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Unimos a los educadores esta Semana de Agradecimiento a los MaestrosUnimos a los educadores esta Semana de Agradecimiento a los MaestrosProfesora Estadounidense del Año (2024)

GoogleBlog - 0 sec ago
La Profesora Estadounidense del Año 2024 Missy Testerman, de Tennessee, comparte más sobre su historia y el compromiso de Google con el futuro de la educación.La Profesora Estadounidense del Año 2024 Missy Testerman, de Tennessee, comparte más sobre su historia y el compromiso de Google con el futuro de la educación.
Categories: Technology

Bringing educators together this Teacher Appreciation WeekBringing educators together this Teacher Appreciation Week2024 National Teacher of the Year

GoogleBlog - 0 sec ago
Google shares ongoing commitment to education with an essay from 2024 Teacher of the Year, Missy Testerman.Google shares ongoing commitment to education with an essay from 2024 Teacher of the Year, Missy Testerman.
Categories: Technology

How 'Star Wars' was Influenced by San Francisco - and Architecture

Slashdot.org - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 22:34
"Without San Francisco, Star Wars wouldn't exist," says David Reat, the culture studies director of the architecture department at Glasgow's University of Strathclyde. SFGate reports: Lucas was born and raised in Modesto, where his father expected him to run the family stationery store once he turned 18, but Lucas instead left for Los Angeles, where he studied film production at the University of Southern California, before moving to San Francisco. Despite all that these cities had to offer, Lucas constantly found himself conflicted over his feelings toward them. "The battle of living in the country versus living in the city is huge with Lucas," says Reat, who notes that this theme runs throughout the likes of "THX 1138," "American Graffiti" and the "Star Wars" series. "He sees cities as the givers and takers of things. He's fascinated by cities. He doesn't actually want to live in one. He now lives in a ranch near one. He wants to orbit them. He's a paradox." When Lucas moved to San Francisco in the late 1960s, there were a number of huge building projects taking place across the city that piqued the burgeoning filmmaker's interest, most notably the construction of BART and a new terminal at San Francisco airport. "Infrastructure really fascinated Lucas. They were these big huge alienating spaces," says Reat. "I think Lucas was driving around San Francisco, looking at them, and seeing that they looked alien." There's a reason why Lucas was particularly interested in the architecture in San Francisco: "He's on record as saying he wanted to be an architect," says Reat. "He has referred to himself as a frustrated architect." Lucas' interest provoked him and his creative team to put extra care and thought into each of the "Star Wars" buildings, vehicles, houses, villages, cities, worlds and galaxies, especially when it came to what they symbolized and represented. "The architecture in the films play a key role for younger viewers," says Reat, explaining that it helps to indicate who is good and who is evil. When it comes to the Death Star there are "no women, no plants, no signs of life, and it's basically the Nazis in space," continues Reat. "Lucas doesn't like modernism. He always uses it for bad things, a bit like every James Bond baddie." Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and the rest of the light side of the Force are seen living in "exaggerated domesticity" as they sit around drinking blue milk, surrounded by creatures. "There's a care and a weirdness to their architecture, plus it's loaded with color," says Reat, who adds that these choices help to make those characters more appealing and relatable.... The San Francisco International Airport also played a key role in the making of "Phantom Menace." A tour of its maintenance bay gave the film's creative designers a jolt of inspiration when they were creating Anakin's podracer and other vehicles. The article also adds that the inspiration for the Theed Royal Palace on Naboo in The Phantom Menace was "the Marin County Civic Center, where Lucas once served jury duty."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Scientists Find a 'Missing Link' Between Poor Diet and Higher Cancer Risk

Slashdot.org - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 20:35
Science Alert reports that a team of researchers found "that changes in glucose metabolism could help cancer grow by temporarily disabling a gene that protects us from tumors called BRCA2." The team first examined people who inherited one faulty copy of BRCA2. They found that cells from these people were more sensitive to methylglyoxal (MGO), which is produced when cells break down glucose for energy in the process of glycolysis. Glycolysis generates over 90 percent of the MGO in cells, which a pair of enzymes typically keep to minimal levels. In the event they can't keep up, high MGO levels can lead to the formation of harmful compounds that damage DNA and proteins. In conditions like diabetes, where MGO levels are elevated due to high blood sugar, these harmful compounds contribute to disease complications. The researchers discovered that MGO can temporarily disable the tumor-suppressing functions of the BRCA2 protein, resulting in mutations linked to cancer development... As the BRCA2 allele isn't permanently inactivated, functional forms of the protein it produces can later return to normal levels. But cells repeatedly exposed to MGO may continue to accumulate cancer-causing mutations whenever existing BRCA2 protein production fails. Overall, this suggests that changes in glucose metabolism can disrupt BRCA2 function via MGO, contributing to the development and progression of cancer... This new information may lead to strategies for cancer prevention or early detection. "Methylglyoxal can be easily detected by a blood test for HbA1C, which could potentially be used as a marker," Venkitaraman says. "Furthermore, high methylglyoxal levels can usually be controlled with medicines and a good diet, creating avenues for proactive measures against the initiation of cancer." Their research has been published in Cell.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Microsoft's 'Responsible AI' Chief Worries About the Open Web

Slashdot.org - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 18:18
From the Washington Post's "Technology 202" newsletter: As tech giants move toward a world in which chatbots supplement, and perhaps supplant, search engines, the Microsoft executive assigned to make sure AI is used responsibly said the industry has to be careful not to break the business model of the wider web. Search engines citing and linking to the websites they draw from is "part of the core bargain of search," [Microsoft's chief Responsible AI officer] said in an interview Monday.... "It's really important to maintain a healthy information ecosystem and recognize it is an ecosystem. And so part of what I will continue to guide our Microsoft teams toward is making sure that we are citing back to the core webpages from which the content is sourced. Making sure that we've got that feedback loop happening. Because that is part of the core bargain of search, right? And I think it's critical to make sure that we are both providing users with new engaging ways to interact, to explore new ideas — but also making sure that we are building and supporting the great work of our creators." Asked about lawsuits alleging copyright use without permission, they said "We believe that there are strong grounds under existing laws to train models." But they also added those lawsuits are "asking legitimate questions" about where the boundaries are, "for which the courts will provide answers in due course."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Can Technology Help Reduce Drunk-Driving Deaths?

Slashdot.org - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 17:18
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Wall Street Journal: Drunken-driving deaths in the U.S. have risen to levels not seen in nearly two decades, federal data show, a major setback to long-running road-safety efforts. At the same time, arrests for driving under the influence have plummeted, as police grapple with challenges like hiring woes and heightened concern around traffic stops... About 13,500 people died in alcohol impairment-related crashes in 2022, according to data released in April by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That is 33% above 2019's toll and on par with 2021's. The last time so many people died as a result of accidents involving intoxicated drivers was in 2006. That's still down from the early 1980s, when America was seeing over 20,000 drunk-driving deaths a year, according to the article. "By 2010, that number had fallen to around 10,000 thanks to high-profile public-education campaigns by groups like MADD, tougher laws, and aggressive enforcement that included sobriety checkpoints and typically yielded well over a million DUI arrests annually." But some hope to solve the problem using technology: Many activists and policymakers are banking on the promise of built-in devices to prevent a car from starting if the driver is intoxicated, either by analyzing a driver's exhaled breath or using skin sensors to gauge the blood-alcohol level. NHTSA issued a notice in December that it said lays the groundwork for potential alcohol-impairment detection technology standards in all new cars "when the technology is mature." And Glenn Davis, who manages Colorado's highway-safety office, "pointed to Colorado's extensive use of ignition interlock systems that require people convicted of DUI to blow into a tube to verify they are sober in order for their car to start. He said the office promotes nondriving options such as Lyft and Uber."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

America's Federal Regulators Are Preparing More Lawsuits Against Crypto Companies

Slashdot.org - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 16:18
A "string of legal victories" by America's market-regulating Securities and Exchange Commission "has jolted some of crypto's biggest players," reports Politico — even as they're seeking more credibility with U.S. lawmakers: Judges have recently rebuked claims that the SEC lacks authority to police the market. Coinbase, the largest U.S. exchange, lost a bid to throw out charges that it is violating investor-protection rules. And a New York jury found one-time billionaire entrepreneur Do Kwon and his firm liable for fraud. Now, the crackdown is about to expand, with the SEC preparing for a new round of lawsuits. "The SEC just keeps winning," said John Reed Stark, a former agency attorney and prominent crypto critic. "The law is catching up...." [I]t's the SEC crackdown that is raising foundational questions about crypto's future. [SEC Chairman Gary] Gensler has been among the industry's most implacable foes, saying most crypto tokens are unregistered securities that are being sold illegally and blasting the industry as "rife with fraud, scams, bankruptcies and money laundering." His opposition has been so unwavering that many in the industry are holding out hope that he leaves the agency after the November elections... [T]he SEC's enforcement sweep appears to be on the brink of spreading across the crypto world. Consensys is facing potential charges from the agency, according to the company's lawsuit. And the SEC recently warned Uniswap Labs, a decentralized finance company that created one of the world's largest DeFi exchanges, that staff was preparing to sue. Uniswap executives have vowed to fight the agency in court.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Could Better Data Protections Reduce Big Tech's Polarizing Power?

Slashdot.org - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 15:18
"What if the big tech companies achieved their ultimate business goal — maximizing engagement on their platforms — in a way that has undermined our ability to function as an open society?" That's the question being asked by Chuck Todd, chief political analyst for NBC News: What if they realized that when folks agree on a solution to a problem, they are most likely to log off a site or move on? It sure looks like the people at these major data-hoarding companies have optimized their algorithms to do just that. As a new book argues, Big Tech appears to have perfected a model that has created rhetorical paralysis. Using our own data against us to create dopamine triggers, tech platforms have created "a state of perpetual disagreement across the divide and a concurrent state of perpetual agreement within each side," authors Frank McCourt and Michael Casey write, adding: "Once this uneasy state of divisive 'equilibrium' is established, it creates profit-making opportunities for the platforms to generate revenue from advertisers who prize the sticky highly engaged audiences it generates." In their new book, "Our Biggest Fight," McCourt (a longtime businessman and onetime owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers) and Casey are attempting a call to action akin to Thomas Paine's 18th century-era "Common Sense." The book argues that "we must act now to embed the core values of a free, democratic society in the internet of tomorrow." The authors believe many of the current ills in society can be traced to how the internet works. "Information is the lifeblood of any society, and our three-decade-old digital system for distributing it is fatally corrupt at its heart," they write. "It has failed to function as a trusted, neutral exchange of facts and ideas and has therefore catastrophically hindered our ability to gather respectfully to debate, to compromise and to hash out solutions.... Everything, ultimately, comes down to our ability to communicate openly and truthfully with one another. We have lost that ability — thanks to how the internet has evolved away from its open, decentralized ideals...." Ultimately, what the authors are imagining is a new internet that essentially flips the user agreement 180 degrees, so that a tech company has to agree to your terms and conditions to use your data and has to seek your permission (perhaps with compensation) to access your entire social map of whom and what you engage with on the internet. Most important, under such an arrangement, these companies couldn't prevent you from using their services if you refused to let them have your data... Unlike most anti-Big Tech books, this one isn't calling for the breakup of companies like Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft or Apple. Instead, it's calling for a new set of laws that protect data so none of those companies gets to own it, either specifically or in the aggregate... The authors seem mindful that this Congress or a new one isn't going to act unless the public demands action. And people may not demand this change in our relationship with tech if they don't have an alternative to point to. That's why McCourt, through an organization he founded called Project Liberty, is trying to build our new internet with new protocols that make individual data management a lot easier and second nature. (If you want to understand the tech behind this new internet more, read the book!) Wait, there's more. The article adds that the authors "envision an internet where all apps and the algorithms that power them are open source and can be audited at will. They believe that simply preventing these private companies from owning and mapping our data will deprive them of the manipulative marketing and behavioral tactics they've used to derive their own power and fortunes at the expense of democracy." And the NBC News analyst seems to agree. "For whatever reason, despite our societal fear of government databases and government surveillance, we've basically handed our entire personas to the techies of Silicon Valley."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

OS Install - Hackaday

Linux News - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 15:02
OS Install  Hackaday
Categories: Linux

How to install BTRFS on a Debian Linux 12/11

nixCraft - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 13:35
Btrfs, which stands for "Butter FS" or "B-tree FS," is a modern Linux file system. It was developed to overcome the limitations of older file systems like ext4 or ext3. Btrfs is an excellent choice for efficient storage management on multiple Hard Disk Drivers. It supports Linux file systems with snapshots, subvolumes, and built-in RAID-like capabilities that provide robust data protection. It is designed to handle huge file systems and file sizes. Btrfs incorporates checksumming and COW (Copy-on-write), making it more resilient to data corruption. The COW feature means changes are written to new locations instead of overwriting existing data, enhancing data protection and enabling snapshots. After installation, let us see how to install Btrfs support for Debian Linux 11 or 12 using the CLI. Why am I using BTRFS on an existing Debian Linux system? In my case, the EC2 VM AMI is configured to use ext4 by default at AWS. However, I had to make changes since I needed to store files using EBS (Elastic Block Store) and Python code expected to see BTRFS. Hence, this quick tutorial. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post How to install BTRFS on a Debian Linux 12/11 appeared first on nixCraft. 2024-02-14T06:10:00Z 2024-02-14T06:10:00Z Vivek Gite

How to install GPG (gnupg2) on a Debian Linux to fix gpg command not found error

nixCraft - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 13:35
GnuPG2 (or GPG2) is an open-source and free tool that implements the OpenPGP standard. Its primary purpose is to encrypt your sensitive information to protect it from unauthorized access. It also allows you to create digital signatures, guaranteeing that the data hasn't been tampered with while in transit. Many newly created Debian 11/12 cloud VMs and images may not have the gpg/gpg2 command installed. Thus, you will get an error that reads "-bash: gpg: command not found." Here is how to fix this error and install gnupg2 on a Debian Linux 11 or 12. Further, you will learn how to use the gpg command. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post How to install GPG (gnupg2) on a Debian Linux to fix gpg command not found error appeared first on nixCraft. 2024-02-13T09:38:54Z 2024-02-13T09:38:54Z Vivek Gite

How to enable contrib repo on Debian Linux 10/11/12

nixCraft - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 13:35
Sometimes, when you try to install specific Debian Linux packages, you might encounter an error message that reads: Unable to locate package pkg-name-here In many cases, the required package might already be present in the remote download repos. It would be best to have an additional repository, such as contrib, which adds extra packages to the core Debian Linux system. To enable and use the contrib repository in Debian Linux version 10/11/12 or newer versions, follow the instructions below. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post How to enable contrib repo on Debian Linux 10/11/12 appeared first on nixCraft. 2023-12-24T09:18:39Z 2023-12-24T09:18:39Z Vivek Gite

SSH WARNING: UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE! Error and Solution

nixCraft - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 13:35
{Updated} Are you getting, ' WARNING: UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE!' when try to use the ssh command under Linux, macOS or BSD? Let us see how I fixed this problem and log in using the ssh command.The post SSH WARNING: UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE! Error and Solution appeared first on nixCraft. 2023-11-17T10:31:00Z 2023-11-17T10:31:00Z Vivek Gite

How to open DHCP port using UFW in Linux

nixCraft - Sun, 05/05/2024 - 13:35
The Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW) needs to be configured to allow traffic on UDP ports 67 and 68, regardless of whether the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server is local or remote. Additionally, it may be necessary to open both TCP and UDP port 53, which are used for Domain Name Service (DNS). In small business and home environments, typically, both DNS and DHCP services come from a single device. Hence, it would be best if you opened both DHCP and DNS ports using the ufw command. Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit The post How to open DHCP port using UFW in Linux appeared first on nixCraft. 2023-10-25T10:52:11Z 2023-10-25T10:52:11Z Vivek Gite

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