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The Pocket 386 is a tiny laptop computer with a 7 inch display, a QWERTY keyboard, and a body that’s small enough that you might actually be able to fit it into a (large) pocket. It’s also a device specifically designed for retro computing…
The Pocket 386 is a tiny laptop computer with a 7 inch display, a QWERTY keyboard, and a body that’s small enough that you might actually be able to fit it into a (large) pocket. It’s also a device specifically designed for retro computing. The Pocket 386 gets its name from its 386 SX compatible processor, and […]
The post Pocket 386 is a mini laptop for retro computing with support for DOS and Windows 95 appeared first on Liliputing.
Workers stayed remote even when told they could no longer be promoted.
Big tech companies are still trying to rally workers back into physical offices, and many workers are still not having it. Based on a recent report, computer-maker Dell has stumbled even more than most.
Dell announced a new return-to-office initiative earlier this year. In the new plan, workers had to classify themselves as remote or hybrid.
Those who classified themselves as hybrid are subject to a tracking system that ensures they are in a physical office 39 days a quarter, which works out to close to three days per work week.
Finding out whether the AI is uncertain about facts or phrasing is the key.
Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)
It's one of the world's worst-kept secrets that large language models give blatantly false answers to queries and do so with a confidence that's indistinguishable from when they get things right. There are a number of reasons for this. The AI could have been trained on misinformation; the answer could require some extrapolation from facts that the LLM isn't capable of; or some aspect of the LLM's training might have incentivized a falsehood.
But perhaps the simplest explanation is that an LLM doesn't recognize what constitutes a correct answer but is compelled to provide one. So it simply makes something up, a habit that has been termed confabulation.
Figuring out when an LLM is making something up would obviously have tremendous value, given how quickly people have started relying on them for everything from college essays to job applications. Now, researchers from the University of Oxford say they've found a relatively simple way to determine when LLMs appear to be confabulating that works with all popular models and across a broad range of subjects. And, in doing so, they develop evidence that most of the alternative facts LLMs provide are a product of confabulation.
If all goes according to plan, Italy’s Piracy Shield IPTV blocking system will be retired at the end of the year. In its place, Piracy Shield 2.0, a tech platform likely to be billed as the most formidable anti-piracy system on the planet. Year one running costs of two million euros will be paid by Italian taxpayers, rather than the main beneficiaries, some of the world’s most famous football clubs.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Like many sensible businesses, paying as little tax as legally possible is a priority for corporations in the entertainment and professional sports sectors.
The difference with many of these giants is that some governments work quite hard to ensure that goal is met.
In the UK, tax breaks are on full display at Companies House; when a foreign company engineers, let’s say, a £6 million annual loss when making a movie, the government swoops in with a tax bill that credits £6 million. Or £10 million, or multiples of that over several years.
Since the end result is often a carefully crafted loss, despite massive contributions from the public purse raised through various taxes, no corporation tax is paid, even when a movie goes on to generate a billion at the box office. In Italy, where the government goes to great lengths to accommodate their business requirements, top tier football clubs are in debt to the public purse due to hundreds of millions of euros in unpaid taxes.
With the leading Italian clubs still spending at unsustainable levels, complaints over lost revenue due to IPTV/streaming piracy continue. Top football league Serie A currently claims that IPTV/streaming piracy costs football around €330m per year, an amount that’s ultimately blamed on Italian football fans and their love of TV piracy devices, locally known as ‘pezzotto’.
That €330m per year headline figure helped to push through new legislation last year that in part supports the operations of the Piracy Shield IPTV blocking system in use today. Its mission is to degrade pirate IPTV supply to the extent that fans are herded back to legal yet expensive subscription packages, thereby reducing the claimed €330m per year piracy deficit to something more reasonable.
Of course, other factors have also been at play. For the last four years, a government initiative called the Growth Decree aimed to attract foreign talent to Italy with lucrative tax breaks. The main beneficiaries were some of the world’s richest football players and associated staff, who through the scheme paid tax on just half their income rather than all of it. Their new football clubs also benefited by not having to pay the going rate when signing players from abroad.
This recently abolished scheme cost Italy over €670m per year in tax revenue, the New York Times reported last December. To put that figure into perspective, that’s more than double the amount Serie A claims to lose every year due to Italians’ piracy habits.
Legality quite clearly sets these activities apart and one certainly doesn’t justify or cancel out the other. Yet in the cold light of day, some might argue that there are some similarities. In any event, money leaving the public purse to support commercial interests seems here to stay.
As previously reported, the Piracy Shield blocking system currently in place is struggling. The scale of the blocking and number of ISPs expected to connect to the system is causing the system to time out. As a result, upgrades are urgently required and if everything goes to plan, the old system will be retired at the end of the year to make way for Piracy Shield 2.0.
As reported by La Repubblica (paywall), telecoms regulator AGCOM will continue to oversee the system which currently focuses on the protection of live sports, mostly football. With the addition of movies in the near future, other rightsholders are set to become more closely involved; many are likely to be benefiting from current blocking already since most IPTV services carry sports and movies.
Running costs for the new blocking system are expected to reach two million euros a year. La Repubblica reports that the money will be used to “strengthen and maintain” the Piracy Shield system which will operate from the cloud via agreements with Amazon and/or Microsoft.
An undisclosed amount will be used to subsidize the costs associated with blocking incurred by ISPs. Currently shouldered by the ISPs themselves, the costs include staff overtime, among other things. When the new system comes into play, it appears that two thirds of their costs could be covered, with the remaining third continuing to be funded from any company profits or by passing costs onto internet subscribers.
The two million euros each year required to run Piracy Shield will be paid by the state using funds generated through various taxes, with personal income tax the greatest source of income. In 2021, taxes on corporate income and gains amounted to just 4% of total tax revenues in Italy.
La Repubblica reports that Piracy Shield is seen as a tool to help ensure the stability of the football business. It cites unnamed government sources reporting that DAZN may be close to breaking even. To reach that target it reportedly needs to add 150,000 subscribers and hopes are being pinned on Piracy Shield to nudge fans in their direction.
“When DAZN reaches breakeven, having reached certain turnover thresholds, its additional profits will be shared with the Lega Calcio [football league], and therefore with the clubs,” La Repubblica notes.
Cash flow is clearly important for maintaining a healthy football ecosystem; the direction, perhaps even more so.
From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.
Of the 26 cases identified so far, 25 sought medical care and 16 were hospitalized.
Enlarge (credit: Diamond Shruumz)
Cases of illnesses linked to microdosing candies have more than doubled, with reports of seizures and the need for intubation, mechanical ventilation, and intensive care stays. But, there remains no recall of the products—microdosing chocolates, gummies, and candy cones by Diamond Shruumz—linked to the severe and life-threatening illnesses. In the latest update from the Food and Drug Administration late Tuesday, the agency said that it "has been in contact with the firm about a possible voluntary recall, but these discussions are still ongoing."
In the update, the FDA reported 26 cases across 16 states, up from 12 cases in eight states last week. Of the 26 reported cases, 25 sought medical care and 16 were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.
Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a health alert about the candies. The agency noted that as of June 11, the people sickened after eating Diamond Shruumz candies presented to health care providers with a host of severe symptoms. Those include: central nervous system depression with sedation, seizures, muscle rigidity, clonus (abnormal reflex responses), tremor, abnormal heart rate (bradycardia or tachycardia), abnormal blood pressure (hypotension or hypertension), gastrointestinal effects (nausea, vomiting, or abdominal pain), skin flushing, diaphoresis (excessive sweating), and metabolic acidosis with increased anion gap (an acid-based disorder linked to poisonings).
Ukrainische Streitkräfte setzen zunehmend auf Drohnen mit First-Person-View-Technik (FPV), um Luftkämpfe gegen russische Drohnen zu führen. (Drohne, Politik)
Das DLR will die Produktion strombasierter Kraftstoffe erproben. Dazu wird in Sachsen-Anhalt eine Technologieplattform gebaut. (Synthetische Kraftstoffe, Solarenergie)
Das DLR will die Produktion strombasierter Kraftstoffe erproben. Dazu wird in Sachsen-Anhalt eine Technologieplattform gebaut. (Synthetische Kraftstoffe, Solarenergie) Den höchste Durchsatz im Mobilfunknetz der Telekom in diesem Jahr haben die Fans generiert. Die meisten Daten gingen über Instagram. (Telekom, Mobilfunk)
Jace ist ein KI-System, das Webbrowser bedienen und mehrstufige, komplexe Aufgaben erledigen kann. Das könnte sogar Büroarbeitern gefährlich werden. (KI, Browser)
OG Fallout producer says “Project Van Buren” ran out of time and money.
Enlarge / What could have been. (credit: No Mutants Allowed)
PC gamers of a certain vintage will remember tales of Project Van Buren, a title that early '00s Interplay intended as the sequel to 1998's hit Fallout 2. Now, original Fallout producer Timothy Cain is sharing some behind-the-scenes details about how he contributed to the project's cancellation during a particularly difficult time for publisher Interplay.
Cain famously left Interplay during Fallout 2's development in the late '90s to help form short-lived RPG house Troika Games. After his departure, though, he was still in touch with some people from his former employer, including an unnamed Interplay vice president looking for some outside opinions on the troubled Van Buren project.
"Would you mind coming over and playing one of my game prototypes?" Cain recalls this vice president asking him sometime in mid-2003. "We're making a Fallout game and I'm going to have to cancel it. I don't think they can get it done... but if you could come over and look at it and give me an estimate, that's a chance I wouldn't cancel it."
Ukrainische Streitkräfte setzen zunehmend auf Drohnen mit First-Person-View-Technik (FPV), um Luftkämpfe gegen russische Drohnen zu führen. (
Den höchste Durchsatz im Mobilfunknetz der Telekom in diesem Jahr haben die Fans generiert. Die meisten Daten gingen über Instagram. (
Jace ist ein KI-System, das Webbrowser bedienen und mehrstufige, komplexe Aufgaben erledigen kann. Das könnte sogar Büroarbeitern gefährlich werden. (
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