“A group of researchers from the University of California, Irvine, have developed a way to use the sensors in high-quality optical mice to capture subtle vibrations and convert them into audible data,” reports Tom’s Hardware:[T]he high polling rate and sensitivity of high-performance optical mice pick up acoustic vibrations from the surface where they sit. By running the raw data through signal...

“More than 800,000 drivers for ride-hailing companies in California will soon be able to join a union,” reports the Associated Press, “and bargain collectively for better wages and benefits under a measure signed Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.”Supporters said the new law will open a path for the largest expansion of private sector collective bargaining rights in the state’s history. The...

ScienceAlert writes that some of the tiny nanoplastic fragments present in soil “can make their way into the edible parts of vegetables, research has found.”A team of scientists from the University of Plymouth in the UK placed radishes into a hydroponic (water-based) system containing polystyrene nanoparticles. After five days, almost 5% of the nanoplastics had made their way into the radish...

“It’s not just you. The internet is getting worse, fast,” writes Cory Doctorow. Sunday he shared an excerpt from his upcoming book Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It. He succinctly explains “this moment we’re living through, this Great Enshittening” using Amazon as an example. Platforms amass users, but then abuse them to make things better for their...

Friday OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced two changes coming “soon” to Sora:First, we will give rightsholders more granular control over generation of characters, similar to the opt-in model for likeness but with additional controls… Second, we are going to have to somehow make money for video generation. People are generating much more than we expected per user, and a lot of videos are being...

There’s an 85-second ad (starring a humanoid robot) that argues “Technology promised to save us time. Instead it stole our focus. Opera Neon gives you both back.” Or, as BleepingComputer describes it, Opera Neon “is a new browser that puts AI in control of your tabs and browsing activities, but it’ll cost $19.90 per month.”It’ll do tasks for you, open websites for you, manage tabs for you, and...

The Washington Post notes AI’s “increasingly outsize role” in propping up America’s economic fortunes. “Last week, the United States reported that the economy expanded at a rate of 1.6 percent in the first half of the year, with most of that growth driven by AI spending. Without AI investment, growth would have been at about a third of that rate, according to data from the Bureau of Economic...

The book Life 3.0 remembers a 2017 conversation where Alphabet CEO Larry Page “made a ‘passionate’ argument for the idea that ‘digital life is the natural and desirable next step’ in ‘cosmic evolution’,” remembers an essay in the Wall Street Journal. “Restraining the rise of digital minds would be wrong, Page contended. Leave them off the leash and let the best minds win…” “As it turns out,...

Nobels are awarded in only three scientific categories, but other awards honor researchers across different fields.

The wearables help dairy farmers gather more data so their animals are happier and produce more milk.

Cory Doctorow’s new book looks to offer comfort, and solutions, to the inescapable feeling that digital platforms have gotten worse.