Tootfinder

New blog post on the importance of owning physical (and digital) media, when possible: https://spacetimetech.wordpress.com/2026/06/28/the-importance-of-owning-physical-and-digital-media-when-possible

The importance of owning physical (and digital) media when possible
I wrote some about the continued popularity of physical media here in 2024, but I wanted to do one more post on it this year, to also feature some other formats, history, tips and tricks, and outri…

"Spotify's effective payout averages roughly $0.003 to $0.005 per stream... By contrast, Bandcamp pays artists roughly 82% of each sale. A direct $10 album sale can exceed revenue from thousands of streams. Buying music or books directly from artists, whether physical or DRM-free digital, is one of the most direct ways to support them."
Artists are likely better off when you #buy o…

Cowboys Have 53-Man Roster Upset Brewing With Physical Freak UDFA Michael Trigg https://www.si.com/nfl/cowboys/onsi/dallas-cowboys-have-53-man-roster-upset-brewing-physical-freak-udfa-michael-trigg

Chipmaker Onsemi agrees to buy Synaptics in a nearly $7B all-stock deal expected to close in the middle of 2027; ON drops 9% and SYNA jumps 11% after hours (Samantha Subin/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/25/on-semi-synaptics-deal-physical-ai.html
…

On Semiconductor strikes $7 billion deal for Synaptics in physical AI push
On Semiconductor said the deal bumps up its total addressable market by $30 billion to $243 billion by 2030.

Since his first years as a top player, Jannik Sinner has long had one major weakness.
The hotter it is, the more vulnerable he becomes.
It nearly toppled him at January’s Australian Open, before Novak Djokovic did the job instead.
On Thursday, with temperatures climbing toward the 90s at Roland Garros, Sinner could not endure.
In the second round of the French Open, the world No. 1 fell victim to Juan Manuel Cerúndolo of Argentina, the world No. 56.
He grew dizzy…

Jannik Sinner might have a heat problem, but tennis has a bigger one
As tennis gets ever more physical and matches grow longer, its relationship with heat will grow more complex — and sometimes concerning.

Trump Undergoes a Physical Exam at Walter Reed (Karoun Demirjian/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/us/politics/trump-physical-walter-reed.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260526/p63#a260526p63

Mathematical modelling of physical systems means deciding what features to include. I often advise my students that the very simplest models are the best place to start. E.g. start to model a car as a simple mass with forces applied to it, then add complexity later if needed, instead of getting bogged down by the details of every component at the start.
This FT article suggests a similar thing in an entertaining way.
£

Rockstar says physical copies of GTA 6 will contain a digital download code, not a disc; physical copies release on November 12, ahead of the November 19 launch (Tom Phillips/IGN)
https://www.ign.com/articles/grand-theft-auto-6…

Grand Theft Auto 6 Physical Copies Won't Include a Disc, Will Just Be a Code in a Box
Rockstar will sell physical copies of Grand Theft Auto 6 — though you'll only get a box containing a digital download code.

I am challenging the status quo today (Jun-26) and submitted a physical (yes, offline) product at ProductHunt. Feel free to support me there!
#privacy
https://www.producthunt.com/products/paint

Paint the Cameras Dead: Postcards for pushing back against surveillance. | Product Hunt
Not every project needs an app, an AI model or another screen. Paint the Cameras Dead is a physical set of postcards made for the street, not the cloud. Each card helps you notice surveillance cameras hiding in plain sight, ask who controls them and map what you find. Print them, share them, leave them in cafés, libraries or community spaces, and use them today. No download, no account, no update cycle. Just paper, attention and a small act of resistance.

tree-of-life: Protein interactomes across the tree of life (2019)
Protein-protein iteraction networks ("interactome") for 1,840 species. An interactome captures all physical protein-protein interactions within one species, from direct biophysical protein-protein interactions to regulatory protein-DNA and metabolic interactions. .
This network has 610 nodes and 1988 edges.
Tags: Biological, Protein interactions

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
—Bruce Lee
#acting #coaching

Source: OBJ works out for Giants, takes physical https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/48542988/source-odell-beckham-jr-works-giants-takes-physical

I hear a longstandingly mentally ill man,
a narcissistic sociopath who is cognitively declining in his elder years,
becoming increasingly disinhibited.
We don't know exactly what his health is ...
He's obviously physically unwell.
— he's drooping on one side.
Did he have a left hemisphere CVA?
We don't know any of that, because they obviously would lie to us about any of it

'He's obviously physically unwell': Trump's facial 'drooping' singled out on MS NOW
After watching a montage of clips of Donald Trump dismissing American consumers’ economic woes, an MSNBC regular noted the president’s physical decline with a new observation.Speaking with host Jacob Soboroff, attorney George Conway claimed, “I hear a longstandingly mentally ill man, a narcissistic ...

Eagles, Raiders Receive Compelling Maxx Crosby Message https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/las-vegas-raiders/eagles-compelling-message-maxx-crosby/

From collider experiments to large-scale astronomy systems, this session by Dmitriy Kostunin and Julian von Hoerschelmann-Schliwinski takes an honest look at where AI delivers measurable gains, and where it falls short.
Learn more about this session: https://2026.berlinbuzzwords.de/session/ai-in-the-physical-world-from-observation-to-discovery/

Human Archive, which trains robots using first-person video from 1,000 camera-equipped caps worn by Indian home services workers, raised $8.2M from YC and more (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/26/human…

This startup is betting India's gig economy can train the world's robots | TechCrunch
Human Archive, a startup founded by UC Berkeley and Stanford researchers, is paying gig workers in India to wear camera-equipped caps and sensor devices to collect the real-world physical training data that AI and robotics labs are racing to acquire.

A while back, I was mostly-lurking on a regional #Meshcore (like #Meshtastic , but different) discord, when someone on there tried to update a repeater and accidentally soft-bricked it. They needed to climb up to where it is to get a physical connection. But there's a raven nesting near where they've …

Spotify launches a feature to buy physical books in the US and UK, powered by Bookshop.org, and expands its Page Match tool to support 30 additional languages (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/15/spotify-l…

Spotify launches the ability to purchase physical books in the US and UK | TechCrunch
Spotify users in the US and UK can officially purchase physical books through the Android app. iOS users will get the feature next week.

So what are your thoughts on these weighty book matters?
Yes
Long
"Real"/Physical
New
No, but it's not for lack of trying
#ThisOrThat
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sHe_hqwpWaQ

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Knoebel/116818598997578427
That's why you buy DRM-free / physical media 🙂‍↕️

copenhagen: Copenhagen Networks Study
A network of social interactions among university students within the Copenhagen Networks Study, over a period of four weeks, sampled every 5 minutes. Interactions include physical proximity (undirected), phone calls (directed, weighted), text messages (directed), and information about Facebook friendships (undirected). Nodes include some metadata, including gender.
This network has 536 nodes and 3600 edges.
Tags: Social, Offline, Unwei…

I never cease to be mystified by this common work-from-home complaint.
I’ve been 100% wfh aside from a half-dozen short trips to NJ for “all-hands” meetings since 2008. Last one of those was 2016.
I consider solitude when working one of the great positive features of wfh. Having people forcibly interrupt me by their physical presence gained me a ‘prickly’ reputation in my last office.

Odell Beckham Jr. has physical, workout with New York Giants: Sources https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7212845/2026/04/20/odell-beckham-jr-giants-physical/

I know next to nothing of substance abt The Amazing Digital Circus. All I know is that every time a trans woman makes a virtual reality story she makes a zillion bucks and her characters get turned into fortnite skins cuz of our innate sauce with the feeling of physical disconnection, and im lowk tempted to try continuing the family nacho recipe even as itd be purely cynical cuz I actually really really only care abt the process of becoming a real physical person im tired of thinking within …

Wavefunction collapse is only one interpretation. Under some interpretations, graduate students also have souls.
#Comic

Podcast: The Physical Politics of the Internet with Britt Paris https://www.404media.co/podcast-the-physical-politics-of-the-internet-with-britt-paris/

Things not on my bingo card for this year: winning a prize for physical strength. Turned out, server lifting is a competition @… runs at #GLT, and a cute tux found a loving home.

Dallas Cowboys To Try More Physical Practice Approach For 2026 Training Camp https://www.si.com/nfl/cowboys/onsi/dallas-cowboys-to-try-more-physical-practice-approach-for-2026-training-camp

Trump is seeing doctors for his annual physical. What the public finds out is up to him (STAT)
https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/26/trump-annual-physicial-medical-exam-public-scrutiny/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260526/p68#a260526p68

“The project does not involve field research, laboratory experiments, or resource-intensive physical processes. The project-related activities are primarily computer-based and organizational in nature, and focus on the analysis and testing of data-driven infrastructures. Ecological sustainability aspects are therefore only marginally relevant.”
Well, the environmental impact of academic IT projects is indeed marginal compared to commercial operations, but…
⇢

“The project does not involve field research, laboratory experiments, or resource-intensive physical processes. The project-related activities are primarily computer-based and organizational in nature, and focus on the analysis and testing of data-driven infrastructures. Ecological sustainability aspects are therefore only marginally relevant.”
Well, the environmental impact of academic IT projects is indeed marginal compared to commercial operations, but…
⇢

“The project does not involve field research, laboratory experiments, or resource-intensive physical processes. The project-related activities are primarily computer-based and organizational in nature, and focus on the analysis and testing of data-driven infrastructures. Ecological sustainability aspects are therefore only marginally relevant.”
Well, the environmental impact of academic IT projects is indeed marginal compared to commercial operations, but…
⇢

Doing errands with our #suv (shopping utility vehicle). For the cover we bought the rain cover of an outdoor backpack. Works pretty well.
Meanwhile I also have an adapter mounted on my axel, too. so I can use it as well. 🎉
Best combination of shopping and physical activity. But I feel a little weird as hardly ever see anybody else with a trailer around. But I simply shouldn't care …

Is it just me or does #JonyIve share some physical similarities with #TheEdge from U2? 🤔

The physics of AI weather models
George Craig, Tobias Selz, Matthias Beylich, Kirsten I. Tempest
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.23778 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.23778 https://arxiv.org/html/2605.23778
arXiv:2605.23778v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Could it be that AI weather models are solving physical equations, although they may not be the equations used by conventional NWP models? We compute correlations of forecast skill and Centered Kernel Alignment, providing evidence that different AI weather models represent the atmosphere in similar ways, despite differences in architecture and capacity. We argue that the architecture and training of the AI models constrains the form of the physical laws that they might simulate. In particular, we propose that the models implement a particle description of the atmosphere, where the latent variables at each mesh point correspond to the position of a particle in the high dimensional latent space. We hypothesize that the movement of the particles follows a gradient flow in the latent space towards a minimum of a learned free energy functional. Analysis of the GraphCast and Aurora models show that they make changes on large spatial scales in the early processor layers and move to smaller scale with increasing layer depth, consistent with the gradient flow hypothesis.
toXiv_bot_toot

Velofahren hilft Körper und Geist. Ha!
#bicycle #velo #fahrrad
A scoping review of bicycling interventions’ impacts on psychological, social, affective, and cognitive well-being

What do Ukraine and Japan have in common? They are leaders in robotics, and for the right reasons
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/05/japan-is-proving-experimental-physical-ai-is-ready-for-the-real-world/

In Japan, the robot isn't coming for your job; it's filling the one nobody wants | TechCrunch
Driven by labor shortages, Japan is pushing physical AI from pilot projects into real-world deployment.

Physical attacks on cryptocurrency holders rose 75% in 2025, reaching 72 confirmed incidents and $41 million in known losses, according to data compiled by the blockchain security firm CertiK.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Crosslisted article(s) found for physics.med-ph. https://arxiv.org/list/physics.med-ph/new
[1/1]:
- GPU-accelerated superiorization on constrained physical problems with SupPy
Tobias Becher, Yair Censor, Kay Barshad, Niklas Wahl
https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.27086 https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_physicscompph_bot/116815335801053799
toXiv_bot_toot

Poetry gives people a language to express collective grief.
In Gaza, poetry documents what cameras cannot always reach and what numbers can never explain.
When destruction erases physical spaces, poetry becomes a witness to history.
https://w…

Spotify launches a feature to buy physical books in the US and UK, powered by Bookshop.org, and expands its Page Match tool to support 30 additional languages (Lauren Forristal/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/15/spotify-l…

Spotify launches the ability to purchase physical books in the US and UK | TechCrunch
Spotify users in the US and UK can officially purchase physical books through the Android app. iOS users will get the feature next week.

James Pearce Jr. returns to Falcons for minicamp physical amid intervention program https://www.nfl.com/news/james-pearce-jr-falcons-physical-mandatory-minicamp-intervention-program

UK astronaut #JohnMcFall could become the first person with a physical disability to live in orbit, thanks to an agreement signed between the UK government and US commercial space company #Vast: #Haven1 (not launched yet!) as early as next year.

The quality of images from digital cameras is inversely proportional to the physical size of the memory card used.
This Kodak DC50 uses PCMCIA (type I or II) cards

Chargers mock Ravens failing Maxx Crosby physical in schedule release video https://raiderswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/raiders/2026/05/14/chargers-mock-ravens-failing-maxx-crosby-physi…

For the second time in my life, I’m supporting a friend while they separate from an emotionally abusive partner. Both times, I didn’t even know there was abuse until the relationship ended. Here’s your PSA: Emotional abuse is just as damaging as physical abuse. And when a friend is suffering from it, they probably aren’t being noisy about it. They will quietly, slowly disappear from your life as their abuser convinces/cajoles/threatens them into abandoning who they are and what they love.

WaPo's opinion section has been promoting data centers, only sometimes mentioning owner Jeff Bezos' vested interest in them or the paper's OpenAI partnership (Paul Farhi/Washingtonian)
https://washingtonian.…

The Washington Post Loves Data Centers a Lot More Than Disclosing Jeff Bezos’ Financial Interest in Promoting Them - Washingtonian
The Washington Post’s opinion editors love data centers, the humongous and increasingly unpopular server warehouses that are the physical backbone of the internet and artificial intelligence. In unsigned editorials, podcasts, and guest op-ed columns, the Post’s take has been focused and forceful. America needs more data centers to boost the economy, compete with China, and

Physical Intelligence says its new model, π0.7, can direct robots on tasks they weren't trained on, an "early sign" of generalization, surprising researchers (Connie Loizos/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/202…

Physical Intelligence, a hot robotics startup, says its new robot brain can figure out tasks it was never taught | TechCrunch
The new model, called π0.7, represents what the company describes as an early but meaningful step toward the long-sought goal of a general-purpose robot brain.

Motor imagery affects both cortical and spinal circuitry: a transcranial and trans-spinal magnetic stimulation study https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neural-circuits/articles/10.3389/fncir.2026.1809125/abstract

Frontiers | Motor Imagery Affects Both Cortical and Spinal Circuitry: A Transcranial and Trans-spinal Magnetic Stimulation Study
Introduction: Motor imagery (MI), the mental rehearsal of movement without physical execution, is a key technique in brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), known ...

#TuneTuesday (May 19)
Lewis Capaldi uses his great voice to put out a bunch of hits and I like that he doesn’t let stardom get into his head and takes his mental and physical health seriously. Among his songs I’ve heard, “Forget Me” is easily my most favorite with his raspy vocals adding angst into the chorus.

www.maptap.gg June 22
100🎯 91👑 98🎯 91👑 82🌟
Final score: 906
1. x: 4,686 pts, 97 km, 29 sec, 0 steps
2. x: 4,483 pts, 163 km, 25 sec, 0 steps
3. x: 498 pts, 3,441 km, 58 sec, 0 steps
4. x: 0 pts, 15,022 km, 53 sec, 0 steps
5. x: 0 pts, 13,783 km, 22 sec, 0 steps
Total: 9,667 pts, 32,506 km, 3 min, 8 sec, 0 steps
(out of physical time for the last two...)
TimeGuessr #1118 — 36,821/50,000
1️⃣ 🏆8666 - 📅4y - 🌍134.0 km
2️⃣ 🏆9908 - 📅0y…

We don’t make space for flat-Earthers. We also do not make space for people who argue (explicitly or implicitly) that some of our students deserve to be murdered.
The reasons for those two things are not identical — the latter also has to do, for example, with the fact that education requires physical safety — but they rest on a shared principle: free speech means freedom to ignore speech, and freedom to choose which speech we amplify and how. Making such choices is, in fact, the •duty• of upholding free speech.
/end

A message from Dutch Rabobank meant as reassuring that doesn't really work that way. "For Europe and the Netherlands immediate physical fuel shortages due to disruption in the Strait of Hormuz are improbable until the end of May."
Published on 13 May.
https:…

This will go on my list of three things to be grateful for today:
#3goodthings

Shoulder mended - JazMat
The Missus’s shoulder has mended and the doc removed her sling, so she is free to stretch her arm out. Next week, she’ll start physical therapy. We are...

Happening now in North Minneapolis somewhere just southwest of 2nd Ave N and Van White Memorial Boulevard, police ordering more people with nowhere to go to leave otherwise-unused land by 1pm today. The City of Minneapolis has been using violence (physical force or the threat of physical force) to shove unhoused people around constantly since the destruction of community-supported encampments, and so long as this is allowed, the human right to housing will never be fulfilled. See you there…

Prometheus,
the physical AI startup co-founded by Jeff Bezos and Vik Bajaj, the former co-founder of Verily, Google’s life sciences unit,
announced it raised $12 billion at a $41 billion valuation.
The new funds came from Bezos,
as well as from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and BlackRock, among others.
This is the second fundraise round for Prometheus, which launched late last year with an initial raise of $6.2 billion, according to CNBC.
Prometheus is bu…

Jeff Bezos's Prometheus raises $12B to build an 'artificial general engineer' for the physical world | TechCrunch
The new round values the physical AI startup that aims to automate heavy engineering and drug design at $41 billion.

News story on a significant earthquake in Uzbekistan, 50 years ago, May 17, 1976 (Fargo-Moorhead Forum archives). Mentions the Medvedev scale, apparently now the the MSK or MSK-64 scale. That scale is not mentioned in North American, physical geology textbooks I have seen, although it's apparently similar to the Mercalli scale.
Also, the first page of a scientific paper on it, from 1980. ⚒️🧪
#OTD

This is absolutely bonkers (when you elect the worst people they - surprise! - keep doing the worst things). My employer - a university in Ontario - expressly prevents us from using attendance as a factor in grading - participation, yes, mere physical presence, no. Why would high school be any different?

Attendance to be worth up to 15% of Ontario high school students’ grades, exams required in most classes
Education Minister Paul Calandra also announced that most secondary school courses will need to have exams that are scheduled during a dedicated exam period.

copenhagen: Copenhagen Networks Study
A network of social interactions among university students within the Copenhagen Networks Study, over a period of four weeks, sampled every 5 minutes. Interactions include physical proximity (undirected), phone calls (directed, weighted), text messages (directed), and information about Facebook friendships (undirected). Nodes include some metadata, including gender.
This network has 568 nodes and 24333 edges.
Tags: Social, Offline, Unwe…

San Diego-based Aether AI, which is building "causal world models" to teach robots cause and effect instead of pattern-matching, raised a $20M seed led by MPCi (Cristian Dina/The Next Web)
https://thenextweb.com/news/aether-ai-causal-world-models-20m-…

Can intriguing Cowboys UDFA back jump to front of line thanks to fit? https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cowboys/2026/05/26/dominic-richardson-cowboys-scouting-report-udfa-2026/90256117007/…

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
—Bruce Lee
#acting #coaching

Adapting a 3D scanning water phantom for use in brachytherapy dosimetry
Rachael Wilks (Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston Qld 4029, Australia, Herston Biofabrication Institute, Herston Qld 4029, Australia, University of Queensland, St. Lucia Qld 4072, Australia), Samuel C. Peet (Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston Qld 4029, Australia, Herston Biofabrication Institute, Herston Qld 4029, Australia, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane Qld 4001, Australia), Tanya Kairn (Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston Qld 4029, Australia, Herston Biofabrication Institute, Herston Qld 4029, Australia, University of Queensland, St. Lucia Qld 4072, Australia, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane Qld 4001, Australia), Scott B. Crowe (Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston Qld 4029, Australia, Herston Biofabrication Institute, Herston Qld 4029, Australia, University of Queensland, St. Lucia Qld 4072, Australia, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane Qld 4001, Australia)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.21320 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.21320 https://arxiv.org/html/2606.21320
arXiv:2606.21320v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: In external beam radiotherapy, 3D scanning water phantoms are the gold standard for obtaining relative dosimetry data. These phantoms, consisting of a water tank and mechanical arm, along with accompanying software, are de-signed to acquire dose profiles along and orthogonal to the beam axis. In brachy-therapy, the acquisition of analogous dose profiles is more difficult, and is generally achieved with complex custom-built phantoms or chemical dosimeters such as film or gel. In this study, a low-cost 3D-printed jig was designed and fabricated within a clinical department, to allow precise brachytherapy dose measurements using a PTW BeamScan water phantom. Specifically, this jig al-lowed applicators to be suspended securely and reproducibly within the water phantom. Protocols were developed to relate the scanning system coordinates to the physical source position, and to obtain isodose planes both parallel and radial to the source axis. The developed solution has the potential to be used for physical verification of TG43 dose calculation parameters (e.g. anisotropy functions), the characterization of dose for a single dwell position in a complex applicator containing non-water equivalent materials, or the collection of point dose measure-ments for treatments incorporating multiple dwell positions or catheters.
toXiv_bot_toot

Lagged sea-surface-temperature precursors of the leading PM2.5 mode in China
Yuan Chen, Dan Zhao, Xu Li
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.25436 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.25436 https://arxiv.org/html/2605.25436
arXiv:2605.25436v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Fine particulate matter(PM2.5) pollution in China is strongly modulated bymeteorological variability, yet its seasonal predictability from oceanic signals remains unclear. Here we identify the leading PM2.5 variability mode over China and show that it is preceded by coherent sea-surface-temperature anomaly clusters by more than one season. These oceanic precursors influence summer PM2.5 mainly by altering precipitation and lowlevel ventilation, and winter PM2.5 by modulating boundary-layer height and near-surface stagnation. Using the four largest precursor regions, a simple regression model achieves significant independent prediction skill for both summer and winter PM2.5 variability. Our results reveal a physical pathway linking sea-surface-temperature memory to regional aerosol pollution and provide a basis for seasonal air-quality risk assessment.
toXiv_bot_toot

Arm EVP Mohamed Awad says its chip architecture now accounts for 50% of the hyperscale cloud computing market, as AI demand transforms the data center industry (Cheng Ting-Fang/Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/editor-s-picks

SoftBank chipmaker Arm hits 50% share in top AI data centers: exec
AI boom drives demand for company's architecture as it also moves into physical chips

A Deep Generative Model that Uses Physical Quantities to Generate and Retrieve #Solar Magnetic Active Regions: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4365/ae47d9 -> SwRI harnesses AI to find meaningful matches in solar data: https://www.swri.org/newsroom/press-releases/swri-harnesses-ai-find-meaningful-matches-solar-data

Mid year, trying to knock out a few blog posts. Finished the one on the Gemini protocol, since I wanted to do that one before I finish the small web one. Next up is a brief one on physical media, then the one on the small web after that. And maybe get a few more in after all those before the end of the year.
#blogs #blogging

tree-of-life: Protein interactomes across the tree of life (2019)
Protein-protein iteraction networks ("interactome") for 1,840 species. An interactome captures all physical protein-protein interactions within one species, from direct biophysical protein-protein interactions to regulatory protein-DNA and metabolic interactions. .
This network has 2946 nodes and 23484 edges.
Tags: Biological, Protein interactions

Alibaba's AI unit Tongyi Lab launches the Qwen Robot Suite, its first family of AI models for robots, in pilot testing with some enterprise clients (Wency Chen/South China Morning Post)
https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article

Alibaba eyes physical world with its first suite of AI models for robots
Alibaba unveils Qwen robot models to push AI beyond chatbots, as embodied intelligence becomes the next frontier in global AI.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
—Bruce Lee
#acting #coaching

“Users want to feel that they are in charge of the computer's activities.”
“People expect their physical actions to have physical results, and they want their tools to provide feedback.”
“Use concrete metaphors and make them plain, so that users have a set of expectations to apply to computer environments.”
One gem after another.

Seeing Inside the Storm: Improving Nowcasting by Integrating Meteorological Drivers
Minghui Qiu, Jun Chen, Lin Chen, Weifeng Chen, Shuxin Zhong, Zhidan Liu, Yu Zhang, Kaishun Wu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.24067 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.24067 https://arxiv.org/html/2605.24067
arXiv:2605.24067v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Most nowcasting systems, built on radar reflectivity, focus on current precipitation, ignoring the atmospheric precursors -- such as low-level convergence, turbulent eddies, and latent heating -- that offer a fleeting window to foresee storm birth. We introduce MeteoLogist, a physics-inspired radar intelligence framework that models the full life cycle of convection -- from its precursors to organized storm evolution. However, exploiting these precursors is non-trivial: they originate from multiple meteorological drivers -- thermodynamic, kinematic, and microphysical -- that evolve asynchronously (C1) and remain spatially fragmented (C2). To this end, MeteoLogist designs three tightly integrated components. The Physics-Tailored Encoders process radar echoes according to their intrinsic physical scales and semantics, forming thermodynamic, kinematic, and microphysical streams that capture distinct dynamical regimes. The Temporal-Phase Aligner addresses C1 by leveraging causal temporal attention to capture when and how different drivers interact and activate. The Cross-Field Spatial Aggregator addresses C2 through cross-regional fusion, aligning weak and scattered precursors across neighboring cells to expose upstream triggers and enforce spatial coherence. Evaluated on 3D-NEXRAD (2020--2022, US-wide), MeteoLogist boosts high-impact detection (CSI40) by 9.7% over strong baselines, and achieves a remarkable 37.67% gain during the storm-developing stage -- demonstrating true foresight in sensing storms before they appear. The code can be found in the supplementary material.
toXiv_bot_toot

White House Releases Results of Trump's Latest Physical Exam (Chris Cameron/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/30/us/politics/trump-health-medical-physical-exam.html
http://www.memeorandum.com/260530/p43#a260530p43

tree-of-life: Protein interactomes across the tree of life (2019)
Protein-protein iteraction networks ("interactome") for 1,840 species. An interactome captures all physical protein-protein interactions within one species, from direct biophysical protein-protein interactions to regulatory protein-DNA and metabolic interactions. .
This network has 186 nodes and 361 edges.
Tags: Biological, Protein interactions

Cowboys' Brian Schottenheimer hints at more physical training camp ahead https://www.sportingnews.com/ca/nfl/dallas-cowboys/news/cowboys-brian-schottenheimer-padded-practices-oxnard/e00c3a30ef702b47e58df24b…

Google plans to open its first physical Google Store outside of the US, in Tokyo's Omotesando district "this summer", marking Google's 11th physical store (Damien Wilde/9to5Google)
https://9to5google.com/2026/06/01/goog

Google Store Tokyo to be first physical store outside US, opens this summer
After being exclusive to the United States, the first physical Google Store outside of the region is coming to Tokyo, Japan, this summer.

Source: Agreed-to Epenesa-Browns deal now off https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/48343827/source-browns-opt-not-sign-aj-epenesa-physical

On the link between optoacoustic imaging and selective photothermolysis
Sergio Contador, Rodrigo Rojo, Alvaro Jimenez, Juan Aguirre
https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.25913 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2606.25913 https://arxiv.org/html/2606.25913
arXiv:2606.25913v1 Announce Type: new
Abstract: Selective photothermolysis (SP) is widely used in clinical and cosmetic dermatology to remove unwanted skin structures. Careful laser parameter selection results in safe and effective target removal. Nevertheless, parameter selection relies on a trial-and-error process based on visual inspection of the immediate skin response. This process is highly dependent on the practitioner experience and can be time-consuming.
SP and optoacoustic imaging (OI) share many physical principles. However, the possibility of using OI to improve laser parameter selection in SP has not been studied before. Here, we explore the relationship between OI and SP theoretically and through clinical in-human trials with a focus on tattoo removal. Our results demonstrate a strong correlation between OI signals acquired before and after treatment with the immediate clinical endpoint, suggesting that OI could be used as a tool for optimal parameter selection and reduced treatment duration in tattoo removal and other SP treatments.
toXiv_bot_toot

Intel taps Alex Katouzian, an ex-Qualcomm EVP, to lead Client Computing & Physical AI group, and names Pushkar Ranade as CTO, after serving on an interim basis (Dylan Martin/CRN)
https://www.crn.com/news/components-periph

Intel Taps Top Qualcomm Exec To Lead Client Computing, Physical AI Group
Intel said Monday that it has hired a top Qualcomm executive for a new position that will have him oversee the alignment of its long-running and critical PC business with the emerging field of physical AI, which its CEO has made a priority.

Working with an #acting #coaching client on an emotionally pitched scene, and by making one physical change (for rehearsal's sake), we shifted the way they were speaking, and that revealed an emotional turn the character can make later in the scene because of it. Very cool discovery.

NFL news roundup: Cowboys WR George Pickens reports for physical ahead of mandatory minicamp https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-news-roundup-latest-league-updates-from-monday-june-15

Japan, driven by labor shortages, is increasingly adopting robotics and physical AI, with a hybrid model where startups innovate and corporations provide scale (Kate Park/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/04/05/japan-is-proving-e…

In Japan, the robot isn't coming for your job; it's filling the one nobody wants | TechCrunch
Driven by labor shortages, Japan is pushing physical AI from pilot projects into real-world deployment.

Most Americans say Trump is mentally, physically unfit to serve effectively: Poll (Ashleigh Fields/The Hill)
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5862406-trump-mental-fitness-physical-health-poll/
http://www.memeorandum.com/260504/p72#a260504p72

genetic_multiplex: Multiplex genetic interactions (2014)
Multiplex networks representing different types of genetic interactions, for different organisms. Layers represent (i) physical, (ii) association, (iii) co-localization, (iv) direct, and (v) suppressive, (vi) additive or synthetic genetic interaction. Edge direction (i,j) indicates gene i interacting with gene j.
This network has 6570 nodes and 282755 edges.
Tags: Biological, Gene regulation, Protein interactions, Unw…

Alcatraz, which develops AI-powered facial-recognition security systems for building access, raised a $50M Series B, bringing its total funding to $100M (Mike Wheatley/SiliconANGLE)
https://siliconangle.com/2026/04/02/alcatraz-r…

Alcatraz raises $50M to bring Apple Face ID-style security to physical buildings - SiliconANGLE
Alcatraz raises $50M to bring Apple Face ID-style security to physical buildings - SiliconANGLE

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
—Bruce Lee
#acting #coaching

Sony AI says its autonomous ping pong robot is the first robot to attain expert-level performance in a physical sport after beating some top-level human players (Will Dunham/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/sports/ping-pong-robo…

Behind the public’s mounting worries is a growing sense that Trump isn’t mentally all there.
Physical and mental health aren’t easily separated, especially as one reaches 80. I often can’t remember where I put my wallet and keys or why I’ve entered a room. I also have less patience than I used to have. (I’m less tolerant of long lines, automated phone menus and Republicans.)
But if Trump can’t remember where he put, say, a top-secret memo or why he entered the Situation Room, or …

Bengals extend Lawrence after blockbuster trade https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/48532001/bengals-sign-dt-dexter-lawrence-one-year-28m-extension

Emma Raducanu returned to Andy Murray Arena for her second match in five hours with lingering doubts about her physical condition after slipping on the slick grass earlier in the day and hurting her left thigh.
By the time she had launched herself into consecutive backhand and forehand down-the-line winners to snatch an early break, that concern had dissipated.
What followed was one of her very best matches as she dismantled the talented 18-year-old Iva Jovic 6-2, 6-2 in front of…

genetic_multiplex: Multiplex genetic interactions (2014)
Multiplex networks representing different types of genetic interactions, for different organisms. Layers represent (i) physical, (ii) association, (iii) co-localization, (iv) direct, and (v) suppressive, (vi) additive or synthetic genetic interaction. Edge direction (i,j) indicates gene i interacting with gene j.
This network has 7747 nodes and 19843 edges.
Tags: Biological, Gene regulation, Protein interactions, Unwe…

genetic_multiplex: Multiplex genetic interactions (2014)
Multiplex networks representing different types of genetic interactions, for different organisms. Layers represent (i) physical, (ii) association, (iii) co-localization, (iv) direct, and (v) suppressive, (vi) additive or synthetic genetic interaction. Edge direction (i,j) indicates gene i interacting with gene j.
This network has 6980 nodes and 18655 edges.
Tags: Biological, Gene regulation, Protein interactions, Unwe…

Surveillance pricing is bad for privacy, equity, and price transparency.
So EFF supports a California bill,
S.B. 2564,
which would ban this creepy practice.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/06/californias-bill-ban-surveillance-pricing

Yes to California's Bill to Ban Surveillance Pricing
Corporations harvest and monetize ever-growing amounts of our personal data, such as our browsing history and physical location. One bitter fruit of this poisonous tree is known as “surveillance pricing”: corporations offer the same product to two different people at two different prices, based on...

Nvidia researchers unveil ENPIRE, an agent harness framework that develops robotic self-improvement strategies for physical tasks with minimal human supervision (Jeremy Hsu/Ars Technica)
https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/06/ai-coding-agents-can-auton…

AI coding agents taught robots how to install GPUs and cut zip-ties
NVIDIA’s self-improvement program for robots enlists teams of AI coding agents.

XDOF, which is building data pipelines, collection tools, and annotation systems for robot training data, emerges from stealth with $70M (Tim Fernholz/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/17/colle…

Collecting robot training data is dirty, unglamorous work. Some AI labs are already paying XDOF to do it. | TechCrunch
If physical AI is going to match the accomplishments of LLMs, there's a data problem that needs to be solved.

Nvidia unveils Cosmos 3, an open physical AI foundation model, to help robots and autonomous cars better understand the real world with limited training data (Ina Fried/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2026/06/01/nvidia-ai-push-cosmos-3-world-model

Nvidia expands AI push with Cosmos 3 world model
The chip giants aims to become a platform for physical AI.

Google DeepMind introduces Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 robotic reasoning model, says it shows significant spatial and physical reasoning improvements over ER 1.5 (Google DeepMind)
https://deepmind.google/blog/gemini-robotics-er-1-6/

Gemini Robotics ER 1.6: Enhanced Embodied Reasoning
Gemini Robotics ER 1.6 upgrades spatial reasoning and multi-view understanding, unlocking new capabilities like instrument reading for autonomous robots.

LG shares jumped 300% this year, after largely sitting out South Korea's chip-rally in 2025, as LG seeks to expand into physical AI businesses such as robots (Sangmi Cha/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/20

Jeff Bezos' Prometheus, which is building AI models for physical tasks, raised a $12B Series B at a $41B valuation, following a $6.2B Series A (Dan Primack/Axios)
https://www.axios.com/2026/06/11/prometheus-bezos-industrial-ai

Prometheus, Jeff Bezos' AI startup, is now worth $41 billion
"Make that dream-build loop 10 times faster."