Friday, June 20, 2025

Ransomware gang busted in Thailand hotel raid

As seen online:

“Thai police say that the six men apprehended on the hotel's top floor were employees of the gang, specifically paid to try to infect Chinese companies with ransomware. Nine laptops and 15 mobile devices were seized by the authorities from the men.”

— from Ransomware gang busted in Thailand hotel raid as of 20 June 2025

Škoda Fabia mk3 spare wheel size help - Skoda Fabia Mk3 (2014-2021) - BRISKODA

As seen online:

“The below foam and jack kit for the Fabia MK3 includes everything, except for the actual spare wheel...which you can purchase separately. 

 Thjs kit normally uses the standard Fabia MK3 15" wheel which is 185/60R15 fitted to a 6Jx15 ET38 5/100 57.1 rim...normally steel if it's a spare wheel. 

 The foam and jack kit can be ordered from any VAG parts department by quoting OEM part number 6V0093860B. The Czech price is about £49, but the UK price can be slightly more...perhaps up to 20% more or so. 6V0093860B https://eshop.skoda-auto.cz 

 Google "alcar 7760 mytyres.co.uk" to find a listing on mytyres for an Alcar 7760 6Jx15 ET38 5/100 57.1 steel rim. Currently priced at £43.47 including shipping to the UK from Germany. This is an aftermarket steel rim that exactly matches the original Skoda steel rim. 

Alcar are made in Switzerland, so as you would expect are OE quality. This steel rim can be ordered from mytyres with a fitted tyre of your choice. One option is a Continental UltraContact 185/60R15 84H.”

— from Škoda Fabia mk3 spare wheel size help - Skoda Fabia Mk3 (2014-2021) - BRISKODA as of 20 June 2025

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Opinion | OpenAI Seems to Be Making a Very Familiar, Very Cynical Choice - The New York Times

As seen online:

“Mr. Altman recently claimed that about 10 percent of the world uses the company’s products. That’s a lot for a company whose products have been publicly available for only a few years — but it also means that 90 percent of the world doesn’t. Some people are actively resisting A.I. products like ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. They, like Mr. McNamee, have seen this movie before. This time, they can see what’s coming.”

— from Opinion | OpenAI Seems to Be Making a Very Familiar, Very Cynical Choice - The New York Times as of 18 June 2025

DARPA sets new records for sending power wirelessly

DARPA's wireless laser power relay sets new distance record

https://newatlas.com/military/darpa-sets-new-records-sending-power-without-wires/

Sunday, June 15, 2025

US state-by-state AI legislation snapshot | BCLP - Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

As seen online:

“BCLP actively tracks the proposed, failed and enacted AI regulatory bills from across the United States to help our clients stay informed in this rapidly-changing regulatory landscape. The interactive map will be updated regularly to include legislation that if passed would directly impact a businesses’ development or deployment of AI solutions.”

— from US state-by-state AI legislation snapshot | BCLP - Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner as of 15 June 2025

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Chapter 2: Working With Website Projects | CoffeeCup Software

As seen online:

“We cannot stress enough how important Website Projects are. If used correctly, this tool can make broken links a thing of the past.”

— from Chapter 2: Working With Website Projects | CoffeeCup Software as of 14 June 2025

Monday, June 9, 2025

AI leaders have a new term for the fact that their models are not always so intelligent

AI leaders have a new term for the fact that their models are not always so intelligent

https://www.businessinsider.com/aji-artificial-jagged-intelligence-google-ceo-sundar-pichai-2025-6

Millions of ‘cloud workers’, upon whom AI depends, have no basic labour rights

Millions of 'cloud workers', upon whom AI depends, have no basic labour rights - Raconteur

While the generative AI providers promise an automated future, behind the curtain millions of invisible gig workers are busy completing tasks such as software development, data annotation and content moderation to power said platforms, for little money and without basic workplace protections.

These mostly invisible labourers have been dubbed 'cloud workers' by the Fairwork project, a labour rights organisation hosted at the Oxford Internet Institute. These workers are largely – although not only – located in the global south, poorly paid even by local standards and have next to no labour rights or recourse over bad behaviour from bosses. Globally, according to the World Bank, there may be 435 million of them. 

PechaKucha Presentation: Example

As seen online:

“# slides progressing every # seconds”

— from PechaKucha Presentation: The Labor Behind AI as of 9 June 2025

Friday, June 6, 2025

Make AI Hallucinate Again? What the MAHA Mess Means for Healthcare | Signify Research

As seen online:

“Rather than framework-building, I’m offering a take on some of the key headlines from the last few weeks, and what they say about the state of play in generative AI for healthcare. And let’s just say… it’s been an eventful month.”

— from Make AI Hallucinate Again? What the MAHA Mess Means for Healthcare | Signify Research as of 6 June 2025

Thursday, June 5, 2025

IamA Aryeh Goretsky. Today I'm the Distinguished Reseacher for ESET

As seen online:

“In September 1989, I became John McAfee's first employee at McAfee Associates, where I answered the phone at the kitchen table. Just three years later, in October 1992, the company went public with only about three dozen employees, one of the fastest IPOs at the time, especially given the staff size.”

— from IamA Aryeh Goretsky. Today I'm the Distinguished Reseacher for ESET, but 30 years at 19 years of age, I was John McAfee's first employee at McAfee Associates. AMAA! : r/IAmA as of 5 June 2025

Monday, June 2, 2025

Opinion | AI Is Learning to Escape Human Control

Dancing in the Street — Martha and the Vandellas’ 1964 hit chimed with the times

As seen online:

“Though singer Martha Reeves rejected claims that it was a civil rights anthem, the song projected confidence and power”

— from Dancing in the Street — Martha and the Vandellas’ 1964 hit chimed with the times as of 2 June 2025

Fairly shocking Bluesky thread about AI video from Veo3

Worth watching, deeply troubling:

I’m filled with overwhelming dread at Google’s launch of Veo 3 in Gemini. The amount of harm this AI generator will cause can’t be overstated. If it’s online it’s not to be trusted. Don’t believe your eyes or your ears. This isn’t the future, this is now thanks to Veo 3

[image or embed]

— Katherine T. Tyson (@katherinettyson.bsky.social) June 1, 2025 at 1:51 PM

Sunday, June 1, 2025

Yes to Transfer: 82% of Jewish Israelis Back Expelling Gazans - Israel News - Haaretz.com

As seen online:

“The poll also found that a significant minority supports the mass killing of civilians in enemy cities captured by the Israeli army.”

— from Yes to Transfer: 82% of Jewish Israelis Back Expelling Gazans - Israel News - Haaretz.com as of 1 June 2025

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Friday, May 30, 2025

AI now making podcasts?

Back in 2016 I wrote a paper about the cyber security skills gap. In 2025 somebody told an AI to make a podcast about that paper. I didn't ask anybody to do that and the results were appalling, as you can hear here in this copy of the recording.


In short, the words are delivered in a casual, chatty style with a seemingly random use of colloquialisms.

AI model collapse is not what we paid for

Thursday, May 29, 2025

Cryptocurrency is making lots of noise, literally - CBS News

Cryptocurrency is making lots of noise, literally - CBS News:

As seen online:

“But all those computers burn staggering amounts of power—and make a lot of noise. Last year, Arkansas passed what's become known as the "Right to Mine" bill. It prevents local communities from regulating these operations.”

— from Cryptocurrency is making lots of noise, literally - CBS News as of 29 May 2025

Saturday, May 24, 2025

Friday, May 23, 2025

Deye deactivates solar inverters in USA, UK and PakistanBorn's Tech and Windows World

Deye deactivates solar inverters in USA, UK and PakistanBorn's Tech and Windows World

Excerpt: ″The conclusion at the time was that the manufacturer Deye has access to the inverters and can change them. I did not make this up out of thin air, but Deye indirectly confirmed this to me as an aid for users with the following instructions: 

Please have your inverter online so that Deye can perform remote diagnostics. 

 I wrote in the blog post "This was the first (unsurprising but) official confirmation that the manufacturer Deye can access the inverters via the cloud connection and manipulate their firmware and the parameters stored there (see also this German comment by Karsten H.). It is also possible to shut down the inverter. ″

Source: borncity.com

EcoFlow | Power a New World | About Us | EcoFlow UK

EcoFlow | Power a New World | About Us | EcoFlow UK

Excerpt: ″Our vision is to power a new world. It's a call to the future—an aspirational, technology-driven, eco-friendly future shared by everyone.″

Source: ecoflow.com

EcoFlow STREAM Plug & Play Solar System | EcoFlow UK - EcoFlow UK

EcoFlow STREAM Plug & Play Solar System | EcoFlow UK - EcoFlow UK

Excerpt: ″Capture sunlight and instantly transform it into usable electricity for your home. Starting from £399″

Source: uk.ecoflow.com

Thursday, May 22, 2025

The Google sites are here...

 Google Sites: Excerpt: 

″This is where the sites are.″

Source: sites.google.com

Change Your Story, Change Your World | David Sloly | TEDxBristol - YouTube

Change Your Story, Change Your World | David Sloly | TEDxBristol - YouTube

Excerpt: ″We all experience life’s highs and lows, and so we all have a great story inside us, bursting to get out. In this lively talk for TEDxBristol, David Sloy helps us unlock our inner storyteller.″

Source: youtube.com

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

How Does a Hovercraft Work? | Science Project

How Does a Hovercraft Work? | Science Project

Excerpt: ″This image on the left shows a modern style hovercraft which carries passengers over the surface of the water, while the diagram on the left shows how the air vents moving through the hovercraft create the air cushion below the craft for movement using the following labels: 1) propellers, 2) air currents, 3) fan, and 4) flexible skirt. (Wikipedia, 2007)″

Source: sciencebuddies.org

Monday, May 19, 2025

Designrr and Ebook via ChatGPT

Designrr Special Offer

Excerpt: ″Transform Your Knowledge And Experience Into Profitable eBooks |  For more Sales, Leads And Customer Engagement | Become an Author | Establish Yourself As An Expert | Create Information Products You Can Sell For Passive Profits | All done quickly and easily. | No Design or Technical skills necessary.″

✅ To convert to EPUB:

  1. Upload the DOCX file to:

  2. Choose EPUB as the output format and download your e-book.

Source: go2.designrr.io

Sunday, May 18, 2025

teaching and learning

So, last week I completed my AI and cybersecurity training project, a three hour class delivered online, and as with any teaching experience it was also a learning experience. Just putting into words the concepts you're trying to convey to students can, in and of itself lead you to new ideas, new insights into the subject matter. So I'll be working on some of those new ideas and insights in the weeks ahead. I'm looking forward to doing more teaching and learning and sharing it with you.


Bruce Springsteen Vote for Change tour, Orlando on October 8, 2004

Bruce Springsteen Concert Setlist at TD Waterhouse Centre, Orlando on October 8, 2004 | setlist.fm:

Excerpt: ″at TD Waterhouse Centre, Orlando, FL, USA ″ We were there!

Source: setlist.fm

Saturday, May 17, 2025

Trump’s War on Measurement Means Losing Data on Drug Use and other vital stuff

Trump Halts Data Collection on Drug Use, Maternal Mortality, Climate Change, More — 

Ada – check your health on the App Store

Ada – check your health on the App Store

Excerpt: ″Get a health check for yourself and your relatives. You can check your symptoms online 24/7 and find out possible causes. Whatever's bothering you, from pain, headache, or anxiety to allergy or food intolerance, the free Ada app (symptom checker) could help you find answers from the comfort of your home.″

Source: apps.apple.com

Climate Milestone: Earth's CO2 Level Passes 400 ppm

Climate Milestone: Earth's CO2 Level Passes 400 ppm: Excerpt: ″The last time the concentration of Earth's main greenhouse gas reached this mark, horses and camels lived in the high Arctic. Seas were at least 9.1 meters (30 feet higher)—at a level that today would inundate major cities around the world.″

Source: education.nationalgeographic.org

OpenAI Just Released a Coding Tool to 'Help' Programmers (Replace Their Jobs, Probably)

OpenAI Just Released a Coding Tool to 'Help' Programmers (Replace Their Jobs, Probably)

Excerpt: ″that Codex was engineered to somehow “identify and precisely refuse requests aimed at development of malicious software, while clearly distinguishing and supporting legitimate tasks.” It’s not exactly clear what those safeguards are.″

Source: gizmodo.com

Georeferenced Maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland

Georeferenced Maps viewer - Map images - National Library of Scotland

Excerpt: ″Very cool maps overlays - past and present″

Source: maps.nls.uk

Thursday, May 15, 2025

New study shows Fibromyalgia likely the result of autoimmune problems | King's College London

New study shows Fibromyalgia likely the result of autoimmune problems | King's College London:

Excerpt: ″The King's-led study, in collaboration with University of Liverpool and the Karolinska Institute, shows that many of the symptoms in fibromyalgia syndrome are caused by antibodies increasing the activity of pain-sensing nerves″

Source: kcl.ac.uk

BlueGriffon

BlueGriffon

Excerpt: ″The next-gen Web and EPUB Editor based on the rendering engine of Firefox″

Source: bluegriffon-epubedition.com

Here’s How Much Trump’s “Free” Qatar Private Jet Will Cost Americans

Here's How Much Trump's "Free" Qatar Private Jet Will Cost Americans | The New Republic
https://newrepublic.com/post/195172/donald-trump-qatar-private-jet-cost-americans

Inside the Verizon 2025 DBIR: Five Trends That Signal a Shift in the Cyber Threat Economy - SecurityWeek

Inside the Verizon 2025 DBIR: Five Trends That Signal a Shift in the Cyber Threat Economy - SecurityWeek

Excerpt: ″Infostealers and ransomware now operate as part of a coordinated threat supply chain, increasingly enabled by traffic distribution systems and malicious adtech infrastructure.″

Source: securityweek.com