Hacker News with Generative AI: Germany

Germany: Far-right political bias ahead of federal elections in X and TikTok (techcrunch.com)
Recommendation algorithms operated by social media giants TikTok and X have shown evidence of substantial far-right political bias in Germany ahead of a federal election that takes place Sunday, according to new research carried out by Global Witness.

Social Media, Politics, Germany, Elections, Research

14 points by doener 1 day ago | 9 comments

1561 Celestial Phenomenon over Nuremberg (wikipedia.org)
An April 1561 broadsheet by Hans Glaser described a mass sighting of celestial phenomena or unidentified flying objects (UFO) above Nuremberg (then a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire). Ufologists have speculated that these phenomena may have been extraterrestrial spacecraft. Skeptics assert that the phenomenon was likely to have been another atmospheric phenomenon, such as a sun dog,[1] although the print doesn't fit the usual classic description of the phenomena.[2][3]

History, UFOs, Astronomy, Germany

12 points by handfuloflight 3 days ago | 0 comments

Policing the internet in Germany, where hate speech, insults are a crime [video] (youtube.com)

Internet Censorship, Hate Speech, Germany, Law, Video

12 points by BSDobelix 3 days ago | 14 comments

WireGuard iOS Not Available in Germany (reddit.com)
I am not able to download the iOS app and get a warning that the app is not available in my region/region. Is this normal? Also I can’t find the app via the AppStore search and needed to rely on a google link to the iOS store.

WireGuard, iOS, Germany, App Store, Geolocation

19 points by quectophoton 4 days ago | 7 comments

Germany's Industrial Slowdown (2023) (apricitas.io)
Germany’s economy has eked out extremely low growth over the last 5 years—recent revisions to GDP data mean its output is once again barely above pre-pandemic levels, but that still means the country has seen less than 0.5% cumulative GDP growth since late-2018.

Germany, Economy, Recession, GDP

3 points by JumpCrisscross 6 days ago | 0 comments

New Specimen of Archaeopteryx Unearthed in Germany (sci.news)
Paleontologists have described a new specimen of the genus Archaeopteryx from the Mörnsheim Formation in the Franconian Alb of Bavaria, Germany.

Paleontology, Fossils, Germany, Science

4 points by bookofjoe 6 days ago | 0 comments

The History of S.u.S.E (abortretry.fail)
In 1992, four college students, Roland Dyroff, Thomas Fehr, Hubert Mantel, and Burchard Steinbild in Fürth, Germany were dreaming of independence.

History, Operating Systems, Germany

242 points by ibobev 7 days ago | 128 comments

Watchdog ponders why Apple doesn't apply its strict app tracking rules to itself (theregister.com)
Apple is feeling the heat over its acclaimed iPhone privacy policy after a German regulator's review of iOS tracking consent alleged that the tech giant exempted itself from the rules it enforces on third-party developers.

Apple, Privacy, Regulations, Technology, Germany

161 points by Logans_Run 7 days ago | 68 comments

Germany says its warships were sabotaged (businessinsider.com)
Germany's top naval officer said "more than one" of its warships were recently sabotaged.

Germany, Military, Sabotage, International Relations

122 points by Sontho 7 days ago | 144 comments

Russia employing sophisticated DeepFakes to influence German Elections (nytimes.com)
In the first major European vote since President Trump’s re-election, influence campaigns are targeting Germany from two sides.

Russia, Deepfakes, Elections, Germany, Political Influence

31 points by DiscourseFan 8 days ago | 10 comments

Tesla sales dropped 60% in Germany (electrek.co)
Tesla’s sales have dropped nearly 60% in January in Germany compared to the same period last year. The same thing is happening throughout Europe.

Tesla, Germany, Sales, Electric Vehicles, Europe

133 points by ZeljkoS 9 days ago | 219 comments

The World Without a Mask (1934) (scifist.net)
German action star Harry Piel accidentally invents x-ray TV in this 1934 comedy.

Science Fiction, Film, History, Germany

12 points by walterbell 12 days ago | 5 comments

German court orders X to hand over election data in legal blow to Musk's platfrm (politico.eu)
A German court handed Elon Musk’s X a legal defeat, ruling that the platform must immediately provide researchers with access to data on politically related content ahead of the country’s Feb. 23 election.

Germany, Law, Social Media, Politics, Elections

10 points by nixass 13 days ago | 0 comments

German court orders X to give data access to researchers ahead of elections (techcrunch.com)
Under European Union law, X is one of a handful of major social media platforms that has a duty to facilitate public interest researchers’ access to support the study of systemic risks — such as to elections and other democratic processes. But the Elon Musk-owned company formerly known as Twitter has been blocking civil society access to platform data, according to two civil society organizations, which on Friday secured a summary judgement against X in a Berlin regional court.

Social Media, Elections, Germany, Transparency

11 points by marban 14 days ago | 1 comments

Balcony solar is taking off (theguardian.com)
“If 1.5 million Germans have bought solar balcony kits there must be something in it,” he says.

Renewable Energy, Solar Power, Germany

219 points by mcp_ 14 days ago | 228 comments

They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955) (press.uchicago.edu)
"What no one seemed to notice," said a colleague of mine, a philologist, "was the ever widening gap, after 1933, between the government and the people. Just think how very wide this gap was to begin with, here in Germany. And it became always wider. You know, it doesn’t make people close to their government to be told that this is a people’s government, a true democracy, or to be enrolled in civilian defense, or even to vote.

History, Germany, Politics, Sociology

557 points by thunderbong 16 days ago | 473 comments

Germany: Number of unemployed highest in 10 years (dw.com)
The number of unemployed people in Germany has risen to its highest in a decade. The rise comes as the weakness of Europe's largest economy took its toll on the labor market.

Germany, Unemployment, Economy

55 points by rntn 21 days ago | 44 comments

Tesla sales in Germany dropped 41% in 2024 (cleanenergywire.org)
U.S. carmaker Tesla, which is headed by highly controversial CEO Elon Musk, registered the biggest slump of new registrations among all electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers in Germany last year.

Tesla, Electric Vehicles, Germany, Automotive Industry, Sales

61 points by belter 22 days ago | 104 comments

NATO: There was officially a Russian plot to kill head of Rheinmetall (politico.eu)
A senior NATO official has confirmed that there was a Russian scheme to kill Armin Papperger, the head of German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall.

NATO, Russia, Germany, Arms Industry, International Relations

29 points by belter 24 days ago | 1 comments

German scientific paternalism and the golden age of German science (moreisdifferent.blog)
John Ziman (1925 – 2005) was a condensed matter physicist who spent most of his life working in England.1 In addition to being a first-rate physicist, he was also a humanist and early metascientist.

Science, History, Germany

5 points by delton137 24 days ago | 0 comments

Police investigate Musk salute projected on Tesla factory (dw.com)
German authorities are investigating images projected onto the Tesla Gigafactory just outside Berlin that depicted Elon Musk apparently performing a Nazi-style salute at US President Donald Trump's recent inauguration.

Tesla, Elon Musk, Germany, Politics, Controversy

11 points by rntn 26 days ago | 0 comments

Musk makes surprise video appearance at AfD event (theguardian.com)
Elon Musk made a surprise appearance during Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) election campaign event in Halle in eastern Germany on Saturday, speaking publicly in support of the far-right party for the second time in as many weeks.

Politics, Germany, Elon Musk, Far-Right

29 points by theyinwhy 27 days ago | 8 comments

KATRIN's Odyssey (symmetrymagazine.org)
In late 2006, a component of the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment (KATRIN) traveled from Deggendorf, Germany, to a laboratory in Karlsruhe, only 400 kilometers away. The trip wouldn’t have been a notable event, except that the spectrometer, an instrument used to measure the masses of particles, followed a near-9000-kilometer route to get from one town to the other.

Physics, Science, Germany

14 points by alexmolas 28 days ago | 4 comments

Elon Musk Controversial Salute Image Beamed on Tesla Factory in Berlin (newsweek.com)
An image of Elon Musk making a controversial salute during a speech on Monday was projected onto Tesla's Gigafactory in Berlin. The display featured Musk's gesture alongside the words "Heil Tesla."

Elon Musk, Tesla, Germany, Controversial Gesture, Protests

10 points by rbanffy 29 days ago | 1 comments

Jürgen Schmidhuber – Can All-Purpose Robots Fuel a Comeback? (idsia.ch)
In 1995, according to the IMF, Germany still had 33% of the economic power of the USA in nominal terms; today it has only 16%.

Robotics, Economics, Germany

36 points by rkwasny 29 days ago | 76 comments

German Collective Guilt [Wikipedia] (wikipedia.org)
German collective guilt (German: Kollektivschuld) refers to the notion of a collective guilt attributed to Germany and its people for perpetrating the Holocaust and other atrocities in World War II.[2][3]

History, Germany, Holocaust, Sociology

6 points by axiologist 31 days ago | 0 comments

Leaked memo reveals alarming German warnings over Trump (politico.eu)
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has Germany’s diplomatic corps bracing for what it sees as a deliberate dismantling of United States democratic norms.

Politics, Germany, United States, Donald Trump

8 points by this_weekend 33 days ago | 2 comments

SFC-funded lawsuit gets software repair and reinstall for users of AVM routers (sfconservancy.org)
Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) today announces the conclusion of a lawsuit that we funded and supported in Germany.

Software, Lawsuits, Cybersecurity, Germany, Open Source

3 points by croes 33 days ago | 0 comments

Flocken Elektrowagen (wikipedia.org)
The Flocken Elektrowagen is a four-wheeled electric car designed by Andreas Flocken (1845–1913), manufactured in 1888 by Maschinenfabrik A. Flocken in Coburg. It is regarded as the first real electric car.

Electric Vehicles, History, Germany

17 points by hyperific 34 days ago | 3 comments

Tesla boycott is gaining momentum in Germany due to Musk's meddling in politics (electrek.co)
A boycott of Tesla vehicles is gaining momentum in Germany due to Elon Musk’s consistent meddling in the country’s politics and promotion of a fringe far-right party.

Boycotts, Germany, Tesla, Politics, Elon Musk

26 points by doener 35 days ago | 3 comments