Month: October 2023

Enlarge / Official controllers like this will have no problem working with the Xbox going forward. (credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft has begun warning Xbox users that "unauthorized" accessories will no longer work on the company's consoles. The move is likely an effort to limit online cheating that can be enabled by certain external devices, but it seems set to have unintended consequences for communities that rely on adapters for more legitimate users.

In recent days, users on sites like ResetEra and Windows Central began reporting encounters with "error 0x82d60002" when they plug certain accessories into their Xbox. An on-screen message appearing alongside that error indicates that "using unauthorized accessories compromises your gaming experience" and refers users to Microsoft's list of officially supported accessories.

A recently added Xbox support note clarifies that the error appears when "one of the accessories you’re trying to connect was not manufactured by Microsoft or another licensed Xbox hardware partner." After the error appears, Microsoft says that "you’ll have two weeks to use the accessory, after which time it will then be blocked from use with the console. At that time, you’ll receive error code 0x82d60003. We encourage you to contact the store or manufacturer where you obtained the accessory to get help with returning it."

Enlarge / Spy satellite images taken by the CIA during the Cold War have revealed hundreds of Roman forts across the Fertile Crescent. (credit: J. Casana et al./US Geological Survey)

Back in the early days of aerial archaeology, a French Jesuit priest named Antoine Poidebard flew a biplane over the northern Fertile Crescent to conduct one of the first aerial surveys. He documented 116 ancient Roman forts spanning what is now western Syria to northwestern Iraq and concluded that they were constructed to secure the borders of the Roman Empire in that region.

Now, anthropologists from Dartmouth have analyzed declassified spy satellite imagery dating from the Cold War, identifying 396 Roman forts, according to a recent paper published in the journal Antiquity. And they have come to a different conclusion about the site distribution: the forts were constructed along trade routes to ensure the safe passage of people and goods.

Poidebard is a fascinating historical figure. A former World War I pilot, he later became a priest and joined the French Levant forces, helping pioneer the use of aerial photography as an archaeological surveying tool to discover and record sites of interest. (Previously, hot air balloons, scaffolds, or attaching cameras to kites were the primary means of gaining aerial context.) For his mapping missions, Poidebard clocked thousands of hours flying over Syria, as well as Algeria and Tunisia along the Mediterranean coast. He published his catalog of ancient Roman forts in his 1934 book, The Trace of Rome in the Syrian Desert, including some of the largest and best-known sites, including Sura, Resafa, and Ain Sinu.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

On Monday, President Joe Biden issued an executive order on AI that outlines the federal government's first comprehensive regulations on generative AI systems. The order includes testing mandates for advanced AI models to ensure they can't be used for creating weapons, suggestions for watermarking AI-generated media, and provisions addressing privacy and job displacement.

In the United States, an executive order allows the president to manage and operate the federal government. Using his authority to set terms for government contracts, Biden aims to influence AI standards by stipulating that federal agencies must only enter into contracts with companies that comply with the government's newly outlined AI regulations. This approach utilizes the federal government's purchasing power to drive compliance with the newly set standards.

As of press time Monday, the White House had not yet released the full text of the executive order, but from the Fact Sheet authored by the administration and through reporting on drafts of the order by Politico and The New York Times, we can relay a picture of its content. Some parts of the order reflect positions first specified in Biden's 2022 "AI Bill of Rights" guidelines, which we covered last October.

Enlarge (credit: Getty | UniversalImagesGroup)

The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers to ditch 26 over-the-counter eye drop products found at big retailers—including CVS, Rite Aid, and Target—due to a risk of infection. Consumers should not buy any of the products and should immediately stop using them if they've already purchased them.

The products include Target's branded Up & Up Dry Eye Relief Lubricant Eye Drops and Up & Up Extreme Relief Dry Eye, as well as Lubricant Eye Drops and Lubricant Gel Drops branded by CVS Health and Rite Aid. The warning also includes eye drop products branded as Rugby and Leader (both from Cardinal Health) and Velocity Pharma. A full list can be found here, as can links to report adverse events.

In an advisory posted Friday, the FDA reported that no infections or adverse events have been linked to the products so far. But the agency said it "found insanitary conditions in the manufacturing facility and positive bacterial test results from environmental sampling of critical drug production areas in the facility."