In March, 2023 the Internet Archive [1]lost in court , with a judge ruling they couldn't scan entire books and then lend them as ebooks. The Internet Archive appealed to a higher court, which also [2]ruled against them in September of 2024 .

Today, the Internet Archive made an announcement: that "While we are deeply disappointed with the Second Circuit's opinion in Hachette v. Internet Archive, [3]the Internet Archive has decided not to pursue Supreme Court review ."

> We will continue to honor the Association of American Publishers agreement to remove books from lending at their member publishers' requests.

>

> We thank the many readers, authors and publishers who have stood with us throughout this fight. Together, we will continue to advocate for a future where libraries can purchase, own, lend and preserve digital books.



[1] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/03/25/0112229/internet-archive-loses-in-court-judge-rules-they-cant-scan-and-lend-ebooks

[2] https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/09/04/1728215/internet-archive-digital-lending-isnt-fair-use-2nd-cir-says

[3] https://blog.archive.org/2024/12/04/end-of-hachette-v-internet-archive/

"Are Primordial Black Holes real...?" [1]asks Universe Today . "If they do exist, a " [2]new paper suggests they may be hiding in places so unlikely that nobody ever thought to look there..." — in planets, in asteroids, and here on earth.

> Physicists hypothesize that Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) formed in the early Universe from extremely dense pockets of sub-atomic matter that collapsed directly into black holes. They could form part or all of what we call dark matter. However, they remain hypothetical because none have been observed... The authors claim that evidence for PBHs could be found in objects as large as hollowed out planetoids or asteroids and objects as small as rocks here on Earth. "Small primordial black holes could be captured by rocky planets or asteroids, consume their liquid cores from inside and leave hollow structures," the authors write. "Alternatively, a fast black hole can leave a narrow tunnel in a solid object while passing through it."

>

> "We could look for such micro-tunnels here on Earth in very old rocks," the authors claim, explaining that the search wouldn't involve specialized, expensive equipment... "The chances of finding these signatures are small, but searching for them would not require much resources and the potential payoff, the first evidence of a primordial black hole, would be immense," said Dejan Stojkovic [the paper's co-author from the State University of New York]. "We have to think outside of the box because what has been done to find primordial black holes previously hasn't worked...." Cosmology is kind of at a standstill while we wrestle with the idea of dark matter. Could PBHs be dark matter? Could they behave like the authors suggest, and be detected in this manner?

>

> "The smartest people on the planet have been working on these problems for 80 years and have not solved them yet," Stojkovic said. "We don't need a straightforward extension of the existing models. We probably need a completely new framework altogether."



[1] https://www.universetoday.com/169986/could-primordial-black-holes-be-hiding-in-plain-sight/

[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212686424002449?via%3Dihub

America's next president "announced Wednesday he has selected Jared Isaacman, a billionaire businessman and space enthusiast who twice flew to orbit with SpaceX, to become the next NASA administrator," [1]reports Ars Technica :

> In a post on X, Isaacman said he was "honored" to receive Trump's nomination. "Having been fortunate to see our amazing planet from space, I am passionate about America leading the most incredible adventure in human history," Isaacman wrote. "On my last mission to space, my crew and I traveled farther from Earth than anyone in over half a century. I can confidently say this second space age has only just begun...."

>

> "Jared Isaacman will be an outstanding NASA Administrator and leader of the NASA family," said Jim Bridenstine, who led NASA as administrator during Trump's first term in the White House. "Jared's vision for pushing boundaries, paired with his proven track record of success in private industry, positions him as an ideal candidate to lead NASA into a bold new era of exploration and discovery. I urge the Senate to swiftly confirm him." Lori Garver, NASA's deputy administrator during the Obama administration, wrote on X that Isaacman's nomination was "terrific news," adding that "he has the opportunity to build on NASA's amazing accomplishments to pave our way to an even brighter future."

>

> Isaacman, 41, is the founder and CEO of Shift4, a mobile payment processing platform, and co-founded Draken International, which owns a fleet of retired fighter jets to pose as adversaries for military air combat training... Isaacman, an evangelist for the commercial space industry, has criticized some of NASA's decisions on the Artemis program. In several [2]posts on [3]X , he questioned the agency's decision to fund two redundant lunar landers, while not planning for any backup to the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which costs $2.2 billion per copy, not including expenses for ground infrastructure or the Orion spacecraft itself. One of those casualties might be the SLS rocket. The program is managed by NASA, with suppliers spread across the United States and prime contractors working under cost-plus arrangements with the space agency, meaning the government is on the hook to pay for any delays or cost overruns.

If confirmed he'll be the 4th NASA administrator who's actually flown in space, according to the article.

And [4]according to Wikipedia , Isaacman was the commander of [5]Inspiration4 , a private spaceflight using SpaceX's Crew Dragon Resilience that launched in 2021.

> The crew returned to Earth on September 18, 2021, after orbiting at 585 km (364 mi) in altitude. The mission was part of a fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, to which Isaacman [6]pledged to donate $100 million .

Thanks to Slashdot reader [7]FallOutBoyTonto for sharing the news.



[1] https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/12/jared-isaacman-entrepreneur-and-private-astronaut-is-trumps-choice-to-lead-nasa/

[2] https://x.com/rookisaacman/status/1767893365541032333

[3] https://x.com/rookisaacman/status/1767880381175374132

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Isaacman

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspiration4

[6] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/15/spacex-inspiration4-launch-here-is-what-you-should-know.html

[7] https://www.slashdot.org/~FallOutBoyTonto

"$15.8 million every 60 seconds. That's how much US consumers spent in two hours on Monday night," [1]reports CNN , "capping off a five-day spending spree that smashed previous records."

> U.S. consumers spent a total of $13.3 billion on Cyber Monday, up 7.3% from the previous year, according to [2]Adobe Analytics ... Consumers spent a record $41.1 billion across the five days beginning Thanksgiving Day, according to Adobe. "While Cyber Monday remained the season's and year's biggest online shopping day, year-over-year growth was stronger on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday," Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement... The company's data projects that holiday spending from November 1 to December 31 will surpass $240 billion, up 8.4% from the previous year.

>

> The record sales on Cyber Monday were boosted by US consumers shopping on their mobile devices, which accounted for $7.6 billion in spending. This year, 57% of online sales came through a mobile device, compared to 33% in 2019, as shopping on mobile phones has surged in popularity... Buy now, pay later" programs also contributed nearly $1 billion in spending on Cyber Monday, a record high. About 75% of these types of transactions occurred through a mobile device.

>

> Cyber Monday shopping wasn't just confined to the US, either. Global sales reached $49.7 billion, up 3% from the previous year, according to [3]data from Salesforce .

The top-selling items included consumer electronics like the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Nintendo Switch OLED, the article points out (adding that "About 78% of all consumer smartphones and 87% of consoles were imported from China in 2023, according to a report from the Consumer Technology Association.")

More interesting statistics from CNN:

"Discounts on apparel peaked at just over 23% off, while TVs and computers peaked at almost 22% off, according to Adobe. And the discounts might last: Adobe projects discounts of up to 18% off computers through the end of the year... "

"For US retail sites, the share of revenue from affiliates and partners like social media influencers was 20.3% on Cyber Monday, up almost 7% from the previous year. "

"Additionally, companies employed AI chatbots to assist consumers, like [4]Amazon's Rufus . Traffic to retail sites from chatbots increased by nearly 2,000% on Cyber Monday, according to Adobe."



[1] https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/03/business/cyber-monday-record-sales/index.html

[2] https://business.adobe.com/resources/holiday-shopping-report.html

[3] https://www.salesforce.com/retail/peak-holiday/?d=cta-body-promo-1018

[4] https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/black-friday-sales-results-amazon-online-shopping

"Okay, we're doing this," begins [1]a new announcement at The Verge :

> Today we're launching a [2]Verge subscription that lets you get rid of a bunch of ads, gets you unlimited access to our top-notch reporting and analysis across the site and our killer premium newsletters, and generally lets you support independent tech journalism in a world of sponsored influencer content. It'll cost $7 / month or $50 / year — and for a limited time, if you sign up for the annual plan, we'll send you an absolutely stunning print edition of our [3]CONTENT GOBLINS series, with very fun new photography and design... A surprising number of you have asked us to launch something like this, and we're happy to deliver. If you don't want to pay, rest assured that big chunks of The Verge will remain free — we're thinking about subscriptions a lot differently than everyone else...

>

> If you're a Verge reader, you know we've been covering massive, fundamental changes to how the internet works for years now. Most major social media platforms are openly hostile to links, [4]huge changes to search have led to [5]the death of small websites , and everything is covered in a layer of [6]AI slop and weird scams. The algorithmic media ecosystem is now openly hostile to the kind of rigorous, independent journalism we want to do.

>

> A few years ago, we decided the only real way to survive all this was to stand apart and [7]bet on our own website so that we could remain independent of these platforms and their algorithms. We didn't want to write stories to chase Google Search trends or because we thought they'd do well on social media. And we definitely didn't want to compromise our famously strict [8]ethics policy to accept brand endorsement deals from the companies we cover, which almost all of our competitors in the creator economy are forced to do in order to run sustainable businesses...

>

> [W]e intend to keep making this thing together for a long, long time. So many of you like The Verge that we've actually gotten a shocking number of notes from people asking how they can pay to support our work. It's no secret that lots of great websites and publications have gone under over the past few years as the open web falls apart, and it's clear that directly supporting the creators you love is a big part of how everyone gets to stay working on the modern internet. At the same time, we didn't want to simply paywall the entire site — it's a tragedy that traditional journalism is retreating behind paywalls while nonsense spreads across platforms for free.

The print premium for subscribers is described as a "beautiful / deranged print product" that's drawn from a series of articles "about what Google had done to the web, capped off by a feature about search engine optimization titled ' [9]The People Who Ruined the Internet .'" But it ships with a satirical cover that instead proclaims it as "The Verge Guide to Search Engine Optimization". A [10]tongue-in-check announcement explains:

> [A] year has passed, and we've had a change of heart. Maybe search engine optimization is actually a good thing. Maybe appeasing the search algorithm is not only a sustainable strategy for building a loyal audience, but also a strategic way to plan and produce content. What are journalists, if not content creators? Anyway, SEO community, consider this our apology. And what better way to say "our bad, your industry is not a cesspool of AI slop but a brilliant vision of what a useful internet could look like" than collecting all the things we've learned in one handy print magazine? Which is why I'm proud to introduce The Verge Guide to Search Engine Optimization: All the Tips, Tricks, Hints, Schemes, and Techniques for Promoting High-Quality Content!

Whoops — slip off the cover and the real title appears: "CONTENT GOBLINS" (written in green slime). Again, it's "an anthology of stories about 'content' and the people who 'make' it."

> In very Verge fashion, we are meeting the moment where the internet has been overrun by AI garbage by publishing a beautifully designed, limited edition print product. (Also, the last time we printed a magazine, it won [11]a very prestigious design award .) Content Goblins collects some of our best stories over the past couple years, capturing the cynical push for the world's great art and journalism to be reduced into units that can be packaged, distributed, and consumed on the internet. Consider Content Goblins as our resistance to that movement. With terrific new art and photography, we're making the case that great reporting is vital and enduring — and worth paying for.

>

> This gorgeous, grotesque magazine can be yours if you commit to [12]an annual subscription to The Verge — while supplies last.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/3/24306571/verge-subscription-launch-fewer-ads-unlimited-access-full-text-rss

[2] http://theverge.com/subscribe

[3] https://www.theverge.com/e/24071581

[4] https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/14/24155321/google-search-ai-results-page-gemini-overview

[5] https://www.theverge.com/24167865/google-zero-search-crash-housefresh-ai-overviews-traffic-data-audience

[6] https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/15/24131162/ill-see-your-shrimp-jesus-and-raise-you-spaghetti-jesus-on-a-lambo

[7] https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/13/23349876/the-verge-website-redesign-new-newsfeed-blogs-logo

[8] https://www.theverge.com/ethics-statement

[9] https://www.theverge.com/features/23931789/seo-search-engine-optimization-experts-google-results

[10] https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/3/24307540/verge-print-magazine-seo-content-goblins

[11] https://www.theverge.com/press-room/2023/2/24/23613507/the-verge-wins-the-2023-asme-award-for-design-receives-two-national-magazine-award-nominations

[12] http://theverge.com/subscribe

Have you been to [1]Enron.com lately?

"It's the comeback story no one asked for," [2]reports CNN , "the resurrection of a brand so toxic it remains synonymous with corporate fraud more than two decades after it collapsed in bankruptcy.

"That's right, folks: Enron is back. But only kind of."

> TL;DR: A company that makes T-shirts bought the Enron trademark and appears to be trying to sell some merch on behalf of the guy behind the [3]satirical conspiracy theory "Birds Aren't Real ...."

>

> On Monday, the 23rd anniversary of Enron's [4]filing for bankruptcy , rumors began to spread that the former Texas energy giant had come back from the dead. A sleek new website, enron.com, appeared to show that the company had done some serious soul-searching and, inexplicably, reincorporated under its original brand. As a modern energy company, it would be dedicated to "solving the global energy crisis," its press statement reads. The site is packed with the kind of stock art and benign corporate platitudes that lend it credibility. There's a link to job openings, employee testimonials and even a minute-long video titled "I am Enron," a movie-trailer-style mashup of cityscape time lapses, rockets launching into space, a ballerina twirling on a beach — a mess of imagery and baritone voiceover so trite it's almost believable.

>

> But the site and its associated social media accounts are, like Enron's balance sheets, mostly fiction. Unlike the Enron scandal, however, this one appears to be little more than performance art designed to sell branded hoodies. Publicly available [5]documents show that an Akansas-based LLC called The College Company bought the Enron trademark for $275 in 2020... You can tab over to the site's "Company Store" page to browse a selection of Enron-branded hoodies ($118 before tax and shipping), puffer vests ($89), tees ($40) baseball hats ($40), beanies ($30) and water bottles emblazoned with the slogan "you've got great energy."

Somewhere on the site CNN spotted [6]a list of "key pillars " which included a commitment to "permissionless innovation," which CNN took to be "a nod that prompted some speculation online that the new 'Enron' would launch some kind of digital token." That phrase has apparently been changed now to "continuous innovation."

> An Enron-branded [7]X account posted and later deleted a message teasing at a crypto offering, saying "we do not have any token or coin (yet). Stay tuned, we are excited to show you more soon."

But sharp-eyed X.com users also found the key context to add: that the [8]Terms of Use at Enron.com declare the site's information "is First Amendment-protected parody, represents performance art, and is for entertainment purposes only."

Still, the site includes this testimonial from someone it says is a current employee. "Like many of my peers in the Enron family, I was skeptical at first.

"Now, not only do I have complete confidence in the integrity of the company, I also genuinely believe that we are leading the way for a new chapter of American business."



[1] https://enron.com/

[2] https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/02/business/enron-resurrected-joke-nightcap/index.html

[3] https://tech.slashdot.org/story/21/12/11/0421223/whats-behind-the-birds-arent-real-protests

[4] https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/02/us/enron-fast-facts/index.html

[5] https://tsdr.uspto.gov/documentviewer?caseId=sn88914633&docId=APP20200516085347&linkId=17#docIndex=16&page=1

[6] https://enron.com/pages/newsroom

[7] https://x.com/Enron

[8] https://enron.com/pages/terms-of-use

59-year-old Alex Mashinsky, the founder/former CEO of cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network, "pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two counts of fraud," [1]reports Reuters .

He'd been indicted in July on seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and market manipulation charges, according to the article, and federal prosecutors in Manhattan "said he misled customers of Celsius to persuade them to invest, and artificially inflated the value of his company's proprietary crypto token."

> On Tuesday, during a hearing before U.S. District Judge John Koeltl, Mashinsky said he pleaded guilty to two out of the seven counts he was initially charged with: commodities fraud, and a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of CEL, Celsius' in-house token. In court, Mashinsky admitted to giving Celsius customers "false comfort" by giving an interview in 2021 in which he said Celsius had received approval from regulators for its "Earn" program, which it had not. That program offered to deploy customers' cryptocurrency assets to yield investment returns. He said he also failed to disclose that he had been selling his holdings of CEL, the platform's in-house token.

>

> "I know what I did was wrong, and I want to try to do whatever I can to make it right," Mashinsky said. As part of his plea deal with prosecutors, Mashinsky agreed not to appeal any sentence of 30 years or less — the maximum he faces for the two counts. Koeltl is set to sentence him on April 8, 2025.

>

> Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have said Mashinsky also personally reaped approximately $42 million in proceeds from selling his holdings of the Cel token. "Mashinsky made tens of millions of dollars selling his own CEL at artificially high prices, while his customers were left holding the bag when the company went bankrupt," Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, said in a statement on Tuesday... Founded in 2017, Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022 after customers rushed to withdraw deposits as crypto prices fell. Many were initially unable to access their funds... Celsius' former chief revenue officer, Roni Cohen-Pavon, [2]pleaded guilty in September 2023 and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors' investigation.

"The company exited bankruptcy on Jan. 31, and has [3]pivoted to Bitcoin mining..."



[1] https://www.reuters.com/technology/celsius-founder-alex-mashinsky-intends-plead-guilty-two-fraud-counts-2024-12-03/

[2] https://www.reuters.com/legal/cohen-pavon-ex-executive-crypto-lender-celsius-pleads-guilty-us-criminal-charges-2023-09-14/

[3] https://www.reuters.com/technology/celsius-network-wins-court-approval-shift-bitcoin-mining-2023-12-28/

Tuesday the Wikimedia Foundation [1]released its annual list of the most-visited Wikipedia pages . (Scroll down to where it says "The full top 25"...)

But while the top subjects seem to be politics and pop culture, [2]CNN reports that in the end "a list of deaths in 2024 was the most visited page, garnering over 44 million views."

> A page about deaths in a given year has ranked at the top of the list five times since 2015, when the Wikimedia Foundation began releasing the data. The topic has never fallen below third place on the list.

>

> People also searched for U.S. political figures... [The #2, #3, #5, #7, and #9 most-visited pages were, respectively, for [3]Kamala Harris , the [4]2024 United States presidential election , [5]Donald Trump , [6]J.D. Vance , and [7]Project 2025 .] While U.S. politics was a notable search subject, popular culture had the largest share of the top 25. The fourth most-visited page was about Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers who were sentenced to life in prison for the 1989 murder of their parents and are now facing a resentencing trial. The case received renewed public attention after a [8]Netflix documentary was published this year. The Wikipedia page about the brothers received over 26 million views in 2024.

>

> The "Deadpool & Wolverine" and "Dune: Part Two" movies were eighth and 23rd, respectively... [Other high-ranking pop-culture pages included [9]Taylor Swift (#11)and the [10]2024 Summer Olympics (#14).]

>

> "Wikipedia readers in India continue to make a big impact on the list, [11]a trend we saw in 2023 as well ," Wikimedia Foundation's Alikhan said. The Indian Premier League, a cricket league in India, garnered over 24.5 million views this year as the site's sixth most visited page... [The 2024 [12]Indian general election came in at #10]

Wikipedia's entry on [13]ChatGPT came in at #12, while [14]Elon Musk came in at #17.

"When people want to learn about our world — the good, bad, weird, and wild alike — they turn to Wikipedia," explains [15]the blog post from the Wikimedia Foundation , calling Wikipedia "the largest knowledge resource ever assembled in the history of the world" and "a reflection of all the people who live on our planet. its story is your story, your interests, your questions, and your curiosity."

Other statistics about Wikipedia in 2024:

Nearly 3.5 billion bytes of information were added this year via over 31 million edits.

People spent an estimated 2.4 billion hours — nearly 275,000 years! — reading English Wikipedia in 2024, according to data from the Wikimedia Foundation.



[1] https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2024/12/03/announcing-english-wikipedias-most-popular-articles-of-2024/

[2] https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/03/business/wikipedia-most-viewed-2024/index.html

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump

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

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025

[8] https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/08/entertainment/menendez-brothers-netflix-documentary/index.html

[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Swift

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Summer_Olympics

[11] https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/05/tech/wikipedia-chatgpt-oppenheimer-indian-entertainment/index.html

[12] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Indian_general_election

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

[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk

[15] https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2024/12/03/announcing-english-wikipedias-most-popular-articles-of-2024/

An anonymous reader shared [1]this report from NBC News :

> Amid an unprecedented cyberattack on telecommunications companies such as AT&T and Verizon, U.S. officials have recommended that Americans use encrypted messaging apps to ensure their communications stay hidden from foreign hackers...

>

> In the call Tuesday, two officials — a senior FBI official who asked not to be named and Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — both recommended using encrypted messaging apps to Americans who want to minimize the chances of China's intercepting their communications. "Our suggestion, what we have told folks internally, is not new here: Encryption is your friend, whether it's on text messaging or if you have the capacity to use encrypted voice communication. Even if the adversary is able to intercept the data, if it is encrypted, it will make it impossible," Greene said. The FBI official said, "People looking to further protect their mobile device communications would benefit from considering using a cellphone that automatically receives timely operating system updates, responsibly managed encryption and phishing resistant" multi-factor authentication for email, social media and collaboration tool accounts...

>

> The FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies have a complicated relationship with encryption technology, historically advocating against full end-to-end encryption that does not allow law enforcement access to digital material even with warrants. But the FBI [2]has also supported forms of encryption that do allow some law enforcement access in certain circumstances.

Officials said the breach seems to include some live calls of [3]specfic targets and also call records (showing numbers called and when). "The hackers focused on records around the Washington, D.C., area, and the FBI does not plan to alert people whose phone metadata was accessed."

"The scope of the telecom compromise is so significant, Greene said, that it was 'impossible" for the agencies "to predict a time frame on when we'll have full eviction.'"



[1] https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/us-officials-urge-americans-use-encrypted-apps-cyberattack-rcna182694

[2] https://www.fbi.gov/about/mission/lawful-access

[3] https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/china-phone-target-hack-trump-vance-harris-rcna177383

The Verge is applauding Hyundai's electric SUV, the IONIQ 5 for " [1]Fake shifting, real fun ." And others agree. "The Ioniq 5 N is also special for how it simulates the 'feel' of gear shifting," [2]writes the blog Inside EVs , "including the jolt and brief interruption in power that happens and the mechanical resistance that's normal upon downshifting.

"The Ioniq 5 N also simulates engine sounds through the speakers, will let you rev the 'engine' while parked and has a 'redline' you'll hit before you need to shift again. It's all great fun."

> [E]very single person who drives the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, whether they're a die-hard EV person or the most hardcore electro-skeptic, [3]absolutely loves it . And they [4]love the fake shifting most of all ... Shut up and embrace the fake EV shifting, you nerds. Find some joy in your life for once.

>

> And joy will definitely be on order with the new 2025 Kia EV6 GT. The U.S.-spec version of Kia's updated crossover made its debut [November 21] at the L.A. Auto Show. And while there's still a lot we don't know about it, we have power specs and one key detail: the EV6 GT now gets a simulated gear shift feature. "The GT's new Virtual Gear Shift feature enhances driving immersion by simulating gear shifts with visuals, engine sound effects, and a tactile sensation through motor torque adjustments," Kia officials said in a news release.

The Verge [5]points out that Hyundai's Ioniq 5 N even uses speakers — both inside the car and outside — to broadcast the sounds of ignition, a boosted EV sound, and a third sound which "sounds like a robotic version of a fighter jet."

> Paired with the seemingly endless power and torque offered by the electric motors, I couldn't stop grinning. It's just like a little kid making car noises as they push a Hot Wheels car around a track, but combined with the driving experience in the Ioniq 5 N, it just taps into a pure enthusiast joy. Even kids around my neighborhood stopped and looked when I started the Ioniq 5 N up with the sound management turned on. They'd pull out their phones to take photos and videos as I drove off, happily faking the internal combustion engine experience and knowing I wasn't adding a drop of carbon to the atmosphere.

>

> The Ioniq 5 N just might be the performance EV that will change self-described "auto enthusiast" minds about the electric transition. It's that good.



[1] https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/29/24308950/hyundai-ioniq-5-n-review-price-specs-photos

[2] https://insideevs.com/news/741857/kia-ev6-gt-virtual-shifter/

[3] https://insideevs.com/reviews/722123/hyundai-ioniq-5-n-review/

[4] https://insideevs.com/reviews/716661/hyundai-ioniq-5-n-shift/

[5] https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/29/24308950/hyundai-ioniq-5-n-review-price-specs-photos

Hyundai "just had its best sales month ever in the U.S.," [1]reports Electrek

> Hyundai's impressive EV lineup is charging up demand, with its best-selling [2]Hyundai IONIQ 5 SUV also setting a new U.S. record after sales more than doubled in November. With 76,008 vehicles sold in November, Hyundai's record-breaking U.S. sales streak is not slowing down. Hyundai Motor America CEO Randy Parker credited the growing demand for EVs and hybrid vehicles to the growth.

>

> Hyundai's EV sales rose 77% from last year, while hybrid sales surged 104%. Electrified retail sales (EV, PHEV, and hybrid models) climbed 92% in total last month. Several vehicles, including the Santa Fe HEV, Tucson PHEV, Tucson HEV, and IONIQ 5, had their best-ever sales month.

The article also notes increasing sales for Hyundai's electric SUV, the IONIQ 5. Starting at $43,975 — and recently upgraded to a range of 245 miles (or 318 miles for the $46,550 extended-range model) — it features an NACS port for accessing Tesla's Supercharger network.



[1] https://electrek.co/2024/12/03/hyundai-ioniq-5-sets-new-us-record-sales-double-november/

[2] https://electrek.co/guides/hyundai-ioniq-5/

Bruce Perens wrote the original Open Source definition back in 1997, and then co-founded the Open Source Initiative with Eric Raymond in 1998. But after [1]resigning from the group in 2020, Perens is now diligently [2]developing an alternative he calls "Post Open " to "meet goals that Open Source fails at today" — even providing a way to pay developers for their work.

To make it all happen, he envisions software developers owning (and controlling) a not-for-profit corporation developing a body of software called "the Post Open Collection" and collecting its licensing fees to distribute among developers. The hope? To "make it possible for an individual developer to stay at home and code all day, and make their living that way without having to build a company."

The not-for-profit entity — besides actually enforcing its licensing — could also:

Provide tech support, servicing all Post-Open software through one entity.

Improve security by providing developers with cryptographic-hardware-backed authentication guaranteeing secure software chain-of-custody.

Handle onerous legal requirements like compliance with the EU Cyber Resilience Act "on behalf of all developers in the Post Open Collection".

Compensate documentation writers.

Fund lobbying on behalf of developers, along with advocacy for their software's privacy-preserving features.

"We've started to build the team," Perens [3]said in a recent interview , announcing weeks ago that [4]attorneys are already discussing the structure of the future organization and its proposed license.

But what do you think? Perens has agreed to answer questions from Slashdot readers...

He's also [5]Slashdot reader #3,872 . (And Perens is also an amateur radio operator, currently on the board of [6]M17 — a community of open source developers and radio enthusiasts — and in general support of Open Source and Amateur Radio projects through his non-profit HamOpen.org.) But more importantly, Perens "was the person to announce 'Open Source' to the world," [7]according to his official site . Now's your chance to ask him about his next new big idea...

Ask as many questions as you'd like, but please, one per comment. We'll pick the very best questions — and forward them on to Bruce Perens himself to answer!



[1] https://news.slashdot.org/story/20/01/05/208249/open-source-initiative-co-founder-bruce-perens-resigns-citing-move-toward-license-that-isnt-freedom-respecting

[2] https://postopen.org/

[3] https://thenewstack.io/what-comes-after-open-source-bruce-perens-has-some-ideas/

[4] https://postopen.org/2024/11/14/legal-progress-new-code-of-conduct-version/

[5] https://slashdot.org/~Bruce+Perens/

[6] https://m17project.org/

[7] https://perens.com/about-bruce-perens/

The Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, appears to be signaling its intention to tackle daylight saving time. Musk has indicated support for ending semiannual clock changes in recent days on his social media platform X, [1]sharing a poll showing majority opposition to the practice.

DOGE co-head Ramaswamy also backed the stance, calling time changes " [2]inefficient and easy to change ."

The initiative follows [3]a failed 2022 legislative attempt , the Sunshine Protection Act, which [4]passed the Senate but stalled in the House . The Department of Transportation, which oversees time changes, cannot alter the system without congressional action.

Public sentiment appears to favor reform, with a 2022 YouGov poll showing two-thirds of Americans support ending time changes. Studies have linked the switches to increased rates of heart attacks and traffic accidents, while JPMorgan Chase research found the return to standard time reduces consumer spending by up to 4.9%. Several countries including Mexico, Russia, and Turkey have [5]already discontinued daylight saving time , which originated during World War I as an energy conservation measure.



[1] https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1861801650383659230

[2] https://twitter.com/VivekGRamaswamy/status/1861808163512627652

[3] https://news.slashdot.org/story/22/11/06/0130207/why-hasnt-the-us-ended-daylight-saving-time

[4] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/22/03/15/200203/senate-passes-bill-to-make-daylight-saving-time-permanent

[5] https://news.slashdot.org/story/22/10/27/210218/mexico-scraps-daylight-savings-time-except-along-border

Not every tech "advent calendar" involves programming puzzles. Instead the geek tradition of programming-language advent calendars "seems to have started way back in 2000," [1]according to one history , "when London-based programmer Mark Fowler launched a calendar highlighting a different Perl module each day."

So the tradition continues...

Nearly a quarter of a century later, there's still a [2]Perl Advent Calendar , celebrating tips and tricks like "a few special packages waiting under the tree that can give your web applications a little extra pep in their step."

And of course there's a [3]separate advent calendar for Raku programmers .

Since 2009 web performance consultant (and former Yahoo and Facebook engineer) Stoyan Stefanov has been pulling together an annual [4]Web Performance calendar with helpful blog posts.

There's also a [5]JVM Advent calendar with daily helpful hints for Java programmers.

Another advent calendar promises [6]daily posts about C# .

The HTMHell site — which bills itself as "a collection of bad practices in HTML, copied from real websites" — is celebrating the season with the " [7]HTMHell Advent Calendar ," promising daily articles on security, accessibility, UX, and performance.

There's even an [8]advent calendar with tips for the reverse-engineering framework Radar .

There's still a lovely web-design themed calendar at [9]Designcember.com .

And meanwhile developers at the Svelte frontend framework are actually [10]promising to release something new each day , "whether it's a new feature in Svelte or SvelteKit or an improvement to the website!"

But not every tech advent calendar is about programming...

Adafruit's [11]managing director is publishing a Retrocomputing Advent Calendar — [12]daily looks at the [13]ghosts of [14]computers past .

The Atlantic continues its 17-year tradition of a [15]Space Telescope advent calendar , featuring daily images from both NASA's Hubble telescope and James Webb Space Telescope

The gaming blog Rock Paper Shotgun has been counting down [16]their favorite games of 2024 ...



[1] https://thenewstack.io/programming-christmas-advent-calendars-for-2019/

[2] https://perladvent.org/2024/index.html

[3] https://raku-advent.blog/category/2024/

[4] https://calendar.perfplanet.com/2024/

[5] https://www.javaadvent.com/calendar

[6] https://csadvent.christmas/

[7] https://www.htmhell.dev/adventcalendar/

[8] https://radare.org/advent/

[9] https://designcember.com/

[10] https://svelte.dev/blog/advent-of-svelte

[11] https://blog.adafruit.com/author/pt/

[12] https://blog.adafruit.com/2024/12/01/day-1-retrocomputing-advent-calendar-apple-ii-retrocomputing-firstcomputer-electronics/

[13] https://blog.adafruit.com/2024/12/02/leftovers-layout-wled-board-revision-a-completed/

[14] https://blog.adafruit.com/2024/12/03/day-3-retrocomputing-advent-calendar-commodore-vic-20-retrocomputing-firstcomputer-electronics/

[15] https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2024/12/2024-space-telescope-advent-calendar/680839/

[16] https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-dazzling-desirable-rps-advent-calendar-2024

Mozilla's developer blog [1]is announcing "JavaScriptmas" .

> [F]rom December 1st to December 24th, we will release [2]a fun, daily coding challenge for you to solve on [code-learning platform] Scrimba. Each challenge comes with an introductory screencast called "scrim", some starter code, and then it's your turn to fill in the gaps.

>

> JavaScriptmas is about coding, learning, and the chance to win exciting prizes. Two lucky coders will be chosen as winners at the end of JavaScriptmas, and each will win a MacBook Air M3, swag from MDN and Scrimba, and a lifetime Scrimba Pro membership (worth ~$200 per year). The Scrimba membership will give you access to all courses, including the [3]Frontend Developer Career Path based on the MDN curriculum.

>

> Most of the challenges will evolve around JavaScript algorithms. You will also practice subjects like DOM manipulation, UI design, CSS, accessibility, and even a bit of cyber security. The challenges are a collaborative effort from Scrimba teachers, mentors, and MDN content writers, all with the goal of turning you into a more well-rounded web developer.

>

> Winners will be chosen randomly from everyone who submits correct solutions. We want JavaScriptmas to be accessible for both beginners and experienced developers alike. That said, the more challenges you solve, the better your chances of winning! To maximize your chances, try to solve all 24 challenges and submit them as both regular entries and social entries. You don't have to submit your solutions on the same day they're published — the deadline for any submission is midnight UTC on Christmas Eve.



[1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/blog/daily-holiday-javascript-challenges/

[2] https://scrimba.com/javascriptmas?via=slashdot

[3] https://scrimba.com/learn/frontend?via=mdn

The long-running [1]Advent of Code site just entered its 10th year, with 162,809 people completing both of its Day One puzzles (which involve a hunt for the missing historian of the North Pole). But its not the only site offering Christmas-themed programming puzzles:

Hundreds of SQL lovers are trying the daily challenges from the " [2]Advent of SQL" site .

You can sign up for daily emails with webdev challenges from the [3]Advent of JavaScript and [4]Advent of CSS sites.

The " [5]Advent of No-Code" site challenges you to build something new every day using no-code tools like AI-powered dev environments or the social coding site Val Town.

[6]TryHackMe.com is publishing "beginner-friendly, daily gamified cyber security challenges" in an event they're calling the "Advent of Cyber."

And Norway's biggest chess club (founded by world champion Magnus Carlsen) has even launched a site with daily chess puzzles called — what else? — [7]Advent of Chess . (It promises at the end of the event someone will win a chessboard signed by Magnus Carlsen).



[1] https://adventofcode.com/

[2] https://adventofsql.com/

[3] https://www.adventofjs.com/

[4] https://www.adventofcss.com/

[5] https://www.adventofnocode.io/

[6] https://tryhackme.com/r/christmas

[7] https://adventofchess.com/

A handful of countries should be held legally responsible for the ongoing impacts of climate change, [1]representatives of vulnerable states have told judges at the international court of justice (ICJ). From a report:

> During a hearing at the Peace Palace in The Hague, which began on Monday, Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's special envoy for climate change and environment, said responsibility for the climate crisis lay squarely with "a handful of readily identifiable states" that had produced the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions but stood to lose the least from the impacts.

>

> The court heard how Pacific island states such as Vanuatu were bearing the brunt of rising sea levels and increasingly frequent and severe disasters. "We find ourselves on the frontlines of a crisis we did not create," Regenvanu said. The hearing is the culmination of years of campaigning by a group of Pacific island law students and diplomacy spearheaded by Vanuatu. In March last year the UN general assembly unanimously approved a resolution calling on the ICJ to provide an advisory opinion on what obligations states have to tackle climate change and what the legal consequences could be if they fail to do so.

>

> Over the next two weeks, the court will hear statements from 98 countries, including wealthy developed states with the greatest historical responsibility for the climate emergency, such as the UK and Russia, and states that have contributed very little to global greenhouse gas emissions but stand to bear the brunt of their impact, including Bangladesh and Sudan as well as Pacific island countries.



[1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/02/handful-of-countries-responsible-for-climate-crisis-icj-court-told

A ransomware attack on the multinational Stoli Group in August helped [1]push two of the vodka-maker's U.S. subsidiaries into bankruptcy , according to the company's CEO. From a report:

> In a Texas bankruptcy court filing on November 29, CEO Chris Caldwell attributed a range of external factors to the financial woes of Stoli Group USA and Kentucky Owl (KO) -- which are facing $84 million in debt. But one of the most prominent was a ransomware attack this year that damaged the parent company's IT system.

>

> "In August 2024, the Stoli Group's IT infrastructure suffered severe disruption in the wake of a data breach and ransomware attack," Caldwell said in the filing. "The attack caused substantial operational issues throughout all companies within the Stoli Group, including Stoli USA and KO, due to the Stoli Group's enterprise resource planning (ERP) system being disabled and most of the Stoli Group's internal processes (including accounting functions) being forced into a manual entry mode." Caldwell said the systems will be restored âoeno earlier than in the first quarter of 2025.â



[1] https://therecord.media/stoli-group-usa-bankruptcy-filing-ransomware

Meta is [1]using OpenAI's GPT-4 alongside its own Llama AI model in Metamate, an internal coding assistance tool, Fortune reported Tuesday. The dual-model approach has been in place since early 2024, despite CEO Mark Zuckerberg's public promotion of Llama as a leading AI model.

Metamate, previously known as Code Compose, serves Meta's developers and employees with coding support. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Zuckerberg's philanthropic organization, is separately developing an educational AI tool using OpenAI's technology, with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joining CZI's AI advisory board.



[1] https://fortune.com/2024/12/03/meta-openai-gpt-4-llama-coding-tool/

An anonymous reader shares a report:

> Meta is mistakenly [1]removing too much content across its apps , according to a top executive. Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, told reporters on Monday that the company's moderation "error rates are still too high" and pledged to "improve the precision and accuracy with which we act on our rules."

>

> "We know that when enforcing our policies, our error rates are still too high, which gets in the way of the free expression that we set out to enable," Clegg said during a press call I attended. "Too often, harmless content gets taken down, or restricted, and too many people get penalized unfairly." He said the company regrets aggressively removing posts about the covid-19 pandemic. CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee the decision was [2]influenced by pressure from the Biden administration .

>

> "We had very stringent rules removing very large volumes of content through the pandemic," Clegg said. "No one during the pandemic knew how the pandemic was going to unfold, so this really is wisdom in hindsight. But with that hindsight, we feel that we overdid it a bit. We're acutely aware because users quite rightly raised their voice and complained that we sometimes over-enforce and we make mistakes and we remove or restrict innocuous or innocent content."



[1] https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/3/24311513/meta-content-moderation-mistakes-nick-clegg

[2] https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/08/27/0154207/zuckerberg-says-he-regrets-not-being-more-outspoken-about-government-pressure