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PLANS for a two-bedroom bungalow in Braintree have been refused by the council.

Essex is home to a number of quaint venues with open fires, wooden beams and historic sites

THIRTEEN individuals have been jailed in Essex this month.

Braintree Council has launched a series of business briefings in partnership with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

Are we in fact at war with Russia? Has our ambassador to Moscow, Nigel Casey MVO CMG, been quietly warned to have his bags packed and his passport ready for a rapid departure?

If negotiations set to take place in Egypt on Sunday or Monday go as planned, the remaining 48 hostages could be freed 'within a few days,' a senior Israeli official told Channel 12 News.

The Black Sabbath frontman, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2019, passed away at the age of 76 on July 22 surrounded by his family.

Designed by world-renowned sculptor Anish Kapoor, who is also behind London 's Olympic Park tower, The Monte Sant'Angelo Station has opened just outside Naples in Italy .

Johnson, 38, once the proud owner of a £1.7m mansion he sold to England cricket skipper Ben Stokes , is now in more modest circumstances.

What a farce. Four years - with time served, more like three, and with good behavior, probably two - for Diddy. Combs so sure he'd get his way that he'd scheduled a paid speaking gig in Miami for next week.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs has been sentenced to four years behind bars for his prostitution conviction after being exiscerated by a judge.

"A small number of researchers are making real progress trying to create computers out of living cells," reports the BBC: Among those leading the way are a group of scientists in Switzerland, who I went to meet. One day, they hope we could see data centres full of "living" servers which replicate aspects of how artificial intelligence (AI) learns — and could use a fraction of the energy of current methods. That is the vision of Dr Fred Jordan, co-founder of the FinalSpark lab I visited. We are all used to the ideas of hardware and software in the computers we currently use. The somewhat eyebrow-raising term Dr Jordan and others in the field use to refer to what they are creating is "wetware". In simple terms, it involves creating neurons which are developed into clusters called organoids, which in turn can be attached to electrodes — at which point the process of trying to use them like mini-computers can begin... For FinalSpark, the process begins with stem cells derived from human skin cells, which they buy from a clinic in Japan. The actual donors are anonymous... In the lab, FinalSpark's cellular biologist Dr Flora Brozzi handed me a dish containing several small white orbs. Each little sphere is essentially a tiny, lab-grown mini-brain, made out of living stem cells which have been cultured to become clusters of neurons and supporting cells — these are the "organoids"... After undergoing a process which can last several months, the organoids are ready to be attached to an electrode and then prompted to respond to simple keyboard commands... Electrical stimulations are important first steps towards the team's bigger goal of triggering learning in the biocomputer's neurons so they can eventually adapt to perform tasks... FinalSpark are not the only scientists working in the biocomputing space. Australian firm Cortical Labs announced in 2022 that it had managed to get artificial neurons to play the early computer game Pong. In the US, researchers at Johns Hopkins University are also building "mini-brains" to study how they process information — but in the context of drug development for neurological conditions like Alzheimer's and autism. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader fjo3 for sharing the news.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Comedian Jason Manford has shared the terrifying moment his flight rocked from side to side and was forced to abort landing in Belfast on Friday afternoon amid blustery Storm Amy winds.

The City of London Corporation (CLC), which manages the ponds, has launched a review setting out six possible approaches to gender inclusivity.

The reality TV icon, 44, was spotted stepping out for the Maison Alaïa show during Paris Fashion Week.

Marcus Fakana, 19, died in a fatal collision in Tottenham, north London , at around 1am on Friday after a car he was a passenger in failed to stop when being blue-lighted by the Metropolitan Police.

When I was minding my own business at Barry's Bootcamp ahead of a class and a glam woman dressed in pastel lycra stood next to me ordering a protein shake, theft was the last thing on my mind.

Amazon will be adding facial recognition to its camera-equipped Ring doorbells for the first time in December, according to the Washington Post. "While the feature will be optional for Ring device owners, privacy advocates say it's unfair that wherever the technology is in use, anyone within sight will have their faces scanned to determine who's a friend or stranger." The Ring feature is "invasive for anyone who walks within range of your Ring doorbell," said Calli Schroeder, senior counsel at the consumer advocacy and policy group Electronic Privacy Information Center. "They are not consenting to this." Ring spokeswoman Emma Daniels said that Ring's features empower device owners to be responsible users of facial recognition and to comply with relevant laws that "may require obtaining consent prior to identifying people..." Other companies, including Google, already offer facial recognition for connected doorbells and cameras. You might use similar technology to unlock your iPhone or tag relatives in digital photo albums. But privacy watchdogs said that Ring's use of facial recognition poses added risks, because the company's products are embedded in our neighborhoods and have a history of raising social, privacy and legal questions... It's typically legal to film in public places, including your doorway. And in most of the United States, your permission is not legally required to collect or use your faceprint. Privacy experts said that Ring's use of the technology risks crossing ethical boundaries because of its potential for widespread use in residential areas without people's knowledge or consent. You choose to unlock your iPhone by scanning your face. A food delivery courier, a child selling candy or someone walking by on the sidewalk is not consenting to have their face captured, stored and compared against Ring's database, said Adam Schwartz, privacy litigation director for the consumer advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. "It's troubling that companies are making a product that by design is taking biometric information from people who are doing the innocent act of walking onto a porch," he said. Ring's spokesperson said facial recognition won't be available some locations, according to the article, including Texas and Illinois, which passed laws fining companies for collecting face information without permission. But the Washington Post heard another possible worst-case scenario from Calli Schroeder, senior counsel at the consumer advocacy and policy group Electronic Privacy Information Center: databases of identified faces being stolen by cyberthieves, misused by Ring employees, or shared with outsiders such as law enforcement. Amazon says they're "reuniting lost dogs through the power of AI," in their announcement this week, thanks to "an AI-powered community feature that enables your outdoor Ring cameras to help reunite lost dogs with their families... When a neighbor reports a lost dog in the Ring app, nearby outdoor Ring cameras automatically begin scanning for potential matches." Amazon calls it an example of their vision for "tools that make it easier for neighbors to look out for each other, and create safer, more connected communities." They're also 10x zoom, enhanced low-light performance, 2K and 4K resolutions, and "advanced AI tuning" for video...

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Emergency services rushed to the scene

The Black Sabbath legend died of heart failure at his Buckinghamshire home on July 22, just two weeks after performing a farewell concert with his bandmates at Birmingham 's Villa Park.