US social media firms acting on orders from Middle East kingdom accused of being ‘instruments of repression’Major US social media companies including Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms have blocked the accounts of Saudi Arabian dissidents so they are no longer visible inside the kingdom, following orders by Saudi authorities.Those affected include Abdullah Alaoudh, a US-based activist and vocal critic of Saudi human rights violations, and Omar Abdulaziz, a Canada and UK-based activist who w
US social media firms acting on orders from Middle East kingdom accused of being ‘instruments of repression’
Major US social media companies including Meta’s Facebook and Instagram platforms have blocked the accounts of Saudi Arabian dissidents so they are no longer visible inside the kingdom, following orders by Saudi authorities.
Policy adviser Jen Reed says tech-facilitated abuse has become ‘increasingly prevalent’ and calls for its inclusion in Domestic Abuse ActThe Domestic Abuse Act fails to fully recognise the danger of technology-facilitated abuse, such as location tracking or hidden stalkerware, a Lords select committee has heard.Tech abuse has become “increasingly prevalent” and “very commonplace now within a domestic abuse context”, said Jen Reed, the head of policy at University College London’s Gender and Tech
Policy adviser Jen Reed says tech-facilitated abuse has become ‘increasingly prevalent’ and calls for its inclusion in Domestic Abuse Act
The Domestic Abuse Act fails to fully recognise the danger of technology-facilitated abuse, such as location tracking or hidden stalkerware, a Lords select committee has heard.
Tech abuse has become “increasingly prevalent” and “very commonplace now within a domestic abuse context”, said Jen Reed, the head of policy at University College London’s Gender and Tech Research Lab, during an evidence session.
Bagpipes: You either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. But even among the instrument’s diehard defenders, most wouldn’t spend years designing, building, and perfecting an electromagnetic variant. But that’s exactly what one intrepid hobbyist in the United Kingdom has accomplished—although he first began toying with the idea 30 years ago.
“This project started back in 1996 when I hacked an Irish Uilleann bagpipe chanter by replacing the cane reed with a homemade reed made from carbon steel,” he explai
Bagpipes: You either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. But even among the instrument’s diehard defenders, most wouldn’t spend years designing, building, and perfecting an electromagnetic variant. But that’s exactly what one intrepid hobbyist in the United Kingdom has accomplished—although he first began toying with the idea 30 years ago.
“This project started back in 1996 when I hacked an Irish Uilleann bagpipe chanter by replacing the cane reed with a homemade reed made from carbon steel,” he explained on his Hackaday project page.
Although most famously associated with Scotland, various iterations of bagpipe instruments are documented in regions around the world like North Africa, East Asia, and the Persian Gulf. The Uilleann or Irish pipes date back to the 18th century and operate similarly to their Scottish relatives. To play them, a wearer operates small bellows strapped around the waist to blow relatively dry air through pipe reeds while using them like flutes. Uilleann pipes typically encompass two full octaves and produce a sound that many consider more melodic and mild than Scottish bagpipes.
The electric bagpipes utilize a carbon steel reed that connects to an amplifier. Credit: Goat Industries / Hackaday
This doesn’t mean they’re quiet, of course. In fact, their earliest versions could often be found on the battlefield as morale boosters. Although, the invention of electric instruments meant that even the most robust pipes couldn’t overshadow an amplifier cranked to its maximum. This posed a problem to the modernized version’s inventor.
“I desperately wanted to play the pipes in a rock band and I knew that I would only be able to sonically compete with an electric guitar by fitting an electromagnetic pickup next to a steel reed,” he explained.
Wielding a workaround may sound like a lot of work, especially when a musician could hypothetically just place a microphone near their traditional bagpipes. While certainly possible, it’s still difficult for the performer to actually hear themselves on stage compared to the electric instruments and drums. On top of that, standard microphones pick up a lot of background noise and produce feedback in stage monitors. Constructing a steel reed bypasses these issues entirely.
“Jimi Hendrix-type feedback can still be created but only by turning up the monitor amp really high and physically shoving the instrument into the speaker,” the creator wrote, adding that he can also employ the same effects used by guitarists, including distortion, pitch shifters, and delays.
The modern updates don’t end there, either. While the bellows bag is crafted from goat skin, it’s basically an exterior cosmetic accessory that houses another bag made from the same vinyl used in car seat covers. That’s all well and good—but how does it play?
“Playing gigs with this instrument, people would crowd around to watch and guitarists at the back would be scratching their heads thinking ‘That sounds like an electric guitar, but it definitely is not an electric guitar and you definitely can’t get an electric guitar to sound like that!’” he wrote.
While the full plans aren’t available online, fans of the sound can check out the inventor’s website to hear multiple original songs featuring the electro-bagpipes.
In The Workshop, Popular Science highlights the ingenious, delightful, and often surprising projects people build in their spare time. If you or someone you know is working on a hobbyist project that fits the bill, we’d love to hear about it—fill out this form to tell us more.
At annual I/O conference, company debuts a product for everyday consumers to create autonomous AI agentsGoogle announced Tuesday that it would expand its search bar, the centerpiece of the most-visited website in the world, with a heavy dose of artificial intelligence. The tech giant is also trying its hand at hi-tech glasses again, more than a decade after wearers of its first eyewear were dubbed “glassholes” and laughed out of San Francisco.Google executives announced at the company’s annual c
At annual I/O conference, company debuts a product for everyday consumers to create autonomous AI agents
Google announced Tuesday that it would expand its search bar, the centerpiece of the most-visited website in the world, with a heavy dose of artificial intelligence. The tech giant is also trying its hand at hi-tech glasses again, more than a decade after wearers of its first eyewear were dubbed “glassholes” and laughed out of San Francisco.
Google executives announced at the company’s annual conference for software developers, Google I/O, that its search box would accommodate longer and more specific queries than before – questions more like those people would ask one another than Search’s idiosyncratic syntax. The changes will direct users to engage directly with Google’s chatbot. The change to search is underpinned by the company’s new artificial intelligence model, Gemini 3.5, announced the same day.
Iran has been under a digital blackout for 80 days — the time that has passed since the United States and Israel launched their war against the Islamic Republic — decreed by the authorities for “security reasons,” preventing citizens from having normal access to the internet. This difficult-to-circumvent blockade is increasingly complicating daily life, making remote working impossible, cutting off communication, and severely limiting access to information in a country of 92 million inhabitants.
Iran has been under a digital blackout for 80 days — the time that has passed since the United States and Israel launched their war against the Islamic Republic — decreed by the authorities for “security reasons,” preventing citizens from having normal access to the internet. This difficult-to-circumvent blockade is increasingly complicating daily life, making remote working impossible, cutting off communication, and severely limiting access to information in a country of 92 million inhabitants.
It's an icon of early internet videos: 12 badgers doing calisthenics while a mushroom and snake occasionally appear on screen, known as "Badger Badger Badger" or "The Badger Song."
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It's an icon of early internet videos: 12 badgers doing calisthenics while a mushroom and snake occasionally appear on screen, known as "Badger Badger Badger" or "The Badger Song."
Vinton Cerf is the most elegant man in the office. He wears an impeccable three-piece wool suit and proudly displays gold cufflinks, which depict the solar system. At 82, he looks like a character from one of Amor Towles’ novels: a gentleman with distinguished style. With his lively eyes and neatly trimmed white beard, no one would guess that he’s one of the most important computer scientists in contemporary history. Seguir leyendo
Vinton Cerf is the most elegant man in the office. He wears an impeccable three-piece wool suit and proudly displays gold cufflinks, which depict the solar system. At 82, he looks like a character from one of Amor Towles’ novels: a gentleman with distinguished style. With his lively eyes and neatly trimmed white beard, no one would guess that he’s one of the most important computer scientists in contemporary history.
“And suddenly one morning, we felt lost from one another.” This is how Mehrnoosh Shahhosseini, a 52-year-old fashion designer from Tehran, remembers the hours following Israel and the United States’s first aerial attacks on February 28, the same day that Iranian officials blocked internet access out of “security concerns.”Seguir leyendo
“And suddenly one morning, we felt lost from one another.” This is how Mehrnoosh Shahhosseini, a 52-year-old fashion designer from Tehran, remembers the hours following Israel and the United States’s first aerial attacks on February 28, the same day that Iranian officials blocked internet access out of “security concerns.”
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