The Linkielist

Linking ideas with the world

‘Vulkan files’ leak reveals Putin’s global and domestic cyberwarfare tactics

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] The software engineers behind these systems are employees of NTC Vulkan. On the surface, it looks like a run-of-the-mill cybersecurity consultancy. However, a leak of secret files from the company has exposed its work bolstering Vladimir Putin’s cyberwarfare capabilities. Thousands of pages of secret documents reveal how Vulkan’s engineers have worked for Russian military Read more about ‘Vulkan files’ leak reveals Putin’s global and domestic cyberwarfare tactics[…]

OpenAI may have to halt ChatGPT releases following FTC complaint by idiots who think you’re a bigger idiot than them

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A public challenge could put a temporary stop to the deployment of ChatGPT and similar AI systems. The nonprofit research organization Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP) has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that OpenAI is violating the FTC Act through its releases of large language AI models like Read more about OpenAI may have to halt ChatGPT releases following FTC complaint by idiots who think you’re a bigger idiot than them[…]

Virgin Orbit officially shutters its space launch operations

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Virgin Orbit’s days of slinging satellites into space aboard aircraft-launched rockets have come to an end Thursday. After six years in business, Virgin’s satellite launch subsidiary has announced via SEC filing that it does not have the funding to continue operations and will be shuttering for “the foreseeable future,” per CNBC. Nearly 90 percent of Read more about Virgin Orbit officially shutters its space launch operations[…]

Integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT-4: Socket’s story with code vulnerability scanning (it works very well)

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Several months ago, Socket, which makes a freemium security scanner for JavaScript and Python projects, connected OpenAI’s ChatGPT model (and more recently its GPT-4 model) to its internal threat feed. The results, according to CEO Feross Aboukhadijeh, were surprisingly good. “It worked way better than expected,” he told The Register in an email. “Now I’m Read more about Integrating OpenAI’s ChatGPT and GPT-4: Socket’s story with code vulnerability scanning (it works very well)[…]

Stressed plants emit airborne sounds that can be detected from more than a meter away

Posted on by Robin Edgar

What does a stressed plant sound like? A bit like bubble-wrap being popped. Researchers in Israel report in the journal Cell on March 30 that tomato and tobacco plants that are stressed—from dehydration or having their stems severed—emit sounds that are comparable in volume to normal human conversation. The frequency of these noises is too Read more about Stressed plants emit airborne sounds that can be detected from more than a meter away[…]

‘Pausing AI Developments Isn’t Enough. We Need To Shut It All Down’ say AI experts who struggling to keep up with the pace of development (and need some time to catch up with the leaders)

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Earlier today, more than 1,100 artificial intelligence experts, industry leaders and researchers signed a petition calling on AI developers to stop training models more powerful than OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 for at least six months. Among those who refrained from signing it was Eliezer Yudkowsky, a decision theorist from the U.S. and lead researcher at the Machine Read more about ‘Pausing AI Developments Isn’t Enough. We Need To Shut It All Down’ say AI experts who struggling to keep up with the pace of development (and need some time to catch up with the leaders)[…]

Microsoft’s new Security Copilot will help network admins respond to threats in minutes, not day

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] with Microsoft’s unveiling of the new Security Copilot AI at its inaugural Microsoft Secure event. The automated enterprise-grade security system is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, runs on the Azure infrastructure and promises admins the ability “to move at the speed and scale of AI.” Security Copilot is similar to the large language model (LLM) Read more about Microsoft’s new Security Copilot will help network admins respond to threats in minutes, not day[…]

Inaudible ultrasound attack can stealthily control your phone, smart speaker

Posted on by Robin Edgar

American university researchers have developed a novel attack called “Near-Ultrasound Inaudible Trojan” (NUIT) that can launch silent attacks against devices powered by voice assistants, like smartphones, smart speakers, and other IoTs. The team of researchers consists of professor Guenevere Chen of the University of Texas in San Antonio (UTSA), her doctoral student Qi Xia, and Read more about Inaudible ultrasound attack can stealthily control your phone, smart speaker[…]

Meatball from long-extinct mammoth created by food firm

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A mammoth meatball has been created by a cultivated meat company, resurrecting the flesh of the long-extinct animals. The project aims to demonstrate the potential of meat grown from cells, without the slaughter of animals, and to highlight the link between large-scale livestock production and the destruction of wildlife and the climate crisis. The mammoth Read more about Meatball from long-extinct mammoth created by food firm[…]

Italian art experts (and rest of world) astonished by David statue uproar in Florida

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The Florence museum that houses Michelangelo’s statue of David has invited teachers and students from a Florida school to visit, after an uproar over an art lesson. The school’s principal quit after a complaint about a sixth-grade art class that included an image of the statue. A parent had complained the image was pornographic. Cecilie Read more about Italian art experts (and rest of world) astonished by David statue uproar in Florida[…]

ChatGPT Retrieval plugin allows you to embed and store memory of your chats and other knowledge bases

Posted on by Robin Edgar

This is a plugin for ChatGPT that enables semantic search and retrieval of personal or organizational documents. It allows users to obtain the most relevant document snippets from their data sources, such as files, notes, or emails, by asking questions or expressing needs in natural language. Enterprises can make their internal documents available to their Read more about ChatGPT Retrieval plugin allows you to embed and store memory of your chats and other knowledge bases[…]

‘A Blow for Libraries’: Internet Archive Loses Copyright Infringement Lawsuit by money grubbing publishers

Posted on by Robin Edgar

A judge ruled against Internet Archive, a free online digital library, on Friday in a lawsuit filed by four top publishers who claimed the company was in violation of copyright laws. The publishers, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House filed the lawsuit against Internet Archive in 2020, claiming the Read more about ‘A Blow for Libraries’: Internet Archive Loses Copyright Infringement Lawsuit by money grubbing publishers[…]

Apple acquired a startup using AI to compress videos

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Apple has quietly acquired a Mountain View-based startup, WaveOne, that was developing AI algorithms for compressing video. Apple wouldn’t confirm the sale when asked for comment. But WaveOne’s website was shut down around January, and several former employees, including one of WaveOne’s co-founders, now work within Apple’s various machine learning groups. WaveOne’s former head of Read more about Apple acquired a startup using AI to compress videos[…]

Nike Blocks F1 Champ Max Verstappen’s ‘Max 1’ Clothing Brand because they can own words now

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] Nike’s argument is that Max 1 is too similar to its longtime “Air Max” shoe line, including other “Max Force 1” products and other variations that include similar keywords. Verstappen had named his line of products after himself and his current racing number but encountered legal trouble soon after launch. The Benelux Office for Read more about Nike Blocks F1 Champ Max Verstappen’s ‘Max 1’ Clothing Brand because they can own words now[…]

U.S. Political Party Preferences Shifted Greatly During 2021

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…]The general stability for the full-year average obscures a dramatic shift over the course of 2021, from a nine-percentage-point Democratic advantage in the first quarter to a rare five-point Republican edge in the fourth quarter. Line graph. Quarterly averages of U.S. party identification and leaning in 2021. In the first quarter of 2021, 49% of Read more about U.S. Political Party Preferences Shifted Greatly During 2021[…]

Small subgroups of the population seem much larger to many Americans and they think Large groups are smaller than they really are

Posted on by Robin Edgar

When it comes to estimating the size of demographic groups, Americans rarely get it right. In two recent YouGov polls, we asked respondents to guess the percentage (ranging from 0% to 100%) of American adults who are members of 43 different groups,[…] When people’s average perceptions of group sizes are compared to actual population estimates, Read more about Small subgroups of the population seem much larger to many Americans and they think Large groups are smaller than they really are[…]

New Zealand’s Dawn Aerospace Mk-II Aurora Space drone Approved for Suborbital Test Flights

Posted on by Robin Edgar

Dawn Aerospace CEO Stefan Powell announced today that the company’s Mk-II Aurora spaceplane has received approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand for rocket-powered flight. The company is now ready to test the vehicle’s rocket engines with flights beginning next month. The Mk-II Aurora is a remotely piloted spaceplane that could eventually take Read more about New Zealand’s Dawn Aerospace Mk-II Aurora Space drone Approved for Suborbital Test Flights[…]

GitHub.com rotates its exposed private SSH key

Posted on by Robin Edgar

GitHub has rotated its private SSH key for GitHub.com after the secret was was accidentally published in a public GitHub repository. The software development and version control service says, the private RSA key was only “briefly” exposed, but that it took action out of “an abundance of caution.” Unclear window of exposure In a succinct blog post published today, GitHub acknowledged discovering this Read more about GitHub.com rotates its exposed private SSH key[…]

Nordic Air Defense Pact Combines Forces Of Hundreds Of Fighter Aircraft

Posted on by Robin Edgar

To better cope with threats emanating from Russia, the countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden have created a unified Nordic air defense alliance, pooling the resources of their air forces. They have upwards of 300 fighter jets between them as well as training, transport and surveillance fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Those four nations on Read more about Nordic Air Defense Pact Combines Forces Of Hundreds Of Fighter Aircraft[…]

Gen-2 by Runway text to Video AI

Posted on by Robin Edgar

No lights. No camera. All action.Realistically and consistently synthesize new videos. Either by applying the composition and style of an image or text prompt to the structure of a source video (Video to Video). Or, using nothing but words (Text to Video). It’s like filming something new, without filming anything at all. Visit the page Read more about Gen-2 by Runway text to Video AI[…]

GitHub Copilot now integrates way better into Visual Studio (?=.* Code)

Posted on by Robin Edgar

[…] Introduced last summer after a year-long technical trial, Copilot offers coding suggestions, though not always good ones, to developers using GitHub with supported text editors and IDEs, like Visual Studio Code. As of last month, according to GitHub, Copilot had a hand in 46 percent of the code being created on Microsoft’s cloud repo Read more about GitHub Copilot now integrates way better into Visual Studio (?=.* Code)[…]

EU right to repair law could see fixes for up to 10 years for more goods, still offers ways out though

Posted on by Robin Edgar

The European Commission has adopted a new set of right to repair rules that, among other things, will add electronic devices like smartphones and tablets to a list of goods that must be built with repairability in mind. The new rules [PDF] will need to be need to be negotiated between the European Parliament and Read more about EU right to repair law could see fixes for up to 10 years for more goods, still offers ways out though[…]