Will Big Tech Layoffs Bring a Culture Shift to Anxiety and Job Insecurity?
Tech industry layoffs may be worse at large tech companies than the rest of the IT industry. The New York Times argues those layoffs have now shifted the culture at Big Tech companies, after interviewing more than two dozen of their workers. “Cooperation and collegiality are on the wane; chumminess between employees and managers … ⌘ Read more

It’s Like the Olympics - But Steroids Are Allowed
“Think Olympics on steroids. Literally,” quips the BBC, describing Sunday’s controversial Enhanced Games event in Las Vegas featuring dozens of athletes “using performance-enhancing drugs to try and break world records in track, weightlifting and swimming.

Some $25m (£18.6m) in prize money is up for grabs — with cash prizes for winners… The drugs they use must be legal, … ⌘ Read more

California Executive Order Directs Businesses and State Agencies to Prepare for AI-Driven Workforce Disruption
Thursday California’s governor issued an executive order “directing state agencies to prepare workers and businesses for AI-driven workforce disruption,” reports San Francisco’s KQED. In a statement the governor said “This moment demands that we reimagine t … ⌘ Read more

AI ‘Crashes the Party’ at This Year’s Cannes Film Festival - Including Multi-Year Meta Partnership
AI “crashed the party” at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, writes The Hollywood Reporter. The festival exposed “the fault lines reshaping cinema,” their article argues, including how “AI is here — and the industry has stopped pretending otherwise.”

A humanoid robot spotted … ⌘ Read more

FreeBSD Foundation Executive Director Tries Daily Driving FreeBSD On Laptop
Phoronix reports on a presentation about trying FreeBSD on modern Framework laptop from last week’s Open Source Summit hosted by the Linux Foundation:

With FreeBSD having worked on improving its laptop support over the past two years with some big changes and ongoing efforts for making a nice KDE desktop experience on FreeBS … ⌘ Read more

Canonical Is Shutting Down Ubuntu Pastebin
“Canonical says Ubuntu Pastebin will be decommissioned at the end of May 2026,” writes Slashdot reader BrianFagioli, “as part of an infrastructure modernization effort.”

The announcement only appeared this week, giving the Linux community barely any warning before a service that has been tied to Ubuntu support culture for years suddenly disappears.

Ubuntu Pastebin has long been used for … ⌘ Read more

Mozilla Brings Web Serial Workflows to Firefox, Collaborates With Adafruit
The Web Serial API lets websites write to (and read from) serial devices using JavaScript, including USB and Bluetooth devices with virtual serial ports. And this week’s Firefox 151 release introduced support for the Web Serial API on desktop.

“Most folks won’t use this API,” acknowledges Mozilla’s blog, “but for our community … ⌘ Read more

Disney’s ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ Opens to ‘Mixed’ Box Office Results
It’s “the first time in seven years that a new Star Wars film has launched on the big screen,” writes CNBC. And Variety notes it’s expected to earn $102 million through Monday:

[B]ox office analysts are mixed on the results. On one hand, it’s significant for any film to debut above $100 million in post- … ⌘ Read more

Apple Preparing New ‘Gen AI’ Website Ahead of WWDC — and New AI Features?
Apple just registered a new subdomain record: genai.apple.com.

The domain was spotted by a MacRumors contributing researcher, and though it doesn’t yet lead to a live web page, they believe it’s tied to Apple’s annual developers conference WWDC which starts June 8, “where the company has promised to announce ‘AI advancements’ … ⌘ Read more

Wind and Solar Generated More Power Than Gas Globally in April
Last month saw a world first, reports Electrek. Wind and solar generated more power globally than gas:

According to new analysis from independent energy think tank Ember, wind and solar produced 22% of the world’s electricity in April 2026, compared to 20% from gas. Together, the two renewable sources generated a record 531 terawatt-hours (TWh) … ⌘ Read more

Scammers Are Abusing an Internal Microsoft Account to Send Spam Links
“For months, scammers have been taking advantage of a loophole that allows them to send spammy emails from an internal Microsoft email address typically used for sending legitimate account alerts,” TechCrunch reports:

[The scammers] have been able to set up new Microsoft accounts as if they are new customers and use that access to send out … ⌘ Read more

Lenovo, Dell, and HP Financially Support Linux Vendor Firmware Service
The It’s FOSS blog has news about the Linux Vendor Firmware Service, which gives hardware vendors a secure portal to upload firmware updates “which can then be downloaded and installed by users through clients such as GNOME Software or fwupdmgr.” (Originally developed in 2015 by GNOME maintainer Richard Hughes…)
The issue, however, o … ⌘ Read more

More Videogames Developers Consider Unionization - Some Spurred By Changes to Remote Work Policies
Developers for several top videogames have joined unions under the Communication Workers of America — including Call of Duty, Fallout, Overwatch, Diablo and World of Warcraft. Last month workers on the online game Magic: The Gathering Arena team announced their own CWA union.

T … ⌘ Read more

‘Underminr’ CDN Vulnerability Hides Malicious Traffic Behind Trusted Domains
Slashdot reader wiredmikey writes: Threat actors are exploiting a vulnerability in shared content delivery network (CDN) infrastructure to hide connections to malicious domains. Researchers say the vulnerability could impact roughly 88 million domains and can bypass DNS filtering and protective DNS controls, potentially enab … ⌘ Read more

Tesla’s Electric Cybercab is Certified as the Most Efficient EV Ever
Tesla’s upcoming Cybercab “has been certified at 165 Wh/mi,” reports Electrek — which makes it “the most efficient electric vehicle ever produced — by a wide margin.”

The next most efficient EV on the market, the Lucid Air Pure, consumes 28% more energy per mile. Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moravy confirmed the figure, which repre … ⌘ Read more

Linus Torvalds on How AI is Impacting the Hunt for Linux Kernel Bugs
Linus Torvalds spoke this week at the Linux Foundation’s Open Source Summit North America, reports ZDNet — and described how AI is impacting Linux kernel development:

“In the last six months, we’ve seen a lot more commits,” Torvalds noted, estimating that “the last two releases, it’s been about 20% more commits than we had in the previo … ⌘ Read more

Is America Closer to Ending Daylight Saving Time?
A proposal to make daylight saving time permanent has advanced in the U.S. House of Representative, reports California news station KCRA:

A proposal to make daylight saving time permanent has advanced in the House, reigniting an age-old American debate around the twice-annual clock changes. And this time, the proposal has the president’s backing. President Donald Trump said T … ⌘ Read more

AMD (Xilinx) is Excluding Linux From the Free Tier For Its FPGA Dev Tool
Long-time Slashdot reader Sun writes:

AMD has announced a change to the way they are licensing Vivado, their FPGA development tool… Hidden between the lines of the announcement [of a new model starting with the 2026.1 release] is the change to the free of charge tier. AMD is adding more devices to be supported in this tier, … ⌘ Read more

US Layoffs Haven’t Increased, and New Tech Industry Hiring Balances Firings
“The numbers show that layoffs in the U.S. are roughly at or below levels from before the pandemic,” reports the Washington Post, “although they are higher than in 2022 when businesses snapped up workers as the economy roared back to life…

“A different measure that accounts for the growing U.S. workforce shows that layoffs aff … ⌘ Read more

Air France, Airbus Guilty of Corporate Manslaughter In 2009 Air France 447 Crash
Long-time Slashdot reader UnknowingFool shares this report from the BBC:

Air France and Airbus have been found guilty of manslaughter over a 2009 plane crash which killed 228 people. The Paris Appeals Court found the airline and aircraft manufacturer “solely and entirely responsible” for the incident, in which flig … ⌘ Read more

Free Software Foundation’s Call for ‘LibreLocals’ Answered on Six Continents - With More Coming
The Free Software Foundation announced this week that “its global call for free software supporters to organize LibreLocals this May resulted in free software supporters organizing forty-six LibreLocal events on six continents thus far.” (And new dates and locations are being added daily. … ⌘ Read more

Friday Google’s AI-Powered Search Results Glitched on the Word ‘Disregard’
On Friday TechCrunch reported they could no longer Google the word “disregard”.

Google’s AI Overview responded “Understood. Let me know whenever you have a new prompt or question!” below an icon for hearing the word “disregard” pronounced — then displayed several inches of blank whitespace.
“The Merriam-Webster link is still in … ⌘ Read more

Researchers Say the Worst Climate Future is Less Likely. But the Best One is Also Slipping Away
Citing new research, the Associated Press reports that “modest gains in the fight to curb climate change have dialed back the most catastrophic of future heating.”
That’s the good news. But the same research “also confirmed that there’s no chance to limit warming to the international go … ⌘ Read more

Linux Kernel Flaw Lets Unprivileged Users Access Root-Only Files, Execute Arbitrary Commands as Root
Qualys’s Threat Research Unit (TRU) has discovered and published a logic flaw in Linux kernel “that permits an unprivileged local user to disclose sensitive files and execute arbitrary commands as root on default installations of several major distributions.” Friday their blo … ⌘ Read more

Tech CEOs Call for a Universal Basic Income. But What are the Alternatives?
The Washington Post looks at arguments that “AI’s coming upheaval may demand massive infusions of cash to everyday Americans”. But they also look at some of the alternatives:

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for similar public-relief measures, including, potentially, universal basic income, or UBI. Eventually “our current … ⌘ Read more

Caltech Could Lose Control of JPL For First Time In Decades
NASA plans to open competition for the contract to operate JPL for the first time in nearly a century, meaning Caltech’s historic role managing the iconic deep-space lab could come to an end when its current agreement expires in 2028. According to JPL, Caltech has managed the lab since the its inception in the 1930s, and has done so for NASA since the ag … ⌘ Read more

Pentagon Releases Second Batch of UFO Videos, First-Hand Testimony
The Pentagon released a second batch of UAP files, including 50 videos and documents showing unexplained objects over the Middle East, Syria, Iran, and in NASA recordings. Despite the reports, the agency stresses that it has found no evidence of extraterrestrial origin. The Guardian reports: In one video from the Middle East in 2019, … ⌘ Read more

SpaceX’s Upgraded Starship V3 Launches For First Time
SpaceX’s upgraded Starship V3 launched today from Starbase, Texas for the first time, successfully deploying 22 dummy Starlink satellites and completing a planned fiery splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Reuters reports: The towering vehicle, consisting of the upper-stage Starship astronaut vessel stacked atop a Super Heavy booster rocket, blasted off at about 5:30 p.m … ⌘ Read more

Google API Keys Remain Active After Deletion
Aikido Security found that deleted Google API keys can continue authenticating for a median of about 16 minutes and as long as 23 minutes, despite Google Cloud’s UI claiming that once a key is deleted it can no longer make API requests. Dark Reading reports: Joe Leon, researcher at Belgian startup Aikido Security, recently analyzed the revocation window – the time between a key’s dele … ⌘ Read more

Major Streamers Must Pay 15% of Revenues To Canadian Content, CRTC Says
Canada’s broadcast regulator says major streaming services such as Netflix must contribute 15% of their Canadian revenues to Canadian and Indigenous content. “That’s three times the five-per-cent initial contribution requirement the CRTC set out in 2024, which is being challenged in court by major streamers, including Apple and Amazon … ⌘ Read more

NTSB Wants PDF Removed After It Exposed Final Cockpit Audio From UPS Crash
The NTSB temporarily closed public access to nearly all investigation dockets after people used a spectrogram image from a PDF in the UPS flight 2976 crash file to reconstruct approximate cockpit voice recorder audio and post it online. “We show our work and we’ve been doing this type of thing for years. Nobody was aware that … ⌘ Read more

Trump Mobile Exposed Customers’ Personal Data, Including Phone Numbers and Home Addresses
Trump Mobile confirmed that a third-party platform exposed customers’ personal data to the open internet. The data included names, email addresses, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and order IDs. TechCrunch reports: Chris Walker, a spokesperson for the Trump-branded phone maker, told TechCrunch that … ⌘ Read more

Spotify, UMG To Let Fans Make Their Own Music With AI
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Billboard: Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG) announced a licensing deal for recorded music and publishing rights, enabling Spotify to launch generative AI music models in the future. With this deal, Spotify’s models will allow fans to create covers and remixes of their favorite songs from participating artists and … ⌘ Read more

This Cannes Film Cost $500,000 to Make. $400,000 Was AI Compute Costs.
Higgsfield AI is debuting a 95-minute fully AI-generated film at Cannes called “Hell Grind” that reportedly cost $500,000 to make, $400,000 of which was spent on compute alone. The project took just two weeks to produce and is intended to showcase the startup’s AI production tools. But it also underscores the current limits of AI f … ⌘ Read more

Venmo Redesign Makes New Users’ Posts Friends-Only by Default
Venmo is testing a major redesign that will make new users’ payment posts viewable by their friends by default instead of being public. The Verge reports: It’s a notable update for a platform that has struggled with privacy in the past. In 2021, BuzzFeed News tracked down President Joe Biden’s Venmo account and the accounts of people in his inner circle … ⌘ Read more

Samsung Chip Workers To Get $340,000 Average Bonus In AI Boom
Samsung is reportedly set to pay chip-division workers an average bonus of about $340,000 after reaching a tentative deal with its union, according to Bloomberg (paywalled). The deal ended a standoff that “could have cost the economy as much as 1 trillion won ($658 million) daily, with losses potentially multiplying to 100 trillion won ($68 billion) if in … ⌘ Read more

A Bipartisan Amendment Would End Police License Plate Tracking Nationwide
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: US lawmakers plan to introduce an amendment Thursday at a House committee markup hearing that would prohibit any recipient of federal highway funding from using automated license plate readers for any purpose other than tolling – a sweeping restriction that, if adopted, would bring … ⌘ Read more

Steve Wozniak Tells Graduates They All Have ‘AI’: Actual Intelligence
While other commencement speeches have been met with boos for hyping up artificial intelligence, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak reminded college graduates that they already posses “AI” of their own: “actual intelligence.” He framed AI as an attempt to duplicate brain-like routines, and encouraged students to “think different” as they enter … ⌘ Read more

At Least 80% Responsibility For Ill Health In Old Age Down to Individual, Study Says
A new Oxford Longevity Project report argues that individuals bear at least 80% of the responsibility for ill health in old age. “The report (PDF), launched at the Smart Ageing Summit in Oxford last week, argues that individuals have far greater control over their longevity than is commonly understood,” re … ⌘ Read more

AT&T Sues California In Bid To Stop Offering Traditional Phone Service
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: AT&T on Wednesday filed suit (PDF) against California officials seeking a court order declaring it does not have to continue offering traditional copper wire phone service to new customers as it vowed to spend $19 billion on modern telecom services. California requires the U.S. wirel … ⌘ Read more

Thousands of Zillow Listings In Chicago Have Vanished
Thousands of Chicago-area Zillow and Trulia listings disappeared after Midwest Real Estate Data cut off Zillow’s access to its feed, “in the latest escalation of a legal battle with Lisle-based Midwest Real Estate Data (MRED),” reports the Chicago Sun-Times. “The fight is over MRED’s private listing network, where homes for sale are shared among real estate profession … ⌘ Read more

Vivaldi 8.0 Arrives With ‘Most Significant Design Overhaul’ In Browser’s History
Vivaldi 8.0 is being pitched as the browser’s “most significant design overhaul” yet, featuring a new unified, edge-to-edge interface, six preset layouts, and deeper customization across tabs, toolbars, panels, and themes. The company is also taking a swipe at rivals chasing questionable AI features. Neowin reports: Af … ⌘ Read more

Trump Calls Off AI Executive Order Over Concern It Could Weaken US Tech Edge
Trump called off a planned AI executive order just hours before a signing ceremony because he said he was worried the framework could slow America’s lead over China. “We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that lead,” Trump told reporters. The Associat … ⌘ Read more

Flipper One Could Be the Ultimate Linux Cyberdeck
BrianFagioli writes: Flipper Devices has finally revealed Flipper One, a Linux-powered cyberdeck that sounds less like a gadget and more like an attempt to rebuild portable ARM computing from the ground up. Unlike Flipper Zero, which focuses on offline protocols like RFID and Sub-1 GHz radio, Flipper One is all about networking, modular hardware, SDR experimentation, local … ⌘ Read more

US To Award $2 Billion To Quantum Companies, Take Equity Stakes
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Quantum Insider: The Trump administration is preparing a new round of industrial policy aimed at quantum computing, with roughly $2 billion in grants expected to go to nine companies developing quantum hardware and related technologies. According to Reuters, citing a Wall Street Journal report, the U.S. Dep … ⌘ Read more

Spotify Will Start Reserving Concert Tickets For Fans
Spotify is launching “Reserved,” a new feature that will set aside concert tickets for Premium subscribers it identifies as an artist’s most dedicated fans based on streams, shares, and other activity. “Getting concert tickets today can feel like a race you’re set up to lose,” Spotify wrote in a post on Thursday. “You show up at the right time, refresh endles … ⌘ Read more

Waymo Pauses Atlanta Service As Its Robotaxis Keep Driving Into Floods
Waymo has paused service in Atlanta after one of its driverless cars entered a flooded street and got stuck. It follows a similar pause in San Antonio that prompted a recent software recall (PDF) over flood avoidance. TechCrunch reports: Waymo admitted that it hadn’t finished developing a “final remedy” for avoiding flooded areas when … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Hires Analyst With Influential Video Game Blog To Fix Xbox
Microsoft has hired games analyst and investor Matthew Ball as Xbox’s new chief strategy officer. With a long track record of analyzing the video game market and industry’s biggest shifts, Ball’s background could help Xbox rethink its hardware and console strategy at a moment when competition is tougher than ever. Engadget reports: Ball i … ⌘ Read more

OpenAI Claims It Solved an 80-Year-Old Math Problem
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: OpenAI claims its new reasoning model has produced an original mathematical proof disproving a famous unsolved conjecture in geometry, which was first posed by Paul Erdos in 1946. If this sounds familiar to you, it’s because this isn’t the first time OpenAI has made such a bold claim. Seven months ago, the AI giant’s … ⌘ Read more

SpaceX Reveals Its Finances For the First Time
SpaceX has revealed its financials for the first time as it prepares for a potentially massive IPO. The New York Times reports: SpaceX’s revenue soared to $18.7 billion in 2025, up 33 percent from a year earlier, the company disclosed in a filing required of firms that are seeking to go public. In the first three months of this year, revenue rose to $4.7 billion from $4.1 billion i … ⌘ Read more