thexiffy

Last.fm last recent tracks from thexiffy.

Morphine - Honey White

Morphine

R.E.M. - The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite

R.E.M.

Underworld - Push Downstairs

Underworld

Asian Dub Foundation - Naxalite (Live Version)

Asian Dub Foundation

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Easy Money

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

Slashdot

News for nerds, stuff that matters

AI-Generated Art Can't Be Copyrighted After Supreme Court Declines To Review the Rule

The Supreme Court of the United States declined to review a case challenging the U.S. Copyright Office's stance that AI-generated works lack the required human authorship for copyright protection, leaving lower court rulings intact. The Verge reports: The Monday decision comes after Stephen Thaler, a computer scientist from Missouri, appealed a court's decision to uphold a ruling that found AI-generated art can't be copyrighted. In 2019, the U.S. Copyright Office rejected Thaler's request to copyright an image, called A Recent Entrance to Paradise, on behalf of an algorithm he created. The Copyright Office reviewed the decision in 2022 and determined that the image doesn't include "human authorship," disqualifying it from copyright protection.

After Thaler appealed the decision, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled in 2023 that "human authorship is a bedrock requirement of copyright." That ruling was later upheld in 2025 by a federal appeals court in Washington, DC. As reported by Reuters, Thaler asked the Supreme Court to review the ruling in October 2025, arguing it "created a chilling effect on anyone else considering using AI creatively." The U.S. federal circuit court also determined that AI systems can't patent inventions because they aren't human, which the U.S. Patent Office reaffirmed in 2024 with new guidance. The UK Supreme Court made a similar determination.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

ChatGPT Uninstalls Surged By 295% After Pentagon Deal

After OpenAI announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. uninstalls of ChatGPT surged 295% in a single day. Meanwhile, rival Anthropic "gained enough popularity to earn the number one spot on the App Store's Top Free Apps leaderboard," reports Engadget. TechCrunch reports: This data, which comes from market intelligence provider Sensor Tower, represents a sizable increase compared with ChatGPT's typical day-over-day uninstall rate of 9%, as measured over the past 30 days. [...] In addition, ChatGPT's download growth was impacted by the news of its DoD partnership, with its U.S. downloads dropping by 13% day-over-day on Saturday, shortly after the news of its deal went public. Those downloads continued to fall on Sunday, when they were down by 5% day-over-day. (Before the partnership was announced, the app's downloads had grown 14% day-over-day on Friday.)

[...] Consumers are also sharing their opinions about OpenAI's deal in the app's ratings, where 1-star reviews for ChatGPT surged 775% on Saturday, then grew 100% day-over-day on Sunday, Sensor Tower said. Five-star reviews declined during the same period, dropping by 50%. Other third-party data providers back up Sensor Tower's findings.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The Guardian

Latest news, sport, business, comment, analysis and reviews from the Guardian, the world's leading liberal voice

Why some British expats in Dubai insist it’s business as usual – despite Iran war

Amid schadenfreude back home as UK nationals express their fears, others say they are not leaving anytime soon

It is not always seen as a positive when the ruling family of a dictatorship makes a public show of mingling among the people.

On Monday, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the royal who is both president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi, joined Dubai’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, for a stroll around Dubai’s mall, before settling down alongside awkward looking officials on the banquette-style seating at one of its most visible cafes.

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Declutter, define, discard: seven easy and cheap home organization tips, from experts

Organizing your home doesn’t have to use up all your retirement savings, time or peace of mind

Overcurated home organization content has flourished on social media for the past decade: well-lit photos of pantries, closets and bathrooms with contents arranged in clear acrylic bins. Usually, everything is color coordinated.

I love a tidy, organized space, but these images stress me out. My mouth gets dry when I imagine the upkeep necessary to keep those spaces looking pristine. How much does it cost to acquire hundreds of identical storage bins? How long did it take to aesthetically arrange Khloé Kardashian’s cookies like that? Is this really what I’m supposed to be doing with my one wild and precious life?

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UK woman was diagnosed with rabies after psychiatrist raised fears, inquest told

Yvonne Ford, who died after scratch from dog in Morocco, had been referred to mental health expert due to symptoms

A woman who died in the UK after contracting rabies while on holiday in Morocco was diagnosed with the disease after a psychiatrist was called in to assess her symptoms, an inquest has heard.

Yvonne Ford, 59, died in Barnsley hospital on 11 June, four months after she was scratched by a puppy in February while on a beach in the north African country.

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Domestic abuser convicted of killing wife who jumped from bridge in Scotland

Glasgow high court found Lee Milne, from Dundee, guilty of the culpable homicide of Kimberly Milne, 28

A man has been convicted of killing his wife after she took her own life following a campaign of domestic abuse, in what is the first prosecution of its kind in Scotland.

Kimberly Milne, 28, died after jumping from a motorway bridge in July 2023. Her husband Lee Milne, 39, from Dundee, had denied culpable homicide and a separate charge of domestic abuse, but was found guilty following a trial.

In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org

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Formula 1 News

Formula 1® - The Official F1® Website

5 of the best young drivers waiting for an F1 chance

F1 TV lead commentator and F1.com analyst Alex Jacques has picked out five of the most exciting young drivers already on the books of Formula 1 teams and just waiting for their big chance…

Inari calling

Matt Straite Photography has added a photo to the pool:

Inari calling

Tempting corridor, is it not? On our last Japan trip my favorite place was Fushimi Inari. I know, I know, that's everyone's favorite place. True, but for a good reason. How can you not live the way the eye is pulled, almost as if by force, into that tunnel? And the colors? How can that not be your favorite. I know its also cheating because the concept is very cultural to the Japanese people, so that gets baked into the image without even trying. However, that too is another reason to love this place.

I know it has been done a million times, but I just can't help myself.

The Register

Biting the hand that feeds IT — Enterprise Technology News and Analysis

BunsenLabs Carbon keeps the CrunchBang flame alive with Debian 13

Release lays the groundwork for going Wayland, if that's your sort of thing

BunsenLabs Linux is a lightweight, Debian-based distro forked from CrunchBang, and seven months after Debian 13 "Trixie" arrived, the project has released its latest version, dubbed Carbon.…

Hubble & Euclid zoom into Cat's Eye Nebula

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

Hubble & Euclid zoom into Cat's Eye Nebula

For this month’s ESA/Hubble Picture of the Month, NASA/ESA's Hubble Space Telescope is joined by ESA’s Euclid to create a new view of the most visually intricate remnants of a dying star: the Cat’s Eye Nebula, also known as NGC 6543.

This extraordinary planetary nebula in the constellation Draco has captivated astronomers for decades with its elaborate and multilayered structure.

Planetary nebulae, so-called because of their round shape when viewed through early telescopes, are in fact expanding gas thrown off by stars in their final stages of evolution. It was the Cat’s Eye Nebula itself where this fact was first discovered in 1864 – examining the spectrum of its light reveals the emission from individual molecules that’s characteristic of a gas, distinguishing planetary nebulae from stars and galaxies.

Here, the nebula is showcased through the combined eyes of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESA’s Euclid, highlighting the remarkable complexity of stellar death.

[Image Description: Two images of a planetary nebula in space. The image to the left, labelled ‘Euclid & Hubble’, shows the whole nebula and its surroundings. A star in the very centre is surrounded by white bubbles and loops of gas, all shining with a powerful blue light. Farther away a broken ring of red and blue gas clouds surrounds the nebula. The background shows many stars and distant galaxies. A white box indicates the centre of the nebula, and this region is the image to the right, labelled ‘Hubble’. It shows the multi-layered bubbles, pointed jets and circular shells of gas that make up the nebula, as well as the central star, in greater detail.]

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Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESA Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/Q1-2025, J.-C. Cuillandre & E. Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay), Z. Tsvetanov

Grounding line retreat on West Antarctica, 1992-2025

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

Grounding line retreat on West Antarctica, 1992-2025

Scientists studying Antarctica have gained new insights into how the world’s biggest ice sheet is reacting to warming sea temperatures. The study uses three decades of radar satellite observations to map changes in grounding lines across the Antarctic continent from 1992 to 2025. It found that grounding lines were stable along more than 77% of Antarctica’s coastline, including major ice shelves such as Ross, Filchner-Ronne and Amery.

However, the research also detected significant retreat in vulnerable regions. These maps zoom in on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and, in particular, around the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers, which are two of the most affected regions.

The study is based on data from several satellite missions including Copernicus Sentinel-1 and ERS.

Read full story

Credits: ESA (data source: Rignot et al, 2026).

Hubble’s new view of the Cat's Eye Nebula

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

Hubble’s new view of the Cat's Eye Nebula

In this new image, NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures the very core of the billowing gas with the High Resolution Channel sub-instrument on its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).

This instrument is optimised for capturing very sharp images of fine details in a small area, such as the complex features at the heart of the Cat’s Eye Nebula.

The data reveal a tapestry of concentric shells, jets of high-speed gas and dense knots sculpted by shock interactions, features that appear almost surreal in their intricacy. These structures are believed to record episodic mass loss from the dying star at the nebula’s centre, creating a kind of cosmic 'fossil record' of its final evolutionary stages.

[Image Description: A star in the very centre is surrounded by white multi-layered bubbles and loops of gas, shining in powerful light blue to magenta colour. The bubbles and circular shells of gas are surrounded by a brown halo, punctuated by red wispy clouds at its top-left and bottom-right.]

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Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, Z. Tsvetanov; CC BY 4.0

Euclid’s wide view of the Cat's Eye Nebula

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

Euclid’s wide view of the Cat's Eye Nebula

In this image, ESA’s Euclid space telescope captures a panoramic view of a dying star: the Cat’s Eye Nebula, also known as NGC 6543.

Though primarily designed to map the distant Universe, Euclid captured the Cat’s Eye Nebula as part of its deep imaging surveys. In Euclid’s wide, near-infrared and visible light view, the arcs and filaments of the nebula’s bright central region are situated within a halo of colourful fragments of gas zooming away from the star.

This ring was ejected from the star at an earlier stage, before the main nebula at the centre formed. The whole nebula stands out against a backdrop teeming with distant galaxies, demonstrating how local astrophysical beauty and the farthest reaches of the cosmos can be seen together in modern astronomical surveys.

[Image Description: A star in the very centre is surrounded by a bright white-blue halo. Farther away a broken ring of red and blue gas clouds surrounds the nebula. The black background is dotted with stars and distant galaxies.]

Read more

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESA Euclid/Euclid Consortium/NASA/Q1-2025, J.-C. Cuillandre & E. Bertin (CEA Paris-Saclay), Z. Tsvetanov

Grounding lines and ice loss around Antarctica, 1992-2025

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

Grounding lines and ice loss around Antarctica, 1992-2025

Scientists studying Antarctica have gained new insights into how the world’s biggest ice sheet is reacting to warming sea temperatures. The study uses three decades of radar satellite observations to map changes in grounding lines across the Antarctic continent from 1992 to 2025. It found that grounding lines were stable along more than 77% of Antarctica’s coastline, including major ice shelves such as Ross, Filchner-Ronne and Amery.

However, the research also detected significant retreat in vulnerable regions. This map shows the areas with most extensive grounded ice retreat are on the West Antarctica side of the continent, with substantial retreat also around the Antarctic Peninsula and on the East Antarctica coast.

The largest detected grounding line retreat was observed along the coast of the Amundsen Sea, in West Antarctica, where the ice withdrew in some places by up to 43 km over the study’s period. The most affected regions were near the East Getz, Smith, Thwaites and Pine Island ice sheets.

The study is based on data from several satellite missions including Copernicus Sentinel-1 and ERS.

Read full story

Credits: ESA (data source: Rignot et al, 2026).

Wel.nl

Minder lezen, Meer weten.

Iraanse media: gebouw van Assemblee van Experts gebombardeerd

QOM (ANP) - Een gebouw van de raad die de nieuwe ayatollah van Iran moet benoemen is gebombardeerd door Israël en de VS, meldt persbureau AFP op basis van lokale media. Na de dood van de hoogste leider van Iran, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, heeft de 88-koppige raad van theologen de taak gekregen om een nieuwe leider te benoemen.

Online gaan niet onafhankelijk te verifiëren beelden rond van een verwoest gebouw waar de zogenoemde Assemblee van Experts samen zou komen. Het zou gaan om een gebouw in de Iraanse stad Qom, ten zuiden van Teheran. Het is niet duidelijk of er mensen in het gebouw aanwezig waren en of het inderdaad door de raad werd gebruikt.

Eerder zei buitenlandminister Abbas Araghchi te hopen dat er binnen enkele dagen een nieuwe hoogste leider zou zijn.