Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the life-changing-tech department: New submitter MicroBitz shares a report: SPROUT, short for Soft Pathfinding Robotic Observation Unit, is a flexible, vine-like robot developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame. Unlike rigid robots or static cameras, SPROUT can "grow" into tight, winding spaces that are otherwise inaccessible, giving first responders a new way to explore, map and assess collapsed structures. Beyond disaster response, the technology could be adapted for inspecting military systems or critical infrastructure in hard-to-reach places, making SPROUT a versatile tool for a variety of high-stakes scenarios. "The urban search-and-rescue environment can be brutal and unforgiving, where even the most hardened technology struggles to operate. The fundamental way a vine robot works mitigates a lot of the challenges that other platforms face," says Chad Council, a member of the SPROUT team, which is led by Nathaniel Hanson.

"The mechanical performance of the robots has an immediate effect, but the real goal is to rethink the way sensors are used to enhance situational awareness for rescue teams," adds Hanson. "Ultimately, we want SPROUT to provide a complete operating picture to teams before anyone enters a rubble pile."

You can see the SPROUT vine robot in action in a YouTube video from MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

Posted by AzT from TFW2005


Prepare your AMA (Ask Me Anything) questions for legendary artist and author Bob Budiansky: Visit https://reddit.com/r/comicbooks/ tomorrow at 11am PT / 2pm ET to ask YOUR questions to the writer who built the very identities of your favorite Transformers. Discuss the current Transformers Compendium Set Kickstarter campaign with fellow readers on the 2005 boards!

The post Skybound’s Transformers, Compendium Set Kickstarter: Bob Budiansky Reddit AMA appeared first on Transformer World 2005 - TFW2005.COM.

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the surveillance-tech department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee police are mulling a trade: 2.5 million mugshots for free use of facial recognition technology. Officials from the Milwaukee Police Department say swapping the photos with the software firm Biometrica will lead to quicker arrests and solving of crimes. But that benefit is unpersuasive for those who say the trade is startling, due to the concerns of the surveillance of city residents and possible federal agency access. "We recognize the very delicate balance between advancement in technology and ensuring we as a department do not violate the rights of all of those in this diverse community," Milwaukee Police Chief of Staff Heather Hough said during an April 17 meeting.

For the first time, Milwaukee police officials detailed their plans to use the facial recognition technology during a meeting of the city's Fire and Police Commission, the oversight body for those departments. In the past, the department relied on facial recognition technology belonging to neighboring police agencies. In an April 24 email, Hough said the department has not entered into an agreement with any facial recognition and the department intends to continue engaging the public before doing so. The department will discuss it at a future meeting of the city's Public Safety and Health Committee next, she said. "While we would like to acquire the technology to assist in solving cases, being transparent with the community that we serve far outweighs the urgency to acquire," she said in an email.

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Posted by Randall Munroe from XKCD
It's important to learn the moves that take you into the vortex, but it's best not to study vortex itself too closely. Even grandmasters who have built up a tolerance lose the ability to play for a few hours after studying it.

Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
Earlier this month, A Minecraft Movie hit theaters to mixed reviews but massive box office returns. However, a viral trend led to younger people and adults screaming at certain points in the movie, tossing popcorn, and even bringing real chickens to screenings. Warner Bros. has taken notice of the chaos is now…

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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the follow-the-money department: Onchain investigator ZachXBT flagged a suspicious $330.7 million Bitcoin transfer that was quickly laundered into Monero, causing XMR's price to spike by 50%. CoinTelegraph reports: The transaction, reported on April 28, saw funds moved from a potential victim's wallet to the address bc1qcry...vz55g. Following the transfer, the stolen stash was quickly laundered through over six instant exchanges and swapped into privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero. The large-scale conversion led to a 50% spike in XMR's price with the token reaching an intraday high of $339, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

At the time of writing, XMR has settled slightly but remains up 25% in the past 24 hours, trading at $289. When asked whether North Korea's Lazarus Group was behind the attack, ZachXBT dismissed the theory, stating it was "highly probable it's not," suggesting independent hackers were responsible. "While there are concerns of more criminals moving to privacy coins for anonymity, the vast majority of criminal activity still uses mainstream cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins," Chainalysis said. "Cryptocurrency is only useful if you can buy and sell goods and services or cash out into fiat, and that is much more difficult with privacy coins, especially as many mainstream exchanges have offboarded the use of privacy coins, such as Monero."

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the closer-look department: Three Democratic senators are sounding the alarm over brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies' ability to collect -- and potentially sell -- our neural data. From a report: In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Maria Cantwell (D-IN), and Ed Markey (D-MA) called for an investigation into neurotechnology companies' handling of user data, and for tighter regulations on their data-sharing policies. "Unlike other personal data, neural data -- captured directly from the human brain -- can reveal mental health conditions, emotional states, and cognitive patterns, even when anonymized," the letter reads. "This information is not only deeply personal; it is also strategically sensitive."

Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the to-be-continued department: The sale of bankrupt DNA data bank 23andMe is delayed as the company struggles to secure a lead bidder who can meet regulatory and privacy requirements, pushing the initial auction deadline from Friday to Monday. Seeking Alpha reports: 23andMe Holdings (OTC:MEHCQ), currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, is requiring that any potential bidders for the company's assets "guaranty that they will comply with the Company's privacy policies and applicable law." The genetics company said this is necessary to protect customers' data.

In addition, bidders will need to submit documentation of their intended use of any data, describe the privacy programs and security controls they have in place or would implement, and say whether they would ask for current privacy policies to be amended. 23andMe has also filed a motion asking for the appointment of an independent customer Data representative to review whether a proposed deal is in alignment with the company's privacy policies and data privacy laws.

Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
The Nintendo Wii was the best place to play Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, so its only fitting that its successor would eventually land back on a Nintendo console. It now seems all but inevitable that Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, one of the biggest games of last year, will arrive on Switch 2 in its first 12…

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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the financial-challenges department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Here's an easy to understand example of how Donald Trump's tariffs on imported products have completely screwed small U.S. businesses and entrepreneurs: the crowdfunding site Kickstarter is introducing a "Tariff Manager tool" that will allow creators to add extra charges to projects that were already fully funded in order to deal with the higher and unexpected costs of the president's global trade war. "Over the past few weeks, we've been hard at work developing tariff-relevant resources to support our community. From guidance to help creators navigate rapidly changing policies, to tips on shipping logistics, and even information to help backers better understand the challenges creators are facing. Our focus has been supporting you through uncertain times, but we also know that information alone isn't always enough," Kickstarter said in a blog post published last week announcing the Tariff Manager tool. "Built specifically to address the financial challenges posed by U.S. import tariffs, Kickstarter's Tariff Manager is designed to give creators more control, flexibility, and transparency at one of the most critical phases of your journey: fulfillment."

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Posted by Simon Estey from Kotaku
Towards the end of Clair Obsure: Expedition 33’s powerful prologue, the protagonist Gustave will find himself at a party before he and his team set out on their titular journey. You may also notice there are three stalls each selling a specific good in exchange for one token. Gustave only has one token, so you may…

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Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
This weekend’s box office was strange. Sinners, a high-budget live-action original horror movie, did something that has become pretty rare these days—maintained its success. Meanwhile, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, a 20-year-old sci-fi flick, returned to dominate in a way re-rereleases never do. In a…

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Posted by from MMO Champion
Mythic Dungeon International 2025 Trailer

The Mythic Dungeon International returns this weekend on May 2nd with livestreams on both Twitch and YouTube! Check out the trailer for The War Within Season 2!

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the shape-of-things-to-come department: Huawei is gearing up to test its newest and most powerful AI processor, which the company hopes could replace some higher-end products of U.S. chip giant Nvidia. From a WSJ report: Huawei has approached some Chinese tech companies about testing the technical feasibility of the new chip, called the Ascend 910D, people familiar with the matter said. The company is slated to receive the first batch of samples of the processor as soon as late May, some of the people said.

The development is still at an early stage, and a series of tests will be needed to assess the chip's performance and get it ready for customers, the people said. Huawei hopes that the latest iteration of its Ascend AI processors will be more powerful than Nvidia's H100, a popular chip used for AI training that was released in 2022, said one of the people. Previous versions are called 910B and 910C.

Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
The Pokémon series is currently in the midst of an unprecedented drought. The franchise recently broke its previous record for the longest gap between new entries, and Pokémon Legends: Z-A isn’t due out on Switch until “late 2025.” Fortunately, a bunch of existing Pokémon games are currently on sale over at Woot, in…

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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Researchers claiming affiliation with the University of Zurich secretly deployed AI-powered bots in a popular Reddit forum to test whether AI could change users' minds on contentious topics. The unauthorized experiment, which targeted the r/changemyview subreddit, involved bots making over 1,700 comments across several months while adopting fabricated identities including a sexual assault survivor, a Black man opposing Black Lives Matter, and a domestic violence shelter worker.

The researchers "personalized" comments by analyzing users' posting histories to infer demographic information. The researchers, who remain anonymous despite inquiries, claimed their bots were "consistently well-received," garnering over 20,000 upvotes and 137 "deltas" -- awards indicating successful opinion changes. Hundreds of bot comments were deleted following the disclosure.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the how-about-that department: Inventor James Dyson described his career as "a life of failure" in a recent Wall Street Journal interview, citing setbacks as drivers of innovation. The 77-year-old creator of the bagless vacuum cleaner, who built a $16.8 billion fortune according to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, created 5,127 prototypes over five years before successfully launching his signature product in 1993. "If something works, it's less challenging, it's less interesting," Dyson said. "If something's gone wrong, you want to know why it's gone wrong, and it's a learning process."

Dyson's company abandoned its electric vehicle project in 2019 despite investing over $600 million, concluding it wasn't commercially viable. The prototype now sits prominently at the company's Singapore headquarters. "I had to be pragmatic about it and say it's too risky for us to do, which is a shame because I loved doing it," Dyson said.

Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the big-dreams department: IBM announced plans to invest $150 billion in the United States over the next five years, with more than $30 billion earmarked specifically for research and development of mainframes and quantum computing technology. The investment follows similar commitments from tech giants including Apple and Nvidia -- each pledging approximately $500 billion -- in the wake of President Trump's election and tariff threats.

"We have been focused on American jobs and manufacturing since our founding 114 years ago," said IBM CEO Arvind Krishna in a statement. The company currently manufactures its mainframe systems in upstate New York and plans to continue designing and assembling quantum computers domestically. The announcement comes amid challenging circumstances for IBM, which recently saw 15 government contracts shelved under the Trump administration's cost-cutting initiatives.

Further reading: IBM US Cuts May Run Deeper Than Feared - and the Jobs Are Heading To India;
IBM Now Has More Employees In India Than In the US (2017).

Posted by Zack Zwiezen from Kotaku
A greatest hits collection of Star Wars PC games are currently on sale right now on GOG, just a few days ahead of May the 4th. And some are now part of an awesome preservation program that will help keep them playable for years to come.

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Posted by Ethan Gach from Kotaku
Grand Theft Auto V’s latest PlayStation Plus tour is about to end. Rockstar Games’ perennial bestseller (over 210 million copies to date) is leaving the subscription library after just six months, ahead of Grand Theft Auto VI’s arrival sometime in the fall. But it’s not the only big name departing in May. Some other…

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