An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: Bluesky Social, the popular new beta social network, is taking a big open-source step forward. On May 15th, 2023, it open-sourced the codebase for its Bluesky Social app on GitHub. This fits well with its plans. From the start, its owner, BlueSky Public Benefit LLC, a public benefit corporation, was building an "open and decentralized" social network.

Unlike Twitter, which is still tripping over its own open source feet, Bluesky client code is for anyone who wants to work on improving the code or use it as the basis for their own social network. Twitter's recommendation code, on the other hand, is essentially unusable. The Bluesky code, licensed under the MIT License, can be used now. Indeed, while it's been out for only about 24 hours, it's already been forked 88 times and has earned over 1,300 GitHub Stars.

While it's specifically the Bluesky Social app's codebase, it's also a resource for AT Protocol programmers. This protocol supports a decentralized social network. Its features include connecting with anyone on a server that supports AT Protocol; controlling how users see the world via an open algorithm market; and enabling users to change hosts without losing their content, followers, or identity. The code itself is written in React Native. This is an open-source, user-interface JavaScript software framework. It's used primarily to build applications that run on both iOS and Android devices.

Adi Robertson writes via The Verge: The Supreme Court has declined to consider reinterpreting foundational internet law Section 230, saying it wasn't necessary for deciding the terrorism-related case Gonzalez v. Google. The ruling came alongside a separate but related ruling in Twitter v. Taamneh, where the court concluded that Twitter had not aided and abetted terrorism. In an unsigned opinion (PDF) issued today, the court said the underlying complaints in Gonzalez were weak, regardless of Section 230's applicability. The case involved the family of a woman killed in a terrorist attack suing Google, which the family claimed had violated the law by recommending terrorist content on YouTube. They sought to hold Google liable under anti-terrorism laws.

The court dismissed the complaint largely because of its unanimous ruling (PDF) in Twitter v. Taamneh. Much like in Gonzalez, a family alleged that Twitter knowingly supported terrorists by failing to remove them from the platform before a deadly attack. In a ruling authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, however, the court declared that the claims were "insufficient to establish that these defendants aided and abetted ISIS" for the attack in question. Thomas declared that Twitter's failure to police terrorist content failed the requirement for some "affirmative act" that involved meaningful participation in an illegal act. "If aiding-and-abetting liability were taken too far, then ordinary merchants could become liable for any misuse of their goods and services, no matter how attenuated their relationship with the wrongdoer," writes Thomas. That includes "those who merely deliver mail or transmit emails" becoming liable for the contents of those messages or even people witnessing a robbery becoming liable for the theft. "There are no allegations that defendants treated ISIS any differently from anyone else. Rather, defendants' relationship with ISIS and its supporters appears to have been the same as their relationship with their billion-plus other users: arm's length, passive, and largely indifferent."

For Gonzalez v. Google, "the allegations underlying their secondary-liability claims are materially identical to those at issue in Twitter," says the court. "Since we hold that the complaint in that case fails to state a claim for aiding and abetting ... it appears to follow that the complaint here likewise fails to state such a claim." Because of that, "we therefore decline to address the application of 230 to a complaint that appears to state little, if any, plausible claim for relief." [...] The Gonzalez ruling is short and declines to deal with many of the specifics of the case. But the Twitter ruling does take on a key question from Gonzalez: whether recommendation algorithms constitute actively encouraging certain types of content. Thomas appears skeptical: "To be sure, plaintiffs assert that defendants' 'recommendation' algorithms go beyond passive aid and constitute active, substantial assistance. We disagree. By plaintiffs' own telling, their claim is based on defendants' 'provision of the infrastructure which provides material support to ISIS.' Viewed properly, defendants' 'recommendation' algorithms are merely part of that infrastructure. All the content on their platforms is filtered through these algorithms, which allegedly sort the content by information and inputs provided by users and found in the content itself. As presented here, the algorithms appear agnostic as to the nature of the content, matching any content (including ISIS' content) with any user who is more likely to view that content. The fact that these algorithms matched some ISIS content with some users thus does not convert defendants' passive assistance into active abetting. Once the platform and sorting-tool algorithms were up and running, defendants at most allegedly stood back and watched; they are not alleged to have taken any further action with respect to ISIS." "The interpretation may deal a blow to one common argument for adding special liability to social media: the claim that recommendation systems go above and beyond simply hosting content and explicitly encourage that content," adds Robertson. "This ruling's reasoning suggests that simply recommending something on an 'agnostic' basis -- as opposed to, in one hypothetical from Thomas, creating a system that 'consciously and selectively chose to promote content provided by a particular terrorist group' -- isn't an active form of encouragement."

The Supreme Court on Thursday sidestepped a case against Google that might have allowed more lawsuits against social media companies. From a report: The justices' decision returns to a lower court the case of a family of an American college student who was killed in an Islamic State terrorist attack in Paris. The family wants to sue Google for YouTube videos they said helped attract IS recruits and radicalize them. Google claims immunity from the lawsuit under a 1996 law that generally shields social media company for content posted by others. Lower courts agreed with Google. The justices had agreed to consider whether the legal shield is too broad. But in arguments in February, several sounded reluctant to weigh in now. In an unsigned opinion Thursday, the court wrote that it was declining to address the law at issue.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Google's Privacy Sandbox aims to replace third-party cookies with a more privacy-conscious approach, allowing users to manage their interests and grouping them into cohorts based on similar browsing patterns. That's a major change for the online advertising industry, and after years of talking about it and releasing various experiments, it's about to get real for the online advertising industry. Starting in early 2024, Google plans to migrate 1% of Chrome users to Privacy Sandbox and disable third-party cookies for them, the company announced today. Google's plan to completely deprecate third-party cookies in the second half of 2024 remains on track.

In addition, with the launch of the Chrome 115 release in July, Google is making Privacy Sandbox's relevance and measurement APIs generally available to all Chrome users, making it easy for developers to test these APIs with live traffic. Google doesn't plan to make any significant changes to the API after this release. Deprecating third-party cookies for 1% of Chrome users doesn't sound like it would have a major impact, but as Google's Victor Wong, who leads product for Private Advertising Technology within Privacy Sandbox, told me, it will help developers assess their real-world readiness for the larger changes coming in late 2024. To get ready for this, developers will also be able to simulate their third-party cookie deprecation readiness starting in Q4 2023, when they'll be able to test their solutions by moving a configurable percentage of their users to Privacy Sandbox.

Google is looking to partner with businesses, education institutions, and non-profits to help test its 20 Gig symmetrical internet service. TechSpot reports: Nick Saporito, head of multi-gig & commercial product at Google, said they are only looking for eight additional partners so space is incredibly limited. Ideal candidates include those that are already downloading and uploading massive data sets, those conducting research that commands loads of bandwidth, or perhaps organizations working on future-focused tech that Google hasn't even yet considered but needs lots of throughput. If selected for the test, Google will reach out to your organization to discuss the next steps.

Google has been testing the 20 Gig service since at least late last year. We know this because Saporito shared a screenshot of a speed test conducted at his house in Kansas City highlighting his connection's throughput. Speaking to his home connection, Saporito said he tried to test its limits by streaming as many World Cup games in 4K as he had devices but didn't even come close to saturating the connection.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Google's new inactive account policy already has people up in arms. The company announced on Tuesday that accounts that have gone unused for two years will be deleted, and a lot of people are asking what exactly this means for YouTube content. There are probably millions of videos out there from dead and inactive YouTube creators -- would Google's new data policy mean deleting nearly two decades of online history?

A day later, Google now says there will be no digital burning of Alexandria. YouTube's creator liaison, Rene Ritchie, clarified on Twitter that Google has "no plans to delete accounts with YT videos." 9to5Google heard the same statement from a Google spokesperson.

That is great news, but that's also very vague and runs contrary to what all of Google's current documentation says, including the blog post. Can people keep a Google account alive forever with a single video? [...] It seems like the company is still figuring this out. "It doesn't make sense to delete old YouTube content," adds Ars' Ron Amadeo. "While inactive data for things like Gmail and Google Photos are nothing but a money pit, YouTube content is available to the public, and Google runs ads on those videos, so those videos make money. If there's no creator to share revenue with, that's even better! Culling old videos would not just damage YouTube as a platform, it would also hurt Google's bottom line."

The swift growth of artificial intelligence technology could put the future of humanity at risk, according to most Americans surveyed in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Wednesday. From the report: More than two-thirds of Americans are concerned about the negative effects of AI and 61% believe it could threaten civilization. [...] The Reuters/Ipsos poll found that the number of Americans who foresee adverse outcomes from AI is triple the number of those who don't. According to the data, 61% of respondents believe that AI poses risks to humanity, while only 22% disagreed, and 17% remained unsure.

Designers are using Unreal Engine to create virtual renditions of architectural projects that were never fully realized, such as the Hillside Sample Project by Neoscape and Safdie Architects, showcasing Moshe Safdie's original vision for Montreal's Habitat 67 housing complex. The interactive 3D models offer exceptional detail of the structures and highlight the potential of real-time 3D renditions for pitching architectural concepts. Engadget reports: A young Safdie designed Habitat 67 for Montreal's 1967 World's Fair, also known as Expo 67. It was meant to combine the advantages of suburbia (such as gardens and multi-level housing) with the affordability and density of apartments. The affordability didn't pan out, and Safdie ended up producing a smaller-scale version for the fair. Habitat 67 ultimately launched Safdie's career, though, and it's still one of the better-known landmarks in the city.

You have a few options for exploring the complex. You can watch a video if you just want a quick overview, but you can also navigate a 3D space using either Google Chrome or a downloadable app. The interactive models let you either roam freely or have Safdie guide you through the project with narration at key points.

Google mistakenly released a test version of its Personal Safety app that includes a new feature called "Dashcam" on select Android devices. As the name suggests, it allows users to record video and audio while driving in the event of an accident or unexpected situation, with automatic recording triggered when connecting to a specific Bluetooth device and videos automatically deleted after three days unless saved. 9to5Google reports: Once available, the feature can be launched through a new "Dashcam" shortcut in the "Be prepared" section of the home page. Here, you can begin recording manually or view your recent videos. While Dashcam is recording, your phone is still fully usable, including for navigating with Google Maps. Alternatively, you can save power by locking your screen, and the recording will continue. More importantly, Google has built this feature to work without you needing to think much about it. When setting up, you can choose to have recordings begin automatically when you connect to a particular Bluetooth device (e.g., your car stereo or infotainment system) and end when you disconnect.

To conserve storage space, your recordings are automatically deleted after three days unless you save them. Additionally, the app says that the videos themselves are compressed, averaging "30 MB per minute," with a maximum recording length of 24 hours. Overall, this feature seems to be impressively well thought out and looks essentially ready to launch. Using a smartphone as a dashcam also makes quite a bit of sense, as your phone probably has a better camera than some cheaper dashcams would offer. It's unclear if this feature will be available on other phones with Google's Personal Safety or exclusive to Pixel phones.

Montana is now the first U.S. state to ban TikTok after Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed legislation to ban the app from operating in the state. Reuters reports: Montana will make it unlawful for Google and Apple's app stores to offer the TikTok app within its borders. The ban takes effect Jan. 1, 2024. TikTok, which has over 150 million American users, is facing growing calls from U.S. lawmakers and state officials to ban the app nationwide over concerns about potential Chinese government influence over the platform. Gov. Gianforte, a Republican, said the bill will further "our shared priority to protect Montanans from Chinese Communist Party surveillance."

Montana, which has a population of just over 1 million people, said TikTok could face fines for each violation and additional fines of $10,000 per day if they violate the ban. It takes effect Jan. 1, 2024. The ban will likely face numerous legal challenges that it violates the First Amendment free speech rights of users. An attempt by then President Donald Trump to ban new downloads of TikTok and WeChat through a Commerce Department order in 2020 was blocked by multiple courts and never took effect. The legislation that Gianforte signed also generally prohibits "the use of all social media applications that collect and provide personal information or data to foreign adversaries on government-issued devices," adds Reuters.

It's unclear if the bill signed today would effectively ban all social media in Montana, since most social media networks collect such information and share it with entities in foreign countries.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Hey, did you hear? Verizon has incredibly, out of the goodness of its heart, revealed new phone plans that don't include "bloated" service bundles. How thoughtful! There's just one catch: they're kinda less expensive, except not really, because things that used to be included are now an extra $10 per month each.

On the surface, the new plans sound simpler than the current Get More, Play More, etc. There are two options -- an expensive one and a bit less expensive one -- and you add the extra services you want, like the Disney / Hulu bundle or Apple Music Family a la carte. That's nice in theory, but if you're switching from one of the current unlimited plans, it's very likely you'll need to pay more if you want the same things you used to get included in your monthly rate. [...] On top of all that, these plans are just plain confusing. There's an old plan called "Welcome Unlimited" and a new plan called "Unlimited Welcome." Great, makes perfect sense. Also, Verizon is still playing its cute little game of not including "Ultra Wideband" mid-band 5G on its lower-tier plan, only the much slower "Nationwide" version, which is largely just LTE dressed up as 5G.

Big tech companies accounting for more than 5% of a telecoms provider's peak average internet traffic should help fund the rollout of 5G and broadband across Europe, according to a draft proposal by the telecoms industry. From a report: The proposal is part of feedback to the European Commission which launched a consultation into the issue in February. The deadline for responses is Friday. Alphabet's Google, Apple, Facebook-owner Meta, Amazon, Netflix and TikTok would most likely be hit with fees, according to industry estimates. Google, Apple, Meta, Netflix, Amazon and Microsoft together account for more than half of data internet traffic.

The document, which was reviewed by Reuters and has not been published, was compiled by telecoms lobbying groups GSMA and ETNO. They represent 160 operators in Europe, including Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Telecom Italia. Telecom operators have lobbied for years for leading technology companies to help foot the bill for 5G and broadband roll-out, saying that they create a huge part of the region's internet traffic. This is the first time they have tried to define a threshold for who should pay.

About 80 percent of new cars sold in Norway are battery-powered. As a result, the air is cleaner, the streets are quieter and the grid hasn't collapsed. The New York Times: Last year, 80 percent of new-car sales in Norway were electric, putting the country at the vanguard of the shift to battery-powered mobility. It has also turned Norway into an observatory for figuring out what the electric vehicle revolution might mean for the environment, workers and life in general. The country will end the sales of internal combustion engine cars in 2025. Norway's experience suggests that electric vehicles bring benefits without the dire consequences predicted by some critics. There are problems, of course, including unreliable chargers and long waits during periods of high demand. Auto dealers and retailers have had to adapt. The switch has reordered the auto industry, making Tesla the best-selling brand and marginalizing established carmakers like Renault and Fiat.

But the air in Oslo, Norway's capital, is measurably cleaner. The city is also quieter as noisier gasoline and diesel vehicles are scrapped. Oslo's greenhouse gas emissions have fallen 30 percent since 2009, yet there has not been mass unemployment among gas station workers and the electrical grid has not collapsed. Some lawmakers and corporate executives portray the fight against climate change as requiring grim sacrifice. "With E.V.s, it's not like that," said Christina Bu, secretary general of the Norwegian E.V. Association, which represents owners. "It's actually something that people embrace." Norway began promoting electric vehicles in the 1990s to support Think, a homegrown electric vehicle start-up that Ford Motor owned for a few years. Battery-powered vehicles were exempted from value-added and import taxes and from highway tolls. The government also subsidized the construction of fast charging stations, crucial in a country nearly as big as California with just 5.5 million people. The combination of incentives and ubiquitous charging "took away all the friction factors," said Jim Rowan, the chief executive of Volvo Cars, based in neighboring Sweden. The policies put Norway more than a decade ahead of the United States. The Biden administration aims for 50 percent of new-vehicle sales to be electric by 2030, a milestone Norway passed in 2019.

IBM and Google are giving $150 million for quantum-computing research at the University of Chicago and the University of Tokyo as the U.S. and Japan try to stay ahead of a fast-rising China. From a report: Quantum computers are a hot area of research because they could help solve problems that classical computers alone can't, such as modeling how a drug molecule interacts with the body's proteins or how batteries work at an atomic scale. China has invested heavily in quantum computing, which also has possible military applications in cryptology and materials for weapons. U.S. researchers said Chinese laboratories have shown progress recently -- often touted in state media -- and are competitive in some areas. However, quantum-computing specialists say more basic study is needed before anyone can be sure the technology delivers real-world benefits.

The U.S.-Japan partnership is an example of how scientific research with implications for security and economic growth is increasingly split between China and a U.S.-led camp that includes allies such as Japan and Western European nations. "We have to count on our allies more for primary research," said Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan. Until recently, he said, the U.S. was too lax in allowing Chinese students to work at American universities in advanced scientific fields. "We were funding them. We were not only funding them, we were training them, educating them to come back and compete against us," he said.

Amazon introduced an updated slate of Echo devices and pledged to bring ChatGPT-style artificial intelligence to Alexa-powered gadgets. From a report: For more than a year the digital assistant has been using a home-built set of large language models -- the foundational networks that enable ChatGPT and rival technologies -- to help summarize text gathered from the web and make Alexa more conversant in various languages, Dave Limp, Amazon's senior vice president of Devices & Services, said in an interview. New, more conversational capabilities will "roll out incrementally," he said. "It's not years away, but there are some things that we have to solve." Amazon on Wednesday announced four updated Alexa devices:

The Echo Pop, which takes the company's spherical, fabric-covered Echo Dot smart speaker and slices it in half. The semi-spherical device, which sells for $40, comes with technology borrowed from Amazon's eero router subsidiary that can extend the range of home Wi-Fi

A revamped Echo Show 5, which pairs Alexa with a 5-inch screen. Amazon says the $90 speaker is 20% faster than the prior generation and has clearer sound.

An updated edition of the Echo Show 5 Kids comes with a year of Amazon's Kids+ subscription with age-appropriate audiobooks, videos and games. It will sell for $100.

A new version of Amazon's Echo Buds loses the noise-cancelling feature of previous editions, but, at $50, comes in at less than half the price. The buds let users listen to music and summon Alexa on the go.

According to S&P Global Mobility, the average age of light vehicles on the road in the U.S. is now at an all-time high of 12.5 years, up three months from 2022. Two decades ago, their average was 9.7 years. Axios reports: The impact: The transition from gas to electric cars will take decades.

It'll likely take until at least 2050 -- and possibly longer -- before most gas-powered cars are off the road, Campau says.

Of note: EV longevity is going in the opposite direction. Their average age fell from 3.7 years in 2022 to 3.6 years in 2023, in part due to an upswing in new purchases.

By the numbers: About 6.6% of battery-powered EVs bought between 2013-2022 have left the passenger fleet, compared with 5.2% of non-EVs -- but [...] it's too early to know why. EVs generally come with an 8-year, 100,000-mile warranty -- but early evidence suggests they last longer than that, according to an analysis by Recurrent, which tracks battery data. Carmakers say electric cars should last 15 to 20 years, but modern EVs haven't been around long enough to validate that claim. The report projects that there will be fewer than 100 million passenger cars on the road within the next 18-24 months -- a low not seen since 1978. By 2028, at least 7 in 10 vehicles on the road will be pickups, SUVs or crossovers.

Apple has registered a wordmark for "xrOS" in New Zealand, the first time the company has indirectly revealed both the name of the operating system for its upcoming headset and the official font and styling that accompanies it. From a report: Spotted by Parker Ortolani, the xrOS wordmark registered with the New Zealand Intellectual Property Office shows that Apple will use its San Francisco typeface in xrOS marketing, just as it does for macOS, iOS, watchOS, and tvOS. "xrOS" is meant to stand for "extended reality." Extended reality represents both the augmented and virtual reality functions the headset will support. The name was already confirmed by internal Apple sources last year via Bloomberg, and Apple has also been trademarking xrOS in several countries through a hidden shell company.

Alphabet's Google on Tuesday said it would delete accounts that had remained unused for two years starting December, in a bid to prevent security threats including hacks. From a report: The company said that if a Google account had not been used or signed into for at least two years, it might delete the account and content across Google Workspace, which includes Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet and Calendar, as well as YouTube and Google Photos. The policy change only applies to personal Google Accounts and not to those for organizations like schools or businesses. In 2020, Google had said it would remove content stored in an inactive account, but not delete the account itself. Starting Tuesday, Google will send multiple notifications to the account email address and recovery mail of the inactive accounts before deletion.

Vodafone said Tuesday it would cut 11,000 jobs over three years, as the telecom company unveiled a turnaround plan to revive its fortunes following years of poor performance. From a report: The job cuts would affect the firm's UK headquarters and operations in other countries, Vodafone added in a statement. "Our performance has not been good enough," CEO Margherita Della Valle said.

"We will simplify our organization, cutting out complexity to regain our competitiveness." Two decades ago, Vodafone was the world's biggest mobile telecom group, having bought Germany's Mannesmann in 2000 in the largest takeover in history. The deal was valued above $190 billion. But the company, which has businesses in 21 countries and partnership agreements with local operators in another 46 locations, has struggled to retain market share. Vodafone employs 104,000 people worldwide, according to its latest annual report. Apart from the United Kingdom, it is a major provider of mobile networks in Germany, Spain, Italy and parts of Africa.

Hasselblad is discontinuing its H-series medium format DSLRs to focus exclusively on mirrorless models. "The move leaves Pentax and Ricoh as the biggest remaining names in the rapidly diminishing DSLR space," notes Engadget. "Hasselblad's last H series launch was the H6D system in 2016." From the report: "While we have been feeling this sting for over the last 18 months with lack of product, today we received official notice that the full product line of the Hasselblad H system has been officially discontinued," Capture Integration wrote. "All [H system] products are now officially out of stock and Hasselblad will no longer take orders for anything in the H line." The article continued, "The H system is still very strong and working in so many studios today. However, it's time to look at replacements. We can't even order new battery grips today." The vendor notes that future repairs will likely take longer and grow in difficulty.