Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the absent-minded department: The US has seen a significant increase in student absenteeism since the pandemic closed schools four years ago, with an estimated 26% of public school students considered chronically absent in the last school year, up from 15% before the pandemic, according to data from 40 states and Washington, D.C. A report adds: The increases have occurred in districts big and small, and across income and race. For districts in wealthier areas, chronic absenteeism rates have about doubled, to 19 percent in the 2022-23 school year from 10 percent before the pandemic, a New York Times analysis of the data found. Poor communities, which started with elevated rates of student absenteeism, are facing an even bigger crisis: Around 32 percent of students in the poorest districts were chronically absent in the 2022-23 school year, up from 19 percent before the pandemic. Even districts that reopened quickly during the pandemic, in fall 2020, have seen vast increases.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, now on the board of ChatGPT developer OpenAI, believes that while AI has the potential to revolutionize the economy, its impact will take time to materialize. However, Summers maintains that AI could be the biggest economic development since the Industrial Revolution, eventually replacing most forms of human labor, particularly cognitive tasks. He said: "If one takes a view over the next generation, this could be the biggest thing that has happened in economic history since the Industrial Revolution,"he added. "This offers the prospect of not replacing some forms of human labor, but almost all forms of human labor."

From building homes to making medical diagnoses, Summers predicted that AI will eventually be able to do nearly every human job, particularly white collar workers' "cognitive labor."
Posted by Kenneth Shepard from Kotaku
I’ve had more than a month to consider Final Fantasy VII Rebirth’s ending, and it’s not often that my feelings about something get worse with each passing day. Yet, here I am, thinking about how Square Enix has chosen to cap off the middle section of its planned Remake trilogy, and I’m even more puzzled by how hard Reb…

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by Willa Rowe from Kotaku
One week after Dragon’s Dogma 2’s March 22 launch, Capcom has released the first update to the game. Update 1.050 adds a handful of features to Capcom’s action RPG including one of the most requested options since launch, the ability to start a new game when save data already exists.

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the what-could-go-wrong department: An anonymous reader shares a report: Mutterings of alarm are emerging from the cloisters of Red Hat after the world's largest management consultancy was hired to help the IBM subsidiary focus engineers on their highest-value work. Red Hat confirmed the partnership with McKinsey & Company to The Reg, sharing this extract from an email from CTO Chris Wright to the Global Engineering Team:

"Hey everyone -- as I mentioned during the recent Q1 All Hands, my goal is to have Global Engineering recognized as the world's greatest open-source software engineering organization. This team is already doing amazing work, and we have several initiatives in progress to help us achieve the goal I've set. One of those is a partnership with McKinsey. The objective of this project is to help us understand and incorporate learnings on working models, development practices, and tooling from across the software industry.

"We've heard your feedback in person, during All Hands, and through RHAS [the annual Red Hat Associate Survey]. This project will help us to identify and remove mundane tasks that drain your energy so that you can focus on the most engaging and highest value work â" to make your job better. The work with McKinsey is one piece of the overall plan to help us become the world's greatest open-source software engineering organization"
Posted by Claire Jackson from Kotaku
It’s nearly April. Where does the time go? Whether this year is flying or crawling by for you, we’re looking at another four weeks of new game releases. April arrives with a number of familiar releases landing on new platforms, some interesting new exclusives, and the video game adaptation of the late Akira Toriyama’s

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the it's-about-time department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from GamingOnLinux: After repeatedly suffering issues with scam apps making it onto the Snap Store, Canonical maker of Ubuntu Linux have now decided to manually look over submissions. I've covered the issues with the Snap Store a few times now like on March 19th when ten scam crypto apps appeared, got taken down and then reappeared under a different publisher. Also earlier back in February there was an issue where a user actually lost their wallet as a result of a fake app. Multiple fake apps were also put up back in October last year as well, so it was a repeating issue that really needed dealing with properly.

So to try and do something about it, Canonical's Holly Hall has posted on their Discourse forum about how "The Store team and other engineering teams within Canonical have been continuously monitoring new snaps that are being registered, to detect potentially malicious actors" and that they will now do manual reviews whenever people try to register "a new snap name." On top of that soon they will also be releasing a new policy regarding "crypto-wallet and other sensitive snaps" with "guidelines for how to publish such a snap." Currently all of this is not supposed to be long-term, as it's an evolving situation.
Posted by Joe Moore from The Toyark


The latest kaiju from the MonsterVerse has been announced as new figure from Hiya Toys. They have posted the product page for their upcoming Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – Shimo Figure. Shimo is a reptilian ice Titan, that ...

The post Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire – Shimo Figure by Hiya Toys appeared first on The Toyark - News.
Posted by Joe Moore from The Toyark


A new version of Vegeta from Dragon Ball Super has been announced by Tamashii Nations. The S.H. Figuarts Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Vegeta -Unwavering Saiyan Pride- Figure will go up for pre-order next week as a general retail release. ...

The post Dragon Ball Super – S.H. Figuarts Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan Vegeta appeared first on The Toyark - News.
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the time-to-migrate department: Lyle Smith reports via StorageReview.com: Proxmox has introduced a new import wizard for Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE), aiming to simplify the migration process for importing VMware ESXi VMs. This new feature comes at an important time in the industry, as it aims to ease the transition for these organizations looking to move away from VMware's vSphere due to high renewal costs.

The new import wizard is integrated into Proxmox VE's existing storage plugin system, allowing for direct integration into the platform's API and web-based user interface. It offers users the ability to import VMware ESXi VMs in their entirety, translating most of the original VM's configuration settings to Proxmox VE's configuration model (all while minimizing downtime). Currently, the import wizard is in a technical preview state, having been added during the Proxmox VE 8.2 development cycle. Although it is still under active development, early reports suggest the wizard is stable and holds considerable promise for future enhancements, including the planned addition of support for other import sources like OVF/OVA files. [...]

This tool represents Proxmox's commitment to providing accessible, open-source virtualization solutions. By leveraging the official ESXi API and implementing a user space filesystem with optimized read-ahead caching in Rust (a safe, fast, and modern programming language ideal for system-level tasks), Proxmox aims to ensure that this new feature can be integrated smoothly into its broader ecosystem.
MPG-09 Super Ginrai First Look 2024-03-29 02:25:02
Posted by Mechafire from TFW2005


Thanks to TFW member Zodiac1968340, we now have a first look at MPG-09 Super Ginrai! This is an alternate version of the toy colors MP-60 Ginrai we had seen yesterday that comes in anime colors and includes the trailer. As a bonus, thanks to TFW member Ratchet2007 we have a Google translated version of the image. Check it out and stay tuned for more news on this!

The post MPG-09 Super Ginrai First Look appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the breach-of-confidentiality department: Apple has sued its former employee Andrew Aude for leaking information about more than a half-dozen Apple products and policies, including its then-unannounced Journal app and Vision Pro headset, product development policies, strategies for regulatory compliance, employee headcounts, and more. MacRumors reports: Aude joined Apple as an iOS software engineer in 2016, shortly after graduating college. He worked on optimizing battery performance, making him "privy to information regarding dozens of Apple's most sensitive projects," according to the complaint. In April 2023, for example, Apple alleges that Aude leaked a list of finalized features for the iPhone's Journal app to a journalist at The Wall Street Journal on a phone call. That same month, The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley published a report titled "Apple Plans iPhone Journaling App in Expansion of Health Initiatives."

Using the encrypted messaging app Signal, Aude is said to have sent "over 1,400" messages to the same journalist, who Aude referred to as "Homeboy." He is also accused of sending "over 10,000 text messages" to another journalist at the website The Information, and he allegedly traveled "across the continent" to meet with her. Other leaks relate to the Vision Pro and other hardware: "As another example, an October 2020 screenshot on Mr. Aude's Apple-issued work iPhone shows that he disclosed Apple's development of products within the spatial computing space to a non-Apple employee. Mr. Aude made this disclosure even though Apple's development efforts were confidential and not known to the public. Over the following months, Mr. Aude disclosed additional Apple confidential information -- including information concerning unannounced products, and hardware information."

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the garbage-lasagna department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from the New York Times: They're vast expanses that can be as big as towns: open landfills where household waste ends up, whether it's vegetable scraps or old appliances. These landfills also belch methane, a powerful, planet-warming gas, on average at almost three times the rate reported to federal regulators, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

For the new study, scientists gathered data from airplane flyovers using a technology called imaging spectrometers designed to measure concentrations of methane in the air. Between 2018 and 2022, they flew planes over 250 sites across 18 states, about 20 percent of the nation's open landfills. At more than half the landfills they surveyed, researchers detected emissions hot spots, or sizable methane plumes that sometimes lasted months or years. That suggested something had gone awry at the site, like a big leak of trapped methane from layers of long-buried, decomposing trash, the researchers said.

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the murky-path-ahead department: The Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan has won a $1.5 billion conditional federal loan to reopen after being closed for decommissioning in 2022. Canary Media reports: If the loan is granted (subject to Holtec meeting closing conditions) and the 800-megawatt reactor located on Lake Michigan is repowered, it would be the first nuclear plant in the U.S. to reopen after being closed for decommissioning. Surprisingly, it would be just the second or third reactor to restart in the history of global civil nuclear power, according to Mycle Schneider, lead author of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2023, in an interview with Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Holtec purchased Palisades a month after it shut down with plans to mothball the site, but plans changed. Now the firm, which specializes in nuclear waste management and decommissioning (as opposed to rebuilding and operating nuclear plants), intends to revive the plant instead. Holtec plans to get the power plant restarted by the end of 2025, a breathtakingly aspirational target given nuclear's history of missing construction and cost targets. The Palisades plant was closed by utility Entergy in May 2022 due to financial issues after operating for more than a half-century. And while the plant had a strong operational performance record in recent years, it also has a sobering history of shutdowns due to failures of critical equipment, as well as broken fuel rods and fuel-spill incidents. The site was shut down for the final time a few days ahead of schedule due to concerns about the reliability of a key piece of equipment.

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by from MMO Champion
Cataclysm Classic Development Notes and Known Issues - March 28, 2024

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Today, we’ve updated the Cataclysm Beta to build 53973, which includes the 80-85 Cataclysm leveling experience, the character copy function, and templates to get you straight into the endgame.

At this time, the following features have been added:

Level 80-85 zones are unlocked.

Vash’jir (Level 80-82)

Mount Hyjal (Level 80-82)

Deepholm (82-83)

Uldum (83-84)

Twilight Highlands (84-85)

Leveling Dungeons

Level 80 players will begin to gain experience.

Character copy

Archaeology

The following features are still a work-in-progress, and are unavailable for now:

Reforging

Transmogrification

Guild system updates

Dungeon Journal

LFD

Tol Barad

We’re currently tracking the following known issues:

Questing

The cinematic doesn’t play properly during “The Eye of the Storm”, causing the player to be stuck for ~4 minutes without being able to interact with the questgiver.

The quest “Be Raptor” is not completable.

Some cinematics don’t play properly, requiring players to Esc out of them.

Class & Combat:

Players can still learn some weapon skills.

Resistances aren’t calculating properly.

Druid - The Euphoria proc rate when casting Starfire and Wrat is significantly lower than it should be.

Druid - Mangle (cat & bear) are unlearned on logout.

Druid – Rejuvenation is doing significantly lower healing than it should.

Death Knight – Raise Dead doesn’t raise a ghoul

Death Knight - Rune Tap does not activate a rune immediately.

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the how'd-that-get-there department: Tobias Mann reports via The Register: Cloud server provider Vultr has rapidly revised its terms-of-service after netizens raised the alarm over broad clauses that demanded the "perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free" rights to customer "content." The red tape was updated in January, as captured by the Internet Archive, and this month users were asked to agree to the changes by a pop-up that appeared when using their web-based Vultr control panel. That prompted folks to look through the terms, and there they found clauses granting the US outfit a "worldwide license ... to use, reproduce, process, adapt ... modify, prepare derivative works, publish, transmit, and distribute" user content.

It turned out these demands have been in place since before the January update; customers have only just noticed them now. Given Vultr hosts servers and storage in the cloud for its subscribers, some feared the biz was giving itself way too much ownership over their stuff, all in this age of AI training data being put up for sale by platforms. In response to online outcry, largely stemming from Reddit, Vultr in the past few hours rewrote its ToS to delete those asserted content rights. CEO J.J. Kardwell told The Register earlier today it's a case of standard legal boilerplate being taken out of context. The clauses were supposed to apply to customer forum posts, rather than private server content, and while, yes, the terms make more sense with that in mind, one might argue the legalese was overly broad in any case.

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the what-to-expect department: Starting next month, Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses will support multimodal AI features to perform translation, along with object, animal, and monument identification. The Verge reports: Users can activate the glasses' smart assistant by saying "Hey Meta," and then saying a prompt or asking a question. It will then respond through the speakers built into the frames. The NYT offers a glimpse at how well Meta's AI works when taking the glasses for a spin in a grocery store, while driving, at museums, and even at the zoo.

Although Meta's AI was able to correctly identify pets and artwork, it didn't get things right 100 percent of the time. The NYT found that the glasses struggled to identify zoo animals that were far away and behind cages. It also didn't properly identify an exotic fruit, called a cherimoya, after multiple tries. As for AI translations, the NYT found that the glasses support English, Spanish, Italian, French, and German.
Posted by Paladin from Tokunation


The next entry in the Shinkocchou Seihou branch of the SH Figuarts toyline has been announced! 1974’s Kamen Rider X will be receiving a new release, with his signature Ridol Whip & Stick. Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider X is tentatively scheduled for release in October 2024 with a price of 9900 Yen before shipping and handling.

The post SH Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider X Revealed appeared first on Tokunation.
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the behind-the-scenes department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Do you remember Facebook Watch? Me neither. Mark Zuckerberg's short-lived streaming service never really got off the ground, but court filings unsealed in Meta's antitrust lawsuit claim "Watch" was kneecapped starting in 2018 to protect Zuckerberg's advertising relationship with Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. "For nearly a decade, Netflix and Facebook enjoyed a special relationship," said plaintiffs in filings (PDF) made public on Saturday. "It is no great mystery how this close partnership developed, and who was its steward: from 2011-2019, Netflix's then-CEO Hastings sat on Facebook's board and personally directed the companies' relationship"

The filings detail Hastings' uncomfortably close relationship with Meta's upper management, including Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. During these years, Netflix was allegedly granted special access to Facebook users' private message inboxes, among other privileged analytics tools, in exchange for hundred-million-dollar advertising deals. This gave Facebook greater dominance in its all-important ad division, plaintiffs allege, so the company was fine to retreat from Netflix's streaming territory by shuttering Watch. In 2017, Facebook Watch began signing deals to populate its streaming service with original TV Shows from movie stars such as Bill Murray. A year later, the service attempted to license the popular '90s TV show Dawson's Creek. Facebook Watch had meaningful reach on the home screen of the social media platform, and an impressive budget as well. Facebook and Netflix appeared ready to butt heads in the streaming world, and the Netflix cofounder found himself in the middle as a Facebook board member. [...]

< This article continues on their website >
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the sanctions-clamp-down department: According to Bloomberg, the U.S. and U.K. are investigating more than $20 billion worth of USDT transactions that have passed through Garantex, a Russia-based crypto exchange. Milk Road reports: If confirmed, the $20 billion in transactions would represent one of the most significant breaches of the sanctions imposed on Russia since the conflict began. However, the sources cautioned that the inquiries are ongoing and that it is too early to draw conclusions given the complexity of crypto transactions. They also noted that there was no immediate suggestion of wrongdoing by Tether.

Key points:

- The transactions under scrutiny were conducted using Tether (USDT).
- The US and UK sanctioned Garantex on suspicion of facilitating financial crimes and illicit transactions in Russia.
- The $20 billion USDT transactions would represent one of the biggest breaches of sanctions imposed on Russia since the start of the war.
- Tether froze assets of entities on the U.S. sanctions list.
© Z-R0E