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Jury Finds Autonomy Founder Mike Lynch Not Guilty of Defrauding HP

The BBC reports that British tech tycoon Mike Lynch "has been cleared of fraud charges he faced in the U.S. over the $11bn (£8.6bn) sale of his software firm to Hewlett-Packard in 2011." A jury in San Francisco found him not guilty on all counts in a stunning victory for Mr Lynch, who had been accused of inflating the value of Autonomy, his company, ahead of its sale. Mr Lynch, who faced more than 20 years in prison if convicted, had denied the charges and took the stand to defend himself. In his testimony, he maintained he had focused on technology not accounting, distancing himself from other executives, including the company's former chief financial officer who was already successfully prosecuted for fraud... Mr Lynch made £500m from the sale. Just a year later, HP wrote down the value of Autonomy by $8.8bn. Years of legal battles followed. The company's chief financial officer, Sushovan Hussain, was found guilty of fraud in 2018 and later sentenced to five years in prison... Mr Lynch's team pushed the argument that HP had failed to properly vet the deal and mismanaged the takeover, while he testified he was uninvolved with the transactions being described. Lynch's lawyers said the verdict "closes the book on a relentless 13-year effort to pin HP's well-documented ineptitude on Dr Lynch. Thankfully, the truth has finally prevailed." Thanks to Slashdot reader Bruce66423 for sharing the news.

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Should Police Departments Use Drones?

Wired visits Chula Vista, California (population: 275,487) — where since 2018 drones have been dispatched by police "teleoperators" monitoring 911 calls. ("Noise complaints, car accidents, overdoses, domestic disputes...") After nearly 20,000 drone flights, it's become the envy of other police departments, according to Wired's article, as other police departments "look to expand their use of unmanned aerial aircraft." The [Chula Vista] department says that its drones provide officers with critical intelligence about incidents they are responding to ahead of initiating in-person contact — which the CVPD says has reduced unnecessary police contacts, decreased response times, and saved lives. But a WIRED investigation paints a complicated picture of the trade-offs between public safety and privacy. In Chula Vista, drone flight paths trace a map of the city's inequality, with poorer residents experiencing far more exposure to the drones' cameras and rotors than their wealthier counterparts, a WIRED analysis of nearly 10,000 drone flight records from July 2021 to September 2023 found. The drones, often dispatched for serious incidents like reports of armed individuals, are also routinely deployed for minor issues such as shoplifting, vandalism, and loud music. [Drones are sent in response to about 1 in every 14 calls.] Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, the city even used drones to broadcast public service announcements to homeless encampments. Despite the police promoting the benefits of the "Drone as First Responder" program, residents who encounter the technology day-to-day report feeling constantly watched. Some say they are afraid to spend time in their backyards; they fear that the machines are following them down the street, spying on them while they use the public pool or change their clothes. One resident says that he was so worried that the drones were harassing him that he went to the emergency room for severe depression and exhaustion. [A 60-year-old professor told Wired that the sound of drones kept them awake at night.] The police drones, equipped with cameras and zoom lenses powerful enough to capture faces clearly and constantly recording while in flight, have amassed hundreds of hours of video footage of the city's residents. Their flight paths routinely take them over backyards and above public pools, high schools, hospitals, churches, mosques, immigration law firms, and even the city's Planned Parenthood facility. Privacy advocates argue that the extensive footage captured by the drones makes it difficult to distinguish between flights responding to specific incidents and mass surveillance from the sky. Department secrecy around the recordings remains the subject of ongoing litigation... At the time of our analysis, approximately one in 10 drone flights listed on the department's transparency portal lacked a stated purpose and could not be connected to any relevant 911 call.

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LIAN LI expose tout son savoir-faire au COMPUTEX 2024 !!!

Comme chez année chez LIAN LI, nous avons une tonne de nouveautés. Nous allons parler de ventilateurs presque sans-fil, de watercooling avec des tuyaux cachés, de boitiers aquarium ou de boitiers avec du bois, d'alimentation un peu WTF et de logiciel de gestion du RGB. Une vidéo en partenariat avec 1FODISCOUNT […]

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Dutch Police Test AI-Powered Robot Dog to Raid Drug Labs

"Police and search and rescue forces worldwide are increasingly using robots to assist in carrying out their operations," writes Interesting Engineering. "Now, the Dutch police are looking at employing AI-powered autonomous robot dogs in drug lab raids to protect officers from criminal risks, hazardous chemicals, and explosions." New Scientist's Matthew Sparkes (also a long-time Slashdot reader) shares this report: Dutch police are planning to use an autonomous robotic dog in drug lab raids to avoid placing officers at risk from criminals, dangerous chemicals and explosions. If tests in mocked-up scenarios go well, the artificial intelligence-powered robot will be deployed in real raids, say police. Simon Prins at Politie Nederland, the Dutch police force, has been testing and using robots in criminal investigations for more than two decades, but says they are only now growing capable enough to be practical for more... Some context from Interesting Engineering: The police force in the Netherlands carries out such raids at least three to four times a week... Since 2021, the force has already been using a Spot quadruped, fitted with a robotic arm, from Boston Dynamics to carry out drug raids and surveillance. However, the Spot is remotely controlled by a handler... [Significant technological advancements] have prompted the Dutch force to explore fully autonomous operations with Spot. Reportedly, such AI-enabled autonomous robots are expected to inspect drug labs, ensure no criminals are present, map the area, and identify dangerous chemicals... Initial tests by force suggest that Spot could explore and map a mock drug lab measuring 15 meters by 20 meters. It was able to find hazardous chemicals and put them away into a designated storage container. Their article notes that Spot "can do laser scans and visual, thermal, radiation, and acoustic inspections using add-on payloads and onboard cameras." (A video from Boston Dynamics — the company behind Spot — also seems to show the robot dog spraying something on a fire.) The video seems aimed at police departments, touting the robot dog's advantages for "safety and incident response": Enables safer investigation of suspicious packages Detection of hazardous chemicals De-escalation of tense or dangerous situations Get eyes on dangerous situations It also notes the robot "can be operated from a safe distance," suggesting customers "Use Spot(R) to place cameras, radios, and more for tactical reconnaissance."

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NZXT en mode OUF ressort le GUARDIAN au COMPUTEX 2024

Chez NZXT, nous avions le droit à un petit retour sur l'historique de la marque avec le retour du GUARDIAN... Pour les nouveautés, il était question du nouveau H7, de nouveaux modules ventilateurs mono cadre et de nouvelles alimentations plutôt canon.Une vidéo en partenariat avec 1FODISCOUNT […]

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Orgie de nouveautés chez MSI qui s'impose au COMPUTEX 2024 !!!

Attention, cette vidéo dure longtemps, car il y avait beaucoup, mais alors beaucoup de choses à voir chez MSI, et encore nous avons zappé quelques parties. Dans cette vidéo, vous allez découvrir des CM Z890, des modèles X870, des écrans OLEDs, des nouveaux boitiers, du laptop, des CG à l'eau et la future Claw 2 en Lunar Lake. Une vidéo en partenariat avec 1FODISCOUNT […]

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Les prix des cartes graphiques AMD, Intel et NVIDIA semaine 232024 : De la hausse chez les verts !!!

Bon la semaine dernière était plutôt une bonne semaine avec pas mal de baisses chez les verts, mais aucun mouvement n'avait été constaté chez AMD ou Intel. Cette semaine, c'est la même, rien ne bouge chez les rouges et chez les bleus. Première chose, cette news sera donc rapide, seconde chose, nous n'allons parler que de NVIDIA. Et chez les verts, la 4060 prend 5 euros, la 4060 Ti fait + 2 euros, la 4070 perd 10 euros, la 4070 Ti fait un bond de + 75 euros..., et la 4070 Ti Super fait + 14 euros. […]

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Computex 2024 : ZOTAC veut frapper fort avec sa console Zone

Dévoilée avant le salon, la première console portable de ZOTAC se laissait prendre en main sur le stand, sous forme de prototype. Et il faut bien reconnaitre que le Zone ne manque pas de charme malgré quelques petits points à changer ci et là, comme la couleur du D-pad qui donnait une impression un peu cheap, alors que le reste de la console rend bien. Et puisqu'on parle couleur, profitons pour dire que la machine devrait passer au gris gunmetal, ce qui ne manque pas d'attiser notre curiosité. Sans surprise, ZOTAC fait confiance à AMD et intègre un processeur Ryzen 7 8840U qui se chargera d'animer l'écran de 7" en AMOLED. L'affichage se fait en 1080p avec un taux de rafraichissement de 120 Hz, pour une belle fluidité dans Forza Horizon 5 que nous avons pu essayer. […]

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Computex 2024 : un AIO en 720 mm chez ID-COOLING !

Chez ID-COOLING, on aime bien faire des choses différentes et le salon de cette année n'a pas échappé à la règle, notamment avec le watercooling AIO HUNTER GDL. Mettons de côté le GDL qui renvoie à la finition dorée qu'on retrouvera sur d'autres produits, dont les ventirads FROZN, pour s'attarder sur sa construction puisqu'on peut voir pas moins de quatre tuyaux partir de la base ! La raison est simple, on trouve deux radiateurs de 360 mm qui pourront prendre place dans le boitier. Une installation un peu plus complexe, mais pour quel gain ? Avec la configuration actuelle des ventilateurs, qui ne sont pas orientés vers la performance, environ 5 °C. […]

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Computex 2024 : le wataircooling de retour chez ENERMAX !

Chez ENERMAX, la partie refroidissement occupait un large espace sur le stand, avec une petite surprise : une solution hybride air / watercooling comme à la grande époque. Dénommé AQUACore, ce ventirad mesure 162 mm de hauteur et intègre une solution antifuite et un petit écran de monitoring sur les ventilateurs. Mais on retiendra surtout la partie intégrée watercooling qui donne l'impression que la base est énorme. Malheureusement, ENERMAX reste discret sur l'intégration, qui semble différente de ce qu'on pouvait trouver chez PCCooler il y a quelques années, notamment. […]

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Computex 2024 : l'année du bois pour Sharkoon

Depuis quelques mois, de plus en plus de marques se lancent dans les boitiers avec du bois, et Sharkoon a fait de même avec le Rebel C70, d'ores et déjà passé entre nos mains. Une façade en bois plutôt discrète sur un châssis noir, qui sera désormais également disponible en blanc dans une nouvelle version. Surprise, la façade garde la même essence sans changement de teinte, ce qui est assez surprenant alors que la concurrence mélange plus les boitiers blancs avec des essences claires. […]

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Computex 2024 : Thermalright ? De trop nombreuses choses

Cette année, de nombreuses marques historiques faisaient leur retour sur le salon, comme Scythe (que nous n'avons pu faire) ou encore Thermalright. Et chez ce dernier, le stand était chargé en nouveautés. La gamme étant déjà complète, et potentiellement confuse, autant dire qu'il sera difficile de faire son choix facilement pour un nouveau ventirad. Les solutions aircooling sont en effet les plus représentées, avec quelques nouveaux AIO derrière et des alimentation ATX et SFX. Notons ainsi l'arrivée d'une nouvelle gamme Royal avec une finition plus propre que les actuels King et Assassin, tandis que les écrans prennent plus de place en watercooling et devraient s'installer en aircooling sur les tops. […]

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First Detection of Negative Ions on the Moon, Far-Side Soil Samples Headed to Earth

"The first European Space Agency instrument to land on the Moon has detected the presence of negative ions on the lunar surface produced through interactions with the solar wind," according to a statement from the agency, collecting over three hours of data, "three times more than what the science teams needed for mission success..." The solar wind is a constant flow of radiation and particles from the Sun. Earth's magnetic field acts as a shield. In contrast, the Moon has no magnetic field and a very tenuous atmosphere, called the exosphere. When the solar wind hits the Moon,âthe surface reacts, kicking up secondary particles... While the positively charged particles have been measured from orbit before, measuring negative particles was a challenge. Negative ions are short-lived and cannot make it to orbit. The instrument was dropped off by China's Chang'e-6 lunar lander, and Europe's ground stations are also providing support for that mission. Futurism reports: Within just over 48 hours, China's Chang'e-6 lunar touched down on the far side of the Moon, successfully scooped up samples, and kicked off once again. It was an extraordinary feat, representing the first-ever samples ever collected from the side of the Moon that permanently faces away from us. During its brief visit, the lander also dropped off several scientific payloads on the lunar service, including the European Space Agency's Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface instrument. The lander also unfurled China's red and gold flag for the first time on the far side of the moon, according to the Associated Press. And then... Its ascender lifted off Tuesday morning at 7:38 a.m. Beijing time, with its engine burning for about six minutes as it entered a preset orbit around the moon, the China National Space Administration said. The agency said the spacecraft withstood a high temperature test on the lunar surface, and acquired the samples using both drilling and surface collection before stowing them in a container inside the ascender of the probe as planned. The container will be transferred to a reentry capsule that is due to return to Earth in the deserts of China's Inner Mongolia region about June 25. The samples "could help researchers figure out why the moon's two sides are so starkly different," writes Science News: Spacecraft observations of the farside show very little volcanic activity. Some scientists suspect that this is because the nearside crust is much thinner, which would have allowed more magma to come up from below the surface, says Kerri Donaldson Hanna, a planetary geologist at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. There is evidence that some volcanism occurred in the South Pole-Aitken basin and in Apollo crater, though it appears this activity happened roughly 3.5 billion years ago. It's possible the impact that created both Aiken and Apollo weakened the lunar crust, forming fractures and allowing magma to flow. The samples onboard Chang'e-6 could contain clues as to whether or not this happened. Both Chinese and international researchers will be able to study the material. Donaldson Hanna is looking forward to seeing what insights will be gleaned from Chang'e-6 as well as future landers, such as those in NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Thanks to Slashdot reader cusco for sharing the news.

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US Justice Department Indicts Creators of Bitcoin-Anonymizing 'Samouri' Wallet

America's Justice Department "indicted the creators of an application that helps people spend their bitcoins anonymously," writes Reason.com: They're accused of "conspiracy to commit money laundering." Why "conspiracy to commit" as opposed to just "money laundering"? Because they didn't hold anyone else's money or do anything illegal with it. They provided a privacy tool that may have enabled other people to do illegal things with their bitcoin... What this tool does is offer what's known as a "coinjoin," a method for anonymizing bitcoin transactions by mixing them with other transactions, as the project's founder, Keonne Rodriguez, explained to Reason in 2022: "I think the best analogy for it is like smelting gold," he said. "You take your Bitcoin, you add it into [the conjoin protocol] Whirlpool, and Whirlpool smelts it into new pieces that are not associated to the original piece." Reason argues that providing the tool isn't a crime, just like selling someone a kitchen knife isn't a crime: The government's decision to indict Rodriguez and his partner William Lonergan Hill is also an attack on free speech because all they did was write open-source code and make it widely available. "It is an issue of a chilling effect on free speech," attorney Jerry Brito, who heads up the cryptocurrency nonprofit Coin Center, told Reason after the U.S. Treasury went after the creators of another piece of anonymizing software... The most important thing about bitcoin, and money like it, isn't its price. It's the check it places on the government's ability to devalue, censor, and surviel our money. Creators of open-source tools like Samourai Wallet should be celebrated, not threatened with a quarter-century in a federal prison. Long-time Slashdot reader SonicSpike shared the article...

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Is Nuclear Power in America Reviving - or Flailing?

Last week America's energy secretary cheered the startup of a fourth nuclear reactor at a Georgia power plant, calling it "the largest producer of clean energy, and the largest producer of electricity in the United States" after a third reactor was started up there in December. From the U.S. Energy Department's transcript of the speech: Each year, Units 3 and 4 are going to produce enough clean power to power 1 million homes and businesses, enough energy to power roughly 1 in 4 homes in Georgia. Preventing 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution annually. That, by the way, is like planting more than 165 million trees every year! And that's not to mention the historic investments that [electric utility] Southern has made on the safety front, to ensure this facility meets — and exceeds — the highest operating standards in the world.... To reach our goal of net zero by 2050, we have to at least triple our current nuclear capacity in this country. That means we've got to add 200 more gigawatts by 2050. Okay, two down, 198 to go! In building [Unit] 4, we've solved our greatest design challenges. We've stood up entire supply chains.... And so it's time to cash in on our investments by building more. More of these facilities. The Department of Energy's Loan Programs Office stands ready to help, with hundreds of billions of dollars in what we call Title 17 loans... Since the President signed the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, companies across the nation have announced 29 new or expanded nuclear facilities — across 16 states — representing about 1,600 potential new jobs. And the majority of those projects will expand the domestic uranium production and fuel fabrication, strengthening these critical supply chains... Bottom line is, in short, we are determined to build a world-class nuclear industry in the United States, and we're putting our money where our mouth is. America's Energy Secretary told the Washington Post that "Whether it happens through small modular reactors, or AP1000s, or maybe another design out there worthy of consideration, we want to see nuclear built." The Post notes the Energy department gave a $1.5 billion loan to restart a Michigan power plant which was decommissioned in 2022. "It would mark the first time a shuttered U.S. nuclear plant has been reactivated." "But in this country with 54 nuclear plants across 28 states, restarting existing reactors and delaying their closure is a lot less complicated than building new ones." When the final [Georgia] reactor went online at the end of April, the expansion was seven years behind schedule and nearly $20 billion over budget. It ultimately cost more than twice as much as promised, with ratepayers footing much of the bill through surcharges and rate hikes... Administration officials say the country has no choice but to make nuclear power a workable option again. The country is fast running short on electricity, demand for power is surging amid a boom in construction of data centers and manufacturing plants, and a neglected power grid is struggling to accommodate enough new wind and solar power to meet the nation's needs... As the administration frames the narrative of the plant as one of perseverance and innovation that clears a path for restoring U.S. nuclear energy dominance, even some longtime boosters of the industry question whether this country will ever again have a vibrant nuclear energy sector. "It is hard for me to envision state energy regulators signing off on another one of these, given how badly the last ones went," said Matt Bowen, a nuclear scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, who was an adviser on nuclear energy issues in the Obama administration. The article notes there are 19 AP1000 reactors (the design used at the Georgia plant) in development around the world. "None of them are being built in the United States."

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