Two Viking burials, separated by an ocean, contain close kin

Two Viking Age warriors from the same family died hundreds of kilometers apart.

Two Viking burials, separated by an ocean, contain close kin

Enlarge (credit: Ida Marie Odgaard AFP)

Roughly a thousand years ago, a young man in his early 20s met a violent end in England. 800 kilometers (500 miles) away, in Denmark, an older man who had survived a lifetime of battles died sometime in his 50s. At first glance, there’s nothing to suggest a connection between them over such a distance. But according to a recent study of their DNA, the two men were second-degree relatives: half-siblings, uncle and nephew, or grandfather and grandson.

Today, their skeletons lie side-by-side in the National Museum of Denmark, reunited after centuries, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Geneticists sequenced the pair’s DNA as part of a much larger study, which sampled and sequenced ancient DNA from more than 400 human skeletons at sites across Europe and Greenland. That data revealed that Vikings were much more ethnically diverse than historians have often assumed, and it helped track the migrations that defined the Viking Age. Against the backdrop of those larger patterns, the ancient DNA from two skeletons, buried hundreds of kilometers apart under very different circumstances, told a much more personal story.

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

The efforts to make text-based AI less racist and terrible

Researchers try different approaches to solve problem of amplifying negative stereotypes.

The efforts to make text-based AI less racist and terrible

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

In July 2020, OpenAI launched GPT-3, an artificial intelligence language model that quickly stoked excitement about computers writing poetry, news articles, and programming code. Just as quickly, it was shown to sometimes be foulmouthed and toxic. OpenAI said it was working on fixes, but the company recently discovered GPT-3 was being used to generate child porn.

Now OpenAI researchers say they’ve found a way to curtail GPT-3’s toxic text by feeding the program roughly 100 encyclopedia-like samples of writing by human professionals on topics like history and technology but also abuse, violence, and injustice.

OpenAI’s project shows how the tech industry is scrambling to constrain the dark side of a technology that’s shown enormous potential but also can spread disinformation and perpetuate biases. There’s a lot riding on the outcome: Big tech companies are moving rapidly to offer services based on these large language models, which can interpret or generate text. Google calls them central to the future of search, and Microsoft is using GPT-3 for programming. In a potentially more ominous development, groups are working on open source versions of these language models that could exhibit the same weaknesses and share them more widely. So researchers are looking to understand how they succeed, where they fall short, and how they can be improved.

Read 21 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Facebook: Viele Nutzer bleiben bei Whatsapp

Eine Umfrage zeigt, dass viele Nutzer bei der Facebook-App bleiben. Viele wollten Whatsapp nach der Ankündigung neuer Datenschutzregeln eigentlich verlassen. (Whatsapp, Datenschutz)

Eine Umfrage zeigt, dass viele Nutzer bei der Facebook-App bleiben. Viele wollten Whatsapp nach der Ankündigung neuer Datenschutzregeln eigentlich verlassen. (Whatsapp, Datenschutz)

Windows 11: Microsoft Slowly Starts Taking Down Leaked ISO

After a leaked copy of Windows 11 began circulating this week, thousands downloaded the ISO file to get an early look at the new operating system. Perhaps surprisingly, Microsoft hasn’t yet made much of an effort to contain the leak, but was successful in taking down the ISO from various hosting sites. It also targeted a tech news site, which removed an installation tutorial.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Windows 11Earlier this week, a copy of the next version of Windows leaked onto the web.

Known officially as Windows 11, the leaked copy is a pre-beta version but that hasn’t stopped tech sites publishing mini reviews, assessing everything from its visual appearance to various technical features.

This early reveal isn’t what Microsoft had in mind so, with various ISO files now circulating on torrent sites, file-hosting platforms and even Google’s services, Microsoft has made a start at trying to remove the leak from the web.

A Slow Start to Public Takedowns

Ever since news of the leak broke on Tuesday we’ve been monitoring various resources for Microsoft takedown demands. Perhaps the biggest surprise thus far is that the US-based tech giant has been very slow off the mark with copyright complaints.

It’s possible that the company understands the futility of trying to prevent the spread, particularly since those that are most interested in the product won’t be easily deterred.

That being said, Microsoft has made some efforts nonetheless.

DMCA Takedowns Filed With Some Strange Features

Thus far only a handful of DMCA notices have been filed with companies including Google and of course these are made available for scrutiny on the Lumen Database. Some of these have strange aspects for one reason or another, so we’ll detail a handful below.

The first takedown to catch our eye targets a Windows 11 ISO file stored on Google Drive. The service has been used repeatedly for distributing copies of Microsoft’s new OS in recent days and in this case, Google has indeed removed the file.

However, instead of listing itself as the source for the content, Microsoft informed Google that the original Windows 11 could be found on news site The Verge, listing the site’s article reporting on the leak as the source.

Windows 11 DMCA1

Another notice with strange features was sent to Google seeking to have two URLs removed from its indexes. In this case, law firm Covington & Burling LLP provided no source URLs on behalf of Microsoft but did take down a link to Twitter and indeed the original tweet.

Another link on Mediafire was taken down too but weirdly the file-hosting platform thinks that publishing company Springer Nature sent the DMCA notice, not Microsoft.

Windows 11 Mediafire

Review The Leak, Don’t Link To It

Microsoft in Japan also threw its hat into the ring, filing a DMCA notice against tech news site BeeBom.com. The site has published several articles about the Windows 11 leak, most of which didn’t raise any red flags.

However, in an article titled ‘How to Download and Install Windows 11 Right Now’, the news site made the decision to link to several Google Drive and HiDrive accounts hosting the leaked OS, which was a step too far for Microsoft.

“Beebom.com’s article is distributing Windows 11 ISO (copyrighted to Microsoft). Please remove their article from the search. It is a leaked copy of the unreleased Windows 11,” the notice reads.

After Google processed the delisting request the BeeBom article remained live for several hours. However, it appears that BeeBom may have been put under more direct pressure too since the entire article has since been deleted. The embedded Google Drive links no longer provide access to the Windows 11 ISO either, with Google returning: “Sorry, the file you have requested does not exist.”

While this action seems to indicate a start to the clean-up, the cat is already well and truly out of the bag.

The ISO is still available in dozens of other locations, including via many articles and posts appearing in the first few pages of Google’s search results. The file also appears on sites where Microsoft will have more trouble removing content but at least at the moment, the tech company doesn’t seem overly concerned by the spread.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Rigaer Straße 94 – eine aufgezwungene Eskalation

Das Berliner Hausprojekt wird in der Hauptstadt zum Staatsfeind Nummer eins stilisiert. Nicht zum ersten Mal passiert dies in Zeiten des Wahlkampfes

Das Berliner Hausprojekt wird in der Hauptstadt zum Staatsfeind Nummer eins stilisiert. Nicht zum ersten Mal passiert dies in Zeiten des Wahlkampfes

Oberleitungs-Lkw: Herr Gramkow will möglichst weit elektrisch fahren

Seit anderthalb Jahren fährt ein Lkw auf der A1 elektrisch an einer Oberleitung. Wir haben die Spedition besucht, die ihn einsetzt. Ein Bericht von Werner Pluta (Elektromobilität, Technologie)

Seit anderthalb Jahren fährt ein Lkw auf der A1 elektrisch an einer Oberleitung. Wir haben die Spedition besucht, die ihn einsetzt. Ein Bericht von Werner Pluta (Elektromobilität, Technologie)