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Volunteers spend 30 years restoring a Victorian sewer pump station

Popular Science

Reviving the Claymills Pumping Station in Staffordshire, England has been a labor of love. Restoration work has progressed steadily for over 30 years. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. It's always good to have a passion project, but what's going on in Staffordshire, England, is likely a one-of-a-kind endeavor. In the town of Burton upon Trent, a rotating team of volunteers has spent over 30 years restoring a Victorian pump house.


Why Walmart and OpenAI Are Shaking Up Their Agentic Shopping Deal

WIRED

After OpenAI's Instant Checkout feature fell short, Walmart is instead embedding its Sparky chatbot directly into ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Since November, Walmart has let some ChatGPT users order a limited selection of products without ever leaving OpenAI's chatbot interface. Sales have been disappointing, a Walmart executive vice president exclusively tells WIRED. The results suggest that a future where chatbots and AI agents take over ecommerce is still a way off, if it ever materializes. Last year, OpenAI made a bet that it could boost revenue by charging a commission on purchases made through ChatGPT.


Neanderthals used antibiotics, new experiment suggests

Popular Science

Gooey birch tar helped our distant cousins make weapons and possibly treat wounds. The bark of birch trees has been used to produce tar for more than 150,000 years. The center photo shows birch bark tar condensed onto a rock that borders a hearth. When scraped off the rocks, the viscous tar can be used as both an adhesive and antibiotic. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week.


UK reverses course on AI copyright position after backlash

Engadget

Sir Paul McCartney was among the artists who spoke out on the issue. After significant backlash, the UK backed off from that position. We have listened, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said on Wednesday. However, the government's new stance is, well, not a stance at all. It currently no longer has a preferred option about how to handle the issue.


Sony removes 135,000 deepfakes of its artists' music

BBC News

Sony removes 135,000 'deepfakes' of its artists' music Music giant Sony Music says it has requested the removal of more than 135,000 songs by fraudsters impersonating its artists on streaming services. The so-called deepfakes were created using generative AI, and targeted some of the company's biggest acts, who include Beyoncé, Queen and Harry Styles In the worst cases, [the deepfakes] potentially damage a release campaign or tarnish the reputation of an artist, said Dennis Kooker, president of Sony's global digital business. The company says the number of songs generated in this fashion is only increasing as artificial intelligence technology becomes cheaper and easier to access. It believes the 135,000 tracks it has discovered to date represents just a percentage of the total uploaded to streaming services. Since last March alone, it has identified some 60,000 songs falsely purporting to feature artists from their roster.


Computer says no. Are AI interviews making it harder to get a job?

BBC News

Computer says no. Are AI interviews making it harder to get a job? It's brutal, says Bhuvana Chilukuri - a third-year business student who has applied for more than 100 jobs and has been rejected for every one. There are moments where I applied and I got a rejection less than two minutes later, which is really horrible, says the 20-year-old. She is convinced that very few, if any, of her applications are ever seen by a human as firms are increasingly using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to hire new staff. The first step is AI screening your CV.


Pakistan and Afghanistan agree to temporary Eid al-Fitr 'pause' in conflict

Al Jazeera

Pakistan and Afghanistan agree to temporary Eid al-Fitr'pause' in conflict Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to a temporary "pause" in hostilities during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr this week, officials said, amid weeks of deadly violence between the neighbouring countries. Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday that the pause - set to run from midnight on Thursday (19:00 GMT on Wednesday) until midnight on Tuesday (19:00 GMT on Monday) - had been requested by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye. However, he warned that "in case of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident inside Pakistan, [operations] shall immediately resume with renewed intensity". Shortly after the announcement, a spokesperson for Afghanistan's Taliban government also said it would temporarily suspend military operations against Pakistan. The pause in fighting is set to begin just days after Afghanistan accused the Pakistani military of killing hundreds of people in an air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in the country's capital, Kabul.


Firefox is rolling out its free VPN and split-screen mode soon

PCWorld

PCWorld reports that Firefox 149 launches next week with major new features including a free built-in VPN offering 50 GB monthly data in the US, Germany, France, and UK. The update introduces split-screen mode for side-by-side tab viewing and the ability to add organizational notes to tabs for improved workflow management. Additional features coming this spring include a simplified settings menu and AI window integration, marking significant enhancements for privacy and multitasking. Mozilla announced via blog post that it'll be launching Firefox 149 next week, and with this update the company will begin rolling out a number of features it has been talking about for quite some time now. First up is the browser's new built-in free "VPN" service, which we've been hearing about since last October . With it, Firefox users will be able to route up to 50 GB of data per month through Mozilla's proxy servers.


How your ACCENT can hinder your job prospects: Study reveals how people with foreign accents are seen as less competent

Daily Mail - Science & tech

Female pastor is suspended after her shocking Epstein link is exposed... as she compares herself to JESUS while defending their relationship'Tell me to my face': Republican senator torches Noem's replacement as their vicious personal feud spills into public Outrageous full story of scandalous affair that's the talk of Manhattan's exclusive private schools: Family insiders reveal humiliating sex secrets... shock'confession' letter... and the furious relative who exposed it all Ugly new Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban divorce fight ERUPTS: Her friends share humiliating details of'midlife crisis'... and reveal brutal REAL reason daughter Sunday Rose'snubbed' him Perfect All-American family lived in stunning $1.1m Colorado mansion and bankrolled glamorous daughter's horse stables... now matriarch has sullied their good name with a HUGE scandal Meghan unveils new As Ever line with Lilibet... amid claims Netflix has been left with huge $10m surplus of her unsold products after'split' with streamer Woke Democrat, 26, who can't get out of bed in time for meetings loses primary to professor accused of inappropriate relationship by former student I watched the children's book author who poisoned her husband from 5ft away. This is the off-camera moment her mask finally slipped... it was truly chilling I ran America's only Supermax jail: What history's most notorious terrorists and serial killers told me as they waited to die Sinister truth about explosive resignation of Trump's top counter-terror chief Joe Kent... and his shock claim Israel is manipulating the president: MARK HALPERIN Hairdresser who weighs 300lbs says Southwest airport check-in worker looked him up and down and told him he'd have to buy extra seat Kim Kardashian takes a VERY dramatic tumble in towering $80 'stripper heels' and accidentally grabs an'old lady' as she falls on her way out of Vanity Fair Oscar party Everything JFK Jr told friends about his love affair with'sexual dynamo' Madonna... her unprintable pillow talk... and his perverse incest request that she couldn't go through with Saudi, UAE and Qatar energy facilities are evacuated after Iran threatens'full scale economic war' as oil price jumps 5%: Live updates New PILL for psoriasis approved... giving hope to millions suffering from debilitating skin condition How I lost 8st in my 50s and now finally have the figure of my dreams. I've been large my whole life, but I now feel happier than I ever did in my 20s. New York City's accent is dying out, study finds It's something that's fixed from roughly the age of 14. But your accent could be hindering your job prospects, according to a new study.


Pair win Turing Award for computer encryption breakthrough

BBC News

A US physicist and a Canadian computer scientist have won this year's Turing Award for their invention of a form of seemingly unbreakable encryption. Charles H Bennett and Gilles Brassard's work, which dates back to 1984, is known as quantum cryptography and has redefined secure communication and computing, the award's body said. Scientists believe their work will be central to electronic communications in a world that depends heavily on data-sharing, but which for years has been trying to develop more powerful quantum computers. The Turing Award, named after the mathematician and code-breaker Alan Turing, is known as the Nobel Prize of computing. It comes with a $1m (£800,000) prize.