Encyclopedia Britannica Is Now an AI Company
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Once an icon of the 20th century seen as obsolete in the 21st, Encyclopedia Britannica -- now known as just Britannica -- is all in on artificial intelligence, and may soon go public at a valuation of nearly $1 billion, according to the New York Times.
Until 2012 when printing ended, the company's books served as the oldest continuously published, English-language encyclopedias in the world, essentially collecting all the world's knowledge in one place before Google or Wikipedia were a thing. That has helped Britannica pivot into the AI age, where models benefit from access to high-quality, vetted information. More general-purpose models like ChatGPT suffer from hallucinations because they have hoovered up the entire internet, including all the junk and misinformation.
While it still offers an online edition of its encyclopedia, as well as the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Britannica's biggest business today is selling online education software to schools and libraries, the software it hopes to supercharge with AI. That could mean using AI to customize learning plans for individual students. The idea is that students will enjoy learning more when software can help them understand the gaps in their understanding of a topic and stay on it longer. Another education tech company, Brainly, recently announced that answers from its chatbot will link to the exact learning materials (i.e. textbooks) they reference.
Britannica's CEO Jorge Cauz also told the Times about the company's Britannica AI chatbot, which allows users to ask questions about its vast database of encyclopedic knowledge that it collected over two centuries from vetted academics and editors. The company similarly offers chatbot software for customer service use cases. Britannica told the Times it is expecting revenue to double from two years ago, to $100 million.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Sweden Says China Denied Request For Prosecutors To Board Ship Linked To Severed Cables
Sweden has accused China of denying a request for Swedish prosecutors to board a Chinese ship that has been linked to the cutting of two undersea cables in the Baltic despite Beijing pledging "cooperation" with regional authorities. From a report: The Yi Peng 3 left the waters it had been anchored in since last month on Saturday -- despite an ongoing investigation. The ship was tracked sailing over the two fibre-optic cables, one between Sweden and Lithuania, and the other linking Helsinki and Germany, at around the time that they were cut on 17 and 18 November in Swedish territorial waters close to the Swedish islands of Gotland and Oland.
For more than a month afterwards it was anchored in the Kattegat strait between Sweden and Denmark where it was being observed by multiple countries and was boarded by Swedish police and other authorities last week. The ship tracking site VesselFinder showed the Yi Peng 3 heading north out of the strait on Saturday and on Monday China confirmed the ship had left in order to "ensure the physical and mental wellbeing of the crew." The Swedish foreign minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said on Monday that China had not cooperated with Sweden's request to allow Swedish prosecutors onboard.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The Quest To Save the World's Largest CRT TV From Destruction
A rare Sony KX-45ED1 television, considered the world's largest CRT TV, has been preserved from destruction in Japan, marking a significant moment for gaming history preservation. The 440-pound display was salvaged from an Osaka restaurant days before its scheduled demolition, following a two-week international rescue operation.
Gaming enthusiast Shank Mods, aided by local contacts and industrial shipping experts, secured the functioning 45-inch unit, which originally sold for $40,000 in the late 1980s. The TV, valued by retro gaming enthusiasts for its authentic, lag-free display capabilities, could potentially become a public exhibit pending future funding.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Google's Counteroffer To the Government Trying To Break It Up is Unbundling Android Apps
An anonymous reader shares a report: The Department of Justice's list of solutions for fixing Google's illegal antitrust behavior and restoring competition in the search engine market started with forcing the company to sell Chrome, and late Friday night, Google responded with a list of its own.
Instead of breaking off Chrome, Android, or Google Play as the DOJ's filing considers, Google's proposed fixes aim at the payments it makes to companies like Apple and Mozilla for exclusive, prioritized placement of its services, its licensing deals with companies that make Android phones, and contracts with wireless carriers. They don't address a DOJ suggestion about possibly forcing Google to share its valuable search data with other companies to help their products catch up.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Electric Aircraft Startup Lilium Ceases Operations, 1,000 Workers Laid Off
Lilium, once a darling in the nascent industry of electric aircraft that raised more than $1 billion before going public, has ceased operations and laid off about 1,000 workers after efforts to gain financing and exit insolvency failed. From a report: Lilium co-founder and CEO Patrick Nathen confirmed on LinkedIn that the 10-year-old company had stopped operating. "After 10 years and 10 months, it is a sad fact that Lilium has ceased operations. The company that Daniel, Sebastian, Matthias and I founded can no longer pursue our shared belief in more environmentally friendly aviation. This is heartbreaking and the timing feels painfully ironic," wrote Nathen. The layoffs cover the bulk of the company's workforce and come a few days after about 200 workers were let go, according to a regulatory filing on December 16.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Government To Name 'Key Witness' Who Provided FBI With Backdoored Encrypted Chat App Anom
An anonymous reader shares a report: A lawyer defending an alleged distributor of Anom, the encrypted phone company for criminals that the FBI secretly ran and backdoored to intercept tens of millions of messages, is pushing to learn the identity of the confidential human source (CHS) who first created Anom and provided it to the FBI starting the largest sting operation in history, according to recently filed court records. The government says it will provide that identity under discovery, but the CHS may also be revealed in open court if they testify.
The move is significant in that the CHS, who used the pseudonym Afgoo while running Anom, is a likely target for retaliation from violent criminals caught in Anom's net. The Anom case, called Operation Trojan Shield, implicated hundreds of criminal syndicates in more than 100 countries. That includes South American cocaine traffickers, Australian biker gangs, and kingpins hiding in Dubai. Anom also snagged specific significant drug traffickers like Hakan Ayik, who authorities say heads the Aussie Cartel which brought in more than a billion Australian dollars in profit annually. Court records say, however, that if this defendant's case goes to trial, the lawyer believes Afgoo will be the "government's key witness."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Meta To Add Display To Ray-Bans as Zuckerberg Bets Computing Shift
Meta plans to add displays to its Ray-Ban smart glasses as soon as next year, Financial Times reports, as the US tech giant accelerates its plans to build lightweight headsets that can usurp the smartphone as consumers' main computing device. Financial Times: The $1.5tn social media group is planning to add a screen inside the $300 sunglasses it makes and sells in partnership with eyewear group EssilorLuxottica, according to people familiar with the plans. The updated Ray-Bans could be released as early as the second half of 2025, the people said. The small display would be likely to be used to show notifications or responses from Meta's virtual assistant.
The move comes as Meta pushes further into wearable devices and what chief executive Mark Zuckerberg hopes will be the next computing platform, as rivals such as Apple, Google and Snap also race to develop their own similar products.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
How to run Docker inside Incus containers
Incus and Docker both use Linux kernel features to containerize your applications. Incus is best suited when you need system-level containers that act like traditional VMs and provide a persistent developer experience. On the other hand, Docker containers are ephemeral, i.e., temporary in nature. All files created inside Docker containers are lost when your Docker container is stopped or removed unless you stored them using volumes in different directories outside Docker. Docker is created as a disposable app deployment system. Incus containers are not typically created as disposables, and data is kept inside when they are stopped. Because of the Linux kernel support nesting feature, you can run Docker inside Incus. This page explains how to run Docker inside Incus containers.
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post How to run Docker inside Incus containers appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-12-18T05:44:26Z
2024-12-18T05:44:26Z
Vivek Gite
MySQL Change root Password Command
How do I change MySQL root password under Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD and UNIX-like like operating system over the ssh session?
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post MySQL Change root Password Command appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-12-09T16:19:00Z
2024-12-09T16:19:00Z
Vivek Gite
How to enable mouse to copy & paste in vim
Some Linux distro like Debian or specific BSD variants provide very little configuration support for mouse out of the box for Vim. Let us see how to paste in Vim using a mouse by enabling support, which is useful for new developers and sysadmin coming from Windows background.
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post How to enable mouse to copy & paste in vim appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-11-28T13:44:35Z
2024-11-28T13:44:35Z
Vivek Gite
How to install vnstat on Debian 12/11 to monitor network interface bandwidth usage
Do you need to keep track of the network traffic (bandwidth) usage for the Network interface controller (NIC) of your Debian Linux-based cloud or bare metal server? Look no forward. Try the vnStat, a free and open-source console-based network traffic monitor that keeps a log of 5-minute intervals, hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly network traffic for the selected interface. Once installed, vnStat can be used even without root permissions on most systems.
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post How to install vnstat on Debian 12/11 to monitor network interface bandwidth usage appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-11-27T19:07:02Z
2024-11-27T19:07:02Z
Vivek Gite
How to find hard disk (SSD) serial numbers in Linux
You need to use the smartctl command to display the hard disk (SSD) serial numbers in Linux. This is useful when changing your hard disk if it goes bad.
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post How to find hard disk (SSD) serial numbers in Linux appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-11-16T21:38:35Z
2024-11-16T21:38:35Z
Vivek Gite
How to install kvm-ok on Debian or Ubuntu Linux
The KVM-ok command command will tell you if your Debian or Ubuntu Linux-powered server can host hardware-accelerated KVM virtual machines. KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a free and open-source virtualization technology that is used with every Linux kernel. In other words, KVM will make your Linux computer into a hypervisor, allowing you to run multiple isolated virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical machine. However, KVM depends upon CPU hardware virtualization extensions like Intel VT-x or AMD-V to provide high-performance virtual machines. This support must be enabled in the BIOS. Apart from that, some cloud service providers also allow nested virtualization that will help you to run VMs inside your instances. However, this may not be enabled in BIOS or instance configuration. Thus, you need to install the kvm-ok command to determine whether such support exists.
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post How to install kvm-ok on Debian or Ubuntu Linux appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-11-16T06:54:11Z
2024-11-16T06:54:11Z
Vivek Gite
zcommands: Read gzip Compressed Text Files On a Fly on Linux and Unix
Linux and Unix like operating systems comes with z* commands. These commands allow you to read gzip compressed text files using zless, zcat, zmore, and friends commands. The gzip command reduces the size of the files using Lempel-Ziv coding (LZ77). Whenever possible, each file is replaced by one with the extension .gz while keeping the same ownership modes, access, and modification times. z* commands have some cool usage too, such as display the current time in different zonename.
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post zcommands: Read gzip Compressed Text Files On a Fly on Linux and Unix appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-11-01T20:34:07Z
2024-11-01T20:34:07Z
Vivek Gite
How do I unzip multiple / many files under Linux?
I have lots of files in a directory called /disk2/images/. All files are in zip file format, so I am using the following command to extract zip files:
unzip *.zip
The command result into an error which read as follows:
caution: filename not matched
How do I unzip multiple or many zip files under a Linux/Unix-like system?
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post How do I unzip multiple / many files under Linux? appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-09-27T19:56:29Z
2024-09-27T19:56:29Z
Vivek Gite
Linux / UNIX View Only Configuration File Directives ( Uncommented Lines of a Config File )
Most Linux and UNIX-like system configuration files are documented using comments, but sometimes I just need to see a line of configuration text in a config file. How can I view just the uncommented configuration file directives from squid.conf or httpd.conf file? How can I strip out comments and blank lines on a Linux or Unix-like system?
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post Linux / UNIX View Only Configuration File Directives ( Uncommented Lines of a Config File ) appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-09-21T12:33:38Z
2024-09-21T12:33:38Z
Vivek Gite
Linux turn OFF password expiration / aging
The /etc/shadow file stores the actual password in encrypted format using a hash (salted) function for the user's account with additional properties related to the user passwords, such as password expiration date or password aging. The /etc/passwd stores usernames and their properties, such as home directory, login shell, and more. The password expiration information for a user is contained in the last six fields. The Linux password expiration for a select user can be disabled by editing the /etc/shadow file. However, I recommend using the chage command for safety reasons. The chage command changes the number of days between password changes and the last password change date. The Linux system uses this information to determine when users must change their passwords.
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post Linux turn OFF password expiration / aging appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-09-20T11:46:01Z
2024-09-20T11:46:01Z
Vivek Gite
Linux / UNIX: DNS Lookup Command
How do I perform DNS lookup under Linux, UNIX, or Apple macOS (OS X) operating systems without using 3rd party websites for troubleshooting DNS usage?
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post Linux / UNIX: DNS Lookup Command appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-09-13T11:37:45Z
2024-09-13T11:37:45Z
Vivek Gite
Linux Copy One Hard Disk to Another Using dd Command
How can I copy one hard disk to another using the dd, ddrescue, or dcfldd commands?
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post Linux Copy One Hard Disk to Another Using dd Command appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-09-09T20:04:33Z
2024-09-09T20:04:33Z
Vivek Gite
Shell script to set up an LXD / Incus (Linux Containers) lab for testing purpose
LXD or Incus is a Linux operating system-level container system. You can build over 25+ Linux distros for testing, fun, and profit. You can even run GUI apps inside those containers and get output displayed back to your X display easily. For example, you can run Firefox in one Linux container for banking needs with custom add-ons, including specific firewall rules just for allowing outgoing banking and nothing else. You can have another container to run Chromium/Edge/FF for social media. Of course, it is not a replacement for something like Qubes OS, but you can do many things in an isolated environment. You can try a new Linux distro without the VM's overheads and test new features offered by that distro. All Linux containers will share the same Linux kernel and hardware devices as your GPU. Here is a quick shell script to build a quick lab to test various Linux distros.
Love this? sudo share_on: Twitter - Facebook - LinkedIn - Whatsapp - Reddit
The post Shell script to set up an LXD / Incus (Linux Containers) lab for testing purpose appeared first on nixCraft.
2024-08-16T12:06:18Z
2024-08-16T12:06:18Z
Vivek Gite