The Lights Have Been On At a Massachusetts School For Over a Year Because No One Can Turn Them Off

An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: For nearly a year and a half, a Massachusetts high school has been lit up around the clock because the district can’t turn off the roughly 7,000 lights in the sprawling building. The lighting system was installed at Minnechaug Regional High School when it was built over a decade ago and was intended to save money and energy. But ever since the software that runs it failed on Aug. 24, 2021, the lights in the Springfield suburbs school have been on continuously, costing taxpayers a small fortune.

“We are very much aware this is costing taxpayers a significant amount of money,” Aaron Osborne, the assistant superintendent of finance at the Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District, told NBC News. “And we have been doing everything we can to get this problem solved.” Osborne said it’s difficult to say how much money it’s costing because during the pandemic and in its aftermath, energy costs have fluctuated wildly. “I would say the net impact is in the thousands of dollars per month on average, but not in the tens of thousands,” Osborne said. That, in part, is because the high school uses highly efficient fluorescent and LED bulbs, he said. And, when possible, teachers have manually removed bulbs from fixtures in classrooms while staffers have shut off breakers not connected to the main system to douse some of the exterior lights.

But there’s hope on the horizon that the lights at Minnechaug will soon be dimmed. Paul Mustone, president of the Reflex Lighting Group, said the parts they need to replace the system at the school have finally arrived from the factory in China and they expect to do the installation over the February break. “And yes, there will be a remote override switch so this won’t happen again,” said Mustone, whose company has been in business for more than 40 years.

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Android 13 Is Running On 5.2% of All Devices Five Months After Launch

According to the latest official Android distribution numbers from Google, Android 13 is running on 5.2% of all devices less than six months after launch. 9to5Google reports: According to Android Studio, devices running Android 13 now account for 5.2% of all devices. Meanwhile Android 12 and 12L now account for 18.9% of the total, a significant increase from August’s 13.5% figure. Notably, while Google’s chart does include details about Android 13, it doesn’t make a distinction between Android 12 and 12L. Looking at the older versions, we see that usage of Android Oreo has finally dropped below 10%, with similar drops in percentage down the line. Android Jelly Bean, which previously weighed in at 0.3%, is no longer listed, while KitKat has dropped from 0.9% to 0.7%. Android 13’s 5.2% distribution number “is better than it sounds,” writes Ryan Whitwam via ExtremeTech: These numbers show an accelerating pickup for Google’s new platform versions. If you look back at stats from the era of Android KitKat and Lollipop, the latest version would only have a fraction of this usage share after half a year. That’s because the only phones running the new software would be Google’s Nexus phones, plus maybe one or two new devices from OEMs that worked with Google to deploy the latest software as a marketing gimmick.

The improvements are thanks largely to structural changes in how Android is developed and deployed. For example, Project Treble was launched in 2017 to re-architect the platform, separating the OS framework from the low-level vendor code. This made it easier to update devices without waiting on vendors to provide updated drivers. We saw evidence of improvement that very year, and it’s gotten better ever since.

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iOS 16.3 Expands Advanced Data Protection Option For iCloud Encryption Globally

Apple today announced that Advanced Data Protection is expanding beyond the United States. MacRumors reports: Starting with iOS 16.3, the security feature will be available globally, giving users to option to enable end-to-end encryption for many additional iCloud data categories, including Photos, Notes, Voice Memos, Messages backups, device backups, and more. iOS 16.3 is currently in beta and expected to be released to the public next week.

By default, Apple stores encryption keys for some iCloud data types on its servers to ensure that users can recover their data if they lose access to their Apple ID account. If a user enables Advanced Data Protection, the encryption keys are deleted from Apple’s servers and stored on a user’s devices only, preventing Apple, law enforcement, or anyone else from accessing the data, even if iCloud servers were to be breached.

iCloud already provides end-to-end encryption for 14 data categories without Advanced Data Protection turned on, including Messages (excluding backups), passwords stored in iCloud Keychain, Health data, Apple Maps search history, Apple Card transactions, and more. Advanced Data Protection expands this protection to the vast majority of iCloud categories, with major exceptions including the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar apps. For more information, you can read Apple’s Advanced Data Protection support document.

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Stephen Colbert To Produce TV Series Based On Roger Zelanzny’s Sci-Fi Novels ‘The Chronicles of Amber’

Stephen Colbert is joining the team that is adapting Roger Zelazny’s “The Chronicles of Amber” for television. Variety reports: Colbert will now executive produce the potential series under his Spartina production banner. Spartina joins Skybound Entertainment and Vincent Newman Entertainment (VNE) on the series version of the beloved fantasy novels, with Skyboudn first announcing their intention to develop the series back in 2016. The books have been cited as an influence on “Game of Thrones,” with author George R.R. Martin recently stating he wanted to see the books brought to the screen.

“The Chronicles of Amber” follows the story of Corwin, who is said to “awaken on Earth with no memory, but soon finds he is a prince of a royal family that has the ability to travel through different dimensions of reality (called ‘shadows’) and rules over the one true world, Amber.” The story is told over ten books with two story arcs: “The Corwin Cycle” and “The Merlin Cycle.” The series has sold more than fifteen million copies globally. The search is currently on for a writer to tackle the adaptation. No network or streamer is currently attached. Colbert and Spartina are currently under a first-look deal at CBS Studios, but they are not currently the studio behind the series. “George R.R. Martin and I have similar dreams,” Colbert said. “I’ve carried the story of Corwin in my head for over 40 years, and I’m thrilled to partner with Skybound and Vincent Newman to bring these worlds to life. All roads lead to Amber, and I’m happy to be walking them.”

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Adobe Says It Isn’t Using Your Photos To Train AI Image Generators

In early January, Adobe came under fire for language used in its terms and conditions that seemed to indicate that it could use photographers’ photos to train generative artificial intelligence systems. The company has reiterated that this is not the case. PetaPixel reports: The language of its “Content analysis” section in its Privacy and Personal Data settings says that by default, users give Adobe permission to “analyze content using techniques such as machine learning (e.g., for pattern recognition) to develop and improve our products and services.” That sounded a lot like artificial intelligence-based (AI) image generators. One of the sticking points of this particular section is that Adobe makes it an opt-out, not an opt-in, so many photographers likely had no idea they were already agreeing to it. “Machine learning-enabled features can help you become more efficient and creative,” Adobe explains. “For example, we may use machine learning-enabled features to help you organize and edit your images more quickly and accurately. With object recognition in Lightroom, we can auto-tag photos of your dog or cat.”

When pressed for comment in PetaPixel’s original coverage on January 5, Adobe didn’t immediately respond leaving many to assume the worst. However, a day later, the company did provide some clarity on the issue to PetaPixel that some photographers may have missed. “We give customers full control of their privacy preferences and settings. The policy in discussion is not new and has been in place for a decade to help us enhance our products for customers. For anyone who prefers their content be excluded from the analysis, we offer that option here,” a spokesperson from Adobe’s public affairs office told PetaPixel. “When it comes to Generative AI, Adobe does not use any data stored on customers’ Creative Cloud accounts to train its experimental Generative AI features. We are currently reviewing our policy to better define Generative AI use cases.” In an interview with Bloomberg, Adobe Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky said: “We are rolling out a new evolution of this policy that is more specific. If we ever allow people to opt-in for generative AI specifically, we need to call it out and explain how we’re using it.”

“We have to be very explicit about these things.”

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Netflix Set For Slowest Revenue Growth As Ad Plan Struggles To Gain Traction

Netflix is expected to report its slowest quarterly revenue growth on Thursday as its ad-supported plan struggles to attract customers in the saturating U.S. market, which could pressure the company to pull back on content spending this year. Reuters reports: The streaming pioneer has been reeling under strained consumer spending, rising costs of financing production and increased competition from Disney+ and Amazon Prime. It had pinned its hopes on the launch of the ad-supported tier, but analysts say they have not seen a burst of subscriptions.

The company is expected to have added 4.5 million subscribers in the fourth quarter – the lowest addition for the holiday period since 2014. It added 8.3 million subscribers a year ago. The $6.99 per month ad-supported plan does not have access to all titles and is not cheap enough to win over significant numbers of customers in the United States and Canada, analysts say. That is likely to draw focus on Netflix’s aggressive content spending, which finance chief Spencer Neumann said in July would total about $17 billion annually for the next couple of years.

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Three Arrows Capital Co-Founders Pitch To Raise $25 Million For New ‘GTX’ Exchange

Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, the founders of collapsed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), are hoping to raise $25 million to start a new crypto exchange called GTX, according to two separate pitch decks obtained by The Block. Three Arrows Capital was one of the largest hedge funds in crypto until last year’s collapse of the Terra ecosystem left it facing significant losses. The financial advisory firm Teneo has been handling the liquidation of 3AC’s assets and the hedge fund has filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in New York. From the report: News of the fundraise comes two months after exchange giant FTX imploded, leaving more than a million creditors out of pocket. The new exchange takes advantage of the situation offering depositors the ability to transfer their FTX claims to GTX and receive immediate credit in a token called USDG, the pitch deck said. The exchange’s name is even a spin on “FTX,” with one of the GTX pitch decks opening with the line “because G comes after F.”

The Three Arrows pair are partnering with Mark Lamb and Sudhu Arumugam, who founded CoinFlex, a crypto exchange which is in the process of restructuring. The exchange’s executive team is also made up of several CoinFlex executives including the firm’s general counsel and chief technology officer, per one of the decks. GTX will leverage Coinflex’s technology to build the exchange and a legal team will be responsible for overseeing the onboarding of claims for all the recent crypto bankruptcies such as Celsius and Voyager, according to the decks. The exchange is looking to launch as soon as possible — potentially as soon as February — and is estimating that the claims market is worth around $20 billion, according to the decks.

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Discord Acquires Gas, the Popular App For Teens To Compliment Each Other

Discord has acquired the Gas social app, a poll-based app for friends to share compliments with each other. “The app is designed for anonymous compliments and positive affirmations or, as kids say, gassing your friends up,” reports The Verge. From the report: Gas has polls that ask users to vote for things like the most beautiful person they’ve met or the classmate that isn’t afraid to get in trouble. It has soared in popularity among high schoolers since launching in August. One of the co-creators of TBH, a very similar teenager app acquired and shut down by Facebook, created Gas, which has caught the attention of more than 1 million daily active users and 30,000 new users per hour in October.

“Gas’ founders have a proven track record of creating exciting apps and experiences, and we’re thrilled to work with their team to take things to the next level,” says Discord in a blog post announcing the Gas acquisition. “At this time, Gas will continue as its own standalone app and the Gas team will be joining Discord to help our efforts to continue to grow across new and core audiences.” Discord hasn’t disclosed the terms of its Gas acquisition, but it’s clearly part of a broader and continued effort to target communities and users outside of just gaming.

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High-Powered Lasers Can Be Used To Steer Lightning Strikes

fahrbot-bot shares a report from Engadget: Lightning rods have been used to safely guide strikes into the ground since Benjamin Franklin’s day, but their short range (roughly the same radius as the height) and fixed-in-place design makes them ineffective for protecting large areas. The technology may finally be here to replace them in some situations. European researchers have successfully tested a system that uses terawatt-level laser pulses to steer lighting toward a 26-foot rod. It’s not limited by its physical height, and can cover much wider areas — in this case, 590 feet — while penetrating clouds and fog.

[“The experiment was performed on Santis Mountain, in northeast Switzerland,” adds The Washington Post. “A 407-foot (124-meter) communications tower there, equipped with a lightning rod, is struck roughly a hundred times a year.”] The design ionizes nitrogen and oxygen molecules, releasing electrons and creating a plasma that conducts electricity. As the laser fires at a very quick 1,000 pulses per second, it’s considerably more likely to intercept lightning as it forms. In the test, conducted between June and September 2021, lightning followed the beam for nearly 197 feet before hitting the rod. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Photonics. A video of the work has also been published on YouTube.

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IBM Shifts Remaining US-Based AIX Dev Jobs To India

According to The Register, IBM has shifted the roles of US IBM Systems employees developing AIX over to the Indian office. From the report: Prior to this transition, said to taken place in the third quarter of 2022, AIX development was split more or less evenly between the US and India, an IBM source told The Register. With the arrival of 2023, the entire group had been moved to India. Roughly 80 US-based AIX developers were affected, our source estimates. We’re told they were “redeployed,” and given an indeterminate amount of time to find a new position internally, in keeping with practices we reported last week based on claims by other IBM employees.

Evidently, the majority of those redeployed found jobs elsewhere at IBM. A lesser number of staff are evidently stuck in “redeployment limbo,” with no IBM job identified and no evident prospects at the company. “It also appears that these people in ‘redeployment’ limbo within IBM are all older, retirement eligible employees,” our source said. “The general sense among my peers is that redeployment is being used to nudge older employees out of the company and to do so in a manner that avoids the type of scrutiny that comes with layoffs.”

Layoffs generally come with a severance payment and may have reporting requirements. Redeployments — directing workers to find another internal position, which may require relocating — can avoid cost and bureaucracy. They also have the potential to encourage workers to depart on their own. We’re told that IBM does not disclose redeployment numbers to its employees and does not report how internal jobs were obtained — through internal search, with the assistance of management — or were not obtained — employees left in limbo or who choose to leave rather than wait.

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