alternative_right shares a report from ScienceAlert: When's the last time you settled down with a good book, just because you enjoyed it? A new survey shows reading as a pastime is becoming dramatically less popular in the U.S., which correlates with an increased consumption of other digital media, like social media and streaming services. The survey was carried out by researchers from the University of Florida and the University of London, and charts a 40 percent decrease in daily reading for pleasure across the years 2003-2023, based on responses from 236,270 US adults.

"This is not just a small dip -- it's a sustained, steady decline of about 3 percent per year," says Jill Sonke, director for the Center for the Arts in Medicine at the University of Florida. "It's significant, and it's deeply concerning." The number of US people reading for pleasure every day peaked in 2004 at 28 percent, the researchers found, but by 2023 this was down to 16 percent. There was a silver lining though: those people who are still reading are reading for slightly longer on average.

Reading habits aren't changing across the board. The drops in reading for pleasure were higher in Black Americans, especially those with lower income, education levels, and who lived outside of cities. That speaks to problems beyond the rise of smartphones, tablets, and other screens, according to the researchers. Different life situations are leading to disparities in accessibility that don't help promote reading as a pastime. "Our digital culture is certainly part of the story," says Sonke. "But there are also structural issues -- limited access to reading materials, economic insecurity and a national decline in leisure time. If you're working multiple jobs or dealing with transportation barriers in a rural area, a trip to the library may just not be feasible." The findings have been published in the journal iScience.

BrianFagioli shares a report from NERDS.xyz: Hosting.com has acquired Rocket.net, bringing the fast-growing managed WordPress hosting company under its corporate umbrella. The move gives hosting.com a proven SaaS platform and a strong brand in WordPress hosting, while Rocket.net gains the capital and global reach of a much larger player. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Rocket.net will continue to operate under its own name, but it is now part of hosting.com's family of brands. As part of the deal, Rocket.net founder and CEO Ben Gabler has been appointed Chief Product Officer at hosting.com, where he will lead product and software engineering across the entire company. [...] For hosting.com, the acquisition strengthens its ability to serve a wider range of customers. The company, founded in 2019, already operates more than 20 data centers, powers over 3 million websites, and serves 600,000 customers worldwide with a team of 900 employees.

The Rocket.net platform will now be rolled out across hosting.com's global footprint, including the USA, UK, Germany, and Singapore, as well as new regions such as Mexico, the UAE, and Australia. Both companies stress that their commitment to WordPress and open source will remain intact. Hosting.com already sponsors global WordCamps and encourages employees to contribute to the WordPress project, while Rocket.net has long positioned itself as a champion of the open web.

alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: All the critical minerals the U.S. needs annually for energy, defense and technology applications are already being mined at existing U.S. facilities, according to a new analysis published in the journal Science. The catch? These minerals, such as cobalt, lithium, gallium and rare earth elements like neodymium and yttrium, are currently being discarded as tailings of other mineral streams like gold and zinc, said Elizabeth Holley, associate professor of mining engineering at Colorado School of Mines and lead author of the new paper.

To conduct the analysis, Holley and her team built a database of annual production from federally permitted metal mines in the U.S. They used a statistical resampling technique to pair these data with the geochemical concentrations of critical minerals in ores, recently compiled by the U.S. Geological Survey, Geoscience Australia and the Geologic Survey of Canada. Using this approach, Holley's team was able to estimate the quantities of critical minerals being mined and processed every year at U.S. metal mines but not being recovered. Instead, these valuable minerals are ending up as discarded tailings that must be stored and monitored to prevent environmental contamination.

The analysis looks at a total of 70 elements used in applications ranging from consumer electronics like cell phones to medical devices to satellites to renewable energy to fighter jets and shows that unrecovered byproducts from other U.S. mines could meet the demand for all but two -- platinum and palladium. Among the elements included in the analysis are:
- Cobalt (Co): The lustrous bluish-gray metal, a key component in electric car batteries, is a byproduct of nickel and copper mining. Recovering less than 10% of the cobalt currently being mined and processed but not recovered would be more than enough to fuel the entire U.S. battery market.
- Germanium (Ge): The brittle silvery-white semi-metal used for electronics and infrared optics, including sensors on missiles and defense satellites, is present in zinc and molybdenum mines. If the U.S. recovered less than 1% of the germanium currently mined and processed but not recovered from U.S. mines, it would not have to import any germanium to meet industry needs.

President Donald Trump says his administration will not approve solar or wind power projects, even as electricity demand is outpacing the supply in some parts of the U.S. From a report: "We will not approve wind or farmer destroying Solar," Trump, who has complained in the past that solar takes up too much land, posted on Truth Social. "The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!"

The president's comment comes after the administration tightened federal permitting for renewables last month. The permitting process is now centralized in Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's office. Renewable companies fear that projects will no longer receive permits that were once normal course of business.

FTC, in a press release Wednesday: The Federal Trade Commission today sued the operators of LA Fitness and other gyms over allegations they make it exceedingly difficult for consumers to cancel their gym memberships and related services that continued indefinitely unless cancelled. The agency is seeking a court order prohibiting the allegedly unfair conduct and money back for consumers harmed by the difficulty in cancelling memberships.

"The FTC's complaint describes a scenario that too many Americans have experienced -- a gym membership that seems impossible to cancel," said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection. "Tens of thousands of LA Fitness customers reported difficulties -- cancellation was often restricted to specific times or required speaking to specific managers who were often not present or available. The FTC will not hesitate to act on behalf of consumers when it believes companies are stifling consumers' ability to choose which recurring charges they want to keep."

Google's AI Overviews has returned fraudulent customer service phone numbers in multiple reported incidents.

A Reddit user reported their friend received a fake number when searching "Swiggy [an Indian food delivery firm] customer care number," leading to attempted screen-sharing and money request scams. Facebook user Alex Rivlin encountered scammers after searching "royal caribbean customer service phone number 24 hours usa." The fraudulent representative requested credit card information before Rivlin detected the scam. Google said it is "aware" of the issue and has "taken action" against identified numbers. The company stated it is working to "improve results."

An anonymous reader shares a report: After years of research, the Wyoming Stable Token Commission has unveiled the mainnet launch of its first official state-backed stablecoin. The so-called Frontier Stable Token (FRNT), marking the first time a U.S. state has issued a blockchain-based, fiat-pegged token meant to be used by retail and enterprises alike, according to an announcement on Tuesday.

"FRNT is designed to provide secure, transparent, and efficient digital transactions for individuals, businesses, and institutions -- worldwide," the commission wrote in a statement. "This groundbreaking initiative cements Wyoming at the forefront of digital finance and blockchain innovation."

Indeed, the Cowboy State has long been ahead of the curve when it comes to crypto regulation, including in recognizing DAOs as legal entities, creating a framework for "crypto-banks" under the Special Purpose Depository Institutions charter, and passing the state's Stable Token Act -- all meant to draw economic activity to the region.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sued ticket reseller Key Investment Group for evading purchasing limits to buy up thousands of tickets to live events including Taylor Swift's Eras tour and resell them at a markup, according to a complaint filed in Maryland federal court on Monday. From a report: The Baltimore, Maryland-based company, which operates ticket resale sites including TotalTickets.com, used thousands of Ticketmaster accounts, including fake or purchased accounts, the FTC said.

Ticketmaster faced intense criticism after its botched 2022 sale of tickets to Swift's much-hyped Eras tour, when billions of requests from Swift fans, bots and ticket resellers overwhelmed its website and the company canceled a planned ticket sale to the general public.

For one Swift concert in Las Vegas in March 2023, Key Investment Group and its affiliates used 49 different accounts to purchase 273 tickets and evade a 6-ticket purchase limit, netting more than $119,000 in revenue on resales, the FTC said on Monday. The company made more than $1.2 million reselling 2,280 Swift concert tickets it purchased in 2023, the agency said.

EV sales are up 27% for the first seven months of 2025 — for the world. But in America "For the first half of 2025, EV registrations rose 7% to 620,642, with market share inching up just 0.1 percentage point to 7.5 percent," reports Automotive News.

America's new EV registrations were up 4.6% in June (compared to June of 2024), "But EV market share fell for the month and stayed flat for the first half of the year, according to the most recent S&P Global Mobility data." June's 113,460 EV registrations represented 8.6% of U.S. light-vehicle market share, down from 8.8% a year earlier... The data, which serves as a sales proxy since some EV makers don't report U.S. numbers, shows continued flattening of EV market share ahead of the Sept. 30 repeal of the $7,500 federal tax credit.

The S&P Global Mobility numbers include only battery-electric vehicles and not hybrids.
In June Tesla led with 57,260 registrations — more than 6x its next competitor. (Although Tesla's share of the EV segment dropped 6.8% to 43.7 percent in the first half of 2025).

Ranking #2 in June registrations was Chevrolet with 9,517 — a 152% gain over Chevrolet's June 2024 registrations. (Pointing out that the Chevy Equinox EV starts at under $35,000, Electrek writes that "America's most affordable EV with over 315 miles of range, as GM calls it, is quickly winning over buyers.") Automotive News reports Equinox EV registrations surged 722% to 6,239 in June, with Chevy's share of the EV segment more than doubling to 7.7%.

Chevy pulled ahead of Ford (5,759 registrations), Hyundai (5,227 registrations), Rivian (4,613 registrations) and Cadillac (4,121 registrations). Although maybe it's just as interesting that the complete chart shows electric vehicle registrations for 33 different automakers...

"Illinois last week banned the use of artificial intelligence in mental health therapy," reports the Washington Post, "joining a small group of states regulating the emerging use of AI-powered chatbots for emotional support and advice." Licensed therapists in Illinois are now forbidden from using AI to make treatment decisions or communicate with clients, though they can still use AI for administrative tasks. Companies are also not allowed to offer AI-powered therapy services — or advertise chatbots as therapy tools — without the involvement of a licensed professional.

Nevada passed a similar set of restrictions on AI companies offering therapy services in June, while Utah also tightened regulations for AI use in mental health in May but stopped short of banning the use of AI.

The bans come as experts have raised alarms about the potential dangers of therapy with AI chatbots that haven't been reviewed by regulators for safety and effectiveness. Already, cases have emerged of chatbots engaging in harmful conversations with vulnerable people — and of users revealing personal information to chatbots without realizing their conversations were not private.

Some AI and psychiatry experts said they welcomed legislation to limit the use of an unpredictable technology in a delicate, human-centric field.

Puerto Rico expects 93 different power outages this summer, reports the Washington Post.

But they also note that "roughly 1 in 10 Puerto Rican homes now have a battery and solar array for backup power" which have also "become a crucial source of backup power for the entire island grid." A network of 69,000 home batteries can generate as much electricity as a small natural gas turbine during an emergency, temporarily covering about 2 percent of the island's energy needs when things go wrong... "It has very, very certainly prevented more widespread outages," said Daniel Haughton, [transmission and distribution planning director for Puerto Rico's grid operator]. "In the instances that we had to [cut power], it was for a much shorter duration: A four-hour outage became a one- or two-hour outage."

Puerto Rico's experience offers a glimpse into the future for the rest of the United States, where batteries are starting to play a big role in keeping the lights on. Authorities in Texas, California and New England have credited home batteries with preventing blackouts during summer energy crunches. As power grids across the country groan under the increasing strain of new data centers, factories and EVs, batteries offer a way for homeowners to protect themselves — and all of their neighbors — from the threat of outages. Batteries have been booming in the U.S. since 2022, when Congress created generous installation tax credits for homeowners and power companies.

Home batteries generally come as an option alongside rooftop solar panels, according to Christopher Rauscher, head of grid services and electrification for Sunrun, a company that installs both. More than 70 percent of the people who hire Sunrun to put up solar panels also get a battery. With the tax credits — and the money saved on rising electricity costs — solar panels and batteries make financial sense for most American homes, according to a study Stanford University scientists published Aug. 1. About 60 percent of homes would save money in the long run with solar panels and batteries...

Those batteries can have broader benefits, too. Utilities pay customers hundreds of dollars a year to sign their batteries up to form "virtual power plants," which send electricity to the grid whenever power plants can't keep up with demand. California's network of home batteries can now add 535 megawatts of electricity in an emergency — about half as much energy as a nuclear power plant... [H]omeowners can make thousands of dollars a year lowering their energy bills, selling solar power back to the grid or enrolling their batteries in a virtual power plant, depending on their power company's policies and state regulations. "Over time, you would get the full payback for your system and basically get your backup for free," said Ram Rajagopal, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering who co-authored the Stanford study.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The United States' practice of installing location trackers in chip shipments at risk of diversion to China reflects the "instincts of a surveillance empire," China's state-run media outlet Xinhua said in a commentary published on Friday. Reuters reported earlier this week that U.S. authorities had secretly placed location tracking devices in targeted shipments of advanced chips to detect diversions to China, which is under U.S. curbs for advanced chip exports. The Xinhua commentary, titled "America turns chip trade into a surveillance game," cited "reports" that Washington had embedded such trackers, accusing the United States of running "the world's most sprawling intelligence apparatus." [...] In its commentary, Xinhua accused the U.S. government of seeing its trading partners as "rivals to be tripped up or taken down," adding that "if U.S. chips are seen as Trojan horses for surveillance, customers will look elsewhere." Further reading: China Urges Firms To Avoid Nvidia H20 Chips After Trump Resumes Sales

alternative_right writes: A team of researchers at Columbia University, funded in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, have developed "machines that can grow by consuming other machines." Video of the experiment shows tubular robots that move by extending their shafts to inch along the ground. As the tubes gather, they connect and form into more complex shapes like triangles and tetrahedrons. With each piece consumed, the whole moves faster and with more elegance.

"AI systems need bodies to move beyond current limitations. Physical embodiment brings the AI into the messy, constraint-rich real world -- and that's where true generalization has to happen," Phillipe Martin Wyder, lead researcher on the project, told 404 Media.

Intel's stock jumped 7% after reports that the Trump administration is considering taking a stake in the struggling chipmaker to support U.S.-based manufacturing. CNBC reports: Intel is the only U.S. company with the capability to manufacture the fastest chips on U.S. shores, although rivals including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung also have U.S. factories. President Donald Trump has called for more chips and high technology to be manufactured in the U.S. The government's stake would help fund factories that Intel is currently building in Ohio, according to the report.

Top fintech and crypto executives urged the Trump administration to block US banks from charging fees for access to customer data, levies that strike at the heart of their business models. From a report: Klarna, Robinhood and crypto exchange Gemini were among a long list of companies, investors and lobbying groups that signed a letter sent Wednesday to President Donald Trump, arguing that the proposed fees would "cripple" innovation and "may cause small businesses and financial tools to shut down entirely."

JPMorgan Chase has told fintechs and the data aggregators they rely on that the bank's customer account information will no longer be accessible without a charge. JPMorgan, the biggest US bank, views the data aggregators as freeloaders of sorts who access data without paying and then charge their fintech clients for it. PNC Financial Services is considering charging similar fees.

"We urge you to use the full power of your office and the broader administration to prevent the largest institutions from raising new barriers to financial freedom," they said in the letter. "We cannot allow the most powerful, entrenched banks to close the door on a more open and modern financial system."

An anonymous reader shares a report: U.S. authorities have secretly placed location tracking devices in targeted shipments of advanced chips they see as being at high risk of illegal diversion to China, according to two people with direct knowledge of the previously unreported law enforcement tactic. The measures aim to detect AI chips being diverted to destinations which are under U.S. export restrictions, and apply only to select shipments under investigation, the people said.

They show the lengths to which the U.S. has gone to enforce its chip export restrictions on China, even as the Trump administration has sought to relax some curbs on Chinese access to advanced American semiconductors. The trackers can help build cases against people and companies who profit from violating U.S. export controls, said the people who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

spatwei shares a report from SC Media: Just as it had at BSides Las Vegas earlier in the week, the risks of artificial intelligence dominated the Black Hat USA 2025 security conference on Aug. 6 and 7. We couldn't see all the AI-related talks, but we did catch three of the most promising ones, plus an off-site panel discussion about AI presented by 1Password. The upshot: Large language models and AI agents are far too easy to successfully attack, and many of the security lessons of the past 25 years have been forgotten in the current rush to develop, use and profit from AI.

We -- not just the cybersecurity industry, but any organization bringing AI into its processes -- need to understand the risks of AI and develop ways to mitigate them before we fall victim to the same sorts of vulnerabilities we faced when Bill Clinton was president. "AI agents are like a toddler. You have to follow them around and make sure they don't do dumb things," said Wendy Nather, senior research initiatives director at 1Password and a well-respected cybersecurity veteran. "We're also getting a whole new crop of people coming in and making the same dumb mistakes we made years ago." Her fellow panelist Joseph Carson, chief security evangelist and advisory CISO at Segura, had an appropriately retro analogy for the benefits of using AI. "It's like getting the mushroom in Super Mario Kart," he said. "It makes you go faster, but it doesn't make you a better driver." Many of the AI security flaws resemble early web-era SQL injection risks. "Why are all these old vulnerabilities surfacing again? Because the GenAI space is full of security bad practices," said Nathan Hamiel, senior director of research and lead prototyping engineer at Kudelski Security. "When you deploy these tools, you increase your attack surface. You're creating vulnerabilities where there weren't any."

"Generative AI is over-scoped. The same AI that answers questions about Shakespeare is helping you develop code. This over-generalization leads you to an increased attack surface." He added: "Don't treat AI agents as highly sophisticated, super-intelligent systems. Treat them like drunk robots."

In an unusual arrangement to secure export licenses, Nvidia and AMD have agreed to give the U.S. government 15% of revenue from certain chip sales to China. The Associated Press reports: The Trump administration halted the sale of advanced computer chips to China in April over national security concerns, but Nvidia and AMD revealed in July that Washington would allow them to resume sales of the H20 and MI308 chips, which are used in artificial intelligence development. President Trump confirmed the terms of the unusual arrangement in a Monday press conference while noting that he originally wanted 20% of the sales revenue when Nvidia asked to sell the "obsolete" H20 chip to China. The president credited Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang for negotiating him down to 15%. "So we negotiated a little deal. So he's selling a essentially old chip," Trump said.

Nvidia did not comment about the specific details of the agreement or its quid pro quo nature, but said they would adhere to the export rules laid out by the administration. "We follow rules the U.S. government sets for our participation in worldwide markets. While we haven't shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide," Nvidia wrote in a statement to the AP. "America cannot repeat 5G and lose telecommunication leadership. America's AI tech stack can be the world's standard if we race."

Companies are canceling clean hydrogen projects across the United States after Congress shortened the qualification window for a Biden-era tax credit by five years, requiring projects to be under construction by the end of 2027.

Energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie estimates three-quarters of proposals will not meet this deadline. Woodside Energy and Fortescue have scrapped projects in Oklahoma and Arizona respectively, citing cost increases and policy uncertainty. According to McKinsey, fewer than 15% of low-emission hydrogen projects announced in the United States since 2015 have reached final investment decision stage.

Former NSA and Cyber Command chief Paul Nakasone told the Defcon security conference this month that technology companies will find it "very, very difficult" to remain neutral through 2025 and 2026.

Speaking with Defcon founder Jeff Moss in Las Vegas, Nakasone, now an OpenAI board member, addressed the intersection of technology and politics following the Trump administration's removal of cybersecurity officials deemed disloyal and revocation of security clearances for former CISA directors Chris Krebs and Jen Easterly. Nakasone also called ransomware "among the great scourges that we have in our country," stating the U.S. is "not making progress against ransomware."