WizardLM 2: Microsoft muss unsichere KI zurückziehen

Microsoft-Forscher haben versehentlich WizardLM 2, ein leistungsstarkes Open-Source-KI-Modell, ohne vorherige Sicherheitstests veröffentlicht. (KI, Microsoft)

Microsoft-Forscher haben versehentlich WizardLM 2, ein leistungsstarkes Open-Source-KI-Modell, ohne vorherige Sicherheitstests veröffentlicht. (KI, Microsoft)

Anzeige: Entwicklung und Architekturplanung mit AWS

AWS ist bekannt als eine stabile, skalierbare und wirtschaftliche Umgebung für die schnelle Entwicklung und Implementierung von Web-Anwendungen. Diese Onlinekurse bieten eine praxisorientierte Einführung in die Nutzung von AWS. (Golem Karrierewelt, AWS…

AWS ist bekannt als eine stabile, skalierbare und wirtschaftliche Umgebung für die schnelle Entwicklung und Implementierung von Web-Anwendungen. Diese Onlinekurse bieten eine praxisorientierte Einführung in die Nutzung von AWS. (Golem Karrierewelt, AWS)

Elektrische G-Klasse angeschaut: Wendig wie ein Panzer, schwerer als ein Rolls Royce

Der elektrische G 580 von Mercedes-Benz ist so schwer wie der Cybertruck. Zwar beherrscht der Geländewagen eine Panzerwende, kann aber noch keinen Anhänger ziehen. Ein Bericht von Friedhelm Greis (Elektroauto, Auto)

Der elektrische G 580 von Mercedes-Benz ist so schwer wie der Cybertruck. Zwar beherrscht der Geländewagen eine Panzerwende, kann aber noch keinen Anhänger ziehen. Ein Bericht von Friedhelm Greis (Elektroauto, Auto)

Fragments of bird flu virus genome found in pasteurized milk, FDA says

The test cannot tell if the virus is live. The FDA still assess milk supply as safe.

Cows being milked

Enlarge / Cows being milked (credit: Getty | Edwin Remsberg)

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday announced that genetic fragments from the highly-pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 have been detected in the pasteurized, commercial milk supply. However, the testing completed so far—using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)—only detects the presence of viral genetic material and cannot tell whether the genetic material is from live and infectious viral particles or merely remnants of dead ones killed by the pasteurization process.

Testing is now ongoing to see if viable, infectious H5N1 can be identified in milk samples.

So far, the FDA still believes that the milk supply is safe. "To date, we have seen nothing that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe," the agency said in a lengthy explanation of the finding and ongoing testing.

Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments

The spam came from inside the house: How a smart TV can choke a Windows PC

The curious case of a living room screen making Windows’ Settings app disappear.

Image of silhouetted girl trapped inside a television inside an entertainment center

Enlarge / I have hundreds of UUIDs and I must scream. (credit: Getty Images)

The modern "smart" TV asks a lot of us. In exchange for connecting you to a few streaming services you use, a TV will collect data, show ads, and serve as another vector for bad actors. In a few reported cases, though, a modern connected TV has been blamed for attacks not on privacy, eyeballs, or passwords but on an entirely different computer.

The TV in question is a Hisense TV, and the computer is a Windows PC, specifically one belonging to Priscilla Snow, a musician and audio designer in Montréal, Quebec. Her post about her Hisense experience reads like a mystery. Of course, because you already know the crime and the culprit, it's more like a Columbo episode. Either way, it's thrilling in a very specific I-can't-believe-that-fixed-it kind of thrill.

Disappearing Settings, keyboards, remote desktops, and eventually taskbars

Snow's Windows PC had "a few hiccups over the past couple of years," Snow wrote on April 19. She couldn't open display settings, for one. A MIDI keyboard interface stopped working. Task manager would start to hang until force-closed. Video capture cards had trouble connecting. As Snow notes, any veteran of a Windows computer that has had lots of stuff installed on it can mentally write off most of these things, or at least stash them away until the next reinstall.

Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Why canned wine can smell like rotten eggs while beer and Coke are fine

Sulfur dioxide in the wine reacts with the aluminum to make hydrogen sulfide.

Why canned wine can smell like rotten eggs while beer and Coke are fine

Enlarge (credit: BackyardProduction/Getty Images)

True wine aficionados might turn up their noses, but canned wines are growing in popularity, particularly among younger crowds during the summer months, when style often takes a back seat to convenience. Yet these same wines can go bad rather quickly, taking on distinctly displeasing notes of rotten eggs or dirty socks. Scientists at Cornell University conducted a study of all the relevant compounds and came up with a few helpful tips for frustrated winemakers to keep canned wines from spoiling. The researchers outlined their findings in a recent paper published in the American Journal of Enology and Viticulture.

“The current generation of wine consumers coming of age now, they want a beverage that’s portable and they can bring with them to drink at a concert or take to the pool,” said Gavin Sacks, a food chemist at Cornell. “That doesn’t really describe a cork-finished, glass-packaged wine. However, it describes a can very nicely.”

According to a 2004 article in Wine & Vines magazine, canned beer first appeared in the US in 1935, and three US wineries tried to follow suit for the next three years. Those efforts failed because it proved to be unusually challenging to produce a stable canned wine. One batch was tainted by "Fresno mold"; another batch resulted in cloudy wine within just two months; and the third batch of wine had a disastrous combination of low pH and high oxygen content, causing the wine to eat tiny holes in the cans. Nonetheless, wineries sporadically kept trying to can their product over the ensuing decades, with failed attempts in the 1950s and 1970s. United and Delta Airlines briefly had a short-lived partnership with wineries for canned wine in the early 1980s, but passengers balked at the notion.

Read 13 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Nestlé baby foods loaded with unhealthy sugars—but only in poorer countries

Health experts say children under age 2 should have zero added sugars in their diets.

Night view of company logos in Nestlé Avanca Dairy Products Plant on January 21, 2019, in Avanca, Portugal. This plant produces Cerelac, Nestum, Mokambo, Pensal, Chocapic and Estrelitas, among others.

Enlarge / Night view of company logos in Nestlé Avanca Dairy Products Plant on January 21, 2019, in Avanca, Portugal. This plant produces Cerelac, Nestum, Mokambo, Pensal, Chocapic and Estrelitas, among others. (credit: Getty | Horacio Villalobos)

In high-income countries, Nestlé brand baby foods have no added sugars them, in line with recommendations from major health organizations around the world and consumer pressure. But in low- and middle-income countries, Nestlé adds sugar to those same baby products, sometimes at high levels, which could lead children to prefer sugary diets and unhealthy eating habits, according to an investigation released recently by nonprofit groups.

The investigation, conducted by Public Eye and the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), says the addition of added sugars to baby foods in poorer countries, against expert recommendations, creates an "unjustifiable double standard." The groups quote Rodrigo Vianna, an epidemiologist and professor at the Department of Nutrition of the Federal University of Paraíba in Brazil, who calls added sugars in baby foods "unnecessary and highly addictive."

"Children get used to the sweet taste and start looking for more sugary foods, starting a negative cycle that increases the risk of nutrition-based disorders in adult life," Vianna told the organizations for their investigation. "These include obesity and other chronic non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes or high blood-pressure."

Read 9 remaining paragraphs | Comments

You can now buy a flame-throwing robot dog for under $10,000

Thermonator, the first “flamethrower-wielding robot dog,” is completely legal in 48 US states.

The Thermonator robot flamethrower dog.

Enlarge / The Thermonator robot flamethrower dog. (credit: Throwflame)

If you've been wondering when you'll be able to order the flame-throwing robot that Ohio-based Throwflame first announced last summer, that day has finally arrived. The Thermonator, what Throwflame bills as "the first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog" is now available for purchase. The price? $9,420.

Thermonator is a quadruped robot with an ARC flamethrower mounted to its back, fueled by gasoline or napalm. It features a one-hour battery, a 30-foot flame-throwing range, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for remote control through a smartphone.

It also includes a LIDAR sensor for mapping and obstacle avoidance, laser sighting, and first-person view (FPV) navigation through an onboard camera. The product appears to integrate a version of the Unitree Go2 robot quadruped that retails alone for $1,600 in its base configuration.

Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

FTC bans noncompete clauses, declares vast majority unenforceable

Chamber of Commerce vows to sue FTC, will try to block ban on noncompetes.

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan smiles while talking with people at an event.

Enlarge / Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan talks with guests during an event in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on April 03, 2024 (credit: Getty Images | Chip Somodevilla )

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today announced that it has issued a final rule banning noncompete clauses. The rule will render the vast majority of current noncompete clauses unenforceable, according to the agency.

"In the final rule, the Commission has determined that it is an unfair method of competition and therefore a violation of Section 5 of the FTC Act, for employers to enter into noncompetes with workers and to enforce certain noncompetes," the FTC said.

The US Chamber of Commerce said it will sue the FTC in an effort to block the rule, claiming the ban is "a blatant power grab that will undermine American businesses' ability to remain competitive."

Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments