s13.html

 2022-09-13  Comments Off on World Socialist Web Site (en) – UAW presidential candidate Will Lehman launches new campaign website: “Put rank-and-file workers in power!”

jwz – BART HO

Sep 092022
 

I am shocked to learn that, after 50 years, this is the first time that an HO scale BART train has been available. $749!

This complete train set features two powered “A” cab cars, and two unpowered “B” middle cars, which can operate on any conventional HO scale track (18″ curve radius required, 22″ radius preferred). This is the DCC/Sound version of the train, which uses DCC track and features sound effects and smells recorded from real BART trains. Full underbody detail, including accurate electrical systems, conduits, and equipment boxes.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2022/09/bart-ho/

 2022-09-09  Comments Off on jwz – BART HO

Internet Archive Blogs – Internet Archive Opposes Publishers in Federal Lawsuit

Sep 032022
 

On Friday, September 2, we filed a brief in opposition to the four publishers that sued Internet Archive in June 2020: Hachette Book Group, Harper Collins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House. This is the second of three briefs from us that will help the Court decide the case. Read: Hachette v. Internet Archive – Internet Archive’s Opposition to Motion for Summary Judgment As many of you know, these four publishers sued the Internet Archive to try to shut down our digital lending program. The lawsuit has been ongoing for over two years now. In addition to the papers that have gone in so far, there will be one more opportunity, later…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://blog.archive.org/2022/09/03/internet-archive-opposes-publishers-in-federal-lawsuit/

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jwz – Today in “Google broke email”.

Sep 012022
 

Dear Lazyweb, how do I forward my employees’ email to their gmail accounts and have it get there?To recap, my domain hosts its own SMTP server running Postfix, and /etc/postfix/virtual contains a bunch of entries forwarding “employee_name@dnalounge.com” to whatever their actual email address is, usually gmail.This has been mostly working fine for a decade or so, but lately there have been more bounces due to “strict SPF”. For example, jksound.com’s SPF record includes “-all” (dash instead of tilde) which means that when example@jksound.com tries to mail example@dnalounge.com, we forward that along to example@gmail.com, and then Google rejects it with 550 “SPF hard fail”.So, I don’t know whether it has recently become more common for people to…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.jwz.org/blog/2022/08/today-in-google-broke-email/

 2022-09-01  Comments Off on jwz – Today in “Google broke email”.

The Register – US bars Nvidia and AMD from selling AI-centric accelerators to China and Russia

Sep 012022
 

Makes Nvidia tense with ban on Tensor tech that could cost it $400m this quarter alone

As part of ongoing efforts to restrict China and Russia accessing advanced American technology, the US government last week banned AMD and NVIDIA from selling some AI kit to China.…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/09/01/us_stops_nvidia_and_amd/

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Techdirt. – Intel, Who Coined The Term ‘Patent Troll’ Makes Deal With Patent Troll To ‘Monetize’ Unused Patents

Aug 302022
 

The pattern is pretty common: young companies innovate, older companies litigate. When you can’t keep up and you can’t succeed by beating the market, you turn to the courts to try to squeeze cash out of those more successful than you. Often this involves patent lawsuits or handing your unused patents off to patent trolls to “monetize” them for you.
Over the years there have been a bunch of “patent aggregation” firms that showed up, offering to buy up patents and then promising to bring in free money by “licensing” them. The most well known of these was probably Intellectual Ventures, which scooped up tons upon tons of unused (perhaps because they were useless) patents, many from…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.techdirt.com/2022/08/30/intel-who-coined-the-term-patent-troll-makes-deal-with-patent-troll-to-monetize-unused-patents/

 2022-08-30  Comments Off on Techdirt. – Intel, Who Coined The Term ‘Patent Troll’ Makes Deal With Patent Troll To ‘Monetize’ Unused Patents

Ars Technica – Greenland may have already committed us to almost a foot of sea level rise

Aug 302022
 

Enlarge / View from a survey flight over the Helheim/Kangerlussuaq region of Greenland. (credit: NASA/John Sonntag)
While it’s possible to halt global warming by halting our greenhouse gas emissions, sea level rise is a consequence that keeps on giving. Great ice sheets like Greenland and Antarctica have tremendous inertia—they’re slow to melt but carry on melting even after the thermometer stabilizes. There are many reasons for this, including complex processes beneath glaciers that control their rate of downhill flow. And this complexity makes projecting ice loss over the coming century—and centuries—exceptionally challenging.
In the face of this formidable complexity, a new study led by Jason Box at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://arstechnica.com/?p=1876968

 2022-08-30  Comments Off on Ars Technica – Greenland may have already committed us to almost a foot of sea level rise

Richard Stallman’s Political Notes – Federal Reserve plans to keep increasing interest rates

Aug 302022
 

The Federal Reserve plans to keep increasing interest rates until inflation goes down.

Low interest rates are not causing today’s inflation, so this tactic
is not going to achieve the goal until it creates lots of unemployment.

It strikes me that Powell’s real goal may be to undermine the wave
of unionization. His business cronies will surely appreciate that.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://stallman.org/archives/2022-may-aug.html#30_August_2022_(Federal_Reserve_plans_to_keep_increasing_interest_rates)

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The Intercept – Facebook Tells Moderators to Allow Graphic Images of Russian Airstrikes but Censors Israeli Attacks

Aug 282022
 

After a series of Israeli airstrikes against the densely populated Gaza Strip earlier this month, Palestinian Facebook and Instagram users protested the abrupt deletion of posts documenting the resulting death and destruction. It wasn’t the first time Palestinian users of the two giant social media platforms, which are both owned by parent company Meta, had complained about their posts being unduly removed. It’s become a pattern: Palestinians post sometimes graphic videos and images of Israeli attacks, and Meta swiftly removes the content, providing only an oblique reference to a violation of the company’s “Community Standards” or in many cases no explanation at all.
Not all the billions of users on Meta’s platforms, however, run into these issues when documenting the…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://theintercept.com/2022/08/27/facebook-instagram-meta-russia-ukraine-war/

 2022-08-28  Comments Off on The Intercept – Facebook Tells Moderators to Allow Graphic Images of Russian Airstrikes but Censors Israeli Attacks

Planet Emacsen – Marcin Borkowski: Screenshots from Emacs

Aug 272022
 

Some time ago there was a discussion on the Emacs mailing list about making screenshots from Emacs. From one of the posts there I learned about the x-export-frames function, whose existence is fascinating for me. It basically allows you to make a screenshot of your Emacs frame without ay external program, in one of several formats (including pdf and png). Jean Louis provided some simple code in that post which I reproduce here (with minor changes). The frameshot command takes a picture of your current Emacs frame, puts is in the frameshot-directory directory and moves the point to its line.

External feed Read More at the Source: http://mbork.pl/2022-08-27_Screenshots_from_Emacs

 2022-08-27  Comments Off on Planet Emacsen – Marcin Borkowski: Screenshots from Emacs

Ballot Access News – Initiative Proponents File Request for Rehearing En Banc on Montana Ban on Pay-Per-Signature

Aug 272022
 

On August 24, the proponents of an initiative in Montana asked the Ninth Circuit for rehearing en banc in Pierce v Jacobsen, 21-35173. They only want a rehearing on the part of the August 10 decision that declined to strike down the Montana ban on paying initiative circulators on a per-signature basis. They already won the other half of the case, against the out-of-state ban.

The Ninth Circuit on August 10 had declined to rule against the per-signature ban on the grounds that the evidence wasn’t sufficient. But the initiative supporters argue that their evidence is strong enough.

External feed Read More at the Source: https://ballot-access.org/2022/08/27/initiative-proponents-file-request-for-rehearing-en-banc-on-montana-ban-on-pay-per-signatures/

 2022-08-27  Comments Off on Ballot Access News – Initiative Proponents File Request for Rehearing En Banc on Montana Ban on Pay-Per-Signature
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