#[1]alternate [2]News for nerds, stuff that matters [3]Search Slashdot [4]Slashdot RSS [5]Slashdot * [6]Stories * + Firehose + [7]All + [8]Popular * [9]Polls * [10]Software * [11]Apparel * [12]Newsletter * [13]Jobs [14]Submit Search Slashdot ____________________ (BUTTON) * [15]Login * or * [16]Sign up * Topics: * [17]Devices * [18]Build * [19]Entertainment * [20]Technology * [21]Open Source * [22]Science * [23]YRO * Follow us: * [24]RSS * [25]Facebook * [26]LinkedIn * [27]Twitter * [28]Youtube * [29]Mastodon * [30]Newsletter Please [31]create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system Nickname: ____________________ Password: ____________________ [ ] Public Terminal __________________________________________________________________ Log In [32]Forgot your password? [33]Close binspamdupenotthebestofftopicslownewsdaystalestupid freshfunnyinsightfulinterestingmaybe offtopicflamebaittrollredundantoverrated insightfulinterestinginformativefunnyunderrated descriptive typodupeerror Do you develop on GitHub? You can keep using GitHub but automatically [34]sync your GitHub releases to SourceForge quickly and easily with [35]this tool so your projects have a backup location, and get your project in front of SourceForge's nearly 30 million monthly users. It takes less than a minute. Get new users downloading your project releases today! [36]Sign up for the Slashdot newsletter! or [37]check out the new Slashdot job board to browse remote jobs or jobs in your area [38]× 171218760 story [39]Microsoft [40]Microsoft Hiking the Price of Xbox Series X and Xbox Game Pass [41](theverge.com) [42]1 Posted by msmash on Thursday June 22, 2023 @07:00AM from the inflation-beating dept. Microsoft is [43]increasing its Xbox Series X prices in most countries in August apart from the US, Japan, Chile, Brazil, and Colombia. From a report: The Xbox maker is also increasing the monthly prices of its Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions for the first time next month, which will see the base Game Pass subscription for console move up to $10.99 a month from $9.99. "We've held on our prices for consoles for many years and have adjusted the prices to reflect the competitive conditions in each market," says Kari Perez, head of communications for Xbox, in a statement to The Verge. Xbox Series X console pricing will largely match the price hike Sony announced for the PS5 last year, with the Xbox Series X moving to $612 in the UK, $604 across most European markets, CAD $649.99 in Canada, and AUD $799.99 in Australia starting August 1st. The Xbox Series S pricing will not be adjusted in any markets, remaining at $299.99. apply tags__________ 171220114 story [44]The Almighty Buck [45]Discord Is Opening the Monetization Floodgates [46](pcgamer.com) [47]21 Posted by [48]BeauHD on Thursday June 22, 2023 @05:00AM from the brace-yourselves-for-paywalls dept. Discord is [49]introducing new ways to generate revenue, including server subscriptions, tiered subscriptions, and the ability for server owners to sell digital products. This move has raised concerns among some users who feel that Discord is becoming less welcoming and more like the paywalled internet it was once an escape from. PC Gamer reports: "To date, we've paid out millions of dollars to thousands of creators and communities, and we're seeing more creators and communities earning on their Discord servers every day," wrote product manager Derek Yang in a [50]blog post published today. "...Today, we're excited to share new tools that help you get started earning money faster." The nickel-and-dime-ification of Discord servers begins this week with "[51]media channels," a new type of channel (currently in beta) designed to host subscriber-only content, including, for instance, "exclusive memes and wallpapers." You could see an art creator using this Discord feature to post subscriber-only illustrations, as many comic creators and other illustrators already use Patreon to do. Not a bad deal for creators, but that's only the start of the new revenue streams Discord, who currently takes a 10% cut of server subscriptions, plans to implement. Here's a full list of what the free (now with three asterisks) chat app has in the works: - Tier Templates: Formalized subscription tiers with prices set by Discord ($3.99, $4.99, $7.99, and $9.99) - Downloadables: One-time purchasable digital products or subscriptions sold by server owners, which will be accessed via ... - Server Shops: "A single home for server owners to sell Server Subscriptions, Downloadables and Premium Roles" apply tags__________ 171218744 story [52]Google [53]Google May Be Readying New 'Chromebook X' [54](theverge.com) [55]8 Posted by msmash on Thursday June 22, 2023 @03:00AM from the up-next dept. Google could be about to launch a new branding initiative for Chromebooks dubbed "Chromebook X," according to a new report from 9to5Google. From a report: The publication has pulled together several code commits referencing the new name, which suggests that the branding could be used for laptops that meet certain spec requirements and allow them to offer exclusive features. One source tells 9to5Google that the first Chromebook X laptops [56]could launch before the end of the year. Although the ChromeOS operating system is best known for running on affordable laptops used in places like schools, over the years, it's picked up some higher-end features like support for productivity apps like LumaFusion and the ability to run Linux programs. 9to5Google speculates that the Chromebook X branding could be Google's way of helping buyers distinguish between a baseline laptop that's best suited to basic web browsing and office work and a device with a bit more oomph, like HP's recent Dragonfly Pro Chromebook. apply tags__________ 171217664 story [57]Science [58]Microsoft Says Its Weird New Particle Could Improve Quantum Computers [59](newscientist.com) [60]14 Posted by [61]BeauHD on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @11:30PM from the there-are-reasons-to-be-skeptical dept. An anonymous reader quotes a report from New Scientist: Microsoft researchers have made a controversial claim that they have seen evidence of an elusive particle that [62]could solve some of the biggest headaches in quantum computing, but some experts are questioning the discovery. Quantum computers process information using quantum bits, or qubits, but current iterations can be prone to error. "What the field needs is a new kind of qubit," says Chetan Nayak at Microsoft Quantum. He and his colleagues say they have taken a significant step towards building qubits from quasiparticles, which are not true particles but collective vibrations that can emerge when particles like electrons act together. The quasiparticles in question are called Majorana zero modes, which act as their own antiparticle and have a charge and energy that equate to zero. That makes them resilient to disturbances -- so they could make unprecedentedly reliable qubits -- but also makes them notoriously hard to find. The Microsoft researchers say devices they built exhibited behaviors consistent with Majorana zero modes. The main components of each device were an extremely thin semiconducting wire and a piece of superconducting aluminum. This isn't the first time Microsoft has claimed to have found Majorana zero modes. A 2018 paper by a different group of researchers at the company was [63]retracted from the scientific journal Nature in 2021 after it didn't hold up to scrutiny. At the time, Sergey Frolovat the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania and his colleagues [64]found that imperfections in the semiconductor wire could produce quantum effects easily mistaken for Majorana zero modes. "To see Majorana zero modes, the wire must be like a very long, very even road with no bumps. If there is any disorder in the wire, electrons can get stuck on these imperfections and assume quantum states that mimic Majorana zero modes," says Frolov. In the new experiment, the team used a more complex test called the topological gap protocol. To pass the test, a device must simultaneously show signatures of Majorana zero modes at each end of the wire, and also show that the electrons are in an energy range where a special kind of superconductivity emerges. "Rather than look for one particular simple signature of Majorana zero modes, we looked for a mosaic of signatures," says Nayak. The researchers tested this protocol on hundreds of computer simulations of devices, which considered any impurities in the wires, before using it on experimental data. Nayak says they calculated that for any device that passed the topological gap protocol, the probability of there not actually being a Majorana zero mode within it was less than 8 per cent. Not all researchers in the field are convinced.Henry Leggat the University of Basel in Switzerland and his colleagues [65]recently published a set of calculations showing that this test can be fooled by impurities in the wires. "The topological gap protocol as currently implemented is certainly not loophole free," he says. Frolov says that a few details imply that what seem to be Majorana zero modes would be revealed as an effect of disorder if the experiment were repeated with even more sensitive measurements. These include small differences between measurements for the left and right edges of the wire, as well as the measurements of electrons' energies -- the same energies can be indicative of emerging Majorana zero modes or of dirt trapping the electrons. Anton Akhmerovat the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands says that for him, the new experiment is not viable evidence that Majorana zero modes have been detected until another team of researchers reproduces it. But this may be difficult as some details of how Microsoft's devices were manufactured have not been published on account of being trade secrets, he says. apply tags__________ 171217600 story [66]Intel [67]Intel's New Font For Low-Vision Developers Is Causing Design Drama For Coders [68](fastcompany.com) [69]55 Posted by [70]BeauHD on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @09:25PM from the you-can't-please-them-all dept. Elissaveta M. Brandon writes via Fast Company: There's a new font in town -- and it's [71]already causing rifts on Reddit. The font is called Intel One Mono, and as its name implies, it was designed by tech giant Intel, together with New York-based type design practice Frere-Jones Type and marketing agency VMLY&R. It joins a group of monospaced fonts designed primarily for developers -- think JetBrains Mono, Fira Code, and Consolas. By definition, monospaced fonts consist of characters that have the same width and occupy the same horizontal space, making it easy for coders and programmers to tell the difference between long strings of characters. But here's where Intel One Mono stands out: it was designed with and for low-vision developers. (It's free to download on [72]GitHub and will soon be available on Google Fonts, too.) To ensure the font was legible and readable to its target audience, the team ran more than a dozen "live testing sessions" with visually impaired developers who were asked to write code using Intel One Mono. [...] Some of the feedback the designers received was particularly surprising. For example, some people were struggling to tell apart a capital "M" from a capital "N," most likely because both letters have two vertical stems and some diagonals in between, which can be confusing. To make the letters more legible, the designers sloped the vertical stems on the "M" so it looks close to an inverted W. "The point at which the two diagonals meet in the middle gets shifted up to make it clearly a V shape in the middle, and then the two verticals get flared out a little bit to give it slightly more differentiable shape from the capital N," says Fred Shallcrass, a type designer at Frere-Jones Type. Similar challenges kept coming back with the "x" and the "y" which people struggled to distinguish, and the "e" and the "c." In every instance, the designers meticulously tweaked the letters to make them highly distinctive, resulting in a fairly idiosyncratic font where every glyph is as different as possible from the other -- all the way down to the curly brackets, which can best be described as extra curly. This brings us to that [73]Reddit rift. "This font would be great were it not for those curly braces," one person wrote. "For someone that hates fonts sometimes because of curly brackets not being clear and evident, I'm officially switching to this font set because of the curly brackets," wrote another. The developers were equally torn, but the designers stand by them. "Part of our thinking in negotiating those responses is that reinforcing the identity of any shape is not just amplifying what is unique about that letter, but also making it clearly not some other letter, so foreclosing any confusion," says Tobias Frere-Jones, the founder and lead designer at his eponymous studio. "If there's a thing the curly braces do, which is that extra back and forth movement, the parentheses don't do that, the brackets don't do that, therefore these ought to do a lot of that." apply tags__________ 171217554 story [74]Chrome [75]Google's New Standard For ChromeOS: 'Chromebook X' [76](9to5google.com) [77]15 Posted by [78]BeauHD on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @08:02PM from the best-of-what-ChromeOS-has-to-offer dept. Google is launching the "Chromebook X" program, aiming to differentiate high-quality laptops and tablets from standard Chromebooks by improving hardware specifications and adding exclusive features such as enhanced video conferencing capabilities and unique wallpapers. Chromebook X devices, [79]expected to be priced between $350 and $500, will provide users with an elevated experience beyond the basic functionality of traditional Chromebooks. The devices are anticipated to be available in stores by the end of the year, coinciding with the release of ChromeOS version 115 or newer. 9to5Google reports: For the past few months, Google has been preparing new branding for above average devices from various Chromebook makers. Notably, we haven't yet seen any signs of Google making a Chromebook X device of its own, which is honestly a shame considering how long it's been since a Pixelbook has been released. The Chromebook X brand, which could change before launch, will appear somewhere on a laptop/tablet's chassis, with a mark that could be as simple as an "X" next to the usual "Chromebook" logo. There should also be a special boot screen instead of the standard "chromeOS" logo that's shown on all machines today. Aside from the added "X," what actually sets a Chromebook X apart from other devices is the hardware inside. Specifically, Google appears to require a certain amount of RAM, a good-quality camera for video conferencing, and a (presumably) higher-end display. Beyond that, Google has so far made specific preparations for Chromebook X models to be built on four types of processors from Intel and AMD (though newer generations will likely also be included): AMD Zen 2+ (Skyrim), AMD Zen 3 (Guybrush), and Intel Core 12th Gen (Brya & Nissa). To further differentiate Chromebook X models from low-end Chromebooks, Google is also preparing an exclusive set of features. As mentioned, one of the key focuses of Chromebook X is video conferencing, with Google requiring an up-to-spec camera. Complementing that hardware, Google is bringing unique features like Live Caption (adding generated captions to video calls), a built-in portrait blur effect, and "voice isolation." Earlier this year, we reported that ChromeOS was readying a set of "Time Of Day" wallpapers and screen savers that would change in appearance throughout the day, particularly to match the sunrise and sunset. We now know that these are going to be exclusive to Chromebook X devices. To ensure that those wallpapers only appear on Chromebook X and can't be forcibly enabled, Google is preparing a system it calls "feature management." At the moment, feature management is only used to check whether to enable Chromebook X exclusives. Based on that, some other exclusive features of Chromebook X include: Support for up to 16 virtual desks; "Pinned" (available offline) files from Google Drive; and A revamped retail demo mode. apply tags__________ 171217450 story [80]Communications [81]An AT&T-Backed Cellular Satellite Company Sent a 4G LTE Signal From Space [82]7 Posted by [83]BeauHD on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @07:20PM from the that's-a-first dept. According to AST SpaceMobile, the company managed to [84]successfully transmit a 4G LTE signal from space that was picked up by "everyday, off-the-shelf smartphones." Next, AST will try and transmit a 5G connection via its BlueWalker 3 (BW3) satellite. The Verge reports: Testing was [85]conducted in Hawaii on AT&T's spectrum using Nokia RAN technology, and the signal, which was beamed from AST's satellite in low Earth orbit, reached speeds of up to 10.3Mbps. That's fast enough for some video streaming, general internet use, and more ordinary cell phone usage. AST's testing followed a [86]recent April test by the same company, where it was able to route an audio call between a Samsung Galaxy S22 in Texas to an iPhone in Japan via satellite. The BW3 is a massive commercial communication array at 693 square feet -- about the size of a two- or three-car garage -- and the largest ever deployed in low Earth orbit, says AST's release. It operates using the same 3GPP standard found in ground-based cell networks. The achievement is "an important step toward AST SpaceMobile's goal of bringing broadband services to parts of the world where cellular coverage is either unreliable or simply does not exist today," according to AST's chairman and CEO, Abel Avellan, who said this would allow users to text and call, browse the internet, download files, and even stream video using a signal beamed from space. apply tags__________ 171217370 story [87]Social Networks [88]Reddit Ousted Mods After Subreddits Filled With Porn To Protest API Pricing Scheme [89](arstechnica.com) [90]70 Posted by [91]BeauHD on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @06:40PM from the continuing-to-alienate-users dept. An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: After threatening to do so last week, Reddit has now [92]removed the moderators of some of the subreddits that were [93]protesting Reddit's new API pricing scheme. Some of these subreddits have new mods in the protesters' place, while other affected subreddits have been left unmoderated. Still others, oddly, saw their moderators reinstated. Reddit claims the moves are a response to mods breaking its Moderator Code of Conduct by allowing "not safe for work" (NSFW) content in previously "safe for work" subreddits. However, moderators who spoke to Ars Technica believe Reddit's actions are designed to silence their protests over the new fees. Various Reddit moderators reached out to Ars Technica this week, informing us that mods for r/Celebrities, r/InterestInGasFuck_, r/mildlyinteresting, r/self, r/ShittyLifeProTips, and r/TIHI have been removed. Other subreddits are reportedly affected, too, including r/toyota, r/garmin, and r/IllegalLifeProTips. All of the communities recently started allowing NSFW content as a form of API pricing protest. Reddit [94]can't sell ads on NSFW content, and Redditors have [95]accused the company of covertly switching some subreddits back to SFW. As of this writing, some of the subreddits whose mods were removed remain unmoderated. Other subreddits have new mods. One example, r/Celebrities, has already seen resistance from community members, claiming the new mods "don't represent" them and that these mods weren't active in the community before the protests. Meanwhile, the feeling around the general mod community is one of disgust, while some are seriously considering abandoning their volunteer posts or have already done so. "We put up with a lot as Reddit mods—death threats, doxing, sorting through lewd and even illegal material (that Reddit continually ignores)—and deserve to be treated with basic respect," a Reddit moderator, who asked to be referred to only as Jess for privacy reasons, said regarding the removal of some mods. The mod has started erasing their account and has resigned as a moderator. "I have no desire to be associated with a company that conducts itself in such a manner," Jess said. Confusingly, the moderators of some of the subreddits, including r/mildlyinteresting, were restored. Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt said in a statement: "It's not OK to show people NSFW content when they don't want to see it. In line with our Moderator Code of Conduct, we'll remove moderators and restrict communities where moderators are engaging in malicious conduct, like allowing rule-violating behavior or encouraging the submission of sexually explicit content in previously safe-for-work spaces." He added that mods "incorrectly marking a community as NSFW is a violation of both our Content Policy and Moderator Code of Conduct." Ars notes that replacing Reddit moderators isn't so simple. "The free work Reddit moderators do has been valued at [96]$3.4 million annually, and as detailed on the r/hentai subreddit, the work mods do is both complex and extensive," reports Ars. "Reddit itself [97]calculated that manual mod removals represented 30.9 percent of content removed in 2022. Reddit would be a different website, one perhaps incapable of functioning, without the tens of thousands of volunteers it uses to keep content safe, enjoyable, relevant, and valuable. Relying on volunteers saves the unprofitable company plenty of money." apply tags__________ 171217288 story [98]Education [99]US Reading and Math Scores Drop To Lowest Level In Decades [100](npr.org) [101]140 Posted by [102]BeauHD on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @06:00PM from the nothing-to-brag-about dept. The average test scores for 13-year-old students in the U.S. have [103]decreased in reading and math since 2020, reaching the lowest levels in decades, with more significant declines in math. NPR reports: The average scores, from tests given last fall, [104]declined 4 points in reading and 9 points in math, compared with tests given in the 2019-2020 school year, and are the lowest in decades. The declines in reading were more pronounced for lower performing students, but dropped across all percentiles. The math scores were even more disappointing. On a scale of 500 points, the declines ranged from 6 to 8 points for middle and high performing students, to 12 to 14 points for low performing students. The math results also showed widening gaps based on gender and race. Scores decreased by 11 points for female students over 2020 results, compared with a 7-point decrease for male students. Among Black students, math scores declined 13 points, while white students had a 6-point drop. Compared with the 35-point gap between Black and white students in 2020, the disparity widened to 42 points. While the scores show a drop from the pre-pandemic years, the results also show that there are other factors at work. The decline is even more substantial when compared with scores of a decade ago: The average scores declined 7 points in reading and 14 points in mathematics. The Education Department says plans are underway to address the learning loss. [...] The latest results are from the [105]NAEP Long-Term Trend Assessment, traditionally administered every four years by the National Center for Education Statistics. apply tags__________ 171217260 story [106]AI [107]Dropbox's AI Tools Can Help You Find Your Stuff -- From Everywhere On the Internet [108](theverge.com) [109]5 Posted by [110]BeauHD on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @05:20PM from the what's-new dept. Dropbox is [111]introducing two new AI-powered services into its platform. One is a tool for summarizing and querying documents, while the other is a universal search engine that [112]can access your files in Dropbox but also across the entire web. "It's called Dash and comes from Dropbox's 2021 acquisition of a company called Command E," reports The Verge. From the report: The idea behind Dash, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston tells me, is that your stuff isn't all files and folders anymore, and so Dropbox can't be, either. "What used to be 100 files or icons on your desktop," he says, "is now 100 tabs in your browser, with your Google Docs and your Airtables and Figmas and everything else." All the tools are better, but they resist useful organization. "So you're just like, okay, I think someone sent that to me. Was it in an email? Was it Slack? Was it a text? Maybe it was pasted in the Zoom chat during the meeting." Dash aims to be the "Google for your personal stuff" app that so many others have tried and failed to pull off. The Dash app comes in two parts. There's a desktop app, which you can invoke from anywhere with the CMD-E keyboard shortcut, that acts as a universal search for everything on your device and in all your connected apps. (If you've ever used an app like Raycast or Alfred as a launcher, Dash will look very familiar.) There's also a browser extension, which offers the same search but also turns your new tab page into a curated list of your stuff. One section of the Dash start page might include the docs Dropbox thinks you'll need for the meeting starting in five minutes; another might pull together a bunch of similar documents you've been working on recently into what Dropbox calls a "Stack." You can also create your own stacks, and as you create files and even browse the internet, Dash will suggest files and links you might add. [...] As of today, Dropbox AI available to all Pro customers and a few teams, and there's a waitlist to get into the Dash beta as well. The next phase for Dropbox, Houston says, is to learn what people want and how they use the products. He says he's happy to be somewhat conservative at first in the name of not making huge mistakes -- you really can't have an AI hallucinating information out of your most sensitive work docs -- but he sees this stuff getting better fast. apply tags__________ 171217224 story [113]Biotech [114]US Approves Chicken Made From Cultivated Cells, the Nation's First 'Lab-Grown' Meat [115](apnews.com) [116]86 Posted by [117]BeauHD on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @04:40PM from the new-era-of-meat-production dept. An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Associated Press: For the first time, U.S. regulators on Wednesday [118]approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer "lab-grown" meat to the nation's restaurant tables and eventually, supermarket shelves. The Agriculture Department gave the green light to [119]Upside Foods and [120]Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesn't come from slaughtered animals -- what's now being referred to as "cell-cultivated" or "cultured" meat as it emerges from the laboratory and arrives on dinner plates. The companies received approvals for federal inspections required to sell meat and poultry in the U.S. The action came months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deemed that products from both companies are safe to eat. A manufacturing company called Joinn Biologics, which works with Good Meat, was also cleared to make the products. Cultivated meat is grown in steel tanks, using cells that come from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a special bank of stored cells. In Upside's case, it comes out in large sheets that are then formed into shapes like chicken cutlets and sausages. Good Meat, which already sells cultivated meat in Singapore, the first country to allow it, turns masses of chicken cells into cutlets, nuggets, shredded meat and satays. But don't look for this novel meat in U.S. grocery stores anytime soon. Cultivated chicken is much more expensive than meat from whole, farmed birds and cannot yet be produced on the scale of traditional meat, said Ricardo San Martin, director of the Alt:Meat Lab at University of California Berkeley. The companies plan to serve the new food first in exclusive restaurants: Upside has partnered with a San Francisco restaurant called Bar Crenn, while Good Meat dishes will be served at a Washington, D.C., restaurant run by chef and owner Jose Andres. apply tags__________ 171216530 story [121]Google [122]Google Accuses Microsoft of Anticompetitive Cloud Practices in Complaint To FTC [123](theinformation.com) [124]15 Posted by msmash on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @02:15PM from the how-about-that dept. After years of publicly alleging that Microsoft used its dominant position in enterprise software to push customers toward Microsoft's cloud services, Google on Tuesday formally [125]filed a complaint to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which has been examining such issues, according to a copy of the document reviewed by The Information. From the report: Microsoft used the licensing terms in its Office 365 productivity software to lock customers into separate contracts with its Azure cloud server business, Google's complaint said. Microsoft is the second largest cloud provider after Amazon, and Google is a distant third. Google previously complained about Microsoft's cloud licensing practices to European regulators. Under pressure, last year Microsoft agreed to change its licensing practices in the region to make it more affordable for Azure customers to use additional cloud providers, but the changes didn't apply to U.S. customers. apply tags__________ 171216202 story [126]Technology [127]Camera Review Site DPReview Finds a Buyer, Avoids Shutdown by Amazon [128](arstechnica.com) [129]16 Posted by msmash on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @01:20PM from the how-about-that dept. ArsTechnica says: Back in March, the editor-in-chief of the 25-year-old, Amazon-owned camera review site DPReview.com announced that the site [130]was shutting down. The site was the casualty of a round of layoffs at Amazon that will affect a total of about 27,000 employees this year; DPReview was meant to stop publishing new pieces on April 10 and to be available in read-only mode for an undetermined period of time after that. But then, something odd happened: The site simply kept publishing at a fairly regular clip throughout the entire month of April and continuing until now. A no-update update from EIC Scott Everett published in mid-May merely acknowledged that pieces were still going up and that there was "nothing to share," which wasn't much to go on but also didn't make it sound as though the site were in imminent danger of disappearing. Yesterday, Everett finally had something to share: DPReview.com and its "current core editorial, tech, and business team[s]" were being [131]acquired by Gear Patrol, an independently owned consumer technology site founded by Eric Yang in 2007. The deal had already closed as of yesterday, June 20. apply tags__________ 171216040 story [132]United States [133]FTC Sues Amazon for Inducing Users To Subscribe To Prime [134](nytimes.com) [135]68 Posted by msmash on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @12:47PM from the growing-scrutiny dept. The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday [136]sued Amazon for illegally inducing consumers to sign up for its Prime service and then hindering them from canceling the subscription, the most aggressive action against the company to date by the agency's chair, Lina Khan. From a report: The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, argues that Amazon had used design tactics on its website known as "dark patterns" to nudge people into subscribing to Prime, the F.T.C. said in a release. And when consumers wanted to cancel, they had to go through a byzantine process to do so. "Amazon tricked and trapped people into recurring subscriptions without their consent, not only frustrating users but also costing them significant money," Ms. Khan said in a statement. The lawsuit was the first time that the F.T.C. has taken Amazon to court under Ms. Khan, who rose to fame with a viral critique of the company and who is ramping up scrutiny of the e-commerce giant. Ms. Khan has said the power that big tech companies have over online commerce requires regulators to be far more aggressive and has begun taking actions against them./i. apply tags__________ 171215786 story [137]AI [138]Secret Invasion's Opening Credits Scene is AI-Made [139](polygon.com) [140]47 Posted by msmash on Wednesday June 21, 2023 @12:06PM from the how-about-that dept. An anonymous reader [141]shares a report: The world of Secret Invasion is decidedly sketchy. With thousands of shapeshifting Skrulls on Earth, you can't trust what you think you're seeing. One second, you're looking at Nick Fury or an esteemed world leader; the next, you see their face morph into something (or someone) else entirely. This is a description of the plot of the new Marvel Cinematic Universe show on Disney Plus (as well as its comic book counterpart), which follows Nick Fury as he uncovers -- what else? -- a secret invasion by the Skrull population on Earth. But the concept of shape-shifting is also seen in the series' very different approach to its opening credits, which look like a sort of watercolor rendering of the key players and themes of Secret Invasion. As we see a sort of jittery and ominous sequence of the Skrull green taking over more and more of the world, it looks a lot like if an AI was prompted with the concept of "Skrull cubism" -- which, actually, isn't that far off of what it is. As director and executive producer Ali Selim tells Polygon, the intro sequence was designed by Method Studios using artificial intelligence, something he thinks plays with the very themes of the show. "When we reached out to the AI vendors, that was part of it -- it just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity, you know? Who did this? Who is this?" Selim says. Like many people, Selim says he doesn't "really understand" how the artificial intelligence works, but was fascinated with the ways in which the AI could translate the sense of foreboding he wanted for the series. "We would talk to them about ideas and themes and words, and then the computer would go off and do something. And then we could change it a little bit by using words, and it would change." apply tags__________ [142]« Newer [143]Older » Slashdot Top Deals Slashdot Top Deals [144]Slashdot Deals Slashdot Poll Are you currently using AI tools for programming? (*) Yes ( ) No ( ) I don't do any programming (BUTTON) vote now [145]Read the 17 comments | 3840 votes Looks like someone has already voted from this IP. If you would like to vote please login and try again. Are you currently using AI tools for programming? 0 Percentage of others that also voted for: * [146]view results * Or * * [147]view more [148]Read the 17 comments | 3840 voted Most Discussed * 199 comments [149]Texas Power Use To Break Records In Heat Wave, Prices Soar To $2,500 Per Megawatt Hour * 193 comments [150]Submarine Missing Near Titanic Used a $30 Logitech Gamepad for Steering * 165 comments [151]For First Time, US Task Force Recommends Screening Adults For Anxiety Disorders * 137 comments [152]US Reading and Math Scores Drop To Lowest Level In Decades * 135 comments [153]ISPs Say US Should Force Big Tech Firms To Pay For Broadband Construction [154]Science * [155]Microsoft Says Its Weird New Particle Could Improve Quantum Computers * [156]US Reading and Math Scores Drop To Lowest Level In Decades * [157]US Approves Chicken Made From Cultivated Cells, the Nation's First 'Lab-Grown' Meat * [158]For First Time, US Task Force Recommends Screening Adults For Anxiety Disorders * [159]Short Daytime Naps May Keep Brain Healthy as It Ages, Study Says [160]This Day on Slashdot 2009 [161]Where Does a Geek Find a Social Life? 1354 comments 2006 [162]Earth's Temperature at Highest Levels in 400 Years 1044 comments 2005 [163]Opera: Firefox User Figures 'Inflated' 810 comments 2004 [164]U.S. Supreme Court: Public Anonymity No Right 1492 comments 2003 [165]SCO Protest And Anti-Protest In Provo 865 comments [166]Sourceforge Top Downloads * [167]TrueType core fonts 2.2B downloads * [168]Notepad++ Plugin Mgr 1.5B downloads * [169]VLC media player 899M downloads * [170]eMule 686M downloads * [171]MinGW 631M downloads Powered By [172]sf [173]Slashdot * [174]Today * [175]Wednesday * [176]Tuesday * [177]Monday * [178]Sunday * [179]Saturday * [180]Friday * [181]Thursday * [182]Submit Story Your program is sick! 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