178284548
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Whether you like to or not, Artificial intelligence is everywhere now. It is shaping our media, our conversations, our entertainment, and even our relationships. Quite frankly, you cannot read an article, admire a photo, or enjoy a song nowadays without wondering if a machine had a hand in it.
Sadly, that uncertainty is growing, and for many people, it is unsettling. We need a clear and trusted way to know what is human made. Just as we created the certified organic label for food, it is time for a certified AI-free label for content.
This label would not be about rejecting technology. It would be about respecting human effort and giving people the ability to make informed choices. If someone wants to read a story written by a person and not a bot, they should be able to do that. If a musician wants to show their work is entirely their own, they should have a way to prove it. A simple, visible label that says this was made by a real human, with no help from artificial intelligence, would go a long way toward rebuilding trust.
Think of it like walking into a bookstore and seeing a seal that reads certified AI-free. You would know that what you are reading came from a human mind. Or imagine a news site proudly showing that every story on the page was reported and written by verified people. These signals of authenticity could reshape the way we consume information online. They could also help protect creative industries from becoming indistinguishable from automated content mills.
Just like shoppers pay extra for organic produce or fair trade coffee, many consumers might be willing to pay more for content that is certified AI-free. When people know that a real human took the time to write a story, compose a song, or create a piece of art without relying on machines, that authenticity becomes part of the value.
Look, it is not just about what the content says, but about how and by whom it was made. For readers, listeners, and viewers who care about supporting human creativity, a certified AI-free label gives them that option. And if the demand is there, it opens the door for sustainable business models built around real human effort.
Creating such a label will take real work. It would need oversight. It would need a standard that publishers and platforms could follow. It might even require third party verification, similar to how we manage organic or Fair Trade certifications. But this is not an impossible goal. We have already proven that people care about ethical sourcing, quality control, and transparency. This is just the next frontier.
Artists are already pushing back against AI scraping and imitation. Writers are calling out the theft of their words. Musicians are demanding to know how their styles are being copied by training data. There is a growing desire for boundaries and for recognition of original human work. A certified AI-free label would meet that need.
Look, folks, this is not about banning AI. It is about balance. If something was made by artificial intelligence, label it. If it was made by a person, let us know that too. That way, everyone has the freedom to decide what they want to support.
178280094
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
The popular Amiga emulator WinUAE has hit version 6.0.0, and this update is anything but minor. The custom chipset emulation has been almost completely rewritten, with major changes that improve accuracy and open the door to new possibilities. But fair warning: with so much changed under the hood, you might run into the occasional bug, especially in less commonly used features.
At the core of the update is a fresh take on Agnus/Alice and Denise/Lisa chip behavior. Almost every part of the chipset now runs with cycle accuracy that comes surprisingly close to hardware-level behavior. Things like display sync, blanking intervals, and even obscure genlock tricks now behave much more like they would on a real Amiga.
One change that stands out is that Denise/Lisa emulation has been moved to a separate thread. That means a noticeable performance boost when running in accurate modes, especially on modern CPUs. This could be a big win for people who want accuracy without giving up speed.
Some classic hacks and register tricks, like VPOSW/VHPOSW timing games or custom NTSC tweaks, now work more reliably. Fake screenmodes are supported more cleanly, and even long-forgotten features like UHRES DMA are handled correctly (despite that particular one never doing much beyond stealing a few cycles).
Blitter timing has been tightened up, especially when mid-operation values are changed. Collision detection is now faster and more accurate, and a new ultra-detailed debug mode exposes previously hidden bitplane and sprite activity during blanking periods. Developers and demo authors will probably appreciate how deep the visibility now goes.
Outside of the chipset, there are more welcome additions. Keyboard emulation has gone low-level with full microcontroller behavior, and even obscure things like flashing the Caps Lock LED now work. Matrox and Voodoo PCI GPUs from 86box are now included, and new hardware like the RIPPLE IDE controller and A1000 512k WOM module have been added.
Plenty of bugs have been addressed. RTG vertical blank issues were cleaned up, graphics API fallbacks now make more sense, printer passthrough behaves better on modern drivers, and FDI image support is fixed. Even long-standing quirks like sound card switching crashes or missing vertical interrupts are now resolved.
The default configuration now starts with a cycle-exact A500 setup. If youâ(TM)re using unusual resolutions or scanline tricks, youâ(TM)ll find the new status line now shows helpful info like line count and type. Tree view settings in the config window are also saved and restored, and scaling behavior works more logically with complex modes like superhires and doublescan.
CD32 users get some love too. The emulator now reads optical discs in a more consistent way, and the flickering CD audio icon has been eliminated. WASAPI sound fallback is more graceful, and latency over TCP serial ports is reduced with a new option. Clipboard sharing is also smarter now, limiting initial Windows-to-Amiga pastes to avoid slowdown on startup.
One niche but useful change: hard drives with GPT or MBR partitions are now listed properly even if access is blocked, and the hard drive dialog shows âoeACCESS DENIEDâ rather than hiding the drive entirely. Small thing, but helpful when troubleshooting.
Software filters and 16-bit host color modes are now gone, simplifying the codebase and clearing the way for future improvements. The emulator now always runs in subpixel-accurate mode when accuracy is enabled. The uaegfx RTG driver also gets a config-only option to disable auto-created screenmodes for users who want a setup closer to real hardware.
There are dozens of other little improvements and bug fixes packed into this release. If youâ(TM)ve been using WinUAE casually, you may not notice them all right away. They are more for developers, testers, and retro fans who demand precision.
WinUAE 6.0.0 is available now here. As always, itâ(TM)s free to download, but if you rely on it, consider tossing a donation to support continued development. This version isnâ(TM)t just about speed or features, folks, itâ(TM)s about getting closer to how the Amiga really worked.
178274728
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
A new academic study has found that the 2016 Wells Fargo scandal pushed many consumers toward fintech lenders instead of traditional banks. The research, published in the Journal of Financial Economics, suggests that it was a lack of trust rather than interest rates or fees that drove this behavioral shift. For someone like me, who spent over a decade working at an online bank, the results are both fascinating and familiar.
Conducted by Keer Yang, an assistant professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, the study looked closely at what happened after the Wells Fargo fraud erupted into national headlines. Bank employees were caught creating millions of unauthorized accounts to meet unrealistic sales goals. The company faced $3 billion in penalties and a massive public backlash.
Yang analyzed Google Trends data, Gallup polls, media coverage, and financial transaction datasets to draw a clear conclusion. In geographic areas with a strong Wells Fargo presence, consumers became measurably more likely to take out mortgages through fintech lenders. This change occurred even though loan costs were nearly identical between traditional banks and digital lenders.
In other words, it was not about money. It was about trust.
That simple fact hits hard. When big institutions lose public confidence, people do not just complain. They start moving their money elsewhere. According to the study, fintech mortgage use increased from just 2 percent of the market in 2010 to 8 percent in 2016. In regions more heavily exposed to the Wells Fargo brand, fintech adoption rose an additional 4 percent compared to areas with less exposure.
Yang writes, âoeTherefore it is trust, not the interest rate, that affects the borrowerâ(TM)s probability of choosing a fintech lender.â
This is not just an interesting financial tidbit. It is a real example of how misconduct from a large corporation can help drive the adoption of new technology. And in this case, that technology was already waiting in the wings. Digital lending platforms offered a smoother experience, often with fewer gatekeepers.
Notably, while customers may have been more willing to switch mortgage providers, they were less likely to move their deposits. Yang attributes that to FDIC insurance, which gives consumers a sense of security regardless of the bankâ(TM)s reputation.
This study also gives weight to something many of us already suspected. People are not necessarily drawn to fintech because it is cheaper. They are drawn to it because they feel burned by the traditional system and want a fresh start with something that seems more modern and less manipulative.
The lesson is clear. Trust is not just a soft concept. It is a measurable force that shapes where people put their money and how they interact with financial technology.
With the fintech space now more crowded than ever, this research is a reminder that reputation matters. So does transparency. As consumers grow more educated and more cynical, the winners will be the platforms that make trust a top priority.
The Wells Fargo mess may have helped kickstart a digital migration. But if those new platforms repeat the same mistakes, users will move again.
No, folks, this is not just about mortgages. It is about every service that asks for your private data or financial info. And yes, that includes AI tools, cloud storage providers, and social networks too.
178252274
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Barilla, best known for its iconic blue box pasta (a staple in my home), is diving deeper into tech. Yes, really. You see, the company just opened applications for its 2025 Good Food Makers program, and this yearâ(TM)s twist is a new ecosystem-focused format. The goal is to use innovation to fix the food chain from farm to fork by teaming up with startups that are serious about AI, blockchain, and agtech.
Now in its seventh year, the program has already attracted more than 900 startups from 25 countries. For 2025, only three will be selected. But the pitch is big. Join a four week co-development sprint alongside Barilla professionals and key partners like Bizerba, Conad Nord Ovest, and Open Fields. It is basically a high stakes tech boot camp for food.
This is not some shallow marketing exercise. Past winners have landed real-world deployments. One startup, Connecting Food, brought blockchain based traceability to Barillaâ(TM)s fresh basil supply chain. Another, Manual.to, now powers digital training at Barillaâ(TM)s Cremona factory. These are not side experiments. They are already live in production.
178247584
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
In a move that feels straight out of a different era, Xerox has officially acquired Lexmark for $1.5 billion. The deal includes net debt and assumed liabilities, and it pulls Lexmark out of the hands of Chinese ownership and into a freshly restructured Xerox. Thatâ(TM)s a lot of money for a company best known for making machines that spit out paper.
According to Xerox, this is all part of a âoeReinventionâ strategy. The company now claims it will be one of the top five players in every major print category and the leader in managed print services. Bold claim. Whether it actually matters is another story.
178246708
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Microsoft just cracked the lid on one of its most-watched AI tools. You see, the GitHub Copilot Chat extension for Visual Studio Code is now fully open source under the MIT license. That means anyone can finally take a look at how this AI-powered peer programmer actually works under the hood.
This isnâ(TM)t just some partial dump either. The newly available repo includes everything from the agent mode logic to the telemetry hooks and even the system prompts. If youâ(TM)ve been hesitant to adopt AI tools because you donâ(TM)t trust the black box behind them, this move offers something rare these days: transparency.
The timing isnâ(TM)t random either. Microsoft is clearly laying the groundwork to turn VS Code into what it calls an AI native editor. That means making AI part of every corner of the coding experience whether you asked for it or not.
If you havenâ(TM)t used Copilot Chat yet, think of it as a chatbot that actually understands your codebase. You can ask it to clean up functions, add error handling, explain what a gnarly block of logic does, or even refactor entire files. It answers with context and can apply changes directly into your code. You stay in the editor and it does the heavy lifting.
For folks who want to offload even more work, Copilot also includes agent mode. That is where the AI takes the wheel a bit more. It compiles, fixes lint errors, monitors test output, and iterates on tasks without constant input. It is like pair programming with someone who never sleeps and doesnâ(TM)t complain about edge cases.
Now that the extension is open source, developers can audit how agent mode actually works. You can also dig into how it manages your data, customize its behavior, or build entirely new tools on top of it. This could be especially useful in enterprise environments where compliance and control are non negotiable.
It is worth pointing out that the backend models powering Copilot remain closed source. So no, you wonâ(TM)t be able to self host the whole experience or train your own Copilot. But everything running locally in VS Code is now fair game. Microsoft says it is planning to eventually merge inline code completions into the same open source package too, which would make Copilot Chat the new hub for both chat and suggestions.
Of course, to get all the latest features, you will need to keep your version of Visual Studio Code up to date. Copilot Chat moves in sync with VS Code releases, so using an older editor means you will miss out on the newest models and capabilities. That is a tradeoff some devs might grumble about, but it is nothing new in the fast moving world of AI development.
Language support hasnâ(TM)t changed much. Copilot still works across basically every major language including Python, JavaScript, Java, C++, Go, PHP, C#, Ruby, and more. Because it was trained on public GitHub repositories, it understands most common libraries and frameworks out of the box.
Personally, I think open sourcing this extension is a smart and overdue move. You can now read the same code that reads your code. That is a level of visibility you just do not get with most AI tools today. Whether you are skeptical of AI or excited by it, at least now you can make that judgment with your eyes open.
The GitHub Copilot Chat extension is available now on GitHub under the MIT license. If you want to kick the tires, there is a free plan for individual users, and enterprise access is available through admin approval.
178243248
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Java is not trendy anymore, but it is still absolutely everywhere. Look, from banks and hospitals to governments, itâ(TM)s powering the backend of most of the worldâ(TM)s critical software. And now, Canonical is making a big push to support that reality.
The company behind Ubuntu is expanding its Java offering in a major way. The goal is to help both enterprise users and open source developers run Java more securely, efficiently, and without unnecessary headaches. This is not a flashy move, but it could be a very important one.
Canonicalâ(TM)s approach is centered around Ubuntu Pro. That subscription adds long-term security maintenance to Ubuntu LTS releases, and that includes OpenJDK. In fact, Canonical says Java 8 will now be supported until 2034 on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Thatâ(TM)s longer than what Red Hat or Azul is offering.
If your business is stuck on Java 8, this is good news. According to New Relic, a third of production Java workloads still run on it. With Ubuntu Pro, you can keep those apps alive without rushing to refactor legacy code.
But itâ(TM)s not just about old workloads. Canonical is also targeting modern cloud-native developers. It is releasing stripped-down Java containers called Chiseled JRE images. These minimal containers are more than 50 percent smaller than alternatives. Despite their small size, Canonical says performance is not affected.
You can pull these container images from Docker Hub or Amazon ECR. If you want long-term support for them, Ubuntu Pro has that covered too.
To make startup times faster, Canonical is embracing new tech like CRaC. That stands for Coordinated Restore at Checkpoint. It lets you pause a Java app and resume it later without delay. This is especially useful in cloud environments where fast scaling matters. Starting in Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, Canonical will fully support CRaC-based setups with ten years of security updates.
GraalVM is also part of the plan. It allows Java apps to be compiled into native binaries for faster startup and lower memory usage. Canonical is packaging GraalVM as a snap so developers can use it easily on Ubuntu 24.04 and beyond.
There is also a focus on trust and compliance. Canonical has joined the Eclipse Adoptium Working Group. That means its OpenJDK 17 and 21 builds are tested against the official TCK using the AQAvit test suite. These builds are available on major architectures including ARM64 and RISC-V.
Canonical is even working on FIPS-compliant Java libraries. This is key for users in regulated industries where certification matters.
Taken together, these moves show that Canonical is serious about Java. This is not just about bundling OpenJDK into Ubuntu. It is about creating a complete stack for developers who need performance, security, and long-term support without compromise.
Java is not going away. Canonical knows that. And for a growing number of developers, Ubuntu might just be the best place to run it.
178239132
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
The U.S. government is sounding the alarm about a growing cyber threat tied to Iran. A new joint advisory from CISA, the FBI, NSA, and the Department of Defense warns that Iranian-affiliated hackers and hacktivists could be preparing cyberattacks against vulnerable American systems.
The targets? Critical infrastructure and defense-related companies, especially those with links to Israeli research or technology. According to the agencies, these threat actors are already scanning for exposed systems running outdated software, using default passwords, or connected directly to the internet without proper security.
And if that sounds like old news, that’s part of the problem.
This isn’t theoretical. During the Israel-Hamas conflict last year, Iranian actors breached dozens of U.S. industrial systems, including water utilities and manufacturers. Many were compromised through unsecured PLCs and HMIs left wide open online.
The same tactics are still in play. From website defacements to DDoS attacks and hack-and-leak operations, Iranian-aligned groups are combining technical intrusions with social and political messaging. Some work directly with ransomware gangs, stealing data and threatening public leaks if demands aren’t met.
The advisory makes it clear that the U.S. remains an active target. Sadly, it’s not because of sophisticated zero-days, but actually, because many organizations continue to ignore basic cyber hygiene. Sigh.
The suggested mitigations are mostly common sense. Disconnect OT systems from the public internet. Kill default passwords. Apply patches. Use MFA. Monitor logs. And perhaps most importantly, rehearse incident response plans like your business depends on it. After all, it might.
Too often, organizations with the least resources are left running the most critical infrastructure. That reality hasn’t changed, and neither has the threat.
178237674
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
NASA is coming to Netflix. No, not a drama or sci-fi reboot. The space agency is actually bringing real rocket launches, astronaut spacewalks, and even views of Earth from space directly to your favorite streaming service.
Starting this summer, NASA+ will be available on Netflix, giving the space-curious a front-row seat to live mission coverage and other programming. The space agency is hoping this move helps it connect with a much bigger audience, and considering Netflix reaches over 700 million people, that’s not a stretch.
This partnership is about accessibility. NASA already offers NASA+ for free, without ads, through its app and website. But now it’s going where the eyeballs are. If people won’t come to the space agency, the space agency will come to them.
178213572
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Google is shaking things up on YouTube again, and this time itâ(TM)s targeting teen livestreamers. Starting July 22, users will need to be at least 16 years old to livestream on the platform. Itâ(TM)s a pretty massive shift in policy, and it raises some questions about the future of young creators on YouTube.
Previously, users as young as 13 could stream, provided they followed certain guidelines. But now, anyone under 16 is being cut off from livestreaming altogether. That means no more solo streams from 13 to 15-year-olds, even if theyâ(TM)ve been following the rules.
But it doesnâ(TM)t stop there. Even if a 13 to 15-year-old shows up on a livestream, YouTube is putting restrictions in place. If theyâ(TM)re not clearly accompanied by an adult, live chat may be disabled automatically. And if creators push the limits, they risk losing live chat features or even access to livestreaming entirely for a period of time.
178205114
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
A new report shows something a lot of managers probably suspected. Gen Z is using AI at work. And many of them are using it to do something old-school employers might not expect. They are working less.
According to a June 2025 survey by AIResumeBuilder.com, 66 percent of full-time Gen Z workers use AI chatbots on the job. That alone is no surprise. But hereâ(TM)s the kicker. Nearly a third of those workers say AI lets them cut down the number of hours they work each week.
The poll included 1,882 U.S. workers between 18 and 28 years old. Among those who use AI, 29 percent admit it has trimmed their schedules. About a third of that group saves one to three hours per week. Another third gets back four to six hours. Seventeen percent have dropped seven to ten hours from their week. A small but bold group of Gen Zers have slashed their time even more. Seven percent cut 11 to 20 hours and nine percent now work 20 fewer hours or more.
178194470
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Just read McAfeeâ(TM)s new 2025 Safer Summer Travel Report and thought it was worth sharing here. The numbers are rough â" 1 in 5 Americans have been scammed while booking a trip. Some people lost over $1,000, and younger travelers are getting hit especially hard with AI-edited travel photos and fake confirmation emails.
Scammers are faking entire booking sites and even using deepfaked images to sell trips or rentals that donâ(TM)t exist. The report also talks about fake QR codes and spoofed hotel confirmations.
I put together a writeup that breaks it down without the marketing fluff:
https://nerds.xyz/2025/06/mcaf...
Curious if anyone here has seen or fallen for anything like this recently. The AI angle makes these scams way harder to spot.
178184696
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
A new white paper from the University of Phoenix dives deep into what the future of IT might actually look like, and it is based on real insights from the people working in the field. Titled The Future of IT: What IT Practitioners Predict Will Drive Career Opportunities and written by Dr. J.L. Graff, the report pulls from a 2025 survey of technology professionals. What it uncovers is a mix of optimism and pressure, where opportunity is high but the pace of change is leaving many workers struggling to keep up.
The good news is that most IT professionals still believe in the value of their field. According to the survey, 86 percent are optimistic about the future of information technology. More than half say they are very optimistic. But that confidence drops when it comes to keeping up with fast-moving trends. Nearly two out of three say they are not fully confident they will be able to keep up over the next five years.
178183242
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
KDE just pushed out Plasma 6.4.1, and while itâ(TM)s technically a bug-fix release, it includes a surprisingly major change: the âoehighlight windowâ effect is now disabled by default. This is the visual effect where other windows fade away when you hover over a Task Manager thumbnail.
Why the sudden shift? It turns out this flashy feature could do more than just annoy you. Believe it or not, under the right (or wrong) circumstances, it might trigger seizures. No, really.
Developers discovered that if you open several full-screen windows from the same app and then rapidly move your mouse across their thumbnails, it could cause full-screen flickering faster than 3 Hz. Thatâ(TM)s enough to be a medical hazard for people with photosensitive epilepsy.
178162307
submission
BrianFagioli writes:
Itâ(TM)s hard to believe, but Google Earth just turned 20 years old! Since launching in 2005, itâ(TM)s grown from a curious digital globe into a tool used by scientists, city planners, and regular folks to explore nearly every corner of our planet. Now, two decades later, Google is celebrating the birthday by bringing historical Street View imagery directly into Google Earth.
If youâ(TM)ve ever wondered what your childhood neighborhood looked like ten years ago or how a favorite vacation spot has evolved, now you can go back in time without ever leaving your computer or phone. This long-awaited update makes it easier than ever to virtually time travel and see changes across cities, landscapes, and communities.
