Ars Technica
It could soon be illegal to publicly wear a mask for health reasons in NC
Enlarge (credit: Getty | Spencer Platt)
The North Carolina State Senate on Wednesday voted 30–15, along party lines, in favor of a Republican bill that would make it illegal for people in the state to wear a mask in public for health reasons. The bill is now moving to the House, where it could potentially see changes.
The proposed ban on health-based masking is part of a larger bill otherwise aimed at increasing penalties for people wearing masks to conceal their identity while committing a crime or impeding traffic. The bill was largely spurred by recent protests on university and college campuses across the country, including North Carolina-based schools, against the war in Gaza. In recent months, there have been demonstrations in Raleigh and Durham that have blocked roadways, as well as clashes on the nearby campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Some demonstrators were seen wearing masks in those events.
But the bill, House Bill 237, goes a step further by making it illegal to wear a mask in public for health and safety reasons, either to protect the wearer, those around them, or both. Specifically, the bill repeals a 2020 legal exemption enacted amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which allowed for public health-based masking for the first time in decades.
Google Search adds a “web” filter, because it is no longer focused on web results
Enlarge / Google continues to change what it means to be the "Google" search engine. (credit: Aurich Lawson)
Google I/O has come and gone, and with it came an almost exclusive focus on AI. Part of the show was an announcement for Google Search that was so huge it was almost hard to believe: the AI-powered "Search Generative Experience (SGE)" that the company had been trialing for months is rolling out to everyone in the US. The feature, renamed "AI Overview," is here now, and it feels like the biggest change to Google Search ever. The top of many results (especially questions) are now dominated by an AI box that scrapes the web and gives you a sometimes-correct summary without needing to click on a single result.
AI Overview is a bit different from the SGE trials that were happening. First is that AI Overview is a lot faster than SGE. For some popular queries, it seems like Google is caching the AI answer, which should help with the high cost of running generative AI. For queries with cached overviews, you'll see the AI box load instantly, right along with the initial search results pop-in. SGE responses would come in word by word, like they are being typed by a person. When you aren't getting a cached result, you'll see a blank AI overview box that loads with the search page, which will say "searching" while it loads for a second or two. Other times, Google will try loading an AI Overview and fail, with the message "An AI overview is not available for this search." (As if anyone asked.)
Left: The default results show no webpages at all on the first screen. Right: The "Web" filter looks like Old Google. (credit: Ron Amadeo / Google)
When Google decides you have an AI-appropriate query, it now takes a lot of scrolling to see web results. Google scrolls infinitely, so there are no "pages" anymore, but let's consider a "page" to be a full browser viewport height: The first page is an AI overview that takes up half the screen and then another answer box extracted from some website. Page two is a "People also ask" box suggesting other queries, then one search result, then a box for videos. Page three is the bottom half of the video box, then a "Discussions and forums" section with Reddit and Quora posts. It's not until page four and miles of scrolling that we get the traditional 10 blue links. This list isn't even counting an ad block, which would appear first normally. I've yet to see an ad block and AI overview at the same time, but I'm sure that's coming. Despite pushing AI Overviews live into production for everyone on the most premium spot on the Google Search page, Google still notes that "Generative AI is experimental."
Pedego Moto review: Fast and furious fun for $4,000
Enlarge / The Pedego Moto has serious moped energy. (credit: Eric Bangeman)
I'm not a fat-tire bike guy. My tire tastes run toward the thinner end of the spectrum: 28s on my road bike and 35s on my gravel bike. And I must confess to some distaste for fat-tire e-bikes, which I mostly encounter being ridden (and occasionally even pedaled) on local bike trails. But the $3,995 Pedego Moto caught my eye. The specs were impressive, but more importantly, it looked like it would be a blast to ride.
Unlike most of the other e-bikes I've reviewed, the Pedego Moto requires little in the way of assembly. The Moto arrived in a massive box strapped to a pallet, but once the box was cut away and the bike exposed, all I had to do was adjust the handlebars with a hex key and the Moto was good to go.
From the headlight to the bench seat, Moto sports a rugged moped vibe. There's a bright color display attached to the handlebars with four control buttons. The two on the front tweak the assist level and navigate setup screens, while the ones on the top and bottom handle power and confirming setup options. There's another controller just below and to the left of the display that handles the turn signals and headlights.
Tesla must face fraud suit for claiming its cars could fully drive themselves
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | SOPA Images)
A federal judge ruled yesterday that Tesla must face a lawsuit alleging that it committed fraud by misrepresenting the self-driving capabilities of its vehicles.
California resident Thomas LoSavio's lawsuit points to claims made by Tesla and CEO Elon Musk starting in October 2016, a few months before LoSavio bought a 2017 Tesla Model S with "Enhanced Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving Capability." US District Judge Rita Lin in the Northern District of California dismissed some of LoSavio's claims but ruled that the lawsuit can move forward on allegations of fraud:
The remaining claims, which arise out of Tesla's alleged fraud and related negligence, may go forward to the extent they are based on two alleged representations: (1) representations that Tesla vehicles have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability and, (2) representations that a Tesla car would be able to drive itself cross-country in the coming year. While the Rule 9(b) pleading requirements are less stringent here, where Tesla allegedly engaged in a systematic pattern of fraud over a long period of time, LoSavio alleges, plausibly and with sufficient detail, that he relied on these representations before buying his car.
Tesla previously won a significant ruling in the case when a different judge upheld the carmaker's arbitration agreement and ruled that four plaintiffs would have to go to arbitration. But LoSavio had opted out of the arbitration agreement and was given the option of filing an amended complaint.
Archie, the Internet’s first search engine, is rescued and running
Enlarge (credit: The Serial Code/YouTube)
It's amazing, and a little sad, to think that something created in 1989 that changed how people used and viewed the then-nascent Internet had nearly vanished by 2024.
Nearly, that is, because the dogged researchers and enthusiasts at The Serial Port channel on YouTube have found what is likely the last existing copy of Archie. Archie, first crafted by Alan Emtage while a student at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, allowed for the searching of various "anonymous" FTP servers around what was then a very small web of universities, researchers, and government and military nodes. It was groundbreaking; it was the first echo of the "anything, anywhere" Internet to come. And when The Serial Port went looking, it very much did not exist.
The Serial Port's journey from wondering where the last Archie server was to hosting its own.
While Archie would eventually be supplanted by Gopher, web portals, and search engines, it remains a useful way to index FTP sites and certainly should be preserved. The Serial Port did this, and the road to get there is remarkable and intriguing. You are best off watching the video of their rescue, along with its explanatory preamble. But I present here some notable bits of the tale, perhaps to tempt you into digging further.
How do you pronounce “hockey”? US players say it with “fake Canadian” accent.
Enlarge (credit: Tommy Gilligan/USMA PAO/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
University of Rochester linguist Andrew Bray started out studying the evolution of the trademark sports jargon used in hockey for his master's thesis. For instance, a hockey arena is a "barn," while the puck is a "biscuit." When he would tell people about the project, however, they kept asking if he was trying to determine why American hockey players sound like "fake Canadians." Intrigued, Bray decided to shift his research focus to find out if hockey players did indeed have distinctively Canadian speech patterns and, if so, why this might be the case.
He discovered that US hockey players borrow certain aspects of the Canadian English accent, particularly when it comes to hockey jargon. But they don't follow the typical rules of pronunciation. In short, "American hockey players are not trying to shift their speech to sound more Canadian," Bray said during a press briefing. "They're trying to sound more like a hockey player. That's why it's most evident in hockey-specific terms."
It's a concept known as a "linguistic persona," a means of communicating how one identifies—in this case, as a hockey player— through speech. Bray gave a talk about his research today at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Ottawa, Canada, held in conjunction with the Canadian Acoustical Association.
Bumble apologizes for ads shaming women into sex
Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto)
For the past decade, the dating app Bumble has claimed to be all about empowering women. But under a new CEO, Lidiane Jones, Bumble is now apologizing for a tone-deaf ad campaign that many users said seemed to channel incel ideology by telling women to stop denying sex.
"You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer,” one Bumble billboard seen in Los Angeles read. "Thou shalt not give up on dating and become a nun," read another.
Bumble HQ
“We don’t have enough women on the app.”
“They’d rather be alone than deal with men.”
“Should we teach men to be better?”
“No, we should shame women so they come back to the app.”
“Yes! Let’s make them feel bad for choosing celibacy. Great idea!” pic.twitter.com/115zDdGKZo
Bumble intended these ads to bring "joy and humor," the company said in an apology posted on Instagram after the backlash on social media began.
Thunderbolt Share simplifies dual-PC workloads—but requires new hardware
Enlarge (credit: Intel)
Intel this week announced new Thunderbolt software made for connecting two PCs. Thunderbolt Share will require Intel-licensed hardware and is looking to make it simpler to do things like transferring large files from one PC to another or working with two systems simultaneously.
For example, you could use a Thunderbolt cable to connect one laptop to another and then configure the system so that your keyboard, mouse, and monitor work with both computers. Thunderbolt Share also enables dragging and dropping and syncing files between computers.
The app has similar functionality to a KVM switch or apps like PCmover, Logitech Flow, or macOS' File Sharing and Screen Sharing, which enable wireless file sharing. But Thunderbolt Share comes with Intel-backed Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 5 speeds (depending on the hardware) and some critical requirements.
Sony listing hints at native, upscaled PS2 emulation on the PS5
Enlarge / Identical cousins. (credit: Spellblade91 / Reddit)
Years ago, Sony started making a select handful of "PlayStation 2 Classics" available as emulated downloads on the PlayStation 4. Now, there are signs that certain PS2 games will be similarly available for native download on the PS5, complete with new features like "up-rendering, rewind, quick save, and custom video filters."
The hint at Sony's coming PS2 download plans comes via a new PlayStation Network listing for the 2002 release Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which recently appeared on tracking site PSDeals (as noticed by Gematsu). That site draws from unpublished data from the PSN servers, such as this thumbnail image that recently appeared on the playstation.com servers, and lists a planned June 11 release for the emulated Clone Wars port.
So far, this is nothing out of the ordinary. But near the bottom of the boilerplate, the listing notes that "this title has been converted from the PlayStation 2 version to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 consoles and provides newly added features [emphasis added]." That's a marked difference from earlier "PS2 on PS4" downloadable releases, which only say that they were "converted from the original PlayStation 2 version to the PS4 system."
Mixup of drinking and irrigation water sparks dangerous outbreak in children
Enlarge / A child cools off under a water sprinkler. (credit: Getty | JASON SOUTH)
In 1989, a city in Utah upgraded its drinking water system, putting in a whole new system and repurposing the old one to supply cheap untreated water for irrigating lawns and putting out fires. That meant that the treated water suitable for drinking flowed from new spigots, while untreated water gushed from the old ones. Decades went by with no apparent confusion; residents seemed clear on the two different water sources. But, according to an investigation report published recently by state and county health officials, that local knowledge got diluted as new residents moved into the area. And last summer, the confusion over the conduits led to an outbreak of life-threatening illnesses among young children.
In July and August of 2023, state and local health officials identified 13 children infected with Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7. The children ranged in age from 1 to 15, with a median age of 4. Children are generally at high risk of severe infections with this pathogen, along with older people and those with compromised immune systems. Of the 13 infected children, seven were hospitalized and two developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening complication that can lead to kidney failure.
Preliminary genetic analyses of STEC O157:H7 from two of the children suggested that the children's infections were linked to a common source. So, health officials quickly developed a questionnaire to narrow down the potential source. It soon became clear that the irrigation water—aka untreated, pressurized, municipal irrigation water (UPMIW)—was a commonality among the children. Twelve of 13 infected children reported exposure to it in some form: Two said they drank it; five played with UPMIW hoses; three used the water for inflatable water toys; two used it for a water table; and one ran through sprinklers. None reported eating fruits or vegetables from home (noncommercial) gardens irrigated with the UPMIW.
Concerns over addicted kids spur probe into Meta and its use of dark patterns
Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Chesnot )
Brussels has opened an in-depth probe into Meta over concerns it is failing to do enough to protect children from becoming addicted to social media platforms such as Instagram.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, announced on Thursday it would look into whether the Silicon Valley giant’s apps were reinforcing “rabbit hole” effects, where users get drawn ever deeper into online feeds and topics.
EU investigators will also look into whether Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is complying with legal obligations to provide appropriate age-verification tools to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content.
Daily Telescope: I spy, with my little eye, the ISS
Enlarge / The International Space Station as seen from 69 km away. (credit: HEO on X)
Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light, a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We'll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we're going to take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is filled with stars and wonder.
Good morning. It's May 16, and today's image comes from an on-demand satellite imagery company named HEO. Only this image is not of the Earth, but rather the International Space Station.
According to the company, which is headquartered in Australia, one of its cameras imaged the space station at a distance of 69.06 km away, over the Indian Ocean. HEO flies its sensors as hosted payloads on satellites in Earth orbit. However, HEO's focus is not on Earth; it's on other spacecraft in low-Earth orbit to assess their status and identify anomalous behavior.
BreachForums, an online bazaar for stolen data, seized by FBI
Enlarge / The front page of BreachForums.
The FBI and law enforcement partners worldwide have seized BreachForums, a website that openly trafficked malware and data stolen in hacks.
The site has operated for years as an online trading post where criminals could buy and sell all kinds of compromised data, including passwords, customer records, and other often-times sensitive data. Last week, a site user advertised the sale of Dell customer data that was obtained from a support portal, forcing the computer maker to issue a vague warning to those affected. Also last week, Europol confirmed to Bleeping Computer that some of its data had been exposed in a breach of one of its portals. The data was put up for sale on BreachForums, Bleeping Computer reported.
On Wednesday, the normal BreachForums front page was replaced with one that proclaimed: “This website has been taken down by the FBI and DOJ with assistance from international partners.” It went on to say agents are analyzing the backend data and invited those with information about the site to contact them. A graphic shown prominently at the top showed the forum profile images of the site's two administrators, Baphomet and ShinyHunters, positioned behind prison bars.
Google unveils Veo, a high-definition AI video generator that may rival Sora
Enlarge / Still images taken from videos generated by Google Veo. (credit: Google / Benj Edwards)
On Tuesday at Google I/O 2024, Google announced Veo, a new AI video synthesis model that can create HD videos from text, image, or video prompts, similar to OpenAI's Sora. It can generate 1080p videos lasting over a minute and edit videos from written instructions, but it has not yet been released for broad use.
Veo reportedly includes the ability to edit existing videos using text commands, maintain visual consistency across frames, and generate video sequences lasting up to and beyond 60 seconds from a single prompt or a series of prompts that form a narrative. The company says it can generate detailed scenes and apply cinematic effects such as time-lapses, aerial shots, and various visual styles
Since the launch of DALL-E 2 in April 2022, we've seen a parade of new image synthesis and video synthesis models that aim to allow anyone who can type a written description to create a detailed image or video. While neither technology has been fully refined, both AI image and video generators have been steadily growing more capable.
MIT students stole $25M in seconds by exploiting ETH blockchain bug, DOJ says
Enlarge (credit: Oleksandr Shatyrov | iStock Editorial / Getty Images Plus)
Within approximately 12 seconds, two highly educated brothers allegedly stole $25 million by tampering with the ethereum blockchain in a never-before-seen cryptocurrency scheme, according to an indictment that the US Department of Justice unsealed Wednesday.
In a DOJ press release, US Attorney Damian Williams said the scheme was so sophisticated that it "calls the very integrity of the blockchain into question."
"The brothers, who studied computer science and math at one of the most prestigious universities in the world, allegedly used their specialized skills and education to tamper with and manipulate the protocols relied upon by millions of ethereum users across the globe," Williams said. "And once they put their plan into action, their heist only took 12 seconds to complete."
RealVNC is dropping its “Home” plan and barely noting its free “Lite” option
Enlarge (credit: RealVNC)
RealVNC will soon end its "Home" plan that's free to use for up to three users and five devices. If you still wanted a non-commercial just-in-case plan, there is one, but you're going to have to hunt a bit.
RealVNC users with Home subscriptions will likely receive an email from the company with the subject line: "Important changes to your Home subscription." The email notes that the firm is "Retiring our Home plan" as of June 17, 2024.
After "launching a wider range of tiered plans designed to better cater to more users" and to "maintain a cohesive set of plan options," the email states, Home must be retired. RealVNC, asking itself FAQ-style, "What do I need to do?" notes that the easiest way to avoid disruption is to upgrade to a paid plan. Switch now and you can save 20 percent, after hitting the big blue button labeled "SAVE MY ACCOUNT," RealVNC suggests.
Netflix gets the NFL: Three-year deal starts this season on Christmas
Enlarge / The San Francisco 49ers' star quarterback Brock Purdy celebrates during a blowout 35-7 win over the Tom Brady-led Buccaneers. (credit: Getty Images/Thearon W. Henderson)
Hey, football fans! You're already watching the NFL on CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, ESPN, ESPN Plus, Peacock, Amazon Prime Video, NFL Network, and YouTube TV, right? Well, get ready for one more: Netflix! The biggest streaming provider that wasn't showing NFL games is now jumping into the pile. The NFL and Netflix have signed a three-year deal that will put exclusive Christmas games on the streaming service.
The first Netflix Christmas games will be this season, on December 25, 2024, (that's a Wednesday, by the way). Netflix will get two Christmas games this year, with exact times and teams to be announced later tonight at the NFL's live schedule unveiling extravaganza (even the schedule is an event now). The NFL says 2025 and 2026 will see "at least one" game on the service each Christmas. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In the quickly changing landscape of TV, the NFL has long been one of the few things left that is still appointment television. Of the top 100 highest-rated US TV broadcasts in 2023, 93 percent of them were NFL games. In the hyper-fragmented world of streaming, landing a few exclusive NFL games is a great way to hook people into your service. NBC's exclusive Peacock playoff game brought in 23 million viewers last year. And even if that was a bit low by NFL standards, NBC called it "the most streamed event ever in US history" and "a milestone moment in media and sports history." You might think NFL fans would immediately cancel after the final kneel-down, but one study showed a shocking 71 percent of users that signed up for the NFL game were still on Peacock seven weeks later.
Cable TV providers ruined cable—now they’re coming for streaming
In an ironic twist, cable TV and Internet provider Comcast has announced that it, too, will sell a bundle of video-streaming services for a discounted price. The announcement comes as Comcast has been rapidly losing cable TV subscribers to streaming services and seeks to bring the same type of bundling that originally drew people away from cable to streaming.
Starting on an unspecified date this month, the bundle, called Streamsaver, will offer Peacock, which Comcast owns, Apple TV+, and Netflix to people who subscribe to Comcast's cable TV and/or broadband. Comcast already offers Netflix or Apple TV+ as add-ons to its cable TV, but Streamsaver expands Comcast's streaming-related bundling efforts.
Comcast didn't say how much the streaming bundle would cost, but CEO Brian Roberts said that it will “come at a vastly reduced price to anything in the market today" when announcing the bundle on Tuesday at MoffettNathanson’s 2024 Media, Internet and Communications Conference in New York, per Variety. If we factor in Peacock's upcoming price hike, subscribing to Apple TV+, Netflix, and Peacock separately would cost $39.47 per month without ads, or $24.97/month with ads.
DOJ says Boeing faces criminal charge for violating deal over 737 Max crashes
Enlarge / Relatives hold a poster with faces of the victims of Ethiopia flight 302 outside a courthouse in Fort Worth, Texas, on January 26, 2023. (credit: Getty Images | Shelby Tauber)
The US Department of Justice yesterday said it has determined that Boeing violated a 2021 agreement spurred by two fatal crashes and is now facing a potential criminal prosecution.
Boeing violated the agreement "by failing to design, implement, and enforce a compliance and ethics program to prevent and detect violations of the US fraud laws throughout its operations," the DOJ said in a filing in US District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Because of this, "Boeing is subject to prosecution by the United States for any federal criminal violation of which the United States has knowledge," the DOJ said.
The US government is still determining whether to initiate a prosecution and said it will make a decision by July 7. Under terms of the 2021 agreement, Boeing has 30 days to respond to the government's notice.
Android 15 gets “Private Space,” theft detection, and AV1 support
Enlarge / The Android 15 logo. This is "Android V," if you can't tell from the logo. (credit: Google)
Google's I/O conference is still happening, and while the big keynote was yesterday, major Android beta releases have apparently been downgraded to Day 2 of the show. Google really seems to want to be primarily an AI company now. Android already had some AI news yesterday, but now that the code-red requirements have been met, we have actual OS news.
One of the big features in this release is "Private Space," which Google says is a place where users can "keep sensitive apps away from prying eyes, under an additional layer of authentication." First, there's a new hidden-by-default portion of the app drawer that can hold these sensitive apps, and revealing that part of the app drawer requires a second round of lock-screen authentication, which can be different from the main phone lock screen.
Just like "Work" apps, the apps in this section run on a separate profile. To the system, they are run by a separate "user" with separate data, which your non-private apps won't be able to see. Interestingly, Google says, "When private space is locked by the user, the profile is paused, i.e., the apps are no longer active," so apps in a locked Private Space won't be able to show notifications unless you go through the second lock screen.