Buried in the story was a deceptively simple question: does your AI agent count as an employee?

At a recent conference, Microsoft executive Rajesh Jha floated a provocative idea. In a future where companies deploy fleets of AI agents, those agents may need their own identities — logins, inboxes, and even seats inside software systems. If so, AI wouldn't shrink software revenue. It could expand it.

The U.S. restricted data transfers abroad. Cast as an assertion of sovereignty, the new posture signals weakness in great-power competition.

...When a great power restricts its data exports, the move suggests not only diminished control over platforms and infrastructure but also a lack of confidence in technological dominance and a posture defined by perceived strategic vulnerability...

...the EU’s approach to protecting individuals’ privacy was never just an expression of sovereignty. Protecting Europeans’ privacy by reining in data exports became necessary because of Europe’s infrastructural dependence, geopolitical frailty, and military irrelevance...

The United States did not feel the need to emulate Europe. For decades, the free flow of data served U.S. interests perfectly well. It allowed Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft to scale globally and crush local competitors...the U.S. championed free data flows because it was winning.

...the policy shift crystallizes the U.S.’s anxieties about its position in global competition.

Launched internationally in 2017, TikTok became the most downloaded app in the world by 2020...and the U.S. found itself on the receiving end of potential mass surveillance.

...TikTok’s success shattered conventional assumptions about U.S. technological supremacy. U.S. consumers voluntarily chose a Chinese-owned app over homegrown alternatives...

Regulatory actions reveal more about a country’s self-assessment than speeches or polls. They show what governments are willing to spend political capital on, what economic costs they are prepared to absorb, and what trade-offs they consider acceptable. The TikTok legislation—passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in a Congress that struggles to agree on almost anything else—alone reveals the depth of concern.

Countries also send messages through regulation, whether they intend to or not. When the United States builds data walls, it signals to allies and adversaries alike that it no longer feels confident enough to rely on the openness it once championed.

Europe turned to data export controls because it lacked technological power. Now the U.S. has joined the defensive club. Beijing will notice.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/45587578

Does the world need more billionaires? Guess we will soon find out, as they multiplying now, and not even naturally!

...Redwood believes that by 2030, end-of-life batteries could supply more than 50 percent of the entire energy storage market. Instead of grinding up used batteries to reclaim the critical materials inside, put them to work storing electricity. There have been many experiments done that re-purpose used EV batteries which no longer can supply enough power to meet the need for rapid acceleration in an EV but still have up to 80 percent of their original energy storage capacity available...

...Traditional energy storage systems are high density and require heavy-duty cooling. To avoid this, Redwood’s team opted for an open-air, low-density system mounted on above-ground cable trays.

Spreading packs out in the open air helps avoid the need for active refrigeration, and stripping away moving parts like fans and filters minimizes potential reliability failures. Keeping the wiring above ground and limiting the size of each modular component minimizes the need for large equipment. As Sun explained, the result is a storage system that is faster to build, easier to inspect after storms, and cheaper to keep running over time...

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47742765

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47742680

Google has removed popular psychological horror game Doki Doki Literature Club! from the Play Store. According to Dan Salvato, who led its development team, and publisher Serenity Forge, Google told them the visual novel was removed because it violated its Terms of Service in its depiction of sensitive themes. The game is “widely celebrated for portraying mental health in a way that meaningfully connects deeply with players around the world,” they said in their announcement. Its free version, which came out first, has been downloaded at least 30 million times, while the paid “Plus” version has had at least one million downloads. The visual novel has repeatedly made Engadget’s lists of favorite games over the years.

**alternative download link you can download it from https://com-serenityforge-dokidokiliteratureclub.en.uptodown.com/android/download

Don't know if it is trustworthy though.

You play download the PC version officially from steam, only android was removed: https://store.steampowered.com/app/698780/Doki_Doki_Literature_Club/ **

Get ready for the lines going down on Monday...