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Following our latest update on our preparations for the DMA (Digital Markets Act), we're sharing more details about what publishers can expect to see in regards to new search results in European Economic Area (EEA) countries, and how they can express interest in these experiences.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Google has released what it's calling a new "reasoning" AI model -- but it's in the experimental stages, and from our brief testing, there's certainly room for improvement. The new model, called Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental (a mouthful, to be sure), is available in AI Studio, Google's AI prototyping platform. A model card describes it as "best for multimodal understanding, reasoning, and coding," with the ability to "reason over the most complex problems" in fields such as programming, math, and physics. [...] Built on Google's recently announced Gemini 2.0 Flash model, Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental appears to be similar in design to OpenAI's o1 and other so-called reasoning models. Unlike most AI, reasoning models effectively fact-check themselves, which helps them avoid some of the pitfalls that normally trip up AI models. As a drawback, reasoning models often take longer -- usually seconds to minutes longer -- to arrive at solutions. Given a prompt, Gemini 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental pauses before responding, considering a number of related prompts and "explaining" its reasoning along the way. After a while, the model summarizes what it considers to be the most accurate answer.

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Craig Wright, an Australian computer scientist living in the UK, has been found guilty of contempt of court for persistently and falsely claiming to be Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, despite a High Court ruling against his claim. He has been sentenced to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years, and faces jail if he continues his assertions. The BBC reports: [...] Wright, who appeared via videolink, refused to disclose where he was, saying only he was in Asia. It means an international arrest warrant would have to be issued if the UK authorities wanted to detain him. Wright's actions were described in court as "legal terrorism" that "put people through personal hell" in his campaign to be recognised as Bitcoin's inventor. The judge, Mr Justice Mellor, said Wright arguments were "legal nonsense" but acknowledged that he was not in the UK and "appears to be well aware of countries with which the UK does not have extradition arrangements".

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SpaceX has partnered with telecommunications company One NZ to offer satellite-to-cell Starlink texting service to customers in New Zealand. It marks the first time a nationwide satellite text messaging service has been powered by Starlink. Engadget reports: Now onto the caveats, and there are a couple of big ones. Starlink texting is incredibly slow when compared to traditional methods. One NZ says that most messages should be sent and received within three minutes during the initial rollout, but admits that timeframe could increase to "10 minutes or longer." It is for this reason that the company continues to urge folks to carry a personal locator beacon when traveling to a remote area. The service is also only supported by four smartphone models, which includes the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and OPPO Find X8 Pro. This list of eligible devices is expected to grow next year. The company also intends to eventually expand the service to include voice calling and data. The satellite service is free for existing One NZ customers on paid-monthly plans, but we don't know the pricing scheme for new customers or for those signed up for other types of contracts. Starlink is working with T-Mobile to do something similar in the U.S. Last month, the FCC approved a license for T-Mobile and SpaceX's Starlink to provide supplemental telecommunications coverage from space.

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An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Hackers aligned with the Chinese government have infiltrated U.S. telecommunications infrastructure so deeply that it allowed the interception of unencrypted communications on a number of people, according to reports that first emerged in October. The operation, dubbed Salt Typhoon, apparently allowed hackers to listen to phone calls and nab text messages, and the penetration has been so extensive they haven't even been booted from the telecom networks yet. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued guidance this week on best practices for protecting "highly targeted individuals," which includes a new warning (PDF) about text messages. "Do not use SMS as a second factor for authentication. SMS messages are not encrypted—a threat actor with access to a telecommunication provider's network who intercepts these messages can read them. SMS MFA is not phishing-resistant and is therefore not strong authentication for accounts of highly targeted individuals," the guidance, which has been posted online, reads. Not every service even allows for multi-factor authentication and sometimes text messages are the only option. But when you have a choice, it's better to use phishing-resistant methods like passkeys or authenticator apps. CISA prefaces its guidance by insisting it's only really speaking about high-value targets. The telecommunications hack mentioned above has been called the "worst hack in our nation's history," according to Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA).

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The publisher of a high-profile, now-corrected study on black plastics has been removed from a critical index of academic journals amid questions about quality criteria, according to a report by Retraction Watch. From a report: On December 16, Clarivate -- a scholarly publication analytics company -- removed the journal Chemosphere from its platform, the Web of Science, which is a key index for academic journals. The indexing platform tracks citations and calculates journal "impact factors," a proxy for relevance in its field. It's a critical metric not only for the journals but for the academic authors of the journal's articles, who use the score in their pursuit of promotions and research funding. To be included in the Web of Science, Clarivate requires journals to follow editorial quality criteria. According to Retraction Watch, Chemosphere has retracted eight articles this month and published 60 expressions of concern since April. In a December 12 news release, Chemosphere acknowledged the quality concerns and laid out steps it will take to improve its editorial process. Those include improvements to article vetting and peer review, along with assurances that articles will be retracted if there's evidence of policy breaches. "We believe that these measures will help us regain the standard of research integrity that has always been so important to us," the news release stated.

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Intel & Canonical Collaborate On Graphics Preview Stack For Ubuntu 24.10  Phoronix

Microsoft has lauded the success of its efforts to convince customers to use passkeys instead of passwords, without actually quantifying that success. From a report: The software megalith credits passkey adoption to its enrolment user experience, or UX, which owes its unspecified uptake to unavoidable passkey solicitations -- sometimes referred to as "nudges." "We're implementing logic that determines how often to show a nudge so as not to overwhelm users, but we don't let them permanently opt out of passkey invitations," explained Sangeeta Ranjit, group product manager, and Scott Bingham, principal product manager, in a blog post. The corporation's onboarding strategy seems to suit its corporate address: One Microsoft Way. Ranjit and Bingham describe that strategy in a post titled "Convincing a billion users to love passkeys: UX design insights from Microsoft to boost adoption and security." But they don't disclose how many customers love passkeys enough to actually use them.

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Grupo Petrópolis significantly boosted employee productivity and mobile device uptime by implementing Android Enterprise.Grupo Petrópolis significantly boosted employee productivity and mobile device uptime by implementing Android Enterprise.

A snapshot of how top companies, governments, researchers and startups are enhancing their work with Google's AI solutions.A snapshot of how top companies, governments, researchers and startups are enhancing their work with Google's AI solutions.

The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a monthlong ban on drone flights over a large swath of New Jersey, the first broad prohibition of its kind since the authorities began investigating a spate of sightings last month that set off fear and speculation. From a report: The ban began late on Wednesday and will continue through Jan. 17, according to an F.A.A. alert. The notification cited "special security reasons" for prohibiting flights in airspace near 22 New Jersey communities, including three of the state's largest cities, Camden, Elizabeth and Jersey City. The F.A.A. said it had temporarily restricted drone flights over "critical New Jersey infrastructure" at the request of what it described as federal security partners.

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Linux 6.13 Is A Great Holiday Gift For AMD Systems With Many New Features  Phoronix

IPFire Linux Firewall Preps for Wi-Fi 7, Adopts Post-Quantum Cryptography  9to5Linux

IPFire Linux Firewall Preps for Wi-Fi 7, Adopts Post-Quantum Cryptography  9to5Linux

IPFire Linux Firewall Preps for Wi-Fi 7, Adopts Post-Quantum Cryptography  9to5Linux

IPFire Linux Firewall Preps for Wi-Fi 7, Adopts Post-Quantum Cryptography  9to5Linux

Learn how to use Pixel Screenshots, Pixel’s app for recalling and organizing information from your screenshots.Learn how to use Pixel Screenshots, Pixel’s app for recalling and organizing information from your screenshots.

LearnLM is our set of AI models and capabilities that infuses learning science into Gemini and the products it powers, including Search, YouTube and Classroom.In a recen…

Joe Biden has announced tougher targets on the US's carbon dioxide emissions for the next decade, in a defiant final gesture intended as a "capstone" on his legacy on the climate. From a report: With just weeks to go before Donald Trump enters the White House, the Biden administration is formally filing new plans under the Paris agreement -- the global climate treaty from which Trump has vowed to withdraw. Under the new target, the US would have to cut greenhouse gases by between 61% and 66% by 2035, compared with 2005 levels -- a substantial strengthening of current goals that administration officials said would put the US on the path to net zero carbon by 2050. In a pre-recorded video statement, Biden called his programme of the last four years -- including the Inflation Reduction Act, private-sector investments of $450bn in clean energy and manufacturing, and regulations to improve efficiency and conserve land -- "the boldest climate agenda in American history." This progress would continue, he predicted: "American industry will keep inventing and keep investing. State, local and tribal governments will keep stepping up. And together, we will turn this existential threat into a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our nation for generations to come."

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Writers, publishers, musicians, photographers, movie producers and newspapers have rejected the Labour government's plan to create a copyright exemption to help AI companies train their algorithms. From a report: In a joint statement, bodies representing thousands of creatives dismissed the proposal made by ministers on Tuesday that would allow companies such as Open AI, Google and Meta to train their AI systems on published works unless their owners actively opt out. The Creative Rights in AI Coalition (Crac) said existing copyright laws must be respected and enforced rather than degraded. The coalition includes the British Phonographic Industry, the Independent Society of Musicians, the Motion Picture Association and the Society of Authors as well as Mumsnet, the Guardian, Financial Times, Telegraph, Getty Images, the Daily Mail Group and Newsquest. Their intervention comes a day after the technology and culture minister Chris Bryant told parliament the proposed system, subject to a 10-week consultation, would "improve access to content by AI developers, whilst allowing rights holders to control how their content is used for AI training."

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