Computers & Linux News

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Jack Dorsey's Block (the company formerly known as Square) announced today that it is releasing its hardware Bitcoin wallet, Bitkey, in 95 countries. However, users can only preorder the device at the moment, with shipping starting in early 2024. The device will cost $150 USD. Block's pitch to Bitcoin holders is that using a self-custodial crypto wallet is more secure than keeping their crypto assets in custodial wallets or exchanges. Self-custodial wallets put the onus on users to remember -- or store securely -- passwords or long seed phrases to unlock their accounts. The Proto team at Block, which worked on developing the Bitkey wallet, said that it solved this problem by using a two-of-three authentication mechanism. Two keys lie with the customer: the hardware wallet and a mobile app. Bitkey stores the third key on its server. The company argues that by having access to just one key, it can't access or move customers' Bitcoins. Block said that it uses its server-side key only to authenticate transactions to move Bitcoin when they just have their phone and to recover their account when their device or phone is lost. The company said the server-side key will also be able to handle the scenario when a customer loses both the phone and the hardware wallet. Recovery was recently detailed in a blog post by the company. [...] Block has partnered with crypto exchange Coinbase and the company's own Cash App to help people easily buy or transfer (or both) Bitcoins to the hardware wallet. The company said that the ability to transfer Bitcoin from Coinbase and Cash App will be rolled out immediately with other features coming later.

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The Soltera 2 is a perfect blend of good looks and features and solid performance, giving you a great riding experience for daily commutes or tooling around town.

The Tricky Trees travel to Molineux, with boss Steve Cooper battling to save his job.

The hosts look to make it back-to-back wins at Old Trafford as they take on the Cherries.

NotebookLM, Google's experimental AI-powered note-taking app unveiled at Google I/O earlier this year (formerly referred to as Project Tailwind), is now widely available in the United States. "It's also getting several new features and is 'starting' to use Google's Gemini Pro AI model 'to help with document understanding and reasoning,'" reports The Verge. From the report: NotebookLM can already do things like summarize the documents you import into the app, come up with key points, and even answer questions about your note-taking sources. But now, Google is adding a way to transform your notes into other types of documents, too. Once you select all the notes you want to include, NotebookLM will automatically suggest formats, such as an outline or study guide. However, Google notes that you can also tell NotebookLM to transform your notes into a format of your choosing, like an email, script outline, newsletter, and more. Additionally, NotebookLM will now start providing suggested actions based on what you're doing in the app. As an example, Google says if you're writing a note, NotebookLM may automatically "offer tools to polish or refine your prose, or suggest related ideas from your sources based on what you've just written." Some other handy features coming to the app include a way to save helpful responses from NotebookLM as notes, share your notes with others, and focus NotebookLM's AI on select sources when chatting with it. Google is expanding some of NotebookLM's limitations as well. You can now include up to 20 sources in your notebook, each with up to 200,000 words.

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Jürgen Klopp's Reds could go top of the table with a win in south London.

hackingbear writes: China has started commercial operations at a new generation nuclear reactor that is the first of its kind in the world, state media said on Dec 5. Compared with previous reactors, the fourth generation Shidaowan plant, a modular 200 megawatt (MW) high-temperature, gas-cooled reactor (HTGCR) plant developed jointly by state-run utility Huaneng, Tsinghua University and China National Nuclear Corporation, is designed to use fuel more efficiently and improve its economics, safety and environmental footprint as China turns to nuclear power to try to meet carbon emissions goals. In a related development, Shanghai-based Jiangnan Shipyard has unveiled a design for an innovative new giant container ship -- with a load capacity starting at 24,000 standard containers -- powered by a thorium molten-salt nuclear reactor, an alternative 4th gen design. "The new ship model uses nuclear energy as a clean energy source and adopts an internationally advanced fourth-generation molten salt reactor solution. The proposed design of super-large nuclear container ships will truly achieve 'zero emissions' during the operation cycle of this type of ship," the journal Marine Time China said in its official WeChat account. Shipbuilders from Japan, the United States, South Korea, and Europe have come up with similar designs but none of these countries has a modern and reliable operating reactor to make the design a reality. But China has carried on and, earlier this year, got the first thorium-based molten salt reactor, which needs little amount of water to cool down, making it safer and more efficient, up and running in the Gobi desert. Further reading: China is Building Nuclear Reactors Faster Than Any Other Country

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from STAT: The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved the world's first medicine based on CRISPR gene-editing technology, a groundbreaking treatment for sickle cell disease that delivers a potential cure for people born with the chronic and life-shortening blood disorder. The new medicine, called Casgevy, is made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics. Its authorization is a scientific triumph for the technology that can efficiently and precisely repair DNA mutations -- ushering in a new era of genetic medicines for inherited diseases. In a clinical trial, Casgevy was shown to eliminate recurrent episodes of debilitating pain caused by sickle cell, which afflicts approximately 100,000 people in the U.S., a vast majority of whom are Black. The therapy, whose scientific name is exa-cel, is described as a potential cure because the genetic fix enabled by CRISPR is designed to last a lifetime, although confirmation will require years of follow-up. The FDA decision comes three weeks after regulators in the U.K. were the first to clear the drug. Approval in the European Union is expected next year. The FDA is also expected to rule on exa-cel as a treatment for beta thalassemia, another inherited blood disorder, by March 30. The FDA on Friday also approved another sickle cell treatment, a gene therapy from Bluebird Bio called Lyfgenia. Patients will now have the option of two cutting-edge therapies that provide potentially curative benefits. Scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna published their first CRISPR paper just over a decade ago. In 2020, the research won the pair a Nobel Prize. Reflecting on the approval of Casgevy, Charpentier told STAT via email that she was "excited and pleased" for what it means for patients and their families.

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Get up to speed on the rapidly evolving world of AI with our roundup of the week's developments.

The Biden administration is threatening to cancel the patents of some costly medications to allow rivals to make their own more affordable versions. The Associated Press reports: Under a plan announced Thursday, the government would consider overriding the patent for high-priced drugs that have been developed with the help of taxpayer money and letting competitors make them in hopes of driving down the cost. In a 15-second video released to YouTube on Wednesday night, President Joe Biden promised the move would lower prices. "Today, we're taking a very important step toward ending price gouging so you don't have to pay more for the medicine you need," he said. White House officials would not name drugs that might potentially be targeted. The government would consider seizing a patent if a drug is only available to a "narrow set of consumers," according to the proposal that will be open to public comment for 60 days. Drugmakers are almost certain to challenge the plan in court if it is enacted. [...] The White House also intends to focus more closely on private equity firms that purchase hospitals and health systems, then often whittle them down and sell quickly for a profit. The departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, and the Federal Trade Commission will work to share more data about health system ownership. While only a minority of drugs on the market relied so heavily on taxpayer dollars, the threat of a government "march-in" on patents will make many pharmaceutical companies think twice, said Jing Luo, a professor of medicine at University of Pittsburgh. "If I was a drug company that was trying to license a product that had benefited heavily from taxpayer money, I'd be very careful about how to price that product," Luo said. "I wouldn't want anyone to take my product away from me."

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The new texting app that "reverse-engineered" a way into Apple's iMessage network appears to have hit a snag.

The role-playing adventure game Baldur's Gate 3 won game of the year last night at The Game Awards 2023 in Los Angeles. The New York Times reports: It was the crowning achievement for a game based on Dungeons & Dragons that largely stayed under the radar during its six years in development by the Belgian company Larian Studios. But its summer release -- 23 years after its predecessor -- captivated gamers, who celebrated a robust character creator, deep narrative and branching paths that made it seem as though anything was possible in its fictional universe of vampires and elves. Baldur's Gate 3, which is available on the PC, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S, also went home with several other awards, including those for best role-playing game, best performance and best multiplayer. The other nominees for game of the year were Alan Wake 2, by Remedy Entertainment; Marvel's Spider-Man 2, by Insomniac Games; Resident Evil 4, by Capcom; Super Mario Bros. Wonder, by Nintendo; and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, by Nintendo.

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Ahead of its December 14th launch in the European Union, Meta's Twitter-like social media platform, Threads, is adding a simplified version of hashtags to help users find related posts. 9to5Google reports: Announced in a post on Threads today, Meta is adding "Tags" to the social platform as a way to categorize a post and have it show up alongside other posts on the same topic. Tags work similarly to hashtags in the sense that they group together content, but they also work differently. Unlike hashtags, you can only have one tag/topic on a post. So, where many platforms (including Instagram) suffer somewhat from posts being flooded with dozens of hashtags appended to the bottom, Threads seemingly avoids that entirely. Meta says that this "makes it easier for others who care about that topic to find and read your post." The other big difference with tags is how they appear in posts. Tags can be added by typing the # symbol in line with the text, but they don't appear with the symbol in the published post. Instead, they appear in blue text in the post, much like a traditional hyperlink. You can also add a tag by tapping the "#" symbol on the new post UI. As for the EU launch, Meta has opted to "sneakily update the Threads website with an untitled countdown timer (which won't be viewable in countries where Threads is already available) with just under six days remaining on the clock," reports The Verge. "European Instagram users can also search for the term 'ticket' within the app to discover a digital invitation to Threads, alongside a scannable QR code and a launch time -- which may vary depending on the country in which the user is based." "The delay in Threads' rollout to the EU has been caused by what Meta spokesperson Christine Pai described as 'upcoming regulatory uncertainty,' likely in reference to strict rules under the bloc's Digital Markets Act (DMA)."

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From sheet sets to towels to cozy robes, Brooklinen has some decent discounts on quality linens and bedding accessories.

The Generac Pwrcell allows you to customize just how much battery capacity you need. And you'll have room for an upgrade, too.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: European Union negotiators clinched a deal Friday on the world's first comprehensive artificial intelligence rules, paving the way for legal oversight of technology used in popular generative AI services like ChatGPT that has promised to transform everyday life and spurred warnings of existential dangers to humanity. Negotiators from the European Parliament and the bloc's 27 member countries overcame big differences on controversial points including generative AI and police use of facial recognition surveillance to sign a tentative political agreement for the Artificial Intelligence Act. "Deal!" tweeted European Commissioner Thierry Breton, just before midnight. "The EU becomes the very first continent to set clear rules for the use of AI." The result came after marathon closed-door talks this week, with one session lasting 22 hours before a second round kicked off Friday morning. Officials provided scant details on what exactly will make it into the eventual law, which wouldn't take effect until 2025 at the earliest. They were under the gun to secure a political victory for the flagship legislation but were expected to leave the door open to further talks to work out the fine print, likely to bring more backroom lobbying. The AI Act was originally designed to mitigate the dangers from specific AI functions based on their level of risk, from low to unacceptable. But lawmakers pushed to expand it to foundation models, the advanced systems that underpin general purpose AI services like ChatGPT and Google's Bard chatbot. Foundation models looked set to be one of the biggest sticking points for Europe. However, negotiators managed to reach a tentative compromise early in the talks, despite opposition led by France, which called instead for self-regulation to help homegrown European generative AI companies competing with big U.S rivals including OpenAI's backer Microsoft. [...] Under the deal, the most advanced foundation models that pose the biggest "systemic risks" will get extra scrutiny, including requirements to disclose more information such as how much computing power was used to train the systems.

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Slash_Account_Dot writes: The FBI investigated a man who allegedly posed as a police officer in emails and phone calls to trick Verizon to hand over phone data belonging to a specific person that the suspect met on the dating section of porn site xHamster, according to a newly unsealed court record. Despite the relatively unconvincing cover story concocted by the suspect, including the use of a clearly non-government ProtonMail email address, Verizon handed over the victim's data to the alleged stalker, including their address and phone logs. The stalker then went on to threaten the victim and ended up driving to where he believed the victim lived while armed with a knife, according to the record. The news is a massive failure by Verizon who did not verify that the data request was fraudulent, and the company potentially put someone's safety at risk. The news also highlights the now common use of fraudulent emergency data requests (EDRs) or search warrants in the digital underworld, where criminals pretend to be law enforcement officers, fabricate an urgent scenario such as a kidnapping, and then convince telecoms or tech companies to hand over data that should only be accessible through legitimate law enforcement requests. As 404 Media previously reported, some hackers are using compromised government email accounts for this purpose.

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The mattresses were sold online at Amazon, Walmart and Overstock this year.

Shower heads w/ power wash function.