Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the you-don't-say department: Qatar is gifting Trump a $400 million luxury 747 to serve as a temporary Air Force One, but experts warn that retrofitting it to meet presidential security standards could take years, cost hundreds of millions more, and risk national security due to potential embedded surveillance. The Register's Iain Thomson reports: The current VC-25s aren't just repainted 747s. They're a pair of flying fortresses that must be capable of allowing the president to run the country, survive wartime conditions (even nuclear), and be totally secure from outside influence or intrusion. While the precise details of the current airframe are a tightly guarded secret, some details are included on government fact sheets or have been revealed in various media reports. For a start, it must have an in-flight refueling capability so the president can go anywhere in the world and stay up as long as needed. Retrofitting this to an existing 747 would be very expensive, as the feds would need to strengthen portions of the hull to handle the refueling system and reconfigure the fuel tanks to handle trim issues.
Then there's the hull, which is known to be armored, and the windows are also thicker than you'd find on a normal flight. The government would also need to build in weapons systems like the chaff rockets used against radar-guided missiles, flares against heat seekers, and AN/ALQ-204 Matador Infrared Countermeasure systems, or similar to try and confuse incoming missiles. Next up, the engines and electrical systems would have to be replaced. The electronics in the current VC-25s are hardened as much as possible against an electromagnetic pulse that would be generated by a nuclear detonation. There are also claims that the aircraft have extra shielding in the engines to help against missile fragments should a physical attack happen.
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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the we'll-see-about-that department: According to Rest of the World, a major confrontation between Meta and the local authorities in Nigeria is currently taking place: "Local authorities have fined Meta $290 million for regulatory breaches, prompting the social media giant to threaten pulling Facebook and Instagram from the country." Techdirt reports: As with earlier EU fines imposed on the company, the sticking point is Meta's refusal to comply with local privacy laws [...]. The fine itself is small change for Meta, which had a net income of $62 billion on a turnover of $165 billion in 2024, and a market capitalization of $1.5 trillion. Meta's current revenues in Nigeria are relatively small, but its market shares are high: "According to social media performance tracker Napoleoncat, Meta has a massive presence in the country, with Facebook alone reaching about 51.2 million users as of May 2024, more than a fifth of the population. Instagram had 12.6 million Nigerian users as of November 2023, while WhatsApp had about 51 million users, making Nigeria the 10th largest market globally for the messaging app."
Since many Nigerians depend on Meta's platforms, the company might be hoping that there will be public pressure on the government not to impose the fine in order to avoid a shutdown of its services there. But it is hard to see Meta carrying out its threat to walk away from a country expected to be the third most populous nation in the world by 2050. In 2100, the population of Nigeria could reach 541 million according to current projections.
Posted by from MMO Champion
Patch 11.1.7 PTR - Build 60799
Build 60799 will be deployed to the Public Test Realms soon.
Legacy of Arathor 11.1.7 PTR Development Notes
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Here are this week’s updates to the Legacy of Arathor 11.1.7 PTR:
The Greedy Emissary Returns
The Greedy Emissary event is now available for testing. During this event you’ll be able to encounter deviously greedy emissaries in Stormwind, Orgrimmar, Dornogal, and Undermine for new diabolical rewards— including a mount. You won’t want to miss some truly iconic rewards including recolors of classic Tier 2 armor sets for your characters.
Treasure Goblins spawn every hour on the hour in Stormwind, Orgrimmar, and Dornogal. In Undermine, each rare can spawn a portal when they are defeated (one portal per rare, per hour). And if you’re lucky enough to find an elixir on a Treasure Goblin, try using it on the next portal!
User Interface and Accessibility
New Setting: Assisted Highlight – Highlights a suggested ability on the Action Bar to use. Assisted Highlight can be enabled in Options > Advanced Options.
Removed the Help Tip for minimizing the Spellbook.
Spell Changes
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Hunter (
Forums)
Master's Call (New) Command Pet Ability. Command Pet Ability. 40 yd range. Instant. 45 sec cooldown.
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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the cease-and-desist department: Google is enhancing Android's Factory Reset Protection (FRP) to make stolen phones virtually unusable by detecting setup wizard bypasses and requiring a second factory reset until ownership is verified. Android Authority reports: You can factory reset an Android phone in several ways. However, triggering a reset through the Android recovery menu or Google's Find My Device service activates Factory Reset Protection (FRP). During setup after such a reset, the wizard requires you to verify ownership by either signing into the previously associated Google account or entering the device's former lock screen PIN, password, or pattern. Failing this verification step blocks setup completion, rendering the device unusable. [...]
Factory Reset Protection (FRP) is a valuable feature that discourages theft by rendering stolen Android phones useless to potential buyers if wiped improperly. However, FRP isn't foolproof; thieves have discovered numerous methods over the years to circumvent it. These bypasses typically involve skipping the setup wizard, allowing someone to use the phone without entering the previous owner's Google account details or screen lock.
During The Android Show: I/O Edition, Google announced plans to "further harden Factory Reset protections, which will restrict all functionalities on devices that are reset without the owner's authorization." While the company didn't elaborate much, a screenshot it shared suggests that Android will likely detect if someone bypasses the setup wizard and then force another factory reset, preventing unauthorized use until the user proves ownership. [...] Google stated this FRP improvement is coming "later this year." Since the stable Android 16 release is coming soon, this timeline suggests the feature won't be part of the initial launch. It might arrive later in one of Android 16's Quarterly Platform Releases (QPRs), but that remains to be seen.
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the what-to-expect department: Nextcloud has accused Google of sabotaging its Android Files app by revoking the "All files access" permission, which the company says
cripples functionality for its 824,000 users and forces reliance on limited alternatives like SAF and MediaStore. The Register reports: Nextcloud's Android Files app is a file synchronization tool that, according to the company, has long had permission to read and write all file types. "Nextcloud has had this feature since its inception in 2016," it said, "and we never heard about any security concerns from Google about it." That changed in 2024, when someone or something at Google's Play Store decided to revoke the permission, effectively crippling the application. Nextcloud was instructed to use "a more privacy-aware replacement." According to Nextcloud, "SAF cannot be used, as it is for sharing/exposing our files to other apps ... MediaStore API cannot be used as it does not allow access to other files, but only media files."
Attempts to raise the issue with Google resulted in little more than copy-and-pasted sections of the developer guide. "Despite multiple appeals from our side and sharing additional background, Google is not considering reinstating upload for all files," Nextcloud said. The issue seems to stem from the Play Store. While a fully functional version is available on F-Droid, the Play Store edition is subject to Google's imposed limitations. Regarding the All files access permission, Google's developer documentation states: "If you target Android 11 and declare All files access, it can affect your ability to publish and update your app on Google Play."
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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the would-you-look-at-that department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Late last night, House Republicans introduced new language to the Budget Reconciliation bill that will immiserate the lives of millions of Americans by cutting their access to Medicaid, and making life much more difficult for millions more by making them pay higher fees when they seek medical care. While a lot of attention will be justifiably given to these cuts, the bill has also crammed in new language that attempts to entirely stop states from enacting any regulation against artificial intelligence.
"...no State or political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems during the 10 year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act," says the text of the bill introduced Sunday night by Congressman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky, Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The text of the bill will be considered by the House at the budget reconciliation markup on May 13.
That language of the bill, how it goes on to define AI and other "automated systems," and what it considers "regulation," is broad enough to cover relatively new generative AI tools and technology that has existed for much longer. In theory, that language will make it impossible to enforce many existing and proposed state laws that aim to protect people from and inform them about AI systems. [...] In theory none of these states will be able to enforce these laws if Republicans manage to pass the Budget Reconciliation bill with this current language.
Posted by from MMO Champion
Feral Druid 3% Damage Buff Now Live
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Despite the recent blue post stating that Feral Druids were set to receive a 3% buff to their damage output, this change hasn’t actually been implemented as confirmed by the latest datamining results. Many in the community, myself included, were hopeful this small buff might help alleviate some of the performance gaps we’ve experienced lately, but it’s disappointing to see that even this small adjustment hasn’t been implemented yet.
Missing no longer!
This adjustment decided to come with maintenance a week later than all the others.
Wrecking Throw and Shattering Throw PvP Changes
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
With an intended adjustment made during maintenance today,
Player versus Player
Warrior
Wrecking Throw’s damage increase to shields is now 75% less effective in PvP combat (was 30% less effective).
Shattering Throw’s damage increase to shields is now 75% less effective in PvP combat (was 30%).
We’ll have these and all other changes listed in today’s
hotfixes update.
Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the gaining-traction department: An anonymous reader shares a report: During the Android Show leading up to Google I/O, Google on Tuesday offered a brief update on the adoption of the RCS (Rich Communication Services) protocol, an upgrade to SMS that offers high-resolution photos and videos, typing indicators, read receipts, improved group chat, and more. The company shared that the messaging standard now supports over a billion messages per day in the U.S.
This metric is based on an average of the last 28 days, Google noted. The stat is notable because Google fought for years to get Apple to adopt support for RCS on iOS, allowing for better communication between Android and Apple devices. Previously, iPhone users who received texts from friends on Android had to deal with blurry videos and images, and couldn't as easily manage group chats when their green-bubbled friends joined. Unlike with iMessage, group chats with Android users couldn't be renamed, nor could people be added or removed, and you couldn't exit when you wanted. Emoji reactions also didn't work properly, leading to annoying texts to let you know how an Android user reacted, instead of just displaying their emoji reaction directly.
Later this week, Marvel Rivals developers NetEase will bring back the free-to-play online shooter’s very first cosmetic battle pass. However, if you didn’t buy it the first time around, you’re now going to have to pay a higher price. And the developer confirmed this is how it will work moving forward for all returning…
Doom: The Dark Ages introduced semi open-world areas of the kind found many Halo games. The first of these appears in “The Siege Part One,” which is the sixth mission in the game.
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When you reconnect with Sciel in the Gestral Village, she’s been champion at their local arena tournament for a while, and absolutely dominant at that, like a sexy, French Roman Reigns or something. It’s not till you finally get around to using her in your party that you really figure out why. She obviously took it…
Doom: The Dark Ages wouldn’t be a Doom game without Secret Paths, Dolls, Codexes, and more scattered throughout its levels. There are 22 levels throughout The Dark Ages’ campaign, and here’s where to find all of the secrets and collectibles for the second level: “Hebeth.”
I don’t go here (Magic: The Gathering, that is), but I’m obsessed with the new MTG and Final Fantasy collaboration. I swore off trading card games when I realized how much money people dump into cracking packs, but I can still appreciate some good Final Fantasy art when I see it. Something I also appreciate is a good…
Sinners is a bona fide blockbuster. It has now earned over $215 million domestically and a total of around $285 million globally. That makes it one of the most successful original live-action films in many, many years.
