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SpaceX rockets toward next Starship launch, set for October 13

2 months 3 weeks ago
Once more with feeling...

SpaceX has named the date when it will try for another Starship launch without anything exploding. October 13, which is both the Columbus Day / Indigenous People's Day holiday and the last day of Windows 10 support, is the current target.…

Richard Speed

Taiwan gets chippy about US request it shifts manufacturing

2 months 3 weeks ago
US has threatened even higher tariffs and the possible loss of military support

Taiwan has rejected US demands to shift semiconductor manufacturing so that half of America's chip needs are produced domestically, as tariff negotiations with the Trump administration intensify.…

Dan Robinson

China's K-visa Plans Spark Worries of a Talent Flood

2 months 3 weeks ago
An anonymous reader shares a report: Immigration anxieties and a challenging job market have sparked an online backlash over China's latest attempt at attracting global talent -- a new visa program announced in August. The program, which was rolled out on Wednesday with the aim of attracting foreign professionals, will also test how China balances its immigration policy with its pursuit of technological ambitions. Under the new rules, young graduates -- in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics or STEM -- no longer need backing from a local employer and can enjoy more flexibility in terms for entry frequency and duration of stay. The keyword "K-visa" -- as China's new visa category is called -- was among the top searches on social media site Weibo for days, before chatter about National Day traffic jams pushed it off the charts as millions hit the road for a week-long holiday. Chinese social media users argue that the new visa tilts the playing field toward foreign graduates at the expense of those educated in China. Others on Weibo warned that without employer sponsorship, the program could invite fraudulent applications and open the door to a surge in arrivals from developing countries, piling pressure on an already strained labor market.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

msmash

Spooked By AI, Bollywood Stars Drag Google Into Fight For 'Personality Rights'

2 months 3 weeks ago
In India, Bollywood stars are asking judges to protect their voice and persona in the era of AI. From a report: One famous couple's biggest target is Google's YouTube. Abhishek Bachchan and his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, known for her iconic Cannes Film Festival red carpet appearances, have asked a judge to remove and prohibit creation of AI videos infringing their intellectual property rights. But in a more far-reaching request, they also want Google ordered to have safeguards to ensure such YouTube videos uploaded anyway do not train other AI platforms, legal papers reviewed by Reuters show. A handful of Bollywood celebrities have begun asserting their "personality rights" in Indian courts over the last few years, as the country has no explicit protection for those like in many U.S. states. But the Bachchans' lawsuits are the most high-profile to date about the interplay of personality rights and the risk that misleading or deepfake YouTube videos could train other AI models. The actors argue that YouTube's content and third-party training policy is concerning as it lets users consent to sharing of a video they created to train rival AI models, risking further proliferation of misleading content online, according to near-identical filings from Abhishek and Aishwarya dated September 6, which are not public.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

msmash