- newScientists built a machine to solve what AI can't
A team spread across Washington University in St Louis, the Indian Institute of Science, Heidelberg University, Johns Hopkins, and UC Santa Cruz built a computer to solve the kind of problem that stumps today's chatbots, and they describe it in a new paper out of the Indian Institute of Science. — Read the rest The post Scientists built a machine to solve what AI can't appeared first on Boing Boing.
- 1 hour ago 29 May 26, 12:44am -
- newGames matter because games don't matter, says a philosopher
In bridge, a heart trick earns 30 points while a club trick earns 20, numbers that mean nothing outside of the game. That's the whole point, argues philosopher C. Thi Nguyen in his book The Score. Good games use an arbitrary scoring system as a means to an end and never pretend the score means anything on its own. — Read the rest The post Games matter because games don't matter, says a philosopher appeared first on Boing Boing.
- 1 hour ago 29 May 26, 12:22am -
- newA coder fed 20 years of his messages to AI to audit his friendships
Software engineer Vadim Drobinin used GDPR data-access laws to download his entire chat history — ICQ and IRC logs from the 2000s, VK, Twitter, and Facebook from the 2010s, Instagram and Telegram after that — then ran the roughly 1.2 million messages through large language models to build a "personal CRM" that judges his relationships from the record instead of from memory. — Read the rest The post A coder fed 20 years of his messages to AI to audit his friendships appeared first on Boing Boing.
- 2 hours ago 28 May 26, 11:53pm -
- newEx-CIA official arrested with $40M in gold bars at home
Every workplace has goldbrickers. It's a time-honored tradition to work hard to look like you're working hard whilst hardly working. Those willing to work, but only enough to keep the boss off their ass. Goldbrickers show up at meetings but leave before tasks are assigned. — Read the rest The post Ex-CIA official arrested with $40M in gold bars at home appeared first on Boing Boing.
- 2 hours ago 28 May 26, 11:49pm -
- newThis horse-racing board game gives players zero control over anything
The same horse-racing board game has been published and republished for decades under at least seven different names — Dubble Kross (1991), The Horse Race Game (2004), Wooden Horse Races Game (2004), Horse Race (2005), The Racing Horse Game (2006), Horse Racing Game (2007) — plus a run of unnamed wood-and-metal editions. — Read the rest The post This horse-racing board game gives players zero control over anything appeared first on Boing Boing.
- 2 hours ago 28 May 26, 11:42pm -
- newHarris Faulkner thinks international travelers are dying to visit flyover states
Fox News host Harris Faulkner is gamely trying to turn Trump's sanctuary city airport sabotage into a misguided travel brochure.International travelers are not interchangeable units in a national tourism dispenser. People fly to New York because they are going there. — Read the rest The post Harris Faulkner thinks international travelers are dying to visit flyover states appeared first on Boing Boing.
- 2 hours ago 28 May 26, 11:34pm -
- newHere's the $250 bank note with Trump's mugshot on it
Introducing a forthcoming hypothetical $250 bill featuring President Trump's mugshot, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent seemed unable to suppress a faint air of amused dégoût — though it might be argued this is simply his customary manner of addressing other human beings. — Read the rest The post Here's the $250 bank note with Trump's mugshot on it appeared first on Boing Boing.
- 3 hours ago 28 May 26, 10:24pm -
- newArtist paints Zuckerberg's yacht on fire
My favorite artworks of the post-2008 financial crisis were Alex Schaefer's impressionistic yet realistic canvases of Chase Bank locations on fire. Calm yet blazing, clinical yet mysterious, they perfectly captured the daylight horror of the whole situation. My new favorite artworks are those of Ryan Hill, who is bringing the same artistic sensibility to billionaires' yachts. — Read the rest The post Artist paints Zuckerberg's yacht on fire appeared first on Boing Boing.
- 4 hours ago 28 May 26, 10:00pm -
- newStart solo-mining Bitcoin from your desk for $60
TL;DR: The BlockChance Bitcoin Ticket Miner is a pocket-sized standalone device that submits solo-mining lottery tickets to the Bitcoin network, giving you a legitimate shot at a full block reward for just $59.99 (reg. $149.99).Look, the odds of winning a Bitcoin block reward are roughly 1 in 6.5 million on any given day. — Read the rest The post Start solo-mining Bitcoin from your desk for $60 appeared first on Boing Boing.
- 5 hours ago 28 May 26, 9:00pm -
- newGray whales made a comeback, and now the food is disappearing
Gray whales beat commercial whaling, only to run into a warmer Arctic that is quietly starving them.Gray whales were one of the great marine mammal recovery stories. Commercial whaling nearly wrecked them, protections helped bring them back, and by 2016, the eastern North Pacific population was estimated at about 27,000 animals. — Read the rest The post Gray whales made a comeback, and now the food is disappearing appeared first on Boing Boing.
- 6 hours ago 28 May 26, 7:49pm -