Daily Tech News 18 January 2024

• Can special lightbulbs end the next pandemic before it starts? (Vox)
  
  1. It's Vox.
  2. Betteridge's Law.
  3. Uh, maybe?
  
  They're talking about zapping rooms with far-UV light when they're not in use, which basically, uh, works. Far-UV is not particularly friendly to your skin or eyes, so there certainly safety considerations. And installing it is not particularly cheap.
  
  But between the disease and the response the US lost about $14 trillion to COVID, so it sounds like it's worth a shot.
  
  Just try to keep it away from idiots. (MSNBC)
  
  
  
• Or you could go outdoors, where the UV light is free, and you can't sue anyone.
  
  
  

• Cable companies have argued to the FTC that customers can't be allowed to quickly and easily cancel their services because then they would. (Ars Technica)
  
  Well, yes.
  
  
  
• There's a leopard stalking the Infosys corporate campus. (The Register)
  
  This may make more sense if you know that Infosys is based in India.
  
  
  
• Google has told its employees that they're all fired, just not yet. (The Verge)
  
  That's sure to boost morale.
  
  
  
• Even if you physically block the camera, your phone can take pictures of you using the ambient light sensor. (IEEE Spectrum)
  
  If you sit very still.
  
  It has a time delay and a resolution that makes early daguerreotypes look like wonders of modern technology.
  
  
  
• ChatGPT is particularly useful to these three types of workers, says Sam Altman. (CNBC) (archive site)
  
  1. Bad programmers.
  2. Lazy teachers.
  3. Doctors who want to pass off their malpractice lawsuits to OpenAI.
  
  Great marketing, Sam.

posted by Pixy Misa at 04:00 AM

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