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More students are getting high scores on Advanced Placement tests, long seen as a gateway to elite college admissions as well as a way to earn college credit during high school. From a report: Changes by the tests' maker in recent years have shifted scores upward. That has led to hundreds of thousands of additional students getting what's considered a passing score -- 3 or above on the 1-to-5 scale -- on exams in popular courses including AP U.S. History and AP U.S. Government. The nonprofit behind the tests, College Board, says it updated the scoring by replacing its panel of experts with a large-scale data analysis to better reflect the skills students learn in the courses. Some skeptical teachers, test-prep companies and college administrators see the recent changes as another form of grade inflation, and a way to boost the organization's business by making AP courses seem more attractive. "It is hard to argue with the premise of AP, that students who are talented and academically accomplished can get a head start on college," said Jon Boeckenstedt, the vice provost of enrollment at Oregon State University. "But I think it's a business move." The number of students cheering their higher AP scores could rise again next year. The College Board said it is still recalibrating several other subjects, including its most popular course, AP English Language, which attracts more than half a million test takers.

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Linux Mint 22 lands with improved language and hardware support  Notebookcheck.net

Air pollution breathed in during childhood is one of the factors in adult lung health, according to a new study. From a report: The origins of the study date back to 1992 when researchers began investigating the effects of air pollution on groups of children in California. Some of these children are now in their 40s. Dr Erika Garcia and colleagues from the University of Southern California decided to see how they were getting on. More than 1,300 people replied and filled in detailed questionnaires on their income, lifestyle (including smoking), homes and health. This was matched against their childhood health and the local air pollution when they were growing up. The first finding was that people with higher childhood exposures to particle pollution and nitrogen dioxide had a higher likelihood of bronchitic symptoms as an adult. This relationship was strongest for those who had developed asthma and lung problems as children, meaning these people had a vulnerability that continued into adulthood. The second finding was unexpected: a relationship existed between childhood air pollution and adult bronchitic symptoms for people who did not have lung problems as children. This suggests the damage from air pollution in childhood may only manifest in adult life. Garcia said: "This was surprising. We thought air pollutant effects on childhood asthma or bronchitic symptoms would be a major pathway by which childhood air pollution exposure affects adult respiratory health."

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Microsoft has started testing a new way to access your Android phone from directly within Windows 11's File Explorer. From a report: Windows Insiders are now able to test this new feature, which lets you wirelessly browse through folders and files on your Android phone. The integration in File Explorer means your Android device appears just like a regular USB device on the left-hand side, with the ability to copy or move files between a PC and Android phone, and rename or delete them. It's certainly a lot quicker than using the existing Phone Link app.

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In the wake of a major incident that affected millions of Windows PCs, Microsoft is calling for significant changes to enhance the resilience of its operating system. John Cable, Microsoft's vice president of program management for Windows servicing and delivery, said there was a need for "end-to-end resilience" in a blog post, signaling a potential shift in Microsoft's approach to third-party access to the Windows kernel. While not explicitly detailing planned improvements, Cable pointed to recent innovations like VBS enclaves and the Azure Attestation service as examples of security measures that don't rely on kernel access. This move towards a "Zero Trust" approach could have far-reaching implications for the cybersecurity industry and Windows users worldwide, as Microsoft seeks to balance system security with the needs of its partners in the broader security community. The comment follows a Microsoft spokesman revealed last week that a 2009 European Commission agreement prevented the company from restricting third-party access to Windows' core functions.

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Vibrant Sokoban-style game Puzzledorf now available for Linux, works great on Steam Deck  GamingOnLinux

Get ‘Kali Linux Penetration Testing Bible’ (worth $25) for FREE  BetaNews

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Hacker News: Google said it's adding new security warnings when downloading potentially suspicious and malicious files via its Chrome web browser. "We have replaced our previous warning messages with more detailed ones that convey more nuance about the nature of the danger and can help users make more informed decisions," Jasika Bawa, Lily Chen, and Daniel Rubery from the Chrome Security team said. To that end, the search giant is introducing a two-tier download warning taxonomy based on verdicts provided by Google Safe Browsing: Suspicious files and Dangerous files. Each category comes with its own iconography, color, and text to distinguish them from one another and help users make an informed choice. Google is also adding what's called automatic deep scans for users who have opted-in to the Enhanced Protection mode of Safe Browsing in Chrome so that they don't have to be prompted each time to send the files to Safe Browsing for deep scanning before opening them. In cases where such files are embedded within password-protected archives, users now have the option to "enter the file's password and send it along with the file to Safe Browsing so that the file can be opened and a deep scan may be performed." Google emphasized that the files and their associated passwords are deleted a short time after the scan and that the collected data is only used for improving download protections.

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Linux 6.11 Is Looking Good In Early Benchmarks On AMD Ryzen Threadripper  Phoronix

Linux Mint 22 is an attractive option for migrating away from Windows  Ghacks

I've tried a zillion desktop distros - it doesn't get any better than Linux Mint 22  ZDNet

Linux Foundation spawns LF Broadband unit with directed fund to support former ONF open-source tools  Telecompaper EN

Linux Foundation spawns LF Broadband unit with directed fund to support former ONF open-source tools  Telecompaper EN

New Dell PC Driver & Intel Performance Limit Reasons Help Laptops On Linux 6.11  Phoronix

New Dell PC Driver & Intel Performance Limit Reasons Help Laptops On Linux 6.11  Phoronix

Linux Mint 22 is officially out now supported until 2029  GamingOnLinux

Linux Mint 22 is officially out now supported until 2029  GamingOnLinux

AlmaLinux Picking Up glibc Patch Ahead Of RHEL To Rescue VFX Houdini Users  Phoronix

AlmaLinux Picking Up glibc Patch Ahead Of RHEL To Rescue VFX Houdini Users  Phoronix

Longtime Slashdot reader sandbagger shares a blog post from Meta Engineer Jordan Eldredge, with the caption: A biography of jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, weird images, a worm.exe, random images, encrypted files, a gift a dad in Thailand had made for his two-and-a-half-year-old son, and much more could be found when investigating corrupt WinAmp files. Who knew? "In January of 2021, I was exploring the corpus of skins I collected for the Winamp Skin Museum and found some that seemed corrupted, so I decided to explore them," writes Eldredge. "Winamp skins are actually just zip files with a different file extension, so I tried extracting their files to see what I could find. This ended up leading me down a series of wild rabbit holes..." In all, Eldredge found more than 16 distinct types of items -- most of which are completely random but intriguing nonetheless. "It's so interesting how if you get a large enough number of things that were created by real people, you can end up finding all kinds of crazy stuff!" concludes Eldredge. "This was such an amazingly strange and interesting ride!"

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