Facial recognition technology is poised to replace traditional passports globally, marking the biggest shift in travel documentation since World War 1. Airports across Finland, Canada, Netherlands, UAE, UK, Italy, US, and India are [1]testing passport-free systems , with Singapore already implementing the technology for its residents and departing visitors.

The systems typically store passport data digitally on smartphones, using face recognition cameras at airports to match travelers against stored photos. Singapore officials report over 1.5 million people have used their system, while Finnish trials showed identity checks taking just eight seconds.



[1] https://www.wired.com/story/the-paper-passport-is-dying/

Major video game studios' pursuit of ultra-realistic graphics has [1]led to diminishing returns and industry-wide layoffs, as younger players gravitate toward simpler, more social games, New York Times is reporting.

Sony's Insomniac Games spent $300 million developing Marvel's Spider-Man 2, triple the budget of its predecessor, before laying off staff amid Sony's 900-person reduction in February. The industry has cut more than 20,000 jobs in the past two years. Meanwhile, games with basic graphics like Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite continue to dominate, particularly among younger players.

Genshin Impact, a mobile game by Hoyoverse, generates approximately $2 billion annually through frequent content updates rather than cutting-edge visuals. The shift has forced studios to reevaluate their strategies. Warner Bros. Discovery lost $200 million on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, while Sony shuttered its Concord studio shortly after launch. Some industry figures see AI as a potential solution to reduce graphics development costs, the report adds, particularly in sports games.



[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/arts/video-games-graphics-budgets.html?unlocked_article_code=1.kk4.qxlk.MgAaPo-RbcLM&smid=url-share

Japanese megabank MUFG Bank says that its [1]internet banking service has been unstable , indicating that it may have been under a cyberattack. From a report:

> The glitch, which occurred from 2:47 p.m., originated from "massive influx of data," the main banking unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group said. There was no leakage of customer information, nor was any damage caused by computer viruses.



[1] https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/12/246825f8262a-update1-japans-mufg-bank-suffers-online-banking-glitch-hints-at-cyberattack.html

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has [1]released what appears to be [2]one of the most powerful open-source language models to date , trained at a cost of just $5.5 million using restricted Nvidia H800 GPUs.

The 671-billion-parameter DeepSeek V3, released this week under a permissive commercial license, outperformed both open and closed-source AI models in internal benchmarks, including Meta's Llama 3.1 and OpenAI's GPT-4 on coding tasks.

The model was trained on 14.8 trillion tokens of data over two months. At 1.6 times the size of Meta's Llama 3.1, DeepSeek V3 requires substantial computing power to run at reasonable speeds.

Andrej Karpathy, former OpenAI and Tesla executive, [3]comments :

> For reference, this level of capability is supposed to require clusters of closer to 16K GPUs, the ones being brought up today are more around 100K GPUs. E.g. Llama 3 405B used 30.8M GPU-hours, while DeepSeek-V3 looks to be a stronger model at only 2.8M GPU-hours (~11X less compute). If the model also passes vibe checks (e.g. LLM arena rankings are ongoing, my few quick tests went well so far) it will be a highly impressive display of research and engineering under resource constraints.

>

> Does this mean you don't need large GPU clusters for frontier LLMs? No but you have to ensure that you're not wasteful with what you have, and this looks like a nice demonstration that there's still a lot to get through with both data and algorithms.



[1] https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/26/deepseeks-new-ai-model-appears-to-be-one-of-the-best-open-challengers-yet/

[2] https://x.com/deepseek_ai/status/1872242657348710721

[3] https://x.com/karpathy/status/1872362712958906460

The Federal Trade Commission has launched a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft's business practices, focusing on how the company [1]bundles its Office products with cybersecurity and cloud computing services .

The probe follows ProPublica reporting that revealed Microsoft offered free temporary upgrades of federal agencies' software licenses to [2]include advanced cybersecurity features , leading to long-term contracts once the trial period ended. The strategy helped Microsoft expand its government business while displacing competitors in both cybersecurity and cloud computing markets.

The investigation includes scrutiny of Microsoft's identity management product Entra ID, formerly Azure Active Directory. The FTC has issued a civil investigative demand compelling the company to turn over information. The probe represents one of FTC Chair Lina Khan's final moves before leadership changes under the Biden administration. Microsoft confirmed receiving the demand but called it "broad, wide ranging, and requests things that are out of the realm of possibility to even be logical."



[1] https://www.propublica.org/article/ftc-investigating-microsoft-antitrust-cloud-computing

[2] https://www.propublica.org/article/microsoft-white-house-offer-cybersecurity-biden-nadella

[1]theodp writes:

> In 2012, now-Microsoft President Brad Smith [2]unveiled Microsoft's National Talent Strategy , a two-pronged strategy that called for tech visa restrictions to be loosened to allow tech companies to hire non-U.S. citizens to fill jobs until more American schoolchildren could be made tech-savvy enough to pass hiring standards. Shortly thereafter, [3]tech-backed nonprofit Code.org emerged (led by Smith's next-door neighbor Hadi Partovi with Smith as a founding Board member) with a mission to ensure that U.S. schoolchildren started receiving 'rigorous' computer science education instruction. Around the same time, [4]Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.us PAC launched (with support from Smith, Partovi, and other tech leaders) with a mission to reform tech visa policy to meet tech's need for talent.

>

> Fast forward to 2024, and [5]Newsweek reports the debate over tech immigration policy has been revived , spurred by the recent appointment of [6]Sriram Krishnan as senior policy adviser for AI at the Trump White House. [7]Comments by far-right political activist Laura Loomer on Twitter about Krishnan's call for loosening Green Card restrictions were met with rebuttals from prominent tech leaders who are also serving as members of the Trump transition team. Entrepreneur David Sacks, who Trump has tapped as his cryptocurrency and AI czar, took to social media to clarify that Krishnan advocates for removing country caps on green cards, not eliminating caps entirely, aiming to create a more merit-based system. However, the NY Times reported that Sacks [8]discussed a much broader visa reform proposal with Trump during a June podcast ("What I will do is," Trump told Sacks, "you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country"). Elon Musk, the recently appointed co-head of Trump's new Dept. of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had Sacks' and Krishnan's backs (not unexpected -- both were [9]close Musk advisors on his Twitter purchase), tweeting out "Makes sense" to his 209 million followers, [10]lamenting that "the number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low," [11]reposting claims crediting immigrants for 36% of the innovation in the U.S., and [12]taking USCIS to task for failing to immediately recognize his own genius with an Exceptional Ability Green Card (for his long-defunct [13]Zip2 startup).

>

> Vivek Ramaswamy, who Trump has tapped to co-lead DOGE with Musk, [14]agreed and fanned the Twitter flames with a pinned Tweet of his own explaining, "The reason top tech companies often hire foreign-born -- first-generation engineers over "native" Americans isn't because of an innate American IQ deficit (a lazy -- wrong explanation). A key part of it comes down to the c-word: culture." (Colorado Governor Jared Polis also [15]took to Twitter to agree with Musk and Ramaswamy on the need to import 'elite engineers'). And Code.org CEO Partovi joined the Twitter fray, echoing the old [16]we-need-H1B-visas-to-make-US-schoolchildren-CS-savvy argument of Microsoft's 2012 National Talent Strategy. "Did you know 2/3 of H1B visas are for computer scientists?" [17]Partovi wrote in reply to Musk, Loomer, and Sachs . "The H1B program raises $500M/year (from its corporate sponsors) and all that money is funneled into programs at Labor and NSF without focus to grow local CS talent. Let's fund CS education." The NYT also cited Zuckerberg's earlier efforts to influence immigration policy with FWD.us (which also counted Sacks and Musk as early supporters), taking note of Zuck's recent visit to Mar-a-Lago and Meta's $1 million donation to Trump's upcoming inauguration.

>

> So, who is to be believed? Musk, who [18]attributes any tech visa qualms to "a 'fixed pie' fallacy that is at the heart of much wrong-headed economic thinking" and argues that "there is essentially infinite potential for job and company creation ['We should let anyone in the country who is hardworking and honest and will be a contributor to the United States,' [19]Musk has said ]"? Or economists who have found that immigration and globalization is [20]not quite the rising-tide-that-raises-all-boats it's been cracked up to be ?



[1] https://slashdot.org/~theodp

[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/04/25/2219209/think-tanks-how-a-bill-gates-agenda-becomes-a-law

[3] https://developers.slashdot.org/story/15/07/11/204215/well-played-microsoft-parlays-nsf-video-remake-into-national-cs-k-12-crisis

[4] https://techcrunch.com/2013/04/11/fwd-us/

[5] https://www.newsweek.com/laura-loomer-indians-h-1b-visa-2006120

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sriram_Krishnan

[7] https://x.com/DavidSacks/status/1871421214897704976

[8] https://www.msn.com/

[9] https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/for-advice-on-twitter-elon-musk-relying-heavily-on-sriram-krishnan-3479544

[10] https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1871978282289082585

[11] https://x.com/AlecStapp/status/1872122878008934910

[12] https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1872391264941027597

[13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zip2

[14] https://x.com/VivekGRamaswamy/status/1872312139945234507

[15] https://x.com/jaredpolis/status/1872388776577949823

[16] https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/microsoft-stem-education-coalition-h1b-visa-outsourcing/

[17] https://x.com/hadip/status/1871577265089528183

[18] https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1871451701976412293

[19] https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/29/us/elon-musk-immigration-gray-area-cec/index.html

[20] https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2021/the-myth-of-the-rising-tide

Microsoft is [1]warning that Windows 11 installations using USB or CD media created with October or November 2024 security updates may be unable to receive future security patches.

The bug affects version 24H2 installations made between October 8 and November 12, but does not impact systems updated through Windows Update or the Microsoft Update Catalog. Microsoft advised users to rebuild installation media using December 2024 patches while it works on a permanent fix for the issue, which primarily affects business and education environments.



[1] https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/windows-11-installation-media-bug-causes-security-update-failures/

U.S. biotech startup Loyal plans to launch a lifespan-extending drug for dogs in early 2025, potentially offering insights into human longevity. The San Francisco-based company has secured $125 million in funding for LOY-002, a beef-flavored daily pill designed to extend canine lifespans by at least one year. The drug works by targeting age-related metabolic changes and insulin regulation, according to Loyal CEO Celine Halioua.

Simultaneously, the Dog Aging Project is studying rapamycin, an immunosuppressant drug, which preliminary research suggests [1]could add three years to dogs' lives . Researchers believe these canine studies could accelerate human longevity research, though experts note the lack of standardized aging biomarkers remains a significant hurdle for human trials.



[1] https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/dec/26/scientists-explore-longevity-drugs-for-dogs-that-could-also-extend-human-life

Apple's [1]$3,499 Vision Pro headset has [2]failed to gain widespread adoption despite advanced technology, with consumers preferring discreet wearables like smartwatches. The Verge:

> Nearly a year from launch, though, Apple hasn't done enough to demonstrate why the Vision Pro should be a potential showcase of the future of computing. It's taking a long time to put together its immersive content library, and while those are great demonstrations of what's possible, the videos have been short and isolating. There aren't many great games, either.

>

> Yes, Apple keeps adding cool new software features. The wide and ultra widescreen settings for using a Mac display seem exceptionally useful. But those are pretty specific options for pretty specific use cases. There still isn't an immediate, obvious reason to buy a Vision Pro the way there usually is with the company's newest iPhones and Macs. If I bought a Vision Pro today, I wouldn't know what to do with it besides give myself a bigger Mac screen or watch movies, and I don't think either of those are worth the exorbitant price.



[1] https://apple.slashdot.org/story/23/06/05/1845237/apple-vision-pro-is-apples-new-ar-headset

[2] https://www.theverge.com/24303262/apple-vision-pro-vr-mainstream-meta-glasses

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is negotiating major changes to the company's $14 billion partnership with Microsoft. The companies have defined artificial general intelligence (AGI) as [1]systems generating $100 billion in profits [ [2]non-paywalled source ] -- the point at which OpenAI could end certain Microsoft agreements, The Information reports.

According to their contract, AGI means AI that surpasses humans at "most economically valuable work." The talks focus on Microsoft's equity stake, cloud exclusivity, and 20% revenue share as OpenAI aims to convert from nonprofit to for-profit status. The AI developer projects $4 billion in 2024 revenue.



[1] https://www.theinformation.com/articles/microsoft-and-openai-wrangle-over-terms-of-their-blockbuster-partnership

[2] https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/26/24329618/openai-microsoft-and-the-100-billion-agi-question

Data center construction is driving an unprecedented influx of electricians to central Washington state, where abundant hydropower and tax incentives have attracted major tech companies building AI infrastructure, New York Times [1]is reporting .

Microsoft alone projects needing 2,300 electricians in coming years for facilities across three counties along the Columbia River. Union electricians earning up to $2,800 weekly after taxes are transforming agricultural communities like Quincy, where data centers now account for 75% of local tax revenue.

While the construction boom has funded community improvements including a new high school, rising housing costs and limited long-term employment opportunities raise concerns about sustainable economic benefits for longtime residents.



[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/25/technology/ai-data-centers-electricians.html

Microsoft has integrated its AI assistant Copilot into Microsoft 365 subscriptions in Australia and Southeast Asia, [1]simultaneously raising prices for all users . The move forces customers to pay for AI features regardless of interest, prompting complaints about intrusive pop-ups and price hikes, WSJ reports. From the report:

> Some users said on social media that Copilot pop-ups reminded them of Clippy, Microsoft's widely derided Office helper from the late 1990s, that would frequently offer unsolicited help.

>

> [...] The change demonstrates the lengths to which Microsoft is going to try to profit from its huge investments in AI. Copilot, which is built with technology from OpenAI, is a key part of Chief Executive Satya Nadella's plan to keep expanding Microsoft's software business for consumer and corporate customers.



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/technology/tech-companies/microsoft-is-forcing-its-ai-assistant-on-people-and-making-them-pay/ar-AA1wvWTb

An anonymous reader writes:

> James Bond has dodged more than 4,000 bullets. He has jumped from an airplane, skied off a cliff and escaped castration by laser beam.

>

> Now, 007 is in a new kind of peril. Nearly three years after Amazon acquired the right to release Bond movies through its [1]$6.5 billion purchase of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studio , the relationship between the family that oversees the franchise and the ecommerce giant [2]has all but collapsed , WSJ reports.



[1] https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/22/03/17/1434228/amazon-closes-85-billion-acquisition-of-mgm

[2] https://wallstreetjournal-ny.newsmemory.com/?publink=513894738_134d569

Airports are facing a growing nuisance as travelers increasingly watch videos and take calls on speakerphone without headphones, [1]creating tension among passengers at gates and lounges .

Flight attendants at American Airlines, Alaska Air, and Delta have begun addressing the issue through announcements and website notices, though enforcement remains challenging, WSJ reports. Passengers report confrontations rarely end well, with offenders often dismissive or hostile when asked to use headphones. The story adds:

> The headphones-optional attitude isn't limited to air travel. Podcasts and sports games blare in open-plan offices. You can catch snippets of conversations on the sidewalk, some phones held aloft for video calls. Transit authorities in big cities have struggled to get passengers to keep their music to themselves on subways and commuter trains.

>

> Witnesses say offenders span the generational and socioeconomic spectrum, from grandparents on speakerphone to toddlers on iPads and from first class to coach.

>

> Air travel already overloads the senses with a cacophony of boarding announcements, beeping vehicles and crying babies. U.S. airlines generally don't allow voice and video calls in the air. But by takeoff, the damage has been done.



[1] https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/flying-was-already-the-worst-then-america-stopped-using-headphones/ar-AA1wuzpU

The bald eagle is now [1]officially the national bird of the US , after President Joe Biden signed a law on Christmas Eve bestowing the honour upon the white-headed and yellow-beaked bird of prey. BBC News:

> The bird has been a national emblem in the US for years, appearing on the Great Seal of the US -- used on US documents -- since 1782. But it had not been officially designated to be the national bird until Congress passed the bill last week, sending it to Biden's desk to be signed.

>

> "For nearly 250 years, we called the bald eagle the national bird when it wasn't," said Jack Davis, co-chair of the National Bird Initiative for the National Eagle Center, in a statement. "But now the title is official, and no bird is more deserving." Not everyone has always agreed about the national status of the bald eagle. Founding Father Benjamin Franklin objected to the creature being chosen to represent the country, calling it a "bird of bad moral character."



[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c23vzkdek4po

The Biden administration has [1]launched a Section 301 investigation into China's semiconductor industry , citing concerns over non-market practices, supply chain dependencies, and national security risks. The Hill reports:

> In a [2]fact sheet , the White House said China "routinely engages in non-market policies and practices, as well as industrial targeting, of the semiconductor industry" that harms competition and creates "dangerous supply chain dependencies."

>

> The Biden administration said the Office of the United States Trade Representative would launch a Section 301 investigation to examine China's targeting of semiconductor chips for dominance, an effort to see whether the practices are unfairly hurting U.S. trade and take potential action. The investigation will broadly probe Chinese nonmarket practices and policies related to semiconductors and look at how the products are incorporated into industries for defense, auto, aerospace, medical, telecommunications and power. It will also examine production of silicon carbide substrates or other wafers used as inputs for semiconductors.

The probe launches four weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. "The effort could offer Trump a ready avenue to begin imposing some of the hefty 60% tariffs he has threatened on Chinese imports," notes [3]Reuters .

"Departing President Joe Biden has already imposed a 50% U.S. tariff on Chinese semiconductors that starts on Jan. 1. His administration also has tightened export curbs on advanced artificial intelligence and memory chips and chipmaking equipment."



[1] https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5053609-biden-administration-china-semiconductor-industry-probe/

[2] https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/12/23/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-action-to-protect-american-workers-and-businesses-from-chinas-unfair-trade-practices-in-the-semiconductor-sector/

[3] https://www.reuters.com/technology/biden-launches-new-us-trade-probe-into-legacy-chinese-chips-2024-12-23/

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo:

> Once an icon of the 20th century seen as obsolete in the 21st, Encyclopedia Britannica -- now known as just Britannica -- [1]is all in on artificial intelligence , and may soon go public at a valuation of nearly $1 billion, according to the [2]New York Times .

>

> Until 2012 when [3]printing ended , the company's books served as the oldest continuously published, English-language encyclopedias in the world, essentially collecting all the world's knowledge in one place before Google or Wikipedia were a thing. That has helped Britannica pivot into the AI age, where models benefit from access to high-quality, vetted information. More general-purpose models like ChatGPT suffer from hallucinations because they have hoovered up the entire internet, including all the junk and misinformation.

>

> While it still offers an online edition of its encyclopedia, as well as the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Britannica's biggest business today is selling online education software to schools and libraries, the software it hopes to supercharge with AI. That could mean using AI to customize learning plans for individual students. The idea is that students will enjoy learning more when software can help them understand the gaps in their understanding of a topic and stay on it longer. Another education tech company, Brainly, recently announced that answers from its chatbot will link to the exact learning materials (i.e. textbooks) they reference.

>

> Britannica's CEO Jorge Cauz also told the Times about the company's [4]Britannica AI chatbot , which allows users to ask questions about its vast database of encyclopedic knowledge that it collected over two centuries from vetted academics and editors. The company similarly offers chatbot software for customer service use cases. Britannica told the Times it is expecting revenue to double from two years ago, to $100 million.



[1] https://gizmodo.com/encyclopedia-britannica-is-now-an-ai-company-2000542600

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/20/business/dealbook/britannica-artificial-intelligence.html

[3] https://news.slashdot.org/story/12/03/13/2255247/after-244-years-the-end-for-the-dead-tree-encyclopedia-britannica

[4] https://www.britannica.com/chatbot

Sweden has accused China of [1]denying a request for Swedish prosecutors to board a Chinese ship that has been linked to the [2]cutting of two undersea cables in the Baltic despite Beijing pledging "cooperation" with regional authorities. From a report:

> The Yi Peng 3 left the waters it had been anchored in since last month on Saturday -- despite an ongoing investigation. The ship was tracked sailing over the two fibre-optic cables, one between Sweden and Lithuania, and the other linking Helsinki and Germany, at around the time that they were cut on 17 and 18 November in Swedish territorial waters close to the Swedish islands of Gotland and Oland.

>

> For more than a month afterwards it was anchored in the Kattegat strait between Sweden and Denmark where it was being observed by multiple countries and was boarded by Swedish police and other authorities last week. The ship tracking site VesselFinder showed the Yi Peng 3 heading north out of the strait on Saturday and on Monday China confirmed the ship had left in order to "ensure the physical and mental wellbeing of the crew." The Swedish foreign minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said on Monday that China had not cooperated with Sweden's request to allow Swedish prosecutors onboard.



[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/23/china-refused-investigation-into-ship-linked-to-severed-baltic-cables-says-sweden

[2] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/23/1953221/sabotage-or-accident-american-and-european-officials-disagree-on-what-caused-cuts-to-two-undersea-cables

A rare Sony KX-45ED1 television, considered the world's largest CRT TV, has been [1]preserved from destruction in Japan , marking a significant moment for gaming history preservation. The 440-pound display was salvaged from an Osaka restaurant days before its scheduled demolition, following a two-week international rescue operation.

Gaming enthusiast Shank Mods, aided by local contacts and industrial shipping experts, secured the functioning 45-inch unit, which originally sold for $40,000 in the late 1980s. The TV, valued by retro gaming enthusiasts for its authentic, lag-free display capabilities, could potentially become a public exhibit pending future funding.



[1] https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/12/retro-gamers-save-one-of-the-last-45-inch-crt-tvs-in-existence/

An anonymous reader [1]shares a report :

> The Department of Justice's list of solutions for fixing Google's illegal antitrust behavior and restoring competition in the search engine market started with forcing the company to sell Chrome, and late Friday night, Google responded with a list of its own.

>

> Instead of breaking off Chrome, Android, or Google Play as the DOJ's filing considers, Google's proposed [2]fixes aim at the payments it makes to companies like Apple and Mozilla for exclusive, prioritized placement of its services, its licensing deals with companies that make Android phones, and contracts with wireless carriers. They don't address a DOJ suggestion about possibly forcing Google to share its valuable search data with other companies to help their products catch up.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/21/24326402/google-search-antitrust-remedies-proposal-browser-default-android

[2] https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/21/24326402/google-search-antitrust-remedies-proposal-browser-default-android