Coffee Marketing

Not sure if this is brilliant or clueless marketing!

 

Everett On Expertise

Dr. Peter Everett: "On Professional Expertise"

Navy Lasers

"US Navy evaluates laser weapon aboard destroyer":

HELIOS represents a major step forward in naval warfare, providing a cost-effective countermeasure against drones, small boats, and other asymmetric threats. The U.S. Navy has been expanding its directed energy arsenal, and the HELIOS-equipped USS Preble joins a growing number of Navy ships fielding high-energy laser weapons. 

The successful testing of HELIOS underscores the U.S. Navy’s commitment to integrating laser weapons into its fleet to counter evolving threats. Unlike conventional missile-based defense systems, directed energy weapons like HELIOS offer a virtually unlimited magazine, rapid engagement capabilities, and lower per-engagement costs.

 

AI Tutor

"Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says everyone should get an AI tutor right away". (Via D.F.)

Miniature Roman Lock

"Metal Detectorist Unearths Miniature 1,600-Year-Old Roman Lock". (Via H.R.)

Why Ice Doesn't Stick To Polar Bear Fur

"How polar bears stop ice from freezing on their fur". (Via H.R.)

Silver On Preparing For AI

Nate Silver: "How should you prepare for an AI future?"

Navy AI

"The Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) became the first warship to deploy with a program-of-record artificial intelligence (AI) platform.

Car Battery Update

"A variety of new batteries are coming to power EVs"

Apple, Starlink, And SpaceX

"Apple and SpaceX just added Starlink connectivity for select iPhone users"

Tesla Autonomous Taxi Service Coming To TX

"Tesla will launch an 'unsupervised, no one in the car' robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, in June [2025]"

OpenAI Claim Against Deepseek

"OpenAI says it has evidence China's DeepSeek used its model to train competitor". 

If true, this would artificially lower Deepseek's training costs. And could be a violation of OpenAI's terms of service and/or violation of intellectual property rights. (The article also notes that OpenAI has been accused of violating others' IP rights to train its own models.)

In-Flight Screen Restriction

"Why United Does Not Allow You To Use In-Flight Screen As Extended Display"

Quoting The Points Guy:

As more travelers bring their own tablets and laptops on board, I've always wondered why airlines don't offer a screencasting feature on the entertainment screens. After all, it's a lot easier to get work done with some additional screen real estate.

Turns out, United can already technically enable screencasting today, Green said, but a major issue will likely mean that flyers will never see this functionality.

"We've had a lot of pushback from our corporate partners that say they don't necessarily want their staff using publicly available screens," Green said.

It's not that United would have access to any data; it's that they don't want nosy passengerssnooping in on their neighbors.

Gift Card Fraud

"Chinese Organized Crime's Latest U.S. Target: Gift Cards" 

Card draining is when criminals remove gift cards from a store display, open them in a separate location, and either record the card numbers and PINs or replace them with a new barcode. The crooks then repair the packaging, return to a store and place the cards back on a rack. When a customer unwittingly selects and loads money onto a tampered card, the criminal is able to access the card online and steal the balance.

Good Jobs

US News & World Report: "100 Best Jobs of 2025". 

FWIW, "Radiologist" comes in at #77.

Quantum Computing Glossary

"Quantum computing could go big this year. Here's a glossary to get you started"

AI Protein Design Update

"Researchers use AI to design proteins that block snake venom toxins". (Via H.R.)

Translation Update

"Meta takes us a step closer to Star Trek's universal translator". (Via H.R.)

Light Posting

Admin note: Posting will be light for the next 1-2 weeks due to external obligations.

The First Password On The Internet

"First password on the internet"

Igloo Science

"How Do Igloos Keep People Warm?"

Apollo Wrist Computer

"Want to Wear a Tiny Apollo Guidance Computer on Your Wrist?"

 

Meteor Strike Video

"Homeowner captures sound and video of meteorite strike on camera, and scientists believe it's a first"

Costco Clothes

"Costco's $9B clothes business, explained". (Via Rand Simberg.)

Best Space Photo?

"A NASA astronaut may have just taken the best photo from space -- ever"

Young Violinist

When you're playing Vivaldi on the piano at the airport, and a shy 10-year old girl asks if she can play her violin along with you. 

(I love the expression on her face as she plays!)

Caplan On Men And Women

Bryan Caplan: "The Typical Man Disgusts the Typical Woman"

Coffee Good

"We knew morning coffee was good for us... and science has finally proved it"

Nvidia AI Computer

"Nvidia's tiny $3,000 computer for AI developers steals the show at CES"

What To Do If You Accidentally Glue Your Eye

News you can use: "Accidentally put eyelash glue in your eye? Tips to avoid painful mistakes."

AI Detection Of Ovarian Cancer

"AI detects ovarian cancer better than human experts in new study". 

Academic paper in Nature Medicine: "International multicenter validation of AI-driven ultrasound detection of ovarian cancer"

iPhone Security

"Get to Know iPhone Privacy and Security Settings"

Ants > Humans

"Ants best humans at test of collective intelligence"

Altman On AGI

Very bold claim from Sam Altman on 5 Jan 2025: 

We are now confident we know how to build AGI as we have traditionally understood it. We believe that, in 2025, we may see the first AI agents "join the workforce" and materially change the output of companies. We continue to believe that iteratively putting great tools in the hands of people leads to great, broadly-distributed outcomes.

We are beginning to turn our aim beyond that, to superintelligence in the true sense of the word. We love our current products, but we are here for the glorious future. With superintelligence, we can do anything else. Superintelligent tools could massively accelerate scientific discovery and innovation well beyond what we are capable of doing on our own, and in turn massively increase abundance and prosperity...

Self-Driving In Switzerland

"Switzerland greenlights use of self-driving cars on motorways from March 2025"