Author: Vidya Saras

Ask a large language model (LLM) like GPT-4 to smell a rain-soaked campsite, and it’ll politely decline. Ask the same system to describe that scent to you, and it’ll wax poetic about “an air thick with anticipation” and “a scent that is both fresh and earthy,” despite having neither prior experience with rain nor a nose to help it make such observations. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that the LLM is simply mimicking the text present in its vast training data, rather than working with any real understanding of rain or smell.But does the lack of eyes mean…

The parents of a 19-year-old Connecticut honors student accused of taking part in a $243 million cryptocurrency heist in August were carjacked a week later — while out house-hunting in a brand new Lamborghini. Prosecutors say the couple was beaten and briefly kidnapped by six young men who traveled from Florida as part of a botched plan to hold the parents for ransom. Image: ABC7NY.  youtube.com/watch?v=xoiaGzwrunY Late in the afternoon of Aug. 25, 2024 in Danbury, Ct., a married couple in their 50s pulled up to a gated community in a new Lamborghini Urus (investigators say the sports car still…

Some context for “Absolute DC” is necessary. Snyder isn’t just writing “Absolute Batman,” he’s one of this initiative’s architects. The big idea behind the project is flipping the familiar superheroes of DC on their head. “DC All-In Special” #1 (by Snyder and Joshua Williamson), which depicts how the “Absolute” universe came to be, literally has its back half pages printed upside down. So in this “Absolute” world created by the God of Evil, Darkseid, Superman is an orphan on both Earth and Krypton, Wonder Woman was raised in Hell instead of Paradise, and Batman belongs to the working class; he…

China has hit back at the European Union with new taxes on European brandy imports, a move seen as retaliation for the EU’s recent imposition of steep tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles. The Chinese commerce ministry has described the tax as an “anti-dumping” measure designed to protect domestic producers from significant harm caused by European imports. The European Commission has vowed to challenge the new taxes at the World Trade Organization (WTO), calling the move an “abuse” of trade defence measures. French Trade Minister Sophie Primas characterised the brandy tax as retaliatory, calling it “unacceptable” and a breach of international…

Naloxone, often sold under the brand name Narcan, is seen as a major factor in declining drug overdose deaths. The White House says more companies are agreeing to make the medication available at work sites, in classrooms and at other locations where drug fatalities occur. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America hide caption toggle caption Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America White House officials say more than 250 companies, universities, labor groups and other organizations have joined a national effort to reduce drug overdose deaths. They’ve agreed to stock free doses of the medication naloxone, also known as Narcan, that quickly reverses…

Get ready, aurora chasers: There’s a good chance you’ll be able to catch a nice light show by the end of the week!Forecasters with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) are highlighting the potential for a severe geomagnetic storm on Thursday (Oct. 10) and Friday (Oct. 11). That storm is likely to be in the G4 class — the second-highest level on the SWPC’s geomagnetic storm scale, which takes into account both severity and potential impacts.  Indeed, the SWPC has issued a G4 geomagnetic storm warning — the second one they’ve released since 2005. The…

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President William Lai has pledged to uphold Taiwan’s self-governing status in his most high-profile public address since taking office earlier this year.In a thinly-veiled reference to China’s claim over the island, Lai said he would “uphold the commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty.”Lai was speaking to a crowd in Taipei to commemorate Taiwan’s National Day, only nine days after Communist China celebrated its 75th anniversary.At the same time, Lai promised to maintain “the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and pledged to cooperate with Beijing on issues such as climate change, combating infectious…

By Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard TAIPEI (Reuters) -China has no right to represent Taiwan, but the island is willing to work with Beijing to combat global challenges such as climate change, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Thursday, striking both a firm and a conciliatory tone. Lai, who took office in May after being elected in January, is detested by China, which calls him a “separatist”. Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a view Lai and his government reject. Giving a keynote national address outside the presidential office in Taipei, Lai reiterated that the Republic of…

An illicit JavaScript pop-up on the Internet Archive proclaimed on Wednesday afternoon that the site had suffered a major data breach. Hours later, the organization confirmed the incident.Longtime security researcher Troy Hunt, who runs the data-breach-notification website Have I Been Pwned (HIBP) also confirmed that the breach is legitimate. He said it occurred in September and that the stolen trove contains 31 million unique email addresses along with usernames, bcrypt password hashes, and other system data. Bleeping Computer, which first reported the breach, also confirmed the validity of the data.The Internet Archive did not return multiple requests for comment from…