Author name: 9u50fv

microsoft-discontinues-lackadaisically-updated-surface-studio-all-in-one-desktop

Microsoft discontinues lackadaisically updated Surface Studio all-in-one desktop

microsoft, Microsoft Surface, Surface, surface studio, Tech / /

The longest-lived Studio desktop was the Surface Studio 2, which was released in 2018 and wasn’t replaced until a revised Surface Studio 2+ was announced in late 2022. It used an even higher-quality display panel, but it still used previous-generation internal components. This might not have been so egregious if Microsoft had updated it more consistently, but this model went untouched for so long that Microsoft had to lower Windows 11’s system requirements specifically to cover the Studio 2 so that the company wouldn’t be ending support for a PC that it was still actively selling.

The Studio 2+ was the desktop’s last hurrah, and despite jumping two GPU generations and four CPU generations, it still didn’t use the latest components available at the time. Again, more consistent updates like the ones Microsoft provides for the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop could have made this less of a problem, but the Studio 2+ once again sat untouched for two years after being updated.

The Studio desktop’s unique screen and hinge endeared it to some artists, and for those users, there’s no immediately obvious replacement for this machine. But the all-in-one’s high price and its specs always made it a hard sell for anyone else. A lack of wide appeal usually leads to mediocre sales, and mediocre sales usually lead to discontinued products. So it goes.

Microsoft discontinues lackadaisically updated Surface Studio all-in-one desktop Read More »

lizards-and-snakes-are-35-million-years-older-than-we-thought

Lizards and snakes are 35 million years older than we thought

Biology, fossils, lizards, paleontology, reptiles, Science / /

Lizards are ancient creatures. They were around before the dinosaurs and persisted long after dinosaurs went extinct. We’ve now found they are 35 million years older than we thought they were.

Cryptovaranoides microlanius was a tiny lizard that skittered around what is now southern England during the late Triassic, around 205 million years ago. It likely snapped up insects in its razor teeth (its name means “hidden lizard, small butcher”). But it wasn’t always considered a lizard. Previously, a group of researchers who studied the first fossil of the creature, or holotype, concluded that it was an archosaur, part of a group that includes the extinct dinosaurs and pterosaurs along with extant crocodilians and birds.

Now, another research team from the University of Bristol has analyzed that fossil and determined that Cryptovaranoides is not an archosaur but a lepidosaur, part of a larger order of reptiles that includes squamates, the reptile group that encompasses modern snakes and lizards. It is now also the oldest known squamate.

The misunderstandings about this species all come down to features in its bones that are squamate apomorphies. These are traits unique to squamates that were not present in their ancestral form, but evolved later. Certain forelimb bones, skull bones, jawbones, and even teeth of Cryptovaranoides share characteristics with those from both modern and extinct lizards.

Wait, what is that thing?

So what does the new team argue that the previous team that studied Cryptovaranoides gets wrong? The new paper argues that the interpretation of a few bones in particular stand out, especially the humerus and radius.

In the humerus of this lizard, structures called the ectepicondylar and entepicondylar foramina, along with the radial condyle, were either not considered or may have been misinterpreted. The entepicondylar foramen is an opening in the far end of the humerus, which is an upper arm bone in humans and upper forelimb bone in lizards. The ectepicondylar foramen is a structure on the outer side of the humerus where the extensor muscles attach, helping a lizard bend and straighten its legs. Both features are “often regarded as key lepidosaur and squamate characteristics,” the Bristol research team said in a study recently published in Royal Society Open Science.

Lizards and snakes are 35 million years older than we thought Read More »

judge-rejects-boeing-plea-deal-that-was-opposed-by-families-of-crash-victims

Judge rejects Boeing plea deal that was opposed by families of crash victims

737 max, Boeing, boeing plea deal, Policy / /

The compliance monitor is supposed to ensure that “Boeing implements a program designed to prevent and detect violations of US fraud laws,” O’Connor wrote. Failing to retain a monitor would violate Boeing’s probation, but O’Connor said that Boeing wouldn’t actually have to comply with the monitor’s recommendations.

“[T]he plea agreement prohibits imposing as a condition of probation a requirement for Boeing to comply with the monitor’s anti-fraud recommendations. Additionally, the independent monitor is selected by and reports to the Government, not the Court,” O’Connor wrote.

O’Connor also rejected the deal on the grounds that “Boeing will have the opportunity to prevent the hiring of one of the six monitor candidates chosen by the Government,” and “the Government will select the independent monitor ‘in keeping with the Department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.'”

Judge opposes diversity provision

O’Connor said that Boeing’s court briefs and its diversity policies suggest that “Boeing will exercise its strike of one of the Government’s six chosen monitor candidates in a discriminatory manner and with racial considerations.” O’Connor said he is also skeptical that the government will consider all possible monitors and choose one based solely on merit and talent.

“It seems fundamentally inconsistent for the Government to say ‘in keeping with the Department’s commitment to diversity and inclusion’ means that the Government will not consider race,” O’Connor wrote. “Otherwise, why would the Government represent to the Court in its briefing that the term ‘diversity’ in the plea agreement is ‘generally consistent’ with the 2021 Executive Order’s definition, which explicitly includes race? Indeed, the Government must adhere to this Executive Order, and, consequently, that definition of ‘diversity’ controls what is required by the plea agreement.”

“In a case of this magnitude, it is in the utmost interest of justice that the public is confident this monitor selection is done based solely on competency,” O’Connor also wrote. “The parties’ DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] efforts only serve to undermine this confidence in the Government and Boeing’s ethics and anti-fraud efforts.”

Judge rejects Boeing plea deal that was opposed by families of crash victims Read More »

us-recommends-encrypted-messaging-as-chinese-hackers-linger-in-telecom-networks

US recommends encrypted messaging as Chinese hackers linger in telecom networks

Chinese hackers, Policy, salt typhoon, Security / /

An unnamed FBI official was quoted in the same report as saying that phone users “would benefit from considering using a cellphone that automatically receives timely operating system updates, responsibly managed encryption, and phishing-resistant” multifactor authentication for email accounts, social media, and collaboration tools.

The FBI official reportedly said the hackers obtained metadata showing the numbers that phones called and when, the live phone calls of some specific targets, and information from systems that telcos use for court-ordered surveillance.

Despite recognizing the security benefits of encryption, US officials have for many years sought backdoors that would give the government access to encrypted communications. Supporters of end-to-end encryption have pointed out that backdoors can also be used by criminal hackers and other nation-states.

“For years, the security community has pushed back against these backdoors, pointing out that the technical capability cannot differentiate between good guys and bad guys,” cryptographer Bruce Schneier wrote after the Chinese hacking of telecom networks was reported in October.

Noting the apparent hacking of systems for court-ordered wiretap requests, Schneier called it “one more example of a backdoor access mechanism being targeted by the ‘wrong’ eavesdroppers.”

1994 surveillance law in focus

CISA issued a statement on the Chinese hacking campaign in mid-November. It said:

The US government’s continued investigation into the People’s Republic of China (PRC) targeting of commercial telecommunications infrastructure has revealed a broad and significant cyber espionage campaign.

Specifically, we have identified that PRC-affiliated actors have compromised networks at multiple telecommunications companies to enable the theft of customer call records data, the compromise of private communications of a limited number of individuals who are primarily involved in government or political activity, and the copying of certain information that was subject to US law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders.

The hacks raise concerns about surveillance capabilities required by a 1994 law, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which requires “telecommunications carriers and manufacturers of telecommunications equipment design their equipment, facilities, and services to ensure that they have the necessary surveillance capabilities to comply with legal requests for information.”

US recommends encrypted messaging as Chinese hackers linger in telecom networks Read More »

balsa-research-2024-update

Balsa Research 2024 Update

Balsa / /

For our annual update on how Balsa is doing, I am turning the floor over to Jennifer Chen, who is the only person working full time on Balsa Research.

For my general overview of giving opportunities, see my post from last week.

Previously: The 2023 Balsa Research update post, Repeal the Jones Act of 1920.

tl;dr: In 2024, Balsa Research funded two upcoming academic studies on Jones Act impacts and published the Jones Act Post. In 2025, we’ll expand our research and develop specific policy proposals. Donate to Balsa Research here.

Today is Giving Tuesday. There are many worthy causes, including all of the ones highlighted by Zvi in a recent post. Of all of those orgs, there is one organization I have privileged information on – Balsa Research, where I’ve been working for the past year and a half.

Balsa Research is a tiny 501(c)(3) currently focused on repealing the Jones Act, a century-old law that has destroyed American domestic shipping for minimal gain. You can read the long Zvi post for details, or this Planet Money podcast transcript if you would like the arguments from someone who is not Zvi.

This is not the most urgent challenge facing humanity, but we believe that it’s one where relatively small investments have a chance to unlock fairly large economic benefits.

This post is an update on what we’ve been up to this year, and our plans for 2025.

  1. What We Did in 2024.

  2. Looking Ahead to 2025.

  3. Why Support Balsa.

Our work this year focused on building a robust foundation for future policy change:

In March, we opened up an RFP for academic studies quantifying the costs of the Jones Act after our literature review revealed that it’s been several decades since someone has attempted to do this.

We’re funding studies for a few different reasons. For one, updated numbers are just nice to have, for understanding the state of the world and our likely impact. They’re also good for advocacy work in particular – numbers grow stale over time, and people like seeing numbers that are from the 2020s more than they like seeing numbers from the 1990s in their policy one-pagers. Lastly, we know that DC does occasionally pay attention to policy findings coming out of top econ journals, and this shapes their policy choices at times. We’re not counting on this happening, but who knows!

We have accepted proposals from two different teams of academics working or studying at top econ departments in the US. The contracts have been signed, the teams’ data sets and interns are getting paid for, and we now await their preliminary findings in 2025.

The two proposals take complementary approaches:

  • A Macro-level Trade Impact Model: This proposal aims to construct a large-scale detailed gravity model of domestic and international trade flows across the complex network of routes, evaluating the Jones Act’s comprehensive impact on US trade patterns. This will create a “gains from trade” view of the Act and its potential repeal. By comparing the current constrained system with a hypothetical unconstrained one within this model, the study will estimate the hidden costs and inefficiencies introduced by the Jones Act.

  • A Micro-level Agricultural Commodity Analysis: This proposal focuses on the impact of the Jones Act on U.S. inter-state agricultural trade, with a particular emphasis on California-produced goods, aiming to pinpoint the exact impact of the Jones Act on their transportation and pricing. Similar to the methodology used in a recent paper on the Jones Act’s impact on US petroleum markets, this granular analysis will provide concrete, quantifiable evidence of the Act’s effects on specific goods. By focusing on a specific sector and concrete details, this research could offer valuable hard data to support broader reform efforts and be extended by further research.

We’re excited about both of these – it’s important to both get a better macro view, and to be able to point to fine-grained impact on specific US states and industries.

We consider the RFP to still be open! If we get more exciting proposals, we will continue to happily fund them.

We have also published The Jones Act Post. This was the result of months of research, interviews with experts in the policy sphere and various stakeholders, plus Zvi’s usual twitter habit. This is Zvi’s definitive case for Jones Act repeal, but we obviously didn’t fit in all of the policy minutiae that we picked up over our literature review. Those are going to go into additional documents that are going to be crafted to more precisely target an audience of policy wonks.

We’re also working to develop relationships with key players and experts to better understand both the technical challenges and political dynamics around potential reform.

It would be reasonable to say this is slow progress. We’ve prioritized getting things right over moving quickly, and have a modest budget. Policy change requires careful preparation – especially on an issue where entrenched interests have successfully resisted reform for a century.

With this foundation in place, we’re positioned to do a lot more work in 2025. We’re looking to do the following:

  1. Launch a second round of funding for targeted academic research, informed by the preliminary findings of studies funded in our first round.

  2. Get a better understanding of key players’ interests, constraints, and BATNAs to identify realistically viable reform paths, and reasonable concessions.

  3. Building on all of our existing research, develop detailed and viable policy proposals that address key stakeholder concerns, including:

    • Protecting union jobs and worker interests

    • Maintaining military readiness and security capabilities

    • Structuring viable transition paths and compensation mechanisms

  4. Draft model legislation that can serve as a foundation for reform.

From the very beginning, our philosophy has been to focus on the useful groundwork that enables real policy change, and this is where our focus remains. Additional funding would allow us to expand our impact and accelerate our work.

To be clear: we have funding for our core 2025 expenses and the initiatives outlined above (but not much beyond that). Additional support would allow us to expand our impact through better assisting activities such as:

  • Industry and labor outreach ($5,000+)

    Fund attendance at three key maritime industry and union conferences to build relationships with people working in shipping, unions, and policy. This would cover registration fees, travel, and accommodations.

  • Additional Research & Analysis (~$30,000 per study)

    Fund additional academic studies to strengthen the empirical case for reform, complementing our existing research initiatives, as we discover new opportunities.

  • Policy Engagement ($85,000)

    Hire a DC-based policy liaison to build some key ongoing relationships. This would help us better understand the needs and motivations of the people and committees that we need to convince, allowing us to create more targeted and timely policy documents that directly address their concerns.

  • Additional Causes (unlimited)

    We see opportunity in many other policy areas as well, including NEPA reform and federal pro-housing policy. With additional funding we could address those sooner.

It would also give us additional runway.

While changing century-old policy is not going to be easy, we see many, many places where there is neglected groundwork that we think we’re well positioned to do, and we can do well. There are many studies that should exist, but don’t. There should be analysis done of the pros and cons of various forms of reform and partial repeal, but there aren’t. There should be more dialogue around how to grow the pie in a way that ensures that everyone comes out of the deal happy, but we see very little of that. These are all things we intend to work on at Balsa Research.

We invite you to join us.

If you have experience with maritime shipping, naval procurement, connections to labor unions, or anything else you think might be relevant to Jones Act reform, we’d be interested in talking to you and hearing your perspective. Get in touch at hello@balsaresearch.com and let us know how you might be able to help, whether that’s sharing your insights, making introductions, or contributing in other meaningful ways.

You can also donate to our end-of-year fundraiser here. Balsa Research is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which means donations are tax-deductible for US taxpayers.

Balsa Research is a small organization – still just me, with Zvi in an unpaid, very part-time advisory role – and our progress this year has been possible only through the generous support of our donors and the many people who have shared their time and expertise with us. We’re grateful for this community of supporters and collaborators who continue to believe in the importance of this work.

Balsa Research 2024 Update Read More »

certain-names-make-chatgpt-grind-to-a-halt,-and-we-know-why

Certain names make ChatGPT grind to a halt, and we know why

404 Media, adversarial attacks, AI, Biz & IT, Brian Hood, chatgpt, chatgtp, David Mayer, machine learning, openai, voldemort / /

The “David Mayer” block in particular (now resolved) presents additional questions, first posed on Reddit on November 26, as multiple people share this name. Reddit users speculated about connections to David Mayer de Rothschild, though no evidence supports these theories.

The problems with hard-coded filters

Allowing a certain name or phrase to always break ChatGPT outputs could cause a lot of trouble down the line for certain ChatGPT users, opening them up for adversarial attacks and limiting the usefulness of the system.

Already, Scale AI prompt engineer Riley Goodside discovered how an attacker might interrupt a ChatGPT session using a visual prompt injection of the name “David Mayer” rendered in a light, barely legible font embedded in an image. When ChatGPT sees the image (in this case, a math equation), it stops, but the user might not understand why.

The filter also means that it’s likely that ChatGPT won’t be able to answer questions about this article when browsing the web, such as through ChatGPT with Search.  Someone could use that to potentially prevent ChatGPT from browsing and processing a website on purpose if they added a forbidden name to the site’s text.

And then there’s the inconvenience factor. Preventing ChatGPT from mentioning or processing certain names like “David Mayer,” which is likely a popular name shared by hundreds if not thousands of people, means that people who share that name will have a much tougher time using ChatGPT. Or, say, if you’re a teacher and you have a student named David Mayer and you want help sorting a class list, ChatGPT would refuse the task.

These are still very early days in AI assistants, LLMs, and chatbots. Their use has opened up numerous opportunities and vulnerabilities that people are still probing daily. How OpenAI might resolve these issues is still an open question.

Certain names make ChatGPT grind to a halt, and we know why Read More »

blizzard’s-pulling-of-warcraft-i-&-ii-tests-gog’s-new-preservation-program

Blizzard’s pulling of Warcraft I & II tests GOG’s new Preservation Program

Blizzard, DRM, DRM-free, game preservation, gaming, gog, video game preservation, Warcraft, warcraft 3, warcraft 3 reforged, warcraft II, Warcraft III / /

GOG’s version goes a bit beyond the classic versions that were on sale on Blizzard.net. Beyond the broad promise that “this is the best version of this game you can buy on any PC platform,” GOG has made specific tweaks to the networking code for Warcraft I and fixed up the DirectX wrapper for Warcraft II to improve its scaling on modern monitor resolutions.

It’s quite a novel commitment, keeping non-revenue-generating games playable for buyers, even after a publisher no longer makes them available for sale. The Warcraft titles certainly won’t be the only games for which publisher enthusiasm lags behind GOG and its classic gamers.

As noted at the Preservation Program’s launch, for some titles, GOG does not have the rights to modify a game’s build, and only its original developers can do so. So if GOG can’t make it work in, say, DOSBox, extraordinary efforts may be required.

A screenshot from Blizzard's Warcraft II: Remastered release, showing brick keeps, archers, footsoldiers, dragons around a roost, and knights on horseback units.

Warcraft II: Remastered lets you switch back and forth between classic and remastered graphics and promises to offer better support for widescreen monitors and more units selected at once.

Credit: Blizzard

Warcraft II: Remastered lets you switch back and forth between classic and remastered graphics and promises to offer better support for widescreen monitors and more units selected at once. Credit: Blizzard

Beyond being tied to Blizzard’s Battle.net service in perpetuity, there are other reasons Warcraft fans might want to hold onto the originals. Blizzard’s 2020 release of Warcraft III Reforged was widely panned as uneven, unfinished, and in some ways unfair, as it, too, removed the original Warcraft III from stores. Reforged was still in rough shape a year later, leading Ars’ list of 2020’s most disappointing games. A 2.0 update promised a total reboot, but fans remain torn on the new art styles and are somewhat wary.

Then again, you can now select more units in the first two Warcraft games’ remasters, and you get “numerous visual updates for the UI.”

Blizzard’s pulling of Warcraft I & II tests GOG’s new Preservation Program Read More »

supermassive-black-hole-binary-emits-unexpected-flares

Supermassive black hole binary emits unexpected flares

astronomy, astrophysics, black hole binary, black holes, Science, supermassive black hole / /

“In addition to stars, gas clouds can also be disrupted by SMBHs and their binaries,” they said in the same study. “The key difference is that the clouds can be comparable to or even larger than the binary separation, unlike stars, which are always much smaller. “

Looking at the results of a previous study that numerically modeled this type of situation also suggested a gas cloud. Just like the hypothetical supermassive black hole binary in the model, AT 2021hdr would accrete large amounts of material every time the black holes were halfway through orbiting each other and had to cross the cloud to complete the orbit—their gravity tears away some of the cloud, which ends up in their accretion disks, every time they cross it. They are now thought to take in anywhere between three and 30 percent of the cloud every few cycles. From a cloud so huge, that’s a lot of gas.

The supermassive black holes in AT 2021hdr are predicted to crash into each other and merge in another 70,000 years. They are also part of another merger, in which their host galaxy is gradually merging with a nearby galaxy, which was first discovered by the same team (this has no effect on the BSMBH tidal disruption of the gas cloud).

How the behavior of AT 2021hdr develops could tell us more about its nature and uphold or disprove the idea that it is eating away at a gaseous cloud instead of a star or something else. For now, it seems these black holes don’t just get gas from what they eat—they eat the gas itself.

Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2024.  DOI:  10.1051/0004-6361/202451305

Supermassive black hole binary emits unexpected flares Read More »

code-found-online-exploits-logofail-to-install-bootkitty-linux-backdoor

Code found online exploits LogoFAIL to install Bootkitty Linux backdoor

Biz & IT, bootkitty, Linux, logofail, Security, uefi, unified extensible firmware interface / /

Normally, Secure Boot prevents the UEFI from running all subsequent files unless they bear a digital signature certifying those files are trusted by the device maker. The exploit bypasses this protection by injecting shell code stashed in a malicious bitmap image displayed by the UEFI during the boot-up process. The injected code installs a cryptographic key that digitally signs a malicious GRUB file along with a backdoored image of the Linux kernel, both of which run during later stages of the boot process on Linux machines.

The silent installation of this key induces the UEFI to treat the malicious GRUB and kernel image as trusted components, and thereby bypass Secure Boot protections. The final result is a backdoor slipped into the Linux kernel before any other security defenses are loaded.

Diagram illustrating the execution flow of the LogoFAIL exploit Binarly found in the wild. Credit: Binarly

In an online interview, HD Moore, CTO and co-founder at runZero and an expert in firmware-based malware, explained the Binarly report this way:

The Binarly paper points to someone using the LogoFAIL bug to configure a UEFI payload that bypasses secure boot (firmware) by tricking the firmware into accepting their self-signed key (which is then stored in the firmware as the MOK variable). The evil code is still limited to the user-side of UEFI, but the LogoFAIL exploit does let them add their own signing key to the firmware’s allow list (but does not infect the firmware in any way otherwise).

It’s still effectively a GRUB-based kernel backdoor versus a firmware backdoor, but it does abuse a firmware bug (LogoFAIL) to allow installation without user interaction (enrolling, rebooting, then accepting the new MOK signing key).

In a normal secure boot setup, the admin generates a local key, uses this to sign their updated kernel/GRUB packages, tells the firmware to enroll the key they made, then after reboot, the admin has to accept this new key via the console (or remotely via bmc/ipmi/ilo/drac/etc bios console).

In this setup, the attacker can replace the known-good GRUB + kernel with a backdoored version by enrolling their own signing key without user interaction via the LogoFAIL exploit, but it’s still effectively a GRUB-based bootkit, and doesn’t get hardcoded into the BIOS firmware or anything.

Machines vulnerable to the exploit include some models sold by Acer, HP, Fujitsu, and Lenovo when they ship with a UEFI developed by manufacturer Insyde and run Linux. Evidence found in the exploit code indicates the exploit may be tailored for specific hardware configurations of such machines. Insyde issued a patch earlier this year that prevents the exploit from working. Unpatched devices remain vulnerable. Devices from these manufacturers that use non-Insyde UEFIs aren’t affected.

Code found online exploits LogoFAIL to install Bootkitty Linux backdoor Read More »

player-456-is-back-for-revenge-in-squid-game-s2-trailer

Player 456 is back for revenge in Squid Game S2 trailer

culture, Entertainment, netflix, squid game, streaming television, Trailers / /

Lee Jung-Jae returns as Player 456 in the second season of Squid Game.

The 2021 Korean series Squid Game was a massive hit for Netflix, racking up 1.65 billion viewing hours in its first four weeks and snagging 14 Emmy nominations. Fans have been longing for a second season ever since, and we’re finally getting it this year for Christmas. Netflix just released the official trailer.

(Spoilers for S1 below.)

The first season followed Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae, seen earlier this year in The Acolyte), a down-on-his-luck gambler who has little left to lose when he agrees to play children’s playground games against 455 other players for money. The twist? If you lose a game, you die. If you cheat, you die. And if you win, you might also die.

“The grotesque spectacle of Squid Game is where it gets most of its appeal, but it resonates because of how relatable Gi-hun and the rest of the game’s contestants are,” Ars Senior Technology Reporter Andrew Cunningham wrote in our 2021 year-end TV roundup. “Alienated from society and each other, driven by guilt or shame or pride or desperation, each of the players we get to know is inescapably human, which is why Squid Game is more than just a gory sideshow.

In the S1 finale, Gi-hun faced off against fellow finalist and childhood friend Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) in the titular “squid game.” He won their fight but refused to kill his friend, begging Sang-woo to stop the game by invoking a special clause in their contract whereby they get to live—but do not get the prize money. Sang-woo instead stabbed himself in the neck and asked Gi-hun to take care of his mother. Wracked with guilt, Gi-hun was about to fly to America to live with his daughter when he spotted the game recruiter trying to entice another desperate person. He didn’t get on the plane, deciding instead to try and re-enter the game and take it down from the inside.

Player 456 is back for revenge in Squid Game S2 trailer Read More »

openai-is-at-war-with-its-own-sora-video-testers-following-brief-public-leak

OpenAI is at war with its own Sora video testers following brief public leak

AI / /

“We are not against the use of AI technology as a tool for the arts (if we were, we probably wouldn’t have been invited to this program),” PR Puppets writes. “What we don’t agree with is how this artist program has been rolled out and how the tool is shaping up ahead of a possible public release. We are sharing this to the world in the hopes that OpenAI becomes more open, more artist friendly and supports the arts beyond PR stunts.”

An excerpt from the PR Puppets open letter, as it appeared on Hugging Face Tuesday. Credit: PR Puppets / HuggingFace

In a statement provided to Ars Technica, an OpenAI spokesperson noted that “Sora is still in research preview, and we’re working to balance creativity with robust safety measures for broader use. Hundreds of artists in our alpha have shaped Sora’s development, helping prioritize new features and safeguards. Participation is voluntary, with no obligation to provide feedback or use the tool.”

Throughout the day Tuesday, PR Puppets updated its open letter with signatures from 16 people and groups listed as “sora-alpha-artists.” But a source with knowledge of OpenAI’s testing program told Ars that only a couple of those artists were actually part of the alpha testing group and that those artists were asked to refrain from sharing confidential details during Sora’s development.

PR Puppets also later linked to a public petition encouraging others to sign on to the same message shared in their open letter. Artists Memo Akten, Jake Elwes, and CROSSLUCID, who are also listed as “sora-alpha-artists,” were among the first to sign that public petition.

When can we get in?

Made with Sora (see above for more info): pic.twitter.com/VlveALuvYS

— Kol Tregaskes (@koltregaskes) November 26, 2024

Sora made a huge splash when OpenAI first teased its video-generation capabilities in February, before shopping the tech around Hollywood and using it in a public advertisement for Toys R Us. Since then, though, publicly accessible video generators like Minimax and announcements of in-development competitors from Google and Meta have stolen some of Sora’s initial thunder.

Previous OpenAI CTO Mira Murati told The Wall Street Journal in March that it planned to release Sora publicly by the end of the year. But CPO Kevin Weil said in a recent Reddit AMA that the platform’s deployment has been delayed by the “need to perfect the model, need to get safety/impersonation/other things right, and need to scale compute!”

OpenAI is at war with its own Sora video testers following brief public leak Read More »

licking-this-“lollipop”-will-let-you-taste-virtual-flavors

Licking this “lollipop” will let you taste virtual flavors

augmented reality, extended reality, haptic interfaces, Human-computer interface, Science, virtual reality / /

Demonstrating lollipop user interface to simulate taste in virtual and augmented reality environments. Credit: Lu et al, 2024/PNAS

Virtual reality (VR) technology has long sought to incorporate the human senses into virtual and mixed-reality environments. In addition to sight and sound, researchers have been trying to add the sensation of human touch and smell via various user interfaces, as well as taste. But the latter has proved to be quite challenging. A team of Hong Kong scientists has now developed a handheld user interface shaped like a lollipop capable of re-creating several different flavors in a virtual environment, according to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

It’s well established that human taste consists of sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami—five basic flavors induced by chemical stimulation of the tongue and, to a lesser extent, in parts of the pharynx, larynx, and epiglottis. Recreating those sensations in VR has resulted in a handful of attempts at a flavor user interface, relying on such mechanisms as chemical, thermal, and electrical stimulation, as well as iontophoresis.

The chemical approach usually involves applying flavoring chemicals directly onto the tongue, but this requires room for bulk storage of said chemicals, and there is a long delay time that is not ideal for VR applications. Thermal variations applied directly to the tongue can stimulate taste sensations but require a complicated system incorporating a cooling subsystem and temperature sensors, among other components.

The most mainstream method is electrical stimulation, in which the five basic flavors are simulated by varying the frequency, intensity, and direction of electrical signals on the tongue. But this method requires placing electrode patches on or near the tongue, which is awkward, and the method is prone to taste biases.

So Yiming Liu of City University of Hong Kong and co-authors opted to work with iontophoresis, in which stable taste feedback is achieved by using ions flowing through biologically safe hydrogels to transport flavor chemicals. This method is safe, requires low power consumption, allows for precise taste feedback, and offers a more natural human-machine interface. Liu et al. improved on recent advances in this area by developing their portable lollipop-shaped user interface device, which also improves flavor quality and consistency.

Licking this “lollipop” will let you taste virtual flavors Read More »