Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the watching-your-trash department: The city of Centerville, Ohio has deployed AI-enabled garbage trucks that scan residents' trash and send personalized postcards scolding them for improper recycling. Dayton Daily News reports: "Reducing contamination in our recycling system lowers processing costs and improves the overall efficiency of our collection," City Manager Wayne Davis said in a statement regarding the AI pilot program. "This technology allows us to target problem areas, educate residents and make better use of city resources." Residents whose items don't meet the guidelines will be notified via a personalized postcard, one that tells them which items are not accepted and provides tips on proper recycling.
The total contract amount for the project is $74,945, which is entirely funded through a Montgomery County Solid Waste District grant, Centerville spokeswoman Kate Bostdorff told this news outlet. The project launched Monday, Bostdorff said. "A couple of the trucks have been collecting baseline recycling data, and we have been working through software training for a few weeks now," she said. [...] Centerville said it will continually evaluate how well the AI system works and use what it learns during the pilot project to "guide future program enhancements."
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the enough-is-enough department: Longtime Slashdot reader SonicSpike shares a report from Gizmodo: YouTube is inundated with AI-generated slop, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Instead of cutting down on the total number of slop channels, the platform is planning to update its policies to cut out some of the worst offenders making money off "spam." At the same time, it's still full steam ahead adding tools to make sure your feeds are full of mass-produced brainrot.
In an update to its support page posted last week, YouTube said it will modify guidelines for its Partner Program, which lets some creators with enough views make money off their videos. The video platform said it requires YouTubers to create "original" and "authentic" content, but now it will "better identify mass-produced and repetitious content." The changes will take place on July 15. The company didn't advertise whether this change is related to AI, but the timing can't be overlooked considering how more people are noticing the rampant proliferation of slop content flowing onto the platform every day.
The AI "revolution" has resulted in a landslide of trash content that has mired most creative platforms. Alphabet-owned YouTube has been especially bad recently, with multiple channels dedicated exclusively to pumping out legions of fake and often misleading videos into the sludge-filled sewer that has become users' YouTube feeds. AI slop has become so prolific it has infected most social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. Last month, John Oliver on "Last Week Tonight" specifically highlighted several YouTube channels that crafted obviously fake stories made to show White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a good light. These channels and similar accounts across social media pump out these quick AI-generated videos to make a quick buck off YouTube's Partner Program.
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the AI-consent-now-required department: An anonymous reader quotes a report from Straight Arrow News: Hollywood video game performers ended their nearly year-long strike Wednesday with new protections against the use of digital replicas of their voices or appearances. If those replicas are used, actors must be paid at rates comparable to in-person work. The SAG-AFTRA union demanded stronger pay and better working conditions. Among their top concerns was the potential for artificial intelligence to replace human actors without compensation or consent.
Under a deal announced in a media release, studios such as Activision and Electronic Arts are now required to obtain written consent from performers before creating digital replicas of their work. Actors have the right to suspend their consent for AI-generated material if another strike occurs. "This deal delivers historic wage increases, industry-leading AI protections and enhanced health and safety measures for performers," Audrey Cooling, a spokesperson for the video game producers, said in the release. The full list of studios includes Activision Productions, Blindlight, Disney Character Voices, Electronic Arts Productions, Formosa Interactive, Insomniac Games, Llama Productions, Take 2 Productions and WB Games.
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Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the another-day-another-breach department: Qantas has confirmed that 5.7 million customers have been impacted by a recent data breach through a third-party platform used by its contact center. The breach, attributed to the Scattered Spider threat group, exposed various personal details but did not include passwords, financial, or passport data. BleepingComputer reports: In a new update today, Qantas has confirmed that the threat actors stole data for approximately 5.7 million customers, with varying types of data exposed in the breach:
4 million customer records are limited to name, email address and Qantas Frequent Flyer details. Of this:
- 1.2 million customer records contained name and email address.
- 2.8 million customer records contained name, email address and Qantas Frequent Flyer number. The majority of these also had tier included. A smaller subset of these had points balance and status credits included.
Of the remaining 1.7 million customers, their records included a combination of some of the data fields above and one or more of the following:
- Address - 1.3 million. This is a combination of residential addresses and business addresses including hotels for misplaced baggage delivery.
- Date of birth - 1.1 million
- Phone number (mobile, landline and/or business) - 900,000
- Gender - 400,000. This is separate to other gender identifiers like name and salutation.
- Meal preferences - 10,000
Posted by BeauHD from Slashdot
From the what-to-expect department: Dubai-based airline Emirates is partnering with Crypto.com to integrate Bitcoin payments into the airliner's payment systems and add NFT collectibles on the company's websites for trading. The airline is also hiring staff to support its blockchain, crypto, and metaverse ambitions, positioning itself at the forefront of digital transformation in aviation.
"NFTs and metaverse are two different applications and approaches," explained Emirates Chief Operating Officer Adel Ahmed Al-Redha, adding that the airline will also seek to use the blockchain in tracing records of aircraft. "With the metaverse, you will be able to transform your whole processes -- whether it is in operation, training, sales on the website, or complete experience -- into a metaverse type application, but more importantly making it interactive."
The official integration of crypto payments is expected to take place next year, according to the announcement.
Posted by from MMO Champion
Patch 11.2 PTR - Build 61871
Ghosts of K'aresh Development Notes - July 10, 2025
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
The following class changes have been added to the Ghosts of K’aresh PTR:
Classes
Rogue
Hero Talents
Deathstalker
Subtlety
Manaforge Omega 2-set bonus – Deathstalker effects and damage increased to 50% (was 30%).
Trickster
Manaforge Omega 2-set bonus – Unseen Blade damage increase and chance to trigger an additional time increased to 35% (was 30%).
Manaforge Omega 4-set bonus – Effectiveness of second Coup de Grace increased to 150% (was 100%).
Assassination
All damage increased by 8%.
Outlaw
Killing Spree off-hand shots no longer count as off-hand weapon swings that deal half damage.
Killing Spree off-hand shot damage increased by 25% to match main-hand shot damage.
Net result of these changes is a Killing Spree damage increase of 43%.
Fatebound
Fixed an issue that could cause Killing Spree to be immediately cancelled if Fatebound Coin (Tails) was flipped.
Warlock
Hero Talents
Diabolist
Fixed an issue with the Manaforge Omega 2-set bonus – Eye Blast cast by Demonic Oculi no longer deals its multi-target damage to its main target.
Demonology
Fixed an issue with the Manaforge Omega 2-set bonus – Eye Blast is now affected by Mastery.
Soul Harvester
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Posted by from MMO Champion
WoW Housing: It's Only Neighborly
Originally Posted by Blizzard
(
Blue Tracker /
Official Forums)
Welcome home, Adventurers!
Or in this case, welcome to the neighborhood, Adventurers!
So far in our series of articles, we’ve shared information on our
philosophy,
decorating, and
rewards for Housing in World of Warcraft, but it’s time to bring you into the Neighborhood. Briefly mentioned in our first post on Housing, let’s get into the nitty- gritty of what Neighborhoods are and how they work.
Before we dive into things, our usual disclaimers apply. Neighborhoods are a work in progress so names, images, numbers, timing, and more may change between now and when Housing is released. Our goal in sharing this ahead of time is to get your feedback; so please let us know what you think.
This Land is Your Land
As a quick refresher, homes in World of Warcraft are separated into two Neighborhood zones, Founder’s Point (for the Alliance) and Razorwind Shores (for the Horde). Each Neighborhood is made up of roughly 50 plots of the same size, all of which contain a house.
We want players with different preferences for locations to find a plot that’s perfect for them, be they vibe-based or looking for something for a specific character. Some plots are placed far away from everything for the hermits among us, while others are grouped together in small cul-de-sacs of two to three houses perfect for a small group of friends. Other houses are in larger groupings for folks looking for more hustle and bustle.
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Posted by msmash from Slashdot
From the closer-look department: US's emergency-warning infrastructure failed to prevent more than 100 deaths during flash flooding in Kerr County, Texas over the July 4 weekend, despite repeated warnings from the National Weather Service. At least 27 young campers and counselors died at Camp Mystic when the Guadalupe River surged during early morning hours. The alerts never reached residents who lacked cellphone service, had silenced notifications, or didn't carry phones with them.
Similar communication failures occurred during recent Los Angeles wildfires and Maui blazes. Maui's outdoor sirens never sounded during 2023 wildfires when cellular networks failed. Nearly 30% of Texas residents opt out of wireless emergency alerts, the highest rate nationally. Rural officials often lack funding or permission to send alerts through broadcasters and cellphones. So what's going on?
Federal, state and local authorities share responsibility for alerting citizens through multiple platforms, but the country's patchwork of digital and physical emergency-alert tools often lags behind rapidly developing weather events, WSJ argues.
The Atlantic has a story that adds more color: It details how officials lack training in writing effective alerts, how messages like "move to higher ground" are meaningless without context, and how the absence of warning-coordination meteorologists creates communication gaps between weather services and local authorities.
