DOGE To Rewrite SSA Codebase In ‘Months’
Longtime Slashdot reader frank_adrian314159 writes: According to an article in Wired, Elon Musk has appointed a team of technologists from DOGE to “rewrite the code that runs the SSA in months.” This codebase has over 60 million lines of COBOL and handles record keeping for all American workers and payments for all Social Security recipients. Given that the code has to track the byzantine … ⌘ Read more

India Grants Tax Officials Sweeping Digital Access Powers
India’s income tax department will gain powers to access citizens’ social media accounts, emails and other digital spaces beginning April 2026 under the new income tax bill, in a significant expansion of its search and seizure authority.

The legislation, which has raised privacy concerns among legal experts, allows tax officers to “gain access by overriding th … ⌘ Read more

Goldman Sachs: Why AI Spending Is Not Boosting GDP
Goldman Sachs, in a research note Thursday (the note isn’t publicly posted): Annualized revenue for public companies exposed to the build-out of AI infrastructure increased by over $340 billion from 2022 through 2024Q4 (and is projected to increase by almost $580 billion by end-2025). In contrast, annualized real investment in AI-related categories in the US GDP accounts has only … ⌘ Read more

Utah Passes First US App Store Age Verification Law
Utah has become the first U.S. state to pass legislation requiring app store operators to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for minors downloading apps.

The App Store Accountability Act adds to a wave of children’s online safety bills advancing through state legislatures nationwide. Similar legislation has faced legal challenges, with many being blocked in c … ⌘ Read more

Amazon Tests AI Dubbing on Prime Video Movies, Series
Amazon has launched a pilot program testing “AI-aided dubbing” for select content on Prime Video, offering translations between English and Latin American Spanish for 12 licensed movies and series including “El Cid: La Leyenda,” “Mi Mama Lora” and “Long Lost.” The company describes a hybrid approach where “localization professionals collaborate with AI,” suggesting automate … ⌘ Read more

Google is Adding More AI Overviews and a New ‘AI Mode’ To Search
Google announced Wednesday it is expanding its AI Overviews to more query types and users worldwide, including those not logged into Google accounts, while introducing a new “AI Mode” chatbot feature. AI Mode, which resembles competitors like Perplexity or ChatGPT Search, will initially be limited to Google One AI Premium subscribers who enable it … ⌘ Read more

Europe on Alert Over Suspected Sabotage of Undersea Cables
European nations have heightened security after a series of suspected sabotage attacks on submarine infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, with officials increasingly pointing to Russia as the likely culprit.

Finnish authorities detained the tanker Eagle S in December after it allegedly damaged three undersea fiber-optic connections with Estonia and one with Ger … ⌘ Read more

Nintendo Says Latest Legal Win Against Piracy ‘Significant’ For ‘Entire Games Industry’
Nintendo has trumpeted its latest legal success in the company’s ongoing fight against pirated games as “significant” not only for itself, “but for the entire games industry.” From a report: The Mario maker today confirmed it had won a final victory over French file-sharing company Dstorage, which operat … ⌘ Read more

Could New Clocks Keep Airplanes Safe From GPS Jamming?
Geoffrey.landis writes: Over the last three months of 2024, more than 800 cases of GPS interference were recorded in Lithuanian airspace. Estonia and Finland have also raised concerns, accusing Russia of deploying technology to jam satellite navigation signals near Nato’s eastern flank.

A group of British scientists – dubbed the “Time Lords” – are working on a … ⌘ Read more

Half of World’s CO2 Emissions Come From 36 Fossil Fuel Firms, Study Shows
Half of the world’s climate-heating carbon emissions come from the fossil fuels produced by just 36 companies, analysis has revealed. From a report: The researchers said the 2023 data strengthened the case for holding fossil fuel companies to account for their contribution to global heating. Previous versions of the annual report h … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Warns of Chinese Hackers Spying on Cloud Technology
Microsoft warned that an advanced Chinese hacking group is waging a campaign of supply-chain attacks. From a report: The company’s threat intelligence division said in a blog post Wednesday that the group, known as Silk Typhoon, was targeting remote management tools and cloud applications in order to spy on a range of companies and organizations in the US a … ⌘ Read more

OpenAI Plots Charging $20,000 a Month For PhD-Level Agents
OpenAI is preparing to launch a tiered pricing structure for its AI agent products, with high-end research assistants potentially costing $20,000 per month, [alternative source] according to The Information. The AI startup, which already generates approximately $4 billion in annualized revenue from ChatGPT, plans three service levels: $2,000 monthly agents for “h … ⌘ Read more

Apple Refreshes MacBook Air With M4 Chip, Lower Pricing
Apple has refreshed its MacBook Air lineup with the M4 processor, adding a new sky blue color option and reducing prices across the board. The 13-inch model now starts at $999, while the 15-inch begins at $1,199. Both models are available to order immediately and will ship on March 12.

The updated MacBook Airs feature the same thin design as previous generations … ⌘ Read more

Google Urges DOJ To Reverse Course on Breaking Up Company
Google is urging officials at President Donald Trump’s Justice Department to back away from a push to break up the search engine company, citing national security concerns, Bloomberg reported Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the discussions. From the report: Representatives for the Alphabet unit asked the government in a meeting last week to take a less … ⌘ Read more

Turing Award Winners Sound Alarm on Hasty AI Deployment
Reinforcement learning pioneers Andrew Barto and Richard Sutton have warned against the unsafe deployment of AI systems [alternative source] after winning computing’s prestigious $1 million Turing Award Wednesday. “Releasing software to millions of people without safeguards is not good engineering practice,” said Barto, professor emeritus at the University of Massach … ⌘ Read more

NASA Uses GPS On the Moon For the First Time
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Popular Science: On March 2, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost made history, becoming the first commercial lunar lander to successfully touchdown on the moon’s surface. The groundbreaking lander is wasting no time in getting to work. According to NASA, the joint public-private mission has already successfully demonstrated the ability to use Eart … ⌘ Read more

World’s First ‘Synthetic Biological Intelligence’ Runs On Living Human Cells
Australian company Cortical Labs has launched the CL1, the world’s first commercial “biological computer” that merges human brain cells with silicon hardware to form adaptable, energy-efficient neural networks. New Atlas reports: Known as a Synthetic Biological Intelligence (SBI), Cortical’s CL1 system was officially launch … ⌘ Read more

China May Be Ready to Use Nuclear Fusion for Power by 2050
China plans to commercialize nuclear fusion for emissions-free power generation by 2050, with its first operational project expected around 2050 after a demonstration phase starting in 2045. Bloomberg reports: China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) last year formed an industry alliance and set up a new national fusion company, the China Fusion Corp. It has a … ⌘ Read more

Users Report Emotional Bonds With Startlingly Realistic AI Voice Demo
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: In late 2013, the Spike Jonze film Her imagined a future where people would form emotional connections with AI voice assistants. Nearly 12 years later, that fictional premise has veered closer to reality with the release of a new conversational voice model from AI startup Sesame that has … ⌘ Read more

Cult Text-Based Zombie MMO ‘Urban Dead’ Is Shutting Down After 20 Years
The long-running text-based zombie MMO Urban Dead is shutting down on March 14, 2025, after nearly 20 years. The reason: compliance concerns with the UK’s Online Safety Act. Games Radar+ reports: “The Online Safety Act comes into force later this month, applying to all social and gaming websites where users interact, and especially t … ⌘ Read more

TCL Overtakes LG To Become Second-largest Premium TV Brand
“TCL has emerged as a dominant force in the premium TV market, surpassing LG in global shipments and solidifying its position as a key competitor to Samsung,” writes Slashdot reader jjslash. “According to Counterpoint Research, TCL’s premium TV shipments more than doubled year-on-year in Q4 2024, capturing 20% of the market, while LG’s share fell to … ⌘ Read more

Firefox 136 Released With Vertical Tabs, Official ARM64 Linux Binaries
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 9to5Linux: Mozilla published today the final build of the Firefox 136 open-source web browser for all supported platforms ahead of the March 4th, 2025, official release date, so it’s time to take a look at the new features and changes. Highlights of Firefox 136 include official Linux binary pack … ⌘ Read more

YouTube Warns Creators an AI-Generated Video of Its CEO is Being Used For Phishing Scams
An anonymous reader shares a report: YouTube is warning creators about a new phishing scam that attempts to lure victims using an AI-generated video of its CEO Neal Mohan. The fake video has been shared privately with users and claims YouTube is making changes to its monetization policy in an attempt … ⌘ Read more

Opera Adds an Automated AI Agent To Its Browser
king*jojo shares a report from The Register: The Opera web browser now boasts “agentic AI,” meaning users can ask an onboard AI model to perform tasks that require a series of in-browser actions. The AI agent, referred to as the Browser Operator, can, for example, find 12 pairs of men’s size 10 Nike socks that you can buy. This is demonstrated in an Opera-made video of the process, r … ⌘ Read more

Brother Accused of Locking Down Third-Party Printer Ink Cartridges Via Forced Firmware Updates
Fabled RepairTuber and right-to-repair crusader Louis Rossmann accuses Brother of implementing forced firmware updates that block third-party ink cartridges and remove older firmware versions from support portals. These updates also prevent color calibration with aftermarket ink, ren … ⌘ Read more

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg Talks Succession - ‘I Don’t Want To Pass It To a Committee’
WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg said on a podcast he aims to eventually hand over leadership to a single successor rather than “a committee,” amid growing calls for him to step down following his legal battle with hosting company WP Engine. On a recent episode of Lenny’s Podcast, Mullenweg discussed h … ⌘ Read more

Judges Are Fed Up With Lawyers Using AI That Hallucinate Court Cases
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: After a group of attorneys were caught using AI to cite cases that didn’t actually exist in court documents last month, another lawyer was told to pay $15,000 for his own AI hallucinations that showed up in several briefs. Attorney Rafael Ramirez, who represented a company called HoosierV … ⌘ Read more

Citi Copy-Paste Error Almost Sent $6 Billion to Wealth Account
Citigroup nearly credited about $6 billion to a customer’s account in its wealth-management business by accident. From a report: The near-error occurred after a staffer handling the transfer copied and pasted the account number into a field for the dollar figure, which was detected on the next business day, the report added. The wealth division’s near-m … ⌘ Read more

Australia, With No Auto Industry To Protect, is Awash With Chinese EVs
Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD is rapidly gaining market share in Australia, with sales rising 65% last year as nearly one in four EVs sold in the country was a BYD, according to EVDirect CEO David Smitherman. Chinese EVs now comprise roughly one-third of electric vehicles sold in Australia, which has no domestic auto industry to pr … ⌘ Read more

Apple Launches Legal Challenge To UK ‘Back Door’ Order
Apple is stepping up its fight with the British government over a demand to create a “back door” in its most secure cloud storage systems, by filing a legal complaint that it hopes will overturn the order. Financial Times: The iPhone maker has made its appeal to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, an independent judicial body that examines complaints against the UK se … ⌘ Read more

Apple Launches Legal Challenge To UK ‘Back Door’ Order
Apple is stepping up its fight with the British government over a demand to create a “back door” in its most secure cloud storage systems, by filing a legal complaint that it hopes will overturn the order. Financial Times: The iPhone maker has made its appeal to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, an independent judicial body that examines complaints against the UK se … ⌘ Read more

After Exam Fiasco, California State Bar Staff Recommend Reverting To In-person Exams
After California’s bar exams were plagued last week with technical problems, the State Bar of California is recommending that the agency return to in-person tests as it scrutinizes whether the vendor behind the new testing system met the obligations of its contract. From a report: “Based on the administration … ⌘ Read more

Scientists Create ‘Woolly Mice’
EmagGeek shares a report: Scientists have genetically engineered mice with some key characteristics of an extinct animal that was far larger – the woolly mammoth. This “woolly mouse” marks an important step toward achieving the researchers’ ultimate goal – bringing a woolly mammoth-like creature back from extinction, they say.

“For us, it’s an incredibly big deal,” says Beth Shapiro, chief science officer a … ⌘ Read more

Apple Unveils iPad Air With M3 Chip
Apple today announced a significant update to its iPad Air lineup, integrating the M3 chip previously reserved for higher-end devices. The new tablets, available in both 11-inch ($599) and 13-inch ($799) configurations, deliver substantial performance gains: nearly 2x faster than M1-equipped models and 3.5x faster than A14 Bionic versions.

The M3 brings Apple’s advanced graphics architecture to the Ai … ⌘ Read more

Europe’s Biggest Battery Powered Up In Scotland
AmiMoJo shares a report: Europe’s biggest battery storage project has entered commercial operation in Scotland [alternative source], promising to soak up surplus wind power and prevent turbines being paid to switch off.

Zenobe said the first phase of its project at Blackhillock, between Inverness and Aberdeen, was now live with capacity to store enough power to supply 200 me … ⌘ Read more

China’s Supreme Court Calls For Crack Down on Paper Mills
China’s highest court has called for a crack down on the activities of paper mills, businesses that churn out fraudulent or poor-quality manuscripts and sell authorships. Nature: Some researchers are cautiously optimistic that the court’s guidance will help curb the use of these services, while others think the impact will be minimal. “This is the first time … ⌘ Read more

Realme Charts Path To 10,000mAh Phone Batteries by 2026
Realme plans to double smartphone battery capacity to 10,000mAh within its three-year strategic roadmap, the company said at tradeshow MWC on Tuesday. Current flagship devices typically offer 5,000mAh, while Realme’s latest models already ship with 6,000mAh cells. The company expects to implement 7,500mAh batteries next year before reaching the 10,000mAh target, … ⌘ Read more

Google Releases SpeciesNet, an AI Model Designed To Identify Wildlife
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Google has open sourced an AI model, SpeciesNet, designed to identify animal species by analyzing photos from camera traps. Researchers around the world use camera traps – digital cameras connected to infrared sensors – to study wildlife populations. But while these traps can provide … ⌘ Read more

CISA Tags Windows, Cisco Vulnerabilities As Actively Exploited
CISA has warned U.S. federal agencies about active exploitation of vulnerabilities in Cisco VPN routers and Windows systems. “While the cybersecurity agency has tagged these flaws as actively exploited in the wild, it has yet to provide specific details regarding this malicious activity and who is behind it,” adds Bleeping Computer. From the report: The … ⌘ Read more

Private Lunar Lander Blue Ghost Aces Moon Touchdown
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander successfully touched down on the moon, making it the first private company to achieve a stable lunar landing without crashing. The craft is carrying various NASA-funded experiments, including a “vacuum to suck up moon dirt for analysis and a drill to measure temperature as deep as 10 feet (3 meters) below the surface,” reports the … ⌘ Read more

Researchers Find Less-Educated Areas Adopting AI Writing Tools Faster
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, experts have debated how widely AI language models would impact the world. A few years later, the picture is getting clear. According to new Stanford University-led research examining over 300 million text samples across multiple sectors, AI … ⌘ Read more

NASA Photo Captures Sound Barrier Being Broken
NASA used specialized Schlieren photography to capture an image of Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 demonstrator aircraft breaking the sound barrier on February 10, 2025 and producing shock waves as it exceeded Mach 1. The flight produced no audible sonic boom, marking progress toward the goal of quiet supersonic travel. CNN reports: “This image makes the invisible visible,” said Blake Sc … ⌘ Read more

Google Play Is Going To Start Highlighting Apps With Widgets
Google Play on Android devices is being updated to include a new search filter for widgets, widget badges on app detail pages, and a curated editorial page dedicated to widgets. The Verge reports: With the search filter, users will be able to more easily search for apps with widgets. The badge “eliminates guesswork for users and highlights your widget … ⌘ Read more

US To Halt Offensive Cyber Operations Against Russia
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The United States has suspended its offensive cyber operations against Russia, according to reports, amid efforts by the Trump administration to grant Moscow concessions to end the war in Ukraine. The reported order to halt U.S.-launched hacking operations against Russia was authorized by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Heg … ⌘ Read more

Driverless Race Car Sets a New Autonomous Speed Record
A fully driverless Maserati MC20 Coupe set a new autonomous land speed record, reaching 197.7 mph at the Kennedy Space Center. The Verge reports: The Maserati was running self-driving software developed by Politecnico di Milano, Italy’s largest scientific and technological university. The team also worked with the Indy Autonomous Challenge, which most recently ran a … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Unveils New Voice-Activated AI Assistant For Doctors
Microsoft has introduced Dragon Copilot, a voice-activated AI assistant for doctors that integrates dictation and ambient listening tools to automate clinical documentation, including notes, referrals, and post-visit summaries. The tool is set to launch in May in the U.S. and Canada. CNBC reports: Microsoft acquired Nuance Communications, the company behin … ⌘ Read more

TSMC Pledges To Spend $100 Billion On US Chip Facilities
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Chipmaker TSMC said that it aims to invest “at least” $100 billion in chip manufacturing plants in the U.S. over the next four years as part of an effort to expand the company’s network of semiconductor factories. President Donald Trump announced the news during a press conference Monday. TSMC’s cash infusion w … ⌘ Read more

Former Intel CEO Barrett Calls for Board Dismissal and Gelsinger’s Return
Former Intel CEO Craig Barrett urged the rehiring of Pat Gelsinger, who was abruptly fired two months ago, arguing he should “finish the job he has aptly handled over the past few years.”

“Pat Gelsinger did a great job resuscitating the technology development team,” Barrett wrote, criticizing the company’s current leadership under “a … ⌘ Read more

Call Centers Using AI To ‘Whiten’ Indian Accents
The world’s biggest call center company is using artificial intelligence to “neutralise” Indian accents for Western customers. From a report: Teleperformance said it was applying real-time AI software on phone calls in order to increase “human empathy” between two people on the phone. The French company’s customers in the UK include parts of the Government, the NHS, Vodafone and eBay. … ⌘ Read more

The US Cities Whose Workers Are Most Exposed to AI
Silicon Valley, the place that did more than any other to pioneer artificial intelligence, is the most exposed to its ability to automate work. That’s according to an analysis by researchers at the Brookings Institution, a think tank, which matched the tasks that OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 could do with the jobs that are most common in different US cities. From a report: The result … ⌘ Read more

How the British Broke Their Own Economy
Britain, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, now suffers from its opposite: profound energy shortages and deep affordability crises [non-paywalled link]. A new report titled “Foundations” identifies the root cause – “it is difficult to build almost anything, anywhere” in the UK.

Housing exemplifies this malaise. Since the 1990s, homeownership among young British workers has halved wh … ⌘ Read more

Waiting For the Paperback? Good Luck.
U.S. publishers are increasingly abandoning paperback editions of nonfiction books, eliminating a traditional second chance for authors to reach readers with lower-priced versions of their work. New adult nonfiction paperback titles plummeted 42% between 2019 and 2024 [non-paywalled source] to under 40,000, while hardcover titles fell just 9% during the same period, according to Bowker Books in Prin … ⌘ Read more

Graduates From Top MBA Programs Are Struggling To Land Jobs
Job placement rates have declined at all top U.S. business schools [non-paywalled source] since 2021, leaving MBA graduates anxious about their expensive degrees’ return on investment. Harvard Business School, which produced Wall Street titans like Bill Ackman and Ray Dalio, saw the percentage of graduates without job offers three months post-graduation … ⌘ Read more

Nvidia and Broadcom Testing Chips on Intel Manufacturing Process
Nvidia and Broadcom are conducting manufacturing tests using Intel’s advanced 18A chip production process, according to Reuters, signaling potential confidence in the struggling chipmaker’s contract manufacturing ambitions. The previously unreported tests could lead to significant manufacturing contracts for Intel, whose foundry business has suffered d … ⌘ Read more

Lenovo’s ThinkBook Flip Puts an Extra-Tall Folding Display On a Laptop
Lenovo unveiled its ThinkBook “codename Flip” AI PC Concept at Mobile World Congress on Monday, featuring a flexible 18.1-inch OLED display that can transform between three configurations: a traditional 13.1-inch clamshell, a folded 12.9-inch tablet, or a laptop with an extra-tall vertical screen.

Unlike the motorized ThinkBook Plus G … ⌘ Read more

How Many Episodes Should You Watch Before Quitting a TV Show? A Statistical Analysis
Daniel Parris: Some TV shows take a while to “get good.” Modern classics like Breaking Bad, The Wire, Community, and Bojack Horseman are notorious for “starting slow” and are often recommended with a disclaimer like “Give it a few episodes; I promise it gets good!”

At the same time, some shows neve … ⌘ Read more

China May Be Ready To Use Nuclear Fusion for Power by 2050
China aims to commercialize nuclear fusion technology for use in emissions-free power generation by 2050, according to the countryâ™s state-owned atomic company. From a report: China National Nuclear Corp., which runs an experimental device dubbed the ‘artificial sun,’ could start commercial operation of its first power generation project about five years afte … ⌘ Read more

‘Why Can’t We Screenshot Frames From DRM-Protected Video on Apple Devices?’
Apple users noticed a change in 2023, “when streaming platforms like Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, and the Criterion Channel imposed a quiet embargo on the screenshot,” noted the film blog Screen Slate:

At first, there were workarounds: users could continue to screenshot by using the browser Brave or by downloading extension … ⌘ Read more

Can TrapC Fix C and C++ Memory Safety Issues?
“TrapC, a fork of the C language, is being developed as a potential solution for memory safety issues that have hindered the C and C++ languages,” reports InfoWorld.
But also being developed is a compiler named trapc “intended to be implemented as a cybersecurity compiler for C and C++ code, said developer Robin Rowe…”

Due by the end of this year, trapc will be a free, open so … ⌘ Read more

Blender-Rendered Movie ‘Flow’ Wins Oscar for Best Animated Feature, Beating Pixar
It’s a feature-length film “rendered on a free and open-source software platform called Blender,” reports Reuters. And it just won the Oscar for best animated feature film, beating movies from major studios like Disney/Pixar and Dreamworks.

In January Blender.org called Flow “the manifestation of Blender’s mission, … ⌘ Read more

Linux’s Marketshare Drops in Monthly Steam Survey
What’s Linux’s marketshare on Steam? The Steam Survey numbers tell this story:

11/24: 2.03%
12/24: 2.29%
01/25: 2.06%
02:25: 1.45%

“The February numbers show a staggering 0.61% drop to Linux use…” reports Phoronix. But they attribute this to an sampling error:
According to the survey, it shows 50% of Steam users using the Simplified Chinese language pack [a 20% increase … ⌘ Read more

Lenovo Teases Solar-Powered and Foldable-Screen Laptops in Latest Concepts
Lenovo demonstrated “a laptop with a foldable screen and one that can get extra battery life from solar power,” reports CNBC, emphasizing that “These laptops are just concepts, meaning they are not commercially available.”
But “Lenovo, the world’s biggest PC maker, has a history of showing off imaginative concepts with some … ⌘ Read more

Trump Names Cryptocurrencies for ‘Digital Asset Stockpile’ in Social Media Post
Despite a January announcement that America would explore the idea of a national digital asset stockpile, the exact cryptocurrecies weren’t specified. Today on social media the president posted that it would include bitcoin, ether, XRP, Solana’s SOL token and Cardano’s ADA, reports CNBC — prompting a Sunday rally in cr … ⌘ Read more

‘Exponential Spin-up’ In Geothermal Energy Projects Brings Hope for Green Power
Earth’s core “burns with an estimated forty-four trillion watts of power,” the New Yorker reminds us — enough to “satisfy the entire world’s energy needs” with a power source that’s carbon-free, ubiquitous — and unlimited. (Besides running 24 hours a day, one of geothermal energy’s key advantages is “it can be used … ⌘ Read more

How Buildings Are Staying Cool and Saving Money - with Batteries Made of Ice
“Thousands of buildings across the United States are staying cool with the help of cutting-edge batteries made from one of the world’s simplest materials,” reports the Washington Post — ice.

When electricity is cheap, the batteries freeze water. When energy costs go up, building managers turn off their pricey chillers … ⌘ Read more

What Happened When Conspiracy Theorists Talked to OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo?
A “decision science partner” at a seed-stage venture fund (who is also a cognitive-behavioral decision science author and professional poker player) explored what happens when GPT-4 Turbo converses with conspiracy theorists:

Researchers have struggled for decades to develop techniques to weaken the grip of conspiracy theories and cult ideo … ⌘ Read more

Ask Slashdot: Would You Accept a Free Ride Into Space?
How confident are we about the safety of commercial space tourism? Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes:
It’s one thing for Microsoft to boast that they dare to use Outlook instead of Gmail. But it took a whole other level of commitment for Jeff Bezos to join his brother Mark aboard Blue Origin’s first passenger-carrying mission in July 2021.

So, while Bezos i … ⌘ Read more

Fast New 3D Printing Technique Shines Holograms into Resin
Can a new 3D-printing technique shorten 3D printing times to just seconds? A team of researchers in Europe has modified Tomographic Volumetric Additive Manufacturing, which can “create entire objects in one shot by shining light patterns into liquid resin,” according to the 3D Printing Industry blog. (The liquid resin then solidifies when the light inten … ⌘ Read more

First Petawatt Electron Beam Arrives, Ready To Rip Apart Matter and Space
Petawatt lasers have already allowed scientists to “manipulate materials in new ways, emulate the conditions inside planets, and even split atoms,” reports Science magazine. “Now, accelerator physicists have matched that feat, producing petawatt pulses of electrons that could also have spectacular applications…”

Described … ⌘ Read more

Malicious PyPI Package Exploited Deezer’s API, Orchestrates a Distributed Piracy Operation
A malicious PyPi package effectively turned its users’ systems “into an illicit network for facilitating bulk music downloads,” writes The Hacker News.

Though the package has been removed from PyPI, researchers at security platform Socket.dev say it enabled “coordinated, unauthorized music download … ⌘ Read more

Watch ‘Blue Ghost’ Attempt Its Landing on the Moon
Watch the “Blue Ghost” lunar lander attempt its moon landing.

The actual landing is scheduled to happen at 3:34 a.m. Eastern time, according to CNN, while “The first images from the mission should be delivered about a half hour after…”
Success is not guaranteed… [B]roadly speaking, about half of all lunar landing attempts have ended in failure. Jason Kim, Firefly’s … ⌘ Read more

27-Year-Old EXE Became Python In Minutes. Is AI-Assisted Reverse Engineering Next?
Adafruit managing director Phillip Torrone (also long-time Slashdot reader ptorrone) shared an interesting blog post. They’d spotted a Reddit post “detailing how someone took a 27-year-old visual basic EXE file, fed it to Claude 3.7, and watched as it reverse-engineered the program and rewrote it in Python … ⌘ Read more

Utah Could Become America’s First State To Ban Fluoride In Public Water
NBC News reports that Utah could make history as America’s first state to ban fluoride in public water systems — even though major medical associations supporting water fluoridation:

If signed into law [by the governor], HB0081 would prevent any individual or political subdivision from adding fluoride “to water in or intended for p … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Outage Leaves Tens of Thousands Unable to Access Email and Other Apps
“Tens of thousands of users were unable to access various Microsoft programs on Saturday afternoon,” reports CNBC:

“We’re investigating an issue in which users may be unable to access Outlook features and services,” Microsoft 365 Status, the official Microsoft account for 365 service incidents, said in a post on X…

Th … ⌘ Read more

AMD Reveals RDNA 4 GPU Architecture Powering Next Gen Radeon RX 9070 Cards
Long-time Slashdot reader MojoKid writes: AMD took the wraps of its next gen RDNA 4 consumer graphics architecture Friday, which was designed to enhance efficiency over the previous generation, while also optimizing performance for today’s more taxing ray-traced gaming and AI workloads. RDNA 4 features next generation Ray Tracing en … ⌘ Read more

Mozilla Revises Firefox’s Terms of Use, Clarifies That They Don’t Own Your Data
“We need a license to allow us to make some of the basic functionality of Firefox possible,” Mozilla explained Wednesday in a clarification a recent Terms of Use update. “Without it, we couldn’t use information typed into Firefox, for example. It does NOT give us ownership of your data or a right to use it for anything … ⌘ Read more

New Research Suggests Ancient Ocean on Mars
Hidden layers of rock below the surface of Mars “strongly suggest” the presence of an ancient ocean, according to an international team of scientists including researchers at Penn State.

From the university’s announcement:

The new research offers the clearest evidence yet that the planet once contained a significant body of water and a more habitable environment for life, according … ⌘ Read more

Perl’s CPAN Security Group is Now a CNA, Can Assign CVEs
Active since 1995, the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (or CPAN) hosts 221,742 Perl modules written by 14,548 authors. This week they announced that the CPAN Security Group “was authorized by the CVE Program as a CVE Numbering Authority (CNA)” to assign and manage CVE vulnerability identifications for Perl and CPAN Modules.

“This is great news!” posted L … ⌘ Read more

Anti-Aging Pill for Dogs Clears Key FDA Hurdle
San Francisco-based biotech startup Loyal says a drug it developed to increase dogs’ lifespan “has passed a significant milestone on the way to regulatory approval,” reports the Washington Post:

The Food and Drug Administration certified the daily pill as having a “reasonable expectation of effectiveness” at extending senior dogs’ lifespans. The regulator’s Center for Veterinar … ⌘ Read more

Magnus Carlsen Auctions Jeans, Admits He Can’t Beat Chess Engines
Magnus Carlsen “announced this week that he is auctioning off the Italian luxury brand jeans that started a dress code dispute at December’s World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships,” reports the Associated Press. (“Condition: Pre-owned,” says the listing on eBay, where by Friday night bidding on the charitable auction was up to $14,100.)

But C … ⌘ Read more

Tesla Moves Towards Launching an Uber Competitor
“Tesla is taking steps to launch a ride-sharing service that could compete directly with Uber, Lyft and Waymo,” reports Axios, noting that Tesla “has filed for a transportation charter-party carrier permit from the California Public Utilities Commission, Bloomberg reported Thursday.”
“That classification means Tesla would own and control the fleet of vehicles,” Bloomberg report … ⌘ Read more

Google Calls for Measurable Memory-Safety Standards for Software
Memory safety bugs are “eroding trust in technology and costing billions,” argues a new post on Google’s security blog — adding that “traditional approaches, like code auditing, fuzzing, and exploit mitigations — while helpful — haven’t been enough to stem the tide.”

So the blog post calls for a “common framework” for “defining specific, m … ⌘ Read more

COSMIC Desktop Alpha 6 Released
New submitter TronNerd82 writes: Linuxiac reports that the 6th alpha release of the COSMIC desktop environment has been released. The new alpha release includes zooming, desktop icon management, some new scaling options, and improved accessibility features. Also included in the release are a number of bug fixes.

These include, but are not limited to:
- Fixing a crash issue in Steam, and fixing certain issues … ⌘ Read more

Chinese Scientists Developing Mars Drone That Can Roll and Fly
Chinese scientists are developing a lightweight Mars drone capable of both rolling on the ground and flying using contra-rotating coaxial rotors. Space.com reports: The air-ground dual-purpose unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) weighs only 10.6 ounces (300 grams), equivalent to the weight of an apple. The development team is at the School of Astronauti … ⌘ Read more

Serbian Student’s Android Phone Compromised By Exploit From Cellebrite
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Amnesty International on Friday said it determined that a zero-day exploit sold by controversial exploit vendor Cellebrite was used to compromise the phone of a Serbian student who had been critical of that country’s government. […] The chain exploited a series of vulnerabilities … ⌘ Read more

Google’s Taara Hopes To Usher in a New Era of Internet Powered by Light
Alphabet’s X division has developed a silicon photonic chip for its Taara project, which transmits internet via laser beams instead of fiber optic cables. The system delivers 20Gbps through “light bridges” that establish line-of-sight connections between transceiver units. The second-generation technology miniaturizes previous mechan … ⌘ Read more

3D Software Company Autodesk Cuts 1,350 Jobs To Boost AI Investment
Autodesk said it would cut 1,350 employees, or about 9% of its workforce, as part of a pivot to the cloud and artificial intelligence. Fast Company reports: Companies across sectors such as architecture, engineering, construction, and product design are making extensive use of Autodesk’s 3D design solutions, with the software maker’s artificial i … ⌘ Read more

Apple Accused of Misleading Consumers With Apple Watch ‘Carbon Neutral’ Claims
Apple is facing a class action lawsuit alleging it misled consumers by falsely claiming certain Apple Watches were carbon neutral, as the carbon offset projects it relied on did not effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Verge reports: Apple said in 2023 that “select case and band combinations” of its Apple Wa … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Begins Turning Off uBlock Origin, Other Extensions In Edge
Microsoft Edge is following Chrome’s lead by disabling uBlock Origin and other Manifest V2-based extensions in its browser. Neowin reports: The latest Edge Canary version started disabling Manifest V2-based extensions with the following message: “This extension is no longer supported. Microsoft Edge recommends that you remove it.” Although … ⌘ Read more

Benioff Says Salesforce Won’t Hire Engineers This Year Due To AI
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said his firm, San Francisco’s largest private employer, does not plan to hire engineers this year because of the success of AI agents created and used by the company. From a report: “My message to CEOs right now is that we are the last generation to manage only humans,” Benioff said Wednesday on Salesforce’s earnings call, … ⌘ Read more

OpenAI Plans To Integrate Sora’s Video Generator Into ChatGPT
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: OpenAI intends to eventually integrate its AI video generation tool, Sora, directly into its popular consumer chatbot app, ChatGPT, company leaders said during a Friday office hours session on Discord. Today, Sora is only available through a dedicated web app OpenAI launched in December, which lets users a … ⌘ Read more

An Appeals Court May Kill a GNU GPL Software License
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is set to review a California district court’s ruling in Neo4j v. PureThink, which upheld Neo4j’s right to modify the GNU AGPLv3 with additional binding terms. If the appellate court affirms this decision, it could set a precedent allowing licensors to impose unremovable restrictions on open-source software, potentially undermining the … ⌘ Read more

Intel Delays $28 Billion Ohio Chip Factory To 2030
According to The Columbia Dispatch, Intel’s promised $28 billion semiconductor project in central Ohio has been delayed again until 2030, with operations beginning sometime shortly thereafter in either 2030 or 2031. From the report: By the time it opens, Intel’s first factory will have faced at least five or six years of delays, as it was originally scheduled to begin operating i … ⌘ Read more

Commercials Are Still Too Loud, Say ‘Thousands’ of Recent FCC Complaints
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Thousands” of complaints about the volume of TV commercials have flooded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in recent years. Despite the FCC requiring TV stations, cable operators, and satellite providers to ensure that commercials don’t bring a sudden spike in … ⌘ Read more

Mozilla Responds To Backlash Over New Terms, Saying It’s Not Using People’s Data for AI
Mozilla has denied allegations that its new Firefox browser terms of service allow it to harvest user data for artificial intelligence training, following widespread criticism of the recently updated policy language. The controversy erupted after Firefox introduced terms that grant Mozilla “a nonexclusiv … ⌘ Read more

Google’s Sergey Brin Urges Workers To the Office at Least Every Weekday
Google co-founder Sergey Brin has urged employees working on the company’s Gemini AI products to be in the office “at least every weekday” [non-paywalled source] and suggested “60 hours a week is the sweet spot of productivity,” according to an internal memo cited by The New York Times. The directive comes as Brin warned that “comp … ⌘ Read more

US Workers See AI-Induced Productivity Growth, Fed Survey Shows
Workers reported saving a substantial number of work hours by using generative AI, according to research conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, along with Vanderbilt and Harvard universities. From a report: The researchers, drawing from what they identified as the first nationally representative survey of generative AI adoption, measure … ⌘ Read more

DeepMind CEO Says AGI Definition Has Been ‘Watered Down’
Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis says the definition of artificial general intelligence is being “watered down,” creating an illusion of faster progress toward this technological milestone. “There’s quite a long way, in my view, before we get to AGI,” Hassabis said. “The timelines are shrinking because the definition of AGI is being watered down, in my opinion.” Deep … ⌘ Read more

President Trump: UK Encryption Policy ‘Something You Hear About With China’
President Trump has directly criticized the UK government’s approach to encryption, comparing recent actions to those of China. Speaking to The Spectator, Trump said he confronted UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer about the Home Office’s request for “backdoor access” to encrypted iCloud data, which led Apple to remove its Advanced … ⌘ Read more

Mozilla’s Updated ToS: We Own All Info You Put Into Firefox
New submitter SharkByte writes: Mozilla just updated its Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for Firefox with a very disturbing “You Give Mozilla Certain Rights and Permissions” clause: When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information to help you navigate, experience … ⌘ Read more