Author: Robin Edgar

Organisational Structures | Technology and Science | Military, IT and Lifestyle consultancy | Social, Broadcast & Cross Media | Flying aircraft

People Were Unwittingly Implanted With bits of plastic by Stimwave in Medical Scam

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Chronic pain patients were implanted with “dummy” pieces of plastic and told it would ease their pain, according to an indictment charging the  former CEO of the firm that made the fake devices with fraud. Laura Perryman, the former CEO of Stimwave LLC, was arrested in Florida on Thursday. According to an FBI press release, Read more about People Were Unwittingly Implanted With bits of plastic by Stimwave in Medical Scam[…]

Telehealth startup Cerebral shared millions of patients’ data with advertisers since 2019

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Cerebral has revealed it shared the private health information, including mental health assessments, of more than 3.1 million patients in the United States with advertisers and social media giants like Facebook, Google and TikTok. The telehealth startup, which exploded in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic after rolling lockdowns and a surge in online-only virtual health Read more about Telehealth startup Cerebral shared millions of patients’ data with advertisers since 2019[…]

Newly discovered enzyme that turns air into electricity, providing a new clean source of energy

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Australian scientists have discovered an enzyme that converts air into energy. The finding, published today in the journal Nature, reveals that this enzyme uses the low amounts of the hydrogen in the atmosphere to create an electrical current. This finding opens the way to create devices that literally make energy from thin air. The research Read more about Newly discovered enzyme that turns air into electricity, providing a new clean source of energy[…]

With the help of OpenAI, Discord is finally adding loads of novel functionalities

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] Starting next week, the company will begin rolling out a public experiment that will augment Clyde, the built-in bot Discord employs to notify users of errors and respond to their slash commands, with conversational capabilities. Judging from the demo it showed off, Discord envisions people turning to Clyde for information they would have obtained Read more about With the help of OpenAI, Discord is finally adding loads of novel functionalities[…]

Knots smaller than human hair make materials unusually tough and (de|re)formable

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] In the latest advance in nano- and micro-architected materials, engineers at Caltech have developed a new material made from numerous interconnected microscale knots. The knots make the material far tougher than identically structured but unknotted materials: they absorb more energy and are able to deform more while still being able to return to their Read more about Knots smaller than human hair make materials unusually tough and (de|re)formable[…]

First Complete Map of a Fly Brain Has Uncanny Similarities to AI Neural Networks

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] An interdisciplinary team of scientists have released a complete reconstruction and analysis of a larval fruit fly’s brain, published Thursday in the journal Science. The resulting map, or connectome, as its called in neuroscience, includes each one of the 3,016 neurons and 548,000 of the synapses running between neurons that make up the baby Read more about First Complete Map of a Fly Brain Has Uncanny Similarities to AI Neural Networks[…]

US House reps, staff health data stolen in cyberattack

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Health data and other personal information of members of Congress and staff were stolen during a breach of servers run by DC Health Care Link and are now up for sale on the dark web. The FBI is investigating the intrusion, which came to light Wednesday after Catherine Szpindor, the House of Representatives’ chief administrative Read more about US House reps, staff health data stolen in cyberattack[…]

Women in trouble now: Scientists create mice with two fathers after making eggs from male cells

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Scientists have created mice with two biological fathers by generating eggs from male cells, a development that opens up radical new possibilities for reproduction. The advance could ultimately pave the way for treatments for severe forms of infertility, as well as raising the tantalising prospect of same-sex couples being able to have a biological child Read more about Women in trouble now: Scientists create mice with two fathers after making eggs from male cells[…]

Holy shit: German Courts saying DNS Service (Quad9) Is Implicated In Any Copyright Infringement At The Domains It Resolves

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Back in September 2021 Techdirt covered an outrageous legal attack by Sony Music on Quad9, a free, recursive, anycast DNS platform. Quad9 is part of the Internet’s plumbing: it converts domain names to numerical IP addresses. It is operated by the Quad9 Foundation, a Swiss public-benefit, not-for-profit organization. Sony Music says that Quad9 is implicated Read more about Holy shit: German Courts saying DNS Service (Quad9) Is Implicated In Any Copyright Infringement At The Domains It Resolves[…]

YouTube Chills the Darned Hell Out On Its Cursing Policy, but you still can’t fucking say fuck

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Google’s finally rolling back its unpopular decree against any kinds of profanity in videos, making it harder for any creators used to offering colorful sailor’s speech in videos from monetizing content on behalf of its beloved ad partners. The only thing is, Google still seems to think the “f-word” is excessively harsh language, so sorry Read more about YouTube Chills the Darned Hell Out On Its Cursing Policy, but you still can’t fucking say fuck[…]

How this UK newspaper publisher uses AI to generate articles

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Reach, the owner of the UK’s Daily Mirror and Daily Express tabloids among other newspapers, has started publishing articles with the help of AI software on one of its regional websites as it scrambles to cut costs amid slipping advertising revenues. Three stories written with the help of machine-learning tools were published on InYourArea.co.uk, which Read more about How this UK newspaper publisher uses AI to generate articles[…]

Diving: how to prevent water in your ears and improve your equalizing

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Recently I went on a liveaboard with some extremely experienced divers, most of which had 400 or more dives logged. One of my problems with diving is that I am an extremely slow equalizer, which means that I have to descend extremely slowly, especially at around 5m and again at 10m depth. Another problem I Read more about Diving: how to prevent water in your ears and improve your equalizing[…]

When Given The Choice, Most Authors Reject Excessively Long Copyright Terms

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Recently, Walled Culture mentioned the problem of orphan works. These are creations, typically books, that are still covered by copyright, but unavailable because the original publisher or distributor has gone out of business, or simply isn’t interested in keeping them in circulation. The problem is that without any obvious point of contact, it’s not possible to Read more about When Given The Choice, Most Authors Reject Excessively Long Copyright Terms[…]

Texas Bill Would Make ISPs censor any abortion information

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Last week, Texas introduced a bill that would make it illegal for internet service providers to let users access information about how to get abortion pills. The bill, called the Women and Child Safety Act, would also criminalize creating, editing, or hosting a website that helps people seek abortions. If the bill passes, internet service Read more about Texas Bill Would Make ISPs censor any abortion information[…]

Florida bill would make bloggers who are paid to write about elected officials register with ethics commission

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A proposed law in Florida would force bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis and other elected officials to register with a state office and file monthly reports or face fines of $25 per day. The bill was filed in the Florida Senate Tuesday by Senator Jason Brodeur, a Republican. If enacted, the proposed law Read more about Florida bill would make bloggers who are paid to write about elected officials register with ethics commission[…]

JPMorgan Chase ‘requires workers give 6 months notice’

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A veteran JPMorgan Chase banker fumed over the financial giant’s policy requiring certain staffers to give six months’ notice before being allowed to leave for another job. The Wall Street worker, who claims to earn around $400,000 annually in total compensation after accumulating 15 years of experience, griped that the lengthy notice period likely means Read more about JPMorgan Chase ‘requires workers give 6 months notice’[…]

40-passenger hydrogen electric plane completes maiden flight

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Mere weeks after achieving experimental airworthiness certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Universal Hydrogen has successfully taken its 40-passenger regional hydrogen electric plane to the skies. The aircraft took off from Washington state this morning and ascended to an altitude of 3,500 mean sea level (MSL) before safely landing, as you can see in Read more about 40-passenger hydrogen electric plane completes maiden flight[…]

Guy Embezzles Cool $9 Million From Poop-to-Energy Ponzi Scheme

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A guy embezzled nearly $9 million by convincing investors he was turning cow poop into green energy—and then not building any of the machines at all. On Monday, 66-year-old Raymond Brewer of Porterville, California pled guilty to charges that he’d defrauded investors. Court records show that Brewer Read more about Guy Embezzles Cool $9 Million From Poop-to-Energy Ponzi Scheme[…]

Mt. Gox creditors now have until March to register for payouts

Posted on by Robin Edgar

obuaki Kobayashi, the trustee for the Mt. Gox bankruptcy, has announced that the deadline for repayment selection and registration of payee information for its creditors has been moved from Jan. 10 to Mar. 10. According to Kobayashi, the change was made due to “various circumstances such as the progress by rehabilitation creditors in respect of Read more about Mt. Gox creditors now have until March to register for payouts[…]

You don’t own what you buy: Roald Dahl eBooks Censored Remotely after you bought them

Posted on by Robin Edgar

“Owners of Roald Dahl ebooks are having their libraries automatically updated with the new censored versions containing hundreds of changes to language related to weight, mental health, violence, gender and race,” reports the British newspaper the Times. Readers who bought electronic versions of the writer’s books, such as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Read more about You don’t own what you buy: Roald Dahl eBooks Censored Remotely after you bought them[…]

It’s official: BlackLotus malware can bypass UEFI secure boot

Posted on by Robin Edgar

BlackLotus, a UEFI bootkit that’s sold on hacking forums for about $5,000, can now bypass Secure Boot, making it the first known malware to run on Windows systems even with the firmware security feature enabled. Secure Boot is supposed to prevent devices from running unauthorized software on Microsoft machines. But by targeting UEFI the BlackLotus Read more about It’s official: BlackLotus malware can bypass UEFI secure boot[…]

OpenAI will let developers build ChatGPT into their apps, control own data

Posted on by Robin Edgar

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT and DALL-E 2, announced several significant changes today. First, it’s launching developer APIs for ChatGPT and the Whisper speech-transcription model. It also changed its terms of service to let developers opt out of using their data for improvements while adding a 30-day data retention policy. The new ChatGPT API will Read more about OpenAI will let developers build ChatGPT into their apps, control own data[…]

John Dodd Rolls Royce 27-Liter Merlin V12-Powered, Street-Legal Fiberglass Legend From the ’70s for sale

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Many cars claim to be a beast although just a few have a resume to back it up. This 1972 Rolls-Royce-ish plants its flag as “The Beast” so hard it’s right there on the name. This beige-on-beige-on-beige masterpiece is heading to auction to find a new home, and hopefully, one with a very long garage Read more about John Dodd Rolls Royce 27-Liter Merlin V12-Powered, Street-Legal Fiberglass Legend From the ’70s for sale[…]

Experiments with paper airplanes reveal surprisingly complex aerodynamics

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Drop a flat piece of paper and it will flutter and tumble through the air as it falls, but a well-fashioned paper airplane will glide smoothly. Although these structures look simple, their aerodynamics are surprisingly complex. Researchers at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences conducted a series of experiments involving paper airplanes to Read more about Experiments with paper airplanes reveal surprisingly complex aerodynamics[…]

Reaserchers propose Organoid intelligence (OI): the new frontier in biocomputing and intelligence-in-a-dish

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] Human brains are slower than machines at processing simple information, such as arithmetic, but they far surpass machines in processing complex information as brains deal better with few and/or uncertain data. Brains can perform both sequential and parallel processing (whereas computers can do only the former), and they outperform computers in decision-making on large, Read more about Reaserchers propose Organoid intelligence (OI): the new frontier in biocomputing and intelligence-in-a-dish[…]