Nick @internic@qoto.org

A Rare Nova Explosion Will Soon Bring a 'New Star' to the Night Sky—How to Catch a Glimpse
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a-rare-nova-explosion-will-soon-bring-a-new-star-to-the-night-sky-how-to-catch-a-glimpse-180984186/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Smartnews @smartnews-Smithsonianmag

Vulnerabilities for AI and ML Applications are Skyrocketing: Apparently, the fun of using AI/ML tools makes developers forget everything they know about secure coding practices. Is anyone surprised by this? 🤔 https://securityboulevard.com/2024/04/vulnerabilities-for-ai-and-ml-applications-are-skyrocketing/ #infosec #security

I spent a long time experimenting with AI before finally writing about it in depth. It can be pretty useful — but is it worth it?

https://www.citationneeded.news/ai-isnt-useless/

#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #newsletter #CitationNeeded

I think the whole discourse about defederating Threads is fundamentally a moral panic. It is rooted in disinformation and on a really bad understanding on what ActivityPub is supposed to accomplish.

But it's not because I'm fine with Threads federating that I like Meta. Because I don't.

And the more I see from myself how Meta operates, especially with content creators, the more disgusted I am.

6/6

in a milestone achievement, Quaninuum announced 99.9% 2-qubit physical gate fidelity - and that's on their production system. This is a huge milestone towards enabling error correction

🔗 https://www.quantinuum.com/news/quantinuum-extends-its-significant-lead-in-quantum-computing-achieving-historic-milestones-for-hardware-fidelity-and-quantum-volume
🏷️ #quantumComputing #quantum

This is a great piece, and confirms the broader scale of a piece I did a long time ago: Apple has "must shred" agreements with e-waste recyclers that require them to destroy devices that could easily be repaired/refurbished/reused after having data wiped

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-04-18/apple-iphone-recycling-program-has-secrets?embedded-checkout=true

Realizing how many software engineering conversations pull probability estimates out of thin air is gonna radicalize me, a person who assumes that every probability estimate is OF COURSE based on empirical data and real statistics

There's a preprint (https://eprint.iacr.org/2024/555), not yet peer-reviewed, for what claims to be a polynomial time algorithm for breaking lattice-based encryption algorithms. I'm by no means qualified to even understand it, but it's very important for post-quantum algorithms if it holds up.

Another one! https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/hyundai-pauses-x-ads-nazi-content-platform-rcna148414

#NeverBob #VoteBlueToSaveEverything
Kennedy Family Endorses Biden Against RFK Jr. https://time.com/6968479/kennedy-family-endorse-joe-biden-rfk-jr/

In an essay out today in the AGU journal Eos, @jeffcorbin, Meghan Duffy, @carlyziter and I discuss the urgent need to move beyond the "it's real, it's bad, it's us" approach to climate education. What is desperately needed instead are pathways towards climate action that engage and empower students, while helping to fight the immobility of climate despair.

https://eos.org/opinions/climate-education-that-builds-hope-and-agency-not-fear

Unlike TV or the movies, I've never had color liquid in a test tube or beaker in my lab, despite the fact that I've worked in a geochemistry lab for 30 years. 🧪

Meta’s AI chatbot informs a parents' group that it has a disabled child who is both gifted and challenged academically and attends a NYC public school. https://www.404media.co/facebooks-ai-told-parents-group-it-has-a-disabled-child/

"…to make sure that your #Section230Reform proposal will address the harms you're seeking to address, without negatively impacting multiple #publicgoods, things that we want to protect and preserve on the internet, like for example, #Wikipedia — aply #TheWikipediaTest."
Legendary #RebeccaMackinnon interviewed by @mmasnick
https://pca.st/bamex9e1

Neo-Nazis find a welcoming place to make money, spread hate and recruit on X, NC finds. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/x-twitter-elon-musk-nazi-extremist-white-nationalist-accounts-rcna145020

NEW RESEARCH PAPER OUT! In this paper, @grimalkina and I explore how #code review anxiety is maintained and exacerbated to develop a model of code review anxiety. We also go a step further to develop and test the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for code review anxiety, so that we can reduce code review anxiety in an evidence-based and empirically-supported way (because science > vibes): https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/8k5a4

@seresearchers #SoftwareEngineeering #developers

1. I'm supposed to be finishing my taxes but I've got another four hours. So let's talk about an absolute disaster in the US science ecosystem.

The NIH's BRAIN (Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies) suffered catastrophic budget cuts—under Biden, no less—and now is unlikely to fund any new grants and will likely cut funding to existing grantees.

https://braininitiative.nih.gov/news-events/blog/brain-director-funding-neuroscience-uncertain-budget-climate

Homicides in major US cities falling at ‘one of fastest rates ever’ – report | US crime | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/15/homicide-murder-rates-down

Wow, infosec Infosec Mastodon is such a font of good, verifiable information. It also schooled me on a couple things I didn't know about ECDSA P521. Read the thread from beginning to end to see what I mean.

I told everyone. And nobody cared.
https://infosec.exchange/@briankrebs/112275804291554451