A number of new measures have been announced as part of Ireland’s national AI strategy, including expanded upskilling initiatives.

Read more: Irish Government unveils ‘refreshed’ national AI strategy

The judge ruled in favour of OpenAI stating that the outlets were unable to prove 'concrete injury'.

Read more: News outlets lose copyright lawsuit against OpenAI

The aim of the project is to develop and test AI tools to boost the efficiency and sustainability of Europe's energy sector.

Read more: Dublin’s EPRI leads European project to advance AI use in the energy sector

The team will work with CKDelta to deliver predictive maintenance models that could improve efficiency.

Read more: Trinity researchers will use AI to tackle utilities sector challenges

People think AI can solve problems instantly, says SETU’s Dr Indrakshi Dey, but the reality is much more complex.

Read more: ‘AI can only solve real-world problems with the right data’

Anton Shilov reports via Tom's Hardware: FFmpeg is an open-source video decoding project developed by volunteers who contribute to its codebase, fix bugs, and add new features. The project is led by a small group of core developers and maintainers who oversee its direction and ensure that contributions meet certain standards. They coordinate the project's development and release cycles, merging contributions from other developers. This group of developers tried to implement a handwritten AVX512 assembly code path, something that has rarely been done before, at least not in the video industry. The developers have created an optimized code path using the AVX-512 instruction set to accelerate specific functions within the FFmpeg multimedia processing library. By leveraging AVX-512, they were able to achieve significant performance improvements -- from three to 94 times faster -- compared to standard implementations. AVX-512 enables processing large chunks of data in parallel using 512-bit registers, which can handle up to 16 single-precision FLOPS or 8 double-precision FLOPS in one operation. This optimization is ideal for compute-heavy tasks in general, but in the case of video and image processing in particular. The benchmarking results show that the new handwritten AVX-512 code path performs considerably faster than other implementations, including baseline C code and lower SIMD instruction sets like AVX2 and SSSE3. In some cases, the revamped AVX-512 codepath achieves a speedup of nearly 94 times over the baseline, highlighting the efficiency of hand-optimized assembly code for AVX-512.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Sweden has vetoed plans for 13 offshore windfarms in the Baltic Sea, citing unacceptable security risks. The country's defence minister, Pal Jonson, said on Monday that the government had rejected plans for all but one of 14 windfarms planned along the east coast. The decision comes after the Swedish armed forces concluded last week that the projects would make it more difficult to defend Nato's newest member. The proposed windfarms would have been located between Aland, the autonomous Finnish region between Sweden and Finland, and the Sound, the strait between southern Sweden and Denmark. The Russian exclave of Kaliningrad is only about 310 miles (500km) from Stockholm. Wind power could affect Sweden's defence capabilities across sensors and radars and make it harder to detect submarines and possible attacks from the air if war broke out, Jonson said. The only project to receive the green light to was Poseidon, which will include as many as 81 wind turbines to produce 5.5 terawatt hours a year off Stenungsund on Sweden's west coast. "Both ballistic robots and also cruise robots are a big problem if you have offshore wind power," Jonson said. "If you have a strong signal detection capability and a radar system that is important, we use the Patriot system for example, there would be negative consequences if there were offshore wind power in the way of the sensors."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Sodium-ion batteries are cheaper than lithium-ion batteries — and they're also more environmentally friendly. And "In the past few years, sodium-ion battery production has increased in the United States," reports the Washington Post, with a new factory planned to manufacture them "in the same way as lithium-ion batteries, just with different ingredients. Instead of using expensive materials like lithium, nickel and cobalt, these will be made of sodium, iron and manganese..." Last month, sodium-ion battery manufacturer Natron Energy announced it would open a "gigafactory" in North Carolina that would produce 24 gigawatt hours of batteries annually, enough energy to charge 24,000 electric vehicles. But sodium-ion batteries are still early in their development compared with lithium-ion, and they have yet to hit the market on a massive scale. "It's unlikely sodium-ion could displace lithium-ion anytime soon," said Keith Beers, polymer science and materials chemistry principal engineer at technical consultancy firm Exponent... The biggest limitation of sodium-ion batteries is their weight. Sodium weighs nearly three times as much as lithium, and it cannot store the same amount of energy. As a result, sodium-ion batteries tend to be larger. Jens Peters, an economics professor at the University of Alcalá in Madrid, said the energy density could be improved over time in sodium-ion batteries. But, he added, "what we found out so far in our assessments is that it is not a game changer." Sodium-ion batteries are touted to be the environmentally friendly alternative to their lithium-ion counterparts, thanks to their raw materials. Sodium, iron and manganese are all abundant elements on the planet, so they require less energy to extract and cost less... Sodium-ion batteries also last longer than lithium-ion ones because they can withstand more charge cycles, said Wendell Brooks, co-CEO of Natron Energy. "Our product can have millions of cycles," said Brooks, "where lithium-ion would have three to five thousand cycles and wear out a lot faster...." Sodium-ion batteries aren't the best fit for smartphones or electric vehicles, which need to store lots of energy. However, one advantage is their low cost. And they could be a good candidate in situations where the size of the battery isn't a concern, like energy storage. "When something is built out to support grid or backup storage, it doesn't need to be very dense. It's staying put," Beers said. Natron will invest nearly $1.4 billion in the factory "to meet the rapidly expanding demand for critical power, industrial and grid energy storage solutions," according to their announcement. "Natron's high-performance sodium-ion batteries outperform lithium-ion batteries in power density and recharging speed, do not require lithium, cobalt, copper, or nickel, and are non-flammable... Natron's batteries are the only UL-listed sodium-ion batteries on the market today, and will be delivered to a wide range of customer end markets in the industrial power space, including data centers, mobility, EV fast charging, microgrids, and telecom, among others."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Wednesday Cuba was hit by a major hurricane which took down its entire power grid again, this time for about 24 hours, according to CNN: Videos of the aftermath showed power infrastructure turned into a mangled mess and power poles down on streets. Hundreds of technicians were mobilized Thursday to reestablish power connections, according to state media... Operations at two electrical plants were partially restored and parts of eastern and central Cuba had electricity back up by Thursday afternoon, state media reported... The country's power grid has collapsed multiple times, including when Hurricane Oscar hit in October and killed at least 7 people. In the capital of Havana, where 2 million people live, power had been restored to less than 20% of the city by late Friday afternoon, . "Authorities had not yet given an estimate for when power would be fully restored..." Then tonight, CNN reported: A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of eastern Cuba on Sunday, causing material damage in several regions as the island continues to recover from widespread blackouts and the impact of two hurricanes over the past few weeks. The earthquake was reported about 39 km (24 miles) south of Bartolomé Masó before noon local time, about an hour after a 5.9 magnitude quake rocked the area, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. "There have been landslides, damage to homes and power lines," Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said, adding that authorities are evaluating the situation to start recovery efforts.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Julius Ceaser once called the aurochs 'extraordinary'. Now ancient DNA is unlocking secrets of this mysterious beast.

Read more: Trinity scientists find surprising genetic diversity in early cows

Marine Institute’s Dr Niall McDonough talks about the upcoming Ocean Knowledge 2030 Conference and a new national marine strategy.

Read more: Why knowledge is vital for securing Ireland’s ocean economy

This year's grant winners represent the highest proportion of women since the scheme began.

Read more: Trinity and UCD among 57 teams to win €571m in ERC Synergy Grants

UCD's Prof Kate Robson Brown leads the development of analytical models that predict the lifetime of composites in low-Earth orbit.

Read more: UCD professor part of team developing new space materials

The findings open the door for new microbial-based therapy for anxiety and depression, according to UCC.

Read more: Gut bacteria affects stress response, UCC scientists find

The largest number of doses (85pc of the allocation) will go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicentre of the current outbreak.

Read more: WHO announces 899,000 mpox vaccines for nine African nations most affected

The mission includes studies of solar wind, a radiation-tolerant moss, spacecraft materials, and a cold-welding experiment for space applications.

Read more: SETU researchers contribute to NASA space mission

The first funding call is open until 20 January 2025 with a subsequent one scheduled to open next September.

Read more: Aquarius opens funding call for marine and freshwater research

Altair is known for its computational science and AI for industrial simulation and data analytics.

Read more: Siemens to buy Altair for $10bn to boost industrial software

The online system will free up immigration staff to focus on processing applications, the Department of Justice said.

Read more: New digital hub for Irish immigration permits partners with ID-Pal

The Italian competition watchdog requested the investigation for fear the acquisition will affect trade in the single market.

Read more: EU investigates Nvidia acquisition of Run:ai over competition risk

The funding approved by Enterprise Ireland has been used by more than 400 companies to help reduce carbon emissions.

Read more: More than €55m granted to Irish companies for decarbonisation

The reorganisation plans would only focus on Booking.com and not associated brands such as OpenTable, Agoda, Priceline, and Kayak, according to Reuters.

Read more: Booking.com job cuts may be on the way amid restructuring

Chris Dixon, who leads the A16Z crypto fund, and has been an entrepreneur, VC, and friend of mine for over twenty years, has written a book called Read Write Own that is available for pre-order now and will start shipping at the end of the month. Chris gave me a copy right before the holidays […]

While many people in the creative industries are worrying that AI is about to steal their jobs, Oscar-winning film director James Cameron is embracing the technology. Cameron is famous for making the Avatar and Terminator movies, as well as Titanic. Now he has joined the board of Stability.AI, a leading player in the world of Generative AI. In Cameron’s Terminator films, Skynet is an artificial general intelligence that has become self-aware and is determined to destroy the humans who are trying to deactivate it. Forty years after the first of those movies, its director appears to be changing sides and…

This story continues at The Next Web

Ruby’s creator, Yukihiro Matsumoto (Matz), released the first public version of the programming language in December 1995, making Ruby just shy of its 30th birthday. It spread across Japanese-language Usenet newsgroups, a popular way of exchanging conversation and media before the World Wide Web, and then reached broader communities throughout the late 1990s. This was thanks to Ruby’s friendly community and, in no small part, thanks to Matz. (The community has a motto, “Matz is nice, and so we are nice.”) At this year’s annual European Ruby Konferenze — EuRoKu — in Sarajevo, Matz said he created Ruby because he…

This story continues at The Next Web

This all-in-one app makes it easier to maximize your Nvidia GPU.

An interconnected smart home is a nice idea, but not if it's constantly leaking your data.

Scammers are using photos of your house to encourage you to send them money, but here's why you shouldn't.

Find out more about Apple's first smart home hardware.

The saw tooth roof of the International Precast Solutions building in Michigan proved challenging for spray foam installation, but installers with Spray Tight Foam Insulators rose to the challenge.

Atlas partnered with the KU School of Architecture & Design and the nonprofit Studio 804 to help graduate students design and build a sustainable home for a final project.

Students and faculty heading back to school in the Milwaukee Public School district have one less thing to worry about thanks to the district’s longstanding partnership with Atlas Roofing Corporation.

The owner’s goal was to construct a multi-purpose building and rooftop solar system that would provide 100% of the electricity needs for their equestrian ranch property.

To upgrade a facility's 145,300 square foot roof with metal and solar while dealing with COVID delays, a contractor turned to S-5! to shrink the project timeline.

A Texas roofing contractor relies on the protection that Owens Corning's Duration shingles offer to battle extreme weather in the Houston market.

The work completed on a metal roof by R/J Group was quickly be put to the test as Hurricane Ian blew through only two weeks after completion.

In this session, learn about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s multi-employer worksite doctrine and the unforeseeable employee misconduct defense to an OSHA citation. 

Striking a balance between work and life can be difficult, but learning to do so results in victories in both spheres.

In this session, Monroe Porter will review some of the more common problem areas roofing contractors should consider when running their business.

Quality and an excellent work ethic define this family-owned commercial contractor.

Beacon's Female Roofing Professional of the Year knows a thing or two about honest roofing, exceeding expectations and winning elections.

CE REEVE Roofing, a Tecta America company, grew from a small roofing outfit to generating $60 million annual sales giant under Bryan Klepinger and Stacy Agnew.

Continuously improving customer service and maintaining open communication channels is critical to building trust and sustaining long-term success at Stonebrook Exteriors.

PJ Fitzpatrick LLC, a Delaware home improvement company, grew from Peter Fitzpatrick's dining table to a $115-million enterprise with 425 employees, five regional offices, and three divisions. 

See how CRS, Inc. helped roofing contractors during difficult times with RC's exclusive coverage of the inaugural Carlisle Experience Award.

Meet Dennis Bresette and Jason Seura, principals of Lee's Summit, Mo.-based Green River Roofing & Construction, a residential and commercial contracting firm that earns about 90% of its revenue from residential roofing jobs on U.S. military bases.

Roofing contractors sought alternatives during a spate of challenges, a pandemic followed by supply chain disruptions and capped by a spike in inflation. But was it at a price?

Roofing innovation: NanoTech Inc, a material science company pioneering a category of climate-resilient materials that enable environmental responsibility without sacrificing financial return, brings on multiple investors in an oversubscribed funding round to combat peak heat in the last weeks of summer.  

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory examined three different types of roofing strategies and their impact on near-surface temperature and cooling energy demand.

NanoTech Materials has partnered with Tesson Roofing to form a joint venture called Cool Roof Coating Systems LLC, which plans to combat Arizona's summer heat.