Don't use Google Ads to download software unless you're wanting to infect your machine

There's been a big rise in bogus ads being put into Google searches that result in malware being downloaded.

If you need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader or other software, go directly to the vendor's site. If you're not sure, you can search for the proper maker easily enough.

Hopefully Google will soon tighten up their ad inspection and this problem will subside.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/until-further-notice-think-twice-before-using-google-to-download-software/

U.S. Marines outsmart AI-trained security system by hiding in box, somersaulting

The Army was testing a DARPA AI security system and trained it with a bunch of Marines. Why they didn't use Army soldiers, don't know. When they were done, they told the Marines to try to sneak past the system.

Every Marine succeeded.

One somersaulted for 300 meters, a pair hid in a cardboard box.

AIs are only as good as you train them, and in this case, the AI was trained to look for something like a person making people movements. Creativity and silliness overcame modern tech.

https://petapixel.com/2023/01/30/u-s-marines-outsmart-ai-security-cameras-by-hiding-in-a-cardboard-box/

Apple declared to have stolen SpO2 sensor tech and patents for Watch

There's a company out there, Masimo, VERY well known in the medical field as it's the leading maker of pulse oximetry sensors for hospitals and professionals.

A decade ago, Apple had a big meeting with Masimo over their SpO2 tech. And later hired ten Masimo engineers, including their Chief Medical Officer. Masimo has had a long-standing battle against Apple for infringing their patents in the Apple Watch Series 6 and later.

And Apple just lost.

Masimo is seeking an import ban, which would utterly gut Apple's Watch sales until they either license Masimo's patents or invent their own tech from scratch. I think a cross-licensing deal is the most likely outcome.

There's one very significant difference between the two company's engineering. The Masimo line uses an LED and receptor to send light through your finger or earlobe to measure your blood oxygen, apparently based on blood color. Apple's is able to read it from a single point of contact, but apparently stole Masimo's intellectual property to develop that.

https://9to5mac.com/2023/01/11/apple-watch-patent-infringement/

https://yro.slashdot.org/story/23/01/12/225234/apple-watch-patent-infringement-confirmed-as-masimo-seeks-import-ban

Moderna's bivalent Covid vaccine? Less protection than their previous vaccine.

FDA regulators are mad because Moderna did not release all of their study information to the vaccine advisory board, which, upon closer study, shows that 1.9% of people who received Moderna's original vaccination subsequently caught Covid, while the bivalent vaccine - which should have offered increased protection against the Omicron variants - had an infection of 3.2%!

Moderna received $5 billion from the US government to develop this vaccine and then didn't disclose all of the study information, apparently in an effort to get it approved and make more profits.

From the CNN article: "The six FDA and CDC advisers interviewed by CNN said that this infection data wouldn’t have changed how they voted, because the data had such limitations, but it still should have been presented to them."

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/11/health/moderna-bivalent-transparency/index.html

New England Journal of Medicine summary of the studies:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2213907

The NEJM article at least has a disclaimer: "Limitations of our study include the small sample size and follow-up period of our groups. We also note that the between-group comparisons were not controlled for factors such as age, vaccine type, and health status, which may have had an effect on antibody responses. These findings may be indicative of immunologic imprinting, although follow-up studies are needed to determine whether antibody responses will deviate over time, including after the administration of a second bivalent booster."

https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/01/16/1612250/fda-vaccine-advisers-disappointed-and-angry-that-early-data-about-new-covid-19-booster-shot-wasnt-presented-for-review-last-year

Astronauts on the ISS are fabricating objects that can't be made on Earth

This is different from 3D printing. They're taking a a silicone skin - akin to a balloon - in the shape of the object to be fabricated. It's filled with resin, then exposed to UV light to make it harden. Remove the silicone skin, and you have your part.

The issue is that there are things that cannot be made on Earth because of gravity. An example given is a long steel beam because it will sag under gravity due to its weight. Build it in space and no sag, not that we have that technology now. The astronauts are building several objects in a device described as the size of a PC tower. The test objects will be returned to Earth and studied to see how well the process worked. Later experiments will probably include testing different types of resins, and even fabricating in the vacuum of space.

Interesting stuff!

https://www.popsci.com/science/iss-resin-manufacture-new-shapes/

Even though it's not 3D printing, I'm using that tag for this post as it is 3D fabricating, just not printing.

Apple iPhone 14 has an SOS system that connects to satellites - and saved a man in Alaska!

This capability is new to the 14 and will presumably be continued and improved upon in future generations. In an emergency, with some restrictions, the phone will connect to emergency services via satellite. In this case, the dude was driving across Alaska wilderness in a Snow Machine was stranded when the machine broke down. His iPhone 14 was able to make a connection, transmitting precise GPS coordinates to emergency services and he was rescued!

The satellite SOS becomes a subscription feature after an initial trial period.

I understand a future Google phone will have similar satellite SOS functionality.

I don't have a link to it, but another person was saved with an iPhone. She was at a family gathering, went home, and no one heard from her. The iPhone has a feature called Find My Friend that lets you see the general location of where other people are - they have to send you an invitation and can cancel it.

Family used Find My Friend and got a consistent, non-moving signal off the highway. Turned out she'd rolled her car off an embankment that was not visible from the road. Family were able to find her and call emergency services, though it took some work as the car was inverted in a culvert and she was rescued.

And before people start replying with "I don't want to be tracked!", regardless of whether you use a smart phone or not, your cell company has precise location data on you - it's the only way cell towers can work. If you choose not to further share your location info, that's fine. Me, I'm seriously thinking about upgrading my wife's phone when the contract is up in December to get this satellite SOS feature - a lot of the drive to the observatory has no coverage, and when she hit an elk and totaled her car a few years ago she was was in such a dead zone. Fortunately someone came upon the accident shortly after it happened and took her to a place with signal.

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/12/01/iphone-14-satellite-sos-in-action/

https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/22/12/02/2143226/iphone-14-satellite-feature-saves-stranded-man-in-alaska

70% of drugs advertised on TV are less effective than others on the market

They are described as being of "low therapeutic value", i.e., less effective. So basically the drug companies are trying to sucker you into brow-beating your doctor into prescribing stuff that you saw on TV - which is going to be non-generic and much more expensive - and it is likely to be less effective than other drugs on the market.

Yeah.

So what we've got here is the pharma industry KNOWING that the drug isn't very effective, but they figure that if they put a lot of money into advertising on TV and in magazines that they can shift enough units to work towards recovering costs before the doctors find out it's less effective and start saying "No, I will not prescribe that. Here are more effective alternatives for that condition."

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01/most-prescription-drugs-advertised-on-tv-are-of-low-benefit-study-finds/

https://science.slashdot.org/story/23/01/18/2122237/70-of-drugs-advertised-on-tv-are-of-low-therapeutic-value-study-finds

EDIT: I forgot to mention that there are only two countries IN THE WORLD that allow such advertising of drugs: the USA and New Zealand! How the Kiwis were suckered into doing this, I do not know. But as chained to corporate profits as we are, I don't think this will ever change. For me, this is one of the reasons why the mute button on the remote was invented: if I can't skip the commercial, at least I can silence it.