Seltene Erden: Wie man die Rohstoffe ersetzt und was wirklich kritisch ist

Seltene Erden, die in Motoren, Smartphones und Akkus stecken, werden immer wieder als politisches Druckmittel eingesetzt. Dabei sind sie weder selten noch alternativlos. Von Mario Petzold (Seltene Erden, Energiewende)

Seltene Erden, die in Motoren, Smartphones und Akkus stecken, werden immer wieder als politisches Druckmittel eingesetzt. Dabei sind sie weder selten noch alternativlos. Von Mario Petzold (Seltene Erden, Energiewende)

Anzeige: Mit E-Learning Schritt für Schritt zum eigenen Business

Recht, Marketing, Projektmanagement – ein Onlinepaket mit acht Kursen und 18 Stunden Lerninhalt vermittelt zentrale Grundlagen für den erfolgreichen Start in die Selbstständigkeit. (Golem Karrierewelt, Wirtschaft)

Recht, Marketing, Projektmanagement - ein Onlinepaket mit acht Kursen und 18 Stunden Lerninhalt vermittelt zentrale Grundlagen für den erfolgreichen Start in die Selbstständigkeit. (Golem Karrierewelt, Wirtschaft)

Anti-vaccine quack hired by RFK Jr. has started work at the health department

David Geier was previously disciplined for practicing medicine without a license.

Notorious anti-vaccine advocate David Geier has begun working at the US Department of Health and Human Services and is seeking access to sensitive vaccine safety data that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had previously barred him from accessing—at least twice—according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal.

Geier and his father, Mark Geier, who died in March, are known for peddling the thoroughly debunked falsehood that vaccines cause autism, publishing a long list of dubious articles in low-quality journals that push the idea. In particular, the two have blamed the mercury-containing vaccine preservative, thimerosal, despite numerous studies finding no link. Thimerosal was largely abandoned from vaccine formulations in 2001 out of an abundance of caution.

In 2011, an investigation by the Maryland State Board of Physicians found that the Geiers were misdiagnosing autistic children and treating them with potent hormone therapies in a treatment they dubbed the "Lupron Protocol." Mark Geier was stripped of his medical license. David Geier, who has no medical or scientific background and holds only a bachelor's degree, was disciplined for practicing medicine without a license.

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Anthropic releases custom AI chatbot for classified spy work

“Claude Gov” is already handling classified information for the US government.

On Thursday, Anthropic unveiled specialized AI models designed for US national security customers. The company released "Claude Gov" models that were built in response to direct feedback from government clients to handle operations such as strategic planning, intelligence analysis, and operational support. The custom models reportedly already serve US national security agencies, with access restricted to those working in classified environments.

The Claude Gov models differ from Anthropic's consumer and enterprise offerings, also called Claude, in several ways. They reportedly handle classified material, "refuse less" when engaging with classified information, and are customized to handle intelligence and defense documents. The models also feature what Anthropic calls "enhanced proficiency" in languages and dialects critical to national security operations.

Anthropic says the new models underwent the same "safety testing" as all Claude models. The company has been pursuing government contracts as it seeks reliable revenue sources, partnering with Palantir and Amazon Web Services in November to sell AI tools to defense customers.

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Nintendo Switch 2 can make your old Switch games feel brand new again

Differences range from “nonexistent” to “subtle” to “night and day.”

The Nintendo Switch 2 is launching with a handful of new games, but for many of the people getting one this week, the main thing to play on it is software made for the original Switch.

We’ve known for months that the Switch 2 would maintain backward compatibility with the vast majority of Switch games, but one major question was whether the Switch 2’s improved hardware would benefit older Switch games in some way. Especially in recent years, first- and third-party Switch games have struggled with the original system’s aging Nvidia chipset, which was already a bit dated when the system came out in 2017.

After a day or so of testing various Switch games on the Switch 2, we can report firsthand that Switch games can look dramatically better on the new system. For games that Nintendo has taken the trouble to update—those with Switch 2 upgrade packs and those with free updates—players can expect higher resolutions, better frame rates, less texture and character pop-in, and smoother animations all around. Even games that haven’t been updated for the Switch 2 can run a bit more consistently on the new systems, though games without Switch 2-specific updates don’t improve as much as games with updates.

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Ted Cruz bill: States that regulate AI will be cut out of $42B broadband fund

Cruz attempt to tie broadband funding to AI laws called “undemocratic and cruel.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) wants to enforce a 10-year moratorium on AI regulation by making states ineligible for broadband funding if they try to impose any limits on development of artificial intelligence.

The House previously approved a budget bill that contained a fairly straightforward provision to ban state AI regulation for 10 years. Cruz, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, yesterday released budget reconciliation text that takes a different approach to preventing states from regulating AI.

Cruz's approach may be an attempt to get around the Senate's Byrd Rule, which limits the inclusion of "extraneous matter" in budget reconciliation legislation. He wants to make it impossible for states to receive money from the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program if they try to regulate AI. Cruz released a summary that says his bill "forbids states collecting BEAD money from strangling AI deployment with EU-style regulation."

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Lilbits: Fairphone 6 leaked, Nintendo Switch 2 hacked, and /e/OS 3.0 released

Most phone makers release one or more new models every year, but Dutch social enterprise company Fairphone is different than most. While the company does try to make money from its phones, profit isn’t the only thing that matters – so does …

Most phone makers release one or more new models every year, but Dutch social enterprise company Fairphone is different than most. While the company does try to make money from its phones, profit isn’t the only thing that matters – so does sustainability. Fairphone’s devices are made with recycled, fair trade, and conflict-free materials when possible. […]

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Millions of low-cost Android devices turn home networks into crime platforms

BadBox malware has been menacing low-cost Android devices for nearly a decade.

Millions of low-cost devices for media streaming, in-vehicle entertainment, and video projection are infected with malware that turns consumer networks into platforms for distributing malware, concealing nefarious communications, and performing other illicit activities, the FBI has warned.

The malware infecting these devices, known as BadBox, is based on Triada, a malware strain discovered in 2016 by Kaspersky Lab, which called it "one of the most advanced mobile Trojans" the security firm's analysts had ever encountered. It employed an impressive kit of tools, including rooting exploits that bypassed security protections built into Android and functions for modifying the Android OS's all-powerful Zygote process. Google eventually updated Android to block the methods Triada used to infect devices.

The threat remains

A year later, Triada returned, only this time, devices came pre-infected before they reached consumers’ hands. In 2019, Google confirmed that the supply-chain attack affected thousands of devices and that the company had once again taken measures to thwart it.

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Anbernic is bringing AI to handheld game consoles… and it kind of makes sense

Chinese handheld game console maker Anbernic is jumping on the AI bandwagon. Recent software updates for four of the company’s recent devices bring a new Anbernic AI feature that includes many of the greatest hits of the AI world including a chat…

Chinese handheld game console maker Anbernic is jumping on the AI bandwagon. Recent software updates for four of the company’s recent devices bring a new Anbernic AI feature that includes many of the greatest hits of the AI world including a chat bot and support for using AI to generate images from text prompts or alter […]

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Sipeed NanoCluster is a tiny device for creating clusters of up to 7 Compute Modules

Cluster computing is a method of setting up multiple computers so they can work together like a single system. Some cluster systems are massive machines that take up space in data centers. Others are a lot smaller. But the SiPeed NanoCluster is one of …

Cluster computing is a method of setting up multiple computers so they can work together like a single system. Some cluster systems are massive machines that take up space in data centers. Others are a lot smaller. But the SiPeed NanoCluster is one of the most compact cluster boards I’ve ever seen. When fully populated, it’s […]

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