Malware that feature crypto mining is probably still using GPUs, since the person getting the coins is not paying the utility bill.

Thanks for the refresher. I’m aware of the basics, but assumed the difficulty measured by the number of zeros could only increase. Apparently difficulty can decrease, and I’ve read it’s expected to decrease very soon to keep the system running a while longer.

Bitcoin’s creator was smart enough to design a system that automatically adjust to remain profitable for several years without intervention, but not smart enough to foresee social and environmental costs.

It’s a good example that illustrate why automated systems shouldn’t be left running unsupervised, even if it’s designed by the best minds with the best of intentions.

The headline isn’t accurate as usual, but isn’t completely wrong either. Anyway, the article you’ve quoted is more informative than the one I posted, so thanks for that quote.

We’re at a point where it’s no longer profitable for individual miners, even if we ignore externalities like the cost we’re collectively paying due to pollution and carbon emissions.

Mining require increasing amount of energy and resources as time pass, so unless there’s a radical change in bitcoin’s algorithm or unless energy becomes free, we should expect mining to get non-profitable in more and more situations.

Given the current price of bitcoin, I suspect the market still doesn’t know.

Yes, the signs were there, even before he first got selected.

Better late than never. But I fear too few US citizens learned the lesson. Even if the majority realize Trump is dangerous and act like Putin’s useful idiot, and manage to prevent Trump from permanently turning the country into a totalitarian state, I fear they could fall for the same bullshit again if it comes from a different populist candidate.

That would beat the purpose of insurance.

Insurance is about risk management, and poking a hole is creating some risk, especially for the local environnement and nearby shores.

What would the penalty be for not being insured?

The decision make sense on principle. To have any effect, it needs a penalty and enforcement.

Could Canada invoke NATO’s article 5 to request assistance to defend against the USA?

Let’s do a carbon import tax in as many countries as possible. One that can’t be negotiated away, only avoided by reducing fossil fuel use.

If someone only agree because of a dark pattern or agressive/repetitive consent popups, then it’s not free and informed consent.

It’s pressuring visitors into accepting something they wouldn’t otherwise accept, and it might not be compliant.

Clearly there need to be more enforcement of GDPR.

Those companies doing business in the EU should have been looking for alternatives since at least 2016 when GPDR was adopted.

It doesn’t seem realistic to rely on targeted advertising if that require opt-in, informed consent. I suspect only a small fraction of visitors would agree.

I hope contextual advertising and similar less-invasive approaches becomes the norm again. Contextual advertising have been used for decades in Newspapers, on the TV and radio.

Just stop talking to them, they have no jurisdiction

If they try and claim there’s no jurisdiction, the other party might disagree. Especially if the contract has a provision that defines which jurisdiction/court is responsible for resolving disputes.

A guess is finding a proper and legal way to break a contract is preferable for companies. An arbitrary breach of contract might make a company look unreliable, could make it more difficult to sign any contract in the future.

IANAL so I have no idea if they’d risk penalties as well.

Not necessarily. Conversations have reasonable battery usage without using Google’s push messaging system (GCM). They rely instead on XMPP protocol features and client optimisations to limit battery usage.

A group of mine is currently discussing migrating to Matrix. Among the arguments, it’s said to be more popular than our current messenging protocol, but it’s also said to be a drain on battery.

I saw one comparison saying the official Matrix client on Android drain battery 10x faster than some well written XMPP clients. So I’m not going to migrate for now. May reconsider once Matrix clients reduce battery usage significantly.

Please have Police focus on better using the data it already has. Rather than just giving it the power to hoard more personal data and endangering public liberties.

Existing police records are riddled with errors:

• https://www.propublica.org/article/politic-il-insider-chicago-gang-database
• https://www.lesnumeriques.com/vie-du-net/alerte-cnil-trop-erreurs-dans-fichiers-police-n29925.html

Piling more data on top won’t fix these errors. Putting more effort in fixing errors would make the records more useful to police, and would probably avoid ruining the lives of innocents people.

Et interdiction de la cigarette électronique à la prochaine rentrée parlementaire ?

C’est pour le bien de nos chers parlementaires et ministres.

Why the climate promises of AI sound a lot like carbon offsets

J’ai 2 abonnements directs à des journaux, et utilise une carte de bibliothèque (BNF ou locale) pour accéder au reste.

Si on fait tous cela, en piochant 2-3 médias parmis ceux qu’on trouve de bonne qualité, on va collectivement soutenir une variété de médias.

Pour la maison, l’eau du robinet et une carafe c’est très bien.

Pour les balades, l’eau du robinet et une gourde c’est très bien.

L’eau en robinet c’est approprié seulement pour les pays du tiers monde et les zones sinistrées sans eau potable.

Pour contrer le marketing, associez eau en bouteille = zone sinistrée.