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UK Preparing To Ban Consumers From Buying Crypto With Borrowed Funds

Slashdot.org - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 15:01
The UK financial regulator is preparing to ban retail investors from using borrowed funds such as credit card balances to invest in cryptocurrency as it seeks to overhaul supervision of the fast-growing digital assets market. The Guardian: The soaring values of virtual currencies such as bitcoin after Donald Trump's election have put pressure on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to take a tougher line while it also lays the groundwork for the industry to flourish in the UK. According to a recent YouGov survey, the proportion of people in the UK using borrowed funds to make crypto purchases more than doubled from 6% in 2022 to 14% last year. Borrowing to fund investments, when asset values could change dramatically, meant consumers risked losing their entire investment and potentially other assets, such as their home. These characteristics closely resembled gambling, the Treasury committee found.

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Apple, Anthropic Team Up To Build AI-Powered 'Vibe-Coding' Platform

Slashdot.org - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 14:20
An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple is teaming up with startup Anthropic on a new "vibe-coding" software platform that will use AI to write, edit and test code on behalf of programmers. The system is a new version of Xcode, Apple's programming software, that will integrate Anthropic's Claude Sonnet model, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Apple will roll out the software internally and hasn't yet decided whether to launch it publicly, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the initiative hasn't been announced. The work shows how Apple is using AI to improve its internal workflow, aiming to speed up and modernize product development. The approach is similar to one used by companies such as Windsurf and Cursor maker Anysphere, which offer advanced AI coding assistants popular with software developers. Further reading: 'Vibe Coding' is Letting 10 Engineers Do the Work of a Team of 50 To 100, Says YC CEO.

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Pinterest Users Left Confused By Mass Account Suspensions

Slashdot.org - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 13:40
An anonymous reader shares a report: Pinterest is having some weird moderation issues. Reports of sweeping pin removals and account suspensions have appeared across social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and X, with many users saying they received no warning or explanation about the ban before being locked out of their accounts. The r/Pinterest subreddit is also currently dominated by posts from confused users who claim their accounts have been suspended without evidence explaining how they violated the platform's guidelines. Users are also reporting they're experiencing an unusually high quantity of pins being deleted by Pinterest with absurd explanations, such as quilting magazines, cross-stitch art, and Minecraft bunk bed builds all being flagged for "adult content."

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US Approves CRISPR Pigs For Food

Slashdot.org - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 13:00
The FDA has approved gene-edited pigs for human consumption, potentially marking the first major commercial application of CRISPR technology in the food chain. Created by British company Genus, these pigs have had their DNA modified to remove the receptor that the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus uses to enter cells, rendering them immune to 99% of known virus variants. PRRS causes losses of approximately $300 million annually in the US alone by killing piglets and spreading rapidly through factory farms. According to Matt Culbertson, chief operating officer of Genus subsidiary Pig Improvement Company, the gene-edited pork could reach US markets sometime next year. Before launching sales to pig farms, Genus must secure regulatory approval in key export markets including Mexico, Canada, Japan, and China.

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Scientists Discover Massive Molecular Cloud Close To Earth

Slashdot.org - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 12:20
An invisible molecular cloud that could shed light on how stars and planets form has been detected surprisingly close to Earth. From a report: Named Eos after the Greek goddess of the dawn, the cloud of gas would appear huge in the night sky if visible to the naked eye. It measures roughly 40 moons in width and has a weight about 3,400 times the mass of the sun, researchers reported in a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy. "In astronomy, seeing the previously unseen usually means peering deeper with ever more sensitive telescopes -- detecting those smaller planets ... those more distant galaxies," said study coauthor Thomas Haworth, an astrophysicist at Queen Mary University of London. "This thing was pretty much in our cosmic backyard, and we've just missed it," he added. Molecular clouds are composed of gas and dust from which hydrogen and carbon monoxide molecules can form. Dense clumps within these clouds can collapse to form young stars. The article clarifies that Eos is 300 light-years away, which to be sure, is closer than any of the molecular clouds that we've known about previously.

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Redis Returns To Open Source After Year-Long Proprietary Detour

Slashdot.org - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 11:40
Redis, the popular in-memory data store, has returned to open source licensing with Redis 8 now available under the AGPL v3 license. The move reverses last year's controversial shift to proprietary licensing schemes (RSALv2 and SSPLv1) that aimed to force major cloud providers to pay for offering Redis as a managed service. The decision follows significant market pressure, including AWS, Google, and Oracle backing the Valkey fork, which gained momentum in the open source community. Redis believes the AGPL license provides sufficient protection from cloud providers while satisfying open source requirements. Redis 8 will incorporate vector sets and integrate previously separate Redis Stack features including JSON, Time Series, and probabilistic data support.

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15 startups using AI to protect, restore and conserve nature15 startups using AI to protect, restore and conserve natureHead of Accelerator & Startup Ecosystem, SpLATAM

GoogleBlog - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 11:00
Learn more about the startups chosen for Google for Startups Accelerator: AI for Nature.Learn more about the startups chosen for Google for Startups Accelerator: AI for Nature.
Categories: Technology

Four new ways we’re helping marketers improve data strategies and app measurement.Four new ways we’re helping marketers improve data strategies and app measurement.Sr. Director, Product Management, Ads Measurement

GoogleBlog - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 11:00
Complex consumer journeys and industry changes impact how marketers measure performance. To help them navigate, we're announcing new ways to bolster first-party data str…
Categories: Technology

Solar Panels To Be Fitted On All New-Build Homes in England By 2027

Slashdot.org - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 11:00
Almost all new homes in England will be fitted with solar panels during construction within two years, the UK government will announce after Keir Starmer rejected Tony Blair's criticism of net zero policies. From a report: Housebuilders will be legally required to install solar panels on the roofs of new properties by 2027 under the plans. The policy is estimated to add between $4,000 and $5,320 to building a home but homeowners would save more than $1,331 on their annual energy bills, according to the Times. Labour has set a target of building 1.5m homes by the end of the parliament. The party has promised to decarbonise the electricity grid by 2030 and cut household energy bills by $400 a year.

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Listen to a podcast deep dive on long context in Gemini models.Listen to a podcast deep dive on long context in Gemini models.

GoogleBlog - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 10:54
The latest episode of the Google AI: Release Notes podcast focuses on long context in Gemini — meaning how much information our AI models can process as input at once — …
Categories: Technology

Schrodinger's Cat Paradox Marks 90 Years as Quantum Question Endures

Slashdot.org - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 10:20
A thought experiment involving a cat trapped in a steel box with a potentially lethal device, first proposed by physicist Erwin Schrodinger in 1935, remains at the center of scientific and philosophical debate as it marks its 90th anniversary. The paradox, initially published in a technical review of quantum mechanics, presented a scenario where a cat could theoretically exist in a superposition of states -- both alive and dead simultaneously -- until observed, highlighting profound questions about quantum reality. "Schrodinger understood that under no circumstances could his cat be considered to be both alive and dead at the same time," science writer Jim Baggott noted in a recently published essay. Baggott co-authored "Quantum Drama: From the Bohr-Einstein Debate to the Riddle of Entanglement" in 2024. The thought experiment gained cultural traction largely through science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin's 1974 short story "Schrodinger's Cat," which wrestled with the paradox's philosophical implications. This sparked widespread appearances across literature, film, and television. The paradox continues to divide physicists between those accepting quantum mechanics as a mathematical framework for prediction and others, like Einstein and Schrodinger himself, who considered the theory fundamentally incomplete.

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Federal Judge Orders Lawyer to Remove Dragon Watermark from Court Filings

Slashdot.org - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 09:40
A Michigan federal magistrate judge has banned a lawyer from using a cartoon dragon watermark on legal filings, calling the practice "juvenile and impertinent." Judge Ray Kent of the Western District of Michigan issued the order on April 28 after receiving a complaint featuring a purple, suit-wearing dragon on every page. "Each page of plaintiff's complaint appears on an e-filing which is dominated by a large multi-colored cartoon dragon dressed in a suit," Kent wrote. "The Court is not a cartoon." The watermark belongs to Jacob A. Perrone of Dragon Lawyers, who told The New York Times he purchased the image online for $20 because "people like dragons." Perrone said it plans to continue using the logo in his practice but will tone it down in future court submissions.

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GTA 6 Delayed To May 2026

Slashdot.org - Fri, 05/02/2025 - 09:00
Rockstar has delayed Grand Theft Auto 6 to May 26, 2026. It was due out fall 2025. From a report: In a statement, Rockstar apologized for the significant delay to the game, expected to be the biggest entertainment launch of all time. "We are very sorry that this is later than you expected," Rockstar said. "The interest and excitement surrounding a new Grand Theft Auto has been truly humbling for our entire team. We want to thank you for your support and your patience as we work to finish the game." "With every game we have released, the goal has always been to try and exceed your expectations, and Grand Theft Auto VI is no exception. We hope you understand that we need this extra time to deliver at the level of quality you expect and deserve. We look forward to sharing more information with you soon."

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