#[1]alternate [2]News for nerds, stuff that matters [3]Search Slashdot [4]Slashdot RSS [5]Slashdot * [6]Stories * + Firehose + [7]All + [8]Popular * [9]Polls * [10]Software * [11]Thought Leadership * [12]Jobs [13]Submit Search Slashdot ____________________ (BUTTON) * [14]Login * or * [15]Sign up * Topics: * [16]Devices * [17]Build * [18]Entertainment * [19]Technology * [20]Open Source * [21]Science * [22]YRO * Follow us: * [23]RSS * [24]Facebook * [25]LinkedIn * [26]Twitter * [27]Youtube * [28]Mastodon * [29]Newsletter Please [30]create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system Nickname: ____________________ Password: ____________________ [ ] Public Terminal __________________________________________________________________ Log In [31]Forgot your password? [32]Close binspamdupenotthebestofftopicslownewsdaystalestupid freshfunnyinsightfulinterestingmaybe offtopicflamebaittrollredundantoverrated insightfulinterestinginformativefunnyunderrated descriptive typodupeerror [33]Sign up for the Slashdot newsletter! OR [34]check out the new Slashdot job board to browse remote jobs or jobs in your area Do you develop on GitHub? You can keep using GitHub but automatically [35]sync your GitHub releases to SourceForge quickly and easily with [36]this tool so your projects have a backup location, and get your project in front of SourceForge's nearly 20 million monthly users. It takes less than a minute. Get new users downloading your project releases today! [37]× 174329993 story [38]Earth [39]Sharp Rise in Number of Climate Lawsuits Against Companies, Report Says [40](theguardian.com) [41]4 Posted by msmash on Thursday June 27, 2024 @12:01PM from the how-about-that dept. The number of climate lawsuits filed against companies around the world is rising swiftly, a report has found, and a majority of cases that have concluded have been successful. From a report: About [42]230 climate-aligned lawsuits have been filed against corporations and trade associations since 2015, two-thirds of which have been initiated since 2020, according to the analysis published on Thursday by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. One of the most rapidly growing forms of litigation is over "climate-washing" -- when companies are accused of misrepresenting their progress towards environmental targets -- and the analysis found that 47 such cases were filed against companies and governments in 2023. As climate communications are increasingly scrutinised, there has been arise in climate-washing litigation, often with positive outcomes for those bringing the cases. Of the 140 climate-washing cases reviewed between 2016 and 2023, 77 have officially concluded, 54 of which ended with a ruling in favour of the claimant. More than 30 cases in 2023 concerned the "polluter pays" principle, whereby companies are held accountable for climate damage caused by high greenhouse gas emissions. The authors also highlighted six "turning off the taps" cases, which challenge the flow of finance to areas which hinder climate goals. apply tags__________ 174329923 story [43]Google [44]Google Translate Adds 110 Languages in AI-Powered Expansion [45](blog.google) [46]8 Posted by msmash on Thursday June 27, 2024 @11:32AM from the moving-forward dept. Google has unveiled its largest-ever expansion of Translate, [47]adding 110 new languages powered by its [48]PaLM 2 AI model. The update spans major world languages and endangered tongues, covering an additional 614 million speakers globally. Highlights include Cantonese, long-requested by users, and a quarter of the new offerings from Africa. Some additions, like Manx from the Isle of Man, showcase dramatic revival stories. The expansion reflects Google's ambitious "1,000 Languages Initiative" and follows its 2022 addition of 24 languages using zero-shot machine translation. Challenges in implementation included navigating regional varieties and non-standardized forms, the company wrote in a blog post. apply tags__________ 174329619 story [49]United States [50]SCOTUS Pauses EPA Plan To Keep Smog From Drifting Across State Lines [51](theverge.com) [52]40 Posted by msmash on Thursday June 27, 2024 @10:48AM from the tussle-continues dept. The Supreme Court [53]decided to press pause on the Environmental Protection Agency's plan to prevent smog-forming pollutants from drifting across state borders. From a report: Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and various trade organizations including fossil fuel industry groups asked the Supreme Court to issue a stay on the plan while they contest the EPA's actions in lower courts. SCOTUS agreed to put the plan on hold today in its opinion on Ohio v. Environmental Protection Agency. Five justices voted in favor of halting implementation for now, while the remaining justices dissented. "If anything, we see one reason for caution after another," Justice Neil Gorsuch writes in his opinion. While the stay is temporary, the decision signals that the conservative-leaning Supreme Court is likely to rule in favor of states opposing the EPA's plan if the issue makes it to the nation's highest court again for a final decision on the plan's legal merit. That could make it harder to improve air quality across the nation since air pollutants typically don't stay in one place. apply tags__________ 174329319 story [54]United States [55]Coinbase Is Suing the SEC and FDIC Over Public Records [56](decrypt.co) [57]18 Posted by msmash on Thursday June 27, 2024 @10:04AM from the tussle-continues dept. Publicly traded crypto exchange Coinbase, in connection with History Associates Incorporated, has [58]filed two civil lawsuits against the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for their failure to comply with FOIA requests. From a report: The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, grants the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information that's controlled by the U.S. government. Generally speaking, agencies have 20 days to respond -- not necessarily satisfy -- these requests. And even when government agencies do furnish documents, they can redact anything that falls under certain exemptions: Information related to national security, internal personnel, trade secrets, law enforcement, or financial institution records. Late last year, Coinbase hired History Associates Incorporated, a private historical research firm, to submit a FOIA request on its behalf. The San Francisco crypto exchange was seeking copies of "Pause Letters" sent to financial institutions asking them to indefinitely cease all "crypto-related activities," according to the complaint. The letters were described in a report from the FDIC's Office of Inspector General (OIG), but never shared publicly. The OIG said the letters presented a "risk that the FDIC would inadvertently limit financial institution innovation and growth in the crypto space." The FDIC refused to provide History Associates or Coinbase with the letters. apply tags__________ 174326181 story [59]AI [60]AI Dataset Licensing Companies Form Sector's First Trade Group [61](reuters.com) [62]8 Posted by [63]BeauHD on Thursday June 27, 2024 @09:00AM from the ethical-data-sourcing-advocates dept. An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Seven content-licensing sellers of music, image, video and other datasets for use in training artificial intelligence systems have [64]formed the sector's first trade group, they said on Wednesday. The Dataset Providers Alliance (DPA) will advocate for 'ethical data sourcing' in the training of AI systems, including rights for people depicted in datasets and the protection of content owners' intellectual property rights, the companies said in a statement. Founding members include U.S. music dataset company Rightsify, image licensing service vAIsual, Japanese stock photo provider Pixta and Germany-based data marketplace Datarade. apply tags__________ 174326161 story [65]Space [66]Phosphate In NASA's OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Suggests Ocean World Origins [67](space.com) [68]16 Posted by [69]BeauHD on Thursday June 27, 2024 @06:00AM from the would-you-look-at-that dept. Early analysis of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu has [70]revealed unexpected evidence of magnesium-sodium phosphate, suggesting Bennu [71]might have originated from a primitive ocean world. Space.com reports: On Earth, magnesium-sodium phosphate can be found in certain minerals and geological formations, as well as within living organisms where it is present in various biochemical processes and is a component of bone and teeth. According to a NASA press release, however, its presence on Bennu surprised the research team because it wasn't seen in the OSIRIS-REx probe's remote sensing data prior to sample collection. The team says its presence "hints that the asteroid could have splintered off from a long-gone, tiny, primitive ocean world." "The presence and state of phosphates, along with other elements and compounds on Bennu, suggest a watery past for the asteroid," said Lauretta. "Bennu potentially could have once been part of a wetter world. Although, this hypothesis requires further investigation." The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft obtained a sample of Bennu's regolith on October 20, 2020 using its Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM), which comprises a specialized sampler head situated on an articulated arm. Bennu is a small B-type asteroid, which are relatively uncommon carbonaceous asteroids. "[Bennu] was selected as the mission target in part because telescopic observations indicated a primitive, carbonaceous composition and water-bearing minerals," [72]stated the team in their paper. [...] Further analysis on the samples revealed the prevailing component of the regolith sample is magnesium-bearing phyllosilicates, primarily serpentine and smectite -- types of rock typically found at mid-ocean ridges on Earth. A comparison of these serpentinites with their terrestrial counterparts provides possible insights into Bennu's geological past. "Offering clues about the aqueous environment in which they originated," wrote the team. While Bennu's surface may have been altered by water over time, it still preserves some of the ancient characteristics scientists believe were present during the early solar system's days. Bennu's surface materials still contain some original features from the cloud of gas and dust from which our solar system's planets formed -- known as the protoplanetary disk. The team's study also confirmed the asteroid is rich in carbon, nitrogen and some organic compounds -- all of which, in addition to the magnesium phosphate, are essential components for life as we know it on Earth. apply tags__________ 174325993 story [73]ISS [74]SpaceX Scores $843 Million NASA Contract To De-Orbit ISS In 2030 [75](techcrunch.com) [76]95 Posted by [77]BeauHD on Thursday June 27, 2024 @03:00AM from the We-Want-You dept. In a contract worth as much as $843 million, NASA [78]announced today SpaceX has been [79]selected to develop a vehicle that will de-orbit the International Space Station in 2030. "As the agency transitions to commercially owned space destinations closer to home, it is crucial to prepare for the safe and responsible deorbit of the International Space Station in a controlled manner after the end of its operational life in 2030," the U.S. space agency said in a statement. TechCrunch reports: Few details about the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle, as NASA calls the craft, have been released so far. However, NASA clarified that the vehicle will be different from SpaceX's Dragon capsule, which delivers cargo and crew to the station, and other vehicles that perform services for the agency. Unlike these vehicles, which are built and operated by SpaceX, NASA will take ownership of the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle post-development and operate it throughout its mission. Both the vehicle and the ISS will destructively break up as they reenter the atmosphere, and one of the big tasks ahead for SpaceX is to ensure that the station reenters in a way that endangers no populated areas. The launch contract for the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle will be announced separately. NASA and its partners had been evaluating using a Russian Roscosmos Progress spacecraft to conduct the de-orbit mission, but studies indicated that a new spacecraft was needed for the de-orbit maneuver. The station's safe demise is a responsibility shared by the five space agencies that operate on the ISS -- NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and State Space Corporation Roscosmos -- but it is unclear whether this contract amount is being paid out by all countries. apply tags__________ 174324213 story [80]Earth [81]World's First Carbon Tax On Livestock Will Cost Farmers $100 Per Cow [82](cnn.com) [83]205 Posted by [84]BeauHD on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @11:30PM from the that's-a-first dept. An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Dairy farmers in Denmark face having to pay an annual tax of 672 krone ($96) per cow for the planet-heating emissions they generate. The country's coalition government [85]agreed this week to introduce the [86]world's first carbon emissions tax on agriculture. It will mean new levies on livestock starting in 2030. Denmark is a major dairy and pork exporter, and agriculture is the country's biggest source of emissions. The coalition agreement -- which also entails investing 40 billion krone ($3.7 billion) in measures such as reforestation and establishing wetlands -- is aimed at helping the country meet its climate goals. "With today's agreement, we are investing billions in the biggest transformation of the Danish landscape in recent times," Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in a statement Tuesday. "At the same time, we will be the first country in the world with a (carbon) tax on agriculture." The Danish dairy industry broadly welcomed the agreement and its goals, but it has angered some farmers. [...] The tax, expected to be approved by Denmark's parliament later this year, will amount to 300 krone ($43) per tonne (1.1 ton) of CO2-equivalent emissions from livestock from 2030, rising to 750 krone ($107) in 2035. A 60% tax break will apply, meaning that farmers will effectively be charged 120 krone ($17) per tonne of livestock emissions per year from 2030, rising to 300 krone ($43) in 2035. On average, Danish dairy cows, which account for much of the cattle population, emit 5.6 tons of CO2-equivalent per year, according to Concito, a green think tank in Denmark. Using the lower tax rate of 120 krone results in a charge of 672 krone per cow, or $96. With the tax break in place, that levy will rise to 1,680 krone per cow in 2035 ($241). In the first two years, the proceeds from the tax will be used to support the agricultural industry's green transition and then reassessed. "The whole purpose of the tax is to get the sector to look for solutions to reduce emissions," Concito's chief economist Torsten Hasforth told CNN. For example, farmers could change the feed they use. apply tags__________ 174324245 story [87]Privacy [88]Microsoft Blamed For Million-Plus Patient Record Theft At US Hospital Giant [89](theregister.com) [90]27 Posted by [91]BeauHD on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @10:10PM from the federal-charges-incoming dept. Brandon Vigliarolo reports via The Register: American healthcare provider Geisinger fears highly personal data on more than a million of its patients has been stolen -- and [92]claimed a former employee at a Microsoft subsidiary is the likely culprit. Geisinger on Monday [93]announced the results of a probe into a November computer security breach, placing the blame on [94]Microsoft-owned Nuance Communications for not cutting off one of its employees' access to corporate files after that person was fired. The Pennsylvania-based healthcare giant uses Nuance as an IT provider. We're told that after the Microsoft-owned entity terminated one of its workers, that staffer two days later may have accessed and taken copies of sensitive records on a huge number of Geisinger patients -- for reasons as yet unknown. Geisinger -- which says it operates 13 hospitals and has more than 600,000 members -- said it discovered the improper access on November 29, informed Nuance, and the IT supplier immediately cut off the former employee from the healthcare group's data before involving police. "Because it could have impeded their investigation, law enforcement investigators asked Nuance to delay notifying patients of this incident until now," Geisinger claimed, explaining why only now this is coming to light. "The former Nuance employee has been arrested and is facing federal charges." It's not immediately clear if or what charges have been laid -- we've asked Geisinger for details. Speech recognition firm Nuance performed its own probe, according to Geisinger, and determined that the former employee may have stolen information on a million-plus people. That info would include birth dates, addresses, hospital admission and discharge records, demographic information, and other medical data. The ex-employee didn't swipe insurance or other financial information, the multi-billion-dollar healthcare group stated. "We continue to work closely with the authorities on this investigation, and while I am grateful that the perpetrator was caught and is now facing federal charges," Geisinger chief privacy officer Jonathan Friesen alleged, adding: "I am sorry that this happened." apply tags__________ 174324125 story [95]Businesses [96]Apple Pauses Work On Planned North Carolina Campus [97](macrumors.com) [98]25 Posted by [99]BeauHD on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @09:30PM from the slight-change-of-plans dept. In 2021, Apple [100]announced plans for a new $1 billion campus in North Carolina, set to include a new engineering and research center and support up to 3,000 employees. According to Lauren Ohnesorge of [101]Triangle Business Journal (paywalled), Apple remains committed to the project, but the timeline has been [102]delayed by four years. MacRumors reports: A limited amount of progress on the campus has been made since the announcement, and Apple has not provided updates on construction until now. Apple told Triangle Business Journal that it has paused work on the campus, and it is working with North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and the North Carolina Department of Commerce to extend the project's timeline by four years. Apple last year filed development plans for the first phase of construction, but the specific timeline for the project has never been clear. Apple's plans for Research Triangle Park include six buildings and a parking garage totaling 700,000 square feet of office space, 190,000 square feet of accessory space, and close to 3,000 parking spaces spanning 41 acres. Apple owns 281 acres of land in the area where it plans to build its campus, so there could ultimately be several phases of construction. As it prepares to build the NC research center, Apple is leasing more than 200,000 square feet of office space in Cary, North Carolina. In a statement, Apple said it is still committed to the project: "Apple has been operating in North Carolina for over two decades. And we're deeply committed to growing our teams here. In the last three years, we've added more than 600 people to our team in Raleigh, and we're looking forward to developing our new campus in the coming years." apply tags__________ 174324067 story [103]Bitcoin [104]Crypto Industry Super PAC Is 33-2 In Primaries, With $100 Million For House and Senate Races [105](cnbc.com) [106]17 Posted by [107]BeauHD on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @08:50PM from the big-money-at-play dept. A super PAC called [108]Fairshake, funded primarily by top cryptocurrency companies, achieved several wins in congressional primaries and [109]plans to spend over $100 million to support pro-crypto candidates in the general elections. CNBC reports: Fairshake and its two affiliated political action committees, one for Republicans, one for Democrats, quietly racked up half a dozen other wins Tuesday as the candidates they backed glided to victory, although none of the races were competitive. They included Rep. John Curtis, who won the Republican nomination for Utah's open Senate seat. Created last year as part of a joint effort between more than a dozen crypto firms, Fairshake PAC has emerged as one of the top-spending PACs in the 2024 election cycle. Fairshake and its two affiliated PACs have put more than $37 million so far into advertisements in primary races, according to AdImpact. Despite a broad mission to defend the entire $2.2 trillion crypto market, Fairshake is funded by a very small set of donors. Of the $160 million in total contributions Fairshake has raised since it was founded, around $155 million -- or 94% -- can be traced back to just four companies: Ripple, Andreesen Horowitz, Coinbase and Jump Crypto. But it's not just money that the crypto industry plans to deploy this fall. The nonprofit Stand With Crypto says it has collected more than 1.1 million email addresses of crypto "advocates" it hopes to engage all the way to the ballot box. The strength of the crypto groups is getting noticed on Capitol Hill, especially among lawmakers who are facing tough elections in 2025, where a few thousand voters, or a hefty donation, could make a difference in not only a race but in which party controls each chamber. [...] In the coming months, the group doesn't plan to spend on the presidential race, but rather the House and Senate, according to a Fairshake spokesperson. Both of those chambers are in play for 2025. Fairshake has yet to start spending in the general election cycle, but several officials in the industry said they are keeping an eye on states such as Ohio and Montana, where Democratic incumbents who are bearish on crypto face challengers who have embraced the technology. [...] Ads funded by Fairshake deliver messages that are typically less about a candidates' support for or opposition to crypto, and more about broader issues that resound with voters, such as fairness and integrity. apply tags__________ 174323557 story [110]AI [111]A Russian Propaganda Network Is Promoting an AI-Manipulated Biden Video [112](wired.com) [113]169 Posted by [114]BeauHD on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @08:10PM from the stay-vigilant dept. An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: In recent weeks, as so-called cheap fake video clips suggesting President Joe Biden is unfit for office have gone viral on social media, a Kremlin-affiliated disinformation network has been [115]promoting a parody music video featuring Biden wearing a diaper and being pushed around in a wheelchair. The video is called "Bye, Bye Biden" and has been viewed more than 5 million times on X since it was first promoted in the middle of May. It depicts Biden as senile, wearing a hearing aid, and taking a lot of medication. It also shows him giving money to a character who seems to represent illegal migrants while denying money to US citizens until they change their costume to mimic the Ukrainian flag. Another scene shows Biden opening the front door of a family home that features a Confederate flag on the wall and allowing migrants to come in and take over. Finally, the video contains references to stolen election conspiracies pushed by former president Donald Trump. The video was created by Little Bug, a group that mimics the style of Little Big, a real Russian band that fled the country in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The video features several Moscow-based actors -- who spoke with Russian media outlet Agency.Media -- but also appears to use artificial intelligence technology to make the actors resemble Biden and Trump, as well as Ilya Prusikin, the lead singer of Little Big. "Biden and Trump appear to be the same actor, with deepfake video-editing changing his facial features until he resembles Biden in one case and Trump in the other case," says Alex Fink, an AI and machine-vision expert who analyzed the video for WIRED. "The editing is inconsistent, so you can see that in some cases he resembles Biden more and in others less. The facial features keep changing." An analysis by True Media, a nonprofit that was founded to tackle the spread of election-related deepfakes, found with 100 percent confidence that there was AI-generated audio used in the video. It also assessed with 78 percent confidence that some AI technology was used to manipulate the faces of the actors. Fink says the obvious nature of the deepfake technology on display here suggests that the video was created in a rush, using a small number of iterations of a generative adversarial network in order to create the characters of Biden and Trump. It is unclear who is behind the video, but "Bye, Bye Biden" has been promoted by the Kremlin-aligned network known as Doppelganger. The campaign posted tens of thousands of times on X and was uncovered by Antibot4Navalny, an anonymous collective of Russian researchers who have been tracking Doppelganger's activity for the past six months. The campaign first began on May 21, and there have been almost 4,000 posts on X promoting the video in 13 languages that were promoted by a network of almost 25,000 accounts. The Antibot4Navalny researchers concluded that the posts were written with the help of generative AI technology. The video has been shared 6.5 million times on X and has been viewed almost 5 million times. apply tags__________ 174323485 story [116]Patents [117]Microsoft's Canceled Xbox Cloud Console Gets Detailed In New Patent [118](windowscentral.com) [119]4 Posted by [120]BeauHD on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @07:30PM from the console-that-never-was dept. Microsoft's canceled Xbox cloud console, codenamed [121]Keystone, has been [122]detailed in a new patent spotted by Windows Central's Zac Bowden. From the report: Back in 2021, Microsoft announced that it was working on a dedicated streaming device for Xbox Game Pass. That device was later revealed to be codenamed Keystone, which took the form of a streaming box that would sit under your TV, cost a fraction of the price of a normal Xbox, and enable the ability to play Xbox games via the cloud. Unfortunately, it appears Microsoft has since scrapped plans to ship Xbox Keystone due to an inability to bring the price down to a level where it made sense for customers. Xbox CEO Phil Spencer is on record saying the device should have costed around $99 or $129, but the company was unable to achieve this. Thanks to a patent discovered by Windows Central, we can finally take a closer look at the box Microsoft had conjured up internally. First up, the patent reveals that the console took the form of an even square with a circle shape on top, similar to the black circular vent on an Xbox Series S. The front of the box had the Xbox power button, and a USB-A port. Around the back, there were three additional ports; HDMI, ethernet, and power. On the right side of the console there was appears to be an Xbox controller pairing button, and the underside featured a circular "Hello from Seattle" plate that the console sat on, similar to the Xbox Series X. This patent was filed in June 2022, which was around the time when the first details of Xbox Keystone were being revealed. apply tags__________ 174323449 story [123]Cellphones [124]Australian Bank Spots Scams via How Users Hold Their Phones [125](pymnts.com) [126]30 Posted by [127]BeauHD on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @06:50PM from the scourge-of-our-times dept. National Australia Bank seems to think that monitoring the angle customers hold their phones [128]will offer extra protection against scammers. "Speaking during the Australian Banking Association Conference in Melbourne Wednesday (June 26), CEO Andrew Irvine said the lender introduced more 'friction' to payments processes and new predictive protection tools to spot scammers," reports PYMNTS.com, citing a (paywalled) [129]Bloomberg report. From the report: "We've added tooling that looks at biometrics and the way you actually interact with your devices and how you think about keystrokes," said Irvine, per the report. "If these things are different to how you've used your phone in the past, our intelligence will kick in." Irvine, who called fraudsters the "scourge of our times," also noted that Australia is one of the few countries where bank fraud has declined, the report said. Still, he said that as scammers have embraced new technology like artificial intelligence, banks have had to shift from making payments fast and simple to adding more steps to protect against fraudulent transactions, per the report. "These threat actors go where the money is," Irvine said, according to the report. "You want to be the best alarm system in the street and right now Australia's leading the way." apply tags__________ 174323419 story [130]AI [131]Toys 'R' Us Riles Critics With 'First-Ever' AI-Generated Commercial Using Sora [132](arstechnica.com) [133]32 Posted by [134]BeauHD on Wednesday June 26, 2024 @06:10PM from the first-of-many dept. An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Monday, Toys "R" Us [135]announced that it had partnered with an ad agency called Native Foreign to create what it calls "the [136]first-ever brand film using OpenAI's new text-to-video tool, Sora." OpenAI [137]debuted Sora in February, but the video synthesis tool has not yet become available to the public. The [138]brand film tells the story of Toys "R" Us founder Charles Lazarus using AI-generated video clips. "We are thrilled to partner with Native Foreign to push the boundaries of Sora, a groundbreaking new technology from OpenAI that's gaining global attention," [139]wrote Toys "R" Us on its website. "Sora can create up to one-minute-long videos featuring realistic scenes and multiple characters, all generated from text instruction. Imagine the excitement of creating a young Charles Lazarus, the founder of Toys "R" Us, and envisioning his dreams for our iconic brand and beloved mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe in the early 1930s." The company says that The Origin of Toys "R" Us commercial was co-produced by Toys "R" Us Studios President Kim Miller Olko as executive producer and Native Foreign's Nik Kleverov as director. "Charles Lazarus was a visionary ahead of his time, and we wanted to honor his legacy with a spot using the most cutting-edge technology available," Miller Olko said in a statement. In the video, we see a child version of Lazarus, presumably generated using Sora, falling asleep and having a dream that he is flying through a land of toys. Along the way, he meets Geoffery, the store's mascot, who hands the child a small red car. Many of the scenes retain obvious hallmarks of AI-generated imagery, such as unnatural movement, strange visual artifacts, and the irregular shape of eyeglasses. [...] Although the Toys "R" Us video uses key visual elements from Sora, it still required quite a bit of human post-production work to put it together. Sora eliminated the need for actors and cameras, but creating successful generations and piecing together the rest still took human scriptwriters and VFX artists to fill in the AI model's shortcomings. "The brand film was almost entirely created with Sora, with some corrective VFX and an original music score composed by Aaron Marsh of famed indie rock band Copeland," [140]wrote Toys "R" Us in a press release. Comedy writer Mike Drucker wrapped up several of these criticisms into one post, [141]writing: "Love this commercial is like, 'Toys R Us started with the dream of a little boy who wanted to share his imagination with the world. And to show how, we fired our artists and dried Lake Superior using a server farm to generate what that would look like in Stephen King's nightmares.'" Other critical comments were more frank. Filmmaker Joe Russo [142]posted: "TOYS 'R US released an AI commercial and it fucking sucks." apply tags__________ [143]« Newer [144]Older » Slashdot Top Deals Slashdot Top Deals [145]Slashdot Deals Slashdot Poll Is NVIDIA: (*) Overvalued ( ) Undervalued ( ) Valued correctly ( ) Not sure / Show results (BUTTON) vote now [146]Read the 39 comments | 8525 votes Looks like someone has already voted from this IP. If you would like to vote please login and try again. Is NVIDIA: 0 Percentage of others that also voted for: * [147]view results * Or * * [148]view more [149]Read the 39 comments | 8525 voted Most Discussed * 353 comments [150]Birth Rates in Rich Countries Halve To Hit Record Low * 194 comments [151]World's First Carbon Tax On Livestock Will Cost Farmers $100 Per Cow * 165 comments [152]A Russian Propaganda Network Is Promoting an AI-Manipulated Biden Video * 149 comments [153]Supreme Court Rebuffs Challenge To Biden's Social Media Outreach * 113 comments [154]Man Flies To Florida To Attack Another Player Over an Online Gaming Dispute [155]Firehose * [156]Designer Of Ontario Science Centre says closure was a political move * [157]Is the world's biggest fusion experiment dead after new delay to 2035? * [158]Uk girls giving up 'hard' computer science * [159]Supreme Court allows White House to counter misinformation * [160]All 19,252 DNC emails & 8,034 documents have been scrubbed from the Wikileak [161]This Day on Slashdot 2009 [162]Emigrating To a Freer Country? 1359 comments 2008 [163]North Pole Ice On Track To Melt By September? 978 comments 2006 [164]Encrypted Ammunition? 909 comments 2005 [165]Supreme Court Rules against Grokster 1249 comments 2004 [166]Fahrenheit 9/11 Discussion 3265 comments [167]Sourceforge Top Downloads * [168]TrueType core fonts 2.2B downloads * [169]Notepad++ Plugin Mgr 1.5B downloads * [170]VLC media player 899M downloads * [171]eMule 686M downloads * [172]MinGW 631M downloads Powered By [173]sf [174]Slashdot * [175]Today * [176]Wednesday * [177]Tuesday * [178]Monday * [179]Sunday * [180]Saturday * [181]Friday * [182]Thursday * [183]Submit Story According to the latest official figures, 43% of all statistics are totally worthless. * [184]FAQ * [185]Story Archive * [186]Hall of Fame * [187]Advertising * [188]Terms * [189]Privacy Statement * [190]About * [191]Feedback * [192]Mobile View * [193]Blog * * (BUTTON) Icon Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information Copyright © 2024 Slashdot Media. All Rights Reserved. × [194]Close [195]Close [196]Slashdot [njs.gif?370] Working... References Visible links: 1. https://m.slashdot.org/ 2. https://slashdot.org/ 3. https://slashdot.org/search.pl 4. https://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdotMain 5. https://slashdot.org/ 6. https://slashdot.org/ 7. https://slashdot.org/recent 8. https://slashdot.org/popular 9. https://slashdot.org/polls 10. https://slashdot.org/software/ 11. https://slashdot.org/content/ 12. https://slashdot.org/jobs 13. https://slashdot.org/submission 14. https://slashdot.org/my/login 15. https://slashdot.org/my/newuser 16. https://devices.slashdot.org/ 17. https://build.slashdot.org/ 18. https://entertainment.slashdot.org/ 19. https://technology.slashdot.org/ 20. https://slashdot.org/?fhfilter=opensource 21. https://science.slashdot.org/ 22. https://yro.slashdot.org/ 23. https://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdotMain 24. https://www.facebook.com/slashdot 25. https://www.linkedin.com/company/slashdot 26. https://twitter.com/slashdot 27. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsW36751Gy-EAbHQwe9WBNw 28. https://mastodon.cloud/@slashdot 29. https://slashdot.org/newsletter 30. https://slashdot.org/login.pl 31. https://slashdot.org/my/mailpassword 32. https://slashdot.org/ 33. https://slashdot.org/newsletter 34. https://jobs.slashdot.org/?source=boiler_plate&utm_source=boiler_plate&utm_medium=content&utm_campaign=bp_referral 35. https://sourceforge.net/p/forge/documentation/GitHub Importer/ 36. https://sourceforge.net/p/import_project/github/ 37. https://slashdot.org/ 38. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=earth 39. https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/1543255/sharp-rise-in-number-of-climate-lawsuits-against-companies-report-says 40. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/27/sharp-rise-in-number-of-climate-lawsuits-against-companies-report-says 41. https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/1543255/sharp-rise-in-number-of-climate-lawsuits-against-companies-report-says#comments 42. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jun/27/sharp-rise-in-number-of-climate-lawsuits-against-companies-report-says 43. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=google 44. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/1532230/google-translate-adds-110-languages-in-ai-powered-expansion 45. https://blog.google/products/translate/google-translate-new-languages-2024/ 46. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/1532230/google-translate-adds-110-languages-in-ai-powered-expansion#comments 47. https://blog.google/products/translate/google-translate-new-languages-2024/ 48. https://tech.slashdot.org/story/23/05/10/1819219/google-announces-palm-2-its-next-generation-language-model 49. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=usa 50. https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/1449212/scotus-pauses-epa-plan-to-keep-smog-from-drifting-across-state-lines 51. https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/27/24186454/ohio-v-epa-nox-good-neighbor-plan-smog-pollution-stay 52. https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/1449212/scotus-pauses-epa-plan-to-keep-smog-from-drifting-across-state-lines#comments 53. https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/27/24186454/ohio-v-epa-nox-good-neighbor-plan-smog-pollution-stay 54. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=usa 55. https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/143252/coinbase-is-suing-the-sec-and-fdic-over-public-records 56. https://decrypt.co/237257/why-coinbase-is-suing-the-sec-and-fdic-over-public-records 57. https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/143252/coinbase-is-suing-the-sec-and-fdic-over-public-records#comments 58. https://decrypt.co/237257/why-coinbase-is-suing-the-sec-and-fdic-over-public-records 59. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=ai 60. https://slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/0425253/ai-dataset-licensing-companies-form-sectors-first-trade-group 61. https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/ai-dataset-licensing-companies-form-trade-group-2024-06-26/ 62. https://slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/0425253/ai-dataset-licensing-companies-form-sectors-first-trade-group#comments 63. https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/ 64. https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/ai-dataset-licensing-companies-form-trade-group-2024-06-26/ 65. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=space 66. https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/0420228/phosphate-in-nasas-osiris-rex-asteroid-sample-suggests-ocean-world-origins 67. https://www.space.com/nasa-osiris-rex-sample-return-phosphate-ocean-world 68. https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/0420228/phosphate-in-nasas-osiris-rex-asteroid-sample-suggests-ocean-world-origins#comments 69. https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/ 70. https://www.nasa.gov/missions/osiris-rex/surprising-phosphate-finding-in-nasas-osiris-rex-asteroid-sample/ 71. https://www.space.com/nasa-osiris-rex-sample-return-phosphate-ocean-world 72. https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14227 73. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=iss 74. https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/0350254/spacex-scores-843-million-nasa-contract-to-de-orbit-iss-in-2030 75. https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/26/spacex-scores-843m-nasa-contract-to-deorbit-iss-in-2030/ 76. https://science.slashdot.org/story/24/06/27/0350254/spacex-scores-843-million-nasa-contract-to-de-orbit-iss-in-2030#comments 77. https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/ 78. https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-selects-international-space-station-us-deorbit-vehicle/ 79. https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/26/spacex-scores-843m-nasa-contract-to-deorbit-iss-in-2030/ 80. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=earth 81. https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2232241/worlds-first-carbon-tax-on-livestock-will-cost-farmers-100-per-cow 82. https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/26/business/denmark-cows-carbon-tax/index.html 83. https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2232241/worlds-first-carbon-tax-on-livestock-will-cost-farmers-100-per-cow#comments 84. https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/ 85. https://skm.dk/aktuelt/presse-nyheder/pressemeddelelser/regeringen-og-parterne-i-groen-trepart-indgaar-historisk-aftale-om-et-groent-danmark 86. https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/26/business/denmark-cows-carbon-tax/index.html 87. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=privacy 88. https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2237247/microsoft-blamed-for-million-plus-patient-record-theft-at-us-hospital-giant 89. https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/26/geisinger_nuance_microsoft_worker/ 90. https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2237247/microsoft-blamed-for-million-plus-patient-record-theft-at-us-hospital-giant#comments 91. https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/ 92. https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/26/geisinger_nuance_microsoft_worker/ 93. https://www.geisinger.org/about-geisinger/news-and-media/news-releases/2024/06/24/18/17/geisinger-provides-notice-of-nuances-data-security-incident 94. https://slashdot.org/story/21/04/12/1339227/microsoft-is-acquiring-nuance-communications-for-197-billion 95. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=business 96. https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2222205/apple-pauses-work-on-planned-north-carolina-campus 97. https://www.macrumors.com/2024/06/24/apple-north-carolina-campus-paused/ 98. https://apple.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2222205/apple-pauses-work-on-planned-north-carolina-campus#comments 99. https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/ 100. https://apple.slashdot.org/story/21/04/26/1648231/apple-to-establish-north-carolina-campus-increase-us-spending-targets 101. https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2024/05/20/apple-rtp-jobs-north-carolina-construction-campus.html 102. https://www.macrumors.com/2024/06/24/apple-north-carolina-campus-paused/ 103. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=bitcoin 104. https://slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2215259/crypto-industry-super-pac-is-33-2-in-primaries-with-100-million-for-house-and-senate-races 105. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/26/crypto-pac-house-senate-elections.html 106. https://slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2215259/crypto-industry-super-pac-is-33-2-in-primaries-with-100-million-for-house-and-senate-races#comments 107. https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/ 108. https://www.fairshakepac.com/ 109. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/26/crypto-pac-house-senate-elections.html 110. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=ai 111. https://politics.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/210215/a-russian-propaganda-network-is-promoting-an-ai-manipulated-biden-video 112. https://www.wired.com/story/russia-disinformation-network-ai-generated-biden-video/ 113. https://politics.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/210215/a-russian-propaganda-network-is-promoting-an-ai-manipulated-biden-video#comments 114. https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/ 115. https://www.wired.com/story/russia-disinformation-network-ai-generated-biden-video/ 116. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=patents 117. https://games.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2051235/microsofts-canceled-xbox-cloud-console-gets-detailed-in-new-patent 118. https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/the-xbox-that-never-was-our-first-detailed-look-at-the-keystone-cloud-streaming-console-design 119. https://games.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2051235/microsofts-canceled-xbox-cloud-console-gets-detailed-in-new-patent#comments 120. https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/ 121. https://games.slashdot.org/story/22/11/16/011243/microsofts-xbox-streaming-console-keystone-was-pushed-back-because-of-its-price 122. https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/xbox/the-xbox-that-never-was-our-first-detailed-look-at-the-keystone-cloud-streaming-console-design 123. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=cellphones 124. https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2043229/australian-bank-spots-scams-via-how-users-hold-their-phones 125. https://www.pymnts.com/news/security-and-risk/2024/australian-bank-spots-scams-via-how-users-hold-phones/ 126. https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2043229/australian-bank-spots-scams-via-how-users-hold-their-phones#comments 127. https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/ 128. https://www.pymnts.com/news/security-and-risk/2024/australian-bank-spots-scams-via-how-users-hold-phones/ 129. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-26/australian-bank-monitors-how-you-tilt-your-phone-to-detect-scams?embedded-checkout=true 130. https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=ai 131. https://slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2035239/toys-r-us-riles-critics-with-first-ever-ai-generated-commercial-using-sora 132. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/06/toys-r-us-riles-critics-with-first-ever-ai-generated-commercial-using-sora/ 133. https://slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2035239/toys-r-us-riles-critics-with-first-ever-ai-generated-commercial-using-sora#comments 134. https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauhd/ 135. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/toysrus-studios-and-native-foreign-use-openais-sora-to-narrate-the-origin-story-of-beloved-toyrus-brand-302180332.html 136. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/06/toys-r-us-riles-critics-with-first-ever-ai-generated-commercial-using-sora/ 137. https://slashdot.org/story/24/02/15/2047250/openais-sora-turns-ai-prompts-into-photorealistic-videos 138. https://www.toysrus.com/pages/studios 139. https://www.toysrus.com/pages/studios 140. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/toysrus-studios-and-native-foreign-use-openais-sora-to-narrate-the-origin-story-of-beloved-toyrus-brand-302180332.html 141. https://x.com/MikeDrucker/status/1805773844306591820 142. https://x.com/joerussotweets/status/1805683405306446300 143. https://slashdot.org/ 144. https://slashdot.org/?page=1 145. http://deals.slashdot.org/ 146. https://slashdot.org/poll/3253/is-nvidia 147. https://slashdot.org/poll/3253/is-nvidia 148. https://slashdot.org/polls 149. https://slashdot.org/poll/3253/is-nvidia 150. https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/06/25/1649205/birth-rates-in-rich-countries-halve-to-hit-record-low?sbsrc=md 151. https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/2232241/worlds-first-carbon-tax-on-livestock-will-cost-farmers-100-per-cow?sbsrc=md 152. https://politics.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/210215/a-russian-propaganda-network-is-promoting-an-ai-manipulated-biden-video?sbsrc=md 153. https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/1438259/supreme-court-rebuffs-challenge-to-bidens-social-media-outreach?sbsrc=md 154. https://games.slashdot.org/story/24/06/26/008251/man-flies-to-florida-to-attack-another-player-over-an-online-gaming-dispute?sbsrc=md 155. https://slashdot.org/recent/ 156. https://slashdot.org/submission/17323261/designer-of-ontario-science-centre-says-closure-was-a-political-move?utm_source=rss1.0&utm_medium=feed&sbsrc=firehose 157. https://slashdot.org/submission/17323245/is-the-worlds-biggest-fusion-experiment-dead-after-new-delay-to-2035?utm_source=rss1.0&utm_medium=feed&sbsrc=firehose 158. https://slashdot.org/submission/17323189/uk-girls-giving-up-hard-computer-science?utm_source=rss1.0&utm_medium=feed&sbsrc=firehose 159. https://slashdot.org/submission/17323169/supreme-court-allows-white-house-to-counter-misinformation?utm_source=rss1.0&utm_medium=feed&sbsrc=firehose 160. https://slashdot.org/submission/17323165/all-19252-dnc-emails-8034-documents-have-been-scrubbed-from-the-wikileak?utm_source=rss1.0&utm_medium=feed&sbsrc=firehose 161. https://slashdot.org/ 162. https://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/06/27/0152216/emigrating-to-a-freer-country?sbsrc=thisday 163. https://news.slashdot.org/story/08/06/27/1650207/north-pole-ice-on-track-to-melt-by-september?sbsrc=thisday 164. https://slashdot.org/story/06/06/27/1544203/encrypted-ammunition?sbsrc=thisday 165. https://news.slashdot.org/story/05/06/27/155212/supreme-court-rules-against-grokster?sbsrc=thisday 166. https://news.slashdot.org/story/04/06/27/1315218/fahrenheit-911-discussion?sbsrc=thisday 167. https://slashdot.org/ 168. https://sourceforge.net/projects/corefonts/?source=sd_slashbox 169. https://sourceforge.net/projects/npppluginmgr/?source=sd_slashbox 170. https://sourceforge.net/projects/vlc/?source=sd_slashbox 171. https://sourceforge.net/projects/emule/?source=sd_slashbox 172. https://sourceforge.net/projects/mingw/?source=sd_slashbox 173. https://sourceforge.net/?source=sd_slashbox 174. https://slashdot.org/ 175. https://slashdot.org/?issue=20240627 176. https://slashdot.org/?issue=20240626 177. https://slashdot.org/?issue=20240625 178. https://slashdot.org/?issue=20240624 179. https://slashdot.org/?issue=20240623 180. https://slashdot.org/?issue=20240622 181. https://slashdot.org/?issue=20240621 182. https://slashdot.org/?issue=20240620 183. https://slashdot.org/submit 184. https://slashdot.org/faq 185. https://slashdot.org/archive.pl 186. https://slashdot.org/hof.shtml 187. https://slashdotmedia.com/advertising-and-marketing-services/ 188. https://slashdotmedia.com/terms-of-use/ 189. https://slashdotmedia.com/privacy-statement/ 190. https://slashdot.org/faq/slashmeta.shtml 191. mailto:feedback@slashdot.org 192. https://slashdot.org/ 193. https://slashdot.org/blog 194. https://slashdot.org/ 195. https://slashdot.org/ 196. https://slashdot.org/ Hidden links: 198. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 199. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 200. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 201. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 202. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 203. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 204. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 205. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 206. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 207. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 208. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 209. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 210. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 211. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 212. https://slashdot.org/tag/ 213. https://slashdot.org/newsletter 214. https://slashdot.org/