The Linkielist

Linking ideas with the world

The ‘invisible’ cellulose coatings that mitigate surface transmission of pathogens (kills covid on door handles)

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Research has shown that a thin cellulose film can inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus within minutes, inhibit the growth of bacteria including E. coli, and mitigate contact transfer of pathogens. The coating consists of a thin film of cellulose fiber that is invisible to the naked eye, and is abrasion-resistant under dry conditions, making it suitable Read more about The ‘invisible’ cellulose coatings that mitigate surface transmission of pathogens (kills covid on door handles)[…]

LLM emergent behavior written off as rubbish – small models work fine but are measured poorly

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] As defined in academic studies, “emergent” abilities refers to “abilities that are not present in smaller-scale models, but which are present in large-scale models,” as one such paper puts it. In other words, immaculate injection: increasing the size of a model infuses it with some amazing ability not previously present. […] those emergent abilities Read more about LLM emergent behavior written off as rubbish – small models work fine but are measured poorly[…]

Fallout continues from fake net neutrality comments

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Three digital marketing firms have agreed to pay $615,000 to resolve allegations that they submitted at least 2.4 million fake public comments to influence American internet policy. New York Attorney General Letitia James announced last week the agreement with LCX, Lead ID, and Ifficient, each of which was found to have fabricated public comments submitted Read more about Fallout continues from fake net neutrality comments[…]

Ex-Ubiquiti engineer behind “breathtaking” data theft, attempts to frame co-workers, calls it a security drill, assaults stock price: 6-year prison term

Posted on by Robin Edgar

An ex-Ubiquiti engineer, Nickolas Sharp, was sentenced to six years in prison yesterday after pleading guilty in a New York court to stealing tens of gigabytes of confidential data, demanding a $1.9 million ransom from his former employer, and then publishing the data publicly when his demands were refused. […] In a court document, Sharp Read more about Ex-Ubiquiti engineer behind “breathtaking” data theft, attempts to frame co-workers, calls it a security drill, assaults stock price: 6-year prison term[…]

Fake scientific papers are alarmingly common and becoming more so

Posted on by Robin Edgar

When neuropsychologist Bernhard Sabel put his new fake-paper detector to work, he was “shocked” by what it found. After screening some 5000 papers, he estimates up to 34% of neuroscience papers published in 2020 were likely made up or plagiarized; in medicine, the figure was 24%. Both numbers, which he and colleagues report in a Read more about Fake scientific papers are alarmingly common and becoming more so[…]

Millions of mobile phones come pre-infected with malware

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Miscreants have infected millions of Androids worldwide with malicious firmware before the devices even shipped from their factories, according to Trend Micro researchers at Black Hat Asia. This hardware is mainly cheapo Android mobile devices, though smartwatches, TVs, and other things are caught up in it. The gadgets have their manufacturing outsourced to an original Read more about Millions of mobile phones come pre-infected with malware[…]

HP disables customers’ printers if they use ink cartridges from cheaper rivals

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Hewlett-Packard, or HP, has sparked fury after issuing a recent “firmware” update which blocks customers from using cheaper, non-HP ink cartridges in its printers. Customers’ devices were remotely updated in line with new terms which mean their printers will not work unless they are fitted with approved ink cartridges. It prevents customers from using any Read more about HP disables customers’ printers if they use ink cartridges from cheaper rivals[…]

European Media Freedom Act is a free pass to spread fake news, directly goes against DSA

Posted on by Robin Edgar

“Disinformation is a threat to our democracies” is a statement with which virtually every political group in the European Parliament agrees. Many political statements have been made on the subject calling for more to be done to counter disinformation, especially since the Russian attack on Ukraine. As part of that effort, the EU recently adopted Read more about European Media Freedom Act is a free pass to spread fake news, directly goes against DSA[…]

Google introduces PaLM 2 large language model

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] Building on this work, today we’re introducing PaLM 2, our next generation language model. PaLM 2 is a state-of-the-art language model with improved multilingual, reasoning and coding capabilities. Multilinguality: PaLM 2 is more heavily trained on multilingual text, spanning more than 100 languages. This has significantly improved its ability to understand, generate and translate Read more about Google introduces PaLM 2 large language model[…]

YouTube begins warning: ‘Ad blockers are not allowed’

Posted on by Robin Edgar

YouTube has begun showing a pop-up to some viewers warning them that “ad blockers are not allowed” on the video-sharing site. The banner, which you can see below, appears if the Google subsidiary reckons you’re using some kind of content blocker that prevents videos from being interrupted by or book-ended with adverts. According to YouTube, Read more about YouTube begins warning: ‘Ad blockers are not allowed’[…]

Scientists discover microbes in the Alps and Arctic that can digest plastic at low temperatures

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Finding, cultivating, and bioengineering organisms that can digest plastic not only aids in the removal of pollution, but is now also big business. Several microorganisms that can do this have already been found, but when their enzymes that make this possible are applied at an industrial scale, they typically only work at temperatures above 30°C. Read more about Scientists discover microbes in the Alps and Arctic that can digest plastic at low temperatures[…]

OpenAI attempts to use Language models can explain neurons in language models, open source

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] One simple approach to interpretability research is to first understand what the individual components (neurons and attention heads) are doing. This has traditionally required humans to manually inspect neurons to figure out what features of the data they represent. This process doesn’t scale well: it’s hard to apply it to neural networks with tens Read more about OpenAI attempts to use Language models can explain neurons in language models, open source[…]

Coqui.ai Text to Speech library – create your own voice

Posted on by Robin Edgar

🐸TTS is a library for advanced Text-to-Speech generation. It’s built on the latest research, was designed to achieve the best trade-off among ease-of-training, speed and quality. 🐸TTS comes with pretrained models, tools for measuring dataset quality and already used in 20+ languages for products and research projects. Github page: https://github.com/coqui-ai/TTS

Ed Sheeran, Once Again, Demonstrates How Modern Copyright Is Destroying, Rather Than Helping Musicians

Posted on by Robin Edgar

To hear the recording industry tell the story, copyright is the only thing protecting musicians from poverty and despair. Of course, that’s always been a myth. Copyright was designed to benefit the middlemen and gatekeepers, such as the record labels, over the artists themselves. That’s why the labels have a long history of never paying Read more about Ed Sheeran, Once Again, Demonstrates How Modern Copyright Is Destroying, Rather Than Helping Musicians[…]

Microsoft Tests Sticking Ads in Windows 11 Settings Menu as well as start menu

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] In addition to ads in the Start menu, the latest test build for Windows 11 includes notices for a Microsoft 365 trial and more in the Settings menu. On Friday, Windows beta user and routine leaker Albacore shared several screenshots of the latest Insider Preview build 23451. These shots come from the ultra-early Canary Read more about Microsoft Tests Sticking Ads in Windows 11 Settings Menu as well as start menu[…]

Mercedes Locks Better EV Engine Performance Your Car Has and you paid for Behind Subscription

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Last year BMW took ample heat for its plans to turn heated seats into a costly $18 per month subscription in numerous countries. As we noted at the time, BMW is already including the hardware in new cars and adjusting the sale price accordingly. So it’s effectively charging users a new, recurring fee to enable Read more about Mercedes Locks Better EV Engine Performance Your Car Has and you paid for Behind Subscription[…]

Yet another problem with recycling: It spews microplastics

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] an alarming new study has found that even when plastic makes it to a recycling center, it can still end up splintering into smaller bits that contaminate the air and water. This pilot study focused on a single new facility where plastics are sorted, shredded, and melted down into pellets. Along the way, the Read more about Yet another problem with recycling: It spews microplastics[…]

Finnish newspaper hides Ukraine news reports for Russians in online game

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A Finnish newspaper is circumventing Russian media restrictions by hiding news reports about the war in Ukraine in an online game popular among Russian gamers. “While Helsingin Sanomat and other foreign independent media are blocked in Russia, online games have not been banned so far,” said Antero Mukka, the editor-in-chief of Helsingin Sanomat. The newspaper Read more about Finnish newspaper hides Ukraine news reports for Russians in online game[…]

Microsoft is forcing Outlook and Teams to open links in Edge, ignore OS default browser settings

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Microsoft Edge is a good browser but for some reason Microsoft keeps trying to shove it down everyone’s throat and make it more difficult to use rivals like Chrome or Firefox. Microsoft has now started notifying IT admins that it will force Outlook and Teams to ignore the default web browser on Windows and open Read more about Microsoft is forcing Outlook and Teams to open links in Edge, ignore OS default browser settings[…]

Researchers See Through a Mouse’s Eyes by Decoding Brain Signals

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] a team of researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) successfully developed a machine-learning algorithm that can decode a mouse’s brain signals and reproduce images of what it’s seeing. […] The mice were shown a black and white movie clip from the 1960s of a man running to a car and then Read more about Researchers See Through a Mouse’s Eyes by Decoding Brain Signals[…]

Liquid Neural Networks use Neuron design to compute effectively using smaller models

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[Ramin Hasani] and colleague [Mathias Lechner] have been working with a new type of Artificial Neural Network called Liquid Neural Networks, and presented some of the exciting results at a recent TEDxMIT. Liquid neural networks are inspired by biological neurons to implement algorithms that remain adaptable even after training. [Hasani] demonstrates a machine vision system Read more about Liquid Neural Networks use Neuron design to compute effectively using smaller models[…]

How AI Bots Code: Comparing Bing, Claude+, Co-Pilot, GPT-4 and Bard

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] In this article, we will compare four of the most advanced AI bots: GPT-4, Bing, Claude+, Bard, and GitHub Co-Pilot. We will examine how they work, their strengths and weaknesses, and how they compare to each other. Testing the AI Bots for Coding Before we dive into comparing these four AI bots, it’s essential Read more about How AI Bots Code: Comparing Bing, Claude+, Co-Pilot, GPT-4 and Bard[…]

OpenAI Threatens Popular GitHub Project With Lawsuit Over API Use

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Anyone can use ChatGPT for free, but if you want to use GPT4, the latest language model, you have to either pay for ChatGPT Plus, pay for access to OpenAI’s API, or find another site that has incorporated GPT4 into its own free chatbot. There are sites that use OpenAI such as Forefront (opens in Read more about OpenAI Threatens Popular GitHub Project With Lawsuit Over API Use[…]

OpenAI: ChatGPT back in Italy after meeting watchdog demands – well, cosmetically at any rate

Posted on by Robin Edgar

ChatGPT’s maker said Friday April 28, 2023 that the artificial intelligence chatbot is available again in Italy after the company met the demands of regulators who temporarily blocked it over privacy concerns. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File) ChatGPT’s maker said Friday that the artificial intelligence chatbot is available again in Italy after the company met the Read more about OpenAI: ChatGPT back in Italy after meeting watchdog demands – well, cosmetically at any rate[…]

Bungie Somehow Wins $12 Million In Destiny 2 Anti-Cheat Lawsuit

Posted on by Robin Edgar

As Bungie continues on its warpath against Destiny 2 cheaters, the studio has won $12 million in the lawsuit against Romanian cheat seller Mihai Claudiu-Florentin that began back in 2021. Claudiu-Florentin sold cheat software at VeteranCheats, which allowed users to get an edge over other players with software that could do things like tweak their Read more about Bungie Somehow Wins $12 Million In Destiny 2 Anti-Cheat Lawsuit[…]