The US company v-Fluence secretly compiled profiles on over 500 food and environmental health advocates, scientists, and politicians in a private web portal to discredit critics of pesticides and GM crops. Following public backlash and corporate cancellations after its actions were revealed by the Guardian, the company announced it was shutting down the profiling service. The Guardian reports: The profiles -- part of an effort that was financed, in part, by US taxpayer dollars -- often provided derogatory information about the industry opponents and included home addresses and phone numbers and details about family members, including children. They were provided to members of an invite-only web portal where v-Fluence also offered a range of other information to its roster of more than 1,000 members. The membership included staffers of US regulatory and policy agencies, executives from the world's largest agrochemical companies and their lobbyists, academics and others. The profiling was one element of a push to downplay pesticide dangers, discredit opponents and undermine international policymaking, according to court records, emails and other documents obtained by the non-profit newsroom Lighthouse Reports. Lighthouse collaborated with the Guardian, the New Lede, Le Monde, Africa Uncensored, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and other international media partners on the September 2024 publication of the investigation. News of the profiling and the private web portal sparked outrage and threats of litigation by some of the people and organizations profiled. [...] v-Fluence says it not only has eliminated the profiling, but also has made "significant staff cuts" after the public exposure, according to Jay Byrne, the former Monsanto public relations executive who founded and heads the company. Byrne blamed the company's struggles on "rising costs from continued litigator and activist harassment of our staff, partners, and clients with threats and misrepresentations." He said the articles published about the company's profiling and private web portal were part of a "smear campaign" which was based on "false and misleading misrepresentations" that were "not supported by any facts or evidence." Adding to the company's troubles, several corporate backers and industry organizations have cancelled contracts with v-Fluence, according a post in a publication for agriculture professionals.

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As the saying goes, there are only two hard problems in computer science: naming things, cache invalidations, and off by one errors. Chris's predecessor decided to tackle the second one, mostly by accurately(?) naming a class:

class SimpleCache { }

This is, in fact, the simplest cache class I can imagine. Arguably, it's a bit too simple.

Instances of this class abound in code, though no one is entirely sure why. Future optimization? Just no one understanding what they're doing? Oh right, it's that one. It's always no one understanding what they're doing.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Times: BMW has pledged to continue investing in combustion engine and hybrid technology as it warned of a "rollercoaster ride" in the US transition to electric vehicles following the return of Donald Trump as president. Board member Jochen Goller said the group remained optimistic about sales of petrol and plug-in hybrids in the US even if demand for EVs slowed over the next few years on the back of policy changes under the new administration. "I think it would be naive to believe that the move towards electrification is a one-way road. It will be a rollercoaster ride," Goller, who is in charge of customer, brands, and sales, told the Financial Times at BMW's headquarters in Munich. "This is why we are investing in our combustion engines," he said. "We are investing in modern plug-in hybrids. And we will continue rolling out electric cars." BMW faces significant challenges in the Chinese market, with a 13% decline in sales amid intensifying price competition and growing dominance of domestic brands. Analysts note that while the company still sees China as a growing market, pricing pressures and an overcrowded automotive sector pose ongoing risks to BMW's long-term positioning. It'll likely become even more difficult for BMW and other automotive companies to gain market share in the Chinese market with BYD's latest announcement. The Chinese automaker said it will be offering its advanced "God's Eye" autonomous technology in mass-market EVs like the $9,500 Seagull, while expanding globally with government-based EV initiatives.

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Connecticut's highest-ranking state legislator has proposed a bill requiring movie theaters to disclose both preview and feature film start times, setting up a clash with theater operators who say the measure threatens their advertising revenue. Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney's proposal aims to prevent moviegoers from sitting through up to 30 minutes of advertisements and trailers before features begin. The Democrat cited complaints from constituents about lengthy pre-show delays. Theater owners are pushing back, local outlet RegisterCitizen reports, with Avon Theatre's executive director Peter Gistelinck warning the measure could undermine their financial stability.

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Chinese automaker BYD is offering its advanced "God's Eye" autonomous technology in mass-market EVs like the $9,500 Seagull, while expanding globally with government-backed EV initiatives. Gizmodo reports: Previously, BYD had limited its driver assistance features to higher-end models that cost more than $28,000, according to BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu. In expanding the technology to the Seagull and other cars for no extra charge, Chuanfu said "good technology should be available to everyone." Other BYD vehicles getting the addition of the technology including cars from its Ocean, Han, Song, and Yuan lineups, as well as its hybrid vehicles. "God's Eye was developed in-house by BYD and will equip the automaker's mass-market models with features commonly only found on upscale EVs such as remote parking via smartphones and autonomous overtaking on roads," the company said. BYD says the level of autonomy present in each car will vary depending on which sensors are equipped in the cars. Some of its pricier cars, for instance, include LiDAR sensors like those found in Waymos, which can offer faster and more precise object detection than cameras alone, particularly in low-light conditions or when a roadway is obstructed by rain or fog. [...] China's government has heavily prioritized the transition to electric vehicles with strong incentives, and BYD has managed to turn a profit on its electric vehicles, a feat that has heretofore only been accomplished by Tesla. The importance to China is clear: As the world continues transitioning to EVs, the likes of BYD have been able to push into markets including Europe and South America as Western brands lose share.

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"In-dash advertising is here and Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, and Ram, beat everyone to further enshittification," writes longtime Slashdot reader sinij. "Ads can be seen in this video." From a report: In a move that has left drivers both frustrated and bewildered, Stellantis has introduced full-screen pop-up ads on its infotainment systems. Specifically, Jeep owners have reported being bombarded with advertisements for Mopar's extended warranty service. The kicker? These ads appear every time the vehicle comes to a stop. Imagine pulling up to a red light, checking your GPS for directions, and suddenly, the entire screen is hijacked by an ad. That's the reality for some Stellantis owners. Instead of seamless functionality, drivers are now forced to manually close out of ads just to access basic vehicle functions. One Jeep 4xe owner recently shared their frustration on an online forum, detailing how these pop-ups disrupt the driving experience. Stellantis, responding through their "JeepCares" representative, confirmed that these ads are part of the contractual agreement with SiriusXM and suggested that users simply tap the "X" to dismiss them. While the company claims to be working on reducing the frequency of these interruptions, the damage to customer trust may already be done.

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With TikTok's U.S. ban temporarily paused, the company is encouraging Android users to sideload its app by downloading it directly from TikTok.com as an APK file, bypassing the Google Play Store. TechCrunch reports: The Android app download is being made available as an Android Package Kit, more commonly known as an APK file, which contains the app's code, assets, and other resources that TikTok needs to run. By offering a standalone download, TikTok can at least temporarily skirt the current app store ban, which still prevents both Google Play and Apple's App Store from hosting the app while the ban's enforcement remains paused.

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Brave Browser version 1.75 introduces "custom scriptlets," a new feature that allows advanced users to inject their own JavaScript into websites for enhanced customization, privacy, and usability. The feature is similar to the TamperMonkey and GreaseMonkey browser extensions, notes BleepingComputer. From the report: "Starting with desktop version 1.75, advanced Brave users will be able to write and inject their own scriptlets into a page, allowing for better control over their browsing experience," explained Brave in the announcement. Brave says that the feature was initially created to debug the browser's adblock feature but felt it was too valuable not to share with users. Brave's custom scriptlets feature can be used to modify webpages for a wide variety of privacy, security, and usability purposes. For privacy-related changes, users write scripts that block JavaScript-based trackers, randomize fingerprinting APIs, and substitute Google Analytics scripts with a dummy version. In terms of customization and accessibility, the scriptlets could be used for hiding sidebars, pop-ups, floating ads, or annoying widgets, force dark mode even on sites that don't support it, expand content areas, force infinite scrolling, adjust text colors and font size, and auto-expand hidden content. For performance and usability, the scriptlets can block video autoplay, lazy-load images, auto-fill forms with predefined data, enable custom keyboard shortcuts, bypass right-click restrictions, and automatically click confirmation dialogs. The possible actions achievable by injected JavaScript snippets are virtually endless. However, caution is advised, as running untrusted custom scriptlets may cause issues or even introduce some risk.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Two owners of Nvidia's new RTX 5090 Founders Edition GPUs have reported melted power connectors and damage to their PSUs. The images look identical to reports of RTX 4090 power cables burning or melting from two years ago. Nvidia blamed the issue on people not properly plugging the 12VHPWR power connection in fully and the PCI standards body blamed Nvidia. A Reddit poster upgraded from an RTX 4090 to an RTX 5090 and noticed "a burning smell playing Battlefield 5," before turning off their PC and finding the damage. The images show burnt plastic at both the PSU end of the power connector and the part that connects directly to the GPU. The cable is one from MODDIY, a popular manufacturer of custom cables, and the poster claims it was "securely fastened and clicked on both sides (GPU and PSU)." While it's tempting to blame the MODDIY cable, Spanish YouTuber Toro Tocho has experienced the same burnt cable (both at the GPU and PSU ends) with an RTX 5090 Founders Edition while using a cable supplied by PSU manufacturer FSP. Plastic has also melted into the PCIe 5.0 power connector on the power supply.

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According to consultancy firm Janco, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reclassified several job titles, "leading to a downward adjustment of over 111,000 positions for November and December 2024," The Register reports. This revision contributed to an overall decline of 123,000 IT jobs for the year. However, in reality, IT sector hiring is on the rise, with 11,000 new positions added in January. From the report: "Many CEOs have given CFOs and CIOs the green light to hire IT Pros," Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis said of the first month of 2025. "IT Pros who were unemployed last month found jobs more quickly than was anticipated as CIOs rushed to fill open positions." There's still a 5.7 percent unemployment rate in the IT sector in January, Janco noted, which is greater than the national average of 4 percent - and which could rise further as Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) pushes ahead with federal workforce reductions aimed at streamlining operations. "Over the past several quarters much of the overall job growth was in the government sectors of the economy," Janulaitis said. "With the new administration that will in all probability not be the case in the future. "The impact of the DOGE initiatives has not been felt as of yet," Janulaitis added. "Economic uncertainty continues to hurt overall IT hiring." Despite this, Janco reported an addition of 11,000 new IT roles in January. Unfortunately, there's also been a surge in IT unemployment over the same period, with the number of jobless IT pros rising to 152,000 in January - an increase of 54,000 in a single month. [...] Closing out the report, Janco offered a mixed outlook: While IT jobs are expected to grow over the next few years, many white-collar roles could be eliminated. "Over the next five years, the number of individuals employed as IT professionals will increase while many white-collar jobs in the function will be eliminated with the application of AI and LLM to IT," Janco predicted.

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Apple has released emergency security updates for iOS 18.3.1 and iPadOS 18.3.1 to patch a zero-day vulnerability (CVE-2025-24200) that was exploited in "extremely sophisticated," targeted attacks. The flaw, which allowed a physical attack to disable USB Restricted Mode on locked devices, was discovered by Citizen Lab and may have been used in spyware campaigns; users are strongly advised to install the update immediately. BleepingComputer reports: USB Restricted Mode is a security feature (introduced almost seven years ago in iOS 11.4.1) that blocks USB accessories from creating a data connection if the device has been locked for over an hour. This feature is designed to block forensic software like Graykey and Cellebrite (commonly used by law enforcement) from extracting data from locked iOS devices. In November, Apple introduced another security feature (dubbed "inactivity reboot") that automatically restarts iPhones after long idle times to re-encrypt data and make it harder to extract by forensic software. The zero-day vulnerability (tracked as CVE-2025-24200 and reported by Citizen Lab's Bill Marczak) patched today by Apple is an authorization issue addressed in iOS 18.3.1 and iPadOS 18.3.1 with improved state management. The list of devices this zero-day impacts includes: - iPhone XS and later, - iPad Pro 13-inch, iPad Pro 12.9-inch 3rd generation and later, iPad Pro 11-inch 1st generation and later, iPad Air 3rd generation and later, iPad 7th generation and later, and iPad mini 5th generation and later

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from CBS News: Animal shelters, rescues, and veterinarian clinics around the U.S. are posting on social media telling pet owners to check their four-legged friends' microchips after learning a major microchip company [called Save This Life] is no longer providing services. [...] If you're unsure which company your cats or dogs' chips are registered with, check them. "You can go to your local veterinarian office, a local police station, or even a local animal shelter like HARP, and we can help check that for you and scan your animal. And then you take that number that's on there and there's a tool online where you can go look it up," [said Dan Cody, Executive Director of Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh]. He said you check the number by using the AAHA Universal Microchip Lookup Tool at this link. If you discover your pet's microchip was registered to the company that's ceased operations, you'll need to register with a different company. "So, if you find that you are affected by this, you're going to want to go to one of these other websites that do the registrations. So, things like AKC Reunite, and PetLink. 24PetWatch these are all large companies who've been around for a long time and have good reputations," said Cody. The American Kennel Club shared a post from its AKC Reunite Facebook page, encouraging people to enroll in microchips with AKC Reunite. The post said in part, "If your dog or cat has a microchip number that starts with 991 or 900164 then it could be a Save This Life microchip. Save This Life suddenly closed, and your pet may not be protected." Cody said if your furry best friend isn't microchipped, take them to a vet or shelter like HARP to get one implanted under their skin so they have a permanent ID. Microchipping can be done at HARP's East Side and North Side Veterinary Medical Center by appointment.

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An anonymous reader shares a report: Microsoft has offered to widen the price differential between its Office product sold with its chat and video app Teams and its software sold without the app in a bid to avert a possible EU antitrust fine, according to three sources. The move by the U.S. tech giant comes five years after Salesforce-owned Slack complained to the European Commission about Microsoft's tying of Teams with Office. In 2023, German rival alfaview filed a similar grievance to the EU watchdog. Teams, which was added to Office 365 in 2017 for free and eventually replaced Skype for Business, became popular during the pandemic due in part to its video conferencing.

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An anonymous reader shares a report: For a man who's spent his career battling to make France more pro-business, Europe's prospects on AI are worrying: an oversight that could cost the bloc dearly. "We are not in the race today," French President Emmanuel Macron told CNN's Richard Quest in an exclusive interview at the Elysee Palace on Thursday. "We are lagging behind." "We need an AI agenda," he said, "because we have to bridge the gap with the United States and China on AI." The French leader added that he fears Europe becoming merely an AI consumer, losing control over the future direction and development of the technology. That's part of the impetus behind this week's AI summit in Paris -- the latest effort by Macron to put France at the heart of the debate and decision-making on international questions of the day. Earlier today, Macron announced investment pledges to bolster France's AI sector totalling $112 billion over the coming years.

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An anonymous reader shares a report: A new paper [PDF] from researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University finds that as humans increasingly rely on generative AI in their work, they use less critical thinking, which can "result in the deterioration of cognitive faculties that ought to be preserved." "[A] key irony of automation is that by mechanising routine tasks and leaving exception-handling to the human user, you deprive the user of the routine opportunities to practice their judgement and strengthen their cognitive musculature, leaving them atrophied and unprepared when the exceptions do arise," the researchers wrote.

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AmiMoJo writes: A computer expert who has battled for a decade to recover a $743 million bitcoin fortune he believes is buried in a council dump in south Wales is considering buying the site so he can hunt for the missing fortune. James Howells lost a high court case last month to force Newport city council to allow him to search the tip to retrieve a hard drive he says contains the bitcoins. The council has since announced plans to close and cap the site, which would almost certainly spell the end of any lingering hopes of reaching the bitcoins. The authority has secured planning permission for a solar farm on part of the land. Howells, 39, said on Monday it had been "quite a surprise" to hear of the closure plan. He said: "It [the council] claimed at the high court that closing the landfill to allow me to search would have a huge detrimental impact on the people of Newport, whilst at the same time they were planning to close the landfill anyway. I expected it would be closed in the coming years because itâ(TM)s 80/90% full -- but didnâ(TM)t expect its closure so soon. If Newport city council would be willing, I would potentially be interested in purchasing the landfill site âas isâ(TM) and have discussed this option with investment partners and it is something that is very much on the table."

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Lyft says it will launch a fleet of robotaxis, using self-driving technology from Intel's Mobileye, in Dallas in "as soon as 2026," with plans to scale to "thousands" of vehicles in additional markets in the months to follow. From a report: To signal its seriousness, the company tapped Marubeni, a Japanese conglomerate, to run fleet operations. Lyft's news comes after Uber dropped new details about its plan to feature Waymo's robotaxis on its platform in Austin and Atlanta later this year. And Tesla recently shared plans to launch a robotaxi service in Austin this summer.

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OpenAI is pushing ahead on its plan to reduce its reliance on Nvidia for its chip supply by developing its first generation of in-house AI silicon. From a report: The ChatGPT maker is finalizing the design for its first in-house chip in the next few months and plans to send it for fabrication at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, sources told Reuters. The process of sending a first design through a chip factory is called "taping out." The update shows that OpenAI is on track to meet its ambitious goal of mass production at TSMC in 2026. A typical tape-out costs tens of millions of dollars and will take roughly six months to produce a finished chip, unless OpenAI pays substantially more for expedited manufacturing. There is no guarantee the silicon will function on the first tape out and a failure would require the company to diagnose the problem and repeat the tape-out step. Inside OpenAI, the training-focused chip is viewed as a strategic tool to strengthen OpenAI's negotiating leverage with other chip suppliers, the sources said.

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Europe's Euclid space telescope has captured a rare "Einstein ring," showing light from a distant galaxy bent into a perfect circle by the gravity of another galaxy sitting between Earth and the source, the European Space Agency said. The phenomenon, spotted around galaxy NGC 6505 some 590 million light-years from Earth, reveals the warping of space predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity. The background galaxy, located 4.42 billion light-years away, appears as a complete ring of light around NGC 6505. "An Einstein ring as perfect as this is extremely rare," said Open University astronomer Stephen Serjeant. Analysis shows NGC 6505 contains about 11% dark matter, a key focus of Euclid's mission to map the universe.

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Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis downplayed the technological significance of DeepSeek's latest AI model, despite its market impact. "Despite the hype, there's no actual new scientific advance there. It's using known techniques," Hassabis said on Sunday. "Actually many of the techniques we invented at Google and at DeepMind." Hassabis acknowledged that Deepseek's AI model "is probably the best work" out of China, but its capabilities, he said, is "exaggerated a little bit."DeepSeek's launch last month triggered a $1 trillion U.S. market sell-off.

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