Random News not worthy of own thread

[fiksal]

Did NASA find proof of life on Mars this week?

Well no, but
"What We Just Found on Mars - StarTalk"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvcfO_-p6YE

[felter]

Haven't watched the video, but I know what it is about, and actually they didn't find it this week, they actually found it I think it was in April or May this year. They have been trying to find another explanation for what they found and what could have caused it, and they have not been able to do so, so if they cannot find an alternative to it being caused by life, then they think it has to probably be made by life and that is what they have announced this week, so it has actually been on the books for nearly 6 months.

[fiksal]

that makes sense, Neil deGrasse Tyson mentioned in the video a paper that was published, which takes time of course.

indeed they are down to a couple options, and ruled out all but life, comparing to same rocks on Earth

[burger1]

More ads. Now through your fridge. Samsung adds ads to fridges.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09 ... ppliances/

Samsung confirmed today that it is showing advertisements on some US customers’ smart fridges. Samsung said the ads showing on some Family Hub-series fridges are part of a pilot program, but we suspect that they may become more permanent additions to Samsung fridges and/or other types of screen-equipped smart home appliances.

Ai searching is reducing ad revenue for sites since people don't need to go to websites to get the data they want. On the other hand the ai sites get more ad revenue from other peoples work. Without other people/sites making the data the ai will have nothing to scrape.

[mr.WHO]

Now that's a Cyberpunk dystopia.

Albeit, 50% of faul is on customer site - who the heck need a smart fridge?

I have strict policy of "no smart furnitures/appliance that I don't need" - so far I have 100% success rate (don't need that crap at all).


However I do afraid one day I gonna be conned into one.
I saw one case over internet, where someone bought a dishwasher that suppose to be "dumb", yet it still had some (basic) features locked behind internet connection and produced account.

The true dystopia will come when, ther will be only "smart" equipment avaliable at the store

I hope this day never come, we still have niche for dumb phone, so I guess niche for dumb dishwasher or dumb fridge will remain as well.

[clakclak]

I assume fridges will soon also start locking features behind a monthly paywall. In the car industry it is normal by now, VW for example sells cars where the horsepower is limited and to unlock the full power of the engine you bave to pay a monthly subscription. I assume with fridges you could, for example, make the freezer compartment a monthly payable subscription, or install some shelves that are locked unless you pay. Everything will be a subscription eventuelly.

[alt3rn1ty]

However I do afraid one day I gonna be conned into one.

No need to be, just dont allow them access to your internet.
Also for anything you do want online, only let them connect through a Guest network in your router, then when your light bulb is running malware it cant leap onto other machines in the house.

[burger1]

Nepal's government was overthrown recently and violently. The new leader, Sushila Karki, was elected through a discord poll and she rules via discord chats, etc....

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/rea ... 00559.html

[clakclak]

Germany sinks more than a billion € into new military radios, that don't work properly.

The radios are undergoing testing since 2022, here are the known issues:

- The connection is not stable enough to reliably communicate

- The radios are to complicated for the average soldier to use (especially in combat situations) (by that I mean that the operation system is anything but intuitive and apparently requires a degree of training not practical for soldiers that are not meant to be dedicated radio operators)

- One of the earlier issues was that the radios did not fit into existing vehicles used by the German army. They still don't.

This part of the article sums it up nicely:

[...]Although the systems failed the test, they are currently being installed in vehicles such as those belonging to NATO's rapid reaction force, Panzerbrigade 37. However, without functional digital radio, these weapon systems are no longer operational, which reduces the availability of this flagship unit.

The multi-year initiative has been struggling for some time with massive problems in physically integrating the components into the various 350 vehicle types: So far, the new radio systems have only been successfully installed in about 30 of the 200 different vehicle classes initially selected. For many others, the necessary adaptation work has yet to begin or has not yet been completed. According to the report, the alternators in some vehicles do not provide the stable voltage required for the new devices.[...]

https://www.heise.de/news/Neue-Ruestung ... 73110.html

[Chips]

Samsung confirmed today that it is showing advertisements on some US customers’ smart fridges. Samsung said the ads showing on some Family Hub-series fridges are part of a pilot program, but we suspect that they may become more permanent additions to Samsung fridges and/or other types of screen-equipped smart home appliances.

More "added value" to products. I bought a cheap set of Salter kitchen scales (electronic) last year, for obvious reasons. To weigh things.
Some bright idiot decided "what else could your scales do you for to add value, that doesn't exist in a kitchen already?"

So they added a clock. And a thermometer. This means it's *constantly* power on, which means batteries last about a month. So since I missed the returns window and there's technically nothing wrong with it, I take the batteries out every time and put them back in.

A clock?! Like... the typical oven/microwaves don't already do this? Or a wall clock. Or these days probably your toaster, your fridge and your kettle. So you put it on scales? The thing people usually put away in a cupboard?

At least it's not yet a "pay-to-weigh" system; it's only £10 for the scales, but you need to sign up for their service which charges £0.10 per weighing action.

Was it BMW who also did subscription to be able to use the heated seats option of the car? https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/bmw-re ... ption.html They ditched it after significant pushback.

Who the heck needs a TV in the fridge door - to do what? Other than make something much more expensive to buy Let alone in the "lets not waste electricity because power generation global warming!" constant power drain. Just like the "voice activated lights".

[felter]

This one sneaked up on me as I hadn't heard anything about it, but it turns out EA has just been bought. I remember hearing that they were looking for a buyer, but I hadn't heard that they had found one, so who is it the Saudis, and they are paying a massive $55 Billion the actual people behind the buyout is:

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners.

But they don't have enough money, they only have $36 Billion to spare so they are having to borrow $19 Billion, which as the BBC article linked above states, could cause some serious issues, and hinder game development in the future, only time will tell.

[chew-ie]

May this sellout be the last nail to EAs coffin. It's about time ...

[mr.WHO]

But they don't have enough money, they only have $36 Billion to spare so they are having to borrow $19 Billion, which as the BBC article linked above states, could cause some serious issues, and hinder game development in the future, only time will tell.

My only expectation/hope is that in order to recoup those 19b$ fast, they will get rid of EA trash launcher/client and dump all EA games on Steam and Epic.

[chew-ie]

But they don't have enough money, they only have $36 Billion to spare so they are having to borrow $19 Billion, which as the BBC article linked above states, could cause some serious issues, and hinder game development in the future, only time will tell.

My only expectation/hope is that in order to recoup those 19b$ fast, they will get rid of EA trash launcher/client and dump all EA games on Steam and Epic.

Nah, it's more likely going to be the holy grail 2.0 AI... https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/eas-ne ... ims-report

[fiksal]

as much as I dislike EA's business practices, one should recall EA employs a lot of game developers who may not have many companies to go to if EA lays them off

More ads. Now through your fridge. Samsung adds ads to fridges.

configuring ad preferences on a fridge is not how I want to spend my time

[Alan Phipps]

Funnily enough I can see the attraction for the advertisers to place 'relevant' ads on fridges and freezers. I mean ones that might increase consumption of things commonly found in there - eg 'Fancy a cold beer?' or 'Try our delicious new ice-cream' or 'Our scrumptious chilled meals microwave straight from the fridge in just 4 minutes', etc, etc.

I can see how unrelated adverts would be thoroughly out of place and annoying though.

[CBJ]

The attraction for advertisers is rarely in question. If they think they are going to be doing it in my kitchen then they can... think again.

[chew-ie]

New business model: add blockers for kitchenware

[Alan Phipps]

That could be advertised there too - eg on a freezer interface: "Give unwanted adverts the cold shoulder ..."

[Chips]

The attraction for advertisers is rarely in question. If they think they are going to be doing it in my kitchen then they can... think again.

You won't see ads... as long as you pay our £12 per month subscription!