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sebastian_z

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Computer Science Professor at Wesleyan University

Posts75
Comments35
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www.soofi.info 5d ago

Soofi – Sovereign Open Source Foundation Models

sebastian_z
3pts0
www.heise.de 11d ago

40 Years of AVM/Fritz: From BTX Hobby Project to Router Icon

sebastian_z
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www.federalregister.gov 14d ago

Policy Statement Concerning the Suppression of Accuracy in AI Systems

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www.nytimes.com 1mo ago

I Was a V.C. Partner. We Can't Let Silicon Valley Buy Democracy

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www.wsj.com 1mo ago

Meta Launches 'Workforce Academy' to Train Workers to Build Data Centers

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www.regulations.gov 1mo ago

Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance

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www.ft.com 3mo ago

SpaceX obtains right to buy AI startup Cursor for $60B

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arstechnica.com 3mo ago

DOJ confirms FBI Director Kash Patel's personal email was hacked

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gizmodo.com 4mo ago

Kash Patel Admits the FBI Is Buying Private Data on Americans

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www.spiegel.de 4mo ago

Philosoph Jürgen Habermas Gestorben

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153pts50
www.ft.com 5mo ago

Trump administration recruits tech bosses to train 'elite' government coders

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3pts1
oag.ca.gov 5mo ago

Attorney General Bonta Announces $2.75M Settlement with Disney

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www.cnn.com 5mo ago

Musk clips his Mars settlement ambition, aims for the moon instead

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www.ft.com 5mo ago

Artificial intelligence researchers hit by flood of 'slop'

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3pts0
news.ycombinator.com 5mo ago

Ask HN: Is there a good open-source alternative to Adobe Acrobat?

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www.ft.com 6mo ago

Google introduces personalised shopping ads to AI tools

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www.heise.de 6mo ago

EliteBoard G1a: HP hides mini-PC in the keyboard

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www.wsj.com 6mo ago

Legendary French Actress, Sex Symbol Brigitte Bardot Dies at 91

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www.theregister.com 7mo ago

Workday project at Washington University hits $266M

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www.wsj.com 7mo ago

Trump Says U.S. Will Allow Nvidia H200 Chip Sales to China, Get 25% Cut

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www.wsj.com 7mo ago

Four Top Contenders at Apple to Succeed Tim Cook

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www.theatlantic.com 8mo ago

Why Students Are Obsessed with 'Points Taken Off'

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jacobin.com 9mo ago

How Elon Musk Ruined Twitter

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privacysandbox.com 9mo ago

Update on Plans for Privacy Sandbox Technologies

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news.itsfoss.com 9mo ago

Schleswig-Holstein completes migration to open source email

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384pts144
www.wsj.com 10mo ago

A Troubled Man, His Chatbot and a Murder-Suicide in Old Greenwich

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store.google.com 11mo ago

Pixel 10 Pro

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www.stackit.de 11mo ago

Stackit – The German Business Cloud

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www.wsj.com 1y ago

Google to Pay $2.4B in Deal to License Tech of Coding Startup, Hire CEO

sebastian_z
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www.bbc.com 1y ago

Ancient Egyptian history may be rewritten by DNA bone test

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A genuine question, what are the use cases for Tesla's Optimus robots? Are they consumer products that help with household chores, industrial robots for warehouses or manufacturing, a play toy, something else?

California now has a law that requires browsers to have an opt-out setting (effective in 2027) [1]. So far, websites are required to respect opt outs via browser settings or extensions in California, Connecticut, and Colorado [2]. That is also the case for New Jersey [3].

[1] https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB566/2025.

[2] https://portal.ct.gov/ag/press-releases/2025-press-releases/....

[3] https://www.njconsumeraffairs.gov/ocp/Pages/NJ-Data-Privacy-....

Since I do not need it and kept accidentally enabling tab groups I looked for a way to turn it off. You can do so by setting browser.tabs.groups.enabled and browser.tabs.groups.smart.enabled to false in about:config.

It is an interesting thought. What could be new business models for sites that currently rely on third party advertising? It seems big publishers are increasingly moving to first party advertising. But that seems difficult for small publishers.

While advertising messages may not be themselves particularly important for free speech and can be even detrimental to it, e.g., propaganda, sites themselves disseminate speech and are often third-party ad-financed. What could be a good business model for them (other than direct payments)?

This bill was about Global Privacy Control (GPC) [1], which sites and mobile apps are required to respect under the California Consumer Privacy Act. The law is enforced by the Office of the California Attorney General [2]. There is a draft specification at the W3C [3].

Disclosure: I am one of the co-founders of GPC and a spec editor.

[1] https://globalprivacycontrol.org/.

[2] https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bont....

[3] https://privacycg.github.io/gpc-spec/.

Wesleyan University | Connecticut, United States | ONSITE | VISA | Full-time | Postdoc

The Department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Wesleyan University invites applications for two postdoctoral positions in Computer Science beginning in Academic Year 2024-2025. Each position will have an initial appointment of one year, which is renewable for two additional years, subject to satisfactory performance. A Ph.D. in computer science or related field in hand at the time of appointment is required to be hired as a postdoc; appointment as an instructor is possible for a successful A.B.D. candidate. Candidates must also have strong research and teaching records. While the successful applicant will be able to pursue their own research agenda, any overlap with current faculty research is a plus. Areas currently represented include algorithms and complexity, information security and privacy, logic, programming languages, networking, and robotics. The teaching load is three courses per year, likely consisting of an introductory-level course and more advanced courses in the applicant's specialty.

We will review applications until the position is filled, but to ensure full consideration, applications should be submitted by 29 February, 2024. Applications must include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, teaching statement, research statement, and three or four letters of recommendation, with at least one addressing teaching. Applications should be submitted at https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/27075 Please submit PDF files only (not URLs). Other correspondence regarding this position may be sent by e-mail to cssearch@wesleyan.edu or to Computer Science Search Committee, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT 06459. For more information about the department please visit http://www.wesleyan.edu/mathcs.

Wesleyan University, located in Middletown, Connecticut, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religious practice or creed, age, gender, gender identity or expression, national origin, marital status, ancestry, present or past history of mental disorder, learning disability or physical disability, political belief, veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information or non-position-related criminal record. We welcome applications from women and members of historically underrepresented minority groups. Inquiries regarding Title IX, Section 504, or any other non-discrimination policies should be directed to: Vice President for Equity & Inclusion / Title IX Officer, 318 North College, 860.685.4771.

As a successor of Do Not Track, there is Global Privacy Control (GPC) [1]. Sites must respect it by law in California. An increasing number of other states ---Colorado, Connecticut, Montana, and hopefully more soon --- also have provisions in their new privacy laws for privacy preference signals like GPC. You can check if a site respects GPC [2]. For example, lego.com and nfl.com are two bigger ones I recently came across.

Disclosure: I am a privacy researcher and co-founder of GPC.

[1] https://globalprivacycontrol.org/ [2] https://gpcsup.com/

NYC Slice 4 years ago

I have nice memories of Koronet. When studying late at night you could get a jumbo slice that substituted for a whole meal.

I was a BlockFi customer. I always had the sense that they wanted to do the right thing. They hired people with risk experience in traditional banking, had real customer support, engaged with regulators to get their interest rate product certified, etc. It is really a bit sad that they got entangled into the FTX situation. (I should also say that I withdrew my funds earlier. Otherwise, I may feel differently.)

I am an academic researcher, and we used BuiltWith.com for a project. Gary and Andrew added various technologies that I suggested to them (for a non-paying customer no less). So, great experience!

You could look for academic conferences in your area of interest and see what people are working on [1]. It is not necessary to have particular degree for submitting your work to a conference. Since most review processes are double-blind no one would know at submission time anyways. Though, knowing the process and how a "typical" paper looks like, on which people in academia have an advantage, certainly helps a lot.

[1] E.g., https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/events/2022-....

Wesleyan University | Assistant Professor of CS (tenure track) | Middletown, CT, ONSITE | VISA | Full-time

https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo?joblist---740-19001

Wesleyan University is growing its Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

All research areas are considered.

Duties include conducting an independent program of research, teaching, advising and mentoring students, and participating in faculty governance at the departmental and university level.