All posts tagged: Cracking

China Is Cracking Down on Scams. Just Not the Ones Hitting Americans

China Is Cracking Down on Scams. Just Not the Ones Hitting Americans

Published by skeptic

Governments around the world have been struggling to address the rise of industrial-scale scamming operations based in countries like Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia that have cost victims billions of dollars over the past few years. The operations often have ties to Chinese organized crime, use forced labor to carry out the actual scamming, and rely on vast money laundering networks to collect a profit. They have become so widespread and ingrained in the region that even major international law enforcement collaborations targeting individual scam centers or kingpins haven’t been able to stem the tide. The FBI said this week that “cyber-enabled” scam complaints from Americans totaled more than $17.7 billion in reported losses last year—likely a major undercount of the real total, given that many victims don’t report their experiences. Some US officials say that a major barrier to comprehensively addressing the issue is the lack of collaboration with Chinese authorities. China’s efforts to address industrial scamming, they argue, appear aimed at reducing the number of Chinese citizens being impacted rather than comprehensively stopping the …

China Cracking Down on the Types of AI That Are Tearing America Apart

China Cracking Down on the Types of AI That Are Tearing America Apart

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech The Cyberspace Administration of China is cracking down on “digital humans,” with incoming regulations that will soon require labeling of AI personalities and ban programs that could harm children or lead to addiction. Those draft regulations, first reported in English by Reuters, would force AI companies to affix prominent “digital human” labels on content featuring AI generated characters. They’d also restrict companies that provide “virtual intimate relationships” with AI from plying their services to anyone under the age of 18. The restrictions would also crack down on AI deepfakes, and specifically content mimicking actual people, China’s Xinhua noted. Under the new regulations, no individual or organization will be allowed to generate facsimiles of other people without their consent. “Anyone who violates the provisions of these measures shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of laws and administrative regulations, and shall bear civil liability in accordance with the law,” the proposed legislations declare. Before the regulations becomes official, …

Get cracking! | Radio Times

Get cracking! | Radio Times

Published by Daniella Wilson

Add Taskmaster to your watchlist It’s almost April, and “Little” Alex Horne has turned up at the Radio Times office with a wax-sealed task, four gold envelopes and a “special” six-pack of eggs. Happy Easter! To celebrate Taskmaster’s 21st series, which begins on Channel 4 on Thursday, just a few days after the Easter weekend, Horne has agreed to create an exclusive seasonal task for RT. To make it even more authentic, we’ve invited two of this year’s contestants – satirist/director Armando Iannucci and comedian and presenter Joel Dommett – to try it out. We’ve even managed to bring in an official trophy of Taskmaster Greg Davies wearing bunny ears for the winner. An “Easter Greg”, if you will. “This is an Easter task, which I had to come up with very quickly,” Horne tells RT. “I do have to come up with tasks all the time – I get asked quite often by hen nights and stag dos and schoolteachers. I have a little list of things that might work for different occasions.” Essentially, …

Android is finally cracking down on battery drain—and apps that don’t fix it will pay the price

Android is finally cracking down on battery drain—and apps that don’t fix it will pay the price

Published by skeptic

It happens to all of us: we get to the afternoon with a nearly dead phone and we have no idea why. Android battery drain is a real thing, and it’s been a top Android complaint for years. Apparently, Google has been listening, as it started laying down the law. As of March 1, the Google Play Store started rolling out what it calls “wake lock technical quality enforcement,” which basically means it will flag, warn, and de-prioritize anyone finding apps that kill your battery. Related 6 hidden Android settings that are quietly destroying your battery life Your Android battery may be dying faster than it should—and the culprit isn’t apps, but hidden system settings running quietly in the background. What’s a wake lock, and why does it matter? When your phone screen turns off, the CPU is supposed to lower its activity to conserve power. A wake lock prevents that from happening, keeping the processor running in the background even if you’re not using your phone. Think apps like Spotify (to keep the music …

The simple questions cracking the hard problem of consciousness

The simple questions cracking the hard problem of consciousness

Published by skeptic

A few years ago, I took a zombie test. I had flown to Madison, Wisconsin, to visit neuroscientist Giulio Tononi and learn about his much-debated theory of consciousness, integrated information theory. The most tangible outcome of Tononi’s work is a consciousness detector, which has been used to check whether unresponsive patients are wide awake inside. I sat in a dentist’s-type chair as two doctors wired up my scalp for electrical readings and then brought what looked like a garden hose and nozzle up to my head. They applied harmless magnetic pulses to my cranium. A conscious brain should electrically reverberate. If I were a philosophical zombie, pretending to be sentient but not actually having any interior life, my brain would thud like a cracked bell. After a couple of hours, the doctors gave me my test results: I was conscious. I was pretty sure of that already, and now the world has proof. But a yes-or-no measurement says nothing of the qualities that conscious experience has – the qualia, such as the delightful mushiness of …

The conservative woman cracking down on conservative women

The conservative woman cracking down on conservative women

Published by Sam Flores

With the SAVE America Act before the Senate, a bill that could radically transform elections, Cleta Mitchell is approaching the apex of her influence. At the same time, the “election integrity” movement that she has often spearheaded, fueled by years of conspiracy theories about widespread non-citizen voting, may be about to turn on its own base: conservative voters. Mitchell initially rose to prominence as a prominent denier of President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss, participating in efforts to overturn the results and acting as one of the attorneys who helped assemble the Republican legal strategy in their failed attempt to help Trump cling to power. Since then, Mitchell and other GOP activists have been organizing in the hopes of reshaping American elections in their image, most visibly via the SAVE America Act, which Trump and his allies have rallied behind, with Trump promising that the act would guarantee Republican victories for the next 50 years. Chioma Chukwu, the executive director of American Oversight, a watchdog group that has followed Mitchell closely since 2020, told Salon …

Ammonia cracking project advances hydrogen production in Europe

Ammonia cracking project advances hydrogen production in Europe

Published by skeptic

The COUPLE project is scaling ammonia cracking technology to boost clean hydrogen supply for industry and transport. Europe is moving closer to wider adoption of hydrogen as a low-carbon energy solution, with the COUPLE project demonstrating a major step forward in ammonia-based hydrogen production. The initiative aims to tackle key technical hurdles in transporting and storing hydrogen, particularly for sectors like heavy industry, maritime shipping, aviation, and long-haul transport. Hydrogen’s role and the storage challenge Hydrogen is central to decarbonising industries that are difficult to electrify. However, its small molecular size and low energy density make transport and storage complicated. Conventional pipelines can be damaged by hydrogen, while compressed or cryogenic storage adds cost and complexity. Ammonia has emerged as a promising medium for hydrogen transport. It can be handled using existing infrastructure, and chemical pathways to convert it to hydrogen are already established. This makes ammonia an attractive option for distributing hydrogen at scale. COUPLE: Scaling ammonia cracking The COUPLE project builds on previous research, particularly the EU-funded SINGLE project, which tested ammonia cracking …

This powerful forensic tool is cracking cold cases — but price tag is often an obstacle

This powerful forensic tool is cracking cold cases — but price tag is often an obstacle

Published by Sam Flores

When a homicide detective in California’s Central Valley last year reopened the investigation into the unsolved killing of a bakery owner, she turned to an increasingly popular forensic tool credited with helping solve hundreds of cases across the United States and Canada in recent years. The detective, Ashley Sanchez of the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, said she was confident she had evidence that could help identify a person whom she believes was involved in the gruesome 2010 death of Juanita Francisco, 49. But paying for the genetic genealogical work needed for that effort was not so straightforward, she said. In the end, it was funded not by local taxpayers or a state or federal grant, but by a crowdsourced fundraiser. Juanita’s Bakery in Bakersfield, Calif.Kern County Sheriff’s Office That unusual funding source reflects what experts say is the often grim financial reality for many seeking to use the technique, which surged in popularity after the arrest of the “Golden State Killer” eight years ago and has been used to solve more than 1,600 cases in …

Is cracking your knuckles really bad for them?

Is cracking your knuckles really bad for them?

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. It’s an age-old tale: A knuckle-cracking lover and hater enter a room. Then, a loud pop cuts through the silence. That’s hurting your knuckles, says the hater. No, it’s not, says the lover. Turns out, science says the knuckle cracker is right. Just like the myth that crossing your eyes will make them stay that way, warnings from parents, grandparents, and Great Aunt Mildred that cracking causes harm to knuckles remains an urban legend, says Dr. John Fernandez, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in hands, wrists, and elbows at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Here’s the science that backs that up.  Why cracking your knuckles got a bad reputation Fernandez has a suspicion about where the myth about knuckle cracking dangers emerged. He suspects Great Aunt Mildred and other critics had social etiquette on the mind when they warned against the practice. “It’s rude to make noises in public,” Fernandez says.  Indeed, most people don’t relish hearing (and smelling) other biological …

Resilience Of US Economy Showing “Signs Of Cracking” As US Services PMI Disappoints

Resilience Of US Economy Showing “Signs Of Cracking” As US Services PMI Disappoints

Published by Jenni Sidey

Following yesterday’s US Manufacturing ISM survey disappointment, this morning we get yet more soft survey data – this time a look at the Services sector via S&P Global. The final (December) US Services PMI data was a disappointment, printing 52.5 vs 52.9 expected… Source: Bloomberg While the print was a disappointment, it remains above 50 – expansion – but new business inflows rising to the weakest degree in over a year-and-a-half, growth of activity faltered and was the lowest since last April. Confidence in the outlook also weakened, whilst employment volumes stagnated, failing to rise for the first time since last February. The S&P Global US Composite PMI recorded 52.7 in December, down from 54.2 in the previous month. Business activity continued to expand in December, rounding off another quarter of robust growth, but as Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, points out, “the resilience of the US economy is showing signs of cracking.” “New business placed at services providers showed the smallest rise in some 20 months which, accompanied by the first …