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Al Capone™
Posts posted by Al Capone™
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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68509239
Former Prime Minister Theresa May has announced she will stand down as an MP at the next general election.
Mrs May, who led the country from 2016 to 2019 in the wake of the vote for Brexit, has represented Maidenhead in Berkshire for 27 years.
She said the "difficult decision" to leave the seat would enable her to spend more time on "causes close to my heart".
She is one of 64 MPs elected as Conservatives set to quit Parliament.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who got his first government job as a junior minister during her tenure in Downing Street, called her a "relentless campaigner" who had been "fiercely loyal" to Maidenhead.
He added that she "defines what it means to be a public servant".
Her predecessor Lord Cameron called her "a brilliant public servant" who could "hold her head high", and said she had done much to "modernise the Conservative Party and promote women in public life".
Mrs May, 67, has represented the safe Tory seat of Maidenhead since 1997, and was re-elected at the last election with a 18,846 majority.As a shadow minister, she pushed for the Conservatives to field more women in winnable seats, and courted controversy by warning party activists that some people saw them as "the nasty party".
She entered government after the 2010 election, when Lord Cameron made her home secretary in the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.
During her six-year stint at the Home Office, she was a chief architect of the government's "hostile environment" policy for illegal immigrants, which she later admitted had led to some people being caught up in the Windrush scandal.
The vote for Brexit then propelled her into Downing Street in July 2016, following Lord Cameron's decision to resign, and would become the issue that defined her own premiership.
The former Remainer brought several leading Leavers into her government, including Boris Johnson, whom she made her foreign secretary, but she failed to overcome opposition within her party towards her vision for Brexit.
Election gamble
She called a surprise snap election in 2017 in a bid to strengthen her hand in the negotiations, but it went disastrously wrong, with the Conservatives losing their majority in the House of Commons.A deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party saw her remain in No 10, but her authority within her own party was fatally undermined.
She famously suffered several setbacks during her speech at that year's Conservative party conference, when she struggled with a coughing fit, was presented with a P45 by a protester, and letters fell off the wall behind her as she spoke.
She hit the headlines at the following year's conference by arriving on stage with a robot-style dance set to Abba's Dancing Queen, a response to critics who saw her leadership style as wooden and had dubbed her the "Maybot".
She struck a Brexit withdrawal deal with EU countries, but it angered pro-Leave MPs in her party, leading to a confidence vote against her in late 2018, which she survived.
However, she repeatedly failed to win support for her deal in Parliament and announced her resignation just five months later, in a tearful speech in Downing Street.
She remained a backbench MP, becoming an increasingly vocal critic of her successor Mr Johnson, before he left Downing Street in 2022 following a mass revolt by ministers over his leadership.
Tory peer Lord Barwell, who served as Mrs May's Downing Street chief of staff after he lost his Commons seat in 2017, said Mrs May would be missed by Parliament and her constituents.
He said he hoped future PMs would "follow her example" by remaining in Parliament after leaving No 10, adding she had made a "number of important contributions" as a backbencher.
Damian Green, a key political ally who served as her de facto deputy prime minister, said she had set a "great example of how to be an ex-prime minister".
"She uses the Commons to promote what she wants to promote, she's not over-interfering but is talking sense," he added.
Theresa May delivers her resignation speech
Mrs May's announcement brings to 95 the total number of MPs who say they will be standing down at the next election.The list includes former ministers Matt Hancock, Dominic Raab, Ben Wallace, Sajid Javid, Kwasi Kwarteng and Chris Grayling.
This is already more than the 74 MPs who stood down ahead of the last election in 2019, and the 31 who quit in the run-up to the snap election in 2017.
But it is broadly in line with the 90 who stood down in 2015, while 149 quit before the 2010 election that followed the expenses scandal and saw Labour ejected from power after 13 years.
In a statement announcing her resignation in her local paper, the Maidenhead Advertiser, Mrs May said she had enjoyed championing caused "close to my heart," including launching a commission on tackling modern slavery.
"These causes have been taking an increasing amount of my time.
"Because of this, after much careful thought and consideration, I have realised that, looking ahead, I would no longer be able to do my job as an MP in the way I believe is right and my constituents deserve.
Anneliese Dodds, the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities, said Mrs May's decision was further evidence of a lack of confidence in Mr Sunak.
"I think this really strengthens those calls for change, those calls for a general election," she said.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68486061
A gray whale was spotted off the coast of New England last week, marking a rare sighting for a species that has been locally extinct in Atlantic waters for centuries.
It was spotted by a team of scientists with the New England Aquarium.
The whale was seen repeatedly diving and resurfacing, apparently searching for food, the aquarium said.
Scientists who spotted the animal say they were in disbelief over the sighting.
"I didn't want to say out loud what it was, because it seemed crazy," said Orla O'Brien, an associate research scientist at the aquarium who was part of the aerial survey team that saw the marine mammal on 1 March.
The whale was spotted 30 miles (48km) south of Nantucket, Massachusetts. Ms O'Brien took photos of it, which she showed to research technician Kate Laemmle, who was also on the plane.
"My brain was trying to process what I was seeing, because this animal was something that should not really exist in these waters," said Ms Laemmle.
According to the New England Aquarium, gray whales are easy to spot due to their lack of a dorsal fin, as well as their mottled grey and white skin.
While they are a common sighting in the North Pacific Ocean, these whales are locally extinct in Atlantic waters, where they have not been spotted since the 18th Century.
But in the last 15 years, there have been five documented observations of gray whales in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters.
Scientists say the reasons behind these sightings are tied to climate change.
Rising global temperatures has meant that the Northwest Passage - which connects the Atlantic and Pacific through Arctic waters - has been ice-free during the summer.
This has meant gray whales have been able to travel between the oceans more freely than in previous centuries.
"These sightings of gray whales in the Atlantic serve as a reminder of how quickly marine species respond to climate change, given the chance," said Ms O'Brien.
This particular whale may have been in Atlantic waters for a few months, the scientists say, as they believe it has been spotted before off the coast of Florida in December.
Other recent unusual gray whale sightings include one off the coast of Namibia in 2015. Four years before that, another was spotted off the coast of Israel.
Researchers at the time similarly linked the rare sightings to warming ocean waters.
"I don't expect that we'll see a brand new po[CENSORED]tion of gray whales in the Atlantic anytime in the very near future," Liz Alter, a biology professor at the California State University in Monterey Bay, told New York Public Radio in 2015.
"But it shouldn't surprise us if we start to see a steady trickle of gray whales arriving in the Atlantic."
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https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/new-bikes/2024/march/husqvarna-svartpilen-801-prototype/
Following two social media teasers and countless spy shot photographs, Husqvarna have finally confirmed that a larger, parallel-twin Svartpilen 801 naked bike is on the way for 2024.
There is not long to wait with the production model due to be shown to the world on Tuesday, March 19, and the firm previously hinting at its existence in two videos, which showed a prototype twin tackling both a flattrack oval and a frozen lake, complete with studded tyres.
The new model was officially confirmed by the brand on March 5, alongside a handful of details on the machine as well as these dynamic photographs. In addition, MCN grabbed an advanced sneak peek at the bike during the recent Svartpilen 401 and Vitpilen 401 press launch in Malaga.
Husqvarna Svartpilen 801 prototype parked on a flattrack oval
“The all-new middleweight model has been engineered to deliver a powerful combination of performance, agility and contemporary style to take riding to even greater heights,” says a statement from the company.“The versatility of the Svartpilen 801 is enhanced further by state-of-the-art electronic rider aids, including Easy Shift [an up/down quickshifter] for seamless gear changes, as standard.”
According to Husqvarna, the 801 will weigh a reasonable 181kg, however it’s unclear whether this figure includes fluids such as fuel. What’s more the bike is reported to produce around 103.6bhp, which is just a fraction more than the KTM 790 Duke’s claimed 103.3bhp.
Husqvarna Svartpilen 801 prototype with spiked tyres
The reason for this comparison is that the 801 is likely based on the Duke, with both operations belonging to the larger Pierer Mobility Group. The duo are no strangers to swapping hardware between bikes, with the smaller A2 compliant Svartpilen and Vitpilen 401 machines using the frame and engine from the KTM 390 Duke.Following Husqvarna’s previous naming convention it stands to reason that it’s the 790’s twin cylinder lump lurking beneath – housed in the same overall steel frame using the engine as stressed member. The same lattice style blacked-out swingarm also looks to be in place, however the subframe appears slightly different, to help achieve that flattrack stance.
Away from the chassis, Husky state that there will be an advanced electronics package, alongside adjustable WP Apex suspension – a given with WP also belonging to the wider Pierer collective.
Husqvarna Svartpilen 801 prototype sliding on dirt
It’s likely this electronics package will include a ‘supermoto mode’, which allows the rider to disconnect the rear intervention in order to perform skids. The bike is shown in the teaser films doing just that, with the technology also installed on the existing 790 Duke.Elsewhere, there appears to be a TFT dash and USB charging port, as well as Husqvarna’s trademark rounded LED headlight.
Likely to be an affordable engaging middleweight, the bike will be started using a standard key rather than keyless ignition and features a tiny flyscreen shrouding the rear of the clocks. To watch the teasers for yourself, head to the Husqvarna Motorcycles social media pages now.
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https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/68495361
Scotland face Italy in their penultimate Six Nations match at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Saturday.
Gregor Townsend's side have an outside chance of pipping Ireland to the title but finishing second for the first time in the Six Nations appears to be a more realistic target.
Duhan van der Merwe scored a hat-trick of tries as Scotland beat England two weeks ago to retain the Calcutta Cup.
The winger needs one try to match Stuart Hogg's Scotland record of 27.
His overall total of five tries from three games makes him the top scorer in this year's Championship.
Paolo Garbisi's last-gasp penalty miss a fortnight ago meant Italy were denied a first Six Nations victory away to France, with the Azzurri having to settle for a 13-13 draw.
The result was not enough to move them off the bottom of the Six Nations table but did halt a run of seven consecutive defeats in the championship.
Redpath, Horne and Christie start for Scotland against Italy
'Scotland will be wary of galvanised Italy' - Johnnie Beattie's column
Ireland lead the Six Nations with three bonus-point wins, Scotland are second, England third, France fourth and Wales are fifth on points difference from Italy in sixth
Team news
Italy: There are three changes for the Azzurri, including a debut for wing Louis Lynagh, the son of Australia great Michael Lynagh.His inclusion means Tommaso Menoncello moves back to centre, with Federico Mori dropping to the bench.
Flanker Sebastian Negri returns after missing two games through injury, replacing Riccardo Favretto, and prop Simone Ferrari comes in for Giosue Zilocchi, who is among the replacements.
Scotland: The visitors also makes three changes, including a first Six Nations start for George Horne, who comes in for first-choice scrum-half Ben White, who is rested.
Sione Tuipulotu will miss the rest of the tournament with a knee injury, so Cameron Redpath deputises at inside centre, while flanker Andy Christie earns his first Test start in place of Jamie Ritchie, who is a replacement.
How to follow the Six Nations on TV, radio & digital platforms
Commentator's notes
Sara Orchard: Scotland are favourites and should have enough experience to stop this game being turned into a banana-skin fixture.All the hype is about the wings. From a Scottish perspective, Duhan van der Merwe is now one try away from equalling Stuart Hogg's Scotland Test record. It's now 'when' not 'if' he will break it.
For the Italians, the headlines focus on Louis Lynagh. Come 14:15 GMT on Saturday he's officially Italian, having had three passports (England, Australia and Italy) to choose from. While Lynagh's inclusion has created waves, the return to action of hulking back-rower Sebastian Negri will calm and assure Italian fans.
View from both camps
Italy head coach Gonzalo Quesada on debutant Louis Lynagh: "He will be up against a great player [Scotland wing Van der Merwe] but he plays and defends well, he's a good communicator and we're staying true to our philosophy of giving young players their chance."Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend: "In terms of performance, we're a little bit away from what we know we can deliver. The first 45 minutes against Wales is probably still the best we've played.
"We had elements of control throughout much of the France game and for the last 60 minutes of the England game. But there's still a lot more to come from us."
Line-ups
Italy: 15-Ange Capuozzo, 14-Louis Lynagh, 13-Ignacio Brex, 12-Tommaso Menoncello, 11-Monty Ioane, 10-Paolo Garbisi, 9-Martin Page-Relo; 1-Danilo Fischetti, 2-Giacomo Nicotera, 3-Simone Ferrari, 4-Niccolo Cannone, 5-Federico Ruzza, 6-Sebastian Negri, 7-Michele Lamaro (captain), 8-Ross Vintcent.Replacements: 16-Gianmarco Lucchesi, 17-Mirco Spagnolo, 18-Giosue Zilocchi, 19-Andrea Zambonin, 20-Lorenzo Cannone, 21-Stephen Varney, 22-Leonardo Marin, 23-Federico Mori.
Scotland: 15-Blair Kinghorn, 14-Kyle Steyn, 13-Huw Jones, 12- Cameron Redpath, 11-Duhan van der Merwe, 10-Finn Russell (co-captain), 9-George Horne; 1-Pierre Schoeman, 2-George Turner, 3-Zander Fagerson, 4-Grant Gilchrist, 5-Scott Cummings, 6-Andy Christie, 7-Rory Darge (co-captain), 8-Jack Dempsey.
Replacements: 16-Ewan Ashman, 17-Alec Hepburn, 18-Elliot Millar-Mills, 19-Sam Skinner, 20-Jamie Ritchie, 21-Matt Fagerson, 22-Ali Price, 23-Kyle Rowe.
46% of Italy's Six Nations points this year have come in the final 20 minutes, more than any other side. Scotland have conceded 43% of their points in the final quarter
Match facts
Head-to-headScotland have won the last 13 meetings in all competitions, including eight straight victories in the Six Nations.
Italy's tally of seven Six Nations wins against Scotland is their best against any side in the tournament. They have a combined total of six victories against the other four nations since 2000.
ItalyThe draw versus France leaves Italy vying to avoid defeat in back-to-back Six Nations fixtures for the first time in 11 years (they won their final game in 2012 and opening match in 2013).
The Azzurri have lost all 26 home games in the Six Nations since beating Ireland in 2013.
ScotlandGregor Townsend's side have won seven of their past 10 away matches in the Six Nations, as many victories as they recorded in their previous 51 such fixtures (D1, L43).
Duhan van der Merwe is one short of equalling Stuart Hogg's Scotland record of 27 tries.
Scotland have averaged 2.9 points per entry to the 22 in this year's Six Nations, which is bettered only by Ireland's figure of 3.4.
Match officials
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)Touch judges: Karl Dickson (England) & Adam Leal (England)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
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https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-65174870
A British nail artist has claimed that her designs have been stolen by fast fashion giant Shein.
You might've seen the headlines on some news sites - "Beauty fans go wild for £2 Shein press-on nails".
And it's true, some of the Chinese-owned company's press-on nails are being sold for as little as 75p.
But Manchester-based nail designer Yan Tee was shocked to find her intricate designs on the site.
And she says not only have the firm copied her nail art, but they've even taken her own Instagram pictures without permission to advertise them.
"I thought it was a joke until I clicked on the link," Yan tells BBC Newsbeat.
"And I thought not only have they copied the design, but they've used the picture that I've taken of my clients' hands as well."
A Shein spokesperson told Newsbeat it "takes all claims of infringement seriously".
"Shein respects designers and artists, and the intellectual property rights of others," they said.
"When legitimate complaints are raised by valid IP rights holders, Shein promptly addresses the situation, and removes the product(s) from our site as a matter of caution while we investigate."
Yan has been teaching herself to paint nails since she was a teenager
Yan's detailed designs have earned her almost 80,000 followers on Instagram."I've created this design for my client based on her personal taste," the 28-year-old says.
"And so to see it literally be stolen, it feels really bad."
Yan paints her designs on clients' nails, natural or acrylic, herself - whereas press-on nails are plastic nails which are applied with glue.
She's been teaching herself since she was a teenager working in salons, and typically charges about £40 for her designs.
'Get away with it'
Yan claims that after two of her designs ended up on the site, Shein apologised and removed them both when she got in touch.But a day later, she says one of the pictures reappeared on the site.
"Small artists don't have the funds to like take them to court," Yan says.
"And I think a big part of it is that the copyright laws in China, where they're based, are quite flexible compared to like the UK copyright laws, so they can kind of get away with it."
Another of Yan's designs, and a photo from Shein's website
Yan says she understands why people would buy nails from the site, due to the low cost or not being able to visit her in Manchester.But she believes the fashion giant should've approached her to ask if they could sell the design, and then pay her.
"I wouldn't be mad at the people who are buying it, because most of the people don't know it's been stolen off an artist," she says.
"But then I think it's a responsibility of Shein."
The price of Shein's nails are obviously far less than seeing a nail artist - but as Yan points out, it's unlikely press-on nails will last.
"Press-ons will pop off after a day or so, if not an hour, [and] my clients come back to me every four to six weeks and their nails are still on.
"I hand paint these designs and sat with them for at least an hour.
"Shein have scanned my design on to a piece of plastic and they're selling it to someone who's going to be wearing it for like an hour or so."
Shein says its "suppliers are all required to certify that their products do not infringe on third-party IP".
"If a violation is confirmed, Shein takes appropriate action. We continue to invest and improve our process to detect and prevent violations," the spokesperson added.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68514467
Five people have died after a parachute failed on an aid package dropped by air into Gaza on Friday, reports say.
An eyewitness and the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said the five were killed when at least one parachute failed to deploy and a parcel fell on them, the BBC's US partner CBS reports.
AFP news agency quoted a Gaza doctor as saying five people were killed. The BBC has not independently verified this.
It is unclear which air drop was involved in the incident.
The US, Jordan, Egypt, France, the Netherlands and Belgium have been dropping aid into Gaza in recent days as concerns about famine among the po[CENSORED]tion grow.
Jordanian state TV quoted a source as denying that a Jordanian aircraft was involved in the incident.
CBS News reported the incident happened at about 11:30 local time (09:30 GMT). US Central Command confirmed a joint air drop of aid into Gaza with the Royal Jordanian Air Force happened at about 13:30 local time.
US Gen Patrick Ryder said its air drop was not involved in the incident, adding "we've confirmed that all of our aid bundles landed safely on the ground".
The UN says a quarter of Gaza's 2.3m po[CENSORED]tion is on the brink of famine and children are starving to death.
A video posted to social media on Friday and verified by BBC News shows aid dropping from a C-17 cargo plane over al-Shati, north of Gaza City, in an area largely cut off from assistance in recent months.
While most of the large packages of aid fall with parachutes deployed, one fails to open and falls in a more uncontrolled way.
It is difficult to say from the video, a screenshot from which is above, what may have gone wrong. We do not know if this footage captures the incident in which people were reportedly killed.
Aid organisations have been critical of the air drops, saying they were a last resort and incapable of meeting the soaring need.
On Friday the EU, UK, US and others said they planned to open a sea route to Gaza to deliver aid that could begin operating this weekend.
The US has said it will construct a temporary harbour to ship aid directly into Gaza, but US officials have said it will take weeks to make.
Western countries have pressed Israel to expand delivery of aid by road, facilitating more routes and opening additional crossings.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said: "We continue to urge Israel to allow more trucks into Gaza as the fastest way to get aid to those who need it."
Israel denies impeding the entry of aid to Gaza and accuses aid organisations of failing to distribute it.
Aid lorries have been entering the south of Gaza through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah crossing and the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom crossing. But the north, which was the focus of the first phase of the Israeli ground offensive, has been largely cut off from assistance in recent months.
An estimated 300,000 Palestinians are living there with little food or clean water.
Last week more than 100 people were killed trying to reach a ground aid convoy amid the growing desperation. Palestinians said most were shot by Israeli troops.
The Israeli military, which was overseeing the private aid deliveries, on Friday said its troops did not fire at Palestinians around an aid convoy but at "suspects" nearby who they deemed a threat.
Israel's military launched an air and ground campaign in Gaza after Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 253 others were taken hostage.
More than 30,800 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the territory's Hamas-run health ministry says.
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Apple is said to be working on a host of foldable devices, with a clamshell foldable phone and a foldable tablet rumoured to be in the works. Earlier this week, a prominent Apple analyst claimed that a foldable MacBook would in fact be Apple's first product in the category, going into mass production in 2027. Now, a tipster has said that the company plans to release a foldable iPhone in 2026.
According to Revegnus (@Tech_Reve), a folding iPhone would be Apple's first foldable, with the company eyeing a release window of 2026. The new information contradicts reports from last month that claimed the company had halted development on a foldable phone over display issues.
The tipster, citing a report from Korean outlet AlphaBiz, said that Apple's foldable phone would release in 2026. The report allegedly quotes a senior Apple official, shedding light on the iPhone maker's plans for a folding phone. "Apple has decided to release the foldable iPhone in 2026, which is later than expected," the official was quoted saying (translated from Korean). "As it is a later release than its competitors, we know that cutting-edge technologies will be concentrated."According to the report, the Apple official said that the foldable iPhone would be thinner and lighter than the competition, with a focus on preventing crease marks on the folding screen. “"In particular, the goal is to avoid the wrinkles that competitors are struggling with,” the official was quoted as saying.
While Apple has lagged behind in the foldables segment, rivals Samsung and Google already have foldable phones in the market. Samsung has released five generations of both clamshell and book-style foldable phones, while Google launched the Pixel Fold last year.
The latest update contradicts reports from earlier this week that said that Apple's first foldable would be 20.3-inch foldable MacBook, which would likely enter mass production in 2027. TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that a MacBook was Apple's only foldable product with a clear development schedule at the moment. “My latest survey indicates that currently, Apple's only foldable product with a clear development schedule is the 20.3-inch MacBook, expected to enter mass production in 2027,” Kuo said this week in a post on X.
While Apple has been rumoured to be working on an unspecified large-screen foldable, alongside folding iPhone and iPad models, a report last month had said that Apple had paused development on a foldable phone over issues with the folding display.
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https://techxplore.com/news/2024-03-generative-ai-software.html
Generative AI is getting plenty of attention for its ability to create text and images. But those media represent only a fraction of the data that proliferate in our society today. Data are generated every time a patient goes through a medical system, a storm impacts a flight, or a person interacts with a software application.
Using generative AI to create realistic synthetic data around those scenarios can help organizations more effectively treat patients, reroute planes, or improve software platforms—especially in scenarios where real-world data are limited or sensitive.
For the last three years, the MIT spinout DataCebo has offered a generative software system called the Synthetic Data Vault to help organizations create synthetic data to do things like test software applications and train machine learning models.
The Synthetic Data Vault, or SDV, has been downloaded more than 1 million times, with more than 10,000 data scientists using the open-source library for generating synthetic tabular data. The founders—Principal Research Scientist Kalyan Veeramachaneni and alumna Neha Patki '15, SM '16—believe the company's success is due to SDV's ability to revolutionize software testing.
SDV goes viral
In 2016, Veeramachaneni's group in the Data to AI Lab unveiled a suite of open-source generative AI tools to help organizations create synthetic data that matched the statistical properties of real data.Companies can use synthetic data instead of sensitive information in programs while still preserving the statistical relationships between datapoints. Companies can also use synthetic data to run new software through simulations to see how it performs before releasing it to the public.
Veeramachaneni's group came across the problem because it was working with companies that wanted to share their data for research.
"MIT helps you see all these different use cases," Patki explains. "You work with finance companies and health care companies, and all those projects are useful to formulate solutions across industries."
In 2020, the researchers founded DataCebo to build more SDV features for larger organizations. Since then, the use cases have been as impressive as they've been varied.
With DataCebo's new flight simulator, for instance, airlines can plan for rare weather events in a way that would be impossible using only historic data. In another application, SDV users synthesized medical records to predict health outcomes for patients with cystic fibrosis. A team from Norway recently used SDV to create synthetic student data to evaluate whether various admissions policies were meritocratic and free from bias.
In 2021, the data science platform Kaggle hosted a competition for data scientists that used SDV to create synthetic data sets to avoid using proprietary data. Roughly 30,000 data scientists participated, building solutions and predicting outcomes based on the company's realistic data.
And as DataCebo has grown, it's stayed true to its MIT roots: All of the company's current employees are MIT alumni.
Supercharging software testing
Although their open-source tools are being used for a variety of use cases, the company is focused on growing its traction in software testing."You need data to test these software applications," Veeramachaneni says. "Traditionally, developers manually write scripts to create synthetic data. With generative models, created using SDV, you can learn from a sample of data collected and then sample a large volume of synthetic data (which has the same properties as real data), or create specific scenarios and edge cases, and use the data to test your application."
For example, if a bank wanted to test a program designed to reject transfers from accounts with no money in them, it would have to simulate many accounts simultaneously transacting. Doing that with data created manually would take a lot of time. With DataCebo's generative models, customers can create any edge case they want to test.
"It's common for industries to have data that is sensitive in some capacity," Patki says. "Often when you're in a domain with sensitive data you're dealing with regulations, and even if there aren't legal regulations, it's in companies' best interest to be diligent about who gets access to what at which time. So, synthetic data is always better from a privacy perspective."
Scaling synthetic data
Veeramachaneni believes DataCebo is advancing the field of what it calls synthetic enterprise data, or data generated from user behavior on large companies' software applications."Enterprise data of this kind is complex, and there is no universal availability of it, unlike language data," Veeramachaneni says. "When folks use our publicly available software and report back if works on a certain pattern, we learn a lot of these unique patterns, and it allows us to improve our algorithms. From one perspective, we are building a corpus of these complex patterns, which for language and images is readily available. "
DataCebo also recently released features to improve SDV's usefulness, including tools to assess the "realism" of the generated data, called the SDMetrics library as well as a way to compare models' performances called SDGym.
"It's about ensuring organizations trust this new data," Veeramachaneni says. "[Our tools offer] programmable synthetic data, which means we allow enterprises to insert their specific insight and intuition to build more transparent models."
As companies in every industry rush to adopt AI and other data science tools, DataCebo is ultimately helping them do so in a way that is more transparent and responsible.
"In the next few years, synthetic data from generative models will transform all data work," Veeramachaneni says. "We believe 90% of enterprise operations can be done with synthetic data."
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TSMC is poised to receive a federal incentive exceeding $5 billion for its site in Arizona, according to a Bloomberg report that cites sources familiar with the matter. The U.S. government is not yet ready to announce the incentive because it has to be finalized with the world's largest contract maker of chips, but the sum looks very significant.
It is unclear whether TSMC—which produces chips for AMD, Apple, Intel, Nvidia, and Qualcomm—will receive $5 billion in grants or whether the sum includes grants, loans, and/or loan guarantees. Also, it is unclear whether it will use loans and loan guarantees to build and expand its site near Phoenix, Arizona, or will rather invest its own money.
If the information about $5 billion incentives for TSMC is accurate, then it is highly likely that the report about Intel's award package of around $10 billion is probably also accurate. Also consider the fact that Intel's projects in the U.S. are far more ambitious and costly than TSMC's. For example, Intel is building a brand-new site in Ohio, which is set to cost over $100 billion.
TSMC's project in Arizona involves an investment of $40 billion to construct two semiconductor fabrication facilities. For the world's No. 1 foundry, this is a way to diversify its geographical footprint and remain adaptable to the trend of onshoring semiconductor manufacturing. However, TSMC's Arizona project has faced multiple setbacks.
TSMC commenced construction of its first new U.S. fab in early 2021, with the aim to start production at the facility in 2024. However, due to a reported shortage of skilled workers in the state, TSMC had to delay the installation of some fab tools and, therefore, push back the production start of the fab to 2025. The production facility — called Fab 21 phase 1 — will use TSMC's 5nm-class process technologies, including N5, N5P, N4, N4P, and N4X.
In addition to Fab 21 phase 1, TSMC also announced its Fab 21 phase 2 in late 2022. That fab was meant to produce chips on its 3nm-class production process, which includes N3, N3E, N3P, and N3X. While the fab shell is still under construction, installation of equipment for Fab 21 phase 2 was postponed earlier this year because of a lack of U.S. subsidies and demand uncertainties. Consequently, Fab 21 phase 2, which was expected to come online in 2025, is now anticipated to begin operations sometime in 2027 or 2028, a considerable deviation from the original schedule.
It remains to be seen whether the incentive package will affect TSMC's plans for Fab 21 phase 2.
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I Will hace you pro, all need a chance 🙂
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https://www.gadgets360.com/apps/news/instagram-facebook-down-for-users-march-5-2024-5182718
Several Instagram users are reporting an outage, and Downdetector, the website tracking real-time issues and outages, confirms it. Additionally, Meta's Facebook services also seem to be down with several users reporting issues to log-in. Notably, Threads was also down at the same time.
facebook down g360 Facebook down
Facebook shows a "password that you've entered is incorrect" message when trying to log in
At the time of writing this story, Downdetector had over 29,000 people reporting issues with Instagram, while about 16,000 users reported similar problems with Facebook on the platform. Some of our team members tried opening Facebook on app and on browser but all of us were logged out.
As always, with Instagram and Facebook services down, users took to X to share memes and #instagramdown and #facebookdown hashtags are now trending.
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https://techxplore.com/news/2024-03-electricity-tool-britain.html
A new cutting-edge tool developed in collaboration with researchers from the University of Strathclyde is helping to revolutionize the real-time balancing of Britain's electricity network.
Energy experts at the University teamed up with the Electricity System Operator (ESO) to design an optimization tool that paves the way for net-zero electricity system operation in Great Britain. It enables the control room to make better use of the most economic service providers, including fast-response batteries.
System balancing
To maintain a balance between electricity generation and demand, the ESO operates an hour-ahead market known as the Balancing Mechanism (BM). The first phase of the Open Balancing Platform (OBP), developed as part of the ESO's existing program of operational improvement, is supporting transformation of system balancing by allowing control room engineers to send instructions to hundreds of balancing units in each battery and small BM unit (BMU) zone across Britain at the touch of a single button.In the past, balancing electricity generation and demand involved sending dispatch instructions to several large generators. Greater numbers of smaller generators including fast-response batteries are participating increasingly in the BM market. The addition of these assets brings about potential cost savings, but also an increased number of dispatch instructions and greater complexity.
Strathclyde developed an early-stage proof of concept within the MDI (Modernized Dispatch Instructor) project, a collaboration with ESO which helped identify the system requirements and form a view on the approach to bulk dispatch optimization. Building on Strathclyde research, a mathematical optimization tool, referred to as the Bulk Dispatch Optimizer (BDO) has been created for control room engineers. It became operational in the Electricity National Control Center (ENCC) in December 2023.
The ENCC is Great Britain's central hub for operation of the national electricity system, moving electricity around the country from where it's generated to where it's used and ensuring that supply and demand are balanced minute-by-minute.
Single button
Bulk dispatch gives control room users a proposed set of optimized instructions based on the lowest cost solution, subject to BMU constraints. Previously, engineers had to manually instruct each action on each unit and check BM rule compliance. With bulk dispatch, instructions can be sent at the press of a single button, significantly reducing the number of manual instructions and time taken to instruct small BMUs and batteries, ultimately optimizing network balancing and delivering value for consumers.Dr. Waqquas Bukhsh, a specialist in Power Systems Optimization, led Strathclyde's input to the project. He said, "The variability of wind and solar power mean that the system operator needs to be much more agile than in the past. However, they also now have many more options for how to balance the system, including using batteries that have come down massively in cost in the last few years.
"The trick is knowing how to make best use of all the different options. That's what our mathematical expertise has been able to do. This tool will benefit every electricity user in the country, aiming to drive value for consumers by reducing costs and enabling net-zero carbon operability."
Professor Keith Bell, Scottish Power Professor Future Systems at Strathclyde, a long-standing collaborator with the ESO, said, "The go-live of this tool at the national electricity system control center is a major milestone. It's fantastic to witness our academic research making a real impact, building on many years of close engagement with the electricity industry on the challenges in migrating to a zero-carbon energy system."
Craig Dyke, Director of System Operations, ESO, said, "Release 1 of the Open Balancing Platform is a huge step forward for the sector and provides an essential foundation to making improved use of available low carbon energy. The University of Strathclyde was a key contributor, having developed a prototype for BDO as part of an innovation project, and providing guidance on further development towards production.
"The university brought a unique ability to translate mathematical concepts to the practical challenges of power system operation."
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JEDEC has published the GDDR7 memory standard specifications, according to BusinessWire. The next-generation memory will be used for graphics cards, and AMD, Micron, Nvidia, Samsung, and SK hynix have all weighed in on the matter. We anticipate GDDR7 will be the memory of choice for high-end RDNA 4 and Blackwell GPUs, which are rumored to launch next year and vie for a spot on our list of the best graphics cards.
It has been nearly six years since the first graphics cards began supporting GDDR6 memory. That was Nvidia's RTX 20-series Turing architecture, which launched in September, 2018. The first RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti GPUs with GDDR6 had the memory clocked at 14 Gbps (14 GT/s), providing 56 GB/s per device. Later solutions like AMD's RX 7900 XTX have clocked as high as 20 Gbps, with 80 GB/s.
Nvidia helped to create a faster alternative in GDDR6X, which started at 19 Gbps in the RTX 3080, and eventually went as high as 23 Gbps in the most recent RTX 4080 Super. Officially, Micron rates its GDDR6X chips as high as 24 Gbps, which would yield 96 GB/s per device.
GDDR7 is set to provide a massive generational increase in bandwidth. JEDEC's specification will eventually reach as high as 192 GB/s per device. That works out to a memory speed of 48 Gbps, double the fastest GDDR6X. However, it gets to that speeds in a different way than prior memory solutions.
GDDR7 will use three levels of signaling (-1, 0, +1) to transmit three bits of data per two cycles. That's a change from NRZ (non-return-to-zero) signaling used in GDDR6, which transmits two bits over two cycles. That change alone accounts for a 50% improvement in data transmit efficiency, meaning the base clocks don't have to be twice as high as GDDR6.
Other changes include the use of core independent linear-feedback shift register training patterns to improve accuracy and reduce the training time. GDDR7 will have double the number of independent channels (four versus two in GDDR6), and it will use PAM3 signaling.
None of this is new information, and Samsung revealed many of the key GDDR7 details last July. However, the publication of the JEDEC standard marks a key milestone and suggests the public availability and use of GDDR7 solutions is imminent — relatively speaking.
Nvidia's next-generation Blackwell architecture is expected to use GDDR7 when it launches. We will likely get a data center version of Blackwell in late 2024, but that will use HBM3E memory instead of GDDR7. The consumer-level products will most likely arrive in early 2025, and as usual, there will be professional and data center variants of those parts. AMD is also working on RDNA 4, and we expect it will also use GDDR7 — though don't be surprised if lower-tier parts from both companies still opt to stick with GDDR6 for cost reasons.
In either case, AMD or Nvidia, using GDDR7 at the highest speeds would potentially provide for up to 2,304 GB/s of bandwidth using today's widest 384-bit interfaces. Will we actually see such bandwidth? Perhaps not, as for example Nvidia's RTX 40-series GPUs with GDDR6X all use slightly lower clocks. Still, we could easily see double the bandwidth with the upcoming architectures.
When will those actually arrive? We're not ruling out a potential late-2024 launch. Nvidia's RTX 30-series launched in the fall of 2020, and the RTX 40-series came out in the fall of 2022. AMD's RX 6000-series likewise launched in late 2020, with the RX 7000-series arriving in late 2022. If both keep to the same two-year cadence, we could see GDDR7 graphics cards before the end of the year. But don't get your hopes up, as we still feel early 2025 is more likely.
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@GL HERO SHIMA and @ツ̸M̸a̸v̸i̸e̸a̸ツ̸ Has been added to our team. Welcome...
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Accepted. T/C
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Accepted. T/C
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3 minutes ago, [Depo] said:
CONTRA
You need to join 2 projects and need to have activity a month and we will see you have interesed for moderator.
QuoteNOTE: For those members who dont have any activity we can deal, I will only ask that you start your activity and have a compromise with the projects, otherwise the rank will be removed. (If you are agree with this PM ME)
Pro!!
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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68435262
Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has been placed under investigation by Parliament's standards watchdog.
The probe relates to Mr Gove's register of financial interests, according to the Standards Commissioner's website.
There are no further details about the investigation, with these kept confidential until it concludes.
However, last week the Guardian reported Mr Gove had failed to register VIP hospitality at a football match with Conservative donor David Meller.
In August 2021, he was entertained at a Queens Park Rangers match with the businessman, according to the newspaper.
Mr Meller's company, Meller Designs, was awarded six contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand sanitiser worth £164m after a referral from Mr Gove, who was then Cabinet Office minister, in 2020.
The standards commissioner is not thought to be investigating the contracts, just whether he registered the hospitality correctly.
A spokesperson for Mr Gove told The Guardian he "apologises for any oversight".
"He has written to the relevant parliamentary authorities to inform them of a potential omission from the register of members' financial interests regarding two complimentary tickets he received from Queens Park Rangers Football Club to a match in August 2021," the spokesperson said.
Under the MPs' code of conduct, they must register gifts, benefits and hospitality over the value of £300.
Individuals under investigation are not allowed to discuss the allegations against them.
Asked about the probe in an interview with BBC Radio 2, Mr Gove said he was "bursting to say more about it" but was not able to because of Commons rules.
While he declined to comment on the standards commissioner's investigation, he said all PPE contracts were awarded by civil servants "against an objective set of criteria".
"No minister was involved in awarding PPE contracts," he added.
Meanwhile, the commissioner has also opened an investigation into independent MP Andrew Bridgen.
It means seven MPs are currently under investigation.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Daniel Greenberg, is responsible for investigating alleged breaches of the House of Commons Code of Conduct and registers of interests.
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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cl4xyv8yxz3o
A monkey that went on the run from a wildlife park for more than five days has been moved to another zoo after not settling back into park life.
Honshu, a seven-year-old Japanese macaque, escaped from the Highland Wildlife Park, near Kincraig, last month.
He was captured after Stephanie Bunyan, who lives nearby, spotted the monkey in her garden.
The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), which runs the wildlife park, said Honshu had been moved to its Edinburgh Zoo to give him "a fresh start".
Read more stories from the Highlands and Islands
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The monkey has been accompanied by three other males from his troop.Darren McGarry, head of living collections at RZSS, said: "Primate group dynamics can be very complex, especially in a situation like this where an individual is separated from the troop for an extended period of time.
“Honshu is also of the age when macaques disperse or move away, so it would have been very difficult to reintroduce him to his wider family."
AI generated image of Honshu
IMAGE SOURCE,FACEBOOK
Image caption,
Honshu's breakout spawned a troop of creative online memes and AI-generated imagesThe Japanese macaque - also known as a snow monkey - is about the size of a medium-sized dog once they reach adulthood.
Honshu was part of a troop of 37 animals at the Highland Wildlife Park.
The RZSS said he may have been trying to avoid a fight with others in the group when he escaped.
The troop was in the midst of its breeding season and keepers said tensions could sometimes run high.
The RZSS said the monkey was unlikely to have posed a threat to the public or pets, but had asked that people not to approach it.
The search effort included patrols by RZSS staff and drones, including one fitted with thermal imaging equipment and operated by a Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team.
The monkey breakout spawned a whole troop of creative online memes and AI-generated images.
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https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/68436828
Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba says he is "sad, shocked and heartbroken" after being banned from football for four years for a doping offence.
The France international, 30, was provisionally suspended in September after a drugs test found elevated levels of testosterone in his system.
"Everything I have built in my professional career has been taken away from me," he said in a statement.
The former Manchester United player added he would appeal.
Pogba was randomly tested after Juventus' first match of the season on 20 August.
The positive test was confirmed by Italy's national anti-doping tribunal (Nado) in a second sample in October, and the anti-doping prosecutor's office requested a four-year suspension.
Juventus told the BBC they received notification from the anti-doping tribunal on Thursday morning.
Pogba said he believed the verdict was "incorrect" and he would "never knowingly or deliberately" dope.
"When I am free of legal restrictions, the full story will become clear," he said, adding he would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).
"As a professional athlete I would never do anything to enhance my performance by using banned substances and have never disrespected or cheated fellow athletes and supporters of any of the teams I have played for, or against."
The ruling means 2018 World Cup winner Pogba will be unable to play until 2027, when he will be 34, with the ban backdated to the date of the failed test.
Is this the end of Paul Pogba’s football career?
Speaking at the time of the initial suspension, Pogba's agent, Rafaela Pimenta, said: "What is certain is that Paul Pogba never wanted to break a rule."Testosterone is a hormone that increases the endurance of athletes.
Nado said Pogba had violated rules when prohibited non-endogenous testosterone metabolites - substances not naturally produced by the body from testosterone - were found, and the results were "consistent with the exogenous [external] origin of the target compounds".
line
What is Pogba's contract situation? - Analysis
Mina Rzouki, Italian football journalistA player who won four Scudetti and helped Juventus reach the Champions League final in 2015, Pogba remains a beloved figure in Turin and news of his ban - which he will appeal against - has provoked profound sadness.
Both the club and the player wanted to write the story of the icon's triumphant return. Instead, we will be left wondering what will happen to a player who never quite fulfilled his true potential.
Pogba was initially earning an 8m euro (£6.9m) annual salary at Juventus, plus 2m euros (£1.71m) in bonuses, but when he was provisionally suspended in September 2023, this was reduced to approximately 2,400 euros per month (£2,054 per month), as provided by the collective agreement between clubs and the footballers' association.
The club have a right to cancel the player's contract. However, we understand that Juventus will discuss the next steps with the player and his representatives before making a final decision on how to proceed.
When Juventus announced the return of Pogba as a free agent in summer 2022, fans were delighted that the prodigal talent, who arguably performed at his world-class best in their stripes, would return to help the club challenge for titles once again.
But a season of endless injuries and controversies meant he only managed 10 appearances for the club last term.
Choosing conservative therapy rather than surgery in hopes of ensuring his presence at the Qatar World Cup resulted in further delays to his recovery, and the player not only missed the chance to represent France again but also delayed the opportunity to star for his club once more.
In between his tears, endless injuries and the club's own problems with points deductions and investigations, Pogba and Juve had a year to forget last season.
This season carried even more hope as the player was back in training and seemingly rid of the constant injuries plaguing him. The routine drug test carried out after the first game of the season in August, a match that saw him stay on the bench, returned devastating results.
"Humanely, I'm sorry for Paul," said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri.
The tactician had developed a close bond with the player and was eager to utilise his talent in midfield, in addition to his experienced and authoritative voice that could have made the difference to a young dressing room.
Instead, the story looks to end sadly. In March, the player will be 31 and if Pogba loses his appeal to reduce the ban then he will be nearing 35 before he returns to football.
line
According to information put into the public domain by the Football Leaks website, when Pogba re-signed for Manchester United in the summer of 2016, his five-year contract was a basic £7.75m each year.A loyalty bonus of £3.75m a year was also included. If United qualified for the Champions League, Pogba netted a further £1.85m.
In addition, Pogba had a £3m-a-year image rights deal. His agent Mino Raiola, who died in 2022, was paid £41m to help take Pogba back to United.
Juventus then re-signed Pogba on a four-year deal in July 2022 after he ran down his contract at Manchester United and left as a free agent.
Pogba said that he experienced depression after falling out with manager Jose Mourinho during the Portuguese manager's time in charge at Old Trafford.
There is also an ongoing French police criminal investigation, launched in summer 2022, after Pogba said he was the victim of an alleged blackmail plot by an organised crime gang.
His brother Mathias Pogba was one of five people detained and placed under formal investigation. His lawyer said his client is innocent. There has not yet been a resolution to the case.
In Pogba's first spell at Juventus, from 2012-16, he made 178 appearances across all competitions and won four league titles, scoring 34 goals, before re-joining United for a then-world record transfer fee of £89.3m.
He had previously moved to United as a teenager from Le Havre before departing at the age of 19 for Juventus.
Pogba has played a total of 51 minutes as a substitute this season in games against Bologna and Empoli.
Last season he played 108 minutes over six Serie A games, made three appearances and had one assist in the Europa League, and managed 11 minutes in the Coppa Italia - a total of 162 minutes and no goals.
[Movie]Spaceman
in Movies / Trailers
Posted
Nick movie: Spaceman
Time: 2024
Netflix / Amazon / HBO: Netflix
Duration of the movie: 1h 49m
Trailer: