Over 40 leading scientists have resigned from the editorial board of a top science journal due to what they describe as the "greed" of academic publisher Elsevier's publication charges, which they consider unethical.
Neuroimage, a leading journal focused on brain-imaging research and one of many open access journals, charges over £2,700 for a research paper to be published, and academics feel that the cost bears no relation to the costs involved.
Academics are urging fellow scientists to submit papers to a nonprofit open-access journal which the resigned team is setting up instead, and hope this marks the start of a rebellion against the large profit margins associated with academic publishing.
Academic publishing relies on metrics like journal rankings and citation indexes for prestige, which results in natural monopolies and high fees
Initiatives like open access and no-cost mandates from the EU may help alleviate the problem, but financial incentives and power structures may hinder real change in the industry
The author of the post is done with Google's smart home ecosystem due to their directionless approach towards their product line.
Google has been killing off product lines and features and pushing users towards their in-house smart home gear, which doesn't offer a reliable experience either.
The lack of trust in Google's smart home ambitions is becoming more apparent among their customers and the author is gradually phasing out all Google hardware from their home.
Some users argue for local, DIY solutions like Matter, Zigbee, or Zwave to avoid cloud-based issues and privacy concerns.
People express concerns with the disposable nature of tech products and desire more durable, reliable options with less maintenance and frequent updates.
Google Pixel phones come with bootloader unlocking disabled, and customers must connect the device to the internet to enable unlocking, causing inconvenience.
OEM unlocking requires internet access to check if the device is sold as locked by a carrier.
GrapheneOS is the only place on the internet that documents the requirement of internet connectivity for OEM unlocking and supports limited Google Pixel phones.
The tech community is discussing the issues of carrier locking and hard-locking of devices, raising questions about ownership rights and potential violations of law.
Google has decided to make all future Pixel phones bootable, with previous models to follow, despite concerns surrounding the potential for stolen phones and supply chain attacks.
Belgium has legalised 'ethical hacking' under a new whistleblower law, which allows the investigation of organisations for potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities without their consent.
The law includes four conditions that must be fulfilled for ethical hacking to be decriminalised, such as reporting any uncovered vulnerabilities to the Centre for Cyber Security Belgium, avoiding harm or illegitimate benefits, and limiting the hacking only to what is necessary and proportionate.
The law is seen as a step towards increasing preventive cybersecurity practices for Belgian organisations, but questions remain around its exact delineation between legal and illegal hacking, and its limitations to only apply within Belgium.
Critics question the CCB's right to control vulnerability disclosure and the impact on public trust and security.
Debate in the comments section shows various viewpoints, including discussion of EU laws only applying to servers with an EU presence, examples of repercussions for ethical hackers, debates over companies having proper security measures, and debates over the ability to guarantee complete security.
The Prime Video team scaled up their audio/video monitoring service and reduced costs by 90%, with a combination of serverless and container solutions.
They followed a Serverless First approach, building a quick prototype with Step Functions and Lambda, then refactored it into a long-running microservice.
The team's process was not a monolith transition, but a microservice refactoring step, and it's a best practice for high-traffic, low-latency workloads.
There is a debate on the merits of microservices vs plain service and the importance of estimating serverless resources.
The comments cover topics such as the appropriateness of different tools, tradeoffs in different design decisions, and the importance of evaluating specific use cases.
From 2024, all new technology products sold in EU countries must include universal USB-C charging ports as per EU's regulation.
EU has warned Apple against imposing limitations through MFi certification on its USB-C accessories that may enable faster charging speeds on iPhones than third-party chargers.
Apple will face a ban on selling iPhones in EU member countries, such as France, Germany, and Spain, if it attempts to skirt around the EU's new USB-C charging policy.
The author discusses experiencing burnout, which is when someone becomes mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted due to stress and overwork.
The author shares personal struggles, including the loss of a backpack with valuable possessions and experiencing multiple crises with friends and in the world.
The author takes time off and delegates responsibilities to others to focus on rest and recovery.
Nintendo issues DMCA takedown notice for Lockpick, a homebrew tool that allows users to dump unique keys from their Nintendo Switch console, required for numerous Switch hacking-related programs, including Switch emulators.
Skyline Emulator, a Switch emulator for Android devices, ceases development due to concerns about potential copyright violations from using dumped keys from Lockpick.
Other homebrew projects are rumored to have been hit with DMCA notices as well.
Low-contrast font colors can make website content unreadable for many users, causing headaches and difficulties in reading.
Web design aesthetics are important but should not sacrifice content readability; designers should consider elderly users with bad vision, low-quality monitors, bad lighting, glare, and reading on tiny screens.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines set the minimum contrast between text and background, and experiments confirm that reading time is lower when there's high contrast. Let's make an end to low-contrast, light gray nonsense and prioritize typography for its purpose: making text readable.