In the News Archive
Some news is both sad and dystopian at the same time, and this is one of those cases. Moxie, a start-up selling $800 emotional support robots intended to help children is shutting down operations since it can’t find enough money, and since their robots require constant connectivity to servers to operate, all of the children’s robots will cease functioning within days. They’re not offering refunds, but they will send out a letter to help parents tell their children “in an age-appropriate way” that their lovable robot is going to die. If you have kids yourself, you know how easily they can sometimes get attached to the weirdest things, from fluffy stuffed animals designed to be cute, to random inanimate objects us adults would never consider to be even remotely interesting. I can definitely see how my own kids would be devastated if one of their favourite “emotional” toys were to suddenly stop working or disappear, and we don’t even have anything that pretends to have a personality or that actively interacts with our kids like this robot thing does. We can talk about how it’s insane that no refunds will be given, or how a company can just remotely kill a product like this without any repercussions, but most of all I’m just sad for the kids who use one and are truly attached to it, who now have to deal with their little friend going away. That’s just heartbreaking, and surely a sign of things to come as more and more companies start stuffing “AI” into their toys. The only thing I can say is that we as parents should think long and hard about what kind of toys we give our children, and that we should maybe try to avoid anything tied to a cloud service that can go away at any time.
The standard trope when talking about timezones is to rattle off falsehoods programmers believe about them. These lists are only somewhat enlightening – it’s really hard to figure out what truth is just from the contours of falsehood. So here’s an alternative approach. I’m gonna show you some weird timezones. In fact, the weirdest timezones. They’re each about as weird as timezones are allowed to get in some way. ↫ Ulysse Carion The reason why timezones are often weird is not only things like the shape of countries dictating where the actual timezones begin and end, but also because of politics. A lot of politics. The entirety of China runs on Beijing time, even though it covers five geographical timezones. Several islands in the Pacific were forced by their colonisers to run on insanely offset timezones because it made exploiting them easier. Time in Europe is political, too – countries like The Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Spain should really be in the same time zone as the UK, but adopted UTC+1 because it aligns better with the rest of mainland Europe. Although anything is better than whatever the hell Dutch Time was. Then there is, of course, daylight savings, which is a whole pointless nightmare in and of itself that should be abolished. Daylight savings rules and exceptions alone cover a ton of the oddities and difficulties with timezones, which is reason enough to get rid of it, aside from all the other possible issues, but a proposal to abolish it in the EU has sadly stalled.
One-third of payments to contractors training AI systems used by companies such as Amazon, Meta and Microsoft have not been paid on time after the Australian company Appen moved to a new worker management platform. Appen employs 1 million contractors who speak more than 500 languages and are based in 200 countries. They work to label photographs, text, audio and other data to improve AI systems used by the large tech companies and have been referred to as “ghost workers” – the unseen human labour involved in training systems people use every day. ↫ Josh Taylor at The Guardian It’s crazy that if you peel back the layers on top of a lot of tools and features sold to us as “artificial intelligence”, you’ll quite often find underpaid workers doing the labour technology companies are telling us are done by computers running machine learning algorithms. The fact that so many of them are either deeply underpaid or, as in this case, not even paid at all, while companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, and OpenAI are raking in ungodly amounts of profits, is deeply disturbing. It’s deeply immoral on so many levels, and just adds to the uncomfortable feeling people have with “AI”. Again I’d like to reiterate I’m not intrinsically opposed to the current crop of artificial intelligence tools – I just want these mega corporations to respect the rights of artists, and not use their works without permission to earn immense amounts of money. On top of that, I don’t think it should be legal for them to lie about how their tools really work under the hood, and the workers who really do the work claimed to be done by “AI” to be properly paid. Is any of that really too much to ask? Fix these issues, and I’ll stop putting quotation marks around “AI”.
Engineers at Google started work on a new Terminal app for Android a couple of weeks ago. This Terminal app is part of the Android Virtualization Framework (AVF) and contains a WebView that connects to a Linux virtual machine via a local IP address, allowing you to run Linux commands from the Android host. Initially, you had to manually enable this Terminal app using a shell command and then configure the Linux VM yourself. However, in recent days, Google began work on integrating the Terminal app into Android as well as turning it into an all-in-one app for running a Linux distro in a VM. ↫ Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority There already are a variety of ways to do this today, but having it as a supported feature implemented by Google is very welcome. This is also going to greatly increase the number of spammy articles and lazy YouTube videos telling you how to “run Ubuntu on your phone”, which I’m not particularly looking forward to.
A cart and payment process is a critical yet often overlooked part of the user journey that can make or break an ecommerce app. From the outset, cart design, user experience and flexible payment options should be at the top of the agenda for digital brands wanting to drive conversions. Understanding User Intent When users add items to their carts, they have shown a clear intent to purchase. To complete that transaction, the following checkout process needs to be as easy and seamless for them as possible. Higher abandonment rates occur due to unnecessary friction caused by a confusing interface, complicated payment flows, and the absence of preferred payment methods, among other things. Studies show that 76% of online shopping carts are eventually abandoned, and clunky checkout design is a big part of this. The cart and payment section is the last step in persuading users to buy. An optimized experience directly correlates with higher conversion rates and more revenue. Key Aspects to Optimize There are 3 key aspects of the cart and checkout process that need to be optimized for conversion-focused brands: 1. Cart Design and User Experience The cart should provide a simple, visual summary of items added for purchase along with quantity selected and total order value. Allowing users to easily edit item properties, apply discounts, and estimate shipping simplifies what can be an anxiety inducing process, especially on mobile. Advanced features like saved carts for returning users further facilitate purchases. Offering guest checkout alongside account creation streamlines the process for first-time customers. 2. Flexible Payment Options Research shows that cart abandonment is reduced on sites that offer preferred payment methods. The more payment modes you enable, the higher the chances that users will find an option they trust and feel comfortable with. Major credit cards, mobile wallets, Buy Now Pay Later schemes, bank transfers, and other must have options; location based popular payment methods like Sofort, iDeal if you are selling across geographies. PCI-compliant integration with payment gateways such as Stripe and PayPal unlocks multiple payment methods while additionally ensuring transaction and sensitive user data security. Discover how to add payment gateway in app to enhance the payment capabilities of your mobile app. 3. Testing and Optimization No cart experience is perfect out of the box. Running A/B tests by tweaking design elements, flows, payment options, etc., provides data-backed insights on what users respond best to. Tools like Hotjar record user sessions directly in your live cart which surfaces pain points that can then be fixed. Analytics dashboards reveal drop off rates at each step, average order values and other trends that indicate scope for improvement if benchmarked periodically. Examples of Brands with Great Cart Experiences Some standout examples of brands that ace the cart and payment process: 1. Made.com Made.com offers a clean, distraction free cart with focus on only relevant details like items added, shipping estimates, order total, discounts and gift cards applied. Purchasing without account creation can be done through their guest checkout and the option to save details for faster repeat orders. At checkout, there are multiple payment methods clearly presented, along with clear messaging around security and returns policy – both essential to gain user trust for a furniture brand. 2. Bolt.com Bolt presents users with a single-page visual cart that provides details of services (food, rides, etc.) along with associated quantities, pricing and taxes. Pre-added tips can be edited before seamlessly checking out via integrated payment partner Stripe. Discounts and promo codes can also be applied directly on this page. The cart is optimized for speed, which is in line with Bolt’s brand promise of efficient deliveries and payments. 3. Amazon Amazon offers the gold standard for guided cart experiences, with persistent visibility into items added for purchase, alerts on discounts and delivery estimates. Their patented one-click buying option removes friction, allowing power users to skip checkout. However, multiple payment methods, including COD and EMI schemes, make it accessible for first-time buyers, too. The entire purchase process is geared towards user convenience, distilled through decades of testing and user data. Designing a Cart Experience from Scratch Creating an effective cart experience requires understanding user psychology, buyer journeys, and an iterative design approach. Here is a step-by-step process to follow: 1. Define Goals and Outcomes First, define what a successful cart and checkout flow needs to achieve from a business point of view. Typical goals include: So that design choices align with business impact and tie these to overall revenue and growth goals. 2. Map the Existing User Journey Analyze data around existing user behavior across the checkout process, e.g.: The above can be gleaned from tools such as Google Analytics and Hotjar. 3. Competitor Benchmarking Look at how competitor brands within your industry offer study cart experiences. Find out what flows, or features appeal most to users. For example, they can provide guest checkout or Apple/Google Pay for mobility apps or BNPL options for D2C brands. The right cart design combines learnings from data and real-world behavior. 4. Create and Test Hypotheses Using what has been researched so far, imagine what cart element and flow changes could positively impact your goals, e.g. Once you’ve tested these hypotheses with real users through interviews or prototypes, roll them out globally. Tools like UserTesting.com can be used to do quick user studies to find feedback. Choosing the Right Payment Partner To allow flexible payment options, though, one must interface with a payment service provider. Here are key aspects to evaluate when choosing a payment partner: The partner should advocate consistent checkout integration among several platforms, including web, mobile apps, POS systems, etc. For businesses selling cross-border, the partner must offer payment acceptance using local methods in 100+ markets, multi-currency processing and DCC. Using 3D security, risk-based analysis, artificial intelligence, etc., payment partners guard transactions. You should choose a mate with advanced competence in this field. The partner should support integration with credit cards, the most popular mobile wallets, UPI, BNPL schemes and
It’s Apple operating system release day, so if you’re in the Apple ecosystem, it’s like Christmas morning, but for your devices. The two major platforms are, of course, iOS/iPadOS 18: iOS 18 adds new customization options for the Home Screen, with the option to arrange apps and widgets with open spaces and add new tints to app icons. Control Center has been entirely overhauled with support for multiple pages, third-party controls, and the option to put controls on the Lock Screen and activate them with the Action Button. ↫ Juli Clover at MacRumors And macOS 15: macOS Sequoia features iPhone Mirroring, which allows you to control and monitor your iPhone right from your Mac. You can use your iPhone’s apps and get your iPhone’s notifications all while your iPhone is tucked away and locked. Window tiling has been improved to make it easier to arrange multiple windows on your Mac’s display, and there are new keyboard and menu shortcuts for organizing your windows. In Safari, Highlights will now show you the information you want most from websites, and there’s a new Viewer mode for watching videos without distractions. ↫ Juli Clover at MacRumors It doesn’t stop there, though, as Apple also released watchOS 11, visionOS 2, tvOS 18, and the most import ant most hotly anticipated out of all of Apple’s platforms, HomePod Software 18. It’s genuinely kind of staggering how Apple manages to update all of these various platforms at the same time, each coming with a ton of new features and bugfixes, and ship them out to consumers – generally without any major issues or showstoppers. Especially in the case of iOS and macOS, that’s definitely a major difference with the Windows and Android worlds, where users are confronted with strict hardware requirements, lack of update availability altogether, or just stick with previous versions because the new versions contain tons of privacy or feature regressions. Do note that Apple’s AI/ML features announced during WWDC aren’t shipping yet, and that iPhone Mirroring is not available in the EU because someone told Tim Cook “no” and he threw a hissy fit.
In one of the more unique public proactive transparency record releases for the National Security Agency (NSA) to date, NSA has released a digital copy of a lecture that then-Capt. Grace Hopper gave agency employees on August 19, 1982. The lecture, “Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People,” features Capt. Hopper discussing some of the potential future challenges of protecting information. She also provided valuable insight on leadership and her experiences breaking barriers in the fields of computer science and mathematics. ↫ NSA press release Digital preservation is about more than just code – it’s also about invaluable content like this. It seems rather uncouth to spend only a few lines on who Grace Hopper really is, since it’s your duty to know already, and she deserves a hell of a lot more than a few lines. If you don’t yet know who she is, her Wikipedia page is a good place to start. The speech in question has an interesting history, in that the only medium on which it was stored were 1-inch AMPEX tapes. The speech was originally given to NSA employees, but not even the damn NSA had the ability to access the recordings of the speech, and had to call in the National Archives and Records Administration’s help. The NARA managed to retrieve the footage from the tapes, and now here we are. This will make for some great weekend viewing.
I hate this timeline. It is with great sadness that I find myself penning the hardest news post I’ve ever needed to write here at AnandTech. After over 27 years of covering the wide – and wild – word of computing hardware, today is AnandTech’s final day of publication. For better or worse, we’ve reached the end of a long journey – one that started with a review of an AMD processor, and has ended with the review of an AMD processor. It’s fittingly poetic, but it is also a testament to the fact that we’ve spent the last 27 years doing what we love, covering the chips that are the lifeblood of the computing industry. ↫ Ryan Smith at AnandTech This sudden loss is sending shockwaves through the industry, and rightfully so. AnandTech is a pillar, a cornerstone of hardware reporting, and one of the very few – possibly only – tech news outlet out there with such depth, quality, integrity, and restraint. I can’t think of any other outlet being as dedicated to proper benchmarking and hardware reviews as AnandTech was, and losing them is a huge loss for all of us. The cause is exactly what you’d expect, sadly. It’s simply not really possible to remain profitable writing in-depth hardware reviews and benchmarks, as the world has shifted to video, and advertising income has cratered. There’s tons of hints about AnandTech not wanting to embrace sensationalism and clickbaiting to increase revenue – they’d rather go out with class, and I admire and appreciate that greatly. It just goes to show how hard it is to keep your head above water in the current online publishing world without rampant clickbaiting and flashy videos. In a better, less monopolised world, AnandTech could thrive. Sadly, that’s not the timeline we’re in. As far as housekeeping goes, the site will remain up for now, but there’s no guarantee it’ll stay up forever. I’m sure countless people are already archiving the invaluable content AnandTech has produced over its 27 year run, including the forums. We shan’t lose what AnandTech has created.
When one of China’s once-popular electric vehicle startups went bust, car owners encountered an unexpected problem: Their vehicles went “offline.” Richard Qian didn’t know what to expect when he heard that WM Motor, a Shanghai-based EV maker popular for its low prices, filed for bankruptcy in October 2023. He tried to drive his compact EX5 SUV as he normally would, but discovered that he could no longer log into WM Motor’s smartphone app, which remotely controlled the car lock and air conditioner. He also couldn’t see his car’s mileage and charging status on the dashboard. ↫ Tianyu Fang at rest of world Chinese car makers are heavily pushing to gain a foothold here in Sweden, it seems, as ads for these brands are popping up all over the place, and dealerships – although most likely not dedicated dealerships – are present even here in the Arctic high north. I have no idea how successful they are, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen one out in the wild, but with such massive presence they must be doing something right. Considering most of the cars they sell are electric, I assume if any of them go under, buyers would suffer the same issues as Qian did. Of course, EV startups aren’t exactly a China-only thing, but there are definitely more of them than there are non-Chinese ones, since even brands already well-established in China will effectively be startups again when entering the European or American markets. If an otherwise successful Chinese car maker doesn’t survive in Europe, the end result is the same as if it were a European EV startup: no dealer network, no spare parts, and most likely, no servers to run your EV app. This issue alone keeps me from taking EV startups – Chinese or otherwise – seriously until they’ve got several solid product generations under their belt. The idea of spending tens of thousands of euros on a car that randomly loses a bunch of its functionality because its brand went under sounds like a nightmare to me, especially since so many features are now shoveled into electronic black boxes, down to even the door handles. I’ll stick with established brands, for now.
Ah, secure boot, the bane of many running anything other than Windows. While it’s already been found to be utterly useless by now, it’s still a requirement for Windows 11, and ever since it became part of PCs about a decade or so ago, it’s been causing headaches for people who don’t use Windows. Yesterday, Microsoft released a patch for a two-year-old vulnerability in the GRUB bootloader, and while the company claimed it would only be installed on single-boot Windows machines, that clearly wasn’t the case as right after its release, people dual-booting Linux and Windows found their Linux installations unbootable. Tuesday’s update left dual-boot devices—meaning those configured to run both Windows and Linux—no longer able to boot into the latter when Secure Boot was enforced. When users tried to load Linux, they received the message: “Verifying shim SBAT data failed: Security Policy Violation. Something has gone seriously wrong: SBAT self-check failed: Security Policy Violation.” Almost immediately support and discussion forums lit up with reports of the failure. ↫ Dan Goodin at Ars Technica The fix is both easy and hilarious: disable secure boot, and you’re good to go. You can also get a bit more technical and remove the SBAT installed by this update, but while that will allow you to keep booting with secure boot enabled, it will leave you vulnerable to the issue the SBAT was supposed to fix. The efficacy of secure boot in home environments is debatable, at best, and while I’m not going to advise anyone to just turn it off and forget about it, I think most OSNews readers can make an informed decision about secure boot by themselves. If you’re using corporate machines managed by your employer’s IT department, you obviously need to refer to them. Microsoft itself has not yet commented on this issue, and is not responding to questions from press outlets, so we’re currently in the dark about how such a game-breaking update got out in the wild. Regardless, this once again shows just how annoying secure boot is. In many cases, the boot problems people trying out Linux run into caused by secure boot, but of course, the blame is placed squarely on Linux, and not on secure boot itself being a hot mess.
But last month, that hand-me-down network was dealt a blow when Happiest Baby, the company that makes Snoo, began charging for access to some of the bassinet’s premium features — features that used to be available to Snoo users indefinitely, at no extra cost. Now, access to the app needed to lock in the bassinet’s rocking level, to track the baby’s sleep and to use the so-called weaning mode, among other features, will cost parents $20 a month. The change has angered secondhand users and original buyers alike. On Reddit, the new subscription model has prompted review bombs, group brainstorms for collective action and detailed instructions for outraged parents seeking recourse. Some have taken to filing complaints with the Federal Trade Commission, Better Business Bureau and state-run consumer protection offices. ↫ Sandra E. Garcia and Rachel Sherman at The New York Times My wife had our first baby a little over three years ago, and our second one a little over a year ago, and let me tell you – the amount of “smart” and “connected” stuff they sell targeted at babies and young parents is insane. The only “smart” thing we got was a camera that pipes sound to my phone and detects movement, and sends a notification to our phone so we can take a peek and see if everything’s alright. Our oldest has outgrown it, and our youngest doesn’t really need it, so it’s just being useless at the moment, fitted to the wall. It definitely improved our nights, though, since it made sure we would never have to get up for no reason. Other than that, we are very analog. I had heard of “smart” bassinets, but we didn’t think we needed one. That’s just our decision, though, and you can rightfully argue that using a camera and open microphone is not that different. All of these new “smart” tools are just that, tools, and can be useful and make your life just a little bit easier, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Being a parent of a newborn is hard enough as it is without outsiders judging you and pressuring you into doing things you don’t think are right, especially since you know your own newborn – and yourself – better than some random outsiders do. The Snoo is one of the more popular smart bassinets, apparently, and at an entry price of 1700 dollars it’s bonkers expensive. The thing is, though, as a new parent you know a lot of the stuff you buy has a relatively limited shelf life – they grow so fast – so you kind of take into account that you’ll be selling some of the more expensive stuff down the line to recoup some of the costs. We have an insanely expensive stroller from a Norwegian brand, because it needed to be able to handle the Arctic climate and its endless snow, including specialised wheels and tires for trudging through the snow. The resale value of these is quite decent, so we know we’ll get a decent part of the initial cost back, especially since we take extremely good care of it. And this is where the company that makes the Snoo, Happiest Baby, decided to screw over its customers. The company clearly realised the theoretical loss of revenue from the used market, and came up with this subscription model to lock in some of that theoretical revenue. However, since Happiest Baby always promised all of its features would work perpetually, this came as a huge shock to both buyers of used Snoo bassinets, as well as to parents intending to sell their Snoo, who now see their resale value plummet. The reasoning behind the sudden subscription model given by the company is absolutely wild. Harvey Karp, the founder and chief executive of Happiest Baby, defended the move as a business necessity. “We don’t have any dollar from the government, we don’t have a dollar from a university,” said Dr. Karp, a former pediatrician who created the Snoo after becoming frustrated with the lack of progress in reducing rates of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS. “We have to sell products and bring in revenue to be able to get to this goal.” That goal, according to Dr. Karp, is “that everyone will have access to this, and it will be paid for not by your friend, but it will be paid for by your corporation, the government or your insurance company,” the way breast pumps are often covered. He also pointed to Happiest Baby’s efforts to make the Snoo available “in the inner city and in rural areas.” For many parents, however, paying into that ideal is of little comfort to their bottom line. ↫ Sandra E. Garcia and Rachel Sherman at The New York Times He’s basically stating that because he doesn’t get free money from the government, universities, customers’ employers, or insurance companies, he can’t make any profit off the Snoo products. He’s arguing that a $1700 bassinet with some sensors and chips is not a profitable product, which sounds absolutely like a flat-out lie to me. If he really can’t make a profit with such a price for such a product, there’s clearly something else wrong with the way the company is spending its money. Anyone who has ever watched Last Week Tonight with Jon Oliver knows just how many healthcare-related markets and businesses in the United States rely almost exclusively on government money through programs like Medicare and Medicaid, leading to an insane amount of scams and wasted money because there aren’t even remotely enough inspectors and related personnel to ensure such money is effectively spent, made worse by the fact such tasks are delegated to the states. This whole Snoo thing almost make me think Karp intended to profit off these often nebulous government money streams, but somehow failed to do so. I feel for the parents, though. They bought a product that didn’t include a hint of a subscription or paywalled features, and now they have
Payment security is changing due to blockchain’s growing use in safe online transactions across industries. This technique guarantees transaction security, transparency, and immutability. Understanding Blockchain Technology Blockchain is a decentralized ledger that securely logs transactions across numerous computers, making it very impossible to tamper with or change data. Verified transactions that are immutable once locked are contained in every block of the chain, guaranteeing transparency and confidence. This approach improves transparency and security by eliminating centralized control. Thanks to blockchain’s transparency, everyone may take part in transaction validation, as each completed transaction is documented on a public ledger for simple tracking. Users can manage their assets with digital wallets, which offer a quick and safe way to conduct online transactions. All things considered, blockchain’s structure protects data integrity, making it a reliable option for safe online operations. Blockchain’s Impact on the Gaming Industry Blockchain technology is transforming the gaming sector by increasing online transaction security and transparency. By guaranteeing safe and effective payment processing, blockchain becomes relevant across genres, including US casino gaming platforms, esports, and NFT-based games. It lowers the possibility of fraud and guarantees equitable gameplay. Blockchain generates a tamper-proof system advantageous to operators and players by decentralizing transaction records. Additionally, because they offer quick, private, and affordable options, cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin are quickly gaining traction as payment options in online gaming. Blockchain is becoming an essential part of the future of online gaming businesses as more use it to streamline their operations and establish confidence. This expanding role emphasizes how blockchain might change online transactions in several industries, including gaming. Enhancing Payment Security with Blockchain Blockchain uses cryptography to prevent fraud and theft, which greatly improves the security of Internet transactions. Because of its immutability, data cannot be changed once it is captured, prohibiting illegal changes. Blockchain-enhanced identification verification lowers identity theft in financial transactions, while tokenization further protects data by substituting unique identifiers for crucial payment details. The seamless conversion between fiat money and cryptocurrencies made possible by blockchain’s integration with conventional banking institutions expedites safe payment procedures. Biometric technology, such as fingerprint scanning and facial recognition, are increasingly integrated into mobile wallets to enhance security. Furthermore, dynamic QR codes have increased the security and effectiveness of QR-based payments by providing real-time updates and fraud protection. Financial Institutions and Blockchain Blockchain is being used by financial organizations more and more to improve payment security and lower data breaches. Because blockchain technology is decentralized, hackers are unable to exploit a single point of weakness. Smart contract implementation expedites the response to questionable activity and automates the identification of fraud. Blockchain’s real-time transaction monitoring makes it possible to quickly identify transactions that might be fraudulent. Blockchain’s advantages may potentially be used by Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) to increase the effectiveness and security of payments. Because of blockchain’s immutability, data cannot be changed once it is recorded, maintaining the reliability and correctness of transaction logs and assisting with anti-money laundering initiatives by enhancing identity verification. Securing E-commerce Transactions with Blockchain Because blockchain technology offers a distributed ledger that safeguards online transactions, it is revolutionizing e-commerce. Its unchangeable record-keeping lowers fraud and increases customer confidence. Blockchain simplifies payment processing by enabling safe, direct transfers between parties without the need for middlemen. Tokenization, which replaces critical payment data with a special code that cannot be decrypted to disclose original details like credit card numbers, is a crucial component of this security. This prevents intercepted data from being useful. Blockchain facilitates blockchain-oriented payment gateways and safe payment methods like stablecoins and cryptocurrencies. These advances increase the general effectiveness of e-commerce payment procedures while shielding customers from fraudulent transactions. Blockchain in Supply Chain Management Blockchain technology is revolutionizing supply chain management. It offers a distributed ledger that improves transparency and enables real-time product tracking. By facilitating the process of authenticating products and confirming their origins, this technology enhances consumer trust and encourages ethical business practices. Pharmaceutical companies stand to gain a great deal from blockchain’s capacity to control drug recalls and guarantee the legitimacy of medications. Blockchain lowers costs, increases transactional efficiency, and streamlines supply chain procedures by doing away with the need for middlemen. By automating payments between parties, smart contracts improve operations even further. Platforms such as MediLedger demonstrate how smart contracts can automate contract execution and product verification while guaranteeing compliance with intricate rules. Real-World Applications of Blockchain in Various Industries Blockchain technology is revolutionizing online transaction security in a number of different sectors. Solutions like Medicalchain enable users to restrict access, improving data security in the healthcare industry and providing individuals with control over their personal records. Through programs like Embleema, blockchain is also expediting virtual trials while guaranteeing the safe management of patient data. Companies like Propy are using blockchain in real estate to build safe, transparent systems for tracking property ownership, which lowers fraud. These systems show how blockchain may improve security, streamline procedures, and foster trust amongst many businesses. Because of its decentralized, unchangeable ledger, which guarantees data accuracy and lifespan, businesses and customers involved in digital markets or services can both profit. Advanced Security Measures with Blockchain Preventing security breaches in blockchain technology requires the use of sophisticated security mechanisms. Multi-factor authentication (MFA), which necessitates several verification techniques for access and transaction confirmation, is one of the essential elements. Asymmetric encryption depends on a special pair of keys to increase security, whereas symmetric encryption uses the same key for both encryption and decryption. Payment data is encrypted while it is transmitted to prevent information from being intercepted without the decryption key. A digital signature is a feature of every blockchain transaction that helps to further prevent manipulation. Furthermore, the consensus mechanism makes sure that all of the network nodes validate transactions before adding them to the ledger, protecting private information and preventing fraud and illegal access to online transactions. Future Trends in Blockchain and Online Payment Security Blockchain technology advancements portend a promising future for online payment security. Future innovations are expected
Is machine learning, also known as “artificial intelligence”, really aiding workers and increasing productivity? A study by Upwork – which, as Baldur Bjarnason so helpfully points out, sells AI solutions and hence did not promote this study on its blog as it does with its other studies – reveals that this might not actually be the case. Nearly half (47%) of workers using AI say they have no idea how to achieve the productivity gains their employers expect. Over three in four (77%) say AI tools have decreased their productivity and added to their workload in at least one way. For example, survey respondents reported that they’re spending more time reviewing or moderating AI-generated content (39%), invest more time learning to use these tools (23%), and are now being asked to do more work (21%). Forty percent of employees feel their company is asking too much of them when it comes to AI. ↫ Upwork research This shouldn’t come as a surprise. We’re in a massive hype cycle when it comes to machine learning, and we’re being told it’s going to revolutionise work and lead to massive productivity gains. In practice, however, it seems these tools just can’t measure up to the hyped promises, and in fact is making people do less and work slower. There’s countless stories of managers being told by upper management to shove machine learning into everything, from products to employee workflows, whether it makes any sense to do so or not. I know from experience as a translator that machine learning can greatly improve my productivity, but the fact that there are certain types of tasks that benefit from ML, doesn’t mean every job suddenly thrives with it. I’m definitely starting to see some cracks in the hype cycle, and this study highlights a major one. I hope we can all come down to earth again, and really take a careful look at where ML makes sense and where it does not, instead of giving every worker a ChatGPT account and blanket demanding massive productivity gains that in no way match the reality on the office floor. And of course, despite demanding massive productivity increases, it’s not like workers are getting an equivalent increase in salary. We’ve seen massive productivity increases for decades now, while paychecks have not followed suit at all, and many people can actually buy less with their salary today than their parents could decades ago. Demands imposed by managers by introducing AI is only going to make this discrepancy even worse.
Andrew S. Tanenbaum, professor emeritus of Computer Science at VU Amsterdam, receives the ACM Software System Award for MINIX, which influenced the teaching of Operating Systems principles to multiple generations of students and contributed to the design of widely used operating systems, including Linux. Tanenbaum created MINIX 1.0 in 1987 to accompany his textbook, Operating Systems: Design and Implementation. MINIX was a small microkernel-based UNIX operating system for the IBM PC, which was popular at the time. It was roughly 12,000 lines of code, and in addition to the microkernel, included a memory manager, file system and core UNIX utility programs. It became free open-source software in 2000. ↫ VU Amsterdam website Definitely a deserved award for Tanenbaum, and it’s a minuscule bit of pride that VU Amsterdam happens to be my Alma mater. He also wrote an article for OSNews way back in 2006, detailing MINIX 3, which is definitely a cool notch to have on our belt.
GNU Nano, by far my favourite text editor when using the command line, released version 8.0 recently – and by recently I mean a month ago – and in it, there’s a pretty interesting additional feature that should make using Nano a little bit more straightforward for those not used to its key combinations. Command-line option –modernbindings (-/) makes ^Q quit, ^X cut, ^C copy, ^V paste, ^Z undo, ^Y redo, ^O open a file, ^W write a file, ^R replace, ^G find again, ^D find again backwards, ^A set the mark, ^T jump to a line, ^P show the position, and ^E execute. ↫ GNU Nano’s news page Basically, this option makes Nano’s key bindings a bit more in line with what you might expect as someone coming from a graphical environment. Of course, Nano’s keybindings are listed at the bottom of its user interface, but it’s still nice to have the option of making them more in line with the wider computing world. Instead of using the command-line option, you can also change the name of Nano’s executable, or a symlink to it, to start with “e”.
Google is killing off a messaging service! This one is the odd “Google Business Messaging” service—basically an instant messaging client that is built into Google Maps. If you looked up a participating business in Google Maps or Google Search on a phone, the main row of buttons in the place card would read something like “Call,” “Chat,” “Directions,” and “Website.” That “Chat” button is the service we’re talking about. It would launch a full messaging interface inside the Google Maps app, and businesses were expected to use it for customer service purposes. Google’s deeply dysfunctional messaging strategy might lead people to joke about a theoretical “Google Maps Messaging” service, but it already exists and has existed for years, and now it’s being shut down. ↫ Ron Amadeo at Ars Technica When it comes to Google, it’s often hard to distinguish meme from reality.
Speaking of The Verge, its parent company Vox Media, along with The Atlantic, have signed a deal with OpenAI. Two more media companies have signed licensing agreements with OpenAI, allowing their content to be used to train its AI models and be shared inside of ChatGPT. The Atlantic and Vox Media — The Verge’s parent company — both announced deals with OpenAI on Wednesday. ↫ Emilia David at The Verge In the case of Vox Media, the deal was made and announced without informing their staff, which obviously doesn’t sit well with especially Vox’ writers. By making deals like this, upper management gets to double-dip on the fruits of their workers’ labour – first, the published content generates ad revenues, and second, OpenAI pays them to use said content for training and other purposes. And once the “AI” gets good enough, more and more of the writers will be fired, leaving only a skeleton crew of lower-paid workers to clean up the “AI” output. With this deal, the writing is on the wall for every journalist at Vox Media – you’re currently contributing to your own obsolescence, and your bosses are getting paid for it. As far as I know, OSNews’ owner, David, has not yet been contacted by OpenAI. Regardless, I’ll sell the past 20-odd years of my terrible takes for 69 million euros, after deducting Swedish taxes. And since OpenAI is run by billionaires: taxes are this thing where normal people pay a portion of their income to the government in return for various government services. It’s wild, I know.
iFixit is ending its collaboration with Samsung, as iFixit claims the Korean giant is not actually interested in offering repair options at all. As we tried to build this ecosystem we consistently faced obstacles that made us doubt Samsung’s commitment to making repair more accessible. We couldn’t get parts to local repair shops at prices and quantities that made business sense. The part prices were so costly that many consumers opted to replace their devices rather than repair them. And the design of Samsung’s Galaxy devices remained frustratingly glued together, forcing us to sell batteries and screens in pre-glued bundles that increased the cost. ↫ Scott Head Honestly, this doesn’t surprise me. Unless right to repair legislation becomes more widespread and stricter, corporations will inevitably drag their feet in honouring any right to repair commitments and promises they make.
After Broadcom acquired VMware, there’s been a steady stream of worrying or outright bad news for people using VMware products at home, for personal use, as enthusiasts. The biggest blow to the enthusiast market was the end of perpetual licensing, forcing people into subscriptions instead. Finally, though it seems we’re getting some good news. The most exciting part is that Fusion Pro and Workstation Pro will now have two license models. We now provide a Free Personal Use or a Paid Commercial Use subscription for our Pro apps. Users will decide based on their use case whether a commercial subscription is required. This means that everyday users who want a virtual lab on their Mac, Windows or Linux computer can do so for free simply by registering and downloading the bits from the new download portal located at support.broadcom.com. ↫ Michael Roy on the VMware blog This is definitely good news for us enthusiasts, and it means I won’t have to buy a cheap VMware license off eBay every few years anymore, so I’m quite satisfied here. However, with VMware under Broadcom focusing more and more on the enterprise and squeezing every last penny out of those customers, one has to wonder if this ‘free for personal use’ is just a prelude to winding down the development of enthusiasts’ tools altogether. It wouldn’t be the first time that a product going free for personal use was a harbinger of worse things yet to come.
Window management in Emacs gets a bad rap. Some of this is deserved, but mostly this is a consequence of combining a very flexible and granular layout system with rather coarse controls. This leaves the door open to creating and using tools for handling windows that employ and provide better metaphors and affordances. As someone who’s spent an unnecessary amount of time trying different approaches to window management in Emacs over the decades, I decided to summarize them here. Almanac might be overstating it a bit – this is a primer to and a collection of window management resources and tips. ↫ Karthik Chikmagalur I honestly had no idea Emacs was this… Advanced, complex, and feature-laden. I mean, I thought Emacs’ complexity was just a meme, but reading this article it seems the memes don’t do it justice.
