geosoco

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A federal appeals court on Monday sided with the Biden administration against the state of Utah in a lawsuit over the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “good neighbor” rule, which regulates the flow of air pollution across state lines.

In a single-page ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to stay the EPA rule, writing that the plaintiffs “have not satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending court review.” The ruling states that one of the three judges, Judge Justin Walker, would have granted a stay.

The good neighbor rule regulates the air pollution that 24 upwind states may produce. The state of Utah in June sued over the rule, arguing its regulations of Utah’s pollution would harm the state’s economy and cost millions of dollars in upgrades to its coal plants.

The DC Circuit in March dismissed a utility-backed lawsuit against the rule, but in May, another court, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, granted a request for a stay by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R). Another court, the 5th Circuit in New Orleans, stayed the EPA’s rejection of Texas and Louisiana’s plans. In response, the agency postponed implementation in those three states as well as Arkansas, Kentucky and Mississippi.

 

A viral TikTok account is doxing ordinary and otherwise anonymous people on the internet using off-the-shelf facial recognition technology, creating content and growing a following by taking advantage of a fundamental new truth: privacy is now essentially dead in public spaces.

The 90,000 follower-strong account typically picks targets who appeared in other viral videos, or people suggested to the account in the comments. Many of the account’s videos show the process: screenshotting the video of the target, cropping images of the face, running those photos through facial recognition software, and then revealing the person’s full name, social media profile, and sometimes employer to millions of people who have liked the videos. There’s an entire branch of content on TikTok in which creators show off their OSINT doxing skills—OSINT being open source intelligence, or information that is openly available online. But the vast majority of them do it with the explicit consent of the target. This account is doing the same, without the consent of the people they choose to dox. As a bizarre aside, the account appears to be run by a Taylor Swift fan, with many of the doxing videos including Swift’s music, and including videos of people at the Eras Tour.

404 Media is not naming the account because TikTok has decided to not remove it from the platform. TikTok told me the account does not violate its policies; one social media policy expert I spoke to said TikTok should reevaluate that position.

The TikTok account, conversations with victims, and TikTok’s own lack of action on the account show that access to facial recognition technology, combined with a cultural belief that anything public is fair game to exploit for clout, now means that all it takes is one random person on the internet to target you and lead a crowd in your direction.

One target told me he felt violated after the TikTok account using facial recognition tech targeted him. Another said they initially felt flattered before “that promptly gave way to worry.” All of the victims I spoke to echoed one general point—this behavior showed them just how exposed we all potentially are simply by existing in public.

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Two years ago, the metaverse was billed as the next big thing - but many in the tech world have already moved on.

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But almost two years on, Zuckerberg has been forced to deny that he is now jettisoning the idea.

"A narrative has developed that we're somehow moving away from focusing on the metaverse," he told investors in April. "So I just want to say upfront that that's not accurate."

On Wednesday the company holds its annual VR event called Meta Connect.

It's a chance, perhaps, for Zuckerberg to again explain his reasoning for taking an extremely profitable social media company and diverting its focus to an extremely unprofitable VR venture.

How unprofitable? Well, the most recent figures from Meta are eye-watering.

Reality Labs - which as the name suggests is Meta's virtual and augmented reality branch - has lost a staggering $21 billion since last year.

Part of the losses reflect long-term investment. Meta wasn't expecting short-term returns. But the worrying fact for the company is that, so far, there is very little evidence that this enormous punt will work.

Horizon Worlds, a game published by Meta, is about as close as the company has got to creating a metaverse.

Users can hop into different settings - cafes, comedy clubs, night clubs, basketball courts - to hang out and play games.

Meta claims it has 300,000 monthly users: tiny when compared to the billions of people on Facebook and Instagram.

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Capcom would "gracefully decline" any acquisition offer from Microsoft, according to the company's chief operating officer.

The company also has no intention of acquiring companies itself, exec Haruhiro Tsujimoto has said.

Tsujimoto was asked by Bloomberg how Capcom would respond to an acquisition offer from Microsoft. "I believe it would be better if we were equal partners," he replied.

 

“Nobody uses water,” one man in a Dodgers cap said in Spanish when Maria Cabrera approached, holding flyers about silicosis, an incurable and suffocating disease that has devastated dozens of workers across the state and killed men who have barely reached middle age.

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The disease dates back centuries, but researchers say the booming popularity of countertops made of engineered stone, which has much higher concentrations of silica than many kinds of natural stone, has driven a new epidemic of an accelerated form of the suffocating illness. As the dangerous dust builds up and scars the lungs, the disease can leave workers short of breath, weakened and ultimately suffering from lung failure.

“You can get a transplant,” Cabrera told the man in Spanish, “but it won’t last.”

In California, it has begun to debilitate young workers, largely Latino immigrants who cut and polish slabs of engineered stone. Instead of cropping up in people in their 60s or 70s after decades of exposure, it is now afflicting men in their 20s, 30s or 40s, said Dr. Jane Fazio, a pulmonary critical care physician who became alarmed by cases she saw at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. Some California patients have died in their 30s.

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According to the voice of Astarion himself, there's a whole two hour section of Baldur's Gate 3 no one has played yet.

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"There's even something I know about that you can't get to unless you do something that I don't think anyone's going to work out," Newborn said in the livestream, which you can see him talk about in a clip above. "I was told this in confidence and I think I'm one of the few people who knows about it as well." In the stream Newborn was even asked if he could tell the person he was talking to what it is, but noted "it's one of those few things I cannot friend-DA." Just to clarify, Newborn will have signed an NDA to work on this project, unsurprisingly, but people are people and they do tell their friends things, but this seems like something so secretive he can't even do that.

Update: See below, it has been found.

 

New Yuzu Nintendo Switch emulator builds that were shared online today promise to bring emulation improvements as well as widespread performance enhancements across several titles.

Mainline build 1567 introduces a variety of fixes and improvements, including emulations improvements for the recently released The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, Pikmin 4, and Master Detective Archives: Rain Code.

Also released today was a new Yuzu Nintendo Switch emulator Early Access build. This 3893 build replaces queue with a fibonacci heap in core timing, leading to reduced stuttering and better performance in multiple, unspecified games.

 

Destiny isn’t done with them just yet… The Doctor and Donna return for three special episodes ❤️❤️➕🔷 #DoctorWho returns this November to @BBC iPlayer in th...

 

Majority of offset projects that have sold the most carbon credits are ‘likely junk’, according to analysis by Corporate Accountability and the Guardian

The vast majority of the environmental projects most frequently used to offset greenhouse gas emissions appear to have fundamental failings suggesting they cannot be relied upon to cut planet-heating emissions, according to a new analysis.

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In a new investigation, the Guardian and researchers from Corporate Accountability, a non-profit, transnational corporate watchdog, analysed the top 50 emission offset projects, those that have sold the most carbon credits in the global market.

According to our criteria and classification system:

  • A total of 39 of the top 50 emission offset projects, or 78% of them, were categorised as likely junk or worthless due to one or more fundamental failing that undermines its promised emission cuts.

  • Eight others (16%) look problematic, with evidence suggesting they may have at least one fundamental failing and are potentially junk, according to the classification system applied.

  • The efficacy of the remaining three projects (6%) could not be determined definitively as there was insufficient public, independent information to adequately assess the quality of the credits and/or accuracy of their claimed climate benefits.

  • Overall, $1.16bn (£937m) of carbon credits have been traded so far from the projects classified by the investigation as likely junk or worthless; a further $400m of credits bought and sold were potentially junk.

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Federal officials promised the new covid shot would be free and covered by insurance, but some Americans have encountered a different reality this week as they tried to get vaccinated, only to be denied coverage or charged up to $200.

They have faced myriad complications, from pharmacies being out of network, to the vaccine not showing up on lists of approved medical expenses, to needing prior authorization. Some Americans paid out of pocket to avoid waiting. Others say they weren’t even given that option.

The hiccups reflect a new reality for covid vaccines as they go from being treated as a public good to a commercial product. Now that the federal government is no longer buying and distributing all the shots, Americans must endure the usual headaches of dealing with insurance companies and a for-profit health care system.

“Last year there was one player — the federal government,” Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview. “And now there’s a lot more players and … they’re not accountable to us.”

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In a July letter, Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, told public and private insurers to make sure their systems are prepared to immediately cover the costs of covid vaccines in the fall.

After hearing reports of unexpected insurance denials, CMS has been working with plans to ensure their systems are up to date and is reminding them they must immediately cover authorized covid vaccines without cost sharing, according to a statement provided by Health and Human Services spokeswoman Ilse Zuniga.

“The Biden Administration will continue working to ensure COVID-19 vaccines are widely available to the American public at no-cost to them from their local provider, community health center or pharmacy,” the statement said.

Federal officials and health experts say some of these insurance problems appear to be a result of insurance systems that have yet to be updated and billing code errors should be resolved in the coming weeks.

“We are working closely with the federal government, pharmacies, and other partners to quickly ensure patient access to COVID-19 vaccines with $0 cost sharing and address any issues relating to newly added billing codes quickly,” James Swann, a spokesman for the industry group America’s Health Insurance Plans, wrote in an email.
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EVE Online's starry realm of New Eden is a vast expanse of more than 7000 star systems, which we have so far experienced almost exclusively from a distance aboard swooping starships or in the colossal interiors of mega-scale space stations. But all the while, I've imagined what might be going on down on these lonely planets I'm sailing by at impossible speeds. EVE Vanguard, a new shooter module for EVE Online built in Unreal Engine 5, will let us set foot on them and scavenge their riches in person. Well, sort of.

This isn't CCP's first attempt at an FPS set in the EVE universe. From 2013 to 2016 they operated Dust 514, an on-foot experience that was eventually shut down due to low player numbers. Vanguard represents a fresh attempt at introducing a human-scale component to EVE, which the developers hope will eventually combine to create a complete sci-fi experience on the ground and in space. Rather than being sold as a separate game, like Dust, Vanguard is being described as a "module" for EVE, which will use the same launcher and be free to play.

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EVE Online has featured several of the biggest PvP battles in gaming history, but it only lets you fly one ship at a time. Set in the same universe but from a very different perspective, EVE Galaxy Conquest is a multiplayer 4X strategy game that puts you in command of your own outpost and an entire fleet.

The factions and warships should be familiar to EVE fans, but you'll be able to command large numbers of them without having to yell at a bunch of mercenaries over discord to stick to the freaking plan.

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EVE Galaxy Conquest will be soft launching on Android and iOS later this year. CCP Shanghai has not announced any plans for a PC version so far, but they didn't rule it out as a possibility. Likewise, we didn't learn anything for sure about the monetization other than it will be similar to other free-to-play mobile strategy games.

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 7 points 2 years ago

This. Works for many, but there are some services that recognize it's a VoIP service and won't allow it (I think discord was one that won't work)

Another option is a burner phone, which are relatively cheap. You have to use them periodically or they'll disable and recycle the number, but you can typically find them for around 25$.

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

There's at least one additional issue, and I think it's something Walmart ran into when trying the RFID for checkout and it's the noisy radio environment which led to issues scanning all of the codes properly or including other people's items as one of your purchases if it's too close (eg. the self checkout counters being close by or shopping with a friend/partner who is behind you.)

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Is there a company they wouldn't buy? Unity maybe?

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 3 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Maybe it'll work this time?

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

Chrome lost its way years ago. I value not seeing ads or getting personalized content more than I value 99% of the chrome features.

Since Firefox finally fixed that weird memory fragmentation issue, it's been pretty smooth sailing for me. Inspector & Debugger could use a few performance patches though.

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 12 points 2 years ago

If there's one thing republicans hate, it's a fair election.

This sounds like it's in that same line of news as the republic election officials banning the use of private money to help maintain and protect aging election systems. There was an article the other day about Zuckerberg's non-profit donating a bunch of money in 2020 to help support and fund local election offices.

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

Gotcha, yeah sorry about that I didn't check that link and just copied it.

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Uh, they do link to it. I also link to it in the blurb. the "found here" text links to the google doc.

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

Great observation! Sadly, I'm not sure I can do much to encourage people to ask questions. I do upvote them whenever they happen, though. I've tried the weekly, what are you playing thread to just get folks involved and commenting, which seems to do ok. I worry that without news making the space visible on a regular basis, people won't think to post here at all. Open to suggestions if you have any ideas on how to spur that.

When it comes to posts, I try to find the most informative and least click-baity. I suspect, just like on reddit, most people skim headlines and move on. I will try to link to the original sources, store pages, or other information in the posts when available. That sadly tends to be the larger magazines/sites.

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

I've had some similar roles before, but more often than not companies just do it anyway, even if you have a lot of data to the contrary. It's stupidly easy for someone in management to push some of this through despite the data, choose an arbitrary metric to define their success, get their bonus, and then bail for another company. Meanwhile, folks left at the company have to then try and fix all of the nonsense. It blows that we value failing forward. I've seen a few decent products just tanked this way.

[–] geosoco@kbin.social 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Site doesn't even load.

Also all of OPs posts are shilling for this site.

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