Anthropic’s Google Cloud Deal Includes 1 Million TPUs, 1 GW of Capacity In 2026
Google and Anthropic have finalized a cloud partnership worth tens of billions of dollars, granting Anthropic access to up to one million of Google’s Tensor Processing Units and more than a gigawatt of compute power by 2026. CNBC reports: Industry estimates peg the cost of a 1-gigawatt data center at around $50 billion … ⌘ Read more

Trump Eyes Government Control of Quantum Computing Firms
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Donald Trump is eyeing taking equity stakes in quantum computing firms in exchange for federal funding, The Wall Street Journal reported. At least five companies are weighing whether allowing the government to become a shareholder would be worth it to snag funding that the Trump administration has “earmarked … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Puts Office Online Server On the Chopping Block
Microsoft is retiring Office Online Server on December 31, 2026, ending support and updates for organizations running browser-based Office apps on-premises. The Register reports: After this, there won’t be any more security fixes, updates, or technical support from Microsoft. “This change is part of our ongoing commitment to modernizing productivity experiences and … ⌘ Read more

Apple Loses Landmark UK Lawsuit Over App Store Commissions
A UK tribunal ruled that Apple abused its dominant position by charging app developers unfair commissions through its App Store, potentially costing the company hundreds of millions in damages. It marks the first major tech “class action” victory under the UK’s collective lawsuit regime. Reuters reports: The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruled against Appl … ⌘ Read more

China’s New Five-Year Plan Sharpens Industry, Tech Focus
An anonymous reader shares a report: China’s Communist Party elite vowed on Thursday to build a modern industrial system and make more efforts to achieve technological self-reliance, moves it sees as key to bolstering its position in its intensifying rivalry with the United States. As expected, the Party’s Central Committee also promised more efforts to expand domestic … ⌘ Read more

Memory Giants Samsung and SK Hynix Push Through 30% Price Increases Amid AI Server Boom
Samsung and SK Hynix have raised DRAM and NAND flash prices by up to 30% for the fourth quarter, Korean publications report. The two Korean memory giants passed the new rates on to customers as analysts predict the AI-driven memory supercycle will be longer and stronger than past boom periods.

Several l … ⌘ Read more

Apollo Says AI Energy Gap ‘Will Not Be Closed in Our Lifetime’
The amount of energy required to supply the data centers powering AI is so vast that meeting that need may be more than a lifetime away, according to a senior executive at Apollo Global. From a report: “The gap between what AI is demanding and what we have everywhere in the world on the grid in terms of generation and transmission is huge and will n … ⌘ Read more

Trump Pardons Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao
President Donald Trump has pardoned the Founder of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to anti-money-laundering violations and served prison time. The Associated Press reports: Zhao has deep ties to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture that the Republican president and his sons Eric and Donald Jr. launched in September. Trump’s most recent financial disclosure report reveals … ⌘ Read more

Three Decades After Clippy, Microsoft Launches Mico
Nearly three decades after Clippy appeared as Microsoft’s Office assistant, the company is introducing Mico, a virtual character for Copilot’s voice mode. The bouncing orb responds with real-time expressions during conversations and is being turned on by default, The Verge reports. Users can disable the feature, however.

The assistant draws on a new memory feature inside Copil … ⌘ Read more

McKinsey Says Bank Profits Face Possible $170 Billion AI Hit
Banks face a hit to their bottom lines of as much as $170 billion if they don’t adapt their business models to respond to customers turning to AI to optimize their finances. From a report: The consultancy firm predicted that customer uptake of agentic AI – effectively autonomous bots – would hit the profits banks earn from customer money in low interest … ⌘ Read more

Overshooting 1.5C Climate Target ‘Inevitable’: UN Chief
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says it is now clear that efforts to cap global warming at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels will fail in the short term. AFP: Before next month’s COP30 climate summit in Brazil, Guterres said going beyond 1.5C would result in “devastating” yet predictable impacts. “One thing is already clear: we will not be able to contain the glo … ⌘ Read more

Detection Firm Finds 82% of Herbal Remedy Books on Amazon ‘Likely Written’ By AI
An anonymous reader shares a report: With gingko “memory-boost tinctures,” fennel “tummy-soothing syrups” and “citrus-immune gummies,” AI “slop” has come for herbalism, a study published by a leading AI-detection company has found. Originality.ai, which offers its tools to universities and businesses, says it scanned … ⌘ Read more

Gboard’s Latest Update Removes the Period and Comma Keys on Android
An anonymous reader writes: Gboard has introduced some significant changes to the app over the past few weeks, making typing on the app much easier than ever before. You can now resize the keyboard to your desired size, and there’s even something in the works that will make adding apostrophes to your text even more seamless.

If all of that wa … ⌘ Read more

Fujitsu’s New Laptop in Japan Includes Optical Drive Abandoned Elsewhere
Fujitsu has released a new laptop in Japan with a built-in Blu-ray drive. The FMV Note A A77-K3 includes a BDXL-compatible optical drive that can read and burn discs. Most laptop manufacturers globally stopped including optical drives in the second half of the 2010s. The Japanese market has refused to follow that trend.

Shops in Tok … ⌘ Read more

American E-waste is Causing a ‘Hidden Tsunami’ in Southeast Asia, Report Says
Millions of tons of discarded electronics from the United States are being shipped overseas, much of it to developing countries in Southeast Asia unprepared to safely handle hazardous waste, according to a new report by an environmental watchdog. AP: The Seattle-based Basel Action Network, or BAN, said a two-year investigat … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Demands 30% Profit Margins from Struggling Xbox Division
Microsoft has set a 30% profit margin goal for its Xbox gaming division, Bloomberg reported Thursday, well above the video game industry’s average of 17% to 22%. The target, implemented in fall 2023 by CFO Amy Hood, represents a sharp departure from Xbox’s previous approach of allowing developers to focus on making quality games without specif … ⌘ Read more

Apple Readies New Framework To Let iPhone Users Migrate App Data To Android
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 9to5Mac: Apple has been working on a new framework called AppMigrationKit, which will be compatible with devices running iOS 26.1 and later, as well as iPadOS 26.1 and later. Like iOS and iPadOS 26.1, the framework is currently in beta and will allow developers to include their app’s … ⌘ Read more

SpaceX Disables 2,500 Starlink Terminals Allegedly Used By Asian Scam Centers
SpaceX has deactivated over 2,500 Starlink terminals allegedly used by scam operations in Myanmar, where the service isn’t licensed but was reportedly enabling large-scale cybercrime networks tied to human trafficking and fraud. Ars Technica reports: Lauren Dreyer, vice president of Starlink business operations, described … ⌘ Read more

A SiriusXM Update Sent Some Audi Screens Into a Forced-Reboot Loop For Months
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Drive: This week, a reader wrote to us sharing that the infotainment in their 2020 Audi A4 had been “rebooting every five minutes all year.” It looks like the problem was caused by a compatibility issue with a SiriusXM app update. Audi tells us the situation’s been rectified, b … ⌘ Read more

Meta Lays Off 600 From ‘Bloated’ AI Unit
Meta is laying off about 600 employees from its AI division as part of a restructuring to streamline operations and solidify Alexandr Wang’s leadership over the company’s AI strategy. “Workers across Meta’s AI infrastructure units, Fundamental Artificial Intelligence Research unit (FAIR) and other product-related positions will be impacted,” notes CNBC. “However, the cuts did not impact employee … ⌘ Read more

Pitchfork Is Beta Testing User Reviews and Comments As It Approaches 30
As it nears its 30th anniversary, Pitchfork is testing user reviews and comments in a major shift from its long-standing critic-only model. The site will now let readers rate albums and leave comments, combining those into an aggregated “reader score” alongside the official Pitchfork score. The Verge reports: Pitchfork has historica … ⌘ Read more

Google Porting All Internal Workloads To Arm
Google is migrating all its internal workloads to run on both x86 and its custom Axion Arm chips, with major services like YouTube, Gmail, and BigQuery already running on both architectures. The Register reports: The search and ads giant documented its move in a preprint paper published last week, titled “Instruction Set Migration at Warehouse Scale,” and in a Wednesday post that r … ⌘ Read more

AI Assistants Misrepresent News Content 45% of the Time
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: New research coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and led by the BBC has found that AI assistants – already a daily information gateway for millions of people – routinely misrepresent news content no matter which language, territory, or AI platform is tested. The intensive international study of un … ⌘ Read more

OpenBSD 7.8 Released
OpenBSD 7.8 has been released, adding Raspberry Pi 5 support, enhanced AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV-ES) capabilities, and expanded hardware compatibility including new Qualcomm, Rockchip, and Apple ARM drivers. Phoronix reports: OpenBSD 7.8 also brings multiple improvements around enabling AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization (AMD SEV) support with support for the PSP ioctl for encrypting and measuring state for SEV-ES, a ne … ⌘ Read more

Samsung Galaxy XR Is the First Android XR Headset
Samsung has officially launched the Galaxy XR, the first Android headset powered by Google’s new Android XR platform. Priced at $1,800 without controllers, the device features dual 4.3K Micro-OLED displays, a Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chip, extensive camera tracking, and deep Gemini AI integration. Ars Technica reports: Galaxy XR is a fully enclosed headset with passthrough v … ⌘ Read more

Jaguar Land Rover Hack Cost UK Economy an Estimated $2.5 Billion
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The hack of Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India’s Tata Motors, cost the British economy an estimated $2.55 billion and affected over 5,000 organizations, an independent cybersecurity body said in a report published on Wednesday. The report was produced by the Cyber Monitoring Centre, an independent, n … ⌘ Read more

Global Use of Coal Hit Record High in 2024
Coal use hit a record high around the world last year despite efforts to switch to clean energy, imperilling the world’s attempts to rein in global heating. From a report: The share of coal in electricity generation dropped as renewable energy surged ahead. But the general increase in power demand meant that more coal was used overall, according to the annual State of Climate Action report … ⌘ Read more

YouTube Will Help You Quit Watching Shorts
YouTube has added a new Shorts feature that makes it easier to manage how much time you’re spending watching videos. From a report: Mobile users can now set a customizable daily limit that restricts how long they can scroll Shorts feeds, aiming to help viewers better manage their time instead of endlessly scrolling. When a user reaches their time limit, they will receive a notification sayi … ⌘ Read more

New Delhi Pollution Hits Five-Year High
Air pollution in New Delhi hit a five-year high this week, as Diwali fireworks combined with farming fires to shroud the city in a toxic haze. From a report: The annual spike has become something of a tradition in the megalopolis, with some parts of the city this week recording an air-quality index reading of 1,800 – 20 times higher than levels the World Health Organization deems healthy. The n … ⌘ Read more

Apple and Google Face Enforced Changes Over UK Smartphone Dominance
Google and Apple face enforced changes to how they operate their mobile phone platforms, after the UK’s competition watchdog ruled the companies require tougher regulatory oversight. From a report: The Competition and Markets Authority has conferred “strategic market status” (SMS) on the tech firms after investigating their mobile operating … ⌘ Read more

Reddit Sues Perplexity For Scraping Data To Train AI System
An anonymous reader shares a report: Social media platform Reddit sued AI startup Perplexity in New York federal court on Wednesday, accusing it and three other companies of unlawfully scraping its data to train Perplexity’s AI-based search engine. Reddit said in the complaint that the data-scraping companies circumvented its data protection measures in ord … ⌘ Read more

Meta Allows Deepfake of Irish Presidential Candidate To Spread for 12 Hours Before Removal
Meta removed a deepfake video from Facebook that falsely depicted Catherine Connolly withdrawing from Ireland’s presidential election. The video was posted to an account called RTE News AI and viewed almost 30,000 times over 12 hours before the Irish Independent contacted the platform. The fabri … ⌘ Read more

Uber Will Pay Drivers $4,000 To Switch To EVs
An anonymous reader shares a report: As it rushes to meet its pledge for “100 percent” of trips in electric vehicles by 2030, Uber is offering grants of $4,000 for drivers to swap their gas-guzzlers for zero-tailpipe emission vehicles. The company is also dropping its “Uber Green” branding in favor of the more simple “Uber Electric.”

Uber has said it will be completely carbon neutral … ⌘ Read more

Google’s Quantum Computer Makes a Big Technical Leap
Google announced Wednesday that its quantum computer achieved the first verifiable quantum advantage, running a new algorithm 13,000 times faster than a top supercomputer. The algorithm, called Quantum Echoes, was published in the journal Nature. The results can be replicated on another quantum computer of similar quality, something Google had not demonstrated before. … ⌘ Read more

Resistant Bacteria Are Advancing Faster Than Antibiotics
The proliferation of difficult-to-treat bacterial diseases represents a growing threat, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Report. Wired: The report reveals that, between 2018 and 2023, antibiotic resistance increased by more than 40 percent in monitored pathogen-drug combinations, with an average annu … ⌘ Read more

More Than 1,100 Public Figures Call for Ban on AI Superintelligence
More than 1,100 public figures have signed a statement calling for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence. The signatories included Nobel laureate Geoffrey Hinton, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, former chief strategist to President Trump Steve Ban … ⌘ Read more

Smart Beds Malfunctioned During AWS Outage
Early Monday, an Amazon Web Services outage disrupted banks, games, and Peloton classes. Eight Sleep customers faced a different problem. Their internet-enabled mattresses malfunctioned. People woke to beds locked in upright positions, excessive heat, flashing lights, and unexpected alarms. Matteo Franceschetti, the company’s chief executive, apologized and said engineers were building an … ⌘ Read more

Rubbish IT Systems Cost the US At Least $40 Billion During Covid
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Times: A lot of critical financial and government infrastructure runs on Cobol. The more-than-60-year-old mainframe coding language is embedded into payments and transaction rails, even though there are very few Cobol-literate coders available to maintain them. The big argument in favor of sticki … ⌘ Read more

GM To End Production of Electric Chevy Brightdrop Vans
General Motors is ending production of its Chevy BrightDrop electric delivery vans after sluggish demand and the expiration of key EV tax credits. “This is not a decision we made lightly because of the impact on our employees,” GM CEO Mary Barra said during the company’s third quarter earnings call Tuesday. “However the commercial electric van market has been develo … ⌘ Read more

NASA Opens SpaceX’s Moon Lander Contract To Rivals Over Starship Delays
NASA has reopened SpaceX’s $4.4 billion moon lander contract to new bidders like Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin after delays in Starship’s development threatened the 2027 Artemis 3 mission. Reuters reports: The move paves the way for rivals such as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin to snatch a high-profile mission to land the first astrona … ⌘ Read more

Automattic CEO Calls Tumblr His ‘Biggest Failure’ So Far
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: WordPress co-founder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg called the company’s Tumblr acquisition his biggest failure – but one he hasn’t given up on yet. The comments were made at the recent WordCamp Canada 2025 conference, where Mullenweg went live for a Town Hall session to connect with the open source-focused … ⌘ Read more

British Columbia to Permanently Ban New Crypto Mining Projects From Grid
British Columbia is permanently banning new cryptocurrency mining operations from connecting to its power grid to conserve electricity for industries that generate more jobs and tax revenue. The province is also capping power allocations for AI and data centers, while launching a competitive allocation process in January 2026. … ⌘ Read more

Internet Archive Celebrates 1 Trillion Web Pages Archived
alternative_right shares a report from the Internet Archive: This October, the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine is projected to hit a once-in-a-generation milestone: 1 trillion web pages archived. That’s one trillion memories, moments, and movements – preserved for the public and available to access via the Wayback Machine.

We’ll be commemorating this his … ⌘ Read more

Fake Homebrew Google Ads Push Malware Onto macOS
joshuark shares a report from BleepingComputer: A new malicious campaign is targeting macOS developers with fake Homebrew, LogMeIn, and TradingView platforms that deliver infostealing malware like AMOS (Atomic macOS Stealer) and Odyssey. The campaign employs “ClickFix” techniques where targets are tricked into executing commands in Terminal, infecting themselves with malware. Res … ⌘ Read more

YouTube’s Likeness Detection Has Arrived To Help Stop AI Doppelgangers
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: AI content has proliferated across the Internet over the past few years, but those early confabulations with mutated hands have evolved into synthetic images and videos that can be hard to differentiate from reality. Having helped to create this problem, Google has some responsibil … ⌘ Read more

US Investigates Waymo Robotaxis Over Safety Around School Buses
U.S. regulators have opened a new investigation into about 2,000 Waymo self-driving cars after reports that one of the company’s robotaxis illegally passed a stopped school bus with flashing lights and children disembarking.

Waymo says it’s “already developed and implemented improvements related to stopping for school buses and will land additiona … ⌘ Read more

ISP Deceived Customers About Fiber Internet, German Court Finds
The German Koblenz Regional Court has banned the internet service provider 1&1 from marketing its fiber-to-the-curb service as fiber-optic DSL. The court found that the company misled customers because its network uses copper cables for the final stage of connections, sometimes extending up to a mile from the distribution box to subscribers’ homes.
… ⌘ Read more

JetBrains Survey Declares PHP Declining, Then Says It Isn’t
JetBrains released its annual State of the Developer Ecosystem survey in late October, drawing more than twenty-four thousand responses from programmers worldwide. The survey declared that PHP and Ruby are in “long term decline” based on usage trends tracked over five years. Shortly after publication, JetBrains posted a separate statement asserting tha … ⌘ Read more

TikTok’s New Policies Remove Promise To Notify Users Before Government Data Disclosure
TikTok changed its policies earlier this year on sharing user data with governments as the company negotiated with the Trump Administration to continue operating in the United States. The company added language allowing data sharing with “regulatory authorities, where relevant” beyond law enforcement. Un … ⌘ Read more

Apple’s Planned Foldable iPad With 18-inch Screen Hits Development Snags
Apple’s effort to reinvent the iPad by adding a giant foldable screen has hit development hurdles, potentially delaying the planned launch. Bloomberg: The company has been working on the device – projected to cost around $3,000 – for several years and had most recently aimed for a 2028 release. But engineering challenges tied to … ⌘ Read more